History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 111

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553

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hill full half a mile. Here the rebels rallied, and Longstreet's forces came rushing down in masses eight lines deep. The gallant brigade received and repulsed them with terrible loss. Colonel Sanborn was severely wounded while in front of his regiment. The color-sergeant, Philo J. Durkee, and Corporal Stansell, were killed in turn, and Corporal Vincent severely wounded, while bravely bearing the colors of the Twenty-second to the front. ( The rebels drove the brigade to the foot of the hill at the second onslaught, where it again formed and again gallantly retook the crest. Colonel Le Favour informed General Whitaker that his ammunition was exhausted. " You must use your steel," was the reply. The enemy again furiously advanced. The sun had gone down ; in the twilight it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe. The Twenty-second rushed forward, led by Colonel Le Favour in person, with fixed bayonets and empty muskets, and, under a most terrific fire of grape and mus- ketry, met the charge of the enemy and repulsed and drove him at every point. General Steadman sent an order to fall back, but it was too late ; before it arrived the regiment was closed in on both flanks and cut off. This brave and most desperate charge General Steadman declared saved that immediate portion of the army.

A correspondent on the field said, " Whitaker said he would take the ridge, and he did it. This is the way it was done. The six regiments of the first brigade were formed in two lines, the first comprising the Ninety-sixth Illinois, Colonel Thomas E. Champion, on the right; One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois, Colonel J. H. Moore, in the centre; and the Twenty-second Michigan, Colonel Le Favour, on the left. Then came the order to advance. With a yell, the first line bounded forward on the double-quick. Up and down the little hills, and through the narrow valleys which intervened, they pressed hastily forward, until they came within short range of the rebel musketry, which opened upon them furiously, while the grape and canister from the battery on the ridge swept cruelly through the ranks. Almost exhausted with their hurried march and their long-continued double-quick, the troops recoiled for an instant under that withering fire, but ere the most timid could think of retreating Colonel Champion promptly gave the command to halt, lie down and fire, which was obeyed on the instant. There lay the line for five minutes, responding resolutely to the fire of the enemy. That five minutes was a terrible ordeal for our soldiers, for during that five minutes their ranks were more than decimated. Then came the order to fix bayonets and charge upon the enemy. The ardor of the men overcame their fatigue, and, tired as they were, they resumed the double-quick march as they advanced up the ridge, right in the face of a galling fire. If a man fell-and many did-he was left to enrich the soil of Georgia with his life's blood ;, or, if able, to creep, alone and unassisted, to the rear ; for none who were able to march left the ranks, which were kept well closed up, and the line was firmly maintained."

The Twenty-second lost in killed, wounded, and missing on this day three hundred and seventy-two out of five hundred and eighty-four, including among the mortally wounded Captains W. A. Smith and Elijah Snell, brave and meritorious officers. Most of the missing were taken prisoners, among whom was Colonel Le Favour. In this charge the regiment was almost annihilated.

The battles and skirmishes of the Twenty-second were as follows: Danville, Kentucky, March 24, 1863; Hickman's Bridge, Kentucky, March 27, 1863; Pen Vine Creek, Tennessee, September 17, 1863; McAffee's Church, Tennessee, September 19, 1863; Chickamauga, Tennessee, September 20, 1863 ; Wautahatchie (near Chatta- nooga), Tennessee, September 28 to October 28, 1863; Mission Ridge, Tennessee, November 26, 1863; Atlanta, Georgia, July 22 and 23, 1864.

COLONEL MOSES WISNER,

of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, died at Lexington, Kentucky, January 5, 1863, of typhoid fever. " He possessed military qualities of a high order, to the development of which his friends looked forward with much anticipation and hope. He was a strict disciplinarian, and it was to this circumstance that the health of the regiment while under his command was mainly owing. He sacrificed his life in unremitting attention and devotion to his men, and to his faithfully discharged duties as a commander. He was thoroughly read in military history and tactics, and would doubtless have excelled in the profession of arms had his life been spared. In his death the army lost a brave officer, and faithful one, and Michigan a noble citizen."

