USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 11
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THE CAMP FIRE.
ceived there, have been removed to cemeteries in other places; and some killed in the minor actions of the Atlanta campaign are scat- tered along the route. A total of 178 men were killed in action or died of wounds. The killed and wounded at Shiloh were 38 per -
cent. of the men engaged; at Stone River, 27 per cent .; and at Pick- ett's Mills, over 40 per cent. At the latter battle, one company (H) lost over 90 per cent. of its men, and another company (K) over 81 per cent.
Beyond comparison, the Atlanta campaign was the severest the regiment was engaged in. This was not alone because of long continuance, but also because of the unintermitted close contact with the enemy from Dallas nearly to Atlanta. The effect of this service was to reduce the number present for duty from 331 at the opening of the campaign, to 99 when it ended-about four months. Perhaps the most severe shorter marches were that of one day on the return to Chattanooga after the Atlanta campaign, when thirty miles were covered; the expedition after cavalry below Pulaski in the winter of the Nashville campaign; and one hot day's march in Texas. In the Kentucky campaign after Bragg, there were several night movements, always a severe strain on the men.
Most of the men who came home for muster out were left with more or less disability, often latent and to be developed in after years. There is a notion that army service toughens men and does not wear them out. Whatever foundation there may be for this notion, nothing of the kind was evident in the experience of the Forty-first. The severe demands of the service left almost all of the men permanently weakened, as perhaps all long-continued ex- cesses must do.
In its quartermaster and commissary service, the Forty-first was always fortunate. There were at all times competent and ener- getic officers in those departments, and more than once it liappened that the regiment was supplied when others were in more or less want. Of course, such lack as that at Chattanooga during the siege by Bragg, was not in any way connected with the efficiency of the quartermaster and commissary staff; but there were times when
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124
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
such officers as the Forty-first had were able to do much for the comfort of the regiment.
The regimental association of survivors was organized in 1868 and holds annual reunions. These have been held at various places, but in the last year or two, opinion seems to have settled on Cleve- land as a central and accessible point. That city was therefore chosen for the reunions of 1896 and 1897. The survivors are widely scattered, some too far away to join the reunions. Nevertheless, these are always times of great enjoyment-reunions, often, of com- rades separated for thirty years or more.
Largely through the efforts and attention of Gen. Wiley, a regimental monument has been erected to mark the position of the Forty-first at Chickamauga. It is one of many put up by different regiments on that field. The deeds of the regiment are thus re- corded in stone on two fields-Stone River, in the brigade monu- ment, and Chickamauga.
125
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE.
CHAPTER XX.
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE.
Today, a scattered band of old men sit before their fires and stretch their stiffening joints, and, laying their heads back on the cushioned chair, fall into youth and vigor as the world fades out and the past lives again.
There is a tumult in the land. Rumors of gathering armies and insults to the fathers' flag are flying thick and fast. On farms and on the roads, in shop and school and at the fireside, the darken- ing clouds bear down. Then, here and there, little knots of men talk of the threatening storm, until earnestness grows into impatient desire, and desire into resolve, and resolve into action. Froni Wayne and Columbiana, from Trumbull and Geauga, from Lorain and Huron and Ottawa, and from divers others, they come to join the Cuyahoga men in marching to the rescue. They enter on the new life cheerfully and with good heart, making no murmur at its hardships, and accepting its surprises and disappointments without faltering. The machine of army discipline galls here and there, but this they make light of-they are out to end the war, not for pleasure.
They are at the front. The baptism of fire comes suddenly at Shiloh, and the ranks are stripped almost before they realize that they are in battle. The colors go down once, twice, half a dozen times, but always there is a new hand to raise the flag undismayed. There's many a gap that never will be filled-there's many a com- rade gone forever.
Then, if any duty can be ignoble, they come upon such now in long days of fatigue detail, in march, in sickness, in unsheltered nights of storni. So they drift on to Corinth, and down through Mississippi, and back into Tennessee, and up to Louisville in a long race for the lead. Then down to the mountains, and back through
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126
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
cold and snow and rain, and finally to Nashville again. Out to Stone River, to stand on the only part of the line not overwhelmed, and leave six score comrades there.
