USA > Indiana > The Eighty-sixth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry : a narrative of its services in the civil war of 1861-1865 > Part 54
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"May the Star Spangled Banner continue to wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
Colonel George F. Dick received the flag and gracefully replied to the address of Captain Sims. In part he said :
"HONORED SIR :- In accepting for the Eighty-sixth Regiment this beautiful emblem of our nationality I desire to return to the ladies and citizens of Boone county, who have thus kindly remembered them our most grateful acknowl- edgments for this appropriate and elegant present. During the twelve months that this regiment has been in the service of our common country, it has been constantly in the field and at the front. During the march, in the camp, and upon the hotly contested battle-field, all the powers of endurance and all the manly courage of the officers and men of the Eighty-sixth have been severely tested. That such has been their deportment under all the trying circumstances in which they have been placed, as to command the admiration of their friends at home, and to elicit from them such beautiful testimonials as that with which they are this day honored, is to them the proudest solace of their hearts. The heart of every member of this command swells with gratitude to the donors of these beautiful colors, for the uumistakable testi- mony of their appreciation of their services in behalf of the noblest government God ever gave man."
Turning to the color-bearers Colonel Dick said :
"COLOR-BEARERS :- This beautiful flag has been pre. sented to our regiment by the ladies and citizens of Boone county, in consideration of the services rendered by us in aid to crush the rebellion, and more particularly, for your con- duct during the hard fought battle of Stone's River. To you we entrust it. In honoring, protecting, carrying and main- taining this flag, you guard and sustain the reputation, the fame, the glory of our regiment. Take, then, this flag, the emblem of our glorious nationality. Carry it amid the noise and din of the bloody strife. Welcome death beneath its glorious folds. Sink to your last happy rost with its folds for a winding sheet; but let not the touch of the traitor mar its beauty or its glory. Fair ladies will then welcome you with smiles, aged patriots will greet you with their
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THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
blessings, and generations yet unborn will teach their chil- dren to lisp your praise."
And the banner presented by the patriotic citizens of Warren county, and the flag given by the ladies and citizens of Boone county were the colors that waved over the Eighty- sixth on Chickamauga's crimsoned field and around which its heroic men rallied and brought them off unstained and unsul- lied. It was this banner and this flag that led the way to the embattled heights of Missionary Ridge and which the Eighty- sixth followed to the crest, the first upon the Ridge. It was this banner and this flag that won for the heroic men of the Eighty-sixth imperishable renown and added new luster to the American arms. It was this flag, "the fairest blossom in all the flowery kingdom," that received through its folds on that glorious day eighty-eight musket shots and two through its staff. Let the regiment and its colors go to glory together.
On the 30th of April, 1864, the regimental stand of colors which had been carried up Missionary Ridge and literally shot to pieces in the hands of the color-bearers were sent to Governor Oliver P. Morton to be placed in the State Library for preservation.
These colors being now unserviceable the Eighty-sixth was kindly and patriotically remembered by its friends in Clinton county, that county being represented by two full companies and a part of a third company. These liberty- loving people through Sergeant John M. Cast, of Company H, sent to their boys, both a banner and a national flag, the material of which was of beautiful silk. The banner bore the inscription, "Eighty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers. Presented by Clinton County." The flag was the regulation stars and stripes. No data can be found to show that these colors were ever presented to the regiment in a formal man- ner, but that they were accepted is attested by the fact that they were carried through all the battles and skirmishes of the Atlanta campaign, through the campaigns of Franklin and Nashville, and were the colors which waved over the Eighty-sixth when it closed its glorious career. Faded and
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
worn, and with not a star dimmed nor a stripe sullied they were placed in the hands of Governor Morton on the 10th day of June, 1865, by him to be deposited in the State Capi- tol for permanent safe keeping where they now rest secure, among the other flags and banners of Indiana's gallant regiments.
