USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 52
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About this time Colouel B. B. Eggleston returned from recruiting service in Ohio, and assumed command of the regiment. In January and February the men nearly all re-enlisted, and came up North on a month's furlough. Those who did not re-enlist continued with Loug's brigade the whole Winter.
On the 1st of April, 1864, the First was again re- united at Nashville, Tennessee, recruited to full ranks. On the 22d of May it joined Sherman on his celebrated march. It was in a severe engagement at Moulton, re- sulting in. the complete defcat of General Roddy, who, with a force of six regiments and a battery of artillery, had attacked Long's brigade. The First lost in this about twenty killed and wounded. In front of Kenesaw the regiment had frequent and severe skirmishing, in which it lost about thirty men. The regiment aecom- panied General Kilpatrick in his raid around Atlanta. When surrounded by the enemy at Lovejoy's Station the First Cavalry particularly distinguished itself by holding in check for some time a force from Cleburne's rebel in- fantry division, with a loss of fifty men. Among the killed was Captain W. H. Scott. The brigade com- mander, Colonel Eli Long, was severely wounded in this affair, which devolved the command of the brigade upon Colone! B. B. Eggleston, and the regiment upon Lieu- tenant-colonel Thomas J. Patten, its old and tried chief. When General Hood attempted to cut Sherman's com- mitications the First Cavalry followed in pursuit.
On the 13th of October it carried the advance of Garrard's division in the fight near Rome, Georgia, re- sulting in the complete discomfiture of General Arin- strong's division of rebel cavalry. The regiment, with others, was then sent to Louisville, Kentucky, to be en- tirely refitted for the field, arriving there on the 17th of November. On the 22d of March the cavalry, which had been at Chickasaw Landing, on the south side of the Tennessee, moved out, and on the 26th Company A. of the First, struck a body of rebels at Jasper, aud routed them. On the 27th they forded the Black War- vior River; 29th burned a large iron furnace, and drove Patterson's cavalry across the Catawba River; 31st, about noon, the piekets were attacked at Moutevallo, but were
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charged and routed by the Fifth Iowa. They proved to be a part of Lyon's brigade of Forrest's cavalry, which were here found in strong position defending the road and ford. Lyon was dislodged, and again put upon the retreat.
On the morning of the 1st of April the regiment again took the advance, and Forrest's pickets were driven out of Randolph, and considerable skirmishing continued all day, until at last the head of the column struck For- rest's command in position near Ebenezer Church. The First Ohio was on the right, and the enemy's battery, of three guns, was on a wooded hill by the church, directly in front. After a severe struggle all along the line the. First took the battery of artillery, and Forrest's far- famed horsemen were routed in twenty minutes from the main attack. Here fell the gallant Frank P. Allen, the quartermaster's sergeant of the regiment. On the 2d of .April Selma was taken; the 9th the command began crossing the Alabama; 12th and 13th it rested in Mont- gomery ; 14th, took up -its march towards Columbus, Georgia; 15th, Buford's division was driven ahead of us, and on the 16th the advance met the enemy near Craw- ford, Georgia, and charged them nine miles across the Ogeechee River. About a mile and a half from Colum- bus the first battalion of the First Ohio encountered the enemy, drew sabers, and charged down the hill into the town of Girard, under the fire of twenty-five guns that had been worked until then. The regiment was also engaged in the night attack upon Columbus, the capture of the works, and the saving of the two bridges which opened up Columbus, its arsenals and factories, and gave, as the result of one of the most desperate night assaults ever made, twelve hundred prisoners and ninety-six can- non. On the 22d Macon was entered, when the troops heard of the surrender of Lee. The regiment then gar- risoned Georgia and South Carolina until the 13th of September, when it was mustered out, paid off, and dis- charged at Columbus, Ohio, on the 28th day of Sep- tember, 1865.
Colonel Minor Millikin, whose death we have noticed above, was the son of John M. Millikin and Mary G. Hough. He was born on the 9th of July, 1834. An account of his early training is given on a preceding page. We can not deseribe his character better than in the following words of Professor David Swing, the great preacher of Chicago, who was intimately acquainted with him :
"The battle of Murfreesboro has brought to this region some realization of the sadness of war. The des- olation of which we have read so much, we are at last compelled to see face to face. The tears of the widow fall before our own eye, and the home once so happy becomes the asylum of almost broken hearts.
