This Mighty Scourge

1816

US Major General Nathanial P. Banks

• US Major General Nathanial P. Banks was born in Waltham, MA.  Receiving only a minimal education, he would later apprentice as a mechanic.  After editing several newspapers, he would end up studying law, being accepted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1839.  With a skill for rhetoric, it was only a matter of time before he would enter politics.   Banks would be elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and in 1853 he would be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he would be elected Speaker of the House during his second term.  He would be re-elected for a third term, as a Republican.  He would then be elected governor of Massachusetts from 1858-1860.  When the Civil War started, he would become an important political general for Abraham Lincoln, and would be appointed the first major general of volunteers.  He would command an army in Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign, and would be beaten at Strasburg, Virginia.  He would retreat down the Shenandoah Valley, to Winchester and eventually all the way to Maryland.  Later, in 1862, he would be soundly thrashed at Cedar Mountain - again by Jackson.  Next, he was tasked with commanding the defenses of Washington and would be asked to recruit 30,000 New Englanders.  In December 1862 he would be assigned to replace US Major General Benjamin Butler at New Orleans, Louisiana where he would become commander of the Department of the Gulf.  He would be involved in the battle of Teche Bayou and later would command the Siege of Port Hudson.  In 1864 he would command the Red River Campaign, again unsuccessfully.  Banks would be removed from command after the Red River Campaign.  He would be officially mustered out of the U.S. Army in August 1865, by President Andrew Johnson.  He would again serve in congress.  He would die at Waltham, Massachusetts on September 1, 1894.

1863

• The Battle of Deserted House is fought at Kelly’s Store, Virginia.  Federal forces under Brigadier General Michael Corcoran suffered 104 casualties, compared to 50 Confederate casualties.  The Confederate forces were commanded by CS Brigadier General Robert Pryor.  While the numbers do not reflect it, the Battle of Deserted House was a Union victory during the Suffolk Campaign.

1861

• Kansas enters the Union as a free state.  Since 1854, it was unknown whether Kansas would become a free state – or a slave state.  With the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, states entering the Union would decide, by popular vote, their slavery status.  Nebraska, primarily populated with upper Midwesterners, was brought in as a free state.  Kansas, however, suffered serious problems with the popular sovereignty issue.  Many fraudulent voters, from Missouri – a slave state – crossed the border to vote.  There was much fighting between both factions.  Kansas would earn the moniker, “Bleeding Kansas,” due to the ongoing fighting.  Fortunately, on January 29, 1861, the state came in free.

1862

• A small skirmish occurred in Occoquan, Virginia.  Called the battle of Occoquan Bridge, there would be a total of five federal casualties, and 10 Confederate casualties.

1828

• Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman was born, in Knoxville, TN.  He would find himself present when Arkansas voted 65-5 to secede from the United States.  Hindman would raise ten companies of Arkansas volunteers by June 1861.  He would be brought to Richmond, Virginia, where he would be promoted brigadier general.  Being sent west, he would be involved in the fighting at Shiloh, where he would be injured.  Upon return to service, he would be promoted to major general, and sent to Arkansas to oppose US Major General Samuel Curtis.  Unfortunately, he would have very few troops to oppose Curtis.  He would be partially successful, keeping Curtis out of the state capital – instead Curtis would move to Helena to reestablish his supply line.  Hindman would be replaced, in Arkansas, by Lieutenant General Theophilus Holmes.  In September 1868, he would be assassinated for his involvement in the Young Democracy – a political organization that embraced Reconstruction, to restore the Union.

1826

• CS Lieutenant General Richard Taylor was born at the family estate near Louisville, Kentucky.  Taylor was the son of Mexican War general, and president, Zachary Taylor.  With the outbreak of sectional hostilities, Taylor would become an aide to CS general Braxton Bragg, and would help recruit and train soldiers.  He would rapidly be promoted to colonel.  He would later serve as a brigadier general, in the east, under CS Major General Richard S. Ewell, during “Stonewall” Jackson’s 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.  Taylor would be sent to Louisiana, after being promoted major general, on July 28, 1862.   He would oppose US Major General Nathanial Banks throughout Louisiana.  After the destruction of CS Major General John Bell Hood, in central Tennessee, in late 1864, Taylor who had been promoted lieutenant general would take over the Department of Alabama and Mississippi.  Taylor would be the last general, east of the Mississippi, to surrender, on May 8, 1865, to US Major General Edward Canby, at Mobile, Alabama.

