The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 47

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 47

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).

On the 11th, the troops entered the pass, and after the principal part of the train had proceeded some distance, a wagon in the rear broke down and seven companies of the Fourth Ohio were left to protect it until another wagon could be brought back and the baggage shifted into it. While thus detained, a party of lancers, about 1,500 in number. appeared on the right and to the rear. The com- panies immediately concealed themselves behind some bushes and embankments and coolly awaited the attack. After considerable firing and maneuvering on the part of the enemy, the wagon that had been sent for came rattling and thundering through the mountain pass, which they probably mistook for the approach of artillery, and with no little haste these valorous Mexicans took their exit to the opposite side of the plain. Continuing the march, the troops arrived at Ama- zuque, and, after resting a few hours, pressed forward, intending to enter Peubla and relieve Col. Childs and his gallant band before night. On nearing the city, the clash of arms was distinctly heard, and also the Colonel firing a salute on his eighteen-pounder. The troops passed through the principal parts of the city, only being occasionally fired at by the foe concealed on the tops of the houses. This firing was kept up for some minutes, when, being returned with compound interest, the bells rung for a truce, and the Mexicans abandoned the city.

The joy of Col. Childs and his men seemed to have no bounds ; and no won- der, for they had been hemmed up in the north part of the city for nearly a

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monthi, and a good part of that time had been scant of provisions and water. Day after day had they lived upon flour, water and coffee, and these not in abundance. The enemy. finding that Col. Childs would not surrender the place, had attempted to starve him out. So destitute of meat were the Colonel's men that it has been told that they even ate cats ! Their ammunition was so near spent that they had to wrap six-pound balls to fire from twelve-pound guns. But upon the arrival of re-enforcements, they sallied forth, and entering the well-filled meat stores, appro- priated some of the superfluities of their Mexican neighbors to their own neces- sities.

On the 19th of October, details from the Fourth Ohio and other regiments started on an expedition against a party of Mexicans under Gen. Rea, the noted guerrilla chief. When about ten miles from Puebla, the enemy was met and a close conflict ensued ; retreating some distance, they again made a stand, and fought desperately with the dragoons, but on receiving a shot or two from the artillery, they again fled and ran into Atalixco. The loss of life in this engage- ment was considerable. The report of the Mexicans was 219 killed and 300 wounded ; the Americans, two killed and one wounded. The forces were about 1,500 Americans and about the same number of Mexicans.

A detachment of some 300 men was sent to a little town called Huacalcingo, for the purpose of capturing two pieces of cannon belonging to the enemy. The guns were hid on the arrival of the troops. but by a diligent search they were found and spiked, and the Americans re-assembled at Puebla, elated with their success and the probable cessation of hostilities. The stay in Puebla was some- what long-from the 12th of October, 1847, to the 2d of June, 1848-during which time the prospects of peace and war were alternating with a regularity per- plexing and vexations to the American forces. However, after much uncertainty and many disappointments, about the 1st of May, 1848, intelligence was received which made the hopes of peace more warrantable than they had ever been before.

On the 2d of June, orders were received to take up the line of march for Vera Cruz, and the 3d found the troops hastening homeward. After being detained at Encero until the 16th, awaiting the arrival of shipping at Vera Cruz, the line of march was again resumed, and three days later the Gulf coast was reached. On the 22d. they boarded the ship Edgar, of New York, and stood out to sea ; on the 12th of July, arrived at Cincinnati and on the 20th the companies were disbanded and with glad hearts the men dispersed to their homes in various directions.

Many of these soldiers of the Mexican war took a prominent part in the war of the late rebellion, and not a few of the boys who enlisted in the late war were first drilled by these heroes of Buena Vista and in the old "Scott Tactics."

J. G. Hawkins was Colonel of the Thirteenth Ohio ; Dr. D. W. Henderson was a surgeon in the Ninety-sixth Ohio ; C. P. Cavis was a Captain in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio, and Dr. James Cutler, who has been a citizen of the county for a number of years, was a Captain in the First Ohio Cavalry. Some of them are " sleeping their last sleep " in honored soldiers' graves, among whom are Col. J. G. Hawkins, killed at Stone River. and Capt. C. P. Cavis, killed at Bentonville. A few of them still live, honored with the well-earned titles of two wars.

