USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 32
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The regiment traveled over 12,000 miles, and saw a great deal of hard service. It campaigned in eight different states of the confed- eracy. During the term of service it received 156 recruits, which on the muster-out were transferred to the Thirty-seventh Illinois. The regiment returned with 471 officers and men, having been more fortu- nate than many other regiments, who saw no more service, in losing by- battle and disease only a little less than half its original number.
On the non-commissioned staff of the Seventy-sixtli, Iroquois county was represented by Sergt .- Maj. Joseph P. Schooley, of Ash Grove, and principal musician Isaac D. Courtright, of Middleport. Sergt .- Maj. Schooley was, June 13, 1864, to accept promotion as captain of the 4th Miss. Art., A.D. He was succeeded January 8, 1864, by S. C. Munhall ("Urchin ") of Company B, then of Champaign, but now the present popular postmaster of the city of Watseka.
Company A was organized at Middleport, in July, 1862, with George C. Harrington as captain, and was composed mainly of citizens of Middleport, Belmont, Iroquois, Concord and Beaver townships. Capt. Harrington, on the resignation of Maj. Dubois, was promoted major, to rank as such from January 7, 1863, and continued with the regiment until June 27, 1863, when he resigned. On the promotion of Capt. Harrington, Lieut. Abraham Andrew became captain, and continued in command of Company A until it was mustered out. Aus- tin W. Hoyle, late county treasurer of this county, enlisted in the Seventy-sixth, and was the first orderly-sergeant of Company A, and was finally promoted to the second lientenancy of A, a position he well deserved, so his comrades say. James W. Kay, a private soldier in this company, was elected county clerk of this county in 1865, and made a very efficient officer. Quite a number of the survivors of Com- pany A are respected citizens of Watseka and vicinity.
Rev. Abram Irvin organized the first week in August, 1862, from
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IROQUOIS COUNTY. IN THE WAR.
citizens residing in the eastern half of the county, Company E of the Seventy-sixth, and was commissioned its first captain, with Rev. Peter I. Williams, of Milford, as first lientenant, and C. L. Hoyle, of Beaver, as second lieutenant. Capt. Irvin was discharged December 10, 1864, and Lient. Williams having been killed at Vicksburg, Lient. Hoyle was promoted to the captaincy. James H. Eastburn, who is now a well-to-do farmer of Sheldon township, was one of the sergeants of Company E, and before the close of the war was promoted to the first lieutenancy of the company. Sergeant Frank Williamson, of Company E, has for several years been the representative of Prairie Green town- ship on the board of supervisors of this county, and Robert W. Foster, a private of the company, has served as supervisor of both Stockland and Sheldon townships. Many of the solid farmers of Milford, Stock- land, Beaver and Sheldon townships were soldiers in Company E, and good soldiers, too.
The majority of Company K were citizens of Ash Grove and Loda townships, in this county, and the remainder belonged in the northern part of Ford county. The officers of the company were all from this county. Capt. Joseph Davis, of Ash Grove, was the first commander of the company, and continued with it up to February 24, 1865, when he resigned, and was succeeded by William A. Watkins, of Loda, who officiated as captain until the regiment was mustered out. The gal- lant color-sergeant, Henry B. Hussey, of Ash Grove, who was killed in the charge upon Blakeley while bearing aloft the colors of his regi- ment, was a sergeant in Company K, and many of the survivors of this company may be found in Ash Grove and Loda townships as hard- working, well-to-do farmers. Many of the men from Iroquois in the Seventy-sixth were either farmers or farmer's sons when they enlisted, and after having manfully assisted in thrashing the rebels, they quietly returned to their farms, and the same persistent toil and carefulness for which they were distingnished as soldiers, has made them, even in pur- suing the arts of peace, both prosperous and useful citizens; at least such is the case in the majority of instances.
THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
This heroic regiment, also one of the Board of Trade regiments, went into the field from Chicago 840 strong during the first week of September, 1862, under the lead of Colonel (afterward general) Fran- cis T. Sherman, and in less than a month gave proof of its excellent fighting qualities at the battle of Perryville, losing four killed and forty-one wounded. Afterward, as a part of the right wing of Rose-
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crans' army, under Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, it took an active part in the desperate fighting on the banks of Stone river, performing many valorous acts upon that hotly contested field, fighting liand-to-hand with the confident foe. After the battle of Chickamauga, the regiment was assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division of the old " Fight- ing Fourth Corps," and participated in the assault upon Mission Ridge, being one of the first regiments to plant the national flag upon the captured line of defenses that crowned the ridge. The Eighty-eighth took an active part in the East Tennessee campaign during the winter of 1863-4, and being for the most part shelterless, half clothed and half starved, the regiment suffered severely, and not always uncom- plainingly, but always doing its duty in the face of all disappointments and privations, and doing it well. It took a part as a portion of the Fourth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, which forined the center of Sherman's grand army of invasion, under "Pap Thomas," in all of the principal engagements that occurred during the Atlanta campaign, being prominently engaged at Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw, Smyrna Camp Ground, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station.
After the fall of Atlanta the regiment was dispatched to Chatta- nooga, Tennessee, where it did duty, and at Bridgeport, Alabama, until it joined its old brigade at Pulaski, Tennessee, where the Fourth Corps lay waiting and watching for the advance of Hood upon Nash- ville. The regiment participated in the heavy skirmishing with the enemy at Columbia and Spring Hill.
In the desperate and bloody encounter at Franklin, November 30, 1864, the regiment, as a part of Opdyck's immortal brigade, won imperishable renown. The First Brigade, Second Division, Fourth Army Corps, under Col. Opdyck, formed on the march from Spring Hill the rear-guard of the retreating union army, and when in the afternoon, in the presence of a hostile army nearly 50,000 strong, Col. Opdyck fell back to Franklin, his command passed into the union lines that environed the little town on the Columbia pike, and finding the rest of the union army in position for battle, he halted his tired troops opportunely in the rear of the two brigades holding the breastworks on the right and left of the Columbia pike. And when an hour or two later the desperate assault was made on the center, and the union lines driven back, and the rebel masses, flushed with their brief success were crowding wildly into the breach, then the heroic old veterans of the Eighty-eighth, Thirty-sixth, Forty-fourth, Seventy-third and Sev- enty-fourth Illinois regiments, the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin, and the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio regiments, comprising the First
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IROQUOIS COUNTY. IN THE WAR.
Brigade, saw that immediate action was demanded of them as reserves, waited for no word of command, but instantly fixed bayonets, and when their gallant leader turned to his men he saw they were ready for a charge, and the chivalric Opdyck, in his clear, ringing tones, gave the command, " forward First Brigade to the lines," and forward dashed the daring brigade with a line of gleaming steel, that soon struck down in death many an exultant foeman. The conflict was brief but bloody, and assisted by a few of the disorganized masses of the regi- ments that had been driven out of their works a few moments before, the stout-hearted men of the First Brigade drove the dense, gray masses beyond the lines. Four regimental commanders fell, but every man of that noble brigade was a hero, and fought as if on his own individual prowess depended the fortunes of the imperiled army of the Union, and actuated by such heroism, the daring brigade, inside of twenty minutes, drove back a conquering force vastly superior in point of numbers, recapturing eight pieces of artillery, 400 prisoners and ten battle-flags, and left the disputed ground covered with hundreds of brave foemen, dead, or terribly wounded. It is doubtful if the record of civ- ilized warfare shows fiercer fighting than was done by the Eighty- eiglithi and its gallant companion regiments in this brief but bloody struggle at Franklin. The writer's regiment, on the extreme left of the First Division, Fourth Corps, was lying behind a line of imperfect breastworks, a short distance to the right of where the union lines were forced back, and watched in spite of the fire in their front, as well as they could for the blinding smoke, the terrible wrestle of the men of the west with the impetuous sons of the south, that was taking place to our left, to see who should gain the mastery. The success of the confederates in holding their ground would have cut us off from the bridge across the Harpeth river, and compelled the surrender of the greater part of the outnumbered and nearly exhausted union army. Hence, we watched with bated breath till we saw the "gray coats " falling back; then our fears were quieted for the time, and thoughts of ANDERSONVILLE were dispelled. At Nashville the regiment behaved in the two-days battle with its usual bravery, and engaged in the pur- suit of the flying foe, following on the heels of Hood to the Tennessee river.
The regiment was mustered out in June, 1865. Of the 900 that went into the field 229, all told, returned. Col. Sherman was captured . at Atlanta and thrown into prison, and managed to break out, but was hunted down and caught by bloodhounds before he could reach our lines.
