USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 38
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The holidays were over on the 26th of February, when the regi- ment returned to the front, to become part of Sherman's army that, early in May, set out upon a campaign that was a continuous series of engagements, ending in brilliant victories. The first engagement was at Resaca, May 15th, when the One Hundred and Eleventh, leading the advance up the fortified hill, planted its colors on the ramparts. It was a heroic action, but it was impossible to hold the position, and the brave boys retired, not defeated, however. They found shel- ter a little below, and every effort that was made to flank Cobham, in command of the brigade, was futile, and in the night time the men performed the most original exploit of the campaign, as sappers and miners under-mining the fort, and dragging it, with its guns down the mountain by the use of drag-ropes. The loss at Resaca was 30 killed and wounded, among them Capt. Woeltge killed and Capt. Wells wounded.
From May 25th to June 1st, at New Hope Church, there was fighting without cessation, out of which the regiment came with a
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loss of one officer (Capt. Todd) and 8 men killed ; Lieut. Tracy and 40 men wounded, and 3 missing, an aggregate loss of 53.
The battle of Pine Knob was fought June 14th. The One Hun- dred and Eleventh was in the right of the line and led the attack of Geary's division. Charging furiously on the enemy, he was driven over the first ridge, then over the second, and the Union forces halted only before the third ridge, but held their ground. Here the night was passed ; and during that time Sergt. John L. Wells, upon a personal solitary reconnoitre, discovered the enemy's peculiarly strong points, and reporting them to headquarters, saved a possible defeat and won a promise of promotion from the commanding general. Having soon afterwards been taken a prisoner of war, the promotion did not come to him until 1869, when Gen. Geary, then Governor of Pennsylvania, remembering his promise, sent to Sergeant Wells a commission as brevet Lieutenant-Colonel (We know him now as Capt. Wells). The regiment lost at Pine Knob, 14, of whom two were killed and two mor- tally wounded.
At Culp's Farm on June 17th, in a charge on the entrenched enemy, the regiment lost 3 killed and 5 wounded. At Grier's Planta- tion, on the 21st, the enemy was driven and there was a loss of one man killed and Lieut. Haight and 9 others wounded. The battle of Kenesaw was fought on the 27th, the regiment having but two cas- ualties as the result.
The battle of Peach Tree Creek was the most disastrous in the history of the regiment. Close to Atlanta. it was one of the hardest fought in the campaign. The action began on July 19th, and in the first charge the One Hundred and Eleventh lost one killed and two wounded. Next day on the same field the regiment was engaged in the fiercest fight of its history, in thirty minutes losing 80 in killed and wounded, out of scarcely more than 200 men. Among the killed were Col. Cobham, and among the wounded Lieuts. Hay, Moore, Sex- auer, Gould and Dieffenbach. Sgt. Maj. Logan J. Dyke lost an arm in this fight. Col. Cobham had for a year led the brigade of which his regiment was a part.
The siege of Atlanta followed, lasting from about the 22d of July until September 2d. On the latter date Col. Walker was sent on a reconnoisance with the One Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania, the Sixtieth New York and details from the One Hundred and Sec- ond New York, and Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry. He found the entrenchments vacant, and pursuing the reconnoisance, found that the Confederates had evacuated. The city was entered by Col. Walk- er's force and Col. Coburn's of the Third division, the One Hundred and Eleventh and the Sixtieth New York heading the line, and in front of the city hall Col. Walker took possession of Atlanta in the name of General Sherman.
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For a time the soldiers had a rest. They had earned it. The One Hundred and Eleventh. was assigned to provost guard duty, and occupied a commodious and comfortable house in the heart of the city. The army remained until after the election of President Lin- coln for the second term, and then, early in November, set out on the famous march to the sea, and the subsequent chase of Johnston up into North Carolina. But the days of fighting were over. There was no more fight left in the southerners. On April 14, 1865, Johnston surrendered, and the campaign was over. And so was the war, for on the 9th of the same month Gen. Lee had surrendered to Gen. Grant. Meanwhile the One Hundred and Ninth had been merged with the One Hundred and Eleventh and Lieut. Col. Walker had been promoted to a full colonelcy, and later, by brevet was made a brigadier general.
