The Real Horse Soldiers

by Timothy B Smith

  Some of the troopers had just returned from operations, and their horses were worn down. According to Grierson’s adjutant Woodward, the regiments “were so badly mounted that it was necessary to dismount the brigade wagon train and use the mules to complete the mount of one regiment.” The 2nd Iowa had the most exhausted horses. Sick soldiers were necessarily left behind. Some, in hospitals as far away as Memphis, did their best to keep track of their regiments. “I hear the 2nd Iowa Cav have been out on a scout,” one convalescent later wrote. Some healthy troopers, however, had to stay to guard and preserve the camp and everything that went along with it. “A wail went up from those who were necessarily left behind to guard the camp,” admitted Woodward. One of those Grierson left in La Grange was his brother John, quartermaster of the regiment.52

  Fortunately for Benjamin Grierson, his trusty adjutant helped him prepare for the complex raiding operation. Samuel Woodward was a native of New Jersey. Their relationship began early in the war when the young man asked Grierson for help against the secessionists in his adopted Paducah. There was little Grierson could officially do about the problem. When he recommended Woodward join the Union army, the man enlisted in the 6th Illinois Cavalry. Woodward worked first as a clerk and served Sherman in that capacity at Shiloh before being transferred to Grierson. On the eve of the raid, as time grew increasingly short, Woodward stalked the camp, overseeing the myriad details required by a raid of this magnitude. Thinking ahead, he threw together a few sandwiches “for the first day’s luncheon, trusting to Providence from day to day for subsistence.”53

  Once he arrived in La Grange, Grierson felt just as rushed. “I had a busy night of it,” he recalled, “and found myself too much engaged with official duties to gain time enough to write another note to Mrs. Grierson.” Accordingly, he had his brother John write the note to Alice for him, including a description of how Grierson was “up nearly all night preparing.” Grierson, added John, had asked him to remind Alice that he was leaving “on her lucky day (Friday).” In an effort to allay her fears, he clumsily added, “I fear for the result but know Benj is prudent and careful.”54

  Samuel L. Woodward. Grierson’s friend and confidant, Lieutenant Samuel L. Woodward, performed many of the clerical duties for Grierson and was present at most of the decision-making events on the raid. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

  Grierson took only a few personal effects with him. One was his trusty Jew’s harp to while away lonely times with the music that always soothed his soul. He also took his copy of Colton’s pocket map of Mississippi, which “though small, is very correct.” A compass finished out his personal effects.55

  Significantly more important than these belongings was a scout’s report, apparently provided by General Sherman, of the plantations, supplies, and resistance he could expect to meet along the proposed route. Grierson was familiar with the northern region of the state, having ridden across it numerous times in raids and counterraids. Once he dropped below the Oxford to Pontotoc to Tupelo line, however, he would be in unfamiliar territory. Grierson had little idea what he would find there; his handy map showed only the general direction he was to ride.56

  The report prepared by the unnamed scout provided Grierson with good information and advice, most of which he would follow. Still, the report, at least initially, must have given Grierson pause. The man had evidently been sent out from the Vicksburg region three months earlier in January 1863, so the information was quite dated. The report noted that the “best route” was to follow the Pontotoc Ridge south through Pontotoc and Houston and then a route from Starkville, Louisville, and Philadelphia to the Southern Railroad. The report also opined that the best way to damage the railroad was to destroy the numerous bridges over the Chunkey River just east of Newton Station. Apparently channeling the thinking of Generals Hurlbut and Smith, the scouting report also suggested the best way to accomplish this was for the column to divide, one section moving toward the Mobile and Ohio as far as Meridian, and the other riding eastward toward Kosciusko and Carthage, with the goal of meeting in Newton County.57

  The scouting report also explained to Grierson how to escape any Confederate pursuers: “To return, the old Military road which passes near Decatur and leads North Eastward through Columbus may be taken to the latter place and thence as circumstances may determine to Tuscumbia Corinth or La Grange.” The paper also included information on provisions. There would be “plenty of forage and provisions as far South as Macon in Noxubee County,” it claimed, although they would be scarce below that toward Meridian. “Cattle hogs & fowls however will be found in abundance” all the way, and “soldiers need carry nothing but flour or meal and Salt.” Abundant enemy stores, “mostly corn and bacon,” had been collected at the various stations along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. By “returning as suggested, the rich corn region about Columbus Aberdeen Okolona and Cotton Gin can be swept of Negroes and stock thus cutting off the most productive portion of Mississippi from the rebel resources.”58

