Washington County, Ohio - Chapter 27, 1902 (part 4 of 6)

Upon its return the Seventy-third Regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade (Wood's), Third Division (Butterfield's), and Twentieth Corps (Hooper's), Army of the Cumberland. The Seventy-third took part in the great Atlanta campaign, and in the battle of Resaca so acquitted itself as tO' be complimented by the division commander for brilliant conduct.

In the battle of New Hope Church, they occupied the extreme left, and, though in an exposed position and suffering severely, held their position until nightfall, losing three officers and yi men in killed and wounded.

Around Kenesaw ]\Iountain the Seventythird was in several severe engagements, losing heavily; in front of Marietta, Georgia, 16. and in another engagement 19 men in killed and wounded. On June 20th, they engaged in the battle of Peach Tree Creek, losing 18 men. The Rebels were now hotly besieged in Atlanta, and the Seventy-third was constantly under fire and in th6 front line of works. Upon the evacuation, twO' companies of the Seventy-third, forming part of a reconnoissance, were the first troops to enter the city. In this campaign of 120 days, the regiment had been under fire 103 days, and lost 210 men and eight officers out of less than 350.

On November 15th they started with Sherman on his memorable "^larch to the Sea," being in the Twentieth Corps under General Williams, and, in the left wing commanded by General Slocum. The regiment reached Savannah without firing a shot.

January 2, 1865, the regiment crossed the Savannah into South Carolina, and entered upon its last campaign. At the battle of Averysborough, the Seventy-third engaged the enemy, losing 15 wounded.

On Sunday, March 19th, they took part in the battle of Bentonville, the last engagement of the war, losing five men killed, and four officers and 21 men wounded.

Louisville, and on July 20th was mustered out, and returning to Camp Dennison, Ohio, was there finally paid off and discharo-ed July 24th. after a service of three years and' eight months.

Regimental Ufficers

Colonel Jes?e Hildebrand. mustered October 5, 1861. died April iS. 1S6,: Cnlnnel William B. Mason, April iS. 186^, mi'-terrl miu 1 )c^-.mber 31, i^^a: Colonel William E. Slevcn-, March ;, 1866. mustered out Hass.ll October 5, iXdi, ,liMir..vLil February 16. 1864; as lieutenant coLinei ; Lieutenant Colonel Wills De Lieutenant Colonel W'illiam E. Stevens. March 19,

1864. promoted to colonel : Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Morris,'* ^Larch 7. 1866, mustered out as captain; Major Benjamin D. Fearing. December 17, 1861, appointed lieutenant colonel Xmety-second Ohio Volunteer In{antr\-, August 2b. 1862: Major William B. Mason, August 26. 1862. promoted to colonel; Major Louis E. Sisson,!! March 19, 1864, mustered out December 10, 1864: Major Charles H. Morris, Noveimber 14,

Captain William E, Stevens, company -A.. November :::i, 1861. promoted to major; Captam William B, Mason. B, December 2. 1861. promoted to major; Captain Louis E. Sisson. C. December 16. 1861, promoted to major; Captain Enoch W, Blasdell. D. December 12, iS6i, resigned February 25. 1863; Captain Andrew Smith.t E. December 12. 1861. resigned February ;, 1S63; Captain James H. Lutgen,! F. December -,i, 1861. resigned March 16. 1864; Captain Andrew W. McCormick. G. December 31. 1861, brevet lieutenant colonel, mustered one March 12. 1865 : Captain Richard Fouraker. H, December 31. 1861, resigned September 2. 1862; Captain William P. Robinson. I. December 31. 1861, mustered out December 27. 1864; Captain .\lbeit Chandler, K, January 4, 1862. mustered out January 3,

1865; Captain Isaac B. Kinkead. K, April 8, 1862, mustered out April 18, 1863; Captain Robert H. McKitrick, B, August 26, 1862, mustered out August 27, 1865; Captain Thomas Ross H. September 2. 1862, dismissed March 29, 1864; Captain Thomas Garrett, t" E, Ftbruary 6, 1863. mustered out December 12. 1864; Captain Samuel S. McNaughton, D. February 25, 1863, mu-tered out January 16, 1865; Captain Charles H. Mor-is. .A. April 18, 1863, promoted to major; Captain Thomas Mitchell. H, March 19, 1864. resigned December q. 1S64; Captain William H. Fisher, K. March 29, iS6s, mustered out as first lieutenant March 5. 1865; Captain William W. Scott, C. March 29, 1865. resigned D.-cember t. 1865; Captain Robert E. Smithson, E, March 29, 1865. promoted to major; Captain Samuel Fulton.* F, March 29, 1865, mustered out with regiment; Captain R.ibert H. Flemming. D, March 29, 1865. mustered out with regiment; Captain Henry L. Pugli, l;. September 29. 1865. mustered out with reginu'iit; Cajitain John L. Mclntyre, E, November 14,. 1865. mustered out with regiment as first lieutenant; Captam Leonard A. Marlow, C. December 30, 1865, mustered out with regiment; Captain Gordon B. West,. E. March 7, 1866, mustered out as first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster; First Lieutenant Harvey - Anderson,* A. November 23. 1861. resigned February 13. 1863; First Lieutenant Robert H. McKitrick, B, December 2. 1861. promoted to captain: First Lieutenant Thomast Mitchell. C, December 2. 1861, promoted to captam ; Fir-t Lieutenant John Henricle, D, December 2. 1S61. resigned September 20, 1862; First Lieutenant Thomas Garrett. E. December 2. i86x. promoted' to captain; First Lieutenant Hershel B. White,! F December 2. 1861, discharged October 21, 1862; First Lieutenant Samuel S. McNaughton. G, December 2 1861 promoted to captain; First Lieutenant William \V. Scott. H. December 2. 18O1. dischargea August 11 1862: First Lieutenant Horatio W. Mason, H, Tanua'rv' 4. 1862, resigned March 6. 1862: First Lieutenant William West, regimental quartermaster. October li, 1861 resigned June 5. 1862: First Lieutenant Thomas j! Cochran, adjutant, November 25. i86i, resigned October 6. 1862: First Lieutenant William H. Fisher F Marcli 6. 1862. promoted to captain; First Lieutenant' Thomas Ross. H. March 27. 1862, promoted to captain; First Lieutenant Edgar B. Pearce, regimental quartermaster. June 5. i8(j2. mustered out December 31, 1864; First Lieutenant David F. Jones. B. August 26, 1862' mustered out December 10. 1864; First Lieutenant William P. Kichner.* D. September 20,, 1862, mustered out December 11. 1864; First Lieutenant Marion N. Burris, adjutant. October 6. 1862. resigned July 15, 1863; First Lieutenant Edward R. Moore, D. August 31 1862 discharged August i. 1863; First Liemenant Hanson Cnswell,T E, August 2, 1862, resigned June 26, 1863; First Lieutenant David A. Henery, F, October 31. 1862 resigned December 9, 1864; First Lieutenant William Scntt. L February 5, 1863. promoted to captain; First Luut-iiant Charles A. Morris, A, February 13, 1863, prMni.'ted to captain; First Lieutenant Robert E.' SnuthMin. G. February 25, 1863, promoted to captain; l-irst Lieutenant Samuel Fulton. A. April 18 1863 prumoted to captain: First Lieutenant Charles j' Eagles. B, March iq. 1864. resigned December 9 1864 - First Lieutenant Hertry L. Pugh. F. March 19 1864' promoted to captain; First Lieutenant Robert H. Flemming. D. August I, 1863, promoted to captain; First Lieutenant Nathan B. Smith. K. March 19, 1864, resigned as second lieptenant July 7, 1865, not mustered as first lieutenant: First Lieutenant John L. Mclntyre,

E, March 2Q, 1865, promoted to captain ; First Lieutenant Leonard A. Marlow. C, March 2g. 1865, promoted to captain ; First Lieutenant Gordon B. West, G. March 29. 1865, promoted to captain : p-irst Lieutenant Robert C. Berry, H, March 29, 1865, mustered out June 28, 1865; First Lieutenant .Augustus McCarty, F, March 29. 1865. never mustered as lieutenant ; First Lieutenant William W. Burris, C, March 29, 1865, mustered out with regiment ; First Lieutenant Joseph M, Mitchell, A March 20. 186:;, mustered out with regiment; First Lieutenant William M. Atkinson. B. March 29. 1865, mustered out with regiment; First Lieutenant Benjamin T. Hill* September 29, 1865. mustered out with regiment as first lieutenant and adjutant: First Lieutenant Henry H. Dye, November 14, 1865, resigned October 10, 1865, as second lieutenant ; First Lieutenant William A. Day, E. November 16. 1865, mustered out with regiment as second lieutenant: First Lieutenant John Smith, J K, December 30, 1865. mustered out with regiment as second lieutenant : First Lieutenant Thonia-: Wiseman, C. December 30, 1865, mustered out with reguneiit; First Lieutenant James P. Daugherty, ALirch r, 1S66, mustered out with regiment as second lieutenant : Second Lieutenant Joseph J. Steenrod,* A, November' 23, i86t, killed April 8, 1862; Second Lieutenant David F. Jones, B, December 2, 1861, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Marion N. Burris. C, December 10, 1861, promoted to first lieutenant; Second Lieutenant Edward R. Moore. D, December 12,

F, August 26. 1862, promoted to first lieutenant: Second Lieutenant Nathan B. Smith, J K, October 21, 1862, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Gordon B. West, G, February 11, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant; Second Lieutenant John L. Mclntyre, f

G, January i, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Jesse S. Province, 1. May i, 1862, mustered out December 27. 1864 : Second Lieutenant Isaac B. Kinkead, K, November l, 1862, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Samuel Fulton, A, February 13, 1863. promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Robert H. Flemming, D, February 25, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Leonarrl A. Marlow, C, January i, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant Robert C, Berry, A, April 18, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant William E. Smithson, B, November i, 1863, mustered out December 11, 1864: Second Lieutenant Benjamin T. Hill, adjutant, March 29, 1865. promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant Henry H. Dye, H. March 29. 1865, resigned October 10, 1865 ; Second Lieutenant William A. Day. E. March 29, 1865. promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant John Smith. March 29, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant Thomas Wiseman. C, May 31. 1865. promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant Joseph M. Mitchell E. March 29, 1865, promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant William W. Burris. A. June 29. 1865, promoted to first lieutenant : Second Lieutenant Henry H. Clindenst, September 29, 1865, never mustered : Second Lieutenant Gamaliel J. Lund. B. November 14. 1865. mustered out with regiment as sergeant ; Second Lieutenant Jeremiah Fish.t November 14, 1865. mustered out with regiment as sergeant; Second Lieutenant James P. Daugherty, November "14, 1865, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant William H. Hose, November 14, 1862. mustered out with regiment; Second Lieutenant William H. Hanson, G, November 16. 1865, mustered out with regiment as sergeant: Second Lieutenant Christopher Black,* December 30, 1865, mustered out with regiment as sergeant; Second Lieutenant William H. Bingman.J March 7, 1866, mustered out with regiment as sergeant.

