Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

S ergeant Frank Rew of the 3 rd Vermont served with the Army of the Potomac from its beginnings through Appomattox, but his first harsh introduction to combat didn’t arrive in a large battle but in a fierce skirmish that took place on the siege lines of Yorktown in April 1862.           Four companies of the 3 rd Vermont were tasked with crossing the Warwick River at Dam No. 1 and seizing the Confederate rifle pits beyond which their commanders thought had been abandoned. They were quickly disabused of the notion. “The creek is about six rods wide and into it the brave fellows dashed, some sinking to the waist and others to the arm pits which of course wet much of our ammunition," Sergeant Rew recalled. "When about midway, the Rebels poured in a blinding volley upon them, mowing them down like grass, but on rushed the rest in the face of 3,000 enemy riflemen and dashing up the bank drove a whole regiment from their first rifle pit. The od...

A fter waiting all afternoon to go into action at Sabine Crossroads, Dan Dickinson and the 2nd Massachusetts Light Artillery were quickly overwhelmed once the action began.      " At every discharge, terrible gateways were made in their ranks and the shells we plunged into their midst scattered death and destruction far and wide," he wrote. " Their bullets swept the hill upon which we were posted in perfect showers but happily they aimed too low and none on our piece were killed, though two men were mortally wounded and eight of ten cannoneers were wounded. I am one of the lucky two who were not wounded though how I escaped is a miracle and a great wonder to me. One ball went through my pants at the knee, another struck my belt but did not penetrate. We brought our limber forward when there was no longer any hope of support or succor coming to aid us, limbering our gun when the Rebels were only 75 feet or so from our cannon. Five of the six horses attached to the limber ...

N early three weeks after the Battle of Mobile Bay, Lieutenant Edward N. Kellogg of the U.S. Navy stood outside Fort Morgan as part of the contingent of Federal officers chosen to accept the surrender of Fort Morgan. It proved an impressive ceremony. "At 2 o’clock that afternoon most of the naval and army officers landed at the fort to witness the raising of the old flag over the stronghold that has kept us so long at bay,” he wrote. “The Rebel troops, 560 in number, were marched out and stacked arms, and equal number of our own marched down in front of the line, the band playing “Hail Columbia,” the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Yankee Doodle” among other patriotic airs till they were abreast when they halted and faced the graybacks at a distance of ten feet. The American colors were now run up on the flagstaff and the Rebel flag hauled down. The band again struck up, the whole fleet fired a salute, the vessels in succession according to rank and a battery of two field pieces on...

D isabled by a shot that blew her starboard boiler, the U.S. steamer Oneida drifted helplessly in Mobile Bay as the Rebel ironclad Tennessee slowly steamed around her stern then let loose with a devastating broadside. “Three men were killed in my division and six wounded, but I escaped unscathed although covered with a shower of splinters and the brains of my unfortunate Marine bespattered my face,” Lieutenant Edward N, Kellogg wrote to his father. “Three of our men had their heads shot off and the pieces of skull bones flying around actually wounded seven or eight men. The shell that took off the captain’s arm took off the head of a Marine at my 11-inch gun and wounded both captains of the gun as well as the first loader, besides slightly wounded several others by scattering around fragments of bones which are now buried so deep in the brackets as makes it impossible to get them out but by cutting the wood.” Lieutenant Kellogg’s letter, written two days after the Battle of Mobil...

C omparisons of who was the best soldier in either army during the Civil War have long served as conversational fodder for many an armchair historian, but Captain James Kincannon of the 41 st Mississippi staked such a claim for one of his soldiers, Alfred J. Worsham. Worsham as he was called was hardly an imposing physical specimen: “He was box-ankled, knock-kneed, angular, and disjointed all over. He could not stand up straight and was never in line in the company’s formation during the entire term of his service. His energy was wonderful, his will indomitable, his courage superb, and his powers of endurance supernatural. He was never on the sick list, was always at roll call, never shirked any duty, and did more extra service than all the rest of the brigade put together. He was never idle, slept but little, and was always ready to volunteer for any hazardous work that was wanted. He was truly a wonderful man and seemed to have been made purposely for the place which he filled in ...

