East Tennessee Roots
Major
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2010
- Location
- Kingsport, Tennessee
Following the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky
They had 48 killed, 56 wounded, 3 POW, 2 missing !
Perryville, KY after battle report:
No. 16.
Report of Col. Albert S. Hall, One hundred and fifth Ohio Infantry.
HDQRS. TENTH DIVISION, FIRST ARMY CORPS,
Perryville Battle-field, Ky., October 10, 1862.
SIR: Having commanded the One hundred and fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer
Infantry in the engagement of the 8th instant near Perryville, Ky., it
becomes my duty, although now commanding the Tenth Division, to report
the part taken by said regiment in the battle. The regiment was on the
march from Mackville to Perryville as part of the Thirty-third Brigade,
commanded by General W. E. Terrill, in the Tenth Division, commanded by
Brig. Gen. James S. Jackson, in the First Army Corps, commanded by
Major-General McCook.
The Thirty fourth Brigade, commanded by Colonel Webster, of the
Ninety-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was in the advance
and engaged the enemy about 2.30 p.m. On hearing the fire of the
skirmishers General Terrill ordered forward the Thirty-third Brigade
with all possible dispatch and reached the field about 3 p.m.
My regiment was marching in rear of Parsons' battery, and at the
moment of reaching the field was ordered to form on the left of the road
in reserve. This point was occupied but for a few moments when the
order of General Terrill was given to file to the left through the timber
to the extreme left of the Union forces. Upon reaching my position I
found the One hundred and twenty-third Regiment Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, Colonel Monroe, hotly engaging the enemy to the right and
rear of Parsons' battery, then in position.
At the moment of coming into position on the left and rear of Parsons'
battery it was apparent that the enemy were determined to charge
through the left of the One hundred and twenty-third Illinois
Volunteers and cut off the battery.
This movement was immediately and effectually repulsed by the destructive
fire of Parsons' battery and the charge of that wing of my regiment,
most gallantly led by Major Perkins, executed by order of
General Terrill, who was personally present.
The fire at this moment was terrific beyond description, and the
running through my line of a six-horse team drawing a caisson created
some disorder in my center. At almost the same moment of this repulse
of the enemy a determined assault was made by them on our left.
A battery opened on us from the enemy's right, and from the form of
the ground nearly enfiladed my line. Parsons' battery was stationed
on a sharp crest of open ground about 80 yards from a wood occupied by
the enemy. From this crest the ground descended to the woods and then
ascended, so that the enemy delivered us the fire of consecutive
battalions in rear of each other. The battery was also on a crest which
abruptly terminated on the left a few yards from the guns, exposing the
support to a cross-fire from the enemy's extreme right, of which the
enemy, as before described, promptly availed themselves.
Thus at the distance of 80 yards, in an open field, did Parsons' battery
and the One hundred and fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry deliver
to the enemy a most terrible and destructive fire, receiving in return the
fire of an enfilading battery and of a rebel brigade concealed in the
woods. The battery becoming disabled, and the rebel battery on our flank
making our position untenable, by the order of General Terrill in person
I moved my regiment 60 yards to the rear and formed on the line of an
old fence, then much broken down. The enemy followed the movement,
and when he reached the crest (our former position) received a fire that
opened their ranks with the wildest havoc. But the position of the
ground was such that we were still under the fire of their battery, and
the quick eye of General Terrill discovering a movement of the enemy
in a ravine to turn our left, again ordered the regiment to retire into a
corn field in our rear, which was done in good order and promptly formed.
In this field, being much exposed to the artillery and musketry of the
enemy and hidden from each other by the corn, some irregularity occurred
in the line, while a movement by the flank, then ordered by General
Terrill, who could not be seen or heard distinctly by the command,
tended still more to divide and scatter the regiment. The most of the
living, however, followed the movement promptly, and formed in the
rear of Bush's battery, by General Terrill's order, and there remained
in its support until the close of the engagement. At this last position,
in the rear of Bush's battery, our brave and beloved Terrill, who had
stood by my side and moved with my regiment from the moment it was
engaged, fell mortally wounded by the fragment of a shell. At this
moment the disability of the general threw the command of the
Thirty-third Brigade upon me. Turning over the command of the One
hundred and fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry to Lieutenant-Colonel
Tolles I proceeded to collect the brigade.
In the early part of the engagement and before the Thirty-third Brigade
became engaged Lieutenant. Colonel Tolles with eight companies, by order
of General Terrill, was sent to the left of the road a mile in rear
of the line of battle to protect the rear. He joined me at Bush's battery,
having come forward and joined in the engagement with the Eightieth
Illinois Regiment. Of the bravery manifested by the officers and enlisted
men of the One hundred and fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry I can
speak with the highest satisfaction. Not an officer and but few of the
enlisted men flinched from the hail of death or left their positions
until ordered by their proper officers. In the engagement at Perryville
they have covered themselves with imperishable honor. Citizen soldiers,
with not twenty days' drill, they have exhibited the coolness and
efficiency of veterans. Of the mortality and of our wounded I speak with
choking sorrow. Capt. L.D. Kee, Company I,
and Robert Wilson, of Company H, are no more; they fell upon that
fatal crest by Parsons' battery--the former dead, the latter mortally
wounded. Braver or better men never lived; truer patriots never offered
a holier sacrifice to their country's cause. On the same spot 29
enlisted men of my regiment gave their lives to the cause of
constitutional liberty--each a precious offering on freedom's altar.
God of the true and brave! these are thine; their country calls them
no more. There too on that fatal spot were wounded no less than
130 of their gallant comrades.*
A. S. HALL,
One hundred and fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
Comdg. Tenth Div., First A. C., Army of the Ohio.
Captain CAMPBELL, A. A. A. G., First Army Corps.
Source: Official Records Series I. Vol. 16. Part I, Reports. Serial No. 22
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