USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of the Twenty-fourth Michigan of the Iron brigade, known as the Detroit and Wayne county regiment > Part 24
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Major Hutchinson applied to the War Department to have the Twenty-fourth Michigan filled up and General S. W. Crawford endorsed the recommendation in the following flattering terms :
HEADQUARTERS FIFTH ARMY CORPS, January 10, 1865.
This noble regiment has a most honorable record. Its ranks are thin from the casualties of disease and battle, but the spirit of the officers and men who remain is unchanged, and I would respectfully urge its claims to be filled up to the maximum, as it is second to no other regiment in this army.
During this month, Captain George W. Burchell resigned in obedience to impaired health from long and faithful service and pressing private business at home. Every officer in the regiment and every man in his company signed a testimonial in his behalf. One amusing episode in his army experience will bear narrating. The Captain had been home on furlough and had overstaid his time a few days, returning the day before the campaign began in May, 1864. For this delay, he was placed under arrest by some authority in Washington but allowed to go to his regiment. A Court of Inquiry was ordered which was held on one of the battlefields in that campaign while the shot and shell were being hurled over their heads as they stood under a tree. It is needless to say that the Captain was honorably acquitted of any wrong intention. The following premature obituary appeared in the Detroit Tribune in 1863, not an unusual occurrence in war days :
DEATH OF LIEUT. BURCHELL .- We learn by a private dispatch received by the wife of Lieut. Burchell of this city, that that officer has died of the wounds received
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(19)
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while crossing into Fredericksburg with the 24th. As an officer and a gentleman, he was highly esteemed by all who knew him, and his loss will be mourned by a large circle of friends.
The month of January brought another series of promotions, among the non-commissioned officers and ranks and a commission for Sergeant A. F. Ziegler. On January 25, General Henry A. Morrow was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade (Hoffman's) of the Third Division, Fifth Army Corps. This left the regiment in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Edwards again, who had already had much experience in its command during Colonel Morrow's absence from wounds, etc .- Captain Whiting and Lieutenant Chilson were made acting Aides to General Morrow. It is no longer proper to say Colonel Morrow, but General Morrow hereafter, as his brilliant record has tardily but finally received merited recognition, by his being brevetted Brigadier-General of U. S. Volunteers "for gallant and distinguished services," a promotion deservedly bestowed. This and a full Brigadiership were earned by him, many times, upon the bloody field of Gettysburg. In that whirlwind of death, he gave his command an example by his intrepidity and valor. To the nerve and daring of the commanding officer is often due the courage of his men. Were he to be less brave, so very likely would they. To General Morrow the nation owes a meed of praise which it has immeasurably accorded him for his services that day- frequently taking the flag into his own hands and thereby becoming a shining mark for death's arrows, and encouraging his men to rally around it; thus making stand after stand, delaying the enemy's advancing lines until the hastening troops of the rest of Meade's army could come up-holding back the enemy · until he was himself wounded and four-fifths of the regiment had disappeared in the whirlwind of battle that swept over that fatal first day's field at Gettysburg. Had he and his gallant band done less or shown less fortitude on that occasion, the fears of General Wadsworth might have been painfully realized when he said what has already been quoted: "Colonel Morrow, God only knows what would have become of the Army of the Potomac had you not fought the Twenty-fourth Michigan as long as you did."
FRIENDLY PICKETS - MEDICINE RATIONS-MEDALS OF HONOR, ETC.
The month of January passed away with the usual winter duties, the regiment taking its tours at picket. The pickets of the opposing armies had settled down in the regiment's front to a quietude as if no
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war existed. It was a frequent occurrence to see the enemy and our own men cutting firewood from the same tree between the lines. On January 26, the following was issued :
SPECIAL ORDER NO. 3 .- The quinine and whiskey ordered to be issued to the troops, will be dealt out in this regiment like other medicines, by the surgeons. It is hereby made the duty of the Officer of the Day to see that the men report by company to the surgeon, each morning and evening, and take their medicine. Those who are conscientiously opposed to the stuff may be excused from drinking it.
