Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 9

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580

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The Eighth remained in Tennessee until the end of the year. In December three hundred of its members re-enlisted as veterans. On January 8, 1864, the command was ordered to Detroit and reached there on the 25th. At the end of their furlough, March 8th, they left for the front and proceeded to Annapolis. where they rejoined the Ninth Corps, which had been ordered from Tennessee to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. When the spring campaign opened, the regiment, moving with

the army, crossed the Rapidan, May 5th and on the following day was hotly engaged in the Wilderness, losing ninety-nine in killed, wounded, and missing. On the 12th it took part in the assault on the enemy's intrench- ments at Spottsylvania Court House, losing forty-nine officers and men in the bloody work of that day.

The regiment crossed the Pamunkey river and moved toward Bethesda church, where, in the battle of June 3d, it gallantly charged and carried the enemy's rifle pits, sustaining a loss of fifty-nine killed, wounded, and missing. Crossing the Chickahominy and James rivers, it moved by a forced march to the front of Petersburg, arriving there in the evening of the 16th. On the 17th and 18th it took part in the attacks on the enemies' works, losing forty- nine killed and wounded. For six weeks after that time it was constantly employed on the fortifications under fire.

The Eighth remained near Peebles' farm en- gaged in fortifying and picket duty until No- vember 29th, when it moved again to a posi- tion before Petersburg. The strength of the regiment at that time was only about three hundred men fit for duty. It assisted in re- pulsing the enemy in its attack on Fort Stead- man, March 25, 1865, and on the 2d of April. it was engaged in the attack of Fort Mahon, being the first regiment to place its colors on the bastile ramparts. The next day it marched into Petersburg.

The regiment soon afterward proceeded to Alexandria, and on the 9th of May, moved into the city of Washington. It was there engaged in guard and patrol duty until July 30, 1865, when it was mustered out of the ser- vice. On the 3d of August it arrived at De- troit, where it was paid off and disbanded,

PAST AND PRESENT OF

and the survivors of the "wandering regi- ment" returned to their homes.

Officers and men of the Eighth Infantry from Shiawassee : Company A, -- Elisha Bird, John Minchin, Albert Marten ; Company E,-Charles Brott ; Company F,-First Lieu- tenant Oscar P. Hendee (Corunna), William S. Close, Joseph L. Hoyt, Edwin Whitney, Melancthon E. Whitney; Company G,- Smith Doubleday ; Company H,-First Lieu- tenant John R. Dougherty (Shiawassee), Captain Jay L. Quackenbush (Owosso), First Lieutenant Albert Bainbridge, (Byron), First Lieutenant Bartley Siegel (Shiawassee), Sergeant William R. Smith (Owosso), Ser- geant John I. Knoop (Byron), Sergeant Cy- rus H. Roys (Byron), Corporal George W. Love (Owosso), Corporal Edwin Ayres (Owosso), Corporal D. H. Williams (Ver- non), Musician Judson A. Clough (Shiawas- see), Joseph Ames, David N. Arthur, Alonzo Batchelder, John K. Bunting, Henry Brown, James W. Bronson, Albert Bittner, Frederick T. Bently, Peter F. Camus, George F. Camus. Samuel B. Carsons, Horace L. Clark, Thomas F. Clark, Oscar I. Card, William H. Carr, Philip W. Colman, William H. H. Chase, Benjamin Dutcher, William Demond, Charles Desoness, Martin Decker, Gridson M. Dutcher, John W. Eckman, Charles Freeman, Wil- liam Freeman, Royal D. Hendee, Henry House, Jacob Hubbard, Reuben Hydon, George W. Jewell, Adonijah Jewell, Frederick Kurrle, Jacob M. Klingingsmith, Francis S. Lum, William W. Lenninyon, J. B. Mathew- son, Henry McLellen, Asro Miller, George W. McComb, Alpheus Ott, Edward Ogden, John W. Prandle, George W. Porter, William R. Punches, Walter S. Ryness, John Shourtz, Hiram Spear, William Shissler, Benjamin O.

