SGT

[Note: Photograph - Direct from Photograph by National Tribune

MAJOR-GENERAL J. J. REYNOLDS

First Colonel of 75th Indiana Infantry Volunteers]

SEVENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT
History of the SEVENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT
of the Indiana Infantry Volunteers,
its
Organization, Campaigns, and Battles,
(1862-65,)
By
Rev. David Bittle Floyd, A.M.,
(Formerly a Sergeant in Co. I of the Regiment)

With an Introduction
By
Major-General J. J. Reynolds, (Provisional Colonel of the Regiment,)

Published for the Author.

Philadelphia:
Lutheran Publication Society.
1893.

Copyrighted, 1892,
By
David B. Floyd.

To the Memory
of
The Honored Dead
of the
Seventy-Fifth Indiana Regiment,
Whose Lives Were Lost to Preserve the Union,
This Volume
Is
Respectfully Dedicated.

Contents

Preface Introduction Chapter I Organization - Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Recapitulation of the Strength and Loss of the Regiment Roster of the Regiment

PREFACE
Thirty years have come and gone since the Seventy-Fifth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers began its long marches, frequent encampments, and bloody battles in the war for the suppression of the rebellion. Many of the noble and brave men, who went out with us in defense of a common country, did not return with us. We left them years ago on the hills, by the streams, and in the valleys of the sunny South. Yet by us they are not forgotten. Their heroic deeds and last resting places are often brought to our minds in fond remembrance. We, who saw our comrades fall in battle, and die in camps, and famish in prisons, where their bodies were laid in unmarked and uncoffined graves beneath the palmetto and the pine, are ourselves dropping out of ranks in the rapid march of time, and falling down in the stern battle of life. During the preparation of these chapters on war, the writer has been busy with the duties of preaching the gospel of peace, which may serve as an apology for any defects, that may be found among the facts herein given. If there should be any omissions which detract from any one, or additions that reflect upon any one, such must be corrected by the hand of charity. Besides the writer's own personal knowledge of the events herein recorded, the following works, bearing more or less upon the subjects treated, were consulted in the preparation of the volume: The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Official reports of the Adjutant-General Terrell, of Indiana, Van Horne's History of the Army of the Cumberland, General Sherman's Memoirs, General Grant's Personal Memoirs, General Turchin's Chickamauga, and the Century Magazine's War Articles. The writer owes his grateful acknowledgments to Comrades James G. Essington, of Co. D; Mahlon J. Paxon, of Co.F; Capt. Irwin Polson, of Co. C; Capt. David L. Elliott, of Co. E; and Capt. Mahlon H. Floyd, of Co. I, who had the kindness to loan him their valuable Diaries in the preparation of this book. He is also indebted to Capt. S. C. Kellogg, U. S. A., late A. D. C. to Gen. Geo. H. Thomas. for furnishing elegant maps of the Campaigns in which the Regiment served; to Mrs. Hester A. McGinness, for interesting letters written by her husband, Capt. William McGinness; to Lieut. William S. Stitt, of Co. A; to Capt. Thomas . Ellis and Serg't Alphens N. Rood, of Co. B; to Capt. Irwin Polson and Lieut. Jacob Lair, of Co. C; to Major Cyrus J. McCole and James G. Essington, of Co. D; to Capt. David L. Elliott, of Co. E; to Capt. Christopher S. Arthur, of Co. F; to Capt. Joseph T. Smith, of Co. G; to James C. Favorite, of Co. H; to Capt. Mahlon H. Floyd, of Co. I, and to Serg't William B. Miller, of Co. K, for assistance in preparing the Roster of their respective Companies, and for other very valuable material furnished to them. He is especially indebted to General J. J. Reynolds for furnishing the introduction; to Capt. Daniel H. Floyd, A. Q. M., U. S. A., and to Capt. J. H. Mauzy, of the Sixty-eighth Indiana, for valuable aid to the preparation of the chapters. This book is not a history of the war, nor of the army in which the Regiment served; but it is claimed to be a faithful record of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment and of the Regiments immediately associated with it. The story of the service and sacrifice of every man, who belonged to the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment, will, in this record, be perpetuated among his children and grandchildren. The volume is now submitted to those, who are interested in what it relates. If it should prove in some degree beneficial to its readers, the writer will feel that he has been compensated for his labor.

David B. Floyd

INTRODUCTION

To My Comrades of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Volunteers:
The author of this history of our Regiment has kindly in invited me, its first Colonel, to write a few words of introduction. I gladly embrace the opportunity to say how d'ye do and good-bye; for our ranks are gradually thinning out, and many, whose hands I would delight to grasp in comradeship while these words are being written, may have passed away before they can be read. As time is ordinarily reckoned among men, nearly an entire generation has passed since you voluntarily enlisted in the service of your country. This act involved separation, for an indefinite period, from home and relatives and friends, from the affectionate associations of youth and the laudable aspirations of young men at a time of life when the most important steps are usually taken. In short, this act involved a separation from all that men hold dearest on earth. During the war you followed the flag in camp, on the march, in bivouac, in skirmish, and in battle, in a manner that entitles you to an honorable position among the Regiments that, in the grand aggregate, made up more than two millions of men enrolled and organized for the suppression of the rebellion. The details and incidents of this service, the ups and downs of a soldier's life, from home back to home again, are portrayed in this volume by one of our number. He took the field as a boy and returned a mature man, having been meanwhile part and parcel of the scenes which he describes. The reading of these pages will make us all feel young again. Since the termination of the war, and as consequent upon the questions thereby decided, the progress of our country in material and educational development has gone far beyond any previous period in our history. The former camping grounds of some of our Regiments are now the sites of thriving towns, and busy populations engaged in all manner of peaceful pursuits are made up, in good proportion, of ex-soldiers. May we not, my comrades, without undue exultation, congratulate ourselves upon these happy results? When the chapters of this book shall be read aloud by the firesides of veterans, a majority of the listeners will, in many cases, be composed of persons born since the days of 1861-'65. Questions may be propounded by these young people that will trouble the veteran to fully answer. The magnitude of the civil war was scarcely appreciated by those who participated in it. As a convenient historical point of comparison, the young people may be reminded, that their own state furnished more troops for the civil war than the total number employed on both sides in the ever memorable battle of Yorktown. When the youth asks the veteran why he went to war, his answer is ever ready and easily understood. It was simply that the old flag should not be rent asunder.

Your Comrade,
J. J. Reynolds
Washington, D. C.