USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
PROMOTIONS.
under the same roof, and in the morning each departed his own way.
It cannot be asserted truthfully that every member of the Fifty-fifth, during this halcyon period, behaved with saint- like propriety. It was a regiment of soldiers, and good ones, but its members were in no wise deficient in animal spirits. Their exuberant vigor manifested itself frequently, as in other regiments, by freaks of temper, riotous behavior, and boisterous conduct, in which, as likely as not, whiskey and beer performed a part. Under the healthy, robust teaching of Chaplain Haney, there was always a restraining element, but the men were not all good, and made no pretensions of being so. They were healthy, sturdy young soldiers engaged in a patriotic duty, aloof from the restraints of civil life, and acted as men always have and always will under such circumstances. An allusion to Jim Watkins' steal- ing the sutler's mule, Bugler Vaughan's appropriation of the quarter of beef, Peter Ebersold's returning to camp without his nether garments, and "Betsey" Sherman's juvenile battery, will recall the character of these escapades.
On September 16th, the long delayed punishment of Captain Clay and Lieutenant Buck, for cowardly conduct at Shiloh, was enforced. They were both cashiered with the approval of the whole regiment. Immediately Lieutenants Brown and Whipple were raised a grade, and Orderly- Sergeant Roberts properly promoted to second-lientenant. Many changes were made during the season among the officers, exact details of which are hard to obtain, for reasons before stated, and absolute accuracy is perhaps unattainable. In Company A, Lieutenant Schleich was transferred to Con- . pany F and made its captain. Lieutenant Cootes was made captain of Company E, vice Tazewell, resigned. Sergeant Henry Augustine was made second-lieutenant of Company A, and signalized his promotion by treating the men to a keg of ale. Later he was elevated to first-lieutenant, and Orderly-Sergeant Levi Hill to second-lieutenant. In Com- pany C, Lieutenant Shaw, who had for a long time commanded it, was promoted its captain, in place of R. A. Bird, who had resigned in June. Sergeant-Major McAuley
166
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
received his reward as second-lieutenant of the same company. Joseph R. Roberts became first-lieutenant of Com- pany D, and its orderly, Henry A. Smith, second-lieutenant. Sergeant William C. Porter was made second-lieutenant in his own company, E. Sergeant Vincent E. Brink became second-lieutenant of Company F, in place of John B. Johnson, who resigned September 3, 1862. Company H was provided for, its second-lieutenant, Nicholas Aagesen, being raised to the rank of first-lieutenant, and Sergeant Francis A. Scott being transferred from Company I to fill the vacancy thus created. It is believed that John H. Fillmore became first-lieutenant, and H. H. Kendrick second-lieuten- ant of Company K, during this period, but the confused records do not clearly state it. It is hoped that the roster at the end of this volume will correctly preserve all such details. The names mentioned above are worthy of high encomiums, either collectively or separately, but lack of personal knowledge would certainly lead to vague and perhaps unjust discrimination if attempted. It is proper to state that they embrace many of the best officers of the regiment. Schleich, Hill, Porter and Brink subsequently lost their lives in the service. As in all former instances, no particular attention was paid to promotion according to rank, and many deserving officers and non-commissioned officers were unjustly deprived of the places due to them.
In the field and staff, Assistant Surgeon Winne, a thoroughly good officer, resigned to accept promotion as surgeon of the Seventy-seventh Illinois. Hospital Steward John T. Smith was promoted assistant surgeon of the Fifty- fifth, and Corporal Joseph Hartsook translated from his company to the position of sergeant-major.
The list of officers was kept fairly full, but strange as it may appear, few if any had ever held commissions. They were merely announced to the regiment, took their proper places, went upon the regimental muster-rolls and were paid and recognized as officers in the army. By a law of congress the governors of the respective states were alone authorized to commission regimental and company officers. Appoint- ments by a colonel were at best mere ad interim, and subject
167
COMMISSIONS WITHHELD.
to confirmation by the state executive, who could have superseded any of them by the issuance of commissions to other persons. This anomalous state of affairs was the fault, and designedly so, of the colonel of the Fifty-fifth, who had never informed the governor of Illinois of the appointments made in the regiment, nor asked for commis- sions.
