Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

  In the aftermath of the Federal defeat at the Battle of Richmond, newly raised troops from throughout the Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois converged on the city of Louisville, Kentucky. It was a confusing and perilous situation: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith’s army had entered Kentucky and after brushing aside the scratch force of raw levies at Richmond was poised to march on either Louisville or Cincinnati.   Reports that General Braxton Bragg’s army was also on the march in Kentucky (with Buell’s army in pursuit) made it clear that the seat of war had been transferred to the Bluegrass. The defenses of neith er city were ready to resist to an attack, and frantic efforts were made to secure these two bastions of Federal power. In Louisville, confusion and panic was the order of the day, not helped at all by General Jeremiah T. Boyle who commanded the district. His frantic telegrams to President Lincoln led to General William “Bull” Nelson being ass...

       If anyone truly had a ringside seat to history, it was James Fitzpatrick aboard the U.S.S. Lexington . On Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, the 448-ton timberclad gunboat was resting quietly at anchor off Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee alongside its fellow timberclad the U.S.S. Tyler . A thunderous noise to the southwest aroused the gunboat crews to the opening of battle and by the early afternoon, Fitzpatrick saw the panicked Federal troops swarming along the banks of the Tennessee River. “Up to 4 p.m. the fighting was brisk on both sides, but it was plain to see that we were having the worst of it," he wrote. "Our men came in by the hundred without arms, having thrown them away, and nothing could induce them to rally again. The day seemed to be entirely lost. The enemy’s shot and shell were falling all around us, but we could not fire for fear of killing our own men.”           Just before 6 o’clock, General Grant si...

       The humiliation of General Nathaniel P. Banks’ army in May 1862 could not have been more complete. In the span of a few days of rapid and fierce fighting, Stonewall Jackson’s army had smashed the Federal army holding the Lower Shenandoah Valley at Front Royal, Middletown, and at Winchester. “Commissary” Banks’ force left behind mountains of much-needed military supplies which Jackson’s men quickly put to use. Federal casualties topped 3,500 men out of Banks’ army of 9,000, and more importantly, the loss of the Valley sent official Washington into a panic.      Among the survivors of Banks’ retreat was a soldier from Co. M of the 1 st Michigan Cavalry. Writing home to his parents from Williamsport, Maryland, the Wolverine confessed “the fact is we were driven out and what is worse, whipped badly besides.” He then proceeded to recount the adventures of the past few days which reads much like scenes from a nightmare. 

In August of 1862, the Confederacy was on the march across a thousand-mile front. In eastern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee was beginning his drive north from Richmond which would culminate in the bloody engagements at Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, and Antietam. In the heartland, Generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith were embarking on their campaign which would carry the Confederate banner into Kentucky. In the far west, Confederate partisan bands started pushing against Federal control of Missouri which resulted in the battles of Moore’s Mill and Kirksville.   In the deep South, General John Breckinridge was on the move as well, his objective being the Federal garrison at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An important point on the Mississippi River, Baton Rouge not only the capital of Louisiana, but it was the furthest north that General Benjamin Butler’s Department of the Gulf had penetrated into the Confederacy. At Baton Rouge lay in camp 3,000 Union troops under the comma...

This image depicts a member of the 34th Ohio, also known as the First Ohio Zouaves, with the tricorn hat carrying a M1855 pistol carbine and a Bacon revolver. This image may date from 1863 or 1864 when the 34th Ohio was serving as mounted infantry. (Minnesota Historical Society)        The 34th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was raised in the summer of 1861 primarily in the western half of the state and has the distinction of being the first Zouave regiment to enter service in Ohio. Zouave regiments are a rare breed in the Buckeye state, the only other one being the 54th Ohio which was raised a little later in 1861 primarily from the eastern half of the state. That said, the 34th Ohio, raised in the western half of the state, served entirely in the eastern theater while the 54th Ohio , raised in the eastern half of the state, served entirely in the western theater with the Army of the Tennessee. Now that we are square on our directions, we can proceed with the story.  ...

     The Battle of Scary Creek, Virginia was fought July 17, 1861 upon a series of hills along the banks of Scary Creek at the junction with the Kanawha River in western Virginia. Confederate forces under Captain George S. Patton had emplaced a masked battery that commanded the river road and an important bridge over Scary Creek in days previous to check the Union advance up the Kanawha. Patton commanded a force of several independent companies in Virginia state service, along with a few cannon from Hales Artillery under Lieutenants James Welch and Charles Quarrier, the entire force numbering roughly 800 men.      Union Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox determined to send out a reconnaissance force of roughly 1,000 men consisting of the 12th Ohio Infantry under Colonel John Lowe, about 100 troops from two companies of the 21st Ohio Infantry under Colonel Jesse S. Norton, a cavalry company under Captain John S. George, and two rifled cannon under Captains W...

By late September 1863, 46-year-old Colonel Oscar F. Moore of the 33 rd Ohio could be described as “war-weary.” The Portsmouth attorney and former Congressman had been badly wounded in the leg and captured at Perryville the previous October, then spent months recuperating from his wound before returning to the regiment with a bad limp. That injured leg nearly proved his downfall on the first day of Chickamauga, which he described as the “severest ordeal of my life.” Colonel Moore had dismounted his horse Morgan at the urgings of his adjutant due to the severity of the Rebel fire and the likelihood that Moore would be struck down sitting atop his horse. But the timing couldn’t have been worse, as shortly after Moore sent his horse to the rear, Liddell’s assault crushed into his brigade flank. The regiment fell back through the woods and though Moore valiantly tried to keep up on foot, but he was “entirely unable to catch up. My wounded leg hobbled me, and I was soon struck with two s...

