USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 27
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GEN, SAMUEL D. STURGIS.
dren, and a small garrison amounting to not over one hundred enlisted men. After the firing upon Fort Sumter all his officers, Captain McIntosh and Lieu- tenants Lomax and Jackson, resigned and went south, so that when his post was attacked on April 23d by a large force sent against it from Little Rock by Governor Rector, consisting of two steamboats loaded with troops and ten pieces of artillery, he had not a commissioned officer left to assist him,
Being already surrounded on the land side of the post by the militia of Van Buren and of the town of Fort Smith, eight companies of which were posted on the avenue in front of the gates ready to intercept his retreat when he should be summoned by the river expedition which had arrived at Van Buren, four miles below, Captain Sturgis quietly prepared to evacuate the post, then no longer tenable, and save all public property possible. Accordingly, at 9 o'clock P. M., April 23, 1861, the two companies were silently mounted, and, with twenty-four loaded wagons, passed out of a side gate, and, without discovery, crossed the Poto river and began the march to Fort Wachita, one hundred and sixty miles distant. This was reached in safety, Captain Sturgis by his prompt action thus saving all the arms, ammunition, stores, horses, etc., which would have been very valuable to the rebels.
An incident deserving mention as illustrative of the bravery and patriotism of the wife of Captain Sturgis, and showing her fitness to be the wife of an army officer, occurred at the evacuation. In order not to attract attention to the pro- posed night movement by preparation, nor to impede or embarrass the march of the troops by having to care for her comfort, Mrs. Sturgis determined to risk the danger and annoyances of capture in the fort. In company with her three children she was found by the Confederate Colonel Borland, when he took pos- session an hour after the evacuation, sitting on the porch of the commandant's quarters ready to surrender at discretion. Mrs. Sturgis and her children were permitted to leave for St. Louis on the last boat which was at that time allowed to communicate with the country north of the Ohio river, and they arrived safely in St. Louis a week after the evacuation,
Upon reaching Fort Wachita he, with his force, joined the troops under the command of Lieut .- Col. W. H. Emory, which were just about evacuating al' that part of the country, and they marched to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After reaching this post Captain Sturgis, who was promoted Major of the First Cavalry on May 3, 1861, as a recognition of the important service which he had rendered in successfully removing the stores and munitions from Fort Smith, and upon whom the command had devolved, soon after organized a force of some two thousand three hundred men, consisting of the First and Second Regiments of Kansas Volunteers and some regular troops, and marched down along the Mis- souri border, hoping to intercept the flight of Governor Claiborne Jackson and the officials accompanying him. This, however, was rendered impossible owing to a heavy rise in the Grand river, just after the fugitives had crossed over, by which the whole country was flooded, and, as the bridges were all burned or
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GEN. SAMUEL D. STURGIS.
destroyed, Major Sturgis was compelled to change his course and joined forces with General Lyon, then marching towards Springfield, Mo.
Having reached the vicinity of Springfield, General Lyon established his head- quarters there and assigned Major Sturgis to the command of the troops in a camp, some twelve miles from the city, which lie named Camp Mcclellan. Realizing the great danger threatening the largely outnumbered Union forces from the Confederate hosts that were then gathering against them, General Lyon called a consultation of his officers, and it was determined that but one alterna- tive remained-to endeavor by a hasty march to surprise the enemy, to make battle, confound and scatter them, and, before they could recover, retreat to a stronger position. This resolve-a sort of forlorn hopc -- was acted upon, and the little army marched forth and encountered the enemy at Wilson's creek, on August 10, 1861. General Lyon, supported by Major Sturgis, led the attack in front, while Sigel was directed to conduct a flanking movement, which he suc- cessfully made, but the results of which were soon lost through an error of that officer, by which his men were routed and driven from the field. Meanwhile Lyon had attacked the enemy, and while leading a Kansas regiment whose Colonel had fallen he was killed, and the command devolved upon Major Stur- gis. Notwithstanding he was known to but few of the men and that they were aware of the fact that Sigel had been routed and Lyon was dead, Major Sturgis was equal to the occasion. Inspiring his men by his coolness and bravery he fought the overwhelming force of the enemy for almost three hours, beating in detail their centre and right, and compelling them to fall back in disorder. Finding that his ammunition was about exhausted he took advantage of the con- fusion of the enemy while they were in no condition to follow him and ordered a retreat, which he accomplished in good order, safely reaching Springfield, where he was joined by Sigel, and to whom under the belief that he was commissioned a Colonel, he accorded the command. The next day, however, having ascer- tained that Sigel was without a commission, he resumed the command and con- tinued the retreat to Rolla, Mo. For his services in this campaign he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army and commissioned a Brigadier-General of Volunteers dating from August 10, 1861, the order conveying the brevet read- ing, " for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Wilson's Creek." *
