Showing posts with label 96th OH INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 96th OH INF. Show all posts

Monday, November 2, 2020

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 19, 1863

Whitworth Projectile
For a month we have been watching our enemy vigilantly, and a panorama, consisting of a great variety of war scenes, has, during that time, passed before us. We have had charging, digging rifle-pits, blowing up forts and firing all sizes of cannon, to say nothing of percussion shells, spherical case shot, time shells, parrot, grape, cannister, shrapnel, etc., the memory of which will be vivid to all, both blue and gray, who have seen the show around Vicksburg. The terrible noises, too, that have rung in our ears, must echo for years to come. I may add our endurance of this southern sun, at times being short of rations, and at no time out of danger, yet all the time nearly uncomplaining-every one trying to make the best of it, and all as merry as the situation would admit. Each day some of the Boys have come in relating new discoveries on reconnoisance, and I do not think there is a foot of ground about these hills that has not been explored, a well or spring that has not been tested, or a single object of interest of any kind that has not been worked until it was stale.


SHELL WITH FUSE.—The fuse is graduated on the outside into equal parts, representing seconds and quarter-seconds. In the bottom of this channel is a smooth layer of a composition of lead and tin, with a piece of wick or yarn underneath it. On this is placed a piece of metal. When ready for firing, the dial is gauged at the proper point at which the fuse is to burn through into the shell.

Then each man has had his peculiar view of how a siege like this ought to be conducted—that is, from the standpoint of rank and file. However, we are all agreed that the quiet man in command of our forces is still able to anticipate the requirements of our situation. I call him quiet, for that is just what he is. There is no dash or glitter about him, but he is marked by a steady nerve, and piercing glance that seems to be always on the alert. Many a second lieutenant has fallen a victim to the sharpshooter because of his fresh uniform, while officers of more experience have escaped under slouched hats and old blouses. There seems to be no limit, however, to the experience of some of them.

A cook of the 96th Ohio happened to be cooking beans the other day, when Gen. A. J. Smith, commanding a division of the 13th Army Corps, came around on camp inspection. After being properly saluted by the cook, the general began a colloquy as follows:

Gen. Smith.— What are you cooking?
The Cook. —Beans, sir.
General Smith. —How long do you cook beans?
The Cook. —Four hours, sir.
Gen. Smith (with a look of withering scorn).—Four hours! You cook 'em six hours!

That cook’s beans were tender enough that day.

"Once again the fire of hell
    Rained the rebel quarters,
With scream of shot and burst of shell,
    And bellowing of the mortars.”

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 58-9

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 11, 1863

Stayed in camp to-day with the exception of about an hour. The rebs have succeeded in planting a mortar, which has sent a few big shells into our quarters. This sort of practice did not last long, for a hundred guns around our line soon roared the mortar to silence. But one shell dropped near my tent, buried itself in the earth, and exploded, scattering dirt for yards around and leaving a hole big enough to bury a horse. Another fell on top of the hill and rolled down, crashing through a tent, The occupants not being at home it failed to find a welcome.

These shells are visitors we do not care to see in camp, for their movements are so clumsy they are apt to break things as they go. However, they are rather rare, while the bullets are so frequent that we have almost ceased to notice them. Their flights remind us of the dropping of leaves and twigs from the trees around us. The balls of lead as they fall are found bent and flattened in every conceivable shape. A friend from the 96th Ohio, on a visit to me, as he walked over, met a rebel bullet which took a piece out of his arm.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 49-50

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 6, 1863


Still banging away. I took a horseback ride around the line to the left in the rear of McClernand's corps. Everywhere I went I was met with the familiar zip, zip, of rebel bullets flying promiscuously through the air. I read a northern rebel paper, received by a member of the 96th Ohio, filled with false statements about the soldiers around Vicksburg. It said a great many of Grant's soldiers were deserting. This is of course false, for I have heard of but two deserting their flag in time of need. Those two will never be able to look their old comrades in the face, for if they escape the penalty of death, disgrace and ignominy will not only follow them through life, but stamp their memories and lineage with infamy. The scorn of every loyal soldier will follow these cowards who have deserted in the face of the foe. No true-hearted mother or father can welcome the return of such recreants, who not only disgrace themselves but all their kindred. This paper also stated that the soldiers around Vicksburg are dying off like flies. This is another falsehood, for the army is in good health and spirits, and looking forward to victory with assurance.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 45-6

