Billy the Cook

 

LOC

      During the Civil War, Colonel Joshua Blackwood Howell had several personal assistants who attended to his needs in the field. Some were military personnel, like his aide, Lieutenant George A. Edson of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. Edson was with Howell in the summer of 1863 on Morris Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, when a Confederate shell scored a direct hit on the bombproof from which Howell was directing trench-digging operations. Howell was knocked unconscious and buried under a pile of rubble. Edson immediately pulled Howell out from under the debris and took him to a hospital, thus saving his life. 

       Another attendant known only as "Sam," an African-American who served as Howell's valet during the war. It is not known how Sam and Howell met; most likely, it was during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Virginia when the 85th regiment met many displaced former slaves. It was Sam who led a riderless horse during Howell's military funeral procession in September of 1864.

       The following description of Howell's funeral is from Luther S. Dickey's official 1915 history of the 85th Pennsylvania.

"On the 17th, the Regiment was temporarily relieved from duty at Fort Morton, and escorted the  remains of the Colonel from the brigade hospital to division headquarters.  The ambulance that served  as a hearse was immediately followed by 'Old Charley,' led by 'Sam,'  a faithful negro servant of the  deceased. 'Old Charley'  the horse was then aged about ten years, and had accompanied the Regiment  from Camp LaFayette, Uniontown, Penna., in November, 1861. He had been presented to Col.  Howell  while he was recruiting the Regiment by Jasper Thompson, Esq.,  of Uniontown, who had been a  staunch friend and admirer of the Colonel...'Old  Charley'  [was not the] horse  that  caused the  fatal mishap; [it was] a horse that had belonged to Capt. Loomis L. Langdon, 1st  U.S.  Artillery. On account  of some infirmity of  'Charley,'  the  Colonel considered him unsafe to ride at night, and therefore had replaced him by the horse responsible for his death, and  'Sam' is the authority for the statement that this horse had a bad reputation as being vicious and tricky among the members of Capt. Langdon's battery, information he  acquired after the fatal accident. However, Capt. Langdon's  description of the horse is perhaps the  most trustworthy; that 'it was exceedingly tender-mouthed.'  Capt. Langdon was a warm friend and admirer of Col. Howell, and according to his statement, had presented the horse to the Colonel some time previous to the fatal occurrence, the latter having expressed a liking for the animal."

Colonel Joshua B. Howell
From L.S.Dickey's 1915 History of the 85th Pennsylvania

     A third personal  attendant, the subject of this article, was William C. Chism. Chism was born around 1838 or 1839 and died in 1910 at the age of 70. The historical record of his life is quite sparse, but this article intends to explore what is known about Chism and speculate about the role he played in Howell's life.

     The only reference to Chism in Dickey's history of the 85th Pennsylvania is found on page 308. The date is February 23, 1864. The regiment has just returned to Hilton Head, South Carolina from Whitemarsh Island, near Savannah Georgia. This one-day amphibious operation was to conviscate around 300 African American slaves who were building defensive positions for the Confederates in the area around Savannah.

      The expedition, led by Howell and involving parts of several other regiments, started well enough. His two groups of assaulters swept through the island but were stopped by an unknown Confederate battery that had just been built on the other side of a bridge to Oatland Island. The 85th PA became pinned down and the Confederates maintained the bridge as a possible avenue for re-enforcements.

Whitemarsh Island
February 22, 1864     Map Courtesy of Craig Swain

    Howell's forces were forced to scurry back to their transports. No one in Howell's unit was killed, athough three men (Captain John E. Michener, Corporal James Bailey and Private Eli Shellenberger) were captured. 

    This reference to Chism in Dickey's regimental history picks up the story once the men returned to Hilton Head the next day. 

"The Regiment disembarked and arrived in camp at Hilton Head at 1 a.m.; the men were immediately  dismissed and were permitted to rest in camp the entire day; it was discovered that  the Colonel's cook, William Chism, known in camp as 'Billy  the Cook,'  was missing, left on Whitemarsh Island."

      The loss of Chism through probable capture or possible desertion is curious and leads to a series of questions to which the author could find no answers.

1. Since the expedition was intended to be a one- or two-day affair, was it really necessary for Howell to bring his personal cook along? Did Chism provide other personal services to Howell other than food preparation?

2. If Chism were captured that day, what was he doing off the transport Mayflower, Howell's flagship? There doesn't appear to be any reason for him to disembark or not stay close to the ship. Howell stayed either on the boat or close to the shore during the operation. Chism was not listed as having been with Michener and the others when they were captured, so if he were in fact taken prisoner, it had to have been in a separate incident.  

3. Did Chism desert to the enemy? This seems unlikely. Chism seems to have been a lifelong resident of the North with no known ties to the Confederacy. Even if he did desert, why would be abandon a somethat cushy job of cooking Howell's meals?

Captain John E. Michener

   It should also be mentioned that in 1867, the aforementioned Captain John E. Michener, one of the three soldiers from the 85th Pennsylvania captured on White Marsh Island, wrote a brief but detailed treatise (along with author T.J. Simpson) of his war experiences called "Prison Life." Michener wrote of his own capture along with Bailey and Shellenberger on Whitemarsh Island and their subsequent moves to prisoner-of-war camps. Michener made no mention of Chism.

      There is no other found government reference to Chism's life until the 1890 Veterans Schedule, a special census of Civil War soldiers. Chism, around 50 at the time, is listed as being a member of Company C of the 85th Pennsylvania. This came from Chism himself, who may have been passing himself off as a mustered-in soldier. But no other roster of regimental members has Chism listed as being a soldier of the regiment. Of course if Chism travelled with the regiment for two years and was captured during a military engagement, he probably felt he had the right to feel he was a legitimate member of the regiment.

    The 1890 Veteran's Schedule states that Chism joined the regiment in May of 1862. Although there is no record of Chism's enlistment, this could be true. Again, this was during the Peninsula Campaign as "Sam" had probably done. Chism, who was white, was therefore in Virginia for an unknown reason. Howell and Chism could also have first crossed paths in western Pennsylvania during training camp, or in Washington, D.C. where the regiment was stationed for four months.

         The Veteran Schedule has two other interesting notations. One is that although it is stated that Chism "mustered in" to the regiment in May of 1862, there is no muster-out date listed, only that Chism's regimental records are under the heading of "papers lost." This notation is not unheard of in the Veterans Schedule. Several other former soldiers in 1890 did not have documentation, usually due to memory issues or perhaps a fire that destroyed personal records in the 25 years since the war ended.

    In Chism's case, however, it may be that he had no documentation to start with, due to his apparent role as a non-military personal assistant. Although Chism was with Howell during many battles, he likely told the examiner that he lost his papers when such papers never actually existed.