  The valuable report also discussed Confederate defenses. Up to January 8, it explained, “no military guard was kept at Meridian, nor at any place on the Southern road East of Jackson.” Grierson would also not have to worry much about the local citizens, because “the large majority of the people will be found of the poorer classes who by kind treatment can be made loyal. They are all heartily tired of the war and wish for nothing better than the old government.” At that point the report read as if it had been written by Sherman himself: “The few rich among them have made public sentiment heretofore and should be made to feel the horrors of the war they have brought on the county.” In fact, read the report, the “common practice with the secession leaders on the advance of Federal troops” was to point out “Union men” and tell the Federals they were the leading secessionists, “that the spoliation might fall on them while their accusers would escape.”59

  While Grierson digested the report and his adjutant performed his final duties, the Federal troopers who would launch themselves into Mississippi remained generally optimistic. One Illinois man went so far as to assure his family that he would be safe. Just four days before departing, he wrote his sister, “You can all rest perfectly easy in regard to our safety here, as there is not an enemy in the vicinity, save a few tormenting guerillas, who bother us a great deal more than they hurt us.” The wonderful weather made the festive feeling even better. “The weather is charming,” an Illinois trooper wrote in mid-April. “Fruit trees have shed their blossoms, and the young fruit is beginning to be seen. The forests are putting on their verdant hues. Every natural prospect pleases. . . . We had, last night, an owl serenade,” he continued, “occasionally these birds have their concerts. It is amusing in the extreme, to hear their refrains. Sometimes they seem to be on the [verge] of glee, and instantly, almost, they go from ha! ha! ha! To the most plaintive strains who! who! whoa!” As if an afterthought, the soldier remembered his lot and cause, adding, “But man is vile.” Another Federal, wondering what the vast preparation portended, correctly surmised they were going to “play smash with the railroads.”60

  Grierson, who knew little more than the purpose of the raid, remained hopeful. “If the expedition is successful—it will be of great benefit to the service and will not set me back any,” he explained to Alice. He also noted the possibility of helping Grant: “Other movements (of less extent) will take place from various points along the lines and my movements are to aid a greater movement which is to take place at a distant point or points.”61

  The grand scheme was coming together nicely, but the time to plan and prepare was over. All that was left was to perform flawlessly, something the musician Grierson was well accustomed to doing.

  1For the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, see http://www.usgrantlibrary.org/.

  2For Illinois in the Civil War, see Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1966).

  3Forbes, “Grierson’s Cavalry Raid,” 99.<
br />
  4Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 181.

  5Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 110; Brown, Grierson’s Raid, 38; Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 181; Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 52.

  6Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 53.

  7Ibid.; David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds., Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, 5 vols. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000), vol. 1, 379.

  8Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 53; Brown, Grierson’s Raid, 17.

  9Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 182.

  10Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 48.

  11Heidler and Heidler, Encyclopedia of the American Civil War, vol. 1, 378; Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 48.

  12Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 183.

  13Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 51.

  14Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 181; Coggins, Arms and Equipment of the Civil War, 51.

  15Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 129, 133.

  16OR 24, pt. 3, 185, 197. For McClernand, see Richard L. Kiper, Major General John Alexander McClernand: Politician in Uniform (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1999). For Logan, see James Pickett Jones, Black Jack: John A. Logan and Southern Illinois in the Civil War Era (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995).

  17ILGenWeb Project, “6th Illinois Cavalry Regiment,” 1997, https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/cav_006.html; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 85.

  18ILGenWeb Project, “6th Illinois Cavalry Regiment,” 1997, https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/cav_006.html.

  19Ibid.

  20J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, 9 vols. (Springfield, IL: Journal Company, 1900-1902), vol. 8, 3, 50; “History of Sixth Cavalry,” n.d., J. W. Vance Papers, CHM.

  21Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 50.

  22Ibid., vol. 8, 3.

  23William T. Sherman to Benjamin H. Grierson, December 9, 1862; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 98-99.

  24Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 123, 125, 128; Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 50.

  25Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 50, 102.

  26R. W. Surby, Grierson Raids, and Hatch’s Sixty-Four Days March, with Biographical Sketches, also the Life and Adventures of Chickasaw, the Scout (Chicago: Rounds and James, 1865), 20; James Barnet, The Martyrs and Heroes of Illinois in the Great Rebellion: Biographical Sketches (Chicago: J. Barnet, 1865), 79-81.