Early in September, 1861, the quota of Ohio being full at the time, Governor F. Perpont of Virginia, commissioned Jesse Hildebrand, of Marietta. Ohio, colonel, and Wills DeHass, of Wheeling, lieutenant-colonel, to raise a regiment along the Ohio River for the United States service. It was soon manifest that the men composing the regiment would be nearly all recruited in Ohio, and as the governinent would now accept them. Governor Dennison proposed to Colonel Hildebrand to enter the Ohio- service, which proposition was accepted, and the organization was made tlie Seventy-seventh Regiment, Ohio Infantry. Recruiting officers were appointed October loth, and the place of rendezvous was Camp Tupper, Marietta. With the exception of Company A from Monroe County, Company E from Belmont County, and Company F from Morgan County, all the companies of the regiment were almost entirely composed of Washington County men - there being some recruits from Monroe and Noble counties in several of them.

By the last of December the regiment was full and many men recruited for it were transferred to the Sixty-third Ohio Infantry. On the 9th of January, 1862, the Seventy-seventh left Marietta for Camp Dennison, where the regiment was engaged in drilling until the seventeenth of February, when it was ordered to Cincinnati, and at once embarked on transports for Paducah, Kentucky, for service on the Tennessee. Landing at Paducah on the 20th, it was assigned to Gen. W. T. Sherman's division. After drilling and doing guard duty without arms till the 9th of March, it was armed and brigaded with the Fifty-third and Fifty-seventh Ohio and Fifth cavalry regiments, and embarked on transports for Pittsburgh Landing and other points on the Tennessee. Colonel Hildebrand being in command of the brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel DeHass absent, the regiment was under command of Maj. Benjamin D. Fearing. The regiment joined in the expedition to cut the enemy's communications by destroying the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and landed at the mouth of Yellow Creek March 14th; but the heavy rains and the position of the enemy rendering this impracticable, the expedition returned next day and disembarked at Pittsburg Landing on the i6th. On the 17th it marched under General Sherman to near Monterey, in the direction of Corinth, where the enemy was in heavy force, and returning went into camp at Shiloh Church on the i8th. Still other reconnoissances towards Purdy and Corinth were made, and on the first of April the regiment moved with the division, by transports, to Eastport, Mississippi, driving the enemy from Eastport toward luka. After its return to Shiloh, the Third brigade, of which this regiment was a part, was encamped on the left of the Corinth road, the right of the brigade resting on the Church.

The Seventy-seventh camped on the left of the Corinth road, its right resting on Shiloh Church, which was used for regimental headquarters. On Friday evening, April 4th, Captain Mason's company, B, was on picket near the Lee house, in front of Shiloh Church, and plainly heard the beating of drums a short distance south. They wondered whether our troops were moving toward Corinth. When daylight came they discovered that the birds, rabbits and squirrels were coming tovfards them and passing through the guard line, being too much frightened to notice the pickets, thus showing that a large body was near on the south. Captain Mason at once established a few new vidette posts at favorable points of observation, and before noon a squad of graycoated cavalry passed along the ridge, about 75 yards distant, several of them firing at the vidette. About two o'clock large bodies of cavalry were seen approaching the Union line, and filing off to the right, keeping under cover as much as possible. Soon after, column after column of infantry arrived at the same point, filing off to the right and left, taking up their position in line of battle. Several pieces of artillery also went into position on the ridge, just at the edge of the open field. Captain Mason, believing this display of the enemy worthy of reporting, sent Sergeant C. J. Eagler to inform Colonel Hildebrand just what had transpired, and then report back to the picket line. The sergeant promptly obeved the order, and Colonel Hildebrand, brigade commander, says he at once went to division headquarters and repeated the report the captain had sent him, word for word. General Sherman ridiculed the idea of such a force being seen, and ordered the messenger arrested. In obedience to this order the colonel sent Captain Stevens, with a portion of his command, to arrest Eagler for bringing false and scary news from the front. On Learning the object of his arrival. Captain Mason said to Captain Stevens : "You have not mai enough to take Eagler ; he has simply obeyed my orders, which he swore to do when he enlisted. Go back to headquar-

Captain Stevens returned, reporting the facts as related. Soon after. Colonel Hildebrand, with part of his staff, came out to the picket line, and,' after saluting, said: "Captain Alason, what does all this mean?" He replied : "General, it means the enemy are directly in our front. Do you wish to see them ? If so, ride to that little opening to the right, and about two rods in advance."' He and his staff did so, accompanied by the captain, who pointed out the enemy, whom the colonel could see without the aid of a field-glass, when Colonel Hildebrand exclaimed: "My God! General Sherman has been deceived, for he told us to-day there was no enemy this side of Corinth, except some reconnoitering parties." He returned to camp, and took the precaution of doubling his picket line by detailing Companies C and G, Captains Sisson and McCormick, to relieve Company B, at dusk, Saturday evening. He also reported to General Sherman that he had been to the picket line, and it was true that the enemy were in our front in force, with the appearance of a determination to attack.

Notwithstanding these facts, orders were received near midnight, by company commanders of the Seventy-seventh, "Form your companies on the color-line at daybreak in the morning, move to the old drill-ground, and drill one hour before breakfast." Captain Mason, receiving this order with the rest, and knowing that Colonel Hildeljrand knew the facts above related, went to him, and after talking a few minutes, casually asked who originated the order for regimental drill in the morning. Colonel Hildebrand picked up a paper from his desk and observed: "This is the order of General Sherman, but we know it will be a different drill on the morrow than any of us has ever seen." That order has always been a mystery to the Seventy-seventh.

the enemy's advance. An orderly was sent by Captain McCormick to brigade headquarters with a report of this fact, and the officers in command of the pickets received orders to hold their ground as long as possible, and if hard pressed to- fall back slowly, which orders were strictly obeyed, the pickets becoming engaged at daybreak. This was probably the first time Ohio troops were engaged with the enemy at Shiloh, it being in fact the opening of that bloody contest.

At daylight the regiment was on its way to the drill-ground, but after having gone a few hundred yards, was overtaken by an orderly and ordered back, to breakfast and fall into line immediately. It returned, but before breakfast was over the orders were: "Seventyseventh, fall into, line, quick! Company B will move to the front, deploy as skirmishers, and move forward to the Lee house." The regiment formed, and the skirmishers advanced rapidly across the bridge, about 50 yards in front, and were ordered by the captain to deploy to the right. In a few minutes they were directly under lire of the enemy, and many were shot down - among the first killed being that noble soldier, George A. Booth, of ^larietta.

On the night of April 5th, Companies C and G, under Captains Sisson and McCormick, relieved Company B, Captain Mason, on the picket line. When the pickets were changed that evening, the enemy was so near that his outposts could easily be seen by our men. General Sherman had, the night before, ordered that on the morning of the 6th of April the Seventy-seventh Regiment should be posted covering the open field, to the right of the Lee house, near the advance picket line. In the morning it was found impossible to reach that position, as the enemy had forced the pickets to fall back, so that the skirmish line of the regiment met them between the Lee house and the creek which ran in front of the camp. The pickets were reinforced by the skirmishers, and the brigade formed in line of battle between the church and the creek, covering the road to Corinth. Here the battle opened soon after sunrise by a heavy fire of musketry on both sides, assisted ou the Union side by Taylor's Chicago Battery. The enemy also had artillery engaged at this point. The line of the enemy, as they came down the western slope, could be distinctly marked in the woods, by the glitter of their polished muskets in the sunlight, and the fire was most deadly from the ponderous French rifled muskets with which the Seventy-seventh was armed. This position was held, with one slight change, for about two hours, and the valley was strewn thickly with the enemy's dead, while our losses were also heavy. After a bloody conflict of some hours, the left of the brigade was turned, and the Seventy-seventh changed position so that its left rested on the old church.

Writers of history give it the credit, in connection with the Fifty-seventh and a part of the Fifty-third, of holding the .enemy so long in check at this point as to enable Sherman to save the fortunes of the day.

It was here that Col. E. C. Dawes, a Washington County soldier, then adjutant of the Fifty-third (in connection with Captain, afterward Colonel, W. S. Jones), distinguished himself by rallying a part of his regiment and fighting bravely. The overwhelming numbers of the enemy sweeping around the left rendered it necessary, as the day advanced, after many hours of gallant fighting, for the brigade to again change to the ridge further north, contesting the ground with the foe, step by step, and losing brave men by the score. Each chosen position was, in its turn, assaulted and carried by the enemy, till about the middle of the afternoon, when the line was formed and held till the conflict of the day closed with the dusk of evening.

On the morning of the 7th the regiment was promptly in line, waiting orders to move to the attack, but as General Buell's army had arrived and joined General Grant's forces, these fresh troops led the advance; and before noon the enemy were in full retreat without the Seventy-seventh being actively engaged that day - though being in supporting distance of the advance line the regiment was only a part uf the time under fire. Bv the middle of the afternoon it occupied its old camp at the church.

