Today in History:

313 Series I Volume IV- Serial 4 - Operations in the South and West

Page 313(Official Records Volume 4)  


CHAP. XII.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-UNION.

CAMP WILDCAT, October 20, 1861.

Colonel WOLFORD:

You will join us immediately. Our advance guards are firing, and have been at it for some time. I have no means of telling the force that is engaged against us.

Yours, respectfully,

T. T. GARRARD, Colonel Third Regiment.

N. B.- Please send this to General Thomas or to some one in command of troops from Camp Robinson.

[Indorsement.]

TEN A. M.- 2 miles west of Mount Vernon.

The Ohio regiment is up, and the Indiana will be up by 1 p. m. The whole force in the rear has been hurried up. Send us all you can spare.

A. SCHOEPF, Brigadier-General.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 21, 1861.

HonorableSIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to submit the report requested in your letter of the 19th instant.*

* * * * *

We left Saint Louis October 14, and arrived at Indianapolis in the evening. Remained at Indianapolis October 15, and conversed freely with Governor Morton. We found that the State of Indiana had come nobly pu to work of suppressing the rebellion. Fifty-five regiments, with several batteries of artillery, had been raised and equipped; a larger number of troops in proportion to population than any other State had sent into the field. The best spirit prevailed, and it was manifest that additional troops could readily be raised. The government had established an arsenal, and furnished all the Indiana troops with full supplies of ammunition, including fixed ammunition for their batteries of artillery. This arsenal was visited, and found to be in full operation. It was under the charge of a competent pyrotechnist. Quite a number of females were employed in making cartridges, and I venture to assert that the ammunition is equal to that which is manufactured anywhere else. Governor Morton stated that his funds for this purpose were exhausted, but the Secretary desired him to continue his operations, informing him that the Government would pay for what had been furnished to the troops in the field. It is suggested that an officer of ordnance be sent to Indianapolis to inspect the arsenal and ascertain the amount expended in the manufacture of ammunition, with a view to reimbursing the State.

Left Indianapolis October 16 for Louisville, Ky., where we arrived at 12.30 o'clock p. m., and had an interview with General Sherman, commanding the Department of the Cumberland. He gave a gloomy picture of affairs in Kentucky, stating that the young men were generally secessionists and had joined the Confederates, while the Union men, the aged and conservatives, would not enrol themselves to engage in conflict with their relations on the other side. But few regiments could

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*On p. 538, Vol. III of this series. That portion of the report here omitted relates to affairs in Missouri, and will be found on pp. 540-549 of Vol. III.

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