Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 7: Twentieth and Twenty-Fifth Infantry, 1900

Twentieth Infantry

The regiment wasenlisted in June and July, 1862, and rendezvoused at Camp Randall. It left the State August 20, for Benton Barracks, St. Louis.

On the 13th of September the regiment marched, with the rest of Herron's brigade, to Springfield, which they reached on the 24th, the distance being 135 miles. There were now about 150 cases of sickness in the regiment. It suffered much on this march for want of water.

On the 17th of October the regiment began a march to attack the Rebel camp at Cross Hollows, Arkansas. When near the Missouri State line, twenty or thirty of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry refused to cross the boundary into Arkansas. A detachment of the Twentieth was ordered forward, with fixed bayonets, to compel them to go. The Missourians reconsidered the matter and moved on. In one part of their march, crossing the Boston Mountains, the regiment was thirty hours without food, and with only six hours rest, and again it marched a whole day without food. On the 24th the regiment reached Cross Hollows and occupied the place without opposition, the enemy having retreated. Remaining there until the 4th of November, the Twentieth started on the march northward to Wilson's Creek, and on the 11th joined Totten's command at Ozark. Through rain and mud, the regiment moved on, and on the 22d reached its former camp at Wilson's Creek. At this time many of the regiment were sick, one hundred being in the hospital at Springfield. It had, within two

On the 3d of December the regiment again broke camp and moved with the rest of Herron's force, to effect a junction with Blunt's com¬ mand, which was then holding the enemy in check at Cane Hill, Ark¬ ansas. By a forced march over rough and difficult country, it arrived in the vicinity of Fayetteville on the 6th, having marched one hun¬ dred miles in three days.

Battle Of Prairie Grove

At two o'clock on the morning of the 7th of December, the reveille sounded, and at three the First Brigade moved to join the Union forces at Cane Hill. During the forenoon it was ascertained that the Rebels, under Hindman, had made a flank movement and were on the march toward Rhea's Mills. Blunt's force moved toward them from the west and Herron's force approached them from the north, and the battle began at ten in the morning.

The Rebels numbered 26,000, with twenty-two pieces of artillery, General Herron had only 7,000 men and twenty-four pieces of artil¬ lery, and General Blunt 5,000, with twenty-four pieces. The Rebels had a strong position. They were on a wooded hill, with large open fields in their front and on their left. They could see all the move¬ ments of the Union forces and mass their men at any point that might be attacked. After considerable fighting, all the Union artillery was directed at once against the nearest of the enemy's guns, and it was silenced in two minutes. In the same manner, eight or nine of the most troublesome were got rid of. At two in the afternoon Blunt's forces arrived on the field, relieving the nearly exhausted and out¬ flanked forces of Herron. The Rebels were slowly driven back by inferior numbers, and at night an armistice was agreed upon. In the morning the enemy was gone.

Early in the fight the Twentieth Wisconsin stormed the hill in its front. It advanced on the double-quick for a hundred yards, then halted and fired two volleys and began to ascend the hill. The whole slope was covered with underbrush, and the regiment advanced with great difficulty, but pressed on with as good a line as possible, and soon came to a Rebel battery of six guns. The Twentieth fired a vol¬ ley, rushed over a rail fence between them and the Rebels, and captured the battery. Then it pressed on toward the Rebel infantry line. The right of the regiment advanced to within thirty feet of the Rebels, who opened a tremendous fire on it from the flank, forcing it to give way. On the left the fire was also galling, but not so severe. The regiment rallied and fought again, but the odds were too great. A heavy col¬ umn of Rebel infantry was seen advancing on the right. A minute more and the Twentieth would be surrounded, if it held its place; and so it fell back under the fire of five Rebel regiments at once. The cap¬ tured battery had been spiked, but it had to be abandoned by the Twentieth, which retired across an open field to a fence, where it re¬ mained and fought until the firing ceased at night.

In this tejrrible charge made by the Twentieth, it was scarcely twenty minutes from the time the first man fell until the regiment withdrew, but in that time fifty-one of its number were killed, one hundred and fifty wounded, and eight missing - nearly one-half of the whole number engaged.

General Herron wrote to Governor Salomon: "I congratulate you and the State on the glorious conduct of the Twentieth Wisconsin In¬ fantry in the great battle of Prairie Grove. "

Captain John McDermott, of Company C,and Lieutenant Thomas Bintliff, of Company I, were killed in this terrible charge. Captain McDermott fell bearing the flag of the regiment, which he had seized when the color-bearer was shot. He was a warm-hearted, brave, earnest man. Lieutenant Bintliff was a Methodist minister from Beetown. He was a fine musician and a kind, genial man, who was uni¬ versally loved.

