History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

tillery and the continuous roar of volleys told too plainly of the work on which they were about to enter. Order after order came from the front to hurry up the brigade, and about the middle of the afternoon the Fifth stood in line of battle, about five hundred strong, in front of the enemy's posi- tion; the Thirty-seventh New York joining its line, the Third Michigan being in support of a battery, and the Second Michigan being held in reserve.

It was not until between three and four o'clock that the Fifth delivered its first fire, but from that time it was kept up without intermission till nearly dark. The ammunition was then nearly exhausted, and the order was given to charge. It was obeyed with alacrity. The Fifth charged and carried the rifle-pits in its front, and occupied them through the night. The rain ceased and the sky cleared during the night, and the morning of the sixth of May opened bright and beautiful, but the enemy had retreated, and was then some miles away on the road to Richmond.

The Fifth Michigan at Williamsburg was in General Berry's Third Brigade, of Kearney's Di- vision. This was the regiment's first battle, and a wild initiation it was. It went in with about five hundred men, and out of this force its loss was one hundred and fifty-three in killed and wounded. The regimental list of killed, wounded, and miss- ing, forwarded immediately after the battle, by Colonel Terry, to the Detroit Tribune, embraced the following names of members of the Livingston Company, commanded by Captain Gilluly, viz. :

Killed.

Sergeant J. Ashley Pond, of Howell. Albert Peckens, of Howell. Samuel Sutton, of Howell. John Sawyer, of Green Oak. Merritt F. Pullen, of Howell.

Wounded.

Sergeant John N. Monroe, of Brighton. Corporal James S. Lane, of South Lyon. John W. Gilbert, of Howell. Private Wm. Johnson, of Green Oak.

« Levi Townsend, of Kensington.

¥ James McGinn, of Brighton.

S. A. Boyd, of Marion.

Luke Woods, of Green Oak. Philo P. Chubb, of Marion.

Gager D. Ross, of Marion .*

¥ Augustus R. Sewell, of Marion.

Lyman A. Willson, of Brighton.

Walter R. Ferguson, of Brighton.

Private Joseph Countryman, of Marion. " George S. Winegar, of Marion.

Missing.

Private Samuel Pennell.

John G. Gallatian.

A. Winters.

Warren Hunt.

Charles Thayer.

J. McCarren.

The list, being an official one, is doubtless cor- rect, though it is possible that it may not be en- tirely so, as it was made amid the excitement and turmoil of the battle-field.

The heroism of the Fifth, and its companion regiments of the brigade, at Williamsburg, is at- tested by the following order of the brigade com- mander, General Berry, as follows :

"SPECIAL ORDER.

" HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, KEARNEY DIVISION.

" WILLIAMSBURG BATTLE-FIELD, May 8, 1862.

"The commander of the brigade takes great pleasure in making this official communication to his command : That they, by heroic fortitude, on Monday last, by making a forced march through mud and rain, each vying with the other to see who could most cheerfully stand the hardships the time called for, making thereby ' a march that others shrank from, coming into a fight at double-quick, made doubtful to our side by the over- whelming mass of the enemy poured upon our centre, by a rapid deploy and quick formation, and by cool- ness, precision, and energy, beat back the enemy, re- capturing our lost position and artillery, and also by a heroic charge took a stronghold of the enemy, and thereby dislodged him, and drove him on the plain beyond his well-chosen position, have done themselves great honor, have honored the States of Michigan and New York, and have won a name in history that the most ambitious might be proud of.

"R. G. BERRY,

" Brigadier-General Com. Third Brigade."

In the advance from Williamsburg, the Fifth moved with its brigade up to and across the Chickahominy, and took its place in the lines con- fronting Richmond. Again, on the thirty-first of May, it fought in the battle of Fair Oaks, and again it suffered terribly ; its loss in killed and wounded being one hundred and forty-nine, out of about three hundred men who entered the fight,- this being proportionately much greater than its loss at Williamsburg.

During the Seven Days' battles which accom- panied the " change of base," or, more properly, the retreat of the army from the Chickahominy to the James, the Fifth Michigan fought bravely

* Died of wounds.