A period of rest, and then on through the hot country toward Chattanooga, and down to Chickamauga. An ineffective, costly battle the first day, a successful defense the second day, with the tor- tures of thirst and the enemy on every side. Back to Chattanooga, to hunger a month, and then to steal down the river in the night and smite Longstreet's men closing the northern door. Over to Orchard Knob, opening the battles that were to free Chattanooga, and on to the glorious triumph of Mission Ridge. Up into inhos- pitable East Tennessee in winter weather, with feet half shod, to stand in snow and slush for reconsecration; and then a blessed respite at home.
Again at the front, veterans! Southward, past spiteful Rocky Face and tangled Resaca, and on along the footsore route to Atlanta. At Pickett's Mills, a bloody burial of brave endeavor-an offering without an altar, a hopeless sacrifice. Locked in close grip with the foe at morning, noon and night, some weeks of struggle till Atlanta is reached and won, with men enough left in ranks to make a company, no more.
A breathing-spell, and then away once more after Hood; up to Chattanooga, twenty, thirty miles a day; over to Athens, then the race for Nashville, holding off outnumbering enemies, running the narrow chance at Spring Hill, guarding flank and rear at Franklin, at last sheltered under Nashville's forts. Two weeks of waiting and then the crowning battle of the middle West-Overton Knob a cap- ture, with cannon and prisoners, and in front only flying crowds of men who had been the opposing army. Next some toilsome service in the wilderness, a little rest at Huntsville, and a journey bent southward which should have been toward home when the war was over.
Again and again the visions pass, not always of the grand events, the march, the battle, the campaign. Here, at Pickett's Mills, a soldier lies prone on his back, scarce out of the sweep of balls that fly above him. Prone on his back and with closed eyes:
127
IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE.
yet not dead. On his left breast a darker stain spreads and spreads over his army shirt, as his life pours out in the crimson spring. Above the earthworks on the hill to the right the sun's last rays are shining, but in the valley where the soldier lies, twilight is coming on. In a fair Ohio home a mother lifts her baby boy and holds him close to a soldier's picture on the mantel. In the tree tops about the house the sun's last rays are lingering, and twilight comes. "Kiss papa good night till he comes home again," she says. * * It is the self-same hour, on the battlefield and in * the home; and the soldier-father's long good night is said.
Still the visions pass. Here is a lofty ridge, smoke-crowned but a moment ago, where thousands of blue blouses are gathering about their trophies of flags and cannon-treading on air, those exulting captors. Here is another height, reached by a difficult and obstructed way, but rich in spoils of the enemy who had turned his face forever from the fight. One by one the visions come and go- of battle smokes, of victorious attacks and triumphant defenses, of sudden dash and stubborn long resistance, of flags waving in sul- phurous air, of comrades dead and dying, of hungry days and shel- terless times of rain and cold, of captured arms, of brave endeavor not always with reward, of patient vigils in the wakeful night, of tardy news from home -.
But all tnis belongs to the times of eighteen hundred and sixty- one.
128
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
CHAPTER XXI.
"TO THE COLORS !"
Some facts concerning the flags of the Forty-first are not easy to determine at this late period. It seems to be fairly well settled that the first flag (the national colors) came from the Chardon Light Guards, and the second one from the ladies of Geauga county. In the early headquarter records is a letter from L. C. Ludlow, secre- tary of the Chardon Light Guards, asking what time would be con- venient for presentation of a flag from that corps. This letter is dated "Recorder's Office, Geauga County, Oct. 24, 1861," and calls the flag proposed to be presented a "regimental banner." Under date of October 26, Col. Hazen replies, suggesting that the presen- tation be made on Monday, Oct. 28, as the regiment expected to move on the 29th. A file of the Geauga county paper, the Jeffer- sonian Democrat, is kept in the county auditor's office, and Com- rade Silo P. Warriner has found in this file an extended account of the presentation. A jointed silver ferule on the staff of the flag bore this inscription:
"Presented to the 41st Regt., O. V. I., by the Chardon Light Guards of Geauga County, O., 1861." Then follows the account: "The regiment being drawn up in line, the flag was borne by the Chardon Light Guards in procession to the front, where it was handed to Col. Hazen. Company C, Captain Cole, being the color company, was called to the front and the flag handed to the color sergeant, when Company C marched back to the line. The regi- ment then formed on three sides of a square, and Judge M. C. Can- field, of Chardon, addressed them." Judge Canfield's address was eloquent and stirring, and the paper reports it at some length. The reply of Col. Hazen was as follows:
Gentlemen of the Chardon Light Guards and Citizens of Ge- auga County :- I am glad to meet you here today, to thank you for
1
FLAGS OF THE REGIMENT.
