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Into the Tornado of War
A History of the Twenty-First Michigan Infantry in the Civil War
By JAMES GENCO
abbott press
Copyright © 2012 James Genco
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4582-0181-2
Chapter One
Dawning of the Regiment "Braver Men Never Took Up Arms"
July to September 12, 1862 The Yankee Volunteer of 1862
Twelve weeks prior to the Battle of Perryville, the Twenty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment did not exist. It was the second summer of the Civil War, and all visions of a swift resolution of the conflict had vanished. For the Federal government, these were some of the darkest hours of the war. Despite Union victories west of the Appalachian Mountains, repeated setbacks for the Federals in the east led many to believe the Confederacy could force a peace that recognized its independence. The Confederate armies, fighting on their home ground, had proven themselves tenacious, and there was a sober recognition that a long bloody struggle loomed ahead.
The Union volunteers of this second summer were very different from those who rushed to war in the spring of 1861. Unlike their impassioned comrades who had flocked to the colors with bravado and unrealistic expectations following the Rebels' firing on Fort Sumter, the volunteers who enlisted in the summer of 1862 did so with eyes wide open. No longer was there any expectation of a short war.
While many of the volunteers of 1861 were members of prewar militia companies, most of the volunteers of 1862 had little military experience or inclination. The volunteer of '62 had learned from newspaper accounts and returning veterans about the harsh reality of the war they were entering, and they knew it would be a long, deadly struggle. Disabled veterans returning home were harbingers of the tragedy of combat, and they were frightening embodiments of the very real danger to which the new volunteers would soon be exposed.
The staggering number of casualties published in the newspapers after each battle, and the reports of the even greater numbers of deaths from camp diseases, left no doubt that there were substantial odds that many a recruit would not survive his three-year enlistment. Consequently, while this second wave of volunteers was no less patriotic, the men enlisted with a sober perspective, fully appreciating the potential consequences of their commitment.
The Call to Arms: Summer 1862
The genesis of the call for volunteers in the summer of 1862 was a telegram sent by the Governors of the eighteen Union states, including Michigan's Austin Blair, to President Abraham Lincoln. In their June 30, 1862 communiqué, the Governors reiterated their commitment to preserving the Union and their willingness to follow with action by furnishing all the reinforcements necessary to see the war through to its conclusion. To this end, they proposed sending 500,000 more men. On July 2, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln accepted the offer, but requested only 300,000, since the Administration recognized it could not arm, equip and train a larger force at that time.
With this Presidential Executive Order, the machinery for organizing new regiments sprang into action. Each state was given a quota of men to supply and was authorized to pay each recruit a bounty of $25 to $100. Michigan was to send 11,686 men, and the State Legislature promptly authorized the formation of six new regiments of infantry, specifying that one was to be supplied by each state congressional district. On July 8, 1862 Michigan Adjutant General John Robertson issued Order Number 15 authorizing the creation of Michigan's new regiments. In addition to the Twenty-first, the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth regiments of infantry were to be formed at this time.
The First Recruits
While recruiting could not officially begin prior to issuance of Order Number 15, on July 2, upon hearing of Lincoln's call, four enthusiastic men from the vicinity of Hastings, Michigan immediately began forming the nucleus of a company. Despite the fact they had no way of knowing to which regiment they would be assigned, or even if they would be accepted by the State, they nonetheless set about getting commitments from friends to join as a group. Their leader was Leonard O. Fitzgerald, a thirty-one year-old native of Eaton County, Michigan who had moved to Hastings around 1860. A merchant who ran his own meat market, Fitzgerald was a "quiet straight-forward man [who] ... inspired so much confidence among his acquaintances that when the war opened a number of them said they would enlist for service if he would go as their leader."
First to sign with Fitzgerald's prospective company were John Spencer of Baltimore, Michigan and Horatio Sackett of Woodland, Michigan. Spencer, a hardy thirty-three year-old, went on to serve with the regiment throughout its entire term of service, while Hackett, thirty-four, was one of the regiment's first losses, dying on November 3, 1862 from an unknown disease in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to receiving State authorization to raise a company, Fitzgerald had recruited fourteen men from the villages of Baltimore, Hastings and Woodland.
This group subsequently became the first volunteers of the Twenty-first Michigan. The list included two sets of brothers, the Roushs (Thomas, twenty-three; Allen, twenty-two; and Michael, twenty-one) and the Osborns (John, twenty-eight, and Joseph, twenty-three). On July 18, 1862 Fitzgerald was rewarded for his initiative when he was appointed captain, and his men became the nucleus of Company C, Twenty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry. A few days later, Fitzgerald and his men proceeded by wagons to Ionia to unite with the fledgling regiment.
