Camp cripple creek
tennessee
18 january - 24 june 1863



1 - 13 june
MON. 1 Cool and pleasant FULL MOON
21 -- John Boltz (1 KY I)
Chilcote
Brigade drill to-day
Busbey
...Write a letter to Father and Mother sending a daguerrotype
taken to day by an artist in camp. Deliver to [Cpl. James] Crouse
some package[s] that he is to leave at home. Joseph Croak[e]
returns to the co from Camp Dennison. Brings a letter from
A. Sticker [Who is this?] stating that he is discharged on account
of an ulcer on the leg. Brigade Drill. Dress Parade afternoon
and Inspection at Retreat [?].
**************************************************
TUE. 2 Rainy (but a disagreement on the temperature, see below!)
Birthday
McKee
Division Drill by General Palmer[,] Sham Battle between the 110 IL and a detachment of the 1st Tenn Cavalry [5th Middle Tenn Cavalry], Drizaling Rain [--] all quiet...
Chilcote
Rainy, as usual, but as it is warm does not make us feel so disagreeable.
Busbey
Cool and showery. Extra guards 10 from each company called for.
Much dissatisfaction among the officers and they visit Palmer in a
body to enter complaint. Crouse starts for home. Company Drill in
the forenoon. Division Drill afternoon. Gen Palmer superintending.
Have rather a pleasant time with maneuverings and cavalry charges...
**************************************************
WED. 3 Pleasant, with pure air
?? -- Daniel White (1 OH LA)
Chilcote
Received orders this evening to pack up and be ready to move at any time.
Busbey
...Division Drill again in the afternoon. Practice against the cavalry and the maneuvers to change front rapidly. Genl Palmer in his glory...Receive orders in the evening to be ready to march with 3 days['] rations in havesacks and 4 days['] sugar, coffee, and bread in knapsacks.
**************************************************
THUR. 4 Very pleasant; night rainy
21 -- Emery Fisk Redfern (90 OH B)
22 -- 1 Sgt Charles F. King (1 KY K)
28 -- Joseph C. Thole (2 KY D)
Skirmish in Franklin?
McKee
...Canondeing [sic] in the direction of Franklin[.] Excused
by the Doctor from all duty but Dress Parade.
Chilcote
A detail was made to go Murfreesboro with a wagon train.
Busbey
...Nearly all the regiment on duty but guards and pickets
released to go a scouting. Our regiment numbering 110
men moves about 4 miles from camp, taking a position at
the graveyard of the Ewery [Youree] settlement as a support
to our cavalry scouting beyond. But few rebels seen and
we return to camp about 12 o'clock. Send out pickets and
have all attend division drill...Heavy Artillery firing to the right all day...
**************************************************
FRI. 5 Cloudy, with drizzly rain
Birthday
McKee
Drizaling Rain[.] Very unwell[.] Excused by the Doctor from hard duty.
Chilcote
Division drill this evening. There was a man hung at Murfreesboro
today, for murdering one of our soldiers last summer.
Busbey
...The graveyard visited yesterday very ancient and primitive [with] graves dating back as far as 1801. The greater part marked with rough stone without inscription...Division drill afternoon. Maneuvering as in actual battle. Hear that the rebels were repulsed yesterday by McCook. The Readyville Pickets attacked this morning...
**************************************************
SAT. 6 Clear and pleasant
22 -- Cpl. James F. Fee (31 IN G)
23 -- John D. Veeley (1 KY A)
McKee
Still on the sick list not able for duty
Chilcote
Nothing more than usual in camp to-day.
Busbey
...No drill but quarters thoroughly policed. Dress Parade in the afternoon. The attack on Franklin on the 4th represented quite serious but the rebels finally repulsed. Vallandigham still at Shelbyville[,] The guest of Genl [Braxton] Bragg...Receive [Springfield] Republic of June 1 reporting Capt Mitchell as killed. [Capt James Mitchell was very much alive and well.]
********************************************************************************************************************************
SUN. 7 Pleasant day; Night rainy
18 -- John Limmenkohl (2 KY G)
McKee
Reported at Sick Call [and] not able for full duty[.] Division
Review by General Palmer at 3 o'clock [--] all quiet
Chilcote
We had division drill again today
Busbey
...Spend my leisure time in writing to the Republic and
reading Pickwick Papers [by Charles Dickens]...The two
Brigades reviewed by Genl Palmer, the affair being a
splendid one, terminating pleasantly.
**************************************************
MON. 8 Very pleasant--nice and warm
20 -- John L. Radcliffe (90 OH A)
21 -- John Milton Blair (2 KY D)
36 -- James Peddycourt (90 OH G)
McKee
took medica[tio]n all day[.] very sick in the afternoon[.]
all quiet in Camp today
Chilcote
Weather very nice and warm. Division drill.