* The part taken by General Sturgis in the battle of Wilson's Creek has never received proper recogni- tion except in the conferring of the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel United States Army, and of Brigadier-General of United States Volunteers, which show, indeed, that his services were understood and appreciated by President Lincoln, but the Germans of St. Louis and those politicians who catered to that element did all in their power to exalt the part taken by Franz Sigel, who was put forward as the representative German in the Union army, and in order to do so they sought to ignore the services of Major Sturgis in that battle. Sigel successfully made his attack as directed by General Lyon, but by want of caution was led into mistaking another portion of the Confederate forces for the main body of Lyon's troops, and was defeated in a few minutes, and, after losing five of his six guns, which were turned against the Unionists, he and the thirteen hundred men under his command were driven off the field and took no part in the desperate fighting that occurred after Lyon fell. Even authorities that are
GEN. SAMUEL D. STURGIS. 241
General Sturgis was soon after this placed in charge of the troops at the St. Louis Arsenal, and early in September was sent in command of a force to co- operate with General Pope in North Missouri against a rebel column under Generals Harris and Green. These Confederates having been driven south of the Missouri river, he was sent in command of about eleven hundred men, con- sisting of the Twenty-seventh and a portion of the Thirty-ninth Ohio Volunteers, all raw troops and without artillery or infantry, to the relief of Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo. After hard marching by day and night he reached the river opposite Lexington at daylight on the morning of September 20th, just after the gallant Mulligan had surrendered. The enemy sent a force of three thousand men across the river to attack General Sturgis' force, who, realizing his inability to successfully oppose them, retreated to Liberty, Mo., and then took boat for Kansas City. In October of that year he participated in General Fremont's movement against Springfield, Mo., having command of the right wing. In November he served as chief of staff to Major-General Hunter, commanding the Department of Missouri, and started on a tour of inspection of the Ohio and Mis- sissippi river posts in December.
In the spring of 1862 he was placed in command of the district of Kansas, with head-quarters at Fort Leavenworth, and, after bringing something like order out of chaos there, was ordered to Washington, D. C., where he was placed in command of the defences of the National Capital-some fifty-eight fortifications and
generally accurate appear to have been misled by accepting parti-an and unofficial reports, current at the time, which were contrary to the true facts. For instance, Appleton's Cyclopedia, in the biographical sketch of General Lyon, states in substance as follows :- " Maj. Samuel D. Sturgis, who assumed the command when Lyon fell, soon after on lered a retreat." And Colonels Hay and Nicolay, in that portion of their " History of Abraham Lincoln," published in the June [ ISSS] number of the Century magazine, commit the same error in stating that the principal fighting had occurred and that the battle had been virtually won before Lyon was killed, and lead their readers to infer that Major Sturgis retired with his force when Lyon fell without further fighting. A reference to the "Official Records of the Rebellion," published by the War Department, will show the following to be the true facts of the case. In Vol. III , Series 1, p. 64, and succeeding, may be found the statement in the Official Report of Major Sturgis that General Lyon was killed about 9 A M., but the battle did not cease until 11.30 A. M. General Lyon fell in the full belief that the day was lost, as is shown in the Official Report of Major (now Major-General) John MI. Scofield, who was a member of General Lyon's staff. Commencing on page 61 occurs the following :- " Early in this engagement, while General Lyon was leading his horse along the line on the left of Captain Totten's battery, * * * * * he received a wound in the leg and one in the head. He walked slowly a few paces to the rear and said :- ' I fear the day is lost. '" And on page 63 he refers to the closing of the battle "at about 11.30 A. M ," etc. So that al- though Lyon fell early in the combat, and when he believed that he had lost the day, Major Sturgis took command and carried the battle on through nearly three hours of bloody work, virtually defeating the enemy, before he ordered a retreat. In fact, by a reference to the Official Reports of Major Halde- man, Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt, of Captain (afterwards Brigadier-General) James Totten, of Captain (afterwards Brigadier-General) Fred. Steele, and others, it is clearly shown by the whole context that the hardest fighting occurred under Major Sturgi,' command, after General Lyon was killed. We make this statement in justice to General Sturgis, as we believe that he has not been accorded the proper credit for the gallant fighting and careful generalship which he displayed at this battle, nor for the skilful and masterly retreat he conducted, the repute for which has frequently been given to Sigel, who was not in command .- [EDS. ]
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GEN. SAMUEL D. STURGIS.
