USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 25
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A history of Vermilion county was published in 1879, while yet many of the returned soldiers were living who could tell the story of those years of Civil war, and lengthy reports of the various regiments were available from the pen of participants. This history was written by Mr. Beckwith, and has now been out of print several years. Because it is out of reach of so many, it is deemed best to quote these reports directly from its pages with additions or changes where the writers are yet living. The regiments under consideration were the 25th, the 37th, the 73d and the 125th Illinois Volunteers. Of the writers of these reports, Capt. Achilles Martin and Col. William Mann are dead. The others are living.
TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by Captain Achilles Martin.]
The 25th Ill. Vol. Inf., three companies of which (A, B and D) were from Vermilion County, was organized in Vermilion County, June 1, 1861, and
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mustered into service at St. Louis, Missouri, August 4, 1861, and from there transported by rail to Jefferson City, Missouri, and thence to Sedalia, Mis- souri, and marched to Springfield, Missouri, under General Fremont, in pur- suit of General Price's army, and from thence to Rolla, Missouri, where, with a portion of Fremont's army, it spent the early part of the winter of 1861 and 1862, but returned to Springfield, Missouri, in February, 1862, under command of General Siegel, and pursued General Price's army to Ben- tonville, Arkansas, where, on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March, 1862, the memorable battle of "Pea Ridge" was fought. The 25th Reg., having been held in support until early morn of the third day, took the front under the immediate command of General Siegel, in support of the artillery, which opened the engagement. After a fierce contest with grape, canister and shell at short range, the enemy's batteries were silenced, and the memorable order, "Up, 25th, Minutes ! Col. Minutes!" was given by General Siegel in person, and the next moment the regiment, under the most terrific fire of musketry, with other troops, charged the enemy in a thick wood, where, after a fierce and deadly contest, the enemy's lines gave way, and the whole army was soon in full retreat, and thus was victory brought out of what but a few hours be- fore was considered, by the general commanding, a defeat. The regiment was highly complimented for its gallantry in this (its first) engagement. Then, in connection with the army, it took up the line eastward, where, after a long and tedious march, it arrived at Batesville, in Arkansas, and was there de- tached from the army, and, with nine other regiments under command of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, marched eastward to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles in nine days, having made an average of about twenty-eight miles per day. The regiment then, by river transportation, joined Gen. Halleck's army in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, which place was soon evacuated by the enemy; and after a short stay in Mississippi marched east- ward under command of Gen. Buell by way of Nashville, Tennessee, to Louis- ville, Kentucky, a distance of nearly five hundred miles in the month of Au- gust, in the most extreme heat and drouth. Here a few days were spent in reorganizing the army, when it was ordered in pursuit of Gen. Bragg's army, then invading Kentucky. Later, the battle of Perryville, or Chaplain Hills, was fought between a portion of the two armies, wherein the 25th Reg., and more than sixty thousand other well-equipped soldiers were compelled to act as spectators in the slaughter of a portion of our army under command of Gen. McCook, because the general commanding said that McCook had brought on the engagement without his orders. After this battle the regiment re- turned to Nashville, Tennessee, and Gen. Rosecrans was put in command of the army, then known as the Army of the Cumberland, which remained at Nash- ville until the last of December, 1862, when it was advanced to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and met the enemy under command of Gen. Bragg at Stone River, Tennessee, on the 30th of December, 1862, and at the dawning of the 31st the enemy attacked in great force. The 25th Reg., being in the unfortunate right wing of our army, was soon sharply engaged, when the charge grew fierce and deadly. The line on the left of the 25th gave way, and being fiercely assailed in front and left, the regiment was compelled to change front under a most
