Four Years With the Iron Brigade
Page 60
Several members of the Iron Brigade were detached during the Weldon Railroad fighting to serve nearby artillery pieces.
195. Reams’ Station was a stop on the Weldon Railroad about two miles below Globe Tavern. Fresh (but tired) Federal troops from Hancock’s Second Corps were dispatched to break up the rail line south of Warren’s Fifth Corps. Ray was hearing a battle involving Hancock’s troops and the attacking Confederates under A. P. Hill. After several attacks, one of which broke through the Federal lines, the Confederates were beaten back.
196. Hancock’s Second Corps managed to repulse Hill’s troops but at a heavy cost. Federal losses were about 2,400 men, half of whom were missing or captured; Hill’s losses are unknown, but were not as heavy.
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197. This is the reference mentioned in the previous chapter that helped identify the subject matter of the loose pages in the back of Volume 12.
198. Morse, Tafton, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Laurel Hill and Petersburg, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
199. Branham, Potosi, enlisted August 19, 1861, detached Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery until January 1864, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
200. The garrisons of the forts defending the entrance to Mobile Bay—Gaines, Morgan, and Powell—were placed under a quasi-siege and ultimately surrendered. Fort Morgan was the last to fall on August 23, 1864.
201. Roberts, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, promoted to 1st lieutenant December 13, 1864, wounded Five Forks, discharged June 1, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
202. The rumors were finally true. The final major battle for Atlanta was fought at Jonesborough on August 31, 1864, and Confederates evacuated the city that night. General Philip Sheridan, Grant’s cavalry commander, was sent to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Jubal Early’s Confederates.
203. Ray is describing (with remarkable accuracy) what is commonly known as Hampton’s Beefsteak Raid. The cavalry operation, September 11-16, 1864, took place south of the James River at Coggin’s Point and netted about 2,500 head of cattle and 300 prisoners at the cost of only 61 casualties. Ray was correct; the food was desperately needed by Lee’s army, and the raid was a morale booster for the embattled Southerners.
204. The news was correct. Although outnumbered, Early managed to mount a stout defensive effort against Sheridan’s fumbling offensive on September 19, 1864. Eventually Federal numbers began to tell and the Southerners were driven from the field with heavy losses. Federal casualties were about 3,600; Confederate losses were about 4,000. Several high ranking generals fell on both sides, including Confederate General Robert Rodes and Federal General David A. Russell, both of whom were killed.
205. Gilbert, Tafton, enlisted August 9, 1861, wounded Gainesville and mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
206. After Third Winchester, Sheridan followed Early’s routed army south to Fisher’s Hill, where another major action was fought on September 22, 1864.
207. The second battle Ray is referring to was Fisher’s Hill, where Sheridan attacked Early’s Confederates on September 22, 1864. Sheridan routed the Confederates and, from all outward appearances, seemed to have ended the Southern threat in the Valley. Sheridan’s losses were only about 500, while Early lost almost three times that number.
208. General Benjamin Butler was penned up on Bermuda Hundred, and did not sever the railroad between Petersburg and Richmond, nor was the former city being evacuated. The canal to which Ray refers is the Dutch Gap Canal, which Butler’s men were digging across a 175-yard neck of land in an effort to bypass Confederate batteries at Drewry’s Bluff.
209. The fighting involved two major actions in a two-pronged Federal offensive north and south of the James River. The battle of Fort Harrison was the result of Grant’s attempt to pierce the outer defenses of Richmond and convince Lee not to reinforce Early in the Shenandoah Valley. The Federals captured Fort Harrison, which was considered so important that both Generals Lee and Grant were at one point directing tactical operations. Other attempts were beaten back. South of the river and closer to Ray’s position was the fighting at Peebles’ Farm, which was an attempt to stretch the lines further west in the hope of cutting the Southside Railroad. Several days of effort eventually stretched the lines another three miles to the west and south, but the railroad remained in Southern hands. Casualties were heavy on both sides. A fine and detailed study of these actions can be found in Richard Sommers, Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg (New York, NY., 1981).
