72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment

72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment
72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment
ActiveAugust 16, 1862 – June 26, 1865
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
Mounted Infantry
EngagementsTullahoma Campaign
Battle of Chickamauga
Atlanta Campaign
Battle of Resaca
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Military unit

The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade (also sometimes, "The Hatchet Brigade").[note 1] during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.

Initial infantry service

The 72nd Indiana Infantry was organized at Lafayette, Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment at Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 16, 1862, under the command of Colonel Abram O. Miller.

Conversion to mounted infantry

In December 1862, the regiment received a new brigade commander, Colonel John T. Wilder. After frustrating chases on foot after mounted rebel cavalry raiders, the brigade was converted to mounted infantry. At the same time, Wilder proposed to the regiments in the brigade the private purchase of repeating rifles. The 72nd voted to go ahead with the conversion to mounted infantry and the purchase of the rifles. Along with the other regiments in the brigade, the 72nd chose Spencer repeating rifles, invented by Christopher Spencer, as their weapon.[1]

As part of the "Wilder Lightning Brigade", the 72nd was among the first units fighting in the Civil War to receive the Spencer repeating rifle.

After intense training and development of new tactics, the "Lightning Brigade" was ready for service. The mounted infantry proof of concept for the Army of the Cumberland occurred in their first mounted infantry action at the Battle of Hoover's Gap.[2][3] Despite torrential rains, the 72nd and its brigade gained the gap so quickly that they surprised and scattered surprised the Confederate 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, under Colonel J. Russell Butler at breakfast in front of the entrance of the gap.[4] The 72nd drove the enemy before it along the seven mile length of the gap until they were halted by four brigades of infantry and four batteries of guns at the southeastern exit. The massive superiority of firepower the 17th and its brethren had with the Spencers allowed them to entrench and hold the southern entrance against numerous assaults by numerically superior rebel infantry and artillery through the rainy day until the sodden remainder of the XIV Corps slogged to join them at their position.

With the Lightning Brigade, the 72nd found itself detached from the XIV Corps to serve as a mobile reserve for all three of the Corps within the Cumberland. After playing a key role in the feint that forced Bragg from Chattanooga, the regiment raided, skirmished, and scouted through the summer into the Chickamauga Campaign. The brigade distinguished itself with its performance at Chickamauga. During the battle, it maintained integrity and discipline exacting high casualties on its attackers. After the battle, it retreated with the army to Chattanooga where it was besieged.

The performance of the brigade had demonstrated the value of mounted infantry, and Wilder and the regiments were commended. During the reorganization after Grant took command in the city, the brigade was broken up and the regiments were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. The 72nd and the 123rd Illinois were assigned to 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Cavalry Corps.

Dismounting

In positions at Terrapin Creek in Cherokee County, northern Alabama, the 72nd was dismounted on 1 November. They became a regular infantry regiment armed with Spencers. For the remainder of the war, they operated in the regular infantry role.

Service history

Its assignments were as follows:

  • 40th Brigade, 12th Division, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862.
  • 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, Center, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1863.
  • 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, XIV Corps, to June 1863.
  • 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XIV Corps, to October 1863.*
  • Wilder's Mounted Infantry Brigade, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to December 1863.
  • 3rd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1864.
  • 3rd Brigade, Grierson's Cavalry Division, XVI Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to March 1864.
  • 3rd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1864.
  • 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Wilson's Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, to June 1865.

The 72nd Indiana Infantry mustered out of service at Nashville, on June 26, 1865.

The 72nd served at the following locations:[5]

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 160 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 130 enlisted men died of disease.[6]

Commanders

  • Colonel Abram O. Miller
  • Major Henry M. Cart – commanded at the battle of Stones River

Notable members

References

Notes

  1. ^ It acquired the names due to the movement speed that was gained by mounting the brigade, and also by the hatchets/tomohawks that Wilder had issued initially. See Lightning Brigade article for more.

Citations

  1. ^ "Spencer carbine". www.civilwar.si.edu.
  2. ^ Sunderland (1969), p. 74; Frisby (2000), p. 450; Harbison (2002), p. 93; Gaston (2018), p. 1.
  3. ^ Stuntz, Margaret L. (July 1997) "Lightning Strike at the Gap." America's Civil War, p. 56.
  4. ^ NPS Hoover's Gap.
  5. ^ Dyer (1908), p. 1145-1146; McGee (1882), p. 5; Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 6, p. 163.
  6. ^ Dyer (1908), p. 1146.
  7. ^ Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 6, p. 169.