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withering fire. Here the color-bearer was stricken down and the flag lay on the ground, when Col. Williams, of the regiment (than whom no more worthy patriot has died), raised the colors with his own hands, and having indicated the new line to be formed, he planted the flag firmly, and uttered in loud tones his living and dying words: "Boys, we will plant the flag here and rally around it, and here we will die!" The next moment, with flagstaff in hand, he fell. The regiment, after twice repulsing the enemy in front, finding itself flanked on both right and left, retired from its position and fell to the rear, leaving more than one-third of its number dead and wounded on the field. The enemy was finally checked, and the battle continued sullenly until the 2d of January, 1863. when Gen. Breckenridge made his celebrated assault on the left wing of our army. The charge was brilliant beyond comparison. The shock of battle was terrific. Our left was broken, defeated and driven back. Fresh troops were in like manner swept away like chaff before the wind. Fifty pieces of artillery were brought to bear on the enemy's right. The earth trembled and shook as a leaf in the storm beneath the iron monsters, as they poured their storm of death into the advancing column, and yet their onward march was as the march of destiny, until the shout from Gen. Negley rang out, "Who'll save the left?" "The 19th Ill.," was the reply-the 25th Ill. be- ing close in their support. They did save the left, and the 25th held the front thus carried until the retreat of the enemy, while the heaps of the enemy's dead testified to gallantry worthy of a. better cause. The regiment, in con- nection with the army, next marched south in pursuit of Gen. Bragg's army till it reached the Tennessee River, near Stevenson, Alabama. To cross this river in the face of the enemy and lay the pontoon bridge was given in charge of this regiment alone; consequently, at early morn our shore was lined with skirmish- ers and a battery of artillery, while the regiment embarked in pontoon boats and rowed away to the opposite shore a mile distant, drove the enemy back, laid the bridge and was crossing the entire army over by eleven o'clock A. M. The sight of this little circumstance was extremely grand, but the danger great. The regi- ment next crossed over Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain and entered into the valley, again engaging the enemy in the terrible battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, where it left more than two-thirds of its number among the dead and wounded on the field, all of whom fell into the hands of the enemy. This bat- tle, for severity, stands second to none in the history of the war, and no regi- ment in the engagement suffered greater loss than the Twenty-fifth Illinois. The regiment was next called to meet the enemy at the battle of Chattanooga, under command of Gen. U. S. Grant, and when the order came to storm Mis- sion Ridge, the Twenty-fifth Regiment was assigned the front, or skirmish line, where it advanced slowly until within a few rods of the enemy's guns, when, with a simultaneous charge, in connection with the Thirty-fifth Illinois, carried the enemy's works, captured their batteries, broke their lines on Mission- ary Ridge, and made way for a magnificent victory. Along the entire line here again the carnage was great, but the achievements brilliant in the extreme. The regiment was then ordered to east Tennessee, where it spent the winter in various unimportant campaigns, and in the spring of 1864 rejoined the Army of the Cumberland, near Chattanooga, under command of Gen. Sherman, and started
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on that memorable campaign to Atlanta, Georgia, at which place it terminated its service and returned home to be mustered out.
During the months of this campaign, the endurance of both officers and men of the regiment was taxed to its utmost-it was one long and tedious battle, often violent and destructive, then slow and sullen, both armies seeking advan- tage by intrenching, manoeuvering, flanking and by sudden and by · desperate charges, the Twenty-fifth Illinois, bearing its equal burden of the toils, the dan- gers and losses, as will more fully appear from the following order or address, delivered by Col. W. H. Gibson, commanding the brigade, on its taking leave of the army, at Atlanta, Georgia, August 20, 1864, to wit:
"Soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteers: As your term of three years' service has expired, and you are about to proceed to your state to be mus- tered out, it is fitting and proper that the colonel commanding should express to each and all his earnest thanks for the cheerful manhood with which. during the present campaign, you have submitted to every hardship. overcome every difficulty, and for the magnificent heroism with which you have met and van- quished the foe. Your deportment in camp has been worthy true soldiers, while your conduct in battle has excited the admiration of your companions in arms. Patriotic thousands and a noble state will give you a reception worthy of your sacrifice and your valor. You have done your duty. The men who rallied under the starry emblem of our nationality at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Champion Hills, Stone River, Chickamanga, Missionary Ridge, Noonday Creek, Pinetop Moun- tain, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, having made history for all time and coming generations to admire, your services will ever be gratefully appreciated. Officers and soldiers farewell. May God guar- antee to each health, happiness and usefulness in coming life, and may our coun- try soon merge from the gloom of blood that now surrounds it and again enter upon a career of progress, peace and prosperity."
THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by Gen. J. C. Black.]
