Part 55 (1/2)
Colonel Wm. H. Hayward.
Wm. H. Hayward was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1824, was brought to Cleveland in 1826, received a good common school education, and at the age of fifteen became an apprentice to the printing business in the office of Sanford & Lott. At the end of his five years apprentices.h.i.+p he was admitted as partner, solely because of his proficiency, not having any capital to put in. Mr. Lott retired on account of ill health, and the firm became Sanford & Hayward, which it has ever since remained, and which has steadily built up a large and profitable blank-book and lithographing business.
From boyhood Mr. Hayward had a taste for military studies, and he was early connected with the military organizations of the city. In the early days of the Cleveland Light Artillery, when it was under the command of his partner, General A. S. Sanford, he was First Lieutenant. When permission was received for the organization of the First Ohio Artillery as a three years regiment, Mr. Hayward was tendered, and from a sheer sense of duty to the country accepted, the Lieutenant Colonelcy of the regiment. He took an active part in recruiting, drilling, and organizing the men as fast as received, and sending them to the front. When the regiment was divided and sent in different directions his command was ordered to the Shenandoah Valley to report to General s.h.i.+elds. Under this command he took part in the fight at Port Republic, June 12, 1862, fought whilst another battle was going on at Cross Keys, seven miles distant.
Soon afterwards he and his command became part of the Army of the Potomac, being attached to the Third Division under General Whipple, who was subsequently mortally wounded at Chancellorsville. On being a.s.signed to that Division, Colonel Hayward was made Chief of Artillery. At the time of the battle of Gettysburg Colonel Hayward was a.s.signed to duty in Was.h.i.+ngton.
His health, never good, having completely broken down, he was compelled to resign and return home. Here he remained attending his business duties and rendering such aid as lay in his power until the call for hundred days troops to defend Was.h.i.+ngton. At the time he was in command of the 29th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Militia, organized for just such emergencies, and which contained eight companies. With these two other companies were Consolidated, and the organization styled the 150th Ohio National Guards.
Colonel Hayward led it to Was.h.i.+ngton, and took a leading part in the repulse of Early. The attack of the rebel forces was mainly against that part of the defences garrisoned by the 150th Regiment. There were no hopes of permanently keeping the rebels out of Was.h.i.+ngton with so small a force, but the main object was to keep them at bay until succor could arrive. To do this strategy was adopted. About eight hundred quartermaster's men, darkeys and teamsters, were sent off from Was.h.i.+ngton to swell the force; these men were kept marching and counter-marching around a piece of wood, then wheeled around and brought again into the view of the rebels, who, thinking there was a large force being ma.s.sed there, deferred the attack till morning, when the veteran Sixth corps came up to their relief, and Early was driven back in discomfiture.
On the expiration of their term of service the 150th National Guards returned to Cleveland, and Colonel Hayward resumed business life.
Colonel Wm. R. Creighton.
No Infantry regiment raised in Cleveland became so thoroughly identified with Cleveland as the ”Fighting Seventh.” This was in great measure due to the fact that it was the first complete regiment sent from Cleveland, and that it contained a large number of the spirited young men of the city, taken from all cla.s.ses of the population. The fortunes of the Seventh were followed with deep interest, their successes exulted in, and their losses mourned over. No public sorrow, saving that for the death of President Lincoln, was so general and deep as that which followed the news of the fall of the gallant leaders of the ”old Seventh,” as they led their handful of men, spared from numerous murderous battles, in the face of certain death up the hill at Ringgold. Grief for the loss was mingled with indignation at the stupidity or wanton cruelty that had sent brave men to such needless slaughter.
William R. Creighton, with whom the history of the Seventh is identified, was born in Pittsburgh, in June, 1837. At ten years old he was placed in a shoe store where he remained two years and then was placed for six months in a commercial college. From there he entered a printing office, where he served an apprentices.h.i.+p of four years, and came to Cleveland, where he entered the Herald office, remaining there, with the exception of a few months, until just previous to the breaking out of the war.
In 1858, he became a member of the Cleveland Light Guards and rose to become a lieutenant in that organization. He was a great favorite with his fellow members of the company, and was not only a genial companion, but an excellent disciplinarian. At the breaking out of the war, he organized a company with the old Cleveland Light Guards as a nucleus, and soon had so many applications that his company was full and a second company was organized. A third company was also recruited. This was the beginning of the Seventh Ohio.
On a beautiful Sunday morning, in May, 1861, the Seventh marched through the streets of Cleveland, the first full regiment that had left the city, on the way to the railroad. The whole population turned out to bid them farewell. The regiment went to Camp Dennison, unarmed, without uniforms--except such uniforms as belonged to the old independent organizations--and with but temporary regimental organization. When but a few days in Camp Dennison, the call came for three years troops, and the regiment, with but few exceptions, volunteered for the three years service, with E. B. Tyler as Colonel, and Wm. E. Creighton as Lieutenant Colonel. The places of those who declined to enlist for three years were soon filled by fresh recruits.
