USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 37
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In the Thirty-Second twenty-one were killed, seventy-eight were wounded, and seventeen were missing. Captain Ritter was one of the killed. Colonel Erdelmeyer was in command.
The Thirty-Fifth had nine killed, fifty-nine wounded, and fifty-six missing, fourteen of the last being wounded. It oc- cupied one of the most exposed positions on the field, and bore itself with Irish gallantry.
The Thirty-Sixth lost fourteen killed, one hundred and ten wounded, and thirteen missing. Lieutenant Patterson was killed. Captain Graves and Lieutenants Butler and Colvin were mortally wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Carey was wounded on Saturday, but remained with his command throughout the day. Lieutenant Hilligoss was wounded. George Shirk, Colonel Grose's orderly, was mortally wounded while carrying the brigade battle flag.
The Thirty-Seventh lost several wounded at Dutch Gap, and eight wounded at Chickamauga.
The Thirty-Eighth lost ten killed, forty-eight wounded; fifty-one missing. It lost one killed and several wounded at Dug Gap.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The Forty-Second, under Lieutenant Colonel McIntire, lost eight killed, fifty-three wounded and thirty-two missing.
The Forty-Fourth lost eighty-two out of two hundred and fifteen engaged. Of these only three were killed. After the breaking up of the right wing, the Forty-Fourth, with two others of Van Cleve's regiments, rallied and formed on Thomas' right. Captain Gunsenhouser was killed.
The Fifty-Eighth lost one hundred and seventy-one out of four hundred engaged. Captain Bruce, Lieutenants Foster and Barnett were killed. General Wood complimented Colonel Buell, Lieutenant Yaryan and private Robert Lemon, a brave and devoted boy sixteen or seventeen years old, and a member of his escort. Wood also complimented Captain George, of the Fifteenth.
The Sixty-Eighth lost one hundred and thirty-five out of three hundred and fifty-six men and officers. Colonel King, who was in command, was killed. Major Espy, who suc- ceeded him, was wounded. Lieutenant Price was killed. The Sixty-Eighth was one of the last Regiments to leave the field on the twentieth. On the two following days it repulsed attacks of the Rebels.
The Seventy-Second lost ten killed, twenty-three wounded and four missing.
The Seventeenth lost one killed and two wounded, in a fight near Ringgold. In the great battle, it fought nearly all day of Saturday, making several successful charges, and was engaged next day until three in the afternoon, with the loss of four killed, nine wounded and three missing.
The Seventy-Fourth was one of the first Regiments en- gaged, and with the Tenth was the last to leave the field. It lost twenty-two killed, one hundred and twenty-nine wounded, and eleven missing. Lieutenants Hall and Bodley were killed, and Lieutenant Davis was mortally wounded.
The Seventy-Fifth lost seventeen killed, seven wounded and four missing. The first day of the battle it was detached from its division in order to relieve an entire brigade, and was placed under the immediate command of General Palmer, who on the field complimented its gallantry. In the afternoon of Sunday it was commanded by Captain Steele,
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AFTER THE BATTLE.
Colonel Robinson having been called to the place of Colonel King, Lieutenant Colonel O'Brien having been wounded, and Major McCole being sick.
In a previous reconnoissance to Crawfish Springs the Seventy-ninth lost Lieutenant Clark, who was one of its best officers. When it moved back to Gordon's Mills, it left six pickets, uninformed of the movement, alone in the woods. They remained over night, when discovering their exposed position they managed to effect their escape in the face of the enemy. In the battle the Seventy-Ninth charged and captured one of Longstreet's batteries, the only battery cap- tured from the Rebels. Captains Buchanan and Parker were wounded. Dr. McFadden, Lieutenant Harris and two men were captured. The whole number of wounded was forty. One was killed.
The Eighty-First lost eight killed, fifty-nine wounded and twenty-two missing. The Eighty-First began the battle under the command of Captain Boone, but was at an early hour, and while under fire, put under the authority of Major Callaway of the Twenty-First Illinois. The following pas- sage occurs in Callaway's official report: "The enemy ap- peared emerging from a body of thick timber, about one hundred and fifty yards in our front, moving without skirmish- ers, and as near as I could judge by the battle flags exhibited, four lines in depth. We opened a terrible fire. The enemy steadily advanced until but three men held his first line, and half his second line was gone, when his farther progress seemed checked." Major Callaway won the confidence, gratitude and admiration of the Regiment, as a token of which a sword, with the following inscription, was afterwards given to him: "Presented to Major James E. Callaway, Twenty-First Illinois Volunteers, by the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Eighty-First Indiana Volunteers, as a token of our confidence and esteem for the gallant and skilful manner in which he conducted us at the battle of Chickamauga, September 19 and 20, 1863."