The regiment was recruited in the counties of Lake. La Salle. McHenry. McLean, Cook, Vermilion and Rock Island, and was organized at Chicago, and mustered into the United States service on the 18th of September, 1861. Its colonel was Julius White, since major-general ; its major was J. C. Black, now of Danville, Illinois, who recruited and took to camp Company K. from Vermilion County. The muster role of Company K showed representatives from many of the old families of Vermilion County: Fithian, Bandy, English. Morgan, Clapp. Brown, Henderson, Allison, Conover, Black, Culbertson, Johns, Canaday. Lamm, Myers, Payne, Songer, Thrapp, Delay, Folger, Gibson, Liggett, and others. Some of these representatives died in service; some returned home full of the honors of a well rendered service, and are today prominent among our business and professional men. Peter Walsh, the late prosecuting attorney : William P. Black, of Chicago; William M. Bandy, editor of the "Post," Danville ; W. H. Fithian, of Fithian, Illinois; George H. English, and many are farming in this vicinity. These are of the living. Among the dead we recall Fitzgerald. Mar-
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latt, Reiser, Snider, Adkins, Barnard, Hyatt, Henderson, Stute, Brewer, Cono- ver, George Johns and James Culbertson. These died without fear and without reproach.
Company K was distinctly the boys' company; its recruits were most of them under age at the time of enlistment. In the Memorial Hall at Spring- field, Illinois, are found only two captured flags, one was taken from the Mexi- cans at Buena Vista, the other was taken from the rebels at the battle of Pea Ridge by the Thirty-Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry. "The boys" did their share wherever they went. Mustered into service on the 18th of September, they entered the Department of the Missouri the next day, and took part in Hunter's campaign against Price in southwestern Missouri, marching to Spring- field and back to Laurine Caulmint. In the dead of winter, breaking up their encampment, they joined in Pope's campaign against the guerillas. In the spring of 1862 the Thirty-seventh set out on the route for northwestern Arkan- sas, and participated in the bloody battle of Pea Ridge on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March, which raged with especial fury on the 7th near Lee town, when the Thirty-seventh received the charge of Mccullough's and McIntosh's column, and when in thirty minutes it lost one hundred and twenty men out of an ef- fective present force of seven hundred and fifty ; but the charge was broken, and the enemy withdrew.
After this battle General Custer was ordered to Batesville and Helena with the entire force, except the Thirty-seventh Illinois, one battalion of the First Missouri Cavalry and one section of the Peoria battery; and until June this force was kept in the extreme front in the enemy's country, fifty-five miles in advance of any assistance, feeling the pulse of rebeldom beating daily in this its farthest extremity. Marching and counter-marching over one hundred miles frontage of mountainous region, ambushed and bushwhacked day and night, it kept the flag at the front, and always flying. In the summer of 1862 the Thirty- seventh joined the larger forces. It bore its share in the marches and skir- mishes in southwestern Missouri, and finally, on the 7th day of December, as- sisted in the terrible fight and brilliant victory at Prairie Grove, where, in the capture of a battery and the assault upon the enemy in their chosen position, the Thirty-seventh, reduced to three hundred and fifty men, lost seventy-eght, killed and wounded; but they took the battery. It returned to St. Louis from there, and was sent to Cape Girardeau, whence it started after Gen. Marmaduke, overtaking him on the banks of the St. Francis River at Chalk Bluffs. The fight at this point freed southeast Missouri of all rebel forces, and won for the Thirty-seventh high praise in the reports of the commanding general. They then returned to St. Louis, and joined the forces under Gen. Grant, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg.
From this time on, the path of the Thirty-seventh was away from its Ver- milion County comrades, the Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth, Seventy-ninth, One Hundred and twenty-fifth Infantry, Fourth Cavalry, and the old Twelfth Regi- ment, some of whom swung across the continent, via Chattanooga and Atlanta, to the sea. The Thirty-seventh marched to the south; it fought and beat the rebels at Yazoo City, joined in the campaign after Forrest from Memphis, and after chasing him out of Tennessee via Mississippi, returned and took part in
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the Red River campaign; in the meantime bearing a light share in the fight near Morganzia Bend. From Duvall's Bluff the regiment was sent, via New Orleans, to Barrancas and Pollard; thence to Mobile and participated in the last great siege of the war, and in its last great battle; for Lee surrendered at 10 o'clock A. M., and at 5:45 P. M. of the same day the federal troops assaulted and cap- tured the Blakeley batteries. The time occupied from the firing of the first gun until they were in possession was ten minutes; the loss was six hundred men on the Union side; captured, three thousand prisoners, forty-two cannons and the city of Mobile. In this charge the Thirty-seventh was the extreme left regi- ment, and Company K was the extreme left of the entire line, which advancing in a semicircle, struck the rebel works almost at the same instant along the whole front, the right and left being a little in the advance. After this engagement the Thirty-seventh was removed to the Department of Texas, where it remained until August, 1866, being among the last of the United States Volunteers dis- charged from service.
