USA > Ohio > The story of the Sherman brigade. The camp, the march, the bivouac, the battle; and how "the boys" lived and died during four years of active field service > Part 29
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354
THE BATTERY IN A HOT PLACE.
[January,
Friday morning, January 2nd, half of the Sixty-fifth was ordered on picket. As we relieved those who had been on duty during the night, six or eight pieces of artillery on the other side opened upon us a furious fire. At the outposts were V-shaped piles of rails, which had been laid by our predecessors for a shel- ter from musketry. Two or three of these were struck by shells and knocked into kindling wood. Several of our men were wounded, but none were killed.
As soon as the rebel guns opened, the Sixth Ohio battery, which had moved to a knoll just in rear of the main line of our brigade, responded with the greatest spirit. For an hour the fir- ing was terrific. We, upon the outposts, flattened ourselves out as thin as possible upon the ground, while the screaming missiles passed both ways directly over our heads. For the time the deafening roar almost deprived us of our senses. The Eighth Indiana battery, which had been firing from the right of the Sixth Ohio, suffered so severely from the rebel "hardware" that it limbered up and galloped to the rear. The Sixth Ohio held its ground bravely. Every man stood to the guns, the steady, rapid fire of which was very effective.
At this time the Chicago Board of Trade battery was ordered up from the rear to engage the enemy. By a strange mistake, its commander, believing the Sixth Ohio to be a rebel battery, halted at a distance of three or four hundred yards, and opened upon it with grape. Before the firing could be stopped the blunderers had killed a number of horses and wounded several men of the Sixth, including Lieutenant Ayres. Captain Bradley was naturally thrown into a paroxysmi of excitement and indignation. He thought he could hold his own with any of the rebel gunners, but to be sandwiched between two batteries, firing upon him from front and rear, made things a little too warm for comfort. Lieu- tenant Baldwin was ordered to proceed to the Chicago battery and stop its firing. Springing upon his horse, he had passed over about half the distance when the Chicago gunners let fly again. By this discharge his horse was killed, but Baldwin, who was un- injured, took the double-quick on foot, reached the battery, and by the use of very vigorous English brought the Chicago people to their senses. The Sixth battery stayed there, and its fire com- pletely silenced the rebel guns. The Sixty-fourth Ohio, which
1863.]
BATTLE OF STONE RIVER.
535
was supporting the Sixth, also suffered from the ill-judged fire of the Chicago artillerists.
In the afternoon, part of the Sixty-fifth-under the com- mand of Captain Brown, of Company H, and Captain Matthias, of Company K-was personally directed by Colonel Harker to ad- vance from the outposts, charge the rebel pickets and drive them out of a thick 'grove, from which their fire was exceedingly an- noying. We swept over the ground and occupied the grove, the rebels taking to their heels upon our approach. We suffered from their fire, one man of Company H being killed and six or eight in that and other companies wounded. We advanced as far as the spot that had been occupied by the rebel battery with which the Sixth Ohio was so severely engaged in the forenoon. Two exploded caissons and more than a dozen dead horses at- tested the efficacy of Captain Bradley's fire.
The same afternoon there was more hard fighting on the ex- treme left. It was not a general engagement. General Rose- crans had returned to his original plan of moving against the Confederate right, and to that end threw a strong force across Stone river. Bragg ordered Breckinridge to dislodge it, and the latter, with his division, attacked savagely. Major Mendenhall, General Crittenden's chief of artillery, hastily drew together ten batteries-fifty-eight guns in all-and posted them on high ground upon the west bank of the river. These guns completely enfiladed the lines of Breckinridge, and their fire, tremendous in volume, was most destructive. The rebels were driven back in confusion, with a loss of seventeen hundred men. The Sixth Ohio was conspicuous in this artillery firing for the rapid manner in which its guns were served. The ardor of its officers and men was illustrated by an incident. General Rosecrans rode up and asked :
"What battery is this?"
"The Sixth Ohio, sir!" said Captain Bradley, saluting.
" Well, be a little more deliberate and take good aim. Don't fire so d-d fast !"
It was determined to hold the position on the east bank of the river and Crittenden's entire corps was ordered to that side. We crossed in the evening, advanced to a position upon high ground, and threw up intrenchmeuts of rails, logs, stones and
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356
WE AGAIN CROSS THE RIVER.
