USA > Indiana > History of the Seventy-fifth regiment of Indiana infantry voluteers. its organization, campaigns, and battles (1862-65.) > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
1
O
R
Halls
o Coosavilles
ROME) ROM
femen)
R
W
Burnt Mountain Q
Raccoon
Gore
Reeves St
0
Ludville
ONilly
Rocky CrS
Sonora
Pots Mountain o
Fair Mount
N Long Swamp
oyd Sprs
Plainview
A
QUARRIES
& Yellow Creek
Hollanda Store
Lavend
MT.
MT.S.
R
HITTOOGAT
14.
l'onnasauga
Ramsey q'
CELLIJAY.
PIGEON
Tails Cr.
AMorgans Mills
Tilton
Martius Mill
GEORGIA
Blue Spring
Marbir Cliff
1954.15.0-1.12)
Fields Mill
(or Banner's Ferry
Craneeater
Motton
ittles -May 14.1.216.
9
Summerville
(Gostaraula
CALHOUN
Bobo
Chattoog,
Costanunıla
ATLANTIC
Pond"
--. 1
NORTH
L
M
R
NIN
ChestnutFlac
WAH
Dug
Gap
Mountaintown
K
E
R
Mill Cr. - Ch.Of.
Battle. Feb, 2G.
BlueBird
Raw+ Millor-
May S. 1864.
G
Ettie P Q.
Creek
Pwport
Powells !
Faterville
Carters
Pond
Boost
Battle of Rocky Phee May 12,1864. Hassler
FORT MT.
YFe 23, Max 9. 10.12, 1864.
Santa Luca o
DALTON
Cefar Ridge MURRAY
Bat. Aut. 14. Ort: 23.
Fort Mountain P.O.
Cherry Log
oConnasauga
Gordons Game
Sprs.
aloosa Sta.
Sta
RIDG
Croychu ??
O Woodlawn
Tunnel Hill
Norton
Duon
Buttes Nov. @8, 1863. Feb. 23, May G. & 5, 1864.
Battle of Rocky Face Feb. 23, May 9, 1864.
Buzzard
Varnella
Yanders Bridge
Aug. 16 .:
"Beaverdale !!
Graysville .. ".T
Jed Clay
MAP OF THE
A
Battle Nuv. 26; 1SG3/
ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.
C Catobsa
~ Loughridge
CHATTANOOGA
T
Blue Spring
POLK Connasauga
Chickamauga Sta .: 8
RIVER
& of Domartile
Rollins o
etwat
Salt Spring
Battle of Atlanta, I July 22, 1864
---
SSophia
JEtowah
CR H
MARIETTA
GIS64.Or
Talking Rock Mills
Battles May 9, 13
Morris Mill >
ikumoy
Cordons
287
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
joined us here, and on the morning of the 16th, when we took possession of the town, this Brigade's skirmishers were the first to enter. We remained in the town until midnight, awaiting the construction of pontoon bridges across the Oostanaula, which was necessary to pass over. The Army of the Tennessee crossed at Lay's Ferry. Our Corps, preceded by Howard's, crossed at Resaca. It was after midnight before our Division got over.
On the 17th, Sherman's combined armies made an advance. In the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Sherman followed the track of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, without which he could not have successfully made the cam- paign, and for which all the battles of the campaign were fought. The three armnies, retaining their relative positions to each other, as at the beginning, the Army of the Tennessee composing the right, and that of the Ohio the left, while the Army of the Cumberland formed the centre, moved directly south from this point, until Kingston was reached. The Twentieth Corps joined the left, and the Fourth and Four- teenth joined the right. The Cavalry under Stoneman moved on the extreme left flank, and that of Garrard hung on the extreme right flank.
On the 18th and 19th our Division pursued the Confeder- ates through the towns of Calhoun, Adairsville and Kings- ton, and went into position on the right of the Fourth Corps with our right resting on the railroad, near Cassville Station. Here we remained three days. While lying here in camp, on the 21st, the three years' term of service of the Ninth Olio Regiment expired, and it left the Brigade for Cincinnati. To the last, this fine old Regiment was in range of the enemy's guns. We stood along the road and lustily cheered the "German boys" as they passed from the front. While encamped here, we were supplied with rations and forage sufficient for twenty days.
