USA > Ohio > Ross County > Chillicothe > Ohio centennial anniversary celebration at Chillicothe, May 20-21, 1903 : under the auspices of the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society : complete proceedings > Part 18
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Samuel Shellabarger was in Congress when the Rebellion broke out, and in his long service there brought into practical politics his great legal attainments, thus doing much to support the administration and the country in prosecuting the war and restoring the Union.
Robert C. Schenck, who had served in Congress prior to the Civil War, though early becoming a general officer in that war, was elected in 1861 and served a part of his term, though still holding a commission as major-general. He was distin- guished both as a soldier and a statesman. He served, later, with distinction as minister of the United States to England.
Others of Ohio who took high rank and performed valu- able service in the battles and campaigns of the war, later be- came distinguished statesmen and served in the Congress of the
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United States. Prominent among these were Jacob D. Cox, John Beatty, George W. Morgan and Ralph P. Buckland .*
Three others of Ohio's sons - mark how illustrious - Ru- therford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield and William McKinley, each fought as officers in the Civil War, then became members of Congress and renowned statesmen. Hayes was twice gov- ernor of Ohio, then president of the United States (1877-81). Garfield became president (1881) and was shot (July 2), and died September 19, 1881. Mckinley was twice governor of Ohio and was twice elected president (1896, 1900) serving one full term (1897-1901) and until his death (September 14, 1901, by assassination) on a second term. In his first term occurred the Spanish War, through which he guided the nation with success and glory. Garfield and Mckinley with Abraham Lincoln con- stitute our Republic's martyred presidents. How illustrious is the name of each !
I am not here trying to exhaust the list of Ohio's great men who served her and our country in peace and war. That task, when undertaken, will not be easily accomplished.
Benjamin Harrison (Ohio born), grandson of Ohio's first president, served in the war, then in the United States Senate from Indiana, then became an illustrious president ( 1889-1893).
Ohio's war governors - William Dennison - David Tod - John Brough, each with great ability loyally supported President Lincoln in maintaining the Union of the States.
Dennison was the first to meet the responsibility; he later became postmaster-general in Lincoln's cabinet. Both Tod and Brough were Democrats until the war came, then recognized no party but the party of the Union, like their late leader Stephen A. Douglas.
Edwin M. Stanton, the great war secretary, likewise be- longed to Ohio. His energy and ability were essential to success.
Of Ohio's civilian and citizen patriots who, unfalteringly, maintained, morally and materially, that the Republic should be indissoluble, too much could not be said. They pledged their all to secure that end.
* The writer (J. Warren Keifer) was one term in the Ohio Senate, four terms in Congress, and speaker of the Forty-seventh (1881-83). - [E. O. R.]
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The devotion of the women of the state, and their willing sacrifices of all that was dear to them, and their labors to pro- vide for the soldiers in the field, and especially for the sick and wounded, cannot be too highly praised and loudly proclaimed. On them did not fall the lightest of the burdens, sufferings and sorrows of that long and bloody war.
But it was in the achievements of the volunteer army, and in the navy, that Ohio, then the third state, in population, in the Union, was incomparably great, and in the personnel of her officers and soldiers that she is entitled to take first place for great deeds accomplished in war. Her private soldiers were of unequaled bravery, and the high renown of the commanding generals of the Union army was only possible of attainment. through the gallantry and devotion to duty of the subordinate officers and of the enlisted men whom they commanded. The steady loyalty and patriotism our heroic forefathers instilled into their sons bore its natural fruits in the years of our country's direst danger. The intelligence of Ohio's sons and daughters enabled them to see the irreparable loss to peace, order and hu- manity by a successful dissolution of the Union of States. They knew that accomplished secession was fraught with danger to all that was dear to them, their country and humanity, and knowing this, they devoted all to its overthrow. They fought, bled and died for no revenge or to gratify no personal malice, nor yet for individual glory, but, with all the qualities of boldness and chiv- alry of ancient knighthood, for the principles of individual and universal liberty, as exemplified by organic law. Ohio's officers won their high commissions on the battlefield.
OHIO'S CONTRIBUTION OF MEN TO THE CIVIL WAR.
