USA > Ohio > Itinerary of the Seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, 1861-1864, with roster, portraits and biographies > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
307
PUMPKIN VINE CREEK-NEW HOPE CHURCH
skirmishers and feeling the enemy, who were found fortify- ing the ridges connecting Lost Mountain and Pine Hill. On the 7th, Colonel P. H. Jones, One Hundred and Fifty- fourth New York Volunteers, having reported for duty, and being the senior officer, was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade. On the 10th orders were received to move on the Marietta road toward Kenesaw Station, but the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps, occupying the road with troops and trains, prevented any movement on the part of my command. On the IIth, the term of service of the Seventh Ohio Volunteers, Lieut .- Col. McClelland, having expired, the regiment departed for the North. During its long connection with my division, this regiment, by gallant service upon many fields, on which it lost heavily, earned for itself a reputation of which Ohio may well be proud."
"HEADQUARTERS SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEERS, "NEAR ALLATOONA, GA., June 9, 1864.
"SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements of my command since May 17, 1864, to the present date :
"May 17, my command, then in camp on the south bank of the Coosawattee Creek, at about II A. M. moved forward in line a southerly direction, and at sundown halted for the niglit near Calhoun. May 18, moved on at 4 A. M., and after a very fatiguing march, most of the way over moun- tains and across fields, halted for the night just after sunset. May 19, moved forward in an easterly direction. Scarcely any of our line of march was in a beaten path or traveled road. At about 4 P. M., when approaching the town of Cassville, found the enemy in our immediate front. My command was ordered to take a position under cover of some hastily constructed breastworks, and after remaining there about two hours, was ordered forward about a mile. and then formed in line of battle in the rear of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers and on the left of the Fifth Ohio Volunteers. Here it remained until about 10 A. M. on the 21st instant, when it was re-
308
SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
moved about one mile to the rear in a piece of woods, where it remained until the morning of the 23rd instant, when, with the division, it moved off, passing through Cassville and Cass Station, crossing the railroad and taking a south- westerly course ; at about 4 P. M. crossed the Etowah River and halted for the night two miles beyond. May 24, at an early hour, the regiment was ordered forward, and at sunset was halted for the night on Hickory Ridge. May 25, re- ceived orders to take the advance of the brigade, which had the advance of the division and entire column; moved off at 7 A. M. At about a mile from camp, by order of General Geary, I deployed seven companies as skirmishers, three on the right and four on the left of the road. Owing to the density of the underbrush and rank growth of weeds, which were very wet with rain, the advance of the skirmishers was very slow and toilsome. At about three miles from the previous night's camp, and when approaching Pumpkin Vine Creek, our advance was fired upon by the enemy's pickets, who were stationed at the bridge; the extreme right of my skirmishers was also fired upon by cavalry pickets from the opposite bank of the creek. The enemy had made an attempt to destroy the bridge by tearing up the planking and setting it on fire in several places. With some delay my command erossed and advanced to the hill on the opposite bank. After resting half an hour they again moved forward. Generals Hooker and Geary, with their staffs and body-guard, were well up with, and at times in advance of, the skirmish line. At about IO A. M., when about two miles beyond the creek, some of General Hook- er's body-guard, then in advance, were fired upon by the enemy. General Geary immediately ordered mne to deploy my reserve to the right and left of the road and move for- ward on the enemy to relieve General Hooker's body-guard, then being driven back. I did so, deploying my thiree re- maining companies, consisting of about sixty-five men, who immediately engaged the enemy and held them at bay until the other regiments of the brigade were advanced in line of battle, pushing the enemy before them something like a
309
PUMPKIN VINE CREEK-NEW HOPE CHURCH
mile. During this skirmish I had I man killed and 8 wounded. Here we were ordered to remain and throw up breastworks, which was done very hastily. At about 6 P. M. my command was ordered into line, the Fifth Ohio Vol- unteers on my right and Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteers on my left, and advanced to the support of the Second and Third Brigades. On getting within range of the enemy's fire while advancing, 3 men were killed and 15 were wounded. One shell from the enemy's guns exploded in the ranks, killing 2 men and wounding 6 others. My com- mand lay in position in the front line until II o'clock on the 26th instant, when it was relieved by a regiment from the Fourth Corps, and retired to a ravine a hundred yards in the rear, where it remained until the evening of the 27th instant, when it was ordered to relieve the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the first line of entrenchments. Dur- ing the night and following day our skirmishers, stationed about fifty yards in advance of the breastworks, were con- stantly skirmishing with the enemy. At about S A. M. on the 28th instant the enemy opened upon us three pieces of artillery, but with no effect. The pieces were soon silenced by the Thirteenth New York Battery and our skirmishers in front. The regiment was relieved by the Fifth Ohio Volunteers, and retired to the ravine in the rear, where it remained until the evening of the 30th instant, when it was ordered to relieve the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the first line of entrenchments. During the succeeding twenty-four hours our skirmishers were constantly firing. but nothing unusual occurred. One man of my command was severely wounded in the face by a musket ball. May 31, at sunset, the regiment was relieved by the Fifth Ohio Volunteers, and retired to the second line of entrenchments.