[January,
earth. By this time our rations were completely exhausted. For three days we had lived upon what we had in our haversacks when we went into the battle on Wednesday morning. Many of the men had, in one way or another, lost their haversacks dur- ing the fighting, and those who had clung to their supplies divided their scanty store with those who had none. While working upon the intrenchments that night, we received the wel- come intelligence that a supply train had arrived from Nashville, and we were directed to send details across the river for hardtack, bacon and coffee. The detachments returned about midnight. The conditions were such that no fires could be per- mitted, and we appeased our ravenous appetites with crackers and raw bacon. We were thankful to be able to do even that.
Saturday, January 3rd, was cold, rainy and wretch- edly disagreeable, as we were entirely without shel- ter. The armies did little to disturb each other, al- though a continual fire was SAMUEL L. BOWLBY, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH. kept up along the picket lines. As a matter of fact, Bragg, finding that Rose- crans had no intention of retreating, had concluded to do so himself, and all day Saturday was immersed in the work of prep- aration for the exodus of his army, sending off by railroad his sick and wounded, and surplus stores and munitions. He kept up a brave show at the front, and his retreat was not suspected, until it was disclosed by the dawn of Sunday.
During Saturday night the river rose rapidly, in consequence of copious rains. Not knowing that the rebels were then getting away as fast as they could, General Rosecrans feared that the
357
BATTLE OF STONE RIVER.
1863.]
safety of his army would be jeopardized, should the river become unfordable, with Crittenden's corps thus separated from the main body. So, at midnight we were ordered to recross, which we did, in the storm and darkness, by fording, the water in places reaching to our hips. We marched a short distance from the river, stacked arms, and were permitted to rest till daylight.
The news that the rebels admitted themselves beaten and had gone to look for another place to fight, spread with lightning rapidity through the Union army. All that Sunday morning the woods were vocal witli shouts and cheers. As appropriate to the day, somebody in the Sixty-fourth started to sing :
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow ! "
The whole regiment caught up the music, and never were the stately strains of "Old Hundred" sung with greater effect. The doxology ran through the entire brigade and spread to others. I know not when or where it stopped.
Soon after breakfast we marched to a spot near the scene of our engagement on Wednesday, and large details, with picks and shovels, were sent from each regiment to bury its dead. It was done in this way in order that the bodies, which had lain for four days, might be identified. It was a mournful duty to gather up the mangled remains of loved comrades and messmates, with whom we had marched so many weary miles, and whose com- panionship we had enjoyed around so many camp-fires. Those were not unmanly tears that moistened the eyes of the men en- gaged in this sad task. For the dead of each regiment a long trench, seven. feet wide was dug, and the bodies, each tenderly wrapped in a blanket, were laid in side by side and covered from sight. At the head of each was placed a bit of board-a piece of a cracker or ammunition box-with the name and regiment of the soldier marked upon it. No shaft of polished marble was ever reared with more genuine affection than that which found expression in those rude boards above the remains of our heroic and cherished dead.
We found the body of Captain Christofel in the posture in which he had died-sitting upon the ground, with his back against a tree. He appeared so natural that it was difficult, for a moment, to believe that he was dead. A musket ball had passed through his leg, evidently severing an artery. He had tied his
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358
A MOURNFUL DUTY.
[January,
suspenders around the limb, in an effort to stanch the flow of blood. It was without avail, and there, with none to minister to him in his extremity, the life of that pure-minded patriot ebbed away !
Among the dead of Company B, Sixty-fifth, was Morris Johnston. An examination of his body showed that he had been shot through the shoulder, leg and head, and had three bayonet · wounds in the abdomen. He was one of the bravest of the brave, but excitable, and his hatred of the rebels was most bitter. Beyond question, he received the bayonet thrusts while lying wounded, when the enemy passed the spot, closely following us as we fell back. Johnston's comrades, knowing his disposition, believe that after he was disabled by the wounds in leg and shoulder, and could not retreat with the fragment of his company, he continued to fire upon the rebels as they came on with mad yells, determined to sell his life dearly, and that he was then shot in the head and bayoneted. The circumstances indicate that such was the case.
The Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth went into this battle with less than four hundred men each. The Sixty-fourth lost one of- ficer killed and five wounded; twenty-six enlisted men killed and sixty-two wounded-total, ninety-four. Captain Joseph B. Sweet, who was killed, was a trained soldier, having served some years in the regular army, and was a most worthy and efficient officer.
The casualties in the Sixty-fifth were: Killed, two officers and thirty-eight enlisted men; wounded, nine officers (one mor- tally) and one hundred and six men; missing, nineteen-total, one hundred and seventy-four. Company B lost in killed and wounded thirty-four out of forty-three engaged.