In answering the question, What was Ohio's contribution of men to the war? I shall draw no invidious distinctions. From whatsoever state the Union soldiers came, they stood shoulder to shoulder in the army as soldiers of the United States, and not of any particular state. In war they were all comrades, and in peace they remained so. They fought for nationality and one flag, not sectionalism, or state individuality. The true citizen of Ohio is justly proud to be called such, but still prouder of being.
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called a citizen of the United States. Ohio's sons owe no duty to their state not consistent with their duty to the Union.
Ohio furnished twenty-three infantry regiments for three months, in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men, and ten other regiments which the government refused to ac- cept on that call.
She furnished one hundred and seventeen infantry regiments for three years, twenty-seven for one year, two for six months, three others for three months and forty-three for one hundred days. Thirteen others were cavalry and three were artillery regi- ments for three years.
Besides these regimental organizations, Ohio furnished twenty-six batteries of artillery, five independent companies of cavalry, other companies of sharpshooters, large portions of five regiments credited to West Virginia, and two to Kentucky, two regiments of "United States Colored Troops," so called ; also a large portion of the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachussetts Colored Infantry regiments. There were 5,092 "colored troops" credited to Ohio. Many more of her colored citizens doubtless enlisted and were credited elsewhere. Three thousand four hun- dred and forty-three men are known to have entered the western gun-boat service. Many others entered the marine and naval ser- vice. Still others enlisted during the war in the regular army.
Ohio furnished 15,766 "squirrel hunters" when Cincinnati and the southern borders of Ohio were threatened in 1862; also about 50,000 militia for duty during the "Morgan raid" in 1863. When the war closed Ohio had nearly 2,000 men enlisted, but not yet mustered, ready to go to the field to fill the gaps in the. depleted ranks of her regiments.
Over 20,000 of the three-years troops re-enlisted as veterans, to be mustered out only by death, disability or final victory. From the best prepared statistics of the provost marshal-general and adjutant-general of the United States Army, and the adjutant- general of Ohio, excluding re-enlistments, "squirrel hunters," and militia, and including a low estimate for irregular enlistments in the army and navy not credited to Ohio, it is found that Ohio furnished of her citizens 340,000 men of all arms of the service
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for the war; and, reduced to a department standard, they repre- sent 240,000 three-year soldiers.
Under the ten presidential calls for troops, Ohio furnished 310,654 soldiers, the sum of her quotas being only 306,322. Of this immense army of men only 8,750 were raised by the draft; all others were volunteers.
More than one-half in number of Ohio's adult male popula- tion tendered their lives as a sacrificial offering to the Union. From the first call to arms in 1861 to peace in 1865, 2,668,000 Union patriots answered to the calls of the president of the United States, became the defenders of their country's cause, and the avengers of her wrongs. More than one-eighth of the rank and file of this vast army was furnished by Ohio alone. What a commentary upon the growth and prosperity of a state, which, within the memory of the living, was a wilderness, the home only of the wild beast and the savage!
Of Ohio in the Navy another is here to speak.
THE SERVICE OF OHIO SOLDIERS.
They fought and bled on every great battle-field of the war, from Big Bethel (June 10, 1861), the first, to Blakely at Mobile (April 9, 1865), the last battle of the war.
Within forty-eight hours of the first call for troops the First and Second Ohio Infantry regiments were hastening to the de- fense of the imperiled capital.
Ohio soldiers followed Thomas to victory at Mill Springs, and Garfield, of Ohio, at Prestonburg, Ky., in January, 1862.
Ohio soldiers formed a large part of the army that stormed the works and captured Fort Donelson, where, under Grant, a son of Ohio, the eagles of the Union soared first to victory on the grander theatre of war. They fought at Island No. 10, at Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka and Perrysville. Her soldiers bore a large share in the deadly conflicts at Stone's River, and Chickamauga, under Rosecrans, another of Ohio's great and patriotic generals.
They were of the grand army under Grant, Sherman and Mc- Pherson - what a trio of Ohio generals! - which swung around to the south of Vicksburg, and fought and won the battles of
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Champion Hills, Jackson and Big Black River, and joined in the siege and capture of Vicksburg.
They fought at Arkansas Post, Port Hudson and Grand Gulf. They also manned gunboats under Admiral Porter, which, with the aid of the army, opened the "Father of Waters" to the Gulf.
