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38th Wisconsin Infantry

REGIMENTAL HISTORY-THIRTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.

REGIMENTAL ROSTER - FIRST BATTALION ARRIVES AT WASHINGTON - JOIN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC - COLD HARBOR-CROSS THE JAMES RIVER - PETERSBURG - ASSAULTS OF JUNE 17TH AND 18TH - JUNE 30TH - BATTLE ON WELDON RAILROAD - HATCHER'S RUN -SECOND BATTALION ARRIVES AT PETERSBURG - REGIMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMPLETE - CAPTURE OF FORT MAHONE - OCCUPATION OF PETERSBURG - WAR CLOSED-PROCEED TO WASHINGTON - GRAND REVIEW - MUSTER OUT - RETURN TO WISCONSIN - STATISTICS.

THE organization of the Thirty-eighth Regiment was commenced in March, 1864, under the supervision of Colonel Bintliff. Before the regiment could be filled, the Government discontinued the payment of bounties, and recruiting fell off, and almost entirely ceased. In consequence of this, only three Companies could be organized. Companies A, B, C and D were made up from the recruits for the other companies, mustered into service, and, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Pier, left Camp Randall, Madison, on the 3d of May, for Washington. Colonel Bintliff remained in the State to recruit the other companies, which was done under the call of July 1864. Company E was sent forward in July, and the other companies in September, under Colonel Bintliff, who took command on their arrival before Petersburg on the 1st of October, thus completing the organization of the regiment. The following was the roster:

COLONEL - JAMES BINTLIFF.
Lieutenant Colonel-CALVERT K. PIER; Major-CORTLAND P. LARKIN; Adjutant-AARON H. MCCRACKEN; Quartermaster-Anson Rood; Surgeon-HENRY L. BUTTERFIELD; First Assistant, Surgeon-HUGH RUSSELL; Second Assistant Surgeon-C. B. PIERSON; Chaplain - Rev. JOSEPH M. WALKER.

           Captains.                     First Lieutenants.                 Second Lieutenants.

A - Charles T. Carpenter,     Charles L. Ballard,                 James M. Searles,
B - Robert N. Roberts,         Francis A. Hayward,             George II. Nichols,
C-  Sidney D. Woodworth,   L. B. Waddington,                William N. Wright,
D-  James Woodford,           Benjamin S. Kerr,                  James P. Nichols,
E-  Newton S. Ferris,            Frank G. Holton,                   Frank M. Phelps,
F-  Andrew A. Kelley,          William H. Foster,                  James W. Parker,
U-  Reuben F. Beckwith,      William P. Maxon,                 Charles Wood,
H-  Daniel W. Corey,            Benjamin M. Frees,                James Heth,
I -  Henry H. Coleman,         Joel M. Straight,                     Charles 0. Hoyt,
K-  Thomas B. Marsden.      Solon W. Pierce.                   Fred. T. Zettler, Jr.

The battalion, consisting of Companies A, B, C and D, with Lieutenant Colonel Pier, Major Larkin, Surgeon Butterfield and Assistant Surgeon Russell, mustered into the United States Service on the 15th of April, and proceeded to Washington on the 3d of May, arriving there on the 7th, and encamped on Arlington Heights, where they were furnished with arms and equipment, and the battalion was occupied in drilling until the 30th, when they marched to Alexandria, and embarked on a transport for White House, on Pamunkey River, at that time the base of supplies for General Grant's army.
Arriving on the 1st of June, the battalion was temporarily consolidated with the First Battalion of the First Minnesota Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Pier commanding, and assigned to the Provisional Brigade of General Abercrombie.
From the 5th to the 10th of June, they were engaged in escorting supply trains to Cold Harbor. On the 10th, the battalion of the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin was assigned to the Third Brigade, First Division, in General Burnside's Ninth Army Corps. On the 11th, they engaged in constructing earthworks and picket duty, and on the 12th, moved to the front line of works, where they had two men killed - Corporal Hackley Adams, Company A, and Franklin Parks, of Company E. In the evening, they commenced Grant's grand flank movement to the rear of Richmond, and marched day and night until the evening of the 16th of June, when they arrived in front of Petersburg, and moved out, under fire, to the battlefield. Here they remained, exposed to a severe fire, until noon of the 17th, when they moved with the brigade in a charge against the enemy's works, and were repulsed. In the evening they again joined in a charge, and assisted in carrying three lines of earth-works. In this attack, Lieutenant Colonel Pier and Major Larkins were both wounded, the latter severely. The battalion occupied the captured works, being constantly under fire, until afternoon of the 18th, when they were again ordered forward. With the division, they advanced across an oat field against the enemy's main line of works, but unexpectedly came to a deep cut of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, which the enemy was so situated as to sweep with a murderous fire. By dint of hard labor in crossing the ditch, and after a long and severe fight, the Union forces succeeded in holding the railroad.
In the fight of the 18th, Captain Carpenter, of Company A, was severely wounded. The casualties, as officially reported, were

KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS. - Company A - Privates Charles Albert, George W. Currier, Win. H. Bradford and Chas. 0. Dana. Company H - Privates Joshua W. Dickey and Edgar H. Weston. Company C-Privates Thomas 0. Thompson, Adam D. Cline, N. Cline and Alfred Rivers. Company D - Corporal John S. Stephenson, Privates Joseph W. Squires and Jefferson Feathers - 15.
WOUNDED -Field Officers-Lieutenant Colonel Pier and Major Larkin, severely. Company A-Captain Charles T. Carpenter, Sergeants George W. Bedbury and Henry A. Chase, Corporals Henry M. Soper, W. W. Wilcox and W. J. Stevens, Privates J. C. I)ivers August Schubert, Michael O'Malley, Robert Hall and Edvert Nelson. Company B - First Lieutenant Frank A. Hayward, Privates John S. Seymour, L.W. Gerard, William Snub, Samuel E. B. Parks, A. Rice, Moses Harvey and Chas. H. Dempsey. Company C- Corporal Alonzo Allen, Privates Joseph Carr, Jerome R. Perry, Albert Gates and Henry Olson. Company D- Corporal John Wyatt, Privates A. E. Austin, A. Bowers, W. F. Barton, August Cleinard, D. D. Campbell, Ed. Erwin, C. Y. Mason, Jacob Randall and James R. Carr - 35.

The regiment, with a few hours respite only, remained in the front lines till the 4th of July, fighting by day and working by night. On the 4th, they returned to the second lines, the battalion being reduced to forty men fit for duty. Here they encamped until the 19th, when they moved to the front, and assisted in repulsing an attack of the enemy. On the 26th, Company E, Captain Ferris, arrived, which added three officers and sixty-six men to their available force.
On the 30th of July, when the order was given for an advance, after the explosion of the mine, the regiment, which was selected to lead the charge, faltered. General Hartruft ordered the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin to take the lead, scarcely numbering one hundred. Company B, under Lieutenant Ballard, and Company E, but just arrived from Wisconsin, and only four days in the field, under Captain Ferris and Lieutenant Holton, leaped over the works without hesitation, and advanced toward the crater of the blown up fort, under a terrific fire, which swept through their ranks. They reached the crater, but Captain Ferris was killed and Lieutenant Holton severely wounded. They remained in the crater till four o’clock, P. M., when they retired with the brigade.
The casualties, as reported, were:
KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS.— Company A — Private Nelson Cummings. Company B— First Sergeant Joseph S. Burnham, Privates James S. Gregory and Matthew Hunter. Company E— Captain Newton S. Ferris, Privates William Hardwick, Wm. L. Johnson, Simeon Skesucks and Hans H. Freisberg —9.
WOUNDED.— Company B—Privates Franklin Me Reynolds, William Murray, David L Mason, John B. Perkins and Horace Sherman. Company E— Lieutenant F. G. Holton. Privates Asa Cass, Michael Deschardeau, John H. Hallowell and H. T. Wadsworth —