On the 23d, the Seventy-fifth Regiment with its Brigade and Division marched to the Etowah River at Island Ford,
288
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
and fording it there, encamped on Euharlee Creek. Here Sherman gave orders for a few days' rest from pursuit of Johnston's Army, which occupied a strong position at Alla- toona Pass. During the remainder of the month, our Divis- ion was in the rear of the line of battle, guarding the army transportation trains. We were in the vicinity of Burnt Hickory.
On June 2d, Turchin's Brigade was left in charge of the trains at Burnt Hickory, ours and Este's Brigades were ordered to the front again. Our Brigade took a position in front of the enemy in a single line of battle on Pumpkin Vine Creek, east of Dallas. Relieving a part of Johnson's Di- vision of our Corps, our line was very close to the Confeder- ate works, which were strongly constructed; the balance of Johnson's Division was on our right and the Army of the Ohio was on our left. The men of the Seventy-fifth Indiana labored assiduously, like beavers, night and day, on the 3d and 4th, in order to advance our skirmishers and intrench ourselves in the position which we had gained. The Con- federates charged our lines several times, but we pushed them into their intrenchments and planted our Batteries near them. We skirmished very actively during our occupancy of this position, which we held until the night of the 6th, when the Confederates evacuated their position in our front and we moved forward immediately into their works. The One- hundred and first Indiana had five men wounded here.
On the morning of the 7th, our Brigade marched to a point within three miles of the railroad near Acworth, where we formed line on the left of Hooker's Corps, near Durham's. house. Here the First Brigade from Burnt Hickory joined the Division. From this time to the end of the month, our entire Army was continually alternating between movements, halts and fights. There was not an hour in which a portion of the Army was not under fire from the enemy. The contin- uous roar of musketry and boom of cannon, far and near, be- came so monotonous to us that they no longer attracted our
289
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
attention, unless they came to our immediate front, and we became engaged. We cooked our meals and ate thein, wrote letters to loved ones at home, washed and mended our cloth- ing, hunted for "graybacks" and found them along the seams of our shirts, polished our guns, built breastworks and slept under this ceaseless "zip" of the bullet and "screech" of the shell.
The Confederates now occupied Kenesaw, Lost and Pine Mountains, which formed a sort of triangle. They covered the town of Marietta and the railroad to the Chattahoochee River. On the peaks of these mountains they had signal stations, and on their crests their Batteries were planted, and every spur was thick with soldiers felling trees, digging pits, and making preparations for the grand impending struggle. From their lofty battlements on the tops of these mountains the enemy viewed our movements and positions. The scene was enchanting and magnificent-too beautiful to be dis- turbed by the harsh and clamorous voice of war. The enemy could see the smoke and hear the whistle of our locomotives drawing long trains of cars, running close up to our skirmish line. The engineer of one of these engines ran so close to the Confederate line that a Battery fired upon it, and the engineer answered the shot by the whistle of his engine; for his boldness we cheered vociferously.
The time had come for another advance movement. Gen- eral Sherman ordered that the Army of the Cumberland should move on the Burnt Hickory and Marietta road with a view of striking the northern end of Kenesaw; and the Army of the Tennessee should go by the Acworth and Marietta road; and the Army of the Oliio should move in the di- rection of Lost Mountain. On the Ioth, we took position in front of Pine Mountain. McPherson was on our im- mediate left, along the railroad, curving around the base of Kenesaw, while Schofield was on the right of us, fac- ing south towards Lost Mountain. On the 11th, we inoved half a mile to the left, forming line of battle in plain view of
290
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
the Confederates' works and within range of their Batteries. Our skirmishers here had quite a battle with their pickets. Our object was to gain possession of the wagon road leading . from Burnt Hickory through these mountains to Marietta on the railroad, and the Confederates held it by their occupancy of the mountain. During our movements, our Batteries did effectual work. In this position here our Division joined the Fourth Corps on our right and the First Division of our Corps on our left. The battle-line of our Division ran about a mile north of the Marietta road, facing south and confront- ing the north-east side of the Mountain. We were in this position strongly intrenched for two days. The whole line moved forward on the 14th, until we reached the Big Shanty road, where we built heavy breastworks. Directly in our front a few hundred yards were the strong intrenchments of the enemy, running eastward from Pine Mountain. The Confederates who confronted us here were Bate's Division- the same troops we fought at Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga. During the night the enemy abandoned liis position, and on the morning of the next day we moved into his works, while he retreated only a short distance to another line of intrench- ments, which had been previously built for his occupancy. Thus our Division and the enemy maneuvered for several days. It was on this mountain (Pine) on the 14th, in our front, that Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk was killed. Prior to the war, Polk was a Bishop in the Episcopalian Church, and at the time of his death he commanded a Corps in the Confederate Army confronting us. He was killed by a cannon ball from one of our Batteries.
