USA > Ohio > History of the Seventeenth regiment, First brigade, Third division, Fourteenth corps, Army of the Cumberland, war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 14
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OHIO VETERIN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
of before we did. (We received the official notice during the day.) After return- ing to our own camp at 8 a. m .. we started on our homeward march via Raleigh. North Carolina: camped at Jones' Cross roads, North Carolina. April 29th. marched to Page's Junction on Railway and camped; foraging stopped. April 30th, marched to Thompson's Store, North Carolina and camped; it rained all night. May Ist, marched to Hatcher's Run. North Carolina. four miles south of Oxford, North Carolina. About eight miles from camp, the citizens turned out in force and raised a large pole and hoisted the Star Spangled Banner thereon; we gave them three cheers. May 2nd. marched to Townesville. North Carolina. and camped. May 3rd. crossed the Roanoke River on pontoon bridge at Taylor's Ferry, Virginia; river about seven hundred feet wide. Entered Virginia at 8 a. m. and camped near Boydton, Virginia. May 4th, marched five miles south of Lunenburgh C. H., Virginia, and camped. May 5th, started at 5a. m. pass- ed through Nottoway C. H., Virginia, and camped about five miles northwest of town. May 6th. started at 5 a. m .; whiskey issued to the boys; many had sore feet. Camped five miles E. N. E. of Appomattox river. Virginia. May 7th, started at 6 a. m. beat the Twentieth corps to Richmond, Virginia. by con- siderable. Camped three miles South of the city. ou south side of the James river. May 11th, started at 7 a. m. passed through Manchester and Richmond, after crossing the James river on pontoon bridge; passed Libby Prison and Cas- tle Thunder. Crossed the Chickahominy river on pontoon bridge, and camped near Hanover C. H. Virginia. Day very warm, rain storm at night. May 12th, started at 11 a. m., roads muddy. Crossed the Pamunkey river, one huu- dred and eighty feet wide. Camped 3 miles N. E. of Concord Church, Va. May 13th. started at 6 a. m. passed Good Hope Church and camped five miles west of Chilesburgh, Virginia. May 14th, marched towards Stevensburgh. Virginia. May 15th, we waded the Rapidan river, at Raccoon Ford: it was one hundred and fifty feet wide. and three feet deep; camped near Stevensburgh. May 16th, started at 6a. m .; at noon we forded the Rappahannock river. at Kelley's Ford, and camped three miles west of Elk Run, Virginia. May 17th. started at 7 a. m. No fences to be seen anywhere; at 5 p. m. camped at Broad river Vir- ginia. May 18th, started at 5 a. m .; crossed Bull Run at 7:30 a. m. at Black- burn's Ford. Lay over from 10 a. m. until 2 p. m. Passed through Fairfax. Vir- ginia and camped three miles east. May 19th. marched towards Alexandria, Virginia and camped three miles west of the town. Captain Brandt, Company HI. joined us, absent since capture at Chickamauga, Georgia, September 20th. 1863. Major Clark and Captain Blaire, Company A. joined us, the latter absent since capture at Chickamauga, Georgia, September 20th, 1863. May 23rd, grand review of Sheridan's cavalry and the army of the Potomac, at Washington, D. C. May 24th, grand review of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth. Seventeenth and Twentieth corps at Washington D. C. by President Johnson, General Grant, ladies and gentlemen, from all over the country; review began at 9 a. m. ended at 3 p. m. our regiment was the rear one. May 25th, crossed Potomac river at the Long Bridge and camped four miles north-east of Treasury Building, and three miles north of the capitol. at Fort Bunker Hill. Washington D. C. June 1st. day ot fasting, humiliation and praver. June 3rd, our corps reviewed by Major General Thomas. June 15th. at 10 a. m. we started for Louisville, Kentucky. on B. & O. Railway; arrived at Harper's Ferry at day break and Cumberland, Md. about dusk June 16th. June 17th. arrived at Grafton, West Virginia. at 5 a. m. got breakfast there; arrived at Parkersburgh. West Virginia at dark. and camp- ed. June 18th, left at 12:30 p. m. on boats, arrived at Portsmouth, Ohio at day- light June 19th, and at Cincinnati, Ohio, at 5 p. m. where we lay one hour. June 20th, at daylight we lay to, on account of fog, thirty miles above Louisville, Ky .. on the Indiana side, starting again at 9 a. m.and arriving at Louisville, Kon- tucky at 11 a. m. then marched four miles out on the Bardstown Pike, south east of the city, and camped near our camp of February 28th. 1862. June 30th. Companies A, B, C and'D paid off. July 1st, Companies E F, G H, Land K
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HISTORY OF THE SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT ยท
paid off. July4th, Gen. Sherman reviewed the army, and bid us all farewell. July 12th, Company B. completed their muster out rolls and Captain Jacob Kline signed them. July 16th, started at 8:30 a.m. for Division headquarters, where we where mustered out of the U. S. service; then marched to Louisville, Kentucky. where we embarked on the steamboat "St. Nicholas:" started at 11 a. m. July 17th, arrived at Cincinnati, Ohio. at 4 a. m. marched to Little Miami Railway depot, started at 10 a. m. arrived at Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio at 7 p. m. where we went into barracks and signed pay rolls. July 18th, turned over our arms and camp equipage. July 20th, at 4 p. m. we all received our final pay and discharge, except the officers who where paid July 21st, when the regiment was disbanded, and at 4:20 a. m. about one half of the regiment, left for their homes, on B. & O. Railway, via, Newark and Zanesville, Ohio.
