Civil War

This being the first time the One hundred and thirteenth and One hundred and sixteenth Illinois were ever under fire they sustained themselves nobly throughout the entire engagement.  The Fifty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Mungen commanding, assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel Rice, sent to support our right, were also in the hottest of the fire, and behaved like veterans.

Of my personal staff, Lieut. D. S. Parker, One hundred and thirteenth Illinois, acting assistant adjutant-general, who was severely wounded by a Minie ball in the leg, and Lieut. Nelson Patterson, Eighth Missouri, aide-de-camp, rendered most efficient aid in conveying my orders to every part of the field….

Giles A. Smith

Colonel Eighth Missouri, Commanding First Brigade.

After the battle of Arkansas Post, Companies C, D, F, I, and K were sent north with prisoners of war.  They remained at Springfield and did not rejoin the command until 1864.

The other five companies, including Company E, went to Young’s Point, Louisiana, where they acted as provost guard for General Sherman’s 15th Army Corps.  Robert Loerzel tells us of their stay there.

Historian Bruce Catton described this period as the “Valley Forge” of the Civil War, when soldiers hit their low point of depression, “the winter of misery and despair, of cold and hunger.”  Young’s Point was a miserable place to be during these dark months.  “The place will long be remembered with horror by those who survived, and who helped with trembling hands and aching hearts to place under the sod of this fated point so many of their dead comrades,  Whitehall wrote.

The commanding officer of Company E, Capt. Mason Sutherland of Palatine, had typhoid fever in January, and the regiment’s surgeon wrote a letter to the medical director describing Sutherland’s condition:

“This is to certify that Capt. M. Sutherland has been ill over two weeks with a depraved state of the secretions, a torpid condition of the liver and general debility.  He requests the privilege of being sent to the hospital in Memphis.  It is my opinion that he will not live one week if he remains here.”  [Permission was given, but it was too late.]

Sutherland died at Young’s Point on Jan. 27 [1863].

A while later, some soldiers from Palatine were traveling south to join up with their comrades at Young’s Point.  They encountered a coffin traveling north in the town of Cairo, Ill.  It was the body of the man they had expected to command their company:  Mason Sutherland.

Captain Charles Trumbull later took charge of the company.

In March of 1863, the 113th assisted General Sherman in the rescue of Admiral Porter.  The admiral, with six gunboats, had gone through Steele’s Bayou to Black Bayou and up Deer Creek.  There, slowed by obstructions in the water, he was surrounded by the enemy.  The troops went as far as possible by steamship.  With General Sherman commanding, in person, they made a forced march of twenty five miles on foot.  No horses could be used as the terrain was marshy.  They often had to walk single file and traverse makeshift bridges.  After reaching the gunboats, the enemy was driven back into the woods and the gunboats were freed.  The next day they began the return march, reaching camp after a ten day absence.  Details of this expedition are given in the following military reports.

Headquarters Fifteenth Army Corps

March 29, 1863

Sir:  I had the honor to report to you the result of my observations on the projected route to the Yazoo, by way of Steele’s Bayou, up to the 21st of March.  On that day I was at Hill’s plantation, on Deer Creek, where Black Bayou enters it….

At that time the admiral had advanced up Deer Creek with five ironclads, but before reaching Rolling Fork had found the creek so full of growing trees and willows that his progress was slower than he had calculated, and the enemy had begun further to obstruct his progress by felling trees in the channel and firing from ambush on his working parties when exposed on the decks or on the banks of the stream.  I had, at his call, sent forward every man then with me, and had put in motion all my steamboats to bring forward more troops from Eagle Bend.

By night three steamboat loads had arrived at the foot of Black Bayou, and were transferred to the visible ground above water, at a point on the south shore of Black Bayou, about one and one half miles from its mouth and two and one half miles from Hill’s plantation.  I conducted them through the dense canebrake, by lighted candles, up to the plantation that night, and on the next morning (March 22), without means of transportation… we marched over the same road that had been traveled by Colonel Smith.

These troops were the battalion of the Thirteenth Regulars and the One hundred and thirteenth Illinois Infantry, being the remainder of Col. Giles A. Smith’s brigade, and the Eighty-third Indiana, One hundred and sixteenth Illinois, Fifty-fourth and Fifty-seventh Ohio….