"June 1, at 12 M. my command was relieved by troops from the Fifteenthi Army Corps, and was removed to the extreme left of our line of battle, where it bivouacked for the night. June 2, at II A. M. I received orders to move, and, with the division, moved forward toward the advanced line and halted at about a thousand vards in its rear. By orders
310 SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
formed in column by divisions, and here remained until the morning of the 6th instant, when the regiment was moved in an easterly direction for about four miles, when it was halted, and I was ordered to stack arms and imme- diately set about building breastworks. My command was very actively engaged at this until sunset, when it was re- lieved by a detail from the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and since that time has remained in camp upon the same ground .*
"Respectfully, your obedient servant,
"SAML. MCCLELLAND,
"Lieut .- Col., Comdg. Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. "Lieut. A. H. W. CREIGH,
"A. A. A. G., Ist Brig., 2d Div., 20th Army Corps."
Sergeant-Major Hubbard states that while at Burnt Hickory, New Hope Church, and Dallas, where the regi- ment was under fire almost constantly day and night from May 25 to June I, on one occasion Colonel McClelland's cook brought something to eat, when, realizing the constant danger, the Colonel said, "Hubbard, sit behind that tree, where you will be safe; but the Sergeant demurred, insist- ing that as the Colonel's life was the more valuable he should sit there himself, and finally prevailed upon him to do so; but he had hardly seated himself when a bullet struck the limb of a tree, glanced, and hit the Colonel in the breast with such force that for a time his life was despaired of; but rallying, he commenced to breathe, and soon re- covered from the effects of this almost knock-out blow near his heart. They went on with their meal, as if nothing had happened, but later, on examining the Colonel's chest, a flat- tened bullet was found, and preserved, as the cause of this almost fatal catastrophe.
*See Casualty List. p. 648.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
GOING HOME TO BE MUSTERED OUT.
The recruits who enlisted in August, 1862, with the understanding that they were to be assigned to the Seventh to serve for the unexpired term of the regiment, and as- sured that they would be permitted to return home when the original members did, expected to be allowed to do so. Imagine their great disappointment, however, when in- formed that they were, under the terms of their muster, to be held another year, and that the original members were going home without them. Sergt .- Maj. Hubbard states that the order to relieve the Seventh reached Colonel McClelland about 9 A. M., June 11, 1864, with instructions that all re- cruits and veterans were to report to the Fifth Ohio. The Colonel, with tears in his eyes, told the sergeant-major that he must rely on him to go down the line and make the an- nouncement. This was almost if not quite as difficult a task for Sergeant Hubbard as for the Colonel, but he obeyed orders. At first there was a great shout, and caps went high in the air until the information concerning the recruits became known, when sadness and sorrow reigned supreme. However, the entire regiment fell in in two lines facing each other, one consisting of the original members, the other of the recruits and veterans.
The Colonel commanded. "Attention! Present arms! Shoulder arms! Original members, right face; forward, march!" and away they went, amid sobs and tears, the like of which is seldom heard or witnessed. Sergeant Hubbard says if tears ever fell from mortal eyes they did then.
These Seventh Ohio recruits and veterans formed a de- tachment which was attached to the Fifth Ohio Infantry, and after passing through the rest of the Atlanta Campaign, fighting in the great battles at Pine Knob, Kenesaw Moun- tain, and Peach Tree Creek, as well as in many minor en-
312 SEVENTHI REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
gagements, where some of them were killed and wounded, those remaining were, on the 31st of October, 1864, regu- larly merged into that regiment, and after marching with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and up through the Caro- linas to Washington, D. C., they there participated in May, 1865, in that Grand Review of the Armies of Grant and Sherman, the finest military pageant ever seen in this coun- try. Here, at last, seemed to be some compensation for all the disappointment that had the year before been theirs, and when the original members of the regiment really envied them because all this additional service and honor had so worthily come to them. Some effort has been made to ob- tain data concerning the deaths, wounds and promotions among these men, after June 11, 1864, but with only par- tial success however, as indicated in our roster.