  27James Cole to Cousin, April 7, 1863, in James M. Cole Papers, ALPL.

  28Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 102.

  29ILGenWeb Project, “6th Illinois Cavalry Regiment,” 1997, https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/reg_html/cav_007.html.

  30Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 53, 102; Brown, Grierson’s Raid, 11.

  31Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 102; T. M. Eddy, The Patriotism of Illinois: A Record of the Civil and Military History of the State in the War for the Union, 2 vols. (Chicago: Clarke & Co., 1865-86), vol. 2, 622-23.

  32Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 102; Eddy, The Patriotism of Illinois, vol. 2, 622. For letters from a 7th Illinois Cavalry trooper, see William H. Dennis Letters, Ellen Waddle McCoy Papers, Southeast Missouri State University.

  33Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 53; Edward Prince, Compiled Service Record, NARA.

  34Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 102.

  35Ibid.

  36Ibid., vol. 8, 102-3.

  37Jonas Rawalt to Son, May 11, 1863, in Marguerite Rawalt Papers, ALPL; Surby, Grierson Raids, 13, 20.

  38Franklin Hammond to Sister, April 1863, in Franklin Hammond Collection, State Historical Society of Iowa. For the 2nd Iowa Cavalry, see Lyman B. Pierce, History of the Second Iowa Cavalry; Containing a Detailed Account of Its Organization, Marches, and the Battles in Which It Has Participated; Also, a Complete Roster of Each Company (Burlington, IA: Hawk-Eye Steam Book and Job Printing Establishment, 1865); A. B. Rush Letters, in State Historical Society of Iowa; and Stephen Z. Starr, “Hawkeyes on Horseback: The Second Iowa Volunteer Cavalry,” Civil War History (September 1977), vol. 23, no. 3, 212-27.

  39Iowa, Adjutant General’s Office, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, Together with Historical Sketches of Volunteer Organizations, 1861-1866, 6 vols. (Des Moines: Emory H. English and E. D. Chassell, 1908-11), vol. 4, 215; “2nd Regiment, Iowa Cavalry,” FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/2nd_Regiment,_Iowa_Cavalry.

  40Adjutant General’s Office, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, vol. 4, 215, Pierce, History of the Second Iowa Cavalry, preface; Edward Hatch, Compiled Service Record, NARA.

  41A. A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments: Being a History of Iowa Regiments in the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines: Mills & Co., 1865), 565-66; Adjutant General’s Office, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, vol. 4, 215-16.

  42Timothy B. Smith, Corinth 1862: Siege, Battle, Occupation (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2012), 41; Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 566-67; Adjutant General’s Office, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, vol. 4, 217-18.

  43Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 570-71.

  44Ibid., 571-72; Adjutant General’s Office, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, vol. 4, 221-22.

  45Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 571; Surby, Grierson Raids, 20.

  46Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 146.

  47Mrs. P. T. Chapman, A History of Johnson County, Illinois (n.p.: Press of the Herron News, 1925), 62, 130, 478; Jasper F. Smith Obituary, February 14, 1930, Verden [OK] News; N. Dale Talkington, A Time Remembered: The Verdan, Oklahoma Cemetery (n.p.: n.p., 1999), 141; Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 8, 644-45, 664-65; Battery K, 1st Illinois Artillery Muster Roll, RG 94, E 57, NARA.

  48James B. Smith to Silas Noble, March 14, 1862 and General Strong, June 10, 1862, in James B. Smith, Compiled Service Record, NARA.

  49“From One of Grierson’s Cavalry,” Union Monitor (Litchfield, IL), June 5, 1863; S. L. Woodward, “Grierson’s Raid, April 17th to May 2d, 1863,” Journal of the United States Cavalry Association (April 1904), vol. 14, no. 52, 686. For armament, see Battery K, 1st Illinois Artillery Muster Roll, RG 94, E 57, NARA.

  50H. R. Curtiss, diary, April 16, 1863, Wisconsin Historical Society; Pierce, History of the Second Iowa Cavalry, 48; Surby, Grierson Raids, 19; History of Kossuth, Hancock and Winnebego Counties, Iowa (Springfield, IL: Union Publishing Company, 1884), 845; Hoffman Atkinson to “Capt.,” April 16, 1863, in Henry C. Forbes Papers, CHM; “The Late Major Whitsit,” n.d., in Thomas W. Lippincott Papers, ALPL.

