USA > Ohio > Darke County > The history of Darke County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; > Part 44
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On the night of the 20th, our army fell back behind Missionary Ridge. at near Rossville, and on the night of the 21st, they fell back to Chattanooga, the objective point of the campaign, and the "Iron Brigade," as it was afterward known, was for a few week stationed at Mockeson Point. In a few weeks thereafter, they were sent to Shell Mound, Tenn .. the Fortieth being stationed at Nickajack Cave, Ga., about two miles south of Shell Mound.
On the 23d day of November, 1863, at break of day. the regiment (except a small detail to guard the quarters and property of the regiment at Nickojack), started with the brigade for Chattanooga, for the purpose of rejoining the division. They traveled until 9 o'clock P. M. of that day, and were then four miles from the division. The brigade received orders to report to Maj. Gen. Geary, whose divi- sion as camped near where the Fortieth were at that time. They accordingly turned aside and encamped within the lines of Gen. Geary's Division. The next morning the whole command of Geary was put in " battle array," and through the mist and fog of a damp morning, was hurled against the rugged sides and rocky heights of Lookout Mountain.
In attacking Lookout Mountain, Gen. Geary was directed to silently pass up Lookout Creek for a distance of four miles above the point opposite Chattanooga, thence to cross the creek, and push the head of the column up the side of the mountain until it halted against the perpendicular rock that caps the summit of the mountain, and then move in line of battle by the left flank, along the side of the mountain toward Chattanooga. Two and sometimes three regiments were all that could stand in line of battle between the summit of the mountain and Look- out Creek. As fast as the line of battle was formed it would be thrown forward toward the enemy.
The Fortieth Ohio and Ninety-sixth Illinois constituted the third line of battle at the commencement of this fight. and continued so until about three- fourths of the side of the mountain had been captured. Gen. Geary's whole division (except Whittaker's brigade) belonged to Hooker's army, and had never before met the enemy in battle in the West. Whittaker's brigade were all Western men, and had learned battle at Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Perryville, Stone River and Chickamanga.
The two lines of battle in front of the Fortieth Ohio and Ninety-sixth Illinois had faltered, and were pressing the enemy rather carefully.
The " Iron Brigade " of Whittaker demanded its officers to lead them to the enemy. This demand became so urgent that the officers, regimental and line, were compelled to place themselves in front of their companies to keep the Fortieth and Ninety-sixth from running over Geary's men in front of them. The men
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became more and more frantic when Capt. Matchett, in front of the left of the Fortieth, spoke to Col. Taylor in a loud voice, "Colonel ! the Fortieth is spoiling for a fight ; can't you let them have it ?" Col. Taylor spoke to Col. Champion, of the Ninety-sixth Illinois, and said, "Colonel, I can't keep my regiment back any longer ; will the Ninety-sixth go with us ?" The men of the Ninety-sixth made answer. "Go in, Granny*, we'll be with you." Then the Eastern troops were taken by surprise. The battle yell of the old "Iron Brigade " drowned the rattle of musketry in front, and reverberated in echo over Lookout Valley.
The Fortieth and Ninety-sixth, followed by the other regiments of the brigade, dashed madly past the two lines of battle and skirmish line in front of them, and charged desperately upon the foe. That charge was irresistible. The bright new flag of the Fortieth. which had been sent them by the ladies of the Episcopal Church of Greenville, Ohio, but a few days before, was seen and cheered by thousands of soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland, who lay in the valley below, as it advanced on and on, for its baptism of blood, on the rugged sides of Lookout Mountain. Gen. Grant had anxiously watched the progress of the charge through his field-glass, from Chattanooga, and was heard to say, " Magnificent ;" " How that flag presses on ;" "Will it never stop ?" " That flag'is invincible." But soon a cloud passed over the General and the valley ; its ragged edges dragging along the sides of the mouniain, and that bright flag and its gallant defenders were " above the clouds," sorely pressing the enemy and driving them from rock to rifle- pit, from rifle-pit to breastwork, and from breastworks back to our rear, as prison- ers of war. After the face of Lookout Mountain fronting Chattanooga had been gained, Gen. Whittaker and his staff with difficulty halted the brigade, and what had been gained was held, although the enemy, by successive charges of a fresh division, vainly strove to regain their lost stronghold.
