USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of the Twenty-fourth Michigan of the Iron brigade, known as the Detroit and Wayne county regiment > Part 40
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It arrived in Washington August 7, encamping on Meridian Hill. It joined the command of General Rufus King, known later as the Iron Brigade, " which was destined to fill such a glorious place in the annals of the war," and with which this regiment's history was subsequently identified. It was commanded successively by Colonel Lysander Cutler, Colonel Edward S. Bragg, Colonel Rufus R. Dawes and Colonel John A. Kellogg. Its total enrollment was 1940, and its death loss 357 or 18.4 per cent. Its total killed and wounded aggregated 867. Says Fox: "Under command of Colonel Dawes it won a merited distinction at Gettysburg. All histories of this field mention the maneuvre by which a part of a Confederate brigade was captured by it in the railroad cut." At the Wilderness, its Major, Philip W. Plummer, was killed. Altogether it had 16 officers killed, which was within three of the highest number of any regiment. It furnished two full commanders of the Iron Brigade -Generals Cutler and and Bragg, while the former rose to the rank of Division General. On December 31, 1863, the regiment veteranized, 227 re-enlisting for three years. They continued in the service until the close of the war, being mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 14, 1865, and arrived home at Madison, Wis., on the 16th of that month.
The SEVENTH WISCONSIN rendezvoused also at Madison, during August, 1861, and was mustered September 16, 1861, with the following roster :
Colonel-Joseph Van Dor ; Lieutenant-Colonel-W. W. Robinson ; Major- Charles A. Hamilton ; Adjutant-Charles W. Cook ; Quartermaster-Henry P. Clinton ; Surgeon-Henry Palmer ; Assistant Surgeons-D. Cooper Ayers and Ernst Cramer ; Chaplain-Rev. S. L. Brown.
458
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
Captains-George Bill, J. H. Huntington, Samuel Nasmith, E. F. Giles, W. D. Walker, John B. Callis, Samuel Stevens, Mark Finnucan, George H. Mather and Alexander Gordon. First-Lieutenants-Hollon Richardson, S. L. Bacheldor, A. R. Bushnell, C. W. Cook, W. F. Bailey, Samuel Woodhouse, Homer Drake, C. M. H. Meyer, A. S. Rogers and F. W. Oakley. Second-Lieutenants-M. B. Misner, H. P. Clinton, E. A. Andrews, A. T. Reed, W. B. Manning, Henry F. Young, Samuel Kramer, Robert Palmer, J. N. P. Bird, David Sherrill.
It arrived at Washington October I, and was assigned to General Rufus King's command at Camp Lyon, being henceforth identified with the history of the Iron Brigade. Of over 2,000 regiments in the Union armies, the Seventh Wisconsin was the third highest to sustain the greatest loss in killed and wounded, a total loss of 1,016. The Sixth Wisconsin stands tenth on the list and the Second Wisconsin, thirteenth. The commanders of the Seventh Wisconsin were successively Colonel Joseph Van Dor, Colonel William W. Robinson, Colonel Mark Finnucan and Colonel Hollon Richardson. Out of a total enrollment of 1,630, it sustained a death loss of 424 or 26 per cent. Its percentage of killed was even larger if the conscripts, but few of whom reported, were excluded. On December 28, 1863, it numbered 249 of whom 211 veteranized. It was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 3, 1865, and arrived at Madison, Wis., on July 5.
The NINETEENTH INDIANA was organized at Indianapolis, July 29, 1861, and arrived in Washington August 5th. It was placed in General Rufus King's Brigade with the two Wisconsin regiments. Its commanders were successively Colonel Solomon Meredith, Colonel Samuel T. Williams, (killed), and Colonel John M. Lindley. Colonel Meredith became commander of the Iron Brigade. Out of an enrollment of 1,246, it sustained a death loss of 317. Its total killed and wounded was 712. Its first battle was at Manassas where it lost 259 out of 423 engaged or 61 per cent., its Major, Isaac M. May being killed. At Antietam, its Lieutenant-Colonel, Alois O. Bachman was killed, and Colonel Williams was killed in the Wilderness. It participated in all the battles of the Iron Brigade until the expiration of its term of enlistment in August, 1864, when the few remaining members who had not re-enlisted, returned home.
The Iron Brigade thus organized under General Rufus King [See page 215], marched on September 3, 1861, to a position at the chain bridge and assisted in the erection of fortifications. During this month, the Fifth Wisconsin was permanently detached from this Brigade which then was joined to McDowell's Division. On October
459
THE IRON BRIGADE.
