U.S. Civil War 1860-1870

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Comment by Katie Heitert Wilkinson on November 10, 2010 at 4:04pm

Just want to reiterate what many have stated on this wall ..... I couldn't be more pleased with the information I received from NARA regarding my ggg grandfather's service in the Civil War. Because the family fought with the government through three generations over my ggg grandmother's eligibility for benefits, I knew the pension file would be thick and detailed. The cost was $75.00 ...it was worth every penny. The file contained literally hundreds of documents and letters as well as vital information on the family I might not have found otherwise. Statments in the file also told me that James R. Jones, 2nd Lt. Co. F, W. Va. 6th Cavalry was court martialed. Unbelievably, I found the trial transcripts indexed at the NARA site, so I called the archives to see if those records could be released. Much to my surprise, my contact there mailed me the total transcript at no cost. The testimony of several officers gave me a detailed account of the circumstances leading to my ggg grandfather's arrest, court martial, and ultimate dismissal from the army. This valuable information dovetailed perfectly with what I had learned about his sudden death from apoplexy while awaiting the handing down of the sentence and the basis for the Department of the Interior's persistent refusal to grant widow's benefits to Catherine Connelly Jones, her surviving children, or her grandchildren.

Comment by Spirit Baker on November 10, 2010 at 2:54pm

Hello Madehlinne,
I want to say many thank you's for your photos and stories. My GGG Grandfather was captured and then killed in VA. He enlisted in CT. He left behind a 2 yr old son and a fairly newly married 2nd wife.

Comment by Madehlinne on November 9, 2010 at 6:12pm

This is part of the rocky bluff the 42nd Indiana Regiment had to climb, with their backs to enemy sharpshooters and under fire from grapeshot.

Comment by Madehlinne on November 9, 2010 at 5:35pm

Henry Thomas Hunter
5 June 1842-8 Oct.1862

Henry Thomas Hunter was born 5 June 1842 in Barr Township, Daviess Co., IN, the second child of William and Martha [Davis] Hunter.

In September 1861, a company was formed for the 42nd Indiana Regiment, Volunteers, and on 27 Sept. 1861, the men left for Evansville, where the regiment rendezvoused. In this group of men was a young man, 19 years old, described as having a light complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, and being 5 feet 8 inches tall. This young man was Henry Thomas Hunter.

The 42nd Regiment was officially mustered in at Evansville, IN, on 10 Oct. 1861. The regiment was attached to the 14th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, from October to December 1861. They were soon moved to Henderson and Calhoun, KY, where they served duty, encamped at Sacramento, KY. In less than 20 days, one third of the men were in the hospital, some due to an epidemic of measles. Fortunately, Henry managed to avoid getting sick.

After building fortifications near South Carrolton, KY, during winter months, Henry and his fellow soliders returned by small steamboat to Sacramento and again occupied their old campgrounds. Soon they were ordered to move to Owensboro, where the regiment embarked on the steamer "Liberty," which transported the troops in Green River County to Pittsburgh Landing [Shiloh, TN].

Early in the spring of 1862, the command moved to Murfreesboro, TN, and then marched to Shelbyville, then on to Fayetteville, advancing on Huntsville, AL from 28 March to 11 April 1862. Henry saw action at Wartrace on 14 April and participated in the advance and capture of Decatur, AL, on 21 April. Following duty at Huntsville, AL, until August 1862, they began pursuit of General Braxton Bragg's army, marching back toward Nashville, and then moving on toward Louisville, with General Don Carlos Buell's Army from 27 Aug.-26 Sept. They continued their pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky.

On 7 Oct. 1862, Henry and the 42nd were encamped near Mackville, KY, with orders to march at six in the morning. However, events transpired during the night which caused them to march at 4 a.m. After a few miles, Henry and the rest of the 42nd could hear cannonading and they continued their march until they reached a hill from which their batteries could be seen.

They had scarcely taken their position when they were ordered to go down into a ravine to get water and along with them went Reuben and Henry Hunter. In front of the creek facing the enemy, the bank rose gradually toward the woods where the Rebel guns were and, in this space between the creek and the woods, was an open field. All behind them, except for the road down which they had come, was a precipitous rocky bluff from 25 to 50 feet high.

