The War of 1864

by Eugeine Ware

  All of this time, however, the work at the post was going on rapidly, either the Captain or myself acting as boss. Our first Lieutenant looked more particularly after the supplies. I had two horses, one a good, average cavalry horse, but I managed to become the owner of a large, raw-boned irongray horse, of which I will speak more hereafter. I got him before coming to Nebraska, and paid $135 for him. The horse formerly belonged to Colonel Baker, of the Second Iowa Infantry, who was killed in the battle of Pittsburg Landing. The horse was not afraid of firearms nor musketry. He had a mouth that was as tough as the forks of a cottonwood log, and I had to use a large curb bit on him with an iron bar under the jaw, made by our company blacksmith. Without this terrible curb, I could do nothing with him. He was afraid of nothing but a buffalo, and as a wild buffalo is more dangerous than a bear, I was always afraid that sometime he would act bad and get me hurt. He was also very much frightened at even the smell of a buffalo-robe. This large iron-gray horse would start out on a dead run for Gilmans' ranch, and keep it up for fifteen miles without halting. I never saw a horse with more endurance, or more of a desire to go, and he kept himself lean by his efforts and energy. I knew that when I was on his back no Indian pony nor band of Indians could overtake me, and hence I scouted the country without apprehension. The buffalo which I killed as last alluded to, was the last buffalo we saw around Cottonwood Canyon. Our fort was called "Cantonment McKean," but the War Department afterwards named it "Fort McPherson," after General McPherson, who was killed while with Sherman near Atlanta, Georgia; but the fort was popularly known as "Fort Cottonwood." Among our men was a fine carpenter who had worked at cabinetmaking, and from the boards which we whip-sawed out, he made lots of chairs, a company desk, tables and furniture as needed. It is strange how simply furniture can be made, and yet equal to the best in comfort and convenience. Our furniture was all made out of beautiful red cedar.

  Along on the side of the hill west of our post, and about five hundred yards from it, we put up a palisade of logs sunk in the ground, and forming an eight-foot square target. I practiced with our howitzers upon this target until I got the exact range and capacity of the two guns. They varied but little; we had to know how far the guns would shoot, and the number of seconds on which to cut our shell fuses. We had a large number of shrapnel shell fitted with Bohrman fuses. Our powder was separate, in red flannel bag cartridges, so made as to fit the rear chamber of the gun, which was smaller than the calibre. Attached to the shrapnel shell was a wooden block made accurately to fit the bore of the piece. The powder was first rammed down, and then the shell rammed down on the wooden block, which was called a "sabot." The "sabot" was merely a wad. The fuse of the shell was towards the muzzle of the gun. The explosion of the powder went around the shell, and ignited the fuse in front of it. The gun was fired with what were called "friction primers," which, being inserted in the touchhole and connected with the lanyard, were pulled off, and threw the fire down into the cartridge. But, before the friction primer was put in, a "priming-wire" was thrust down to punch a hole through the flannel bag of the cartridge. The process of loading was somewhat complicated for so simple a gun. One man brought the powder cartridge and inserted it and it was rammed home by another man with a wooden rammer. Then another brought the shell with sabot attachment, and that was immediately rammed down, sabot first. Another man used the priming-wire, and inserted the friction primer. The chief of the piece then sighted the gun, and gave the signal to the man who held the lanyard. The shrapnel was made as an iron shell about five-eighths of an inch thick, with an orifice of about an inch and a half, on which die thread of a screw was cut. Then the shell was filled with round leaden balls, and in the interstices melted sulphur was poured. Then a hole was bored down an inch and a half in diameter through the bullets behind the open part, and this was filled with powder, leaving the sulphur and lead arranged around the powder; then the fuse was screwed in. The utmost angle of safety in firing the howitzer was fifteen degrees. Anything more than that was liable to spring or break the axle on the recoil. At an angle of fifteen degrees, unless the trail was fixed properly, the piece was liable to turn a summerset. After a great deal of experiment of the two pieces, I prepared a little schedule of distances and seconds, which I furnished to my sergeants. All of the sergeants were instructed in sighting the piece and in cutting the fuse. The fuse was a tin disc, and was cut with a three-cornered little hand-chisel. My experiments differed somewhat in result from the artillery manual, but was accurate in regard to the two particular pieces, and was as follows:

  Yards of Range

  Elevation

  Fuse

  450

  500

  700

  800

  2-1/2 degrees

  3 degrees

  4 degrees

  4-1/2 degrees

  2 inches

  2-1/4 inches

  2-3/4 inches

  3 inches

  Text version

  Upon a smooth floor of the valley we could shoot one of these shrapnels, and after the first graze at fifteen degrees, the hall would go bouncing along for quite a distance. And by cutting the fuse at about the end we could get the utmost range out of the piece. An elevation of 8 degrees was considered safe, but more than that was liable to strain the piece, because the charge was so heavy and the gun so light.

  After we had got well established in our quarters, a new company was sent to our post to assist us, there having arisen rumors that we might be attacked. Company "G" of our regiment arrived, and immediately proceeded to do as we did in the building of company quarters, and with them came Ben Gallagher as Post Sutler. He hired men to build him a sutler-house, and he also hired some men to get out some cedar telegraph poles to repair the telegraph lines. Company "G" worked rapidly, and we sheltered them and their horses during the worst days, and they had a comparatively easy time of it. They soon got into good quarters, and in good condition.

