-• '-' '^ « *<> , S Q. c^.^'j^^.% ^^.^^;^^.\ cp^.^i;i:.% o-. /- "^^0^ V .>' ^. i<> o S ^ ^^ '\,^^ 1 v^ 0* "^^.0^ iS ->>. "l^.^O. ^^ N^ /:.^^,/<. ^^ »=> ^""^^.^'^^ ^^^'::^-S> '-o^s-'..<^ 0. % •P^ ss ^^:;^^^^^ ^^'^m^^% ^^^'j^S> o^^'J^i% \ / ■%^«^ -% ^ "^.o^ jS- Q. ft ts^ » -i o,[»- _ ft e ^ -i ■CL* "ft " e" "y ■ -i o il ANTIETAM REPORT of THE OHIO ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD COMMISSION by D. CUNNINGHAM, Late Major 30th Ohio Infantry and W. W. MILLER, Late Captain 8th Ohio Infantry, President and Secretary of the Commission. rA SPRINGFIEIiD PUBMSHING COMPANT, STATE PRINTERS, SPRISTGniStr), OHIO. 1004. Gift Author s om ^?'^ TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE. Letter Transmitting Report of tlie Oliio Battlefield Commission. to the Governor 1 Campaign Leading Up to the Battle of Antietam 3 Battle of Antietam 6 Results of the Campaign 13 Positions Occupied by the Troops at the Battle of Antietam 15 Authority for Erecting Monuments on the Battlefield 18 Appointment of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission 21 History of McKinley Monument on Battlefield 25 Historical Sketches 29 Dedication of Monuments 102 Financial Statement 150 INDEX A PAGE. Antietam, Battle of 6 Allen, Josiah, B., Secretary of Commission to Locate Monuments 15 Authority for Erecting Monuments on the Battlefield 18 Appointment of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission 21 B Battle of Antietam, Campaign Leading Up to the 3 Battle of Antietam 6 Bolsf ord, J. S., President of Commission to Locate Monuments 15 C Campaign Leading Up to the Battle of Antietam 3 Campaign, Results of the 13 Commission to Locate Monuments — Report of 15 President of, J. S. Bolsford 15 Secretary of, Josiah B. Allen 15 Cunningham, Major David, Member of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission 21 Address by 109 D Dedication of Monuments 102 Dedication of Ohio Monuments, Program of the 104 E Erecting Monuments on the Battlefield, Authority for 18 VI INDEX. F PAGE. Finn, Comrade John, Remarks of 141 Frey, Colonel, Remarks of 145 Financial Statement 150 H History of McKinley Monument on Battlefield 25 Historical Sketches — Fifth Ohio Infanty— By John B. Hoffman, Cincinnati 30 Seventh Ohio Infantry— By Sergeant Lawrence Wilson, Wash- ington, D. C 38 Sixty-sixth Ohio Infantry— By General Eugene Powell, Columbus 41 Eighth Ohio Infantry— By E. T. Naylor, Tiffin 50 Eleventh Ohio Infantry— By Thomas L. Steward, Dayton 53 Twelfth Ohio Infantry— By Captain R. B. Wilson, Toledo 58 Twenty-third Ohio Infantry— By D. H. Kimberly, Cleveland . . 66 Twenty-eighth Ohio Infantry— By S. Rosenthal, Cincinnati.. 71 Thirtieth Ohio Infantry— By Major J. T. Moore, Barnesville. . 75 Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry— By Sergeant John T. Booth, Cin- cinnati 82 First Ohio Independent Battery— By J. D. Greason, Shawnee, Oklahoma 96 Hamilton, General Ian, Remarks of 132 K Kimberly, D. H., Member of Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission 21 Kriebel, Reverend 0. S.— Invocation 104 Kennedy, General R. P., Address by 117 L Letter Transmitting Report of the Ohio Battlefield Commission to the Governor 1 Letter of Regret from President Theodore Roosevelt 103 M Miller, Captain W. W., Member of Ohio Antietam Battlefield Com- mission 21 Report of Secretary 106 INDEX. VII PAGE. Moore, J. T., Member of Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission.. 21 McKinley Monument on Battlefield, History of 25 Monuments, Dedication of 102 N Naylor, E. T., Member of Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission.. 21 Nash, Governor George K., Address by 112 O Ohio Troops at the Battle of Antietam, Positions Occupied by 15 Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission, Appointment of the 21 Oliver, General R. S., Acting Secretary of War, Washington, D. C... 116 P Positions Occupiied by Ohio Troops at the Battle of Antietam 15 Program of the Dedication of Ohio Monuments — Invocation, Reverend O. S. Kriebel 104 Report of the Secretary, Captain W. W. Miller 106 Address by Major David Cunningham 109 Address by Governor George K. Nash 112 Remarks of General R. S. Oliver 116 Address by General R. P. Kennedy 117 Remarks ot General Hamilton 132 Address by General Eugene Powell 133 Reading of Major O. J. Crane's Report, Dr. Lawrence Wilson.. 139 Remarks of Comrade John Finn 141 Remarks of Colonel Frey 145 Closing Prayer by Chaplain W. R. Parsons 148 Powell, General Eugene, Address by 133 Parsons, Chaplain W. R., Closing Prayer by 148 R Report of the Ohio Battlefield Commission to the Govei'nor, Letter Transmitting 1 Results of the Campaign 13 Report of the Commission 15 Roosevelt, President Theodore, Letter of Regret from 103 VI 11 INDEX. W Fage. West, T. J., Tiffin, Member of Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission 21 Wilson, Dr. Lawrence, Reading of Major O. J. Crane's Report 139 SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, NATIONAL CEMETERY, SHARPSBURG, MD. Columbus^ Ohio^ December 30, 1903. Hon. George K. Nash, Governor of Ohio: Sir: The Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission, appointed by you under the Act passed by the Seventy-fifth General Assembly of Ohio, May 12, 1902, having completed the duties devolved upon it by law, begs leave to submit the following report, showing the work done by the Commission under and in pursuance of your appointment and the law prescribing its duties. Respectfully submitted, D. Cunningham, President, W. W. Miller, Secretary, D. H. KiMBERLEY, James T. Moore, E. T. Naylor, Commission. 2 o. at A. 1 Campaign Leading Up to the Battle of Antietam 1 THE morning of September 2, 1862, found the baffled Army of the Potomac, just back from Richmond, reunited with the broken and defeated army of General Pope, within the fortifi- cations about Washington, with General Geo. B. McClellan again in chief command. The Ohio troops there present, who afterward participated in the Battle of Antietam, were the 5tli, 7th, and 66th Ohio In- fantry, who formed a part of the ist Brigade, 2d Division, 12th Army Corps, and the 8th Ohio Infantry, attached to 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 2d Army Corps, all of which had participated actively in the campaign and fighting in front of Richmond, Second Battle of Bull Run, also the Kanawha Division, attached temporarily to the 9th Army Corps, and consisting of the nth, 1 2th, 23d, 28th, 30th and 36th Ohio Infantry, and Captain Mc- Mullens, ist Ohio Independent Battery of Light Artillery, which latter division had been hurriedly brought from the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia in time to participate in the fighting under General Pope about Manassas and Bull Run. The Confederate Army, under General Robert E. Lee, on September 2, 1862, occupied a position in and about Fairfax, Virginia, but immediately disappeared from the Union front, and by the 5th of September it was definitely known by General OHIO AT ANTIETAM. McClellan that General Lee had determined to invade Maryland and the North by way of the Cumberland Valley, and was rap- idly moving his entire army in that direction; on the 6th the Union Army had crossed the Potomac and the march through Maryland was taken up with a view of intercepting and counter- acting Lee's movement. The Kanawha Division of Ohio troops was given the advance of McClellan's army, and on the evening of the 1 2th of September drove the Confederate advance out of Frederick, Md. On the 13th the rebels occupied all the passes over the South Mountain range from Harper's Ferry to Turner's Gap on the National road near Boonsboro, Md. On the 14th the 9th Corps, the Kanawha Division bearing the brunt of the fighting, drove the enemy from Fox's Pass, while Hooker succeeded in dislodg- ing them from Turner's Gap, resulting in severe loss to the Con- federate Army, both positions being naturally strong and the fighting obstinate and prolonged at both points. In the early morning of the 15th General Franklin succeeded, after a hard fight, in forcing the Confederates, under General Howell Cobb, from Crampton's Gap, six miles from Harper's Ferry, and was through the pass four hours before the surrender of General Miles on Bolivar Heights. On the night of the 14th, Lee withdrew his forces from South Mountain, concentrating his army west of Antietam Creek, his right extending south below what is now known as Burnside's bridge over said creek, his center resting in front of the village of Sharpsburg, Maryland, and extending north in the direction of the Dunker church, his left extending in front of and north of said church, his extreme left being refused and resting near a bend of the Potomac River. On the morning of the 15th the Union advance from South Mountain was preceded by the cavalry, led by General Pleasanton, which overtook the rebel cavalry beyond and near Boonsboro, ||: CAMPAIGN LEADING UP TO THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 5 charging and routing it, capturing two guns and two hundred and fifty prisoners. The infantry followed close after the cav- alry, Hooker marching from Turner's Pass to Boonsboro, and Burnside by the road leading from Fox's Pass direct to Keedys- ville. Before night the Union Army occupied the east bank of Antietam Creek, the left resting at a point opposite Burnside's bridge, the center in front of Keedysville and the extreme right near the upper bridge, a mile north of Keedysville. OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ^€ Battle of Antietam ^^ THE 1 6th of September, except for frequent artillery duels, was comparatively free from fighting. On the afternoon of that day General McClellan established his headquarters at the Fry house, situate about half way between the upper and middle bridges crossing Antietam Creek, His plan of battle, in brief, was to attack the Confederate left early in the morning of the 17th with the corps of Hooker and Mansfield, supported by Sumner's and, if necessary, by Franklin's; if the movement there should prove reasonably successful and promising, then to move the 9th Corps against its extreme right, and whenever either of these move- ments should prove successful to advance the center with all the forces at his disposal. In the afternoon of the i6th, IMcClellan ordered Hooker to cross the Antietam at the upper bridge and ford and to attack the enemy's left; he also ordered Sumner to cross Mansfield's Corps, the 12th, during the night, and to hold the 2d in readiness to cross early the next morning. At 4 p. m. of the i6th Hooker moved, crossing Antietam without opposition; marching to the north and west, he struck the rebel pickets, which was followed by heavy fighting during the evening, with no particular result on either side. Hooker's Corps passed the night near the intersection of the Hagerstown pike and Williamsport road, in line of battle, astride the turnpike and facing to the south. Mansfield crossed over during the BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 4 night and encamped about one mile in rear of Hooker ; promptly at daylight Hooker hurled his corps against the iron soldiers of Stonewall Jackson and gradually drove the Confederates from the east woods into the west woods ; Mansfield's Corps, becoming engaged about 7 :30 o'clock in the morning, succeeded in forcing the enemy from the cornfield for the second time and drove them into the woods beyond the Dunker church, and thus the fighting went on, with varying success and with heavy loss on both sides, Mansfield being killed and Hooker himself being shot through the foot, was compelled to leave the field about 9 a. m., both sides being then measurably exhausted and fought out. At this time Sumner appeared with the Second Corps and assumed chief command, and the fighting became terrific in and about what is known as the sunken road or bloody lane, and extending further toward the center. By noon the fighting on this part of the field had measurably ceased, both sides being exhausted. About I o'clock, Burnside, on the left, had succeeded in crossing the Antietam at three different points, having captured the bridge by direct assault and forced a crossing both above and below the same, afterwards driving the enemy into the village of Sharps- burg. The Union line of battle later was established behind a stone fence on what is now known as Rodman avenue. A fresh division of Lee's army, arriving on the field just at this time, was thrown in on the left flank of Burnside's Corps, opening a de- structive enfilading fire. The Union line, for that reason, and being largely outnumbered, was, late in the evening, compelled to fall back in some confusion to the ridge about a quarter of a mile in front of the bridge. The fighting was very severe on this part of the line during the entire afternoon. The misfortune was that it occurred too late in the day. The crossing should have been made early in the morning. Wihen fighting ceased on the left, the Battle of Antietam was over, and so ended the most bloody day that America ever saw. 8 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The next day, the i8th, was giren over to picket firing. At night Lee, with his entire army, quietly stole across the Potomac, and the invasion of Maryland was a thing of the past. No one, who did not visit the field immediately after the smoke of battle had cleared away, can have the remotest con- ception of the horror of the carnage and the severity of the fight- ing. To Captain Noyes we owe the best description of the bat- tlefield upon the right of the army that has been written. His description of the appearance of the field on the right will apply in all its general details, with equal force and truthfulness, to the conditions on the center and left. Death, destruction, mutila- tion everywhere ! Captain Noyes says: "Through torn up cornfields, robbed of their tasseled grain by hungry horses and hungry men, past farm houses, barns and outhouses crowded with the wounded, I came to a quiet little grove near the roadside, and here I found my train. How charming to my jaded senses ap- peared the scene. At a camp fire sat the teamsters, cooking their noontide meal of mutton, potatoes and coflFee. The horses stood half asleep, tethered to the wagons. It was a sudden and quick transition from the battlefield, with its constant strain of excite- ment, to a picnic in peaceful woods. My route carried me over the late battlefield, and I spent much of the afternoon, part of the time in company of a friend, in visiting some of the most severely contested points, to be awestruck, sickened, almost be- numbed with its sights of horror. Within this space of little more than a mile square — this spot, once beautiful with hand- some residences and well cultivated farms, isolated, hedged in with verdure, sacred to quiet, calm content, the hottest fury of man's hottest wrath had expended itself, burning residences and well filled barns, plowing fields of ripening grain with artillery, scattering everywhere, through cornfield, wood and valley, the most awful illustrations of war. Not a building about us which BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. » was not deserted by its occupants and rent and torn by shot and shell; not a field which had not witnessed the fierce and bloody encounter of armed and desperate men. "Let us first turn off to the left of the Hagerstown turnpike ; but we must ride very slowly and carefully, for lying all through this cornfield are the victims of the hardest contest of our division. Can it be that these are the bodies of our late antagonists ? Their faces are so absolutely black that I said to myself at first, 'This must have been a negro regiment.' Their eyes are protruding from the sockets ; their heads, hands and limbs are swollen to twice the natural size. "Passing through this cornfield, with the dead lying all through its aisles, out into an uncultivated field beyond, I saw bodies, attired mainly in rebel gray, lying in ranks so regular tliat death, the reaper, must have mowed them down in swaths. Our burying parties were already busily engaged, and had put away to rest many of our own men; still here, as everywhere, I saw them scattered over the field. The ground was strewn with muskets, knapsacks, cartridge boxes and articles of clothing, the carcasses of horses and thousands of shot and shell. And so it was on the other side of the turnpike, nay, in the turnpike itself. Ride where we may, through cornfield, wood or ravine, and our ride will be among the dead, until the heart grows sick and faint with horror. Here, close to the road, where the haystacks, near which our general and staff paused for a while when the division was farthest advanced, and here, at the comer of the barn, lay one of our men, killed by a shell, which had well nigh proved fatal to them also. "Just in front of these haystacks was the only pleasing picture on this battlefield — a fine horse, struck with death at the instant when, cut down by his wound, he was attempting to rise from the ground. His head was half lifted, his neck proudly arched ; every muscle seemed replete with animal life. The wound 10 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. which killed him was wholly concealed from view, so that I had to ride up close before I could believe him dead. Hun- dreds of his kind lay upon the field, but all were repulsive save himself, and he was the admire;d of every passerby. Two weeks afterward I found myself pausing to gaze upon him, and always with the wish that some sculptor would immortalize in stone this magnificent animal, in the exact pose of his death hour. One would like to see something from a battlefield not wholly terrible. "Over this graveyard of the unburied dead we reached a wood, every tree pierced with shot or cut with bullets, and came to the little brick Dunker church on the turnpike. This must have been a focal point in the battle, for a hundred round shot had pierced its walls, while bullets by thousands have scarred and battered it. A little crowd of soldiers was stand- ing about it, and within a few severely wounded rebels were stretched on the benches, one of whom was raving in his agony. Surgical aid and proper attendance had already been furnished, and we did not join the throng of curious visitors within. Out in the grove behind the little church the dead had been collected in groups, waiting for burial, some of them wearing our own uniform, but the large majority dressed in gray. No matter in what direction we turn, it was all the same shocking picture, awakening awe rather than pity, benumbing the senses rather than touching the heart, glazing the eye with horror rather than filling it with tears. "I had, however, seen many a poor fellow during my ride, something in whose position or appearance had caused me to pause; and here, lying side by side with three others, I saw a young rebel officer, his face less discolored than the rest, whose features and expression called forth my earnest sympathy, not so much for him as for those who in his southern home shall see him no more, forever. No one among the burying party knew BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 11 his name, and before night he was laid in a trench with the rest — no headstone to mark his resting place — one of the three thou- sand rebel dead who fill nameless graves upon this battlefield. So ends the brief madness which sent him hither to fight against a government he knew only by its blessings, against his northern brothers, who never desired to encroach upon a single right or institution of his, who were willing that he should hug to his breast forever the Nessus shirt of slavery, asking only that he should not insist upon forcing its poison folds over their shoulders also. "So disappears the beloved of some sad hearts, another victim of that implacable Nemesis, who thus avenges upon the white man the wrongs of the black, and smiles with horrid sat- isfaction as this fearful game of war goes on. "Very slowly, as men move through the burial place of the dead, we rode through the woods at the back of the church and reached the rocky citadel behind which crouched the enemy to receive our charging battalions, sweeping their ranks with de- struction and compelling their retreat. "I was astonished to see how cunningly nature had laid up her long series of rocky ledges breast high for the protec- tion of the rebel line. In front of this breastwork we found a majority of the dead dressed in blue. At this point also com- menced a long barricade of fence rails, piled closely to pro- tect the rebel line, and stretching off toward the north. Here is one more evidence of the use to which the rebel generals put every spare moment of time and of their admirable choice of positions. "One more scene in this battle picture must be seen, and with a visit to it our ride may end. It is a narrow country lane, hollowed out somewhat between the fields, partially shaded, and now literally crowded with rebel corpses. Here they stood in line of battle, and here, in the length of five hundred feet, I 12 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. counted more than two hundred of their dead. In every atti- tude conceivable, some piled in groups of four or six ; some grasp- ing their muskets as if in the act of discharging them; some, evidently officers, killed while encouraging their men ; some lying in the position of calm repose, all black and swollen and ghastly with wounds. This battalion of the dead filled the lane with horror. As we rode beside it — we could not ride in it — I saw the field all about me black with corpses, and they told me that the cornfield beyond was equally crowded. It was a place to see once, to glance at, and then to ride hurriedly away, for, strong hearted as was then my mood, I had gazed upon as much horror as I was able to bear." RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 13 t Results of the Campaign t WHILE the North was somewhat disappointed that more substantial results had not been accomplished, that Lee's army had not been captured or more severely crippled, yet the South, and especially General Lee, had much more reason to feel disappointed. Lee's losses during the campaign footed up fully thirty thousand men. Against this he had to show the capture of Harper's Ferry, but in every other particular his cam- paign had been a failure. It led the North to suspect, what his disastrous Gettysburg campaign the next year ripened into a certainty, that while he might be and was a successful gen- eral fighting on the defensive behind breastworks, when he was away from his breastworks, contending in the open, conducting an aggressive campaign, he was a comparative failure. Lee inaugurated the campaign in the beUef that the State of Maryland was only awaiting a fitting opportunity to break the ties that bound her to the Union, that her young men were anxious to rally under the flag of the Confederacy, and that he had only to appear with his victorious army within her bor- ders to cause the whole people to go wild with enthusiasm for the cause of disunion, and believing that with the assistance of her citizens he could organize a hostile state government in rear of Washington and thus, with the aid of his army, cut the capital off from the North, compel its abandonment. Having that end in view, he issued his famous Frederick proclamation 14 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. of September 8th, in which he set forth in graphic language the wrongs under which the people of Maryland were suffering at the hands of the National Government, and that his mission among them was to free them from the yoke; but his stirring sentences fell on deaf ears; her young men displayed no great zeal to enroll themselves in his army. In fact, enlistments were insignificant in numbers, not equaling the desertions, and the well to do among her citizens appeared to be more anxious to convey their horses and personal property beyond his reach than to assist him in the organization of a hostile state. As a political move his invasion was an utter failure, totally barren of good results, so far as the rebel cause was concerned. POSITIONS OCCUPIED BY TROOPS AT BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 16 Positions Occupied by Ohio Troops at the Battle of Antietam IN pursuance of the request made to the Governor of Ohio by the National Battlefield Commission that he should appoint a commission of ex-soldiers from that State to co-operate with them in locating the positions on the battlefield of Antietam occu- pied by the various military organizations from Ohio during said engagement, Governor William McKinley, early in December, 1894, designated a number of persons for that purpose, who afterward visited said field and made their report, as follows: REPORT OF COMMISSION Hon. William McKinley, Governor of Ohio: As Secretary of the Commission appointed by your honor to indicate to the Board, appointed by an Act of Congress, the posi- tion of the Ohio regiments on the battlefield of Antietam, Sep- tember 17, 1862, I beg leave to make the following report: On December 12, 1894, your Committee met as per your instruction, on the battlefield of Antietam, the following mem- bers of the Committee being present : 5th O. V. I. S. Coddington, Newton, Hamilton County, O. 16 OHIO AT AXTIETAM. J. B. 1I>U— MI* NOk SSS mtlsw At«« CkmlKBd, Q. iraBm A. B«««, Nft. 4S Baste 8t^ Gtev«lu4. Ol GwlsTO S^kiiiil. Ctev«lwd.a 81k a V, L a A. (Ms««14. EInia. a \r. X. Ii^eraoQ. tare U. & Express Cik WkeeiiBS« ^ '^'&. Dr. T. J. W«st, TtSB. a Jaha Ffbim. "K^KskiastiaB, IX C Utk a T. L T. S. Bnas«^, N^l lax «?lk St, PkilafMpkia. Fa. 2Sd a V. I. Jaacs S. Batsfiori. Y omg ti to wB, Ol BL H: Ebaliertsr, Gtevdaa^ O. B. B. Heuy, U. S. Bxprees Oa^ Ckkaasn^ m. 3Slka T. L Hass, 3^ IM W. Sevvath St, CSMteaati. Q. Mailer, K«l 2a Daytaa St, CftirtaMti, a Odba B. HBOtBt, IHbIim Plana. Hawntf OaaMty. Ol a T. L o. ee& a T. L B&as l^rla. Bifdkwoad. O. Rs^ri^T. Ol V. I. was not represented on the Gonmntte^ --- r*-- -miiffaoB located the advanced po- The 3i6di O. V. I rar cseu te d on die Omndttee. '.X Com: -jwever, bad no difiScoltjr : -m^ the battle. POSITIONS OCCUPIED BY TROOPS AT BATTLE OF AXTIETAM. 17 Your Gjmmittee, accompanied by General E. A. Carman, Historical Expert appointed by Congress, passed over the entire line, and, as the different points were located. General Carman marked the spots with boards, which were numbered. These numbers were duly recorded and a survey made of the field, all points being noted in the survey, so diat there can be no mis- take hereafter as to their location. The great majority of this Committee are poor men and request that you suggest to the L^;islature an appropriation for expenses incurred during this trip, which is estimated at $40 eadu Respectfully submitted, J. S. BoLSFORD, President. JosiAH B. Allex, Secretary. ^ 0. at A. 18 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Authority for Erecting Monu- ments on the Antietam Battlefield THE following is the General Act passed May 12, 1902, and also Act supplemental thereto passed October 22, 1902, by the General Assembly of Ohio, under and by virtue of which the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission was created, charged with the duty of erecting suitable monuments to mark the positions of Ohio troops On the battlefield of Antietam, Maryland, and to mark the place where Commissary Sergeant William McKin- ley issued rations to his regiment on the firing line on the even- ing of that memorable battle, September 17, 1862. AN ACT. (Passed May 12, 1902.) To authorize the appointment of a commission to mark the positions occupied by Ohio troops on the battlefield of Antietam, with suit- able monuments and to make an appropriation to pay the costs of the same and to pay the personal expenses of the commission. Whereas^ Congress, by joint resolution, appropriated the sum of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of locating and pur- chasing advance positions of troops on the battlefield of Antietam ; and Whereas, Under said resolution a Commission was appoint- ed by Congress for the purpose of making such locations ; and AUTHORITY FOR ERECTING MONUMENTS. 19 Whereas, Said Commission requested the Governors of the several States of the Union to appoint a Commission for the pur- pose of locating the respective positions of the troops of such States in said battle; and Whereas, Governor McKinley, of Ohio, appointed a Com- mission consisting of veterans belonging to the several regi- ments from Ohio engaged in the battle of Antietam, for the pur- pose of locating such positions ; and Whereas, It will require about $2,500.00 to pay the inciden- tal expenses, including traveling expenses, stationery and such other items of expense as may occur in making contracts for monuments and supervising their erection; now therefore Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: Section i. That the Governor of the State of Ohio be and he hereby is authorized, with the advice and consent of the Sen- ate, to appoint a Commission of five to contract for, purchase and have erected suitable monuments to mark the positions of Ohio troops on the battlefield of Antietam and to mark the place where Commissary Sergeant William McKinley issued rations to his regiment on the evening of that memorable battle, to-wit, Sep- tember 17, 1862. Section 2. For the purpose of paying the cost and expenses of erecting said monuments and defraying the expenses of the [Commissioners] Commission, and in addition to the sum ap- propriated by the provisions of said former Act, there is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the State Treasury to the credit of the general revenue fund, not otherwise appropriated, the sum of twenty thousand ($20,000) dollars, $2,500.00 of which shall be available at once and $17,500.00 shall be available on and after February 16, 1903, and which sum shall be disbursed and paid in accordance with the provisions of Section 154 of the Revised Statutes of Ohio, and upon the duly approved estimates of said Commission. Section 3. Said Commission shall keep an account of all disbursements, and make a full report thereof to the Governor 20 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. on or before the 15th day of November of each year during the continuance of said trust. Section 4. The representatives of regiments and of said battery shall, in so far as is practicable to do so, be consulted by the Commission as to style of monuments they desire, and as to the inscription to be put thereon. And any regimental organi- zation shall be permitted to raise by private subscription such additional sum of money as it may see fit, to be used in connec- tion with the money supplied by the State in the purchase and erection of the monuments for such regiment. Section 5. — This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. AN ACT Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: Section i. That the following sums for the purposes here- inafter specified, be and the same are hereby appropriated out of any money in the State Treasury to the credit of the general rev- enue fund not otherwise appropriated, to-wit : Commission to Mark the Positions Occupied by OJiio Troops on the Battlefield of Antietam. For the purpose of erecting a suitable monument to mark the place where Commissary Sergeant William Mc- Kinley issued rations to his regiment on the evening of that memorable battle, to-wit: September 17, 1862, in addition to $1,500 already appropriated $3,500 APPOINTMENT OF OHIO ANTIETAli BATTLEFIELD COMMISSION. 21 Appointment of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission IN pursuance of law, Honorable George K. Nash, Governor of Ohio, on June ii, 1902, appointed the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission, consisting of the following members : Major David Cunningham, Cadiz, 30th O. V. I. ; J. T. Moore, Barnesville, 30th O. V. I. ; T. J. West, Tiffin, 8tli O. V. I. ; D. H. Kimberley, Cleveland, 23rd O. V. I., and Captain W. W. Miller, Castalia, 8th O. V. I. (Note — On account of the protracted illness of Comrade T. J. West, Comrade E. T. Naylor, Tiffin, 8th O. V. L, was, on June 16, 1903, authorized to act as his substitute, and, on the death of Comrade West, November 18, 1903, the Governor appointed Comrade Naylor a member of the Commission.) On July 7, 1902, the members of the Commission, in pursu- ance of the call of the Governor, met at the office of Captain W. W. Miller, Department of Agriculture, State House, Columbus, Ohio, and proceeded to organize by electing D. Cunningham, Cadiz, Ohio, President, and Captain W. W. Miller, Castalia, Ohio, Secretary-Treasurer. The Commission adjourned to meet at Keedysville, Maryland, on the battlefield, on the sixth day of August, 1902, at which meet- ing the Commission located the sites for all the monuments and purchased plats of ground on which to locate the monuments for 22 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. the nth Ohio and for the joint monument for the 5th, 7th and 66th Ohio, and also for the McKinley monument. The other monu- ments were located on the pubHc avenues and roads. On November 12, 1902, notices, of v^^hich the following is a copy, were sent to all the leading granite and marble contractors in Ohio, and also to the leading granite firms and companies in New York and New England. Gentlemen : — The Commission, to mark the positions occu- pied by Ohio troops on the battlefield of Antietam, Maryland, begs leave to call your attention to the fact that it intends to have erected ten monuments on said field, to-wit : First. A suitable monument to be located near Burnside Bridge, to mark the place where Commissary Sergeant William McKinley isued rations to his regiment on the evening of that memorable battle, September 17, 1862, at a total cost of $5,000. Second. A joint monument to three regiments, to be located near the Dunkard church, with suitable inscriptions and designs cut on three sides thereof, total cost not to exceed $4,500. Third. Seven separate regimental monuments with lettering and designs, cost not to exceed $1,500 each. Fourth. One monument for McMullin's Battery, with let- tering, etc., to cost not more than $750. The cost limit for the above monuments to include founda- tions and all other expenses pertaining to putting them in position on the field on the several plats of ground selected and provided by the Commission. All persons competing will observe the following general conditions in preparing their offers for the work to be done : Persons competing to furnish specifications for the founda- tions for the monuments they propose to erect, no foundation to be less than six (6) feet below the surface of the surrounding ground and to be best concrete work. The monuments to be of the best Westerly, Quincy, or Barre granite, bids to specify the particular granite to be used. The granite for each monument to be well selected, uniform in color, APPOINTMENT OF OHIO ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD COMMISSION. 