On Tuesday morning, April 8th, General Sherman's division moved out the Corinth road in pursuit of the retreating enemy. General Breckenridge's division of Hardee's corps, with Forrest's brigade of Confederate cavalry, covered the enemy's retreat. A battalion of cavalry having reported to General Sherman that "the woods were full of Rebs," he asked Colonel Hildebrand to halt his brigade and send a regiment forward and "clean out the woods." Colonel Hildebrand selected his own regiment, whose position was in the rear of the brigade. The regiment moved promptly forward, and in a few minutes its skirmishers were engaged with the enemy. Coming forward into line and to a halt, a sharp fire was opened upon the cavah-y brigade in its front, which proved to be W'irt Adams' Mississippians, Forrest's Kentucky cavalry, and the Texas rangers. In a few moments it was seen that the cavalry were about to charge, and bayonets were fixed to receive them. On they came with dashing impetuosity, discharging their double-barreled shotguns as they came, thus killing and wounding enough to thin out our short line of battle. When within a rod or two of our line they halted and emptied their revolvers on our gallant men, while still out of reach of their bayonets. Then a dash was made to make prisoners of the survivors, which was partly successful, as Captain McCormick (having his right arm broken by a gunshot). Captain Chandler, Lieutenant Criswell, and about ^^ men were captured - several others of them being badly wounded. But for the timely order of Colonel Hildebrand. bringing the Fifty-third and Fifty-seventh Ohio Regiments to the rescue, the most of the regiment, and with it General Sherman, would have been made prisoners. The general had so much faith in the regiment, and appeared to doubt the report of his cavalry so much, that he felt sure of the success of the movement, and was

Among those killed in the battle on Sunday were non-commissioned officers George A. Booth, Lorain Burris, Jacob R. Batllen, George A. Cavanaugh, John Cline, John P. Calvert, James Flemming, Benjamin M. Kimberley and John Sanford. Lieut. O. S. Thomas was mortally wounded, and died May 31, 1862; and Sergt.-Maj. G. B. West was wounded.

So great had been our loss in the first day's fight in killed and wounded, and by disease in camp, that the regiment took but about 210 men into this battle at "Fallen Timbers," as it is sometimes called, about 65 of whom it there lost. Among those killed here were Lieut. Joseph Steenrod, Andrew J. Duvall, William L. Porterfield, John H. Kepburn, James M. Baker, Percival Nott, Daniel Sipple, Lyman \\'yss, and Royal A. Wright, non-commissioned officers, W'ith 18 privates. Lieutenants Fisher, Fouraker, Garrett, White and Tliomas Mitchell were wounded.

I'he regiment lost in the battles of Shiloh, including the fight of Tuesday, one officer and 50 men killed, seven officers and no men wounded, besides several reported missing in action - now almost certainly known to sleep on this bloody field in unmarked graxes. Its loss was with two or three exceptions, the largest of any regiment in the army. Three officers and 53 men were captured, the privates being paroled in a few days and the officers held until October, when they were paroled and soon exchanged.

Gol. Jesse Hildebrand, himself a gallant officer, in his report as brigade commander, says: "With regard to the officers and men who participated in the affair at Fallen Timbers, and at Shiloh, I am happv to bear testimony to the fidelitv, bravery and devotion of all. Maj. B. D. Fearing, who was in immediate command of the Sevent,\--seventh Ohio Volunteer Lifantry, was cool and brave, and acquitted himself with as much skill as an old officer of larger experience, and was not excelled by anv other field oflicer \^-ho came under my obser\-ation." He also^ spoke of Captains Chandler and ]\IcCormick as meritorious officers - the latter being since brevetted major for "meritorious services in the battle of Shiloh." Captain Mason, also, was distinguished for the part he took in these three battles.

General Sherman, in published orders, speaks in high terms of praise regarding the firmness in which the Seventy-seventh held the position at Shiloh Church against such fearful odds, and credited with saving from capture the Chicago artillery. He has since said much more in commendation of these gallant heroes, which it is iKjped he will put into form for preservation in history.

After the battle and up to the capture of Corinth, May 30th, the Seventy-se\-enth took a prominent parrt in the siege, being often under fire, and all the time engaged in building works and otherwise aiding to capture the place by regular approaches. It advanced in pursuit of the retreating enemy as far as Chewalla, and during June and until July 21st, it was on expeditions to Holly Springs, Mississippi, Moscow, ]\Iacon, Lagrange, Tennessee, and other places. July 21st, it reached Memphis, where the men did guard duty till August 27th, when the regiment was ordered to Alton, Illinois, to guard prisoners of war and recruit its thinned ranks - relieving General Sherman's old regiment, the Thirteenth United States Infantry.

Being recruited up to a minimum, the regiiiient was ordered to join Gen. F. Steele's expedition for the capture of Little Rock and other places in Arkansas, leaving on the 31st of July, 1863, for Helena, where it landed August 3th. It was here brigaded with the Forty-third Indiana and Thirty-sixth Iowa, as the Third Brigade of the Third Division of the Arkansas Expedition, and marched on the i ith for the State capital. The men were in fine condition, and endured the arduous march with commendable spirit. They exhibited the true spirit of tried soldiers in the various brushes with the enemy on the way. Halting a brief period at Clarendon and Duval's Bluffs, the army marched, on the first of September, across Grand Prairie without water, through a broiling hot sun in whicli manv oi the men sunstruck. intiictiiig incurable if not fatal injuries, reaching Brownsville in the evening. On the 4th of September the regiment made a feint on the enemy's position at Bayou Meteor, accompanied by a few pieces of artillery, shelling them from their position and returning to Brownsville. On this march the commanding otBcer of the regiment. Col. William B. Mason, met with a serious accident ; his horse becoming entangled in fallen telegraph wires, was unmanageable, and the colonel being thrown otT with great force, received injuries which would ordinarily prove fatal, but a good constitution and the skill and care of Surgeon Wall enabled him to live through them.

On the loth of September the army dro\e the enemy from Little Rock and entered the capital, where the whole army encamped till December. The forces of Generals Fagan, Marmaduke, Shelby, and others, were hovering in the vicinity and awaiting an opportunity to make an assault, and if possible retake the place. General Steele had the railroad repaired from Duval's Bluffs to Little Rock, and officers and men of the Seventy-seventh were detailed to run it, as well as to guard sawmills in the vicinity while lumber was cut to build winter c^uarters. In this way, and in scouting the country, guarding supply trains to Pine Blufifs, and conducting court martial business, the officers and men were employed till December 20th, when almost all the men fit for military dut}- re-enlisted as veteran volunteers - a movement towards re-enlistment having begun in the regiment as early as October. On the 23rd of December the regiment started to Columbus, Ohio, where it arrived January loth, 1864, and on the 22nd of January the men were mustered as veterans and furloughed for 30 days. Colonel Mason, Captain McCormick, Captain Morris and Lieutenant Fisher were appointed recruiting officers, and when the regiment reached Camp Dennison, the rendezvous, to start for the field, it' had about two hundred recruits in its ranks. Reaching its rendezvous February 26th, the regiment left, March ist. for Little Rock, where it arrived on the 17th. It was ordered to march with General Steele's expedition, and left on the 23rd for Shreveport, Louisiana, to co-operate with Banks' Red River expedition. At Spoonville, April 2nd, a skirmish took place, but the regiment lost no men. At Okalona, on the 3rd, it was again under fire, having a prominent position and bearing itself creditalily while aiding Colonel Goetz to drive a battery from its position. At Elkin's Ford, on the 6th, it next met and assisted in driving the foe. as it did again at Prairie de Ann on the 13th. The army was attacked at Moscow on the 13th. but there was not much fighting. Arriving at Camden on the i6th, and driving out the enemy, it was learned from telegrams captured that General Banks' Red River expedition had been defeated. Our troops had started from Little Rock with only half rations of hard bread and quarter rations of pcjrk, and had been long out of meat, subsisting partly on the country. General Clayton had started a supply train from Pine Bluffs to meet Steele's forces at Camden, but it did not arrive on time, and there was much suffering for food. After its arrival. General Steele ordered the thoroughly effective men of the brigade, except the guards at headquarters and at two mills that were grinding corn, and the pickets of the division (which consisted of portions of the Seventy-seventh Ohio, Forty-third Lidiana, and Thirty-sixth Iowa), to escort the empty wagon train back to Pine Bluffs, and on the' 23rd it crossed the Washita River on pontoon bridges and left Camden. Colonel Drake, of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, commanded the brigade, and Captain McCormick was elected by Col. W. B. Mason as the senior officer present to command that portion of the Seventy-seventh that was detailed. About 200 of the First Indiana and Seventh Missouri cavalry and a section of the Second Missouri Battery accompanied the train. On the 25th of April this little force, guarding about 250 wagons, found in battle array over 6,000 mounted Rebels at Marks Mills, 45 miles from Camden and about the same distance from Pine Bluffs. The enemy had taken another route from Camden and struck on our flank at this juncture. The train was passing from Bayou Aloro through Woodlands over a narrow road, so it was stretched out some five miles long. In this condition it was not difficult for the enemy to divide the regiments at the cross-roads and attack them in detail. This was done, and their heavy force surrounded and captured the two other regiments, after a sharp fight. Hearing the battle open several miles ahead, while they were guarding the rear of the train, the commander of the detailed portion of the Seventy-seventh moved his command forward on the double-quick, passing wagons and pieces of artillery mired in the swampy Moro bottoms. :Moving as rapidly as possible the entire distance, and coming up almost breathless to Marks j\lills, the detachment of the Seventyseventh arrived only in time to find that their comrades had been captured, and that they must fight the battle alone. The entire force of the enemy, except a few hundreds left guarding the prisoners, now confronted the gallant Ohio boys. Quickly throwing out skirmishers to protect the flanks, Captain McCormick at once formed his command in line of battle, in a good position, and endeavored to protect the remaining half of the train. For more than an hour longer was the enemy held at bay by this little band of about 300 men, amidst a hotly contested conflict of arms. TwMce was General Cabell" s brigade in front of our noble boys driven back, causing the brigade commander to ask them if they were "going to let that little handful whip them." Meantime, Adjutant Flemming and Quartermaster Fisher, who had been sent out to the cross-roads to see if there was any danger of being flanked, reported that there was a heavy body of troops on the right, and another on the left and rear, threatening to surround the little Union band. These proved to be the brigades of General Dockery and General Shelby. Notwitstanding these fearftrl odds, the Seventy-seventh boys and their commander were unwilling to give up the conflict, but continued to pour well-directed shots into the heavy lines of the enemy, defying the leaden hail which stormed around them. After keeping up this unequal contest for about two hours the brave boys found their ammunition exhausted and themselves entirely surrounded and prisoners of war. The Union losses in this battle were 250 killed and wounded, and about 1,000 prisoners, the wagons also falling into the hands of the enemy. The enemy's losses in killed and wounded were much heavier, owing to the fact that the battle was in a piece of woodland, where they were unable to see how small a force they were fighting. Believing General Steele had reinforced the train guard, they were unwilling to make a dash to surround them at once, lest they should meet with a decided repulse ; and advancing slowly in heavylines, they formed a good target for the Ohio boys, who caused them to remark (when they found how few of our men they had been fighting), that they were "a dear lot of prisoners."

