History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 25

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840

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Co. K-John S Hicks, Capt., Oct 15, 1853.

Co. L .- Marshall M, Loyden, Capt , Jan. 20, 1864.

This regiment was an important one to Onondaga county and the city of Syracuse, inasmuch as it saved the draft pending in 1863 It was slow in being made up, but late in the year Col. Richard- son succeeded in securing an order from the War Department granting a bounty of $300 to each en- listed man, which had the effect to secure the quota required and save the draft, which had been or- dered, from being executed. The rolls were sent in to the War Department, and upon their examina- tion it was found that the quota of the district was full, and an order was immediately sent for the draft to be stopped.

The officers of the 15th Cavalry from Onondaga county were :

Robert M. Richardson, Col., rank from Jan. 6. '64, resigned Jan. 19, '65 ; Augustus J. Root, Lieut -Col., rank from Sept. 16, '63, killed in action April 8, '65; Michael Auer, Capt., rank from July 24, '63, promoted to Major Nov. 9, '6.1, discharged Mar. 6, '65 ; J. 11. Wood, Major, rank from Sept. 16, '63, discharged April 14, '65: F. Mann, Adjutant, rank from May 22, '64, discharged by reason of consoli- dation, June 17, '65 ; Edward R. Trull, Quarter- master, rank from June 12, '03, discharged by rea- son of consolidation, June 17, '65 ; Isaac O. Fill- more, Chaplain, rank from April 25, '64, not mus- tered : Thomas G. Putnam, Capt., rank from July 30, '63, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17. '65 ; Jefferson C. Bigelow, Capt., rank from Aug. 30, '63, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17, '65 : George N. Truesdell, ist Lieut., rank from Jan. 6, '64, promoted to Capt. June 17, '65, with rank from May 8, '65 : Orson K. Colgrove, 2d Lieut., rank from July 30, '63, promoted to Capt. Nov. 30, '63, mustered out on expiration of service, Dec. 24, '04 ; Charles G. Hampton, 2d Lieut., rank from Oct. 5, '63, promoted to Capt. April 11, '65, with rank from Feb. 13, '65, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17, '05 ; George M. Ellicott, Capt., rank from Aug. 13, '03, promoted to Major, June 17, '65, with rank from June 9, '65, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17, '65 : Cortland

Clark, Commissary, rank from Jan. 6, '64, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17, '65 ; Burritt N. Hurd, 2d Lieut., rank from Sept. 5, '63, promoted to Ist Lieut. Dec. 29, 1863, promoted to Capt. Nov. 9, '64, mustered out on expiration of term of service, Dec. 12. '64 ; John F. Moshell, Capt., rank from Sept. 5. '63, transferred to ed Provisional Cavalry, June 17, '05 ; William F. Weller, ist Lieut., rank from Dec. 26, '63, promoted to Capt. June 17, '65, with rank from June 8, '65, transferred to ed Provi- sional Cavalry June 17, '65 ; Joseph LaBeff, Ist Lieut., rank from July 24, '63, discharged Nov, 30, '63 ; Edgar N. Johnson, 2d Lieut., rank from Nov. 9. '64, promoted to ist Lieut. Feb. 15, '65, dis- charged by reason of consolidation June 17, '65 ; William P. Shearer, Ist Lieut , rank from July 30, '63, missing since Oct. 30, '64 ; William Stanton, 2d Licut., rank from Oct 14, '64, promoted to ist Lieut. Feb. 15, '65 : Edgar 1. Miller, 2d Lieut., rank from Oct 14, '64, promoted to ist Lieut. Mar. 9, '65, transferred to 2d Provisional Cavalry, Junc 17, '65 ; Joseph Herron, Ist Licut., rank from Sept. 5, '63, discharged Dec. 28, '63 : Edward l'ointer, 2d Lieut., rank from Feb. 12, '65, transferred to 2d l'rovisional Cavalry, June 17, '65 ; Lorenzo Hatch, ed Lieut., rank from Oct. 14, '64, killed in action ; James Holahan, 2d Lieut., rank from Feb. 12, '65, transferred to 2d Provisional Cavalry, June 17, '65 ; John W. Frazer, 2d Lieut., rank from Mar. 25, '65, discharged June 28, '65 ; John Gallagher, 2d Licut., rank from Feb. 12,'65, transferred to 2d Provisional Cavalry June 17, '65 ; Levi Kraft, 2d Lieut., rank from Oct. 5, '63, discharged Dec. 11, '63 ; Peter Boehm, 2d Lieut., rank from Mar. 3, '63, discharged by reason of consolidation, June 17, '65 ; Anthony Dever and Emory Ormsby, 2d Licuts., on records of War Department, not commissioncd.

