USA > Ohio > A history of the Eleventh regiment, (Ohio volunteer infantry,) containing the military record of each officer and enlisted man of the command -a list of deaths-an account of the veterans-incidents of the field and camp-names of the three months' volunteers, etc., etc > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
· Hooker crossed to the south side of the river at Bridge- port, joining the forces at Brown's Ferry on the 28th.
From this time till the 22d of November no important movements were participated in by our Regiment. In the mean time Bragg kept his troops busy erecting fortitica- tions on Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, and our men strengthened their position at Chattanooga. Artillery "duels" were of frequent occurrence, as the two armies laid in plain sight of each other, and at every favorable opportunity indulging in a little "practice." Considerable
106
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
picket duty was required of the Regiment, at which times frequent skirmishes were had with the rebels.
General U. S. Grant, the "hero of Vicksburg," had superceded Gen. Rosecrans in command of the "Army of the Cumberland." After the hardest work of the cam- paign had been performed; after that army had fought and gained the substantial fruits of victory on one of the most stubbornly contested battle fields of the war; after the men had suffered all the pangs of starvation, and by their own valor had "raised the siege" of Chattanooga, our War Department became wonderfully solicitous for their welfare, and reinforcements by the thousands were sent to their assistance! Of course the work was not all done. Battles had yet to be fought; "forts, places and property" had yet to be "repossessed," but in the name of the men who bled and died on Chickamauga's sanguine field-of the men who suffered from thirst, and hunger, dust and smoke, toil and anxiety, and all the attendant horrors of legalized human butchery-we ask why that devoted army was forced to perform work for which in numbers alone it was entirely inadequate?
The work Gen. Grant found to do after his arrival at Chattanooga was no easy task. The rebel army was in his front, occupying positions naturally strong and rendered almost impregnable by the immense amount of labor expended on them. Grant made his plans, and proceeded immediately to execute them. Hooker fought "above the clouds" and occupied Lookout Mountain, and on the 23d of November the movements began that resulted in
THE BATTLE OF MISSION RIDGE.
Gen. Turchin's Brigade (the number of which was now the 1st) had the advance, our Regiment on the right. We
107
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
drove in the rebel pickets on the Rossville road, and were then moved to the rear, remaining there till the morning of the 25th. In the movements preceding the battle, the Eleventh was sent to support a section of artillery that had been ordered to shell the enemy's camp at the base of the Ridge. After performing this duty the Regiment returned to the Brigade, which was placed in position in front of Fort Wood, on the left of Gen. Wood's Division.
Orders were soon issued for the line to advance. After passing the woods in our front, the men started on the run through the open ground to the foot of the Ridge, up which the advance was continued steadily, a severe musketry and artillery fire pouring into their faces from the rebel guns above. The breastworks were reached, but the men were too much exhausted to at once dash across, and a short rest was allowed. Rushing forward the works were gained after a sharp fight, the colors of our Regiment and those of the Thirty-first Ohio being the first planted on the Ridge.
After driving the rebels from the crest, Lieut .- Colonel Street (who commanded the Eleventh in this engagement, Col. Lane having resigned) ordered a charge on a battery on our left. The guns were captured and silenced, and a third charge was immediately made, in which another bat- tery changed from the hands of the rebels into ours. The hardest fighting of the day was at the enemy's third line, where they made a stubborn resistance. At this point our Regiment was engaged till dark, when the rebels gave way, retreating in confusion.
During the battle the various regiments engaged became very much broken up, but the men formed and fought under any commander who was near and who was headed towards the enemy.
108 .
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
Capt. D. K. Curtis and Lieut. G. E. Peck were killed while gallantly leading their men. Color Sergeant, James Bell, was shot five times before he gave up the flag to a comrade. Harvey Thompson early in the engagement seized the colors of a retreating Indiana regiment and carried them through the fight. HI. R. Howard and Geo. Green captured a rebel battle fiag. Other instances of personal daring and courage on the part of members of our Regiment occurred during the day, which will be more fully referred to hereafter.
