The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-02-19
FAMOUS WESTERN REGIMENT.
Four Years on the Firing Line With the a7tn
Ind. } J.


all the regiments that took a hand in put
ting down the rebellion there was but one
9th Ind; but she was Honey, and in a
class by herself. In fact, there were very
few features Except in her i,uniform) in
which she did not differ from all other
regiments, both as to her Individual MEM
bers and general makeup. ~,
OF the ColOnels who hurried to the
front with their regiments in 81 and go,
by the end of '63 had in large part and
for various reasons either resigned or been
promptly promoted to be Brigadiers. But
not so with our Colonel, fOrthe was stay
er from Stayersville. Red hair, gray eyes,
sharp nose, stocky build. 80 per cent sand.
with a firm Discriminate to put down the
rebellion, whether any one else took a
hand in it or not, ard regardless of the
fact that the other fellow could and did
on many occasions put up an argument
against the aforesaid putting down that
was distressingly uEanswerabe. And
among the whole outfit of officers. includ-
ing the Colonel and myself, there was not
one that could by any stretch of the i'm
| agination be classed ne q military genius;
and this perhaps accounts for the fact that
while many of the Indiana regiments car
ried on their rolls from first to last from
$500 to 5000 men, the 9th Ind. had but
| 1.l01 all told, and these were in very large
part tillers of the soil, whose experience
| in the art of war was with the ubiquitous
humble bee and the festive yellow jacket,
| with an occasional interview with a bald
hornet, by way of variety. And even af-
ter a year or more of practice in drilling,
| mixed in with mud marches. skirmishes
and an occa siOnal skedaddle under Banks.
l always felt when on battalion drill, es-
pecially if the I'd Mass. or % Wis. was
o,,yf,f hot drill sycv Fnr /
berger cheese that one or the other of
these regiments would get the cheese and
| all that pertained to it. But when it came
to fight or foot race. especially the foot
race, the old eth always "got there" and
if the advance happened to be toward the
rear there was always few who got
there" ahead of the crowd.
I call to mind an instance of the foot
| race variety that happened on May %,
1862. VIXEN Gen. Banks took the contract
to pilot StonewalI Jackson's army down
staff. our Colonel and host of others
were horseback, while was afoot. Now,
do not know just what speed l was
geared at at that time, hut do know that
when We struck the Potomac. 36 miles
away, found myself several lengths
ahead of the procession
Those of Won who have never heard the
merry chorus of the shells coming mp from
the rear and letting all holds so just as
they have caught mp with you, can have
no conception of their invigorating
effect OF tired and exhausted humanity.
AS nccelerators of speed theirs is nothing
in all the universe that can equal them.
Another distinguishing feature of the
regiment was the size of the men that com
posed it. Statistics show that. man for
man. it was the tallest regiment in the
army While we had in eaci, company a
few men we dubbed the butt cuts, large
iOrity of the men ranged from 6 feet
to 6 feet II inches. This latter hight WAS
that of Capt. Dave Buskirk, who was the
largest man in the army.' and when it
came to demoIishing the forest and build
ing breastworks in front of tile enemy, no
regiment in the service could beat the
9th in getting under cover.
Capt. Buskirk. notwithstanding his
enormous size, was model Soldier, and
on steady. even pull could not be beat:
hut he wasn't much of a sbrinter. and
when we went into the pi1ofing business
the .Johnnies gObbled him up: and it was a
good thing for the rest Of MS that they
did. for about half of Jackson's army
stopped to see what It was they had
chance to clear the way SO MS not to ham,
per their progress down tile valley.
The capture of Capt. Buskirk marked
an epoch in the history Of captures by
the Johnnies. They had never dreamed
of seeing Yank of such heroic size. and
doubtless many of them concluded that it
would take more than one Southern man
TO "chew up five of him.
The news of his capture sprend rapidly
to the rear. and to look ont for the Yankee
giant as he passed that way, and it is no
a inn IN hot Porupu1'c 1unbn
in his palmest day never received the at
tention of the multitude that Capt. Bus
kirk received on his tramp from Winches-
ter to Richmond.
When they had him corralled in Libby
Prison. men, women and children hocked
about the prison to get sight of him. Capt
Buskirk, typical Hoosier that he was,
turned his attention Immediately to busi-
ness. He decided at once that if he had
to become permanent exhibit some
thing must come of it. lie then selected
wise, to look after and take charge of the
gate receipts. This man informed the
eager crowd that the big Yank could only
he seen between the hours OF 10 and u
and q and o'clock each day. and then
only on the delivering up on their part of
stipulated number of loaves, pies and
other provisions in proportion.
AS business proposition the Scherne
worked to perfection, and no prisoners of
war ever Jared so well as did the fellow
prisoners of Capt. Buskirk, willie he re-
manned with them.
Some of the good sisters who visited
him. woman like, were little curious to
know something of his family, and they
| asked him if he was not the largest one
among them. He answered: 90. no: in
fact" he said, 81 am the smallest one of
the whole lot" He told them that his
father was six inches taller and weighed
100 pounds more than he did. and that he
had two living sisters that could stand
fat-footed and lick salt from the top of
his head, while third sister, taller than
either of the others, had died before she
got her growth.
Another very remarkable distinguishing
feature of the 9th Ind. was the under
pinning of the men who composed it. We
had in our brigade n regiment from BOs-
ton, Mass, and another from Newark,
n. ]. The men of these regiments were
nearly all small of stature. and having
been raised in cities there was no urgent
necessity for an extra amount of their an
atomy running to feet. Not so with the
clod -hoppers of the 9th and it is safe to
say that no other regiment of equal num-
hers even patted down SO large an area
or carried along with them so large an
| amount of that Old Virginia red clay as
did the 9th. When the mud was of the
proper consistency the boys in marching
| over it with their No. ii brogans patted
| it down as smooth as if a r0ad-roller had
| gone over it: but in thea breaking up of
Winter, or after long continued rain. it
l u. Nt.x IyNsR ps.a