“To Fight All the Time” The 95th Ohio on A.J. Smith’s Mississippi Raid


In the spring of 1864, the decision was made to concentrate Union forces at various strategic points in the South to free up troops that would be added to the primary armies of invasion in Virginia and Georgia. In western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, this meant that the Union pulled out of Corinth, Mississippi and allowed the area to be reclaimed by the Confederacy. Corinth’s primary strategic value centered on the railroad junction of the Mobile & Ohio and the Memphis & Charleston railroads. Since Federals controlled Memphis at the western terminus and Chattanooga further east on the M&C, Corinth was no longer deemed necessary and was abandoned. General Nathan Bedford Forrest had been sent to Mississippi to raise forces that were tasked with re-taking and holding this region; the area also served as a jumping off point for Forrest to stage raids against Union supply lines in Tennessee. That said, the primary function for the remaining Federal forces in western Tennessee became a defensive one: to hold Memphis and keep Forrest out of Tennessee.

To accomplish that mission, General Samuel Sturgis led what became known as the Guntown expedition in June 1864. His plan was to strike the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, cut it, and draw Forrest into battle, which would serve to keep Forrest away from Union supply lines in Tennessee that supported the Federal offensive in Georgia. Sturgis’ subsequent mismanagement of this expedition led to his court-martial. His army was drawn into battle piecemeal at Brice’s Crossroads after being run for miles on the double-quick under a scorching heat; the exhausted troops wilted under fire and were captured by the hundreds during their retreat to Memphis. General Sturgis was loudly denounced as a drunk and a coward and was removed from command upon his return to Memphis. The overall result was mixed: abject failure at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads at the cost of nearly 3,000 casualties, but Sturgis’ raid did serve to keep Forrest engaged in defending the Mississippi hinterlands and out of Tennessee. But the military imperative to keep General Forrest’s forces tied up in Mississippi remained. General William Tecumseh Sherman, commanding general of the western theater, wondered that his troops seemed to cower before that “very devil” General Forrest, but he had a solution in mind.
Lieutenant Oscar D. Kelton, Co. A, 95th Ohio
Killed in action at Brice's Crossroads
(Ohio History Connection)

In stepped Major General Andrew Jackson Smith, an experienced and tough corps commander from the Army of the Tennessee. Smith’s arrival in Memphis, along with his troops who had participated in the Red River campaign, breathed fresh life into the dispirited ranks of the Federal garrison, and Smith set out reorganizing his forces for another go at Forrest. On July 5, 1864, as General Grant’s army pounded away at the Petersburg defenses in Virginia and General Sherman’s army licked its wounds after the bloody repulse at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, a new expedition into northern Mississippi embarked from LaGrange, Tennessee. Smith’s army was comprised of the remains of the Sturgis’ command and two divisions of Smith’s newly arrived 16th Army Corps.

The objective this time was the same as the Guntown raid: the Mobile & Ohio railroad line that connected Columbus, Kentucky with Corinth, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama. General Smith planned to strike the line at some point, tear up the railroad, provoke a response from Forrest, and then fight him on ground of Smith’s choosing. Smith was confident that in a standup fight, his men would be able to give the Confederates a sharp rap on the nose. Confederate forces in the region were technically under the command of Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee, but it was Forrest who commanded the attention of his Federal opponents.

A month before, the 95th Ohio had been roughly handled during General Samuel Sturgis’s botched Guntown expedition, losing more than 200 men captured at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads and the ensuing disastrous retreat to Memphis. The following accounts from Major William R. Warnock and Lawrence Sheehan of the 95th Ohio describe their experiences under Smith’s command at the battles of Harrisburg, Tupelo, and Old Town Creek and reflect confidence in their new leaders. The heat was intense, water scarce, and the roads dusty, but the Federal army went into this raid brimming with spirit. Men like A.J. Smith and Joe Mower may have lacked Sturgis’ flair, but they more than made up for their lack of flair in sheer competence and, as Sherman wrote, the willingness “to fight all the time.”
Major William R. Warnock, 95th Ohio Infantry



Headquarters, 95th Ohio Infantry Vols., 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 16th Army Corps
Memphis, Tennessee
July 22, 1864 [1]

          My Dear Father: We have fought another battle, or rather a succession of battles, and have each time gained a victory. The effect of the Guntown disaster has been entirely removed and Lee and Forrest have been so badly cut up that it will take them several weeks to recruit their forces.
         
