The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1885-08-12
TIE 2lST ILLINOIS.
HOW "COL.D U. s. GRANT TAUGHT
THE REGIMENT OBEDIENCE.
The COlonors First Learning Co
Soldier from tho start"-some IL
lustrations Of Rather Rigid Dis-s
Cipline- Enforcing sobricty
INentraIIa IIlsl -. chIcag1 TImesI

lCentralia ulls.} Cor Chicago Tlmesl
Capt !. Taylor, of this city, who Is In
! the mail service ou She southern division
! of the Illinois Central Mt the present time,
| and was adiutaut of the Twenty first Iii.
| nOis regiment and uttcrward elected cap
| tain of a company gives the following ac.
! count OF the reorganization OF the regi-
| mCut under the command Of Gen u. s.
! Grant, who was appointed its colonel The
! Twenty first Illinois regiment was made
! up from companies that had been orga.
! niZgd too late to be received under Mr.
! LiuCOln's first call fOr7j 600 soldiers to sup.
/ press the rebellion. Governor Yates, how.
! ever, accepted companies enough to Orga-
| niLu ten regiments. and mustered them
! into the state service for thirty days At
! MattOOn, ILL.,, the Twenty first was
! mustered into the service by L. s. Grant
! Ehc regiment remained the most of tho
! thirty days at Mauoon its principal
! service being to fight the Commissary and
! give more or less annoyance to the OIL.
! Cals and citizens of MattOUn and sur.
| rounding country
The material Of the regiment had come
! from the workshops and farms, and
though of the best was sadly deficient in
! knowledge and discipline of a soldiers
| duty The colonel that had been selected
at Muttoon proved a failure and when
! the regiment was transferred to Spring.
field, HIS, preparatory to being mustered
into the service for three years, Governor
| Yates refused to commission him, and
sent them L. S. Grant, the man that had
| mustered them into the state service His
selection as colonel was not well received
by the mon, They knew him only as
West Pointer and a man who had
| served in the regular army-tWO things
! which, according To the crude idea of sol
| dicriug we had gained, untitled him for the
command But it was "ITobson's choice "
take him or go home The men finally
yielded and took the West Pointer" for
colonel
In Camp Yutcs there was 1000 young.
healthy fellows, eager for war, without
arms, tents or garrison equippagC of any
kind. We had a guard house, and it was
generally well filled We had camp
guard that did duty with sticks for guns.
We drilled very little. Our guards walked
their beats but their backs were turned
when anyone wanted to 90 in or out In
this condition the West Pointer" took
charge, by quietly coming to camp on
foot, accompanied by the adjut0nt gen
eral of the state Being introduced to the
officer in command, Mai MCMaCkin, aud
after making some inquiries, he quietly
directed the adiutant to draw up his first
order. 1t ordered that the guards be re-
3 duced, the guard.hOuse empticd, and the
men in camp from 8 to 12 H. m, and to
5 p m for drill He began tho work of
Cquipping US for the field, and he made it
a special point to besiCge the departments
at Springfield, and in a few days he had
{ the regiment equipped rs well as it was
possible to be done at that time
One evening, while the colonel was
seated in the little rOund,house called
headquarters at camp Yates, visitor in
the person Of Col. Palmer, whose regiment
was encamped at Jacksonville, Ills, called
upon him, and rendered him tTansporta-
ton for his regiment, along with his own.
Grant remarked to him, My men have
their transportation They go by foot
These men have got to become soldiers
before this thing is over, and they may as
well learn from the start On July 8,
1851, we made our first march, it be-
! ing four miles out of Springfield, where
, camp was struck near q farm house The
colonel was detained in town on some
business, and the boys made good use of
the iuct by helping themselves to every
7 thing eatuble they could secure along the
line of march
A German q member of Company d.
/. reached camp minus anything But
running ut large in the field where they
struck camp was number of fine fowls
Albllo NNAAN=lANANNl AAbl " BD WlbLAOuk HIS
supper and, singing out q fine pullet, he
' gave chase, and succeeded in bagging il
in q brush pile. He was Tust emerging
prize In hand, when Col Grant arrived in
camp The colonel seized him by the
collar, and brought him, chicken in hand
, in full view Of the camp, and tied him to
! tree. This was rather rigid discipline
y Some Of the boys felt very indigdant, and
I. gathering around Hans began to discuss
T. the matter Grant sat at his tent and
y watched them for a few moments When
quite IL group had gathered around the
German he appeared and gave the cont
J.. man Men, 90 to your quartCrs! and
they scattered in short order
Our march carried us to Quincy. At
Jacksonville many stragglcrs brought up
the rear Grant having turned the com,
IL maud over TO another officer, stationed
+ himself at the gate of the fair grounds,
!, and as the stragglcrs with their Cunteens
e slung mt their sides came along he gobblcd
e each fellow and carefully inspected his
B. Cautccn. Many were found that had not
e been rcplCuishcd at the public wells in tho
.s city All such the colonel turned upside
5, down, noglCCtng to rCtuE the stopper.
z At a little town not far from Naples
where the boys were enjoying themselves
In @ saloon, Grant put an end TO the fun
0 by clearing out the saloon Grant took
every prcCautiOn TO keep his men sober
and sometimes after march had moro
than a dozen of them tied to saplngs at
H. one time These stern and rigorous
w methods had their effect on the men, for
~ with his punishment he was kind and
q ConsidGIutG toward all who respected
i themselves as soldiers and men. 1t was
a not % great while before the good men
]r rapidly learned to love and respect the
le West Point colonel
!! From the camp opposite Quincy VIC
" went to Palmyra and thence TO Macon,
and after remaining there for a short time
proceeded to Mexico, Mo where the reg
ie imGnt went into camp for several weeks
Here Grant improved his opportunities,
and with the same tTmucss put the rogi
lg ment through a course of drill and
81 brought us to a realizing service of O
g, soldiers duty. From Mexico, Mo va
were transferred to Lonton I'm south.
western Missouri and IL was while en-
lt route there and when the regiment was
"a going on board a boat at Jefferson bar.
rack, near st. Louis, that Col Grant i'm.
formed the officers of his command of bis
m promotion TO the rank of brigadier gen
m eral and that he would soon leave u.s.
.l lie went with us TO lrOntOn, but only
al remained a short time When he left u.
] fn hfe I... Ga