History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 66

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 66

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If our soldierly qualities are not put to such a test before we come home, we want no reception but a friendly shake of the hand-your honors should be reserved for the veterans.

CHAPTER XLIV.

WAR OF THE REBELLION-CONCLUDED.

Cavalry and Artillery-History of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry- Roster of Company M-Correspondence from the Front- History of the Twenty-sixth Battery-Its Organization from the Thirty-second Infantry-Petition of Veterans, and En- dorsement of Coshocton County-Military Committee for New Organization.

N the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, Coshocton found a

T representation in Company M, which was re- cruited by Colonel James Irvine, formerly colonel of the first organization of the Sixteenth O. V. I.

Its muster roll at enlistment was as follows:

OFFICERS.

James Irvine, Captain.

Joseph McCulloch, First Lieutenant.

James Stonehocker, Second Lieutenant. John Carhart, Jr., First Sergeant. Sylvester 1. Ellis, Quarter-master. Thomas Carnahan, Commissary. James M. Humphry, First Sergeant. William Wicken, Second Sergeant. Charles M. Pike, Third Sergeant.

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

John E. Snyder, Fourth Sergeant. Samuel P. Mingus, Fifth Sergeant. Stephen Nowls, First Corporal. Martin W. Griffin, Second Corporal. Caleb S. Ely, Third Corporal. Robert E. Tavener, Fourth Corporal. Alexander Carnahan, Fifth Corporal. J. A. Williamson, Sixth Corporal. Thomas Richards, Seventh Corporal. Frank H. Pen, Eighth Corporal. John Glass, Saddler.

Privates,-J. Allen, William Allen, L. W. Bar- ton, J. Bible, S. H. Black, S. Borden, T. Buttler, N. S. Carnahan, S. Collier. M. Comstock, C. HI. Critchfield, J. W. Davis, R. II. Deems. T. Dieker- son, G. Dusenberry, P. Donoho, T. J. Edwards, W. Enwright, A. Evans, G. Fisher, II. Fivecoats, F. D. Forker, J. T. Frazee, A. Green, G Green, J. Greer, P. Hazłe, T. J. Hardesty, M. Harrington, C. W. Harrington, G. Hibbetts, S. Hoglan, J Hog- lan. S. Hook, M. Infelt, J. Jennings, A S. Joy, L. Keever, M. Lear, A. Leclair, D. Leech, - Long- baugh J. H. Luse, J. S. Mankin, F. McCoy, Wil- liam Me Laughlin, S. Michael, Israel Perry, J. Por- ter, J. Rider, C. F. Schneid, G. W. Slusser, C. Smith, W. Smith, J. Smith, J. Smith 20, W. C. Starkey, J. T. Stonehocher, L. Stokes, A. Taylor, D. H. Thocker, J. Thomas, William Thomas, J. Tinsman, A. Wells, J. Wicken, J. Wines, B. F. Wright.

rendezvoused at Zanesville. On the 1st Decem- ber seven companies were ready for muster, but three of these companies were transferred to complete the Tenth Ohio Cavalry, then organ- izing at Cleveland. The four remaining compa- nies were designated the First Battalion of the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and were ordered to Camp Dennison.

Here the battalion was equipped and re- mained under drill until April 23, when it was ordered to report for field duty at Lexington, Kentucky. It was, then ordered to Clay county, to drive out a rebel force and protect the coun- try.

The battalion, consisting of 300 effective men moved forward, driving the enemy from the mountain regions, and established its camp at Manchester.

The command remained in this region, having frequent skirmishes with the enemy, until the 16th of June, when an expedition was planned to penetrate into East Tennessee, to ascertain the condition of the inhabitants, and to destroy some extensive factories below Knoxville.

The whole force consisted of about 2,000 mounted men, in which were 200 of the battalion. On the night of the 16th of June, this force crossed the Cumberland river at Williamsburg, and moved toward Big Creek Gap, a rebel strong- hold commanding one of the entrances into East Tennessee, between Cumberland Gap and Knox- ville. The main road to this point crossed a spur of the Cumberland mountains at Pine Mountain Gap, a strong pass which was held by the enemy. By a strategie movement, the rebels were sur- prised and nearly all captured, without firing a gun. Next morning the command moved to- ward Big Creek Gap, and when within about twelve miles-the first battalion of the Ninth

