USA > Indiana > History of the Seventy-fifth regiment of Indiana infantry voluteers. its organization, campaigns, and battles (1862-65.) > Part 17
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By the re-organization of the army, on October 9th, the Second Brigade of the Fourth Division (ours), and the Third Brigade of the Third Division, Fourteenth Corps, were
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History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL ABSALOM BAIRD, Commander of the 3d Division, 14th Army Corps.
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broken up, thrown together, and consolidated into a Brigade hereafter to be known and recognized as the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fourteenth Corps. The Sixty-eighth In- diana, so long brigaded with us, was now transferred to the First Brigade, Third Division, Fourth Corps. The Seventy- fifth and One-hundred and first Indiana, and the One-hun- dred and fifth Ohio Regiments of our old Second Brigade, Fourth Division, and the Eighty-seventh Indiana, the Second Minnesota, the Ninth and Thirty-fifth Ohio Regiments of the old Third Brigade, Third Division, now came together, and so remained, until their respective terms of service ex- pired. Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer, of the Thirty-fifth Ohio, was assigned to the command of the new Brigade of old Regiments. The Nineteenth Indiana Battery remained also with us.
The Eighty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Volunteers was raised in the Ninth Congressional District of Indiana. It was organized at South Bend during the month of August, and inustered into the U. S. service at Indianapolis, on the 3Ist of the month, 1862. Kline G. Shryock, of Rochester, Indiana, was its first Colonel. The Regiment left Indianapo- lis on the day of its muster for Louisville, Ky., where it was assigned to the Brigade in command of General Burbridge. It was transferred, October Ist, to the Third Brigade, Third Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, and took part in the battle of Perryville on the 8th.
During the campaign of marching and countermarching in Kentucky and Tennessee, near the close of the year 1862, the Regiment lost six killed and wounded. It was in a fight with the Confederate Army under Forrest on March 4th, 1863, at Chapel Hill, Tenn .; and on the 28th of the same month, its Colonel resigned, whereupon Lieutenant-Colonel Newell Gleason was promoted to the Colonelcy.
The Regiment participated in the Tullahoma and Chicka- mauga campaigns. It was under fire at Hoover's Gap, and was with that part of the Army that entered Tullahoma. It
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marched to Winchester, Tennessee, and thence over the mountains to Battle Creek on the Tennessee River. In the campaign against Chattanooga, it crossed the Tennessee River and inarched over Raccoon and Lookout Mountains. It bore a very conspicuous part in the battle of Chickamauga, losing 40 killed, 142 wounded, and 8 missing. After the bat- tle it became associated with our Regiment in the same Bri- gade to the end of the war.
In the storming of Missionary Ridge the Regiment lost 15 men killed and wounded. After the victory, it engaged in pursuit of the enemy to Ringgold, Ga. It participated in the expedition against Dalton, Ga., on the 22d of February, 1864, skirmishing with the enemy in front of Buzzard Roost. It returned from this expedition, and went into camp at Ring- gold until the opening of the Atlanta campaign.
In the arduous campaign against Atlanta, the Regiment was more or less engaged in all the principal battles and skir- mishes. In a charge upon the works of the enemy at Utoy Creek, on the 4th of August, it lost 17 men in killed and wounded. It helped to support Este's Brigade at the battle of Jonesboro, September Ist, when it moved into Atlanta.
It also participated with its Corps in the campaign in pur- suit of Hood, on October 3d, through northern Georgia, through Snake Creek Gap to the Chattooga Valley. It re- turned to Atlanta, and entered upon the March to the Sea with its Corps on the 16th of November. It bore a heavy part in the campaign through the Carolinas, and was present at the capitulation of Johnston's Confederate Army.
From North Carolina, the Regiment marched to Richmond, Va., and thence to Washington City, where it participated in the grand review of Sherman's Army. After the review at Washington, the Eighty-seventh Regiment returned to Indi- anapolis, where it was mustered out of the service on June 10th, 1865.
The casualties of the Regiment during its term of service were 47 killed, 198 wounded, and 214 died from wounds and
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disease. The Eighty-seventh Regiment enjoys the distinc- tion of losing the greatest number of commissioned officers killed of any Regiment in any single battle of the war. It had three Captains and five Lieutenants killed at Chicka- mauga. There was no better Regiment in the service than the Eighty-seventh Indiana. Its tall, silver-haired, heroic Colonel commanded our Brigade from June 27th, 1864, to the close of the war, and was brevetted a Brigadier-General for his bravery and efficiency.
