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Court Martial Insights

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in 1864, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Civil War, courts martial, references, research, Reserve Brigade, Uncategorized

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Court martialI first realized the possible value of court martial records when I read Dr. Mark W. Johnson’s excellent book, That Body of Brave Men. Intrigued by what he had to say about the value of the records, I did a bit of investigating.

As I perused the War Department’s General Orders for 1863 and 1864, it struck me that relatively few cavalrymen were court martialed, and even fewer regular cavalrymen. I was able to make copies of a few records on a couple of visits to the National Archives, and friend Bob O’Neill was kind enough to copy another dozen or more. Much to my delight, there is a wealth of information in these files. Nothing book worthy in and of itself, but countless smaller details that bring the larger history to life.

As a case study, let’s take a look at the court martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in January 1864. Rinner was a veteran whose enlisted service started in the Mexican War, and a first sergeant in the regiment when he was commissioned the year before. I will save the other details of his service for a future post. The charge was drunk on guard. The specification was “while on Provost Guard with his squadron did become so drunk as to be unable to perform his duty as an officer. This at or near the town of Culpeper, Va. On or about the 24th day of December 1863.”

To set the stage a bit, during the winter encampment of 1863-1864 the regular cavalry regiments and possibly others rotated on provost guard duty in the town of Culpeper, Virginia. Without going into the details of the testimony, here is a sampling some of the information I discovered from just this one record.

  • A squadron strong, the guard rotated shifts daily. The squadron was responsible for guard posts in town and pickets in vicinity of the town.
  • The headquarters for the squadron on provost guard was a room in the Virginia Hotel. The officers on guard, typically a captain and two lieutenants, slept together in this room.
  • It was not customary for there to be a formal mounting of the guard when the relief happened within the regiment. Guard posts included the hotel, the Orange & Alexandria railroad depot, and “the church.” This was probably St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, built in 1821. Specific identification of guards’ names, ranks and companies validated unit roster.
  • Battery G, 2nd U.S. Artillery was located in Culpeper, and its commander, Lt. William N. Dennison, also had a room at the Virginia Hotel. One of the units of the Horse Artillery Brigade, relations between the officers of the battery and the 2nd U.S. Cavalry were cordial enough that there was a party in Dennison’s room on December 23rd which seven officers attended.
  • It was permissible for an officer of the guard to visit a party, drink and play cards as long as his duties were fulfilled and he did not become incapacitated. In this case his squadron commander was present at the time and it was not considered an offense.
  • Company morning report books were required to be signed by commanders every morning, even when the officer was on guard.
  • The regimental adjutant placed officers in arrest, not the company or squadron commander.
  • Division headquarters appointed general courts martial. Brigade headquarters selected the board members selected from the regiments of the accused’s brigade. Both volunteer and regular officers could sit on the court martial of a regular officer. Court martial duty superseded all other duties, including unit movements. The proceedings of the previous day were read to the accused and the court first thing in the morning after the court convened.
  • The 1st New York Dragoons had already joined the Reserve Brigade before the Christmas of 1863.
  • Justice was swift. The court reached its verdict on January 11th. Only two days later, the proceedings were approved by the division commander and sent to Major General Sedgwick, in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac.
  • The Army of the Potomac was cracking down on professionalism during the winter encampment. By February 18th, army headquarters had already published four general court martial orders since January 1st. Each order encompassed the results of multiple courts. This fourth order included four courts ruling on ten officers for various forms of misconduct. All ten were cashiered.

Not every court martial record contains valuable information, but this is definitely a largely underutilized source of primary source material. Another tool available to bring pieces of history to light.

Source: NARA, Record Group 153: Office of the Judge Advocate General. Folder LL1362: Court-Martial of Second Lieutenant Peter Rinner, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, January 1864.

Thomas Wathey, 6th U.S. Cavalry

04 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, battle of Antietam, battle of Fairfield, Uncategorized, volunteers

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A Union Deserter Settles in Winchester

Wathey grave 6US

Photo courtesy of Krista Al Qirim Thompson

Thomas Wathey was born on February 2, 1841 in Londonderry, Ireland to Thomas and Mary Wathey. His mother was Irish and his father a Scot. In 1855, Mary, Thomas and his younger brother Will emigrated from Liverpool on the ship American Union. The family had a lower deck non-cabin berth. They arrived in New York City on June 16, 1855 en route to Rhode Island. According to the 1860 census, Thomas worked as a machinist in Providence, but by the following year the family moved to Northbridge, MA.

On May 25, 1861 Thomas was one of 64 men from Northbridge who enlisted in Company H, 15th Massachusetts Infantry. The regiment mustered into Federal service on July 12, 1861 and moved to Washington the following month. On October 21st the regiment saw its first action at Ball’s Bluff and suffered the heaviest losses of any of the Union regiments engaged. Thomas was wounded in the leg and sent home to recover from his wound. While he was home, he married Harriet Elizabeth Smith in Northbridge, MA on November 23, 1861. Minister William Merrill presided over the ceremony.

The following spring the 15th MA was assigned to the II Corps and accompanied the rest of the Army of the Potomac to the peninsula. The regiment fought at Seven Pines, Savage’s Station, and Glendale with modest losses. One of the last regiments to depart the peninsula in August, the 15th Massachusetts missed the battle of Second Bull Run. Military service agreed with Thomas, and he rapidly progressed through the enlisted ranks from private to first sergeant of Company H.

