Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-04
TALE OF THE WAR.
4 Revival OF "reminiscences OF the Gun
town Disaster-Severe Arrangement
of General Sturgis.
Not Only a Coward and Drunkard, but
Wholly Incompetent-Caustic
Correspondence.

as often been reckoned as instrumental in
causing great loss of life, and vast sacrifice
in the way OF munitions and prisoners. The
bitter feeling of the volunteer soldiery in
reference to this matter has not been kept
secret and recently it has taken shape in the
form of a circular letter, sent out BY G. A
Gessner, of the Seventy-second Ohio Veteran
Volunteer Infantry, from Fremont, o., with
a view TO thorough exposure of Sturgis's
conduct at GuntOwn, and as a consequence
of such exposure the establishment of the
justice of the demand made for his dismis-
sal from the governorship of the National
Soldiers Home at Washington. One of
these circulars was addressed to Captain
Lowdermilk, of the executive department of
this city, as president of the Illinois Priso-
ners OF War Association, who, before answer
ing it, addressed a letter to General K. 2.
auckland, of Fremont, O., who was at that
time colonel oil the Seventy second Ohio Vol
unteer Iufantry, and participated in the bat
tie of Guntown, and received in answer the
following letter:
| W. w Lowdermilk ESQ:
DEAR SIR am in receipt of your favor
Of the Sd instant asking my opinion as to the
| propriety of attacking General Sturgis for
| his Encouragement at Guntown. l have
always looked upon General Sturgis's con-
| duct in that affair as not only inexcusable,
| but cowardly. II be had been a volunteer
| officer, have no doubt he would have been
! court martialed and dismissed, if not shot,
| for drunkenness and cowardice in the face of
! the enemy. He was on drunken spree in
! Memphis for several days before starting on
| the expedition, and from what / have
| learned from officers and men under him, i
! have no doubt but he wss intoxicated at the
| time of the battle. His cowardiee and bad
management sacrificed large numbsr OF as
| good soldiers as ever went into battle. Now
| the government has placed him in a conspic-
uous national position, which / consider a
gross insult to the volunteer soldiers and to
| the country. think those who were under
! Sturgis and know the facts ought to make
| them known. l intend within few days to
write to General Logan or DIR. Rice, who was
surgeon of the Seventy-second, and is now in !
| Congress, giving NV views and what l know
| of the facts. The feeling of the members of
my old regiment is, without exception, that
| of intense indignation that General Stur-
| gis is suffered to remain in charge Of
the Soldiers Home at Washington, and
they are determined that the authori- |
ties at Washington and the coun-
try shall know the facts. Many of
the Seventy second, who were at Gun
town, charge that Sturgis was not only drunk
and coward, but that he was a traitor, and
| purposely sacrificed his command, but ap-
| prehend the fact to be that he was a coward |
! and that his cowardice was the reason OF his
keeping himself under the influence of
liquor. My opinion is that, in justice to the
gallant men who suffered by the misconduct
of Sturgis, now is proper time to make the
fact known, and you will please your old
comrade by taking the same view of the mat
ter. am thankful for the EXPIRE sion of
your sentiments of regard for myself and my
old regiment, the Seventy Ohio. |
have great affection for the One Hundred and
Fourteenth Illinois, and shall be pleased to be
remembered to any of the regiment you may
meet. Truly yours, R. P. auckland.
On receipt of this letter Captain Lowder-
milk replied to the circular as follows:
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,. February 6, 1882
G. A. Gessner, Esq, Fremont, o.;
DEAR SIR-Your favor of the 1st instant |
asking me for the names and postofice adj |
dress OF the survivors of certain Illinois |
regiments who participated in the battle of |
Guntown, Miss, on the 10th of June, 1864, |
has been received, and in reply have this |
day mailed you list of such as were pris- |
oners of war and members of Illinois |
State Association of Prisoners of War; yet |
there are many more who reside in this |
vicinity who are not members of our associa-
ton. / desire TO say that / deeply sympa-
thize with the feeling that has prompted you
to show up the cowardly and infamous char
acter of one Samuel d. Sturgis Whose name
should always be spelled with little 81. 1
was a member of Company B, One Hundred
and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, and left |
Memphis, Tenn, on the LIST of June, 1854,
under command of that drunken military
abortion, who had nearly r. 900 soldiers I'M
der his command. He placed us under fire.
