Daniel A. Masters's Blog, page 7

Cotton Burning on the Levee: A Civilian Witnesses the Federal Seizure of New Orleans

For oneOhio-born resident of New Orleans, the arrival of Admiral David Farragut’sfleet on April 25, 1862, marked a day of liberation.

“Yesterday about half past 1 o’clock, the cry was raised thatthe Yankees were upon us,” wrote Louis M. Beyers in a letter to his mother. “Istarted toward the levee where the Federal vessels were said to be lying.Reaching the river, what a sight breaks upon my view. The steamboat WilliamMorrison was one mass of flames. All the shipping was sending forth themost dense black smoke. The Mississippi, a ram which was nearly finishedand which, if completed, would have demolished the whole fleet in one hour,floating slowly by with the smoke issuing from every opening and several otherimportant like vessels in various parts of the river, all showing that thetorch has been applied to them.”

“Together with the thunder which came peal after peal gave ascene of the utmost grandeur. There proudly floating in the smoke and rain werethe glorious old stars and stripes, not one, but a dozen of them. I cannotdescribe my feelings but never did the stars and stripes look so proud andbeautiful. Never had the sight of that banner thrilled me as it did on thatoccasion. I felt like a new being, a free man once more, never again to be aslave. I should have like to have cheered three times three, but instant deathwould have been my fate. So thanking God silently, I turned and walked homelistening to the mutterings and bitter curses showered upon the devoted headsof Uncle Sam’s men.”

          In this extraordinary letter to hismother back in Ohio, stretching from April 10th through May 2nd,Captain Beyers recorded the scenes of when “Dame Rumor held full sway” to thereality of Federal occupation of the city. The letter first appeared in the May24, 1862, edition of the Zanesville Daily Courier.

 

New Orleans Customs House 

Fridaymorning, April 10, 1862

Dear mother,

          The long-looked-for event, the longdesired yet dreaded event, is at last at hand. Of course, I can mean nothingbut the commencement of the fight at the mouth of the river, the result of whichwill decide the fate of New Orleans. Full confidence is reposed in the strengthand impregnability of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

Saturdaymorning, April 19, 1862

          News from below indicates one of themost terrific bombardments ever recorded. The forts are holding their own andsuffering little or no damage. All are sanguine and joyful.

12noon

          A change comes over the scene. Theforts have had their woodwork burnt but still Major Duncan assures us of safety.

2 p.m.

          We have had 5 men killed and 15wounded. The enemy’s fire has slackened somewhat but still they fire withwonderful precision. Some of our guns have been dismounted by the enemy’s 13-inchshells. 13” shells! Can brick and mortar resist a large fleet throwing 13”shells with wonderful precision?

Sundaymorning, April 20, 1862

          No news from the fort. What means thesilence? Then again, what does the True Delta mean by telling people to preparefor the worst? Dame Rumor has full sway. Everyone has some strange andimportant report to tell of, all different, yet all unpromising. General [Mansfield]Lovell has left for the forts and people are working themselves up to a pitchof excitement heretofore unfelt.

Sundayevening

          Lovell has returned. All is well isthe cry and once more the community enjoys its usual equilibrium. We will sleepwell tonight.

Monday,April 21, 1862

          I must attend to business. I godowntown. The streets are thronged with persons of all sizes, ages, colors, andclasses. Into one store then to another, buying goods of all sorts- useful,ornamental, valuable, and otherwise. How good business is today says one smallclerk to another. Not so with that old gentleman in the office looking over hisbooks and writing hurriedly. I am selling briskly, say he, but for what? Whatis the meaning of all this extravagance on the part of the ladies? Out he goesbut returns shortly and calls a council. Thomas, John, and Charles, you willand must raise the price of your goods 50%. And back they go behind theircounters to astonish and provoke some old lady with enormous prices, etc.

Tuesday,April 22, 1862

          Today brings nothing of importance. Inwant of news, the people make their own surmises, all of which are not of themost flattering description. Many of the first families are packing up to leavetown. Report has it that Mrs. General Lovell has already left. It looksominous. No news on Wednesday, either

Thursdaymorning, April 24, 1862

          Everybody up bright and early. It isrumored that vessels to the number of 16 have passed the forts. It is not so!It can’t be. “I don’t believe it” is in everybody’s mouth. By 11 a.m., adispatch to that effect is in town and on the bulletin boards. My stars! Whatan excitement! What a running to and fro. Ding dong, ding dong go the alarmbells! Soldier to the rescue. He starts to his feet, straps on his knapsack,seizes his gun, a kiss, a tear, and he is gone! Armed men are seen in everydirection. Men did I say? See, there goes a boy of 15 with a gun and there isanother whose mother is leading him and entreating him to remain with her. Itis useless and he breaks away and is off. In a short time, he has procured agun and has joined his comrade, eager for the fray.

Thursdayevening

          The troops of the city and those fromCamp Lewis and Greenville are ordered to march to the fortifications below thecity.  

          Later in the day comes news that allour gunboats are captured. The excitement has reached its highest pitch.Carriages, drays, and carts are hurrying to and fro and the break-neck speed atwhich they travel adds to the scene a noise that is deafening. I can write nomore at present. Five boats are prepared to float down among the enemy’svessels- all is hurry and bustle and night closes on the scene.

Now comes the worst of all. General Lovell had ordered everybale of cotton stored within the limits of the city to be destroyed. About nightfall,the work of destruction commenced in earnest. Walking down on the levee, whatdo you see? Cotton, cotton, cotton, all along the levee for squares. Torchesare prepared and now they fire it and the flames leaping from bale to balesending up clouds of dense black smoke, together with the excited mob runninghere and there torches in hand, the shouts of the spectators presents a scenenever to be forgotten but which I am unable to describe.

This is not all, for yonder behind the city the heavens arelit up and more of the staple is undoubtedly sharing the same fate. All aroundin every direction can be seen like indications. Such is the spirit of thepeople whom the North have to contend against.

This has been a most exciting day to all and now at 11 o’clockI will bid you good night, hoping that you may never be called upon to witnesssuch a scene of wanton destruction of private property as it has been my fateto look upon tonight.

U.S.S. Brooklyn under fire from the ram Manassas during the fight on the Mississippi River near Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the night of April 24, 1862. 

9a.m., Friday morning, April 25, 1862

          The city is all alive so far as thepeople are concerned, but there is not a store of any sort, size, ordescription open- no market can be made and take it all together, there is adreadful state of affairs existing. Anxiety, doubt, and confusion! Rumors onrumors of Yankees, Yankee fleets, etc. Last night’s rest seems to have littleeffect in calming the people. If we only had something definite, official, andreliable, we would know how to act, but amid such confusion and contradictions,every report adds to the excitement. To cap all there go the alarm bells again.But I must stop. It requires an abler pen than mine to do justice to the scene.

Noon

          There has been a fight at Chalmettebelow the city, the result of which is not exactly known except that the Yankeesare coming.

Saturdaymorning, April 26, 1862

          They are here! Yesterday about halfpast 1 o’clock, the cry was raised that the Yankees were upon us. It was aterrible yet grand sight. I left the office armed with an umbrella. The sky wasblack with clouds and threatened a heavy rain. Nothing daunted, I startedtoward the levee where the Federal vessels were said to be lying. Reaching theriver, what a sight breaks upon my view. The steamboat William Morrisonwas one mass of flames. All the shipping was sending forth the most dense blacksmoke. The Mississippi, a ram which was nearly finished and which, if completed,would have demolished the whole fleet in one hour, floating slowly by with thesmoke issuing from every opening and several other important like vessels invarious parts of the river, all showing that the torch has been applied tothem.

Together with the thunder which came peal after peal gave ascene of the utmost grandeur. There proudly floating in the smoke and rain werethe glorious old stars and stripes, not one, but a dozen of them. I cannotdescribe my feelings but never did the stars and stripes look so proud andbeautiful. Never had the sight of that banner thrilled me as it did on thatoccasion. I felt like a new being, a free man once more, never again to be aslave. I should have like to have cheered three times three, but instant deathwould have been my fate. So thanking God silently, I turned and walked homelistening to the mutterings and bitter curses showered upon the devoted headsof Uncle Sam’s men. They demanded the unconditional surrender of the city.General Lovell refused, saying that he would retire with his troops from thetown and leave the city authorities to act as they saw fit. Several messagespassed between the fleet and mayor and now the matter rests in status quo.

The state flag flies from City Hall and the mayor refuses tosurrender and tells them if the flag is unpleasant, they can land and take itdown, but neither he nor any citizen will do so. The Federals have notsufficient force to undertake anything of that sort and will have to await thearrival of their transports to take possession of the town. The forts from thelatest accounts are still in good fighting condition and the transports cannotget up. Report has it that Fort Pike has been abandoned and that the Feds arecoming up in that way. In the meantime, we will have a hard time to live soscarce are provisions.

New Orleans Mint

Tuesday,April 29, 1862

          Matters have been so unsettled sinceSaturday that I have fallen somewhat behind in my journal. Sunday passed veryquietly indeed- no communication between the city and fleet. In the morning,the Confederate gunboat McRae under a flag of truce sailed up the river,bringing up the wounded from the forts and the gunboat Louisiana. On Monday,she sank as he was going downriver from seven shots received below the water’sedge.

Monday at 10 o’clock, Captain Bailey came ashore bringing ademand from Admiral Farragut to pull down the Louisiana flag over City Hall andthreatened that unless it was down in 48 hours, he would shell it down andaccordingly gave notice to the mayor to remove the women and children withinthat time. What the mayor returned as an answer or what the Common Councildetermined upon I know not, nor care not, but below you will find what wasdone.

Now came another excitement. Where are we to go? How am I toget there, and what am I going to live on after getting to a place of safety?These questions were uppermost in every married man’s mind. Some started up theJackson railroad to starve for I understand that there is the greatestdissatisfaction among the troops up the railroad on account of the scarcity ofprovisions. The old man and family contemplated going across the river to getout of harm’s way. Trunks were accordingly packed and ready for the move todaywhen, great Scott, what is this we hear? The forts have surrendered and the menhave arrived, released on parole, and are now walking around the streets. CommodoreFarragut sends words to Mayor Munroe to that effect and also that he is aboutto land a force of Marines to put up the U.S. flag over City Hall. He givesnotice to the mayor that he will hold him responsible for any violence to hismen.

          A body of 290 Marines armed with Miniemuskets land together with a few old tars and two small pieces of artillery.Boldly they march through the crowded streets and defiantly place the stars andstripes over the Customs House. Dense crowds of citizens watch their movementsbut none dare interfere. Now they turn their steps towards City Hall where floatsthe identical flag hoisted on that staff on the day of secession more than ayear ago.

          Arriving there, they place theirpieces pointing up and down St. Charles Street. The marines are drawn up beforethe hall and the officer in command, together with a couple of brave tars,ascend the steps, enter the Hall, and make their way up to the roof. The crowdof spectators watch with breathless anxiety their flag. In a short time, themen appear on the roof, seize the rope, the order is given, and down comes theflag which had waved defiantly for 120 hours. Many of the ladies shed tears atthe sight. Now those gallant four men reappear at the head of the steps, one ofthem having under his arm the bunting which had been near the destruction of thetown. Silently, they fall into marching order and proceed to the levee of theirships. As they turn to go, the pent up feelings of the mob bursts out into loudand continues shouts for ‘Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy’ and incurses on the Yankees who treat them with silent contempt.

Friday,May 2, 1862

          General Butler has arrived with histroops and now has possession of the town. The men are, for the most part,strong and healthy looking. I hope they are here for good as children say. I amstrongly of the opinion that when they leave, I shall accompany them. 

To learn more about the Federal occupation of New Orleans, please check out this post:

It is a Rough Life: Taking New Orleans with the 12th Connecticut 

Ben Butler's Botched Money Grab: A Tale of Civil war New Orleans

Source:

Letter fromCaptain Louis M. Beyers, Zanesville Daily Courier (Ohio), May 24, 1862,pg. 2

General Negley on the Formation of the Pennsylvania Brigade

Until thefall of 1863, only a total of three Pennsylvania infantry regiments wereassigned to the Army of the Cumberland, the 77th, 78th,and 79th. All three of these regiments arrived in the westerntheater in the fall of 1861 as part of Brigadier General James S. Negley’sbrigade. 

    In the following article written for the Pittsburgh Dispatchnewspaper, General Negley explained how he procured authority to raise thebrigade, how it was formed, and how it came to be assigned to the westerntheater. Among the notables who make appearances in General Negley’s narrative includeAndrew Carnegie, Andrew Curtin, Simon Cameron, Winfield Scott, William TecumsehSherman, and even President Abraham Lincoln.

 

Brigadier (later Major) General James Scott Negley, a horticulturalist and militia general from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, strikes a Napoleonic post in a CDV taken at Nashville in 1862. Negley would advance from brigade to division command in the Army of the Cumberland, earning much praise for his defense of Nashville in the fall of 1862 and his division's performance at Stones River. All of this would be undone at the second day of Chickamauga. 

          The month of August 1861 is memorablefor great emergencies. Incidents born of an hour became historical epochs. Thecity of Washington was the storm center of military and political activity. Themustering out of my command of three months’ men [Negley led a brigade inGeneral Robert Patterson’s army] necessitated a visit to the capital to closeup my accounts. I found the hotels thronged with soldiers, prophets of evil,politicians, mercenaries, and adventurers. The spirit of disloyalty among thecitizens was but illy concealed. Sutlers, camp followers, and demoralizedsoldiers who had precipitately fled from Bull Run had created a hystericalcondition of fear.

          Heavy detachments of men were busilyemployed in throwing up works to resist Beauregard’s army which, at that time,did not exceed 40,000 poorly equipped soldiers, inferior in numbers andequipment to the army commanded by General McClellan. Apprehensions of animmediate assault dominated and swayed every other consideration. Aides andorderlies dashed from the military headquarters like arrows sprung from a bow. Vacillationof purpose and uncertainty in regard to a general plan of resistance wereeasily noticeable and accounted for the complex and hesitating movements of ourforces elsewhere. The full tide of the reserve power and confidence of theNorth was just coming in.

          According to usage, I reported to theSecretary of War Simon Cameron. I found a large number of eager applicantsawaiting an audience. I was promptly ushered in by an aide and after a fewwords of friendly greeting said, “Mr. Cameron, I wish authority to recruit abrigade of infantry and a company of artillery.” He answered, “Why do you wishto raise of company of artillery?” I replied that I preferred campaigning inthe West and knew that artillery was greatly needed there. He quickly said, “Letus go over and talk with the President.”