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MILITARY RECORD.

CHAPTER V.

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

"Our country is calling; go forth! go forth! To danger and glory, ye heroes;

In danger your manhood must prove its worth, There hearts are weighed in the balance;

And he who would win his life at last

Must throw it all on the battle's cast."

THE first gun of the war of the rebellion was fired on Fort Sumter, on the 12th day of April, 1861, and the smoke still hung over the battered walls when the first call was made for volunteers. On Monday morning, the 14th day of April, 1861, the President issued the following proclamation :

WHEREAS, the laws of the United States are now and have been opposed in several States by combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way ; I therefore call forth the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of 75,000, to suppress said combinations and execute the law. * * * * * k * * * *

The first service assigned the forces will probably be to repossess the forts, places and property seized from the Union.

On Tuesday, the 15th day of April, 1861, the Governor of Ohio issued a proclamation calling for thirteen regiments, and on Friday, three days thereafter, two regiments, numbering 1,700 men, were on their way to Washington.

Union County, with all the loyal North, was awakened to the danger of the honr. The rattling drum and the tread of marching soldiers were heard in every town and village in the county. When we recall the days of 1861, we can again hear the stirring music of fife and drum, and again we see the boys of Union County as they marched through the streets with banners proudly waving, and were off for the war.

"Proudly and firmly marched off the men; Who had a sweetheart thought of her then; Tears were coming, but brave lips smiled when The soldiers followed the drum, The drum, The echoing, echoing drum."

And again we see them returning, after four years of war, with their old tat- tered flags faded by the Southern sun and blackened with the smoke of battle. Their ranks were broken ; their old, faded blouses and jackets had borne the storms of many battles, but they came crowned as heroes. The were welcomed home by a grateful people, who vied with each other in doing honor and homage to their sons who had fought the battles of a war that cost " four hundred thousand loyal lives, that made three hundred thousand union soldier cripples for life, and left more than one million widows and orphans to mourn for their loved ones who did not return."

Union County, with a population in 1860 of 16,507, sent into the service up- ward of three thousand soldiers, of all arms of the service-infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy-representing more than one hundred regiments, batteries and independent companies. The total roster of soldiers published in this history numbers 3,538 ; this includes soldiers now living in the county, who went into the service from other counties, and many of them from other States. These rolls have all been carefully examined by soldiers of every regiment represented, and those known to have entered the service from other counties have been checked, and this leaves the number from this county 3,200. Add to this the veterans that

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re-enlisted, 348, and we have a grand total of 3,548 enlistments. This includes about 200 represented in two different regiments or companies ; deducting these and the veteran enlistments leaves upward of 3,000 soldiers from the county.

Of the full companies sent from this county, there was one for the first three months' service in the Thirteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and thirty- two men for the Seventeenth Regiment, aggregating one hundred and twenty-six men ; six companies for the three years' service under the first call, three compa- nies under the three years' call in 1862, one company under the three months' call in 1862, one company for the six months' service in 1863, three companies of " One Hundred Days men " in 1864, three companies of one year's service in 1864, and two companies of "Squirrel Hunters" in 1862-in all twenty companies.

Three hundred and forty-eight re-enlisted as veterans under the call of the President in December, 1863. These were men who, after having served more than two years in one organization, re-enlisted in the same organization for "three years more, or during the war." Of these veterans re-enlisting from Union County, the following regiments of Ohio Volunteer Infantry were repre- sented : Thirteenth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth. Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Fortieth, Forty-sixth, Fifty-fourth, Sixty-sixth, Seventy-sixth, Eighty-second, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, Thirty- third. Thirty-eighth, Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fourth. Fifty-third, Fifty- eighth, Sixty-third, Sixty-fifth, Seventy-fourth, and First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry.

Besides the full companies raised in the county, companies were largely re- cruited for the Fortieth and Fifty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry ; a company of sharp-shooters, and quite a number of colored troops for the Fifth and Twenty-seventh United States Colored Troops. Many others entered the regular army, mostly in the Eighteenth Regiment United States Army, and many enlisted and were credited to other counties of whom we have no record.

