With the Jasper Greys at Gaines Mill

    The 16th Mississippi Infantry mustered into service in June 1861, having been raised from several counties in southeastern Mississippi. Sent to Virginia, the regiment served with Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley campaign and then, along with the rest of Jackson's army, was sent to the environs of Richmond to assist Robert E. Lee in driving away George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. 

    The following letter was written by a member of the Jasper Greys (Co. F of the 16th Mississippi Infantry) to the editors of the Eastern Clarion newspaper of Paulding, Mississippi in the immediate aftermath of the Seven Days' battles. The author, identified as "M.," and pointed out by one of the blog's astute readers to be former editor J.G. Markham, felt confident that Lee's victory over McClellan would turn the tide of war in favor of the Confederacy, going so far to predict that the victory ensured European intervention and thus independence. His missive appeared on the first page of the August 1, 1862 issue. 

Private Silas Andrew Shirley, Co. H (Smith Defenders), 16th Mississippi Infantry. Shirley was killed in action May 12, 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and is buried at Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery (Library of Congress)


Camp of 16th Mississippi Regiment

Near Charles City Courthouse, 27 miles from Richmond, Virginia

July 6, 1862

 

Friend Carter,

          I have thought for some time of writing you an account of matters and things here, but the constant excitement and the continued succession of battles which are even now not over have prevented me. I now sit down to write you a letter but do not know that I may not be prevented by a battle from finishing it. The portion of the army to which we are attached, embracing the divisions of Ewell and Stonewall Jackson, after going through the fatigue of marching between 400-500 miles in the space of two months, were ordered to join the main army at Richmond, and in doing this our regiment passed through Gordonsville exactly two months from the time we left it to go to the valley. From Gordonsville, which is 76 miles from Richmond, we took the cars for Louisa Courthouse and from there to Beaver Dam, which last place is distant from Richmond about 35 miles.

          From this place, the regiment and all the army that had been in the Shenandoah Valley marched to a place called Ashland 15 miles from Richmond. It left this last place on Thursday the 26th of June, Jackson directing his march on the north of the Chickahominy River so as to get on the rear of the right of the army of General McClellan, which was posted on both sides of the river. McClellan’s left was on the south side of the Chickahominy and within four or five miles of Richmond while the right occupied the area north of that river and varying in distance from six to twelve miles from Richmond. Both wings were strongly fortified. The right was beginning to cut off all communication with Richmond from the north and had already interrupted the railroad to Gordonsville. This part of their army was in communication with the Pamunkey and York rivers, while the left was supplied through the James.

Period map depicting the Battle of Gaines Mill. The 16th Mississippi as part of Richard Ewell's division participated in an attack on the Federal center around 7 p.m.

          The first effort of our forces was to drive them from north of the Chickahominy River, and this was affected in the fight of Friday the 27th of June [Gaines’ Mill]. This was a most bloody and desperate fight and resulted in a complete victory to the Confederate arms. The enemy was driven across the river in great confusion, large numbers of guns and artillery were captured with many stores of every kind. But the loss of life was heavy on both sides. The Yankee loss was the greatest, but ours was considerable. Their artillery was well served, and the scene of the battlefield for the next several days was awful beyond description- men and horses were lying dead in heaps. But I will not dwell on the horrors of the scene; the grand schemes of McClellan, for the present at least, are completely frustrated, and his great effort since that time has been to save his army by a retreat to his gunboats.  There have been heavy battles since, but these have been made by McClellan in order to cover his retreat. It is to be regretted on our side that from the nature of the ground and the long extent of McClellan’s line, no general engagement in open field could take place. Such an engagement, there can be no room to doubt, would have resulted in a completed Waterloo to the boasted young Napoleon.

          The fight of Friday was, however, on a grander scale than any that has ever taken place before on this continent, approaching the great conflicts of European nations. About 50,000 men on each side were engaged and the fight was as desperate as any recorded in the annals of war. The superiority in number and use of the Yankee artillery was manifest, while their positions behind breastworks and abatis gave them greatly the advantage of us also in the use of musketry. If firing alone had been depended on, McClellan would today be in Richmond. But the fight was decided by the bayonet. The Yankees were not, so far as I have learned, driven from a single point except by bayonet charges, and when it came to this, there was no use in talking- they skedaddled every time- couldn’t stand it.

The casualty list of the 16th Mississippi totaled 15 killed and 49 wounded as reported by Lieutenant Colonel J.J. Shannon. This list appeared on the front page of the July 5, 1862 Richmond Dispatch. 


          For an account of the part borne by the 16th Regiment, I enclose you a copy of a communication published in the Richmond Dispatch. Your readers will recognize the initial of the writer and they may rely on its correctness. The regiment by its conduct in the two engagements in which it has figured has won a reputation for valor second to none in the service, and which must be gratifying to the pride of all Mississippians.