1862

• President Abraham Lincoln, determined to move his lethargic ground, and naval forces, issues General War Order Number 1.  This order commanded all U.S. ground, and naval forces, to move on the Confederate forces on February 22, 1862.  Unfortunately, it would not produce the desired results – a joint movement into the Confederacy.

Model 1862 Springfield Rifle Musket

The American  Civil War ushered in a new age of fighting.  Much has been written about how rifled muskets caused more lethal woundings, at a longer range.  Additionally, much has been written about the early battlefield tactics, and how they had not advanced with the modern weaponry of the the Civil War.  It did not take many battles for commanders to realize the lethality of the rifled musket and the fact that battlefield tactics would need to change.  To use Napoleonic tactics, against an enemy with rifled muskets, caused much higher casualty rates.  While all this is true, there were many limiting factors that caused the rifled musket to be as ineffective as smooth-bore muskets.

Number one: Most of the troops were civilians, in volunteer units, with very little training.  These soldiers were not trained as well as regular army infantry and in many cases would not take proper aim, making the rifled musket an impediment.  In this case, a smooth-bore musket, shooting buck-and-ball (similar to a shotgun) was very effective since the soldier could be successful shooting “at the target,” without necessarily aiming. 

Number two: During hot engagements, where a soldier may fire 40+ rounds, the minie ball would quickly become difficult to ram down the barrel, due to fouling.  Inevitably, this would cause misfires.  At numerous battles, including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Shiloh, and especially Gettysburg, many rifles were found with multiple cartridges rammed down the barrel, making the gun unusable.

Number three: While the rifled musket was extremely accurate to well over 300 yards, in the hands of a poorly trained soldier, the rifle would not hit small formations – much less a single soldier.  Due to its parabolic trajectory, and lower muzzle velocity, the soldier would need to know the exact distance, wind direction and speed, and the movement of the target.  These intricacies were not easily trained, in the field, and the fact is that very few regiments devoted much time to target practice.

These, and many other reasons, were why the smooth-bore musket would be favored by many commanders, most notably, US Brigadier General Thomas F. Meagher of the famed Irish Brigade.  He insisted that his soldiers use the smooth-bore.

Berdan's Sharpshooter monument at Gettysburg

There were however some highly successful regiments, and companies, that used the rifled musket for a type of  psychological warfare.  These regiments were called sharpshooters.  These troops were highly trained, skilled marksmen, that had to prove their marksmanship to be in the regiment.  Some of the most popular sharpshooter regiments were the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters (Berdan Sharpshooters) commanded by Hiram C. Berdan, the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, Bridge’s Arkansas Battalion, Rapley’s 12th Arkansas Battalion, 1st, 2nd and 4th Georgia Battalion and the Palmetto Sharpshooters.¹  These special units often enjoyed rifles with windage enabled sights, and in many cases they had telescopic sights – the precursor of today’s modern rifle scopes.

With the advent of sharpshooter regiments came controversies of fair fighting – and ethical battlefield tactics.  In well trained hands, these new guns extended the effective killing range to 600+ yards.  When used during fighting, on the battlefield, the sharpshooter was very effective in neutralizing artillery batteries, skirmishers and commanders.  One of the most well known instances of a commander being killed, by a sharpshooter’s minie ball was at Spotsylvania Court House, where US Major General John Sedgwick dressed down his staff members who were ducking when hearing sniper fire, “…they couldn’t hit an elephant at this this distance.”  Seconds later, Sedgwick was instantly killed by a sharpshooter bullet to the head.  “Uncle John” Sedgwick, in command of the VI Corps, would be the highest ranking Federal officer killed in the war.  The shot that killed him was reported to been made from over 1,000 yards.