    The second interesting notation in the Veterans Schedule regarding Chism is listed as a side note. This was usually written on the line on the form in which the examiner listed any Civil War maladies that came from the soldier's war service, such as an amputation, heart troubles, etc.

    For Chism, the doctor simply wrote, "nine months in prison."

   This claim again came from Chism. It would suggest, in a very tenuous way, that he indeed was captured on Whitemarsh Island in 1864. However, I could find no record of his release anywhere among Union POW records. This may mean that he had convinced the Confederates that he was not a soldier and became more of a political prisoner. He may also have been used for his specialty -- preparing meals -- for Confederate officers or privates the way captured Union doctors were put to use by southern armies when they were confined. 

       Here is an article that appeared in a Gloucester County, New Jersey newspaper in 1885 that has some interesting claims regarding Chism's relationship with Colonel Howell.

       The 85th Pennsylvania did indeed fight at Kinston, North Carolina in December of 1862. It was during a two-week foray called the Goldsboro Expedition that a Union strike force of 12,000 soldiers attempted to disrupt the Confederate supply chain into Virginia. But if Chism were captured on Whitemarsh Island and held for nine months, he would have been released around November of 1864. Colonel Howell died as the result of a fall from his horse two months earlier in September of 1864. This raises several more questions.

1. If Chism were accurate about he period of confinement, he was not with Howell when he died in September of 1864. How would he know, as the article stated, that the Colonel used the North Carolina law book as his pillow "until the time of his death."?

2. If Chism were in prison when Howell died, how would he have acquired the law book from among Howell's personal possessions, assuming they were sent back to his adopted home in Uniontown, PA to his family or to his boyhood home in New Jersey with his body for burial?

3. Would Colonel Howell have really used a law book to rest his head upon at night for over two years during the war? It seems a book would have made an exceptionally hard surface to try to sleep on. 

         In  reviewing census records, it was unusually difficult to otherwise track Chism's life. It does not appear that Chism ever married or had children. There were many William Chism's among the census records of the late 1800's, although most lived in the South. Chism was only found in the 1890 Veterans Schedule because of the reference to the 85th PA. 

          A decade later, according to the 1900 census, Chism may have been employed as a coachman for soap manufacturer Emma M. Thomson and her family in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This census, however, states that Chism and his parents were all born in Pennsylvania. The next year, he seems to appear as a gardener in a city directory for Atlantic City. 

        Chism does appear ten years later in the 1910 U.S. Census, This was also the year of his death. Chism at this time lived in Deptford, Gloucester County, New Jersey, which is only two miles from where Howell was raised in Woodbury. Howell also was buried in Woodbury. .

      In the 1910 census, it is stated both Chism and his parents were born in New Jersey. This connection could be a clue regarding Chism's employment by Howell during the war.

      [There is also a hint in the 1860 federal census that Howell and Chism may have met at the start of the war. This census, lists a 23-year old carpenter from Pittsburgh (who was born in Pennsylvania) named William Chism. At least one company of men trained in the Pittsburgh area before joining the 85th Pennsylvania at their base camp in Uniontown, Fayette County. This could be the connection between Chism and the 85th regiment.]

      Under occupation in the 1910 census, it is stated that that elderly Chism was a military veteran living on his own and was a "private pensioner." Could Chism have been granted a personal endowment by the Howell family for his loyal service during the Civil War? Did the Howell family employ Chism after the war, since he at least in his final years lived near the Howell family in New Jersey?

      The author was looking forward to answering some of these questions when he began this enquiry. But his investigation has only led to more questions. If Chism were a loyal servant who was captured by the Confederates while serving his mentor during the Civil War and was rewarded for it with a "personal pension" from the Howell family after the war, it would have been nice to find confirmation of such a relationship. 

     Here is a picture of Chism's headstone in the Almonesson United Methodist Church Cemetery in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

        

   

Milton Chase Writes a Letter Home

Milton B. Chase of Company E, 85th PA
Courtesy of Sherry (Chase) Reinhardt

   When the war began, the 85th had a number of reliable chroniclers whose writings became valuable primary source material in telling the story of their regiment. For example, Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Purviance was part-owner of the Washington (PA) Tribune and Reporter and wrote half a dozen lengthy letters that were published in his own newspaper.

    Likewise, Private Robert Roddy was the brother of Edward Roddy, who owned the Genius of Liberty newspaper in Uniontown. Roddy's letters appeared every few months in his brother's newspaper.

   Most soldiers of course wrote letters home to family members, some of which have survived. Other soldiers in the regiment penned letters that were published in newspapers around western Pennsylvania and even Wheeling, West Virginia. These soldiers included  Lieutenant John Acheson, Private John F. McCoy, Captain John E. Michener, Corporal George W. Dales and others.

   But by the end of 1864, the number of potential sources in the 85th PA had dwindled. Purviance was killed by friendly fire, Roddy went home with a medical discharge, and Michener was captured by the enemy, Acheson transferred to another command, and McCoy and Dales went home when their three-year enlistment ended.

  Only about 150 men were left in the regiment by the end of 1864, those who had joined in 1862 or later or those who had re-enlisted. The pool of potential sources was limited.

   One newspaper from the Civil War era that survives is the Washington Reporter and Tribune, found online in the Google News Archives. Unlike some other online newspaper sources that require a fee, this archive is free. The catch is that there is also no reliable search button. One must look through each edition page by page in the hope of finding information.

   So I went to the newspaper and began in November of 1864, scanning each weekly edition for a potential letter from the front, or perhaps something written by a returned soldier.

    Low and behold, eventually a letter from an 85th PA soldier appeared. It was on page 1 of the Reporter and Tribune from February 8, 1865. It was written by a soldier still in the regiment who called himself 'M.B.C." His identify was easy to find. Of the remaining men in the regiment, only Private Milton B. Chase of Company E had that set of initials.

   Chase was 31 years of age at the time. A native of Washington County, PA, he was married and living in Iowa when the war broke out. After serving for three months in an Iowa regiment, he decided to go home to enlist for three more years, joining Company E of the 85th PA, which had many men from Washington County, PA. He enlisted into the regiment in April of 1862, which meant he still had a few months to serve when he wrote the following letter in 1865.  Chase worked as a teacher before and after the war, which indicates why his letter seems to be fairly well written.

