45th Illinois at Shiloh Casualties

STRENGTH AND LOSSES OF THE 45TH ILLINOIS AT SHILOH

Present for duty:  562

KIA:  23

WIA:  187

MIA:  3

Total casualties:  213

Loss ratio:  38%

--Old Secesh

A Sad Telegram-- Part 2: Survived the War

The caregiver who handled the young soldier's message apparently did not know how to spell the name and only that he lived somewhere near Atlanta, so he sent the telegram to the city's leading newspaper, the Daily Intelligencer.

Editor John Steele published the plea July 26, prefaced by a notice to readers:  "The following dispatch has been received at this office.  We do not know the residence of Mr. J.W. Neisbit, to whom it is directed, under our care, and therefore publish it. hoping some one will convey to him the information it imparts.  --ED. INT."

Apparently, no one knew where the elder Neisbit (Nesbit) lived, but the case of the wounded lieutenant, who turned 22 just ten days after his Gettysburg wound, worked out well.

On August 3, he was granted a 60-day furlough to return home.  He resigned from the Confederate Army in November 1863.

After the war, he started farming, married and raised a family north of Atlanta.  He died at the age of 83 in 1925, one of approximately 60,000 Civil War amputees.

--Old Secesh

A Sad Telegram: 'I Lost My Left Arm at Gettysburg'

From the same source as the previous post.

Twelve days after he was shot in the left arm on the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Lieutenant William Hoyle Nesbit wrote or dictated a telegram to his father in far-away Georgia.

***********************

RICHMOND, July 14-- To Mr. J.W. Neisbit, care of the Intelligencer (Atlanta Daily Intelligencer):

Dear Father-- I am at Jordan Springs Hospital, near Winchester.  I lost my left arm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Come to me.  Answer by telegraph.

W.H. Neisbit

***********************

--Old Secesh

Joseph Ricketts and 1st Lt. William M. McKeen

"Joseph Ricketts was a strong man.    His energies were untiring, his sense of duty supreme.  He had had a military training; he was skillful as a tactician.  What he knew, he knew thoroughly.  He had fully  grasped the principles of his teachings and was apt and ready in their application.

"His generous sympathy was evidenced  by his readiness to relieve the suffering of horses, and his heroic death attested  his eminent courage.  Fitted for an advancement which the casualties of war would soon have brought him, he was destined thus early in his career for the most honorable of all soldier's epitaphs:

"killed in action."

*****************************

"First Lieutenant William M. McKeen was about this time  in the action also most seriously wounded.  A shot passed through his body involving a vital organ.  His life was for a long time despaired of.

"He recovered subsequently, however, to again take a prominent place in the business community."

--Old Secesh

Co. D, 15th Illinois Infantry Casualties at Battle of Shiloh

Thompson Hardy   Killed  April 6, 1862

Charles E. Hotchkiss   Died of wounds June 19, 1862  (Probably)

John Spicer   Killed April 6, 1862

Eugene A Wells   Died of wounds   April 22, 1862  (Probably)

Harley Wayne  Killed at Pittsburg Landing.

There were also a lot of men (20)  discharged because of disabilities during the remainder of 1862.  Perhaps they were wounded at Shiloh.

--Old Secesh

7th Minnesota Infantry, Henry Mills' Outfit-- Part 2: Battle of Nashville and the End of the War

Late in November 1864, the 7th Minnesota arrived at Nashville, Tennessee and joined Genera; George Thomas' army who were  fighting Gen. John Bell Hood's Confederates. 

On December 15, Thomas' troops attacked the Confederate lines outside the city.  The 7th Minnesota's brigade charged a gun position and captured three cannons.  Unfortunately, Colonel Sylvester  G. Hill, the brigade commander, was killed.  The 7th's Col. Marshall then took command of the brigade.

The Union forces renewed the attack the following day  which was rainy.  The 7th and their comrades charged over soft rain soaked ground across a corn field and captured the Confederate works.  Union forces were successful all along the line  and Hood's army was all but destroyed.

The 7th had six men killed and fifty-four wounded in the two-day battle.  One of those wounded was Henry Mills.