While sharpshooting regiments were accepted as an offensive tool, on both sides, during the war, they often engaged in deplorable actions.  With no fully adopted terms of engagement, for sharpshooters, it was common for the sharpshooter to cross the “gray area” between accepted practice, and immoral.  In many cases soldiers would be randomly killed, while engaged in non-combat activities such as using the restroom, eating or writing letters to loved ones.  Isaac Hadden, a New York soldier, in a letter to his family, would state, “Dear Brother, Wife and All, there was a man this moment shot in the belly 20 feet from me which is nothing unusual in this country.  It is wortha man’s life to go to shit here.”²  While clearly not a matter of self defense, this use of snipers was abhorred by both sides.

Near the trenches, of Petersburg, twelve union sharpshooters would be taken prisoner, in 1864.  The local newspaper would print, “…in our estimation they are nothing but murderers creeping up & shooting men in cold blood & should receive the fate of murderers.”

After enduring over three weeks of sharpshooter fire, at Port Hudson, Louisiana, Captain John W. DeForest of the 12th Connecticut Infantry would state, “I could never bring myself to what seemed like taking human life in pure gayety.”  Going on, DeForest viewed it, “…sickening, murderous, unnatural, uncivilized way of being.”

In this blogger’s opinion, under the right circumstances, during battlefield action, the use of sharpshooters was tactically useful and moral.  An excellent example would be Hiram Berdan’s usage of the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters, on the second day of Gettysburg, to determine Confederate force dispositions and movements.  III Corps commander, US Major General Daniel Sickles was making good use of his resources.  Berdan’s companies would keep the Confederates busy, until they were forced to retire, late in the day, after running out of ammunition.  However, when sharpshooters were used to shoot soldiers engaged in non combat activities – eating, reading, using the restroom or writing letters - they pushed the limits on what was acceptable, even during the Civil War, and were rightfully judged to be nothing short of murderers.

What is your opinion?  Was it murder – or accepted terms of engagement?  I would like to hear your opinion on this article.  Please sign up, and leave a comments.

¹ For more information on sharpshooting regiments, see Confederate Sharpshooters or Civil War Sharpshooters.  Both web sites were used to research this article.
² Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, p. 42.

1814

• US Brigadier General Rufus King was born in New York City.  His grandfather was a delegate, from Massachusetts, to the Continental Congress, and would be involved in the Constitutional Convention.  King would graduate from Columbia University.  He would later be appointed to West Point, where he would graduate in 1833, near the top of his class.  With the outbreak of the Civil War, King would be appointed brigadier general of the Wisconsin Militia, and on May 17, 1861 he was appointed brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers and was authorized to raise a regiment in Wisconsin.  As a division commander, his Wisconsin regiments, plus the 19th Indiana, would be involved in the fighting at Second Manassas.  This western brigade would become known as the Iron Brigade.  Unfortunately, due to an epileptic seizure, King would not be in command of his division, at Second Manassas.  In December 1862, he would sit on the court martial that convicted Fitz John Porterof disobedience and cowardice for his actions at Second Manassas.

1861

• Louisiana becomes the sixth state to secede from the United States.  The state convention voted 113-17 in favor of secession.

1863

• US Major General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command, of the Army of the Potomac.  After Burnside’s defeat at Fredericksburg, in December 1862, and the “Mud March,” in January, Lincoln had had enough.  His replacement was Joseph Hooker, who had previously said a military dictatorship was required in the United States.  When promoting Hooker, Lincoln said, “Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators.  What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.”

James R Montgomery¹ was born, in the late 1830’s, in Madison, Mississippi.  The son of Allen, and Ellen, he was the second of eight children.  With the outbreak of sectional hostilities, young James entered the army, enlisting in the 17th Mississippi Infantry, Company C – the Quitman Grays – he would be mustered into Confederate service on May 23, 1861, in Saltillo.  It would join the rest of the 17thMississippi at Corinth, MS, before being sent to Virginia. 

Young Montgomery would fight in many of the most brutal battles, in the east: First Manassas, Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days, Second Manssas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.  At Fredericksburg, the 17th would be assigned to William Barksdale’s defensive line along the Rappahannock River.  They would offer stiff resistance against the Federal crossing in Fredericksburg.  After Gettysburg, Montgomery would move to Georgia, with James Longstreet’s 1st Corps.  He would fight at Chickamauga, in CS Brigadier General Benjamin Humphrey’s brigade, of CS Major General John B. Hood’s Division (commanded by Evander Law).   After Chickamauga, the 17th Mississippi would participate in Longstreet’s Knoxville Campaign.