In some of the other regiments of the Iron Brigade, medals of honor had been awarded to certain ones in the ranks for conspicuous bravery and honorable conduct. An invitation came from Brigade headquarters, to name members of the Twenty-fourth for similar distinction, to which Major Hutchinson then in command replied as follows :
Although this regiment has participated in every march, skirmish, battle, etc., in which the Brigade has been engaged, I can recall no instance in which any particular member thereof, has so far distinguished himself above his comrades as to entitle him to a distinctive badge of merit. I could cite many cases where soldiers of this regiment have left their sick beds in hospital to rejoin their comrades when a battle was expected ; others, where they have marched for days with bare and bleeding feet, as in the march to Gettysburg ; others again, when they were wounded in action so as to disable them from handling their muskets, have refused to leave the field, but remained to carry water or tear cartridges for their comrades. Such acts have been performed in so many instances by members of this regiment that I cannot, doing justice to all, recommend any soldier as more deserving than his comrades.
Under the supervision of Chaplain Way, a chapel for worship was in course of erection by the men, but marching orders on the afternoon of February 4, brought their work to a close. There was much speculation where the troops were going and what for, but as time alone would reveal the mystery, the night was passed as usual on such occasions, in receiving a good supply of rations and full complement of cartridges, and in reducing knapsacks to the marching weight, as well as writing letters home, perhaps farewell ones. Then too, it was a source of anxiety if this mid-winter movement would result in an abandonment of their cosy and comfortable winter cabins as in December last.
BATTLE OF DABNEY'S MILL.
Before daylight, Sunday morning, February 5, 1865, the moving column was well under way far from their winter camp. It consisted of the Second and Fifth Corps, all under command of General
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Warren. It was a beautiful Sabbath day and the bright sun shone cheerily upon the veteran troops as they measured their footsteps towards the enemy. The Iron Brigade headed the Third Division and moved down the Halifax road towards Reams' Station. After a march of six miles, Rowanty Creek was reached, which, though only twenty feet wide was not conveniently fordable.
The column was deployed for a while to allow the construction of a temporary bridge. The bridge-building was simple. Two trees at the proper distance from each other on the bank were felled transversely across the stream by the pioneers. The fallen trees served as stringers upon which was constructed a solid bed of boughs. Having crossed this novel bridge, the Regiment with the Iron Brigade turned west and continued the march across Hatcher's Run and bivouacked for the night. The men suffered much from the cold, as tents and blankets had been left in camp.
Monday morning, the 6th, was spent in taking positions, the Second Corps on the right of the Fifth. At 4 o'clock in the morning the Iron Brigade moved back on the Vaughn Road across Hatcher's Run, and re-crossed this stream about noon and pushed to the right of the Duncan Road through the woods towards Dabney's Mill. The Seventh Wisconsin and the 150th Pennsylvania were deployed as skirmishers, while the Twenty-fourth Michigan guarded the left flank. The skirmishers were soon engaged and a running fight ensued, the main body following up our skirmish line as it advanced and pushed the enemy back to the vicinity of Dabney's Mill, where he had taken position under cover of some temporary works, from which he was soon dislodged.
The two lines of battle now engaged in an irregular interchange of bullets through the timber in front. The enemy's fire grew more continuous and heavy which was evidence that their lines were being strengthened. It was now 5 o'clock P. M. and Ayers' Division was ordered up to the support of Crawford's, and while moving in common was suddenly assailed in large force and driven back. Crawford's Division ( in which was the Iron Brigade ) was heavily engaged on his front at the same time. At six o'clock there was a lull in the battle and preparations made to receive the enemy, as a charge usually follows such periods of silence. Presently Mahone's Division which had been fighting our dismounted cavalry on another part of the field, now fell suddenly upon the left of the Fifth Corps where the Iron Brigade and Twenty-fourth Michigan were in position. The flank resisted for a moment, but to no avail. It was crumbled back
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upon the center. The ammunition of a part of Crawford's Division, at this critical moment became exhausted. This portion of the line broke off and in a few minutes the entire line was in confusion. A division from the Sixth Corps which left camp in the morning, now came up, and the fighting became desultory but desperate.
The country between Hatcher's Run and Dabney's Mill was covered with heavy timber, the ground softened by numerous swamps and cut up by ravines. The road upon which the columns and trains had to move was narrow, filled with stumps and knee deep with mud. A slight crust of frozen surface only increased the difficulties, and instead of being fresh for battle, the men were tired out by their conflict with the mud. Some lost their shoes, which stuck in the mire; their clothing was dampened, and their guns in some cases, rendered unfit for present usc.
