USA > Ohio > Concise history of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry : from the date of organization to the end of the rebellion ; with a complete roster of each company, from date of muster ; battles and skirmishes participated in, lists of the killed, wounded and missing, and other incidents of the camp and field > Part 16
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He evinced in early youth a very decided preference for liter- ary pursuits, and after having had the full benefits of the com- mon school, he was, when sixteen years of age, sent to the Acad- emy at New Hagerstown, O., then under the superintendence of Mr. Joseph Lindley. Here he was characterized by application to his studies, respect for his teachers, and kindness toward his associates. The result of an academical life thus spent, was the rapid acquisition of knowledge, and the esteem of all with whom he was associated. But as he was mainly dependent upon his own resources, it was necessary for him to teach a part of each year, in order to procure support, while at the Academy the re- mainder of it. His time was thus occupied with alternate teach- ing and studying, until he had reached his nineteenth year, when a severe and incurable attack of bronchitis, with which he had
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been for some time threatened, admonished him to exchange his sedentary mode of life for one of greater activity. After this his attention was given mostly to agricultural employments until 1860.
During the twentieth year of his age, he became connected, by profession of his faith, with the Ridge church. Shortly after this he was elected Superintendent of the Ridge Sabbath School, in which capacity he labored efficiently and successfully for eight years. He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Jolly, of New Market, Ohio, and his second wife was Miss Martha Coe, near Wintersville, O., who, with a little daughter-Mary Keturah-by his first marriage, survives him to mourn her sad bereavement.
Capt. Lyons lived in retirement, cultivating his farm, until he was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Harrison County in 1860, when he removed to Cadiz, the county seat. Here he became connected with the Presbyterian church, under the care of Rev. W. M. Grimes ; and here, too, he engaged in his favorite employment, that of teaching in the Sabbath School, of which he was chosen Superintendent, which position he held until he engaged in his country's service as a soldier.
Capt. Lyons was always an ardent patriot, and on the first breaking out of the rebellion he felt strongly inclined to take up arms in defense of the Government; but the counsels of his friends prevailed so far as to keep him at his post in his office until the President's call for six hundred thousand men was made in 1862, when he determined to lay down the pen and take up arms. He was commissioned by the Governor of Ohio, August 9th, 1862, to recruit a company of volunteer infantry in Harri- son County; and so great was his energy and popularity among the people, that although five companies had been recruited in the county, and three more partly-all of which he had aided in raising-in sixteen days he had a company raised, which organ- ized by his unanimous election as Captain, and took for its desig- nation Co. C., 126th Regiment O. V. I.
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The battle of the Wilderness was raging with terrible fury, and the 126th Regiment expected to pass through a trying ordeal ; and as a preparation, their Chaplain requested its members to spend the evening of the 5th of May in special prayer for God's care over them in the perils then so imminent. The last prayer offered on that occasion was made by Capt. Lyons, and so earn- est and importunate was he, that all present appeared to be melted to tears. The regiment was hotly engaged during the next day, when about sunset he was observed to fall upon his right side, and afterwards was seen lying with his head resting upon his right arm; but owing to the uncertainty connected with war, his body could not be found, which led to foster the hope that he still lived, although a prisoner. This hope is now abandoned, and he is held as amongst the thousands who have offered their lives upon their country's altar, as the price of our national existence. Thus he died, in the vigor of manhood, be- ing in the thirty-third year of his age.
It is not the province of the writer of this sketch to speak of the military part of the life of the deceased, but he who writes the history of our country's braves, will assign a conspicuous place to the name of Capt. Richard Miles Lyons. It is a conso- lation to his surviving friends to reflect that, whilst as a soldier he fought his country's battles, he was also a recruit under the lead of the Captain of Salvation, who has promised, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
The principal object of the writer of this notice, in delineating the prominent points in the life of the subject of it, is to incite young men to pursue such a line of conduct as will render them useful to their fellow men whilst they live, and will secure, through Divine grace, the approval of the Great Judge when they dic. R. H.
SKETCH NO. 2.
THE DEAD OF HARRISON COUNTY.