He was buried in Oak Hill cemetery, January 9, 1863, without military display, quietly and unostentatiously, even as he had lived ; but the whole country-side came in to pay their last tribute to the man they loved, to whom death had granted an unending furlough. The legislature, which was in session when the news of Governor Wisner's death was received, passed resolutions of respect and adjourned for the day. The supreme court, likewise in session, adopted a eulogistic expression of regard for their former superior, and ordered it spread upon the records of the court, and also adjourned out of respect for his memory, Judge Van Valkenburg paying the deceased a most fitting tribute. The bar of Oakland County paid their customary tribute of respect to their deceased brother, and the resolutions passed by his own regiment were like the wailings of orphans for a dead father.

The father of Governer Wisner, also named Moses, was a colonel in the war of 1812, and was noted for his brave and fearless action in battle.

Henry Merrill, of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, while acting as division forage master, performed a bold and successful feat whereby he brought two rebel cavalrymen into camp prisoners, with their arms and horses. He was one day out with a train on a foraging expedition, and riding in advance of the train, he rode up between two horsemen whom he at once discovered to be rebel cavalrymen, and instantly formed a resolution and plan of escaping from their power and reverse situations. They inquired who he was, and on being informed he was one of Mor- gan's men, who was then in that country (Kentucky), they invited him to ride on with them to camp; but he excused himself by saying he was foraging and could not leave his wagons, and said it would be better for them to ride back with him and

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

act as escort for the train, which they consented to do, and did ; and at their arrival at the wagons, Merrill demanded their surrender as prisoners, and they had no alter- native but to comply with the reasonable demand. Merrill brought his prisoners into camp along with his forage, and received one of the captured horses for his own riding.

Another member of the Twenty-second whose name is not given, on the request of one of his officers, rode in advance of his command with a message to a party at Red River Iron Works in Kentucky. Upon arriving at the village, the soldier found the place in possession of a troop of rebel cavalry who had just driven out a larger force of Union troops. Seven of the troop were at the blacksmith shop of the village having their horses shod, and the Michigan soldier riding boldly up, though alone and unarmed, demanded the surrender of the party. Four of them immediately complied, and delivered up their carbines, but the other three sprang into their saddles and set spurs to their horses to escape. The single soldier immediately fired with one of the carbines, bringing one of the fleeing rebels to the ground seriously wounded, whom he secured, and held the fire until his command came up on the run at hearing the report of the carbine, and delivered a few parting shots at the fleeing rebels. He then turned over four rebel cavalrymen in good order, one ditto dam- aged, five horses and accoutrements, and five good carbines and equipments in ser- viceable condition, and then completed the original errand he was sent to perform.

Alfred J. Skinner, of Novi, of Co. I, Twenty-second Infantry, was taken prisoner, and after being held seven months in captivity, escaped from the train conveying some hundreds of prisoners to Andersonville or Dalton, and made his way through the rebel lines to his command at Cleveland, Tennessee, being ten days on the way. He traveled mostly by night on foot from Augusta, though he bearded the lion one day by riding on the cars as a member of a Georgia regiment among rebel officers and soldiers, having one or two " tight squeezes" to ward off suspicion. He was taken prisoner once by some rebel scouts, but feigning sleep, threw his sleepy captors off their guard, and when they were asleep he withdrew quietly from their company, escaping in the darkness, though one of the rebels was awakened and clutched his leg as he passed out of the door of the house, and received a sharp pinch as the door shut in return for his friendly (?) offices. A pack of dogs let loose on his track came up with him, when he assumed the role of whipper in of the pack, and sent them on for other game. He passed himself off successfully for a member of the Fifty-fourth Virginia among four furloughed soldiers, and kept them at story-telling of "hair-breadth 'scapes by field and flood," and getting a good "square" meal, and his haversack filled into the bargain. He brought up at daylight wherever he happened to be, and laid by for rest during the day, and so made his way through dangers on every side to the protection of the national arms and his own command.

A few recruits only were gathered in Oakland County for the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Regiments of Michigan Infantry.

THE TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY

was one of the latest regiments of Michigan to enter the service, arriving at Nash- ville from its rendezvous in Michigan, October 3, 1864, under command of Colonel Thomas M. Taylor. The regiment encountered the enemy under Hood, October 26, at Decatur, where it behaved with great coolness, notwithstanding its recent organi- zation. The regiment moved out from the breastworks behind which they were sheltered, and in the face of a hot fire of musketry and artillery took possession of a line of rifle-pits on the left of the works. Colonel Doolittle, who was in charge of the Union force, had but five hundred men, but with them he successfully resisted five thousand rebels-Waltham's whole division of Stewart's corps. The Twenty- ninth was mustered out of service September 6, 1865.

