Blazing Away with Our Belgian Rifles: With the 37th Illinois at Pea Ridge

In writing about the March 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge, Captain Eugene Payne of the 37th Illinois took special care to note how the men of his company fought the battle. Operating contrary to their training, the men didn't stand side by side in serried ranks; they took cover and fought while lying prone upon the ground. 

    "For half an hour did our brave lads pour the deadly contents of their Belgian rifles into the enemy," he observed. "Lying upon the ground our boys would load, then turn over, get upon one knee, pick out a secesh, and blaze away. Our guns did fearful execution as the rows and heaps of dead and dying secesh testified afterwards in front of where our regiment lay. At this first stand of our regiment was where we lost most of our boys. Our right wing suffered the most, it being nearer the enemy than the left."

          Captain Payne’s description of Pea Ridge first saw publication in the March 29, 1862, edition of the Waukegan Weekly Gazette.

Captain Eugene B. Payne, Co. C, 37th Illinois Volunteer Infantry


Sugar Creek, Benton Co., Arkansas

March 12, 1862

Friend Werden,

          I wish to give our friends in Lake County a short description of our late battle with its incidents and will direct you if you will be so kind to place the same before them by insertion in the Gazette.

          At 1 o’clock on the night of the 5th of March, the camp of the 37th Illinois was aroused and surprised with the news that Price was advancing upon us with a large force, that he had had a fight with General Sigel’s advance guard, and had driven them in. Soon the whole camp was in commotion, cooking rations for three days, and in getting ready for a fight. We worked and waited until daylight and then found that Price had moved to the west of us. About noon, we pulled up stakes and moved our camp about three miles to the northward.

The boys began to think the alarm was but a scare when about sundown the dead and wounded of General Sigel’s pickets began to arrive in considerable numbers. We learned that the 2nd Missouri has been ambushed and cut up badly and that Price had at one time during the day surprised Sigel and about 700 U.S. troops with nearly 3,000 Rebels. General Sigel fought his way back to his command and we heard that a battle would be fought in the morning.

About the middle of the next forenoon, the 7th of March, the battle commenced in earnest. The booming of cannons was heard at our camp for two or three hours before our brigade was ordered into action. We formed quietly and coolly. Marched about two miles to the little village of Leesburg where we halted and disrobed ourselves of our knapsacks, overcoats, and every cumbersome article about us. We formed again in line and with a yell started for the battlefield about quarter of a mile ahead where Davidson’s battery had already began to play upon the Rebels. This battery was placed in a large cornfield surrounded by heavy woods, covered thickly with small red oaks, with the dead leaves still upon them.

Leaving the battery to our left, we passed up the east side of the cornfield nearly to its northern fence then filed off into the woods in a northeast direction followed by the 59th Illinois until we met the enemy’s pickets who fired and retreated back. Here we halted and lay down while every eye was bent upon the thickets to the right and front of us. We had not long to wait for soon the bullets and buckshot began to play upon us, pattering the dry leaves like hail.

 

“We started off as if we were going to a ball or a wedding, the bands playing Dixie.” ~ Corporal Owen M. Callaghan, Co. C, 37th Illinois

 

Then the secesh found out where the 37th Illinois lay. For half an hour did our brave lads pour the deadly contents of their Belgian rifles into the enemy. Lying upon the ground our boys would load, then turn over, get upon one knee, pick out a secesh, and blaze away. Our guns did fearful execution as the rows and heaps of dead and dying secesh testified afterwards in front of where our regiment lay. At this first stand of our regiment was where we lost most of our boys. Our right wing suffered the most, it being nearer the enemy than the left.

The enemy’s extreme left rested about 15 rods to the right and front of our right wing then its center and right stretched off in an almost northerly direction thus forming with our line, the letter V. On this stand of Co. A of the 37th suffered their entire loss of killed and wounded together with the captain. Company after company were slowly driven back until Cos. C and D were the only ones left on the field. For full ten minutes longer did these two companies face the music while the leaden hail fairly plowed the ground around and among them; then, they too were obliged to retreat to the regiment. We quickly formed again and advanced upon the enemy, driving them to and beyond the place of our first stand.

