Death in the Bayou: The 16th Ohio at Chickasaw Bluffs

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou or Chickasaw Bluffs (December 26-29, 1862) represented General U.S. Grant’s first major effort to capture the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. His close friend General William Tecumseh Sherman commanded a force of four divisions totaling roughly 32,000 federal troops which undertook this expedition. The plan was to sail up the Yazoo River to a point just north of the city of Vicksburg, effectively landing in the rear of the city’s defenses, then take the position by storm. The effort ultimately failed, stymied by unexpectedly stout Confederate defenses, and the significant challenges of the ground itself.

Chickasaw Bayou in 1864

Sherman’s men landed in a heavily wooded swamp, a tangled growth of cypress trees, vines, and bushes more home to turtles, alligators, and vermin than to heavily loaded infantrymen. After a few days of maneuvering, Sherman directed an assault on December 29, 1862 that became a bloody repulse; all told, the Federals lost 1,776 casualties during the campaign and extracted less than 200 casualties from the Confederates. Significantly, one out of six Federal casualties at Chickasaw Bayou came from just one regiment: the 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The second organization [a three months’ organization saw service from May-August 1861] of the 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry mustered into three years’ service on October 2, 1861 at Camp Tiffin in Wooster, Ohio. Raised throughout the northeastern part of Ohio, the 16th Ohio was led by Colonel John F. DeCourcey and was armed with .71 caliber French-made Vincennes muskets and saber bayonets, and the 16th Ohio was the only Ohio regiment so equipped. Initially sent into eastern Kentucky, the 16th Ohio saw action at the seizure of Cumberland Gap in April 1862 and took part in a small unit action at Tazewell, Tennessee in August 1862. Driven all the way back to Ohio River by the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in late August 1862, the regiment arrived “worn out, ragged, shoeless, and covered with the accumulated dust of sixteen days’ march. Their appearance was forlorn in the extreme.”

Corporal James M. Dennis, Co. F
Library of Congress

Rested and re-equipped, the 16th Ohio left Point Pleasant, Virginia in November 1862 and was sent down to Memphis, Tennessee via steamboat where it joined the Army of the Tennessee. Assigned to Brigadier General George Washington Morgan’s Third Division of Sherman’s 15th Army Corps, Colonel DeCourcey (as senior colonel in the brigade) assumed command of the Third Brigade which consisted of the 16th Ohio, 42nd Ohio, 54th Indiana, and 22nd Kentucky regiments.  Loaded upon the steamer Henry von Phul, Colonel DeCourcey and the 16th Ohio set out from Memphis for their meeting with destiny at the Chickasaw Bluffs on December 20, 1862.


    The following account from Private John H. Thomson of Co. G of the 16th Ohio describes this deadly charge of December 29, 1862. It was originally published in the February 6, 1863 issue of the Delaware Gazette of Delaware, Ohio; the editor of the Gazette was Thomson's older brother.
Tattered national colors of the 16th Ohio

Chickasaw Bluffs, Mississippi
January 18, 1863

          We landed a few miles above Vicksburg Christmas evening. Friday afternoon skirmishers were thrown out and several regiments sent to feel the enemy. They soon found him and a lively fire was kept up for some time; the gunboats in the meantime throwing shells, etc. But soon all was quiet again and we slept on the boats. Saturday morning our division advanced a mile and a half which took us all day. Towards evening the advance had quite a sharp fight with the enemy having two to four killed and nine wounded. We slept on our arms and early Sunday morning we marched down to where the other regiments were. We had hardly arrived when the enemy fired upon the pickets to our left. We were soon in line and the firing for several hours was terrific in the extreme. The right of the line and the artillery suffered severely. About noon the firing slackened a little. Our line and artillery moved down over the levee; our division was lying behind it in reserve. One of our men was shot through the head and killed while asleep. We then moved behind the levee for better protection.

General George W. Morgan
Commanding Third Division

At this time the Rebels attempted to capture our battery and charged furiously upon it. General [George W.] Morgan ordered several regiments to charge on them, our regiment included.  We drove them at this time about half a mile. They opened their artillery and infantry upon us, and the thunder of battle on both sides was truly frightful- the men began to fall very fast- one ball brought down eight men of the 54th Indiana to the ground and three of them lay dead in a heap, one having his head knocked off- the dead lay around pretty thick.