The regiment was brigaded with the 1st Minnesota, 34th and 82nd New York under Brigadier General Willis A. Gorman during the Maryland Campaign. In heavy fighting at the battle of Antietam it fought against the brigades of Semmes, Early and Barksdale and was savagely flanked by the Confederates not far from Dunkard Church. It suffered 52% casualties, losing 320 killed, wounded or missing of 606 engaged. Eleven men were killed in Wathey’s Company H alone. For the second time in less than a year the 15th Massachusetts suffered the heaviest losses by a Union regiment in a battle.

This was enough for Thomas. A month later he transferred to Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry on October 24, 1862 in Knoxville, MD. His enlistment documents described him as 5’ 8 ½ ” tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. When the regiment returned to Virginia the following month, he and the other volunteers were sent to a camp of instruction outside of Washington to be mounted and trained.

Private Wathey quickly completed the training and rejoined the regiment. He spent the winter rotating off and on picket duty along the Rappahannock River. Cavalry life evidently agreed with him, as he was promoted to corporal before spring campaigning started.

Corporal Wathey participated in Stoneman’s Raid and the regiment’s heavy engagement at Brandy Station without injury, as well as the long march and skirmishes on the way to Gettysburg. At Fairfield on July 3, 1863, he fought dismounted in Lt. Adna Chaffee’s squadron behind a fence in an apple orchard on the regiment’s left flank. Unable to reach their horse holders when the regiment was overrun, Wathey was one of the majority of his company captured by the Confederates. When his first sergeant conducted roll call the following day, only two privates in the company were present for duty.

Corporal Wathey marched on foot south with the rest of the prisoners to Harrisonburg in the Shenandoah Valley, then travelled by rail the rest of the way to Richmond. After being processed at Castle Thunder in Richmond, they were incarcerated on Belle Isle on the James River. Wathey was fortunate, as Company M’s were in the first group of prisoners paroled and sent north the following month. Wathey returned to duty with the regiment at the beginning of September.

Corporal Wathey was re-enlisted in Company M by Lt. Tullius Tupper on February 8, 1864. The documents say Brandy Station, but more than likely this happened at the Reserve Brigade’s encampment at nearby Mitchell’s Station. His fortunes in battle improved greatly, as he fought in all of the regiment’s major engagements of 1864 and 1865 without incident.

Thomas didn’t serve long after the end of the war. Following the Appomattox campaign, the regiment was sent to Pleasant Valley, MD to recruit and re-fit. As the regiment prepared to head west to the frontier, he deserted on July 23, 1866. He did not return home to Massachusetts, and his first wife Hattie remarried to Frank A. Cross in Northbridge, MA on August 6, 1868.

Oddly enough, the former Union cavalryman returned to the Shenandoah Valley. He settled in Winchester, VA and eventually joined the Masonic fraternity. He married Winchester native Marietta Clark, daughter of Willis B. and Emily Z. (nee’ Pierce) Clark. The couple’s first three children died in their first year, but the next three survived. Their final child also did not survive his first year in 1881.

Thomas remained in the Winchester area of Frederick County for the rest of his life. In 1880 he lived in Stonewall township, in 1890 Shawnee, and in 1900 on his son Thomas Norval Wathey’s farm as a laborer. He moved in with his son following his wife’s death on October 28, 1898.

On the 1890 veteran’s schedule, Thomas listed his service as a sergeant in Company H, 2nd U.S. Cavalry from 1858 to 1866. When he applied for a disability pension on July 25, 1892, he again cited service the wrong regiment and omitted his desertion. Understandably, the processing of his claim was greatly delayed by the inaccuracies of the filing.

Thomas Wathey died after a brief illness of pleurisy in Winchester on March 3, 1907. He had finally received a back payment for his pension of $1,100 just a month before. He was buried in the German Lutheran Church Cemetery next to his wife. His obituary in the Winchester Evening Star read:

“Obituary: Mr. Thomas Wathey, a well-known and highly-respected citizen of Winchester, who had made this city his home ever since the Civil War, passed away about 10 o’clock on Sunday morning at his home on North Kent street, near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passenger station, after a brief illness of pleurisy, aged 66 years.”

 

Sources:

Adjutant General of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, Volume VII. Boston: Norwood Press, 1931.

Caughey, Donald C. and Jimmy J. Jones. The 6th United States Cavalry in the Civil War. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.: 2013.

Clemens, Thomas G., ed. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862. Vol. II: Antietam. El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie LLC, 2012.

Ford, Andrew E. The Story of the Fifteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War 1861-1864. Boston: W.J. Coulter Press, 1898.

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914.

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non-infantry Regiments, 1821-1916: 6th U.S. Cavalry.

National Archives, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, Pension record #67724.

“Thos. Wathey Dead; Just Got Pension.” Evening Star, Winchester, VA, March 4, 1907.

U.S. Federal Census, 1860, 1880 and 1890. Accessed on Ancestry.com, March 2020.

