THE SIGNAL GIVEN AT SUMTER.

     At the first call of the President for volunteers, and immediately after the firing upon Fort Sumter by the rebels, to wit, on the 17th day of April, 1861, six young men of Pike County enrolled themselves as volunteers in Company G, First Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Their names were John R. T. Barnes, John Vulmer, Frank Lauman, Joseph Hinson, Abisha Downing and Asa Couch.  Of these Barnes was killed at Vienna, near the city of Washington, in the reconnaissance made by General Schenck, and Vulmer and Lauman were wounded, the former losing his right arm.  Shortly after the term of their enlistment had expired, Joseph Hinson enlisted in the Thirty-third Ohio Infantry and from the rank of Captain, rose to that of Colonel of the regiment.  He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, losing his right arm.  He was noted for gallantry in action, and when mustered out of the army at the close of the war was respected and beloved by those in his command.  Abisha Downing enlisted in Company D, Seventy-third Ohio Infantry, and was mustered as Second Lieutenant of the company Nov. 4, 1861.  He served from that time on until the close of the war, having in the meantime been commissioned a Major of the regiment.  His record as a soldier is without a blemish.  Young Barnes was the first of the Pike County volunteers to offer up his life on the altar of his country, and in his honor the post of the Grand Army of the Republic organized at Waverly is named Barnes Post.  It is fitting that the names of these six young men should be preserved in the history of the county as the first to respond to the call of their country when its overthrow was threatened by an armed rebellion.

THE COUNTRY CALLS AGAIN.

     In the early part of June, 1861, when it became apparent that the 75,000 men first called for by President Lincoln would not be sufficient to put down the rebellion, and after an additional call had been made for volunteers, seven young men of Waverly enlisted in Company B, Sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commonly known as the "Guthrie Grays," a regiment organized at Cincinnati, Ohio.  The names of these young men were: John Helfenbine, Philip B. Helfenbine, Benjamin Lewis, James Warren, Anson Clapper, John  Boerst and David Schreiber.  The Sixth Regiment was first ordered into West Virginia where, under General McClelland and afterward under General Rosecrans, it took part in the battles of Carrick's Ford, Cheat Mountain, Beverly, etc.  Late in November of 1861 the Sixth Regiment was ordered to Louisville, Ky., and at once became a part of the Army of the Ohio, and was assigned to the Fifteenth Brigade of the Fourth Division, commanded by Brigadier William Nelson.  The part taken by this reg-

[Page 723]
iment in the marches and battles which preceeded the fall of Atlanta reflects great credit upon its officers and men.
     Of the seven young men of Pike County who formed a part of Company B of that regiment, it may be said that each honorably discharged his duty and contributed by his soldierly conduct to the high character and standing that the regiment maintained for the three years that it was an active service; nor did these seven young patriots escape the casualties of war.  John Boerst was killed at the battle of Stone River, and in the same battle Jas. Warren, Anson Clapper, David Schreiber and John Helfenbine were severely wounded, both Warren and Clapper subsequently dying of their wounds.  Philip B. Helfenbine was killed at the battle of Chickamauga, and Benjamin Lewis was taken prisoner and was kept a prisoner at Richmond, Va., for seventeen months.  Brief as this history is of the military career of these seven young men, yet the reader cannot fail to admire the patriotism that led them at that early period of the war to leave their homes to volunteer in a regiment, so remote from where they lived, and in which all were strangers to them.  They deserve to be enrolled among the true patriots of the war and to have their names preserved in the history of their county.
     At the October election in 1861 the voters of Pike County were to decide the question as to whether the county seat should be removed to Waverly or not.  This local question was of absorbing interest to the people and the canvass was an exciting one, and notwithstanding the fact that a civil war had broken out, yet many young men decided to remain at home until after the election before volunteering into the army to maintain the Union.  Immediately after the October election T. W. Higgins, who had taken a prominent part in the canvass for removal, obtained a recruiting commission to raise a company for the Seventy-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and notwithstanding the fact that his was the thirteenth commission issued to different persons to raise companies for the same regiment, he was the second officer to fill his company, and to be mustered into said regiment.  The regiment was to rendezvous at Chillicothe, Ohio.  Mr. Higgins was appointed a Second Lieutenant Oct. 13, 1861, and was promoted to Captain, Company B, Nov. 20, of the same year.  This company was mostly recruited in Pike County, and when organized George Lauman was elected First Lieutenant, and Henry Hinson Second Lieutenant.  It remained with the regiment to the close of the war, having veteranized Jan. 1, 1864.  The following are the names of its officers from the commencement to the close of the service, with the dates of promotion, etc.:
     T. W. Higgins, appointed Second Lieutenant, Oct. 13, 1861; promoted to Captain of Company B, Nov. 20, 1861; promoted to Major, June 27, 1864; commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, July 10, 1864, not mustered; appointed Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet, with rank dating March 13, 1865; served full term.
     George Lauman, appointed First Lieutenant, Dec. 18, 1861; resigned Mar. 8, 1862.
     Henry Hinson, appointed Second Lieutenant Nov. 20, 1861; promoted to First Lieutenant, May 22, 1862; promoted to Captain, Mar. 1, 1864; resigned on account of wounds Oct. 20, 1864.
     John H. Martin, enlisted Oct. 15, 1861; appointed First Lieutenant, May 20, 1864; promoted to Captain, June 22, 1865; served full term.
     Joshua A. Davis, enlisted Oct. 15, 1861; appointed Second Lieutenant, May 12, 1862; promoted to First Lieutenant, Mar. 1, 1864; discharged on account of wounds received in battle of New Hope Church, Ga.
     Part of another company (D) of same regiment was recruited in Pike County.  Of this