"The dispatch which announced the death of Colonel Millikin announced the fall of a gifted man, a brave soldier, an ardent patriot. The soul of Minor was of
the intense school. What he was, he was thoroughly; whom he loved, he loved deeply; whom he disliked, he disliked cordially; and this intensity of feeling led him early to grasp. his sword in defense of the government and country he loved, and against the Confederacy he despised. The character of Colonel Millikin can not be pictured at a stroke. His mind was many sided. To the taste for literature he added a love of the practical in ordinary life. He was philosophic and romantic, ready to lecture upon reform or to weave together such thoughts as might win for one the title of a poet. He loved that progress which comes by a better education, and he loved also that progress of ideas which comes through the sword. He was ready to teach kindly a little child or to meet his foe with terrible force upon the battle-field. Talented, original, independent, brave, he was also affectionate and religious. He had some faults, but far more virtues, and the deformity of the former fades from our sight while we look upon the beauty of the latter, just as the spots upon the sun are not remembered while we stand in the fields of June. But his heart, so strong and yet so kind, so patriotic, so chivalrous and mindful of duty, has grown quiet. Amid the clash of swords and the awful din of the battle-field of Murfreesboro, Minor Millikin fell, and for his country yielded up his young life."
James M. Allen, formerly of his regiment, in the Ohio State Journal paid the following tribute to his character : "I know nothing of his parentage, but if the blood of the Puritans did not run in his veins (which I think probable) their spirit at least animated his soul. That sterling love of truth and justice, that nice regard for right in business transactions, that prompt and thorough doing of what ought to be done, that constant outlooking for the path of duty (which clearly seen, men's opinions to the contrary, were as chaff before the wind), that ever present recognition of God's law and special providence, that unswerving obedience to the almighty ought, so that if he saw he ought to do, to speak or not to speak, that ought was his Shekinah, and finally, that plain steady piety, which made his tent a 'house of prayer,' are manifest characteristics of the man I mourn.
"Quick to perceive and relieve sorrow; free, but hum- ble in the social circle; liberal, but exact in business; economical in his living; strictly temperate in his appe- tites and habits; free from vulgarity; affable and polite; these were qualities that made him an agreeable associate, while the others would make him a strict disciplinarian, a rigid commander, a fearless warrior, and, if the path of duty led to a dozen batteries, to them would he go without a quiver of hesitation. The scarcity of such men in our army makes his loss doubly severe."
Another friendly hand thus writes of his military career :
"Among the first levy of three mouths' men he en- tered the nrmy as first lientenant of cavalry. In the
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first campaign of Western Virginia he saw severe service, and acquired a reputation for bravery and fidelity. At the expiration of this term an unsolicited appointment as major of the First Cavalry was conferred upon him. Scarcely had the regiment been set to active service be- fore he was promoted to the colonelcy, just then vacated. The title to this position, which was not reached without opposition, he had since made good-fairly and fully winning it by diligence, zeal, and the exhibition of more than ordinary capacity. The great esteem in which he , was held by his superior officers is acknowledged by all who know their opinions, and these opinions were not concealed. More than once was it intimated that yet higher promotion would soon be conferred. The high place which he held in the affections of the officers and men of his regiment was the result of the uniform cour- tesy and real kindness which accompanied the mest rigid discipline, combined with a consistent and high toned morality; and both commended to the true soldier by daring and skill. In all the expeditions of greater or "less importance with which he was intrusted, the men of the First Ohio Cavalry followed their colonel with confidence, and were rewarded by success. But all the previou's instances of this were eclipsed by the history of the 31st of December. At early morning the regiment was called to arms. Its position was on the advance of our right wing, under General MeCook. While the second major had just given the command to fall in, the regiment lost his valuable services, and he was deprived of life by the explosion of the first shell fired by the enemy. Left thus, without the assistance of a single field officer, Col- onel Millikin Jed his regiment through the enemy, by whom they were quickly surrounded. During the whole day he maneuvered the regiment with the greatest cool- ness, gallantry, and skill, and beyond this there was, on that