McCook family temple at Spring Grove – here is the Tribe of Dan.
The Fighting McCooks account for three more actual generals and one brevet general. The McCooks hailed from eastern Ohio – Daniel raising his family in Carrollton while John grew his in Steubenville. Buried here Spring Grove is Daniel’s family – John’s family lies, for the most part, at Union Cemetery in Steubenville.
John, as a physician, volunteered his services to the Union army. He was joined by another brother George, a surgeon – joined also by his son. Daniel volunteered to serve as a paymaster. Nine of his sons joined the cause – the “Tribe of Dan”. Three would die in combat. John and his five sons – the “Tribe of John” – all survived.
The Fighting McCooks put more men from the McCook family into the Federal armed servics during the Civil War than any other family in the nation.
The view from Battery Robinett back into the town of Corinth. The Tishomingo Hotel and the train station are to the right.
Corinth, Mississippi is all about railroads. Transportation – just like with its illustrious namesake in Greece – constitutes Corinth’s raison d’être. Two main rail lines intersected here. One set of rails went east and west – Memphis & Charleston, while the other line oriented itself in a north and south direction – Mobile & Ohio. The two lines made up very important transportation routes linking major parts of the Confederate South together. These railroads, because of the paucity of such roads available to the Confederacy, took on an even greater importance during the American Civil War.
Swans try to stay warm in the frozen environs of Spring Grove.
Many cemeteries in the eastern, southern and midwestern states hold the remains of many of the men who figured during the American Civil War. One of the best-known cemeteries is the huge grounds of Spring Grove in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here, lie 41 generals buried along with 999 veterans of the long war.
GENERALS OF SPRING GROVE
Tour of the south end of the cemetery
part one legend of the walking tour
Some forty Federal generals’ repose in the vast cemetery here at Spring Grove. You can get a civil-war-generals-buried-at-spring-grove-cemetery of the gentlemen here courtesy of the cemetery. Many of the men here in Spring Grove were “brevet” generals. Officers used to be rewarded for bravery and outstanding conduct not with medals, but with brevet ranks. These ranks were honorary and did not count for pay or authority purposes. This practice in the American army borrowed from the British army, started during the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, many brevet promotions granted at the end of the war, became rewards for meritorious service. Brevet ranks went for either the U.S. Volunteers, the Regular Army or for both. It was possible for an officer to hold four different ranks at one time – normal rank in Volunteer and Regular plus a brevet rank in both branches.
part two legend of the walking tour
part three legend of the walking tour
Some generals rose to very high rank during the war but dropped back to a much lower rank in the Regular Army at the war’s end. Over 1,000 officers reached the brevet rank of either brigadier or major general during the war. The majority of the brevet awards became awarded 13 March 1865.
JOSEPH HOOKER
Major General Joseph Hooker, Commander of the Army of the Potomac – at least for six months.
Many of the “generals” of Spring Grove fall into the late bloomer category. Twenty-six of the forty gained brevets to the rank of general having served at ranks below that level during the war. That is not to say their stories are not interesting, it is just that you might not be familiar with those stories. Most of them served in the West, though not all. The highest-ranking officer is Joseph Hooker originally from Massachusetts – a statue of him sits next to the Capitol in Boston. He lies buried here with his wife who hailed from Cincinnati.
The highest-ranking officer is Joseph Hooker originally from Massachusetts – a statue of him sits next to the Capitol in Boston. Hooker began the war in California from where he earlier resigned his commission from the federal army. A graduate of West Point in 1840, he took an active role in the Mexican War fighting with Winfield Scott’s Mexico City campaign.
After the war, Hooker posted to California left the army occupying himself with several projects, none very successful. Drinking and gambling became serious roadblocks. Just before the Civil War, he appeared recovering more purpose in life serving as a road constructor responsible for building a military road through southwestern Oregon.
With the onset of the war, Hooker went east to see if he could take part in the new adventure. More of that story you can read here.
REBIRTH IN THE WEST
James Walker’s massive remake of the Battle of Lookout Mountain – 1873 – this time commissioned by Joseph Hooker. Painting is in the Visitor Center at Point Park.
Joseph Hooker takes in the view from atop Lookout Mountain.
Suffice it to say, he worked his way to command the Army of the Potomac before running afoul of the many enemies he gathered along his journey to the top. Relieved just before Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln (To whom Hooker owed much in his advancements) gave him a new assignment as commander of two Army of the Potomac corps – the 11th and 12th – sent to the West after the Federal defeat at Chickamauga. His men helped re-open the supply route into Chattanooga and played a significant role in that following campaign. The two corps played the primary role in the Battle of Lookout Mountain before playing a supporting role at Missionary Ridge the following day.
Hooker went on commanding his corps through much of the Atlanta campaign before running afoul of old enemies once again. William Sherman, in command of the Federal armies in Georgia, did not like Hooker. Those feelings went back to dealings between the two in California. When the commander of one of those Federal armies under Sherman – the Army of the Ohio – died 22 July 1864 at the Battle of Atlanta. Hooker was the senior commander available, but Sherman passed him over in favor of Otis O. Howard, a corps commander under Hooker.
OUT AGAIN
Major General Joseph Hooker – photograph by Matthew Brady.
Sherman knew this would insult Hooker – Hooker still laid much blame for his defeat at Chancellorsville at Howard’s feet – and he was right. Hooker resigned his post with the Georgian army. He was then shuffled to a backwater post – Northern Department – commanding from, first Columbus, Ohio and later, Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI SEGUE
In Cincinnati, he met Olivia Grosebeck, the middle-aged daughter of a prominent banker. Married 3 October 1865, the couple did not have much chance to live together as Hooker suffered a stroke a few weeks after their marriage. Slowly recovering, Hooker did return to his army duties in 1866. Another stroke in 1867 forced him to apply for a leave of absence from the military. Hoping to aid his recovery, the couple took off for an extended trip to Europe.
Soon after their return in 1867, Olivia fell ill dying 15 July 1868 of tuberculosis. Another stroke three months later forced Hooker to retire from the army. He would live until 31 October 1879 suffering from partial paralysis from his strokes. Both Olivia and Joseph originally lie in graves in New York. They came to be re-buried here at Spring Grove in 1880.
THE FIGHTING MCCOOKS
McCook family temple at Spring Grove.
The Fighting McCooks account for three more actual generals and one brevet general. The McCooks hailed from eastern Ohio – Daniel raising his family in Carrollton while John grew his in Steubenville. Buried here at Spring Grove is Daniel’s family – John’s family lies, for the most part, at Union Cemetery in Steubenville.
John, as a physician, volunteered his services to the Union army. He was joined by another brother George, a surgeon – joined also by his son. Daniel volunteered to serve as a paymaster. Nine of his sons joined the cause – the “Tribe of Dan”. Three would die in combat. John and his five sons – the “Tribe of John” – all survived.
Burial urn of Daniel McCook.
They are deserving of another post.
WILLIAM LYTLE
Grave of William Lytle in Spring Grove Cemetery – Cincinnati, Ohio.
Of the others, William H. Lytle is the most famous of the Spring Grove generals. His body retrieved from where he had fell at Chickamauga and laid in state in the rotunda of the county courthouse in Cincinnati. The next day, his funeral was probably the grandest of all who lie buried here at Spring Grove with so many people lining the streets of Cincinnati that Lytle’s cortege did not reach the cemetery until dusk. Four militia regiments marched along the route complete with bands and an artillery battery. The hearse drawn by six white horses was draped in black with a horse following behind with empty boots in the stirrups.
His monument stands close to the entry to the cemetery made of Carrara marble. On the south side of the monument is a bas-relief showing the general leading his men at Chickamauga. An eagle sits atop with a garland of laurel leaves.
Restored mortuary pyramid of Brigadier General William Lytle.