At this time the pick and the spade were as essential to successful warfare as the gun and cartridge-box. Our tough experience taught us the lesson, that the spade and the gun were inseparable companions in practical warfare on the At- lanta campaign. Our breastworks, in the construction of which the spades, picks and axes were used, usually consisted of long logs piled upon the one end of short logs, like a rail
291
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
fence, the other end of the short logs lying on the ground. Against the outer side of these logs-the side next to the enemy-was thrown up a heavy embankment, and on the inner side of this, next to us, was dug a deep ditch running parallel to the logs in which we stood during a fight. All this was supplemented by a large log extending along the crest of the works, with sufficient space beneath to thrust our rifles and shoot. These works were sometimes made from five to ten feet in thickness, and became a good protection to us from the enemy's artillery and musketry.
On Saturday the 18th, our Division advanced with the Fourth Corps on our immediate right, Pine Mountain having been gained. The Confederates had retreated to a new line of works just back of Mud Creek. Our advance on this oc- casion was a memorable day to the members of the Seventy- fiftli Indiana, and of other Regiments of the Brigade. We advanced in a violent rain and thunder-storm, and the ground was soft and wet. The Second Minnesota and the Thirty- fifth Ohio-the only two Regiments that had enlisted in 1861 now belonging to the Brigade-were deployed as skirmishers. The Seventy-fifth and One-hundred and first Indiana Regi- ments were in the first line immediately in rear of the skirmishers, and the Eighty-seventh Indiana and the One- hundred and fifth Ohio Regiments constituted the second line of battle. The skirmishers and first line, both, carried picks and spades with their guns. We were compelled to push our way through a marshy undergrowth and woods, so thick that the Artillery could not follow us. The ground over which we advanced for the space of a mile was wet and muddy. We crossed a little stream appropriately named "Mud Creek." Presently we emerged into an open field on high ground, within 350 or 400 yards of the enemy's carefully constructed fortifications of massive strength, manned with Artillery and swarming with Confederates, whose line of skirmishers was withdrawn for the affray. Our skirmishers kept up such an in- cessant musketry fire, that for a short time the Confederates
292
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
could not so much as raise their heads above their works to shoot. We, who composed the first line of battle, now took advantage of this, and made the dirt fly with our picks and spades in the construction of our works. The writer has. never worked so hard and fast since. Both skirmishers and we of the first line thus intrenched ourselves. We had ad- vanced our whole line and built our fortifications very thick on open ground, beyond the edge of the woods, before the eyes. of the enemy, who, at intervals, poured a fusilade of solid shot at short range upon us. General Howard, who com- manded the Fourth Corps on our immediate right, and was an eye-witness, speaks thus of the affair: "That night, the 16th of June, Johnston again went back to a new line, already prepared, just behind Mud Creek. Our troops being on the alert, followed at once with great rapidity. Just where the old lines joined the new (for Johnston's right wing was un- changed), I saw a feat the like of which never elsewhere tell under my observation. Baird's Division, in a comparatively open field, put forth a heavy skirmish line, which continued such a rapid fire of rifles as to keep down a corresponding hostile line behind its well-constructed trenches, while the picks and shovels behind the skirmishers fairly flew, till a good set of works was made four hundred yards off, and par- allel to the enemy's." (Century Mag., July, 1887, p. 454. )
In the meantime Captain Dilger of the First Ohio Battery, belonging to the First Division of our Corps, ran his six guns. directly in front of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment, and opened fire upon the enemy's Batteries. With the flash and roar of Artillery mingling with the lightning and thunder of the rain-storm, nature seemed to conspire with man in this. destructive work. A murderous and fearful artillery duel ensued, the like of which we never saw. Some of the solid shots from the enemy's guns tore clean through our strong fortifications, scattering the dirt and splinters in all direc- tions. Three men in F Company of our Regiment were in- stantly killed by the concussion of the cannon balls. Prob-
293
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
ably not during our entire term of service had we as great a desire to take the horizontal position upon mother earth face downwards, as on this occasion. The following excerpt is taken from General Baird's official report of the Division in this fight:
