USA > Illinois > Will County > Fifteen years ago; or, The patriotism of Will County, designed to preserve the names and memory of Will County soldiers, both officers and privates - both living and dead: to tell something of what they did, and of what they suffered, in the great struggle to preserve our nationality > Part 40
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
Battery I was in the service three years, eight months and six- teen days. It would be impossible to give the number of miles it marched during the time. It was only once absent from the field of active operations, when veteranizing and recruiting, previ- ous to the Atlanta campaign. In the course of its history, it visi-
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ted ten of the southern and south western states ; Florida and Texas being the only rebel states that did not get a taste of its mettle and metal. The battery was of course often recruited, and the places of the disabled supplied by details from infantry regiments; and only about fifty men of the original roster returned with the battery. Several of the members of the battery are now in Joliet, quietly pursuing the ordinary avocations of life, making no boast of their services, and in no way reminding the public, that four of the best years of their lives were given to save the union, and keep back the invaders from our homes.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES.
CHAPTER XII.
BRIEF MENTION OF CAVALRY AND OTHER REGI- MENTS.
Fourth Cavalry-Eighth Cavalry-Thirteenth Cavalry-Third Cavalry- Sixth Cavalry-Ninth Cavalry-Tenth Cavalry-Fifteenth Cavalry-Chicago Mercantile Battery-Bolton's Battery-Two Stories-Battery C, 1st Artillery -Battery G, Ist Artillery-Battery M, 1st Artillery-Coggswell Battery- Battery G, 2d Artillery-Lockport Artillery Company-72d Infantry-Co. I, 46th Infantry-88th Infantry-How Some Families were Represented.
HE record of the brave troopers of Will county will have to be a brief one. We begin with THE FOURTH CAVALRY, known from its first colonel, and most active organizer, the present supreme judge of this district, as "Dickey's Cavalry." In this regiment our county had four commissioned officers and about one hundred and fifty men. The regiment was organized in Ottawa, in the fall of 1861. Captain John H. Felter, of Lockport, commenced raising Company D, in August 1861, and obtained about one hundred volunteers in this county. We had also fifteen men in Co. C, and a few in other companies. A re- ference to the muster roll in PART FOUR, will show the names and history of officers and privates.
We cannot go into so minute a history of this regiment, as we should be glad to do. Its active career commenced with Grant's advance on Columbus, January 1862, and on Fort Henry in February, when a detachment under command of the lamented Lt. Col. Wm. Mccullough, pursued the enemy and captured many prisoners, and several cannon, having several killed and wounded. .
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The next day, the regiment under Col. Dickey, made a reconnois- ance to the railroad bridge above the fort, capturing prisoners and securing valuable information. On the day before the general ad- vance on Fort Donaldson, it made a reconnoisance to the vicinity of that fort, capturing some of the enemy's pickets, and getting a view of the situation. It took an active part in the battle which resulted in getting possession of the fort. It was then engaged in reconnoitering until the battle of Shiloh, in which it was actively engaged both days. It also had a brisk engage- ment with the enemy's cavalry on the day subsequent to the gen- eral battle, being brought into close combat with Forrest, in which he and many of his men were wounded. It was then active in the siege of Corinth, and after the evacuation, pursued the rebels as far as Holly Springs. From this until November 1862, it was on duty as scouts in western Tennessee and northen Mississippi, un- der Generals Logan and Sherman. In December it was in Grant's advance into Mississippi, being continually engaged from Holly Springs to Coffeeville. At the latter place our forces got into a tight place and had to retreat, and two squadrons of the 4th cavalry were left in the rear to delay the advance of the ene- my. The rebs however came on in great force, and a severe con- flict ensued, and our forces stubbornly resisted the enemy, greatly superior in numbers. Col. Mccullough of Bloomington, was killed, 13 were wounded and missing. The latter part of the month, it, with others, pursued Van Dorn in his course through Mississippi to Tennessee, and back again to Pontetoc, Miss.