The Thirty-seventh veteranized in 1864. It was in the service five years from the time of recruiting; it marched and moved four times from Lake Mich- igan to the gulf ; it moved on foot nearly six thousand miles, and journeyed by water and land conveyance nearly ten thousand miles more; it bore its part in thirteen battles and skirmishes, and two sieges. The survivors of Company K are in Oregon, California, Texas, Missouri and Illinois. They, like the vast mass of their fellow volunteer soldiers, are, most of them, respected and useful citizens.
SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.
[Contributed by W. H. Newlin and W. R. Lawrence.]
Under the call of the President for three hundred thousand volunteers, July 6, 1862, Illinois was required to furnish nine regiments. Upon this call the Seventy-third regiment was organized, of which companies C and E were from Vermilion County. Six days after the call, Patterson McNutt, Mark D. Hawes and Richard N. Davis began to recruit a company of infantry in and about Georgetown, and, soon after, Wilson Burroughs, Charles Tilton and David Blosser commenced raising a company near Fairmount. McNutt's company, consisting of eighty-five men, were assembled on the 23d at Georgetown, where they were sworn in by 'Squire John Newlin. After this ceremony, McNutt, Hawes and Davis were elected captain, first and second lieutenant, respectively. The next day the men went to the Y, the present site of Tilton, where they were furnished transportation to Camp Butler, arriving there the next morn- ing. With the exception of a few squads, this was the first company in this camp under that call. Early in August twenty-one recruits arrived from Georgetown, making the total number one hundred and six. About this time Capt. Burroughs, having organized his company, arrived with seventy men, which, being recruited from Captain McNutt's company, made their complement.
The first military duty done at this camp was guarding about three thou- sand prisoners, who had been captured at Fort Donelson.
Toward the latter part of August steps were taken to organize the regiment, and this was accomplished on the 21st, the regiment numbering eight hundred
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and six men; James F. Jaques being chosen colonel, Benjamin F. Northcott, lieutenant-colonel; Wm. A. Presson, major; R. R. Randall, adjutant, and James S. Barger, chaplain. This has been known as the "preachers' regiment," on account of the fact that all of the principal officers were ministers of the gospel. The regiment was the second mustered into service under the call. Of this regiment McNutt's company was designated C, and was the color company, and Burrough's company, E. On the 27th the regiment was ordered to the field, and, without arms, they were transported to Louisville.
The first camp was in the outskirts of Louisville, near the L. & N. R. R. depot. After awhile the regiment was armed, and in the early part of Septem- ber the camp was moved to a point some four miles from the city, where a divi- sion was formed with the Seventy-third and One Hundredth Illinois and the Seventy-ninth and Eighty-eight Indiana as one brigade, under the command of Col. Kirk. While in this camp, great commotion was caused by the defeat of the Union troops at Richmond, Kentucky, and the division was ordered under arms, and made a rapid advance of near a day's march, when, meeting the retreating forces, they returned to camp.