The 15th Cavalry participated in the following battles and engagements : Lynchburg, (Hunter's raid) 1864; New Market, (under Sigel) 1864; Winchester, July 10, 1864 ; Piedmont (near Stan- ton) ; capture of Martinsburg, and the series of battles about l'etersburg, resulting in the capture of Lee's Army.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS-ORGANIZATION-CAMP AT BOLIVAR HEIGHTS-CHANCELLORSVILLE-GET- TYSBURG - LOSSES OF THE REGIMENT-LAST EXPERIENCE IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

T HE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH NEW YORK VOLUNTEER INFANTRY was a full regiment of Onondaga County men, organized at Syracuse, and mustered into the United States ser- vice September 18, 1862. Henry A. Barnum, for- merly Major of the Twelfth New York, was Colo- nel ; John M. Strong, Lieutenant-Colonel; Abel G. Cook, Major: Walter M. Dallman, Adjutant ;

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Moses Summers, Quartermaster ; James V. Ken- dall, Surgeon ; Horace Nims, Assistant Surgeon ; and Rev. Arvine C. Bowdish, Chaplain. The com- panies were organized under the following line officers : Company A-Solomon Light, Captain ; Samuel Bonner, Ist Lieutenant ; Mathew West- cott, 2d Lieutenant. Company B-Nicholas Grum- bach, Captain ; Philip Eckel, Ist Lieutenant ;'Ja- cob Knapp, 2d Lieutenant. Company C-James Lynch, Jr., Captain ; Edward D. Murray, Ist Lieu- tenant ; William Savage, 2d Lieutenant. Company D-J. Forman Wilkinson, Captain ; Park Wheeler, Ist Lieutenant ; William M. Mosely, 2d Lieuten- ant. Company E-Ira B Seymour, Captain ; Or- son Coville, Ist Lieutenant ; Edward F. Hopkins, 2d Lieutenant. Company F-Judson H. Graves, Captain ; Henry H. Burhans, 1st Lieutenant ; The- odore E. Stevens, 2d Lieutenant. Company G- E. G. Townsend, Captain ; Byron A. Wood, Ist Lieutenant ; Thomas A. Benedict, 2d Lieutenant. Company H-Robert E. Hopkins, Captain ; Ohio L. Palmer, Ist Lieutenant ; Thomas Merriam, 2d Lieutenant. Company I-David J. Lindsay, Cap- tain ; George K. Collins, Ist Lieutenant ; John T. Bon, 2d Lieutenant. Company K-James E. Do- ren, Captain ; John Van Wie, Ist Lieutenant ; Benjamin F. Breed, 2d Lieutenant.

Company A, of this regiment, was composed of Jewish citizens, organized in the Synagogue ; Com- pany B was a solid German company, and Com- pany C consisted of Irish, with but few exceptions. At the time of its organization, Col. Barnum lay wounded at his home in the city, having been shot through the hip by a rifle ball while doing gallant service as Major of the Twelfth Regiment at the battle of Malvern Hill. He was, however, elected Colonel of the Hundred and Forty-Ninth, and joined his regiment at Fairfax in January, 1863.

