The regiment, commanded by Col. Thomas S. Clark, formed part of the force of General Banks which invested Fort Hudson, and which compelled its surrender. Col. Clark, in a report, thus mentions the part taken by his regiment on that occasion:

"On the 23d of May, 1863, arriving before that stronghold, the regiment was placed in the most advanced position, and maintained it until the surrender, on the 9th of July. During the siege of this formidable place, it participated in three desperate assaults upon its works. In the assault of the 27th of May the regiment, commanded by Col. Clark, led the division of General T. W. Sherman, and lost more than one-third of the men it had engaged, including Lieut. Fred. T. Clark, who fell while gallantly leading company D to the charge. In this affair Captain Montgomery led a forlorn hope of 200 volunteers belonging to the regiment. An assault was made on the 14th of June, when the 6th, then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bacon, advanced by detachments. The leading detachment, commanded by Captain John Cordon, one by Captain Stark following, with the balance of the regiment bringing up the rear. On the 29th of June, the regiment, then commanded by Captain Cordon, again advanced to the assault, when thirty-five of the regiment, composing a forlorn hope, assailed the enemy's works at the point known as the Citadel. The party succeeded in gaining the ditch, but were overpowered and driven back, with a loss of 8 killed and 9 wounded. Among the killed was Sergeant Madison O. Walker, who led the detachment."

In this desperate undertaking, Private Charles Dustin, company F, from Dundee, Mich., got over the ditch and into the enemy's works, bringing out a rebel captain at the point of the bayonet, whom he delivered up to the commanding officer of the regiment.

The conduct of the 6th was so gallant and efficient during the siege that it received the thanks of General Banks; and on the 10th of July it was transferred to the artillery arm of the service on account of its faithful and valuable service.

This regiment was stationed at Port Hudson, La., until the 11th of March, 1864, when the requisite number having been mustered in as Veteran Volunteers to preserve the organization, it started for Michigan. The regiment arrived at Kalamazoo, where it was furloughed for thirty days. Having again assembled at Kalamazoo, it returned to Port Hudson, where it arrived on the 11th of May, with a very large number of recruits, enlisted while in Michigan. On the 6th of June the regiment was ordered to Morganzia, to serve as infantry, where it remained until the 24th of June. From Morganzia it proceeded to Vicksburg, Miss., where it served with the engineer brigade. Leaving Vicksburg, July 23d, it moved to the mouth of the White River, and thence to St. Charles, Ark., where it was attached to a regiment of infantry. A detachment of the regiment, while on a transport en route from Vicksburg to the White River, was attacked by a rebel battery, losing two killed and a number wounded. Remaining but a short time at St. Charles, the regiment again returned to Morganzia, where for a time it was employed as engineers, but soon after its arrival it was ordered to report to the chief of artillery, and again returned to duty as heavy artillery. The regiment was present at the bombardment and surrender of Fort Morgan, Ala., but arrived too late to participate.

Almost the entire service of this regiment during the war was rendered in the extreme Southern States, and on the 1st of November, 1864, it was stationed in Alabama, and garrisoned, with its headquarters and companies A, B, D, G, and K, at Fort Morgan, and Fort Gaines, Dauphine

Island, Mobile Bay, with companies C, E, F, H, and I. Companies B, C, E, F, and H were detached on the 23d of December, and joined an expedition under Major-General Gordon Granger, to operate from Pensacola against Mobile, and were temporarily attached, as infantry, to the brigade of General Bertram, which led the advance, and so remained until the campaign was advanced from Mobile Point and Pensacola, on the 27th of January, 1865, when Bertram's command made a heavy demonstration on Mobile, the whole command being recalled at night and hurriedly transferred to the advancing force from the East, the detached companies of this regiment being ordered to their former stations in Forts Morgan and Gaines. On the 31st of March companies A and K were detached from the command at Fort Morgan, and ordered to the front, to report to Gen. Granger, and were each equipped with a battery of 10-inch mortars, and on their arrival at the front were ordered into position under the guns of Spanish Fort; there they did very fine execution at a range of 1,400 yards. After the fort was taken, these companies were ordered to man and turn the heavy captured guns, consisting of 7-inch Brooks' rifled and 100-pound Parrotts, on the rebel Forts Huger and Tracy, and with them performed good service until all the enemy's works within range were reduced, and Mobile surrendered.

