USA > Indiana > Historical sketch of the Sixty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers : with personal recollections by members of Company D, and short biographies of brigade, division, and corps commanders > Part 3
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30 -
ENLISTMENTS BY STATES.
13,714 graves, and Salisbury, N. C., with its 12,126 dead, of whom 12.032 are unknown. In all the ceme- teries 145,000 rest in graves marked unknown.
ENLISTMENT BY STATES.
The following table shows the number of men furnished by each State:
Maine.
71,745
New Hampshire
34,605
'Vermont
35,256
Massachusetts
151,785
Rhode Island
24,71I
Connecticut
52,270
New York
455,568
New Jersey
79,511
Pennsylvania
366,326
Delaware.
13,651
Maryland
49,730
West Virginia
30,003
District of Columbia
16,872
Ohio
317,133
Indiana
195,147 .
Illinois
258,217
Michigan
90, 119
Wisconsin
96, HIS
Minnesota
25,024
Iowa
75,860
Missouri.
108,778
Kentucky
78,540
Kansas
20,097
Total
2,653,062
31
COMPARATIVE LOSSES.
LOSSES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
As the following table will show, there were greater losses in one battle of the Rebellion than in all the battles of the American Revolution, on both sides:
Dates and Months.
British Loss.
American Loss.
Lexington
April 19, 1775.
274
84
Bunker Hill
June 17,
1,054
453
Flatbush.
Aug. 12, 1776.
400
200
White Plain
Aug. 26,
400
400
Trenton.
Dec. 25,
1,060
9
Princeton.
Jan. 5, 1777.
400
100
Hubbardstown
Aug. 17,
180
800
Bennington
Aug. 16,
66
800
100
Brandywine
Sept. II,
50
1,200
Stillwater
Sept. 17,
600
350
Germantown
Oct. 6,
600
1,200
Saratoga
Oct. 17,
*5,752
Red Hook
Oct. 22,
500
32
Monmouth.
June 25, 1778.
400
130
Rhode Island
Aug. 27,
200
2II
Briar Creek.
March 30, 1779.
IS
400
Stony Point
July 15, 1780.
600
100
Camden
Aug. 16,
...
375
600
King's Mountain
Oct. I,
950
96
Cowpens
Jan. 17, 1781.
800
72
Guilford C. H
March 25,
532
400
Hobkirk's Hill.
April 25,
400
400
Eutaw Springs
Sept.
1,000
550
Yorktown
Oct. 19,
*7,072
Total
24,85 1
7,897
#Surrendered.
COMPARATIVE LOSSES.
Waterloo was one of the most desperate and bloody fields chronicled in European history; and yet Welling-
32
COMPARATIVE LOSSES.
ton's casualties were less than twelve per cent .- his losses being, 2,432 killed and 9,528 wounded out of over 100,000 men. At Shiloh one side lost in killed 9,740 out of 34,000, while their opponents report their killed and wounded at 9,616, making the casualties about thirty per cent. At Lodi, Napoleon lost one and one-quarter per cent., and at the great battles of Mar- engo and Austerlitz, sanguinary as they were, Napo- leon lost an average of less than fourteen and one-half per cent. At Magenta and Solferino, in I859, the aver- age loss of both armies was less than nine per cent. At Kænigratz, in IS66, it was six per cent. At Werth, Mars-le-Tour, Gravelotte and Sedan, in IS70, the average was less than twelve per cent.
At Perryville, Stone River, Chicamauga, Atlanta, Gettysburg, Mission Ridge, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, the loss frequently reached (and some- times exceeded ) forty per cent., and the average of the killed and wounded on the one side or the other was over thirty per cent.
From the discovery of America to IS61, in all wars with other nations, the record gives the deaths in battle of but ten American Generals; while from IS61 to 1865, both sides being opposed by Americans, more than one hundred general officers fell while leading their triumphant columns.
