In February 1862, the 24th O.V.I.'s Colonel Jacob Ammen, now commanding the Army of the Ohio's Tenth Brigade, received orders from Brigadier General William "Bull" Nelson to move his command aboard river transports for an advance into Tennessee. The steamers sailed down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Tennessee River, and later followed the Cumberland River to Fort Donelson. On February 25, the boats carrying the Sixth Ohio and the 24th Ohio Regiments steamed unopposed to Nashville and tied up at the city's wharf. The 6th and 24th Ohio Infantry were the first two Yankee regiments to set foot in Nashville, the Tennessee capital, since the beginning of the war. Ammen's Tenth Brigade was assigned garrison duty at Nashville for the next month.
In Mid-March, General Nelson decided that his men deserved a chance to visit the home of former President Andrew Jackson. Jackson's administration was noteworthy for squelching the Nullification Crisis with South Carolina in the 1830s, and many Americans, including General Nelson, revered Jackson's unbreaking will when preserving the Union. On March 12, Nelson ordered his entire division, artillery caissons and all, to march east to Jackson's Hermitage.
The veterans were just like modern day tourists, wandering all over the plantation and seeing all the sights. One officer of the 24th Ohio Regiment, First Lieutenant Dewitt Clinton Wadsworth, noted that the fences looked a little run down. It was as if the plantation had been suffering through hard times recently. But he also noticed that the Hermitage had a wonderful acre of beautiful gardens, and he was glad to see that Jackson's tomb was well maintained.
When he spotted the Hermitage's large spring house, Wadsworth immediately thought of home. He noted that it was just like the springhouse at the Erie County, Ohio, farmstead of his father-in-law, Nicholas Foos.
The visit to the Hermitage was a welcome change for the veterans. Indeed, the 24th Ohio Infantry Regiment's veterans noted with delight the enthusiasm of the slaves who stopped their work and danced to the patriotic music played by the regimental bands as the Union soldiers marched past the various plantations. This was one day during the long war that most soldiers would remember with relish.
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