Rock River Valley CWRT 'Talks' 2024-- Part 2

JULY 1:  Bjorn Skeptason  "Battery H in the Atlanta Campaign"

AUGUST 5:  Bob Girardi  "Civil War Engineers"

SEPTEMBER  9:  Dwight Hughes  "Battle of Hampton Roads"  Okay, about time they had a talk on the naval side of the war!!

OCTOBER 7:  TBA

NOVEMBER Douglas Egerton  "Thunder at the Gates"

DECEMBER 2:  Daniel Weinberg  "Dealing in Historical Artifacts"

So, That's What They Talk About.  --Old Secesh

In Case You're Wondering About the 'Talks' at CWRTs: Rock Valley CWRT Speakers for 2024

JANUARY 8:  Steve Acker "Life in the Trenches at Petersburg"

FEBRUARY 5:  Dave Powell  "Joseph Johnston and the Atlanta Campaign"

MARCH 4:  George Dammon  "Civil War Medicine"

APRIL 1:  Stanley Campbell  "Money & Banking in the Civil War"

MAY 6:  Dave Oberg  "History of Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery"

JUNE 3.  Bob Pressman  "Religion in the Civil War"

Six More Months to Go.  --Old Secesh

Richard Enderlin, Medal of Honor Recipient: Helped President Nixon's Grandfather

From Wikipedia.

Born January 11, 1843 -- Died February 11, 1930

Was a musician and U.S. soldier who received a Medal of Honor  for heroism in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Born in Germany and grew up in Chillicothe, Ohio.  Enlisted in the Army in November 1861.

He thought his unit was not directly engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, so the bugler voluntarily joined the defense of Cemetery Ridge.  In July 2, 1863, during combat, George Nixon III (the grandfather of President Richard Nixon) was mortally wounded and was carried out of harm's way by Enderlin.

For this action, he was promoted to sergeant the next day and received a Medal of Honor for it on September 11, 1897.

He was later wounded in the foot at the Battle of Dallas (in the Atlanta Campaign).  He served the rest of the war in the  Veteran Reserve Corps until his discharge in May 1865.

Enderlin is buried at Grandview Cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio.

--Old Secesh

Galena's Gen. John E. Smith-- Part 5: Service to End of War

Ely Parker got a job as an engineer on John Smith's staff.  Grant needed an engineer and got Parker who served in that capacity on Grant's staff for the remainder of the war.

Smith's division was the first to enter Vicksburg after its surrender on July 4, 1863.

Then the division went to Chattanooga.  After Chattanooga, Smith was in charge of the task of keeping Union railroads open during the Atlanta Campaign.  His troops were at Altoona Pass, but he wasn't there.

Smith went with Sherman in his March to the Sea and during the Carolina's Campaign, Smith said that the water was "not deep enough for navigation, but too deep to say we came by land."

He was still with Sherman when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered at Bennett Place.

He didn't go to the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., and was sent to Memphis to serve as military governor of Western Tennessee.

John Smith mustered out in 1866 as commander in the volunteer service, but chose to remain in the regular Army and was made colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets Saturday: Topic 'Sherman in Georgia-- Part 2, the March to the Sea'

The McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table will meet this Saturday via Zoom and in person at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois  (US Highway 14, Northwest Highway and Main Street).

Time from 10 am CDST and 11:30.

The topic will be a follow up to last month's Atlanta Campaign, "General Sherman in Georgia, the March to the Sea."

Plenty of Room and Everyone is Welcome (members and non-members).  Where there is always good discussion and conversation and we've even been known to stay on topic on occasion.

Come On Down!!  --Old SeceshMouth

General Nathaniel McLean-- Part 2: Not One of Gen. Howard's Favorites

He was the brother of Eveline  Aurilla McLean Taylor, wife of  Joseph Taylor, brother of President Zachary Taylor (not that all this genealogy gets confusing or anything).

