Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. I
ILLUSTRATED

Charles B. Taylor
Editor for Vinton County
Publishers: The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
 

CHAPTER IV.

CIVIL WAR.
Pg. 290

PATRIOTIC RIVALRY - NUMBER OF SOLDIERS BY TOWNSHIPS - HOW THEY WERE DISTRIBUTED - FIRST THREE VOLUNTEER COMPANIES - BULK OF SERVICE IN VIRGINIA REGIMENTS - FIRST ACTION AT GUYANDOTTE - TOWN PARTLY BURNED BY UNION SOLDIERS - CAPTAIN DAVEY'S LIGHT ARTILLERY - BATTERY L - THE BUSY YEAR OF 1862 - RELIEF ACTIVITIES - NEWS FROM THE FRONT - PROMOTION OF WILLIAM H. POWELL - PREPARATION FOR MORGAN - COLONEL POWELL RETURNS FROM LIBBY - IN 1864 THE WAR STILL RAGING - LOSSES OF THE FIFTH VIRGINIA - GEN. WILLIAM H. ENOCHS - THE NINETY-FIRST OHIO - THE VETERAN ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THIRD OHIO - THE SOLDIERS' PRESIDENTIAL VOTE - CONSOLIDATION OF SECOND VIRGINIA CAVALRY.

     Lawrence County was enthusiastic and stanch in its support of the Union cause, as were all the other sections of the Hanging Rock Iron Region.  Its citizens responded promptly and nobly to every call made upon their fighting strength, whiter of men, money or brains, and there was no sign of wavering throughout the long and heart-rending trial of bravery and endurance.

PATRIOTIC RIVALRY -

     Many commands were composed largely of Lawrence County and Scioto County boys, and as the population of each was about the same there was considerable patriotic rivalry as to which should make the best showing before Uncle Sam and Father Abraham.  At the opening of the war Scioto County had a population of about one thousand in excess of that of Lawrence County, and the writer is ready to admit that her loyal people kept slightly in advance of Lawrence in the raising of Union troops - as they should, having a larger stock to draw upon.  Thus, in March, 1863, near the midway of the war, there were 1,606 persons credited to Lawrence County who were in the military service of the United States, and 1,799 from Scioto County.

NUMBER OF SOLDIERS BY TOWNSHIPS -

     At the conclusion of the war Lawrence County had more than doubled her contributions of volunteers to the Union Army.  By townships the following had been furnished:

HOW THEY WERE DISTRIBUTED -

     The foregoing figures will give a general idea of the part sustained by the various sections of Lawrence County when the Civil war was at its height.  These 3,300 soldiers sent to the front by the county were distributed in forty or more commands, scattered through Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.  The largest contingents were as follows:

FIRST THREE VOLUNTEER COMPANIES -

     On May 2, 1861, less than three weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, William M. Bolles organized the first company of Lawrence County volunteers, eighty-two in number.  It was known as Company C, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He was elected captain; Charles Kingsbury, Jr., first lieutenant; G. E. Downing, second lieutenant.  The sergeants were H. S. Spear, C. C. Leffingwell, Benjamin Butterfield and J. M. Marrill, and the corporals, Joseph Lumbeck, Israel B. Murdock, J. C. Skelton and J. Mathiot.
     Company A, Eighteenth Regiment (Lawrence Guards) was organized  on May 16th, with John McMahon as captain; John B. Keepers first lieutenant, and S. H. Emmons, second lieutenant.  H. T. L. Pratt was ensign.  The total of the company was 107.
     Company E, Lawrence Guards, was organized at the same time, with John P. Merrill as captain; Halsey C. Burr, first lieutenant, and Warren G. Hubbard, second lieutenant.
     The other units of the Eighteenth were as follows:  Vinton Guards (Company D), Meigs Guards (Company F), Gallia Guards (Company G), Meigs Guards (Company H), Jackson Guards (Company I), and Washington Guards (Company K).

BULK OF SERVICE IN VIRGINIA REGIMENTS -

     As will be rightly inferred from a perusal of the table already published, the bulk of the Lawrence County volunteers served in Virginia regiments - especially the Fifth and Ninth Infantry and the Second Cavalry.  Quite early in the war they were called upon for active service.

