Pushed Up The Hill

The Battle of Somerset or Dutton’s Hill was fought in central Kentucky March 31^st 1863.

Confederate Brigadier General John Pegream led a force of cavalry in 1863 into the Lexington, Kentucky area.  Aware of the movement Union Brigadier General Quincy A Gillmore, an engineer and artillerist serving in the Department of Ohio, sought permission to lead a cavalry and mounted infantry force against Pegream.  Before Gillmore could make his move the Confederates had rounded up a few hundred cattle to be used for supplying hungry troops.

Gillmore finally got his troops moving, catching up with Pegram’s force on March 31^st 1863 just outside of Somerset, Kentucky.  Union troops pushed Pegram’s men up Dutton’s Hill, where they made a stand. Union artillery was brought up, and the 45^th Ohio Mounted Infantry successfully charge the Confederates on the hill.

Pegram was forced to retreat.  They moved south of the Cumberland River, leaving behind most of the captured cattle.

An Engineer And Soldier

John Newton received his appointment to Union Major General March 30^th 1863.

John Newton was born August 25^th 1822 in Norfolk, Virginia the son of United States Congressman Thomas and Margaret (Jordan) Newton Jr.  He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating second in the class of 1842.  He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and taught the subject from 1843 to 1846 at the Academy.  After which Newton served in engineering work along the Atlantic coast, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf Coast.

When the Civil War began, Newton stayed loyal to the Union.  He helped with the construction of the defenses of Washington, DC.  He was leading a brigade during the Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns, and fought at the Battle of Antietam.  Newton had become a division commander in the VI Corps by the Battle of Fredericksburg.  He was among the officers who traveled to Washington, DC to complained to United States President Abraham Lincoln of their lack of confidence in their commander; Union Major General Ambrose E Burnside.  On March 30^th 1863 Newton was appointed Major General.  He was wounded during the Chancellorsville Campaign at Salem Church.  During the Battle of Gettysburg Newton took command of the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac after the death of Union Major General John F Reynolds, and would continue in that position until the army was reorganized in 1864.  He was then placed in commanded of a division in the IV Corps during the Atlanta Campaign.  After this he was moved to command of the District of Key West, with his last campaign of the war a defeat at the Battle of Natural Bridge in Florida in March 1865.

After the war Newton returned to the Corps of Engineers.  He would oversee the improvements of the waters around New York City, and the Hudson River south of Albany, New York.  He was appointed Chief of Engineers in 1884.  On October 10^th 1885 Newton used 140 tons of dynamite and blew up New York’s Hell Gate Rock.  He retired from the Army in 1886, serving as a Commissioner of Public Works in New York City, and as President of the Panama Railroad Company.  Newton died May 1^st 1895 in New York City, New York, and is buried in the cemetery at West Point.

Hay At The Station

The Skirmish at Stanwix Station on March 29^th 1862 was the westernmost fight to occur during the Civil War.

On March 29^th 1862 Union Captain William P Calloway and his detachment of 272 soldiers of the California Column moved toward Stanwix Station.  The Station had been a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Stagecoach line and was built in 1850.  It is located about 80 miles east of Yuma, Arizona.  There had been fodder placed at the Station for the Column’s animals.   Upon approaching they discovered a detachment of Confederates being led by Second Lieutenant John W Swilling, burning the supplies at the Station.

There was a small skirmish with the larger Union force, forcing Swilling’s small band to retreat to Tucson in the Confederate held Territory of Arizona.  There was only one Union casualty reported, German born Private William Frank Semmelrogge, who would recover.  The burning of the hay at the Stanwix Station and five other former stagecoach stops along the Gila River had its desired effect of slowing the movement of the California Column’s advance, giving the Confederates time to evacuate Tucson.

The Four Important Men

United States President Abraham Lincoln travel to City Point, Virginia and on March 28^th 1865 [I have seen the date listed as March 27^th] met with his Generals about the wrap up of the Civil War.

Union General William T Sherman’s troops were moving north up through the Carolinas, and Ulysses S Grant was about the break the 10 month long siege on Petersburg, Virginia that had been holding Confederate General Robert E Lee in place.  Lincoln had come to Virginia to meet with these men; he also toured the Union line in front of Petersburg, reviewed the troops and visited with the wounded.

On March 28^th 1865 Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and Union Admiral David Dixon Porter sat down together on the USS River Queen.  This was the first time Lincoln and Sherman had ever met.  Lincoln explained his worries that Lee could break out of Petersburg, move his troops south, join up with Confederate General Joseph E Johnston’s Army in North Carolina, and the war would go on for many more months.  He was assured by Grant and Sherman that the end of the war was close, although Grant wrote after the war that he “was afraid every morning that I would wake from my sleep to hear that Lee had gone, and that nothing was left but his picket line.”  Lincoln then stressed that the Confederates’ surrender term had to preserve the Union, and uphold the emancipation.  He told the men that he wanted the “Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on their farms and in their shops. Let them have their horses to plow with, and, if you like, their guns to shoot crows with. I want no one punished; treat them liberally all round. We want those people to return to their allegiance to the Union and submit to the laws.”

