History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 47

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 47

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On the 27th, it started with Sheridan's cay- alry on the last raid of the war. Near the town of Waynesboro, Custer's division captured the remainder of Early's army. In this en- gagement, the Second Ohio captured five pieces of artillery, with a large amount of military stores, together with 650 prisoners, for which it received the thanks of Gen. Custer on the field. It continued to do its share of duty until the 20th of March, when, after resting a few days, Sheridan's cavalry joined the Army of the Po- tomac, and entered on the closing campaign of the war. After the surrender of Gen. Lee, the regiment, with its division, was ordered to North Carolina, but, upon receiving information of the surrender of Gen. Johnston, it returned to Petersburg. The division soon moved to Washington City, and, immediately after the grand review, the Second Ohio was ordered to report to Gen. Pope, at St. Louis, Mo., where it arrived on the 7th of June. It remained here

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a month, when it was ordered to Springfield, Mo., to relieve State troops. The order was received for its muster-out about the 1st of September. It proceeded to St. Louis, where its papers were made out, and then returned to Camp Chase, Ohio, and, on the 11th of Octo- ber, 1865, was paid off and discharged.

The Sixth Ohio Cavalry drew a number of men from this county, but not enough to form a company. Of the Summit County men, the present Auditor, Mr. Aaron Wagoner. was the only commissioned officer. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on the 8th of April, 1865. The Sixth was a splendid regiment, and saw much hard service. Reid closes his sketch of it in the following words : "During the last six months of its campaigning, it was under command of a Captain, as it had not a field of- ficer with it, nor in its organization. Nearly all of its veteran officers were mustered out of serv- ice in November, 1864,* and not a sufficient number of men were on the rolls to have them replaced ; but, in a regiment composed of ma- terial like this, it made little difference whether they were commanded by a Captain or a Brevet Brigadier. As a newspaper regiment, it has not much history. Its record shows best in the rolls of the killed and wounded, and the long list of its honorable engagements." But our space will not allow of a more extended men- tion of this gallant regiment.

The Sixth Ohio Independent Battery was made up principally in Summit County, and formed a part of the "Sherman Brigade." The commissioned officers were C. Bradley, Cap- tain ; O. H. P. Ayres and J. P. McElroy, First Lieutenants ; A. C. Baldwin and E. S. Fergu- son, Second Lieutenants. Capt. Bradley was mustered out January 17, 1865 ; Lieut. Ayres died July 8, 1864, from wounds received in the Atlanta campaign ; Lieut. MeElroy resigned March 10, 1864 ; Lieut. Baldwin was promoted to Captain, and as such mnstered out with the battery ; Lieut. Ferguson resigned November 7,1862.

This battery was organized at Camp Buek- ingham, near Mansfield, and mustered into the service on the 20th of November, 1861. It com- prised four ten-pound Parrot guns, and two six- pound bronze Rodmans. Capt. Bradley is men- tioned as an experienced artillery officer, and had his battery in good trim for active service

before leaving Camp Buckingham. The bat- tery and the brigade to which it belonged moved, on the 15th of December, to Louisville, Ky., and thence by steamer to Nashville, where they reported to Gen. Buell on the 20th. The brigade was here scattered to different localities, and the battery found its way into Camp Gil- bert, near the city, where, for some twenty days, it was occupied in perfecting its drill and getting ready for the field. It received orders, on the 12th of January, 1862, to report to Gen. Boyle, at Columbia, Ky., and arrived there on the 15th, where it took a position blockading the Cumberland River. The battery was di- vided, Lieut. McElroy's section remaining at Columbia, while the other was taken to James- town, Ky., there reporting to Col. Thomas E. Bramlette. The battery remained on duty here until the fall of Nashville, when, with the Third Kentucky, Nineteenth Ohio, and Cul. Woolford's cavalry, it proceeded to Nashville, where it arrived on the 19th of March. At Nashville, it was placed in the artillery reserve; commanded by Col. Barnet, First Ohio Light Artillery, and marched with the army to Pitts- burg Landing, arriving on the 15th of April, and going into camp on the battle-field. It was ordered to report to Brig. Gen. Wood on the 29th of April, with whom it served until the close of the war. It moved with the army on Corinth, and entered that place on the 31st of May, after its evacuation by the rebels. June 1, it moved across Northern Alabama, arriving at Mooresville on the 3d of July. On the 18th, it marched to Stevenson, Ala., where it went into camp on the 21st of August, when it joined Buell's forces in their great race after Bragg to Louisville, Ky. They arrived at Louisville on the 28th of September, and, after a rest of three days, the line of march was again resumed. It proceeded out the Bards- town turnpike and reached Rolling Fork on the 8th of October, where it was saluted with the roar of battle at Perryville, only seven miles distant. Later in the day, it marched with its division to the battle-field, but was compelled to be mere spectators of the battle. After an unsuccessful pursuit of the enemy, the national forces returned to Nashville, ar- riving on the 26th of November.

