Cedar Creek After Action Report, 122d Ohio (2d Brigade, 3d Division, 6th Corps) (OR, 43, 261-3)

 

Report of Lieut. Col. Moses M. Granger, One hundred and twenty-second Ohio Infantry of operations October 19, 1864.

 

HEADQUARTERS, 122d OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY,

November 7, 1864.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to transmit the following report of the operations of this regiment in the battle of Cedar Creek, on the 19th of October, 1864:

I was aroused at daybreak on that morning by the sound of heavy musketry on the extreme left of the army, and at once ordered the regirnent under armss, formed line, stacked arms, caused the men to pack their tents and knapsacks, and sent the regimental pack animals to the rear and the headquarters tents, &c., to the brigade wagons. By the time this was done Colonel Ball, who had succeeded to the command of the brigade, moved his command by the right flank several hundred yards in the direction of Middletown, and then, by order, returned to camp. By this time the enemy had succeeded in driving the portion of our forces engaged to the west side of the turnpike, and bullets began to fall on our ground, and but a few moments had passed when we were again marched by the right flank toward Middletown. When just beyond Sixth Corps headquarters the brigade halted and faced to the right, bringing the rear rank in front, the One hundred and twenty-second being in the front line, with the One hundred and tenth on its right and the One hundred and twenty-sixth Ohio on its left. Being ordered to take the hill near General Sheridan's headquarters, the line moved forward and my regiment crossed the- creek and began to ascennd the opposite slope. A part of the Nineteenth Corps passing to the rear in a mass struck the right of my regiment and the left of the One hundred and tenth at the white house near General Wright's headquarters, and the brigade became divided in two parts. The order for the advance was countermanded and I recrossed the creek, and, following the direction taken by the One hundred and twenty-sixth Ohio, formed on the right of that regiment in line with the First Brigade behind the crest of the hill north of headquarters Third Division, Sixth Corps, but immediately advanced to the crest of the hill, driving back the enemy who had followed us closely. He fell back in haste and disorder across the ravine and beyond the opposite hill, leaving several prisoners in our hands. Retaining for a time the position thus gained, and having no enemy on our front, we directed our fire with some effect upon a column of rebels then marching through our camp-ground in the direction of the extreme right. Meanwhile, another body of the enemy advanced on the left and appeared on a ridge to our left and rear. Observing the remainder of the Second Brigade in good line, several hundred yards to the right and a little to the rear of our then position, we faced about, and marching to the left oblique, passed through a heavy cross-fire, that occasioned many of the casualties hereinafter reported, and rejoined the brigade. The brigade then moved under orders and with steadiness to the rear and found a line formed along a lane and protected by hastily piled rails, and shortly before 9 a. m. took position on the left of this line in a wood

 

About 9.30 a. m. the whole line was marched near a mile to the rear, then to the right (that is, toward the turnpike), we being faced to the rear, forming a connection with the Second Division, Sixth Corps, and then to the front again, taking position about 10 a. m. about one mile and a quarter north of Middletown. Here the Sixth Maryland was on my left and the Ninth New York Heavy [Artillery! on my right. No firing occurred on or from my line from about a quarter before 9 a. m. until the general advance in the afternoon. About 3.30 the line advanced, but the guide being to the left, before the extreme right was felt by the enemy he had detected our movement and we received a heavy fire of both musketry and shell from a force posted in a wood on our right. Under this fire a portion of the troops on the right belonging, I suppose, to the First Division were somewhat disordered, being most exposed to the cross-fire, and part of the Second Division, on our left, began to move rapidly to the rear. This caused first, hesitation; next, a retrograde movement of our line; but order was almost immediately restored and the advance resumed. The enemy endeavored to hold fast to a stone fence on our front about three-quarters of a mile north of Middletown, and succeeded in delaying us for from twenty to thirty minutes, but advantage being taken of a transverse fence and a sudden and very heavy fire opened on him from the front and partially from the flank he fled with precipitation, and notwithstanding several efforts to reform his lines under cover of the well-directed fire of a battery placed near Middletown, he was carried steadily backward until nightfall found us on the bank of Cedar Creek with our foe fleeing in utter rout before our cavalry. Pursuant to orders, my regiment at once reoccupied its camp.

A leave of absence for Capt. Gilbert H. Bargar had arrived on the evening. of the 18th and was driven him on the morning of the 19th without my imagining he would leave the field, but he almost immediately, without my observing it, left his company and proceeded to Winchester. Before his leave expired an order honorably discharging him from the service on tender of his resignation was received, and I am unable to notice his conduct of the 19th ultimo save in this manner. With this exception, my officers and much the greater part of my men, both volunteers and drafted, behaved with gallantry, and well deserve their share of the thanks given by the President and the country for the glorious victory of that day.

I regret that I must report the death on the field of First Lieut. Thomas Kilburn, a most faithful officer, and the dangerous wounding of' Second Lieut. Edward B. Hilliard. Major Cornyn and Lieutenants Power and Blondin were struck, but continued on duty.

The casualties of the regiment, as corrected to date, are: Killed and died of wounds-officers, 1; men, 3; total 4. Wounded-officers, 4; men, 31; total, 35. Missing-men, 6. Aggregate, 45.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MOSES M. GRANGER,

  Lieutenant-Colonel. Commanding.

 

CAPT. J. J. BRADSHAW,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Second Brigade.

 

Permit me to refer to two incidents, each of interest to my regiment. Private Leander McClurg, Company F, One hundred and twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was one of the first to cross the stone fence, where the enemy had attempted to check our advance, and captured a flag which a wounded rebel told him was the flag of the Forty-fourth (rebel) Virginia Regiment. McClurg continued to advance, bearing the color, but it was forced from him by an officer of our service whose name and regiment 1 have been unable to learn, the officer using threats and taking advantage of his rank. The colors of the One hundred and twenty-second Ohio Regiment were the first, except those of the Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, planted on the works thrown up by the Nineteenth Corps, and which had been captured by the enemy in the morning.

Again, your obedient servant,

MOSES M, GRANGER,

Lieut. Col. 122d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Comdg. Regiment.