USA > Ohio > History of the Sixteenth battery of Ohio volunteer light artillery, U. S. A., from enlistment, August 20, 1861, to muster out, August 2, 1865 > Part 5
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SIXTEENTH BATTERY OHIO VOLUNTEER LIGHT ARTILLERY. 51
The point on the battlefield of Champion's Hill at which the Sixteenth Ohio Battery was located when charged upon by
the rebel brigades. At this point Capt. J. A. Mitchell was mortally wounded. (From a photograph taken in 1905.)
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came on they got charge after charge of canister. all the 13 rounds of canister the gun carried. And vet, though the slaughter was appalling, still on they came. They were de- termined to break our line at this point at any cost, and as fast as one line was shattered another took its place. The brave Captain remained on his horse by this gun, and this. making him so conspicuous a mark. cost him his life. He had just given some direction to the inner when he fell from his horse mortally wounded. His horse was hit at the same time in two places. A whole volley was fired at him by the enemy concealed in the ravine or dry water-course on our front near the house. As the horse was hit he sprang forward, throwing the Captain off backward. He rose from the ground, pressing his hand to his chest, the blood flowing freely from his wound. Just at this time Lient. Murdock also came near being badly. if not fatally wounded. A big rebel sneaked up behind the smoke house, and while the Lieutenant was assisting to double-shot the gun with canis- ter. with his back turned, this rebel was rushing up to bay- onet him. Lieut. George Manning, of the 56th Ohio, was near the gun and saw the rebel rushing from behind the smoke house, and shot him in the middle of the forehead be- tween the eyes; and vet that Confederate lived for three days. with the brains oozing out of the bullet hole. Poor Manning himself fell soon afterwards pierced with seven wounds. This double charge of canister was the last that gun fired.
When the captain fell. Lieut. Murdock sent back for surgi- cal aid, but the Captain insisted on sitting down with his back to a tree at the roadside near the gun, where soon afterwards he was overhanled by the rebels who took from him his sabre and money.
While these things were happening around this gun. the «Fer gun was left to the discretion of the detachment work- in's it. as there was no officer with it to give commands. Just
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1. O. Smith, Fredrick (son of Capt. Mitchell), Pomeroy Mitchell, A. Bartley Mitchell, Walter (son of Capt. Mitchell). Yard of the Old Champion House, Site of Hovey's Division Field Hospitals. (From a photograph in 1905.)
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at this point, as the rebels tried to overwhelm and capture the gun near the cabin. a rebel gun came galloping across the field to open up on this gun in the cornfield and destroy or capture it also; but one well directed shot from our gun struck the rebel gun just back of the wheel team, cutting the horses loose. One of these started toward us. and Joe Ross tried to catch it. but just then the other oun, falling back, came in sight. The rebels were coming on in such masses and our men out of ammunition, that Lieut. Murdock. seeing the gun on the point of being captured. cried out. "Quick, boys, out of here!" As they came into the road toward the other gun in the field he ordered them back, waving his revolver in his hand as a signal, for no voice could be heard in that infernal din.
Only one caisson had been taken up the Hill. and this was placed well back out of range of most of the shot. Just as we approached this caisson, and as it was making the turn to fall back, the driver of the swing team, Theodore Davis, was hit, and fell off his horse, wounded, and the team was getting tangled up, one of the frightened horses over the traces. when Joe Ross, cannoneer No. I of that gun, seeing the danger of losing our caisson, left the rebel horse he had tried to capture, straightened out the tangled team, jumped on the horse and we just escaped capture, in fact so near to being captured that an ith Indiana man said later in the day. "The 16th Battery lost a gun up there." One of the 16th gunners said 'Pretty near, but not quite." The other man insisted that he had seen it fall into the hands of the enemy, to which the gunner replied that he was with the two guns on the Hill and saw them both brought down, and were now safe with the rest of the battery.