At Nashville the army was re-organized by Gen. Rosecrans, and the battery was engaged much of the time in foraging, which several

*At expiration of three years' service.

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times brought it in contact with Gen. Wheeler's Rebel Cavalry. It participated in the battle of Stone River, and other battles incident to the capture of Murfreesboro, which was entered on the 4th of January, 1863. In the battle of the 31st of December, the battery lost two of its guns, but had the good fortune to re-capture them. It lost severely in the several days' fight- ing. After the battle, the following members of the Sixth Battery were specially mentioned for gallantry : First Sergt. G. W. Smelts ; Sergts. Hust, Miller, Howard, Casey and Hart- man ; Corporals Collins, Tool, Kimberk and Scott ; Privates Evans, Kirby and Robbinett. In the battle of Chickamauga, which was fought on the 19th of September, the battery participated and again lost heavily. Among the wounded was Lieut. Smelts. During the two days' battle, it expended 383 rounds of ammunition, lost two caissons, a battery-wagon, and had two horses killed. It was dismounted while in Chattanooga (to which the army had fallen back, after the battle of Chickamauga), owing to the want of forage and horses, and thus remained for some time inactive. On the 12th of December two-thirds of the battery re- enlisted as veterans, and started home Janu- ary 1, 1864, on furlough-the non-veterans be- ing transferred to the Twentieth Ohio Battery. While the veterans were at home on furlough, they added one hundred men to their ranks. Upon the return of the battery to the front, its first active duty was in the Atlanta campaign, in which it operated with Gen. Wood's (Third) Division, Fourth Army Corps, and during the 120 days of that brilliant march, was almost constantly engaged. Corporal William Mat- thews was mortally wounded at Dallas, and the next day Bugler Whitney was killed by sharp- shooters. At Kenesaw Mountain, on the 19th of June, private Alfred Hersh was killed, and three others were wounded. It maintained its position before Kenesaw, and was highly com- plimented by Gen. O. O. Howard for accurate firing. The battery expended 250 rounds of ammunition in a charge made on the 27th. On the 6th of July, Lieut. Ayres was wounded by a rebel sharp-shooter, from the effects of which he died on the 8th. From the 13th to the 25th, the battery was busily engaged in bombarding the city of Atlanta. August 25, it formed part of the flanking movement to Jonesboro, and took part in all the subsequent operations, and

on the 9th of September it entered Atlanta, and while here was re-equipped for the field. It moved with the Fourth Corps on the 3d of October after Gen. Hood, who had commenced his march to the rear of Atlanta. Capt. Bradley being away on leave of absence, the command of the battery devolved on First Lieut. A. C. Baldwin. It participated in the battle of Frank- lin on the 15th of December, of which action, says Whitelaw Reid, "Eighteen stands of colors were taken on the battery-front during the battle, and the rebels so crowded the em- brasure that Private Jacob Stinebaugh resorted to the use of axes and picks with success. In this battle the battery lost William B. Welch, mortally wounded, and four others slightly. Welch fell into the hands of a Mrs. Bentley, of Franklin, who kindly nursed him, regardless of rebel opposition, and when he died saw him properly buried, with head-board and inscrip- tion, and a representation of the flag he so no- bly fought under cut upon the board." In the second day's battle before Nashville, the battery went into position in front of Overton's Hill, eight miles from the city, and engaged Sand- ford's Mississippi rebel Battery, completely silencing it. It joined in the pursuit of the re- treating rebels to the banks of the Tennessee River, and then marched for Huntsville, Ala., where it arrived on the 15th of January, 1865. It made a severe march to Eastport, Miss., in February, but before reaching that place, it was ordered back to Huntsville, where it remained in quarters until the close of the war. It re- turned to Ohio in the latter part of August, and, on the 1st of September, 1865, was mus- tered out of the service. It lost by death from wounds, sixteen ; by disease, twenty-six ; dis- charged by reason of disease, thirty ; of wounds, four ; by expiration of service, twenty-one ; re- enlisted as veterans, sixty-six.

