Waxing Poetic about Chickamauga: Lines from the Lightning Brigade

Wilder’s Lighting brigade secured its place as one of the best fighting units of the Army of the Cumberland during the Chickamauga campaign. Wilder’s men helped save the Federal left on the afternoon of September 19th and plunged into the left flank of Longstreet’s assault column at midday on the 20th with spectacular results. Wielding their seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles, Wilder’s men were among the best-armed on the field, repeatedly serving as shock troops and turning the tide of battle.

Among those taking part in those actions was Sergeant Major Brainard M. Thompson of the 72nd Indiana Infantry. A farm boy from Boone County, Indiana, Thompson joined the ranks of the 72nd Indiana in July 1862 and became the regimental sergeant major. Apparently, he was also something of a poet as shown in his following verses about Chickamauga.

His poem, entitled “Storms of Chickamauga,” first appeared in the January 20, 1864, edition of the Mattoon Gazette published in Mattoon, Illinois. It is speculation on my part, but I believe that Thompson’s poem was published as a bit of a tribute to Sergeant Major Rufus W. Haughton of the 123rd Illinois (also of Wilder’s Brigade) who had gone missing at Chickamauga and was later presumed dead. Haughton was co-editor of the Mattoon Gazette before he went of war with the 123rd Illinois in the summer of 1862.

 

Private John Munson of the 72nd Indiana poses with two of the crucial elements which made the Lighting Brigade such a formidable force: their horses gave the unit great mobility, and their Spencer repeating rifles gave them tremendous firepower. Unseen but just as important was unit morale; the Hoosiers and Illinoisans of the brigade grew increasingly confident in their abilities which perhaps reached its zenith during the Chickamauga campaign. 

“Storms of Chickamauga”

Saturday, September 19, 1863

The low’ring cloud of battle hung,

O’er Chickamauga red-

Its heaving bosom widely flung,

Mad billows o’er the dead


On either side the stream accurs’d

Long lines of battle stood,

While deadly missiles loudly burst,

All through the leafy wood.

 

Soon deadly volleys hotly poured,

Through smoke sulphuric there,

While deadly cannon loudly roared,

Out on the autumn air.

 

At 5 p.m. the scene was wild,

Our dashing lines combined,

While on the dead the dying piled,

In gory heaps behind.

 

Blood-saturated was the ground,

With Longstreet’s stubborn corps,

And ev’ry living thing around,

Was drunk with human gore.

 

Tom waved the flag, by peril tried,

And gave a thrilling cheer;

His dying brothers, side by side,

Shed him the farewell tear.

 

Now reigns a silence like the grave,

Portentious as the storms,

Then came the battle’s sweeping wave,

From deadly Vandal arms.

 

‘Twas nearly night- the sunset glow,

Looked wondrous tranquil then.

But Longstreet moved upon us slow,

With 30,000 men.

 

Brave Wilder swept the Rebel van,

And mowed a thousand down,

The smile upon his lips was wan,

And blended with a frown.

 

Brave Miller near the center fought,

And waved a rally there;

The revolution flame was caught,

Then cheering rent the air.

 

Stern Longstreet’s bleeding army there,

Of hundreds were bereft,

While Lilly’s cannon rent the air,

Near Miller’s bleeding left.

 

Now Colonel Jordan’s might waves,

Sweep the Rebel right,

While brave Monroe the center saves,

All through the bloody fight.

 

Funkhouser breaks the Rebel left,

Loud yells with thunder blend;

Poor Longstreet’s right and center cleft,

Now met a fameless end.

 

Thus bravely fought the “Spencer” ranks,

In battle’s dreadful flame,

And turning Longstreet’s heavy flanks,

Won laurels and a name.

 

And when the bloody work was done,

Soft evening shadows spread,

Where glowed the general setting sun,

So gently on the dead.

 

The came the moon, so pale and wan,

All Heaven wept I ween,

And soon the stars to veil began,

From all the bloody scene.

 

Captain Eli Lilly, 18th Indiana Battery which was attached to Wilder's Brigade

Sunday, September 20, 1863

 

Still smoke of battle o’er the dead,

Hung like a heavy pall,

So bright the sun arose and shed,

His welcome glow on all.