about twenty-two thousand men. This charge he resigned about August 25, 1862, to take command of a force for the relief of General Pope, who was being severely pressed by the enemy in Virginia. He joined General Pope at War- renton Junction on the morning of August 27th, and took part in the second battle of Bull Run, August 29, 1862. General Pope, in his official report of the battle, says: "General Sturgis deserves high praise not only for the valuable services rendered in the battle, but also for having reached the battle-field by passing a division which did not reach the field at all."
On the reorganization of the army, after the second battle of Bull Run, he commanded the Second Division of the Ninth Corps, Army of the Potomac, and took part in the battles of South Mountain, September 14th, and Antietam, Sep- tember 17th, and in several skirmishes while in pursuit of the enemy. It was General Sturgis' division that stormed and carried the bridge at Antietam, com- monly called " Burnside's Bridge," on the left of the line. After he had sent in the Second Maryland and the Ninth New Hampshire, and they had been driven back with great slaughter, he selected the Fifty-first Pennsylvania and the Fifty- first New York regiments, and, heading them himself, carried the bridge at a charge and under a fearful fire. General McClellan, recognizing the gallant work done by General Sturgis, directed General Burnside, to whose corps (the Ninth) Sturgis' division belonged, to have the division paraded, and say to them "that by their gallantry at the bridge they had relieved his right wing and saved the day." This order General Burnside obeyed.
He continued with the Army of the Potomac in its march along the Blue Ridge, participating in its Rappahannock campaign, and took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. For his services in this battle he was brevetted a Major-General in the regular army. When the Ninth Corps was sent West in the spring of 1863, he accompanied it and was engaged in the operations in Central Kentucky until July of that year. He then acted as Chief of Cavalry for the military Department of the Ohio, and was engaged for a time in organizing the militia of Cincinnati during Morgan's raid. He continued as such until the siege of Knoxville, Tenn., in September, 1863. On October 27th, of that year, he was promoted Colonel of the Sixth Cavalry, United States Army, and during the winter of 1863-64 he had command of a body composed of some five thousand cavalry and some infantry and artillery, with which he operated in front of General Longstreet's army in East Tennessee. On December 29, 1863, he fought the battle of Mossy Creek, in which he defeated the rebels with very heavy loss, and drove them in upon their main army. On January 13, 1864, he captured the Confederate General Vance and his command, and on January 16th was engaged in an action near Dandridge. He fought the battle of Fair Gardens, Tenn., on January 25th, routing General Martin's division of rebel cavalry, cap- turing his artillery and driving him across the French Broad river upon the enemy's main army under Longstreet. On February 2d he attacked and destroyed a camp of rebels and Indians near Onallatown, N. C.
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GEN. SAMUEL D. STURGIS.
In May, 1864, he commanded an expedition which started from Memphis against General Forrest, who occupied Jackson, Tenn. He engaged that com- mander at Bolivar and drove his force as far as Ripley, and thus cleared that portion of the country of rebel troops. On the Ist of June following he marched again from Memphis with orders to penetrate to the south and find and engage Forrest, who was reported to be organizing a large force for a fresh raid. Gen- cral Sturgis' command was a heterogeneous one, made up of fractions of regiments, all strangers to cach other and to their commander. Added to this the rain fell in torrents during the entire march, which was through a country with bad roads and altogether barren of supplies for either man or beast ; so that after marching ten days he encountered the enemy in strong position and fresh from the rail- roads, and was defeated at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, near Gun Town, June Ioth.