About the middle of September the Seventy-third was sent to Cincinnati, to assist in defending it against the threatened attack of Kirby Smith. The regi- ment returned to Louisville in the latter part of September. A reorganization of the army now caused the Seventy-third to be brigaded with the Forty-fourth Illinois and the Second and Fifteenth Missouri, making a part of the division under General Phil Sheridan. On the Ist day of October the army of one hun- dred thousand, under Gen. Buell, moved from Louisville to meet Gen. Bragg, who with Kirby Smith was overrunning the country in that vicinity. The weather was very hot and dry, and here the experience of all new regiments, of disposing of superfluous accoutrements such as overcoats, knapsacks, etc., began, and the line of march was strewed with a variety of handy, though dis- pensable articles. On the 8th Sheridan's division neared Doctor's Fork, a fine stream of water near Perryville. The Union soldiers were anxious to reach this point, and the rebels were determined to check their advance, and, from a skirmish, this grew to be a desperate battle. Through some blunder the Seventy- third was advanced nearly a quarter of a mile in front of the main line, up to the very jaws of a rebel battery, and near the columns of the main rebel infan- try. In the nick of time it was ordered to fall back, and the rebel battery imme- diately opening upon them, they obeyed with alacrity, and gained the main line without serious loss. In the fight that ensued the Seventy-third was in the front line. Company C had in this fight about seventy men engaged, of whom John J. Halstead, Zimri Lewis, Josiah Cooper, James E. Moore, Samuel Boen, John S. Long, F. M. Stevens and D. W. Doops were wounded, Cooper and Lewis subsequently dying of their wounds. In Company E, John Murdock lost his life, and J. M. Dougherty and John L. Moore were dangerously wounded.
From here the army was marched to Nashville, which place was reached on the 7th of November, and the army went into camp. By this time Gen. Buell had been succeeded by Gen. Rosecrans. The campaign through Kentucky and part of Tennessee, though but of five week's duration, was an eventful one to the new troops. It had been almost a continual round of marching, counter-
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marching, skirmishing and fighting through a rough country that had already been stripped of almost everything in the shape of forage. This sudden baptism into the rugged experiences of war told sadly upon many whose lives had been passed in the quiet scenes of the village or farm. During the six weeks' encampment at Nashville and Mill Creek, eleven men of Company C died and thirteen were discharged for disability; and of Company E, ten died and ten were discharged for disability. Hawes and Davis, of Company C, resigned on account of sickness, and T. D. Kyger and W. R. Lawrence were promoted to the vacancies. Lieut. Blosser, of Company E, resigned, and one Presson was promoted from another company to fill the vacancy. Less than three months had elapsed, and the two companies had lost fifty-four men.
On the 26th of December the camp at Mill Creek was broken, and the march for Murfreesboro' was begun in further pursuit of Bragg, who had greatly rein- forced his army. On the 30th the vicinity of Murfreesboro was reached, and almost immediately skirmishing began. This was a most hotly contested field, in which, however, the Federal troops proved victorious. The Seventy-third lost in this severely, and the two companies from Vermilion were sufferers, John Dye and James Yoho being killed, Lieutenant Lawrence and Daniel Lay- cott taken prisoners, and George Pierce severely wounded. Rosecrans was proud of this victory and of the men under his command, and made a special order providing for a roll of honor, to be composed of one name from every com- pany, to be selected by the members of the company. Company C selected Ser- geant William H. Newlin.
In June our regiment came in contact with the rebels at a point near Fair- field, and Alexander Nicholson, of Company C, was wounded. In August, Captain McNutt resigned, and Lieutenant Kyger was promoted captain, Second Lieut. Lawrence to first lieutenant, and David A. Smith succeeded to the second lieutenancy. Lieut. Lawrence had returned in May after a five months' absence in Libby Prison.
On the 10th of September, the army again advanced toward Chattanooga, to dislodge Bragg from that position. In the many engagements in the vicinity of Chattanooga the Seventy-third took active part, but in the one at Crawfish Springs, on the 20th of September, the brigade to which the Seventy-third be- longed played a most important part, and displayed a degree of bravery seldom equaled; contending with and holding in check the massed columns of the reb- els at a most critical moment. Companies E and C suffered severely. Sergeant John Lewis, of C, and color bearer, fell, but held the flag aloft. It was taken by Corp. Austin Henderson, of Company C, but he carried it only a few steps, when he was wounded. Each of the color-guard, who took the flag, was either almost instantly killed or wounded. In this engagement at least a fourth of the brigade had been left on the field, either dead, wounded or prisoners. Lieut. D. A. Smith, Artemus Terrell and Enoch Smith, of Company C, were killed. Lieutenant Lawrence, Sergts. John Lewis and Wm. Sheets, Corp. Henderson, privates John Burk, Samuel Hewit, John Bostwick, Henderson Goodwine and H. C. Henderson were wounded. Sergt. W. H. Newlin, Enoch Brown, W. F. Ellis and John Thornton were taken prisoners. All of these prisoners, except
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