With a Dutch Sharpshooter at the Battle of Atlanta

    On the afternoon of July 22, 1864, Private John Henry Puck of Co. G of the 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry volunteered for what he thought would be a safe assignment. He along a dozen or so of his fellow Germans of the 37th Ohio took positions on the top floor of a brick house adjacent to a railroad cut and began to knock holes in the walls to shoot from. Fighting off a Rebel assault from the confines of the brick house was certainly safer duty than taking their chances behind the breastworks. But things didn't work out quite according to plan as Puck remembered at the 1889 reunion of the regiment in St. Mary's Ohio.

The Troup-Hurt House presents one of the most dramatic focal points in the Battle of Atlanta cyclorama. As remembered by Puck, the house served as General Morgan Smith's headquarters and then a sharpshooter's nest for men from the 37th Ohio. Once the Confederate overran the Federal lines at this point, Puck leaped from a second story window and fled to rejoin his command. 


On the morning of July 22nd, it soon became known that the Rebels in our front were gone and we were early on the move to follow them, but as we came to their abandoned line of works, it became evident that our further advance would be disputed. Our regiment’s position was in front of a 2-1/2 story brick house that stood about 200 yards to the right of the Decatur & Atlanta Railroad and from 12-15 back of the breastworks. Of this house, it was said that some enthusiastic Rebel was building it when the war broke out; he said to his workmen that they would first go and whip the Yankees and then come back and finish the house. I will say here that the house was never finished. 


Our division commander General Morgan L. Smith had his headquarters at this house and much of the conversation between staff officers was overhead by us. I remember that Major Charles Hipp, who was in command of the regiment at the time, made suggestions to General Smith about barricading the railroad and burning a collection of houses and outbuildings that stood to the left oblique in our front. But General Smith would not have it, saying that the buildings would come handy for hospital use and to barricade the railroad would be labor lost as he was confident we would take dinner in Atlanta. But we were doomed to disappointment as the dinner that General Smith promised us that day was not realized until the 1st of September.

General Morgan L. Smith

It must have been near 2 p.m. when we could see that the Rebels were making active preparations for an attack when Major Hipp asked for volunteers to go into the brick house as sharpshooters. Some 12 or 15 of us from Companies C and G responded, I being among the number. Upon reaching the upper story of the house, we immediately distributed ourselves into the different rooms and began to break holes through the walls to enable us to fire upon the Rebels as they advanced. And none too soon, for we had hardly made our portholes of sufficient size to enable us to see and fire through when the Rebels advanced in solid columns. By our steady fire poured into them they were forced to retreat. I will say that I have always been on the opinions that if General Smith had heeded our Major’s suggestions, that our division would have been spared the humiliation of being driven out of their works, something that had never happened to them before.

It seems that the Rebels only retreated far enough to come under shelter of the houses before mentioned and from there marched onto the railroad track and also a wagon road running parallel with the railroad and there being a deep cut in both we could neither see or hurt them. I am confident that if a battery with proper support had been stationed at these roads the Rebels never could have broken our line. But as there was neither a battery or infantry there, the Rebels had an easy task of it for they marched through our line with right shoulder arms and opened fire on our line at right angles. They fired with such telling effect that our line soon gave way and the Rebels again occupied their works.

It was in this engagement that I had the most thrilling experience of any battle that I was ever engaged in during my whole service, for we in the house were in blissful ignorance of what was going on below. We had been ordered to keep a sharp lookout in our front and the house not having any openings in the sides towards the railroad, we could not see what was going on upon our left. I presume those of you who were there were too busy just then to pay any attention to us if you even knew we were in the house. We expected that if the Rebels made another attack they would make it from the first direction as the first one, but as from 15-20 minutes went by and no Rebels in sight, we supposed that the fight was over.

Was this soldier with Puck in the Troup-Hurt House? He could have been; this is Corporal John Blase, Co. C, 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

All at once we heard firing on our left but as it only last a few minutes, we paid very little attention to it, never dreaming that we were in danger or that our line could be broken. After several minutes we became uneasy and wanted to see what our boys below were doing, so one of the boys in the room I was in leaned out of the window in order to see the works below when to his horror he discovered that our boys were gone and the works full of Rebels! Upon learning this fact, we hurried down the stairs as fast as we could, but upon reaching the second floor, we found that the Rebel soldiers were already in the house and some of them had started to come up stairs. Here was a dilemma: to stay in the house meant certain capture and perhaps many months in Rebel prisons and to jump from the second story window there would be but a very slim chance to escape. We did not know that the Rebels were already watching every window in the house, but there was no time to investigate. If we were going to try to escape, we must act.

The 37th Ohio monument at Vicksburg National Battlefield. The 37th Ohio was the third German regiment to leave the Buckeye state, the first being the 9th Ohio and the second being the 28th Ohio. Several more would follow after the 37th including the 58th, 106th, 107th, and 108th regiments.
(Image by Phil Spaugy)

I with perhaps a half dozen more men made a break from the windows and jumped down, not knowing whether the Rebels were there to take us in. The house as I remember it had five windows on the side we jumped out from, and I chose the center window, I being in the lead of two more boys of my company. I will state here that when we went to work in the morning to change front to the Rebel works, our regiment unslung knapsacks and piled them up in the rear of the house. When I jumped out of the window, I landed upon the large pile of knapsacks which broke my fall but sent me sprawling to the ground. As I rose to my feet, there were several Rebels standing at the corner of the house to my right who commanded me to halt but without taking a second thought I started on a dead run and think better time was never made than I made on that run of perhaps 400-500 yards.

After running this distance, I overtook a small squad of our boys and no Rebels being in sight, we started to where one of our boys said our regiment was located. We had only gone about a hundred yards when General John Logan came riding along, ordering us to stay where we were and in less time than it takes me to tell it, he had gathered from 1,200-1,500 men from I should say at least a half dozen regiments. After forming this mixed force into line and making a short speech, we went forward again with a will, charging our lost position. We came out of the woods a little to the left of the brick house and captured a number of prisoners. 

Source: 

Ninth Reunion of the 37th Regiment, O.V.V.I., St. Mary’s, Ohio, September 10-11, 1889. Toledo: Montgomery & Vrooman, 1890, pgs. 48-51

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

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

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