Flags of Chickasaw Bayou

    For General Stephen D. Lee, repulsing the Federal attack at Chickasaw Bayou on December 29, 1862 was almost too easy. “At 11 a.m., Federal infantry 6,000 strong moved gallantly up under our artillery fire, crossing the dry lake at two points, one being in front of the vacated pits and the other about 200 yards from my line. Here our fire was so terrible that they broke, but in a few moments they rallied again sending a force to my left flank. This force was met by the 28th Louisiana and 42nd Georgia and handsomely repulsed. Our fire was so severe that the enemy lay down to avoid it. Seeing their confusion, the 26th Louisiana and a part of the 17th Louisiana were marched on the battlefield and under their cover 21 commissioned officers and 311 non-commissioned officers and privates were taken prisoners, four stand of colors and 500 stand of arms captured,” Lee wrote.[1] Federal casualties in the assault at Chickasaw surpassed 1,700 men, while Confederates losses numbered roughly 200.

 

The tangled undergrowth of Chickasaw Bayou impeded Federal efforts to reach Vicksburg through its vulnerable flank. The assault on December 29, 1862 proved to be a fruitless venture that cost the Union army 1,700 casualties. 

          The following day, some of the prizes of war were put on display in front of Major General Martin L. Smith’s headquarters. A correspondent with the Mobile Register noted that “four of the five colors captured” on December 29th were on display. “One belonged to the 29th Missouri; this was very bloody and must have been in the hottest of the fight. Another, the 58th Ohio, was badly torn, a shell having passed through the center. Another, the 13th Illinois, was badly mangled and the other, the flag of the 31st Missouri, was uninjured,” it was reported.[2]

 

The identity of this fifth flag is elusive although most accounts published in Southern newspapers specifically report the capture of five flags. General Lee reported capturing four flags, all from General Frank P. Blair’s brigade as noted above, and the other regiments that were in close enough proximity to the Confederate works to risk having their flag captured at Chickasaw all belonged to Colonel John DeCourcey’s brigade. Colonel DeCourcey specifically stated in his after-action report that “all regiments brought back their colors.” However, it is possible that the fifth flag captured was the brigade headquarters flag that belonged to General Blair. A correspondent with the Daily Missouri Republican reported that during the truce of December 31st when the Federals were permitted onto the field to bury their dead, he conversed with a number of Confederates about the battle. “They boasted of having taken the standard of Blair’s command, a proud distinction for that flag as it was planted near the last line of works,” he wrote.

 

General Frank P. Blair
(Library of Congress)

          Blair’s brigade arrived at Chickasaw Bayou on December 26, 1862 aboard several different transports: the 13th Illinois aboard the John Warner, the 58th Ohio aboard the Polar Star, the 29th Missouri aboard the Kennett, and the 31st Missouri aboard the Isabella. The two Missouri regiments had just entered the service, and the 29th Missouri carried a flag presented to them by the citizens of St. Louis. The 13th Illinois and 58th Ohio had been in service for about a year, the 13th Illinois having been in Arkansas and Missouri while the 58th Ohio had seen service at Shiloh and in western Tennessee. The brigade was organized at Helena, Arkansas and actually consisted of six regiments; the above four named which lost their flags at Chickasaw and the 30th and 32nd Missouri which missed out on the assault. General Blair, newly commissioned as brigadier general, assumed command of the brigade for the Vicksburg expedition.

 

          General Blair’s report describes the situation he faced on December 29, 1862. “I made a personal reconnaissance of the enemy’s position in my front,” he wrote. “It was exceedingly difficult. The works of the enemy on their right were more formidable than any other approach. Almost every gun and rifle pit bore on upon us and many enfiladed our line of battle. The natural obstructions were certainly as great as from any other direction, and we had not the advantage of as thorough or complete a reconnaissance of the ground, not had we the facilities of a pontoon bridge to cross the bayou in our front which was deep and the bottom of it nothing but treacherous quicksand. The enemy had improved their position with consummate skill. The bed of the bayou was perhaps 100 yards in width covered with water for a distance of 15 feet. On the side of the bayou held by my troops, there was a growth of young cottonwoods thickly set which had been cut down by the enemy at the height of three to four feet and the tops of these saplings thrown down among these stumps so as to form a perfect net to entangle the feet of the assaulting party. Passing through this and coming to that part of the bayou containing water, it was deep and miry and when this was crossed we encountered a steep bank on the side of the enemy at least ten feet high covered with a strong abatis and crowned with rifle pits from end to end. Above them was still another range of rifle pits, and still above a circle of batteries of heavy guns which afforded a direct and enfilading fire upon every part of the plateau which rose gently from the first range of rifle pits to the base of the embankment which formed the batteries. These formidable works, defended by a strong force of desperate men such as held them on the 29th, would seem to require almost superhuman efforts top effect their capture.”[3]