Going to Big Shanty Station the Seventh was delayed for transportation, but finally got off for Chattanooga, arriving there in the night of the 15th of June, 1864. Left for Nashville on the 17th, arriving the next day at 6 P. M. On the 19th embarked on steamer Mercury, leaving next morning at 4 o'clock, going down the Cumberland River past Fort Donelson, where only modest earthworks could be seen.
At Canton, Kentucky, two companies of the Seventh went ashore in search of guerrillas who had fired into a boat ahead of us. None was found.
On the 21st, reached mouth of the Cumberland at 5 A. M. When our boat had passed Preston, Kentucky, a volley was fired at us from a rocky ledge on the Kentucky shore, which was promptly responded to, and this was the last shooting that the Seventh Ohio engaged in. (Two of the Seventh are said to have been wounded.) Reached Evansville, In- diana, on the 22d, New Albany on the 23d. and Madison on the 24th. Sergeant Trembly of Company C fell overboard and was lost to us. Comrades remained behind and found his body, and it was conveyed to his parents.
On June 25. 1864. the Seventh reached Cincinnati at 3 A. M., where the citizens had arranged to welcome the
313
GOING HOME TO BE MUSTERED OUT
!
original members of the Fifth Ohio who did not veteranize, and were expected by rail at 9 A. M.
Colonel Dunning, learning of the arrival of the Seventh, insisted that we should join in the welcome to the men we had served with so long and be received with them, and to this the officers and men of the Seventh consented.
When the train bearing some 235 of the Fifth Ohio came to a stop, as they disembarked it was something to see those bronzed and weatherbeaten veterans disappear in loving embraces. However, in time they were disentangled, and with the Seventh as their guests, after a short march they reached Mozart Hall, where formal addresses of welcome were made and then refreshments served. Each soldier had at least one sweet girl at each elbow, while they were very busy filling the soldier boys too full for utterance. Finally the Seventh said good-by, and at 2.30 P. M. left on a special train for Cleveland. The time of the home-coming of the Seventh had become known throughout the cities, towns, and country places from whence it came, hence not only those near and dear by the ties of nature and affection, but many hundreds of others came to meet, greet, and welcome the soldiers who had not only seen more than three years' active service in the greatest war of modern times, but had shed their patriotic blood upon many battlefields and made a record alike honorable to themselves and the great Com- monwealth from which they hailed.
On this glad Sabbath morning, June 26, 1864, as the fire bells throughout the city and a battery, by agreement, an- nounced the near approach of the regiment, a great host of people hastened to the depot, and as the train came to a stop a mighty shout of welcome greeted it, and such an eager throng pressed it as to make it almost impossible for the soldiers to aliglit.
However, as the men disembarked, as a rule, each one was captured by relatives and friends, when all the tender scenes witnessed at Cincinnati, in the welcome to the Fifth Ohio, were reenacted.
This cordial and affectionate greeting over, a substantial
-
314 SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
breakfast at the depot followed, then marching up to the post-office building, Prosecuting-Attorney Grannis, in the absence of Mayor Senter, welcomed the regiment in behalf of the city. Mr. Grannis was followed by his excellency Governor John Brough, for whom the great majority of the regiment had voted, at an election held at Duck River, Tennessee, under the law permitting soldiers who were un- avoidably absent from their State, to vote. (Note from diary : "October 13, 1863-We held our election to-day. I was chosen one of the clerks. Co. D polled 30 votes for Brough. None for Vallandigham.")
In the course of his remarks the Governor said :
"Men of the Seventh Ohio: On behalf of the State I am here to give you a cordial greeting on your return. We welcome you back, not only because you are back, but be- cause you have reflected honor on your State. Standing, as I do, in the position of father of all the regiments of the State, it will not do for me to discriminate; but I will say that no regiment has returned to the bosom of the State, and none remains to come after it, that will bring back a more glorious record than the gallant old Seventh."