In the battle of Hohenlinden, which was the ground work for the following stirring poetry, General Moreau lost but four per cent., and the Archduke John lost
33
GENERAL COX'S ORATION.
but seven per cent., in killed and wounded. Ameri- cans would scarcely call this a lively skirmish. * * * * "Where rushed the steeds of battle driven, And louder than the bolts of heaven, Far flashed the red artillery ; Where furious Frank and fiery Hun Were mixed in sulphurous canopy ; Where rushed to glory or the grave, And Munich all her banners waved, And charged with all her chivalry ; Where snow became their winding sheet, And every turf beneath their feet Became a soldier's sepulchre."
The following extract is from an oration by General J. D. Cox, at Chicago:
A full knowledge of all the circumstances of war will only make a civilized nation strive more wisely for peace: and as the improvements in the efficiency ot arms make nations more careful how they invoke the judgment of the god of battles, so an acquaintance with all the cost and all the horrors which follow in the train of great military expeditions, may make a people more and more averse to strife unless the cause be one as holy as that which called upon us in 1861-the preservation of the Nation itself! With all our sad experience of comrades fallen, of a country desolated, of- homes destroyed, of labors and sufferings of all kinds endured, and of unexampled burdens to be borne, I believe there is no veteran who would hesitate to draw the sword again to avert a like peril from our land.
34
MISSIONARY RIDGE.
THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
BY GENERAL H. V. BOYNTON.
A storming party twenty thousand strong, from the Army of the Cumberland, stood facing Missionary Ridge. For two days great battle scenes had been passing before the eyes of the men composing it. Half of them had taken part in that swift advance from Chattanooga, which, almost before the enemy had corrected the mistake of regarding it as a general review, swept a mile out into the plain and captured his entire line of advanced works. All of them had stood the day before watching and cheering as Hooker's line on Lookout, radiant with the flag they worshiped, swept around the point of the mountain, and seemed to roll over the lines of the stars and bars and crush them back- ward and down the steeps. The cheers of the armies below, the music of all their bands, and the rush and roar of the battle on the slopes above, were yet ringing in their ears, and to those living are ringing still. All of them at daybreak had gazed intently toward Lookout to see if it could be determined who held the summit. And all of them, with brimming eyes and thankful and exultant hearts, had cheered and cheered, and cheered till voices failed, that banner of stars, which, as the sun touched the point of the mountain, stood revealed on its highest crag.
And now, after this long and exciting waiting,
35
1752572
MISSIONARY RIDGE.
stirred to the depths of soldier feeling by the swift and magnificent sweep of the spectacle which they had witnessed, they stood a storming army facing the slopes of Missionary Ridge. From earthworks at its base, from a second line half-way to the summit, and from works along the crest, an army of rebellion waited under the shelter of half a hundred guns, and waved its battle flags in defiance. It was a mile across the plain to the lower line of earthworks. It was a half mile further up the rough and tangled slopes. Eighty- seven Union regiments, each with its flags, for most carried two, stood formed in two lines with proper reserves, most impatiently awaiting the signal for ad- vance. At length it came-six guns from Orchard Knob-boom-boom-boom-boom -boom -boom ! Who of those who heard will ever forget? As the firing progressed every soldier with that bated breath had counted one-two-three-four-five-six-with only pause enough to see that no seventh followed, and that this was really the signal of six guns, and in- stantly all rifles went up to the shoulder and flags to the belts of the standard-bearers. All officers cried " forward," and with mighty cheers those double lines of blue, so clearly marked and still further relieved by their beautiful flags and gleaming rifles, burst forward into the plain as if shot arrow-like from the terrible restraint which had held them so long. The Union front was two miles and a half. There were four divisions; in all eleven brigades. This magnificent array had scarcely advanced into the plain from the light
.
*
36
MISSIONARY RIDGE.
timber which partially concealed it, before the summit of the ridge was wreathed with the smoke of fifty guns, and the air was alive with missiles raining on the attacking columns. But there was no wavering in that long line of flags, or in the ranks of the army that was pushing them forward. In ten minutes the lines were under musketry fire from the works at the base of the ridge. Though the list of Union killed and wounded grew at every pace, those lines swept up to and over the earthworks at the foot of the slopes, and under the batteries above. With a brief pause at points for cor- recting the lines, the climbing of the heights began. Shell and canister, and the sleet of rifles poured down from the crest, but only the killed and wounded were halted by any or all of these. The lines swept on and up, and that wonderful and never-to-be-forgotten panorama of the flags unfolded itself in the clear sunlight. Let the reader look at it from among the wounded toward the base of the ridge, who seemed to forget even home and eternity, which was so near, as they lay there gazing on the wonderful scene and cheering their com- rades on.
