USA > Michigan > An historical sketch of the Seventh regiment Michigan volunteer cavalry from its organization, in 1862, to its muster out, in 1865 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 0729
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historicalsketch00isha
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
SEVENTH REGIMENT_MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY
FROM ITS ORGANIZATION, IN 1862, TO ITS MUSTER OUT, IN 1865.
BY ASA B. ISHAM,
Late First Lieutenant Company "F." Historian of the Regiment.
NEW YORK : TOWN TOPICS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1125 BROADWAY AND 20S FIFTH AVE.
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Haruo r 8349 .49243
Isham, Asa Brainerd, 1844-
An historical sketch of the Seventh regiment Men volunteer cavalry from its organization, in 1-64. to 9; muster out, in 1865. By Asa B. Isham .. New Yor., Town topics publishing company (1893;
118 p. front., illus. (ports. ) facsim. 20}"m. "'Roll of honor' ... Compiled by J. Q. A. Sessions": p. 1991-118 CHELF CARD
1. Michigan cavalry. 7th regt., 1862-1865. 2. U. S .- Hist .- Civil war -- Regimental histories-Mich. cav .- 7th. I. Sessions, John Quincy Adams. 185937
4-11967
Library of Congress E514.6.7thI
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(WHONEL W. D. MANS.
WILLIAM GREEN, PRINTER AND BINDER, 324-330 Pearl St., N. Y.
Gift of C.G. Dawgs . 2:1 "
Witte affectionate
ibretce of my Mi Commande
PREFACE.
AT a re-union of the Seventh Michigan Car- alry Association, held at Battle Creek, Mich., in October, 1890, A. B. Isham was elected His- torian, and was instructed by Lieut. J. Q. 1. Sessions, the Secretary of the Association, to prepare a brief chronologically-connected ac- count of the regiment during its existence as a military organization in the service of the United States, from 1862 to 1865.
The choice fell upon one who had been widely separated from, and an entire stranger to, all his old companions in arms since the close of the War, and upon one, also, who could devote but little attention to the work desired. The materials available for the purpose were the meagre entries in a diary kept during the War, the very incomplete official reports con-
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PREFACE,
tained in " Michigan in the War," and the re- collections of minds somewhat dimmed by time, together with the numerous accounts published since the War of the service of other organizations which touched incidentally upon that of our own. Upon such a basis the whole story has been constructed, a part of which was read before the Association at its meeting in Detroit in August, 1891, receiving its en- dorsement, and the balance was presented at the meeting at Grand Rapids in October, 1892, where it was all approved by the Association.
The generous offer of Colonel William D. Mann, the first commander of the regiment, to print the matter at his own expense for free distribution to the Association, first sending out proof-slips with wide margins to the vari- ous members so that any omissions might be supplied or errors corrected. was unanimously accepted with thanks. The Colonel has faith- fully discharged his assumed obligation. and we have here presented a record of service in the War for the Union that we regard with a considerable degree of satisfaction. That it is not by any means complete, we realize full well. Many heroic deeds of individual valor are un-
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PREFACE.
recorded ; many a gallant soldier fails to receive the notice he deserves, and many an engage- ment in which the regiment battled conspicu- ously with signal results is passed over with bare mention. Recognizing and regretting the defects, which are many, this sketch of the regiment's history is freely given to the old comrades for what it is worth, with the wish that they may see to read between the lines whatever should have been included
Information has been furnished by Col. Geo. G. Briggs, Lient .- Col. D. H. Darling, Major J. 1. Carpenter, Captains J. B. Loomis, H. N. Moore. Wm. HI. Fisher, S. B. Mann, Surgeon Geo. R. Richards, and by Lieutenants J. Q. A. Sessions, Geo. W. Hill and E. R. Havens, to all of whom thanks are returned.
THE HISTORIAN.
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CORONEL W. D. MANN.
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
SEVENTH REGIMENT MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY
FROM ITS ORGANIZATION, IN 1862, TO ITS MUSTER OUT. IN 1865.
BY ASA B. ISHAM,
Lat. First Lieutenant Company "F." Historian of the Regiment.
T HE Seventh Michigan Cavalry was one of the regiments that the Honorable F. W. Kellogg had special authority from the War Department to recruit. The nucleus for its organization was found in an overflow of men from the Sixth Cavalry, and consisted of detachments from Niles and Battle Creek that had arrived in Grand Rapids the 24th and 25th of September, 1-62. These detachments subsequently became Company " A." and were mustered into the United States service the 13th of October, 1862. at the same time that the muster of the Sixth Cavalry was proceeding.
