Sustaining the Honor of Old Wisconsin: The Badger Bull Dogs Bark Bragg out of Kentucky

In the aftermath of the Battle of Perryville, a portion of General Don Carlos Buell's army pursued Braxton Bragg's retreating columns towards southeastern Kentucky and in the course of that pursuit had a series of minor engagements, among them a rolling fight near Stanford, Kentucky on October 15, 1862, described by Quartermaster Sergeant John D. Galloway of the 3rd Wisconsin Battery. 

    "The Secesh made a stand against us on eleven different hilltops," Galloway recalled. "They had four pieces of artillery but the road was so narrow that they could only use two at a time. They had the advantage in position because they could choose their place, knowing exactly where the head of our column would have to appear and sending their other two pieces on to choose another position. The performances of the day were wound up by dismounting one of their guns at a mile and a half distance by Arza Noble’s Parrott, aimed by gunner Woodbury. The result of the day’s work may be summed up thus: five of our men wounded, three of them from the 79th Indiana and two from the 59th Ohio, one of them mortally. The Secesh lost by their own acknowledgement 27 killed, among them a major and a lieutenant and we have every reason to believe their number of wounded was very great." 

    Sergeant Galloway's account of the closing events of the Kentucky campaign, written under the nom-de-plume of "Badger," first saw publication in the November 13, 1862, edition of the Berlin City Courant published in Berlin, Wisconsin. 



Detail of the markings on a 10-pdr Parrott rifle similar to those employed by the 3rd Wisconsin Battery during the Kentucky campaign. The cast iron Parrott rifles, produced by the West Point Foundry in New York, were one of the most common types of cannon used by Buell's Army of Ohio. They proved to be capable guns and could fire a 9.5-pound shell more than a mile but a history of barrel bursts made them unpopular with some gunners. 
(Photo courtesy of Phil Spaugy)

Camp near Mount Vernon, Kentucky

October 23, 1862

          We left Louisville on the 1st of October and I could not write you from there of our terrible march of 375 miles from Battle Creek, Tennessee as my duties as quartermaster of the battery demanded every moment of my time. Indeed, Captain Drury and the three lieutenants now with us (Hubbard, Currier, and Colburn) were busy all the time refitting the battery in horses and equipment to make it efficient in pursuit of Bragg and his 70,000-man-strong plundering horde. I attended to the clothing and provision department.

          The first sight we got of the Rebels was at Floyd’s Ford and there for the first time in the history of the Badger Battery they made their ‘bull dogs’ growl at the Butternuts. Two miles from Floyd’s Ford is the town of Mount Washington where the Rebels undertook to make another stand, but bless your soul, you ought to have seen the 11th Brigade under the command of Colonel Sam Beatty and the Badgers whack ‘em out of that town. The Rebel force consisted of about 2,000 cavalry, two pieces of artillery, and about 1,000 infantry.

          The Second Corps d’ Armee, under the command of Major General Thomas L. Crittenden, consists of Wood’s division with 3 batteries, Smith’s division with 3 batteries, and Crittenden’s old division (now commanded by General Horatio Van Cleve) with 3 batteries. We belong to Van Cleve’s division (the 5th) and it is comprised of the 11th Brigade under Colonel Sam Beatty with the 19th Ohio, 59th Ohio, 9th Kentucky, 18th Kentucky, and 79th Indiana. Colonel Hawkins leads the 14th Brigade with the 11th Kentucky, 26th Kentucky, 13th Ohio, and two other regiments. Colonel Stanley Mathews leads the 23rd Brigade with the 51st Ohio, 99th Ohio, 35th Indiana, 21st Kentucky, and one other regiment. Captain Lu H. Drury is chief of artillery and has under his command the 3rd Wisconsin Battery, the 26th Pennsylvania Battery, and the 7th Indiana battery.

          Each division of this corps takes it turn in the advance and each brigade of the division takes it turn in the advance and a battery accompanies each brigade. Our battery accompanies the 11th Brigade and it luckily happens when our division is ahead, the 11th Brigade and our battery is in advance. So much for our “posish;” now to tell how we profited by it.

