Co. F 9th inf. Minn. - Civil War
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Co. F 9th inf. Minn. - Civil War
| franroen75 (View posts) | Posted: 3 Jul 2003 1:55PM GMT |
Classification: Query
Surnames: Chaffin, Copley, Frasher, White, Sumner, Merritt, Fuller, Battles and more
I just got the following information on the birth of Co. F 9th inf. Interesting reading. The last bit of information is on my 5th great grandfather.
Excerpts from the book:
History of Winona & Olmsted Counties
Printed Chicago: H. H. Hill
1883
Chapter V
page 648
"In August, 1862, O. P. Stearns and M. J. Daniels opened a recruiting office in the city of Rochester, and in a few days they succeeded in enlisting 101 men, all of Olmsted county. Of these was formed Co. F, which was assigned to the 9th reg. Inf. Minn. Vols. The company was mustered into the service of the United States at Fort Snelling, September 24, 1862, with the following officers: captain, A. M. Enoch; first lieutenant, O. P. Sterus; second lieutenant, Milton J. Daniels. The regiment was under the command of Col. A. Wilkins."
page 649
"Late in the fall the regiment went into winter quarters at Fort Ridgely and were employed in building fortifications on the frontier. The same winter Capt. Enoch was accidentally shot through the breast with a pistol and resigned his command May 20, 1864. In April, 1864, Lieut. Stearns was promoted to colonel of a colored regiment and Lieut. Daniels was promoted to captain of Co. F, A. M. Hall 1st Lieut. And A. J. McMillen 2d lieut."
"In October 1863, the regiment was ordered to report to St. Louis. In February it was sent on an expedition to Kansas City in pursuit of Quantrel's gang of murderers and outlaws, and in May following it had orders to report at Memphis, Tennessee. About the first of June, 1864, the regiment, now forming a part of A. J. Smith's corps, was sent from Memphis after the rebel Forest, with the instructions to push on till he was found and beaten. The entire force consisted of nine thousand infantry and artillery with three thousand cavalry, the latter led by Gen Grierson, all under the command of Gen. Sturgis. The Union army met but little opposition till near Guntown, on the Mobile railroad, where Grierson's troopers met Forest's cavalry and pushed it back vigorously on his infantry, which was strongly posted on a hill at the foot of which was creek which could with difficulty be forded by infantry. Word was sent back to the infantry, now some five or six mile behind, and in a intensely hot day they were pushed forward at double quick to the scene of action. A letter written to the "Rochester Post" by Capt. Daniels, a few days after the disastrous affair, graphically says: "When we went into the fight, it was by regiments, as they arrived on the ground; so they whipped us by regiments or in detail. We were obliged to ‘go in' on the double quick, and as the day was very hot, many of out men fell in the road, sunstruck. The 9th entered the fight in good shape and drove the enemy in fine style, but we were soon called off to support a battery company, Co. F did bravely, and every man of them deserves great credit" "
"As if to add to the inexcusable bad management of the affair,
page 650
the train of more than two hundred wagons came rushing up with the infantry, filling the road and impeding the movement of the troops, who were now being parked within sight and range of the enemy's line. The result was, the Union army was speedily and thoroughly routed, their train utterly lost and no supplies, no place of refuge, no reinforcements nearer than Memphis, fully one hundred miles distant. All order or organization was abandoned and the situation was: " Every man take care of himself the best he could." Large tracts of forests and groves, lonely and cheerless as they would have been under other circumstances, afforded shelter and hiding-places from the enemy and facilitated, in a good degree, the escape of may of the routed troops."
"Twenty-three Olmsted county men were captured on the day of the battle or picked up afterward by the rebel forces, of which the woods seemed to be full."
"The names of the captured ones, together with events in their prison experience, is here given. . . ."
". . . Alpheus Merritt, Kalmar, captured and taken to Andersonville. Transferred to Florence. He escaped by climbing over the stockade, but was recaptured and sent to the rebel prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, where he died January 17, 1865."
Excerpts from the book:
History of Winona & Olmsted Counties
Printed Chicago: H. H. Hill
1883
Chapter V
page 648
"In August, 1862, O. P. Stearns and M. J. Daniels opened a recruiting office in the city of Rochester, and in a few days they succeeded in enlisting 101 men, all of Olmsted county. Of these was formed Co. F, which was assigned to the 9th reg. Inf. Minn. Vols. The company was mustered into the service of the United States at Fort Snelling, September 24, 1862, with the following officers: captain, A. M. Enoch; first lieutenant, O. P. Sterus; second lieutenant, Milton J. Daniels. The regiment was under the command of Col. A. Wilkins."
page 649
"Late in the fall the regiment went into winter quarters at Fort Ridgely and were employed in building fortifications on the frontier. The same winter Capt. Enoch was accidentally shot through the breast with a pistol and resigned his command May 20, 1864. In April, 1864, Lieut. Stearns was promoted to colonel of a colored regiment and Lieut. Daniels was promoted to captain of Co. F, A. M. Hall 1st Lieut. And A. J. McMillen 2d lieut."
"In October 1863, the regiment was ordered to report to St. Louis. In February it was sent on an expedition to Kansas City in pursuit of Quantrel's gang of murderers and outlaws, and in May following it had orders to report at Memphis, Tennessee. About the first of June, 1864, the regiment, now forming a part of A. J. Smith's corps, was sent from Memphis after the rebel Forest, with the instructions to push on till he was found and beaten. The entire force consisted of nine thousand infantry and artillery with three thousand cavalry, the latter led by Gen Grierson, all under the command of Gen. Sturgis. The Union army met but little opposition till near Guntown, on the Mobile railroad, where Grierson's troopers met Forest's cavalry and pushed it back vigorously on his infantry, which was strongly posted on a hill at the foot of which was creek which could with difficulty be forded by infantry. Word was sent back to the infantry, now some five or six mile behind, and in a intensely hot day they were pushed forward at double quick to the scene of action. A letter written to the "Rochester Post" by Capt. Daniels, a few days after the disastrous affair, graphically says: "When we went into the fight, it was by regiments, as they arrived on the ground; so they whipped us by regiments or in detail. We were obliged to ‘go in' on the double quick, and as the day was very hot, many of out men fell in the road, sunstruck. The 9th entered the fight in good shape and drove the enemy in fine style, but we were soon called off to support a battery company, Co. F did bravely, and every man of them deserves great credit" "
"As if to add to the inexcusable bad management of the affair,
page 650
the train of more than two hundred wagons came rushing up with the infantry, filling the road and impeding the movement of the troops, who were now being parked within sight and range of the enemy's line. The result was, the Union army was speedily and thoroughly routed, their train utterly lost and no supplies, no place of refuge, no reinforcements nearer than Memphis, fully one hundred miles distant. All order or organization was abandoned and the situation was: " Every man take care of himself the best he could." Large tracts of forests and groves, lonely and cheerless as they would have been under other circumstances, afforded shelter and hiding-places from the enemy and facilitated, in a good degree, the escape of may of the routed troops."
"Twenty-three Olmsted county men were captured on the day of the battle or picked up afterward by the rebel forces, of which the woods seemed to be full."
"The names of the captured ones, together with events in their prison experience, is here given. . . ."
". . . Alpheus Merritt, Kalmar, captured and taken to Andersonville. Transferred to Florence. He escaped by climbing over the stockade, but was recaptured and sent to the rebel prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, where he died January 17, 1865."