We have elsewhere mentioned the fact that some Will county men were taken prisoners. In one place we have made an error, in stating that it occurred at the time Col. Mccullough was killed. They were captured at Centerville, near Collierville, Tenn., in January 1863. Co. C (27 men) had been sent out to reconnoiter, and on their return found themselves intercepted by a force of 72 rebel cavalry. Though greatly out-numbered, our boys gave them fight; but the odds was too great. Four Kendall county men were killed, five others were wounded-one of whom was Marion Cooper of Florence, who was wounded severely. Thirteen, includ- ing the wounded, were taken prisoners. Four of these, John Avery, Henry Benner, Marion Cooper and John Massey, were Will
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county men. The prisoners were at once taken on a fast gallop about eight miles, when they were dismounted, and searched and robbed of everything valuable. They were then taken eight miles farther to a plantation near Hernando. Here they were cor- ralled in old negro quarters for the night. The owner of the plantation was a physician and he paid some attention to the wounded, dressing the wounds with tallow from a candle. The weather was very cold, and the boys had to take off their over- coats to keep the wounded from freezing. Next morning those who were not wounded were taken on toward Jackson, Miss. The wounded were soon after rescued by our forces. At Grenada the prisoners were brought before Gen. Tighlman, who happened to be pretty drunk. He ordered the men put in irons, but the order was subsequently countermanded, and they were held as prisoners of war at Jackson, Miss., until April 1st, when they were parolled and sent to New Orleans.
From this time until August 1863, the regiment was on scouting duty in Tennessee and Mississippi, and in September went by steamer to Vicksburg, and was with McPherson in his reconnoisance toward Canton, in October 1863, Co. D, and details from other companies were with Sherman in his great raid on Meridian, a full account of which is given in our history of the 20th Ill. Infantry, in which the Will county company was at- tached to the same brigade. It afterwards moved to Natchez, and was on scouting duty until October 1864, when the non- veterans embarked for Springfield for muster out, leaving about 500 veterans and recruits in the field, from whom five new com- panies were organized, which remained in service until 1866. About ten of our Will county men were discharged for promotion in colored regiments, and to enter the naval service. As will be seen by reference to PART FOUR, we lost nine men in this regi- ment, one of whom died at Richmond while prisoner.
EIGHTH CAVALRY.
No regiment has a more brilliant record than the 8th cavalry. This regiment was mostly raised in the Fox River Valley, its organization taking place at St. Charles. It was popularly known
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as " Farnsworth's Cavalry," from its first colonel, the Hon. John F. Farnsworth, of St. Charles. Our present worthy governor was a major in this regiment. Will county claims a share in the glory of its achievements, being represented in it by four commis- sioned officers and ninety-eight enlisted men.
Alvin P. Granger, of Homer, a son of Alanson G., one of the old and well known residents of that town, was a first lieutenant in company F, and during a portion of his time of service, served on the staffs of Generals Keyes and Pleasanton. Another son of Alanson Granger, Albert L., was a private in this company, until discharged for promotion in a colored regiment.
John A. Kinley, Wheatland, who had just graduated at one of our leading nniversities, enlisted as private Co. K, and was pro- moted sergeant, then 2d lieutenant, and (September 18, 1864) captain.
Harley J. Ingersoll, of Plainfield, also entered Co. K as pri- vate, and was promoted sergeant, then lieutenant, and also captain after the resignation of Kinley.
George W. Flagg, of Plainfield was a lieutenant in the same company at its organization, but resigned in January 1862.
In company E we had three enlisted men ; in Co. F fifty- three men, (mostly from the eastern part of the county); in Co. K thirty-nine men, (mostly from Plainfield and Wheatland) and in Co. L three men.
Our county lost eleven men in this regiment. One of them was Orland Hewes, of a well-known Crete family, who is reported in Dr. Hard's book, as being captured in a brisk little fight near Culpepper, Va., in Nov. 1863, and dying in Andersonville. This, however, is an error. He was killed on the spot, Serg't Willis J. Cook, of the same ' four' states that he fell against his horse, and that he helped to bury him on the spot where he fell.
Charles A. Hill, one of our well known lawyers was a private in Co. K, until discharged for promotion as a lieutenant in a colored regiment, in which he was subsequently promoted captain.
