USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume I > Part 53
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regiment after its organization, at the time of the muster-out of the regiment were transferred to the Fifty Seventh Indiana, and were sent to Texas, but were finally mustered out in November, 1865.
EIGHTY FOURTH INDIANA AT CHICKAMAUGA.
Just prior to and at the time of the battle of Chickamauga, the Eighty Fourth Indiana, under the command of Colonel Nelson Trusler, was attached to and formed a part of the First Brigade (Whitaker's) of First Division (Steedman's), Reserve Corps, commanded by Major General Gordon Granger. On September 18, 1863, this brigade, then in camp near Rossville, Georgia, four miles south of Chattanooga, was ordered to move forward and occupy the bridge across the Chickamauga on the Rossville and Ringgold road, "if it could be done without bringing on a general engagement." The movement was begun about four p. m., and had gone forward only about three miles in the direction of Ringgold, when the advance was fired on by the enemy and a skirmish at once ensued, with a slight loss to the skirmishers. Night prevented any further advance and put a stop to the fighting, and the brigade took up its position on the hills at the McAfee Church, and occupied that position during the night in quiet. On the morning of the 19th, Whitaker was ordered by General Granger to maintain his position at the McAfee Church. Soon after receiving the order to remain, Whitaker sent out a strong line of skirmishers from the Eighty Fourth Indiana to discover the enemy and to ascertain his strength; the skirmishers went under the command of Major Neff, of this regiment, with the remainder of the regiment as a reserve within supporting distance. It did not require a long march and only a very short space of time to develop the enemy, and soon the skirmishers were occupied in a very spirited engagement with the pickets and skirmishers of the enemy, and driving them back on to the enemy's camp and firing into the camp. The skirmishers developed the fact that the enemy had infantry, mounted infantry, cavalry and artillery, and were then occupying the south bank of the Chickamauga in con- siderable force. Having accomplished the purpose for which they were sent-that of discovering the location and strength of the enemy-the skirmishers fell back to the supports and rested. About one p. m1. the enemy made an attack in force upon the Eighty Fourth Indiana, and, notwithstanding the attack was made in strong force, the regiment held its position until re-enforcements arrived. The force of the enemy increasing in numbers, the line was slowly withdrawn to the remainder of the brigade, and a severe contest ensued, lasting from two p. m. to near five p. m., in all of which the Eighty Fourth Indiana took an active part.
That the situation may be fully understood, the location of the McAfee Church should be stated, and the conditions that confronted this regiment and Whitaker's Brigade. At the time of the fighting by this command, it should be remembered that three miles south of the McAfee Church, at the same time that the Eighty Fourth Indiana was skirmishing, the battle at Chickamauga was raging from Jay's Mill to the Brock field, and that, in the afternoon of that day, the battle lines had extended from the Brock field southward through the Brotherton woods to and including the terrible carnage on the Viniard field. General Bragg was at that very time attempting with his main army to get around General
30
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Rosecrans' Army and secure possession of the Lafayette and Chattanooga road and separate the Union Army from Chattanooga. In pursuance of this plan of Bragg, a strong force of Forrest's Cavalry, with several regiments of infantry, had been sent to the right of the Confederate Army from Ringgold to secure a hold on the road to Chattanooga, and it was a portion of this force that found Whitaker's force blocking the way. Re-enforcements were pushed forward to Whitaker by General Steedman, and the enemy was severely punished, and finally, about five p. m., was driven from the field. During the night of the 19th the lines were maintained at and about the McAfee Church. On the morning of the 20th the Reserve Corps of Granger was disposed as follows: Whitaker's and Mitchell's Brigades, Steedman's Division, were at or about McAfee Church, and McCook's Brigade of the Second Division of the Reserve Corps was moved to a point near to the church and posted in position to cover Ringgold road. General Granger joined this portion of his command at the McAfee Church, and was within hearing of the battle when it opened on General Rosecrans on Sunday morning, the 20th. In the immediate front of Granger's troops that morning everything was quiet, but General Granger reports that "large clouds of dust could be seen beyond our position, moving in the direction of the sound of battle." The sound of the battle growing stronger "in volume and intensity" on the right of Granger, and he being convinced from the sound of the battle that the enemy was pushing Thomas hard, determined to go to his assistance. About eleven a. m. General Granger started with Whitaker's and Mitchell's Brigades, under the immediate command of General Steedman, their division commander, to Thomas' assistance, leaving Colonel McCook with his brigade at the McAfee Church to keep