This strange and unjust condition of things existed in a good regiment which had passed through severe battles and hard campaigns during more than a year-had had some of its best officers killed in battle, two dismissed, many resigned, and many others promoted. The governor of its own state, the source of authority, had received no official notice of these facts and had not issued commissions as evidence of legal recognition. This, though wholly unprecedented, was not without motive on the part of the officers responsible for it. The colonel's conduct in this connection was entirely consistent with his whole career, and had its origin in the fact that he had always assumed the most despotic control over the destiny of cach officer, and still wished to do so. He desired to make and unmake them, and to supersede and promote them as suited his own ends or whims, without interference from or accountability to any superior. The management of the internal affairs of the regiment always had been as close and free from higher dictation as the affairs of a private corporation, and he resolved to keep it so. As has been already shown, all promotions had been made without any reference to the precedence recognized by all military authorities. Whenever the opposite course had been followed it was an incidental concession to justice and not a rule of action.
If such irregular and erratic acts had been brought to the notice of the governor it would have led to inquiry why so many officers and non-commissioned officers had been superseded in the line of promotion by others, and why so many transfers were made from one company to another, without regard to the rights of the members. The records in the office of the adjutant-general of Illinois, are very full to the effect that a commendable zeal in preserving the
168
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
rights of men to promotion according to rank obtained there. Good reasons for prima facie injustice of each change would have been required.
The lack of commissions was a frequent and just cause of complaint, and many meetings took place on the part of the officers to discuss a remedy. On one occasion when the aggrieved parties had met and appointed the fearless Captain Augustine as spokesman, they went to the colonel in a body, and the captain stated their complaints in a dignified and respectful way. They were treated very cavalierly, being told by Colonel Stuart to return to their quarters at once, that he did not "want any such d-d militia demonstrations."
About all the officers of the regiment, with the exception of Captains Chandler and Heffernan, wrote at one time or another to the governor on the subject, and the record shows an agreeable solicitude on the part of that officer to do justice. It further appears that many commissions were actually made out and forwarded to the colonel, who failed to deliver them to the proper owners, and made various paltry and false excuses for not doing so when importuned by the governor on the subject. From the several letters on file, the following is selected as showing the state of feeling and the mode of expression :
MEMPHIS, TENN., Oct. 1, 1862. n HON. RICHARD YATES, Governor State of Illinois.
SIR : Not wishing to trouble you with a long letter, I will state very briefly the reasons that prompt this communication. The officers of the 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., of whom I am one, have served, some of us, since the organization of the regiment, while others have been promoted from the ranks, and we have not received commissions yet.
We waited upon our colonel (David Stuart) six months ago, and inquired of him why the delay; to which inquiry he replied that our com- missions were in his hands, but that he would not deliver them as they were not rightly dated. Since then we have repeatedly waited upon him, and requested him to have the mistake rectified, and send a new roster, as there have been a great many changes made since the first roster was sent -quite a number having resigned, some died of disease, and some killed in action. Upon urging him, he has invariably promised to attend to it immediately, but owing to pressure of business, or something else, he has failed to fulfill those promises; and I for one, believing that for- bearance has ceased to be a virtue, and feeling a deep solicitude in regard
169
COMMISSIONS SECURED.
to the commissions of my lieutenants, as well as my own-for it is the only alternative left me-will append a roster of my company, as we were mustered on the 31st day of August, 1862; hoping that if it is not contrary to rules and regulations, you will forward the above named documents :
Jacob M. Augustine, Captain, March 13th, 1862. William F. Cootes, Ist Lieutenant, July ist, 1862. Henry Augustine, 2d Lieutenant, August 1st, 1862.
Hoping that you will excuse this breach of military etiquette,
I remain your obedient servant,
JACOB M. AUGUSTINE, Acting Capt. Co. A, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols.
Commissions were finally obtained by a course of strategy, as follows: It was well known that the colonel paid no atten- tion to the details of his duties, and invariably signed all documents as they were presented, without inspection. After the return from the Tallahatchie, in December, and when muster rolls were prepared, an extra copy for each company was included in the bundle placed before the colonel by the adjutant. This extra copy had upon it a full statement of all promotions, and all persons entitled to commissions, and embraced all necessary facts to guide the Governor of Illinois in the issuance of the proper documents. As was anticipated the colonel affixed his gorgeous sign-manual, without thought of the extra number of flourishes it took. These surplus copies were sent to the capitol of Illinois, with the request that all needful papers be sent to Captain Augustine. They were received by him after the battle of Arkansas Post, and distributed in the steamboat cabin, and in the presence of Stuart, whose fury was violent, but harmless. Alas! poor Schleich lay dead with a bullet through his heart, and was not there to receive the three commissions due him. In these schisms Major Sanger and Adjutant Nourse sympathized with and aided the right side, as far as possible.