Union County's contribution to the war was equal to the total number of male adults in the county at that time, as a large number of the soldiers were boys under age. From the first call for soldiers in 1861, until peace in 1865, Union County filled her quota for every call. Of the commissioned officers, two attained the rank of Colonel, two of Lieutenant Colonel, three of Major, four of Surgeon, fifty of Captain, and seventy of Lientenant-in all one hundred and thirty commissioned officers.

We did not furnish a brilliant array of officers of high rank-Brigadier and Major Generals manufactured to order at home by political influence and news- papers, fighting battles at long range ; but we did furnish our quota to the rank and file of the army-the soldiers who carried the musket, the carbine and saber, the cartridge-box, the canteen, the knap-sack, the haversack with their rations, and marched through rain and mud, and slept in the "dog tent ;" the soldiers who stood picket, lay in the rifle-pits, made the breastworks, did the dangerous sconting and raiding, laid the pontoons, carried the ammunition and fought the battles of the rebellion.

Such was Union County's contribution to the war-the real heroes who served without hope of reward, save that of a nation preserved. They have no costly monuments to proclaim to the world their valiant deeds; but monuments will crumble and fall to the ground while the people will keep green in their heart of hearts the heroic deeds of the rank and file of the army, nameless and pageless in in history though they be-

"They were the builders whose work is immortal, Crowned with the dome that is over us all."

The soldiers of Union County fought upon every field of the thirty-one prin- cipal battle-fields of the war, from Bull Bun to Appomattox. The first of her sol- liers wounded was at Bull Run. They were at Carnifex Ferry, where the first

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MILITARY RECORD.

soldier from the county was killed ; and again we find them led by Garfield marching on to victory in Eastern Kentucky, then following Thomas triumphantly at Mill Springs, in January, 1862, and in February we find them at Fort Donelson, both with the land and naval forces. They fought at Shiloh, Corinth and Perry- ville ; again struggled amid the cedars of Stone River; then poured ont their best blood at Chickamauga. They were at Island No. 10, Champion Hills, Jack- son, Big Black River, Grand Gulf, Arkansas Post and Spanish Fort. They were with the victorious columns of Thomas at Mission Ridge, and fought under Sher- man, at Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw and Atlanta ; marched with "Sherman to the sea," and were with " Old Pap Thomas " in one of the best planned battles and most brilliant victories of the war, at Nashville. And again at Forts Wagner, Fisher and McAllister, at Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, South Mountain and Chancel- lorsville ; at Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Fredericksburg and Cold Har- bor. They were at Winchester, and swept down the Shenandoah Valley under " Little Phil," and were on every field of Virginia. They were at Cumberland Gap, Knoxville, Vicksburg, Murfreesboro and Kingston. They were at Charleston and Bentonville. They participated in the most brilliant cavalry raids of the war, and carried death and destruction into the heart of the Confederacy, under the leadership of those dashing cavalry chieftains, Kilpatrick, Custer and Sheridan. Many of them were at Appomattox, and finally, it was the fortune of Union County's cavalrymen to be present at and participants in the capture of the President of the Confederate States. The blood of Union County soldiers was poured out upon all these sanguinary battle-fields, and many of them are sleeping in nameless graves on the fields where they fell.

And what was Union County's sacrifice in the war ? 133 of her soldiers were killed in battle ; 400 died of wounds or disease, or wasted in the prison pens ; 360 were wounded, and 143 were prisoners of war, making a total loss of killed, died, wounded and prisoners, of 1,035 ; 200 sleep in the graveyards and cemeteries of the county, and 321 are buried in the South and in unknown and unlettered graves, there awaiting the assembly of the grand army above, where Heaven's " Recording angel will call the roll " on that great day. What a sacri- fice for one little county ! but what a grand army will muster on that other shore.

In addition to these, there are buried in the cemeteries of the county ten sol- diers of the war of the Revolution, 109 of the war of 1812, and 7 of the war with Mexico, making a total of 655 soldiers, residents of the county, mustered out of life's service.

The first three soldiers who enlisted in the county, as shown by published records, were John Newlove, C. S. Irwin and James Chapman. They were too impatient to wait for a company to be recruited in the county, and Irwin went to Springfield and joined a company that was assigned to the Sixteenth Ohio Regi- ment in the three months' service. Newlove and Chapman joined a company from Urbana, of the Second Ohio Regiment, and were in the first battle of Bull Run. Both Newlove and Irwin were afterward enlisted and served over four years in the First Ohio Cavalry.