Simons, Dewitt Titus, William Turner, Wil- liam H. Wood, Francis Whitmore, Benjamin L. Washbourne, Simon Wolf, Charles W. Young; Company K,-John Emery.

NINTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY

The Ninth Michigan Infantry was raised in the summer and early autumn of the year 1861, its rendezvous being at Fort Wayne, Detroit. In its ranks were more than one hundred men from Shiawassee, principally in Captain George K. New- combe's company, which was known as the "Fremont Guard" during enlistment, but the regiment was designated as Company F.

The Ninth left Detroit October 25, 1861, going to the seat of war in the southwest, and being the first regiment from Michigan which entered the field in the Western de- partments. During the greater part of its first year of service the regiment was sta- tioned in Kentucky and Tennessee. In July, 1862, while in the neighborhood of Mur- freesboro, six companies on separate duty were attacked by the enemy's cavalry, three thousand five hundred strong, under Gen- eral Forrest. After a desperate resistance, with considerable loss in killed and wounded, they surrendered. Forrest paroled the en- listed men whom he had captured and they returned to Nashville. He, however, re- tained the officers. After being in several prisons in Georgia and the Carolinas they were finally sent to Libby Prison, at Rich- mond, where they were eventually paroled.

In December, 1862, the regiment, reor- ganized and with ranks refilled by the ex- changed prisoners, was detailed as provost guard of the Fourteenth Corps. The remark was made by General Thomas, on the issu-

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY

ance of the order assigning it to that duty, that he had fully acquainted himself with the history of the part taken by the regiment in its defense of the post of Murfreesboro, and that just such a regiment was what he needed at his headquarters. The Ninth con- tintied to perform this duty until the ex- piration of its term of service. When Gen- eral Thomas assumed the chief command of the Army of the Cumberland, after Chicka- mauga, the Ninth became provost guard at army headquarters.

In January, 1864, the regiment returned to Michigan in a body, having received a vet- eran furlough. On the 20th of February it reassembled, at Coldwater, and again left for the front. In the summer and fall it participated in all the operations of the Army of the Cumberland in Georgia and Tennessee and entered Atlanta on its evacu- ation by the enemy. From November 1st until March, 1865, it was stationed at Chattanooga. Thence it moved to Nash- ville, where it. remained until the 15th of September, when it was mustered out of the service. Arriving at Jackson, Michigan, on the 19th, the men were paid off and the organization disbanded.

Members of Ninth Infantry from Shia- wassee county : Non-commissioned staff,- Sergeant Major William R. Sellon (Owos- so), Quartermaster Sergeant Arthur B. Hathaway (Owosso) ; Company A,-Delos Hourd; Company B,-James B. Cummings, Marshall F. French; Company D,-John Miller, James N. Place, Wilson D. Smith ; Company E,-Hiram B. Andrews, John K. Holt, Martin Judd, Ransom E. Rhodes ; Company F,-Captain George K. New- combe (Owosso), William W. Brown, Wil-

liam H. Babcock, John Colby, Stephen A. Crane, George Cordray, Justus Colburn, Jacob H. Doolittle, James Drown, Francis Denning, Adam Dubeck, John Doney, Sul- livan Fay, Henry T. Fish, Samuel H. Gra- ham, Isaac Gould, Frederick Gutekunst, Reu- ben Harvey, Lyman Hammond, George Hol- land, Cyrus Hill, Edward Hagerman, Edward Jones, Bartlett Johnson, Morris Jackson, James E. Jackson, George W. Knight, John Lampman, Alfred Lefevre, Herrick Lefevre, Alexander Morris, Edward McKann, Fred- erick Moore, Frederick Newman, George W. Phillips, Joseph H. Rhodes, Henry Reis, Wil- liam H. Rhodes, Edwin W. Robinson, George A. Stickler, Archer Simonds, Rodolph M. Stickler, Obadiah Smith, Philip Schwable, Michael Strahel, Herman Schmitgal, Simeon Spaulding, George Scongal, William P. Treadway, Ira M. Ware, Isaac Wetter, Chauncey D. Whitman, Darius Watkins, Richard Wallace, Daniel D. Wise; Company H,-Levi A. Bronson, Andrew Curtis, Thad- deus Huff, Joseph Huff, Alexander Mont- gomery, John O'Connor, Willis Palmer, Pat- rick Quinn ; Company I,-First Lieuten- ant William R. Sellon, Joseph Brown, Charles H. Colf, Jeremiah Colf, Ira A. Johnson, Michael Punches ; Com- pany K,-Second Lieutenant Arthur B. Hathaway, David M. Arthur, Leroy Chapin, Cornelius Carson, Eli F. Evans, William P. Horton, George A. Harrington, Charles P. Jones, Daniel McCollum, William G. Rouse, Chauncey C. Rouse, Samuel B. Reed, Albert Snow, Franklin Scougall, William Shattuck, Allen Slater, John Sabine, James B. Sander- son, Alexander Vanwormer, Abel Van- wormer, Elthaner VanWormer: Company L,-Orlando Harrington.