Lytle before the war was a politician and member of one Cincinnati’s leading families. He was one of America’s leading poets – his poem “Anthony and Cleopatra” written in 1858 well known throughout both the North and the South. Raising the 10th Ohio at the beginning of the war, Lytle suffered wounds twice before. The second time, at Perryville, where he also became subsequently captured. At Chickamauga, Lytle was shot down by a Confederate sniper supposedly with the approval of General Bragg. His body was brought to the attention of Confederate general Patton Anderson who set a guard over the body. He had knew Lytle from the Democratic Convention of 1860.
FROM ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA
“I am dying, Egypt, dying. Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast, And the dark Plutonian shadows Gather on the evening blast; Let thine arm, oh Queen, enfold me Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear, Listen to the great heart secrets Thou, and thou alone, must hear. …. I am dying, Egypt, dying; Hark! The insulting foeman’s cry; They are coming; quick, my falchion! Let me front them ere I die. Ah, no more amid the battle Shall my heart exulting swell; Isis and Osiris guard thee, – Cleopatra, Rome, farewell!”
WILLIAM LYTLE
Many of the Spring Grove generals lie buried in family plots marked with tall monuments making it possible to spy their final resting places underneath a foot of snow. Some do not. Men like Jacob Ammen whose gravestone sits flat to the ground have to wait my ‘official’ visit for a time when the snows have melted.
JEPTHA GARRARD
Jeptha Garrard.
Among those generals whom I could find among the snows – and rain – of Spring Grove include the family plot of Jeptha and Kenner Garrard, a pair of brothers who both reached the rank of general – Jeptha’s was of the brevet variety. Another brother, Israel, also was a Federal general as was a cousin, Theophilus Garrard. Jeptha started out the war as a captain in the cavalry before becoming the colonel of the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry late in the war.
KENNER GARRARD
Brigadier General Henry Garrard and his daughter.
Kenner was a West Pointer graduating in 1851. He served in the Southwest during the decade before the war in the cavalry. Imprisoned in the South at the start of the war, his parole terms kept him from taking an active part in the war until 27 August 1862 when he became the colonel of the 146th New York which he led as a part of the Army of the Potomac. He took over Stephen Weed’s brigade when Weed died at Gettysburg on the second day of that battle.
Kenner became a brigadier general later in July 1863 and given a boost to major in the Regular Army. He next went west to the Army of the Cumberland to lead the 2nd Cavalry division during the Atlanta campaign.
Major General Henry Garrard.
Next, he led the 2nd division of Major General Andrew Smith’s 16th Corps providing George Thomas with the critical veterans needed to crush Hood at Nashville in December of 1864. Ending the war in Mobile, Kenner gained brevets to brigadier and major general of the Regulars for his war service. He resigned in 1866 to work in real estate. He and Jeptha lie here in the family plot, two of the Spring Grove generals.
WILLIAM BALDWIN
William Henry Baldwin was a graduate of Harvard Law School coming to Cincinnati afterwards to set up a law practice, but he Italian Civil War broke out. Baldwin joined Garibaldi as a foreign volunteer. With the onset of the American Civil War, Baldwin returned to Ohio becoming the lieutenant colonel of the 83rd Ohio. That regiment fought at Chickasaw Bluffs, Arkansas Post and Vicksburg.
During the subsequent Mobile campaign near the end of the war, Baldwin led a charge which captured a vital fort. The Confederate commander, Francis M. Cockerill, was called upon to surrender the fort and he asked to whom he was to surrender the fort to.
Baldwin Family plot at Spring Grove.
Baldwin replied, “The 83rd Ohio.” Cockerill – who would go on to serve five consecutive terms as U.S. senator from Missouri after the war – answered back, “I believe we did that once before.” Cockerill’s Missouri brigade had actually surrendered to the same Ohio regiment at Vicksburg in July 1863. Following the war, Baldwin returned to Cincinnati earning a living as a lawyer until his death in 1898.
JOSHUA BATES
Bates family plot at Spring Grove.
Joshua Hall Bates.
Joshua Hall Bates was another West Pointer who graduated in 1847. After serving for five years in the army, Bates resigned to practice law in Ohio. He was one of the three original Ohio militia brigadier generals at the start of the war. He helped to organize the training facility at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati and was a figure in the development of fifteen Ohio regiments. Bates thought he was too old to take an active part in the filed campaigns – he was 44 – so he resigned his commission at the end of August 1861 and returned to his law practice – he would continue to practice until his death at 91 years of age in 1908. The tall monument of the family plot makes it easy Bates among the Spring Grove generals.
G. W. NEFF
George Washington Neff.
Neff Family plot at Spring Grove.
George Washington Neff followed his father as a president of and independent fire company and fire insurance company. A member of a pre-war militia company, Neff served as a principal organizer of the 2nd Kentucky actually comprised of Ohioans. Colonel Neff led his men in western Virginia but fell capture at the Battle of Scarry Creek 17 July 1861. He endured over a year of imprisonment before gaining exchange. Returning to Ohio, Neff helped with the force that repelled the raiders of John Hunt Morgan. Named to the colonelcy of the 88th Ohio afterwards, he led the regiment as it guarded prisoners at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. He gained a brevet to brigadier general at the end of the war. After the war, Neff returned to his insurance business.
EDWARD NOYES
Noyes family plot at Spring Grove.
Edward Noyes.
Edward Follansbee Noyes worked his way from orphan through Dartmouth. Graduating in 1858 from the Cincinnati Law School, he practiced in Cincinnati until the start of the war when he signed up as a major in the 39th Ohio. Late in 1862, Noyes became the regiment’s colonel becoming involved in both the battles of Iuka and Corinth. He lost a leg during the Atlanta campaign and ended the war as the prison commander at Camp Dennison. He was brevetted to brigadier general for his services 13 May 1865. After the war, Noyes gained election as governor of Ohio in 1871. He served as campaign manager for Rutherford B. Hayes during his successful run in 1876. His reward was becoming named minister to France where he served from 1877 until 1881. He returned to Cincinnati, dying at the age of 59 in 1890.
PETER SULLIVAN
Peter Sullivan.
Irish born; Peter John Sullivan came to America at the age of two. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he went on to work as a military engineer in Washington, D.C. and served as the official stenographer of the U.S. Senate.
Moving to Cincinnati in 1848, Sullivan studied and was admitted to the bar. By the start of the war, he had amassed a considerable amount of money with which he helped raise four regiments.
Lincoln insisted he become the lieutenant colonel of the 48th Ohio and he was the colonel within two months. Sullivan was very active at the Battle of Shiloh, he was wounded three times and had four horses shot out from under him.
Family plot of Peter Sullivan at Spring Grove.
He could never go to the field again, a result of his wounds, but he served a variety of administrative roles for the rest of the war, gaining a brevet promotion to brigadier general at the war’s end.
Andrew Johnson appointed him as minister to Colombia and Grant reappointed. His health failing, he resigned and returned to his law practice in Cincinnati, dying in 1883 at the age of 61.
BYRON KIRBY
Byron Kirby of the 3rd Maryland Cavalry.
Kirby Family plot at Spring Grove.
Byron Kirby was born in Cincinnati. There is not a lot online about General Kirby. He spent the first war months with the 6th USD Regular Infantry as a 1st Lieutenant. Next, he served as an aide to Major General William Rosecrans. Last, he gained a commission as a major in the 3rd Maryland Cavalry. Promoted to lieutenant colonel 23 January 1864, he commanded the regiment in the Red River campaign. At the end of the war, he gained two brevet promotions to colonel and brigadier general for services rendered during the war. He died in 1882 and lies buried in his family lot another of the Spring Grove generals.
ANDREW HICKENLOOPER
Statue of Andrew Hickenlooper at Vicksburg.
