Trivia 7-24-19

[Trivia Master]

The 12th Michigan sent two companies on the early morning scouting mission before Shiloh to accompany the 25th Missouri. Who were the leaders of those companies?

credit: @Hu

Edit - I am unable to find any member named simply "Hu." Perhaps part of the name was lost in the typing.

Will the author of this question please send me a private conversation and identify yourself so that you can get credit for the submission?

hoosier

 

[SWMODave]

Captains Graves and Cravath were the leaders of the two Michagan companies in question

Edit - Your source supports your answer, so it is accepted as a correct answer.

hoosier

 

[DBF]

"During the night preceding the battle of the 6th, Colonel Peabody had been advised by Lt. Colonel Graves, of the 12th Michigan, of the approach of the enemy, and on this information he took the responsibility to order from his brigade 2 companies of the 12th Michigan commanded by Captain Graves and [Isaac M.] Cravath . . . ."
https://books.google.com/books?id=J...Graves and Craveth - April 6th Shiloh&f=false

 

[gentlemanrob]

12th Michigan - Colonel Francis Quinn 1827 - 1876
25th Missouri - Lt. Colonel Robert Thompson Van Horn 1824 - 1916

Edit - The question asked for the commanders of the two Michigan companies. Quinn was the commander of the regiment, but not the commander of an individual company.

hoosier

 

[Mike Serpa]

Francis Quinn, William Graves

Edit - Francis Quinn was the colonel and William Graves the lieutenant colonel of the regiment, not commanders of individual companies. Note that the commander of one of the companies on the scouting mission was Phineas Graves, not William Graves.

hoosier

 

[Kurt G]

Capt. Gilbert D Johnson and Capt. Phineus Graves.

 

[Montana Territory]

Major James E. Powell of the 25th Missouri Infantry commanded two companies of the 12th Michigan Infantry under:

Captain Phineas Graves, Company D, and
Captain Gilbert D. Johnson, Company H

 

[WJC]

Captain Phineas Graves, Company D, and Captain Gilbert D. Johnson, Company H.

 

[Stony]

Captain Phineas Graves of Company D, 12th Michigan
source-https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8003376/phineas-graves

Captain Gilbert D. Johnson, of Company H, 12th Michigan
source-https://www.historynet.com/shermans-folly-at-shiloh.htm

 

[Michigander]

This one was HARD! I still don't know if I got it right, but I definitely enjoyed researching this story. When they were erecting the Michigan Monument at Shiloh back in 1918, the War Department did not include the 12th Michigan being a part of the initial skirmish. I chased down a lot of leads that never really got down to who the two companies were. But upon further investigation I concluded these two below. (source: Pages 7-8)

The 12th Michigan sent out two companies, they were:
Company D, commanded by Captain Phineas Graves (Perhaps the first company to receive shots fired at them at the Battle of Shiloh)- Source Pages 38-39
Company H, commanded by Captain Gilbert D. Johnson (Part of the original picket line the day prior to the battle)-
Source Pages 38-39, Source (focuses more on Captain Johnson)

 

[luinrina]

The reconnaissance that morning was led by Major James Powell and consisted of

three companies of 25th Missouri:
- Company B, led by Captain Schmitz
- Company E, led by Captain Eveans
- Company H, led by Captain Dill

and two companies of 12th Michigan which were led by Captain Phineas Graves (who was the captain of Company D).

I really hope you do not want to know which two companies of the 12th Michigan were sent out, because I've only been able to find one - Company D - and I spent several hours on the search. No matter what or where I searched, the second company's identity remains a mystery. I found a report by Graves in a book about Michigan in the war but even he doesn't say which was the second company. If anyone should know, it's him!