   Milton went home in December of 1865 from City Point, VA and was reunited with his wife, Margaret Franks Chase, whom he had married in Iowa in 1855. The growing family soon moved from one side of the Mississippi River to the other to live in  Hampton, Illinois. Unfortunately, Chase did not enjoy a long postwar life. On April 25, 1874, he ws killed in a coal mine cave-in. Chase was buried in the Old Rapid City Cemetery in Rapid City, Rock Island County, Illinois. He was survived by his wfie, Margaret, and four children. A fifth child, Margaret, was born two months after his death.

Moline [Illinois] Review-Dispatch  May 1, 1874, page 2

    His Civil War letter, written on January 25, 1865 from the camp of the 85th PA just below Richmond on the north side of the James River, first gives a review of the regiment's activities for the last nine months. These include the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, the Battle of Second Deep Bottom, the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, the Second Battle of Darbytown Road, and a description of the Battle of Trent's Reach the previous day on the James River. His letter appeared in the Reporter and Tribune on February 8, 1865.

Winter Quarters along the James River   LOC

   His letter answers a few questions that were previously unknown. The acting commander of this detachment of the 85th PA was Lieutenant James Nichlow. Lieutenant Absalom Dial of Company E was the nominal head of the detachment, but records indicate that Dial was away on a special detachment for a prisoner-of-war exchange. Chase reveals that Dial was actually on convalescent leave due to wounds received at Second Deep Bottom.

   Chase also explains that during their time as provost guards at division headquarters, the 85th PA was tasked with supervising Union prisoners, some of whom were awaiting execution for desertion. 

    Milton Chase includes a cryptic paragraph about 'Mat,' 'the young one,' turning in his gun for a drum. I could find no one with the name "Mat" or "Matthew" among the 150 who remained in the regiment in 1865. The closest was Matthew C. Axton of Brownsville, Fayette County. Like Chase, Axton was from Company E; but he is listed as having gone home two months earlier in December of 1864. 

Camp of the 85th Pa Vols.

Before Richmond, VA., January 15, 1865

Dear Reporter and Tribune:

   Knowing the interest felt by many of your readers, especially by the returned veterans of the Regiment, in the detachment of the noble old 85th still in the field, permit me through your columns to communicate to them some of the changes that have taken place since they left, as well as some other items that may prove interesting to our friends generally.

   The Detachment known as the 85th Pa. Volunteers, is now doing duty as Provost Guard at Headquarters, 1st Division, 24th Army Corps, Gen. A.H. Terry's old Division, now commanded by Gen. J. R. Rawley. The 85th is commanded by 1st Lieut. acting Col. James Nichlow, formerly Sergeant Co. H, Captain R.P. [Robert] Hughes having been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 199th Pa. Vols. 1st Sergeant Charles E. Eckles, Co. E, has been promoted to Captain Co. K, 199th P.V. Sergeant W. C. [Walter] Cravin Co. C [to] Captain, Co. K 199th P.V. and Sergeant O. [Oliver] Sproul is Lieutenant Co. B 199th P.V. Lieutenant [Absalom]  Dial is abroad on sick leave occasioned by wounds received in action last August. Captain R.W. [Richard] Dawson, Assistant Inspector General on Gen. [Adelbert] Ames' staff, was so careless as to put himself in the way of a rebel ball at Fort Fisher, N.C. and consequently got shot in the right arm seriously.

    'Mat,' the 'young one,' desires his friends to know that he has got rid of his 'shoot stick' and has gone to playing the drum for a living. 

   The aggregate strength of the Regiment is about 150 men; there is 110 present for duty and the remaining 40 are absent on detached service  -- sick, wounded, etc.

   In order that you may know what part we have taken in the last campaign, I will give you a hasty and brief synopsis of our movements during that time.

   Our regiment was withdrawn from the Department of the South last April and formed part of the force that accompanied the then popular, but now fallen, Gen. [Benjamin] Butler in his operation at Bermuda Hundred, VA. [above] where we landed May 5th, 1864 from which time until August our headquarters were on that front, we being almost constantly under fire duing picket duty, or working on the various defenses of that line. We participated in several engagements and many lively lttle skirmishes on that line, including the Battle of Ware Bottom Church, May 20th, battle near the same place, June 17th, and also on the same line June 18th, expedition to north side of James River, which resulted in establishing works there June 29th, second advance from Deep Bottom August 14. Severe engagement near Malvern Hill August 16th in which our brigade led the charging column led by intrepid soldier General [Alfred] Terry, then in command of our division, the 1st of the 10th Corps. The old 85th led by Captain R. P. Hughes under whose gallant leaderhip we hurled back the rebel horde from their strong works [at Second Deep Bottom], taking a number of prisoners almost equal to our number, and capturing two rebel battle flags. Near this place we quietly entrenched ourselves, having advanced as far in that direction as was thought to be either prudent or healthy, and awaited the Johnnys' assault, which they made with a considerable show of determination on the afternoon of the 18th: they found us there and promptly skedaddled. Soon after this object of the expedition being accomplished, we were ordered to the Petersburg front, where we remained in the trenches a month, constantly under fire, though the nature and completeness of our works there was such that we suffered but few casualties.

   While here we were called to part with our heroic and almost idolized Col. J.B. [Joshua] Howell, in whose loss we are depirived of a much esteemed officer and long to be remembered friend, in whom the country loses a patriot, gentleman and true soldier that it could illy spare these troublous times. Our next move was the grand advance toward Richmond on the north side of the James from Deep Bottom and Aikin's Landing, September 28, which after a bloody struggle resuled in pushing back the rebel lines almost to the suburbs of the Rebel Capitol, the capture of strong works on 'Chapin's Farm,' Fort Harrison now called Fort Burnham, and many other important Rebel works establishing our present line within seven miles of Richmond. On this line the rebels advance on our immediate front a heavy Rebel force [on] October 7th [at Darbytown Road]. A severe engagement ensued in which the rebels were repulsed with heavy loss and driven within their main works. Our next move was the reconnaisance in force [on] October 12th and 13th [also at Darbytown Road], resulting in a series of brisk little dashes on the rebel lines and extending as far as the old battle ground at Fair Oaks, the scene of McClellan's nearest approach to Richmond , in which the 85th participated under him 'in his wanderings on the Peninsula.' On the 14th of October, the time of the original organization of the old 85th having expired, all except the reenlisted Veterans and those whose time was not out were 'mustered to the rear' and in due time mustered out and permitted to return to their homes 'laden with laurel,' long may they wave, while we lonely enough but not weary in well-doing were left in the field. October 15th, we were temporarily attached to the 199th Pa. Vols., a splendid 'one year organization' raised in Philadelphia and second to none in the corps, owing to the untiring energy, strict discipline and efficient instructions of the able and energetic officers in command, for which to the skill and experience of their acqusitions from the 85th they are in a great measure indebted. The 199th already attracts the admiration and excites the envy of many other organizations. About the 1st of December, our old corps, the 10th, was consolidated with the 18th and called the 24th Army Corps; the colored troops of the 10th and 18th corps were formed into a separate organization and called the 25th Corps. On the 15th of December, we were detached from the 199th and ordered to report for duty as Provost Guard at Hd. Qrs., 1st Div. 24th A.C. and here we are in pretty snug winter quarters, enjoying ourselves as well as possible. We have charge of about one hundred prisoners, mostly in for minor offenses while a few are charged with desertion. Two courts martial are disposing of their cases as rapidly as possible. Some have already been shot and others will doubtless ere long share their hard fate. The weather is somewhat cold at present, though we have seen but little snow this winter. The Johnnies made a demonstration on the left of our line this morning with their gunboats and rams and a cooperating land force. Our monitors and batteries in the vicinity of Dutch Gap are said to have demolished two or three of their boats and the excitement over an anticipated attack has subsided. For fear that this may be disapproved, like our applications for Furlough, on account of its length I will for the present desist, promising that if our scribbling is acceptable, you shall hear from us again when anything happens worthy of note.