General Negley's interview with fellow Pennsylvanian Simon Cameron netted him an audience with President Lincoln and the authority he sought to raise a brigade for service in the West. 

          We found President Lincoln holding ananimated conversation with Secretary Salmon P. Chase. I observed a feeling ofcoolness between the two secretaries, presumably because Secretary Chase was therecognized spokesman of the clique who was secretly influencing the Presidentto dismiss Cameron as Secretary of War. Mr. Cameron, addressing the President,said, “General Negley was with Patterson and commanded one of his bestbrigades. He asks authority to recruit another brigade and a battery ofartillery. I wish you would allow him to do so. We can trust him.”

          Mr. Lincoln turned in his chair andputting himself at ease asked me a number of questions in regard to Patterson’scampaign which exhibited a marvelous quickness of thought and a remarkableknowledge of military details. Feeling I was undergoing a preliminary examination,I expressed my opinion without reserve saying that General Patterson was embarrassedby conflicting orders. He was charged with an aggressive movement and yet theRhode Island regiment and battery (1,200 strong altogether) and his battalionof Regulars were withdrawn on the eve of crossing the Potomac. He was urged togreater activity but restricted by the cautious advice that the enemy wasdangerously strong, but if they refused battle, would be driven towardsWashington.

          I said the consensus of opinion of thecommanders of Patterson’s brigades, with the exception of General Abercrombiewho opposed any advance, was in opposition to the movement on Winchester viaMartinsburg believing that it was an irreparable blunder. Our column was tooremote from support to operate on an exterior line. With Beauregard andJohnston between McDowell and Patterson, our strategic point was Charleston orStrasburg. So long as our movements threatened either flank Johnston wouldremain at Winchester.

President Abraham Lincoln

As a matter of fact, Johnston was ordered to Manassas.Although he made a forced march he did not reach there, but guided by thefiring, he passed in the rear of Beauregard’s right at a critical junction whenthe two brigades holding that position were nearly annihilated. It was thisunexpected appearance of reinforcements, not a resolute charge, that decidedthe battle in favor of the enemy. We all shared in General Patterson’shumiliation but would not admit that he was responsible for it. Mr. Lincolnturned to Secretary Cameron and said, “Cameron, let us commission Negley abrigadier now.” Camerson replied, “No, we need the troops and Negley is wellknown in Pennsylvania and will get us good men.”

I was thrilled with pleasure and profuse in thanks to boththe President and Secretary Cameron for their confidence and asked to havewritten authority at once to procure clothing and equipment wherever they couldbe found, having been informed that there was no surplus military stores. Ialso asked permission to establish my camp at Harrisburg. Cameron said, “Comeover to the office and we will give you the order” and the letter was writtenand placed in my hands within the hour.

This transaction is referred to with particularity to showthe exigencies of the government at the time with the further wish to note thepatriotic courage and tireless energy of Secretary Cameron in recruiting andequipping troops. His willful disregard of the narrow, technical, and obsoleterules of the War Office constituted an unpardonable offense to those in chargeof the several departments who were too military to be effective in war.

I next called at the headquarters of General Winfield Scott.I had not spoken to him since the debarkation of his troops at Vera Cruz in theMexican war. Of all the great captains, he was my ideal. He possessed the most impressivepersonality of any officer in our army. The conquest of Mexico with his smallarmy was a brilliant series of masterful maneuvers, faultless strategy, quickaction, and dauntless courage.

When his aide introduced me, his cold, indifferent mannerfairly chilled me, but I quickly said, “I served under you General during the Mexicanwar. Do you remember the 1st Pennsylvania regiment when it chargedup and swept over the sand ridges at Vera Cruz? You said it was splendidlydone. If you do, I was present on that occasion.”

Lieutenant General Winfield Scott

The mention of that incident awakened cherished memories, therich fruit of sunnier days. General Scott arose, steadying himself withdifficulty, and reaching out his hand and said, “General, I am delighted to seeyou. Sit down.” We then chatted for a few moments. When I remarked that therewas seemingly a great want of discipline in the city, he remarked, “How I wishI had one of those divisions that served with me in Mexico! My orders here aremisunderstood or disobeyed. I am wearied to death with the confusion which reignssupreme. The belief that Washington will be assaulted and taken by stormfrightens everybody, interferes with my plan of campaign, and retards ourmovements. I am weary of it all.”

I did not meet General George McClellan on that visit. When Icalled, he was on the point of leaving, surrounded by numerous staff, superblymounted and richly attired, followed by an escort of the U.S. dragoons. Ficklefortune was enamored of him and even during these portentous happenings wasalluring him into the quicksands of politics.

I proceeded to Harrisburg, stated my mission to GovernorAndrew Curtin, and received from him the heartiest cooperation. The 79thPennsylvania under Colonel Henry A. Hambright was recruited in Lancaster Countywith the exception of one company which was organized in Washington County. The78th Pennsylvania under Colonel William Sirwell was recruited in thecounties bordering on the Allegheny River. The 77th Pennsylvaniaunder Colonel T.S. Stambaugh came from the Cumberland Valley. The company ofartillery under Captain Mueller [26th Pennsylvania Battery] was recruited in the vicinity of Erie.

Only a small portion of these troops were concentrated atHarrisburg; the greater number rendezvoused at Pittsburgh shortly before theirdeparture for the West. The material for the clothing and camp equipment was procuredby me in the open market and made to order. The ordnance and ammunition,together with the horses and harness for the battery, was procured at thearsenal in Pittsburgh. On September 27, 1861, I received an order from Washingtonto provide water transportation for my command and proceed without delay to theKanawha Valley and report to General William S. Rosecrans.

Governor Andrew Curtin of
Pennsylvania

Only a small portion of the supplies had been delivered andthe organization of the regiments was incomplete but aided by the earnest zealof the officers and the intelligence and patriotism of the men, the brigade wassoon put in a position of readiness to start on its mission. Shortly aftermidnight on October 12th, a passenger from the telegraph office atthe Union depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad notified me that the President andSecretary of War wished to talk with me over their private wire.

When I arrived at the office, I found Mr. Andrew Carnegie,the special operator. The President’s first inquiry was “How soon could you putyou command in readiness to leave?” I answered, “In six days.” Then came thequestion of whether I had found transportation. I answered that I had takencare of the necessary steps to procure light draft steamers which would enableme to transport my battalions and disembark them quickly should we meet withopposition at any point on the river. I was then informed that I should proceedto Louisville and report to Colonel William T. Sherman, but that I must movewith great caution and be prepared to resist attack while en route. The enemywas concentrated in strong force on the Kanawha and in other parts of westernVirginia and that in all probability we would have to fight them before wereached Louisville.

On returning to camp, I immediately perfected arrangementsfor a speedy departure. Governor Curtin, who had followed the movements of thebrigade with watchful solicitude, informed me that he desired to present toeach of the regiments a stand of state colors. I designated the 18thof October for the ceremony. Although the day was wet and disagreeable, the entirecity entered into the affair with enthusiasm and greeted with cheers the finelyequipped and soldierly looking companies while marching through the streets. Iremember Governor Curtin saying, “General Negley, you command 3,000 ofPennsylvania’s noblest sons. I have watched you while you formed this body ofmen and you have had the protection of the Commonwealth. You have done it welland quickly. You have important duties yet before you yet you have been triedand I am confident you will perform them well.”

Six side-wheel steamers constituted the flotilla. Theypresented a novel and interesting pageant as they floated into the stream andmoved off in columns of twos. The journey to Louisville was uneventful. Armsand ammunition were distributed among the troops en route. Every precaution wastaken to guard against an attack. We reached Louisville at a most criticalperiod. Zollicoffer, Marshall, and Hindman were marching in the direction ofthe city with the intention of coercing the Union men into the army and forcingthe state to secede. The Rebels were already in possession of the railroadbetween Nashville and Louisville and were concentrating a considerable force atGreen River, also at Crab Orchard.

Depiction from the Pittsburgh Dispatch of the flotilla of six steamers that carried General Negley's Pennsylvanians to Louisville in October 1861. 

General Robert Anderson, who had been placed in command atLouisville, became disheartened and doubting his ability to hold the place, hadresigned. Colonel Sherman with nervous energy had the rare faculty of quicklyappreciating the task before him. He had begun the work of organization, hopingto raise sufficient force to drive the enemy beyond the Cumberland River. Theseriousness of the situation and the tireless zeal of Colonel Sherman made me afrequent visitor at his headquarters, and I recall with never fadingdistinctness his bold criticisms and fierce denunciation of the torpor inWashington. “Why a general should be incarcerated as an idiot who questions theopinion that it will require 200,000 men to keep the Rebels south of theTennessee,” he said. “Anderson was not willing to be made a sacrifice and if Icannot secure proper support, neither will I submit.”

          His determined effort to secure the necessarycomplement of troops and supplies with his bold criticisms of the methods atWashington made him unpopular as well as the victim of cruel misrepresentations.He was superseded by General Don Carlos Buell, an officer of ability, anaccomplished gentleman who would have attained greater success if he had beenpermitted to plan his campaign without restrictions from the capitol. He wascautioned, indeed, instructed, not to interfere with the ‘domestic institutions’of the citizens. Plainly expressed, he was to preserve slavery and permit thecrops to be grown by the slaves to feed Rebel troops.

Source:

“Negley’sNarrative of the Organization and Campaigning of His Famous Brigade,” MajorGeneral James S. Negley, Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pennsylvania), unknowndate (1880s)

I Carry the Bullet as a Memento: With Battery C at Chickamauga

Writing a short letter to his parents a week after the Battle of Chickamauga, Private Sherman Hendrick of Battery C, 1st Ohio Light Artillery reported that he had been wounded but assured them he could "kick around quite lively. I am wounded in the right shoulder and carry the bullet there as a memento, but don’t let it keep you awake at night for it don’t hurt me much."

    Long after the war, Hendrick assembled a much longer article for the National Tribune giving a history of his battery's service at Chickamauga which is reproduced below along with his wartime letter. The battery photos appear courtesy of Larry Stevens' Ohio in the War website, the images originally belonging to an album owned by Sergeant Theodore Stoughton who figures prominently in Sherman Hendrick's narrative. 

Corporal Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery was just 20 years old when he joined the battery September 9, 1861. Wounded in the right shoulder at Chickamauga, he was promoted to Corporal October 31, 1863, re-enlisted, and served with the battery until the end of the war, mustering out June 15, 1865. After the war, he moved to Hutchinson, Kansas. 

Nashville,Tennessee

September26, 1863

Dearparents,

          I presume you are worrying about mebut this is the first time I have found for writing. I am comfortably settledhere in the hospital but how long I shall stay I do not know for many will haveto be sent North. I cannot give you particulars now.

          The battery was in the fight of the 19thand 20th. The papers will tell you all about the fight and perhapsthat your boy is wounded for my name was taken. I am wounded in the rightshoulder and carry the bullet there as a memento, but don’t let it keep you awakeat night for it don’t hurt me much and by being helped up and down, I can kickaround quite lively.

          I left the field on Monday morning forChattanooga and on Tuesday started for Bridgeport, leaving you to judge of thehard time we had crossing the mountains in government wagons. At Bridgeport, wetook the cars and came here. My wound is not a bad one but it will take time toheal being a gun wound.

          Up until Monday I was the onlyAshtabula boy wounded except Daniel Horton and he was shot dead. RobertWilkinson of Saybrook was supposed to be killed; several others were woundedfrom the battery. Our support on the right broke away so the Rebs had acrossfire upon us. When we fired our last round they were not more than fiverods off. We then ran back the gun to limber up then I was wounded. We lost ourpiece but the rest were saved.

          But now came my work in earnest.During the two days I had stood up to the rack and worked faithfully but now mynerves were gone. I feared the Rebels would get me and I ran as long as I couldand sank down but was still between the two armies. I thought of my canteen,took a drink, got up and went behind a house where I meant to stay until pickedup by one party or the other. Soon [Theodore] Stoughton came along with thelimber and loaded me on and so I escaped Mr. Reb this time.

          But I have written enough for a manwith a Rebel bullet in his shoulder…

 

Members of Battery C from left to right: Private Theodore Ingersoll and Private John Thompson (center) both joined the battery as recruits in the summer of 1862. Sergeant Barnhart Reichart at left served with the battery from when it mustered into service in September 1861 until mustering out in June 1865. 

By 1891,Sherman had moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, to work as a minister. He wrote thefollowing article to the National Tribune providing a lengthierdescription of his battery’s role in the fighting at Chickamauga.

          At the time of the battle, we wereattached to the Second Brigade, Third Division (General Brannan), of the 14thArmy Corps and crossed the Tennessee River opposite the cornerstone of Georgiaand Alabama and Nickajack Cove on September 1, 1863. On Sunday the 6thwe crossed Sand Mountain into Lookout Valley and found the Rebel pickets infront of Trenton. On the 8th there was some cannonading in front ofus as the troops were scattering in pursuit of the Rebels who we learned on the9th had evacuated Chattanooga. On the 11th we heardNegley’s guns over in Pigeon Valley but he was driven back and had to awaitreinforcements.

          General Bragg had been heavilyreinforced from the east and was coming back upon our scattered army,determined to retake Chattanooga. That night, we crossed Lookout Mountain intoPigeon Valley and found the hills ahead of us full of Rebels. From this timeuntil the battle, General Rosecrans was busy concentrating his troops. On the18th we marched all night, passing through Rock Springs. The roadwas well warmed and lighted by burning fences.

Battery C was equipped with two 12-pdr brass Napoleons and four 6-pdr James rifles during the Chickamauga campaign, losing one of the James rifles during the retreat on September 20th. Lieutenant Marco Gary reported that the battery lost 4 men killed and 9 wounded while firing 498 rounds of ammunition, all but four of them on September 20, 1863. "To the non-commissioned officers and privates too much credit cannot be given," he noted. "To them mainly is due the credit for saving the battery from capture for so great was the loss of horses that several of the pieces had to drawn far to the rear by hand. The only piece lost in the engagement was abandoned after being dismounted and the linch pins thrown away 200 years to the rear, the men becoming too much exhausted to drag it further by hand." 