FIRST ACTION AT GUYANDOTTE -

     In November, 1861, the Town of Guyandotte, Va., opposite the upper part of Lawrence County, was the scene of a fierce engagement between about one hundred and fifty soldiers of the Ninth Virginia and a considerable force (estimated at four hundred to eight hundred) of Confederate cavalry.  Col. K. V. Whaley, of Wayne County, who had organized the Union regiment, had fixed his camp in that town; but many of the men were home on a furlough, and when the attack was made some of those who remained in camp were at church and others asleep.  It is supposed that citizens of Guyandotte, who were Confederate sympathizers, posted the leader of the enemy, Col. Albert G. Jenkins who was thus able to spring a complete surprise on the little Union force.  The remnant of the Ninth Virginia, however, put up a gallant resistance, especially at the bridge over the Guyandotte River.  Several were killed and the bodies fell into the stream below, but there were no casualties among the Lawrence County boys. 

TOWN PARTLY BURNED BY UNION SOLDIERS -

     The rebel cavalry were held off until Monday morning morning, when Col. John L. Zeigler, of the Fifth Virginia, arrived by boat from Ceredo with 400 men, which was the signal for the departure of the Confederates.  Guyandotte, which was a place of about one thousand inhabitants, was afterward almost destroyed by fire, as it was considered "a nest of rebels and spies," but (still in the newspaper language of the times) "whether the town was fired by Colonel Zeigler's order (he is a resident of the adjoining County of Wayne) we are not advised."

CAPTAIN DAVEY'S LIGHT ARTILLERY -

     Within the organization of the Fifth Virginia Infantry was the First Battalion of Virginia Light Artillery - 144, all told - who were commanded by Capt. Samuel Davey, with John V. Keepers as senior first lieutenant; James P. Shipton, junior first lieutenant; Alexander Brawley, senior second lieutenant, and Benjamin F. Thomas, junior second lieutenant.  There were twenty-eight sergeants, corporals, artificers, buglers and wagoners and 111 privates, nearly all of whom were from Lawrence County.  That command was mustered into the service at Camp Dennison in December, 1861.

BATTERY L -

     At the same time Battery L, First Ohio Light Artillery, reported for duty at Camp Dennison, officered as follows:  Captain, L. N. Robinson, Portsmouth; senior first lieutenant, Fred Dorriss, Ironton; junior first lieutenant, F. C. Gibbs, Portsmouth; senior second lieutenant, C. H. Robinson, Portsmouth.
     Battery L proved to be one of the best in the service, its reputation being made under Capt. Frank E. Gibbs, who, in January, 1863, succeeded Captain Robinson, resigned.  It was at Fort Republic, and at the furious battle of Chancellorsville, in April, 1863.  While protecting an infantry division at the latter many of its men were wounded, and Lieutenant Dorriss and Corporal Koehler killed.  The battery then engaged in picket duty for a time and arrived on the battlefield of Gettysburg July 1st, the day preceding the great fight.  It was called into action on the morning of July 2d, the first day of the battle, as a support of the Second Division, Fifth Army Corps, and gallantly covered the retreat of the Union forces.  In that movement one of its men was killed and three were wounded.  In the following October Captain Gibbs and several of his men were badly wounded, but the battery never lost a gun, although those which were in commission were badly battered as a result of their had and faithful service.

THE BUSY YEAR OF 1862 -

     The year 1862 opened with Lawrence County actively engaged in the raising of troops and the sending of money, provisions, clothing and other

[pg. 294]
relief to the Union troops on the Virginia and Kentucky borders.  In January, Joseph L. Barer raised an independent cavalry company, numbering nearly one hundred, and started for Camp Dennison as its captain, while Lewis Shepard formed the Ironton Light Artillery - as noted by the press, "to take charge of our brass six-pounder.  The war has not ended yet, and there is no knowing how soon we may have uses for a good artillery company here along the border."
     About the same time, companies were also formed and joined the Fifth Virginia Infantry, as follows:  Under Capt. Samuel C. Miller, ninety-two men; Capt. A. F. Cumpston, sixty-five men; Capt. James C. McFadden, ninety-eight men.