The Rebel guns had ceased, but the Union cannoniers kept blazing away at the place where they had been. At about half past twelve, Rebel scouts discovered the men in the ravine below. Both Henry and Reuben could hear commands being given up in the woods, marching toward them, and they assumed and felt confident that it was one of their own regiments taking position on their right. They were very wrong.

The men had been lying around, with their guns stacked, when suddenly a few stray shots came whizzing by them. The enemy poured down a volley of musketry. The soldiers got the order to fall back and take the regiment out of the ravine--if possible.

It was a terrible position: in front, a concealed enemy firing volley after volley; on their right, a battery throwing grapeshot; behind, a steep cliff the men were forced to climb, exposed to the fire of Rebel sharpshooters. A few succeeded in getting back up the road that they had come down, but the main body was compelled to clamber up the bluff the best way it could. The regiment had been ordered down into what proved to be a death trap.

A little after sunset, the firing ceased almost entirely. It was miracle the regiment got out so well. They lost 166 men in killed, wounded, and missing.

Among the killed, our hearts are saddened, Henry Thomas Hunter, aged 20 years, 4 months, and 3 days...in the Battle of Perryville [also known as Chaplin Hills] on 8 Oct. 1862.

Comment by Madehlinne on November 9, 2010 at 5:22pm

14th Corps Marker

"On Dec. 5, 1865, Maj. Gen. Jeff. C. Davis` 14th Corps of Gen. Sherman`s army (USA), which had left Atlanta on Nov. 15th on its destructive March to the Sea, camped at Jacksonboro. Carlin`s and Morgan`s divisions had marched via Lumpkin`s Station (Munnerlyn) without trouble, but Baird`s division, marching on the extreme left, arrived via Sardis after supporting Kilpatrick`s cavalry division (USA) in its engagement with Wheeler`s cavalry corps (CSA) at Waynesboro on the 4th.

On the 6th, after rebuilding the bridge over Beaver Dam Creek, the 14th Corps, followed by the cavalry, moved south on the Old Savannah Road (Ga 24) toward Ebenezer."

Erected 1958 by Georgia Historical Commission. (Marker Number 124-23A.)

Location. 32° 49.639′ N, 81° 37.337′ W.

Marker is near Sylvania, Georgia, in Screven County. Marker is at the intersection of Burton's Ferry Highway (U.S. 301) and Waynesboro Highway (State Highway 24), in the median on Burton's Ferry Highway.

Comment by Madehlinne on November 9, 2010 at 5:19pm

Franklin M. Hunter's Military Service

Franklin (Frank) Marion Hunter was the third son of William and Martha [Davis] Hunter and, according to the family records of William Hunter's family as recorded in the John Hunter [the Revolutionary War soldier's Bible] as Franklin Marion Hunter. The Indiana Adjutant General's records of the Civil War soldiers, however, show him as Francis M. Hunter, but they are one in the same person due to the birth, death, wife and children statistics.

In his Declaration for Pension papers, he described himself as being 5 feet 8 inches tall, dark complected, and having dark hair and blue eyes when he was 18 years old.

Frank was a farmer, but like all young men, he felt the impact of the Civil War that divided the country from 1861 through 1865. When he was 16 years old, he witnessed his two older brothers--Reuben and Henry--leaving home to fight for the 'Stars and Stripes.' Reuben and Henry both enrolled in a local regiment in September 1861 and Frank stood with his father, mother, and sisters to bid them farewell in a war from which they would never return.

Frank no doubt felt the loss of his brother when the family received word of Henry's death on 8 Oct. 1862 at the Battle of Perryville. His other brother Reuben was injured in that same battle and was in a field hospital near Perryville before being moved to Louisville barracks, where he was finally discharged as "unfit to serve" due to his wounds.

