Showing posts with label 51st OH INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 51st OH INF. Show all posts

Friday, March 20, 2015

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, November 2, 1861

Camp Tompkins, Virginia, November 2, 1861.

Dearest Lucy: — I am about to return to my regiment, six or eight miles up New River at Camp Ewing. I shall probably be comfortably settled there tonight.

Colonel Matthews having been promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifty-first, I have been promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Twenty-third and relieved, for the present at any rate, of the duties of judge-advocate. I of course regret very much the loss of Colonel Matthews. But you know we have been separated more than half the time since we came to Virginia; so it is more a change in name than in fact. I hope he has a good regiment. If he has decent materials he will make it a good one. I am pleased, as people in the army always are, with my promotion. I confess to the weakness of preferring (as I must hereafter always be called by some title) to be called Colonel to being styled Major.

We had a noisy day yesterday. A lot of Floyd's men (we suppose) have got on the other side of the river with cannon. They tried to sink our ferry-boats and prevent our crossing Gauley River at the bridge (now ferry for Wise destroyed the bridge). They made it so hazardous during the day that all teams were stopped; but during the night the ferry did double duty, so that the usual crossing required in twenty-four hours was safely done. Both sides fired cannon and musketry at each other several hours, but the distance was too great to do harm. We have two wounded and thought we did them immense damage. They probably suffered little or no loss, but probably imagined that they were seriously cutting us. So we all see it. Our side does wonders always. We are not accurately informed about these Rebels, but appearances do not make them formidable. They can't attack us. The only danger is that they may get below on the Kanawha and catch a steamboat before we drive them off.

I wish you could see such a battle. No danger and yet enough sense of peril excited to make all engaged very enthusiastic. The echoes of the cannon and bursting shells through the mountain defiles were wonderful. I spent the day with two soldiers making a reconnaissance — that is to say trying to find out the enemies' exact position, strength, etc., etc. We did some hard climbing, and were in as much danger as anybody else, that is, none at all. One while the spent rifle balls fell in our neighborhood, but they hadn't force enough to penetrate clothing, even if they should hit. It's a great thing to have a rapid river and a mountain gorge between hostile armies. . . .

Affectionately,
R. B. Hayes.

P. S. — I have been paid half of my pay, and will send you two or three hundred dollars at least, the first chance. I wish you would get Dr. Jim to buy one or two pairs of lieutenant-colonel's shoulder-straps to send with the privilege of returning if they don't suit. We expect Dr. Clendenin daily.

Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 134-5

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Official Reports of the Action at and Surrender of Murfreesborough, Tenn., July 13, 1862: No. 6. – Report of Col. John C. Walker, Thirty-fifth Indiana Infantry.

No. 6.
 SHELBYVILLE, TENN., July 13, 1862.

SIR: An engagement has been going on at Murfreesborough nearly all day between our troops at that place and the enemy under Colonel Starnes. I give you the reports as they come to me through messengers of Colonel Hambright, who is stationed at Wartrace. It seems from these reports that Colonel Starnes, with about 5,000 cavalry and two pieces of artillery, attacked Murfreesborough this morning. After two or three hours' fighting he succeeded in taking prisoners seven companies of the Ninth Michigan Regiment and the entire provost guard. It is said that General Crittenden, of Indiana, is also taken prisoner. Since this the First Kentucky Battery was engaged for several hours in shelling the rebels. The battery, I believe, is sustained by the Third Minnesota Regiment. Toward evening the enemy withdrew to the woods.

I cannot vouch for the details of this statement, but will add that the cannonading has been heard distinctly at this place during nearly the entire day. Colonel Matthews, Fifty-first Ohio, arrived at this place this evening and will await further orders. Under existing circumstances I have taken the responsibility of ordering my regiment to this place, for the purpose of co-operating, if necessary, with the other troops in this vicinity. In the course of a day or two I will have the regiment proceed to Elk River Bridge, unless orders are received directing me to do otherwise.