day, a peculiar tenderness in his care for the regi- ment, and a peculiar gentleness in the tone of his orders, which more than once brought tears to the eyes of his brave men. Their battle-field was but two miles and a half in width, and was fought over from four o'clock A. M. to three P. M. Forced-back by superior numbers, every inch was stubbornly contested. Three separate and successful charges were led by the colonel in person. Alas! the third was only too successful. The regiment formed the center of the charging column, and pierced the center of the enemy, but the right and left support- ing regiments failing to drive the foe, the gallant First was speedily flanked. It was at this point, while occu- pying an exposed position, that a squad of the enemy made a bold dash, distinctly to capture him. They reached and surrounded him. The demand for his sur- render was made, but though one of his own men cried ont, 'O, colonel, do give up; they'll kill you,' it was answered only by the heavy swinging of the colonel's saber. With a cut to the rear, one assailant was cloven down, and with a stroke to the front another; but just
as valor seemed ready to be crowned by success the fatal shot was fired. The ball, supposed to be from a carbine, entered the neck and severed the jugular vein. Uncon- sciousness must have immediately ensued. The body was recovered within thirty minutes, stripped of over- coat, saber, and valuables while in the throes of death, and life ended with one gasp as it was committed to the ambulance. Thus was death braved and met by as lofty courage as ever inspired a soldier, whether the rec- ords of this war or others be searched.
"Colonel Millikin had entered the army from princi- ple at the first, and at the same high behest he continued in it to the end. His cup of earthily happiness was filled by a circle of warmer friends tlian most men know, by ample means, by literary plans and pursuits, and by an affectionate family. The persuasion of being in the line of duty was his constant solace, and he sought to make it such to those whom he loved as his own life. In his private character the same qualities which made Colonel Millikin liked as a good officer were even more conspicuous. Here there was firinness, but no rudeness; there was lofty purpose unaccompanied by petty ambi- tion; there was the tendency to the exaction of all duties from others characteristic of a strong miud, but it never became tyranny. Indeed, it was not the least remark- able of his traits that he combined the most gentle and delicate feelings with the greatest strength of character. A more thoroughly honest man than Colonel Millikin did not breathe. He hated dishonesty of every kind and of every shade with a perfect hatred.
"It was within the circle of warm friendship that his peculiar power and influence were felt. He univer- sally secured respect, even from opponents. It is thus that one writes who was once a chaplain to the regi- ment: 'Brave, strong, noble, full of life and hope and love, happy himself, and making others happy, filling so nobly and well his part in the world, who that knew Minor Millikin, though only to respect him while living, will not mourn that he is dead? For us who knew him better and loved him there will be more than transient regret.'
"Colonel Millikin's mental powers were rapidly ma- turing into a gratifying fulfillment of earlier promise. None were able more fully to transfuse the soul into whatever was to be written. The productions of his pen were children of his heart always, and bore witness to their parentage. Lectures or letters, addresses or edito- rials, every thing was terse, vigorous, and strong, yet smooth.
"Colonel Millikin possessed that true courage which distinctly apprehends danger, but in the strength of high principle deties it. This appeared every way, but in none more elearly than in the habitual preparation for death which he sought to maintain. In camp, near Nashville, on the 9th of December, he thus prefaced his will: . Death is always the condition of living, but, to the
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soldier, its imminency and certainty seems also the con- dition of his usefulness and glory. It has been my habit to keep a will, but as my last is uselessly long, and, as to my human gaze, life seems less than likely to stay long with ine, I write now another.'
"The remains were brought home. It was his high wish, expressed in his will, that he should be buried without pomp; that a slab of native stone, plainly en- graved, might mark his resting place; that over it wild vines might grow unrestrained; 'and then,' it was added, 'let it be forgotten that I am there.'"
The first entire regiment that went out from Butler County and vicinity was the Thirty-fifth. Nearly all of its members came from this county; it suffered more se- verely than any other, and many of its men are now residents of this vicinity. On the field of Chickamanga the dead of Butler County lie thickly. Companies A and F were recruited in Warren County, H in Montgom- ery, E, and part of G, in Preble, and the others in Butler County.