Frank probably listened to the tales of war as told by his older brother. The war was long and hard on this country. Reuben re-enlisted on 20 Feb. 1864 with his old regiment when it was veteranized and, seven days later, on 27 Feb. 1864, Frank enrolled at Washington, IN, as a private in Co. G, 42nd Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers, and was officially mustered in on 4 March 1864. The 42nd became part of the 14th Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, headed by Gen. William T. Sherman.

On 5 May 1864, it moved with Sherman's Army on the advance which was to culminate in the possession of Atlanta. The 14th Corps took part in the opening battle of this campaign at Resaca and was prominently engaged in the final victory at Jonesboro.

During the intervening four months, it was actively engaged in the continuous marching and fighting which was so characteristic of that brilliant campaign. Franklin and Reuben fought at places with names like Rocky Faced Ridge, Buzzard's Roost Gap, Resaca, Dallas [GA], Pumpkin Vine Creek, New Hope Church, Allatoona Hills, Pickett's Mill, Marietta and Kennesaw Mountain, Pine Hill, Lost Mountain, Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Grounds, Chattahoochie River, Birchbed, Nancy's Creek, and Peachtree Creek [where Reuben was seriously injured, later to die of his wounds].

In August, while on the Atlanta campaign, Maj. Gen. Palmer, the corps commander, was relieved upon his own request, and Maj. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis [not related to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis], the commander of the Second Division, was appointed by the President to take Palmer's place. Maj. Gen. James D. Morgan then succeeded to the command of the Second Division.

During the four months of the Atlanta campaign, the Army of the Cumberland-- then composed of the 4th, 14th and 20th Corps--lost 3,041 killed, 15,783 wounded, and 2,707 missing; total, 21,531. Of these casualties fully one-third occurred in the 14th Corps. To this total must be added the heavy losses of the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio in order to understand the extent of the fighting while on that campaign.

After a short rest at Atlanta in mid-August, Franklin and the 42nd Indiana staged a short campaign in pursuit of Hood. As early as 9 Oct. 1864, Sherman sent a telegram to Grant, suggesting that he could best carry out the strategic concept by abandoning his line of communications with Chattanooga and the North and taking his entire Army eastward from Atlanta to Savannah on the Atlantic seacoast, where he could make contact with the Union Navy.

"It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads, now that Hood, Forrest, Wheeler, and the whole batch of devils, are turned loose without home or habitation....," Sherman telegraphed. "Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless for us to occupy it; but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people, we will cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads, we will lose a thousand men each month, and will gain no result. I can make this march, and make Georgia howl."

All wounded and sick men were sent back to Chattanooga, as were all non-combatants remaining with the army near Atlanta. Great quantities of equipment--everything that could not be carried by a fast-moving army--were also sent back. By evening on the 14th of November, all that remained in Atlanta were 68,000 veteran troops: fit, ready and eager for action; 65 guns; 2,500 wagons loaded with ammunition and a few days' supply of food; and 600 ambulances. Everything else had been moved north. The railroad and telegraph line to Chattanooga had been destroyed and the engineers were in the process of wrecking the train yards, machine shops and industrial facilities in Atlanta itself.

On 15 Nov. 1864, with the last strand of wire communication ripped away, Sherman and his army disappeared from Northern ken. For more than a month, the people of the Union would worry, the rest of the world would wonder....

The march through Georgia to the sea was an uneventful one and no fighting occurred. Savannah was occupied 20 Dec. and there Franklin and the 42nd Indiana along with the 14th Corps rested.

After Sherman captured Savannah, the culmination of his march to the sea, he was ordered by Union Army general-in-chief Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to embark his army on ships to reinforce the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James in Virginia, where Grant was bogged down in the Siege of Petersburg against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Sherman, however, had bigger things in mind. He predicted on 5 Jan. 1865: "I do think that in the several grand epochs of this war, my name will have a prominent part." He persuaded Grant that he should march north through the Carolinas instead, destroying everything of military value along the way, similar to his march to the sea through Georgia. Sherman was particularly interested in targeting South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union, for the effect it would have on Southern morale.

Sherman's army commenced toward Columbia, SC, in late January 1865. His 60,000-plus men were divided into three wings: the Army of the Tennessee, under Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard; the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield; and two corps, the 14th and 20th, under Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum, which was later formally designated the Army of Georgia. Reinforcements arrived regularly during his march north and, by 1 April, he commanded almost 89,000 men.