 

 “I got two bullets through my pants and one ball struck the metallic plate of the U.S. in the center of the belt and glanced off which saved my life- a miss is as good as a mile. The bullets flew thick and fast on both sides but we got the better of them.” ~ Private Calvin F. Boardman, Co. C, 37th Illinois

 

Three times that day were the noble 37th Illinois driven back and three times did they rally to their colors and rush upon the enemy. It was now sundown. We had fought for six long hours over a space of ground not one-quarter of a mile wide and having driven the enemy but a little distance beyond our first position. We lay down and slept upon the battlefield, our pickets and those of the enemy being only about 20 rods apart. During the night we were not disturbed. Early the next morning, we formed again and with no breakfast, marched northward about a mile beyond the battleground of the day before, the enemy having fallen back during the night. We took up our position again on the right of our battery.

At sunrise the ball was opened by the artillery which did fearful execution and continued until near the middle of the forenoon when nearly every secesh battery being silenced or withdrawn, the line of infantry was formed extending almost three miles in length. Our regiment occupying the center was ordered to charge and nobly was it done. Our boys, maddened to desperation, fought like tigers. The long line of infantry advanced at the double quick upon the Secesh camp driving the Rebels before them like chaff before the wind while the continued roll of musketry was fairly deafening.

We followed them until about 2 o’clock when we halted. The Rebels were fairly routed and their camp broken up, hundreds of them prisoners, and the balance of their army scattered over the country like frightened sheep. The battlefield for over two miles was literally covered with their dying and dead. Thus, the battle ended. Our victory was complete and although dearly bought, made us rejoice for our country’s sake even while we shed the tears of sorrow over the dead bodies of our comrades who had fallen by our sides.

The loss of the regiment is 21 killed and about 125 wounded. Of my own company, I had three killed and 19 wounded and can say that I feel proud of Co. C and every man did his duty bravely and well. Our major Charles Black was wounded badly in the arm. Colonel White and Lieutenant Colonel Barnes came off unharmed although they were in the thickest of the fight both days, nobly discharging their duty like soldiers as they are. I must now conclude. It is getting late and this mail is the only chance to send for some time.

Yours in haste,

Captain E.B. Payne, commanding Co. C

Sources:

Letter from Captain Eugene Beuharnais Payne, Co. C, 37th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Waukegan Weekly Gazette (Illinois), March 29, 1862, pg. 2

Letter from Corporal Owen M. Callaghan, Co. C, 37th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Waukegan Weekly Gazette (Illinois), April 12, 1862, pg. 2

Letter from Private Calvin Fish Boardman, Co. C, 37th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Waukegan Weekly Gazette (Illinois), March 29, 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

Arming the Union: Federal Contract Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Muskets

Image
A t the outset of the Civil War, the Federal government ran into a serious issue when the Confederacy occupied Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, the home of one of the nation’s two armories, and carted the gun making equipment off to Richmond, Virginia. This left just the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts as the sole government-operated entity to produce longarms for the Union army.           But it quickly became apparent that production at Springfield would have to be supplemented, so the War Department pursued two tracks to increase the weapons supply. Agents were dispatched to Europe to purchase suitable weapons from England, France, Austria, Belgium, and Prussia. Over time, these agents acquired hundreds of thousands of European arms of different designs and origins that equipped Federal regiments in the first years of the war.           In the meantime, operations at the Springfiel...
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

We Buried 110 Men in That Half Acre of Ground: A Buckeye Remembers Spotsylvania Courthouse

Image
I n the aftermath of the bloody fighting at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Lorenzo Barnhart of the 110th Ohio drew the unenviable task of burying the Federal dead. But as the area remained under fire of Confederate skirmishers, Barnhart and the other members of the Pioneer Corps had to do this grisly work at night while under fire.       " It was not very dark and we calculated a grave to hold as many of our dead comrades as we could and dug the grave about 6-15 feet and laid them crosswise," Barnhart wrote. " The Confederates had stripped them of their trousers, their white underclothes could be seen in the night, that way we found them laying around over a scope of ground about half an acre. Two pioneers would carry a man into the grave lay him down and then another on top and so on until that grave was full. We covered them with earth.  We buried 110 soldiers in that half acre of ground. We left many more unburied, we did not dare to undertake to get them as we wou...
Read more