Busbey
...The regiments drilled in Battalion Drills under the direction of Genl Palmer. [Sgt. Arnold] Pfister and [Cpl. Frank] Hodgkins return to the company. Their experience quite interesting. Near the Ewerys [Yourees'] residence is a large venerable tree used for 50 years as a place for holding elections, for public meetings, for church service &c[.] A rebel flag was taken from this primitive Town Hall.
**************************************************
TUE. 9 Pleasant day
22 -- Elnathan Smith (1 KY C)
27 -- Henry Snyder (31 IN I)
McKee
This is the first day that I have been intirely [sic] excused by the doctor
Chilcote
Drilling is all that is going on today.
Busbey
...Division Drill. Genl Cruft superintending...
**************************************************
WED. 10 Warm and showery during the day
22 -- Addison Nihart (90 OH G)
43 -- Capt James W. Mitchell (1 KY G)
McKee
Raining this morning [--] all quiet around our Lines[.]
Some better this morning of my Sickness...
Chilcote
This was a wet day. Had drill in the evening.
Busbey
...[Sgt. Samuel] Duff sick...Clay Hays Discharge papers made out...Our regiment drilled by Genl Palmer in person, afternoon.
**************************************************
THUR. 11 Warm and showery
20 -- Harrison E. Redfaern (90 OH B)
27 -- John W. Beatty (90 OH G)
Chilcote
Still rainy. Battalion drill this evening.
Busbey
...the men on the old original Muster Roll to be accounted for. Hear that Tom Fuller has been arrested as a deserter. George Hunt in camp. Write letter for him to his mother.
**************************************************
FRI. 12 Clear and warm
18 -- William H. Gaston (31 IN K)
McKee
Received Letter from home and writ[e] one in answer to it
Chilcote
One of the 31st IN boys was buried today. The 31st is in our brigade.
Busbey
...Division Drill at night. A man in the 2nd KY committed suicide at night by shooting himself. The two rebel officers who were arrested in Franklin as Spies have been executed--others today.
**************************************************
SAT. 13 Clear and very warm; Threatening rain in the evening
Birthday
McKee
all quiet in Camp[.] threatening Rain in the eavening [sic]
Chilcote
A 2nd KY man was buried today. He purposely shot himself last night.
Busbey
...Quarters thoroughly policed. No drill but dress parade in the evening. The man who shot himself last night buried today. Johnson selected as Generals['] Orderly. The Rebel Spies living at Franklin were Col Lawrence Williams Orton, chief of Artillery and Lieut Dunlap.


















14 - 30 june
SUN. 14 Very warm with heavy showers in the evening
26 -- Elisha Milton Baker (1 KY F)
26 -- Thomas J. Livingston (90 OH B)
Second assault on Port Hudson, LA
Second Battle of Winchester, TN
Chilcote
Company drill and inspection
Busbey
...The different Brigades reviewed by their respective commanders in the afternoon.
Tom Fuller and several others of the regiment returned under guard. Tom as well
as the others in rather low spirits. Daily duty men required to be present at inspection.
**************************************************
MON. 15 Clear and very warm
29 -- Maj. Alva Hadlock (1 KY F&S)
McKee
...beautiful day [--] all quiet
Chilcote
Drilling is now the order of the day
Busbey
...Bill Schultz in camp. Division Drill afternoon.
**************************************************
TUE. 16 Clear and warm NEW MOON
19 -- Lt. John B. Guthrie (1 KY C)
21 -- Charles M. Spencer (31 IN A)
23 -- Sgt. John W. Webb (90 OH E)
Chilcote
Chilcote says he was on picket, and sold 2 lbs. coffee to a woman for a silver dollar.
Busbey
...Battalion Drill afternoon terminating with company drill...
**************************************************
WED. 17 Warm and sultry; Rain at night
22 -- Joseph Binehower (1 OH LA)
Chilcote
Drill and dress parade
Busbey
...Squad Drill 10 to 11 o'clock. Have a very good time...Afternoon Battalion Drill and then the companies drilled by Sergeants under the supervision of the Genl. Inspection in the evening. Learn that Capt Stacy of the 2nd KY has been dishonorably discharged for forgery and Capt Brown for Swindling...
**************************************************
THUR. 18 Warm and rainy; Very heavy shower in the afternoon
Birthday
Chilcote
Not much doing, as it is a rainy day
Busbey
Squad drill in forenoon but no drill afternoon on account of rain...Two Spies or 2 murderers hung in Murfreesboro today. 2nd KY on a scout to day to Bradyville.
**************************************************
FRI. 19 More pleasant than yesterday
21 -- Charles Rupp (1 KY I)
Chilcote
There are 15 regiments of [Confederate] cavalry reported near
this place. Our regiment was held in camp as a reserve to
re-enforce [sic] the pickets, in case they were attacked.