the road to Rossville open. Just at the time General Granger made the start for the field the break in the Union lines occurred, and the battle fell away from the Brotherton house and the Poe field line to the "Horse Shoe Ridge," as it was then called, but now known as the "Snodgrass Hill." From the McAfee Church to Snodgrass Hill it is by the shortest route about three and one-half miles. In this movement the Eighty Fourth Indiana was one of the regiments of Whitaker's Brigade that marched to the assistance of Thomas. General Thomas, in his report, says it was some time between two and three p. m. (although General Granger fixes the time at one p. m.) when General Steedman arrived on Thomas' left flank at Harker's Hill. General Thomas at once sent an order to Steedman to push forward and take position on General Brannan's right, then hard pressed by Longstreet's forces on Snodgrass Hill, which order. · General Thomas says, "was complied with with the greatest promptness and alacrity." General Whitaker, with his brigade, was directed to drive the enemy from the bridge on the right of Brannan, which was with a heavy force of infantry and artillery then threatening the destruction of Brannan with a flank movement. In Whitaker's formation the Eighty Fourth Indiana was in the second line in the first charge made by him, but after he had driven the enemy about a half mile, re-enforcements were received by the Confederates, and they in turn drove Whitaker's first line until it met the second, when all of Whitaker's men came into the engagement, the Eighty Fourth with the others, and the enemy was again driven back with great loss.
General Whitaker's Brigade proper-four regiments of infantry-went into
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
the fight on Snodgrass Hill with 1,033 officers and men; the loss in killed and wounded was 595 officers and men and 32 missing, the missing supposed to have been wounded and taken by the enemy in the first charge. The Eighty Fourth Indiana went into the engagement with 374 officers and men; its loss was 120 killed and wounded and 13 missing. These figures of the killed and wounded show how well the regiment discharged its duty on that day.
General Granger, in his report of this engagement, says: "The gallant Steed- man, seizing the colors of a regiment, led his men to the attack. With loud cheers they rushed upon the enemy, and after a terrific conflict, lasting but twenty minutes, drove them from the ground and occupied the ridge and gorge. The slaughter of both friend and foe was terrific. General Whitaker, while rushing forward at the head of his brigade, was knocked from his horse by a musket ball and was for a short time unfit for duty, while two of his staff were killed and two mortally wounded. General Steedman's horse was killed and he was severely bruised, yet he remained on duty during the day. This attack was made by our troops, very few of whom had ever been in an action before, against a division of old soldiers, who largely outnumbered them; yet with resolution and energy they drove the enemy from his strong position, occupied it themselves, and afterward held the ground they had gained with such terrible losses. The victory was dearly won, but to this army it was a priceless one." The staff officers of General Whitaker, killed and wounded, included all of his staff that were with him that day. "There was now a lull in the battle. It was of short duration, however, for within thirty minutes after we had gained possession of the ridge we were impetuously attacked by two divisions of Longstreet's veterans. Again the enemy was driven back, and from this, time until dark the battle between these two opposing forces raged furiously. Our whole line was continually enveloped in smoke and fire. The assaults of the enemy were made with that energy which was inspired by the bright prospect of a speedy victory, and by a consciousness that it was only necessary to carry this position and crush our forces to enable them to overthrow our army and drive it across the Tennessee River. Their forces were massed and hurled upon us for the purpose of terminating at once this great and bloody battle. But the stout hearts of the handful of men who stood before them as a wall of fire quailed not ; they understood our perilous position and held their ground, determined to perish rather than yield it. Never had commander such just cause for congratulations over the action of his troops."
General Granger, on arriving on the field in the afternoon, had divided his surplus ammunition, which he had brought in his ammunition train, with Wood and Brannan ; now, upon the charge and repulse of the enemy, just before dark. the entire supply of ammunition was exhausted, even that which they had gathered from the cartridge boxes of their dead and wounded comrades was all gone- not a round was left. Of the perilous situation at this juncture General Granger says : "All seemed to be lost if he should return to the contest. Anticipating another attack, I ordered the command to be given to the men to stand firm and to use the cold steel. After an ominous silence of a few minutes the enemy came rushing on again. With fixed bayonets our troops gallantly charged them and drove them back in confusion. Twice more were these charges repeated and the enemy driven back before darkness brought an end to the battle. Night came and the enemy fell back, whipped and discomfited."