Thursday, July 3, 2014

96th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Camp Delaware, Ohio, and mustered in August 29, 1862. Ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, September 1, thence to Covington and Newport, Ky., September 3, and duty there during threatened attack on Cincinnati by Kirby Smith. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Kentucky, Dept. of Ohio, to October, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of Kentucky, to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January, 1862. 1st Brigade, 10th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee and Army of the Gulf, to March, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 13th Army Corps, to June, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 19th Army Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, to December, 1864. U.S. forces, mouth of White River, Reserve Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to February, 1865. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Reserve Corps, February, 1865. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 13th Army Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to July, 1865.

SERVICE. – Moved to Falmouth, Ky., October 8, 1862, thence to Nicholasville October 23. Moved to Louisville, Ky., thence to Memphis, Tenn., November 13-22. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Landed at Milliken's Bend, La., and Expedition to Dallas Station, on Vicksburg & Shreveport Railroad, and destruction of railroad and stores December 25-26, 1862. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Young's Point January 17, and duty there till March 10. Expedition to Greenville, Miss., and Cypress Bend, Ark., February 14-26. Moved to Milliken's Bend, La., March 10, and duty there till April 25. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Magnolia Hills, Port Gibson, Miss., May 1. Battle of Champion's Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Camp at Vicksburg till August 26. Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 26. Expedition from Carrollton to New and Amite Rivers September 24-29. At Brashear City October 3. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Grand Coteau November 3. Moved to Algiers December 13, thence embark for Texas December 18. Duty at Du Crow's Point, Texas, till March, 1864. Moved to Algiers, La., March 1-6. Red River Campaign March 10-May 22. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria March 14-26. Skirmish at Bayou de Paul, Carroll's Mills, April 8. Battle of Sabine Cross Roads April 8. Monett's Bluff, Cane River Crossing, April 23. Operations about Alexandria April 26-May 13. Construction of dam at Alexandria April 30-May 10. Retreat to Morganza May 13-20. Mansura May 16. Moved to Baton Rouge May 28, and duty there till July 20. Moved to Algiers July 20, thence to Dauphin Island, Ala. Operations in Mobile Bay against Forts Gaines and Morgan August 2-23. Siege and capture of Fort Gaines August 3-8. Siege of capture of Fort Morgan August 9-23. Moved to Morganza September 1. Raid to Greenville Farms September 4. Moved to mouth of White River November 1, and duty there till February 4, 1865. Consolidated to 4 Companies November 18, 1864. Moved to Kennersville, La., February 4, 1865, thence to Mobile Point February 16. Campaign against Mobile and its defences March 17-April 13. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely March 26-April 8. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely April 9. Occupation of Mobile April 12. Expedition to Tombigbee River and Mcintosh Bluffs April 13-May 9. Duty at Mobile till July. Mustered out July 7, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 46 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 286 Enlisted men by disease. Total 339.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1539

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Brevet Brigadier-General G. W. Clark

BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL G. W. CLARK.

COLONEL, THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY.

George Washington Clark, the original colonel of the 34th Iowa Infantry, is a native of Johnson county, Indiana, and was born on the 26th day of December, 1833. He was educated at Wabash College, Indiana, and resided with his father's family at the place of his nativity till the year 1856, which is all that I know of his early history. In the spring of 1856 he removed to Iowa, and became a resident of Indianola, Warren county, where he has since made his home. He is a lawyer by profession. Subsequently to his removal to Iowa, and prior to the spring of 1861, when he entered the service, he practiced his profession in Warren county. He was, I am told, a successful lawyer, and had, at the time of entering the service, a paying practice.

