October 31st. Remained at Key’s Pass all day, but received orders to march to-morrow morning. Weather favorable for campaigning. We hear to-night that a great event is about to happen to the army of the Potomac. General McClellan has been, or is to be, relieved and Burnside placed in comamnd. I met McClellan with an escort, on my return to the brigade, and wondered where he was going. The general has many friends in the army, who will be sorry to part with him, and even those of us who have no great faith in his abilities, are attached to him through long association, and will feel the change, as another link broken in the chain of friendship, which, in the army, is highly developed. I doubt if a single man in this army would have suggested Burnside as his successor. Burnside’s name is not associated with any great deeds, and we can hardly believe he is to become commander-in-chief. He is a superb looking officer, but too much in love with himself to amount to much. He is stylish to a degree, wears side whiskers, large slouch hat, top boots and is altogether an ideal cavalier, but without the force of character which men look for in a commanding officer. He commanded our brigade, so called, at the first battle of Bull Run, without winning any distinction.
October 2012
October 31.—Halloween, or All Saints’ Eve,
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“When fairies light
On sprightly coursers prance.”
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I can not help contrasting to-night with what it has been in days gone by, before “wild war’s deadly blast” had come, when for the sake of “Auld Scotia” we held it in commemoration.
I received a telegram from home to-day, to know if I had heard from my brother. I wonder if he is in the land of the living.
October 31.—The town of Franklin, on the Blackwater River, Virginia, was this day shelled by three batteries of Union artillery, and partially destroyed, the rebel forces being driven off with great loss —An enthusiastic meeting was held at Key West, Florida, to raise funds for the relief of the families of volunteers in the Union army. One thousand dollars were collected.
—James R. Lackland, charged with encouragement of the rebellion, by publicly opposing the national government, was arrested at St. Louis, Mo. —Between three and four hundred East-Tennesseans arrived at Lexington, Ky., with the intention of joining the Union army. —A rebel force of cavalry under General Stuart, attacked a small force of Union calvary stationed at Maysville, Va., and drove them toward Aldie.
—The rebels under General Hindman having committed depredation upon Union citizens residing in the vicinity of Helena, Ark., the national troops retaliated on rebel sympathizers, and destroyed a number of farms in that locality. —The Wilmington, N. C., salt-works were this day destroyed by Captain Cushing of the national gunboat Ellis.
October 30th. Camp fires were kept burning very late last night. The boys are singing, dancing, making speeches, and having a very merry old time. All seem happy. This morning the regiment formed in line for our march out of the old fort. When outside of the walls cheering began as the happy boys went marching on.
The regiment made a fine appearance as they marched through Baltimore. Every man seemed to be trying to do his best. Stopping for a rest in one of the streets, a grocer treated us to apples. Citizens cheered us as we marched along. Passed through Baltimore on out to the east side, going into camp near Fort Marshall on Snake Hill. Camp being established it was named Emory in honor of the General. Seven companies sent out for guard duty along the Baltimore & Philadelphia Railroad. Bridges had been set on fire at times. There was much sympathy for the South in Maryland. Companies A, B, and C remained in camp. Regimental headquarters a pleasant location for a camp. Guard duty, drilling, dress parade, with an occasional tramp through the country on skirmish drill was about the daily routine of duty, weather permitting. One of the very pleasant things about camp life was the writing and receiving of letters.
Ordered To The Field.
Camp of the Second Vermont Brigade,
Near Munson’s Hill, Virginia,
Oct. 30, 1862.
Dear Free Press:
“Change sweepeth over all,” sang the plaintive Motherwell, and we find the line to have as much truth as poetry in the army. Yesterday at this time every man in the Second Vermont brigade thought we were good for a stay of some weeks on East Capitol Hill. The Vermont regiments had been brigaded together. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth, ordered across the Potomac on their arrival, had been ordered back and were establishing themselves in camp near us. It was reasonable to suppose that some time for drill in battalion and brigade evolutions would be granted before sending us forward. All the other troops about us had been ordered away, leaving our brigade alone on East Capitol Hill. Some troops would of course be left there, and we must be the ones. So reasoned officers and men, and the conclusion was easily reached that we should stay where we were for the present. In this conviction the men of the Twelfth began making themselves more comfortable in camp. Lumber was procured at $25 a thousand and upwards. Our little A tents, in which we enacted the daily and nightly miracle of stowing six men, with six muskets and about as much harness as is allotted to so many horses in a well arranged stable, together with bedding, crockery and tinware and goods and chattels all and sundry, belonging to said family of six, in a tent seven feet square on the ground and tapering in a wedge to the height of six or six and one-half feet,—these little tents were elevated on sides built up of boards, by which their original capacity was almost doubled and the comfort of the occupants at least trebled. Shelves were rigged, pegs put in to hang guns and trappings on, floors laid, and various little contrivances to enhance order and cleanliness added. With what satisfaction we looked at our new structures! How we enjoyed a residence in which we could stretch our arms at length above our heads, and sit around the sides without doubling together like so many jack-knives! With what complacency did we think of our own thrift, and look forward to days and weeks of such comparative luxury! Alas for the folly of human expectations! With nightfall came the order to move into Virginia, and here we are to-night, five miles the other side of the Potomac, our new acquisitions left far behind us, and not a saw-mill or lumber yard this side of Washington or Richmond, so far as we know. They may talk of the sorrow of leaving the ancestral roof-tree, the hearth around which boyhood’s days were spent and youth’s and manhood’s memories clustered; —that can be described; but the pangs with which we left our wooden walls and floors, are indescribable. But such is life in the army. We have, however, some consolation; our kind colonel and quartermaster have promised that if the wagons can be procured to transport it, our lumber shall follow us hither.