Book Review: Bloody Autumn

28 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by in 1864, battle of Cedar Creek, Battle of Winchester, book reviews, reviews, Uncategorized

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Bloody Autumn

Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt. El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie LLC, 2013. 148 pgs.

This book by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt is part of the excellent Emerging Civil War Series by publishing company Savas Beatie. As a rule, the books provide a good summary of the battle in question, with numerous appendices related to driving tours and additional context for the battle. This book exceeds high standards already set by the series.

Davis and Greenwalt do an excellent job in providing a coherent summary of this complicated campaign. The strategic context for both sides flows into opening moves and through the various engagements to its conclusion. The appendices are delightful, providing multiple driving tours and a section on battlefield preservation as well as an excellent essay on the campaign in memory. The work doesn’t attempt to answer every question about the campaign, but provides a solid foundation for further in-depth study of any of the engagements or the campaign as a whole. I found the historical perspective fair and well-balanced, neither lionizing nor vilifying the leaders of either side.

Cartographer Hal Jesperson’s excellent maps are plentiful and easily understood, a rarity in such works. They not only help the reader follow the campaign from home, but the driving tours make it much easier for people to explore the field today.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War, both beginners and those well-versed in the war.

 

Impatient Buckeyes

11 Sunday Aug 2019

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I have written on many occasions of volunteers who tired of duty in the infantry by the battle of Antietam and transferred to the regular cavalry thinking to escape the rigors and bloodshed of that life. Recently, however, I came across group of fellows with the opposite problem — they were tired of waiting to get into the war.

Seven members of Company A, 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry transferred to the 2nd U.S. Cavalry on October 27, 1862. They were not veterans serving in Maryland like most of their peers, but newly enlisted volunteers in Columbus, Ohio. All seven were enlisted by Captain Robert Clary into Company A, 2nd U.S. Cavalry. The men, ranging in age from 19 to 23, had enlisted in the volunteer service on the 21st and 22nd of August. Their company was not mustered into federal service until September 16th by Captain J.R. Paxton of the 15th U.S. Infantry at Camp Cleveland, Ohio. Theirs was the only company mustered. Companies B, C and D would follow in November, with the other companies to follow. After over two months of the tedium of drill with no action in sight, the men decided to take matters into their own hands when they encountered Captain Clary.

Ironically, the sergeant who was presumably the ringleader of this idea was the only one not to honorably complete his term of service with the regulars. Sergeant Benjamin F. Rhodes deserted four days after his enlistment On October 31st at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer prior to his enlistments, born in Greenport, Ohio. His enlistment documents describe him a 5’ 9” tall, with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion.

Corporal Thomas G Stradford, born in Philadelphia, worked as a clerk before the war. He served his entire three year enlistment as a private in Company A, leaving the service at St. Louis, Missouri on October 25, 1865. His enlistment documents describe him a 5’ 7” tall, with gray eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion. He filed for an invalid pension on June 22, 1880 and died August 5, 1915 in Washington, D.C.

Amos V. Bailey was the only one of the group to serve as a noncommissioned officer in the regulars, finishing his enlistment as a sergeant at St. Louis in October 1865. Born in Husford County, Maryland, he was a farmer before his enlistment. He settled in Maryland after the war, and died near Churchill, Maryland on September 20, 1917.

Private Andrew Cook left no further records after enlisting into the regulars. He was a farmer before the war, born in Green Township, Ohio. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 10” tall, with hazel eyes, light hair and a ruddy complexion.

Private James G. Crawford was not able to serve long in the regulars before succumbing to disease. By February 1863 he was hospitalized by disease at Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C., and did not return to the regiment. On July 2, 1864 he was transferred to Company B, 2nd Veteran Reserve Corps, where he was promoted to sergeant. Interestingly, I was unable to find evidence of an invalid claim for him after the war. Born in Madison, Ohio, he worked as a miller before the war. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’7’ tall, with gray eyes, light hair and a ruddy complexion.

Private Marion Parker was the only one of the seven not to survive the war. He died of a disease of the lungs on December 27, 1862 at Fort Albany, Virginia. A farmer before the war, he was born in Goshen, Ohio. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 7” tall, with gray eyes, dark hair and a fresh complexion.

Private Benjamin Franklin Stover survived the war and left regular service in October 1865 in St. Louis. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 6” tall, with hazel eyes, light hair and a ruddy complexion. A farmer before the war, he was born in Pennsylvania. He married after the war and settled in Nebraska. Stover filed for an invalid pension on September 11, 1890. He died May 16, 1918 in Omaha, Nebraska and is buried there in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

As for the 125th Ohio, it was quite some time after these men left before it tasted battle. The regiment fought in the major battles of the western theater from the battle of Chickamauga through the end of the war.

Yellowstone and the Cavalry

08 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in 1st U.S. Cavalry, 3rd U.S. Cavalry, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 5th U.S. Cavalry, 6th U.S. Cavalry, 7th U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Uncategorized

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As many of my friends are aware, I made my first visit to Yellowstone National Park a few weeks ago in the company of our Boy Scout troop. While I thoroughly enjoyed the scenic beauty and wildlife of the park, I dimly remembered something about Moses Harris, one of the cavalry regiments, and the parks. Cell and internet service being very sketchy at best in the area, I resolved to look into it when I returned.