23 free from flaws, streaks, iron deposits, or any other deleterious substance. The workmanship must be first-class in all respects, and the monuments must be constructed and erected to the satis- faction of the Antietam Battlefield Commission, and subject to all the requirements and conditions provided by it and the Antietam Park Commission. Bidders must furnish specifications in duplicate for all work and material, and submit with their various designs, drawings of all monuments of uniform scale, so that the cubic feet of granite in each may be easily computed. Persons desiring to compete for said work must furnish the Commission at least twenty-one original designs for the seven regimental monuments ; at least four designs for the battery, and at least five designs for the joint monument, and should furnish at least three original designs for the McKinley monument, spe- cially drafted to commemorate the heroic act of Commissary Sergeant William McKinley. All designs must be submitted to the Commission for approval or rejection by three o'clock p. m., January 29, 1903, at the office of the Secretary, Columbus, Ohio, Our Commission will be gratified to have you submit designs for approval and would be pleased to be informed as to whether you will or will not submit them. Any communication or inquiry addressed to the Secretary, Captain W. W. Miller, Columbus, Ohio, will receive prompt attention. Yours respectfully, THE ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD COMMISSION, By D. Cunningham, President, W. W. Miller, Secretary. The Commission held a meeting in Columbus, January 29, 1903, for the purpose of inspecting designs and considering pro- posals for monumental work submitted by a number of the most 24 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. prominent manufacturers of the country. After carefully con- sidering all designs and proposals submitted, the Commission, on the following day, January 30, 1903, decided to accept those sub- mitted by The Hughes Granite and Marble Company, of Clyde, Ohio, they being, in the judgment of the Commission, the best offered. All details having been satisfactorily arranged, the Commis- sion, on February 28, 1903, entered into contract with the said The Hughes Granite and Marble Company for the erection of ten monuments on the Antietam Battlefield, as follows : One, to Commissary Sergeant William McKinley, of the 23rd O. V. I., for his valiant act in supplying his regiment with cooked rations while on the firing line ; one, to the 5th, 7th and 66th O. V. L, and eight separate monuments to the ist Ohio Independent Battery, and the 8th, nth, 12th, 23rd, 28th, 30th and 36th Regi- ments, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The original contract provided that monuments should cost as follows : McKinley monument, five thousand dollars ($5,000) ; joint monument for the 5th, 7th and 66th regiments, O. V. I., four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500) ; seven regimental monu- ments for the 8th, nth, 12th, 23rd, 28th, 30th and 36th regiments, O. V. I., one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) each, ten thousand five hundred dollars ($10,500) ; monument for ist Ohio Independent Battery, seven hundred and fifty dollars ($750). The Commission later entered into contract with The Hughes Granite and Marble Company for a bronze medallion for the McKinley monument, and for four granite markers, at a cost of seven hundred and fifty dollars ($750), thus making the cost of the ten monuments and four markers twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars ($21,500). Monuments were erected strictly according to contract and to the entire satisfaction of the Commission, and dedicatory ser- vices were held on the battlefield October 13, 1903. Rl^T^, '^i. HISTORY MCKINLEY MONUMENT ON ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD. 25 History of McKinley Monument on Antietam Battlefield Si ^ ^ /^ EXTRACT from the report of the battle of Antietam by Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, formerly Colonel of the 23rd O. V. I. (p. 76-79, Life of William McKinley, President of the United States, by Robert P. Porter and James Boyle). "That battle began at daylight. Before daylight men were in the ranks and preparing for it. Without breakfast, without coffee, they went into the fight, and it continued until after the sun had set. Early in the afternoon, naturally enough, with the exer- tion required of the men, they were famished and thirsty, and to some extent broken in spirit. The commissary department of that brigade was under Sergeant McKinley's administration and per- sonal supervision. From his hands every man in the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm meats, a thing that had never occurred under similar circumstances in any other army in the world. He passed under fire and delivered, with his own hands, these things, so essential for the men for whom he was laboring. "Coming to Ohio and recovering from wounds, I called upon Governor Tod and told him this incident. With the emphasis that distinguished that great war. governor, he said, 'Let McKinley be promoted from sergeant to lieutenant,' and that I might not 26 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. forget, he requested me to put it upon the roster of the regiment, which I did, and McKinley was promoted." McKinley was promoted to second Heutenant for gallant con- duct at Antietam. As will be seen from the above. President Hayes referred to this incident, and he, as commander of the regi- ment, as well as the other officers, declared that the young soldier gave evidence of uncommon bravery. General J. L, Botsford of Youngstown, who was present, has prepared the following interesting account of McKinley at Antietam, which is herewith given in full : "At the battle of Antietam, McKinley was the commissary sergeant of the Twenty-third Regiment, O. V. I., and his duty was, of course, with the commissary supplies, which were at least two miles from the battlefield proper. "As you no doubt are aware., in all battles, whether large or small, there are numerous stragglers who easily find their way back to where the commissary supplies are. This was the case at Antietam, and McKinley conceived and put into execution the idea of using some of these stragglers to make coffee and carry it to the boys in front. It was nearly dark when we heard tremendous cheering from the left of our regiment. As we had been having heavy fighting right up to this time, our division commander, Greneral Scammon, sent me to find out the cause, which I very soon found to be cheers for McKinley and his hot coffee. You can readily imagine the rousing welcome he received from both officers and men. "When you consider the fact of his leaving his post of security, driving right into the middle of a bloody battle with a team of mules, it needs no words of mine to show the character and determination of McKinley, a boy at this time about twenty years of age. McKinley loaded up two wagons with supplies, but the mules of one wagon were disabled. He was ordered back time and again, but he pushed right on." HISTORY MCKINLEY MONUMENT ON ANTIETAM BATTLEFIELD. 27 The McKinle.y monument is declared to be, by those who have seen it, one of the finest monuments ever erected on any battle- field. The monument is 33 feet, 6 inches in height, and 8 feet, 9 inches square at the base. The base and die are surmounted by a column, 12 feet, 2 inches in height and of Doric architecture ; is is surmounted by a granite eagle upon a ball. The die of this monument was cut from a solid block of granite 5 feet square, 7 feet, 9 inches high. Out of this has been carved an allegorical figure representing the spirit of the people in their devotion to the martyred dead, with one hand clasping the American flag, the other holding a palm branch over the bronze busts of McKinley. These busts represent McKinley as a boy soldier and McKinley as president. Beneath this appears an historical battle scene in bronze, representing Sergeant McKinley serving coffee to his comrades upon the firing line. The portraiture of this battle scene as well as of the bronze busts and the carving of the allegorical figure are the work of J. B. King, a celebrated Scotch sculptor in the employ of The Hughes Granite & Marble Co., in whose shops at Clyde, Ohio, all of this work was done. The following inscriptions appear upon this monument: McKINLEY MONUMENT. Upon the front of 4th base, raised, carved letters, WILLIAM McKINLEY. Upon the 3rd base, raised, carved letters, January 29, 1843 September 14, 1901 Upon the back of 3d base raised, polished letters, Fourteen Years Member of Congress Twice Governor of Ohio, 1892-3 and 1894-5 Twice President of the United States, 1897- 1900 ^"^ ^9°' 28 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Sergeant McKinley, Co. E, 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, while in charge of the Commissary Department, on the afternoon of the day of the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, personally and without orders, served hot coffee and warm food to every man in the regiment, on this spot; and in doing so, had to pass under fire. HISTORICAL SKETCHES. ^ 29 *> Historical Sketches *> THE following brief history of each of the Ohio military organizations that participated in the battle of Antietam, and to which has been erected a monument on the field, have been prepared by comrades, who were members of said several organi- zations, and who themselves participated in the battle, to-wit : 5th Ohio Infantry by John B. Hoffman, Cincinnati, Ohio. 7th Ohio Infantry by Sergeant Lawrence Wilson, Washing- ton, D. C. 8th Ohio Infantry by E. T. Naylor, Tiffin, Ohio. nth Ohio Infantry by Thomas L. Steward, Dayton, Ohio. I2th Ohio Infantry by Captain R. B. Wilson, Toledo, Ohio. 23rd Ohio Infantry by D. H. Kimberly, Cleveland, Ohio. 28th Ohio Infantry by S. Rosenthal, Cincinnati, Ohio. 30th Ohio Infantry by Major J. T. Moore, Barnesville, Ohio. 36th Ohio Infantry by Sergeant John T. Booth, Cincinnati, Ohio. 66th Ohio Infantry by General Eugene Powell, Columbus, Ohio. 1st Ohio Independent Battery by J. D. Greason, Shawnee, Oklahoma. 30 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. >&# Fifth Infantry ** THE Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, composed of the youth of the city of Cincinnati, was organized at Camp Harrison on April 20, 1861, for the three months' service in com- mand of Colonel S. H. Dunning. On May 18, 1861, the regiment, with others, was transferred to Camp Dennison. At about this time the call for three years' enlistments was made, and upon call the regiment almost unanimously re-enlisted for the three years' ser- vice and was mustered as such on June 19 and 20, 1861 ; remained at Camp Dennison, drilling and perfecting its organization, until July 10, 1861, when it was ordered to West Virginia with a full quota of officers and men — 1,080 strong — leaving by rail, arriving at Clarksburg, West Virginia, on July 12, 1861, and was placed under command of Brigadier General Hill ; was camped but a few days when we were ordered in pursuit of the rebel General Garnet's forces, and via Oakland, Maryland, we footed it for the first time for a distance of about 45 miles to Greenland Gap, or the "Red House," but the rebels were gone and we were ordered to return ; were about four and a half days gone, and without tents and short of rations from Oakland, Maryland, came by rail to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where we received our new regula- tion uniforms. On August 5, '61, were ordered to Buckhannon, West Virginia, there doing post duty, etc. On September 16, '61, a reconnoissance was ordered out towards Hacker's Lick, and had a warm little skirmish with the "bushwhackers," losing one man FIFTH INFANTRY. 31 killed, and after driving them out for some distance returned to Buckhannon and remained until November 3, '61, when we were ordered to Romney, Virginia, arriving there on the 6th, and here again doing post duty and making occasional reconnoissances to Sheets Mills, Morefield, and other points in the neighborhood known to be rebel outposts. On January 6, 1862, at midnight, the regiment, under command of Colonel Dunning, marched to Blue's Gap and found the enemy at about 7 a. m. On the 7th drove in their pickets and surprised them in camp, captured his guns and caissons, occupied their entrenchments, killed a number and captured a large number of prisoners. Our loss, 2 killed. Returned to Romney same day. On January 10, '62, evacuated Romney, General F. W. Lander assuming command of the entire force; fell back via Green Springs Run to Patterson's Creek on B. & O. R. R., and from this point made occasional trips to New Creek, French's Store, Little Cacapon River and Paw Paw Tunnel, principally marching and doing guard duty. On February 13, '62, marched to Bloomery Gap under General Lander, engaged the enemy without any visible results, returned and camped at Paw Paw Station. On March 2, '62, General F. W. Lander died in camp, of wounds received at Ball's Bluff. On March 5,'62, General James Shields assumed command and immediately ordered tents struck during a heavy snow storm, and at once proceeded via rail to Rock Creek, and thence marched via North Mountain to Martinsburg, West Virginia. On March 11, '62, left Martinsburg for Winchester, Virginia, via Bunker Hill, and on arriving within 2 miles of Winchester found that the rebels had evacuated the night before. We started in pursuit of the enemy and kept up day after day, skirmishing most of the time and continuing on through Strasburg and some 7 miles beyond, and on the 20th March, '62, returned to Winchester. On the 22d were under arms all day, constantly, within hearing of can- nonading, and most of the time picketing the Romney and Cedar 32 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Creek Roads; lay on our arms that night, and early on March 23, '62, were engaged in the battle of Winchester in command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Patrick, gaining a splendid victory over Jackson's army. Our regiment loss was 18 killed and 27 wounded. After the battle we pursued Jackson down the valley to Harrisonburg, and camped at New Market; on May 12, '62, left New Market under General Shields, for Fredericksburg, where we arrived on the 23rd, and next day were received by President Lincoln. On the 25th May, '62, started back to the valley, taking the east side of the Shenandoah River as far as Port Republic, where we met the enemy in force. On June 9, '62, our two bri- gades under General Tyler engaged Jackson's army in a hand to hand conflict for five hours, when we were forced to fall back some 8 miles. In this battle our regiment, under command of Colonel Dunning, lost 11 killed, 48 wounded, and 185 taken pris- oners. We then marched to Luray and thence to Front Royal, and camped, and where. Colonel Dunning having resigned, took leave of us. From June 22, '62, we were on the march every day for five successive weeks, traversing a distance of some 500 miles back and forth in that time, and at last halted at Alexandria for rest; the men were without shelter, nearly naked and foot-sore, and completely worn out. On July 25, '62, left Alexandria by rail to Warrenton, where we remained until the 31st, then we marched to Little Washington, arriving on August i, '62. While there. General Tyler took leave of his old command and introduced Brigadier-General John W. Geary as our new commander. (The 5th Ohio was a great favorite of General Tyler's.) On August 5, '62, marched via Sperryville to Woodville and countermarched to Culpepper, etc., and on the 8th and 9th August, '62, marched 8 miles out and engaged in that terrific field of "Battle of Cedar Mountain," under command of Colonel I. H. Patrick. The engagement lasted until after dark, when we were forced by over- whelming numbers to retire. Our regimental loss was 13 officers FIFTH INFANTRY. 33 and 89 men wounded; i8 killed and 2 missing; entered the battle with but 275 effective men. Nothing of importance occurred until August 19, '62, when we began falling back towards the Rappahannock, and participated in Pope's memorable campaign in marching and counter-marching in all directions, and falling back to Washington, D. C, and marching in pursuit of the rebels through Frederick City, Md., etc., and reached Antietam on the evening of September 16, '62, and on the morning of September 17, '62, engaged in the terrible conflict at that point, and which is best described in the official report of Major John Collins, viz: "Headquarters Fifth Ohio Infantry, "Loudon Heights, Va., September 24, 1862. "On the morning of the 17th, at 6 o'clock, the 5th Ohio Regi- ment, commanded by Major John Collins, was ordered to advance toward the enemy on the right. They proceeded in column by division until arriving within a short distance of the enemy, when we deployed to the right of the 28th Pennsylvania Regiment of same brigade, thus forming the right center, two Ohio regiments being deployed farther to our right. Our regiment then moved forward to the woods occupied by rebels and after a short but severe contest succeeded in driving them before us. From the woods the enemy retired to a cornfield, followed by us, and while in the corn our regiment engaged a Georgia regiment in a hand to hand combat, using clubbed guns, a portion of the men having no bayonets. The enemy at this point was severely punished. After a short resistance the enemy again gave away, and being closely pursued, sustained great loss. We followed the retreating foe through the corn into an open field beyond, where, our men being out of ammunition, we halted behind the brow of a hill until the cartridge boxes of the men were replenished. We then ad- vanced about fifty yards farther, at which time the enemy was ob- served coming toward us. Our regiment lay down until they 4 o. at A. 34 OHIO AT ANTIETAM, approached quite near, when they suddenly rose and discharged a volley into their lines, which caused them to retreat in confusion. We followed them, driving them through the field into the woods ir the rear and out of the woods into the corn still farther beyond. The regiment at this time was so reduced from wounds and other causes as to be unable to pursue farther. About the center of the woods we took a position, which we held until again out of ammu- nition, where, owing to the retreat of a regiment on our right, caused by the advance of a greatly superior force of rebels, we were compelled at about i o'clock p. m. to retire from our position. It is no flattery to say that the officers and men did their duty bravely during the whole of the six (6) hours' fire to which they were subjected. Our loss in this action is ii killed, 35 wounded,. 2 missing, and 180 men actually engaged. "Very respectfully, (Signed.) "John Collins, "Major Commanding 5th Ohio Infantry."' (At this point it is well to mention that a medal of honor was awarded by Congress to Private John P. Murphy, Co. K, 5tb O. V. I., now Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio, for the capture of the flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry, and he was also wounded in this engagement.) After the battle the regiment followed up the retreating enemy and was the first regiment to re-enter Virginia, and Sep- tember 22, 1862, camped on Loudon Heights, doing any and all duties of a soldier until December 10, 1862, when left under Gen- eral Geary with the rest of the 12th Corps, and after marching for six days over terrible roads, arrived at Dumfries, Va., on December 16, 1862. At and about this place we remained in "blissful quietude" until noon of December 27, 1862, when we were attacked by a large force of rebels. The engagement lasted from I p. m. until dark, when the "rebs" retreated, having lost FIFTH INFANTRY. ^ 35 heavily. The regiment was commanded by Col. J. H. Patrick and lost in this action at Dumfries 2 killed, 3 wounded and 5 taken prisoner (on the outskirts). From this time we were snugly housed in winter quarters until, on April 20, 1863, broke camp and advanced as far as Aquia Creek, and on April 29, 1863, crossed the Rappahannock River and then the Rapidan River at Germania Mills Ford, and immediately began skirmishing with the rebels, who were throwing up intrenchments, and on May I, 1863, engaged in the battle of Chancellorsville, under com- mand of Lt.-Col. R. E. Kilpatrick. In this great and bloody four days' battle our regiment took no inconsiderable part, being constantly engaged, but could not stem the tide, and, with the rest, were compelled to fall back, our loss being 15 killed and 39 wounded, among them being Lt.-Col. Kilpatrick, losing his right arm, and also his horse, and on May 6, 1863, resumed our old quarters on Aquia Creek, where we remained until June 13, 1863, when began the hurried marches towards the east, and crossed the Potomac River at Edward's Ferry and thence on through to Pennsylvania to Gettysburg and near the scene of the great battle towards night of July i, 1863, and immediately went into position on the left of the line at Little Round Top Mountain, maneuvering nearly all night, with but little rest, and about daylight of July 2, 1863, were moved to the right of the line at the foot of Gulp's Hill and near to Spangler's Springs, and immediately threw up intrenchments, while all along the line heavy cannonading was going on, and occasionally a shell or two would pass over our heads, but were not called into action until after dark, when we were suddenly ordered out and marched in the darkness no one knew where, and with no results, and at daybreak, July 3, 1863, returned to our entrench- ments, but found them occupied by the enemy, and requiring im- mediate action, and after a fierce conflict, lasting until 11 a. m., finally driving the enemy from our intrenchments and beyond 36 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. to a high stone wall at our front, when hostilities ceased in our immediate front. But the battle was not over, as continu- ous heavy cannonading was heard the entire day, and the Fourth of July found us masters of the situation and the enemy gone. Our loss at Gettysburg, 5 killed, 18 wounded, under command of Col. J. H. Patrick. On July 5, 1863, after burying the dead, we commenced a series of marches in pursuit of General Lee and finally halted on July 31, 1863, at Ellis Ford, on the Rappa- hannock, and camped. On August 16, 1863, ordered to Alex- andria and there embarked on the steamer Baltic for New York, arriving on the 30th, and were camped on Governor's Island in New York Harbor, ostensibly to patrol and quell the New York riots. Our duty fulfilled, on September 8, 1863, we again em- barked on the Baltic and were returned to Alexandria, arriving on the nth, 1863, and immediately began to march to rejoin the army, and on the night of September 16, 1863, caught up and camped at Raccoon Ford, on the Rapidan River, and the enemy constantly in sight. On September 24, 1863, we were again hurried off, and this time to Washington, D. C., and on September 28, 1863, via rail, started with General Hooker and General Slocum for the Western Army, again passing through our beloved State of Ohio, on through Indiana and 'Kentucky to Murfreesboro, Tenn., arriving on October 5, 1863, and October 9, 1863, again began marching on towards Chattanooga. Halted at Bridgeport, Ala., where we made a detour to Wauhatchie Valley and engaged the enemy on November i, 1863, but not effective, the "rebs" favoring us with a few shells daily without effect. However, on November 24, 1863, engaged in the assault on Look- out Mountain, and better known as the "Battle in the Clouds," under Col. J. H. Patrick, being victorious and without loss to the regiment. After turning in all the prisoners at Hooker's headquarters, the regiment returned to Bridgeport, Ala., on De- cember I, 1863, and camped for the winter. While here the agi- FIFTH INFANTRY. 37 tation was begun for re-enlistment for the veteran service, and a large proportion of our boys veteranized, and on February 17, 1864, were enlisted as such and accepted a thirty day furlough for their dear old home, Cincinnati, and on their return to Bridge- port assumed their old bearings. On May 4, 1864, the regiment again resumed active service and accompanied Generals Sher- man, Hooker and Slocum in the advance towards Atlanta, and were engaged in the battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Ga. At Dalton, Ga., I killed; at Resaca, 5 killed, at New Hope Church, 15 killed (among them our beloved colonel, John H. Patrick) ; Gulp's Farm, Ga., Pine Knob, Ga., i killed ; at Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., 4 killed ; at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 4 killed ; siege of Atlanta, Ga., 5 killed ; siege of Savannah, Ga., Bentonville, N. C, North Edisto, S. C, I killed, and engaged in the March to the Sea and the Carolinas, and, last but not least, the grand review at Washington, D. C, and then the return home and mustered out at Camp Dennison on July 26, 1865, 239 men strong, thus being in continuous service four years, three months and six days, and with a total enlistment of the three terms of service, 1,751 men. Number killed in battle, 146; died of disease and other casualties, 57; total number killed and wounded, 537. 38 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. *- Seventh Ohio Infantry 4^ THIS regiment was raised in northern Ohio with rendezvous at Cleveland, and its ranks included men of culture and good social position. They enlisted promptly at the first news of war, the regiment organizing in April, 1861, for the three months' service, but entering the three years' service almost to a man, when the second call for troops was made. It left Camp Dennison, June 26, 1861, and proceeded to West Virginia. CROSS LANES It first met the enemy at Cross Lanes, August 26, 1861, where it was forced from the field with severe loss, mostly in captured. In November, 1861, five hundred picked men partici- pated in a movement up Loup Creek, through Fayette Court House towards Raleigh, in pursuit of General Floyd's army. Leaving Charleston, December, 10, 1861, it proceeded by boat to Parkersburg; then by rail to Cumberland and Green Spring, marching to Romney. While there, it joined in a scout to Blue's Gap, and helped destroy a rebel camp there. Early in January, 1862, the Union forces fell back to Patterson Creek, then advanced along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, to Mar- tinsburg, reaching Winchester March 12. KERNSTOWN On the 23rd, Stonewall Jackson advanced; was met at Kernstown and defeated. In this battle the Seventh lost 20 SEVENTH OHIO INFANTRY. 39 killed, and 62 wounded. On May 12th, Shields' Division marched via New Market, Luray, Front Royal and Warrenton, to Fredericksburg. General Banks having been driven beyond the Potomac, Shields' Division returned to Front Royal via Manassas Gap. PORT REPUBLIC Jackson, retreating by Strasburg, was met at Port Republic, June 9th, by two brigades of Shields' Division, which, after one of the liveliest little fights of the war, were defeated, the Seventh losing 10 killed and 55 wounded. CEDAR MOUNTAIN On the 9th of August, this regiment again met Jackson's forces in battle at Cedar Mountain, where, under the concentrated fire of infantry and artillery, fighting in the open, with no protec- tion other than stout hearts in human breasts, it held its position until relieved, suffering a loss of 39 killed and 153 wounded, out of 307 engaged. ANTIETAM At Antietam it fought in Tyndale's Brigade, Green's Divi- sion of the Twelfth Corps. Starting at daylight, this Corps moved up in support of General Hooker, who opened the fight on the right of the Union line, and after repeated and spirited contests during the day, pushed up near the Dunker Church, where the magnificent shaft, recently dedicated by the great State of Ohio through its honored Governor and efficient battlefield commission, to commemorate the valor of the Fifth, Seventh and Sixty-sixth Ohio in that battle, now stands. It lost in this contest 5 killed and 33 wounded. CHANCELLORSVILLE On December 27th, the Seventh helped defeat rebel raiders under J. E. B. Stuart at Dumfries Court House, and in May, 1863, fought at Chancellorsville, losing 16 killed and 62 wounded. 