We shall not go into a detailed history of this regiment, or even give an abstract of its movements. Happily there is no need, for its history has been ably and minutely written by Dr. Abner Hard,
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of Aurora, its surgeon throughout its entire service. It must suf- fice to say that it commenced its career of active service in Wash- ington, in October 1861, and continued to be actively engaged, except on veteran furlough, all through the war, its last service being rendered in searching for the assassins of President Lincoln. It became perhaps the most celebrated cavalry regiment in the Po- tomac army, and its record is a glorious one. We abstract from Dr. Hard's history, one incident relating to a Will county man :
After the second battle of Malvern Hill occurred the memor- able retreat from Harrison's Landing, in which the 8th cavalry were rear guard. Just as they were leaving, Sergt. Kinley played a conspicuous part in an enterprise which was not ordered. A little below the landing was a plantation of a wealthy old rebel of the name of Hill Carter. He had two sons in the rebel army, and yet such was the policy of the general in command that the old rebel was furnished with guards to protect his well-filled corn- cribs from our soldiers, although our horses were starving for the want of rations. This way of treating rebels was of course highly disgusting to the boys of Farnsworth's abolition regiment, who in their simplicity thought the old reb. should be made to contribute to the support of the government he and his sons were trying to destroy. Some of them, under the leadership of Kinley, deter- mined not to leave the place without making Old Carter contri- bute something to the cause. Accordingly when the "change of base " was entered upon and the guards withdrawn, Kinley and a squad of the boys called on Carter and told him that movements were in progress, which would make it necessary that he and all his men should remain in the house during the night, and that the first one that showed his head out of doors would be shot. Carter remonstrated, but Kinley told him that the order was im- perative. The old man had to yield to the necessity, and Sergt. Kinley then placed sentinels to see that the orders were obeyed. As soon as it was fully dark, the boys went into Carter's stables and took therefrom three of his best horses, with which they got safely off and joined the retreating army. Next Spring one of Carter's sons was captured by the 8th cavalry, and the boys had the satisfaction of assuring him that his father's horses were still
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in the regiment, and were rendering Uncle Sam good service. Strange to say he did seem much gratified thereat.
While lieutenant of the company, Kinley was wounded near Urbana, Md., July 9th, 1864, when the regiment was up the Potomac trying to head off Lee's invasion. Col. Clendenning with three companies of the regiment was falling back through Urbana closely followed by a full regiment of rebel cavalry. But the boys of the 8th gave the rebels such a reception that they fell back with the loss of their flag and its bearer. In this skirmish Kinley received a severe wound, a rebel bullet lodging near his heart.
Sergeant Richard C. Vinson, of Wheatland, fell mortally wounded in an engagement with Imboden's rebel infantry, during the pursuit of Lee's army after the battle of Gettysburg. Surgeon Hard says : " Vinson was calm and composed, and met his fate in a soldier-like manner. A better or more noble soldier could not be found in the army." He died at Boonsboro, July 6th.
Sergeant Holmes, of Co. G, 100th Infantry, first enlisted in this regiment, but having the misfortune to get gobbled up when on a reconnoisance, he was parolled and got his discharge, and when released joined the 100th.
THIRTEENTH CAVALRY.
Our next largest representation in the cavalry regiments was in the 13th, in which we had five commissioned officers and sixty- five enlisted men. These were principally in companies Cand F. Those in Co. C were from the town of Monee, and were nearly all of German nationality. Adam Sachs, of Monee, was captain of the company until its consolidation, and Adolph Schule of the same place, 2d lieutenant.
Company F was known as Danforth's company, and was raised in Joliet and vicinity by the efforts of Dr. Danforth, its first cap- tain, Ira D. Swain 1st lieutenant, and E. Grundy 2d sergeant- Dr. Edwin R. Willard, of Wilmington, served as surgeon after consolidation. We lost eight men in this regiment. One of this number was by a melancholy accident, while the company was at Ironton, Mo. A volley of thirteen guns had been ordered in re-
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spect to the memory of Gen. C. F. Smith, who had lately died. Four men were detached for this duty, among them Henry R. Aulsbrook, of Plainfield, who acted as rammer. While ramming down the fifth cartridge, the gun was prematurely discharged, ter- ribly mangling the poor boy who lingered in great agony for a few hours, when death came to his relief. He was one of the best men in the company, and his death gave the boys a shock from which they did not soon recover. The shock was no less felt at Plainfield where his parents resided, and where the young man had grown up from infancy beloved and respected.
Another good soldier and valuable young man which our county lost in this company was Wm. M. Radcliff, whose aged parents still reside in Joliet. At the time of his enlistment he was in the employ of Bush & Bros., by whom he was highly prized. He was chosen 1st corporal of the company and served with it through its marches and skirmishes through Missouri and Arkansas, and was taken sick at Helena, from which place he was sent to hospital at St. Louis, where he died October 30th, 1862. He was a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, Joliet.