Of Captain Jacob Christofel I have heretofore spoken. Al- though not a "military" man, he was greatly beloved for his quaint humor and engaging manners, and his death was deeply lamented. Adjutant William H. Massey was for some months sergeant-major of the Sixty-fourth. His soldierly bearing and business capacity were so much admired by Colonel Harker that, at the latter's request, he was promoted to lieutenant, transferred to the Sixty-fifth, and appointed adjutant, succeeding Lieutenant David G. Swaim. Although the transfer of officers was not usually regarded with favor, the case of Massey was an exception.
359
1863.]
A TRIBUTE TO OUR DEAD.
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He was in all respects a model officer and his death-which oc- curred April 7th, 1863, at his home in Cleveland-was a personal bereavement to every officer and man in the regiment, as well as to those of the Sixty-fourth. We thank the Sixty-fourth for having given him to us. On the day that he received his mortal wounds his commission as first lieutenant was issued at Columbus. Lieutenant Dolsen Vankirk, of Company G, who fell in instant death, was a young officer of bright promise, brave and faithful to every duty. Some time later. his remains were exhumed and removed to the home of his widowed mother at Sandusky, Ohio.
Of the wounded of both regiments, more than a quarter died of their wounds. The battle of Stone River cost the Sherman Brigade the lives of one hundred and twenty men, out of eight hundred and fifty engaged. Among them were many of the bravest and best non-commissioned officers and privates.
The Sixty-fourth was commanded throughout the action by Lieutenant-colonel Alexander McIlvaine; the Sixty-fifth by Lieu- tenant-colonel Alexander Cassil, until he was disabled, when he was succeeded by Major Horatio N. Whitbeck. The latter, though wounded, continued to command the regiment until the evacuation of Murfreesboro told that the struggle was ended.
A striking illustration of faithful, patriotic devotion to duty is afforded by the sad case of Martin Bowser, Company C, Sixty- fourth. When the regiment left Nashville to enter upon the Stone river campaign, Bowser was so ill as to be unfit for duty. Eager to share the fortunes of his comrades, he objected to being sent to a hospital, declaring that he would march with the com- pany, if his knapsack could be carried on one of the wagons. Permission for this was given, and Bowser took his place in the ranks and kept it, on the march and through the terrible battle of December 31st, doing his duty with splendid courage. During the long, cold night that followed he was without a blanket. After the brigade changed its position to the left, and the troops were permitted to rest, Corporal William H. Farber and George W. Stewart shared their blankets with him. He lay between them, one blanket being spread upon the frosty ground, while the other barely sufficed to cover the three. A few hours later, when the soldiers were aroused to stand at arms, Farber and Stewart tried to awaken their comrade, but there was no response. Bow- ser was dead !
360
QUARTERMASTERS AND COMMISSARIES.
[January,
The Pioneer brigade, commanded by General St. Clair Mor- ton-in which the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth had each one offi- cer and twenty men-performed during the campaign and battle much service that was as valuable as it was arduous and full of hazard. For two or three days before the battle it was engaged in cutting roads, building bridges, etc., to assist the army in get- ting into position. Much of this work was done under the fire of the enemy's cavalry and skirmishers. During the engage- ment the stress was so great and the need for troops so urgent that the Pioneer brigade was called in as. regular infantry. It fought gallantly, near the center of the Union line, losing heavily in killed and wounded. Those who be- longed to that organization may well be proud of its part in the campaign.
JOSEPH CROW, FIRST LIEUTENANT, SIXTY-FIFTH.
The quartermasters, commissaries, and ordnance officers, and those under their command, having charge of the supply and ammunition trains, had an exceedingly lively time of it during the battle. Sev- eral times the trains were attacked by the rebel troop-
ers, who made the most desperate attempts to capture or de- stroy them. Although the teamsters were non-combatants, many of them showed that they had the purest article of grit, procuring muskets and fighting valiantly to drive off the hostile cavalry. The trains were hurried from one point to another, where the danger seemed to be least. A large number of wagons were taken by the enemy during the chaos of the 31st. It was found. however, that Rosecrans had enough ammunition left to fight another battle. Trains loaded with supplies of all kinds were
1863.]
HOW A NEGRO COUNTED THE DEAD.
361
hurried forward front Nashville, convoyed by strong bodies of cavalry and infantry. During those eventful days and nights the quartermasters and commissaries had all the business they could attend to-and a little more.
Adjutant Woodruff, of the Sixty-fourth, writes as follows; "On the evening of December 31st the writer was temporarily laid up for repairs, having carelessly exposed his shin bone to stop a rebel bullet. The restraint thereby imposed suggested the idea of organizing a bureau of information under a tent-fly where I reposed. A bright, active, but unlettered darkey, known by the name of Sam, who had heretofore acted as hostler, was at this stage of the rebellion promoted to the rank of reporter. The events of that day will never all be told, but by the aid of Sam I will try to rescue one or two of theni front oblivion.