40 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. GETTYSBURG At Gettysburg it fought at Gulp's Hill, behind the best of works, and suffered little loss. LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, MISSIONARY RIDGE AND RINGGOLD Going to Chattanooga, it fought in November, 1863, at Look- out Mountain and Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, and Ringgold, Georgia, losing at the latter place 16 killed and 58 wounded. Among the killed were Colonel Creighton, Lieutenant-Colonel Crane, Adjutant Baxter, and Lieutenants Jones and Cryne, whose remains were taken home and buried with all the honors of war. ATLANTA CAMPAIGN In May, 1864, on the Atlanta campaign, the Seventh fought at Resaca and New Hope Church, but was relieved June 11, and sent to Cleveland, where it was discharged July 6, 1864. This regiment lost in killed and died of wounds, 184 men, and in killed and wounded, 682, while 89 died of disease. It is accredited with the capture of flags at Cross Lanes, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. The records will show that it was in active service in the field from start to finish ; that it participated in many of the most important campaigns and battles of our great war; that its losses in killed and wounded were above the average and that for genuine soldierly conduct and military bearing, in camp, on the march, or in the presence of the enemy, it has been rarely excelled. Governor Brough in his address of welcome at Cleve- land said : — "We welcome you back, not only because you are back, but because you have reflected honor on your State. Stand- ing as I do, in the position of father of all the regiments of the State, it will not do for me to discriminate, but I will say that no regiment has returned to the bosom of the State, and none remains to come after it, that will bring a more glorious record than the gallant old Seventh." SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY. 41 1^ Sixty-sixth Ohio Infantry * THE 66tli Ohio Volunteers was organized at Urbana, Ohio. The order for its organization was dated October i, '6i, and on the i/th of December the regiment was mustered into the ser- vice of the United States, numbering 850 enlisted men, and while in camp at Urbana, and before taking the field, additional enlist- ments increased its number to 980. This regiment left Ohio on the 17th of January, '62, having been assigned to a command that General Frederick Lander was organizing at New Creek, Virginia, for the defense of the B. & O. R. R., as at that point these Union forces would threaten the Confederate command under Stonewall Jackson, then in Romney, and also being in easy striking distance of another Confederate force in the Shenandoah Valley. Lander's command, in the early winter of '62, had this very important guard duty to attend to, and it was very effectively performed; but Lander, becoming appre- hensive, towards the close of February, that the Confederate forces in the direction of Romney were strengthening their outposts at Bloomery Gap, and from that direction were assuming an aggres- sive attitude, put his forces in motion over almost impassible roads, and in the most inclement weather, to assault the enemy at that gap. Upon coming in front of that fortified camp, Lander 42 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. at once ordered his cavalry to charge, but as there was delay or hesitation upon their part in executing the order, he gathered whatever forces there happened to be of cavalry and infantry, then under his immediate eye and command, and with these he led as gallant a charge as ever occurred with a small force ; thus taking the enemy by surprise, Lander carried everything before him; won the gap and captured Colonel Baldwin, a number of other officers, and a large number of men, and after destroying their camp and works, safely returned to his post at New Creek, and by his audacious movement hurled back the proposed advance of the enemy upon the line of the B. & O. R. R. from the direction of Romney. Soon after his return from that assault, which was the first aflfair that the 66th took part in, Lander was taken sick and died in camp at Paw Paw Tunnel. Thus a brave and gallant soul was lost to the Union cause. General James Shields suc- ceeded to the command of Lander's forces, and as the enemy was then threatening from the direction of the Shenandoah Valley, Shields immediately put his troops in motion, moving in the direc- tion of Martinsburg, which town he occupied, and early in March moved onward up the valley for Winchester, which town he soon occupied; the enemy, under Stonewall Jackson, retreating up that valley. Upon the arrival of Shields' troops at Winchester, they were marched directly through the town as if they were going to pursue Jackson, but instead were put into camp just beyond the town. Thinking to deceive the enemy, and draw Jackson upon him Shields resorted to this stratagem. Suddenly, in open day, he put his forces in motion, in a supposed retreat, moving directly through Winchester. The citizens, seeing his hurried retreat, immediately sent word to Jackson that the enemy had left Winchester and were retreating as fast as their legs would carry them, and for him to come and reoccupy the town, Jackson immediately appeared in front of Winchester to the great joy of its citizens. But Shields had only gone just beyond the hills in the SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY. 43 rear of the town, there hiding his troops from view, and at once moved back through the town again to confront Jackson, and thus these respective commands met in battle, almost upon the outskirts of Winchester. That battle was hotly contested, and there Jackson met with a decisive defeat, being his first and only- defeat, and his entire forces were driven pellmell up the valley, and the outburst of joy at his coming was turned into almost despair. At his going the people of Winchester, so as to take care of the wounded of both forces, made the town one great hospital, and the horrors of war were brought to almost every home, but to the Unionist the joy at that early victory was very great, and Shields thereby won imperishable renown. Early in May, Shields began his great march through what was then regarded as the enemy's country, to join McDowell's command at Fredericksburg, in the then planned movement of on to Richmond ; but owing to Jackson's raid down the Valley of the Shenandoah, Shields was immediately recalled, and by a forced march had to return. Then followed the battles of Port Republic, in which battle this regi- ment was greatly distinguished by its heroic defense of a battery of seven guns ; but the Union troops engaged were heavily out- numbered, and were defeated and fell back down the valley. This regiment received during the war about four hundred recruits, and the number of men mustered out At the end of its service in July, '65, was 272. It lost no men killed, and 370 wounded. It served in twelve states, marched more than eleven thousand miles, and took part in 18 battles. It was the first regiment from Ohio to re-enlist for the war in '63, and became a Veteran Volunteer Regiment. It was in the following important battles : Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Dumfries, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Ringgold, Resaca, Peachtree Creek, New Hope Church, Dallas, then to Atlanta, on to Savannah, up through the Carolinas, took part in the grand review at Washington, and 44 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, the war being over and the Union restored. At the battle of Antietam, the 66th was attached to Tyndale's Brigade, Green's Division, Mansfield's Corps, and took an hon- orable part in the desperate struggle that took place in front of the little Dunker Church. The writer, heretofore, prepared a report of the part played by Ohio troops on this part of the field, a part of which is incorporated in this sketch as follows : The night of the i6th came on with McClellan's army not yet across Antietam Creek or in place to go into the battle. But during the night General Mansfield's troops (including the Ohio regiments) were pushed across the creek, and, as near as could be, took up a position on the left of Hooker's forces which were upon the extreme right of the Union line. After having crossed the creek we moved forward in the darkness over a route I do not know and probably never will know. Toward morning, while our men were standing round a few small fires, making their cofifee in their cups, we observed that many of our wounded were being brought back, apparently coming from that part of the field that Hooker had fought over the afternoon before ; and, in addi- tion, the firing was getting closer and closer to us. The word was that the enemy had taken the aggressive and that our men were falling back. ORDERED TO ADVANCE At that moment General Mansfield rode up and in an excited manner gave the order for our brigade to fall in and indicated to Colonel Tyndale, its commander, the direction in which to move, adding that the enemy were right upon us and were driving every- thing before them. Tyndale's men grasped their cofifee cups from oflf the fires and fell into rank as directed, still trying to cool their cofifee by their breath as they moved. That was their all in the SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY. 45 way of breakfast, and they could not afford to go unfed into battle. Tyndale's Brigade was composed of the Fifth, Seventh and Sixty- ninth Ohio and the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania. My regiment, the Sixty-sixth Ohio, numbered about 200 men, and had but two line officers — Lieutenants Smith and Yazell — and not a single field or staff officer. The other two Ohio regiments were of about the same strength, the Fifth being commanded by Captain Collins, and the Seventh by Captain Crane. This statement may seem startling, as it shows a frightful reduction in the strength of these regiments, once 1,000 strong with a full complement of officers. But, standing as they did on the brink of another battle, they could and did report, "All present or accounted for !" Weak in numbers as these regiments were, the men gathered about their respective regimental colors and, while other troops were being driven back, most gallantly moved forward to meet the foe. THE ENEMY REPULSED After a short march, the brigade was massed on some low, but exceedingly rocky ground. Then they deployed and moved forward again, the Ohio regiments being in front. The mist and fog of the early morning rendered everything obscure and uncer- tain ; but, peering through that cloud of vapor, I saw a line of the enemy standing in the open space just beyond and behind a rail fence. We had moved so rapidly and quietly that they had not observed us and were looking for danger off in the direction of Hooker's forces. Instantly I urged my horse up into the ranks of the men and, pointing out the line of the enemy, gave the order to fire. But, positive as I was that those men were our enemy, equally positive was Captain Crane that they were our own men. Thus for an instant we struggled, I to get in the first volley, and Crane to convince me that I was mistaken. I pushed further among our men, however, giving the order to fire. A volley from 46 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. those three Ohio regiments rang out, and the battle of Antietam as an aggressive one upon our part was on again. This assault by Tyndale's Brigade at that time and place was, I claim, the real opening of that battle. Immediately after our fire the Pennsylva- nia regiment, consisting of two battalions, and as yet not decimated by the results of war as had been these Ohio regiments, swung around through the edge of Eastwood and poured an enfilading fire down that ill-fated line of the enemy. The survivors soon broke into utter rout, going across the open space in the direction of Dunker Church. OHIO LEADS THE PURSUIT Tyndale's Brigade pushed rapidly on in pursuit, the three Ohio regiments in the advance. Where we were to go and where we were to stop we did not know ; we knew only that we had the enemy on the run and we were following, passing many wrecks of a previous struggle. When we had reached a point nearly opposite the little Dunker Church, a most terrific artillery fire was opened upon us from the higher ground beyond in the direction of Sharpsburg. To move further, thus exposed, meant destruction; so I halted the Ohio regiments at the spot they had thus reached, and, behind a slight swell in the ground, directed the men to shelter themselves by lying down. Tyndale, upon coming up immedi- ately after with the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania, formed our bri- gade with the heroic determination of holding the ground that had been gained. The artillery fire failing to drive us back, a line of the enemy was soon formed in the woods about the church and out they came with bayonets fixed. When they were within close range, our men rose, resting upon one knee, and gave a volley so destructive that the enemy broke again for the shelter of the woods. Again the artillery fire upon us, so fearful that it seemed that the SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY. 47 very top of the ridge sheltering our men must be swept away, but Tyndale's men still held their own. UNDER ARTILLERY FIRE I well remember as I sat upon my horse, hearing the peculiar shriek of a projectile and the thud as it landed in the midst of the color guard of the gallant Fifth Ohio. Down went the colors and with it the bearer stricken lifeless. But instantly other brave men of that famous regiment raised the colors aloft, and they floated again in the breeze, seemingly more beautiful and defiant than ever. Then the artillery fire again slackened and another line of the enemy, stronger and more determined than the first, moved out from the woods about the church. "Attention!" sang out Tyn- dale, and up rose a line of men, as if out of the ground. "Fix bayonets !" shouted Crane of the Seventh to his men. But the entire brigade obeyed the order, as they instinctively knew that that was the thing to do. Then our men stood ready. On steadily came the enemy. "Fire !" shouted Tyndale, A terrible volley and a crash of lead from his entire brigade was the reply. The enemy staggered, but held their ground as only brave men could. Slowly they fell back until, reinforced, they advanced again, and the fight went on in all its horrors. UNION ARTILLERY HURRIES UP In the meantime, General George S. Greene, then command- ing our division, reinforced us by moving some artillery to a posi- tion upon our left flank. As those artillerymen passed in our rear upon the run, they shouted, "Hold your place there, boys, and we will stand by you while there is a shot in the locker !" In locating those guns. General Greene's bearing was so heroic and knightly, and his exposure so signal that the men of Tyndale's 48 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Brigade, amidst all that firing, turned toward him and gave him a cheer, which he recognized by rising in his stirrups and raising his cap. Seconds appeared to be hours and it appeared to me that any movement upon our part, even into the midst of Stonewall Jack- son's troops, would be a relief from the suspense, the awful agony of steadily waiting to be shot. Three bullets had passed through the shoulder of my coat, and another had cut my collar loose. MAGNIFICENT BATTLE SCENE Looking to my left at that moment, the most magnificent battle spectacle that I ever saw greeted my vision. For a mile or more I could see the several lines of opposing troops, with banners flying, arms and fieldpieces glistening in the sun as they moved, coming closer together in the death struggle. At points in those lines soldiers were firing at each other with both artillery and small arms; soldiers were falling out of those lines, leaving gaps to be closed up as they moved. No part of the actualities of battle was wanting to make that scene as a picture complete. In my immediate vicinity the battle was still raging and the moment was critical, when Sumner's Corps, having crossed the creek, moved up to our support. Tyndale, feeling the strength of this timely reinforcement, advanced at once for Dunker Church. We had hardly started, however, v/hen Tyndale and I were shot, both in the head. Tyndale fell to the ground with a wound from which he afterward died. My horse, suddenly wheeling, carried me toward our field hospital, where my wound was dressed. Sumner's Corps finally drove Jackson's troops out of that open space and back into the woods, and some of our troops entered the woods about the church. But throughout the day it was a succession of successes and reverses, first for one side SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO INFANTRY. 49 and then for the other, and the open space was hterally strewn with the dead and wounded. The following inscriptions appear on the monument erected to the 5th, 7th and 66th Ohio Volunteers: 5th Infantry 66th Infantry 7th Infantry Commanded by Commanded by Commanded by Major John Collins Lieut. Col. Eugene Major Crrin J. Crane Powell Tyndale's (ist) Brigade Greene's (2nd) Division Twelfth Army Corps Army of the Potomac Upon the back, raised polished letters: 5th 66th 7th These three regiments became engaged about 7:30 a. m., September 17, 1862, advanced and drove the enemy froui the woods near the Dunker Church, and were in action until i :30 p. m. Their combined loss was 17 men killed; 4 officers and 87 men wounded; 2 men missing; total, no. 5 o. at A. 50 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. 4^ Eighth Ohio Infantry 4W THE companies of this regiment were enlisted in April, 1861, under the call of President Lincoln for 75,000 men, and rendezvoused at Camp Jackson, Cleveland, Ohio, where they were organized into a regiment. Company A was recruited from the city and vicinity of Tiffin, Seneca County; B, in Cleve- land, the basis of which was an existing company known as the "Hibernian Guards" ; C, from Bucyrus, Crawford County, and vicinity ; D, from Norwalk, Huron County, and vicinity, the basis of which was an existing company, known as "The Norwalk Light Guards"; E, from Sandusky, Erie County, and vicinity, filling up the ranks of "The Bay City Guards"; F and G, from Fremont, Sandusky County, and vicinity; H, from Lorain and Medina Counties ; I, from Elyria, Lorain County, and vicinity, and 'K, from Medina County. After organization the regiment removed to Camp Denni- son, Ohio, where it arrived May 2, 1861. In June, 1861, the regiment re-enlisted for three years, under the President's call for 300,000 volunteers, with 45 officers and 944 enlisted men. Early in July, 1861, the regiment left Camp Dennison and joined the army in West Virginia, where it was actively en- gaged in campaigning until July, 1862, when it joined the Army of the Potomac at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, and with which army it was identified during the balance of its service. During its service the regiment lost 198 officers and men killed in battle, 62 men were transferred to the Regular Army, 342 were discharged for promotion, or because of wounds or EIGHTH OHIO INFANTRY. SI disability, and 42 were transferred to the Fourth Ohio Battalion. The regiment was mustered out, by reason of expiration of term of service, at Cleveland, Ohio, July 13, 1864. The veterans and recruits of the 8th Ohio, together with the veterans and recruits of the 4th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, were consolidated and designated the Fourth Ohio Volunteer Battalion, an or- ganization that was formed June 26, 1864, and mustered out of service July 12, 1865. Antietam was the hardest fought battle for one day in which the regiment was engaged. It occupied a very exposed position, and performed conspicuous service in the capture of the sunken road, or "Bloody Lane." Its monument is located at the point where the regiment crossed Bloody Lane, and where several hundred Confederate prisoners were captured. The regiment marched more than three thousand miles and was engaged in seventy-six battles and skirmishes, in which it bore an honorable part, the principal battles being the following (see Official Army Register, Part V, page 52) : Romney, West Virginia September 23, 1861 Romney, West Virginia (second battle) .October 26, 1861 Winchester, Virginia March 23, 1862 Front Royal, Virginia May 30, 1862 Antietam, Maryland September 17, 1862 Fredericksburg, Virginia December 13, 1862 Chancellorsville, Virginia May 1-4, 1863 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania July 1-3, 1863 Bristoe Station, Virginia October 14, 1863 Mine Run, Virginia (operations at) . November 26-28, 1863 Wilderness, Virginia May 5-7, 1864 Po River, Virginia May 10, 1864 Spottsylvania, Virginia May 8-18, 1864 North Anna River, Virginia May 23-27, 1864 Cold Harbor, Virginia June 1-12, 1864 Petersburg, Virginia June 15-19, 1864 52 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The following inscriptions appear on the monument of the 8th O. V. I. : Upon front of monument: 8th RegimcHt OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY Lieut. Col. Franklin Sawyer 1st Brigade, Gen, Nathan Kimball 3rd Division, Gen. W. H. French 2nd Corps, Gen. Edwin V. Sumner * Army of the Potomac Upon front panel : On this Field Ohio's Sons Sacrificed Life and Health for One Country and One Flag. History, back of monument : Sept. 17th, 1862, forded Antietam Creek waist deep ; formed line of battle south of the Roulette Buildings, in orchard; took crest of hill at the point of the bayonet; held position for hours; supplied exhausted ammunition and muskets from dead and wounded ; charged "Boody Lane," capturing about 300 prisoners ; number engaged 341 ; losses in killed and wounded 162. ELEyENTH INFANTRY. 53 ^^ Eleventh Infantry ^ FOR the three months' service organized at Camp Jackson, Columbus, Ohio, with ten companies, five from Miami County, three from Darke, two from Montgomery. Was mus- tered April 26, 1861 (Major Burbank, Mustering Officer). Colonel, J. Finley Harrison ; Lieutenant-Colonel, A. H. Coleman ; Major, Joseph W. Frizell. Had about i,ooo. May I, moved to Camp Dennison, Ohio. It was the first full regiment in that historic camp. It reorganized and was mustered June 20, 1861, into three years' service, with eight companies. Companies E and I joined regiment, August, 1862, at Clarksburg, West Virginia. July 6, 1 861, it left Camp Dennison for West Virginia. Ar- rived at Point Pleasant, July 10. Served in Kanawha Valley and West Virginia, scouting and skirmishing until August 17, 1862, when it embarked on the Kanawha for the Eastern Army. Was engaged in West Virginia at Hawk's Nest, August 20, 1861 ; Gauley Bridge, November 10, 1861 ; Princeton, West Vir- ginia, May 15 and 16, 1861. Charles Allen, of Company A, was the first man killed in battle; Louis Brossy and James Mahan, Company A, the first captured, August 24, 1862. Regiment engaged in Second Bull Run Battle ; September 12, 1862, at Frederick City, Maryland; September 14 at South Mountain, Maryland; September 17, 1862, at Antietam, Mary- land. 54 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The regiment was in the Kanawha Division, 2d Brigade, and participated in the charge on bridge over Antietam Creek. Early on the morning of the ever memorable 17th of Sep- tember, 1862, Company F was sent out on the skirmish line, with instructions from Colonel Coleman to watch the enemy closely, and to immediately inform him or Colonel Crook of any move- ments made by them. Captain Teverbaugh had scarcely given the necessary instructions before a lively musketry fire was opened by the rebels from their works below the bridge of Antietam Creek, which was returned by the right of his line. After a short time Acting Adjutant Curtis came forward with an order for Cap- tain Teverbaugh to withdraw his company, move to the right and act as a reserve to Company C, then skirmishing under com- mand of Captain Street. While the men were moving in obedi- ence to this order Colonel Coleman came riding along on his favorite horse, "Old Bull," presenting a conspicuous mark to the rebel sharpshooters. Upon the advice of Captain Teverbaugh, the Colonel dismounted, as he was unnecessarily exposing him- self; but, alas! the precaution was of but temporary avail. It must be borne in mind that the nth Regiment formed part of that wing of the army commanded by General Burnside, whose forces were required to perform the hardest task of all. The nth had been engaged at intervals all the morning, and when the order came for Burnside to attack, took its place in the line for the forward movement. The order was to "carry the bridge, gain the heights beyond, and advance along their crest to Sharpsburg, and reach the rear of the enemy." The bridge was a stone structure, twelve feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet long, with three arches. Six thousand rebels were in splendid position across the stream; their artillery swept the bridge, the approach to which was a narrow road. On the other side the country was much broken; a limestone ridge sheltered the rebels, and behind every rock and log were sharpshooters in ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 55 great numbers. Skirmishers were thrown out, and the column moved forward. Simmons' and McMullen's Batteries were raining their deadly missiles among the rebels' ranks, who, in turn, sent volley after volley from their muskets and artillery in the faces of our advancing troops. Bravely the men struggled forward, but in vain. The steady stream of canister, poured from the rebel cannon, forced the line to waver and finally to fall back. In this forward movement Colonel Augustus H. Coleman received the wound which caused his death in a few hours. In advance of his men, cheering them on -and closing up their broken ranks, he fell with his face to the foe. Burnside sent to McClellan for reinforcements, but none were given him. He was ordered to assault the bridge and carry it at all hazards. Again the lines were formed for the des- perate work. The nth had found shelter in an orchard, where, after their nearly empty cartridge boxes were replenished, they formed for whatever duty fell to their lot. They were soon in line again. With more than human endurance, the men rushed for- ward. The bridge was carried, the rebels were driven from their position, and fled in confusion from our victorious troops. Following up the requirements of the order received in the morn- ing to advance along the crest of the heights to Sharpsburg, Burnside's troops followed up the advantage gained, fighting at every step. Lee, weakening the left of his line, concentrated a heavy force against Burnside, with the intention of cutting him off from the main army. The position of our troops was a des- perate one, but they fought on. Burnside again sent for help, saying he "must have more troops and guns. If you do not send them, I cannot hold my position half an hour." McClellan sent word to Burnside that he had no infantry to spare. He gave permission, however, for the troops to fall back to the bridge, 56 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. but said that if it was lost all was lost. Fighting till dark, the troops were then recalled, falling back near the bridge. Had they remained where they last fought, Lee could have accom- plished his object and cut them oflf from the army. Although the fighting raged furiously in all portions of the field, it is gen- erally conceded that the hardest work done that day was by that wing to which the glorious Kanawha Division was attached. The Burnside Bridge was the key to the whole affair, and to retain that the rebels fought desperately and persistently; but they had men to contend with in whose vocabulary there is no such word as fail. The command now returned to West Virginia. Marching from Clarksburg to Gauley Bridge, the nth was stationed at Summersville, where it remained until January 17, 1863, when it moved to Gauley, joining General George Crook and immedi- ately embarking on the Kanawha River, this time for the Army of the Cumberland. Were present at the Second Fort Donelson fight, but aboard their boats. Lay at Nashville for a few days, when Rosecrans sent General Crook to Carthage, Tennessee, where they remained to May i, when they marched to Murfreesboro. Served with Army of Cumberland until muster out, June 20, 1864. Participated in many small affairs and the following battles : Hoover's Gap, Tennessee June 25, 1863 Tullahoma, Tennessee July i, 1863 Chickamauga, Georgia September 19 and 20, 1863 Rossville Gap, Georgia September 21, 1863 ^ ' Lookout Mountain, Georgia November 24, 1863 Mission Ridge, Georgia November 25, 1863 Ringgold, Georgia November 27, 1863 Bustard's Roost, Georgia February 25, 1864 Resaca, Georgia May 14 and 15, 1864 Officers killed, 4; wounded officers, 7; total killed, wounded and missing during term, 152, or total death loss, 152. ELEVENTH INFANTRY. 67 The following is copied from the inscription on the monu- ment: OHIO nth Infantry Commanded by Lieut. Col. Augustus H. Coleman (killed) 2 Major Lyman J. Jackson Crook's (2nd) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac This regiment advanced in skirmish line toward the bridge over Antietam Creek, participated in the charge which drove the enemy from the creek, and advanced to this point, which it held until the close of the day. Its loss was I officer and 3 men killed; i officer and 11 men wounded; 5 men missing; total 21. 58 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. (r**«8sa»j> Twelfth Infantry Qs=«^i#2^r^ THREE MONTHS' SERVICE THE regiment was organized for three months' service at Camp Jackson, Columbus, Ohio, from companies report- ing under the first call of President Lincoln from Southern Ohio, and which were mustered into the United States service between the 20th and 25th days of April, 1861. Captain John W. Lowe, of Greene County, a Mexican War veteran, was elected and commissioned Colonel, Captain Jacob Ammen, of Clermont County (formerly an instructor at West Point) Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Carr B. White, of Brown County, a Mexican War veteran and a schoolmate and playmate of General U. S. Grant, Major, On the 4th day of May, 1861, the regiment was transferred to Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, being the second regiment to arrive at that camp, and was assigned to the brigade of Gen- eral Sleigh, and soon after received its equipment. From its arrival at this camp it was actively drilled under the supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Ammen. THREE YEARS' SERVICE Between the 19th and 26th days of June the regiment was reorganized and mustered into the United States service for three years. Lieutenant-Colonel Ammen having accepted a commission as Colonel of the 22d Ohio in the reorganization of the regiment. TWELFTH INFANTRY. 59 Major White was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel and Ad- jutant J. D. Hines as Major. On the 8th day of July, 1861, the regiment, having been assigned to the command of General J. D. Cox, left Camp Den- nlson for active duty in West Virginia, reaching Gallipolis, Ohio, on the following day, from which place it was transferred by boat a short distance up the Kanawha. SCARY CREEK On the 17th day of July, 1861, the regiment, together with two companies of the 21st Ohio and a section of Loomis' Bat- tery, under the command of Colonel Lowe, had their first en- gagement with the enemy at Scary Creek, near Charleston. Following up General Wise's army in its retreat from the Valley, the regiment reached Gauley Bridge about July 30th, and in August following it joined the force under General Rose- crans at Clarksburg, which soon thereafter began the march, via Sutton, Bull Town and Summersville, against General Floyd's fortified camp at Carnifex Ferry, on the Gauley. CARNIFEX On the loth day of September the regiment participated in the attack on Floyd's position. In this engagement Colonel Lowe was instantly killed, and his was the distinction of being the first of the field officers of Ohio to fall in battle in the War of the Re- bellion. COTTON MOUNTAIN Colonel White succeeded to the command, and the regiment participated in the pursuit of Floyd's army and in the suc- ceeding campaign against General Lee at Sewell Mountain and subsequent thereto, on the 13th of November, in the attack on 60 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Floyd's position on Cotton Mountain, and in the pursuit follow- ing his precipitate retreat on the Raleigh road. PRINCETON In May, 1862, the regiment participated in the advance of the Kanawha Division, under General Cox, to Princeton, against the forces of General Humphrey Marshall, and after occupation of that place for a time held the advance post at the Narrows of New River, from which it was withdrawn during the attack on Princeton by General Marshall. About the middle of August, at Flat Top Mountain, Gen- eral Cox received orders to report with the Kanawha Division to General Pope at Culpeper Court House, and the regiment participated in the forced march back to the Kanawha, the trans- fer by boat to Parkersburg, and thence by rail to Alexandria, Virginia, arriving at the latter place on the 25th of August, 1862. BULL RUN BRIDGE On the morning of August 27th, the nth and 12th Ohio Regiments, preceded by General Taylor's New Jersey Brigade, left Alexandria on trains for Culpeper. General Taylor's Bri- gade on the advance trains ran into General Stonewall Jackson's Corps (which had marched to the rear of Pope on the night of the 26th), just after crossing Bull Run Bridge, and was attacked and cut to pieces before it could disembark from the trains. Gen- eral Taylor was mortally wounded, and his regiments, greatly demoralized, retreated towards Alexandria. In the meantime the nth and 12th Ohio Regiments were disembarked and formed along the banks of Bull Run, across the railroad, and ordered to hold the bridge at all hazards. From half past 8 o'clock in the morning until 4 p. m. they held the position against great odds, under continuous fire, and only retired when Jackson's heavy columns were closing around them on both flanks. Carry- TWELFTH INFANTRY. 61 ing the wounded in blankets, the two Ohio regiments marched during the night of the 27th and the following day towards Wash- ington, arriving, cm the evening of the 28th, at Upton's Heights, opposite Washington, in an exhausted condition. FREDERICK CITY Upon the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, fol- lowing the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Kanawha Division was assigned to the 9th Army Corps, and led the advance of that army through Maryland to Frederick City, where, on the 12th day of September, the division attacked and drove from the city Jackson's cavalry, then occupying it. In this engagement, which mainly took place at the Monocacy bridge and in the streets, the 12th Ohio forded the Monocacy above the bridge, and while charges and countercharges of cavalry were being made up and down the main street the regiment charged down the cross streets and caused the enemy's cavalry to beat a hasty retreat. From Frederick City the Kanawha Division still led the advance, and opened the fight at South Mountain on the morn- ing of September 14th. SOUTH MOUNTAIN The battle of South Mountain resulted in a complete and brilliant victory for the Union forces engaged, and the regi- ments of the Kanawha Division were all alike conspicuous in the fast and furious attack which the division made on that field, and which resulted in the crushing defeat of the right wing of Lee's army. THE TWELFTH OHIO AT ANTIETAM The Kanawha Division reached Antietam on the afternoon of the 15th and received the opening fire on that field from a bat- 62 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. tery in its front, shortly after stacking arms. During the night of the i6th the division was moved to the left, opposite the Burn- side bridge, the 12th Ohio being assigned to support Benjamin's United States Battery of 20 pound Parrot guns, located on the hill overlooking the bridge, which position it occupied during the forenoon of the 17th. Benjamin's Battery opened fire early on the morning of the 17th, and naturally attracted to it the fire of opposing batteries, which made the position of the sup- porting regiment one of dangerous inactivity, the long strain of which made welcome the order to the ist Brigade for the flank movement by the ford below the bridge. The 12th Ohio led this movement, and after crossing the ford threw out skirmishers and moved up the left flank towards the bridge. This flank movement hastened, if it did not cause, the retreat of the enemy from the bridge. In the advance from the bridge in the afternoon of the 17th, the position assigned to the 12th Ohio was on the extreme left of the Union line. While moving into this position, the regiment met the flank attack of a South Carolina brigade, on the left of the Union line, which made it necessary to leave its line front- ing this flank movement, and refused to the main line, which latter stretched along the crest of the ridge facing Sharpsburg. This flank movement of the enemy was covered by Confederate batteries, which opened up a furious fire on the regiment, to which reply was made by Union batteries, coming up in its rear. The range between the opposing batteries was short, and the regiment occupying high ground about midway between, it was about equally exposed to the fire of both. Its position was made still more uncomfortable by reason of a new regiment mistaking the 1 2th for the enemy, and opening fire on it from the rear, making it necessary for Colonel White to dispatch a messenger to the colonel commanding. TWELFTH INFANTRY. 