James Cantey, CSA-- Part 2

With the coming of the Civil War, he helped form the 15th Alabama Regiment and was elected its colonel.  The regiment participated in Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign where they showed great valor during the Battle of Cross Keys.

They were still with Jackson during the Seven Days Battles around Richmond.  After that, he was detached and served around Mobile, Alabama, from January 1863 to April 1864. where he organized a brigade consisting of three Alabama and one Mississippi regiment.

They were transferred to the Army of Tennessee and appointed brigadier general.  He was frequently absent from duty because of sickness.  His brigade fought in the Atlanta Campaign and in Hood's Franklin-Nashville debacle.

Cantey and his brigade fought at the Battle of Bentonville in the closing days of the war and surrendered with Johnston's forces at Durham Station.

After the war, he returned to his plantation near Fort Mitchell, Alabama.  He died at his plantation on June 30, 1874, and is buried in the Crowell Family Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.

--Old Secesh

Lee and His Generals: William Henry Chase Whiting-- Part 2

Continued from Dec. 4.  These were from the July McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Table Discussion group.

Whiting was very much involved in the defenses and action around Charleston Harbor in March and April 1861.

He, however, got in trouble with Confederate President Jefferson Davis for declining the command of a brigade of five Mississippi regiments.  Further problems came for his being very outrspoken about his superiors' shortcomings as he perceived them.

Whiting was at the Seven Days battles after which Lee replaced him and assigned him to the military district at Wilmington, North Carolina.

Promoted to major general in February 1863.   After that, he briefly tookover the defense of Petersburg in May 1864.

--Old Secesh

22nd Georgia-- Part 3: Seven Days, Second Manassas and Antietam

June 25 to July 1, 1862  Seven Days Battles

June 25:  King's School House (Oak Grove)   The regiment lost ten men killed and 77 wounded.

July 1:  Battle of Malvern Hill   Colonel Harris was again wounded.  Lieutenant Samuel Smythe of Company A and Lieutenant Alexander Campbell of Company C were killed.

August 28-30:  Second Battle of  Manassas (Bull Run):  The regiment lost 13 killed and 50 wounded.  Captain Joseph T. Albert of Company K was killed.  Lieutenant  S.B. Treadaway of Company G was mortally wounded.

September 12-15   Siege of Harpers Ferry

September 17:  The Battle of Antietam   The regiment crossed the Potomac River at Blackford's Ford and marched north through the fields to the west of the town of Sharpsburg and took position on the far eastern flank of the Sunken Road.  The regiment may have had only 60 men on the field due to casualties and straggling.

Colonel Robert H. Jones took over the brigade as senior officer when General Wright was wounded, but was shot in the stomach and lung.  Major Lawrence D. Lallerstedt took over the regiment, but was himself wounded.  Neither Jones not Lallerstedt would return to command.

Captain W.F. Jones of Company  G was mortally wounded and captured.

--Old Secesh

Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Eugene Stocker, MD-- Part 2: Lots of Duty Stations

Major and Surgeon in US Volunteers 3 August 1861.  At the Battle of Drainsville Dec 1861.  Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 1st Corps Army of the Potomac.  In the Department of the Rappahannock to May 1862.

Then Medical Director of  of the 3rd Division, 5th Corps until 30 June 1862, when wounded in the right wrist by bullet fragments in the Battle of New Market  Cross Roads.  Was in the battles of the Seven Days  Retreat.  In charge of the Field Hospital at  Harrison Landing and was the last officer to leave when it was evacuated.

In charge of the Hospital at Craney Island, VA.  On inspection  duty in the Department of Virginia 5 Nov 1862 to 5 Jan 1863.

In charge of  Chesapeake General Hospital, Fortress Monroe to 14 Oct 1863.

We Be RoadTrippin'.   --Old Secesh

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

87th New York Infantry-- Part 5: Casualties During War

From New York in the War of the Rebellion by Frederick Phisterer.

SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, VA, April 5 to May 4, 1863:  None

FAIR OAKS, VA., May 31-June 1, 1862:  11 enlisted killed, Wounded 5 officers (all recovered), 53 enlisted wounded (48 recovered), Missing: 7 enlisted.

SEVEN DAYS BATTLES, VA.  June 25-July 2, 1862:  5 enlisted killed. 33 enlisted wounded (30 recovered)

GEN. POPE'S CAMPAIGN, VA, August 26-September 2, 1862:  Killed 1 officer, 3 enlisted, Wounded 7 enlisted (6 recovered).  Missing: 7 officers and 50 enlisted.

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

TOTAL FOR THE 87TH'S SERVICE

1 officer and 19 enlisted killed, Wounded and Died  9 enlisted, Wounded and recovered:  5 officers and 84 enlisted, Missing: 7 officers and 57 enlisted.    AGGREGATE: 182

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

Was Thomas Aumack one of the wounded at Gen. Pope's Campaign.

Plus, that was quite a few missing in Pope's Campaign.  I would guess this meant that they were captured.

--Old Secesh

87th New York Infantry-- Part 3: A Real Fighting Two and a Half Months

Continuing with detailed service of the 87th New York:

All dates 1862

JUNE 25-JULY 1:   Seven Days before Richmond

JUNE 25:  Battle of Oak Grove

JULY 1:  Battle of Malvern Hill

UNTIL AUGUST 16:  At Harrison's Landing

AUGUST 16-26:  Movement to Fort Monroe and then to Centreville, Virginia

AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 2:  Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia

AUGUST 27:  Action at Bristoe Station, or Kettle Run

AUGUST 27:  Buckland's Bridge, Broad Run

AUGUST 29:  Battle of Groveton

AUGUST 30:  Second Battle of Bull Run

SEPTEMBER 1:  Battle of Chantilly

--Old Secesh

Gen. Junius Daniel-- Part 3: Service on the Frontier, Louisiana and Back to North Carolina

Continued from October 11, 2020.

In 1852, he was assigned to Fort Albuquerque in New Mexico Territory and remained stationed on the frontier for five years.  Temporarily under the command of Richard S. Ewell of the 3rd Dragoons, Lieutenant Daniel saw action  in a series of skirmishes with Apache Indians in 1855.

In 1858, Daniel resigned his commission and became a planter in Louisiana, joining his father who had moved there in 1851 after his last term in Congress.  In October 1860, he married Ellen Long.

CIVIL WAR SERVICE

The state of Louisiana offered Daniel a commission after Lincoln's call for volunteers, but he returned to Halifax, North Carolina, where he offered his services to his native state.  he was chosen colonel of the  4th (later 14th N.C. Infantry).  When the period of enlistment ended, he was offered command of several regiments before accepting that of the 45th Infantry Regiment.

Junius Daniel led four regiments from Raleigh to Goldsboro where he organized them into a brigade.  Afterwards, he organized two other brigades.  In June 1862, his brigade was ordered to Petersburg, Virginia, where his brigade joined the Army of Northern Virginia just before the Seven Days Battles, though it took no part in them.

--Old Secesh

 

Jesse Merrill-- Part 2: Service in the 36th Pennsylvania and U.S. Signal Corps

Jesse Merrill was commissioned  2nd lieutenant of Company "D", 36th Pennsylvania Infantry on April 24, 1861.  He was promoted to Captain on May 9, 1862, and was commissioned into the U.S. Signal Corps  on March 3, 1863.

Promoted to Major by brevet on March 13, 1865.  He died January 14, 1899.

During Merrill's service with the 36th Pennsylvania [7th Pa. reserves] the regiment participated in the Seven Days Battles, as well as Second Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg.

Bibles and books inscribed by Civil War Signal Corps members are extremely rare.  Super id'd  collectible.

Sold for $225.

--Old Secesh

Berdan's Sharpshooters-- Part 7: Engagements

Berdan's Sharpshooters saw action at the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862.  There, in just ten minutes, they wrecked the Confederate 1st Richmond Howitzers regiment.