At the outbreak of the war, General Clark was the first man in Warren county to enroll himself a volunteer. In May, 1861, he assisted in raising Company G, of the 3d Iowa Infantry, which was the first company that went out from Warren county. He was commissioned a first lieutenant, and, on the organization of his regiment, was appointed regimental quarter-master, which position he held till the first of September, 1862, when he was commissioned colonel of the 34th Iowa Infantry. For meritorious services, he was, in the spring of 1865, made a brevet brigadier-general.

Up to the time of the capture of Arkansas Post, the history of the 34th Iowa is not very dissimilar from those of the 25th, 26th, 30th and 31st Iowa Infantry regiments. Late in the fall of 1862, these regiments had all, under orders, arrived at Helena, Arkansas, at which point General Grant was concentrating troops preparatory to making a descent on Vicksburg by way of Chickasaw Bayou. The expedition, which started late in December, under command of General Sherman, was a failure; but through no fault of the troops; for, during the three days' struggle in the brush and swamps that border Chickasaw Bayou, soldiers never fought better. The fact is, General Sherman did not succeed, simply because the obstacles to be overcome at that point were insurmountable. Had General Grant maintained his line of communication, and threatened Vicksburg from the east, the result would doubtless have been different; for he would have drawn a large portion of the rebel army out from the Walnut Hills.

Immediately after the unfortunate operations at Chickasaw Bayou, the Arkansas River Expedition was organized, which terminated in the capture of Arkansas Post. This brilliant affair was accomplished on the 11th of January, 1863, and partially atoned for previous disasters. The capture of these formidable works, in which the 34th Iowa took a prominent part, was a great disaster to the enemy in Southern Arkansas, and disconcerted him in his previously arranged plans of harassing the flank and rear of General Grant in his operations against Vicksburg. The following is from Colonel Clark's official report of the part his regiment took in the capture of this strong-hold:

"We had just returned from the bloody battle-field of Chickasaw Bayou, where we had been repulsed with terrible slaughter. Sherman's entire fleet came out of the Yazoo River on the 3d of January, and on the 9th steamed up the Arkansas River, to operate against Arkansas Post, arriving near there the same day. The following day was occupied in reconnoitering and skirmishing. Our (Steele's) Division marched all that night through the woods and swamps, through which it was impossible to take baggage-wagons or ambulances. At day light the next morning we found ourselves within range of the enemy's guns, from which he immediately opened on us. Our batteries were soon put in position, and commenced a vigorous reply. The artillery continued until about 12 o'clock M. At this time I received an order from General Steele to move my regiment rapidly to the front, which was promptly obeyed. I moved the regiment forward in line of battle, to a point within one hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's intrenchments."

This position was held till the place surrendered, and during this part of the action the gallant Captain Dan H. Lyons fell.

During the three weeks that followed the capture of Arkansas Post, the 34th Iowa saw their hardest service. After the capitulation, Colonel Clark was detailed with his regiment to escort the captured prisoners from that point to Camp Douglas; and, on the way, both the prisoners and their escort suffered untold hardships. Only three miserable transports were allowed the colonel, in which to convey his own command and the prisoners (numbering between five and six thousand) from the point of capture to St. Louis. It was mid-Winter, and on the trip the small-pox broke out. The boats were so densely crowded that they could not be policed, and became shockingly filthy; and in this accumulation of filth this loathsome disease was raging, adding each half-hour one to the list of mortality. The scene was most wretched and revolting. In writing to a friend Colonel Clark said: "During those two weeks, I witnessed more human suffering, than I had seen in all my life before."

On returning from Chicago to St. Louis, Colonel Clark was ordered with his regiment, in the early part of April, to Pilot Knob, to anticipate the reported movement of General Marmaduke on that place. For two months after, he commanded the Post and District of Pilot Knob and then joined the command of General Herron, which was en route for Vicksburg. General Herron arrived at Vicksburg on the 11th of June; and was assigned a position on the extreme left of General Grant's army. The 1st Brigade of his Division, to which the 34th Iowa belonged, was stationed near the Mississippi, which position it held till the surrender of the city.