On the 9th of July following the regiment took steamers for New Orleans, and on the 20th of August was mustered out of service.

In General Butler's order is found the following paragraphs:

"The commanding General has carefully revised the official reports of the action of August 5th, at Baton Rouge, to collect the evidence of the gallant deeds and meritorious services of those engaged in that brilliant victory.

"The name of the lamented and gallant General Williams has already passed into history.

"The 6th Michigan fought rather by detachments than as a regiment, but deserves the fullest commendation for the gallant behavior of its officers and men. Companies A, B, and F, under command of Captain Cordon, receive special mention for the coolness and courage with which they supported and retook Brown's battery, routing the 4th Louisiana and capturing their colors, which the regiment has leave to send to its native State.

"Captain Charles E. Clark, acting Lieutenant-Colonel 6th Michigan, prevented the enemy from flanking our right, bringing his command at the critical moment to the support of Nim's battery. Lieutenant Howell, company F, 6th Michigan, and Lieutenant A. T. Ralph, acting adjutant, for intrepedity; Captain Spitzey, 6th Michigan, in command of the company of pickets, who handsomely held in check the enemy's advance; the fearless conduct of Lieutenant Howell, company F, and Sergeant Thayer, company A, 6th Michigan regiment, after they were wounded, in supporting Lieutenant Brown's battery.

"Captain Soule and Lieutenant Fassett, company I, 6th Michigan, as skirmishers, were wounded, and deserve special notice for the steadiness of their command, which lost heavily in killed and wounded."

Lieutenant G. Weitzel, (afterwards Major-General,) then Chief Engineer Department of the Gulf, and present with the troops in the engagement, says in his official report: "Three companies of the 6th Michigan covered themselves with glory in recovering from a large force two guns, posted on the right of the Magnolia Cemetery, which temporarily were left by our

forces. These same three companies captured the colors of the 4th Louisiana, but only after they had shot down four successive color-bearers."

NOTE.-Mr. Greeley, in his reliable "American Conflict," says of the operations at Port Hudson, May 27, 1863: "Never was fighting more heroic than that of our army, assailing nearly equal numbers behind strong defences, approached only through almost impassable abatis, swept by rebel shell and grape. If valor could have triumphed over such odds, they would have carried the works; but only abject cowardice or pitiable imbecility could have lost such a position to so small an army; and the rebels also fought well."

In the valuable work, the "American Encyclopedia,” is found the following notice of the same affair: "At 2 o'clock A. M. (27th) an assault was commenced on the works on the centre and left of the centre by the divisions under General Augur and Brig. General Sherman, (T. W.) The enemy was driven into his works and the Federal troops moved up to the fortifications, holding the opposite side of the parapet with the enemy."

At the siege of Port Hudson the 6th was under the command of General T. W. Sherman, so prominently engaged on May 28th, and which consisted of the 6th Michigan H. Artillery, 2nd (Duryea's) Zouaves, 128th and 147th regiments N. Y. Infantry, with the 26th Conn. Infantry, and 21st Indiana and 2nd Vermont Batteries.

An officer serving at the time with the rebel army in Port Hudson, in his diary says of that day's work: "About nine o'clock in the morning the attack was made in the woods on Col. Steadman's (rebel) centre, and upon the line of fortifications on General Beall's right. The latter attack, that of Sherman's brigade, was the most imposing in appearance. Emerging from the woods at the distance of about four hundred yards from our breastworks, the Zouave regiment charged in line of battle across an open field. The gay colors of their uniforms contrasted brilliantly with the green and sombre shades of the trees and field, making a fine mark for our fire. As soon as they appeared in sight our artillery opened on them with spherical case, many of them bursting right in their ranks, but the gaps were quickly closed up, and they came on in splendid style. As they lessened the distance, our gunners substituted grape for shrapnel!, and when they finally came within one hundred and fifty yards our guns were double-charged with canister, and the infantry receiving the order at the same time to fire, the field was swept with a storm of musket balls and grape-shot.

