History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 41

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882 > Part 41

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Soon after the sad affair General Buckland heard that Sturgis had tried to screen himself from accountability by reporting that the men would not fight. General Buckland lost no time in writing a letter to General Sherman, indignantly denying the truth of any such charge as to the men of the Seventy-second, or of the brigade he had commanded, asserting boldly that he had often witnessed their patient endurance of the hardships of the service; had often led them in battle, and knew that truer, braver; or better soldiers never went into action- and that if properly

279

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

commanded no men would do better anywhere than the men of the Seventy- second.

In an interview with the writer in Sep- tember, 1881, Archibald Purcell, who was color-bearer for the Seventy-second in the Guntown fight, related the following inci- dent:

He said that the Seventy-second regiment was the last to cross the bridge over Tishomingo Creek on the retreat. They arrived in a body and in order at Ripley about 3 o'clock in the morning of the 12th of June. Colonel Watterhouse's Board of Trade Battery, of Chicago, lost their battery about half a mile from Ripley, the guns being stuck in the mud and abandoned.

Purcell had brought away the flag and staff safely as far as Ripley, but when the men left there, after daylight, he found that he, with the flag in view, was a conspicuous target for the shots of the pursuing rebels. Concealing himself as well as he could he took. the flag off the staff and wrapped it around his body, under his shirt, so that it could not he seen. "I thought," said he, "if I got killed the flag might be undiscovered, or buried with me, and that if I escaped I would save it for the regiment, and prevent the rebels from getting it." He escaped, and after entering the depot at Memphis General Buckland asked him, with a sad counte- nance, what had become of the flag. Not seeing it in Purcell's possession, he seemed to fear it was lost. Purcell finally told him it was safe, and pulling open his shirt he drew it forth, when the General's countenance brightened as he took it, and the men and women in the depot cheered and shouted as they realized the fact that the sacred emblem had been safely brought away.

Having thus given the sad results of the disaster at Guntown, we resume the

subsequent history of the Seventy-second, which happily was not destined to any more such reverses, but soon entered on a brighter career, in which the conduct of the regiment proved that the assertion of General Buckland was true, and the base insinuation of Sturgis was false.

After a little rest, the Seventy-second regiment was assigned to the First brigade, under command of General McMillen, and became a part of General Mower's division of the Sixteenth Army Corps.

On the 22d of June it was ordered on an expedition, moving in the direction of Tupelo, Mississippi.

On the 11th of July the rebels were found near Pontotoc. The corps made a feint against the enemy and then moved rapidly eastward toward the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at Tupelo. In this movement McMillen's brigade, only nine hundred strong, was in the rear of the infantry column, and just in advance of the wagon train. When about two miles west of Tupelo, Bell's brigade of N. B. Forrest's command, which was in ambush, attacked the column. This attack fell mainly upon the Seventy-second. They at once charged the enemy. The remainder of the brigade was brought into action, and within twenty minutes the rebels were driven from the field utterly routed. On the return march McMillen's brigade again marched in the rear of the infantry column, and just as it was about to bivouac for the night at Tishomingo Creek, Bell's rebel brigade fell upon the cavalry rear and drove it into camp. McMillen's brigade formed rapidly and advanced. A volley checked the enemy, and a charge drove the rebels from the field.

It was in this charge that the brave, gallant, and much loved Major Eugene Allen Rawson, of Fremont, Ohio, lost his life while bravely leading his men in a charge upon the enemy.

280

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

HISTORY OF THE SEVENTY-SECOND RESUMED.

Although the charge at Tishomingo Creek was fatal to the brave Major Rawson, the rebels were driven from the field. Color- bearer Archibald Purcell says that some rebels, when they made the attack, were imprudent enough to shout, "Give them Guntown." This so exasperated our boys that in the charge and pursuit there was a spirit of vengeance and retaliation manifested which, under other circumstances, would have been unbecoming a cool soldier, but the provocation was great, and the men felt keenly, even to madness, the taunting mention of Guntown, and he could pardon them for the cruelties they committed. After the charge in which Major Rawson fell, and after the rebels were driven from the field, the expedition returned to Memphis without again encountering the enemy. The Seventy- second had, however, lost nineteen men and two officers wounded, one officer, Major Rawson, and four men, mortally.