The Railroad Accident near Pataskala Ohio.
July 21st, 1865, after being discharged, about one half of the regiment left Co- lumbus, Ohio. at 4:20 o'clock a. m. on the B. & O. Railway, via Zanesville. Ohio, for their homes. About daylight, between Summit Station and Pataskala. in Licking county, while the train was going at the rate of about thirty-tive or forty miles an hour, something about the engine broke, which derailed the whole train, except the ladies' coach. In an instant. Quarter Master Sergeant George F. Kutz. Privates Matthias Harris, Company I. Martin T. Keller, John Rader, and Amos J. Smith. Company K, were killed, and the following were in- jured: Corporal James Gannon. Company A, ankle hurt; Private William Gan- non, Co. A, Musician, James McGowen, Co. F. ankle hurt, Privates of Company I, William England. foot mashed. Oliver P. Martin, leg and shoulder mashed. James Hawkins, thumb dislocated, and Ellison Murdock, both feet mashed: Privates, Company K, Henry Canode. feet mashed, John W. Jones, right arm mashed and amputated later. Joel J. Hansberger, two ribs broken. and Abraham Rader, legs and feet mashed. There were several civilians killed and injured also. Some of those killed were in sight of their homes, and were standing on the platform of the cars, looking for the last time, on the homes they had not seen for several years, and so soon expected to enter. A negro passenger had a leg cut off, below the knee, and although suffering much pain, he requested some one to find his boot with the balance of his leg in it, as he had quite a sum of money in bills, wrapped around that ankle. Some of our boys had their pock- ets picked, during the excitement, by professional pickpockets, who had left Columbus, on the same train, for that purpose. A lady passenger tore her un- der clothing into bandages. for those injured, and the boys at once made up a purse, and presented her with a handsome sum of money. John Guseman. Com- pany A, says that the lady lived at No. 69 Mullberry street. Baltimore. Mary- land, and that the boys gave her 8369; but the lady's name has been forgotten. and all efforts to obtain same have failed.
Joel J. Hansberger, Company K, Tells About the Killed in the above Accident, as Follows :
I saw a man hanling hay, about one-fourth of a mile away; an old rebel you might know, for he never came near to help. I went and asked him if he would haul the dead to Baltimore, Ohio. "No" was his answer "I can'tgo, I must get my hay in, or it will spoil." I said "well those dead men will spoil too". He re- plied that he could not help it. I then called John J. Kumler, Company K. and when he came, told him that here was a full blooded rebel, and that we would
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OHIO VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
show him a "Yankee" trick. Kumler said " All right." I jumped on the wagon, took the reins, and told Kumler to throw some hay on, which he did. We then started for the Railroad. The old man wanted to know what I was going to do. I told him I was going to take those dead men to Baltimore. He said "not with this team," but I said "yes with this team." He tried to stop me. but I pulled out a little revolver, and told him to stand back, which he did. After loading the three dead members of Company K. and George Kutz's dead body, Amos Smith, Kumler and I started for Baltimore, Chio, with the owner of the team also on the wagon. He neverspoke a word, and when we arrived at Bal- timore, I asked him his bill. He said he did not know how much to charge, so I gave him four dollars and told him to go, now, and haul his hay.
Biographical Sketch of Lieutenant Jacob M. Ruffner, Adjutant of the 17th Regiment O. V. V. I.