Again, they were prominent at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 at the Cornfield, but with heavy losses where the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters had 13 officers killed and wounded and 54 enlisted men killed, wounded or missing.

What probably was the Sharpshooters' defining moment came at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, during Longstreet's advance at the Little Round Top.

This was Hiram Berdan's last time with his group as he was promoted to division command and a year later resigned.    That December, 1863, the two regiments were merged, but never again used in the role for which they were created.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 3: It Was His Way for the Casualties

After the Seven Days Battles, Letterman essentially lost his job when his supporter, McClellan was dismissed and Pope installed as leader of the Army of the Potomac.  But after Second Bull Run, McClellan was brought back as was Letterman and they hurriedly put things back in order on their way to Antietam.

It was at Antietam that Jonathan Letterman shone in taking care of casualties.  he had a system of first aid stations at the regimental level where principles of triage (who gets treated first) were first instituted.

Basically, Letterman instituted standing operation procedure for the intake and subsequent treatment of war casualties and for the first time applied management principles to battlefield medicine.

He established mobile field hospitals at the division and corps headquarters.  They were all connected by an efficient ambulance corps under control of medical staff instead of the Quartermaster Department.  he also arranged for an efficient  system for the distribution of medical supplies.

His system worked at the Battle of Fredericksburg as well, but was compromised at the Battle of Gettysburg.  But later his ideas were adopted by the Army of the Potomac and all Union armies, officially by an Act of Congress in March 1964.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 2: Organized the Medical Service

He was born in Pennsylvania. and graduated from medical college in 1849 and became am assistant surgeon in the Army.  Served in campaigns against the Seminoles in Florida, then in Minnesota and New Mexico and later California.  In these places he was involved in Indian conflict.

With the start of the Civil War, Letterman was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and  a month later, became a major and placed in overall charge as medical director for that Army.  In this position he immediately set about reorganizing the Medical Service.  Things were still a mess when it came to casualties in the Seven Days Battles in June 1862, but by the time of the Battle of Antietam, things were much better.

There were forward treatment stations at the regimental level where principals of triage were first instituted.  Mobile field hospitals were established at the divisional and corps levels.  They were all connected by an efficient ambulance corps.

--Old Secesh

The Battles of the German Light Artillery

From Research Online

Battles:

Seven Days Battles, Virginia   25 June-1 July 1862

2nd Manassas, Virginia   28-30 August 1862

South Mountain, Maryland   14 September 1862

Sharpsburg, Maryland   17 September 1861

Fredericksburg, Virginia   13 December 1862

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania   1-3 July 1863

Tullifinny Station   9 December 1864  Actually the Battle of Tulifinny Creek

Carolinas Campaign  South Carolina and North Carolina  February to April 1865

--Old Secesh

German Light Artillery-- Part 2: Defense of Savannad, Carolinas Campaign and Bennett Place

From the National Park Service  Battle Unit Details

BACHMAN'S COMPANY, SOUTH CAROLINA ARTILLERY (GERMAN LIGHT ARTILLERY)

I also imagine this unit was made up of a lot of men of German descent.

The German Light Artillery (also called the Charleston German Artillery) completed its organization in the spring of 1862.  The unit moved to Virginia, served  in B.W. Frobel's and M.W. Henry's Battalion of Artillery, and fought with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battles to Gettysburg, except when it was with Longstreet at Suffolk.

During October 1863 it was ordered to to South Carolina and later participated in the defense of Savannah before returning to South Carolina.

It reported seven casualties during the Seven Days' Battles, had two killed and two wounded in the Maryland Campaign and took 71 men to Gettysburg.

The company had 94 men at Charleston in April 1864, was refitted after being in Georgia and during April 1865, Captain William K. Bachman was in command.  They surrendered with Johnston at Bennett Place, North Carolina.