Lest one think this simply another manifestation of my determination to find a connection of Civil War cavalry with anything I happen to run across, I will first direct the reader to this article on the Yellowstone NPS webpage, entitled “How The U.S. Cavalry Saved Our National Parks” .

If the name Moses Harris sounds familiar, it should. An enlisted man in the 4th U.S. Cavalry and officer in the 1st U.S. Cavalry during the Civil War, I have previously written about him here. I came across several new items while researching his Yellowstone connections, so there will be an updated biographical sketch of him posted here in the near future.

Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, one of the original national parks. As such, there was no inherent program for the administration of the park and the protection of its resources. Civilian superintendents were appointed, but with little instruction or resources to carry out their mandate to protect the park and its treasures. Consequently, the park was under constant threat from those who wanted to exploit its resources. This varied from souvenir hunters and poachers to tourist facilities in and around the geysers and hot springs.

In 1886 the problem came to a head when Congress refused to appropriate additional funds to administer the park. The Secretary of the Interior turned to the Secretary of War for assistance. In August, Captain Moses Harris and the 50 men of his Company M, 1st U.S. Cavalry were ordered from Fort Custer, Montana to the park.

Here is Captain Harris’ account of his time at Yellowstone:

“In August 1886 Captain Harris was ordered to take station with his troop in the Yellowstone National Park relieving the civilian superintendent, and was ordered to report to the Secretary of the Interior for instructions relative to the protection of the Park. Having so reported was directed to perform the duties which had previously been performed by the superintendent of the Park and his assistants. He remained at this station with his troop performing the civil duties of the superintendent of the National Park, and with his troop giving the Park full and efficient protection until June 1889, when he was ordered to take station at Fort Custer. It is proper in connection to state that the reports of the Secretary of the Interior for the years 1887, 1888, and 1889 contain expressions of satisfaction at the efficient manner in which the duty of protecting the park had been performed and its interests cared for during the tour of duty in the Park of Captain Harris and his command.”

For those interested, one of Captain Harris’ annual reports to the Secretary of the Interior can be found here. 

At first, the soldiers lived in temporary frame buildings at what was initially called Camp Sheridan at the foot of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. After five cold, harsh winters, the Army realized there was no end in sight to this assignment and requested funds from Congress for a permanent post. These funds were granted in 1890, and the post renamed Fort Yellowstone.

The first buildings of Fort Yellowstone were finished by late 1891, though Company M had been replaced by a different company by then. An almost identical set of wooden buildings was finished in 1897 to house a second troop. In 1909, sandstone buildings were constructed, increasing the fort’s capacity to four troops (approximately 400 men). The stone for these buildings was obtained from a local quarry. At its height in 1910, over 300 soldiers manned the park between the fort and outlying posts.

In 1916, the National Park Service was created and assumed control of the park. After a brief return the following year, the Army departed the park for the final time in 1918. Fort Yellowstone became the administrative center of the park for the new organization. Over the 32 years of its tenure, troops from 10 different cavalry regiments served in the park: the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th and 13th U.S. Cavalry Regiments.

Ironically, I didn’t get to see Fort Yellowstone while I was in the park. Maybe on my next visit.

A Christmas Raid – Gordonsville, 1864

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in 1864, 1864 raids, 1st U.S. Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, 5th U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Civil War, Reserve Brigade, Uncategorized

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After the bloodiest year of the war for the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and the Reserve Brigade, troopers must have been looking forward to going into winter camp near Winchester in time for the holidays. After all, they had weathered hard fighting in multiple major battles in two different campaigns in two different areas over the course of the year. General Early’s army had been soundly defeated, and there were no Confederate forces of any strength remaining in the Shenandoah Valley the week before Christmas. Imagine their surprise, then, when the following order was received:

“Field Orders, Headquarters First Cavalry Division, December 18, 1864

The command will be prepared to march early to-morrow morning. Four Days’ rations will be issued and carried on the horses. Each man will be supplied with eighty rounds of carbine ammunition and the usual supply of pistol ammunition.

The Second Brigade will take along one section (rifled) of its battery, the best horses being selected for the march. Camp guards consisting of the dismounted men, and those mounted on unserviceable horses, will be left in camp in each brigade under charge of a field officer. The ranking field officer will take charge of the entire division camp, picketing and making other necessary dispositions for its safety.

No other wheels save those mentioned above will accompany the expedition, save the following: Six ambulances, two wagons to division headquarters, one wagon to brigade headquarters, three wagons for commissary supplies.

These preparations must all be made at once. Further instructions will be given as to the time of march, &c.

By command of Brevet Major General Merritt:

A.E. Dana, Assistant Adjutant-General.”

And so began ten miserable days of winter campaigning. Although General Sheridan had written somewhat dismissively to General Grant on the usefulness of cutting the Central Railroad to interdict Confederate supplies between the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, he ordered the raid. In case there were any Confederate forces in the area, he ordered General Custer to take his division south through the Valley at the same time Torbert was departing with the other two divisions of the cavalry. General Torbert’s report is a pretty detailed account of the raid.

