Up The Steep Slope

The Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain was fought May 9^th 1864 in western Virginia over one of the last Confederate railroads.

As Union General Ulysses S Grant began his 1864 spring campaign, he ordered Brigadier General George Crook who commanded the Union Army of West Virginia to march through the Appalachian Mountain into southwestern Virginia.  Crook was to work along with Union General William W Averell to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad.  The Confederate force in the area was commanded by General Albert G Jenkins.  Jenkins had only been in command for a few days when the battle broke out.

Jenkins found a strong defensive position at Cloyd’s Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia and decided to hold the line.  Crook quickly decided that the Confederate position was too strong for a frontal assault, but he could use a heavily forested area to the Confederate right to out flank them.  On May 9^th 1864 Crook opened the battle with an artillery barrage.  He sent out new West Virginia troops to the Confederate right, while troops under future president Colonel Rutherford B Hayes made a frontal assault.  Crook advanced on foot with Hayes’ men up the steep slope.  By 11am they had fought their way into the Confederate lines where the fight became hand to hand.  The West Virginian’s advanced beyond some Confederate cannon over running their crew.  Two new regiments of Ohio men moved in where Hayes’ men were and overwhelmed the Confederate center.  Jenkins shifted his troops skillfully, but was mortally wounded and taken prisoner by some Union soldiers.

After Jenkins was wounded, Brigadier General John McCausland took over command of the Confederate troops.  He conducted a rear guard fight as he withdrew the remaining troops.  Crook reported 688 casualties, while the Confederate lost 538 men.  Crook would continue to move forward and destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad at Dublin, Virginia.

If you would like to read more check Cloyds Mountain Campaign

The Man Who Made Gettysburg

John Badger Bachelder an artist and the preeminent early historian of the Battle of Gettysburg died December 22nd 1894.

John Badger Bachelder was born September 29th 1825 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He attended Captain Alden Partridge’s Military School in Pembroke, New Hampshire. After graduation he moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he took a job at the Pennsylvania Military Institute. Bachelder joined the Pennsylvania State Militia while at the school and was a Colonel by 1852. In 1853 Bachelder married Elizabeth Barber in New Hampshire where he began his career in art. He liked military topics for his art and was working a piece about Bunker Hill when the Civil War started. Bachelder accompanied the Union Army of the Potomac. He studied battlefields, interviewed participants of the battles. He seems to have been well liked, and welcomed by the leaders of the Union Army.

Bachelder’s life work came after the Battle of Gettysburg. Following the Battle he road the field on horseback, interviewed the wounded, plotted where the units where located and drew an isometric map of the battlefield. Bachelder spent the winter interviewing the Union commander who had been on the field in Gettysburg. As the years went by, Bachelder organized reunions, and he would accompany the veterans placing stakes at important points of the battle. He published a guidebook of the Battle in 1873. From 1883 through 1887 Bachelder was the Superintendent of Tablets and Legends, responsible for the placements of monuments on the Gettysburg Battlefield. President Rutherford B Hayes signed a bill for $50,000 in 1880 for Bachelder to write a history of the Battle of Gettysburg, which he sent to Washington DC in October 1886.

Bachelder died December 22nd 1894 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts of pneumonia. He is buried in the Stevens Hill Road Cemetery, in Nottingham, New Hampshire.

From Harvard, To War, To President

The nineteenth United States president Rutherford B Hayes died January 17th 1893.

Rutherford B Hayes was the son of Rutherford and Sophia [Birchard] Hayes and was born October 4th 1822 in Delaware Ohio. His father passed away two months before his birth, and so he was raised by an uncle. Hayes attended schools in Ohio and Connecticut and graduated valedictorian of his class from Kenyon College. He went on to get a law degree in 1845 from Harvard Law School. He became a successful lawyer practicing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hayes' opposition to slavery brought him into the Republican Party.

He volunteered his services at the start of the Civil War to the state of Ohio, and was appointed to the rank of Major in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded in the Battle of South Mountain on September 14th 1862. In 1864 Hayes was elected to Congress, but was still serving in the army and didn't take his seat until after the Union won the war.

In 1867 Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio. In 1876 he was elected President of United States. He brought about many progressive changes in the government including allowing women attorneys to argue before the Supreme Court. Hayes honored a commitment not to take a second term, and retired to his home in Fremont, Ohio. From here he worked for Civil War veterans, helping them get their pensions. He died at his home in Ohio at the age of seventy on January 17th 1893.

A President's Cousin

Libby Prison

On January 12th 1865 Edwin Louis Hayes was brevetted Brigadier General.

Edwin L Hayes was born in Ellicottville,NY the son of Harvey B Hayes. He was a cousin of President Rutherford B Hayes, and was age 34 when he enlisted on August 26, 1862 to serve for three years. In September of 1863 he was captured and sent to Libby Prison for eleven months [he was part of the men who dug an escape tunnel from the prison]. After the war he spent a short time as the Reconstruction Governor of NC. He died at his home at the age of 98, the oldest living Civil War General.