On the fourth of November Colonel William D. Mann, who had been commissioned as Colonel of the
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
Regiment, arrived and took command. Colonel Mann, who had gone out as Captain with the First Michigan Cavalry and had much experience in the early part of 1862 in fighting Colonel Turner Ashby, the famous Confederate cavalry leader of the Shenandoah Valley, had conceived that a somewhat differently equipped and mounted cavalry force was desirable in the Virginia campaign. He had submitted to the War Department a scheme for a regiment of mounted rifles and a battery of light artillery. This scheme had received the endorsement of General John P. Hatch, then holding a command in the Valley, and other experienced officers of the old Army, and was promptly accepted by Secretary Stanton, who, with the consent of the President, granted authority to Captain Mann to raise such a regiment in Michigan, if the consent of the Governor of the State could be obtained. To seenre this, and for other reasons, Captain Mann, accepting the Lieutenant Coloneley for himself, ten- dered the Coloneley of his newly authorized regiment to Lieutenant Colonel Copeland, of the First Michigan Cavalry. This regiment of mounted rifles, later known as the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, and the battery of light artillery known and greatly famed later in the War as Daniel's Battery, were recruited and organized to the full number of nearly 1, 400 men, and mustered into the service within eight days from the date of Lieutenant Colonel Mann's arrival in Detroit. It was as magnificent a body of vigoron- young soldiers as ever was mu-tered. Although Colonel Copeland was
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
commissioned as the Colonel, he never took command of the regiment, which remained under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mann until the latter was commissioned Colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Cavalry on the 1st of November.
A camp called Lee Barracks was formed at Grand Rapids by the erection of rough board structures. one story in height, that were added to from time to time as recruits came in, slowly but surely. Enlistments lagged: for so many recruits had already gone, that men could not well be spared from the farm, the workshop, the counting- house, and other departments of industry. Large bounties were not offered at that time to draw men into the service through cupidity, and a draft was not impending to frighten : so that those that did eulist were actuated by promptings of the purest patriotism. The war had progressed far enough to make it plain to everyone of average intelligence that it was to be continued and bloody. Therefore, those that went in at this time faced the prospect of three years of battle and peril for the poor inducement of thirteen dollars a month, hard tack and bacon included. With the hazard so out of proportion to the compensation. it is not remarkable that there was not the same im- pulsive patriotic ardor to fill up the ranks of organiz- ing regiments that was exhibited in the first year of the contest, when the war was regarded more in the light of an ephemeral frolie, than the prolonged, san- quinary struggle it was destined to become.
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
It is not intended to dwell upon life in rendezvous at Grand Rapids. There were dismounted drills-squad, company and battalion drills. Even vet in the ear rings the emphatie ejaculations of the old drill-master, Captain Bothan : " Oh stupid! stupid! even an ox may be taught to know right from left, but ve will never learn." Also, before the vision rises the First Lientenant of Company " C," afterward a Major, with a pocket full of rocks, that, with a volley of blood- curdling oaths, he was wont to discharge at any luck- less wight that might miss step or fall out of line. Not to be overlooked is the dashing Russian ad- venturer belonging to the battery, that gave us instruction in the sabre exereise: "Guard! One ! Two! Three! Four!" Cut and point ; moulinet and parry. Tall, broad-shouldered. graceful, agile, reti- cent, and plausible in speech. jaunty in dress and in carriage, with facial scars from fence, which he claimed were those of battle, he was the well-trained. unprincipled soldier of fortune that was playing fast and loose with our organizing volunteer soldiery, with great diversion to himself. and at no expense. He disappeared "between two days," leaving officers that had made him cash advances, and a number of love-lorn maidens, to mourn because he was not.
The wintry blasts will not fail to be remembered by the raw reernits. The barracks and company mess- quarters were like sieves, through which the keen, cold air circulated freely. It was too cold to sit down.
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
and meals were therefore eaten standing, with every muscle in the body undergoing exercise.
