87. TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY

Livingston County Volunteers in the Twenty-second

Rendezvous at Pontiac

Departure for the Theatre of War

Reception at Cincinnati

Campaigning in Kentucky

Capture of Prisoners

Long Stay at Lexington

Sickness in the Regiment

Death of Colonel Wisner

March to Nashville, and Long Stay there

March to Bridgeport, Chattanooga, and Rossville, Georgia

Terrible Battle of Chickamauga

The Killed, Wounded, and Captured in that Fight

Return of the Remnant to Chattanooga

Under Artillery Fire at Moccasin Point

Arduous Duty on Short Rations

Moving Pontoon-Trains

Battles of Lookout and Mission Ridge

Recruiting the Regiment

The Atlanta Campaign, and Occupation of that City

Return to Chattanooga

Seven Months of Fatigue Duty at that Place

Muster Out and Discharge of the Regiment

     A large number of Livingston County volunteers entered the Twenty-second Infantry during the war of the Rebellion, serving in several of its companies, but principally in "H" company, which went into the service under command of Captain Henry S. Dean, of Green Oak, First Lieutenant William A. Smith, of Marion, and Second Lieutenant Lewis Brown, of Howell, as its original commissioned officers.

     Captain Dean, who was afterwards promoted successively to the grades of major and lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-second, is now a resident of Ann Arbor. He is probably more fully acquainted with the history of the regiment than any other person now living, and he has kindly furnished the following narrative of its organization, and its honorable services in the great struggle.

     On the fifteenth of July, 1862, the Governor of Michigan, as commander-in-chief of its forces, issued General Order No. 154, calling into service six regiments of infantry, and designating the Fifth Congressional District as the one in which the Twenty-second Michigan Volunteer Infantry should be raised; located the camp at Pontiac, and appointed ex-Governor Moses Wisner its commandant.

     On the eighth of August, 1862, Governor Wisner was commissioned colonel of the Twenty-second; Heber LeFavour, Lieutenant-Colonel; William Sanborn, Major; A. P. McConnell, Surgeon; Edgar Weeks, Adjutant; T. C. Boughton, Quartermaster; Wells B. Fox, Assistant Surgeon; and A. E. Mather, Chaplain.

     On the 3lst of July following, commissions were issued to the line officers, and on the 29th of August, 1862, the regiment had its full quota of officers and men mustered into the United States service. Every member of the regiment remembers the many acts of courtesy and kindness extended to them by the citizens of Pontiac during the time the regiment was encamped there.

     September 4, 1862, the regiment left its camp on the Fair-Grounds and marched, one thousand strong, to the depot. At two P.M. the train on which the Twenty-second was embarked left the depot, followed by the best wishes and prayers of thousands of loyal men and women, and sped on its way to the field of duty. Late that evening it took the boat for Cleveland, at which place it arrived on the morning of September 5th. From that place to Cincinnati the regiment went by rail, arriving at midnight. It was marched (as seemed to the marchers) through nearly every street in Cincinnati.

     At two o'clock A.M., September 6th, the regiment was given a public breakfast by the city authorities at the Fifth Street Market-house, and, what will seem hardly credible to an old soldier, 88. the men had to be told to fill their haversacks before leaving the table. This, however was an order that it was never necessary to repeat thereafter. After breakfast the regiment crossed the Ohio to Covington, Kentucky, and retired to rest upon the paved streets of that town. Hard as was the bed, sweet was the sleep of one thousand tired men unaccustomed to carrying arms and knapsacks. During the forenoon of that day the regiment marched to the front, and at noon formed line of battle on the well-remembered ground of the "Cabbage Hill Fight." Skirmishers were thrown forward to feel of the enemy. After feeling some time they captured two prisoners of their own command heavily laden with rebel turkeys. The battle raged until midnight, resulting in fearful loss of Southern cabbage. At midnight the regiment retired in good order to the cover of a fort. Not having any ammunition, it did not fire a shot in this engagement.

