I Carry the Bullet as a Memento: With Battery C at Chickamauga

Writing a short letter to his parents a week after the Battle of Chickamauga, Private Sherman Hendrick of Battery C, 1st Ohio Light Artillery reported that he had been wounded but assured them he could "kick around quite lively. I am wounded in the right shoulder and carry the bullet there as a memento, but don’t let it keep you awake at night for it don’t hurt me much."

    Long after the war, Hendrick assembled a much longer article for the National Tribune giving a history of his battery's service at Chickamauga which is reproduced below along with his wartime letter. The battery photos appear courtesy of Larry Stevens' Ohio in the War website, the images originally belonging to an album owned by Sergeant Theodore Stoughton who figures prominently in Sherman Hendrick's narrative. 

Corporal Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery was just 20 years old when he joined the battery September 9, 1861. Wounded in the right shoulder at Chickamauga, he was promoted to Corporal October 31, 1863, re-enlisted, and served with the battery until the end of the war, mustering out June 15, 1865. After the war, he moved to Hutchinson, Kansas. 


Nashville, Tennessee

September 26, 1863

Dear parents,

          I presume you are worrying about me but this is the first time I have found for writing. I am comfortably settled here in the hospital but how long I shall stay I do not know for many will have to be sent North. I cannot give you particulars now.

          The battery was in the fight of the 19th and 20th. The papers will tell you all about the fight and perhaps that your boy is wounded for my name was taken. I am wounded in the right shoulder and carry the bullet there as a memento, but don’t let it keep you awake at night for it don’t hurt me much and by being helped up and down, I can kick around quite lively.

          I left the field on Monday morning for Chattanooga and on Tuesday started for Bridgeport, leaving you to judge of the hard time we had crossing the mountains in government wagons. At Bridgeport, we took the cars and came here. My wound is not a bad one but it will take time to heal being a gun wound.



          Up until Monday I was the only Ashtabula boy wounded except Daniel Horton and he was shot dead. Robert Wilkinson of Saybrook was supposed to be killed; several others were wounded from the battery. Our support on the right broke away so the Rebs had a crossfire upon us. When we fired our last round they were not more than five rods off. We then ran back the gun to limber up then I was wounded. We lost our piece but the rest were saved.

          But now came my work in earnest. During the two days I had stood up to the rack and worked faithfully but now my nerves were gone. I feared the Rebels would get me and I ran as long as I could and sank down but was still between the two armies. I thought of my canteen, took a drink, got up and went behind a house where I meant to stay until picked up by one party or the other. Soon [Theodore] Stoughton came along with the limber and loaded me on and so I escaped Mr. Reb this time.

          But I have written enough for a man with a Rebel bullet in his shoulder…

 

Members of Battery C from left to right: Private Theodore Ingersoll and Private John Thompson (center) both joined the battery as recruits in the summer of 1862. Sergeant Barnhart Reichart at left served with the battery from when it mustered into service in September 1861 until mustering out in June 1865. 

By 1891, Sherman had moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, to work as a minister. He wrote the following article to the National Tribune providing a lengthier description of his battery’s role in the fighting at Chickamauga.


          At the time of the battle, we were attached to the Second Brigade, Third Division (General Brannan), of the 14th Army Corps and crossed the Tennessee River opposite the cornerstone of Georgia and Alabama and Nickajack Cove on September 1, 1863. On Sunday the 6th we crossed Sand Mountain into Lookout Valley and found the Rebel pickets in front of Trenton. On the 8th there was some cannonading in front of us as the troops were scattering in pursuit of the Rebels who we learned on the 9th had evacuated Chattanooga. On the 11th we heard Negley’s guns over in Pigeon Valley but he was driven back and had to await reinforcements.

          General Bragg had been heavily reinforced from the east and was coming back upon our scattered army, determined to retake Chattanooga. That night, we crossed Lookout Mountain into Pigeon Valley and found the hills ahead of us full of Rebels. From this time until the battle, General Rosecrans was busy concentrating his troops. On the 18th we marched all night, passing through Rock Springs. The road was well warmed and lighted by burning fences.

Battery C was equipped with two 12-pdr brass Napoleons and four 6-pdr James rifles during the Chickamauga campaign, losing one of the James rifles during the retreat on September 20th. Lieutenant Marco Gary reported that the battery lost 4 men killed and 9 wounded while firing 498 rounds of ammunition, all but four of them on September 20, 1863. "To the non-commissioned officers and privates too much credit cannot be given," he noted. "To them mainly is due the credit for saving the battery from capture for so great was the loss of horses that several of the pieces had to drawn far to the rear by hand. The only piece lost in the engagement was abandoned after being dismounted and the linch pins thrown away 200 years to the rear, the men becoming too much exhausted to drag it further by hand." 


          On the morning of the 19th about 6 a.m. we parked to feed our horses and make coffee. Before we had time to feed there was lively firing on the skirmish line and we were ordered to the front immediately. We were told there was a brigade a Rebel cavalry in front of us in the woods which we (Brannan’s division) were ordered to capture. We went in and found the cavalry but they were backed by infantry at least three to our one. We went into battery but did not fire a gun before we were ordered out of there. C.H. Belknap was wounded while we were falling back.

We only fired four rounds during the day; the woods and brush were so thick we could do nothing on account of the rapid movements of the enemy but our infantry, how they surprised us! Battery C thought there was only one other corps in the world that equaled the 14th Corps and that was a the 20th, the consolidated 11th and 12th. In the 14th Corps, we thought the Third Division was the best simply because we were better acquainted with them, but of all brave men none could beat the Third Division in that day’s fighting against such overwhelming numbers. Three times were they driven back through the thick brush and three times did they charge and retake the field. The sight was simply grand. I will not name the regiments; everyone knows the gallant troops that comprised that division. They were all heroes and had heroic commanders from General George H. Thomas down to the line officers.

