Mr. Waddell was commissioned first lieutenant of Company I, and remained with that company until mustered out in June, 1864, by reason of the consolidation of the Third and Fifth Regiments. After the war he was a member of the Fifth Michigan Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association, and was president of that association in 1877 and 1878. Mr. Angel was commissioned second lieutenant of Company I, and remained with it until mustered out on account of the consolidation. Mr. S. T. Lyon was commissioned second lieutenant in the Fifth, promoted to first lieutenant June 10, 1864, and to captain September 15th, in the same year. He remained with the regiment through the campaigns of 1864 and 1865, and until the time of its muster out and disbandment.

     On the tenth of February the Fifth Regiment, composed of veterans and recruits, left Detroit on its return to the Army of the Potomac. An account of its return, and of events following, until the opening of the campaign of the Wilderness in May, 1864, is given by a member of the regiment, --Mr. A. K. Sweet, of Detroit,--in the following words:

     "We arrived in Washington on the thirteenth, and remained until the seventeenth, when we left for the front. Arrived at Brandy Station in the afternoon of the same day, and at once proceeded to camp, a distance some four miles northwest from the town. The day was bitter cold, and the wind, as it blew full in our faces from off the snow-covered peaks of the Blue Ridge, seemed to chill us to the very marrow in our bones. It was nearly sunset when we reached the spot selected for our camp. The prospect was anything but cheerful. No comfortable huts, such as we had occupied before leaving for home; only the frozen ground for a bed, and on this, with only our blankets for a protection against the chilling blast, we passed the night,--a night as cold as any February night in Michigan.

     "This first taste of soldiering was rather rough on our new recruits, fully two-thirds of whom were without blankets or overcoats, having been unable to obtain a complete outfit before leaving Detroit. . . .

     "The next day, towards evening, the First United States Sharpshooters sent over and removed our sick to their camp, where they could have proper hospital accommodation, and on the following morning they supplemented this act of kindness by sending us fifteen axes with which to assist us in the construction of our huts. The axes were very opportune, as we did not have a dozen in the entire regiment.

     "Favors like these, though they may not appear large when recited, yet coming at a time when sorely needed, they made a warm spot, which never quite grew cold in our hearts for the gallant Boys in Green.

     "In a few days we had our huts constructed, and were in tolerably comfortable winter quarters.

     On the first and second of March the regiment participated in a reconnaissance by the First Division of the corps on the left of the rebel position, to create a diversion in favor of Kilpatrick, who was just starting on his famous raid, passing around the rear of the rebel army, and up to the very gates of Richmond. The weather was extremely disagreeable. A heavy rain falling most of the time, and freezing as it came, covered everything with a glaze of ice, and rendered the march heavy and difficult, and bivouac cheerless and cold. The movement being merely a feint to divert the enemy's attention, no fighting occurred, and little of incident happened worthy of record. On the third, about noon, the regiment returned to camp, wet, tired, and hungry. They had barely 74. unslung their knapsacks, when an order came calling for a detail of one hundred and eighty men and seven officers, for picket duty. The luckless ones whose fortune it was to be detailed, had just time to cook their coffee and draw an extra supply of rations before they had to sling knapsacks and light out again. The recruits by this time came to the conclusion that soldiering meant business, and a plenty of it. The detail, however, was relieved the next morning, and returned to camp