On the next day, the battalion was relieved from the front lines, and encamped behind the second line, where they remained until the 6th of August when they returned to the first line of works, where they engaged in siege and picket duty until the 19th of August, when they moved with the Division the morning, to the left, towards the Weldon Railroad, and took part, with the Fifth Corps, in the movement to obtain possession of that important medium of supplies to the enemy. Rain set in, and the roads were in a terrible condition, but they met the enemy in the afternoon, engaged him and drove him back into the wooded areas, taking several prisoners. On the 21st, they threw up a line of works directly across the railroad track. These works were scarcely completed, before the enemy made a fierce assault, at nine, A. M., determined to regain possession of this important line of supply. They were repulsed with great slaughter. Again and again they returned to the assault, and each time were repulsed. After two hours’ hard fighting, the Union forces drove the enemy from the field, and fortified the position. Here Lieutenant Phelps, of Company E, was wounded. The casualties were reported as follows:
KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS.— Company E—Sergeant Henry B. Gardiner, Private. John Cleveland, Gottleib SmIk —3.
WOUNDED.— Company B — Private George Griswold. Company E— Lieutenant Frank M. Phelps, Privates Almon E. Bostwick, Richard Drake, Ogden Lawrence and William Wigan —6.

On the 25th, the battalion, with the brigade, moved forward on the double quick. to Ream’s Station, to reinforce the Second Corps, which was hotly engaged with the enemy. The Second Corps was enabled to withdraw, and on the 26th, the regiment fell back to near the Yellow House, and fortified, when they engaged in fatigue and picket duty, and company and regimental drill, until the 26th of September, on which day they moved toward Poplar Grove Church.
On the 30th, they again advanced to the relief of the Second Corps, who had been engaged all day with the enemy. Here the Thirty-eighth was engaged in supporting a battery of four gnus. The First Brigade broke, and left the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-seventh Wisconsin alone with the battery, which, by dint of hard fighting, they succeeded in protecting until reinforcements arrived, when the line was reformed and strengthened, and further disaster averted. The Thirty-eighth lost:
WOUNDED.— Company A — Privates August Schubert and Ole Harrison. Company E— Privates Lars Nelson and Joseph Scott— 4.

On the 1st of October, the Second Battalion composed of. Companies F, G, H, I and K, under the command of Colonel Bintliff; arrived, which increased the Thirty-eighth to a good sized regiment. The First Battalion moved with the brigade to engage the enemy, while the Second Battalion held the works. The regimental organization was completed by this arrival, and Colonel Bintliff assumed command of the regiment. They remained encamped here, engaged in drill, picket and fatigue duty, until the 26th of October.
On the 7th of October, Major Larkin was discharged by reason of wounds received in action, and Captain Roberts, of Company B, was promoted Major. On this day Lieutenant Colonel Pier was detailed as President of General Court Martial at 1 Division Head Quarters, until the 26th.
On the morning of the 27th, the Ninth Corps took part, with the Second and Fifth Corps, in a reconnaissance to the extreme left, near Hatcher’s Run. The Ninth Corps held the gap between the Fifth Corps and the fortifications, while the Second and Fifth Corps swung around, and engaged the enemy on his extreme right. The First Brigade, in which were the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Wisconsin, held the woods on the left of the line. There was brisk skirmishing but no general engagement along the line of the Ninth Corps. In the afternoon, breastworks were thrown up, and by dark; they had a good protection for the night. The strength and position of the enemy being ascertained, the main force withdrew the next morning, and the regiment returned to camp, having lost three men:
WOUNDED.— Ordnance Sergeant Lee Balon. Company G—Private David M. Harned. Company H— Private William H. Brown —3.