All that evening and night, a heavy firing was kept up, by strong skirmish lines of either army. Meanwhile, Gen. Grant sent a division from the Fourteenth Corps, and the other two brigades from the reserve corps, to the position occupied by Gen. Geary, on the face of Lookout Mountain, for the purpose of making a final assault upon the enemy the next morning ; but at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 25th, the enemy ceased firing, and our skirmish lines advanced without opposition. Bragg had evacuated Lookout Mountain, and the bright flag of the Fortieth was taken to its summit. "Jocund day stood tiptoe on the misty mountain top." Ere the shades of night were dispelled from the valley of the beautiful Tennessee, and as the first rays of that morning's sun fell aslant the sum- mit of old Lookout, they were reflected back by the bright folds of the regimental flag of the Fortieth Ohio, and that grand sight on that morning was the roll-call of Grant's whole army. Though not heard by any, and only seen by soldiers then upon the sides and top of the mountain, yet their cheers and shouts of victory, as their eyes beheld that grand sight were taken up and repeated by every division of that grand army.
While the cloud of fog was dense upon the valley, the division from the Four- teenthi Army Corps was withdrawn from Lookout Mountain, and secreted with the other divisions of that corps, in the trenches at the foot of Orchard Knob, where we will leave them for the present.
Among the Fortieth's loss on Lookout Mountain was the brave Maj. Acton. On the morning of the 24th of November, Bragg's army extended from Look- out Mountain, where his extreme left rested across the valley of Chattanooga to Rossville-a town without houses in the gap at Missionary Ridge-thence, on Mis- sionary Ridge, for a distance of about six miles, where his right rested. After his defeat at Lookout Mountain, he withdrew his line from that point to Rossville, and strengthened his line on Missionary Ridge.
The Army of the Tennessee, under Gen. W. T. Sherman, had been pressing the enemy's right for two days. On the 25th. Sherman attacked with increased
*Nearly every s ,Idier in the brigade called Col. Taylor, of the Fortieth Ohio, granny.
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severity, and threatened a general engagement. In the afternoon, when the day was bright and clear, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, and the Reserve Corps, under Gen. Hooker, marched in solid divisions across Lookout Valley to Rossville. During this movement, Bragg withdrew a large foree from his center to re-enforce his right and left. Just before Hooker arrived at Rossville, the cannons boomed the signal, which was the order to the Fourteenth Army Corps to charge the ene- my's center. This grand army corps exceeded even its orders ; the enemy's cen- ter was broken, and the battle of Missionary Ridge was gained. The enemy were followed, on the 26th and 27th, to Ringgold, Ga., where the campaign for 1863 ended and the army returned to winter quarters, the Fortieth returning to Nicka- jack Cave, Ga., where they remained until February, and where, in December and Jannary, 135 of the Darke County boys re-enlisted as veterans, as shown by the reports in the Adjutant General's office of Ohio, as follows : Company E, 32 ; Company F, 27 ; Company G, 45 ; Company K, 31-Company G being the first company in the brigade to re-enlist.
Some time in the winter of 1864, the Army of the Cumberland was re-organ- ized, and was composed of the Fourth, Fourteenth and Twentieth Army Corps, the Fortieth being a part of the Second Brigade, of the First Division of the Fourth Corps.
In February, 1864, the brigade went to Cleveland, Tenn., and encamped near Blue Springs. They were engaged in that reconnaissance in force against Dalton by Gen. Palmer, about the 22d of February, and sustained a loss of a few men wounded. On their return to Blue Springs, Companies E and G started home on veteran furlough. They returned to the command at Blue Springs April 10, 1864. Companies F and K did not leave on veteran furlough until the latter part of March. They returned to the regiment May 16, after the battle at Resaca, Ga.
The wonderful campaign against Atlanta was begun May 6 and ended Sep- tember 5, 1864. During all this time, there was not a day passed that the Fortieth Regiment did not hear the whizzing of rebel bullets. In the early part of that campaign, while the regiment was commanded by Col. Taylor, Company G did distinguished service on the skirmish-line. The official report of Col. Taylor, con- taining the military action of the regiment from the beginning of that campaign up to July 1, 1864, is before the writer, and he is now surprised to learn of the distinguished services performed by this company, as appears from that report. The following are quotations : ** * * On the 11th (May), three companies on the left, B, G and E, were sent, under command of Capt. Matchett, to Mill Creek Gap (along the railroad), with orders to build breastworks along the crest of the hill, and hold the place at every hazard. * * * In the action on the 15th, the regiment lay with the brigade, only Company G, Capt. Matchett, being deployed as skirmishers. * * On the evening of the 17th, the regiment were ordered into position at Adair- ville. Companies B and G were deployed as skirmishers. They readily cleared the hill in front of them of all rebel ineumbrances, and we quietly bivouacked there for the night." In addition to this, the report shows that, a large portion of the time, the entire regiment was engaged as skirmishers.