We have but little information of the details of the recent
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battles in Virginia. Thousands upon thousands of our brave men have fallen to rise no more, and tens of thousands more are languishing with ghastly wounds. We are having a carnival of blood, and the land is wet with the tears of mourning. Harrison County has, with the rest, made her sacrifice. The One Hun- dred and Twenty-Sixth O. V. I., in which there are three com- panies from Harrison County, occupied a position in Sedgwick's Corps, which bore the brunt of battle on last Thursday and Friday week. The accounts we have say the regiment suffered terribly ; but, as yet, we are unable to get information of but few of the casualties. The news received has thrown the people of the whole county in the deepest gloom, makes every heart throb in sympathy, and eyes unused to weeping, diffuse with the tears of honest grief.
Since the war commenced, no nobler spirit has passed from earth than Richard Miles Lyons. Born and reared in Harrison county, he was a well known and respected citizen, and but few men could boast of more true friends. Of a pleasant disposition, he was one of those men who could be nothing else but a perfect gentleman wherever you would meet him. He had a kind word and pleasant smile for all ; and in his big heart and noble soul hatred and dishonesty had no lodgment. He was a man of marked ability, and it was always his aim to use his talents to a good purpose. At the time of his death he was aged about thirty- three, and we venture the assertion that but very few men have been more useful than Capt. Lyons. When the war broke out Captain Lyons was Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Har- rison county. It was his wish to enter the service at that time, but the counsel of friends prevailed, and he continued to dis- charge the duties of his office until the Fall of 1862, when the President issued his call for 600,000 more men, when, leaving his office in charge of a deputy, he went to work, and in a very short time recruited a company for the 126th Ohio. He was unanimously chosen Captain of the company, and has faithfully performed the duties of that office up to the hour of his death.
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Capt. Lyons was always religiously inclined. Since we first knew him we believe he has been endeavoring to be an exem- plary servant of God-a follower of the meek Nazarine. In the Sabbath School he always took delight, and the scholars of the Presbyterian Sabbath School of Cadiz will not soon forget the kind Superintendent, who labored with them for more than a year, and whom it gave so much joy to meet and endeavor to in- struet in the knowledge of the good way. He had the pleasure of meeting with them but two short months before his death, and no one who heard the noble, manly address he made to the school will soon forget the impression made by the warm words from a gushing heart. His heart seemed to go out toward his old pupils, and warm with interest in their welfare, glowing with triumphant zeal in the thought of meeting them in that
-"Land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign."
Capt. Lyons was a man of undaunted courage. He fell in the full tide of battle, at the head of the company which he loved- meeting the grim "king of terrors" with an undaunted front-as a true soldier and hero. He sleeps with the thousands of braves whose blood has watered the soil of the Old Dominion. He leaves a wife and one child to mourn his loss. No one will be missed more in Harrison county than Capt. Lyons. His labors on earth are ended. He now sleeps where
"No rude sound shall reach his ear, Armor's clang or war-horse champing ; Trump nor pibroch summon there Mustering clan or squadron tramping."
SKETCH NO. 3.
A REMINISCENCE OF THE WAR.
We find the following article in the Beaver (Pa.) Argus and Radical, of last week, and as it relates to one among the bravest of Harrison county's soldiers that fell in battle, we print it entire. We may mention that the writer of it, the editor of the Argus
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and Radical, is Captain Weyand, who is known and esteemed by all the soldiers of the old 126th Regiment. The occasion of the article was a local paragraph that appeared in the Steubenville Herald, as follows :
" Miss Mary R. Lyons, daughter of Captain R. Lyons, of the 126th Regiment, O. V. I., is visiting Mrs. Judge Martin, of this city. Captain Lyons and Captain Martin were fast friends in the 126th Regiment, that won such distinguished honors. Miss Lyons is a beautiful and intelligent young lady, and resides with Mr. and Mrs. A. O. Mansfield, at Bridgeport, Ohio."
