The 39th Ohio Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Colerain and Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio July 31 through August 13, 1861,[3] and mustered in for three years service under the command of Colonel John Groesbeck[4] on July 31 (seven companies) and August 2 (three companies).[5]
Fully armed and equipped, the 39th departed the camp on Sunday, August 18, by rail to St. Louis, to join Brig. Gen. John C. Frémont's Army of the West in the Department of the Missouri organizing there.[note 1]
Operations in Missouri
On Friday, September 6, Companies A, B,C, D,E, F, G, H, and I were sent to Macon, MO to guard the North Missouri Railroad (NMR). Company K was left in garrison in St. Louis with possession of the regiment's equipment and supplies. [5] Shortly after reaching Macon, Companies A, B, E, and I were ordered to St. Joseph for guard-duty along the NMR until February 1, 1862 when they were ordered back to St. Louis. The other five companies in Macon (C, D, F, G, and H), marched under Col. Samuel D. Sturgis, to relieve the siege of Lexington, MO. [5][6] Before they got there, the garrison surrendered on September 20, so Sturgis went to Kansas City, arriving on Sunday, September 22.[note 2] The regiment reunited February 19 in St Louis, at Benton Barracks.[7]
On Saturday, February 22, the regiment embarked for Commerce, MO, arriving on Monday. In the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of the Mississippi (AoM), it marched in his surprise march on New Madrid, MO arriving Monday, March 3. [8] Pope laid siege, and 39th Ohio operated in support of the operations resulting in the capture of New Madrid on Friday, March 14, and Island No. 10 three and a half weeks later on April 7, clearing the Mississippi as far south as Memphis.[9][note 3]
The Corinth campaign
The following Sunday, April 13, the 39th, as part of the AoM, again boarded steamers and moved down the Mississippi to within a few miles of Fort Pillow. [7] Remaining four days until Thursday, April 17, it steamed up the Tennessee River and disembarked at Hamburg Landing,[11] the Army of the Mississippi joined the other two under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Halleck. The 39th then participated in the Siege of Corinth.[note 4] During the siege, the 39th made numerous reconnaissance patrols and had a large number of skirmishes, losing many men. On Friday, May 30, the regiment led Pope's army into Corinth, and was one of the first regiments to occupy the place. [7] After pursuing the retreating Rebels as far as Boonville, the regiment returned to within five miles of Corinth and encamped on Clear Creek.
Through June, July, and August, the 39th continued training with officers' school, company, and battalion drill held daily. On July 25, the regiment turned in its Greenwood rifle, [note 5] with which it had been previously supplied and was issued Eli Whitney-manufactured Springfield Model 1861 rifled muskets and saber bayonets. [7] The next day, the AoM received a new commander, Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans.
On Sunday, August 24, the regiment received an influx of 44 recruits from Ohio. On the following Friday, it moved to Iuka where the regiment was again sent out in detachments to guard the Memphis and Charleston Railroad (M&CRR). On Thursday, September 11, the regiment came together and returned to Corinth, and stowed all its extra gear at the camp.[7]
The AoM moved on Iuka in concert with the Army of the Tennessee (AoT), now under Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, with Maj. Gen. Grant in overall command. Grant planned a double envelopment of the Confederate Army of the West, commanded by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, with the AoM (including the 39th) attacking from the southwest, and three divisions of the AoT from the northwest.[13] Departing Corinth, September 11, by September 18, the AoM was 20 miles from Iuka. Rosecrans sent word to Grant that he would reach Iuka by midafternoon on Friday.[7] Considering this delay, Grant ordered Ord to move toward the town, but not to attack until hearing the sound of the AoM's fighting south of the town.[13]
The 39th Ohio was within two miles (3.2 km) of the town on September 19, when contact was made.[14] Soon engaged in a hard battle, the 39th was in Col Fuller's Ohio Brigade of BG Stanley's 2nd Division as it fought fiercely on Rosecrans' right driving the rebels' left out of town.[7] A north wind, blowing from Ord's position in the direction of Iuka, caused an acoustic shadow that prevented Ord's troops stood idly while the fighting raged only a few miles away.[15]
Despite the lack of support, the 39th and its comrades defeated the enemy[7] and pursued them for two days before returning to Corinth, Thursday, October 2. The following morning, the regiment was in Stanley's reserve southwest of the rail junction as the Confederates, now under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn approached from the northwest.[7] In response, on Friday morning, Rosecrans pushed three of his divisions into the old Confederate rifle pits north and northwest of town. The 39th was in reserve south of town.[16] Van Dorn began his assault at 10 a.m. and his troops broke through about 1:30 p.m., forcing the whole Union line back.[17] Darkness ended the fighting.