On the 3d of October, 1862. Governor Tod re- ceived instructions from the President to raise three regiments of cavalry, to be known as the Eigth, Ninth and Tenth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. A short time previous to this Captain W. D. IIamilton, of the Thirty-second Ohio Infantry, then stationed at Winchester. Virginia, had been ordered from the field to recruit another com- pany for that regiment. He had enlisted fifty | Ohio, being in the advance-the enemy was en- men for that purpose, when the regiment with a countered, and skirmishing was kept up until he was driven within his works at the Gap. The enemy evacuated, and without opposition, the command accomplished its designs. number of others was captured by Stonewall Jackson. September 15, 1862, Captain Hamilton reported for instructions to the Governor, who assigned the duty of organizing a cavalry com- The battalion returned to London, Kentucky, where, on the evening of July 5, an order was received to report to Stanford, Kentucky. I traveled all night and arrived at Stanford, a dis- tance of fifty miles, at three o'clock next day. It mand, to be known as the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. The men recruited for the captured regiment formed the nucleus, and the remainder was raised in the eastern portion of Ohio. They

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

was then ordered to Danville to check the progress of General Morgan. He having avoided Danville, the battalion was ordered back to Wild Cat, near London, to watch and embarrass the progress of the rebel. General Scott, who, it was reported, had entered with a cavalry force, by way of Cumber- land Gap, to support General Morgan. General Scott took a circuitous route to the right and a force hastily organized at Camp Diek Robinson was sent in pursuit. In the running fight of ten days the battalion, part of the time, marched at the rate of fifty-seven miles in twenty-four hours -the men living chiefly on blackberries, which they gathered by the roadside while the horses were resting.

On the 1st of August the battalion proceeded from Stanford to Glasgow, Kentucky, a distance of one hundred miles, where a cavalry brigade was organizing under orders of General Burn- side, which was destined to take the advance of his expedition into East Tennessee. On the 17th of August this brigade moved forward and crossed the Cumberland river near Burkesville, where it was met by General Burnside in command of the infantry. The cavalry took the advance across that portion of the Cumberland mountains sup- posed to present the fewest obstacles to the pas- sage of an army. During this march both men and horses were, sometimes, two days without food. Knoxville was taken with but little opposi- tion. Major Hamilton was appointed provost- marshal of the city, and the battalion was as- signed to patrol and guard duty around the suburbs.

During this time very strong efforts were made in the North to obtain recruits for the army. An order had been issued to raise two more battalions to complete the Ninth, and Major T. P. Cook, formerly of the Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was assigned by Governor Tod to take charge of the recruits at Camp Dennison. On the 6th of November, the second battalion for the regi- ment was organized. On the 16th of December the regiment was completed by the organization of the third battalion. The two battalions, raised to their maximum number, together with one hundred recruits for the old battalion, were at once furnished with horses, were armed and equipped with sabers and Smith carbines, and

were carefully drilled in camp until February 6, 1864, when they were ordered to proceed by water to Nashville, Tennessee.

They embarked at Cincinnatti, upon seven steamboats, and proceeded as far as Louisville, Kentucky, where, by reason of the reported pres- ence of some guerrillas in that State, they disem- barked and marched through the country to Nashville. The march was made without oppo- sition. The regiment was then attached to the left wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps and ordered to report for field duty at Athens, Ala- bama. Here the two battalions were assigned the duty of watching the movements of the enemy along the Tennessee river.

At this time Colonel Hamilton proceeded to Knoxville with orders for the first battalion to join the regiment. The severe campaign, through which this part of the regiment had passed, ren- dered an entire equipment necessary. For this purpose the men were sent by rail to Nashville, where, after much trouble and delay on account of the difficulty of procuring horses this battalion took the field and joined the others at Athens, Alabama. Four companies were ordered to the shoals of the Tennessee river, twenty-five miles from Athens, to examine the islands in that por- tion of the river reported to have stock and pro- visions secreted there. This occupied nearly a week. During this time Company G was sent to the vicinity of Florence, Alabama, twenty-five miles further down the river, to examine the country and colleet stock.

On the night of the 13th of April an Alabama regiment surrounded · a barn, in which the men were sleeping, shot two of the sentinels, and, af- ter a short struggle, succeeded in capturing Cap- tain Hetzler, Second Lieutenant Knapp, and thirty-nine men. The remainder of the company escaped and reported at headquarters near the shoals, where they arrived the next evening. The remaining three companies were pushed forward with all speed but they failed to rescue the pris- oners. The non-commissioned officers and men were sent to Andersonville prison.