The lines had scarcely begun the ascent when far as the eye could reach the flag-bearers were rushing in advance, and each regiment crowding towards its colors, had taken the shape of an inverted V, the flags at the angle, and these wedge-shaped battalions were cleaving their way under murderous fire toward the summit. The eye could not run down the lines with- out seeing a flag-bearer fall. For some regiments five
37
MISSIONARY RIDGE.
or six were killed or wounded before the flag of stars took the place of stars and bar on the crowning works of the ridge. The whole face of the mountain -for it was little less- was soon covered with soldiers in blue. The front lines were rushing for the top. The second lines and the reserves broke against the entanglement at the base, and the rocks, ravines and fallen timber in their course. And yet the general formation was pre- served. Baird's men on the left, were climbing where horses could not be ridden. Wood, to the left, was under the fiercest fire, but his flags went on with all the rest. Sheridan and his staff were in full view of both armies, riding in advance with his headquarter colors straight on the batteries near Bragg's head- quarters ; and the flags of Johnson on the extreme left showed that there also the flood-tide of the blue sea of Union men with all its flags advanced was about to pour over the crest.
One moment, and the rebel battle flags waved everywhere along the summit, the stars and bars floated from the staff at Bragg's tents; fifty guns poured death upon that storming army, and rifle pits, filled with the men who made those splendid assaults on the Union lines at Chicamauga, flamed unceasingly in the faces of the men who were pushing and supporting the flags. The next, Baird's troops had scaled the cliff which ran along the summit above them. Wood had carried the crest along his whole front. Sheri- dan with his staff and his lines was among the guns on top, and Johnson beyond stood in the rebel
38
THE REGIMENTAL FLAG.
works. From right to left the sun shone clear and bright only on the flags before which the banners of treason had fallen. Fifty-five minutes had passed from the firing of the signal guns. It was exactly an hour to the time when the cheers of victory had run down the Union lines- Only an hour with the flags ! How the mind rushes on to all the other hours, and days, and months, and years in which the Union armies advanced their own banners and captured the emblems of treason!
More than one-fifth of that storming party were killed and wounded. A single division lost one hun- dred and twenty-three officers and 1, 179 men. Another lost over 2,000. There were twenty-five rebel flags captured. Behold the cost! Is it strange that the men who took them, and the loyal communities who sent these soldiers forth and sustained and encouraged them, are stirred to the depth of their souls with emo- tions which can not be controlled when sacrilege is attempted with such trophies ? It would be a sad day. for the Republic if such feelings were dead.
THE 6STH REGIMENT'S FLAG.
Colonel John S. Scobey, in answer to a letter of inquiry, writes as follows from Greensburg, Ind., under date of June 2, ISS7:
* "Of the flag of which you write (the one returned to Mrs. E. H. M. Berry), it was presented to the regiment by the ladies here, the presentation speech being made by Mrs. Berry, and she also made
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39
THE REGIMENTAL FLAG.
the reception speech on its return. I have no copy of the remarks I made, nor of hers. Her speeches were very nice and eloquent. At the capture of Munford- ville, in September, 1862, Colonel King took the flag from the staff and wrapped it around his body, and there carried it until the regiment got to Indiana. And thus it was saved from going into the hands of the rebels. All honor to the memory of Colonel Edward A. King. He was a brave and good man."
Mrs. Berry, who has the flag in her keeping, says that the money to buy the flags for the 7th and 6Sth was made up by a popular twenty-five cent collection in one day, at Greensburg, and that Mr. Forsythe bought both the flags, paying out of his own money any balance.
A
BIOGRAPHY.
COL. EDWARD A. KING.
[From the Biographical Cyclopedia of Distinguished Men of the State of Ohio. |
BY J. FLETCHER BRENNAN.