Unfortunately, Captain Fitzgerald's story had a sad ending. Five months later when the regiment engaged in the hard-fought Battle of Stones River in Tennessee, he was mortally wounded. Faithful to his friends whom he had led to war, on his deathbed the young captain's principal regret was that "he could not bring his "'boys' back home."
Camp Sigel
The Twenty-first Michigan Infantry was raised in the Fourth Congressional District in the western part of the state. This region of the state was sparsely populated, with the greatest number of people residing in the counties along the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, which had been completed in 1858. This rail link had finally connected this rich farm region of rolling hills to the more populous southeast corner of the state. Grand Rapids, in Kent County, had a population of more than 8,000, while the village of Ionia, founded in 1833 and the seat of government for Ionia County, had less than 2,000 inhabitants. Despite their disparate sizes, when the regiment was full, the county of Ionia had raised four companies; Kent, three, and Montcalm, Muskegon and Ottawa Counties, one each.
The camp of rendezvous for the regiment was established on the eastern outskirts of the village of Ionia, a short distance north of the Grand River. The Michigan Gazetteer described the village as:
... an important and flourishing post village ... situated on the north bank of the Grand River [and] ... pleasantly located in a beautiful valley, backed by high and rolling land, which is, for miles under a high state of cultivation.
The camp was ideally situated, with ample cleared, level land and an abundance of fresh water from the Prairie River, a tributary to the Grand River. Probably as an allurement to the numerous Germanic immigrants in the region, the camp was christened Camp Sigel, in honor of Franz Sigel, a popular German immigrant who was a General in the Union Army.
John H. Welch, a prominent local resident and businessman, was appointed Camp Commandant. Welch, who ran a meat market on Main Street in Ionia, proved to be an efficient administrator. In his role as Camp Commandant, he oversaw the daily operations and needs of the camp until a colonel was appointed and the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States.
Civil War Unit Organization
The regiment was the basic fighting unit for infantry of the Union Army in the Civil War. On paper, Michigan regiments consisted of ten companies, each consisting of 100 men, for a total of 1,000 men, plus staff officers. In reality, after a few months in the field, the numbers were closer to thirty to forty men per company, and 300 to 400 men per regiment.
The regiment was commanded by a colonel, who was assisted by a staff consisting of a lieutenant colonel, major, adjutant, quartermaster, chaplain, and chief surgeon. The lieutenant colonel was second in command and assumed command in the colonel's absence or in case of his incapacitation. The major was third in line of command, performed numerous tasks as a direct assistant to the colonel and commanded the regiment if the colonel and lieutenant colonel were unable.
The quartermaster was responsible for requisitioning, purchasing, and issuing the regiment's essential supplies and equipment, including food and clothing. The adjutant was responsible for preparing written orders and correspondence and keeping the regiment's records. As their titles indicate, the chaplain was the regiment's spiritual and moral leader while the chief surgeon was responsible for the men's health and the treatment and care of the wounded.
On the company level, a captain was in command, with the assistance of a first lieutenant and second lieutenant. Below the officers, the company typically had four grades of sergeants and four corporals to assist in executing the orders, keeping formation in battle, and leading small details of men for various tasks. The top noncommissioned officer was the first sergeant, also known as the "orderly sergeant," or "covering sergeant."
When the company formed in line of battle, it would usually align in two ranks with the captain standing on the right side of the first rank, and the first sergeant standing behind him in the second. The second sergeant, also called the "left guiding sergeant," stood in the second rank on the left side of the line. The remaining noncommissioned officers and two lieutenants stood at intervals behind the two ranks to keep men in line and serve as "file closers."
Noncommissioned officers were of critical importance to the regiment's survival because not only were they tasked with maintaining proper lines and discipline in battle, but it was implicit that they would lead by example and assume command if the officers were incapacitated or killed.