     Sunday, September 7th, it remained at the fort until late in the evening, when it marched a mile to the front, pitched tents, and lay down until one A.M. At that hour the bugle sounded "strike tents," which it did, and marched back to Camp Wallace. Here it had its first experience in building fortifications, and was engaged in that work until September 18th, at which date it marched five miles to Florence, Kentucky, and went into camp on the Fair-Ground at that place. It was there that one of the line officers discovered a new use for tin plates. September 19th, it marched nine miles south of Florence, and encamped on the farm of one Poor, whose property received the protection of the regiment that night. On the twentieth of September it marched in a southerly direction eight miles and camped for the night. September 21st it was marched back, over the route it had come to within twelve miles of Covington, and pitched its tents in what was called Camp Walton.

     It was supposed by some that this retrograde movement was made for the purpose of familiarizing the regiment with the character of the country in which it was operating. From the twenty-first of September to October 9th, the regiment remained at Camp Walton, forming line of battle from one to five times a night to meet the attacks of John Morgan's cavalry, which were never made. From Camp Walton it marched to Williamston and there pitched tents, naming its resting-place Camp Wells. There it remained until eleven o'clock P.M., October 14th, when all who were fit for duty marched for Cynthiana, arriving at that place on the fifteenth of October, at nine P.M. The detachment left at Camp Wells marched for Lexington, Kentucky, on the seventeenth of October, and arrived at that place on the twenty-first. At Georgetown, through which the detachment passed, the regiment had its first experience upon the subject of returning slaves to their masters. This they were ordered to do by General Q. A. Gillmore, the only general (with one exception) who ever asked or ordered the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry to act the part of slave-catchers.

     On the night of October 16th, one company of the regiment moved under orders from Cynthiana to Townsend Bridge, arriving there at daylight on October 17th. On the afternoon of that day this company was ordered to march for Paris, Kentucky, arriving there at four o'clock A.M., October 18th. With the aid of a detachment of the Tenth Kentucky Cavalry one hundred prisoners of Humphrey Marshall's command were captured. At seven o'clock A.M. information was received from Lexington that John Morgan was moving upon Paris with two thousand cavalry and one battery of light artillery. Three negroes were dispatched to Cynthiana by hand-car to notify Colonel Wisner of Morgan's movements. At two o'clock P.M. of that day Colonel Wisner left Cynthiana with the regiment, and arrived in Paris at seven P.M., making the march of eighteen miles in five hours. That march secured to the Twenty-second the title of the "marching regiment." John Morgan, as was usual with that general when he had reason to expect an equal force, did not make his appearance. From Paris the regiment marched in pursuit of Humphrey Marshall, who was retreating from Kentucky into Virginia by way of Pound Gap. It passed through Lancaster to Athens, Kentucky, where it received orders to proceed to Lexington. It did so, and arrived at that place October 26, 1862.

     Welcome to the regiment was the sight of its tents pitched by the detachment which had reached Lexington in advance of the main body. When it left Camp Walton, October 9th, it did so in "light marching order," the meaning of which every old soldier understands and will not soon forget, if the ground be covered with snow as it was in this instance. Tents were a luxury, and one that it had not enjoyed for seventeen days.

     From October 26, 1862, until February 21, 1863, the regiment remained in Camp Ella Bishop, at Lexington, Kentucky. Here it learned the terrible fact that the enemy's bullets were not the only dangers incident to the life of a soldier. The four months spent in Lexington were attended with a great deal of suffering, and but slight good to compensate therefor. The rigid performance of picket duty in open fields without the shadow of a shelter 89. from the cold and storms of winter, without fires, sleeping on the damp ground, not permitted to use straw that through the generosity of citizens was offered to the regiment, brought sickness, suffering, and death upon it. Scores of noble men lie sleeping in the cemetery at Lexington, who died in consequence of exposure in picketing their own camps to prevent Union soldiers from entering the town of Lexington, for there was not an armed enemy within the State at that time.