Edward A. King, who, as Colonel commanding the Ist Brigade of a division of the 14th Army Corps, was killed at the battle of Chicamauga, was born in Cambridge, Washington county, State of New York, in ISI4. He was a descendant of James King, who settled in Suffield, Connecticut, in the year 1678. In early life he emigrated with his father's family to Ohio, where he subsequently studied law at Columbus and Cincinnati. But his predilections were decidedly of a military character, and during the Texan struggle for independence, he raised a company in the city of New Orleans, reported with his command to General Sam. Houston, and served in Texas until her independence was acknowledged. In this service his health became seriously impaired, and he returned to the United States, and took up his permanent residence in Dayton, Ohio.
-
41
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
In IS44 he went to Europe, where he remained until the breaking out of the war with Mexico, when he returned and offered his services to his country. President Polk appointed him captain in the 15th Regi- ment, United States .Infantry, in which he served with distinction until the close of the war. He was with a detachment of his regiment and other troops, under command of Colonel McIntosh, in the severe guerrilla fight at Tolome, on the 6th of June, 1847; and in the fight under General Cadwallader, at the National bridge, June 11 and 12, IS47. He afterward participated with his regiment in the several bloody battles in the valley of Mexico, under General Scott, resulting in the cap- ture of the City of Mexico. Colonel George W. Mor- gan commanded the regiment, and General Franklin Pierce the brigade, to which he belonged. After the treaty of peace with Mexico, Colonel King returned to Ohio, and in the spring of IS49, crossed the plains to California. Returning again, he was appointed post- master at Dayton by President Pierce, and after the election of President Buchanan the position was again conferred upon him. So general was the satisfaction given in the discharge of his official duties, there was no competing applicant for the place. For many years, both before and after the Mexican war, Colonel King took an active part in all important matters connected with the militia of Ohio, and at the outbreak of the late War of the Rebellion, was Colonel of the Ist Regi- ment of Ohio Volunteer Militia, at Dayton, which city sent several organized and equipped companies into the field.
-
42
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
On the 17th of April, 1861, the day of the procla- mation of the Governor of Ohio, calling loyal men to the defence of their country, Colonel King reported to Governor Dennison, and was immediately placed in command of Camp Jackson (near Columbus), then in a chaotic state, but which he soon reduced to form and discipline. He was subsequently transferred to Camp Chase, where he remained in command until, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed by President Lincoln Lieutenant-Colonel of the 19th Regiment United States Infantry. His headquarters were estab- lished at Indianapolis, where he proceeded to organize and superintend the recruiting of the regiment. While thus engaged, in the summer of IS62, when Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky, he took, at the request of Governor Morton, the temporary command of the 68th Regiment Indiana Volunteers (all new recruits) to re- sist the enemy. After a brief but severe campaign, he was sent to the assistance of Colonel Wilder, at Mun- fordville, Ky., and participated in that severe engage- ment. He was surrendered with his regiment and the other bodies of Federal troops, to an overwhelming force. It fell to his lot to deliver the surrender to the enemy, and the rebel General Buckner, who, while a prisoner of war, had been in his charge at Indianapolis, treated him with marked consideration. A beautiful incident connected with this capitulation was afterward developed. When the 6Sth Regiment was sent to the field, the ladies of Greensburg, Ind., presented it with a rich silken flag. It was highly prized, and the regi-
43
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
ment was loath to part with it. When it was deter- mined to surrender, Colonel King wrapped the precious colors around his body, under his clothing. He wore them thus for thirteen days, saved them, and the regi- ment bore them in the bloody fight at Chicamauga. After the 6Sth Indiana Regiment was exchanged, the command was again pressed on Colonel King, who (obtaining leave from the War Department for the pur- pose) accepted it.