Our arrival was very opportune, and the two leading battalions pushed the enemy along the swamp in rear of the plantation fields that bordered Deer Creek for about 2 miles, and until they were to the north and rear of the gunboat fleet.  In person I pushed along the bayou road till I met Colonel Smith coming down to interpose between this same party and his outlying detachment.  As soon as possible I communicated with the admiral, and learned that he had found the route far more difficult than he had been given to believe, and owing to natural and artificial obstacles to his advance, he had abandoned the attempt to reach the Yazoo, and at the time of my meeting him was in the act of backing down Deer Creek.  I accordingly made the necessary dispositions to cover his boats while engaged in this slow and tedious process.

The progress was slow, consuming all of the 22d, 23d, and part of the 24th of March, when the fleet again reached Black Bayou, at Hill’s plantation.  Not a shot was fired at the gunboats after we drove the enemy back on first encountering him.  The enemy hung upon the rear of our column, but would not come within reach….

I inclose [sic] the report of Col. Giles A. Smith and Lieutenant-Colonel Rice, and being myself along, bear testimony to the alacrity of the troops, their eagerness to pursue the enemy, and the cheerfulness with which they marched in rain and mud.  I feel assured Admiral Porter will admit we rendered him and his fleet good service, as without our presence it would have cost him many valuable lives to have extricated his boats while the banks of Deer Creek were lined by the enemy’s sharpshooters, against whom his heavy ordnance could not well be brought to bear….

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. T. Sherman,  Major-General, Commanding Fifteenth Army Corps

Remained at Milliken’s Bend some two or three weeks, and then started, with General Sherman, on the march to the rear of Vicksburg. Arrived there on the evening of the 18th, and participated in the assault of the 19th and 22d, in which the Regiment lost heavily. Colonel Hoge being wounded, on the peremptory order of the Corps Surgeon, he received leave of absence. Shortly after his departure, the Battalion was detailed on provost duty on Chickasaw Bayou, an exceedingly unhealthy place. The result was, that in a short time, almost every officer and man was on the sick list. Major Clark then got an order to proceed to Springfield, Illinois, and take command of five companies there, where he remained till he joined the Battalion, with his command, in Memphis, Tennessee late in the fall of 1864.

The Pioneer Press article  tells us more about this campaign.

”  …the Bradwell Guard joined in one of the Civil War’s most famous and longest battles, the Siege of Vicksburg.  They marched south along the west side of the Mississippi River, leaving during a rainy night and hearing the eerie noise of bellowing alligators in nearby swamps, according to Catton. The troops crossed the mighty river, then swung north to the rear side of Vicksburg.  The actual siege of the city began May 18 and lasted until July 4.

“In this campaign, the 113th suffered from both disease and the bullets of the enemy, losing fully one entire third of the force that went into the campaign,” Whitehall wrote.   Pvt. Charles C. Rogers, of Palatine, died of a wound June 1 at Vicksburg.

Shortly after the fall of Vicksburg, Companies A, B, E, G and H, were ordered to Corinth, Mississippi, and, on October 1, 1863, Colonel Hoge was placed in command of that post and remained in command till the evacuation, which was on the 25th of January 1864. From there, was ordered to Memphis, and brigaded with the Second Brigade, Post and Defenses of Memphis, Colonel Hoge commanding.

Three Palatine men died at Corinth in September of 1863.  They were Pvt. Arad Cady and Cpl. Nathaniel Sayles, who both died of chronic diarrhea.  Private Diedrick Grote’s death was attributed to chronic inflammation of the brain.

On the 12th of January 1864, Colonel Hoge was ordered to take command of the following named Regiments and Batteries: Eighty-second Illinois, Ninety-fifth Illinois, One Hundred and Eighth Illinois, One Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois, One Hundred and Twentieth, and Company B, Second Illinois Light Artillery-and join General Sturgis, in his expedition against Forrest.

The disastrous results are related by Robert Loerzel.

“On June 1, the soldiers set out from Memphis along with perhaps as many as 12,000 other troops, heading toward Tupelo, Miss., under the command of Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis.  Their mission was to go after Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.  Alex Whitehall, a captain for the Union army and Civil War historian, described Forrest as “the daring rebel raider, and cruel butcherer of unoffending and helpless prisoners.”