The regiment was mustered out July 19, 1865. The record shows that from first to last this regiment had an enrolment of 1,842 ; its total deaths were 304, and its total deaths and wounds 349. The historian of the regiment, John Richards Boyle, D. D., says, however, "But as 100 of its substitute recruits almost immediately deserted and 42 others who were assigned to it never reported, and as 310 other officers and men were merged into the command from the One Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania after the fighting was over, the actual strength of the regiment in the field was not more than 1,395. Even this esti- mate is excessive, as a number of names are counted twice because of second enlistments. The casualities of the regiment, therefore, during its field service were about 40 per cent of its total strength. Four of every ten of its men fell in defense of the American commonwealth.
The organization of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth regiment, did not occur during the flush of the first patriotic uprising, when en- listments were rather easily secured, but came well along in the sec- ond year of the war and twelve months after the second Erie regiment for actual war service had been begun to be enlisted. When it had been decided for a third time to call upon the young men of this part of the state to come forward and enlist in defense of the government, something was known of the horrors and risks and hardships of war. The enlistments at this time were therefore a proof of the deep seated patriotism that animated the men who came forward to offer them- selves to whatever the hazard of war might have in store for them. The regiment was organized September 5, 1862. It was more largely than any other an Erie county regiment, companies A, B, C, D, I and K having been recruited in this county, companies E and F in Warren county, H in Crawford and G in Mercer. The organization was under these field officers: Colonel, Hiram L. Brown; Lieut .- Col., David B. McCreary : Major. J. W. Patton. Col. Brown had been a member of the Wayne Guards, a captain in the Three-months Erie regiment ;
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and a captain in the Eighty-third, wounded at Gaines Mill. Lt .- Col. McCreary had been a member of the Wayne Guards and a lieutenant in the Three-months regiment. The officers of the line were :
Company A-Capt. J. W. Reynolds. Company B-Capt. M. W. Oliver. Company C-Capt. Dyer Loomis. Company D-Capt. Charles M. Lynch. Company E-Capt. Samuel M. Davis. Company F-Capt. John Braden. Company G-Capt. Wm. A. Thomas. Company H-Capt. J. Boyd Espy. Company I-Capt. Washington Brown. Company K-Capt. J. W. Walker.
There was no time allowed for drill or to perfect the command in discipline, for the call for troops at the front was urgent, and by the 11th of September the regiment was on its way forward without arms or equipment. Halting for two days at Camp McClure, they were equipped with Harpers Ferry muskets, and on the 17th went into the fight at Antietam, where the boys, fresh from their Erie county homes, and not yet versed in the soldier's primer, frustrated by their bravery and address the enemy's attempt at a flank movement. For two days afterward they were engaged in picket duty. Thus was the hard work of the soldier and the danger of it handed out to the boys at the very beginning. But worse was to come. The enemy in making his escape did it so precipitately that the field was left thickly strewn with his dead many of whom had lain on the field four days. The pollution of it was past conception and the horror of it beyond being appreciated except by the awful experience of it. The cleaning up of this field and the burial of the dead was assigned to the One Hundred and Forty-fifth. As a result, within a week between 200 and 300 were disqualified for duty-by sickness.
Fredericksburg followed soon afterwards, and in this severe en- gagement, the regiment took part in much of the hardest fighting. Of those who crossed the river at the beginning of the engagement, 500 in number, 226, nearly one-half, were either killed or wounded. Captains Wood, Mason and Brown, and Lieutenants Clay, Brown, Carroll, Vincent, Riblet and Hubbard-nine commissioned officers- were either killed or mortally wounded. Col. Brown received two severe wounds, one of which was believed at the time to be mortal. Captain Lynch and Lieuts. Long and Stuart were among the wounded and the only field officer in the entire brigade who escaped uninjured, were Col. Von Shock of the Seventh N. Y., and Lieut .- Col. McCreary of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth.