Eight months after the capture, Orderly Ser- geant Kennedy reported that twenty-five of the number had died. Captain Hetzler and Lieuten- ant Knapp were sent to Columbia, South Caro-

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

lina. Lieutenant Knapp, after two unsuccessful efforts to escape, in which he was retaken by the aid of bloodhounds, finally succeeded in reaching Knoxville, Tennessee, after traveling three weeks, principally at night, securing food and assistance from the negroes. At one time he heard the hounds on his trail, and again would have been captured but for the generous assist- ance of a negro, who, after giving him something to eat, said : " Now, bress de Lord, Massa Yank, you jist trust to me, and we'll fool dem dogs. You trot along fust, den I'll come, too, steppin' in your tracks. Go 'bout half mile, den you come to some watah ; you take to de right, fro dat, den I'll keep on t'other way. See, dem dogs is used to huntin' niggers; dey knows de smell, and likes to follow de black man's foot." "But," said the lieutenant, surprised at this singular but devoted offer, " but the dogs will catch you, and probably tear you to pieces." " Oh, massa," said he, " let this nigger alone for dat; I'se fooled dem dogs afo' for de Yanks; and, bress de Lord, I'll try it again. Now trot along, massa, for I hear dem dogs a comin'." Shortly after crossing the pond the lieutenant heard the hounds howling in the direction taken by the negro, and he was no longer disturbed. He afterward joined the regi- ment at Savannah, Georgia, in January, 1865. Captain Hertzler remained a prisoner until near the close of the war, when he was exchanged.

Another battalion of the Ninth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was sent out in the vicinity of Florence to patrol the river and keep watch of the move- ments of the enemy. In this work the regiment was engaged for about three weeks, living upon the country. The river was guarded for a dis- tance of fifty miles, and frequent skirmishes with the enemy took place. The regiment was or- dered to report at Decatur, Alabama, where it arrived on the 5th of May.

Ninth had one man killed and three severely wounded. For weeks the enemy's pickets were posted within two miles of the town, and cavalry skirmishes were of daily occurrence.

About the 1st of June the regiment was sent to Pulaski, to re-enforce the Seventh Illinois In- fantry, which had been driven from Florence. After driving the enemy back beyond Florence and remaining a few days, it returned to Decatur. When it became known that the rebels received large supplies over the Atlanta and West Point railroad, it became necessary to destroy it. Of the 2,500 men chosen to effect this, 700 were from the Ninth Cavalry. The command started as secretly as possible, desiring to strike the road anywhere between the extreme point guarded by General Johnston's troops, and Montgomery, Alabama. It left Decatur on the 10th of July. For three days the command was unmolested, except by bushwhackers .. In the evening of the third day the command reached the Coosa river, and found a force of the enemy preparing to dis- pute its passage. A contest ensued in which the enemy suffered severely.

On the evening of July 17, the command reached the village of Sochopolka, upon the rail- road, thirty miles east of Montgomery, and about 200 miles south of Decatur. It was almost ex- hausted, yet it went immediately to work to de- stroy the road. For a few days the command was engaged in this work, and was attacked sev- eral times, in rear and front, by the enemy.

This expedition traveled, on an average, twenty hours per day, effectually destroyed twenty-five miles of an important railroad, 100 miles beyond the rebel lines, and sustained, comparatively, a small loss. That of the Ninth cavalry amounted to twenty-six men, mostly captured while forag- ing. Having accomplished its purpose it started in a northeasterly direction, and reached General Sherman's lines, near Marietta, on the 22d of July.

On the morning of the Sth, the enemy made an attack upon the place. The Ninth moved out Two days after arriving at Marietta, the regi- ment was ordered to report to Brigadier General McCook, who was starting upon a raid around the right and rear of Atlanta. Upon arriving at the Chattahoochie river, thirty miles below the city, the horses of the regiment were found to be too much jaded to attempt to make the raid. It re- to ascertain the strength of the enemy, upon the skirmish line, a half a mile from the works. The country was about equally divided between tim- ber and level, open land. The rebels formed on the open ground, and, as the regiment swung around the timber, a battle took place, in which the rebels were driven back in confusion. The | mained, therefore, at the river, guarding the pon-

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

toon bridge which had been brought to effect a crossing. The enemy sent a force to destroy the bridge, but did not succeed. After defending it until the evening of the next day, the regiment lifted the bridge and returned to the national lines.