Andrew Hickenlooper worked for the city surveyor of Cincinnati from the young age of nineteen. After three years, he became the city surveyor. But, two years later came the war.
He recruited an artillery battery, Hickenlooper’s Battery or the 5th Ohio Independent Battery. They were in Missouri first before being attached to the Army of the Tennessee playing a significant part in the Battle of Shiloh. He was able to save four of his six guns in the initial Confederate attack and later helped defend the Federals caught in the Hornet’s Nest.
Hickenlooper Family plot at Spring Grove.
Moving up, he became a divisional artillery leader and finally the chief of staff of the 17th Corps. Serving as an engineer with Sherman, he participated in the Atlanta, March to the Sea and Carolina campaigns. For service rendered, he gained the brevet promotion to brigadier general.
Post war, Hickenlooper became a US Marshall for southern Ohio, then serving two years as the Cincinnati city civil engineer. Next, he became president of the Cincinnati Gas Company. In 1879, Hickenlooper gained election as lieutenant governor for Ohio. An ever-tireless worker for veteran affairs, he served as the Secretary for the Society of the Army of Tennessee. He also published a book on Shiloh in 1902.Dying in 1904, he lies here at Spring Grove in his hometown. There is also a statue of Hickenlooper at Vicksburg National Military Park dating to 1912.
LEWIS GOVE BROWN
Lewis Gove Brown commanded the 117th US Colored Regiment.
Early in the Civil War, Lewis Brown joined the 11th Ohio regiment. The 11th served with the Army of the Cumberland after Stones River through Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and the Atlanta campaign. Brown, at the end of his three-year obligation, became the colonel of the newly-organize 117th US Colored Infantry Regiment. The 117th went to the East becoming involved in the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign. After Lee’s surrender, the regiment became posted to the Mexican border on the Rio Grande until being mustered out in August 1867. Lewis gained a brevet promotion to brigadier general.
Lewis died in 1889 of suicide – gunshot wound.
Plot where Lewis Gove Brown lies beneath the Spring Grove snows.
NICHOLAS LONGWORTH ANDERSON
Nicholas Longworth Anderson as a colonel.
Cincinnati born and raised Nicholas Longworth Anderson was a Harvard graduate from 1858. He spent the next two years studying in Germany before returning to Cincinnati to study law.
With the war, a nephew of Brigadier General Richard Anderson who commanded Fort Sumter, he enlisted becoming a first lieutenant with the 6th Ohio – 12 May 1861- rising to lieutenant colonel by the end of June. He took command of the regiment as a colonel on 9 November 1862 serving through the various campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland from Shiloh through the Atlanta campaign mustering out of service 23 June 1864.
Family plot for the Longworth and Anderson families at Spring Grove.
Fighting in the brigade of General William Grose, Anderson was wounded twice at Stones River and Chickamauga. He gained a brevet promotion to brigadier general at the end of the war for services rendered and later to major general.
Two of his cousins would also gain the rank of brigadier general – one in the form of a brevet, Allen Latham Anderson (8th California) and Thomas McArthur Anderson fighting as a brigadier general in the Philippines.
The Anderson and Longworth families have been linked together in Cincinnati since the mid-19th century. Many are buried in the Longworth plot here at Spring Grove. Of the 72 people buried here, 45 are Andersons while, by comparison, only 9 are Longworths. Nicholas’ father, Larz is the link with the Longworths through marriage.
HENRY KENNETT
Grave of Henry Gassaway Kennett in Spring Grove.
Henry Gassaway Kennett was an Ohio lawyer from before the war. Henry served as major in command of the Cincinnati Zouaves before the war. He began the war serving as lieutenant colonel in the 27th Ohio. That regiment served in John Pope’s successful expedition against Island No. 10. Like the other units from the Missouri-based force, they became involved in the siege of Corinth. After Corinth’s fall, they stayed in the area taking part in both the battles of Iuka and Corinth. Kennett served as chief of staff for William Rosecrans, the Federal commander in both battles.
In August 1862, Kennett became the founding colonel of the 79th Ohio. The regiment became involved in the pursuit of John Morgan’s raid across the Ohio River. Eventually, they became part of the Army of the Ohio going south in 1864 to join William Sherman’s force in the Atlanta campaign. They would go on with Sherman to the sea and on to the Carolinas. Kennett would resign 1 August 1864 at the end of his three-year obligation.
Colonel John Kennett, 4th Ohio Cavalry, was Henry’s father.
His father, John – an immigrant from St. Petersburg, Russia – led the 4th Ohio Cavalry from 1861 until 1863. A graduate of Harvard, John was a co-owner of a tobacco company in Cincinnati before the war.
With the end of the war, Henry went back to his law practice as well as serving in the Ohio House of Representatives. He died in early 1895.
SOLDIERS’ CIRCLE
Plan for Lot A of the Soldiers’ Circle at Spring Grove.
With the Civil War raging and the numbers of dead rising, locals here in Cincinnati thought Spring Grove made a fitting burial ground for Ohio’s dead. The US Sanitary Commission agreed, meeting with the trustees of the cemetery early in 1862. They placed a request for a 100-foot diameter circular plot, capable of holding 300 graves near the lake feature just created at the cemetery. The grave sites would lay out in concentric circles.
Usual internment fees were waived by the cemetery and the lots filled quickly. So fast that the Cemetery, reluctant to donate more real estate, persuaded the state legislature to purchase two similar lots for $1,500 each for Ohio soldiers. Names, ages, company and regiments were all carefully recorded – there are only 28 unknown soldiers buried in the Soldier’s lots with 994 recorded.
Normal US soldier grave markers were erect. That took away from the effect Adolph Strauch, the designer of Spring Grove was going for in his “naturalistic” approach. So, here, all grave markers for the soldiers were flat.
The dead came from battlefields and army hospitals of all theaters of the war. Some 339 remains were moved here from Camp Dennison in 1866, the men dying mostly from hospitals in and around Cincinnati.
There are three mounds around the outside of the circles with an officer’s body lying at the center of each mound.
32-pound siege guns at the Soldiers’ lots at Spring Grove.
The Sentinel stands near the Soldiers’ lots at Spring Grove.
GEORGE ELSTNER
George Elstner.
Lieutenant Colonel George Elstner.
Grave of George Elstner. His body removed from the Soldiers’ Circle – findagrave.com photo.
Colonel George R. Elstner who commanded the 50th Ohio dying at Utoy Creek near Atlanta at the age of 22 is supposed to lie in the middle of the first mound though it appears he has a grave elsewhere in the cemetery, too.
FREDERICK JONES
Colonel Frederick Jones 31st Ohio.
Colonel Frederick Jones lies in the next circle. His family moved to Cincinnati when he was ten years old. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. Jones was the Prosecuting Attorney for the Police Court of Cincinnati when the war began.
A brief stint as a captain at Camp Dennison was followed by an appointment as lieutenant colonel of the 31st Ohio. Soon after, he transferred on to the 24th Ohio in March 1862. At Shiloh, he gained a brevet promotion to colonel for gallantry on the field.
He died during a charge at Stones River on 31 December 1862. An upright siege gun pointing to the sky marks the location of his grave in the middle of his mound.
ROBERT LATIMER MCCOOK
General Robert Latimer McCook – Tribe of Dan – laid in the center of the mound closest to the lake. One of two of Spring Grove generals buried in the Soldiers’ section, later, his remains transferred to the McCook family temple.
THOMAS WILLIAMS
Thomas J. Williams.
Brevet Brigadier General Thomas J. Williams is the second of Spring Grove generals in the Sodliers’ Section lying under the cannon in Lot C. He was added after the war dying – 18 November 1866 – of brain inflammation at the age of 29. A bookkeeper before the war, Williams enlisted with the 23rd Kentucky as a captain.The 23rd served in all of the campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland after Shiloh – Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville.
