A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 28

Author: Perry F. Powers
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 597


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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).


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EARLY CIVIL WAR MOVEMENTS


Northern Michigan played a gallant part in all the battles and cam- paigns of the Civil war and raised an unusually large proportion of troops, considering the small population of that period. Prior to the opening of the rebellion only these counties had been organized be- tween the Saginaw valley and the straits of Mackinac: Grand Traverse, Emmet, Cheboygan, Mason, Manistee and Iosco.


For the purpose of forming a background to the narrative of the Civil war which especially concerns Northern Michigan it is necessary


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to trace the course of events in the state at large. As all Michigan patriots well known Governor Blair was the great and heroic figure in the drama of the war as it concerned that commonwealth. On Tues- day, April 16, 1861, four days after the firing on Fort Sumter, Gov- ernor Blair reached Detroit and in the afternoon held a conference with the state military officers and a large number of leading citizens and capitalists. President Lincoln had called upon the state to furnish one regiment of infantry fully armed and equipped to aid the national government in suppressing the rebellion. Although the treasury was comparatively empty the necessary funds for such purposes were promptly pledged by private citizens, and the chief executive at once issued a proclamation calling for ten companies of volunteers and di- recting the adjutant general to accept the first ten that should offer. The president's call upon Michigan for troops was promptly met by the muster in of the First regiment of infantry and its early movement to the seat of war in Virginia. In the meantime authority had been received from the war department to raise three other regiments, but at the same time stating that it was "important to reduce rather than to increase that number." This authority only covered the Second, Third and Fourth infantry regiments already in process of recruitment, while many companies throughout the state not included in the organiza- tions referred to, had been recruited without authority in the hope of obtaining places in those or other regiments. These companies were disappointed and most of them sought and found service in the troops of other states. This was largely the case with many of those who vol- unteered from the sparsley settled counties of Northern Michigan. Fur- thermore, many of those who fought bravely throughout the Civil war did not serve under officers who were residents of their home com- munities and therefore were absorbed in the commands which were credited to the more southern sections of the state.


Under a law of congress passed August 3, 1861, President Lincoln was authorized to receive into service five hundred thousand volunteers in the prosecution of the war. In response to this requisition, Michigan continued a vigorous recruitment and up to December, 1861, had sent to the front thirteen regiments of infantry, three of cavalry, and five batteries of light artillery, with a total strength of sixteen thousand four hundred seveny-five officers and men. Ten of these regiments, one battery and one company had been clothed and partly armed by the state. In addition to this, thirteen companies had gone into the service of other state regiments, failing, as before stated, to find service in home commands.


If any personal force more than another could be said to predomi- nate in the raising, equipping and transportation of the troops to the front Governor Blair may be thus named. As long as he continued in office he was classed by President Lincoln and the entire country as one of those grand "war governors" of which the Union was so justly proud. His attitude toward the Rebellion and those who supported it is well illustrated in this extract, taken from his message delivered to the legislature on January 2, 1862; "I cannot close this brief address without an allusion to the great object that occupies all men's minds.


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The southern rebellion still maintains a bold front against the Union armies. That is the cause of all our complications abroad and our troubles at home. To deal wisely with it is to find a short and easy deliverance from them all. The people of Michigan are no idle spec- tators of this great contest. They have furnished all the troops required of them, and are preparing to pay the taxes and to submit to the most onerous burdens without a murmur. They are ready to increase their sacrifices, if need be, to require impossibilities of no man, but to be patient and wait. But to see the vast armies of the Republic, and all its pecuniary resources used to protect and sustain the accursed system which has been a perpetual and tyrannical disturber, and which now makes sanguinary war upon the Union and Constitution, is precisely what they will never submit to tamely. The loyal states having fur- nished adequate means, both of men and money to crush the rebellion, have a right to expect those men to be used with the utmost vigor to accomplish the object, and that without any mawkish sympathy for the interest of traitors in arms. Upon those who caused the war, and now maintain it, its chief burdens ought to fall. No property of a rebel ought to be free from confiscation-not even the sacred slave. The object of war is to destroy the power of the enemy, and whatever meas- ures are calculated to accomplish that object and are in accordance with the usages of civilized nations, ought to be employed. To undertake to put down a powerful rebellion, and, at the same time, to save and protect all the chief sources of the power of that rebellion, seems to common minds but a short remove from simple folly. He who is not for the Union, unconditionally, in this mortal struggle, is against it. The highest dictates of patriotism, justice, and humanity combine to demand that the war should be conducted to a speedy close upon prin- ciples of the most heroic energy and retributive power. The time for gentle dalliance has long since passed away."