Iroquois county was represented in the Eighty-eighth as follows :
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HISTORY OF IROQUOIS COUNTY.
Dr. A. C. Rankin, Loda, first assistant surgeon ; Company C, Lieut. Robert O. Crawford, three sergeants, two corporals and thirty-two men ; Company F, one man; Company K, one sergeant and three men. A sergeant and seven men of the above number died on the field of battle, or in line of duty, and one, James Brett, died in Andersonville.
THE EIGHTY-NINTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
The Eighty-ninth, or " Railroad Regiment," made up mostly of rail- road employes, was mustered into the United States service at Camp Douglas, Chicago, August 27, 1862, and in about à week was hurried to Kentucky, where it formned a part of Gen. Nelson's army till October, when it was placed in Gen. Willich's brigade of McCook's corps, and continued in Willich's brigade to the close of the war, and making for itself a good record in the battles fought by the army of the Cumberland. At Stone River it lost Capt. Willett and 142 men. At Chickamauga its loss was very great. Lieut. Col. Dun- can J. Hall, three captains and a lieutenant offered up their lives on the altar of their country, and 109 men were killed, wounded and captured. At Mission Ridge a captain and lieutenant were killed, and thirty-five men killed and wounded. During the Atlanta campaign the regiment was engaged at Rocky Face, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy, losing in the campaign 211 men killed and wounded, one captain and one lieutenant killed and several officers wounded. During the battle of Franklin the Third Division, Fourth Corps was held in reserve across the Harpeth river to cover the retreat of Schofield's army, and the Eighty-ninth be- longed to Willich's brigade of this division. At Nashville the Eighity- ninth was actively engaged, and sustained a loss in the two-days fight of thirty-nine men. After the defeat of Hood it pursued his forces to the Tennessee river. During its term of service the regiment mustered on its original roll and recruits 1,403 men; out of these 820 men died of disease or wounds, or were killed in action. The regiment was mustered out at Nashville, June 10, 1865. From this county there were nine men and Corporal Oliver Bunker in Company D, four of the nine men were killed or died, and one died in Andersonville prison.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
The One Hundred and Thirteenth regiment, known as the "Third Board of Trade Regiment," was made up of volunteers from the coun- ties of Cook, Kankakee and Iroquois almost wholly. This county
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furnished three full companies,-D, F and I, half of Company B, and about one-fourth of Company H,-and these companies afterward re- ceived a large number of recruits, so that this county furnished nearly two-fifths of the rank and file of the One Hundred and Thirteenth regiment. Most of the men for this regiment were enlisted during the month of August, 1862, but the regiment was not mustered until October 1, and from that time till November 5 following, it was em- ployed in guarding rebel prisoners confined in Camp Douglas, and fitting itself by drill and discipline for the active duties of the field. At the last mentioned date the regiment left Camp Douglas for Mem- phis, Tennessee, and on its arrival at the latter place it was placed in Gen. Sherman's corps (the Fifteenth), and accompanied him in liis expedition into northern Mississippi, generally designated as the "Tal- lahatchie expedition." On its return from this campaign it moved against Vicksburg with Sherman, and formed a part of the brigade commanded by Gen. Giles A. Smith, and in the division of Gen. Mor- gan L. Smith. On this expedition the One Hundred and Thirteentli participated in the fight at Milliken's Bend and the engagement at Chickasaw Bayou. The regiment participated in the assault upon and capture of Arkansas Post ; and the One Hundred and Thirteenth and other regiments of Gen. Giles A. Smith's brigade behaved with great gallantry in the face of a destructive fire from the enemy's rifle-pits at a short range, and suffered a considerable loss in consequence. The One Hundred and Thirteenth especially suffered from the raking fire to which it was subjected. After this battle Gen. Sherman determined to honor the men who had, by their bravery, done so much to insure the capture of the prisoners and fort, by sending them home in charge of the prisoners; and Companies C, D, F, I and K were selected from the One Hundred and Thirteenth,-being just one-half of the regi- ment, and they were the companies that had suffered the greatest loss,- to guard the prisoners to Springfield. These five companies were to remain north and fill up their thinned ranks with new recruits. The three companies from Iroquois (D, F and I) were in this wing of the regiment sent back, and remained at Springfield for some time. The other five companies, in which there were Iroquois men in two of the companies (B and H), moved from Arkansas Post to Young's Point. Col. Hoge, while the regiment lay at Young's Point, was appointed provost-marshal of the Fifteenth Corps; and while here the One Hun- dred and Thirteenth lost many noble men by sickness, as was also the bitter experience of all the regiments in that army while lying in camp at Young's Point, and the place will long be remembered with horror by those who survived, and who helped with trembling hands and
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aching hearts to place under the sod of this fated point so many of their dead comrades.