The first Union County soldier who died in the service was C. C. Hurly, of Company D, Thirteenth Regiment ; the first one wounded was James Chapman, of the Second Regiment, who was wounded at Bull Run, and the first one killed was Ransom Reed, Company F, Thirteenth Regiment, who was killed at Carnifex Ferry, September 10, 1862.

The first company to enlist and enter the service, in response to the first call for 75,000 volunteers for three months, was a company recruited at Marysville by J. G. Hawkins and M. C. Lawrence. The first war meeting was held in the old court house on the evening of April 15, 1861, and ten days later the company was organized and started for camp at Columbus, Ohio. A company was organ- ized at Plain City, by Thomas J. Haynes, at about the same date, in which many Union County boys enlisted. A company was also organized at New California,

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about the 25th of April, of which James Cutler was elected Captain, W. L. Curry, First Lieutenant, and D. R. Cone, Second Lieutenant. About sixty men enlisted, but before the company was recruited to the required number to enter the service the three years' call was issued, and many of the men becoming impatient, enlisted in other companies, and this company never entered the service.

The following companies were organized in the county under the first call for three years' service: Company F, Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Company B, Thirty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Company E, Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; about fifty men for Companies D and K, of the First Ohio Cavalry; Company F, Thirty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry; a large number for Company K, Fifty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; a detachment for Company D, Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Company F, Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and Company H, Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Detach- ments were also recruited for many other Ohio regiments, and for the Seventh, Seventeenth and Eighteenth United States Infantry. These companies were organized during the summer and fall and were all in the field by early winter.

On the 27th day of September, 1861, an order was issued by the Adjutant General of Ohio, appointing military committees in every county in the State, and they were empowered to appoint recruiting officers and were to superintend the recruiting service in their respective counties and have general supervision of military affairs. The first committee appointed in Union County was composed of P. B. Cole, J. W. Robinson, C. Rathburn, A. F. Wilkins and G. L. Sellers. John Cassil was the first recruiting officer appointed by the committee, and lie recruited a company for the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. J. A. Hender- son, Joseph Newlove and James R. Smith were afterward appointed members of this committee. The military committee was kept in service until the close of the war, and did good and efficient work in this county in the management of military matters.

In the month of October, 1861, in response to the call of the Governor, the citizens of the county sent large donations of clothing and blankets to the soldiers in the field, this being the first well-directed movement for the relief of suffering soldiers in the field and prior to the organization of any regular "aid societies." Soon after this, however, "aid societies " were organized all over the county, not only for the relief of soldiers in the field, but for the relief of the families of sol- diers in the county.

The first of these of which any record can be found was organized in Union Township, November 29, 1861, James Fullington, A. A. Woodworth and John Reed being the prime movers in the matter.

These societies collected and distributed from this county thousands of dollars in money, clothing and sanitary stores, and hundreds of sick soldiers in the hos- pitals and on the field were ministered to and made comfortable by the donations from the patriotic ladies and citizens of Union County.

Thousands of dollars were paid to the soldiers of the county as bounties during the war, and it may be truly said that her citizens never failed to respond to every call made for either money, sanitary donations or soldiers.

The companies organized in the county during 1861 were assigned with their regiments to the different departments of the army as follows:

The Thirteenth Regiment entered the field in West Virginia, fought at Carni- fex Ferry September 10, where Ransom Reed fell, the first of Union County's soldiers killed on the field of battle; from Virginia to Tennessee, marched with Gen. Buell's columns to Pittsburg Landing and lost heavily in that hard-fought battle.

The Thirtieth Regiment was ordered to Virginia, was at Carnifex, and had many skirmishes during the fall and winter ; spent the winter at Fayetteville, working a part of the time on the fortification, and in April, 1862, we find it at Raleigh.

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MILITARY RECORD.

The Thirty-first Regiment was assigned to the Department of Kentucky, and marched in December to the relief of Gen. Thomas at Mill Springs ; wintered in Kentucky, then marched with the army of the Ohio to Pittsburg Landing and took part in the siege of Corinth.

