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 4
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COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
gave weight to his authority, while his devotion to the comfort and well-being of his men, gave new zest to their obedience. Such was Edward A. King. They that knew him will fill up this faint outline with num- berless characteristics that endeared him. Those little facts in his daily life that most of all mark the man, are lodged in the breasts of those he loved, and their balm will be grateful, while years go by; but the world's heart can only feel their preciousness through those uncounted tender memories that have made the interior life of departed ones most sacred to mourning friends.
The following is an extract from a letter of General Thomas J. Wood, concerning Edward A. King's death, written to his wife from Chattanooga, Tenn., Septem- ber 23, IS63:
"It is with great grief I have to give you the sad intelligence of the death of your Uncle Edward. He was killed in the great battle of Sunday. I met Gen- eral J. J. Reynolds on Monday, and learned from him the circumstances of his death. At the time he was killed there was a perfect cessation in the fighting. Your uncle walked to the front to look out for move- ments of the enemy, when he was shot by a sharp- shooter. The ball struck him just above the right eye, passed through his brain, and of course killed him instantly. General Reynolds had his body brought away in the retreat Sunday night, and buried at Ross- ville. six miles from Chattanooga. The General told
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COLONEL EDWARD A. KING.
me he had the grave distinctly marked, so that when there is an opportunity the body can be removed."
Extract from a letter of Chaplain David Monfort: "The fearless, brave, noble, patriotic Colonel Ed. A. King, the glory of whose achievements should be a household word, the impress of whose masterly skill and discipline has given glory to our regiment. We who knew him, loved him. My children name the name of Colonel Ed. A. King with respect and affec- tion; for he was a protector of their home and country I would teach others the debt of gratitude we owe such men, who have sealed the covenant of liberty with their blood."
The body of Colonel King was the only one brought from the fatal field of Chicamauga, on the night of the 20th of September, 1863. "He saved their flag, and they saved his body!"
The following is from the Dayton, Ohio, Trans- cript, of IS47:
"Captain King's Company of Volunteers from Dayton, had the honor of being the first company of the "ten regiments " which landed at Vera Cruz. The company arrived there on the 24th of May, and were to have taken up their march for Jalapa and Pueblo on the 26th."
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COLONEL DANIEL W. MCCOOK.
COLONEL DANIEL W. McCOOK.
Colonel Daniel W. McCook commanded the brigade in which our regiment served, from January to May, IS63. He was the sixth son of Major Daniel W. McCook, who entered the service at the age of sixty- five, and was killed at Buffington Island, Ohio River, leading Ohio Militia in defence of his State against Morgan's raiders. The eldest son was Latimer McCook, surgeon of the 31st Illinois Regiment. He was badly wounded, and served until the end of the war. The next younger, Colonel George W. McCook, took three Ohio regiments to the field, and finally a fourth, which he commanded until the close of the war. The next son, John J. McCook, was a midshipman, and died on the U. S. ship of the line Delaware, and was buried at Rio Janeiro. The next brother was the famous Gen- eral Robert L. McCook. In IS61 he was a partner at law with Judge J. B. Stallo, at Cincinnati, now Minis- ter to Italy. He entered the army at the first call for troops, and raised and commanded the 9th Ohio. He commanded a brigade in the division of General George H. Thomas, was wounded in the battle of Mill Springs, Ky., and killed near Athens, Ala., by guerrillas, while sick, riding in an ambulance. The fifth son was Major- General Alexander M. McCook. He was a graduate from West Point in 1852, served in Indian wars on the frontier with distinguished bravery, and during the War of the Rebellion was five times brevetted in the Regular
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COLONEL DANIEL W. McCOOK.
Army for "gallant and meritorious conduct." Colonel " Dan.," the sixth son, was in IS61 a partner at law with W. T. Sherman and General Thomas Ewing, at Leaven- worth, Kan. He was a Captain in the Ist Kansas In- fantry in the three months' service, afterwards Cap- tain and A. A. G. of the 2d Division, Army of the Ohio, during the Shiloh and Corinth campaign. In 1862 he was commissioned Colonel of the 52d Ohio Regiment, and at Perryville commanded a brigade in Sheridan's division. He was killed in the assault on Kennesaw Mountain, while leading his brigade on a charge. His was a brilliant career, as a soldier and a leader. He was made a Brigadier the day he was -
killed. The seventh brother, Edwin S. McCook, entered the army in IS61, as Captain in the 31st Illi - nois Regiment. He was afterwards Colonel and brigade commander in the Army of the Tennessee, and was wounded half a dozen times. The eighth son was Charles M. McCook. He left Gambier College and entered the army at the age of sixteen. He went with the 2d Ohio Regiment, and was killed at Bull Run in July, IS61. The ninth brother was John J. McCook. He left Gambier College and enlisted at the age of fif- teen, as a private in the 19th Ohio Regiment, and served in West Virginia. Afterwards he was appointed a Lieutenant of Ohio Cavalry, and later Captain and Aid-de-Camp to Major-General T. L. Crittenden. He fought in the campaigns of the Army of the Cumber- land and Army of the Potomac, and was wounded at Cold Harbor. Every one of these McCooks, father
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GENERAL AUGUST WILLICH.