The operations of the troops off the road were worse. The ground was fresh, the timber thick and netted with a web of undergrowth. As the men advanced through this maze, many were laid low by the deliberate fire of unseen riflemen. When they retired, the roads and woods were alive with disorder. The men fought single handed through the timber from tree to tree. They fell back out of the woods into the open on the Vaughn Road. The lines were hastily re-formed and under the protection of some temporary works awaited the onslaught of the enemy. Soon the woods in front bristled with their bayonets as they dashed out into the clearing in front. From their works the Fifth Corps met them with a terrible fire which caused them to retreat hastily through the woods.
The Iron Brigade opened the battle and General Bragg's orderly was killed. Crawford's Division did most of the fighting of the day. It was one of the most stubborn battles the Iron Brigade was ever in. They drove the enemy handsomely for two miles, but his sudden and heavy reinforcements proved too much for this division. Having fallen back to near Hatcher's Run, night ended the contest and the men slept on their arms. Early in the action, Lieutenant-Colonel Edwards' horse was shot under him. The ball passed through his boot-leg, through his trousers and through his horse. Colonel Edwards also received a ball in his coat but he himself was not wounded.
Tuesday, February 7. The weather was terribly cold. It began to rain in the morning and there was a cold sleet all day. Crawford's Division moved out again and formed its lines further to the right, joining the Second Corps. The line advanced into some woods and
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met the enemy, who opened a severe artillery fire. A solid shot passed directly under Sergeant Augustus Pomeroy, which stunned him and covered him with mud. The same shot riocheting, killed Sergeant George H. Canfield and George Wallace, both of Company I; wounded Sergeant Walter Morley of D and took a leg off of John Danbert of D.
The Iron Brigade made a charge towards the right but did not take the enemy's works. John Henderson of Company G of the Twenty-fourth was killed in this charge, and Edwin J. Ranger was mortally wounded, the last man killed in battle in the regiment. Captain B. W. Hendricks and privates George W. Wilson and Peter Batway, all of Company G, were injured by the falling of a tree which had been severed by a cannon ball. Adjutant Lewis H. Chamberlin was wounded in the groin. The ball struck his pocket knife and bent it nearly double which doubtless saved him from a fatal wound. Another ball struck in his boot leg. The Adjutant still keeps the bent knife as a sacred war relic.
During the battle Lieutenant-Colonel Edwards noticed that his men had ceased firing in one place. They were helping the Seventh Wisconsin men bury their pet dog which had followed them from camp to field and was always sharing his chances in battle with the men, knowing no fear. This day a minnie ball killed him and the men suspended their shooting long enough to give their pet dog an honorable but hasty burial amid showers of bullets from the enemy. The Iron Brigade bivouacked at night upon the field till one o'clock Wednesday morning, the 8th, when it fell back with its division to the east side of Hatcher's Run, preceded by the Sixth Corps. The other divisions of the Fifth Corps, as well as the Second Corps, held their places and fortified the position they had gained on the west side of the Run which was thereafter permanently held and the lines extended thereto in the direction of the Southside Railroad. The enemy made no attempt to follow up Crawford's Division. The weather was terribly cold and the men suffered much, without blankets or tents. After laying in an open field till near night, the Twenty-fourth moved into some pine woods where the force of the wind was broken and the men bivouacked. Crawford's Division was complimented highly for its conduct in the recent engagements. It left camp Sunday morning, 4,000 strong, and sustained a loss of 1180.
On Thursday, February 9, three officers and one hundred and twelve men of the Twenty-fourth Michigan were sent out on picket, the last of this kind of duty during the war. On Friday, the 10th,
-
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the column, early in the morning, moved out of its bivouac towards its old camp, but was soon halted beside the Vaughn Road and all put to work cutting logs for a corduroy road, the engineers putting them in place. At 4:30 in the afternoon, the column resumed its march for camp where it arrived at 8 o'clock, the men very tired, and the band playing a cheerful welcome home. The following were the casualties of the Twenty-fourth Michigan at the Battle of Dabney's Mill, February 6 and 7, 1865 ; those marked with a star being injured on the 6th and the others on the 7th :
KILLED.
Ist Sergt. George H. Canfield, I. George Wallace (R.), I.
John Henderson (R.), G. Isaac J. Kibbee, I .*
MORTALLY WOUNDED. Henry Aldridge, Recruit, of Company E .* Edwin J. Ranger, leg amputated. Last man wounded.
OTHER WOUNDED.