Captain Mitchell, of the Eighty-First, was mortally wounded in the battle. He was an approved soldier in the Thirteenth Regiment, in the early part of the war, but having
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been discharged on account of a severe wound, he re-en- tered the service in the Eighty-First. He was a devoted and conscientious patriot.
The Eighty-Second arrived on the field the morning of the nineteenth, after marching all night. It was warmly engaged during Saturday. Sunday, while it was lying down in the second line, it was run over by retreating troops, but retain- ing its composure, it charged on the pursuers, and repulsed them, though it lost in the charge eighty-eight men killed and wounded. It was unsupported, however, and after a brave struggle, was driven back to the hill on which Thomas, somewhat later, formed his line. The Eighty-Second, under half its battle-flag, the other lialf having been shot away, took up a good position and withstood the enemy an hour with the assistance only of a few scattered troops who rallied to its aid. The regiment lost half its number in killed and wounded, and had thirty-six holes shot through its flag. Cap- tain Mc Allister was killed.
The Eighty-Fourth, under Major Neff, was one of the reg- iments which checked the stream of Rebels pouring through the gap in the hills on Thomas' right and rear. Fired on from right, left and front, it lost one-third of its men in fifteen minutes. Captain Ellis, Lieutenants Hatfield and Mason, were killed. Captain Sellers, Lieutenants Smith and Moore, were wounded. It lost one hundred and twenty-five killed, wounded and missing.
The Eighty-Sixth lost fifty-two killed and wounded. It was under the command of Major Dick.
The Eighty-Seventh lost forty killed, one hundred and forty-two wounded, eight missing, more than half the men and officers engaged. Captains Baker, Hughes and Holli- day, Adjutant Ryland, Lieutenants Brown, Bennett, Martin and Andrew were killed. Colonel Gleason was in com- mand of the regiment.
The Eighty-Eighth lost three killed, thirty-two wounded, and seventeen missing. Captain LeFevre was mortally wounded. Major Stough was severely wounded and cap- tured. He suffered and lingered in Libby prison until the last of October, when he died.
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AFTER THE BATTLE.
The One Hundred and First lost eleven killed, cighty- seven wounded, and seventeen missing. Lieutenant Busick was wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Doan was in command.
The Eighth cavalry had nine killed, fifty-nine wounded, and forty-two missing. Lieutenant Butler was killed. Lieu- tenant Garboden was mortally wounded.
Lieutenant Flansburgh, who was in command of the Fourth battery, and who, a few days later, was commissioned Captain, was taken prisoner. He died in prison in Colum- bia, South Carolina. The battery was handled with great skill during the entire engagement. Lieutenant Willits, who assumed command after the capture of Flansburgh, received the thanks of General Baird. One limber-box was blown up and two axles were broken by the recoil of the guns. One man was killed, seventeen were wounded and six were missing.
The Fifth battery had one killed, nine wounded, and lost two guns and several horses.
The Eighth battery lost two killed, nine wounded and seven missing, and had forty-three horses killed and disabled.
The Eighteenth lost one killed and four wounded.
The Nineteenth, Harris', and the 'Twenty-First, Andrews', received the commendations of General Thomas and Gen- eral Reynolds, for the steadiness with which they supported the division of the latter, Harris on both days, Andrews on Sunday. Captain Harris was wounded and was succeeded by Captain Lackey, who commanded ably. The Nineteenth lost two men killed, sixteen wounded, and two missing. It lost two guns, one left on the field because the horses were killed, the other disabled by the enemy's fire.
The Twenty-First lost ten men wounded and one gun abandoned because the harness broke.
