USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 36
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And still the ranks are silent.
From the cotton fields and rice swamps of the gulf, the black man lifts his dusky brow, and wonders if the freedom he has dreamed about will really come. In the hospitals behind our lines, and in the distant prisons of the South, are comrades whispering, as they ask each other, "Will our life blood ebb away in vain?"
But now the silence breaks. The measured tread of an army keeping step is heard; and that wondrous scene unfolds which the whole world beholds-the marshalling of the veteran hosts. The soldiers of the ranks stand forth. In the grim school of war have they been taught how much
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this step may cost ; in the same school have realized how much there is ... stake. And now, with purpose fixed, these warriors shout forth ther grand response : "Muster us again. For all the war muster us in," tili the mighty chorus is echoing gloriously from every hill top of the North. and rumbling ominously in the remotest valley of the South. From this patriotic hour was the doom of the rebellion sealed.
A RAID TO THE ALTAMAHA RIVER BY MAJOR CHARLES H. SMITH.
On the raid from King's Bridge, Georgia, to the Altamaha River, there were found a large number of files of old newspapers at the County Court House; in Hinesville, Liberty County. One of them was the supplement to the Georgia "Gazette." published September 1st, 1796, which the writer has in his possession. It is printed on a sheet of paper, thirteen and one- fourth inches long, by eight inches wide and the type has the old-fashioned "s". It furnishes curious reading in these days and shows the customs of the times in dealing with the slaves. One side of the paper contains ten Sheriff sales of real estate, negroes, cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses. The negroes on sale number from one to one hundred and thirty-five at each sale. On the other side of the paper are thirteen advertisements offering rewards for the capture of runaway slaves. The following is a sample of the kind of advertisement published :
FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD.
Run away from the subscriber, at Ebenezer, the 6th October last, the Negro Man and Wench hereafter described :
Ned, a country born fellow, near or quite 38 years of age, about 5 feet 3 or 4 inches high, speaks very plain English, has a very gross voice, is a yellowish complexion, and is remarkable for having 6 toes on each foot. and 5 fingers on each hand, has lost several of his fore teeth both above and below, and has very thick lips.
Jenny, his wife, a country born wench, about the same age and height of the fellow, of a black complexion, has a small scar on her left cheek, as well as can be recollected, speaks very plain English, has a small waist and is well made, is very sensible and artful; she has a mother and other rela- tions in the fork of Broad River, near Petersburg, Elbert County, where it is probable they will secrete themselves. SAMUEL WALL.
Savannah, January 18, 1796.
A FIRST SERGEANT'S DUTIES.
BY ORDERLY SERGEANT CHARLES H. SMITH,
Twenty-seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
An orderly Sergeant is required to do many things in active service and here are some of them: To call the roll of the company two to five times or more each day, inspect cartridge boxes and cap boxes at retreat, see that the lights are out at "taps," see that the men keep themselves and their clothes clean, go with them to sick call each day, get their medicines and see that they take it, draw rations, see that every man gets his share, see that the rations last tor the time for which they were drawn, see that they are all cooked, that none are wasted or destroyed, see that mess pans and kettles are kept clean, see that none are lost, to know where every man in the company is, report them present or accounted for, see that each man has a place to sleep, settle all disputes, make detail for guard and picket duty and for fatigue duty, draw and issue clothing, copy orders, make out provisions returns, monthly and morning reports, and while doing all these things, to keep good humored. He is between two fires; first, he is cursed by his superiors ; second, he is recursed by his subordinates if anything in their respective judgments goes wrong.
SIXTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
ORGANIZATION-COMMANDERS-MUSTER OUT.
BY COLONEL OSCAR L. JACKSON,
Sixty-Third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
The Sixty-third Ohio was recruited and organized from counties in the southeastern part of the state under the first call in 1861 for 300,000 men to serve for three years to suppress the slaveholders' rebellion. Wil- liam E. Gilmore, who had served as Colonel of the Twenty-second Ohio in the previous three months' service, obtained authority to recruit a regiment for this three years' service, of which he was to be Colonel, to be also known as the Twenty-second Ohio.
A camp was located at Chillicothe, Ohio, called Camp Worthington, and the work of recruiting for the regiment began in the month of August, 1861. Capt. William Craig, of the U. S. Regular Army obtained authority to recruit a regiment, of which he was to be Colonel, for the three years'
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service, to be called the Sixty-third Ohio. He located a Camp at Marietta. Ohio, called Camp Tupper, and engaged men about first of October, 1861, to recruit for several companies of his proposed regiment.