PAST AND PRESENT OF

TENTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY

In the composition of the Tenth Michigan Infantry there were several companies which contained men from Shiawassee, but the greatest number of these were found in the ranks of Company A, which was largely re- cruited at Byron and made up almost en- tirely of volunteers from Shiawassee and the northern part of Livingston county. The name by which this company was known while being recruited was the "Byron Guard," its captain and first lieutenant being respectively Henry L. Burnett, of Byron, and Robert F. Gulick, of Corunna.

On the 28th of October, 1861, the "Byron Guard" had reached the minimum number of men, and on the 2nd of November Cap- tain Burnett received orders to report with his company at Flint, the rendezvous of the Tenth Infantry, to which regiment it had been assigned. It reached Flint November 5th, eighty-six strong, and was the second company to report at the rendezvous, the company known as the "Saginaw Rangers" having reached there three days earlier. In the organization of the regiment, however, the "Byron Guard" received the first letter and the "Rangers". were designated as Com- pany B.

The camp of instruction at Flint was named "Camp Thompson," in honor of Colonel Edward H. Thompson, of that city, president of the state military board. At this camp, on the 5th of February, 1862, the Tenth Infantry was reviewed by Gov- ernor Blair, and on that and the following day it was mustered into the United States service by Colonel Wright, United States Army, its field officers being Charles M. Linn, colonel ; Christopher J. Dickerson, lieu-

tenant colonel; and James J. Scarritt, major. On the 11th of April a national flag was formally presented to the regin:ent, at the camp of instruction.

On Tuesday, the 22d of April, the regi- ment, nine hundred and ninety-seven strong, took its departure from Camp Thompson, its first destination being St. Louis, Missouri. There was then no railroad from Flint to the line of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad, and therefore the men were moved to Holly station on wagons and other vehicles fur- nished by patriotic citizens. This first stage of their long journey was accomplished in a snowstorm, which gave additional sadness to partings, some of which proved to be final. At Holly, after abundant feasting, the command took the train for Detroit, and after marching through the city to the Michigan Central depot, escorted by the "Lyon Guard" and "Detroit Light Guard," embarked on a train consisting of twenty-three passenger and five freight cars, drawn by two locomo- tives, and a little before midnight left for the west. At six P. M on Thursday, the regi- ment was at East St. Louis, and the follow- ing day it embarked on the steamer "Gladi- ator" and moved down the Mississippi. At Cairo, where a short stop was made, the most sensational rumors were circulated that desperate fighting was then in progress at Pittsburg Landing (the known destination of the regiment), that the river Paducah was filled with dead floating down from the battle field above, and many other stories of similar import. But the "Gladiator" moved on 11p the Ohio and Tennessee Saturday afternoon, passed Fort Henry on Sunday and Monday night reached Pittsburg Landing, but was ordered to proceed four miles further up the

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY

Tennessee to Hamburg, which place was reachcd Tuesday, the 27th, just one week after the departure from Camp Thompson.