The Eleventh battery, in Sheridan's brigade, was stationed near Gordon's Mills on Saturday, and was not called into action. Before dawn, of Sunday, it was moved toward the left. It was desperately engaged during the greater part of the day, and suffered terribly. Lieutenant Williams, the commander of one section, seeing the Rebels bearing down 28
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toward him in overwhelming force, made strenuous efforts to check them, and at last to save his guns. He sighted the three last shots himself, and fired at short range with cannister, through an advancing Rebel regiment, but with ten out of twelve horses shot, five out of six drivers wounded, his right arm pierced by a bullet, he was forced to leave his guns in the hands of the enemy and retreat for his life.
The Seventh battery was found in the road unemployed, on the morning of Saturday, by General Reynolds, as he was moving into position, and added to Harris' battery and the Seventy-Fifth regiment,-to form a reserve force, but it was soon called to the front.
Lieutenant Frank Sheets, of Madison, Indiana, aid to General Johnson, was killed Sunday morning. He was scarcely eighteen years old, and was the pride and darling of his widowed mother.
Two million six hundred and fifty thousand rounds of mus- ket cartridges, and seven thousand three hundred and twenty- five rounds of ammunition were expended in the battle.
Few officers attract as little general attention as an ord- nance officer, yet not many of equal rank have an equal responsibility, and receive as little inspiration from the cir- cumstances of battle. The commander of a train of ammu- nition moves up after the engagement has opened, too far in the rear to feel the fiery ardor which runs along the line, to hear the wild cheer or the thrilling command, or to attract the eye of the leader whose praise he loves. His drivers have as little to inspirit them, and less, as they have not even the pride of position. His mules are stupid and stubborn. The horse "saith among the trumpets, ha! ha! and he smell- eth the battle afar off." Not the mule. That less noble creature stands stock still, or backs, or turns, or slavishly obeys under blows and kicks and curses. It is a curious thing that the profane driver always invokes maledictions on the heart of the mule, as if the cause of his perversity was the very seat and centre of his life. Swear or resist, beat or kick as they may, the blood of man and beast is cold, and grows colder as the field of action is approached. Now a ball falls near. Now a shell crashes through a tree above.
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AN AMMUNITION TRAIN ON THE FIELD.
Minies whistle. The wounded come limping, haggard and ghastly, an eye gone, an arm dangling, blood spouting.
A further idea of the difficulties of the position, and at the same time another glimpse of the confusion of the battle may be obtained by following on the field of Chickamauga, the fortunes of W. H. H. Sheets, Lieutenant and Ordnance offi- cer for Van Cleve's division.
Knowing nothing of the state of affairs, but fearing that ammunition might be needed, he set out at dark Saturday evening to inquire. Another division occupied the ground on which Van Cleve stood in the morning, and had no knowledge of its predecessor. He questioned and hunted from field to hill, through gorge and wood, his anxiety grow- ing with every hour. He was almost in despair. He fan- cied the division, on the following day, reduced to the bay- onet, overrun, overpowered, lost, dear friends reproaching him and the commander reporting and surrendering him to dis- grace. Pursued by these torturing thoughts, he reached, at midnight, General" Rosecrans' quarters, where General Crit- tenden gave him information which served to direct him aright. From one o'clock until daylight he replenished the caissons and cartridge boxes of the division, issuing to the batteries three hundred and eighty-five rounds of shot and shell, and to the regiments one hundred and sixty-one thou- sand rounds of infantry ammunition. All of this was ex- pended before the battle was over. The expenditure of in- fantry ammunition alone, in Van Cleve's division, during the battle of Chickamauga, was three hundred and seventy- eight thousand rounds.
Having attended to the duty of supplying the troops, Sheets withdrew his train to a cove in Missionary Ridge. It was soon so plain that at least part of the army might be routed, that he kept his wagons in readiness to retreat, com- pelling his drivers to retain their seats. With his ordnance sergeant, who was an excellent officer, and who, like himself, was armed with two pistols, he rode among them constantly exhorting and threatening. The stream of fugitives grew thick and thicker. At twelve o'clock, General M'Cook ap- peared, riding entirely without troops, and accompanied by
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but two or three of his staff. The young ordnance officer rode up to the General and asked if his train was safe in the cove. "If you don't move it," replied M'Cook, "the Rebels will have it in five minutes." The train was ordered out im- mediately, and the teamsters, who each carried a pistol, were directed to fire on anybody who should try to break their line. It was fairly under way when a Captain belonging to Rosecrans' staff, galloping wildly from the direction of the battle, and evidently unable in his excitement to distinguish a line of wagons moving intact from the broken trains which were rushing every way, cried " Halt!" The Rebels were in sight. It was no time for etiquette. "Move on!" shouted the ordnance officer, and the wagons went on. The excited Captain was wrathful. He presented his pistol, and only with difficulty was convinced of the needlessness and impro- priety of his interference. The train reached Chattanooga without detention. Lieutenant Sheets had been thirty-six hours in the saddle. Brannan's train, which was the next in order of retreat, was captured.