He was born in Richland Township, Fairfield county, Ohio, June 19th, 1840; attended district school in his early life, in the Winter months, working on his father's farm in Summer months. Prior to the Rebellion he attended the West Rushville Academy. and was in attendence at the first term of the Fairfield Union Academy at Pleasantville. Ohio, when Fort Sumter was fired upon. He was somewhat deficient in education, but was a diligent student and no doubt would have stood at the head of his class, had not "Stern, grim visaged war" darkened the horizon. When the tocsin of the war sounded at Sumter. young Ruffner was among the first to respond to his country's call. He enlisted in Captain James W. Stinchcomb's Company F, 17th Regiment. O. V. I. for the period of three months and participated in all the wearisome marches made by the regiment in West Virginia. At Ravenswood. West Virginia he served in the capacity of a scout, donning citizen's clothes and with his life in his hands. went beyond the lines, into the enemy's country. He returned in safety, having ob- tained the information so much sought by his commanding officer. At the ex- piration of his term of service he re-enlisted in Company B. 17th Regiment. O. V. I. for three years and was appointed First Sergeant. Thoroughness and zeal were characterized in all his duties, and he was promoted to First Lieutenant and appointed Adjutant of the regiment. He took part in the battles of Wild Cat, Mill Springs, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, the Siege of Corinth and the in- numerable battles fought between Ringgold, Georgia, and Atlanta. In the lurid. seething hell of Chickamauga, when the colors of the 87th Indiana had fallen to the ground. young Ruffner saved the flag and fired every round of his revolver into the rebels' faces at the distance of only a few paces. He was as ten- der hearted as he was brave. When ordered by his captain to inform the wounded in the hospital, that our troops would be compelled to leave them to the tender mercies of the rebels, he replied . If you order me to take the company and charge that battery, I will do it, but I cannot tell those brave boys we must leave them." His early religious training made him a fatalist, and he of- ten said that if he was to be killed he would be no safer one hundred feet under the ground than in the thickest of the battle. At the battle of Kenesaw Mt. he took a haversack full of cartridges, leaped over the parapet, and issued them to the men in the rifle pits, when it was almost certain death to show a head above the works. This he did as nonchalantly as if on dress parade and no enemy near. He was killed in front of Atlanta, Georgia, at about 6 p. m. Angust 9th. 1864, aged 24 years. 1 month and 20 days, and when the spires of the doomed city were in sight. He had command of the skirmishers, and when about to be re- lieved by another officer, rose upon the small earthworks in his front to point out
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HISTORY OF THE SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT
the rebel line to the officer who was about to relieve him, and while in the act, was struck in the head by a rebel bullet, fell and died in the arms of General Dur- ban Ward, who loved him as a brother. As his body was borne to the rear, brave men shed silent tears and resolved anew in their hearts, that. the glorious ban- ner for which young Ruffner had laid down his life, should in the end, wave victorions over onr land and sea. His body was embalmed and sent home to his sorrowing friends, and upon the day of the funeral, after an oration by his former Colonel, J. M. Connell, he was buried by the Masonic Order in Steven- son Cemetery, on the banks of the Rush Creek, in Richland Township, Fair- field County. Ohio. Brave, stainless, truehearted Jacob M. Ruffner! Such a life was worth more to humanity, to civilization and to country, than the lives of a thousand traitors. May we meet thee in the Grand Camping Ground above. He went up to God from under the shadow of the flag, but the country he loved. purged in the fiery erneible of war, still lives.
"The shriek of the bondman. the clank of the chain
Are hushed, as a tale that is told;
And the clouds that once hung like a pall o'er the plain,
Have swept by, and the skies are as gold.
The birds build their nest in the cannon's cold lips,
The camps have extinguished their fires;
And the babe of Ethiopia plays with the whips That were soaked in the blood of their sires.'
He was niek named "Kate" Ruffner from being at one tune, in the three month service, a cook for his mess, and by this name was principally known in the army; in fact it was always Lieutenant Kate Ruffner, or Kate Ruffner.
B. A. Thomas.
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OHIO VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
The Old Union Wagon.
NOTE .- This song is supposed to have been composed by Newton W. Pearce Principal Musician of the Regiment.
AIR "WAIT FOR THE WAGON."
In Uncle Sam's Dominion in Eighteen Sixty-One, The fight between Secession, and the Union was begun.
The South, declared they'd have the rights, which Uncle Sam denied;
Or in the Secesh wagon they'd all take a ride.
CHORUS. - Hurrah for the wagon, the old Union wagon; We'll stick to our wagon, and all take a ride.
The Makers of our wagon, were men of solid wit, They made it out of "Charter Oak," that wouldn't rot or split.
Its wheels are of material. the strongest and the best; And two are named the North and South, and two the East and West.
Our wagon bed is strong enough for any "revolution,"
In fact it is the "hull" of the old Constitution.