The Thirty-second Regiment left Camp Dennison for West Virginia in Sep- tember, 1861; was soon onCheat Mountain, and under Gen. Milroy took part in the advance on Camp Alleghany. During a greater part of the winter, the regiment remained at Beverly, drilling, and on the 1st of May, 1862, advanced on Buffalo Gap.

The Fortieth Regiment left Camp Chase in December, 1861, for Eastern Kentucky, and in January, 1862, participated in the battle of Middle Creek, de- feating Humphrey Marshall. The Fortieth spent the rest of the winter at Piketon on ontpost duty, and until June, 1862.

The Fifty-fourth Regiment organized at Camp Dennison; left for Paducah, Ky., in February, 1862, where it was assigned to Gen. Sherman's Division, and engaged in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, losing in this, its first fight, nearly 200 men.

The Sixty-sixth Regiment struck tents at Camp McArthur, near Urbana, in January, 1862, and was off for West Virginia, where it was assigned to the com -. mand of Gen. Lander, at New Creek, and immediately commenced active service. During the first winter, the regiment was constantly on the move scouting and skirmishing, and in June, 1862, we find it marching with the army of Gen. Shields up the Shenandoah to Port Republic.

The Eighty-second Regiment, organized at Kenton, was ordered to Virginia, in January, 1862, and spent the winter at Fetterman, drilling and in camp duty. In the early spring, it was on scouting service under command of Gen. Schenck, and in May marched under Gen. Fremont toward Branch Mountain.

The First Ohio Cavalry, organized at Camp Chase, received marching orders for Kentucky, and on the 9th day of December, 1861, struck tents, and on the 11th of the same month arrived at Louisville, being the first regiment of cavalry to enter that department. The regiment remained at Louisville, drilling, until Jan- uary, 1862, when it was ordered to join Gen. Thomas, at Mill Springs, but did not arrive in time to take part in that battle. The regiment was on scouting duty in Kentucky, during the winter, and had its first encounter with the command of John Morgan, on Green River. Late in March, they led the advance of Ge n Buell's columns to Pittsburg Landing, and participated in the siege of Corinth.

Such was the disposition of Union County companies that enlisted under the first three years' call, in the spring of 1862, at the close of the first year of the war.

On the 26th of May, 1862, Gov. Tod, in compliance with a call from the War Department for troops to protect the National Capital, then threatened by Stonewall Jackson, published a proclamation calling for volunteers for three months. The day before, he had sent telegrams to every county in the State announc- ing the need of troops and assigning the number expected from each county, urg- ing that all who were willing to volunteer should hasten to Camp Chase. Within two days 5,000 volunteers had responded to the call, and within ten days the first of the new regiments-the Eighty-fourth, was on its way to the field. The Eighty- sixth and Eighty-eighth soon followed. while the Eighty-fifth and Eighty-seventh were organized for duty within the State. Under this call, one company was re- cruited for the Eighty-sixth Regiment in Union County, and served three months in Western Virginia.

Under the calls of the President in June, 1862, for troops for three years' service, Ohio's quota was 74,000, one-half of which was liable to draft .* " Men were universally averse to the idea of a draft, and the people of Ohio were es- pecially anxious that it might be said that the soldiers from this State were vol- unteers. In compliance with popular demand, Gov. Tod made an effort to dis-

*Reid's History.

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UNION COUNTY

tribute the new quota impartially among the different counties, and to obtain the proper number of volunteers from each: the draft was only to be used as a last resort."

The regiments having been localized, each community took particular interest in raising the required number of troops, and in " getting clear of the draft." In this assignment, the Ninety-sixth was allotted to Union and its neigh- boring counties. It was under these calls that the Seventy-ninth. the Eighty-third, the Eighty-ninth, the Ninetieth, the Ninety-first, the Ninety-second, the Ninety- third. the Ninety-fourth. the Ninety-fifth, the Ninety-Sixth, the Ninety-seventh, the Ninety-eighth, the Ninety-ninth, the One Hundredth, the One Hundred and First, the One Hundred and Second, the One Hundred and Third, the One Hun- dred and Fourth and the One Hundred and Fifth Regiments were raised in the various counties of Ohio. In response to this call, one company was reernited in this county in August, and was assigned as Company K, of the Ninety-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

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The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 47

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254