          On the morning of the 19thabout 6 a.m. we parked to feed our horses and make coffee. Before we had timeto feed there was lively firing on the skirmish line and we were ordered to thefront immediately. We were told there was a brigade a Rebel cavalry in front ofus in the woods which we (Brannan’s division) were ordered to capture. We wentin and found the cavalry but they were backed by infantry at least three to ourone. We went into battery but did not fire a gun before we were ordered out ofthere. C.H. Belknap was wounded while we were falling back.

We only fired four rounds during the day; the woods and brushwere so thick we could do nothing on account of the rapid movements of theenemy but our infantry, how they surprised us! Battery C thought there was onlyone other corps in the world that equaled the 14th Corps and thatwas a the 20th, the consolidated 11th and 12th.In the 14th Corps, we thought the Third Division was the best simplybecause we were better acquainted with them, but of all brave men none couldbeat the Third Division in that day’s fighting against such overwhelmingnumbers. Three times were they driven back through the thick brush and threetimes did they charge and retake the field. The sight was simply grand. I willnot name the regiments; everyone knows the gallant troops that comprised thatdivision. They were all heroes and had heroic commanders from General George H.Thomas down to the line officers.

General George H. Thomas

The third time they were repulsed that afternoon came nearbeing a rout; the Rebel forces were sweeping on in triple line of battleagainst our single line. The brush was so thick we could not get away fastenough with our useless artillery and Battery C was in danger of beingcaptured. Only a thin line two deep stood between the muzzles of our guns andthe surging masses of the enemy. Something must be done or the guns are lost.The 600-man strong 10th Kentucky halted and we heard the command, “Halt!About face! Charge!” There is no need of the command double quick for there arenot six paces between them. I gazed in wonder at that handful of men beinghurled against that wall of steel. Only a moment the Rebel line wavered inastonishment, then a blaze of musketry, and the 10th Kentucky meltedaway. Only 200 answered at roll call that night, but the battery was saved andthose men went down in a hail of glory.

But this relief was only temporary as the enemy was drivingus through the woods in increasing confusion. The infantry was driven back evenamong our useless cannon and the enemy was so close they could lay their handsupon the muzzles of the guns. In this condition, we met General Thomas on alittle rise of ground sitting upon his horse as calmly as though he was takinghis coffee, while the bullets flew around him as thick as hail. It wasencouraging to see Pap Thomas at any time and especially such a time, but whenhe spoke, the effect of his words was almost magical. “Soldiers of the ThirdDivision, halt! Why do you flee in such confusion? You have met this same enemybefore. You whipped them at Mill Springs and you can do it again!”

Even the enemy could hear him as he shouted, “About face,charge!” The order was instantly obeyed and such a charge as they made. Theenemy fled before them like frightened sheep and for a time the tide of battletolled away. The Third Division, which up to this time had occupied the extremeleft of the army, was now relieved by two divisions of the 20th ArmyCorps and went to the right and rear for the night. We parked on a hill at 10 p.m.and rested until 3 a.m. on the 20th when we went to the front. Ourflanking pieces were 12-lb Napoleons and the rest were 6-lb James rifles, allbrass pieces. The two Napoleons were placed on the front line where theinfantry had built a small breastwork of logs and brush about two feet high sothe muzzles of the guns would just clear the top.

Soon the tide of battle, which had been muttering all themorning on the left, rolled toward the right and the artillery kept up acontinued roar until it reached our two pieces. The Rebels were hurled backbefore our charges of canister. During this fight, Sergeant [George M.] Salkeidstood upon the works watching the approaching enemy and telling his gunnerwhere to fire. As the other four pieces lay back in the woods waiting ordersand taking all the back fire, I could not find a tree big enough to cover me, butas soon as the first charge was repulsed and we were ordered to the front, Iforgot my fears and felt strong enough to carry a cannon all alone.

General John M. Brannan, commanding Third Division, 14th Army Corps

The remaining pieces of the left and right sections tookplaces next to the Napoleons on their right while the center section took theextreme right of the battery. I am not certain whether there was anotherbattery to the right of us in Brannan’s division or not. About half an hour ofquiet was all that was given us in which to take our places at the front whenthe roar of artillery was heard again on the left. It came towards us in amanner that made us feel rather shaky again.

We were watching for the approaching foe and soon saw them,their bayonets glistening in the morning sun. Then we were ordered to commencefiring. They charged up to within six rods of our muzzles when our canisterhurled them back. We had lots of canister but no grape although I notice thatinfantrymen always speak of grape and canister. The second charge they camenearer and we mowed them down in windrows. We could keep our front clear aslong as our flanks were protected and the canister held out.

Canister

A third time they came on. Between the second and thirdcharge General Wood made that unaccountable blunder of withdrawing his divisionfrom the front and passing to our division’s rear to the support of Reynolds onour left. We had not much more than begun our morning operations against thisthird charge when we noticed bullets coming from our right. We turned our gunsin that direction. When we fired our last charge, the Rebels were not two rodsaway. I cannot say much for any but our own section, only that Battery withLieutenant Marco Gary commanding, covered itself with glory that day. Oursection was badly cut to pieces in that flank charge.

I was the No. 2 on our gun which we called the Ashtabula gun;Daniel Horton was No. 4. He was shot down and did not move after he fell. ThenBarnhart Reichart, our No. 3, acted for both. Albert A. LeClere was No. 1. Hehad just said to me that he could not hold out much longer and I was thinkingof taking hold to help him when he was wounded in the head, dropped the spongestaff, and turned away. I sprang across the muzzle of the gun and picked up thesponge staff to take his place when Amos Austin of the Madison gun came up withhis staff in hand and said, “Let me act. Our gun is disabled. Gunner Hasell inbadly wounded.” I at once resumed my own post. We fired perhaps half a dozentimes more then were ordered to limber up and Austin returned to help save hisown piece. As we were running off our gun, I was wounded and there was notenough men left to get the gun through the brush.

Sergeant Theodore Stoughton
Battery C, 1st OVLA

Sergeant Theodore Stoughton and Barnhart Reichart dismounted it,however, and escaped just as the Johnnies were on the point of laying hands onthem. How they came off alive I do not know. Stoughton came out with the gunlimber and three horses, ridden by Johnson and Ingersoll; they picked me up soI rode off the field on the gun limber. The Madison gun was brought off by JohnAustin with his wheelers. All the other horses were either killed or woundedand had to be cut out. The other two sections lost two or three caissons andseveral horses.

The battery being so badly disabled was sent off the fieldtowards Chattanooga. We did not lose near as many men in proportion as ourinfantry supports in the two days’ fighting. Battery C did its best under thecircumstances but we were satisfied from the looks of things when we left thefield that our battery had not saved the army. Some who came in after we leftthe field claimed that honor.

Sources:

Letter fromPrivate Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer LightArtillery, Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (Ohio), October 10, 1863, pg. 3

“Chickamauga:The Part Taken in the Great Battle by Battery C, 1st Ohio L.A.,”Corporal Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer LightArtillery, National Tribune, November 5, 1891, pg. 4

The Tale of Two Fifths: The 5th North Carolina and 5th Wisconsin Meet at Williamsburg

On the 5thof May, 1862 at Williamsburg, Virginia the 5th North Carolina metthe 5th Wisconsin upon the battlefield for the first time. At (you guessed it) 5 o'clock that evening, the Wisconsin troops, part of General Winfield Scott Hancock’sbrigade, fought a stubborn delaying action against a daring counterattackstaged by the 5th North Carolina and 24th Virginia underthe command of General Jubal Early. 

In the ensuing struggle in which Hancock said of hisopponents, "they should have immortality inscribed on their banners,” thetwo Confederate regiments nearly broke the Federal line and suffered heavily; the 5th North Carolina lost more than 300 men including its colors while the 24thVirginia lost more than 180. General Early was also wounded in this assault.

Today’s post features a pair of eyewitness accounts of this engagement- one fromPrivate Thomas Wagener of Co. A of the 5th Wisconsin and a secondwritten primarily by Captain James MacRae of the 5th North Carolinawho at the time of the engagement was serving as regimental adjutant. Wagener’sletter, written to his brother-in-law William Henry of Two Rivers, Wisconsinjust three days after the battle, first saw publication in the May 30, 1862,edition of the Manitowoc Pilot. Captain MacRae’s account was publishedin Walter Clark’s 1901 compendium Histories of the Several Regiments andBattalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-65, Volume I.

 

This detailed view from a postwar Kurz & Allison print depicts the 5th Wisconsin's counterattack at Williamsburg. The troops are shown wearing havelocks, a type of headwear that enjoyed a brief period of popularity before the troops discovered that while the hats kept the sun off their necks, it also stifled airflow around their head and made them sweat all the more. 

“GiveThem a Cheer with Your Fire!” 

~ General Winfield Scott Hancock

 

Williamsburg,Virginia

May 8, 1862

Dear Henry,

          I have not written to you for a longtime because I heard you were with father and so I though the letter I wrotehim would answer for you, too. The last I wrote him was dated May 1stand you had better learn its contents to understand this.

          I commence with the words of Caesar: “Wecame, saw, and conquered.” On the night of May 3rd, our regiment wason picket guard before the fort I mentioned in father’s letter, the Rebelpickets firing at us all night pretty lively which was promptly replied to byus. Between 3 and 4 o’clock, a bullet passed so near my nose that Iinvoluntarily felt to ascertain if that precious member was really in itsplace. Fancy our surprise when we received soon after the intelligence that theenemy had left and presently, we heard the cheers and yells of the 6thMaine boys who were already in possession of the fort. The 5thWisconsin crossed over about 9 o’clock, but as my legs were sore, I could notfollow until about noon.

          I had no idea of their stronghold. Thefortifications extended from the York to the James Rivers (7 miles) and are 3miles wide; one breastwork succeeds another intermingled with ditches, riflemen’spits, all situated in a dismal swamp. If we had to have taken it at the pointof the bayonet, it would have cost us dearly. Our shells made terrible work init; there was not a single tree within reach of our guns which was not torn topieces and large spots of blood here and there evinced that the Rebels had losta considerable number of men. There was such an odious smell around that I wasglad to get out of the place.

          The whole peninsula is, literallyspeaking, covered with rifle pits and breastworks. All the inhabitants havefled and in such haste that in some houses the kitchen fires were still burningwhen we passed. That afternoon, our cavalry came up with the rear of the enemyand charged on a fort but were repulsed. Judging from the empty saddles I saw,we must have lost about 50 killed and wounded and took 20 prisoners; we alsolost one cannon.

          I reached the regiment about 6 o’clockand our company was immediately ordered to advance as skirmishers. It waspretty dark in the woods by this time and we were on to the Rebel picketsbefore we knew it and as Arnold [his brother] mounted a stump to get a betterview, we received a brisk fire but nobody was hurt. The right wing of thecompany got lost in the woods and had to stay there till morning.

The next morning our brigade made a flank movement to get inthe rear of the enemy while another brigade stormed the fort before mentioned [Fort Magruder].We took two forts on the road without firing a gun, always moving at the doublequick and up to our knees in mud. Just as we had taken the second fort, wediscovered another short distance in advance of us another fort, this onemanned. We did not know whether they were friends or foes but as our companyagain moved forward, a shower of balls poured into us from the fort, killingone of our men. We started again on the double quick to reach a fence about 100yards in front and nearly 500 feet from the enemy where we lay flat on theground, the bullets flying around as thick as hail. We had hardly got in thatposition when our second lieutenant said he was shot, but on examination wefound that the ball had only penetrated his blanket.

General Winfield Scott Hancock

But now the Rebel artillery commenced throwing shells, thefourth one hitting poor Cochems, throwing him fully 10 feet backwards, killinghim instantly. [Corporal Jacob Cochems] I carried him back to the fort whichwas then in our possession [Redoubt #14] ; he looked as if he was asleep, not asingle expression of pain marked his face. We buried him yesterday. I took $5and his watch from him which I shall deliver to his father who is in thehospital suffering from rheumatism and is, as yet, ignorant of his son’s fate. [Jacob’sfather John Cochems would be discharged for disability on June 25, 1862.] Allthe boys mourn for him as he was liked by the whole company.

I had a fence rail thrown in my face by a ball and when ashell exploded it smeared me all over with mud. Such incidents were continuallyoccurring until 5 o’clock when we were fired upon on our right. “We areflanked!” I shouted to our first lieutenant who lay on my right. “Never mind,”he replied, though he was quite pale, “we shall wait till we receive orders toretreat.” Accordingly, not a man moved though the Rebels came in flocks out ofthe fort in front of us and six regiments came out of the woods to our right.When the latter were within 100 yards of us, we got orders to retreat which weat first tried to do on a run. But our gallant lieutenant told us to go slowlyand return the fire; this we did and had the satisfaction of seeing the Rebelsdrop at every fire.

I was too weak to fire much; in fact, I dropped down severaltimes and was obliged to leave my knapsack on the field for lack of strength tocarry it. Arnold acted during the whole engagement as if he was made of ice. Atone time when his gun misfired, he sat coolly down in the open field, amidstthe shower of bullets, and fixed it. He afterwards told me he saw five of theenemy drop before his gun.

This map from the American Battlefield Trust depicts the fight between the two Fifths at the Battle of Williamsburg on the afternoon of May 5, 1862. Advancing through a swamp, Hancock's 5 regiments passed Redoubt #11 and deployed a skirmish line which became heavily engaged with the Confederate pickets. Early then launched his two regiment attack which drove the Federal skirmishers back and nearly broke the Federal line. Private Wagener recalls General Hancock personally rallying the 5th Wisconsin and sending them forward in a counterattack. 

At first, our regiment was in disorder as more companies hadbeen sent out to skirmish and now came in from several directions. General[Winfield Scott] Hancock ordered a retreat in order to get the enemy from thewoods into the open field, but when they were far enough he shouted, “Now 5thWisconsin, now is your time! Give it to them! Give them hell! Stand your groundor I am ruined!” When he saw our company retreating so slowly, almost checkingthe overwhelming force, he clapped his hands in delight and cried out to one ofhis aides, “Oh, see the bloody Fifth fight! Just see the devils fight!” At onetime, our regiment was almost surrounded, and he said, “Goodbye Fifth, you arelost!” But we gained our ground again; then in came in front of us and shouted,“God damn it, boys, just given them a cheer with your fire!” The whole regimenthave one glad “Hurrah” and ran in rapid pace at the foe. This was too much forthem and they took to their heels.