The enemy's loss was estimated at 1,000 killed and wounded. Three hundred and eighteen members of the Seventy-seventh, including II officers, became prisoners of war. They were marched, without stopping to eat or sleep, and almost without drink. 60 miles to the Washita River, before thev were allowed an hour's rest. The commander of the guard apologized for this, and showed one of our officers the order of General Fagan, requiring him to cross the Washita before resting, lest General Steele should rescue the prisoners.

Captain AlcCormick was given the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel "for gallantry in the battle of ]\Iarks ]\lills," and their commander says Captain McKitrick and Lieutenants Fulton, Scott, Marlow', Flemming, Mclntire, David A. Henry, R. E. Smithson, Province, and N. B. Smith, also deserve well of this country for their part in the battle. They were all captured, as well as Lieutenants Atkinson, J. 'M. }»Iitchell, John Smith, Dye, Lund, Day and Black, afterward commissioned, all of whom fought bravely.

place in the night, Ijy a pontoon bridge and a new road lie had made, tlie enemy (which now far outnumbered his force) did not learn of his movements so as to overtake him till he reached the Saline River, at Jenkins" Ferry. Here, on the 30th of April, those of the Seventy-seventh who had not been at Marks Mills (having been left at Camden because they were on picket and other guard duty, or not thoroughly ecpiipped, or not fit for duty), were, with the rest of Steele's forces, engaged in a bloody battle. Fortunately the enemy was repulsed, and with heavy loss. In this encounter the Seventy-seventh lost, in killed and wounded, about half the number engaged, and a few were made prisoners. Part of the time they fought in water knee deep, the river being out of its banks. Those captured by the enemy at Marks :\Iills, and at Jenkins' Ferry, were soon after marched about 200 miles south, and confined for 10 months in a military prison at Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, where 38 of them died from starvation, exposure, and disease, and one, John Calvert, was shot dead in a brutal manner, by a Rebel guard, for getting too close to "the dead line" when going for water.

Captain McCormick and Lieutenants Flemming, Scott, and Smithson. of the Seventy-seventh, and three men not of the regiment, escaped from the military prison one dark evening about the last of August, and started north, traveling by night with only the stars for a guide. Scott and Smithson traveled about 100 miles and were retaken near the Red River. The others marched about 60 miles toward the Union lines, but unfortunately the watch-dogs on a plantation got scent of them, and next morning two packs of bloodhounds, with squads of Rebel cavalry, were on their track. After a tiresome chase through the tangled woods they were run down by the bloodhounds, and brought to bay. As orders were posted at the prison before they left that all prisoners who might escape should be shot if overtaken, the situation was considered one of peril. However, the enemy evidently took care to count the cost of such a course, as assurances were given by the ca\alry that no harm should be done them if they wcjuld surrender. Being taken to Gilmore. a squad of fierce Rebels, who probably never saw a Union army soldier, plied tliem with numerous insulting questions, which were answered in plain language without much care for the feelings of the dougthy questioners. So they charged Captain McCormick with "treason to the State of Texas," and threatened to hang him for his pointed rq)lies. Tlie real soldiers of the guard seemed to relish the answers made to those who would insult an unarmed and defenseless prisoner, and they were restrained and advised to cease questioning if they could not endure the responses. The prisoners were returned to Camp Ford a few days after, where they awaited another opportunity to escape, finally made unnecessary by the arrival of the paroling ofticers so long and anxiously looked for in vain. On being paroled the survivors marched to Shreveport, Louisiana, about 100 miles, where they were placed on transports and conveyed to the mouth of the Red River, and there delivered into the Union lines February 25, 1865, except Lieutenants Flemming, Fulton, and Atkinson, who were held in Texas till the end of the war for attempting to escape.

On the expiration of the term of service, of the few original members who did not become veterans, and of those enlisted in 1862, and therefore could not re-enlist, they were mustered out in 1864.

This left the command too small to maintain its organization as a regiment, and it was consolidated into a battalion of six companies, commanded by Colonel Stevens.

On the 5th of February, 1865, the battalion left Little Rock with General Steele for the Gulf Department, and was at Fort I^Iorgan, Alal:)ama, when the paroled prisoners were released, and were near Mobile when they joined it. It was engaged in operations around Mobile, Fort Spanish, Blakeley, Mcintosh Bluffs, and other points in .Alaliama, in which Colonel

Stevens and the boys won golden opinions, until June i. 1865, when it took transports across the Gulf of Mexico for the Rio Grande, and remained on duty at Brazos and Clarksville, and then, from August i, 1865, till March 8, 1866, at Brownsville, Texas, where it was mustered out and started for Columbus, Ohio, where the men were finally paid off and disbanded, March 26, 1866.

Only one of all Ohio's regiments remained longer in the service, and none served the country more faithfully, or suffered more for the cause of the Union.

Dear Sir - I have received your kind letter asking me to write an account of the part taken hy the Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Regiment in the battle of Shiloh.

Cheerfully I accept, regarding it not only a pleasure but a duty to add whatever testimony I may to the honorable and important deeds of the Seventy-seventh in that terrible struggle of two days' duration in the woodlands of Tennessee.

Shiloh is rapidly taking its proper place in the minds of the people of the North and with niiltary writers as one of the most important of the decisive battles of the Civil war.

The Reheh had made desperate and exhaustive efforts to muster an army so formidable that it would strik.= a destructive and decisive blow to the Union armies of the West.

Ten and thirty-day regiments and companies were eagerly accepted 'for this fight and it was generally believed in that portion of the Confederacy that a Confederate victory on the banks of the Tennessee would end the war in the West.

The army of the Rebellion in the West was then commanded by their most popular soldiers. The battlefield had become familiar ground to the Confederates long before the battle; tlKir siiie^ had the freedom of the Union canip>; tin- c'liilitinn, numbers and position of the United States forces was accurately known. It was well understood in their ranks that the Union army was badly posted ; was without defensive works, unsuspecting an attack ; and that the two wings of the army were hopelessly separated by the Tennessee, now flooded by the spring rains.

Everything was auspicious for an easy victory to the Confederate arms. Enthusiasm and confidence inspired both their leaders and men. There was nothing up to the hour of battle to dampen their ardor.' A magnificent army, splendidly equipped, they moved as on a triumphal march with fresh assurances of victory at every step.

History does not give us record of an army that ever entered a great battle with brightei" prospects. They settled unmolested in their camps on the evening of the 5th of .\pril in liattle line with everything well closed up, within the sound of the evening bugles and drimis of their unsuspecting foe.

The Seventy-seventh moving at 6 {30 on the morning of the 6th of April under orders received from General Sherman the night before, and repeated in the morning to me in his own tent (where I had reported information sent through our picket lines by Colonel Moore of the Second Missouri to this import. "That he had been sent out on a reconnoissance by General Prentiss before day that morning. Skirmishing briskly he had soon become engaged with a formidable force before which he was rapidly retiring in the direction of our camps"), received the first shock of that great battle storm, midway between their camp and the picket line where the orders were to take them. I have before me the official reports of Gen. Zachary Taylor of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la P'alma, also the losses of the American array in the battles of the Revolution.

A comparison of these figures with the loss of the Seventy-seventh at Shiloji will better give an idea of the bitterness of this contest, and the frightful losses sustained eloquently tell the story of the desperate, prolonged struggle.

Lieut. Robert McKitrick, the officer in command of the burial party after the battle, reported 226 dead Rebels in front of the Seventy-seventh's position while defending the key-point in Sherman's first line on the Corinth road at the church. .

An officer of General Pope's army copied the following challenge from the door of a blacksmith's shop after they had captured Farmington, Mississippi:

"The remnant of the loth Mississippi Rifles challenge the 77th Ohio Regiment to fight them in open level ground between the lines of the armies in front

Tlie Nineteenth was one of the rcgnnents of the brigade that repeatedly attempted to carry the ridge at the church defended by the Seventy-seventh, and were nearly annihilated.

The losses of the Louisiana Brigade, particularly the "Crescent Blues," of New Orleans (one of the 30-d?y regiments), ac nnd near the church was something unheard of in war - nearly every home in that great city being in mourning for losses at Shiloh.

Although New Orleans was the largest, wealthiest and most warlike city of the Confederacy, it never sent , an organized company or regiment to the war after the return of its favorite regiment from the fatal field of Shiloh.

The great loss of the Seventy-seventh can only be accounted for hy the fact that, with the Fiftyseventh Ohio and Col. Ezra Taylor's Chicago Battery, it was entrusted by Sherman with the defense of the position at the Shiloh Meeting House.

It was well understood in the regiment that they were expected to hold that position, come what might against them until ordered- away or shot away. They fought with a clear idea that the position must be defended a', any cost. And unless wounded, no man of the Seventy-seventh left that fatal line until the order came from General Sherman to retire into the new line of battle, and then they covered Taylor's men and guns until they were safe in their new positions.