RELIEF ACTIVITIES -

     Although the men and women had not yet formed a regular Soldiers' Relief Society in Lawrence County, they were doing much good individual work, such as carrying and sending quantities of food and clothing to the military hospital which General Garfield had established at Ashland.  They also contributed much to the funds and supplies of the Cincinnati Relief and Aid Society.
     Scatered as were the soldiers from Lawrence County - and they were no exceptions to other sections - scarcely a day passed that something did not occur at the front which was cause for sorrow or pride.  As 1862 rushed along, surprise was succeeded almost an amazement that the war seemed to be intensifying rather than abating, and the newspapers were putting forth messages of comfort to the widows and orphans of the land by predicting the speedy downfall of the rebellion; for, as philosophically remarked by one, "all bodies gather momentum as they fall."

NEWS FROM THE FRONT -

     At that time Capt. W. H. Powell's Company B, of the Second Virginia Cavalry, was covering itself with honor at Sewell Mountain, and the Fifth Virginia, under Colonel Zeigler, was fighting bravely with Fremont in East Virginia.  At the battle of Cross Keys the Fifth lost heavily, especially Company E, from Lawrence County.  Jonathan Berry was killed and Captain McFadden badly wounded.

PROMOTION OF WILLIAM H. POWELL -

     In November, 1862, while the Second Cavalry was stationed at Beverly, William H. Powell was promoted from the captaincy of Company B to the lieutenant colonelcy of his regiment, and no promotion could have been received with greater favor both among officers and privates.  He was afterwards advanced to the head of his command, when he was pronounced "the idol of his regiment, as he was of Company B. "
     Company K, of the Second, was quite famous as the Grey Horse Company.
     In May, 1863, Lieutenant - Colonel Powell received his commission as colonel of the Second Virginia Volunteer Cavalry.

PREPARATION FOR MORGAN -

     Although neither Scioto nor Lawrence counties were raided by Morgan, both were prepared for him.  Portsmouth threw up intrenchments and organized her citizens, while Ironton gathered eighty-five of her people to form the first volunteer militia company in the county.  It received its commission July 10, 1863, that document covering five years of service for the Commonwealth of Ohio.  Volunteer Company A No. 1 went into camp at Portsmouth, August 26th, but Morgan never gave it anything to do.
     The famous cavalry leader commenced his raid into Ohio on July 12th, the first news of his coming reaching Ironton on the following day on the arrival of the Steamer Victor.  The militia of Southern Ohio was at once called out by the governor and at 1 o'clock P. M. of the 14th the new Lawrence County company reported at headquarters, Camp Portsmouth.  The steamer brought the news that Morgan had burned the bridge at Loveland and cut the telegraph wires.  The following morning (July 15th) the raiders were reported within a few miles of Chillicothe, and as their leader was thought to be directing his force toward the Ohio River all unprotected boats were sent to the Kentucky side.  It is known that he twice made an attempt to cross the Ohio below Portsmouth, but was repulsed, although neither the Portsmouth nor the Ironton militia enjoyed any military honors thereby.

COLONEL POWELL RETURNS FROM LIBBY -

     At that time Colonel Powell had commenced his term of imprisonment at Libby.  He had been wounded at Wytheville, Va., in July, 1863, and sent to Richmond, and he did not see his friends again at Ironton until February, 1864.  At his return he was accorded a reception which, for enthusiasm and outpourings of real affection, was remarkable even for those times of high tension.

HOME ON FURLOUGH.

     This may be partly accounted for by the fact that many of the leading offices of Lawrence County were home on furlough when Colonel Powell arrived after his six months' imprisonment at Libby.  Among these were Capt. P. V. Keepers, of Battery B, First Virginia Artillery; Capt. Joseph Barber, of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry; Capt. Wirt Culbertson and Lieutenant Gilruth, of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry, and Surg. Jonah Morris, of the Ninth Virginia.  There was also a host of lieutenants and privates; so that the county was literally blue with soldiers.

IN 1864 THE WAR STILL RAGING -

     The year 1864 made the people of Lawrence County realize that the Civil war was yet raging.  Quite a number of its men had been incorporated into Company I, One Hundred and forty-sixth Ohio Infantry, which was formed in May, and on the 10th of that month they suffered severely in the battle of Cove Mountain Gap, near Wytheville, Va. Company I was commanded by Alfred Bowen, with Valentine Newman as first lieutenant and E. G. Coffin as second lieutenant.