As autumn approached all signs pointed toward an aggres- sive campaign. It was well known that large levies of troops were being raised in the North, and that the Department of General Grant would without doubt receive its share of rein- forcements. Vicksburg was the obvious objective point in that quarter, and the grand strategy of the approaching movement was as frequently and intelligently discussed
170
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
among the rank and file as elsewhere. Among those looking for promotion was David Stuart, colonel of the Fifty-fifth, who had commanded a brigade at Shiloh, and who was senior to all the colonels of the new regiments. Sufficient has appeared already to indicate that his aspirations would not be self-repressed in the race for honor. He had lost by this time the respect of his subordinate officers and men, and had carned their contempt, among other things, for his failure to acquire the rudiments of tactics. A very competent officer, and one who had the best of opportunities for observation, recorded at the time his convictions as follows:
Colonel Stuart grows more and more unpopular -- neglecting his com- mand * *
* * He cannot drill the regiment, and makes mortifying blunders on review. He pays more attention to Southern ladies than to his officers and men.
He was, however, a favorite with General Sherman, and the length of service and superb conduct of his regiment in the field, gave a reasonable, if not a just hope of promotion. The obtrusion of Morgan L. Smith, a full brigadier, upon the scene, had relegated him to the command of a regiment after Shiloh, but the arrival of the new regiments, and the conse- quent reorganization of the army, would make room for many new brigade commanders. Stuart was placed in com- mand of a brigade while yet colonel, early in November. This consisted of his own regiment, the One-hundred-and- twenty-seventh and One-hundred-and-sixteenth Illinois, the Fifty-seventh Ohio, and Eighty-third Indiana-three of them being new and full organizations, just from home. This brigade became a part of Morgan L. Smith's division. His promotion to brigadier-general was expected and not seriously objected to by many of the Fifty-fifth. His re- moval to any sphere not immediately connected with the regiment was desirable as a means of relief, and a sort of regimental benison therefore followed his ambitious flights. Naturally this would be followed by the promotion of the lieutenant-colonel to the supreme command of the regiment, which was a matter of serious concern, and greatly feared for good reasons. That officer had done nothing to increase the respect for him, and all belief in his unusual
171
APPEAL TO THE GOVERNOR.
capacity had been dissipated in the course of practical cam- paigning. His habits, never good, had grown worse, and his bullying, abusive and insane tyranny would have driven almost any other regiment to open mutiny. It was certain that placing more power in his hands would not render him less exacting. What ineffectual means the officers took to avert the calamity, as well as the atmosphere at the time, is exactly shown by the following document, forwarded to Governor Yates:
CAMP OF FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS VOLS., MEMPHIS, TENN., Nov. 21, 1862.
To his Excellency, RICHARD YATES,
Governor of Illinois.
SIR : Knowing your anxiety to promote the comfort of every Illinois soldier, and feeling that you are interested almost equally with ourselves in the general well-being and military success of this regiment, we the undersigned, officers of the 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., beg leave to call your attention to a matter of vital importance to ourselves and the proved brave men whom we have the honor to command.
It seems probable that Colonel David Stuart, now in command of the Fourth brigade, General M. L. Smith's division, will be promoted, and that within a short time. The officers of the regiment desire and claim a voice in the selection of the person who shall fill the vacancy caused by such promotion, if it shall take place as expected. Although we in gen- eral should advocate the regular succession of officers according to rank, we feel impelled as honorable men, seeking the good of our country first, but also anxious for the happiness of ourselves, and the men placed in our care, and laboring for the prosperity and efficiency of the regiment in camp and field, to demand that we be not subjected to the tyranny and personal abuse which would inevitably be our daily portion under the command of the officer next in rank to our colonel.
Our commanding officers have generally disregarded the principle of regular succession in the appointments made to fill vacancies in almost every company in the regiment, as will be seen by the regimental records. We wish to continue this disregard of custom in our choice of the man who is to have power almost of life and death over us, and upon whom depends in so great a measure our comfort in garrison and our safety in campaign. We should weary you with the length of our story were we to recount in adequate language the reasons we have for praying your excellency not to commission any one to fill vacancies that may occur among the field officers of this regiment, until the line officers are per- mitted to express their choice.