It was largely upon the advice of the governors of the loyal states, among whom Governor Blair was foremost, that President Lincoln is- sued his proclamation of July 2, 1862, calling for five hundred thou- sand men. Under date of July 28th, the president telegraphed to Gov- ernor Blair: "It would be of great service here for us to know as fully as you can tell, what progress is made and making in recruiting for old regiments in your state. Also, about what day the first new regiment can move from you, what the second, what the third, and so on. This information is important to use in making calculations. Please give it as promptly and accurately as you can."


To this dispatch the governor instantly replied as follows: "Very little can be done in recruiting old regiments until the new regiments are filled up; although every exertion will be made to do so. The new regiments will commence to take the field about the 1st of September, or sooner, if possible, and will all be in service in the field during that month."


It is with pride that the student of Civil war history is able to state that Michigan was no exception to the general rule that the states of the Union were able to raise their troops for service far in advance of their field equipment. The consequence was that the eight new regi-


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ments which left Michigan fully armed, clothed, and equipped prior to the 19th of September, 1862, were well in readiness for the field some time before they actually marched to the front. On the completion of the eight regiments referred to it was ascertained that more com- panies had been raised than could be assigned to organized regiments, and on the 20th of August the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth regiments of infantry were recruited and to them were sent these surplus com- panies.


While great activity prevailed among the people and the State military department in meeting the call of July 2nd, strong hopes were entertained that the final requisition for additional volunteers had been reached, but on the 4th of August, 1862, the president issued an order for a draft to be made without delay of 300,000 men to serve for nine months. On the 9th of the same month general orders were issued from the war department assigning the quotas of the several states- that of Michigan being 11,686, the same as under the preceding call. In pursuances of these orders and requisitions Governor Blair issued his proclamation to the proper officers of the townships and wards to make a complete census of those of military age and return the same to the county clerks of the state on or before the 10th of September fol- lowing. The result showed that 91,071 men throughout Michigan were subject to the draft, and of the forty-two counties comprising the state three only had been organized which came within the territory covered by this history. The figures relating to them are as follows: Cheboy- gan county-Number of men enrolled, 109; number exempted, most of these being Indians, 72; number subject to draft, 37.


Emmet county-Number subject to draft, 25.


Mason county-Number of men enrolled, 111; number exempted, 76; number subject to draft, 35.


It may be added to the above that 1,278 men were drafted under the president's call, but that although 97 were subject to draft in the three counties mentioned, none actually were thus called into service.


FOURTH AND SIXTH DISTRICTS' ENROLMENT


In March, 1863, congress passed "an act for enrolling and calling out the national forces," leaving the execution of the enrollment en- tirely in the hands of the federal authorities. Under the law referred to, the national force was declared to consist, with certain specified ex- ceptions, of "all able-bodied male citizens of the United States and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-five;" and this force was divided into two classes, the first to comprise "all persons subject to do military duty between the ages of twenty and thirty-five years and all unmar- ried persons subject to do military duty above the age of thirty-five and under the age of forty-five;" and it was provided that the latter class "shall not, in any district, be called into the service of the United States until those of the first class shall have been called." Each congressional district was formed into an enrolment district, a provost marshal and


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board of enrolment provided for each, and these districts were again divided into sub-districts, consisting of wards and townships.


The counties with which this history is concerned were included in the Fourth and Sixth congressional districts. The headquarters of the Fourth were at Grand Rapids with Norman Bailey, of Hastings, as provost marshal, and those of the Sixth were at Flint, Randolph Strick- land, of St. Johns, being provost marshal of that district.


In the Fourth congressional district were included the counties of Mason, Manistee, Grand Traverse, Cheboygan, Leelanau, Benzie, Em- met and Antrim, and the enrolment for the same was as follows:


First Class


Second Class


Mason


100


31


Manistee


188


51


Grand Traverse


203


91


Cheboygan


36


24


Leelanau


143


50


Benzie


85


47


Emmet


27


15


Antrim


55


15


Alpena


124


45


Iosco


58


14


Total


1,019


383


In the Sixth congressional district were the counties of Alpena and losco. In the former county 124 were subject to the military duty in the first class and 45 in the second; in Iosco, 58 under the first class and 14, under the second.