In his writings, Whitehall painted a grim picture of the days leading up to the battle.   “The sultry weather and heavy rains made the marching laborious and slow, and exhausted the whole command so much that they were in a poor condition for a pitched battle when the terrible blow fell upon them,” Whitehall wrote…. ” The tired troops marched through mud and rain until the morning of June 10, when the sun burst out shining.   Instead of putting his troops into a strong assaulting column, and moving forward cautiously, Gen. Sturgis made his soldiers hurry up, forcing them to run several miles in the hot sun. Whitehall wrote.  The soldiers “were pushed forward singly and without any apparent order against the enemy lying in his strong position, only to be ruthlessly cut down by a well-directed fire from the ranks of Forrest. The soldiers went into the fight “exhausted and panting with the fatigue of their long run to the battlefield, and were pushed forward in the face of a murderous fore from a foe strongly posted under cover,” he wrote.

As the Union troops retreated, night fell upon them, causing their panic to deepen.  Their wagon train became stuck in mud, making it impossible for the soldiers to take all their artillery with them.   Luckily, the cavalry held back Forrest’s “triumphant and plundering troopers,” allowing many of the Union soldiers to escape.   “Many actually marched a hundred miles before tasting food,” Whitehall wrote.  “The whole command, or what was left of it, reached Memphis half starved, footsore and completely exhausted, and bitterly cursing the heartless and stupid conduct of Gen. Sturgis.”

According to Whitehall, Sturgis fled the battlefield at the first sign there was going to be a rout and had reached Memphis safe and sound.   Whitehall wrote, “Gen. Sturgis may have been a good soldier and a patriot, but it will be long before the men he led into that fatal trap will be willing to regard him as such.”

More than 2,000 Union soldiers were injured or killed on the battlefield at Guntown, Mississippi.

Two men from Palatine were taken prisoner of war in this battle.  According to the Company E muster roll, Pvt. Arthur Davis was “last heard from at Andersonville, Ga., Sept./ 64. …Supposed to be dead.”  Pvt. Louis Bergmann’s entry says, “Died Oct. 29/64 in Rebel prison at Millen, Ga.”

Following is the report that Colonel Hoge made after the battle.

HDQRS. SECOND BRIGADE, DISTRICT OF MEMPHIS,

Memphis, Tenn., June 14, 1864

Lieutenant:  I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Second Brigade, under my command, in the late expedition into Northern Mississippi, which was conducted by Brigadier-General Sturgis:

In accordance with Special Orders, No. 38, paragraph 19, headquarters District of West Tennessee, dated May 31, 1864, I reported my command at 2 p.m. of the next day at the depot of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, prepared for embarkation.  Having reported at the appointed time and place with my command, two additional regiments of infantry and one battery of light artillery were assigned to me, and the Second Brigade consisted then and throughout the expedition of the Eighty-first, Ninety-fifth, One hundred and eighth, One hundred and thirteenth, and One hundred and twentieth Regiments of Illinois Infantry and Company B, Second Regiment Illinois Artillery, commanded by Capt. F. H. Chapman.

At 6:30 p.m. of Wednesday, 1st instant, the entire command had embarked on rail cars, and the train immediately moved away from the depot, and at 9 p.m. arrived at a point about half way between Collierville and La Fayette, Tenn., where the command disembarked and bivouacked for the night, near the railroad track, in the woods.

Reveille was sounded at 4:30 o’clock on the ensuing morning, Thursday, the 2d, and the brigade marched at 6 o’clock, by land, toward La Fayette, where, about 11 a.m., the First and Third Brigades were found encamped.  I passed on beyond La Fayette one mile and went into camp.

On the following morning, Friday, the 3d, the entire column of infantry was in motion at 3:30 a.m., the Second Brigade having position in the center.  Arrived at night at Lamar, Miss., a small station on the Mississippi Central Railroad, and halted on a high and commanding position near the same.  About 11 a.m. a heavy and continuous rain set, which only ceased late in the morning of Saturday, the 4th.  The command resumed the march at 11 a.m., the Second Brigade in front, and marching toward Salem.  The day was fine, the roads improving, and the troops in good spirits.  At 5 p.m., the column arrived at Robinson’s plantation (about half way to Salem), and bivouacked in fine location near the same.

Sunday, the 5th, the march was resumed toward Salem at 6 a.m., and continued until noon, when the command halted for the day about a mile beyond Salem.  The weather was clear and fine, but very warm.

