Death by Mismanagement: With the 1st Michigan at First Bull Run

Charging against Stonewall Jackson’s Virginians on Henry House Hill on July 21, 1861, Private Solomon Holben of the 1st Michigan recalled the back-and-forth charges aimed at seizing that vital piece of ground.

“We charged on the run, shouting “Remember Fort Sumter!” When we got to the top of the hill, we halted and fired. The Rebels were mowed down like grass and in a few minutes not one of them was left in sight. Their masked batteries poured in a perfect shower of cannon balls among us. An order was given by one of our captains (acting as major) to retreat; about one-third of the men left the battlefield when the captain was pulled from his horse and another took his place,” he wrote.

“We then charged over the hill a second time but there was no order this time as every man fought for himself, every Rebel was driven in, but the masked batteries kept up a continual fire. We fell back a second time, charged again, but this time our other color bearer was shot down. We fell back and charged over the hill four times; the last time I ran alongside Colonel Willcox as no one else was near him. An order was given to retreat for we were nearly hemmed in on all sides and but one other regiment was supporting us. Colonel Wilcox had two horses shot under him and I saw the first one fall.”

Private Holben’s account of First Bull Run, a letter written to his brother and sister in Angola, Indiana, first saw publication in the August 3, 1861, edition of the local newspaper, the Steuben Republican. During this campaign, the 1st Michigan’s colonel Orlando B. Willcox led the Second Brigade of Colonel Samuel P. Heintzelman’s Third Division; subsequently, the 1st Michigan was led by Major Alonzo F. Bidwell. Special thanks to friend of the blog Harry Smeltzer and John Hennessey. 

 

This George Barnard image dating from March 1862 depicts the ruins of Mrs. Henry's House atop Henry House Hill. The 1st Michigan went into action in this vicinity during the afternoon of July 21, 1861, contesting for control of the hill with a stalwart brigade of Virginians under the command of Thomas J. Jackson, who earned his nickname of "Stonewall" Jackson for his determined stand here. The 1st Michigan lost 15 killed, 41 wounded, and 61 captured or missing for a total of 117.
(Metropolitan Museum of New York)

 Washington, D.C.

July 24, 1861

Dear brother and sister,

I seat myself once more to write a few lines to inform you that I am alive but I got back here I can hardly tell. I was at the great battle at Bull Run on last Sunday. I will give an account of our doings since we left Cloud’s Mill. About 33,000 men under General [Irvin] McDowell (among whom was our regiment) marched to Fairfax Courthouse and Fairfax Station; our company (Coldwater) was marched ahead of the brigade and employed as skirmishers and were marched through the woods three miles to the station where we arrived and halted an hour before the enemy came in sight.

About 2,100 Alabama troops were drawn up in line of battle but they broke and ran as soon as we came in sight. We took 11 prisoners and marched them up to Colonel Willcox just as he came up at the head of the Fire Zouaves. Fairfax Courthouse was taken on the same day. We were there two days with nothing but the sky to cover us. We then marched to Centreville, about 18 miles from Bull Run where we stayed a few days more.

About 12 o’clock on Sunday morning we were ordered out and at about 3 everything was ready and the march commenced. There were in all 45,000 men under McDowell. The battle commenced in the morning; we could hear the cannonading shortly after we started. When we got within 7-8 miles, we could hear the musketry and see the smoke. We arrived on the field about 2 o’clock. General McDowell rode up to our colonel and ordered his to lead his men to the support of the left wing under Colonel [Samuel P.] Heintzelman and attack the enemy. We started for our position.

This set of silk regimental colors was carried by the 1st Michigan Infantry at First Bull Run and captured. During the course of the fighting, both color bearers were struck down but the regiment brought the national colors safely from the field.. The flag features elements of the state flag of Michigan with a ribbon for "1st Regt. Infty." The motto Tuebor on the state shield is Latin for 'I will defend."
(Michigan Battle Flags)  

Our artillery had got out of ammunition and were retreating as were the Fire Zouaves [11th New York] who were cut to pieces by the Rebels’ masked batteries. Our cavalry was also retreating. When we got to the place which was occupied by our artillery, a bomb shell discharged from the masked batteries struck the ground about four rods from us and exploded. One of the balls struck our color bearer and killed him; it also killed one of the color guards and knocked down five of our boys. I was in the same platoon and the ball passed about two feet over my head.

Captain William H. Withington
Co. B, 1st Michigan
Wounded and captured at Bull Run
Awarded Medal of Honor
(Dale Niesen Collection)

We were marched on a few rods further and were ordered to charge over a hill; the secessionists were on the other side while in the woods on the Rebels’ left was one of their masked batteries. We charged on the run, shouting “Remember Fort Sumter!” When we got to the top of the hill, we halted and fired. The Rebels were mowed down like grass and in a few minutes not one of them was left in sight. I saw 5 Massachusetts men; they told us that they were held as prisoners by the Rebels when our regiment made the first charge and said that we must have killed or wounded about 300 at the first fire.