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The troops that Steedman's two brigades fought at Snodgrass Hill were Hindman's Division, composed of Anderson's Brigade, with five regiments and a battalion of sharpshooters ; Deas' Brigade, with five regiments and a battalion of sharpshooters ; Manigault's Brigade, with five regiments, and with three batteries. of artillery.
General Thomas, in his report of the battle on Snodgrass Hill, tells of Steed- man's troops thus: "Steedman, moving his division into position with almost as. much precision as if on drill, and fighting his way to the crest of the hill on Bran- nan's right, moved forward his artillery and drove the enemy down the southern slope, inflicting on him a most terrible loss in killed and wounded. This oppor- tune arrival of fresh troops revived the flagging spirits of our men on the right, and inspired them with new ardor for the contest. Every assault of the enemy, from that time until nightfall, was repulsed in the most gallant style by the whole- line."
The Eighty Fourth Indiana won imperishable renown at Snodgrass Hill,. Sunday afternoon, September 20, 1863. The State of Indiana has sought to per- petuate the name and fame of this regiment on Snodgrass Hill with a monument of Indiana stone and bronze, at the point where it did its hard fighting, a little south of west of the Tower. On the tablet is the story of the regiment on that day,. as follows :
INDIANA'S TRIBUTE TO HER EIGHTY FOURTH REGIMENT INFANTRY. Colonel Nelson Trusler, Commanding. First Brigade, ( Whitaker). .
First Division (Steedman). Reserve Corps (Granger).
September 18th, this regiment was engaged on the extreme left of the army near Ringgold Bridge, and on the morning of the 19th was stationed on the hills near McAfee's Church. Skirmished with the enemy until one p. m., when he- attacked in large force, and severe fighting was kept up until five p. m., when the- enemy drew off.
September 20th, still in position near McAfee's Church, until about twelve m., when the regiment marched to the sound of the firing at Snodgrass Hill, arriving at this point about two thirty p. m., and engaged in the charge and desperate combat which took place here, assisting in driving back the enemy and saving. the right.
Loss : Killed, 23; wounded, 97; missing, 13; total, 133.
This regiment bore an honorable part in the following engagements :
Tullahoma Campaign, Tennessee June 23-30, 1863.
Hoover's Gap, Tennessee
June 24-26, 1863.
Chickamauga, Georgia. September 19-20, 1863.
Buzzard Roost, Georgia. February 25-27. 1864.
Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia
May 5-9, 1864.
Resaca, Georgia.
. May 13-16, 1864.
Dallas, Georgia. May 25 to June 4, 1864.
New Hope Church, Georgia. .May 28-30, 1864.
CORPORAL
SERGEANT
SERGEANT
--
BENBOW
F.
LIEUTENANT
JESSIE
ICE
WILLIAM
H.
SHEPERD
PRIVATE
LIEUTENANT
JOHN M. MOORE
SERGEANT
WILLIAM
B.
BOCK
GEORGE
H. CAIN
WILLIA
EZEY
V
E.
COMPANY G, 84th INDIANA INFANTRY.
BENJAMIN
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, ( First Assault) June 23, 1864.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, (General Assault)
June 27, 1864.
Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, (Hood's first sortie) July 20, 1864.
Atlanta, Georgia, (Hood's second sortie) July 22, 1864.
Atlanta, Georgia, (Hood's third sortie)
July 28, 1864.
Atlanta, Georgia, (Siege of)
July 28 to September 2, 1864.
Jonesboro, Georgia.
. August 31 to September 1, 1864.
Columbia, Tennesse
. November 24-28, 1864.
Spring Hill, Tennessee.
. November 29, 1864.
Franklin, Tennessee
.November 30, 1864.
Nashville, Tennessee
December 15-16, 1864. -
COLONEL NELSON TRUSLER.
Nelson Trusler, Colonel of the 84th Indiana Infantry, was a native of Fayette County, Indiana, where he was born December 1I, 1823. The Trusler family were old settlers in that county and took an important part, not only in the affairs of the county, but of the whole Whitewater Valley.
Young Trusler grew up in the country, on his father's farm, in due time read law and became a practicing attorney at Connersville. He took an active part in politics, was several times favorably mentioned for Congress and was the candidate of the conservatives in the Republican Convention of 1860, when George W. Julian was nominated.