and sons, was a Douglas Democrat, and every one served in the Army or Navy,
GENERAL AUGUST WILLICH.
He was born in ISIo, at Gorzyn, Prussia, His father was a Captain of Hussars, in the Prussian ser- vice during the Napoleonic war of IS13 and IS15, was wounded and placed on the retired list, and died when August was three years old, when he found a home in the house of the famous theologian Schleiermacher, a distant relative. Twelve years old, he entered the school of cadets at Potsdam. At fifteen he graduated and went to the " School of War," at Berlin. When eighteen years old ( IS2S) he received his commission as 2d Lieutenant of Artillery. In IS41 he was made Captain of Artillery. Up to IS4S, when he resigned his commission, he had taken active part in all the campaigns for twenty years. In the Revolution of IS4S he joined with Sigel, Carl Schurz, Hecker, and others, and took a foremost part in that excited, bloody, courageous struggle to revolutionize Germany, and to proclaim and establish a Republic. The noble attempt failed, their armies were routed and its members fled to all parts of the world. Willich went to Switzer- land, thence to England, where he remained until IS53, and then to America, where at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. he found employment as a carpenter. Soon his thorough knowledge became known, and he was enabled to enter the Coast Survey Service at Wash-
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GENERAL AUGUST WILLICH.
ington, under Captain Maffitt, who afterwards com- manded the ironclad "Florida," in the Confederate Navy.
In IS58 he made the acquaintance of Judge Stallo, of Cincinnati, and was persuaded by him to come to that city and edit the German Republican, until 1861, when the war broke out, and he, with two hundred Germans, enrolled as privates in the Ist German Regi- ment of Cincinnati (9th Ohio.) Willich was appointed Adjutant by Colonel " Bob" McCook, and in May was commissioned Major. In August, IS61, he was ap- pointed Colonel of the 32d Indiana Infantry, (a German regiment) by Governor Morton. At Rowlett's Station he met and defeated Terry's Texan Rangers in Decem- ber. This victory brought him into public notice, and his career from then until the end of the war was as one of the heroes of the Army of the Cumberland. He was severely wounded twice, and was captured at Stone River. He was appointed Brigadier-General by President Lincoln, July 17, 1862. Willich remained with the Army of the Cumberland until the end of the war, in the last act of which drama-the " March to the Sea,"-he was as prominent an actor as he had been from the first. He returned to Cincinnati, where, in IS66, he was elected County Auditor, which office he held until 1869. At the outbreak of the Franco-Ger- man war, he was on a visit to his old home in Germany. He offered his sword and services to the King of Prus- sia; the same King, whom, when Crown Prince, he had twenty-one years before, actively opposed in arms
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GENERAL JAMES BLAIR STEEDMAN.
in the battle of Landau. His offer was not accepted, and he found consolation -then sixty years old- in attending a regular course of lectures on philosophy at the University of Berlin. He returned to this country, and went to St. Marys, Ohio, where he lived the quiet retired life of a philosopher until his sudden death, by paralysis, on the 23d of January, IS7S, beloved, re- spected and mourned by all who knew him.
GENERAL JAMES BLAIR STEEDMAN.
James Blair Steedman was born in Northumber- land County, Pennsylvania, July 29, IS17. While a boy his parents both died, and he was left with other chil- dren to struggle for their support. At fifteen he was apprenticed in a country newspaper office. In two years he became an efficient printer and went West. He was at work in the office of Prentice's Louisville Journal when the Texan War broke out, and he joined Sam. Houston's army in Texas. Afterward he returned to Ohio, bought a newspaper, married, was a contrac- tor of work on the Wabash & Erie Canal, and also of the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad. In IS47 and ISAS he was elected for two terms to the lower house of the Ohio Legislature.
