The sources
of this story are (a) a diary kept by Henry Speer, (b)
“Ohio at Vicksburg” by W.P. Gault, and
(c) my
memories of
what my grandfather [William S. Speer]told me.
Gault's book
is in
the
Kansas City,
Missouri Public Library. Henry
Speer's diary is in my possession.
The Seventy-Eighth
Regiment of Ohio Volunteers was recruited in Zanesville, Ohio,
in November
and December, 1861.
This was fifteen miles west of
the Speer farm between Cambridge and New
Concord. The regiment was mustered in February 2,
1862.
They were issued muzzleloading Enfield
rifles and other
equipment. After
only eight
days of training they
were sent
to Cincinnati by
train and
down the
Ohio by boat to
the mouth
of the Cumberland. They
then went
up the Cumberland in Kentucky to
Fort Donelson on
the Tennessee
River.
They arrived February
15, and were
in reserve
at Grant's great victory the next day. They were now
in the
right wing
of Grant's army. They
were in
the Third
Division under Lew
Wallace, later
to
become famous as the agnostic
who studied the
Bible and
ended up
by writing the
great Christian novel,
Ben
Hur.
They were
now marched
south along the Tennessee River toward
Pittsburgh Landing
near the Mississippi border. On April 6,
as they neared their destination, they began
to hear
the sound of
small
arms and artillery. The
next day
they entered the
battle of
Shiloh.
This was one of the
bloodiest battles
of the
war and
a Union
victory.
They were not
in the
more severe
part of
the action
and had but
one
death and 9 wounded. They took
over Jackson,
Tennessee, and spent the rest of the
year in reconnaissance and skirmishing. ·
The next
phase of
their story
deals with
the Vicksburg campaign and siege. I well remember
my grandfather telling
of their rough experiences in trenches and
of the
even greater
suffering of the besieged people of Vicksburg. One
thing that
impressed me
was that he
said they were
reduced to eating
rats. Their part
of the
campaign begins with their
being sent
down the Mississippi to Lake Providence, Louisiana. They were now under
the command
of Sherman. Since Vicksburg was heavily
fortified, Grant hoped
to get
troops south of the city
for an attack
to the rear. The Seventy-Eighth was now involved in
a plan
to open a
waterway
to the west of the
Mississippi
by using bayous that parallel
the river. They
tried to
get through on the Macon and
Baxter bayous. This project
was abandoned.
They
were then
marched down the
west bank
in swampy
Louisiana to DeSchroon’s Landing below Grand
Gulf. They arrived April
29.
They were then put on transports and
taken to
Bruinsburg on the
Mississippi side.
They carried nothing
but hard bread,
coffee, and salt. The Confederates sought to cut
off their
supply lines, but
they didn't
have any! They marched
inland to Port
Gibson and
fought their
first battle May
1.
They kept skirmishing with the
enemy and
fought a
severe engagement at Raymond. They were in
reserve at
taking of
Jackson, the capital. On June
4 they
won the bloody
battle of Champion's Hill, losing 116 wounded
and killed. On June
4 they
arrived at
the
outskirts of Vicksburg. They were
involved in
siege operations until June 26, when
they were
sent to
help repel
Gen. Johnston, who was
trying to come to the
relief of
the besieged city.
When I was a
new intern
in a Texas hospital in
1934, I
was
surprised to notice that
nobody seemed
to be celebrating July 4.
I said something to one
of my
friends as
we stood
in the
emergency
room. An old man with
a noticeable Scotch brogue spoke up
and said, “No, that's the day
Vicksburg fell.” And so it
was. The only
American city to be subjected to a real
siege fell with
the loss
of thousands of men and
tremendous store
of equipment July
4, 1863. As Lincoln said,
the father of
waters could
now flow unvexed to
the
sea.
The regiment
re-enlisted at Vicksburg and were for
the next several months
involved in various
expeditions and skirmishes. One expedition was
to Monroe,
Louisiana, their chief
enemy being
the
rattlesnake. Sgt. Gault wryly [and sarcastically] comments
that the purpose
of the trip was to protect cotton for
Northern cotton
speculators. One is reminded of Rhett Butler's
activities as told
in Gone with the
Wind.
Now begins the
story of
the greatest adventure of William
and Henry
Speer, the Atlanta
Campaign. During the campaign Henry
kept a diary.
His last entry
was July
21, 1864. The
next day
he was mortally wounded.
After a month's furlough in Ohio, the
regiment assembled
in Zanesville on May
6. They were
issued the
new breech-loading Springfield rifles. They
went to Clinton, Tenn. by boat and marched across Alabama to Acworth, Georgia,
arriving June 8. At this point they were in McPherson's Army of the
Tennessee, Sherman's old command, and were on the left flank. They were in Corps XVII under Francis Blair
of Missouri. Their divisional general was
their former Colonel, Mortimer Leggett.
Henry
Speer began his diary
June 10, 1864.
I will now
put his entries in quotation marks
and follow them
with my
comments.