Sources: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/6-26-19-what-regiment.158541/, http://www.migenweb.org/calhoun/military/12th_infantry.htm, Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 (footnote 3 on pages 144+145)

Edit - Answer revised in subsequent post.

hoosier

 

[FarawayFriend]

This was extremely difficult for me and I'm absolutely not sure about my answer.
Wild guess:

One was Company D (Source)

Company D was commanded by Capt. Phineas Graves, according to this source:

D. Captain, Phineas Graves, Albion. First Lieutenant, Joseph Mc- Cloy, Jackson. Second Lieutenant, George H. Graves, Albion.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/12th-michigan-infantry-at-shiloh.160040/

The other company could be Company C:
"Perry Washington Cottrell was mustered into the 12th Volunteer Michigan Infantry Company C at Niles Michigan on 03/05/1862. The 12th Michigan left the state on 03/18/1862 for St. Louis, Missouri where they left on steamers for Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee and joined General U. S. Grant's army under the command of Colonel Peabody's Brigade, General Prentiss Division. With no actual field experience they were pushed to the front with no precautions taken for surprise attacks from the confederates. The 12th was sent under Major Powell as an advanced picket."
http://battleshiloh.blogspot.com/2010/04/12th-michigan-infantry.html?m=1

Company C was commanded by Captain John M. Albert

C. Captain, John M. Albert, Buchanan. First Lieutenant, William F. Molsberry, Buchanan. Second Lieutenant, Benjamin E. Binns, Buchanan.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/12th-michigan-infantry-at-shiloh.160040/

So my final answer is:
Captain Phineas Graves and Captain John M. Albert

Edit: Response revised in subsequent post.

hoosier

 

[Wallyfish]

I am going with Phineas Graves and Gilbert D Johnson.

Graves source

Gilbert source - long read

 

[Brenal]

Has me stumped. I don't even know which companies they were even less who led them!

 

[lelliott19]

Co D Capt. Phineas Graves (26 June 1826-17 June 1904) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8003376/phineas-graves
Co H Capt Gilbert D Johnson (19 July 1820-20 January 1892)
https://books.google.com/books?id=dSYuNXmZjFwC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=shiloh+party+two+companies+"12th+Michigan"&source=bl&ots=-zsJrfZQsp&sig=ACfU3U0VcEtI1xK7NJyatHWQlwltBtvaEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwinzNuLuM_jAhVohOAKHfH3Dz4Q6AEwGHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=shiloh party two companies "12th Michigan"&f=false

Edit - This would have been a correct answer, but it was revised in a subsequent post.

hoosier

 

[FarawayFriend]

I want to change my answer to:

Phineas Graves (Company D) and Gilbert D. Johnson (Company H)

" After hearing out Johnson and Powell, Peabody ordered them to muster five companies—some 400 men—and find out just what in hell was going on in the misty dews and damps beyond their encampment."
https://www.historynet.com/shermans-folly-at-shiloh.htm

 

[sarladaise]

12th Michigan Co. D Capt. Phineas Graves, Co. B Capt. Thomas Wallace
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8003376/phineas-graves/
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/12th-michigan-infantry-at-shiloh/60040/ "The Worst Colonel I ever saw"

25th Missouri Infantry:
Co. B Capt. Joseph Schmitz, Co. E Capt. Simon F. Evans, Co. H Capt. Hamilton Dill

Edit - The second of the two indicated sources identified Wallace as the commander of Company B, but I could not find any indication in either of the two sources that identified either Wallace or Company B as being involved in the scouting mission.

hoosier

 

[Big Sarge]

James Failing and Joseph Ruff

 

[luinrina]

Another book about Michigan - The History of Calhoun County (p. 43) - speaks of two companies of the 12th Michigan under command of Captains Graves and Cravath:

There's a Captain Isaac M. Cravath of Company G according to Michigan in the war (p. 324).

So, although I can't find another source corroborating Captain Cravath's involvement in the morning reconnaissance at Shiloh, I'd like to amend my answer that the two companies of the 12th Michigan were under command of Captains Phineas Graves and Isaac M. Cravath.

 

[lelliott19]

In case another source is needed to verify that Captain Gilbert D Johnson was one of the Captains who led one of the Companies that reconnoitered. https://www.historynet.com/shermans-folly-at-shiloh.htm