Brevet Brigadier-General HENRY A. MORROW,* severely in side while commanding Third Brigade, Third Division, Fifth Army Corps.
Capt. BENJAMIN W. HENDRICKS, G. James L. Fairweather (R.), D .*
Adj't LEWIS H. CHAMBERLIN, staff. William Barrett, D.
Ist Lieut. AUGUSTUS F. ZIEGLER, F."
George Dolan (R.), D.
Sergt. Augustus Pomeroy, C.
Charles E. Jenner, F.
66 Walter S. Morley, D.
Peter Batway, G.
Corp. Herman Stehfest, arm ampu- tated, A .*
George W. Wilson, G.
Robert C. Bird, ear, D .*
Michael Brabeau, G.
George W. Dingman, (R.), A.
James Lynch (R), K.
MISSING.
Alexander H. Morrison, H, Orderly to General Bragg.
Summary : - Killed and died of wounds, 6; other wounded, 19; missing, I ; Total, 26.
The following is from the editor of the New York Times :
During my ride in and about the different corps, I missed many a familiar face and had to mourn the loss of some brave spirits who have fought their last battle or are suffering from severe wounds. Among the latter stands foremost Brevet Brigadier-General Henry A. Morrow, who received his wound while heroically rallying his brigade, battle flag in hand, after a temporary disorganization from a partial uncovering of his flank. General Morrow did not need any further laurels to render his name greener in the memory of his comrades, but in after days the battle of Hatcher's Run (Dabney's Mill) will be among the brightest of his recollections.
John Danbert, leg ampt'd, D.
William Smith, G.
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
LAST NIGHT AT THE FRONT .- JOURNEY TO SPRINGFIELD.
Tired and weary after their return from the recent hard campaign, the men cooked their coffee and partook of their frugal evening meal, glad to find rest in comfortable quarters. There were vacant cots that night in their little cabins, but these things are expected when they go off to battle from their camp. An order later in the evening dispelled their repose. They were to march at daylight next morning, with all their baggage and camp equipage, to the new line of works on Hatcher's Run. This meant an abandonment of present cozy winter houses for new ones, or bivouac in open fields and woods.
Saturday morning, February 11, 1865, came, and an early breakfast, the last in their little cabins at "Camp Crawford." All readiness was made to move at 6 o'clock but there was a delay for several hours for some reason, when orders came for the Iron Brigade to report at Warren Station at noon, to go to Baltimore. The Secretary of War had telegraphed to General Grant for a brigade of reliable troops to report to General Halleck for special service. The matter was referred to General Warren who selected the Iron Brigade (it being the First Brigade, Third Division, Fifth Corps) as he said: "in view of their long and gallant services on many a well contested field of battle, and especially in the late engagement," for the brunt of the attack in the Dabney's Mill battle fell upon this Brigade. The order was obeyed with no less wonder than alacrity. By mid-afternoon they were on the cars moving for City Point, the field officers riding down on horseback. Before dark the Twenty-fourth Michigan, Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin went aboard the steamer "George Weems," which was delayed to wait for headquarters' baggage and detailed men to come up.
Sunday, February 12. Before setting sail, the orders as far as related to the Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin, were countermanded and these regiments left the boat just before sunrise and returned to the front. At 8 o'clock the boat steamed down the James River and arrived at Fortress Monroe at 5 o'clock, where it had to anchor and wait for the wind to abate. As the steamer passed Newport News, there could be seen the masts of the Rebel Pirate Florida, near the spot where the Cumberland went down, and where the haughty Merrimac came out of Norfolk on her work of destruction, when she met an unexpected but equal foe in the hitherto unknown Monitor.
Monday, February 13. The wind was so high that they did not leave Fortress Monroe until 2 P. M., when the boat steamed out into
.
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the Chesapeake. The bay was rough and it was very cold. Night came on with no fire and scarce a cup of coffee to a dozen men. The men tried to sleep but with little success, not a soul knowing the object of their sudden departure for the North. The ice preventing the boat from going clear up to Baltimore, they put into Annapolis at 8 o'clock Tuesday morning, but as transportation on the cars was delayed, the troops remained aboard the boat till 9 o'clock Wednesday morning. Going ashore they proceeded to the College Green Barracks for coffee. After waiting all day at the depot amid a drenching rain, they boarded the cars at 9 P. M. for Baltimore, where they arrived after midnight and went at once to the "Soldiers' Rest," and bunked on the floors till morning.
