Struggle for the Life of the Republic

Description

Although a successful businessman in Newark, Ohio, prior to the Civil War, Charles Dana Miller understood the necessity of leaving his business and his home to take part in the "struggle for the life of the republic." His account of what he saw, how he felt, and the hardships he endured as a soldier in the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry are presented in the Struggle for the Life of the Republic. Miller's flair for writing and attention to detail make his memoir an importan addition to Civil War history and a welcome primary source of knowledge on the war's western theater.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• History of the Americas
• American Civil War
• États-Unis
• Guerre de Sécession

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631010248
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Struggle for the Life of the Republic
1st Lt. Charles Dana Miller, February 4, 1864.
The Struggle for the Life of the Republic

A Civil War Narrative by Brevet Major Charles Dana Miller, 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

EDITED BY
Stewart Bennett and Barbara Tillery
THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Kent and London
© 2004 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2003024736
ISBN 0-87338-785-6
Manufactured in the United States of America
08   07   06   05   04                  5   4   3   2   1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Charles Dana, 1836–1898.
The struggle for the life of the republic: a Civil War narrative by Brevet Major Charles Dana Miller, 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry / edited by Stewart Bennett and Barbara Tillery.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-87338-785-6 (alk. paper) ∞
1. Miller, Charles Dana, 1836–1898.
2. United States. Army. Ohio Infantry Regiment, 76th (1861–1865)
3. Ohio–History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Personal narratives.
4. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Personal narratives.
5. Arkansas Post (Ark.)—History, Military—19th century.
6. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Campaigns.
7. Soldiers—Ohio—Biography.
I. Bennett, Stewart, 1964–    II. Tillery, Barbara, 1955– III. Title.
E 525.576th. M 55 2004
9737'471'092—dc22 2003024736
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
Dedicated to Charles Dana Miller and the Ohio soldiers in blue
CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Recruiting
2. Off to War
3. Fort Donelson
4. Shiloh
5. Hardship between Battles
6. Corinth
7. March to Memphis
8. Down the Mississippi and Back to Helena
9. A Pleasant Winter Camp in Missouri
10. First Expedition against Vicksburg
11. Arkansas Post
12. Siege of Vicksburg
13. In Pursuit of Johnston
14. Back to Tennessee
15. A Trip Home on Sick Leave
16. Re-enlistment and an Ohio Furlough for the Veteran Regiment
17. On to Georgia
18. The Siege and Capture of Atlanta
19. Aftermath of Atlanta
20. Home Again on Leave
Appendix A
Appendix B
Notes
Bibliography
Index
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A S THE GREAT granddaughter of Charles Dana Miller, I am proud that his Civil War narrative is finally being published. It has been a century overdue.
My grandmother, Myrtle Miller Upshaw, was the oldest of the five children born to Charles D. Miller and his second wife, Mary Murdock Miller. She was born in 1884 and grew up in Newark, Ohio, until moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1909. It is from her that I first became interested in her father’s Civil War narrative.
Sometime before 1960, Roy Gilman Miller, the youngest child of Charles and Mary Miller, transcribed the narrative and gave typewritten copies to his sisters, brothers, children, nieces, nephews, and some friends. I remember reading the manuscript in part in 1972 and giving a presentation on the Vicksburg chapter for my high school American history class in Raleigh. It was then that my grandmother told me that the original was handwritten by her father and was in the possession of her brother Roy in New York. How I wish now that I had contacted Roy, my great uncle, to ask him more about it, but having grown up in the South, I lacked sufficient enthusiasm for a “Yankee” narrative!
Years later I developed a deep interest in the Civil War and read the entire manuscript in 1994. I was enthralled with it and followed Miller’s every move using Civil War maps, modern day atlases, and a variety of resource materials. Miller’s readable style, flair for description, humor, and accuracy more than impressed me. I knew I had a rare treasure that needed to be made accessible to others who may benefit from it. I loaned the manuscript to several others who concurred with me that it was worthy of publishing; however, it was not until August of 1995 that I met Stewart Bennett, and my dream began to take the form of an attainable goal.
Stewart’s keen interest in and knowledge of the Civil War, coupled with his desire to take on such a project, propelled the two of us on a path of research and discovery. While he undertook the massive process of researching and footnoting the manuscript, I began contacting family members, some of whom I had never met, in an effort to pool resources and information. In the process I learned, to our dismay, that the original handwritten narrative was nowhere to be found! We were certain that Roy Miller would not have destroyed it, but it had not yet been found among his possessions. Roy Miller’s son, Roy Jr., described it as being handwritten in a ledger book, but he had not seen it for many years. We proceeded with our work on the assumption that Roy Miller had transcribed from the original with little to no editing, but without the original, there were several questions that were left unresolved.
About the time we began our research, I was reading the August 1995 issue of Blue and Gray magazine when a sidebar caught my eye. The sidebar, containing a narrative written by a Union soldier, detailed the unhealthy conditions along the Black River in Mississippi during the Civil War and sounded very familiar to me. I was surprised to read “Charles Dana Miller” credited at the bottom of the piece, since it was the first evidence I had seen that the manuscript was known outside of the family. I called Chris Evans, the author of the article, and he told me that the manuscript is in the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. I called the library and discovered that they received a copy of Roy G. Miller’s transcribed manuscript in 1976, but not directly from Roy Miller.
Also in August 1995 Terry Winschell, historian at Vicksburg National Military Park, told me of a recently reprinted book, Charles Willison’s A Boy’s Service with the Ohio 76th (1908; reprinted, Huntington, W.Va.: Blue Acorn Press, 1995), in which an entire appendix was chapter 16 of Miller’s narrative. It even had a picture of Miller that I immediately recognized, although the caption reads, “Unidentified first lieutenant.” I called Larry Strayer of Blue Acorn Press and learned that they indeed had a copy of the manuscript, which they too obtained from the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
In the meantime I tracked down Miller’s descendants all over the country who possessed his Civil War treasures. Among these items were the letters he wrote to his family during the war, his war pistol, his adjutant’s desk into which he later carved the regimental history, and his Civil War scrapbook, which includes newspaper articles of the battles during the war, letters from Grant, Sherman, and President Hayes, as well as letters and autographs from other military, political, and social leaders. The scrap-book and the adjutant’s desk have since been given to me by an uncle and Roy Miller Jr. My aunt gave me a box that had many Miller family documents and heirlooms in it, including photos of Miller, his will, and the Bible he carried with him during the war.