The Second Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers was organi- ized during the months of June, July and August, 1861, with Horatio P. Van Cleve as Colonel. Colonel Van Cleve, who subsequently became a Brigadier-General and Brevet Major-General, and the commander of a Division in the Army of the Cumberland, had been an officer in the Regular Army before the war. The various Companies of the Regi- ment for the first few months were stationed at Forts Snell- ing, Rippley, Abercrombie, and Ridgley, on the upper Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. During the first week of October, they were recalled from their detached positions and rendezvoused at Fort Snelling.
On the morning of October 14th, the Regiment embarked on board a large river steamer for Washington, D. C. Ar- riving at La Crosse, Wis., it was transferred to the cars and arrived at Chicago on the morning of the 16th. The night was spent at Chicago, and next morning the Regiment took the cars for Pittsburg, Pa., arriving in the afternoon of the 18th. Here it received orders to proceed to Louisville, Ky., instead of Washington, D. C. On the 19th it embarked on three steamers, and went down the Ohio River to Louisville, arriving there on the 22d, and thence to Lebanon Junction, thirty miles south by rail.
On General Buell's assuming the command of all troops around Louisville, the Second Minnesota was placed in the First Division under Brigadier-General George H. Thomas, and in the Third Brigade of the Division commanded by Colonel Robert L. McCook.
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In this Brigade were the Ninth and the Thirty-fifth Ohio Regiments, which remained with the Second Minnesota until their muster out at the expiration of their three years of service. Shortly after this, the Eighty-seventh Indiana joined these Regiments, and remained to the close of the war with the Second Minnesota.
On the morning of January Ist, 1862, with the rest of the troops stationed at Lebanon, the Regiment entered upon the Mill Springs campaign, taking the Columbia pike. By the 8th of the month, Columbia was reached, where the Regi- ment turned off the pike, and marched eastward in the mud, slush and rain. It was a very discouraging experience to troops on their first campaign, in midwinter, but this Regi- ment had the hardihood to endure it. By the 17th, it reached Mill Springs, where, on the 19th, it fought its first battle and heard its first shot of the enemy. The loss of the Regiment in this battle was 12 killed and 33 wounded. The Regiment captured the flag of the Fifteenth Mississippi.
On the 10th of February, the Regiment began its return march to Louisville, arriving there at 3 p. m. on the 25th. Here it was presented with a handsome silk flag from the loyal ladies of Louisville, with the battle of Mill Springs inscribed on it. After this presentation, it embarked on a steamer and passed down the Ohio into the Cumberland River, to Nashville. Here it rested for a considerable time, after which it entered upon the Shiloh campaign, but being in the rear of the column, it did not participate in the battle of the 6th and 7th of April, but assisted in the burial of the dead and care of the wounded. Here Colonel Van Cleve was pro- moted, and Lieutenant Colonel George was promoted to the colonelcy.
The Regiment was in the memorable "foot race" between the armies of Buell and Bragg from Corinth to Louisville. It was in the Perryville campaign, but not actively engaged in the battle of that name. From Perryville it went to Bowling Green, and thence to Gallatin, Tennessee. In the
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vicinity of Gallatin, Nashville, and Murfreesborough, it did arduous duties. After the battle of Stone's River, it was as- signed to the Division commanded by General James B. Steedman, and Colonel F. Van Derveer commanded the Brigade.
During the encampment at Murfreesborough, the Regiment was sent on many raids, in some of which it had several hard skirmishes. On April 17th, General Steedman was relieved and General Schofield succeeded to the command of the Division. On May 16th, General J. M. Brannan relieved Schofield of the command.
With the rest of the army the Second Minnesota, on June 24th, 1863, entered upon the Tullahoma campaign, entering the town on the Ist of July.
During August, the Chickamauga campaign across the Cumberland Mountains was inaugurated, culminating in the battle of Chickamauga and the possession of Chattanooga. The Second Minnesota took a very active part in this battle. It entered the battle with 384 men, and lost 35 killed, 113 wounded, and 14 captured. It was shortly after this battle, while the army was lying in Chattanooga, that the Second Minnesota with the Ninth and Thirty-fifth Ohio and the Eighty-seventh Indiana Regiments united with our Regi- ment in a Brigade. The Regiment from this point and date remained with us to the close of the war.
On the 25th of December, 1863, eighty per cent. of the Regiment veteranized. It was one of the first Regiments to re-enlist, and the only one of our Brigade that did so. It went home on furlough, and returned to us while lying at Ringgold, Ga.
During the Atlanta campaign, the Second Minnesota lost 4 men killed and 16 wounded. Among the killed were Lieut. John C. Jones and Sergeant-Major P. G. Wheeler. On the 3d of April, Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Bishop was made the Colonel, vice George, resigned.
