The Ground was Slippery with Blood: The 54th Ohio Tries for Vicksburg

On the morning of May 19, 1863, Private Samuel Crooks of the 54th Ohio charged upon the Confederate works at Vicksburg and reported to his father that it was the “awfulest sight I ever saw, men scrambling over trees, stumps, brush, and logs, and others falling killed and wounded. I saw one man who ran to the doctors shot through the abdomen with his insides in his hands. Hundreds were running back supporting a wounded hand, arm, or head. The ground was slippery with blood.”

As part of Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith’s Second Brigade of the Second Division of the 15th Army Corps, Crooks and his comrades charged against Stockade Redan which was held by 27th Louisiana and 36th Mississippi. It was a bloody repulse, and one the army tried again two days later as Crooks briefly alludes to in his letter.

Crooks was one of the youngest soldiers in the regiment, being only 16 when he joined Co. H. “He has remained constantly with his regiment since it entered the field and by his manly bearing and soldierly qualities has won for himself both in the regiment and among his friends here great esteem,” the local newspapers editors stated. His account of the Vicksburg assaults first saw publication in the June 5, 1863, edition of the Cleveland Morning Leader. Unfortunately, Crooks would not survive the war, being killed during the assault on Fort McAllister outside of Savannah, Georgia on December 13, 1864. He is buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah.

 

These 18 men comprise the survivors of Co. K of the 54th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry. These Buckeyes, one of only two Zouave regiments from the state and the only one to serve in the western theater, saw action everywhere from Shiloh to Vicksburg to Atlanta and beyond. By the time this image was taken at the end of the war, the boys had long since ditched the flashy Zouave garb, preferring the more serviceable sack coat with a variety of privately purchased headgear. It appears that one soldier in the middle row is wearing a 15th Army Corps badge upon his hat. 

In the rear of Vicksburg, Mississippi

May 24, 1863

Dear father,

          I received your welcome letters of the 5th and 10th and am glad to hear that you are all well. We hardly know when to look for letters as the mail is so irregular.

          General William T. Sherman’s corps [15th] arrived here about a week ago and we have been in two fights since. We are two and a half miles from Vicksburg and probably 1,000 yards from the Rebel breastworks. Between us lie hills and ravines filled with fallen timber, brush, and everything which can block our way. Sherman was ordered to charge over these hills and try and take those breastworks. This was a hard undertaking as the breastworks are very high with strong pickets driven in the ground in front of them.

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith's brigade charged west towards Stockade Redan but were quickly pinned down by heavy Confederate fire. The men stayed and fought it out the rest of the day but could make no progress, retiring under the cover of night. The 54th Ohio lost 47 men killed or wounded in the two assaults on Vicksburg. 

          When the order came to charge, we started off on a run and cheering. It was the awfulest sight I ever saw, men scrambling over trees, stumps, brush, and logs, and others falling killed and wounded. At last, we reached the foot of the last hill in front of the Rebels and then halted and returned their fire. We would lay down on the hillside to load and then run up to the top and fire, then go back down and load. This was our work from 10 o’clock in the morning till dark. Our cannon was planted on the hillside.

I saw one man who ran to the doctors shot through the abdomen with his insides in his hands. Hundreds were running back supporting a wounded hand, arm, or head. The ground was slippery with blood. We lay there till midnight then slipped out only to go in two days later- when another scene like the first was again enacted. We were compelled to retire again without having gained anything. General Morgan got inside their breastworks once and spiked a number of their siege guns but was driven out again.

Probably we will not charge them again as I believe Grant intends to throw up breastworks.

 

Source:

Letter from Private Samuel Crooks, Co. H, 54th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Cleveland Morning Leader (Ohio), June 5, 1863, pg. 3

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