USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 15
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a brigadier-general of volunteers, and was succeeded in command by Colonel H. S. Roberts, promoted from lieutenant-colonel. It went to the Peninsula with McClellan, and was in the engagements at Mechanicsville, June 26; at Gaines' Mills, June 27; at Malvern Hill, July 1; and at Gainsville, August 29. The losses of the regiment in these engagements were not reported, excepting Captain O. C. Comstock, of Marshall, who was killed at Gaines' Mills. It rendered most gallant and valuable service in many hard-fought battles during the war, and suf- fered severe losses in killed and wounded.
Among its numerous engagements none, perhaps, will be more vividly re- membered by the regiment than the disastrous charges, so bravely made, but with such fearful loss, upon the rebel position along the Warrenton and Centreville turnpike, on August 30, 1862, during that disastrous series of engagements near Manassas, now known as the second battle of Bull Run. The regiment, under the command of Colonel Roberts, was in General Fitz John Porter's corps, and had during the day been posted in the woods fronting the enemy's lines, and near one of his most important batteries. At four P.M. the order was given to advance and dislodge the rebels. The First Michigan, with the Eighteenth Massachusetts and the Thirteenth New York regiments of infantry, deployed in column, and, with cheers, charged. They instantly found themselves the target of a terrific fire from ambushed infantry of the enemy, and from five batteries, four of which had been masked and hitherto unseen. The charge was a murderous one, and within a few moments fell eight officers and fifty per cent. of the regiment. The men stood their ground bravely and with veteran coolness under these trying circum- stances, and when the impossibility of success became a certainty, and the order to retreat was given, fell back in good order to the woods, and reformed their division. Had victory been possible their courage and persistency would have won it. Their demeanor amid disaster and defeat affords one of the greatest examples of true courage. Chaplain Arthur Edward, then with the regiment, and who rendered most valuable and very acceptable service during the entire engagement, and throughout his whole term in the army was an exemplary chap- lain, wrote at the time as follows : "The regiment went into battle with twenty officers and two hundred and twenty-seven men ; of the former but four are in camp unhurt, and of the latter hardly one hundred and fifty. In the action the First was placed in the centre. In front was a rebel battery, and so destructive was its fire, and so commanding was its position, that General Porter ordered our brigade (Martindale's, of Morrell's division) forward to capture it. The service was so desperate, and so very sure were our officers of the death that awaited them, that they shook hands with each other in farewell. Like heroes, they pressed on to the charge until, coming within range, the enemy opened four ad- ditional batteries, hitherto masked, and poured in a deadly fire; thus they were exposed to a cross-fire from five batteries at short range, throwing grape and can- ister, and to a flank-fire of infantry. The result may be easily seen. Men fell like grain in harvest. Colonel Roberts was shot in the breast by a minie ball, and lived about ten minutes. His words were, ' I am killed ! Tell Captain to take command of the regiment.' He seemed to feel that he was about to fall, for, previous to his going to his place in line, he called me aside, and, after leaving some private messages, said, ' I trust that Michigan will believe that I tried to do my duty.'" There was one company from Calhoun County in the regiment, Company I, Captain Devillo Hubbard, of Marshall, of three months' men. In the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, the First also especially distinguished itself. It was in Bartlett's (Third) brigade of Griffin's (First) division, Fifth corps, in the van of Grant's celebrated movement on Richmond, which ultimately culminated in the fall of the rebel capital and the surrender of its army. It fired the first musket of that glorious campaign, and its brigade checked the rebel advance on the road leading to Orange Court-House, and this opened the last act of the great drama. In the reorganization of the First, Cap- tain H. S. Warner led Company B, with Lieutenant O. C. Comstock. Lieutenants William S. Woodruff, Lyford Peavey, and John S. Hatch were in command of Company C. Comstock was promoted to the captaincy of Company K, and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness. Peavey died at Annapolis Junction, and Woodruff was wounded at Gettysburg, and afterwards died of wounds received in the Richmond campaign, June 27, 1864.
The engagements of the First were as follows :
First Infantry (three months) .- Bull Run, Virginia, July 21, 1861.