15, it went into Winterquarters on Arlington Heights, doing out-post duty until March 10, 1862, near Falls Church. At this date the Brigade marched out sixteen miles to Germantown near Fairfax Court House. General King having been promoted to the command of the Division, Colonel Lysander Cutler, of the Sixth Wisconsin took temporary command of the Brigade. Returning to Fairfax Seminary, it remained there until April 5th, when it left with McDowell's Corps for the Rappahannock. Marching by Centerville, Manassas and Bristoe, it reached Catlett's on the 12th and guarded the railroad until the 21st, when it renewed its march and arrived at Falmouth on April 23d. On the 27th, it marched to Brooks' Station and worked upon a bridge across Akakeek Run, returning May 2d, to Falmouth. From here detachments were sent out to build and guard bridges. While thus employed, General John Gibbon took command of the Brigade and from this time it was known in history as "Gibbon's Brigade" until it earned and received the famous name of Iron Brigade, under which its name will be contemporaneous in future ages with this great war.
On May 25, 1862, it crossed the Rappahannock and proceeded eight miles south on the Bowling Green road to Guinea's Station. On the 29th, it moved out to cut off the retreat of the Confederate General Jackson from the Shenandoah Valley. Proceeding via Falmouth and Catlett's to Haymarket, where it arrived on June I, it encamped for three days. On June 5 it moved on to Warrenton. The attempt to intercept Jackson having failed, it began the return march to Falmouth on the 8th. Marching via Warrenton Junction and Hartwood, it encamped near Falmouth, June 10, after a march of 104 miles.
On July 24, it left Falmouth on a reconnoissance toward Orange Court House. Advancing via Chancellorsville, it struck the enemy's pickets on the 26th, a mile from the Court House and a skirmish followed in which the enemy was routed and a few prisoners captured. Having accomplished the object of the expedition, the Brigade returned to Falmouth, having marched eighty miles in three days.
On Aug. 5, the Sixth Wisconsin was sent to Frederick's Hall, twenty-three miles from the Junction of the Richmond and Potomac railroad, to destroy the Virginia Central in that section. It tore up a mile of the road in each direction, burned a large warehouse filled with Confederate supplies, destroyed the depot and burned two bridges on its return. Meanwhile the rest of the Brigade marched on the Telegraph Road and on Aug. 5, engaged the enemey's cavalry at
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
Thornburg on Ta River. On the 6th, it pushed forward to Beaver Dam Station on the Virginia Central where the rear of its column was attacked by Stuart's cavalry. It repulsed the assault, the enemy being driven back to Fredericksburg where they escaped, carrying off with them seventeen men of the Second Wisconsin, who had become exhausted on the march and been sent back.
On Aug. 7, the Brigade moved to Spottsylvania Court House, where it was joined by the Sixth Wisconsin which had marched over 100 miles within three days, going thirty miles within the enemy's lines. On August 8, it returned to Falmouth and on the Ioth marched by Hartwood Church, twenty miles to Barnett's Ford, where it crossed the Rappahannock and pushed forward the next day via Stevensburg thirty miles to Cedar Mountain, near Culpepper Court House, where it took position in the advance line of Pope's army, and took part in the movements of that army.
On August 19, the Brigade moved in the direction of Rappahan- nock Station, crossing the Rappahannock the next day, and occupied a position north of the railroad whence it moved to the right, covering Beverly Ford, where a skirmish with the enemy occurred, with but a trifling loss to the Brigade. On the 23d, it encamped on the road to White Sulphur Springs near Warrenton. Moving towards the White Sulphur Springs on the 26th, the Brigade skirmished all day with the enemy, with slight loss. On August 27, it marched by Warrenton sixteen miles to Buckland Mills.
On the afternoon of August 28, the Brigade proceeded slowly on the left of the army, by Gainesville to Groveton, where it turned to the right on the Bethlehem Church road, and lay under arms until 5 o'clock. It then returned to the Warrenton Pike, marching towards Centerville. While moving by the flank, the Second Wisconsin in advance, was attacked by a battery upon which that regiment promptly advanced, and soon came upon the enemy's infantry. While awaiting the arrival of the rest of the Brigade, this regiment, for twenty minutes, checked the onset of "Stonewall" Jackson's entire Division, under a murderous concentric musketry fire. The fight was continued by the Brigade until 9 o'clock at night when the enemy's attack was repulsed, although holding his line. They remained until midnight to bury their dead, for the battle had been sharp and bloody, when the Division under General King retreated by the Bethlehem Road to Manassas Junction, where it arrived at sunrise, having left many of their wounded in the hands of the enemy.
JOHN GIBBON. (Major-General, U. S. Vols.)
SOLOMON MEREDITH. (Brevet Major-General, U. S. Vols.)