[Page 724]
company the following named persons were mustered as officers:
     James Q. Barnes, enlisted November, 1861; appointed First Lieutenant, Dec. 30, 1861; promoted to Captain, Sept. 22, 1862; mustered out Dec. 29, 1864, by reason of expiration of term of service.
     Abisha Downing, appointed Second Lieutenant, Dec. 30, 1861; promoted to First Lieutenant, Dec. 30, 1861; promoted to First Lieutenant, Sept. 22, 1862; promoted to Captain, Mar. 29, 1864; commissioned as Mayor, July 18, 1865, not mustered; served full term.
     Prestey T. Talbott, enlisted Oct. 15, 1861; appointed Captain, Apr. 18, 1864; resigned June 25, 1865.
     Joseph P. Talbott, enlisted Oct. 15, 1861; appointed Second Lieutenant, Jan. 1, 1863; promoted to First Lieutenant, Mar. 30, 1864; resigned June 18, 1864.
     The following is a list of those belonging to Company B, of the Seventy-third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who were killed in battle, died of their wounds, or of disease:
     First Sergeant Charles Shepherd, killed in battle at second Bull Run;
     Sergeant Benjamin Morrison, killed in battle at Second Bull Run;
     Sergeant Johnson Pryor, killed in battle at Gettysburg;
     Sergeant Thos. F. Rice, died of wounds at Gettysburg;
     Corporal Wm. E. Haines, killed in battle at Gettysburg;
     Corporal James H. Smith, killed in battle of Second Bull Run;
     Corporal Samuel Turner, killed in battle of Gettysburg;
     William R. Call, died of wounds received at Gettysburg;
     John Couch, died at Aquia Creek, Jan. 1863;
     John H. Donhee, died at Clarksburg, Va., Mar., 1862;
     George Haines, died at Clarksburg, Va., 1862;
     Daniel Kirkendall, died of wounds at Chattanooga;
     David R. Lee, died at Clarksburg, Va., 1862;
     William Labor, killed in battle of Cross Keys, Va., 1862;
     David D. Milton, died at Clarksburg, Va., 1862;
     William May, killed in battle at Peach-Tree Creek;
     Isaiah McCandles, died at Weston, Va., 1862;
     George Dixon, died of wounds received at Gettysburg;
     Jeremiah Price, died at home, 1865;
     Joseph T. Shade, died at Clarksburg, Va., 1862;
     Absalom Hisey, killed in battle of Kenesaw Mountain;
     William Linton, died at Washington, D. C., 1863;
     William McLuens, killed in battle at Gettysburg;
     James H. McCoy, died at Chattanooga, 1864;
     David M. Junkins, died at Nashville, 1864.

     The names of those of Company D, that were killed in battle, and those who died of wounds or of disease, are as follows:

     Corporal John Durham, died of wounds received at Second Bull Run;
     Corporal Frank H. Watkins, died at Clarksburg, Va., 1862;
     Corporal Abner Taylor, killed in battle of Resaca;
     William Ackerman, killed accidentally at Gettysburg,
     William Cochenorer, died at Petersburg, Va., in 1862;
     Joseph Chesser, died at Falmouth, Va., in 1863;
     John W. Cattrell, died at Clarksburg, Va., in 1862;
     Francis W. Crabtree, drowned while sailing near Cape Hatteras;
     Frederick Kunthe, killed in battle of Resaca;
     John McKee, killed in battle of Second Bull Run;
     Henry J. Martin, died at Clarksburg, Va., in 1862;
     Albert Moots, died at Lookout Valley, Tenn., in 1863;
     Isaac Martin, died at Falmouth, Va.;
     John Swift, killed in battle at Lookout Valley, Tenn., in 1863;
     Thomas Swift, died at Clarksburg, Va., in 1862;
     Dennis Drake, killed in battle at Lookout Valley, Tenn.;
     Isaac Miller, killed in battle of Lookout Valley, in 1863;
     James H. Russell, died of wounds received at Kenesaw Mountain;
     Samuel R. Bishop, died at home, in 1864;
     Robert H. Grubb, killed in battle at New Hope Church;
     William Nichols, died of wounds in July, 1864;
     James R. Rinehart, died at Chattanooga, Tenn.

