22nd Kentucky Infantry

huskerblitz

Major
Joined
Jun 8, 2013
Location
Nebraska
e785a8a4100259d85acb8a1cc8da9366.jpg

Overview:
Organized at Louisa, Ky., January 20, 1862.
Attached to 18th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to March, 1862.
26th Brigade, 7th Division. Army of the Ohio, to October, 1862.
4th Brigade, District of West Virginia, Dept. of the Ohio, to November, 1862.
3rd Brigade, 9th Division, Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862.
3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition to January, 1863.
3rd Brigade, 9th Division, 13th Army Corps, to February, 1863.
2nd Brigade, 9th Division, 13th Army Corps, to July, 1863.
4th Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to August, 1863;
Dept. of the Gulf to September, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, to November, 1863.
Plaquemine, District of Baton Rouge, La., Dept. of the Gulf, to :March, 1864.
2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, to June, 1864.
2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 19th Army Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, to December, 1864.

Detailed service (taken from Dyer's A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion)

Service:
Operations in eastern Kentucky until March 1862.
Garfield's Campaign against Humphrey Marshall December 23, 1861 to January 30, 1862.
Advance on Paintsville, Ky., December 30, 1861 to January 7, 1862.
Jennie's Creek January 7,
Occupation of Paintsville October 8.
Abbott's Hill January 9.
Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, January 10.
Occupation of Prestonburg January 11.
Expedition to Pound Gap, Cumberland Mountains, March 14–17.
Pound Gap March 16.
Cumberland Gap Campaign March 28-June 18.
Cumberland Mountain April 28.
Occupation of Cumberland Gap June 18-September 16.
Operations about Cumberland Gap August 2–6.
Tazewell August 6.
Evacuation of Cumberland Gap and retreat to Greenup, on the Ohio River, September 16-October 3.
West Liberty September 24.
Expedition to Charleston, Va., October 21-November 10.
Moved to Memphis, Tenn., November 10–15, and duty there until December 20. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862 to January 3, 1863.
Chickasaw Bayou December 26–28.
Chickasaw Bluff December 29,
Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3–10, 1863.
Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10–11.
Moved to Young's Point, La., January 17–22 and duty there until March.
Operations from Milliken's Bend to New Carthage March 31-April 17.
Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25–30.
Battle of Port Gibson May 1.
Battle of Champion Hill May 16.
Big Black River Bridge May 17.
Siege of Vicksburg May 18-July 4.
Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22.
Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 5–10. Near Clinton July 8.
Siege of Jackson July 10–17.
At Big Black until August 13.
Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 13.
Duty at Carrollton, Brashear City and Berwick until October.
Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 21.
Duty at Plaquemine November 21, 1863 to March 24, 1864; and at Baton Rouge until April.
Ordered to Alexandria, reporting there April 26.
Red River Campaign April 26-May 22.
Graham's Plantation May 5. Retreat to Morganza May 13–20.
Mansura May 16.
Expedition to the Atchafalaya May 31-June 6.
Duty at Morganza, at mouth of the White River, Ark., and at Baton Rouge, La., until January 1865.

Officially, the regiment lost 199 men, 3 officers and 48 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 3 officers and 145 enlisted men died of disease.

This thread is intended to serve as the location for general regimental history, photographs, stories, articles and any other relevant information about the 22nd Kentucky infantry regiment. Please do not start new threads - just add your content about the regiment under this existing thread so others can easily find it. Thank you so much for contributing information for this regiment.
 
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Below are links to the Roster of the 22nd Kentucky. I am currently working on, what I believe is the most comprehensive, roster for the regiment using the Compiled Service Records. All of the rosters I have seen on the internet have contained errors of some sort. My hope is my roster will correct a lot of those errors and provide more information to those seeking it. I will post that information in the near future.