Colonel Samuel Beatty, 19th Ohio
Commanding brigade

          We were in line of battle on the right of Generals Rousseau and Terrill’s brigade which suffered so severely at Perryville, but by some unaccountable mismanagement, we were not sent in to help our suffering Wisconsin brothers of the 1st, 10th, and 21st regiments along with the 5th Battery. How anxious we all were, only two miles from the battlefield and commanded to hold our position against a force which was afterwards ascertained to be only a few hundred Secesh cavalry which the Badgers alone could have swept off the face of the earth in ten minutes.

          On the night of the 14th of October, we overtook the Rebels again near Stanford, Kentucky and on the morning of the 15th we had the advance again. October 15th was an eventful day for our battery. The Secesh made a stand against us on eleven different hilltops. They had four pieces of artillery but the road was so narrow that they could only use two at a time. They had the advantage in position because they could choose their place, knowing exactly where the head of our column would have to appear and sending their other two pieces on to choose another position. We were splendidly supported by the 19th Ohio and 59th Ohio.

Captain Lu Drury, 3rd Wisconsin Battery

          On that day, the boys first faced the music of shells and canister, and right nobly did they sustain the honor of old Wisconsin. Not a man shrank from his place or failed to do his duty manfully. The captain [Lu Drury] was just as unconcerned and as jovial as he ever was when getting up copy for the Green Lake Democrat or making up forms for state work in the Argus office in Madison. He was most ably and bravely seconded by Lieutenant Hiram Hubbard of Madison who commands the left section, Lieutenant Henry Currier of Green Lake who commands the right section, and Lieutenant Webster Colburn who commands the center section.

          The sergeants and gunners also did their duty- the Green Lake howitzer with Sergeant Hollenbeck and gunner Marshall pitched its case shot and shell just where they were wanted. The Parrotts (Sergeants Decker, Ralph, Noble, and Chapin with their several gunners Corporals Davis, Worden, Woodbury, and Fields) were as well, as coolly, and as accurately served as though they were being fired at a target. Charley Clough, sergeant of the Berlin howitzer, remembered as he hurled one of his iron messengers of destruction among some skedaddling cavalry that he would like to take home some of their horses as thought they could scoop out Sy Whitcomb with anything he could bring against them.

          The performances of the day were wound up by dismounting one of their guns at a mile and a half distance by Arza Noble’s Parrott, aimed by gunner Woodbury. The result of the day’s work may be summed up thus: five of our men wounded, three of them from the 79th Indiana and two from the 59th Ohio, one of them mortally. The Secesh lost by their own acknowledgement 27 killed, among them a major and a lieutenant and we have every reason to believe their number of wounded was very great.

They passed through Crab Orchard with four pieces of artillery and crossed Rockcastle River 28 miles from there with only two pieces, one of them being dismounted by one of our guns. Whether the other was accidentally broken or dismounted we do not know. It is reported they were sunk in a fathomless mud hole near Mount Vernon. We fought them eleven times and drove them 21 miles in one day and if we had two more hours of daylight we would have captured their whole rearguard and 125 wagons.

Smith’s division of our corps is still in pursuit of them and is daily sending in lots of prisoners. We shall probably go back to Crab Orchard and take the Lebanon road to Nashville. A few words about the battery: there is not a man in it at present but what is able to do duty, all are well and in good spirits. The new lieutenants Currier and Colburn are prompt and energetic and very much like by the men. Hubbard was always a favorite with the boys and there is no man in the division more popular than Captain Lu Drury, or the “Subscriber” as everybody calls him. Everybody knows him, and what is most astonishing, he knows everybody, officers, and privates, by name.

Source:

Letter from Quartermaster Sergeant John Dewey Galloway, “Badger,” 3rd Wisconsin Battery, Berlin City Courant (Wisconsin), November 13, 1862, pg. 2

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