Her couplings strong, her axles long, and any where you get her,
No Monarch's frown can back her down, no Traitor can upset. l.cr.
This good old Union wagon, the nations all admired; Her wheels had run for four score years, and never once been tired.
Her passengers were happy; along her way she whirled;
For the good old Union wagon, was the glory of the world.
But when old Abram took command, the South wheel was displeased Because the public "fat" was gone, that kept her axles greased: And when he gathered up the reins, and started on his route, She plunged into secession and knocked some "fellers" ont.
Now while in this secession mire the wheel was sticking tightly, Some Tory passengers got mad and cursed the driver slightly;
But Abram "couldn't see it," so he didn't heed their clatter, There's too much "black mud on the wheels," says he, "thats whats the matter."
So Abram gave them notice, that in Eighteen Sixty-Tliree. Unless the rebels "dried it up" he'd set the "niggers" free ; And then the man, that led the van to fight against his nation, Would drop his gun, and home he'd run, to fight against starvation.
When Abram said he'd free the slaves that furnished those supplies, It opened Northern traitors mouths, and Southern traitors eyes; The slaves said they, will run away, if you thus rashly free them; But. Abram"supposed," perhaps they'd best go home and oversee them.
Around our Union wagon, with shoulders to the wheel, A million soldiers rally, with hearts as true as steel; And of all the Generals, high or low, that helped to save the Nation. There's none that struck a harder blow, than General Emancipation.
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HISTORY OF THE SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT
ADDRESS OF Colonel JOHN M. CONNELL,
AT THE REUNION OF THE 17TH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, AT LANCASTER. OHIO, AUGUST 17 TH, 1881.
The people of the Northwest were quick to understand the revolt of the South and prompt to act with armed strength in defense of the Union. To them it was not an insurrection of the Southern people against the temporary rulers of the Nation and their enforcement of its laws. The proclamation of the Presi- dent, calling ont a few thousand militia to put down such an insurrection. to them seemed like reading the Riot Act and calling for Sheriff's posse to disperse Davis' army.
Ohio, by her location and her great strength, was central, pivotal and domin- ant, from the beginning of the war in all its events. Her people, before hostili- ties began, understood the purposes of the Southern leaders, and their strength. preparations and determination. That by severing the States and levying war upon the United States, they intended to put an end to nationality, and bring on the people "the intestine shock and furious close of civil butchery."
They gathered into full ranked battalions, ready for the inevitable war in de- fense of imperiled National existence.
In the politics of the young States of the Northwest there had grown with their growth one paramount, all pervading sentiment: Love for the Union. It controll- ed every political thought and movement oftheir people. The name "disunionist" was a synonym of traitor. The old States vaunted their authorship of the Union. and even asserted that as they were its creators they might be its destroyers. To the people of the States of the Northwest, earliest born of the Union, it was as a parent to be adored. cherished and protected. while one ruddy drop visited a true heart. Bewildered politicians at Washington, though patriotic. like Buch- anan sought in theoretic mazes some escape from this living fact of civil war. The latter, finding in the debates on the adoption of the Federal Constitution a justi- fication for his declaration in his annual message that "the power to make war against a State is at variance with the whole spirit and intent of the Constitu- tion," ignoring the awful fact that States were making war against the govern- ment of the people, and hesitating to tell the truth that war existed then by the belligerent acts of rebellious States. And the brave but gentle hearted Lincoln for a time. took counsel of the fears of politicians, and failed to respond to the indignation of the people surging in tides against the Nation's destroy- ers, and could only feel his way to the faint call for 75,000 of the militia "tosup- press a combination of States to obstruet the execution of the laws of the Unit - ed States, and to cause the laws to be duly executed." But to the people this faint tinkling of the alarm bell swelled into a thundering toesin of war already begun; into which they threw themselves, knowing and not fearing its terrors.
We had heard the sound of Sumter's guns, and were ready for this feeble call. and we are here to-day beeanse we answered the challenge to war. by enrolling ourselves as soldiers of the Union, to fight its enemies.
The history of our own very good, very useful and very fortunate regi- ment, generally. is like that of each of the northwestern volunteer battalions. whose zeal, devotion. valor. patience. rugged strength. intelligence and endur- ance made disunion by force impossible, and proved the power of the people to crush assailants of their government inside or out of its threshold. The Seven- teenth was quickly formed. April 15th, 1861, the President's call for 75,000 was
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OHIO VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
issned. Between that date and the 23rd, of April. eight days, ten companies were assembled at Camp Anderson. Lancaster, Ohio. to form the 17th Regi- ment, O. V. I., and May 13th, in that camp, it was fully organized and ready for the field; but oh.vain purpose. for only three months service. to learn a little in the school of the soldier. and act as special police somewhere during the Sum- mer months. Nevertheless, its service had valne. Not only as a nuclens and a training school but by its presence in the new State of West Virginia, then so important in the new State's experimental existence. Pleasant was the day of the regiment's reception and welcome at Benwood by the members of its first legislature.