An Adventuring Spirit

Union General Augustus Wade Dwight was killed March 26^th 1865 in the attack on Fort Steadman.

Augustus Wade Dwight was born in Halifax, Vermont February 22^nd 1827, the first child born to Morris and Minerva (Bryant) Dwight.  The family moved in 1829 so his father could practice medicine in Cummington, Massachusetts, then to Poughkeepsie, New York in 1839 and finally in 1840 to LaFayette, New York.  Dwight started at Yale College in 1851, but a lack of funds caused him leave by the second semester.  He went west to California, caught up in the gold rush.  While in California he studied for the law.  His adventuring spirit found him on a ship to Hawaii, then onto China, and finally back to the United States having circumnavigated the globe.  By 1859 Dwight had settle in Onondaga County, New York and had been admitted to the bar.

In 1862 when Lincoln called for more troops, Dwight volunteered.  He was made the Captain of Company E of the 122^nd New York Infantry July 1862.  By August of 1862 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel under Colonel Silas Titus.  The regiment’s and Dwight’s first engagement was at the Battle of Antietam, where they were held in reserve.  The first heavy fighting came at the Battle of Gettysburg on Culp’s Hill.  Dwight sent reports of the war to the “Syracuse Journal” a local newspaper, as well as writing letters to relatives of men killed in action.  He was wounded the first time September 19^th 1864 at the Battle of Opequon in the right thigh, then at the Battle of Cedar Creek a ball shattered his right wrist, and he was sent home to recover.  He rejoined his regiment in February 1865 in front of Petersburg, replacing Titus in command of the regiment.

In the early morning hours of March 26^th 1865 the Confederates launched an attack on Fort Stedman, initially capturing the Union Fort.  The Union troops would retake the Fort, and in the afternoon Dwight’s regiment was ordered to take some Confederate trenches that had been weakened by the attack.  As the men moved forward, Dwight was hit in the head by artillery fire and killed instantly.  His body was returned home and is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York.

Resupply And Recruit

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest led a raid on the Ohio River in March, which included the Battle of Paducah on March 25^th 1864.

Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest headed into Tennessee and Kentucky with about 3,000 men.  The object of this raid was to disrupt Union troops in the area, resupply and recruit.  They reached Paducah, Kentucky on March 25^th 1864 and occupied the town.  Union troops in the town under the command of Colonel Stephen G Hicks, numbering around 650 men withdrew into Fort Anderson on the west side of Paducah.  Forrest tried to get the Union men to surrender, telling them "... if I have to storm your works, you may expect no quarter."  But with support of two gunboats on the Ohio River, Hicks would not surrender.

With Hicks men bottled up in the Fort, the Confederates rounded up horse and mules, and loaded Union Army supplies into wagons, destroying anything they couldn't take.  Some of Forrest’s men decided to attack the Fort, but they were repulsed with heavy casualties.

Headquarter And Escort Duty

Anderson Troop, a regiment of cavalry, sometimes identified at the 15^th Pennsylvania Cavalry was discharged from Union service on March 24^th 1863.

Organized in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as an independent cavalry company, the Anderson Troop was mustered into union service November 30^th 1861.  The men were recruited for three years’ service under the special authority of the United States Secretary of War.  It was placed under the command of Captain William Jackson Palmer, and was designated for headquarter and escort duty with Union General Robert Anderson in Kentucky.

The men moved to Louisville, Kentucky in December 1861.  They would be at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.  The Troop took part General Don Carlos Buell’s Campaign in Alabama and Tennessee from June through August 1862 in connection with the 4^th United States Cavalry.  They spent their time scouting the flanks of the Confederate troop and skirmishing with Confederate Cavalry.  The men would also be involved in Battles of Perryville, Wilkinson’s Cross Roads and Stones River.  During the Battle of Perryville three member of the Troop were captured carrying dispatches between Generals Alexander M McCook and Buell, but managed to destroy the messages before they fell into enemy hands.

The Troop was discharged from Union duty March 24^th 1863.  Union General William S Rosecrans who ordered their discharge said of the Troop, "I part with you with as much regret as you yourselves may feel. You are young, and your behavior since I have been in command, gives promise of a career of usefulness and honor, whether in the service of your country, or in private life; may you realize your hopes, and the wishes of your friends."  During their service they had one 1 office killed; Lieutenant Evan W Grubb, and 5 men who died from disease.