In the spring of 1864, Montgomery would be back in Virginia, in time to participate in the Battle of the Wilderness.  Arriving with Humphrey’s Brigade, they would be one of the first brigades into the Wilderness.  Longstreet would be seriously wounded, at the Wilderness, and CS Major General Richard Anderson would take over corps command. 

The position of Anderson's Right Flank at Spotsylvania.

With US Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s flanking movement, southeast of the Wilderness, Anderson would push his 1st Corps, along shortened interior lines, arriving at Laurel Hill, near the Spindle Farm, where they would engage the Federal army.  Over the coming days, the two armies would slug it out, in one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War – Spotsylvania Court House.

For private James R. Montgomery, Spotsylvania Court House would be his last battle – and final resting place.  He would fight bravely at Spotsylvania, where he would take a shell fragment to his right shoulder.  Like so many soldiers, during the Civil War, James sent a final letter to his father, “Death is inevitable.  This is my last letter to you.  I write to you because I know you would be delighted to read a word from your dying son.”  Young Montgomery would die four days later.  Ethelbert Fairfax, a friend of James, would send another note to the Montgomery family, “I have never witnessed such an exhibition of fortitude and Christian resignation as he showed.  In this sad bereavement you will have the greatest of all comforts in knowing that he made peace with God and was resigned to his fate.  He retained consciousness to the last…  His grave is marked.”²

These letters were very common during the Civil War.  Many of these soldiers were fighting hundreds of miles from their homes.  Their families, especially many in the financially destroyed south, would be unable to bring their dead soldier home, for a proper burial.  These letters served to provide the family comfort, letting them know that their loved one fought bravely – and in many cases that they had accepted the Lord, as their Savior – assuring an afterlife free of the cruelties of the current world.

¹ Information, used to research this article, was partially obtained from Civil War Soldiers and Sailor System and the Muster Roll of the 17th Mississippi Infantry.
² Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), pp. 16-17.

The 28th Ohio Infantry regiment was largely recruited in Cincinnati, and Hamilton County (Cincinnati area), in June 1861.  They would be mustered into service at Camp Dennison, Ohio on July 6, 1861.  Organized and commanded by Colonel Augustus Moor, they would also be known as the 2nd German Ohio regiment.

Originally serving in northwest Virginia (present day West Virginia), they would take part in the battle at Carnifax Ferry.  In March 1862, they would be transferred to the Department of the Mountains and be assigned to the Kanawha Division.  This division would be transferred to the US Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac in September 1862, in time for action at South Mountain and Antietam. 

28th Ohio Infantry monument - Antietam

At Antietam, the 28th Ohio would be assigned to US Major General Ambrose Burside’s IX Corps.  Commanded by lieutenant colonel Gottfried Becker, they would participate in the crossing of Burnside’s Bridge and would push towards CS Brigadier General David R. Jone’s Division.  With the weight of Burnside’s entire corps pushing on his division, Jones’s Confederates were pushed back towards Sharpsburg.  The timely arrival of CS Major General A.P. Hill’s Light Division, from Harpers Ferry, would stop the Federals, and push them back towards Burnside Bridge.  The Union army would suffer significant losses in this part of the battlefield.

After the Maryland Campaign, the 28th Ohio would be transferred to the Middle Department and would fight in West Virginia and during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, where they would fight at New Market, Lynchburg and Piedmont. 

The 28th Ohio would muster out of Federal service on June 23, 1864.  Those soldiers re-enlisting as veterans would be assigned to the Veteran Battalion, in September 1864.  Assigned to Wheeling, WV, they would be in reserve duty there until they mustered out on July 13, 1865.

The 28th Ohio would suffer a total of 134 casualties, of all types, during the Civil War.

1863

• US Major General Ambrose Burnside ends the “Mud March.”  Conceived as a means of reviving his reputation – with his troops and the civilian authorities, Burnside attempted to march a portion of his army up the banks of the Rappahannock River, and cross undetected before attacking CS General R.E. Lee’s left flank.  Like the battle of Fredericksburg, the Mud March ended in failure as the troops could not move themselves – or the artillery – due to the deep mud.