During the war they campaigned against the Indians in the far West. They were with Hooker, and thundered down "the defiance of the skies" from above the clouds at Lookout Mountain.
They were under the eagle eye of Thomas at Chickamauga, and in scaling the heights and seizing the redoubts on Missionary Ridge.
They formed a great part of each of the grand divisions of that triune army in which solid "Old Pap Thomas" led the center, McPherson (of Ohio) the right and Schofield the left ; the whole under "Old Tecumseh Sherman," who is neither last or least of Ohio's great generals. Under his directing eye that army blazed a pathway almost through mountains, forced the passage of streams, overcame natural and artificial defences, and a great army, well commanded; fought battles daily for weeks, with more regu- larity than they partook of their daily bread; stormed the forti- fied heights of Resaca, and Kenesaw Mountain; assaulted the works at Ruff's Mills, where the gallant General Edward F. Noyes (since governor of Ohio and minister to France), lost a leg; also the fortifications at Jonesboro and Atlanta, and, after capturing the latter place and leaving behind a considerable de- tachment, swept off eastward to Savannah and the Sea, thence northward through the Carolinas to the Old Dominion, tearing out the vitals of the Confederacy, striking terror to the enemy and carrying the flag to victory.
They were present at the captures of Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans and Richmond. The Ohio soldiers fought and tri- umphed at Franklin, under Cox and Stanley, both of Ohio, and at Nashville, under Thomas.
Ohio "boys in blue" fought at Pea Ridge, and assaulted at Forts Wagner and Fisher; they also, under General Wm. B. Hazen, of Ohio, stormed Fort McAllister, on the Atlantic Coast.
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They fought at Rich Mountain, Bull Run, Cheat Mountain .. Port Republic, at Fair Oaks, Malvern Hills, Cedar Mountain. Groveton and Manassas, South Mountain and Antietam, Win- chester (under Milroy and others), Fredericksburg, under Burn- side; Chancellorville, under Hooker, and Gettysburg, under Meade; also at Mine Run. They were of the Army of the Potomac in that "all summer" campaign of 1864, in which an almost continuous battle raged from the Rapidan to Petersburg. They bled and died at Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Har- bor. They constituted, throughout the war, a part of the body- guard of the capitol.
They were under that other son of Ohio, General Sheridan, at Opequon and Fisher's Hill, in the Shenandoah Valley, in the former of which General Crook (an Ohio man), with Haves of Ohio (since president of the United States), at the head of the Kanawha Division, hurled, like an avalanche, the Army of West Virginia upon Breckenridge's forces, overthrew the left wing of Early's army and insured its defeat and rout.
They were with Sheridan, too, at the bloody battle of Cedar Creek, where he rode from Winchester, "twenty miles away," to the music of the cannon's roar and, at the end of the day, achieved a victory, which, for completeness, is without a parallel among the important field-engagements of the war, if in the annals of history.
The battle of Marengo, in Italy, in some degree affords a parallel to the battle of Cedar Creek in its dual character - practically two battles in one day -and also in the complete. overthrow and almost total annihilation of the army, victorious in the onset of the battle. In other respects the two battles were dissimilar. Napoleon won the battle of Marengo by the oppor- tune arrival on the field of Desaix, the hero of the battle of the Pyramids, with six thousand fresh troops. The battle of Cedar Creek was won by the timely arrival of Sheridan, without troops.
Ohio's soldiers were in the sieges of Petersburg and Rich- mond; also of Charleston, S. C., under Gilmore, another of her heroes. They defended Knoxville, under Burnside. They rushed to glory over the ramparts at Petersburg. They bared their breasts to the storm at Five Forks (under Sheridan and Custer
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of Ohio), and at Sailors' Creek, under the same and other offi- cers of Ohio.
They were in at the crowning success, and witnessed the sur- render of the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee, at Appo- mattox, to General Grant. They were with Sherman at Benton- ville, and in the redemption of North Carolina, and the capture of that other great Confederate army, under General Joseph E. Johnson.