With the Army of the Potomac, he commanded  the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of XI Corps during the Battle of Chancellorsville where he fell into disfavor with Corps commander General Oliver  O. Howard, because of his inability to  organize his troops after Stonewall Jackson's flank attack during the battle and was relieved of his command.

Transferred to the Ohio Valley, he became Provost Marshall of the Department of Ohio.

The following year, he was put in command of a brigade of the 1st Division of the XIII Corps during the Atlanta Campaign.  After the Battle of New Hope Church he again faced the displeasure of General Howard again and was relieved of command a second time.

He was transferred to General Sherman's command to lead the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division of the XXIII Corps for the Carolinas Campaign.

He resigned on April 20, 1865, and returned to Cincinnati and his law business and later moved to Minnesota and became a farmer.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in September: Chantilly, Atlanta, Harpers Ferry and Antietam

From American Trust September 2021 calendar.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 1

Battle of Chantilly, Virginia  (I was just reading about this in the latest America's Civil War magazine.  I had never heard of it before.

1864:  SEPTEMBER 2

Federal forces occupy Atlanta, Georgia.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 14

Battle of South Mountain Gap, Maryland.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 15

Capture of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia)

1862:  SEPTEMBER 17

Battle of Antietam, Maryland

--Old Secesh

Seven Critical Civil War Battles-- Part 2

4.  CHANCELLORSVILLE

Decisive battle for Confederacy, but the loss of Stonewall Jackson offset the victory.

5.  VICKSBURG

Union gained control of the entire Mississippi River after the surrender of Port Hudson as well.

6.  GETTYSBURG

Crushing defeat for Confederacy, especially when the fall of Vicksburg took place a day later.  Major 1-2 punch.

7.  ATLANTA

Crippled Confederate war effort.  The victory helped tremendously in Lincoln's re-election in 1864.

--Old Secesh

John E. Gurley (135th USCT Commander)-- Part 6: The Battle of Atlanta to the End of the War

So, at the Battle of Atlanta, John Gurley did not become "a ruined man."

During the close-in fighting, Gurley had two horses shot out from under him.

But, for ordering those two regiments into line of battle without his commander's orders, Gurley was court martialed but since this action also saved his division from surprise and probably great loss of life, he was promoted to then rank of colonel and eventually received command of the 135th USCT Infantry Regiment the next year.

Before receiving that command, Gurley was part of Sherman's March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign.

He held the command of the 135th from March 1865 and his regiment was part of the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., and then to Louisville, Kentucky, where he and the regiment were mustered out of service in October 1865.

--Old Secesh

Col. John E. Gurley-- Part 3: At Vicksburg, the Second Battle of Jackson and Atlanta

Captain Gurley and his Co. C of the 33rd Wisconsin were at Vicksburg for forty days and involved in several fights including Gurley personally leading some charges.  After the fall of Vicksburg, he ended up on the staff of the 4th Division commanded by General  Jacob Lauman.

As such, he was at the Second Battle of Jackson (Mississippi) which ended in disaster and with Lauman being removed from command.

Captain Gurley continued with the staff, now under General Walter Quintin Gresham and was with him when he was wounded during the Atlanta Campaign  on July 21, 1864.  General Gresham's knee was shattered by a sharpshooter's bullet which ended his military career.

The next day, July 22, the division occupied the ground known as Bald Hill and this is where John Gurley earned his "Eagles,' promotion to colonel.

The question was, was that infantry moving in the woods or cavalry.  Gurley's actions, if incorrect would end his military career.

See the next post.

--Old Secesh

On Victor's Soldiers-- Part 2

The main regiment of soldiers from DeKalb County was the 105th Illinois Infantry, which had six companies of soldiers from the county.  The others were mostly from DuPage County.

It mustered in at Dixon, Illinois, and did training at Camp Douglas and then duty in Kentucky and Tennessee.  Took part in the Atlanta Campaign, March to the Sea and Carolinas.

There were also a lot of DeKalb County companies in other regiments.

