Jefferson Gatten Killed in
Battle
Jefferson Gatten, a brother to Joseph Thomas Gatten and
son of Samuel Gatten, of Washington Twp., Monroe County, Ohio, mustered into
Company A in 116th Regiment, August 22, 1862; Captured, June 13, 1863, at
The Battle of Bunker Hill, Virginia; returned to company.
November 1, 1863, and died June 18, 1864, of wounds received same day in The
Battle of Lynchburg, Virginia. Interred in section E, row E, grave 147, Poplar
Grove Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia.
The following are partial accounts of The Battle of Bunker Hill in which
Jefferson was captured and The Battle of Lynchburg in which he was killed.
These excerpts were taken from the book" Record of the 116th
Regiment, Ohio Infantry Volunteers in The War of The Rebellion" by Thomas
F. Wildes (late Lieutenant Colonel of The Regiment)
Fighting began early on the morning of the 13th all along
the line in front of Winchester, and continued during the day until dark. The
116th was engaged constantly. Towards evening, it was driven with
other troops from the outer entrenchments to the second line. In the afternoon
of the 13th, the two companies at Bunker Hill were attacked by a portion
of Rhodes' division. The little command under its intrepid leader, Major
Morris, made a gallant stand and held its ground against vastly superior
numbers, until nearly half its number was killed, wounded, or captured. Among
the severely wounded and left on the field was Captain Alex Cochran, of Company
I, and among the prisoners were Lieutenant R. O. Knowles of the same
company, and Lieutenant Manning of Company A. The remainder sought to reach an
old brick church, and the enemy made an effort to cut them off from it, but
they fought their way into it bravely, and using loopholes which they had
previously made for their rifles, soon drove the enemy beyond their reach. Here
they remained until about 2 o'clock the next morning, when, finding a gap in
the enemy's lines surrounding them, they made their escape, and by a long and
tiresome march, reached Winchester about 7 a.m. of the 14th. The troops
driven out of Berryville reached Winchester also the morning of the 14th.
They were followed and attacked at the crossing of Opequan Creek. This force
was in command of Col. McReynolds, of The 1st. New York Calvary.
From the 13th of June our regiment had lost 203 men in killed, wounded, and
prisoners.
Jefferson Gatten was on the list of prisoners.
June 17th, we left our camp, three miles south of Liberty,
for Lynchburg. About 10 a.m. we met the enemy in some force, but drove him
before our skirmish line steadily, till between 2 and 3 p.m., when a stand was
made at a creek, our crossing of which they disputed. But the advance was
sufficient to disperse them, not, however, until they had destroyed the
bridge. Its reconstruction delayed the trains and its guard several hours.
The rear guard came up while it was yet scarcely begun. All were in haste to
cross, but the engineer in charge of its reconstruction was bound to see that
it was put up only after the most approved methods of regular army bridge
building. But the plans were to elaborate and tedious, and everybody got
out of patience, for firing in front was urging everyone forward, especially
the artillery. Western expedients came to the rescue. When the 116th came up,
Captain John F. Welch, of our regiment, who was in charge of the pioneer
against his plans, which involved too much time. Finally he prevailed on the
engineer to let him try his way of building a bridge "in a hurry,"
and calling for a number of good choppers of the 116th, which it contained in
abundance, as he knew, they went into the woods close by and began cutting
timbers, which were carried to the ground by the stalwart fellows of the
regiment, and in less than an hour the artillery was crossing, on the gallop,
to the front. Moving on rapidly now, we arrived at The Quaker Stone Church in
the midst of a sharp engagement, in which the 91st Ohio suffered considerably,
Colonel Turley being severely wounded. The 116th took but small part in this
affair., being to far to the left, the fighting being more to the right..
Crook's division was engaged with the enemy at the church when we came up. The
rebels were driven from this point into their entrenchments around Lynchburg.
Our division now relieved the second, which went into camp. By this time it was
dark, and after our regiment had been moved from one point to another several
times, we went on the picket line, quite close up to the rebel entrenchments,
and there lay until morning. About 10 o'clock that night, we heard the whistle
of a locomotive and the rolling of a train. From that hour till noon next day,
we could hear trains arriving, and after daylight could see large bodies of
troops moving out of the city towards our position, and hear bands playing, and
see movements in all directions which clearly indicated the arrival of large
reinforcements. Early in the morning of the 18th, we were moved out to the
extreme left in support of a battery. The rebels did some of the best artillery
firing we ever saw, and our battery had scarcely opened fire, before it was
obliged to retire to shelter. Their sharpshooters were also extremely accurate
in their aim, they seemed to know the ground perfectly. About 2 P.M., the
rebels made a desperate charge on the right and center of our brigade. We were
then a quarter of a mile to the left of it. Our battery pulled out for the
right, and we hastened to the support of our brigade. While enroute to join the
brigade, a column of rebels were seen coming through the woods, directly on our
flank. The rebels were making a charge on our center, which they were driving
back slowly. Two different regiments went forward in turn to check the rebel
advance, but each was repulsed. By this time we had reached a position directly
in the course of the regiment that had been last sent in, and was now falling
back through us in disorder. Here we halted to stop the further advance of the
enemy. We hardly halted, before Colonel Washburn received an order to
"charge with the 116th." We immediately formed for the charge, and
went down upon the charging rebels, just as they were ascending the hill. We
had the advantage in charging down, as they were charging up the hill, and we
not only checked them, but they broke in wild confusion to their breastworks.
Clambering over them, we pushed on to their second line, being now reinforced
by the 5th West Virginia, under Colonel Enochs. Here we were met by a very
heavy force well entrenched, and, lying down, we fought hard against desperate
odds, waiting for help, which we felt would surely come, until we were
assaulted on both flanks by infantry, and by grape and canister from a battery,
planted not five rods in our front. We then fell back to the first line of
works we had taken, and on their face, fought again, until we were struck on
our left by a large force which crossed over the works in the woods on that
flank. We then fell back to the first line of works we had taken, and on their
face, fought again, until we were struck on our left by a large force
which crossed over the works in the woods on that flank. We then fell back to a
position in the woods, through which we had charged, where we remained for some
time unmolested, and to which we carried most of our wounded. Among our badly
wounded was Captain Edwin Keyes and Color Sergeant Fred. E. Humphrey, both of
whom we were obliged to leave behind us. We again fell back to the line of the
rest of the troops, only to find that the retreat had commenced.
Our regiment was praised without stint for its gallantry on this occasion.
It was the only regiment of Hunter's army that entered the rebel works about
Lynchburg; its colors were the only colors carried over them, or planted upon
them.
The second division, under General Crook, moved to the right early in the
morning, and reconnoitered the enemy's position in that direction for three or
four miles, seeking in vain for an unguarded spot at which to make an attack on
the enemy's left.
About seven o'clock we moved out, and followed in the rear of the trains all
that night. Our loss in the charge was twelve killed, twenty-two wounded and
ten prisoners.
Private Jefferson Gatten was on the list of killed.
Provided by Lena Kahrig Pettit -- e-mail:
Lena Pettit