Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

  S hortly after the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg, Ohio editor George G. Washburn traveled to the battlefield to render assistance to the wounded men of his local 8 th Ohio Infantry. The scale of the horrors he witnessed in the coming days proved staggering.           South of the copse of trees near the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, he reported that “along this whole line the ground is covered with muskets, knapsacks, clothing, broken caissons, and all the paraphernalia of war while the stench arising from the shallow graves and dead horses utterly baffles description,” he wrote. “An occasional farmhouse is seen riddled with shells and deserted by its former occupants. The floors are clotted with blood where the wounded were first borne in the heat of the action and in one chamber I saw where a shot passed through near the floor and out on the opposite side; the whitewashed wall was besmeared with the brains a...

 " They are tall, stalwart fellows, looking rather thin, sunbrowned, and war-worn. But there was something in the firm step, intelligent look, and resolute bearing of those tall, sinewy, iron-framed warriors that showed the thinking mind, and unfailing energy of the true soldier.” ~ New York Daily Herald , May 25, 1865

     Following the brief engagement near Carrick's Ford in western Virginia, Corporal Levi Graybill of the 4th Ohio had a chance to see the first general killed in the Civil War, Brigadier General Robert Selden Garnett of the Confederate army.       "H e looked like a great man and not a bad one," Graybill confessed. "He was a man of medium size, had a high and intellectual forehead, a brow pensive but not gloomy, a mouth of inflexible decision, a face pale but serene, and he had every appearance of being a man of great thought. He was placed in a coffin and sent to Grafton to be shipped to his home in Richmond. No one could look on him as he lay in his coffin dressed in his uniform looking as though he was enjoying the sweet slumbers of life without feeling sorry for him. Yet all must acknowledge that his death has rid our country of one of its most powerful enemies."      A West Point graduate of the class of 1841,  Garnett had be...

  W illiam H. Buckins was among the first men in Ohio to “win Uncle Sam’s lottery,” being drafted into Co. K of the 76 th Ohio in October 1862. Three months later he found himself tasked with charging against the Confederate works at Fort Hindman in Arkansas.      “ Our colonel came around giving each company orders what was to be done,” Buckins wrote. “He said we were to take the advance of our brigade and the 26 th Iowa was to be our support, that we were to make the first charge along the whole line and if we gained the ravine, we were safe. This did not appear to be a very pleasant job, but still we had to bear the good with the bad.”      The regiment moved out but soon had to take cover behind downed trees as the Confederate fire proved too heavy to advance against. “We gained the ground within 300 yards of their breastworks, when we all fell to the earth and found that the trees they cut down were our only protection,” he said. “We then op...

The Rohrbach Bridge was one of three bridges that crossed Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg but is certainly the most well-known. Often referred to as the Burnside Bridge, it is one of the most iconic sites on the Antietam battlefield. Here General Edward Ferrero's brigade crossed the bridge under a heavy fire from Robert Toombs' Georgians and Private Charles Crafts of the 21st Massachusetts was wounded as he describes in his letter below. (Image courtesy of Phil Spaugy) During the Battle of Antietam, General Ambrose Burnside’s IX Army Corps was tasked with taking the Rohrbach bridge across Antietam Creek and among the troops employed to accomplish that objective was Private Charles Ransom Crafts of the 21 st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. After taking the bridge, the regiment fell under Confederate artillery fire where it appeared the Rebels threw everything they could find at the Federals. “The Rebels came down on us in force and opened on us with their batteries,” Crafts ...

      A fter three weeks of fruitlessly chasing General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command around western Tennessee in late 1862 and early 1863, Corporal Edwin P. Toms of the 27 th Ohio suggested the government adopt a new approach.      “I should like the Times to recommend to Governor Tod to mount the Ohio brigade,” he offered. “We are pretty good walkers, but hardly enough to catch Rebel cavalry. If we are to be kept as a sort of police guard to run after Rebel cavalry every time they make a raid, we shall certainly want other legs than those nature has provided us with. Had we been mounted at the Battle of Parker’s Crossroads on the 31 st of December, nothing would now be known of Forrest’s gang except the history of its capture.”      The 27 th Ohio as part of Colonel John W. Fuller’s Ohio brigade arrived on the field at Parker’s Crossroads just as Colonel Cyrus Dunham’s Federal brigade was surrounded and about to surrender. F...

The men of General John Gibbon's brigade became known as the Black Hat Brigade since they wore the regulation black Hardee hats like the one shown above that belonged to a soldier in Co. C of the 2nd Wisconsin. Comprised entirely of western regiments (19th Indiana, 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin, later to be joined by the 24th Michigan), the brigade became well known as "one of the most colorful and distinguished brigades that fought for the Union," stated historian Alan Nolan. After proving their mettle at Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam, they became known as the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. The red circle on the hat dates from 1863 and represents the corps badge for the First Brigade of the First Division of the I Army Corps.  The fight at Gainesville, Virginia on August 28, 1862, marked the first time Sergeant Willie Hutchins of Co. B of the 6 th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade had seen action. The former native of Vermont struggled w...