Vol. I-22
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In the spring of 1863 the regiment was assigned to Hooker's army for the pending campaign, and when at length the army moved the One Hundred and Forty-fifth was detailed to construct corduroy roads to facilitate the movement of artillery and heavy wagon trains, and later to assist in laying pontoons at United States Ford. In Hooker's army the Hundred and Forty-fifth was attached to the Sec- ond Corps, and on May 1, while the regiment was being mustered for pay, the first gun of Chancellorsville was fired. Immediately the corps was thrown forward on the road leading to Fredericksburg. the First division forming the advance line. At evening a position was taken by the division in a slight ravine where works of defense were constructed, but at daylight the main body withdrew, leaving only a heavy skirmish line in the works. The fight raged during the whole of the 2d, resulting at night in the complete route of the Eleventh Corps, on the extreme right, and during the night the battle still raged furiously. Early in the morning of the 3d a detail of 150 men of the Hundred and Forty-fifth, and 100 from the other regiments of the brigade, under Lt .- Col. McCreary were ordered to the relief of the skirmish line, left in the works. There they were fiercely engaged and successfully resisted the enemy, foiling every attempt to turn Han- cock's flank. When the army fell back the troops on the skirmish line failed to receive orders, and, along with the detail from the Hundred . and Forty-fifth, fell into the enemy's hands. The rest of the regi- ment meanwhile was engaged in supporting the batteries around the Chancellor house, which had been massed to resist the advance of Stuart, and was exposed to a severe fire of musketry and artillery, and Major Patton was mortally wounded.
Gettysburg was the next engagement of importance, the regiment meanwhile doing picket duty and moving forward with the troops of its division in an endeavor to head off the enemy, who was moving northward. The opportunity to checkmate the army of Lee did not come until on July 1, 1863, the field of Gettysburg was reached. In this famous battle the Second Corps had the duty of replacing the Third Corps, badly broken in the terrible action of the Wheat Field. The brigade of which the Hundred and Forty-fifth was part, was led by Col. Brooke, who heroically took his stand where the conflict was still in fearful progress, and at length drove the enemy in con- fusion from the position he had attained, silencing a battery. It was a position that could not be held, however, for the enemy in heavy force were executing a flank movement on the right, exposing the brigade to capture or annihilation. There was no alternative but to retire. The Hundred and Forty-fifth held the extreme right of the brigade in this terrible encounter, and suffered severely. Out of 200 men who entered the fight there was a loss of upwards of 80 killed and wounded. Capt. Griswold and Lieuts. Lewis and Finch were
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mortally wounded; Col. Brown, Major Reynolds, Adj't Black and Capt. Hilton were wounded, the last named losing a leg.
Afterwards, until October, 1863, the regiment remained quiet, when it became actively engaged in the forced marches under Meade against Lee, and had part in the engagements at Auburn Hill and Bris- toe Station, suffering the loss of a number killed and wounded. Though for a considerable period there were no battles recorded by fame in which the regiment bore part, it was till constantly occupied, enduring gallantly the toil and hardship of the soldier's life. On Nov. 26, with its brigade it set out on the Mine Run campaign and upon reaching Germania Ford, it was found that the pontoons were in- sufficient to construct a bridge. Col. Brooke however, volunteered to wade the stream, now breast-deep and wintry cold, and the men without a murmer followed. After a brisk charge they drove the enemy from newly constructed works. The Hundred and Forty-fifth was part of Gen. Warren's force which marched from before daylight on the 29th of November until dark for the purpose of turning the enemy's flank.
During the winter, near Germania Ford, the regiment was re- cruited to nearly the original strength, and on May 5 and 6, 1864, again in motion, hotly engaged the enemy at Brock Road. Capt. J. Boyd Espy's company, sent out on the 5th to form a junction with the outposts, stood at its post for nearly two days without food or water, it being supposed at headquarters that they had been made prisoners. But they were accidentally discovered and relieved. It was here that Col. Brown was placed temporarily in command of the Third brigade. Major Lynch assuming command of the regiment in the absence of Lt .- Col. McCreary.
At the Po River, May 10, 1864, occurred the battle of Spottsylvan- ia. The attempt of Hancock to withdraw a force with which he had en- deavored to take a strong defensive position on the other side of the river, brought on a spirited attack by the enemy. This was met by the brigades of Brooke and Brown with such a determined front and effective fire that the foe was driven back. The woods in rear of these brigades took fire and for a time they were in deadly double peril, but succeeded in making a safe passage back. Lieut. Baker was killed in this action. On the 11th the fighting was resumed, the en- emy putting forth desperate efforts and losing heavily, but being defeated in the end. The Hundred and Forty-fifth was a heavy loser in this day's fight. Capt. Devereaux, and Lieuts. Sampson and Brockway being among the killed, and Capt. Espy and Lieut. Free among the wounded.