Headquarters Cavalry Corps, Army of the Middle Military Division

Winchester, Va., December 28, 1864

Sir: I have the honor to report that I started from Winchester on the 19th of December, with the First and Second Divisions of Cavalry, without artillery, about 5,000 men, across the Blue Ridge. On the night of the 19th I camped in Chester Gap, having marched about twenty-two miles, via Front Royal, crossing both branches of the Shenandoah River. It rained nearly all day. December 20, crossed the Blue Ridge, marched via Little Washington, Gaines’ Cross-Roads, and Sperryville, in the direction of Criglersville; marched about twenty-nine miles, Second Division camping on the Hughes River and the First Division on the Hazel. This night it hailed and sleeted all night. During the day the enemy’s vedettes were driven before the advance. December 21, at daylight the march was resumed, in a hail and snow storm which lasted all day, via Criglersville, to Madison Court-House, over one the worst roads I ever traveled. The First Division went to Madison Court-House, had an engagement with Jackson’s brigade of rebel cavalry, driving them from the town, with slight loss. Second Division camped on Robertson’s River near Criglersville. December 22, at daylight the march was resumed, Second Division leading, on the pike in the direction Liberty Mills and Gordonsville. The enemy’s cavalry – Generals Jackson’s and McCausland’s brigades, General Lomax commanding – were driven rapidly before my advance and across the bridge over the Rapidan, at Liberty Mills. On my advance reaching the bridge, which they did under a severe fire from men behind breast-works on the opposite bank, they found some of the flooring of the bridge had been removed. Immediately after reaching the river the bridge was fired by an explosion and soon destroyed. The ford, wich was a bad one, was barricaded and defended by men in rifle pits and artillery in position behind earth-works. It was impossible to effect a crossing in front. Some delay was caused by having to send through the country to find parties who knew the roads to fords above and below Liberty Mills, so that I could cross and flank them out of their position. Finally two columns were started, one to the right and one to the left. Two brigades of the First Division – First and Second, Second Brigade leading, commanded by Colonel Kellogg, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry – were to cross at Willis’ Ford, about two miles above Liberty Mills, and come down on the Stanardsville and Orange Court-House road. One brigade Second Division, Colonel Capehart commanding, was to cross at Cave’s Ford, about three miles below Liberty Mills, and come up on the Orange Court-House and Stanardsville road. It was represented that both of these fords were good, and that the detour of these columns would be about four miles, when, in fact, the column at Willis’ Ford could only cross by twos and had to march about eight miles before getting to Liberty Mills, and the column by Cave’s Ford could only cross by file and had to march about seven miles before getting to Liberty Mills. This caused an unexpected delay, and it was not until just dark when the right column came in sight and immediately charged the enemy, driving them across the Gordonsville pike and in the direction of Orange Court-House; here they were met by my left column, and the enemy withdrew by a country road in the direction of Gordonsville. The fighting was all after dark, and not being able to tell friend from foe, and my own men having fired into each other, the firing was ordered to cease and hold their positions for the night. This day and night was intensely cold. December 23, at daylight the enemy was again engaged and all their artillery – two pieces – taken from them, and driven to within two miles and a half of Gordonsville to the top of the gap in Southwest Mountain. Here the pass was narrow and the enemy were strongly posted behind rails and earth breast-works, where a few men could hold three times their number in check. I attacked the position with nearly half of my force, but could not carry it, and I immediately started a column to flank them on the left by crossing the mountain several miles to the north. While waiting to hear from this column, which had got well on its way, the cars were heard about ten o’clock to arrive at Gordonsville, and about an hour after infantry was seen to file into the breast-works and relieve the cavalry. After becoming fully satisfied of the presence of infantry (Pegram’s division), I concluded it was useless to make a further attempt to break the Central railroad. I had at this time six or eight men killed and about forty wounded, more than I could transport, and the worst cases were left behind. I decided to withdraw and at once crossed to the north bank of the Rapidan. That afternoon and evening I marched to Madison Court-House and Robertson’s River. About thirty prisoners were taken, but having no provisions, and it being very difficult, if not impossible, for them to keep up, I paroled them. The guns, two 3-inch rifled, were brought to camp. December 24, at daylight started from Madison Court-House, marched, via James City, Griffinsburg, and Stone-House Mountain, to near Rixeyville. December 25, at daylight marched to the Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, crossing in the meantime the Hazel and the Rappahannock Rivers, the former with great difficulty indeed. December 26, march resumed at daylight, Second Division leading. On reaching Warrenton the Second Division went in the direction of Salem and Piedmont, camping near Paris. At Warrenton the First Division marched in the direction of New Baltimore, Georgetown, White Plains, and Middleburg, camping near the latter place. December 27, the Second Division marched, via Paris, Ashby’s Gap, to Millwood. December 28, First Division marched to camp near Winchester.

The country through which we passed was thoroughly cleaned of stock and forage. The command was obliged to live on the country for six days. Altogether it was an extremely hard trip on men and horses on account of the intense cold and bad weather. For six days out of the ten it either rained, hailed, or snowed, and sometimes all three.

A.T.A. Torbert,

Brevet Major General, Chief of Cavalry, Commanding.

To Brevet Brigadier General Forsyth, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Army of the Shenandoah.”

Total casualties from the raid were 7 killed, 38 wounded, 47 missing, 10 accidentally hurt, for an aggregate of 102. Torbert does not mention frostbite injuries, but there were over two hundred cases in his force, which was half as large and whose raid was half the duration of Torbert’s. Two hundred fifty eight horses were lost, over five percent of the total, showing the effects of weather and distance on the mounts.