Following the Battle of Nashville, the 7th served in Tennessee and Mississippi.

In March and April, 1865, they fought in Gen.  E.R.S. Canby's campaign against Mobile, Alabama.  This was the last campaign of the 7th, and they returned home and were mustered out of service on August 16, 1865.

--Old Secesh

Henry Mills' Bloody Shirt-- Part 2

The collections at the Minnesota Historical Society are filled with items like the shirt.

Objects like this ordinary shirt, worn and frayed and dark with blood of its last two owners.

If you look closely , you can see faint embroidery on the pockets, spelling out the initials J.B.

Maybe these initials were stitched by a mother or a sweetheart.  Maybe some future historian will be combing through the casualty lists of the Battle of Nashville  and put a name on the Confederate soldier who never came home.

"This shirt  saved the life of a Minnesota soldier, said Sondra Reierson of the Historical Society.  The fact that even with the shirt, Mills was able to survive his battlefield wounds in that day and age is only matched by the shirt surviving.

The Mills family kept the shirt safe and beautifully  preserved for 157 years, donated it to the Minnesota Historical Society last week.  It will go on display at the new visitor center opening next year at the Historic Fort Snelling at Bdote.

The story of Henry Mills, who was about 31 years old at the Battle of Nashville, had many more chapters after his Civil War years.  He came home, raised a family and lived to see a brand new century.  He served as a state arsenal keeper, ran a grocery and was elected Justice of the Peace.

Born in 1833, he died in 1925 at the age of 92.

--Old Secesh

Henry Mills' Bloody Shirt-- Part 1

From the July 3, 2021, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Minnesota Historical Society looks to the future" by Jennifer Brooks.

I wrote about the shirt that may have saved Henry Mills' life at the Battle of Nashville in 1864 earlier this month.  It is now housed  in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society.  Here is some more information on it.

Henry Mills held on to the shirt that saved his live for the rest of his long life.

It was a dead man's shirt.  Likely taken off a dead Confederate soldier on the icy Battle of Nashville on a bitter day in December 1864.  Mills took the shirt and wrapped it tightly around  the bleeding bullet wound in his leg.

He ended up losing the leg, but kept the shirt.  After the war, it came home with him to Minnesota -- first to Fort Snelling, where Lt. Henry Mills mustered out of the 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, then to his home in St. Paul.

No matter how many times the Mills family washed that shirt, the blood stains would not come out.  But, instead of burning it or cutting it into strips for rags so he wouldn't be reminded of its story, Mills carried this bit if his past into the future.

--Old Secesh

Kentucky Union Soldier Gets New Gravestone-- Part 3: To the End of the War

The men made their way back down the mountain to their horses and were dismayed to find that the horses had starved to death where they had been tied.  

Incidentally, the volunteer who had allowed himself to be captured to start the ruse, was never seen or heard from again.

The situation was turned around when Gen. Joseph Hooker and two corps of Union soldiers arrived to relieve the besieged Gen.  William Rosecrans. They drove the Confederates off the mountain in what is called "The Battle Above the Clouds."

The Union forces seized Chattanooga and gained control of the Tennessee River and cut off the Confederate supply line and paved the way for the decisive Battle of Missionary Ridge.

On May  31, 1864, Johnny Lobb was injured at the Battle of Burnt Hickory near  Kingston, Georgia, when a minie ball struck his right arm above the elbow.  After treatment in a hospital, he returned to his company.  He was honorably discharged on March 19, 1865,  and returned to Hammonsville and began farming.

He was born on February  25, 1844, and died Jan. 2, 1911.

--Old Secesh

A Piece of the War Acquired in Minnesota

From the June 30, 2021, Red Lake Nation News  Recently acquired Confederate shirt and 1906 cavalry uniform speak to expanded   military stories at historic Fort Snelling."

The Minnesota  Historical Society recently acquired a Confederate shirt used to bind a wound received by a Minnesota soldier.

On the second day of the Battle of Nashville on December 16, 1864, Henry L. Mills, a sergeant in the 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was shot in the leg.  In an effort to staunch the flow of blood, Mills grabbed the shirt of a slain Confederate soldier and used it as a tourniquet.  