63 The regiment continued to hold the position until the enemy had retired and until it was relieved about dusk in the evening by a Connecticut regiment, when it moved back towards the bridge to bivouac and receive much needed rations. On the morning of the i8th, the entire regiment was placed on the skirmish line in advance of the position of the Union line at the close of the 17th, and remained on that duty during the entire day. Twice during the 17th the regiment performed impor- tant service at critical moments, once in making the successful flank movement on the bridge, and once in defeating a flank movement of the enemy, that, but for its opportune position, might have been disastrous to the Union line. During the most of the day at Antietam it was under a heavy artillery fire, which, while not resulting in heavy casualties, was a nerve racking strain, that was far more trying than active work on the firing line. It was the fortune of the regiment on that day to be in the very center of some of the fiercest artillery duels that were fought on that field, and never on any field, before or after, were its staying qualities more severely, tested than at Antietam. FAYETTEVILLE In October, following Antietam, the regiment returned to the Valley with the division, and during the winter of 1862 and 1863 was stationed at Fayetteville, where, on the 17th day of May, 1863, it repulsed an attack on its position by a force of 3,000, under General McCausland, following which. General Scammon, then in command of the Valley, with the main body of his command, advanced to Flat Top Mountain, near Princeton, where it remained until in July it was hurried back to the Ohio River to intercept the Morgan raiders, then in Ohio and seek- ing to cross into West Virginia. The regiment participated in these movements and was present at Buffington Island when the greater part of Morgan's command surrendered. 64 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. MEADOW BLUFF The regiment returned in August to Fayetteville, from which point it scouted the country east to the Greenbrier and Flat Top Mountain, having, on December 12th, 1863, a severe engage- ment v^^ith the enemy at Meadow Bluff. DUBLIN DEPOT AND LYNCHBURG RAID Between the 4th days of May and July, 1864, the regiment participated in the campaign of General Crook's command known as the "Dublin Depot and Lynchburg Raid," involving a march of about 1,000 miles, almost wholly within the enemy's lines, during which the regiment was engaged in the skirmish at Princeton, May 7th; in the battles of Cloyd Mountain, May 9th; New River Bridge, May loth; Lexington, June 13th, and Lynchburg, June 17th and i8th. Its loss in killed in its several battles and engagements was as follows : Scary Creek, 8 ; Carnifex, 2 ; Hughes' Ferry, i ; Gau- ley Bridge, i ; Cotton Mountain, i ; Bull Run Bridge, 10; South Mountain, 22; Antietam, 8; Fayetteville, 2; Meadow Bluff, 4; Bowyer's Ferry, i; Cloyd Mountain, 21, and Lynchburg, 7; total, 88. The severely wounded in these engagements were as fol- lows : Scary Creek, 2; Carnifex, i; Bull Run Bridge, 13; South Mountain, 13 ; Antietam, 5 ; Fayetteville, i ; Cloyd Mountain, 23 ; Lynchburg, 3; total, 61. Many received slight wounds not re- ported on the rolls. During its three years' service 46 died of disease and wounds, and 166 were discharged for disability resulting from wounds and disease. The absolute loss of the regiment, including killed in battle, died from wounds and disease, and discharged for TWELFTH INFANTRY. 65 disability arising from wounds and disease received or con- tracted in the service, was 300. ' Two hundred and ninety of its enlisted men and officers re- enhsted as veterans and were on the ist day of July, 1864, trans- ferred to the 23d Ohio, as Companies C, H and K of that regi- rnent The remainder of the regiment, except prisoners of war (mostly comprising the wounded at Cloyd Mountain, who had to be eft behmd for want of transportation), were mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, July u, 1864. The veteran companies of the regiment, after their consoli- dation with the 2sd Ohio, participated in all the engagements of that regiment subsequently occurring in the Shenandoah cam- paign under Sheridan, and their losses in killed and wounded ar, included in the reports of that regiment full 2' ""''' >' '''' '''''' '"^^^ ^"^^^ '' ^"^«^ -^^-e the ful three years service "of the regiment as a separate organi- zation in active and continuous duty in the field, in which it was rarely out of touch with the enemy. Inscriptions on monument: OHIO I2th Infantry Commanded by Col. Carr B. White Hugh Swing's (ist) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac This regiment advanced to this place on afternoon of Sept. 17, 1862. It nioved from extreme left of Union line of battk 7^,:; severe fiank fire, and held this position the remainder' Its loss was 7 men killed and 26 men wounded; total ,. 6 O. at A 66 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ^ Twenty-third I nf an try <^ UNDER the first call of President Abraham Lincoln, Ohio sent to the field twenty-two regiments of infantry, each regiment having been enlisted for a period of three months only. Many other companies were organized, or were being organ- ized, in various parts of the State, for three months' service, when President Lincoln issued his call for 300,000 more soldiers,, to be enlisted for three years, unless sooner discharged. Nearly all the companies which became a part of the per- manent organization of the 23d Ohio were then under tempo- rary organization in different parts of the State, awaiting call for muster into the service as three months' companies. These companies were ordered to Camp Chase, near Columbus, and were re-enlisted for three years and assigned to the 23d Ohio Regiment, which thus became the first three years' regiment from Ohio. It was mustered into service on the ist day of June, 1861,, and served out its three years, many of the officers and men re- enlisting as veterans at the expiration of their terms of original service, and were finally mustered out of the United States service on the 26th day of July, 1865. Its field officers were Colonel William S. Rosecrans, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Stanley Mathews and Major Rutherford B. Hayes, Surgeon Joseph T. Webb, Assistant Surgeon John Mc- Curdy, Adjutant Cyrus W. Fisher, Quartermaster Ross McMillen. TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. g7 The Changes in the field and staff of this regiment wer« Cote l"';""-'''""^' "' V^'^'eers and was succeeded by i-olonel t. P. Scammon, an old officer of the Rem,1»r i and who had seen service in Mexico. ™^' the St" oT'"*'n "' '''"'^' ''^*^"^ ™^ "^'^^ Colone. of the Sist Ohio. Quartermaster McMulIen was made Captain of he ist Independent Battery of Ohio Artillery, and Ad' l:^ Fisher was appointed Major of the Mth Ohio T^ were all fin.rf K ■ ^^ °- '^''<=^<^ P'aees Tse of M t' '"T " '^°" *' ^^^'"-'' ««P' in 'he case of Major James M. Comly, who was transferred from the 63d Ohio, where he held the commission of Major. eral yohnT'T' "'' '"""''' '' ^^"P ^"^^ "^^ Major-Gen- West Virginia, where it saw long, active and arduous service. In 1862 it was transferred to the Armv „f .1, r, and .00. part in the hattles of South ^rtllT^^r: At the former battle Colonel Hayes, who commanded 7h re " Major Comly, who commanded the regiment at the battle of Antietam, of th?' "'"r °' *' "^™'"' " "'"' °f *' ■"-' distinguished onh^ more than two hundred regiments sent out by Ohio'durLg Being one of the first to take the field, it was composed of h very flower of the young men of the State, coming a 7hev d^d, from the pulpits, the banks, the offices, he colleges and from every department of trade and business. mand^rTT "' "". "'" ""' ''""" ^™" ''^ -nks com- * fi ndTt!" V"' °*'"' ™"""^ °^^-'-»- in the held and its name became a household word in the State and Its distinction was a part of the military glory of Ohio ' 68 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Its first Colonel, Rosecrans, became one of the great com- manders in the field, and won name and fame at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley Mathews became a United Senator, and afterwards one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Major Rutherford B. Hayes became Major-General of Vol- unteers, and after the war was a Member of Congress, thrice elected Governor of Ohio, and once President of the United States. Colonel Scammon became a Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Major James M. Comly became Colonel of the regiment and ■Brevet Brigadiei^-General, and, ajfter the war, United States Minister to the Hawaiian Islands. Commissary-Sergeant William McKinley served fourteen years in Congress, was twice elected Governor of Ohio and twice elected President of the United States. Lieutenant Robert P. Kennedy, after filling every office in the staff department, from Captain to Lieutenant-Colonel, was made Colonel of an Ohio regiment, Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers, elected Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio, and served two terms in Congress. Sergeant William C. Lyon became Captain and afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio. The following named privates were also honored after the close of the Rebellion: Alfred Jerome was elected Commissioner of Cuyahoga County, and Wilbur Bently was elected to the same office, and also D. H. Kimberly was twice elected Treasurer of Cuyahoga County, and many other privates throughout the State have held positions of responsibility and honor. Because of its especial and abundant supply of most com- petent material, the regiment was largely drawn upon to assist TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY. 69 in the officering and organizing of other Ohio commands, and its experience, drill and discipline were largely felt throughout the Army. It participated in some twenty or more important battles of the war, besides numerous skirmishes and minor engage- merits. Its services were in West Virginia, Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, under Generals Crook and Sheridan, and the Army of the Potomac. It participated in the following important battles of the War : Carnifex Ferry, West Virginia September lo, 1861 Clark's Hollow, West Virginia May i, 1862 Princeton, Virginia May 15-18, 1862 South Mountain, Maryland September 14, 1862 Antietam, Maryland September 17, 1862 Buffington Island July 19, 1863 Cloyd's Mountain, Virginia May 9, 1864 New River Bridge, Virginia May 10, 1864 Buffalo Gap, West Virginia June 6, 1864 Lexington, West Virginia June lo-ii, 1864 Buchanan, Virginia June 14, 1864 Otter Creek, Virginia June 16, 1864 Lynchburg, West Virginia June 17-18, 1864 Buford's Gap, Virginia June 21, 1864 Winchester, Virginia July, 1864 Berrysville, Virginia September 3-4, 1864 Opequan, Virginia September 19, 1864 Fisher's Hill, Virginia September 22, 1864 Cedar Creek, Virginia October 19, 1864 Its entire history was one of great distinction and it added no little sum to the renown which the sons of Ohio won for them- selves and their State upon the battlefields of the great Rebellion. 70 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Inscription on monument: OHIO 23d Infantry- Commanded by Major James M. Comly Hugh Ewing's (ist) Brigade , Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac This regiment with its brigade crossed the ford of Antietam Creek in the afternoon of September 17, 1862, and held this posi- tion until the close of the battle. Its loss was 8 men killed; i officer and 58 men wounded; 2 men missing; total, 69. Two of its members afterward became President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 71 ^ Twenty-eighth Infantry ^ THE 28th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or Second German Ohio Regiment) was organized at Cincinnati, Ohio, during the months of April and May, 1861, and mustered into the service of the United States at Turner Hall, in that city, on June 13, 1861, for three years or during the War, with Colonel August Moor, a Mexican War veteran, in command. Early in July, 1861, the regiment was ordered from Camp Dennison, Ohio, to West Virginia, and on September 10, 1861, participated in its first battle at Carnifex Ferry, Virginia, under General Rosecrans, losing several men in the engagement. Dur- ing the following spring of 1862 the regiment participated in the engagements at Fayetteville, Gauley Bridge and Princeton, Virginia, suffering, however, but small loss in these engage- ments. In August, 1862, the regiment proceeded with the Kanawha Division, under General Jacob D. Cox, to reinforce the Army of the Potomac, and, on September 12, 1862, entered Frederick City, Maryland, as the advance of the Federal Army, suffering on that occasion the loss of the Colonel by capture. On Sep- tember 14, participated in the spirited battle of South Moun- tain, Maryland, at Foxe's Gap, under General Reno, where the regiment lost several men in killed and wounded. Following the enemy, the regiment, forming part of General George Crook's Brigade, took position at Antietam, participating in that battle, 72 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. September 17th and i8th. It performed conspicuous service at the Burnside bridge, by fording the Antietam just below that structure and flanking the rebel position, aided considerably in securing possession of the bridge upon the final charge made to take it. The regiment immediately reformed, after fording the stream, and advanced upon the heights towards Sharpsburg, to the line now marked by the monument erected to the regi- ment by the generous State of Ohio, holding the advanced posi- tion until it was withdrawn at sundown to guard the Union lines during the night. The actual loss suffered by the regiment at South Mountain and Antietam cannot be accurately stated for lack of the reports. After the battle the regiment, as part of the Kanawha Divi- sion, returned under command of General George Crook to West Virginia, and on November 6, 1863, fought at the battle of Droop Mountain, West Virginia, under General Averill, flanking and attacking the enemy under General Echols, routing the same and inflicting a loss to them of 800 killed, wounded and captured. In obtaining that victory, we also lost many men in killed and wounded. In the spring of 1864, the regiment formed part of the force under General Sigel, advancing up the Shenandoah Valley, parti- cipating in the battle of New Market, Virginia, and again advanc- ing under General David Hunter, on Woodstock, New Market, Harrisburg and Port Republic. June 5th came upon the rebels under General Jones, near Piedmont, who occupied a strongly intrenched position. Colonel Moor's Brigade was ordered to attack, and after a stubborn contest drove the rebels into their works. At about noon it again was ordered to storm the works. The assault, made in gallant style, was received with so tremen- dous a fire that it forced four regiments, after losing heavily, to fall back ; the Twenty-Eighth remained on the ground and was ordered to lie down and prevent the enemy from making a coun- TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY. 73 tercharge. The regiment kept the rebels at bay for three-quarters of an hour, when it was recalled and resumed its place in the new line of battle, being highly complimented by General Hunter. Soon after, the third charge was made with complete success. One thousand three hundred prisoners were captured, and about the same number were killed and wounded. Among the killed was General Jones. The Twenty-Eighth lost thirty-three killed and one hundred and five wounded out of four hundred and eighty-four combatants; two color bearers were killed and three wounded in quick succession, and the regimental flag was per- forated by seventy-two balls and pieces of shell. The term of service of the regiment ended June 13, 1864 It was ordered to escort 1,500 Confederate prisoners through the wilderness of the West Virginia mountains to Indianapolis, Ind from which place it was finally ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, for final muster out, July 23, 1864. The regiment lost while in the field, 2 officers killed 7 wounded; 90 men killed, 162 wounded, and 173 disabled 'by disease, making a total of 434. The re-enlisted veterans and recruits whose terms of service cl"T p?"'" J"' '""^'' ^"^° ^ '^"^"^" ""d- Lieutenant- Colonel Edwin Frey, which served gallantly in West Virginia, until finally mustered out on July 20, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio Inscriptions on monument: OHIO 28th Infantry Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gottfried Becker Crook's (2nd) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac 74 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. This regiment was conducted by General Crook on a recon- noissance above the bridge over Antietam Creek on the morning of September 17, 1862, and five companies succeeded in crossing the creek before the capture of the bridge ; it then formed part of the forces that charged and drove the enemy from the creek. Its loss was 2 men killed ; 19 men wounded ; total 21. / 1 csmmst J I t i' ■ I wiiin fiMi uunra \ ' -■^:r- j|;?._^ $: $. ^ . «_ ^ \ THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 75 (r^-^toss*-^ Thirtieth Infantry THE 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Chase, Ohio, on the 28th day of August, 1861, and immedi- ately armed and equipped, and on the 30th ordered to the field. The next day found the regiment at Benwood, Virginia, and on the 2d of September it reached Clarksburg. On the 6th of September the regiment joined Rosecrans' army at Sutton, Virginia. Here companies D, F, G and I were ordered to remain and the other companies marched toward Sum- mersville. Two companies, C and E, were left at Big Birch Bot- toms, the remainder of the regiment moved to Carnifex Ferry, where a sharp engagement took place ; during the night the enemy withdrew to Sewell Mountain. A considerable amount of arms fell into the hands of the regiment. A stand of colors, on which was inscribed "Floyd's Brigade: the price of liberty is the blood of the brave," was secured by the 30th. After a rest of ten days, the regiment moved to Sewell Mountain, but further advance was rendered impracticable by the condition of the roads, and the army fell back to the Falls of the Gauley ; this position was called Camp Ewing; the enemy took position on Cotton Mountain, and annoyed the troops with artillery. The brigade to which the 30th was attached crossed the river, advanced upon the enemy, and drove him from his position, and pursued him twelve miles beyond Fayette Court House; the regiment entered Fayetteville on the 14th of November, and quartered in deserted houses. 76 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The detachment at Sutton frequently engaged in expeditions against bushwhackers ; in various skirmishes two men of the 30th were killed and quite a number wounded. On the 23rd of December, the detachment at Sutton joined the regiment at Fayetteville, and on the 25th the regiment held its first dress parade. The regiment spent the time during the winter working upon fortifications ; several of the companies were sent to different outposts. On March 10, 1862, these companies returned to Fayetteville, at which time the 30th and two sections of McMullen's Battery comprised the entire force at this point. On the 17th of April, the regiment removed to Raleigh, and from there to Princeton, and on the loth resumed march to Giles Court House; at noon information was received that the troops at the latter place had been attacked, and were falling back; the men unslung knapsacks and pushed rapidly forward, joining the 23d Ohio at the Narrows of New River. They had marched twenty miles in five hours, but arrived too late, as the gate leading to the country beyond had been closed by the enemy ; here for eight days the allowance for rations was one cracker with a small allow- ance of sugar and coffee to each man. Early on the morning of May 17th, the regiment fell back to Princeton, and on the following day encamped on summit of Great Flat Top Mountain ; being without tents, the men stripped the bark from large chestnut trees, from which huts were constructed that furnished them shelter. On the i6th day of August, the regiment started to join Pope's army in eastern Virginia, and reached Brownstown on the Big Kanawha River, on the 19th, having carried knapsacks and marched ninety-five miles in three and one half days, and were glad to leave the mountains, and when the band played "Get Out of the Wilderness," as it came down Cotton Mountain to the river, deafening cheers showed the hit was duly appreciated. The regiment was transported to Parkersburg, where it took cars for the East, passing through Washington City on the 23d THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 77 of August, and went into camp that night at Warrenton Junction, Virginia. Three days later, the right wing reported for guard duty at General Pope's headquarters, the left wing to follow as soon as it came off picket. General Pope's headquarters were moved to Centerville, and the left wing followed in Robertson's Brigade. The left wing participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, and was exposed to a heavy artillery fire. General Robertson, in his official report, says : "It moved forward under a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries in good order, as upon parade." The left wing joined the right at General Pope's headquarters on August 31st. The regiment joined the brigade at Upton Hills on the 3d of September. It broke camp on the 6th, marching through Washington City, and on the 12th came in view of Frederick City, Maryland. The 30th deployed, moved by the flank above the city, waded the Monocacy, and, converging into the line of battle, entered the city. The regiment arrived at South IMountain on the 14th of September, and engaged the enemy's skirmishers at 9 o'clock a. m. The enemy opened fire upon the regiment from a battery behind a stone fence, killing and wounding several men. The regiment lay under a heavy artillery fire several hours, and ad- vanced against the enemy behind a stone fence at 4 o'clock p. m. The line of the enemy advanced at the same time, and a severe engagement followed, lasting three-quarters of an hour. The regiment bravely stood its ground, losing eighteen killed and forty-eight wounded. The regiment moved from South Moun- tain, and went into camp below Keedysville, remained there dur- ing the i6th, exposed to a heavy artillery fire, moved in the even- ing, camped at night in sight of Burnside bridge. The next morning, the 17th, the regiment moved to the left and front, forded Antietam Creek waist deep, and moved up toward Burnside's bridge, which was then in our possession; 78 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. was then ordered forward on the double-quick to a stone wall, about a third of a mile in advance. It was necessary to pass through a twenty acre cornfield, in order to reach the wall. When the line had advanced as far as the field of corn^ the men were almost exhausted, and, for want of proper support, the left wing of the regiment was unprotected. General A. P. Hill's rebel division came down with crushing force on the exposed flank ; the regiment was thrown into some confusion in endeavoring to execute a movement by the right flank in order to avoid the blow. This regiment was engaged here about 5 p. m. The na- tional colors were torn in fourteen places by shot and shell. Both color bearers were killed. Sergeant White defiantly waved the flag in the face of the enemy until he was killed. Sergeant Car- ter, in his death agony, held the flagstaff so firmly that it could with difficulty be taken from his hand. Our loss was three offi- cers and ten men killed, and one officer and forty-eight men wounded, two officers and sixteen men taken prisoners; total eighty men. On the 8th of October the regiment was ordered back to West Virginia. Crossed the Potomac at Hancock, Maryland, in pursuit of General Stewart's cavalry, into Pennsylvania. On the 1 2th the regiment returned to Hancock and continued the western journey. On the 13th of November arrived at Cannelton, on the Kanawha, where we erected winter quarters, during which time it did some scouting in and about Logan Court House, capturing many horses and quite a number of prisoners. Late in December the regiment was ordered to join General Grant's fleet for Vicksburg, embarking on steamers, reaching Louisville, Kentucky, on the 3d of January, 1863, and there camped sev- eral days, after which it embarked for Memphis and Vicks- burg, and upon arrival was assigned to General Sherman's 15th Army Corps. Remained in camp at Young's Point, Louisiana, several weeks. Many movements were made by the regiment, ^ «- . -5 ' THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 79 both on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. On April 17th Lieu- tenants O'Neill and Chamberlain, with a crew from the regiment, took full charge of the steamer Silver Wave, and successfully ran the blockade, only one shot from the enemy's guns striking the vessel, and that without effect. On the 29th of April the regiment was ordered to Haynes' Bluff to make a diversion against that point. Returned to camp on the 8th of May. Was ordered to Grand Gulf, below Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River, on the loth of May, and took up the march to Vicksburg north- ward, by way of Rocky Springs, Raymond and Champion Hills. On the i8th of May, near midnight, the regiment arrived in the rear of Vicksburg, in front of Fort Defiance, on the old Graveyard road, one of the principal roads leading to Vicksburg. On the 19th of May the regiment participated in the first grand assault upon the works around Vicksburg. The charge being unsuccessful, the regiment was compelled to fall back. On the morning of the 226 the regiment led the second assault in General Sherman's front. The flag was placed on the enemy's ■parapet and guarded there until night enabled the troops to retire. A forlorn hope, made up from the 30th, led by Captains Groce and O'Neill, preceded the regiment in the charge upon the fort, and were compelled to remain in the ditches of the fort, exposed to hand shells and hand grenades, thrown by the enemy, during the day. From the beginning and during the forty-seven days' siege, the regiment lost 61 officers and men killed and wounded. Immediately after the surrender, the National Army, under command of General Sherman, moved at once upon the enemy under Joseph E. Johnston, and drove him eastward to Jackson and beyond, after which the regiment went into camp on Black River, July 23d. The regiment left camp September 26th, and embarked at Vicksburg, and moved up the river to Memphis. Regiment left Memphis October 4th, and encamped at Brown's Ferry, ten miles 80 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. from Chattanooga, on the 20th of November. On the 25th it assisted in an assault, which carried outer Hne of the enemy's works. Later in the day the 30th made two assaults on the enemy's works on Tunnel Hill, but were compelled to fall back on account of strong fortifications in front. Its loss was forty men killed and wounded. On the 26th of December the regiment was ordered to Belle- fonte, Alabama, and arrived there on the 29th. A few days after- ward they were ordered to Larkinsville, Alabama, where they went into winter quarters. The regiment here re-enlisted as veterans and were furloughed thirty days. After the expira- tion of furlough the regiment joined Sherman's army for the Atlantic campaign. During this campaign the regiment was continually under fire and engaged in all the principal battles between Chattanooga and Atlanta. The regiment started on the 15th of November on Sher- man's march through Georgia to the sea, and on the 13th of Decem- ber was in front of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, and the same day the fort was taken by assault in a hand to hand conflict. The 30th was specially mentioned in General Hazen's official report. On the 17th of January the regiment embarked on the steamer Cosmopolitan and went into camp at Beaufort, South Carolina, on January i8th, 1865. The regiment moved northward on January 26tli, on the campaign of the Carolinas, wading swamps and streams, one of the former being a mile wide and waist deep, at North Edisto River; passed through Columbia, South Carolina, and went into camp on the west side of the Congaree River. After a severe engagement north of Columbia on Febru- ary 17th, halted near Bentonville, North Carolina. At this place there raged a severe battle of two days, in which the 30th lost quite a number of men. The regiment marched through Golds- boro to Raleigh, North Carolina, where it remained until the i»^ ' -u. THIRTIETH INFANTRY. 81 29th of April, and then took up the march northward, by way of Richmond, to Washington, and on May 21st the regiment reached the south end of Long Bridge at Washington. On March 23d it participated in the grand review down Pennsylvania avenue. On June 2d, 1865, the regiment was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky. On June 25th it embarked at Louisville for Little' Rock, Arkansas, where it remained until August 13th, when it was ordered home, and immediately embarked, arriving at Columbus on the 21st of August, 1865. The regiment was paid and discharged on the 22d of August, 1865. This regiment traveled as such, during its time of service' a distance of 13,200 miles. Total officers and men, including all recruits, during the war, were 1,036. 'Killed and died from wounds received in battle : Officers, 9 ; enlisted men, 132; total, 141. Died from disease: Enlisted men, 153; total deaths, 294. Inscriptions on monument: OHIO 30th Infantry Commanded by Lieut. Col. Theodore Jones (Captured) 2 Major George H. Hildt Hugh Ewing's (ist) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac Upon the back, in raised, polished letters : This regiment was engaged here about 5 o'clock p. m., Sep- tember 17, 1862. Its loss was 3 officers and 10 men killed, includ- ing both color bearers; i officer and 48 men wounded; 2 officers and 16 men taken prisoners ; total, 80. 7 O. at A. 82 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ^ Thirty-sixth Infantry ^ THERE is so much to be truthfully said, and that should be recorded in history, of a command that performed so much of worth as did the 36th Ohio Regiment, to comply with a request to give its history in less than half a dozen pages is a task more than difficult. Indeed, it is impossible to condense the narration of its deeds to such brief space without, in marked measure, doing violence to its records as a whole. If the "Boys in Blue" would write history as well as they made it, what a grand record they would bequeath to posterity. After the Battle of Bull Run (first), while excitement ran high in Washington City, President Lincoln authorized Hon. Wil- liam Cutter, M. C, to have a regiment recruited at Marietta^ Ohio. As result, the 36th Ohio. Camp Putnam, adjoining the city, was its rendezvous. By August 17, 1 86 1, ten companies of volunteers had assem- bled there, and by August 27 organization was completed, and they were mustered in by Henry Belknap, Captain i8th United' States Infantry. Hon. Melvin Clark, a prominent attorney of Marietta, be- came its Lieutenant-Colonel; Professor Ebenezer B. Andrews,. Professor of Natural Sciences in Marietta College, Major; Rob- ert N. Barr, subsequently Surgeon-General of Ohio, Surgeon. i THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. go Friday, August 30th, the regiment received Springfield rifles and left for Parkersburg, West Virginia. Major A. J. Slemmer, who had acquired honorable distinc- tion by reason of recent conduct at Fort Pickens, Florida, but at that time a member of General Rosecrans' stafJ, was assigned to temporary command. On the 31st six companies marched into West Virginia for the purpose of breaking up predatory bands of bushwhackers After traversing a number of counties, on September 17th the command went into cantonment in the town of Summersville county seat of Nicholas County, West Virginia. The first day out the regiment sustained its first loss in the accidental death of young Stewart, of Company A. That portion of the regiment remaining at Parkersburg was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Clark. October 5 i^t em- barked on the Ben Franklin, landing at Camp Piatt, head of navigation on the Big Kanawha, Sunday, October 6th. Here the command exchanged their Springfields for Enfield rifles. Oc- tober 19th Lieutenant-Colonel Clark's command started for Sum- mersville, where it arrived p. m., October 22d. The officers and friends of the regiment, who had been strenuous and unremitting in their endeavor to secure an efficient Colonel, were successful in the person of George Crook, Captain 4th United States Infantry. In latter part of September Colonel Crook relieved Major Slemmer and assumed command. The winter of 1861-2 was a very trying one upon the regi- ment. Typhus and other camp diseases prevailed. Deaths were frequent. As many as three were laid away in a day, some fifty in all that winter. Colonel Crook had a large drill shed, over 1,200 feet in length built in the valley, just without the town. There, every day except Sunday, or when the men were scouting, the regiment 84 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. was drilled from four to seven hours, attaining that proficiency that subsequently made it famous. Company A was sent to Crosstown, where it remained dur- ing the winter. The other companies did a large amount of scouting. Leaving Company B, Captain Adney, to hold and care for Summersville, the regiment, May 12, 1862, set out for Lewis- burg, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. There they arrived on the 15th. The 36th was now a component of 3d Provisional Brigade, Colonel Crook commanding. May i6th the brigade, except camp guards, made a raid through White Sulphur Springs to Jackson Station, on the Virginia Central Railroad, the cavalry going twelve miles further and burning a large bridge that spanned the James River. The command returned to Lewisburg on 19th, with prisoners and spoils. This bold and successful raid into the heart of the enemy's stronghold greatly exasperated General Heth. In retaliation he determined to exterminate the Yankee command at Lewisburg, the home of many of his men. At break of day. May 23d, Heth, with 3,500 infantry, eight cannon and a battalion of cavalry, at- tacked Crook's forces. The 36th and 44th O. V. L, about 1,200 strong, gave Heth battle, stampeding his command. Heth acknowledged his com- plete discomfiture by burning the Greenbrier bridge, three miles out, before all his fugitives had crossed. The Confederate Gen- eral lost in dead, wounded, prisoners and deserters over one-third of his entire force. So sure were the Confederates of defeat- ing the Yankees, that their relatives and friends in the town had spent the night in cooking a feast for their breakfast, after they had purged the community of the "Yankee invaders." By 9 a. m. the brigade was as quietly settled down again to routine as though nothing of moment had occurred. THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 85 The regiment lost 5 killed, 41 wounded, two mortally, who died that night. Sergeant-Major W. S. Stanley, of 36th, thus stated the enemy's loss: Dead, in our hands 5o Wounded, in our hands 75 Wounded, carried away 100 Prisoners jq- Lost their lives crossing Greenbrier 3 Wounded crossing Greenbrier g Cannon (two were 10 pounder rifled Parrots) 4 Small arms oqq Horses ^ . 