The Nicest Fight I Ever Saw: The 55th Ohio and Peach Tree Creek

Orderly Sergeant Alvin B. Chase of the 55th Ohio had seen his share of hard fighting during the Civil War, but he ranked the Battle of Peach Tree Creek fought July 20, 1864, outside of Atlanta, Georgia as “decidedly the nicest fight I ever saw.”

          For the first time in the Atlanta campaign, the 55th Ohio fought the Confederates in an open field and came out victoriously. “So far as our corps is concerned, we gave them a good thrashing,” he wrote. “When we charged on the Rebs yesterday, we charged over more of their dead and wounded than we ever did in a battle before. Our loss was not very heavy as the 55th Ohio lost three killed and 20 men wounded. We buried 108 Rebels this morning and we have more to bury yet. We captured all of their wounded that couldn’t walk off the field and three stands of colors. Our brigade did nobly,” he concluded.

          The 55th Ohio was assigned to the Third Brigade (Colonel James Wood) of the Third Division (General William T. Ward) of the 20th Army Corps under General Joseph Hooker. Peach Tree Creek would prove to be Hooker’s last major engagement in the war, and the last in which he’d lead the 20th Corps. The fighting conducted by Hooker's men at Peach Tree Creek ranks amongst its best of the war, and it was this engagement that finally convinced General Sherman that the 20th Corps could "toe the mark" just as well as any other troops in his army.

          The day before the battle, General Sherman’s headquarters issued a communication stating that General Joseph Johnston had been removed from command of the Army of Tennessee and John Bell Hood appointed in his stead. [add link] “The notice to the command was unusual,” Captain Hartwell Osborn of Co. B of the 55th Ohio wrote. “It stated that the new Confederate general was a graduate of West Point and that his classmates reported that he was of an impetuous, rash, and confident disposition, and that all commanding officers must be governed accordingly. The prospect of meeting the enemy in the open field was hailed with satisfaction by the whole army who were heartily tired of butting up against well-constructed breastworks.”

          Captain Osborn wrote a superb book of his experiences soldiering in the 55th Ohio and I take the liberty of quoting from his Trials and Triumphs: The Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry to give a more in-depth story of the Battle of Peach Tree Creek.

Captain Hartwell Osborn, Co. B, 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

          Peach Tree Creek, upon the south bank of which General Johnston had planned his advance line for the defense of Atlanta, ruins nearly due west from the junction of its three branches north of Atlanta and empties into the Chattahoochee near the railroad bridge. General Johnston had planned an attack upon the Union armies when they should be somewhat separated by the different crossings, and General Hood seems to have endeavored to carry out the plan.

          The 20th of July 1864 is a date to be remembered so long as the 20th Corps shall live in history. The Third Division crossed Peach Tree Creek not far east of Howell’s Mill at 11 a.m. Upon reaching the higher ground south of the stream, we found that the 14th Corps had marched to the right and formed the right of the army near the railroad bridge. The First Division [General Alpheus Williams] of the 20th Corps connected with the left of the 14th Corps while General John Geary’s Second Division prolonged to the line to the east with the Third Division assigned to cover the ground up to the right of Newton’s division of the 4th Corps which was posted on an elevation to our left and front.

          It was an intensely hot day and as the rear of the command slowly climbed the hill, we noticed an effort to hurry the formation and to double quick the last regiment into position. The line was formed upon a ridge parallel to Peach Tree Creek and overlooking the valley of Shoal Creek, a small stream flowing north. Upon a ridge parallel to and south of the one upon which the Union line was located ran a country road leading from the Buckhead road to the main Atlanta road.

          The brigade line was formed having upon the front the 20th Connecticut and 26th Wisconsin; the second line was formed by the 73rd Ohio and the 55th Ohio. The 33rd Massachusetts had been detailed as train guard for the division on July 17th and was not present while the 136th New York had been detailed to cover the front of the division as skirmishers. In adjusting the line, this regiment was left in front of the First Division and did not return to the brigade till night.

The entire 55th Ohio utilized .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets during the Atlanta campaign. 