The Trusler family was very active in support of the Civil War. The first one to enter the service was Gilbert, a brother of Nelson, who was Captain of Company H. 36th Indiana Infantry, and later became Major of the regiment. Nelson Trusler became Colonel of the 84th Indiana Infantry, and his military career, as such, is set forth in the foregoing roster and history of the regiment.
In 1864, he was elected Secretary of State and was re-elected in 1866. His life, prior to his election as Secretary of State, had been spent in Fayette County, but on his election to that office, he moved to Indianapolis and made that city his home until his death. In 1872, he was appointed the successor of Thomas MI. Browne, as United States District Attorney for the District of Indiana, which office he held at the time of his death which occurred in Indianapolis, January 29. 1890.
Out of respect to his memory, a meeting of the Indianapolis Bar was held at which General Benjamin Harrison spoke, as follows :
"I am not much in the habit of making myself heard in meetings of this kind, not because I have not often profoundly sympathized with the objects of the meeting, and felt very deeply the personal affliction that was sometimes involved. I have known Colonel Trusler for a great many years : slightly, before he made his home in Indianapolis, when he practiced law in Connersville. The character- istics of Colonel Trusler, I think, have been well stated in the resolutions which have been reported by the committee. He was an exceedingly kind man. I doubt if any member of the profession, who has had intercourse with him, has today any cause of offence, which was given by Colonel Trusler. In all of those matters which preceded the actual joining of debate in a trial in which the courtesy of our profession often has opportunities to express itself in favors extended, I think he · exhibited his kindness and his disposition to yield those courtesies, which we
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were sometimes called upon to ask at his hands, in connection with the defense of a case, the prosecution of which was committed to him.
· When the debate was joined in the cause, Colonel Trusler was often very earnest. indeed remarkably so, in his address to the jury, in the prosecution of his cause, and yet, I think, he was a kind prosecutor. I think underneath all that he might say to the jury, in the prosecution of a cause for the Government, he always bore towards the prisoner an exceedingly kind and sympathizing dis- position, cherishing no malice."
LIEUTENANT JOHN MELLETT MOORE.
John Mellett Moore was born in Prairie Township, Henry County, Indiana. on June 16, 1840. At the age of fifteen years, he left the farm and became a clerk for Haskit and Boor, druggists, New Castle. When twenty one years of age, he purchased the interest of Dr. William F. Boor, and the firm became known as Haskit and Moore.
In 1862 he was the principal in recruiting a company for the Civil War, which became Company G, 84th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as First Lieutenant of the company, September 5. 1862.
Regarding this company, Lieutenant Moore, in a letter to the author of this History, says: "I recruited seventy five men of Company G. myself, from New Castle and vicinity, on a recruiting commission, as Second Lieutenant and re- cruiting officer, from Governor Morton. After receiving the commission, I never took off my clothes or had a minute's sleep, except what I got in the 'old band wagon.' General Kirby Smith was advancing on Cincinnati and we were rushed away before I could complete the company. It was at my request that Hiram B. Vanneman was made Captain of the company, as I considered myself too young. On arriving at old Camp Wayne, Richmond, with the seventy five men, we found a man, John A. Shirkey, from Union County, who had twenty five men, who had been hurried into Camp Wayne for the same reason as ourselves. We took him and his twenty five men in and gave him the Second Lieutenancy. I regard my work in recruiting those seventy five men as the best work of my life."
In January, 1863, Lieutenant Moore was detailed for staff duty and was Aid de Camp on the staff of General Smith D. Atkins, of Illinois, the brigade com- mander. He afterwards served on the staff of General Walter C. Whitaker. as Aid de Camp and Acting Assistant Adjutant General, and was acting in the latter capacity at the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, where he was severely wounded, September 20, 1863. After partly recovering from his wounds, he re- turned to New Castle, in December, 1863. He was soon ordered before an examining board at Cincinnati, Ohio, which decided that he would not again be able to perform military service, and he received an "honorable discharge on account of wounds received in battle."
On May 12. 1864. he was married to Sarah Margaret, daughter of General William and Mrs. Rebecca Grose.
