History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 47

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408

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Stone River he took an active part, and in the Tullahoma campaign commanded a Division, where he was complimented by Gen. Thomas. In July, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the First Division of the Reserve Corps, un- der Major-General Gordon Granger, which moved to Chattanooga soon thereafter, where it was put in charge of Red House Bridge, whence, on the second day of the battle of Chickamauga (September 20th), under com- mand of General Granger, the Division made its timely and successful march to the support of General Thomas. In that movement, so creditable to the sagacious judgment and prompt action of General Granger, General Steedman bore a conspicuous and effective part. Throughout the desperate contest in which his Division was engaged, his activity and courage contributed largely to the effectiveness of his command's heroic service, for which distin- guished action, he was promoted to the

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rank of Major-General. IIe took a prominent part in the Atlanta campaign, and was assigned as commander of the District of Etowah, when General Sherman entered upon his " March to the Sea." At the battle of Nashville, General Steedman bore a prominent part. After the close of the war, he was assigned as Military Commander of the State of Georgia, and re- signed July 19, 1866. Personal and military relations with President Johnson, arising largely in associations occurring in Kentucky and Tennessee during the War, placed General Steedman on specially favorable terms with the then existing Administration, and but for the inability of the President to vacate the office (then held by Edwin M. Stanton), General Steedman would probably have become Secre- tary of War. He was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the New Orleans District, resigning the office in January, 1869. Return- ing to Toledo, he soon resumed his connection with the Press, acting as Editor of the North- ern Ohio Democrat, which relation he held for most of the time until his death. In 1874, he was elected as a member of the State Constitu- tional Convention, vice M. R. Waite, then ap- pointed Chief Justice of the United States ; was Senator from the Toledo District in 1877; was a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- tion in 1880 ; and a candidate for State Senator in 1881, though not then elected. His last public position was that of Chief of Toledo Po- lice. He was prominently connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was at one time the Commander for Ohio. Few citizens of the State have been more prominent in public life, than was General Steedman for the most of a period of 40 years. His military career constitutes the feature of his record which most strongly commands the considera- tion of his fellow-citizens. He possessed ex- ceptional qualities as a leader in whatever he took part. He was three times married, and left a widow and children and grand-chil- dren. ITis funeral was attended by the most general demonstration known in Toledo on a like occasion, in which the Grand Army of the Republic and the City authorities bore conspicu- ous parts. The Woodlawn Cemetery Company having set apart grounds for that purpose, he was buried there. Mr. William J. Finlay, of Toledo, for many years an intimate friend of General Steedman, having proposed to ercet a

monument to the memory of the latter at St. Clair Place (junction of Summit and St. Clair Streets), the Toledo City Council set apart that ground for such purpose, and changed its name to Finlay Place. The monument proper is in four parts, as follows: 1. Base. 2. Die. 3. Shaft. 4. Statue. The base is of Vermont marble, 9 feet square and sets directly in the center of the terrace. The die, on its four sides bears these inscriptions : 1. Fronting Cherry Street-" JAMES B. STEEDMAN, Major-General, U. S. V." 2. On Summit Street side, " Born, 1817-Died, 1883." 3. On St. Clair Street side, " Erected by W. J. Finlay." Near the top of the shaft, and between two mouldings, are these inscriptions : 1. Fronting Cherry Street, " Chickamauga." 2. Fronting Summit Street, " Carrick's Ford." 3. Fronting St. Clair Street, " Perryville." 4. In rear, ". Nashville." Asindi- cated, the latter inscriptions refer to four battles during the War of the Rebellion, in which General Steedman took part. Surmounting this shaft, is a cap, on which stands the bronze statue. It is somewhat larger than life-size, and represents the General as just dismounted, with field-glass in hand. The total height of the monument is 26 feet. The pedestal was placed in August, 1886, and the statue in March, 1887 The triangle, both inside and outside the terrace, is covered with G-inch sawed Berea flagging. Surrounding the tri- angle is an iron railing, formed by two bars supported by limestone posts. The public ceremonies of unveiling the monument took place May 26, 1887.

First Lieutenant Henry T. Bissell, Adjutant of One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Infantry, died in hospital at Louisville, Ky., Sept. 10, 1863, aged 28 years. Ile was the youngest son of Edward Bissell, Senior, of Toledo, and was a young man of much more than ordinary promise. He had read law in the office of M. R. & R. Waite, and been admitted to the Bar, when the Government called for troops for its defense. At the time of his death, he was serving on Gen. Judah's Staff. His disease was typhoid fever.

