Showing posts with label 2nd MI INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2nd MI INF. Show all posts

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: July 15, 1864

Near Vining's Station, Ga.,
July 15, 1864.

We are now enjoying a short respite from our exertions, which is very welcome after the campaign's hard work. By a series of movements and operations we have pushed the enemy south of the Chattahoochie, they now picketing their side of the river and we ours. It is difficult to tell anything about the result of this campaign, since, from appearances, the rebels are preparing to evacuate Atlanta with no more of a struggle than they made at Marietta, so that the fall of the former place is already calculated on as the result of the next move forward. The trouble is that we cannot get at Johnston and his army; he is too weak to meet us in a fair fight; his game, therefore, is to have a succession of lines of works prepared for him in his rear by citizens and negroes, which cannot be taken by direct assaults, but out of which, with our superior numbers, we can finally turn him. Whether we can follow an enemy of this kind farther than Atlanta, is a question in my mind, for we have already had to guard a railroad for over two hundred and fifty miles through a country swarming with guerrillas and roving cavalry. Johnston will undoubtedly retreat towards Macon, which will virtually abandon to us the whole of Alabama and Western Georgia, and cause the fall of Mobile.

There is an amount of cunning in this continual retreating of Johnston which is not generally allowed him. To be sure, he gives up a great deal of valuable territory, but he keeps his army intact and finally removes it out of our reach, leaving us an immense distance from our base, subject to raids on our line of communication and consequent stoppage of supplies; and supposing him at Macon, he is nearer to Lee, and can sooner transmit and receive reinforcements. This is the unfavorable side; but, on the other hand, the constant retreats of Johnston have, to a certain extent, demoralized the troops belonging in Kentucky, Tennessee, Northern Georgia and Alabama, so that on each occasion of their falling back, hundreds of deserters are brought into our lines; they all say that half the army would do the same if it dared, but they are told fearful stories of our treatment of prisoners and are also closely watched, and, when caught, shot without mercy. The case has occurred, repeatedly, of deserters lying all day in ditches and behind stumps, between our picket lines, afraid to stir from fear of being shot by their own men; as soon as night would come, they would come in. Without a single exception, 1 have seen these men always kindly and hospitably received by our soldiers; it is always, “How are you, Johnny? we're glad to see you; sit down and have some coffee, and tell us the news.”

The amicable feeling existing between the men of the two armies when not actually fighting is very curious, and between the best troops on each side the understanding seems the most perfect. It is a proverbial expression, now, with the rebels, that Hooker's men are the toughest to fight, but the best to picket against. We have one rule now in our division, which entirely prevents all picket firing except in case of an advance of the enemy. Last Sunday I was Field Officer of the day and had charge of the brigade picket; one portion of my line relieved a part of the Fourteenth Corps. When I first posted my men, it was necessary to crawl from one post to another and keep entirely out of sight, for before we came there had been a continual popping. In a short time it was discovered who had arrived, and all firing upon us ceased. The next morning, in broad daylight, I pushed my line down to the bank of the river without receiving a single shot, and afterwards rode along where the day before it would have been sure death or a disabling wound. We never yet have been the victims of any treachery, but, on the contrary, have received warnings in time to look out for ourselves. They will call out, “Look out, Yanks, we've been ordered to fire,” and plenty of time will be given to get behind our works. When we fight, we fight to crush the rebellion and break the power of the rebel armies, not against these men as individuals; there is no enmity felt, yet no one can complain of a want of earnestness or desire on our part for victory.

No news which has come to us for a long time has been received with such pleasure as that of the sinking of the Alabama by the Kearsarge. It is a great naval triumph for us, not over rebels merely, but over a Johnny Bull ship manned by English sailors, armed by English guns, fired by English gunners. It was an affair with England all through, and only needed, at the wind-up, to have that fair-minded, non-interfering Englishman carry off Captain Semmes, who had already surrendered, under a recognized British flag. Perhaps we cannot do anything now to help ourselves, but the time will come when we will make that mean, bullying English nation repent of her action towards us in this war; I hope I may live to see the day and help to wipe off these old scores. How long could she hold a foot square of territory on this continent against the immense armies we could raise, and what harm could she do us? We may not have as good a navy to-day, but we would have, and our coast would swarm with privateers.

War is a terrible thing, but a man should feel as jealous of the honor of his country and flag as he would of his own, and should resent an insult to the one as readily as he would to the other.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 175-8

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Review: For Liberty


By Larry B. Bramble

Larry Bramble in his book “For Liberty: My Ancestor’s Story of Immigration and the Civil War,” does what any good amateur genealogist, or family historian, should do.  He sets the lives of his ancestors in their proper context against the larger historical backdrop.  Unfortunately that is all that can be said about it.

Tracing the military history of his great-great-grandfather, Philip Lenderking, of the 5th Maryland Infantry, and his four brothers; Frederick, of the Fremont Body Guard and the 181st Ohio Infantry; Rudolph, of the 2nd Michigan Infantry; George of the 27th Michigan Infantry and Louis, of the 12th Maryland Infantry; as well as his great-great-grandfather Taugart Snyder of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

The compiled service records of each featured soldier, and the pension records of Frederick and Philip Lenderking, all from the National Archives, and seven reports from the “Official Records” are the only primary source material I was able to unearth in Mr. Bramble’s bibliography, though there are excerpts from letters mentioned in his text they are not noted in the bibliography.  Mr. Bramble also sighted in his bibliography one magazine article and seven printed works, two of which were the King James Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.  The rest, and indeed a very large percentage of his research, was done online using a wide variety of websites, some more credible than others.  I counted 102 citations to online sources with 28 of them being Wikipedia articles.

