USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 29
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Although General Fuller was a strict disciplinarian and was persistent and unrelenting in the enforcement of military rules and regulations, he so impressed upon his men the absolute necessity of it, for their own good, for their health, their efficiency and their preparedness to acquit them- selves honorably in the hour of battle, that line officers and men responded enthusiastically to his demands and strove diligently and willingly to bring themselves to that degree of precision in drill and evolution for which they were distinguished throughout the Army of the Tennessee, and to which is attributable the fact that his brigade was never routed, never disorganized. It never failed in a charge and never yielded a position it was ordered to hold. It was because of this perfection of drill and training that General · Fuller was enabled, at Corinth, on October 4th, to not only hold the posi- tion assigned him against the desperate and repeated assaults of Hebert's entire division, while the rest of the line was broken and swept back into Corinth, but to finally hurl back the shattered regiments of the assaulting column, and furnish the occasion for General Rosecrans to ride up to the Ohio Brigade, when the battle was over, and exclaim, "I take off my hat in the presence of men as brave as those around me," and ascribe to the brigade the credit of having by its steadiness and final charge, turned the wavering tide of battle into a decisive victory and given to the defense of Battery Robinett a place in history as one of the most sanguinary struggles of the war.
It was because of its good behavior in many previous emergencies that a portion of Fuller's brigade-the 27th and 39th regiments-was selected to make the desperate but entirely successful assault on the fortified posi- tion of the enemy at Ruff's Mills on July 4th, 1864, after General Mc- Pherson had expressed the opinion that the chances of success were almost too remote to warrant the attempt.
It was this same training and discipline which enabled General Fuller to change front and reform his lines on the great battle field of Atlanta on July 22nd, under circumstances and conditions so appalling as to war- rant General Grenville M. Dodge, who witnessed it, to declare years after- ward that the conduct of Fuller's command on that day in changing posi- tion and reforming its lines in open fields and under a terrific cross-fire, at short range, from both front and flank, had no parallel in history. In
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the minds of the survivors of that day, the calm, musical, reassuring voice of General Fuller as he directed this reformation and his precautionary "Steady boys, steady." still linger, with the vividness, almost, of yesterday.
Looking backward through the forty-three years that have intervened since the curtain was rolled down on the closing scenes of that awful tragedy-the Civil War, we see again, as we saw then, events and circum- stances now recorded in the annals of that climateric period of our country's history. We live over again those eventful days, months, and years in which we made history faster than the pen of the historian could record it, and from these visions of the past, from every event and experi- ence, every scene and circumstance with which we are most proud to have been identified, the face, the figure and voice of our Commander are in- separable. Daily,-almost hourly, from the Summer of 1861 to the close of the war, he was with and one of us. In camp, on the march, and in battle. under all circumstances, vicissitudes and dangers incident to the life of a soldier at the front, he was always courteous, cheerful. hopeful, resourceful, and enthusiastic in the performance of duty. His patriotic ardor and earnestness never wavering nor waning, and he so inspired those under hint and about him with the same spirit, that the survivors of his brigade almost unanimously re-enlisted in the field.
These are some of the qualities and characteristics of the man whose guiding hand, shaped our course and conduct throughout those four most eventful years of our lives, as they impressed themselves upon a boyish mind and as seen through boyish eyes, but of one whose opportunities to observe them were almost daily.
The pride and satisfaction with which we look back over the services and achievements of the old Army of the Tennessee and contemplate the part we took therein. the manner in which we performed every duty as- signed us, assumed every obligation imposed upon us, and met every emer- gency with which we were confronted, are, in a large measure, due to the skill and almost paternal care with which we were trained, and the courage and precision with which we were led by the man of whom I have briefly tried to tell.
At the close of the war, when the Confederate armies had all surren. dered and the authority of our Government had been re-established over all our territory. General Fuller doffed his uniform and returned to his home in Toledo to take up again the quiet, peaceful life of a business man. As the head of the firm of Fuller, Childs & Company, engaged in the whole- sale boot and shoe business, he was actively engaged until shortly before his death, which occurred on March 12th, 1891.