In politics he was a Democrat. The next year. when the gold fever broke out, he crossed the plains to California, but soon after returned to his old home in Ohio, and was elected a member of the Board of Public Works, for several terms. In IS57 he was
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GENERAL JAMES BLAIR STEEDMAN.
elected Public Printer by the Congress of the United States. In 1860 he was chosen a delegate to the Na- tional Democratic Convention, which first met at Charleston, South Carolina, and afterward adjourned to Baltimore, He was a firm supporter of Douglas throughout the long and bitter struggle. He was a Major-General in the Ohio Militia, and held the office until he took the field, at the head of a regiment in 1861. He was also the publisher of the Times, the only Democratic paper in Toledo, where he practiced law. The moment the news came that Fort Sumter had been fired on, his paper was ablaze with warlike ardor, and he began at once to raise the 14th Ohio In- fantry, and within nine days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, his regiment was in camp at Cleveland, being drilled and organized. They fought at Philippi, Laurel Hill and Carrick's Ford in the three months' service. The regiment re-enlisted for the war, and in the Autumn of IS61 was sent into Kentucky. July 17, IS62, he was appointed Brigadier-General of Volun- teers, and took part in the battle of Perryville. It was at the battle of Chicamauga that General Steedman displayed most conspicuously the energy, courage and tenacity which formed a part of his character. His division had been posted at Red House Bridge, and he was ordered to hold that point at all hazzards. The battle raged hotter and hotter, and no enemy appeared to threaten his position. He knew that the army was hard pressed. The fight on the 19th was indecisive. Next day Longstreet's Corps, fresh from Virginia, came
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GENERAL JAMES BLAIR STEEDMAN.
into action with fierce and relentless ardor. Soon the right of the Union Army was pierced, and the com- mander, carried away by the flying mass, retired to Chattanooga. The center and left, under General Thomas, held its own with indomitable tenacity. Again and again it repelled the fiercest assaults made upon it. At last, without any other orders than those which came to them from the sounds of battle, the Reserve Corps, Steedman's division leading, marched to the aid of the imperiled veterans, who were having a life and death struggle with the enemy. About 3 p. m. they came up on the right, where the contest was raging hottest, and at once, with loud cheers, rushed into the thickest of the fight. He drove the enemy from his position and occupied both the ridge and the gorge. Here the slaughter was frightful. The victory was won at a fearful cost, but the army was saved, and he won the title of "Old Chicamauga," and was pro- moted to be a Major-General.
In the reorganization which preceded the Atlanta campaign, General Steedman was assigned to the command of the District of the Etowah, including the lines from the Tennessee to the Etowah Rivers, with Chattanooga as the headquarters. It was a command which required the exercise of great energy, activity and skill; for on his success in maintaining the lines of communication depended not merely the welfare, but the very existence of the grand army under General Sherman. There was never a time during his four months campaign that the army wanted anything nec-
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GENERAL JAMES BLAIR STEEDMAN.
cessary for its operations. When it became evident, in November, 1864, that the rebel army under Hood, meant to invade Tennessee, General Steedman gathered together all the troops that could be spared in his dis- trict, and joined General Thomas at Nashville. In the battle of Nashville his troops opened the fight, and the next day was among the first to break over the enemy's works, when the rebel left gave way, in the afternoon, and pursued the retreating foe until after dark. His troops were made up in about equal num- bers of white and colored regiments. He used to indulge in sarcastic laughter as he remembered his presence at the Charleston convention, and to wonder how his Southern Democratic friends would enjoy seeing him "fighting a nigger division." In the pur- suit of Hood's army, he led his troops through a hard and difficult march to Tuscumbia, and then returned to Chattanooga. After the fighting was over, he was assigned to the command of the State of Georgia, holding his position until in July 1866, when he re- signed. He was appointed by President Johnson Collector of Internal Revenue at New Orleans. After this he was elected for two years to the State Senate in Ohio. In IS73 he was a member of the constitu- tional convention of the State. In his last years he edited the Toledo Democrat, and was also chief of the police of that city at the time of his death.
Few men have had a wider or more varied public experience. His military career was especially brilliant, and whatever faults he may have had, he was, by nature, frank, generous, brave and earnest.
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MAJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH J. REYNOLDS.
MAJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH J. REYNOLDS.