210. Ray is not far off. By October 5, 1864, the Federal lines stretched from a point well west of the Weldon Railroad below Petersburg up to the Appomattox River, and from up around the northeast side of Richmond, a distance of more than thirty miles.
211. The rumor was in fact true. After the evacuation of Atlanta, General Hood moved his army north astride the Chattanooga-Atlanta Railroad, behind William T. Sherman, where he broke up the track in the hope of cutting Sherman’s supply line and forcing his withdrawal. He was unsuccessful.
212. Drew, Orion, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded South Mountain and mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
213. Ray is probably referring to the fighting at Tom’s Brook in the Shenandoah Valley, where Federal cavalry under George Custer and Wesley Merritt attacked their Southern counterpart. Several hundred prisoners were taken and the enemy was driven many miles.
214. Although Sheridan and many others believed General Early’s Confederate army was no longer a major threat after Fisher’s Hill, they were wrong. On October 19, 1864, Early launched one of the great surprise attacks of the war at Cedar Creek. Sheridan was absent from the army at a conference. The Confederates drove the Federals for several hours before Sheridan returned, rallied his divisions, and routed Early. Federal losses were about 5,500 to all causes, while the Confederates lost at least 3,000 (this number is probably low). General Longstreet did not play a role in the fighting, although he did return to the Army of Northern Virginia on October 19, 1864, following the crippling wound he had suffered in the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. Cedar Creek was the last major battle of the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley. For a good account of this action, see Theodore Mahr, The Battle of Cedar Creek: Showdown in the Shenandoah (Lynchburg, VA., 1992).
215. Ray was part of a major movement of three corps at the end of October 1864 when Grant acted again to cut the Southside Railroad, which fed Lee’s army. Ray’s brigade (part of Warren’s Fifth Corps) was engaged near Hatcher’s Run, with Parke’s Ninth Corps (formerly under Burnside) operating on the right, and Hancock’s Second Corps operating on the left along the Boydton Plank Road.
216. The heavy fighting was indeed Hancock’s Corps, which was heavily engaged on the Boydton Plank Road at Burgess’ Mill (also called Hatcher’s Run). While Parke’s Ninth Corps was holding the Confederates in place, Warren’s and Hancock’s corps were ordered to encircle the southern and western end of the enemy line and roll it up. There was a lack of cooperation and coordination between Warren and Hancock, however, and the attack was beaten back. The critical Southside Railroad and Boydton Plank Road remained in Southern hands. Federal losses were about 1,800 to all causes; Confederate losses are unknown, but were probably lighter. Ray’s Iron Brigade saw only light action and lost one killed, 10 wounded, and eight prisoners. OR 42. Pt. 1, 507.
217. The men marched down the Vaughn Road to the Armstrong house, and there crossed over to the south side of Hatcher’s Run, where they formed the line of battle described by Ray. The subsequent advance by the Iron Brigade met little resistance.
218. The brigade crossed Hatcher’s Run again on a bridge built during the night. Ray is wrong about prisoners. In reality, the brigade had captured 224 prisoners, “belong principally to [General William] Mahone’s division.” OR 42. Pt. 1, 507.
219. Blunt, Patch Grove, enlisted February 25, 1864, wounded Wilderness and Petersburg, killed March 31, 1865, Gravelly Run; Booth [George], Potosi,
enlisted January 2, 1864, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
220. Davis, Stoughton, enlisted July 1, 1864, from Company D, absent sick at muster out of the regiment. Wisconsin Roster, 539.
221. Grant may have claimed success, but the movement’s objectives (to cut the Southside Railroad and capture the Boydton Plank Road) had not been met. Still, Lee’s battle lines were stretched much longer, and the threat to his supply lines was greater than ever before.