June 18, having been instructed by the corps commander that Major-Gen- eral Howard, with the Fourth Corps, intended to swing forward toward the left, so as to sweep along the enemy's line, I was at the same time ordered to conform to this movement and advance with those troops. My line of march was through a very difficult wood and morass nearly a mile in width, impassable for the artillery. It was, therefore, sent around by the left while the troops worked their way through the woods. Passing this, we came in- to open ground immediately in front of works of the enemy. The Fourth Corps at the same time came up on my right, and a sharp encounter ensued between our nien and the rebels behind their breast-works, but the unceas- ing and rapid fire of our line kept theirs subdued, and our loss was less than could have been expected. I immediately ordered my men to creep forward as well as they could and construct a cover for themselves on the crest of the open ground fåcing directly into the embrasures of the rebel batteries. Hav- ing no artillery with me, Capt. Hubert Dilger, of the First Ohio Artillery, be- longing to the First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, volunteered to bring up liis guns, and, placing them upon the line where my men were intrench- ing, opened fire and maintained them there throughout the afternoon, dis- playing a splendid courage not often witnessed. The coolness and bravery displayed by my own men exceeds all praise, and by dark they had con- structed a line of rifle-pits in open ground confronting the finished works of the enemy, and within 500 yards of them. I had obtained a magnificent position, and lost 40 men in so doing.
It continued to rain incessantly, and at the break of day on Sunday, the 19th, it was discovered that the Confederates had again evacuated their works and had fallen back as usual into previously prepared lines of intrenchments at Kenesaw Mountain. We immediately advanced upon them, the Regiments of the Brigade moving in line of battle re- latively as they moved and fought on the day previous. After a severe skirmish, we took position close up to the base of the mountain near Kirk's house, and intrenched there. We lay here for several days under the enemy's severe ar- tillery fire, while we alınost hourly skirmished with him. There was an incessant exchange of artillery shots day and
294
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
night between our Batteries and those of the Confederates oIr top of the mountain. At times the sublimity of the displays- in the artillery duels arose beyond all conception. Some of our men were wounded, while eating their meals. We were usually kept very closely confined in the ditches, which the rain had made very muddy. The position of our Divis- ion did not materially change until the 26th, except on the night of the 22d, when our Brigade moved half a mile to the right.
In this movement to the right, six men in the Second Min- nesota were killed and wounded. One of the killed was the Sergeant-Major of the Regiment, who, not having re-enlisted as a veteran, would have been discharged on the next day and sent home. After three years of faithful service without getting hurt, it was sad to see this brave fellow die at the very last hour of his term of service.
General Baird reports that the Division lost 40 men on the 18th, and 30 on the 20th, and that the daily loss of killed and wounded in the Division in front of Kenesaw Mountain between the 18th and the 26th averaged 20 men.
The casualties of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment in front of Kenesaw from the 18th to the 26th were killed 4, and wounded 9. The names of these men were John G. Mote of A Company, and Isaac M. Larick, James Porter and David Riley of F Company, killed. The nine men who were more or less severely wounded were Lemuel Freeman of A Com- pany; James Holloway of B Company; Earl S. Stone of D Company; Stephen H. Myers of E Company; Ebenezer Blos- som and Walter B. Kress of H Company; Corporal John Powell and George W. Passwater and John Baker of I Com- pany. Mote was struck by a minie ball in the evening of the 22d, and died in a few hours; Larick, Porter and Riley were killed instantly, on the 18th, by the concussion of a cannon ball; Freeman received a flesh wound in the left side; Holloway was severely wounded in the scrotum; Stone, who, prior to the war, had been a young law student of much
.
295
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
promise, was stunned by a cannon ball which impaired his mind. Serg't. Mills of his Company undertook to hold him after the accident occurred, but he escaped from his hands, and ran as fleet as a deer into the woods from whence the Regiment had emerged. From the effects of his wound, this unfortunate fellow has been for many years confined in an asylum for the insane. Myers was wounded in the left side on the 21st; Kress received a bad fracture of the elbow which necessitated the amputation of his arm ; Blossom was wounded in the left thigh; Passwater was struck in the back, but his face was turned towards the enemy at the time. While re- clining with his head to the foe, on the 18th, a piece of shell ploughed down his back; and Baker was wounded in the head by a minie ball. Here also Lieutenant Jones of the Second Minnesota was killed and eleven men of that Regi- mient were wounded. The Eighty-seventh Indiana lost one man killed and three severely wounded; and the One-hundred and first Indiana lost thirteen wounded, two of whom were officers. The Nineteenth Indiana Battery lost one man wounded.