The shirt remains stained with Mills' blood.

Mills mustered out of Union service at Fort Snelling and returned to St. Paul, where he recovered and lived to the age of 92.

--Old Secesh

Alpheus T. Budlong and David H. Budlong

Well, I was unable to find out any more about the little run-in that Alpheus had with William T. Sherman before the First Battle of Bull Run, but evidently he served his penitence or was forgiven or something else because he was back in the ranks by the time of the Battle of South Mountain in September 1862, where he was wounded badly enough that his military career was over.

And, of course, later in the war, Sherman wasn't exactly against foraging.

But, obviously Alpheus was a very tall man for that time, standing over six feet tall.  And, so was David H. Budlong as I mentioned in the War Reminiscence posts earlier this month.  Maybe that is a family trait?

--Old Secesh

Some More Budlongs from Wisconsin

From Wisconsin Volunteers War of the Rebellion.

DAVID H. BUDLONG--  1ST LT.   Co. C,   33rd Wisconsin Infantry  (He went on to be Lt.Col. of the 135th USCT.)

EBER BUDLONG--  Sergeant   Co. C,   33rd Wisconsin Infantry  (Eber was the name of David Budlong's father so most likely his brother.)

*******************************

Also two other Budlongs are listed:

ALPHEUS T. BUDLONG  Corporal, Co. I,  2nd Wisconsin Infantry  (Part of the famed Iron Brigade.  He was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain.   In 1883, he was receiving a pension from the U.S. government while living in Greene County, Missouri.  His residence was listed as Ash Grove and disability was a g.s.w. left hand, which I tale to be gunshot wound, left hand.  Received $4 dating from March 1879.)

DELOS BUDLONG--     Corporal E,  11th Wisconsin Infantry

Were they brothers? Relatives?

--Old Secesh

What Happened With the 87th New York's Officers When They Consolidated With the 40th New York?

When the 87th New York Infantry was absorbed into the 40th New York Infantry I was surprised to see that only the enlisted men became a part of the 40th.  Why were the 87th's officer not brought over as well.  I had seen somewhere else that the 87th's officers were discharged from the Army at that time.

Did something happen.  I know I've read in one place that the 87th was consolidated because of heavy losses.  Looking at their casualties, I can't see that they had that many enough to require consolidation.

So, what gives.

Just like Thomas Aumack's service and wounding/possible illness is a question, so is this.

What Happened?  --Old Secesh

Thomas Bailey Aumack-- Part 3: Some Confusion of Where He Was Wounded or If He Ended Up Dying of Something Else

Served as a private in Company C, 87th  Regiment of New York Volunteers, under Captain  Samuel F. Knight, American Civil War.

He was wounded at the Battle of Antietam between September 14-17, 1862 and was sent home from Fort Monroe, Virginia, by reason of surgeon's certificate  of disability to die.

*************************

I could not find any mention of the 87th NY at the Battle of Antietam and then found out that the organization ceased to exist on September 6, 1862, when the regiment was consolidated with the 40th New York Infantry.

So, if Thomas Aumack was wounded, it would not have been at Antietam if he was in the 87th.

--Old Secesh

Six Civil War Medical Myths That Just Won't Die-- Part 4: Glowing Wounds at Shiloh?

MYTH  #4

At Shiloh, wounds were reported to glow -- which was supposedly cause by bacteria Photorhabdus luminescens.

There are many google search results relating to this story "discovered" by high school students.  They claim to have visited Shiloh National Military Park where they heard a story about glowing wounds.  They, in turn, claim that they have discovered the bacteria responsible for those glowing wounds.

According to a NPS Ranger there:  "The only problem with this story is that there is no historical documentation of the event [glowing wounds] ever occurring, at Shiloh or anywhere else.  Not a single letter, diary entry, newspaper account, soldier's journal, , official report... nothing."

So, no known contemporary primary or secondary source accounts of glowing wounds -- and, the bacteria requires a temperature below 93.4 degrees.  That's well below  the normal temperature of a living human body.