The lieutenant-colonel now in command was elected to the position he holds, because expediency seemed to demand it, at the time of the
.
172
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
organization of the regiment. He was recommended to us for his knowl- edge of military tactics by Colonel Stuart, and chosen more to gratify our colonel's wishes than because of any liking or respect on our part. His disposition and personal ways, even at first when comparatively a stranger, made him peculiarly unpopular. This unpopularity has increased with time, and we boldly assert that he has now no friends in the regiment, among officers or men, save those who are dependent upon him for place or privilege. We have seen little reason to pride ourselves upon any result of his military experience, while the discomfort attending his mar- tinet discipline have been constant and almost unendurable, and his abusive treatment of his subordinates more than man could bear and preserve self-respect.
Hoping our request will meet with your approval,
We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, HENRY AUGUSTINE, 2d Lieut. Co. A. E. C. LAWRENCE, 2d Lieut. Co. B. JOHN T. MCAULEY, 2d Lieut. Co. C. HENRY A. SMITH, 2d Lieut. Co. D. ALBERT A. WHIPPLE, 2d Lieut. Co. G. CHARLES A. ANDRESS, 2d Lieut. Co. 1. H. H. KENDRICK, 2d Lieut. Co. K. A. F. MERRILL, Ist Lieut. Co. B. DANIEL MCINTOSH, Ist Lieut. Co. C. J. R. ROBERTS, Ist Lieut. Co. I). J. E. KEYES, Ist Lieut. Co. E. JOSEPH W. PARKS, Ist Lieut. Co. F. C. M. BROWN, Ist Lieut. Co. G. L. B. CROOKER, Ist Lieut. Co. I. J. H. FILLMORE, Ist Lieut. Co. K. H. S. NOURSE, Ist Lieut. and Adjutant.
J. M. AUGUSTINE, Capt. Co. A. F. H. SHAW, Capt. Co. C. C. SHLEICH, Capt. Co. F. TIM SLATTERY, Capt. Co. I. JOSEPH BLACK, Capt. Co. K.
After the return from the Tallahatchie, and while at Memphis, the following was forwarded:
To his Excellency, RICHARD YATES,
Governor State of Illinois :-
We the undersigned officers of the 55th Regt. Ill. Vols. Infty. humbly beg leave to recommend the name of Major W. D. Sanger for appoint- ment as colonel of this regiment, which position was made vacant by the promotion of our late colonel, David Stuart.
We are unwilling to be, and protest against being subjected to the un- restrained tyranny of Lieutenant-Colonel Oscar Malmborg, whose hereto-
173
THE OFFICERS PROTEST.
fore unreasonable and undeserved abuse has been almost unbearable and rendered our labors irksome in the extreme. This, taken in connection with a lack of confidence in his ability as a commander produced by actual observation, the details of which we can give if necessary -- we consider a sufficient reason why his claim to the position of colonel by seniority should be overlooked and the worthy major receive the appoint- ment.
We would also respectfully recommend Captain Joseph Black to fill the position of major, knowing him to be a good offieer deserving of pro- motion, and believing him to be by far the most competent of the three senior captains of the regiment. whose commissions date from the same day, October 31st, 1861.
J. M. AUGUSTINE, Capt. Co. A. HENRY AUGUSTINE, 2d Lieut. Co. A.
E. C. LAWRENCE, 2d Lieut. Co. B.
A. F. MERRILL, Ist Lieut. Co. B. F. H. SHAW, Capt. Co. C. DANIEL MCINTOSH, Ist Licut. Co. C. JOHN T. MCAULEY. 2d Licut. Co. C.
J. R. ROBERTS, Ist Lieut. Co. D.
H. A. SMITH, 2d Lieut. Co. D.
J. E. KEYES, Ist Lieut. Co. E.
C. SCHLEICH, Capt. Co. F.
J. W. PARKS, Ist Lieut. Co. F.
C. M. BROWN, Ist Lieut. Co. G. ALBERT A. WHIPPLE, 2d Lieut. Co. G.
TIM SLATTERY, Capt. Co. I.
L. B. CROOKER, Ist Lieut. Co. I.
C. A. ANDRESS, 2d Lieut. Co. I.
J. H. FILLMORE, Ist Lieut. Co. K.
H. H. KENDRICK, 2d Licut. Co. K. H. S. NOURSE, Adjutant.
The first action on the part of the officers was at once reported to Colonel Stuart by Captains Chandler and Heffer- nan, and he immediately sought to nullify its effect by for- warding the following letter to the governor. The original, like all the documents herein quoted in that connection, are a part of the state archives:
HEADQUARTERS FOURTH BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION, ARMY DISTRICT MEMPHIS. MEMPHIS, TENN., 23d Nov., 1862.