The regiment then marched to Cleveland Heights, where it made its final camp, where the preparation of reports, pay-rolls and discharges were made out by officers and first sergeants, assisted by comrades who wielded a ready pen, while the great mass of the membership went to their homes near by, to return for muster out. On Sunday, July 3, 1864, the members of the regiment then present marched to Erie Cemetery, where the remains of Colonels Creighton and Crane were in a vault, and escorted the same to Wood- land Cemetery, where the Seventh Ohio Infantry monu- ment was subsequently erected and where the remains of these beloved commanders yet remain.
Seven companies were discharged on the 6th and three on the 7th of July, 1864, and all services terminated on those dates, although not paid off until the next day.
On July 8, 1864, therefore, the members of the Seventh
315
GOING HOME TO BE MUSTERED OUT
Ohio Infantry separated with heart-felt regrets, many to never greet each other again, causing a feeling of peculiar sadness, as well as of real joy at being once more honorably free from military rule and discipline; yet a goodly num- ber of both officers and men went out again ere the close of the war, adding new rank and honor to their already gallant military record.
(NOTE .- On Sunday morning, May 5, 1861, the Seventh left Camp Taylor for Camp Dennison; on Sunday morning, December 6, 1863, the bodies of Colonels Creighton and Crane reached Cleveland from the battlefield of Ringgold, Georgia, while on Sunday morning, June 26th, 1864, the Seventh reached Cleveland, to be mustered out of ser- vice.)
GREETING THE SEVENTH.
Oh! warriors true and tried, From weary wand'rings wide, Welcome ye home ! With joy your friends to meet, Our hearts go forth to greet The coming of your feet, No more to roam.
Come to the fireside dear, Come to the homes so drear While ye were gone; From far-off battle plain, From days of toil and pain, To the home-hearth again, Wanderer return.
And they, the sainted brave, From many a distant grave, In spirit come ! They join us in the cry- They swell the song on high,- Its echoes fill the sky,- Welcome ye home !
From the Sandusky Register.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
"A YEAR WITH THE REBELS."
By G. W. SHURTLEFF,
Late Brevet Brigadier-General United States Volunteers.
At the outbreak of the Rebellion I was a tutor in Oberlin College and a student in its Theological Seminary. When Sumter was fired on and troops were called for, the young men were ready for the fight. Professor Monroe, who was in the State Senate, came to Oberlin and addressed a mass- meeting and called for volunteers. A company was at once filled and many offered themselves who could not be re- ceived. The Seventh Ohio Regiment, to which our com- pany was assigned, had two candidates for the colonelcy, E. B. Tyler and James A. Garfield. Garfield was a prominent member of the State Legislature, and already gave promise of the greatness which he afterward achieved. Tyler was a man of little prominence, but an active politician. He was also a brigadier-general of the Ohio State Militia, and appeared in camp in military uniform, and this won him the election. Three months after the organization of the regi- ment, it was surrounded in the mountains of West Vir- ginia and a large portion of it captured. The Oberlin company held an outpost long enough to allow the main body of the regiment to retreat, but too long for its own safety. Thirty-five of the company were captured and six wounded, two of them mortally. One, a talented member of the freshman class, died the next day in the hands of the enemy. It was my privilege to be at his side during his last hours and receive his dying message.
After two days we started over the mountains for Rich- mond. The enlisted men were tied together with a rope like a gang of slaves. After marching from daylight until dark, dry flour was issued and two skillets in which to cook supper for more than a hundred men. A few of them built
317
"A YEAR WITH THE REBELS"
a fire, wet up the flour with water, and without salt, and cooked it. The process was slow and the result so unsatis- factory that most of the men went to sleep supperless. Lieutenant Wilcox and myself, the only commissioned officers among the prisoners, having given our parole of honor not to escape, were permitted to go ahead of the marching column. On the second day we learned where the night was to be passed and hastened on hoping to make some provision to prevent starvation. All we could do was to heat water in a large kettle ready to boil the flour when it came. After four days we reached Jackson River, where we took the cars for Richmond.
We had marched more than one hundred miles, and were so weary and starved that many were scarcely able to stand. Upon arriving at the depot in Richmond, Lieutenant Wil- cox and I started to walk into the city, and were arrested by a rebel sergeant and taken to the tobacco warehouse which was used as a military prison at that time. This sergeant proved to be Wirz, afterward so infamous for the cruelty he practiced upon prisoners at Andersonville. The commis- sioned officers were placed on the first floor and the enlisted men on the second and third.