On the 26th we marched with the Brigade on a recon- noissance to Chickamauga Bridge, and thence to Ringgold, Ga. The Brigade returned to Chattanooga on the 29th, not having been engaged in the fighting at Ringgold.
From this time till the middle of December our Regi- ment remained quietly in camp at Chattanooga, doing the usual duty required under such circumstances. On the 16th, a detail was made from all the regiments in Turchin's Brigade, to proceed to the Chickamauga battle field, for the purpose of examining the condition of the graves of our fallen.
It will be remembered that the rebels buried the dead of both armies, and held possession of the ground for a month after the battle. Although having plenty of time, they had treated the Union dead in the most shameful manner. They had taken no pains to recover bodies that laid in out- of-the-way places, and at the best but a slight covering of earth was given the remains of any. Our party found many arms and feet protruding above the ground, and parts of bodies half burned. The body of one brave man of our Regiment was discovered, but his head was gone; in another place the arms (on which were marks that made
109
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
identification sure) of another were found, the body having been burned! But what respect could be expected paid to the dead by the fiends who had charge of the living at Richmond, Belle Isle, and Andersonville?
The duty required of the detail was faithfully performed. The places where the regiments had fought were visited, and the neglected dead interred as carefully as circumstan- , ces allowed. The resting places of the bodies that could be identified were marked with the name, company and regiment to which the men belonged.
A beautiful cemetery is now in course of preparation near Chattanooga, which, with like "cities of the dead" at Gettysburg, Andersonville, Arlington Heights, and at other points, will be visited by generations to come, and ever be regarded with grateful affection by the nation for whose welfare these men so nobly died.
CHAPTER XXI
The first train that reached Chattanooga over the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad arrived on the 14th of January, 1864. Provisions had been scarce for a while, and when the train reached the depot the boys "went for it" with a rush. They did not wait for a "requisition"-they were hungry, and no matter to them how the "commissaries" were settled for so they got what they wanted. The con- ductor applied to General Turchin for a guard, which the General promised to send "after while."
Trains ran pretty regularly from this time, and the men were supplied with the many articles they had so long needed.
" Washington's birth-day," in the year 1864, was celebra- ted by the Fourteenth Corps by leaving Chattanooga and marching in the direction of Ringgold. We camped the next night at the Stone Church, and on the 24th advanced four miles and a half to near Tunnel Hill.
Early in the morning of the 25th our command started for Rocky Face Ridge (sometimes called Buzzard Roost), where the rebels were found in force. Company F, with D for a reserve, was deployed to skirmish and advanced about a mile, followed by the Regiment. The way in which the Division had been maneuvered threw the Eleventh in the advance, and the first under fire. While our line (110)
111
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
was advancing the rebel artillery opened, their second shot taking off the arm of a man in Company K. Temporary shelter was finally gained in the woods, of which advantage was taken for a short time, as our Regiment was entirely unsupported and the fire from the rebel ranks heavy and increasing. In a short time the Regiment was deployed, and moved a short distance nearer the enemy. Two pieces of artillery now arrived and took position, materially assist- ing our men, who had been gradually nearing the rebels. Our skirmishers were operating but a short distance in front, the fire from the rebel lines being principally directed at the troops in rear of the skirmish line. Again our Regiment moved by the right flank to a position near a log house, where line of battle was formed, and a further advance made to a fence. All this time the musketry fire had been very brisk and a number of our men were wounded. The fence was torn down, and our Regiment was now as far advanced as the line of skirmishers, who were ordered by Col. Street to advance, but as they did not belong to our Regiment they refused to go. The skirmishers from the Eleventh had attained a position considerably to the right, in consequence of an oblique movement by the Regiment.
Passing through the line of skirmishers in their front our men advanced up the hill, and were met by two solid lines of rebels who opened a terrible fire, which was replied to by our line with good effect. Receiving no support the the Eleventh was compelled to fall back, many of the men falling into a ditch at the foot of the hill. Taking shelter behind trees the fight was continued without abatement . until the rebels retired from our front. Advantage was also taken of the ditch at the foot of the hill, from which a steady fire was maintained. At midnight our troops fell back and bivouacked at the Stone Church. We marched to
112
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
Ringgold on the 27th, and remained there a litte more than two months, nothing of particular import transpiring.