I t was scarcely 7:30 in the morning of September 17, 1862, when James S. Fillebrown moved into the East Woods with the 10 th Maine when a volley from the opposing 21 st Georgia ripped into them. One of the shots pierced the neck of Colonel George Beal’s horse which became frantic and charged about in terror. “In his pain, he made for me and dashed against me with such force as to knock me from my horse to the ground,” Fillebrown explained to his wife a few days later. “I soon rallied and caught my horse, but the poor fellow came again with redoubled fury and this time after separating me from my horse kicked me with both feet in my stomach causing the most intense pain and suffering, I ever experienced.”           The rest of the regiment quickly took cover and opened fire in return. “It was a squirrel hunt on a large scale as you could see our men creep along from tree to tree,” Fillebrown continued. “They fired in this way till our amm...

  O n March 4, 1863, General William S. Rosecrans directed a general reconnaissance all along the army’s lines in middle Tennessee to develop the strength of the Confederate army. On his far right, Brigadier General John Coburn’s brigade consisting of the 33 rd Indiana, 85 th Indiana, 19 th Michigan, 124 th Ohio, 22 nd Wisconsin, and 18 th Ohio Battery drew the task of marching south to meet and escort a Federal foraging train of 80 wagons. About 600 cavalrymen under Colonel Thomas J. Jordan from the 9 th Pennsylvania, 2 nd Michigan, and 4 th Kentucky accompanied the expedition giving Coburn had a total force of 2,837 men of all arms.             Coburn’s orders from General Charles Gilbert directed him to march to Spring Hill then divide his force, sending a portion to Rally Hill to the east to meet the advancing forage train while the balance of the command continued marching south to scope out enemy intentions. Coburn ...

A week after Chickamauga, the shock of the defeat left officers like Captain Burr H. Polk of General Absalom Baird's staff in stunned disbelief. " Our little army, like the reed after the whirlwind, is still trembling from the tremendous shock it received in the late battle," he wrote. "Everyone moves and acts as though he was just recovering from a severe blow. It was so unusual for this army to be whipped that we can scarcely yet realize that we have met with disaster."     Baird's division of the 14th Army Corps certainly took it on the chin in two days of hard fighting. " Our division alone lost in the entire engagement 2,350 men, nearly half its effective force," Polk continued. "Many of these are wounded and prisoners. When we were driven it was always with such rapidity that we could not carry off our dead and wounded. A battle is a very terrible thing.  Perhaps no battle of the war has been as desperate as the one just fought. Generals...

  Badgers Forward! Wisconsin at Chickamauga Series E arly on in the fight of September 19th at Chickamauga, the men of Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner's First Brigade of the First Division of the 14th Army Corps exulted at their seemingly easy victory over the Confederates. "Colonel Oscar F. Moore of the 33rd Ohio elated with satisfaction said to me, "They can't fight us. The 'Bloody First' is too much for them!' Colonel Scribner recalled. "In this congratulatory state of mind, my brigade surgeon approached me with dismay in his face. I addressed him brusquely, "What is the matter, Dr. Miller?" He replied, "I have been in the hands of the enemy." I rejoined "What do you mean?"  He answered, "I mean to say that the enemy is in your rear and on your right. They have taken my field hospital with all the wounded! They have captured Captain Edgar DeBruin, the provost guard, and all the prisoners and are coming down upon you ...

  Badgers Forward! Wisconsin at Chickamauga Series T he storied 1st Wisconsin Infantry was no stranger to tight places. During the Battle of Perryville in October 1862, the regiment held a critical position on the Federal left fighting Maney's Tennesseans in some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire engagement. The Badgers stood their ground against some of the hardest-hitting troops in the Confederate army and walked off the field with a captured set of colors, a well-earned fighting reputation, and a lengthy casualty list. Less than a year later at Chickamauga, the 1st Wisconsin would again find themselves holding a critical portion of the Federal left against repeated heavy assaults.      Sergeant William J. Payne of Co. I remembered that on September 20th "w e formed a small breastwork of logs and about 10 o’clock the enemy came on to us five regiments deep, twice running and were repulsed both times with heavy loss. But nothing daunted, they kept at it all da...

Badgers Forward! Wisconsin at Chickamauga Series T he 24th Wisconsin was one of the last Federal regiments to arrive at Chickamauga, not arriving until very late on Saturday September 19th after an all day march. The regiment, part of General William Haines Lytle's brigade of General Phil Sheridan's division of the 20th Army Corps, remained in a reserve position until Sunday morning when it deployed forward over what later became known as Lytle's Hill, tasked with trying to halt on the Confederate onslaught that was ripping through the center of the Union lines. The 24th Wisconsin took position in the right center of the brigade with the 21st Michigan to their right and the 11th Indiana Battery to the left.      The brigade walked into a fight going badly against the Union: two brigades from General Jefferson C. Davis's streamed back towards their position while Colonel Bernard Laiboldt's brigade had just been repulsed in their futile attempt to counterattack Genera...