A Different Vista on the Civil War: An "Ohio" Marked Lorenz Rifle

Image
          While the focus of this blog has been almost exclusively on chronicling the services of Ohioans during the Civil War through their own words, once in a while it is worthwhile to look into object-based history to help further illuminate the times. Object-based history provides a different vista through which to view past events, by studying the manufacture, use, and history of the objects themselves. Today's post marks my first entry into studying the Civil War through its relics and objects. Unidentified Yankee private holding a Lorenz rifle and Colt revolver (Library of Congress)            I recently acquired an Ohio-marked M1854 Austrian-made .54 caliber Lorenz rifle from a longtime Civil War collector. When I decided to purchase the rifle, I knew little beyond the fact that I had come across dozens of references to this usually well-regarded longarm in my research over the years and it was one of the more att...
Read more

Arming the Empire State: Arms Issues to New York Infantry Regiments in 1861

Image
     During the Civil War, the state of New York provided more than 400,000 men to the Union army, the highest number of soldiers of any state, and as can be imagined, the task of arming those hundreds of thousands of volunteers was a very difficult one. At the outbreak of hostilities, the state militia numbered 19,000 men but the state possessed only about 8,000 long arms nearly all of which were utilized to arm the eleven militia regiments which left the state in the earliest days of the war. The state dispatched an agent to England on April 24 th to purchase 25,000 Enfield pattern rifle muskets but upon his arrival, he found those weapons hard to find as Confederate agents had already been busy buying up the stock. Eventually, he was able to secure 19,000 Enfields at a cost of $335,000; these weapons arrived in bits and pieces over the next several months and were issued out soon after their arrival to newly formed regiments.  A perusal of the adjutant general’...
Read more

Cotton Burning on the Levee: A Civilian Witnesses the Federal Seizure of New Orleans

Image
F or one Ohio-born resident of New Orleans, the arrival of Admiral David Farragut’s fleet on April 25, 1862, marked a day of liberation. “Yesterday about half past 1 o’clock, the cry was raised that the Yankees were upon us,” wrote Louis M. Beyers in a letter to his mother. “I started toward the levee where the Federal vessels were said to be lying. Reaching the river, what a sight breaks upon my view. The steamboat William Morrison was one mass of flames. All the shipping was sending forth the most dense black smoke. The Mississippi , a ram which was nearly finished and which, if completed, would have demolished the whole fleet in one hour, floating slowly by with the smoke issuing from every opening and several other important like vessels in various parts of the river, all showing that the torch has been applied to them.” “Together with the thunder which came peal after peal gave a scene of the utmost grandeur. There proudly floating in the smoke and rain were the glorious old ...
Read more

Old Abe: The Magnificent War Eagle of the 8th Wisconsin

Image
       In September of 1861, Captain John E. Perkins and the Eau Claire Badgers went into Camp Randall, in Madison Wisconsin with an unusual company mascot: a fledging bald eagle who they soon named Old Abe.           Old Abe had been captured near the Flambeau River in Chippewa County, Wisconsin by Agemahmegezhig (Chief Sky), a member of the Chippewa tribe during sugar season in the spring of 1861.   “His captor cut down a large pine tree in which was the eagle’s nest and secured this one caught in spite of the screams and menaces of the parent birds,” Captain James H. Green of the 8 th Wisconsin later wrote. Daniel McCann of Eagle Point, Wisconsin soon purchased this fledgling eagle by trading a bushel of corn with the Chippewa. Captain Perkins was then in Eau Claire organizing a company and it was there that McCann sold the eagle to Perkins’ company for $2.50. Perkins, who was later killed at the battle of Farmi...
Read more