He was engaged in the drug business in Indianapolis, with William I. Haskit and Elijah B. Martindale, and in New Castle, with John Thornburgh,
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
until the Fall of 1868, when he went to Salt Lake City, Utah. There he was appointed Chief Clerk in the Surveyor General's Office, and acted in that capacity until January 1, 1870, when he was appointed Postmaster of Salt Lake City, in which position he served for eight years, under Presidents Grant and Hayes. During this time, he was actively engaged in mining operations in Utah, Idaho and Montana ; he had a drug store in Salt Lake City and he also accumulated a large amount of real estate in Utah, much to the annoyance of Brigham Young, who objected to Mormons disposing of their lands to Gentiles.
In 1880 Lieutenant Moore went to New York City and opened an office in Wall Street, as Banker and Broker, renting the office and fixtures of Jay Gould. He established branch offices of the business in Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Buffalo and intermediate points, connecting them all with the New York office, by private wire. He continued in this line for seven years and built up a large commission business, adding every year to the capital invested. In 1887 the tide of fortune turned, and the accumulations of years disappeared, like frost before the morning sun. In 1888 he went west again, locating at Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he has since resided and is actively engaged in the real estate and other business.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ELI BROOKSHIRE.
PRIVATE, COMPANY G, 84TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, INDIANA VOLUNTEERS; COUNTY COMMISSIONER AND FARMER.
Among the pioneers, running backward to the year 1800 and even earlier, who helped to open and develop Eastern Indiana, were many representatives of North Carolina. The Brookshires are an old North Carolina family and the Brookshires of Henry County, Indiana, are a branch of that stock. Emsley Brookshire, the head of the family in Henry County, was born in Randolph Countv. North Carolina. December 8, 1813. He was left fatherless at a tender age and soon after the death of his father, the widowed mother and her son determined to emigrate to the new country, beyond the Ohio River. This determination was confirmed by the stories circulating among emigrants from North Carolina as to the resources and opportunities in the new and far-off land. In 1826, Emsley Brookshire, then thirteen years old, with his mother, started on foot for Indiana, walking all the way and carrying their effects, and it took them three months to make the journey. They finally reached the home of Meshach Llewellyn, a connection of the Brookshire family, who then lived about two and one-half miles southwest of New Castle, on what afterwards became a part of the well known Charles McDorman farm.
Emsley Brookshire, as a youth, was industrious, hard working and economical, and by the time he was twenty one years of age, in addition to caring for his mother, he was able to enter eighty acres of land, situate two miles west of New Castle, near what is now known as the Sugar Grove Church. On September 18, 1834, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Shelley, who was a native of East Tennessee, having been born there November 9, 1817, and whence she had come with her parents, at the time of their settlement in Henry County. In 1840 he purchased the land two and one-half miles northwest of New Castle, well known in later years as the Brookshire farm, where he lived until his death. In early life he became a devout Christian and in 1830 became an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Later, he withdrew from that denomination because of his pronounced anti-slavery principles, which were at that time at variance with the church discipline. In 1846 he became a regularly ordained minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the remainder of his life was devoted to the welfare of that denomination. From 1846 to 1866 he was an itinerant preacher and for two years after the Civil War served as a missionary of the Wesleyan Church in Tennessee and North Carolina. He was pastor of the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, in 1873-4, after which he was assigned to the Fairmount Circuit. In 1881 he retired from active work in the ministry, his health and age rendering him unable to assume a pastorate, although he continued to preach occasionally and to perform such other church work as he was able until his death, May 23. 1890, after a successful ministry of more than forty years. Elizabeth (Shelley) Brook- shire, his wife, died May 31, 1858, and both are buried in the Duck Creek Ceme- tery on the old Brookshire farm.
To the union of Emsley and Elizabeth (Shelley) Brookshire were born nine
Eli Brookshire
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
children, namely : William; Eli; John W .; Sarah Ann, now Mrs. Joshua Newby, of San Jose, California; Mary Jane, afterwards Mrs. James Lynas, now de- ceased; Thomas J .; Abigail, afterwards Mrs. Thomas Deselms, now deceased ; Orange S .; Luther L., and Henry, of whom William, Eli, Sarah Ann and Thomas J., alone survive. On June 11, 1859 Emsley Brookshire, the father, was married to Mrs. Julia M. Hockett nce Thorp, daughter of the Reverend Alfred Thorp, one of the first ministers of the Indiana conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. She was born near Williamsburg, Wayne County, Indiana, August 20, 1824, and is still living at the home of her daughter, near Spiceland. Henry County. To this union was born one daughter, Belle, now Mrs. Terrell Wilson, of Spiceland.
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