Sources

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  • Connolly, James A (1959). Paul M. Angle (ed.). Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland: The Letters and Diary of Major James A. Connolly. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. hdl:2027/pst.000024464338. ISBN 9780527190002. OCLC 906602437.
  • Connolly, James A (1863). "Primary Sources: The Road to Chickamauga". Washington, DC: American Battlefield Trust.
  • Connelly, Thomas L (1971). Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee 1862–1865. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-2738-8. OCLC 1147753151.
  • Cozzens, Peter (1992). This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252065941. OCLC 53818141.
  • Daniel, Larry J.; Lamers, William M. (1961). The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World. hdl:2027/mdp.39015002682279. ISBN 9780807123966. OCLC 906813341.
  • Duke, Basil W. (1906). Morgan's Cavalry. New York, NY: Neale Pub. Co. OCLC 35812648.
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  • Eicher, David J.; McPherson, James M.; McPherson, James Alan (2001). The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-1846-9. OCLC 892938160.
  • Esposito, Vincent J. (1962). West Point Atlas of the Civil War. New York, NY: Frederick A. Praeger. OCLC 5890637.
  • Federal Publishing Company (1908). Military Affairs and Regimental Histories of New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan (PDF). The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 – Records of the Regiments in the Union army – Cyclopedia of battles – Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers. Vol. III. Madison, WI: Federal Publishing Company. p. 1156. OCLC 694018100.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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  • Gaston, Roy V. (2018). "The Lightning Brigade". howcanamandiebetter.com. Roy V. Gaston. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
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  • Harbison, Robert E (2002). Wilder's Brigade in the Tullahoma and Chattanooga Campaigns of the American Civil War (PDF). U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Theses 2002 (Thesis Submission ed.). Fort Leavenworth, KS: Defense Technical Information Center. p. 122. OCLC 834239097. DTIC_ADA406434. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
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  • Maurice, Eric (2016). "Send Forward Some Who Would Fight": How John T.Wilder and His "Lightning Brigade" of Mounted Infantry Changed Warfare. Graduate Thesis Collection. Indianapolis, IN: Butler University. p. 129.
  • McGee, Benjamin F. (1882). Jewell, William Ray (ed.). History of the 72d Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the Mounted Lightning Brigade (PDF) (1st ed.). LaFayette, IN: S. Vater & Co. p. 698. OCLC 35653923. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
  • McWhiney, Grady (1991). Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Volume I. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. hdl:2027/pst.000019424187. ISBN 9780817391850. OCLC 1013878393.
  • Robertson, William Glenn (2010). "Bull of the Woods? James Longstreet at Chickamauga". In Woodworth, Steven E. (ed.). The Chickamauga Campaign (Kindle). Civil War Campaigns in the West (2011 Kindle ed.). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 9780809385560. OCLC 649913237. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
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  • Robertson, William Glenn (December 2006). "The Chickamauga Campaign: The Armies Collide". Blue & Gray Magazine. XXIV (141). Columbus, OH: Blue & Gray Enterprises. ISSN 0741-2207.
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  • Robertson, William Glenn (October 2007). "The Chickamauga Campaign: The Battle of Chickamauga, Day 2". Blue & Gray Magazine. XXV (146). Columbus, OH: Blue & Gray Enterprises. ISSN 0741-2207.
  • Smith, Derek (2005). The Gallant Dead : Union and Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 9780811748728. OCLC 1022792759.
  • Starr, Stephen Z. (1985). The War in the West, 1861–1865. The Union cavalry in the Civil War. Vol. III. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807112090. OCLC 769318010.
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  • Sunderland, Glenn W. (1969). Lightning at Hoover's Gap: the Story of Wilder's Brigade. London: Thomas Yoseloff. hdl:2027/pst.000024463898. ISBN 0498067955. OCLC 894765669.
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  • Woodworth, Steven E. (1998). Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-9813-2. OCLC 50844494.
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  • "History of Wilder's Brigade". www.oocities.org/wildersbrigade. Wilder's Brigade Mounted Infantry Living History Society. April 30, 2020.

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