24 Among prisoners on hand are i Lieutenant-Colonel, i Major, 3 Captains and 4 Lieutenants. This was the regiment's maiden battle. General Fremont being called off from his march on Lynch- burg, Virginia, to attack Stonewall Jackson, General J. D. Cox, of whose command the 3d Provisional was a part, was informed that the concerted movement he was to make with Fremont was abandoned, therefore he must use his own discretion in protect- ing his command against the rebel forces in his proximity, which were now left free to concentrate upon him. The enemy assum- ing the aggressive, Cox, with his immediate command. May 21st, retired to a defensible position on Flat Top Mountain. This left Crook far to the front and unsupported. May 29, Crook also retired fifteen miles and established his brigade in the strong ~ defensible position at Meadow's Bluff. From this point he essayed two extended raids far into the enemy's territory, the enemy retiring. General Cox, commanding the Kanawha Divi- sion, was ordered to join Pope in the East. August 15th the 36th filed out of camp, headed for Camp Piatt, ninety miles distant, where it arrived p. m. 17th. A. m. i8th the division 86 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. embarked, the 36th on the Allen Collier, Generals Meigs and Pike, for Parkersburg. Arrived at their former camp on the 20th, and found a camp full of relatives and recruits, awaiting. P. m. of 25th, boarded palatial ( ?) hog car for Pope's army, passing through Washington, D. C, was hurried across the Potomac, arriving at Warrenton Junction, 24th ; disembarking after a sixty hour ride. The sound of battle was there and continued sounding in our ears until our return to Arlington. On evening of the 25th, the regiment held dress parade. There were among the onlookers many generals, among others Pope, who was so pleased as to pay the regiment a high compliment. A raid of the enemy had divided the 'Kanawha, so that but part of the brigade reached the front. Possibly, partially at least, owing to this fact the 36th was assigned at Pope's headquarters as guard, and as such were held as reserves. At 7 a. m., September 6th, the regiment left Arlington, marched through Jordansville, across the old aqueduct, through Georgetown, and up Pennsylvania avenue to front of White House, there halted and stacked arms. Pardon, if I relate an incident. The regiment had marched up the avenue with that swinging, springy, steady stride, acquired only by thorough drill and much marching. Through dust and heat the boys marched, well in line, at rout-step, attracting marked attention from many army and government officials, as also a multitude of citizens. By the time guns were stacked, quite a gathering had assembled. Upon command, "Break ranks," the boys instantly scattered and vanished. Governors Dennison, of Ohio, and Pierpont, of West Virginia, were calling at the White House. Learning that an Ohio reginient had halted on the avenue in front, accompanied by President Lincoln, the Governor started to view the regiment. Colonel Crook, advised of their coming, had the bugles sound the "assembly." As if by magic, the men came hurrying from every direction. Two were followed by a THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 87 policeman, one of the twain carrying a watermelon. The fleet- footed boys reached their gun stacks before the "cops" could lay hands on them. Coming up, he demanded the surrender of the melon. In an instant, the melon was dropped and broken into fragments, to which the boys, without comment, pointed. In a trice those pieces of melon were cleaned up and the rinds thrown away, arms taken and the proper honors extended the distin- guished visitors. Mr. Lincoln witnessed the episode. Standing, leaning his shoulders against the iron palings, he laughed heartily. Colonel George Crook was promoted to a Brigadier-General, Clark to Colonel. Significant, or not, their commissions dated from that date. The regiment marched out Seventh street to the old Scott camp ground and bivouacked. The Maryland campaign was on. The Kanawha Division was assigned to the 9th Corps, Reno commanding. McClellan's report says: "The right wing, con- sisting of 1st and 9th Corps, under command of Major-General Burnside, moved on Frederick City, the 9th Corps via New Market, Reno out Seventh Street Road." General Strother (Port Crayon), formerly of Pope's, now of McQellan's staff, says: "We have news that the enemy has crossed the Potomac, and his advance, 5,000 strong, marched into Frederick City this morning. This afternoon a column of 20,000 infantry, with 60 pieces of cannon, moved up street leading toward Frederick. Events are progressing so rapidly that we have no time for speculation. Lee is actually across the Potomac. It must be their necessity, and not their hopes, which urges them to their desperate venture." September 7th, the head of column began that long to be remembered "Sabbath day's journey." Heat, dust, thirst, intense, stifling. Men by the hundreds fell by the wayside, many dying. About 4 p. m. went into bivouac near Leesboro, un a slight eleva- tion in a meadow, the most beautiful spot ever occupied by the regi- 88 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ment. That night a terrific thunder storm blew down tents and deluged the troops. Noon, 1 2th, passed through New Market, and had first tilt with the enemy ; followed them up and pushed them out of Fred- erick. Pen nor tongue can portray the ovation extended the Union troops by the citizens. The regiment passed the reputed home of Barbara Fritchie, in passing through the city to the outskirts, where it encamped in battle line along the Middleton Pike. The 15th, a little after noon, it resumed the march passing through Middleton and encamped on the banks of the Catochin Creek at base of South Mountain. Sunday, September 17th, early in the morning, the Kanawha Division was ordered forward to sup- port General Pleasanton. The ist Brigade had the advance and was sent by General Pleasanton along old Sharpsburg Road to feel the enemy and ascertain if he held the crest on that side in strong force. He did. General Cox, with 2d Bri- gade, followed in touch with ist. Information being re- ceived from General Reno that the column would be sup- ported by the whole corps, the Kanawha Division was ordered to assault the position. This it did valiantly, gaining and holding the crest on their front. The 36th was held in reserve. Colonel Crook was ordered by general commanding to send the 36th to right of 2d Brigade to charge and drive the enemy from the crest there. The regiment marched to base of a declivity, on summit of which severe fighting was in progress. It formed "rear in front," halted and "fixed bayonets." Company G was deployed as skir- mishers and ordered forward, the regiment advancing in support until the company opened fire, when Colonel Crook, his hat held aloft in one hand, and his sword in the other, shouted to the com- mand, "36th, charge !" Away they went, yelling like demons incar- nate. The rebels fled precipitately. General Cox, in his report, speaks of it as a most dashing and spirited charge. The regi- ment then retired to its position as reserve. The regiment's cas- THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 89 ualties were 7 killed, 34 wounded and missing. Colonel Crook was highly commended by General Cox in his report for "the gal- lantry and efficiency displayed." The regiment bivouacked upon the battlefield, suffering from cold until their blankets ar- rived, and disturbed the balance of the night by the cries and moans of the wounded. The succeeding day the regi- ment marched about five miles and halted for the night in a ploughed field. On the morning of the i6th, the enemy opened upon us with artillery, but after a few rounds from our batteries the foe retired. It was about 10 a. m., when they resumed from a long line of guns, a like line of our guns replying. From our position we could plainly see both lines and witnessed, for the hour it lasted, a magnificent artillery duel. Our guns were firing over us. Owing to some defectiveness, a number of boys were wounded. In the afternoon the regiment moved to the left through a cornfield, and came upon the rebel skirmishers. For awhile our batteries pressed upon the enemy ironical compliments, but with little damage. The regiment halted and lay close under the protection of a bank in that cornfield until dark, when they made themselves as comfortable as possible, and there remained through the night. Quoting from McClellan's report of the 17th: "General Burnside's Corps, consisting of the divisions of Generals Cox, Wilcox, Rodman and Sturgis, was posted as follows: Colonel Crook's Brigade, Cox's Division, on the right. Early in the morn- ing of the 17th, I ordered General Burnside to form his troops and hold them in readiness to assault the bridge in his front and await further orders. Colonel Crook's Brigade was ordered to storm the bridge. This bridge (number 3) is a stone structure of three arches with stone parapets. The banks of the stream on the opposite side are precipitous and commanded the eastern approaches of the bridge. On the hillside, immediately by the bridge, was a stone fence, running parallel with the stream. The turns of the 90 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. roadway, as it wound up the hill, were covered with rifle-pits and breastworks of rails, etc. These works and the woods that covered the slopes were filled with the enemy's riflemen, and batteries were in position to enfilade the bridge and its approaches. From Colonel Crook's position it was found impossible to carry the bridge. Colonel Crook brought a section of Simmons' Battery to a posi- tion to command the bridge. The 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania were then ordered to assault the bridge." The re- ports of Generals Burnside, Cox and other division commanders, are in line with above quotation and will be referred to further along. Early in the morning heavy cannonading was heard far on our right, telling us the battle was on in earnest. Shortly after these sounds broke in upon us, several shells came hurling into our camp in the sunken cornfield, one of them knocking down several stacks of guns. Immediately thereafter the regiment marched toward the front. Notwithstanding severe fighting had been indulged in, in an eflFort to take number 3 (Burnside) bridge, the 36th did not until later become actively engaged — not, indeed, until after it had crossed the bridge; this it did without firing a g^n. After crossing, it formed below the bridge under the low hill bordering the stream, its right extending nearly to (he Sharpsburg Road. Here it remained well sheltered, until probably about 3 p. m., when it was ordered to advance. This movement was made on the double-quick over rolling and ascend- ing ground that had been ploughed and was very rough, and over post and rail fences, so staunch they had to be climbed. While we were crossing these fences the enemy's sharpshooters gave us their strenuous and unremitting attention. While crossing the two small ridges it was under heavy fire of grape and can- ister; the enemy's guns were posted on a knoll that afforded them full sway of the ground the regiment was compelled to pass over. Just as the regiment had passed over the second THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 91 roll of ground into a shallow swale, Colonel Clark gave the command to "lie down"— "Men, lie down, every one of you." He motioned his command with his sword. As he uttered the command a shot from a rebel gun on our left front, where the enemy was heavily massed, struck him on the right thigh at its junction with the hip. He fell, dying in a few seconds. The regiment was greatly shocked thereby, for he was deeply respected, honored and loved by his men. Ten days before he had been promoted to succeed Crook to the colonelcy of the regiment, but, I believe, had not learned of his newly acquired honor. General Crook came along, cast a sad look at his late friend and companion in arms, then took personal charge of the regiment. After resting in that hollow for a short time, the regi- ment moved forward to a stone fence near the summit of the hill immediately overlooking Sharpsburg. Here it halted and engaged the enemy, witnessing also the heavy fighting on either wing. Said Sergeant True of G: "It was while we lay behind this fence that the battle on the left was lost. A few more troops put in promptly on our left and pushed forward would have gained us a very decided victory. From where we lay by that fence, we could see enough men behind Antietam not at all in action, to have rolled up Lee's right like a scroll." From the viewpoint occupied by the regiment like opinion, as expressed by Sergeant M. C. True, impressed itself upon the thinking men of the regiment. Darkness was growing apace, the drawing of night's curtain was gradually shutting out the scenes. Our forces to our right and left not having advanced so far as the 36th, and those with it, we were left without adequate support on either flank. The regiment was withdrawn, and under the shades of evening repaired to its former position near the bridge on the brow of the hill overlooking the bridge and creek and slept on arms all night. The battle of Antietam had passed into history. 92 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The regiment's casualties were 3 killed, 21 wounded and 2 missing. How the 36th missed the glory of being the first regiment to cross Burnside bridge, and Colonel Crook disappointed! If my readers will read the reports of McClellan, Burnside, Cox, Crook, et al., of Antietam, they will comprehend the dis- appointment that befell the Colonel and his regiment : "Headquarters Department of the Platte, "Omaha, Nebraska, December 19, 1887. "John T. Booth, M. D. : "My Dear Doctor: — Yours 12th instant, just at hand. On the morning of the 17th of September, Captain Christie, of General Cox's staff, came to me while we were lying in that sunken corn- field, where, you remember, we passed the night, and told me that General Sturgis' Division had failed to take the bridge, or had been repulsed, I don't just recall the language now; upon my inquiring where the bridge was, he replied, 'Damned if I know,' but supposed it was in the direction he pointed. Upon my remon- strating against such an indefinite order, he replied in a curt man- ner that he had done his duty in giving the order and it was my duty to obey it. Having heard the firing in the morning in the direction pointed out by Christie, I went forward with the nth Ohio to reconnoitre. We had not proceeded far before we came across the dead and wounded of General Sturgis' Division. I went sufficiently far in advance to see the situation and to convince myself that the bridge could not be taken from that point. I left the I ith Ohio where it was and took the 28th Ohio and a section of Simmonds' Battery to the right of the nth and up the creek into some small hills, leaving the 36th in the road near the brick house. I posted the section of artillery on a point that enfiladed the enemy's position and, in the meantime, had directed part of the 28th to cross the creek above the bridge by wading the stream, keeping the remainder of the 28th as a support to the artillery. My intention was to cross the bridge with the 36th Ohio myself. In a short time after opening of the battery's fire and the crossing of the 28th above the position of the enemy, they retreated, and by THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 93 he time I reached the 36th, two regiments of some other command valked across the bridge without having anything to do with aking it. I may also add that these two regiments referred to *rere the first troops I saw outside of our own command. If any ►ther troops than our brigade had anything to do with the taking >f the bridge, I don't know it. I feel sure in my own mind they lidn't have. "Yours sincerely, "George Crook." Behind this letter, and one I have from General Cox along ame line, is quite an interesting history which time and space •rohibits relating. October 6th the Kanawha Division returned to West /"irginia. January 25, 1863, the regiment embarked at Charles- on on transports for Nashville, Tennessee. From there it contin- led up the Cumberland to Carthage, thence in May to Murfrees- >oro, where it became a member of Reynolds' Division, 14th Thomas) Corps, actively participating in the Tullahoma and "hattanooga campaigns, and battles about Chattanooga. In February, 1864, some three hundred and sixty of the men •ecame veterans and were furloughed. Those who did not ►ecome veterans continued with the army of the Cumberland until iter the attack on Kenesaw Mountain. The veteran 36th was transferred to Charleston, West Vir- finia, again to be under Crook. It participated in the Dublin raid :ngaging in battle at Cloyd Mountain, in the Lynchburg raid mder General Hunter, and subsequently retreated to Meadow's Bluff. The regiment returned to Charleston; from thence, via i*arkersburg, to Martinsburg, West Virginia. August 7th General Sheridan took command of the army >f the Shenandoah. Under his command the regiment actively )articipated in the battles in the Valley. It remained in the Valley mtil December, 1864, when it went into winter quarters near J 94 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Cumberland, Maryland, where on the 26th of February, 1865, the members of the 34th O. V. I. were transferred to and consolidated with the 36th. In April went via Winchester to Staunton, Vir- ginia. About middle of June broke camp and reported at Cum- berland; there took cars to Wheeling, West Virginia, going into camp in Fair Grounds on the island, where on July 27th it was mustered out by A. Pettit, Captain O. V. Cavalry. The regiment was then sent to Columbus, Ohio, there paid, and on August i, 1865, disbanded. The 36th participated in the following engagements of magni- tude: Lewisburg, West Virginia; Bull Run (2nd); Frederick City, Maryland; South Mountain; Antietam; Tullahoma Cam- paign ; Murfreesboro ; Hoover's Gap ; Chickamauga ; Brown's Ferry; Mission Ridge; Qoyd's Mountain; Lynchburg; Kenesaw Alountain (general assault); Lexington ; Cabletown, July 19, '64; Charlestown; Kearnstown; Winchester; Martinsburg; Hall Town; Berryville; Opequan; Fisher's Hill; Cedar Creek; Cable- town, November 19, '64, and Beverly, Virginia. Also participated in many others less actively or they were of lesser note, as Cedar Glades, Birch River, Meadow's Bluff, James River Bridge, Man- assas, Chantilla, Frederick City, Dublin Station, Strasburg, Sum- mit Point and others. The records in my possession and those found in "Regimental Losses in Civil War — Fox," are not in absolute harmony, yet the difference is so minor that Fox's records are acceptable and here given. Page 493 gives regiment's casualties : "Killed and died of wounds, officers 4; enlisted men 136; total, 140. Died of diseases, accidents and in prison, 163 ; total, 303. Died of disease, killed in battle and by accident, wounded severely and missing, 518. Died in Confederate prisons 36 (previously included), total 518." The latter statement on page 323, Fox, also gives total reinlist- ments as 364. This summary of the regiment is necessarily so THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY. 95 brief as to deprive the command of many of the most glorious and interesting statements of its magnificent history. Inscription on monument: OHIO 36th Infantry Commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Melvin Clarke (killed) Crook's (2nd) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac This regiment advanced near the bridge over Antietam Creek on the morning of September 17, 1862. Supporting Sturgis' Division, it participated in the charge by which the bridge was captured. Lieutenant-Colonel Melvin Clarke was killed near this spot. Its loss was I officer and i man killed ; 21 men wounded ; 2 men missing ; total, 25. 96 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ^ First Ohio Independent Battery 4^ THE First Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery, was organized at Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio, by the election of James Ross McMuUen of Mansfield, Ohio, as Captain, Geo, D. Croon of Dayton, Ohio, ist Lieutenant, and G. H. McClung of Troy, as 2d Lieutenant. The organization was the combination of the one-gun batteries, as they existed under the Ohio militia laws of Dayton and Troy, and to those were added individual members from nearly every part of the State. The Troy contingent was the first in camp on the 4th of July, 1861, the Dayton organization joining the next day, July 5th. The Battery was mustered into the military service of the United States on the 6th day of July, 1861, for a term of three years, unless sooner discharged. On the 6th day of August it left Camp Chase for Clarksburg, West Virginia, where it met for the first time its future division commander. General W. S. Rosecrans. At Clarksburg the battery was equipped with four mountain howitz- ers, and a full complement of raw, unbroken mules to draw the guns, and carry on pack saddles the ammunition. The battery never had a greater battle with patience than the breaking of the mules, and at the beginning it was no uncommon sight to see a mule running away with a piece of artillery or several hundred pounds of ammunition. With the 23rd O. V. L, the battery marched to Weston, thence by way of Buckhannon, Beverly and Cheat Mountain Pass over the country to Sutton, where FIRST OHIO INDEPENDENT BATTERY. 97 the division rendezvoused, and where the battery was brigaded with the loth, i2th and 13th O. V. I., commanded by General Benham. Thence the entire division marched through Summers- ville until, on the loth of September, '61, late in the evening, they encountered the fortified forces of General J. B. Floyd, of the Confederate Army, at Carnifex Ferry on the Gauley River. A sharp engagement followed in which the infantry suffered con- siderable loss, Colonel Lowe of the 12th being killed, and Colonel Lytle of the loth being wounded. During the night the forces evacuated their fortified position and retreated across the Gauley, and continuing their retreat to Sewl Mountain, followed by the Union forces. From and after this action, the battery was known m the command and at home as the "Jackass Battery." After a desultory campaign along the east side of the Gauley durmg which the battery had one man wounded, the division crossed Cotton Mountain on the west side of the Gauley, and again engaged Floyd's forces in an entrenched camp, driving them out after much skirmishing, and following them about twenty-five miles south of Fayetteville, when they returned to that place. On General Rosecrans being assigned the command of the army in Tennessee the old division was broken up, and the battery assigned to a brigade composed of the 12th, 23rd and 30th O. V I com- manded for a short time by General R. C. Schenck. The command went into winter quarters at Fayetteville until the early part of 1862, when one section was sent to Raleigh with a battalion of the 23rd, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R B Hayes. On May i, 1862, the brigade and other troops from the Ka- nawha advanced toward the south, going as far as Parisburg in ones County, Virginia. Communications being disturbed the entire force fell bacic, and the brigade stopped and camped for some months on Flat Top Mountain. In August, a division composed of the nth, i2th, 23rd, 30th and 36th O. V. I., and the 1st Ohio 8 O. at A. 98 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. and 1st Kentucky Batteries, and Gilmore's Cavalry, commanded by General J. D. Cox, went east to join Pope's army of Virginia, of which it was an integral part. Of the entire force but two of the regiments got through to Pope's army, although part of the division took an active part in an engagement at Bull Run bridge with the Jersey Brigade of General Taylor. During the operation of Pope's army, the battery occupied, with other troops. Fort Ram- sey on Munson Hill. On the reorganization of the army under General McClellan, to re^el Lee's invasion of Maryland, the Kanawha Division was assigned to the Ninth Army Corps, and marched from Washing- ton to Fredericktown, when the rear guard of the Confederates was first encountered and driven from the field. Following the retreating army on the 13th of September, camp was made at Mid- dletown. The next morning, Sunday, September 14th, the advance was soon up against the army on South Mountain. Mov- ing to the left, the division took position, and the battery was engaged with the Confederate artillery. Swinging yet farther to the left, one section of the battery formed in line under Lieuten- ant Oroome with the infantry of the division on a ridge near the crest of the mountain, facing a stone wall, but a few rods distant, behind which, and in the woods, the febels were posted. On leav- ing West Virginia, the howitzers had been turned over to the 37th O. V. L, and we were equipped with brass field pieces and a brace of Parrot guns. An attempt was made to serve the guns, when the eflFort meant almost certain death, and while doing it, one of the can- noneers was hit with a bullet across the hand and dropped the ramrod. Lieutenant Oroome sprang to take his place, and in the act received a mortal wound, from which he died in a few hours. The men were ordered to lie down until the 28th and 36th were in line, when order to charge was given, and the immediate front was cleaned. FIRST OHIO INDEPENDENT BATTERY. 99 On the night of the i6th the battery and division arrived on the battle ground of Antietam, and early on the morning of the 17th was placed well to the left of the long lines of artillery, on the ground overlooking the valley of the Antietam, During the battle that followed Alonzo Rooks was struck by a solid shot from a Confederate battery and instantly killed. Immedi- ately after the battle the battery was taken to Washington and entirely refitted with four regulation steel guns. The division generally fared well after Antietam, Colonels Crook, of the 36th, and Scammon, of the 23d, Hugh Ewing, of the 30th, and Moore, of the 28th, being promoted as Brigadier-Generals. The rebels having again entered the Kanawha Valley, and captured and were operating the salt works, the division was again returned to West Virginia, and marched over much the same ground, and doing its work over again in cleaning the valley, and the battery again went into winter quarters at Fay- etteville. In May, 1863, the rebels made a day and a half attempt to force the works at Fayetteville ; but the garrison, having been reinforced from the Kanawha Valley, the enemy retreated, and were followed as far as Raleigh by the infantry and artil- lery, and as far as Flat Top Mountain by the cavalry. In July of the same year an advance was made as far as Raleigh, and the rebels scattered from the immediate front. Swinging swiftly backward, the command fell back to the Ohio, to take part in the work of heading off John Morgan and his horde, but arrived too late to be needed, but reached Buffington Island in the effort, and on the return quite a few of Morgan's men surrendered to the battery, being glad of a chance of falling into the hands of the volunteers, rather than into those of the irate "Squirrel Hunters." Returning to Fayetteville, the battery spent its third win- ter in quarters at that place until late in the season, when it was attached to General Duffie's Cavalry Brigade, in which it 100 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. was to serve as horse artillery; but the scheme was abandoned, and in the spring, at the commencement of operations, it returned to the 2d Brigade, then composed of the 12th and 9th O. V. I. and the 9th West Virginia Infantry. Early in May, the division, now commanded by General George Crook, opened the campaign of 1864, by advancing on the west side of New River toward Dublin Station, on the Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad, meet- ing with no serious opposition until Cloyd's farm was reached, when the rebels, in intrenched position, withstood for a time a further advance, the artillery doing good service here, being much better and more efficiently equipped than that of the Confederates, notwithstanding the advantage of the earthworks. The engage- ment was a severe one, considering the number engaged, but the enemy was driven off in confusion and was followed to Dublin, when large captures in stores and arms were made. Crossing to the west side of the river, the division captured and occupied the defense of New Bern, capturing quite a number of pieces of artillery, and fell back to Meadow Blufifs, when prep- arations were made for the expedition to the East to join the forces of General Hunter, advancing up the Shenandoah. The junction with the ist Division of the 8th Corps was made at Staunton, after a march across the mountains without much op- position. From Staunton the advance was made to Lexington, where an engagement occurred, in which Private George Tank, of the battery, was killed. Thence, by Buchanan and Liberty, the corps made a demonstration against Lynchburg, where quite a serious engagement took place on the evening of our arrival there. During the night the enemy were heavily reinforced, and on the next day made a furious assault on our lines, but were repulsed by the Kanawha Division. On nightfall the Confederates largely outnumbered the Union troops, and in the darkness the 8th Corps commenced a retreat toward Liberty, and fell back through West Virginia to the Kanawha, harassed much of the way by the Con- N V-^K, ^''V OliLO ^^ BATTERY LIGHT ARTILLERY ' COMMANDED BY ^ f Capt. JAMES RJcMULLIN ^ KANAWHA DIVISION HIMTH ARMX CORPS iRMYOFIHlPQlOHAt FIRST OHIO INDEPENDENT BATTERY. 