USA > Ohio > Greene County > Greene County soldiers in the late war : being a history of the Seventy-fourth O.V.I., with sketches of the Twelfth, Ninety-Fourth, One Hundred and Tenth, Forty-Fourth, Tenth Ohio Battery, One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth, Fifty-Fourth, Seventeenth, Thirty-Fourth, One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth, together with a list of Greene County's soldiers > Part 3
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
At twelve o'clock that night it commenced raining, and the unsheltered soldiers had a hard time of it. When Saturday morning came it was still raining, and the men had barely time to prepare their rations before they were called to arms by the roar of artillery on the center. An onset had been made on the Forty-second Indiana, which was out on picket-duty. The men behaved well, but met with considerable loss. All day the rain poured down ; but General Rosencranz was busy guarding every point with hastily-constructed works. A slow advance toward the enemy was made by a series of rifle-pits. A brick house, the inside of which had been burned out, sheltered the enemy's sharp-shooters. General Rosencranz soon removed the annoy- ance by the aid of Loomis' and Guenther's batteries. In ten minutes the walls were leveled to the ground. Near this house the enemy had constructed rifle-pits, from which they fired upon our pickets. It was determined to drive them out, and Colonel John Beatty was selected to lead the storming party. Taking with him the Third Ohio, his own regiment, and the Eighty- eighth Indiana - Colonel Humphreys - he advanced with the utmost intrepidity, drove out the enemy at the point of the bayonet, and triumphantly held the works. Another night was passed on the battle-field, and the soldiers awoke on Sunday morning to find the ground covered with snow. As the day advanced the snow melted, and the mud became very disagree- able. It was a glad moment when the announcement was made to the army that Bragg had retreated, with all his force, from Murfreesboro, and that the Union army would march forward into the town.
On Sunday, January 4th, General Rosencranz entered Murfreesboro. The day will be a memorable one in our country's annals.
Our losses in the battle of Stone River were as follows : Officers killed, 88; officers wounded, 367; men killed, 1,386 ;
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THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
men wounded, 646. Total, 8,287. Loss in Pioneer Brigade, 48; loss in cavalry, 150-making a total loss of 8,485. In addition to these losses, the number set down as missing amounted to 2,800.
The rebel loss was estimated at over 14,000 in killed and wounded. Some four thousand of our wounded men were removed to Nashville, and two thousand were placed in hospitals at Murfreesboro. About fifteen hundred of the rebel wounded were left at the latter place when Bragg retreated.
Large numbers of surgeons proceeded immediately from the North to these two points, to attend to the sufferers, accom- panied by agents of state and general government sanitary commissions. The following extract from a letter written by one of these gentlemen, Mr. Sessions, who accompanied the corps of surgeons, and directed the work of the sanitary com- mission from Columbus, Ohio, gives us an idea of the condition of our own and also of the rebel hospitals after this sanguinary battle. The women of the North can also see a small portion of the beneficent results of this association, flowing from their noble efforts in establishing and sustaining societies to aid the suffering soldiers. Mr. Sessions writes from Murfreesboro, eight days after the battle, as follows: " We arrived here last Satur- day, after a pleasant ride in an ambulance, from Nashville- thirty miles. We saw, everywhere, the effects of war, and that two large armies had skirmished and fought most of the way. For fifteen miles nearly every house was burned, and all looked devastation and ruin. One village- Lavergne -- was burned ; and near by were the ruins of our large army train, burned by the rebels on the first day of the battle. Horses and mules burned to death gave one a horrid picture of war. For the remaining fifteen miles, every house was occupied as a hospital, where our poor soldiers are suffering from wounds, and the loss of limbs, and the groans of the dying are heard as you pass."