FIFTH INFANTRY.

at Charles City Cross-Roads, losing thirty-three killed and wounded, and eighteen missing. It was also engaged at Malvern Hill, July Ist, with slight loss. After the evacuation of Harrison's Landing, the regiment was moved with its command and other troops up the Potomac, and thence to the succor of the sorely-pressed Army of Virginia, under General Pope. In this duty it was engaged, but without severe loss, at Manassas, August 30th, and at Chantilly (where the gallant Kearney lost his life), on the second of September.

Later in the fall, when the Army of the Potomac, under its new commander (General Burnside), marched towards Fredericksburg, the Fifth Michi- gan, as a part of the force, marched from Lees- burg, Virginia, on the first of November, moved down the Rappahannock, and encamped on the left bank of that stream, near Falmouth, on the twenty-fifth. When the operations were com- menced against the strong position of the enemy on the heights of Fredericksburg, and the attack- ing column crossed the river on the twelfth of December, the regiment went over with its brigade and the other commands of the army, and took gallant part in the disastrous battle of the thir- teenth, in which it lost its brave commanding offi- cer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Gilluly, of Livingston County, the original captain of Company I. The story of how the regiment fought on that bloody day is briefly told in the following report, made by Major Sherlock, who assumed command when Colonel Gilluly fell :

"HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MICHIGAN VOLUNTEERS.

"BIVOUAC ON THE BATTLE-FIELD, December 15th.

" CAPTAIN WILSON, A. A. A. General :

"SIR,-In accordance with a circular from head- quarters, I have the honor to submit the following re- port of the part which this regiment sustained in the action of the thirteenth instant. The regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Gilluly, came upon the field at half-past one o'clock, and, after shift- ing from place to place, occupying different positions, constantly exposed to a furious fire of shot and shell, was at length detailed to support Randolph's battery, which was in rather a precarious situation, on accouut of the falling back of some regiments thrown out in front of it. At this juncture the regiment was ordered forward, and opened an effective fire upon the enemy, who were sheltered by a brush fence, and after a brisk conflict drove them back into the woods.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Gilluly fell mortally wounded while cheering on the men, and I assumed command. The regiment remained upon the scene of action till evening, when the First New York relieved us, and we retired in perfect order, carrying with us our dead and wounded. The regiment numbered two hundred and

seventy-two rank and file, and our loss is nine killed and seventy-four wounded.

" The officers and men behaved nobly throughout the short but sharp conflict, and it would be an act of injustice to particularize where all demeaned themselves so well ; yet I cannot forbear mentioning Color-Ser- geant Bergher, who stood up bravely, waving the colors defiantly in the face of the foe.

"I am, very respectfully, " Your obedient servant, " R. T. SHERLOCK, " Major Commanding Fifth Michigan Infantry."

The regiment recrossed the river from the battle- field, and returned to its old camp, on the fifteenth of December. In January it took part in the his- torical "mud march" up the Rappahannock to Banks' Ford, and, on the abandonment of that ex- pedition, returned again to its camp at Falmouth, where it remained through the remainder of the winter.

When the spring campaign opened under the new commander of the army, General Hooker, the Fifth moved up the Rappahannock, crossed the river on the first of May, was engaged at the Cedars on the second, and took part in the great battle of Chancellorsville on the third, where it again lost its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sher- lock, killed in action. The loss of the regiment in the engagements of the second and third was seven killed, forty-three wounded, and thirty-one missing. On the sixth of May it recrossed the river to the north bank, and, marching twenty- eight miles in twelve hours, reoccupied its winter quarters at Falmouth.

Early in June it became known that the enemy under General Lee was marching to the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the Army of the Potomac was put in motion to intercept him. On the eleventh of that month the Fifth Michigan moved northward with the column, and in that day marched eighteen miles in seven hours. On the following day the same distance was made through intolerable heat and dust in six hours. The march was exceedingly rapid and laborious through all the distance. On the twenty-fifth of June the regiment marched twenty-eight miles in eleven hours, though the day was excessively sultry ; and on the second of July, when approach- ing Gettysburg, being pressed to its utmost, it moved ten miles in three hours, and arrived on the battle-field at four o'clock P.M. It immediately became engaged, and in one hour's fight lost one hundred and five men. During the succeeding two days it was on picket and other duty, and only slightly engaged. Its total loss at Gettys- burg was nineteen killed, ninety wounded, and five

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

missing. It moved from Gettysburg with other troops, in pursuit of the retiring enemy, to Wil- liamsport, on the upper Potomac, and afterwards -the pursuit having been abandoned-marched down the river to Berlin, crossed from that point to Virginia, and moved by way of Manassas Gap to a beautiful camp at Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, where, and in that vicinity, it remained until the sixteenth of August, when orders were received for the Fifth and Third Michigan Regi- ments to report at Alexandria, Virginia. The movement ordered was a mysterious one, and all kinds of surmises were indulged in by officers and men as to their probable ultimate destination.

