USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 23
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Early on the morning of July 4th, the entire rebel division pressed to the front, their fire being returned with such spirit by
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Colonel Moore's seventy-five men, who held the breast-works, that the Confederates were evidently nonplussed as to the actual num- ber opposing them. Seventy-five more men joined the defenders of the forlorn hope, and as they were the best marksmen of the com- mand held the enemy in check for some minutes longer. But, as was inevitable, a force of Morgan's troops finally gained the works and there planted a battery of four pieces from which to shell the main Union position. After delivering a few rounds General Mor- gan sent his chief of staff, Colonel Allston, to the commander of the Twenty-fifth, under a flag of truce, and demanded an uncondi- tional surrender, to which Colonel Moore replied: "Present my compliments to General Morgan, and say to him that this being the Fourth of July I cannot entertain the proposition to surrender."
Colonel Allston replied : "I hope you will not consider me dic- tatorial on this occasion. I will be frank. You see the breach we have made upon your works with our battery; you cannot hope to repulse General Morgan's whole division with your little command; you have resisted us gallantly and deserve credit for it, and now I hope you will save useless bloodshed by reconsidering your reply to General Morgan."
Then Colonel Moore: "Sir, when you assume to know my strength, you assume too much. I have a duty to perform to my country, and therefore cannot reconsider my reply to General Mor- gan."
The Confederate officer extended his hand and said: "Good- by, Colonel Moore. God only knows which of us may fall first." And they turned their horses and galloped in opposite directions the firing being at once resumed.
No sooner had the rebel battery re-opened fire than Colonel Moore commanded his sharpshooters to "rise up and pick off those gunners at the battery." It was therefore quickly silenced, but a Confederate brigade immediately charged the works, which were abandoned, as agreed upon.
But a deadly fire was still maintained from the timber line, where the main Union force was stationed; otherwise there was no sound, as Colonel Moore had instructed his men to refrain from cheering, whatever the occasion, as any such demonstration would enable the enemy to form some idea of the Union strength. With the famous rebel yell, a strong force of Morgan's men charged across the open field a number of times, but were repulsed by well directed fire. At the same time the Confederates were engaged in Vol. 1-17
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cutting a gorge through one of the bluffs to the river bottom, through which finally a regiment effected a passage and opened fire on the right flank of Colonel Moore's men. Still determined to keep the enemy in ignorance of his actual strength, he advanced a com- pany of skirmishers to meet this new attack, as if this were but the advance line of a superior force. Advancing them personally with the shrill notes of his bugle, his men poured forth a cool and deadly fire, and the Confederates retreated. The Union boys had already sustained eight determined charges upon their front, when they defeated this even more dangerous attack upon their flank. After a battle of four hours, Morgan's entire division finally withdrew, leaving a number of dead and wounded upon the field equal to the entire force in opposition.
"It was the intention of Morgan, as he declared, to capture the city of Louisville; but this unexpected and terrible repulse cost him more than twelve hours' delay, and caused him-which fact he also afterward stated-to change his plans and abandon his at- tack on Louisville. By this brilliantly fought battle the city was saved from sack and pillage, and the government from the loss of an immense amount of property, consisting of munitions of war and army supplies amounting to many millions of dollars. Major Gen- eral Hartsuff acknowledged the victory in a general order recount- ing the heroic deed. The legislature of Kentucky also acknowl- edged the services of Colonel Moore and his command on that occa- sion in complimentary resolutions. Morgan himself admired Col- onel Moore's generalship so much in the conduct of the battle that he too sent him complimentary messages and announced that he promoted him to the rank of Brigadier General.