  Badgers Forward! Wisconsin at Chickamauga Series   The Society Nora of Chicago presented these colors emblazoned with "For Gud Og Vort Land!" to Colonel Heg's 15th Wisconsin in March 1862. Most of the soldiers in the regiment were relatively recent immigrants to the United States, having settled along the western frontier lured by cheap land and abundant opportunity. They proved to be good soldiers as well as good citizens.  D uring the Battle of Chickamauga, the Army of the Cumberland lost a total of four brigade commanders killed or mortally wounded, three of those four serving in Alexander McCook's 20th Corps.  Among those lost was Colonel Hans Christian Heg, former regimental commander of the 15th Wisconsin Infantry. Born in 1829 in Norway, Heg migrated to the U.S. with his family in 1840, settling on a farm in Wisconsin, one of the newest states in the nation. Heg proved a fine student, and lured by the prospect of gold in California, traveled west where he ...

" I fought in the Battle of Gaines Mill as color bearer. In the beginning, Onderdonk was shot down. I took the colors and planted them on the heights 100 yards ahead of my regiment. I was complimented for the deed by Colonel Jerome Robertson and Lieutenant Colonel John Upton." ~ Corporal Robert A. Brantley, Co. D, 5th Texas

  B efore the battle of Shiloh, General Stephen A. Hurlbut of Illinois earned the reputation among his volunteers as a heavy drinker, someone not to be relied upon in action. His conduct during the first day of Shiloh changed all that as relayed by Captain Smith D. Atkins of Hurlbut’s staff.   “General Hurlbut, mounted on his gray horse with shabrack, sash, uniform, and trappings, a prominent mark for the enemy’s fire, rode backward and forward along the line, entirely heedless of the storm of bullets that he was drawing about himself, encouraging his men and directing their movements,” Atkins noted. “When cautioned that his prominent appearance was drawing the enemy’s fire, he only remarked, “Oh well, we generals must take our chances with the boys.” Hurlbut’s courage inspired the troops, and even those who disliked the native South Carolinian conceded he had won them over. “General Hurlbut did his duty and stood by us like a man,” one soldier from the 3 rd Iowa commented ...

  T he 19 th Tennessee didn’t see action at Shiloh until Sunday afternoon April 6 th having been part of the army’s reserve. Detached from their brigade during the march onto the field, the 19 th went into action on the right flank of Colonel George Maney’s Tennesseans and soon found themselves face to face with the 3 rd Iowa of Colonel Nelson Williams’ brigade.             “Our regiment stopped within about 100 yards of the fence and commenced firing,” Captain William Lowry of the Milton Guards (Co. H) wrote to his parents. “I saw the exposed condition in which we were placed and ordered my command forward to the fence. The entire regiment then advanced and here we were on an equal footing. Soon the command was given “forward” and soon after we were ordered to put them to the bayonet. The command was eagerly obeyed and soon the enemy’s lines were broken and they in rapid and confused flight.”      ...

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 t...

O ne would think that in the afterglow of his army's first true battlefield victory, General Braxton Bragg would have proven magnanimous and gracious with his subordinates, but such was not the way in the high command of the Army of Tennessee. Bragg was angry, and demanded answers from his subordinates for their failures to seize opportunities during the campaign. One of the targets of his wrath was his old nemesis Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk.       Bragg and Polk had not gotten along since the spring of 1862 and since then Polk expended much energy in behind-the-scenes intriguing in an attempt to secure Bragg's removal from command. Polk relied on his close relationship with President Jefferson Davis to protect him as he utilized his widespread social contacts throughout the army to spread the anti-Bragg gospel. Bragg felt Polk an intractable subordinate upon who commands were taken merely as suggestions for action; to say the relationship between these two was...

  Heralded as a weapon you could "load on Sunday and fire all week," the acquisition of Spencer Repeating Rifles by Colonel John T. Wilder's brigade in the spring of 1863 proved to be the critical element of setting the stage for the unit becoming known as the Lightning Brigade. The new weapon featured both robust construction and a rapid rate of fire that gave the men a great advantage in combat. The Spencer's metallic cartridges, weather-proof and easy to load, also proved themselves during Tullahoma campaign in June 1863 where it rained for nearly a week. Wilder's men didn't have to worry about keeping their powder dry.  A fter chasing General John H. Morgan’s troopers over half of southern Kentucky, Colonel John T. Wilder thought there had to be a better way to fight the war.           The tipping point came on January 1, 1863, at the small crossroads of Bear Wallow, Kentucky. For the past several days, Wilder had been marchin...