His body now lies in beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery, to which it was
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BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN W. FULLER.
escorted by the military organizations of Toledo and followed by ex-Presi- dent Hayes and a vast concourse of citizens from north-western Ohio. At his grave, we mingle our tears with those of his widow and children and share with them in the love and esteem in which we hold sacred the mem- ory of General John W. Fuller.
West Alexandria, Ohio. April 4, 1908.
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MAJOR GEN. GRENVILLE M. DODGE.
16th A. C., 1904.
MAJOR-GENERAL GRENVILLE M. DODGE. COMMANDER OF sixteenth THE LEFT WING SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS. €
REVISED BY MAJOR CHARLES H. SMITH, Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Infantry Volunteers.
Major-General Grenville M. Dodge was an able and distinguished soldier. The government recognized his military ability, his constant honor. his fearless conduct and stainless reputation, and gave him high command. He was close in the councils of President Lincoln, Generals U. S. Grant. W. T. Sherman, J. B. McPherson and other great leaders during the war. and was an especial favorite with them on account of his knowledge and work in bridge making and railway construction, amid difficulties and dangers, which proved so valuable in bringing campaigns to a successful termination.
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MAJOR GENERAL GRENVILLE M. DODGE.
General Dodge was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, in the 12th of April. 1831. The family is of English ancestry who joined the Plymouth colony in 1629. At the age of fourteen, General Dodge entered the Academy at Durham, New Hampshire, and the following year, went to the Norwich University of Vermont, a military college, and graduated as a civil and military engineer with the class of 1850.
He first attained distinction in engineering part of the Illinois Central Railroad and in building the Rock Island Railroad. While thus engaged, he prophesied the building of, and to some extent outlined the route of the first transcontinental railroad, a work with which he was later so closely and prominently connected. Between the years 1853 and 1861, he explored the country west of the Missouri River and examined the Rocky Moun- tains from north to south, to find the best place to cross with a railroad. He formulated and explained in letters, the route which was atterward selected.
In 1854, General Dodge became a resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he engaged in banking and other business. He organized the Coun- cil Bluffs Guards and was made its Captain. At the outbreak of hostilities, he tendered his command and his services to the state government. He was sent by Governor Kirkwood to Washington, D. C. to arrange for the equipment of the Iowa troops. He was successful in this and his worth being instantly recognized by the War Department, he was offered a com- mission as Captain in the Regular Army, but was immediately commis- sioned a Colonel by Governor Kirkwood. He organized the Fourth Iowa Infantry and also recruited the Dodge Battery and within two weeks led his command against the rebels in northern Missouri, where he put to flight the Guerillas and forced the rebel Colonel Pointdexter to retreat.
In the Southwest Campaign, he commanded the First Brigade. At the battle of Pea Ridge, his brigade saved Curtis' Army from disaster, although he was wounded and had three horses killed, while the fourth was wounded under him. He was under fire three days and remained at his post until the battle was brought to a close. He lost one fourth of his entire command. His services immediately won recognition in promotion to Brigadier-General, and when he had recovered from his wounds, he was assigned to duty at Columbus, Kentucky, in command of the Central Divi- sion of the Army of the Tennessee.
On the 15th of November, 1862, General Grant appointed General Dodge to command the Second Division of the Army of the Tennessee, and soon after the District of Corinth, a position which required him to discharge the duties of engineer, railroad manager, chief of the corps of observation, and so forth, and at the same time Grant's Army at Corinth and Rosecrans' Army at Chattanooga, relied upon him for information as
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to the movements of the enemy. He built all railroads needed in hi- department and destroyed those that could be of use to the enemy.
It was here in Corinth on the 9th of January, 1863 that Fuller's Ohio Brigade became a part of General Dodge's Command. They had arrived in Corinth after the battle of Parkers Cross Roads and after the pursuit of Forrest's Forces, which included a continuous march of one hundred and ten miles. The men were worn out, many were barefooted and half starved. and notwithstanding the fact that the garrison at Corinth was on half rations, owing to the interruption of railroad supplies, General Dodge put Fuller's Ohio Brigade on full rations and furnished them with new cloth- ing. Never were men more grateful and from that time on, gave their hearts and devotion to General Dodge, and their faith was rewarded in all the subsequent campaigns and brilliant battles by his constant care and vigilance and by the uninterrupted victories they gained over the enemy. Many times the soldiers saw General Dodge walking the lines of investment, giving orders, looking after every detail and encouraging the men by his words and example.