Their masked batteries poured in a perfect shower of cannon balls among us. An order was given by one of our captains (acting as major) to retreat; about one-third of the men left the battlefield when the captain was pulled from his horse and another took his place. We then charged over the hill a second time but there was no order this time as every man fought for himself, every Rebel was driven in, but the masked batteries kept up a continual fire. We fell back a second time, charged again, but this time our other color bearer was shot down. 

We fell back and charged over the hill four times; the last time I ran alongside Colonel Willcox as no one else was near him. An order was given to retreat for we were nearly hemmed in on all sides and but one other regiment was supporting us. Colonel Wilcox had two horses shot under him and I saw the first one fall. The colonel was himself wounded twice and was put into an ambulance but bled to death before he could get aid. [This is in error- Willcox was wounded and captured and lived until 1907- Ed. note] Captain Butterworth was shot about the time the order to retreat was given; I saw him but a few minutes before; I think he is dead. About 10-15 men from our company are missing; I think they are all killed or wounded. Over a third of our regiment is missing. We saved our colors.

Colonel Orlando Bolivar Willcox, a 38 year old West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran, resigned from the army in 1857 but was tapped to lead the 1st Michigan when it entered the service in April 1861. His Regular Army bonafides led to brigade command at First Bull Run where he was wounded in the leg, captured, and eventually in 1895, awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition for his valor upon that field. He ended the war as a brevet major general and served ably in divisional command with the Army of the Potomac following his exchange in August 1862. After the war, he briefly returned to civilian life before again donning the blue uniform for service in the U.S. Army, serving in various commands until his mandatory retirement in 1887 at age 64.
(Library of Congress)


When I left the hill I could see but one of our boys behind me. About 20 of us went into the woods on the opposite side of the batteries; the Rebels poured in a perfect shower of musketry after us. When I got on the lower end of the woods near where we first started on the charge, a regiment of Rebels came up on the other side. We all threw ourselves into the ditch and they fired over us. We then jumped up and got into another woods before they could fire again.

We then got into a field which was filled with stragglers going back to the main body of the army. The enemy brought a field piece onto a hill behind us and commenced firing, but they did not hit anyone. There were but from 25,000 of our troops in the fight; from prisoners we learn that there were 70,000 Rebels and reinforcements arriving all the time. From their wounded we learned that three of their men had been killed to one of ours. I could see their bodies lying in heaps before their batteries. Two of our captains are killed and a number wounded.

Co. C styled themselves the Coldwater Cadets and were led by Captain Ebenezer Butterworth pictured above. Wounded and captured during the fighting near Ricketts' Battery at Bull Run, the 33-year-old English-born clothier died of his wounds August 17, 1861, at Charlottesville, Virginia. He left a widow and three young children back in Coldwater, Michigan.
(Courtesy of Jeff Joyce, Find-A-Grave)

Our regiment was the last to leave the field. The whole army retreated to Fairfax Courthouse and Vienna. I went to Vienna which was about 25 miles from the battlefield. I lay down twice and slept by the side of the road. I got lost in the woods and did not get back to the main body for a long while. Two batteries of artillery were taken by the enemy but we re-taken in the morning. Cannons, guns, wagons, horses, and wounded men were strung all along the road from Bull Run to Vienna.

I got a ride from Vienna to Alexandria yesterday and we were marched from there to Washington. President Lincoln overtook us on the way; he told us to hurry up and recruit again so as to be ready to march. The battle was not to have taken place till Tuesday when we were to be supported by Generals McClellan, Butler, and Patterson with 80,000 more men. Instead of this, General McDowell wanted to do it alone. We met 10,000 of our men at Centreville that should have been in the fight.

It was mismanagement that lost us the day more than anything else. General McDowell sent in one regiment after another to be cut to pieces by their masked batteries. There were five times our number of men on the hill when we made the first charge and we drove them all off the field. Our time is out today; I do not know what they will do with us. I heard that we were to be kept 30 days longer. As far as I am concerned, I do not care. I know we can whip the Rebels two to one if we have the right men to lead us.

Yours truly,

Sol. Holben 

For another perspective from the 1st Michigan, please check out a letter from Private Charles Farrand of Co. F available here as featured on Harry's incredible blog "Bull Runnings" devoted to First Bull Run/Manassas. The home for that site can be viewed here.

To learn more about First Bull Run, please check out these other posts:

Source:

Letter from Private Solomon Holben, Company C "Coldwater Cadets", 1st Michigan Infantry, Steuben Republican (Indiana), August 3, 1861, pg. 2; Holben later served in Battery D of the 1st Michigan Light Artillery which served in the western theater with the Army of the Cumberland. 

 

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

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

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

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

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