Prelude to an Awful Finale: A Buckeye Sergeant at Chickamauga



A few weeks ago, I shared a letter from a gunner with Battery H of the 5th U.S. Light Artillery that described how his battery was overrun at the Battle of Chickamauga. (see post here) Today’s blog post features an account from Orderly Sergeant Samuel Berryhill Price who served in Co. A of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and who was caught up in that same Confederate attack on the morning of September 19, 1863.
Lieutenant Colonel Obediah C. Maxwell, 2nd Ohio Infantry
Wounded at Chickamauga and discharged for wounds in February 1864
The 2nd Ohio as part of Colonel Benjamin Scribner’s First Brigade of Absalom Baird’s First Division of the 14th Army Corps was in the same part of the field as Battery H and likewise was driven from their position by Govan and Walthall’s assault. During the vicious fighting at Chickamauga, the 2nd Ohio lost Lieutenant Colonel Obadiah Maxwell wounded, then Major William T. Beatty was wounded and captured leaving the regiment under command of Captain James Warnock. All told, the 2nd Ohio lost 183 men at Chickamauga, 36 of whom were captured and sent into the prisoner of war camps of the South.
Sergeant Price’s account, written to his mother one month after the battle, was published in the November 20, 1863 issue of the Urbana Citizen & Gazette.


Chattanooga, Tennessee
October 19, 1863
          My dear mother,
          I received your kind letter of the 5th of October yesterday but as I was busy with writing appertaining to the company, I could not answer sooner. Well mother, as you have asked me several times in former letters to write more about the movements of the army and especially our own regiment, I will give you a history of the Battle of Chickamauga as I saw it. I will not be as voluminous nor as vivid probably as a regular newspaper correspondent, for they have better chances of seeing than I have and that is their business.

          I will commence with September 18th, the day previous to the first day’s fight. On the evening of that day we were lying on the banks of the Chickamauga some 18 miles from this place. About dark we had orders to draw 60 rounds of ammunition per man and prepare for a march. This we did but we had no idea that we were on the eve of a terrible battle. About dark our whole corps commenced moving towards Chattanooga. We marched slowly all night and at dawn arrived at the memorable battleground of Chickamauga. We were filed off the road and drawn up in a line of battle facing southeast and our backs on Chattanooga. About 7:30 a.m. we heard sharp skirmishing on the left apparently about a mile from us. In the course of half an hour, there was a rumor that Brigadier General [Edward M.] McCook had sent a dispatch to General [George H.] Thomas stating that there were two Rebel brigades on our side of Chickamauga Creek, and that he had burnt the bridge to their rear and asked General Thomas to send a division of infantry down to capture them. General [John M.] Brannan happening to be at headquarters at that time asked permission to take his division down and engaged them, which was granted.

Presently that splendid division marched past us towards the left. It was the largest division in the army and most of its men had never smelt powder but in it was the gallant 9th Ohio and 10th Indiana (of Mill Springs renown). They soon got into action and the heavy volleys of musketry and frequent discharges of artillery which soon increased to an uninterrupted roar attested that they were hotly engaged. In the course of 15 minutes, orders came for our division (Baird’s) to go down at support Brannan. We marched down in line of battle, cautiously feeling our way along, intending to take position on Brannan’s right flank. The ground we moved over was dense woods sloping to the southeast. Our company was thrown out as skirmishers about 150 yards in front of the regiment.
Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, morning
Map by Hal Jespersen (www.cwmaps.com)

Pretty soon we came on to the Rebel skirmishers and a sharp fire commenced between our company and their skirmish line. We were ordered to rally on the battalion and it was ordered forward at the double quick. We killed several of the Rebels, wounded several, and captured a great many- they seeming to be glad of a chance to get to surrender. By this time, we had emerged into an open corn field and the steady firing on our left told us that we were advanced far enough. Up to this time we had met with very little resistance. We took our position on the crest of a little hill and laid down.