Moving, in accordance with this order, to Alex- andria, the Fifth embarked at that place, on the twenty-second of August, on board the ocean steamer "Baltic," which had also on board four other regiments of the Ohio Brigade, to which the Fifth Michigan was at that time temporarily at- tached. The ship moved down the Potomac early in the morning of the twenty-third, but had only proceeded as far as Matthias' Point when she grounded on a sand-bar, and remained fast in that position for four days. By removing the anchor, three hundred tons of coal, and two regi- ments, and with the assistance of five tug-boats, she at last got afloat, and moved down the river through Chesapeake Bay to the ocean, and turned northward towards her destination (which was the city of New York) and arrived there on the thirtieth. The troops, which had been sent here to assist in quelling the draft riots, if necessary, were disem- barked on Governor's Island. The Third Michigan Regiment had preceded the Fifth by another vessel, and these two regiments were immediately ordered to proceed up the Hudson River to Troy. They embarked at once on a river steamer, reaching Troy the next morning. They were first quar- tered at the armory, a day or two later at the court-house, and finally, on the fifth of September, were removed to the Fair-Grounds. The Trojans were very much surprised at seeing two Michigan regiments on their streets, but they received them most hospitably, so that the men of the Fifth counted their stay at Troy among the most pleas- ant of all their war experiences. No duty beyond that of the camp- and drill-ground was required of the regiment during its sojourn at Troy, and, the necessity for its presence there having passed, it left on Sunday evening, September 13th, for New York by steamer, and, arriving there in the fol- lowing morning, left immediately by railroad for Washington, under orders to rejoin the Army of the Potomac. It arrived in Washington in the night of September 15th, and three days later

proceeded to Alexandria, whence, after a stop of one day, it was moved to Culpeper Station, and from there marched to the camp of its old brigade, which was located near by. The brigade was the Third, of the First Division, Third Corps, Army of the Potomac.

The Fifth moved on the seventh of November to the Rappahannock River, crossed at Kelly's Ford, and soon after moved to near Brandy Sta- tion, occupying a deserted camp of the enemy. On the twenty-sixth it crossed the Rapidan with the forces which were moving to Mine Run. Taking part in that expedition, it was engaged at Locust Grove on the twenty-seventh, and there lost several killed and wounded. It reached the front of the enemy's works at Mine Run, where for thirty-six hours it remained in support of a battery. From Mine Run the Fifth fell back with the army, and again occupied its camp at Brandy Station, which became its winter quarters until the twenty-eighth, when (the requisite number of re- enlistments having been obtained) it left for Michi- gan, on veteran furlough. It arrived on the fourth of January at Detroit, which was designated as the rendezvous, and then the members entered upon a brief period of freedom and enjoyment with their families and friends.

During its stay in Michigan, the regiment was considerably augmented by accessions of recruits, among whom were a large number from Living- ston County. In December, 1863, in anticipation of its return on veteran furlough, Mr. Andrew D. Waddell and Fred. E. Angel, of Howell, and S. T. Lyon, of Marion, commenced the raising of men in Howell and vicinity, for the purpose of joining the famous Fifth on its return to the field. Enlist- ments at that time were hard to obtain, and Mr. Waddell was assured by several that his efforts would be vain, but they persevered, and long be- fore the regiment was ready to return, these gen- tlemen had obtained more than enough men for a full company. On account of the decimated con- dition of the regiment, however, it was considered most expedient to distribute these new men among the several companies, rather than to keep them together, and this course was accordingly pursued, although it had been the expectation of most of the men to be placed in the Livingston company (I), formerly commanded by Captain Gilluly. The recruits raised by Mr. Waddell were taken to Pon- tiac, where they were examined and accepted, and they joined the regiment about the first of Feb- ruary, 1864. The names of the men raised by Messrs. Waddell and Angel, and mustered into the service for the Fifth Regiment, were the fol- lowing : Hosted by Reginagie

William Cooper.