Later following his discharge after his three-year tour, he gained a major’s commission with the 55th Kentucky Mounted Infantry on 1 March 1865. The 55th operated against Southern guerillas in northern Kentucky just upriver from Cincinnati. Promoted to lieutenant colonel at the end of that month, he mustered out with his regiment 19 September 1865. He gained a brevet promotion to colonel. In early 1866, he gained another brevet promotion to brigadier general.
Chickamauga stands as the Granite Forest of the West, a counterpoint to Gettysburg. The battlefield lies much more scattered than you find at the Granite Forest of the East. The battlelines here ebbed and flowed during the two main days of battle. One of the largest groupings of granite monuments stands atop Horseshoe Ridge where for five and a half hours, Federal forces staved off total defeat following the catastrophic rupture of their lines along Lafayette Road.
On the way to find the men of George Maney deep in the forests of Chickamauga.
If you start wandering about the battlefields of the American Civil War you might start noticing names appearing on more than one battlefield. One such name is George Maney of Tennessee. A recent trip took me out onto the fields of Chickamauga where our group, led by the indomitable David Powell and National Park historian James Ogden, wandered in the footsteps of Maney’s brigade on both 19 and 20 September 1863. Maney’s brigade fought hard on those two days. While they did not achieve greatness, turning the tide of the battle in one direction or the other, they stayed steady.
Defense of Snodgrass Hill and Horsehoe Ridge – right – shown on NPS brochure with Snodgrass Hill beyond.
Chickamauga was a battle full of high drama at various stages of the long battle. An excellent case concerns the arrival of the Federal Reserve Corps.
Brigadier General John Beatty stood on Snodgrass Hill along with Major General George Thomas looking off to the north. The Federals chance of holding the line on the afternoon of 20 September 1863 seemed more tenuous by the minute. “We saw off to our rear the banners and glittering guns of a division coming towards us, and we became agitated by doubt and hope. Are they friends of foes?” Still too far off to ascertain exactly, Thomas became agitated as his hand shook, raising his field glass to observe. “Take my glass, some of you whose horse stands steady – tell me what you can see.”
Two officers went to check for sure the identity of the newcomers to the party brewing on Horseshoe Ridge. They waved their hats after the meeting signaling the identity was not foe by friend. Gordon Granger and his Reserve Corps arrived and Thomas with his remaining Cumberlanders felt relief at the addition of 3,819 Federals attempting to salvage something from a very long day at Chickamauga.
Regular Brigade monument at Stones River National Cemetery where the men stood their ground on 31 December 1862.
As the dawn rose over the smoking hulk of Fort Sumter and the war clouds finally erupted in a blaze of gun shells zeroing in on the former protector of Charleston, South Carolina, the widely dispersed forces of the Regular Army of the United States began to gather facing the storm as it lashed across the landscape. In the west, Regular Army regiments formed into what became the Regular Brigade.
A substantial portion of the antebellum Regular Army along with four of the new 1861-authorized new Regular regiments played their Civil War roles as part of the Army of the Potomac. They initially formed as the Regular Infantry Brigade, but as the regiments began to add up, a Regular Infantry Division – Sykes’ Regulars – built up. Recruitment never caught up with battle and disease losses, however, and after several hard-fought battles, the surviving Regulars found themselves pulled from the battlefield after the battle of Cold Harbor in mid-June 1864, their ranks much diminished. In this post, we look at the overall history of the Regular Infantry in the East.
After the war Romeyn Ayres, commander of the Regular Division during 1863-1864 was asked if any of his regulars were still serving. Ayres replied “I had a division of regulars once. I buried half of them at Gettysburg and the other half in the Wilderness. There’s no regulars left.”
Shiloh National Cemetery – the unknown dead far outnumber the named.
The Shiloh National Cemetery became established in 1866. Officially closed now to new burials, there are some 3,695 – 3,584 from the Civil War era – buried here with 2,359 being unknown. Many of the dead were from the Battle of Shiloh. Men from different regiments lay buried where they fought after the battle. With the establishment of the cemetery, the soldiers were reinterred here, still keeping to their regimental group when possible. Three Confederates lie among the dead, two known – dying as prisoners of war – and one included within the ranks of the unknown. Many dead soldiers also came here from nearby battlefields and hospitals – some 565 different locations. Several veterans from the Spanish-American and the World Wars lie buried here, too, along with one veteran of the Revolutionary War.
Tennessee State Monument next to Water Oaks Pond on Sherman Road.
Day Two at Shiloh brought about a reversal of the actions of Day One. Here are the monuments of the Army of the Ohio at Shiloh.
AMMEN’S BRIGADE
Jacob Ammen in an 1864 photograph.
Jacob Ammen was a distinguished graduate of West Point in 1831 – he even helped teach at the Point for a couple of terms after he graduated. He served in the active army until 1837 – Ammen served at Charleston Harbor during the Nullification Crisis – when he resigned to teach mathematics at colleges in Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana. In 1855, Ammen took on a new career in civil engineering in Ripon, Ohio. With the war, he joined the 12th Ohio as a captain but soon became the colonel of the 24th Ohio. After action in West Virginia, the regiment became part of the Army of the Ohio with Ammen promoted to brigade command. He would lead his brigade here and through the succeeding Corinth campaign before gaining promotion to division command. Ill health would then sideline him for much of the rest of the war.
william grose
William Grose.
The man who would take over brigade command for Ammen was William Grose who led the 36th Indiana at Shiloh. Grose was a lawyer and a Republican politician before the war. He recruited and trained the 36th. At Shiloh, he suffered a slight wound and had a horse shot out from under him. Grose had a long career ahead of him as a brigade commander in the Army of the Ohio/Cumberland.
brigade in action
36th Indiana – Ammen’s Brigade – woods east of Bloody Pond – Colonel William Grose commanding.
Ammen’s brigade was the vanguard of Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. Marching up the east bank of the Tennessee River from Savannah on 6 April, they crossed the river at Pittsburgh Landing at 5:30 pm. Pushing their way through the many Federals whose units already disrupted during the long day’s fighting, Ammen’s men came forward supporting the left end of Grant’s ‘last line’ resting above the Dill Branch ravine. Ammen had gotten the 36th Indiana and parts of the 24th Ohio into the line along with survivors of Stuart’s and Sweeny’s brigades among other skulkers who had regained their nerve – maybe slightly over 1,000 men online – just as the Rebels launched their last attack of the day at 6 pm with the brigades of Jackson and Chalmers easily repulsed.
Colonel Frederick Jones 24th Ohio – he died at Stone River and lies buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Frederick Jones’ grave lies under the upturned cannon in the snows of Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.
24th Ohio – Ammen’s Brigade – woods east of Bloody Pond.
The Confederates withdrew during the evening and Ammen’s men joined the general Federal advance during the morning of 7 April forming the left of Buell’s now mostly reunited army. Ammen’s brigade marched through Cloud Field coming into line of battle between the Bloody Pond and into the woods to the east at around 11 am where McArthur and Stuart had used the ravines the day before to defend. Confederate counterattacks stalemated the situation until about 2 pm when the general Rebel retreat began.
6th Ohio – Ammen’s Brigade – woods east of Bloody Pond.
Ammen’s men had support from the men of the 2nd and 14th Iowa of Tuttle’s brigade. This brigade would go on to fight many more battles as part of the Army of the Ohio/Cumberland with another set of regimental monuments in the woods of Chickamauga. Here, the brigade monuments are located in the woods east of the Bloody Pond where they fought in the late morning of 7 April: 6th Ohio, 24th Ohio and 36th Indiana – west to east.
HAZEN’S BRIGADE
General William B. Hazen.