     A few days ago, I featured a letter written by Captain Calvin Wood of the 13 th Missouri to Samuel M. Jackson back in Scioto Co., Ohio relating the circumstances of the death of Samuel’s brother Isaac Jackson during the Battle of Shiloh. It was on the morning of Sunday, April 6, 1862 and the 13 th Missouri was under attack.           “I had been on the left of the company and had got back to the center I saw your brother laying on his back trying to load; your brother was on the right of the second platoon. He remarked to me that he could not ram his cartridge down. I replied I will help you and turned to assist him. He raised up on his right knee with one hand on the barrel of the piece and the other on the rammer and at that instant a ball passed so near my hand as to burn the back of it and struck him in the neck just below his right ear and out under the left ear, killing him instantly. He never groaned or moved a ...

     The passage of centuries cannot remove the anguish one feels when reading the words of Captain Oliver Wood of the 13th Missouri. One can sense the weight of responsibility and the loneliness of command as he wrote home to a brother of a member of his company who had been killed in battle. Captain Oliver Wood eventually earned a brevet promotion to brigadier general for his services during the Civil War. Along the way, he served as colonel of the 22nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the 4th U.S. Veteran Volunteer Infantry.       " It is a sad duty indeed to me and I am very sorry that I cannot return home at the close of this fratricidal war with all of the brave and gallant men that volunteered to follow my fortunes through the conflict," he wrote to S.M. Jackson following the Battle of Shiloh. "You must permit me, my dear sir, to mingle my tears with yours and to sympathize with you and your relatives in this sad bereavement. Sad, indeed, to you for ...

    In December 1862, the Federal armies based in western Tennessee and Mississippi stood poised to embark on one of the most critical operations of the war: the assault on the Mississippi River bastion of Vicksburg. General U.S. Grant and his army was already busily preparing for a multi-front drive on Vicksburg, one of the key elements of which was a water-borne assault on the northern flank of the city via the Yazoo River. To ensure that Federal troops could safely enter the area, the brown water Navy engaged in frequent patrols of the Yazoo.      Among those sailing upon the Yazoo River was an Ohioan who was intimately familiar with the region. His name was John F. Morton. Prior to the war, Morton had worked the Yazoo for eight years as a pilot aboard several steamboats and as such knew the river as well as anyone in Federal uniform. Morton had been assigned as a special pilot to the Mississippi Squadron in August 1862, having previously served as a lieuten...

     The Confederate victory at the First Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee on July 13, 1862 marked the beginning of a resurgence of Confederate fortunes in the western theater that dovetailed with Confederate victories back east in turning the tides of war. The first six months of 1862 had been marked by disaster and defeat for the western Confederates. Since the turn of the year, Confederate armies had been driven out of Kentucky, lost Forts Henry and Donelson then control of Nashville, lost at Pea Ridge in Arkansas, lost New Madrid and Island No. 10 along the Mississippi, fought and lost a tremendous battle at Shiloh, lost New Orleans, and then evacuated Corinth, Mississippi. In early June, the Federal brown water navy had won a decisive victory at the Battle of Memphis that gave control of the Mississippi River to that point to the Union, and already naval patrols were starting to range further south towards Vicksburg. The closure of the Mississippi would sever the Co...

    The gunboat U.S.S. Lexington had a lengthy and varied service during the Civil War, and seemed to play a role in all of the early western engagements including Belmont , Fort Henry , the Tennessee River expedition , Shiloh , then service on the Mississippi including the assault on Arkansas Post . February 1863 found the Lady Lex assigned to the Cumberland River, bolstering the naval presence on the Army of the Cumberland's major supply line. Confederate cavalry had played hob with the Army of the Cumberland's communications and supplies since the previous summer, and General William S. Rosecrans was determined to put a stop to their interference. Having frequent patrols by Union gunboats would help cut down on guerilla activity, or so it was thought.     It is rather ironic that a year after the first Battle of Fort Donelson (which the Lexington missed), she would play an important role in concluding the Second Battle of Fort Donelson, also known as the Bat...

    The Battle of Perryville was in its opening moments but already Lieutenant Colonel Oscar F. Moore saw that his regiment, the 33rd Ohio, was reaching its breaking point. " I soon discovered that some of the men of Captain Foster’s company were trying to break out of line and run, but I could distinctly see Lieutenant Higby with his sword drawn exerting himself like a hero to force the men back into line. I started as fast as I could to aid him in driving the men back and while I was running at the top of the my speed and just as I got near where Higby was, I felt something strike my leg as if somebody had hit me with a rock or a brick. Not suspecting that anyone was throwing rocks or bricks in that direction just at that time and having a very distinct impression that there were a few bullets flying towards me. I very naturally suspected that possibly might be one of them that had accidentally hit me. I looked down and soon saw the blood flowing very freely which, of course...

     In early April 1863, the 40 th Ohio Volunteer Infantry along with the other troops of the General Gordon Granger’s Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland lay in camp north of the Harpeth River at Franklin, Tennessee. Confederate cavalry had become increasingly active in recent days and on March 25 th , General Nathan Bedford Forrest had struck Brentwood on the outskirts of Nashville and captured two regiments of the Reserve Corps. “General Earl Van Dorn with 9,000 cavalry, two regiments of infantry, and several pieces of artillery was reported at Spring Hill and along the pike south of there to Columbia, and on April 9 th , General David Stanley was ordered from Murfreesboro by way of Triune to strengthen General Granger at Franklin,” wrote Surgeon John Noble Beach of the 40 th Ohio. “It is probable that the movement of General Stanley from Murfreesboro precipitated the attack made on Franklin at noon on the 10 th . If Van Dorn could have had any hopes of a su...