The regiment next moved, about the 27th of July, 1864, from Memphis in the direction of Oxford, Mississippi, but the Third division of the corps was ordered to Atlanta, and the troops returned to Memphis. Mower's division was ordered to Arkansas on the 1st of September to resist General Price. The regiment embarked on the 2d on a steamer for Duvall's Bluff, but did not reach its destination until Price had passed north, and therefore failed to intercept him. From Duvall's Bluff

the division moved northward. The march lasted eighteen days, and in that time the troops travelled three hundred and fifty miles, forded four rivers, and reached the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. During this march the weather was hot and the troops on half rations. At Cape Girardeau the

troops took transports for St. Louis, and from there moved to Jefferson City, from which point the division moved against Price. The troops made extraordinary marches, from early morning until late at night, making from thirty to forty-five miles each day. But Price's division was well mounted, and it proved. vain to attempt to overtake him. The pursuit, however, continued to Little Santa Fe, on the Kansas lint, where the infantry turned back to St. Louis. The weather during this march became intensely cold, and the men had only the clothing which was on their backs and a rubber blanket. No wood was to be found, and snow fell twelve inches deep. After enduring many hardships the Seventy-second reached St. Louis on the 16th of November, 1864. The division was next ordered up the Cumberland, and on the 30th of November it joined the forces under General Thomas, at Nashville, and was posted on the right of the line there. The command of the division now devolved on General J. A. McArthur, General Mower having been ordered to General Sherman. On the 7th of December the Seventy-second was on a reconnaissance, and was warmly engaged and lost eleven men killed and wounded. During the first day of the battle of Nashville, the regiment participated in a charge, in which three hundred and fifty prisoners and six pieces of artillery were captured from the enemy. This, among many other brave acts, proved that the men of the Seventy-second would fight when properly commanded, General good-for- nothing Sturgis to

the contrary notwithstanding. At night the Seventy-second was sent to Nashville with prisoners, but it returned in time to take part in the fight of the 16th of November, 1864, and engaged in the charge on Walnut Hills. In this battle McMillens brigade, numbering less than twelve hun-

281

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

dred men, captured two thousand prisoners and thirteen pieces of artillery, while its total loss was only one hundred and sixty men. Here the Seventy-second proved again it would fight when properly commanded, as, General Buckland asserted, and that the assertion of the miserable sham of the regular army, Sturgis, that they would not fight, was a base falsehood.

The division then moved to Eastport, Mississippi, and went into camp, where supplies were very scarce, and there the brave men of the Seventy-second, as well as the other soldiers of the division, subsisted for days on parched corn and water

In February, 1865, the regiment moved with the division to New Orleans, and there camped. February 28, it embarked on the ocean steamer Empire City, and on the 3d of March landed at Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island. On the 19th it crossed the east side of Mobile Bay, and moved up Fish River and' landed about thirty miles east of Spanish Fort. Here a short time was allowed for bringing up supplies, and on the 27th Spanish Fort was invested. The siege lasted until the 8th of April, when the rebels evacuated the fort. In these operations the Seventy-second lost one man killed and three wounded. On the 9th of April it marched for Montgomery, Alabama, and after a toilsome march of thirteen days reached its destination. On the 10th of May the division moved toward Selma, and arrived there on the 14th. On the following day McMillen's brigade was ordered to Me- ridian, Mississippi. Here the regiment re- mained on garrison duty until June, when it was placed along the line of the railroad west of Meridian. About this time orders were received to muster out all men in the regiment whose term of service would expire before October 1, 1865. Under this order forty-one men were discharged. In September the Seventy-second moved to

Corinth, but was soon ordered to Vicksburg, where it was mustered out on the 11th of September, 1865. It then at once embarked for Ohio, and was paid off at Camp Chase.

AN ERROR CORRECTED.