     "Towards the last of March a general order was issued dissolving the First and Third Corps; and consolidating the troops with those of the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps. The First and Second Divisions of the Third Corps were transferred to the Second Corps, and consolidated and constituted the Third Division. The Third Division of the corps was transferred to the Sixth Corps. Thus was wiped out of existence the gallant old Third Corps, with which our fortunes had so long been associated, and of which we formed a part. Its glorious name, which we in some small degree had helped to make illustrious, and in which we justly felt a soldier's pride, became one of the things that were. The corps had long been a mere skeleton of its former self The old Third Division had been consolidated with the First and Second, immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, and a new division of ten thousand fresh troops, under command of General French, added. The old commanders of heroic fame, whom the men had learned to love and respect, had gone, and a stranger filled the place of command made glorious by Heintzelman and Hooker. Still the glorious associations that clustered around the name gave it a tender place in our hearts, and when at last its death-knell struck, and the men so long associated in a common history of the toil and triumph separated to their various destinations, many a brave fellow felt a twinge of sorrow and pain like that which pierces the heart as we stand at the grave of a friend, and the cold clods of the valley close over the dear face and shut it from our sight forever. . . .

     "On the thirty-first of March we broke camp and marched to the south side of the railroad in the vicinity of Brandy Station, and took up our new quarters in the Second Brigade, Third Division, and Second Corps. The men were allowed to retain the diamond badge,--a deference to their feelings which was thankfully appreciated. The sense of pain and disgrace slowly passed away as we became better acquainted with our new companions in arms, for they were as fine a corps of men as the Army of the Potomac or any other in the world could boast, and we were now under command of a general of brilliant abilities and most intrepid bravery, General W. S. Hancock. General D. B. Birney, our old brigade and division commander, was in command of the division. We soon began to feel at home in our new relations, and with the old red diamond to remind us of the glorious past we were soon ready as ever to do and dare for the honor of the old flag and the success of the common cause.

     " . . . Towards the last of April nature had begun to spread her rich garniture of green over hill and plain, and soft gales from Southland fanned us with the first delicious breath of spring. The warm sunshine, as May approached, soon dried up the mud from the spring rains, and the roads were once more in a condition for the movement of army trains. On every hand the sure indications of an early opening of field operations were apparent. A few days of bustle and preparation and the last finishing touches are complete. A week of comparative quiet followed, like the lull that precedes the bursting of the storm, and then, on the evening of the 3d of May, the first move in what will go down to history as the great campaign of the war commenced. No drum-beat or bugle-note sounds a warning, but silently as spectres in a dream, regiments, brigades, and divisions leave their camps and fall into line. Already the vanguard is on the march, and the dull tramp, tramp, comes from out the darkness mingled with the low rumbling of the artillery and baggage trains. The camp-fires, as they light up the scene with their fitful glare, reveal the faces of the men as they stand leaning on their guns awaiting their turn to fall into the line of march. They have little time to wait, for everything moves with clock-like precision, and the long lines follow each other in quick succession and disappear in the darkness, until at last what was a few hours before a vast city of snowy tents, with streets thronging with busy life, is now one vast tenantless expanse of smoldering camp-fires, over which broods the midnight stillness, unbroken save by the echoes that come fainter and fainter from the distant footsteps of the receding hosts.

     The morning finds us still on the march and nearing the Rapidan, which we cross without opposition at Ely's Ford, about nine A.M. We rest half an hour on the heights beyond, from which we enjoy a fine view of the surrounding country,--a picturesque succession of hill and plain, with its distant background of mountains against the western horizon.

     "The men, having marched all night with only a short respite at sunrise for coffee and "hard tack," begin to feel the need of rest and sleep. But the 75. march is soon resumed and pushed forward at a rapid pace. The weather was uncommonly hot for the time of year, and the narrow forest-roads, walled in on either side by a dense undergrowth, afforded scarce a breath of cooling air. It was the
first march of the season, and the men had not become hardened to fatigue by exposure. But tired, sleepy, and footsore, we hobbled on as best we could until about two P.M. when we arrived on the old battle-ground of Chancellorsville and halted for the rest of the day.