At night blanketed forms huddled around the red- hot stoves, giving no heed to the demand for sleep. in the endeavor to keep warm. and, " wishing for the war to cease." Nights around the stove in the Com- missary's store room -- when feasting upon juicy hunks of meat rolled up in wet brown paper and broiled upon the coals by Harvey Hyde and Hank DeGraff, and a snug berth under the Quartermaster's pile of blankets with Dan MeNaughton and Charley Pratt- are cherished memories.
The advent of horses correspondingly increased the limits of eamp. and added greatly to its activities. Never was a regi- ment sent out of Michigan with better mounts. The animals were inspected for pur- chase by Captains Warner, Douglass. and Armstrong. in connection with Quartermaster Lyon, all practical FARNHAM LYON, Captain and Assistant-Quartermaster. horsemen ; there- fore very little poor stock found its way in under
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
their supervision. Feeding, grooming, mounted drill, dress parades, and inspections now kept every one astir. Biting, kieking, rearing, and bucking horses made life a burden to those that had drawn them, while they occasioned a high degree of hilarity among those that bestrode more decorons beasts ; but the wayward were gradually toned down and brought in to subjection.
Having a minimum of men for ten companies, they were mustered into the United States service Tuesday, January 27th, 1863, as a regiment by Lieutenant- Colonel James Oakes, of the United States army. Official acknowledgment of regimental existence was received Thursday, February 19th, 1863, and with it orders to move to Washington. On the 20th the horses of the first tive companies, with a detail of twenty men from each of these companies, left Grand Rapids under command of Captain Warner. On the 21st the horses of the other companies, with a similar detail from each, were forwarded under connnand of Major Newcombe, and on Sunday the 220 the main body of the regiment took cars for the front, leaving Major Granger and Lieutenant Sproul, of Company "(." with a few men to take care of the barracks and recruit Companies " L" and ". M."
Our departure was notable only in that but little attention was given to it. The papers merely mentioned the fact that we were ordered off to the seat of war. If any able editor saw a Napo- leon in each of us. and believed we would
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
end the rebellion in thirty days, he kept it religiously to himself. No ladies appeared upon the scene to present us with " housewives " and " havelocks;" no lunches were spread. Our martial ardor was not fanned by sword and flag presentations. No soaring orator pointed us to the achievements of antiquity, and predicted that we would have eclipsed all of them before the Ides of March. The near and dear ones of the few that belonged to Grand Rapids and its im- mediate vicinity were there to bid us Godspeed and a safe return, and pathetic partings were not wanting.
At stations along the route to Detroit there were similar affecting incidents. But, on the whole, we -lipped off quietly, like men that had fighting to do, and were going to do it. And history shows that we did it. From the first general " baptism of fire " at Hanover. Pa., June 30th, 1863, we were ever at the front, keeping a tight hold on the skirts of the enemy, until the final victory at Appomattox compelled his surrender.
Reaching Washington February 27th, after a day or two spent in barracks, a camp was assigned to us on Meridian Ilill. It was a delectable spot-two steep Hill-ides, bisected by a deep ravine. The ground was soft and mushy from rain, and the tents were hardly pitched, before a wet snow came upon us to the depth of several inches. The horses were knee-deep in the cold ooze, without shelter. There was no fuel for fires, except the sticks from the hay-bales; there was no flooring for the tents, and no choice for rest but to
£
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
spread the ponchos on the semi-fluid mud, to settle down and wallow in it, turning from side to side in the effort to keep warm. The sick list rapidly increased. The surgeons' tent-in a sea of shish-was thronged at siek-call by a sorrowful, shivering crowd, and the surgeons-rheumy-eyed, with blue and dripping noses-dealt out quinine with lavish hand, but spoke no words of cheer. If anywhere, during all our service, we were more thoroughly miserable than during the first weeks on Meridian Hill it has escaped the memory.
