That will keep the Rebels focused on their front while I roll them up from the rear. Then it’s on to Chicago. A good day, this is. A very good day indeed!
14
Springfield, Illinois, October 3, 1861
Colonel of Volunteers John Barrie grabbed a rifle from one of his men standing guard at the station and fired it in the air.
“Halt!” he shouted to the crowd of panicked townspeople crowding the station platform. “Clear this station! Now!”
The sound of guns rumbled in from the north, marking the progress of the Confederate Union’s advance into his army’s rear. Springfield’s panicked civilians heard it too. The chaos that had wrecked much of the city during last summer’s Partisan War was fresh on their minds. They didn’t want to be caught in the city if it changed hands again.
Barrie wasn’t as worried as they were because he didn’t think the madness of partisan fighting would return. This time around the men fighting on both sides were organized as uniformed armies. Bandits would no longer be able to commit their depredations by masquerading as partisans. Any who tried would be shot on sight by both armies. Barrie had also taken the precaution of ordering his men to destroy the stocks of liquor in the taverns and hotels. That would stop a lot of trouble before it started.
However, if the Confederates did capture the town there would be scores to settle. Over half of Springfield’s citizens had voted for the Douglas / Davis Democratic ticket in 1860 and were therefore loyal to the Confederate Union. Most had followed the retreating Confederates out of town in July and taken refuge in Vandalia, Alton, or other towns to the south. They regarded the insurgent Free State Republicans as traitors to be held responsible for the atrocities of the Partisan War that had killed their friends and relatives and driven them from their homes, many of which had been burned and looted during the partisan anarchy.
Of course the Republicans had suffered just as much from these depredations by bandits who had no attachment to either side, but the returning Confederates weren’t likely to be in a mood to judge the situation fairly. “The Partisan War started when you rebelled against the duly elected national government!” they would say. “You’re responsible for the death and destruction, now you’re going to pay for it!”
So Barrie didn’t blame the Free Staters who preferred to leave town rather than stay and risk retribution. They were crowded around the station hoping to board any west-bound train that would take them across the Illinois River, thereby escaping the Confederate envelopment. The difficulty was that all the trains in Central Illinois had been commandeered by General Grant. They were to be used only to move his soldiers to the points of the Confederate breakthrough.
“Attention!” Barrie shouted when the crowd calmed. “The railroads are reserved exclusively for the army. No civilians will be boarded. You will be safest going to your homes and staying there until the fighting finishes. If the Confederates do take this town they will escort you in safety under flag of truce to our lines nearer Chicago.”
Barrie had no idea whether the Confederates would care about escorting anybody to the Rebel lines if they took the town, but it was better to say what was needed to keep the people calm and safe. He watched the crowd disperse. From their looks of resignation he guessed that they were heeding his advice to return to their homes and wait out the fighting.
“We want to help defend the town,” said one of a group of middle-aged men. “We’ve got our own weapons, but want to wear the Free State uniform. Do you have any you can spare?”
Barrie shook his head. “Untrained men are liabilities in combat. You’re welcome to volunteer after the battle is over when we can train you properly and assign you to a regiment. But for now it’s best for you to defend your property and your families by staying in your own homes.”
These prideful and stubborn old men nodded and begin making their way to their homes. I’ve just solved one more problem before it got started. No matter how desperate the situation might become, I will not have undisciplined civilians roaming the streets taking potshots at anybody they think looks suspicious.
Barrie was shaken from his thoughts by the booming of cannons from the south. The Confederates were making it plain that they would surge forward from their main line if Barrie’s men were buffaloed by the rearward attack into pulling out of their lines in a panicky retreat. Barrie knew enough military tactics to understand that the Confederates wanted to get them out of their trenches and force them to fight as a fleeing mob on open ground.
Barrie had been to the front twice already today to stop panic before it got started. He had walked among the men, talking and joking with them. He had seen the men gain confidence to stay calm behind their parapets while intermittent shellfire burst around them and bullets whizzed overhead. Barrie congratulated himself on the effect his leadership had made in raising his men’s morale.
Two months ago I was just a make-believe “sergeant” in Elmer Ellsworth’s private militia company. Now our “baggy-legged peacocks” have been forged into real soldiers. I’ve been promoted to colonel of a division of twelve thousand men, and I am not yet twenty-four. If this war continues another year, and if I fight well, I will be promoted to command of a corps or even an entire army. For now I must learn by following explicit orders from Grant. But I must also develop military instincts to think for myself. I will be expected to lead!
He went back inside the station to wait for Grant, whom he had been notified would be arriving within the hour. Richard Yates, Governor of Free State Illinois, and his secretary were also sitting forlornly in the stationmaster’s office. They, too, were waiting for instructions from Grant advising them as to whether the town would be defended or evacuated. The governor’s secretary lugged a huge suitcase filled with the papers recording the Free State Government’s recent business. Springfield’s mayor sat on the bench next to them, looking at his watch nervously.
Grant and his escort staff arrived a half-hour later on a locomotive pulling a single car. Grant shook hands with everyone but wasted no more time on formalities. “The enemy has crossed the Wabash and is advancing across our rear with cavalry detachments,” he said tersely. “They are not yet behind us in force, but they will be soon if we don’t stop them.”
“We heard firing behind us about an hour ago,” said Barrie.
“That was the Confederate’s lead reconnaissance battalion. They ran into the cavalry patrol I posted to guard the bridge over the Sangamon. I don’t have enough cavalrymen to keep them off the railroad, so I’ll need some of your men to go up there and reinforce them.”
Grant spread out a railroad map of Indiana and Illinois on the station master’s desk.
“The enemy’s main force crossed the Wabash here, near Clinton, Indiana. They’ve circled around to the south behind Terre Haute with part of their forces. The Terre Haute garrison is cut off and out of the fight. The Confederates have driven past Terre Haute and are threatening Indianapolis. The rest of them have moved north up the east bank of the Wabash. They have re-crossed the river near Williamsport and cut in behind Danville. John Pope pulled his division out of the line without orders and went charging into the Confederates head-on.”
Grant bit down on his teeth and puffed his cheeks in disgust. “Pope’s men were caught out of their entrenchments by three or four Confederate divisions. I got word that Pope surrendered a couple hours ago. Any of my other division commanders who act without orders will be court martialed. We must fight this army as a unit guided by my orders alone. Is that clear?”
Barrie was shocked by Pope’s rapid transformation from a pompous but popular general to a Confederate prisoner.