William Anglin's Civil War Story Chickamauga Battlefield

 

Up until this point, I have shown you the path the 58th NC took to reach the Chickamauga Battlefield by September of  1863. From the time many of the Yancey Co. men had joined the Confederate army in June and July of 1862, through the training received in the NE mtns of Tennessee, to the severe sickness among the troops along he way south, to the accusation of desertion against many of the unit's men, including our ancestor, William, to the march south into the jaws of the enemy at Chickamauga Battlefield. So now I begin the story anew, with the men arriving to Lafayette,  GA the day before the battle. The story written of that day, which I read among documents from various books and saw on videos telling the story at the Battle field, said the men of the 58th arrived hungry and tired from marching directly from above Chattanooga to Lafayette in a short time with little food. A long march itn a short time, and the whole way they were promised meals if they would just keep going.  I found evidence that at some point they no longer just marched, but may have had train transport for part of the distance. But the RR junction at Ringold had received much damage by Federal troops, and the rebuild showed the damage with walls to the Depot highly damaged. Did William arrive during a time when it showed the evidence of having been attacked by Northern cannons? Not sure, but it's entirely possible.

Ringgold is almost due East of Chickamauga, but the Conferderate orders were sending the 58th South and West of Chickamauga to join forces with other Confederate Units in preparation for the great conflict that was already occurring in the Chattanooga and Chickamauga campaigns.  Units from every direction and both sides of he war, were gathering for the major clash on the 20th day of September, 1863.

The 58th expected to wake to breakfast and some rest upon reaching Lafayette, GA.  It was  said they awakened late.  But while preparing food, scarcely had coffee been made, that a call to arms went forth and the men were rushed to prepare for battle, many with scarcely a bite yet.  It was now their duty to arrive south of Chickamauga Battlefield by noon.  It is alarming to me, how hard this unit had been pushed. But I am sure other units had suffered almost the same way.  But the encampment they had joined already had up tents and at least a meal.  I shudder to think how tired and hungry William might have been. Up until now his military experience had been fraught with failed expectations.

These two pictures are taken from the road in front of the Dyer House. I am looking
back south,  across the field from the direction the 58th would have marched ,
coming from north of Lafayette Ga, just south of here.

This how they would have approached the spot where I am standing.
 

 Once the 58th left Lafayette, heading north, they crossed open country farms, primarily fields. Their objective was a point just south of Chickamauga, GA, near the farm of a family named Dyer. Once the lines were formed, the units progressed from the Dyer house across the field toward a hill at the north of the field.
At noon the volleys began to rain upon the 58th, knocking out the first lines advancing to battle, and from there I can't give a blow by blow as some accounts I've read do, but I want to show you the signs on the battle field which speak of their advance and mark their positions along the way as the day progressed. Jimmy and I went to the battlefield and walked from the parking lots along the paths and found all the plaques referencing the 58th that day, except the one between Lafayette and the Dyer House, which we couldn't find.



As I continue turning to the West you can see the road running in front of, and the Dyer House as it stands today.
 

This little sign identifies the house, while the plaque behind,
written in Blue, designating it was speaking of Union movements, tells us it was the location of Union Hospital until that morning.  They had moved only moments ahead of arriving Confederates.

 

This sign was my first clue that medical military records could be found. It is through
confederate medical records like the one this was taken from, that I was able to track
William Anglin's  path from the battlefield to Marrietta, Ga., before he died from his wounds.

We'll begin there.  At the Dyer house. 

There's an important side note I want to insert at this point.  Before discussing the war.  Isaac Anglin who was the first Anglin to come south from W. Virginia to what would become Yancey Co. NC, had a wife named Nancy DYER.  When Issac arrived and later died early in life, Nancy and a woman, who was most likely her mother, both appeared on the early Census records. As the earliest Anglin family. Isaac and Nancy of course were William's ancestors, his grandparents in fact.

   When I walked up to this sign which said Dyer house, I couldn't help but wonder,  did they know this Dyer family? Might they have been Nancy's kin? Would William have known? ..How was the Dyer family treated when their home was consficated by Union Troops. Had they fled, did they need to?  Wouldn't you just love to know the story?.................

