A Historic Sketch, Lest We Forget Company "E," 26th Ohio Infantry in the War for the Union, 1861-65Kelly, Walden
History
A Historic Sketch, Lest We Forget Company "E," 26th Ohio Infantry in the War for the Union, 1861-65
Kelly, Walden
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories; United States. Army. Ohio Infantry Regiment, 26th (1861-1865)
settlement, arriving at home near the middle of November, 1865.
Discrepancies appear in both the Rebellion Official Records and Roster of
Ohio Soldiers. Some of them, when properly explained, show to the reader
the honest intention of the compiler or author. I call attention to two
cases:
First, General George D. Wagner, commanding 2nd brigade, 2nd division, 4th
army corps. The 26th was in said brigade. In his official report covering
the entire Atlanta campaign, May 3, to September 20, 1864, he reports ten
officers killed and wounded in the 26th Ohio regiment.
The official report of Major Noris T. Peatman, commanding the regiment at
the close of said campaign, reports one officer, Lieutenant Platt, killed,
and five officers, viz.: Major Peatman, Captain Baldwin, Lieutenants
Renick, Hoge and Foster wounded--six in all. During said campaign the
company and regimental official records were left far in the rear and not
seen until after the campaign closed. During this period temporary reports
were made almost daily on just such scraps of paper as were
available--leaves from memorandum books, etc. In the continual skirmish or
battle many officers and men were temporarily disabled by wounds and in
the daily reports would be included in the list of casualties. In the
official report, made at close of the campaign, only those whose
disabilities compelled a continued absence were reported.
Second, in the Roster of Ohio Soldiers: Company E 26th Ohio, is shown to
have had two first lieutenants from December 9, 1864, to February 28,
1865--Kelly and Osler. The former was present (at date of commission) with
the regiment and was mustered. Osler was wounded June 27, 1864, at Kenesaw
and was still in the hospital, at or near the time Kelly was commissioned
captain and assigned to company F. He (Osler) joined the regiment, was
mustered and assigned to company E. He remained but a short time, his
wound still in bad condition and continued so, and he was compelled to
have his leg amputated twenty or twenty-five years later. He died in
Columbus, Ohio, a few years ago. In 1890 I did considerable careful
estimating as to losses and percentage of losses in the 26th Ohio and
wrote Colonel William F. Fox the results of my study. I here insert a copy
of his reply:
"Albany, N. Y., June 18, 1890.
"Capt. Walden Kelley, Osborn, Mo.:
"Dear Comrade--Your interesting letter of the 9th was read with
pleasure and in the next edition of 'Regimental Losses' I will insert
on page 32:
"'Twenty-sixth Ohio, Wood's division, number engaged 362, killed 52,
percentage killed 14.'
"This percentage, however, already appears, although in a somewhat
different form, on page 36, the loss being one of the severest in the
war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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