Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
March 13, 1897



Co. H, 24th Wisconsin
Chapter 7

During the battle of Pleasant Hill, or Adairsville, Ga., Gen. Sherman wished to have a "Gin House" which stood between the lines destroyed, as it gave some shelter to the enemy. The Twenty-fourth Wisconsin was on the skirmish line at that time, and Edward R. Blake, of Company H, was at his place with the colors fifty feet in the rear of the skirmish line. Major McArthur rode up to him and asked him if he would go out to the ìGin Houseî and set it on fire. Blake promptly answered that he would, and running the gauntlet of the enemy's fire, reached the building safely and soon had it in flames. For this heroic act, Blake was promoted color sergeant, and from that time on, carried one of the colors of the regiment.

Resuming the forward movement on the morning of the 18th of May, the Twenty-fourth passed through Adairsville, and continuing the pursuit of the retreating rebels, reached Kingston the next day. After a delay of four days at Kingston, our troops again moved forward, and on the night of the 25th, swung into position in front of Dallas. Here the Twenty-fourth skirmished briskly with the enemy eleven days, losing three men killed, none of whom belonged to Company H. During the fighting at Pleasant Hill and in front of Dallas, Company H had five of its members wounded, including Sergt. Chas. Powers and Corp. Leopold Meyer, of Port Washington.

On the 3rd of June, First Lieut. Geo. Coote, commanding Company H was wounded in the knee, which ended his service with the company. As Capt. G. J. Tannatt was absent on detached service, there was now no commissioned officer with the company, and Major McArthur, recognizing his ability and fitness for the position, ordered First Sergt. John F. Kiefer to take command of the company. Sergt. Kiefer performed the duties of company commander in such an able and satisfactory manner that he retained the command during the remainder of the company's service, nearly a year of the time being simply a sergeant in rank. In April, 1865, he was commissioned first lieutenant, Lieut. Coote having resigned. On June 8, Major McArthur was promoted Lieut. Colonel, and Capt. A. Philbrook, of Company D, Major.

Continuing the daily skirmishing, the Twenty-fourth participated in the operations around Ackworth, and on the 20th of June, wheeled into line of battle before Kenesaw Mountain. In the hot fight on the 22nd, the regiment formed a part of the skirmish line, and had a lively tussle with the Johnnies. In the continuous fighting around Kenesaw, the Twenty-fourth was under fire day and night, and on the 27th, it participated in the general and unsuccessful assault on the enemy's almost impregnable position. This was one of Gen. Shermanís greatest mistakes and resulted in his army's repulse with a loss of some 2,000 men. The rebels were so highly elated over the repulse of our army that they went nearly wild with joy, and have never stopped boasting of it since, some of their histories giving five times as much space to the battle of Kenesaw, where the repulsed Union army lost 2,000 as they give the battle of Atlanta, fought a month later, where the defeated rebel army lost 10,000 men.

In the skirmishes and battles around Kenesaw, the Twenty-fourth lost ten killed and fourteen wounded, of which Company H lost two wounded, the Ozaukee squad losing none.

Joining in the pursuit of Johnston's army, when it evacuated Kenesaw Mountain, the regiment skirmished with the rebels until they were driven across the Chattahoochie River. Crossing that river on the 13th of July, the Twenty-fourth reached Peach Tree Creek on the 19th, and on the 20th, participated in the desperately contested battle that was fought on the banks of that creek. At Peach Tree Creek, the brave boys of the Twenty-fourth again stood gallantly and undaunted by their colors, holding their part of the line against big odds, and pouring murderous volleys into the great masses of grey that were hurled against them by the new rebel commander, Gen. Hood.

Shortly before the battle opened, the boys of the Twenty-fourth heard great cheering off to their right rear, and looking in that direction, saw a brigade of blue coats wheeling into line, on a "double-quick" on the exposed right of the Twenty-fourth. It was a brigade of the Twentieth corps, and one of its regiments was the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin. The Twenty-second Wisconsin, which belonged to the same division as the Twenty-sixth did, formed a part of the skirmish line that day, and thus it happened that those three Wisconsin regiments, which had begun their military career on widely separated fields, were now brought together on that now famous field near the heart of the so-called Confederacy. And right nobly did they all stand by their colors and by each other at Peach Tree Creek, each regiment winning new laurels, and all honoring their state by their valor. Three lines deep, preceded by a heavy skirmish line, Hood's gallant veterans swept forward to assault upon our lines, which were but partially protected by hastily erected breastworks, and when they came within close range, there was a roar of artillery and musketry that made the earth tremble for miles around. Being at first checked and then thrown back by the wicked fire from the Union lines, the rebel troops gallantly and repeatedly rallied, and at one time, reached within ten yards of the Union line and held the position for some time, giving and taking a fierce musketry fire; but all their valor did not avail, and they finally broke and fled from the field. The loss of the Twenty-fourth in this battle was very light, being reported at one killed and four wounded, Company H having two wounded, both Milwaukee boys.