Charles Neely.

James Canfield.

W. Cooper, Jr.

Philo Curtis.

H. Carl.

Charles Culver.

John Hildebrant.

Amos Smith. W. H. Curtis.

H. Pate.

David Robinson.

J. Root.

Thomas Marr.

S. P. Lord.

Noah Boothby.

John Wehnes.

Frederick Zeitz.

C. B. Whitaker.

Chester Albright.

J. M. Ross.

George Newton.

D. H. Smith.

Charles H. Smith.

G. H. Cooper.

A. J. Carl.

O. S. Bentley.

W. L. Whited.

C. Haines.

Isaac Felter.

R. Waldron.

H. E. Glover.

J. Sawyer.

Ezra Whitaker.

E. H. Hart.

Frank Jordan.

D. Lord.

Ed. Ware.

H. Boen.

Andrew Wall.

E. R. Brockway.

George Pennell.

A. J. Whitaker.

William Brooks.

George Young.

E. H. Smith.

W. G. Clayton.

Asa Wilson.

A. J. Wells.

C. L. Carpenter.

J. G. Phillips.

A. J. Allen.

E. Lansing.

J. Cummings.

G. W. Axtell.

W. J. Barrett.

Sydney Carpenter.

George Barnard.

Peter Woll.

W. S. Sharp.

Charles Hildebrant.

A. Gundling.

George Bronnar.

H. Phelps.

Mr. Waddell was commissioned first lieutenant of Company I, and remained with that company until mustered out in June, 1864, by reason of the consolidation of the Third and Fifth Regiments. After the war he was a member of the Fifth Mich- igan Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association, and was president of that association in 1877 and 1878. Mr. Angel was commissioned second lieutenant of Company I, and remained with it until mustered out on account of the consolidation. Mr. S. T. Lyon was commissioned second lieutenant in the Fifth, promoted to first lieutenant June 10, 1864, and to captain September 15th, in the same year. He remained with the regiment through the cam- paigns of 1864 and 1865, and until the time of its muster out and disbandment.

On the tenth of February the Fifth Regiment, composed of veterans and recruits, left Detroit on its return to the Army of the Potomac. An ac- count of its return, and of events following, until the opening of the campaign of the Wilderness in May, 1864, is given by a member of the regiment,

-Mr. A. K. Sweet, of Detroit,-in the following words :

" We arrived in Washington on the thirteenth, and remained until the seventeenth, when we left for the front. Arrived at Brandy Station in the afternoon of the same day, and at once proceeded to camp, a distance some four miles northwest from the town. The day was bitter cold, and the wind, as it blew full in our faces from off the snow- covered peaks of the Blue Ridge, seemed to chill us to the very marrow in our bones. It was nearly sunset when we reached the spot selected for our camp. The prospect was anything but cheerful. No comfortable huts, such as we had occupied before leaving for home; only the frozen ground for a bed, and on this, with only our blankets for a protection against the chilling blast, we passed the night,-a night as cold as any February night in Michigan.

" This first taste of soldiering was rather rough on our new recruits, fully two-thirds of whom were without blankets or overcoats, having been unable to obtain a complete outfit before leaving De- troit. .

"The next day, towards evening, the First United States Sharpshooters sent over and re- moved our sick to their camp, where they could have proper hospital accommodation, and on the following morning they supplemented this act of kindness by sending us fifteen axes with which to assist us in the construction of our huts. The axes were very opportune, as we did not have a dozen in the entire regiment.

" Favors like these, though they may not appear large when recited, yet coming at a time when sorely needed, they made a warm spot, which never quite grew cold in our hearts for the gallant Boys in Green.

"In a few days we had our huts constructed, and were in tolerably comfortable winter quarters.

"On the first and second of March the regi- ment participated in a reconnoissance by the First Division of the corps on the left of the rebel posi- tion, to create a diversion in favor of Kilpatrick, who was just starting on his famous raid, passing around the rear of the rebel army, and up to the very gates of Richmond. The weather was ex- tremely disagreeable. A heavy rain falling most of the time, and freezing as it came, covered every- thing with a glaze of ice, and rendered the march heavy and difficult, and bivouac cheerless and cold. The movement being merely a feint to divert the enemy's attention, no fighting occurred, and little of incident happened worthy of record. On the third, about noon, the regiment returned to camp, wet, tired, and hungryle They had barely

FIFTH INFANTRY.