The wide extent of territory covered by the state of Michigan and the difficulty of communications in many portions of it at this period of its history delayed the completion of the enrolment until the fall of 1864. On the 27th of October a draft began in the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth congressional districts and on the 5th of November in the First. Total number drafted in the state was 6,383, of which the Fourth district furnished 1,441 and the Sixth 1,022.


On the 29th of July of this year (1864) the Sixth district was pro- vided for by the appointment of Hon. John F. Griggs to take charge of the organization of a new regiment to be called the Thirty-first, with headquarters at Saginaw, and into this command went not a few of the volunteers and those who were drafted from the eastern portion of the Southern Peninsula. The counties of the western half sent a considerable quota of troops to the three companies which were raised in the Fourth congressional district. The Fourth district regiment was enabled to take the field and left the state with 726 officers and men, on the 22d of October, 1864. The Sixth district regiment com- pleted its organization from its own territory and was the first of the new regiments to leave the state, having broken camp at Saginaw and taken their departure for Nashville on the 6th of October, with 856 officers and men.


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TROOPS FURNISHED BY COUNTIES


Prior to November 1, 1864, the following number of troops had been furnished by the counties named, the figures not including the three months' infantry, Michigan companies in regiments of other states and some additional soldiers whose residence could not be ascertained.


Alpena


51


Antrim


22


Benzie


47


Cheboygan


29


Emmet


36


Grand Traverse


166


Tosco


19


Leelanau


71


Mason


48


Manistee


84


Osceola


1


Total


574


A general summary, compiled from the reports of the adjutant general's office, shows the following to have been the total number of troops raised, either under the enrolment, enlistment or drafting sys- tem, in the several counties within the scope of this history :


Enlisted Enlisted in Army


in Navy Draft


Enlistments previous to Total Sept. 19, '63


Total


G'd Traverse


14


3


10


28


28


Alpena


39


.


12


51


7


58


Benzie


25


1


44


70


70


Cheboygan


9


7


16


15


31


Emmet


12


6


18


21


39


G'd Traverse


80


8


9


97


74


171


Josco


6


1


17


24


1


27


Leelanau


33


45


78


20


98


Mason


25


22


47


12


59


Manistee


69


13


82


6


88


Total


312


13


186


511


156


669


. .


.


. .


. .


In closing the record showing the number of troops contributed by the various counties covered by this history to the rank of the Union troops, a brief word is due to the several colored soldiers who partici- pated in the hardships and triumphs of the Michigan forces. Quite a number joined the One Hundred and Second United States Colored Infantry and Jonathan B. Tuttle, of Alpena, served as captain of Company C. The colored troops left Detroit in March, 1864: joined


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the Ninth corps at Annapolis, Maryland, and afterwards acquitted themselves with honor at various engagements in Florida and South Carolina.


COMMISSIONED OFFICERS


The following are the commissioned officers credited to the terri- tory of which we write, the rank given being that which they held at the time of discharge:


Thomas C. Chase, Iosco county ; first lieutenant, Company B, Twenty- sixth Infantry.


John Earl, Harrisville; first lieutenant, died of disease, October 13, 1862.


Anthony Eisworth, Stronach; second lieutenant, First Veteran Cavalry; discharged March 10, 1866.


Clark D. Fox, Otsego; captain Thirteenth Infantry ; killed at Chicka- mauga, September 19, 1863.


Garrett A. Graverat, Little Traverse (Harbor Springs) ; first lieu- tenant, First Sharpshooters; died of wounds received near Petersburg, Virginia, June 17, 1864.


Miles Horn, Otsego; second lieutenant, Company F, Eighth Cavalry ; died of disease at Kalamazoo, September 8, 1865.


Samuel M. Hubbard, Otsego; captain, Nineteenth Infantry; wounded; discharged November 30, 1864.


Thomas Kerry, Manistee; first lieutenant, Third Infantry; dis- charged May 25, 1866.


Charles R. Lackey, Traverse City ; first lieutenant, discharged, June 4, 1865.


James F. McGinley, Manistee; captain Fifth Infantry; wounded, taken prisoner and died of wounds, October 27, 1864.


