History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 102

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 102

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Reaching its rendezvous February 26th, the regiment left, March Ist. for Little Rock,

where it arrived on the 17th. It was ordered to march with General Steele's expedition, and left on the 23rd for Shreveport, Louisiana, to co-operate with Banks' Red River expedition. At Spoonville. April 2nd, a skirmish took place, but the regiment lost no men. At Oka- lona, on the 3rd. it was again under fire, hav- ing a prominent position and bearing itself creditably while aiding Colonel Goetz to drive a battery from its position. At Elkin's Ford, on the 6th, it next met and assisted in driving the foe. as it did again at Prairie de Ann on the 13th. The army was attacked at Moscow on the 13th, but there was not much fighting. Ar- riving at Camden on the 16th, and driving ont the enemy. it was learned from telegrams cap- tured that General Banks' Red River expedition had been defeated. Our troops had started fiom Little Rock with only half rations of hard bread and quarter iations of pork, and had been long out of meat, subsisting partly on the country. General Clayton had started a sup- ply train from Pine Bluffs to meet Steele's forces at Camden, but it did not arrive on time, and there was much suffering for food. After its arrival. General Steele ordered the thor- oughly effective men of the brigade, except the guards at headquarters and at two mills that were grinding corn, and the pickets of the di- vision ( which consisted of portions of the Sev- enty-seventh Ohio, Forty-third Indiana, and Thirty-sixth lowa ), to escort the empty wagon train back to Pine Bluffs, and on the 23rd it crossed the Washita River on pontoon bridges and left Camden. Colonel Drake, of the Thirty sixth Iowa, commanded the brigade, and Captain McCormick was elected by Col. W. B. Mason as the senior officer present to command that portion of the Seventy-seventh that was detailed. About 200 of the First Indiana and Seventh Missouri cavalry and a section of the Second Missouri Battery accom- panied the train. On the 25th of April this little force, guarding about 250 wagons, found in battle array over 6,000 mounted Rebels at Marks Mills. 45 miles from Camden and about the same distance from Pine Bluffs. The enemy had taken another route from Camden

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

and struck on our flank at this juncture. The train was passing frem Bayou Moro through Woodlands over a narrow road, so it was stretched out some five miles long. In this condition it was not difficult for the enemy to divide the regiments at the cross-roads and attack them in detail. This was done, and their heavy force surrounded and captured the two other regiments, after a sharp fight. Hearing the battle open several miles ahead. while they were guarding the rear of the train. the commander of the detailed portion of the Seventy-seventh moved his command forward on the double-quick, passing wagons and pieces of artillery mired in the swampy Moro bot- toms. Moving as rapidly as possible the en- tire distance, and coming up almost breathless to Marks Mills, the detachment of the Seventy- seventh arrived only in time to find that their comrades had been captured, and that they must fight the battle alone. The entire force of the enemy, except a few hundreds left guard- ing the prisoners, now confronted the gallant Ohio boys. Quickly throwing out skirmish- ers to protect the flanks, Captain McCormick at once formed his command in line of battle. in a good position, and endeavored to protect the remaining half of the train. For more than an hour longer was the enemy held at bay by this little band of about 300 men. amidst a hotly contested conflict of arms. Twice was General Cabell's brigade in front of our noble boys driven back, causing the brigade commander to ask them if they were "going to let that little handful whip them." Meantime, Adjutant Flemming and Quarter- master Fisher, who had been sent out to the cross-roads to see if there was any danger of being flanked, reported that there was a heavy body of troops on the right, and another on the left and rear, threatening to surround the little Union band. These proved to be the brigades of General Dockery and General Shel- by. Notwitstanding these fearful odds, the Seventy-seventh boys and their commander were unwilling to give up the conflict, but con- tinued to pour well-directed shots into the heavy lines of the enemy, defying the leaden

hail which stormed around them. After keep- ing up this unequal contest for about two hours the brave boys found their ammunition ex- hausted and themselves entirely surrounded and prisoners of war. The Union losses in this battle were 250 killed and wounded, and about 1,000 prisoners, the wagons also falling into the hands of the enemy. The enemy's losses in killed and wounded were much heavier, owing to the fact that the battle was in a piece of woodland, where they were unable to see how small a force they were fighting. Believing General Steele had reinforced the train guard. they were unwilling to make a dash to surround them at once, lest they should meet with a decided repulse ; and advancing slowly in heavy lines, they formed a good target for the Ohio boys, who caused them to remark ( when they found how few of our men they had been fighting ), that they were "a dear lot of pris- oners.'