Its engagements were as follows : Decatur, Alabama, October 26, 27, and 28, 1864; Overall Creek, Tennessee, December 7, 1864; Winsted Church, Tennessee, December 13, 1864 ; Shelbyville Pike, Tennessee, December 15 and 16, 1864; Nolansville, Ten- nessee, December 17, 1864.

THE THIRTIETH INFANTRY

was raised under authority from the War Department for special service on the Michigan frontier, its term of service being for one year, and by orders from this department, dated November 7, 1864, its recruitment was commenced under direc- tion of Colonel G. S. Warner, with rendezvous at Jackson, which was afterwards changed to Detroit, where the organization was completed January 9, 1865. The companies were stationed at different points along the Detroit and St. Clair rivers and in other parts of the State, as follows : A and B, at Fort Gratoit; D, at St. Clair ; E, at Wyandotte; K, at Jackson ; H, at Fenton; G, in Detroit; and C, F, and I, at Detroit barracks. The regiment continued on duty at those points until June 30, 1865, when it was mustered out of service.

There were a few recruits in each of the organizations of the First Michigan Sharpshooters, Dygert's Sharpshooters (attached to the Sixteenth Michigan), and the Staunton Guards.

THE MECHANICS AND ENGINEERS.

Oakland had but a few representatives in this celebrated regiment, which was distinguished for its fighting qualities almost as much as for its splendid achieve- ments in bridge-building. The regiment was most signally distinguished at Lavergne, Tennessee, January 1, 1868, while Rosecrans was fighting the battle of Stone River, where it sustained and succcessfully resisted and repelled an attack of five hours' dura- tion by Wheeler's rebel cavalry, some three or four thousand strong, in which seven distinct and separate charges were made upon the regiment, protected by hastily con- structed breastworks of logs and brush. Three times did General Wheeler send a · flag of truce and demand the surrender of the regiment, claiming an increase of force; but Colonel Wm. P. Innes sent back his characteristic reply, " He could not see it," so long as his ammunition held out. Mr. Greeley, in his " American Con-

flict," noticing Colonel Innes' extraordinary defense, says, "On the whole, the enemy's operations in the rear of our army during this memorable conflict (battle of Stone River) reflect no credit on the intelligence and energy with which they were resisted. 'The silver lining to this cloud' is a most gallant defense made on the 1st of January by Colonel Innes' First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, only three hundred and ninety-one strong, who had taken post on high ground near La- vergne, and formed such a barricade of cedars, etc., as they hurriedly might. Here they were attacked at two P.M. by Wharton's calvary, whom they successfully re- sisted and beat off. Wharton's official report is their best eulogium ; he was in com- mand of six regiments. He says, ' A regiment of infantry under Colonel Dennis (Innes) also was stationed in a cedar brake and fortifications near this point. I caused a battery, under Lieutenant Pike, who acted with great gallantry, to open on it. The fire at a range of not more than four hundred yards was kept up for more than an hour, and must have resulted in great damage to the enemy. I caused the enemy to be charged on three sides at the same time by Colonels Cox and Smith and Lieu- tenant-Colonel Malone, and the charge was repeated four times ; but the enemy was so strongly posted that it was found impossible to dislodge him.'" The regiment lost only two killed and twelve wounded, while the rebel loss, as estimated at the time, was over a hundred in killed and wounded. General Rosecrans, in his official report, gave the regiment the credit of having repulsed over ten times its own number on that occasion. It was mustered out of service September 22, 1865.

Its engagements were as follows during its term of service, which began December 17, 1861 : Mill Springs, Kentucky, January 19, 1862; Farmington, Mississippi, May 9, 1862; siege of Corinth, May 10 to 31, 1862; Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862; Lavergne, Tennessee, January 1, 1863; Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 6, 1863; Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, July 22 to September 2, 1864 ; Savannah, Georgia, December 11 to 21, 1864; Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865.

THE FIRST MICHIGAN CAVALRY.