The hasty correspondents who sent to the press an account of the battle of Shiloh were inaccurate, and did injustice to the Seventy- second regiment. This correspondence was hastily compiled, and thus the errors were incorporated into some early histories of that battle. These errors were a source not only of injustice to the brave men of the regiment, but caused much mortification to all the officers and privates. No one, perhaps, felt so keenly the mortification of the mistake as General Buckland himself, who always afterward labored to correct the error. Fi- nally a most fitting opportunity to set the history right occurred.

At a meeting of the Army of the Ten- nessee, at Cincinnati, on the 6th of April, 1881, a paper was read on the battle of Shiloh by General Sherman. The statements in this paper were such as to call from General Buckland a full and true statement of his part, and of the part of the Seventy- second regiment in that battle. General Buckland's statement was published in the Toledo Blade of June 9, 1881, and copied into many other papers in different parts of the United States. The principal error which appeared in the correspondence first published giving an account of the battle, was in stating that the troops under General Buckland's command were surprised. General Buckland's communication refutes this statement successfully. It has been submitted to General Sherman and many others, and has been adopted by the Society of the Army of the Tennessee as the true statement, and printed by it as the correct history of the battle of Shiloh. Therefore, as a mat-

282

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

ter of justice to General Buckland and the men under his command, and especially the brave men of the Seventy-second regi- ment, we give his statement in full in this history.

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH .*

At the Reunion of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee in Cincinnati, April 6, 1881, General Sherman read a paper on the battle of Shiloh, and submitted a map (made by himself) of the battlefield and the location of the Union troops on Sunday morning, and at the close of the fighting at night. This map he sent to my seat, and requested my opinion as to its correctness. From a cursory examination I expressed the opinion that it was substantially correct. At the same time I said that the commencement of the battle of Shiloh had been grossly misrepresented, and the truth about it had never been properly understood by the public; that the first accounts published in the Northern papers from their correspondents, particularly the account of "Agate," (Whitelaw Reid) correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, stated that officers and men of my brigade, among others, were surprised in their tents, etc., and these accounts had been adopted by historians, whereas there was not one word of truth in such statement. I then made a brief statement of the events which occurred within my own knowledge in front of Sherman's division during the three days preceding the battle, and the circumstances of the commencement of the battle on Sunday morning, and the position of my brigade at the close of the fighting at night. My remarks were very imperfectly reported in the papers,. and have been criticized by the Gazette's correspondent, "H. V. B." I had not read Agate's account for several years. Upon examination of it as published in The Record of the Rebellion, by Frank Morse, I find that he does not say that my brigade was surprised in their tents, but as this account of "Agate" has been quoted for history, I will give here the following extract:

"About dawn Prentiss's pickets were driven in; a very little later Hildebrand's (in Sherman's division) were; and the enemy were in the camps almost as soon as were the pickets, themselves.

"Here began scenes which, let us hope, will have no parallel in our remaining annals of war. Some, particularly among our officers, were not out of bed; others were dressing, others washing, others cooking, a few eating their breakfasts. Many guns were unloaded, accoutrements lying pell-mell, ammunition was ill- supplied-in short, the camps were virtually surprised, disgracefully, it might be added, unless some one can hereafter give some yet undiscovered

reason to the contrary -- and were taken at almost every possible disadvantage.

"The first wild cries from the pickets rushing in, and the few scattering shots that preceded their arrival, aroused the regiments to a sense of their peril. An instant afterward shells were hurtling through the tents, while before there was time for thought of preparation, there came rushing through the wood, with lines of battle sweeping the whole front of the division camp, and bearing down on either flank, the fine, dashing, compact columns of the enemy.

"Into the just aroused camps thronged the rebel regiments, firing sharp volleys as they came, and springing toward our laggards with the bayonet. Some were shot down as they were running, without weapons, hatless, coatless, toward the river. The searching bullets found other poor unfortunates in their tents, and there, all unheeding now, they still slumbered, while the unseen foe rushed on. Others fell as they were disentangling themselves from the flaps that formed the doors of their tents; a few, it was even said, as they were vainly trying to impress on the cruelly exultant enemy their, readiness to surrender.

"Officers were wounded in their beds, and left for dead, who, through the whole two days' fearful struggle, lay in their agony, and on Monday were found in their gore, inside their tents, and still able to tell the tale.