I am very respectfully yours, for three years or during the war,

M.B.C.

85th Regt. P.V.V.

    Chase promised to write again should future events prove newsworthy. Fort Gregg and Appomattox were certainly meaningful events in April of 1865, but I could find no more letters from Chase in the April or May editions of the Reporter and Tribune. Most of the news in late April concerned Lincoln's assassasination, so if Chase sent a letter, there simply may not, from the newspaper's point of view, have been as much space or interest in such events. 

Captain Michener in Prison at Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia

        

Union Prison Camp     LOC

        This will be the last in a series of articles about the captivity of Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment. It covers his life from his capture on White Marsh Island near Savannah, Georgia in 1864 to his release later that year in Charleston Harbor. This segment focuses on his time in prison at Camp Oglethorpe near Macon, Georgia. Later in his confinement, he was part of an escape attempt which was chronicled here. 

      In this part of "Prison Life," the postwar story of Michener's incarceration as related by author T.J. Simpson in 1867, Michener focuses on the privations of prison life: lack of food being his main topic of interest. 

      In 1864, Fort Oglethorpe was being used by the Confederacy as a prison pen for Union officers. More information about Camp Oglethorpe can be found here.

LOC

        From "Prison Life--"

        Captain Michener and other Union officers were marched to Camp Oglethorpe where they were confined within a high stockade fence and guarded by two regiments of Georgia troops. Here they met some eight hundred Union officers who had just arrived from Libby and Saulsbury prisons where they had been reduced to the last extremity of suffering and, almost naked, and fearfully emaciated, were brought here to die. Before entering the gates of the stockade, Captain Michener and his companions were carefully searched by Captain W.E. Tabb, commander of the prison.

          Having no blankets and there being but two old frame buildings within the stockade, and they used only for the accommodation of the sick and convalescent, Captain Michener and his friends experienced more exposure and suffering during the first month of their confinement here than while in Charleston jail, having to lie on the bare ground with no shelter whatever, exposed to the heavy dews, frequent rains, and violent storms. 

LOC

        After the first month passed in this dreadful condition, rough pine boards were furnished with which the prisoners erected shed capable of accommodating one hundred men each. The prisoners were then divided into squads of a hundred each, the ranking officers taking command and appointing a commissar whose duty it was to receive the rations from the rebel quartermaster and divide them equally among his fellow prisoners. The rations allowed was one pint of cornmeal per day to each prisoner and twice a week a few ounces of beans. Sometimes a few worm-eaten peas and  a very small quantity of rice was given. But the quantity of rice and rotten peas was so very small indeed, that each prisoner would be compelled to save up until he would have from six to eight days allowance in order to have enough for a full meal. 

      It was truly an affecting sight to see these ragged and half-starved prisoners gathering around and with the most haggard and imploring looks, piteously but anxiously watching the commissary as he measure out their ration of meal in a tin cup, and to see how eagerly they seized it. Sometimes, from long fasting, and the irresistible carvings of hunger, their appetites were so ravenous that they would seize the rations and devour them on the spot, without cooking. Officers of all ranks were here placed upon an equality without respect of persons, having to draw and cook their own rations, wash their own clothes, and perform all other menial services and, in addition to attend two roll calls each day. Some had been fortunate enough to conceal and thereby retain  their money about their persons, at the time of their capture, and this money could be accordingly exchanged for confederate money, with which they could purchase a few vegetables and other articles of food and hence they could command a reasonable support while their money lasted. But a much largest number of prisoners had no money, it all having been taken from them at the time they were taken prisoners and hence they would exchange with the rebel guards fingerings, breast-pins, watches, knives, combs and whatever little precious  keepsake they still possessed and even their few rags of clothing in some instances for something to eat. 

          Among this large number of prisoners were men of all classes and occupations -- lawyers, doctors, preachers merchants and mechanics -- many of whom were very wealthy , noble and generous at home, but here in prison, reduced to beggary and starvation.

LOC

   Strange as it may seem, under these trying circumstances, a cold indifferent spirit of selfishness predominated and it was only in a very few instances that a prisoner could be induced to divide his little stock of money with a suffering fellow-prisoner. In some instances when offices of the same regiment would happen to meet, a more liberal spirit prevailed and under the excitement of the moment they seemed to return to their former selves and forgetting the extremity of their circumstances were readt to divide their last cent. Sometimes from four to five and even eight or ten of these starving men would form a mess to cook and sleep together and in every such instances, if anyone or more of the number were fortunate enough to have any money, it was freely and cheerfully divided among them until the last cent was gone. There were many instances also in which officers of superior rank who had no money, would cook and wash and do all kinds of menial service for those of inferior rank in order to get  a share of the provisions purchased with their money. A major of a New York regiment, a brave and talented man, destitute of money and reduced to the last extremity of suffering and starvation, gladly embraced the opportunity to act the part of a servant for two lieutenants, relieving them from any menial service whatever, simply because they were fortunate enough to have money, while had had none; showing that in this instances at least, money was the standard of merit and that 'all that a man has will he give for his life.' The prisoners were also but poorly furnished with cooking utensils with which to prepare to meagre rations they received. All that were allowed for the men was a camp-kettle and skillet and hundreds were not even supplied with them; hence borrowing become the order of the day and when this could not be done, the use of cooking utensils had to be dispensed with and the rations devoured as nature prepared them without any artificial help.