About 4 a.m. of Monday, the 6th, the column was again in motion, the Second Brigade in the rear, and the One hundred and thirteenth Regiment Illinois Infantry in charge of the division supply and ammunition train.  When about ten miles from Salem, the train was fired upon by a small party, who inflicted no injuries whatever.  A severe rain, with a good deal of thunder and lightning, prevailed about three hours during the day, which so impaired the roads as seriously to delay the troops and train.  The weather soon after changed for the better, and at night the column halted at a point fourteen miles distant from Ripley.  The march was resumed toward Ripley at 10 o’clock, through a hilly, thickly-wooded, and thinly-settled country.  Forage became scarce, and all the stock suffered.  At 4 p.m. the command arrived within four miles of Ripley, and the Second and Third Brigades halted on the plantation of Mr. Crowder, while the First Brigade pushed forward to join Grierson’s cavalry at Ripley.  The weather was warm and sultry, but there was no rain.

About 4 o’clock on the morning of the 8th I resumed march and passed through and about two miles beyond Ripley and halted for two hours, when I was ordered to return, and about a mile back took the road leading to Baldwyn, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.  The column halted on this road about four miles from Ripley.

At 10 a.m. of the 9th march was resumed, my command having the center, and continued for twelve miles one the Ripley and Baldwyn road, where we were halted on a fine high ridge and bivouacked for the night.

The column moved at 10 o’clock of the 10th instant, my command in front.  Much delay was occasioned by bad roads, but by special effort the artillery and wagon train was kept closed up on the marching column.  About 1 p.m. I received an order from  Colonel McMillen to move forward instantly, as General Grierson was fighting and hotly pressed.  I moved at once.  Shortly after Colonel McMillen sent me word that he would move forward with his escort at such a gait as he thought the infantry could march, but if I found that it was too much for them to send him word.  I kept up the gait for about two miles and a half, when it was reported to me that five men had been sun-struck in the advance regiment of the brigade, the One hundred and thirteenth Illinois Infantry.  I immediately sent Captain Woodruff forward to Colonel McMillen to say that it was impossible to keep up that rapid gait.  I then halted for five minutes at a small stream for the men to fill their canteens, and then moved forward at a more moderate gait.  Shortly afterward I received a peremptory order from Colonel McMillen to move forward as rapidly as possible, as the enemy were gaining ground, and the only thing that would save us was the infantry.  I then increased the gait of the command, and kept up a quick march till within about three-quarters of a mile of the line of battle, when I received an order from Colonel McMillen in person to move forward at a double-quick which was done, which was done and kept up  until I came to the line of battle, when I placed the One hundred and thirteenth Illinois Infantry with its left resting on the road crossing the Ripley and Baldwyn road; the One hundred and twentieth Illinois Infantry was placed with its left resting on the right of the One hundred and thirteenth, the One hundred and eighth Illinois Infantry with its left resting on the right of the One hundred and twentieth, the Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry with its left resting on the right of the One hundred eighth, the Eighty-first Illinois Infantry with its left resting on the right of the Ninety-fifth, where a cavalry regiment rested on the right of the Eighty-first, and completed the line across to the Baldwyn road.  Battery B, Second Illinois Artillery, Captain Chapman, four guns, were  placed at the cross-roads, where they fired 5 and 3 second shell. Colonel McMillen ordered one gun to be run down the Baldwyn road about 400 yards, and being hotly pressed by the enemy, two of the horses being killed, the piece fell into the enemy’s hands along with two caissons.  About this time the first line of battle gave way, but was reformed on the road, which we contested for some time, till our left flank was turned, when the command fell back in a hurried and disordered manner.  This was kept up all night.  The battery lost its three other guns and remaining caissons at the Hatchie Swamp, which was impossible to cross.  The guns were all spiked before abandoning them, and the horses saved.

