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Compiled
and Written by Rocky L. Bartlow Great-great-grandson of William
Henry Harrison Bartlow Meriden, Kansas September 2003 Rev November
2007 Rev & Addendum added September 2009
1862
As the
army is wont to do, it reorganized somewhat and the 59th became
part of the 11th Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Ohio in January
and soon was on the move anticipating their need to support Grant
in conjunction with his movements in southwestern Tennessee. They
left Bowling Green on February 15 and arrived in Nashville, Tennessee
on March 8 thence to Savannah, Tennessee by April 6, 1862. Once
again reorganized under the 11th Brigade, 5th Division, Army of
the Ohio they went into battle on the second day of the battle
of Shiloh in relief of General Grant.
(3)
The 59th,
with William in tow, then advanced on Corinth, Mississippi and
participated in the siege of same until May 30 when they occupied
the city. Somewhere along the way, for reasons unknown, on April
19 William was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, Company A. On the
31st they continued to pursue the Confederate army south to Booneville
and by June 12, six days after his daughter was born, 2nd Lt Bartlow
and the 59th were headed east chasing the elusive Rebels through
Iuka and on into northern Alabama passing through Tuscumbia, Florence,
Huntsville, and Athens finally arriving in Stevenson on July 24.
Once again, for reasons unknown again, William was promoted on
June 20 to 1st Lt. But more on that later.
On July
25th the army moved north arriving for a stay and duty at Battle
Creek (TN?) until August 20. But the next day, Confederate General
Braxton Bragg was on the move north and the Army of the Ohio was
in pursuit in the attempt to keep him from Louisville. They arrived
in Louisville on September 25 after Bragg broke to the east and
the 59th then became part of the 11th Brigade, 5th Division, 2nd
Corps, Army of the Ohio. While in Louisville, we part from the
story of William for an interesting sidebar regarding his previous
brigade commander, General Nelson, probably General Buell’s
most aggressive general. He was lost to the cause and we shall
see how.
(3)
Chain of command: 59th-Col James P Fyffe; 11th Bgd-BG Jeremiah
T Boyle; 5th Div-BG Thos L Crittendon; MG Don Carlos Buell BG
Ulysses S Grant, cmdg
Shelby
Foote in “The Civil War, a Narrative ” tells the story:
“He
lost him because the Indiana brigadier, Jefferson Davis, home
from the Trans-Mississippi on a sick leave, had come down to Louisville
to assist Nelson in preparing to hold the city (Louisville) against
Smith. Nelson was overbearing, Davis touchy; the result was a
personality clash, at the climax of which the former ordered the
latter out of his department. Davis left but presently he returned,
bringing the governor of Indiana with him. This was Oliver P.
Morgan, who had a bone to pick with Nelson over his alleged mishandling
of Hoosier volunteers during the fiasco staged at Richmond (TN-on
the journey to Louisville) a month ago tomorrow. They accosted
him in the lobby of the Galt House, Buell’s Louisville headquarters,
just after early breakfast. In the flare-up that ensued, Davis
demanded satisfaction for last week’s rudeness, and when
Nelson called him an ‘insolent puppy,’ flipped a wadded
calling-card in his face; whereupon Nelson laid the back of a
ham-sized hand across his jaw. Davis fell back, and the burly
Kentuckian turned on Morton, asking if he too had come there to
insult him. Morton said he had not. Nelson started up the staircase,
heading for Buell’s room on the second floor. ‘Did
you hear that damned insolent scoundrel insult me, sir?’
he demanded of an acquaintance coming down. “I suppose he
don’t know me, sir. I’ll teach him a lesson, sir.’
He went on up the stairs, then down the hall, and just as he reached
the door of Buell’s room he heard someone behind him call
his name. Turning, he saw Davis standing at the head of the stairs
with a pistol in his hand.
Davis
had not come armed to the encounter, but after staggering back
from the slap he had gone around the lobby asking bystanders for
a weapon. At last he came to a certain Captain Gibson. ‘I
always carry the article,’ Gibson said, producing a pistol
from under his coat. Davis took it, and as he started up the stairs
Gibson called after him, ‘It’s a tranter trigger.
Work light.’ So when Nelson turned from Buell’s door
and started toward him, Davis knew what to do. ‘Not another
step farther!’ he cried; and then, at a range of about eight
feet, shot the big man in the chest. Nelson stopped, turned back
toward Buell’s door, but fell before he got there. ‘Send
for a clergyman; I wish to be baptized,’ he told the men
who came running at the sound of the shot. Gathering around him,
they managed to lift the 300 pound giant onto a bed in a nearby
room. ‘I have been basely murdered,’ he said. Half
an hour later, he was dead.”
Davis
was placed under arrest by Buell but before he could appoint a
court martial, Buell found out on September 30 that General Halleck
had removed him from command. Later Halleck appointed a commission
but nothing happened and a Louisvillegrand jury indicted Davis
of manslaughter but nothing came of it either. So the North lost
one of its commanders.
October
1 they were back chasing Bragg through Kentucky. On October 8,
they were placed in reserve at the battle of Perryville. (4)
By the18th they were at Nelson’s Crossroads and on the 22nd
left for Nashville, arriving November 7. It was during this period
that, like many other Union generals in the early part of the
war, Lincoln became dissatisfied with General Buell’s performance
and the Army of the Cumberland was given to Major General William
Rosecrans. On as smaller scale, in the fall of 1862 at Silver
Springs, due to the rigors of war and camp life, William contracted
typhoid pneumonia and diarrhea leading to piles (commonly known
as hemorrhoids). But William continued his work as the army settled
down to winter duties at Nashville. General William Starke Rosecrans
While
there, on November 22, William was ordered north by General Rosecrans
to conduct draftees from Columbus Ohio to their prospective regiments.
He arrived on December 5 and was ordered to Camp Dennison to receive
the draftees by the Adjutant General, Charles W. Hill, And while
he was gone, the regiment, once again, reorganized in December
and became attached to the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Left Wing,
14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland.
(5) William returned to the regiment just in time
for the army to move on December 26-30 southeast to Murfreesboro
and on December 30 they participated in the battle of Stone River
(6) which raged on into the new year until January
3 when the army went into camp at Murfreesboro. (7)
They didn’t move again until June 22, 1863.
(4)
Chain of command: 59th Col James P Fyffe; 11th Bgde Col Samuel
Beatty; 5th Div BG Horatio P Van Cleve; 2nd Army Corps-MG Thos
L Critendon; Army of the Ohio-MG Don Carlos Buell. Source: Union
Order of Battle, Official Record.
(5)
On the 7th of November 1862, General Rosecrans divided the Army
of the Cumberland, then known as the Fourteenth Army Corps, into
the Right Wing, Centre, and Left Wing. The organization of the
left wing, as then arranged, remained unchanged until January
9, 1863, when, by authority of the War Department, General Order
No. 9, its designation was changed to that of the Twenty-first
Corps. No other change was made, the different brigades and divisions
remaining as before. The 59th was attchd 2nd Bgde, 3rd Div, Left
Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland.
(6)
Chain of command: 59th LTC Wm Howard; 2nd (late 14th) Bgde-James
P Fyffe; 3rd (late 5th) Div-BG Horatio P Van Cleve (2nd Col Saumuel
Beatty); Left Wing-MG Thos L Crittendon; 14th Army Corps (Army
of the Cumberland)-MG Wm S Rosecrans. Source: Union Order of Battle,
Official Record.
(7)
Attchd 2nd Bgde, 3rd Div, 21st Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland
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