After a week's rest at Viningo Station, it was ordered to report to Colonel Garrard, command- ing a cavalry division upon the extreme right of General Sherman's army in front of Atlanta. Here it remained on duty until the fall of that city, one battalion doing service at the battle of Jonesboro'. Four hundred and fifty men of the regiment, who had been dismounted while with Garrard, were ordered to Nashville to procure horses.

On the night of the 2d of September, while the train containing men was passing Big Shanty, Georgia, it was thrown from the track, and six cars were demolished .. The enemy, concealed beside the track, opened fire on the wreck. The fire was returned and the cowards fled. One man was killed and three were wounded, by the accident, and two killed and five wounded, by the enemy's fire. Failing to procure horses in Nashville, the regiment proceeded to Louisville, where it obtained them, and returned to Nash- ville, en route to the front. About ten hours after arriving at Nashville this portion of the regi- ment formed a part of the force sent out to check General Forrest. who was reported about twenty miles from the city. After various en- counters, during a period of ten days, the enemy was compelled to retire beyond the Tennessee river, below Florence, Alabama. This portion of the regiment then proceeded to Chattanooga, en route for Atlanta. Here a dispatch was re- ceived, that the Ninth had been designated as one the regiments comprising a new cavalry division, in the reorganization of the army under General Sherman, and that this portion of the regiment should march to Marietta. as rapidly as possible. On arriving at Marietta, the regiment found the city vacated and partly burned. Push- ing on, it arrived at Atlanta on the morning of November 17, having passed over a distance of eighty miles in thirty-six hours. The city being evacuated, the regiment proceeded to McDowell, seventeen miles southward, where it joined the

other portion of the Ninth. Although the regi- ment had suffered some severe losses, in killed and wounded, captured and sickness, yet its strength was sustained by recruits, and it was able to number seven hundred men present for duty.

From this time the Ninth was identified with the cavalry division of General Sherman's army to the coast. It had almost daily encounters with the enemy. Its duty was to cover the march of the infantry, make false marches to deceive the enemy, and at all times prevent him from har- rassing the columns. On the 20th of November, the third day of the march, skirmishing com- menced and continued, more or less, until De- cember 4, when a general engagement took place at Waynesboro, in which the regiment made the second charge and broke the rebel lines. After driving the rebels within their works around Sa- vannah, and while the siege was progressing, the regiment, with part of the cavalry command, moved in a southeasterly direction on the Savan- nah and Gulf railroad, destroyed parts of it as far as the Alatama river, and succeeded in burning a portion of the extensive trestle-work and bridge across the swamp and river. The expedition re- turned to Savannah, where the army remained until the latter part of January, 1865. At this time, 150 men of the Ninth, who had been at- tached to General Thomas' army at the battles of Franklin and Nashville, joined their regiment. On the night of the 3d of February, the cavalry division crossed the Savannah river at Sister's Ferry, forty miles above the city, and com- menced the decisive campaign of the Carolinas. Most of the night was oocupied in crossing a swamp seven miles wide. On the 6th the regi- ment, having the advance, encountered the rebels at a swamp near Barnwell. The men dismounted, waded the swamp. under cover of the timber, and drove them from their position. From this point, during the march, the enemy made several at- tempts to check the cavalry under General Kil- patrick, and harrassed the infantry.

The cavalry was ordered to cover the move- ments of the army, by making a feint upon Au- gusta, Georgia.

Striking the Augusta and Charleston railroad at Blackwell, February 9, it tore up the track

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within five miles of AAiken, and twenty-five miles from Augusta. At Aiken the regiment was en- gaged and assisted in driving the rebels beyond their lines. Orders came to fall back, and the Ninth guarded the rear and protected the ambu- lances and artillery. During the march through the Carolinas, the frequent scarcity of grain, as well as the number and character of swamps en- countered, rendered a large number of the horses unfit for service, and as the enemy prevented the capture of others, many of the men were dis- mounted. These were organized into a " dis- mounted command."

On the night of the 9th of March, General Kil- patrick went into camp with the third brigade and the dismounted men, about three miles in advance of the remainder of his command. The Fourteenth Army Corps was about two miles on the right, and the rebel cavalry, under Gen- eral Hampton, about the same distance on the left. On the 10th, the rebels dashed in upon the camp and captured the wagons, artillery and many of the officers and men, before they had time to dress themselves. The dismounted men rallied, returned, and opened a close and heavy fire upon the rebels, who were pillaging the camp. A rapid and irregular fight ensued, dur- ing which the artillerists recovered their cannon and opened on the enemy. After a short contest, in which twenty-five national and seventy-five rebel soldiers were killed, all the stores were taken by the national forces, and the rebels held at bay until the arrival of the second brigade. After this brigade arrived the rebels were driven from the ground.