From July, 1864, to August 24, 1865, he was in command of the Sixth Cav- alry awaiting orders, and on the latter date was mustered out of the volunteer service. Besides the brevets previously mentioned, General Sturgis had received the following brevets : Brevet Colonel, United States Army, August 29 1862, "for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Second Bull Run, Va.," Brevet Brigadier-General, United States Army, March 13, 1865, " for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of South Mountain, Md.," and Brevet Major- General, United States Army, March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious ser- vices in the battle of Fredericksburg, Va."
After being mustered out of the volunteer service he went to Texas in com- mand of his regiment, then the Sixth United States Cavalry, and after remaining on frontier duty for two years he was ordered to Washington, D. C., and placed on a board of officers for the revision of the tactics for the cavalry service. He remained on this duty until April, 1869, and on May 6th was appointed Colonel of the Seventh Cavalry, and joined his regiment in camp near Fort Hayes, Kansas. During the winter of 1869-70 he was in command of Fort Leavenworth, and from there was ordered with his regiment to the South for the repression of the Ku-Klux, with head-quarters at Louisville, Ky. From April, 1873, to May, 1877, he was stationed first at St. Paul, Minn., then at St. Louis, Mo., in charge of the mounted recruiting service there, and later at Fort Lincoln, Dakota. In May, 1877, he marched with his regiment from the last-named post to operate against the Sioux Indians north of the Yellowstone, but was deflected to move against the Nez Perces, whom he encountered on the Yellowstone river in a battle which lasted the greater part of a day, the Indians being defeated but escaping north in the night. He was on leave of absence from October, 1877, to February, 1878, when he again assumed command of his regiment and the middle district of the department at Bear Butte, Dakota, and selected the site of the new post of Fort Meade. He remained in command there until the spring of 1881, when he was appointed by President Garfield as Governor of the Soldiers' Home at Washington, D. C., which position he retained until the spring of 1885,
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GEN. SAMUEL D. STURGIS.
when he returned to the command of his regiment at Fort Meade, remaining there until he was retired from service by operation of law on June 11, 1886, at the age of sixty-four and after forty years of active service. The warm affection entertained by his soldiers for him was shown upon this occasion. An article which appeared in the Chicago Times says: "There was a grand turn-out of the citizens of Fort Meade and from Deadwood to witness the ceremonies, and many of the old soldiers whose terms of enlistment had long since expired, and who are in business or on farms in the vicinity of the post, were in to see their old commander. . . . An occurrence took place just as the veteran was leaving the grounds which must have gratified him exceedingly. He had taken leave of the officers, entered his carriage and started on his way when, at the confines of the fort, he found all the enlisted men of the garrison formed in line, of their own accord, to give him a last good-bye. General Sturgis was very much affected by this demonstration, and when he alighted and undertook to address them, his emotions choked his utterance. He re-entered his carriage, and amidst a tempest of cheers and farewells drove away."
While stationed at Fort Leavenworth General Sturgis was married, July 5, I851, to Miss Jerusha Wilcox, daughter of Dr. J. C. Wilcox, of the Western Reserve, Ohio, and has had eight children born to him-five sons and three daughters. Three of the sons died before attaining their fifth year. His eldest son, James Garland Sturgis, graduated at West Point in 1875, and was killed on June 25th of the following year at the Custer massacre in the battle of the Little Big Horn River. His other son, Samuel Davis Sturgis, Jr., born at St. Louis, August 1, 1861, entered West Point in 1880, graduated in 1884, and is now a Second Lieutenant in the First Artillery. The eldest daughter, Nina Linn Sturgis, was married to Mr. Hercules L. Douseman, of St. Paul, Minn., who died in 1886, leaving his widow with five children, but well provided for. His second daughter, Ella Maria, is the wife of Hon. John D. Sauter, son of Gen. John Sauter, a gentleman well known throughout the Northwest, with the progress of which he is intimately identified. Mr. and Mrs. Sauter reside in Mitchell, Dakota, where he is President of the First National Bank. The youngest daughter, Mary Tyler Sturgis, is still unmarried.
Two of General Sturgis' brothers have been in the service of the United States. Dr. William Sturgis, his eldest living brother, now residing at Macon, Ill., entered the army July 21, 1862, as an assistant surgeon, and served in various capacities from time to time; first as medical officer in charge of the sick and wounded of about two thousand rebel prisoners, and then as acting Superintendent of Hospitals, but for the most part as Surgeon in charge of the United States General Hospital at Camp Butler, Ill. He resigned some time after the war in 1866. His younger brother, Henry Bacon Sturgis, served throughout the war on General Sturgis' staff, with the rank of Captain, and resigned June 21, 1865. Ile resides in Nebraska.