First Infantry (three years) .- Mechanicsville, Virginia, June 26, 1862; Gaines' Mills, Virginia, June 27, 1862; Peach Orchard, Virginia, June 29, 1862 ; Savage Station, Virginia, June 29, 1862; Turkey Bend, Virginia, June 30, 1862; White Oak Swamp, Virginia, June 30, 1862; Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 1, 1862; Harrison's Landing, Virginia, July 2, 1862; Gainsville, Virginia, August 29, 1862; 2d Bull Run, Virginia, August 30, 1862 ; Antietam, Maryland, Sep- tember 17, 1862; Shepardstown Ford, Virginia, September 20, 1862; Snicker's Gap, Virginia. November 14, 1862; Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13,
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
14, 1862; United States Ford, Virginia, January 1, 1863; Chancellorsville, Virginia, May 1-5, 1863; Kelley's Ford, Virginia, June 9, 1863; Ashby's Gap, Virginia, June 21, 1863; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2-4, 1863; Williams- port, Maryland, July 12, 1863; Wapping Heights, Virginia, July 21, 1863; Culpepper, Virginia, October 13, 1863; Brandy Station, Virginia, October 13, 1863; Bristoe Station, Virginia, October 14, 1863; Rappahannock Station, Vir- ginia, November 7, 1863 ; Cross-Roads, Virginia, November 26, 1863; Mill Run, Virginia, November 29, 1863; Wilderness, Virginia, May 5-7, 1864; Laurel Hill, Virginia, May 8, 1864; Po River, Virginia, May 10, 1864; Spottsylvania, Virginia, May 12, 1864; Ny River, Virginia, May 21, 1864; North Anna, Vir- ginia, May 23, 1864 ; Jericho Mills, Virginia, May 24, 1864 ; Noel's Turn, Vir- ginia, May 26, 1864; Tolopotomy, Virginia, May 30, 1864; Magnolia Swamp, Virginia, June 1, 1864; Bethesda Church, Virginia, June 2, 1864; Petersburg, Virginia, June 18, 1864; Weldon Railroad, Virginia, August 19-21, 1864; Peeble's Farm, Virginia, September 30, 1864; Hatcher's Run, Virginia, Septem- ber 30, 1864 ; Nottaway Court-House, Virginia, December 8, 1864; Dabney's Mills, or Hatcher's Run, February 6, 7, 1865 ; Hatcher's Run, Virginia, March 25, 1865 ; White Oak Road, Virginia, March 29, 1865; Five Forks, Virginia, April 1, 1865; Amelia Court-House, Virginia, April 5, 1865; High Bridge, Virginia, April 6, 1865 ; Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, April 9, 1865 ; siege of Petersburg, Virginia, from June 17, 1864, to April 3, 1865.
SECOND MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
The Second Infantry, under command of Colonel J. B. Richardson, by whom it had been organized, had among its constituent companies one from Battle Creek. Company C, Captain Cornelius Byington, with much promptness followed the First Regiment to the war in Virginia, and was in time to be present in the first engagement, being in the brigade of Richardson, which opened fire upon the rebels at Blackburn's Ford on the 18th of July, 1861, and which covered the retreat of the army from Bull Run on the 21st following. The regiment, under command of Colonel O. M. Poe, participated in all of the engagements on the Peninsula, first meeting the enemy on that campaign at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, where it lost seventeen killed and thirty-eight wounded, and four missing ; at Fair Oaks on the 27th, at Charles City Cross-Roads on June 30, and at Mal- vern Hill July 1. At Fair Oaks it lost ten killed and forty-seven wounded while its bravery was so marked as to receive the following notice in the published history of the time:
" Meantime, Heintzelman had sent forward Kearney to recover Casey's lost ground, and a desperate fight was going on at the extreme left. The enemy had been successfully held in front of Couch's old intrenched camp until Kearney's division arrived, when he stayed the torrent of battle. One after another his gal- lant regiments pushed forward, and pressed back the fiery rebels with more daring than their own. Here the Fifty-fifth New York won new laurels, and Poe's Second Michigan was bathed in blood. Five hundred of them charged across the open field against ten times their number, and stopped them in mid career, losing seventeen brave fellows in that one desperate essay." The Second was trans- ferred to the western army, under Grant, in 1863; and after the surrender of Vicksburg participated in General Sherman's pursuit of the rebel General John- ston. The Second, on the 11th of July, became engaged with the enemy, making one of the most daring and gallant charges of the war. Colonel Humphrey, commanding the regiment, in his report thus details its movements on that occa- sion : " At five A.M. I was ordered by Colonel Leasure, commanding the brigade, to deploy my regiment as skirmishers on the left of the skirmish-line of the First brigade, to keep my connection with it perfect, to be guided in the movements of my line strictly by those of the regiment on my right, and to advance until I drew the fire of the enemy's artillery. I at once deployed my regiment as directed, and moved forward, meeting with only slight opposition from the enemy until about six o'clock, when he opened a brisk fire along my whole line. We had come up to the enemy, strongly posted in front of my right on a deep water-course, and of my left in a heavy woods. For an hour a brisk skirmish was kept up. The enemy made a determined resistance, but was gradually forced back toward his support. At seven A.M. the order came down the line from the right to " For- ward, double-quick !" The men at once advanced with a cheer, drove in the enemy's skirmishers through their camps and into their reserves, strongly posted in a deep ravine, charged and broke their reserve, and drove it up out of the ravine into its main support, drawn up in line of battle on the top of the south bank of the ravine; charged under hot fire of musketry and artillery up the steep bank against the main body, broke this line, and drove the enemy within his works. We waited now for our support to come up, but on sending for it were surprised to find we had none. The regiment on my right, for some reason unknown to me, advanced but a short distance, then fell back on the position left by it a few moments before. By some mistake, the three com-