222. The American Tract Society, a nondenominational Christian publishing house, was founded in 1825 by the merger of several small printing establishments. Believing that a very effective and inexpensive way to reach most of the world’s peoples with the story of Jesus Christ was through the printed page, the Society produced Christian books, booklets, magazines, and leaflets. Each year the Society made available to prisons, hospitals, and missionary organizations free materials for their distribution. Military servicemen in seven major wars were provided Christian literature by the Society as well as the cadets at West Point, who received Bibles each year. In the 1840s, the Society began distribution of its materials through messengers, known as Colporteurs. These men, preferably single, were usually ministers or seminary students sent out and supported by various societies. Occasionally called on to preach, their primary tasks were distribution of materials and fundraising. Financial support for the Society’s ministry depended (as they do now) upon the charitable contributions of their Christian friends.
223. Sherman left some troops behind to watch Hood’s Confederate army, which was moving through Alabama and into Tennessee, while he struck out across a largely undefended Georgia on his famous March to the Sea.
224. The rumors were true. Sherman’s men were burning and tearing up railroad track, bridges, and private property in the drive through Georgia. On November 22, General Slocum’s wing captured the capital of Georgia at Milledgeville.
225. Ray and his comrades were taking part in a major move by Warren’s corps to destroy as much of the Weldon Railroad to the south as possible, to deny its use to Lee.
226. The destruction of the line continued throughout December 9, 1864, and included the burning of a bridge across Three-Mile Creek. During the entire operation the brigade lost nine men to all causes. The brigade returned to its old camp by the evening of December 12, 1864.
227. According to the brigade’s commander, General Edward Bragg, the attack on the rear guard took place on December 12, and the Rebels consisted of cavalry. OR 42, pt. 1, p. 508.
228. Turnbull, St. Croix Falls, enlisted January 13, 1865, discharged June 2, 1865, disability. Wisconsin Roster, 561.
229. Sherman was investing Savannah, Georgia, which was evacuated by the Confederates on December 20, 1864. In Tennessee, Hood’s Army of Tennessee attacked General John Schofield’s Federals at Franklin and suffered one of the bloodiest repulses of the war. Schofield withdrew to Nashville and Hood’s men followed. There, General George Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland attacked Hood’s weakened and demoralized army on December 15-16, routing it completely. Thomas’s victory was one of the most decisive of the war. For all practical purposes, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, the primary Southern field army other than Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, had ceased to exist as an effective fighting force.
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230. General Butler was indeed finally relieved of duty. He had been placed in command of an attempt to capture Fort Fisher, a large bastion protecting the last Confederate port of Wilmington, North Carolina. The Christmas Day 1864 attempt was a fiasco from start to finish. That very visible failure, coupled with Lincoln’s successful reelection, finally allowed the Federal high command the luxury of sacking the political general on January 7, 1865.
231. A new mammoth effort against Fort Fisher began on January 13, 1865, with a massive bombardment from a large naval flotilla. It continued the next day. Thousands of troops landed on the sandy beaches and stormed the bastion on January 15, 1865. After several hours of hard and often hand-to-hand fighting, the fort fell. The best account of the entire Wilmington Campaign, including the fighting that followed the fall of Fort Fisher, is Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., Last Rays of Departing Hope: The Wilmington Campaign (Campbell, CA., 1997).
232. What Ray actually heard was the battle of Trent’s Reach, a fascinating affair that involved an attempt by the three ironclads of the Confederate James River Squadron (and assorted smaller wooden vessels) to break through the obstructions on the James River and attack Grant’s supply base at City Point. It was a move born of desperation and failed utterly.
233. The Confederates Ray refers to were delegates selected to discuss possible terms for settling the war. They were Vice President Alexander Stephens, John A. Campbell, and Robert M. T. Hunter. The trio met with President Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward aboard the River Queen at Hampton Roads. The conference was not successful in reaching a resolution to the conflict.
234. Paper in back of journal in pieces reads as follows:
Camp 7th Regt. Wis. Vet. Vol.
Wm R. Ray
Sir, we the undersigned members of Co. F. do not consider you a competent man for the place in which you are now acting and we politely request you two return the company Books over two the commanding Officer of the co with a request that you be Relieved By So doing you will greatly oblige all concerned.