O ne of the most important roles played by cavalry during a battle was to serve as provost guards, providing security behind the lines by stemming the flow of men from the battle line. Sergeant Willard Burnap of the 2 nd Iowa Cavalry told how his company prevented a rout at the Battle of Corinth in October 1862. “We received orders to station ourselves in the rear of the line of battle and stop all soldiers and officers from going to the rear unless they were wounded or belonged to the medical staff,” he wrote. “This is one of the most important positions that can be assigned to a company on the battlefield. We were scarcely in line when the 80 th Ohio regiment, broken, demoralized, and panic-stricken, came rushing back like frightened sheep. Other regiments, missing their support and knowing the danger when their line was broken, seemed ready to follow. That regiment must be stopped or the day is lost! I was nearest to them and putting the spurs to my horse was soon among them. In...

F iling this one under the category of "I wish I had this when I wrote Hell by the Acre ..."       Writing nearly 50 years after the Battle of Stones River, Private Edward A. Smith of Co. A, 29th Mississippi recalled the intensity of the fighting as his regiment approached the northern end of the cedar forest around midday on December 31, 1862.       "Our brigade  had driven the Federals slowly but steadily through what is known in the history of the battle as the cedar grove. When the Federals reached the back side, they found a field 500 yards wife which, with the leaden hail we were throwing at them, they knew it was death to cross. Their officers got them halted and they turned on us with the fierceness of a lion at bay.  They had no idea of going further and we had an idea that they must go further and there we stood 125 yards apart belching death at each other with all our might. In the meantime, Lieutenant Wilkins called my attent...

R ichard Shatswell joined the 15 th Illinois in January 1864 when the regiment was home on veteran’s furlough. He was an unusual recruit- the 47-year-old Massachusetts native was twice the age of the average Union soldier. Leaving behind a farm in Waukegan, Illinois, he joined the 15 th Illinois along with his son George and soon was on the road to join Sherman’s army in northern Georgia. The regiment’s first assignment was guarding Allatoona Pass. They could hear the guns of the front in the distance but relative quiet allowed the men to focus on improving the defenses and their living quarters.   “We are encamped on a very high hill which commands the pass through these hills,” he wrote. “We have little huts built in the side of the mountain about eight- or nine-feet square. Three or four men sleep together. Our huts are made of good, planed boards and if you would like to know where we got our lumber, I would refer you to the frame of a large flouring mill and dwelling house...

C orporal Charles Willey of the 122nd Ohio sustained the second and third of his four wartime wounds when his regiment charged the Confederate line during the last day of the Battle of the Wilderness. Located on the far right of the Union line, the Ohioans charged the works held by John Pegram's Virginia brigade.      " On the morning of the 6 th  our brigade made a charge on the Rebel works," he stated. "They held their fire until we were about 100 yards from them. When they opened on us, such a sight I  never  want to see again. It seemed as if every other man had fallen, either killed or wounded. It was terrible to see the brave boys falling on every side. I had fired but a few shots when a ball came through my haversack, striking me on the hip. I first thought I was badly wounded but I found I was only bruised. In a short time, another ball struck me on the left leg just above the knee and about two inches from the wound I received at Winchester. The ba...

T o Lieutenant William H.H. Isgrigg of the 4th Indiana Cavalry, the blunders of McCook's cavalry raid in July 1864 occurred after the cavalrymen had completed a round of destruction, then waited around for hours before moving on to their next mission. The excessive delays gave the Confederate forces time to gather their troops and eventually corner the Federal horsemen. By July 30th, they were well and truly trapped.      "W e attempted to go around them but were only led into a trap where some of the hardest cavalry fighting of the war took place," he wrote. "Up to this time, I had not lost a man but here I lost eight men captured on the first charge. In a few minutes afterwards, they charged our pack train and I lost four more men.  In this charge, they cut off our brigade entirely from our force. We made several charges to gain the command, but finding it useless, we had to give up that part of the work and look for some way to get out of the country and to keep f...