Of the colors of the Eighty-sixth regiment deposited in the State Library, Adjutant General Terrell, in his Reports, says:
"National Flag; silk: badly worn and stained; inscribed ' Presented to the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, by the citizens Boone County;' staff broken lower half gone."
"National Flag; silk; faded, worn and torn; no inscription; staff good."
"Regimental Flag; blue silk; worn torn and faded; inscribed '86th Regiment Indiana Volunteers.,' 'Presented by Clinton County:' coat-of- arms all gone but head of eagle: staff good."
On the Fourth of July, 1866, the scarred battle-flags borne by the Indiana regiments and batteries during the war were formally presented to Governor Morton for permanent preservation in the State capitol. The presentation address was delivered by Major General Lew Wallace, in the course of which, in speaking of the honorable name that Indiana had acquired and the many different engagements in which Indiana regiments were "first" said: The first to show their stars from the embattled crest of Missionary Ridge, were those of the Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth Indiana."
The members of the Eighty-sixth therefore feel a par- donable pride in the history of their colors. Is it to be won- dered that they love and prize the flag? They feel. having offered their lives in its defense, that it is the symbol of pro- gress, of political and religious freedom. As their fathers left it as a precious legacy to them, so they feel that they have left one of no less value to their children.
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THE FOURTH CORPS-A LETTER FROM GENERAL O. O. HOWARD.
The original Fourth army corps was organized March 13, 1862, with General E. D. Keyes in command, and was a part of the Army of the Potomac. Its divisions became divided, and the corps was officially discontinued in August, 1862. On October 9. 1863, the new Fourth corps was organ- ized by the consolidation of the Twentieth and Twenty-first. This corps was composed of fighting regiments. Of the regi- ments in the Western armies, take the ones that sustained the greatest losses in battle, and it will be found that more of them were in the Fourth corps than in any other. This statement is made upon the authority of William F. Fox, in his "Regimental Losses in the American Civil War." The command was first given to General Gordon Granger, the man who marched his division to Chickamauga with no other orders or direction than "the sound of the enemy's cannon." The three divisions of this new corps were placed under the commands of Generals Palmer, Sheridan and Wood. Soon after its organization the corps went into the action of Mis- sionary Ridge, where it distinguished itself by its brilliant and successful charge up the heights. During the following winter the corps marched to the relief of Knoxville, a cam- paign memorable for the suffering, hunger and hardships endured by the men. In April, 1864, General O. O. Howard was placed in command of the corps, and in May moved on the Atlanta campaign, with Generals Stanley, Newton and Wood in command of the divisions. Before the close of the campaign General Howard was assigned to the command of the Army of the Mississippi, and General Stanley placed in command of the corps, with Generals Kimball, Wagner and
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
Wood in command of the divisions. After the evacuation of Atlanta the corps marched northward' in pursuit of Hood. At the battle of Franklin General Stanley was severely wounded, and General Thomas J. Wood succeeded to his place. General Wood had served with honor in the armies of the Ohio and the Cumberland from the commencement of the war. He commanded the Fourth corps in its last battle -its last victory, at Nashville. His division generals in that engagement were Kimball, Elliott and Beatty.
The distinguishing badge of the Fourth corps was an equilateral triangle. The colors, red, white and blue, indi- cated the divisions-first, second and third respectively-as. a red triangle, First division: a white triangle, Second divis- ion; a blue triangle, the Third division. The badges were worn by every soldier and marked the tents and wagons of the corps.
The Eighty-sixth ever had a warm admiration for Gen- eral O. O. Howard. This prompted one of the members of the committee on Regimental History to write that distin- guished officer. In reply General Howard sont the following letter:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMET OF THE EAST. I GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, NEW YORK.
J. A. Barnes, Late Private Company H. Eighty-sixth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, Perrysrille, Indiana.