LYSANDER CUTLER. (Brevet Major-General, U. S. Vols.)
EDWARD S. BRAGG. (Brevet Major-General, U. S. Vols.)
463
THE IRON BRIGADE.
On the 30th of August, the Brigade participated in the terrible battle of Manassas or Second Bull's Run, repelling with great slaughter the attacks of the enemy, but being compelled to fall back with the rest of Pope's army. An eye witness said: "Gibbon's Brigade covered the rear, not leaving the field until 9 o'clock at night, and showing so steady a line that the enemy did not molest them." On September I, the movement to the rear was resumed by Centerville to Upton's Hill, near Washington, which was reached on the 2d.
On September 6, the Brigade went with McClellan to intercept Lee's invasion of Maryland. Marching by Mechanicsville and New Market, a distance of So miles, it reached Frederick City, Maryland, on Sunday, September 14. Passing directly through the city it moved on the National Pike to Turner's Pass in the South Mountain range, where the enemy was strongly posted in the gorge, across the National Road. The duty of storming this position was assigned to Gibbon's Brigade. The assault began at 5:30 P. M., and at 9 o'clock the enemy was routed and driven from the Pass. It was here that it acquired the immortal name of IRON BRIGADE by which it was thereafter known.
On September 15th, leading Hooker's Division in advance of the entire army, it pursued the retreating enemy through Boonsboro for fourteen miles to Antietam Creek where it had a skirmish but no loss. On the morning of September 17th, the Iron Brigade began the bloody battle of Antietam and soon became hotly engaged, dislodging the enemy in its front and occupying the position until relieved by fresh troops. On the 19th, the Brigade went into camp near the Potomac in sight of Sharpsburg where it remained for a month. During its bivouack here, it was joined by the Twenty-fourth Michigan. Its subsequent movements are interwoven in the history of this regiment, not so completely as we could wish for, but quite as much as the limits of the volume will allow.
During the brief period from August 28, to September 17, 1862, the Iron Brigade fought in four bloody battles-Gainesville, Second Bull's Run, South Mountain and Antietam-and sustained a loss of 287 killed, I, IIS wounded and 177 missing, an aggregate loss of 1,582 men inside of twenty days.
Out of over 2,000 regiments in the Union Army, the records of the regiments of the Iron Brigade make a most honorable showing. In percentages of killed and died of wounds, the Second Wisconsin stands first, the Seventh Wisconsin stands sixth, and the
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
Twenty-fourth Michigan stands nineteenth. The aggregate killed and died of wounds of the five regiments of this Brigade was 1, 131, and, as has already been quoted, Fox says: " In proportion to its numbers this Brigade sustained the heaviest loss of any in the war. Its aggregate losses is exceeded in only one instance."
At Gainesville and Second Bull's Run, this Brigade lost 894 out of 2,000 engaged. At Gettysburg it had 1,153 casualties out of 1,883 engaged, or 61 per cent. Some of the regiments of the Iron Brigade suffered the greatest losses of any regiment engaged. At Gainesville, the Second Wisconsin suffered the most losses, the Nineteenth Indiana next, and the Seventh Wisconsin next. At Gettysburg, the greatest battle of the war, out of over 400 regiments there engaged, the Twenty-fourth Michigan sustained the greatest loss. At the Wilderness, this honor fell to the Seventh Wisconsin, and at Dabney's Mill to the Sixth Wisconsin.
The War Department records show the following for the Iron Brigade :
Total Strength.
Battle Deaths.
Disease Deaths.
Total Deaths.
Per Cent. of Deaths.
Second Wisconsin
.1,200
238
80
318
26.5
Sixth Wisconsin.
.1,940
244
II6
360
18.6
Seventh Wisconsin.
.1,630
281
I46
427
26.2
Nineteenth Indiana
. 1,250
179
I28
307
24.6
Twenty-fourth Michigan
.I,240
176*
142
318
25.6
Aggregate
.7,260
I,II8
612
1,730
23.8
In behalf of the Sixth Wisconsin, it is proper to state that in its aggregate of strength is included Company K, which early left it for artillery service and whose place was filled by another company but the death rates of the detached company do not figure thereafter with this regiment. Should they do so, its per cent of death loss would mount up to that of the other regiments of the Brigade. It is also proper to state that the Twenty-fourth Michigan's loss occurred during a period of two and one-half years only at the front, as against three and four years at the front by other regiments of this Brigade. But comparisons are often unsatisfactory and we shall leave the rest to others.
