Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
February 20, 1897



Co. H, 24th Wisconsin
Chapter 4
Chickamauga

The great battle of Chickamauga began about 10 o'clock A.M. on the 19th of September, and before it ended became one of the most sanguinary battles of the war. Bragg having been reinforced by Longstreet's corps, and by large forces from Mississippi and East Tennessee, found himself at the head of a superb army of veterans that far outnumbered that of his adversary, and maneuvered with the intention of striking Rosencransí left with a heavy force and crushing it before it could be reinforced, thus placing his army between Rosencrans and Chattanooga. But like many other well laid plans of man which "gang a-glee," the plan miscarried and the fighting of that day brought more successes to the Union forces than to the rebels. History gives the details of this great and desperately contested battle, and it is not my intention to tell more of it here than will answer my purpose of showing the part taken in it by the gallant boys of Company H and their comrades in Sheridan's division.

Shortly after Sheridan had taken possession of the ford at Lee and Gordon's Mills, he was ordered to go to the assistance of the other two divisions of McCook's corps, and Crittenden's corps which were hard pressed by the enemy. Leaving Lytle's brigade to hold the ford, Sheridan hastened with the other two brigades to the scene of action, and by the time he had reached the field, Davisí division had been worsted and driven back with the loss of a battery. Sheridan quickly formed his fresh brigades, and leading them in a brilliant charge, recovered the ground and guns which Davis had lost, but at a heavy loss in killed and wounded. That evening Lytle's brigade rejoined the division, which after dark moved further to the left and formed a new position near the ìWidow Glenn's House,î where Rosencrans had his headquarters. The fighting ceased as darkness came on, and the survivors of the Union army, worn out by constant marching and fighting, dropped in their places in the line and went to sleep on their arms.

While very tired, and knowing that the enemy had been heavily reinforced, our troops felt confident of winning a victory on the morrow. The fighting that afternoon had been mainly of a determined and desperate nature, and many of the organizations of both armies had lost very heavily, but each army believed that it would be the victor on the second day, the Union troops building on their successes of the first day, and the rebels upon the large reinforcements they had received.

During the night there was little rest for the two opposing commanders, so busy were they formulating plans and preparing for the morrow's great conflict. Bragg's plan for the second day's battle was similar to the one he had made for the first day, but which had miscarried, which was to throw a greater superior force against the Union left and crushing it, drive it back on the center and thus gain possession of the Chattanooga road. He would then be between Rosencrans and have the Union army in a "pocket." Rosencransí plan was to fight on the defensive until the enemy's plan of battle had developed.

The fighting did not begin in earnest on the second day, Sept. 20th, until 8:30 A.M. Bragg's orders to Gen. Polk, the "Bishop General," were to assault Rosencransí left at day-break, and a heavy force of infantry was placed at his disposal to make the attack. But the hour named was too early for the slow-going Polk, and he did not get ready to move his assaulting column until 8:30. While making a tour of his line at day-break, Rosencrans became convinced by what he saw and heard that Bragg would try to turn the Union left, and he made hasty preparations to ìblockî his adversary's game. McCook was ordered to relieve Negley from his position near the right and sent him immediately to the extreme left of the army; but the movement was not made as rapidly as it might have been, and the rebel assault had nearly crushed the left of Thomas' line before Negley reached that point.

Early that morning a dense fog obscured everything; and taking advantage of that fact, Rosencrans was able to make several needed changes in the formation of his line. Among other changes, Sheridan's division, holding the extreme right, was drawn farther back and nearer to the Widow Glenn's house, where it threw up a barricade of logs and rails. At 10 A.M., McCook was ordered to send a brigade to Thomasí left, which he did, but at the time time through an unfortunate misunderstanding of orders, a large gap was made in the line at McCook's left by a division moving farther toward the left of the line.

