Brown County, Ohio - Chapter 10: Military History, 1883

Chapter 10: Military History

IT is impossible, at this day, to learn the number of men from the region now forming Brown County who served their country in the last war with England. A list even of the commissioned officers from the county cannot be obtained. There are on file in the Adjutant General's office at Columbus only nine of the muster rolls of the war of 1812. As the terms of service for which the men were called out were generally short, not exceeding six months, the number of persons who served at some time during the war was quite large, and the names of the commissioned officers would form an extended list. The military system under which the war was carried on would by no means have answered the purposes of the Government in the great war of the rebellion. In many cases, the raw militiamen had scarcely learned to drill as soldiers when their terms of service expired, and they were succeeded by fresh, untrained recruits. But in every vicissitude of the conflict, the conduct of the people of the county was patriotic and honorable. They volunteered with alacrity, and endured the hardships of the campaigns in the Northwest with patience and cheerfulness.

A company of riflemen, commanded by Gapt. Jacob Boerstler, went from the vicinity of Williamsburg, and formed a part of the Third Ohio Regiment of Volunteers, and, in the march to Detroit, was attached to Col. Cass' regiment, of the First Brigade, of the First Division. The period of service of this company was six months - from April 24 to October 24, 1812. This company was engaged in the battle of Brownstown, in which the Captain and three privates were killed.

Another company, raised in Clermont County, was commanded by Capt. Stephen Smith, of Williamsburg. This company, after the battle of the Thames, in October, 1813, was ordered to take charge of about four hundred British prisoners captured by the American army, and conduct them through the swamps of Northwestern Ohio to Newport, Ky. The Black Swamp, as it was called, was nearly covered with water, and extended for many miles through a dreary wilderness. The commissioned officers becoming sick, the command devolved on William H. Raper, afterward a distinguished Methodist preacher. In their march, the guides became bewildered and lost their way, and the company, with the pri oners, were three days and nights in the swamp without food.

In the first year of the war, Allen Trimble, of Highland County, was appointed Colonel of one of the regiments raised in Southern Ohio, and in 1813, a regiment was raised from Highland and Adams Counties, of which Trimble was Major. This regiment marched to Upper Sandusky.

rv_ ~ . Col. Mills Stephenson, one of the earliest pioneers of Union Township, who had served in the Indian wars, was an officer in the war of 1812. Fort Stephenson, at the site of Fremont, Ohio, then known as Upper Sandusky, was named in his honor.

Capt. Elijah Martin, of the vicinity of Aberdeen, recruited, in 1812, a rifle company, and commanded it during the period of its service - one year.

A company of mounted volunteers, raised chiefly in what was then Clermont County, for the relief of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson, was commanded by Capt. Robert Haines, and served from July 27 until August 13, 1813 - a period of sixteen days.

The Mexican War

Perhaps no county in the State of Ohio exhibited more promptness and alacrity in meeting the call for volunteers for the war with Mexico. While some of the counties of Southern Ohio sent scarcely a dozen soldiers into the field during the whole of that war, Brown raised one of the first companies of volunteers, and more men proffered their services than could be accepted This was largely due to the influence of Thomas L. Hamer, who zealously maintained the justice and necessity of the war measures of the national ad ministration, by his eloquence roused the patriotism of his fellow-citizens, and Himself volunteered. "His example became contagious; his law partner, S. W. Johnston, volunteered; two of their law students volunteered; a bound boy of Mr. Hamer's volunteered; and finally the young son of Hamer pressed forward to join the patriotic throng, but his father kindly stayed his steps." The Brown County volunteers, on the organization of volunteers at Camp Wash ington, Cincinnati, became Company G, First Ohio Regiment. Its first officers were: Sanders W. Johnston, Captain; James P. Fyffe, First Lieutenant;

W. P. Stewart and Carr B. White, Second Lieutenants. After the death of Gen. Hamer, Capt. Johnston resigned and returned home. Carr B. White was then elected Captain. This company was soon called to see the stern realities of war in the storming of Monterey, and Gen. Taylor, in his official dispatches, called attention to the good conduct of Capt. Johnston at that hard-fought battle.

The term of enlistment was one year. On the 1st of Septembr, 1847, about twenty- two men from Brown County, under Lieut. Jame3 P. Fyffe, enlisted, and, uniting with forty-two men from Clermont County, formed Company C, Second (re-organized) Ohio Regiment of Volunteers. Of this company John W. Lowe was Captain; James P. Fyffe, First Lieutenant; and Milton Jameson and William Howard, Second Lieutenants.

William Wall served in the war against Mexico as Major of the Second Ohio Regiment. Educated at West Point, he excelled in the science of mathematics. He taught school in this county, and afterward occupied the chair of mathematics in the Ohio University at Athens. He was thoroughly versed in military science, was a member of the bar, and, for a short time, editor of a newspaper published at Georgetown. He died November 17, 1856, aged sixty years five months and twenty-two days, and was buried at Georgetown.

Ulysses S. Grant, who, three years before, had graduated at West Point, to which institution he was sent a cadet from Brown County, served in the regular army in the Mexican war, with the rank of Lieutenant.