C. R. D.
GEN. WASHINGTON L. ELLIOTT.
GEN. WASHINGTON LAFAYETTE ELLIOTT.
B REVET MAJOR-GENERAL WASHINGTON L. ELLIOTT, only son of Commodore Jesse Duncan Elliott and Frances Cain Vaughn, was born at Carlisle, Cum- berland county, Pa., on March 31, 1825. Ile accompanied his father on a cruise in the West Indies in 1831-32, and again to France in 1835 on board the frigate "Constitution," bringing to the United States our Minister to France, Ilon. Edward Livingstone. On this cruise young Elliott was an acting midshipman in the United States Navy, but on his return to the United States he went to the preparatory school of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and subsequently to the college, leaving the Sophomore Class in 1841 to enter the Military Academy at West Point, where he remained until June 30, 1844. He began the study of medicine, but owing to the death of his father, in December, 1845, he was unable to complete his medical education, and re-entered the army in May, 1846, as a Second Lieutenant in a regiment of mounted riflemen. He was acting Adjutant of this regiment during its organization, until replaced by the extra First Lieu- tenant appointed to fill that position.
In December, 1846, he was ordered to Mexico, and was with General Scott's command from the mouth of the Rio Grande to its landing at Vera Cruz in 1847. Being disabled by rheumatism, he was sent north from Vera Cruz, and was ordered upon recruiting service, remaining until the return of the troops from Mexico in August, 1848. He was promoted First Lieutenant on July 20, 1847. During the winter of 1848-49 he was at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and in May, 1849, left for Fort Laramie, Wyoming, then Nebraska Territory, his company forming part of the garrison of that post, where it remained until October, 1851. His regiment was, in 1852, transferred to Texas for service on that frontier, and he was its Quartermaster from April 1, 1852, until promoted Captain July 20, 1854. He was actively employed against the Indians on the borders of Texas until 1856, when he was transferred to New Mexico, and was actively employed against the Indians of that territory until the "War for the Union," in 1861.
On the call for volunteers by the President in April, 1861, he was ordered to Elmira, N. Y., as mustering officer, but was soon ordered with recruits from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to New Mexico and Fort Leavenworth. These recruits were sent to Southwestern Missouri as part of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's command, Captain Elliott being assigned to Company " D," First United States Cavalry (now Fourth Infantry), and, as senior officer, to the command of the five companies of cavalry composing the regiment.
After the death of General Lyon and the return of his army to St. Louis, Cap- tain Elliott was tendered the Colonelcy of the Second Iowa Cavalry by the Governor of that State, his commission being dated September 14, 1861. His
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promotion as Major of the First United States Cavalry bears date November 5, 1861. After his regiment was organized it was sent to Benton Barracks, near St. Louis, Mo .; thence to New Madrid, forming part of Gen. John Pope's com- mand for the operations at Madrid and Island Number Ten. It was thence transferred to General Halleck's command in front of Corinth, Miss. There it was brigaded with the Second Michigan Cavalry, of which Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan was then Colonel, and the brigade was commanded by Colonel Elliott. Ilis brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel United States Army was conferred for "gallant and meritorious services in the capture of Island Number Ten on the Mississippi river." His brevet of Colonel was for " gallant and meritorious services in the raid on the Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, and in the siege of Corinth, Miss." This was the first cavalry raid of the war, and for its successful conduct Colonel Elliott was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers, June II, 1862.
In August, 1862, he was ordered to the Army of Virginia as Chief of Cavalry, and was engaged and slightly wounded in the second battle of Bull Run, August 30, 1862. From September, 1862, until February, 1863, he was on duty organiz- ing cavalry regiments for service against the Indians in the Northwest. From February, 1863, until October, 1863, he was on duty in the Shenandoah Valley and in command of the Third Division, Third Army Corps, when he was ordered to report to General George H. Thomas, and by him assigned as Chief of Cavalry in the Army of the Cumberland. He was actively engaged during the winter of 1863-64 in East Tennessee, and in the Atlanta campaign until October, 1864.
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