101 federates. It was a toilsome, fruitless march, most of it, the men suffering constantly for rations of any sort, through a region scant at best of food and supplies of any sort. The battery remained at Charleston for some weeks, when it was ordered home for discharge, and was mustered out at Todd Barracks, in Columbus, on the i6th day of July, 1864, Captain Mc- Mullin, the only one of the original officers, being mustered out with the company. Most of its members re-entered the service in other organizations, and remained in the service until the end of the war. The detachments of recruits that had, from time to time, been added to the battery remained in service until the expiration of their term, serving under Captain Kirtland in West Virginia and in the Shenandoah. Inscription on monument: OHIO 1st Battery Light Artillery Commanded by Captain James R. McMullin Hugh Ewing's (ist) Brigade Kanawha Division Ninth Army Corps Army of the Potomac This battery occupied a position about 250 yards due east of this. 102 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ^ Dedication of Monuments ^ IT was originally intended by the Commission to dedicate the Ohio monuments at Antietam on the 17th of September, 1903, the forty-first anniversary of the battle, but, owing to the uncertainty as to whether they would all be in place on that day, and to the further fact that the State of New Jersey dedi- cated its monuments on that date, it was thought best to post- pone our dedicatory services to the 13th of October, 1903. There were present at that time several hundred of the old comrades and citizens of Ohio, headed by Governor George K. Nash. The day was an ideal one. A large number of the citizens of Mary- land honored the occasion by their presence. There was quite a delegation from Washington, among which were the Acting Secretary of War, General Robert Shaw Oliver; General E. A. Carman, of the National Commission, and General Ian Ham- ilton, of the British Army, was also an interested and interesting spectator on the occasion. The accommodations in the locality for a meeting of this kind were limited, but, owing to the skill and good management of Major J. T. Moore, of the Commission, who had charge thereof, everything was nicely arranged, and all were made comfortable. There was no friction or incon- a a 2; w n C n DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 103 venience in any particular. The services were held in front of the now historic Dunker church, baptized during the battle with the best blood of both armies. The Commission having specially invited President Roose- velt to be present and make an address on the occasion, he kindly sent the following letter, expressing regret at his inability to be present : Oyster Bay, N. Y., September 9, 1903. My Dear Major Cunningham: , I have gone carefully over my engagements, and I am very sorry to say that it is simply out of the question for me to accept your invitation. So great is my desire to meet the wishes of the members of my predecessor's old regiment, that if I were able to break through my rule in your favor I should certainly do so; had I been warned in time, I might have been able to make arrangements; but now that I have accepted an invitation to speak at Antietam, and inasmuch as I speak to another body of Grand Army men in the week of the dedication of Major Mc- Kinley's monument, it is simply impossible for me to make an- other speech at this time. You have no conception of the number of requests I receive for speeches, which I should like to make, were I able to. There is none that I have refused with greater regret than this. I shall ask the Acting Secretary of War and the Lieutenant- General of the Army to be present. Sincerely yours Theodore Roosevelt. 204 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. PROGRAM OF THE DEDICATION OF OHIO MONU- MENTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF ANTIETAM, MARYLAND, OCTOBER 13, 1903. 1. Prayer, by Rev. William R. Parsons, Chaplain 66th O. V. I. 2. Report of Commission, by Captain W. W. Miller, of the 8th O. V. I., Secretary-Treasurer of the Commission. 3. Introductory Remarks, by Major David Cunningham, of the 30th O. V. I., President of the Commission. — Presenta- tion of monuments on behalf of the Commission to Hon. George K. Nash, Governor of Ohio. 4. Presentation of monuments to the War Department of the United States, by Hon. George K. Nash, Governor of Ohio. 5. Acceptance of monuments, by Acting Secretary of War, Hon. Robert Shaw Oliver. 6. Orations, by Comrades who participated in the Battle. — Gen. Robert P. Kennedy, 23d O. V. L, and General Eugene Powell, 66th O. V. I. 7. Address, by Samuel B. M. Young, Lieutenant-General and Chief of Staff, U. S. A.* 8. Benediction. 9. Visit to batttlefield and inspection of monuments. Promptly at 10 a. m.. Major D. Cunningham, President of the Commission, called the meeting to order, and Rev. William R. Parsons not having arrived, he introduced Rev. O. S. Kriebel, of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, who delivered the invocation, as follows : O God, our Heavenly Father, we come into Thy holy pres- ence on this hallowed spot and acknowledge our dependence •General Young was not able to be present, on account of important official business. DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS, 105 upon Thee. We would lift up our hearts in praise and gratitude unto Thee, for all the manifold blessings Thou hast so graciously bestowed upon us in times past. We thank Thee, O God, for our national mercies and bless- ings. We thank Thee for the glorious principles and the noble institutions of liberty, education and religion, which our fathers, under Thy guiding hand, were led to establish upon this conti- nent. We devoutly offer thanks for the true and loyal men whom Thou didst raise up from time to time for their country's service, and who labored so faithfully, in times of peace and war, for the maintenance and preservation of our cherished institu- tions. Especially do we thank Thee, O God, most reverently and most profoundly, for the devotion and sacrifice of the many brave men, who, on this field of battle, and on many another field of conflict and carnage freely gave themselves to their country's service, that this government of the people, by the people and for the people might not perish from the earth. May their arduous labors and their heroic sacrifices inspire us all to better service in the cause of our common country. May the memory of those who have freely offered themselves upon their country's altar be a cher- ished heritage and a source of living inspiration to the millions who are enjoying the unnumbered blessings of our blood-bought institutions. Do Thou, O God, look down in mercy upon us as a nation and as a people. Have mercy upon our national sins and iniqui- ties. Bless with Thy divine approval the feeble efforts of Thy people to serve Thee. Do Thou bless those in authority. Give wisdom and guidance to those in whose hands is the directing and shaping of the affairs of our country. Do Thou strengthen the forces that make for enlightenment and true liberty. Do Thou so move upon the hearts of Thy people that sin, lawlessness and corruption may be suppressed and uprooted and that right- eousness, justice, mercy and peace may prevail within our bor- ders, and that our noble institutions, purchased at such an ex- penditure of costly sacrifice, may be strengthened and perpetu- ated for the blessing of our children and children's children in the ages to come. May we indeed be a people whose God is the Lord. And now, O God, we commend ourselves to Thee. Do 106 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Thou bless the exercises of this day. Give utterance to those who shall speak to us. Do Thou help us to keep green the mem- ory of friend and foe, who fell here in their country's cause. In- spire us all to a larger measure of devotion to our common flag and to a truei loyalty to our country's interests. Draw us all into a closer fellowship with Thyself, and make us to taste the joy of Thy forgiveness and Thy loving service. May Thy king- dom come and Thy will be done among us individually and as a people, as it is done in heaven. Amen. The Chairman, in introducing Captain Miller, said : It is an old established rule of law that a steward should be ready at all times to render an account of his stewardship. Acting upon this principle, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission will now report what the Commission has done and how they did it. Captain W. W. Miller, of the 8th O. V. I., our Secretary, will now make report. I will say for him personally, that if he g^ves half as good an account of the Commission as he did of himself as a soldier in 1862, fighting in front of Bloody Lane (the Golgotha of this field), his report will be beyond com- parison. Mr. President, Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit the following brief report of the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commision: May 12, 1902, the General Assembly of Ohio enacted a law "To authorize the appointment of a Commission to mark the po- sitions occupied by Ohio troops on the battlefield of Antietam with suitable monuments, and to make an appropriation to pay the costs of the same and to pay the personal expenses of the Commission." June II, 1902, Hon. George K. Nash, Governor of Ohio, appointed the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission, consisting of the following members : David Cunningham, Cadiz, 30th O. V. I. ; J. T. Moore, Barnesville, 30th O. V. I. ; T. J. West, Tiffin, ■WffBgg'^^ DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 107 8th O. V. I.; D. H. Kimberley, Cleveland, 23d O. V. I., and W. W. Miller, Castalia, 8th O. V. I. (Note.— On account of the protracted illness of Comrade T. J. West, Comrade E. T. Naylor, Tiffin, 8th O V.. I., was, on June 16, 1903, authorized by the Governor to act as his substi- tute.) July 7, 1902, the members of the Commission met at the State House, Columbus, and organized by electing David Cun- ningham, President and W. W. Miller, Secretary-Treasurer. The Commission immediately proceeded to prepare for the erection of suitable monuments by the purchase of sites on the battlefield, and advertised for designs and proposals for monu- mental work. January 29, 1903, the Commission held a meeting in Colum- bus, for the purpose of inspecting designs and considering pro- posals for monumental work, submitted by well known and prominent manufacturers of the country. On the following day, January 30, 1903, the Commission decided to accept designs and proposals submitted by the Hughes Granite and Marble Company, of Clyde, Ohio, they being, in the judgment of the Commission, the best offered by the several parties competing for contracts. February 28, 1903, all details having been satisfactorilv arranged, the Commission entered into contract with the said The Hughes Marble and Granite Company for the erection of ten monuments on the Antietam battlefield, as follows : One to Commissary-Sergeant William McKinley, of the 23d O. V. I., for his valiant act in supplying his regiment with cooked rations while on the firing line; one to the 5th, 7th and 66th O. V. I., and eight separate monuments to the ist Ohio Independ- ent Battery and the 8th, nth, 12th, 23d, 28th, 30th and 36th regiments, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. All the Ohio troops engaged in the sanguinary and stub- bornly contested battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, acquit- ted themselves with great honor to themselves, their State and their country. It seems proper to make special mention of the great valor displayed by Commissary-Sergeant William McKin- 108 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ley, of the 23d O. V. L, in furnishing his regiment with hot cofifee and cooked rations while on the firing line, without orders, and, in fact, in violation of orders received from (to him) and un- known general officer, whom he met, and by whom he Vv^as turned back when he first attempted to cross "Burnside bridge." After the general officer had passed out of sight, the intrepid McKin- ley — a boy of nineteen years of age — resumed his zealous and gallant search for his comrades, and succeeded in provisioning them on the spot where Ohio has done herself great honor in erecting the McKinley monument. The official records of the United States War Department show that the Ohio commands engaged in the Battle of Antie- tam, with the number of troops engaged and the losses sustained, were as follows : 1st Ohio Independent Battery — Number of men engaged, not reported; no losses reported. 5th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; killed, eleven (11); wounded, thirty-five (35); cap- tured, two (2) ; total, forty-eight (48). 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; killed, five (5); wounded, thirty-three (33); total, thirty-eight (38). 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, three hundred and forty-one (341); killed^ thirty-two (32); wounded, one hundred and twenty-nine (129); total, one hun- dred and sixty-one (161). nth Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; killed, four (4) ; wounded, twelve (12) ; captured or unaccounted for, five (5) ; total, twenty-one (21). 28th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; killed, two (2); wounded, nineteen (19); total, twenty-one (21). 36th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; wounded, six (6) ; total, six (6). 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantr}' — Number of men engaged, one hundred and twenty-three (123) ; killed, one (i) ; wounded, twenty-three (23); total, twenty-four (24). The 1 2th, 23d and 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, together with the 1st Ohio Independent Battery, and two separate com- DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 109 panics of West Virginia troops, constituted a brigade, which went into action with fourteen hundred and fifty-five ( 1,455) men. 1 2th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, two hundred (200) ; killed, seven (7) ; wounded, twenty-six (26) ; total, thirty-three (33). 23d Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported; killed, eight (8); wounded, fifty-nine (59); cap- tured or unaccounted for, two (2) ; total, sixty-nine (69). 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry — Number of men engaged, not reported ; killed, thirteen (13) ; wounded, forty-nine (49) ; cap- tured or unaccounted for, eighteen ( 18) ; total, eighty (80). The monuments "to mark the positions occupied by Ohio troops on the battlefield of Antietam" are now in position, to the entire satisfaction of the Commission, to the everlasting honor and memory of the patriotism, loyalty and bravery of all the Ohio troops who took part in the memorable engagement, both dead and living, and to the honor and credit of the State of Ohio, and are now ready to be dedicated. Respectfully submitted, W. W. Miller, Secretary-Treasurer of Commission. Address by Naior David Cunaingham I desire to say, on behalf of the citizens of the State of Ohio here present, that we have many reasons to feel highly complimented by the presence of so large a number of the citizens of this community to grace a meeting which more directly concerns the people of Ohio than of Maryland. The compliment is more highly appre- ciated, knowing that, living as you did, during the years 1861-5, on the border between the two armies, you were exposed to all the vicissitudes and annoyances of active warfare, and therefore have less reason to remember with pleasure those trying days. I am also told that you were not then in entire accord, but, on the contrary, it frequently happened that one brother would be fighting in the Union army, while another served in the Con- 110 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. federate, and father would be arrayed against son, and the son against his father; one-half of the community recognized the stars and bars as their national emblem, and the other half still holding to the stars and stripes. But, looking in your faces to- day, I believe you are all in happy accord with us, and rejoice as heartily as we do that the war terminated as it did, and that you rejoice with us that we are again a united, happy, prosperous and strong nation ; that we have but one national emblem, recog- nized and acknowledged everywhere, and that emblem "old glory" ; the flag that your Maryland Colonial ancestors were instrumental in having chosen, and that has ever since floated over a nation which they, with their blood and treasure, helped to establish, and under a free constitution, which they helped to form and adopt. Thanking you again for your presence here, I further desire to say that we regard as right and proper, and we think the whole world will agree with us, that on this, the forty-first anniversary year of the great battle fought here, that the sur- vivors of that memorable conflict should meet on this field for the patriotic purpose of dedicating these monuments, provided by the State of Ohio, to mark the sites where her various military organizations performed their most conspicuous service in the great contest here enacted. On the morning of the 17th of September, 1862, these hills and valleys, now presenting a veritable Arcadia, where all is peace, harmony and good will, were then filled with the charg- ing thousands of the contending armies, under the command re- spectively of Major-General George B. McClellan on the one side and General Robert E. Lee on the other. The battle was opened by daylight on the Union right by "Fighting Joe" Hooker, who, with his characteristic impetuosity, pushed his charging columns up to and beyond the Dunker church, where they were met by the concentrated Confederate divisions, under the immediate command of Stonewall Jackson, and the stars and stripes had to give way temporarily to the stars and bars ; but they, too, were again driven back, and so it contin- ued hour after hour. When the right of the Union line had exhausted itself, the center took up the gauntlet; later in the day the left became en- DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. Ill gaged, and thus the fight went on from early dawn until stars came out in the evening. That night over 25,000 of the flower and chivalry of both armies lay stretched on the field. Five thousand dead and over 20,000 wounded, in all forms of mutilation, covered the ground between the two contending forces. It has been truly said by a distinguished historian of the Civil War, that the 17th day of September, 1862, was the blood- iest day America ever saw. If criticism were allowed, I would say that the campaign of invasion was badly planned on one side and inefficiently met and defeated on the other. But whatever criticism may be indulged in as to the gen- eral direction and management of the battle by the commanding generals of either army, no critic has ever taken exception to the splendid fighting qualities displayed by both armies. There was no displaying of the white feather anywhere; every com- pany, regiment and brigade did their whole duty; every order given, that was possible in human nature to be obeyed, was car- ried out to the letter. The bravery and patriotic valor of the Union army, dis- played on this occasion, is worthy of all praise. Time has not dimmed their acts of bravery, and the years, as they go by, instead of clouding the luster of their patriotic deeds, have only added new brightness and fuller recognition. As an evidence of this, we find, after nearly forty years had elapsed, the Legis- lature of Ohio, upon the recommendation of its patriotic Gov- ernor, Nash, voting the money to rear these monuments we are here today to dedicate, to mark the places where its representa- tive military organizations not only covered themselves with glory, but added imperishable honor and renown to the State they represented. Not that these monuments can add new luster t^ their fame; that is not their purpose, but they are intended as a feeble recognition thereof, and for the further purpose of enabling the descendants and friends of the men who fought here, when, in the years to come, they may visit this field (as I trust they will never cease to do to the remotest time), to find 112 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. the exact spot where their ancestors fought, and maybe died, that these States, forming the Government of the United States, should cease to be held together by mere ropes of sand, but should be welded together by bands of steel in one compact, cohesive, indissoluble whole, forming one imperishable, imperial, if you so choose to call it, government of the whole people. The law under which the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Com- mission was created was enacted by the present General Assem- bly of Ohio in its regular session, and the Commission was ap- pointed by Governor George K. Nash, in pursuance thereof, in July, 1902. Whatever mistakes or failures we have made, and they are doubtless numerous, want of promptness is not one of them. To you, Governor Nash, this Commission desires to return thanks for the many acts of courtesy extended to us, both col- lectively and individually, and further desire to thank you for numerous and valuable suggestions, made by you during the progress of our work ; and, now that we have completed the same, we sincerely hope that what we have done may meet not only your own personal approval, but the approval, as well, of the people of Ohio, whose servants we are, and we are especially solicitous that our work may receive the commendation of our comrades, the surviving members of the different Ohio military or- ganizations, who participated in the great conflict here waged. And, Governor, I am further directed and empowered by the Antietam Battlefield Commission to say to you that the trust you delegated to us has been fully performed to the best of our ability, and we now surrender to you these monuments, that have been erected under our supervision, to be by you transferred, in pursuance of the law providing for the same, to the General Government of the United States, to be hereafter under tlie special keeping and custody of the Secretary of War. Address by Governor George K. Nash Major Cunningham and Members of the Ohio Antietam Bat- tlefield Commission : You were soldiers who took part in the great DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 113 battle of the Civil War fought upon this field on the 17th of Septem- ber, 1862. I am sure that it was a work of love upon your part to erect for Ohio the ten monuments in memory of the heroism here displayed by your comrades. I congratulate you that this work has been completed, and that it is of such a character as to be a credit, not only to you, but also to your State. FORTY YEARS AGO. It is now more than forty years since the men, whose deer's of valor we thus honor, contended on this field. The monuments of bronze and granite which you have erected cannot make their tory's imperishable pages. No words of ours can add to the lus- fame more enduring, for their achievements are .nscribed in bis- ter of their patriotism of purest ray, as it is alreadv deeply en- shrmed in the hearts of their countrymen. Neither are we here to boast over those who were then our Jfoes. Ours is a loftier, more noble and patriotic purpose. They are no longer our enemies. They are our friends. We are all Americans. We love one country. We owe allegiance to one government. We live under one flag, which each of us, I am sure, IS ever ready to defend, now and evermore. If, when we leave this scene and the lessons here inculcated, our love of coun- try is not more sincere, our allegiance to our Government is not more firmly cemented, and our love for the flag is not more intense, our coming together will have been for little purpose. LINCOLN'S PROPHECY TRUE. When the great conflict began, and all seemed lost, the President of the United States was of sufficient strength and nobihty of purpose to look beyond the storm, and utter this mes- sage of hope: "Though passion may strain, it must not break •our bonds of aflfection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching irom every battlefield and patriot grave to every loving heart 9 O. at A. 114 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as they surely will be, by the better angels of our nature." The better angels now hold sway. The prophecy of Lincoln has become history. McKINLEY, THE SOLDIER. There was in this battle a young soldier from Ohio, by name William McKinley. He was the Commissary-Sergeant of the 23d regiment, O. V. L On the afternoon of the close of the battle, with much personal risk to himself, he supplied his hungry comrades with cooked rations, upon that part of the field where they had valiantly contended for hours with their intrepid foe. For this act the State of Ohio has erected upon the ground where this service was performed a beautiful monument, and dedicated it to his memory. This soldier was afterwards President of the United States, and became a martyr for his country, as did Lin- coln. Like Lincoln, he prayed that the passions of the Civil War might pass away, and that affection for the Union might be restored to all the people of this country. OHIO'S GREATEST PLEASURE. For this reason Ohio has taken all the more pleasure in erecting this monument. Fortunately, he lived to see the evi- dence of the cordial feeling, to which he contributed so much, be- tween the North and the South, which existed during the Span- ish-American War. This led him to exclaim : "What an army of silent sentinels we have, and with what loving care their graves are kept! Every soldier's grave, made during our unfortunate Civil War, is a tribute to American valor. And while, when those graves were made, we differed widely about the future of this Government, those dififerences were long ago settled by the arbitrament of arms ; and the time has now come in the evolution of sentiment and feeling, under the providence of God, when,. DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 115 in the spirit of friendship, we should share with you in the care of the graves of Confederate soldiers." LEARN TO LOVE FLAG. As the years go by, it is our hope that whoever wanders over these fields and looks upon the monument lovingly erected by his State to the memory of McKinley, will learn to love and rever- ence the flag as he loved and reverenced it. Those who recall the incidents of the Spanish-American War in 1898 will not forget the affair of the torpedo boat Wins- low, in the harbor of Cardenas, on the coast of Cuba. While gal- lantly defending his little boat, Ensign Worth Bagley, of North Carolina, was killed by an enemy's shell. By his side, fatally wounded by a fragment of the same shell, fell a brave young sea- man, George Meek, of Ohio. Thus a son of the South and a son of the North gave up their lives in support of a common cause and the one flag which floats over our reunited country today. Surely the prophecy of the great and patriotic Lincoln has been realized, and our country has been reunited in the harmo- nious bonds of love and peace, more glorious than ever before. One duty rests upon us all. These fields, once red with the precious blood of our beloved brothers, should indelibly impress its importance and sacredness upon us. Henceforth and forever- more, it is and should be our patriotic mission to defend the Govern- ment of our fathers and uphold our glorious flag. DEFEND THE GOVERNMENT. Mr. Acting Secretary of War: It now becomes my duty to surrender to the care and keeping of your Department the mon- ument erected upon this field in honor of the heroism of William McKinley and the monuments erected by the State of Ohio in memory of the 5th, 7th, 8th, nth, 12th, 23d, 30th, 36th and 66th regiments, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and the ist Ohio Independ- ent Battery. I do this with great pleasure, because I know that 116 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. our Government will forever cherish and preserve them for the benefit of future generations. The Chairman, introducing General R. S. Oliver, said: We have here today the present head of the War Depart- ment, who has kindly come over from Washington, to be pres- ent on this occasion, and to formally receive the Ohio monuments we have here dedicated today. I now have the honor of present- ing to you the Acting Secretary of War, Hon. Robert Shaw Oliver, who will, on behalf of the War Department, respond to the address of Governor Nash. General Oliver, Acting Secretary of War, in a few well chosen remarks, accepted, on behalf of the War Department, the monuments at the hands of Governor Nash. He also paid a high compliment to the volunteer soldier of the Civil War, and to the State of Ohio, which so kindly and patriotically remembers her citizen soldiery, and spoke of the beautiful monument to Ser- geant McKinley, and the incentive that it would have, in inspir- ing the hearts of the youth of the State in the performance of duty, and in spurring them on to the performance and accom- plishment of brave and patriotic deeds. President Cunningham said: I have now the pleasure of introducing the orator of the day, an old and tried soldier, who, immediately after the firing upon Sumter, enlisted for the war, and served continuously until after Appomattox. He was present and conspicuous for his bravery in the fight here in 1862. He has since served his State in Congress, and as Lieutenant- Governor, presiding over the Senate of Ohio, he was the pioneer counter of a quorum in a legislative body. The Tom Reed rules in Congress, which secured to Speaker Reed the title of Czar, were simply patterned after the rules he established in the Senate of Ohio, and which secured him the title of King Bob. I now introduce to you General R. P. Kennedy, of Ohio, who will address you. a (A I— < o w W w is ■^ > o c 2: a 2: o w if .^iPt • -It*-.;-. \:\ DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 117 Address by General R. P. Kennedy Upon this field of Antietam was fought one of the most desperate battles of the War of the Rebellion, upon the out come of which hung the destinies and liberties of millions of hu- man beings. The ^n rose upon fields covered with grass and grain, and rich with the promise of the coming harvest; it went down behind the mountains, and left blackened fields covered with blood and slaughter and tears. One hundred and fifty thousand men here contended for the mastery, and twenty thousand were left dead and dying upon these slopes and hillsides before the battle was either lost or won. Three hundred pieces of artillery made the deafening music of the great battle, while one hundred and fifty thousand small arms added to the mighty struggle, which continued from sunrise to sunset. It was one of the hardest fought and most desperate battles of the war, but it was fraught with the greatest blessings to the country, to humanity and to the world. AFTER THE BATTLE. It is fitting that we should come, after all the passions of the war have cooled, and when we can gather up and fairly estimate the results of these mighty conflicts, to bear testimony to the patient heroism of those who were a part of that great struggle, and to measure its worth by the blessings which have become a part of the country's glory and the people's liberty. We must not forget the cost at which all these have been purchased, nor the sacrifices necessary to win them. We must not forget the great leaders who here offered up their lives, and the heroic men whose names are written in the records of their country's history. On these fields of blood and battle marched and fought the grandest armies the world had ever seen, and in these contests 118 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. the most patriotic and intelligent soldiers the world had ever known. The men in the ranks of these armies came from the quiet homes of the people. They were the bone and sinew of the nation. They had been schooled in the intelligence which comes from the splendid opportunities of a free and enlightened people. Never before upon the face of the earth had such armies gathered for war and battle. The men in the ranks were equal in intelligence and learn- ing to their commanders in the field. They had both alike come from the banks, the farms, the pulpits, the factories and the uni- versities. The followers of today became the leaders of tomorrow. The men in the ranks stepped forward to fill the places of the generals who fell in battle. It was an army of freemen fighting for the unity of the country and the liberty of the human race. THE HEROES AND MARTYRS. What splendid figures stand out from these battlefields: There on the right is Sumner, the lion hearted hero of the army, who knew neither fear nor favor, whose courage was as un- measured as it was unconquered and unquestioned, whose soul was as tender as a woman's, going down to death, to glory and to victory. There is white haired Mansfield, grand old soldier of the Republic, whose wish to die on the battlefield with his harness on found its consummation on this battlefield of Antietam. Yonder on the right is Hooker, in the midst of a fire and car- nage that was as fearful as it was destructive, pushing before him the red tide of battle, and slowly, but surely, driving back- ward hosts that would have been invincible before other arms than those of Americans fighting for liberty and unity. Here at the bridge is Burnsides, splendid soldier of the Re- public, whose patriotism was as intense as his ability was un- questioned. There is that quiet but most accomplished soldier. Crook, winning on every battlefield the fame that was to place his name DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 119 among the foremost of the country's defenders, and that was to lift him into the front rank of its greatest soldiers. Here is Cox, among the very first to take the field from Ohio in the beginning of the war, and whose record was one of excep- tional distinction and renown. Still further to the left was Sturgis, holding the line that was to be the bulwark of defense, and in front of which was to be enacted a fearful tragedy of war and death. On yonder hillside Lee, Jackson and Longstreet, the mighty leaders of the Confederates, were holding with desperate deter- mination the line of the Potomac, and endeavoring to stay the oncoming hosts of the Union armies, and hoping, by one des- perate stroke of battle, to bring not only victory to their cause, but to discourage and disrupt the cause of the Union armies. When the sun went down upon the conflict the western skies were red with the flame of battle. Twenty thousand men lay dead and dying upon the fields, and twenty thousand homes were disconsolate, but above this field of death and desolation floated in triumph the flag of the Union. THE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. From this battlefield, and from the midst of its dead and dying, came the greatest act of the martyred President. You will recall the fact that he had promised himself that if the Union armies were successful and the Confederates should be driven from Maryland he would issue the proclamation of emancipa- tion, and on the 22d day of September, five days after this battle of Antietam, there was sent forth, over the signature of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest document ever witnessed by human hand. This battlefield had not only won for the nation a new lease of life, but it had torn from the constitution a living lie, and had won for four millions of human chattels that measure of liberty which God had intended for all mankind. Abraham Lincoln held aloft the broken shackles of four mil- lions of men and women, and lifted them, all broken, crushed and 120 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. bleeding, to the plane of universal manhood. It was the greatest triumph of the centuries; it was the triumph of liberty over slavery; it was the uplifting of humanity over the degradation of a hundred years of servitude and toil. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I saw Abraham Lincoln but twice: once before he became President, the night after his great Cooper Institute speech, he came to the city of New Haven to address the people. Standing before that great multitude, tall, gaunt, swaying backward and forward, like a mighty oak, one sentence of that wonderful ad- dress I shall never forget. I quote it from memory, after more than forty years have passed : "I hold this truth to be self-evident, what is right in South Carolina is right in Connecticut; what is wrong in Connecticut is wrong in South Carolina. I hold human slavery to be wrong, in Connecticut, and I hold human slavery to be wrong, eternally wrong in South Carolina." That sentence is ringing like a crystal bell, it was emblazoned on the red sky of battle, it has become a part of the nation's history, it has been written in the constitution of the country, it is going down the ages. I never saw Abraham Lincoln but once again. On this bat- tlefield of Antietam, after the fearful storm of war had swept over it, he came to review that splendid Army of the Potomac. It had been a part of the fortune of war, young officer that I was, that I should be in charge of a part of the extreme left of that army during the battle, and as he passed down the line I was called to the front and presented to him as the youngest commander of the Army of the Potomac. The great man took my hand and kindly said, "The young men of the nation must preserve the unity of the land and the liberties of the people." Though I should live into the centuries the proudest moment of my life was the moment when on this battlefield of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln took the hand of my younger manhood and smiled down upon me like a great benediction. DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 121 Abraham Lincoln: It seems to me that when he walks the streets of the New Jerusalem that angel wings are bowed in rever- ence as he passes, and angel fingers are pointing, while angel lips are whispering, "There goes the great emancipator." OHIO AT ANTIETAM. On this battlefield Ohio found her place; scarcely a single contest in all that long and devasting war where the sons of Ohio were not to be found taking part in the struggle, and from Bull Run to Appomattox the names of her heroic sons are carved upon the monuments which are marking these battlefields and making them forever illustrious. It is eminently fitting that we should leave for other generations some tribute of our admiration to the men whose valor did so much for the preservation of our institutions, and who neither hesitated nor halted to give their all that a nation dedicated to liberty and freedom should not perish from off the earth. We lift these monuments not alone to the dead but to the liv- ing; they bear witness to coming generations of the valor of the fathers who preserved our institutions for the sons who were to come after. On this field, forty-one years ago today, was enacted that mighty tragedy of war which we are met to commemorate, and to this field Ohio sent some of her most illustrious sons. Crook, Cox, Carroll, Scammon, Creighton, Coleman, Comly, White, Ewing, Clark and McKinley, names which are now and will be forever associated with this one of the greatest battles of that marvelous rebellion, whose end was to bring about a long and last- ing peace between the sections, and to forever cement the founda- tions of the republic. THE HEROES OF BATTLE. What deeds of heroism were here enacted? That splendid specimen of manhood and soldierly bearing, Colonel Coleman of the nth, charging the bridge only to fall in the very moment of vie- 122 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. tory; Colonel Clark, of the 36th, leading his men across plowed fields and fallow, in the grand charge, only to fall in the front rank of the peril ; Colonel Patrick, of the 5th, to escape death in this hur- ricane of war, to find it later at New Hope Church ; that younger soldier Colonel Creighton, of the 7th, performing deeds of valor, to be spared for a time only to find a soldier's death at Ringgold ; and with them that marvelous and heroic army of soldiers whose arms sustained and whose valor won these splendid victories of the Union arms. THE COLOR BEARER OF THE 23D OHIO. I shall never forget the color bearer of my old regiment, the 23rd Ohio, Armstrong ; tall, handsome, courageous, he was the per- fection of manly beauty. W;ith what pride and devotion he clung to the banner entrusted to his keeping, always in the front ranks of the peril, always the rallying point for his devoted comrades. I shall never forget his reply at South Mountain, as he came out of the battle still bearing his banner, and I said to him, "Why, Armstrong, I heard you were killed, you are not going to carry that banner still. I tell you no one can carry it and live," and I shall never forget the haughty scorn of his answer as he turned and said, "Then I'll carry it and die," and three days afterwards, on this battlefield of Antietam, after he had borne it over plowed fields and fallow, in the very front of the peril, when the fight grew thicker and the battle waxed warmer, the angel of death stooped down and touched him upon the shoulder, and the angels of mercy and of peace with uplifted fingers pointed the way to the pearly gates of Paradise. The ball which had struck the standard pierced the standard bearer to the heart, and he fell, wrapped in the folds of the banner he had loved and borne so well ; it was liter- ally dyed with his blood. He sleeps today on that hilltop yonder, and when the morn of the resurrection comes he will answer the roll call of the justified, and lift aloft the banner of the redeemed on the fields above. THAT OLD BANNER. At the reunion of my old regiment, the 23rd Ohio, I saw DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 123 this banner again. There it was, all torn and tattered, covered all over with the record of its battles and its victories ; you could not have sold its tattered remnants in a junk shop for a farthing, but you could not have purchased its glory and its history for mil- lions upon millions of money. THE PRIVATE SOLDIER. I would do no injustice to those great leaders whom we all delight to honor, but the men who fought these battles and won these victories were the private soldiers of the Republic. Stand- ing on yonder hilltop, in the midst of the National Cemetery, and overlooking this great battlefield of Antietam, is a heroic figure, carved in granite, representing the private soldier of the Republic, leaning upon his arms, at rest after the battle. What other charac- ter could so fully illustrate the strength, the safety and the grandeur of the commonwealths ? It was the private soldier who stood between this nation and its destruction, it was the private soldier whose courage and devo- tion on these fields of blood and carnage upheld the glory of the country and forever preserved its unity. It was the private soldier upon whose heroism and patriot- ism Abraham Lincoln leaned and found him ever ready and willing to perform prodigies of valor for the country and its preservation. It was the private soldier who carried the musket and bore the arms, that pushed back the armies of the nation's destroyers, and left long lines of dead and dying upon these fields of strife and battle. Let him be carved in granite as indestructible as the everlasting hills, and let it stand as a witness to the valor and devotion of the men who came from the quiet homes of the country, determined that a nation dedicated to the liberties of the human race should not perish from oflf the earth. LINCOLN AND THE PRIVATE SOLDIER. What a close and lasting alliance Abraham Lincoln formed with these private soldiers of the nation, and what a trustful and 124 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. hopeful confidence he had in the overruHng providence of God. Between Lincoln and the "boys" of the army there was always an assured confidence in the end of the struggle. Do you remember the talk with General Sickles, after Gettysburg, when Sickles asked what he had thought about Gettysburg, and Mr. Lincoln answered, "I had no fears of Gettysburg, and if you want to know I'll tell you why. In the stress and pinch of the campaign there, I went to my room and got down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this was His country and that the war was His war, but that we couldn't stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And then and there I made a solemn vow with my Maker that if he would stand by the boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And He did and so I will. No, General Sickles, I had no fear of Gettysburg, and this is why." What a wondrous insight into the character of this marvel- ous man. What a close communion between the "boys" of the army, Abraham Lincoln and the God of Battles. Is there any wonder that victory perched upon our banners, and that hope and faith remained unconquered and unconquerable? OHIO IN THE WAR. Ohio is justly proud of the record of her sons ; answering the calls of Abraham Lincoln she sent into the field 218 regiments and eleven companies of infantry, thirteen regiments and eighteen companies of cavalry, one regiment and twenty-seven batteries of light artillery, and two regiments of heavy artillery, making a grand total of 234 regiments, twenty-nine companies and twenty- seven batteries, numbering in all 319,659 soldiers, and of this number 24,590 died or were killed in battle. No other state exceeded her in loyalty and in the splendid record of her contribu- tion to the forces of the war. There was not a single battlefield worth mentioning in dis- patches, during the continuance of that long and desperate strug- gle, which did not number among its fighters some of the Ohio troops, and there was not a single contest, great or small, which did not add to the splendid reputation and the soldierly bearing of .^aassasaasssmmammKimmmSK. DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 125 her sons. In addition to all of this Ohio contributed many of the great leaders whose names and fame have become a part of the nation's history — Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Crook, McPherson, Harker and McCook, all names which are a part of the nation's history and will forever remain a part of its glory. On this battlefield of Antietam, Ohio had ten regiments of infantry, the 5th, 7th, 8th, nth, 12th, 23d, 28th, 30th, 36th and 66th and one battery of light artillery, McMullin's. It seems to be eminently proper that the State of Ohio should not only erect and dedicate moliuments upon this field to commemorate the achievements of the regiments and commands from that state and so mark for all time the points where her sons did battle, but it is equally fitting that it should erect a monument to mark the spot where one of her younger soldiers, in the performance of his duty, contributed to the comfort, and added to the strength and courage of that army. The monument to Sergeant McKinley upon this field will be an inspiration to the young men of the nation in all the years to come. It is an evidence of the possibilities in a land of universal freedom, for it is the proud boast of our institutions that there is no cot so lowly and no thatch so humble that it may not cover the proudest head in the land. Abraham Lincoln, the grandest char- acter that has moved upon earth since the advent of that Redeemer, 1900 years ago, came from the humblest of homes and from the poorest of the people, to become the first in the land and to be loved and revered for all the centuries to come. William McKinley, without wealth, power, or pride of birth and place, came from the people to take his place in the foremost ranks of its citizenship, and, to become a worthy successor of the immortal leader who had gone before. Their names will go on down the centuries as the martyrs of the Republic and this monu- ment will stand as a lasting tribute to one of the "boys" whom Lincoln loved, and one of the men who has adorned and added to the name and fame of his country. THREE GREAT EPOCHS. If I were to write the history of my country I would divide its growth and grandeur into three great epochs : 126 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. The First Epoch. From that marvelous Genoese, Christo- pher Columbus, whose lofty conceptions and daring, and adven- turous spirit, brought forth from that wondrous waste of waters a new world and a new empire to be given to mankind for its use and development, to George Washington, the founder of this Republic, whose wisdom and foresight has been the guiding star of the nation since the earliest beginning. The Second Epoch. From Washington, the founder, to Lincoln, the preserver. The one whose patient and indomitable will brought it through the fire and scourge of revolution and con- tention, until at last he saw it rise from the ashes of a great rebellion, like pure gold from the crucible of its fire and flame, to be again established upon the firm foundations of a lasting and permanent peace, without a single stripe erased from its flag, or a single star torn from the blue field of its greatness and glory. The Third Epoch. From Lincoln, the preserver, to McKinley, the upbuilder. The one who found the nation in the throes of financial rust and ruin only to put forth his hand for the uplifting of its prosperity and for the upbuilding of its power; to bring to every home and to every fireside the long hoped for and long expected comfort which comes from the contentment of labor fully employed and well rewarded, and the abundance which becomes a part of a prosperous and contented people. May the future have in store for us only a continuance of the blessings which God has granted in such bountiful measure to the American Republic. May the wisdom of its statesmen and the patriotism of its people ever lead us in the ways of righteousness and peace; and may the experiences of the past be but the safeguards and the bul- warks of the future, holding to that middle course which brings justice to all, and uplifts the masses to the plane of the best and the broadest liberty. This is our country today, and its glory is undimmed by disaster and unchecked by want or decay. THE VICTORY WAS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL. While I am congratulating my friends of the Union armies upon their magnificent victories and the restoration of the Union, DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 127 I can the more earnestly congratulate those who battled upon the other side that they are again within the temple of American liberty, under one flag and guided by one destiny. There is not room within our borders for two contending republics ; one must be taken and the other left. It is a matter of deepest concern to us all that we are again reunited and that these battlefields are now the meeting places of one common people, instead of contending fac- tions battling for the mastery. The greatest victory gained by the South in that mighty conflict was the victory of peace, and with it came the security and safety which will be assured to them and their children for all the coming ages. No longer is there dissen- sion and strife ; no longer a divided and broken country. With one single purpose the sons of the men who fought on these bat- tlefields and contended so bitterly for the mastery are joining hands in the upbuilding of this marvelous Republic, and day by day are adding to its wealth, supremacy and power. No longer is the blood of the North and the blood of the South hot with the rivalry of hate and contention, but joining hearts and striking hands, we saw them moving up the smoking sides of San Juan, and fighting shoulder to shoulder at El Caney. We saw them rescuing a long suffering and struggling peo- ple from the oppression and despotism of three hundred years of Medieval bondage and lifting them to the plane of a more enlightened and intelligent citizenship. We saw the old world's oppressive and tyrannical laws give way before the broader and more enlightened legislation of a newer and better era of progress. We saw the flag which had brought only dungeons and despair pulled down from its fortresses and in its stead, lifted by a loyal people and assisted by patriotic Americans, we saw the flag of the Cuban Republic floating over Moro, and giving a new promise to the hopeful and trustful people of this island republic. As one people we are invincible; united there is no power upon the face of the earth which can match or master the American Republic. DANGER ONLY WITHIN THE REPUBLIC. Let us not be unmindful of our dangers or neglectful of the disasters which may threaten us. Contentions may arise within 128 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. ourselves which may be more alarming than threatened invasions of foreign foes, or the opposition of foreign powers, for if disaster ever comes to America it will come from within and not from without the borders of the Republic. The wisdom of just and exact legislation to meet and curb the wild and wanton speculation of greedy and grasping mono- polies must hold in check every form of evil which would overturn our institutions and destroy the rightful competition which arises from free and untrammeled labor, and which is the safe- guard of the people and the foundation of our prosperity. The same wisdom must guarantee to every citizen, high and low, rich and poor, the right to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, and to hold in sacred and everlasting reverence the home and the fireside, and to throw around the family the strong arm of its pro- tecting care, and to keep within its influence the opportunities which may be opened for the good of the people and the safety of the country. Against such a people and against such a country the storms and waves of disaster and dissension may beat and lash themselves into fury in vain, for above them will arise a nation strong in its powers of self-government, sustained and upheld by a people who are enjoying equal and exact privileges, and whose greatest and broadest liberty is the liberty of the citizen regulated and restrained by law. Against such a country and such a people the armies of the earth would be but as dust before the hurricane. THE CRIMINAL AND DISSOLUTE NOT WANTED. While we open our doorways to the people of the world and bid them welcome, we should stand guard at our borders, to drive back the criminal and the dissolute and to forever exclude the anarchist and the communist. There is room in America for men and women who come to share with us the blessings of liberty and who are ready to be woven into the warp and woof of our American citizenship, but there is no room for those who would tear down and destroy the institutions which our fathers founded, and our brothers defended and preserved. DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 129 We cannot forget that there is commingled here the best blood of all the nations of the earth and that every battlefield from Lexington to Appomattox has run red with the blood of those who came to be a part of and to share in the blessings of our liberty. I do not forget that my grandfathers came from Ireland and it is a proud satisfaction to know that their loyalty and the loyalty of their children is unquestioned. There will come no danger to this Republic from those who come with a firm purpose to make it a home and an abiding place, and with the anxiety to have their children share in the greater blessings which the American people enjoy. THE WOUNDS HAVE HEALED. It is a matter of congratulation that every wound of the war has been healed and that there is no longer a North or a South, an East or a West, but that within the bounds of the Union there is one common country to which we all owe and pay allegiance alike. It was upon these fields of battle that we learned to respect each other and discovered the "stuff" of which we were made. It was by this "wager of battle" that we found that there was in the American character a tenacious hold on right and a determined opposition to wrong, which had been implanted in the very begin- ning of our government, and has grown with our growth and become a part of the wisdom and character of our people. We found the rocks and shoals which had threatened to destroy the Republic, and blasted them away in the smoke and flame of battle. We brought back and reunited every section of the Union, bound together, not by thongs and cords, but with bands of iron and rails of steel reaching from the Penobscot to the Rio Grande. We opened the doorways to the people that they might enter upon the highways to prosperity and success. We struck hands with the men who had contended against us upon the battlefields of the nation and found that there was a stronger tie than hatred and a better bond of unity than contention and strife. We put down our arms that we might find the peace and contentment for which we had battled, and having found it we 10 o. at A. 130 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. made haste to share it with those who had so lately contended against us. Having tried the mettle of our adversaries, we found that they were Americans and belonged to the states of the Union. With a united and prosperous country, without dissension or strife, with one flag, one common purpose and one common destiny, against the world we are invincible. All the soldiers of Europe gathered together in one vast army, and marshalled by their greatest leaders, could not march from the Fishkill to the Monongahela. WE SHOULD PROFIT BY EXPERIENCE. We should, however, with one mind and one purpose upbuild our naval force, not for war nor yet for conquest, but for peace, universal peace. The guns of Dewey and the shots of Schley and Sampson demonstrated the power that comes from opportunity and preparation, for if danger comes it must first be felt upon our seaboard, and the wisdom of experience justifies a safe and certain method of preparation. There is nothing that wins and commands respect more force- fully than the knowledge that we are ready for any emergency, and no matter what may happen we are prepared to defend our own. There is no danger to our people from our own, and there is a sense of safety and security in a naval force sufficient for every possible emergency. The mighty leviathans which plow the seas and carry at their mastheads the stars and stripes are bearing no apples of dis- cord, and are seeking neither contention nor strife ; they, are only witnesses of the power and supremacy of a nation whose every hope is friendship, and whose every thought is peace. WHO CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE ? When the flag of Lee was lowered at Appomattox there were forty millions of people in America, now there are eighty mil- DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 131 lions. Every part of the Union has been opened and developed by the energy and sagacity of our people. The whole land has been cobwebbed with iron and bound with steel; the Pacific and the Atlantic are shaking hands with each other; and standing upon the golden sands of the Pacific we can look across the mighty waste of waters and see our flag floating over the islands of the seas. Our vessels are bearing into every port of the world's entry the products of our soil and the manufactures of our people. Who can predict the future ? Who can tell us what the great- ness of America shall be? Who can measure the growth and grandeur of the nation during the centuries to come? Who can tell us of the influences we are to cast, for weal or woe, among the nations of the earth ? The little speck which the daring Genoese saw from the deck of his caravel, the Santa Maria, has grown into the foremost of all the nations of the earth, and is now the guiding star of all the peoples of the world. Will all this endure? Will the Republic founded by Washington, preserved by Lincoln and upbuilded by McKinley, remain as the hope and the guiding star of the nations of the world ? "Long as thine art shall love true love, Long as thy science truth shall know, Long as thine eagle harms no dove, Long as thy land by law shall grow. Long as thy God is God above. Thy brother every man below, So long, dear land of all my love. Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall grow." May God in His infinite mercy and wisdom hold this nation within the hollow of His hand. May it become the beacon light of the storm-tossed and oppressed. May it be the guiding star of the nations in the onward march to the universal brotherhood of man, and may it forever uplift and defend the liberties of the people and the unity of the Republic. 132 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. Governor Nash, coming forward, said, "I have the pleasure of announcing that a distinguished general of the British army is here present today, being in this country with a view, among other objects, of inspecting a number of the important battlefields of the Civil War, and, on behalf of the Commission and assem- bled comrades, I request that he favor us with an address. I now have the honor of introducing General Ian Hamilton, of whom you have all heard." General Hamilton, coming to the front of the stage, said : Mr. Governor — ^Veterans of the War — Gentlemen: — It was Pericles who, in his great funeral oration at Athens, said that heroes had the whole world for their tomb. There is therefore, I trust, nothing inappropriate in a British officer, like myself, tendering his tribute of respectful homage to the fallen warriors of the Ohio State. As a child my boyish enthusiasm was first fired by the echoes which reached me from the seat of war, too young to know or realize anything of the rights or wrongs of the contest ; the names of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Lee, and Stone- wall Jackson sounded like a trumpet call in my ear, and the echo of that call still reverberates. Never did men make nobler offer of their lives, than those to whose memory you have come to do honor. I am proud to be in the country of men who thus fought, and thus suffered, and to be the guest of their free and united descendants. The chairman, in introducing General Eugene Powell, said: We have present today the Commander of the 66th Ohio In- fantry in this battle ; that the regiment was composed of good sol- diers and that he was a good leader needs no further certificate than the fact that their monument now occupies the position they finally reached and occupied on the 17th of September, 1862. I now introduce the Colonel of the 66th Ohio Infantry, General Eugene Powell, of Columbus, Ohio. Dd "^^nH 5* M^ 2; w c 5 s w ' A^^H m ^ ^flUHBIi 70 w * Ti*^"^? - ?o ■5 d M ■.:...M^ .£^gr DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 133 Address by General Eugene Powell Mr. President, Ladies and Comrades : — President Lincoln, in addressing an assemblage of his fellow citizens upon the battle- field of Gettysburg, referred to the Union soldiers who had strug- gled there as having by their deeds consecrated that ground. You, my fellow comrades, were at Gettysburg, as well as here at Antietam, and I think you will agree with me in this that for the time of its duration, Antietam was the more desperate and deter- mined struggle, and that nowhere upon that field was that struggle more desperate and determined than in the vicinity of the little Dunker Church, where you with Mansfield's and Sumner's Veter- ans met those of Stonewall Jackson, flushed and elated as they were, by reason of their recent victory at Harper's Ferry, and throughout that eventful day fought fiercely with them for the mastery. If, then, endurance, courage and sacrifices can conse- crate any ground, then is this hallowed ground whereon you stand, where lie buried your honored dead, where stand monuments to perpetuate their memory, and where you and your fellow com- rades so courageously moved upon the established battle line of those who then denied the authority, defied the powers of this government, and were here arrayed in arms for its overthrow and dismemberment. Comrades, I assure you that it is a matter of the utmost pleasure for me to be here at this time, as thereby I am enabled to join with you in recalling recollections of the past, of those times when great dangers, great perils, threatened the existence of this government and a continuance of this Union. Those dangers were, however, averted, but they were only averted by your cour- age, endurance and sacrifices, when these grounds were conse- crated; when your comrades who lie buried here offered up life itself, that this government by the people might live ; that you and I might meet upon these grounds again, as we do, with the con- sciousness of the complete triumph of the Union cause, with a feel- ing of absolute certainty that it was, and is for the best, that that cause triumphed ; with a prayer of devout thankfulness within our 134 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. hearts and upon our lips, for the peace and protection of the present and for the glorious outlook there is now and will be in the future for our country. Under such circumstances, then, as these do we revisit these historic hills, these peaceful plains, and look out upon this bright and beautiful landscape that greets and gladdens the eye, turn in whatever direction we please, as if nature desired thus to join with you in happily commemorat- ing this occasion. But, my comrades, was this always so? Are not these scenes, this situation, these surroundings of today very different from those we once looked out upon, from these same fields, these same ridges, on the 17th of September, '62, when about 200,000 men in arms here confronted one another, to determine by battle which from here might advance, and which from here must retreat; and as the one advanced and the other retreated, so, necessarily, would and did rise and fall the standing, the prestige, of their respective causes and flags. You and your comrades settled that matter, and the armies of this Union, ad- vancing in triumph from here, gave to President Lincoln the opportunity of issuing, as a war measure, that Proclamation of Emancipation, which changed this Republic from being half slave and half free to one that was henceforth and forever to be entirely free ; and thus this Republic became one in fact, as it had heretofore been but in name. When your Civil War closed, and the sword, which had been appealed to by both parties as a court of last resort in the mat- ters at issue between the North and the South, stood ready to render its decree, that decree, as desired and so expressed by Grant, the great commander of the Union hosts, and by him addressed alike to Unionists and Confederates, was simply, "Let us have peace." Awaiting that decree, waiting whether you were to resume the ways of war or return to those of peace, you stood with ranks unbroken, with resources unlimited, with prestige untarnished, as the unconditional victor throughout this land, and not a hand could be raised to stop your progress, to change your course or conduct, whatever it might be ; but, with exultant, tumultuous triumph in your grasp, and defeat, if not despair, the portion of your foe, still not a single prisoner was executed to appease your vengeance, not a single captive graced in bonds the chariot wheels of your triumphal car, not a dollar the prop- DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 136 erty of your foe, of that which, under the law of the land, could be regarded as property, was taken from them to fill your coffers, not a single load was imposed upon your foe, but that you took the same upon yourselves ; not a privilege or advantage was pos- sessed by you, but that you shared the same broadcast through- out this land, free to all who would accept, conditioned only that, like you, the recipients should, in exchange therefor, give allegiance and loyalty to the general government, and, like you, become citizens of this Republic, before whose laws all were to be upon an equality. If that was not generous, where, then, would you seek for generosity? If that was not humane, where, then, would you expect to