General George H. Thomas

The third time they were repulsed that afternoon came near being a rout; the Rebel forces were sweeping on in triple line of battle against our single line. The brush was so thick we could not get away fast enough with our useless artillery and Battery C was in danger of being captured. Only a thin line two deep stood between the muzzles of our guns and the surging masses of the enemy. Something must be done or the guns are lost. The 600-man strong 10th Kentucky halted and we heard the command, “Halt! About face! Charge!” There is no need of the command double quick for there are not six paces between them. I gazed in wonder at that handful of men being hurled against that wall of steel. Only a moment the Rebel line wavered in astonishment, then a blaze of musketry, and the 10th Kentucky melted away. Only 200 answered at roll call that night, but the battery was saved and those men went down in a hail of glory.

But this relief was only temporary as the enemy was driving us through the woods in increasing confusion. The infantry was driven back even among our useless cannon and the enemy was so close they could lay their hands upon the muzzles of the guns. In this condition, we met General Thomas on a little rise of ground sitting upon his horse as calmly as though he was taking his coffee, while the bullets flew around him as thick as hail. It was encouraging to see Pap Thomas at any time and especially such a time, but when he spoke, the effect of his words was almost magical. “Soldiers of the Third Division, halt! Why do you flee in such confusion? You have met this same enemy before. You whipped them at Mill Springs and you can do it again!”

Even the enemy could hear him as he shouted, “About face, charge!” The order was instantly obeyed and such a charge as they made. The enemy fled before them like frightened sheep and for a time the tide of battle tolled away. The Third Division, which up to this time had occupied the extreme left of the army, was now relieved by two divisions of the 20th Army Corps and went to the right and rear for the night. We parked on a hill at 10 p.m. and rested until 3 a.m. on the 20th when we went to the front. Our flanking pieces were 12-lb Napoleons and the rest were 6-lb James rifles, all brass pieces. The two Napoleons were placed on the front line where the infantry had built a small breastwork of logs and brush about two feet high so the muzzles of the guns would just clear the top.

Soon the tide of battle, which had been muttering all the morning on the left, rolled toward the right and the artillery kept up a continued roar until it reached our two pieces. The Rebels were hurled back before our charges of canister. During this fight, Sergeant [George M.] Salkeid stood upon the works watching the approaching enemy and telling his gunner where to fire. As the other four pieces lay back in the woods waiting orders and taking all the back fire, I could not find a tree big enough to cover me, but as soon as the first charge was repulsed and we were ordered to the front, I forgot my fears and felt strong enough to carry a cannon all alone.

General John M. Brannan, commanding Third Division, 14th Army Corps

The remaining pieces of the left and right sections took places next to the Napoleons on their right while the center section took the extreme right of the battery. I am not certain whether there was another battery to the right of us in Brannan’s division or not. About half an hour of quiet was all that was given us in which to take our places at the front when the roar of artillery was heard again on the left. It came towards us in a manner that made us feel rather shaky again.

We were watching for the approaching foe and soon saw them, their bayonets glistening in the morning sun. Then we were ordered to commence firing. They charged up to within six rods of our muzzles when our canister hurled them back. We had lots of canister but no grape although I notice that infantrymen always speak of grape and canister. The second charge they came nearer and we mowed them down in windrows. We could keep our front clear as long as our flanks were protected and the canister held out.

Canister


A third time they came on. Between the second and third charge General Wood made that unaccountable blunder of withdrawing his division from the front and passing to our division’s rear to the support of Reynolds on our left. We had not much more than begun our morning operations against this third charge when we noticed bullets coming from our right. We turned our guns in that direction. When we fired our last charge, the Rebels were not two rods away. I cannot say much for any but our own section, only that Battery with Lieutenant Marco Gary commanding, covered itself with glory that day. Our section was badly cut to pieces in that flank charge.

I was the No. 2 on our gun which we called the Ashtabula gun; Daniel Horton was No. 4. He was shot down and did not move after he fell. Then Barnhart Reichart, our No. 3, acted for both. Albert A. LeClere was No. 1. He had just said to me that he could not hold out much longer and I was thinking of taking hold to help him when he was wounded in the head, dropped the sponge staff, and turned away. I sprang across the muzzle of the gun and picked up the sponge staff to take his place when Amos Austin of the Madison gun came up with his staff in hand and said, “Let me act. Our gun is disabled. Gunner Hasell in badly wounded.” I at once resumed my own post. We fired perhaps half a dozen times more then were ordered to limber up and Austin returned to help save his own piece. As we were running off our gun, I was wounded and there was not enough men left to get the gun through the brush.

Sergeant Theodore Stoughton
Battery C, 1st OVLA

Sergeant Theodore Stoughton and Barnhart Reichart dismounted it, however, and escaped just as the Johnnies were on the point of laying hands on them. How they came off alive I do not know. Stoughton came out with the gun limber and three horses, ridden by Johnson and Ingersoll; they picked me up so I rode off the field on the gun limber. The Madison gun was brought off by John Austin with his wheelers. All the other horses were either killed or wounded and had to be cut out. The other two sections lost two or three caissons and several horses.

The battery being so badly disabled was sent off the field towards Chattanooga. We did not lose near as many men in proportion as our infantry supports in the two days’ fighting. Battery C did its best under the circumstances but we were satisfied from the looks of things when we left the field that our battery had not saved the army. Some who came in after we left the field claimed that honor.

Sources:

Letter from Private Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (Ohio), October 10, 1863, pg. 3

“Chickamauga: The Part Taken in the Great Battle by Battery C, 1st Ohio L.A.,” Corporal Sherman Hendrick, Battery C, 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, National Tribune, November 5, 1891, pg. 4


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