  During the time, an empty train coming down from Denver by order of the quartermaster's department brought us ten thousand pounds of pine lumber. This was hauled at the rate of one dollar per hundred pounds per hundred miles, and the amount in feet of the pine lumber was four thousand. It cost the Government to haul down this four thousand feet of lumber, $292.96. That is, over $70 per thousand.

  The arrival of Company "G" made our place a two-company post, and George M. O'Brien, Major of the regiment, was appointed Post Commander. I was made Post Adjutant, and we built a post headquarters. Preliminarily we were obliged to take all of the wing of the MacDonald ranch, and one half-room in the building of "Hook-sah," whose real name was Isador P. Boyer. In order to hurry up the work for post headquarters, Washington Hinman, William A. Anderson and John W. Lewis were employed as professional carpenters. We also had to have a corral for beef cattle, and this we constructed.

  Ranchmen on the line of the road who had at certain grassy spots along the river cut considerable hay, offered us this coarse hay, cut while it was green, for $15 a ton, and a lot of it which was cut dry and withered, after we came, they offered for $10 a ton. For a short while, during the illness of our First Lieutenant, I was made Post Quartermaster and Commissary, and I found that we had at that time seven army wagons complete, with six mules each. That we had on hand unused 413 hewed cedar logs, 347 round logs, and 322 large cedar poles, piled up awaiting further construction of buildings. Our veterinary department had been reinforced by a lot of horse medicine, tar oil, spirits of niter, etc. We had anvils, vises, sledges, rasps, monkey wrenches, a portable forge, 10 augers, 21 chisels, 10 planes, 6 broadaxes, together with a line of blacksmith tools and carpenter tools, 56 felling axes, 18 shovels, scales and weights, complete grindstone, 500 pounds of nails, 100 pounds of horseshoe nails, 500 pounds of horseshoes, 130 pounds of rope, 20 sides of leather, 80 ax-handles, parts of wagons to make repairs, several hundred pounds of various kinds of iron for making horseshoes and for making spikes and nails, a lot of charcoal, a large number of trace-c
hains, a dozen tarpaulins, and shortly after that we received a consignment of white lead linseed oil, and putty. The current prices at the ranches during the winter of sales to the pilgrims as they went by for horse feed was two and one-half cents a pound for hay, and four cents a pound for shelled corn. From time to time we sent trains down to Fort Kearney, and on their return they bought feed, and vouchers were given. Of the ranchmen along the line whose places we usually stopped at, the following is a complete list: Thomas French, Thomas Mullally, Daniel Freeman, B. S. Blondeau, Daniel L. Smith, Peniston and Miller, J. K. Gilman amp; Co. (Jud Gilman). The prices of articles of clothing furnished to soldiers as sold by the quartermaster for cash, to the officers, were as follows: Coat, $7.00; cavalry trousers, $3.55; flannel drawers, $0.90; peg boots, $2.92; blankets, $3.25. The blankets were shoddy blankets, and the boots were very rough and coarse. One day two citizens came in and wanted to buy some of the empty cornsacks, and the post commander ordered the sale. They were bought by S. F. Burtch and I. C. Beatty, who paid the price of twenty cents apiece for them, $57. This money was then, by order of the post commander, expended for shelled corn from a passing train at the rate of $2.07-1/2 a bushel. On the first of January, 1864, we had on hand at the Post Commissary about twenty thousand pounds of flour, five thousand pounds of bacon, ten beef cattle, twenty-seven hundred pounds of beans, sixteen hundred pounds of coffee, four thousand pounds of sugar, together with a good supply of the other articles belonging to the Government ration. The sales to officers permitted by the regulation prices fixed by the Government were as follows: Ham in barrels, nine and one-half cents a pound; hard-bread, four cents; white sugar, sixteen and one-half cents per pound; sperm candles, thirty-seven and one-half cents; molasses, sixty-one cents per gallon; dried apples, eight cents a pound; hominy and grits, two and one-half cents a pound; soap, seven cents. Other stuff could be bought from other sources cheaper than the Government price. The regular Government ration of that period was as follows:

  12 oz. pork or bacon, or in lieu thereof 20 oz. fresh or salt beef.

  22 oz. soft bread or flour, or 20 oz. corn-meal, or 16 oz. "hard-tack."

  15 lbs. beans or peas (dried)…to 100 rations.

  10 lbs. rice or hominy… " " "

  10 lbs. green or 8 lbs. roasted coffee… " " "

  In lieu of coffee, 24 oz. of tea… " " "

  15 lbs. of sugar… " " "

  1 gallon of vinegar… " " "

  20 oz. star candles… " " "

  4 lbs. soap… " " "

  60 oz. of salt… " " "

  4 oz, pepper… " " "

  1 quart of molasses… " " "

  30 pounds of potatoes (when practicable)… " " "

  I wish to state here, as this is a retrospective chapter, that our work at Cottonwood Springs was fully appreciated by our superiors. That is about all the glory that a person gets out of the subordinate phases of military life. We were inspected on November 11th, 1863, by an officer sent out especially to see what we were doing. He reported as follows:

  "Nov. 11, 1863. Inspected Cos. 'F' and 'G,' Seventh Iowa Cavalry, at Cottonwood Springs; Major O'Brien Commanding.