As one of the prisoners since said, the Rebels imagined thathell was opened and the devils in human shape were let loose upon them. Thoughreceiving the whole fire of the enemy in front and in flank, we had only 12killed, 3 of whom were in our company. We also lost about 50 wounded includingCharles Hartung of Two Rivers, but he will recover. The enemy lost over 400killed and wounded and over 200 prisoners. The woods are still full of the deadand the roads covered with arms which the Rebels threw away. The 5thNorth Carolina regiment was cut to pieces; they had not 25 men left unhurt.Among their killed were three of their field officers and the general in whosecommand they belonged; their colors were also captured. 

          Yesterday evening on parade, GeneralGeorge McClellan with his staff rode in front of the regiment and addressed itthus: “My lads- I have come to thank you for the bravery and discipline whichyou displayed the other day. On that day you won laurels of which you may wellbe proud- not only you, but the army, the state, and the country to which youbelong. Through you we won the day and ‘Williamsburg’ shall be inscribed onyour banner. I cannot thank you too much and I am sure the reputation yourgallantry has already received will always be maintained.”

          I have got to stop writing now as weare ordered to march on. Tell father to make Mrs. Cochems acquainted with Jacob’sfate as best he can.

Youraffectionate brother,

Thomas Wagener

 

"Theyshould have immortality inscribed on their banners." 

~ General WinfieldScott Hancock

 

Adjutant (later Captain) James Cameron MacRae, 5th North Carolina Infantry was among the survivors of Williamsburg, the regiment having lost upwards of 360 men in its assault.  

Captain James MacRae and Sergeant Major Charles M. Busbee ofthe 5th North Carolina submitted the following account ofWilliamsburg which was included in Walter Clark’s Histories of the SeveralRegiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War of 1861-65,Volume I.

The battle on the right of the Confederates, belowWilliamsburg, was very severe during the day, and the enemy was not only heldin check but driven back with great slaughter. In the afternoon it was foundthat the Federal troops had taken possession of an old, abandoned redoubt onthe extreme left, and somewhat in advance of the other works, which had beenerected for the defense of Williamsburg, and was seriously annoying our troopsby an enfilading fire from its batteries. Brig. Gen. Jubal Early's and Brig.Gen. Robert E. Rodes' Brigades, under command of Maj. Gen. Daniel H. Hill (NC),were sent to the left of the Confederate line with orders to retake thisredoubt and silence its batteries.

Under the immediate direction of Maj. Gen. Hill, fourregiments of Early's Brigade marched to the left and disencumbered of allimpedimenta in the open ground, which was separated from this redoubt by thickwoods. Of the four regiments to compose the attacking party the 24thVirginia, Col. William R. Terry, led by Brig. Gen. Jubal Early in person, wason the left and covered by woods, immediately opposite the redoubt. The 5thNorth Carolina Regiment was on the right and opposite an open field about 800yards from the redoubt to be attacked.

General Jubal Early

At the word of command, the brigade in line of battle passedinto the intervening woods, from which this regiment soon emerged in a field ofheavy plowed ground, in full view of the enemy, who immediately opened upon itwith artillery. In the face of apparent destruction, but in obedience to directorders from the Major-General commanding, this regiment began the advance. Itwas at once necessary to change front forward on the left company, and themovement was made with precision under a heavy artillery fire.

On account of the continued advance of the left company andthe heavy condition of the soil the right of the line, though at adouble-quick, was delayed in reaching its alignment; the left companies werehalted to give time for the balance of the regiment to reach the line, when thewhole command halted, dressed upon the left, and at the word of command pressedforward to the attack, marching as on dress parade, without firing a gun. Infront of the redoubt were 5 regiments of infantry, supporting a battery of 10pieces of artillery, with clouds of skirmishers in their advance. The charge ofthe 5th North Carolina Regiment on this occasion has rarely beensurpassed in the history of war for its heroism and gallantry. Pressing on fromthe first in the face of the battery, entering into the plunging fire of theinfantry, wading into a storm of balls, which first struck the men in the feetand rose upon their nearer approach, it steadily pressed on.

The 5th North Carolina received a banner similar to the one depicted above in this Don Troiani print. Reportedly, the 5th North Carolina's flag was the first Confederate battle flag captured in Virginia. 

The 24th Virginia had now emerged from the woodsat a point on the left and nearer the enemy, driving the skirmishers before it.From the thickness of the woods in their front, the center regiments not havingcome up, the 5th North Carolina Regiment obliqued to the left totouch its comrade, the 24th Virginia, when all pressed forward,driving the enemy before them. Not until within close range was the command"Commence firing" given, when it began to fire and load as itadvanced. The enemy's skirmishers retired, the battery retreated into theredoubt, with the infantry behind it, and opened fire again from theentrenchments.

Instances of individual heroism would fill a volume. Themembers of the color-guard were shot down one by one, and as each man fell thebattle flag was passed to the successor. When the last sergeant fell, Capt.Benjamin Robinson, of Company A, took it and bore it at the head of his companyuntil the staff was shot to pieces. The officers and men were falling rapidlyunder the withering fire of grape and canister and musketry. Lt. Col. John C.Badham was shot in the forehead and fell dead; Maj. Peter J. Sinclair's horsewas killed and he was disabled; Capt. Henry Mullins, of Company C, received hismortal wound and fell upon the field; Capt. Thomas M. Garrett, Capt. John W.Lea, and Capt. Hamilton C. Jones were all shot down, as were many of thesubalterns, among them Lt. Thomas Snow, of Halifax (who was killed far inadvance of his company, cheering on his men); Lt. William S. Boswell, ofCompany A; Lt. John P. Clark, of Company G; Lt. Joseph G. Hayes of Company F.

In 50 yards of the redoubt this regiment, or what was left ofit, reached a small fence and ditch with a slight embankment next to the enemy.Here it took cover, continuing to fire, the 24th Virginia on itsleft. Victory was in its grasp, the enemy had been driven to his entrenchment;one fresh regiment was all that was needed to go over the works, but none evercame; instead thereof an order to retreat. Too few in number to continue the attack(at the beginning of the fight these two regiments did not number a thousandmen), in obedience to orders, the regiment retired to the cover of the woods onits left, leaving a large majority of the officers and men dead and wounded onthe field.

It would extend this sketch too much to mention the gallantboys who here, at the threshold of the conflict, laid down their lives. Fourhundred and fifteen (415) men were counted as they went into action;seventy-five (75) answered to the roll-call in the morning, and nearly all ofthe missing were either killed or wounded. Brig. Gen. William S. Hancock, whocommanded the Federals in their front, said of the 5th North Carolinaand 24th Virginia: "They should have immortality inscribed ontheir banners." 

To learn more about the Battle of Williamsburg, please check out these other posts: 

A Sharpshooter at Williamsburg (1st U.S. Sharpshooters) 

Strong Men Fainted in the Ranks at the Sight: At Williamsburg with the 7th New Jersey

Sources:

Letter fromPrivate Thomas Wagener, Co. A, 5th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, ManitowocPilot (Wisconsin), May 30, 1862, pg. 1

Clark, Walter,editor. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolinain the Great War 1861-65, Volume I. E.M. Uzzell, 1901.

Final Year of the War with the 140th Indiana Infantry

Lewis F. Stratton was born on February 6, 1841,to Timothy and Mary Stratton on the Stratton family farm in Jefferson Twp., JayCo., Indiana. He was the fifth of eight children and came of age with all thetrials and tribulations of life in the Indiana frontier, being educated in thelocal public schools. He became a farmer and helped run the family farm untilthe Civil War broke out in April 1861. 

    His older brother Isaac N. Strattonimmediately answered the call for volunteers and joined Co. C, 39thIndiana Infantry in August 1861 and went on to a distinguished career as asoldier, mustering out as Captain of Co. I, 8th Indiana VeteranCavalry. The following August, Lewis’ oldest brother Stephen  joined the 89thIndiana Infantry as a Corporal but died at Fort Pickering in Memphis, Tennesseefrom disease in the summer of 1863. At the time he enlisted in October 1864, Lewis was livingin Deer Creek Twp., Cass Co., Indiana working as a farm laborer. 

Private Lewis F. Stratton, Co. F, 140th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in a pre-war CDV taken in Portland, Indiana. 

          Lewistook a train to Indianapolis, Indiana and on October 15, 1864, enlisted as aPrivate of Co. F, 141st Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, beingenlisted by Lieutenant John B. Routh. The company descriptive book gives thisnotation for Lewis: “Age 23 years, height 5’ 9 1/2”, complexion dark, eyeshazel, hair black, occupation farmer.” Interestingly, the muster anddescriptive roll that was forwarded has his physical description as thus: “age23, height 5’ 9”, complexion fair, eyes blue, hair auburn, occupationfarmer.”  The latter description of Lewisis likely correct as it matches the description of him on his enlistmentpapers. It is also similar to the one used to describe his brother Isaac.Private Stratton was mustered into the 141st Indiana Infantry bymustering officer Captain Thomas Drury, 12th U.S. Infantry. CompanyF, commanded by Captain John Smuck, was originally to become a part of the 141stIndiana Infantry, but the companies assigned to that regiment were consolidatedinto the 140th Indianain mid-October 1864 and the 141st never mustered.

          The140th Indiana mustered into United States service on October 24,1864, at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana under the command of Colonel ThomasJ. Brady for one year’s service. Colonel Brady was a soldier of extensiveexperience, enlisting as a Captain of Co. A, 8th Indiana Infantry onApril 16, 1861, being promoted to Major on May 10, 1862, and was commissionedColonel of the 117th Indiana on September 19, 1863. After thatregiment’s term of enlistment ended in February 1864, he returned home untilcommissioned Colonel of the 140th. The regiment immediatelycommenced drilling, receiving weapons and equipment in early November.  While in camp, Private Stratton met CorporalJames D. Brown and became fast friends, the two men becoming bunkmates for theremainder of the war.

General Horatio P. Van Cleve

An impending invasionof Tennesseeby the Confederate army under Lieutenant General John Bell Hood cut theregiment’s drilling time short, and they were rushed off to the seat of war on November 15, 1864. Theregiment was moved by rail from Indianapolisto Nashville, Tennessee, arriving on November 16th.  Major General George H. Thomas, commandingthe Army of the Cumberland,was gathering his forces in Nashvilleand preparing the city to ward off Hood’s invasion, which had begun a few daysprior. Union forces in south central Tennesseeslowly retreated against Hood’s army of 40,000 veterans, a quarter of whichwere cavalry under the  General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Upon itsarrival in Nashville,the 140th Indianawas attached to the First Brigade (Brigadier General Horatio P. VanCleve), Defenses of Nashvilleand Chattanooga Railroad (Major General Robert H. Milroy), 23rd ArmyCorps (Major General John M. Schofield), Department of the Cumberland (Major General George H. Thomas)on November 16, 1864.Soldiers were quartered all over town working on improving the defenses, anunexciting but necessary duty of which the 140th took full part.

General Van Cleve commanded Fortress Rosecrans at Murfreesboro,and the 140th marched to that point, arriving on November 23rd.When it arrived, the regiment swelled the number of defenders toover 2,000. Pursuant to orders from General Thomas, the 140th camped inside Fortress Rosecrans as a defense in case of sudden Confederateattack. 200,000 rations were shipped to the fort and the men were supplied withat least 200 rounds of ammunition per man. Hood’s forces were moving closer to Nashville and fought ahorrendous battle at Franklinon November 30, in which Hood lost 7,300 men. The Union forces at thatplace severely bloodied the Rebel forces, but after doing so, retreated northagain towards Nashville.

As Hood marched towardsNashville, hedetached a division of infantry under Brigadier General William B. Bate onDecember 2, 1864, to cut Union communication lines along the Nashville &Chattanooga Railroad at Murfreesboro, also aiming to take the depot located in thetown. Reinforcements from General Nathan Bedford Forrest increased the size ofthe Rebel force to about 6,000 men. In the meantime, General Thomas hadreinforced Murfreesborowith several brigades of infantry, the garrison numbering about 8,000 men underMajor General Lovell H. Rousseau when the Confederates approached on December 5th.General Forrest, having field command of the Rebel forces surveyed the Unionfortification at Fortress Rosecrans and determined that it was too strong to betaken by frontal assault. As a result, he pulled his forces back and attemptedto draw Rousseau’s men out of the fort and defeat them in detail. His mendemonstrated against the fort for several days, peppering its defenders withsmall arms fire to little effect.

However, on December 7, 1864, BrigadierGeneral Robert Milroy led seven regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery,numbering 3,500 men, out of the fort in a reconnaissance mission to uncoverForrest’s position. He contacted the enemy and in a sharp engagement proceededto rout Bates’ Floridadivision near the Wilkinson Pike, followed by the brigade of BrigadierGeneral Joseph B. Palmer. Union losses were limited to a total of 208 (22killed, 186 wounded). In his official report, General Milroy states that hecaptured “1197 prisoners,” including 21 commissioned officers in addition tothe 214 Confederate casualties.

The layout of Fortress Rosecrans featured numerous redoubts and lunettes that would have required an enormous force to hold in its entirety. Only a few portions of the works remain in existence today including Redoubt Brannan adjacent to Stones River near the railroad bridge. 

Bates’ Division andmost of the attached infantry were sent up to Nashville after their defeat here and tookpart in the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16th. General Forrestlingered around Murfreesborodestroying railroad track and interfering with Union supply lines until December 14, 1864 when hewas ordered back to Hood’s army at Nashville.In the December 7th engagement, which was the regiment’s first, the140th Indianaremained inside Fortress Rosecrans and skirmished with Forrest’s cavalry, sustaininga loss of one man wounded. The regiment also took part in another skirmish withForrest’s cavalry on December 13-14th outside Fortress Rosecrans butsuffered no loss in that action.

General Hood’s Army ofTennessee was defeated outside of Nashville, a defeat whichcaused the collapse of that army after three hard fought years of conflict.Union forces pursued Hood all the way to the Tennessee River and picked up more than 6,000 prisoners along the way. Thecrushing of organized resistance in Tennesseeand impending operations along the eastern coast caused the 140th Indiana to be moved fromMurfreesboro toColumbia, Tennesseeon December 24, 1864,arriving in Columbiaon the 28th. While encamped at Columbia, the 140thIndiana was removed from the Defenses of the Nashville & ChattanoogaRailroad command and was transferred to the Third Brigade (ColonelIsrael N. Stiles), Third Division (Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox), 23rdArmy Corps, Army of the Ohio, preparatory to being moved to the North Carolinacoast for operations in that region. The 140th was stationed inColumbia until January 2, 1865, when it marched to Clifton, Tennessee on theTennessee River, arriving in that place on January 8th.