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
At Murfreesboro, Mr. Sessions visited the rebel hospitals, which he found in charge of a former acquaintance of his from the North. He says: "I visited, with him, the rebel hospitals under his charge, and found them wanting many things-indeed almost everything to make them comfortable. Men badly wounded were lying upon the hard floor, without straw, because it could not be obtained from us; and the poor men were calling out for something to eat. I asked him why this was so. He replied, ' Because we have not got it to give them.' He was kind and attentive to the men, and was doing all in his power to make them comfortable. The other rebel hospitals were in a wretched condition -filthy, and not half cared for by their surgeons. Gangrene was making its appearance from the wounds. There are about fifteen hundred wounded rebels here. In a large church, with upper and lower rooms occupied by them, they had only one candle to see to attending several hundred men during the night; and one of our party took some over to them. I understand they took away or burned all their hospital stores when they evacuated the city ; and the first thing, on our entrance, they made a requisition for everything on our medical director." Another instance of their unscrupulousness in throwing the whole burden of providing for them on us.
In reference to our own hospitals he says ; " We have about two thousand wounded here and in the vicinity, and all are well cared for-a better supply of hospital stores and medical sup- plies than there were either at Fort Donaldson, Shiloh, or Antietam. The government supplies were good, and the United States Sanitary Commission, under the direction of Dr. J. S. Newberry, western secretary, at Louisville, had forwarded sixty or seventy tons of all kinds of clothing, dried and canned fruit, concentrated beef and chickens, etc., necessary for the comfort of the sick and wounded. Dr. Read, their inspector, with his assistants, was busy night and day distributing articles to the
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THE SEVENTY- FOURTH.
surgeons and hospitals, arranging and controlling the operations, removing our own wounded from rebel hospitals, etc. Eight wagon-loads of supplies were sent on Monday, and seven on Wednesday, from Nashville, and a large amount distributed among our four thousand wounded in Nashville. It was an exceedingly gratifying sight to see boxes of sanitary goods, at the different hos- pitals, with the imprint of 'Soldiers' Aid Society, Cleveland,' boxes marked with contents from 'Soldiers' Aid Society, Columbus,' and other places. Our soldiers think, as one said, they come from God's country."
As evidence that the benevolent labors of the United States Sanitary Commission were properly appreciated by the army, we quote the following letter from the Rev. Granville Moody, then colonel of the Seventy-fourth Ohio Regiment. It was addressed to Dr. Read, the inspector of the commission :
SIR :- I desire to express to you, and through you to the generous and patriotic donors sustaining the Sanitary Commission, my high regard and appreciation of the works of love in which they are engaged. As I have visited the various hospitals in this place and looked upon the pale faces of the sufferers, and marked the failing strength of many a manly form, I have rejoiced in spirit as I have seen your benevolence embodied in substantial food, delicacies, and clothing, judiciously and systematically distributed by those who are officially connected with the army. If the donors could only know how much good their gifts have done, and could hear the blessings invoked upon their unknown friends by the suffering ones, they would more fully realize the divine proverb, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." We would advise all who wish to extend the hand of charity so as to reach the suffering officers and soldiers who have stood " between their loved homes and foul war's desolation," to commit their offerings to the custody of "the United States Sanitary.Commission," an organization authorized by the secretary of war and the surgeon general, having the confidence of the army, and affording a direct and expeditious medium of communication with the several divisions of the army free of expense to the donors, and entirely reliable in its character. It is also worthy of special note that the goods
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
intrusted to the commission are distributed to those who are actually sick or convalescent ; and this is under the scrutiny of the most responsible persons in its employ, and through regularly established official agencies in the army. If the patriotic donors of the several states would direct their contributions into this channel, it would save much expense of agencies, blend the sympathies of Union men of the several states, and prevent unpatriotic distinctions in the patients in the hospitals, who are from every regiment, from every state. Side by side they fought and were wounded, and side by side they suffer in hospitals; and the commis- sion, through appropiate agencies, extends its aid alike to the sons of Virginia and Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, Michigan and Missouri, thus giving prominence to our cherished national motto, " We are many in one." As an illustration, the other day an agent of a Wisconsin society came to a hospital with sanitary goods for Wisconsin soldiers, and went along the wards, making careful discrimina- tion in behalf of Wisconsin soldiers, but soon saw it was an ungracious task, and handed over his goods to the United States Sanitary Commis- sion. Learning this, one of tlie Wisconsin soldiers said, " I'm glad of ,that ; for it made me feel so bad when my friends gave me those good things the other day and passed by that Illinois boy on the next bed there, who needed them just as much as I did. But I made it square with him, for I divided what I got with him." Brave, noble fellow ! His was the true spirit of a soldier of the United States. We have a common country, language, religion, interest, and destiny ; and we should closely weave the web of our unity, so that the genius of liberty may, like Him " who went about doing good," wear a " seamless garment." We believe in the constitutional rights of states, but most emphatically believe in our glorious nationality, which, like the sun amidst the stars, has a surpassing glory and is of infinitely greater importance, and should be cherished in every appropriate form of development.