On the 23d of September, 1862, the Hundred and Forty-Ninth regiment left Camp White, at Syracuse, en route for the general rendezvous at the National Capital; whence they were ordered to Harper's Ferry via Frederick city, and occupied a camp in Pleasant Valley till about the 30th of Oc- tober. No incident of importance occurred while here except an expedition a few miles down the river to Knoxville, and the loss of about forty men who enlisted in an Engineer regiment encamped in the vicinity. On the 31st of October they were ordered to Louden Valley, where they remained long enough to construct comfortable quarters, but were not permitted to enjoy them, being soon ordered to Bolivar Heights, at Harper's Ferry, where they remained till Dec. 10th, relieving the monotony

of camp life by two raids towards Charlestown and Winchester, and taking their first lessons in those foraging expeditions for which the regiment sub- sequently became famous.

In the absence of Colonel Barnum, Lieutenant- Colonel Strong had command of the regiment, but here the latter was obliged to resign in con- sequence of a dangerous illness, and the command devolved upon Major Cook, a youthful yet energetic and competent officer ; the regiment was attached to General Geary's division, and assumed the white star as its emblem of military glory. December Io, in the depth of a Virginia winter, they broke camp at Bolivar Heights, and marched to Fairfax Station. The Quartermaster, who was also the scribe of the regiment and who has furnished the materials for this history of the 149th, refers to one or two expeditions from camp at this point towards Dumfries, speaking of it as " a locality which calls up vivid recollections of an ocean of mud and the hardest kind of fare." After spending a dismal Christmas and New Year's in this fearfully muddy region, on the 28th of January, they marched through the memorable Dumfries mud to Aquia Creek where the regiment was comfortably quar- tered in an old camp just vacated by a German regiment of engineers. The camp here was beau- tifully located and a little labor soon sufficed to make it a model of neatness and taste. But the place was unhealthy ; fever soon broke out in the camp and the ranks were rapidly thinned by its ravages. On the 15th of February the regiment moved to a more healthy location at Brook's Sta- tion, where it remained till the stirring events of Chancellorsville called them from camp life and idleness to meet the enemy, on a field which though hotly contested, was disastrous to the regiment and the Union cause. They broke camp and marched towards Chancellorsville on the 9th of April, 1863. The battles in and about Chancellors- ville were fought on May 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th, 1863, the heaviest engagement being on Sunday, May 3d. The Union forces met with a severe defeat, and the 149th suffered their share of the disaster.

On Sunday, May 3, in the great battle in which Slocum's corps (12th) was engaged, nearly 4,000 of his men were disabled, including three of his division commanders ; Berry and Whipple killed, and Gen. Mott of the New Jersey brigade wounded. Says Greeley, " the ground was lost by misfortune or bad generalship, not by lack of valor or endur- ance in our soldiers." As an evidence of this, on Saturday, May 2d, Pleasanton, in order to gain time to get his batteries in readiness to sweep the

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

on-rushing masses of the rebels, ordered Major Keenan, of the Sth Pennsylvania, to charge into the woods at whatever cost. "I will," was the calm, smiling reply, although he well understood that the order was his death-warrant. Ten minutes later he was dead and a large part of his regiment lay bleeding around him. But this gallant action gave the artillery time to get in readiness and to deal death and destruction into the rebel ranks. In front of these batteries, on that memorable day, fell Stonewall Jackson mortally wounded. His loss was the greatest yet sustained by either party in the fall of a single man.

The day was probably lost to the Union army because Gen. Hooker could not send aid to Slo- cum, he having been stunned by a rebel shot strik- ing the "Chancellorsville House," against which he had been leaning, so that when the message came to him from Gen. Slocum he was unconscious and could not attend to it. So testified Slocum before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.

On Monday, the 4th of May, in the forced re- treat of Sedgwick's division, about 5,000 men were lost. Hooker gives the total loss in the series of battles while across the Rappahannock at no less than 17,197 men, as follows :

Sedgwick's (6th) Corps. 4.601

Slocum's (12th)

2,883

Couchs' (2d)

2,025

Reynolds' ( 1 st)

1 I

292

Sickles' ( 3d ) 4,039 I 1 I 1 1

Howard's (11th)

2,508

Meade's ( 5th)

699

Cavalry, &c

150

The rebel loss was 18,000-Gen. Paxton killed and Gen. Heth wounded.