The men of Colonel William Hazen did not cross over the Tennessee River at Pittsburgh Landing until 9 pm on 6 April. They formed on the right of Bruce’s brigade advancing early – 5:30 am –the next morning, engaging the Confederates in Wicker Field at about 8 am. An advance into the Davis Wheat Field was – around 11 am – checked by a counterattack by the Crescent Regiment and 19th Louisiana which pushed Hazen’s men back to the Sunken Road. Each side would exchange attacks before the Confederates would finally begin to withdraw around 2 pm.
william hazen
Hazen had grown up in Hiram, Ohio where he was a close friend of James Garfield. He graduated from West Point in 1855 and suffering a wound in a fight with Comanches in Texas in 1859. With the onset of the Civil War, Hazen became the colonel of the 41st Ohio and gaining elevation to brigade command shortly before Shiloh. As a brigade commander, he would go on to more memorable battles – Perrydale, Stones River, Chickamauga. His brigade gained their best accolades for their stalwart defense of the Round Forest at Stones River. Hazen would eventually reach divisional command and – very late in the war – corps command.
Staying on in the army after the war, he would serve on the Western Frontier. In the postwar years, Hazen developed a reputation as “disputatious” taking on powerful men including Philip Sheridan, Robert Todd Lincoln and William Belknap – Grant’s Secretary of War – among others. In 1880, Hazen saw promotion to brigadier general in the regular army and was made the Chief Signal Officer until his death in 1887 – his widow would remarry Admiral George Dewey in 1899.
Brigade notes – 41st Ohio
41st Ohio – Hazen’s Brigade in Wicker Field; Mendenhall’s position beyond.
The 41st Ohio suffered an almost 50% casualty rate here at Shiloh during their first engagement of the war. This was Hazen’s initial command and as a regular army officer, his volunteers thought of him as harsh and dictatorial – a common feeling of volunteers serving under former regulars. Stones River and Chickamauga lie ahead in the regiment’s future. Their commander here was Lieutenant Colonel George Starr Mygatt who resigned in November 1862 probably from illness since he died in 1866 at only the age of 34.
9th indiana
Gideon Moody eventually became a South Dakota senator.
9th Indiana – Hazen’s Brigade – in Wicker Field.
One of the famous writers to come out of the Civil War was Ambrose Bierce. He spent three years with the 9th Indiana and his article “What I Saw of Shiloh” describes his battle experiences here with the 9th. Bierce described Hazen as “the best hated man I ever knew.” The commander of the 9th Indiana, Colonel Gideon Moody, an Indianan lawyer before the war, would move on to the Dakota Territories after his resignation from the army in 1864. Moody served in the Territorial House of Representatives and on the Territorial Supreme Court he served as an associate justice before an election to the U.S. Senate when South Dakota became a State.
walter whitaker
Colonel Walter Whitaker.
Walter Whitaker, colonel of the 6th Kentucky, had served in the Mexican War and was a lawyer in Kentucky before the war. The fighting in the Wheat Field got to hand-to-hand at one point and Whitaker knifed a Southerner to death here.
Wounded after Shiloh in the Round Forest at Stones River, Whitaker went on to brigade command after recovering. His brigade played a major role in the late stages of the Battle of Chickamauga where his men helped in the defense of Horseshoe Ridge. Here, he suffered another wound. Some have mistaken him for drunkenness here, though the evidence suggests otherwise.
Eventually he would serve as a division commander – both at Franklin and Nashville late in 1864. After the war, he resumed a law practice in Louisville. While he may not served drunk at Chickamauga, he did have a drinking problem and ending up in an asylum for a period in his post war life.
monuments
Regimental monuments of the 9th Indiana and 41st Ohio lie in the south end of Wicker Field where they fought hard on 7 April. The 6th Kentucky is remembered on the Kentucky State Monument on the east edge of Cloud Field. Both the 41st Ohio and the 9th Indiana have monuments erected at Chickamauga, as well.
BRUCE’S BRIGADE
Sanders D. Bruce.
The men of Colonel Sanders D. Bruce were all from Kentucky – 1st, 2nd and 20th Kentucky. There are no separate regimental monuments. All are placed together on the Kentucky State Monument found just to the east of Cloud Field.
Bruce’s men reached Pittsburgh Landing at around 6 pm on 6 April just as the last Confederate attack was ebbing away. The brigade formed up on the right of Ammen’s brigade and the left of Hazen’s during the early morning of 7 April, holding the center of William “Bull” Nelson’s division together. They first engaged in Wicker Field and then fought a see-saw battle in Sarah Bell’s Cotton Field and the Peach Orchard before drawing back to the Sunken Road. They joined with the rest of the division pushing forward around 2 pm as the general Confederate retreat began.
Kentucky units fighting on Day Two at Shiloh – Kentucky State Monument. Sanders’ brigade movements shown.
Sanders Bruce had been a captain in the State militia before the war becoming the colonel of the 20th Kentucky early in 1862. A month later, he gained command of a brigade in Nelson’s division. That proved a rocky road with Nelson placing Bruce in and out of arrest. Two months after Shiloh, Bruce suffered a stroke forcing him to resign from the army. He would, however, live on until 1902 moving to New York becoming a publishing expert on horse breeding.
SMITH’S BRIGADE
William Sooy Smith.
William Sooy Smith graduated sixth in his class at West Point in 1853. Resigning his commission the next year to take a job with the Illinois Central Railroad, he went on to start his own engineering company. With the war, he joined the 13th Ohio and becoming the colonel shortly afterwards. Just before Shiloh, he became a brigade commander and would go on to eventually commanding a division during the Vicksburg campaign. Following that, he would become a cavalry commander in 1864 before resigning his place in the army due to arthritis. Life after the war saw Smith back in civil engineering before retiring to Medford, Oregon.
brigade in action
The brigade formed on the right of Nelson’s division with the 13th Ohio on the left and the 26th Kentucky on the right and the 14th Wisconsin temporarily assigned to the brigade further to the right. The 11th Kentucky stayed back in reserve. Fighting in woods around the Sunken Road, Smith’s men went back and forth in the heavy brush that had helped federal defenders the day before. Eventually, by 2 pm, they helped to push the Rebels out of the Davis Wheat Field and the general Confederate retreat began.
13th Ohio – William Sooy Smith’s Brigade in the woods east of the Sunken Road.
Lieutenant Colonel George G. Hawkins led the 13th Ohio at Shiloh. He died later at Stones River.
Two of Smith’s regiments, being Kentuckian are remembered together on the Kentucky State Monument east of Cloud Field. The monument of the 13th Ohio lies hidden in the woods between Duncan and Wicker Field.
Colonel David Evans Wood led the 14th Wisconsin at Shiloh. He suffered a wound. Wood died of disease later in the summer.
Putnam’s Stump – 14th Wisconsin.
The 14th Wisconsin placed a unique monument along the Eastern Corinth Road where J.D. Putnam fell in the afternoon fighting. His comrades buried him beneath a tree inscribing his name on the base of the trunk. When the time came in the post-war years to remember where the different units had fought on the battlefield, the tree was found. The tree chopped down, but the stump still stood with the inscription still legible. The men of the 14th Wisconsin then placed this more permanent reminder. The 13th Ohio also erected a monument at Chickamauga where they had very rough fight.
BOYLE’S BRIGADE
Jeremiah Boyle.
Brigadier General Jeremiah T. Boyle led the other Army of the Ohio brigade of Thomas Crittenden’s division forming up behind Smith’s brigade on the morning of 7 April around 8 am here at Shiloh. They became engaged in the east Duncan Field along with Captain Joseph Bartlett’s Battery G – a Cleveland unit – in support. Here they fought elements of Trabue’s Kentucky brigade soon flanked by Rousseau’s oncoming brigade coming out of the north Duncan Field. Boyle’s men pushed on down to the Hamburg-Purdy Road at about 1 pm – the 19th Ohio lent to Nelson’s division to fight over in the Peach Orchard earlier around noon.