     On the fifth of January, 1863, occurred the death of one whom the people of Michigan loved to honor; one who, if he had been spared, would have added another to the roll of noble soldiers Michigan furnished in her country's dark hour of trial. Colonel Moses Wisner breathed his last at Lexington, Kentucky, on that day, after a lingering and painful illness. His last words were full of love for his country, and of sympathy and hopes for the well-being of his regiment.

     Lieutenant-Colonel Heber LeFavour was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment upon the death of Colonel Wisner, and Major William Sanborn was made lieutenant-colonel. A major* was taken from among the line officers.

     February 21, 1863, the regiment marched to Hickman Bridge, on the Kentucky River, camping that night on what was called the Scott Farm upon ground covered with snow. Soon after the tents were pitched several hay-stacks in the vicinity melted away. From appearances the next morning part of the hay must have lodged beneath the tents of the men. It was reported by a member of the regiment who called upon Mrs. Scott that her favorite chicken, Zolicoffer, was a room-mate of the old lady's on that stormy night. February 22d the regiment marched from Hickman Bridge to Danville, and remained there until the afternoon of the twenty-third, when it marched back to Hickman Bridge, arriving there at midnight nearly worn out. The men lay down in open air to sleep if they could. Scarcely had they done so when a dispatch was received from our general, Q. A. Gillmore, ordering the regiment to return to Lexington as soon as possible. At one o'clock A.M. it was moving in the direction of Lexington. The camp-equipage was unloaded from the wagons at the bridge, and as far as it was possible those who could not march farther were taken into the wagons. At daylight the Twenty-second reached Nicholasville and took the cars for Lexington. Upon its arrival at the latter place Companies B, E, G, and K were ordered to proceed to Cynthiana to guard that place against a threatened attack. The detachment reached Cynthiana in the afternoon of February 25th, tired and hungry, without rations, and with no government stores to draw upon. Through the kindness of a loyal man, the officer commanding the detachment was furnished with the names of six rich rebels, who were requested to furnish and cook rations for the men, which they did with as good a grace as could be expected under the circumstances. To the credit of those parties be it said that for the two days that they kept boarding-house for Union soldiers they set a good table. In the absence of better fortifications the detachment occupied a couple of stone churches and a school-house which commanded the town and its approaches.

     As the vandalism of Northern soldiers is sometimes spoken of, it is proper to mention here that the mark of pencil or knife or any other defacement was not left in any of the buildings referred to, nor did a valuable set of astronomical instruments bear the slightest trace of injury received at the hands of the soldiers quartered in the room where they were kept. The detachment returned to Lexington on the twenty-sixth of February, where the rest of the regiment had remained since its return from Danville. On the twenty-first of March the regiment again moved to Danville, to look after General Pegram's raiding-party. It accomplished the march from Lexington to Danville, forty miles, in eighteen hours. It was quartered in the churches of the latter place on the night of the twenty-third of March. Early the next day it was moved out a mile on the Stanford road and went into camp. At eleven o'clock A.M., March 25th, the enemy made his appearance and opened fire upon the regiment from his mountain-howitzers. Line of battle was formed, but it was soon apparent that the enemy had designs upon our baggage-train, which had been put in motion in the direction of Hickman Bridge. The bugle sounded "strike tents," and the regiment fell back through Danville to protect the rear of the train.

     The roads were in a terrible condition, ankle-deep with mud, and rain began to fall in torrents. The enemy made frequent attacks from among the timber which skirted the road upon which the train and troops were moving. Under these trying circumstances the regiment was hurried back to Hickman Bridge. In this skirmish the regiment had two men wounded and one captured. Late at night, tired and hungry, the regiment reached the bridge, and lay down in the rain and mud to sleep. The next morning, upon the heights on the north side of the Kentucky River, the favorite war-steed of one of the line officers was found dead. Whether the wound in his side, through which his 90. life-blood flowed out, was inflicted by a bayonet or bullet history does not record. For two days the regiment remained in the vicinity of the bridge, the enemy making occasional demonstrations on the picket-line. On the twenty-eighth of March it moved back to Nicholasville, and from there marched to Camp Dick Robinson and camped. The next day it marched to Lancaster, and on the thirtieth, marched to Crab Orchard.