     Some of those whose names are here written, in both Companies B and D, were not residents of Pike County but most were.
     The officers of the Seventy-third Regiment

[Page 725]
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, when first organized, were: 
     Colonel, Orland Smith;
     Lieutenant-Colonel, Jacob Hyer;
     Major, Richard Long
     Adjutant, Frederick C. Smith;
     Surgeon, Jonas P. Safford;
     Quartermaster, William D. Wesson.
     Jan. 24, 1862, the regiment was ordered to report to General Rosecrans (then commanding the department of West Virginia), and proceeded immediately to New Creek, W. Va.  It marched from there to Romney, and, returning, again marched to Moorefield with the Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry, where, after a slight skirmish, it entered the town.  Returning immediately to New Creek, the regiment was ordered back to Clarksburg on the 18th of February, and arrived there on the 19th.  Measles had broken out in the regiment and in two weeks time 300 men were sick in hospital and one or more died almost every day.  The records of death was given above will show the reader how fatal this disease was to Companies B and D; and the deaths in the other companies were in about the same proportion.
     From Clarksburg the regiment, on the 20th of March, 1862, moved to Weston, and after a three weeks' encampment commenced its march across the mountains by way of Buchanan, Beverly, Huttonsville and Cheat Mountain, 120 miles, to Monterey, where the Seventy-third lost several men who had been sent on a foraging party, having been surprised by rebel cavalry near Williamsville. 
     May 8, the regiment participated in the battle of McDowell, General Milroy commanding the Union forces, about 4,000 strong, and being reinforced during the battle with General Schenck's command of about 2,000.  It was soon learned that Stonewall Jackson had united his forces with those of General Johnson, and our army retreated upon Franklin, arriving there May 10, being closely pursued by the rebel forces.  On the 13th of May General Freemont with an army of about 10,000 men marched into Franklin, and the enemy learning of this fact immediately withdrew toward the valley of the Shenandoah.  The forces at Franklin were organized into an army under the command of General Fremont and was called the Army of the Mountain.  The Seventy-third Regiment was now for the first time brigaded, being placed in the brigade commanded by General Schenck.  May 25 the Army of the Mountain, under command of General Fremont, left Franklin for the Shenandoah Valley, where, June 1, it again encountered Stonewall Jackson's forces, on their return up the valley, after having suddenly fallen upon General Banks at Strasburg and driven him back through Winchester to Harper's Ferry.  Sharp skirmishing between the two armies was engaged in, but Jackson continued to move up the valley and Fremont followed him, engaging his rear guard from time to time until his arrival at Cross Keys, where Jackson made a stand and where a determined and sanguinary battle was not decisive, but on the morning of the 9th it was discovered that Jackson had retreated through Port Republic.
     In this engagement the Seventy-third Regiment lost eight men in killed and wounded.  It was here that William Labor, of Company B, was killed while on the skirmish line.  General Fremont decided not to follow Jackson, and immediately moved his army back to Strasburg, where it remained a few days and then retired of Middletown.  While here General Fremont was superseded by General Sigel, and the Army of the Mountain became the First Corps of the Army of Virginia.  The Seventy-third Regiment was placed in a division commanded by General Schenck and in a brigade commanded by Colonel N. C. McLean, of the Seventy-fifty Ohio.  The brigade was composed of the Fifty-fifth, Seventy-third, Seventy-fifth and Twenty-fifth Ohio regiments.
     On the 7th of July the First Corps of the Army of Virginia left Middletown and moved through Front Royal, and along the

[Page 726]
main stream of the Shenandoah and up the valley of Luray, and then after a few days' rest crossed the Blue Ridge and encamped at Sperryville, at the foot of the mountain, where it remained for nearly a month.  On the 16th of July the Seventy-third with a force of cavalry and a section of artillery was sent on the reconnoisance to Madison Court-House, in which a few prisoners were taken.  While at Sperryville, General Pope arrived and assumed command of the Army of Virginia.  On the 8th of August the army broke camp and moved forward to join the forces of General Banks, then encamped at Culpeper, and who was being threatened by Stonewall Jackson who was crossing the Rapidan near Orange Court-House.  The Seventy-third marched all night and arrived at Culpeper at noon on the 9th.  On arrival heavy and continuous wars of musketry and artillery could be distinctly heard in the direction of Cedar Mountain where General Banks was engaging the enemy.  The smoke from the batteries and bursting shells was plainly visible to those at Culpeper.  At sunset the brigade is moved forward, passing on toward Cedar Mountain, meeting many ambulances loaded with wounded men, and groups of men walking, and wounded men on foot and on horseback, passing to the rear, and all telling of a bloody battle.  The brigade moves on four miles and turns into a field and forms of line of battle and the men rest on their arms.  Night comes and there is a lull in the sound of artillery and musketry, with occasional outbreaks that indicate a continuous struggle for the mastery.  A little after midnight the brigade is roused up and moved to the front, passing many stragglers and parks of ambulances and artillery and reserves of cavalry and infantry, when it again files into a field with only pickets in front and the men lay down to await the coming day and, as was thought by all, a coming death struggle, but no engagement took place that day nor on the next, as the enemy had fallen back.  Two days later Sigel's Corps moved forward to the Rapidan on the Orange Court-House road, and remained there about a week, when it having been reported that Jackson was moving down the right bank of the Rapidan, with intent of getting between the city of Washington and the Army of Virginia, orders were given to fall back, and Sigel's Corps moved slowly back through Culpeper to the Warrenton and White Sulpher Springs.  The next morning Schenck's division was moved up to Freedmans Ford.  At this ford a lively artillery engagement was kept up during most of the day, while McLean's brigade was massed near the ford.  From here the whole corps moved rapidly toward White Sulphur Springs.  The enemy had possession of the ford at the Springs, and had thrown a considerable force across and was fighting for a foothold on the north side of artillery in this engagement, and with it the regiment stood picket during the night, half a mile out on the flank of the corps, and in the morning the whole corps swept around the Springs and occupied the hills for a mile up the river, at which place a spirited artillery engagement was kept up for two hours.  At about noon the corps moved up to the village and ford of Waterloo, where the artillery again continued their duel.  On the next evening the corps moved to Warrenton.  On the next morning, Aug. 26, the corps moved out on the Alexandria pike, passed through New Baltimore and Buckland, and arrived during the afternoon in the vicinity of Gainesville, where the enemy again appeared in front.  The advance of Sigels corps found the enemy at Gainesville, and fell back until the column came up.  Here there was some artillery fighting, and it was afterward learned that Jackson, with his whole army, was there, moving through Gainesville, on

[Page 727]
toward the railroad at Bristol, where he was repulsed by the forces under General Hooker, when he turned to the left and moved to Manassas Junction.  Early on the morning of the 27th of August the corps moved through Gainesville in the direction of Manassas, arriving in the vicinity of the Junction about noon and learning that Junction about noon and learning that Jackson had left there early in the morning.  Late in the afternoon the corps filed to the left and marched across to the old Bull Run battle-ground, and just before sunset the artillery of the corps opened upon Jackson's rear guard near the stone bridge.  Sigel's skirmish line extended across the pike about a mile from Groveton, near the "Stone House," and the men of the entire corps slept on their arms during that night.
     Skirmishing began early the next day and the artillery of both armies engaged each other with more or less earnestness until the position of the enemy was developed, when Sigel's corps moved forward in order of battle, passed Groveton, and up to within a few hundred yards of the enemy's batteries.  Schenck was now ordered to cross the pike, mass his troops behind some timber and charge the enemy's batteries.  Just as the division was massed General Reynolds came dashing down from the direction where General Milroy was engaged, and said to General Schenck, "General, for God's sake don't go up there," and immediately afterward General Schenck received orders to recross the pike and fall back toward Groveton.  Scarcely had Schenck started to move across the pike in obedience to this order, when a battery of the enemy opened on him and fairly plowed the field over which his division passed, with shot and shell, and the rebel infantry also pressed closely on him, but at Groveton he turned upon them and held them there until late in the afternoon, when he retired until late in the afternoon, when he retired to the vicinity of "Stone House."  The two armies thus facing each other were evidently preparing for a decisive struggle, but about an hour before sundown there was a lull in the contest, when General Schenck received orders again to recross the pike, accompanied with the information that Generals McDowell and Porter were coming into support him on the left.  Scarcely had Schenck crossed his division before McDowell's forces moved forward in splendid style, passed down the hill and over the stream, knee deep in water, swept along the pike to the very front of battle on the double quick, shouting and cheering as they pressed forward into the very hell of battle.  It was a spectacle to be remembered for a life time, and was a grand exhibition of true soldierly enthusiasm.  They suffered terribly, however, for their heroic work, and though the night soon put an end to the fighting for that day, on the next morning the ground for half a mile in front was thickly strewn with McDowell's dead.  During the night the enemy fell back to higher ground, a mile and a half from Sigel's lines.  Lee  had now concentrated all his forces, while McDowell and Porter had united with Sigel, and Hooker and Banks were but six miles away.  In the morning the battle opened early with cannon at long range, the enemy frequently using broken pieces of railroad iron in place of ball and shell.  The Union army now confronting the enemy at this point numbered about 45,000 men, and early in the day commenced maneuvering and massing for a death struggle.  On the right the forces pushed forward and engaged the enemy vigorously, while the center and left only advanced to the village of Groveton.
     Schenck's division had been massed on the right of the pike, half a mile forward of "Stone House," during the last night and this forenoon.  In the afternoon the division was ordered into a new position and formed on a bald hill on the left of the pike, half mile from Groveton, the line of battle being about perpendicular to the pike.  The Seven-

[Page 728]
ty-third Ohio occupied the left of McLean's brigade, and was on the extreme left of the line of battle as thus formed, of the Union army.  Schenck's division formed the left of the army, and it was not refused but ended abruptly in an open field, and was without any defense whatever in the way of earth-works or other protection.  About four o'clock in the afternoon the battle opened up with considerable earnestness.  The tide of battle gradually approach ed the left, and soon the entire rebel line was seen advancing and driving our forces at the right and center before it.  The enemy's line of battle extended across the pike, through the open grounds and into the woods on either side.  On came the rebel line sweeping down the hill and pressing resistlessly forward, and still Schenck's division stood waiting for the shock that was so soon to follow.  Finally the right of the division opened a deadly fire on the advancing forces as they charged upon a battery 300 yards in front, which checked and drove them back for a moment, under cover of a hill, where they halted to re-form their broken lines.  On the left front of Schenck's division, 200 yards distant, was a stretch of woods and a deep ravine.  Up this ravine and into the woods the enemy was seen to be moving by the flank, and the right of McLean's brigade began to pour into them a deadly fire.  Several battle-flags were seen to pass through this ravine, and then it was understood that the Seventy-third Ohio would have to meet the charge of a brigade of rebels, yet it did not flinch or waver.  A few minutes passed and a brigade of men, massed in column, emerged from the woods, half a mile out on the left flank of the brigade, and bore rapidly down on the Seventy-third.  The commander of the regiment discovering this movement, immediately communicated the information to the brigade commander, but he said these were Union forces coming to his support.  The enemy in front, in concert with those on the left flank, now come out of the woods, their lines overlapping those of McLean's brigade.  At once the Seventy-third opened upon them a destructive fire, so murderous that they retreated into the wood, and from their partially sheltered position opened up a deadly fire on McLean's brigade.  It was the first open-field fighting that the Seventy-third had engaged in, and the officers and men were determined to acquit themselves well.  Without any defenses and in an open field, McLean's brigade delivered its fire most effectually, shouting and cheering as the enemy sought cover in the woods.  But the contest was not long.  In a few minutes the "stars and bars" of the flanking column were so plainly visible that there could be no mistaking the fact that they were rebels.  Just then, too, a battery on the left front opened up with shot and shell which plowed down the lines of McLean's brigade, while on rushed the flanking column, moving so as to gain the rear of the brigade, while the enemy in front, emboldened by this movement, opened up a terrific fire and advanced out of the wood.  This was met by the fire of McLean's brigade with dauntless courage, but the struggle was too unequal, and when the enemy had nearly gained the rear of the Seventy-third, and had opened up a hot fire down its lines, and being opposed by vastly superior numbers and outflanked in its position, it was, with the brigade, compelled to fall back to the woods, where was found a supporting line, which effectually checked the advancing rebel forces.
     In this battle - the first real battle that the Seventy-third had engaged in - the loss of the regiment was severe.  It went into the engagement with 312 guns, and lost 144 men in killed and wounded, and twenty men taken prisoners.  This engagement, which was most disastrous to Pope's command, practically ended the battle at that point, and it was soon rumored that Lee moved his army by the left flank, with the evident intent of cross-

[Page 729]
ing the Potomac into Pennsylvania.  Thus has the Seventy-third regiment been traced from the time of its organization up to and including its first real battle.  To trace it further in detail would be impracticable in his history such as this, but it may be said here, that the regiment participated subsequently in the battle of Chancellorsville, and next in the great battle - the greatest of the war - Gettysburg.  In the battle of Gettysburg the regiment went in with scarcely 300 guns, and lost, in killed and wounded, 154 men.
     The Seventy-third, in the battle of Gettysburg, occupied a position on Cemetery Hill, and along the Emmittsburg road, guarding the batteries above and in the rear of it.  At this point, on the afternoon of the second day of the battle, the rebel lines encompassed this point of the hill so that their shells came both from the front and rear.  An incident worth mentioning occurred here in which John H. Martin was the hero.  He was then a Sergeant in Company B, and subsequently became a Captain.  A rebel shell from the rear struck the hill and ricocheted, lighting on the ground within a few feet of where Martin lay with his company behind a stone fence.  The fuse was still burning, and, quick as thought, Martin siezed the shell and threw it over the fence and then instantly dropped upon the ground.  The shell, as soon as it struck the ground, exploded, but fortunately did no damage to any one.  This act, which showed great bravery and self-command on the part of Martin, made him the hero of the company in that engagement.
     On the 24th of September, 1863, orders were received to prepare to march.  The Seventy-third regiment had, some time before, been assigned to a brigade in the Eleventh Corps.  The order included the Eleventh and Twelfth corps, and the destination of these two corps, under General Hooker, was Bridgeport, Ala.  On the 25th of September, 1863, these two corps, numbering about 20,000 men, left Washington, and in five days arrived at their destination.  For several weeks after their arrival at Bridgeport the Eleventh and Twelfth corps were kept busy guarding the communications and depots of supplies, and building bridges, but on Oct. 23, 1863, these two corps, commanded by General Hooker, were moved up the valley toward Chattanooga, driving the rebel skirmishers who sought to impeded their progress.  As the troops approached Lookout Mountain they were saluted by the enemy's artillery, posted on top of the mountain, but through the shells fell uncomfortably near, the column moved on to within three miles of the ferry at Chattanooga.  Here, for the first time, they met a portion of the Army of the Cumberland, and their welcome to "Hooker's men" knew no bounds. Hooker had brought them crackers and support.  The Eleventh Corps encamped within two miles of the ferry, while Geary's division of the Twelfth Corps encamped for the night at Wanhatchie, two miles further back.  At about one o'clock the rebels had moved a force of men from their camp at Lookout Mountain, across Raccoon Creek, and had made a daring and unexpected attack on Geary's division.  General Steinwehr's division of the Eleven Corps and the brigade commanded by Colonel Orland Smith, of which the  Seventy-third regiment was a part, was immediately ordered to fall in, and march to Geary's support.  Smith's brigade had the advance, and the Seventy-third Ohio led the brigade.  Advancing at double-quick on a road skirting a hill some 300 feet high, the enemy from the top of the hill fired a broadside into the two regiments in advance - the Seventy-third Ohio and the Thirty-third Massachusetts.  The brigade was at once fronted, and was ordered to charge up the hill.  This was done in splendid style; and notwithstanding the fact that but the two regiments named engaged in the battle, yet they, by an impetuous charge, drove from the top of the hill a rebel brigade