On the 7th of May we marched to Tunnel Hill, where the rebels played a "yankee trick" on the Tenth Ohio Cavalry. They covered their retreat with "men of straw" stationed as pickets, and three times our cavalry charged on the " paddies " before discovering the trick.
Proceeding to the front, the Eleventh built a bridge on the 9th, the working party being all the time exposed to the rebel fire, two men being wounded. After completing the work, we moved back a mile and camped. Marching on the 12th and 13th we moved to a point near Resacca, where we had our last fight with the rebels.
When within a few miles of Resacca, an order was received to "stack" knapsacks, and after this was done we moved to the front, passing General Judy's Division, then standing in line of battle. After considerable maneuvering we got out in an open field and formed our line. Skir- mishing immediately commenced. Here we remained but a short time when an order came to move to the left. This done, the line moved forward through the woods under a heavy artillery fire, the heavy limbs cut off by the rebel shots falling and crashing to the earth all around the moving Regiment, endangering the men more than the enemy's bullets. Still the men pressed on, and when within a few hundred yards of the rebel stronghold, an order was given to General Judy's Division to charge the works. This order proved contagious to the Eleventh, and they dashed forward amid the terrible hail from the rebel musketry.
Before proceeding far an obstacle presented itself, and which proved a God-send to the noble fellows who already had gone into the very jaws of death, as the charging
113 :
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
Division was repulsed. A creek wound its way through the little valley that spanned the distance between the hill which the Eleventh had charged from and the one upon which the enemy's fortifications were erected.
It is hard to make clear to the mind of a reader who has never participated in a battle, the movements of a single regiment on the field. The usual manner of describing such scenes is to say that General Thomas did this, or General Hooker charged the enemy's works, meaning that the men composing the commands of these officers did the work. The battles of our war were not fought on smooth, open fields, where the whole force of combattants could be brought under a single eye. In all the important engage- ments the lines extended from one to six or more miles, and the ground fought over covered with dense woods and thickets, broken up by deep ravines, steep hills and cliff's
of the roughest description. The place where the men of one side stood one moment may be in possession of their enemies the next, and commanders of regiments may have men from a dozen different organizations in their lines. The din and confusion from the explosion of deadly missiles, shouts of the men, and rush of the artillery, is almost deafening, rendering orders given exceedingly difficult to understand.
So it was when the order was given to Judy's Division- a part of our Regiment heard it, and the men being always willing, construed it into an invitation for them to partici- pate and they engaged in the charge, leaving the balance behind. After the failure to capture the rebel works, to retreat was almost certain death, and a portion of our officers and men took shelter behind the friendly banks of the creek, and remained there until the growing darkness made it safe to retire.
7
114
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
On the 15th were in reserve and on the 16th went into camp at Resacca. Were detached from the Brigade on the 17th, and divided into detachments to garrison different points.
The time was now fast approaching when the term of the Regiment would close, the three years for which the men had been mustered into the army expiring on the 20th day of June, 1864. The necessary orders relieving us from further duty in the field were issued, and on the 10th of June the Regiment started for the North. Proceeding by Railroad via Chattanooga, Bridgeport and Nashville, Louisville was reached on the 13th. Immediately embark- ing on steamboats we arrived at Cincinnati on the 15th.
The Sixth Ohio Regiment had also just returned, and was to have a reception by the citizens. The Eleventh was invited to participate and was given the right of the procession. Marching through the city flowers and boquets in profusion were presented to the men, our Regiment receiving a large share of the evidences of welcome. Very few of the people knew there was any other regiment than the Sixth in the procession, and it is probable that the flowers, &c., were intended for that command-at any rate our boys considered that they had a good joke on the Sixth in receiving the laurels intended for them. At two o'olock we left the city and in a short time were again on the familiar grounds of Camp Dennison, which we had left nearly three years before " eager for the fray."
Several days were spent in preparing the rolls for our last muster, but finally all things were ready, and on the 21st day of June, 1864, the Eleventh Regiment Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry, that had served so long and well, ceased to exist.