The enemy's loss was estimated at 1,000 killed and wounded. Three hundred and eighteen members of the Seventy-seventh. in- cluding II officers, became prisoners of war. They were marched, without stopping to eat or sleep, and almost without drink, 60 miles to the Washita River, before they were allowed an hour's rest. The commander of the guard apologized for this, and showed one of our officers the order of General Fagan, requiring him to cross the Washita before resting, lest General Steele should rescue the prisoners.

Captain McCormick was given the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel "for gallantry in the battle of Marks Mills," and their commander says Captain MeKitrick and Lieutenants Ful- ton, Scott, Marlow, Flemming, MeIntire, David A. Henry, R. E. Smithson, Province. and N. B. Smith, also deserve well of this country for their part in the battle. They were all captured, as well as Lieutenants _At- kinson, J. M. Mitchell, John Smith, Dye, Lund, Day and Black, afterward commissioned, all of whom fought bravely.

General Steele, finding that the Banks ex- pedition had met with disastrous defeat, was compelled to abandon Camden. Leaving the

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place in the night, by a pontoon bridge and a new road he had made, the enemy ( which now far outmimbered his force ) did not learn of his movements so as to overtake him till he reached the Saline River, at Jenkins' Ferry. Here, on the 30th of April, those of the Sev- enty-seventh who had not been at Marks Mills (having been left at Camden because they were on picket and other guard duty, or not thoroughly equipped, or not fit for duty ), were. with the rest of Steele's forces, engaged in a bloody battle. Fortunately the enemy was re- pulsed, and with heavy loss. In this encoun- ter the Seventy-seventh lost, in killed and wounded, about half the number engaged, and a few were made prisoners. Part of the time they fought in water knee deep. the river being out of its banks. Those captured by the ene- my at Marks Mills, and at Jenkins' Ferry, were soon after marched about 200 miles south, and confined for 10 months in a military prison at Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, where 38 of them died from starvation, exposure, and dis- ease, and one. John Calvert, was shot dead in a brutal manner, by a Rebel guard, for getting too close to "the dead line" when going for water.

Captain McCormick and Lieutenants Flemming. Scott, and Smithson, of the Sev- enty-seventh, and three men not of the regi- ment, escaped from the military prison one dark evening about the last of August, and started north, traveling by night with only the stars for a guide. Scott and Smithson trav- eled about 100 miles and were retaken near the Red River. The others marched about Go miles toward the Union lines, but unfortu- This left the command too small to main- tain its organization as a regiment, and it was consolidated into a battalion of six companies. commanded by Colonel Stevens. nately the watch-dogs on a plantation got scent of them, and next morning two packs of blood- hounds, with squads of Rebel cavalry, were on their track. After a tiresome chase through On the 5th of February, 1805. the battalion left Little Rock with General Steele for the Gulf Department, and was at Fort Morgan, Alabama, when the paroled prisoners were re- leased, and were near Mobile when they joined it. It was engaged in operations around Mo- bile, Fort Spanish, Blakeley, MeIntosh Bluffs. the tangled woods they were run down by the bloodhounds, and brought to bay. As orders were posted at the prison before they left that all prisoners who might escape should be shot if overtaken, the situation was considered one of peril. However, the enemy evidently took care to count the cost of such a course, as as- , and other points in Mabama, in which Colonel

surances were given by the cavahy that no harm should be done them if they would sur- render. Being taken to Gilmore, a squad of fierce Rebels, who probably never saw a Union army soldier, plied them with numerous insult- ing questions, which were answered in plain language without much care for the feelings of the dougthy questioners. So they charged Captain McCormick with "treason to the State

of Texas," and threatened to hang him for his pointed replies, The real soldiers of the guard seemed to relish the answers made to those who would insult an marmed and defenseless prisoner, and they were restrained and advised to cease questioning if they could not endure the responses. The prisoners were returned to Camp Ford a few days after, where they awaited another opportunity to escape, finally made unnecessary by the arrival of the parol- ing officers so long and anxiously looked for in vain. On being paroled the survivors marched to Shreveport, Louisiana, about 100 miles, where they were placed on transports and conveyed to the mouth of the Red River, and there delivered into the Union lines Feb- ruary 25, 1865, except Lieutenants Flemming. Fulton, and Atkinson, who were held in Texas till the end of the war for attempting to escape.