Sources:

Official Records, Volume 43, Part I, pages 677-679 and Part II, page 803.

Abram V. Race, 6th U.S. Cavalry

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in 6th U.S. Cavalry, cavalry, Uncategorized, volunteers

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Abram V. Race was born on February 2, 1838 in Belfast, Allegheny county, New York. He worked as farmer on the family farm until the outbreak of the Civil War.

On June 22, 1861, he enlisted into Company I, 42nd New York Infantry on Long Island. He was transferred to Company K the same day. The regiment fought well but lost heavily at Ball’s Bluff before the end of the year, losing 133 killed, wounded and missing. It served during the Peninsula campaign the next spring, losing over fifty men at Glendale during the Seven Days’ battles. At Antietam the regiment was heavily blooded again, losing 181 killed, wounded and missing out of 345 engaged. Most of these were lost during the charge under Gen. Sedgwick.

After the battle of Antietam, Abram transferred to Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. He was enlisted by Lieutenant Albert Coats at Knoxville, Maryland. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’6 ½” tall, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a dark complexion. He apparently didn’t inform his former company of his intentions, as the records of the 42nd NY show him as deserting the regiment on November 5, 1862 at Warrenton, VA.

Abram served well through the winter and during the regiment’s 1863 campaigns. He was one of the few not to be wounded or captured during the fighting at Brandy Station and Fairfield. He completed his original enlistment period on April 24, 1864 at the Camp of the 6th Cavalry near Brandy Station, Virginia. Perhaps tired of Cavalry Corps headquarters escort duty, he chose not re-enlist in the regiment and returned home to New York. Over the summer he undoubtedly read in the local papers of the heavy cavalry fighting in the Overland Campaign and during Sheridan’s raids.

On September 19, 1864, he enlisted into the 1st New York Dragoons at Belfast, NY for one year. He was mustered in Company K as a private on October 1st. Ironically, he was headed right back to the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He arrived in time for the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19th. He remained with them through the end of the war, mustering out with his regiment at Cloud’s Mill, Virginia on June 30, 1865.

After the war, Abram moved to Michigan, where he married Ann Sissens in 1866. They lived in Kent county, near Grand Rapids, and had five children. He worked as a laborer in Algoma, and they later rented a ten acre farm. In 1890 he filed for an invalid pension, complaining of rheumatism, piles, loss of hearing and sight.

In 1900, Abram is listed a single boarder with a family in Wheatland, Michigan. The following year he married Hanna Widdifield Bryant in Grand Rapids on April 15, 1901. He was 63, and she was 70. On April 18, 1908, he married Harriet McGee in Wheatland, Hillsdale county, Michigan. His age is listed as 71 and hers as 64.

Abram was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Bath, New York on April 27, 1916. He died there on November 24, 1916, and is buried at Bath National Cemetery, Steuben county, New York.

Brevets by Torbert, Part 1

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in 1865, 1st U.S. Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, battle of Deep Bottom, battle of Trevillian Station, Battle of Winchester, cavalry, officers, Uncategorized

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220px-A_T_A_Torbert

Major General Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert commanded the Union cavalry in Sheridan’s Middle Military District during the Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1864. I found this document a while back and thought today would be an appropriate day to post it.

This post is part 1 because in this document he only recommends his personal staff for brevets. It was eight days later before he recognized his subordinate commanders and officers. In fairness, those were most likely solicited from the units and took a bit longer to gather. The regular cavalry portion of that document will be posted before the end of the month.

There was apparently no statute of limitations on brevet promotions, as a couple of these go as far back as May of 1864. The entries are a bit repetitive, but I included them all as I thought it interesting just how long some of these officers were on staff away from their regiments.

Headquarters Cavalry, Middle Military Division
Winchester, Va., January 17, 1865

Lieutenant Colonel C. Kingsbury, Jr., Asst. Adjt. General, Army of the Shenandoah

Colonel,
I have the honor to recommend the following named officers for promotion by brevet:

Major Wm. Russell Jr., Asst Adjt. Genl., to be Lieutenant Colonel by brevet to date from September 19, ’64 for gallant and distinguished service in the battles of Opequon Sept 19, Cedar Creek Oct. 19, ’64 and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

Captain E.H. Bailey, 1st New York Cavy, A.A.D.C., to be brevet Major to date Oct. 19, ’64 for gallant and distinguished service at the battles of Opequon Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Oct. 9, & Cedar Creek Oct. 19, ’64 and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

Captain F.G. Martindale,1st N.Y. Cavy., A.A.D.C., to brevet Major to date from October 19, ’64 for gallant and distinguished service in the battles of Opequon Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Oct. 9, Cedar Creek Oct. 19, and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

Captain J.J. Coppinger, 14th U.S. Infantry, A.A.D.C., to be brevet Major for gallant and distinguished service at the battle of Trevillian Station Va. June 11 & 12, ’64 and brevet Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and distinguished service in the battles of Opequon Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Oct. 9, Cedar Creek Oct. 19, ’64 and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

Captain C. McK. Leoser, 2d U.S. Cavy., Inspector General of Cavalry, M.M.D., to be brevet Major for gallant and distinguished service in the battles of Todd’s Tavern Va., May 9 & Yellow Tavern Va., May 11, ’64. And to be brevet Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and distinguished service in the battles of Old Church Va., May 30, Coal Harbor Va., May 31, and Trevillian Station Va., June 11 & 12, ’64.