          Our expedition left LaGrange, Tennessee as I last wrote you on the 5th of this month and marched by way of Ripley, Mississippi to Pontotoc meeting with little opposition. We reached Pontotoc on the 11th and remained there until the morning of the 13th when we started for Tupelo. During the forenoon of this day, the Rebels made a dash on our train but were repulsed by the 4th Brigade of our division. In the afternoon, as our brigade was marching through a thick woods, we were fired into by a Rebel regiment which had ambushed us in true Indian style.
 
95th Ohio Flank Marker
(Ohio History Connection)
[Private Lawrence Sheehan of Co. B wrote that the regiment was marching in “close order through a dark swamp when all at once of column of gray coats, which had been concealed in the bushes, rose up and poured in one of the most dreadful volleys of musketry among our ranks I ever heard. We were surprised and panic-stricken, so much so that every man not wounded ran into the woods in confusion. Our officers rushed into the woods entreating the men to form a line, which was done under the heavy fire of the enemy. We then poured volley after volley into them until all our pieces were discharged. The order was given to charge bayonets which was done, every man hallooing to the utmost of his power. The Rebels broke their line and ran in confusion. I had my gun shot out of my hands while loading and the stock was broken.”][2]

The Rebel regiment was the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry and numbered 400 men. The 72nd Ohio and 95th Ohio, each numbering about 150 men, were ordered to charge. We drove the Rebels back through the woods about 200 yards when they were reinforced by an entire brigade and we were compelled to fall back about 50 yards before such overwhelming numbers. By this time, the 114th Illinois Infantry, numbering about 200 men, formed in line on our left and we were again ordered to charge. The men went into them with a yell, and we soon had the satisfaction of seeing the Rebel brigade, which numbered three times as many men as we had engaged, running in a manner that somewhat consoled us for Guntown, especially as it was Bell’s brigade that had flanked us in the Guntown fight.
Major General Andrew J. Smith
(Library of Congress)

As we were advanced on the last charge, I was on the right of our regiment and we were about 25 yards from the Rebels where we had quite a sharp fight before they retreated. As it was so close, I commenced firing at them with my revolver. I had fired once and had just cocked my revolver to fire a second time when the Rebel shot my horse. He became so unmanageable that I was obliged to dismount and send him back to the road where he died in about half an hour.

          The Rebels couldn’t stand the hot fire we were pouring into them and in a few minutes retreated, leaving their killed and wounded in our possession. From some of the prisoners we took, we learn that the Rebels had made a detail to work a battery (which was following our regiment) after they had captured it, but the battery got into so quickly and threw the grape and canister into their ranks so fast and thick that they were glad to get out of range. The Rebels lost a good many men and didn’t gain a single point. The adjutant of our regiment was wounded in the jaw but not dangerously. Lieutenant Colonel Jefferson Brumback had his horse shot under him about 10 minutes before mine was shot. The 95th Ohio had eight men wounded and two will probably die. We then marched to a point near Tupelo and bivouacked for the night.

          Early on the night of the 14th our pickets commenced skirmishing and our generals prepared for a fight. The men soon saw, by the way they were handled, that A.J. Smith and Joe Mower were equal to Forrest and his generals, and consequently went into the fight with a hearty good will and felt confident of success. Before 7 a.m., the engagement became general and lasted only three hours. The Rebels made charge after charge on our position but were repulsed with terrible slaughter. We had an excellent position and one which protected our men and as the Rebels seemed very anxious to attack us, Generals Smith and Mower let the men lie down in position and shot down the Rebels as they advanced across the open fields. Our artillery was posted in excellent position and as the enemy made their repeated charges did great execution.
 