Union Officers in Prison     LOC

      Roll call was announced by a rebel soldier marching through the stockade beating with a stick in a furious manner upon an old kettle drum. The first arrangement with the prisoners for this roll call was the forming into two ranks, each squad of one hundred men, who had an adjutant selected from their own number who kept the roll of the men and the rebel commander would call their names. Afterwards, however, a new plan was adopted. The prisoners were all crowded into one end of the enclosure or stockade, a company of rebel soldiers were marched in and deployed across the center of the pen at intervals of about three paces and then two rebels officers would form a gate, themselves acting as posts through which the prisoners would all have to pass single file, and be counted after the manner of counting hogs or sheep. This roll call was generally greatly dreaded by the prisoners for it most frequently happened while they were preparing their little rations for a meager meal. Some of them would have a corn pone baking, others would have mush boiling and would have to leave all in a moment for roll call. Frequently, they were detained from one to two hours by these proceedings; for if the commandant, through his stupidity, would happen to make a mistake of one or two in the count, they were all driven back again and counted over the second or third time. Hence, when the men would return to their fires, they would often find their scanty ration burned up, and would have to wait and starve until drawing day came again.

Michener, Bailey and Shallenberger in Captivity

        

Union Prisoners
    Tucker-Vaughn Papers

 

           Primary source materials regarding Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania have been abundant in the research of his regiment. Michener's Civil War letters and those of his family, provided by descendent Margaret Thompson, have offered a rich source of material. Michener also penned a few letters home that were published in local newspapers that proved to be excellent primary source material.

Harper's Weekly          February, 1862

    Michener was an effective, even admired officer who spent seven months in captivity in 1864. He was captured on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah on February 22, 1864 along with two other members of his regiment -- Sergeant James Bailey of Company K and Private Eli F. "Frank" Shallenberger of Company C.

       Although much is known about Michener's later captivity and release, little has been written about the early days and weeks of his imprisonment with Bailey and Shallenberger. A few Southern newspapers provided some details of their capture on Whitemarsh Island. Included in these stories are descriptions of their immediate capture; but much of these narrations were gloating about them falling into Confederate hands while the Union mission to Whitemarsh Island, Georgia ended in failure and quickly returned to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Union versions, meanwhile were just as one-sided; they ignored the failure of the mission on Whitemarsh to capture African American workers while emphasizing the capture of a dozen Confederate pickets.

      "Prison Life," the 1867 work by T.J. Simpson that is partially about Michener's time in captivity, is rich in details about these early days of imprisonment of Michener and his two comrades. Michener, through Simpson, related the story of  their interrogations, their time in Savannah, and then their transfer to various prisoner-of-war camps. Simpson made Michener a hero for misleading his captors about the strength of the invading Union force on Whitemarsh.

      Michener spent part of his imprisonment in Charleston, South Carolina. Shallenberger and Bailey meanwhile were both shipped to the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia. They both technically survived. However, Bailey lived long enough only to be a part of a prison transfer. He died from malnutrition aboard a hospital ship on his way back to the North. Shallenberger was also greatly diminished by his time at Andersonville. But Shallenberger was released at the end of the war, recovered, and went home to Brownsville, PA where he became a prominent contractor and builder.. 

         "Soon after the capture of Captain Michener, a rebel brigade under the command of General [Raleigh] Colston arrived at the fort having been hurried forward with all possible haste. Halting his brigade for a moment, he sent his aid to interrogate Captain Michener. as to the strength of the Yankee forces on the island. The union forces under General [sic, Colonel Joshua B.] Howell, composing the entire expedition to the island, only numbered between five and six hundred; but the chivalrous rebel general somehow received the impression from Captain Michener that they exceeded five thousand in number, and thus was detained with his entire brigade until his scouts returned and reported that the small number of Yankees who had infested the island were embarking in their boats and then it was too late to pursue them. Had the rebels known our strength in time and thrown but one regiment over the bridge, and followed our hastily retreating forces, the whole command might have easily been captured; as it was, however, their escape was entirely due to the detention of the rebels by Captain Michener's answers to their interrogatories. But this ruse of Captain Michener's to save his friends from capture came near costing him his life, for the rage and chagrin of the rebels when they found how they had bee duped by that Yankee officer know no bounds. A reported of a Savannah paper who was present insisted they should hang Captain Michener from the nearest tree. While they were debating what disposition to make of him, another Union prisoner, [Eli] Frank Shellenberger, was brought in and their righteous indignation settle down into a holy calm. These three prisoners being guarded together, Captain Michener availed himself of the opportunity to post the other two so that their reports to the rebels might agree.

         "As the evening approached, the prisoners were marched to Savannah and were then on their first visit to the \city, generously furnished by the Southern chivalry with apartments in the jail. All along the road to Savannah they were treated by the soldiers and citizens to a continued series of compliments and encomiums, some of which it is true were of the rougher sort and none of which it is true were often falling from the ruddy but pouted lips of the lily-fingered beauties of the South, were a s palatable as would have been a little roast beef or boiled ham. But an inward consciousness of the glory they had achieved in that one hour's struggle and triumph caused them to receive the compliments, thus gratuitously bestowed  with a smile and to march to that prison with a prouder step than to a slaveholder's banquet or a rebel throne.

Left to Right: Andersonville, Macon and Savannah    LOC

           "At nine o'clock that evening, after their introduction to a somewhat narrow apartment in the city jail, the prisoners were invited to indulge in the luxury of a limited meal on corn mush, a favorite kind of provision with generous rebels to satisfy the appetites of hungry Yankees. Although the captain and his fellow prisoners had for the last 24 hours substituted rapid marches and hard fighting for the more agreeable pastime of eating, yet either because the invitation was rather cool, or the corn mush not sufficiently inviting, they respectfully declined the proffered kindness. During the night they were favored with the presence of a rebel sentinel, whole interest in these newcomers was such as to drive slumber from his eyelids and cause him to pace the room during the long an silent hours, with undeviating footsteps, much to the annoyance of the prisoners, who failing to appreciate his society, declined to admit him into their councils and hence conducted their interviews in a whisper.

       At six o'clock next morning this prisoners, with tired limbs and empty stomachs, issued from the jail in all the 'pomp of glorious war,' and falling into line, marched with measured step, not to the martial notes of fife and drum, but to the coarser music of taunts and sneers and mingled should of the chivalrous inhabitants of Savannah, who seemed anxious to give them a parting salute from the well filled magazine of their pent-up wrath, as the Yankees took their seats in an old ragged car, and bid them a final adieu. As the train moved off, the prisoners felt that, although not 'homeward bound,' they were bound for the seat of Southern chivalry and that they would be favored with a change of base at least in the great city of Charleston. 