Busbey
The cavalry yesterday captured a lot of rebel soldiers hoeing corn, 4 men from each company being detailed daily for that purpose. Squad Drill forenoon. Brigade Drill ending with company drill afternoon...The report in regard to Capt Stacy incorrect. He is at Nashville awaiting order[s].
**************************************************
SAT. 20 Warm, pleasant day
20 -- Cpl. Henry W. Dozer (90 OH B)
West Virginia joined the Union
Walker
I am not well, consequently, I shall not write much. Yesterday
and today I have been laid up with a headache, but I feel right
smart better this evening...I think that it will not be long any more
till I shall get home to see you all, for the Rebels are working just
to our hand now. They are 3,500 strong in Pennsylvania now,
and I hope they will get into some parts of Ohio, for that will wake
the citizens of Ohio to a sense of their duty. If they could see with
half an eye what they are bringing on themselves by following in
old Vallandighams's steps, or if they could feel the effects of war,
they would not utter one word of sympathy for the South, to
encourage them in their traitorous conduct...The citizens are
cutting their wheat. Corn is waist high. Blackberries will be ripe
in about a week...
Chilcote
This is Saturday. Did our washing and cleaned up our quarters.
Busbey
...Quarters policed and Dress Parade in the evening...
*******************************************************************************************************************************
SUN. 21 Very pleasant; Night cool
Birthday
McKee
Writ [sic] a Letter home to day[.] heard of the Rebel Raid in to Indiana.
Chilcote
Our guns and clothing inspected this morning. In the evening,
we had review and dress parade.
Busbey
...Inspection at 10 o'clock and arms stacked on the color line to be
examined by the General...Review afternoon, a good time. At night
Pickets strengthened--attack expected.
**************************************************
MON. 22 Very warm afternoon
21 -- Gilbert Mason Williams (2 KY D)
27 -- Simeon Garrett (90 OH A)
McKee
Not able for duty to day
Chilcote
Rebels reported near here, in considerable numbers.
Busbey
...Another deserter [John Schockman?] returned today. Belongs to Co A.
Our regiment on inline picket. [What does this mean?] Arms stacked in
the color line and ordered to sleep with clothes on...At night the sentence
of the man under arrest as a deserter from Co I [John Schockman] arrives
confirmed--To be shot on the morrow. The guards strengthened and his
quarters changed. Is very much agitated.
**************************************************
TUE. 23 Clear and pleasant
19 -- Joseph C. Beery (90 OH E)
23 -- Sgt. Samuel C. Duff (1 KY C)
25 -- Jacob H. Neal (31 IN H)
43 -- John Lavelle (90 OH B)
McKee
Private Co I 1st KY Vol[unteers] shot to death for desertion to day at 3
o'clock P.M. [John Schockman]. marching orders [received.] Sick
[soldiers] ordered to Murfreesboro
Cutter
Nothing aside from the ususal daily routine and an occasional reconnaissance, transpired until Tuesday, June 23d. On this day we received word that Andy Ives, a member of our company, was dead. He had been sick for some time and had been taken to Nashville by his father. This made twenty-two of our members who had died or been killed since we first entered the service. This afternoon the entire army in camp at Cripple Creek was called out to witness the execution of a private, in the First Kentucky infantry, for desertion.
At half-past 2 o'clock, PM, the division marched in regiments to the parade ground, and were drawn up in the usual manner on such occasions. At a quarter to 3 o'clock the prisoner made his appearance, following his coffin, and surrounded by a strong guard. On either side of him was a chaplain, or spiritual adviser [sic]. The drums beat a mournful march and, after passing around the various regiments, with head uncovered, the doomed man was placed behind his coffin. He was then allowed to make a short address, but little of which could be heard. After he had concluded, a prayer, in his behalf, was offered by each of the chaplains. The prisoner then shook hands with them and with some of the officers. His eyes were then bandaged--his bosom bared for the fatal shot. The soldiers detailed for this painful duty took their ositions. With a suspense which was painful to witness, all awaited the final word for the execution.
Precisely at 3 o'clock the signal was given, and immediately the report of twelve guns echoed through the valley. All was over.
On examination it was found that four balls had pierced his heart, and one had entered his temple. His death was easy and instantaneous.
Thus ended a sad and painful scene,, the like of which we hope never again to behold. The mans name was Shockman [sic], and he hailed from Cincinnati. He was about twenty-eight years of age and unmarried.
On returning to our quarters, an order was received to issue us twelve days' rations, and be ready to move at a moment's notice. As we had before redeived such orders, and nothing came of them, the men were now inclined to believe--as we had been so long at this camp--that we would here remain until disbanded. But at dark it became quite evident that a move would be made on the following morning. Some were pleased at this, but others were loth to leave a place which had become almost like a home to them. We had now been here a little over five months--by far the greatest length of time we had remained in any one cam. But all things must have a termination, and so did our stay here.