Mr. Bramble relates the experiences of his ancestors in a linear narrative, chronologically as they happened.  But with so few primary resources to rely upon, Mr. Bramble is left to give a thumbnail sketch of each battle his family members participated in, gleaned in large part from only secondary sources, with a few statistics thrown in.

Throughout the book are many photographs, illustrations and maps.  Many of the maps are hand-drawn and had to be so reduced in size for publication that many of them are illegible, and therefore are not at all useful in supplementing the text.

What Mr. Bramble has attempted to do is admirable.  It is important to be able to set the lives of your ancestors against the backdrop of the historical past, by doing so you get a much clearer understanding of who they were and where they fit into the larger historical picture.  But with such scant primary resources to pull from, and such heavy use of online and secondary sources, Mr. Bramble has written a book that will only be useful to the members of his family.

ISBN 978-1257976003, Lulu.com, © 2011, Softcover, 268 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Footnotes, Bibliography. $16.49.  To purchase click HERE.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Battle of Williamsburg

BALTIMORE, May 8. – The following is from the American’s account of the battle at Williamsburg: The battle before Williamsburg on Monday was a most warmly contested engagement. Owing to the roughness of the country and bad condition of the roads but a small portion of our troops could be brought into action. Gen. Sickles’s Excelsior Brigade and Gen. Hooker’s Division bore the brunt of the battle, and fought most valiantly throughout, though greatly over powered by numbers and the superior position and earthworks of the enemy.

Approaches to their earthworks were a series of ravines and swamps, while rain fell in torrents throughout the day the men had also been lying on their arms all the previous night in a wood and were soaked with rain and chilled with cold; the battle raged from early in the morning until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when Gen. McClellan arrived with fresh troops and relieved the division of Gen. Hooker who were nearly prostrate with fatigue and exposure; the 3d–Excelsior–regiment of Sickle’s Brigade, had it’s ranks terribly thinned by the batteries of the enemy. They are represented as having fought with such bravery that not less than 200 of them are killed and wounded.

After the arrival of Gen. McClellan, the enemy were fiercely charged by Hancock’s Brigade and were driven within their works before night fall, with heavy loss.

Nearly 700 of their dead were left on the field, with many wounded, though most of the latter were carried into Williamsburg.

Our loss was less than 300 killed and about 700 wounded.

Night having come on we occupied the battlefield, the enemy having been driven within his works, and our forces laid on their arms, prepared to storm the works in the morning.

On Tuesday morning Gen. McClellan sent out scouts whilst preparing to move on the enemy’s works, who soon reported that he had again taken flight during the night.

The works of the enemy and the city of Williamsburgh were then taken.

Fort Magruder was a most extensive work, capable of prolonged defense, but the enemy had abandoned it early in the night, retreating in the greatest confusion, as described by a few negro women who were found in the town.

A large number of wagons, munitions and an considerable store of provisions were found in the town, and the road was strewn for many miles, with arms and accoutrements.

A number of deserters also made their escape and came within our lines, who stated that they had received intelligence that large numbers of Federal troops were landing on York river above Williamsburg, flanking them.

The Third New Hampshire regiment has 16 killed and 66 wounded.

Second Michigan Regiment, Col. Poe commanding – Killed, company C, Corporal Orin Nichby; wounded, James Acken, Charles Brenham, Charles Frazer, Sergeant John Shanahan. Company F – H. H. Gallup, J. Weon, Geo. Carvenon. [Company] H – Corporal Williard Eddy. Company I – Jos Dizeka, Henry Hearluk, Hugh Mills, Corporal W. A. Wallace. Company K – Thos. Lenon. Total 14 wounded. Second Lieut. R. D. Johnson, Company A, slightly wounded; Corporal W Kearle slightly wounded; private John Rash, severely; 1st [Sergeant] H H Daniels, Sergeant H H Evans, severely. Company B, Private Mather, Severely; private Lyman Heath, slightly; Thos. Oakley, slightly; James Dadnin, slightly; 1st Sergeant Benj F Lee, mortally; private Joel Carven, severely; S. B. Glidden, slightly; H Covert, ditto; Wm H Custo, ditto; Jefferson B Famhen, do; Wm Jay, severely; J K H McClary, slightly.


WASHINGTON, May 8. – The following are the names of some of the killed in Sickles’ Brigade:

Killed – Capt. Barrett, Capt. Willard and Lt. Bailey. Wounded – Capt. Greenleaf, severely, Lieut. Hortney, severely, Lieut. Marcus, seriously, Serg’t Maj. Clark, seriously, Ass’t Surgeon General Hart, struck by four balls.

Col. Dwight was wounded and taken prisoner.

Maj. Holt was seriously wounded while leading on his men.

The body of Capt. Willard was rifled of his watch and money, by the enemy, as were many of our dead.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 3