In the Summer of IS63, his health, which had been seriously impaired, becoming somewhat re-established, he again took the field, and was placed in command of the Ist Brigade, General Reynold's division, 14th Army Corps, commanded by General Thomas, at the head of which he distinguished himself during the ad- vance from Tullahoma to northwestern Georgia, and in the effective crossing of the Tennessee River (his brigade being the first troops to cross), and capture of Shellmont, in the face of the enemy. At the battle of Chicamauga his brigade was conspicuous for its high state of discipline and gallantry. He fell at the close of the second day's fight, shot in the forehead by a sharpshooter, when our army fell back upon Chatta- nooga. Colonel King's body was buried outside our lines, and the grave carefully marked, and after the battle of Mission Ridge his remains were recovered and brought home to Dayton for interment. On the 29th and 30th of January, 1864, his body lay in state at the court- house, in a handsome casket, resting on a catafalque, prepared for the occasion by the members of the Day-
M
44
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
ton Light Guard, with which the deceased had long been associated. The four sides of the catafalque were respectively inscribed: "Contreras," "Molino del Rey," "Chepultepec," "Chicamauga." It was visited by thousands, who called to pay their respects to the memory of the gallant dead. On the 31st of January his body was buried at Woodland Cemetery with military honors, the 2d Regiment Ohio Volunteer Militia acting as escort. The pall-bearers were com- posed of officers of the Mexican War and the War of the Rebellion. The funeral was by far the largest ever before witnessed in Dayton.
Few men ever more thoroughly commanded the confidence and respect of all who knew him than Col- onel Edward A. King. He was a gallant soldier, a ripe scholar, a good citizen, a man of noble character and high sense of honor, and whose love of country was so true that he laid down his life at her call. Just before his death he had been promoted to the Colonelcy of the 6th Regiment United States Regular Infantry.
The following tribute to Colonel King was written by his friend, General H. B. Carrington, of the Regular Army, on the receipt of the news of his death:
Edward A. King has fallen in battle. His memory should be held precious in Indiana as in Ohio. He was a soldier by taste as well as profession. In the Mexican War he held a Captain's commission in the 15th In- fantry, and achieved distinguished mention. Return -
45
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
ing to his home at Dayton, Ohio, he identified himself with the State Militia, and organized the first complete and fully uniformed regiment under the State system. Its companies started for Washington, leaving Colum- bus, Ohio, within sixty hours after notice of the first call for 75,000 men. He was at once selected by the Ohio military authorities as the proper person to com- mand Camp Jackson, the camp of rendezvous and drill for the nine regiments of Ohio three month's men, called into service by the act of the General Assembly of that State. At a time when experience in the man - agement of large camps was a novelty, Colonel King earned just credit in the display of unusual talent for the position; and it is worthy of note that western Virginia was saved, and the lines of railroad to Grafton were occupied by these troops, assisted by the Ist Vir- ginia, before the United States troops at Camp Denni- son had even received arms. Colonel King's merit was rewarded by a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 19th Regular Infantry, with headquarters at Indi- anapolis. In the Kirby Smith campaign, when the Ohio border as well as the State of Kentucky was in danger, Colonel King sought active duty. Leave of absence was obtained for the purpose, and Governor Morton gave him the Colonelcy of the 6Sth Regiment Indiana Volunteers. He took command on the even- ing of August 19, IS62; his regiment was mustered into service, received the bounty, and marched the same night. At Munfordville his cool gallantry was the theme of high encomium. During the parole of his
1
46
COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
regiment, its camp was a model of discipline and good order, and he afterward joined the Army of the Cum- · berland with the eager desire to share its fortunes. Although just recovering from a severe attack of typhoid fever, he led his brigade into action with his usual address and spirit.
He has fallen! One who has been closely asso- ciated with him in military duties for seven years can share the grief of nearer friends in this bereavement, but cannot find words to fill the measure of the loss. Edward A. King was a true gentleman. His sense of honor was delicate and constant, and in every civil and social relation, he was true to family, friend and country. Instinctively generous and pure, no person ever came in his contact without feeling, at once, that a true man was found. Confidence in him was never misplaced. Appeals to his justice, his integrity, his honor, brought quick and true response. They who met him, honored, and they who knew him, loved.
Edward A. King was a soldier. Cool, dispassion- ate and clear-headed, he was no less prompt, keen and energetic. Danger only lifted him into the sphere of life he loved. No disaster disheartened; but, when most tried, his fitness for the profession of arms shone forth most clearly. He was a strict disciplinarian, an exact scholar, a martinet in the enforcement of regu- lations and tactics; but he had also a large heart, and commanded the affection of his men, while he shaped them by perfect models and incited them to personal development in the art of war. His personal character
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