M. Hart.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

unslung their knapsacks, when an order came call- ing for a detail of one hundred and eighty men and seven officers, for picket duty. The luckless ones whose fortune it was to be detailed, had just time to cook their coffee and draw an extra supply of rations, before they had to sling knapsacks and light out again. The recruits by this time came to the conclusion that soldiering meant business, and a plenty of it. The detail, however, was re- lieved the next morning, and returned to camp.

" Towards the last of March a general order was issued dissolving the First and Third Corps, and consolidating the troops with those of the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps. The First and Second Divisions of the Third Corps were transferred to the Second Corps, and consolidated and constituted the Third Division. The Third Division of the corps was transferred to the Sixth Corps. Thus was wiped out of existence the gallant old Third Corps, with which our fortunes had so long been associated, and of which we formed a part. Its glorious name, which we in some small degree had helped to make illustrious, and in which we justly felt a soldier's pride, became one of the things that were. The corps had long been a mere skeleton of its former self. The old Third Division had been consolidated with the First and Second, immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, and a new division of ten thousand fresh troops, under command of General French, added. The old commanders of heroic fame, whom the men had learned to love and respect, had gone, and a stranger filled the place of command made glorious by Heintzelman and Hooker. Still the glorious associations that clustered around the name gave it a tender place in our hearts, and when at last its death-knell struck, and the men so long associated in a common history of the toil and triumph sepa- rated to their various destinations, many a brave fellow felt a twinge of sorrow and pain like that which pierces the heart as we stand at the grave of a friend, and the cold clods of the valley close over the dear face and shut it from our sight for- ever. . . .

"On the thirty-first of March we broke camp and marched to the south side of the railroad in the vicinity of Brandy Station, and took up our new quarters in the Second Brigade, Third Division, and Second Corps. The men were allowed to retain the diamond badge,-a deference to their feelings which was thankfully appreciated. The sense of pain and disgrace slowly passed away as we became better acquainted with our new com- panions in arms, for they were as fine a corps of men as the Army of the Potomac or any other in the world could boast, and we were now under

command of a general of brilliant abilities and most intrepid bravery, General W. S. Hancock. General D. B. Birney, our old brigade and division commander, was in command of the division. We soon began to feel at home in our new relations, and with the old red diamond to remind us of the glorious past, we were soon ready as ever to do and dare for the honor of the old flag and the suc- cess of the common cause.

« Towards the last of April nature had begun to spread her rich garniture of green over hill and plain, and soft gales from Southland fanned us with the first delicious breath of spring. The warm sunshine, as May approached, soon dried up the mud from the spring rains, and the roads were once more in a condition for the movement of army trains. On every hand the sure indications of an early opening of field operations were appa- rent. A few days of bustle and preparation and the last finishing touches are complete. A week of comparative quiet followed, like the lull that precedes the bursting of the storm, and then, on the evening of the 3d of May, the first move in what will go down to history as the great cam- paign of the war commenced. No drum-beat or bugle-note sounds a warning, but silently as spec- tres in a dream, regiments, brigades, and divisions leave their camps and fall into line. Already the vanguard is on the march, and the dull tramp, tramp, comes from out the darkness mingled with the low rumbling of the artillery and baggage trains. The camp-fires, as they light up the scene with their fitful glare, reveal the faces of the men as they stand leaning on their guns awaiting their turn to fall into the line of march. They have little time to wait, for everything moves with clock- like precision, and the long lines follow each other in quick succession and disappear in the darkness, until at last what was a few hours before a vast city of snowy tents, with streets thronging with busy life, is now one vast tenantless expanse of smouldering camp-fires, over which broods the midnight stillness, unbroken save by the echoes that come fainter and fainter from the distant foot- steps of the receding hosts.

"The morning finds us still on the march and nearing the Rapidan, which we cross without op- position at Ely's Ford, about nine A.M. We rest half an hour on the heights beyond, from which we enjoy a fine view of the surrounding country,-a picturesque succession of hill and plain, with its distant background of mountains against the western horizon. .

"The men, having marched all night with only a short respite at sunrise for coffee and " hard tack," begin to feel the need of rest and sleep. But the

FIFTH INFANTRY.

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 617

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 617