The regiment was ordered to West Virginia to take part in the campaign to be opened there. Colonel Tyler had gone in advance, and Lieutenant Colonel Creighton took the regiment to Clarksburg, where he turned it over to his commanding officer. At Glenville he again took command, drilling the men daily when in camp, and bringing them into a high state of proficiency.
Hard marching and many privations were endured until the regiment reached Cross Lanes.
On the 21st of August orders were received to join General c.o.x, at Gauley Bridge. The regiment, then under command of Colonel Tyler, had reached Twenty-mile Creek when word was received that the rebels, four thousand strong, were preparing to cross the river at Cross Lanes, which the Seventh had so recently left. A counter-march was ordered. About six miles from Cross Lanes the regiment was attacked by an overwhelming force, and after a desperate fight was broken, and compelled to retreat in two different directions, with a loss of a hundred and twenty men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Creighton was among those who escaped.
The scattered companies re-united at Charleston, West Virginia, where they remained waiting orders, and were in the meantime thoroughly drilled by Lieutenant Colonel Creighton, who was in fact, if not in t.i.tle, the commanding officer of the regiment. An order coming for five hundred picked men of the regiment to join in the pursuit of Floyd, he was sent in command of the detachment, was given the advance in the pursuit, and followed Floyd's trail hotly for several days, marching on foot at the head of his men. Soon after this Tyler became Brigadier General and Creighton was made Colonel of his regiment, which was ordered to the East.
At Winchester, Creighton led his regiment, the first in the famous charge of the Third Brigade, having a horse shot under him, and then fighting on foot with a musket, among his men, until the time came to a.s.sume the position of commanding officer again. In the march to Fredricksburgh and the return to the Valley he shared every privation and hards.h.i.+p the men were obliged to encounter, always refuse to take advantage of his privileges as an officer. He endeavored to procure every needful comfort for his men, but when they were barefooted and hungry he shared his stores with them, and fought and marched on foot with them. At Port Republic he headed his regiment in five desperate charges, in each of them driving the enemy. In the battle of Cedar Mountain Creighton handled his regiment with a dexterity that told fearfully on the ranks of the enemy. He was finally severely wounded, and compelled to leave the field.
In doing so, he kept his face to the foe, saying that ”no rebel ever saw his back in battle; and never would.” He was taken to Was.h.i.+ngton, where the bullet was extracted from his side, which was an exceedingly painful operation. Soon after this he came to his home; but while still carrying his arm in a sling, he reported to his regiment. While at home the battle of Antietam was fought, which was the only one in which he failed to partic.i.p.ate. Soon after his return, the affair at Dumfries occurred, where, through his ingenuity and skill, Hampton's cavalry command was defeated by a mere handful of men. For this he was publicly thanked by Generals Sloc.u.m and Geary. He took part in the battle of Chancellorsville, where he won new laurels. It is said that being ordered by General Hooker to fall back, he refused to do so until able to bring Knapp's Battery safely to the rear; for which disobedience of orders he was recommended for promotion. This battery was from his native city, and in it he had many friends. Next he was at Gettysburg, where he fought with his accustomed valor. He was also at Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, in ”Hooker's battle above the clouds.”
After this battle came the pursuit of Bragg, whose rear-guard was overtaken at Ringgold, Georgia, where it was securely posted on the top of Taylor's Ridge--a naked eminence. It was madness to undertake to drive them from this hill, without the use of artillery to cover the a.s.sault; but in the excitement of the moment the order was given. In this a.s.sault Creighton commanded a brigade. Forming his command he made a speech.
”Boys,” said he, ”we are ordered to take that hill. I want to see you walk right up it.” After this characteristic speech, he led his men up the hill. It soon became impossible to advance against the terrible fire by which they were met; he therefore led them into a ravine, but the rebels poured such a fire into it from all sides, that the command was driven back. Reaching a fence, Creighton stopped, and facing the foe, waited for his command to reach the opposite side. While in this position he fell, pierced through the body with a rifle bullet. His last words were: ”Oh, my dear wife!” and he expired almost immediately. The brigade now fell rapidly back, carrying the remains of its idolized commander with it.
Lieutenant Colonel Crane fell in the same fight and but just after Creighton fell.
The bodies were taken to the rear and sent to Cleveland, where they were given such a reception and funeral as had never been witnessed in Cleveland before, or after. The whole city was in mourning, and after lying in state in Council Hall, to be visited by thousands, the mortal remains of the dead heroes were borne, amid the firing of minute guns, the tolling of bells, and the solemn dirges of the band, to their last resting place in Woodland cemetery.
Colonel Creighton was killed on November 27th, 1863, in the twenty-seventh year of his age.
Lieutenant Colonel Orrin J. Crane.