Besides the regiments named, our county had in the THIRD CAVALRY seventeen men from various parts of the county, four of whom died in the service, one of whom, Geo. F. Johnson, of New Lenox, was drowned. This regiment closed up its services by an expedition into the Indian country after the war had closed. In the SIXTH CAVALRY our county had seven men, six of whom were our German citizens from Monee, two of whom died in the harness.
In the NINTH CAVALRY our county had one commissioned officer and about fifty enlisted men. Sidney O. Roberts, of the town of Dupage, was 1st lieutenant of Co. G. The enlisted men were principally in companies B and D, and largely from the town of Crete, and of German nationality. We lost six men in this regiment. In the TENTH CAVALRY we had one commis- sioned officer, Lieut. Herman B. Hoffman, of Joliet, and fourteen enlisted men, all from the town of Channahon. Two died in the service. In the ELEVENTH CAVALRY we had nine recruits. In the TWELFTH CAVALRY we had 16 enlisted men, three of whom lost their lives. In the FOURTEEFTH CAVALRY we had four men,
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one of whom was George F. Codding, of Lockport, who was cor- poral, and George H. Mason, of Lockport, who was killed at Boddy Station, Tenn., Dec. 14th, 1863. Another valuable young man lost to Lockport and Will county. In the FIFTEENTH CAV- ALRY we had nine enlisted men. This was one of the dragoon companies attached to the 36th Ill. infantry, raised in the Fox river valley. Thomas C. Pennington, of Wilmington, (son of our present deputy U. S. Collector) who was attending school at the time, enlisted in Co. K, veteranized and was mustered out as quartermaster-sergeant of 10th cavalry, consolidated.
Samuel H. Whited, of Scott street, Joliet, who had previously enlisted in the Mechanic Fusileers, an organization that was dis- banded ; was also a member of Co. L of this regiment, although he had to forget about ten years of his life.in order to get mus- tered in. But these ten years only the better qualified him to en- dure hardness as a good trooper. We had a few men in other cavalry regiments whose names will be found in PART FOUR.
CHICAGO MERCANTILE BATTERY.
Our county had a respectable represention in this battery-re- spectable both in numbers and in character. This representation was mostly from the city of Lockport. In the fall of 1872, seven- teen young men from the substantial families of that place, to- gether with one each from Joliet and Wilmington, enlisted at the organization of the battery. Subsequently our county also fur- nished seventeen recruits, fourteen of whom were also from Lock- port. Two of the original members from Lockport held the rank of sergeant, and one that of corporal. A reference to the muster roll in the latter part of this work will show the names and mili- tary record of all.
This battery rendered efficient service to the Union cause. It went first to Memphis, where it joined the expedition under Sher- man to Oxford, Miss., which drove the rebels from that place. It next went with Sherman in the first attack on Vicksburg, en- countering the discomforts of the Yazoo swamps for a week, and taking part in the desperate but unsuccessful assault on Chicka- saw Bluffs. It next took part in the expedition to Arkansas
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Post, and was actively engaged in the battle of the 11th and 12th of January, which resulted in the rebel surrender. The battery received on this occasion the public thanks of Gen. Osterhaus.
It went subsequently to Young's Point, opposite Vicksburg, where it remained until spring. Thence it moved to Milliken's Bend, from which it started with Grant's expedition against Vicks- burg. Crossing the river at Bruinsburg, it was the same day in the battle of Magnolia Hills.
It took part in the battle of Champion Hills on the 16th, and Black River Bridge on the 17th of May. It then bore an active and honorable part in the memorable seige which terminated in the surrender of Vicksburg, July 4th. On the 22d of May, two guns were pushed within twenty-five feet of the enemy's works, and with only a storming party for support, held their position, keep- ing up a continuous fire until darkness compelled them to retire. For this and their general conduct during the seige, the battery received honorable mention in the report of Gen. McClernand.
