His Grave is Marked by the Lid of a Cartridge Box: A Death at Vicksburg

Surgeon Henry Penniman of the 17th Illinois didn’t witness the death of Dr. John B. Stephenson of his regiment at Vicksburg, but he saw the effect Stephenson’s death had on the rest of the hospital detachment. “We had a fine young man killed out of our hospital mess and since that the balance, some nine or ten men, are more profane, more trifling, more reckless, and everything that indicates a worse condition of heart then before,” he noted in a letter to his wife. “To pass away the time, play cards, drink, eat, run around, or do anything that will hinder the serious thoughts of eternity, this is all.”

          Stephenson, serving as a sergeant in Co. F but detailed to the medical department of the regiment, had been up front observing the effect of Federal artillery fire on the afternoon of May 28, 1863, when the end came in the form of a sharpshooter’s bullet to the head. “He died instantly. He never spoke,” recalled his company commander Captain Josiah Moore. “We had a coffin made and I procured a bushel of salt to preserve the body so that I think he will be easily removed. We buried him on the field a short distance below where he fell and close alongside two others of our lamented comrades who were killed on the 22nd. The board that marks his grave is the lid of a cartridge box and marked “Dr. John B. Stephenson, Co. F, 17th Ill. Vol. Infantry. May 28, 1863.”

          Captain Moore’s description of Dr. Stephenson’s death at Vicksburg was originally published in the June 26, 1863, edition of the Sidney Weekly Journal published in Sidney, Ohio at the request of Dr. Stephenson’s father. During the Vicksburg campaign, the 17th Illinois was part of General John D. Stevenson’s Third Brigade of General John A. Logan’s Third Division of the 17th Army Corps.

 

John B. Stephenson of the 17th Illinois, a 32-year-old native of Ohio, was killed by Confederate sharpshooters while visiting the front at Vicksburg on May 28, 1863. "He was extremely obliging and ever attentive to duty," his company commander recalled. "To know him was to love him."


Vicksburg battlefield

May 29, 1863

 Samuel Stephenson, Esq.

Dear Friend,

          With feelings of the deepest sorrow, I now seat myself on the battlefield to make a sad record- the death of your most worthy son J. Bigger Stephenson. He was killed yesterday at 2:30 p.m. by a rifle ball passing through the head close behind the ears. He died instantly.

          Our regiment occupied the position of sharpshooters and was posted from within 150-200 yards from the Rebel fort. The doctor was the only regimental physician present, the others being absent, two on detail and the third sick. As at all other times, the doctor was close by where his duty called him. During the day, the Rebel gunners became very troublesome and several of our cannon opened on them. While this fire was progressing, the doctor and another man left the hospital station ten rods in the rear of the regiment and went to the front to see the effect of our guns on the Rebel works. After remaining here awhile he was about to leave but just as he turned around the death blow came. He never spoke. He was not with our company when killed; he was in the quarters of Co. C.

English-made Enfield Bullet

          The news came to me immediately and Mc. And I went and found him, then carried him back. We had a coffin made and I procured a bushel of salt to preserve the body so that I think he will be easily removed. We buried him on the field a short distance below where he fell and close alongside two others of our lamented comrades, William Alexander, and Thomas M. Nelson, who were killed on the 22nd. The board that marks his grave is the lid of a cartridge box and marked “Dr. John B. Stephenson, Co. F, 17th Ill. Vol. Infantry. May 28, 1863.”

          After the fall of Vicksburg, I think there will be no trouble in moving the body should you wish it, but at present it would be difficult to do anything. I think, however, that with the blessing of God on the means at our disposal, the fall of the infernal city is not far distant. Our army is in good spirits and though this is the eleventh day of the battle, yet the troops seem more buoyant than ever.

 

“We lay under the side of a sharp hill and our floor of clay is levelled by digging into the bank. All sleeping places are behind these ranges to be out of range of shot and shell from the Rebels who often kill and wound men beyond us, even a mile out, if they can see them. They use splendid rifles and the best English ammunition and fire with incredible accuracy. I have had three bullets scatter the dust near me in quick succession while walking over a part of one of our roads exposed to the view of these Rebels.” ~ Surgeon Henry H. Penniman, 17th Illinois

          The Rebels have only fired a few shots from their cannon in four or five days. I think they are afraid to bring their guns to bear on our line of artillery. Their forts, though formidable, are badly breached, but I think the Rebels will submit to a siege before surrendering. A most terrible cannonading has been kept up mostly all day by our guns. I do not as yet know of a single reply from the Rebel guns except sharpshooters who have killed Captain Henry A. Rogers, commander of McAllister’s battery [Battery D, 1st Illinois L.A.] and Samuel De Golyer, commander of a Michigan battery [Battery H, 1st Michigan L.A.].

Captain Samuel De Golyer of Battery H, 1st Michigan Light Artillery lived until August 8, 1863 when he succumbed to the wound described by Captain Moore in his letter. De Golyer of Adrian, Michigan had previously served with the 4th Michigan Infantry in the eastern theater before resigning his commission in January 1862 to lead Battery H. 

          But I need not detain you as the news is already too sad. May the God of Grace prepare you all for such a visitation of Providence from an All-Wise Jehovah. No news came to me so unexpected and when I say that none will be more missed from the company and the regiment than the Dr., I do not say half. To know him was to love him. He was extremely kind and obliging and ever attentive to duty and the regiment had the highest confidence in his professional ability. He is mourned by all yet we trust that our loss is his unspeakable gain.

          I have taken charge of some of his personal items and shall keep them subject to your request or until I get an opportunity to send them home. You have our highest sympathies. May a kind heavenly parent give us all grace to prepare to meet where all tears shall be wiped away.

 

Sources:

Letter from Captain Josiah Moore, Co. F, 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Sidney Weekly Journal (Ohio), June 26, 1863, pg. 2

Letter from Surgeon Henry H. Penniman, 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Post, Lydia Minturn, editor. Soldiers’ Letters from Camp, Battlefield, and Prison. New York: Bunce & Huntington, Publishers, 1865, pgs. 219 and 221


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