The Forty-eighth Regiment Illinois Infantry was raised in the southern part of the State, and organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, in the month of September, 1861. It left Camp Butler on the 11th of November about nine hundred strong, and arrived at Cairo, Ill., where it went into camp on the 13th, and remained there until January 11, 1862. It then moved with Gen. Grant's command down the Mississippi River to Fort Jefferson, Ky., returning the 21st of March, but soon left camp again with the expedition of Gen. Grant up the Tennessee River to Fort Henry. Gen. McClernand gave this regiment the credit of being the first Federal regiment that ever formed in line of battle in Tennessee. This was at Camp Halleck, six miles below Fort Henry. It, with the rest of Gen. McClernand's army, moved into Fort Henry February 6th, after Tighlman had surrendered to the gunboats. On the 11th of that month it moved toward Fort Donelson, and on the following day arrived close under the works. On the 13th, it, together with the 49th and 17th Illinois regiments, made the charge on the works of the enemy. It was with Gen. W. H. L. Wallace on the 15th of February in his defense against Buckner, when he attempted to leave the Fort. The loss on this occasion was eight killed, thirty-one wounded and three missing. Among the killed was Lieut.-Col. Thomas H. Smith, who had always proved himself a gallant officer and a courteous gentleman. On the sixth of March the regiment embarked on the Tennessee River, and sailing up that stream arrived at Savannah, Tenn., on the 12th, and on the 21st moved to Pittsburg Landing. It took a gallant part in the battle of Shiloh, as we have seen. It lost in this battle half its numerical strength. Lieut. Holmes, of Co. I, was among the killed, and Col. Haynie and Lieut.-Col. Sandford among the wounded. It advanced on Corinth with Gen. Halleck's army, frequently changing brigade commanders, Generals Fowler, Logan, Judah, Marsh and Ross taking the command at different times. It arrived at Bethel, Tenn., Corinth having been evacuated, on the 7th of June, 1862. Here it remained, doing its part toward "Unionizing" the inhabitants of that place, until March 9, 1863. A part of the command participated in the battles of Corinth and Hatchie and also in several scouts after the rebel Forest, upon one of which, an expedition to Lexington, it was absent for several days, capturing-not the rebel leader it had hoped to-but, in the language of Colonel Greathouse, "nothing but the measles and the itch." Upon leaving Bethel it removed to Germantown, and on the 7th of June to Memphis. In a few days it embarked for the Yazoo River, and was soon in the rear of Vicksburg. During the month of June the men were digging trenches and fighting, until July 4th, when they moved toward Jackson with Sherman, and on the 6th had an engagement with the enemy at Black River and crossed the river in their very face. The regiment arrived at Jackson on the 9th, and was engaged in skirmishing with Johnston's forces until the 16th, at which time it participated in the general charge against the works of the rebels, losing twenty-five in killed and wounded. Among the killed was Major W. J. Stephenson, who fell while gallantly performing his duty with his "back to the heath and his feet to the foe." He was a chivalric, faithful, and efficient officer, ever ready when duty called. From Jackson by the way of the Black River, where it arrived July 24, 1863. It remained at this place and Oak Ridge until September 28th, when it moved up the Mississippi to Vicksburg. It left the latter place on the first of October and arrived at Memphis on the 9th. On the 11th of the same month we find it on the march toward Corinth, still in Gen. Smith's division, in whose command it had been since March 9, 1863, Gen. Corse now temporarily commanding. It arrived at Corinth October 18th, and at Iuka, twenty-five miles east, on the 20th. On the 26th it moved to Eastport, and then crossed the Tennessee River, moving with the rest of Sherman's command via Florence, Rogersville, Fayetteville and Manchester to Dechard, where it joined the army of the Cumberland. Leaving Dechard November 10th "the boys" went to Stephenson and from there to Bridgeport, where they left every thing they had in their posession, excepting their guns and cartridges, and moved across the Tennessee River south to Trenton, Ga. They dislodged the THE FORTY-EIGHTH. 329 enemy from this place, and that part of Lookout Mountain, and then went up the Lookout Valley. On the 20th of November, crossed the Tennessee River north to Cumberland, and on the 22d and 23d they obtained a fresh supply of rations and cartridges, and again crossed that river south, in scows, on the morning of the 24th, and on the same day they occupied Mt. Allison before Bragg came up. They fought their share in the battle of Missionary Ridge, on the 25th of November, pursuing the enemy long before day on the 26th toward Ringgold, and up the railroad. They burned the bridges on the 28th, and on the day following started, without rations, blankets, or shoes, over the frozen ground, to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville. They returned to Chattanooga on the 17th of December, by the way of Lookout and Mount Marrows, and the next day to Bridgeport, thence on foot to Scotsboro, Alabama, where they arrived in January, 1864. With the exception of thirty-five-out of four hundred and fifty -the regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and left the South for their homes on the 24th of January for the purpose of recruiting. They returned after an absence of two months eight hundred strong, ready to enter the service again, and to battle for the right until the rebellion is no more. Colonel Lucien Greathouse was born at Carlinville, Illinois, June 7, 1842. He attended the common schools of that place until he arrived at the age of eleven, at which time he entered college at Lebanon, Illinois, where he remained for two years. He then entered the University of Indiana and was graduated at the early age of sixteen. He soon after commenced the study of law and in 1860 was admitted to the bar. Ere he had reached his nineteenth year, the rebellion broke out, and the cry "To arms!" reached us. Young Greathouse, full of patriotism, could not listen to the appeal for soldiers without any response. He was among the first to leave his home and friends for the glorious cause, and we find him commencing his military career as a private in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, a three months' regiment, but he was soon promoted to corporal for gallantry while in camp. Having served his time and returned home on September, 1861, 330 PATRIOTISM OF ILLINOIS. he again entered the service as Captain of Company C, Fortyeighth Illinois Regiment, but was soon promoted to Major, and shortly after-November 21-to Lieutenant-Colonel, which rank he held until February 26, 1864. He then received the promotion to the Colonelcy of the regiment, which office he had well earned by faithfulness to his duty. He had accompanied the regiment in all their dreary and toilsome marches, had shared with them their many privations, and had ever shown himself a firm patriot and a true soldier. 6 37 38 39 4 SCH DUE 1 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63/64 65/66 67 68 69/70 71 72 73 74 75 CHAPTER XVII. HISTORY OF GEN. MITCHELL'S CAMPAIGN-THE MARCH UPON HUNTSVILLE-SPLENDID THE HERE was one division of General Buell's army, which, although co-operating with the movements of the main army in its operations at Pittsburg Landing and Corinth, detailed in the 15th chapter, yet occupied a distant part of the field and carried on virtually an independent campaign, sufficiently so to warrant an interruption of chronological sequence, and the devotion of a separate chapter to the development of that campaign. We therefore return to Nashville. 1 General Mitchell left at the same time with the main army, but took the road to Murfreesboro, at which point he remained until the 4th of April, building bridges, putting roads into repair, and organizing and stripping his army for the impending campaign. Long before this time, the rebel force which had occupied Murfreesboro, had withdrawn and joined Beauregard on the new southern line of defense. On the 4th, General Mitchell marched to Shelbyville, county seat of Bedford, Tennessee, twenty-six miles distant, and on the 7th advanced to Fayetteville, twenty-seven miles further on, which places he occupied without opposition. On the 8th, fifteen miles beyond Fayetteville, he crossed the state line of Alabama. Huntsville was now the objective point, the occupation of which would sever the main line of communication between the rebel armies in Virginia |