Before the gap could be filled, Gen. Longstreet, who commanded the left of Bragg's line, put his troops in motion to assault McCook's position. Just then McCook received orders to send Sheridan's whole division to Thomas. One brigade of the division, Laidboldt's, had already been sent to McCook's left, but Sheridan with the other two brigades, Lytle's and Bradley's, immediately started on the doublequick to help Thomas. As they started, Longstreet's veterans swept forward to the assault with their shrill "rebel yell" and thousands of them were soon pouring over the barricades just evacuated by Sheridan's men and through the gap in the line at McCook's left. Just as Sheridan's two brigades reached a point directly in the rear of the fateful gap, they met their comrades of Laidboldt's brigade and remnants of other commands rapidly retreating before the heavy forces of the enemy.

McCook ordered Sheridan to halt his two brigades and form them across the path of the torrent of grey which had poured through the gap, and was sweeping everything before it. This was quickly done, and the thin line bravely facing the great wave of grey, was first given a murderous volley and then swept back by the weight and impetus of the charging column. But our boys quickly rallied, and assisted by the remnants of other commands which rallied with them, turned and went at the enemy with the bayonet, the gallant charge being led by the peerless Sheridan and the knightly Lytle. Our heroic troops quickly swept the rebel hosts back to and over the ridge, capturing the colors of the 24th Alabama and a number of prisoners. But greatly outnumbered and nearly surrounded, the valor and endurance of our boys availed but little; it was simply impossible to hold that position. A veritable tornado of death was sweeping the whole field from right to left. Crittenden's corps in the center was crumbling away before the heavy blows from front and flank, and McCook's corps on the right was soon overwhelmed by the surging waves of grey-coats and driven from its position. Sheridan's brave troops attacked from the front and both flanks by several rebel divisions were driven from the ridge with a heavy loss, including the heroic Gen. Lytle killed. Back the gallant division was pressed, stubbornly fighting, making short stands whenever and wherever practicable, contesting every rod of the ground and strewing the field with dead and wounded. Back, back they were forced, unable to save many of their fallen comrades, some tarrying so long to resist the foe that they were overtaken and captured. But back, back they had to go to and past the Widow Glenn's house, from which Rosencransí headquarters had been hastily removed to Chattanooga; back through field and timber until they reached a range of low hills behind the Ory Valley road where a line of battle was formed and the enemy checked. By this time, but few organizations of the two corps, outside of Sheridan's division, were holding together, and Sheridan soon discovered that his left flank was unsupported, and that a heavy column of the enemy was marching around it with the intention of cutting him off from Chattanooga and the balance of the army and forcing his surrender. This necessitated a further retreat which brought the division to the southern slope of Missionary Ridge where the pursuit was abandoned by the rebels. Here they were presently joined by Carilin's brigade of Davis' division.

McCook and Crittenden had left the field and had followed Rosencrans back to Chattanooga, leaving the fragments of their corps to care for themselves. Rosencrans believing that his army had suffered a terrible defeat and was in full retreat, went back to make preparations to rally the survivors in front of Chattanooga, hoping to thus save a part of his army and the town. But the immortal Thomas, whose great generalship and undaunted heroism on that day earned him the title of "The Rock of Chickamauga," had drawn his line back to "Horseshoe Ridge," where his gallant men stood with him as firmly as a rock, repulsing assault after assault. But the right of the army having been driven from the field, Thomas' right became exposed to the attack of Longstreet's victorious troops, and the position on Horseshoe Ridge would soon have been cleared of its defenders had not assistance come from an unexpected source. Three and a half miles away to the left rear at Rossville, Gen. Gordon Granger had listened anxiously all day to the sounds of the conflict. He had no orders to move from his post, but when the roar of the battle indicated plainly that Thomas was being hard pressed, he determined to march to his assistance without orders. Taking his three brigades and being guided by the din of the battle, Granger reached Thomas on Horseshoe Ridge just in the nick of time, and by some of the most desperate fighting of the battle, helped to repulse Longstreet and save the position.