The Confederates had driven the AoM back at all points, but both sides were exhausted from the fighting in the hot weather (high of 94 °F (34 °C)).[7] The 39th and its army comrades were confident ready for the next day.[18]
Before dawn, Saturday morning, October 4, the Confederates opened a bombardment that lasted until after sunrise. When the guns fell silent, the expected attack did not occur until 9:00 a.m. The 39th Ohio was in Stanley's division in the AoM's center where despite initial rebel successes, the regiment and its comrtades repulsed all Confederate attacks.[19] By 1:00 p.m, all of Van Dorn's assaults had failed, and he ordered a retreat.[20] Reinforcements from Grant at 4:00 p.m sealed Rosecrans' and the AoM's victory.[21]
The regiment joined the pursuit of the Rebels as far as Baldwin after which it returned to Corinth,[7] and worked on its inner line of defensive works.
The regiment was attached to Army of the West and Department of the Missouri to February 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Mississippi, to April 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of the Mississippi, to November 1862. 1st Brigade, 8th Division, Left Wing, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. 1st Brigade, 8th Division, XVI Corps, to March 1863. 4th Brigade, District of Corinth, Mississippi, 2nd Division, XVI Corps, to May 1863. 3rd Brigade, District of Memphis, Tennessee, 5th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1863. Fuller's Brigade, 2nd Division, XVI Corps, to January 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XVII Corps, to July 1865.
The 39th Ohio Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 9, 1865.
Affiliations, battle honors, detailed service, casualties, and armament
The regiment lost a total of 196 men during service; 2 officers and 62 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 3 officers and 129 enlisted men died of disease.[24]
Armament
Soldiers in the 39th were armed with "Greenwood Rifles,"[note 6] a Cincinnati produced percussion and rifled alteration of the smoothbore, .69 -caliber Springfield Model 1816s. On July 25, 1862, in camp near Corinth, they turned these in and received National Armory contracted Eli Whitney manufactured Springfield Model 1861 .58- caliber rifled-muskets with saber bayonets.[7][26][note 7]
Commanders
Colonel John Groesbeck - discharged July 8, 1862
Colonel Alfred West Gilbert - resigned October 11, 1862[30]
^The Siege of Corinth lasted from April 29 to May 30, 1862, U. S. forces under Halleck engaged in a month-long siege of the city, whose Confederate defenders were commanded by General Beauregard. The siege resulted in the capture of the town by Federal forces. For more information see its Wikipedia article.
^These were US M-1816 muskets that had been converted to percussion cap and rifled by the Eagle Ironworks in Cincinnati. Due to their reliability even after rifling, the Greenwood rifles gained a good reputation with the Ohio regiments that carried them.[12]
^Steamboats and the Miami and Erie Canal had already turned Cincinnati into a commercial and industrial hub[25] when in 1832, Miles Greenwood established the Eagle Ironworks along the Miami Canal.[12] After 1836, the railroads further developed the city, and Greenwood's company quickly grew to be the largest ironworks in the midwestern United States. With the onset of the Civil War, he received contracts to modernize US-made and imported smoothbore flintlock muskets to percussion cap weapons.[12] Despite problems other contractors had with rifling percussion-altered US M-1816 muskets, Greenwood apparently had more success, and a Cincinnati newspaper reported that his altered .69 caliber muskets had better penetrating power than the standard .58 rifle muskets. The 39th went off to St. Louis carrying "Greenwood Rifles".[7]
^In government records, National Armory refers to one of three United States Armory and Arsenals, the Springfield Armory, the Harpers Ferry Armory, and the Rock Island Arsenal. Rifle-muskets, muskets, and rifles were manufactured in Springfield and Harper's Ferry before the war. When the Rebels destroyed the Harpers Ferry Armory early in the American Civil War and stole the machinery for the Confederate central government-run Richmond Armory, the Springfield Armory was briefly the only government manufacturer of arms, until the Rock Island Arsenal was established in 1862. Although Springfield ramped up its production significantly, In the first year of the war, the U.S. government had to turn to contractors to produce them. When the American arms company, Robbins & Lawrence's and its successor, Vermont Arms, went bankrupt, Eli Whitney purchased the some of the gunsmithing machinery and began producing 1861, as well as other models.[27][28][29]
Frederiksen, John C. (2000), "John Pope", in Heidler, David Stephen; Heidler, Jeanne T.; Coles, David J. (eds.), Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 1541–1543, ISBN978-0-393-04758-5, LCCN2002070280, OCLC49681605, retrieved October 18, 2024
Ohio Roster Commission (1887). 37th-53rd Regiments-Infantry. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Vol. IV. Cincinnati, OH: The Ohio Valley Pub. & Mfg. Co. pp. 81–131. hdl:2027/uiug.30112047586000. OCLC181357575. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