LOSSES OF THE FIFTH VIRGINIA -

     In the spring of 1864 occurred the famous Hunter raid to Lynchburg and into the enemy's country of Virginia, the march and fighting covering a period of over a month.  Both the Fifth Virginia and the Ninety-first Ohio participated in that fierce campaign and suffered heavily.  The former was especially unfortunate.  Lieut. A. W. Miller, of Company D; Corp. Daniel Forbes, of Company B, and Serg. C. B. Waller and Corp. Thomas Dyer, of Company K, were killed; and Lieut. D. J. Thomas, Company A and Corp. Anderson Bailey of Company H, mortally wounded.

 GEN. WILLIAM H. ENOCHS -

     General William H. Enochs, one of the leading soldiers, lawyers and public men of Lawrence County, entered the three years'[ service with the Fifth Virginia, first acting as lieutenant under Capt. A. F. Cumpston.  He had joined the Union army as a private in the Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, a three months' regiment.  He was brave, efficient and popular, and rose to a colonelcy in full rank, being also brevetted brigadier-general for gallant services in the field.  After the war General Enochs resumed and, after a short practice in West Virginia, located in Ironton.  After serving in the Legislature he represented the Twelfth District in Congress (1890) and easily took rank with the foremost lawyers and public men of Southern Ohio.  His fine war record always assisted his civic ambitions.

 THE NINETY-FIRST OHIO -

     The Ninety-first Ohio suffered heavily in killed and wounded.  Its brave captain, Samuel Clarke, was killed May 9, 1864, at the battle of Cloyd Mountain.  In the following month Col. John A. Turley was severely wounded while leading a charge before Lynchburg, Va., and his injuries were so serious, his thigh being broken, that he was obliged to accept an honorable discharge from the service.  Lieutenant Stroup of Company I was killed in this charge.
     Colonel Turley was succeeded by Lieut. Col. B. F. Coates, who led the regiment at the memorable battle near Winchester, in July, August and September, 1864, who received his regular commission as colonel in December.  In those engagements the Ninety-first clinched its honors as the banner fighting regiment of the brigade, and suffered accordingly.  Among the killed and wounded were not a few Lawrence County men, as will be proven by the following list of its casualties:
Killed:
Company F - Johnston Young;
Company H - Jonathan F. Hite, John R. Wilkins, Jon Steele, Daniel Short and David W. Slagle;
Company K - Peter Pyles and John Lucas.
     Wounded: 
Company A - A. Houlsworth, T. J. Daywalt and C. W. Jones;
Company B - M. G. Blaser, C. Eno and Robert D. Neal;
Company C - Second Lieut. J. W. Rockhold, J. H. Culloms, George Bare, Laben Crabtree, J. Mucklewrath and J. Walls;
Company E - F. D. Bayless, W. T. Knox, J. Haggerty and E. B. Schultz;
Company F - John Ross, W. F. Gray, J. H. Parks, Isaac Speers, James Smith, W. M. Brown, B. F. Kizer, Mike Munion, John Monk, George Monk, Amaziah Morris, Charles Peach, John Rigley, F. F. Rensahouse, W. B. Savage and J. D. Laughlin;
Company G - John Martinbee;
Company H - Capt. Simeon Crossley, Second Lieut. Ed. S. Wilson, Eugene B. Willard, S. Brady Steece, John G. Lane, J. W. Haines,* James W. Day,* Allen Levisay,* William Robinson, Abram Bruce,* Jeremiah Bruce, Joseph S. Bice, Samuel Lane, John Levisay, Hiram Oliver, Andrew J. Peatt, John Percefield,* John Taylor,* George W. Willis and W. C. Washburn;
Company K - Henry Downey, Jacob Eckhart, John Freestone and James W. Miller.
     The Ninety-first Regiment was formed in July, 1862, in response to the presidential call for 300,000 men and, its rank and file were drawn from Lawrence, Scioto, Jackson, Adams, Pike and Gallia counties.  It was in active service for about three years and had only two commanders - John A. Turley, of Scioto County, and B. F. Coates, of Adams.  Its first experience outside of cap life was in August after its formation, when five of its companies were detailed to Ironton, in preparation for a rumored raid of the Confederates down the Big Sandy.  On September 3d the remainder of the regiment joined the force at Ironton, and the entire command was sent to Guyandotte to protect the town from a threatened raid by Jenkin's cavalry.  The Ninety-first returned to Camp Morrow on the 5th and two days later were mustered into the three years' service.
NOTE (*) Mortally wounded.
     From the 14th to the 26th the regiment was at Point Pleasant, Va., and after a raid up the Kanawha Valley went into winter quarters at Fayetteville.  There, in the following spring, it participated in several engagements with Confederate forces, and in July was recalled to Ohio to assist in repelling Morgan.  On the 20th of that month the regiment landed at Racine and marched to Buffington Island, but Morgan had been defeated the day previous; so the regiment was not permitted to engage the bold raider.  But the Ninety-first took a boat for Rankin's Point, when it captured thirty rebel stragglers from the main command.  It then proceeded to Proctorsville and went into camp.
     The remainder of 1863 was spent in various expeditions in the Big Sandy Region, some of them being undertaken in the midst of snowstorms and other severe weather.  The command penetrated 150 miles into the enemy's country to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, leaving Fayetteville in May, 1864, as a regiment of the Second Brigade.  Engagements were fought at New River Bridge, Newport, Lexington and other points, that important structure being burned, as well as the Military Institute at Lexington, and a number of the enemy captured.  At Lynchburg, in June, the Ninety-first was in the front of the charge and was the last to retreat in the general falling back of the Union forces.  By July the entire brigade was at Martinsburg and formed part of General Crook's expedition into the Shenandoah Valley to cut off the retreat of General Early.
     In the preliminary fighting around Winchester, in July, the Second Brigade, especially the Ninety-first Ohio and the Ninth Virginia, sustained some of the hardest of the Confederate attacks by greatly superior numbers.  Sheridan reorganized his entire army in August and in the great battle of September 19th for the possession of that point the Ninety-first was on the extreme right of the five-mile battle line.  When the commander, Col. J. H. Duvall, of the Second Brigade, was wounded he was succeeded by Colonel Johnson of the Fourteenth West Virginia Regiment, who also was wounded and succeeded by Colonel Coates and Major Cadot was placed in command of the regiment.  In October it participated in the battle of Cedar Creek, and from that time until the final muster-out at Camp Dennison, in June, 1865, was at Martinsburg, Winchester and other centers of Military activities in West Virginia.