 

          The Missourian formed his brigade into two line stacked one behind the other with a two-regiment front with 50 yards spacing between the lines. In the front line, the 13th Illinois being the right front regiment and the 31st Missouri the left front regiment. The 58th Ohio supported the 13th Illinois and the 29th Missouri supported the 31st Missouri. All told, Blair’s brigade had about 1,800 men that took part in the assault. Just before noon, the signal to begin the assault was given and Blair’s men marched forward through a storm of artillery fire and musketry that eventually would claim a third of the force. “The brigade rushed with impetuosity to the attack and pressed over every obstacle and through a storm of shell and rifle bullets and carried the first and second ranges of the rifle pits with an irresistible charge,” General Blair reported. But the brigade bogged down as they approached the Confederate guns atop the bluff; the men went to ground and continued to take heavy casualties. The first and second lines became intermixed as the soldiers desperately tried to push the assault. General Blair looked to his right expecting Colonel DeCourcey’s men to assist in the charge, but they had likewise fallen to ground near the works and could go no further. It quickly became a bloodbath.[4]

 

The captured colors of the 29th Missouri Volunteer Infantry; note the tattered condition of the flag and the large blood stain above "29th Regt." (Missouri State Museum)

          “So dense now hung the smoke that the heights appeared enveloped in a terrific storm,” a reporter recalled. “Out of the clouds came rolls like thunder, one clap dying away in the roar of another. The color bearer of the 29th [Missouri] was struck down; a sergeant seized the flag. It was one given by the ladies of St. Louis and the company bore it in trust. Torn into shreds, ragged, but already covered with glory, the tattered ensign again rose from the bloody ground. Grasped by Lieutenant Henry A. Rosenbaum, it was borne bravely forward a few steps when he also fell, one leg torn from its socket by a cannon shot. Captain Rogers cried ‘The colors must never drop,’ and again there was a standard bearer and again one moment after, there was a corpse. Receiving a ball in his breast, he fell dead grasping the standard even while his brave heart fled. The colors were down and did not rise again. The enemy, rifling our dead at night, found the flag consecrated by the best blood of that company, and carried it away.”[5] Captain William H. Gray of the 29th Missouri wrote that “our regiment was literally cut to pieces” at Chickasaw Bayou, “losing full half of the fighting force in the attempt. It was indeed a death trap.” The 29th Missouri lost 19 killed, 70 wounded, and 61 captured.[6]

         

          Sergeant Jesse D. Pierce of Co. H carried the colors of the 13th Illinois in the assault but was struck down shortly after crossing the first line of enemy rifle pits. The concussion of a shell knocked him insensible. “He suddenly lost consciousness of everything and remained in that condition until partly restored by the cold rain which fell heavily the succeeding night; and he was then made a prisoner,” wrote the regimental historian of the 13th Illinois. “He was informed by his captors that he was found lying on the flag, supposedly dead, and that he had to be rolled over to liberate the flag, which they valued much more than they did the sergeant.” The regiment lost 27 killed, 107 wounded, and 40 captured.[7]

 

Men of the 13th Illinois Infantry in the fall of 1862 in Arkansas (Wilson Creek National Battlefield)

The captured flag later turned up in the office of Major Thomas P. Turner at Libby Prison and was discovered by a Massachusetts soldier on April 3, 1865 as the Confederates were abandoning the city. “John F. Locke entered Major Turner’s office, found two captured Union flags, one silk, the other bunting, and hung out the Union flag from a window or doorway before any of our troops were in sight and while there were yet many straggling Rebel soldiers in the street. He claims thus to have raised the first Union flag in Richmond,” S.K. Lothrop wrote. The flag was then presented to Governor John Andrew in May 1865 who then sent the colors to Governor Oglesby of Illinois. [8]

