CHAPTER XXXIX.

REGIMENTAL AND PERSONAL.

THE FOURTEENTH INFANTRY-ITS CAMPAIGNS AND MARCHES-THE FORTIETH-THE FIFTYFIFTH-FROZEN IN-SHILOH-FINAL ROSTER-COLONEL OSCAR MALMBORG--THE SIXTY-FIRST-COLONEL DANIEL GRASS-THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH-VICKSBURG AND ARKANSAS POST-THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH-SERVICE AS MOUNTED INFANTRY-BANKS' RED RIVER EXPEDITION-COLONEL JOHN M. CREBS-THE One Hundred and EightEENTH SUFFERINGS AND PRIVATIONS-ATTACK UPON VICKsburg-ServiCE IN LOUISIANA-FINAL ROSTER-THE FOURTEENTH CAVALRY-DIFFICULTIES IN RAISING THE REGIMENT PURSUIT AND CAPture of John MORGAN-CAMPAIGNING IN TEnnessee— THE FIGHT AT BEAN STATION-ROUT OF "THOMAS' LEGION"-STONEMAN'S RAID UPON MACON-A TERRIFIC FIGHT AND A SAD DISASTER-PERSONAL SKETCHES-MAJOR WILLIAM MCCULLOUGH-COLONEL JOHN M. SNYDER.

FOURTEENTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

HE Fourteenth regiment was one of the six regiments organized under the first call for troops. It was mustered into the State service on the 4th of May, 1861, at Camp Duncan, Jacksonville, by Adjutant-General Mather.. The following were among the original officers of the regiment:

Colonel, John M. Palmer; Lieutenant-Colonel, Amory R. Johnson; Major, Jonathan Morris; Adjutant, William A. Scott; Quartermaster, Henry Coffman; Paymaster, Robert P. McKnight.

The regiment lay in camp at Jacksonville until May 25th, when it was mustered into the United States service, for three years, by Captain Pitcher, U. S. A. The original roster was as follows:

Colonel, John M. Palmer; Lieutenant-Colonel, Amory K. Johnson; Major, Jonathan Morris; Adjutant, Robert P. McKnight; Quartermaster, John F. Nolte; Surgeon George T. Allen; 1st Assistant Surgeon, Frederick W. Kersting; Chaplain, Wm. J. Rutledge.

Co. A-Captain, Thomas M. Thompson; 1st Lieutenant, Henry Rodecker; 2d Lieutenant, Charles Opitz.

Co. B-Captain, Cyrus Hall; 1st Lieutenant, Dudley C. Smith; 2d Lieutenant, Milton L. Webster.

Co. C-Captain, Aug. H. Cornman; 1st Lieutenant, William E. Eastham; 2d Lieutenanant, David N. Hamilton.

Co. D-Captain, Thomas J. Bryant; 1st Lieutenant, James E. Williams; 2d Lieutenant, Carlos C. Cox.

Co. E-Captain, Frederick Mead; 1st Lieutenant, Jacob M. Early; 2d Lieutenant, Ethan E. Norton.

Co. F-Captain, Milt. S. Littlefield; 1st Lieutenant, William H. Scott; 2d Lieutenant, Thomas H. Simmons.

Co. G-Captain, Lewis C. Reiner; 1st Lieutenant, Fritz Fetzer; 2d Lieutenant, Jacob Rippstein.

Co. H-Captain, Andrew Simpson; 1st Lieutenant, John W. Heartley; 2d Lieuenant, Oliver P. Squire.

Co. I-Captain, John W. Meacham; 1st Lieutenant, Erasmus D. Ward; 2d Lieutenant, Lawren W. Coe.

Co. K-Captain, William Cam; 1st Lieutenant, Henry Case; 2d Lieutenant, William H. Shibley.

On the 19th of June, 1861, the regiment left for Quincy, where it remained till July 5th, when it commenced a campaign through Missouri, which lasted until February 5, 1862, when the regiment arrived at St. Louis. On the 15th of February it left that city, and arrived at Fort Donelson on the day succeeding its surrender, and immediately left for Pittsburg Landing, and participated in the battle of Shiloh. From this time it was employed in marching and countermarching through Tennessee and Mississippi, until October 5th, when it engaged the enemy at the battle of Metamora. After various marches and countermarches it took position in the investing line around Vicksburg, where it remained until the surrender of that place, on the 4th of July, 1863. We next find it in the siege of Jackson, where it did good service.

Here our history of the 14th ends, except of such meager facts as are gleaned from its "Record of Marches." From this we learn that it was at Vicksburg, July 21, 1863; at Harrisonburg, La., September 8th, where it participated in the capture of a fort and eight guns; at Natchez, October 17th, where it remained till November 10th; at Wilson's Creek, February 4, 1864, where it skirmished with the enemy; Huntsville, Alabama, May 13th, whence the veterans were sent back to Athens by railroad, and returned on foot; at

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Camp Butler, June 4, 1864, where, we believe, the non-veterans were mustered out. While engaged at Allatoona Pass [Vide p. 134], the veterans of the 14th were consolidated with those of the 15th, under the title of the "Veteran Battalion of the 14th and 15th Illinois," under the command of Colonel George C. Rogers. New companies were added to both the 14th and 15th, at Goldsboro, North Carolina, when the battalion organization was discontinued, and the regimental organization of each resumed.

The 14th participated in the Atlanta campaign, in the great march to the sea, and in the national review before the President. It was afterward placed on duty in Kansas, and was mustered out of service at Leavenworth, on the 20th of September, 1865. Two days later it arrived at Springfield, where it received final payment and discharge. Up to the time of mustering out the non-veterans, the 14th had traveled 6,428 miles by river, rail and on foot.