[Actual diary entries are bold, all the rest, commentary supplied by Dr.
Frederick Speer, is in regular type.
Slight editing or insertions for clarity by
the webmaster are contained in brackets, as is this note.]
June 10.
“Arrived at Big Shanty Station.
Here our advance encountered the
enemy.”
June 13. “Rained
all day hard, which
made the
high peak
of
Kenesaw Mountain in
our front
look more gloomy
than ever.” (Says Sherman in
his Memoirs,
“The rains continued to pour. There
were
no roads, and these had
to be improvised.” (He was keeping his railroad line open, constantly protecting it
from Rebel
cavalry.
He especially feared
a raid by
the dreaded
Nathan Forrest.)
June. 15. “Brisk skirmishing along the line
with a
steady
advance, gaining some
important advantages. At 2 p.m.
by a strategic movement on our
left, a
Rebel Colonel
and 400 of his
regiment were taken
in out
of the
wet.” (At this point McPherson’s army
had lapped well
around the
north end
of Kenesaw
Mountain. It was Sherman’s policy
to keep flanking
General Johnston, and here
his left
wing had
done a
good job.)
June 16. “Was waked at
an early
hour and was
much surprised to see what a
formidable breast
work had been
thrown up
during
the night under the supervision of our untiring
colonel.”
(Their colonel was Greenberry F.
Wiles.)
June 17. “Was detailed
with company for
picket duty in
the
morning and was posted in the
line about
200 yds.
in advance
of where it was
yesterday,
and there
we amused ourselves pecking at the rebel
pickets about
200 yards
distant.”
June 19. “At 4
a.m. we
moved forward
in line of
battle. The conditions of the country
and hard, incessant
raining made it
horrible
work going through the swamps
and underbrush. By looking to
our right the
lofty Kenesaw loomed
up before us
like a
dark shadow,
and on its sides and adjoining
spurs we could distinctly see
Rebs hurrying
to and fro as
if they
expected another
movement of the
Yanks.”
June 21. “Rained
the principal part of the
day. Wrote
a short letter to Matthew.”
(Sherman
had an
excellent mail
service to
his
men. Matthew is another brother,
a private in
the Signal
Corps.)
June 27. (This is the
assault on
Kennesaw Mountain. Leggett's Division was on
the extreme
left.) “Our division was
formed to
our
rear and left and marched
past our line
and they
made a
steady
advance across the field in
our front,
encountered the enemy
from their position on
the opposite
hill. The casualties in the
division
during the
day
amounted to about 100 killed
and wounded. Our regiment lost 2
mortally wounded. My brother [William Scott
Speer] was struck by a piece of
shell in
the right
hand, but
nothing serious.
Had a hard time
finding our
way back
to the camp
through the
woods, getting lost once and coming
very nearly running
into the enemy lines.”
June 30. “Wrote a lengthy letter
to John.” (The fourth brother,
officer in the signal corps.)
July 2. At 8 a.m. had orders for packing up preparatory to a general move. Evidently somewhat important. Great speculation regarding our destination. Marched all night.” (Here Sherman very qu1etly moved McPherson's army clear over to the right to reinforce Schofield of the Army of the Ohio, threatening Marietta. They were ordered to muffle the drinking cups and frying pans dangling from their waists and to speak in whispers.)
July 3. “Marched all day through
an extremely hot sun. Our position now extreme right
instead of left. Johnny Reb
came to the sensible conclusion that their
formidable position on Kenesaw was no longer healthy and evacuated last
night. Our army is in full pursuit with a prospect of disputing their passage of the Chattahoochee River.”
July 4. “About 4 miles from the Chattahoochie. Somewhat different auspices from last July 4th
and Vicksburg.”
July 5. “Arrived at the Chattahoochie, skirmishing the principal part of the way.
Arrived at river and found it a point about
9 miles northwest of Atlanta where
there is a small ferry.
We then were moved up the river about 1 ½ miles where we encountered the enemy in force in position on this side of the river with quite a formidable line of earthworks.” (Sherman now held the west bank of the river from
Roswell, 18 miles above, to the mouth of the Sweetwater, 10 miles
below.)
July 9. “News arrived
of the crossing of General
Schofield above us without
any great opposition.” (Schofield
crossed at Soap Creek,
and by night was well entrenched on the east side with two
pontoon bridges in place. The Rebels had been confused
by demonstrations by the whole Union
army up and down the river.)
July 12. “Went out in front of the line (on picket
duty) and had a
talk with Johnny Reb, but could gather
nothing of interest from them but to be slurred
by having the
name of the traitor Vallandingham thrown in our teeth.” (Amazing to relate, there
often was a code among pickets or outposts which provided for their not shooting at each
other. The following is from
“Sherman, Fighting Prophet,”
by Lloyd Lewis: “Sherman scattered
troops up and down the river hunting fords by which he might
flank again. As a blind he sent the bulk of his
cavalry one way to attract
Johnston's horsemen, then seized
crossings in the opposite direction. Johnston attributed the discovery of these
fords to the fraternization between pickets. These outposts
declared truces and bathed
in the river, exchanging anecdotes
and scrubbing each other's
backs. Federal engineers, disguising themselves as innocent pickets,
mingled with the bathers and in gabbling with the Confederates learned
much topography.” In Chapter 31 Lewis tells a story
on the somber
Grant: ”Grant noted how
rival pickets regarded each other with something more than the traditional
absence of the killing instinct.
