Second Michigan Cavalry, Furlough of April 1864

Second Michigan Cavalry

Subject: Furlough 1864

Source Article: "The Second Cavalry" (From Detroit Advertiser of Tuesday), The Hillsdale Standard (Hillsdale, Hillsdale, Michigan) 1851-1909, Tuesday, 03 May 1864, page 1 (digital image 1), Historical American Newspapers, Chronicling America, Library of Congress.

Summary with quotes: 

About 350 troops of the 2d veteran Cavalry, arrived home (Detroit) on furlough, Sunday,  "via the Southern Railroad." Some veterans came home in May with those on reinlistment furlough, due since the previous January when they reinlisted on the 5th. (After details about events in East Tennessee): "From thence till the 1st of February, the regiment was constantly on the move back and forth, till the 4th of March, when it was ordered to Cleveland, Tenn., where it remained till the 14th of April, at which time it left for home."

[Estimated date of arrival in Detroit: April 24 or May 1, 1864, depending on what was meant by the reference date of original publication in the Detroit Advertiser of "Tuesday"]

Officers listed on this furlough: 

*Lieutenant Colonel—Benjamin Smith.

*Major—H. F. Nicholson.

*Surgeon—William Brownell

*Assistant Surgeon—J. A. Dunlap, 

*Commissary—E. W. Lawrence.

*Company A—1st Lieut. W. Whittemore.

*Company C—1st Lieut. M L. Squiers.

*Company D—1st Lieut. H B. Rothbun.

*Company E—Capt. Vance; 1st Lieut. S. F

 Dickinson.

*Company F—Capt. D. T Fargo.

*Company G—1st Lieut. Sam l Robertson

*Company I—Capt. Geoege S. Hodges.

*Company K—1st Lieut. Sanborn 

*Company L—Capt. Bezaled P. Wells.

*Company M—2d Lieut H. M. Hempstead.

Clipping: 

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033637/1864-05-03/ed-1/seq-1/

Confederate Article: Federal Outposts, Scouts Tight Between Dalton and Chattanooga, Feb. 1864

Quick ref., Confederate article in Columbus Daily News, 22 Feb. 1864, page 2

Describes tight security by Federal outposts between Chattanooga and Dalton--a Rebel merchant could not get through to Chattanooga. The paper reported a suspected movement by Union troops. It was published the same day Gen. Thomas started his 'reconnaissance' toward Tunnel Hill.

For the next five days, there were skirmishes in the area, with Federals briefly taking Tunnel Hill before being repulsed by Confederates, who had a stronghold in the mountains.

This article shows that rebels expected a movement--the rebel merchant's attempt to get to Chattanooga occurred about a week before the publication and the surprise attack.

Columbus Daily News, 22 Feb. 1864, page 2, "From East Tennessee and the Front"

Newspaper Clipping

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82015388/1864-02-22/ed-1/seq-2/print/image_539x817_from_1750,7561_to_2896,9298/

Full link--not sure if persistent:

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82015388/1864-02-22/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=02%2F22%2F1864&nottext=&date2=03%2F15%2F1864&words=Dalton&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&index=0&city=&proxdistance=5&sort=date_asc&rows=12&ortext=&proxtext=&andtext=dalton&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&amp=&page=1

Timeline: Battle of Dalton/Tunnel Hill -- 22 Feb. 1864 through 27 Feb. 1864

General Felix Prince Salm-Salm

General Felix Prince Salm-Salm was a foreign prince who loved to fight in wars. After fighting in his own country, he offered his services to other countries. He fought in the U.S. Civil War. Toward the end of the war, he was put in charge of securing the railroads in North Georgia, Alabama, and other places. He was mentioned in a pension, and in tracking down references, he became part of my research. His involvement in my story is brief--just a mention.

In the pension, I think his name was given as General Prince Samsams (and the handwriting even made the spelling of the surname questionable--I tried searching Samson, Samsons, etc.). Outside of the pension, I think my first clue to his identity was a mention in the appendix section of History of The Rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee. (I'll get that page later).

Internet lookups would have been easier if I had had the proper spelling of his name, but I finally found him (Salm-Salm) and found some brief biographical sketches on him. Eventually I found quite a few references, but apparently never put them on this blog. So... just for the moment, here is one reference from Official Records.

January 1865
Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 45, Part 2 (Correspondence, etc.), page 601
Correspondence from Col. Felix Prince Salm to Maj. S. B. Moe
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142229/m1/615/
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142229/m1/615/
(Elsewhere indexed as serial 094).

Later in his life, he fought for at least one other country. Will add more to this post.