     "How familiar looks every object around! There is the old Chancellorsville House, where General Hooker had his headquarters. But only the roofless, blackened walls remain; the rest was destroyed by fire during the battle. Farther on is the little country cemetery, with its white fence and the white farm-house standing near, around which raged the fiercest tide of battle on that lovely Sabbath morning in May. There is the field hard by where the regiment lay for two hours or more the target for a rebel battery. Just across that low swale, a little to the left, is the open field where that battery stood, and on which, the night before, Birney's division formed for the midnight charge; and there, too, is the thick hedge of cedars bordering the field, through which we tore our way to the charge, making night hideous with yell and whoop and wild uproar, as if Pandemonium had turned loose all its fiends at once.

     "There is the old rifle-pit along the edge of the swale still standing, and the narrow belt of open timber between it and the plank-road, Where the regiment rallied after the uproar had subsided, and, in blissful ignorance of our imminent danger, passed the remainder of the night in sleep. And here on the same ground and almost the identical spot we again bivouac for the night."

     The men of the Fifth had started on the campaign each carrying five days' rations, and sixty rounds of ammunition. In the morning of the fifth of May the regiment left its bivouac at Chancellorsville, and moved on the road leading to Orange Court-House. The enemy was met, and a desperate battle ensued. On the morning of the sixth the regiment was again engaged, making a successful, charge on the rebel works, and suffering, in this as in the fight of the previous day, a heavy loss in killed and wounded. An idea of the work done then by the Fifth may be had from the fact that of the twenty-six men of Company I who entered the fight on the fifth, seventeen were killed or wounded. A list of the killed and wounded of that company on the fifth and morning of the sixth was taken on the field by Lieutenant Waddell, and is as follows:

     The Fifth was again engaged with the enemy on the eighth of May, and lay under a heavy artillery fire until noon of the tenth. It fought again on the eleventh, and (with the remnant of the Third Michigan, which was acting with it) took part in the charge on the enemy's works at Spottsylvania Court-House on the twelfth. In this charge it captured two stands of the rebel colors.

     From Spottsylvania it moved forward by forced marches, and, on the twenty-third of May, took part in the assault of the works on the north bank of the North Anna River, at Jericho Bridge; the regiment carried them, captured a number of prisoners, and drove the rebel force across the river. In the afternoon of the twenty-fourth the regiment crossed the river under a very heavy artillery fire, and again drove the enemy from his position. On the twenty-seventh it recrossed the North Anna and marched to the Pamunkey River, which it crossed the same day. From the twenty-eighth to the thirty-first of May the wearied and hungry men worked day and night throwing up fortifications, and, on the latter date, the regiment took part in a charge upon a line of works, which they gallantly carried. Marching, from the Pamunkey, it reached Cold Harbor on the fifth of June, and immediately commenced the erection of earthworks. It remained here a week, and, during that time, the Third Michigan Infantry (having become reduced to a mere skeleton, and the term of service of a large part of its men having expired) was consolidated with the Fifth under the following field-order of the corps commander, viz.:

HEADQUARTERS SECOND ARMY CORPS," June 10, 1864

Special Orders. (Extract.)

"The term of service of the Third Michigan Volunteers having expired, that regiment, with the exception 76. of re-enlisted men or such as have joined since date of original organization, and such officers as are hereafter designated to be retained, will at once proceed to Michigan, and report to the Superintendent of Recruiting for that State, for the purpose of being discharged. Descriptive lists must accompany all men sent home. The remaining officers and men of the regiment will be formed into a battalion of four companies, to be attached to the Fifth Michigan Veteran Volunteers which regiment will be at once consolidated into six companies, and, all officers not hereinafter designated to be retained will be mustered out of service. The following officers will be retained in the above organization :

     "Third Michigan Regiment.-- Colonel B. R. Pierce, Captain Simon Brennan, Captain Daniel S. Root, Captain Thomas Tate, Lieutenant Daniel Converse, Lieutenant John F. McGinley, First Lieutenant Jerome B. Ten Eyck, First Lieutenant Charles A. Price.