Charleston Jail      LOC

          "Two days had now passed without anything to satisfy the cravings of hunger, and Captain Michener began to realized that there was something more than poetry in the fortunes of war. In his first lessons the romantic was mixed with the real, but now the real began to predominate, greatly to his annoyance. The trip to Charleston was performed without any violation of the rules of fasting which had been so rigidly observed and it was not an unwelcome thought that this pious operation would terminate with the journey. They reached the city as evening began to cast its lengthening shadows and although strangers in the place found no difficulty in procuring lodgings as previous arrangements had been made for their reception The equanimity of the city authorities was not seriously disturbed however with any extensive preparations for an ovation to the prisoners, on their arrival but a small procession, composed of a select few of the prominent officials headed by the provost marshal of the city quietly conducted them to their private apartment in the jail. And now, retired from the obtrusive gaze of the vulgar herd, a change of plate, well filled with the choicest provisions adapted to the appetite of an epicure, would not have been objectionable. But the virtue of abstemiousness had been so long and rigidly practised that it was feared the too liberal indulgence of the appetite might superinduce dyspepsia; therefore corn mush prepared in the latest style with a little hot water and no salt, was again sparingly furnished the prisoners. This the dictates of modesty and exhausted nature would not permit them as on a former occasion to decline; hence their first night in the city of Charleston was rendered memorable by a banquet on cold much in jail.

Savannah Jail     LOC

        "...On arriving at Macon, Georgia, Captain Michener and his two fellow prisoners who were captured with him on White Marsh Island, Corporal Bailey and Frank Shellenberger, were called to experience the pangs of separation, the captain being retained at Camp Oglethorpe, while they were sent on to Andersonville, that much-dreaded and fatal prison. As the train moved slowly off and the parting words fell from their lips, they but too plainly saw in each other's countenances the conviction that it was a last adieu as the sequel proved in the case of poor Bailey. Having reached Andersonville, he lingered amid pestilence and famine for six months and when the news of his exchange came, the last feeble energies of his nature rallied and enabled him to reach Charleston harbor on his way to his beloved home and family when in sight of his country's flag, with the flag-of-truce boat ready to receive him, he died, the victim of starvation in a land of strangers, leaving a wife and little ones to mourn his said and untimely end. His companion, Frank Shellenberger, scarcely less enfeebled and emaciated from the effects of starvation, finally succeeded in reaching his home, the mere wreck and skeleton of his former self -- a living witness of the barbarous treatment and unparalleled sufferings at Andersonville."

Andersonville Prison     LOC

NEXT: Michener is held prisoner in Macon, Georgia.

The Capture of Captain John E. Michener

       

Whitemarsh Island Assault by Captains George H. Hooker and Robert P. Hughes
February 22, 1864     Map Courtesy of Craig Swain

         The last seven paragraphs of this entry is a lengthy quote from the 1867 book entitled "Prison Life" about the capture of Captain John E. Michener on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, Georgia in 1864. Michener had spent the first 2 1/2 years of the war as a lieutenant in Company D of the 85th Pennsylvania. In early 1864, he was promoted to be captain of Company K. The Whitemarsh Expedition marked his first field command with his new company.

       I earlier have written about Michener's captivity in an article for Military Images magazine entitled, "Following the Torn and Bloodstained Colors: John Michener's Civil War Odyssey." This article features letters from Michener and his family as well as newspaper accounts of his captivity, courtesy of descendant Margaret Thompson.

         I have also written extensively about the Whitemarsh Island Expedition in my soon to be published Volume II history of the 85th Pennsylvania entitled, "Such Hard and Severe Service: The 85th Pennsylvania in the Civil War, 1864-1865" from by Monongahela Books.

       This author of "Prison Life," T.J. Simpson, offers further details about Michener's role the expedition and the early days of his time as a prisoner of war. Future posts will give additional details about Michener's time in captivity.

         The one-day expedition from Hilton Head to Whitemarsh Island, led by Colonel Joshua B. Howell of the 85th Pennsylvania, was intended to capture around 300 [Simpson said it was 500] contraband workers who were building defenses for the Confederacy. One report, which was accurate, said that some Confederate troops had been sent from Savannah to Florida, leaving Savannah under-defended. This action by the Confederates was meant to deal with Union General Truman's Seymour's Florida campaign that began with landing at Jacksonville and ended with a lopsided Confederate victory at Olustee.

Slaves Building Confederate Earthworks
Mississippi Dept of Archives and History

     The Whitemarsh Expedition was led by Colonel Joshua B. Howell of the 85th Pennsylvania. Accompanying the Howell regiment were elements of the 4th New Hampshire and 67th Ohio.

     The expedition landed successfully on February 22. Confederate pickets on the beachhead quickly fled with Michener and 20 men from his company (K) in hot pursuit. Michener was  under the command of Captain George Hooker, who was tasked with capturing a bridge between Whitemarsh and Oatland Islands and thus prevent the Confederates from sending re-enforcements.

       Michener and his men made it across the bridge but were confronted with an earthwork with a small two-gun battery.

Captain George H. Hooker
85th PA

Guiding the Union mission were several escaped slaves from the area who knew the terrain. But the fugitives did not know of the battery that had been built since their escape.

       Hooker's men halted their attempt to capture the Oatland Bridge. But as Simpson described, Michener and his sergeant from Company K, James C. Bailey, were trapped trying to re-cross the bridge. Near the interior of the island, another member of the 85th Pennsylvania, Private Eli F. ("Frank") Shallenberger of Company C, became separated from his Hughes' team and was also captured. Everyone in the expedition except for these three unfortunate captives were able to safely return to their boats and return to Hilton Head Island.

        This account below, in Michener's words as told to author Simpson,  is somewhat critical of Captain Hooker for not sending expected re-enforcements in a timely manner to help Michener's men escape from the other side of the bridge.

         "On the 21^st of February, 1864, while the Florida campaign [Olustee] was in progress, General Joshua B. Howell, commanding the district [that consisted of] Hilton Head, St. Helena’s Island and Fort Pulaski, embarked from Hilton Head Island, with the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers and Fourth New Hampshire, for a small island about four miles distant from Savannah, Georgia known as White-Marsh Island. Upon this island some five hundred negroes were actively engaged in throwing up breastworks under the protection and supervision of about two hundred rebel troops. This island is about three miles wide and is connected with the main land by a wooden bridge. To destroy the [Oatland] bridge, so as to prevent succor from Savannah; attack and scatter or capture the rebel troops guarding the negroes; destroy the works and bring off these negroes to Hilton Head, were the objects of this expedition.