On our way back we met the centre section which had been ordered up the Hill to reinforce us, but as we were falling back. we were ordered to secure the captured 6th Mississippi
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Battery, and bring it down or spike the guns. Two of the guns were gotten out. Some of our horses were hitched to one of the guns: a couple of rebel horses near the other were
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unhurt and hitched to it. but the gun was in among some tall trees, so that one of these had to be ent down to get it out, and Phil Hysner chopped down the tree, while the rebels were nearly upon them. yelling like Indians. Val
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Firman, a wild, reckless fellow, jumped on the rebel team, and forced them over loos and dead bodies, and daslied down the steep Hill and finally reached the road and safety. One of these rebel horses was used by Sergt. Cory to the end of the war. The other two ouns were spiked. Lieut. Murdock gave two spikes, which he carried in his pockets as per regu- lations, to John Dice, and he and Brayton Whitney spiked the guns, so that they could not be used against us.
When we reached the foot of the Hill the whole battery was put in position waiting for our men to get out of the way and for the rebels to appear over the brow of the Hill. Hovey's Division could not hold the ground alone, and in answer to earnest calls for help Grant ordered Logan to send re-enforcements. Hovey hurriedly massed three batteries of artillery, his own 16th Ohio and Ist Missouri, and Dil- lon's 6th Wisconsin, in position to rake the rebel lines. The infantry re-enforcements came after sonte delay, the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of Quinby's Division under Colonels Holmes and Boomer. Gallantly they went up the Hill. But the whole line, re-enforcements and all, was pressed back slowly. as the rebels were massing all their forces to crush us here But now came the opportunity for the artillery. Our battery could do no effective firing on account of our men being in front of us but other batteries reached further around to the right. and poured in an enfilading fire, which was so terrific as to check effectually the rebel advance, and they gave way and fled in confusion; and now all the forces under McGinnis, Slack, Holmes and Boomer, drove them again over the ground which had been hotly contested for the third time during the day, their artillery remaining in our hands.
The two divisions of Hovey and Logan had borne the brunt of the battle, facing the whole of Pemberton's 25,000 men. Logan had been so succes fu in getting around the left flank
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of the enemy, that if he had known the full situation, the larger part of the rebel army could have been captured. If the other divisions of the 13th Corps, Smith. Carr and Oster- haus, had done on the left what we did at the center and Mc- Pherson on the right, nearly the whole rebel army would have been destroyed or captured that day. McGinnis in his report gives full credit to the work of our two guns, but is in error when in his report. he says that Capt. Mitchell, after pouring a few effective shots into the enemy, when he saw that his pieces were in danger of being captured, gave the command, "Limber to the rear," which was his last order. As a matter of fact, the Captain had already fallen. and the "few" effective shots must be multiplied manyfold. The left gun fired solid shot; the other gun used shell, and then exhausted all its canister. The whole battery fired 225 rounds that day, and most of it was by the two guns on the Hill.
In the retreat the Captain was left where he fell; in fact. he was thought to be dead. But after the enemy had been driven off the field he was found shot through the breast, but still alive. He was taken to the Champion House which was used as a hospital, and died toward morning. He was buried next day in a soldier's grave by his sorrowing comrades. After the war. the body was brought home and buried at Louisville, Kentucky.
After the battle. when our Division was ordered to remain on the field. our cooks were preparing supper. One of the cais- sons, the very one that had been up on the Hill, had a live tur- key tied on the fifth wheel. Gen. Hovey came along and asked if the turkey had gone through the fight and whose it was. Joe Ross had captured and tied the bird there in the morning. but hesitated to claim it lest he be reprimanded. The General said. "Tell the owner I'm mighty hungry, and when his turkey is cooked to save me a leg." Then Joe spoke up cheerfully :
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"All right. all right. General, let us know where you'll tent, and tell Dad McGinnis to be near, and you shall both of you have a good share."
While the two guns were up on the Hill, and the rest were waiting for a chance to do something. an incident happened that came near being a serious casualty. Joe Gowdy, a gunner in the right section, was struck in the neck by a ball, which knocked him down: but he got up again and picked the ball out of his blouse collar. We thought it had first struck the tire of one of the wheels. If it had struck him with full force. it would have been a very serious if not fatal wound.
Our brigade was left on the field while the rest hurried in pursuit to Black River. Bivouacking that night among the dead. and the dying groaning and crying for water, was an even worse experience than a hard battle. Next day trenches were dug, six feet wide and 50 to 100 feet long, and 18 to 21 inches deep, and into these the dead were -athered and laid close side by side. The rebel dead were many times more than ours, and the greatest heaps were where they had charged on Logan's battery, and where they tried to take our two guns. and about the captured 6th Mississippi Battery.
