Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XXII.

THE THIRTY-FOURTH AND ITS OFFICERS THE SEVENTY-NINTH-THE TENTH CAVALRY AND ITS OFFICERS-THE SEVENTY-Fourth-THE SEVENTY-FIFTH-THE TWENTYSIXTH- -THE SIXTIETH-THE SEVENTY-THIRD-ITS OFFICERS-ITS COLONEL IN DIXIE -BRYDGES BATTERY.

THIRTY-FOURTH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS.

The following is the original roster of the regiment:

Colonel, Edward N. Kirk; Lieutenant-Colonel, Amos Bosworth; Major, Charles N. Levanway; Adjutant, David Leavitt; Quartermaster, Abram Beeler; Surgeon, Francis A. McNeil; 1st Assistant Surgeon, George W. Hewett; 2d Assistant Surgeon, John L. Hostetter; Chaplain, Michael Decker.

Co. A-Captain, E. Brooks Ward; 1st Lieutenant, Peter Ege; 2d Lieutenant, Jonathan A. Morgan.

Co. B-Captain, Hiram W. Bristol; 1st Lieutenant, Cornelius Quackenbush; 2d Lieutenant, John A. Parrott.

Co. C-Captain, Alexander P. Dysart; 1st Lieutenant, Benson Wood; 2d Lieutenant, Daniel Riley.

Co. D-Captain, Truman L. Pratt; 1st Lieutenant, William S. Wood; 2d Lieutenant, Simon B. Dexter.

Co. E-Captain, Henry Weld; 1st Lieutenant, Samuel L. Patrick; 2d Lieutenant, Thomas Bell.

Co. F-Captain, Oscar Van Tassel; 1st Lieutenant, Uriah G. Galion; 2d Lieutenant, John Slaughter.

Co. G-Captain, Mabry G. Greenwood; 1st Lieutenant, John Hindman; 2d Lieutenant, Samuel R. Cavender.

Co. H-Captain, John M. Miller; 1st Lieutenant, David C. Wagner; 2d Lieutenant Benjamin R. Wagner.

Co. I-Captain, Lewis Heffelfinger; 1st Lieutenant, Amos W. Hostetter; 2d Lieutenant, James Watson.

Co. K-Captain, Orson Q. Herrick; 1st Lieutenant, Stephen Martin; 2d Lieutenant, David A. Zimmerman.

This regiment combined the northern and southern loyalty of the

[blocks in formation]

State, for it was composed of companies from Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside upon or near the northern line, and Coles and Mòrgan of the southern. It was made of good stuff, as the result has shown. It was organized at Camp Butler, Springfield, and on the 1st of September, 1861, was mustered into the service of the United States. On the 2d of October it was en route to Cincinnati, and was among the first to march to the rescue of Kentucky from its apostate sons. On the 4th it entered Covington with hospitable greetings from the citizens. The next day it proceeded to Lexington, and thence on the 9th to Louisville, and thence to Muldraugh's Hill and Nolin or Camp Nevin. Here it was assigned, October 18th, to the 6th brigade, but on the 3d of December was transferred to the 5th, General T. J. Wood commanding.

It marched through Kentucky, enjoyed the evacuation of Bowling Green; thence March 2, 1862, it started with "The Old Second Division" for Nashville. On the 16th of March, this division, with Buell's army moved forward, Colonel Kirk commanding the 5th brigade. The line of march lay along the Alabama and Tennessee Railroad, one of the richest portions of the State, and early as it was, the country was in the beauty of May. Onward it went through Franklin and Spring Hill to Rutherford's Creek, where a halt was made until Kirk's brigade should rebuild a bridge burned by the enemy. This was done under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Bosworth, of the 34th. On the 25th it was reported to General McCook that at Columbia there was a rebel gun-factory, Lieutenant-Colonel Bosworth was ordered to detail a party to take and hold the factory. Lieutenant S. B. Dexter, of Co. D, took fifteen men, and with the squad, held the town one night. The 34th was detailed to guard the town and Major Levanway was appointed post commandant.

March 31st, the division moved towards Savannah, Tennessee, to effect a juncture with General Grant, and on the 6th of April, after a weary march, came within sound of the cannon of Shiloh. On the morning of the 7th it entered the battle.

There, as has been stated, Major Levanway fell, bravely doing a soldier's duty. Colonel Kirk was severely wounded, and Captains Miller and Patrick, with Lieutenants Wood, Parrott, Wagner and

Hiller were among the wounded. The 34th proved itself a gallant and efficient regiment on that field. In the death of LieutenantColonel Bosworth the regiment and the service sustained a sore loss. He had furnished evidence of rare ability on the field and in the minutie of camp government and instruction. The loss in this conflict was one hundred and two killed and wounded. The death of Lieutenant-Colonel Bosworth followed. Captain Hiram W. Bristol, who commanded after the fall of Levanway, was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and Captain A. P. Dysart, Major. It moved forward and participated in the siege of Corinth. On the 28th, the 34th participated gallantly in a skirmish with the enemy, the outposts, Cos. B, G and K, being under command of Captain Wagner. He was compelled by a terrific fire to change his line and fall back sufficiently to uncover the enemy's fire, secured by the serpentine formation of the creek. In this case the regiment lost in killed and wounded, seven.