It was on this march toClifton, Tennesseethat Private Stratton contracted sickness that would plague him the rest of hislife. “While on march from Columbia, Tennessee to the Tennessee River we waded a crooked stream a number oftimes during the day and just before night. The stream was deep enough to thoroughly wet my clothing and I slept inthat condition that night. I took cold which caused first a cough andhoarseness and for some days had some fever. The result of the cold was adisease of the lungs." (Pension File) The regimental hospital record shows thathe entered the hospital on January 4th with diarrhea and wasreturned to duty on January 12, 1865.

General John Schofield had led the 23rd Army Corps throughout 1864 and would seen lead it to the eastern coast of North Carolina, tasked with closing the port of Wilmington. 

The Second and Third Divisions of the 23rd Corps remained at Clifton until the night ofJanuary 16th when they boarded steamers for the trip to Cincinnati. It took fivedays to reach Cincinnati at which point the men boarded railroad cars bound forAlexandria, Virginia, opposite Washington D.C., arriving there on January 25, 1865,and being quartered at the Soldier’s Rest camp. Major General Schofield wrotein his official report that “the movement was effected without delay, accident,or suffering on the part of the troops” despite “weather unusually severe evenfor that season.” 

The entire command arrived on the Potomacby January 31st and was encamped in Alexandria until February 4th.Meanwhile, after meeting with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at FortressMonroe, Major General Schofield was given command of the new Department ofNorth Carolina with his 23rd Corps to be the main force in thatdepartment, along with units in the 10th Corps under Major GeneralAlfred H. Terry.

The frozen PotomacRiver prohibited movement for several days but the 140th boarded thesteamship Atlantic on February 4, 1865, bound for Fort Fisher outside ofWilmington, North Carolina, arriving on the night of February 7th,being one of the first units of the corps to arrive. On the voyage to Fort Fisher,Colonel Stiles was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General, being given command ofthe 1st Division of the 23rd Corps, and Brevet BrigadierGeneral Thomas Jefferson Henderson of the 112th Illinois was given command of the 3rdBrigade, which consisted of the 112th Illinois, 63rd Indiana, and the 140th IndianaInfantry regiments. Additional troops of the 23rd Corps continued toarrive on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of February.

General Terry withabout 8,000 men had held Ft. Fisher and thesurrounding area for the previous month and with the 23rd Corps nowarriving in force, plans were made for the closing of the Cape Fear River by the capture of Fort Andersonof the western shore of the entrance to that river.  The closing of this river would cut off Wilmington, which hadbecome the Confederacy’s most important blockade-running port. As such, itprovided an immense amount of military supplies to the Confederacy’s forces,particularly Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Fort Andersonitself “was impregnable to direct attack, and could be turned only by crossingMasonborough Sound above his left, or passing around the swamp which coveredhis right (Schofield).” The fort was also garrisoned by about 6,600Confederates under Major General Robert F. Hoke.

General Jacob D. Cox of Ohio led a division of the 23rd Corps for much of the last years of the war. He built upon his battlefield successes by becoming governor of Ohio in 1866. 

The first movement inthe campaign against Ft. Anderson occurred onFebruary 11th as Terry’s Division, with Cox’s in support, movednorth along the eastern shore of the Cape Fear River.General Terry then entrenched his division, while Cox moved back to the oldlines that Terry’s troops had held near Ft. Fisher, about 1 ½ miles south ofthe new line.  Cox’s division remained incamp until dusk on the 12th when it sallied forth past Terry’sentrenchments to a point about four miles north where the sound was sufficientlynarrow to permit the laying of a pontoon bridge upon which the troops couldcross under the cover of darkness. “Soon after sunset the division moved outmarching as low upon the beach as possible, upon sand left bare by the tide, soas to be as little exposed to view as might be from the opposite side ofMasonborough Sound, where the enemy’s campfires were in full view (Cox).” Agale force wind from the northeast drowned out the sound of the march but alsomade for difficult and slow marching. When the lead elements reached theappointed spot, the orders were countermanded due to the impossibility ofbringing up the pontoon boats in the high seas, and the division marched backto its encampment near Ft. Fisher.

The weather on the 13thcontinued to be exceedingly poor and movement was delayed until the night ofFebruary 14th when the 140th Indiana and the rest ofCox’s division attempted again the operation of February 12th.  Cox moved his division forward to Terry’slines and waited for the pontoon train to arrive from Federal Point. However,the weight of the pontoons caused the wagons to sink into the sand and slowedtheir progress measurably, the train arriving at Cox’s line about midnight. His men then marched aboutthree miles north, parallel with the train, and halted again. “About 2 o’clock, it becoming evident thatno sufficient number of the pontoons could be got up to warrant the attempt tocross before day, the movement was abandoned by command of Major GeneralSchofield, who accompanied the march in person.”

Schofield seeing thathis attempts to turn the Rebel left defeated by sand and winds decided to tryand turn his right. On February 16th, he sent Cox’s and Ames’ divisions by steameracross the sound to Smithville, south of the Confederate defenses around Ft. Anderson,“where I would not have to contend with the difficulties of land and sea.”  Cox’s division in the van along with Ames’ and Moore’s brigades ofCouch’s division marched north on the morning of February 17th alongthe Wilmingtonroad towards Ft. Anderson. 

About three miles north ofSmithville, the Federal force ran into Rebel cavalry videttes and pushed themrapidly back up the road. The area surrounding the road was almost entirelyswamp and made the march slow and tedious. The road forked at Governor’s Creek,where a battalion of Rebel cavalry held off the advance until Cox’s main columncame into sight, when they again retreated. At this point, Cox selected the Third Brigade to take the right fork of the road and march to a point about two milessouth of Ft. Anderson near the river. Herecommunication was opened with the Federal navy, and Admiral David D. Portercame ashore to confer with General Cox. Pickets from the 140th Indiana were then sentout across the swamp to make contact with the troops on the left fork andestablish communications in that direction.

Fort Anderson, North Carolina in 1865. 

On the morning ofFebruary 18th, the 140th Indiana moved out at the right of Henderson’s brigade north“by the right of companies where practicable” to a point about 600 yards southof Ft. Anderson. The 140th continuednorth along the river until it was about 300 yards from the fort but pulledback after being caught in the crossfire between the fort and Federal gunboatsin the Cape Fear River. Several members of the 140th were wounded inthe short time that they were exposed. General Cox ordered Henderson’sbrigade to dig in while he took two brigades on a long march to get to the rearof the fort and prevent any escape of its garrison. “We immediately constructedstrong works and advanced the skirmish line as far as it could be with safety" (Henderson). However,Rebel cavalry detected Cox’s flanking movement and alerted Hoke, who pulledout the garrison to the north and east during the early morning hours ofFebruary 19th.

“If any credit attachesfor the occupation of Fort Anderson, after its evacuation, it is perhaps due tothose under my command to say that the skirmishers of my brigade were among thefirst, if not the first, to enter the fort and that the garrison flag, whichwas a very fine one, and had been left by the enemy in their hasty retreat wascaptured by one of the soldiers of the 140th Regiment IndianaVolunteer Infantry, and was sent by Colonel Brady, commanding the regiment, toGovernor Morton of that state," General Henderson noted. His report goes on to state his complete satisfaction with the men of hisbrigade who are “entitled to great credit for patient endurance of thehardships and exposures to which they were subject, and for the energetic,faithful manner in which they discharged their respective duties during thecampaign.”

The flag was capturedby a man in Co. A and was duly sent along witha delegation from the 140th to Governor Morton, who invitedPresident Lincoln along to witness the presentation ceremony. The delegationmarched down Pennsylvania Avenueto the National Hotel and presented the flag to the governor on March 17, 1865. He made afew appropriate remarks and then President Lincoln rose and gave one of thefinal public speeches of his life. The press picked up on the storyand a number of myths grew about how the flag was captured, one story claimingthat General Henderson grabbed the flag from the dying hands of the fortcommander but one witness wrote years after the war that “the flag wasn’tcaptured, it was picked up off the ground.”

The Fort Anderson garrison flag was captured/retrieved by a soldier in Co. A of the 140th Indiana and survives today as part of a display at the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson site in Winnabow, North Carolina. 

After the abandonmentof Ft. Anderson, the 140th Indiana moved in thepursuit of the Rebel forces down the Town Creek road but halted about threemiles out by General Schofield’s orders to allow the remainder of the commandto come up. At 2 p.m., Henderson’s brigade movedforward cautiously down Town Creek road, meeting little opposition until itnearly reached Town Creek Bridge,where a strong Rebel picket had been established. Henderson threw forward his skirmishers whoput the Rebels into flight to their works on the opposite bank of the creek,taking up the planks of the bridge in their retreat and beginning an artillerybarrage. 

Henderson’sbrigade formed into battle line along the crest of a ridge paralleling thecreek and commenced fortifying his position. Rebel works on the western bank ofthe creek consisted of three artillery pieces (one Whitworth rifle, two brass12-pounders) which covered all the approaches to the bridge along with a densenetwork of abatis and entrenchments. Brigadier General Johnson Hagood’s brigade(11th, 21st, 25th, 27th, SouthCarolina Regts. and the 7th South Carolina Battalion) of Hoke’sdivision manned the works, assisted by the 50th North CarolinaInfantry, 600-1,000 men in total. Town Creek,while not wide, was deep and unfordable anywhere in the immediate front of thebrigade.

As the men dug in,General Henderson was informed by scouts that a flat boat had been discoveredat a nearby warehouse, and seeing the obvious solution to his problem ofcrossing the creek sent off a corporal’s guard of men to secure the boat.General Cox kept his supporting brigades out of sight behind the crest of theridge which Henderson’smen were fortifying. When Cox learned of the boat, he made plans to move outhis First and Second Brigades to about a mile and a half southof the Rebel position and attempt a crossing there for the purpose of gainingthe Confederate rear and compelling his retreat. On the morning of February 20th,two companies of the 140th advanced as skirmishers under theconstant and heavy fire of the Rebels behind their works. The purpose of themovement was to pin down the enemy in his front and occupy his attention whileCox moved to strike his rear. The ground offered little in the way ofprotection but the men forced their way to with 150 yards of the bridge tocover it and prevent the Confederates from setting it afire. In moving forward,the men advanced by digging small rifle pits at each successive advance, andthus were able to get within close musket range. 

Battery D, 1stOhio Artillery along with the skirmishers kept up a constant fire on theConfederates, disabling the Whitworth rifle, until Cox’s brigades charged theRebel works from the rear and sent the Rebels into utter rout. When theConfederates started to falter, Lt. Col. Daniel Morris of the 63rd Indiana, in command ofthe skirmish party, and two companies of the 140th crossed over thebridge at 5 p.m. andentered the works, taking 31 prisoners and hastening along the Confederateretreat. Cox collected 375 prisoners along with the two brass 12-pounders.Union loss was confined to a total of about 30. “The labor and courage of thetroops were expended rather in overcoming the great physical obstacles in thenature of the country rather than in hard fighting," General Cox said.

Sgt. John W. Grishaw
Co. G, 140th Indiana

The bridge over TownCreek was reassembled on the night of February 20th to permit thepassage of Henderson’sbrigade and the divisional artillery; the 140th Indiana spending the night in the formerConfederate works. General Cox moved forward again on the 21st inthe direction of Wilmington on orders from General Schofield to ascertain thecondition of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad and to capture a crossingover the Brunswick River just south of Wilmington. Henderson’s brigade was placed at the tailend of the division. The division marched six miles to Mill Creek andreconstructed the bridge there, creating a delay of about two hours and thenmoved forward to Brunswick Ferry. Here it was found that the Confederates intheir retreat had dismantled the pontoon bridge over the Brunswick River.In their haste, the Rebels had simply cut the ropes and let the boats driftdownriver where details began to collect them to reconstruct the bridge. Cox’sdivision then entrenched itself, facing south over the road they had justmarched along. That evening, in the mistaken belief that Terry’s corps neededadditional troops to dislodge the Confederates in his front on the easternshore of the Cape Fear River, Henderson’s brigade waspulled out of camp and sent to the mouth of Town Creek under GeneralSchofield’s orders, arriving shortly after daylight on February 22, 1865. Once it arrivedthere, subsequent dispatches from Terry confirmed that the Confederates hadpulled out of his front and reinforcement was no longer necessary.

Lieutenant GeneralBraxton Bragg, commanding the Confederate forces in Wilmington, decided onFebruary 21st that further resistance was futile and directed thatthe accumulated naval stores and commissary goods be set to the torch. Oncethis was accomplished, he pulled his troops out of Wilmington in the early morning hours of the22nd, allowing Federal troops under General Terry to enter the citythat morning. It was followed shortly by Cox’s division, minus the Third Brigade which was maintaining its position at the mouth of Town Creek. The Third Brigade under Hendersoncamped that night along the river and received orders to march into Wilmington on the 23rd,arriving there about 3 p.m.During the course of the march, the 112th Illinois was detached to guard the pontoonbridge that had been reconstructed at Brunswick Ferry.

The 140th Indiana went into campafter arriving in Wilmingtonand remained there doing garrison duty until March 6, 1865. The campaign to capture Wilmington had beenskillfully conducted at very small loss to the Union forces in the region.General Schofield noted in his official report that the spoils from thecampaign included “51 pieces of heavy ordnance, 15 light pieces, a large amountof ammunition, and not less than 1,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners.” Notonly that, but the Confederacy’s last major port had been closed and with thatthe Rebels armies were cut off from any outside supply.  

The biggest question facing Schofield waswhat to do next as he had no rolling stock for the railroad at Wilmington and nearly nowagons as they had been left behind when the corps left Tennessee. He moved about 5,000 troops inthe department to the Union stronghold at New Bern, North Carolinaand by March 6th had gathered enough of a wagon transport to moveout towards Kinston.

General Cox had beensent to lead the force at New Berne and Brigadier General James William Reilly,formerly of the 104th Ohio Infantry, assumed temporary command ofthe Third Division on February 25, 1865.  Cox led hisprovisional division north from New Bern and fought a pitched battle at Wise’sFork March 8-10, defeating the Confederates and capturing Kinston. MajorGeneral Darius N. Couch took command of the Wilmington-based expedition andmoved with the Second and Third Divisions of the 23rdCorps on the land march to Kinstonvia Onslow and Richlands. The overland march was a hard one through endlessmiles of swamps but was made with little resistance from Rebels in the area,many of whom had become demoralized but the impending collapse of the rebellionon all fronts. The 140th Indianamarched 86 miles in the first five days of the expedition before slowing thepace somewhat, arriving about three miles from Kinston on March 14,1865 and going into camp. 