     Here the regiment slept in buildings then lately occupied by the rebels, and on the morning following some of the plainest and most unassuming men of the command were accompanied by bodyguards, which for numbers were unsurpassed by those of any of the generals of the army. With the character of those guards few old soldiers are unacquainted. March 31st, the regiment moved towards Somerset, on the Cumberland River, in which direction Pegram was endeavoring to escape with his plunder. That night it encamped at Buckborn Creek in the snow, without tents. Whoever had direction of affairs in that campaign appeared to be full in the faith that infantry could keep pace with cavalry, and the regiment was but eight miles in the rear of our cavalry when it overtook the enemy at Somerset and captured four hundred prisoners and the cattle he had stolen.

     Under orders to proceed to Tennessee the regiment took up its line of march for Lebanon, Kentucky, on the first of April, and arrived there on the ninth. At that place it saw and heard the last of the negro question. It was detained thirty-two hours by Brigadier-General Manson, because it refused to give up the colored servants who bad been with it since its first arrival in Kentucky. This officer went so far as to order out troops to enforce his demand for the negroes with the regiment. Its commanding officer firmly refused to give them up, and the matter was referred to General Burnside, who ordered the regiment to proceed at once to Nashville, which it did, taking its servants along. To-day it hardly seems possible that a brigadier-general in the United States army could be found who would order Union soldiers to load their arms for the purpose of enforcing such a demand. There was such an one, however, in command at Lebanon, Kentucky, on the tenth of April, 1863.

     From Lebanon, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee, the regiment proceeded by rail, arriving at the latter place on the evening of April 13, 1863. The survivors of the regiment who were with it on that occasion will not forget the cheers that went up when it crossed the line dividing loyal Kentucky from rebel Tennessee. At Nashville the regiment remained doing interior guard duty until September 5, 1863, at which date it was ordered to Chattanooga. It went by rail as far as Bridgeport, Alabama, where it camped on Seven-Mile Island, in the Tennessee River, and remained there until September 13th, when it marched to Chattanooga, distant twenty-eight miles, leaving its camp and garrison equipage on the island. The country lying between Bridgeport and Chattanooga is the roughest probably over which the regiment ever marched. Early on the morning of September 14th it was on what has since become historic ground--Lookout Mountain--from which it could look down upon Chattanooga Valley with the town of that name twenty-two hundred feet below it. It passed to the right of Chattanooga and camped at Rossville, Georgia. The march of thirty miles was made on the thirteenth of September and the night following, without halts, save such as are more fatiguing to a soldier than steady, marching, viz.: halting for a baggage-train to move on, not knowing at what moment it will start, while the men are kept standing in readiness to march as soon as it does move. Every soldier that has marched in the rear of a train over rough roads fully understands how fatiguing is such a march. At Rossville, when the commands halt, front, stack arms, were given, every musket that left Bridgeport was placed in stack, and not a man was out of his place.

     On the seventeenth of September the forces under General Steadman, of which the Twenty-second was a part, were ordered to feel of the enemy gently in the vicinity of Ringgold, Georgia. At Pea-Vine Creek, near that place, the enemy was found in force, and artillery practice was indulged in on both sides. Having accomplished all that was intended by the movement, the forces fell back, and went into camp about five miles from Ringgold. Just as the regiment had rolled itself in its blankets for the night, it was aroused by the dropping of rebel shell into the camp. The pickets fell back upon the main body at double-quick, which created some confusion. The staff officer who established the picket-line ordered the picket to fall back in that manner if attacked, for which he was dismissed from the service, it being a direct violation of the orders he had received from the general commanding. The pickets were sent out again, and the remainder of the night was passed in quiet, the enemy having withdrawn. On the eighteenth of September the regiment returned to Rossville, and from there it again marched in the direction of Ringgold. On the nineteenth of September it had some skirmishing with the enemy near McAffee's Church, which, as some who were present remember; was not confined to musketry alone. That 91. night the regiment lay on its arms near the church.