Two days later the regiment was assigned to duty in Colonel James D. Morgan's brig- ade, Payne's division, left wing, Army of the Mississippi. On the 1st of May it advanced toward Farmington, Mississippi, and re- mained in the vicinity of that village until the enemy's cvacuation of Corinth, May 30th. During this time it was several times en- gaged in skirmishing, but sustained no loss except on the 26th, when the adjutant, Lieu- tenant Sylvester D. Cowles, was instantly killed by the bullet of a sharpshooter, while on picket.

The entire summer of 1862 was passed by the regiment in marching, camping, pick- eting, and similar duties in the north part of Mississippi and Alabama, without any nota- ble event, more than an occasional skirmish, occurring in its experience. The headquar- ters of the regiment remained at Camp Leigh- ton until September 1st, when it received orders to move toward Nashville. The march occupied nine days. In the evening of the 11th the regiment with its brigade reached a point two miles south of Nash- ville. There it remained until the 15th, when it moved through the city and en- camped in the suburbs. For nearly two months the force of which the Tenth Regi- ment was a part (consisting of the divisions of Generals Palmer and Negley) remained at Nashville without communications, sur- rounded by the forces of the Confederatc General Breckenridge, and compelled to live by foraging on the neighboring country, crowding back the enemy every time that parties were sent out from Nashville for this

purpose. But, finally, on the 6th of Novem- ber, the advance of the Army of the Cum- berland, moving` southward from Kentucky under General Rosecrans, in pursuit of the rebel General Bragg, reached Edgefield, on the north side of the Cumberland, opposite Nashville, thus opening communication with the Ohio river for the force which had so long been beleaguered in Nashville.

The Tenth Michigan remaincd about eight months longer at Nashville, engaged in pro- tecting communication between that place and Murfreesboro and other points. Upon one occasion two companies,-one of them be- ing Captain Burnett's, -- while guarding a train between Nashville and Murfreesboro, were attacked by a large guerrilla force of the cnemy, but repulsed them, taking fifteen prisoners and killing an equal number with- out loss to themselves. April 10, 1863, a force of forty-four men of the Tenth, guard- ing a railway train, were attacked by a body of the enemy's cavalry, in ambush at Anti- och Station. Lieutenant Vanderburg, com- manding, was mortally wounded, five of his men were killed, ten wounded and three taken prisoners, making a total loss of two- fifths of the force engaged. This, with the exception of the loss of its adjutant, was the first loss inflicted on the regiment in action by the enemy.

In July the regiment moved to Murfrees- boro remaining there a month, when it again marched southward. Its history during the succeeding four months is that of an almost continuous march, through the states of Ten- nessee, Alabama, and Gcorgia. The men became worn out, famished and tattered, and stood greatly in need of rest and recupera- tion. Late in December the regiment moved

PAST AND PRESENT OF

to Rossville, Georgia, and built comfortable winter quarters, where the two remaining months of winter were spent in a very agree- able manner. Preparations were made for mustering as veterans. The requisite num- ber re-enlisted and the men were impatiently waiting for the veteran furlough, when, in the morning of February 23d, the regiment had orders to march immediately, with three days' rations and sixty rounds of ammuni- tion.

The Tenth had remained three days within hearing of the cannonading between the hos- tile armies at Chattanooga and had stood in line during the progress of the great con- flict at Lookout and Missionary Ridge, but had not been engaged in any of these bat- tles. Its first serious engagement was at Kenyon's Gap, near Dalton, where, in a gallant fight with greatly superior numbers of the enemy, its loss was forty-nine killed and wounded and seventeen missing. Re- turning to its camp at. Rossville, the regiment was relieved and ordered to Michigan, ar- riving at Detroit, March 11, 1864. At the expiration of the veteran furlough it re- turned to the part of the south in which most of its term of service had been passed. Dur- ing the summer it took part in a number of engagements, with considerable loss. At Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1st, the commanding officer of the regiment, Major Henry S. Burnett, formerly captain of the "Byron Guards," was killed in a charge, across an open field, on the enemies' works. It was claimed for the Tenth that in this action it took more prisoners than the num- ber of men which it carried into the fight.