On the 14th of June, 1865, the Regiment went to Louis-
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ville for final discharge, after participating in the march to Washington, and in the grand review at that place. It ar- rived at St. Paul, Minn., on the 15th of July, where final payment was made to the men, and the splendid Second Minnesota Veteran Regiment ceased to exist. It was a finely disciplined Regiment, with many nervy officers.
During its four years of service, the Second Minnesota Regiment had 1,735 officers and men, including recruits. It lost 74 in killed and mortally wounded ; 274 more or less se- riously wounded in action ; 167 men died of disease ; and 277 men were discharged for disability. Of the whole number of men mustered into the Regiment from first to last, about sixteen per cent. were wounded in battle, and more than one- fourth of these were killed or mortally wounded. Nearly ten per cent. of the whole number died in the service of disease, and sixteen per cent. were discharged for disability. While the Regiment had various periods of encampments, it had also considerable exercise on foot. In the years of '62, '63, and '64, it marched, by the record, 5, 153 mniles, an average of four and three-fourths miles per day.
The Ninth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers was composed of the "Turners" of Cincinnati. The Germans held a meeting in Turner Hall of that city immediately after the news of the fall of Fort Sumter had reached Cincinnati. Gordon Granger, then Captain in the United States Army, mustered the Ninth Ohio into the service for three months as early as April 22d, 1861. On May 18th, it marched from Camp Harrison, near Cincinnati, to Camp Dennison, where it was reorganized and mustered into the service for three years, and was the first three years' Regiment from the State of Ohio. It was a full German Regiment, 1035 officers and men in strength, with a band of 24 musicians. Robert L. McCook was its first Colonel. The Regiment left the State on June 16th, and entered Western Virginia on the 20th. It marched fromn Webster to Philippi, a distance of fifteen miles, in three hours. Its first engagement was at Rich Mountain, where it
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lost one killed and two wounded. After this the Regiment was stationed along the Potomac, performing heavy guard duty, one Company being detached as an outpost at Cumber- land, Maryland, and another at an important railroad bridge across the Potomac, near New Creek, West Virginia. At this time the Regiment was in a Brigade with the Fourth and Eighth Ohio Regiments, and Howe's Battery of the Fourth U. S. Artillery. On the 22d of August five Com- panies of the Regiment were sent back to Huttonsville and Elkwater, where, upon their arrival, they were sent to Frenchtown. The march was continued to Bulltown, where these five Companies joined the other half of the Regiment. Upon the concentration of our forces at Sutton, the Ninth Ohio moved to that place, and was assigned to the Second Brigade with the Twenty-eighth and Forty-seventh Ohio Regiments and a Company of Chicago Dragoons. In an en- gagement at Carnifex Ferry, near the village of Summer- ville, the Ninth lost two killed and eight wounded. This occurred September 10th. Shortly after this the Brigade, in which the Ninth was serving, encamped on the right bank of New River. During the month of October, it had frequent skirmishes while encamped here.
On November 24th, the Regiment left this camp and moved to Louisville, Ky., where it arrived December 2d; thence it went to Lebanon, Ky., where it formed the Third Brigade, First Division, Army of the Ohio, with the Thirty-fifth Ohio and the Second Minnesota Regiments. The Ninth also par- ticipated in the battle of Mill Springs, where it made a charge, completely routing the enemy. The patriotic ladies of Louis- ville, on its arrival there after the battle, presented the Regi- ment with a beautiful flag as a reward for its gallantry at Mill Springs. It was at Shiloh, but arrived too late to par- ticipate in the battle.
On the 22d of June the Regiment marched to Tuscumbia, Alabama. While there it was presented with another flag by the city of Cincinnati.
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On July 27th, 1862, the Regiment moved in the direction of Decherd, and while on the march its former Colonel and Brigade commander, Robert L. McCook, who had been pro- moted to a Brigadier-General, was shot by guerrillas while sick in an ambulance. Gustavus Kaemmerling became the Colonel. The Regiment was at the battle of Perryville, but sustained only a small loss.
The Regiment participated in the movement on Hoover's Gap, and, on the 29th of June, led a large reconnoitering party within a few miles of Tullahoma. In the movement over the Cumberland Mountains and across the Tennessee River, the Regiment bore a conspicuous part. In Brannan's Division and Van Derveer's Brigade, with the Thirty-fifth Ohio, Second Minnesota and Eighty-seventh Indiana, the Ninth Ohio entered the battle of Chickamauga. It was made famous at this battle by the charge it made for the re- capture of the Battery of the Regular Brigade of Baird's Division, which was taken by the Confederates. At the be- ginning of the battle, the Regiment was guarding an ammu- nition train, but by a forced march was enabled to get up in time for taking a conspicuous part in the battle. It made charges with the bayonet on both days. Its loss at Chick- amauga was very heavy. It went into action with 500 men, and lost in killed, wounded and missing, eleven officers and two hundred and thirty-seven enlisted men.