Two of the soldiers from Victor died in March 1865, one in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 17 and the other in Louisville, Ky. on March 30.  The 105th was at the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina on March 17-19 and Goldsboro on March 24 and then the advance on Raleigh in April, so, unless the two men were on other duties, it is not likely they were in the 105th.

One man died in Alexandria, Va., on April 23, 1861, which was pretty early in the war and before the 105th was mustered in September 2, 1862.  So it is not likely he was in the 105th.  Alexandria wasn't occupied by Federal troops until May 24, when Col. Ellsworth was killed.

The other Victor man died in Alexandria as well on January 26, 1862.

So, not sure of the circumstances of their deaths.

--Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense-- Part 5: Shoup's Formidable Design

At the rear, or base of the fort, and behind the line would be a entrance (sally port) where troops could enter or leave the fort safely.

From above, the defensive line would look like a saw blade with the trenches connecting the forts receding  at a backward angle to each redan and then at forward angle  to the next fort creating what Francis A. Shoup  called a re-entrant (salient).

Along the front of the trenches would be walls or palisades made of stockades.

Each fort could hold up to eighty men.  Soldiers within the forts could load rifles and hand them up to riflemen on the earthen platforms who would then provide interlocking fields of fire channeling attacking forces  towards the re-entrant formed by the receding tranches where artillery fire from the redans would sweep the ground.

If all the forts  were manned at once, the River Line would prove to be quite formidable.

And, I'd Never Heard of This Francis A. Shoup Before.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 4: A Unique Design

Construction on what initially was called the  Chattahoochee River Line started on June 19 and took about two weeks using a labor force of soldiers well enough to work from local hospitals and over 1,000 impressed slaves.  I like to think this was when Scarlett O'Hara saw slaves from Tara going through the streets of Atlanta with picks and shovels in the movie "Gone With the Wind."

Some trenches already existed near the state railroad bridge but the vast amount of defenses had to be built from scratch.

THE SHOUPETTES

Francis A. Shoup's defensive design consisted of arrowhead-shaped infantry forts -- 36 were built -- spaced 175 yards apart and connected by trenches broken every  30 to 75 yards by artillery redans that each would house two cannons.

Each of the arrowhead forts, which came to be called Shoupades after the designer, consisted of an earthen foundation with log walls or parapets extending 14 to 20 feet high depending upon the terrain.  Interior earthen walls would stop short of the log exterior walls, forming a platform on which infantrymen could fire over the top of the fort.

And, There's More.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Defense Line, Atlanta-- Part 3: Francis A. Shoup's Plan

From the beginning of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign in May 1864, he had continually outflanked Confederate General Johnston's army forcing them to fall back to a defensive position at Kennesaw Mountain in late July.  Johnston saw the nearby Chattahoochee River as a major  boundary between him and the city of Atlanta.  He had already sent a hundred men to guard the railroad bridge over the river at Bolton.

Johnston feared he would lose thousands of men captured should he have to cross the river if he were to be driven back and decided there should be a defensive line on his side of the river.

On June 18, 1864, roughly a week before the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Johnston was approached by his artillery commander, Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup, about constructing a defensive line  atop a ridge along the northwest bank of the river (on the opposite side from Atlanta).  The Confederate Army could withdraw to this place should Sherman continue outflanking maneuvers

Shoup's design for the fortifications was such that it would only take a small fraction of Johnston's forces to defend them while, if necessary, the rest of the army would have time to get across the river.

Johnston approved Shoup's plan and work on it began the next day.

--Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 2: Comparable to France's Maginot Line

Before I read about it in the article I used in my other blog, I had never heard of this Line before, even though I lived outside of Atlanta for awhile.  So, this is all new to me.

It must have been quite an impressive fortification as the Wikipedia article says it is often compared to the French Maginot Line built prior to World War II.  Today, it is part of the River Line Historic Area and the Chattahoochee  River Line Battlefield.  It consists of the remains of Confederate battlements including  unique fortifications called Shoupades, named after their designer, Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup.