The reunion with Sherman's "bummers" in late March 1865 was a joyous occasion for both armies. 

General Schofield,having concentrated his forces, moved out from Kinston on March 20th and occupiedGoldsboro withslight resistance on the night of the 21st, the 23rdCorps bivouacking south and west of the city. Henderson’sbrigade was promptly set to work building works on March 23rd untilrelieved of that duty on March 30th. Schofield then had his detachedforces at Wilmingtontransported by boat to Goldsboroto achieve the total concentration of the 23rd Corps. 

Major GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman’s army was moving north to meet Schofield’s force andhad fought sharp engagements at both Averysboro and Bentonville prior toarriving in Kinstonon March 24, 1865.It was a happy reunion for all involved as many regiments that were part of the23rd Corps had been a part of Sherman’sAtlantacampaign in the summer of 1864. The men of the corps “lined the road asspectators, cheered uproariously and laughed till the tears ran down theirfaces whenever the panorama of raggedness became unusually ludicrous,” one of Sherman’s veteransremembered. The reunion must have been particularly joyous for Lewis Stratton,as he may have had a chance to see his older brother Capt. Isaac Stratton ofthe 8th Indiana Veteran Cavalry, which was part of Sherman’s army. In the middle of all this,Private Stratton contracted fever and was in the regimental hospital from March 23-26, 1865.

The brigade was sentout on a reconnaissance mission on March 31, 1865. It marched about sixmiles out of Goldsboro to Gulley’s Station and became involved in a brisk butindecisive skirmish at that place. It proved to be the last time that the 140thIndiana wouldbe under fire. After returning to Goldsboro,the 140th went into camp until the morning of April 2ndwhen it was detached from Henderson’sbrigade to be sent on commissary train guard duty between Goldsboro and Morehead Cityon the coast. The 17th Massachusetts Infantry replaced the regimentin the brigade. The long march was made to Morehead Cityand back without incident and the men rejoined the brigade on April 10th.The brigade at that point had been preparing to move on Raleigh for the occupation of that place.

With his now 90,000-manarmy resupplied and rested, Sherman began an advance which he believed wouldbring on the final battle of the war. The 23rd Corps moved out at 1:00 p.m. on April 10th,marching along the Neuse River road to Smithfield in the rear ofthe 14th Corps. The first day’s march was described as stop-and-gomost of the way and covered only eight miles. This was caused by the unexpectedlystrong resistance of Rebel cavalry that the 14th Corps was forced topush along the road. The next day, the 23rd Corps crossed the Neuse Riveron a pontoon bridge at Smithfieldafter the Confederate burned the original wooden structure while retreating theevening of April 10th. Better progress on made on the 11thand the corps arrived in the vicinity of Raleighon April 14, 1865.

Before Henderson’s brigade evenbegan its final offensive towards Raleigh,General Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant GeneralU.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, ending the long and bloody conflict for Virginia. News of thisevent finally made it to Sherman’sarmy on the morning of April 12th, and Henderson’s brigade responded to the news bysinging such patriotic songs as “The Battle Cry of Freedom”, “Marching ThroughGeorgia,” and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” accompanied by several brassbands. The 1,500-voice choir closed its impromptu concert with “OldHundred.” The joyous celebration of the soldiers was hushed several days laterwhen rumors filtered into Union camps of President Lincoln’s assassination,rumors which were confirmed by General Sherman just before Johnston surrendered his army. While the menwere encamped at Raleigh,General Sherman reviewed the 23rd Corps on April 21, 1865.

General Joseph E. Johnston at left surrenders to his antagonist from the Atlanta campaign General William Tecumseh Sherman at right. 

Confederate PresidentJefferson Davis and his Cabinet abandoned Richmond after the fall of Petersburgand were heading south attempting to rally the remaining Confederate forces inNorth Carolina before pushing on to the Trans-Mississippi theater. He met withLieutenant General Joseph E. Johnston, who was in command of the forces in North Carolina and wasunable to inspire him to do much of anything but confirm Johnston’s belief that the war was over andthe honorable thing to do was surrender. He surrendered his command a few dayslater to General Sherman at Bennett’s House, North Carolina on April 26, 1865,which ended the war everywhere east of the Mississippi River except for someisolated units in Alabama. Organized resistance sputtered out bymid-May 1865 and the Civil War, which had claimed over 600,000 lives, finallycame to a close.

The 140thIndiana remained on garrison duty in Raleigh, North Carolina until May 1stwhen it then marched from Raleigh to Greensboro, North Carolina, arriving onMay 6, 1865. Greensboroin early May still had a large number of recently-paroled Confederates whichcould have made for an uneasy occupation. “All is quiet in camp, but not intown,” one veteran wrote. “Country women” were all laying all about and thestreets were clogged with freed slaves, local citizens, ex-Rebels, and whatnot. But General Cox proved to be an able and popular administrator and hequickly set out to protect law and order in Greensboro much to the delight ofthe citizens who expected much less from “Yankee bummers.” Private Stratton wason detached service from June 8 through the beginning of July, although hismilitary record is not clear what that duty was. The Third Brigade wasfinally dissolved in mid-June and the Indianaboys were attached to the Second Brigade, Third Division, ofthe 23rd Corps.

The 140th Indiana wasmustered out of United States service at Greensboro on July 11, 1865, with anappropriate speech by Colonel Brady; a moment of silence was given in thememory of the 114 men of the regiment who now quietly slept in fields so farfrom home. Transportation by rail north through North Carolina and Virginia was provided, and from Washington D.C.through Pittsburghand Cincinnati,arriving in Indianapolison July 21st. The regiment arrived home in time to take part in thegrand reception for returning regiments on the State Capitol grounds in Indianapolis on the 22nd,the keynote speakers being Governor Morton and Major General William T.Sherman. The men rested and visited with soldiers in other regiments, swappingwar stories, for several days waiting for the state government to get itspaperwork in order to pay off and discharge the men from state service. Thiswas quickly accomplished and the 140th Indiana Infantry ceased toexist as of July 28, 1865.

The war had been acostly one for the Stratton family. Lewis lost his older brother Stephen, as wellas three cousins. His brother Isaac came home so incapacitated by arthritis that he had to be carried from the railroad car by his comrades. Lewis himself came home witha chronic diarrhea that plagued so many of the veterans of that war, thelong-term effects of which helped lead to his death at age 51. But he returnedhome from the war knowing that he had done his full duty, had done his share inpreserving the Union, and had a once in alifetime chance to see America. 

My great-great-great grandparents: Lewis and his wife Julia Ann (Starr) Stratton in an image dating from close to the time they were married in September 1865. 

After the war, Lewisinherited a portion of the family farm near Como and worked on it for several years untilhis health began to fail. He married Julia Ann Starr on September 17, 1865, inJay Co., Indiana and they had a family of seven children, the second of which Mary Jane Stratton became my great-great grandmother. He began to operate ageneral store in Comoin the 1880s and the business proved successful for a while but continuinghealth problems forced him to sell the business. His health continued todeteriorate and he died of cancer of the stomach on August 24, 1892, at hishome. He was buried at Green Park Cemeteryin Portland,Jay Co., Indianawith a Grand Army of the Republic stone denoting his Civil War service as wellas a family stone which he shared with his wife Julia. His youngest daughterLodema is also buried next to her parents.

Lewis and Julia Stratton with five of their children in a cabinet card dating from the mid-1880s. My great-great grandmother Mary Jane Stratton stands in the backrow on the right; she would marry Alvin Washington Masters in 1893.

The Sun Rose Glowing Red and Angry: The 37th Wisconsin in the Crater

There's an old sailor's adage that goes "red skies at night, sailor's delight. Red skies in the morning, sailor's take warning."  Captain Robert Eden of the 37th Wisconsin may have thought that same warning applied to soldiers as the sun rose "glowing red and angry" on the morning of July 30, 1864 in the trenches near Petersburg, Virginia.

    "On that morning, just as the sun rose above the eastern horizon, glowing red and angry through the morning mists like a ball of molten metal, we were aroused by the sound of three heavy guns fired in rapid succession from a battery on the left," the captain recounted. "This was quickly followed by a dull, heavy roar, a perceptible concussion of the air, and a trembling of the solid ground on which we lay. This was succeeded by the opening of every battery along our whole line, said to number 400 pieces of artillery of every size from the light 12-pounder field piece up to 100-pounder Parrott and 6” and 10” mortars. The reports of these pieces were almost continuous and from this time till noon did the hellish uproar continue. Sleeping, of course, was out of the question, for we had no occasion to ask what had happened. We could tell well enough that the mine which for weeks past we had heard was being run under a large Rebel battery in front of the 9th Corps had been exploded and the question in our minds was “what next?”        

    Captain Eden’s description of thefight at the Crater first saw publication in the August 18, 1864, edition ofthe Saturday Evening Press published in Menasha, Wisconsin.

 

NearPetersburg, Virginia

August 1,1864

 

          I have another bloody scene in thisgreat war panorama to recount to you, though noy myself a personal actor in thesame. The 37th Wisconsin had, however, been again called on to takean active part and has, as its list of killed and wounded and the testimony ofall who witnessed the action show, done its duty well and truly.

On Thursday the 21st, I left the field hospitaland took up my quarters in our convalescent camp about two miles in the rear ofour advanced lines but within plain hearing of the picket firing on the front.We passed several days here in quiet, undisturbed by any unusual uproar, adesultory picket firing and occasional artillery skirmish alone breaking thesultry stillness of the long, hot summer days.

On the morning of the 30th, this quiet was brokenin on by the din and uproar of as fierce and determined a battle as any that hasyet taken place before Petersburg. On that morning, just as the sun rose abovethe eastern horizon, glowing red and angry through the morning mists like a ballof molten metal, we were aroused by the sound of three heavy guns fired inrapid succession from a battery on the left. This was quickly followed by adull, heavy roar, a perceptible concussion of the air, and a trembling of thesolid ground on which we lay. This was succeeded by the opening of everybattery along our whole line, said to number 400 pieces of artillery of everysize from the light 12-pounder field piece up to 100-pounder Parrott and 6” and10” mortars. The reports of these pieces were almost continuous and from thistime till noon did the hellish uproar continue. Sleeping, of course, was out ofthe question, for we had no occasion to ask what had happened. We could tellwell enough that the mine which for weeks past we had heard was being run undera large Rebel battery in front of the 9th Corps had been explodedand the question in our minds was “what next?”
          But we were not long left insuspense as the sharp volleys of the rifles in our front and the Yankee cheersrising above the din of the cannonade told us that our corps was advancing. Hastily,snatching a mouthful or two of hardtack, three of us crawled out as far towardsthe front as our strength would permit and there, in painful anxiety, waitednews from the front. Our feelings I will not attempt to describe but you canimagine them. I know that a more anxious morning I never passed in my life.

The Crater

We had not long to wait for tidings, soon, but too soon, thelong line of ambulances came rolling in from the front, each with its ghastly loadof hacked and bleeding humanity. From them we learned that the mine under thefort had exploded, completely tearing the work to pieces and burying hundredsof Rebels and several cannons within its ruins. We also learned that ourbrigade had advanced with the rest of the corps and was holding the ruins andthe first line of Rebel works, and so, as the forenoon wore away, the day wasstill and sultry and the hot sun was shining down fiercely on the dry, sandybattlefield where the wounded lay in their agony, praying for water and but toooften in vain.

And now, towards noon, as our artillery fire slackened, wecould hear the wild, shrill yell of the Rebels as they charged, maddened withliquor, in vain attempts to retake the works we had so well won in the morning.Towards 4 o’clock in the afternoon, however, they were strengthened byreinforcements from their left and our men, having become completely worn outby their exertions added to the impossibility of procuring water and havingbeen without food since the evening before, a final charge on the fortcompelled our men to fall back to the line of rifle pits they had left in themorning. The position, indeed, was one that no number of troops could have heldsuccessfully for any length of time as it was completely commanded by the fireof two forts and three lines of rifle pits which the Rebels still held.

Had it been possible to have got a battery into position inthe fort, something might have been effected, but so withering was thecrossfire from the Rebel lines, no men nor horses could have dragged guns intoan effective position. The men of our regiment, the 27th Michigan,and some belonging to a heavy artillery regiment succeeded, after some heavydigging, in unearthing a couple of the Rebel guns which had been buried by theexplosion of the mine and getting them to bear on one of the Rebel forts,silencing its fire for a time. But their ammunition soon failed and the fortagain reopened its fire. The main credit for the accomplishment of this scheme,which saved the lives of many of our men is due to Colonel Harriman andAdjutant Miltimore of our regiment, and to a sergeant and corporal of the 2ndPennsylvania Heavy Artillery. The former two originated the scheme and thelatter rendered valuable assistance by giving directions as to the working ofthe guns.

From the 23rd to the 31st of July, Private Reuben D. Shaw of Co. C was color bearer and it was he who carried the flag into the Rebel fort after it had been blown up before Petersburg. He planted the colors in full view of the Rebel batteries to the right and left, both of which soon opened upon our forces an incessant fire in which our flag was terribly cut to pieces. The flagstaff was shattered and broken and the flag was blown some distance out of the fort. At this juncture, Adjutant Claron Miltimore fearlessly walked out, picked up the flag, and went safely back into the fort amid a terrific fire of musketry with shot and shell by way of variations and there was not much variation about it either, for every shot and shell brought death and carnage on its wings to some of our boys. ~Quartermaster William C. Webb, 37th Wisconsin 

About 4 o’clock, the order was unwillingly given for our mento fall back, which they did, leaving many killed and wounded on the way. Thesame night, our brigade was relieved, having been on continuous duty in thefront line works for 13 days. Our loss in killed and wounded amounted to 141men, being considerably more than half of the number of men engaged.

The explosion of the mine is reported by those who witnessedit to have been a fearful sight, the air being filled to the height of 50 feetwith fragments of timber, human beings, gun carriages, and general debris whilea vast cloud of dust and smoke hung high over all. Nearly 200 Rebels were dugout of the ruins by our men, over 100 of whom were alive and brought asprisoners into our lines. They stated in my hearing that nearly 300 men of aSouth Carolina regiment, lying round the fort and not in it, were buried by thesand and dirt thrown up by the explosion.