Only a day before, the Union armies had used the little cabin as a place to treat wounded, but had evacuated the area that day, moving north toward Chattanooga in recognition of the large push of Confederate troops.   Just something to think about as you picture the men moving through the grasses in the field near "The Dyer House" that morning. Once arriving at this location, by the house, the 58th was only yards away from the fate awaiting them that day.

The first volleys of fire from the northern troops took heavy tolls on the approaching Confederate unit's first lines. Including a heavy toll on the 58th NC. They began to fall away,  a little more than halfway out this field, at a little past noon that day.

Swinging toward the north now, past the Dyer house on my left,
 is the field through which
the 58th will march.

As we left the Dyer House, these are pictures of the field just past it through which the 58th
 is said to have passed, confronting Union volleys sometime around noon,
 about halfway to the hill.  In the last picture you can barely see the
incline of the hill to which we will drive next to find more plaques
 discussing their forward movement, through the battle.

The battle began in a field just past the Dyer house, and progressed north and slightly west to where the level field becomes a wooded hill.  Union embattlements had settled in and pushed up from the other side of that hill, and the 58th pushed through while fighting to reach a point almost 3/4ths of the way up that hill.  By evening, the 58th and the units fighting with them won the day, with casualties lying dead or dying, wounded and some burned by fires ignited into the grasses and underbrush as union fire rained in...they lay suffering, from Dyer field to all along that hillside.  And William Anglin was one of them..  Did he make it to the last sign that day or was he wounded early?  Were his wounds from ammunitions or fire? We don't know.  Family I asked seemed to think the story that reached home was that he was wounded in fighting. 

Before I put up the pictures, let me remind readers, that William had begun his military journey as a member of the Drum and Bugle Corps.  A fife.  Those who played notes to indicate to all the soldiers which way to move as a commander called out directions.  He was a musician. He trained as such. But when the orders way back in N TN were recalled for leave to go home, and many of his unit, including him didn't find out in time, they were accused of desertion.  Returning to his unit to find himself in a place of shame, and suspicion, must have been heart breaking. He lost  his commission to the training he had received as a musician, and now was required to fight as a soldier while lacking the actual training of many of his fellow gun carrying counterparts.  Now, lest I make you feel too sorry for him, he was a mountain man, who knew how to use a gun and hunt for food. No doubt a pretty good shot.  But it wasn't the journey he started out on.

So here he was in his first major battle, wounded and needing care as the day closed, and there was pain and suffering all around him.  Were one of his brothers, cousins or friends from the unit nearby, or were they far up the hill, exhausted and still hungry, some of them also needing care?

These are the signs that tell the story:

The first Confederate sign at the base of the hill, clearly indicating the inclusion of the 58th NC. Note the time is now 4:30 as the battle begins to climb this hill.   Col. John B. Palmer commands their unit.
 

May I note at this point, that William was not the only Anglin brother or cousin involved in this battle. He brother Raburn is here. His cousin William is here.  And there are other friends, family and cousins on the rosters.  You might even say a large number of the Yancey County men of conscription age, are here.  So this is their story as well.  Raburn went on to fight again and again, and eventually return home.  In Yancey Co, after the war, William's wife Sally and her family move in with Raburn and his family, as Raburn attempts to help take care of his deceased brother's legacy.


(I am only trying to trace William, because I know the most about his details.  If someone knows the details of their kinsman who is part of one of our immediate kin, I would love to publish the email of what you know.  But please provide some notes about how you discovered the story.)

Back to the story -
Jimmy and I began to walk the trails that led up the hill. We went up one that was further west of this plaque, and found details about the advancement of other troops, but not the 58th.  But when we reached nearly the top of the hill, one mentioned that the  58th flanked them to the east, so we knew we were too far west.  We took a trail back toward the east, and soon found the places along the hill where the 58th fought.


As we rounded the path we ran across this large stone which honored the NC troops for their service.
It reads:
"Erected by the State of North Carollina to mark the extreme point attained in a charge by the right of the 58th NC Regiment about 6PM September 20th, 1863."