It was a delightful Sabbath morning when we started out to meet the enemy and felt it was wrong all the time I was engaged in it. The bullets came thick and fast and though I saw many of my companions and friends fall all around me, through the mercy of God, I was spared. The fighting ceased only with the darkness of night. I slept but little and the battle opened early Monday morning, mostly with artillery. About noon it was rumored that our brigade was going to charge the Rebel works. The men were in ranks with arms stacked awaiting orders. Soon the word came to fall in, which we all did cheerfully. General Morgan rode up and said, “My boys, I want you to take that hill. I know you can do it. I put great confidence in you. I want you to jump like rabbits over the trees and brush and you will win immortal glory for yourselves. By God, we will take it.”
Private Thomas Eagle, Co. I, 16th Ohio Infantry
Library of Congress

We started across felled timber and through water and mud about a mile under a most galling fire of shot and shell from six Rebel batteries. Our men fell by dozens. But on we went. I pressed on till I got to their second breastworks. How I got there I don’t know, for many a brave man fell long before this. I screened myself as well as I could behind one of their rifle pits, but they were not made to shield us, and afforded by little protection. Right beside me, to my left, lay a young man with his brains blown out. To my right was one with his arm broke and another with his fingers shot off, and Mr. Kizer dropped down right behind me with his arm shot off. Poor man! I can see him running yet, carrying his arm along with him.

Map of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, December 26-29, 1862
Courtesy of Hal Jespersen (www.cwmaps.com)

We soon found it was no use, and our men began to retreat. I hardly knew whether to risk an attempt to get back or not. I looked around and could see neither of the wounded men I had seen a few minutes before. I started back and, thank the Lord, I did not get a scratch. I believe your prayers helped me. I tell you I thought of you and my poor little children. But there was little opportunity to think of anything for the battle was awfully terrific at this time. With men falling all around, some without arms and others shot through with cannon balls, some with hands or legs off, think you could then be much time for reflection? About this time Colonel Philip Keshner of our regiment was shot. Captains Addison S. McClure, Cushman Cunningham, William P. Vandoorn, Milton Mills, and George H. Harn are all gone. The Rebels waited till we got pretty well up before they opened all their six batteries. To hear the shrieks and groans of the wounded was awful.

Chickasaw Bluffs as viewed from General Morgan L. Smith's position

It rained hard all night- they were in it and remained out all the next day. Tuesday night it was very cold and there was a hard frost. I stood picket close to the Rebels- could hear them talk and chop and heard their band play “The Star Spangled Banner.” Our wounded were yet out in the cold and darkness, moaning and calling for water. On Monday evening, the Rebels fired on a flag of truce three times and twice on Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning, I saw with hundreds of others, the Rebels running from one dead man to another picking their pockets and stripping them of their clothing. Our men fired whenever they got a chance.

Captain Eli W. Botsford, Co. C
Led the remainder of the regiment off the field
(Find-A-Grave)

About noon on Wednesday our men got in with a flag of truce and had four hours to get off the dead and wounded. Only two or three of the wounded were yet living. Only think of it! Forty-eight hours in the weather without food, drink, or attention of any kind! The wretches stripped every dead man of his boots or shoes and clothing. I did feel near so bad while in battle as I did at night.

Many of our brave men are gone to return no more. Half of our regiment is missing. What a fearful thing is war, and what sad havoc it makes. It is heartrending to see how men are killed and mangled up. I saw on Wednesday afternoon about one hundred dead men in a row laid side by side. It was a fearful sight to look upon- and nearly all of them stripped naked by the worse then heathens with whom we are contending.
16th Ohio Infantry Regimental Colors




Another soldier of the regiment reported that Colonel John F. DeCourcey refused to lead the regiment in the bloody charge and described the impact the heavy losses had on morale. “Colonel DeCourcey stood to one side and neither said stay or go. He said we would be cut to pieces if the charge was made, and his words came true. Our regiment went in with 18 officers and came out with five, two of whom were wounded. The 16th Regiment is ‘gone up.’ Six companies have been made of what is left. The boys all swear they will leave at the first opportunity and that they won’t fight under drunken generals or for the Negro. Sherman, Morgan, and the other field officers were all drunk. Morgan blames Sherman for destroying the 16th Ohio; I blame them both. The truth is, a man is not used half as well here as a dog is in Holmes County.” Letter from “N.,” Holmes County Farmer, February 12, 1863, pg. 2

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