The history of Company C, Seventh Regiment, O.V.I.
by Theodore Wilder.
PREFACE.
This sketch and record were written at the suggestion and by the request of the surviving members of the Company. It was their desire to have a brief story of their marches, battles and sieges, and, especially, an accurate record of each member, to preserve for reference in future years. If this little publication will serve that purpose, the object of the author is fully accomplished. There has been no design on his part to entertain the public with a detailed and verbose account of patriotic deeds and severe hardships, above what many others may have endured who have taken part in the War of the Rebellion. Therefore, those who may chance to meet with a copy of this work, expecting to be entertained, will probably be disappointed.
As the value of such a work as this, depends entirely upon its accuracy, great pains have been taken to avoid all mistakes. The author has had access to diaries and journals kept by the members, and official returns of the commanding officer, and is thus able to give the numerous dates and facts with a good degree of correctness: and though there may be errors, yet it is believed that very few occur.
T. W.
Oberlin, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1866.
HISTORY OF COMPANY C.
The History of Company C is properly connected with the history of Oberlin College, the Alma Mater of its organization. The majority of its members were proud to be known as the exponents of the generous, Christian principles, there so fearlessly uttered and so zealously inculcated. The founders of Oberlin were pledged to the general law of benevolence. _All_ known forms of virtue were cheerfully adopted. Every system of wrong was deprecated.
Patriotism and the doctrine of Anti-Slavery very naturally found a place in the category of their principles. They seemed to be men, "clothed and in their right mind," possessing at least the ordinary balance of moral character, without any design to establish an inst.i.tution for the purpose of waging war against any particular system of iniquity to the exclusion of all the others. Missionary a.s.sociations, temperance and anti-slavery societies, in short, all organizations designed to aid in improving and saving their fellow men, found fearless advocates in them.
Under the stimulus of such principles they left their pleasant homes in New England for residences in an unfavorable place in a forest of Northern Ohio, to found a college that might prove a blessing to the broad West.
[Sidenote: Oberlin College.]
The peculiar views held by Oberlin people with regard to their relations and duties to the government, which are commonly known as the doctrine of the Higher Law, were but the natural outgrowth of Christian benevolence. They saw slavery to be a great crime, and they were bold to take a stand against it, as one of their Christian duties. From the day that the question of the evil of slavery was brought before the country, they hesitated not to engage in the irrepressible conflict.
Mult.i.tudes of young men from the most virtuous families of the various States of the Union gathered into the College to educate themselves for positions of usefulness in every direction,--not all to be temperance lecturers, not all to be honest lawyers, virtuous physicians, radical anti-slavery enthusiasts; but some to fill all the various positions of honor and trust.
No argument need be made to prove the vast extent of influence for good which the College has exerted through the mult.i.tudes of young men who have gone out from her halls, bearing the precious seed with them. It has been scattered over the North, and to some extent over the South.
And to-day we are permitted to see the fields whitening, though not fully ripe. The most enlightened communities, instead of receding from the views promulgated by Oberlin teachers, have rapidly approached them.
The majority of the students of the College were those who had been reared under good influences at home, and who found upon their arrival at Oberlin, that the views entertained by the people and taught by the Faculty were similar to their own. When the first military company was formed from them, the members represented not simply Oberlin College, but also the Christian families in which they had been trained. And so they all felt. Each was proud to offer himself to defend the principles his praying mother had taught him.
The news of the attack on Fort Sumter, by a rebellious force in arms, was received by the students with a sad enthusiasm. From the morning recitation, they would make haste to the Reading Room to learn the latest item of intelligence in the Daily, with regard to the progress of what then seemed the Insurrection.
[Sidenote: The Enlistment.]
The President issued a proclamation for 75,000 volunteers. A meeting of the students, in the College Chapel, was called, Friday evening, April 19th, and was addressed by enthusiastic speakers from each of the regular cla.s.ses in the Inst.i.tution. A committee of five was appointed to get volunteers. On the next day Prof. Monroe arrived from Columbus. A meeting was called in the Church, which was addressed by him and Col.