Major-General Joseph J. Reynolds, our Division Commander from March to October, 1863, and in the battles of Hoover's Gap and Chicamauga, was born in Kentucky. He graduated from West Point in 1843, and was an Assistant Professor there from 1846 to 1855. He was promoted Ist Lieutenant of the 3d Artillery in March, IS47; resigned, February 28, IS57; was Professor of Mechanics and Engineering in Washington University, St. Louis, from 1856, to 1860. When the Rebellion began he was in business at New Orleans, and his patriotism was aroused to the highest pitch by the scenes he witnessed. He was sought by Governor Morton, who appointed him Colonel of the Ioth Indiana Infantry on the 27th of April. He was made a Brigadier-General of Volunteers by the Presi- dent on the 17th of May, IS61, and Major-General of Volunteers, November 29, IS65.
General Reynolds was assigned to the command of the Ist Brigade of the Army of Occupation on the 24th of July, IS61, numbering about 6,000 men, and defeated General Lee in the Cheat Mountain Campaign. The great Confederate strategist was defeated in his combi- nations by the genius of General Reynolds. In Novem- ber and December, IS62, he was in command of forces in Kentucky. In January, 1863, his division was ordered to Murfreesboro. In April, with a large force. he made a successful raid on the enemy, and in the
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MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS J. WOODS.
Summer and Fall campaign his division took a most active part. After the battle of Chicamauga, General Reynolds was Chief of Staff, with General George H. Thomas, in the Department of the Cumberland, from from October to December, IS63. He was assigned to the command of the 19th Corps, July 7, 1864, and organized the forces for the capture of Mobile and Forts Gaines and Morgan. He commanded the Depart- ment of the Arkansas from November, 1864, to April 25, 1866. March 2, 1867, he was brevetted Brigadier- General and Major-General in the U. S. Army, for ser- vices at Chicamauga and Missionary Ridge. He was made Colonel of the 26th U. S. Infantry, July 28, ISS6, and transferred to the 3d Cavalry, December 16, IS70. He is now a General in the Regular Army.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS J. WOODS.
Major-General Thomas J. Woods was our Division Commander from in October. 1863, to April, 1864. He was born in Munfordville, Ky., September 25, IS25. Graduated at West Point in 1845, being assigned to the Corps of Topographical Engineers, with orders to re- port to General Taylor at Corpus Christi. in Mexico. He took part in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and was especially commended in the . official reports of General Taylor. At Monterey he was transferred to the 2d Dragoons. He was brevetted for gallant conduct at Buena Vista. From IS4S to
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MAJ. GEN. THOS. J. WOOD.
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MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS J. WOODS.
IS54 he served on the frontiers of Texas with his regi- ment-five years of the time as Adjutant. In IS55 he was transferred to the Ist Cavalry, as Captain, and served on the Western frontier and in Indian wars until 1859. Then, getting a leave of absence, he trav- elled a year in Europe. October 11, 1861, he was ap- pointed Brigadier-General of Volun teers, ordered to report to General Sherman; and was given command of a division at Bardstown, Ky. He campaigned in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. By rapid marching he was in the battle at Shiloh, on the 7th of April, IS62: was at Corinth, and campaigned in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, in pursuit of Bragg's army; at Perryville in the pursuit, his division holding its position at Stone River. The rebel General Polk, in his report of that battle, says: "The position was well selected and well defended by General Woods' divi- sion of the Federal army." General Woods was wounded by a rifle ball in the left foot about 10 a. m., on the 31st, but he remained on horseback, and did not leave the field until 7 p. m. He was then sent in an ambulance to Nashville, and detained from active duty about forty days. He was offered the command of that Post, but preferred to be with his division in active field duties. His division was the first to occupy Chat- tanooga, in September, 1863. At Chicamauga his horse was shot under him. Mounting an Orderly's horse, he placed himself at the head of his troops, and drove back the enemy, just before dark on Saturday. On Sunday, for six long hours the enemy assaulted his
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MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS.
division, and was repulsed. General Woods, with his division, advanced and captured Orchard Knob, Nov- ember 23, 1863, being in the advance of the centre of the army until Missionary Ridge was gained, capturing many pieces of. artillery and hundreds of prisoners. Immediately after he went to the relief of Knoxville, and campaigned in east Tennessee during the winter, experiencing the severest weather, with limited pro- tection and supplies, and undergoing many privations. In the Atlanta campaign, at Lovejoy's Station, Sep- tember 2, 1864, General Wood was severely wounded by a rifle ball passing through his left foot. More than six months passed before he could walk without the aid of crutches. At Franklin, General Stanley being slightly wounded, General Woods took command of the 4th Corps, and in the great battle of Nashville he was assigned the most difficult work -that of attack- ing and carrying the enemy's centre. Never was an army so perfectly overthrown. The 4th Corps cap- tured in the battle of Nashville twenty-four pieces of artillery and nearly 3,000 prisoners, and continued the pursuit over a hundred miles. He went with his corps to Texas in July, IS65, and later was given command of the Department of the Mississippi. Now, (July, 1887,) he is a Major-General in the United States Army, on the retired list, and resides at Dayton, Ohio.
