THE
Regiment remained in camp until June 12th following, during
which time the brigade and division commanders were changed,
the division being commanded by Brig. Gen. Francis C.
Barlow,,, and the brigade by Brig. Gen. Adelbert Ames, both
efficient and gallant officers. Col. Richardson being
absent on account of wounds, the regiment was commanded by
Lieut. Col. Jere. Williams.
Several changes also occurred among the officers of the
Regiment. Lieut. Col. Charlesworth was discharged on
account of wounds received. Major Jere. Williams was
promoted to lieutenant colonel. Capt. John F. Oliver,
Company F., was promoted to major, but never served in that
capacity with the Regiment, being appointed provost marshal of
one of the districts of Ohio. Capt. John W. Bolus,
Company C, was commissioned major, but very soon afterwards
discharged on account of disability. Capts. Askew,
Company I, Crowell, Company E, Higgins, Company H, Jones,
Company B, Lieut. Merryman, Company I, and Quartermaster A. J.
Hale, resigned, the latter being succeeded by Commissary
Sergeant David R. Hunt. Several new officers were
promoted from the ranks,. But four of the original
officers remained with the regiment, and they had all received
promotion, viz., Col. Richardson, Lieut. Col. Williams, Capts.
Nat. Haughton and John W. Wood.
While the officers and enlisted men purchased a handsome sword
and sash, and sent them by Lieut. Col. Charlesworth to Maj.
Gen. R. H. Milroy, then commanding a division in the 8th army
corps. The testimonial was an expression of esteem and
affection toward a former commander. The following
letter from Gen. Milroy acknowledges acceptance of the gift:
HEADQUARTERS 2D
DIVISION, 8TH ARMY
CORPS,}
WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA,
MAY 6th, 1863.}
Col. William P. Richardson, and Officers
and Privates of the 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry:
I was agreeably surprised today
by the appearance of Lieutenant Colonel Charlesworth, of your
Regiment, at my headquarters. Of course, being an old
comrade-in-arms, and an honored and gallant member of your
Regiment, he received at my hands a most cordial welcome.
Before I had recovered from the agreeable recollection which
his presence suggested, in your name he presented me with a
sword, the dress and service scabbards of which are richly
ornamented with jewels, and a sash and belt of corresponding
elegance; and also handed me your flattering and affectionate
letter of presentation. This letter is signed by all the
officers and men of your gallant Regiment that have served
under my command. You are all aware of my dearth of
language, and will not, I am certain, judge of the emotions
excited in my heart by this greatest surprise of my life, from
the mode in which I may express them. Your Regiment was
a part of the first brigade which I had the honor to command.
You endured the rigors of a Cheat Mountain winter,
participated in driving the rebels away from the territory now
comprising West Virginia, across the Alleghenies and the
Valley of Monterey, and gallantly led the Union forces in the
battle of Bull Pasture Mountain. As a part of my command
you served in the arduous campaigns under Fremont, in the
Shenandoah Valley, and fought with unfaltering courage at
Cross Keys. During the Whole time you served under my
command, you all, officers and privates, conducted yourselves
like men who had engaged in the struggle which now convulses
our country from no venal motive, but from a conscientious
conviction of duty. Shortly after the battle of Cross
Keyes, against my wish, and greatly to my regret, you were
transferred to another command, but as you remained in the
same army corps with my brigade, I was an eye-witness of your
fidelity and courage in the campaign of the Rappahannock, and
at the last battle of Manassas. When your Regiment first
became a part of my command, it was near a thousand strong.
It has sine been strengthened by recruits, as I have been
informed, not less than three hundred. It now numbers
about five hundred. The Regiment has not, to my
knowledge, been disgraced by a single desertion, and has
suffered, in consequence of its good discipline an strict
attention of its officers, but little from the ordinary causes
of mortality. The great majority of the eight hundred
missing from your ranks have been disabled in battle, or
repose in honorable graves on the Alleghanies, Bull Pasture
Mountain, at Cross Keyes, along the lines of the Rappahanock,
or on the plains of Manassas. As the sun of the Union
rises with increased splendor above the storm of battle, it is
consoling to hope that those who have been gathered to their
fathers have not died in vain. The consideration that
this present is made to me as their former commander, at the
expiration of nearly a year after the severance of that
relation, by the survivors of so many hard-contested fields,
and of such a heroic band, invests it with a peculiar
significance and value. I would have preferred that the
gift had been less costly, for it derives none of its
importance, in my estimation, from its intrinsic worth.
The brief and affectionate letter of presentation, accompanied
by the signatures of the donors, is as highly prized, and will
be as carefully preserved by me, as the costly present which
it represents. Rest assured, brother soldiers, of my
heartfelt wish that you may survive to witness, in the
restoration of the Union of your fathers, the fruition of your
sacrifices and labors. With feelings of admiration,
gratitude and respect, I am, fellow-soldiers,
Very truly your friend,
R. H. MILROY, Major General
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