Lewis Cass Hunt, youngest son of Gen. J. E. Hunt, died in Toledo, April 30, 1868, aged 36. Born and reared in Manmee City, he came to Toledo with his father's family in 1853. In 1862 he entered the Union Army, as Captain in the Sixty-Seventh Ohio Infantry,

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and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and brevetted as Brigadier General. He shared in the fatal and terrible assault on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, and in the operations on and near the James River, Virginia. His last signal service was leading the Sixty-Seventh in the assault on Fort Gregg, a short time before the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, at which his command was present.

Colonel Nahum W. Daniels died of yellow fever at New Orleans, October 1, 1867. After practicing law for some time at Toledo he went South in 1859, but returned during the first year of the War, and soon after entered the service of the Government, and raised the Second Louisiana (Colored) Regiment, which he commanded at Fort Hudson, in July, 1863, more than half of whom were then killed. After the War he was in the employ of the Government at Washington until he went to New Orleans in the Spring of 1867.

General Henry J. Hunt, of the United States Army, and one of the most able Artillery offi- cers in the service during the Rebellion, was a son of Capt. S. W. Hunt, United States Army, who died at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, when the son was but a lad. The latter's uncle, the late General John E. Hunt, then residing at Maumee City, took him into his family, where the boy made his home until appointed to a Cadetship at West Point, where he was grad- uated with honor, and was with General Scott in the Mexican War. He died in 1886.

Mrs. Jane M., wife of Jonathan Wood of Toledo, died at the residence of E. C. Clarke, Lexington, Ky., March 7, 1862, in the 62d year of her age. Deceased was a native of New Hampshire, and was married in 1827. She was the mother of five children-two sons and three daughters; and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Toledo. At the eall of their country, her husband and both sous-Wm. H. and Alonzo 11 .- volunteered in the Fourteenth Ohio Regiment. They were in three important battles in Virginia. After great fatigue and exposure, the three were sent to hospital at Lexington, whence they were taken by Abram Van Meter to his residence. Mrs. Wood went immediately to the relief of the sufferers, and remained there until they had recovered. She was then persuaded to remain a few weeks with a friend, at whose house she was taken ill and died suddenly.

She was fully resigned at the prospect of death, and spoke with her physician, Dr. L. Beecher Todd, of the goodness of God, to whose care she commended her husband and children. Mr. Wood returned to Toledo, where he died about 15 years after the death of his wife.

Capt. Fred. 11. Brown, Company E, United States Infantry, was one of the Soldiers am- bushed, overpowered and massacred by hostile Indians near Fort Phil. Kearney, December 22, 1866. He was the son of Matthew Brown, Esq., and came to Toledo at the age of 16, and entered a Commission House, where he re- mained for 12 years, and where he attained special eminenee for ability and integrity. At the outbreak of the Rebellion, his sympathies were early enlisted in the War. He visited Columbus with the view of obtaining authority to raise a Company ; but seeing the crowds there for a like purpose, he determined to enter the service as a Private, and at onee volun- teered in the Eighteenth Regular Infantry, being the fifth enlisted man. He was soon detailed as Quartermaster's Sergeant. Soon thereafter he was commissioned as 2d Lieu- tenant, and was employed for some time as Commissary and Quartermaster at Camp Thomas. In 1863, he joined his Regiment under Col. H. B. Carrington, at Chattanooga, and remained with it till the elose of the War. In November, 1865, he was ordered West, and wintered at Fort Kearney, Nebraska. In June, 1866, the First Battalion of his Regiment was sent to garrison the new Post, Fort Phil. Kearney, Dakota. In 1866, he was promoted to the Captaincy. On the 21st December, 1866, a detachment of less than 100 men, of whom he was one, were attacked near the Fort by a band of about 3,000 Indians, and not one of the troops escaped. Only the bloody field and the mutilated bodies of the slain men remained to tell the tale of carnage. During the five and one-half years of service he never was off duty on furlough, his only visit home being made under orders. He was a young man of simple tastes, much refinement in feel- ing, sincere in his action and liberal toward the needy and all enterprises which met his approval.