GOVERNOR :
I am informed by two of the senior captains of my regiment (the 55th Ill.), that they, and others, were recently applied to by some of the
174
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
officers of the regiment to sign some communication addressed to you, in the nature of a protest against the promotion of Lieut .- Col. Oscar Malmborg.
This movement proceeds upon the anticipation of my advancement, which, they have heard, has been suggested by the general commanding, in an official form. The new troops, since their advent here, have been brigaded, and I have been assigned to the command of the Fourth bri- gade, composed of the 55th Ill., the 54th Ohio (old regiments), the 116th Ill., the 127th Ill., and the 83d Ind. (new regiments); this has removed me from the immediate command of my regiment, leaving Lt .- Col. Malmborg in command. Major Sanger (on Gen. Sherman's staff since we left Paducah,) is still absent, which leaves Col. Malmborg the only field officer serving with the regiment. While I remained with it we could get along very well together with the battalion, reduced as it is to only 560 men; but now it became necessary for him to appoint some captain to act as major, he designated Capt. Chandler, the senior captain in the regiment, and one of the best officers, not alone in that regiment, but in the service,-out of this has sprung a feeling of dissatisfaction. Lt .- Col. Malmborg has been ill and off duty for a few weeks, and on battalion drill I was accustomed to designate different captains to serve as major ; one day one, and another the next, as it might happen, and changing them with the view somewhat of practicing them in command ; during all this time Chandler was sitting on a military commission and was not with his regiment. Each of these captains seems now to consider him- self slighted and injured by Col. Malmborg, in this designation of Chand- ler to act as major, and they have been secretly plotting his injury, and with one representation and another have succeeded in getting the names of perhaps the larger part of the officers to the communication referred to. .
Col. Malinborg is a strict disciplinarian, an exacting officer, who demands from every officer the active and complete discharge of all his duties. There are very few of them who do not feel pretty well contented with themselves when they somewhere near half perform their duties ; such inen are not only not patted on the back by him, but they are sternly and promptly reproved by him, and are driven up and compelled to do their duty. They would like to get rid of him and have a slip-shod, easy-going time of it. It is this vigilance, zeal and discipline, which has made this regiment in every regard today the best one in this army. I claim boldly for it (and it will be conceded by the commanding generals), that it is the most efficient, the best drilled, best disciplined, best behaved, cleanest, healthiest, and most soldierly regiment in this army. This per- fection has not been attained, nor these qualities acquired, without great labor and care, constant and earnest vigilance. I have, of course, the reputation of having accomplished this amongst those who know only, generally, that I am at the head of the regiment ; they who know us more intimately are well informed of the consequence Col. Malmborg has been to me. It would be not alone ungenerous, but ungrateful in me, to
175
STUART'S SLANDEROUS LETTER.
appropriate any share of the credit and honor which so justly belongs to him, to myself.
There was scarcely an officer in this regiment who, when he entered it, knew his facings ; they have learned here all they know (and with some of them the stock of knowledge on hand is not burdensome even now), but by dint of hard work and doing their work for many of the officers, we can get along -- and do. They ought to be grateful to Col. M. for what he has done for them, but vanity, selfishness, and that "pru- rient ambition for fame not earned," which afflicts most men, makes them insensible to the better, nobler, and more generous sentiments of our nature.
1 desire, frankly and truthfully, to bear witness to you, as our chief, that this regiment, which has done and will do honor to your state, owes its efficiency, its proficiency, and everything which gives it superiority or a name, to Col. Malmborg-I owe most that I know to him-the officers owe all to him -- without him the regiment will in sixty days go to obscu- rity, if it has no worse fate; with him at its head, it will be a pride to you and an honor to itself and its state ; there is no man else in the regiment at all equal to or fit for the command of it; there are but two or three of the captains who are even fit for lieutenants, and few of the lieutenants could make first-rate sergeants, but we get along with them, as I said before, by dint of hard work and by doing their duty ourselves, or forcing them to do it. The simple fact is that I know better than he does how to get along with these men, make them do their duty, and still retain their personal regard. I have been a politician, and he is a soldier, but he exacts of them their duty, and only their duty, and that they must per- form.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.