Trusting that my action in the premises will meet with your approbation, I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 J. C. WALKER,
 Colonel Thirty-fifth Indiana.
 Col. J. B. FRY,
 Chief of Staff, Huntsville,.Ala.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 16, Part 1 (Serial No. 22), p. 800

Monday, May 19, 2014

51st Ohio Infantry

Organized at Camp Dover, Ohio, September 17 to October 26, 1861. Moved to Wellsville November 3, thence to Louisville, Ky., and duty there till December 10. Attached to 15th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to December, 1861. 15th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to March, 1862. Unattached, Nashville, Tenn., to June, 1862. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to July, 1862. 23rd Independent Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to August, 1862. 23rd Brigade, 5th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September, 1862. 23rd Brigade, 5th Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Left Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 21st Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, to June, 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Texas to October, 1865.

SERVICE. – Duty at Camp Wickliffe, Ky., till February, 1862. Expedition down the Ohio River to reinforce General Grant, thence to Nashville, Tenn., February 14-25. Occupation of Nashville February 25. Provost duty there till July 9. Moved to Tullahoma, Tenn., and joined Nelson's Division. March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 21-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-22. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 22-November 7, and duty there till December 26. Dobbins' Ferry, near Lawrence, December 9. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26-30. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro till June. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 23-July 7. At McMinnville till August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountain and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-20. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Reopening Tennessee River October 26-29. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Lookout Mountain November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. Ringgold Gap, Taylor's Ridge November 27. Duty at Whiteside till January, 1864. Reenlisted January 1, 1864. At Blue Springs, near Cleveland, till May. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May to September. Tunnel Hill May 6-7. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton May 8-13. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Near Kingston May 18-19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. Moved to Pulaski, Tenn. Nashville Campaign November-December. Columbia, Duck River, November 24-27. Battle of Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. Moved to Huntsville, Ala., and duty there till March, 1865. Operations in East Tennessee March 15-April 22. Duty at Nashville, Tenn., till June. Ordered to New Orleans, La., June 16, thence to Texas. Duty at Indianola, Green Lake and Victoria, Texas, to October. Mustered out at Victoria October 3, 1865. Discharged at Columbus, Ohio, November 3, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 108 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 233 Enlisted men by disease. Total 346.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1520-1

Friday, August 20, 2010

From Nashville

Arrival of Secession Prisoners from Huntsville – Outrages of Rebel Banditti in Tennessee.

Special Correspondence of the Chicago Times

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 1.

On Sunday last an installment of General Mitchell’s prisoners taken at Huntsville, Ala. Arrived here on the cars. The crowd presented a motley appearance, being composed of jaundice faced fellows, who looked as if they had [obtained] their “rights” and been tanned in them. But it was not hard to discover in their cadaverous countenances that they were glad to end a glorious campaign as prisoners of Uncle Sam. The humane guard detailed to accompany them seemed to have their deference and confidence if not their friendship. After halting about fifteen minutes in front of the Rev. Elliott’s secession Female Academy now occupied by Col. Matthews, Provost Marshal, as a barracks for his guard, the 51st Ohio, they were marched to the Tennessee State Hospital – a spacious building with a considerable park around it. Thence, I suppose they will be conveyed northward. The prisoners were evidently more than contented with their condition, but our stiff necked and perverse secessionists drew as near to them as they might with due regard to their own safety, and vented their spleens in low conversation and fierce gesticulation.

Yesterday, five companies of Wolford’s Kentucky Cavalry, who had been scouring Overton and Fentress counties, in this State, arrived in Nashville bringing twenty two prisoners. They were composed of McHenry’s and Bledsoe’s Tennessee rebel cavalry, and independent banditti acting with them. Dr. Overstreet, a brother-in-law of Colonel Bramlett, of Kentucky, and Messrs Garrett and McDonald, loyal gentlemen, residing in that portion of Tennessee, came to the city with them. These gentlemen who are altogether reliable, state that marauding bands of rebels in those counties, and portions of Kentucky near to them, are daily committing the most shocking outrages on those suspected of loyalty. In one instance they caught a lad 12 years of age, the son of a Union man, bound him to a tree and with a knife literally split his body from the throat to the abdomen, letting his bowels fall upon the ground.