The killed of the Grant County men at Prairie Grove were; Co. F - Addison G. Hicks, Albert A. Cady, James Stewart. Co. I - Alex. Parland, Cyrus W. Vesper. The wounded were: Co. A - James H. Under¬ wood. Co. C - Sergt. Rollin Smith, J. M. Reynolds, Sherman Living¬ ston, Jeff. Watkins, Isaac Ewing, Samuel Fitzgerald, John Hammond, Abraham Houghtaling, Albert Norton, A. S. Richards. Co. F - John T. Paine, Thomas Paine, J. Harris, Emmett Holmes. Co. 1 - John Stack, Egbert Sprague, C. W. Snider, G. W. Day, Moses Bitnev, G. C. Johnson, C. R. Sandlebach, M. J. Whiteside, Wm. Waddle, James Woodhouse, A. M. Baraum, Edward Hutchcroft, Bernhart Peasley.

After the battle the Twentieth remained in camp at Prairie Grove until the 27th of December, when it accompanied a force of 12,000 of Federal troops, with thirty-six guns, upon a reconnoissance to Van Buren, on the Arkansas River, but found no enemy. Shortly after this the regiment marched back into Missouri and spent the rest of the

On the 31st of March the regiment went into camp at Rolla. Durits six months' absence from that place it had marched 1,000 miles, and lost 246 men, including the discharged on account of disability and the wounded who had died. Of those who remained, 131 were absent sick.

On the 3d of June the regiment took the cars at Rolla for St. Louis, and the next morning embarked for Young's Point, opposite Vicks¬ burg. It landed there on the 10th and crossed the peninsula to the river below Vicksburg, crossed the river and took a position in the trenches on the left of the investing line. Here it lay, doing its part of the siege work, until the place surrendered. On the 5th of July Her¬ ron's division moved inside the defenses of the city.

In a short time the regiment went on an expedition to Yazoo City, where it captured about sixty Straggling Rebels, besides a company that surrendered voluntarily to ten men of the Twentieth. The regi¬ ment occupied Yazoo City as provost guard until the 21st, and then returned to Vicksburg. Two days later it embarked for Port Hudson, where it remained, suffering much from sickness, until the 13th of Aug¬ ust, when it embarked for Carrollton, Louisiana, and on the 5th of September joined an expedition to Morganzia. On £he 6th at ten o'clock at night, while marching near the Atchafalaya Bayou, the Reb¬ els suddenly opened fire on the regiment from an ambuscade, causing it to fall back in the darkness seven miles to Grosstite Bayou. It re¬ turned to Morganzia on the 7th. It next embarked for the mouth of Red River, where it was engaged in scouting until October 9, when it returned to Camp Carrolton. The regiment was now assigned to the Thirteenth Corps and went with it to the Rio Grande. It and the Twentieth Iowa were crowded upon the steamer Thomas A. Scott, and on the afternoon of the 27th dropped down to the head of the passes and at two o'clock in the afternoon went out to sea. After encounter¬ ing a severe storm of two days the Scott arrived on the 3d of Novem¬ ber at the mouth of the Rio Grande, where an unsuccessful attempt was made to land the troops in small boats, and on the next day the men crossed the Brazos bar in a lighter and landed safely.

On the 9th of November the regiment arrived at Brownsville, and was cordially welcomed by the citizens. Here the regiment was engaged in fatigue, picket, and garrison duty, and in preventing the shipping of cotton and the smuggling in of English goods. On the 12th of January, 1864, the Twentieth, with the Ninety-fourth Illinois and a battery, crossed the river to Matamoros, Mexico, to protect the American Consul there and assist in the removal of property be¬ longing to American citizens. Colonel Cortina, a Mexican officer, had become engaged in a broil with the civil authorities of Matamoros, and in the night attacked the town, and for a time a battle raged in the dark streets. The Twentieth was detailed to guard the residenceof the Consul, while the other Federals stood in line, the bands playing national airs. The Consul and three wagon-loads of gold and silver were escorted across to Brownsville for safety. All returned to the Texas side on the 11th, and the Twentieth returned to Fort Brown.

