USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 19
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In the war for the Union during the great Rebellion, Ashtabula was prompt, patriotic, and decisive. Her citizens were in the first fire upon the Confederates at Philippi, and at the surrender at Appomattox. They were with Fremont in Missouri, with Banks in the Shenandoah valley, and with Rosecrans in Western Virginia. They fought with Hooker at Lookout Mountain, with Grant at Vicks- burg, and marched with Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas. Their blood stained the way from the Potomac to the James, from the Ohio to the Tennessee, from the Missouri to the Arkansas. At Kernstown, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Antietam ; at Resaca, Kene- saw, and Chickamauga ; before Atlanta ; Stone River, Shiloh, Perryville ; Pea Ridge, Murfreesboro', and Malvern Hill ; C'loyd Mountain, Cedar Creek, and Five Forks; Spottsylvania, North Anna, and Petersburg,-wherever a glorious record was made, there Ashtabula had brave men, who bore aloft her colors through the gloom of defeat as well as in the flush of victory. They trailed not in disgrace, but were borne forward by earnest and determined men. Northway, Luce, Kee, Stanhope, Spaulding, Manchester, Paulis, and Grant paid the penalty demauded of gallant officers who lead where brave men dare to follow. Ashtabula's dead lie in almost every battle-field strewn with the sons of the Republic, who died that it might live and be indeed the " land of the free." They suffered in the trench and in the hospital ; they starved in the prison-pen at Andersonville, at Libby, Belle Isle, and Salisbury ; they fell in the skirmish, on the picket-line, and in the charge, amid the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry. Whatever sacrifice was demanded by the bloody Moloch of war, Ashtabula had a victim who was offered to the insatiable monster. Many are sleeping in unknown graves, where no family devotion ean find them out, and where the Almighty only can cover them year by year with his grasses, and plant above them in the spring-time His beautiful flowers. They are
" Homo at last. *
Tents on the Infinite Shore, Flags in the azuline sky, Sails on the sea once more, To-day in the heaven on high, All under arms once more !"
About the time the Geneva Artillery was ordered to the frontier of the State the " wave of excitement" broke upon this county. The President's proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men was made public in this county on Monday evening, April 15, 1861. The people at onee responded by a general movement for raising inen. Captain Darius Cadwell, then holding a cominissiou as brigadier-general in the old militia organization, repaired to Columbus to ascertain the best method of proceeding, when he found the quota of the State probably filled ; yet he received assurance of the acceptance of some companies into regi- ments then organizing. At a meeting at the court-house in Jefferson, April 20, General Cadwell and IIon. Abel Krum, then a representative in the general assembly of Ohio from this county, wade statements of the condition of affairs, there being the plainest indication that more quen would be wanted as rapidly as they could be enlisted. This was the first meeting worthy of note in the county called for the purpose of procuring three-months' volunteers for the war. It was presided over by Judge N. L. Chaffee, Rev. T. G. Lamb and Gillett Fowler acting as vice-presidents, and J. D. Ensign as secretary. At the close of the meeting a call was made for volunteers, when sixty names were enrolled, IIon. B. F. Wade heading the list. This company organized and made choice of the following officers : Captain. Henry L. Hervey; First Lieutenant, D. S. Wade ; Second Lieutenant, E. E. Ward. After attending the meeting previously men- tioned, Hon. Abel Krum visited Cherry Valley, Wayue, and Andover, announe- iug at the churches ou Sunday the demand of the country for men. and calling for volunteers. The result of this labor was the enlistment of a large number of
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
men in that section of the county, and shortly after a company was formed at West Andover, composed of ninety-four men, with E. D. Chapman, of Andover, as captain, John B. Rice, of Andover, first lieutenant, and Rollin L. Jones, of Wayne, as second lieutenant. A company was also organized at Kingsville, April 27, 1861, seventy-seven names being enrolled, and officered as follows : Samuel Hayward captain, W. Stevens first lieutenant, and L. G. Bannister second lieutenant. Five full companies of good men were ready to march from this county (not including the Geneva Artillery, already in the field) at the earliest hour that they could be reecived and equipped, amounting in the aggregate to four hundred and thirty-three men. Of these companies but two could be accepted, as the quota of the State had been filled. The companies accepted were organized at Ashtabula and Rock Creek, and served in the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, while the remainder disbanded.
THE WOMEN'S WORK.