Herewith are given the reports of the Generals, in which will be found a more general summing up of this great battle and movements connected with it :
REPORT OF MAJOR GENERAL MCCLERNAND.
Major General J. A. MeClernand, commanding 13th Army Corps, in his report of the operations of his command for Mav. 1863. states, respecting the march from Port Gibson to Cham- pion's Hill. that :
"I'm the 3rd, agreeable to instructions, my Corps marched of the Raymond road to Willow Springs: on the 6th to Rocks Spring -: on the 8th to Little Sandy, and on the oth to Big
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Sandy. Resuming its march on the 11th, my Corps moved to Five Mile Creek, and on the 12th to Fourteen Mile Creek.
During these thirteen days my command subsisted on six days' rations and what scanty supply the country in the imme- diate vicinity of the route afforded; were wholly without tents and regular trains and almost without cooking utensils; yet they were cheerful and prompt in the discharge of duty.
General Hove's Division led the advance to Fourteen Mile Creek. An out-post of the rebel forces at Edwards Station, concealed in the thick woods and underbrush lining the Creek, was first encountered 1 - General Hovev's advance. Over- coming the resistence of the enemy, and driving him from his covering. General Hovey pushed forward portions of his com- mand beyond the creek and secured a crossing.
Hence, on the night of the 12th, I was ordered by General Grant to move the following morning, on the north side of Fourteen Mile Creek to Raymond. The movement ordered was a delicate and hazardous one, but was calculated to deceive the enemy as to our design.
To insure against casualties, as far as possible. I ordered General Hovey to advance his division early on the morning of the 13th a mile on the main road to Edward's Station, and to form in line of battle across the road. The movement was happily executed, and had the effect to throw the enemy upon his defence against apprehended attack. The movement was discovered by the enemy too late to allow him to prevent or embarrass it .. His attack upon the rear guard was hesitating and feeble: and was promptly and completely repulsed. All were now safe beyond Baker's Creek.
On the 14th. General tlovey's Division marched through Raymond in a heavy rain storm ; and on to a creek within four miles of General McPherson's position at Clinton. This was the most fatiguing and exhausting day's march that had been made.
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That night I received dispatches from General Grant that the enemy were retreating from Jackson and attempting to reach Vicksburg in advance of us, and ordered me to immedi- ately move my 13th Corps eight miles north to Boltom Station, to head them off. General Hovey's ( 12th) Division soon after came up from near Clinton and was disposed to meet any at- tack that might come from the enemy known to be in our front.
Night found General Hovey's Division at the entrance of the several roads. or ready to move forward upon converging lines against Edwards Station. It only remained to execute what has been already intimated; hence on the night of the 15th, orders were issued to commanders of divisions to move for- ward on the following morning. General Hovey moved for- ward on the northern road at five o'clock a. m. on the 16th and believing that General Hovey's Division would need sup- port I sent a dispatch to General Grant, requesting that Gen- eral McPherson's Corps. then arriving in the rear of General Hovey, should also move forward. and on the morning of the 16th, I rode over to General McPherson's headquarters. and suggested the same thing to him, urging, among other things, that if his corps should not be needed as a support. it might, in the event that I should beat the enemy, fall upon his flank and rear and cut him off.
At 7.30 a. m., when my whole line had approached within five miles of Edwards Station, and a half mile further on. they encountered the fire of the enemy's artillery, which was briskly replied to until it ceased.
At 9.45 o'clock a. m. I received a dispatch from General Hovey, informing me that he had found the enemy strongly posted in front; and that his right flank would probably en- counter severe resistance and inquiring whether he should bring on the impending battle. A dis atch from General
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Grant came, directing me to throw forward1 -. skirmishers as soon as my forces were in hand; to feel and attack the enemy in force, if opportunity occurred, and informing me that he was with Hovey and McPherson, and would see that they fully co-operated.
Instantly upon the receipt of General Grant's order to at- tack, I hastened to do so, ordering to "Attack the enemy vigorously and press for victory." At " ~~ o'clock, a. m. Gen- eral Hovey advanced and approaching in plain view of the enemy, disposed of his forces for battle along a skirt of woods and across the road of his approach.