     On Sunday morning, September 20, 1863, five hundred and one men of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry drew rations and marched with the Reserve Corps, under General Gordon Granger, to the support of General Thomas, whose forces were heavily engaged with the enemy to the right of McAffee's Church. At two o'clock P.M. the regiment made a charge upon the enemy, who was pressing round General Thomas' right wing, and for five hours held its position. Between four and five P.M. its ammunition was exhausted. Information to that effect was sent to the general commanding, who sent back the order, "Hold the ground with the bayonet." This was done by repeated charges upon the enemy, when he made an effort to drive the regiment from its position. Under cover of the smoke of battle and the gathering darkness of night the rest of our forces were withdrawn, leaving a devoted little band consisting of the Twenty-second Michigan and an Ohio regiment to hold the battle-field of Chickamauga. Soon after dark fourteen officers and one hundred and seventy-eight enlisted men, all that were left of the regiment who went into the engagement, were surrounded by overwhelming numbers and made prisoners. Colonel Heber LeFavour commanded the brigade, of which the Twenty-second was a part, during the action.

     Lieutenant-Colonel Sanborn, commanding the regiment, was severely wounded in the early part of the engagement. Captain A. M. Keeler assumed command when brave Sanborn fell. Captains Snell and Smith fell mortally wounded. The report made at the time was one officer killed, two wounded, and fourteen missing; of enlisted men, thirty-seven killed, eighty-seven wounded, and two hundred and thirty-three missing in action. That short but appalling sentence, missing, in action, included many who fell to rise no more. But for the fact that one company was ordered to remain as guard at General Granger's headquarters, there would have been but few left to tell the tale. What there was left of the regiment fit for duty camped at Rossville on the night of September 20th and the next day marched to Chattanooga and crossed to the north side of the Tennessee River. One hundred and ninety-three officers and men of the regiment went into rebel prisons. The seventeen months and eleven days that their captivity lasted, carried a large proportion of their number down to nameless graves. If on the day they entered the rebel prison-pen a child had been born that should not die until it had lived the aggregate number of years spent in prison by the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, that child would have been two hundred and seventy-three years, eight months, and seven days old on the day of its death.

     During the week following the battle of Chickamauga the regiment was engaged in throwing up fortifications on Moccasin Point, where it went into camp September 27, 1863, numbering one hundred and eighty-seven officers and men fit for duty.This number was soon increased to three hundred by General Thomas' order, directing detailed men to be returned to the regiment., On the eighth of October the enemy opened a heavy fire upon the command, from his batteries at the base of Lookout Mountain. The Tenth Indiana Battery which the Twenty-second was supporting, returned the fire with interest, and that night the enemy moved his batteries up the mountain. The next morning the enemy's artillery practice commenced from Point Lookout upon the camp, and was kept up from that day until the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge drove him from his guns. For six weeks there was hardly an hour in the day or night that rebel shell did not screech over or into the camp. There were many narrow escapes, some dodging of heads and sudden reclinings at full length, but, what seemed almost miraculous no one was hurt.

     From September 27th until after the battle of Mission Ridge the regiment knew what it was to be hungry. Three-fourths of one ration was issued to each man, and that had to last four days. It is hardly necessary to say that the fourth day after the issue of rations was a day of fasting to every man in the regiment. That small amount of food could not be made to last beyond the third day. The regiment was hungry, ragged, and bare-footed, but its Michigan grit failed not.