The light of subsequent years has slightly changed the above figures of casualties and losses by disease, not sufficiently, however, to destroy their significance. The above table exhibits the totalities of
* Fox places this number at 189 but the author cannot find so many, unless some in the " unaccounted for " and "desertion " lists belong there.
465
THE IRON BRIGADE.
mortuary losses and is quite as instructive as if in battle detail, for in the latter, the few losses in the smaller regiments do not show up with the highest loss figures in the large regiments.
This Brigade, by its intrepidity at Gainesville in Pope's Campaign, saved its division from utter rout and ruin and to it must be credited the chief burden of the Confederate assault at Gettysburg. . Its record in this battle is a central point in war histories. Its dress was unique, being dark colored and tall black hats somewhat bell-shaped, with broad brims, by which they were always recognized by friend and foe.
The Iron Brigade was commanded successively by Generals Rufus King, John Gibbon, Solomon Meredith, Lysander Cutler, Edward S. Bragg, William W. Robinson and Henry A. Morrow. It participated in the following battles : Blackburn's Ford, First Bull's Run, Gainesville, Second Bull's Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- burg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Locust Grove, Mine Run, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Salient at Spottsylvania, Jericho Ford, North Anna, Tolopotomoy, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Siege of Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run, Dabney's Mill, White Oak Road, Five Forks and Appomattox, not to mention numerous skirmishes, raids and reconnoissances.
During the Wilderness campaign in 1864, the Seventh Indiana was attached to this Brigade until it was mustered out in August. The First New York Sharp Shooters' Battalion was also attached to it for a time, joining it in the fall of 1863. After the Twenty-fourth Michigan left it February, 1865, the Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin with those of the Second that had veteranized joined the First Brigade, Third Division, Fifth Corps.
At the reunion camp-fire of the Iron Brigade held in Detroit in 1890, General Russel A. Alger, then National Commander of the G. A. R., spoke as follows :
"I wish to say that we are as proud of you as though we were fortunate enough to belong to your splendid Brigade. I cannot talk to you as intelligently as though I were one of your number, but I want to thank you for the noble service you did our country. You may live in prosperity or adversity, you may be ruddy with the glow of health or crippled by the bullet of the foe, but you will leave a legacy to your children and your children's children that money cannot buy. I have traveled much and been astonished at the wonderful progress of the land into which you breathed the breath of a new life. You are no doubt astonished, as I have been, with the figures of the Nation's growth, and in our great prosperity it must be pleasant to you, it must compensate for privations endured and misfortunes encountered, to think that with your numberless comrades you laid anew the foundation of this great land.
466
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
" Let this Nation remember that 3,000,000 of you went upon the bloody field of war. Let it remember that upon its bill book was a debt almost boundless in its dimensions, and let it further call to mind its political bankruptcy and great moral disgrace. Upon the other side of this book you placed your names ; pledges they were to redeem our land. You promised to re-establish our credit, to wipe out our disgrace, to preserve our sisterhood of commonwealths, and you did it. Talk of pay for your deeds of valor, for your dauntless courage and noble fortitude ! Patriotism like yours cannot be bought and sold, cannot be compensated. Of the Twenty-fourth Infantry I want to say that you are the pride of Michigan, and a glory to the Nation."
Phil Cheek of Milwaukee, Past-Department Commander G. A. R., and private of the Sixth Wisconsin, then entertained the veterans with a speech full of wit, pathos and reminiscence, which also contained matters of historical interest to the Iron Brigade. After noting the absence of many of the old officers, he said :
" But if all the officers had run out, there wasn't a man in the Iron Brigade that wouldn't have made a first-class Brigadier-General. Commander Alger has said we never turned back. At that Second Bull Run, when we came marching out of the woods and found the Johnnies flanking us on both sides and saw those double-shot Napoleon guns, we knew there was to be music. There we were-the 'Swamp Hogs No. 19,' the lean lank Indianians, the 'Ragged Second,' the 'Calico Sixth,' the ' Huckleberry Seventh' and you Michiganders, so brand-new and bright we called you the 'Featherbed Twenty-fourth.' And there we lay supporting the battery. You know how we supported the batteries, lying on our stomachs. Well, the batteries opened and the field looked like windrows in a hay field. We just rose upon our hands and knees and took in the spectacle, and one of the Indianians yelled out, ' Hi, set 'em up on the other alley ; they're all down on this !' And then away we run half a mile to the Bull Run bridge, the Johnnies at our heels yelling, 'Git, git, you Yanks !'-and we got !