The first regiment of cavalry was organized during the summer of 1861 by Colonel T. F. Brodhead, of Detroit (formerly of Pontiac), and left its rendezvous in that city (Detroit) December 29, for Washington. It participated in the campaigns on the upper Potomac, in the Shenandoah Valley, and on the slopes of the Blue Ridge in 1862, Colonel Brodhead being killed at the second battle of Bull Run. It participated in the Gettysburg campaign in 1863. With the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Regiments of cavalry it was brigaded, and was known throughout the war as the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, in command of the impetuous and now lamented Custer. The First Cavalry, while in command of Colonel Brodhead, served in the command of General Alpheus S. Williams, of Michigan, in 1862, and covered the retreat of Gene- ral Banks' army from the Shenandoah Valley, serving with much distinction, and rendering very important service in that affair, being continuously under fire. Gene- ral Custer, in his official report of the brigade's operations at Gettysburg, thus speaks of the First Cavalry's part of the work. The regiment was under command of Colo- nel Charles H. Town. The Fifth Cavalry had been dismounted and were slowly compelled to retire, their ammunition being exhausted ; the Seventh were ordered to charge the almost overwhelming force before whom the First were retiring, and in doing so, the Seventh were repulsed, but renewed the contest supported by the Fifth, who had remounted, when an entire brigade of the enemy-four regiments-appeared in front of Custer's line, against whom he had but the First Cavalry and one bartery to oppose. The rebels were formed in column of regiments; Custer at once ordered the First, which was formed in column of battalions, to charge. " Upon receiving the order to charge, Colonel Town placed himself at the head of his regiment, or- dered the ' trot,' and sabres drawn, and in this manner the regiment advanced to the attack of a force outnumbering its own five to one. In addition to this numerical superiority, the enemy had the advantage of position, and were exultant over the re- pulse of the Seventh Cavalry. All these facts considered, would seem to have ren- dered success on the part of the First impossible; but not so, however. Arriving within a few yards of the enemy's columns, the charge was ordered, and, with a yell that spread terror before them, the First Cavalry, led by their fearless colonel (Town), rode upon the front rank of the enemy, sabreing all who came within reach of their blades. For a moment, but only a moment, that long, heavy column stood its ground; then, unable to withstand the impetuosity of our attack, it gave way to a disorderly rout, leaving vast numbers of their dead and wounded in our possession; while the First, masters of the field, had the proud satisfaction of seeing the much vaunted ' chivalry,' led by their favorite commander, seek safety in headlong flight. I cannot find language to express my high appreciation of the gallantry and daring displayed by the officers and men of the First Michigan Cavalry. They advanced to the charge of a vastly superior force with as much order and precision as if going upon parade; and I challenge the annals of warfare to produce a more brilliant or successful charge of cavalry than the one just recounted." High praise, indeed, is this from one whose laurels had all been gained in the headlong impetuosity of the charge, and in the smoke and roar of battle. The loss of the First Cavalry at Gettys- burg was eighty men and eleven officers killed, wounded, and missing out of three hundred engaged.

The entire interesting history of the First Cavalry is so interwoven with that of the brigade, it is impossible to give it in our space, and we must refer our readers for the glorious and imperishable record to the exhaustive reports of the adjutant-gene- ral of Michigan, General John Robertson, from which the extracts already given have been taken. The First Cavalry was engaged in sixty-eight battles and skir- mishes as reported to the adjutant-general, of which we name only the more impor- tant ones : Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862 ; Middletown, Virginia, March 25, 1862; Strasburg, Virginia, March 27, 1862; Harrisonburg, Virginia, April 22, 1862; Winchester, Virginia, May 24, 1862; Orange Court-House, Virginia, June 16, 1862; Cedar Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862; Bull Run, Virginia, August 30,

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

1862; Thoroughfare, Virginia, May 21, 1863 ; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1863; Hagerstown, Maryland, July 6, 1863; Falling Waters, Maryland, July 14, 1863; Snicker's Gap, Virginia, July 19, 1863 ; Culpepper Court-House, Virginia, Septem- ber 14, 1863; Buckland's Mills, Virginia, October 19, 1863; Richmond, Virginia, March 1, 1864; Wilderness, Virginia, May 6 and 7, 1864; Yellow Tavern, Vir- ginia, May 10 and 11, 1864; Hawes' Shop, Virginia, May 28, 1864; Cold Harbor, Virginia, May 30, 1864, and July 21, 1864; Winchester, Virginia, August 11, 1864; Meadow Bridge, May 12, 1864; Trevillian Station, Virginia, June 11, 12, 1864 ; Winchester, Virginia, September 19, 1864; Cedar Creek, Virginia, October 19, 1864; Five Forks, Virginia, March 30, 31, and April 1, 1865; Sailors' Creek, Virginia, April 6, 1865; Appomattox, Virginia, April 8, 9, 1865.