In a letter dated June 29, 1862, Lieutenant O. M. Brown, Company C, Third Ohio Cav- alry, stated an incident, as showing how dan- gerous it was for a people, by opposition, to

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make enemies of a portion of their fellows. He said :

Two Companies of our Regiment (ours included), were stationed I8 miles from any other Union force, and the leading Secesh in the neighborhood laid a scheme for making prisoners of ns. One evening, while they were talking the plan over at a tea-table, the colored waiting-maid (in whom they put entire contidence), listened attentively to every word as she poured the tea ; and no sooner was the meal over, than she repaired to a cabin near by, and told the story to a colored friend, who, as soon as all was still, notwithstanding having done a full day's work, tray- eled six miles, informed us of the plot, and walked back in time for his next day's work. I have not a doubt that but for his timely service, we would have been captured.

In the same letter (written to his wife), Lieutenant Brown, in the freedom and sincerity of such communication, wrote of himself and the service he was rendering his country. As a fair expression of the sentiment which con- trolled and supported the great body of the Soldiers of the Union in that dread conflict, it is worthy a place here. He said :

You write that you are at the table in our front- room, and you seem to entertain the desire to have me at home to enjoy it with you. I hope, my dear wife, that you do not think me insensible to the charms of home. God forbid! On the contrary, when I think of the beautiful home, that, under God, we just had finished, but which 1 never enjoyed ; and, more than all, when I think of my own loved and loving wife and three little ones, whom 1 have left behind, there is a longing to return to that home that is almost impossible to overcome. Yet, my dear. you know that my motto has always been, " Duty be- fore pleasure ; " and it was only at the stern demand of duty, that I forsook all the dear pleasures of home, for the trials and privations of camp life.

It is proper, in this connection, to state, that this extract was published at the time and is reproduced here, without the knowledge of its writer, or of that of Mrs. Brown ; and is given only as a sample of the many thousands of like letters remaining unpublished. Such help to elevate and ennoble the real character of the true Citizen-Soldier, by whom, under a preserv - ing Providence, the life of the Nation was saved from treason's assaults.

Captain James Wilson MeCabe, of Maumee City, had passed liability to military service by 15 years, when the Rebels fired on Fort Sumter, he then being 60 years of age; but that fact rather intensified than allayed bis patriotic ardor. He joined his neighbors and went to the field as Captain of Company I, Fourteenth Ohio, serving for nearly a year in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was at Fort Donelson, in the fight with Zollicoffer (standing

near General Zollicoffer when he fell), at Pitts- burg Landing, and on to Corinth and Memphis. The trials of the march had been too much for his advanced years, and he was forced to re- sign. He brought with him a letter from the officers of the Regiment, expressing their high regard for his personal and soldierly qualities. March 24, 1875, Captain McCabe and wife kept their golden wedding at the residence of Helon C. Norton, a son-in-law, at Maumee. They were from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Captain McCabe having represented that County in the Legislature in 1838-9, and been a member of the State Constitutional Conven- tion of 1832. They came to Obio in 1840, with teams, ocenpying four days in the passage through the Black Swamp (from Lower San- dusky to Perrysburg), and settling on Swan Creek, three miles South of the present Village of Monclova. Among the battles of his pioneer life, not least was that made in defense of bis Temperance and Sabbath-keeping practices. He died some years since, bearing the sincere respect of a very large circle of acquain- tances.

Captain Wilbur F. Arnold, Forty - First United States Infantry, died at Fort Ringgold, Texas, December 12, 1867, aged 25. He was the only son of Samuel G. Arnold, editor of the Toledo Blade from 1856 to 1858, who now resides at Washington, D. C. He was a mem- ber of the Toledo High School, where, as with his acquaintances generally, he held a high position and gave promise of rare usefulness. lle entered the Army early in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting in the Eighteenth United States Infantry. He was promoted from the ranks; was twice brevetted for gallant and meritorious services, and on being made Captain, was transferred to the Forty-First Infantry.

Of Wilson C. Lathrop, Company B, Four- teenthi Ohio, who, with many others, fell in the charge on the Rebel rifle pits near Atlanta, August 5, 1864, and died on the 7th, Colonel Este wrote as follows :

Never was there a more gallant Soldier, a purer or more high-minded young man. He was what I should term a " model Soldier "-ever ready and will- ing to discharge his whole duty. He was the excep- tion to many, never allowing himself to fall into those vices so prevalent in armies.