Chilcote
Today a man from the 1st KY was shot for "bounty jumping" and desertion...The brigade was drawn up on the parade ground, and the man marched out, blindfolded, when a detail of men whose guns had been, part of them loaded with ball, and part with blank cartridges, fired at him, standing, when he dropped dead. This created more gloom than a hundred natural deaths, or deaths in battle.
Busbey
...John Shotzman [sic], Co I, shot in the presence of the entire command at three o'clock for desertion. The two Brigades formed two lines three sides of a square. The prisoner marched around between the 2 lines, each band playing the dead march. He was calm, but dejected, and the scene was most impressive. Scanlen and kenser from our co detailed as part of the squad to execute. Receive orders to move.
**************************************************
Nearly 24 years later, William H. Busbey was a an Editor for and a contributor to the Chicago Inter Ocean newspaper. He wrote a regular column called "Curbstone Crayons", that ran in dozens of newspapers besides the Inter Ocean. On 1 January 1887, the Los Angeles Herald ran this column by Busbey:
MAKING A FIELD-FIFE TALK
Electrifying Camp with Impromptu Composition—Death of a Deserter
"There were a great many war melodies,'' said a musical man, "that never went even as far as words. We had in our old brigade, I remember, a man who made the fife as much a wonder as Ola Bull made the violin. This was Capt. [Lt.] Lou Houk [Hoeke], and he was kept with the regiment through the Influence of the commissioned officers, who made it to his interest to remain. It was his custom to play every night just before tattoo, and very frequently he indulged in impromptu compositions that electrified the camp. Hundreds of nights the boys went to sleep to the soft airs of Lou Houk [Hoeke]'s fife, which absolutely talked to them of the sweet memories of home.
"He could make a fife talk. I remember on one occasion
a deserter was to be shot. The whole brigade was formed
on three sides of a great square. As the condemned man,
accompanied by the chaplain and the guard and the men
carrying his coffin, marched along the lines, each regimental
band took up the strains of the funeral march. As the little
group reached the head of our regiment, instead of the band
taking up the strain, Lou Houk [Hoeke]'s fife took it up.
Whether he was in sympathy with the man to be shot or not,
his fife wailed out such a pitiful cry of grief, such expressions
of heart-break that the heads of more than half the men in
the regiment went down with a sob.
"There was something in the music so like a woman's cry, so full of a more than man's tenderness that the man who was in a few minutes to be shot raised his head and stepped more proudly, as though some one had spoken to him words of sympathy and encouragement, He went along the line beyond with a step in which there was more of a soldier's pride than he had ever exhibited before, and when other bands took up the plaintive music it was observed that he listened closely for the sound of the fife still wailing, wailing in speaking tenderness. That was twenty-four years ago, but I can hear the sound of that fife ringing In my ears yet."
—lnter Ocean "Curbstone Crayons."
**************************************************
WED. 24 Heavy rains all day and all night
24 -- John Krumm (1 KY K)
28 -- Lewis Addison Lybarger (31 IN C)
Tullahoma Campaign begins
McKee
...Left our old Camp on Cripple Creek at 6 1/2 a.m.[.] Traveled
until 3 o'clock P.M. Camped for the night[.] Rained all day and
night [--] very disagreeable[.] a light skirmish with the Rebels.
Cutter
Early on ethe morning of June 24th all were astir, and busily
engaged in rearing to march. The word was given to be ready
at 7 o'clock. The weather was quite cloudy, and indicated rain.
At 8 o'closk it commenced raining; and shortly after, we were
on the move, having to bid adieu to Cripple Creek, which had
so long been our home. The rain was now falling heavily, and
so continued through the whole day.
Chilcote
Ordered to be ready to march at 7 o'clock this morning, but
did not leave until 10 o'clock. Marched out through Bradyville
toward Dug Hollow, through the rain.
Busbey
Rains all day. Strike tents and move toward Bradyville
about 7 1/2 o'clock. The other Brigades and Woods
Division joining us on the pike. Also Turchin's command
of cavalry. Skirmishing in front the greater part of the time,
1 man killed and 1 man wounded. Camp in Dug Hollow
about 4 o'clock[,] 1 1/2 miles beyond Bradyville a small
village. Rains all night.
[J. W. Strentz, of Logan, OH, a Sgt. in Co I of the 90th OH, wrote in the History, dated 14 Feb. 1894:
From Stone River we went to Camp Cripple Creek, where we were quite a while and had, what I thought, a good time, in our own way. We were there until about the last of June, and started on the march.]







Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, leader of the Anti-War Democrats (Copperheads)








Second Battle of
Port Hudson, LA