Boyle had been a slave-owning Whig lawyer from Kentucky before the war. Son of a U.S. Chief Justice – John Boyle – and brother-in-law to a former congressman, Boyle was in favor of a gradual emancipation of slavery. With the war, he raised a brigade of infantry for Federal service and became a brigadier general. After Shiloh, Boyle gained appointment as military governor of Kentucky by Lincoln. He left the army after the death of his son, William – the youngest colonel in the Union army who died in battle at Marion, Tennessee. After the war, Boyle oversaw the creation of Louisville’s first street rail system and became involved in the rail industry until his death in 1871.
Colonel Samuel Beatty of the 19th Ohio would go on to brigade command seeing heavy action at Stones River, Chickamauga and Nashville.
Colonel James Perry Fyffe led the 59th Ohio at Shiloh and Stones River. Campaigning proved hard on Fyffe, dying from disease and fatigue in 1864.
59th Ohio – Boyle’s Brigade.
The regimental monuments of the 19th Ohio and the 59th Ohio are found off the Eastern Corinth Road about 100 yards south of its intersection with the Corinth Road – about halfway to the Sunken Road. This is where the brigade first came into action. The battery monument of Bartlett’s Battery is just opposite that of the 59th along the Eastern Corinth Road. The two Kentucky regiments – 9th and 13th Kentucky – remembered on the Kentucky State Monument just east of Cloud Field. The 19th Ohio and the 59th Ohio also have separate monuments erected at Chickamauga where they fought in different brigades.
ROUSSEAU’S BRIGADE
Lovell Rosseau.
Brigadier General Lovell H. Rousseau was an important political figure in the antebellum era in Kentucky and Indiana. The family had originally owned slaves, but hard financial times had forced their sale. Rousseau was a self-made man after the death of his father when he was only 15 years of age. He became a lawyer in Louisville but setting up practice in Indiana with his brother and another partner – both Lovell and his brother married daughters of their partner – in 1841.
Rousseau gained election to the Indiana House of Representatives as a Whig in 1844. With the Mexican War, he raised a company of volunteers serving as a captain. Returning to Indianan, he won a seat in the Indiana Senate before moving back to Louisville. He served in the Kentucky Senate for a year before resigning in 1861 to raise volunteers to help keep Kentucky in the Union. Initially, he served as the colonel of the 5th Kentucky though he quickly gained promotion to brigadier general and led his brigade here as a part of Alexander M. McCook’s division.
Rosseau’s men enter the fray
6th Indiana – Rosseau’s Brigade in north Duncan Field.
This Army of the Ohio brigade formed to the right here at Shiloh of Crittenden’s division – Boyle’s brigade, in particular – at about 8 am on the morning of 7 April: 6th Indiana, 1st Ohio, 1st Battalions of the 19th, 15th and 16th US Regulars, left to right with the 5th Kentucky in reserve and the 15th Michigan temporarily attached. The brigade of Trabue was already engaged with Boyle’s men when Rousseau came in through the northern part of Duncan Field overlapping Trabue’s left flank. This caused a quick retreat on the Confederate’s part, which was the beginning of the end for the Confederate line this day.
With Trabue gone, Rousseau advanced all the way – crushing the small brigade of Russell on the way – to Woolf Field where he ran into desperate Confederate resistance around the Water Oaks Pond that had also been holding up Sherman and McClernand’s men. Rousseau’s men took a short break to replenish their ammunition – Kirk’s men replaced them – before resuming their place in pushing the Rebels back further. The 1st Ohio was one of the few Federal units to go forward to pursue the retreating Rebel army, but they soon gave up the chase as Beauregard took his wounded army back to Corinth.
rousseau after shiloh
Rousseau became a major general and a divisional commander in the Army of the Cumberland until November 1863 when he left the field to command the District of Nashville.
After the war, he gained elected as a Unionist from Kentucky to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1866, he and Iowa congressman Josiah Grinnell – a former abolitionist – ran afoul of each other and insults led Rousseau to using his cane on Grinnell – similar to the antebellum incident between South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks and Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner. This time, instead of ignoring the action, Rousseau suffered a reprimand and resigned his seat.
The people of Kentucky voted him back, however and he served the remainder of his term. Leaving Congress, Rousseau returned to the army as a brigadier general. Assigned to duty in Alaska, he was very helpful in the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the U.S. in 1867. He was transferred to Louisiana to replace Philip Sheridan in July 1868 and died six months later.
Brigade notes
Colonel Harvey Buckley led the 5th Kentucky – Louisville Legion.
Colonel Harvey Buckley led the 5th Kentucky here at Shiloh as part of the Army of the Ohio. He gained appointment as lieutenant colonel behind Rousseau when the regiment became solvent in October 1861. With Rousseau’s promotion, Buckley would lead the regiment at Shiloh, Perryville, and Stones River resigning at the end of January 1863. A year later, he helped raise the 54th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and would lead that unit for the rest of the war.
1st ohio
The 1st Ohio served initially as a three-month volunteer unit, participating as a part of Schenck’s brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas where they played a peripheral reserve role on the east side of the Stone Bridge. Many of the men re-enlisted when the regiment became a three-year unit. They served under Colonel Alexander McCook, their divisional commander here. There would be many battles ahead for the regiment with maybe its brightest day coming at Missionary Ridge when the 1st Ohio planted their colors first atop the ridge – a regimental monument proudly exists there. The regiment mustered out in the fall of 1864 with those re-enlisting becoming part of the 18th Ohio.
1st Ohio – Rosseau’s Brigade – north edge of Duncan Field.
Colonel Benjamin F. Smith led the 1st Ohio at Shiloh.
Here, at Shiloh, the 1st Ohio fought under the lead of Colonel Benjamin F. Smith. A graduate of the class of 1853 at West Point, Smith was a captain in the 6th U.S. Infantry before the war. In August 1861 he became colonel of the 1st Ohio, newly organized as a three-year unit. Smith received a regular army brevet to major for gallant and meritorious service at the battle. Later in the spring, Smith returned to the 6th U.S. Infantry, seeing action in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Manassas before taking command of a new regiment that fall, the 126th Ohio.
the regulars
John Haskell King led the Regular Battalion of the Army of the Ohio at Shiloh.
1st Battalion’s 15th, 16th, 19th US Regulars – Rosseau’s Brigade in woods north of Duncan Field.
The Regular army battalions of the Army of the Ohio here at Shiloh were under the command of Major John H. King. He had served in the army since 1838 and seen action in the Mexican War. Stationed in Texas at the start of the war, he brought nine companies north. He led the regulars through the Battle of Stone River where he went down wounded. Appointed a brigadier general of volunteers, he led a brigade of regular troops at Chickamauga and eventually would command a division during the Atlanta campaign. King gained a brevet to a major general in the Regular army towards the end of the war before reverting to the rank of colonel in the post war army. He served in that role commanding the 9th U.S. Infantry on the Western Frontier until his retirement in 1882.
It is important to remember that even though units may have been part of the Regular army, the men serving were as green as those in the State volunteer regiments. Lincoln vastly increased the size of the antebellum army and most serving were new soldiers and quite possibly recent emigrants, as well.
The other regiment of Rousseau’s brigade – the 6th Indiana – was led by Thomas L. Crittenden, a nephew of Kentucky senator John Crittenden. His cousins included both Confederate general George B. Crittenden and Federal general Thomas L. Crittenden. Thomas had grown up in Texas but was practicing law in Missouri at the outset of the Mexican War. Serving as a lieutenant, he returned and relocated to Indiana. With the Civil War, he became the regimental colonel for the 6th Indiana, leading them into frays in West Virginia. Reorganizing the regiment as a three-year unit, he led them here at Shiloh, becoming a brigadier general later in April.