Sherman's opponents on the Confederate side had considerably fewer men. The primary force in the Carolinas was the battered Army of Tennessee, again under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (who had been relieved of duty by Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Atlanta Campaign against Sherman). His strength was recorded in mid-March at about 9,500 and a little over 15,000 by mid-April. The army was organized into three corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart and Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee. Also in the Carolinas were cavalry forces from the division of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton and a small number in Wilmington under Gen. Braxton Bragg.

Sherman's plan was to bypass the minor Confederate troop concentrations at Augusta, GA, and Charleston, SC, and reach Goldsboro, NC, by March 15th. As with his Georgia operations, Sherman marched his armies in multiple directions simultaneously, confusing the scattered Confederate defenders as to his first true objective, which was the state capital of Columbia.

The Confederate division of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws attempted to prevent the crossing of the Salkehatchie River by the right wing of Sherman's army. The Union division under Maj. Gen. Francis P. Blair (Howard's army) crossed the river and assaulted McLaws's flank. McLaws withdrew to Branchville, causing only one day's delay in the Union advance.

On 17 Feb. 1865, Columbia surrendered to Sherman and Hampton's cavalry retreated from the city. Union forces were overwhelmed by throngs of liberated Federal prisoners and emancipated African Americans. Many soldiers took advantage of ample supplies of liquor in the city and began to drink.

Fires began in the city and high winds spread the flames across a wide area. Most of the central city was destroyed and the city's fire companies found it difficult to operate in conjunction with the invading Union army, many of whom were also trying to put out the fire. The burning of Columbia has engendered controversy ever since, with some claiming the fires were accidental, others stating they were a deliberate act of vengeance, and still others claiming that the fires were set by retreating Confederate soldiers who lit bales of cotton on their way out of town. On that same day, the Confederates evacuated Charleston. On Feb. 18, Sherman's forces destroyed virtually anything of military value in Columbia, including railroad depots, warehouses, arsenals and machine shops. On Feb. 22, Wilmington surrendered.

Schofield planned to advance inland from Wilmington in February. At the same time, he assigned Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox to direct Union forces from New Bern toward Goldsboro. On March 7, Cox's advance was stopped by divisions under Gen. Braxton Bragg's command at Southwest Creek south of Kinston, NC. The next day, the Confederates attempted to seize the initiative by attacking the Union flanks. After initial success, their attacks stalled because of faulty communications. The Union forces were reinforced on 9 March and beat back Bragg's renewed attacks on March 10 after heavy fighting. Bragg withdrew across the Neuse River and was unable to prevent the fall of Kinston on March 14th.

As Sherman's army advanced into North Carolina, Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's Cavalry Division screened its left flank. On the evening of March 9, two of Kilpatrick's brigades encamped near the Charles Monroe House in Cumberland (now Hoke) County. Early on March 10, Hampton's Confederate cavalry surprised the Federals in their camps, driving them back in confusion and capturing wagons and artillery. The Federals regrouped and counterattacked, regaining their artillery and camps after a desperate fight. With Union reinforcements on the way, the Confederates withdrew.

On the afternoon of March 15, Kilpatrick's cavalry came up against Hardee's corps deployed across the Raleigh Road near Smithville. After feeling out the Confederate defenses, Kilpatrick withdrew and called for infantry support. During the night, four divisions of the 20th Corps arrived to confront the Confederates. At dawn on March 16th, the Federals advanced on a division front, driving back skirmishers, but they were stopped by the main Confederate line and a counterattack.

At mid-morning, the Federals renewed their advance with strong reinforcements and drove the Confederates from two lines of works, but they were repulsed at a third line. Late in the afternoon, the Union 14th Corps--and Franklin--began to arrive on the field but was unable to deploy before dark because of the swampy ground. Hardee retreated during the night after holding up the Union advance for nearly two days.