It would be ungallant to pass by the heroie women of Ashtabula without paying them a tribute of praise and gratitude for their labors of love and mercy during the terrible years of 1861-65. Aid societies sprang up all over the county, wherein noble and self-sacrificing women banded together and prepared comforts for the well, dainties for the sick, and necessaries for the wounded. Fair hands were busy throughout the whole dreadful struggle. Early and late, iu season and out of season, these angels of merey toiled and gathered and for- warded to the soldiers at the front every comfort in their power to bestow. Too much praise cannot be given to the women of the north for their efforts to cheer and sustain the armies of the nation. It was the remark of gallant General Joseph Hooker that, during the Crimean war, England furnished but one Florence Nightingale, while here one was to be found in every northern house- hold. On the same roll containing the name of the English heroine we are pleased to place the names of Misses Elizabeth A. Tuttle, Rebecca P. Dean, Laretta H. Cutler, and Ellen Udell, who shared in the dangers of war as nurses in army hospitals in the south.
The following history of the regiments and batteries in which one organized company or more was incorporated we have compiled from Whitelaw Reid's " Ohio in the War." We are also under great obligations to the editors of the Ashtabula Sentinel for the use of valuable files of their paper, containing exten- sive correspondence from soldiers in the field and their "Soldiers' Record of Ashtabula County." Also to Major H. J. Covell, Captain L. C. Reeve, and A. W. Stiles, of Rome, Captain M. B. Gray, of Cleveland, Herbert H. Tourgee, of Ida, Iowa, and others of the soldiers of Ashtabula.
NINETEENTH OHIO INFANTRY (THREE MONTHS).
This regiment numbered about one thousand men, and was mustered into the service at Camp Jackson, Columbus, the last week in May, 1861. Companies D and I were from Ashtabula County, the former under command of Captain R. W. Crane, and the latter of Captain W. B. Hoyt. These companies were ordered to rendezvous at Ashtabula, and await further orders. They remained at Ash- tabula about three weeks, when they were removed to Camp Taylor, at Cleveland, and moved to the field vin Columbus and Zanesville. After the organization of the regiment they went into the West Virginia campaign under General MeClel- lan. The Confederate army, under General Robert S. Garnett, was concentrating in northwest Virginia, with a view to a junetion with General H. A. Wise on the Kanawha. After the skirmish at Philippi, General Garnett took a position at Laurel Hill, where he fortified. General McClellan planned a flank movement that was successful in getting Garnett into a proper shape for an attack to be made by General Rosecrans' brigade, composed of the Eighth, Tenth, and Thir- teenth Indiana, and Nineteenth Ohio Regiments. At Rich Mountain General Garnett had posted Colonel Pegram with a strong foree. It was decided to at- tack this position first, and Colonel Rosecrans was sent to make a detour of eight or nine miles through the mountains to gain the turnpike in Pegram's rear. This much was successfully accomplished, but dispatches sent from McClellan to Rosecrans were captured, and the plan discovered. The Confederates were pre- pared for the attack, made on the 11th of July, and fought with great obstinaey. The position of the Nineteenth in this battle was a most trying one, but the men stood their first fire like veterans.
The following is from the report of General Rosecrans: "The Nineteenth Ohio distinguished itself for the cool and handsome manner in which it held its post against a flank attack, and for the manner in which it came into line and delivered its fire near the close of the action." The Nineteenth was not mustered out of the service until September, 1861, on account of delays at the War Department.
TWENTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
At the commencement of the war, Grotius R. Giddings, son of Hon. J. R. Gid- dings, was acting as vice-consul at Quebec, but as soon as the call for volunteers was
made he resigned his post, returned home, and recruited a company, with a view of joining the infantry service as riflemen. The company was accepted, and reecived marching orders on the 1st of June, 1861, and on the 4th arrived at Camp Chase, and united with this regiment. Before leaving Jefferson it was presented with a splendid silk banner, in front of the court-house, by Miss Ad- eliza Hawley, who addressed the company on behalf of the ladies who had pre- pared it. On the arrival of the company at Camp Chase, it was organized as Company B into the Twenty-third Regiment, which was officered as follows : colonel, William S. Rosecrans ; lieutenant-colonel, Stanley Matthews; major, Rutherford B. Hayes.
The position of these officers has been quite different since those days,-in fact, too well known to need repetition. Under command of Colonel E. P. Scam- mon, the Twenty-third went into active service in West Virginia, meeting with the new and exciting events common to inexperienecd soldiers, which were almost forgotten amid the sterner and sad realities of active warfare.
