This morning the boys in blue are everywhere in and around Fort Donelson, scattered among the boys in gray, rehearsing the scenes they have witnessed, and the trials through which they have passed. Although the Seventh was in the thickest of the battle, as their riddled colors show, their loss is comparatively small. The casualties in the two days' battle around Fort Donelson are as follows:
Company A.— Thomas
Crayon, wounded.
Company B.— Private
Thomas J. Parish, wounded in left hand; private Edmond P. Mann, wounded.
Company C. — John
Brint, wounded in thigh.
Company D. — First
Lieutenant James Munn, wounded in face.
Company F. — John
Dell, wounded; Rosewell C. Staples, wounded.
Company G. — Jno.
H. Dougherty, wounded in arm.
Company H. — Private
John D. Turner, wounded in head.
Company I. — Captain
Noah E. Mendell, killed; Ole Porter, killed; Corporal William Boring, wounded,
leg amputated.
Company K. — John
W. Hopper, killed by cannon shot; Corporal Thomas Kirby, wounded severely;
Corporal Wallace Smith, wounded slightly; John Rhodes, wounded severely; Julius
Wolf, wounded slightly: Dilivan D. Daniels, wounded severely; Winfry Mitchell,
wounded slightly; Charles Huffman, wounded severely, leg amputated; Jacob Hoen,
wounded slightly. Sum total of casualties, 20.
In looking over the list we notice that company K, the
gallant Captain Hunter's company, sustained nearly half the loss in the regiment.
Noble old Carlinville company, under its brave leader, made a fearful swing on
these fortified hills. We will add no more; their list of casualties speaks for
itself. It tells the story more plainly than pen can write it. Though our loss
is light, we miss those who have fallen, and those who have been wounded. Among
the most distinguished who fell in these wintry days of battle before Fort
Donelson will ever appear the name of the brave Captain Noah E. Mendell, of
company I. In view of the accident that befell him near Fort Henry, his friends
remonstrated with him, and besought him to remain at the rear, but when the
order was given “Forward to Fort Donelson," he determined not to be
thwarted by anything. Evading the surgeon, who forbade his going, alleging, as
was the case, that he was unfit for duty, he pressed on, saying to his gallant
First Lieutenant, Edward S. Johnson: “Ed, you take command of the company; I will
follow you as long as I have strength.” When he heard the drums beating, and
the loud huzzas away on those hills, his heart beat high, and its silent
language was, men tell me not to stay; I will go where that old flag goes
to-day. Being unable from the injuries received near Fort Henry, to buckle his
sword belt around his waist, he buckled it around his neck and followed close
in the rear of his company, cheering his men and telling them to stand by their
brave, youthful leader, Lieutenant Johnson, who was then commanding the
company. But how soon are his hopes dashed down. A whizzing grape comes
crashing through the woods and singles him as its victim, entering his head
just beneath the right ear, coming out immediately through the center of his
left. His death was instantaneous, and he fell with his sword still above his
head, with his face lit up with the smile of triumph—a glorious death and such
as all brave and patriotic soldiers like him would wish to die—face to face
with the enemies of his country. Captain Mendell was born in Blairsville,
Pennsylvania, November 4th, 1837, and consequently was in his twenty-fifth year
at the time of his death, February 13th, 1862. When the call was made for three
months' volunteers he was among the first to offer his services, together with
a majority of Captain John Cook's (State Militia) company, denominated the
Springfield Zouave Grays, of which he was long a respected member. Upon Captain
Cook's promotion to Colonel, Mendell rose to Second Lieutenant, in which
capacity he served during the three months' service, at the close of which he
was unanimously chosen Captain for the three years' service. He was the only
brother of Captain G. H. Mendell, of the United States Topographical Engineers,
professor at West Point, whom, with a loving father and sister, he leaves to
mourn his early death. He is silently sleeping now. May he sleep well, and may
the noble men of his company, should they in coming years pass his grave, tread
lightly there and shed a silent tear to his memory; and may every soldier of
the Seventh do likewise, remembering that there sleeps the gallant Captain Noah
E. Mendell, the first brave soldier of the Seventh who fell in the war for the
Union, and the first in Grant's army who fell a victim upon the Union altar
before the battlements of Fort Donelson.
Preparations are now being made to send his remains home to
be buried in the Springfield cemetery. As a martyr, we give him to the loyal
people of Springfield, and the Seventh, especially his noble company, appeals
to them in the language of the poetess:
Lay him where the clover blooms,
Let the gallant soldier rest
Where the twilight dews will fall
On his youthful breast.
Lay him where the evening sun
Gives to him her parting ray;
Where the violet droops her head
At the closing day.
Lay him where the midnight star
Sheds o'er him her gentle light;
Where the wood bird's plaintive strain
Serenades the night.
Lay him where the stars and stripes
Will o'er him ever wave';
Where no foe can touch the realm,
For which he died to save.
Lay him where bright angel wings
Will guard his happy sleep ;
Until the Saviour's voice shall call,
May their faithful vigil keep.
Company D has lost for a time their loved and brave-hearted
Lieutenant Munn. True to the flag and its fostered principles, he fought valiantly until
wounded, when he was compelled to leave the field. We remember when he went
bleeding from the hill, when we were making the assault on Saturday evening. He
was foremost in the fray, fighting bravely until the battle was waning, when
one of the deadly messengers selected him as its prey, inflicting a frightful
wound in his face. Heroic soldier! We fear he will battle no more in the cause
of human right.
The wounded are now being sent north, and while there, may
they receive from the loyal people tokens of gratitude, that will make them
feel glad that they stood on the banks of the Cumberland, when the winter winds
blew, and when the battle king made his deadly march, causing shot and shell to
make a dirge-like music where they stood. We cannot pass without alluding to
the noble ones who passed through the battle untouched; who bore the flag
through tempest and storm and planted its staff firmly in the ramparts. But how
can we distinguish any when all were brave; when all stood so nobly during
those fierce hours of battle?
Lieutenant Colonel A. J. Babcock deserves the praise of all.
Cool and calm as a placid brook, with a heart that prompted to daring deeds, he
led his men through the terrible storm, and as they followed him there was
power felt on those hills. He displayed a tact and skill in handling the regiment,
forming it at one time under a galling fire, which elicited the commendation of
the General commanding. We will not soon forget how often his voice rang out in
inspiring tones, and how the Seventh went surging on with him, and how her flag
was ofttimes seen, reflecting its light where smoke and red-hot flame belched
forth from brazen fronts.
Major Rowett also deserves the plaudits of all.
Enthusiastic, but not rash, he was found where all the brave were found. None
but could admire his dashso free, so courageous—as he moved with the regiment
on those hills with defiance, facing danger and cheering his men on to victory.
Says he, since the battle: “I never felt so happy in all my life as when before
that rebel battery the first day; happy because I there discovered that I had a
heart to face the cannon's mouth, which I did not feel certain of having until
then.” Many of the Seventh can speak likewise; can testify that they feel glad
in their hearts that they have been tried and not found wanting. Among the
brigade commanders none were more conspicuous when the battle was at its
highest than our Colonel, John Cook. Amid the terrible storm that rolled from
the cannon's angry front he stood. Though death and carnage followed in its
wake, making little streams beneath his feet, he faltered not, but with that
veteran soldier and brave general, Smith, he moved until the sun went down and
the battle storm was hushed.
SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 36-42