After being clothed and paid, and given a 30 days' furlough, these exchanged prisoners returned to the regiment in April.

On the expiration of the term of service, of the few original members who did not become veterans, and of those enlisted in 1862, and therefore could not re-enlist, they were mus- tered out in 1864.

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Stevens and the boys won golden opinions, until June 1. 1865, when it took transports across the Gulf of Mexico for the Rio Grande, and remained on duty at Brazos and Clarks- ville, and then, from August 1, 1865, till March 8, 1866, at Brownsville, Texas, where it was mustered out and started for Columbus, Ohio, where the men were finally paid off and dis- banded, March 26, 1866.

Only one of all Ohio's regiments remained longer in the service, and none served the country more faithfully, or suffered more for the cause of the Union.

BATTLE OF SHILOH.

S. J. Hathaway, EsQ. HARMAR, OHIO, April 5, 1881.

DEAR SIR-I have received your kind letter asking me to write ar account of the part taken by the Sev- enty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Regiment in the battle of Shiloh.

Cheerfully I accept, regarding it not only a pleas- ure but a duty to add whatever testimony I may to the honorable and important deeds of the Seventy-seventh in that terrible struggle of two days' duration in the woodlands of Tennessee.

Shiloh is rapidly taking its proper place in the minds of the people of the North and with miltary writers as one of the most important of the decisive battles of the Civil war.

The , Rebels had made desperate and exhaustive efforts to muster an army so formidable that it would strike a destructive and decisive blow to the Union armies of the West.

They had gathered every available company in the States of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.

The people of these States were by training and nature a warlike people and eager for the clash of arms.

Ten and thirty-day regiments and companies were eagerly accepted for this fight and it was generally believed in that portion of the Confederacy that a Con- federate victory on the banks of the Tennessee would end the war in the West.

The army of the Rebellion in the West was then commanded by their most popular soldiers. The bat- tlefield had become familiar ground to the Confederates long before the battle: their spies had the freedom of the U'nion camps; the condition, numbers and position of the United States forces was aeeurately known. It was well understood in their ranks that the Union army was badly posted ; was without defensive works, unsuspecting an attack ; and that the two wings of the army were hopelessly separated by the Tennessee, now flooded by the spring rains.

Everything was auspicious for an easy victory to the Confederate arms. Enthusiasm and confidence in- spired both their leaders and men. There was nothing

up to the hour of battle to dampen their ardor. A magnificent army, splendidly equipped, they moved as on a triumphal march with fresh assurances of victory at every step.

History does not give us record of an army that ever entered a great battle with brighter prospects. They settled unmolested in their camps on the evening of the 5th of April in battle line with everything well elosed up, within the sound of the evening bugles and drums of their unsuspecting foe.

The Seventy-seventh moving at 6:30 on the morn- ing of the 6th of April under orders received from Gen- eral Sherman the night before, and repeated in the morning to me in his own tent ( where I had reported information sent through our picket lines by Colonel Moore of the Second Missouri to this import. "That he had been sent out on a reconnoissance by General Prentiss before day that morning. Skirmishing briskly he had soon become engaged with a formidable force before which he was rapidly retiring in the direction of our camps"), received the first shock of that great bat- tle storm. midway between their eamp and the picket line where the orders were to take them. I have before me the official reports of Gen. Zachary Taylor of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, also the losses of the American army in the battles of the Rev- olution.

A comparison of these figures with the loss of the Seventy-seventh at Shiloh will better give an idea of the bitterness of this contest, and the frightful losses sustained eloquently tell the story of the desperate, prolonged struggle.

Total loss of American army at Palo Alto ( killed.

wounded and missing 55

Total American loss at Resaca de la Palma 126

Total American loss at Bennington 70

Total American loss at Saratoga 319

Total American loss at Monmouth 220

Total American loss at Trenton (this includes two

soldiers frozen to death ) 0

Total American loss at Cowpens 72

LOSS OF SEVENTY-SEVENTH AT SHILOH.