On the 24th, Sherman ordered an assault at two points of the line, south of Kenesaw. One was to be made by troops from the Army of the Tennessee, near Little Kenesaw, and the other by troops from the Army of the cumberland, about a mile south of McPherson's point of attack. Both points in Johnston's line were to be assailed simultaneously. The day set was the 27th. From the Army of the Cumberland, Gen- eral Thomas designated Newton's Division of the Fourth, and Davis' Division of the Fourteenthi Corps to make the charge, and ordered our Division to support Davis. In com- pliance with this order from the Department commander, our Division was relieved from its position as the left of the Army of the Cumberland by a Division of the Army of the Tennessee. On Sunday night of the 26th, about 10 o'clock, we quit our position in the line, and marched a distance of three miles, bivouacking at midnight near Depart-
2.06
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
ment headquarters in rear of Davis' Division. While on picket that night, David Eubanks of E Company burst his gun. Our Brigade was formed in two lines and moved to the right rear of Davis' Division to support it on that flank. We did not become engaged, but we had a fine opportunity of be- ing eye-witnesses to one of the most terrific assaults in the history of the war. Newton and Davis reached the enemy's works without dislodging him. Some of their men were killed on the parapets of the enemy. It was a great sacrifice of life for the results accomplished. It developed the strength of the enemy, and showed him how the troops of our grand old army could fight. The two assaults by both McPherson and 'Thomas failed, costing us many valuable lives. The troops of McPherson encountered the Confederates of Loring's Corps, and those of Thomas Hardee's Corps. The loss in the Army of the Tennessee was considerably over 1, 000, and that of the Divisions of Newton and Davis of the Army of the Cumberland aggregated 1580. Comparatively little loss was inflicted upon the enemy, as he lay behind well-constructed breast-works. This was the famous battle of Kenesaw Mountain, and it did not last over an hour and a half.
After this, the Union and Confederate lines of intrencli- ments became very near each other. In some places, they were not over thirty yards apart. The lines of our Brigade were so close to the enemy, that no one on either side could show his head above the works without getting shot. For a little diversion we would sometimes put our cap or hat on a bayonet, and hold it above the works, when it would be pierced by a bullet in an instant. We could advance only by night.
On Wednesday, the 29tlı, an armistice between Davis' Di- vision and the Confederates was agreed upon, for the burial of the dead caused by the conflict on the 27th. Between the hours of 8 a. in. and I p. m. we sat upon our breast- works looking at these men, who had fought each other so desper- ately a couple of days before, now mingling among each
297
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
other like friends, burying their respective dead. The sight was sad and strange. After one o'clock had arrived, we all had to get behind our works, and resume hostilities.
On the 27th, our Brigade commander, Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer of the Thirty-fifth Ohio, on account of sickness, was relieved from duty, and Colonel Newell Gleason of the Eighty-seventh Indiana was by seniority assigned to the command of the Brigade, which command he retained to the end of the war. Colonel Van Derveer was one of the bravest, best and most accomplished officers in the army. In Colonel Gleason our Brigade found a gallant, prompt and efficient commander.
Our position in line was not materially changed until the evacuation of Kenesaw Mountain by the enemy during the night of July 2d. The Twentieth Corps was on the right, joining the left of the Army of the Ohio, on the road leading from Powder Springs to Marietta; the Fourteenth Corps, ex- cept the First Division, was in the centre, and the Fourth Corps was on the left, connecting with the Army of the Tenn- essee. The First Division of Cavalry, under McCook, was on the right flank of the Army of the Ohio, while the Third Division of Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Lowe, was on the railroad between Cartersville and Dalton.
The three Corps under Thomas remained in close prox- imity to the enemy's works, while McPherson's Army on the left, during the night of the 2d of July, marched to the right of Schofield's Army, by which the left flank of the Confeder- ate Army was turned, and Jolinston was compelled to aban- don his strong intrenchments southwest of Kenesaw Moun- tain. On the morning of the 3d, our Division, with the other troops comprising the centre, entered the enemy's intrench- ments. It was before daylight when our Division took pos- session, and we captured quite a large number of prisoners. In the pursuit our Brigade passed through Marietta, and moved about five miles south, where we encamped.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.