In these severe battles the 149th participated, receiving its first baptism of blood, which conse- crated it to the national cause thenceforth to the close of the war.

Major Cook was severely wounded in the foot and the command devolved upon Captain May, who had recently been transferred to the [49th from the old 12th regiment. He was a gallant officer, and assum- ing command in an emergency, proved himself fully competent.

The regiment returned to its old camp at Aquia Creek. It soon received orders to remove to a posi- tion near Falmouth, but the order was immediately changed to a lively pursuit of Lee, who, meantime, had invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania. Marching over their old track through Dumfries, Fairfax, Leesburg, Frederick City, and other well known localities, they at length encountered the enemy at Gettysburg, on the borders of Pennsylvania, where

one of the most sanguinary battles of the war was fought.

GETTYSBURG .- The engagements began on the Ist of July and lasted till the 3d. Gen. Buford, with a division, arrived first at Gettysburg June 30, and encountered the van of the rebel army, under Gen. Heth, of Hill's corps ; the rebels were driven back on the division, and in turn drove our forces. At this moment the advance division of Reynolds (Ist) corps, under Gen. J. S. Wadsworth, coming in from Emmitsburg, at the familiar sound of vol- leys, quickened their pace, and rushing through the village drove back the rebel van, seizing and occu- pying the ridge that overlooks the place from the northwest. Gen. John F. Reynolds arrived with 22,000 men, Ist and 11th army corps ; while Wads- worth was forming his advance division, 4,000 strong, Reynolds went forward to reconnoiter and was shot by a rebel sharp-shooter. Gen. Doubleday, arriving half an hour later, assumed command, fall- ing back and occupying Seminary Ridge, just west of the village, where the ist and 11th army corps were soon drawn up in line of battle. Howard, ranking Doubleday, assumed command, assigning the 11th corps to Schurz. Here the struggle was renewed with great spirit, our men having the bet- ter position and the best of the fight. At 1 o'clock P. M. Ewell's corps came rapidly into the battle, arriving from York, Rhode's division assailing the 11th corps in front. while Early's struck hard on its right flank. The corps were outnumbered and put to rout, falling back in disorder to Gettysburg, under heavy rebel fire, mingling and obstructing each other in horrid confusion in the streets. The debris of these two corps, which half an hour before marched proudly through the streets, now fell back with scarcely half their number to Cemetery Hill, leaving their dead and wounded in the hands of the enemy. Thus ended the first day's fight, July 1, the rebels not seeking to renew the contest.

During this engagement Meade was at Taney- town, ten miles away, and did not hear of the battle or the death of Gen. Reynolds till 1 P. M. He immediately sent Gen. Hancock to command, or- dering him to turn over his (2d) corps to Gibbon. Hancock arrived on the field just as the broken ist and 11th were retreating in wild disorder through the village, hotly pursued by the triumphant foe.

The 149th, in Geary's division of Slocum's (12th) corps, was in advance and reached Gettysburg soon after Gen. Hancock. Slocum, outranking Hancock, assumed the chief command.

During the night our army was all concentrated before Gettysburg, except Sedgwick's (6th) corps,

A 1

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

(15,400 strong) which was at Manchester, 30 miles distant. Meade, in view of this fact, and because the rebels were in full force, resolved upon fighting only a defensive battle. The line was drawn up in the following order : The 12th corps (General Slocum's) held our extreme right, facing Johnson's division of Ewell's corps, which had been recently strengthened by Lockwood's Marylanders, 2,500 strong, raising it to a little over 10,000 men ; Sickles' (3d) corps held the left, opposite Longstreet, supported by the 5th (Sykes's), with Hancock's (2d) in our center, touching its right ; what was left of Howard's ([ Ith), rëenforced by 2,000 Vermont- ers under Stannard, and Reynold's (Ist), now Doubleday's corps. held the face of Cemetery Hill looking towards Gettysburg and Early's division, but menaced also by Johnson's division on the right, and by Hill's corps, facing the left.

