USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 22
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Captain Sine, Company E, whom I sent to the left to cover my flank, at once became hotly engaged, being again forced to fall back, step by step. and contesting with the enemy for every foot of ground lost. The men of my regiment cheered lustily, which caused the enemy to feel their way more cautiously into town. At this time I changed front to the rear to re- sist an attack upon my left about being made, but seeing our battery and in- fantry falling back more rapidly than expected, I worked my way up to the public square to cover the artillery. At this time the ammunition of my regiment became exhausted, and the order was to follow slowly on.
As to recommending officers and men for good behavior, it would be difficult for me to discriminate, as all my orders were promptly and cheer- fully obeyed. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry, being field officer of the day, I was deprived of his valuable services. Lieutenant David Pierson acted with his usual coolness. Captain Rowell, Company's K, Dayton. C. Car- man, F. Sine, E, Lieutenant Harmon, I. Crowell, A, all these officers show- ing great gallantry. In fact, the officers of my regiment showed no signs of giving up the contest without making the enemy pay dearly. Captain Dusenberry, Company I, and Lieutenant Oliphant, Company D, with their commands were captured while upon picket duty, losing all but nine men.
JOHN G. CLADEK, Colonel Thirty-fifth New Jersey Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Lieutenant-Colonel William A. Henry, Thirty-fifth New Jersey Vet- eran Volunteer Infantry. in his report to the Adjutant-General, W. A. Williams of the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, dated near East point, Georgia, says, that on the first day of May, the regiment marched from Decatur, Alabama, to Woodville, and thence by rail to Chattanooga, marched to Resaca, and on the ninth, advanced on that town.
The regiment took part in the action at Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain and Nick-o-jack. We re-entered Decatur and intrenched. On
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the 24th, we marched to the front of Atlanta, and took position in rifle pits. On the night of the 26th, we marched to the right, skirmished with the enemy, and took position, losing one man killed. On the 28th, we re-en- forced the Fifteenth Corps, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, became hotly engaged with the enemy, who advanced upon us seven times, and each time was repulsed, owing no doubt to the fact that we were posted on the edge of the woods and entrenched behind logs and rails. Our loss was five wounded.
On August 7th, we advanced our position and finished the rifle pits. On the 8th, we worked all night throwing up works, were relieved and returned to camp, where a shell from the enemy exploded, killing three and wounding four men. On the 11th, we advanced our line driving the enemy's pickets out of their pits. We lost two men wounded. On the 25th, we marched as train guard of the Sixteenth Army Corps, and owing to some mistake in orders, found ourselves on the night of that day entirely outside of our extreme right fonl piclots, where we encamped with thirty wagons. 1 caused trees to be felled. forming an abatis, and extra pickets to be posted, and otherwise taking all the precautions that I deemed necessary to insure our safety. On the 26th, we rejoined the main train, with which we con- tinued to do duty until September 8th.
I would state that the conduct of the officers and men of this com- mand, has been all that could be desired. In the hour of danger and battle they have shown the most determined bravery and cheerful obedience, which is so necessary to success. Of Colonel Cladek ( now absent on duty, but in command of the regiment through most of the campaign) I must say that his good judgment, habits of discipline, careful attention to the wants of those under his command, and his cool determined bravery on the field of battle, thus giving a noble example to his officers and men, has proved him to be an efficient and accomplished officer.
Our loss was eighteen killed and eighty wounded and forty-one miss- ing.
WILLIAM A. HENRY,
Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNION FIELD FORCES COMMANDED BY MAJOR- GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN, IN THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN, MAY 3RD TO SEPTEMBER 22ND, 1864.
Army of the Cumberland : Major-General George H. Thomas.
Army of the Ohio: Major-General J. M. Schofield, Brigadier-General J. D. Cox, May 26th to 27th.
Army of the Tennessee : Major-General James B. McPherson, killed July 22nd, Major-General John A. Logan. in command lulv 22nd. July 27th, Major-General O. O. Howard.
Fifteenth Corps : General John A. Logan, General Morgan L. Smith. Seventeenth Corps: Major-General Frank P. Blair.
Sixteenth Corps, Left Wing: Major-General Granville M. Dodge, wounded August 19th. Brigadier-General Thomas E. G. Ransom.
Second Division : General Sweeney, General Elliott W. Rice from July 25th. General Corse from July 26th.
Fourth Division : Brigadier-General James C. Veatch, sick from July 17th. Brigadier-General John W. Fuller and Brigadier- General T. E. G. Ransom from July 4th to 20th. Brigadier- General John W. Fuller from July 20th.