It was organized at Hamilton during the months of August and September, 1861, although some of the com- panies had been begun earlier. On the 26th of Septem- ber the regiment broke camp at Hamilton and moved to Covington, Kentucky, and, on the same night, under orders from General O. M. Mitchel, took a train on the Kentucky Central Railroad, and placing parties at all the bridges along the road through Harrison and Bourbon Counties made the headquarters of the regiment at Cyn- thiana. It was at this time apprehended that the rebels would burn these bridges before troops could reach them; but by seizing the telegraph offices at every point on the way the movement was a complete surprise, and entirely unsuspected until guards had possession of every bridge.
Afterwards the regiment was removed to Paris, where it remained until the first days of November, when it marched to Somerset, and reported to Brigadier-general Schoepff.
At the battle of Mill Springs they were not actively engaged, having been ordered by General Thomas to remain at Somerset. Here they were brigaded with the Eighteenth Regulars, Ninth Ohio, and Second Minnesota, under the command of Brigadier-general Robert L. Mc- Cook, remaining with the last two regiments during their entire term of service. This was one of the brigades long composing General George H. Thomas's division. After the battle of Mill Springs the regiment marched to Louisville, and thence took steamer to Nashville. Soon after, Buell having organized the Army of the Ohio, they marched to Pittsburg Landing. Thomas's division, being the rear guard, did not get up in time for the fight at Pittsburg Landing.
The Thirty-fifth participated in some of the skirmishes during the siege of Corinth, and was among the first to enter the works at that place. Afterwards they mareked to Tuscumbia, Alabama, aud about the last of July,
1862, to Winchester, Tennessee. . It was on this last march that General McCook was killed by rebel guer- rillas, near New Market.
Shortly after began that memorable race between Buell and Bragg, the goal being Louisville. From Nash- ville northward the regiment made about twenty-eight miles per day. In the movement on Bragg, the fight at Perryville, and the pursuit to Crab Orchard, they have an honorable part. After Bucil had been superseded by Roscerans the division, then commanded by Genera! Speed S. Fry, marched to Bowling Green, and thence to a camp near Gallatin, Tennessee. In February, 1863, Colonel Van Derveer was assigned to the command of the brigade, and Lieutenant-colonel Long assumed com- mand of the regiment. All through the campaign, which began at Murfreesboro and ended at Chattanooga, the Thirty-fifth was in the front of the marching and fighting. In July of that ycar Lieutenant-colonel Long resigned, and Major Boynton was promoted to the va- caney, Captain Budd receiving the majority. From this time until it left the service the regiment was under Colonel Boynton's command when he was able to do duty, but for much of the time was under the command of Major Budd and Captain L'Hommedieu.
Captain John S. Earhart died at the headquarters of General Brannan, at Winchester, Tennessee, August 10th, at eleven o'clock. His remains reached Hamilton Friday morning the 14th, and were buried from the Presbyterian Church at four o'clock P. M. of that day, with military escorts and honors.
On the first day of the fight at Chickamauga, says Reid in his "Ohio in the War," the Thirty-fifth and the other regiments composing Colonel Van Derveer's brig- ade were stationed on the extreme left of our line, where they engaged, and, after several hours of a fair, stand-up fight, repulsed and beat back three several attacks of Hood's division of Longstreet's corps, the pick of the rebel army. On the next day. September 20th, they were again brought early into a tion, and with the rest of the brigade made a charge upon Breckinridge's divis- ion, which at that time had passed entirely around the left of our fortified line. The conflict, like that of the previous day, was severe and desperate in the open field, and without any protection. Here was presented the uncommon spectacle of two armies charging cach other at the same instant. That of the enemy was disorderly, and with but little attention to discipline, while our men moved as if on drill, and under complete control. The brigade had been moving through the woods in two lines, the first composed of the Second Minnesota and Eighty- seventh Indiana, the second of the Thirty-fifth and Ninth Ohio. Suddenly, emerging from an open field, they found themselves exposed to a murderons fire from artil- lery and musketry, under which they changed front, and, in pursuance of orders, laid flat on the ground. The enemy were then about one hundred and fifty yards dis-
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tant, and charging on a run. When the distance was deereased to seventy-five yards, the first line rose and delivered their fire. Immediately the order was given: "Thirty-fifth and Ninth, pass lines to the front! Brig- ade, charge!" The order was executed promptly, and the rebel line hurled back for almost half a mile at a double-quick, finally making a stand in the woods, where they were effectually protected by their reserves. For more than an hour an obstinate contest was kept up, most effectually ending the attempt to flank the federal line upon the left. When the order was given to return to the position occupied by the brigade previous to the charge it was done in order, by passing lines to the rear, each regiment delivering its fire as it retired.