During its camp life at Young's Point the One Hundred and Thir- teenth went with the brigade chosen, and led by Gen. Sherman, in person, up the Black Bayou to the relief of Admiral Porter and flotilla, surrounded by the land forces of the enemy. The admiral was in dan- ger of having his fleet captured and sunk, and was in poor plight in the treacherous, shallow bayou to make any resistance or escape to the Mississippi. On this expedition the brigade, with plucky Gen. Sher- man, who went afoot with the boys, made a forced march of twenty- five miles through swamps, over extemporized bridges made of a single log or plank, marching in single file, and suffering many hardships and numberless inconveniences, but finally arriving in time to whip the rebel forces, and let Porter get his fleet back to safer waters. And then the tired brigade had no alternative left but to "coon " their way back again as they came to solid land, consuming ten days in the unpleasant but highly successful and satisfactory task.
That portion of the One Hundred and Thirteenth in the field, composed of the five companies left, after the detachment of five com- panies went north in charge of prisoners from Arkansas Post, were under the immediate command of Col. George B. Hoge, and embraced not only the five companies left behind, but the sick and convalescents- of the other five companies, as well as all men on detached duty. This- detachment in the field will hereafter be designated as " the regiment," and we will here say it was with Sherman in the march to the rear- of Vicksburg, and was engaged in most of the hard fighting that cul- minated in the fall of Vicksburg, and the capture of Gen. Pemberton's army. In this campaign the One Hundred and Thirteenth suffered from both disease and the bullets of the enemy, losing fully one entire third of the force that went into the campaign, including their gallant colonel, who was severely wounded. The regiment was put on provost duty for some little time at Chickasaw Bayon, a very unhealthy local- ity, and in a few days-during July and August-the greater part of the force was on the sick list, and several died at this post. From Chickasaw Bayon the regiment moved to Corinth in the latter part of August, 1863, and remained there until the month of January follow- ing, being mostly engaged in doing post duty and scouting after guerilla bands. Col. Hoge meantime commanded the post at Corinth, until its evacuation by the federal forces, January 25, 1864, when the colonel and his regiment proceeded to Memphis, Tennessee, where the colonel took command of the second brigade of the post defenses of the city of Memphis. While at Memphis, the five companies that had
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been doing guard and provost duty in Illinois, rejoined the regiment in March, 1864. The brigade under Col. Hoge accompanied Gen. Sturgis in his unsuccessful expedition against Gen. N. B. Forrest, the daring rebel raider, and cruel butcherer of unoffending and helpless prisoners at Fort Pillow.
In the disastrous expedition of Gen. Sturgis to Guntown, Missis- sippi, the regiment suffered severely, losing fourteen officers and 135 men killed, wounded or captured. Among the officers captured was Capt. George E. King and Lient. J. E. Leatherman (then sergeant) of the Iroquois companies. Inasmuch as the regiment was a great suf- ferer by this disaster to the union arms, it is but fair that we briefly sketch the main incidents of this unfortunate campaign. Gen. Sturgis, in command of about 12,000 troops, including the commands of Gen. A. J. Smith and Grierson's cavalry division, set out from Memphis June 1, 1864, with Tupelo, distant 160 miles to the southeast, as his objective point,-Tupelo being situated on the Mobile & Ohio railroad, and a point of considerable strategic importance. The sultry weather and heavy rains made the marching laborions and slow, and exhausted the whole command so much that they were in a poor condition for a pitched battle when the terrible blow fell upon them. For days the tired army toiled over miserable roads, through mud and rain, until the morning of June 10, when the sun shone ont bright, though hot, and the wearied fellows felt rejoiced to think that fair weather had dawned upon them once more, and moved forward with a more buoyant step, when early in the day Gen. Grierson's cavalry rode upon Forrest's troopers, and sharp fighting ensued, Grierson's gallant troopers driving the enemy's horse before them to the banks of Tishomingo creek, where they encountered Forrest's infantry, strongly posted on the steep bank of the creek opposite to the advancing army of Sturgis. At this stage Gen. Sturgis, instead of moving up his troops and forming a strong assaulting column, and then moving forward cautiously, hurried up his infantry on the " double quick," many of the regiment having run several miles in the hot son, were pushed forward singly and with- out any apparent order against the enemy lying in his strong position, only to be ruthlessly cut down by a well-directed fire from the ranks of Forrest ; and despite the fact that many of the federal regiments went into the fight exhausted and panting with the fatigue of their long run to the battlefield, and were pushed forward in the face of a murderous fire from a foe strongly posted under cover, while the union regiments were without support of any kind, still these brave fellows, under all these disadvantages and discouragements, did nobly under the most trying circumstances that could befall an army; and many regiments,.