August V. Kautz, afterward Major General of Volunteers, when but eighteen years of age volunteered as a private in the first company from Brown County in this war.

The Civil War

The record of Brown County in the war of the rebellion is one which will ever be contemplated with pride by her people. Though a majority of her citizens were decided opponents of the election of Lincoln, yet, when the national dag was fired upon, the county was prompt and thorough in response to the call to arms, and the great mass of her people exhibited alacrity and patriotism in bearing their share of the burdens of the momentous struggle.

Until fire opened upon 'Fort Sumter, the mass of the people did not apprehend civil war. Even after the inauguration of President Lincoln, with Jefferson Davis ruling at Montgomery - two Presidents with their Cabinets, two Governments standing face to face - the people still seemed incredulous as to the imminence of a clash of arms. While a minority of the people of the county were willing to see a civil strife begun as a means for the destruction of slavery, the great majority hoped for a happy and peaceful issue from the national complications. Probably a majority were disposed to favor such measures of conciliation as the repeal of the personal liberty bills in the Northern States which interfered with the enforcement of the fugitive slave law, and to give assurance that slavery should never be interfered with in any of the States where it then existed.

Union Meeting

We, the undersigned, citizens of Brown County, Ohio, in compliance with the call of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, through Gov. Dennison, hereby present to the citizens of said county the following call for a meeting to be held at the court house of said county, on Saturday, the 20th of April, A. D. 1861, for the purpose of taking into consideration the formation of a volunteer company to aid in the enforcement of the laws and in quelling the rebellion now progressing in our Union.

Believing that the present hour is the darkest and most dangerous ever experienced by our Confederacy, and that our liberty and Union will be _endangered, if not absolutely destroyed, by the success of said revolution, we trust all Union-loving and law-abiding citizens will once more rally round the Stars and Stripes, and adopt measures that will secure the prompt compliance with the call of our Chief Magistrate, the President of ohe United States.

The meeting was held at the appointed time and place, and wa3 called to order at 2 o'clock P. M. The meeting was large, and was marked by a general and enthusiastic approval of armed measures for the suppression of the rebellion. G. W. King, Esq., was called to the chair. Earnest and patriotic addresses were made by the President of the meeting, Hon. C, A. White, John G. Marshall, D. W. C. Loudon and D. Murphy. Democrats and Republicans forgot their differences and resolved to stand together in support of the constitution and the Union. Whatever spirit of conciliation and concession had before existed, there was now no more talk of coaxing or pleading with traitors, who had dared to aim their cannon at the national flag. At the close of the meeting, volunteers were called for to form a company to leave at once for the service of their country, and some thirty men were enrolled, who proceeded to ballot for officers. The following were elected: Captain, Dr. Carr B. White; lirst Lieutenant, William Hays; Second Lieutenant, T. T. Taylor, then Prosecuting Attorney. Among the volunteers were five physicians and five attorneys. The company was soon made up, and, on the following Wednesday, left for Camp Chase. The sight of real soldiers was new to most of the people, and the marching to camp or a company for the three-months service made more ado than was afterward occasioned by the departure of a regiment for the three-years service. The ladies of Higginsport prepared a bountiful supper for the volunteers, which was spread upon a long table in the public square. At Cincinnati, the company was entertained at the Broadway Hotel

The first company which left the county under the telegraphic call was the Ripley company, which left on Tuesday, April 23. Its first Captain was Jacob Ammen, a graduate of West Point, who volunteered two days after the firing on Port Sumter, and reported at Columbus with his company on April 24. The next year, he became a Brigadier General.

On April 20, the Town Council of Ripley, in behalf of the people of that place, adopted resolutions declaring that, while they were prepared and determined to defend themselves against invasions, attacks or unlawful interference from any quarter, they contemplated no hostilities against their neighbors of Kentucky, and that they would not countenance any movements hostile to them, and proposed to the authorities of Maysville, Dover and Augusta that they take measures to co-operate with the authorities of Ripley in preserving the peace along the border and protecting the citizens on both sides of the Ohio. These resolutions met with favorable and friendly responses from Augusta, Dover and Maysville.

The war spirit was soon aroused throughout the county. The national flag was seen floating from stores, workshops and residences. The whole country was filled with the noise and excitement of military preparation.

The women of the county were earnest in their ministrations to the soldiers. From the beginning until the close of the war, they were constant in their efforts to supply those comforts and delicacies needed in the field, and still more in the hospital, and which no government does or can supply.

On May 3, the President issued his first call for men to serve three years or during the war. Then began the serious work of enlistment. Early in the war, there was appointed in each county of the State a standing military committee, which had the charge and direction of the military matters of the county., The raising of funds for bounties, enlisting recruits and looking after the families of those who were absent in the army, and many other duties, devolved upon the committee. The Governor consulted with this committee before commissioning military officers. The war called for so large a proportion of the entire male population that the quota of the county was not in all cases filled without difficulty. Drafts and the offer of large bounties to volunteers were found necessary. Liberal provisions were made for the support of the families of soldiers and marines in active service. Of the men who filled the quota of Brown County, all, except an inconsiderable fraction, were volunteers. Within eighteen months after the first call for three-years' men, the county, with a total militia enrollment of 5,127, sent into the service 1,753 men, of whom only 129 were drafted.