GRANVILLE MOODY, Colonel Commanding Seventy-fourth Regiment.
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THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL ROSENCRANZ.
HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE, February 12, 1863.
GENERAL :- As the sub-reports are now nearly all in, I have the. honor to submit, for the information of the general-in-chief, the subjoined report, with accompanying sub-reports, maps, and statistical table of the battle of Stone River.
To a proper understanding of this battle it will be necessary to state the preliminary movements and preparations. Assuming command of the army at Louisville, on the 27th day of October, it was found concen- trated at Bowling Green and Glasgow, distant about one hundred and thirteen miles from Louisville, whence, after replenishing with ammuni- tion, supplies, and clothing, they moved on to Nashville, the advance corps reaching that place on the morning of the 7th of November-a distance of one hundred and eighty-three miles from Louisville.
At this distance from my base of supplies, the first thing to be done was to provide for the subsistence of the troops and open the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The cars commenced running through on the 26th of November, previous to which time our supplies had been brought by rail to Mitchelville, thirty-five miles north of Nashville, and thence, by constant labor, we had been able to haul enough to replenish the exhausted stores for the' garrison at Nashville and subsist the troops of the moving army.
From the 26th of November to the 26th of December every effort was bent to complete the clothing of the army, to provide it with ammunition, and replenish the depot at Nashville with needful supplies. to insure us against want from the largest possible detention likely to occur by breaking of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad; and to insure this work, the road was guarded by a heavy force posted at Gallatin.
The enormous superiority of numbers of the rebel cavalry kept our little cavalry force almost within the infantry lines, and gave the enemy control of the entire country around us.
It was obvious, from the beginning, that we should be confronted by Bragg's army, recruited by an inexorable conscription, and aided by clouds of mounted men, formed into guerrilla-like cavalry, to avoid the hardships of conscription and infantry service.
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
The evident difficulties and labors of an advance into this country, and against such a force, and at such distance from our base of opera- tions-with which we were connected by a single precarious thread - made it manifest that our policy was to induce the enemy to travel over as much as possible of the space that separated us, thus avoiding for us the wear and tear and diminution of our forces, and subjecting the · enemy to all these inconveniences, besides increasing for him, and dimin- ishing from us, the dangerous consequences of a defeat. The means taken to obtain this end were eminently successful. The enemy, expect- ing us to go into winter-quarters at Nashville, had prepared his own winter-quarters at Murfreesboro, with the hope of possibly making them rat Nashville, and had sent a large cavalry force into West Tennessee to annoy Grant, and another large force into Kentucky to break up the railroad. In the absence of these forces, and with adequate supplies in Nashville, the moment was judged opportune for an advance on the rebels. Polk's and Kirby Smith's forces were at Murfreesboro, and Hardee's corps on the Shelbyville and Nolensville pike, between Triune and Eaglesville, with an advance guard at Nolensville, while our troops lay in front of Nashville, on the Franklin, Nolensville, and Murfreesboro turnpike.
The plan of the movement was as follows: [ But as the plan has ·already been given it is not necessary to repeat it here .- AUTHOR.]
General Rosencranz addressed General McCook as follows : " You know the ground - you have fought over its difficulties- can you hold your present position for three hours ?" To which General McCook replied, "Yes, I think I can." The general commanding then said : " I don't like the facing so much to the . east, but I must confide that to you, who know the ground. If you don't think your present the best position, change it." And the officers then retired to their commands.
At daylight on the morning of the 31st the troops breakfasted [ some of them, not all .- AUTHOR.] and stood to their arms, and by seven o'clock were preparing for the battle.