In the latter part of December, 1861, Col. Gilmore at Chillicothe had about enough men enlisted to organize seven companies, and Capt. Craig at Marietta had about enough to organize four companies. Work at recruiting was still going on, but neither of these organizations was com- pleted by recruiting, for the following reasons :
Early in January, 1862. Governor Tod ordered six full companies oi the men at Chillicothe recruited for Twenty-second Ohio to be transferred to Marietta, to join the four companies there. This made a full regiment at Marietta, and which he called the Sixty-third.
The surplus men at Chillicothe over and above the six companies. were transferred to Mt. Vernon to join a regiment being recruited there called the Forty-third. Governor Tod appointed as Column of tin Sin- third thus formed, John W. Sprague, who had not assisted in recruiting any part of it, and who was an entire stranger to every member of it.
Col. Gilmore of the Twenty-second was appointed Lieutenant Colonel, and Capt. Craig, of the Regular Army, who had recruited the four com- panies at Marietta dropped out entirely. The companies of the new regiment were given letters according to the respective rank of their Cap- tains, the senior commencing with A. The six companies recruited at Chillicothe were designated A, B, E, H, I and K and the four companies recruited at Marietta were designated C, D, F, and G.
The companies were assigned places in line in the regiment according to the letter given each and the rank of its Captain, as provided in Army Regulations. This order is as follows, commencing on the right, viz., A. F, D, I, C, H. E. K. G and B. The companies of the Sixty-third main- tained this order in line during their four years' service-no change being made by reason of subsequent changes in rank of Captains as was done in some regiments.
The original Captains of the Regiment, and the .ocalities from which they principally recruited their respective companies are as follows, viz .:
Company A, Captain Nathan Picket.
Recruited mostly from northern part of Athens county. Some from adjoining counties.
Company B, Captain Charles E. Brown. Recruited in Ross county.
Company C, Captain Christopher E. Smith.
Recruited in Meigs county.
Company D, Captain John W. Fouts.
Recruited in Washington, Morgan and Noble counties.
Company E, Captain Thomas McCord.
Recruited in Ross and Pike counties.
Company F, Captain Charles H. Titus. Recruited in Washington, Meigs and Noble counties.
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SIXTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
Company G, Captain Rodney K. Shaw. Recruited in Washington, Athens and Morgan Counties.
Company H, Captain Oscar L. Jackson.
Recruited, about one-third each from Hocking and Athens counties, and the other one-third from Ross, Vinton, Washington and Morgan counties. Headquarters at recruiting. Starr township (near Logan) Hock- ing county.
Company I, Captain James Taggart.
Recruited principally in Ross county, some from adjoining counties.
Company K, Captain Charles W. McGinnis.
Recruited principally in Ross County. Some adjoining counties.
Over three-fourths of these men, had been reared on farms, and were farmers at enlistment. The other one-fourth represented nearly all kinds of useful skilled trades and callings common in the country Some were railroaders, machinists, miners, students, clerks, salesmen, teachers and pro- fessional men. These latter classes came mostly from small villages, and many of them had been reared on farms. There were practically no men from cities. They were nearly all native born citizens of the United States. The foreign born did not exceed fifty or sixty, and they mostly came to this country when young, with the expectation of becoming permanent citizens.
The regiment from time to time, during its service received small num- bers of recruits, mostly relatives or friends of men already serving in it. During 1862 several civilians were commissioned in the regiment but did not remain long with it.
On Novmber 5, 1862, about two hundred and fifty men that had been recruited in a camp at Dayton, Ohio, for a new regiment to be called the 112th Ohio Infantry, joined the 63rd Ohio, then in the field between Grand Junction and Holly Springs. Nine of this number brought with them Commissions of different grades to fill vacancies then in the regiment. These recruits of the 112th were mostly from Montgomery county. They were about the same class of men as those from which the regiment had at first been organized.
On January 1st, 1864, the Sixty-third Ohio, then in camp at Pros- pect, Tennessee, on the Elk river re-enlisted as veterans for three years more. The regiment had the largest per cent of men present to re-enlist of any Ohio regiment in the service. Every eligible meinber of Company H present re-enlisted.
Whilst at home on veteran furlough from 15th of January to 15th of February, 1864, a large number of recruits were obtained, and the regiment was again pretty well filled up. These recruits were mostly relatives or neighbors of the old members of the regiment.