On August 19th, 1864, near the close of the Atlanta Campaign, General Dodge was so severely wounded, that he was obliged to relinquish his command of the left wing of the 16th Army Corps. On the restoration of his health, he was assigned in November, to the command of the Depart- ment of the Missouri, and he proceeded at once to restore order. He quelled a general Indian outbreak, and in Arkansas, General Jeff Thompson with eight thousand men surrendered to him.
For a year after the war, his command included all the Indian country west of the Missouri River and north of the Indian Territory, and he was in command of the Indian campaigns reaching from the Arkansas to the Yellowstone Rivers. He resigned July 30th, 1866 and was elected on the Republican ticket to represent his district in Congress, still continuing his work as Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad, in which he used his best energies. He continued building railroads until 1874 when he went abroad, and his advice was sought in building the great Russian Trans-continental line through Siberia.
General Dodge stands today among the great men of the nation by reason of the fact that his life has been one of signal usefulness to his fellowmen.
MAJOR GEN. DAVID S. STANLEY.
MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID S. STANLEY.
BY MAJOR CHARLES H. SMITH.
David S. Stanley was born in Wayne County, Ohio, on the 1st of June; 1828. In 1848 he was appointed a cadet at West Point and in 1852 he graduated and was assigned as Second-Lieutenant to the Second Dragoons. The next year he was employed as assistant on the survey of the Pacific Railroad Route and in this service he remained for two years. In 1855, he was transferred to the First Cavalry of which Sumner was Colonel, Joe Johnston, Lieutenant-Colonel and Sedgwick, Major .. He was engaged in maintaining the peace in Kansas until the spring of 1857. accompanying Colonel Sumner on an expedition against the Cheyenne Indians. He was engaged in a sharp fight on Solomon's Fork of the Kansas. In 1858 he was engaged in the Utah expedition and crossed the plains to the northern boundary of Texas. In March, 1858. he had a
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successful fight with the Comanche Indians, for which he received compli- mentary orders from Lieutenant-General Scott.
He was stationed at Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the opening of the rebellion. He was appointed Captain in the Fourth United States Cavalry. in March, 1861. The troops at Fort Smith and neighboring posts being compelled to evacuate, they united in one column and marched through the buffalo country to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On the 8th of May. they captured and parolled a force of rebels sent in pursuit of them. He moved on an expedition to Springfield and joined General Lyon at Grand River.
Captain Stanley was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers in November, 1861. He was ordered to St. Louis and during the winter of 1861-2, he moved with Pope's Army down the Mississippi and commanded the Second Division of that Army of which Fuller's Ohio Brigade was a part at New Madrid and Island Ten. He participated in the Fort Pillow expedition, and on the 22nd of April joined General Halleck's Army before Corinth. He was engaged in a skirmish at Monteray, in the battle of Farmington and in the repulse of the rebels before Corinth. May 28th. The rebels evacuated Corinth on the 29th, and General Stanley was engaged in the pursuit to Booneville. During the months of June. July. and August, he was in command of the troops on the Memphis and Charles- ton Railroad. In the battle of Iuka he commanded one of Rosecran's two Divisions and was especially commended in the official report. In the battle of Corinth, October 4th, his Division lost many valuable officers and men. It sustained the terrible attack of the enemy on batteries Williams and Robinett.