The movement began on the left by General Van Cleve, who crossed at the lower fords. Wood prepared to sustain and follow him. The · enemy, meanwhile, had prepared to attack General McCook, and by
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THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
half past six o'clock advanced in heavy columns, regimental front, his left attacking Willich's and Kirk's brigades of Johnson's division, which, being disposed as shown in the map, thin and light, without support, were, after a sharp but fruitless contest, crumbled to pieces and driven back, leaving Edgarton's and part of Goodspeed's battery in the hands- of the enemy. The enemy following up, attacked Davis' division and speedily dislodged Post's brigade. Carlin's brigade was compelled to follow, as Woodruff's brigade, from the weight of testimony, had pre- viously left its position on his left. Johnson's brigade, on retiring, inclined too far to the west, and were too much scattered to make a combined resistance, though they fought bravely at one or two points before reaching Wilkinson's pike. The reserve brigade of Johnson's. division, advancing from its bivouac near Wilkinson's pike, towards the right, took a good position, and made a gallant but ineffectual stand, as- the whole rebel left was moving up on the ground abandoned by our troops.
Within an hour from the time of the opening of the battle a staff officer from General McCook arrived, announcing to me that the right wing was heavily pressed and needed assistance ; but I was not advised of the rout of Willich's and Kirby's brigades, nor of the rapid with- drawal of Davis' division, necessitated thereby. Moreover, having sup- posed his wing posted more compactly and his right more refused than it really was, the direction of the noise of battle did not indicate to me the true state of affairs. I consequently directed him to return and direct: General McCook to dispose his troops to the best advantage, and to hold. his ground obstinately.
Soon after a second officer from General McCook arrived, and stated, that the right wing was being driven - a fact that was but too manifest by the rapid movement of the noise of battle toward the north. General. Thomas was immediately dispatched to order Rousseau-then in reserve-into the cedar brakes to the right and rear of Sheridan. General Crittenden was ordered to suspend Van Cleve's movement across- the river, on the left, and to cover the crossing with one brigade, and move the other two brigades westward across the fields, towards the. railroad, for a reserve. Wood was also directed to suspend his prepara- tions for crossing, and to hold Hascall in reserve. At this moment fugitives and stragglers from McCook's corps began to make their appear- ance through the cedar brakes in such numbers that I became satisfied.
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
that McCook's corps was routed. I therefore directed General Crittenden to send Van Cleve in to the right of Rousseau, Wood to send Colonel Harker's brigade further down the Murfreesboro pike, to go in and attack the enemy on the right of Van Cleve, the Pioneer brigade, mean- while, occupying the knoll of ground west of the Murfreesboro pike and about four or five hundred yards in the rear of Palmer's center, sup- porting Stockton's battery.
Sheridan, after sustaining four successive attacks, gradually swung his right from a south-easterly to a north-westerly direction, repulsing the enemy four times, losing the gallant General Sill of his right and Colonel Roberts of his left brigade, when, having exhausted his ammunition - Negley's division being in the same predicament, and heavily pressed - after desperate fighting, they fell back from the position held at the com- mencement, through the cedar woods, in which Rousseau's division, with a portion of Negley's and Sheridan's, met the advancing enemy and checked his movements.
The ammunition train of the right wing, endangered by its sudden discomfiture, was taken charge of by Captain Thurston, of the First Ohio, a regular ordnance officer, who, by his energy and gallantry, aided by a charge of cavalry and such troops as he could pick up, carried it through the woods to the Murfreesboro pike, around to the rear of the left wing, thus enabling the troops of Sheridan's division to replenish their empty cartridge-boxes. During all this time Palmer's front had likewise been in action, the enemy having made several attempts to advance upon it.
At this stage it became necessary to re-adjust the line of battle to the new state of affairs. Rousseau and Van Cleve's advance having relieved Sheridan's division. withdrew from their original position in front of the cedars and crossed the open field to the east of the Murfreesboro pike, about four hundred yards in the rear of our front line, where Negley was ordered to replenish his ammunition and form in close column in reserve
The right and center of our line now extended from Hazen to the Murfreesboro pike, in a north-westerly direction, Hascall supporting Hazen, Rousseau filling the interval to the Pioneer brigade, Negley in reserve, Van Cleve west of the Pioneer brigade, McCook's corps refused on his right and slightly to the rear on the Murfreesboro pike, the cavalry being still further to the rear, on the Murfreesboro pike, and beyond
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THE SEVENTY-FOURTH.