They paid each other long social
calls, stationing lookouts
to announce the approach of officers.
So absurd
was the situation that Grant, riding the picket
lines, saw Confederate outposts a few
feet from him on the opposite side of
the creek come
to attention and salute him
as politely as if
he had been
one of their own generals.” The “traitor Vallandingham” is the hated Copperhead of the peace party of the Northern
Democrats.)
July 16. “Was called out of bed at 2 a.m. with orders for marching. Started at daylight and marched until 11 a.m., when we stopped and lay in the shade
until 5 p.m., when we again marched at a slow
gait until we came to Marietta, Ga., a distance
of about 16 miles from where we started.”
July 17. “Had a good
night's rest and was waked
up at 3 a.m. and left camp at 4, striking
out in the direction of the pontoons across the Chattahoochie about 20 miles
distant. Marched very rapidly until 1 p.m., when we arrived at Roswell, a small village 18 miles from
Marietta, where we stopped and cooked some dinner and had a little
rest. Starting again at 5:30 p.m., crossing the river and marched about 3 miles beyond
and encamped for the night.” (This
23 miles march with equipment, in severe summer heat, with bad food and under arms is unbelievable. Years later Sherman
spoke of the Army
of the Tennessee as “never checked, always victorious, so rapid in motion, so eager to strike, it deserved the name of the ‘whiplash.’ It swung from one flank to the other
as danger called,
night and day, in
sunshine and storm.” – From Lewis, chap. 37.
This was exactly what they were doing,
making a wide sweep from
the extreme right of the Union lines
to the extreme left. And, [the 78th Ohio] . . . was on the extreme left of them all
Sherman was swinging out to the left to make a great encircling movement to the east,
investing Atlanta.)
July 20. “Marched through
the beautiful village
of Decatur, taking from thence a southwesterly direction until we encountered
the pickets of the enemy
about 3 ½ miles from
town at 2 p.m. and were thrown into battle.
A charge was made by the 4th Division
of our corps resulting in the repulse
of the enemy and the taking
of a good position with
but a very slight loss,
mostly in wounds. Among the list was Gen. Gresham, commanding the 4th Division.
We rested for the night in battle line,
ready for any emergency.” (This was the battle of Leggett's hill,
named after their
Division general. Gresham survived
and became an outstanding statesman
and jurist.)
July 21. “Battle began at an early
hour on our right. At 8 a.m. a
charge was made
on the 4th Division and part of ours by the Rebs. They were quickly repulsed
with heavy loss.
A charge was then made by our lines,
driving the Rebs from their
position, which our troops(noon)occupy,
and firing has somewhat ceased.”
The next
day was the battle of Atlanta.
The Confederates managed to
make their way through thick woods and surround this division on the
left flank. The Union victory
that followed was one of the crucial events of the war. In it, the commander of the Army of the Tennessee, James B. McPherson, was killed. Mortally wounded was: Lieut. Henry Speer. His brother,
[William Speer] . . . accompanied him to the rear. He died
in August of [his]
wounds. My grandfather [William Speer] told me that he was wounded
by a Rebel officer's sword while defending his flag from an attacking
Confederate.
In Grant
Park in Atlanta may be seen the great Cyclorama depicting this battle. The night before, the Rebels
had attempted to circle behind McPherson's
army and nearly succeeded. They came on Leggett’s
division, and the 78th regiment
was in the midst of the most violent fighting. Leggett later said,
“The engagement in front of the 68th and 78th
Ohio regiments became finally a hand-to-hand fight,
in which the sword,
bayonet, and even the fists were effectively used, and
the enemy finally was repulsed with a slaughter I never before witnessed . . . I am fully
convinced that my division killed and wounded
more Rebels than
I had men engaged.”
Atlanta later
fell and was burned.
. . .[though the extent of the burning caused by Sherman’s men and that caused
by the fleeing rebels is still in much dispute]. Sherman's army then marched through Georgia to the
sea, north through
the Carolinas and Virginia,
[and on]to Washington for the Grand
Review.
It is hard to overestimate the value to our country
of this campaign against
Atlanta. This was the summer of an election year, and the reelection of Lincoln was very much in doubt. Sherman's victory along with Farragut's at Mobile Bay made the difference. My grandfather told me how they passed around a coffee
pot for them
to drop in their votes. He didn't
need to tell me he voted
for Lincoln.
They were mustered out in Louisville, Kentucky, July 11,1865. It was estimated that they had gone 4,000
miles by foot, 3,000 by water,
and 2,000 by rail. They were never defeated. No wonder they were proud.