General Stanley joined the Army of the Tennessee under General Grant at Grand Junction, in October ; but in November, he was relieved from duty there, and was ordered to report to General Rosecrans, com- manding the Army of the Cumberland, who assigned him to the command of the Cavalry of that army. On the 21st of November he was made Major-General of volunteers. He commanded the cavalry at the battle of Stone River. In this engagement the duty of the cavalry was very arduous. From the 26th of December until the 4th of January, 1863. the saddles were only removed to groom the horses, and then they were imme- diately replaced. After the battle of Chickamauga, he was assigned to the command of the First Division, Fourth Army Corps. General Stanley was in the Atlanta campaign. under Sherman, from May 2nd to August 25th. He commanded the Fourth Corps by appointment of the President, from July, 1864, until the close of the war. He marched the Fourth Corps to Chattanooga and thence to Pulaski, confronting Hood's Army which was then threatening Nashville and middle Tennessee. At the battle of Frank-
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lin, General Stanley came upon the field just as a portion of the National line was captured by the rebels. His timely arrival diverted disaster ; and placing himself at the head of a brigade, he led a charge, which re-estab- lished the line. The soldiers followed him with enthusiasm, calling out. "Come on, men ; we can go wherever the General can." Just after retaking the line, and while passing toward the left, the General's horse was killed : and no sooner did the General regain his feet, than he was struck by a musket ball in the back of the neck. But he still remained on the field. This wound disabled him from further service until January 24th, 1865. when he was placed on duty in East Tennessee. In July. he moved with the Fourth Corps to Texas. The authorities at Washington rewarded General Stanley with a Major-Generalship in the United States Army.
General Stanley was cool and brave in battle. He enjoyed to the fullest extent the confidence of his superior officers and of the soldiers under his command. He was a thorough disciplinarian, and aided by such a careful instructor as General Fuller. the troops were drilled constantly during the months of June, July and August, 1862. Under their immediate supervision and training, the men were brought to the highest point of military perfec- tion. It was their superb precision in military movements, their fighting and staying qualities during the battles of Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi. during the months of September and October, which led General Stanley to exclaim : "These troops can never be beaten in battle."
General Stanley died in Washington, D. C., March 13th, 1902.
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COL. MENDEL CHURCHILL, 27th O. V. V. I. Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. V.
BREVET-BRIGADIER-GENERAL MENDAL CHURCHILL.
BY CAPTAIN JOHN A. EVANS, Company E, Twenty-seventh Ohio Regiment Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Brevet-Brigadier-General Mendal Churchill was born in Rome town- ship, Lawrence County, Ohio, on July 23rd, 1829. His father Solomon Churchill was a native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where his family had lived since 1643, when John Churchill came from England, to that colony. His mother Mary Pritchard, born near West Point in New York, was a daughter of a Connecticut Revolutionary soldier. Her husband died, leav- ing her with six small children on a farm in Lawrence County, Ohio. Mendal attended the country school, and for two terms, an academy at Burlington, the old county seat.
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In his boyhood, he was employed in a country store. In 1850, he accepted a position at Keystone furnace, Ohio, and began a business that
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after 1865, became his life work. In July 1861, he organized Company E of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Volunteers and was mustered into service as Captain, August 6th, 1861. He was promoted to Major. November 2nd, 1862, to Lieutenant-Colonel, March 19th, 1864, and to Colonel of the same regiment, June 27th, 1864. He was honorably discharged on the expiration of more than three years' service, September 15th, 1864. He participated with his regiment in the long and difficult campaigns and marches in General Fremont's army which drove the enemy from Missouri in 1861. and in the subsequent march from Sedalia to St. Louis, enduring the cold and the snows of winter. He rendered gallant service at the capture of the strongly fortified positions of New Madrid and Island Ten and at the siege of Corinth, the battle of Iuka and Corinth. He commanded his regiment in person at Resaca, Dallas, Kenecaw Mountain, in the assault and capture of the enemies' works at Nick-o-Jack and at Atlanta.
Colonel Mendal Churchill was conspicuous for courage, efficiency and ability. For success and efficient conduct at the battle of Atlanta, he was brevetted Brigadier-General of Volunteers. It was his fortune to serve with the regiment in ten different states. He was wounded at the battle of Atlanta, July 22nd. 1864, and was carried off the field. but returned and resumed command of his regiment before the battle was over.
General Churchill was brave and courageous in battle, loyal and pure in character, of calm demeanor but yet of decided opinion, a man of perse- verance. During his service. he commanded the respect not only of his brother officers but of the entire regiment.