Overall's Creek. The enemy's infantry and cavalry attack on our extreme right was repulsed by Van Cleve's division, with Harker's brigade and the cavalry.
After several attempts of the enemy to advance on this new line- which were thoroughly repulsed, as also their attempts on the left-the day closed, leaving us masters of the original ground on our left, and our new line advantageously posted, with open ground in front, swept at all points by our artillery.
We had lost heavily in killed and wounded, and a considerable number in stragglers and prisoners ; also, twenty-eight pieces of artillery, the horses having been slain, and our troops being unable to withdraw them by hand over the rough ground. But the enemy had been thoroughly handled and badly damaged at all points, having had no success where we had open ground and our troops were properly posted - none which did not depend on the original crushing on our right and the superior masses which were, in consequence, brought to bear upon the narrow front of Sheridan's and Negley's divisions and a part of Palmer's, coupled with the scarcity of ammunition, caused by the circuitous road which the train had taken and the inconvenience of getting it from a remote distance through the cedars.
Orders were given for the issue of all the spare ammunition, and we found that we had enough for another battle, the only question being where that battle was to be fought.
It was decided, in order to complete our present lines, that the left should be retired some two hundred and fifty yards, to a more advanta- geous ground, the extreme left resting on Stone River above the lower ford and extending to Stokes' battery. Starkweather's and Walker's brigades arriving near the close of the evening, the former bivouacked in close column, in reserve, in rear of McCook's left, and the latter was posted on the left of Sheridan, near the Murfreesboro pike, and next morning relieved Van Cleve, who returned to his position on the left wing.
After careful examination and free consultation with corps command- ers, followed by a personal examination of the ground in the rear as far as Overall's Creek, it was determined to await the enemy's attack in that position, to send for the provision train, and order up fresh supplies of ammunition, on the arrival of which, should the enemy not attack, offensive operations should be resumed.
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GREENE COUNTY IN THE WAR.
No demonstration being made on the morning of the Ist of January, Crittenden was ordered to occupy the points opposite the ford on his left with a brigade. About two o'clock in the afternoon the enemy, who had shown signs of movement and massing on our right, appeared at the extremity of a field a mile and a half from the Murfreesboro pike, but the presence of Gibson's brigade, with a battery, occupying the woods near Overall's Creek, and Negley's division and a portion of Rousseau's on the Murfreesboro pike opposite the field, put an end to this demon- stration ; and the day closed with another demonstration by the enemy on Walker's brigade, which ended in the same manner.
On Friday morning the enemy opened four heavy batteries on our center, and made a strong demonstration of attack a little further to the right; but a well-directed fire of artillery soon silenced his batteries, while the guns of Walker and Sheridan put an end to his effort there.
About three o'clock P. M., while the commanding general was exam- ining the position of Crittenden's left, across the river, which was now held by Van Cleve's division, supported by a brigade from Palmer's, a double line of skirmishers was seen to emerge from the woods in a south- easterly direction, advancing across the fields; and they were soon followed by heavy columns of infantry, battalion front, with three bat- teries of artillery. Our only battery on that side of the river had been withdrawn from an eligible point ; but the most available spot was pointed out, and it soon opened fire upon the enemy. The line, however, advanced steadily to within one hundred yards of the front of Van Cleve's division, when a short and fierce contest ensued. . Van Cleve's clivision gave way and retired in considerable confusion across the river, followed closely by the enemy. General Crittenden immediately directed his chief of artillery to dispose the batteries on the hill on the west side of the river so as to open on them, while two brigades of Negley's division,. from the reserve, and the Pioneer brigade were brought up to meet their onset. The firing was terrific, and the havoc terrible. The enemy retreated more rapidly than they had advanced. In forty minutes they lost two thousand men. General Davis, seeing some stragglers from Van Cleve's division, took one of his brigades and crossed at a ford below, to attack the enemy on his left flank, and by General McCook's order the rest of his division was permitted to follow; but when he arrived two brigades of Negley's division and Hazen's brigade of Palmer's division had pursued the flying enemy well across the field, capturing four pieces.
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