"The advancing line of Zouaves wavered and then halted, while they were dropping from the ranks, mown down by our deadly fire, which now became an incessant rattle of musketry, intermingled with rapid discharges of canister from the guns.

"The Zouaves, after wavering for a while in indecision, finally broke and scattered, most of the men throwing themselves flat on the ground behind stumps, logs and inequalities of the ground where they now commenced sharp-shooting.

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"As soon as the Zouaves broke, Sherman's brigade came out of the woods in column, and played to the right and left in line of battle, as prettily as if they were on drill, Our artillerists again had recourse to shell and shrapnell, and the infantry opened on this advance sooner than before. Their charge was a good one, and had the advantage of the Zouave line of Sharp-shooters, some of whom were within a hundred yards of our works, and whose Minie balls were whistling over our parapet.

"But our men, though opposed by an enemy ten times their number, kept up a withering fire, and after the brigade had approached a little nearer than the Zouaves had done, it finally hesitated and wavered. At this sure precursor to a repulse, our boys sent up a shout of triumph for the victory they now saw certain. The enemy's officers and many of the men ran ahead of the line and urged the others on, but in vain; their confidence in themselves was gone. Some of them, in the hopes of inspiring others, started a cheer, but it died away in a weakly strain, and, the rear rank giving way, the front rank turned also, and the whole force made for the woods to the sound of our ringing cheers. At the woods they rallied, and reforming their line under our artillery fire they again charged. It was useless; we knew that troops we had once driven back so far would not succeed on a second trial under similar circumstances. After coming within fifty or sixty yards of where they first broke, they wavered again and speedily broke and ran thoroughly defeated."

THE SEVENTH INFANTRY.

The 7th Michigan-the gallant forlorn-hope regiment at the battle of Fredericksburg-was recruited and organized under the direction of Col

onel Ira R. Grosvenor, at Monroe, and leaving that point for the field on the 5th of September, 1861, first encountered the enemy in the affair at Ball's Bluff, Va., October 21st following, where, in command of that officer, it gained credit even in that disastrous engagement. It afterwards moved with McClellan to the Peninsula, and endured the hardships and disappointments of that barren campaign, participating in common in its victories and defeats, but always with much credit, and had the honor to serve in the rear-guard of the army on the retreat to Harrison's Landing. It also took part in the Maryland actions. At the battle of Antietam it is reported to have lost more than half its force engaged, including Captain Allen H. Zacharias, who died of his wounds on January 1st following, and among the killed were Captain J. H. Turrill, Lieutenant J. P. Eberhard, and Lieutenant John A. Clark.

But one of the great feats of the war, than which none will appear brighter in history, was reserved for the 7th at Fredericksburg, on December 11, 1862, when Burnside concluded to cross the Rappahannock and attack the rebels in that stronghold. The upper pontoon had been laid part of the way by the engineers during the night of the 10th. Daylight exposed them to the fire of the enemy's sharp-shooters, which drove them off. Volunteers were called for to cross the river and gain a position to protect the laying of the bridge. Immediately the 7th Michigan, under the gallant Baxter, rushed to the boats, crossed the stream in full view of both armies, under a most terrific fire from the enemy's sharp-shooters, losing heavily, but vigorously charging the rebels on the opposite bank, drove them from their rifle-pits, taking a number of prisoners and holding the ground. Colonel Baxter, having fallen severely wounded, recrossed the river, while the regiment, with the 19th and 20th Massachusetts, which had crossed by the second trip of the boats, dashed up the hill into the city, driving the enemy from house to house, and from stronghold to stronghold, capturing nearly as many prisoners as the regiment numbered, and inflicting a severe loss in killed and wounded, while their own loss was also heavy, including among the killed Lieutenant Franklin Emery, of the 7th Michigan. The river thus protected, the laying of the pontoons was speedily accomplished, on which Burnside crossed a portion of his

army.