1st Lieut. Howard H. Goldsmith, 15th New Jersey Volunteers, A.D.C. to be brevet Captain for gallant & distinguished services in the battles of Todd’s Tavern Va., May 9 and Yellow Tavern May 11, ’64. And to be brevet Major for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of Opequon Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Oct. 9, Cedar Creek Va., Oct. 19, and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

1st Lieut. Robt. C. Wallace, 7th Mich. Vol. Cavy., A.A.D.C., to be brevet Captain for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of Todd’s Tavern Va., May 9 and Yellow Tavern Va., May 11, ’64. And to be brevet Major for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of Opequon Va., Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Va., Oct. 9, Cedar Creek Va., Oct. 19, ’64 and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

C.J. Wilson, Asst. Surgeon U.S.A. and Medical Director Cavalry M.M.D. to be brevet Captain for meritorious and distinguished services in the Department in the battles of Todd’s Tavern Va., May 9 and Yellow Tavern Va., May 11, ’64 and other engagements on the Peninsula. And to be brevet Major to date from Oct. 19, ’64 for highly meritorious and distinguished services in the Department in twelve (12) engagements in the Shenandoah Valley where the wounded were well taken of under the most trying circumstances.

1st Lieutenant C.H. Lester, 2d U.S. Cavy., A.D.C., to be brevet Captain to date from July 27, ’64 for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of Todd’s Tavern Va., May 9, Yellow Tavern Va., May 11, Deep Bottom Va., July 27, ’64 and several other engagements on the Peninsula.

Captain G.B. Sanford, 1sst U.S. Cavalry, Mustering Officer, HdQrs. Cavalry, M.M.D., too be brevet Major to date from Oct. 19, ’64 for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of Opequon Sept. 19, Tom’s Creek Oct. 9, Cedar Creek Va., Oct. 19, ’64 and other engagements in the Shenandoah Valley.

1st Lieut. J.Q. Slater, 1st N.Y. Dragoons, Chief Ambulance Officer Cavalry, to be brevet Captain from Sept. 19, ’64 for gallant & distinguished services in the battles of Winchester Seppt. 19, Cedar Creek Oct. 19, and for his excellent management of the Ambulance Depm’t in all the battles in which the cavalry has been engaged.

(signed) A.T.A. Torbert, Brevet Major General, Comdg.

Sources
National Archives, Record Group 94, Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General, 1861-1870, File T274, 1864.

Private John Sirrine, 2nd U.S. Cavalry

06 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by in 2nd Dragoons/ 2nd Cavalry, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, Battle of Winchester, cavalry, Civil War, photos, Uncategorized, volunteers

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John Surine 2nd US Cavalry and 17th NYVI fom Michigan

Photo used with permission of Dale Niesen.

This is the second attempt to post this article to the blog, hopefully I will have better luck this time. I am deeply indebted to Dale Niesen for allowing me to use the image of John Sirrine from his private collection, and to Bob O’Neill for retrieving his pension record from the National Archives to add detail to the post.

John Sirrine was born in Williamsfield, Ashtabula county, Ohio on May 27, 1841. His family was Methodist, and his father a Sunday school superintendent for his church. John noted in his pension record a certificate he received at age seven for learning 73 verses of scripture. During his childhood, his family moved to Paw Paw, Van Buren county, Michigan, just west of Kalamazoo. His father died when he was 10. In his own words,

“My father went to Paw Paw Michigan in the year 1851 and purchased a nice tract of land, but two days later was called from this world to that better one, and where he had laid up greater treasures. Not having paid in full for the land in Michigan, my Mother lost nearly everything. My Mother having several children, I went to live with a neighbor farmer until I should be twenty one.”

At the outbreak of the Civil War John and many of his neighbors tried to enlist as volunteers in the Union Army. The local militia company, known as the La Fayette Light Guard, had formed in Van Buren county in 1859, and its ranks soon swelled with volunteers. The problem was that Michigan had already provided her share of the volunteers requested by President Lincoln. Not to be deterred, the company’s officers persisted in their efforts and the company became Company C, 70th New York Volunteer Infantry. John enlisted in the company on April 25, 1861, five days after his cousin Arthur.

The company departed for New York City on June 13, 1861, and mustered into federal service on June 30th. It remained on Staten Island until boarding a train for Washington July 23rd, arriving the next day. The regiment encamped on Meridian Heights through the winter, and embarked on ships for the peninsula with the rest of McClellan’s army in April 1862. It lost several men to typhoid fever during the winter, and John was nearly one of them. He was so sick that his brother travelled to Washington to care for him while he was in the hospital. He was offered his discharge, but refused it and was back on his feet in time for the spring campaign.