It was here the famous " Guard of Honor" was organized, consisting of two picked men from each company. by which great things were to be accom- plished, in accordance with orders from regimental headquarters. It made a good charge at Gettysburg, but after that battle the members were returned to their companies, and the existence of the " Guard" was ended. On the 25th of March we received Burnside carbines, which completed our armament, sabres and Colf's army revolvers having been dis- tributed at Grand Rapids. According to the Adju- tants' return for this day, the strength of the regi- ment was 78: 48 officers and 740 men. The 26th of March, under marching orders for Fairfax Court- House, we were ordered to reduce baggage and camp- equipage to a war footing. As nearly every man had a valise and a very respectable kitchen outfit, the con- sternation produced by this order may be imagined. It was amazing to watch the sorting over of personal
£
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
effects in order to leave behind what might be deemed an encumbrance. A little pile would be placed to one side, only to be invariably taken up again as material indispensable. This indecision finally ended by throwing away the valise ; but the contents were rolled up in a blanket, or poncho, and strapped on the back of the saddle : and, in addition, kettles. stew- pans, skillets and coffee pots were universal trappings ; so that when the Column moved off at 7 o'clock in the evening. it bore the appearance of a caravan of junk- dealers, rather than a regiment of horse in battle array. However, it did not take many marches to dispose of superfluities: the common sense of the American soldier soon asserted itself. It took twenty- five wagons to move the regiment from Meridian Hill to Fairfax Court-House, and then everyone com- plained that everything had to be left behind. In course of time the regiment possessed but one wagon, and this one would not be seen by us for weeks.
We left Meridian Hill after dark of the 26th and made a night march, crossing Long Bridge with ad- vance guard thrown well out to the front, with a nervous expectation of meeting the enemy at any moment. There was not an armed force of rebels within perhaps 50 miles, but it was probably the most " heart-in-the-month " march we ever made.
Fairfax Court-House was reached about five o'clock in the morning of the 27th, and a camp-site was assigned us one mile to the north of the town. Our baggage train had not come up and we had no.
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
tents. With orders to be ready to move at any time, we stood by our horses in a drenehing rain until well into the night, when the rain turned to snow, which, by morning, had fallen to the depth of ten inches. Our clothes were frozen. and nothing to make a fire out of could be found during all that long, dreary night. No men ever rejoiced more to see Old Sol rise in his glory than did we on the morning of the 28th. During the day our camp equipage arrived. As a consequence of the exposure of the night before, Capt. S. B. Mann, of Company " F," contracted a pul- monary trouble 1 which led to his honorable dis- charge from the service the month of July follow- ing, to his own S. B. MANN, Captain Company " F." regret and that of the regiment, by Here we were
which he was greatly esteemed. united with the Fifth and Sixth Michigan Cavalry regiments into a brigade under command of Gen. Joseph T. Copeland, in General Stahl's cavalry di-
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
vision, Department of Washington. On the 28th it rained the latter part of the day, and we were ordered out at midnight, but after remaining mounted in line in the rain for half an hour, the order was countermanded. The night of the 29th we were again ordered out, with the same result. At three o'clock on the morning of the 31st we again took to horse, in obedience to orders, and once more went back to our blankets. Contrary to expectations, the one most disturbed by these night-alarms was the Surgeon, who, from pre- vious training, should have regarded them as but pleasant reminders of life at home. This day, March 31st, snow fell to the depth of six inches. Again, on April 5th, there was a snowfall of eight inches. The days it did not snow, cold rains were sent upon ns. so that those that bore up under these vicissitudes were seasoned forever after against any inclemencies of weather. If any old soldier of the Seventh be at loss to know what he should claim a pension for, he can base it upon our first two months of field-service, for he had exposure enough during that time to have laid the basis for any ill whatsoever.
On the 14th of April we marched to Occoquan, where we remained picketing, scouting the country, and drilling until April 25th, when we moved to Bristow Station, arriving there the 2sth. Here we remained in a camp well barricaded with brush, beat- ing up the country in all directions until May 5th, when we moved to Kettle Run, not far from Catlett's
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SEVENTII REGIMENT
Station. Sunday, May 3d, Mosby captured the outpost of the First Virginia Cavalry, under Major Steele, near Warrenton Junction. He was driven off by the Fifth New York Cavalry, and a large portion of his force was captured, while the prisoners he had taken were released. We rushed to the scene of conflict, but it was all over when we arrived. On the 10th of May camp was changed to Warrenton Junction.
Monday. May 11th. a foraging party, under Lien- tenant Gray, returning from the direction of Warren- ton with Sergeant-Major Loomis and Sergeant Isham in the advance, was fired upon, when about two miles from camp, by some of Mosby's force concealed in the woods. The men behaved courageously, charging npon their assailants through the woods, and chasing them across the country. Nobody was hurt, but the guerilla camp was found and, with its equipage, destroyed.