On the 5th of July it went with Gen. Sherman's expedition against Jackson, Miss., and was engaged seven days in the seige of that place. Returning to Vicksburg, it left that place August 30th, for New Orleans, as part of Gen. Franklin's expedition up the Bayou Teche. Returning to New Orleans, it embarked on the steamer St. Mary, for Texas. It reached La Croix where it remained until March, when it returned to- Berwick's Bay, and formed part of the 13th army corps under Gen. Benson, accom- panying Gen. Banks' cotton expedition up the Red River. This expedition, successful in its beginning, terminated in partial dis- aster, in which the Chicago Mercantile Battery was involved. In the action known as that of Sabine Cross Roads, it lost all of its guns. No dishonor, however, was attached to the battery. It lost two officers and two men killed; five wounded, and two officers and nineteen men captured. Among the prisoners were four of the Lockport men, viz : John W. Arnold, Sanford L. Parker, Amos Burdick and Walter H. Felter. These were all taken to Tyler, Texas, and confined in the prison pen known as Camp Ford, a stockade of about eight acres, where they endured the usual treatment of our men in southern prisons, a little better per- haps than that which was administered at Andersonville. One of
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the number, Walter H. Felter, died there, a victim to southern hospitality. The rest endured the discomforts of prison life, dur- ing fourteen months, until peace brought their release. In this stockade were confined about forty-five hundred men, about one- fourth of the number under shelter, the rest being compelled to content themselves with the sky only for a covering. All the usual cruelties of short rations, insufficient clothing, robbery and brutality, shooting on the dead line, etc., obtained. Arnold suc- ceeded in making his escape, but after three weeks of hiding, was retaken.
After this expedition, the battery returned to N. O. April 26th, where it remained until Nov. 20th when it went with Gen. David- son for Baton Rouge, and then to Pascagoula, on the Gulf Coast, where it aided in diverting reinforcements to the confederates at Mobile. In June 8th, 1865, it was mustered out of service at New Orleans.
When the war broke out Mr. Fenn, (who by the way is, or rather was, an Englishman-he is now an American-) was in New Orleans, and was forced into a rebel camp, preparatory to be- ing put into the ranks. Fortunately, while engaged upon a ferry boat, he had rescued from drowning, the child of a very influential citizen, who having learned of his arrest, effected his release, and with the aid of the British consul, he succeeded in getting out of the city, and after many tribulations into our lines, and on reach- ing Lockport, his former residence, he at once enlisted.
For further particulars in reference to individuals see PART FOUR.
BATTERY L, SECOND ILL. ARTILLERY-BOLTON'S BATTERY.
In this battery our county had eighteen men. One of these, Dan'l H. Pierce, of Plainfield, became 1st lieutenant, and Julius D. Roberts, of Plainfield, and Levi B. Wightman, of Wheatland, became 2d lieutenants in the battery. The two last were corporals in McAllister's battery in the three months' service. Lieut. Pierce and privates Freelove and Bond had also been privates in the same. Corporal Newton A. Hill was one of the young men in- jured by the premature discharge of McAllister's gun in the sena-
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torial campaign of 1858, and is a brother of Lieut. F. Hill, so severely wounded at Vicksburg, as related in the history of McAl- lister's Battery. The names of the other members of the battery will be found in their proper place in PART FOUR.
We cannot of course go into a detailed history of this battery. Its career was an honorable one, and its services were rendered in the south west. Beginning with the battle of Shiloh, it partici- pated in the seige of Corinth, moved thence to Memphis in Sher- man's command, and occupied that city in Aug. 1862. In October it was in the engagement at Noncomo creek. It was selected by Gen. Hurlburt to open the attack in the battle of the Hatchie, in which it captured a rebel battery and a stand of colors. A hill known as the " Hill of Metamora," was the key to the position and the commanding point of the field. A rebel battery, and battery L, simultaneously moved on the double quick to get it. Bolton's battery succeeded-gained the hill, and forthwith opened on the rebel battery before they could unlimber all their guns, and drove the men from it, and all their supports. Maj. Campbell, acting chief of artillery for the division, came up and said, " You have shot down the enemy's colors." After getting back to Bolivar, the colors were presented to the battery by Gen. Hurlburt before the whole division drawn up in a hollow square. It marched with Grant in his campaign through Mississippi, being in Logan's di- vision. After the destruction of Holly Springs by Van Dorn, it returned to Memphis, and then accompanied Grant's army to Lake Providence and Milliken's Bend, and was engaged in the move- ments around Vicksburg and in the seige was forty seven days in the trenches. After the surrender of Vicksburg it was in Gen. Leggett's campaign in Louisiana. It fought under McArthur at Benton and Gleasonville in June 1864, and in July under Slocum at Jackson and Clinton, Miss. From that time until mustered out, it was on garrison duty at Vicksburg. Our county lost three men in this battery. Freeman S. Gay, Jr., died in Louisiana August 30th, 1863. Jeremiah Downs, of Joliet, died at Vicksburg Octo- ber 18th, 1865, and Francis Fentiman, of Wheatland, died at Vicksburg June 14th, 1865. We can devote no more space to this battery except to tell a little story.
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