History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 55

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 55

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

to go. I have neither, and there are none who would suffer should I fall. Besides, I should be in far better health after I got used to it. I had a let- ter from Lieutenant Tyler yesterday. He said all were well. I had a letter from Fred Collins during the week; he sends love. I had one from Pollie Stratton Wednesday. I must close now. So good- bye, and soon return a favorable reply to your son, CHESTER A. BUCKLAND.

MOTHER, CAN I GO?

.I am writing to you, mother, knowing well what you will say,

When you read with tearful fondness, all I write to you to-day ;

Knowing well the flame of ardor, on a loyal mother's part,

That will kindle with each impulse, with each throb- bing of your heart.

I have heard my country calling for her sons that still are true ;

I have loved that country, mother, only next to God and you,

And my soul is springing forward to resist her bitter foes ;

Can I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, can 1 go?

From the battered walls of Sumter, from the wild waves of the sea,

I have heard her cry for succor, as the voice of God to me;

In prosperity I loved her, in her days of dark distress; With your spirit in me, mother, could I love that country less ?

They have pierced her heart with treason ; they have caused her sons to bleed ;

They have robbed her in her kindness ; they have tri- umphed in her need ;

They have trampled on her standard, and she calls me in her woe.

Can I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, can I go?

I am young and slender, mother ; they would call me yet a boy ;

But I know the land I live in, and the blessings I en- joy.

I am old enough, dear mother, to be loyal, proud, and true

To the faithful sense of duty I have ever learned from you.

We must conquer this rebellion; let the doubting heart be still ;

We must conquer it or perish ; we must conquer, and we will.

But the faithful must not falter ; and shall I be want- ing? No!

Bid me go, my dearest mother. Tell me, mother, can I go?

He who led His chosen people, in their efforts to be free

From the tyranny of Egypt, will be merciful to me ; Will protect me by His power, whate'er I undertake, Will return me home in safety, dearest mother, for your sake ;

Or should this, my bleeding country, need a victim such as me,

I am nothing more than others who have perished to be free.

On her bosom let me slumber ; on her altar let me lie; I am not afraid, dear mother, in so good a cause to die.

There will come a day of gladness, when the people of the Lord

Shall look proudly on their banner which His mercy has restored,

When the stars. in perfect number, on their azure field of blue,

Shall be clustered in a union, then and ever firm and true.

I may live to see it, mother, when the patriot's work is done,

And your heart, so full of kindness, will beat proudly for your son ;

Or through tears your eyes may see it, with a sadly thoughtful view,

And may love it still more dearly for the cost it won from you.

I have written to you, mother, with a consciousness of right ;

I am thinking of you fondly, with a loyal heart, to- night.

When I have your noble bidding, which shall bid me to press on,

I will come and see you, mother, come and see you and be gone-

In the sacred name of freedom and my country as her due ;

In the name of law and justice, I have written this to you.

I am eager, anxious, longing, to resist my country's foe.

Shall I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, shall I go?

-Chester A. Buckland. CAMP SHILOH, WEST TENNESSEE. - Saturday April 5, 1862.

DEAREST MOTHER :

You may glory in us now. Yesterday, while drilling about a mile from here, our pickets were fired upon. In a very few moments the Seventy-second was on its way to battle at a double quick-step, company B in the rear. When we arrived at a convenient place, we were deployed as skirmishers, and were to try and surround the rebels. We wandered along a couple of miles. I and Henry were near the end of the company. The

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

company was in groups of four, each group twenty paces apart. An order was given to rally on first group, when the front commenced to fire, but ceased before we could get up. We wandered in a body for near an hour, making frequent halts. Every ear was listening and every eye watching eagerly for sound or sight of the enemy. Nearly an hour from the first fire we got sight of them again, and nearly all got a chance to fire. We think one was killed or badly wounded. Here we found there were more than we thought, and so we retreated to a kind of a pen built of rails, and then to a big tree on the brow of a ravine. In a little time the rebel cavalry rode up in sight, and then the fight began. I could hear the balls go "whip" through the air, and hear them strike the trees around us. There were a hundred and fifty rebels against forty-four of us ! Once in a while one would drop from his horse or a horse would fall dead or wounded. We would load, run up where we could see, drop on our knees, take aim and fire, and then run back to load. In this manner we made them believe there were a good many more than there were of us.