Our room was about forty by sixty feet, and one-half of this space was occupied by the machinery connected with the factory. There were more than eighty officers. Our food was wheat bread and boiled fresh beef for breakfast and dinner, and bread alone for supper. Those who had money bought other articles-tea at four dollars a pound, coffee at one dollar, butter, sixty cents. Confederate money and greenbacks were at this time on a par in the South. No beds or bedding of any sort were furnished. A few officers had purchased blankets and mattresses but most of us slept en the bare floor with a block of wood for a pillow. I sold my watch to a rebel officer and used the proceeds to purchase Thiers's "Consulate and Empire," two of Thackeray's novels, and copies of Livy and Virgil.
Orders prohibiting a near approach to the windows were rigidly enforced. On the floor above us a New York ser-
318 SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
geant thoughtlessly stood nearer the window than was pleasing to the guard below and was shot through the head without warning. Roll was called at 9 in the morning by a young rebel, Lieutenant Withers. He was very small, wore a long sword that dragged on the floor, and was a dude generally. He came in one morning and gave the usual order to "fall in for roll-call." We arranged our- selves, according to custom, by standing with our backs to the wall in an irregular line reaching the whole length of the room. I happened to be sitting on the block which I used for a pillow, reading "Pendennis," and when the order to fall in came, I stood up, leaned my back against the wall and kept on reading. The Lieutenant was directly in front of me, and when I responded to my name without lifting my eyes from my book, he asked with an oath of execration why I did not get into line. The question seemed ludicrous and I glanced up and down the room and asked what line he referred to. My fellow prisoners laughed and the Lieu- tenant was enraged, and left the room in great haste and returned with a corporal and two private soldiers with fixed bayonets, halted them before me, and with his own hands put handcuffs upon my wrists. His triumph, how- ever, was of short duration. The officers of the prison association wrote a note to the commanding officer asking him to come in and investigate. He did so, apologized to me and required Withers to remove the irons.
All the officers were searched immediately after this, and we learned that Withers believed that there was a conspiracy among the prisoners to mutiny, kill the guards, and get away, and that we had in some way obtained pistols.
Early in September an order came to transfer thirty offi- cers to Charleston, South Carolina, to be placed in Castle Pinckney, a dismantled fort in the harbor. Major Potter. one of our number, was well acquainted in Charleston, and represented the fort as a delightful place. We started on the journey with hopes of better quarters. Reaching Petersburg, we had to march through the city from one depot to another. A crowd of citizens followed us, using
319
"A YEAR WITHI THE REBELS"
abusive epithets and appealing to the guards to shoot us. Women shook their fists at us from windows. The trip lasted twenty-four hours and no food was furnished us. Reaching Charleston early in the morning, we were kept waiting for hours, that our march through the city might be witnessed by the people. When we finally moved we were escorted by a brass band. a troop of cavalry in gala attire, and thousands of citizens, men, women, and children. We were paraded through the streets of the city, and when we finally came to a halt, it was not at Castle Pinckney, but in front of the city jail. We filed into the jail, climbed the dark and dirty stairs, and passed along a dingy hall with grated cells on either side. Five of us were thrown into one of these cells. The first sight that caught our eye through the only window was a huge gallows, and I said to Major Potter, "There's our castle, and it is a veritable 'castle in the air.' "
The rebel officers in charge of us knew that we had been twenty-four hours without food and yet several hours more passed before anything was brought us, and when it came consisted of raw coffee in the kernel, sea biscuit, and salt pork full of maggots. Our cell had a small open grate and our cooking utensils consisted of a single skillet. We suc- ceeded in borrowing from the guard a kettle to cook our raw coffee in, and boiled it unground and unburned, fried our bacon over the coals, and had our dinner at 2 o'clock. And so we settled down to life in cells for four months. Some features of our life here are too shocking to relate.
The ration issued to us was this same maggoty pork and sea biscuit. No coffee, ground or unground, after the first day. We resorted to various methods of serving up sea bis- cuit. One day we boiled it until soft and served it with fat as a dressing. This we called lobscouse. The next day we softened it in hot water and fried it in fat. This we called dunderfunk. Occasionally we took up a collection and sent out for sweet potatoes and white bread. The rebel officers told us we were only temporarily in jail, until Castle Pinckney could be put in order. After about a month we
5776H
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.