Company A - Many men mustered in from Louisville, Franklin County.
Company B - Many men mustered in from Greenup County.
Company C - Many men mustered in from Greenup County.
Company D - Many men mustered in from Carter County.
Company E - Many men mustered in from Lewis County.
Company F - Many men mustered in from Franklin County. and Greenup County.
Company G - Many men mustered in from Louisville.
Company H - Many men mustered in from Paintsville, Johnson County.
Company I - Many men mustered in from Paintsville, Johnson County and Louisville, Jefferson County.
Company K - Many men mustered in from Louisville.
Kentucky. Adjutant General, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, Vol. 2, 1861-1866

Rosters:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kycarter/military/22nd.htm
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kymercer/CivilWar/Union/22inf/
 
While there is no formal regimental history written, the regiment surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stevenson, did publish his letters in 1884. This is a must-read for anyone wanting to know about the regiment and where they traveled. Dr. Stevenson mentions a number of names and always dated his letters with the location. The book can be accessed for free on Archive.org and today can be purchased as a printed book. Be warn that the print book are scanned pages of the original but still fairly clean. Original copies can be found, but range from $300 and up.

https://archive.org/details/lettersfromarmy00stev_0

Print Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1516934989/?tag=civilwartalkc-20
 
The regiment was raised by Col. Daniel W. Lindsey, a well-known Frankfort lawyer. Along with his second-in-command, Lt. Col. George W. Monroe, Lindsey attended the Kentucky Military Institute before becoming a lawyer.

Daniel W. Lindsey was reared in Frankfort, and in the excellent private schools of the city secured the foundation of that splendid education of which he is now the possessor. In 1853 he was graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute, which in after years conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He did not at once determine upon his career in life but for a short time after his graduation he was engaged in the coal mining business. He entered the Louisville Law School in the winter of 1856-7, and was graduated from that institution. In the spring of 1858 he hung out his shingle at Frankfort and was practicing law when the Civil war came on.

Mr. Lindsey resigned as captain of a company of state guards in May of 1861 and when General William Nelson opened a recruiting station for Federal troops Mr. Lindsey became a drill master for the recruits. When General Thomas L. Crittenden became inspector general, Mr. Lindsey became assistant adjutant general on the staff and when General Crittenden was commissioned general in the United States army, General Lindsey was commissioned to raise a regiment. This he accomplished with energy and expedition, and the regiment became the Twenty-second Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and as such was mustered into the United States Army service, with Mr. Lindsey as colonel.

Thereupon began for him a varied and adventurous career and one of great usefulness to his country. He served with General Garfield’s expedition up the Sandy River, participated in the taking of Cumberland Gap, in the expedition up the Kenawah Valley, and was later ordered to Memphis, Tennessee. In the latter place the troops were reorganized and he was placed in command of a brigade. After the Vicksburg campaign he was with his command ordered to New Orleans in the Department of the Gulf, and remained in that department until the latter part of 1863, when he tendered his resignation to become inspector general, and later adjutant general of Kentucky, which position he held until the fall of 1867. During that time he accomplished a great and extremely important work, none other than the compilation of the Adjutant General’s report, 1861 1866, of Kentucky, a two volume publication which contained the military history of every officer and soldier in the Civil war. This has been an authentic and much referred to work, a complete military history of the state up to the date of its issue.
A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians

Lindsey CDV2.JPG
 
George W. Monroe

Son of a Frankfort lawyer, Monroe led the charge which decided the battle’s outcome. He and his regiment later saw action at Chickasaw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Champion Hill, Thompson’s Hill, and other important battles. In 1864 Monroe assumed command of the Frankfort garrison and successfully defended his hometown from Morgan’s raiders.

Born in Adair County in 1835, George Wood Monroe was the sixth son of Judge Benjamin Monroe of Frankfort, Kentucky. A prominent Frankfort attorney during the 1850s, Benjamin was known as Judge Monroe because he had served as judge of the Western Kentucky Circuit Court during the 1830s. His son George grew up in Frankfort and attended the town’s public schools.

We don’t know what special qualifications led to Monroe’s military commission, but we do know that on December 12th, l861, the 22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Swigert, Greenup County, Kentucky, with D. W. Lindsey as colonel and Monroe as lieutenant colonel. Company A of the 22nd Kentucky was composed of men recruited at Frankfort and Louisville, which means that some of them may have been Monroe’s personal friends. The regiment’s other companies were composed of men from Greenup, Carter, and Lewis Counties.