panies (C, F, and H) on the left did not advance with the rest of the regiment in this charge, which was made with about one hundred and seventy men. Fifty of these, almost one-third, had fallen. The enemy was being reinforced and we were entirely without support, with no connection on the right and no troops on our left. Thus situated, to hold for any length of time the ground we had so dearly won would be impossible. I therefore put my men under cover of the bank of the ravine through which we had advanced, within twenty yards of the enemy's works, and held the position until the wounded were carried to the rear, and then, following the movement of the regiment on my right, fell back to the line from which we had advanced an hour before." The Second was also specially distinguished on several occasions during the siege of Knoxville, by Longstreet, in 1863, and particularly so on the 24th of November, when, under command of Major Cornelius Byington (Colonel Humphrey being in command of the brigade), it so gallantly charged a strong force of rebels protected by intrenchments, and a house which they occupied, driving them from their position, and leveling the house and works to the ground. In the charge the regiment lost in killed and wounded, out of one hundred and sixty-one officers and men engaged, eighty-six. Among the killed were Lieutenants William Noble (adjutant) and Charles R. Galpin, and Major Byington and Lieutenant Frank Zoellener mortally wounded. This charge is handed down in the history of the day as among the most brilliant of the war. In the spring of 1864 the Second returned with its corps to the Army of the Potomac, taking part in the advance on Richmond, where it most signally distinguished itself in every battle of that terrible campaign, and losing heavily at the battle of Williamsburg. The Second took into action only sixty men,-four companies, two in command of Captain William Humphrey, and two commanded by Captain W. J. Handy,-the rest being left behind, exhausted with the quick march through the mud and rain ; yet they lost one out of every five engaged,-the loss being seventeen killed and thirty-eight wounded and four missing. The regiment was in the hottest of the fight. By the confessions of prisoners, eight hundred of Berry's men (mostly Michigan) drove back, at the point of the bayonet, one thousand six hundred rebels. The other companies of the regiment were partially engaged.
Its battles and skirmishes during its service, which terminated July 29, 1865, were as follows:
Blackburn's Ford, July 18, 1861 ; Bull Run, Virginia, July 21, 1861 ; Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, April 4 to May 4, 1862; Williamsburg, Virginia, May 5, 1862 ; Fair Oaks, Virginia, May 31 and June 1, 1862 ; near Richmond, Virginia, June 18, 1862 ; Glendale, Virginia, June 30, 1862 ; Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 1, 1862 ; Bull Run (2d), Virginia, August 28-30, 1862 ; Chantilly, Virginia, Sep- tember 1, 1862; Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 12-14, 1862; Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 22 to July 4, 1863; Jackson, Mississippi, July 11-18, 1863 ; Blue Spring, Tennessee, October 10, 1863 ; Loudon, Tennessee, November 14, 1863; Lenoir Station, Tennessee, November 15, 1863; Campbell's Station, Tennessee, November 16, 1863; Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee, November 17 to December 5, 1863 ; Knoxville, Tennessee, November 24, 1863 ; Fort Saunders, Tennessee, November 29, 1863 ; Thurley's Ford, Tennessee, December 15, 1863 ; Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, January 22, 1864; near Knoxville, Tennessee, Janu- ary 24, 1864 ; Wilderness, Virginia, May 5-7, 1864; Ny River, Virginia, May 9, 1864 ; Spottsylvania, Virginia, May 10-12, 1864; Ox Ford, Virginia, May 23, 1864 ; North Anna, Virginia, May 24, 25, 1864; Tolopotomy, Virginia, May 30, 1864 ; Bethesda Church, Virginia, June 2, 3, 1864; Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 7, 1864 ; Petersburg, Virginia, June 17, 18, 1864 ; the Crater, Virginia, July 30, 1864 ; Weldon Railroad, Virginia, August 19-21, 1864; Ream's Station, Virginia, August 25, 1864; Poplar Springs Church, Virginia, Septem. ber 30, 1864 ; Pegram Farm, Virginia, October 2, 1864; Boydton Road, Virginia, October 8, 1864; Hatcher's Run, Virginia, October 27, 28, 1864 ; Fort Stead- man, Virginia, March 25, 1865 ; capture of Petersburg, Virginia, April 3, 1865 ; Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, from June 17, 1864, to April 3, 1865.
SIXTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
The peculiar regiment of Michigan was the Sixth Infantry, afterwards organized as heavy artillery. This splendid and gallant regiment was peculiar by reason of its entire isolation, almost amounting to exile, from the rest of the Michigan troops, during the whole term of its faithful service. It left the State in August, 1861, commanded by Colonel F. W. Curtenius, under whose direction it was raised and organized, to join the army in the field, but was detained at Baltimore, where it remained on duty most of the following winter; thence sailed to Ship Island, Mississippi, and in April, 1862, left that place for New Orleans, constituting a part of General Butler's force, and was one of the first regiments to occupy the city on its surrender. Serving during its whole time in the extreme south, it suffered much from the complaints incident to that climate, losing more men by disease than any other regiment from this State. Three companies from Calhoun
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
County were members of this organization ; Company A, Captain -; Com- pany E, Marshall, Captain James Winters ; Company I, Albion, Captain Harrison Soule. The battles of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson, prominent in the history of the rebellion, are among the most conspicuous in which the Sixth was engaged, and were important in their results, being most decided victories, securing to the Union arms strong positions on the line of the Mississippi river, and which were held during the war.
At Baton Rouge, August 5, 1862, while that place was being heavily attacked by the rebel force in very superior numbers under Breckenridge, the regiment, then in command of Captain Charles E. Clark, received and repulsed the principal attack made on that day by the troops led by General Clark, of Mississippi, against the right wing of the Union forces, which, if successful, would have caused the loss of a large part of our artillery and given the enemy a most advantageous position, and might have led to very damaging results. The importance of the repulse was acknowledged by General Butler in a congratulatory order issued soon after the affair, in which the regiment was highly complimented for its gallant and valuable services, conspicuous bravery, and most determined fighting.
In General Butler's order is the following : "The Sixth Michigan fought rather by detachments than as a regiment, but deserves the fullest commendation for the gallant behavior of its officers and men. Companies A, B, and F, under com- mand of Captain Cordon, receive special mention for the coolness and courage with which they supported and retook Brown's battery, routing the Fourth Louisi- ana and capturing their colors, which the regiment has leave to send to its native State. Captain Charles E. Clark, acting lieutenant-colonel Sixth Michigan, pre- vented the enemy from flanking our right, bringing his command at the critical moment to the support of Nim's battery. Lieutenant Howell, Company F, Sixth Michigan, and Lieutenant A. T. Ralph, acting adjutant, for intrepidity ; Captain Spitzey, Sixth Michigan, in command of the company of pickets, who handsomely held in check the enemy's advance; the fearless conduct of Lieutenant Howell, Company F, and Sergeant Thayer, Company A, Sixth Michigan Regiment, after they were wounded, in supporting Lieutenant Brown's battery, are specially com- plimented. Captain Soule and Lieutenant Fassett, Company I, Sixth Michigan, as skirmishers were wounded, and deserve special notice for the steadiness of their command, which lost heavily in killed and wounded."
Lieutenant G. Weitzel (afterwards major-general), then chief engineer Depart- ment of the Gulf, and present with the troops in the engagement, says in his official report, "Three companies of the Sixth Michigan covered themselves with glory in recovering from a large force two guns, posted on the right of the Mag- nolia cemetery, which temporarily were left by our forces. These same three companies captured the colors of the Fourth Louisiana, but only after they had shot down four successive color-bearers."
The regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas S. Clark formed part of the force of General Banks which invested Port Hudson, and which compelled its surrender. Colonel Clark, in a report, thus mentions the part taken by his regiment on this occasion : " On the 23d of May, 1863, arriving before that stronghold, the regi- ment was placed in the most advanced position, and maintained it until the sur- render, on the 9th of July. During the siege of this formidable place it partici- pated in three desperate assaults upon its works. In the assault of the 27th of May the regiment, commanded by Colonel Clark, led the division of General T. W. Sherman, and lost more than one-third of the men it had engaged, including Lieutenant Fred. T. Clark, who fell while gallantly leading Company D to the . charge. In this affair Captain Montgomery led a forlorn hope of two hundred volunteers belonging to the regiment. An assault was made on the 14th of June, when the Sixth, then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bacon, advanced by de- tachments, the leading detachment commanded by Captain John Cordon, one by Captain Stark following, with the balance of the regiment bringing up the rear. On the 29th of June the regiment, then commanded by Captain Cordon, again advanced to the assault, when thirty-five of the regiment, comprising a forlorn hope, assailed the enemy's works at a point known as ' the citadel.' The party suc- ceeded in gaining the ditch, but were overpowered and driven back, with a loss of eight killed and nine wounded. Among the killed was Sergeant Madison O. Walker, who led the detachment."
