"If Anybody's Boys Go Out, Mine Go." Turchin's Escape at Chickamauga

    In the final hours of the Battle of Chickamauga, Corporal George L. Camp of Co. G of the 92nd Ohio witnessed General John B. Turchin's determination to lead his brigade to safety. "About 4 p.m. an officer came up to General Turchin and told him his brigade was surrounded and must cut its way out or surrender," Camp wrote. "His answer was 'I think is anybody's boys go, mine go.' We at once left our works which we had held for eight hours, went to the rear through the woods and passed around to the left of the Kelly House. We came to the edge of the woods where we halted and soon saw coming down across the farm from towards Snodgrass Hill eight columns of Johnnies. We lay low until they got close enough to be good marks, then General Turchin took his hat by the crown and waving it over his head gave the order 'My brigade, charge bayonet! Give 'em hell, God damn them!'

    Turchin led his boys out, but it came at a high price: when Co. G stacked arms that night, Corporal Camp counted eight guns and found himself in command of the company, being the senior surviving non-commissioned officer. His account of Chickamauga is constructed from segments of two articles he wrote for the National Tribune in 1898 and 1908. 

Corporal George L. Camp, Co. G, 92nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
(Ohio History Connection)


On September 18, 1863, our portion of Thomas’ army lay near the foot of Lookout Mountain. In a few hours we started on an all-night march.  Every rod of fence was burned as we marched along, and it was dangerous at times for the artillery to get by, and if it had not been for the pain they caused us by smoked out we should hardly have known we had any eyes left. We reached Crawfish Springs about daylight, passed Lee’s Gordon’s Mills, and arrived in the neighborhood of the Kelly farm between 9 and 10 o’clock, rested, cooked breakfast, and then went in about 11 a.m. There was no skirmish line in front of the regiment. The ground descended in front of us. We lay flat on the ground.

A comrade and myself selected a pine tree a few feet in front of the line. We would hug the ground to load then rise up and shoot. As the comrade got up on one knee to take aim, a ball struck him in the breast and passed clean through. I helped him back to the rear of the line, where he was taken to the ambulance. He was taken back as far as Nashville, where he died. Our Colonel Benjamin D. Fearing was wounded through both thighs by the same ball as he was passing back and forth along the line. The Johnnies that afternoon charged our battery four times. We would let them get pretty close, then the brigade would give them a volley and charge them back. That afternoon a ball entered my knapsack as I lay on the ground, just missing my head. At dark we were relieved and went to the rear to get some sleep.

Private John A. Hoit of Co. H, 92nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Sunday morning was very foggy. We took the front line again about 8 o’clock. The troops we relieved had built breastworks out of old dry logs. My company and Co. B were sent out to feel for them in the fog. We did not go far before finding all we wished for and had to return to the works. Later, when the fog lifted, the sun dried the leaves and they took fire from our battery, which was located to the left of the regiment and only one company between ours and the battery. The fire got into the breastworks and threatened to leave us without protection unless stopped. We tried to get Co. B to pull out the logs in their front and get over and rake away the leaves, but they declared it would be sure death to a man in front. I said, “Boys, if the works burn, probably most of us will be killed. If one or two get in front and stop the fire and get killed, it may save many lives. If there is one who will volunteer with me, we will run the risk.” A little fellow by the name of John McVey spoke up, “I am your man.” We jumped over and worked with a will, raked away the leaves and pulled out the logs, and assisted by those behind the works, the fire was put out; but how the balls spat all about us and every chunk we picked up a ball would spat it, reminding us to make haste and you can bet we tarried no longer than we needed to. We both got back again without a scratch but McVey, poor fellow, was missing at Buzzard’s Roost Gap and never heard from after.

First Lieutenant James W. Merrill of Co. G, 92nd Ohio was wounded in the right knee and captured on September 20, 1863. He was paroled nine days later and discharged for his wounds the following spring.

About 4 p.m. an officer came up to General Turchin (who commanded our brigade) and told him his brigade was surrounded and must cut its way out or surrender. His answer was “I think if anybody’s boys go out, mine go.” We at once left our works which we had held for eight hours, went to the rear through the woods, passed around to the left of the Kelly house and came to the edge of the woods where we halted. Soon we saw coming down across the farm from towards Snodgrass Hill eight columns of Johnnies. We lay low (only four regiments of us) until they got close enough to be good marks, then General Turchin took his hat by the crown and waving it over his head gave the order: “My brigade, charge bayonet, give ‘em hell, God damn them!” 

General John Basil Turchin, the Russian Thunderbolt. "My brigade, charge bayonet, give 'em hell, God damn them!"

We fired a volley into them and came out of the woods with a yell. The eight lines, not knowing what was in the woods, broke and ran. We ran them clear across the farm. The first volley left Lieutenant James W. Merrill and First Sergeant Charles A. Brown wounded on the field besides a number of others. We captured about 500, but lost about 300. A battery of ours got in position on a hill at our left and began to shell the enemy and we filed up between the guns and stacked arms. All told, in my company there were eight to stack guns, not a commissioned officer, and I the only non-commissioned officer in the company. They kept coming back to the command so that after three days we could muster 25-20 men.

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