In July, 1864, the Federal forces were withdrawn from Browns¬ ville, the Twentieth embarking for New Orleans as the escort of the commanding general. The regiment reached Carrollton on the 5th of August and went into camp on theShellRoad. On the 7th it embarked to join Farragut's expedition against the forts that protected Mobile. Four days afterward it landed and took a position four miles from Fort Morgan, and took part in the siege and reduction of that fort. On the 23d the fort surrendered and the Twentieth Wisconsin and an Iowa regiment received the garrison as prisoners. The regiment was afterward actively employed in building bridges and repairing rail¬ roads and telegraph lines. In September the men rafted fifty thous¬ and feet of lumber down Fish River and had a slight skirmish with the enemy. It remained near Mobile until the 14th of December when it sailed for Pascagoula, Mississippi, and landed there the next day. The Rebels guarding the place fled at the approach of the Union troops. The regiment immediately moved into the country toward Mobile. On Sunday, the 18th, while halted on Franklin Creek, near the Alabama line, heavy firing was heard along the picket line. The Twentieth was in line in three minutes, and double-quicked to the creek, crossed the bridge, and joined in the fight. General Granger said it was the quickest time he ever saw made by a whole regiment. The Rebels were routed, after a brief skirmish.

On Christmas day the regiment embarked on an immense raft of lumber, which had been put into the stream at a saw-mill, and floated on it thirty-miles down Dog River, through a hostile country, with no protection along the banks except some breastworks of cotton bales on one side of the raft and sweet potatoes on the other. The/ reached the junction of Dog and Pascagoula Rivers in safety and remained there until the 1st of February, 1865, when the Twentieth returned to its old camp at Navy Cove, near Fort Morgan.

On the 8th of March, the Twentieth moved out five miles toward Mobile and camped there until the 17th, when it resumed its march up the peninsula. On the 22d it crossed Fish River on a pontoon bridge and encamped. On the 25th the march was resumed, and a number 6f horses were killed by torpedoes planted in the road by the Rebels. On the 27th the regiment went into position before Spanish Fort and at four in the afternoon advanced close to the fort. The reg¬ iment held and fortified its line, which was on the extreme left. The men were in the pits during the rest of the siege of about two weeks, constantly under fire. On the 31st the Rebels shelled the pits of the Twentieth furiously. On the 21st of April, after the surrender of Mo¬ bile, the regiment moved to Blakely, a fort near Spanish Fort. On the 6th day of May the regiment crossed the bay and encamped four miles from Mobile, on the Shell Road. In June the Twentieth went to Gal¬ veston and on the 14th of July it was mustered out and embarked for home. It reached Madison on the 30th and was there discharged. Eighty-four recruits were left at Galveston with the Thirty-fifth Wis¬ consin. The regiment traveled seven thousand miles, by rail, by water, and on foot. For its good conduct while under his command, General Granger in a letter to Governor Lewis, praised the regiment in the strongest terms.

The following recruits came to the regiment in 1863 and 1864: Co. A - Samson A. Vance, Boscobel; Thomas Hartley, Archibald Lee, Lima. Co. B - Martin Gray, Wm. R. Perrigo, Blue River; Julius C. Jenks, James A. Blair, Robert F. Carver, John Craig, David G. Gillis, George T. L. Hoyt, Albert J. Hoyt, Adam J. Logue, Geo. T Logue, John S. Logue, Neal Pettigrove, Cutler Salmon, James N. Waldeck, George W. Wilsey, Muscoda; John C. Brock. Patch Grove. Co. C - Stephen Clark, Boscobel; James A. Garner, Beetown; Robert Bell,

This regiment had the greatest number of Grant County men of any regiment, and wherever it had an opportunity it fully sustained the reputation of Old Grant. The regiment had its rendezvous at Camp Randall, in August, 1862.

On the 19th of September the regiment went to St. Paul, Minne¬ sota, for duty in preventing outbreaks among the Indians. It was assigned by companies to various places in the western part of the State until November, when it had a severe winter march of three hundred miles to Winona. Returning to Madison in January, the regiment left for Columbus, Kentucky, on the 17th of February. In May it embarked for Young's Point, Louisiana, and proceeded up the Yazoo River to Sartatia. June 5 the regiment, with the Twentyseventh Wisconsin, and other regiments, was placed in Montgomery's brigade.

The regiment moved down the Yazoo thirty miles and encamped, on the 7th of June, at Haines's Bluff. Four days later it went to Snyder's Bluff, four miles distant, on the Yazoo River, in the rear of the investing line of Vicksburg. On the 25th of June it went up the Mississippi in pursuit of guerrillas.

While at Snyder's Bluff the regiment suffered much £fom disease, five hundred being sick at once and only one hundred fit for duty. On the 25th of July four companies went to Lake Providence and the others to Helena, Arkansas, to which place the other companies came on the 12th of August.