And when cut up by details, or serving in. the detachments at Buchanan. Ra- venswood, or in reconnoisance. or united again in the front, there were no idle days, and there was satisfaction in the fact that we had aided in hurting the pride of the old Dominion. by protecting her faithful people while they made for themselves a new loval State. carved out of the territory of belligerent, re- volted Virginia. Here the regiment was in the provisional brigade of General Rosencrans, in Gen. Mcclellan's command. and here began the attachment for Rosencrans which grew stronger in after years when the regiment reorganized, served under him in the exciting times of tremendous import, when he com- manded the Army of the Cumberland.
Our short service ended in anxiety to know the future of a regiment proud of its brief record. and desirous of a resurrection to a longer life. On the 15th of August, 1861. it was mustered out at Zanesville. Ohio. On the next day I re- ceived my new commission as Colonel of the Seventeenth. with orders to reor- ganize the regiment at Camp Goddard. Zanesville. The officers were no longer elected, and I was empowered to appoint my own recruiting officers, who would earn their final commissions by success in recruiting. This cut off red tape and delay. The responsibility of quick and successful reorganization and reofficer- ing of the regiment. I felt. rested entirely on me, as no other field or staff officer had, as yet. been named. Twenty years ago to-day I began the work at Camp Goddard, in the midst of war enthusiasm.
The people of Ohio were an unit. War was a fact. No more calling out of militia to suppress riots. No more peace arguments of politicians based upon theories of mutual concessions. Broken were the "mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriotic grave to every living heart and hearth-stone, and yet to swell the music of the Union," which the better angel of Lincoln's nature would touch in his inaugural address. The men who had broken our Union, were armed to kill its defenders and make sure their fatal work.
And all Ohio's sons were gathering into the camps with sure strength and un- faltering determination to strike down the last armed foe of the Nation. The Seventeenth filled up rapidly: was but a few days at camp Goddard. and then ordered to Camp Dennison. By the middle of September more men had report- ed for the regiment than filled its quota, and opportunity for selection ocenred. The regiment at that date was ready for duty. On the 25th of September I re- ported in person to Gen. Mitchell. commanding Department of Ohio, at Cincin- nati. I was ordered verbally to be ready to move on the 29th. and in this in- terview I was given officially confidential information as to our movements and the situation. I was to report with my regiment at Camp Dick Robinson to Gen. Thomas, who was organizing a force to defend against the approach of Zollieoffer's army, estimated at 15,000, and ready to move North, occupying C'en- tral Kentucky with camps of rendezvous for Kentucky rebels, so that the State might be in revolt as a fact if not by legislative act. Backner's command then being in Western Kentucky. But the ultimate purpose and cherished scheme of Mitchell was to move. as soon as he had sufficient force, through Cumberland Gap, and at Knoxville establish an entrenched camp for reerniting the pa- triotic and loyal East Tennesseeans and North Carolinians.
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HISTORY OF THE SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT.
And then what? Ah! Who knew? All was tentative, large detachments moved hither and thither with temporary objects, good sized armies were employed as outposts, as reconnoitering columns, or in camps of observation and instruction waiting for something to turn up. But for the present. there seemed work enough for the 17th. True. it did look as if we might have to repeat our West Virginia campaign in East Tennessee-stand. guard while East Tennessee should be organized into a State, in one event: But in the other, the advance of Zolli- coffer with his greatly superior numbers if made at once, would truly make us a large part of a forlorn hope to meet him, and there was romance in those words in those days to us green, young soldiers,
- On the 30th of September, 1861, we "invaded" Kentucky. Our medical staff being absent with their medical supplies, if they had any, Dr. Blackman, then Surgeon in-Chief and General Medical Purveyor at Cincinnati. hired us an un- - employed physician of Cincinnati as Surgeon, bought at the drug stores a mixed lot of medicinal stuff for us, found an ambulance standing near the railroad and not knowing to whom it belonged, gave it to us; and with 60 rounds of am- munition to a man, loaded a car. Equipped with everything but overcoats, the men boarded the train with light hearts to go to the front, for weary years of marching, toiling, fighting, waiting and enduring-faltering never, but with unqualified faith that when their soldiers' work should end there would remain no armed foe to strike at the flag of the Union; no one again to whisper disunion.
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