At half-past two on that day the brigade was reported for duty to General Thomas, who was then holding a ridge to the rear and right of the line of the morning. Here the Thirty-fifth was placed in the front line, where it built a slight work of wood and stone, less than a foot in height. Behind this it remained until the last enemy had retired, repelling repeated charges of the most for- midable and desperate character. Line after line of fresh troops of rebels were sent to the attack, always meeting the same reception, always beaten and erushed. Late in the day anxious inquiry was made for ammunition, but the wagons had been ordered to Chattanooga. Then men and officers could be seen searching the cartridge-boxes of the dead and wounded, and finally, when the brigade commander ordered them to hold their places with the bayonet, these heroes laughed, and promised to stay there.
When night eame the Thirty-fifth was formed on and facing the left of the line, and when it was too . dark to recognize friend from foe a force of the enemy appeared before them. Those who had ammunition fired, and the enemy precipitately retreated. Those were the last shots fired on the battle-field of Chickamauga by either side. Not a single musket was heard after- wards; and the whole army having marched on the road towards Rossville, Van Derveer's brigade, the last to leave the field, under orders from General Thomas, followed.
In the two days' fight at Chickamauga thie Thirty- fifth Ohio lost just fifty per cent of those engaged. Col- onel Boynton was conspicuous during the whole fight for his gallantry and the skill with which he managed his men, and the regiment was highly commended in the reports of that action.
Lueius B. Potter sent home a letter deseriptive of the battle, in which he says the brigade, after marching all night on the 18th, and going without breakfast the next morning, was engaged over six hours on the 19th, and then bivouacked on the battle-field without blankets or fires, although a white frost covered the ground. On the 20th they were engaged from ten A. M. until seven P. M. In no case did the Third Brigade, or any part of it, re-
treat until ordered so to do, although the entire right wing was erushed and driven back. At one time, on the 19th, the brigade repulsed an entire rebel division twice within an hour and a half. On the 20th the brigade charged and drove back a greatly superior number for a third of a mile at the point of the bayonet. Even when the ammunition gave out the old Third stood its ground, and maintained its position until relieved and ordered baek. The musketry was terrifie, and was pronounced more severe than in any other engagement during this war. Men who were at Stone River said that battle was a skirmish by the side of this. The loss of the regiment was as follows: Killed, 21; wounded, 146; missing, 27; total, 194. Most of the inissing were known to be cap- tured. Roth of the surgeons were in the hands of the enemy, having remained to care for the wounded. The regiment took into the fight 394 officers and men. Of this number 194 were lost. From this it can be judged whether the regiment fought or not. The loss of the brigade was 843, and of the division 2,353.
During the two days' fighting they were never driven baek, never gave an inch until ordered, and repeatedly repulsed and drove back four times their number. The Ninth Ohio retook a battery which had been captured from the regular brigade. The brigade captured a good many rebels, the exact number not being ascertained. Colonel Boynton in his report said: "To have belonged to the Third Brigade will be the crowning glory of your old age." And not a soldier's heart but swells with pride at the thought of the deeds done by Colonel Van Der- veer's command during those two bloody days. Colonel Van Derveer, said Mr. Potter, would undoubtedly_get his "star." No braver or cooler man was ever seen in action. The manner in which he handled bis brigade won the admiration of his superior officers.
Colonel Boynton did nobly, and had doubly en- deared himself to his men. Not an officer in the regi- ment flinched. Mr. Potter's horse was killed in the first fight, being shot through the belly with a minie, and a bullet grazed Potter's hat band.
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