Her generals and soldiers held posts of honor, when they were posts of responsibility and danger. Many of the scenes of conflict where Ohio's sons fought and fell are nameless, and they are almost numberless. They were in every place of danger and duty, where blood flowed and battle-flags were un- furled. They marched, bivouacked, fought and died along the shores of the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, on the Rio Grande, the Mississippi, the Cumberland and Tennessee. They, as sail- ors and marines, were under Dahlgren, DuPont, Porter, Foote and Farragut, and with them also, on the rivers, the gulf and the sea, won glory and renown, and paid the debt of patriotism and valor.
Ohio blood was poured out wherever sacrifices were required .. They were neither sectional in their opinions or their duty. Be- lieving in one flag and one country, they fought side by side with men of all sections and of all extractions, and for the preser- vation of the God-granted and natural boon of liberty and equality.
They were component parts of each of the grand Union armies which contended upon the thirty-one principal battle-fields. of the war. They were generally present at each of the 2,73I battles, affairs or skirmishes of the war. Their trials, sufferings and dangers were not confined to the combats of the contending hosts.
BATTLE OF OPEQUON, VA., SEPTEMBER 19, 1864.
A brief description of one battle may not too strongly illus- trate Ohio's part in the battles of the Civil War. In the last aggressive efforts of the Confederacy in the East much interest centered on operations in the Shenandoah Valley, a battle-ground
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from the beginning of the war. About 25,000 constituted each of the opposing armies. The Confederate army was located, mainly, near Stephenson's Depot, about five miles northward of Winchester, and it was commanded by Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, under whom were Major-Generals John C. Breckin- ridge, John B. Gordon, Fitzhugh Lee and other distinguished officers. It was in a well-chosen position behind Opequon and Red Bud Creeks.
The Union army lay some five miles distant to the northward and was commanded by Major-General Philip H. Sheridan of Ohio. There were infantry, artillery and cavalry in his army from Ohio.
The first conflict was about 4 A. M., on the Union left at a crossing of the Opequon. That being crossed the morning battle moved along the Berrysville Pike westward towards Winchester. A temporary repulse of the Nineteenth Corps (Emery's) let Breckinridge's forces upon the right of the Sixth (Wright's) Corps. It was not until near noon that the battle was on in real earnest. The Sixth Corps then maintained the battle in the center, Wilson's division of cavalry supporting its left, the writer commanding the right of the Sixth Corps. The Nineteenth was practically then out of the fight.
Much encouraged, the Confederates held, defiantly, their strong position. The aggressive was assumed. Major-General George Crook of Ohio swung his Corps (Eighth) against the Confederate left. Brigadier-General H. F. Duval (of Ohio) soon fell, seriously wounded, while leading a division under Crook. One Colonel R. B. Hayes (Twenty-third Ohio) succeeded from the command of a brigade to the command of Duval's division. A critical crisis in the battle was reached. Hayes was confronted by Breckinridge's trained legion, and between the two lay the hitherto regarded impenetrable marsh on Red Bud Creek. Hayes hesitated neither on account of the formidable foe, or the marsh. Ordering and pointing the way he plunged his horse into the marsh and to the amazement of the enemy passed through it with bis command, charging, driving and overthrowing the Confeder- ate hosts. Hayes was later a brigadier-general, member of Con- gress, thrice governor of Ohio, and president of the United States.
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There rode as a staff-officer with Crook on that field Cap- tain Robert P. Kennedy of Ohio. He has since been lieutenant- governor of Ohio, member of Congress, etc. There rode, also, on that field with Crook and Hayes, as a staff-officer, one with smooth, almost beardless face, the blossom of youth yet on his brow - he was then twenty-one years of age. This was Lieu- tenant William McKinley - later a brevet-major, member of the House of Representatives, twice governor of Ohio, and twice elected president of the United States.
General Crook was the very genius of war, when the battle was on. Though modest to diffidence, ordinarily, yet determined and supremely energetic in action - a very Cromwell. He in- spired to great deeds his entire command. His successful career did not end with the Civil War. He became a renowned Indian fighter.