"Captain Lyons was commander of Company C, and the writer of this commanded Company F, same Regiment. After two days and nights of almost incessant uninterrupted fighting in the Wilderness, in May, 1864, the two armies lay down to rest, their lines at some points being not over seventy-five yards apart, but a dense growth of underbrush standing between them. The 126th O. V. I. had thrown up a few logs in their front, and be- hind these the men were lying with faces down and arms in their hands. Captain Lyons and ourself lay down at the root of a tree some thirty feet in the rear of the men. The ranks of his own company and ours had been thinned to an appalling extent during the past forty-eight hours, and it was of the slain, and our own escape that we talked most of during the two hours rest at the foot of the tree ; Captain Lyons spoke of his business at home (he had been County Clerk of Harrison County) and of his wife and child-the Mary referred to above-and told us he had a presentiment that he never would see them again. The sun was about one hour high at this time, and all at once, and without a note of warning, the Rebels opened a terrible fire upon our line, they having under cover of the thicket almost reached us before they fired a shot or were discovered by our men. At the first sound of battle, Captain Lyons ran to the head of his company and we to the head of ours, and for about ten minutes it was almost a hand to hand fight. Our ground would have been held but for the giving way of a brigade to our right, and
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the swinging to our right rear of a rebel regiment. For a few minutes we met a withering fire from front, flank and right rear, and it was not until the ground was strewn with dead and wounded, that the line wavered, broke, and a stampede set in. Some two hundred yards back the line was reformed, and held until midnight, when new movements of the army were begun. Captain Lyons fell mortally wounded a few minutes after we parted at the foot of the tree, and we were in all probability the last person he ever talked or spoke to. His body with hundreds of others was left lying where it fell, and was never seen after- wards by either comrades or friends. He was a brave, intelligent man, and his loss was a source of profound regret to those who were more fortunate that evening than himself."
Mrs. McFarland in a letter to the author states that the Captain seemed to have a presentiment that he would be killed in battle, and so stated to her when last at home. He bravely went where duty called him, and fell in the storm of bat- tle. Satisfactory evidence to the mind of his wife and others as to the burial of the Captain's body, was obtained from an ambu- lance Sergeant. Yes, he was buried as thousands of others were, without anything to designate the place.
CAPT. OLIVER W. FRANCE.
Captain France was born February ninth, 1836, at New Phil- adelphia, Ohio. He was a painter and cabinet maker by trade, learning his trade with his father. When he was quite young, he joined a home military company. He was also a member of the brass band. In the spring of 1861, when the war broke out, he was one of the first to enlist in the three months' service as a private. He served during that time in West Virginia, and at the expiration of his term of service, he returned to Canal Dover and continued to work at his trade. But his country again called him to arms. At the call on the first of July, 1862, he received a commission as First Lieutenant, and recruited a squad in Canal Dover, Tuscarawas County, which, with two other squads, constituted Company G, of the 126th Regiment. He went with his Company to Steubenville, Ohio, and was attached to the 126th O. V. I. He was unanimously elected Captain soon after he joined the Regiment. He was a strict disciplinarian, and brave as the bravest, and was greatly beloved by his whole Company. Being the only commissioned officer present in his Company, he had led his men with the greatest gallantry, all through the terrible battle of the Wilderness, which raged so fearfully on the fifth and sixth days of May, 1864. On the evening of the sixth, he received a mortal wound, and on ac- count of the fatal disaster which occurred that evening to that brigade, he fell in the hands of the enemy. He was taken to a field hospital near the battle ground, where he survived seventeen days. His wound resulted in death on the twenty-third of May.
The following letter from Captain Harrison, gives an account of his death and burial :
"Captain Oliver France was wounded in that terrific assault in
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the Wilderness, on the evening of May sixth, 1864. He and I occupied the same tent on the seventh of May, in the Rebel hos- pital in the woods, very near the battle field, and we remained together until the day of his death, which occurred about ten days thereafter. He was buried within fifty rods of the tent. He was pierced through the right lung by a minnie ball, and suppuration not taking place on the outside, consequently gathered internally in the form of an abcess, which broke and caused in- stant death."
Yours very truly,
A. J. HARRISON.
His name was on the list of recognized bodies gathered and re-buried by Gen. Hancock's Corps, in the fall of 1864, in the National Cemetery, at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
When quite young, Captain France united with the M. E. Church, and was a consistent member. He was an earnest Sab- bath School worker, and esteemed for his kindness and charity. The Captain was a married man; his wife died sometime in the winter of 1862 and '63, leaving one child, a boy, who now lives at New Philadelphia, Ohio.