William K. Bachman commanded the unit for the whole war.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County CW Round Table-- Part 6: Keeping the Reserves Reserved

**  None of the Seven Days battles involved the whole force on either side.

**  Most were fought with between 1/3 and 1/2 of forces.

**  McClellan kept a large reserve of troops.

**  Napoleon always needed large numbers of reserves to commit at the right time.

**  McClellan wouldn't commit his.

**  After Gaines Mill, McClellan made the decision to retreat.

**  However, he didn't call it a retreat.  It was a "Change of Base."

Next month the topic of discussion will be on Overall Commanders of the Army of the Potomac.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table-- Part 4: Was the Peninsula Campaign Part of the Seven Days Battles?

**  Civil War rifles had improved a great deal in both distance and accuracy over their Napoleonic counterparts.  In the Napoleonic Wars, accuracy was reasonably good at 40-50 yards, but that had grown to 100-150 yards by the Civil War.

**  Confederates were too prone to attack massed artillery which led to huge casualties.

**  Lee took over after the Battle of Seven Pines after Joe Johnston was wounded.  He took a month to organize and then they had the Seven Days Battles.

**  Personally, I consider the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days battles as to different operations, although  I can see where the Seven days was an aftermath of the Peninsula Campaign.

--Old Secesh

John Hildt, Co. K, 1st Michigan Infantry

I was trying to find more information about this man who Tony Horwitz wrote about in his "PTSD: The Civil War's Hidden Legacy" in the January 2015, Smithsonian Magazine.

At first I just knew he was from Michigan so figured he probably was in a Michigan regiment.  However, I found that there were quite a few regiments from the state involved in the Seven Days Battles in 1862.  Then. later in the article I found he was in Company K of the 1st Michigan.

This really helped, but I still could not find out at which of the battles he was wounded.  However, Union casualties during the battles were 1,734 killed, 8,066 wounded and 6,055 missing/captured.  The Co. K roster lists a John Hilt from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but mention was also made that he might be John Hildt because of a spelling error.

--Old Secesh

PTSD in the Civil War-- Part 9: Corp. John Hildt, Co. K, 1st Michigan

They returned to a society without a Veterans Administration, a G.I. Bill or modern pharmaceuticals.

PTSD didn't enter the language until 1980, but Civil War soldiers certainly were afflicted with it.  They had flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia and suicidal thoughts.

Historian Eric Dean has examined the records of 291 veterans admitted to the Indiana Hospital for the Insane and found cases like Elijah Boswell who "Sobbed & cried & imagined that someone was going to kill him" and that "the rebels was after him."

Another one, who survived a horrific artillery bombardment, would shout at his wife, "Don't you hear them bombarding?"  Another one considered suicidal and sleepless was convinced he was "bleeding to death from imaginary wounds."

The brother of John Hildt, the Union soldier described in the first post after losing his arm in the Seven days Battle, wrote a letter in his native German in hopes "he will recognize anything I say to him.  He is John Hildt Corporal Co K 1st Michigan Vol."

Hildt's family also sought a pension for both his physical and mental disability.  The latter was denied, the pension office wrote, due to "lack of proof" that Hildt became insane due to his wartime service and wounding.

--Old Secesh

PTSD in the Civil War? You Betcha-- Part 1: "Acute Mania"

From the January 2015, Smithsonian Magazine "PTSD: The Cuvil War's Hidden Legacy" by Tony Horwitz.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1862, JOHN HILDT LOST A LIMB.  THEN HE LOST HIS MIND.

John Hildt was a 25-year-old corporal from Michigan who saw the elephant (action) for the first time at the seven Days battles in Virginia where he was shot in the right arm.  It had to be amputated close to the shoulder which caused a severe hemorrhage.

He survived, but was transferred to the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C., suffering from what was termed "acute mania."

Before the war, he had been a laborer with no prior history of mental illness.  In the Army, he had risen quickly through the ranks as an able soldier.  His family wrote to the hospital expressing surprise that "his mind could not be restored to its original state.

Hildt remained in the hospital for years without improvement.  He was described as withdrawn, apathetic and at times so "excited and disturbed" that he hit other patients at the asylum.  He finally died there in 1911.

--Old Secesh