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the One Hundred and Thirteenth among the number, behaved splen- didly. The fighting began at about eleven o'clock in the forenoon and had become general by one o'clock, and continued with fury till four, when the enemy having turned the union left, and there was danger of the whole force being entirely surrounded, a retreat was ordered, and then a wild scene followed, which cannot be adequately described. Soon after the retreat began night fell upon the panic stricken army, and as if to render confusion confounded, the wagon train became mired in a swamp, blocking up the road so that the artillery could not be got past the obstruction and had to be abandoned ; and the infantry, such as were not cut off and captured, were only saved by the vigilant bravery of Grierson's faithful cavalrymen, who held back the triumphant and plundering troopers of Forrest. Many of the fugitives, cut off from their regiments in the confusion of the retreat, struck singly and in squads across the country for Memphis, and many actually marched a hundred miles before tasting food. The whole command, or what was left of it, reached Memphis half starved, footsore and completely exhausted, and all bitterly cursing the heartless and stupid conduct of Gen. Sturgis, who got off the field that witnessed the death or capture of many a nobler and braver soldier, at the first indication of a rout, and reached Memphis sound and safe. Gen. Sturgis may have been a good soldier and a patriot, but it will be long before the men he led into that fatal trap will be willing to regard him as such.
After the defeat of Sturgis and the retreat to Memphis the One Hundred and Thirteenth did picket and provost duty at Memphis until October, 1864, when it took a part in Gen. Washburne's expedition, and was engaged in the disastrous fight at Eastport, Mississippi, where it lost two officers and fourteen men.
The regiment, on its return from Eastport, continued the rest of its term doing duty as picket and provost-guard at Memphis-Col. Hoge, now a general, its old commander, being provost-marshal of West Tennessee. The regiment was mustered out June 20, 1865. On the regimental staff of the One Hundred and Thirteenth, Iroquois county was represented by Dr. Lucien B. Brown, of Sheldon, who was com- missioned first assistant surgeon on the organization of the regiment, and afterward, June 27, 1864, he was promoted surgeon of the regi- ment, and made a very efficient officer. William A. McLean, of Mid- dleport, was the first quartermaster, and served in that capacity until July 12, 1864, when he was honorably discharged for promotion in another regiment. He was succeeded by William H. Taylor, also of Middleport, who retained the position until the muster out of his reg- iment.
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Company B was composed of men from this and Kankakee counties, in about an equal proportion, and was mustered in with Captain Ceplias Williams, of Kankakee, in command, but he was promoted major in about a year, and Lieut. Andrew Beckett, of Martinton, in this county, was commissioned captain, and continued in command until the close of the war and the muster out of the regiment.
Company D was, at its muster in, composed entirely of Iroquois county men, recruited from Onarga, Gilman, Ash Grove, Spring Creek, Milford and a few from Middleport, and during its term of service it was officered by Iroquois connty men. About three-fifths of the recruits to the company in 1863-65 were also from Iroquois county. The company, during its whole term of service, was commanded by Captain Robert B. Lucas, of Onarga ; D. H. Metzger, now of Abilene, Kansas, formerly a resident of, and for several years supervisor of Onarga township, and father of George T. Metzger, late county treasurer, was the first lieutenant of Company D for its whole term of service, and a faitliful officer, too. The second lieutenants were George B. Fickle, of Onarga, and after his resignation, in February, 1863, Henry L. Frisbie, also of Onarga, was commissioned. Many of the rank and file of Company D are now hard-working mechanics and prosperons farmers, residing in the western part of the county.
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