Following the battle at Jonesboro the regi- ment moved to the front at Atlanta and re-

mained there until and after the capture of that city. In October it joined its corps, the Fourteenth, which was moving into Ala- bama in pursuit of the Confederate army under General Hood. Later it returned to Georgia, moving along the Atlanta Railroad, destroying the track and telegraph in its march, the object being to cut all communi- cations with Atlanta, preparatory to General Sherman's bold march across Georgia to the Atlantic. Approaching Atlanta on the 15th of November, the Tenth, forming a part of the First Brigade, Second Division of the Fourteenth Corps,. on the following day moved out on the march to Savannah, where it arrived the morning of December 11th.

On January 20, 1865, the Fourteenth Corps left the city for the march through the Caro- linas. By April 28th it had reached Morse- ville, North Carolina, and there received the announcement that its campaigning was over and' the war ended by the surrender of Johnston. In its passage through the two Carolinas the Tenth Michigan had sustained a loss of fifteen, killed, wounded, and miss- ing. The regiment reached Washington the 16th of May, and took part in the grand re- view of General Sherman's army, on the 24th. In June it proceeded to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was mustered out of the service July 19th and ordered to Michigan. It reached Jackson the 22d, and was paid off and discharged August 1, 1865.

The length and severity of this regiment's marches during its term of service were re- markable. In 1862 and 1863 its foot marches aggregated sixteen hundred miles, its marches in 1864 amounted to thirteen hun- dred and seventy-five miles, and those in 1865 to six hundred twenty miles,-a total

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY

of three thousand five hundred and ninety- five miles, this being exclusive of the dis- tances accomplished by railroad and steamer. There were few, if any, regiments in the service whose marching record surpassed this.

Members of Tenth Infantry from Shia- wassee county: Field and staff,-Major Henry S. Burnett, Byron; Non-commissioned staff,-Quartermaster Sergeant George A. Allen, Byron ; Company A,-Captain Samuel S. Tower (Byron), First Lieutenant Robert F. Gulick (Corunna), Sergeant Jay J. Park- hurst, Sergeant William B. Pratt, Sergeant Charles Rice, Sergeant Delos Jewell, Cor- poral John J. Campbell, Corporal' Marcus P. Andrews, Musician William W. Barker, Musician Riley W. Litchfield, Wagoner Henry H. Keyes, Robert Agnew, William Brown, Jonas W. Botsford, Henry Baird, Martin Brayton, Henry Brown, Horace S. Caikins, Albert Campbell, Silas Crawford, Jacob Croup, Philip Chamberlain, David C. Calkins, George Coffin, Alfred Conkits, Shel- don Dickson, Luman Harris, Ezekiel Jewell, Thurlow L. Millard, Corporal R. Blake Miner, Albert Martin, William J. Mosely, Corporal George E. Mills, Orlando Mills, Henry Miller, Charles Newman, George A. Parker, Thomas J. Pettis, George J. Parks, Abram Reigle, Philip Richardson, Israel D. Russell, Corporal Auren Roys, Corporal Lemuel J. Smedley, Allen Stephens, Charles F. Stewart, Ira I. Sweet, George Stroud, Edwin R. Scully, William J. Tower, Judd Vincent, Edgar D. Welch, Peter Wooliver, Gideon Whiting, John Walworth; Company B,-First Lieutenant William Pratt (Byron) ; Company C,-Second Lieutenant George A. Allen (Byron), James M. Gillett, Edgar E. 5

Grilly, Frank Munger, Henry Ostrander, Alvah Remington, Daniel Spear, William E. Sprague; Company G,-Musician Philip Goodwin, George R. Knapp; Company H,- Nathan Findley, Albert Hill, John Marshall, John W. M. Parks; Company I,-William B. Gillet, David W. Gillett; Company K,- Captain William B. Walker (Owosso).

FOURTEENTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY

The volunteers from Shiawassee who served in the ranks of the Fourteenth Mich- igan Infantry were principally in Companies D and E. There were also a few in Company K, which was chiefly composed of Clinton county men. The original first and second lieutenants of Company D were respectively Gilman McClintock and Cyrus F. Jackson, of Owosso.