The Colors in center the one presented by the Ladies of Geauga County, nothing left but staff. The one at the left was presented to the Regiment by Col. Wiley, and the banner at the right the one presented by Gen. Hazen.
129
TO THE COLORS.
what your county has done for this regiment. She has furnished many men of whom we are all proud, of whom you and the country should be proud. You have come here today to present us the emblem of our country's greatness. We thank you for it, and will never tarnish the splendor of its purity. We are soon to leave you, perhaps some of us not to return; it is probably better that we all should not; but go where we will, we know your hearts go with us, and such as do return are sure of a hospitable welcome. We will do our duty, and may no one disinherit the greeting so dear to the soldier when the battle is over.
In behalf of the regiment, I thank you heartily for the happy compliment just paid them, and must bid you now adieu."
The flag thus presented is now in possession of Mr. Hunt, at his house in Geauga county. How long it was carried by the regiment, or why it was laid aside and found its way to its present location, is not known. An apparent error in the newspaper ac- count quoted may be explained. Captain Cole's company is spoken of as receiving the flag as the color company. Wiley's company served as color company, but this may not have been the original arrangement. In the regimental records, under date of Nov. 2, 1861, appears a letter from Col. Hazen to the Adjutant-General of the State, proposing the following arrangement of companies: "1. Capt. Tolles'; 2. Capt. Bushnell's; 3. Capt. Cole's; 4. Capt. Stone's; 5. Capt. Wiley's; 6. Capt. Leslie's; 7. Capt. Hamblin's; 8. Capt. Pease's; 9. Capt. Williston's; 10. Capt. Goodsell's." It will be seen that this does not correspond with the final arrangement of the com- panies in line.
A flag came from the ladies of Geauga county, and this is now in the flag room at Columbus. On the staff is inscribed: "Pre- sented to the 41st Regiment, O. V. I., by the Ladies of Geauga County." There can be no question about the service done by this flag; it was carried until it had almost ceased to be a flag, torn by shell and bullet, even the staff chipped and marred. It was prob- ably presented for the ladies in a letter from Mr. J. O. Converse; but the date and circumstances are lost. The first color sergeant of the regiment was H. M. Billings, who says that the Chardon Light 9
130
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
Guard flag was presented before he was detailed as color-bearer, and that the two stands of colors were in the color box on the way to Shiloh. There was also a large bunting flag, the regulation gar- rison flag, which was presented to the regiment by Gen. M. D. Leggitt and wife, one Sunday afternoon at Camp Wood. This flag was loaned to some committee at the Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair at Cleveland, during the regiment's veteran furlough, and was not afterward in possession of the regiment. These three flags may be taken as the original flags of the Forty-first.
At Chattanooga, during the siege by Bragg, Col. Wiley re- ceived a flag which he had ordered in Cincinnati, and he presented it to the regiment one evening at dress parade near the railroad cut which was the regiment's line. Col. Hazen and some other officers happened to be passing as Wiley was handing over the colors. This was the regulation colors, and on it was embroidered the names of the principal battles of the regiment.
Gen. Hazen presented the regiment with a large and handsome banner, which at the time of presentation bore the names of Shiloh, Stone River and Chickamauga. At the first regimental reunion after the war, an order was read from the general of the army, giving permission to put the names of other battles on this banner. A committee was appointed, and Mrs. Capt. James McMahon was chosen to add the names. She did the work beautifully by hand, in silk embroidery. The added names were those of the battles after Chickamauga-Brown's Ferry, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Pick- ett's Mills, Nashville, etc. This banner is now in possession of the regimental association.
On more than one occasion, the Forty-first responded to the call, "To the colors!" Conspicuously at Orchard Knob and Mis- sion Ridge the colors were advanced and the regiment rallied abou: them in the face of the enemy. With the relics in the flag-room at Columbus are the captured flag of the Twenty-eighth Alabama Confederate regiment, presented by the ladies of Selma, and several battle-flags or guidons.
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131
A STATEMENT BY SURGEON ALBERT G. HART.
CHAPTER XXII.
À STATEMENT BY SURGEON ALBERT G. HART.
While the Regiment was at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Janu- ary, 1864, after two years and four months of service, and was com- pleting the re-enlistment papers, the company commanders furnished the data from which was compiled the following table. It illustrates the rapid and fearful waste of human life following in the wake of war.
COMPANIES.
A
BCDEFGH
I
K
Total
Original Recruits, 1861.