In this part of the fight two of our men were wounded, Charles H. Bennet, in the right leg and James Titsword through the left breast above the heart. When we had fought about three-fourths of an hour, it commenced to rain and hail, which made it diffcult to load without wetting the power. Then the rebels retreated. In a very little time it rained so hard we could not see more than a couple of rods, which was just exactly the time for them to ride on to us and cut us in pieces. We threw out guards to watch for them. I never knew it to rain so hard. When the rain had ceased, we saw them forming on a sort of prairie beyond the reach of our Enfields. In a short time they gave a great shout and advanced on us. As soon as they were within good reach, we commenced to drop them again. They had been reinforced to about four or five hundred, beside what may have been in reserve. We fought here about a quarter of an hour more, during which three more were wounded, and several had holes shot in their clothes, one having a thumb broke, two shots in his arm, one through his clothes and one in his boot. Now was the desperate time. The rebels fired a volley, drew sabres and began to advance. They were on three sides of us. Our hearts began to sink. We rallied round the old white oak, each one firmly grasping his gun with its powder-stained bayonet, and determined to give as good as we got. How fierce we felt. Our last chance seemed gone, when a volley sounded in the rear of the rebels. It was the Seventy-second ! How loud the hurrahs sounded then ! It was the sweetest music I ever heard ! The rebels turned and fled. We were saved. We fired as long as we could reach them and then took Titsword in care, and then we went over to where part of the rebels had been. We found two mortally

wounded ones. Our Enfields make wicked holes. The first was a young boy about eighteen. He was afraid of us, and wanted to know what we would do with him. We promised to take care of him, as we would of our own men. He was assured of this, for one wanted to kill him, but we raked him so the boy was encouraged. The other was a man about twenty-five. We carried them as far as the pickets, where we had to leave them, for we could carry them no farther. Each one said there were four or five hundred of them. They were from Alabama, were well dressed and pretty well armed. These two men died last night. The rebels had carried all their wounded and dead away, but our cavalry say they saw about twenty dead rebels in the woods, and there must have been many wounded. I saw four dead horse.

Company A passed over the ground where our heaviest fire was aimed, and found a great many sabres, pistols, guns, blankets, and everything they couldn't take away. They had a battery not far from where we were, and the cavalry followed them nearly into it. I have heard our men took two pieces of artillery, but am not certain if it be true. None on our side were killed, but Major Crockett, I fear, is a prisoner. The last seen of him, he was riding like a flash through the woods, fol- lowed by a dozen rebel horsemen. He had no arms with him, and couldn't fight them. A sergeant and a corporal were taken prisoner from company H. Company H had four wounded, one the color-ser- geant, old Dr. Gessner's son. He was taken prisoner and told to climb behind one of the rebels, which he would not do. The rebel drew a revolver and snap- ped it at him, but it missed fire. He ran while the rebel was cocking it again, when the fellow shot and hit him in the shoulder. Our men took nine or ten prisoners, who said they hadn't thought we could shoot so well. We must have killed about as many as there were of us, for every man took aim, and there are some who don't miss often. Orin England and Eugene Rawson were with our company, and neither one of them had even a pistol; but as soon as Titswood was wounded, Orin took his gun and car- tridge box and fought well, while Eugene stood up with the boys and talked and laughed, and told them to keep cool and take good aim. It was no light matter to stand up unarmed, and a lot of fellows shooting at one. While we were bringing in the wounded there was a heavy battle not far from where we fought. Our fight will not probably appear in the papers, but we had a hard struggle, and against most fearful odds. Ten to one is a great disadvan- tage. Two minutes more and company B, Seventy- second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, would have been no more. We would have all been killed, for each one would have died fighting. It would have been a barren victory, for there would have been a dead rebel or two for every one of us. Our bayonets were

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

fixed, and they are sorry things to run upon. We were willing to stop fighting. How soon we will have another fight I don't know, but any minute the long roll may sound for the battle. We may fight and die; but, mother, your sons will never quail.

It is. getting too dark to write, so I must close. Good-bye, dear mother, and remember if I die it is for my country.