--Old SeceshGlow

Major John Johnson-- Part 6: Surrendered With Johnston, Religious Pursuits and a Book

John Johnson was promoted to Major of Engineers in October 1864.  Upon recovering from his wounds, he joined Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army in eastern North Carolina and took part in the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville.  He was paroled as senior officer of engineers at the surrender of the army at Greensboro in April 1865.  (Probably Johnston's surrender at Bennett Place in Durham, N.C..)

After the war, he resumed his ministerial studies  and in January 188, was ordained  to the Episcopal ministry and assumed charge of Grace Church in Camden, South Carolina.  In 1871, he returned to Charleston and became assistant minister of St. Philip's Episcopal Church.  he was made rector the following year, at age 43, and served in that capacity for the next 34 years.

In July 1890 he published his work "The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Including Fort Sumter and Adjacent Islands 1863-1865."  This book received high commendation from the best literary and military critics.

In the summer of 1891,  he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee,  and a few years later the College of Charleston conferred on him the degree of LL.D..

The Reverend John Johnson died  in Charleston at age 78 on April 7, 1907, the 44th anniversary of his posting to  Fort Sumter.  he was survived by his wife of  of 42 years, Floride Canteyand eight children.  he is buried at St. Philip's Church Cemetery..

--Old Secesh

More On Oliver Dart, Jr.-- Part 4: The Wound

As the 14th Connecticut neared the railroad depot in Fredericksburg, they came under a galling artillery barrage from the Confederates and they took cover behind a high board fence which soon began to be battered.

Company D, Oliver Dart's unit, was down to 25 men by Fredericksburg, had  a shell burst in front of them and a 2-by-3-inch piece of the shell crashed into the ground, throwing dirt and gravel into the eyes of John Symon (Dart's brother-in-law) before crashing through the fence and striking Oliver in the face and right shoulder.

Corporal Charles Lyman later recalled that "the shell  fragment  would have ripped through Oliver's head had the fence not redirected it."  Sergeant Benjamin Hirst (Oliver's good friend), wrote  a letter to his wife, saying,  "Poor Oliver Dart... he looked as if his whole face  was shot away."

Dart was laid on the ground, unconscious, with Symonds next to him, blinded.  Four men, Sergeant George Brigham, Sergeant Hirst, Corporal Elbert Hyde and Private Kilbourne Newell helped the wounded men back to  the divisional field hospital at the Rowe House  along the Rappahonnock River

More on Oliver Dart, Jr.-- Part 3: View the Result of His Fredericksburg Wounds

If you type in Oliver Dart, Jr   Elmwood Cemetery, Vernon, Connecticut,  on a search, you can see two pictures of his grievous wounds.

--Old Secesh

Mangled By a Shell-- Part 3: Two Facial Operations

On the day after Christmas, Oliver Dart was admitted to Stanton General Hospital in Washington, D.C. where his chances of recovery were considered  slim.  One doctor noted, "Wounded in battle probably mortally."

His older brother George visited him and found the hospital conditions deplorable.  After five weeks, Oliver Dart was discharged from the Union Army and sent home to South Windsor, Ct., where he miraculously recovered and underwent an operation on his face at the home of his brother James and then underwent a second procedure on his face at the home of his father.

In June 1863, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Maria, claiming "a total neglect of all duties of marriage."  It took three years before it was granted.  Maria was the sister of John Symonds, the soldier who had also been wounded next to Dart at Fredericksburg.

--Old Secesh

The Nutmeg Regiment, 14th Connecticut

From Civil War in the East.

The 14th Connecticut lost 17 officers and 188  enlisted men killed or mortally wounded during the war.  In addition, one officer and 191 men died from disease.

The 14th sustained the largest percentage of loss of any Connecticut regiment.

The regiment is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.  Inscription on that monument reads:  "Lost in killed and died in service 366;  in wounded and disabled many hundreds.  Original muster 1015; recruits 697, final muster of original members, present and absent, 234."

Like I Said, One Heavy-Fighting Regiment.   --Old Secesh