The list of battles and skirmishes participated in by the regiment during its service, terminating August 30, 1865, is as follows :
Sewell's Point, Virginia, March 5, 1862; Port Jackson, Louisiana, April 25, 1862; Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 20, 1862; Grand Gulf, Mississippi, May 27, 1862; Amite River, Mississippi, June 20, 1862; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 5, 17, 1862; Bayou Teche, Louisiana, January 14, 1863; Ponchetoola, Louis- iana, March 24-26, 1863; Barataria, Louisiana, April 7, 1863; Tickfarr River, Louisiana, April 12, 1863 ; Amite River, Mississippi, May 7, 1863 ; Ponchetoola, Louisiana, May 16, 1863; siege of Port Hudson, May 23 to June 30, 1863; Tunica Bayou, Louisiana, November 8, 1863; Ashton, Arkansas, July 24, 1864;
Fort Morgan, Alabama, August 23, 1864; Spanish Fort, Alabama, April, 1865; Fort Blakely, Alabama, April, 1865 ; Fort Huger, Alabama, April, 1865; Fort Tracey, Alabama, April, 1865 ; siege of Mobile, Alabama, from March 20 to April 12, 1865.
TWELFTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
The bloody battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862, first tried the metal of the Twelfth Infantry, and substantially established its reputation as a fighting regi- ment. Leaving the State, in command of Colonel Francis Quinn, on March 18, it hurriedly reached Pittsburg Landing barely in time to participate in that im- portant engagement. A portion of the regiment was among the troops that first discovered and engaged the enemy in his advance upon the Union lines; and this timely discovery, and their persistent opposition to his advance, without doubt saved their division from entire capture, and must have done much towards saving the whole army from a complete surprise. The Twelfth was in Colonel Peabody's brigade of Prentiss' division, which occupied the position just attacked by the rebel forces. During the night preceding the battle of the 6th, Colonel Peabody had been advised by Lieutenant-Colonel Graves, of the Twelfth Mich- igan, of the approach of the enemy, and on this information he took the respon- sibility to order from his brigade two companies of the Twelfth Michigan, con- manded respectively by Captains Graves and Cravath, and two companies of the Twenty-fifth Missouri, as a reconnoissance, the whole under command of Major Powell, Twenty-fifth Missouri, who, about three o'clock on the morning of the 6th, met the advance troops of the enemy and fought them until daylight, gradu- ally falling back until he reached the Twelfth Michigan and Twenty-fifth Mis- souri, which had advanced some distance in front of their color-line. These two regiments fought the enemy until overpowered, when they fell back to their color- line, reformed again, and defended their line until again overpowered, when they retired to a third position, which was held until the division was completely sur- rounded and a large portion of it made prisoners. The Twelfth escaped capture, maintaining its organization, and next day engaged the enemy, losing in both days two hundred and sixty-six killed, wounded, and missing, including, among the mortally wounded, Lieutenant Alexander G. Davis, who died at Cincinnati on the 21st of April following. The regiment, in December following, was guarding the Mississippi railroad from Hickory valley to near Bolivar, Tennessee, with its headquarters at Middleburg. On the 24th of that month the force at Middle- burg, consisting of one hundred and fifteen officers and men, in command of Colonel W. H. Graves, was attacked by a large force of Van Dorn's cavalry, consisting of three brigades, in all about three thousand strong, by which they were surrounded and their surrender demanded. Colonel Graves, in his official report, says, "The whole force of General Van Dorn was between five and six thousand, about one-half of which fought us, the balance holding the horses. They lost (as near as I can recollect) one hundred and thirty-five men, killed, wounded, and prisoners; among the latter three officers wounded, one mortally. There were six of my men wounded through the port-holes, one killed, and thirteen taken prisoners, mostly on picket along the railroad. Over one thousand rounds were fired by the men of the Twelfth during the action." For this gallant and suc- cessful defense of Middleburg, so remarkable for the disparity in numbers, the regi- ment (with several others along that line of railroad that had successfully defended their posts) was complimented for bravery by General Grant in general orders, and declared by him to be deserving of the thanks of the army, which was in a measure dependent for its supplies on the road they so nobly defended. There was one company in the Twelfth from Calhoun County, Company D, First Lieu- tenant Charles E. Harvey, of Burlington.
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