"A large plantation mansion, just north of the Murfreesboro pike, had been selected to receive the wounded from a part of that bloody field. Something like two thousand victims were promiscuously laid in and around the place during the day and following night, quite a large number of whom were mortally wounded. On the slope of an elevation southwest of the river were deposited, on the succeeding morning, those who had died during the night. This feature of the scene attracted Sam's at- tention. He reported to me that the number awaiting burial was frightful. I told him to count them. He replied that he had never learned to count so many. I sent him back with directions to cut a notch on a stick for each one. On his return this novel roll had thirty-five notches. The dead after this were removed at night, doubtless to prevent the injurious effect upon their com- rades. The second morning the number had increased to over sixty, according to Sam's computation. On the third day he re- turned with the declaration that such a death rate must soon bring the war to a close. On footing up his sticks I found that one hundred and thirty-five had paid the last installment of the nation's demand. The interment on the third day suspended the darkey's census. In the meantime he kept me pretty well posted on the situation at the front, where almost hourly encounters oc- curred until January 4th.
"A few yards from me, in another apartment of this field
362
STORY OF A KENTUCKY BOY.
[January,
hospital, lay a remarkably bright Kentucky lad, who had been dangerously wounded. His history brought out the fact that he had run away from home to join our army, while many of his relatives were in the rebel service. For several days the poor fellow's voice kept ringing in our ears-sometimes bemoaning his absence from his command, at others cheering on his comrades in some contest, his fevered brain stimulating his imagination. Sometimes his clear, ringing voice would break out in the cheer- ing strains: We'll rally round the flag, boys,' or ' We'll stand the storm, it won't be long.' In his more composed intervals his voice would sink to its lowest key, in framing messages he ex- pected to send home in a few days. The fortunes of war had brought this boy's uncle, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the Confederate army, a wounded prisoner into this same hospital, and on hearing of the condition and location of his nephew, he paid him a visit soon after. The surgeon who related to me the interview said it was the most touching incident he had ever wit- nessed. The uncle was not seriously hurt, but he saw at a glance that the boy's fevered dreams would never be realized. He tried to give his uncle a cordial greeting, but his strength would not permit.
"After a moment he said, 'Uncle George, how are you !'
"The colonel answered the question, and added, 'How are you, Frank ?'
"'Oh, I'm all right, or will be in a few days !'
"Frank inquired if his uncle was going home soon, and was told that he expected to. He asked the boy what word he would like to send. With a brightening eye and clearer voice he exclaimed :
"'Tell them I'm glad I enlisted. Tell them I'm on the right side, and sha'n't come home till the war is over. Tell Jennie and the rest of them that I follow the old flag.'"'
"Then taking the cloth used to moisten and cool his parched lips, he waved it with his trembling hand, while he tried to sing 'Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue.' Seeing his uncle about to leave he beckoned him back and whispered, 'Uncle George, ain't I right ?' Whether Uncle George carried that mes- sage back to his Kentucky home or not, matters not so much to
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CHANGES IN THE ROSTER.
1863.]
me as the assurance I feel that when the celestial messenger comes to gather the sacred dust of the four hundred who sleep in those rude trenches, that young hero will be invested with habili- ments which will be outranked by noue other."
The following are the official changes, from all causes, which occurred in the organizations of the Sherman Brigade during the year 1862, including, also, the small fraction of the year 1861, subsequent to the organization at Camp Buckingham :
Sixty-fourth Regiment.
KILLED IN ACTION :
Captain Joseph B. Sweet, at Stone River, December 31st.
DIED OF DISEASE :
Second Lieutenant Thomas McGill, at Nashville, March 30th.
RESIGNATIONS :
Colonel James W. Forsyth, January Ist.
Lieutenant-colonel Isaac Gass, June 30th.
Lieutenant-colonel John J. Williams, August 10th.
Surgeon Henry O. Mack, August 2nd.
Chaplain A. R. Brown, July 13th.
Captain James B. Brown, May 4th.
Captain John H. Finfrock, November 5th.
First Lieutenant Cornelius C. White, November 21st.
First Lieutenant Augustus N. Goldwood, August 12th.
First Lieutenant Wilbur F. Sanders, August 10th.
First Lieutenant Marcus T. Myer, November 3rd. Second Lieutenant John L. Smith, May 31st.