The five Vermont regiments broke camp at daybreak this morning. The order was to form line at half past seven and march at eight. Col. Blunt, commanding, is a prompt man. At half past seven the line was formed, and at eight the column marched. It swept down Pennsylvania Avenue, as goodly an array of five thousand stout, intelligent, spirited men as eye ever looked on. The march was a very comfortable one for the men, and our present camp bids fair to be a great improvement on our late one, as far as the ground and nearness to wood and water are concerned.
You have heard before this of the death of young Collamer of Shelburne. It is the first gap made by death in the ranks of Company C, and we feel it keenly. He was an amiable and excellent young man, with the making in him, to all appearance, of a stout and hearty soldier. His disease was uncontrollable. For a day or two the doctors thought he might rally, but he did not agree with them. “I shall die in three days,” he said, one night, and in three days he died, peacefully, even happily, for he had made his peace with God.
There are no very sick men of our Company; and I believe we shall find our present camp, on new ground not tainted by the stay upon it of so many successive thousands, a healthier one than the old one. How long we shall stay here no one can say.
Yours, B.
Thursday, 30th—The weather is quite warm again. We were at work getting ready for general inspection, cleaning camping ground, clothing and accouterments. Our camp is now in fine shape and the men are well rested. Some of the sick and wounded who have been absent for some weeks are returning to camp.
To Mrs. Lyon.
Fort Henry, Tenn, 2 o’clock Thursday a. m., Oct. 30, 1862.—The celebrated guerilla chief, Morgan, is at Hopkinsville, Ky., about fifty miles north-east of us, with a force variously estimated at from 1,500 to 2,500. We expect to march in the morning in connection with forces from Fort Donelson and Paducah, under command of General Ransom, now in Paducah, to fight him, unless he runs away.
Colonel Lowe, the permanent commander here, who has been absent ever since I came, is between here and Paducah, and will be here tomorrow morning, or rather this morning, early; which will relieve me from the responsibility of commanding the expedition. I have, however, to make all the preliminary arrangements, and have been up all night issuing orders, telegraphing to Fort Donelson, Paducah and Columbus, and getting ready generally. The regiment knows nothing of the expedition yet, as I have not called them out. I am feeling first rate and in most excellent spirits. My only trouble is that my legs are rather weak and I can not ride much on horseback. I shall walk or ride in an ambulance mostly, and have no doubt but I shall stand the trip finely. We shall probably be gone a week. If we can clean out Morgan we break up guerilla operations in these parts and thus do the country and our sacred cause good service. It is time I called up my men, and must therefore close. Be a heroine, be calm, although danger may surround me, and trust in the kind Father of us all for safety and protection.
Thursday evening.—A variety of circumstances prevented us from getting off this morning, one of which was the failure of Colonel Lowe to return this morning. We have had an anxious day, fearing the boat was captured by the guerillas. We go in the morning down the Tennessee forty miles, and then across to the Cumberland, by land, of course, to Eddyville, thence to Hopkinsville. We meet General Ransom and the forces from below where we leave the river. The men are in high spirits, and so am I, in view of our expedition. We want to get these guerillas scattered before we feel quite willing to have our wives come to us. We hear this morning that Morgan has skedaddled. I celebrated my birthday by drilling my regiment in battalion drill for the first time.
Thursday, 30th.—Left camp at 6:30 A. M. Arrived at Lenoirs at 3 P. M. Reported that our regiment has been transferred to General Taylor’s Brigade.
Thursday, 30th. In the rear guard again. Till noon getting to Maysville, a little place, mostly forsaken, a few old people. Tried to catch a hog. Didn’t succeed. Letters from home, Sept. 30th, and an Independent. Read Lorain News. Little article about N. and me being taken prisoners.
U.S.S. St. Louis, first Eads ironclad gunboat, renamed the Baron de Kalb in October 1862. (National Archives)
The USS Baron DeKalb, named after General Baron DeKalb of Hüttendorf near Erlangen, in present-day Bavaria, was originally named Saint Louis, and was one of seven City class ironclads built at Carondelet, Missouri and Mound City, Illinois, for the Western Gunboat Flotilla.
These ironclads were shallow draft with a center driven paddle wheel. They were partially armored and slow and very hard to steer in the currents of rivers. This ironclad was also vulnerable to plunging fire and also by hits in their un-armored areas. Called “Pook Turtles” for the designer, they did yeoman service through 4 years of war and were present at almost every battle on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
(The name) change was apparently in anticipation of the vessel’s transfer from the War Department to the Navy Department, there already being a USS St. Louis in commission with the Navy.