"Colonel Allston (Morgan's chief of staff), who was captured a few days after the battle and with him his private journal, in a memorandum of the battle of the fourth of July, remarks: "The colonel is a gallant man, and the entire arrangement of the defense entitles him to the highest credit for military skill. We would mark such a man in our army for promotion.' "
In the Georgia campaign of 1864, the Twenty-fifth regiment was identified with the army of the Ohio, and at Resaca, May 14th, participated with the movement made by the divisions of Generals Judah and Newton which dislodged the enemy from a strong and well-fortified position and enabled General Sherman to advance hvis lines and plant his artillery. This historic charge was made under a murderous fire of musketry and artillery, across an open field
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and through a stream bordered with thick bushes which the enemy had fashioned into breastworks. In the assault, the Twenty-fifth lost about fifty men in a few minutes, among the killed being Adju- tant E. M. Prutzman, of Three Rivers. On July 1st, near Kenesaw, the regiment again made a fine record for brilliant and staying qualities, being a unit of Hascall's division, which advanced seven miles during an intensely hot day, made two successful charges, was under fire from early forenoon until dark, and finally drove the enemy from the point desired by Sherman, the cross-roads near Nickajack creek. The ultimate result of the movement to the Con- federate army was Johnston's evacuation of his strong position on Kenesaw mountain and of all his works to the Chattahoochee.
The Twenty-fifth was also a participant in the defense of Nash- ville, the pursuit of Hood, and the North Carolina campaigns. Its losses during the war were thirty-five men and one officer killed or died of wounds, and one hundred and twenty-three men and two officers died of diseases.
Following are the officers and privates who went from St. Jo- seph county into the Twenty-fifth Infantry :
Colon township-Company D: Sergeant Warren E. Greene, discharged; Lester Taggart, veteran reserve corps; Wagoner Cal- vin J. Root, mustered out; Charles G. Liddle, Frank Young and Emory Blossom, mustered out; Henry M. Liddle, died at Bowling Green, Kentucky, March 1, 1863. Company E: William Ward, mustered out.
Flowerfield township-Company D: George W. Bass, Charles W. Hicks, Isaac J. Kline, Ebenezer Rich, Erastus H. Hicks, Jacob N. Shocraft, Lovinsky Beers and George Barks, mustered out; Henry Beebe, died of wounds, August 22, 1863; Thomas Crossman and Richard Cotherman, discharged; William Dewey, killed by guerillas; John S. Hard, died at Chattanooga; Roswell Beebe, killed at Tibb's Bend, Kentucky, July 4, 1863.
Company G : Lovinsky Beers, George Barks, George F. Wheeler and Abram V. Youell, mustered out; Richard Cotherman, dis- charged; Henry L. Cooper and Henry Stegeman, veteran reserve corps; William Scott. Company K : Burton Kirby, mustered out.
White Pigeon township-Company G : W. M. Kane.
Mottville township-Company G: Charles Smith, died Octo- ber 19, 1863; George B. Harker and Wellington Smith, mustered out.
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Nottawa township-Company D: Jason Sayler, discharged for disability. Company G : Francis Bell, mustered out.
Constantine township-Company D: W. W. Olmstead and Jasper N. Shaw. Company G : Jacob Appleman, mustered out.
Lockport township-Sergeant Major Edward M. Prutzman, adjutant (June 17, 1863), and killed in action at Resaca; Quarter- master's Sergeant Edwin R. Wilbur, first lieutenant and mustered out. Company D: Captain Julius C. Cross, resigned; Corporal Da- vid H. Dunham, mustered out; Charles P. Buck, Joseph Detwiler, Levi E. Wing, Daniel W. Fease, Henry Hale, John E. Sickler and Christie G. Walters, mustered out; George W. Detwiler, discharged; Samuel S. Fease, died December 3, 1862; William C. Hale, died August 7, 1864; Burton H. Wright, died at Louisville, Kentucky, January 19, 1863; George A. Garrison, veteran reserve corps.