Middle Creek was the regiment’s baptism of fire, and during it Monroe performed gallantly, leading a detachment of the 22nd Kentucky up the steep hill opposite Graveyard Point and driving the men of the 5th Kentucky from their trenches. In his battle report Garfield praised Monroe for his bravery, saying that his heroic charge was “determinate of the day.”

Monroe and his regiment saw action under several different commanders. They accompanied General George W. Morgan during his retreat from Cumberland Gap in October, 1862, and they served with Sherman’s command during the expedition to Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi in December, 1862. On December 29th, Monroe led an unsuccessful charge against the heavily-defended Confederate position at Chickasaw Bluffs, along the Yazoo River above Vicksburg, that resulted in the deaths of three officers of the regiment and the wounding of Monroe and four other officers.

During Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign, Monroe and his men saw action at Arkansas Post, Thompson’s Hill, Champion Hill, Big Black Bridge and other important battles. On October 15th, 1863, Monroe was promoted to colonel and given command of the 22nd Kentucky, Lindsey having been promoted to division commander.

In March, 1864, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the 7th, 19th, and 22nd Kentucky Infantry Regiments were consolidated to form the 7th Kentucky Veteran Infantry, with Monroe as commander. In May, 1864, they were ordered to join General Banks in his expedition up the Red River.

Lindsey subsequently resigned his command and accepted the position of Inspector General of Kentucky, with headquarters at Frankfort. Monroe followed suit and in May, 1864 he was appointed Kentucky Quartermaster General by Governor Bramlette. Returning to Frankfort, he assumed command of the town’s small Union garrison during John Hunt Morgan’s “Last Kentucky Raid.” On June 10th, 1864, he successfully defended the town when it was beseiged by Colonel Pryor and two hundred men of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, part of Morgan’s command.

Monroe held the rank of Colonel until March 18th, 1865, when he was breveted Brigadier General by President Lincoln, in recognition of his gallant service for the Union cause. He served as Kentucky’s Quartermaster General until September, 1868, when he was forced to resign because of sickness. He died at his home in Frankfort on September 22nd, 1869, at the age of thirty-four.
http://www.oocities.org/rlperry.geo/ColonelGeorgeWMonroePage.html

ColonelGeorgeWMonroe3.jpg
 
The third and final colonel of the 22nd was William Worthington.

Worthington was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but spent his childhood in Ohio. He came to Kentucky with his parents as a teenager, and served in the Twenty-second Kentucky Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was commissioned captain of the Company B of the Infantry, and was later promoted to the ranks of major and lieutenant colonel. Worthington was present during the Siege of Vicksburg and the Battle of Cumberland Gap. He was under the command of Ambrose Burnside during the Red River Campaign and at the Capture of New Orleans.

After the conflict's end, Colonel Worthington returned to his home in Greenup County, Kentucky and purchased a furnace in the Hanging Rock Iron Field. He was actively involved in the iron business for about fifteen years.

Worthington was prominent and influential in local affairs during his lifetime. He served one term as county judge of Greenup, and was elected a state senator in 1869. In 1895 he was elected lieutenant governor of the state, and in 1900 he was again elected to the State Legislature.

The city of Worthington, Kentucky was named after Worthington, being built by his daughters upon land inherited from the Colonel.
A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians

William Jackson Worthington Lt Gov Poster.jpg
 
The following is an account from Surgeon B.F. Stevenson about the small battle that took place near Tazewell, Tennessee in early Nov. 1862. This is part of his paper on Cumberland Gap read before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. The entire document can be found at the link below:
https://archive.org/details/cumberlandgappap00stev