While Crook was maintaining his battle on the Union right the Sixth Corps was forcing the fighting on the left and in the center. Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron W. Ebright (One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio), fell leading his regiment in a charge with other troops of his brigade near the pike. Colonel Wm. H. Ball (One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio - since a judge - still living), though a fragment of a shell had torn his clothing from his back, searing a shoulder blade, could have been seen, unperturbed, moving with his command steadily and surely for- ward. Lieutenant-Colonel Moses M. Granger (same regiment) was, with his usual activity, good judgment and skill leading his troops upon the enemy's center as it was being pushed back upon the plain northeastward of Winchester where Early was forced to concentrate his army with all its reserves. Colonel Granger had that same placid, gentle smile on his radiant counte- nance you see him displaying now from this platform as he tells you of the glories of the judiciary of Ohio. Lieutenant-Colonel Otho H. Binkley and Major Aaron Spangler (One Hundred and Tenth Ohio - each modest as a refined woman - each, later, given, by President Lincoln, higher rank, by brevet, for gallantry on the field - each, still later, distinguished in civil life) and others of Ohio, led their men heroically and successfully, in the hottest of the fight.
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The supreme hour came (about 5 P. M.). Night must not rob the Union cause of victory. Sheridan rode along his lines waving hat and sword, and inspired his tired, hungry troops, who had fought and advanced slowly all the day, leaving their dead and wounded behind them. Crook and Hayes and Keifer and others personally summoned their men to a final effort. The command "forward" rang all along the lines of the Union army. Meeting and delivering shot and shell these lines moved sullenly forward, though final success then was not certain .*
* General Ricketts who commanded the Third Division of the Sixth Corps, in his official report, refers to Keifer's conduct in one stage of this battle thus :
"The Nineteenth Corps did not move and keep connection with my right, and the turnpike upon which the division was dressing bore to the left, causing a wide interval between the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps. As the lines advanced the interval became greater. The enemy, dis- covering this fact, hurled a large body of men towards the interval and threatened to take my right in flank. Colonel Keifer at once caused the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth and Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania and One Hundredth and Tenth Ohio to break their connection with the right of the remainder of his brigade and move towards the advancing columns of the enemy. These three regiments most gallantly met the overwhelm- ing masses of the enemy and held them in check.
As soon as the Nineteenth Corps engaged the enemy the force in my front commenced slowly retiring. The three regiments named were pushed forward until they came upon two batteries (eight guns), silenc- ing them and compelling the enemy to abandon them. The three regi- ments had arrived within less than two hundred yards of the two bat- teries when the Nineteenth Corps, after a most gallant resistance, gave way. These guns would have been taken by our troops had our flank been properly protected. The enemy at once came upon my right flank in large force; successful resistance was no longer possible; the order was given for our men to fall back on our second line, but the enemy advancing at the time in force threw us temporarily into confusion."
General Keifer in his official report, uses this language:
"The broken troops of my brigade were halted and reformed in a woods behind troops from the reserve, which had come forward to fill up the interval. As soon as reformed, they were moved forward again over the same ground they had traversed the first time. While moving this portion of my brigade forward, I received an order from Brigadier- General Ricketts, commanding division, to again unite my brigade near the center of the corps, and to the right of the turnpike, near a house. This order was obeyed at once, and my whole brigade was placed in
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A new force appeared. The cavalry under General Torbert had held the far off Union right along the Martinsburg road. Its commander had massed his brigades and was moving steadily forward. At first in a walk, then a trot, then as it swung around the foothills of Apple-Pie Ridge to the open plain near Win- chester, in a gallop, with drawn sabres, they glistening in the sun's rays as it was fast setting behind the Alleghany mountain range, but yet to be seen through the church spires of Winchester. Over cavalry first, then artillery, our cavalry, horse and rider went irresistibly, carrying death and disaster, then, when Early's hard pressed infantry was reached, our cavalry overthrew its left, and defeat and panic followed for all his army. It was rapidly forced through the streets of the long, war-doomed city of Winchester. A complete victory was won.
An on-looker would have been able, from afar, to have seen, leading, well to the front, one of the brigades of Torbert's cav- alry, the long, flowing, blonde hair, under a slouch hat, and the conspicuous, also flowing, red necktie of General George A. Cus- ter of Ohio: brave, proud, confident and invincible, until he fell in the fateful Indian trap in the Little Big Horn country.
This was the first of Sheridan's great victories. The dead and wounded of the two armies were 8,639.
one line, immediately fronting the enemy. The four regiments of my brigade, that were upon the left, kept connection with the First Brigade, Third Division, and fought desperately, in the main driving the enemy. They also captured a considerable number of prisoners in their first ad- vance.
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