     On one occasion one-half the usual short ration was issued. Late in the evening of the second day afterwards an order was received from brigade headquarters announcing that there would be no more rations issued for two days. In the darkness of night the regiment formed in line to have the order announced to it. After the order was read the commanding officer said to the men that on the march and on the battle-field they had proven themselves true soldiers, and that two days from that time be could tell them whether they were good soldiers when hungry and without rations. With such a state of facts staring them in the face, who would not honor and love men who could send up a cheer such as did those men on that dark and dreary night? ... On the night of October 27th the regiment was ordered to lie upon its arms at one o'clock A.M. The roar of artillery-and rattle 92. of musketry gave notice that the enemy had discovered the Union forces crossing the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry. At four o'clock A.M., October 28th, the regiment, with the brigade to which it was attached, moved to the assistance of General Hooker, who was fighting to open the "Hard-Tack Line," as the boys called it. At daylight it crossed the pontoon-bridge laid at Brown's Ferry, and was soon after ordered to take possession of a hill in front of General Hooker's right flank which it did, and for once the front proved the, safest place, for the enemy's shot and shell either struck the ground below them or went over the hill and fell among the troops. in the rear. As the regiment was moving to its position, some of the troops just over from the Eastern army took occasion to make remarks more pointed than complimentary concerning the clothing of the Michiganders. "You may wear better clothes, but you can't do any better fighting," was the reply made to those remarks.

     On that day the regiment ate the first full meal it had had in a long, time; it consisted of wheat and corn in the ear. On the twenty-ninth of October the regiment returned to Moccasin Point, again on short rations and hard work, building corduroy-road from Brown's Ferry to Chattanooga. It was engaged in this work until November 21, 1863, when it was assigned the duty of moving a pontoon-train to a point on the Tennessee River four miles above Chattanooga, preparatory to the crossing of General Sherman's forces to take part in the battle of Mission Ridge.

     At nine o'clock P.M. of the dark and stormy night of November 21st, a heavy train of pontoon wagons and boats was delivered to the regiment to be taken to the point designated on the river. The most profound secrecy was enjoined. The mule's that were to move the train were so reduced by starvation that some of them could scarcely stand alone.

    The road was mud, axle-deep. Before starting, the regiment was told that upon its exertions for the next thirty hours depended in a great measure the success of the movement about to be made against the enemy. That if weak mules could not move the wagons, men must,--if wagons were broken they must be repaired at once.

     The missing wheels from General Palmer's ammunition-train, which was parked beside the road on which the train was moving, gave proof that the order to repair breakage was promptly obeyed. When wagons were capsized they were quickly righted by the strong arms of brave men. When mules and wagons were mired, men knee-deep in mud pushed or pulled them out. The task was not completed when day began to break on the morning of November 22d. Wagons and boats were quickly concealed in thickets, behind hills, or by piling brush over them. The men, tired, hungry, and without rations, lay down in the underbrush to await the darkness of another night. On the night of November 23d the same experience was repeated, and the pontoon-train parked in its position.

     Some idea of the skill and secrecy with which the movements preceding the battle of Mission Ridge were carried out may be derived from the fact that the men of the Twenty-second had not the least knowledge that General Sherman, with fifteen thousand troops, lay concealed just over the hills, forty rods to their left; nor did the enemy get the slightest inkling of what was going on until one of General Sherman's captains made the grand rounds of their picket-line on the south side of the river. At one o'clock A.M., November 26, 1863, the regiment was under arms to take part in meeting any resistance the enemy might make to the laying of the pontoon-bridge. But the movement had been conducted with such secrecy that the enemy's pickets did not discover the first landing-party until they did so as prisoners. Before the bridge was completed, five thousand men had been thrown across the river in pontoon-boats, and at nine o'clock A.M. General Sherman's whole force was on the south side of the Tennessee River.

     As soon as the crossing was effected, the regiment was ordered to take the pontoon-train back to Chattanooga and lay a bridge at that point. Those who were present will not forget the advance of General Thomas in the centre on the first day; the roar of battle while General Hooker and his men were above the clouds on the second day; nor the five-mile line of battle that charged up the side of Mission Ridge on the third and last day of the battle, just as the last boat was, placed in position, which completed the bridge over which a goodly number of Bragg's army marched as prisoners.

     On the twenty-eighth of November the regiment left its camp on Moccasin Point and encamped at the junction of Chattanooga Creek, with the Tennessee River one mile below Chattanooga. From that date until May 28, 1864, it was engaged in building railroad-bridges, storehouses, magazines, and saw-mills. It used to be said, if you want anything made, from a watch to a saw-mill, go to a Michigan regiment, and they will do it; and the Twenty-second was not an exception to the. rule. It would require a long narrative to tell all that the regiment accomplished in that line, Suffice it 93. to say that it was never idle, and that when it worked, no men accomplished more than the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry. On the sixteenth of January, 1864, the cars began to run from Bridgeport to Chattanooga, at which time the long season of short rations ended.