84
98
89
86
86
87
89
82
85
86
872
New Recruits, 1862, 1863
19
36
12
2
11
18
23
1
7
1
130
Drafted Men
2
26
2
1
5
36
Total
103 136 127
88
97 107
113
88
92|
87
1038
Killed in battle.
8
7
7
1
7
7
4
S
9
2
60
Died of wounds
7
3
9
5
4
10
12
3
1
2 56
Died of disease.
9
18 16
8
2
9
13
12
13
11
111
Discharged of wounds.
4
2
3
6
6
1
4
2
28
Discharged of disease.
23
25
13
22
22
17
25
20
13 27
207
Drafted men discharged.
2
24
2
1
4
33
Absent
9
2
5
10
5
4
5
4
13
57
Invalid corps.
1
3
Promoted and transferred
6
4
2
1
3
2
5
2
1 26
Prisoners of war.
2
1
1
4
1
3
3
15
Absent sick and wounded
4
35
19
17
14
4
22
10
8
11
144
Absent on duty
12
8
4
2
6
1
4
4
5
4
50
Present with Regiment.
31
21
28
23
22
42
25
10
32
14
248
2
132
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
This table shows that in two years and four months nearly one- fourth of those who enlisted had died, and almost as many more had been discharged as unfit for further service. There were also 145 others absent, sick or wounded, many of whom afterwards died or were discharged.
The following table is compiled from the Ohio State Roster. and shows the whole number enlisted, and our losses during our entire service as a regiment:
Whole number enlisted 1472
Killed in battle, 109
Died of wounds, 69
Died of disease,
141
Died of accident, 3
Total deaths, 322
Discharged from wounds, 134
Discharged from disease, 291
Total discharged,
425
Died and discharged,
747
725
Let us trace briefly the conditions which contributed to our loss, as the table given shows, of 141 by death from disease, and 291 by discharge from disease-432 men, during our term of service.
The regiment was recruited chiefly from a farming community. and the men accustomed to moderate labor and regular meals and sleep. Our commander was a captain in the regular army, from whom much was expected, thoroughly loyal to the service, and wit :: the advantage of considerable experience in Indian wars upon the frontier. He was naturally ambitious that his regiment should be capable of giving the best possible service to the country, and mec: the high expectations of its friends. Acting upon the maxim- received in his military education and experience, and urged for- ward by the evident military necessity that the regiment be ready to go into active service at the earliest possible day, he initiated long
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133
A STATEMENT BY SURGEON ALBERT G. HART.
hours of drill and camp duties-no time could be afforded for accli- mation or to accustom the men to the great change from civil to military life.
It was early seen by the medical officers that the severe and unaccustomed strain upon the men was rapidly lowering their vital tone, and rendering them less able to resist the camp and epidemic influences they were sure to encounter. The repeated efforts made even as early as Camp Wood, to urge this view upon the command- ing officer, were always courteously received, but were met by the assurance that his early experience contradicted the fears expressed by the surgeons.
Nothing can be more certain to the writer than the fact that nothing was gained by this continued working of the men at high pressure; and that longer hours of rest and fewer of drill would have accomplished more than the long hours of work by men rarely fully rested from their duties. Our experience in our first camp was only that of many other regiments. The results in our case were soon to appear, and to leave a lasting impression on the history of the regiment.
The movements of the command have already been given in this history. We reached Camp Wickliff, Kentucky, sixty miles below Louisville, December 15th, 1861, and marched out February 16th, 1862, just sixty days. The conditions surrounding us while there have already been described. From letters I wrote from that camp, I take the following facts: We had one case of measles, at Louisville. A few days after our arrival at Camp Wickliff a num- ber of cases occurred. Soon men were down in nearly all of our fifty Sibley tents, unavoidably exposing every one. The disease became epidemic, and the whole camp a focus of contagion. In all there were 125 cases. It was impossible to find room in our regimental hospital for so many. Most of the cases were mild and the larger part remained in their tents, which were heated by sheet iron stoves, and were visited daily by the surgeon and nursed by their comrades. These cases did at least as well, if not better, than those crowded together in our hospital. At the same time typhoid fever prevailed to an alarming extent, and our cases of measles were
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
no sooner on their feet than a large proportion of them came down with that disease. Malaria, camp diarrhea and jaundice abounded. Including the convalescents there were at one time 300 men off duty.
