Sad Freight of Mangled Humanity: Arrival of the Wounded of Shiloh at Louisville

On Sunday night, April 13, 1862, Lieutenant Benjamin H. Ober of the 77th Pennsylvania witnessed one of the saddest sights of his short military career: the arrival of the steamboat Minnehaha at Louisville, Kentucky carrying a boatload of wounded soldiers from the Shiloh battlefield. He climbed aboard eagerly seeking news of his comrades.

          “I walked through the cabins and looked into every suffering face, fearing at every step to meet the gaze of a wounded comrade with whom I had been so long associated and with whom I enjoyed so many pleasures and endured so many hardships,” he wrote. “But there were no familiar faces there. It is impossible to describe the sufferings of many of the poor fellows. Some of them were writhing and twisting, rolling over on their hard couches and uttering piteous groans that made the heart ache. Others less severely wounded seemed cheerful and happy and very ready to communicate all they knew about the battle, which they said was very little as after the first attack it was every man for “number one.”

          Lieutenant Ober, a former employee of the Lancaster Daily Evening Express and frequent correspondent, was absent sick from his regiment during the battle, and would soon resign his commission scarcely a week later. His letter first appeared in the April 18, 1862, edition of the Lancaster Daily Evening Express. I’ve supplemented his account with articles from the Louisville Daily Journal which also not only document the arrival of the Minnehaha, but provide a complete list of names of the wounded who were aboard and what hospital they were assigned to after arrival.  

 

These men, delivered to Hospital No. 1 in Louisville, were among the wounded soldiers of both armies who were aboard the Minnehaha. The remainder of the lists of wounded soldiers, pulled from the Louisville Daily Journal, are at the bottom of the article.

Louisville, Kentucky

April 13, 1862

          We are gradually getting the facts of the great battle at Pittsburg Landing. The first accounts seem, for once, to have been mainly correct with the exception of the number of killed and wounded. The first day, everything favored the Confederates and they were masters of the field. The next, however, we regained our ground and advanced our troops some ten miles further than our first position and sent the Rebels in full retreat, though in excellent order, in the direction of Corinth. These are the leading facts and indeed about all the information I could obtain after questioning and conversing with some 20 wounded officers and men who were in the thickest of the fight and who arrived in this city during today and this evening.

          I was the witness of a scene this evening which I hope never to look upon again, and, which painfully illustrates the horrible character of this fratricidal strife. I saw 200 wounded soldiers, 60 of whom were Rebels and prisoners, stretched upon the cabin floor of a steamboat, mutilated and mangled in every conceivable form and many of them groaning and apparently suffering the most intense agony.

          It was yesterday announced in one of the city papers that several boatloads of the wounded would arrive in the city. The announcement had the effect of attracting hundreds of people to the neighborhood of the levee where the boats were expected to stop at an early hour in the morning. As the day wore on, the throng increased and it finally became so large that it became necessary for the Provost Marshal to order out several companies of soldiers in order to clear the street. This was accomplished and the crowd was not allowed to approach within a block of the levee. But still the crowd remained, many of whom were women and children, weeping and looking anxiously down the river, hoping the expected boats would bring some tidings of absent friends.

          But the day was passing away and still no signs of the anxiously looked for boats until near evening when far down the river, the black smoke of an approaching steamer put everybody on the lookout. The boat finally neared the landed and proved to be the Minnehaha with 200 wounded as already stated. A half hour before the arrival of the boat, I was standing in front of the crowd when the officer commanding the guard noticed me and sent his orderly to invite me within the lines. I very readily accepted the invitation. I was in company with Mr. James Stewart of your city [Lancaster, Pa.] who has a nephew in the 31st Indiana which was so terribly cut up on the first day of the fight. He was very anxious to obtain some information concerning the nephew.

          As the boat approached the levee, the neighboring house tops, sheds, and all available places, became crowded with people with the river was alive with skiffs filled with anxious friends or by those prompted by morbid curiosity. Knowing that General McCook’s division was in the fight the second day and as my regiment (the 77th Pennsylvania) is in that division, I was very eager to learn whether it was in the engagement. I made inquiry of several officers and soldiers who gave their opinion that it was and a private of an Indiana regiment [probably the 29th or 30th Indiana who were in the same brigade as the 77th- Ed. note] and he assured me that he was acquainted with the regiment and was sure it was in the fight, but could not tell whether there was any wounded on board belonging to it.