This was as far up the hill they were able to push, but the unit ahead of them had already pushed the Union over the top of the hill, only a few yards further up the hill.   Just below this marker, down the hill we could see 2 more markers written in red.  So now we knew where they began their push up the hill at 4:30, and where they had reached their highest point up the hill at 6:30, which was said to be near dark and at the close of the day's battle, when Northern troops were either captured or pushed north toward Chattanooga once again.

Here are the signs along the path leading up the hill.

Finding the spot where Williams unit fought, made me wonder where on that hill or that field he fell. Where was my kndred's blood spilled? I was deeply saddened knowing it was the place where he was wounded, which would lead to his death in a few days.
 



From this vantage you can see the stone marker in the distance up the hill from the plaque.

From this plaque we see the Confederate divisions led by Kelly and Trigg have closed in from both right and left flanks, at the top of the hill. 3 Union units have not received the orders to withdraw and are captured by Kelly and Trigg.

A stone monument erected to commemorate the SC units led by Pressley, documents that this date was on a Sunday.



The plaque above shows the records of the close of the battle from the Union reports. At 7:30 it was over, and William was somewhere lying wounded or perhaps recovered by Medics and hopefully receiving medical care.  At the top of the hill as night closed in, a hospital was established in a tiny log cabin, for the treatment and movement of the wounded.  A mini hospital too small to hold them all.  Actually, it was more like a triage unit, where men were brought, and allowed to lie on the ground nearby while understaffed medical units and their volunteers tried to reach the most needy. Others were allowed to wait for hours, even days for help, food, blankets,  the very least of their needs. It was said it took 3 days to clear the fields of the wounded, while the dead were allowed to remain....

Was William ever in this little log cabin for treatment? I don't think so.  I believe as I read the reports that he might have been brought somewhere near here to await someone to come out to him, and transport to the area North of Ringgold where they were eventually carried, as transportation by wagon became available.  Some were able to ride on horseback.  How and when and where William lay in the story, no one knows but God.  Did he say a sad good bye to brothers, cousins, friends. Were they whisked away before morning toward the new battles in Chattanooga, never to see one another again? This was his departure from everything he every knew.  The battle was his now, and only his. To Live or Die.

This little cabin was the hospital providing care for wounded soldiers that night.  I was closer to the fray
than the Dyer house now. And at the top of this hill also lay Union soldiers wounded and dying.  If you remember,
their medical units had been moved to Chattanooga that morning. At days end the battle belonged to the
medical staffs to save lives.  Medical transport to distant facilities better prepared for greater care
in Ringgold, for confederates, and Chickamauga for Union soldiers, was up to anyone who could volunteer from the neighbor hood to help.  Women even came out with men in buggies, bringing bandages they had torn, and biscuits baked, and water for those who could no longer reach life lines so simple was water.

I'll continue the story next blog.  I'll leave this up a bit for people to share,  but I now have pictures of the hospitals in Ringgold, the train depot where he awaited transport further south as Union Troops pushed south, The tunnel where his train passed through, only a short month or so before another transport train wrecked, killing many on board.  The depot in Dalton, the destination in Marietta, The building where the hospital and morgue were in Marrietta, and finally the Confederate Cemetery where he is buried.  It will take a few more blogs to tell the whole story.  So hopefully we can continue to put up the pieces so all can see and share.

Blessings family.
Cynthia

Addendum:

It's rather late tonight to be adding this, but I was so excited to know of it, I had to add it here and not in the next blog.

My brother, Blaine Fuller, found documents which were William's wife's attempt to file for Pension due to Williams death, in her later years.  The year they were recorded was 1885, 12 years  after his death.  They can be found at this web address:
http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll39/id/351/

He asked had I ever seen them before? There are 5 pages.

  Blaine asked me in the process, how was Sarah related to us, and it reminds me that I sometimes don't clarify in every blog who exactly I am talking about, for anyone not following or reading every story.  So to answer that question, Sarah C. Anglin, mentioned in the above documents, is the wife of William Anglin, who died from wounds received at Chickamauga.  They are my grandmother's Grandparents.  Parents of Robert John Anglin...son and daughter in law of William Anglin, Sr. who married Elizabeth Austin. William Sr, was the son of Isaac Anglin and Nancy Dyer whom I mentioned in the narrative above.