In January, 1866, he removed to Zanesville, where he made his future home. He was President of the Ohio Iron Company and the Blandy Machine Company, was Vice President and director of the Bellaire, Zanes- ville and Cincinnati Railway, and a director of the Somerset and Straitsville Railway, of the Union Bank and of the Brown Manufacturing Company: He was chosen Presidential Elector in 1880 and delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1888. He served four years as one of the managers of the Ohio Penetentiary.
On November 28th. 1861. he was married to Mary C. Loughry, who died January 15th, 1886. General Churchill retired from business in 1891 and for some years travelled extensively. That year, he made a trip around the world, landing at Vancouver, British Columbia, and passed. the winter of 1892 on the Pacific Coast.
In 1893-4 he visited the West Indies and in 1894-5, Hawaii. Soon afterward, he removed to Coronado Beach, California, where he resided in his beautiful home by the sea. Friends gathered around him. many of them distinguished Union and confederate soldiers, who, having full under-
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standing of the principles involved in the war, intelligently fought their battles over again. On the afternoon of October 22nd. 1902, he felt. unconscious and death almost immediately followed. Upon his casket la: his sword and sabre with flowers sent by companions of the Military Order. of the Loyal Legion of which he was a member. On the last day of October, he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Zanesville, Ohio.
BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMUEL THOMAS.
Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
General Samuel Thomas, capitalist and war veteran, died of heart disease, at his home, in the city of New York, survived by two sons and ? daughter, E. R. Thomas, H. E. Thomas and Mrs. Livingston Beekman.
General Thomas was born at South Point, Lawrence-co, Ohio, Sept. 27, 1840. His parents were of Virginia stock and among the early settlers between the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. Thomas waas educated at Marietta, O., and until 1861, was employed by the Keystone Iron Co. as a clerk. At the outbreak of the civil war he entered the union army and during his four years' service performed many conspicuous deeds, which resulted in rapid promotion from second lieutenancy in the 27th Ohio volunteers to brevet brigadier.
After the war he was assistant commissioner for Mississippi and later an adjutant general on the staff of General O. O. Howard, being mustered out of the service in 1867. He then devoted himself to coal and iron interests in the Hocking Valley, and was president of the East Tennessee. Virginia, Geor ia and other railroads; later serving as president of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad, and of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic. He was identified with many other railroads in the country as director and with many industrial corporations. He was also prominent in New York club life. He died January 12th, 1903.
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CHARLES H. SMITH, CO.A7th OHIO INFANTRY. In Uniform Cleveland Light Guard Zouave. April 17th, 1861.
MAJOR CHARLES H. SMITH.
Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Charles H. Smith is a native of Massachusetts, and was born in Taun- ton, November 23rd, 1837. His great grandparents, Samuel and Elizabeth Smith and his grandfather George Smith who married Ann Goodman, and who was for some years officiating clergyman at Chilvers Coton Chapel and his father Thomas Smith who married Ann Clark, and who was by profession a teacher of music, were natives of Warwickshire.' England. In the maternal line, he also comes of English lineage. His grandfather John Clark and his wife Mary Wilson were natives of Warwickshire. Charles' parents came to the United States in 1830 and settled in Taunton. Massachusetts. Charles moved with his parents to Fall River, Massachu- setts in 1845 and to Jamestown, New York in 1850. He settled in Cleve- land, Ohio, in 1856 and engaged in the furniture business. His educa-
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tion was obtained in public and private schools. He became a member of the local literary societies and a student at law, graduating from the Ohio State and Law College at the April term, 1871.
His first enlistment into the army was in Company A of the Seventh Ohio Infantry, composed of the Cleveland Light Guard Zouave Military Company and other volunteers, on April 17th, 1861 at the first call for troops by President Lincoln. He accompanied the regiment to Camp Tay- lor, Cleveland, Ohio, and to Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, where he received thorough instruction in the school of a soldier.
On the re-organization of the Seventh Regiment ail three months' men were given a furlough. The following is a copy :
"CAMP DENNISON, OHIO, JUNE 13TH,1861.
"Private Charles H. Smith of Company A, Seventh Regiment, Second Brigade, Ohio Volunteers, in the three month's service, under the requisi- tion, of the President of the United States, has honorable leave of absence, to go to his home and there remain until regularly mustered out of the service, or until he receives further orders.
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