The company was heavily blooded during the spring and summer’s fighting. One hundred twelve men enrolled in the company, including the officers. In its first battle at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, it lost 8 men killed and 23 wounded and missing. One soldier drowned at Harrison’s Landing, and a few weeks later at Fair Oaks it lost two more men killed and three who would later be discharged due to their wounds. Several more were wounded at Second Bull Run in August and Antietam in September. The company’s losses weighed so heavily on its commander, Captain James M. Longwell, that he resigned on November 21st and returned to Paw Paw.

When the order was published in October that volunteers could join regular army units for the remainder of their enlistments, it is unsurprising that John, his cousin Art, and six others volunteered for what they expected to be easier duty in the regular cavalry. All eight were enlisted into the regiment by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, Virginia on October 28, 1862. John’s enlistment documents describe him as 5’ 5” tall, with light hair, blue eyes and a light complexion. He listed his occupation as a farmer. John and two others, Henry Crandall and Samuel Garver, were assigned to Captain Starr’s Company D. Arthur and the others were assigned to Company B.

All eight survived the heavy fighting of 1863, including the grueling Gettysburg campaign. John thought so much of service with the cavalry that he re-enlisted at Leonardstown, Maryland on March 25, 1864. The Michigan men all survived the intense fighting of the Overland campaign during the summer of 1864 more or less intact. Unfortunately, they did not fare as well in the Shenandoah Valley.

John was shot in the right shoulder during the fighting at Winchester on September 19, 1864, and nearly lost his arm. The ball entered two inches below his right clavicle and exited through the deltoid muscle, fracturing the humerus and injuring the nerves controlling the forearm and hand. As he describes the event in his pension records:

“After wounded was next day taken to a church in Winchester, where after examination by a surgeon, was labeled (sic) “Operation.” I saw other surgeons taking men out of back door marked same way, and I investigated what took place in back yard. … I quarreled with the two surgeons who came to take me to the operating table the next day. They said, ‘Then lie there and die if you would rather do that than have that arm amputated.’”

Three days later John was evacuated to McClellan Hospital in Germantown, PA. He was forwarded with the remainder of the regular cavalry wounded to Carlisle Barracks about a month later. He was discharged for disability at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania on December, a week after the other seven were discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office since their volunteer enlistments had expired.

John returned to Paw Paw after his discharge. He filed his pension claim in January 1866. By 1870 he was working as a painter and married to his wife Rosetta, a woman seven years younger from New York. She died childless before the next census, and John never remarried. In 1880 he was working in a furniture store in Paw Paw and living in a boarding house. His mother died there in 1887.

John entered the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 21, 1896. At the time he was receiving $8 per month from a disability pension. He was discharged at his own request February 3, 1899 and moved to nearby River Falls. In 1908, his pension was increased by Congress to $30 per month. His cousin Art had passed away the year before at the Michigan Soldiers Home. By 1912 John had returned to live in Paw Paw.

John continued to lobby the government for higher disability payments, without much success. Local doctors would examine him and recommend a higher rate, only to be denied by the Bureau’s surgeons when they examined his records. In one letter he noted bitterly:

“The trouble seems to be with some of us that we enlisted too early in the war, served too long, kept out of hospital too much, didn’t give ourselves up to be prisoners of war, didn’t drink enough “Plantation Bitters” and haven’t drank enough “Personal” or the stuff that made Milwaukee famous since.”

By 1920 John had moved to California. His brother and sister had both died in Paw Paw the year before, so there were few remaining ties to keep him in Michigan. His half-brother, B.W. Bonfoey, lived in Los Angeles. In the 1920 census he was living at 926 Wall Street in Los Angeles, with no occupation listed.

John Sirrine died chronic myocarditis and arterio sclerosis on March 5, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. He is buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, plot 44 16.

The Civil War service of the other seven members of his company:

Abrams, James E. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 14, 1861, at Paw Paw, Michigan as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged at the expiration of his term of service on October 28, 1864 as a private. Born Clarendon county, New York. Farmer.

Crandall, Henry. Resident of Keeler, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 14, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company D, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, Virginia on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Hillsdale county, MI. Farmer.

Garver, Samuel. Resident of Lawton, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 27, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Wounded in action at Williamsburg, VA on May 5, 1862. Transferred to Company D, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, Virginia on December 6, 1864as a private. Born Seneca county, Ohio. Farmer.

Reese, Henry. Resident of Porter, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 30, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 7, 1864 as a private. Born Kalamazoo, MI. Farmer.

Robinson, Lyman. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 22, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Van Buren county, MI. Cooper.

Ryan, Michael. Resident of Lawrence, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry May 22, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a sergeant. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office on December 6, 1864 as a private. Re-entered service in Company B, 10th Michigan Cavalry, discharged November 7, 1865. Born in Ireland. Wagon maker.

Sirrine, Art. Resident of Paw Paw, MI. Enlisted Company C, 70th New York Infantry April 20, 1861, at Paw Paw, MI as a private. Transferred to Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry October 28, 1862 by Captain Samuel Starr in Alexandria, VA. Discharged by order of the Adjutant General’s Office at Camp Russell, VA on December 6, 1864 as a private. Born Trumbull county, Ohio. Farmer.

Sources:

National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914.
National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non-infantry Regiments, 1821-1916: 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
National Archives, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, Pension record #67724.
Rowland, Captain O.W. A History of Van Buren County Michigan, Volume 1. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1912. Pages 300-307.