On the pages of the request for pension, Sarah gives the date of Williams death as October 20th.  which is wrong, because he was wounded at the Chickamauga Battlefield, which was on September 20th, 1863. His death date was October 5th.  She also says he was in the 58th NC in Tennessee at the time.

As I read further, she is turned down for the pension, because he is not listed on rosters for the 58th in Tennessee by that date.  I could cry for her. Because he wasn't on rosters anywhere by then.  And Chickamauga isn't in  TN.  It's GA. 

There are affidavits to attest to her as being William's wife, and that she is of good character, and that he was a member of the 58th NC, a private.  One of those affidavits is written by JW Phipps.  John W Phipps was married to Rachel Anglin, William's sister, thereby was Sarah's brother-in-law.  It says on this paper that he too was a soldier with the 58th NC. I need to find him on the rosters, if possible.

He records that he knew of William's injury, that he was shot, at Chickamauga, Tennessee. I thought at first it said Ga, because the last 2 letters of Chickamauga appear on the next line. But it says Tenn. 
 Apparently, these soldiers may not have known they were still in Ga at Chickamauga, because as I said earlier, by morning they were headed toward battles to be waged in and around Chattanooga, which is just across the border.   I am almost positive that no part of the battlefield is in TN.  William would not have appeared on rosters for TN after Sept 18th or maybe even the 17th depending when they entered GA headed for Lafayette.
Because of the misinformation she gave them, the county officials could not find him at the time, and requesting better information, they denied her claim.

I hurt so badly for her.  Was it her memory, that was failing or was she not given proper info to begin with. Did the report of William's death not come with documents? Were they lost? Was it soldiers who reported his demise to her instead.  Did news come around Oct 20th, or did she just get the dates for when he was wounded mixed up with the date he died? My discoveries always send me asking more questions. As Jimmy said, maybe she knew nothing of Tennessee and Georgia as far as what towns were where.  I certainly didn't until I moved here.

  John Phipps does say that William was wounded at the battle in Chickamauga, but died several days later.  Those several days, were actually ...(30 days hath September, ...all the rest have 31...) Yes, 10 days after the battle til the end of September, and 5 days into October = 15 days later.  But that's definitely true.

I hurt for her so badly, but am so excited to have the documents that  someone can say"I was there, I knew of his wounds, how he was wounded."  Now I know. He was shot, according to a fellow soldier.  Some one knew... someone knew.  Someone  probably began praying right away. And this is the best first hand knowledge to corroborate the story that I have. No more wondering was he burned in the fires unless afer being shot he couldn't escape them.   Thank you Blaine!!!

Since they allow downloads of the documents, I will include them here, now, as a preface for the journey he took over the next 15 days.  I am so sorry, Sarah that you couldn't know the story.  Are you helping me dear GGgrandmother, tell on your behalf now? I am sorry to Williams parents too. How they all must have mourned with out his body to bury even!  More than ever I want your story told!

 

 

 

 



 

 

The following notations for the documents was given on the website as well:

Object Description 

http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll39/id/351/

the document downloads are located in C:/William Anglin Civil War 

Title  William Anglin (Yancey County) 

Creator  North Carolina. Office of the State Auditor. 

Date  1885 

Subjects  United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Military pensions--United States

United States. Pension Bureau

Veterans

North Carolina. Department of State Auditor

Widows 

Index Terms  Anglin, Sarah C.; 

Place  Yancey County, North Carolina, United States

Time Period  (1876-1900) Gilded Age

Description  Application forms for Confederate pensions, sometimes including correspondence or additional affidavits regarding a soldier's or widow's claim. 

Rights  This item is provided courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina and is a public record according to G.S.132. 

Collection  Pension Bureau: Act of 1885 Pension Applications. Office of the State Auditor. State Archives of North Carolina

Local Call No.  Box 6.115 

Mars ID  5.21.2.8 

Type  Text 

Language  English 

Digital Characteristics-A  5 pages; 

Digital Collection  1885 Confederate Pension Applications 

Digital Format  image/jpeg 

Audience  All  

 Description  

Title  SR_SA_1885_Pensions_Anglin_William_Yancey_County_05 

Digital Collection  1885 Confederate Pension Applications