COLONEL THORNTON F. BRODHEAD,

the gallant commander of the First Michigan Cavalry during the first year of its service, was educated as a lawyer, and admitted to the bar of Oakland County, and removed from Pontiac to Detroit, where he was for some years the postmaster of that city. When the rebellion broke out, and armed treason raised its mailed hand against the life of the nation, with all the enthusiasm of his nature he entered into the work of raising a cavalry regiment for service against the traitors, and was appointed the colonel of the first regiment of that arm of the service raised in Michigan. He led his command with distinguished honor and success through the various battles and skirmishes on the upper Potomac and the Shenandoah Valley, culminating in the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862, where the brave officer fell mortally wounded, gallantly leading his men to the charge. While on his death-bed on the field, his last words to the attendant surgeon were, " The old flag will triumph yet!" In his letter to his wife, he wrote, " I fought manfully and now die fearlessly."

THE SECOND CAVALRY.

On November 14, 1861, the Second Cavalry, raised by Colonel F. W. Kellogg, moved from its rendezvous at Grand Rapids, destined for St. Louis, Missouri, and on their arrival there, Captain Gordon Granger, United States Army (afterward major-general of volunteers), assumed command as colonel. The regiment first encountered the enemy near Point Pleasant, Missouri, March 9; was soon afterwards engaged in the siege of the island, which continued from March 14 to April 7, when it was surrendered, Colonel Granger having been promoted to the rank of brigadier- general, March 26, 1862. On May 25 following, Governor Blair commissioned Captain Philip H. Sheridan (now lieutenant-general of the regular army) colonel of the regiment. " Throughout the long and arduous services of this regiment in the field, which terminated only with the close of the war, it was the terror of the rebels whenever it came in contact with them. Being always superbly armed and equipped, and the men the bravest of brave soldiers, and all of them most excellent shots, it seldom attacked without defeating and routing the enemy, and never without severely punishing them, even when compelled to retire before immense odds. The engagements of the regiment at Booneville, July 1, 1862, and Dandridge, December 24, 1863, when on both occasions it most signally distinguished itself, are among the most noted of its battles, which, with its skirmishes, amounted to seventy during its term of service. Colonel Sheridan was promoted to the rank of briga- dier, and was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, July 1, 1862.

The more important engagements of the Second Cavalry were as follows: Point Pleasant, Missouri, March 9, 1862; Farmington, Mississippi, May 5, 1862; Boone- ville, Mississippi, June 1, 1862; Columbia, Tennessee, March 4 and 5, 1863; Brentwood, Tennessee, March 25, 1863 ; Chickamauga, Tennessee, September 18, 1863; Dandridge, Tennessee, December 24, 1863; Pigeon River, January 27, 1864; Franklin, Tennessee, September 27, 1864; Richland Creek, Tennessee, December 24, 1864; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, April 1, 1865; Bridgeville, Alabama, April 6, 1865; Talladega, Alabama, April 23, 1865.

THE THIRD CAVALRY.

This regiment left the rendezvous at Grand Rapids for Benton Barracks, Nov. 28, 1861, where Colonel J. K. Mizner assumed its command. Its first engagement with the enemy was at New Madrid, Missouri, March 13, 1862, " where it commenced a most creditable career, giving traitors a lively idea what Michigan cavalry were, and what they might expect in the future, which expectations were realized to the full whenever the Third came in contact with them during the entire war."

The regiment participated in General Grant's campaign in Mississippi, being dis- tinguished at Iuka, September 19, 1862. Its most important engagements were, besides Iuka, as follows: Corinth, Mississippi, October 3 and 4, 1862; Hatchie, Mississippi, October 6, 1862; Hudsonville, Mississippi, November 14, 1862; Holly Springs, Mississippi, November 19, 1862; Lumkin's Mills, Mississippi, November 29, 1862; Oxford, Mississippi, December 2, 1862; Coffeeville, Mississippi, December 5, 1862 ; Brownsville, Mississippi, January 14, 1863; Clifton, Mississippi, February 20, 1863; Panola, Mississippi, July 20, 1868; Grenada, Mississippi, August 14, 1863 ; Byhalia, Mississippi, October 12, 1863; Wyatt's Ford, Mississippi, October 13, 1863. The regiment was stationed on the Texas frontier after the collapse of the rebellion until February 15, 1866, when it was mustered out of service.

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History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 111

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co. Number of Pages: 553

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553