"Such were the fearful disasters that opened the rebel onset on the line of Prentiss's division. Similar were the fates of Hildebrand's brigade in Sherman's division.

"Meantime what they could our shattered regiments did. Falling rapidly back through the heavy woods till they gained a protecting ridge, firing as they ran, and making what resistance men thus situated might, Sherman's men succeeded in partially checking the rush of the enemy long enough to form their hasty line of battle. Meantime the other two brigades of the division (to the right) sprang hastily to their arms, and had barely done so when the enemy's lines came sweeping up against their fronts too, and the battle thus opened fiercely along Sherman's whole line on the right."

This is certainly a most sickening and, if true, would be a disgraceful picture of a great army surprised and slaughtered by its enemy, but I aver that as to the three brigades of Sherman's division camped near Shiloh Church, there is not a particle of truth in this story of surprise on Sunday morning. I have no personal knowledge as to Prentiss's division; but I have good reason to believe that the story as to that division is equally false.

Again "Agate" writes to the Cincinnati Gazette, under the date of April 15, 1862, and after saying that other troops besides Ohio's run on Sunday, says: "The amount of that 'disgraceful' running of Ohio troops" on Sunday morning is substantially this:

* By General R. P. Buckland,

283

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the men were completely surprised; some of their officers were bayoneted in their beds, others were shot in their tents while sleeping; all were under heavy fire from an enemy fairly in their camps before they had an instant for seeking and grasping their weapons. There may have been Spartan veterans, who under such circumstances would have stood to be shot down rather than `disgracefully run,' but I suspect that modern armies do not contain many of them."

In Headley's History of the Great Rebellion, among other equally absurd and false statements about the surprise of Shiloh, I find this :

"The on-pouring thousands swept the camps of the front division like an inundation, and the dreadful spectacle of a vast army in disorderly flight, before it bad time to form a line for battle, was presented. So swift was the onset on Buckland's brigade, of Sherman's division, that between the long roll of the drum and the actual presence of the shouting foe in the camp, the officers were not yet up and had not time to dress, and the troops seizing their muskets as they could, fled like a herd of sheep towards the rest of the division."

Such are the first reports of the commencement of the battle of Shiloh, given by newspaper correspondents, who must have obtained their information from the cowards who sneaked away to the rear on the first appearance of danger. These widely published newspaper reports have been adopted by several his- torians as true, and are still believed by some people. The facts which I shall give will show how utterly false and groundless are all such stories to these brigades of Sherman's division encamped near Shiloh Church.

Sherman's division was organized at Paducah, Kentucky, about the 1st of March, 1862, and contained four brigades, each of three regiments of infantry, as follows:

First-Sixth Iowa, Colonel McDowell commanding brigade; Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel Worthington, and Tenth Illinois, Colonel Hicks.

Second-Fifty-fifth Illinois, Colonel Stewart com- manding brigade; Fifty-fourth Ohio, Colonel Smith, and Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Mason.

Third-Seventy-seventh Ohio, Colonel Hildebrand commanding brigade; Fifty-third Ohio, Colonel Appler, and Fifty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Mungen.

Fourth-Seventy-second Ohio, Colonel Buckland

commanding brigade; Forty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Sullivan, and Seventieth Ohio, Colonel Cockerill.

Most of these regiments were new and reported at Paducah, mostly unarmed. My brigade embarked on the steamers on the 6th of March, and our arms were sent on board in boxes and were distributed to the men on the boats after we left Paducah. We left Paducah on the morning of the 7th of March, in advance of General Sherman, with orders to report to General C. F. Smith, near Fort Henry, he then