While Slocum's advance was stalled at Averasborough by Hardee's troops, the right wing of Sherman's army under Howard marched toward Goldsboro. On March 19th, Slocum encountered the entrenched Confederates of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston who had concentrated to meet his advance at Bentonville. Johnston had increased his forces to about 21,000 men by absorbing the troops under Bragg, who had abandoned Wilmington. Late afternoon, Johnston attacked, crushing the line of the 14th Corps, and Franklin found he was battling for his life.

Only strong counterattacks and desperate fighting south of the Goldsboro Road blunted the Confederate offensive. Elements of the 20th Corps were thrown into the action as they arrived on the field. Five Confederate attacks failed to dislodge the Federal defenders and darkness ended the first day's fighting.

During the night, Johnston contracted his line into a "V" to protect his flanks with Mill Creek to his rear. Slocum was heavily reinforced the next day, but fighting was sporadic. Sherman was inclined to let Johnston retreat. On March 21st, however, Johnston remained in position while he removed his wounded. Skirmishing heated up along the entire front. In the afternoon, Maj. Gen. Joseph Mower led his Union division along a narrow trace that carried it across Mill Creek into Johnston's rear.

Confederate counterattacks stopped Mower's advance, saving the army's only line of communication and retreat. Mower withdrew, ending fighting for the day. During the night, Johnston retreated across the bridge at Bentonville. Union forces pursued at first light, driving back Wheeler's rearguard and saving the bridge. Federal pursuit was halted at Hannah's Creek after a severe skirmish. Sherman, after regrouping at Goldsboro, pursued Johnston toward Raleigh.

Sherman's Carolina Campaign, in which his troops marched 425 miles in 50 days, had been similar to his march to the sea through Georgia, although physically more demanding. However, the Confederate forces opposing him were much smaller and more dispirited. When Joseph E. Johnston met with Jefferson Davis in Greensboro in mid-April, he told the Confederate president:

"Our people are tired of the war, feel themselves whipped, and will not fight. Our country is overrun, its military resources greatly diminished, while the enemy's military power and resources were never greater and may be increased to any extent desired. ... My small force is melting away like snow before the sun."

On April 18, 1865, three days after the death of President Abraham Lincoln, Johnston signed an armistice with Sherman at Bennett Place, a farmhouse near Durham Station. Sherman got himself into political hot water by offering terms of surrender to Johnston that encompassed political issues as well as military, without authorization from General Grant or the United States government. The confusion on this issue lasted until April 26, when Johnston agreed to purely military terms and formally surrendered his army and all Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

It was the second significant surrender that month; on April 9, Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. It was the virtual end for the Confederacy, although some smaller forces held out, particularly in the Trans-Mississippi region, into the summer.

A war-weary Franklin was discharged on 28 July 1865 at Louisville, KY, and returned to his Indiana home in Barr Township.

According to his grandson, Charles Austin Hunter, Frank never talked about his days during the war. And, as my cousin Barbara Hunter wrote, "To witness war is to see hell."

Comment by Beverly Simpson on November 5, 2010 at 7:29pm

yea, Maddie...welcome!

Comment by Madehlinne on November 5, 2010 at 6:20pm

Hi, Jayne!

I'm joining this group and going to be posting some of the stories of my Civil War ancestors soon!

Madehlinne, AKA Maddie from chat

Comment by Beverly Simpson on November 2, 2010 at 2:21pm

there is a very good story on lewrockwell.com about Virginia's Black Confederates

Comment by Spirit Baker on October 29, 2010 at 5:53pm

Hi Keven,

I looked up Bermuda Hundred but it only had info up to May 1864 and he was captured in June. Guess I'll have to see if I can get a library card since I'm out of town for a bit and have to actually read an entire book.

Yes Kevin, must agree, because no one can find a fort in Petersburg and he was a POW and we know many of them became sickly. I remember that Petersburg was under seige that is why I'm having a hard time understanding his death there.

I agree that with the doubt that his body was brought home. I know most weren't.

If I ordered his records would I get more info or is it a waste of my $150 cause this is about as much as I will get. I'm still trying to figure out town of birth and his parents info.

I was thinking Sarah could be his mother or sister and not his wife since he wife left.

Thanks bunches!

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