Col. Taylor describes the Fortieth's operations at Resaca in the following words :
" On the 14th, I was ordered forward, being on the right of the brigade, my right conforming to the movements of Col. Gross' brigade (Third). Skirmishers were deployed, and the line moved to the crest of the hill, in front of the enemy's works. At 3 o'clock P. M., the enemy made an attack on Gen. Craft's brigade (on left of Second Brigade), and, after considerable fighting, succeeded in flank- ing that brigade, and even turning the left of the Second Brigade. The enemy rapidly followed up his advantages, and, with hideous yells, pursued our routed force, even to the right and rear of our brigade, to the distance of half a mile. The enemy's front lines of battle were rapidly followed up by his formidable
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reserve of three lines. At this critical time, the Fortieth was ordered to the rescue. I quickly changed front to the rear and 'right in front,' and ordered the charge. We passed the left and rear of the enemy's front line of battle, confront- ing and charging the three lines of reserves that were following up. Though his numbers must have been at least four times that of ours, yet he disorderly broke back to his intrenchments, leaving his front line to take care of itself, which line was entertained in a very chivalrous manner by the Fourth Indiana Battery and a brigade from Hooker's (Twentieth) corps. Gen. Craft here directed me to form on the main Resaca road-both for the purpose of holding the road and capturing as many of the enemy as possible. Soon after, however, I was ordered to the hill. where our brigade was collecting. I respectfully ask that the importance of the above charge be not lightly passed over, as it undoubtedly saved the entire division."
An unfortunate affair on June 20, at Kenesaw, is described by Col. Taylor in his report. as follows :
" Late in the evening of the 20th, while the men were at supper (it being after dark), I received an order to re-enforce the Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. With the left wing of the regiment (the right wing. at the time, being in the works to the rear), I moved forward for that purpose, passing by the flank to the rear of the position occupied by the Thirty-fifth Indiana. I was surprised, here, to find my regiment exposed to a severe fire from both front and rear. I ordered the men to open fire to the front, but many of them executed this order under protest. saying that the Thirty-fifth Indiana was in front of them. These men, having been detailed on the skirmish-line a few minutes before, and afterward ordered back to the regiment, had just left the Thirty-fifth in possession of the works. I ordered the regiment forward to the works, and was surprised to find them in the possession of the enemy. Their presence could not be detected until we got close to them. They then opened upon us with such warmth that the men fell back. and, momentarily, scattered. Though they fell back, many of them kept up a severe fire on the enemy, while others rejoined the remainder of the regiment in the works. I then brought up the right wing, but this time with a perfect under- standing of the works before me, and, re-enforced as we were by nearly all of the left wing, we charged the works. A hand-to-hand conflict ensued for a few minutes. but we took the works and held them. Next morning, the green earth in front of us was gray with the enemy's dead. We took one officer and twenty men prison- ers. My loss, however, was severe-nine killed and thirty-one wounded, and we lost in prisoners Lieut. Col. Watson and twenty men."
The Fortieth Ohio was attached to the left of Harker's brigade in that disas- trous assault upon Kenesaw, June 29. 1864, in which Cols. Harker and McCook. each leading brigades, were killed. Col. Taylor, in his report, describes the action of the Fortieth on that occasion in the following words :
"On the 29th, when, in the general assault on Kenesaw, the Fortieth Regiment was ordered to the left of Harker's brigade, with directions to conform my move- ments to the movements of that brigade. We moved forward, exposed to the galling fire of the enemy, but moved with accuracy and precision. Harker's brigade having come to a halt, my line extended its right. adjoining Harker, and my left resting on the little brook, or Run Hollow. Within half an hour, I was ordered to the front line of works. The Fortieth Ohio was the only regiment of this brigade that covered the front line of works. My loss was ten men wounded. one mortally."
Col. Taylor closes his report as follows :
" In the sanguinary struggles and hardships endured by our army in Georgia up to this date in the campaign, I am proud to know that the Fortieth Ohio Infan- try has fully sustained her part ; ever willing, she has done all she was ordered to do, without hesitation or grumbling. She has not been without the sound of lios- tile guns since we first met the enemy on Tunnel Hill, and, with the exception of
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four days during that time, we have been under fire. We have been in the trenches on the front lines more than thirty days and nights. We have built on the front line thirteen lines of breastworks, and we have lost, in all, one officer (Capt. Con- verse) and eleven men killed ; one officer and sixty men wounded, and Lieut. Col. James Watson and twenty-one men captured."