 

The story of the colors of the 31st Missouri is a confused one. The Confederates reported displaying an undamaged flag bearing the identification of the 31st Missouri in Vicksburg the day after the battle, but two soldiers from the 13th Illinois also reported retrieving flags marked as belonging to the 31st Missouri from the field. After dark on December 29th, Private Jack Kenyon of Co. K, 13th Illinois crawled onto the battlefield to try and retrieve the lost regimental standard of the 13th Illinois and thought he had succeeded. “In his search he came across a flag whose figures he thought were a “one” and a “three.” While not knowing our flag was missing, this seemed proof that it was so, and he determined to rescue it from eventually falling into the enemy’s hands. He tore the flag from the staff and wound it about his body and continued what proved an unavailing search. Just before daylight, he had recrossed the bayou and reached camp only to find that the flag was the state flag belonging to the 31st Missouri,” it was written. Private George Sutherland of Co. I had made a mental note of the location of a fallen U.S. flag while the regiment was retreating from the field that afternoon. “He noticed a flag partly rolled up and nearly concealed under the body of a dead soldier and the other wreckage of the battlefield. Enough of the flag was exposed to show a figure “three” and he had no doubt that it was our flag. From the first, he had determined to return to the battlefield during the night and bring away the flag,” it was stated. Sutherland obtained permission from the regimental surgeon to conduct the search and “after a tedious search he found the flag and dragged it, staff and all,” to the first line of rifle pits then ran for the bayou and triumphantly bore his trophy to Surgeon Plummer who was taken down considerably by the revelation that it was the national colors of the 31st Missouri.” If both the state and national colors of the 31st Missouri were retrieved, it is possible that the flag captured by the Confederates was a flank marker identified with the 31st Missouri. The 31st Missouri lost 17 killed, 72 wounded, and 62 captured.[9]


 

Capt. Andrew Gallfy, 58th O.V.I.

What happened with the flag of the 58th Ohio is also something of a mystery, compounded by the fact that this regiment was a German one and period sources from the regiment are few and far between. The Confederates describe finding the flag in bad condition, a cannon ball having ripped its center, but the circumstances of its loss on the field are unknown. Whitelaw Reid noted that the 58th Ohio “was ordered to charge the enemy’s works which it performed in gallant style, being the first to reach the works. After pressing the enemy back and gaining the first line of rifle pits, it became evident that further efforts would prove unsuccessful. The regiment, therefore, fell back. In this affair, the 58th lost 47% of the whole number engaged. Among the killed were three officers including the brave and efficient Lieutenant Colonel Peter Dister. Among the wounded were captains Morrison and Fix, lieutenants Defenbaugh, Kette, and Oderfeld, while captains Gallfy and Andreregg were captured,” he wrote.[10] It seems likely that a soldier from the 26th Louisiana Infantry captured the 58th Ohio flag, as Captain Anderson Moss captured the diary that belonged to Captain Peter Kaufmann of the regiment upon the field and later had the diary published in the Vicksburg Daily Whig (see here). 

 


[1] United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Volume 29-Part I. Washington: [s.n.], 1894, pg. 682.  

[2] Daily Louisville Journal (Kentucky), January 20, 1863, pg. 4

[3] O.R., op. cit., pg. 655

[4] O.R., op. cit., pg. 656

[5] “The Great Attack on Vicksburg,” Daily Missouri Republican (Missouri), January 15, 1863, pg. 1

[6] “Chickasaw Bayou,” National Tribune, April 25, 1907, pg. 6

[7] Committee of the Regiment, Military History and Reminiscences of the Thirteenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Civil war of the United States, 1861-65. Chicago: Woman’s Temperance Publishing Association, 1892, pg. 248

[8] 13th Illinois Regimental History, op. cit., pg. 285

[9] 13th Illinois Regimental History, op. cit., pgs. 282-283

[10] Reid, Whitelaw. Ohio in the War: Her Statesman, Generals, and Soldiers. Volume II: The History of Her Regiments and Other Military Organizations. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Co., 1895, pg. 351

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