"I am proud of our Brigade, but we ran. How I skedaddled with my short legs, and I wished I was as short as that'-(indicating with his hands the height of a plug hat.) In fact, I wished I hadn't been born. You know how scared they were in Washington to see a dirty soldier from the front. Well, one of them at last got there. ' Where did you come from ?' 'Beyant in the field.' 'And you a soldier ?' 'Yes, and a good one.' 'And you ran from the fight?' 'Yes, and the d-d fools that didn't are there yet !'
"When we went down to the Potomac in '61 we were the only Western soldiers in the entire army, and we would have died rather than have dishonored the West. We felt that the eyes of the East were upon us, and that we were the test of the West. What made us good soldiers ? Was it because we were gritty and didn't blanch ? Or because amid the 'zip-zip' of the bullets we didn't feel a peculiar corkscrew sensation when we felt that some Johnny had the drop on us? No, it was our pride ! We had rather have died than been branded as cowards ! We stood when commanded to stand, and when ordered to go-we got !
" At Gettysburg, comrades, no regiment there in all that fight lost more killed than did the old Twenty-fourth Michigan-the 'Featherbeds.' We won't talk about the 'Calico Sixes; that was my regiment. Think of Queen Victoria in person decorating the heroes of that Abyssinian war, of which I'll wager most of us never
-
WILLIAM W. ROBINSON. (Brigadier-General, U. S. Vols.)
HENRY A. MORROW. (Brevet Major-General, U. S. Vols.)
JOHN A. KELLOGG. (Brevet Brigadier-General.)
RUFUS R. DAWES. (Colonel of Sixth Wisconsin.) (Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. Vols.)
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THE IRON BRIGADE.
heard. I tell you, I wouldn't give for those little badges of the Iron Brigade any possesion I have or could have outside of my wife and children. We are all 'loyal legioneers'-that is, I am not ; I was a private. There are so many officers now, though, that I enjoy the distinction of being the only surviving private of the war !"
The nicknames possess an humorous fact of history. The one applied to the Twenty-fourth Michigan was because they were the last from home. The "Ragged " Second Wisconsin was the more euphonious name for that regiment. This arose from the fact that the government contractors seemed to have run short of good material when they made the pantaloons for that regiment, allowing their " flags of truce" always to be kept in their rear, and a half abandon delight all to appear in uniform, prevailed among them. Once on a review they were drawn up for inspection in their usual ragged pants, and the General's carriage with his little daughter therein stood directly behind them. Presently she said: "Pa, wouldn't it be just as well if our carriage stood in front of this regiment ?"
The noble record of the Iron Brigade will not be dimmed by time. Not that they were better soldiers or patriots than others, but because the fortunes and misfortunes of war placed them where the fight was thickest. The Detroit Evening Journal has fittingly said :
"Almost every war brings some regiment or other military body to the front which distinguishes itself for special valor, constancy or endurance. Cromwell's Ironsides Regiment, Cæsar's Tenth Legion, the Old Guard of Napoleon, the Light Brigade at Balaklava, are all illustrious of this fact. Among these bands of heroes should be enrolled the ' Iron Brigade.'"
BATTERY B, FOURTH U. S. ARTILLERY.
This important annex to the Iron Brigade has a charmingly interesting record. Its organization dates far into the early years of the Republic. The nucleus of this Battery did service in the War of 1812, as a rifle company at the battle of Plattsburg. In 1821, we read of its separate organization into " Battery B, Fourth U. S. Artillery," when its pieces were dragged around by the men with ropes. In 1837, it was "horsed" and detailed to duty in Florida, where its guns were parked and the men acted as dragoons. In 1842, it was sent to Ogdensburg during Canadian troubles. In 1845, it was sent to the Rio Grande with General Taylor. At this time Darius N. Couch, subsequently a Major-General, was a Second-Lieutenant in the Battery. When La Vega's Mexican Battery was captured at Resaca, two of its four-pounders were turned in to Battery B, which had already four
470
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
brass six-pounders and two twelve-pound howitzers, requiring a strength of 140 men to man them. It was in the siege of Monterey and then did guard service at Saltillo. On February 23, 1847, at Buena Vista, the Mexicans charged the Battery and captured one of its guns, but only after every cannoneer, driver and horse attached to
BATTERY B IN ACTION.
471
THE IRON BRIGADE.
it was killed or wounded. After the Mexican War it was stationed until 1856 on the Rio Grande, when it was sent to Fort Leavenworth where it arrived in March, 1857. In July following it was sent with the army to Utah to settle the Mormon troubles. It remained at Camp Floyd near Salt Lake City until May, 1860, when its men were mounted and sent out to fight Indians. In July, 1861, it was ordered east and arrived at Washington in October, when it was put upon a full war footing under Captain John Gibbon, who had taken charge of it the year before in Utah. It was attached to King's Division of McDowell's Corps.
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