In the spring of 1865, one hundred and ninety-six Ohio drafted men and substitutes, were assigned to the regiment by order of the War depart- ment and ordered forwarded to it. The regiment being then on the march with Sherman in North Carolina ; these assigned men, in order to reach it, were ordered to New York harbor, and detained there for some reason.
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They never reached the regiment, and were mustered out at New York, May 15, 1865. They were never taken up on the rolls of the regiment, but a separate roll of them is published in Vol. 5, Roster of Ohio Soldiers.
LOSSES.
The aggregate numbers of officers and enlisted men entered upon the muster rolls of the Sixty-third Ohio during its whole term of service is about sixteen hundred. (This does not include drafted men mustered out at New York.) Of the men in the original organization, a few were lost in different ways before the regiment left the state of Ohio. In the field up to September 1, 1862. considerably more men were lost by death and discharged on account of sickness and disability arising from exposure and severe campaigning, than were lost from casualties in battle. By that date the men had become seasoned and inured to the hardships of army life, and the survivors then, were the strongest and most vigorous of the whole ramimont After that date the fighting was more severe and the losses of these men, in the aggregate from killed in battle and discharged on account of wounds received there, about equalled the losses from all other dis- abilities. The new recruits had to go through a similar experience in sea- soning and hardening, and with the same results.
The two great severe losses of the regiment in battle, were at Corinth October 4th, 1862, and on the Atlanta Campaign of 1864. Men were killed. wounded or missing at a good many other times and places, but it was in small numbers at any one time, and sometimes but a single man was killed. captured or wounded. It lost in its whole service but few as prisoners. It marched and camped in every state in rebellion except Texas and Florida. and it left its dead buried in nearly all, if not all, of these states in which it marched.
ATLANTIC CAMPAIGN.
The reports show, that the regiment lost on the Atlanta Campaign one hundred and fifty-eight men. These were nearly all killed or wounded, for it lost very few as prisoners. This number is undoubtedly consider- ably less than the reality, for in many cases, men with slight wounds, and some with quite serious injuries, would not go to the hospitals and were not included in the reports of wounded. At one time on this campaign, the regiment was so constantly close up to the enemy, that it had for nine consecutive days, men wounded on every day, by musketry. From May 15th to September 2, 1864, it was rarely out of hearing of musketry and artillery firing. This was a strain and tax on the vitality of the strongest men that few civilians can comprehend. A partly written letter of a rebel soldier to his wife, was found at one time on this campaign in an abandoned camp by a Sixty-third man, in which the Rebel then called it "The battle of May and June." Later on he might well have called it the hundred days' battle for such it was.
CORINTH .
In the battle of Corinth. October 3rd and 4th, 1862, the Sixty-third Ohio had but nine companies present. Company D. Capt. John W. Fouts, was absent on detached duty. On the morning of the third in camp on Tuscumbee river, six miles from Corinth, it reported present 275 men. Of
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SIXTY-THIRD OHIO INFANTRY.
these, some were then on special duty, and details of others for camp guards, and other duties were afterward made, from those reported present, and only 250 men and officers were considered in line of battle when the regiment became actively engaged. On the first day it was marched back and forth in different directions with the division, as from time to time ordered, and kept close to the scene of action, so as to be near where it might be most needed, but did not become actively engaged.
It was the fortune of the regiment on the second day to occupy a position on open ground that caused it to sustain very heavy loss in killed and wounded from the assaults of the enemy. How these losses were sus- tained, and what was the particular part taken by the Sixty-third Ohio in the fighting around Battery Robinet in the battle of October 4th is well described in Horace Greeley's History of the American Conflict, Vol. 2, page 229. It says in part :
"The left of the Sixty-third Ohio rested on Battery Robinet. Col. Ful- ler commanding the Brigade, perfectly collected while the enemy was steadily approaching, required his men to lie flat when not engaged, and to wait till the enemy approached close, and then fire coolly."
"It was at the moment the Texan, Rogers, was flaunting his flag on our parapet that the Sixty-third was ordered to fire. There were only 250 of the Sixty-third in the conflict, but their volley was fearful. It is said fifty rebels fell at once. Six volleys were fired and the rebels were gone. The Sixty-third again lay down. Directly the supporting brigade of the rebels advanced. The Sixty-third was ordered to make a half left wheel to sweep the front of the redoubt, and the movement was handsomely executed. Suddenly the enemy appeared. The Sixty-third fired five or six volleys and the rebels rushed upon them.