Company E was chiefly made up of men from Shiawassee county. First Lieutenant Goodale and Second Lieutenant Daniel Wait were residents of Owosso at the time of its organization. The Fourteenth Regiment was mustered into the service in February, 1862, and among its officers was Major M. W. Quackenbush, of Owosso. In April it pro- ceeded to the theater of war in the south- west, reaching Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee river, about two weeks after the great battle of Shiloh had been fought, and was assigned to duty as a part of Morgan's brigade, in the Army of the Mississippi. This brigade included the Tenth Michigan and Sixtieth Illinois, and as thus composed remained together during the greater part of the term of service.

The fortunes of the Fourteenth were so similar to those of the Tenth, whose history has been traced in the preceding pages, that

PAST AND PRESENT OF

an account of its movements would be prac- tically a repetition of the previous narra- tion. During the first year and a half of its existence its duties, like those of the Tenth, were marching, skirmishing, picket- ing and guarding railroads. In July, 1863, the 'regiment was detached from its brigade. Early in September the command was trans- formed into a corps of mounted infantry and eight of its companies, with a section of artillery, were moved to Columbia, Tennes- see. For a period of eight months Colum- bia and Franklin and the railroad connecting the two places were held by the men of the Fourteenth, who performed excellent serv- ice in clearing the surrounding country of guerrillas.

In January, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted as veterans and in the spring was sent to Michigan on veteran furlough, at the expira- tion of which it returned to Tennessee. In May it received orders to join the army of General Sherman, and with that object moved to Dallas, Georgia, where it rejoined its old brigade, which was then attached to the division of General Jeff. C. Davis. From Dallas it moved to Kenesaw Mountain, where the brigade gallantly participated in the battle of the 27th of June. In August the regiment took part in the operations in front of Atlanta. Then, after many marches and movements by rail, on the 13th of No- vember, at Cartersville, with the rest of the army it "bade goodby to the 'Cracker' line and to all communications, and plunged into the Confederacy, with four days' rations, marching south and tearing up the railroad as it moved." On the 15th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it reached Atlanta, where the Union hosts lay encircling the con-

quered city, busy with their final prepara- tions for the storied "March to the Sea."

Arriving before Savannah on the 10th of December, it took part in the siege of the city and marched in on the 21st. Remain- ing there until January 20, 1865, the Four- teenth then moved out and took its way with the army on the long and laborious march through the Carolinas. At Avon's Ferry, North Carolina, the cheering news of John- ston's surrender was received, April 13th. Moving on to Washington, the regiment took its place in the grand review of Sherman's army, on the 24th of May. It was, mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 18th, and was ordered home, arriving at Jackson on the 21st.

Members of the Fourteenth Infantry from Shiawassee county: Field and staff,-Lieu- tenant Colonel M. W. Quackenbush (Owosso), Chaplain Thomas B. Dooley (Corunna) ; Non-commissioned staff, -- Quartermaster Ser- geant Henry O. Jewell (Vernon), Com- missary Sergeant Addison Bartlett (Shia- wassee) ; Company A,-First Lieutenant Marshall Keyte (Owosso), John Groom, Abel Hill; Company B,-First Lieutenant Gillman McClintock (Owosso), First Lieu- tenant Cyrus F. Jackson (Owosso), Charles H. Allen, William H. Adams, Armead Bots- ford, Benjamin E. Crandall, John H. Hays, John Hay, Henry King, Walter Laing, Charles McCarthy Aaron Martin, Orman Millard, William C. McFarren, David Mc- Carty, William Price, John Richmonds, Sidney Smith, Peter Skutt, Francis Summer, Edwin R. Scott; Company E,-Captain Ed- ward S. Simonds (Shiawassee), First Lieu- tenant C. C. Goodale (Owosso), Second Lieutenant Daniel Wait (Owosso), Sergeant

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Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 9

Author: Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub. Number of Pages: 580

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580