The last of the infantry reached Ripley about 7 a.m. Saturday, the 11th instant, closely pursued by the enemy, when my command was at once organized, and left Ripley in good order, following the First Brigade about 7:30 a.m., the enemy following close on our rear.  At a distance of about three miles northwest of Ripley the enemy’s cavalry flanked the infantry which were marching in the rear of the cavalry, except one regiment of cavalry which was acting as a rear guard.  My command, such as had guns, formed for defense with fixed bayonets, but many of them were captured, owing to their exhausted condition and lack of ammunition; many to escape capture and to hasten their retreat toward the main column, abandoned their guns and cartridge boxes.  The retreat was continued by a route lying four miles to the right of Salem and seven miles to the left of La Grange toward Moscow, Tenn., on the Spring Hill road, continuing our retreat during the whole of Saturday night, and arriving at La Fayette, Tenn., at 4 a.m. of Sunday, the 12th instant, where the last firing of the enemy took place on our rear.  The retreat had been through a hilly country, hard to travel, and the roads being very muddy and the men being without provisions, and keeping up with the cavalry reduced them to an exceedingly exhausted condition, and many fell unavoidably into the hands of the enemy.

The command reached Collierville, Tenn., about 10 a.m. of Sunday, and bivouacked there until the arrival of trains from Memphis, when they were transported to this city on board the cars.

The following figures show the original strength of the brigade and the number of killed, wounded, and missing, as compiled from reports made to this date, midday of the 14th instant.  Stragglers and escaped prisoners are arriving within our lines in small numbers daily.

The number of guns brought in by the entire command is 267.

[The figures mentioned are given here only for the 113th Illinois Infantry.]

Original strength :

Field officers…………………………….1

Staff and line officers……………….12

Enlisted men…………………………293

Killed:

Field officers……………………………..

Staff and line officers………………..1

Enlisted men…………………………….4

Wounded, present and absent:

Staff and line officers………………….

Enlisted men…………………………..32

Missing:

Field officers……………………………..

Staff and line officers………………..6

Enlisted men……………………….  106

In conclusion, I would say that the officers and men of the entire command acted in the most gallant manner.  I think especial notice is due to the officers and men of the One hundred and twentieth Illinois Infantry, it being the first time they have been under fire.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

I am, lieutenant, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. B. HOGE,

Colonel Commanding

Another relevant report  was filed on the 113th’s role in this battle:

HEADQUARTERS 113TH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY

Memphis, Tenn., June 15, 1864

Lieutenant:  I have the honor to report that on the first day of June, 1864, I moved with a portion of my command, numbering 12 officers and 293 men, with the late expedition commanded by Brigadier-General Sturgis, by railroad to a point four miles beyond Collierville, Tenn., where I left the cars and went into camp for the night….

On the 9th instant twenty men were pronounced unfit for duty and were sent back to Memphis.

Came up with the enemy near Guntown, Miss., about 1:30 p.m. on the 10th instant.  I was ordered to advance with my command at a double-quick to support the cavalry, which was then fighting.  We doubled-quicked [sic]  about four miles, and one-third of my men were so completely exhausted as to be scarce able to stand; several were sun-struck.  Firing commenced as soon as we were in line of battle and was kept up with great rapidity for nearly half an hour, but our ammunition was nearly exhausted and we were being overpowered by superior numbers, so were reluctantly compelled to fall back, which we did in tolerably good order, fighting as we gave ground.  We formed a new line and fought the enemy until our ammunition was entirely exhausted, when we were compelled to retreat, knowing it would be useless to contend against the odds of four to one.  I am sorry to say that our retreat was in great confusion.  We continued to fall back all night until we reached Ripley, Miss., where we halted and endeavored to collect our scattered forces, but before it was fully accomplished we were again attacked by the enemy’s cavalry, which had followed us during the night.  Our men were fatigued, and many of them were without arms or rations, and were not in a condition to engage him, so we were again compelled to retreat.  We were closely pursued by the enemy until we arrived within a few miles of Collierville.  My rear skirmished with him almost the entire distance.

A portion of my command reached Memphis during the night of the 12th, others on the 13th instant.  I am pleased to say that my whole command, both officers and men, behaved nobly; not a man flinched, although many of them were under fire for the first time, being recruits.  Illinois soldiers always do their duty.

GEORGE R. CLARKE

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding

The 113th had not seen the last of General Forrest.  He attacked Memphis on August 21, 1864.  The regiment assisted in repulsing that attack.  For the rest of the year it remained in Memphis on picket duty.  In March of 1865, it formed part of an expedition  to Eastport, Mississippi, on the Tennessee River.  Once again they met up with a large force under General Forrest, which repulsed the Union forces.  The command returned to Memphis.  On March 23, 1865, Colonel Hoge was appointed Provost Marshal of the District of West Tennessee.