 

“The steamer Minnehaha reached here at a late hour last night with 240 wounded soldiers from the field at Pittsburg. They were indiscriminately selected from friends and foes and it is not yet known how many Rebels were among them. As yet, no list has been made out for the surgeons and all others who have them in charge are entirely exhausted and were compelled to seek repose. The wounded were all removed from the boat to the various hospitals.” ~Louisville Daily Journal, April 14, 1862, pg. 3

 

          I therefore walked through the cabins and looked into every suffering face, fearing at every step to meet the gaze of a wounded comrade with whom I had been so long associated and with whom I enjoyed so many pleasures and endured so many hardships. But there were no familiar faces there. The wounded were mostly of Kentucky and Indiana regiments, but there will be several boats in tonight and I was informed that the next will contain the wounded of General McCook’s division. If so, tomorrow morning I will have to undergo the painful ordeal over again.

          It is impossible to describe the sufferings of many of the poor fellows. Some of them were writhing and twisting, rolling over on their hard couches and uttering piteous groans that made the heart ache. Others less severely wounded seemed cheerful and happy and very ready to communicate all they knew about the battle, which they said was very little as after the first attack it was every man for “number one.”

          On April 15, 1862, the Louisville Daily Journal published a full list of the “sad freight of mangled humanity brought to the hospitals of this city on the steamer Minnehaha on Sunday night. Since their arrival, the following have died: Charles Powell, Co. I, 77th Ohio; John Fletcher, Co. H, 36th Indiana; Hardin Boyd, Co. C, 4th Kentucky."

          Below are the snapshots for each hospital:

 

Private William McEnally (left) and Emanuel Fink (right) of the 72nd Ohio were among the wounded soldiers delivered to Louisville by the Minnehaha. Both went to Hospital No. 3- McEnally would survive his wound and return to the regiment; Fink would not. 







 

Sources:

Letter from First Lieutenant Benjamin H. Ober, Co. K, 77th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Lancaster Daily Evening Express (Pennsylvania), April 18, 1862, pg. 1

“The steamer Minnehaha,” Louisville Daily Journal (Kentucky), April 14, 1862, pg. 3

“The Pittsburg Wounded,” Louisville Daily Journal (Kentucky), April 15, 1862, pg. 3

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 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

Life in the Hell-Hole

Image
T he fighting between the two armies near Dallas, Georgia in the final days of May and early June 1864 was remembered by the veterans of both armies as some of the worst of the Atlanta campaign. In a prelude to the trench warfare that became the hallmark of the First World War, both armies took to ground and blazed away at each other in the thick northern Georgia woods. They later termed this region the “Hell Hole.” It was a place where death arrived with the shocking suddenness. One false move brought forth the shrieking sound of a Minie ricocheting off a tree or the solid thunk as the lead bullet flattened against a log or pierced through a soldier’s body. One soldier later said, “I must confess that it is not calculated to make one feel that his life is very secure unless he is pretty strongly fortified.” These two accounts, one penned by a soldier in the 65 th Ohio of the 4 th Army Corps and a second from Surgeon Luther Griswold of the 103 rd Ohio of the 23 rd Army Corps, g...
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

When the War Came to McMinnville

Image
W riting in her journal on Sunday, January 4, 1863, McMinnville resident Lucy Virginia French recalled the ghastly toll the Battle of Stones River levied upon her local community. It was the evening of New Year’s day when the body of Captain Drury C. Spurlock of the 16 th Tennessee was brought into McMinnville by Spurlock’s father. “We went into the parlor at John’s to see poor Cap as soon as he was laid out,” she recorded. “His uniform was very bloody and it had to be cut off of him. They dressed him in a fine suit of black cloth such as he used to wear before the war began. How noble and handsome he looked and how natural! You could not notice the small place where the ball entered as it was completely concealed by his mustache and his face was so serene and calm. His mouth had a faint smile upon it.” They buried him the following day as the thunderous sounds of Breckinridge’s assault echoed in the distance. “The artillery firing at Murfreesboro was tremendous that evening, heav...
Read more