In the battle of Averysboro on the 15th of March, which was fought by infantry and cavalry on both sides, the Ninth supported the right flank of the Twentieth Corps, and was hotly engaged.

At Bentonville, North Carolina, where the final battle was fought, General Kilpatrick's entire di- vision occupied the left flank. After the victory the army moved forward to Gohlsboro, North Carolina, where it remained until the 10th of April. General Kilpatrick led the advance upon Raleigh, skirmished a little and on the 14th of April, entered the capitol with but little oppo- sition. On the morning of the 18th, a portion of the left wing of General Johnston's army occu-

pied the village of Chapel Hill. It was protected by a brigade of General Wheeler's cavalry, sta- tioned at a swamp, through which the road passed. At daylight the regiment was ordered to advance and, if possible, effect a crossing.

Upon arriving at the swamp the second battal- ion was dismounted and moved forward through the water, under cover of the cypress timber, un- til the enemy was brought within range of the Spencer carbines. A spirited conflict then en- sued which resulted in the enemy's being driven from his position, leaving a captain and staff offi- cer of General Wheeler and three men dead on the ground. Orders in the meantime had ar- rived from General Sherman suspending hostili- ties.

After the final surrender of the rebels, the com- mand was ordered to Concord, North Carolina, where it remained on duty until the last of July.

The services of the cavalry being no longer necessary, the Ninth was ordered home. On the 2d of August, 1865, the regimental colors and prop- erty were turned over at Columbus, and the regi- ment was mustered out of service.

The following correspondence from the Ninth cavalry, or concerning it, is of interest, and sheds some light upon its record. It was published at various dates in the columns of the Age:

CAMP DENNISON, January 25.

I suppose it will be of interest to some of your readers to know how the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, or, at least, how Company M, of Coshocton county, is . getting on. The boys are in fine spirits and good health generally. Some of them have the mumps and bad colds, but none are in the hospitals. We have had our horses only a month, but have neither saddles nor bridles, as is the case with the entire Third Battalion. This is admitted to be the star company of the regiment. It has never yet been censured by the commanding officer for negligence in any way, and on inspection has al- ways been complimented for its neat and soldier- like appearance. J. STONEHOCKER,

Second Lieutenant. Company M, Ninth O. C.

The following is published in the Age, as copied from the Nashville Times:

The most imposing military pageant we have witnessed since the carly days of the civil war appeared in the streets of Nashville on Saturday afternoon. It was the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, on its way to the front; it was a war-like troop, com-

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posed of grim, stalwart soldiers, whose bronzed complexion had evidently caught its hue from the pencil of many a sun. The musicians were mounted on cream-colored horses, the first com- pany on black horses, the second on white horses, and the third on bay horses. The martial aspect of this troop excited general admiration.

DECATUR JUNCTION, ALABAMA, June 25, 1864.

ED. AGE: As none of our boys have written you for a long time, I thought I would post you and our friends through your columns. We are patroling the Tennessee River as far down as Brown's Ferry, a distance of twenty miles below Decatur. Occasionally a rebel patrol tries to cross the river, but our patrol puts in an appear- ance, and back goes Mr. Reb. A few nights ago a party of us, under the command of our kind old captain (James Irvine), took a rebel picket- post about eight miles in front of Decatur, and returned to Decatur next morning about four o'clock.

I think our company is composed of some of the best men that ever left Coshocton county- men who, when called upon to perform any duty, it makes no difference what kind, are always ready and willing to do it without a grumble.

As a company, we are proud of the officers ap- pointed over us. They are men that you are ac- quainted with, and in whom we can place confi- cence.

We are sorry to record so many deaths in our company since we left Ohio. The following is the complete list : Corporal Robert E. Tavencr, died March 26, at Athens, Alabama; Samuel Bor- den, March 27, at Athens, Alabama; Patrick Vickers, March 23, at Nashville, Tennessee ; Thomas Richards, April 19, at Athens, Alabama ; .Abraham Spur, April -, at Nashville, Tennes- see ; John Glass, saddler, April 10, at Athens, Alabama; Lewis W. Barton, May 27, at Athens, Alabama : Daniel Senter, at Mooreville, Alabama. The rest of the boys are in good health, and are ready at any time for a shot at the rebs.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 66

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854