and in drunken condition he and his staff
officers skipped out for the city of Memphis,
where they all arrived in safety few days
later. But the poor soldiers were less for
tunate. / fell upon the field severely
wounded and vas taken prisoner, had my arm
amputated, and was held a prisoner for ten
l.. II he Had II haa |
taken a prisoner 1 should not have lost my
arm, and for this serious personal calamity
| shall hold General Sturgis wholly RESPONSE
BILE. Wishing you success in your undertake
ing, 1 am very truly yours,
THE BATTLE.
On the morning of June 16, 1864, the in
telligence first reached the city that the COM
mand of General Sturgis, in which was in
cluded the One Hundred and Fourteenth Hi
mis- Infantry six companies of which had been
raised in Sangamon county, had received a
total defeat at Guntown, Miss. This was one
of the most disgraceful affairs of the whole
war, and the whole defeat is laid by the men
who participated in the fight to the incom-
potency and cowardice of General Slurgis,
who was in command of the force The fight
occurred on June 10th, and the first au-
thentic account of the fight was received and
published in the Journal of the 22j, from
a private letter written by a member of the
One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois, con-
nected with the commissary department, and
addressed to his wife in this city. The letter
is dated at Memphis and says:
"As you know, our expedition left here on | ,
the LIST of June. Our destination was known
on to the general commanding. We ,
marched nine days, and, on the morning of ,
the 10th, found the rebels in front lin small
numbers, as we supposedly. Our camp was .
Il ffaar (1up he 0hi1 nd .
Mobile railroad. About ii o'clock our cav
airy got into skirmish with the rebels, and
followed them up until within three miles eff {
where they were driven back a Z
little Just enough to draw on the infantry, {
which was back three miles, and moving up :
in common time. The order came back to
move them up on the double quick, and the |
day was very hot. The men moved up rap :
idly and in good shape for two miles, when !
they began to get sunstruck, and fell on the s
side OF the road by dozens. Some fell as +
they stepped into line of battle. A few min =
ceived an order from Maurer acting brigade
4uartermaster, to brins our teams up on the /
which | did. We had 200 a
wagons IN ali, and they were ordered to be )
placed in 2 swamp field, with the ammuni- '
ton train in front (about thirty wagons). We v
had just got our train in corral when the r
wounded men began coming out rapidly, and Il
the shot and shell fell thick among our train I
We staid in corral about thirty minutes, h
when our forces were badly whipped, and .
falling back as fast as men could {
walk, the rebels advancing and planting /
heir guns in sight, at short range, and open Z
ing upon our train. We moved back a y
quarter of a mile, and came 10 where our
forces formed line with the men that were
eft about half the number they went in Q
With at first. We kept moving back slowly 7 !,
we could not move faster), when the artil- a
ery came back, and we had TO stop and take fl
he shots as they came. Presently came 8
ambulances, cavalry, infantry, etc, all 10 a G
crowd, and the road was one mass OF living Ii
creatures jammed in together. Here Maurer =
came back and told me TO take charge of the d
rear and bring it up, and he would go ahead r
and work the train through. At this time =
he fighting was going on at a furious rate d
ID all sides, and our men were coming back II
oy regiments. Now we ordered the teams
ut loose and told the men to jump on the
mules and abandon the train. Some of the
ammunition wagons were in the rear, and "
he ammunition laying in the road for our >
men to snatch as they came back; but the il
rebels pressed them so hard they had very a
little time TO get any. The rebels fired our =
OWN ammunition at Us, they using the same
,aliber. We were then all on general re- h
reat, and most of our guns were in the
7a1dz pf the cbaIIu 1r,> |