115 - 116
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
The men immediately repaired to their homes, and were greeted with appropriate welcomes by their friends and neighbors.
As a natural consequence many changes occured during the term of the Regiment. Of the commissioned officers that went into the field with the Regiment, not one returned with the same rank at first held, and only three of the original number were mustered out with the men, (counting from the time we left Camp Dennison). The proportion of changes among the privates and non-commissioned officers, was not so great, as their opportunities for quitting the service were not so favorable!
And now we might grow eloquent, and write page upon page of glowing enthusiasm over the glorious record made by our noble little Regiment-of touching pathos for their sufferings and hardships, and present a fitting tribute to the memory of the dead. But we leave that task for more able hands-if such can be found as will do justice to the subject. We leave their deeds to speak for them, feeling sure that a grateful people will never cease to cherish the memories of the noble men who so willingly offered them- selves a sacrifice for the preservation and perpetuity of free government.
1
INDIVIDUAL RECORD
Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men. -OF-
(117-118)
·
EXPLANATORY.
It is not without some misgivings that we undertake the part of our work devoted to the record of those men, to faithfully and fully perpetuate whose noble deeds, sacrifices and sufferings, no pen wielded by human hands is compe- tent. We found great difficulty in procuring the information necessary to enable us to prepare as full a record of each person as we desire to give. We had access to the Regimen- tal books, the muster-out rolls of the different companies, and in a few instances to all the company books and papers, but were not satisfied with this much. There are many, very many, matters that would be of interest in a book like this, known only to the individuals personally concerned, and of course when the particulars have not been furnished us we can not be expected to include such items in our work.
We have also found great difficulty in securing that hearty co-operation on the part of some of the company officers that should have been given. We have endeavored to present our object fully and clearly; but notwith- standing all our efforts, which have been unceasing, that sympathy which we expected has been partially withheld. Why this is so we can not tell. It certainly can not be that those persons who have treated the matter with coldness and indifference were fearful that our object was to speculate or make money out of the work. To any who may enter-
(119)
120
.
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
tain such suspicions, we can only say that if all we get for the time, trouble and money expended in issuing the book would satisfy them for the same amount of work, they are more moderate in their desires in that respect than the majority of people. While we do expect to make " fair wages " for our time, we far more desire to present such a record of the part performed by the noble men with whom "we had the honor to serve in subduing the late gigantic rebellion against free government, as will be a fitting tribute to their patriotism and heroic deeds.
So far as the official documents that have been preserved are concerned, our record is made full and correct. We have also had the assistance of several individual diaries, some newspaper correspondence, and accounts furnished by some members of the command of interesting incidents in which they or others were the principal actors. To all who have so kindly aided us, we are truly grateful; to those who have been backward or indifferent, we can only say, do not find fault with that which, with your assistance, might have been bettered.
It must not be understood that where no extended remarks follow the name of any member that the record of the man is of but little importance. The official records are too silent in reference to many individual instances of daring, bravery and heroism performed by the "enlisted men," and the men themselves, as usual with the brave, were too modest to furnish such statements of their own noble deeds as we desired to publish. We have found a disparity in dates, and sometimes even in names, between the rolls, company, and regimental books, and if any mis- takes are discovered they must be attributed to the careless manner in which the books were kept.
121.
THE ELEVENTH OHIO.
At the back of the book will be found several pages of good paper, neatly ruled. Our book is intended as a "keep- sake" in the families of members of the Regiment, and we have prepared this paper in order that a fuller record of eachone may be given. Wherever possible this should be done by the hand of him who was a soldier, thus preserving the record in the hand-writing of the soldier himself. It will be but a few years at best until all who took part in putting down the late gigantic rebellion will have passed away. Then, if not before, the record that we suggest and have given facilities for preparing, will be a priceless heirloom in the families of the posterity of the "Union soldier."
With these remarks by way of explanation we now present the names of all members of the Regiment who served in the three-years' organization. Following this will be found the history of the "veterans" and of the "recruits" that joined during the winter of 1863-4; also such facts in relation to the three-months' service as have been preserved.
FIELD AND STAFF.