     "Fifth Michigan Regiment.-- Major S. S. Matthews, Surgeon Henry F. Lyster, Assistant-Surgeon P. B. Ross, Adjutant George W. Waldron, Regimental Quartermaster Hudson B. Blackman, Captain William Wakenshaw, Captain Charles M. Gregory, Captain James W. Colville, Captain Amos A. Rouse, Captain Edgar H. Shook, Captain James O. Gunsally, First Lieutenant Walter Knox, First Lieutenant John Braden, First Lieutenant Andrew Hamlin, Second Lieutenant George B. Dudley, Second Lieutenant S. S. Lyon.

     "This order is subject to the approval of higher authority.
     "By command of Major-General Hancock.

                                                                 (Signed)

                                                          "FRANCIS A. WALKER

                                                                        "Assistant Adjutant-General."

     The order was confirmed by the War Department on the thirteenth of June. By its operation some of the officers of the regiment, belonging to Livingston County, were necessarily mustered out of the service.

      The Fifth left Cold Harbor June 12th, crossed the Chickahominy at Long Bridge on the same day, reached and crossed the James River on the fourteenth, and arrived in front of Petersburg late in the night of the fifteenth. On the following day, towards evening, it was engaged with the enemy, and carried the assaulted line of works.

      During all the memorable but monotonous siege of Petersburg, from the time when the regiment reached the front of that stronghold until the close of the great drama of the Rebellion, the service of the Fifth Michigan embraced a series of movements, changes of position, labors on fortifications, picket and railroad duty, life in the trenches, marchings, skirmishings, and battles, which it would be too tedious to follow or to enumerate. In its assaults upon the works in. front of Petersburg, during the campaign of 1864, its loss was  fifteen killed, fifty-two wounded, and nineteen missing,--total, eighty-six. It fought at Deep Bottom, July 27th, 28th, with a loss of twelve wounded, and at Boydton Plank-Road, October 27th, losing nine killed, fifty-two wounded, and forty-three missing. It was also engaged at Strawberry Plains, August 14th to 17th, and at Poplar Spring Church on the thirtieth of September. During the year following the commencement of the Mine Run expedition, in November, 1863, the total loss of the regiment, in killed, wounded, and missing, was five hundred and forty-nine.

      From October, 1864, to the middle of January, 1865, the Fifth occupied Fort Davis, in the front line of works at Petersburg. On the fifteenth of January it formed a part of the force with which General Warren made his raid southward to the Weldon Railroad; and after its return from that expedition, was posted for about two weeks at Humphrey's Station, and then moved back to the front of Petersburg, and remained there until the twenty-fifth of March, when it moved with other forces to Hatcher's Run, and took part in the assault on the works at that place, sustaining the weight of a heavy engagement for four hours. In the final assault on Petersburg, the Fifth took part, and is said to have been the first to plant its colors on the captured works. On the sixth of April, the regiment with its brigade attacked the retreating enemy at Sailor's Creek, and captured a stand of colors and a large number of prisoners. The enemy being followed closely by the brigade on the seventh and eighth of April, the, Fifth Regiment, acting as flankers and skirmishers, became engaged at New Store, but with slight loss. And finally, on the ninth, it was present in the front, in line of battle, at the surrender of the Confederate army by General Lee. It lay at Glover Hill, near the place of surrender, until the thirteenth, when it moved back to Burkeville, and on the first of May started on the march to Washington by way of Richmond.

      The regiment took its place in the great review of the Army of the Potomac, at Washington, May 23d, and remained in the vicinity of the city until June 10th when it left for the West, proceeding by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and thence by steamer on the Ohio to Louisville, which place it reached on the fourteenth. Moving to Jeffersonville, on the north side of the Ohio, it remained there until July. 4th, when it was mustered out of the service as a regiment, and on the sixth left by railroad for Detroit, where it arrived on the eighth, and where, on the seventeenth of July, 1865, the men of the Fighting Fifth received their pay and discharge.

77. MEMBERS OF THE FIFTH REGIMENT FROM LIVINGSTON COUNTY