Foraging in force was not unattended with danger, as DeCourcy's Brigade, two thousand strong, came near being surrounded and cut off on the 6th of August, at Tazewell, Tenn. Only gallant fighting and skillful handling prevented its capture by a three-fold greater force of the enemy. The gravest positions are at times accompanied by ludicrous scenes which tend to relieve their gravity, and occassion amusement to the soldiery. The Battle of Tazewell was fought just south of that town. In falling back the troops all filed through its main street. the 22d Kentucky was in the rear. It was not running, only making good quick-step time. The town is in a deep valley, and on the hills on each side were the batteries of the opposing hosts, which were worked to their utmost activity, whilst the rear was being pressed by the pursuing enemy. Near the center of town a great tall, obese, "sable sister," in the undress uniform of the laundry brigade - a sleeveless bodice and a red flannel petticoat, which, like "Wee Nannie's cutty sark," was in "longitude sorely scanty," - emerged from a side street. Bubbling all over with excitement, and gesticulating wildly, she screamed at the top of her voice, "Oh, oh! you Yanks is skedadling, is you?" She exposed to the profane gaze of the soldiery an amazing extent of rotund nudities. The grotesque humor of the situation was sufficient to have provoked an audible smile under the ribs of death.
[B. F. Stevenson, Surgeon (Major), 22nd KY Inf.; Cumberland Gap, a paper read before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, June 3, 1885; Cincinnati, 1885, pp. 12/13]
 
I haven't posted the links yet, but a number of Civil War era newspapers from Kentucky have been put on Archive.org including the Louisville Daily Journal and Louisville Daily Democrat. The Commonwealth is also on there.
 
George W. Monroe

Son of a Frankfort lawyer, Monroe led the charge which decided the battle’s outcome. He and his regiment later saw action at Chickasaw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Champion Hill, Thompson’s Hill, and other important battles. In 1864 Monroe assumed command of the Frankfort garrison and successfully defended his hometown from Morgan’s raiders.

Born in Adair County in 1835, George Wood Monroe was the sixth son of Judge Benjamin Monroe of Frankfort, Kentucky. A prominent Frankfort attorney during the 1850s, Benjamin was known as Judge Monroe because he had served as judge of the Western Kentucky Circuit Court during the 1830s. His son George grew up in Frankfort and attended the town’s public schools.

We don’t know what special qualifications led to Monroe’s military commission, but we do know that on December 12th, l861, the 22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Swigert, Greenup County, Kentucky, with D. W. Lindsey as colonel and Monroe as lieutenant colonel. Company A of the 22nd Kentucky was composed of men recruited at Frankfort and Louisville, which means that some of them may have been Monroe’s personal friends. The regiment’s other companies were composed of men from Greenup, Carter, and Lewis Counties.

Middle Creek was the regiment’s baptism of fire, and during it Monroe performed gallantly, leading a detachment of the 22nd Kentucky up the steep hill opposite Graveyard Point and driving the men of the 5th Kentucky from their trenches. In his battle report Garfield praised Monroe for his bravery, saying that his heroic charge was “determinate of the day.”

Monroe and his regiment saw action under several different commanders. They accompanied General George W. Morgan during his retreat from Cumberland Gap in October, 1862, and they served with Sherman’s command during the expedition to Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi in December, 1862. On December 29th, Monroe led an unsuccessful charge against the heavily-defended Confederate position at Chickasaw Bluffs, along the Yazoo River above Vicksburg, that resulted in the deaths of three officers of the regiment and the wounding of Monroe and four other officers.

During Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign, Monroe and his men saw action at Arkansas Post, Thompson’s Hill, Champion Hill, Big Black Bridge and other important battles. On October 15th, 1863, Monroe was promoted to colonel and given command of the 22nd Kentucky, Lindsey having been promoted to division commander.

In March, 1864, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the 7th, 19th, and 22nd Kentucky Infantry Regiments were consolidated to form the 7th Kentucky Veteran Infantry, with Monroe as commander. In May, 1864, they were ordered to join General Banks in his expedition up the Red River.