  51Surby, Grierson Raids, 20; Forbes, “Grierson’s Cavalry Raid,” 102; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 154; OR 24, pt. 1, 531; Daniel E. Robbins to Parents, May 5, 1863, in Daniel E. Robbins Letters, HC; Woodward, “Grierson’s Raid,” 686. For soldiers left behind, see Collier Family Papers, in Civil War Documents, USAMHI. For armament information, see the muster rolls for the 6th and 7th Illinois and 2nd Iowa cavalries, RG 94, E 57, NARA.

  52Obadiah Ethelbert Baker, diary, April 20, 1863, in Obadiah Ethelbert Baker Papers, Huntington Library; Woodward, “Grierson’s Raid,” 686; George Rawlinson to Wife, April 1, 1863, in Rawlinson Family Papers, ALPL.

  53John Grierson to Alice, April 17, 1863; Woodward, “Grierson’s Raid,” 685-86; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 86, 145-46, 387n3; Leckie and Leckie, Unlikely Warriors, 84; Samuel L. Woodward, Compiled Service Record,
NARA.

  54John Grierson to Alice, April 17, 1863; Woodward, “Grierson’s Raid,” 685-86; Grierson, A Just and Righteous Cause, 86, 145-46, 387n3; Leckie and Leckie, Unlikely Warriors, 84; Samuel L. Woodward, Compiled Service Record, NARA.

  55OR 24, pt. 1, 529; Leckie and Leckie, Unlikely Warriors, 84; York, Fiction as Fact, 148n27.

  56OR 24, pt. 1, 529; Leckie and Leckie, Unlikely Warriors, 84; Raid Instructions, n.d., William T. Sherman Letters, MDAH.

  57Raid Instructions, n.d., William T. Sherman Letters.

  58Ibid.

  59Ibid.

  60S. A. Forbes to Sister, April 13, 1863, in Stephen A. Forbes Papers, UI; “Army Correspondence,” Weekly Register (Canton, IL), May 4, 1863.

  61“Army Correspondence,” Weekly Register (Canton, IL), May 4, 1863; Surby, Grierson Raids, 20; B. H. Grierson to Alice, April 1863 .

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Start

  Clanging accoutrements and clattering hooves broke the stillness on the early morning of Friday, April 17. After a night long on work and short on rest, Benjamin Grierson finally pushed his 1,700 men south out of La Grange, Tennessee. It was not yet 7:00 a.m. Years later, Grierson remembered the surreal nature of the commencement of the raid: “As the sun rose bright and clear and tinged with golden hues the tops of the trees and high ground in the vicinity of the town, and while a most refreshing breeze swept diagonally across the column, we moved southward into Mississippi.” He and his trusted adjutant, Samuel Woodward, led the way, stopping only to talk once more with General Smith as the column passed out of town. “We shook hands cordially,” Grierson explained, “and mounting my horse I rode away waving my hat and shouting, ‘Once more, good-bye General.’”1

  The three cavalry regiments were well on the way by the time the brigade commander and his staffer caught up, and an Illinois trooper also remarked on the same “gentle breeze from the south.” Lieutenant Colonel Loomis led Grierson’s own 6th Illinois Cavalry in the advance formed in a column of twos, followed by Colonel Prince and the troopers of the 7th Illinois Cavalry. Smith’s battery was next in line, with Colonel Hatch’s 2nd Iowa Cavalry bringing up the rear. Whether there was any jealousy of position passed unremarked, but no one would have been surprised that Grierson’s former regiment led the way. If anyone would have been perturbed about the order, it would have been Hatch, whose Iowans were choking on the dust at the end of the column. If Grierson had not returned on time, Hatch would have led the raid. Regardless of order, Grierson’s command was a brigade of veteran troopers, and unbeknownst to most in the column, they would need all the experience they had, together with some good fortune, to make it through their difficult task. What they were tasked to do remained a mystery to the men in the ranks. “No person other than myself and Lieutenant S. L. Woodward, a.a.a [acting assistant adjutant] general of the brigade,” explained the colonel, “knew the probable extent of the expedition on which we had started.” They were embarking on “an expedition so mysterious that even the commanding officer did not know, beyond a certain objective, where it was going,” wrote Woodward, “or when, if ever, it would return.”2