The First Light Artillery (Col. James Bar- net, of Cleveland), was represented by a bat- tery or company from this county. Battery D was recruited by Capt. Andrew J. Konkle, and was made up in Summit County. The original commissioned officers of Battery D were Andrew J. Konkle, Captain ; Paul F. Rhoerbacher, L. P. Porter, Senior and Junior First Lieutenants ; and W. H. Pease, Henry C. Lloyd, Senior and Junior Second Lieutenants. Capt. Konkle was promoted to Major of the First Artillery on the 8th of September, 1863,

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and was honorably discharged August 8, 1864. Lieut. Rhoerbacher resigned January 1, 1862 ; Lieut. Porter resigned August 28, 1863 ; Lieut. Pease was promoted to First Lieutenant Jan- mary 1, 1862, to Captain July 30, 1864, and mustered out with battery ; Lieut. Lloyd was mustered out October 23, 1863 ; Sergt. N. M. Newell was promoted to Second Lieutenant January 1, 1862, to First Lieutenant July 13, 1863, and mustered with battery ; Sergt. M. G. Ransom, promoted to Second Lieutenant July 13, 1863, and resigned April 15, 1864; Henry C. Grant was promoted to Second Lieutenant March 30, 1863, and transferred to Battery A, to First Lieutenant May 2, 1865, and mustered out with battery ; Sergt. Josiah Brown was promoted to Second Lieutenant May 9, 1864, and transferred to Battery E. At the general muster-out, the commissioned officers were Giles J. Cockerill, Captain ; J. H. Rees, Will- iam Edwards, Senior and Junior First Lien- tenants ; W. M. Welcher, Cornelius Linehan, Senior and Junior Second Lieutenants .*

The First Artillery was originally organized under the old militia law of 1860. Immedi- ately after the fall of Fort Sumter, it was ordered to Columbus, and thence to Mari- etta. It was afterward ordered to Virginia, where it served until its expiration of three month's service, when it was ordered to Colum- bus for muster-out. It was at once re-enlisted for three years, and for this organization it was that Capt. Konkle's Battery D was recruited, and mustered into the service in September, 1861. It left Camp Dennison on the 1st of No- vember, and on the 10th, reported to Gen. Nel- son at Mount Sterling, Ky. It was with Nel- son until the 29th, when it reported to Gen. A. M. McCook, at Munfordville, Ky. In Febru- ary, 1862, it was again ordered to report to Gen. Nelson, at Elizabethtown, but soon re- turned to its old quarters at Munfordville, and thence proceeded with Gen. McCook to Nashville. With the Fourth Division it moved to Pittsburg Landing, thence to Corinth, and on the 30th of June it was at Athens, Ala. July 30, the battery moved from Columbia, Tenn., with Gen. Nelson's command, to Leba- non, Ky., and in September, at Munfordville, it was overwhelmed by the enemy, and its entire force and material captured. The men were pa-

roled and sent home to Ohio, remaining at Camp Chase until January, 1863, when they were exchanged. The battery was re-organized and equipped at Columbus, and joined the Third Brigade of the Fourth Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, at Lexington, Ky., in March. It served in Eastern Kentucky until July, when it marched with Gen. Burnside's army to Cum- berland Gap, and took part in the capture of that rebel stronghold. It participated in the siege of Knoxville, and, immediately after the siege was raised, re-enlisted as veterans, and the men were sent home on the usual thirty days' furlough. The ranks were filled up at Cleveland, and early in 1864, it proceeded to Knoxville, Tenn. It was with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, and participated in all the fighting of that eventful period. It took part in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, the closing struggles of the war. It was finally mustered out of the service at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 15th of July, 1865.

The Ninth Independent Battery was made up principally in this county. The first com- missioned officers were H. S. Wetmore, Captain ; L. P. Barrows, First Lieutenant, and John M. Hinde, Second Lieutenant. Capt. Wetmore resigned December 12, 1862, and Second Lieut. H. B. York was promoted to Captain, and in that position, mustered out with the battery. This battery was organized at Camp Wood Cleveland, on the 11th of October, 1861. It was first fitted out as a four-gun battery, with two ten-pounders and two twelve-pound howit- zers, but afterward became a full six-gun bat- tery. It served in Kentucky until the 1st of January, 1863, and participated in several hard fights. It was at Cumberland Gap and at Mill Springs. For its gallantry at the latter place, it was presented with two six-pound guns, by Gen. Thomas, which had been captured from the enemy at Cumberland Gap. During the retreat of the national forces from the Gap across the State to the Ohio River, in Septem- ber and October, 1862, the Ninth Battery per- formed the most arduous duty. Placed in charge of a train, on the safety of which the whole retreat depended, the battery felt like sacrific- ing themselves to a man rather than permit it to be captured, and on this determination it acted during the whole of that retreat. On the 26th of January, 1863, the battery received orders to report to the Army of the Cumber-

*The local facts pertaining to this battery were furnished us by Capt. H. C. Grant.