FORTIETH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

In our first volume [ p. 318 et seq.] we have given the history of the 40th to the date of its re-enlistment, with sketches of some of its officers. We are unable to give the details of its subsequent career. We know, however, that it served with credit in the Atlanta campaign, and was with Sherman in his grand march to the sea. After participating in the grand review at Washington, it proceeded to Louisville, where it was mustered out on the 24th of July, 1865. Three days later it arrived at Springfield, where it received final payment and discharge.

FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.

The 55th Illinois infantry was organized in August, 1861, in Camp Douglas, Chicago. It was then known as the "2d Regiment, Douglas Brigade." Its original roster was as follows:

Colonel, David Stuart; Lieutenant-Colonel, Oscar Malmborg; Major, William D. Sanger; Adjutant, George L. Thurston; Quartermaster, Henry W. Jones; Surgeon, E. O. F. Roler; Assistant Surgeon, Charles Winne; Chaplain, Milton L. Haney. Co. A-Captain, William N. Presson; 1st Lieutenant, Jacob M. Augustine; 2d Lieutenant, Casper Shleich.

Co. B-Captain, Thomas B. Mackey; 1st Lieutenant, Albert F. Merrill; 2d Lieutenant, Ashabel C. Smith.

Co. C-Captain, Rhenodyne A. Bird; 1st Lieutenant, Daniel McIntosh; 2d Lieutenant, Squire A. Wright.

Co. D-Captain, Theodore C. Chandler; 1st Lieutenant, Francis H. Shaw; 2d Lieutenant, William S. Johnson.

Co. E-Captain, Charles Tazewell; 1st Lieutenant, William H. Dixon; 2d Lieutenant, William R. Halligan.

Co. F-Captain, Harrison Presson; 1st Lieutenant, Joseph W. Parks; 2d Lieutenant, John B. Johnson.

Co. G-Captain, Joseph Clay; 1st Lieutenant, Cyrus M. Brown; 2d Lieutenant, Albert A. Whipple.

Co. H-Captain, James J. Hefferman; 1st Lieutenant, James Weldon; 2d Lieutenant, Nicholas Angason.

Co. I-Captain, Timothy Slattery; 1st Lieutenant, Philip Seelbach; 2d Lieutenant, Charles A. Andress.

Co. K-Captain, Joseph Black; 1st Lieutenant, Benjamin C. Swarts; 2d Lieutenant, Andrew J. Gillett.

The 55th was mustered into service on the 1st of December, 1861, numbering 944 men. On the 9th of that month it was ordered to Benton Barracks, Missouri, where it was placed under the command of the man then known as "Crazy Sherman," whose "star of destiny" the 55th never for a moment after that ceased to follow during his brilliant career. On the 13th of January, 1862, the regiment left St. Louis for Paducah, Kentucky. The steamboat upon which the 55th was placed became frozen in the ice between St. Louis and Cairo, where the men suffered terribly from cold and hunger. The trip was finally accomplished after eleven days' arduous labor, during which time the regiment had 1 two days' rations, which it took from St. Louis.

At Paducah the 55th was organized with other regiments into a brigade, commanded by Colonel David Stuart. Here it underwent almost an entire re-organization, large numbers of the line officers resigning.

The regiment participated in the capture of Columbus, Kentucky. Two days after, it returned to Paducah to take a conspicuous part in the ever memorable campaign against Corinth. At Shiloh it was a part of General Sherman's (5th) division, although the brigade of which it was a part was detached and fought its portion of the battle three miles away from its commanding General. The 55th, during the first day's battle, was placed upon the extreme left of the Union army, and was unfortunate enough to be brigaded with the

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71st Ohio. The flight of this regiment left the 55th and its only remaining support, the 54th Ohio, in a terrible situation-exposed to a merciless cross fire of shot, shell, grape and musketry from a force of five times its number. Its services, placed as it was upon the extreme left flank of the army, cannot be overestimated. During the fight on Sunday, this fragment of a brigade, without artillery or cavalry, with no orders emanating from a higher source than its brigade commander, was the only obstacle between the rebel right flank and the landing. Hour after hour, however, these raw troops faced the furious enemy and held them at bay until the other portions of the army had retired, and finally, when its cartridges were entirely exhausted and nearly two thirds of its number lay dead or wounded upon the field, it slowly and sullenly retired to form a portion of the little band that rallied around the landing to save the army from annihilation until reinforcements could arrive. In this battle the 55th had 512 men engaged. At the next roll call 215 answered to their names. Shiloh was the first battle in which it participated, where it fairly won the honorable appellation of "veterans."

During the war the 55th bore an honorable part in the following battles: Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1862; Russell House, May 17th; siege and capture of Corinth; Chickasaw Bayou, December 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th; Arkansas Post, January 10th and 11th, 1863; Snyder's Bluff, April 30th; Champion Hills, May 16th; assaults on Vicksburg, May 19th and 22d; siege of same to July 4th; siege of Jackson from July 10th to 16th; Tuscumbia, Alabama, October 27th; Mission Ridge, November 24th and 25th; Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864; Atlanta, July 20th, 22d and 28th, and August 3d; Jonesboro, August 31st and September 1st; Fort MacAllister, Georgia, December 13th; South Edisto River, February 9, 1865; Columbia, South Carolina, February 15th and 16th; Bentonville, North Carolina, March 20th and 21st; making in all thirty-one severe engagements, besides skirmishes without number. The regiment, during its long and arduous service, was one hundred and twenty days, or four months, under the immediate fire of the enemy.

During its term of service the 55th marched on foot 3,340 miles, traveled 2,875 miles by railroad, and sailed farther-a distance of 5,850 miles-making a total of 12,065 miles. Its losses in battle