On the 1st of July, Col. Taylor was ordered to the command of the brigade, and Capt. Matchett to the command of the regiment. These officers continued in their commands respectively, until after the fall of Atlanta.
The Fortieth at Peach Tree Creek .- The 18th and 19th days of July had been severe on the Fortieth. They had been constantly in front of the brigade as skirmishers. The rebels were slowly falling back from Kenesaw, and the Fortieth had been contending on our advance with their rear guard, from every hill and stream. On the morning of the 20th, the Fortieth were permitted to march in the rear of the brigade and expected to have an easy time, but how often are we doomed to disappointment. That was a day of the hardest fighting the Fortieth ever experienced.
On the morning of the 20th, Gen. Stanley ordered Gen. Craft, commanding the First Brigade, to press forward to find the enemy. At Peach Tree Creek, he found a skirmish line of the enemy who disputed his crossing. The bridge in the road crossing the creek had been fired by the enemy, and Craft's brigade had been held at bay by the enemy for some time. Gen. Stanley rode up to the front and told Craft he ought to effect a crossing without delay, that the enemy were not strong on the opposite side. Craft replied, that he was not sure of the enemy's strength, but that they were advantageously posted, and he could not cross without severe loss. Stanley then in his peculiar way of using the English language when excited, said that he had one regiment in the Second Brigade, commanded by a Captain. who could effect a crossing and he should order that regiment up, unless Craft moved forward promptly. Craft told him to bring on his regiment and try it. Stanley turned to Col. Taylor, who was standing by, and said : "Go send me Capt. Matchett and the Fortieth.
Col. Taylor came back and related to Capt. Matchett and some of the men what had taken place, and delivered Stanley's order. Capt. Matchett, with the Fortieth, immediately reported to Gen. Stanley, who was sitting on his horse at the head of the halted column, speaking in loud and unfavorable terms, and with many emphatic adjectives, about the First Brigade. Capt. Matchett said : “Gen- eral, I am ordered to report to you with the Fortieth." "Yes, sir," said the Gen- eral ; " I want you to cross that stream and move those d-d rebels." "Have you any directions, General, as to how I shall go about that ?" said the Captain. "No, sir ; use your own judgment, but don't fail doing it." "Then I'll first recon- noiter," said the Captain, and immediately started and did so.
Peach Tree Creek, or that branch of it in front of the Fourth Army Corps, was a deep, still, sluggish stream, about fifteen feet wide. The First Brigade had made several unsuccessful attempts to cross the bridge, and were deployed to the left of the bridge for some distance, but had no forces on the right. In front of the First Brigade to the enemy the ground lay in its natural state and unfenced, and mostly covered with grass, alder brush and weeds. To the right of the bridge, the ground was fenced, and marshy to some extent, and covered with tall prairie grass ; and, a short distance from the right of the bridge, the creek had been ditched by a deep ditch about twelve feet wide. On the bank of this ditch was a fence, and the fence now grown up thickly with bushes. Across that ditch for a distance of eighty yards was a meadow stubble freshly mown ; across the meadow a corn-field in tassel, extending up to the top of the ridge and to a thick woods.
Capt. Matchett decided to make the attempt in that direction, that is, by the right of the bridge and via the corn-field. On returning from his reconnaissance, he said to Gen. Stanley, " All right, General, I will do my best." "But will you
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succeed ? " said the General, sharply. "We will satisfy you, General," replied the Captain. He then moved the regiment to the rear far enough to place a hill on the right of the road between him and the enemy in front of the First Brigade in order to hide his movements from the enemy. At the foot of that hill he found the bed of the old stream, dry, and with gravel bottom, leading to the ditch before spoken of, with grass along its banks high enough to conceal the movement from the enemy. The Fortieth moved in this channel until they reached the ditch bank, and then filed off in line of battle behind the bushes growing on the ditch bank. On the right of cach company, a passage-way was hastily cut through the " fence-row bushes," and these ent bushes cast into the bottom of the ditch, and on their top sufficient rails were thrown in to enable the men to cross. Each company was enabled to cross the ditch at the same time by "right flank file left." This brought them to the meadow stubble each company in column, and the whole regiment in line of battle by "company into line." The regiment charged up through the corn-field up the side of the ridge until they gained the wood. Then the left of the regiment was wheeled to the left, the right act- ing as flankers, and in this manner they charged on the flank of the enemy who had resisted the First Brigade, and killed, captured and routed them, taking them completely by surprise. The number of prisoners captured by this movement must have nearly equaled the number of men in the Fortieth. Gen. Stanley asked Gen. Craft if he thought his brigade was strong enough to guard the pris- oners that the Fortieth Regiment had captured. Stanley's division then crossed the stream, and the Fortieth was again thrown forward, and, in a short time, found the enemy in force before them. The whole Fourth Corps was then placed in line of battle on the left of the Fortieth, for the final charge.