During the Perryville campaign, he gained command of the Federal garrison at Murfreesboro, Tennessee where he and his entire command suffered capture by Nathan Bedford Forrest 13 July 1862. Exchanged in October 1862, he eventually became named to replace William Woodruff as a brigade commander in the Army of the Cumberland – Woodruff had hurt himself at Stones River falling from his horse. But Crittenden would resign in May 1863, his career over as a result of no confidence from those who served under him. The brigade command next fell to his successor at the 6th Indiana, Philemon Baldwin, who fell on the first day at Chickamauga 19 September 1863.
monuments
The monuments of the brigade lay arrayed along a north-south line running from the woods just north of Duncan Field – here is the monument to the Regulars – and then coming to the monuments to the 1st Ohio – north edge of the field – and the 6th Indiana – on the north edge of the Corinth Road opposite the monument of the 2nd Iowa. The 5th Kentucky is remembered on the Kentucky State monument east of Cloud Field. oth the 1st Ohio and the 6th Indiana have erected monuments at Chickamauga.
KIRK’S BRIGADE
Edward Kirk led his brigade at Shiloh until wounded. He would die of other wounds incurred later in the year at Stones River.
Edward Kirk was a successful lawyer and businessman from Illinois before the war. He raised the 34th Illinois at the onset of the war and would eventually rise to brigade command within the Army of the Ohio before Shiloh. At Shiloh, Kirk suffered a wound in the shoulder forcing him home for an extended period of recovery. He returned to brigade command in time to suffer another severe wound leading to his capture at Stones River. Exchanged shortly after, he would return to Illinois for a final time dying midsummer 1863 from his wounds.
Frederick Stumbaugh, colonel of the 77th Pennsylvania, took over for Kirk went down.
Brigade command this day would next fall to Colonel Frederick Stumbaugh of the 77th Pennsylvania who would lead the brigade until he became ill. Forced to return home, he would recover well enough to join the staff of General Darius Couch and serve at Gettysburg before his health forced him to resign in October 1863. Stumbaugh gained election to the Pennsylvania legislature after the war before moving to Kansas where he became a member of that State’s legislature, as well in 1877.
woolf field
Here, the Army of the Ohio brigade formed up behind Rousseau’s on 7 April at Shiloh. They relieved the forward command in action near the Water Oaks Pond in Woolf Field. The battle line formed had the regiments aligned with the 34th Illinois on the left, 30th Indiana in the center and the 29th Indiana on the right. The 77th Pennsylvania was detached to the left to help Gibson’s brigade fighting in the west side of Review Field. On its first advance, the 34th Illinois marched straight through the pond where they ran head on into a last counterattack by the brigade of S.A.M. Woods. The 34th was pushed back into the woods east of Woolf Field, but Gibson’s fresh oncoming brigade got thrown in. With help from Sherman’s men firing from the north side of Woolf Field, the Rebel attack suffered a repulse.
Sion Bass led the 30th Indiana suffering mortal wounds from actions on Day Two at Shiloh.
30th Indiana – Kirk’s Brigade west of Woolf Field.
34th Illinois – Kirk’s Brigade) – in Woolf Field – 30th Indiana beyond.
Commanders of both the 34th Illinois – Major Charles N. Levanway who was substituting this day for Colonel Amos Bosworth who had developed a severe cold after falling into water while supervising a bridging operation; and the 30th Indiana – Colonel Sion Bass – died during the fighting. Bosworth was lying in bed that day in Savannah and doctors had a hard time keeping him bed with the sounds of battle clearly audible. His condition worsened after the battle, and he died a couple of weeks afterwards. Levanway had his head shot off by a cannonball while Bass was hit in the upper thigh by a musket ball dying a week later.
The subsequent commander of the 30th Indiana, Colonel Joseph Dodge – a schoolteacher before the war – would take over brigade command when Kirk went down again at Stones River. He would lead the brigade at Chickamauga until the reorganization of the Army of the Cumberland after that battle left him out of a job. He served as a president of the court-martial for Tennessee for most of the next year before mustering out of the army in August 1864.
29th indiana
29th Indiana – Kirk’s Brigade west of Woolf Field.
Lieutenant Colonel David Maxwell Dunn led the 29th Indiana.
The 29th Indiana of the Army of the Ohio was led by Lieutenant Colonel David M. Dunn at Shiloh according to the regimental monument, but the same Indiana commission responsible for drafting the information on the monument also note in the same report that Colonel John F. Miller, the original colonel of the regiment was present at the battle, too. Miller would go on to brigade command early in 1864, succeeded by Dunn. The regiment was involved at both Stones River and at Chickamauga.
Colonel John F. Miller.
Miller was considered one of the young bright stars of the Federal army. He would suffer a wound leading another brigade on 2 January 1863 across Stones River repulsing Breckinridge’s late attack. In the ensuing Tullahoma campaign, he lost his left eye, taking him out of the field for a year before he saw his last serious action at the Battle of Nashville. He would eventually go on to become a U.S. senator from the State of California. Dunn was captured at Stones River, gaining an exchange five months later. He returned once more to lead the 29th Indiana.
monmuments
The monuments of the brigade sit aligned northwest to southeast from the 29th Indiana and the 30th Indiana located along the side road coming off Sherman Road on the north side of Woolf Field to the west – a Confederate burial trench is opposite the 29th monument; the 34th Illinois lays next just north of Water Oaks Pond in Woolf Field; the 77th Pennsylvania lies along the north side of the Hamburg-Purdy Road near the western edge of Review Field. All three regiments have erected monuments at Chickamauga, as well.
GIBSON’S BRIGADE
William H. Gibson.
The brigade of Colonel William H. Gibson from the Army of the Ohio didn’t reach the Shiloh battlefield until noon on 7 April. They quickly gained insertion into the fight by divisional command Alexander McCook. They came in on the left of Kirk’s brigade, driving the Rebel line across the Hamburg-Purdy Road. The last Confederate counterattack led by Preston Pond’s men – with other disorganized detachments added on – briefly threatened Gibson’s left flank, but Grant called in Veatch’s men who had been in reserve and they, in turn, caught the Rebels on their right flank. With Veatch, Kirk, Gibson and Rousseau’s men – now resupplied with ammunition – plus, Colonel George D. Wagner’s fresh brigade coming into line, as well, Beauregard ordered a general retreat around 2 pm.
Gibson had been a Whig abolitionist lawyer before the war. He became an early organizer of the Republican Party in Ohio and gained election to State Treasurer in 1856. Gibson saw himself forced to resign when coming into office he found the treasury short several hundred thousand dollars. He tried to give his predecessor – a relative by marriage – a chance to make up the money but the public became aware of the problem, and Gibson was accused of covering up the affair.
gibson at shiloh and after
With the war, he helped raise the 49th Ohio becoming the regimental colonel. At Shiloh, he substituted for a sick brigade commander, Richard W. Johnson. After the battle, he went back to the 49th and would lead that regiment throughout the war. He temporarily was back at brigade command when August Willich – commanding the 32nd Indiana at Shiloh – suffered capture at Stone River. At Shiloh, three horses were unlucky enough to be shot out from underneath Gibson and he received a bayonet wound. He would return to the law after the war and become a sought-out speaker.
One regiment that did not have a good day at Shiloh 7 April was the 32nd Indiana. The regiment was mostly German under the command of Colonel August Willich, a former Prussian officer who had become a far-left wing leader of a Free Corps unit in the failed German revolution of 1848-1849. He came to the U.S. afterwards and had been working as an editor of a German newspaper in Cincinnati before the war. Originally associated with the 9th Ohio – Die Neuner – Willich became commissioned as the colonel of the 32nd Indiana – the First German – during the winter of 1861-1862.