This, the third action we have taken part in, has reduced ouralready decimated ranks sadly. On dress parade this evening we reported 95 menfit for duty. The boys, however, feel good and cheerful and their confidence inGeneral Grant is unshaken. A reported advance of our lines on the right adistance of three miles adds to their confidence. What our next operations maybe, we, of course, cannot tell. Rumors are rife of our corps being ordered toKentucky, but this is probably mere camp gossip.

I cannot help putting in a word here in praise of the Indiansof Co. K, whom many of your readers will doubtless remember in Madison lastspring. They fought determinedly and bravely, losing heavily in killed andwounded. Most of the missing were likely taken prisoners owing to their beingwounded and unable to fall back with the rest of the regiment.

To learn more about the Battle of the Crater, please check out these posts:

The Earth Seemed to Rock Beneath Me: A Blue and Gray View of the Crater

A Cloud of Dust, Smoke, Timber, and Men (18th South Carolina) 

God Alone Knows the Degree of Their Misery (27th U.S. Colored Troops)

Retiring the Colors of the 37th Wisconsin 

Source:

Letter fromCaptain Robert C. Eden, Co. B, 37th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, SaturdayEvening Press (Menasha, Wisconsin), August 18, 1864, pg. 3

On McCook's Raid with the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry

For the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, McCook's cavalry raid at the end of July 1864 proved a disaster, costing the lives of two of its leading officers: Major Nathan Paine and Lieutenant Colonel William H. Torrey. 

    "General Sherman officially pronounces McCook’s raid “an important success.” A plain statement of facts shows how much the lieutenant colonel and major of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry contributed to that success. While we of the regiment mourn them as officers who sacrificed themselves but saved their commands, we look with pride upon the deeds which have made the names of Paine and Torrey an honor to the state," offered Colonel Oscar H. LaGrange. 

    Colonel LaGrange's letter first appeared in the September 8, 1864, edition of the Saturday Evening Press of Menasha, Wisconsin.

During the Atlanta campaign, the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry was armed with a mix of .54 caliber Merrill's carbine (pictured above), .52 caliber Sharp's carbines, .44 Colt revolvers, and a mix of both light and heavy cavalry sabers. 

Headquarters,Second Brigade, First Cavalry Division, D.C., Cartersville, Georgia

August 24,1864

Captain S.V.Shipman, Madison, Wisconsin,

          I arrived here direct from Charlestonon the 19th. After careful inquiry I am able to give you a correctstatement of the death of Major [Nathan] Paine and the capture of Lieutenant Colonel [William H.] Torrey of our regiment McCook’s late raid.

          The 1st Wisconsin Cavalrycrossed the Chattahoochee on a pontoon bridge about four miles below Campbelltonon the morning of the 28th of July. Major Paine was ordered to proceedto Campbellton and, if possible, fight his way through to Fayetteville, adistance of 20 miles on a road parallel to that pursued by the main column from3-8 miles nearer the main army of the enemy and within from 14-20 miles ofAtlanta. The nature of the duty attests to the confidence reposed in MajorPaine and his regiment by the general commanding.

          At Campbellton he encountered astrong outpost of the enemy which was constantly reinforced as it fell back,but was steadily driven with loss by repeated charges. He expected to find themain Rebel force behind rail breastworks and had ordered his advance in such acase to dismount and force an opening through which the remainder of theregiment might charge and use the saber. Three miles from town, the enemy madea determined stand and leaving orders for the remainder of the regiment to actaccording to circumstances, Major Paine charged at the head of three companieswith such impetuosity as to break through the enemy’s line and crush hisreserve column back upon itself in wild confusion. While fighting hand to hand,he was shot through the breast and as he fell, the motto of our state “Forward!”was the last word that passed his lips.

Major Nathan C. Paine
1st Wisconsin Cavalry
Killed in action July 28, 1864
Campbellton, Georgia

          In the confusion of the enemy, theregiment was withdrawn with the loss of the major, Lieutenant Warren woundedand captured, and 11 men and recrossed the river on the pontoon the samemorning. On the following day, our men learned by flag of truce that they hadencountered Armstrong’s brigade, 2,000 strong, and that Major Paine had beenburied near where he fell. The object of the movement was accomplished. Theenemy was deceived by the vigor of the attack and supposing he had met McCook’swhole force, remained in line of battle from noon till midnight. Meantime themain column passed in safety to its work. The action of our regiment was highlycommended by the general commanding.

          Lieutenant Colonel Torrey, commandingthe 2nd and 4th Indiana Cavalry regiments of the SecondBrigade, marched in advance of McCook’s column to Palmetto where his commanddestroyed about two miles of railroad, thence in advance to Fayetteville,where, by his direction, about 2,000 mules were sabered to avoid the noise offiring and 300 prisoners, including 70 commissioned officers from the rank ofmajor to brigadier general, were captured.

The main column plundered and burned about 600 wagons whichTorrey had left to avoid alarming the Rebels at Fayetteville. So faithfullywere his orders executed that they received no intimation of his approach untilthey were completely in his power. Seven barrels of whiskey found at this placewere immediately destroyed by his order and to charge any portion of hiscommand with drunkenness is worse than falsehood from the slander it impliesupon one so determinedly opposed to the use of spirits in the army and onewhose orders were always so implicitly obeyed.

At Fayetteville he urged the general commanding to return,saying that “to advance would be to lose what had been gained and probablysacrifice the command.” But orders would not permit and still in advance, he movedforward and struck the Macon & Atlanta Railroad 6 miles below Jonesboro,thence towards Newnan, near which place McCook’s command was surrounded by a mixedforce of cavalry and infantry. Here the prisoners were abandoned and after cuttinghis way through to a road by which his command reached the Chattahoochee andescaped.

Lieutenant Colonel Torrey, having sent his aides andorderlies to guide the column through, charged without any personal attendantat the head of a small party to drive back a body of the enemy which appearedupon his flank. The charge was met by a severe fire and his horse cameriderless out of the fight. The only reliable information we have concerninghim was in a Rebel dispatch to General Clanton captured the next day by McCookwhich contained the following: “We captured two brigade commanders, one of themTorrey severely wounded.” All of our surgeons remained with the wounded. Dr. Personsof our regiment will no doubt attend Lieutenant Colonel Torrey. [Colonel Torrey died of his wounds August 2, 1864 at Newnan, Georgia and is buried at Marietta National Cemetery with a cenotaph at his boyhood home in North Turner, Maine . His last words were "Tell all my friends that I die perfectly happy."]

General Sherman officially pronounces McCook’s raid “animportant success.” A plain statement of facts shows how much the lieutenantcolonel and major of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry contributed to thatsuccess. While we of the regiment mourn them as officers who sacrificedthemselves but saved their commands, we look with pride upon the deeds whichhave made the names of Paine and Torrey an honor to the state.

Yours,

O.H. LaGrange

Source:

Letter fromColonel Oscar Hugh LaGrange, 1st Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, SaturdayEvening Press (Menasha, Wisconsin), September 8, 1864, pg. 2

 

Fair Play at Peach Tree Creek: An Account from the 22nd Wisconsin

"A critical moment had arrived."

    The Federal armies under General William Tecumseh Sherman had advanced to the gates of Atlanta, and as the Army of the Cumberland approached the western approaches to the city, General John Bell Hood directed his first attack as newly appointed commander of the Army of Tennessee. The two armies would clash at Peach Tree Creek on the afternoon of July 20, 1864, and the 22nd Wisconsin found themselves in the front skirmish line when Hood's attack struck.

   "The 22nd Wisconsin was ordered on skirmish and advanced across an open field which was divided by a deep ravine forming two parts or hills with the ground sloping toward the ravine gradually," one veteran noted. "The Rebels gave signs of uneasiness and soon advanced to the edge of the wood that bordered the field half a mile distant. Our line of battle was yet behind the high ground where it had first formed when word came that the Rebels were advancing. The 22nd Wisconsin held its line, skirmishing with the advancing foe. A critical moment had arrived. Our flank was in danger and could the Rebels have broken our line here, our whole force would have suffered awfully as an impassible creek was behind us and no woods to shelter our retreat. The 22nd was now pressed so hard that they could hold out but a short time."

    The following account of Peach Tree Creek penned by a soldier in the 22nd Wisconsin writing under the pen name of Fair Play, first saw publication in the August 11, 1864, edition of the Saturday Evening Press from Menasha, Wisconsin. 

The 22nd Wisconsin had the opportunity to put their Enfield rifle muskets to good use during the fight at Peach Tree Creek. Stationed in advance of the Third Division of the 20th Army Corps, the regiment bore the brunt of the Confederate assault in the see-saw fighting which followed. 

HeadquartersSecond Brigade, Third Division, 20th Army Corps

Three milesfrom Atlanta, Georgia

July 21,1864

         Yesterday there was a general advanceof the whole army. The Third Division, 20th Corps crossed Peach TreeCreek, a deep, narrow, and muddy branch running nearly east and west at 9 o’clock.General Geary’s and General Williams’ division had crossed the day before. TheThird Brigade formed on the left and joined the 4th Corps, the 26thWisconsin being next to and on our left.

          The 22nd Wisconsin wasordered on skirmish and advanced across an open field which was divided by adeep ravine forming two parts or hills with the ground sloping toward theravine gradually. The Rebels gave signs of uneasiness and soon advanced to theedge of the wood that bordered the field half a mile distant. Our line ofbattle was yet behind the high ground where it had first formed when word camethat the Rebels were advancing. The 22nd Wisconsin held its line,skirmishing with the advancing foe.

          A critical moment had arrived. Ourflank was in danger and could the Rebels have broken our line here, our wholeforce would have suffered awfully as an impassible creek was behind us and nowoods to shelter our retreat. The 22nd was now pressed so hard thatthey could hold out but a short time. The left of their line was alreadyflanked. The order came to advance. Quickly and silently the division movedforward, onward and upward until the crest of the first hill was reached by theSecond Brigade in the advance of the First and Third. The 22ndWisconsin then fell back and formed in line. The Rebs came on en masse. Ourbatteries on the right and left opened and followed by the roar of musketrytold the beholder that heavy work was being done.

          The engagement was for a timedoubtful. Geary was pressed back. The First Division of the 4thCorps was driven behind its third line. In our front, it was raging. Now ourmen fell back to the ravine, having advanced once beyond, driving the Rebels,who were reinforced by another line and came up on the double quick. Once inthe ravine, our center was protected from their fury, while the battery on ourright and also the one on our left mowed them down.

The 22nd Wisconsin was part of Colonel John Coburn's brigade of General William T. Ward's Third Division of the 20th Army Corps, depicted on the right side of the map above showing the fighting at Peach Tree Creek. 

On they came down the slope when our men received them assoldiers do. Like grain before the reaper they fell, filling the road andcovering the hillside. They wavered, then rallied and fired. Our line thenadvanced and drove them back nearly half a mile and held them there. Ammunitionwas brought up as our second line now had but 15 rounds to the man. The gunswere so hot that I saw many with their hands blistered by handling them. Hadthe Rebels’ reinforcements come upon us, they could have driven us back. But soseverely had we punished them that they gave it up. Our line advanced andcaptured the wounded.

          About 300 of their killed lay upon ourground and from 70-100 men, all severely wounded, who were brought in and laidbeneath some shade trees to wait their turn for transportation to our filledhospitals. Our men were cared for first. The Second Brigade captured 200prisoners and I am told that a great many were captured by other brigades ofthis and other divisions. Just at dusk, when the fighting was still heavy,General Sherman sent word that Schofield and McPherson’s armies had got towithin two miles of Atlanta in the Rebel rear. When this news was announced, ashout arose that was distinctly heard above the din of battle. At 9 o’clock,the firing ceased and the wounded heroes were cared for.

          General Hooker complimented GeneralWard for the conduct of his division and Colonel Coburn is complimented for theconduct of his brigade. General Hooker, after learning what the 22ndWisconsin had done, praised its conduct and said no regiment ever did betterand that Colonel Bloodgood was deserving of great credit for his persistency inholding his line so long. And he deserved it in behalf of the brave regiment hecommands.

          Our regiment is quite small now, onlyabout 250 men for duty. The Rebels lost several field officers and the reportis current that General Hood was killed. Our men have been busy all day buryingthe Rebel dead. Their loss is estimated at 25,000 killed and wounded in theengagement. Our brigade lost 201 men killed and wounded. The 26thWisconsin lost severely and fought well. The 3rd Wisconsin was notengaged. The 31st Wisconsin arrived here this morning in good healthand is assigned to the Third Brigade of the First Division.

          There is some skirmishing on the linestoday but no heavy firing. The 14th Corps on our right was notengaged much yesterday but there is an indication of a fight there as I write.Our wounded are all well cared for. Our lines are strengthened and we proposeto whip out Mr. Johnny.

Yours inhaste,

Fairplay

To learn more about the Battle of Peach Tree Creek, please check out these other posts:

The Iron Game at Peach Tree Creek (73rd Illinois)

The Nicest Fight I Ever Saw: The 55th Ohio and Peach Tree Creek 

Among the Provost Guards at Peach Tree Creek (79th Ohio)

Our Boys Went in with a Yell: At Peach Tree Creek with the 79th Ohio 

Hooker's Finest Hour: With the 20th Corps at Peach Tree Creek (82nd Ohio)

With the 37th Mississippi at Peach Tree Creek 

Source:

Letter from “Fairplay,”22nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, Saturday Evening Press(Menasha, Wisconsin), August 11, 1864, pg. 3

 

 

The Awfulest Time I Ever Witnessed: An Ohio Private Describes Breckinridge’s Charge at Stones River

The Battleof Stones River entered into its third day and the 99th Ohio,assigned to Colonel Samuel Price’s brigade of Van Cleve’s division, had thusfar escaped any serious combat. Tasked with guarding McFadden’s Ford during thefighting of December 31st, the regiment crossed Stones River thefollowing day and took up supporting positions behind the front line of Price’sbrigade. That afternoon, Breckinridge’s assault threw the 99th Ohiointo some of the hardest fighting of the battle.

          “We were laying flat down on the muddyground and when the fire opened, the bullets sung around is like bees and thebombshells bursting sounded like reports of heavy thunder all around us,”remembered Private Jacob Early of the 99th Ohio. “The first linestood them a good while but they came up six columns deep. Then we all hadorders to retreat back to our reinforcements. We had to retreat across a15-acre field right in plain view of the enemy, but when we got across thefield we met our reinforcements. Then our cannons let loose on them and therewas the awfulest time I ever witnessed in my life. It just sounded likeconstant thunder.”