Killed, I officer, 50 men 51

Wounded. 7 officers, Io men 117

Missing, since ascertained to be dead 7

Officers captured on 8th of April 3

Men captured on 8th of April. 53

Total loss at Shiloh 231

Lientt. Robert McKitrick, the officer in command of the burial party after the battle, reported 226 dead Rebels in front of the Seventy-seventh's position while defending the key-point in Sherman's first line on the Corinth road at the church.

An officer of General Pope's army copied the fol- lowing challenge from the door of a blacksmith's shop after they had captured Farmington, Mississippi :

"The remnant of the Ioth Mississippi Rifles chal- lenge the 77th Ohio Regiment to fight them in open level ground between the lines of the armies in front

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of Corinth." Signed by commanding officer Nineteenth Mississippi Rifles.

The Nineteenth was one of the regiments of the brigade that repeatedly attempted to carry the ridge at the church deiendel by the Seventy-seventh, and were nearly annihilated.

The losses of the Louisiana Brigade, particularly the "Crescent Blues." of New Orleans (one of the 30-day regiments), at and near the church was some- thing unheard of in war-nearly every home in that great city being in mourning for losses at Shiloh.

Although New Orleans was the largest, wealthiest and most warlike city of the Confederacy, it never sent an organized company or regiment to the war after the return of its favorite regiment from the fatal field of Shiloh.

The great loss of the Seventy-seventh can only be accounted for by the fact that, with the Fifty- seventh Ohio and Col. Ezra Taylor's Chicago Battery. it was entrusted by Sherman with the defense of the position at the Shiloh Meeting House.

It was well understood in the regiment that they were expected to hold that position, come what might against them until ordered away or shot away. They fought with a clear idea that the position must be de- fended at any cost. And unless wounded, no man of the Seventy-seventh left that fatal line until the order came from General Sherman to retire into the new line of battle, and then they covered Taylor's men and guns until they were safe in their new positions.

It was my great privilege from the first Bull Run fight to Bentonville at the end of the war to stand many times in brave lines of veteran soldiers and fight for positions.

Once my command of seven regiments of the Army of the Cumberland were sent in on Johnston's flank as a forlorn hope. Yet I fail to recall, in all this experience of desperate and splendid fighting. a more devoted, heroic, enduring and courageous achievement than the defense of the position at Shiloh Meeting House. It has been intimatei that the first line at Shiloh was lost because the "Troops were green and untrained." I assert with no fear of denial from any soldier familiar with the position and the record of the division that defended it, that the line never could have been taken by a forse from the front had an order of battle been issued by Sherman : or any prep- aration made before the battle to receive the enemy and maintain this line, or if the liv'sion had been united in one compast line and posted on the strong defensive position in front of the camps and been per- mitted to fell the timber and fortify the position. On that line were nine Ohio Regiment:, two Illinois, one Iowa, four six-gun batterie, and up to the evening of the 5th, the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, which, of course would not have been transferred to a new command m the rear on the eve of a great battle if the battle had been anticipated.

There were no better regiments entered the sery- ice from these States and I doubt if any division in our armies had as many regimental officers who had seen service in the Mexican war or as many who had the advantages of military training. The division's history is a record of continuous, stubborn, succes ful fighting to the very end of the war, and no better rec-

ord con a soldier have than that he served with Sher- man's Second Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps.

A Confederate general who was in the Confederate front on the morning of the 6th of April pays the fol- lowing tribute to the courage and emlurance of the Union soldiers on that occasion, "Our attack found the Federals entirely unformed and completely unprepared. The only feature of the battle more remarkable than this thorough surprise was the astonishing courage and tenacity with which your Yankee fellows fought under such circumstances. I never saw anything like that be- fore or since. It was a wonderfully fought battle on both sides, but my subsequent observation only con- firmed the amazement I felt at the time to see such conduct on the part of troops taken at such disad- vantage."

These volunteers planted across the main Corinth road knew enough of the science of war to know that the fate of the day might depend on the time gained at this precious position. So these brave men nobly de- voted themselves then and there to the cause of their Country. Like Custer's gallant men at the Little Big Horn they determined to stay there and go down to- gether.

Two precious hours were gained, and Buell's men of the Cumberland were taking the long. eager strides that veterans take marching to the music of distant battle.