First Brigade : Brigadier-General John W. Fuller, Colonel John W. Merrill, wounded July 22nd, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry T. McDowell, Brigadier-General John W. Fuller.
Sixty-fourth Illinois Regiment : Colonel John Morrell. Lieutenant-Colonel M. V. Manning, Captain J. S. Rey- nolds.
Eighteenth Missouri Regiment: Lieutenant-Colonel C. S. Sheldon, sick from August 18th, Major William H. Minter.
Twenty-seventh Ohio Regiment: Lieutenant-Colonel Mendall Churchill, wounded July 22nd. Captain J. W. M. Brock, temporarily. September 30th, Captain James Morgan, Major Isaac N. Gilruth.
Thirty-ninth Ohio Regiment : Colonel Edward F. Noyes. wounded July 4th at Nick-o-jack, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry T. McDowell, Major J. S. Jenkins, Lieutenant- Colonel Daniel Weber.
Second Brigade : Brigadier-General John W. Sprague, Col- onel Milton Montgomery.
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Thirty-fifth New Jersey Regiment : Captain Charles A. Angell (killed), Colonel J. J. Cladek, Lieutenant-Col- onel William A. Henry.
Forty-third Ohio Regiment : Colonel Wager Swayne. Major Horace Park.
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Sixty-third Ohio Regiment : Lieutenant-Colonel Charles E. Brown, wounded July 22nd, Major John W. Fouts, Captain Oscar L. Jackson.
Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Regiment: Lieutenant-Colonel Jeremiah M. Rusk, Colonel Milton Montgomery.
Artillery, First Michigan, Ohio Light, Fourteenth Ohio Battery, Lieutenant Laird. Second United States Battery, F, Lieutenant Albert Murray.
By order of September 22nd 1864, the left wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, was discontinued. and the Fourth Division was transferred to the Seventeenth Corps, commanded by General Frank P. Blair, and in his ab- sence by Brigadier-General Ransom, and assigned as the First Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, Brigadier-General John W. Fuller, Major-Gen- eral Joseph A. Mower.
The organization of the Seventeenth Army Corps, on September 25th, 1864.
'1. E. G. RANSOM, Brigadier-General Commanding.
First Division, Brigadier-General John W. Fuller. . . 3821 men and officers Third Division, Brigadier-General M. D. Legget .... 2804 men and officers Fourth Division, Brigadier-General W. W. Belknap. 3452 men and officers Total 10077 540
Engineering Regiment Grand Total 10617
Strength and losses of the opposing armies during the Atlanta Cam- paign, from May to September, 1864, inclusive.
Sherman's Army, July 5th, 1864, numbered. 92,097
Blair's two Divisions joined in June, 1864 14,022
Total 106,119
Killed, 4,423; wounded, 24,822; missing. 4,442. Total 33,687.
The above includes losses of the right wing of the Sixteenth Corps on the Red River expedition, Lake Chicot, Louisiana, and at Tupelo, Missis- sippi, 564.
Confederate Army present, 86,475; killed, 3,044; wounded, 20,967. Total, 24,011.
Prisoners captured by Union Forces, 12,989. Total 37,000.
Effective strength of the Army, commanded by Major-General Wil- liam T. Sherman, during the campaign against Atlanta, Georgia, May 5th to August 31st, 1864.
Infantry -- April 30, 93,131; May 31, 94,310; June 30, 88,036; August 31, 67,674.
Cavalry-April 30, 12.455 ; May 31, 12,908: June 30, 12,039; August 31, 9,394.
Artillery -- April 30, 453; May 31, 5,601 ; June 30, 5,945; August 31, 4,690. Abstract from the returns of the Department of the Tennessee, Major- General O. O. Howard, U. S. Army, commanding, for the month of Sep- temiber, 1864.
(Compiled mainly from subordinate returns.)
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CHAPTER XXV.
MOVEMENT OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY NORTHWARD.
On the 21st of September, the Confederate General Hood shifted his army across from the Macon Road at Lovejoy's, to the West Point Road at Palmetto Station, and his Cavalry appeared on the west side of the Chattahootchiee River, near Powder Springs. By October 1st, nearly all his army was across and he was on his raid north. Slocum was ordered to hold Atlanta and the bridges of the Chattahoochee, with the Twentieth Corps, and the other Corps were put in motion for Marietta, Georgia. General Thomas was despatched to Chattanooga with Newton's and Mor- gan's Divisions.