Deceased was a nephew and adopted son of Mr. Pliny Lathrop, of Richfield Township.

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In May, 1865, Captain De Witt C. Dewey, Sixty-Seventh Ohio, presented to the Chicago Sanitary Fair, a cane having very interesting associations. The wood was of Palmetto, taken from a log in Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor, in the days of the Revolution; the top was of Cedar, from a bedstead of John C. Calhoun ; the brass ferrule was part of the screw in the cap of a Rebel shell fired at the " Old Sixty- Seventh," while on Morris Island in front of Charleston ; and the tip of steel, part of a bolt fired from the celebrated Whitworth gun which the Union forces captured when they took possession of Morris Island. Thus had the body of the Cane passed through 85 years of history-from the struggle of the Colonies for freedom from foreign domination, through the various changes of the country, to and through the greater struggle for deliverance from the curse and stain of human Slavery.

Private Charles Euranins, Sixty-Seventh Ohio Infantry, on the night of November 2, 1863, on a reconnoissance to Fort Sumter, then in Rebel hands, secured a brick from that structure, which he took away, being the first memento of that notable spot recovered by loyal hands. It was sent to Governor Tod, who made appropriate acknowledgment thereof and placed it among the relics and archives at the Ohio Capitol. Private Euranins's name was at once placed on the list for promotion. He enlisted in the Sixty-Seventh at Toledo, where he had a family, and was regarded with respect as a citizen.

The first artificial limb provided for a Lucas County Soldier was believed to have been a leg, in 1862, for Wm. G. Pierce, of the Fourteenth Regiment, now (1887) Chief Distributing Clerk in the Toledo Post Office.

In November, 1863, Lieutenant Orange H. Howland, Company E, Third Ohio Cavalry, sent home a fine silk Rebel flag which he captured near Cleveland, Tennessee. It had belonged to the " Warren Guards" (State not given), and bore the legend, "Victory or Death."

Among the curious incidents of the battle- field, is the case of Levine Merrill and Martin Glenon, of Company A, Fourteenth O. V. I. While in action at Resaca, Georgia, May, 1864, a ball from the enemy struck Merrill, killing him, and passed on, lodging in Glenon's shoul- der, where it yet remains.

YOUNG HEROES.

In no way was the real spirit of loyalty and patriotism more clearly manifested during the War for the Union, than by the large number of youth, who, often with great difficulty, and against their immature years and evident want of due physical qualifications, pressed their way into the ranks of the Union Army. It has been deemed due to such young heroes, that recognition be here made of a few repre- sentatives of this class. For if honors be given those who direct perilous deeds to be done, certainly those who do such deeds should not pass without, at the least, equal honors.

Probably the most conspicuous of this class of heroes, is John S. Kountz, of Toledo. IIe was born in Lucas County, Ohio, March 25, 1846, and in his 15th year enlisted as a Drum- mer boy in the Thirty-Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his Regiment in all its marches and campaigns until the fall of 1863. At the memorable battle of Mission Ridge, November 25, 1863, when the Drum Corps was ordered to the rear, preparatory to the charge, the little Drummer boy threw away his drum and falling in with his Company was wounded in the first assault, being shot in the left leg, under the enemy's guns, and was left on the field until resened by a comrade of Company G, to which he specially belonged. The amputation of his left leg followed. Upon his return home, Comrade Kountz attended School for a year and then accepted a position in the County Treasurer's office. When but 25 years of age he was elected to the responsible position of Treasurer of Lucas County, and at the expiration of his term was chosen County Recorder. lle is now engaged in the Fire Insurance business, having one of the leading agencies in Toledo.

Commander Konntz has been an active worker in the G. A. R. since the organization in 1866, and was the first Adjutant of Forsyth Post, serving three terms ; afterwards Viec- Commander, then Quartermaster General of the Department. Was three times unani- mously elected Post Commander. In 1881 Comrade Kountz was chosen Department Com- mander of Ohio, and during his term he es- tablished over 160 Posts and increased the membership from 1,950 to over 8,000. In 1885 he was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was sue-

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ceeded in 1886, by General Fairchild of Min- nesota.