Most of the recruits, on being mustered into the service, received a considerable bounty. Under the last calls of the President, the local bounties were unusually large, amounting to upward of $500, while still larger sums were paid to acceptable substitutes. In this way an enormous sum was expended. The money for this purpose was raised in part by taxation, under the authority of law, but more largely by the voluntary contributions of the stay -at home citizens. The large bounties were a great incentive to desertion, and it was estimated that of the recruits enlisted to fill the quota of Ohio under the call of July, 1864, more than ten thousand deserted. The doserters would present themselves at a new recruiting station, or, with a chango of name, to the same station, be again musterecl in. receive a second large bounty, and again desert. To put a stop to this " bounty- jumping," the plan was adopted of withholding the bounty until the recruit had reached his regiment.

1863. The excitement and apprehension throughout the region within twentymiles of the line of march of the raiding party was unprecedented in the history of the State. The farmers, with prudent forethought, drove off their horses and cattle and concealed them in the most unfrequented woods. Morgan's men, following the example of the Union raiding forces in the South, took horses and provisions wherever they could find them, if they were needed. They made few attempts at wholesale destruction of property, but frequently carried off small articles, some of which were utterly useless to the raiders, and were soon thrown away. The militia in the southwestern counties was called out by Gov. Tod on the 12th of July, the militia of Brown being ordered to report at Camp Dennison. Col. John Morgan encamped at Williamsburg on the evening of July 14, after having marched more than ninety miles in about thirty-five hours - the greatest march ever made, even by Morgan. " The column could be tracked by the slaver dropped from the horses' mouths. It was a terrible, trying march. Strong men fell out of the saddles, and at every halt the officers were compelled to move continually about in their respective companies, and pull and haul the men, who would drop asleep in the road. It was the only way to keep them awake. Quite a. number crept off into the fields and slept until they were awakened by the enemy." [Duke's History of Morgan's Cavalry.]

On the next day, July 15, the main body of the raiders passed through the northern portion of Brown, being closely pressed by the Union troops following them. About two or three hundred of the rebels, under the command of Col. Dick Morgan, passed through Georgetown, Russelville and Decatur.

In 1864, the Legislature ordered the appointment of a Board of Commissioners to examine and pass upon the claims for damages to property during the Morgan raid. This commission largely reduced the claims, and classified them into damages done by the rebels, by the United States troops, and by the State militia, respectively. The following are the figures for the amounts claimed and passed upon for Brown County:

Claims for damages by the rebels, $28,992.51; claims for damages by Union forces under United States officers, $8,967.35; claims for damages by

$37,959.86. Amount allowed for damages done by rebels, $25,556; amount allowed for damages by Union forces under United States officers, $7,228; amount allowed for damages by Union forces not under United States officers, ; total amount allowed, $32,784.

The following list of: the commissioned officers from Brown County in the war of the rebellion was prepared by Capt. C. F. King, of the Adjutant General's office:

The private soldiers of Brown County were scattered through so large a portion of the United States army, and in so many regiments and branches of the service, that the record of the county can only be given in the record of Ohio in the rebellion. Such a record, to be complete, should exhibit the military history of every soldier aud officer - name, age, rank; when, where and by whom enrolled; when, where and by whom .mustered into service; the nature and date of every promotion; date of death, discharge, muster out, transfer or desertion - in short, everything pertaining to the soldier's military career. The military records in the Adjutant General's office at Columbus are now being transcribed, and it is hoped that the completed work will supply the information necessary for the full war record of every soldier in an Ohio regiment during the rebellion.

Brown County claims her full share of the glory in the achievements of Cjjiio soldiers in quelling the rebellion. Whitelaw Eeid, in his " Ohio in the War," says:

"Ohio soldiers fought on well nigh every battle-field of the war. Within forty-eight hours after the telegraphic call, two Ohio regiments were on their way to the rescue of the imperiled capital in the spring of 1861. An Ohio brigade, in good order, covered the retreat from the first Bull Eun. Ohio troops formed the bulk of the army that saved West Virginia; the bulk of the army that saved Kentucky; a large share of the army that took Fort Donelson; a part of the army at Island No. 10; a great part of the army that, from Stone Eiver, and Chickamauga, and Mission Eidge, and Kenesaw, and Atlanta, swept down to the sea, and back through the Carolinas to the Old Dominion. They fought at Pea Eidge; they charged at Wagner; they campaigned against the Indians at the base of the Rocky Mountains; they helped to redeem North Carolina; they were in the siege of Vicksburg, the siege of Charleston, the siege of Richmond, the siege of Mobile. At Pittsburg Landing, at Antietam, at Gettysburg, at Corinth, in the Wilderness, before Nashville, at Five Forks, at Appomattox Court House - their bones, reposing on the helds they won, are a perpetual binding pledge that no flag shall ever wave over these graves of our soldiers but the flag they fought to maintain."