A mile in front stood a hill some 60 or 70 feet high. covered with a thick woods : in this woods the enemy were drawn up in strong force. This hill is indifferently called Midway or Champion's Hill, from the fact of its being half-way between Jackson and Vicksburg, and the reputed proper+ -- of a citizen by the name of Champion. The space intervening being un- dulating fields and scarred by deep ravines and chocked with underbrush, thus making the advance extremely difficult.
Undaunted. the brave men of the 12th Division pressed on under a galling fire. By eleven o'clock. a. m., the engage- ment became general all along the hostile lines, and continued to rage with increasing fury until after twelve o'clock. Meantime, the enemy had been driven back with great slaugh- ter, quite 600 yards. leaving in our hands 300 prisoners and «leven pieces of cannon.
The enemy rallying in his desperation, and bringing forward fresh troops, he poured down the road, and with superior numbers renewed the conflict. His main force was directed again-t General Hovey's 12th Division. A crisis had come. Struggling heroically against the adverse tide. General Hover called for the support of a division of MePherson's Corps, Hard by. Slowly and stubbornly our men fell back. contesting
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every inch of ground lost with death until they had neared the brow of the Hill. Here, under partial cover they rallied and checked the advance of the enemy. but a bold and decisive blow was necessary to retrieve the day in this part of the field. This was happily struck by General Hovey's 12th Divis- ion. Massing his artillery upon elevated ground beyond a mound to his right, he opened an enfilading fire upon the ene- my which, challenging the cheers of our men, went crashing through the woods with deadly effect. The enemy ave way and the fortune of the day in this part of the field was re- trieved.
General Hovey's Division pushed forward to the crest of the Hill, falling upon the flank of the broken foe, capturing many prisoners. Five of the enemy's guns that had been pre- viously captured by General Hovey, and had not been brought off the field, again fell into our hands. The carnage strewing the field literally stamped Midway as the "Hill of Death." General Hovey had lost nearly one-third of his men, killed and wounded. It was now 2:30 o'clock p. m.
That General Hovey's Division, of my Corps. bore the brunt at Champion's Hill, and that General Hovey's artil- lery, which had been massed for that purpose, retrieved and secured the fortune of the day in that part of the field, is susceptible of the clearest and most conclusive proof."
REPORT OF BRIGADIER GENERAL HOUET.
Brigadier General .Avivn P. Hovey, commanding 12th Division, 13th Army Corps, in his report of the operations of his command, from the Battle of Port Gibson. May ist. 1803. to arrival at rear of Vicksburg, May 20th, 1863. states: "The night after the battle of Port Gibson we slept upon the field; arrived in the town and bivouacked on the second day, and assisted in building a bridge over Ba ou Pierre.
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We marched for Willow Springs on the 3rd, arriving there the same evening. On the 6th. encamped at Rocky Springs. On the 7th, at Big Sandy where we remained until the 10th, on which day we marched to and encamped upon Five Mile Creek. On the 12th. we marched to Fourteen Mile Creek on the Edwards Station road. Here my Division be- ing in the front, encountered the enemy's picnets, who were encamped at Edward's Station in considerable force. We had marched from 4 o'clock in the morning over a rugged country, with little or no water, and our only hope was to force the enemy back beyond Fourteen Mile Creek. A sharp skirmish ensued, and we drove the enemy back and encamped on both sides of the Creek for the night. Our men en- joyed both the skirmish and the water.
On the 13th. I received orders to cover the flank and rear of the 13th Army Corps in its march on Jackson. The ene- my lay in strong force near our line of march, and there was danger of an attack, as we marched by the flank a short dis- tance from their encampment.
On the same night we encamped beyond Fourteen Mile Creek, at Dillon's Cross Roads, on the field of conflict a few days previous by forces under the command of Major Gen- eral Sherman.
On the 14th, we marched through Raymond in a severe storm, the roads in places having to be drained by the labor of my pioneers before our wagons could pass, and encamped near a creek about four miles distant from Clinton.
Learning at Raymond that Jackson had fallen and was in our possession, our direction was again changed towards Vicksburg, and on the 15th we marched to a point near Bol. ton Station, and encamped for the night.
On the roth, my Division moved in the direction of Mid- way, or Champion's Hill, on the extreme right of the Corps.
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My route lay on the Clinton and Vicksburg road. nearest to and on the south of the railroad.