Your son, CHESTER A. BUCKLAND.

That these appeals were successful the above letter shows. The patriotic mother could no longer withhold her con- sent. On the 22d day of November he enlisted in company B, of the Seventy-second regiment, at the age of twenty years. He went with the regiment to Shiloh, and there, early in the day of the 6th of April, he was wounded in the knee by a rifle shot from the enemy.

The news of his being wounded reached home. Lists of the wounded who had been sent homeward were published in the papers. The anxious parents watched eagerly the list of those sent to Ohio, but Chester's name was not found. It ap- peared subsequently that by mistake his name was in the list of those sent to Indiana, which the friends here did not search with so much interest.

Our people at once, after the battle of Shiloh, sent à committee there and an- other to Cincinnati, to look after the re- turning wounded. Dr. L. Q. Rawson, while at Cincinnati, found that young Buckland had died of his wound on a steamboat which was bringing him to that city from Cairo. Dr. Rawson at once placed the body in a metallic case, and sent the remains homeward, and informed the parents by telegraph what had hap- pened.

The remains arrived in due time, and, after solemn services, were deposited by a large collection of mourning, patriotic citizens in Oakwood cemetery, where he rests.

Who did more for the country than

Chester A. Buckland, who gave to it a dearer offering than did his father and mother?

MICHAEL WEGSTEIN.

The first man of the Seventy-second regiment to give his life on the field of battle for our Union and liberty, was Captain Michael Wegstein, of company H. He was born in Baden, Germany, in the year 1818. He emigrated to the United States in 1834, and as soon as time allowed became an American citizen by naturalization. He was an industrious and useful citizen, and in 1859 was elected sheriff of Sandusky county. In the year 1861 Doctor A. R. Ferguson was elected his successor, whose term of service began on the Ist of January, 1862. After the Oc- tober election of 1861, Mr. Wegstein, being defeated in the election by Dr. Ferguson, at once set himself about re- cruiting a company of Germans, to form. a part of the Seventy-second regiment. He succeeded, notwithstanding a por- tion of his party; the Democratic, was much opposed to the war at that time. Captain Wegstein was a brave, honest, and patriotic man. He ably and faithfully commanded company H, of the Seventy- second regiment, and was with it in all its movements until the morning of the mem- orable 6th of April, 1862. At the first onset of the rebels in that battle he was found ready and at the head of his com- pany. As he was forming them into line for a charge upon the enemy, a minie rifle ball from the enemy's ranks struck him in the throat, a little above the breast bone, and he fell dead upon the field of battle. He was certainly the first man of the Sev- enty-second killed in battle, and probably the first life offered up by the patriots of Sandusky in the great struggle for the Na- tion's life. Michael Wegstein was an honest

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

man, faithful in the discharge of all the social duties of life -- a good citizen in all respects. He was always a brave man, and a patriot who gave his life for his adopted country.

If Sandusky county shall ever perform her sacred duty in honoring her soldiers with a monument to them, the name of Michael Wegstein should have a promi- nent place, and justly and truly record the fact that of all the men the county gave to the Seventy-second regiment, he, an hon- est, brave, and patriotic man, was the first to die in battle.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL HERMAN CANFIELD,

of Medina county, was the next offering of life on the field of battle from the Seventy- second regiment. He was a scholar, a graduate, a lawyer, and left a good and lu- crative practice to enter the service. By his efforts a company was enlisted in the eastern portion of the State. A few min- utes after Captain Weigstein fell, Lieuten- ant-Colonel Canfield was shot through the breast while riding in front of his com- mand, on the morning of the 6th of April, 1862, in the battle of Shiloh, and died on the 7th of the same month.

MAJOR EUGENE ALLEN RAWSON.

Among the noble men who have earned the gratitude of a Nation, by giving their strength and their lives to its defence, few there are whose memory deserves to be more warmly cherished than he whose name stands at the head of this article. While at school at Homer, New York, and just about finishing his academic course, pre- paratory to entering Yale College, the President's first call came for volunteers, and young Rawson, not stopping to count

the cost of the sacrifice he was about to make, joined the Twelfth New York regi- ment as a private. In that capacity he took a noble part in the battle of Bull Run, evincing great coolness and bravery. When the fortunes of the day went against General McDowell's army, and when, in the confusion that followed, regiments were thrown into disorder and scattered, he and a tried companion sought the pro- tection of a tree, from behind which they loaded and fired until his friend fell dead by his side.