"Prison Life"
T.J. Simpson  1867

           "The destruction of the bridge, the first and most important object to be accomplished, was assigned to companies B, D, E, H, I and K of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers under the direction of Captain George H. Hooker, acting assistant adjutant general to General Howell. The transports arriving a short distance above Fort Pulaski, dropped anchor and launched the small boats for the above-mentioned detachment. These boats were designed to carry from twenty to thirty men, each but having been lying up in the hot sun for months at Hilton Head, they were wholly unfit for the service. Many of them filled with water as soon as launched, and sunk immediately, while the others were only kept afloat by constant bailing.

           "This detachment was to proceed some three miles up a small sluggish creek and get in the rear of the enemy before the transports landed the remained of the troops at the front approaches to the island. It was long after midnight when the order 'cast off' was given and the tide coming in greatly assisted the strong but muffled paddles and caused the awkward and leaky boats to shoot through the water with astonishing rapidity.

           "The night was calm – the 'wind slept soundly'—while the twinkling stars in the hazy sky relieved the midnight darkness. The moon at length peered above the horizon and shone with a mellow light as she travelled from cloud to cloud. The snake-like stream, stirred by the many muffled oars, sparkled on its winding way, lending a soft attraction to the gloomy marsh. Far along its grassy borders the tall, green seaweed formed beautiful arches, through which the silent moonbeams crept as if to smile upon those daring men as they noiselessly glided along in their frail boats…

             "Arriving at the island, a dash was made for the shore, which was quickly gained without the loss of a man. The rebel picket only fired a single volley and then fled like frightened deer. Captain Hooker directed Captain Michener to deploy his company (K) as skirmishers – pursued the retreating pickets with all possible haste and gain the bridge before the alarm could spread among the enemy.

LOC

"After penetrating the dense timber and undergrowth for nearly a mile, Captain Michener came to a cleared field only a few hundred yards from the bridge. To his astonishment he discovered what appeared to be an earthwork but a few rods distant from the opposite end of the bridge. Halting for a moment, he sent his orderly sergeant back to confer with Captain Hooker and request him to come up. In a few moments this gallant officer arrived in company with Captain [Rolla] Phillips of Company D. they however doubted the fact of the enemy having a fortification there and agreed with the negro-guide (who had only escaped from the rebels a few weeks before) that it was only ‘earth-houses occupied by the colored folks,’ and Captain Hooker ordered Captain Michener to advance upon the bridge. Captain Michener still insisted that it was a battery and having only twenty men of his company with him asked for more men, stating that if he found it to be an earthwork when he arrived at the bridge, he would try and take it. Captain Hooker said it was not necessary, that he would support him.  ‘Yes’ responded Captain Phillips. ‘Michener, we will be at your heels.’ Captain Michener advanced at double-quick and on arriving at the bridge, discovered that his suspicions were correct and that the enemy had a small earthwork with one gun in position and the panic-stricken rebels trying to get up a second one. Believing to retreat would expose him to a close and galling fire and seeing but few rebels in the fort, he resolved to charge it. With a shout the gallant captain and his brave boys dashed towards the bridge, which was soon gained when the rebels opened upon them with one volley of grape, but the gun being too much depressed, the shot fell short and did no other damage other than to splinter a portion of  the bridge, a fragment of which struck Captain Michener, felling him to the ground. Quickly springing to hie feet, he dashed across the bridge with only ten men, the rest stopping short of the bride and seeking shelter from the shower of musketry concentrated upon them. With this immortal ten, Captain Michener pushed fearlessly up to within fifty yards of the earthwork; but finding no support coming up, as had been promised, he at once saw the folly of hurling those few devoted followers against the fort. Seeing a small embankment near the ditch to the left, he quickly deployed his men behind it and lying flat upon the ground, opened a brisk fire upon the enemy, killing one man and two horses. Here this little Spartan band fought bravely for more than an hour, waiting for reinforcements and not permitting a rebel to raise his head above the parapet. What an hour was that! Lying almost under the very shadow of the fort, with two guns and two hundred muskets concentrated upon them, how desperately they fought and how anxiously they looked for the promised supports. A half hour passes, the enemy is still held at bay, and now they listen for the shouts of their comrades rushing to the rescue. They load and fire again, rebels fall from the parapet; another half hour passes; the bloody strife continues, but no supports have arrived; the moment is big with danger; to advance is death, to retreat is almost hopeless, to remain longer in than position was certain destruction. Oh! That relief would come. They read each other’s thoughts in their anxious countenances; death is preferable to surrender, and a soldier’s glory is to fall, if fall he must, with his face to that foe.

Lt. Norman B. Ream
Dickey's History of the 85th PA

       "Lieutenant [Norman B.] Ream of Company H, a brave and gallant officer, had been ordered by Captain Hooker to hasten with his men to the aid of Captain Michener while he was thus being overpowered by the enemy. He had proceeded but a short distance, however, when he fell, severely wounded.  His comrades at once endeavored to carry him back to the boats, but were so hotly pursued by the rebels that the brave lieutenant requested them to lay him down and make their escape, saying it was better for him to fall into the hands of the enemy than for them all to be captured. They persistently refused, however, and finally succeeded in reaching the boats in safety with their noble but suffering leader.

         "At length, despairing of aid and knowing the hopelessness of their condition, they resolved to attempt escape at least by crawling through the marsh to the stream and swimming to the bridge. They gain the bridge; the heroic spirit that had sustained them through the last dreadful hour now yields to excitement. Captain Michener entreats them to be calm and courageous, that they would either escape or die together. He orders them to cross over, one at a time, so as not to

Captain John E. Michener
Courtesy of Ron Coddington

draw the enemy’s fire and resolves himself to bring up the rear. The first crosses, safely, and then the second and the third, but the rebels have discovered the skillful maneuver; they make a flank movement and gain the abutment of the bridge just in time to intercept the captain and his last man, Corporal [James C.] Bailey. The captain might have escaped with the first that crossed the bride if he had consulted his own safety alone, but acting the part of a true soldier and unselfish commander, he determined to see his comrades safely over before fleeing himself from danger, and thus, on the 22^nd day of February, 1864, fell into the hands of the enemy.”

NEXT: The early days of captivity for Michener, Bailey and Shallenberger.

John E. Michener and the 54th Massachusetts

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
54th Massachusetts
LOC

      

         In reviewing the brief 1867 biography called "Prison Life" [acquired courtesy of the New York Public Library] about Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania, one of the most interesting incidents recounted was Michener's connection to the charge by the famous 54th Massachusetts regiment upon Battery Wagner near Charleston, SC in 1863. Michener, it turned out, was in command of the barge that took this entire regiment of black troops to Morris Island shortly before they led a fateful and deadly Union charge. This assault was the basis for the 1990 movie called "Glory" starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. 

