We’re fighting for the Union, We’re fighting for the trust, We’re fighting for the happy land Where sleeps our fathers’ dust. ” Niles was selected as the place of rendezvous for the 12th Regiment, and its organization under the direction of Colonel Francis Quinn was commenced in September, 1861. The regiment was made up of [...]
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D. Captain, Phineas Graves, Albion. First Lieutenant, Joseph McCloy, Jackson. Second Lieutenant, George H. Graves, Albion. E. Captain, Henry Gephart, Niles. First Lieutenant, Thomas C. Bradley, Three Oaks. Second Lieutenant, Byron B. Rockwell, Niles. F. Captain, Russell M. Weston, Niles. First Lieutenant, David Reeve, Jackson. Second Lieutenant, Samuel E. Graves, Adrian. G. Captain, Isaac M. [...]
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On its arrival there it was assigned to Colonel Peabody’s brigade of General Prentiss’s division, Army of the Tennessee, and was one of the first regiments attacked by the enemy, suffering a severe loss, among the wounded being Lieutenant Alexander G. Davis, who died of his wounds at Cincinnati on April 21st following. The battle [...]
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and he remarked that the company would be taken if left there, that it was merely a reconnaissance of the enemy in force, and ordered the company in, which was obeyed. Previous to this I had informed General Prentiss of the indefensible condition of our front. “About 10 o’clock I went with Captain Johnson to [...]
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General Prentiss was so loth to believe that the enemy was in force that our division was not organized for defense, not even brigades, but each regiment acted upon its own hook, so far as I was able to observe. ” The point I wish to make is this: That had it not been for [...]
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Through the night the shells from the gunboats crashed along the rebel lines. So destructive was the fire that Beauregard was obliged to fall back from the position he had won by such sacrifice of human life. There was activity at the landing. The steamers went to Savannah, took on board McCook’s and Crittenden’s divisions [...]
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During April and May following the regiment remained at Pittsburg Landing, and in June and July it was at Jackson, Tenn. In August it was stationed at Bolivar, Tenn. The 12th, in command of Colonel Graves, was on picket duty near the field of action at Iuka on September 3d, and was in the battle [...]
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From a correspondent at the time: ” On the morning of December 24th, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Dwight May, of the 12th Michigan Infantry, left Middleburg, for Bolivar, Tenn., some seven miles distant, to attend a military commission convened by order of General Grant. When about two miles from Middteburg he saw horsemen approaching; as they [...]
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Very soon after the enemy appeared in line of battle as infantry, expecting an easy victory. With only 115 Austrian muskets, the Michigan boys in blue opened on the enemy from their rude fortifications. For nearly two hours and a half the air was filled with bullets. The enemy advanced, and was as often repulsed. [...]
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The officer asked, ‘ Who is in command?’ I answered, ‘ I am; whereupon he surveyed me from head to foot (I had been playing ball that morning, pants in boots, having on a jacket without straps), with a disdainful air and said: ‘ General Van Dorn demands a surrender of you and the whole [...]
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