This was the first time the Second Battalion had been under fire, and they behaved admirably. They remained in camp, engaged in company, regimental and brigade drill. On the 29th of November, Colonel Bintliff was placed in command of the First Brigade. They moved to opposite Petersburg, near where the battalion had been stationed at the charge on the Crater in July. Here the regiment remained in the rifle pits, engaged in picket and fatigue duty, and in drilling, under a heavy fire of the enemy, until the Spring campaign opened.
On the 29th of January, 1865, the rebel peace commissioners, Stephens, Hunter, Campbell and Hatch, appeared in front of the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin, under a flag of truce, and sent word to Colonel Harriman, commanding the brigade, desiring an interview with one of General Grant’s staff. After much parleying, they were met by one of Grant’s staff, and proceeded to City Point on the 31st.
On the 24th of March, Lieutenant Colonel Pier was detached from the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin, and placed in command of the One Hundred and Ninth New York, by order of Major General Wilcox, which position he retained during the campaign, and until the army reached Washington.
On the 29th of March, General Grant opened the campaign of 1865, on the extreme left of his line. The success of Sheridan and the Fifth Corps, in the battles of the 31st of March and 1st of April, at Five Forks, had a damaging effect upon the hopes and prospects of the rebels, and General Grant determined to give them another specimen of the energy of the Union army, along the entire line. He accordingly ordered a general assault to be made on the 2d of April. To the First Brigade, Colonel Harriman, was assigned the assault of Fort Mahone, or Fort Damnation, as it was nicknamed. It was one of the enemy’s strongest works. The brigade, consisting of five regiments, was formed in three lines. Eight companies of the Thirty-eighth formed the first line, under Major Roberts, the One hundred and Ninth New York, and two companies of the Thirty-eighth, under Lieutenant Colonel Pier, formed the second line, the Eighth Michigan forming the third line. The Twenty-seventh Michigan and Thirty-seventh Wisconsin, immediately after the starting of the assaulting column, were formed as a supporting column, and came into the fort after its capture.
Colonel Harriman, commanding the brigade, placed Colonel Bintliff in command of the assaulting column, that officer having requested leave of absence from the brigade to which he had been appointed, in order to lead the brave boys he had so carefully and diligently drilled. The force rendezvoused at Fort Sedgwick, from whence, at about dawn of the morning of the 2d of April, they emerged, the Thirty-eighth in advance, led by its brave Colonel. They were soon under a rain of bullets from the enemy, but they pushed on over the picket line, over the works of the rebels, tearing away two lines of chevaux de frieze, a formidable line of abattis, into the ditch, up the embankment, and into the fort, where they found the rebels just vacating in a hurry, on whom the gallant boys of the Thirty-eighth turned the guns of the fort, many of them, in their awkwardness in the handling of artillery, making narrow escapes from shooting our own men. An artillery company soon came to their assistance, when the guns of the fort were more effectively handled against their late owners. The rebel artillery in the surrounding works, opened on them, and a fire was kept up all day, which was replied to by the occupants of the fort. Six different assaults were made by the rebels during the day, to recover the lost works, but they were repulsed every time, and the victors spent the night in the captured works, and awoke in the morning to find that the enemy had abandoned his entire line, and was fleeing to the southwest. In this battle at Fort Mahone, the Thirty-eighth suffered severely, as the list of casualties will show.
The list of killed and died of wounds, is from the Adjutant General’s records; the wounded, from the monthly reports:
KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS.— Company B — Privates Ira Connolly and William H. H. Richardson. Company C—Private John B. Coyhis. Company D — Sergeant J. Wyatt. Company B—Privates Erasmus D. Stearns, John Donyer and Antoine Wesner. Company F—Privates Frank Arktush, John Dwyer, Thomas James and Charles Truax. Company G— Privates Sanford Perrigo, Alhert Byorn and Win. Haynes. Company H— Corporal Wm. R. Hawkins, Private Nelson Dunn. Company I—Private A. A. Ballinger — 17.
WOUNDED— Company A — Privates Michael Lane and James McCormick. Company B — Privates Robert Blair, George Hinton, Thomas J. Hinton, August Hintsman, Wm. H. Johnson, Joseph M. Sargent and Simon C. Strickland. Company C— Privates James D. Fowler, Daniel Harrington, Charles A. Hawley and Peter W. Jackson. Company D— Privates Fred Arndt and Thomas L. Coughey. Company E— Privates Asa Cass, Jesse Cornish, Thomas Crisswell, Boswell Dubay, John K. Hallowell, Thomas P. Joslin and Antoine Missler. Company F— Captain A. A. Kelly, Privates Jack Dowd and Robert A. Lawrence. Company G—Privates C. C. Birum, Michael Greenwood, Martin A. Grove and Joseph Cook. Company H— Privates 0. W. Lindley, J. G. Sanders, William Emerick, John A. Ford and Morris Jewett. Company I— Privates Edward Rooney, Washington B. Brown, Abner H. Howe and Abraham Wolff. Company K— Privates Lafayette W. Weatherbee, Andrew B. Brunson, Andrew J. Fish, Syme H. Somerund, Increase A. Ripley, Clinton D. Winchell, Dennis W. Hines, Myron Vroman and Nels Van Wie —47.