At Cold Harbor on May 16, after a most desperate charge upon strongly constructed works, the men of the Hundred and Forty-fifth in the face of a fearful artillery fire, were compelled to throw them- selves upon the ground. There, by a flank movement of the enemy, the
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entire force was captured, including Lt. Col. McCreary, Capts. Lytle, McCreary, Smart, and Dean and Lieuts. Mackintosh, Rounds, Car- lisle and Linn, together with about 80 enlisted men. The men were taken to Andersonville, the officers to Macon and afterwards to Charleston, at the latter place being exposed to the fire of the Union guns. On July 22 Major Lynch was taken prisoner.
During the remainder of the year 1864, what was left of the con- mand did duty in the trenches besides being engaged in the battles of Reams Station and Deep Bottom. In the spring of 1865 the regi- ment, at the battle of Five Forks, rendered efficient service with the detachment sent to the aid of Gen. Sheridan, and had part with its division and corps in bringing the war to a close, by the capture of Richmond and the final victory at Appomatox. It participated in the Grand Review at Washington May 23 and 24, and on May 31 was mustered out. The war over and the prisoners released, it was with feelings of mutual joy that Col. McCreary and his fellow officers rejoined the regiment, and together they set their faces toward their home, arriving in Erie on June 5.
At the time of the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, be- sides the Wayne Guards there were in Erie two small companies of Artillery, one under the command of Capt. C. F. Muehler, called the Perry Artillery Company. Among the very first offers in response to the call of President Lincoln for volunteers was Capt. Muehler's company, and it was at once accepted. It was found, however, when it came time to organize it, that it was far short of enough to fill the ranks of a battery of that arm of the service. At about the same time Capt. Peter B. Housum of Franklin undertook to raise a battery of artillery and achieved only partial success. However, by consoli- dating the two there was an adequate force, and this was accomplished at Pittsburg November 6, 1861. In the organization Capt. Housum was promoted to Lieut. Colonel, and the officers chosen for the com- pany were C. F. Muehler, captain ; Alanson J. Stevens, first lieuten- ant, and Samuel M. McDowell, second lieutenant. The company was then mustered in as Muehler's Independent Battery B., and al- though Capt. Muehler resigned soon afterwards, from its muster in until its muster out at the end of the war it continued to be known as Muehler's Battery. Before the battery was finally mustered out, the vicissitudes of war made many changes among its officers ; promo- tions came upon the heels of death with unfortunate frequency. Capt. Muehler's resignation promoted Lieut. Stevens to captain, but in succession came Captains McDowell and Jacob Ziegler, while the lieutenants first and last were Stevens, McDowell, Ziegler, Lutje, Shatzer, Hassinger, John Muehler and Camp.
In this organization the late William L. Scott took peculiar inter- est and far more than common pride and he was able frequently
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to be of great service to it. Through his attachment to this battery there grew up between him and Capt. W. F. Lutje ( for he was brevet- ed after his forced retirement by a wound) a strong friendship that endured as long as Mr. Scott lived. After the company was mustered in it proceeded to Camp Nevin where it was drilled and instructed, and during the last days of 1861 was stationed at Mumfordsville and Nashville and early in 1862 was moved to Corinth. It was with the main army in northern Alabama and Mississippi, and with the other forces, by forced marches headed Bragg on his way to Louisville. Too late to have part in the fight at Perryville on October 8, 1862, it joined in the pursuit of Bragg and brought him to a stand at Mur- freesboro, where the battery was in the thickest of the fight, doing signal service and receiving the congratulations of Gen. Rosecrans. On September 19, 1863, it was again hotly engaged at Murfreesboro, and here Capt. Stevens was killed.
Then for a time the battery was shut in at Chattanooga, but on November 25th took a prominent part in the battle of Mission Ridge, where Bragg was swept from the field. During the winter most of the men re-enlisted, and next spring the battery moved with Sherman on his campaign, and during two hundred days was at- tached to the Fourth corps. At Kenesaw, in a fierce fight, Capt. Mc- Dowell was killed. Jacob Ziegler then became the commander of the battery. On the fall of Atlanta, Sherman sent Thomas back into Tennessee to look after Hood, Muehler's Battery accompanying, where it took part in all of that army's engagements, including Frank- lin and Nashville, where the final victory occurred. After the sur- render of the armies in the east the battery was sent to Texas, where it remained on duty until October 12, 1865, when it was mustered out.