The remnants are spread out over an approximately six-seven mile stretch  along the northwest side of the river from a point just north of where Nickajack Creek joins he Chattahoochee in Mableton to north of South Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1973.  Although many of the remains are on private property, visitors can access the site off U.S. 78 in Mableton, and off S.R.  280 and S. Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

--Old Secesh

George Clarke Rogers-- Part 2: For Meritorious Service

George Clarke Rogers was later promoted to full colonel and command of his regiment for gallant action at the Battle of the Hatchie.  At Champion Hill, he received three wounds, but continued to command a brigade in battles around Atlanta.

For meritorious service, he was brevetted to brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on March 13, 1865.

After the war, he resumed his legal career and was three times a delegate to National Democratic Conventions.

--Old Secesh

Jacob D. Cox-- Part 2: Battles in the East and West

After Fort Sumter, Jacob Cox joined the Union Army to help fulfill Onion's quota of troops.  On April 3, 1861, Cox was appointed a brigadier general of Ohio Volunteers by Governor William Dennison and commanded a training camp near Columbus and later his command fought under Gen. George McClellan in what became West Virginia.

Later, posted to Washington, D.C., it took part in the Antietam Campaign and fought at the Battle of South Mountain September 14, 1862, where corps commander Jesse L. Reno was killed.  Cox took command of the corps and was at the Battle of Antietam.

After that, he commanded several military districts in the North.  Back in the field again, he participated in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign commanding the 3rd Division of the XIII Corps under Gen. John B. Schofield of the Army of the Ohio.  The 3rd Division was very involved in the fighting at the Battle of Utoy Creek on August 6, 1864.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion, January 2019: Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign-- Part 3

I always thought Confederate General John Bell Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign was a forlorn hope as the Confederacy faded into oblivion, and, of course, the use of his army was highly questionable.  And, he had essentially no chance of pulling it off.

But, the more I read, the more possible it became had he only moved faster.

Some other things discussed at the Jan. 26 meeting:

**  Hood was a private observer for Davis and Bragg during the Atlanta Campaign before he took over.

**  When Davis decided to get rid of Johnston, who was available?

**  Hood started attacking at Atlanta just two days after taking command.

**  Race to Nashville.  Had Hood gotten there before the Union forces consolidated he might have had a chance.

By the way, Frank.  The answer to Thursdays question, who was James Reilly U.S. Army sgt. and C.S. Army major?  He surrendered Fort Johnston to N.C. Confederates in 1861 and Fort Fisher, N.C. to Union forces almost four years later in 1865.

--Old Secesh

15th Illinois Infantry Actions and Campaigns-- Part 2: Atlanta Campaign

Duty Vicksburg, Ms. Nov. 10 to Feb. 1864
Meridian Campaign Feb. 3 to March 5, 1864
Atlanta Campaign June 8 to Sept. 8, 1864

Assigned garrison duty Altoona Pass, Ackworth, Big Shanty and Marietta until Nov.
Consolidated with 14th Illinois July 1, 1864 and became the 14th and 15th Illinois Battalion Infantry
March to the Sea  Nov. 15 to Sept. 10, 1864

Siege of Savannah Dec. 10 to Dec. 21
Campaign  of the Carolinas January to April 1865
Battle of Bentonville  March 19-21

Occupation of Goldsboro, NC, March 24
Occupation of Raleigh April 14
Bennett's House April 26.  Surrender of Johnston's Army
Grand Review Washington, D.C.. May 24

Duty on the plains until September 1
Mustered out Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Sept. 16, 1865

--Old Secesh

Some More On the Battle of Atlanta

From, the American Battlefield Trust  "Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864."

After his defeat at Peachtree Creek, Confederate General Hood was still hoping to drive Sherman from the outskirts of Atlanta with an offensive blow.

On the night of July 21, he ordered Lt. General William J. Hardee's corps to make a 15-mile night march and assault the Union forces on the left flank, commanded by Major General James B. McPherson.  Both McPeherson and Sherman knew Hood from his days at West Point and suspected he would try such a move.

They then held one of the corps in position to meet the attack.  This was a big reason Hood's attack failed.

--Old Secesh