Our army crossed the Chattahoochee River on the 3rd and 4th of October, and the next day, reached Kenesaw Mountain, from which place signal messages were sent over the heads of the enemy. The rebel Gen- eral Wheeler was in middle Tennessee. Forrest was on his way to the same theater for the purpose of breaking up our railroads and compelling us to fall back from our conquests. Corse's Division was sent to Rome, Rous- seau to Nashville, Granger to Decatur, and Stedman to Chattanooga, to adopt active measures to insure the safety of our roads.
The Fifteenth Corps under Osterhouse, the Seventeenth under Ran- som and the Fourth under Cox, were turned toward Resaca. Among a group of Rebel prisoners on this raid, one was licard to say, "Well, the Yanks will have to get up and get, now, for they say that Wheeler has blown up the tunnel near Dalton, and the Yanks will have to retreat, be- cause they can get no more rations." "Oh, hell!" said a listener, "don't you know that General Sherman carries a duplicate tunnel along?"
On September 25th, Jeff Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, was with General Hood at Palmetto Station on the West Point Railroad. One of our spies was there at the time and heard his speech to the soldiers, in which he denounced his General, Joseph E. Johnston and Governor Brown of Georgia, as traitors, attributing to them personally, the many misfortunes which had befallen their campaign. He seemed completely unbalanced in his mind by the fall of Atlanta. With vain, glorious boasts, he told the soldiers that now the tables were to be turned, that General Forrest was already on the road to Middle Tennessee, and that 'Hood's Army would soon be there. He asserted that the Yankee Army would have
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FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
to retreat or starve, and that the retreat would be more disastrous than that of Napoleon from Moscow.
"I cannot re-enforce Hood for fear Grant will take Richmond, and I cannot re-enforce Lee for fear Sherman will overrun the Southern Con- federacy." Besides he claimed that two-thirds of our army were deserters.
The Confederate General Beauregard came from Virginia to command Hood's Army and issued a call for the enlistment of men in words full of alarm and desperation. He said in part : "My countrymen, respond to this call as you have done in days that have passed, and with the blessings of a kind and overruling providence, the enemy shall be driven from your soil. The security of your wives and daughters from insults and outrages of a brutal foe shall be established soon, and be followed by a permanent and honorable place."
On October 3rd, 1864, the Twenty-seventh Ohio was temporarily un- der command of General McArthur, and with the Forty-fifth Illinois moved out of Marietta for a reconnaissance beyond Kenesaw Mountain. On Oc- tober 4th, General McArthur sent Captain Charles H. Smith to the front with Companies A, F and D, of the Twenty-seventh Ohio. After oc- cupying an old line of earthwork, built by the Seventeenth Corps at the time of the Union Army's advance upon Kenesaw Mountain. in July, the men double-quicked to the second line, further out. This brought the men to the wrong side of the ditch. but it was good protection against bullets. Only a few Confederates were in the pits opposite, when our three com- panies arrived, but a whole brigade of them rapidly filed in and gave battle.
While the firing was heavy, the men lay flat upon the ground, at the same time an officer (Major Morrison) came up and saluted, saying he was a volunteer officer on General McArthur's staff and he wanted to see what we had developed. Captain Smith advised him to dismount for safety, as the enemy was making a target of him. After dismounting he was re- quested to protect himself behind the earthworks. This he would not do, but took out his field glass and stood looking at the enemy's line. A bullet struck him in the shoulder and he fell. With two men, Captain Smith assisted him to mount, and though very weak and with one arm helpless, he rode back to our lines, where he suffered the amputation of his arm.
After a few hours, the reconnaissance being accomplished, the three companies were withdrawn. General McArthur personally complimented them for their efficiency. The enemy were repulsed all along the line at Kenesaw.
While in the trenches, the Confederates commenced cheering for Mc- Clellan, a man .known and designated as the "Copperhead" candidate for President. The Union soldiers replied with cheers for Lincoln.
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REPULSE OF THE ENEMY AT ALLATOONA.
At the foot of the mountain, in the month of November, the members of the Ohio Regiments of the First Division, voted for presidential candi- dates, President Lincoln receiving nearly all the votes cast.
General Hood's Confederate Army was now moving north toward Allatoona, where there were large amounts of Union Army supplies stored. besides a million and a half of rations. General Sherman's Army followed and occupied the country about Big Shanty and Kenesaw Mountain, stretching from the Chattahoochee River. General Sherman with the Signal Corps occupied the top of the mountain for a number of hours, and the writer saw him receive a dispatch from General Corse, then holding Allatoona, and also heard him instruct the signal officer to reply to General Corse, that famous order, "Hold on! We are coming." In the meantime the Confederate forces under French, attacked Corse's position at Alla- toona, but they were repulsed with great loss. From the mountain, the movements and lines of both armies could be easily distinguished by the blue smoke of the firing lines during the day and by the camp fires at night.