Lindsey subsequently resigned his command and accepted the position of Inspector General of Kentucky, with headquarters at Frankfort. Monroe followed suit and in May, 1864 he was appointed Kentucky Quartermaster General by Governor Bramlette. Returning to Frankfort, he assumed command of the town’s small Union garrison during John Hunt Morgan’s “Last Kentucky Raid.” On June 10th, 1864, he successfully defended the town when it was beseiged by Colonel Pryor and two hundred men of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, part of Morgan’s command.

Monroe held the rank of Colonel until March 18th, 1865, when he was breveted Brigadier General by President Lincoln, in recognition of his gallant service for the Union cause. He served as Kentucky’s Quartermaster General until September, 1868, when he was forced to resign because of sickness. He died at his home in Frankfort on September 22nd, 1869, at the age of thirty-four.
http://www.oocities.org/rlperry.geo/ColonelGeorgeWMonroePage.html

View attachment 118883


George W. Monroe
Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel & Brigadier General
7th Kentucky Infantry
22nd Kentucky Infantry
BM: Baton Rouge, LA

B0232340CA901C9E.jpg
 
A neat web site that is fairly new gives access to Civil War era documents, including this one by George W. Monroe about the flag of the 22nd Kentucky. In Feb. 1863, Monroe sent the "Old Blue Rag" back to Col. Lindsay back in Kentucky and requested a new one sent to the regiment.

discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-003-0064

Transcription:

Head Quarters 22nd Reg. Ky. Vols
Plaquemine La
January. 3d1864
To His Excellency
Governor Bramlette of. Kentucky
Sir

On the Banner returned to the Capitol is inscribed the history of the 22nd Ky. It has been our lot to bear it aloft and to uphold the reputation of the State upon many battle fields.

At Middle Creek at Pound Gap at Tazewell at Chickasaw Bluff. at Arkansas Post, at Thompsons Hill, at Champions Hill. Black River Bridge, at Vicksburg and at Jackson it has waved in the face of the enemy. This Old flag is dear to us, for beneath its folds. many of our brave comrades have fallen, and sealed their patriotism with their blood. It is dear to us for the victories won under it. It is dear to us because it has never yet been lowered before the enemy, and has never been polluted by traitor hands. We trust therefore that with proud satisfaction you may receive it, greater than that, which was felt even when it was committed to our trust.

It will be our purpose to preserve the
honor of the new one which takes its place untarnished, and when that too shall be returned, may our country again be united, prosperous and happy as of Old, when all delighted to honor the National Banner.

I am Very Respectfully Governor
Your Obedient Servant
Geo. W. Monroe
Col Comndg. 22 Ky. Reg.
 
Lindsey's letter of commendation for Kentucky's soldiers.


From: Union Cause in Kentucky, by Thomas Speed

Preface:

Concerning the general subject of the Union cause in Kentucky the eloquent words penned by Gen. D. W. Lindsay in 1866, in his preface to the Adjutant-General's report, are here quoted :



Headquarters Kentucky Volunteers
Adjutant-General’s Office
Frankfort, Dec. 1, 1866

To His Excellency, Thomas E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky:

" It has been fashionable with some to reflect upon the loy-
alty of our State, but every true man must feel and cordially
confess that Kentucky has, during the late war, under circum-
stances far more trying than those surrounding any other State
in the Union, discharged her whole duty. She has, at all
times and under all circumstances, promptly responded to the
quotas assigned her, not with the mercenary, purchased by
excessive State or local bounty, but with citizens prompted by
patriotism to the defence of their government. In proof of
this, the gallant record of our State, I would refer those
doubting to the casualty statistics of this report, the record of
battles in which Kentucky troops have borne an honorable
part, and lastly to the seventy-nine stand of colors, those silent
yet eloquent souvenirs of toil and danger, now displayed in
the Capitol of the State, to remain as evidence of the bravery
of her sons, and as an incentive to continued patriotism and
sacrifice wherever duty calls. Many of these flags have been
pierced by shot and shell and their folds stained with the
blood of their bearers, but all bearing evidence of the duty
which Kentucky troops were expected to, and did, perform.
Certainly no one will rejoice more than your Excellency in
the fact that there is not a blemish upon the escutcheon of a
single organization from Kentucky."