About January 20th, our hospital cases were ordered sent to Louisville. My letters mentioned sending off 90 cases in three weeks, and before we left in all 125 had been sent under these orders. When we broke up camp, 125 convalescents were sent to Nelson Barracks. We had marched into the camp 930 strong; we left in sixty days with only 680 men.
The Ohio State Roster reports 9 deaths, from all causes, at Camp Wickliff. The same authority reports 33 of those .we sent to Louisville as dying in hospital there within a few weeks-a larger number than we had killed on any battle field of the war.
Many of those sent back died at a later period or were dis- charged for disability. And a large number who applied after the war for surgeon's certificate, referred the origin of their disability to sickness at Camp Wickliff.
Few of those who went into the army knew anything of the duties to be required of them. With the most earnest purpose to do all for the best, and acting on all the light of that day, many mistakes on the part of officers and men were inevitable. All honor to those who did the best they knew or could know. With all its imperfections our army hospital service was far superior to that which had ever been furnished to the soldiers of any previous war.
The epidemic described was the only instance of the massing of our sick. All through the service we had the usual diseases inci- dent to our army life, and the continued drain upon our number from death and discharge. Of the survivors whom I meet at our army reunions, many complain of disability, yet are living on-"the survival of the fittest." From the number still reported on our regimental roster as living, it is probable that of those enlisted from 40 to 45 per cent. still survive-32 years after the war. And the report of the Commissioner of Pensions for the year 1895 gives the death rate for that year of pensioners of the late war as being less than four per cent.
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135
.A STATEMENT BY SURGEON ALBERT G. HART.
The soldiers of the Mexican War were granted a service pen- sion 39 years after the close of that war. The bill required some degree of disability, or dependency, or that the claimant under its provisions should be 62 years of age, and that he should have served 60 days, or been actually engaged in a battle. Taking this as a precedent, it is safe to expect that if not before, then that 39 years after the close of our war, which will be in 1904, a service pension will be granted to the soldiers of the War of the Rebellion. The pension of the soldiers of the Mexican War is twelve dollars a month. Judging from the liberal provision of the Pension Act of 1890, such a pension bill will embrace all who served 60 days.
SURGEONS' ROSTER.
Surgeon Thos. B. Cleveland, appointed August 29th, 1861. Resigned May 17th, 1862. Resided at Cleveland, O., and resigned on account of ill health. Deceased.
Surgeon John C. Hubbard, appointed May 12th, 1862. Dis- charged for disability August 30th, 1862. Did duty as surgeon 18 days. Deceased.
Surgeon Albert G. Hart, appointed assistant surgeon Septem- ber 5, 1861. Promoted surgeon August 30th, 1862. Resigned November 5th, 1864. Lives 102 Jennings avenue, Cleveland, O.
Surgeon John Hill, appointed December 16th, 1864. Mus- tered out with the regiment November 27th, 1865. Resides at Vincennes, Ind.
Assistant Surgeon Benjamin F. Cheney, appointed September 12th, 1862. Resigned August 22d, 1864. Resides at New Haven, Conn.
Assistant Surgeon John W. Bugh, appointed March 11th, 1863. Resigned January 5th, 1864. Lives at Bluffton, Ind.
Chas. E. Tupper, appointed September 8th, 1864. Deceased.
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136
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
LIST OF BATTLES.
The following is a list of battles in which this Regiment bore an honorable part:
(Official Army Register, Part V, Page 116).
Shiloh, Tenn .April 6-7, 1862
Stone River, Tenn Dec. 31, 1862, Jany. 2, 1863.
Woodbury, Tenn. .Jany 24, 1863
Chickamauga, Ga. Sept. 19-20, 1863
Brown's Ferry, Tenn. October 27, 1863
Chattanooga, Tenn. November 23-25, 1863.
Orchard Knob, Tenn
November 23, 1863
Mission Ridge, Tenn
November 25, 1863.
Rocky Face Ridge, Ga
. May 5-9, 1861
Resaca, Ga.
May 13-16, 1864
Adairsville, Ga.
May 17-18, 1804
Cassville, Ga May 19-22, 1861
Dallas, Ga. May 25 to June 4, 1861
Picketts Mills, Ga. May 27, 1861
Kennesaw Mountain, Ga. June 9-30, 1861
Chattahoochee River, Ga. .July 6-10, 1864
Atlanta, Ga. (Siege of) July 28 to September 2, 1864
Lovejoy Station, Ga. September 2-6. 1864
Franklin, Tenn November 30, 1804
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