Civil War Artillery Shell Found at Gettysburg-- Part 2

Though rare, this is not the first time unexploded munitions have been recovered from the Gettysburg battlefield.  In August 2022, a 3-inch Hotchkiss shell was found lodged in  a historic building being  refurbished according to an Army statement.

Antique munitions  from various conflicts have been found across the United States and the world.

In February 2022,  archaeologists found  a ten pound shell at Kennesaw Mountain  Battlefield Park in Georgia.  

In December  2022, five construction workers were hospitalized after being exposed to gas released from striking a World War II-era phosphorous bomb while doing work  at Army Garrison Stuttgart in Germany.

--Old SeceshShell

This Month in the Civil War: Seven Days' Battles Begin

From the American Battlefield Trust June 2022 calendar.

JUNE 17, 1863

**  Battle of Aldie, Virginia.

JUNE 19,  1862

**  Lincoln signs legislation prohibiting slavery in the current and future federal territories.

JUNE  25, 1862

**  The Seven Days' Battles begin at Oak Grove, Virginia.

JUNE 27, 1862

**  Battle of Gaines Mills, Virginia (Seven Days' Battles)

JUNE 27, 1864

**  Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.

JUNE 29, 1862

**  Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia.  (Seven Days' Battles)

JUNE 29, 1864

**  The First Battle of Reams  Station, Virginia.

June 30, 1862

**  Battle of Glendale (Frayser's Farm), Virginia.  (Seven Days' Battles)

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in June: Seven Days' Battles Begin and kennesaw Mountain

JUNE 19, 1862

Lincoln signs a bill prohibiting slavery in the Western Territories.

JUNE 25, 1862

The Seven Days' Battles begins at Oak Grove, Virginia.

JUNE 27, 1862

Battle of Gaines' Mill, Virginia

JUNE  27, 1864

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia

JUNE  29, 1862

Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia

JUNE 29, 1864

Battle of Reams Station, Virginia

JUNE 30, 1862

Battle of Glendale (Frayser's Farm), Virginia

--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

James M. Shane's Death at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

September 9, 1864 report to War Department of movement of the 98th Ohio from May 2, 1864, to Sept. 8, 1864.

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

"In this charge Lieut, Col. James M. Shane was mortally wounded and died with an hour afterward.  His loss was a severe one to the regiment.    There was not one of us who did not love and confide in him.

"His true manly qualities won for him the respect and admiration of all who knew him here in the military circle of friendship.  His country had no truer patriot, and when he found that he could serve it no longer against its enemies, he asked to be buried with his face toward them.

John S. Pearce, Lt.Col. Commanding

--Old Secesh

Lt.-Col. James M. Shane, 98th Ohio

From Official Roster 98th Ohio Infantry.

James M. Shane

Major

Entered service at age 32, on July 14, 1862, period of service: three years.

REMARKS:  Promoted from Captain, Company A to date  Oct. 7, 1862: to Lieut. Colonel June 12, 1863, but not mustered:  killed  June 27, 1864, in Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.

--Old Secesh

105th Illinois Infantry-- Part 3: Battles and Campaigns

Atlanta Campaign
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Battle of Resaca, Battle of Peachtree Creek.

March to the Sea

Campaign of the Carolinas

Battle of Bentonville

Bennett's House, surrender

Grand Review in Wasihngton, D.C.

--Old Secesh

Ohio's 39th Infantry

The 39th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized in Camp Dennison at Cincinnati.

The 39th Ohio stayed at Memphis, Tennessee, which George Cadman  found so odious, and were not sent to Vicksburg as he expected.  They stayed there from May to October, 1863.  Then they were posted to Prospect, Tennessee until February 1864 where they reenlisted.

They took part in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and were at the Battle of Resaca May 14-15.

They were outside Marietta, Georgia, from June 10 to July 2nd and at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27th.

George Cadman's papers, which are at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stopped after June which leads me to believe that perhaps he was killed or died.  Maybe he just quit writing because of the pressure of campaigning.  I'll have to do more research.

The 39th Ohio participated in the rest of the Battle of Atlanta and its capture

They were at the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina March 20-21, 1865, the occupation of Goldsboro, Raleigh and Johnston's surrender at Bennett Place in North Carolina.

A Mystery.  --Old Secesh

The Atlanta Campaign-- Part 3: "In More Danger From Our Own Battery"

Sunday June 26, 1864:

"3 P.M.  Everything has been very quiet today, considering.  There has not been much cannonading, and I was very glad of it, for it is not pleasant to sit writing when the shells are whizzing over your head.

"Our regiment is in more danger from our own battery in the rear than from the rebels in front.  Sometimes the fuse is defective, and the shell bursts almost as soon as it leaves the gun.

"None of our boys have been brought in from the skirmish line yet, so I suppose they are all right.  We have not had a man hurt yet from our company in this campaign though some of them have been hit.  We have had but one die of sickness, so I think we have been fortunate.

"And now let me conclude these rambling notes by assuring you of my love and my earnest desire for the war to come to an end, that we may pass the remainder of our lives together in peace and happiness.

"Your affectionate husband, GH Cadman"

Sadly, he died a few months after he wrote tghe letter.  I am still trying to find out the circumstances.