Three companies or troops of cavalry were recruited in this county, and they were assigned to as many different regiments. The first company organized was that of Captain George H. Russell, the recruits coming chiefly from the neighborhood of Union City. It was mustered in March, 1862, and was assigned to the Twelfth Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, as Company L. Its officers from first to last as the fortunes of war effected the changes, were Captains, George H. Russell, Elmer F. Jennings, W. H. McAllister, (promoted afterwards success- ively to Major and Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment) O. B. Tour- tellot; Lieutenants, Melvin H. Fenno, Henry A. Drake, Bela B. Scoville.
Captain Thomas Lennon of Erie organized a company which was mustered into the service in September, 1862, and became Com- pany C of the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. Its officers were : Captains, Thomas Lennon, Andrew F. Swan (promoted to Major). Robert C. Caughey (breveted Major), Joshua M. Carey ; Lieutenants, after Swan and Caughey, James P. Crawford (discharged on ac-
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count of wounds), Samuel H. Brown, Albert L. Hazleton (discharged in 1863), Lockwood Caughey (died of wounds at the battle of Deep Bottom), George W. Brooks, John N. Minton.
Captain Miles' Company was mustered in October, 1862, and was assigned as Company I to the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. Its successive officers were : Captains, W. W. Miles (killed at Millwood, Dec. 7, 1864), George R. Wetmore ; Lieutenants, C. C. Holliday, Alex. G. Warren, Freeman P. Bartlett, Edgar J. Pierce.
All the regiments in which these companies served were under Gen. Pleasonton and later Gen. Sheridan, in the Army of the Potomac, bearing their part in the operations of that army. Capt. Swan's com- pany took part in the battle of Gettysburg with Gregg's brigade, and Col. McAllister's command was concerned in the battle of Win- chester under Sheridan.
CHAPTER XXX .- THE LAKE NAVY.
SEAMEN ENROLLED FOR LAKE, RIVER AND COAST .- THE PART PLAYED BY THE MICHIGAN .- THE PLOT TO CAPTURE THE SHIP.
Nor were there Erie boys lacking when it became necessary to strengthen the navy, for the blockading service, for the gunboat service on the rivers, and later for the engagement of the Confederate forces, both afloat and strongly fortified ashore, in most of the southern coast cities. Here there was a most liberal response to the call for recruits to the naval service. It had always, from the settlement of the white race here, been a chracteristic of the place that her people largely inclined to follow the water. Here most of the prominent lake navigators and steamboat men before the breaking out of the war had lived, and from this port sailed not only these, but no reckoning how many rated from the raw apprentice to the first-class seaman. And Erie enjoyed the fame of having here built one navy, of having stationed here the only American naval vessel of the Great Lakes, and of being as well a port in which the traditions of heroic service in the navy had made her young men ambitious. Then when the great opportunity offered, and patriotic duty made so strong an appeal, it is not to be marveled at that by the hundreds they were ready to offer their services and enlist under the flag.
The Michigan was then stationed at Erie, and there most of the recruiting was done. Here the story of the Michigan may properly be told. She is not now known as the Michigan but by the figurative equiv- alent of Wolverine, for the name of the State was desired to be bestowed upon a battleship of the modern navy in order that in dignity Michigan might be classed with its sister states. But yet the old Michigan or the Wolverine stands unique in the American navy and in the world in a number of respects. She is the first iron ship of war ever built. She was made possible by the passage of an act in Congress on September 9, 1841, appropriating $100,000 for the construction of a vessel of war on Lake Erie. It will thus be seen that not only is she the first iron vessel but the oldest ship in active service as part of the American navy at the present time.
The Michigan (or Wolverine) was built in Pittsburg, taken apart, transported to Cleveland by ox-carts, thence to Erie by lake, assembled
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and completed at this port and launched November 9, 1843. She went into commission on August 15, 1844, with Mr. Inman in command, and has therefore been a vessel of the United States navy in continuous ser- vice ever since, a period of sixty-five years. Built at that early date she of course conformed to the ideas of that time, being of the side-wheel pattern, but to this day more than a half century later, no change has ever been made in her hull or machinery, her armament alone being changed from time to time, and this continuing to the present, her crew obtains full instruction in everything up to the calibre of the ship, that modern practice requires. The second captain of the Michigan was Stephen Champlin, who commanded the Scorpion of Perry's fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie.
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