Official Records - Index or Chapter Locator

The eHistory section of the Department of History of Ohio State University provides HTML versions of the text in Official Records. Some segments are missing, according to that site, but there are quite a few records online. The recordss here are listed by Series, Volume, Part, Serial no., and Campaign.

Department of History, Ohio State University
War of the Rebellion: Index
https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/index

A Portal to Texas History (site) provides full text of many volumes of the Official Records.
They have a searchbar, but it leads to many, many databases or source books.
A Portal to Texas History

https://texashistory.unt.edu/

I have indexed a few of the volumes and have them listed by volume as individual post titles (see blog sidebar).

McDougall Map by Muse for Personal Research Project: Towns, Communities, Old Routes, Places Mentioned in Official Records

This informal map is part of my personal research project on McDougall, but I am making it public. I marked routes from McMinn County, Tennessee, down to Murray County, Georgia, some significant spots in Whitfield County, Georgia (near Rocky Face Ridge), Chickamauga, and places on Lookout Mountain and Sand Mountain. Not all of these places are historic. I have included some modern towns for orientation and reference. This is a work in progress, so some of my information may be inaccurate. This is my attempt to locate specific places mentioned in my own projects, including some obsolete towns, some places of significance during the Civil War, some historic markers, and some post-war towns. I've tried to figure out driving routes for a few places. In Murray and Whitfield Counties, in Georgia, I've included approximate locations for a few land lots, as best I could identify them. As I said, it's a work in progress, all very informal, and not perfectly accurate.

Events of May 1864, Battle of Rocky Face Ridge (with Dalton and Tunnel Hill), Georgia: Confederate Report, Alexander P. Stewart

Battle of Rocky Face Ridge in The Atlanta Campaign

May 1864

Finding Aid for a Confederate Report in Official Records

Report no. 654 by Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart, Confederate States Army, commanding division, of operations May 7-27.

Report Date: 5 June 1864 (from):

Headquarters Stewart's Division, Hood's Corps, Army of Tennessee,
In the Field, Paulding County, Ga.

Events, 7-27 May 1864

• Description of skirmishes around Mill Creek Gap, Tunnel Hill Ridge, etc.
• Position of Confederates entrenched on the ridges
• Mention of the entrenchments and breastworks (breast-heights)

(and more)

Official Records, Series 1, vol. 38 (in five parts), Part 3, page 816-818.

Report no. 654 by Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart, C.S. Army
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154634/m1/833/

[Finding Aid, Link]

Citation for this page provided by Texas History (site):

United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 38, In Five Parts. Part 3, Reports., book, 1891; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154634/m1/833/: accessed August 14, 2019), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

The battles are referenced different ways in different correspondence; below are some of the terms that might help when searching these battles:

Confederate References: Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Mill Creek Gap, Crow Valley, Tunnel Hill, Varnell's Station

Union References: Demonstration on Dalton, Georgia ; Ringgold, Varnell's Station, Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost ; Rocky Face Ridge (or) Rocky Faced Ridge

Subsequent Movement: Union troops moved through Snake Creek Gap toward Resaca, Georgia, leading up to a battle there.

Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War (Database Links)

For searching Michigan soldiers in the Civil War, this is great resource is online at several sites. In some sites, the volumes are both searchable and browseable, though for browsing, it is most helpful to know the soldier's name, branch of service, and regiment. Typically the summary of the soldier's career will include (but is not limited to) the name, rank, company, regiment, age at enlistment, date of enlistment, place of enlistment, promotions, captures and wounds, and date and place of discharge (or death).

Record of service of Michigan volunteers in the civil war, 1861-1865 (volumes 1-46). Pub. by authority of the Senate and House of representatives of the Michigan Legislature under the direction of Brig. Gen. Geo. H. Brown, adjutant general.

Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers In the Civil War, 1861-1865, vols. 1-46.
Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers (database)

The source I used to search for soldiers in the Second Michigan Cavalry was volume 32 in the above series, two copies made available by the University of Michigan, and another, by Michigan State University. This is one of the University of Michigan copies, with link):

Service of Michigan Volunteers In the Civil War, 1861-1865, Vol. 32. Michigan, Adjutant-General’s Dept. (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Ihling bros. & Everard, printers, 190-), Hathitrust Digital Library, babel.hathitrust.org.
Link to Volume 32 (not sure it will work, no permanent link was given): 
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071160736&view=2up&seq=8

The same resource is searchable on Ancestry.com, though I noticed that the search mechanism doesn't seem to retrieve results well with the soldier's given name--just the surname. The series is browseable as well as searchable. This link is to a catalog of all volumes in the series:

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/genealogy-glh20944174/