It was my great pri\ ilege from the' first Bull Run fight to Bentonville at the end of the war to stand many times in brave lines of veteran soldiers and fight for positions.

Once my command of seven regiments of the Army of the Cumberland were sent in on Johnston'; flank as a forlorn hope. Yet I fail to recall, in all this experience of desperate and splendid fighting, a more devoted, heroic, enduring and courEgtous achievement than the defense of the position at Shiloh Meeting House. It has been intim.^tel that the first line at .Shiloh was lost because the "Troops were green and untrained." I assert wit'n no fear of denial from any soldier familiar with the posuion and the record of t'le division that defended it. ih.it the line never could have been taken by a forje fii-'Ui the front had an order of battle been i-;ued hv Sherman; jr any preparation m.i.de before thi' Initle to receive the enemy and maintain tin- liiu. ir if the division had been united in one compact line and posted on the strong defensive position in front of the camps and been permitted to fell the timber and fortify the position. On that line were nine Ohio Regiments, two Illinois, one Iowa, four six-gun batteries, anil up to the evening of the 5th, the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, wiiich. of course would not have been tran-f:.'rred to a new connnand in the rear on the eve of .1 great battle if the battle had been anticipated.

There were no better regiments entered the service from these States and I doubt if any division in our armies had as many legimental oflicers who had seen service in the Mcx!-;in \v:;r -r as many ho had the advantages of milivir. liainuiT. The division's history is a record of - iit.niMu-. ^tubborn, successful fighting to th:e very end of the war, and no better record can a soldier have than that he served Sherman's Second Division of the Fifteenth .A.rniy Corps.

A Confederate general who was in the Confederate front on the morning of the 6th of April pays the following rriibute to the courage and endurance of the Union soldiers on that occasion, "Our attack found the Federals entirely unformed and completely unprepared. The only feature of the battle more remarkable than this thorough surprise was the astonishing courage and tenacity with which your Yankee fellows fought under such circumstances. I never saw anything like that before or since. It was a wonderfully fought battle on both sides, but :ny subsequent observation only confirmed the amazement I felt at the time to see such conduct on the part of troops taken at such disadvantage."

These volunteers planted across the main Corinth road knew enough of the science of war to know that the fate of the day might depend on the time gained at this precious position. So these brave men nobly devoted themselves then and there to the cause of their Country. Like Custer's gallant men at the Little Big Horn they determinsd to stay there and go down together.

Two precious hours were gained, and Buell's men of the Cumberland were taking the long, eager strides that veterans take marching lo the music of distant battle.

Grant u.iv speeding to the front, calmly planning to nuct ilu- ureal emergency. Sherman at his headquar'-r- ni 'Ik -saddle on the Corinth road was giving low. -uifi. impressive messages to staff-ofHcers, orderlies and escort, that sent them off with the speed of important battle orders.

Alert, cool, courteous, speaking eagerly but quietly, giving niarked attention to everything reported by all grades of officers who were constantly arriving (a few W'lrds from Sherman and they were all galloping away, low bending in their saddles as if Sherman was in the midst of an animated hornet's nest), with his hand wounded, bending before the pitiless rain of bullets to speak to an officer, eagerly watching the effect of the volleys from his men at the church and Taylor's rapidlyserverl guns on each fresh assault of the impetuous Reliel lines, now sending orders to the left when the Relieis were massing to assault.

He was a perfect type of a warrior at bay. The great responsibility of the supreme battle-hour had settled upon him. Defiantly, stubbornly, he seemed determined to break the exultant enthusiasm and confidence of the Rebel ranks at this point in the battle. He would fight here for the much needed time, for he well knew- that Grant would soon be on the ground; he knew that the divisions of McClernand, Hurlbut, Prentiss and the two Wallaces were moving to his relief : he knew that every hour gained here would make certain the arrival of the men of the Cumberland, then marching in hot haste toward the roar of battle.

The German Commander at Vionville in the Franco-Prussian War thought the gaining of an hour worth the sacrifice of his best divisions of cavalry. History would have applauded Sherman if he had ordered those brave Ohio Volunteers to make their last fight then on the crest of the ridge at Shiloh Church, or if he had ordered Taylor to work his guns as long as

But grandly rising to the height of emergency he swiftly in the brief time so bloodily won made his combinations and a new close knit, compact, well-posted sturdy line was ready for the reception of the exultant, impetuous, cheering Rebels. He ordered the brave defenders into the new line greeting them cheerily by the way. Much as the soldiers of the Second Division condemn and wonder at Sherman's judgment and dispositions on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th cf April, he won from one and all the highest admiration and new appreciation for his splendid righting from the moment the battle opened. This grew with each battle and campaign and no unjust, ingenuous criticism can reverse this judgment formed in the clear light of battle.

The soldiers of Shiloh confidently followed him through the swamps and bayous of Mississippi into the jaws of death at Vicksburg. Confidently they stormed the bristling, rugged mountains of Georgia, thick-set as they were with bayonets and cannon. Confidently, eagerly they followed his fortunes through the hundred days of battle from the Tennessee to the Flint. Confidently without a question, they marched with him into history from the mountains to the Sea.

The heroic defense of the position at Shiloh Church ; the devotion to the soldier's highest idea of duty in battle : the enduring courage and spirit born only in the smoke and carnage of battle of those volunteers will ever remain a theme that will kindle the enthusiasm of orator and poet.

It was this act of devotion to an idea of battle, a fight for time and similar deeds by the intelligent Western volunteers all through the eventful hours of that April Sabbath Day and the glorified list of heroic deeds of devotion to the flag and duty on many fields that will ever cause the memory of the volunteer soldier to be remembered with pride and admiration by their countrymen. And certainly no portion of our country has more just cause to cherish, preserve and perpetuate the deeds of her sons than Washington County. Respectfully,

Colonel Nelson H. Van Vorhes, mustered August 15, 1862, resigned March 22. 1863: Colonel Benjamin D. Fearing, March 22. 1863. mustered out May 19, 1865, on account of wounds; Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin D. Fearing, August 1,5. 1862, promoted to colonel; Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Putnam, Jr.. March 22, 1863. honorably discharged April 11. 1864; Lieutenant Colonel John C. ]\'Iorrow. April 28, 1864, mustered out with the regiment: Maior Dioclesian A. Smith, August 10, i86j. resigned February i, 1863; Major Douglas Putnam, Jr.. February i. 1863. promoted to lieutenant colonel; Major Elmer Golden, Alarch 22. 1863, resigned December 8, 1863: Maior John C. Morrow. December 8. 1863, promoted to lieutenant colonel ; Surgeon Josiah D. Cotton, August IQ, i86_', mustered out with regiment ; Assistant Surgeon N. B. Sisson, August 16, 1862,

Captain William Thorniley, mustered July 29, 1862. resigned April 9, 1863 ; Captain Francis H. Loring. July 30. 1862. mustered out with regiment; Captain Alexander Higgins, J\ily 30, 1862, resigned May 9, 1863; Captain \\'i!liam Beale Whittlesey, June i, 1863, killed at Mission Ridge Xovember 25, 1863, Captain Hamilton Middleswart. July 20, 1863. mustered out with regiment; C.nptain James W. Merrill. October 2. 1863, honorably discharged Ma.v 24. 1864; Captain Joseph Stephenson. November 25, 1S63, mustered out with regiment; Captain Bradley B. Stone, November 18, 1864, mustered out with regiment ; First Lieutenant Hamilton Middleswart. July 2,-^. 1862, promoted to captain; First Lieutenant Douglas Putnam, Jr., July 25, 1862. promotedto major; First Lieutenant James W, Merrill, July 28. 1862, promoted to captain; First Lieutenant Joseph Stephenson. July 28, 1862, promoted to captain ; First Lieutenant David E. Putnam, February i, 1863, honorably discharged November 24, 1863; First Lieutenant George B. Turner, June i. 1862, died of wounds December i. 1863; First Lieutenant Bradley B. Stone, July 20. 1863. promoted to captain ; First Lieutenant Reason A. Bull. October 29. 1863. mustered out with regiment; First Lieutenant Charles A. Brown, June 14, 1864. mustered out with regiment ; Second Lieutenant William Beale Whittlesey, July 2,^, 1862, promoted to first lieutenant; Second Lieutenant Thomas Day, July 26, 1862, resigned February 17. 1863; Second Lieutenant Bradley B. Stone. February 17, 1863, promoted to first lieutenant ; Second Lieutenant George B. Turner, May 9, i8t>3. promoted to first lieutenant.

The Ninety-second Ohio was organized at Marietta, Ohio, during the months of August and September. 1862. It rendezvoused at Camp Marietta, then in command of CoL William R. Putnam. Nelson H, Van Vorhes, the colonel, reported and assumed command on the first of October. 1862. As an officer of volunteers he had been on active duty at the front since April, 1861. and while the regiment was organizing he was still on duty with General Mitchell in Alabama. Benjamin D. Fearing, the lieutenant-colonel, had seen service; was at Manassas as a private, had ser\'ed on the stafif of Generals Slemmer and Crook in Virginia, while serving as adjutant in the Thirty-sixth Ohio Vblunteer Infantry, and evinced soldiership at Shiloh in command of one of the regiments of General Sherman's di-

The men were the pick of the district - young, active, quick to learn, eager to do their best at all times, and proud of the good name and character of their regiment. The first service performed was before tlie colonel, lieutenant-colonel or major had reported or the regiment had been mustered. Adjutant Putnam, with Companies A, B and D, was ordered to move to Gallipolis, Ohio, and garrison that post at the time the Rebels were driving Lightburn out of the Kanawha Valley. \Vhile there they made two expeditions into Virginia. These companies soon after rejoined, when the regiment, numbering 949, rank and file, was mustered into the United States service, tmiformed, and armed with Austrian rifled muskets.

On October 7, 1862, the regiment was ordered to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and made a part of the brigade of Colonel Gilbert. It took part in the expedition up the Kanawha under General Cox, before whom the Rebels retreated and were finally, after some skirmishing, driven beyond the mountains.