On arriving near Champion's Hill, about 10 o'clock a. m .. the enemy was discovered posted on the crest of the Hill. with a battery of four guns in the woods near the road, and on the highest point for many miles around. I immediately rode forward and ordered General McGinnis commanding the First Brigade of my Division, to form .. Brigade in two lines and throw out skirmishers in the front and flank of his command; in the meantime General Grant had arrived.
At about 10:30 o'clock a. m., I ordered General McGinnis to press his skirmishers forward up the Hill, and follow them firmly with his brigade. In a few minutes the fire opened briskly along the whole line, from my extreme left to the right of the forces engaged under Major General McPherson, and at It o'clock the battle opened hotly all along the line. The contest here continued for an hour by my forces. For over 600 yards up the Hill my Division gallant' drove the enemy before them. capturing eleven guns, and over 300 prisoners. under fire. the Ith Indiana and the 29th Wisconsin captur- ing the four guns on the brow of the Hill at the point of their bayonets.
At this time General McGinnis requested me to permit him to take one section of the 16th Ohio Batter- commanded by Captain Mitchell, up the Hill. The section was taken up, and after fighting gallantly was withdrawn, the danger of cap- ture being imntintent. Captain Mitchell who fell during this attempt will prove a great loss to his friends and country. First Lieut. Murdock acted ver oallanty during this affair. and deserves much praise for his coolness and bravery.
My Division in the meantime had been compelled to yield! ground before overwhelming numbers. Slowly and stub- boruly they fell back, contesting with death every inch of
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the field they had won. The enemy had massed his forces and slowly pressed our whole line backwards to a point near the brow of the Hill. Here a stubborn stand was made. I at once ordered the First Missouri Battery and the 16th Ohio Battery to take position in an open field, bevond a slight mound on my right, in advance of, and with parallel ranges of their guns with my lines. .. out the same time Dillon's Wisconsin Battery was put in position. Through the rebel ranks these batteries hurled an incessant shower of shot and shell, entirely enfilading the rebel columns.
The fire was terrific for several minutes, and the cheers from our men on the brow of the Hill told of the success. The enemy gave back. and our forces, under General McGin- nis, drove them again over the ground which had been hotly contested for the third time during the day, five more of the guns previously captured and not taken down the Hill, fall- ing a second time into our possession.
[ cannot think of this bloody Hill without sadness and pride-sadness for the ~reat loss of my true and gallant men ; pride for the heroic bravery displayed. No prouder Division ever met a vastly superior foc and fought with more unflinching firmness and stubborn valor. It was, after the battle. literally a \'1 of death; men. horses, cannon, and the debris of an army lay scattered in wild confusion. Hun- dreds of the gallant Twelfth Division were cold in death or writhing in pain.
I never saw fighting, like this. The loss of my Division on this field alone. was nearly one-third of my forces en- gaged. All honor is due to the brave officers and men.
Thus ended the battle of Champion's Hill at about 3 o'clock p. m .. and our heroes slept upon the field with the dead and the dying around them.
On the ryth my First Brigade, under General McGinnis. remained to care for the dead. wounded. and prisoners. On
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the 19th, the First Brigade arrived at Edward's Station, and with the Division marched back to Black River Bridge. And on the 20th the First Brigade marched to the Vicksburg fortifications."
REPORT OF BRIGADIER GENERAL MCGINNIS ON CHAMPION'S HILL.
Brigadier General George F. McGinnis, commanding First Brigade, Twelfth Division, 13th Army Corps, in his report of the part taken by his command in the Battle of Cham- pion's Hill, Mississippi. on May 16th, 1863, states :
"We left our encampment near Bolton at 7 o'clock a. m .. on the 16th inst., and moved towards Edward's Depot, at which point the enemy were supposed to be in force. Re- ceiving an order from General Hovey to advance rapidly and cautiously, I ordered forward skirmishers and flankers, and after advancing about five miles and arriving near the foot of Champion's Hill, I was informed of enemy's bat- teries being in position on the road, and about 800 yards in front of us. My command was immediately formed in line of battle, skirmishers were thrown out, and orders received from General Hovey to advance my line and feel the enemy. The order to advance was given, and almost immediately sharp and rapid firing was commenced between the skirm- ishers.
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