After the battle of Chickamauga, the Ninth Ohio joined our Brigade, and it remained with us until the expiration of its term of service. With our Brigade it was in the assault on Missionary Ridge, losing fourteen in killed, wounded and missing. Together with the One-hundred and first Indiana, of our Brigade, the Ninth Ohio repulsed a greatly superior number of the enemy, as many as three times, at Tunnell Hill. In these engagements it lost two killed and twelve wounded.
The term of service of the Ninth Ohio expired on May 27th, 1864, while on the Atlanta campaign. It immediately left thereafter for Cincinnati.
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During its term of service, the Ninth Ohio lost in killed 6 officers and 85 men, and 2 officers and 60 men by disease. It was mustered out of service at Camp Dennison, on June 7th, 1864. It was one of the famous German Regiments of the war. It was made up of the very best German Turners of Cincinnati. No less a German than the heroic General August Willich, was at one time a private in the Regiment.
The Thirty-fifth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers was re- cruited in the counties of Warren, Montgomery, Preble, and Butler, and was organized at Hamilton, Ohio, during the months of August and September, 1861. Its Colonel was Ferdinand Van Derveer, who was promoted to Brigadier- General for the prompt, judicious and brave way he distin- guished himself on many battle fields.
On September 26th, 1861, the Regiment left Hamilton, and moved to Covington, Ky., where it was ordered by Gen- eral O. M. Mitchell to be distributed at all the bridges along the Kentucky Central Railroad in Harrison and Bourbon counties as guards, with regimental headquarters at Cyn- thiana. Afterwards the Regiment was removed to Paris, in Bourbon county, where it remained until the first week of December, when it marched to Somerset, and reported for duty to Brig .- Gen. Schoepff. At Somerset the Regiment was brigaded with the Ninth Ohio, Second Minnesota, and the Eighteenth Regulars, under Colonel Robert L. McCook, re- maining with the two former Regiments during its whole term of service. It left Somerset for Louisville, thence to Nashville, and with Buell's army to Pittsburg Landing.
The Thirty-fifth participated in several skirmishes during the siege of Corinth. It marched to Tuscumbia, Alabama, after the siege of Corinth, and on the last of July to Win- chester, Tennessee. On this march the Brigade commander, General McCook, sick in an ambulance, was assassinated by Confederate guerrillas near New Market. The Regiment was on the Buell and Bragg "foot race" for Louisville. It bore an honorable part in the fight at Perryville and pursuit
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of Bragg to Crab Orchard. After Buell was superseded by Rosecrans, its Division, then under General Fry, was sent to Bowling Green, and thence to Gallatin.
In February, 1863, Colonel Van Derveer assumed command of the Brigade, and Lieut .- Colonel Long commanded the Regiment. Throughout the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaigns, the Regiment was in the front of the marching and fighting. On July 13th, 1863, Lieut. - Colonel Long re- signed, and Major H. V. N. Boynton was promoted to the vacancy. Colonel Boynton was always conspicuous in every battle of the Regiment for the gallantry and skill with which he managed his men.
In the battle of Chickamauga, the Regiment lost fifty per cent. of the number engaged; scarcely a man escaped being killed or wounded. It was in Brannan's Division, Van Derveer's Brigade, the casualties in the Division and Brigade at Chickamauga being very large.
After entering Chattanooga, the Regiment with its Brigade joined our Brigade, and its history to the end of its term of service is the same as the history of our (Seventy-fifth) Regi- ment. At Missionary Ridge, the Regiment was in the front line, capturing three pieces of Artillery, and losing 30 men in killed and wounded.
On February 22d, 1864, the Regiment was in the skirmish at Buzzard's Roost, near Dalton, after which it was stationed at Ringgold, Ga., until the opening of the campaign against Atlanta. It was with our Brigade from the beginning of Sherman's operations against Atlanta to the expiration of its term of service, which occurred near Atlanta. On this cam- paign, the Regiment lost 14 in killed and wounded; among. the slain was Captain Lewis F. Dougherty, killed July 20th, 1864. The Regiment was mustered out at Chattanooga in August, 1864. The Thirty-fifth Ohio was a fine Regiment with brave and accomplished officers. It never turned its face from the foe, nor was it ever driven from a battle field.
The following are the Brigades and Regiments of our
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Division, together with their respective commanders at the reorganization of the Corps:
THIRD DIVISION. Brig. Gen. ABSALOM BAIRD.