Very Respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
D.W. Lindsey,
Adjutant General of Kentucky

https://archive.org/details/unioncauseinkent00spee
 
Sgt. Richard Frayne

Richard J Frayne.jpg


Frayne Sword.JPG


Nonregulation Staff and Field Officer’s Sword, c. 1863

This sword has an etched steel blade; on the obverse side, it has a brass proof mark on the ricasso (the section of the blade just above the handle), and etched into the blade are the words “22nd Regt Ky Vols” and a spread eagle with an “E PLURIBUS UNUM” scroll banner connected by floral patterns. The reverse side, beginning at the ricasso, has an etched “Lieut. R. J. Frayne,” floral patterns, and a “U.S.” The hilt is made out of gilded brass, and the pommel has an engraved U.S. shield and floral pattern. The quillon is plain, and the wooden grip is covered in fish skin, which is attached by brass cording.

Background Information

Little is known of the civilian life of Richard J. Frayne, who owned this sword. Born around 1829, he was 32 years old when he enlisted as a 2nd Sergeant in the Union Army on December 2, 1861. He joined the 22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was organized at Louisa, Kentucky, and mustered into service on January 20, 1862. The 22nd Kentucky mostly performed operations in eastern Kentucky, including the Cumberland Gap Campaign. After occupying the Gap from June to September of 1862, the 22nd Kentucky moved into Virginia and Tennessee, and then further south to Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in 1863, participating in the Siege of Vicksburg. The 22nd Kentucky mustered out of service on January 20, 1865, and veterans and new recruits were transferred to the 7th Kentucky Veterans Volunteer Infantry.

Frayne was promoted to 1st Sergeant on April 13, 1862. In December that year, he was wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. In the fall of 1863, Frayne was hospitalized for fever, ague, and “febrility” (another term for fever) and excused from duty for nearly two months. A November/December 1863 company muster roll indicates that Frayne was “in Invalid Corps, by whose authority not-known.” Invalid Corps, or Veteran Reserve Corps, allowed disabled or ill soldiers to perform light duty in order to free up able-bodied men for battle. On a January/February 1864 company muster roll, Frayne was declared absent without leave (AWOL) because he did not return after an authorized furlough of 20 days in August of 1863. Frayne was then dismissed from service by order of Major General Edward Canby “with forfeiture of all pay and allowances due” because of his perceived unauthorized absence. However, in 1905, the War Department determined that the AWOL charge was erroneous, and that Frayne had been absent from his regiment because he was serving with the Veteran Reserve Corps at that time. It is not known what Frayne did after the war.

This sword is a non-regulation model, meaning it was not a government-issued weapon for soldiers, and it was possibly purchased and brought to battle by Frayne himself. This particular sword was made by Joseph J. Hirschbuhl, a military outfitter based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society • Accession Number 1939.516 • 37 1/2” x 3 1/2” x 4 1/2”

Significance

Infantry officers like Frayne were outfitted with swords for much of America’s history. In 1798, Captain Epaphras Hoyt, a Massachusetts cavalryman, wrote Treatise on the Military Art, in which he explained, “It is by the right use of the sword that they are to expect victory: This is indisputably the most formidable and essentially useful weapon of cavalry: Nothing decides an engagement sooner than charging briskly with this weapon in hand. By this mode of attack, a body of cavalry will generally rout one that receives it with pistols to fire.” This declaration set the stage for military sword use for decades to come; up through the Civil War, it influenced men on how to arm themselves for battle.

By the time of the Civil War, many cavalrymen and infantry officers went into battle armed with swords, despite new strides in weapon technology. Guns were more accurate and fired more rapidly, which changed battlefield tactics substantially during the war. While in the past an officer or soldier armed with a sword would have been able to charge directly towards the enemy, it was no longer safe to do so because of the risk of being shot while advancing. Swords became a last line of defense, used when a soldier ran out of ammunition or functioning weapons, or when an enemy was too close to fire upon.