In December, 1861, he was appointed adjutant of the Seventy-second Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry by the Governor of Ohio, and was accordingly transferred to it by the War Department. He could have received no transfer more agreeable to his feelings, and none more complimentary. The Sev- enty-second was chiefly raised in his own county, and was composed in a great meas- ure of those who had been the compan- ions of his boyhood. Entering upon the duties of his new field, he at once exhibit- ed a peculiar fitness for the position to which he had been called, and, from his previous experience in the service, was of great advantage in the early training of the regiment. He left Fremont with the regiment in January, 1862, when it moved to Camp Chase, preparatory to setting out to its final destination, Paducah and the Southwest. When, joined to the Army of the Tennessee, the Seventy-second disem- barked at Pittsburg Landing, the men composing the command were mostly sick, suffering terribly from the effect of their transit and with the disease peculiar to that Southern climate, to which they were un- used. Major Rawson's natural buoyancy of spirit, and cheerful, sprightly manner could not otherwise than revive the droop- ing spirits of the boys, amongst whom, in their hour of calamity, he went about "doing good." On Friday-preceding the

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battle of Shiloh, Major Crockett, with company A and company B, was sent for- ward by Colonel Buckland on a recon- noissance to ascertain the reason of the unusual firing heard in the direction of the picket line. Advancing some distance and failing to discover the cause, Major Crockett separated his little command, moving himself with one company to the left, while he sent company B, accom- panied by Adjutant Rawson, to the right. Major Crockett's company, after proceed- ing but a little way, was met by a superior force of rebel cavalry. The Major and some of his men were captured, while the balance barely made good their retreat. Company B, continuing its course to the right, unconscious of the fate of their gal- lant Major and his men, were confronted at a distance of a mile or two farther by the same cavalry which had so summarily disposed of their companions, now largely reinforced. Comprehending at a glance their situation, they discovered at once that retreat was impossible, and that the alternative remained to surrender or at- tempt to hold the enemy at bay until rein- forcements should arrive. The latter course was unhesitatingly adopted. Choos- ing an elevated piece of ground, covered sparsely by trees, they prepared for the attack.

Their position placed the enemy in front, the ground being unfavorable for a flank movement. Making a fallen tree their breastwork, those forty men, who had never before stood face to face with an enemy, who, for the first time were re- quired to point a gun or pull a trigger- held in check, for hours, six hundred rebel cavalry, by emptying the saddles of the advance until, to their great relief, a volley in the rear of their enemy announced the arrival of part of the Seventy-second regiment, led by Colonel Buckland, who, becoming alarmed at their long absence,

hastened to their rescue at a double quick, and arrived just in time to defeat a charge the rebels had drawn sabre to make.

Although Major Rawson was not in command of the detachment, yet owing to the feeble health of Captain Raymond, the conduct of the defence devolved principally upon him. Under his direc- tion a volley of only ten guns was fired at one time, so that a sufficient reserve should remain to mete out with steady aim another and still another volley, if the dashing chivalry should choose to follow up their advance after receiving the first round.

After the fight was over, the enemy's dead of men and horses counted, and the few wounded prisoners cared for, all, both officers and men, were lavish of the praise they bestowed upon their young adjutant. Without a musket himself, he picked up that of a wounded comrade, and fired his rounds with a composure that did no dis- credit to his exploit at Bull Run.

When the battle opened on the 6th of April, two days afterwards, and the rebels came like an avalanche upon our unsus- pecting troops at Shiloh, Buckland's brigade responded to the beat of the long-roll with such alacrity that they stood in the very front of Sherman's divis- ion, ready to meet the coming shock be- fore the enemy had gained rifle distance of their position. Colonel Buckland be- ing in command of the brigade, the com- mand devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield. Major Crockett, the only other field officer of the regiment, being a pris- oner, by common consent Adjutant Raw- son assumed his position for the occasion. At the first or second fire Lieutenant- Colonel Canfield fell mortally wounded, and he alone remained to command and cheer the undaunted boys who stood steadfast amid the storm of leaden hail that mowed through their ranks, until Col-

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onel Buckland, seeing the disaster that had befallen his own brave regiment, put himself at their head, and led them through the fight. The horse of our young adjutant was shot from under him, and another that had been sent forward for him being captured before it reached him, his duties were no less bravely or efficiently performed on foot.