--Old Secesh

The Atlanta Campaign-- Part 2: Playing Clerk Again

Continuing with the letter of George Hovey Cadman to his wife.  "Last night our company with three others was detailed ton the skirmish line.  I thought I would have to go too, but Capt. Orr ordered me to remain in and make out our muster and pay rolls.  This is the first clerking I have had to do since he has been with the company, and I was in hopes I was done with it.

"I don't believe Johnnie Reb can stop in front of us much longer.  He must either evacuate, surrender or fight, shortly, for we command the railroad between here and Marietta, and he can not run any more trains with supplies."

--Old Secesh

Ohio's Edward F. Noyes-- Part 2

Edward F. Noyes eventually rose through the ranks to colonel of the 39th Ohio (when Cadman wrote about his poor service at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

He was wounded in battle on July 4, 1864, near Ruff's Mills, Georgia, and had his left leg amputated.  Three months later, Major General Joseph Hooker assigned him to command Camp Dennison in Cincinnati.

After the war, he resigned his commission and became city solicitor of Cincinnati and was elected governor of Ohio in 1871 and served until 1974.

--Old Secesh

The Atlanta Campaign-- Part 1: "Sacrificed to Whisky and Ambition"

From theJune 26, 2014, Civil War Day By Day, UNC Library.

The case of the drunken colonel.

26 June 1864 letter from George Hovey Cadman, 39th Ohio, to his wife Esther.Sunday, June 26, describing Kennesaw Mountain.

"I told you yesterday that Col. Noyes was very anxious to storm the mountain, but that Gen. Fuller feared some trap.  For thirty-six hours they kept their artillery masked, and showed nothing but a heavy line of skirmishers, evidently thinking we would advance, but finding suckers did not bite well, yesterday morning they threw off all disguise and opened on us with a full volley of shell.

"I don't think Col. Noyes wants to storm it as badly as he did.  Could he have his way, our regiment would have been sacrificed to whisky and ambition.  Since our return from furlough he has not been the same man he was before.  When we made our reconnaissance at Resaca before the fight, he was so drunk he did not know what he was doing, and he has been worse for liquor several times since.

"The boys are getting perfectly down on him.  Fortunately he leaves next month when his three years are up.  But keep this to yourself or you may get me into trouble."

--Old Secesh

34th Illinois and Kennesaw Mountain

Back in October I was writing about the discovery of Mark carr's bones at the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield.

He was a member of the 34th Illinois, called the Red River Rifles and organized at camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois. Participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Stones River, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and the March to the Sea.

During the war, they lost 11 officers, 129 enlisted killed in action or died from wounds. Two officers and 119 more enlisted died from diseases.

KENNESAW MOUNTAIN

The state of Illinois purchased a small tract of land near Dead Angle in 1898. Almost 500 men from Illinois died here. In 1911, the Illinois Monument was dedicated. The War department took it over in 1917, and in the next 21 years expanded the site to 2,800+ acres. In the 1930s, a CCC camp was established near Pigeon Hill and many improvements were made to the battlefield.

"Unknown " Union SoldierWas Illinoisan-- Part 4

GOOD DETECTIVE WORK

Brad Quinlin determined Carr's identity through a lot of research. Using a collection of Civil War letters from the 34th Illinois from the Chicago History Museum archives, he found that Carr hd reported for duty June 27th and that five men from the regiment had been killed, but Carr's name was not among them.

After five years of research, Mark Carr was the only soldier killed on June 27, 1864, whose burial spot could not be found.

In 1914, the state of Illinois erected a 30 foot marble monument of land at Kennesaw Mountain. Carr's grave is right by it.

Great Detective Work and Mystery Solved. --Old B-Runner

"Unknown" Civil War Soldier Was an Illinoisan-- Part 3

After the battle, other soldiers' bodies were buried right away, but Carr's was overlooked, perhaps an artillery shell through earth over it.

"The day after the battle, they declared a truce because it was June and about 100 degrees outside and the bodies were stinking," said Willie Johnson, the historian of the park. "They buried them right there, and after the war, the U.S. government hired people to recover the bodies and move them to what is now the new national cemetery."

More than 9,000 Union soldiers who died at Kennesaw and the other battles around Atlanta are buried at the nearby Marietta National Cemetery, established in 1866.

Carr was never reburied, probably because he was declared missing in action. He does not have a pension record which indicates that neither his mother or wife applied for one.

Still More to Come. --Old B-Runner

'Unknown' Union Soldier Was an Illinoisan-- Part 1

July 26th Chicago Tribune. By Dahleen Glanton.

Private Mark Carr was 19 when he enlisted in the Arny in 1861, and it is likely that his family in Illinois never knew what happened to him.

It turns out that he was killed June 27, 1864, at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, (outside of Atlanta) in an attack n Cheatham Hill. He was officially declared as missing in action. For more than 70 years, he was buried under a marker proclaiming him as "Unknown Union Soldier."

In June, that was changed when Brad Quinlan, a volunteer historian at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, spent five years poring over documents to learn as to the soldier's identity. His body is the only remaining grave.

Now, the search has led to relatives still living in northwest Illinois.

His body was discovered by conservation workers (CCC?) in 1938 at Cheatham Hill.

More to Come. --Old B-Runner