Jesus Will Take Me Home: Lt. Col. Canfield's Final Days

Herman Canfield was born July 29, 1817, in Canfield Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, the youngest son of Herman Canfield and his wife Fitie. He gained his education in the common schools of his community and entered Kenyon College in 1834 where he became proficient in both Greek and Latin. In 1838, he embarked on the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1841. By 1845, he moved to Medina and joined his law practice with that of his older brother William and soon was appointed clerk of the common pleas court.

In 1848, he married Sarah Ann Martha Treat and the couple, ardent abolitionists and possessing a deep faith in God, assisted with the local Underground Railroad while Herman devoted his legal talents to defending fellow Ohioans accused of breaking the Fugitive Slave Act. The couple joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where Herman became superintendent of the Sunday school.

Herman and Sarah Ann "Martha" Canfield. 


Originally a Whig, Canfield joined the Republican Party upon its formation and served in the Ohio Senate from 1855-1862. In 1860, he was appointed Trustee of the Ohio State Idiotic Asylum “in which position he faithfully and devotedly served until his death, spending the last hours of the night preceding his departure from Camp Chase [in February 1862] with the superintendent of the institution,” his obituary said.

          Colonel Canfield “saw the South was marshaling for resistance to law” and upon the firing upon Fort Sumter, “his soul was most deeply stirred and at the first call of the president for volunteers, he was strongly moved by the desire to aid in preserving his beloved land from its peril,” his obituary noted. He took a leading role in raising troops in Mahoning County and in October 1861, Governor William Dennison commissioned him lieutenant colonel of the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

          It took months for the 72nd Ohio to fully organize, but it left the state in February 1862 for its first camp in Paducah, Kentucky and by March 1862 was in camp at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. Colonel Ralph P. Buckland of the 72nd Ohio was placed in command of the brigade which elevated Colonel Canfield to command of the regiment. “He soon exhibited rare qualities as a commanding officer, enforcing good discipline while winning the warm love of his soldiers and inspiring them with confidence in his ability to lead them successfully to victory or death,” his obituary continued.

          On April 6, 1862, the test would come and for Lieutenant Colonel Herman Canfield, it would be the end.

 

After being wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Herman Canfield of the 72nd Ohio was carried behind the field officers' tents in the 72nd Ohio camp and given medical treatment. The wound, however, proved to be mortal. This article details what is known of Colonel Canfield's last two days alive. You can walk on these same grounds today at Shiloh National Military Park as I did back in 2021. 

Charles Treat, Colonel Canfield’s brother-in-law, witnessed the 72nd Ohio going into action on Sunday morning and provided the following account of the action and wounding of the colonel. “Early on Sunday morning, scattering firing was heard in the direction of Prentiss’s division which soon came nearer,” Treat stated. “Shortly after 8 o’clock, the 70th Ohio was called out, formed in line, and advanced firing. The 72nd immediately formed in line in front of its camp and advanced towards the creek. They had marched about 20 rods to the brink of a hollow when they saw the enemy’s infantry not 20 rods distant, filling the ravine and coming down over the opposite ridge. They had crossed the creek on the bridges built for the march of our army and came in unobserved by our forces. The opposing forces immediately drew up in line of battle facing each other and commenced a heavy fire of musketry.”

          “The execution was murderous,” he continued. “At every volley, our men fell in numbers and the effect on the enemy was at least equally as great. The wounded, as fast as they fell, were taken to the rear of the regimental camp, and placed on hay that had been hastily thrown on the ground for their reception. For more than three-quarters of an hour, this desperate conflict continued, the firing being as rapid as the men could load and fire. Neither side gave any sign of retiring, both parties fighting with desperation. At the end of that time, the firing ceased on both sides and the enemy fell back for more ammunition.”

          “During the first fight with the enemy, Colonel Canfield continually rode up and down the line of the regiment, cheering on his men. Just at the close of the first fight, as he was in the act of turning to ride back along the line, a Minie ball entered his breast through the right arm hole of his vest, passed along the whole distance and penetrating the right lung and then passed out the left side, tearing a ghastly hole. He fell from his horse and was carried to the rear by some of his men who placed him on some hay thrown in the rear of the field officers’ tents.”

Three men who treated Colonel Canfield's wound from left to right: Surgeon John B. Rice, Assistant Surgeon William M. Kaull, and Captain Charles G. Eaton 


          Treat came to the colonel’s side and remained with him until the end. Regimental surgeon John Rice, assisted by Captain Charles G. Eaton, examined the wound and some lint was placed on the wound. “He lay apparently dead until Treat poured some brandy and water into his mouth when he opened his eyes and said with difficulty, ‘Right lung, bleeding inwardly.’

          In the meantime, a subsequent attack on the Federal line caused the 72nd Ohio to retreat. Colonel Buckland had notified Dr. Rice that the line was likely to give way “and when the order came, we took with us all our wounded and the 8 men who had been wounded the Friday previous and as many sick from the field,” Rice recalled. “Some were placed in wagons, some on horses or mules, and some were carried off in litters.” Colonel Canfield, knowing that his wound was fatal, had expressed a wish that his brother-in-law would take him home to his family. As the regiment started to retreat around him, Charles “expressed a fear that he would not be able to comply with his brother’s request, to which Colonel Canfield calmly replied, “Never mind, Charley, Jesus will take me home.”