Among the first at Toledo to enlist for the suppression of the Rebellion in April, 1861, was Joseph E. Wernert, then 19 years old. His three months' service in the Fourteenth Ohio expiring, he re- enlisted for three years, and continued to the close of the War. His record throughout was one of loyalty and courage. At the battle of Chickamanga these qualities were specially shown. The Regiment was very much exposed to the enemy's fire, which seemed to be particularly directed at the colors, six or seven of its bearers having been shot down. It was regarded as almost certain death for any one to elevate the standard, and the bravest heart shrank from such an ordeal. At such critical moment, young Wernert step- ped forward, seized the colors, and once more, amid the cheers of the command, the tattered flag went forward. Wernert was then made Regimental Color-Bearer, and was pre- sented with a gold medal with this inscription : " Presented to Joseph E. Wernert, by Capt. J. J. Clark, for his bravery in rescuing the flag of the 14th Regiment O. V. I., at the battle of Chickamauga." Honorably discharged when heroic service was no longer needed by his country, this hero of Chickamauga returned to Toledo and engaged in business, where he died March 15, 1869, aged 27 years, leaving a wife. He was a son of Ignatius Wernert, an old and prominent German citizen.

Leroy E. Clark was born November 6, 1846. He enlisted May 27, 1862, when 15 years, six months and 21 days old, in Company K, Eighty- Fourth Ohio Infantry, and, with gun and knap- sack, marched with that command into the country of the Rebellion, doing the full duty of a man. September 20, 1862, he was discharged. On the 6th February, 1864, he enlisted in Com- pany I, Fourteenth Ohio Regiment, being then 17 years and three months old. Again, as a man, he marched to the " front with Sherman," doing the full duty of a Soldier of the Union, until shot down in the fierce battle of Jones- boro, September 1, 1864. His left arm was amputated at the shoulder, and he was con- fined in hospital until discharged, March 22, 1865. Since that time, and until recently, his residence has been at Maumee City (South Toledo), and now is in Toledo. In 1873, he was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal

Revenne for the Tenth District, Ohio, which position he yet holls.

The Toledo Blade, of September 24, 1864, con- tained the following letter from Win. HI. Coal- well, Company A, Fourteenth Regiment, to his mother, at Genoa, Ottawa County. The writer was then but 19 years old, and, as stated by him, was severely wounded in the terrible charge on the enemy's works at Jonesboro. It is a model in all respects -- cheerful, uncom- plaining, patriotic and noble in tone and spirit :

ATLANTA, GA., September 7, 1864.

MY DEAR MOTHER-I take the present opportunity of answering your letter, which I received while on the great and grand raid around Atlanta to the Macon Railroad. I suppose you would like to know how I am and what I am doing. You have heard ere this of the battle of the Ist, which was one of the most desperately fought battles of the War. The old Fourteenth Corps " went in on her nerve" in one of the most awful charges ever made. Our Brigade charged the Rebels in their works, on the Macon Railroad, 18 miles South of Atlanta. We formed in an open field, fixed bayonets and went for the Rebs, who could see us from behind their works, which were formed about 30 yards in the woods, with their line of ritle-pits at the edge of the field. Well, we went for them on double-quick. Our orders were given not to fire till we got to the woods, and we did not. We drove them from two lines of works and their line of rifle-pits.

I suppose you would like to know how the Genoa boys came out, for the old Fourteenth was in the front line. Our Company lost 17, killed and wounded. The loss of our Regiment was 98. Our Major (John W. Wilson), who commands the Regiment. had his right leg shot off, and my Lieutenant had his right leg amputated, also. Then next in turn came your Boy. It appears that the Rebels thought that I was an officer, for 1 was the only " high private " who lost a leg. My leg was amputated below the knee. It was my right one, too. Well, the devils thought that was not enough ; so they put a ball through the calf of my left leg. I can say one thing for myself-I was not very farin the rear when I was wounded, for I fell within 20 feet of the enemy's works, and thanks to God, that I was not shot all to pieces while lying there, for the bullets flew so thick that I could lie and see them meet in the air. I lay there till the hottest was over, when I halloed to a young man to come and carry me off. Ile came, and, as it happened, he was a very strong man, and I got up and got upon his back. He carried me to the rear and laid me down. I was brought to this place in an ammunition wagon, drawn by six mules, a distance of 18 miles, in one day. Don't you think, if I could stand that, I can stand anything ? You must not feel alarmed about my getting along all right, for the Doctors say if any of them get along, I will be one of them. They say I take it, with such as I got, the easiest they ever saw.

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History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 47

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1408

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408