MY DEAR SIR :- I have had such extraet- as we can find concerning your regiment, the Eighty-sixth Indiana, made as a slight record of ser- vice. The Fourth corps, of which this regiment forms a part, always dwells in my recollection as a grand whole. It- three divisions, Stan- ley's, Newton's, and Thomas John Wood's were finely organized and as well cared for as any divisions in the army. Certainly without the least exaggeration the Fourth corps bore the noblest part in all the cam- paign. Its duty was a bloody one, most arduous, always destined to hat- mer away at the center of opposition, with very little opportunity for brilliant fighting, and almost none for independent action, till Franklin. Cheerful, hearty, brave, strong, self-confident, it gave to its officers a most loyal and effective service.
Hoping that the extracts may suit you and that the Fighty -sixth Indiana may be appreciated by our children and children's children fer
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THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
the part it bore in saving our common country from division and utter ruin.
I remain Your Veteran Comrade,
O. O. HOWARD, Major General U. S. Army.
The extracts referred to by General Howard are taken from the reports of General Beatty and Colonel George F. Dick of the assault upon Missionary Ridge and will explain themselves. They will be found on pages 269 and 270 of this volume.
THE STORMING OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
An animated discussion has been going on for years among soldiers of all grades, especially among those of the Fourth and Fourteenth army corps, as to which regiment or regiments first reached the summit of Missionary Ridge on that memorable 25th of November, 1863. The authors of this volume have set forth the claim. which at first no person disputed, that the two regiments which first gained the crest of the Ridge were the Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana. The claim has been fully substantiated by conclu- sive corroborative evidence, not only by officers and soldiers on both sides, but by disinterested eye-witnesses of the bat- tle. On page 265 reference is given to the reports of Gen- erals Bate and Bragg, and quotations made therefrom, to show where their lines were first broken. General Bate says it was in the line of General Patton Anderson's division where a section of Dent's battery was located. This is cor- roborated by General Bragg. Since those pages were printed the authors have been able to secure a statement from Captain Dent, the officer in command of the battery whose guns were captured by these two regiments. Captain Dent was present at the dedication of Chickamauga Park, and visited Missionary Ridge, the scene of the assault. On the ground where his battery was captured he made the
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
statement which follows to W. H. Montgomery, the Guardian Tennessee Division Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Mr. Montgomery has kindly forwarded the Captain's statement which is here given:
"He had two guns on top of the hill south of what is called Shallow Ford Road, and four guns north of the road. The four guns north of the road enfiladed the lines of Wood's division (left) at the assault of Missionary Ridge near the top of ridge. The two guns south of road could not be used in front of the left of Wood's division after the lines got under cover of ridge. They were used to rake the front of the four guns north when the lines of Wood were near the top or in exposed places. He did great execution with the four guns. One instance near the top. He struck a tree and knocked it down and as it rolled down the hill it caught a man and turned him up in the air. When he saw this and it did not create a panic he knew nothing would prevent the lines from going to the top. When his two guns were cap- tured he turned on them but could not keep them from com- ing down on his four guns. His only way to escape was down the road and he was cut off this way. So he aban- doned all but the gun on the north (or farthest away). He tried to run this gun straight down the hill, but ran on a stump and while the men were trying to lift the gun over his horses were shot and he lost this gun also. This battery was on the left of Wood's division."
Mr. Montgomery accompanied the statement with a rough sketch or drawing showing the exact positions of the guns of this battery which it is to be regretted cannot In used. The ground referred to, is that which is accepted by the Commission as the point where Wood's left-the Eighty. sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana-went up the Ridge. Dent's statement, with Bate's, Bragg's and others, and the location by the Commission, fixes the seal upon these two regiments as the first to mount the crest of the Ridge on that Volcanic Day, November 25, 1863.
. . The following extracts from General Boynton's book.