A few days after the battle, Captain Moreau, with thirty- one men, returned from a hazardous scouting expedition, on which he had started the sixteenth of the month. In finding his way through the enemy's lines, he lost four men.
" LOOKOUT VALLEY, September 8, 1863.
"DEAR MOTHER :- On the second, we crossed the river at Bridgeport, moving about three miles to Big Spring, Hog- Jaw Valley, at the foot of Raccoon Mountain. The ori- ginal settlers must have been hard pressed for names. On the fourth, we moved to the top of Raccoon Mountain, being obliged to use ten horses to a gun, so steep was the road. The fifth, moved near Trenton, Georgia. The sixth and seventh moved about twelve miles from Trenton to where we now are, up Lookout Valley. Where we are going, I do not know-perhaps farther south, to cross the Lookout range, and then come back in the Chattanooga Valley to- ward Chattanooga. Except the almost intolerable dust, marching has been very pleasant. When my books accu- mulate, of course I am obliged to abandon them in one way
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PROGNOSTICATIONS.
or another. I intend giving Dr. Junkin's "Political Falla- cies" to some intelligent Southern family on the road, if I can find any such intelligent.
" We are all in fine spirits, and think we can whip an equal number of Rebels, and perhaps a third more, in their present state of discouragement. The entire army was never in better fighting condition. Faith in General Rosecrans is is unbounded. Our immediate commanders, General Sher- idan and General Lytle, are beyond all doubt able men. I am sure you will hear a good report from us, if we are engaged.
"Father asks me to tell all about my section. I have two three-inch rifles, called Rodman guns, having all the good qualities of the Parrott, with the advantage of being lighter. They can reach at least three or four miles.
" This campaign ought to be decided in ten or fifteen days at the most. I do not believe that General Rosecrans will go as far as Atlanta, unless a demonstration be made on Mobile at the same time, or on some other points, which will cause the weakening of the Rebel army after it shall have retreated to Atlanta. Dalton will be our most advanced post."
" CAMP ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA, - September 15.
" We have been in the valley east of the Mountain range as far as Alpine, a day or two past, and are now returning or retreating, I don't know which. We occupy the same camp we did on the tenth. It seems to be uncertain whether the fate of the campaign is yet decided. It is probable, our flanking movement having compelled the enemy to leave Chattanooga, we have ascended the Mountain again to keep out of his way on his retreat through the valley, as the whole Rebel army could very casily overwhelm our corps twenty miles from support. Our entire line must be thirty miles long.
" HENRY M. WILLIAMS."
"CHATTANOOGA, Sunday, September 27, 1863.
"DEAR FATHER :- We have seen rough times. On the night of the eighteenth, Thomas and M'Cook's corps marched
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all night in order to be ready for the fight next day. So many troops being on the move, the road was pretty thor- oughly blocked, and we made only six miles during the whole night. I shall not attempt to give you a description of the battle-that you have seen in the papers. It was probably as severe a musketry fight as the war has produced. On Sunday, from nine o'clock until quarter after twelve, it was terrific. It was then we began to fall back to Chatta- nooga. Captain Sutermeister says Henry fought bravely, but that he could not save his guns.
" General Reynolds' division stood through the two days fight splendidly. General Turchin won great honor, and managed his brigade so well that his loss is comparatively small. The men are all attached to Turchin since the fight. "EDWARD WILLIAMS."
"September 28.