The battle of the 2d was brought on by the temerity of Gen. Sickles, who in his eagerness to fight, had thrown forward his corps from half to three-quarters of a mile in the immediate presence of half the rebel army. Meade remonstrated ; but before the mistake could be remedied, Lee, seeing the advantage, ordered Longstreet to attack Sickles with all his might, while Ewell should assail Slocum, and Hill, facing the apex of our position, should only menace, unless our troops should be withdrawn to rëenforce either the left or the right, in which case he should charge through our line. The position which Sickles had taken was commanded by the rebel batteries posted on Seminary Hill in front, and scarcely half a mile dis- tant. At the order to attack, a line of battle a mile and a half long swept up to his front and flanks, crushing him back with heavy loss, and struggling desperately to seize Round Top, a hill to his left which Meade regarded as vital to the situation. A fierce and bloody struggle ensued, Humphreys, on the right of Sickles, with one of Sykes's divisions, being attacked in front and flank and beaten back with a loss of 2,000 out of 5,000 men. A division of the 12th corps was thrown in on the enemy's front, which turned the scale ; they, in turn, were repulsed with heavy loss, falling back to their original position and leaving our line as Meade had intended to place it. Meanwhile, the withdrawal of a division from Slocum had enabled Ewell to attack our right wing with a superior force, but he gained no decided advantage, only crowding a part of the line back and seizing a few rifle-pits. So ended the day of the second of July.

Night closed with the rebels decidedly encour- aged and confident. Of the seven corps composing

our army, three had been severely handled. At least half their effective strength had been demol- ished. Reynolds, commanding the Ist, and Brig. Gen. Zook, of Sickles' corps, had been killed ; Sickles, of the 3d, had had his leg shattered with a cannon ball, and was out of the fight ; our total losses up to this hour were scarcely less than 20,000 men ; and none were arriving to replace them. They had suffered heavily, but had reason for the hope that to-morrow's triumphs would richly repay all their losses.

The battle opened July 3d, on our right ; the division sent to relieve Sickles' corps, having re- turned, Slocum pushed forward to retake his lost rifle-pits, and did it after a sharp conflict. Both sides were rëenforced, the rebels with three fresh brigades under Pickett,* and our side by the ar- rival of Sedgwick's corps. Every preparation was made for the grand decisive battle.

The battle of the 3d of July opened with the most brilliant artillery duel on record. The rebels had massed a battery of 115 heavy guns on the hill in front of the centre of their line, and on Cemetery Hill, in front of Meade's headquarters, the Union artillery numbering about 100 guns was stationed ; and all was in readiness for action. "There was a pause of anxious expectation, fitfully broken by spirts of firing here and there, while the rebels were finishing their preparation for the supreme effort which was to decide this momentous contest." At length at I P. M., the signal was given and the bat- teries on the rebel side opened their throats of fire ; for nearly two hours the hill, just over the crest of which was Meade's headquarters, was gashed and seamed by round-shot and torn by bursting shells, while 100 guns from our side made fit reply. Gen. Doubleday said in his testimony before the Com- mittee on the Conduct of the War : "They had our exact range, and the destruction was fearful. Horses were killed in every direction * * and

quite a number of caissons were blown up." This cannonading was but the prelude to a grand in- fantry charge, and was designed by the rebels to disorganize the opposing forces. Our side was ready for it; our infantry, according to orders, crouched behind every projection and lay concealed in every hollow, awaiting the onset, when they should spring up at the right moment to meet the advancing columns of the enemy. The signal was given, and from behind the rebel batteries emerged columns of infantry in line of battle three or four miles in length, preceded by a cloud of skirmishers and supported by lines of reserves. On they came

* See 122d Regiment.