October 21st, 1864, General Joseph A. Mower was assigned to com- mand the First Division in the Seventeenth Corps.
The Thirty-ninth, Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio with the First Division, remained at East Point until the 4th, and then marched with the army in pursuit of Hood, moving by way of Marietta, Big Shanty, Kings- ton and Resaca, driving the rebel army down Lookout Valley and across the Coosa River. On the 16th, they took part in the action at Snake Creek Gap, and with another column of the Seventeenth Corps, carried the Gap, capturing the Twenty-fourth South Carolina Regiment. This campaign was one of the severest kind. The men were on half rations, consisting of bread and fresh beef, the result of the cutting of our "cracker line" by the enemy.
When the Confederate forces approached Resaca, General Hood de- manded its surrender in the following words :
October 12th, 1864.
To the officer commanding the United States forces at Resaca, Georgia:
Sir : I demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the post and garrison under your command. If this is acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be parolled in a few days. If the place is carried by as- sault, no prisoners will be taken.
Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. B. HOOD. '
To this Colonel Weaver replied :
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Headquarters of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fifteenth Corps,
Resaca, Georgia.
To General J. B. Hood:
September 12th, 1864.
Your communication of this date has just been received. In reply I have to state that I am somewhat surprised at the concluding paragraph to the effect that if the place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken. In my opinion, I can hold this post. If you want it, come and take it.
I am, General, very respectfully your most obedient servant,
CLARK R. WEAVER, Commanding Officer.
Weaver's Brigade was very small, but Hood, admonished by his losses at Allatoona, did not attempt to assault, but limited his attack to some skirmisliing and the above threat.
At Ship's Gap, Sherman received a cipher despatch from the authori- ties at Washington, intimating their willingness for him to undertake the march across Georgia to the sea. Ossabaw Sound, below Savannah, was the point where the fleet would await the arrival of his army. We followed Hood's Army down the Chattanooga Valley to Gasden, but halted our main army at the Coosa River, drawing our supplies of bacon, corn and pro- visions of all kinds from the rich farms of that comparatively rich valley and as far down as below Atlanta, so that Hood's efforts to cut off our supplies only reacted on his own people.
General John A. Logan and Frank P. Blair were absent during this pur- suit, but about this time, General Blair rejoined and assumed command of the Seventeenth Corps.
Hood's Army was located at LaFayette, but he escaped down the val- ley of the Chattanooga. On October 26th, Hood's Army now under the command of Beauregard, drew off from Decatur, Alabama, and marched to a point on the Tennessee River, opposite Florence, where he remained a month to collect supplies for his contemplated invasion of Kentucky and Tennessee. During this time he crossed the Tennessee and captured two Union gun boats and five transports. General Thomas was provided with ample force to meet Hood, equal to every and any emergency. He had at Nashville, ten thousand new troops and as many more civil employees of the Quartermaster's Department, which were not suited for the field, but would be most useful in manning the excellent forts that already covered Nash- ville. He had General Stedman's five thousand, Granger's four thousand. and Rousseau's five thousand men near Florence watching the crossing of the Tennessee River, Hatch's Division of Cavalry, four thousand, Crox- ton's and Capron's Brigades, thirty-seven hundred, besides General Wilson had collected at Nashville about ten thousand dismounted cavalry and was collecting horses for a remount, all these aggregating forty-five thousand men. General A. J. Smith was at that time in Missouri, with two divisions of the right wing of the Sixteenth Corps, numbering eight thousand troops
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PREPARING FOR A WINTER CAMPAIGN.
who had been ordered to Nashville. He was further re-enforced by Stan- ley's Fourth Corps, fifteen thousand, and by Schofield's Twenty-third Corps, about fifteen thousand, and Grant had ordered new troops to re- enforce him.
Our army halted at Galesville, Alabama, where the pursuit of the Con- federate forces ceased. All the troops designed for the new campaign, were ordered to Atlanta. From this point twenty-three non-enlisted men of the Sixty-third Ohio Regiment went home. On November 2nd, the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Corps with one division of cavalry, was strung from Rome to Atlanta. The First Division camping on the 2nd of November at Van Wert, on the 3rd at Dallas and on the 4th at Lost Mountain, then marched to Marietta. The Twenty-seventh Ohio remained at Kennesaw Mountain umin the 12th, then marched to a point five miles north of Kenesaw Mountain. There. with a large part of the army that was lined up along the railroad, from Big Shanty to the Chattahoochee River and on to Atlanta. the men worked during the day and all night tear- ing up the railroads, burning the ties, twisting the rails and tearing down the telegraph lines, completely destroying communication and isolating Sher- man's army from the north. On the following day they marched to a camp near Marietta at Smyrna Camp Ground, where the First Division was thoroughly clothed and equipped for a winter campaign, and were paid the first time in nine months to August 31st. The next day, the Division marched twenty miles to Atlanta, camping at White Hall and later near the Macon Railroad, southeast of the town. For several days following, the weather was cold, with high winds.