          The skirmishers of the brigade advanced to the ridge in front, but no immediate movement of the enemy was indicated. At about 2:30 p.m., however, signs of activity in the 4th Corps upon our left front excited interest, especially the fact, of which the entire line became aware, that General George Thomas galloping his horse. The general was a very heavy man and was methodical and careful in movement. Riding to a battery near our line he gave orders and as the battery moved, by voice and sword, he urged it to speed. The pickets in front began to fire.

          On our left, the non-combatants, ambulances, and camp followers of the 4th Corps began to retire rapidly. Volleys of musketry and cannon began and it was evident that the enemy was attacking. The first line of the brigade marched down the hill and a sharp combat began. The right of the 4th Corps broke back a little but soon stayed. Into this gap the enemy rushed, presenting as they did so their flank to our line. The front line had been somewhat concealed by the bushes in the valley of Shoal Creek and the attacking line was delayed by the swampy nature of the valley. 

For Captain Osborn, one of the first indications of trouble at Peach Tree Creek was the rare sight of General George H. Thomas galloping his horse to give orders to a nearby battery. Thomas was known amongst West Pointers as "Slow Trot" but to his volunteers he was "Pap."   

    The front line delivered a most effective fire upon the Rebel line which came on with the dash and spirit of veterans. This Confederate force consisted of General Winfield Featherston’s brigade of Loring’s division and comprised the 1st Mississippi Sharpshooters, the 33rd, 3rd, 22nd, 31st, and 40th regiments of Mississippi infantry, formed from right to left as named.

"On came the Rebels lines, sweeping everything before them, shouting and cheering in the fullness of their enthusiasm. On they came over the second hill and down almost to the ravine when our men suddenly rose up and poured into their ranks a most murderous volley. Many of them fell, some tried to hide in the ditches on the hillside, and others went back. Then our line charged up the crest of the hill and continued to deliver a rapid and telling fire on the retreating foe." ~Colonel Samuel M. Hurst, 73rd Ohio

          The roar of volley firing from the entire front of the division as the attack rolled on like a wave to the west disclosed the plan of the action, which was to assault the Union line by successive division attacks beginning on our left. Upon the front of the Third Division the assault was repulsed, but the Confederate line came on again and again, sullenly retiring and again coming forward as if to reclaim the dead and wounded which covered the field. For four hours, the contest raged along the whole front of the corps with the same result. The 73rd Ohio was sent to relieve the 26th Wisconsin in the front line and the 55th Ohio was moved at the double quick to fill a gap between our left and the right of the 4th Corps.

          Colonel Samuel Ross, who commanded the 20th Connecticut upon this day, said of the 55th Ohio in his report of the battle that “in the early part of the action the 55th Ohio was moved from the second line to our left to fill the space between our left and the right of the 4th Corps. The regiment stood four hours in the open field and both officers and men are entitled to praise for their steadiness in this most obstinate battle.”

          For the 20th Corps, this engagement was a most brilliant feat of arms. Without defenses and in the open field, it sustained an unexpected and furious attack of the enemy. It met this attack with a countercharge, repulsed all subsequent attacks, killed and captured many of the enemy and held the field. When General Sherman took final leave of the corps at Louisville one year later, he referred to this day as the one which gave him absolute confidence in the valor and reliability of the 20th Corps.

          The enemy retired to their fortified line after dark and the tired soldiers slept on their arms in line of battle. The morning of the 21st showed the ground about Collier’s Mill covered with Confederate dead and wounded. Colonel Charles P. Wickham relates that among the dead he noticed the striking figure in the lifeless form of Colonel J.B. Drake of the 33rd Mississippi, whose tall form was still in death but with an extended arm, sword in hand, had an air of resolution and defiance. We spent the 21st of July in the position captured on the 20th. General Hooker rode the line in the forenoon and congratulated his victorious troops in person. The enemy had withdrawn during the night, thus surrendering his eleventh fortified position and retired to the works which contrabands and state troops had erected for the defense of Atlanta.

Sources:

Letter from Orderly Sergeant Alvin B. Chase, Co. D, 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Jeffersonian Democrat (Ohio), August 12, 1864, pg. 1

Osborn, Hartwell. Trials and Triumphs: The Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1904, pgs. 159-162

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