          After the battle, Jacob composed twoletters describing the engagement and its aftermath to his wife Sarah back in Ohio. Robert andGloria Driver transcribed these letters back in the 1990s and they appear onthe blog courtesy of Cory Ring.

 

The 99th Ohio guarded McFadden's Ford during the fighting on December 31st before taking a forward position across Stones River the following day. Rosecrans' intentions were to wait another day or two for additional supplies and reinforcements to arrive from Nashville before utilizing Van Cleve's division (then under the command of Colonel Sam Beatty) to spearhead his attack on the town of Murfreesboro. Breckinridge's assault beat him to the punch by a day but its failure ultimately led to Braxton Bragg deciding to abandon the town on the night of January 3rd. 

Camp atMurfreesboro, Tennessee

January 9,1863

Dear andloving wife,

          I embrace this opportunity again todrop you a few lines to inform you that I have been spared through a bloodybattle and am enjoying good health and I feel very thankful to the Lord for thesame. And I hope and trust when these lines come to hand they may find you allenjoying good health.

          Now I will inform you that I receivedyour kind letters last night after dark, one dated the 19th and onethe 24th which gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I was very gladto hear that you all were well for there is nothing like good health. Let usalways be thankful to the Lord for the same. Now Sarah, I can’t tell you myfeelings when I was reading your feelings and what you wrote about Minnie. Oh,how my heart aches to see you both. Hope the time is not far distant when wecan meet to shake glad hands to part no more.

          Now I will give you a little sketch ofour last move. We left Nashville the next day after Christmas for Murfreesboro.We was four or five days on the road and there was skirmishing going on all thetime and when we got within three miles of town the fight began to go strong.This was on Tuesday [December 30] but we escaped very well until Friday[January 2], the next day after New Year’s. Then the Rebels made a desperatecharge on our brigade. We were in the second line of battle. We were layingflat down on the muddy ground and when the fire opened, the bullets sung aroundis like bees and the bombshells bursting sounded like reports of heavy thunderall around us.

Private George W. Mapes
Co. F, 99th O.V.I.
Killed in action at Stones River

          The first line stood them a good whilebut they came up six columns deep. Then we all had orders to retreat back toour reinforcements. We had to retreat across a 15-acre field right in plainview of the enemy, but when we got across the field we met our reinforcements.Then our cannons let loose on them and there was the awfulest time I everwitnessed in my life. It just sounded like constant thunder. They could notstand us but a little while till they run like whiteheads. We retook all ourground and a mile or so more but how we got across that field I can’t tell butthe boys most all got through safe.

          There was about 10 or 15 killed and 40or 50 wounded. Abe Kopp had three or four holes shot through his overcoat andNoah Early had his gun shot out of his hand. David Miller got through safe. Heis well. We most all lost our knapsacks and I lost mine. I had one blanket init, one pair of drawers, one pair of socks, and my letter packet with all thatpaper and envelopes you had sent me and the most of all was your picture. Iguess the Rebels have got them and that white handkerchief and suspenders isgone, too, but this is nothing to compare with life. I got another knapsackworth as much as mine.

          I will write more when I get time. Weare in camp at Murfreesboro. Write soon and often.

Jacob Earlyto Sarah Early

 

Federal forces occupied the town on Murfreesboro on January 4, 1863, and Jacob Early's 99th Ohio quickly set up camp within a half mile of town. The Army of the Cumberland would spend the next six months at Murfreesboro building up supplies for the next campaign and recovering from the hard fought Battle of Stones River. At the center of the above image from Harper's Weekly is tower of the Rutherford County Courthouse which still exists today; the city, however, had grown up considerably from this wartime view.  

 

Camp atMurfreesboro, Tennessee

January 13,1863

Dear andloving wife,

          I again seat myself to drop you a fewlines to inform you that I am well and hearty and I hope these few lines mayfind you enjoying the same good blessing. Let us always be thankful to the Lordfor all the blessings we receive from His bountiful hand.

          Now I will inform you that we have gotplenty to eat and drink. We have ham and shoulder sometimes but we have plentyof sowbelly all the time and we have plenty of fresh beef since we have been atthis place. And sometimes fresh pork and we have sugar, coffee, beans, hominy,tea, and plenty of hard crackers. We can live well now.

I have not drawn any clothing since Uncle Jake was here but Idid not need anything very bad until now. I need a pair of pants but we arelooking for our clothing every day. A part of them came today and the boys allgot knapsacks and blankets that lost their old ones in the fight. I intend todraw a pair of pants, a blouse, and two pairs of socks as soon as they come.That will be all I need this winter. I have got three good shirts and two pairsof drawers. My cap and boots will last me till I get home. I think my overcoatand blanket are good.

"I was over the battle ground two days after the battle and it was an awful sight" Jacob Early recalled. "Some had their heads shot off and some had both legs shot off, but most of them was shot with the common rifle ball." 

The weather is very warm and nice since the battle but duringthe battle it was very wet and the battle ground awfully muddy. When the battlewas over, I saw dead men almost half buried in the mud. Our men were taken careof immediately but the Rebels laid there until the battle was over; some ofthem laid for four or five days. I was over the battle ground two days afterthe battle was over and it was an awful sight. Some had their heads shot offand some had both legs shot off, but the most of them was shot with the commonrifle ball. Our men had to bury all the dead. There was two men detailed out ofeach company; David Lyons was one of them in our company. I never want towitness another such sight. I will say no more about the fight for I couldwrite all night and then could not tell half the sights for it was an awfulsight.

Now Sarah, I hope you are getting along fine. I want you totake good care of yourself and live in the fear of the Lord and I will do thesame. I have got plenty of stamps. You can send me a sheet of paper in eachletter that you send me. I have got no good way of carrying paper. I don’t needanything else at this time. Yes, you may send me some of them powders in yournext letter. Seal them in some good strong paper, not writing paper. Still havediarrhea once in a while. I lost them drops in the fight. The powders is aboutas good.

Now Sarah, I want you to send me your and Minnie’s likenessesas soon as you can. Make it suit for I am lonesome since I lost them otherones. We are camped about half a mile from town in the woods. We have got ourtent struck up in good order. Some think we will stay here a good while but Ican’t say how long we will stay. It is uncertain.

To learn more about the 99th Ohio at Stones River, please check out this post: 

A Wonderful Conflict of Arms: Skedaddling with the 99th Ohio at Stones River

To learn more about the Stones River campaign, please consider purchasing my latest book Hell by the Acre, winner of the 2025 Richard B. Harwell Award. 

Source:

Letters ofPrivate Jacob Early, Co. E, 99th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, originallypublished as Letters Home: The Personal Side of the American Civil War byJacob Early. Compiled & edited by Robert A. Driver & Gloria S.Driver. 1993: Published by the Authors, Roseburg, OR. 1993

From Bunker Hill to Perrysburg: Tassels Tie the Revolutionary War to the Civil War

When the FortMeigs Rifles left Perrysburg, Ohio in April 1861 to take part in the Civil War,the ladies of Perrysburg sent them a silk national flag with symbols stretchingback to the birth of the nation. Not only was the company named the Fort MeigsRifles in honor of nearby Fort Meigs, an important battle site during the Warof 1812, but the flag bore Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s motto from theBattle of Put-In-Bay. Intriguingly, the flagstaff carried two tassels withconnections to the Battle of Bunker Hill, one of the earliest engagements ofthe Revolutionary War.

“The flag is a beautiful one, bearing the motto of CommodorePerry “Don’t Give Up the Ship’ in gold letters,” the Perrysburg Journalreported. [The town of Perrysburg was named for Commodore Perry.] “Onthe flag there are two tassels, which were on a flag borne at the Battle ofBunker Hill. These tassels were given to the ladies who presented the flag byMrs. Roach, whose grandfather carried the flag at the Battle of Bunker Hill.”

The national colors above were presented to the members of the Fort Meigs Rifles (later Co. C of the 21st Ohio Infantry) while they were at Camp Taylor in Cleveland, Ohio in early May 1861. In faded gold letters reads Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's motto "Don't Give Up the Ship!" While the flag survived the war, the tassels are lost to history. 

That last comment always intrigued me- tassels carried on aflag at the Battle of Bunker Hill? That is a wow moment, but I wanted toestablish a firm connection with the claim so I dove into the rabbit hole andmade some very interesting discoveries along the way.

The first thing I needed to do was establish the identity of “Mrs.Roach.” Perrysburg wasn’t a large town at the outbreak of the Civil War; the1860 census showed a population of 1,494. It only took a short while to viewthe entirety of the town census online at Ancestry.com, and in so doingdiscovered that there was only one Mrs. Roach in 1860: Amelia Ann Roach, thewife of town stationmaster Andrew Roach. Her obituary showed that she died ofconsumption at age 38 on April 13, 1868. That said, she was both alive andliving in Perrysburg in the spring of 1861, so I’m pretty certain we canestablish that Amelia Roach was the “Mrs. Roach” who presented the regimentwith the tassels. But what is her connection to the Battle of Bunker Hill?

Unfortunately, Find-A-Grave was less than helpful. It listedher maiden name as Herald and multiple searches in Ancestry failed to uncoveranything. Online issues of the Perrysburg Journal exist on Newspapers.com,so I navigated to the issues dating right after her death and was rewarded witha full obituary in the April 24, 1868, issue. It turns out her maiden name wasn’tHerald- it was Heald! And that her parents’ names were Ebenezer and Margery,which just so happened to be the name of one of Andrew and Amelia’s daughters.

The obituary also mentioned she was born in Baltimore, Marylandin December 1829 and that she married Andrew Roach in Columbus, Ohio in 1851.The couple lived in Dayton, Ohio until October 1859 when Andrew, working forthe Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, transferred to the railroadstation in Perrysburg.

So now it was time to search for Ebenezer Heald. He was a biteasier to find. Birth records from the town of Carlisle, Massachusetts showedthat Ebenezer was born July 4, 1802, to Simon and Betsey Heald. To be clear,Carlisle did not become a town until 1805 but was known as the Carlisle districtof nearby Concord, Massachusetts. Ebenezer shows up in both the 1830 census inBaltimore (matches up with Amelia’s birthplace) and the 1850 census in (youguessed it) Dayton, Ohio where he listed his occupation as a lime burner.Ebenezer died December 31, 1855, and was buried at Woodland Cemetery in anunmarked grave. Simon’s birthplace gives us that Massachusetts connection, sowe’re getting closer to Bunker Hill!

Now to find Ebenezer’s father Simon Heald- that proved eveneasier. He was born on March 6, 1774, in Carlisle, Middlesex Co., Massachusettsto Captain Samuel and Mary Heald. Now the newspaper article claimed that Amelia’sgrandfather (who we now know is Simon) carried the flag at Bunker Hill. Giventhat the battle occurred in June 1775 when young Simon was scarcely a toddler,I highly doubt he carried the flag in that battle. But he was born to a CaptainHeald? Who was he?

1926 stamp issue commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord featuring "The Minute Man." Samuel Heald was one of them, a Carlisle Minuteman. 

It turns out that Captain Samuel Heald is one of the RevolutionaryWar heroes of Massachusetts. According to the Discovering Colonial Carlisle website,“Heald was one of the leaders of the Carlisle Minutemen who marched to theAlarm on April 19, 1775. He later served as an officer in the Continental Armyand after the war served as Town Treasurer and Selectman.” His homestead nowserves as the Carlisle Historical Society’s museum and is open to the public.

A Carlisle Minuteman and at the opening shots of the RevolutionaryWar? According to local history, “on the morning of the 19th ofApril 1775, 19 men, called together from the neighboring hamlets by the drum ofTimothy Wilkins and the horn of James Kemp, started for Concord under thedirection of Lieutenant James Russell and Samuel Heald, to join in thefight at the Old North Bridge and pursue the retreating foe back to Boston.” TheCarlisle Minutemen wore a sprig of pine in their hats as they marched toConcord that morning.

The fight at Old North Bridge near Concord, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775. 

State records of Massachusetts further show that Samuel Healdserved for many years in Captain Thomas J. Barrett’s 7th Company of the3rd Middlesex County Regiment of Massachusetts Militia as a firstlieutenant and later as its captain. I think we’ve established a solid connectionto the Heald family at Concord, but how does that tie into Bunker Hill foughttwo months later closer to Charlestown?

It turns out the Massachusetts militia, bolstered bythousands of reinforcements from throughout New England, pursued the Redcoatsback to Boston and soon the nascent Colonial army under General Artemas Wardhad the British under siege. In the meantime, the various militia companieswere organized into regiments and the Carlisle Minutemen (of Middlesex County) werefolded into one of these regiments; which one, however, is unclear.

State records indicate that militia from Middlesex Countyserved in the 1st, 6th, 8th, 9th, and13th Regiments. Looking at a map of the Battle of Bunker Hill, onlythe 9th Regiment from the list above was present on the field. So,if the story is true, Samuel Heald would have fought at Bunker Hill with the 9thMassachusetts.

What kind of flag did Samuel Heald carry at Bunker Hill? Tradition says it may be similar in design to the flag shown above, a derivative of the New England flag. 

About 1,600 militiamen under William Prescott seized Breed’sHill and Bunker Hill near Charlestown on the night of June 16-17, 1775. The 9th,along with the 10th, 11th, 16th, 18th,19th, 22nd, and 24th Regiments, formed intoline atop Breed’s Hill and commenced digging a redoubt. The following day, the Britishmarched straight up the hill, contemptuous of the colonials, and suffered heavycasualties before eventually driving the Americans back towards Bunker Hill. 

Ifthe original newspaper story is true, Samuel Heald carried the regimental flagat Bunker Hill and later passed those tassels down to his family. So the PerrysburgJournal got most of the story right- it’s just that it was Amelia Roach’sgreat-grandfather, not her grandfather, who carried that flag at Bunker Hill. Apretty amazing story!

Where are those tassels today? I wish I knew. The originalFort Meigs Rifles flag resides today at the Hancock County Historical Museum inFindlay, Ohio. But the tassels, an amazing connection to the birth of thenation 250 years ago, are lost to history…

 

Sources:

“Our Flag isThere!” Perrysburg Journal (Ohio), May 9, 1861, pg. 2

Obituary forAmelia Roach, Perrysburg Journal (Ohio), April 24, 1868, pg. 3