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: Sherman's March to the Sea and Through the Carolinas-- Part 1

In February 2, the discussion group met at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois and discussed the above topic.

Of course, as always, there were a fair number of off-topic discussions that took place.  But. what would a discussion be without off-topic.

Some of the things said:

**  The two Army Corps that were with Sherman with the most Eastern Regiments were the X and the XX Corps.

**  Sherman did not follow Hood on his westward move from Atlanta and instead marched through Georgia  where he was able to subsist his army despite the "Starving Confederacy".  This was in large par because of the degree of procuring that his foragers "bummers" were able to achieve.

**  The only major resistance to his March to the Sea took place at the Battle of Griswoldville.  This was a battle where a lot of the Confederates were militia.

**  Sherman's March to the Sea was easier than the March Through the Carolinas because in Georgia, the Union forces were able to follow rivers and in the Carolina's they had to cross them.

--Old Secesh

So, Should Sherman's Army Have Been Called the Army of the Illinois?

From the McHenry County Civil War Round Table (Illinois) discussion group for February 26, 2022.

I went through Sherman's Union Order of Battle for his march through the Carolinas and counted the number of Illinois units.  I came up with 41.  That is a huge number of regiments and one battalion.  Now, granted, that late in the war, none or very few of these had the predetermined 1,000 soldiers considered a regiment at full strength.  But, even so, that was a lot of troops.

Here are the Illinois regiments:

7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 40, 45, 48, 50, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 60, 63, 64, 65, 78, 82, 85, 86, 90, 93, 101, 102, 104,  105, 111, 112, 116, 125, 127, 129

Also, there was a 14/15 Battalion.

That's sure a lot of Illinois boys.

Army of the Illinois since Union Armies named after rivers.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table Answers

These are the answers to yesterday's quiz regarding the MCCWRT's discussion group's questions:

1.  Capital of Georgia was Milledgeville

2.  Last major battle in Carolinas was the Battle of Bentonville.

3.  Sherman's first objective in N.C. was Fayetteville (and especially its arsenal).

4.  Sherman enabled Johnston to attack him at Bentonville because he had divided his army into two columns.

5.  After Savannah was captured Grant wanted Sherman to come directly to Virginia to crush Lee.

6.  How many Illinois regiments were with Sherman in the Carolinas?  41

--Old Secsh

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meeting, 2/26/22: Sherman's March to the Sea and the Carolinas

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table )MCCWRT) discussion group met at the Crystal Lake, Illinois, Panera Bread on US-14 (Northwest Highway) from 10 a.m. to 11:30 on Saturday, Feb. 25, and was both in person and via Zoom.  One of the folks was watching and talking from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Yer Quiz:

1.  What was the capital of Georgia during the march?

2.  What was the last major battle fought in North Carolina?

3.  What was Sherman's first objective in North Carolina?

4.  What move did Sherman make that enabled Johnston to attack him at that last major battle in North Carolina?

5.  After Sherman reached Savannah, what did Grant want Sherman to do?

6.  Frank Question:  How many Illinois regiments were with Sherman in his March Through the Carolinas?

Answers in the next post.

--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

135th USCT-- Part 1: Mustered in at Goldsboro, N.C.

In the last post I wrote about the exhibit on this regiment that will be at the Wayne County Museum in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

From the 135th USCT website.

The regiment was formed in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March  27, 1865, from men who had previously served in the Pioneer Corps, and were a part of Gen. William T. Sherman's Union Army.

Prior to taking the oath of service in Goldsboro, they had been recruited for the Pioneer Corps during Sherman's March through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.  Once they were formed into the 135th, they were commanded by Colonel John Edgar Gurley, who then commanded them until the end of the war (which wasn't very long by this time).

The Pioneer Corps worked tirelessly through the winter of 1864 and spring of 1865 to move General Sherman's Army.  They built corduroyed roads to get them through swamps and bridges.  There were a lot of swamps, rivers and streams along Sherman's path.  These Pioneers were a big reason for his success.

They had to work hard to insure  that the over 2,500 wagons of Sherman's army could stay with the 60,000 men.

--Old Secesh

Sherman's Carolinas Campaign

This is the subject of the McHenry Country Civil War Round Table discussion group meeting tomorrow in Crystal Lake (see last post for particulars).

From Wikipedia.

Also called the Campaign of the Carolinas, went from January 1 to April 26, 1865.  It was the final campaign conducted by the U.S. Army against the Confederacy.  Wikipedia holds it as being in the Western Theater

On January 1, 1864, Union General Sherman advanced his army from Savannah, Georgia, with plans of marching through South Carolina and North Carolina to where he would link up with the Union Army in Virginia.

The defeat of Confederate General Joseph Johnston's Army at the Battle of Bentonville and its unconditional surrender on April 26, 1865, effectively ended the Civil War.

--Old Secesh

135th USCT Re-Enactment Goldsboro-- Part 4: Mustered Into Service in Goldsboro in 1865

Then General  Sherman stayed in Scotland County, North Carolina, on the March through the Carolinas.  Scotland County is on the S.C. border and where Laurinburg is located.  While there, they used the Old Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church for headquarters (built 1856).

Then they went to Fayetteville where they destroyed the arsenal and then to the Battle of Bentonville March 19-21.  After the Union victory at Bentonville, Sherman continued on to Goldsboro.  There his troops were supplied.

The 135th was created when over 1,100 black men enlisted after Sherman arrived in Goldsboro, which is why  the 135th's re-enactment is taking place there.  Between late March and early April, the 135th trained and were issued uniforms and equipment.

USCT regiments acted as the U.S. Navy Seabees do, they created roads by felling trees and covering them with soil and built bridges.

I's Sure Like to be in Goldsboro for this event this weekend.  --Old Secesh

135th USCT Re-Enactment in Goldsboro, N.C. This Weekend-- Part 3

Saturday there will be a symposium with several scholars speaking about the USCT from 9 to 3 p.m..

The 135th USCT

Many of the USCT regiments were made up of black men from the same county or area of a state.  There were 1,154 men in the 135th USCT from the states of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.   Some of them from North Carolina came from Laurinburg, Maxton, Red Springs, Lumberton.  There were also some from Bennettsville, South Carolina.

They joined Sherman after his March to the Sea and were on the March Through the Carolinas.  They were mustered into Union service along the way.  I came across enlistment records which showed many mustered in at Goldsboro, N.C., which made it a good place to have the re-enactment.

--Old Secesh

Just How Muddy Was It?

I came across this humorous quote in Mark L. Bradley's book "Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville."

The night before the Battle of Averasboro, March 16, 1865, a Confederate attempt to slow down Sherman's Army marching through North Carolina, it rained very heavily, turning roads and the land into a regular quagmire.

As Union Colonel William Hawley's brigade fell in for the march, Captain Daniel Oakey of the 2nd Massachusetts wrote that "The men furnished themselves with [burning] pine-knots and our weapons glistened in the torch-light, a cloud of black smoke from the torches floating back over our heads.

"The regimental wits were as ready as ever, and amid a flow of lively bandinage we toiled on through the mud. When we halted...to give us an opportunity of drawing breath, I found Sergeant Johnson with one arm in the mud up to the elbow.

"He explained that he was trying to find his shoe."

How Muddy Was It? --Old Secesh