Company G: Captain William Fulkerson, resigned; First Lieutenant John B. Handy, captain and mustered out; Second Lieutenant D. D. Thorp, discharged for disability; Sergeant Ro- manzo J. E. Bailey, died at Louisville, February 8, 1863; Sergeant William L. Cole, first lieutenant and mustered out; Sergeant John Gilbert, second lieutenant and resigned; Sergeant Philemon Bing- ham, discharged; Corporal Ashbel W. Snyder, second lieutenant and mustered out; Corporal David O. Thorp, veteran reserve corps; Corporal James K. Franklin and Corporal Benjaman B. Cronk, mustered out; Corporal Hugh Wallace, died at Louisville, Ken- tucky, May 10, 1863; Corporal Wilkinson C. Porter, discharged; Musicians Charles W. Hiles and William H. Lesner, mustered out. Privates : Edward T. Bolton, died at Louisville, December 17, 1862; Charles S. Fitch, died at Bowling Green, Kentucky, March 8, 1863; John Forste, died at Louisville, November 14, 1862; James M. Snyder, died August 8, 1864; George A. Westover, killed by gueril- las; Robert H. Buck, Charles W. Bassett, Hiram L. Brewster, Jo- seph Collesi, William H. Cummins, John H. Cole, Venal Dupuies, Isaiah Dexsee, Bernard Euckerott, William Ferry, George Gearth, Henry J. Horn, William Jay, Edwin Lantz, Jefferson P. McKey, Wesley Noe, Benjamin Oswalt, William F. Stivers, Stephen M. Snyder, Isaac M. Van Ostrand, Aaron S. Wilhelm and Edward Miller, mustered out; Cyrus Judson and Allan Westcott, dis- charged.
Leonidas township-Company D : First Lieutenant Henry Mc- Crary, captain (April 7, 1863) and mustered out; Sergeant Will-
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iam L. Thomas, veteran reserve corps; Corporal Jubal Thomas and Corporal Charles Clement, mustered out; Darius Gilbert, Slyvester McDonald, Andrew L. Pringle, Thaddeus Rulinson and Bruce C. Wilcox, also mustered out; Anson Lamport, discharged for dis- ability ; Henry Lemm, discharged; William Miers, veteran relief corps; Morgan Wallace, killed at Tibb's Bend, Kentucky, July 4, 1863. Company E: William Hoag, died September 17, 1864, and Nathan Schofield, mustered out.
Fabius township-Company D: Sergeant Henry C. Lambert, first and second lieutenant, mustered out; Corporal Orson Nelson, mustered out; Alonzo Burnett, also mustered out; Benjamin J. Burnett, died at Bowling Green, March 28, 1863. Company G; George J. Heckleman and James M. Walton, discharged; Eli Hart- man, Eli Houts, Charles H. Howe, George H. Mohney, Charles S. Newells, Amos Dean, John Bingle and Peter Bingle, mustered out; Augustus Keiser, died at Bowling Green, March 12, 1863.
Park township-Company D: Henry Barnes; Andrew Gon- ever and Samuel Stecker, mustered out; Wesley N. Hower died at Bowling Green, Kentucky; Elijah Reed; Southard Perrin, killed at Tibb's Bend, July 4, 1863.
Mendon township-Company G: Frank Henderson and Charles F. Johnson, discharged.
SEVENTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
The Seventh Infantry would have been ranked among the bright stars of the northern regiments had it done no more than lead the Union army in its passage of the Rappahannock, facing alone that terrific fire of Confederate sharpshooters, on the 11th of December, 1862. It had passed with credit through Mcclellan's peninsula campaign; at Antietam it had lost more than half its force engaged, including Captain Allen H. Zacharias (who died of his wounds) and Lieutenant John P. Eberhard, of Colon, who was killed in action; but one of the great feats of the entire war was reserved to be performed by the Seventh Michigan Infantry at Fredericksburg. Burnside had concluded to cross the Rappa- hannock and attack the enemy on the other side. During the night
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of the 10th his engineers laid the upper pontoon bridge, but were driven off by the rebel sharpshooters with the early morning light of the following day.