Miller’s scrapbook includes this letter written to him from President Ulysses S. Grant, dated April 27, 1878, from Milan, Italy. Miller served as the secretary for the Great Re-Union of the Veteran Soldiers and Sailors of Ohio, which was held in Newark on July 22, 1878. Grant was writing to decline the invitation to attend, saying, “The Atlantic will be between us at the time of your proposed re-union” and ends the letter by saying that he hoped none of the veterans of Ohio “will ever feel a disposition to apologize for the part they took in the late struggle for national existence, nor for the cause for which they fought. With great respect, your old companion, U. S. Grant.”
Finally, just before the manuscript was turned over to the Kent State University Press for publication, Roy Miller Jr. found the original handwritten manuscript when he moved from his Long Island home in June 2001. He sent it to me, and it was waiting for me upon my return from the Press. Aside from our excitement at having found the original, this of course necessitated a careful comparison of the original to the version transcribed by Roy Miller Jr., and I discovered immediately that he had done some editing to it. The original was indeed handwritten in pencil in a ledger book, the first twenty-five pages including entries for C. D. Miller’s grain business. The last entry is dated May 1869, and on the next page is the beginning of his narrative. There are no titles, no chapter breaks, and only occasional paragraph breaks. The narrative flows nonstop for 125 pages. My great uncle Roy did not change the content or meaning, but did change wording frequently, either in an attempt to clarify or to make the wording less awkward. There were many places where he transcribed names and words incorrectly, and we enlisted the help of Larry Stevens in Newark to crosscheck his Ohio soldiers’ roster for accuracy. After many more months of painstaking work, we are pleased to present a much more accurate document—one that is truer to C. D. Miller’s original narrative.
EDITING THE MANUSCRIPT
We made the decision in 1995 that we would retain the basic structure of the manuscript; that is, the chapter breaks and titles would remain the same, and we would not move text within the document. Even after we discovered later that the chapter breaks and titles were added by Roy Miller, we decided to keep them, since we had worked within that framework for so long. With the exception of a couple of short chapters, the chapter breaks and titles make sense and provide a much needed structure. We did, however, decide to make a few changes that did not in any way alter Miller’s content or context but did allow for easier reading:
1. The manuscript included material at the end of Chapter 21 entitled “March to the Sea.” This ma