At Gauley Bridge it was transferred to brigade commanded by Gen. Hugh Ewing. and went into winter quarters, building log huts at Loupe Creek, a few miles below Kanawha Falls. They were permitted to enjoy these comforts but a short time, when they were ordered to join the brigade of Gen. George Crook and were stationed at Tompkins' farm on New River, which was at that time the outpost of the army of the Kanawha \'alley.

After the dark days of December, 1862, when the country struggled under the discouragements of Fredericksburg and the seemingly indecisive battle of jNIurfreesborough, General Crook's brigade were hurriedly taken by transports to Nashville, Tennessee. The trip occupied over 14 days and was attended with many hardships on account of the crowded condition of the boats. Remaining at Nashville about three weeks the regiment was ordered to proceed to Carthage, Tennessee. The trip occupied a week, and in no way was it rnore comfortable than our journey to Nashville. Many of the men were compelled to sleep in the hold, full of foul air, and became nnpregnated with disease which soon developed itself.

Those two months spent at Carthage will never be forgotten. Daily, for weeks, one or more burial parties fired the last salute over the grave of a comrade as he was committed to mother earth, in a town where no one sympathized with them, and where each grave was counted as taking away one more of their enemies. In less than two months over, ninety men were buried.

The colonel, N. H. Van Vorlies, was here compelled to resign on account of sickness, and Lieutenant-Colonel Fearing was promoted to colonel. Major Smith having resigned, Adjutant Putnam, by request of the officers, was made major, and after promotion of Colonel Fearing, was made lieutenant-colonel.

Health once restored, the regiment was ordered south of the Cumberland and joined with the brigade the Army of the Cumberland at Murfreesborough. the brigade, which was still under the command of General Crooks, was assigned to General Reynolds' division, Fourteenth Army Corps.

The regiment moved from Murfreesborough on the 24th of June, 1863, supporting Wilder's mounted infantry - one of the brigades of Reynolds' division. At Hoover's Gap the enemy were met and driven back, as they were pressing Wilder and attempting to recover the ground he had taken.

The march over the table lands of Tennessee, through a continuous rain - rains 21 days in succession - bivouacking nightlv in mud so deep and soft as to make it necessary to cut boughs to lie on. Mouldy crackers and must}' coffee, wet sugar and some bacon, are pleasant themes for the survivors to dwell upon now.

On Elk River the news of Gettysburg and Vicksburg was announced in the evening of July 4th and was hailed by a salute from the combined artillery of the army. Despondent' hearts took courage; and with better weather and better supplies and full of hope, the regiment camped at Big Springs, Tennessee, resting and enjoying the change as only tired soldiers can.

While here, Gen. John B. Turchin, the old Hungarian soldier, assumed command. His vigorous efforts to secure green corn, blackberries, and fresh vegetables, speedily eradicated all traces of scurvy and disease contracted at Carthage, and put the regiment in good condition, mentally and physically, for active work. They bivouacked by the springs at University Place and foraged in the valleys, moving over the mountains and through Sweeden Cove, stopping long enough to gather the green corn and ripe peaches.

On the 2nd of September, the regiment crossed the Tennessee River, at Shell Mound, in flatboats. On the 3rd it led the advance over Sand Mountain, and on the next dav it moved to Trenton, Georgia. From here the brigade crossed the Lookout ranges, overcoming the seemingly impossible obstacles in so doing, and descending the Coopers Gap into McLemore's Cove, passed up the valley into Catlett's Gap.

While here quite a sharp skirmish occurred and the regiment held the head of the gap. Skirmishing continued here for parts of two days, and the Ninety-second was busily engaged.

On September i8th a night march was made (one that will never be forgotten by those participating in it ) to Chickamauga. The regiment engaged the enemy on that bloody field, under Turchin, on the 19th and 20th, and formed a part of the rear guard that saved the army. On the 19th, early in the day. Colonel Fearing was wounded and carried from the field, the command devolving upon Lieutenant- Colonel Putnam. Lieutenant Merrill was wounded severely, captured and sent to our lines under a flag of truce.

On Sunday afternoon Turchin's brigade made the charge necessary to open connection with Granger, coming to reinforce General Thomas, who gaxe the command in person to the Ninety-second to lead the charge, which was made left in front. This charge is described by Van Horn Cumberland:"

The charge was made with great vigor, and the enemy was completely routed. Turchin's brigade drove this daring force entirely beyond Baird's left, capturing more than two hundred prisoners. This brigade *

* * * was posted by General Thomas, on the road leading through the ridge to the Dry Valley roads, to hold tne iground, while the troops from the right and left passed by.

In this battle Lieut. David E. Putnam, adjutant, was wounded and discharged on account of wounds, and George B. Turner, orderly sergeant of Company F, was promoted' to hrst lieutenant and made adjutant. Capt. John Brown was mortally wounded, and soon after the battle died; also, Lieut. G. T. Okey received a dangerous shell wound. W. B. Whittlesey, second lieutenant oi Company F, was promoted to hrst lieutenant, and on resignation of Captain Thorniley, of the same company, was promoted to captain in June, 1863; hence was in command of his company m this battle.

The regiment returned to Chattanooga, living in dog tents, with cold, wet weather, insufficient rations, etc., yet :bore all with patience and fortitude. They made several reconnoissances and were ready for duty on a moment's notice. They formed a part, with Hazen's brigade, of the forlorn hope sent to open connection with General Hooker's army corps, who were coming to the relief of the beleaguered and nearly starved army. As General Turchin described it : "Chattanooga was surrounded by two lines of fortifications, one built by brave men and one composed of dead mules, starved to death, for their country's cause."

A part of the regiment floated past Lookout Mountain in scow boats, and the rest marched across Moccasin Point, and were ferried over as the boats came down. The mo\'ement was so carefully planned, and executed with so much skill, that the enemy was taken completely by surprise, and perfect success crowned the effort. The army was revictualized and reinforced.

movement for the capture of Missionary Ridge commenced. The Ninety-second, with Turchin's brigade, had been for some time expecting orders to assault, being in position for several days. On the afternoon of November 25th, the final asault was made. Captain Middlesworth, of Company F, in connection with the skirmishers of the Thirty-sixth and Eleventh Ohio, cleared the rifle-pits at the foot of the ridge. The brigade was ordered forward at double quick, and swept every obstacle before it. This charge has often been described. Gen. John C. Breckenridge, who commanded the enemy's lines in front of this brigade, told the writer that the audacity of the attack - the sight of the steadily moving lines, silent but terrible in its advance - so demoralized his men that they became unmanageable, and. at last, gave way, not until there was almost a handto-hand encounter near the summit.

About half way up the hill the commanding officer, Lieutenant Putnam, fell wounded. Soon thereafter Captain Whittlesey was shot through the heart, but said to his men, "Go on, I'm killed," and breathed his last. The nien went on, sweeping over the top, in company with the Thirty-sixth, while the enemy retreated down the side.

The summit once gained, no rest was found by the breathless and worn column, as a force of the enemy came hastily from the left to reinforce their fleeing comrades. Here, while rallying the men for this assault, Adjutant Turner received his death-wound, being struck in the head by a large minie ball. He lived for some days, however, but sank away.

By the death of these two young men, Washington County offered up her choicest material, and their funerals (on the same day) will ever be remembered. Both were brave and faithful officers. Lieutenant Tbwnsend, of Athens county, was also killed, who was an excellent officer. The loss of the regiment" was, in this assault, 33 per cent, of the officers and 10 per cent, of the men. They took many prisoners and two guns.

enem>- and returned soon to Chattanooga. Remaining here until February, 1864, when, under command of Capt. J. C. Morrow, Major Golden having resigned, Fearing and Putnam both absent from wounds, they started south toward Dallas. They were engaged at Rocky Face Gap, losing heavily, some of the wounded being buried in the woods. From here they moved to Ringgold Gap, doing out-post duty. Here Captain Morrow was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, vice Putnam, mustered out on account of wounds. Colonel Fearing returned in March, and Lieut. B. B. Stone, of Company G, who was promoted from orderly sergeant, was made adjutant. The regiment took an active part in that campaign through Dallas. On the 27th of July, they were in line of Atlanta. During August and September the regiment was in the neighborhood of Atlanta, taking part in the charge at Jonesborough, Georgia. On the 4th of October, they broke camp and joined in pursuit of Hood, crossing the Chattahoochie.

At Kingston preparations were made for the "march to the sea" under Sherman, the sick provided for in hospitals, baggage sent to the rear or destroyed, etc. On the i6th they started. This march has been fully described, and no attempt to do so is needed here. They met the enemy at Bentonville, North Carolina, March 21st. Here Colonel Fearing, who was in command of a brigade, having been brevetted brigadier general, was severely wounded in the hand, necessitating the amputation of a portion of it. Passing through Goldsborough, Durham Station, and Raleigh, North Carolina, they moved onward through Virginia, reaching Washington on ^lay 19th and taking part in the ever memorable grand review of ^lay 24th. Having orders to be mustered out of service, it was transported to Columbus, Ohio, and on the 19th of June, 1865, the Ninetysecond Volunteer Infantry ceased to exist.

Their first colors were literally worn and shot into shreds, the second set, now in the flag room at Columbus, are mute witnesses of their regiment's history as they bear on their folds in letters of gold these names : Hoovers

Among the many mihtary organizations of Washington County for home defense, none was more self-sacrificing and patriotic than the one we have now tO' consider. The Silver Grays were among the very first to step forward and form in martial array at the beginning, and their moral influence in the community was great. Their appearance on parade, marching and going through the manual of arms was inspiring, and if a man had any of the martial spirit in him, the sight of these venerable men keeping step to the music of the Union was sure to arouse it.

Two of the members, William ^^'arren and Junia Jennings, prepared the following account of the company in 1866, and we give it substantially as we find it:

Monday forenoon, April 22. 1861, was the time of the departure ot the first company of voluntctrs from Marietta to aid in putting down the Rebellion, the Union Blues. - over one hundred men - under command of 'Capt. Frank Buell. It was an affecting occasion, such as was never before known in Washington County, and may never be again. Strong men's nerves gave way. and the patriotic tear and firm resolve were seen upon every face. There was a brief speech by George P. Buell. Esq., and amid cheers, the firing of cannon, and the waving of flags, the volunteers embarked upon the Muskingum packet from the common in front of the Congregational Church, thousands of people being assembled.