THE VETERAN ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THIRD OHIO -

     The One Hundred and Seventy-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry was formed principally of reenlisted men who had served for three years - real veterans of the Civil war.  It was commanded by the gallant colonel of the old Second Kentucky, John R. Hurd, and was organized in September, 1864.  Lawrence County contributed ninety-three men to the regiment, the company having the following officers: Captain, John W. Fuson; first lieutenant, A. J. Booth; second lieutenant, Elisha T. Edwards.  By the 15th of September it was in camp near Nashville, and on the 15th of the following month was mustered into the service at Gallipolis, Ohio.  The ladies of that town presented the regiment with a banner before it left for Nashville again; it arrived there on the 25th of October and spent several weeks at that point.  The One Hundred and Seventy-third did not see active service, but was ever ready for what work might be allotted to it.

THE SOLDIERS' PRESIDENTIAL VOTE -

     While stationed at Nashville the One Hundred and Seventy-third Regiment cast its vote for the presidential nominees, as did all the other Union troops in the field.  A very interesting table is that published a short time afterward showing how the Lawrence County soldiers stood in politics.  The exhibit is as follows:

CONSOLIDATION OF SECOND VIRGINIA CAVALRY.

     On November 23, 1864, the remnant of the Second Virginia Cavalry was consolidated into six companies of 100 each.  The non-veterans were mustered out to the number of 239, of which seventy-five were from Lawrence County.  Then Companies G and K, chiefly veterans from the county, were consolidated under the command of Captain Ankerim.  Company B, General Powell's and Maj. Charles E. Hambleton's old command, was consolidated with Company I and all placed under Lieutenant Rosser.  Thus there passes from the scene one of the commands which was a special price of Lawrence County; which did such fine service at Fayetteville, Lexington, Lynchburg, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and other points in West Virginia, and with which the early career of the able and brave Brig.-Gen. William H. Powell was so closely identified.

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