find those qualities that beautify and adorn humanity? Seek not elsewhere, for the simple reason that there is no necessity for your so doing, as there, in those trans- actions, those occurrences that occasioned the downfall, the over- throw of the rebellion and the restoration of this Union, those qualities can all be found, and there, we trust, they ever will be found and admitted to exist, and stand, as now they do, out in as bold relief as stands the adamantine cliflf after the storm, to be pointed at and referred to with pride by succeeding generations, as they go by on the tide of time, as the most generous, for- bearing and humane acts that, up to that time, had ever taken place between man and man, under any such circumstances or conditions as these acts are revealed to us upon the pages of authentic history. Another matter, and one that has attracted the attention of the people of the civilized world, as well as being one that has filled the cup of thankfulness of the people of this country to the brim, is in the fact that your foe of that day are today your friends and fellow citizens, and contend only with you in that which constitutes good citizenship and devotion to your cause and flag. Since Appomattox they have faithfully kept all of the require- ments that they took upon themselves. They have defended, and stand ready to defend this Government, this Union, at home or abroad. From this it would seem as if the band that has bound these States together in the bond of the Union for over a century is still growing stronger, broader and better as time moves on. That this is so, that this shall prove to be so, is, I know, the hope, the expectation, of those who once met in deadly 136 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. battle, of those who once moved across these fields, up the sides of these hills, to assail the then enemy of your country, and of those who then held these hills, occupied these fields, who were here assailed, and in turn became the assailants, but failed. Still, whatever those Confederates may then have lost, as soldiers, they certainly have since, as citizens of this reunited country, been able to much more than regain, by having earnestly and hon- estly joined with you and you with them in restoring this Union, in rebuilding the waste places caused by the war, in obliterating its wounds, scars and losses, thereby creating here between the lakes and the gulf, between ocean and ocean, a homogeneous people, one practically free from sectionalism, but full of patriot- ism, thus establishing that which you as a people always stood in need of, that which you as a people cannot safely do without, which is a strong government, being far from that which was once proposed for a part of this country, it consisting simply of a confederation of States, brought together and held together at the instance and by the influence of some one, but liable at any time to be torn asunder by anyone so inclined, under the cry of secession and the plea of supremacy of the section or State, a cry or plea that, sooner or later, if allowed, would tear down and destroy the fabric of any government. Not that for you, or entirely that which existed here, it being a mere union of States, bound together and held together by the ties, the trials, the glories of the past and the hopes of the future, and strong when threatened by dangers from without, but found to be weak when assailed by foe from within. Not the one or the other of these; but, instead, you have chosen to cling to that which sprang full fledged from out of the contentions of your Civil War, which was the possession by this Government of those powers that are abso- lutely necessary for a nation, it not having in its construction any provision for either division or disunion, but standing ready to defeat the one and destroy the other, never delaying action until riot or revolt shall have assumed the proportions of revo- lution, but in its own defense or in support of law and order shall, as it should, act upon the instant, whether such foes or dangers are from without or from within, intending thus to re- main intact, united, while time endures, and while time endures intends to continue to grow and to expand in strength, wealth DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 137 and territory, being strong when strength is needed, powerful when power is demanded, and, in the field when confronting its foes, terrible, as should be an army with banners; but in peace being so peaceable that its powers and resources are seldom seen or realized by the world at large, and its burdens so light that these are hardly ever felt by its citizens. Such is the government that you have helped to create and defend, and a united, energetic people have caused it to grow with such marvelous strides in strength, wealth and territory that it stands, this nation stands today, the awe and admiration of the world. Comrades, you have just taken part in the dedication of mon- uments in memory of your dead, who fell here. May these monu- ments stand while this Union exists ; may succeeding generations catch inspiration as they look upon these statues erected here; may they thereby increase their love of country, renew and reit- erate their pledges of loyalty and devotion to this Republic, as they gaze upon these images in bronze, marbl'^ and granite of your fallen heroes, standing, as they do, in mute but sublime silence all over these fair fields and upon the sides and tops of these hills. This is right and is as it should be, for when these grounds were consecrated by those who here laid down their lives that this Gov- ernment by the people might live there were, and of necessity there had to be, heroes everywhere and no weak spot anywhere, either upon your right, upon your center or upon your left, and wherever those men stood, there they fell, and wherever they fell may monuments arise, and may their memory live forever, as we trust and believe this Union, this Government, will, which you and they here so successfully and heroically defended. And those with whom you then contended are now among the defenders and supporters of that same Government, that same Union, which they then sought to destroy, but which you so effectually main- tained. Such vast changes as these have you witnessed, and in the consummation of which you were leading actors ; but such changes and results could not have occurred had not generosity and human- ity controlled your conduct, and had not intelligence and honesty actuated your former foes in theirs. Contrast your conduct as well as compare your policy after a war with that of the Mexi- cans, after a war, the magnitude, the duration of which, in com- parison with that of your Civil War, causes theirs to sink into 138. OHIO AT ANTIETAM. insignificance. Still you pardoned, or rather acquitted, Jefferson Davis; but they executed Maximilian, and the blood of Maxi- milian cries yet aloud from the ground for reparation, and Car- lotta, his wife, while living, was but a memorial of this cruelty. Jefferson Davis, however, while living, while free to move at will anywhere in your midst, had less power to harm or hurt you or your cause than he would have had were he dead, had he been executed to appease your vengeance ; for since the history of this world tyranny, persecution, despotism reacts and, as a rule, against the tyrant, the persecutor, the despot; and as it was in the beginning, so undoubtedly will it be until wars shall occur no more, and the ways of war give place to those of peace. Peace was that for which you contended, that which you hoped to attain, and peace honorable alike for victor and vanquished was concluded, which was, with this Union restored, this Republic established, its sovereignty acknowledged, its laws respected and obeyed, and its foes citizens alike with you of this Union as reunited. This was the mighty task that devolved upon you. That task you performed thoroughly and well, and for which your fellow countrymen must forever hold you and a memory of your services in the highest honor and esteem. Men of Antie- tam, permit me to take advantage of this opportunity to bid you farewell, as it is altogether probable that as a body we may never meet again. I recognize you as being representative men of that grand army, the Army of the Potomac, which, under the able leadership of McClellan, saved this Union at Antietam, as, had you been defeated or retreated from here, 'recognition of the Confederacy and armed intervention by foreign powers would have surely followed, and then a division of this Republic was inevitable. Such a catastrophe you averted, as you caused the Confederate army to hasten and return within the bounds of the seceded States, and thereby satisfied foreign powers that not even the main Confederate army, that under Lee, could maintain itself upon the soil of the loyal States, and a brighter and bet- ter outlook dawned upon the Union cause, which was never again so seriously darkened by dangers from abroad, and you moved steadily on to suppress those at home, and the end devoutly hoped for finally came, which a kind Providence has vouchsafed to you the privilege of witnessing, as it has been given you to DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 189 see your country united, prosperous and free. And having aided in such achievements then you have not lived in vain and your comrades who have fallen have not died in vain ; for much more than the fondest hopes, much more than the brightest visions, much more than the stern determinations of the loyalists of this land, who* there rose en masse in defense of this Union, have followed to vindicate such hopes and determination and prove that the cause of the Union was worthy of the blood and treasure it cost. Still, without such struggles and sacrifices as were ren- dered by you, this Union and that inestimable possession — a gov- ernment by the people — could not have been restored and be- queathed intact to your successors and by them handed on down to succeeding generations, conferring protection and providing a roadway to preferment open to all, without distinction of birth or exclusive privileges to any. This, then, in brief, is a record of your achievements, being the greatest of your generation, and when comes such another test of patriotism, God grant never, and that never again may such sacrifices and services be required; but, fortunately, with the requirements of that day also came the men ready to meet and capable of overcoming those great dangers and of restoring law, order and unity throughout this land. The great State of Ohio has recognized the gallant and patri- otic services that you have rendered your country, by causing suitable monuments to be erected here in honor of your respective military organizations, and for generations a record of your hero- ism will thus be preserved and handed down from age to age. In conclusion permit me to thank you for the attention that you have given me, and for the honor and pleasure of thus meet- ing you at Antietam ; and although this visit has been long de- layed, it is none the less appreciated and will be none the less enjoyed by you, as you realize that from this ground you com- pelled Lee's army to retreat, and thus rescued the loyal States from an invading foe, which was here threatening the existence of this Republic to an extent that had never occurred before, and we trust may never happen again. Dr. Lawrence Wilson, late ist Sergeant, Company D, 7th Ohio Infantry, of Washington, D. C, being called for, read 140 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. the report of Major O. J. Crane, of the 7th Ohio, detaihng the movements and struggles of the 5th, 7th and 66th Ohio regiments in front of the Dunker Church at the battle of Antietam. Report of Major Orrin J. Crane, 7th Ohio Infantry, com- manding I St Brigade, of the battle of Antietam: "Hdqrs. 1ST. Brigade, 2d Division, "Banks' Army Corps, "Loudon Heights, Va., September 25, 1862. "Sir: — I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the ist Brigade, 2d Division, in the battle of An- tietam, on the 17th September, 1862. The brigade was composed of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Major Ario Pardee, Jr., commanding; 5th Ohio Volunteers, Major John Collins com- manding; 7th Ohio Volunteers, Major O. J. Crane commanding, and the 66th Ohio Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene Powell commanding. The brigade, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel H. Tyndale, 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was formed at 5 :30 a. m. in column of division, right in front. It was then marched in column about one mile, to a point of woods, where the enemy were in force and had engaged our right, holding them in check. At this point the order came to deploy column into line of battle, which was promptly executed. We then advanced a short distance into the woods, where the enemy were formed under cover of a fence. The action commenced. After exchang- ing a few shots, the engagement became general, which continued for an hour and a half of severe fighting, with great slaughter to the enemy, when the enemy gave way in confusion and disorder before the furious onset of our troops. We pursued them rapidly, capturing many prisoners and strewing the ground with their dead and wounded. After pressing them closely for a distance of one-half mile, we were obliged to slacken our fire, as our ammunition had given out, when, receiving a supply, we changed our line by the right flank and marched to an elevation, where we awaited the advance of the enemy, who was advancing in column of regiments. We then received orders to fall back under cover of the hill and awaited the advance of the enemy. When within DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 141 a short range, our troops were quickly advanced to the top of the hill, where we poured into their advancing columns volley after volley. "So terrific was the fire of our men that the enemy fell like grass before the mower; so deadly was the fire that the enemy retired in great disorder, they not being able to rally their retreat- ing forces. "We charged them in a heavy piece of woods, driving them out of it, capturing a large number of prisoners (among them was a lieutenant-colonel and a lieutenant), and made terrible havoc in their ranks, covering the ground with their slain, many of them officers. We gained the woods and held our position for two hours, and were then ordered to retire and be relieved by other troops, under command of General Smith. "It is impossible at this time to speak of individual bravery, but I can say, without flattery, that all officers and men of the different regiments of the brigade nobly stood by their colors and did their duty well on that eventful day. "Lieutenant-Colonel Tyndale, while nobly doing his duty, was severely wounded. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Orrin J. Crane, "Commanding Brigade. "Brigadier-General Greene, Commanding 2d Division. "(LxDsses, 7th Ohio, 5 killed and 33 wounded.)" President Cunningham introduced Comrade John Finn, 8th O. V. I., of Washington, D. C, who said : Mr. Chairman, Governor Nash, Gentlemen of the Commis- sion, Ladies and Gentlemen : I deem it a great privilege to be called upon to address this vast assemblage composed of the rank and file who fought on this field, and as well the Governor and dignitaries of the grand old State of Ohio, assembled here today for the purpose of dedicating monuments to Ohio's sons, the living and the dead, who fought on this field forty-one years ago. My observation of the Antietam battlefield on September 17th, 1862, was that of a private soldier, and confined to the limit 142 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. of the immediate surroundings of where my regiment was en- gaged in battle. If you will kindly bear with me for a few moments, I will endeavor to bring you from Harrison's Landing, Virginia, to the "Bloody Lane" at Antietam, where the 8th Ohio Volunteers fought for four and one-half hours, gaining a victory from over- whelming numbers, such as is not accredited to any other regi- ment that fought on this field. The Army of the Potomac broke camp at Harrison's Land- ing, Virginia, August i6, 1862, and marched to Newport News. The 8th Ohio embarked on an ocean steamer, the "Cahawba," and debarked at Aquia Creek, August 25 ; re-embarked on the "Long Island," and landed at Alexandria, Virginia, August 28; from there to the Second Bull Run battlefield; thence to the Chain bridge, crossed the Potomac, and onward to South Mountain and Antietam. The 2d Corps was supporting the artillery back of the bluffs on the Keedysville side of the Antietam Creek all of the day and night of the i6th of September. The rebel artillery was located on the ridge in front of Sharpsburg, and the firing from both sides was incessant and terrific for the entire day. In the dusk of the evening a most terrific artillery duel opened. The red glare of flame along the lines of battle made a spectacle brilliant beyond comparison. The loss on our side was compar- atively small, but one man killed of my company, W. W. Farmer, killed at my side. At daylight of the 17th the roar of artillery and din of battle could be heard, and orders were given to be ready to move at a moment's notice. About 7 o'clock the 2d Corps unstacked muskets and moved back towards Keedysville, then filed to the left and back again towards Antietam Creek, which was forded, the stream then waist deep. After crossing the river. General French formed his line of battle hastily, brigade front. General Max Weber first, Colonel Dwight Morris second and General Nathan Kimball third. We advanced in this order under a heavy fire of shot and shell until we reached the Roulette farm and outbuildings. Here we struck the rebels, who fell back through the orchard and ploughed field to the crest of a hill DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 143 back of the Roulette buildings and in a sunken road on the same crest further to the left. From this position they poured in such a deadly fire that the first and second brigade gave way and sought cover. At this point of the battle General Kimball ordered his brigade to fix bayonets and carry the crest of the hill at a double- quick and pass Weber's and Morris' brigades. This movement was made under a terrible fire of shell and grape and a continu- ous sheet of musketry. The crest of the hill was carried in front of the whole brigade, but at a most terrible sacrifice of lives. The rebels having retreated to the sunken road, or what is now termed the "Bloody Lane," this point was their advanced position along our front during the remainder of the battle, and here carnage reigned supreme for four and a half hours. Our muskets became foul and our ammunition exhausted. The ground was covered with arms and cartridge-boxes of am- munition of the dead and wounded. These were gathered up by the officers and distributed amongst us. Several eflforts were made by the rebels to reinforce the J^orth Carolinians who held the sunken road in our immediate front, but all to no purpose, as none of the fresh troops could advance past midway of the cornfield. One fresh line emerged from the Sharpsburg Heights and advanced splendidly. It was commanded by an officer mounted on a white charger. All of us admired the spectacle and appreciated the situation. The rebel line came down about midway of the cornfield, when a volley struck it. Its gallant leader with his horse fell; the line reeled, broke and fled. Then it was that the fire from the sunken road commenced to grow faint, and occasionally a rag, handkerchief or cap would appear in sight from the point of a ramrod. A sec- tion of artillery was giving us a raking fire; the infantry were moving on our flank towards the Roulette buildings. A change of front, left wing forward, of the 8th Ohio and 14th Indiana threw us in their front, and a well directed volley broke them, and they fled to the woods. The change of front brought us into the sunken road, where we captured 300 prisoners, many of them being wounded. The regiment carried into action 17 officers and 324 enlisted men. Its losses were 2 officers killed, 7 officers 144 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. wounded, 31 enlisted men killed and 122 enlisted men wounded; aggregate, 162 killed and wounded. In this battle the brigade had won renown, and General Sumner pronounced it the Gibraltar Brigade, and as such it will ever be known in history. The dead of our regiment were buried in Roulette's orchard, and their graves carefully marked. On the morning of the 19th a single rebel shot was fired at us from one of their pieces of artillery. It was a parting salute, and indicated a retreat back to old Virginia. The battlefield pre- sented a ghastly appearance. The rebel dead were unburied, greatly swollen and black. The sunken road in the front of where our line fought was literally filled with dead. The corn- field was covered with dead, among which was the gallant officer and his milk white steed, lying as they had fallen, pierced with numerous balls. We never learned who he was. Yet his cool bravery had excited our admiration. I feel highly honored to be privileged to be with you today. My purpose in visiting this field was to observe what had been done by the several States in commemoration of one of the hardest fought battles of the war of the rebellion, if not the hardest. I find that many monuments and markers are now in position, and that it will be but a question of a short time when all the States whose soldiers were represented on this field will fall into line and make this the great historic battlefield of the Civil War. What an attraction for the tourist or the visitor to our National Capital! A two hours' ride to Antietam battlefield! I believe the day is not far distant when an electric line will be estab- lished that will make the run in less than ninety minutes. Yes, I visited this field today because I was invited here by Cap- tain W. W. Miller. I would not miss this occasion to pay homage to the Ohio soldier. I visited this field forty-one years ago, on September i6th and 17th, 1862, and was accorded a much warmer reception than on this occasion. Captain Miller did not invite me in 1862, although we served together for three years in the same regiment, the 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1862 it was my duty to come here ; my country was in danger. That grand old man, Abraham Lincoln, "peace to his ashes" (through "Little =3: DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 145 Mac," Major-General George B. McClellan), extended a special invitation for the Army of the Potomac to visit the suburbs of Washington at the expense of the nation. We came; we con- quered. Thank God for it. Today is Ohio day on this field, a sacred day in commem- oration of those of our late comrades who gave their lives on this battlefield, and we, who have been spared these many years, can say : "See what Ohio has done for me. My monument is located on the far front, on the Emmetsburg road at Gettysburg. Another monument will be found away in the advance in the 'Bloody Lane' at Antietam ; and, again, my name appears in the archives of the great State of Ohio, and, as well, in the archives of the Government at the capital of the nation, where it will be preserved forever and ever." The Chairman introduced Colonel Edwin Frey, of the 28th Ohio Infantry, of Cincinnati. Colonel Prey's remarks : Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen : As surviving members of the 28th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, in recognition of whose services, as participants in the great struggle for the preserva- tion of the Union more than forty years ago upon this now sacred field, and to commemorate which the monument we have this day come to dedicate, desire to express their deep sense of obli- gation to the people of our State, who, through their representa- tives in the Legislature, gave in this tangible and visible method expression to their appreciation of our regiment's service during the graphic ordeal on that ever memorable day. The adage of old, that republics are proverbially ungrateful, is surely not borne out in this instance. This beautiful, hand- some and artistic block of granite testifies that the noble people of the State whose colors we so proudly bore on this field of car- nage have not only not forgotten the services rendered the nation and the State by the boys in blue, but manifest their approbation by this token of their esteem. The 28th Ohio, better known at home as the 2d German, was organized in the city of Cincinnati in the early days of 1861, *ii o. at A. 146 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. and finally mustered into the service of the United States on the 13th day of June of that year, under the gallant leadership of that sterling soldier of Mexican War fame, Augustus Morr. Its ranks held 1,000 strong and vigorous German artisans, whose love for liberty had induced them to leave their fatherland and seek a home in this land of the free, and, like true lovers of freedom, the call of the immortal Lincoln for defenders of the Union and the perpetuity of its sacred institutions found them eager to rally to the defense of the Republic and offer their lives and their all upon the altar of their adopted country. No motive of pelf or promise of future reward, no pay- ment of bounty induced them to follow the flag, but the exalted love of country and the inborn love of freedom alone caused them to bid adieu to loved ones and go forth to battle for the perpetuity of the Union. After months of hard campaigning, weary marches and many sanguinary conflicts with the enemy in our neighboring West Virginia, called from the extreme southern border of that com- monwealth, decimated already in numbers by loss in battle, dis- ability through wounds and disease, footsore and weary, after having aided in driving the enemy across historic South Moun- tain, but a few miles away, to the very brink of the Potomac, we stood here upon this field in line of battle, again facing the foe, maneuvering here and there, from one position to another, as the exigencies of the day demanded, until we finally reached, in advancing upon the enemy, the position commemorated by this monument. Unfortunately this position was not obtained with- out a gory sacrifice, for many of our dead comrades gave their lives' blood that it might be secured, and, from the fording of the Antietam at Burnside's bridge where, fiercely assailed by the well protected foe, every step made in advance was stubbornly contested by the enemy, one by one, from morning until the shades of evening drew nigh, comrades dropped out of ranks in answer to war's cruel fate, and when night at last crept over the blood stained field, enshrouding in its folds the havoc made in this day's fierce encounter, it fell to our regiment's lot, though weary and worn, to protect, as sentries of the night, the ex- hausted comrades of the army in their repose upon the tented DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 147 field. Thus we held the line from the extreme left of said posi- tion to beyond Antietam's sluggish waters. Permit me, comrades, to recall to memory an incident of most pathetic import, occurring during the vigil of that memorable night. Just before the dawn of day, while eagerly on the alert for any sound indicating a movement of the enemy, I heard the familiar tramp of moving men. Soon I discovered the vague shadows of a moving column approaching the reserves. Halted by the sentry, I approached the officer in command, asking the cause of the movement at this hour, when informed that he was ordered to relieve the 28th Ohio from its duty on the line. Not- icing the small complement of men accompanying the regimental colors, I made inquiry as to the whereabouts of the balance of his regiment. The reply, given in a sad, grave voice, I never shall forget, impressed, as it was then, by the terrible, and often ghastly experiences of the battle witnessed that day. "Sir," he replied, "they lie buried at Malvern Hill." Baring my head, I silently grasped his hand, and then expressed my regrets that, although the remnant of his regiment, a phalanx of living heroes, yet one hundred would not replace a line of six hundred men. He departed as he came, a spectral shadow of the past. Our ranks, too, dear comrades, at the close of the struggle for the preservation of the Union, showed the heavy hand of war's merciless demand. Of the 1,000 gallant sons of the father- land that left home with buoyant steps, to the sweet strains of martial music, but 300 answered to their names at the final muster out. So we, too, had tears to shed, though Malvern Hill was not their resting place. And now, in conclusion, beloved comrades, permit me to extend to each of you a hearty greeting and a fervent welcome to the field your valor helped to maintain against our country's enemy, and to solicit the Governor of our State, representing the sovereign, noble people of Ohio, to carry back to them our deep appreciation of the honor conferred upon our organization in the erection of this token to our devotion to the Union, our love for its sacred cause, and our fidelity to the State, trusting that as our days here below are numbered and can be but few, that our sons and grandsons shall remember the deeds of their fathers and sires here and upon other fields of carnage for the country 148 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. of their adoption, now their native land, and emulate their action by similar devotion to duty, should occasion ever arise that calls for a defense of the glorious principle of liberty. Closing prayer, ofifered by Chaplain W. R. Parsons: God of our fathers, we come at the bidding of our people of the commonwealth of Ohio to dedicate these monuments, erected in memory of the valor and devotion of her soldiers, who gave their lives for freedom and humanity. In the awful struggle of battle, by the blessing of Almighty God, amid the thunder of war, we won the power to command our fate as a nation. Thou, Infinite One, hast held out to us the grandest future ever reserved for any people. Make us worthy of our lineage and inheritance. Our fathers hoped in Thee ; they trusted in Thee, and Thou didst de- liver them. O Lord, our King, how excellent is Thy name in all the world; Thou hast set Thy glory above the heavens and throughout the whole earth. We need not soar above the skies and leave suns and stars below, and seek Thee with unclouded eyes in all that angels know — the breath we now inhale, the pulse of every heart, attests Thy presence with a force that cannot fail. O God, Thou art, Thou art ! It was here amid the fields and forests that two vast armies met in awful battle, and death was on all sides. May we read that bloody September day aright. Nothing can escape the questioning of men, and these scenes of blood and carnage cannot escape. The faith that makes the loftiest claim is under the fierce light of inquiry. Patriotism is the greatest lesson taught us by heroes, living or dead. It is not a phantom of the imagination, but is as real as human consciousness and is the voice of God. And we learn that the sacrifices and the loyalty of the heroes who sleep in these unrocked cradles made possible the sublime glory, peace and good will of our country — one nation and one flag. Great God, we thank Thee that we have made the grandest history in recorded time; that the banner under which these soldiers died still waves above us, not a stain on its folds, not a cloud on its glory; that from being the tenth power among the nations of the globe we have won a first place among the great powers that rule the world, and grant, O Lord, that we may use DEDICATION OF MONUMENTS. 149 this power to Thy honor and glory, and so the heavens come down and the earth go up. These monuments, which loving hands have erected to the memory of our brave comrades, will ever bear witness to their patriotism and loyalty. Their glory shall endure forever and go with America's drum beat around the world and spread everywhere the gospel of liberty and of God. Alleluia ! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth "and the gov- ernment of the people, for the people and by the people shall live forever." Amen and Amen. At the close of the dedicatory services all those present pro- ceeded to visit the Antietam battlefield and inspect the monuments erected by the Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission for and in behalf of the State of Ohio. 150 OHIO AT ANTIETAM. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Columbus, Ohio, February 19, 1904 The Ohio Antietam Battlefield Commission, In Account with the State of Ohio. To appropriations made by the Seventy- fifth General Assembly $23,500 00 By cash paid The Hughes Granite and Marble Company, of Clyde, Ohio, for monumental work $21,150 00 By cash paid for sites for monuments 500 00 By cash paid surveyor, notary, etc 51 40 By cash paid for preparing inscriptions for monuments 75 00 By cash paid for expenses of dedication of monuments, other than expenses of members of Commission 255 60 By cash paid for expenses of members of Commission 924 40 By cash paid for printing, telegraphing, half-tone plates, etc 174 04 By balance unexpended, this date 369 56 $23,500 00 $23,500 00 r-j;^?! . ^'/'^^SX^o^^*^ GEORGE K. NASH. No. 2.-DAVID CUNNINGHAM. No. 3-W W MILLER 0. 4-J. T. MOORE. No. 5.-D. H. KIMBERLEY. MlLLhR. No. 6— T. J. WEST. No. 7— E. T. NAYLOR numgigi S£P 25 '.wm FEB 5 - 195J