" MY DEAR MOTHER :- You can find a great deal more in the papers than I can tell you, for I don't know anything but what occurred in our front. Friday night and Saturday morning were very cold, and no fires were allowed. We shivered all night, and were glad when the sun rose. The battle commeneed on the extreme left, where it was expected, about a mile from us. The firing was very heavy, exceeding anything I ever expected to hear. It was one continual
roar. It gradually came rolling down the line, almost to our front. I counted twenty discharges of cannon in one min- ute. The roads were so thick and the ground so rough that there were few positions for artillery. Along the left side of the road to Chattanooga was a cornfield about one hundred yards wide, and extending along the road for some distance. This field was in front of us. Our battery was posted in the edge of the woods on the left of the field, and the troops lay before us along a fence. In the middle of the field was a ditch in which were our sharpshooters and skirmishers. The Rebels were across the road, in woods that were so thick they could not get their artillery up to fire on us, until afternoon. They used very little artillery all along their line,
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RETROSPECTION.
but they made it up by the superior number of their infantry, playing their old game of massing a large force and charg- ing on a weak place in our lines. They tried their hardest to turn our left flank and get between us and Chattanooga, but they failed every time. About twelve o'clock the firing opened very heavily on us, and in a few moments the Rebels came charging across the road and into the field, driving their skirmishers out of the ditch and baek to the main line. We fired into them with double-charged cannister, just as fast as we could load. Every discharge would open their ranks in great gaps, but they would close up again and ad- vance. They did not reach the ditch before they broke and ran. Our double-shotted cannisters and seven-shooters were too much for them. The ground was gray with the dead and wounded. This was the only charge they made on us, till just before dark, when they made another with the same result. All along the line the Rebels would mass troops and charge on our forces, but they were repulsed nearly every time. Our lines were so extended that no troops could be spared to return these charges with any vigor; but when our troops did charge, they always drove the Rebels. A great deal of artillery was captured and recaptured. Sometimes the guns would stand out between the antagonists until one or the other charged and succeeded in pulling them off. The battle ceased sometime in the night, and all was still once more, except the groans of the wounded. All night long we could hear their dismal groans and heart-rending calls on some friend to come to them, as they lay between the skirm- ish line and the Rebels. No one dared go out. It was the hardest part of the battle to lie within hearing, and not be able to assist them. The night was very cold. Rations were issued, for which some were thankful, as we had had nothing to cat since morning, but some had no way to cook them.
"Sunday morning the battle seemed to be waiting till everything got a good ready. About eight o'clock, it broke loose again, as on Saturday's fight, on the extreme left. They seemed determined to turn our left flank, but they were met as before by men who were deterinined to hold
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
their ground. At daylight our position was changed farther to the left, and back about a mile, on a hill in the rear of a field with heavy woods on both sides. The regiment built a line of breastworks of logs all along the edge of the woods. The fighting was not very heavy in front of us until we were charged by part of Longstreet's corps, then we advanced out of our breastworks and moved down to a place where we could rake them up a hollow. Here we poured the grape and canister into them without mercy, and laid them in the We repulsed the charge and saved ditch by the hundreds.
Van Cleve's division. It was now about twelve o'clock. We fought steadily until about three, when we were ordered to go to Chattanooga, which was three miles off, cross the river, and guard the ford at Fryer's Island. We reached Chattanooga about five o'clock, and went up the island, where we camped on our old ground, placing two guns down on the bank, behind earthworks thrown up for the oc- casion. HENRY CAMPBELL."
"CHATTANOOGA, September 24, 1863.
"DEAR MOTHER :- I don't know that I can write more than a word, for we are lying in the trenches expecting an attack any moment. You are aware that we were greatly defeated on last Saturday and Sunday, and on Sunday night fell back to this place. We have been fortifying and beating back the enemy ever since. Our works are getting strong, and, I think, if the assault is made, the enemy will suffer quite as much as we have, although they outnumber us per- haps two to one. None of the boys from our place are killed. Henry Flesher was left on duty at the Field Hospi- tal, which of course fell into the enemy's hands. He may be released along with our Surgeons.
" We expected to fight all day to-day, but there are no de- monstrations on the part of the enemy except an occasional attempt to place batteries on commanding positions. You will have learned all ere this reaches you. I hope I may be spared to give you some account of this awful campaign. I am getting tired and worn out, as is every one, and anxious for rest.
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BEHIND INTRENCHMENTS.
" This is the seventh day since the fight began. I am sit- ting under a tree in the grave yard at Chattanooga, upon the grave of a Rebel soldier. There is about an acre covered with the dead from the battle of Stone River. There is a board at the head of each grave, with the number upon it. The highest number I see now is eleven hundred and forty- five.
"Our regiment is just in from a twenty-four hours skir- mish with the Rebels. The boys enjoy the fun in the day time, but at night it is too cold.
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