Sheldon from Elyria. At the close of the meeting it was announced that the roll was open for enlistments. Immediately, young men ran from various parts of the a.s.sembly, and in a few moments the stand was crowded. Lester A. Bartlett was the first to write his name on the roll.
Forty-nine names were secured that evening. The next day was the Sabbath; but many more were added before its close, because each feared the roll would be full ere there would be opportunity for himself to enlist.
At eight o"clock, Monday morning, it was announced that no more could be received. Before noon the Company had partially organized itself.
On Thursday, April 25, it took the cars for Camp Taylor, at Cleveland, O. No member will ever forget the crowd of thousands at the depot, the speeches, sensations, and the tears, shed by friends at the parting. It was a sad day when these young men realized that they were called to engage in their country"s battles. Their love of home was equal to that of those who remained. But at the voice of duty there was scarcely a question with regard to the course to be taken. No large bounties from state and town were offered them. The monthly rate of wages was not thought of, nor even known by many.
The advantages resulting from being in the "line of promotion" found no place in the most fanciful imagination. It was undoubtedly true that an indifferent spectator might have discovered some vanity displayed in the pride of a prompt performance of duty; yet the members always counted it a necessary evil attendant upon a proper course of action.
They made claim to no peculiar sanctifying grace which exalted them above the weaknesses common to their race.
If the principles of Oberlin in her earlier years sent out the student, with his life in his hands, to speak against the flagrant evils of his time, the delicate lady to seek an opportunity to teach the oppressed and relieve their wants, the same principles in this later day prompted him to give his life into the hands of his country to seek a similar end by sterner means.
[Sidenote: The Three-Months Roll.]
The company was mustered into the U. S. service for three months at Camp Taylor, April 30, 1861.
The roll presented the following names:
G. W. Shurtleff, _Captain_.
J. N. Cross, _First Lieutenant_.
E. H. Baker, _Second Lieutenant_.
_Sergeants._
O. P. Brockway, E. R. Stiles, W. W. Kinsley, H. G. Orton, E. W. Morey.
_Corporals._
J. F. Harmon, T. E. W. Adams, C. P. Bowler, S. M. Cole, E. W. Goodsell, L. A. Bartlett, W. W. Parmenter, I. F. Mack.
_Privates._
E. B. At.w.a.ter, B. A. Abbott, M. M. Andrews, Wm. W. Arnold, Jno. Austin, J. E. Bates, Jno. Baldwin, Foster Bodle, E. M. Bostwick, J. M. Burns, C. H. Buxton, J. W. Cheney, Buel Chipman, H. D. Claghorn, H. S. Clark, M. V. Clark, T. B. Crowell, Joseph Collins, E. M. Condit, J. S. Cooper, A. C. Danforth, A. H. Denman, J. R. Davies, Daniel Emerson, J. M. Ginn, E. F. Grabill, C. P. Griffin, A. M. Halbert, F. B. Hayden, C. P. Hamilton, M. N. Hamilton, E. T. Hayes, Noah Huckins, W. M. Hunter, Henry Howard, Burford Jeakins, D. S. Judson, J. S. Kellogg, Thomas Kirk, Stephen Kellogg, S. B. Kingsbury, R. B. Kelley, H. W. Lincoln, F. A. Lockwood, G. R. Magary, J. A. Ma.s.sa, E. B. Myers, Frederick Moe, C. E. Mason, J. G. McKnight, E. C. Newton, F. M. Palmer, J. A. Peaseley, J. J. Peaseley, H. Parsons, G. W. Pease, R. R. Potter, J. M. Rappleye, A. H. Robbins, Geo. Rogers, C. W. Rossiter, E. C. Root, E. G. Sackett, W. H. Scott, H. G. Sheldon, E. R. Smith, Geo. A. Smith, Geo. W. Short, L. G. Spees, C. N. Sterry, C. E. Tibbets, D. J. Thompson, G. H. Thrasher, Richard Towers, O. C. Trembley, O. H. Wadsworth, A. G. Wetherby, F. A. Warner, Theo. Wilder, J. H. Wilsey, Richard Winsor, Oliver Wise, G. F. Wright, O. H. Worcester.