At daylight. the morning of the 14th of May, while out on a scout with four companies. Colonel Mann sent a sergeant and two men under Sergeant Isham to Marstellers to examine the premises for concealed arms. Upon reaching the house they were fired upon by six rebel soldiers hiding within. Private Robert MeLain, of Company " E." was instantly killed, Private Kitchen. of Company " E." slightly, -and Sergeant Isham, of Company " I." severely wounded. The ser- geants maintained their position, firing into the door with their revolvers until the enemy beat a retreat out the back way and thereby escaped to the woods.
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
In the column, coming up shortly afterward, Corporal Waldron W. Raymond, of Company " E," discovering a rebel hiding in the bushes, shot and killed him. These were the first casualties in the regiment, and the men were so incensed at the family for harboring lurking foes. that they were with diffi- culty restrained from burning down the house. May 17th, moved from Warrentown Junction to Kettle Run.
On the 29th of May Mosby captured a train of cars near Catlett's Station by removing a rail. He made away with his booty, but was brought to bay at Grapewood Farm, near Greenwich Church, by the Seventh Michigan and First Vermont Cavalry, which, under command of Colonel Mann, had promptly set out in pursuit on hearing Mosby's guns. After a spirited action Mosby's two Napoleon brass guns were captured, and a number were killed and wounded on both sides. Among the prisoners was a heroic young Virginian, who declared he would die before he would surrender, but was taken alive all the same, although badly wounded. Among the casualties was a Captain Hoskins, an Englishman. He belonged to an English family of distinction. and had been serving with Mosby. Altogether, it was a glorious victory, and put us in high feather. In this fight a soldier of Company "C" had Mosby a prisoner for fifteen minutes, until he was re-captured by some of his own band. The captor in turn was made prisoner. but he escaped the next day to tell his story, which
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
was corroborated by a rebel surgeon we captured soon after at Goose Creek.
Up to the 24th of June there is no particular record of the service of the regiment. It was engaged between Bealeton and Centerville, guarding the rail- road line of communications with the Army of the Potomac in sconting the country along this line and in outpost duty. At no time, perhaps, during all our campaigning, were we more destitute of food, forage, and clothing than at this period. for the Army of the Potomae absorbed everything, and supplies that we sorely needed were guarded safely to their destination.
The 24th of June. 1563, found the brigade massed with the division at Fairfax Court-House, Va., and at two o'clock on the morning of the 25th the march to repel Lee's invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania began. Proceeding by way of Dranesville, the Poto- mae was crossed at Edwards Ferry the evening of the 25th. That night we bivouacked in the mud. just out- side of Urbana, by order of General Stahl, who rode in fine soldierly style in a covered spring wagon drawn by four white mules. Frederick, Md., was reached the 26th, where an all-night's rest greatly re- freshed men and horses, and. on the morning of the 27th. the march was resumed up the Cotoetin Valley. in the direction of Gettysburg. Up to the 30th we were scouting the country in all directions in the vicinity of Gettysburg. On the 29th. General Stahl was superseded in his command by General Kilpatrick. and General Copeland by General Custer, and the First
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MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.
Michigan Cavalry was joined to the brigade. On the 30th the regiment, which was at Abbottstown, with the First Michigan and Battery " M " 2d U. S. Artil- lery, moved to Hanover, where the brigade was united, in order to oppose the attempt of Stuart to effect a junction with Lee. The part taken by the regiment
in the engage- ment that fol- lowed, as well as those of
Hunterstown and Gettys- burg, is briefly told in the re- port of Major Geo. K. New- combe :
" At Han- over. Pa., on the 30th of June. the regi- MAJOR GEO. K. NEWCOMBE. ment, having the advance of the brigade in its rapid return from Abbottstown, was thrown into position on the left of the turnpike. to the left and front of Battery . M. 2d U. S Artillery. Two squadrons were dismounted, and advanced as skirmishers under the command of Lientenant-Colonel Litchfield. In the progress of the action, the regiment was moved to the right of the town as a support to Battery . M.'
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SEVENTH REGIMENT
The skirmishers, having advanced beyond the town and exhausted their ammunition, were withdrawn. About five o'clock in the afternoon Companies .C.' 'H' and 'E,' under command of Major Newcombe, were sent to occupy the town, which they took pos- session of and held until night, when the enemy with- drew.
" At Hunters- town, on the 2d of July, the regiment, except one squad- ron held in reserve, was advanced on the left as dis- mounted skirmish- ers.
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