Volunteers were then called for, to cross the river and gain a position to protect the laying of the bridge. Immediately the Seventh Michigan, under the gallant Baxter, rushed to the boats and, under a terrific fire from the enemy's sharpshooters, crossed the stream in full view of both armies. Although losing heavily, the command vigorously charged the enemy, drove him from his rifle pits, took a number of prisoners and held the desired ground. Colonel Baxter, who had been severely wounded, recrossed the river, while the regiment, which had now been joined by the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, dashed up the hill into the city of Fredericksburg. The Union forces swept all before them, but only at great loss. The Seventh captured nearly as many prisoners as the regiment numbered, and inflicted a severe loss in killed and wounded, but the fatalities of the command in- cluded Lieutenant Franklin Emery. With the river thus pro- tected, the laying of the pontoons was speedily accomplished, and a portion of Rosecrans' army safely crossed.
When the weary Seventh arrived at the battlefield of Gettys- burg, July 2, 1863, it mustered fourteen officers and one hundred and fifty-one men, and on that and the following day lost from its depleted ranks, in the bloody affrays at Cemetery Hill, twenty-one killed and forty-four wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant Colonel Amos E. Steele, commanding the regiment. What was left of it, fought through the Wilderness, at Petersburg and Hatcher's Run; on October 26th, at the last named engagement, it captured five hundred prisoners, of whom twenty were officers. Sergeant Alonzo Smith (afterward first lieutenant) captured the colors of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry, for which he was presented with a medal of honor by the secretary of war.
Through some misunderstanding, the Seventh was left on the line after the Union forces were withdrawn and remained in that condition until the morning of the 28th, when Colonel La- pointe, then in command, finding his regiment had been left alone in the field, formed his men and explained to them their perilous situation, telling them to stand by him and they could find their way out. They commenced at once their dangerous undertaking, marching twelve miles through the country held by the enemy, gallantly fighting their way at almost every step, pursued and
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harassed constantly by cavalry, threatening to cut them off, but they arrived safely within the Union lines at sundown of the same day. General Hancock, their corps commander, complimented the regiment highly on the occasion, and characterized the undertak- ing as one of the most praiseworthy of the war.
The regiment participated in the closing battles of the war, doing most excellent service and maintaining its high standard won on many hard fought fields. The total loss of the regiment during its entire service were one hundred and seventy men and eleven officers killed and died of wounds, and one hundred and fifty men and four officers died of disease."
The following recruits for the Seventh were furnished by St. Joseph county : Sturgis township (Company K) -James M. Vesey (musician), re-enlisted and mustered out at end of war; Orson D. Lampson, killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, May 31, 1864; Cornelius Bixby, killed at Antietam; Alonzo Chambers, discharged for dis- ability ; Thomas Crampton, re-enlisted, sergeant January 1, 1863, first sergeant September 1, 1864, wounded at Petersburg, and mustered out at end of war as second lieutenant; John B. Denny, transferred veteran reserve corps and mustered out; John A. Hooker, wounded, discharged November, 1862; George Pedler, re-enlisted and mustered out at end of war; Oscar Wilson, dis- charged for disability, 1862.
Colon township-Company C: James Burr, discharged at expiration of service. Company I: Charles H. Trumbull, dis- charged.
Company K: First Lieutenant John P. Everhard, killed at Antietam; Second Lieutenant George H. Laird, resigned April, 1862; Second Lieutenant Charles Hamilton, wounded at Fair Oaks, resigned; Daniel D. Bennett, wounded at Spottsylvania, re-enlisted and promoted to lieutenant, captain and major, and mustered out 1865; Elbert S. Schermerhorn, re-enlisted and mustered out as sergeant; Lewis Frey, re-enlisted and mustered out; Myron How- ard, killed at Deep Bottom, Virginia, August 10, 1864; William E. Romine, veteran reserve corps; Orville Wood, wounded at Cold Harbor and mustered out; Philip Hofield, wounded in the Wilder- ness and mustered out; Ezra Bell, mustered out; Truman E. Mason, transferred to United States cavalry.
Leonidas township-Company B: Joshua Wilferton, mus- tered out; John Cramer, died while a prisoner; George W. Foote,
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veteran reserve corps; Henry B. Renner, discharged for dis- ability ; Francis D. Lee, mustered out. Company F: Charles Bishop, mustered out. Company I: George A. Collins, and Anthony Gerue, discharged for disability; Thomas Hatch, dis- charged at expiration of service.