On the morning of the 11th of July, General Herron's Division was embarked on transports, with orders to report to General Banks, at Port Hudson; but news now arriving of the surrender of that place, these troops sailed up the Yazoo River, constituting the force which captured Yazoo City, and subsequently marched out across the Big Black River, to Canton, to make a diversion in favor of General Sherman before Jackson. These operations closed, Colonel Clark sailed with his regiment down the Mississippi River; since which time he has served in the Gulf Department and the trans-Mississippi.

During the latter part of the fall of 1863, and through the following Winter, the history of the 34th Iowa savors somewhat of romance. Stationed at Fort Esperanga on Matagorda Island, which lies at the head of the Gulf of Mexico, and at the mouth of the Guadeloupe River, the men, when off duty, passed their time in wandering on the beach, and gathering curious shells. They even talked of associating Ceres and Flora, as consorts with their patron war-god, Mars. But these scenes closed on the opening of the Spring Campaign under Major-General Banks.

The troops, who joined in the Red River Campaign, have never had full credit for their heroic endurance of the perils and hardships they encountered, which may be attributable to the fact that, the campaign was only fruitful of disaster.

In the battles that were fought near Alexandria, the 34th Iowa took an active part, and sustained itself with credit; but the sufferings of the regiment in these battles and in the early part of the campaign, were not to be compared with those experienced on the memorable nine days' retreat to Simmsport and Morganzia. During these nine days and nights, there were no halts for rest and sleep, or only such as were required for repairing the roads, and constructing pontoons.

On the 28th of May, 1864, the 34th Iowa left Morganzia for Baton Rouge, where it remained till the latter part of July, when it sailed with the command of General Granger against the rebel forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The operations of Rear-Admiral Farragut and General Granger against Forts Powell, Gaines and Morgan were brief and brilliant; and the troops who joined in these operations may well feel proud of their achievements. On the 2d of August, 1864, General Granger effected a landing on Dauphin Island, and within twenty-one days from that time, each one of these forts was in the possession of our forces. The 34th Iowa was the first regiment to disembark on the west point of Dauphin Island. It was soon joined by the 96th Ohio, and a colored regiment; when the entire force, under command of Colonel Clark, with skirmishers well advanced and extending from shore to shore, marched forward in the direction of Fort Gaines. The night was dark and stormy, and an east wind beat a drenching rain directly in the faces of the troops. To any but soldiers, the occasion would have been dismal; but these brave fellows, trudging on through the mud and rain, were jocose and merry. Colonel Clark advanced about six miles, and to within two miles of the fort, when he halted and rested his command in line of battle. At day-light he was joined by the 67th Indiana, the 77th Illinois and the 3d Maryland; when, after slight demonstrations, the fort surrendered.

In the reduction of Fort Morgan Colonel Clark with his command also took a conspicuous part; and on its capitulation, on the morning of the 23d of August, led the escort, composed of his own regiment and the 20th Wisconsin, which was marched out to receive the garrison as prisoners of war. Subsequently to February, 1864, he has commanded a brigade. With this command, he distinguished himself at the battle of Middle Bayou, and was highly complimented for his coolness and bravery.

The Fall and Winter following the operations at the mouth of Mobile Bay were passed by the 34th Iowa on the Gulf coast and along the Mississippi. In January, 1865, the regiment was consolidated with the 38th Iowa Infantry, and under the new organization retained its old name and colonel.

For many months, the 34th Iowa was stationed at Barrancas, Florida: from that point, it marched with General Steele against Mobile, and took part in the assault and capture of Fort Blakely.

General Clark is a little above six feet in hight, and has a fine, well-developed form. He is a fine looking man, though, when I saw him, he was a little too fleshy; but at that time he was just from his home, and on the way to re-join his regiment.

General Clark is a man of gentlemanly deportment, and, I am told, has good ability, and much shrewdness. He has a good military record. One who has visited all the Iowa troops in the Gulf Department, speaks thus of him: "Colonel Clark stands high, and, with the officers in general, seeks not only the highest military efficiency, but also a good moral character for his regiment." The general took great pride in the drill and discipline of his old regiment. His regiment were proud of their name, and designated themselves the "star regiment."

In politics, General Clark is a Republican; though, I am told, he was never a political aspirant.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 501-6