  "Military bearing and appearance soldierly. Discipline and system of military instruction good. Officers efficient and well instructed. Orders duly received and promptly published and enforced. Police of quarters and camp good."

  Thereupon the Commanding General of the Department sent the report to the General Commanding our district at Omaha as follows:

  "HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI

  ST. LOUIS, MO., December 1, 1863.

  "Respectfully referred to Brig.-General Thomas McKean, Commanding the District of Nebraska, for his information. "The Major-General Commanding the Department of Missouri is highly pleased at the assurances contained in the report relative to the efficiency of Major O'Brien's command at Cottonwood Springs, as shown by the care taken of the command, the soldierly bearing and appearance of the officers and men, their discipline and instruction, for all of which the Major-General Commanding highly commends and sincerely thanks every officer and soldier of the command.

  By order of

  JOHN M. SCHOFIELD,

  Major-General Commanding

  I. H. MELCHER,

  Lt. Col., Insptr. Genl."

  The originals are among the private papers of the estate of Major (afterwards

  Brigadier- General) George M. O'Brien.

  The General Schofield was afterwards Lieutenant-General and at the head of the armies of the United States.

  Company "F" had some wild-western defects, but for the purpose for which they were organized and brought together they had no superiors. Before we get through we will say the same of the First Nebraska Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, with whom we were afterwards associated.

  Chapter VIII.

  The Stage Service – The Concord Coach – The Post Commander – Jack Morrow's Dinner – Hewey Morgan – Burke and the Cordwood – The Mormons – The Wrecked Mule Train – Gardner and the Cheyenne – Gilman's Advice – The Letter in the Blouse The Closing Letter – Correspondence of the Soldiers

  DURING all this time the stage service was kept up. The stages did not seem to have any regular service, except this, that as fast as they got a coach-load they went through. People in the coaches were all armed. Sometimes two or three coaches went through at a time. The service was not irregular as being neglected, but was irregular because it was overcrowded, and the condition of the country unsafe. The dangerous part of the line was considered at that time to be between Fort Kearney and our fort, "Fort Cottonwood," as it was generally called. The stage stations were about ten miles apart, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less, according to the location of the ranches. Stores of shelled corn, for the use of the stage horses, were kept at principal stations along the line of the route. Intermediate stations between these principal stations were called "swing stations," where the horses were changed. For instance, the horses of a stage going up were taken off at a swing station, and fed; they might be there an hour or six hours; they might be put upon another stage in the same direction, or upon a stage returning. It was the policy of the stage company to make the business as profitable as possible, so it did not run its coaches until each coach had a good load, and they were most generally crowded with persons both on the inside and on top. Sometimes a stage would be almost loaded with women. From time to time stage company wagons went by loaded with shelled corn for distribution as needed at the swing stations. All of the coaches carried Government mail in greater or less quantities. Occasionally when the mail accumulated, a covered wagon loaded with mail went along with the coaches. These coaches were billed to go a hundred miles a day going west; sometimes they went faster. Coming east the down-grade of a few feet per mile enabled them to make better time. They went night and day, and a jollier lot of people could scarcely be found anywhere than the parties in these coaches.

  The coaches were all built alike, upon a standard pattern called the "Concord Coach," with heavy leather springs, and they drove from four to six horses according to their load. The drivers sat up in the box, proud as brigadier-generals, and they were as tough, hardy and brave a lot of people as could be found anywhere. As a rule they were courteous to the passengers, and careful of their horses. They made runs of about a hundred miles and back. I got acquainted with many of them, and a more fearless and companionable lot of men I never met. There seemed to be an idea among them that while on the box they should not drink liquor, but when they got off they had stories to tell, and generally indulged freely. They gathered up mail from the ranches, and trains, and travelers along the road, and saw that it reached its destination. They had but very few perquisites, but among others was the getting furs, principally beaver-skins, and selling them to passengers. Most of them had beaver-skin overcoats with large turned-up collars. We soon understood the benefits of these collars, and the officers of our post put large beaver collars on their overcoats, and the
men of the company fitted themselves out with tanned wolfskin collars, which were equally as good. Wolves were so numerous that there was quite an industry in shooting or poisoning them, and tanning their skins for the pilgrim trade.

  The commanding officer of our post was, as stated, Major George M. O'Brien, of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry. For a while I acted as Adjutant, Quartermaster, Commissary, and Ordnance officer combined. Major O'Brien was a fine-looking, high-strung Irishman, educated in the University of Dublin. He was the oldest brother of Captain O'Brien of my company. Major O'Brien took an active interest in the establishment of the post, and getting it ready for the outbreak which was to come in the summer. A squad from one or the other of our companies was sent down with teams nearly every week to Fort Kearney for supplies. The teams would go down one week, and come back the next. The distance was called one hundred miles.