32nd Indiana – Gibson’s Brigade) – next to Water Oak Pond with Woolf Field beyond.
August Willich as a Brigadier General.
Here at Shiloh, he had the regiment come onto the field in column formation instead of line. What might have worked for Napoleon did not work here as his men were hit by enfilading fire routing the regiment. The regiment was lost to the brigade and ended up bivouacking after the battle by itself.
Willich went on to command the brigade. Captured at Stones River, he spent four months at Libby Prison in Richmond. Exchanged in May 1863, he returned to brigade command through Chickamauga and further until suffering a severe wound at Resaca which forced him to leave the field. Postwar, he returned to Cincinnati though he did offer his services to Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The last thing Prussia needed was an old Communist and they declined.
Albert M. Blackman led the 49th Ohio at Shiloh. He would later be the colonel of the 27th U.S. Colored Troops and became involved with the fall of Fort Fisher outside of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Colonel Thomas Jefferson Harrison.
.39th Indiana – Gibson’s Brigade.
Thomas Jefferson Harrison led the 39th Indiana of the Army of the Ohio at Shiloh as he would until after Chickamauga – with the exception of Stones River – when the regiment became the 8th Indiana Cavalry.
15th Ohio – Gibson’s Brigade) south of Water Oaks Pond and Corinth Road.
The regimental monuments of Gibson’s brigade stand organized along a line northwest-southeast parallel to that of Kirk’s brigade: 32nd Indiana on the north side of Corinth Road just south of the Water Oaks Pond; the 15th Ohio some forty yards southeast followed by the 39th Indiana and the 49th Ohio which are on the north side of the Hamburg-Purdy Road just to the west of the Review Field. Each regiment also has a monument at Chickamauga.
In addition, a soldier of the 32nd Indiana erected a monument in 1862 in memory of the regiment’s first action at Munfordville, Kentucky. This monument – the first Civil War monument in existence – was moved to the Cave Hill National Cemetery in Louisville after the war but now is in the lobby of the Frazier History Museum also in Louisville.
WAGNER’S BRIGADE
Geroge Wagner.
George D. Wagner was a prosperous farmer in Indiana before the war. As a Republican he gained election to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1856, moving to the State Senate two years later. With the war, Wagner helped raise the 15th Indiana which saw its initial action in West Virginia. By the time of Shiloh, Wagner was commanding a brigade within the Army of the Ohio – a position at which he would continue until after the Atlanta command when he would lead a division. After a controversial performance at the Battle of Franklin, he would leave the army and die at the young age of 39 in 1869.
wagner’s regiments
Here at Shiloh, Wagner’s brigade was the first of Thomas J. Wood’s division to reach the field around 2 pm. They filed onto the south edge of the Review Field just as the Confederate line was in full retreat. A few volleys were fired, and the men captured some 40 prisoners suffering only four casualties before the fighting was over. The one Kentucky regiment – the 24th Kentucky – is remembered on the Kentucky State Monument east of Cloud Field.
15th Indiana – Wagner Brigade) at edge of Review Field.
The three Indiana regiments all erected monuments on the south side of the Hamburg-Purdy Road – south edge of Review Field – where the brigade helped the Confederate army on its way back to Corinth. Unlike most of the other regiments of the Army of the Ohio, Wagner’s regiments do not have monuments at Chickamauga since General Rosecrans had kept Wagner’s men back in Chattanooga as a garrison while the rest of the army was chasing after Braxton Bragg. As part of the Army of the Cumberland (which succeeded the Army of the Ohio) did play a key role in the ensuing victory on Missionary Ridge, but the regiments only have monuments here at Shiloh.
GARFIELD’S BRIGADE
James Garfield.
The next brigade of Thomas J. Wood’s division to reach Pittsburgh Landing was the green brigade commanded by Brigadier General James A. Garfield. They arrived just as the battle was over led by Wood, himself, to the sound of the guns, as per Grant’s orders. The brigade did undergo some artillery fire but saw no action. They did go forward on 8 April to verify that the Rebels had indeed gone; recovering some of the remnants left behind by Beauregard’s wounded army.
James Garfield’s history is a storied one. He was Horatio Alger’s “Self-Made Man”. When parents tell their children that they, too, might grow up to be President one day, it is Garfield of whom such thoughts start. For more on Garfield, see Allan Peskin’s fine biography Garfield. Suffice it to say; that Garfield, a newly promoted brigadier general, was a bit frustrated getting to the battle late. It would not be long before malaria would force him to give up command of his brigade and return to Ohio to recover.
Once home, he found he was the Republican candidate for Congress from his district – an election he handily won. Before he could actually take his seat in Congress, he served on a court-martial that found General Fitz-John Porter guilty of failing to support Pope at Second Manassas. Garfield was then ordered to Murfreesboro, Tennessee where he became the chief of staff for William Rosecrans. His actions at Chickamauga would propel him to the Presidency.
garfield’s regiments
Colonel Charles Harker led the 65th Ohio. He died at Kennesaw Mountain two years later.
65th Indiana – Garfield’s Brigade. Commanded by Charles Harker who later died at Kennesaw Mountain.
Colonel John Ferguson 64th Ohio. He ran afoul somewhere along the line finding himself in command of a Convalescent regiment in 1863. A whole list of problems led to his dismissal after four months.
the monuments
The regimental monuments of the 64th and 65th Ohio stand near Pittsburgh Landing on the north side of the Pittsburgh Landing Road. The 13th Michigan is remembered on the Michigan State Monument on the northwest corner of Cloud field. All of the regiments have more monuments erected at Chickamauga: the 64th and 65th Ohio as a part of Harker’s brigade and the 13th Michigan as a part of Buell’s brigade.
Abel Streight seated with other officers who escaped from Libby Prison later in the war with him.
51st Indiana – Colonel Abel Streight regiment of Garfield’s Brigade would not arrive until the day after the battle.
One of Garfield’s Ohio regiments reaching the Shiloh battlefield even later was the 51st Indiana commanded by Colonel Abel Streight – a book publisher before the war. This is their only Civil War regimental monument. With Garfield as chief of staff of the Army of the Cumberland (earlier Ohio) in early 1863, Streight had his old brigade chief get the ok from the army commander Rosecrans to allow his regiment to form the core of a Federal deep strike similar to what Morgan and Forrest were doing on the Confederate side. Mounted on mules – not enough horses to go around – Streight’s men reached deep into Rebel territory but eventually found themselves surrounded by the more mobile and cavalry-savvy Forrest and forced to surrender. There was no 51st Indiana at Chickamauga.
HASCALL’S BRIGADE
Milo Hascall.
The Army of the Ohio brigade of Colonel Milo S. Hascall did not reach the battlefield of Shiloh until 8 April. Hascall was a West pointer – class of 1852 – but was practicing law in Indiana before the war. He was the original colonel of the 17th Indiana and originally saw action in West Virginia under George B. McClellan.
Both Indiana regiments have erected monuments here – the 17th Indiana commanded by Colonel John. T. Wilder, about whom much more would be heard from at Chickamauga; and the 58th Indiana led by Colonel Henry Carr – Carr would resign in June 1862 being replaced by the cousin of Don Carlos Buell, George P. Buell who would go on to brigade command at Stones River, Chickamauga and beyond. Both the 17th Indiana and the 58th Indiana also have monuments at Chickamauga.
17th Indiana – Hascall’s Brigade/Wilder’s Regiment – not engaged.
John T. Wilder 17th Indiana.
58th Indiana – Hascall’s Brigade – not engaged.
The 58th was led by Colonel Henry M. Carr at the time of Shiloh. He would resign not long after for allowing sutlers to use army wagons to haul their goods. Carr resurrected his career first as a captain and then major with the 71st and 72nd Indiana. He eventually resigned once again in the June 1864 due to illness.