A terrific hand to hand combat ensued. It lasted hardly a minute but the carnage was dreadful. Bayonets were used, muskets clubbed and men were felled with brawny fists. Our noble fellows were victors but at sickening cost. Of the 250 of the splendid Sixty-third, 125 lay there on the field wounded, dead, or dying."
Among the incidents that occurred in that severe contest was this one. Eli J. Casey acting First Sergeant, Company H, whose place in line, was next to the flag and colors of the regiment, carried on the left of Company C, was killed instantly by a gun shot wound in the head. He fell against the regimental colors, and stained them with his blood. These colors were carried to the end of the war, and then all tattered and torn deposited with the flags of other regiments in the State House at Columbus, and to this day (1909) this stain is plainly to be seen on them.
Major General David S. Stanley some years after the war in a pub- lished article on military subjects cited the fighting of the Sixty-third Ohio at Corinth as showing the difference between our armies and those of Europe, where the general rule is that a regiment that has sustained a loss of ten per cent in casualties in battle, must be then considered as wholly out of the fight.
In Fox's History of regimental losses in the Civil War compiled by him from official records, the Sixty-third is prominently mentioned.
In list of high percentages killed in a single battle, it is reported as losing 14 per cent killed of those engaged at Corinth.
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FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
In list of prominent battles, with statement of regiments sustaining greatest loss in each, it is reported as losing in battle of Corinth 129 killed and wounded and three missing, being a loss of 48 per cent of all present. Page 432.
In a general list of the dead of a large number of regiments that saw hard service, he reports the Sixty-third Ohio as losing during its whole term, 93 killed and mortally wounded in battle, and 264 dead from disease, prisons and all other causes, making its dead in the service in all 357.
This is about 2212 per cent of all the men enrolled, and if allowance is made for the men who never actually served in the field, the per cent of deaths of those who did serve would be still larger.
MUSTER OUT.
Whilst on the campaign following Hood's Rebel army in its movement west and north of Atlanta, when on Little River near Gaylesville, in pur- suance of instructions from Army Headquarters, by order of Oscar L. Jack- son, Senior Captain Commanding, the regiment, all the enlisted men who 'had not re-enlisted as veterans, and whose term of service was about to expire were on 22nd of October, 1864, sent to Chattanooga for muster out. About the same time Chaplain Benjamin St. James Fry, who had served continuously with the regiment from its organization, was given a dis- charge, and he was mustered out by reason of expiration of his three years' term of service.
Shortly after this, several commissioned officers who did not desire to remuster for the veteran service, were given discharges and mustered out at end of their three years' service or a little later.
FINAL DISCHARGE.
After the Grand Review at Washington the Sixty-third Ohio moved by Baltimore & Ohio railroad to Parkersburgh and thence by steamboat to Louisville, Ky. There it remained in camp for over a month.
By order of General John A. Logan commanding Department and Army of the Tennessee rolls were prepared, and at Louisville, Ky., on July 8, 1865, the formal Muster Out of the regiment was made.
This muster out embraced 22 Commissioned officers and 537 enlisted men. It did not include the drafted men sent to New York. After this the regiment moved by steamboat to Cincinnati, Ohio, and went to Camp Dennison. On 17th and 18th of July, 1865, the Sixty-third Ohio received at Camp Dennison, Ohio. its final payment, and the officers and men were given their final discharges, and sent to their respective homes.
COMMANDERS OF THE 63RD OHIO.
The first two years of its service the Sixty-third was commanded almost the entire time by Brevet-Major General John W. Sprague, the original Colonel. He was with it almost continually during that time, was never wounded and but little sick. He was made Brigadier General 30th of July, 1864, and Brevet-Major General to rank from 13th of March, 1865.
Brevet-Brigadier General Charles E. Brown, original Captain of Com- pany B, became Lieutenant Colonel. He was in command of the regiment different times in 1863, first as Senior Captain and afterward when pro-
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moted. He was continuously in command in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 from 10th day of March at Decatur, Ala., up to the time he lost his leg, in battle of 22nd July in front of Atlanta. He was never able to rejoin the regiment again. He was commissioned Colonel of the regiment but not mustered, and was commissioned Brigadier General by Brevet to rank from 13th March, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services.