NOTE .- This sketch of Captain France was furnished by his sister, Mrs. Lucinda Dixon, of Zoar Station, Ohio, assisted by E. S. France, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
CAPT. REUBEN LAMPTON.
Captain Lampton was a native of the "Old Dominion," and was called upon to shed his life's blood in defense of his country, on the soil of his native State. When a young man he came to Ohio and settled in Perry County. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he enlisted as a private, and served in that war till its close, when he returned to Perry County. On the fourth of July, 1862, being fired with the noble impulse of patriotism, he enlisted and received a commission to raise recruits. He was commissioned Captain of Company K, 126th O. V. I. The fol- lowing account of his life was received from the Lodge of the G. A. R., at Thornville, named in honor of Captain Lampton :
HEADQUARTERS REUBEN LAMPTON POST, No. 240, - GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, THORNVILLE, O., JUNE 18, 1883. )
J. H. GILSON, EsQ .:
Dear Sir :- Yours of the twelfth inst. is at hand, and in reply will say that by inquiry, I have been able to gather the following facts in relation to Captain Lampton's history.
He was born in the year 1818, in the State of Virginia, and according to the best information I can get, in Fauquier County. He and his brother, Joshua Lampton, went to the State of Ken- tucky while they were young men. They removed to Perry County, Ohio, about the year 1843, where he remained until the beginning of the Mexican war. At the outbreak of the Mexi- can war, he enlisted at Somerset, Perry County, in Captain Knowles' Company, of the 3rd O. V. I., in the year 1846. At the close of the Mexican war he returned to Perry County, Ohio, and was married to Nancy A. Hudgell, with whom he lived until the year 1862, at which time, in August of that year, he re-
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cruited a company (Company K) in Thorn Township, Perry County, Ohio, and was assigned to the 126th O. V. I. His oc- cupation was that of a plasterer.
As to Captain Lampton's character, he was generous almost to . a fault, readily forgiving an injury and never forgetting a favor. He was a man of wonderful physical power. Though noted for his kindness of heart and gentleness of manner, he was among the bravest of men, apparently without fear; he would meet any danger that duty made necessary, and nothing short of death could make him yield to an enemy when engaged in battle. Captain Lampton was well known here, where every one who knew him, still remembers him with the greatest reverence and respect.
I hope you will make use of all your means to obtain correctly the facts conected with Captain Lampton's history, for I would like very much to see him properly placed in your book, as it is likely it will be the only place that he will be mentioned in his- tory. Wishing you all the success possible in your arduous un- dertaking, I beg to remain,
Faithfully your comrade, J. F. LAWYER.
Previous to his death, Captain Lampton had participated in all the battles and skirmishes of the Regiment. In the dreadful conflict at the battle of the Wilderness, he was especially gallant,
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eliciting the admiration and confidence of his men, and inspiring them with courage in that trying ordeal. At Spottsylvania, on the ninth of May, at six P. M., a detail from the 126th Regi- ment, of one hundred men and three officers, one of whom was Captain Lampton, were sent out to reinforce the picket line, in order to make an advance to reconnoiter the enemy's position. A very terrific fight ensued, in which Captain Lampton was mortally wounded and died soon after. His Company, in his death, lost the services of a highly esteemed and as brave an officer as ever served in the Army of the Potomac.
" There sounds not to the trump of fame, The echo of a nobler name."
Captain Lampton was among the number of recognized dead of the 126th Regiment that were collected from the battle field of Spottsylvania, and interred in the National Cemetery at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
CAPT. THOMAS J. HYATT.