being in chief command. I reported to General Smith, who ordered me to remain there until further orders. After some delay we steamed up to Savannah, then up to the mouth of Yellow Creek, above Pittsburg Landing, for the purpose of cutting the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, but the extreme high water prevented the accomplishment of that purpose, and we came back to Pittsburg Landing. On the 18th of March we commenced disembarking at that point, and on the 10th we took our position at Shiloh Church, fronting towards Corinth. The road leading from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth passes along close to, and on the left of the church. The right of Hildebrand's brigade rested on the road, and the left of mine at the church, there being only a few rods between the two brigades. The Seventieth Ohio on the left, Seventy-second Ohio on the right, and Forty-eighth Ohio in the centre. Mc-Dowell's brigade was some thirty rods to the right of mine, there being a considerable ravine or valley between the two. Stewart's brigade was located, as I understood, about one mile to the left of Hildebrand's, and to the left of Prentiss's division, to guard an important crossing of Lick Creek. In front of our line was Owl Creek, which is a crooked stream and ran nearer our line at the church than at any other point. According to my recollection the creek was about thirty rods from the left of my brigade and about twice that distance from the right. The space between my color line and the creek was covered with woods and underbrush, but not very thickly. Along the creek and beyond it was densely wooded. There was a bridge across the creek on the Corinth road, and we built a bridge about in front of the centre and another to the front and right of the brigade. It seems to me that this latter brigade was near half a mile from the right of my brigade. Something like a mile in front of our line were large, open fields, beyond which our picket line was established, and beyond these fields were dense woods for several. miles. I don't know whether any regular cavalry pickets were established in front of our picket line or not, but the Fifth Ohio cavalry were out in front of us and consequently had frequent skirmishes with rebel cavalry for ten days or two weeks before the battle.

On Thursday, April 3, General Sherman ordered me to take my brigade to the front on the Corinth road four or five miles, send out scouting parties and see what I could discover; but cautioned me not to be drawn into a fight with any considerable force of the enemy. I marched my brigade to the forks of the road about five miles from our line, where I halted and formed the brigade in line between the two roads facing towards Corinth. Both roads, as I understood, led to Monterey, about two miles further toward Corinth. I then sent two companies of the Seventieth Ohio, under Major McFarran, forward on the left hand, and two companies of the Seventy-second

284

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Ohio, under Major Crocket, on the right hand road. They both encountered rebel cavalry pickets within less than half a mile, and commenced skirmishing with them. Major Crocket soon after sent word to me that there was a large force of cavalry in sight, and that he would need reinforcements. In accordance with my instructions not to be drawn into a fight, I ordered Major Crocket and Major McFarran to return to the brigade. While there several of the soldiers reported to me that they distinctly heard the long roll in the direction of Monterey. I did not. Soon after the scouting companies returned, we commenced our march back to camp, where we arrived a little before dark, and I reported immediately to General Sherman.

The next day, April 4, about 2 o'clock P. M., a considerable force of rebel cavalry attacked the left of my picket line, capturing a lieutenant and seven men of the Seventieth Ohio. Happening at the time to be near the right of the line, where the Seventy-second Ohio was drilling under Major Crocket, I rode in the direction of the firing, directing Major Crocket to follow with his regiment. On ascertaining what had occurred I sent Lieutenant Gear, of the Forty-eighth Ohio, acting as my aid, to inform General Sherman, who soon returned with word that General Sherman would send one hundred and fifty cavalry to pursue the enemy. In the meantime, on learning from Major Crocket that he had sent company B of the Seventy-second to scout outside the picket line, I told him that was wrong ; the officers and men being inexperienced, I feared they would get into trouble, and directed him to take company H, find company B and return with them to the regiment as soon as possible. Soon after we began to hear musketry firing in front. Colonel Cockerill arrived on the picket line with several companies of the Seventieth Ohio. The firing in front became constant and more regular. We therefore concluded that our men were intercepted and unable to return as ordered. I took three companies of the Seventy-second, A, D, and I, and started into the woods in the direction of the firing, directing Colonel Cockerill to come to my aid if he heard heavy firing. We had not gone far when we met some of Major Crocket's men, and learned that they had been intercepted and attacked before reaching company B, the Major either killed or captured, and that company B was surrounded by a large force of rebel cavalry. About the same time there came upon us one of the severest rain and thunderstorms I ever witnessed. My boots, worn outside of my pants, filled full of water and ran over the tops. The storm stopped us and the firing for a time, but as soon as the storm was over the firing commenced again, and we pushed on with as much speed as possible, my men being deployed in line, and I riding eight or ten rods in front. About two miles from the picket line, on reaching near the top of something of a hill, I discovered through the

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 41

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: