THE WAR OF THE REBELLION-FIELD WORK. - 171

FORTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT, OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

THREE-YEARS' SERVICE.

This Regiment took active and honorable part in the following battles

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI. KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI. RESACA, GEORGIA.

LEWISBURG, VIRGINIA. DALLAS, GEORGIA.

CHARLESTON, VIRGINIA. KENESAW MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA.

TUSCUMBIA, ALABAMA. ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

MISSION RIDGE, GEORGIA. JONESBORO, TENNESSEE.

The Regiment was organized at Camp Dennison August 13, 1861. The circumstances attending the work of recruiting and organizing were unusually embarrassing, and causing much delay and discouragement with the men. Two months were spent in getting the several Companies filled and ready for Regimental muster. It was said that 13 Nationalities were represented in the command, Americans and Germans constituting much the larger portions. But one Company (I) was from Toledo. Of that the Captain was Hananiah D. Pugh, the First Lieutenant Horace A. Egbert, from August 28, 1861, until drowned in West Virginia, October 9, 1861, when Alonzo Kingsbury succeeded him; and the Second Lieutenant Herbert Steyer. The Colonel was Frederick Poschner, jr., a Hungarian Patriot who took part in revolutionary operations in Hungary in 1848, having previously been an officer in the Prussian Army. The Lieutenant-Colonel was Lyman S. Elliott, of Michigan ; and the Major, Augustus C. Parry, of Cincinnati.

The Regiment's first rendezvous was at Camp Clay, in the Eastern suburbs of Cincinnati, June 10, 1861. August 27th, its organization having been perfected, it was ordered to Clarksburg, West Virginia, to report to General Rosecrans. August 29th it was fully equipped for the field. At Weston, the Regiment was divided, Companies A, B, C, D, H and K, under the Colonel and Major, joining the main Army ; leaving E, F, G and I, under Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott, to guard the Village. Colonel Poschner, at Bulltown, was brigaded with the Ninth and Twenty-Eighth Ohio, under Colonel Robert L. McCook, whose command was familiarly known as the " Bully Dutch Brigade." At Sutton Company B was left as re-enforcement to the garrison, the remainder of Colonel Poschner's men moving forward and taking part in the battle of Carnifex Ferry. September 24th the Brigade crossed Gauley River and advanced on Big Sewell Mountain, where the Regiment suffered almost beyond description, the result of excessive rains whereby supplies were denied them for a long time The men were in for a lively time. They were on quarter rations and without clothing to make them comfortable; and were finally forced to retire to Gauley Bridge, Colonel McCook's Brigade being assigned to camp about six miles to the East. While there the Forty-Seventh with the Ninth Ohio crossed the New River to Fayette C. H. and destroyed valuable Rebel property. For four days the Regiment suffered from incessant cannonading from Floyd's Rebel force across the River, but Captain Mack's ten-pounder Parrotts finally silenced the enemy's guns, and he retreated, when the Forty-Seventh went into winter quarters at Gauley Mountain.

A letter from Captain Pugh, Co. I, of date of January 25th, 1862, gave an account of a visit he had made eight miles from Camp Gauley Mountain, to see an "old Virginian," 91 years of age. He had lived in the place 73 years-was an old hunter and Indian-fighter who had personally known Daniel Boone and other noted pioneers. He was a strong Union man, and denounced the Secessionists roundly. At his advanced age, he was able to read the finest print without glasses.

On the 19th September, Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott, with three Companies of the Regiment, had marched to Cross Lanes, to relieve the Thirteenth Ohio and Schneider's Battery, and succeeded in ridding the country of guerrilla bands. His force performed active and severe work, by night and by day, and did much to support and protect loyal citizens.

The Regiment was re-united at Gauley Mountain December 5, 1861, and began a

172 - HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

line of fortifications covering Gauley Ridge and the Kanawha Valley, which it occupied until April, 1862, with the exception of one week, when it took part in an expedition to Little Sewell Mountain to drive the Rebels from their quarters, whose works were destroyed and prisoners taken. May 10th the three Companies formed part of a force under Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott which moved on Lewisburg, and was entirely successful, the enemy being routed with loss of camp equipage, horses, and many prisoners. The Third Provisional Brigade, Colonel George Crook, Thirty -Sixth Ohio, commanding, was organized, the Forty-Seventh constituting part of the force. June 22d the Brigade compelled the Rebel General Lovering to retreat to Salt Pond Mountain and captured valuable property from him, the march of 90 miles being performed in three days, under intense beat, causing cases of sun-stroke. In July, the Regiment under Major Parry, performed valuable service on expeditions, including the suppression of guerrilla bands.

On December 30, 1862, the Regiment took steamers for Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, at which latter point it joined the expedition against Vicksburg, in the Third Brigade, Second Division, Thirteenth Corps. Work on the canal was commenced late in January, 1863. The Regiment was in the advance to the rear of Vicksburg, reaching Walnut Hills May 18th. On the 19th Colonel Parry (meantime promoted from Lieutenant-Colonel), led an impetuous charge on Cemetery Hill, which was partially successful, but with severe loss. A like charge was made by them on the 22d. The Regiment was in front line on Cemetery Hill until the surrender of the City. The next day after the surrender, the Forty-Seventh was dispatched toward Jackson, Mississippi, after Johnston's forces, and took part in the capture of Jackson, when Colonel Parry was made Provost-Marshal, and his Regiment destroyed the Rebel fortifications and the Railroad about the City. September 27, 1863, the Corps proceeded to Memphis, where it was ordered to march to Germantown. Thence the Forty-Seventh went to Corinth ; and thence to Iuka, and to Tuscumbia, Alabama. On the 21st October the Regiment arrived opposite Chattanooga, and at once constructed rifle-pits for its use on the South side of the Tennessee River. At noon of the 24th, Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace in command of the skirmish line, the whole army advanced and opened the battle of Mission Ridge, in which the Forty-Seventh bore a prominent and effective part; and on the following day, it joined in the pursuit of the retreating enemy. Subsequently it was actively engaged in different movements, and early in November it was sent to the relief of Burnside; but it returned to Chattanooga in a march of great severity, the men being without shoes, with scanty clothing and almost without rations, their bloody foot-prints on the frozen ground marking their line of march. The Regiment was at Bellefonte early in January, 1864, and on the 30th performed a diversion against Rome, Georgia. At Lebanon, Alabama, a skirmish occurred, February 3d. It then proceeded to Larkin's Landing, at which place three-fourths of the men re-enlisted, thus making the Forty-Seventh a Veteran Regiment. A denial of the customary furlough caused some dissatisfaction on the part of the men; but the difficulty was arranged, and the Veterans left for Ohio March 18th, reaching Cincinnati on the 22d. April 28th the Regiment again left Camp Dennison, and May 3d at Stevenson, Alabama, took its place in the Atlanta campaign, in which it bore a part honorable to both officers and men. At Kenesaw Colonel Parry was severely wounded, the command devolving on Lieutenant- Colonel Wallace, who led it until taken prisoner in the action near Atlanta, when Major Taylor took command, holding the same until Colonel Parry's recovery, September 30th.

November 15th, the Forty-Seventh, as part of Sherman's Army, commenced the " March to the Sea." This accomplished, the Regiment was prominent in the Northerly advance. At Fort McAllister, December 13th, it was in the advance, and was prominent throughout the engagement, and its colors were believed to have been the first planted on the Rebel fortress. The Seventeenth Ohio disputed for this honor.

The Rebellion finally collapsed, the Forty-Seventh was permitted to join in the march through the Confederate Capital to Washington City, and participate in the grand review there. It entered the field with 830 men, who, at the close of the Atlanta campaign were reduced to 120; but were recruited to 520. Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace was paroled at the close of operations and died soon after, from

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION- FIELD WORK - 173

effects of starvation while a prisoner of war. Colonels Parry and Taylor were both brevetted Brigadier General. From Washington the Regiment proceeded to Cincinnati, and thence to Little Rock, Arkansas, where it served in the "Army of Occupation " until August 11th, when it was mustered out and again left for Camp Dennison, Ohio, where it arrived August 22d and was paid off and discharged, after a service of four years, two months and nine days, having campaigned through every South ern State, save Texas, Florida and Missouri.

ROSTER OF COMPANY I.

(Note: Rank if blank is the same as the last listed rank)

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)