Grant was speeding to the front, calmly planning to meet the great emergency. Sherman at his head- quarters in the saddle on the Corinth road was giving low, swift, impressive messages to staff-officers, orderlies and escort, that sent them off with the speed of import- ant battle orders.

Alers, cool, courteous. speaking eagerly but quietly. giving marked attention to everything reported by all grades of officer, who were constantly arriving (a few words from Sherman and they were all galloping away, low bending in their saddles as if Sherman was in the midst of an animated hornet's nest), with his han1 wounded, bending before the pitiless rain of bullets to speak to an officer. eagerly watching the effect of the volleys from his men at the church and Taylor's rapidly- served guns on each fresh assault of the impetuous Rebel lines. now sending orders to the left when the Rebels were missing to assault.

He was a perfect type of a warrior at bay. The great responsibility of the supreme battle-hour had settled upon him. Defiantly, stubbornly, he seemed de- termined to break the exultant enthusiasm and confi- dence of the Rebel ranks at this point in the battle. He would fight here for the much needed time, for he well knew that Grant would soon be on the ground; he knew that the divisions of MeClernand. Hurlbut, Prenti -- and the two Wallaces word moving to his re- lief : he knew that every hour gained here would make certain the arrival of the men of the Cumberland, then marching in hot haste toward the roar of battle.

The German Commander at Vionville in the Fran- co-Prussian War thought the gaining of an hour worth the sacrifice of his best divisions of cavalry. History would hive applauded Sherman if he had ordered those brave Obia Volunteers to make their last fight then on the crest of the ridge at Shiloh Church, or if he had ordered Taylor to work his guns as long as

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

there wa. a man of the battery left alive to serve them. But grandly rising to the height of emergency he swiftly in the brief time so bloodily won made his com- binations and a new close knit, compact, well-posted sturdy line was ready for the reception of the exult- ant. impetuous, cheering Rebels. He ordered the brave defenders into the new line greeting them cheerily by the way. Much as the soldier- of the Second Division condemn and wonder at Sherman's judgment and dis- positions on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of April, he won from one and all the highest admiration and new ap- preciation for his splendid nighting from the moment the battle opened. This grew with each battle and cam- paign and no nujust, ingenuous criticism can reverse this judgment formed in the clear light of battle.

The soldiers of Shiloh confidently followed him through the swamps and hayons of Mississippi into the jaws of death at Vicksburg. Confidently they stormed the bristling, rugged mountains of Georgia, thick-set as they were with bayonets and cannon. Confidently. eagerly they followed his fortunes through the hundred days of battle from the Tennessee to the Flint. Con- fidently without a question, they marched with him into history from the mountains to the Sea.

The heroic defense of the position at Shiloh Church; the devotion to the soldier's highest idea of duty in battle; the enduring courage and spirit born only in the meke and carnage of battle of those vol- unteers will ever remain a theme that will kindle the enthusiasm of orator and poet.

It was this act of devotion to an idea of battle, a fight for time and similar deeds by the intelligent Western volunteers all through the eventful hours of that April Sabbath Day and the glorified list of heroic deeds of devotion to the flag and duty on many fields that will ever cause the memory of the volunteer soldier to be remembered with pride and admiration by their countrymen. And certainly no portion of our country has more just cause to cherish, preserve and perpetuate the deeds of her sons than Washington County. Respectfully, Your obedient servant. B. D. FEARING.

( Signed )

Ninety-Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

REGIMENTAL OFFICERS.

Colonel Nelson H. Van Vorhes, mustered August 15. 1802, resigned March 22, 1863: Colonel Benjamin D. Fypring. March 22, 1863, mustered out May 19, 1805. on account of wounds: Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin D. Fearing. August 15. 1802, promoted to colonel ; Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Putnam, Jr., March 22, 1863, honorably discharged April II. 1864: Lieutenant Colonel John C. Morrow. April 28, 1864. mustered out with the regiment : Major Dioclesian A. Smith, August IO. 1362, resigned February 1, 1863; Major Douglas Putnam, Jr .. February 1. 1863. promoted to lieutenant colonel: Major Elmer Golden, March 22, 1863, resigned December 8, 1863: Major John C. Morrow. December 8 1863, promoted to lieutenant colonel; Surgeon Josiah D. Cotton. August 10, 186_, inttered out with regi- ment : Assistant Surgeon N. B. Sisson. August 16, 1802.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 102

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490