The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-17


INSTRUMENTATION, due chiefly to an uncoutrollable
propensity for ''guying' everybody with whom
he came in contact. and particularly all gor-
geously arrayed officers. It is said that just be-
fore the battle Of Fair Oaks. he yelled out to one
OF the officers of the regiment. pointing to .
buzzard which was soaring overhead. 'Blodgetts
there's a lookout for you"
The officer good-naturedly replied, "Ben. IL
you are ever hit, it will be in the mouth The
remark proved prophetic, for within an hour
afterward a bullet struck him squarely in the
mouth.
'It is not generally known" said an old sol
der to a Journal reporter, that the subject OF
The Song OF a Vacant Chair ono Of the most
familiar war poems, was a New England youth
named Will J. Grout, who was second lieutenant
of Company d, Fifteenth Massachusetts,
regiment When the enemy fired
on his company at Balls Bluff,
1t broke ranks like a startled flock of sheep. He
rallied the men, although a mere boy, and from
tnat time on, the Fifteenth was known as the
best OF the Massachusetts regiments. While
swimming across the Potomac river from Balls
Binh to Harrison Island. on the 2lst of October,
1901, Grout was shot in the back of the head. l
was Just ahead of him, and, as he went down.
he said to me: Tell the boys that / would have
got across il | hadn't been wounded"
II don't care to mention his name, because It
would displease him, but one of the most fear
less and courageous soldiers that I knew in the
war" said an old veteran to . Journal reporter,
was q chaplain. When the Union forces were
demoralized and on the point Of making q dis.
graceful flight at the battle OF Balls Bluff, this
chaplain took a pistol in each hand. and walking
before the Union troops who were engaged in a
scramble to get aboard q boat, exclaimed. by
- we will have no Bull Run here. I'll shoot the
frst unwounded man that goes aboard that
hna%I HA rrn.1I AA-> H. -
had dared to cross his warning. He was too
good a soldier and too brave a leader to remain q
chaplain. and he was afterwards made a colonel.
He was a truly pious man. however, and when
the language he used at Balls Bluff was once re-
called to his mind after the close of the war, he
expressed to me the hope that he had been for
given for It."
Among the curious relics in the State Library.
there is a sheet Of bark, as thin as legal cap pa
per, on which is written a message to Governof
Morton by an Indiana soldier, IN camp at Tur
key Bend, on the James river, in July "a, 1862
1t reads as follows:
ARMY OF POTOMAC.
TURKEY BEND OF JAMES RIVER,
July "a, 1862.
Hon: o. F. Morton-To show what a soldier can do
when hard up,I send you this specimen. 1t is the
bark of a tree growing near our camp. We will write
the bark off all the trees but what our friends at home
shall hear from us. We have made our mark on troa-
son with bayonets, and win make a longer mark be-
fore we get through. The Twentieth Indiana is in
good condition, and out on picket. General Hearney
Respectfully, e. ME-. HOOKER.
Twentieth Indiana.
The bark is now broken and in pieces, but is
pasted together on a sheet of paper. The writing
is still legible, with the exception of one or two
lines which have become indistinct from the
wear of time.
II see an account of that flag raising at Pa
ducah, KY, by the Eleventh Indiana regiment
is in print again. said Will Homberg. ''This
account was written by a man of mixed memor-
les. and he has the affair badly jumbled. He
says the house over which the boys ran UP
the stars and stripes. was at that time used by
Gen. G. +. Smith as headquarters. / was in the
regiment, took part in the flag raising and know
al about ii. While the Eleventh was in camp at
Paducah, a flag Of truce came in one day, borne
by rebel officers. AS they were brought through
the streets to General Smiths headquarters.
they passed the residence of Mr.. Voolfolk, an old
Kentucky gentleman who had two good looking
daughters, young ladies. The Voolfolk house
stood opposite General Smiths headquarters, and
when the rebels came by there the girls threw
open the windows and waved their handkerchief
in welcome. Some Of the boys said they waved
rebel flags, but | think not. Some of the Elev-
enth boys were on guard duty at headquarters,
and they at once reported the incident at our
camp. The story went from mouth to mouth
with lightning-like celebrity, and in an incredibly
short time the boys had fallen in line, and headed
by a band, were marching through the town to
the Voolfolk mansion. Pap McGinnis marched
at the head OF regiment with the flag, and when
we got to the house, Dan Macauley put up the.
flag. tying the stick to the chimney. The boys
tried to make Voolfolk define himself, but he
would only say that he was loyal to kentucky.
After the flag had been pu. up, and the boys
were about ready to leave, Gen. Lew Wallace
appeared, and said: Boys, you have done your
duty; now 60 back to camp"
0 our way towards camp we met the Eighth
Missouri regiment coming in. There were 400 of
them pulling a rope attached to a fre-engine.
They said they were going to Woolfolks to wash
the old rebel out. General Wallace stopped them
and told them to go back to camp, as the old man
had been attended to. Company A, Chicago
Light Artillery, was next, coming down the pike
with a sixty foot pole and a flag, but they also
were told that their services we're not needed,
and they returned to camp. There never waa
any little thing that caused as much excitement
in the regiment as the waving of those two hand.
kerchiefs by those fair little Voolfolk rebels
81 was one of the youngest members of the
Sixth Indiana regiment. in the three months
torney Charles L.. Holstein. SIN that day the
~luttering Of a leaf or. the breaking of q twig
was sufficient to brighten the soldiers who had
not yet become used to wars alarms. After the
battle of Philippi our army was camped on the
hills north Of the town. Philippi is surrounded
by hills. The Tigris Valley river runs on the
north side of tho town. The rebels were south
of us in a fortified camp. about twelve miles off
To approach our camp they had to cross this
river. It could not be crossed except by one
bridge and a ford Immediately on the right Of
the bridge. about the width of a company front.
Company B, Sixth Indiana, was stationed at
the ford. which was protected by lath iops as a
sort of breastworks. The logs reached from the
right of the bridge across the front of the ford
to a point where the hills again began. Our
pickets were stationed on the hills beyond
Philippi. towards the enemy.
"At that early stage OF the war alarms were
frequent and generally cause)ess. One very dark
night. about midnight. the pickets ran into camp
in Wild alarm. saving the rahci army was ad.