Member Review Railroad guard duty

Phogan87

Private
Joined
Sep 1, 2019
I recently found out that a relative was a member of the 139th Indiana infantry who was assigned to railroad guard duty along the lines of the Nashville & Chattanooga, Tennessee & Alabama, and Memphis & Charleston railroads. My Civil War studies have always been so focused on the lives of combat soldiers, so I am very unfamiliar as to what this duty was like? Was it an intense experience? Dangerous? Did it involve a lot of engagement with the enemy always a pretty easy "gig" compared to other assignments? Any help you can give me an understanding his experience would be greatly appreciated.
 
Some brief notice of the 139th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It was a regiment mustered in for 100 days of active service in 1864. The 100 days volunteers were organized by the States and accepted by the President into active service, to relieve veteran army units from guard duty, etc.

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Some more detail from period papers....

Latest news from Indianapolis, as of June 1, 1864:

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Cincinnati Daily Commercial, 6-2-1864.

Chicago Tribune, 7-19-1864:

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President Lincoln's letter of thanks to all of the 100 days Volunteers, October 1, 1864...

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You can read official reports from the units who were on guard duty along the railroads. I know in Tennessee along the Nashville & Chattanooga they had some real struggles with local bushwhackers. There were outposts all along the railroad where guard troops were stationed. Below is a picture of one structure on the Nashville & Chattanooga (from the Library of Congress):

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It could be dangerous enough. Riding through a holler and getting a guerrilla bullet in your gut. It's why there was seldom much if in fact ever any mercy shown between reb partisans and East TN Mounted Infantry or their Yankee comrades.
 
1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry Regiment
Mustered in December, 1863-November, 1864; mustered out July 22, 1865.
FIELD OFFICERS
  • Lieutenant Colonel-Abraham E. Garrett
  • Majors-Abraham E. Garrett, Francis M. McKee.
CAPTAINS
  • Francis M. McKee, William J. Cleveland, Co. "A". Mustered January 21, 1864. Edmond D. Pennington, Co. "B". Enlisted men generally from White County. Mustered January 22, 1864.
  • Francis M. Anderson, Wade Jones, Co. "C". Mustered December 3, 1863, at Nashville with 20 men from 2nd, 60 men from 4th Congressional District.
  • Rufus Dowdy, Co. "D". Enlisted men from Fentress County. Mustered January 23, 1864.
  • James S. Bonham, Co. "E". Enlisted men generally from Macon County. Mustered December 10, 1863.
  • Andrew I. Garrison, Co. "G". Enlisted men generally from DeKalb County. Mustered March 21, 1864.
  • Prettyman Jones, Co. "H". Mustered at Carthage May 17, 1864. Men from 4th Congressional District.
  • George W. Massey, Co. "I". Enrolled at Carthage in fall of 1864. Mustered at Gallatin, January 7, 1865.
  • Samuel McCaleb, Co. "K". Mustered November 30, 1864.
Recruiting for this regiment was begun in October, 1863, and two companies had been mustered into service by the end of 1863; other companies were added during 1864, the last one on November 30, 1864. Abraham E. Garrett was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel on March 18, 1864. The companies were organized at Nashville and at Carthage, and did duty in the District of Middle Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, until April, 1865, when the regiment was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee. The first mention of the organization in the Official Records was in the account of an expedition from Gallatin to the Cumberland Mountain area January 28-February 8, 1864. A battalion of Tennessee troops under Major Garrett was a part of the force which moved from Gallatin to Carthage, to Flynn's Lick, Gainesboro and Livingston, in an attempt to clear the country of Confederate marauders under Colonels 0. P. Hamilton and John M. Hughs.
The next mention was on September 3, 1864, during Major General Joseph Wheeler's raid into Tennessee, when Colonel William B. Stokes, Commanding Post of Carthage, reported that the troops from Granville, Tennessee, Companies "B", "C", "D", "F", and "F" of the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry, had fallen back to Carthage. Company "A" seems to have been stationed at Gallatin, for on October 10, 1864 Captain Cleveland and 40 men from the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry were sent from Gallatin to South Tunnel to protect the tunnel from Confederate guerrillas.
On March 11, 1865, the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry at Carthage was ordered to report by letter to Major General L. H. Rousseau, Commanding District of Tennessee, for duty on the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. On April 18, 1865, Major McKee and the regiment were ordered to Murfreesboro, to report to Brigadier Gener-al H.P. Van Cleve, Commanding Post at Murfreesboro.
On April 30, 1865, the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry (five companies), Major McKee, was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee. On May 10, 1865, it was proposed that the division should form a separate or movable division in the District of the Etowah, commanded by Major General J. B. Steedman, but no record of transfer to the District of the Etowah was found.
On June 26, 1865, an order was issued directing the detachment of the 1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry, at Murfreesboro, to proceed to Nashville to be mustered out of service. These were evidently the five companies under Major McKee which had been sent to Murfreesboro April 18. No record was found as to what had become of the other five companies of the regiment.
Dyer's Compendium says the regiment was mustered out at Nashville, July 22, 1865.
 



HTHs,
USS ALASKA
 

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