Triumphantly entering Petersburg on the morning of the 3d of April, the brave boys who had so long and gallantly fought the foe on its outskirts, began to feel that their great labors were being brought to a Close.
We find, in the Adjutant General’s records, the following named persons reported as killed or mortally wounded in the trenches:
KILLED OR DIED OF WOUNDS. Company B—Privates August Adams, June 21, Samuel E. B. Parks, July 17, and Daniel Foss, June 24. Company D—Privates William Parks, July 7, and John J. Raynor, February 8, 1865. Company E— First Sergeant Charles A. Smith, died September 22. Company F—Privates Maska Gazeck, December 13, Nippio Peaches, December 31, and Joseph Scott, January 8, 1865. Company G — Corporal I)unn, February 16. Company I—Privates Ever A. Hillstead, December 27, and M. Setzor, January 7, 1865. Company K— Privates David Poles, October 14, and Philip Simpson, December 16—14.

The following are reported as wounded in the trenches:
WOUNDED.— Company A —Privates Nicholas Ellenbecker, June 19, and John Irving, In tent, July 6. Company B — Privates Amos P. Buck, August 12, and Edward J. Osborn, December 15.Company C— Privates William L. Bowen, July l, William T. Barr, March 26,1865, James M. Dane, December 8, and John H. Peshary, July 16. Company D — Private S. P. Buzzell, August 13. Company E— Corporal John K. Allen, August 8, Privates Edward Connor, August 10, and John S. Rowland, August 7. Company F— Private Albert Collins, January 3, 1865 —13.

On the 4th, the Thirty-eighth moved out on the South Side Railroad, in. pursuit of the rebel army, capturing many prisoners. On the 20th, they commenced their march to return to Petersburg, thence to City Point, where they arrived on the 22d, and embarked for Alexandria, arriving there on the 24th, and marched to Tenallytown, near the Chain Bridge, in the vicinity of Washington, where they encamped. On the 30th, Lieutenant Colonel Pier returned to the regiment, and was detailed, by order of Major General Augur, as President of a General Court Martial in Washington City.

RETURN HOME.

In the grand review of the Army of the Potomac, the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin led the advance of the column down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Reviewing Stand.
On the 6th of June, the Second Battalion, (one year’s men,) were mustered, out, and returned to Wisconsin. On the 27th, Colonel Bintliff was mustered out. On the 2d of July, Major Roberts was mustered out. On the same day, Colonel Bintliff was brevetted Brigadier General, Lieutenant Colonel Pier commissioned Colonel, Major Ballard Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Hayward, Major.
The regiment was on duty at the arsenal during the trial and execution of the assassination conspirators, and on the 26th of July, was mustered out of the service, and started immediately for Madison, Wis., where it was paid off and discharged, on the 11th day of August 1865.

Regimental Statistics.—Original strength, 913. Gain—by recruits in 1864, 8, in 1865, 104; substitutes, 7; total, 1,032. Loss—By death, 108; deserted, 55; transferred, 21; discharged, 208; mustered out, 640.