Captain Kaufman’s Captured Diary: A Relic of Chickasaw Bayou


Captain Peter R. Kaufman served in Co. E of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry until he was killed in action December 29, 1862 at Chickasaw Bayou. After this regiment, also known the 4th German Ohio Regiment, charged the Confederate works at Chickasaw, Kaufman’s body was left behind and pilfered by the Confederates. Among the items taken from Kaufman’s body was his personal diary which was shown to the editors of the Vicksburg Daily Whig, who then published its contents in the January 1, 1863 issue.
Captain Peter Kaufman of the 58th Ohio was buried on the battlefield at Chickasaw Bayou on December 31, 1862 and his wife's gravestone in Ohio indicates that he was buried at Vicksburg, Mississippi. If so, he is not listed as being buried at Vicksburg National Cemetery which makes one wonder if he is in a grave marked as unknown or he is still resting beneath the sod at Chickasaw Bluffs. 

          “We are indebted to Captain [Anderson J.] Moss of the 26th Louisiana regiment for the loan of a diary taken from a dead Yankee after the battle of Chicksaw Bayou on Monday,” it reported. “It belonged to Lieutenant P.R. Kaufman of the 58th Ohio volunteers, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. It contains his commission as second lieutenant of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Militia, and his commission as first lieutenant in the same regiment when it was mustered into the service of the United States in March last.”
         
          The diary gives a succinct account of the owner’s movements from the time he entered service in January last up to the day of his death. After serving for a while as police guard at Camp Chase, the regiment was ordered to Tennessee and figured in the taking of Fort Donelson, after which he went up the Tennessee River to Savannah, from whence he went to Pittsburg and was in the battle there. Started from Corinth in June and went to the Memphis Fairgrounds. Next went to Germantown where he heard Richmond was taken and Vicksburg burned. Was not pleased with the sentiment of the people of Tennessee- found them principally Rebels. Went to Helena in July.
58th Ohio National Colors
Ohio History Connection

          The next item of importance that we find in the diary is the capture of the Fairplay. The fleet consisted of two gunboats, three rams, and six transports. The next, an expedition went up the Yazoo River, consisting of the rams Lioness and Monarch, and the gunboat Benton under Colonel Wood. One of the boats was snagged badly, but was soon repaired when the fleet went up the river again. Read the Vicksburg papers near Providence giving an account of the capture of the Fairplay. Drove our men in at Greenville. Next, landed at Bolivar where our men killed one and wounded two of their cavalry. After their arrival in Helena, they remained in camp until October when they were ordered to St. Genevieve, Missouri.

          On the 16th of November, the regiment, in company with several others, started down the river for Helena. On the 22nd of December, part of the regiment started for Vicksburg on board the steamer Polar Star. They partially destroyed Daniel’s Landing, below Gaines’, on account of our guerillas firing at them. Next day the Polar Star collided with the Adriatic and came near sinking. Milliken’s Bend, Kaufman says, “the houses were fired and other acts of vandalism committed.” Our pickets were posted at the Bend and some light skirmishing took place.
Unidentified Louisiana officer

          On Friday, they started up Yazoo River and landed at Captain Johnson’s. Heavy firing commenced at Snyder’s Bluff at 4 o’clock. “Blair’s brigade was ordered out and marched four miles driving the Rebel pickets- in evening, turned back and camped in the woods.” On Saturday, he was detailed for rear guard. The regiment was ordered out on skirmish and scoured the woods, driving our pickets about a mile with the loss of Captain [Christopher C.] Kinsor [Co. H] and five others. They camped in front of our pickets that night and the next morning were ordered back to the brigade. He says the brigade was ordered out again and drove us from across the lake, after which they returned and took up “a position on the island near ‘Fort Morgan’ for the night.”
Lieutenant Stephen Defenbaugh, Co. I
58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Find-A-Grave

Monday the regiment was put on the reserve, but Kaufman was prevented from chronicling the proceedings of that day. The reserve took part in the battle and he, like many of his deceived and misled companions, was sent where the roar of cannon and clash of steel are not heard. The diary is ended, and Lydia, Maria, and Ida will fail to receive the regular missives from Peter. [Lydia was his four-year old daughter, Maria was his six year old daughter, Ida was his wife.] Ida will miss the deposits made for her in the Cleveland Savings Institution, and Captain [Samuel]Morrison [Co. I] and Lieutenant [Stephen] Defenbaugh [Co. I] will perceive the want of frequent visits of Peter Kaufman.