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THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
"The Chickamauga National Military Park, " will be of inter- est to every member of the Eighty-sixth regiment, and for that reason they are here inserted:
"The declaration was current at the time of the battle, and has been persistently maintained in various histories since, that the successful storming of Missionary Ridge by General Thomas' corps was made possible because General Sherman's attack at the north end of the Ridge had drawn large forces from Thomas' front, and so enabled him to break through. As a matter of fact, not a soldier or a gun left the Confederate center to go to their right after Sherman's assault began. The movements on the Ridge which led to this belief were those of the troops which had abandoned Lookout and were on their way to the Confederate right. Most of these reached their destination by 9 a. m. The exact opposite is true, that soon after Gen. Thomas moved against the Confederate center, that is, about an hour before sunset, Brown's, Cum- ming's, and Maney's brigades were dispatched by General Cleburne from Tunnel Hill to the assistance of the forces opposing Thomas, Cleburne himself accompanying them. Brown's brigade reached Cheatham's line before the close of the action, and, supported by Cumming's, participated in the effort to check Baird's northward advance along the crest of the Ridge." Page 294. * * *
" The advance on Orchard Knob, the attack on Lookout Mountain, and Hooker's movement on Rossville Gap, were not contemplated in General Grant's orders for battle. The key movement of that plan was the occupation of the north end of Missionary Ridge to the Tunnel by General Sherman before the enemy could concentrate there. At 3 o'clock the attack at that point had failed, and General Grant, then on Orchard Knob, his headquarters during the day, ordered a demonstration at the center against the enemy's works at the foot of the Ridge, to relieve the pressure upon General Sherman. General Thomas, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, and General Gordon Granger, commanding the Fourth corps, also had their headquarters on Orchard Knob.
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
* * Baird, who had been ordered to Sherman and had joined him at the Tunnel, was just returning to the center when the order for the demonstration against the Ridge was given, and quickly formed as the left of the advance." Page 132. * *
"The first troops on the crest appear to have been those in Thomas J. Wood's division." Page 134.
"Contrary to prevailing impressions, no Confederate troops left the front of the Army of the Cumberland to oppose General Sherman, after the battle of Tunnel Hill opened. It is true, instead, that troops left Sherman's front soon after the movement of General Thomas' line began." Page 216 and 218.
*
"Wood's right crowned the Ridge about the crossing of the Bird's Mill Road. "-Boynton. Wood's left mounted the Ridge on the knoll-and on its northern slope-just south of the Shallow Ford Road where a section of Dent's battery was located, as he himself states. The Commissioners of the Park have properly located both Wood's left and Dont's battery. This point was known in Beatty's brigade as Sig. nal Hill.
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HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS. ! CHATTANOOGA, TENN .. Nov. 27th, 1503.
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS-ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND: A Glorious Victory, under the providence of God, has erowned our arms. In producing this great result, your valor has been most signally displayed.
Ordered on Monday afternoon to make a reconnoi-ance of the enemy's position, you converted a reconnaissance into a astastial attack, most gallantly carrying a position strong by intare sod intrenched. But your crowning glory was achieved on Woldsy afternoon. You were ordered to carry the line of intronchien is at the foot of Missionary Ridge, for the purpose of making a diversion is faver of our troops engaged on the left. This you did, but you were met te. tent to stop at the base of the Ridge. Your enthusiasm hore yon do in splendid style, carrying the rifle pits which crowned the summit -top- turing many pieces of artillery, small arms and prisoners. The commy began to retire in disorder.
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THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
Your achievement in carrying the rugged, fortified heights of Mis- sionary Ridge, displayed a gallantry and steadiness under fire, and pro- duced results unparalelled in the annals of warfare.
Your conduct was witnessed by many officers distinguished on other battle-fields. Their admiration and appreciation of your services are unbounded.
I return you my most heartfelt thanks.
THOMAS J. WOOD, Brigadier General Volunteers Commanding.
GENERAL T. J. WOOD TO GOVERNOR MORTON.
HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION FOURTH ARMY CORPS, CAMP NEAR NASHVILLE, JUNE 9, 1865.