We could plainly see a Rebel cannon not 150 yards in front of us which presently began to scatter shell, grape, and canister among us and over our heads in wanton profusion. I heard one of the officers say, “Why in the name of God don’t we take that piece?” It was well enough that we did not as the sequel will prove. After firing a few rounds at us and finding that they could not provoke us to charge, they ceased firing and a dead calm prevailed unbroken by even a whispering. Something told me this was only a prelude to some awful finale. I could not imagine what and most of the men seemed impressed with an unknown and undefinable dread.
Major Anson McCook
2nd Ohio Infantry

Five minutes had perhaps passed in this way when the fury of battle burst forth like long pent up thunder to the right and rear of us. We immediately changed front to the right and had just got into position when the Rebels came down upon our single line like a whirlwind. Our fire checked them some, but presently on they came, making the Minie balls whistle over us (we were laying down behind a fence). We stood our ground until the regiments on our right gave way and then every man for himself was the order of the day. Loomis’ splendid [Battery A] 1st Michigan Battery was captured. Our company lost 14 men in ten minutes.  We rallied about 400 yards from the scene of the disaster and marched back to the rear as there was no more need of us at that time as Reynolds and his brave boys came down upon the Rebs like an avalanche, recapturing Loomis’ battery and hurling the enemy back as ruthlessly as they had us.   We did not participate in the fight any more that day until about night when just before dusk we had a little brush with the enemy, but it did not amount to much. That night we slept supper less and cold.

About 3 o’clock the next morning we were silently called up and take to the left center of a new line we had formed. Here we got our breakfast and then carried rails, logs, and stones to build temporary breastworks. That saved many a life that day. We were in hopes that the enemy would not attack us that day as most of us had conscientious scruples about fighting on the Sabbath day. But we were doomed to be disappointed for about 9 a.m. the rattle of musketry on the left told us that the ball was opened. The tide of battle soon engulfed us.

We were laying behind our breastworks two regiments deep and the rebel columns soon appeared over the hill. On they came amid the showers of musket balls, grape, and canister pouring from our lines. Oh, I could not but admire their bravery although they were my deadly enemies. [This attack was made by Benjamin Hardin Helm’s brigade, the famous Orphan Brigade of Kentuckians. Helm, the brother-in law of President Abraham Lincoln, was mortally wounded during this assault and died the following day.] They came within 75 yards, but no troops could stand our fire and finally they broke and fled in wild confusion. O the cheer that we sent up, you should have heard it. Twice more they advanced and twice more were driven back the same way. We captured hundreds of their men and sent them to the rear.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefield Booklet
National Park Service, 1956

About noon, General Rosecrans commenced withdrawing his army to Chattanooga a division at a time and sent orders to all the brigades and divisions to fall back slowly and in good order. Colonel Benjamin Scribner, commanding our brigade, received orders twice to retreat but concluded to hold his ground as long as possible. About 4 o’clock, the Rebels came for us again. [This final assault was undertaken by General William H. T. Walker’s and General John C. Breckinridge’s divisions.] They brought a battery to within 175 yards of us and opened on us with double-shotted canister, grape, and musketry. It seemed to me that the canister was coming over us in sheets and so close that it knocked rotten wood and dirt all over us. I shall never forget that terrible hour as long as I live. Such a roar of firearms and artillery never greeted near ears before and I hope never will again. Presently the colonel gave the order to retreat which we did in a rather hasty manner. [The brigade retreated towards McFarland’s Gap.] The Rebels did not follow us, and we fell back gradually to this place which we reached on the 22nd without further fighting.

Sergeant Price would be severely wounded in the left leg May 14, 1864 during the battle of Resaca and would have that leg amputated twice, once upon the battlefield near the ankle and a month later in Nashville just below the knee. That ended the war for Price, who returned home to Urbana and lived until 1915. 

 To read more about the 2nd Ohio Infantry, I strongly recommend Rick Baumgartner's The Bully Boys which can be purchased here. 

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

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

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

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
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

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
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

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more