M oses Farnsworth, a former infantryman with the 15th Illinois, joined the crew of the ironclad gunboat U.S.S. Benton in the spring of 1862 as part of the deck force. What he saw in the aftermath of the Battle of Memphis underscores that service in the brown water Navy was just as bloody as fighting upon land.       Describing the C.S.S. Beauregard, he wrote "the steam from the boilers scalded four poor firemen in a most shocking manner. One who went on board immediately after the fight says the spectacle afforded by these sufferers exceeded anything he ever saw before and was enough to tear the most unfeeling heart. They implored him to give them relief, but all the relief which could be afforded was produced by the application of flour, sprinkled very lightly upon them. So completely had the steam penetrated the flesh that it hung in shreds upon their bones, the least touch or motion causing it to fall off entirely! As we passed her, she was sinking rapidly w...

W hen the Ohio National Guard was federalized in May 1864, it was done with the understanding that the men would be utilized as rear area troops, performing garrison and guard duty and by so doing, freeing up veteran troops who would be sent to the front. Little did they know that some of the Guardsmen would go to the front, too. But that was the case with the 134 th Ohio.           Raised from the guard companies of Champaign, Shelby, and Hancock Counties, the 134 th Ohio originally was deployed at Cumberland, Maryland guarding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. But in early June, the regiment received orders to move to Washington and from there, sailed to Bermuda Hundred in Virginia. On the night of June 16 th , a portion of the regiment was sent to the front as pickets and the following day found themselves in a hot fight near Port Walthall.           “During the whole day, we had to fight...

I t was noon on July 22, 1864. Quartermaster Sergeant Charles Wiles of the 78th Ohio was well behind the lines with the divisional wagon train, or so he thought.       " At noon while our teams were corralled in the rear of our brigade, we were somewhat surprised at the appearance of a battery taking position on a hill just above us and the forming of a line of battle by a detachment of the 16 th   Corps," Wiles observed. "The sight was really beautiful, but foreboding of a fight, the character and approach of which we as yet knew nothing about.  We were at once on the alert with everything in the wagons awaiting orders from our brigade quartermaster to move out. Five minutes had scarcely elapsed when we were ordered to move; the whips cracked sharply over the mule’s backs and we were moving hastily to the rear (if any there was) while the above mentioned battery started throwing its deadly missiles among the ranks of the advancing Rebels."   ...

I t is rare thing that an actor becomes a witness to an event that changed the course of a nation’s life, but on the evening of April 14, 1865, Philadelphia-born actor Harry Hawk had the stage to himself at Ford’s Theater, until President Lincoln’s assassin fell upon the stage and brandished a knife. "I was playing Asa Trenchard in Our American Cousin ; the “old lady” of the theater had just gone off the stage and I was answering her exit speech when I heard the fatal shot fired,” Hawk wrote to his father shortly afterwards. “I turned, looked up to the President’s box, and heard a man exclaim, “Sic semper tyrannis!” I saw him jump from the box, seize the flag on the staff and drop to the stage. He slipped when he gained the stage but got upon his feet in a moment and brandished a large knife saying, “The South shall be free!” He turned his face in the direction I stood and I recognized him as John Wilkes Booth. He ran towards me and I, seeing the knife, thought I was the one he ...

C orporal Samuel Van Horne of the 77 th Illinois spoke the sentiments of many of his comrades in the ranks when he found the generalship of Generals Nathaniel Banks and William B. Franklin lacking in the spring of 1864. Thinking specifically of the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, Van Horne opined “I don’t suppose you will ever get a true account of the affair as it was so miserably managed all through. Generals Banks and Franklin will never have it published. It seems to me that any private in the ranks would have done better. I tell you it was poorly managed and there is not a soldier in this department but will (or do rather) curse Generals Banks and Franklin.” Such sentiments are understandable when Van Horne shares that of the 460 men of his regiment who went into action at Sabine Crossroads, only 160 came out and many of them (himself included) were wounded. His account of the battle first saw publication in the May 16, 1864, edition of the Zanesville Daily Courier .