Guy Newbre, Emmet county; Second lieutenant, First Sharpshoot- ers; discharged for disability, October 22, 1864.


John D. Potter, Alpena; first lieutenant, Company K, Third In- fantry ; mustered out May 25, 1866.


Jonathan B. Tuttle, Alpena; captain First Michigan (One Hundred and Sixty-second U. S.) Colored Infantry ; resigned May 12, 1864.


Andrew J. Underhill, Grand Traverse; second lieutenant, Company A, Twenty-sixth Infantry; resigned December 31, 1862.


THE GRAND TRAVERSE REGION


An examination of the table in which is summarized the entire num- ber of troops raised for Civil war service in the Northern Michigan of this history indicates that the Grand Traverse Region sent to the front more than one-half. It is therefore entitled to special consideration in this narrative and receives such in the following from the pen of Dr. M. L. Leach: "To avoid misunderstandings, it should be remembered that at the breaking out of the war, the unorganized counties of Antrim, Leelanau, and Benzie were attached to Grand Traverse for civil and judicial purposes. When, in this chapter, Grand Traverse county is


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mentioned, the territory of the three referred to is intended to be in- cluded. Grand Traverse county as thus defined, was divided into nine townships-Meegezee, Milton, Whitewater, Peninsula, Traverse, Lee- lanau, Centreville, Glen Arbor, and Crystal Lake.


"The number of men in the territory alluded to of an age suitable for military service, making no allowance for exemptions on account of disability, could not have exceeded six hundred, and probably fell short of that number. From this territory, it is believed, more than two hundred went into the service within the next four years. Of course considerable accessions to the population resulted from immigration, during that period, thus increasing the number liable to military duty.


"One of the first to volunteer was Curtis Fowler, Jr., son of Hon. Curtis Fowler, judge of probate for Grand Traverse county. Fight- ing bravely in the ranks of the gallant First, he was wounded at the battle of Bull Run, in July, 1861, was discharged from the service on account of disability from the wound, and returned home. His brother, Francis Z. Fowler, considering it a matter of honor as well as of patrio- tism that the family should be represented in the ranks of the defenders of the country, volunteered in his place, and laid down his life in the second battle of Bull Run the following year, 'the first martyr from Grand Traverse to the slaveholders' rebellion.'


"Thirteen volunteers started from Traverse City on or about the 13th of September, 1861. Their names were as follows: Martin A. Hopper, Andrew McKillip, Isaac Winnie, James Nicholson, James Fitz- patrick, Wm. E. Sykes, Samuel A. McClelland, E. J. Brooks, Lewis Steele, Frank May, Aaron Page, Orselus Evans, and Thomas Lee. Of these the first five had been for a long time in the employ of Hannah, Lay & Co. On settling with them, Mr. Hannah made each a handsome present, and told them that if they were ever in distress or in need of funds, to draw on him at sight, and their drafts would be honored. Wm. E. Sykes was sheriff of the county. McClelland, Brooks, Steele, May, and Page were from Northport, Evans was from Whitewater, and Lee from Centreville.


"At the time of leaving Traverse City, it was the intention of several of these men to enlist in Chicago, in Capt. Busteed's company of light infantry. We afterwards find some of them in the First New York Ar- tillery, one of their number, McClelland, holding the rank of second lieutenant. At the battle of Malvern Hill, the first of July, 1862, the 'Grand Traverse boys' received special commendation from their officers for bravery and good conduct. Of the thirteen mentioned above, the following are referred to by name, in a published letter from Lieutenant McClelland-Sykes, Evans, McKillip, Nicholson, and Hopper. In the list of those specially commended, Lieutenant McClelland also gives the names of nine other 'Grand Traverse boys' in his company, of whose volunteering and enlistment we have no account. They were M. V. Barns, Albert M. Powers, A. N. Brown, Jared D. Delap, James Hutchin- son, Charles A. Lee, Sidney Brown, Wm. Wilks, and Hiram Odell.


"On the fourth day of October, 1861, fifteen volunteers left Trav- erse City for Grand Rapids, under command of F. W. Cutler, a re- cruiting officer. The following is the list of names: Edward Stanley,


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Mathew Shanley, Eber Stone, Wm. Callison, George Flack, Benjamin Rattelle, Dudley Wait, John O'Leary, Patrick Graham, George Askey, John Rodart, John Williams, Lewis Stevenson, Andrew Anderson, and Edward Dewaire.