 

That Sabbath dawn, serenyl bright,

Soon desecrated was

By human slaughter on the right,

Where Thomas made no pause.

 

When storms of deadly missiles tore,

Dense forest widely ope,

And fell McCook’s reluctant corps,

Brave Thomas was the hope.

 

He bled at every pore, and saw

His potent center cleft,

He held destruction’s bloody jaw,

As Wilder charged the left.

 

The center into chaos thrown,

Ran bleeding from the fight;

Stern Wilder held the left alone,

And Thomas held the right.

 

Now louder grew the thunders dread,

The mountains shook convulsed,

While every pore of Thomas bled,

Who fearful odds repulsed.

 

Soon far athwart the darkened sky,

Loud thunders northward pealed,

Now deadly volleys hotly fly,

Across the gory field.

 

Now storms of fury madly sweep,

All o’er the bloody plain,

While flames of battle madly leap,

Through smoke intense again.

 

Long-ridden steeds, with nostrils wide,

The bloody battle smell;

They would not cross the gory tide,

But, madly pitching, fell.

 

The battle steeds and riders fair,

Looked smiling and relieved,

When darkness hushed the yelling there,

And triumph was achieved.

 

Now requiems so mournful soft,

Through olive branches swell,

Whose falling leaves remind me oft,

How fast my brothers fell.

 

The lifeless oak no faster sheds,

His cherished leaves away,

Then fell my brothers, wounded-dead,

That cold and bloody day.

 

Spencer repeating rifle that belonged to one of Thompson's comrades, Private George Brown of Co. K, 72nd Indiana. The swing swivel above the trigger allowed the soldier to attach his weapon to a strap, freeing up both hands. 

Brainard M. Thompson was born in 1839 in Maysville, Kentucky and by 1860 was living with his parents on the family farm near Thorntown in Boone County, Indiana. On July 21, 1862, he enlisted as a corporal in Co. D of the 72nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry and rose to the rank of regimental sergeant major before mustering out with the regiment July 24, 1865, at Nashville, Tennessee.

After teaching a term of school back home in Indiana, he re-enlisted in the U.S. Army general service on June 13, 1866, in Springfield, Illinois. He served for three years at Fort Columbus in New York harbor where he was discharged June 13, 1869, as a corporal.

The Big Apple must have been to his liking as Thompson would spend the rest of his life living there, serving for years with the New York Police Department and retiring from the force by 1910. He married Catherine, an Irish immigrant around the time of his discharge in 1869 and they had a large family of at least 7 children.

Sergeant Major Thompson died June 14, 1927, at his home on 314 E. Tremont Ave. in the Bronx and is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. Interestingly, this same cemetery is also the final resting place of famed Yankee slugger Babe Ruth; makes me wonder if Thompson, being a resident of the Bronx just a few blocks from Yankee Stadium, cheered Ruth during his playing days...  

To learn more, about the Lighting Brigade, please check out these posts:

How Wilder's Brigade Got Their Lighting 

Colonel Wilder Discusses Chickamauga

Source:

“Storms of Chickamauga,” by Sergeant Major Brainard M. Thompson, 72nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Mattoon Gazette (Illinois), January 20, 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 their way to
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

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

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

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Globules of Adipose Pomposity: Top 11 Worst Buckeye Colonels of the Civil War

Image
Ohio Colonels in the Civil War "They weren't all heroes."      It stands to reason that somewhere in the over 200 regimental-sized organizations that Ohio fielded during the war, a bad apple or two would end up in command. Today's article tackles this admittedly sensitive subject with a top 11 list of Buckeye colonels  who exited the service under less than honorable circumstances during the Civil War. It's a list of cowards, drunks, incompetents, and outright scoundrels whose record adds color (or rather off color) to Ohio's history in the Civil War and is "history that deserves to be remembered."       They are presented in the rough chronological order of their exit from the service. 
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

I Don't Thirst for More Fight: An Iron Brigade Sergeant Remembers Gainesville and Second Bull Run

Image
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
Read more