O n June 1, 1864, General Samuel Sturgis led an expedition totaling about 10,000 men in northern Mississippi. His force consisted of twelve infantry regiments, ten cavalry regiments (or portions of regiments) and six batteries (or sections of batteries). The march lasted ten days before the resulting Battle of Brice’s Crossroads sent Sturgis’s column tumbling back towards Memphis in defeat. A frequent question asked by students of the battle centers around the types of arms carried by the boys in Blue during this campaign. Early in the war, state governments, scrambling to gather whatever arms they could secure, sent their troops off to war carrying a mixture of domestic smoothbores, converted rifled muskets, and any European arms that state agents could procure ahead of their Federal (and Confederate) competitors. By the summer of 1864, those days were long gone and the Federal ordnance department had made great strides in standardizing small arms for the infantry. The following l...

A mong the more extraordinary incidents of the Battle of Crossroads was the artillery charge by Captain John W. Morton and his battery. The 21-year-old, General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s chief of artillery, recalled the charge in a letter to his father a few days after the engagement.           “About 1 o’clock, everything, artillery and all, was ordered to charge,” he noted. “Our line moved promptly with a deafening shout and hail of bullets and balls which told terribly upon the enemy which broke their lines and put them in perfect confusion and rout. I charged with the batteries nine times. Once I had two pieces a little in advance of the others and with them in a charge was 20 or 30 yards in advance of our line when we drove the enemy. Just before we captured their wagons, they made a desperate stand and with their reserves concentrated, charged our right flank which gave way and fell back upon the two right pieces of my battery. The en...

A s his two-gun section of the 7 th Wisconsin Battery rolled towards Brice’s Crossroads, Mississippi on the afternoon of June 10, 1864, Private Isaac Denny grew perplexed at General Sturgis’s troop deployments. “Sturgis evidently was unaware of the presence in great force for he kept his trains moving to the front, even after the battle opened,” Denny noted in a letter to his brother back home in Wisconsin. “The wagons and ambulances were jammed right in among us and it looked to me as if he intended to charge the enemy with his supply train. After we had fought five hours and the retreat was ordered, upon going a few rods we found that the damned supply train was still there. A regular stampede ensued. The roads were so blockaded that we were obliged to take to the fields. We started with both of our guns but got stuck in the mud and abandoned one of them.” Federal artillery accounts of Brice’s Crossroads are rare as hens’ teeth, so it is with pleasure that I share Private Denny’...

T he 144th Ohio Infantry, a hundred days' regiment, arrived in Maryland in May 1864 and was promptly dispatched in detachments across the state. While Grant and the Army of the Potomac and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia hammered away at each other, Co. F found itself with light duties and time on their hands at the little town of Annapolis Junction.      " Our duties are light, and at their leisure the boys have reconnoitered the surrounding country on private account, and been rewarded by the discovery of the abundance of cherries and mulberries-of which we are welcome to all we choose to pick," recalled Private Henry S. Chapin. "The consequence is that some of our company keep up a continual skirmishing with the cherry trees and up to the present time the advantage has invariably been in our favor that we have all the fruit we can eat-which, by the way, is no small amount. There is also any quantity of blackberries and huckleberries within easy range of our ca...

"I am now seated on the lap of mother earth, my left knee serving the purpose of a writing desk under the artistically constructed roof of what is in the army usually denominated a shebang," began one soldier of the 83rd Indiana in describing the night of June 21, 1864.  "I am seated in a shebang where on the whole I am rather comfortable everything considered and quite secure from the rain which at present is falling thick and fast and pattering musically- a regular rub-a-dub-dub on everything around me. And this has been its practice with brief intervals during the present month scarcely a day going by without more or less rain. This under the most favorable circumstances makes soldiering disagreeable and especially so on an active campaign when tents are bygone luxuries and one has to cook, eat, and sleep out of doors."       The misery would reach new heights a few days later when the 83rd Indiana took part in the assault on Kennesaw Mountain, a day " ...