Company K: Tower S. Benham, wounded at Antietam, re- enlisted and promoted to first lieutenant, captain and major, and mustered out; Thomas Foreman, wounded at Fair Oaks and dis- charged for disability; Meigs D. Wolf, wounded at Fair Oaks, veteran reserve corps; Franklin Miles, missing at the Wilderness; Franklin Bills, accidentally shot, December 4, 1863; John A. Ford and Festus V. Lyon, re-enlisted and discharged; Mark W. Orcutt, discharged.
Burr Oak township-Company I: Joseph M. Stowell, killed at Petersburg.
Company K: Captain John H. Waterman, resigned January 2, 1862; Sergeant Maro Abbott, wounded at Fair Oaks and Glen- dale, discharged October 15, 1862; Sergeant Lorenzo D. Culver, wounded at Fair Oaks, discharged November 2, 1862; Sergeant Edwin R. Green, discharged for disability; Corporal Welington Churchill, killed at Glendale; Corporal John Clinghan, died at Falmouth, Virginia ; Corporal Giles F. Williams, killed at Antietam. Privates: George W. Austin, died at Alexandria; Emory R. Belote, re-enlisted veteran, wounded at Spottsylvania; Daniel Booth, William J. Church, Harry Kilmer, Benjamin F. Smiley, and Alonzo Wheaton, discharged for disability ; James M. Green, John H. Story, discharged at expiration of service; Leonard C. Green, discharged from veteran reserve corps; Nathan Kinley, killed at Glendale, June 3, 1862; Frank Lang, re-enlisted veteran and mustered out; James McDaniels, Adolphus Neitzkee, Joseph B. Stowell and Oscar G. Smith, discharged; Allison A. Mills and Duane A. Mills, killed at Glendale, June 30, 1862; James Pepper, re-enlisted veteran, discharged; James Pepper, Jr., wounded at Fair Oaks and Gettysburg, promoted to sergeant and mustered out; Alvah E. Stowell, wounded at Antietam and discharged; Addison Wheaton, killed in action, September 17, 1862; George W. Whitman, died of wounds received at Fair Oaks, June 1, 1862; Frank G. Shaw, died in Andersonville prison; John Alexander, died of wounds received by rebel guard at Salisbury prison, North Carolina, November 22, 1864; John W. Steadman, killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, May 30, 1864 ; Henry Livermore, died at Stevens-
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burg, Virginia, May 19, 1864; Chester Terrell, died in hospital September 10, 1862; Nelson Tyler, re-enlisted veteran and pro- moted sergeant; Horace Calhoun, killed at Glendale, Virginia, June 30, 1862; Oliver Green, re-enlisted veteran, taken prisoner and died at Annapolis, January 1, 1865; Reason Green, re-enlisted and died February 1, 1865; Levi R. Tuttle, wounded at Gettys- burg, discharged.
FIRST MICHIGAN INFANTRY.
Through Burr Oak township, the First Michigan Infantry which led the advance of state troops to the front, was well repre- sented by St. Joseph men. Ira C. Abbott, who went out with the three-months' men as captain of Company G, was promoted to the command of the regiment in March, 1863.
The First, which was hurriedly organized by Colonel Wilcox, arrived at Washington among the very first to respond to Presi- dent Lincoln's first call and as it passed in review before him was formally complimented and thanked for its patriotic promptness and soldierly appearance. On the 24th of May, 1861, it led the ad- vance of the Union troops across the long bridge into Virginia, driving in the Confederate pickets and entering Alexandria by road at the same time that Ellsworth's New York Zouaves entered it by steamer. Colonel Wilcox commanded a brigade at First Bull Run, where the First fought gallantly and stubbornly, establishing the high standard for Michigan troops which was never lowered throughout the war. Its dead were found nearest the enemy's works and its wounded were many. Among the latter were Colonel Wilcox, Captain Butterworth, and Lieutenants Maunch and Casey, all of whom were taken prisoners and all except Colonel Wilcox died of their wounds. He himself endured fifteen months of cap- tivity before he was exchanged.