All the sick, wounded, drafted men and substitutes had been sent back by rail to Chattanooga. It had been found by experience that men who voluntarily enlisted at the outbreak of the war, were the best soldiers, better than the conscript and far better than the bought substitutes. The most extraordinary efforts had been made to purge the army of non-com- bitants and sick men, for there was no place of safety save with the army itself, so that it may be assumed that all were able bodied, experienced soldiers, well armed and well equipped and provided as far as human fore- sight could with all the essentials of life, strength and vigorous action.
The wagon trains had been overhauled and loaded so as to be ready to start at a moment's notice. Meantime trains were whirling by, carrying to the rear, an immense amount of stores. The engineers and fireman on the trains waved tis an affectionate adieu.
About noon on the 12th of November, General Sherman reached Cartersville on his way to Atlanta, and sat on the porch of a house to rest. When the telegraph operator got the wire down from the poles to his lap,
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FULLER'S OIIIO BRIGADE.
in which he held a small pocket instrument and called Chattanooga, he re- ceived a message from General Thomas, dated at Nashville. He was an- swered, 'Despatch received all right.' About that instant of time, some of our men burned a bridge which severed the telegraph wire and all com- munication with the rear ceased thenceforth. The army now stood de- tached from all friends, dependent upon its own resources and supplies. It was surely a strange event, that two hostile armies were marching in opposite directions, in the full belief that each was achieving a final and conclusive result in a great war. The whole army was inspired with a feeling that the movement on our part was a direct attack upon the rebel army and rebel capitol at Richmond, though a full thousand miles of hostile country intervened, and that for better or worse it would end the war.
CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE CONFEDERATE RANKS IN NOVEMBER, 1864.
George B. Hodge, C. S. A., Colonel and Inspector General, reported to Jeff Davis, from Selma, Alabama, November, 1864:
He complains that there were in his territorial limits quite ten thousand men, liable to military duty, absent from their commands and evading the claims of the government for their services. In the county of Jones in Mississippi, a large number of disaffected persons had proceeded to such extremes, as to engage in a raid upon, and plunder the public stores. in Paulding and Jasper Counties. In the country northwest of the Tellehat- chie, a Captain Reson of the Confederate service, having deserted his post and enticed away with him a portion of his command, had established himself and inaugurated a system of private plunder. He was constantly sending messages to his friends in the army, inviting them to join him, luring them by promises of brigandage and free quarters. The whole tier of counties in Mississippi and east Louisiana bordering on the Mississippi River swarmed with deserters and skulkers from duty. A cavalry force was sent against the insurgents in Jones County ; they were attacked, routed and dis- persed, some were shot, some were hung. Another force was sent against Reson and his associates (he has since escaped across the Mississippi). This course only partially remedied these evils.
On the 14th of November, Sherman's command had arrived at or near Atlanta, Georgia, and was grouped into two wings. The right wing was commanded by Major-General O. O. Howard, the left by Major-General H. W. Slocum, both educated and experienced officers. The right wing was composed of the Fifteenth Corps, Major-General P. J. Osterhaus, com- manding and the Seventeenth Corps, Major-General Frank P. Blair, com.
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REORGANIZATION OF COMMANDS.
manding. The left wing was composed of the Fourteenth Corps, Major- General Jefferson C. Davis, commanding, and the Twentieth Corps, Briga- .her-General A. S. Williams, commanding. The Fifteenth Corps had four divisions, commanded by Brigadier-Generals Charles R. Wood, W. B. Hazen, John E. Smith, and John M. Corse. The Seventeenth Corps had three divisions, commanded by Major-General J. A. Mower and Brigadier- Generals M. D. Legget and Giles A. Smith. The Fourteenth Corps had three divisions, commanded by Brigadier-Generals W. P. Carlin, James D. Morgan and A. Baird. The Twentieth Corps had three divisions com- manded by Brigadier-Generals N. J. Jackson, John W. Geary, and W. T. Ward. The Cavalry Division was held a separate organization, subject to Sherman's orders. It was commanded by Brigadier-General Judson Kil- patrick and was composed of two brigades, commanded by Colonels Eli H. Murray and Smith D. Adkins.
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