The citizens then repaired to the Court House and orcanized a meeting' to take into con.-ideration the state of' public affairs. 'Hon. William A. Whittlesey, the mayor of Marietta, being called to the chair, secretaries and committees were appointed. Col. William West, then in his 66tli year, arose and said:

"Mr. Chairman. I hold in my hand a resolution which I wish to offer for the consideration of this meeting. Such is the excitement of the occasion that I am not in the situation to either do justice to myself or the subject I wish to present; therefore. W'ithout comment, with the indulgence of the house, I will submit the resolution."

Silence reigned throughout the crowded house, arid the colonel w-ith a voice tremulous with the deep feeling that pervaded all present, read :

"Rcsohcd, That we. the citizens of Washington County, whose ages are sixty and upwards, for the protection of our homes, our firesides, and our country's

A rush was made to be first to enroll their names. J?.mes Dutton. Ijeing a little lame, had started first and had his name first down, followed by William Warren, second : Colonel West, third ; Thomas Porter, fourth ; Junia Jennings, fifth; and so on. Subsequently, men of 45 years and upwards were enrolled.

It was resolved that each member of the company should supply himself with ammunition. The commissioned officers had red sashes, the rank and file, blue. A uniform was agreed upon, but circumstan;es did net favor its procurement. They were armed at once. George W. Barker, William Warren, and F. Wheeler were appointed a committee to ask the County Commissioners to procure a flag to be raised on the Court House.

Through the exciting days of 1862, especially when the Rebels pressed upon the border everywhere throughout the whole line, in .August and September, the Silver Grays were out in full force and vigor. In the spring of 1863 their guns were taken by authority for use by a company of younger men. and that ended the Silver Grays, who. it is justice to say, did all the duties they were called upon to perform, and did them well. That they would have done excellent duty in repelling invasion, had it ever occurred, there is no doubt. Several of the members were deaf, and these were compelled to watch their comrades' motions to know what order the captain gave. Several used canes.

Their motto as set forth in the first article of their constitution was : "The Union, the Constitution, and the Flag of our Country, for the sustaining of which we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

.\rtici.e 4. The company shall meet for exercise or other duty at such time and place as shall be determined on by the company on Saturday of each week at 2 p. M., provided that the captain or any other commissioned officer of our company is hereby empowered and required in cases of danger or emergency to cause a fire bell to be rung, whicli shall be a signal for the company to assemble at the court house at a minute's warning.

Col. William West was first elected captain, but declined; Maj. George W. Barker was then elected, but his lime of service was short. For a time they met every evening at five o'clock, for drill.

During the war ^Marietta was prolific in fifers and drummers. The first to enter the service were those who joined the Eighteenth Ohio Vohmteer AliHtia, in tlie three months' service.

Elienezer Corey and Louis Fourgeres were the musicians of Company B, the old Union Blues. After the Eighteenth entered Virginia they were distributed along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as guards. Ebenezer Corey was appointed drum major of the Eighteenth June 6, 1 86 1, and soon went to Marietta to recruit a martial band.

This resulted in the enlistment of nine young men. most of whom knew nothing of the use of fife or drum, but who became quick learners. On June 17, 1861, they started for Virginia, learning the notes on the way. They were - Charles Holden, George K. Jenvey-, William Jenvey. John Tenney. Henry Langley, Frank R.'Brenan, Fred Regnier, James

Judd, and Henry Corey, and others, among whom were Manly Warren, Louis Fourgeres, and Stephen ]\Iaas. from \\'ashington County ; they made the "Pony Section," so called from their size and age.

then wen . Clarksburg, still training for the war, when they, with the whole regiment, were transferred to Oakland, and made a fruitless march over the mountains under General Hill, after General Garnett's Rebel forces. As the time of the regiment had expired, one hot July day they came back to Marietta and awaited patiently their discharge, with hardly a taste of hard service.

Their martial strains awoke many responsive chords in the hearts of the patriotic people, and the band was invited to take a trip up the Muskingum to Zanesville. Every courtesy was shown tliem along the route, and they awakened the valley by their ringing music. At Zanesville and Beverly they were treated with especial favor.

On their discharge, five enlisted in Buell's Battery; three with the major in the Thirtysixth Ohio Volunteer Lifantry, in a fine band, which timed the steps of many brave ones in their march to duty and victory ; one went into Huntington's Battery, and one into the Second West Virginia Cavalry. All did brave duty through the war. One of them died in the service - Charles A. Holden. Such was the "Pony Section."

Regiment.Al Officers

In response to the call of Governor Broiigh, the Forty-sixth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, numbering 654 men of Washington County, reported for duty at Marietta on the 2nd of May, 1864. Subsequently the Ninetysixth Battalion, of Vinton County, was consolidated with the Forty-sixth Regiment, forming the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was mustered into the service on the 17th and 1 8th of May. The officers were all Washington County men, except Major Edmiston and Captains McDowell and McCormick. The colonel had been a captain in the Thirty-sixth Ohio: the lieutenant-colonel had been a lieutenant in the Seventy-seventh Ohi<5 ; and the major had been a captain in the Eighteenth Ohio. Several of the line officers, also, had been in the service, and nearly the whole regiment had been tried, briefly but laboriously, during the iNIorgan raid of the previous year. Company A, in particular, had been called out j repeatedly, and on two or three occasions had been sent to \'irginia, when the border was threatened. An unusual proportion of the men in this company were students of Marietta College and merchants, and it is worthy of remark that during the 136 days' service it was the only companj- in the regiment that did not lose a man by sickness.

On the 23rd of May the regiment left [Marietta for the field. Scarcely had the train passed out of sight of the town when an accident occurred to it, on the Union branch of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, by which Jeremiah Stuckey, of Company A, was killed. John H. McKimm, of Athens County, and Alexander S. Nugent, of Franklin, Pennsyl- \ania, students in the Preparatory Department of Marietta College, who were accompanying their friends in the regiment to Parkersburg, were killed. William Hildebrand. \\'illiam Flemming. and First Lieutenant Gates were seriously injured. Lieutenant Gates went forward with the regiment, but he had received such internal injuries that, coupled with pneumonia, it resulted in his death on the 31st. six days after the regiment had arrived at Harper's Ferry. This accident, togetfier with the subsequent death of Lieutenant Gates, cast a gloom over the regiment and throughout the community from which its members had been gathered. Although the youngest officer, and one of the youngest men in the regiment, no one was more generally known and more universally beloved than Charles Beman Gates. The various testimonials of affection and regret from the college societies with which he was connected, and from the officers of his regiment, are evidences of the high esteem in which this youthful. Christian patriot was held by his associates.

per's Ferry, the regiment moved to Washington, and on the 9th of June left that city for White House, on the Pamunkey. On the nth it left White House, arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the 1 2th, and on the 13th went into General Butler"s intrenchments at the front. On the 1 6th seven companies, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Kinkead, left Bermuda Hundred for City Point. On the oth of August, by the explosion of an ordnance boat at" City Point, three men of the regiment were killed - S. E. Graham, of Company H, Joseph H. Smith, of Company D, and Joseph D. Clarke, of Company A. Young Clarke was only about 17 years old, was a member of the Preparatory Department in Marietta College, and was the oldest son of Col. JNIelvin Clarke, of the Thirty-sixth Ohio, who was killed while gallantly leading his regiment at the battle of Antietam, September, 1862. Sire and son, both offered upon the altar of their country, now lie side by side in the Marietta Mound Cemetery. The total loss of the regiment by death was 40. On the 29th of August the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Ohio left City Point and arrived at Marietta on the 5th of September. On the 13th a public dinner was given to the regiment by the citizens of the county, and on the 14th it was mustered out of the service.

Biographies Of Officers Of The War Of The Rebellion

JMajor-General Don Carlos Buell, commander of one of the principal Union armies in the \\'ar of the Rebellion, son of Salmon D. and Eliza Buell, was born March 23, 1818. on a farm owned by his grandfather, Judge Salmon Buell, which has since become the site of the town of Lowell, on the Muskingum River, 12 miles above Marietta. He was named after an uncle, Don Carlos Buell, a young- lawyer of Ithaca, New York, who entered the \-olunteer service as a captain of artillery, and died on the Canada frontier, in the War of 1812. The lines of his progenitors on both sides come together again in the sixth preceding generation in the person of Samuel Buell. born at Windsor, Connecticut, Sei^tember 2, 1 64 1. Judge Salmon Buell, on the grandfather's side, a lawyer by profession, was born in New York in 1764, served at the age of 16 in the Revolutionary War, and became a Senator and Judge of the Court of Appeals of New York. He moved to Marietta about the year 181 6, and in 1824 to Hamilton County, where he died in 1828. Capt. Timothy Buell, the grandfather on the mother's side, was born in Connecticut in 1768, moved to JNIarietta in 1789, and died on his farm three miles above that place in 1837. He serxed in the War of 1812, represented Washington County in the Legislature, and was Sheriff of the county several years.