         This assault was the second failed Union attempt to capture Battery Wagner. In both cases, the 85th Pennsylvania was assigned reserve duty. While two regiments from their brigade were with the 54th Massachusetts in the attack, but the 85th Pennsylvania was assigned to follow up the initial charge once the structure was breached. In both cases, the secondary assault was called off.

         With the Emancipation Proclamation having gone into effect a few months earlier,  African American troops had begun to be used more extensively by the Union to fight the war. The charge by the 54th Massachusetts is generally considered a turning point because it demonstrated the fighting ability and tenacity of the black troops and helped them generally gain acceptance from many, perhaps most, of their white comrades. Despite their inability to hold the Battery Wagner once the walls were breached, the high number of casualties and courage they displayed dispelled many assumptions among Union soldiers that black troops lacked discipline and would not fight with military discipline. 

         Black regiments such as the 54th Massachusetts were commanded by white officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was chosen to lead this regiment, which actually had troops from various states including Pennsylvania. Shaw, age 25, was from an abolitionist family from Boston.

       The 85th Pennsylvania spent a nearly a year, from February of 1863 until January of 1864, in South Carolina in what turned out to be a futile attempt to capture Fort Sumter and the city of Charleston. The campaign is remembered for the two failed assaults on Battery Wagner that cost hundreds of Union lives, followed by a trench digging operation that eventually led to the abandonment of the structure by the Confederates.  It was assumed that Fort Sumter would soon follow, but the fort where the war began in April of 1861 did not return to Union hands until the last months of the war nearly four years later. 

      In the digging operation, which lasted nearly two months, the 85th Pennsylvania lost more men than any other Union regiment. Their entire campaign around Charleston is covered extensively in my book, "Such Hard and Severe Service: The 85th Pennsylvania in the Civil War," published by Monongahela Books.

      In the two assaults, on July 10 and 17, the 85th Pennsylvania was tasked to perform secondary assault duties once the battery was taken. Since the initial assaults both failed, the 85th Pennsylvania was not called upon to attack the fort.

      The second assault on July 17 was led by the famous 54th Massachusetts, a black regiment under the command of Colonel  Shaw. Shaw was killed along nearly a hundred of his men. Another 300 were wounded. 

Union camp on Folly Island    LOC

       The profile of Lieutenant John E. Michener in  "Prison Life," an 1867 brief account of his war service, relates that the young officer from Washington County spoke with Shaw on the barge that transported the 54th Massachusetts across Lighthouse Inlet from Folly Island to Morris Island for their fateful charge. 

        Below is the passage from "Prison Life." It begins with a summary of the 85th Pennsylvania's first few months of the Charleston campaign. It is interspersed with a first-hand account of the passage by a member of the black regiment, Luis F. Emilio.

          From "Prison Life:"  "The Eighty-Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers and the One-hundredth New York regiments were the first to get possession and establish themselves on Folly Island. Here the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, the Sixty-second and Sixty-seventh Ohio, the Thirty-ninth Illinois and the One-hundredth New York regiment were assigned to the command of Brigadier General [Israel] Vogdes. Light-house Inlet intervened,

Major Israel Vogdes
National Archives

dividing Folly Island from Morris Island. General Gilmore directed General Vogdes to construct a battery under cover of darkness upon the eastern point on Folly Island, directedly opposite to and within three hundred yards of the rebel works. Here was a natural formation, sand bank, thrown up by the waves of the sea, making a complete fortification, which only required a little rounding up and strengthening.

        "The rebel pickets paced the opposite shore, wholly ignorant of our operations or intentions, and under the impression that but a small force of Yankees was there. Accordingly, the rebel only sent over a mortar shell occasionally, by way of compliment, which did but little damage. Working parties only went to the front after darkness set in, and retired before daylight the next morning.

          "Breastworks, traverses and magazine were soon completed, and the huge guns mounted. Shot, powder and shell were conveyed to the magazine in wagons drawn by horses, mules being considered too noisy for that quiet operation. Even orders and commands were required to be given in a whisper and a cough or sneeze was positively prohibited. Had the presence of a working party or our operations then been known to the enemy they could easily have destroyed the entire Union force with their heavy guns. During the last six nights, Lieutenant Michener, with one hundred men of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, had been constantly engaged upon the work, and the last night prior to the opening of the siege performed the very difficult and dangerous task of stowing away the barrels of powder in the rough and hastily constructed magazine.

Folly Island, Light House Inlet Morris Island, and Fort Sumter
National Tribune, Washington, DC, 4-30-1891, p.1

       "On the day of the assault on Fort Wagner, Major Ed. Campbell [of the 85th Pennsylvania]…detailed Lieutenant Michener to take charge of the transportation [across Lighthouse Inlet] and furnish boats to carry troops, stores and artillery. Colonel Robert G. Shaw, with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored) regiment arrived in the afternoon to take part in the assault. Lieutenant Michener succeeded in getting the entire regiment in a large barge and had them quickly towed over to Morris Island. Colonel Shaw, after kindly proffering Lieutenant Michener a cigar and thanking him for his prompt assistance in getting his regiment across, remarked, 'That if his black boys had any show whatever, the stars and stripes would be floating over Fort Wagner before sunset.'

      From Luis F. Emilio of the 54th Regiment: "After a march of some six miles, we arrived at Light- house Inlet and rested, awaiting transportation. Tuneful voices about the colors started the song, 'When this Cruel War is Over,' and the pathetic words of the chorus were taken up by others. It was the last song of many; but few then thought it a requiem. By ascending the sand-hills, we could see the distant vessels engaging Wagner. When all was prepared, the Fifty -fourth boarded a small steamer, landed on Morris Island, about 5 p. m., and remained near the shore for further orders." [History of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, p.68]

54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner   LOC

         From "Prison Life:"  "Colonel Shaw’s regiment was the first colored regiment organized in the free States, and both the Colonel and his brave boys shared in a mutual anxiety to show to their country and the world that it was not in vain that blacks as well as whites had been summoned to battle for its life and the freedom of man. …it went forward…to take its place in the front line of the assaulting column…the distance to be crossed at double-quick was half a mile. Not many, however, of these brave men fell until the pierced but unshaken column had almost reached the ditch and was within short musket range of the fort when a sheet of fire from small arms lighted up the enshrouding darkness while howitzers in the bastions raked the ditch as our men swept across it and hand grenades from the parapet tore through them as they climbed the seamed and ragged face of the fort and planted their colors for a moment on top.

         "Here fell Colonel Shaw, killed instantly. Here also fell General [George] Strong, mortally wounded, with Colonel [John L.] Chatfield and many other brave and gallant officers…."