Major John W. Fouts, original Captain of Company D became Major and he was in command of the regiment as Major the larger part of the time from 22nd July, 1864, when Col. Brown was wounded, until he, Fouts, was mustered out and left the service. The regiment during that time took part in all the operations, marches and movements of that part of the Army to which it belonged. It was a time of active service almost continuously.
Major Fouts was never wounded in the Army-he was but little sick and was almost continuously able for duty. He did not remuster for veteran service at expiration of three years.
There were some instances during the four years where junivi Cap tains commanded the regiment for a short time, when superior officers were temporarily absent or engaged on other duty, but this did not often occur.
Brevet-Colonel Oscar L. Jackson, original Captain of Company H, commanded the regiment the latter part of its service. He had commanded it temporarily as Senior Captain a number of times from February 1864, on. These embraced, among others, the Campaign in October, 1864, when Hood's Rebel Army moved west of Atlanta and crossed the Chattahoochee River, including the reconnaissance of the division to develop Hood's force, action at Snake Creek Gap, and operations as far as Gaylesville. He com- manded as Senior Captain from Savannah, Georgia, to Beaufort and Poco- taligo, South Carolina. From early in 1863 he was the Senior Captain of the regiment, and was from time to time, by orders from Brigade Headquarters assigned to duty as a Field Officer.
He was promoted to Major 28 January, 1865, afterward Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment, but not mustered. Was commissioned Colonel of U. S. Volunteers by Brevet to rank from 13th March, 1865. He commanded the regiment in all its operations arour 1 Goldsborough and Raleigh, North Carolina, expedition from Raleigh to Goldsborough and return for supplies, operations connected with surrender of Johnson's Rebel Army, and the March to Richmond and Washington. He commanded the regiment at the Grand View at Washington, May 24, 1865, conducted it to Louisville, Ky., prepared it for muster out, moved it to Camp Dennison, Ohio, and had charge of its final payment, and the final discharge of the officers and men, and sending them to their homes.
BATTLE OF COLLIERSVILLE, TENNESSEE.
EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS BY CAPTAIN ETHAN O. HURD,
Thirty-ninth Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry,
At a meeting of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Commandry of Ohio, at Cincinnati, March 7th, 1900.
At the time of the engagement at Colliersville, I was in command of a detachment of the Thirty-ninth Ohio Regiment of Fuller's Ohio Brigade, consisting of my own Company B and also Company F, both raised in Marietta, in July, 1861. These were the first three years' troops to enlist from Washington county. We were encamped in a beautiful grove a short distance east of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad depot in Memphis. Every morning we sent out a guard of twenty men and one officer and a gunboat car immediately behind the locomotive, who accompanied the train to Grand Junction, where they met the return train from Corinth, Mississippi, and exchanged with the guard who had escorted it thus far, getting back to Memphis in the evening. All baggage going out was searched by an official of the Treasury Department. On the departure of trains, two soldiers stood with bayonets crossed, at the gate leading to the train. Every one who wished to enter had to show a pass, which I had to inspect, and at a nod to the men, they would raise their bayonets and allow the bearer to enter. Part of the duty of my companies was to patrol the streets and act as provost guard. We had the usual trouble with the illicit sale of liquors to soldiers. At one place, we confiscated several barrels of whisky, and emptied it into the gutter.
Vicksburg had fallen July 4th, fifty-six thousand Confederate soldiers had surrendered. The navigation of the Mississippi was secured. Grant had been called to command the Army of the Cumberland and Sherman was on his way to unite with him. On October 14th, 1863, I had just gone to camp, to dinner, when General J. D. Webster, a superintendent of mili- tary railroads whom we were serving under, and by the way one of the most agreeable officers, sent word that he wanted me at the depot immedi- ately with every available man, not then on duty, armed, and with forty rounds of ammunition apiece. In a very short time, we reported to the general. He told us that General Sherman, who had left on Sunday, the 11th with his staff, horses, baggage, and eight companies of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry on one of the heaviest trains that had gone out of Mem- phis, has been attacked at Collierville by a superior force with artillery. He had telegraphed to send platform cars, on which to load the artillery, for which he stood particularly in need, and if we had not that kind of cars, to construct them by cutting the tops off the box cars. We were required to accompany this train as a guard with orders to return at the earliest op- portunity. We jumped aboard the cars and at White Station, about nine miles out, caught up with the rear of Corse's Division and at Germantown with the head of the column. Here we took aboard the Ninety-third
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