16%

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HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK

swiftly to the charge, directing their main force against Hancock's center and in the direction of our batteries, and upon the entire front westward to Round Top. The charge was made in three lines with additional lines called wings, the object of which was to prevent the main force from being flanked. They came with such resistless sweep that in some places they seemed to lift up and push back our lines. Hancock was wounded. Gibbon succeeding to the command. Brave officer ! As the tempest of fire approached its height, he walked along the line and renewed his orders to his men to reserve their fire. The rebels, three lines deep, came steadily up. They were in point blank range. At last the order came! From thrice six thousand guns there came a sheet of smoky flame, a crash, a rush of leaden death. The line literally melted away, but there came the second, resistless still. The instant was too brief to allow our men to gather themselves for a second effort, and on came the sweeping torrent ! Up to the rifle-pits, across them, over the barricades, the momentum of the charge, the mere machine-like strength of their combined action, swept them on. They were upon the guns, were bayoneting the gunners, were way- ing their flags above our pieces. But they had penetrated to the fatal point. A storm of grape and cannister tore its way from man to man, and marked its track with corses straight down their line. They had exposed themselves to the enfilad- ing fire of the guns on the western slope of Cemetery Hill, and that exposure sealed their fate. The line reeled back, disjointed, and in an instant was in fragments. Our men were just behind the guns. They leaped forward upon the disordered mass ; but there was little need for fighting now. A regiment threw down its arms, and, with colors at its head, rushed over and surrendered. All along the field smaller detachments did the same. Webb's briga le brought in 800, taken in as little time as it requires to write this sentence Gibbons' old divi- sion took 15 stand of colors. The battle was over. On the field of Gettysburg was crushed the first and last great attempt of the rebels to gain a deci- sive victory on the soil of the North. The 149th had the proud consciousness, under their brave officers, and a gallant son of Onon laga, Gen. Slo- cum as chief commander in the first days' engage- ment and commander of the right wing during the battle, of contributing their share towards the grand victory.

Meade states our losses in this series of battles at 2,834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6,643 missing, (mainly taken prisoners on the ist of July) : total,

23,186. lle only claims three guns as captured this side of the l'otomac, with 41 flags and 13.621 prisoners-many of them wounded ; 24.978 small arms were collected on the field. The confederate loss was about 18,000 killed and wounded.

Returning in pursuit of the rebel army, the chase led the 149th for the fourth time through Frederick City. They reached the Rappahannock at Ellis Ford, on the ist of August, and remained in camp several weeks. On the 16th of September, they were at Raccoon Ford, and on the 18th the division was ordered out to witness the execution of two deserters - the last of their experience in the Army of the Potomac.

CHAPTER XXVHL.

THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH WITH SHERMAN -THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN- LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN-ENTRANCE INTO ATLANTA-FALL OF SAVANNAH -MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS -SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON - LIST OF PROMO- TIONS.

A FTER the battle of Gettysburg, the 11th and 12th corps were consolidated, forming the 20th army corps, commanded by Gen. Hooker, and was sent south under Gen. Sherman. Gen. Hooker resigned in front of Atlanta, and Gen. Slocum was promoted to the command of the 20th army corps. From this change of organization, the fortunes of the 149th were identified with Sherman's move- ments till the close of the war.

On the 29th of September, 1863, they started from Bealton Station for the Southeast, and via Nashville reached Murfreesboro on the 7th of Oc- tober, just in time to be ordered into the intrench- ments to repel an attack of rebel cavalry. On the 25th of October they started for the front, reaching the Wauhatchie Valley on the first of November. Here the regiment and division experienced one of the very few night attacks of the war, and a short but bloody and decisive battle was fought, about midnight of the first night of their occupa- tion of the valley. The Union forces were victori- ous, but the 149th suffered severely ; among the killed was their brave and gallant Color-Bearer, William C. Lilly, who was fatally wounded in the battle and died at Bridgeport, Alabama, a few days afterwards. This victory was one of the most im- portant events of the war, as it effected an entrance for our army into the valley and finally enabled us, by the capture of Lookout Mountain, to open a communication with the Union forces at Chat- tanooga, who were suffering for want of supplies,

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 25

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 840

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840