Engaging with the Army of the Potomac in the Pennsylvania campaign, this regiment underwent the laborious and forced marches by which it was marked, rendered more arduous by the intense heat of the weather. On the 27th of June the regiment was detailed as wagon guard at 7.45 A. M., marched by a circuitous route to near Urbana, Md., where it halted at 3 A. M., on the 28th, a distance said by citizens to have been thirty-seven miles; on the 28th it marched six miles to Monocacy. On the 29th it marched at 9 A. M., and reached Uniontown at 9 P. M., thirty-miles in twelve hours; thus, in three days, marching seventy-five miles. The regi ment arrived on the field at Gettysburg on the 2d of July and was immediately sent to the front on Cemetery Hill, having fourteen officers and one hundred and fifty-one men. It occupied the same position until the close of the battle on the 3d. The loss of the regiment at Gettysburg was twentyone killed and forty-four wounded. Among the killed were Lieut. Colonel Amos E. Steele, commanding the regiment, and Lieut. Albert Slafter, both gallant officers.

Entering on the campaign of 1864, it is found in command of Major S. W. Curtis, crossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford on May 4th and on the 5th becoming engaged at the Wilderness, with small loss. On the 6th it lost

eight killed, thirty-eight wounded, and eight missing. On the 8th it moved to the left, near Po river, and on the 9th crossed. On the 10th it was exposed to a severe fire from sharp-shooters, losing four wounded, and on the same day, in an assault on the enemy's works on the right, at Spottsylvania Court-house, it lost five killed and eight wounded. On the 11th it lost three wounded. On the 12th the 7th took part in Hancock's charge on the left of the enemy's line, in which its casualties were eleven wounded. On the 13th it lost three killed and ten wounded. Withdrawing with the army from in front of the enemy's works at Spottsylvania Court-house, the regiment arrived at the North Anna river on the 23d, and was engaged as skirmishers on the 24th at Chesterfield Ford, where the regiment lost one killed and three wounded, including Lieut. Charles Oakley mortally, who died on the next day. On the 26th it was employed in the rear guard of the army, in the flank movement of the latter across the Pamunkey river, arriving at the Tolopotamy creek on the 28th. On the 30th and 31st of May and 1st of June it was engaged as skirmishers, with a loss of six killed and nine wounded. On the 1st the regiment again served as rear guard for the army in the movement to Cold Harbor, and on the 3d, in a charge on the enemy's works, lost two killed and fourteen wounded. From the 3d to the 10th its casualties were one killed and twelve wounded. It crossed the James river with the army and arrived in front of Petersburg on the evening of the 15th. From this date to the 25th of July the regiment was engaged in labor on the fortifications and on picket, losing three killed and twenty wounded. The regiment, like the other Michigan regiments in the Army of the Potomac, had gone gallantly through the forced marches and hardships of the campaign, and now, with equal fortitude, it endured with them the labors in the trenches before Petersburg. On the 27th the 7th, with its corps, crossed the James river at Deep Bottom, but on the 29th returned to its former position before Petersburg, having lost during the movement two men wounded. It remained here employed in fatigue and picket duty until August 12th, when it again moved to Deep Bottom, and on the 14th and 17th was engaged in the battles of Strawberry Plains and Flussier's Mill, losing three killed and eleven wounded; Lieut. Harty S. Felt mortally, who died on the 24th following. On the 20th the regiment returned to near Petersburg. On the 25th it was engaged in the battle of Ream's Station, on the Weldon railroad; its casualties in this action being one killed, four wounded, and eight missing.

Passing through the various campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, acquitting itself nobly in every battle in which it became engaged, the regiment is found on the 26th of October, 1864, in the hottest of the fight at Hatcher's Run, near Burgess' Farm and Boydton Plank Road, where its corps, the 2d, was heavily engaged, and in which the 7th Michigan, then only eighty-five strong took twenty officers and four hundred and eighty men prisoners, while Sergeant Alonzo Smith, (afterwards first lieutenant,) captured the colors of the 26th North Carolina infantry, for which he was presented with a medal of honor by the Secretary of War. Through some misunderstanding the 7th was left on the line after the Union troops were withdrawn, and remained in that condition until the morning of the 28th, when Col. Lapointe, then in command, finding that his regiment had been left alone on the field, formed his men and explained to them their perilous situation, telling them to stand by him and they could find their way out. They commenced at once their dangerous undertaking, marching 12 miles through the country held by the enemy, gallantly fighting their way at almost every step, pursued and harassed constantly by cavalry threatening