The First Michigan was mustered out of the service as a three- months' regiment August 7, 1861, and when reorganized for the three-years' service left for the Army of the Potomac in command of Colonel John C. Robinson, captain in the regular army, who was succeeded, in April, 1862, by Colonel H. S. Roberts, promoted from lieutenant colonel. It was with MeClellan in his Peninsula cam- paign and at Malvern Hill and Gainesville. While at Manassas, or Second Bull Run, in August, 1862, every man was a hero, although
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forced to give ground against an ambushed and terrific fire of the enemy. In this disaster, which they shared with several other regi- ments, Colonel Roberts, Captains Charles E. Wendell, Russell H. Alcott, Eben T. Whittlesey and Edward Pomeroy, and Lieutenants H. Clay Arnold, J. S. Garrison and W. Bloodgood were killed.
The regiment was engaged at Antietam and Fredericksburg, at the latter battle being commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ira C. Abbott, of Burr Oak, who had gone out in the three-years' service as captain of Company B and was promoted to major April 28, 1862. At Fredericksburg it lost Captain J. B. Kennedy and seven privates killed and thirty-three men wounded. At Chancellorsville, it went into action under command of Colonel Abbott, who had been promoted a short time before, with twenty-three officers and two hundred and forty men; reached Gettysburg on the morning of the last day of the battle, and sustained a loss of one officer (Cap- tain Amos Ladd) and four men killed and six officers and twenty- five men wounded, leaving as its total effective force thirteen offi- cers and ninety-six men. As Colonel Abbott was disabled early in the action, the command devolved upon Lieutenant Colonel W. A. Throop, who led it through the battles of the Wilderness, as well as in the general advance by Grant on Richmond. It fired the first musket of the investing campaign and the brigade to which it was attached checked the Confederate advance on the road leading to Orange Court House. In the opening engagements, so constantly was it under fire and so perilous were the duties to which it was as- signed, that on the evening of the 8th of May, after a gallant charge at Alsop's farm, its brave commander was able to muster but twen- ty-three men fit for active service. But the fighting remnant still pressed forward at Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg (where Captain James H. Wheaton, its commander, was killed), Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run and Appomattox.
The total fatalities of the regiment during the war were one hundred and forty-six men and fifteen commissioned officers killed and died of wounds, and ninety-six men and one officer died of dis- ease.
Following is the roster of St. Joseph county as represented in the First Michigan Infantry :
Burr Oak township-Three-months' men, Company G: Cap- tain Ira C. Abbott, promoted to colonel of regiment; E. A. Cross, Charles H. Palmer, John Steitz, J. N. Trask, Andrew Craig, Jonas
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Barker, A. N. Russell, John Archer and C. S. Trimm, all taken prisoners at Bull Run.
Burr Oak township-Three-years' men, Company B: Captain Ira C. Abbott (August 12, 1861), major (April 28, 1862), lieuten- ant colonel (August 30, 1862) and colonel (March 8, 1863) ; Ser- geant John Stepper, second and first lieutenant, captain, mustered out ; Corporal George Beaumeister, killed at Bull Run, August 30, 1862; Corporal Benjamin F. Dow; Henry Green, re-enlisted vet- eran, discharged for disability ; Daniel Heinbach, discharged at ex- piration of service; Joshua Hawkins, discharged at expiration of service ; Willis H. Kibbe, first lieutenant, mustered out; William Lowry, discharged at expiration of service; Henry Lowry, dis- charged for disability; Charles W. Patchen, discharged at expira- tion of service; and Levi Webb, re-enlisted veteran, died February 7, 1865. Company C: Caspar Gamby, mustered out, and Elias G. Hill, killed near Poplar Grove church, Va. Company I: John R. Hoagland and Theodore Watson, both mustered out.
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