One of the prisoners brought in by Wolford’s Cavalry is a desperado by the name of Smith, who has been acting in concert with one Champ Ferguson of Clinton county, Kentucky – a scoundrel so infamous that some account of him may be interesting. When his comrade, Smith, was taken, he was hotly pursued and the party declare they hit him six times with pistol and rifle balls, and saw the dust fly from his clothing. – They are confident, therefore, he has a casing of some kind which resists bullets.

Some time in September, 1861, this man Ferguson went to theresidence of a Union man in Clinton county, Ky., Mr. Frogg, who was sick and in bed, and shot him in the mouth. As this did not produce instant death he next shot him in the brain remarking that he wished him to die easy. On the 2d day of October he went to the house of Mr. Reuben B. Wood, another citizen of Clinton county Kentucky, who was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church – a very useful, popular man in his neighborhood, – and, having called him to his gate, shot him in the bowels, inflicting a wound which produced death in two days. Ferguson’s reason for the murder was, that Wood had paid a visit to Camp Dick Robinson. Assassinating loyal citizens has been merely a pastime with Champ Ferguson. His chief business, since the rebellion broke out has been horse stealing. Besides Smith, who was brought here, he has associated with him one Hamilton, of Jackson county, Tennessee, and nine or ten others. In March last, Hamilton and his associates went over into Monroe county, Kentucky, and assassinated in one day James Syms, Alexander Atterbury, and Thomas Denham, three quiet, will disposed gentlemen, simply because they were suspected of loyalty to the government. When Atterbury was shot, Hamilton informed his weeping mother that he intended to kill all the Union me he could find, and, if he could not find men, he would kill their boys in their stead. When mild Uncle Samuel catches Ferguson and Hamilton, what do you suppose he’ll do to them? I suppose he’ll send them to Camp Douglas, or some other place, to be fed on Federal rations.

Hon. Chas. [Ready], of Rutherford county, was arrested and brought to the city yesterday. Charles was in Congress once, your readers will remember him.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 1

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Governor Johnson Ships The Taitors North

Captain C. H. Wood, of the Fifty-first Ohio, with a squad of four men, arrived in the city this morning from Nashville, having in charge Gen. Washington Barrow and Gen. Wm. G. Harding, of Nashville, of Nashville, and Col. Joseph C. Guild, of Gallatin, three members of the Tennessee Military board, who were arrested by the command of Gov. Johnson, and ordered to be sent North for safe keeping. Gen. Barrow was Minister to Portugal during Fillmore’s administration, we believe. He is at present a member of the State Legislature of Tennessee, is a very prominent and influential citizen, and was particularly zealous as one of the vigilance committee at Nashville in arresting and sending North at the breaking out of the rebellion, all persons obnoxious to the Confederate Government! Under his auspices, Mr. Pearl, of this city, was summarily ejected from his home. The latter gentleman called upon the party at the Michigan Exchange, on learning of their arrival, expressed his pleasure at meeting them here, and assured them that a residence of six months with us had convinced him that Northerners were a very pleasant, hospitable race, and not nearly so bad as they had been represented to be.

Gen. Harding belongs to one of the most wealthy and aristocratic families of Tennessee. Possessing an ample fortune in his own right, it has received large accessions by marriage, and the General lives in a style that equals the blooded aristocracy of old England. With ample leisure to devote to the interests of the Southern Government, he has made himself one of the foremost of its leaders, and occupies one of the very first positions in point of influence in his State. Col. Guild is scarcely less distinguished and occupies a prominent place among the leaders in his state.

Gen. [sic] Johnson could not have arrested three men in the State of Tennessee, whose absence would cause such a vacancy in the ranks of the secessionists. They will be confined in Fort Wayne until further orders. During the forenoon large numbers of our citizens visited the Michigan Exchange, anxious to get a view of a live secession leader. The gentlemen, however were not on exhibition, and very few were favored with an audience. They will probably be immediately sent by Col. Smith, to whom their guard was ordered to report, to Fort Wayne. – {Detroit Free Press.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 3, 1862, p. 1