January 29, 1864, the regiment went to Vicksburg, and accom¬ panied Sherman's Meridian Expedition, marching 275 miles to Meri¬ dian and back again. In March it went to Cairo and thence to Decatur, Alabama, where, April 17, it had an engagement with the enemy. It soon moved eastward and joined Sherman's army, being placed in the Fourteenth Corps.

At Resaca the Twenty-fifth was actively engaged during the three days' battle. It was in the front line and a part of the time detached as support to a battery on a hillside, where it was under a heavy fire. Late in the afternoon of the 14th it was sent to the Fifteenth Corps and attacked the enemy's works on the extreme left, where it charged over an open field under fire, and relieved an Iowa regiment which was out of ammunition. It held the hill against the Rebels, who charged three times to get possession of it, and repulsed them with heavy loss. Throwing up defensive works in the night oFthat day, the regiment fought behind them on the 15th. For its gallant con¬ duct in relieving the Thirtieth Iowa and holding the hill, the regiment was commended by the commander of the Fifteenth Corps. Its loss was six killed and twenty wounded.

The Twenty-fifth arrived within a few miles of Dallas about noon on the 26th of May and began skirmishing, passing through Dallas and encamping a short distance south of it until the next day. The regiment then advanced to the front and was engaged in skirmishing for three days. It advanced over the abandoned works of the enemy at Kenesaw Mountain on the 19th of June and took position on a hill which it fortified. It was constantly exposed to the enemy's fire, and was engaged in siege and fatigue duty until the 3d of July, when it moved forward with the army.

July, and the next day camped in the rear of General Logan's com¬ mand on the right of the Army of the Tennessee, near Atlanta. On the 21st it went hack to Decatur, to guard the flanks of the army train. The next day Companies B, E, F, and I made a reconnoissance, advancing three-quarters of a mile up the road, on the west of which was an impassible marsh and on the other side a deep miry ditch. They met two divisions of Rebel cavalry, who opened fire on them, driving the skirmishers back to the reserve, which was in position on the left of the road, and which also was soon compelled to fall back, moving to the left. The command fell back to the camp, fighting, and the whole force then retreated to the town, and half a mile beyond, where the Rebels were checked. The train for which the Rebels had been fighting was thus saved, with the loss to the regiment of fifteen killed, fifty wounded and twenty-five missing, among whom was the Colonel of the Twenty-fifth, who was captured. On the 23d the regiment marched through Decatur and out two miles on the Atlanta road, where it fortified and camped until the 25th.

The Twenty-fifth, having arrived before Atlanta, moved, on the night of the 26th of July, twenty-two miles in the rear of the army, from the left to the right flank, and drove the enemy from a hill, lying on their arms there the rest of the night, and throwing up fortifica¬ tions the next morning. On the 28th the regiment was under fire in a severe battle. July 31 it was detailed as grand guard and placed on the skirmish line. August 9 it fortified a position within five hundred yards of the Rebel main lines and maintained it until Sherman moved to the right and south of Atlanta. It assisted in destroving the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, and on the first of September was present, but not actively engaged, at the battle of Jonesboro. It moved to Lovejoy's Station, and returned to Eastport, six miles from Atlanta.

regiment served as train guard the first five days. At Toomsboro, on the 19th of November, it was detailed as pontoon guard. On the 10th of December the regiment encountered the Rebels, forded the Ogeechee Canal, and took position five hundred yards from the enemy's works, between which and them was a deep swamp. The regiment held its position until the next day, when it recrossed the canal and marched around the swamp. It remained at Dillon's Ridge until Jan¬ uary 3, 1865, when it marched through to Savannah.

January 4, 1865, the regiment embarked at Thunderbolt for Beau¬ fort. In the campaign through the Carolinas it had a skirmish on the eighteenth of January, and on the 20th, a successful engagement with the Rebels near the Salkehatchie River. The regiment was building corduroy bridges the last week in January, and was leading the marching column the first of February. At the Salkehatchie and Edisto Rivers the regiment waded through mud and water three or four feet deep, to attack the enemy, and at the latter place, drove them out of their works. Soon after, it camped near the old Rebel prison at Columbia, and was set to grinding corn for the army. On the 20th of February it supported the forces that attacked the Rebel works before Goldsboro. It joined in the pursuit of Johnston to Raleigh, took part in the review at Washington, and was mustered out June 7. At Milwaukee and Madison the regiment was cordially welcomed, and at the latter place discharged.