Captain Hyatt was born August fifth, 1830, in Augusta Town- ship, Carroll County, Ohio. In his earlier years he worked with his father on a farm. He next devoted his time to the pursuit of acquiring an education, and afterwards engaged in the pro- fession of school teacher. He was married March twenty-ninth, 1856, to Miss Mary Theresa Atkinson, who still survives him. At the time of his enlistment, he with his family, consisting of two sons, Edward, aged six, and Harry, aged four years, resided near the village of Augusta, Carroll County, Ohio. The press- ing need of the Government for help, in this hour of its peril, and the fervor of patriotism urged him to leave his interesting and beloved home and family, and join the ranks of those who were going forth manfully to battle against the enemies of their country. He was enrolled at Augusta, in August, and mustered into the U. S. service on the eighth of September, 1862, at Camp Mingo, near Steubenville, Ohio. At the organization of his company he was elected and received a commission as First Lieutenant in Company F. Lieut. Hyatt accompanied his Com- pany and Regiment in all its campaigns, marches and battles, taking an active and efficient part until the time of his death. After the capture of Adjutant L. W. Sutherland at the battle of Locust Grove, on the twenty-seventh of November, 1863, Lieut. Hyatt was appointed Acting Adjutant of the Regiment. He entered upon the discharge of his duty in his new position, with his usual vigor and intelligence, and was a very competent and esteemed officer. In the terrific battle of the Wilderness, he dis- . played great bravery and tact in assisting and encouraging the Regiment in that deadly assault on the enemy's works on the morning of the sixth of May. In this assault, his horse was
Sofus Bickweker
IST LIEUT. CO. G. 126TH REGT. O. V.I.
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shot dead under him. At Spottsylvania, where the battle raged in such terrible fury, and where death reigned supreme, he was particularly gallant and conspicuous all along the line, for his daring and reckless exposure of his person in his efforts to en- courage the men. At the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Monocacy, he was ever distinguished for his bravery and per- sonal daring, and his good example no doubt contributed much to secure the good results attained during that long and arduous summer's campaign. On the twenty-fifth of July, 1864, Lieut. Hyatt was promoted and commissioned Captain and assigned to the command of Company E. On the nineteenth day of Sep- tember, 1864, at the battle of Opequan, he gallantly led his Company into action, and in the heat of that terrible conflict his body was pierced by two bullets, from the effects of which he ex- pired in a few minutes. Thus he freely gave up his life as a part of the dear price of that splendid victory. Captain MeKinnie, then in command of Company H, says he saw Captain Hyatt fall near the spot where Colonel Ebright fell, and asked two sol- diers to carry him off the field, and while they were carrying him back, he (Hyatt) was struck by another ball.
Thus this valuable officer sealed with his blood his patriotic devotion to his country's flag. His life and noble example is worthy of the imitation and the highest admiration of his coun- trymen, and the goodly record of his life, so noble and so lau- $ reled now with the high eulogium
" dead on the field of honor,"
should not be forgotten, but cherished as a precious legacy. His was among the list of recognized bodies collected from the field of Opequan and interred in the National Cemetery at Win- chester, Virginia, his grave being marked with his name on the headstone.
This sketch was furnished by his sister, Mrs. Mary H. Wilson, of Augusta, Carroll County, Ohio.
LIEUT. HENRY HIXON.
Lieut. Henry Hixon was boru in Hanover, Harrison County, Ohio, June 9th, 1828. At the age of about eighteen years, he he learned the blacksmith trade at New Market, Harrison Co., Ohio. He continued to work at this trade and made New Mark- et his home up to the time he went to the army. The nation was now imperiled, and Lieut. Hixon felt that duty called him to go forth and battle for the sacred honor of the "dear old flag."
At New Market, Lieut. Hixon and Capt. Voorhes together re- cruited company "A." At the organization of the company at Steubenville, Ohio, he was elected 1st Lieutenant. He afterwards received a commission as Captain, but refused to be mustered in, as he did not wish to leave his own company and be assigned to an- other. He was always a courageous, bold and self-possessed officer. He had participated in all the marches, battles and campaigns of the regiment, and had safely gone through those terrible battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania C. H., where so many of his fellow officers and comrades had fallen. In the battle of Cold Harbor, on the sixth of June, this patriotic officer was instantly killed by a rebel bullet, while he with his Regiment occupying the front line of works, were engaged in a severe skirmish with the enemy. Thus he fell in the full vigor of manhood, a martyr to the cause of freedom, a precious sacrifice on the altar of his country.
Lieut. Hixon was among the number of the recognized dead that were interred in the National Cemetery, at Cold Harbor, Virginia.
4
LIEUT. ROBERT HILLES.
Lieut. Hilles was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1833. His parents moved to Ohio in 1838, and to Belmont County in 1844. He had no family; had two brothers older, and two brothers and one sister younger than himself yet living. His brother, Samuel Hilles, was First Lieutenant of Company B, 15th O. V. I. His youngest brother, G. E. Hilles, was in the signal service four years.
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