R. A. Turnbull
Thomas W. Bailey William Branstetter
Cyrus Alexander Charles Livens
William Atkinson Andrew Bishop
Isaac G Reamer Richard Lesler
Nathan Bradberry Bruce Bryan
Albert H Morse James H Endicott
Joseph Wilkinson Peter Bryan
George W McClare Perry Gilbert
Michael Inlough Clarance H Fitzgerald
George Booth Andrew H Connor
235. Ray was listening to another major effort by Grant to reach the Boydton Plank Road and hold it. This time the area around Hatcher’s Run was reached without difficulty on February 5, 1865, by elements of the Second and Fifth Corps. Lee attempted to block the move, but was unsuccessful doing so. The fighting was moderately heavy. This action is known as Hatcher’s Run or Dabney’s Mill. The fighting intensified on February 6, 1865. Warren’s Corps was eventually pushed back by Confederate reinforcements, but the Federal lines had once again been lengthened appreciably.
236. Federal losses for Ray’s brigade at Hatcher’s Run (which Ray missed) were heavy, totalling 213 from all causes. OR 46, pt. 1, 66.
237. Edward Bragg, Ray’s brigade commander, came into the army as a captain in the Sixth Wisconsin and quickly climbed the chain of command. He became a prominent Congressman after the war and had a long political career. Colonel Henry Morrow of the Twenty-fourth Michigan, and many of the soldiers, blamed Bragg’s drunkenness for causing the delay which led to the Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin not being sent with the Michigan regiment. In fact, the decision might have been the result of an earlier request by division commander Samuel Crawford that the Western regiments be retained. The War Department had asked General U. S. Grant for a brigade of reliable troops for special duty. General George Meade selected the brigade with the Western regiments, but Crawford asked the orders be changed. OR 46, pt. 2, 513, 519-20, 532-33.
238. The brigade included the 91st New York Infantry (the “Albany Regiment”), and was the First Brigade (Kellogg), Third Division (Crawford), Fifth Corps (Warren).
239. Sherman had indeed captured Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865; Charleston, South Carolina, was evacuated by the Confederates on the same day. Lee had dispatched his cavalry commander, Wade Hampton, to help raise troops in that area and try to arrest Sherman’s progress.
240. Phil Sheridan’s cavalry met Jubal Early’s remnant army one last time at Wayneboro, Virginia, on March 2, 1865. The troopers easily defeated and dispersed the Southerners, effectively ending Early’s Civil War career. He was not, however, captured by Sheridan.
241. Alexander [Cyrus], Patch Grove, enlisted December 31, 1863, wounded Laurel Hill, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
242. The Confederate attack was a desperate gambit against Fort Stedman, east of Petersburg. Lee ordered the assault in the hope of breaking through Grant’s lines and ending the siege of the city. Although the initial thrust was successful, it quickly bogged down in confusion and strong Federal opposition put an end to the affair within a few hours. Federal losses were about 1,500 from all causes, while Lee lost about 4,000 soldiers, the majority of them prisoners.
243. Unbeknownst to Ray and his comrades, the final campaign of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater was underway. The move was part of Grant’s effort to keep Lee’s lines stretched to the breaking point while he tried to turn the Confederate far right.
244. On March 29, 1865, Crawford’s division, including Ray’s brigade, advanced north and west from the Boydton Plank Road into a morass of woods and streams fed by Gravelly Run, which lended its name to the fighting that day (also called battle of White Oak Road.) The division approached White Oak Road before it met heavy attacks by several small Confederate brigades and was driven back in confusion. According to Colonel Kellogg, Ray’s brigade commander, his men were “the last organized troops to leave the field.”
245. General Sherman was attacked in North Carolina at Bentonville on March 19, 1865, by a patchwork collection of Confederate outfits under the command of General Joe Johnston, who was reinstated to command at the request of General Lee. The three-day encounter ended with Johnston’s retreat, which also ended the major fighting in that theater of operations. Johnston surrendered to Sherman at Durham Station in North Carolina on April 26, 1865. For an excellent book on Bentonville, see Mark L. Bradley, Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville (Campbell, CA., 1996).