     Through the efforts of a recruiting-party, sent home to Michigan under command of Captain Atkinson and Lieutenant Breidenbach, the regiment was filled up to something near its old -quota during the months of March and April, 1864. May 19th it went into camp on Lookout Mountain, where it remained until May 26th, when it received orders to report to General Thomas in the field, and took up its line of march to the front. It proceeded by rail as far as Kingston, Georgia, and from there marched three and a half miles on the Cassville road, and camped at sunset, May 28th. Just as the regiment was comfortably settled, for the night, a dispatch was received from the post-commander at Kingston, stating that the regiment was on the wrong road, and in imminent danger of being attacked, and advising an immediate return to Kingston. After a brief consultation it was decided to throw out pickets, and sleep or fight in that place. There was some good sleeping done that night, but no fighting.

     May 29th it marched back in the direction of Kingston, crossed the Etowah River, four miles from that place, passed through the beautiful little town of Euharley, and at five P.M. camped at Altoona Creek. May 30th it crossed the Altoona Mountains, and camped that night on a creek four miles from Dallas, Georgia.

     On the thirty-first of May it marched two miles to the right of Dallas and reported to General Thomas, who ordered the regiment to report to General Howard, who directed it to support a battery on its right. Here the recruits of the regiment first heard the whistle of bullets; and, as a rule, few ever forgot how they sounded the first time they were heard.

     On the first of June, 1864, the regiment was assigned to the Reserve Brigade, Department of the Cumberland, Colonel Heber LaFavour coming brigade, to report direct to General Thomas. It remained in this brigade until after the object of the campaign was accomplished, viz., the capture of Atlanta. From the time of the organization of the brigade until the fall of that place there was almost continuous battle. The days on which there were no battles were exceptions to the rule. New Hope Church, Brown's Mill Creek, Morris Hill Church, Big Shanty, Pumpkin-Vine Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Rough-And-Ready Station, Vining's, Chattahoochie River, Peach-Tree Creek, the battles of July 22d and 28th in front of 

     July 1 8th, the regiment was halted on the banks of the Chattahoochie River and ordered to build a bridge across it. The material for the bridge was growing on the margin of the river when it arrived, and sixty hours thereafter, when it marched away, those trees had been converted into a double-track bridge two hundred and eighty feet long, at an elevation of ten feet above the water, and of sufficient strength for the passage of heavy artillery. July 20th, the regiment built a bridge across Nancy Creek, two miles from the Chattahoochie. On the twenty-second of July, 1864, it went into camp too near to the enemy's works in front of Atlanta to render the camp a pleasant one. It remained in front of Atlanta until four A.M., August 25, 1864, when, with the rest of the army, it made the flank movement to the south of that place. The men carried four days' rations in haversacks, and the regimental transportation carried ten days' more. On the twenty-ninth of August it reached Red Oak, a small place on the Montgomery Railroad. Early that morning the Twenty-second, with the rest of the army, proceeded to the destruction of that road. In a few hours thirteen miles of railroad was destroyed, thus breaking another of the enemy's lines of communication with Atlanta.

     On the thirty-first of August the regiment camped at Renfrew's, near Jonesboro', and on the first of September it stood to its arms in readiness to move at a moment's notice to take part in the battle of Jonesboro', which was won on that day by the Union forces.

     The battle of Jonesboro', fought twenty-five miles south of Atlanta, gave to the Union forces the key to the Confederacy, and on the third of September the regiment began to retrace its steps to the latter place. On the morning of September 8, 1864, the brigade of which the Twenty-second was a part marched into the city of Atlanta with light hearts, colors flying, and bands playing. The prize that had been fought for, inch by inch, for four months, was won at last. It was one, too, at a time when the people of the North were disheartened and despondent. A shout of joy went up throughout the North, and none knew how 94. great was the reason for rejoicing better than did the Union soldiers.