But alas! The libation to glory and to victory must ever be the blood of the brave and true. Our loss has been severe. Our ranks thinned by long marches and fatiguing service in the Valley counted only about 400 muskets on the day of battle. Our of this number we lost nearly 100 in killed and wounded. I regret to say that the Jasper Greys lost more than their portion in killed. Six of our brave boys were among the slain, to wit: Thomas J. Overstreet, Uriah M. Mounger, W.W. Bruce, Clement James, George W. Keeton, and William Davis. Captain Walton received two severe and painful wounds, one in the face, the other in the shoulder, and Richard Ervin was shot through the calf of the leg. Several others were struck with spent balls or stunned by concussions, but none of them sufficiently injured to be reported on the list of wounded. Overstreet and Bruce were shot through the head, Keeton and James through the body below the chest on the right side by a fragment of shell, and Davis was shot through the groin with a musket ball. The two last lived several days, and vain hopes were entertained of their recovery. I feel assured that every attention was given them possible under the circumstances, and heart-rending as will be the melancholy news to their surviving friends, they have the consolation to know that they have died the death of brave men fighting for their country- the noblest death that a man can die.

Battle of Gaines' Mill marker

I say brave men and the term no more than describes our lamented comrades. During the whole of the terrific engagement, no men could have appeared more insensible to danger or borne themselves with more steady fortitude and courage. Their names and deeds, if forgotten by others, will ever be remembered by those who shared with them the perils of that memorable day. Our neighbors of Smith County, Captain Hardy’s company, the “Defenders,” bore themselves with conspicuous gallantry and I am glad to say they were more fortunate than we. Few of the number were wounded and it is though they will all recover. The names are Sergeant Summer, Privates Z.M. Russell, D.O. Summer, and P. Vansant.

It is too early to speculate upon the effects of this victory upon the future of the war, and the general results of the great struggle in which we are engaged. At the present writing, we are unable to tell the exact extent of McClellan’s disaster or of our triumph. But it may safely be assumed that the “on to Richmond” is indefinitely postponed. In fact, I doubt whether it will again be attempted. The news will fall like a peal of thunder in a clear sky upon the Northern ear. Not a doubt was entertained amongst them of the speedy occupation of Richmond by their armies. The public has been so assured with such repeated emphasis and from such sources of authority and intelligence that it will now be impossible with the arts of duplicity and lying possessed by their newspapers and public men to conceal the fact that they have sustained a humiliating defeat; that the grand object of the campaign is further off than before, and that the work of subjugating the South had to be begun de novo. What will be the effect? Will it cause our enemies to listen to reason, and abandon their insane attempts at our conquest, or will it stimulate them to frenzy and induce them to put forth more gigantic efforts than ever for the achievement of their diabolical purposes? You will find these questions in all their bearings discussed to your hand by the best pens in the country, so I will not bore you further than to say that, in my humble opinion, in the first place it assures us of speedy foreign intervention, and in the next (intervention or non-intervention), it assures our ultimate independence, no matter whether the North be filled with despondency or fired to desperation.

Colonel Carnot Posey
16th Mississippi

I should not neglect to state that in the recent battle the conduct of our officers was all that could have been expected of Mississippians, and so, also, with few exceptions, of the men. Colonel Carnot Posey was wounded in the Battle of Cross Keys, and Lieutenant Colonel Shannon had been compelled to fall out sick, and be left behind on the march from the Valley, a circumstance greatly regretted by himself and friends for we know had he been with us, he would have been fully “up to time.” Major Baker and Captain Brown of the Summit Rifles (Pike Co.) and Adjutant Ruth of Co. G led the regiment in gallant style. The latter was killed while rushing forward in advance of the column. The officers of the Greys acted nobly as men ever did on a field of battle. Walton was shot down while charging and cheering his men. Wilson and Terrel both were everywhere urging on the files and encouraging them by voice and example. Duke, to his infinite chagrin and regret, had been detailed in the morning to guard a hospital. We know what his conduct would have been for the army contains no braver man or true spirit.

Reverend G.J. Boheim, who had been with the regiment in the capacity of a volunteer chaplain to the members of his own church for near three months, died suddenly on the 25th of June. His health had been failing for some time and his friends urged him to go home. He was lying in the room with Colonel Shannon conversing when the attention of the latter was arrested by a strange stoppage in his speech, and turning to Boheim, found him dead. Verily a good man has gone to his reward. His remains were sent to the Catholic bishop at Richmond.

The weather here for the last few weeks has been excessively hot, which with marching, watching, and fighting, gives our boys a taste of the stern realities of soldier life. Determined as we all are to stay and see this fight out to the bitter end, there is still not one of us but will hail with joy the day that spans again our Southern sky with the bow of peace, and restores us once more to the embraces of friends and the sweet pleasures of home.

 

M.

Comments

  1. AirborneMay 12, 2023 at 12:13 PM

    The "M" writing the Eastern Clarion is almost certainly J.G. Markham who was editor of the paper before mustering with the Jasper Greys in Paulding, MS. My great grandfather was Colonel JJ Shannon, who was with with Fr. Boheim when he died. He was the proprietor of the Eastern Clarion paper.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dan MastersMay 13, 2023 at 6:32 AM

      Thank you! I have updated the post accordingly.

      Delete

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

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

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

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
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

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
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

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more