The regiment participated in the battles of Carnifax Ferry, Virginia, Septem- ber 10, 1861 ; Giles Court-House, May 10, 1862; and had the honor of opening the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862, where it lost thirty-three men killed and eighty wounded, among the latter being Rutherford B. Hayes, now President of the United States. As an incident of this battle it is said that the Twelfth and Twenty-third Ohio and Twelfth and Twenty-third North Carolina-Companies B on each side-were directly engaged with cach other. The Twenty-third, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes, was in the ad- vanee on that day. It was ordered at an early hour to advance up the mountain and attack the enemy. From behind stone walls the enemy poured a destructive fire into the Federal ranks at very short range. The command of the Twenty- third fell upon Major Comley after Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes was wounded, the latter again making his appearance on the field, with his wound half-dressed, and fought, against the remonstranees of the whole command, until carried off. Near the close of the day at Antietam a charge was made by the division to which the Twenty-third belonged, and was exposed to a large force of the enemy posted in a corn-field in rear of the left. Its colors were shot down, and at the same time a fcint was made in its front. The colors were planted on a new line at right angles with its former front, and the regiment formed a line in the new direction, and opened fire upon the enemy, who retired. The division withdrew, but no order reached the Twenty-third, and it remained on the field until the division commander returned and ordered it to the rear. The Twenty-third assisted in heading off Morgan's command at Buffington's Island, and then returned to Charlestown, West Virginia, and afterwards joined General Crook's forces for a raid on the Virginia and Tennessee railroad. May 9, 1864, the Twenty-third fought at Cloyd Mountain. The enemy occupied the first erest of the mountain, defended by artillery and rudely-constructed breastworks. The hill was steep, thickly wooded, and difficult of ascent, and skirted by a stream of water two or three feet deep. At the word of command the regiment advanced across the stream to the foot of the mountain, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, without returning the fire of the enemy. A furious assault was made upon the enemy's works, carrying them, with two pieces of artillery. The struggle at the guns was of the fiercest description. The Confederate artillerymen attempted to reload their picces when the Federal liue was not more than ten paces distant. The Twenty-third was with Hunter in the attack on Lynchburg, and in numerous skirmishes and battles in the Shenandoah valley. At Winchester, July 24, 1864, it lost one hundred and fifty-three men. At the battle of Opequan, September 19, Hayes' brigade had the extreme right of the infantry. Moving forward under fire, the brigade came upon a deep slough, forty or fifty yards wide, and nearly waist-deep, with soft mud at the bottom, overgrown with a thick bed of moss. It seemed impossible to get through it, and the whole line was staggered for a moment. Just then Colonel Hayes plunged in with his horse, and under a shower of bullets and shells he rode, waded, and dragged his way through,-the first man over. The Twenty-third was ordered by the right flank over the slough. At the same place men were suffocated and drowned ; still the regiment plunged through, reformed, charged forward again, driving the enemy. The division commander was wounded, leaving Colonel Hayes in command. He was every- where, exposing himself as usual ; men were falling all around him, but he rode through it all as though he had a charmed life. No reinforcements as promised ; something must be done to stop the fire that is cutting the force so terribly. Selecting some Saxony rifles in the Twenty-third, pieces of seventy-one calibre, with a range of twelve hundred yards, Lieutenant MeBride was ordered for- ward with them to kill the enemy's artillery horses, in plain sight. At the first shot a horse drops, immediately another is killed, and a panie seems to seize the artilleryinen, and they commence limbering up. The infantry take the aların, and a few commenec running from the intrenchments, and the cavalry, which had been hovering upon the flanks, swept down upon the enemy, capturing them by
13
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
regiments, and the battle was at an end. The Twenty-third fought at North Mountain, September 20, 1864, and at Cedar Creek, October 19,-a day that is a household word over a whole nation. The Twenty-third was mustered out on the Brith day of July, 1865, at Cumberland, Maryland, and was paid and disbanded at Camp Taylor, Cleveland, Ohio.
TWENTY-NINTH OHIO INFANTRY.