[Page 730]
of thrice their number, who were fighting from behind hastily constructed breastworks.  In this midnight fight, the first that the Seventy-third had engaged in after its transfer to the Army of the Cumberland, and one of the most daring and desperate that it had ever engaged in, the victory was a costly one, the loss to the Seventy-third, that had gone into the fight with less than 200 men, being in killed and wounded five officers and sixty men.  The loss to the Thirty-third Massachusetts, that went into the fight with a little more than 350 men, in killed and wounded was about 100.  Forty prisoners were captured in this gallant charge, and the battle, in the hastily constructed breastworks on the top of the hill, was a hand-to-had fight.  This victory, so sudden and complete, at once relieved Geary, inasmuch as it threatened to cut off the retreat of the rebel forces.  This midnight fight, so brilliant and so successful, placed Colonel Smith's brigade, and especially the Seventy-third Ohio and the Thirty-third Massachusetts, on the best of terms with the Army of the Cumberland.  General Grant, who was on the ground the next day, in his official report of the engagement, pronounced the charge of the Seventy-third Ohio and Thirty-third Massachusetts "one of the most daring feats of arms of the war."
     At the commencement of the engagement Colonel Hurst, who was in command of the Seventy-third Ohio, was wounded, and from that on to the taking of the hill Major Higgins had command of the regiment.  In the charge he had a horse shot from under him.  In the regimental and brigade reports of this engagement he was specially mentioned for gallantry.
     Nov. 22, the Eleventh Corps crossed the river and passing through Chattanooga went into camp near Fort Wood; and on the 23d the battle of Mission Ridge was commenced, in which the Seventy-third Ohio took an honorable part.  On the second day of this battle General Steinwehr detached the Seventy-third, and ordered it to charge and drive a considerable force of rebels, who, screened by a strong line of rifle pits, were giving his men much annoyance.  In obedience to this order the Seventy-third crossed a creek near the Tennessee River, and, under cover of some woods, succeeded in gaining the flank of the rebel force posted in their rifle pits, and by an impetuous charge drove the rebels from their works, they only staying to fire one volley.  In this charge the regiment took thirty-three prisoners, and received the hearty congratulations of General Steinwehr, who had selected the Seventy-third to do this important work.  After the battle of Mission Ridge, and on the 29th day of November, 1863, the corps to which the Seventy-third belonged, now commanded by General Howard, was ordered to stack knapsacks and march to the relief of Knoxville.  This march, which consumed nearly a month, and during which the men subsisted on the country through which they passed, was accomplished without a battle; and on the return of the corps to Chattanooga the Seventy-third Ohio, after canvassing the subject fully, concluded to re-enlistment as veterans, and on New Year's day, 1864, the regiment was remustered, and on the 3d of the same month started home on a return furlough.
     The Seventy-third, on its return home, received the most cordial welcome; and at Chillicothe, Ohio, a magnificent supper was given it at the Emmitt House, at which the leading and most influential citizens of the place acted as waiters at the table.  Everywhere the men of the Seventy-third were most heartily welcomed.  At Waverly the same cordiality was met with, and the citizens of the town presented to Major Higgins a fine horse, as an appreciation of his services and as a mark of their esteem.  After a stay of more than a month the regiment returned to Lookout Valley.  The Eleventh and Twelfth corps