"On the 15th of August, 1862, John Lewis Patrick, a young man who had been for two years an apprentice in the office of the Grand Traverse Herald, started for Chicago, where he enlisted in the Mer- cantile Battery. Not long after, it fell to the lot of the paper on which he had wrought to publish his death, which occurred in the hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, on the first of February, 1863. The editor of the Herald, Morgan Bates, afterwards lieutenant governor, speaks thus tenderly of his young friend: 'He was one of the noblest and purest young men we ever knew, and it caused a heart-pang when he left us to volunteer for the defense of his country. All who knew him loved him, and his early death will cast a gloom over many hearts.'


"In August, 1862, recruiting was lively. Capt. E. S. Knapp, (called L. Edwin Knapp in 'Michigan in the War,') assisted by Lieutenants Jacob E. Siebert, of Manistee, and Charles H. Holden, of Northport, raised a company in a short time, in Manistee and Grand Traverse coun- ties, to which was given the name of the 'Lake Shore Tigers.' The fol- lowing is an imperfect list of the men enlisted by Lieutenant Holden, in Grand Traverse, with the names of the townships to which they were credited :


"Whitewater-P. D. Greenman, Francis Hopper, C. R. Lackey, Horace Philips, John A. Brainard, Milton Stites, John Duncan, Henry Odell, Oscar Eaton, George Allen.


"Traverse-Elias Langdon, Jr., Thomas Bates, Giles Gibson, Asa V. Churchill, George Moody.


"Peninsula-Gilbert Lacnor, John A. Thayer.


"Leelanau-Win. H. Voice, Mortimer Boyes, Henry Budd, George W. Bigelow, Wm. W. Nash, Henry Holcomb, Charles E. Lehman.


"Centreville-George Ramsdell, Joseph Warwick, Melville Palmer, Wm. Lawson, James Lee, Frederick Cook, Jacob Hans, Deidrick White, George W. Miller, John Egler, James Adameson, L. Grant, H. Duncke- low, Thomas McCreary, Charles E. Clark, George H. Mills.


"Captain Knapp's company had originally been intended for the Twenty-first, but on arriving at Ionia, that regiment was found to be full. Application was next made to the Twenty-fifth, then organizing at Kalamazoo, but that being full also, the company finally proceeded to Jackson, and was mustered into the service as company A of the Twenty-sixth, under Colonel Farrar.


"Lieutenant Holden, was prosecuting attorney of the county at the time of organizing the company, and resigned his office for the purpose of entering the service. He was mustered in as first lieutenant, and was afterwards made quarter master of the regiment. He resigned April 4, 1864, and was honorably discharged. The second lieutenant was Sewell S. Parker, of Monroe. Lieutenant Siebert, who helped to enlist the company, does not appear ever to have belonged to the Twenty- sixth. According to 'Michigan in the War,' he belonged to the Twen- tieth, and was killed in action at Poplar Spring Church, Virginia, Sep-


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tember 30, 1864. Of the enlisted men from Grand Traverse, Sergeant Wm. H. Voice died in camp at Jackson, September 22, 1862; P. D. Greenman at Fairfax, Virginia, March 27, 1863; and George Moody at Yorktown, Virginia, July 15, 1863.


"In the summer and fall of 1863, from the early part of July till late in October, Lieutenant Edwin J. Brooks, of Northport, was en- gaged in recruiting for the Tenth Cavalry, under Colonel Foote, having its rendezvous at Grand Rapids. Unfortunately there is at hand no list of Grand Traverse men who volunteered for that regiment under Lieu- tenant Brooks. Lieutenant Brooks was mustered in as first lieutenant of Company E. He was promoted to a captaincy April 25, 1864. March 13, 1865, he was made Brevet Major of United States volunteers 'for gallantry in action at Strawberry Plains east Tennessee, November 17, 1864.' On the same day he was further promoted to Brevet Lieutenant Colonel United States volunteers, 'for gallant and meritorious conduct through four years of active service.' He was mustered out and hon- orably discharged November 11, 1865.


"In September, while Lieutenant Brooks was recruiting, the citizens of Traverse, anxious to make up the full quota of the township by vol- untary enlistment, raised by subscription a fund for the payment of fifty dollars bounty to each recruit enlisted and credited to the township be- fore the expected draft should take place.




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