Hood's army having, on the night of the 21st, abandoned its Peach Tree Creek line and retired to the heavy fortifications nearer Atlanta, the Union forces moved forward on the morning of the 22nd, and investing the defenses of the city began to throw up parallel lines of earthworks. Here the Twenty-fourth remained participating in the siege of the city, and under fire day and night, until Sherman began his famous flank movement, by which he moved his army to the rear of Atlanta, cut Hood's communications and forced him to evacuate the place. The movement began on the night of the 25th of August and leaving its trenches that night, the Twenty-fourth with the balance of the Fourth corps reached the West Point railroad some twenty miles south of Atlanta on the 28th, and after destroying many miles of it, marched rapidly to Jonesboro. there it participated in he battle fought at that place on August 31 and September 1, losing but one man wounded, the regiment not being very hotly engaged. The morning of Sept. 2 found the enemy retreating southward, and the Twenty-fourth accompanying the pursuit reached Lovejoy Station that evening, where it participated in the brisk skirmishing at that place, and when the army was ordered back to the vicinity of Atlanta, it accompanied the Fourth corps to its camps near the city.

In the latter part of September, the Twenty-fourth was sent north to Chattanooga by rail, where it was employed in garrison and guard duties until called upon to take part in the movements of the Army of the Cumberland to check the northward advance of Hood's army, which Sherman drove to and left at Gadsden, Ala. in October. Leaving Chattanooga by rail on the 1st of November, the Twenty-fourth arrived at Athens, Ala. on the 2nd. From that point, the regiment marched northward, forded the Elk River on the 4th, and the next day, joined its corps, the fourth, at Pulaski, Tenn., where it remained doing guard duty and building fortifications until the 22nd.

On the 15th of November, Gen. Sherman with his veteran army, consisting of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth army corps, had left Atlanta on his famous march to the sea.

Gen. Hood, chagrined at the complete failure of his manouvre in October, which was made to draw Shermanís army out of Georgia and back into Tennessee, succeeded in crossing the Tennessee River, and marched northward with his superb army of 45,000 veterans, confident that he could easily defend Gen. Thomas and capture Nashville. Thomas had sent Gen. Schofield to Pulaski with the Fourth and Twenty-third corps, to watch Hood and retard his advance long enough to give Thomas enough time to collect and organize his scattered forces. Schofield had nearly 30,000 men in his command at Pulaski, but he was outgeneraled by Hood, who flanked Schofield's position and forced him to retreat to Columbia, a railroad junction just south of Duck River, which place the Twenty-fourth reached on the 24th of November. The next day the regiment was ordered out on a reconnaissance, and developed the enemy's lines within two miles of the town, so closely had they pursued our forces. The next day Hood again outflanked Schofield and crossed Cheatham's corps to the north side of Duck River, with instructions to capture Schofield's wagon train, which was moving northward almost unprotected.

On the 28th, Schofield retreated across Duck River, the Twenty-fourth and a part of its corps crossing by the railroad bridge, which was then burned to prevent its use by the enemy. Early the next day, the regiment accompanied its division to Spring Hill arriving just in time to prevent the rebel cavalry from taking possession of the place. It bivouacked that night near the railroad station, and at four o'clock the next morning, Nov. 30th, again took up the line of march northward, acting as a part of the rear guard of the army, and skirmishing frequently with the enemy, who followed closely.

In the meantime, the rebel General Cheatham had marched to Spring Hill, where he expected to meet the Union wagon train. Reaching the place after dark on the 29th, Cheatham's troops bivouacked within half a mile of the road upon which Schofield's forces were retreating, and slept there all night, while brigade after brigade and division after division of the Union forces marched silently by within eight of rebels' bivouac fires, very few of our men knowing whose fires they were. Less than a mile away our Twenty-fourth regiment slept peacefully until 4 A.M., and then as I have already stated, took its place in Schofield's rear guard and marched away without molestation. The blunder made by Cheatham and his subordinates that night, in thus allowing a large part of Schofield's troops to escape the trap that could have been so easily sprung upon them at Spring Hill, has never been satisfactorily explained. Hood, and I believe Cheatham, blamed one of his division commanders, the fighting Gen. Cleburne, for the blunder, but the latter indignantly denied the accusation before he rode to his death at Franklin the next day, and the question of who was responsible for the Spring Hill error will probably never be known. But whoever was to blame, it was a lucky blunder for our army and its cause. At this day, it seems very strange that 15,000 rebel troops should lie peacefully within half a mile of the road that night, while eight or ten thousand Union troops marched by without hindrance or discovery. The only reasonable explanation given so far is that Cheatham's troops, both officers and men, were so worn out that they did not know, or care much, where they were that night and slept without throwing out the proper guards.