[Page 731]
were now consolidated into one corps, commanded by General Hooker and was named the Twentieth Corps.  On the 2d of May following a general forward movement was begun, and on the 8th a strong skirmish line was thrown out consisting of six companies, of which the Seventy-third furnished two.  In front of Buzzard's Roost Major Higgins, of the Seventy-third, was placed in command of this force and was ordered to drive in the enemy's pickets, and to take a hill occupied by the enemy.  This order he promptly obeyed, charging the hill and driving back the rebel skirmish line, losing a few men only in the engagement.  The rebel army now fell back on Resaca, and Sherman's army followed.  Here a severe battle ensued, in which the Seventy-third lost in killed ten men, and forty-two wounded, including one officer, Major Higgins.  On the next day after the battle Johnson withdrew his army toward Altoona Pass, and on the 24th of May, Sherman followed him, taking the road to Dalton.  Colonel Orland Smith, having resigned his commission when the Seventy-third veteranized, Colonel Wood of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth New York, had been assigned to the command of the brigade, which now consisted of the seventy-third Ohio, Fifty-fifth Ohio, Thirty-third Massachusetts, and the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth New York, and General Butterfield was placed in command of the division.  May 25 the march was resumed and it was soon learned that the head of the column of the Twentieth Corps had been checked by the enemy, and that Johnson's whole army confronted Sherman's advancing forces.  In the afternoon Hooker was ordered to advance and attack the rebel position.  This order was obeyed with General Hooker's usual impetuosity, and the Seventy-third Ohio and the brigade and division to which it belonged were soon in the midst of a terrific battle.  Colonel Hurst, commanding the regiment, was wounded early in the battle and Major Higgins took command, and for a half hour or more held the regiment in position under a most destructive fire.  The ammunition of the brigade having been exhausted, Colonel Wood was relieved by another brigade, and our men retired to a position in reserve.  In this battle Captain Hinson and Lieutenant Davis, of Company B, Seventy-third, were wounded severely.  The Seventy-third had gone into the fight with 250 men and suffered a loss of seventy men in killed and wounded.  Hooker's corps lost in this engagement in killed and wounded 2,500 men.  The regiment was in the engagement of Lost Mountain, on the Powder Spring road and at other localities for many days immediately preceding the retreat of Johnson across the Chattahoochee.  At the battle of Peach Tree Creek the Seventy-third was hotly and honorably engaged, though the loss was not as great as in some previous battles.  The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded was eighteen.  The loss of the brigade was 153, and of the division, 520.  The charge made by the division in the face of the advancing enemy in this battle was everywhere spoken of as a brilliant one, and it resulted in effectually checking Hood, who now had command of Johnson's old army.  The division then commanded by General Ward, of Kentucky, who had succeeded Butterfield, captured several battle-flags and many prisoners.  From Peach Tree Creek, Hood fell back on Atlanta and Sherman's army followed him.  In the siege of Atlanta the Seventy-third was in camp close up to the rebel picket line and directly under the rebel forts, so that for days rebel bullets passed through the tents of the officers, and the shell from their artillery was an every day occurrence.  One day at the officers mess, and while the waiter was pouring out the coffee he was shot through the head and mortally wounded.  In fact for more than 

[Page 732]
forty days prior to the capture of Atlanta the men of the Seventy-third were almost constantly under fire, not a day passing, scarcely, that some one of the regiment was not either killed or wounded.  Sept. 2, 1864, the Twentieth Corps, now commanded by General Slocum, marched into Atlanta, the first of Sherman's army to enter the "Gate" City.  Then followed Sherman's march to the sea, which commenced Nov. 15.  This was a kind of holiday to Sherman's tired army, and, save a little skirmishing by the cavalry of both armies, was without any considerable engagement or obstruction.  The Seventy-third enjoyed this march better than any that more than a month, and taking them through a rich and fertile county, they lived on the "fat of the land" and all were kept in the best of spirits by the pleasant surroundings.  On Sherman's march north, from Savannah through the Carolinas, the Seventy-third participated in the battles of Averysborough and Bentonville, losing in wounded, at the former seventeen men, and at the latter, which proved to be the last of their many battles, five men killed and four officers and twenty-one men wounded.  On the surrender of Lee and Johnson, which soon followed, the regiment, with Sherman's entire army, march to Washington and participated in the Grand Review in May, 1865.  After that the Seventy-third, with other regiments, was sent to Louisville, Ky., where it remained in camp until the 24th day of July when it was paid off and mustered out of the service.  Perhaps no regiment in the service performed more work or did more marching and fighting than it, and in every situation that it was called upon to fill it fully and honorably discharged its whole duty.  It participated in twenty battles, some of which were the greatest of the war, and it sustained a loss of 156 men killed and died of wounds; 568 wounded in battle, and 129 men who died of disease.  Companies B and D of the Seventy-third always maintained a high standing in the regiment for bravery and soldierly conduct, and on the return of these companies to Waverly, at the close of the war, they met a cordial and most hearty reception.  Many of the officers and men of these companies till reside in Pike County, while others have sought homes in the far West.  A history of Pike County that should leave unrecorded the deeds of these brave men would not only be incomplete out would be doing an injustice, not only to them but to their posterity.

THE SIXTY-THIRD INFANTRY

was organized by the consolidation of two battalions of recruits known as the Twenty-second and Sixty-third Infantry, which was effected in January, 1862.  It moved from Marietta Feb. 18, proceeding to Paducah, Ky., and thence to Commerce, Mo., to join the Army of the Mississippi, under General Pope and participated in all the operations against New Madrid and Island No. 10.  Next it fought under Halleck in the siege of Corinth, sustaining severe loss in the engagement at Farmington.  In the battle of Oct. 3, at Corinth, the Sixty-third lost forty-eight per cent, of officers and men, in killed and wounded.  In November it joined Grant in Mississippi, and moved first to Jackson, Tenn., then to Bolivar, Tenn., and on the 31st of December fought Forrest at Parker's Cross Roads.  After this victory the regiment went into winter quarters at Corinth.
     Apr. 20, 1863, it moved beyond Tuscumbia, Ala., and then returned to Corinth.  From May to October it was on garrison duty at Memphis, and then it joined Sherman, marching to Eastport, and thence to Prospect, Tenn.  Here it re-enlisted as a veteran regiment and proceeded home on its furlough.  In February, 1864, it took the field again in Alabama, assisting in the capture of Decatur.  Thence it proceeded to Chattanooga, Rossville and

[Page 733]
Mission Ridge, and during the summer was actively engaged in the Georgia campaign.  At Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Decatur and Jonesboro the Sixty-third performed excellent service, but at a cost of many lives.  During that campaign it lost  in action 158 men.  In the closing months of 1864 it moved with Sherman on his famous march to the sea.  It participated in the movements through the Carolinas, in the review at Washington, and was mustered out at Louisville, July 8, 1865.  By authority of general orders it was entitled to inscribe upon its banners the names of the following battles:  New Madrid, Island No. 10, Inka, Corinth, Oct. 4, Atlanta and Savannah.  During its term of service it had enrolled an aggregate of ninety commissioned officers and over 1,500 men.
     One of the companies of this regiment was partly recruited in Pike County and Thomas McCord became its Captain, being mustered as such Dec. 16, 1861.  The company had an honorable reputation while in service.
     During the War Pike County furnished her full quota of men and more than her full quota, in as much as many of her citizens, late in the war, were credited when enlisting to other localities by reason of the high bounties paid.  Seven of her men, and only seven, were drafted into the army.  This certainly is an honorable record.  Many of her citizens were active in obtaining volunteers and spent their time and money freely in this work; and the ladies of Pike County were not behind those of other localities in their zeal and patriotic labors in behalf of the soldiers.  Societies were organized and clothing and delicacies in the way of provisions were sent to the hospitals and to the men at the front.  As the years recede from these trying times the memory of the patriotism and devotion of the citizens of Pike County and the country to the Union and the flag transmitted to us by our fathers, becomes a precious heritage, increasing in value as time rolls on.

WHAT OHIO DID FOR THE UNION.

     In closing the brief part of the Lower Scioto Valley took kn keeping the integrity of this glorious Union unimpaired it may not be out of place to mention what our noble State has done toward perpetuating an indissoluble union of a confederacy of co-equal States.
     According to the returns, Ohio furnished to the Federal army 310,654 men.  She was exceeded by but two States.  New York and Pennsylvania, the former giving 445,950 and the latter 338,155 men for the Union cause.  The only other State which exceeded 200,000 men was Illinois, her quota being 258,162.
     Ohio ranked third in population then as now in the Union, but she exceeded both New York and Pennsylvania in the number of her troops according to her population.
     Her killed and mortally wounded numbered 11,237, of whom 6,563 were found dead upon the fields of battle.  There were very few battles fought during that memorable contest upon which Ohio troops were not found, and in every important battle of the war Ohio's representatives were seen and felt.  It required but forty-eight hours to equip two regiments of Ohio men in the first call for troops, in April, 1861.  When the guns of Fort Sumpter reverberated over the hills and valleys of the North it aroused her people to action.  Ohio responded promptly and those two regiments were on the way to their encampment ere the sounds of these guns had died away.  Western Virginia was defended and saved by Ohio men.  At the first battle of Bull Run it was an Ohio brigade that kept its coolness and courage, and covered the retreat of an otherwise demoralized and beaten army.  In the Vicksburg campaign at Fort Donelson, in the trans-Mississippi department, at Mobile and New Orleans, at Chickamauga, Atlanta, the campaign in the Wilderness, in the march to the sea, in all these Ohio troops were found, and in

[Page 734]
the final campaign against Richmond they stood in undaunted courage and endurance, until the closing of the final scene under the historic apple-tree.
     Their bones can be found upon every battlefield, either lost or won.  A people thus rallying en masse to the call of duty gives an undying pledge of their patriotism, and that this Union of States, as long as she can rally a man, shall never be severed.  Thus Ohio stands foremost in the sisterhood of States in all that manhood, honor and patriotism claims, and is as ready now as then to meet the enemies of our country, either domestic or foreign, and "welcome them with bloody hands to hospital graves."
     Aug. 16, 1862. - "Resolved, That the commissioners of Pike County do hereby guarantee to every able-bodied man who has or shall volunteer in the United States service under the last two calls for volunteers in any company or part of company raised in Pike County, the sum of $25 to be paid upon the acceptance of said volunteer into the service of the United States."
     Feb. 20, 1864, a bounty of $100 was given to volunteers who would enlist for the war, the auditor being authorized to draw a warrant in favor of each soldier who volunteered as a bounty by the county on or before Mar. 7, 1853.
     The county renewed the offer extending the time to Apr. 1, 1864.  The townships also contributed a quota to the general fund, or a part of them, as follows:  Jackson, $550; Union, $280; Seal, $642; Pebble, $180.