First Brigade.
Brig. Gen. JOHN B. TURCHIN.
82d Indiana, Capt. William C. Stiue- back.
IIth Ohio, Lieut. Col. Ogden Street. 17th Ohio, Capt. James W. Stinch- comb. 3Ist Ohio, Maj. John W. Free. 36th Ohio, Lieut. Col. Hiram F. Devol. 89th Ohio, Capt. John H. Jolly. 92d Ohio, Capt. John C. Morrow.
Second Brigade.
Col. FERDINAND VAN DERVEER.
75th Indiana, Lieut. Col. William O'Brien.
87th Indiana, Capt. Richard C. Sabin.
IoIst Indiana, Maj. George W. Steele. 2d Minnesota, Lieut. Col. Judson IV. Bishop.
9th Ohio, Col. Gustave Kaemmer- ling.
35th Ohio, Capt. Samuel L'Homine- dieu. 105th Ohio, Lieut. Col. William R. Tolles.
Third Brigade.
Col. WILLIAM H. HAYS.
74th Indiana, Lieut. Col. Myron Baker.
4th Kentucky, Maj. Robert M.
Kelly.
roth Kentucky, Capt. Israel B. Web- ster. 18th Kentucky, Lieut. Col. Hubbard K. Milward.
14th Ohio,* Maj. John W. Wilson. 38th Ohio,* Lieut. Col. William A. Choate.
Artillery.
Capt. GEORGE R. SWALLOW.
Indiana Light, 7th Battery, Lieut. George M. Repp.
Indiana Light, 19th Battery, Lieut. William P. Stackhouse.
4th United States, Battery I, Lieut. George B. Rodney.
The First Brigade of our old (Fourth) Division under Col. John T. Wilder, was by special Field Order transferred to the Cavalry.
Early in October, General Halleck ordered to Chattanooga the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from the Army of the Potomac to reinforce our beleaguered army. These troops were under Major-Gen. Joseph Hooker, with Major-Gens. O. O. Howard
* On Veteran Furlough.
15
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History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
and H. W. Slocum, as Corps commanders. The Corps occu- pied positions along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, without giving immediate relief to the Army of the Cumber- land in Chattanooga. General Grant says: "It would have been folly to send them to Chattanooga to help eat up the few rations left there." The fact that these forces were so near us, however, was some encouragement, which together with our starving condition, was a stimulus to greater activity on our part for the origination of some relief measures.
On the 19th of October, just when Gen. Rosecrans had given orders to his Chief Engineer, Brig .- Gen. William F. Smith, for the opening of the river at Williams' Island and for the establishment of store-houses there, he was relieved of the command of the Army of the Cumberland. This ended our connection with General Rosecrans. About this time- October the 18th-the Military Division of the Mississippi was created by President Lincoln, who assigned Major-Gen. U. S. Grant as its commander; and the Army of the Cum- berland composed the Fourth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Four- teenth Corps with three Divisions of Cavalry; and in com- pliance with orders from the War Department, the great com- mander of our Corps, Major-Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, was put in command of the Army of the Cumberland. General Grant was to come to Chattanooga and take personal supervision over the National armies concentrating there. He reached Chattanooga on the 23d of October. General John M. Palmer was assigned to the command of the Fourteenth Corps, and General Charles Cruft to that of the First Division, Fourth Corps.
The great problem for solution now was that of supplying the Army at Chattanooga with rations, as will be seen from the following dispatch of General Grant, (prior to his arrival) to General Thomas; and the reply of Thomas in which is portrayed the imperturbability of a stoic:
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LOUISVILLE, October 19, 1863: 11.30 p. m.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS :
Hold Chattanooga at all hazards. I will be there as soon as possible. Please inform me how long your present supplies will last, and the prospect for keeping them up.
U. S. GRANT, Major-General. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., October 19, 1863.
MAJOR· GENERAL GRANT :
Two hundred and four thousand four hundred and sixty-two rations in store-houses ; ninety thousand to arrive to morrow, and all the trains were loaded which had arrived at Bridgeport up to the 16th-probably three hun- dred wagons. I will hold the town till we starve.
G. H. THOMAS, Major-General.
In his comment after the war upou the above dispatches, General Grant says: "I telegraphed to Thomas that he must hold Chattanooga at all hazards, informing him at the same time that I would be at the front as soon as possible. A prompt reply was received from Thomas saying: "We will hold the town till we starve." I appreciated the force of this dispatch later, when I witnessed the condition of affairs which prompted it. It looked, indeed, as if but two courses were open; one to starve, the other to surrender or be cap- tured."
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