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land at Nashville, where it arrived on the 1st of February, and where it remained until the 6th of March, when it moved out to Franklin and took position with the right wing of the Army of the Cumberland. On the 21st of November, the battery was assigned to the First Division, Twelfth Corps, Department of the Army of the Cumberland. Four men of the battery were captured by guerrillas on the 23d of December, who treated them inhumanly -tying their hands behind them, shot them and threw their bodies into the Elk River. Two of them, however escaped, by getting their hands loose and swimming to the shore -one died the next day. The other, James W. Foley, of Hudson, was permanently disa- bled in the right leg .* Under a general order of the Army of the Cumberland, an assess- ment of $30,000 on the neighborhood, was made for the benefit of the families of the three murdered men. In February, 1864, about three-fourths of the battery re-enlisted, and returned home on furlough. On the 9th of April it reported at Tullahoma, with an aggre- gate of 151 men, having received a number of recruits while at home. In May, it acted with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign. It went also with him in his march to the sea. On the 29th of July, 1865, it was mustered out and discharged.

This comprises a sketch of the regiments which were represented by full companies from Summit County, so far as we have been able to learn them. In compiling these sketches of different regiments, we have drawn freely on "Ohio in the War," by Whitelaw Reid. But as it is said to be not wholly free from errors, we have endeavored so far as possible to have members of the regiments noticed look over and correct any errors recognizable, in order that injustice may be done to nonc.

The number of soldiers contributed by Sum- mit County during the war to the armies of the Union may not be definitely given, but probably exceeded 3,000 men. The different arms of the service, viz., infantry, cavalry and artillery, were each well represented. The Beacon of July 24, 1862, published the follow- ing list of soldiers, in the army at that time, from the different townships : Bath, 27 men ; Boston, 89 ; Copley, 34 ; Coventry, 26 ; Cuya- hoga Falls, 55 ; Franklin, 43 ; Green, 62 ; Hud-

son, 58; Middlebury, 26; Northfield, 42 ; Nor- ton, 15; Northampton, 28; Portage, 203; Richfield, 42; Springfield, 51 ; Stow, 22 ; Tall- madge, 44, and Twinsburg, 48-a total of 910 men. The regiments recruited after that date, including drafts and enlistments in old regi- ments, comprised at least twice as many more. From the Beacon we find that the county was twice subjected to a draft, but each time the number selected through the means of " for- tune's wheel " was small. The first draft oc- curred in October, 1862, and resulted as follows, by townships : Bath, 7 ; Copley, 27 ; Coventry, 49; Franklin, 59; Green, 26; Hudson, 8; Northampton, 7; Norton, 40 ; Northfield, 7; Portage, 49; Richfield, 29; Stow, 1; Spring- field, 42, and Twinsburg, 7 men. Townships not mentioned made up their respective quotas by voluntary enlistments. The next draft took place on the 7th of May, 1864, as follows : Bath, 2; Cuyahoga Falls, 5; Boston, 3; Cop- ley, 14; Coventry, 1; Franklin, 11; Hudson, 4; Middlebury, 4; Northampton, 13; Norton, 13 ; Springfield, 2 ; Stow, 6, and Tallmadge, 4 men. It is no reproach to the valor of Sum- mit County that it was twice drafted. Many loyal and brave counties were drafted more than twice. Calls were made so often for sol- diers that it was impossible to fill them as fast as made, and often before one quota was com- plete, another call was before the people. The great wonder is that men volunteered as freely as they did, notwithstanding the justness of the cause in which they were engaged. When we view the war in its full magnitude, it seems an event well calculated to discourage the most valorous. A war that in four years called for the following troops : April 15, 1861, 75,000 men ; July 22, 1861, 500,000 ; July 2, 1862, 300,000 ; August 4, 1862 (for nine months), 300,000 ; June 15, 1863, the militia; October 17, 1863, 500,000 ; March 14, 1864, 200,000 ; April 22, 1864, 100 days' militia; July 18, 1864, 500,000 ; December 19, 1864, 300,000, is without parallel in modern history, and the alacrity with which these calls were responded to is as unparalleled as the gigantic proportions of the war itself. When we take all this into consideration, it is not in the least strange that a few of these calls should be filled by draft ; nor is it, as we have said, any reproach or re- flection upon the valor of the county.