Formation of the Twenty-first
Most of the men authorized to raise companies for the Twenty-first Michigan ultimately received commissions as captains. On July 16, James Cavanaugh, twenty-nine, of Grand Rapids, became the first commissioned officer of the regiment. Two days later, Fitzgerald received his commission, along with Elijah H. Crowell of Greenville. Before the end of July, captains had been commissioned for eight of the ten companies. The final two appointments were made in August. When mustered, the following officers commanded the ten companies:
Company A: Captain Francis P. Minier, Ionia
Company B: Captain James Cavanaugh, Grand Rapids
Company C: Captain Leonard O. Fitzgerald, Hastings
Company D: Captain Jacob Ferris, Ionia
Company E: Captain Alford B. Turner, Grand Rapids
Company F: Captain Elijah H. Crowell, Greenville
Company G: Captain Harry C. Albee, Grand Haven
Company H: Captain Seymour Chase, Cannonsburg
Company I: Captain John A. Ellsworth, Saranac
Company K: Captain Herman Baroth, Ionia
Obviously, the single most important appointment for any regiment was its colonel. In the first year of the war, the qualifications and abilities of colonels varied greatly. Some were excellent leaders with prior military experience, while others were political cronies unfit to lead men in war. By the summer of 1862, the folly of appointing political figures to lead regiments was apparent, and a pool of experienced, battle tested officers existed from which to select officers for new regiments. Accordingly, those selected during that summer were usually well qualified; many were drawn from regiments already in the field.
On August 16, 1862, tapping this pool of talent, Governor Blair selected Ambrose A. Stevens, then second in command of the Third Michigan Volunteer Infantry, to command the new Twenty-first Michigan. The thirty-three year-old Stevens from Saranac, Michigan had joined the Third Michigan at the outbreak of the war and distinguished himself in battle. His appointment as Colonel of the Twenty-first was approvingly reported in the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, which noted that he was a fine soldier who "was always in the hottest of the fight."
Stevens proved himself to be an exceptional leader. Four months earlier, during the Peninsula Campaign, he had been chosen by General Philip Kearny to lead a reconnaissance mission. Selecting sixty-five men from the Third Michigan, he guided them through the outer perimeter of Confederate defenses, observing the location and strength of the defenders. Upon nearing the second line of fortifications, his small force surprised and scattered an outpost unit reportedly five times its size. After seizing a substantial quantity of supplies, the Michigan men "returned to camp triumphantly." A correspondent reporting on this feat exclaimed that there was "no braver man [than Colonel Stevens] on Virginia soil."
Stevens was still in Virginia with the Third when news of his promotion to command of the Twenty-first reached him. He promptly returned to Michigan and following a brief visit with his family, joined the Twenty-first at Camp Sigel around August 19. Official Army paperwork seldom kept pace with changes, and Stevens' discharge from the Third was not official until September 6. However, his commission with the Twenty-first was dated effective July 25, so that he would have seniority over officers of similar rank receiving commissions as the new regiments were created. Reporting on Colonel Stevens' arrival, the Ionia Gazette observed:
His whole heart and soul seems enlisted in the work of training soldiers for duty and efficiency in the coming struggle with the rebel legions. We predict that he will make a popular commander.
The selection of another experienced officer to serve as the Twenty-first's second-in-command was made around the same time. For lieutenant colonel, General Robertson appointed William L. Whipple, of Detroit, then a captain in the Second Michigan Infantry. A veteran of the Mexican War, the thirty-six year-old Whipple had the distinction of being the most experienced officer in the regiment. The Ionia Gazette reported that he was "highly spoken of as a brave, patriotic and efficient military officer." In fact, he may have been too much of a strict military man to suit the volunteer mentality for he was never popular with the enlisted men.
Even before Stevens' and Whipple's appointments, several other staff officers had received commissions. On July 29, Martin P. Follett of Fair Plains was appointed first lieutenant and quartermaster; Morris B. Wells of Ionia was appointed first lieutenant and adjutant, and Dr. William B. Thomas of Ionia was appointed chief surgeon. On August 21, the staff was completed with the appointment of Isaac Hunting of Grand Haven as major and the Reverend Theodore L. Pillsbury as chaplain. In addition, two more physicians, Dr. John Avery of Otisco, and Dr. Charles R. Perry of Lowell, were appointed first assistant surgeon and second assistant surgeon, respectively.
Meanwhile, the regiment continued to grow, as the recruiters had little difficulty filling the ranks with qualified men. From war rallies to church sermons, men were reminded of their duty to defend the Union. Illustrative of the individual response to this sober yet patriotic climate, was John Clark Taylor, a young editor for the weekly Republican newspaper, the Ionia Gazette. Taylor was an intelligent twenty-two year-old who was the local news editor. Although slight of build and lacking the physical strength of many of the men who were farmers or laborers, he was nonetheless a gutsy, determined young man.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Into the Tornado of War by JAMES GENCO Copyright © 2012 by James Genco. Excerpted by permission of abbott press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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