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS.
He was born in Southampton County, Virginia. July 31, 1816; and was appointed a Cadet to West
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MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS.
Point from that State, in IS36. In 1840 he was com- missioned 2d Lieutenant, 3d Artillery. He received brevets for gallantry in the wars against the Florida Indians in IS41 and IS49, and in the war against Mex- ico, in IS46-48, at Monterey and Buena Vista. He was instructor of artillery and cavalry in the Military Academy from IS51 to 1854; on frontier duty in Cali- fornia and Texas; and at the breaking out of the war, at the age of forty-five, he had arisen to the rank of Major of the 2d Cavalry. Albert S. Johnston was its Colonel, and Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant-Colonel. Earl Van Dorn was the other Major. How great should be his credit, that he stood fast by the Union amid such surroundings, and when his family and State ties had to be given up, and to take up arms against them?
He commanded a brigade July 2, 1861, in action at Hoke's Run, Virginia; was made Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers, August 17, 1861, and sent to the Depart- ment of the Cumberland. January 19, 1862, at Hill Springs, Ky., he commanded and won the first com- plete victory of the war. He was commissioned Major-General April 25, 1862; commanded the right wing of the army before Corinth. His division was with Buell in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. At Stone River he commanded the "centre," and in the middle Tennesse campaign; at Chicamauga the "left," and earned the title of the " Rock of Chicamauga." October 27, 1863, he was appointed Brigadier-General U. S. Army, and relieved General Rosecrans of the command of the department- He commanded the
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ANTI-COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS.
"centre" in the battles about Chattanooga, taking Missionary Ridge. In the Spring campaign of IS64, Thomas' army comprised three-fifths of Sherman's active command, and assisted in the four months' fight- ing that ended when, at Jonesboro, his troops cap- tured Atlanta. Sherman, when he decided to "march to the Sea," left him to contend with Hood's army. The - battle of Nashville was his crowning glory. December 15, 1864, he was promoted to be Major-Gen- eral in the United States Army.
From IS65 to 1869 he commanded several different departments. He wrote three weeks before he died, when asked to be a candidate for the Presidency: "My services are now, as they have always been, sub- ject to -the call of the Government in whatever mili- tary capacity I may be competent to fill, and will be cordially undertaken whenever called upon to render them. All civil honors and duties I shall continue to decline." He died at San Francisco on the 2S day of March, 1870, on duty in command of the Military Division of the Pacific.
ANTI-COMPROMISE RESOLUTIONS.
In February, IS63, nearly all the regiments of Indi- ana soldiers in Rosecrans' army adopted a strong series of resolutions against any armistice or compromise, to be sent to the General Assembly of Indiana, which was "wavering in the balance.". For some reason the name of the 6Sth Regiment does not appear in the num-
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ANTI-COMPRIMISE RESOLUTIONS.
ber signing the resolutions. February 22, IS63, at Nashville, Tenn., Major John S. Scobey read the reso- lutions to the regiment while on dress parade, and they were adopted without a dissenting voice. Colonel Edward A. King ' made an eloquent and patriotic speech, which was received with great applause, and our enthusiasm was aroused to a high pitch.
REGIMENTAL ROSTER.
68TH INDIANA INFANTRY.
Mustered Into the United States Service August 19, 1862.
FIELD AND STAFF.
Colonel-
King, Edward A., mustered in Aug. 19, '62; from Lieut .- Col. 19th U. S. Infantry; killed in battle at Chickamauga, Ga., Sept. 20, '63. Lieutenant-Colonels-
Shaw, Benjamin C., mustered in Aug. 19, '62; was promoted from Major of the 7th Ind. Infantry ; resigned June 1, '63, for disability. Scobey, John S., mustered in July 8, '63; resigned Nov. 13, '63, for disability.
Espy, Harvey J., mustered in Nov. 14, '63.
Majors-
Scobey, John S., mustered in Oct 22, '62; promoted.
Inpis, James W., mustered in July 8, '63; resigned Aug. 13, '63.
Finn, Edmund, mustered in Nov. 13, '63
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