In commemoration of the services of those

*Reid.

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who laid down their lives upon the altar of their country, memorials have been erected in different parts of the county, which are intended to symbolize the affection of surviving friends. These memorials consist of monuments, chapels, etc., and are city or township affairs, and will receive appropriate mention elsewhere in this work. Not being erected by the county at large, a notice of them does not really belong in this chapter, but in the chapters devoted to the townships in which they are located.

An important element that was widely felt throughout the Northern States during the late war deserves more than a mere passing men- tion. We allude to the active part borne by the noble women of the country. Their deeds deserve to be written in characters of gold. Love and devotion to the unfortunate and heart-felt pity for the woes of suffering human- ity, are among their strongest characteristics. Their kindly smiles of sympathy break through the clouds of misfortune, and their gentlest tones rise amid the sighs of suffering and sor- row. Hundreds and thousands of these noble, self-sacrificing women, like ministering angels, took their places in camp and hospital, where many a brave soldier had cause to thank God for their presence. They went forth, braving all the dangers incident to the times and the place, with the expressed sentiment that if they died their loss would not be felt. Noble, but mistaken souls! The world sustains its heaviest loss when such spirits fall. But not alone by those who went forward to nurse and care for the sick and wounded was all the good accom- plished that is accredited to female hands. Those who remained at home performed a good work, "the half of which has not yet been told," but the results of which was felt by many a poor worn-out soldier.

The Soldiers' Aid Society, composed of ladies, was an early organization formed for the benefit of the soldiers in the field, and was pro- ductive of great good. Says Whitelaw Reid upon this subject : " Efforts of the people in be- half of their soldiers may be gathered from records of their organized action through the medium of aid societies, sanitary commissions, Christian commissions, soldiers' fairs, etc., some names of the fortunate ones whose privilege it was to work as the almoners of the people's bounty ; some traces of the more public dem- onstrations. But the real history of the work

will never be written, never can be written, per- haps never ought to be written. Who shall in- trude to measure the love of the mothers, and sisters, and wives, at home for the soldiers in the field ? Who shall chronicle the prayers and the labors to shield them from death and disease ? Who shall speak worthily of that religious fervor which counted loss and suffer- ing and life as nothing, so that by any means God's work might be done in the battle for lib- erty and right." The Cincinnati branch of the Sanitary Commission was the most extensive relief association in the State. A soldiers' aid society was a State organization, with branches in each county. It found a ready response among the ladies of Summit County. An organization, auxiliary to the State Aid Society, was formed in Akron, with branches in each township, which was instrumental in accomplish- ing a noble work. The following extract is from a soldier's letter, published at the time, and is illustrative of this good work : "It was about 5 o'clock in the afternoon when I arrived in the hospital. Soon after my entrance, I was stripped and bathed in a large tub of tepid water, shown to bed, and a nice clean white shirt and a pair of drawers were given me. I soon encased my tired limbs in my new wardrobe, and while do- ing so my eyes caught sight of the words ' From the Woman's Aid Society,' stamped in black ink on each garment. I lay down, pulled the blanket over my head and thought of my situation. Here I am in a hospital, prostrated with disease, worn out in body and mind, over eight hundred miles from any spot I can call home, my own mother and sister long since dead ; but the noble-hearted women of the North-those angels of mercy-are supplying the place of mother and sister, not only to me, but to thousands of suffering soldiers from every State. Presently I felt two large tears coursing down my cheeks and running into my mustache, followed by myriads of others drop- ping on the sheet under my chin, forming in- numerable little salt-water pools. When well, I am a strong man, and it requires some sud- den and deep grief to bring me to tears ; but tears of gratitude flowed from me that evening as freely as drops of rain from an April cloud ; and, like a spoiled child, I cried myself to sleep." This is but one instance, and how many other soldiers of the armies of the Union could tell the same story !

HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

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The Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society was formed in Akron early in the summer of 1861, and con- tinued in active operation until the close of the war. As we have said, the real history of its work can never be written. Funds were raised by fairs, festivals, mite societies, etc., and as soon as raised were invested in such articles as were needed most, and immediately sent to eamps and hospitals. Many a blessing upon

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 47

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104