The enemy had been found to be in force opposite the left of the Fourth Corps, and Gen. Howard, who was in command of the Fourth Corps, directed that the advance of the corps should be in the nature of a left wheel, and thinking that no serions obstacle would be found in front of the right, that part of the com- mand was directed to advance in heavy skirmish line.
Immediately in front of the Fortieth was a low swale, 200 yards in width and one-half a mile long, and covered with a growth of low alder bushes. To the right of this was a ridge of cleared land, extending along the side of this swale, and encircling the upper end of it, in the shape of an inverted letter c. Two hundred yards in front of this ridge, and corresponding to its shape, was another ridge, fortified by the enemy and hidden from view by a pine thicket. On the ridge, at the upper end of the swale, the enemy also had a line of breastworks, hidden from view.
Capt. Matchett, who had examined the ground, informed Gen. Stanley as to the true state of the enemy, but Stanley thought Matchett was mistaken. They, however, made a personal reconnaissance together, but nothing whatever could be seen to indicate the presence of an enemy, as indicated by Capt. Matchett. Gen. Stanley ordered Capt. Matchett to deploy his regiment in a heavy skirmish line, and await the signal for advancing. The Captain asked permission to throw the four companies on the right in column, to act as flankers, from the fact that every man who crossed the ridge would be sacrificed. Stanley said : "You have your orders, and you had better obey them ; extend your right, and with your left con- form to the movements of the right of the Twenty-first Kentucky. Stanley then rode away, and soon the signal for advancing was given, and the movement com- menced. Gen. Howard, who was near the right, seeing that the line of the Forti- eth, though irregular, was as heavy as a line of battle, and protected by a column of flankers, directed Gen. Stanley's attention to it, and ordered it to be immedi- ately corrected, without halting the advance. When an aid delivered this order order to Capt. Matchett, he returned for answer : "Give my compliments to the General, and say that I am acting on the evidences of my own senses, and that I assume all responsibility. If I don't develop the presence of the enemy before I
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reach the woods, I will then deploy the regiment, but to do so now would be to wipe it out of existence."
The Twenty-first Kentucky had gained the outskirts of a deep wood, and the Fortieth, in conforming its movements to the Twenty-first Kentucky, had passed up the swale, and within 200 yards of the upper end, when that familiar rebel yell greeted their ears, and a line of battle arose from the bed of the little stream at the edge of the woods and commenced firing. This line of battle extended in front of the whole corps. The Twenty-first Kentucky, and, in fact. the whole brigade, halted. The Fortieth could not halt on the level ground without being destroyed, nor retreat without subjecting themselves to a murderous fire from the enemy. Capt. Matchett, believing their only hope was in charging the enemy's first line of breastworks, gave that command, and the Fortieth executed it, though at a greater loss in killed than the regiment suffered in the two days' fight at Chickamauga. The enemy charged and re-charged, in front and left flank. but the order was, "Boys, we must hold this position or die right here." In this engagement, Capt. C. F. Snodgrass and Capt. J. W. Smith, both Darke County boys, distinguished themselves. The enemy, in charging down upon our left flank, were enfilading four companies on the left and gaining an advantage over them, when Capt. Smith was ordered to charge the enemy in his front, and, if possible, to close in with them ; if not, to drive them back to their works. At the same time, Capt. Snodgrass was directed to face his four companies of flankers to the left. and enfilade the rebel line in front of the Twenty-first Kentucky. Capt. Smith drove the enemy back to their next line of breastworks, and Capt. Snod- grass, by his enfilading fire. cleared the line in front of the Twenty-first Kentucky. The commanding officer of the Twenty-first Kentucky, at the request of, and by the assistance of. Capt. Matchett. then advanced the right of his regiment to the left of the Fortieth Ohio. The regiment was then ordered to keep up an ineess- ant firing.
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