          About a week later, Orderly Sergeant Robert Specht of Co. E wrote a letter to Captain Kaufman’s widow back home in Ohio in which he gave the circumstances of the captain’s death, and the condition of his body when the Federals retrieved it on December 31, 1862. The 58th Ohio served as part of the General Frank Blair’s Brigade of the Fourth Division commanded by General Frederick Steele. Specht’s letter was published in the February 4, 1863 issue of the Ohio Repository which was published in Canton, Ohio.
Officers of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

On board the steamer Polar Star on the Mississippi River
January 7, 1863

Mrs. [Ida] Kaufman, madam,
          I regret to make the following sorrowful statements to you in regard to your husband, our most beloved and esteemed commander and friend.

I believe he had written to you from Helena, Arkansas about an expedition which was going down river with the intention of taking Vicksburg, Mississippi. We went down with 80 transports loaded with troops and arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo River on the 26th of December. We departed the same day for Fort Morgan and arrived there on the 27th. In the afternoon, our regiment was sent out to employ the Rebel skirmishers. We soon found them and drove them about one mile with the loss of one captain and four private soldiers. We were relieved at dark by another regiment.

The next morning, we were employed to support batteries and in the afternoon we were engaged in keeping the Rebel sharpshooters from our lines but we had no loss this day. The next day, December 29th, was fixed to take the fort by storm. Blair’s brigade was ordered to do it; it consisted of the 13th Illinois, 29th Missouri, and 58th Ohio regiments, altogether about 2,000 men. [The brigade consisted of the 13th Illinois, 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd Missouri regiments, the 58th Ohio, Capt. Louis Hoffman’s 4th Ohio Battery, and Co. C of the 10th Missouri Cavalry.]

At about 11 a.m. we were ordered to fix bayonets and in a double quick and with hurrah after hurrah, we commenced the fearful struggle. It was nothing but a struggle; yes, it was murder by wholesale, privileged by law. We had hardly reached the edge of the woods where we could see their fortifications when the Rebels commenced to throw shell after shell into our ranks. We could hear nothing but the whizzing of balls and the cracking of shells. To have an imagination of this fearful struggle you only need to look at our loss. We lost in about an hour’s time about 1,300 of our brigade, and your husband shared the same fate. [The 13th Illinois, 29th Missouri, and the 58th Ohio from Blair's brigade lost their colors at Chickasaw Bayou. The 16th Ohio was also reported to have lost one stand of colors.]
This fine map drawn by a soldier of the 42nd Ohio shows the positions of Blair's and Decourcy's brigades on December 29, 1862. The red circle indicates the part of the field over which the 58th Ohio charged and where Captain Kaufman was struck down. His orderly sergeant reported to Kaufman's wife that they buried Kaufman on the field and marked his grave with a wooden board and carved his name upon the board. 

He died a soldier’s death on a dark and bloody battlefield. He received a slight wound in the right arm first and we begged of him to go back to the doctor and get it dressed, but he would not go. Then we lost sight of him. The battle was over, and we could not find our beloved Peter. We looked everywhere, on every hospital boat, and every hospital, but could not find him. The next day we tried with a flag of truce to go on the battlefield and look for our wounded, but the rebels would not let us.

          At last on the 31st they agreed to let us bury our dead, and then it was that we found your husband’s body. He was stripped of everything valuable: watch, diary, sword, revolver, and money, even his boots they had pulled off but no other clothing. He had received a wound in his right breast from a piece of shell. He was looking as natural as if he was living yet. We buried him not far from the battlefield and put a piece of board with his name cut in on the grave. May he rest in peace.

          Our loss in the regiment is very heavy: out of 17 officers we have lost 12 in killed and wounded and out of 290 privates we have lost 111 killed and wounded. In the Missouri regiments the loss is heavier still. One of the Missouri regiments has lost its flags.

          Your husband’s trunk will be forwarded to you as soon as practicable. If you want any other information, I am always at your service. Helping this calamity will find you well-prepared, I remain your obedient servant,
Robert Specht,
Orderly Sergeant, Co. E, 58th Regt., O.V.I.

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 t...
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 ...
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 h...
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 Ma...
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 se...
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

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...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more