We left Sheridan's division on the slope of Missionary Ridge. Knowing that Thomas was still holding his ground and fighting the whole rebel army, Sheridan determined to get to him as soon as possible; but as the enemy was between him and Thomasí position, he was obliged to march around by way of Rossville. Taking his division, Carilin's brigade, eight pieces of artillery, and a long ammunition train which had been picked up and saved during the retreat, Sheridan reached Rossville at 5 P.M. and Thomas' position an hour later. Reporting to Thomas, he was ordered to aid in covering the retreat of Thomasí command to Rossville, which he did and the army fell back to Rossville that night, and the next night to the lines at Chattanooga unmolested. Although Bragg's army remained victors on the field, it had been so badly crippled in the battle that it was unable to follow up its success.

It is needless to say that Rosencrans' army felt very downhearted on the night following the battle. It had made a gallant fight, but provoking blunders on the part of some of its leading generals, and the great strength of the opposing army had brought a galling defeat to the Union army, and there was much sincere sorrow in its bivouacs that night. Gen. Sheridan, writing of that night tells of the bivouac at Rossville. "I lay down at the foot of a tree with my saddle for a pillow, and a saddle-blanket for a cover. Some soldiers near me having built a fire, were making some coffee, and I guess I must have been looking on wistfully, for in a little while they brought me a tin-cupful of the coffee and a small piece of hard bread, which I relished keenly, it being the first food that had passed my lips since the night before. I was very tired, very hungry, and much discouraged by what had taken place since morning. I had been obliged to fight my command under the most disadvantageous circumstances, disconnected, without supports, without even opportunity to form in line of battle, and at one time, contending against four divisions of the enemy. In this battle of Chickamauga, out of an effective strength of 4,000 bayonets, I had lost 1,517 officers and men, including two brigade commanders. This was not satisfactory -- indeed, it was depressing."

The Twenty-fourth Wisconsin accompanied every movement of its brigade (Lytle's) during the battle, kept up its previous good record for coolness while under fire, and fought gallantly. It was after midnight when the regiment laid down by the rail fires at Rossville that night. In Company H, our Ozaukee boys won new laurels by their valor, devotion and endurance, and stood manfully by their colors through all the carnage and reverses. The loss of the regiment is given in the records as 18 killed, 61 wounded, and 36 missing, nearly all of the latter being captured by the enemy. Col. Larabee having resigned about a month previous to the battle, and Major Hibbard, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel, having resigned March 7, 1863, Theodore S. West, who had been promoted from adjutant of the Fifth Wisconsin to Lieut. Colonel of the Twenty-fourth March 31, 1863, went into the battle of Chickamauga at the head of the regiment, was wounded and taken prisoner in the hottest part of the fight, and Carl Von Baumbach, who had been promoted to Major from Captain of Co. C, Dec. 24, 1862, led the regiment through the remainder of the conflict.

The loss of Company H was a very heavy one, its gallant young Captain Goldsmith being mortally wounded, and three of its privates, including the Captain's friend and first recruit, Nathan E. Newstadtl, killed, four wounded and a few missing. The death of Captain Gustavus Goldsmith was deeply regretted by his company and a large circle of friends. Cut down in the prime of his manhood and in the midst of a brilliant military career, his death was a very sad one. I hope to be able to tell more of this young hero in a future chapter. The death of Goldsmith's friend Newstadtl, the brave boy who had headed Goldsmith's list of recruits, occurring in the same battle, was a most pathetic coincidence. Besides the death of Capt. Goldsmith, the Ozaukee squad suffered a severe loss in the death of the gallant young German from Cedarburg, Andrew Wachtman, who was killed while valiantly fighting under the flag of his adopted country that day. He was the only representative of Cedarburg in the company, and was a credit to that town and to the land of his birth. Two of the Ozaukee boys were taken prisoners by the rebels during the hard fighting on the morning of the second day. They were Sergt. John B. Warling, who had also the misfortune to be captured at Stone River, and John Sheehan, of Saukville. Sergt. Warling survived his imprisonment and the war, but the heroic young Sheehan starved to death in that blot upon the civilization of the nineteenth century, the prison-pen at Andersonville, Ga.