Treat need not have feared as help soon arrived.  Colonel Canfield was placed on a stretcher and carried to the rear by Treat, Sergeant Major Orin England, and two privates into a ravine. “They followed the line of the ravine amid a hailstorm of bullets that rattled all around them until a gully was reached and partially protected them,” Treat remembered. “Finding they were cut off from the regiment by the enemy, the little party followed the gully to the creek which they forded at one place and crossed at another across a log and a third time on a temporary bridge. They waded through the mud until the banks of the Tennessee were reached about 3 miles above Crump’s Landing.”

Sergeant Major Orin O. England was one of the four litter bearers who carried Colonel Canfield miles back to safety near Crump's Landing. England was later commissioned first lieutenant of Co. C and served on General Ralph Buckland's staff later in the war. 

          The party spent a miserable night along the riverbank. “Here they lay all night which was pitchy dark in a storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Treat and his companions kept the rain off the wounded colonel’s face by holding out a blanket over him all night. About 50 men of various regiments, most of them sick and wounded, were on the riverbank having escaped from the battlefield. Captain [John H.] Blinn and [Co. E] Captain Eaton of the 72nd were there with about 20 men, all they could find of their companies. They had been cut off from their regiment and retreated in the direction of Crump’s Landing.”

At dawn, the party set out for Crump’s Landing where Colonel Canfield was placed aboard an old barge that Surgeon Thomas W. Fry of the 11th Indiana had converted into a hospital. “During the day, we received some 50 of the wounded who wandered some 5, 6, or 8 miles through the woods,” Fry recalled. “Among them was brought on a litter Lieutenant Colonel Canfield of Ohio.” Canfield’s wound was finally treated but it was too late. “He was shot through the lungs and died about dark on Monday,” Dr. Fry stated.

Charles Treat recalled that around noon the colonel “became partially conscious and died at nearly 7 o’clock on Monday evening. Before he became unconscious, he inquired repeatedly in relation to the progress of the fight and once made the remark, ‘I have faced the enemy and fell.’ A little before his death, Treat informed him that we had won the victory; Canfield slightly raised his hand as if to show that he understood.” His obituary noted that “during all these hours of consciousness, he expressed no misgivings as to the wisdom of his choice, no regrets as to his early fall. He had said, in view of the possibility of his fall, that if it pleased God, he would that it might be in the last battle of this terrible rebellion when the work of the soldier was done.”

Unbeknownst to all, Colonel Canfield’s wife Martha had arrived at Pittsburg Landing on Sunday and discovered his husband soon after his death. Surgeon Fry recalled that Canfield’s “wife came up on Monday or Tuesday, not knowing he was wounded, and found his dead body on our barge.” No doubt stunned at the loss, she, along with her brother Charles, accompanied her husband’s body back home to Ohio, stopping first at Cairo before moving on to Cincinnati, Columbus, Tiffin, and finally Medina.

Lt. Col. Herman Canfield Gravestone
Medina, Ohio

The Mahoning Register opined upon his loss that “we have given up one of our best, an honest man, a man of talent, a good, exemplary citizen, a safe counsellor, a true patriot, and an able soldier. Mr. Canfield was a lover of letters, a lover of nature, and learning. His heart had a warm side towards humanity, a reformer in sympathy, warm in his friendship.” A large number of citizens from Mahoning County met the train at Grafton to escort the colonel’s body back to the family home in Medina. “On the following days prior to internment, the house was thronged by visitors desirous of taking a last view of him who had fallen when battling for the rights of their common country,” the Cleveland Morning Leader stated.

A public funeral was held on Monday April 14, 1862, and in which Colonel Canfield’s remains, escorted to the grave by a dozen of his fellow attorneys, were laid to rest at Spring Grove Cemetery in Medina. Thinking back on their work with the Underground Railroad, Widow Canfield resolved to continue her husband’s work by setting up an orphans’ asylum for formerly enslaved children in Memphis, Tennessee and operated it for the rest of the war.

Sources:

“Battle of Pittsburg Landing: The 72nd in the Fight,” account of Charles Treat, Daily Toledo Blade (Ohio), April 14, 1862, pg. 2

“Jesus Will Take Me Home,” Marysville Tribune (Ohio), October 8, 1862, pg. 4

Letter from Surgeon John B. Rice, 72nd Ohio. Dee, Christine. Ohio’s War: The Civil War in Documents. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2006, pg. 69

Letter from Surgeon Thomas W. Fry, 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Lafayette Journal & Courier (Indiana), April 25, 1862, pg. 2

“Lieut. Col. Canfield,” Mahoning Herald (Ohio), May 1, 1862, pg. 2

“The Late Lieut. Col. Canfield- Action of His Fellow Citizens- Funeral Obsequies,” Cleveland Morning Leader (Ohio), April 18, 1862, pg. 3

History of Medina County, Ohio. Chicago: Baskin, Battey, Historical Publishers, 1881, pg. 336

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