Soon after the disaster at Bull Run, a little knot of citizens were gathered to- gether in front of the post-office at Jefferson, waiting for details of the battle, when the Hon. J. R. Giddings, who was then at home from Canada, came up and entered into the subject of conversation, which of course was the late battle, its effect, and the prospect before us. He said, "We must raise a regiment in this county, and I am ready to do anything and all in my power to promote it. We can raise the men beyond doubt, and they ought to be ready for the field in sixty days. This reverse is necessary to excite us to action, and now is the time for us to move." Hle immediately procured an order from the War Department for the enlistment and organization of a regiment from the northeast part of the State. The orders provided for this regiment designated it as the Twenty-ninth, and Jefferson as the place of rendezvous, the camp to be known as Camp Giddings. This camp was located on the grounds of the County Agricultural society. The first company of the Twenty-ninth was organized on the 11th of August, 1861, and went into camp on Monday, August 19. By the 1st of December the regi- ment was fully organized, with Lewis P. Buckley, colonel ; Thomas Clark, lieu- tenant-colonel ; and John S. Clemmer, major. While in camp a splendid stand of colors was presented to the Twenty-ninth by the ladies of this and adjoining counties, on which occasion Hon. J. R. Giddings addressed the members of the regiment as follows :
"Officers and soldiers : The ladies have prepared a splendid national and regi- mental stand of colors, and have imposed on me the pleasant duty of presenting them to the regiment. In all past ages civilized nations have gone forth to war under their own banner, on which was inscribed some device, figure, or emblem peculiar to such nation. Thus each tribe among the Israelites had their par- ticular banner. The early Christians fought under the cross ; the Romans under the golden eagle ; the Mohammedans under the crescent. The founders of our government selected for their colors a groundwork of blue, representing immu- table justice and unlimited power. on which the stars represented light, twink- ling in the vaulted heavens, while in mid ether the bird of Jove is floating, a fitting representation of the ease and power with which liberty and civilization are gliding over the carth, while the stars, with the stripes of red and white, represent the vital principles and purity of our institutions." (Addressing Colonel Buckley.) " To yon, sir, as commanding. I present these beautiful standards, for the use and benefit of the regiment. On behalf of the fair donors I confide these national and regiutental standards to the care of yourself, your gallant officers, and men. Wherever you go, let them be borne aloft and respected as the emblem of uni- versal freedom to all who seek your protection. Preserve them unstained. Bear in mind that you go forth to fight the battles of the human race for all coming time. Remember the cause in which you are engaged. Your own heroic deeds shall be enshrined in our memories, recorded iu our history, admired by coming gener- ations, and approved by a holy and just God !"
Colonel Buckley replied, "I receive this stand of colors in behalf of the Twenty-ninth Regiment. I return, through you, to the noble and patriotic ladies of Ashtabula and Summit counties, our grateful thanks, and whenever and wherever it is unfurled to the breeze, and we look upon its stars and stripes, may we then remember the generous donors and the vow we this day make! This flag, the flag of our country, which has been our pride and our boast, and which is respected by all civilized nations,-this flag, thank God, shall yet wave triumph- antly wherever it has been struck down! Companions, when we look upon this beautiful flag, may it inspire us to redouble our energies to do our duty to our beloved country ; and if God, in his providence, permits us to return to home and kindred, may this flag come back with us to bear witness that the Twenty- ninth Ohio Volunteers were in the thickest of the fight !"