February 16. At breakfast the men were seated at tables, the first luxury of that kind the most of the veterans had experienced for two and one half years. It set them to counting on their fingers the few remaining months of their enlistment when they would enjoy the full luxuries of their home firesides. The mystery of their sudden departure from the front was this day solved by an order sending the Twenty-fourth Michigan to Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, that being the rendezvous for drafted men. They were to do guard duty there, and meanwhile recruit their meager ranks to the maximum limit. After collecting all the men detached to Battery B, the Pioneer and Stretcher Corps, there were found to be, with the recruits and convalescents, three hundred and eighteen men and officers and fourteen horses. Only about one hundred of the men were with the Regiment when it left Detroit.
February 17. After breakfast at the "Rest," the Regiment moved to the depot to take cars for the West. Late in the afternoon the cars arrived, loaded with five hundred Confederate prisoners from Camp Douglass, Chicago. They were all strong and hearty, with no evidence of ill-treatment, and very unlike the emaciated forms of our Union prisoners who returned from Andersonville and other Southern pens, utterly unfit for duty from hunger and disease resulting from exposure and starvation. Many of the Secesh women of the city came to see and feed them, and felt exceedingly indignant because they were not allowed to give dainties to their friends. Smiles only could they bestow through the line of Federal bayonets which prevented oral intercourse. But for the little fragment of a regiment that had fought for their homes for two and a half years, these Secesh females had nothing but frowns. Finally at 6 P. M. the men on the slow cars moved away. At York, Penn., the engine gave
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out and it was 8 o'clock in the morning when they reached Harrisburg.
February 18 was spent moving westward over the Alleghanies by the same route the men went to the front in August, 1862. It was midnight ere the men reached the "Soldier's Home" at Pittsburg for supper. The originals of the regiment were reminded of the warm reception given them on our journey to the front. Leaving this smoky town at daylight, on Sunday morning the 19th, all day the train moved through Ohio, the Buckeye girls not failing to wave the returning soldiers a welcome as warm as the good speed they gave us when we passed through to the seat of war. Passing through Alliance, Crestline, and other Ohio towns, the train arrived at Fort Wayne, Indiana, at 3 o'clock Monday morning, 'and started for Springfield at 8 o'clock, in box cars without stoves. All day and night they slowly journeyed at freight train speed, via Logansport, through the Hoosier State, and at 8 o'clock arrived at their destination.
CAMP BUTLER - NEW FLAG-SICKNESS- RECRUITS-GENERAL SITUATION.
Tuesday, February 21. The regiment proceeded to the barracks at Camp Butler and found them and the camp in a terribly filthy condition. There were about 6,000 men in the camp waiting to be distributed to the different regiments at the front. It became the duty of the Twenty-fourth Michigan to guard these men that none should leave camp without authority, and for the next few weeks, details of officers and men of the Twenty-fourth were sent to conduct detachments of drafted men and recruits to Cairo, Nashville, · Washington, New York and other points.
February 22. Major Hutchinson arrived in camp this day with a new flag for the regiment-a present from the citizens of Detroit, Colonel Flanigan supervising the matter. The body of the flag is of blue banner silk, double skirted with heavy gold, and six feet square. In the center is the State Coat of Arms, over which is the name of the regiment. The four corners are ornamented with the names of the different battles in which the regiment had fought. It was made by Tiffany & Co., of New York, at a cost of $1,200, and for twenty-six years it has been carefully preserved by the survivors of the regiment. The old flag, riddled and torn, and worn from exposure in battle, camp and field, was borne by the men until their return home, and was eventually placed with the colors of the other Michigan regiments in the capitol at Lansing.
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As the days and weeks passed by, the improper drainage of this prairie camp (really no drainage at all), and its muddy and filthy condition, had their natural effects upon the health of the men. In some respects, Camp Butler was more unpleasant and its duties more arduous than at the front, and officers and men sighed for their Petersburg winter quarters. The sickness of the men continued and the insufficient hospital accommodations made matters worse, so that within two months after the arrival of the regiment at Camp Butler, thirty-three of its number had died, mainly from disease contracted in this unhealthy place. In a detachment of recruits sent to Washington, one boy died on the train only five miles from his home. He had been kept in the hospital until death stood by his side, entreating that he might go home to die among his friends, but was at last sent away only to die on the road.
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