The company was a.s.signed to a place as Co. C in the Seventh Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was afterwards put under the command of Col. E. B. Tyler, Lieut. Col. Wm. R. Creighton, and Maj. Jno. S.
Cas.e.m.e.nt.
[Sidenote: Departure to Camp Dennison.]
In compliance with an order from the State Military Department, Sunday morning, May 5, the regiment packed carpet sacks and took up line of march through the streets of Cleveland to the R. R. depot, to make its departure for Camp Dennison. It reached Columbus at 4 P. M., spent the night in that city, Co. C quartering in the State House, and arrived in camp at noon the following day. The men immediately proceeded to build barracks for the night, and, as it proved, for the remainder of their tarry at that place.
[Sidenote: Camp Dennison.]
Much ingenuity was displayed by the various messes in arranging the interior of their miniature domicils, each fashioning its own to suit the taste, fancy, and convenience of the occupants. And yet they were all alike. Gravel walks, arbors and various other methods of adorning, soon converted these uncouth barracks into comparatively pleasant dwellings, such as might well move the envy of many a city pauper. The mult.i.tude of jokes, both stereotyped and irregular, served their part to create and preserve a healthy tone of humor, which otherwise might have taken on a type far more serious. He who could neither furnish merriment nor enjoy it, and had no affection but the chronic for any member, supplied the only lacking element to give the company all the varieties between the extremes of humor. The receptions of numerous packages of letters and luxuries from Oberlin and home, made bright spots in the history of their otherwise monotonous life at Camp Dennison.
From the beginning of the service, daily prayer meetings were established, which were usually held in the street between the barracks.
Very frequently men of other companies would gather in, and there is reason to believe that more good was done than to create and preserve a lively, healthy, religious feeling in the company itself. The prevailing sentiment was emphatically in favor of religion; and if a small number were not themselves professing Christians, they were, at least, disposed in most cases to be moral, and to discountenance flagrant vices. Of this latter number, several were converted before their term of service expired; and of the former cla.s.s, it is believed that few merit the dishonor of falling entirely from grace.
The company was divided into messes of about sixteen each. A chaplain was appointed in each, whose business it was to lead in morning or evening worship, or to see that such exercises were observed. This practice was retained in most of the messes throughout the service.
Thus Co. C became a rather peculiar people in a camp of thousands, the majority of whom could not be said to have deserved the reputation of being devoted followers of the Lord. It was not very uncommon to hear the sneer, "There goes an Oberlinite," or, "There is one of that praying company." And a superficial observer might have supposed they were generally despised by men of other companies; but a more thorough investigation in a private conference would generally betray a feeling very much like the opposite.
In spite of these sneers the men of Co. C did not think it best to give up their Christian profession, and those virtuous principles which were dearer to them than life, that they might thus be more completely in uniform with those who surrounded them. If there was a trick, or act of thievery, committed by any man of the company, great pains was taken by others to give it complete publicity, and to let the sound of it return to them for their humiliation. This was always regarded by Co. C as a compliment, proving that such acts were uncommon, and that others thought them to be so. The common sentiment was such that a profane word was seldom heard, and the use of the pipe was generally disapproved. The disposition of the few who wished to smoke, was modified and regulated by the inflexible orders of the Captain. The use of stimulating drinks was rarely indulged in. Men of other companies did not fail to a.s.sert frequently that such soldiers could neither be valiant in battle, nor endure the severities of military service, in the camp and on the forced march. These a.s.sertions were seldom or never made after the first battle and a few of the earliest marches. It became a common remark that Co. C always suffered severely in battle in proportion to its numbers, and its power of endurance became equally well known. Speculators have thought the fact due to their healthful habits and superior knowledge of proper personal care. It was true that, while other companies lost eight or ten by sickness, Co. C lost but three, and two of these took the infection of disease in the filthy dungeons of New Orleans.