After the surrender it remained with the division in front of Corinth as reserve, until June 6th, when it moved two miles south, and on the 10th with Buell's army moved into East Tennessee. It shared the weary counter-march so famous in Buell's strategy; forced back from his Tennessee and Alabama line by Bragg's generalship, he returned to the Ohio. The 34th shared in the skirmish at Floyd's Fork; at Claysville it poured a murderous fire upon the advancing foe, compelling it to break, and hastening its route. It participated in the affair at "Dog Walk."

Again at Stone River it was in the thunder of real battle, and from December 26, 1862, until January 4, 1863, maintained the honor of the State. We must not re-write the story of the battle. The 34th fought valiantly, and its loss in killed and wounded was one hundred and eighteen. "Here fell Captain M. G. Greenwood and Lieutenant John M. Smith, Captain Van Tassel, acting Major, and H. Riley were wounded-the latter mortally." (Dodge's History.) Here General Kirk was mortally wounded.

In the engagement of Liberty Gap, the regiment lost twenty-five killed and wounded, among whom was "Lieutenant Merrill, a gallant and worthy officer." It is but scanty justice to say with Dodge, "Indeed on all the battle-fields where this regiment has been en

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BOSWORTH.

389 gaged, it has ever performed its whole duty, and its fearful losses attest the fact more potently than words."

Again at Mission Ridge the 34th participated gloriously in that superb victory, and then marched to relieve the gallant Burnside at Knoxville. It returned to Chattanooga and re-enlisted as a veteran regiment, and after enjoying its well-earned furlough, returned and was placed in the 2d brigade of General Davis's division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, and has participated in the marches and victories of the gallant Sherman, yet to be traced. It was mustered with eight hundred and twenty, increased by muster and transfer to nine hundred and ten. October 10, 1863, it numbered four hundred and ninety-four!

Lieutenant-Colonel Amos Bosworth, was born at Royalton, Vermont, April 12, 1831, and received a common English education. His father removed in 1858 to Grand de Tour, Illinois. Amos formed a business partnership under the style of "Andrews and Bosworth." At the commencement of the war his plowshare was changed for the sword, and with General Kirk and Major Levanway, he aided in raising the 34th and was chosen its second officer. The Colonel being placed over a brigade the Lieutenant-Colonel commanded the regiment, and proved himself an excellent officer. Says Dodge: "His zeal in hastening the completion of the bridge at Rutherford's Creek was doubtless one of the means in the hands of Divine Providence of saving General Grant's army at Shiloh, in the ever memorable battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, by the rapid movement of Buell's column marching to his assistance. But this was the Colonel's crowning work. Nearly all one day he worked in the water waist-deep, from which he took a severe cold, ending in a fever. He was borne thence to Savannah, Tennessee, in an ambulance. During the battle of the 7th he lay at Savannah in the delirium of fever, and occasionally hearing the thunder of artillery from the field, he would rouse up and insist upon going to Pittsburg Landing to take command of the regiment. He continued to fail rapidly, and was removed from Savannah, but upon reaching Dixon, Illinois, only a few miles from his home, he was so low that the journey could not be continued longer. He died of typhus fever, at the residence of his friend W. C. Andrus, April 23, 1862. He was buried at Grand de Tour, on the 27th."

His brothers of the ancient order gathered sadly about his open grave. It seemed an untimely death, but God hath his secret ways. Colonel Hiram W. Bristol was born at Ravenna, Ohio. He was a student in Alleghany College, Meadville, Pa., from 1850 to 1856. He studied law with Judge Day of Ravenna. In 1859 he removed to Morrison, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. With the outbreak of rebellion he raised a company of three months' men, but it was before the War Department had learned to accept all the men offered, and it was not accepted. When the gallant 34th was organized, he was mustered as Captain of Company B. When the Major Levanway fell, he found himself in command, and led the regiment through the rest of the fight of Shiloh. He was promoted as Major in the place of Levanway, on the battle-field. April 18, 1862, he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and on the promotion of General Kirk, was made Colonel, his commission dating from December 19, 1862. On the 8th of March following, broken down in health, he resigned his commission. Says Dodge:

"On the 31st of December, the day so fatal to the right wing of the army of the Cumberland, being unable to sit on his horse, he drove to the front in an ambulance, and was twice taken prisoner and twice recaptured-being under fire from daylight until 3 P. M., when he reached the field hospital in the rear of the center of the army, where he was taken out nearly insensible, and on the 4th of January was sent to the hospital at Nashville.

"Colonel Bristol was a good commander, thoroughly versed in the duties of his profession, and as brave an officer as ever led a command on the field. His conduct at Shiloh was the admiration of all who witnessed it, and he will not soon be forgotten by the brave boys he once had the honor to command."

Colonel Alexander P. Dysart, who succeeded Colonel Bristol, was born in Pennsylvania, February 26, 1826, and came into Lee County, Illinois, in 1847, where he resided as a farmer. He raised Company C for the 34th and was chosen its captain. At Shiloh, after Captain Bristol assumed command of the regiment, he acted as Major, and was promoted to that rank on the 18th of the same month.

Upon the resignation of Colonel Bristol, he was promoted

« AnteriorContinuar »