To His Excellency Governor O. P. Morton:
SIR :- Yesterday two noble and gallant regiments, tried defenders and vietors of the Union, the Seventy-ninth Indiana, Brevet Brigadier General Fred Knefler, commanding, and the Eighty-sixth Indiana, Bre- vet Brigadier General George F. Dick, commanding, and late of my division, started to their homes in Indiana. The noble, generous, thorough, self-sacrificing patriotism evinced by the gallant people of Indiana throughout the whole of this war, is her earnest of the reeep- tion that awaits these war-worn defenders of the Union, on their arrival in their beloved State. I know I need not ask anything on this seore, but I feel it to be my duty, as it certainly is my pleasure, to inform you, as the representative head of the State, how well these regiments have performed their duty, and how worthy they are of the admiration and gratitude of their fellow-citizens of Indiana.
On every battle-field these noble regiments have been in the front of the conflict, where death and danger were thiekest. On the march and in eamp they have been faithful, intelligent, obedient soldiers. Their conduet in all situations has shed luster on themselves, their State and their country. Ever faithful, their services have been productive of the greatest good to our beloved government and country. "Dead on the field of honor," their gallant soldiers have been offered as a tribute to the cause of free government and the perpetuity of the Union, on every battle-field on which the old Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Cumberland have adorned the history of the country with noble deeds. Such noble and valuable services entitle the Seventy-ninth and Eighty- sixth Indiana to be greeted by the admiring and grateful fellow-citizens with the swelling notes of "See, the conquering heroes come."
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INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
With the kindest regards to you, personally, and with the warmest wishes for the prosperity of the people of the noble State over which you have the honor to preside, I am, my dear Governor, Your friend and obedient servant,
THOMAS J. WOOD, Major General of Volunteers.
AN ENGLISHMAN'S IDEA.
[From the Chattanooga Times. ]
General Fullerton, who was General Gordon Granger's chief of staff in the battle, was talking to an English gen- eral in England just after the war, and finding that the Eng. lishman knew very little about most of our battles, spoke to him of Chickamauga as the longest battle of modern history. twenty hours long, as compared with the eight hours of Waterloo, and even the eight hours of Gettysburg; gave him the unprecedented percentage of casualties, and wound up by telling him that 30,000 men had been killed and wounded in the battle, which, he said, was more than had been killed and wounded in the British army in a century, Waterloo and the Crimea included. This made the English general gasp out the only explanation that occurred to him in the form of the question, "Did you kill the prisoners?"
ARMY RATIONS FOR ONE HUNDRED MEN.
The army rations for one hundred men consists of the following: Pork, 75 pounds, or bacon 75 pounds; flour, 112} pounds, or 75 pounds pilot bread and 100 pounds in the field: beans, 8 quarts; rice, 10 pounds; coffee. 6 pounds; sugar. 12 pounds; vinegar, 4 quarts; candles, 1} pounds; soap. 4 pounds; salt, 2 quarts.
ERRATA.
Page 45, line 1, "27th" should read 21st.
Page 101, line 3, "left" should read right.
Page 120, lines 11 and 16, " Holstein" should read Holston.
Page 132, line 10, "William J. Ness" should read William J. Nees.
Page 155, line 3, "Sand mountain" should read Raccoon mountain.
Page 155, line 18, "Chattanooga creek" should read Chickamauga creek.
Page 160, line 21, "Lookout valley" should read Chatta- nooga valley.
Page 174, line 21, "Granger" should read McCook.
Page 207, line 21, "20th" should read 21st.
Page 225, line 7, "5th" should read 1st.
Page 225, line 14, "3d" should read 2d.
Page 267, lines 1 and 2, "Fifty-ninth Ohio" should read Eighty-ninth Ohio.
Page 293, line 32, "6th of December" should read 7th of December.
Page 342, line 8, "Fourth" should read Fourteenth.
Page 378, line 15. "passed" should read pressed.
Page 431, line 17, "Seventh Kentucky" should read Seventeenth Kentucky.
Page 446, line 38, "Shay" should read Elder.
Page 456, line 13, " southeasterly" should read north- easterly.
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