95th Ohio National Colors
(Ohio History Connection)
[Lawrence Sheehan related that “the long line of graybacks came out of the woods through an open field, their officers waving their swords and all yelling their best. General Mower let them come until within about 20 steps of our line when we rose up and poured the cold lead into their ranks, our artillery opening at the same time. It was a fearful sight. Their ranks were cut to pieces and what was left retreated perfectly panic-stricken and demoralized. Where their lines had formed was covered with dead and mangled bodies, some with their legs off, some yet alive with their bowels hanging out, some with their arms torn off at their shoulders, and in some places the blood was shoe-mouth deep. The Rebel General Faulkner was left dead on the field; I saw him and got a button off his coat.”]

          A little before 10 a.m., the Rebels abandoned their attempts to drive us from position and retreated, leaving their killed and wounded in our possession. We advanced the lines about half a mile but the Rebels were too severely punished to continue the attack. I went over the battle grounds, and I must say I never saw as many dead Rebels in as small a space of ground as there was there. We learned from our Rebel prisoners that their officers had told them that we were all 100-days’ men and would run at the first fire if they would only put on a bold front and charge, which is no doubt the reason of their attacking us so boldly in our position. The Rebels admit a loss of 2,400 killed and wounded but I should not be surprised that it is even greater. [Official Confederate losses came in at roughly 1,250 killed and wounded with another 50 missing with Forrest lamenting that the effort to drive Smith from Mississippi "cost the best blood of the South."]
 
Lieutenant Henry Warren Phelps, Co. H, 95th Ohio. A devoted historian, Phelps wrote extensively of his regiment's wartime service throughout his lengthy career. 
          On the 15th, we were busily engaged in caring for the wounded and burying the dead. On the morning of the 16th, as we had but three days’ half rations for our army and were four days’ march from our base of supplies, we commenced our march to LaGrange. Our division, General Mower’s, was in the rear and our brigade in the rear of the division. One half of our army had marched out on the road and nearly all of our train had started. The Rebels saw this and, thinking we had only a cavalry rear guard, charged across the same fields in which they had been so badly repulsed on the 14th. Our artillery opened on them with grape and canister and our infantry poured a deadly volley into them. They fell back just as they had on the day of the battle. The Second Brigade then made a charge and drove the Rebels entirely back from their position.
 
95th Ohio National Colors with battle honors for
Tupelo and Old Town Creek
(Ohio History Connection)
          We then marched about five miles and went into camp near a creek. Just as our brigade, which was in the rear, had crossed the creek, the Rebels commenced to shell our camp. We were immediately formed in line of battle and Colonel McMillen ordered an advance. After recrossing the creek, our brigade charged on the Rebels and drove them back in great confusion. The lost quite heavily in this engagement and if our men had not been so much exhausted, we would have captured the Rebel battery. After this we were not molested by any demonstrations of the enemy. They were wary of being led into the some trap and captured as some men we captured in the last fight thought our brigade must have been formed in line of battle in the woods waiting for them to come up as we advanced so quickly after they had shelled the camp.

          We then marched by easy stages to LaGrange where we arrived on the 21st and came by railroad to Memphis today. Our force consisted of about 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, the whole commanded by Major General Andrew J. Smith assisted by Generals Mower, Grierson, and Colonel Moore. Our total loss in killed, wounded, and missing does not exceed 500 and will probably be not more than 400. The Rebels were commanded by Generals Stephen D. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, Abraham Buford, and others. It was a terrible punishment to the Rebels and if we had only been able to supply ourselves with rations, we could have marched to Mobile.

         
Tattered National Colors belonging to the 95th Ohio
(Ohio History Connection)


[1] Letter from Major William R. Warnock, 95th Ohio Infantry, Urbana Citizen & Gazette (Ohio), August 4, 1864, pg. 2
[2] Letter from Private Lawrence Sheehan, Co. B, 95th Ohio, Springfield Republic (Ohio), August 10, 1864, pg. 1

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more