The history of the Seventy-second; of the part it bore in the three days' fight at Pittsburg Landing ; in the seige of Corinth; in the pursuit of Forrest through Tennes- see; of its marches, skirmishes and battles from Memphis to Vicksburg; of its pur- suit of Johnson, under Sherman, to Jack- son; of its return to Memphis, and of the part it enacted in the great expedition of General Sherman into Mississippi-is the history of Major Rawson. After the Seventy-second had re-enlisted as veterans, and after the main body, composing Sher- man's expedition, had moved southward, a small force, consisting of not over six- teen hundred men, was sent out on the venturesome expedition of making a feint into the enemy's country, who were holding a position on the bank of the Tallahatchie, to intercept and defeat the crossing of the reinforcements moving to the support of General Sherman. Of this comparatively small force the Seventy-second formed a part under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Eaton and Major Rawson, Adjut- ant Rawson having been promoted to the rank of Major by the unanimous recom- mendation of the officers, and in accord- ance with the known feeling of the regi- ment, although he stood not in the regular line of promotion.

Arriving at the Tallahatchie River in the evening, and finding the enemy en- camped in large force on the opposite bank, they lit up their camp fires in such profusion as to deceive the rebels into the belief that they were a body of some six

or eight thousand strong. So well did they play their part that they kept the enemy beguiled and at rest until time enough had elapsed for General Smith to cross the river above, at the point chosen, without interference. The object of the expedi- tion attained, they were ordered to return to Memphis. But they were in the enemy's country, out of reach of reinforcements, numbering less than sixteen hundred, with the rebels in strong force on the oppo- site side of the river. To render less haz- ardous their retreat it became necessary to burn two bridges. Colonel Eaton received the order from the general in command to execute the task. Dividing his regiment, he marched before morning with the main body to the one supposed to be the most strongly guarded, assigning to Major Raw- son two small companies with which to proceed to the other, where it was thought but few would be found to offer resistance. The reverse proved to be the case. The Major it was who encountered the largest force. Having arrived at the bridge Major Rawson sent his pickets across to reconnoiter. No sooner had they gained the opposite side than from a point out of sight, came dashing up a large body of rebel cavalry, who commenced firing on the pickets. Veterans as they were, they knew too much to run across the bridge, where they would be sure to receive the raking fire of the rebel carbines. So they jumped over the sides into the water. This gave them the protection of the bank, as they well knew the trusty rifles of their companions would make a near ap- proach to the bank a place where a rebel would hardly venture to "make ready, take aim, fire," even at the command of a major-general himself. A brisk little fight ensued-the bridge was destroyed without the loss of a man on Major Raw- son's side, while more than one rebel grave marks the site where the old bridge

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stood -- the commanding rebel general's own son being one of the slain.

From the badly managed expedition, of which the Seventy-second formed a part, sent out from Memphis under General Sturgis, which ended so sadly at Guntown and Ripley, in Mississippi, Major Rawson reached Memphis with such of the officers and men of his regiment as were saved from the general disaster, marching over eighty miles, without food or rest, in less than forty-eight hours. The Seventy-sec- ond, acting as a rear guard of the fleeing troops, valiantly beat back the pursuing foe until out of ammunition, and their supply train destroyed by the rebels, they were forced to make good their escape by flight, which they did, but two hundred and fifty of the regiment being captured. Scarcely rested from the terrible scenes and suffering through which they had passed, the regiment, now over half re- duced in number, in command of Major Rawson, started again, under General A. J. Smith, to encounter the same foe. Coming up to the enemy at Tupelo, Mis- sissippi, Major Rawson was mortally wounded at Oldtown Creek, six miles beyond, while gallantly leading a charge against the rebel lines. Borne from the field he was conveyed back to Memphis.

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 55

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040