After the Civil War, swords were slowly phased out of service, and by the early 1900s, they ceased to be a part of a soldier’s standard combat uniform.
 
Company K of the 22nd Kentucky was made up mostly of Louisville Germans. Following comes from the Facebook page of the Kentucky in the Civil War Project page.

Louisville Germans in the 22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment

22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Company K of the 22nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment Infantry was a German company from Louisville. All of its officers and men enrolled on October 16, 1861 and mustered into service at Camp Buell, Johnson County, Kentucky, on January 10, 1862. Thirty-three-year-old Capt. Lewis Schweitzer initially led the German company. Schweitzer was a native of Bavaria and a teamster in civilian life. His captaincy ended on November 8, 1862 due to physical disability. First Lieutenant Gustav A. Wehrle, a Baden native who was thirty-two years old at enlistment, commanded the company from the time of Captain Schweitzer’s resignation to May 27, 1863. Lieutenant Wehrle returned to Louisville in August 1863 on a furlough because of a hernia. He remained in the Ohio River city performing light military duties until he returned to his regiment on July 1, 1864. He then commanded Company F and Company H until mid-October 1864. Wehrle mustered out on January 20, 1865. The company’s 2nd Lieutenant, Charles Gutig, mustered as captain on May 27, 1863, and later filed an affidavit stating that he had been acting captain from the date of Captain Schweizer’s resignation. He mustered out on January 20, 1865. At enlistment Gutig was a thirty-two-year-old tailor born in Hesse-Darmstadt.
The 22nd Kentucky contained around eighty-eight Germans from Louisville and served in Eastern Kentucky and western Virginia before being sent to West Tennessee, western Mississippi, Arkansas and eastern Louisiana. The regiment fought in several battles that resulted in the capture of the Confederate bastion at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863. The regiment was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 13, 1863, and was stationed at various places in the Bayou State, including Alexandra, Baton Rouge, and Morganza, until muster out in January 1865. Only two Germans in Company K died from combat while ten men succumbed to disease and illnesses. The regiment mustered out on Jan 20 1865.

A few of the Louisville German soldiers wrote to the Louisville Anzeiger, a German language newspaper. Joe Reinhard has compiled and translated a number of these newspaper articles, which can be found at: http://kygermanscw.yolasite.com/
He has shared a number of them with me, but here are two found at the above web site:

LOUISVILLE ANZEIGER

December 30, 1863
From the 22nd Kentucky Regiment
Plaquemine, La., 10 Dec. [1863]


Worthy Anzeiger:

I should have written you long ago, however, what restrained me from it, was that we were separated a long time from our main army. I was not able to write something of interest and now I know very little that could interest you.

However, I wanted to let you know that we presently lay here as garrison and prepare fortifications because in a few days we expect the enemy here under Gen. Green with about 6,000 conscripted men, whom he is busy catching in the neighborhood.

We are presently busy here distributing a newspaper under the name “Picket Post” published by Cap. Jack Hughes; Chas. G. Shanks, editor, earlier reporter for the “Louisville Journal.” The compositors consist of Thomas J. Collins, earlier of the “Democrat,” E. Napier, earlier of the journal, and my humble self.

Because this newspaper will first make its appearance in a few days, I will send off a sample to you.

J. R.​



LOUISVILLE ANZEIGER
March 15, 1864
Baton Rouge, La., 28 Feb.
Friend Doern:

On Wednesday the 17th I arrived here and enjoyed finding the regiment as healthy and cheerful as ever. The 22nd and 7th Kentucky and two New York regiments, as well as several batteries are stationed here. You noted several weeks ago, that the 22nd Regiment had mustered in again [veteranized] and will soon come to Louisville on 30 days leave. We do not know anything here about this.

Baton Rouge is a rather lively place, a pretty state house is located here – the inside has been burned out, one has the idea that it will be rebuilt again. The institution for the blind is being used as a hospital. Also I must tell you that in the state election that took place on February 22nd, a German by the name of Michael Hahn was elected as governor.

Charles Gütig​
 
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