     On the fourteenth of October, while the teamsters of the regiment were grazing their animals just outside the picket-line at Atlanta, a squad of rebel cavalry dashed down upon them and captured six men, five horses, and twenty-nine mules. One of the men who made his escape reported that all the mules are captured but me." A detachment was immediately sent in pursuit, but the enemy made good his escape with prisoners and booty.

     The regiment left Atlanta, on its return to Chattanooga, October 31, 1864, and arrived at that place at noon, November 6th, having accomplished a march of one hundred and forty miles in six and a half days, through a rain-storm which made the roads horrible. On the night of November 6th the regiment lay down to rest in the mud and rain without shelter. . . .

     The regiment remained at Chattanooga until June 21, 1865. While it remained at that place it cut, rafted, and sawed lumber sufficient to erect twenty-five buildings, of sufficient capacity to quarter one thousand officers and men. These buildings were erected by the regiment, and occupied by it at the time the order for its muster out of service was received. In obedience to this order, it proceeded to Nashville by railroad, where it arrived July 22, 1865. On the twenty-sixth of that month, the muster-out rolls being perfect, it was ordered to Detroit for final payment and discharge, and on Tuesday morning, July 27, 1865, it left Nashville by rail homeward bound.

     The men of the regiment whose terms of service did not expire on or before October 1, 1865, were transferred to the Twenty-ninth Michigan Infantry, in which regiment they served until its final muster out. Although they had joined the Twenty-second after it had been in the field some time, by their cheerful discharge of duty and rapidly acquired soldierly bearing, they had endeared themselves to the older members of the regiment, and it was with feelings of regret that they were left at Nashville.

     On the arrival of the regiment at Indianapolis it was detained twenty-four hours for want of cars. Many will remember the hearty cheers that went up as the train of coaches (not cattle-cars), bearing the familiar letters M. C. R. R., ran down to the Soldiers' Home in Indianapolis, where the regiment was quartered while in the city . It quickly got on board the cars, and was soon speeding away for Michigan, comfortably seated in passenger-coaches for the first time in three years. At Marshall the citizens had dinner ready when the, train arrived and, although it was not intended to stop there, they would not take no for an answer, and the regiment did such justice to the many good things spread before it as only old soldiers know how to do. At Jackson, also, there was a dinner awaiting the regiment; but when it was known that it was to go to Detroit to be paid off, the then mayor of that city said that unless the regiment was paid off at Jackson it could not eat the dinner. The men had two-days' rations of bacon and hard-tack in their haversacks, and thought they could live on that until they reached Detroit. The regiment Went on board its train without tasting the dinner, in justice be it said, much to the regret and mortification of the citizens of Jackson. It arrived in Detroit at a quarter past eight P.M., was marched to the supper-room in the Michigan Central Railroad Depot, where so many of the returning regiments were the recipients of the hospitality of the City of the Straits. The welcoming speeches were made; the cow-bell that had seen three years' service was rung for the last time; the log-chain which Joseph LeBot found in Southern Georgia, and carried through all his marches because he thought it would be handy on his farm was exhibited; and the regiment sat down to the last supper that it ever ate as a regiment It slept that night on the Michigan Central Railroad wharf, and the next day nominally went into camp at the barracks on Clinton Street. July 10, 1865, it was paid off, and the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry no longer had an existence. From the day of its organization to its muster out there were fifteen hundred and forty men mustered into its ranks; their average height was five feet eight and a quarter inches, their average age twenty-three years and nine months. Nine hundred and ninety-eight were born in the United States, two hundred and forty-three in Canada, eighty-one in Ireland, fifteen in France, one hundred and eighteen in Germany, two in Wales, one in Peru, and nineteen in Scotland. From the time the regiment left the State until it returned it marched two thousand two hundred and forty miles.

MEMBERS    OF THE TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY FROM LIVINGSTON COUNTY