Soon after the death of his father, which occurred in August, 1823, the subject of this sketch was taken under the care of his uncle, George P. Buell, Esq., of Lawrenceburg, Indiana ; and with an intermission of about five years, passed in Marietta under the roof of his stepfather, George W. Dunley, Escp, he remained with his relations at Lawrenceburg until 1837, when he was appointed to a cadetship at West Point. He was graduated and commissioned in the army in 1841, and served in the Florida War and in the West until the Mexican War. He served through that war from the beginning to the end; participating in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, the siege of Vera Cruz, and the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, and received the brevet of captain and major. He was severely wounded in the battle of Cherubusco. The following record of his grades up to 1850 is taken from Gardner's "Military Dictionary," pirblished in that year :

Don Carlos Buell, cadet in 1S37; second lieutenant Third Infantry ist of July, 1841 ; first lieutenant June, 1846: brevet captain for gallant and meritorious conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey, Mexico, 23rd of September, 1846; distinguished in battle of Cerro Gordo; brevet major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and'

He was on duty in Washington in 1848, and subsequently, up to the War of the Rebellion, served as assistant adjutant general at various department headquarters, in the East, West, South, and on the Pacific, and in the War Department at Washington. In December, i860, he was sent by Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, to Charleston, South Carolina, with verbal instructions for Major Robert Anderson, who was in command of the Government troops in the 'harbor, under the critical circumstances which the movement of Secession had already created. After inspecting the forts, and making some suggestions with reference to their preparation for defense, he communicated verbally to Major Anderson the instructions he had received, and then a written memorandum of them, foreseeing the responsibility which coming events were likely to throw upon that officer. This memorandum, which is published in the Robinson record, has a historical interest, since it contains the authority upon which ^Slajor Anderson took the decisive step of abandoning Fort Moultrie, and concentrating his command in Fort Sumter.

\ou are aware of the great anxiety of the Secre tary of War that a collision of the troops with the people of this State shall be avoided, and of his studied determination to pursue a course with reference to the military force in this harbor which shall guard agamst such a collision. He has, therefore, carefully abstained from increasing the force at this point, or taking any measures which might add to the present excited state of the public mind, or which would throw any doubt on the conlidence he feels that South Carolina will not attempt, by violence, to obtain possession of the public works, or interfere with their occupancy.

But as the counsel and acts of rash and impulsive persons may possibly disappoint these expectations of the government, he deems it proper that you should be prepared with instructions to meet so unhappy a contingency. He has. therefore, directed me, verbally, to give you such instructions.

needlessly tend to provoke aggression ; and for that reason you are not, without evident and imminent necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into the assumption of a hostile attitude. But you are to hold possession of the forts in this harbor, and if attacked you are to defend yourself to the last extremity.

The smallness of your force will' not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, but an attack on, or attempt to take possession of, any one of them, will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resi.stance.

The commencement of the Civil War found General Buell a lieutenant-colonel, and a little later colonel, and the third officer in rank in the adjutant general's department of the regular army. He was under orders for duty on the Pacific Coast in April, 1861, and sailed for San Francisco a few days after the firing on Fort Sumter. He^ was commissioned a brigadier-general and recalled to Washington in August. In September and October he organized and disciplined a division in the Army of the Potomac, and on the 12th of November was assigned to the command of the "Department of the Ohio, composed of the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that portion of Kentucky east of the Cumberland River, and the State of Tennessee, with headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky." Next to the department of the Potomac, this was regarded the most important command in the contest which was then opening. The condition of affairs in Kentucky was thought to be extremely critical. One-third of the State was in the possession of the Rebel forces, under whose protection a provisional government was inaugurated at Russellville ; while further invasion was threatened from East Tennessee by Zollicoffer through Cumberland Gap, and by Humphrey Marshall from Virginia through Pound Gap. It was affirmed that the Union element was confined in a great part to the old men, and that the mass of the young men were on the eve of joining the Rebel ranks ; and many persons believed that a strong and prudent hand was required to preserve the State from a condition of practical, if not avowed, revolt. The government had in the State a now and imperfectly organized force of about 25,000 men, while General Sherman, who had recently relieved General Anderson in the command, reported to the W'ar Department that the occasion dejnanded 200,000 men. Under these circumstances General Buell assumed command at Louisville on the 15th of November, relieving General Sherman, and entered upon the task before him. That task was to gather in the raw regiments that were forming in the different States of his department ; organize, equip, and discipline an army; maintain the supremacy of the Union ; control the secession element, and give confidence tO' the loyal citizens of 'Kentucky; expel from its borders the armed forces of the Confederacy, and carry the arms and authority of the government into the States in rebellion. Those who fail to keep in mind the general state of confusion and excitement which pervaded the country at that time, the passion and energy of the insurrection, the magnitude of the physical obstacles to be overcome, the total lack of military training and experience among the people, and the scarcity of available officers for the various staff functions, will not appreciate the difficulty of the work to be performed or do justice to the services of that early period of the war, in comparison with those of a later date, when the military arm of the government had by practice grown strong and skillful, and the power and confidence of the Confederacy had received its first fatal shock. The army which General Buell then formed and put into the field, called the Army of the Ohio, afterwards the Army of the Cumberland, was the largest of the original army organizations except the Army of the Potomac, and it assumed from the first an efficiency and esprit de corps which gave it a marked prominence in the subsequent events of the war.

circumstances, the temper of the Southern people and the enthusiasm of revolution gave to their troops a sort of efficiency which had to be offset by the steadier methods of discipline in the Northern armies. The main Confederate line at Bowling Green, under Albert Sidney Johnston, menaced Louisville, and its partisan cavalry, rendered exceptionally efficient for such service by the personal qualities of the material, and operating in a hot, unfriendly population, produced results which were altogether out of proportion to its numerical strength. To repel an invasion in Northeastern Kentucky under Gen. Humphrey Marshall, a brigade was organized and placed under the command of General Garfield, then co'lonel of the Forty-second Ohio infantry, who defeated Marshall in several engagements, and drove him out of the State.

In December, the Confederate general, George B. Crittenden, recently assigned to the command of General Zoalicoffer's column, crossed the Cumberland River nearly opposite Somerset, fortified_himself at Mill Spring, and threatened Central Kentucky. On the 31st of December, Gen. George H. Thomas' j was sent with his division, to attack him. The I battle of Mill Spring, with a signal victory j to the Union arms, was the result of this expedition. Various other expeditions and operations of minor importance, were also executed.

The subject of a general plan of campaign, to be executed as soon as the necessary force was prepared, received the early attention of the new commander, and in a letter, written 12 days after his arrival in Louisville, he submitted tothe general-in-chief. General McClellan, his views on that subject. Tlie same plan was, a little later, proposed to General Halleck, who commanded the adjoining department - Missouri, The main Confederate force in the West, under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston, with headquarters at Bowling Green, Kentucky, occupied Bowling Green, fortified behind Barren River. Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland ; Fort Henrv, on the Tennessee, and Columbus, on the

Mississippi General Buell's plans proposed' that Halleck, with a land and naval force, should attack the center of this line on the Cumberland and Tennessee, while we attacked or turned Bowlino^ Green and moved directly on Nashville. This plan, substantially, was at length executed, though without the concert which, would perhaps, have given better results. General Halleck was not prepared tc co-operate when invited, and finally moved without concert, having no idea of further progress than the capture of Fort Henry. But the prompt re-enforcements, amounting first* and last to 24 regiments, with artillery, sent by Buell to the river expedition, and his movement upon Bowling Green and Nashville, brought about a more complete and extended success than Halleck contemplated.

The authorship of the general plan of these operations has been the subject of considerable discussion, though it is difficult to see how there should be any doubt about the matter. It has heen claimed by General Grant for himself, and General Sherman claimed it for General Halleck; the letter on which Grant's claim is based was dated the 29th of January, and only proposed to capture Forts Henry and Donelson, and the official records show that the subject was not broached by Halleck before the 20th of Januaiy. The following are the letters in which the plan was proposed to Generals McClellan and Halleck, by General Buell, on the 27th of November and 3rd of January, respectively :

My De.^r General: - I have not written you very frequently because I could not write definitely, and becau-^e such, perhans. exaggerated importance do I attach to secrecy in these matters, that I have hesitated to put my own thoughts tn paper, and I now ask you to keep them to yourself. It is certainly possible that in the end you may have to observe how far the consummation will have fallen short of my plans.

I hope you have not supposed that the introduction of the re-enforcements through' this point has had any reference to a defense of Louisville. That has not entered my mind at all. I assume that to be safe in any event. I do not place high estimate on Buckner's force at Bowling Green, and I have no such thought as that he will attempt to advance. His position is purely defensive, and he will be quite content if he can maintain that. I have, therefore, thought of no such thing as fortifying Louisville. Sherman threw up a little work at the mouth of Salt River. It may have been judicious when he did it. I have not seen the necessity of it since, though it does no harm.

If you will look carefully at the map you will see that Louisville affords the best base that can be taken for land operations from the north upon any part of Tennessee. The railroad to Lebanon curves around to the northeast behind Salt River, giving, besides the Nashville Railroad, three good pike roads, which converge to a point of easy communication for three columns about Glasgow - one by the mouth of Salt River, coming into the railroad at Elizabethtown, one by Bardstown and New Haven, and coming into the direct pike road to Gallatin and Nashville, and one by Lebanon, Shepardsville, and Greensburgh into the same road, while Lebanon junction. New Haven and Lebanon form convenient points for the departure of as many columns. Lebanon also affords a point of departure for a column on East Tennessee as short as any route; for wagon transportation as short as the route from Cincinnati by Lexington, and shorter and less attended with delay by railroad. Nothing could be more convenient. This point has the further advantage of bringing everything under iny eye. I could know nothing of what would be done from a base at Cincinnati. These advantages will not fail to impress themselves upon you without going more into detail.

And now for a plan of campaign. Up to the organization of columns behind Salt River, all the plans I have in view at present concur. Beyond that they diverge, and may be stated briefly thus: First, to establish a sufficient force before Bowling Green to hold Buckner there, while a column moves into East Tennessee by Somerset, and the route we had in view ; second, to hold him in check while a column moves rapidly past him on Nashville by the turnpike via Gallatin; and third, holding him in check at Bowling Green and throwing in columns on both the Soinerset and Nashville routes. The choice of these must depend on circumstances, which may vary in the meantime, or which may not now be clearly perceived. In conjunction with, either of these should be the movement of the flotilla columns un the Tennessee and Cumberland, so as at least to land and winter near the State line, and cut off communication between Bowling Green and Columbus, and perhaps run directly into Nashville. A strong demonstration should, at the same time, be made on Columbus by the Mississippi. The details of all this, such as the destruction of railroads, so as to cut off communication, and a thousand other details, I do not go into, nor is it necessary. You can imagine them all,