-
Charles A. de Villiers. elected Colonel by a vote of the Regiment at Camp Dennison, Ohio, July 5, 1861; taken prisoner by the rebels at Searey Creek. W. Va., July 17, 1861; rejoined the Regiment at Gauley Bridge, W. Va., October 29, 1861; dismissed the service by sentence of General Court Martial, finding of the Court approved April 4, 1862.
Philander P. Lane, promoted to Colonel from Captain of Company K. At a meeting of the Company officers hield after the death of Lieutenant- Colonel Coleman, Capt. Lane was recommended to the Governor for promotion to the position of Colonel, and his commission was issued to date from September 17, 1862. Joining the Regiment at Clarksburg, Col. Lane held the command until November 3, 1863, when he resigned at Chatta- nooga, Tenn. (See Company K).
Joseph W. Frizell, Lieutenant-Colonel. In response to the President's first call for troops, Col. Frizell recruited a company and proceeded to 'Columbus, where, upon the organization of the Eleventh Regiment, he was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel, and after the resignation of Col. Harrison, he had full command until the reorganization for three years. At the election held July 5. he was again chosen to the same position.
For some time after the beginning of the war it was the custom for companies and regiments from Ohio to elect their officers. in accordance with the provisions of the Sate militia law then in force. The too frequent result of such a course was the election of incompetent and ignorant men to responsible positions, while men suitable to command were kept in the background. For some time prior to the election of Field Officers for our Regiment, an immense amount of electioncering was done by various aspirants for positions. A great variety of means was employed to influence the action of the men, the final result being a choice adverse to the best interests of the Regiment in so far as the selection of a Colonel was concerned.
Submitting without a word to the secondary position given him, Lieutenant- Colonel Frizell entered upon the discharge of his duties, feeling that time would set all things right. After the capture of Col. de Villiers, the com- mand of the Regiment fell to him, and the success attending the operations of the Regiment from Pocotaligo to Sewell Mountain and back to Gauley Bridge are in a great measure due to his skill and bravery. From the time of our encounter with the rebels at Tyler Shoals, if not before, he enjoyed the full confidence of the men, and his final retirement from the Regiment was universally regretted. In consequence of the treatment received from de Villiers, he tendered his resignation, which he succeeded after some trouble in getting accepted, and was relieved from duty December 21, 1861, at Point Pleasant, W. Va.
(122)
123
FIELD AND STAFE.
In the following July he was recommended by the Military Cominittee of the Fourth Congressional District of Ohio, for the Colonelcy of the Ninety-fourth Regiment, and received the appointment from Gov. Tod. Under his management the Ninety-fourth was speedily recruited, and entered the field during Kirby Smith's "invasion " of Kentucky. The " training" Col. Frizell received while he was with the Eleventh was of great benefit to the men now under his command. The Ninety-fourth was sent out from Lexington to oppose the advance of the rebels, while our defeated army was rapidly retreating. Col. F.'s instructions were to march fifteen miles to the Kentucky river, contest the crossing, and if compelled to retreat to fight "every foot of the way to Lexington." In obedience to his orders, Col F. made such disposition of his men as he thought necessary to oppose the crossing of the rebels at the ford, which they attempted under cover of a brisk artillery fire, but discovering a heavy force of the enemy slipping over the hills to get in his rear, he fell back to a previously selected. point. When about to form his line of battle here. a messenger arrived with an order for the Regiment to "return to Lexington with all possible dispatch." Now came the time for " generalship" to be shown. Nearly a thousand raw troops were to be marched in retreat a distance of some twelve · miles, from a closely pursuing, victorious enemy, ten times their number ! Starting the column in the proper direction, Col. F. rode to the rear, and remained nearest the enemy until Lexington was reached. With the ex- ception of a few men made prisoners the regiment got back without loss. In a skirmish the night before, two men were killed and a number wounded. Col. F., with his regiment, took a prominent part in the battle of Perryville. and in the pursuit of Bragg to Tennessee. Being severely wounded in the battle of Stone River the Colonel, upon the advice of the Medical Director. resigned his commission. In his retirement the service lost a brave and competent officer, and the men of his Regiment a good commander and faithful friend.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.