Slike strani
PDF
ePub
[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

23d, 28th, 30th, and 36th Ohio Regiments, two batteries of artillery and one troop of cavalry-organized in two brigades, Colonel E. P. Scammon and Colonel A. Moore commanding― to reënforce General Pope in Virginia. The troops started from Flat Top Mountain, marched to the head of navigation on the Kanawha, a distance of ninety miles in three and one-fourth days, and were thence transported by boat and rail to Washington. They reached Washington several days before the second battle of Bull Run, and went into the fortifications around the city. Colonel Scammon's brigade was sent out to Union Mills, where the Alexandria and Orange railroad crosses Bull Run, on the 26th of August and did excellent service there in checking the enemy's advance in that direction. Colonel Scammon conducted the hazardous enterprise with great skill. He held the bridge a long time against a superior force, retired at last in good order, eluded the efforts of the enemy to surround him and brought off his command with but little loss.

[ocr errors]

Upon the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, General Cox's division was assigned to the Ninth Corps, and the extremely good service which it and its commander rendered has been previously recorded. It manfully bore its part in every position and attested its gallantry by the losses which it suffered. General Cox, in his report of the battle of South Mountain, mentions with great commendation Lieutenant Colonel R. B. Hayes commanding the 23rd Ohio, who was severely wounded but refused to leave the field until compelled by loss of blood, Major E. M. Carey of the 12th Ohio, who was shot through the thigh after greatly distinguishing himself in the action, and Lieutenant Croome who was killed while personally serving a gun of his battery. He mentions in his report of the battle of Antietam the death of Lieutenant Colonel A. H. Coleman commanding the 11th Ohio, and of Lieutenant Colonel Clark commanding the 36th Ohio. They were both excellent officers and "were killed while heroically leading their men under a terrible fire of shell, canister and musketry." General Cox throughout the war always did

his duty with effectiveness and promptitude. He was placed in command of the District of Western Virginia, and served in that quarter for a considerable time. In the winter of 1862'64 he was in command of the twenty-third corps, and rendered the Ninth Corps great assistance in its campaign in East Tennessee. He afterwards distinguished himself in General Sherman's movement against Atlanta, in the pursuit of Hood after the occupation of Atlanta by our troops, in the battle of Franklin under General Schofield on the 30th of November, 1864, in the battle of Nashville under General Thomas on the 15th and 16th of December, and in the closing movements of General Sherman's great campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas. His command in the army of the Ohio under General Schofield was transferred from Tennessee after the battle of Nashville and was moved to North Carolina, arriving at Goldsboro' on the 21st of March, 1865. His advancement came tardily, but it came at last, and he was promoted to the rank of Major General-his commission dating December 7, 1864—for the gallant service which he had performed at the battles of Franklin and Nashville. At the close of the war he resigned his commission, and was elected Governor of Ohio, on the 14th of October, 1865. In civil as in military life he has shown himself to be a prompt, efficient and gallant gentleman, wearing his honors modestly and gracefully, and giving promise of greater distinction in the future. His connection with the Ninth Corps was very creditable to himself, and General Burnside parted from him with feelings of real regret. General Cox's staff while in command of the corps was composed of the following named gentlemen: Captain G. M. Bascom, Assistant Adjutant General; First Lieutenant James W. Conine, First Lieutenant Samuel L. Christie, (both of the 1st Kentucky regiment,) Aides de Camp; Major W. W. Holmes, Medical Director; Captaiu E. B. Fitch, Quartermaster; Captain R. B. Treat, Commissary of Subsistence.

Upon the departure of General Cox, Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox was assigned to the command of the corps.

Soon afterwards, Brigadier General W. W. Burns was assigned to the command of General Willcox's division and Brigadier General G. W. Getty to the command of that of the late General Rodman.

The chief event of interest at this time was a raid, which the rebel cavalry under General J. E. B. Stuart made, entirely around General McClellan's army. The enemy's party started from camp at midnight on the 9th of October, crossed the Potomac between Williamsport and Hancock at dawn on the 10th, marched rapidly up the Cumberland valley-passing the rear of General Cox's command but an hour behind-and arrived in the outskirts of Chambersburg, Penn., about nightfall. General Stuart immediately occupied the town and remained there through the night, carefully respecting the rights of private property, with a few exceptions, and treating the inhabitants with kindness. We had no military force at Chambersburg. Two hundred and seventy-five sick and wounded men were found in hospital and paroled. A large quantity of arms, ammunition and clothing belonging to the army was destroyed. The extensive machine shops and depot buildings of the railroad company were consumed. The next morning the enemy's cavalry left Chambersburg, entered Maryland at Emmetsburg, crossed the Monocacy at a point twelve or fifteen miles above Frederick, thence marched through Liberty, New Market and Hyattstown, and during the forenoon of the 12th escaped across the Potomac. This raid accomplished nothing beyond plundering the country of horses, forage, aud such light articles as could readily be carried and destroying the public stores at Chambersburg. But it was a daring feat, and it was accomplished with but insignificant loss to the enemy. The expedition was a source of considerable mortification to General McClellan and of some alarm to the people of the North, who perceived how easily an adventurous leader with a small band of partizans could penetrate an undefended territory, and, by rapid marching and skillful maneuvering, elude pursuit and make good his escape. General McClellan complained, that

« PrejšnjaNaprej »