Our Gallant Boys Bleaching in the Sun: A Buckeye Returns to Chickamauga

Three months after the Battle of Chickamauga, Captain James Stinchcomb of the 17th Ohio was still haunted by the experience and mourned the heavy losses his regiment suffered during the fight.

“No one can appreciate the feeling of a soldier when a comrade dies, except that it is one who has had the trial,” he explained to his wife. “I have no doubt many at home often wonder why it is we cannot give more definite information of their friends. A battlefield such as Chickamauga, seven miles long and five or six wide, and we compelled to leave in the night without means to convey the wounded, surely will explain to anyone the reason. If they had seen as many tears shed as I did by stout-hearted soldiers when they looked back on that bloody field as they remembered their wounded comrades, I know such a thought would never occupy their minds for one moment.”

Once the Confederate army had been driven away from Chattanooga, Stinchcomb took the first chance he could revisit the Chickamauga battlefield as part of a contingent of Federal troops who returned to the Chickamauga battlefield determined to find the graves of their comrades. It proved a harrowing and melancholy experience as he explained to his wife.

“I saw nine of our gallant boys’ remains bleaching in the sun, untouched, except where some ragged villain had taken off their shoes, shirt, or their pants,” he wrote. “It may be said that these men were overlooked- not so, for Rebels were buried within three feet of them. We found the bones of two of our men that they had placed rails on them and burned them. Some places they buried them from 18 inches to two feet deep, but as a general thing their heads and feet were left uncovered.”

Captain Stinchcomb was a regular correspondent with his hometown newspaper the Lancaster Gazette and his account of visiting Chickamauga originally appeared in the December 17, 1863 and January 7, 1864 editions of that newspaper. 

 

Nearly 4,000 men from both armies were killed during the Battle of Chickamauga and their remains littered the battlefield even after Confederate authorities directed the internment of bodies immediately after the battle. "To be sure, our men were not all buried though I have no doubt the Rebel generals intended that they should be," Captain Stinchcomb observed. "But a portion of their details were evidently worse than heathens. I saw nine of our gallant boys remains bleaching in the sun, untouched, except where some ragged villain had taken off their shoes, shirt, or their pants." 


Chattanooga, Tennessee

December 1, 1863

I have made a diligent search since my return for both Solomon Smethers and Solomon Miller of my company; both were wounded in the Chickamauga fight and from the best information I now get, they both have died of their wounds; better and braver soldiers could not be found. They were both wounded on the afternoon of Sunday in the front rank on the hill where the terrible fighting was done under Thomas.

Smethers was a member of the M.E. Church and never forgot his duty and obligations as a Christian. No kinder-hearted man lived than Miller. Thomas Cluagy (or Kleinick) of my company has also died of wounds received at the same place. He, too, was a brave soldier and was wounded near the spot where the other two were. They all three died as soldiers.

No one can appreciate the feeling of a soldier when a comrade dies, except that it is one who has had the trial; it is just like one of the family away, yet I have no doubt many at home often wonder why it is we cannot give more definite information of their friends. A battlefield such as Chickamauga, seven miles long and five or six wide, and we compelled to leave in the night without means to convey the wounded, surely will explain to anyone the reason. If they had seen as many tears shed as I did by stout-hearted soldiers when they looked back on that bloody field as they remembered their wounded comrades, I know such a thought would never occupy their minds for one moment.

 

This photo shows one of the final reunions of the survivors of the 17th Ohio in front of the Sherman House in Lancaster, Ohio on September 26, 1928. The loss of comrades hung like a cloud over many reunions of Civil War regiments, the survivors feeling a deep responsibility to ensure that their comrades' sacrifices were not forgotten. 

Headquarters, 17th O.V.I., Mission Ridge, Tennessee

December 17, 1863

          Yesterday I visited the battlefield of Chickamauga along with a detail from some four regiments of our brigade. I thought I had seen evidence of hard fighting at Mill Springs, Shiloh, and Stones River, but the field of Chickamauga has so many more marks and evidence that it surprised all who saw it. In front of Baird’s, Reynolds,’ and Johnson’s divisions, were I to tell you the truth, you would say I surely did not see correctly.

          When we got to where our division fought on Saturday and found every tree and bush in front of our lines marked with bullets, many of them with 50 bullets in one tree, we all thought it hard fighting, but when we were moved to our left on Sunday and saw as many as 100 in at least half the trees and one-third shot off with cannon balls, all were astonished.

But shall I describe the appearance of the field in front of the line for a mile where Baird, Johnson, and Reynolds’ division fought? The Rebels charged the breastworks a number of times during the day and every place where the Rebel columns were hurled against our men were such traces of desperate fighting as there has never seen and probably will never again. Shall I say 500-1,000 bullets in almost every tree of any size in a space from the ground to a little higher than a man’s head?



I don’t give you any conception of the true condition. Trees two feet over are absolutely shot to fine splinters- that in the side facing our breastworks were actually hot so often that their whole sides are in slivers and splinters. It must have been a continual stream of lead. There are five or six such places and each one as wide as from the courthouse from the Courthouse to Hon. Thomas Ewing’s, and as the Rebels came up in columns their loss must have been fearful. Again, on the hill where the promiscuous mass was fighting in the afternoon of Sunday of which I wrote you about some time before is the same evidence.

          The Rebel graves show from five to one of ours. To be sure, our men were not all buried, though I have no doubt the Rebel generals intended that they should be, but a portion of their details were evidently worse than heathens. I saw nine of our gallant boys’ remains bleaching in the sun, untouched, except where some ragged villain had taken off their shoes, shirt, or their pants. It may be said that these men were overlooked- not so, for Rebels were buried within three feet of them. We found the bones of two of our men that they had placed rails on them and burned them. Some places they buried them from 18 inches to two feet deep, but as a general thing their heads and feet were left uncovered.

 

Sources:

Letters from Captain James Stinchcomb, Co. B, 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Lancaster Gazette (Ohio), December 17, 1863, pg. 2; also, January 7, 1864, pg. 1

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

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

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