On Christmas morning, December, 1861, the Twenty-ninth left Camp Gid- dings. rin Ashtabula, for Camp Chase, remaining at the latter camp until January 17. 1562. when it was ordered to Virginia, in consequence of the Confederate advance, under Jackson, upon Romney. At Patterson's creek, Virginia, the reziment was assigned to the division of General Landor. and to the brigade of Colonel E. B. Tyler, of the Seventh Ohio. After the death of General Landor, General James Shields assumed command of the division, and the march com- meneed towards Winchester. The enemy were met on the 23d of March. at Kernstown. Here the Twenty-ninth fought its first battle, losing three killed and ten wounded, and afterwards following in the pursuit of Jackson as far as Strasburg. It marehed with its division to Falmouth, where General MeDowell's
army was reviewed by President Lincoln. After a long march, the Twenty- ninth again met the enemy at Port Republic, June 9, 1862. where a severe battle was fought, in which it lost fourteen killed and thirty-six wounded, with over one hundred missing. Captain Horatio Luce fell in this battle. August 9, 1862. the Twenty-ninth fought at Cedar Mountain. Virginia, losing six men killed and fifty-two wounded. The Twenty-ninth next met the enemy at Chan- cellorsville, May 1, 1863, fighting through the three terrible days following. and was posted near the Chancellor House, in the rear of a line of rude earthworks, where solid shot plowed the ground near its position. The enemy had gained a part of the works to the right, where an assault was made upon them, in which the Twenty-ninth was closely engaged. At this battle the Twenty-ninth lost seventy- two killed and wounded. At Gettysburg, July 1, 2. and 3, the Twenty-ninth was next engaged, losing thirty-seven killed and wounded. It was ordered to relieve the One 1Iundred and Thirty-seventh New York Infantry in the works, which had nearly expended its ammunition. In passing over a slight elevation, swept by the musketry of the enemy, the principal loss was sustained. From Gettys- burg the Twenty-ninth marched with the army southward, and early on the morn- ing of the 31st of July crossed the Rappahannock river at Kelly's ford, in the face of the enemy. August 16 the Twenty-ninth, with the Ohio regiments of its brigade, started for New York city, to aid in enforcing order during the draft. Returning to Virginia, it was soon sent with Hooker's army to Tennessee, and engaged in the battle of Lookout Mountain, November 24, 1863. December 22 it was re-mustered into the service as a veteran organization, and furloughed for thirty days. Returning to the field, it fought at Dug Gap, Georgia, May 8, 1864, losing over one hundred men in killed and wounded. This was a strong pass in the Chatooga range; its sides are steep, covered with forests and rocks, rising eight hundred feet above Mill creek. Along the top, facing westward, rise pali- sades, impossible to scale. In addition to the natural strength of the position were breastworks, occupied by the enemy. The Twenty-ninth came withiu range of a destructive fire from the enemy in this stronghold. Sixty rounds of ammu- nition were soon exhausted, but by emptying the cartridge-boxes of the dead a desultory fire was kept up until near dark, when the command was given to retire. At this battle Colonel Fitch, Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes, and Adjutant Stover were wounded, and Lieutenant Grant killed. In this terrible assault twenty-one were killed and eighty-four wounded. May 15, at Resaca, the Twenty-ninth had three men wounded. At New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, the regiment fought at night until darkness ended the contest. Here it was under fire until June 1. June 15, at Pine Hill, the Twenty-ninth was engaged in an assault upon the enemy's earthworks, and its loss was severe. The next morn- ing it could stack but seventy muskets. It fought at Peach-Tree Creek and en- gaged in the siege of Atlanta, marched with Sherman down to the sea, participated in the siege and capture of Savannah, and in the marches through the Carolinas. The Twenty-ninth participated in the great review at Washington, May 24, and soon afterwards was sent to Louisville, Kentucky, where it was mustered out July 13, 1865. July 22 it was disbanded at Cleveland, Ohio. The rolls of the Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry bear the names of fifteen hundred and thirty-two men, of whom five hundred and forty were killed, wounded, or missing.
FIFTIETH OHIO INFANTRY.
This regiment was recruited from the State at large, Captain Oscar C. Pratt's company being principally from Ashtabula County. The Fiftieth was early sent to the front, and first met the enemy at Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, where it lost three officers and one hundred and sixty-two men killed and wounded.
From February, 1863, until September, 1863, the regiment was engaged in building fortifications and in constructing trestles on various rivers in Kentucky, and in December of the same year was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee. In the severe winter weather the men dragged the artillery and wagons over the moun- tains by hand, slept on the frozen grouud, in rain and snow. without shelter, and partially subsisted on parched corn. In the Atlanta campaign of 1864 the Fif- tieth was in the Third Brigade, Second Division. Twenty-third Corps, and was in liue of battle almost constantly. It participated in the actions at Pumpkinvine Creek, Dallas, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain. Kenesaw Moun- tain, Culp House, Nicojack Creek. Chattahoochie River. Howard House, Atlanta, and Jonesboro'. The Fiftieth was in the pursuit of llood's army, and marched to the Coosa river, in Alabama. At Spring Hill. Tennessee, the enemy had formed a line across the road near that place. The Fiftieth on the left and the remainder of the brigade upon the right drove the Confederates from their position, and formed a junction with the Fourth Corps, which had held Spring Hill against the attack of Cheatham's Corps. At the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, Novem- ber 30, 1864, the Fiftieth was placed upon the right of the Columbia pike. In this it received and repelled eleven successive charges. It went into battle with two hundred and twenty-five men, and came out with one hundred and twelve. It
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