Colonel James S. Robinson of the 82nd Ohio at Gettysburg

    In the mid-1880s, noted historian Henry Howe toured through every county in Ohio duplicating a tour he made in the mid-1840s, his aim being to note the changes and progress in the state and to update his book that featured the history of each county. The resulting book, Historical Collections of Ohio, is considered one of the key tomes of Ohio local historical lore. In the midst of his travels, Howe took the opportunity to visit with a number of notable actors in the Civil War, among them the subject of today's blog, General James Sidney Robinson of Kenton, Ohio.

    General Robinson was then closing out his active and successful career as a newspaperman, businessman, Congressman, and soldier. The General lived in a fine home on the north side of Kenton (the house is long gone unfortunately) when Howe came to visit. Robinson had seen four years of service in the Civil War, seeing action throughout Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas with both the 4th and 82nd Ohio Infantry regiments. But when thinking back on the most trying time of his service, General Robinson remembered the day he was wounded at Gettysburg...


          Colonel James S. Robinson entered the fight at Gettysburg as commander of the 82nd Ohio with two other colonels in the brigade ranking him. But within five minutes, one was wounded and the other (Colonel Francis Mahler of the 75th Pennsylvania) was killed while engaged in conversation with him, which devolved upon him the command of the brigade. The firing from the right flank and front was very destructive of human life. His regiment went into action on the morning of July 1, 1863 with 19 officers and 236 men; it lost all but two officers and 89 men. After the death of General Reynolds and other disasters, an order was issued assigning Robinson the command of the division but ere it reached him he was struck in the left breast by a Minie ball which passed clear through his body, making a gaping wound.

Colonel James Sidney Robinson of the 82nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Robinson was the editor of the Hardin County Republican newspaper in Kenton, Ohio before the war and proved himself to be a capable combat leader during his four years of service in the Union Army during the Civil War. Badly wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, he was out of action for months but served as brigade commander through the Atlanta campaign. After the war, he served as president of the Ohio Gettysburg Battlefield Commission, served in Congress, and as Secretary of State for Ohio. Brevetted a major general at the close of the conflict, he died at his home in Kenton, Ohio in 1892. 

          This was just at the edge of Gettysburg and as he fell, his troops were forced to give way before the overwhelming forces of the enemy who swept on and over the field on which he lay wounded. He was taken to the residence of a couple of maiden ladies by the name of McPherson, sister of Hon. Edward McPherson, late Clerk of the House of Representatives, where he lay upon the kitchen floor during the night. The following day, he was taken upstairs and placed in a bed, looking out upon the busy scenes being enacted in town. In the meantime, he had received no treatment whatever. Some water was brought to him which he poured through his wound and which ran through his body like a sieve. To this treatment General Robinson attributes his recovery from a wound which would have killed almost any other man.

General Robinson's Second French Empire-style home was built in the aftermath of the Civil War. It was located on the east side of what is today U.S. 68 (N. Detroit Ave.) where the Western Ohio Health Partners building now exists. A low stone wall now encloses the ground, replacing the iron fence shown in the picture above. 

          After an examination of his wound, a surgeon coolly told him that he could not possibly recover and that he had better complete at an early moment whatever arrangements he wanted to make preparatory to a voyage across the dark river. But the colonel intimated that he had some faith in his recovery and he had no arrangements to make just yet. Another surgeon came and succeeded in finding a small dose of morphine. This gave relief, and he was able to sleep for a few hours. During both days of battle, he could hear the rattle of the musketry and the roar of artillery on all parts of the field.


The Hardin County Museum in Kenton, Ohio maintains an extensive collection of General Robinson's Civil War items including a saddle, stirrups, spurs, the field glasses, folding spy glass, epaulettes, his shoulder straps, hat cord, buttons from his uniform, and other items. 

          On the afternoon of the third day, when the signal gun was fired, and the artillery opened from both lines, the shock was terrible. It fairly shook the building which he occupied. Then came a lull and after that the rattle of musketry. Just as the sound of musketry died away, an officer belonging to General Lee’s staff came riding through the town opposite the Robinson’s window, evidently carrying orders from General Lee to General Johnson on the left. The Rebel provost marshal, who was commanding in the town, occupied the hotel office as his headquarters. He was heard asking Lee’s staff officer for news at the front. ‘Glorious! Longstreet is driving the Yankees to hell!’ Robinson said that that was an anxious moment for him. Finally, the roar of battle entirely ceased and only an occasional shot was heard along the line. Just then a captain on Lee’s staff came riding down with orders to Johnson, probably countermanding the previous order. The Rebel provost marshal again asked the staff officer for the news from the front. ‘Bad enough. Longstreet has been repulsed with terrible slaughter and everything is going to the rear in utter confusion.’

          Those were words of good cheer to the old soldier. He called to a soldier who had remained with him to come forth from his hiding place and requested him to open the back shutters of the house and raise him up and let him look over the battlefield. He saw great confusion in Lee’s lines. Ambulances, caissons, and ammunition wagons were going to the rear in great confusion. The retreat lasted all night long.

          As he lay there wounded, seeing the panic and confusion that had seized Lee’s troops, he longed to get word to General Meade that he might pursue. Meade had some 16,000 fresh troops and had he done so Robinson has always felt that then and there the rebellion would have ended. About daybreak on the morning of July 4th, he heard the welcome voices of his own regiment as they came marching through the town, calling upon some Rebel soldiers who had taken refuge in a barn to surrender.

General Robinson's grave in Kenton, Ohio. 

Source:
 Henry Howe’s Historical Collections of Ohio Volume I, pgs. 883-84

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