Second Lieutenant Isaac F. Biggerstaff, February 23rd.
Second Lieutenant William McDowell, September 7th.
FROM OTHER CAUSES :
First Lieutenant Roeliff Brinkerhoff, appointed Captain and A. Q. M. by the president, November 4th, 1861.
First Lieutenant Lorenzo D. Myers, appointed Captain and A. Q. M. by the president, June 9th.
First Lieutenant Ebenezer B. Finley, mustered out by order, July IIth.
Captain Turenne C. Myer, dismissed, December 6th.
PROMOTIONS :
John Ferguson, commissioned colonel, January 21st.
Major John J. Williams to lieutenant-colonel, June 30th.
Captain Alexander McIlvaine to major, June 30th ; to lieutenant- colonel, August 10th.
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364
CHANGES IN THE SIXTY-FOURTH.
[January,
Abraham McMahon, commissioned surgeon, August 2nd.
Volney G. Miller, commissioned assistant surgeon, August 21st.
Captain William W. Smith to major, August 10th.
First Lieutenant Michael Keiser to Captain, May 4th.
First Lieutenant David A. Scott to captain, June 30th.
Second Lieutenant Norman K. Brown to first lieutenant, Novem- ber 3rd.
First Lieutenant Warner Young to captain, November 19th.
First Lieutenant Aaron S. Campbell to captain, November 5th.
Second Lieutenant William O. Sarr to first lieutenant, May 4th ; to captain, December 6th.
Second Lieutenant Samuel Wolff to first lieutenant, June 20th.
Second Lieutenant Bryant Grafton to first lieutenant, August toth.
Second Lieutenant Chauncey Woodruff to first lieutenant, August 11th.
Sergeant-major Dudley C. Carr to second lieutenant, May 31st ; to first lieutenant, August 12th.
First Sergeant Henry H. Kling to second lieutenant, February 23rd ; to first lieutenant, November 19th.
Sergeant Joseph B. Ferguson (transferred from Fifteenth Ohio In- fantry) to second lieutenant, August 11th ; to first lieutenant, Novem- her 21st.
First Sergeant George Hall to second lieutenant, May 4th ; to first lieutenant, December 6th.
First Sergeant Thomas H. Ehlers to second lieutenant, June 30th.
First Sergeant Thomas E. Tillotson to second lieutenant, August 10th.
First Sergeant Thomas R. Sinith to second lieutenant, September 7th.
First Sergeant Frank H. Killinger to second lieutenant, August 12th.
First Sergeant John K. Shellenberger to second lieutenant, No- vember 26th.
First Sergeant David S. Cummins to second lieutenant, November 5th.
Sergeant John Blecker to second lieutenant, November 3rd.
Sergeant James D. Herbst to second lieutenant, December 6th.
Sixty-fifth Regiment.
KILLED IN ACTION :
Captain Jacob Christofel, at Stone River, December 31st.
Second Lieutenant Dolsen Vankirk, at Stone River, December 31st.
DIED OF DISEASE :
Second Lieutenant John T. Hyatt, at Camp Buckingham, Decem- ber 16th, 1861.
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1863.]
365
IN THE SIXTY-FIFTH.
..
Adjutant Horace H. Justice, at Stanford, Kentucky, February 11th. First Lieutenant George N. Huckins, at Nashville, April 2nd.
First Lieutenant Clark S. Gregg, while enroute northward from Pittsburg Landing, May 11th.
Second Lieutenant John R. Parish, at Bridgeport, Alabama, July 3Ist.
RESIGNATIONS :
Lieutenant-colonel Daniel French, August 8th.
Major James Olds, October 7th.
Surgeon John G. Kyle, August 20th.
Assistant Surgeon John C. Gill, June 24th.
Captain John C. Baxter, February 26th.
Captain Joshua S. Preble, April 14th.
Captain Henry Camp, August 16th.
Captain Edwin L. Austin, November 20th.
First Lieutenant David H. Rowland, June 16th.
First Lieutenant Johnston Armstrong, August 12th.
Second Lieutenant Jasper P. Brady, March 30th.
Second Lieutenant Jacob Hammond, April Ist.
Second Lieutenant Samuel Mckinney, June 3rd.
Second Lieutenant Francis H. Klain, November 4th.
FROM OTHER CAUSES :
Second Lieutenant John M. Palmer, appointed ;by the president captain and assistant commissary of subsistence, February 19th.
First Lieutenant David. G. Swaim, appointed by the president captain and assistant adjutant general, May 16th.
PROMOTIONS :
Captain Alexander Cassil to lieutenant-colonel, August 8th.
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