A Steadfast Devotion to the Colors!

By Joseph F. Wilson · Originally published April 2021 · pp. 20–21

“The only members of the 48th OVI who were present at the dedication of the 48th Ohio monument at Vicksburg, May 22, 1905” Major Bering - Lynchburg, Ohio [seated at right] Thos. Montgomery - Lynchburg, Ohio [Captain, standing rearmost at left] Eliugh Hiatt - Cols, Ohio [Elihu Hiatt, Sgt. Co A, standing far right] Mr. Schumardt - Nebraska [Corp. Albert Shumard, Color Guard, seated at left] I. H. Carman - Selden, Ohio [Medal of Honor winner - standing with coat open at left] W.L. Carman - Selden Ohio [Ike’s son - far left with straw hat]” Courtsey Samantha Parish.

A Steadfast Devotion to the Colors! by Joseph F. Wilson All the regiment beamed with pride when the time came to stand in formation for the presentation of their beautiful silk regimental flag. Colonel Peter Sullivan accepted the battle flag of the 48th Ohio Volunteer Infantry that represented the regiment’s honor. Now the Ohio boys felt like a unit. Soon the unfurled flag flapped in the breeze prompting wild cheers from the citizen soldiers. Rousing speeches urged the soldiers of the 48th Ohio Infantry to protect the flag at all costs; every man agreed it was the solemn duty of any regiment. All promised to defend the flag to the death if necessary. Officials warned that shame came to a regiment if the colors fell into the hands of the enemy. Later in the war, the Ohio boys remembered their pledge when confronted first hand with the impending disgrace of surrendering their banner. The Buckeye troops upheld their vow to not let their colors be taken. Fulfillment of that oath gave the soldiers of the 48th an unlikely story that no other regiment could claim on either side of the Civil War. Like other northern states, patriotic fervor swept through the towns, cities, and small hamlets of Ohio. Young men came from all corners of the state when Father Abraham issued his call to preserve the Union. Recruiting halls overflowed with eager young volunteers from all walks of life willing to lay down the tools of their trade and pick up a musket to fight for the Union. Ohio Governor William Dennison established a camp a few miles from the Ohio River to gather his troops. The 48th Ohio Volunteers came together at Camp Dennison in October 1861. The newly formed regiment from southwestern Ohio found the business of army life more like work than soldiering. Disgruntled enlistees longed for the opportunity to put down the rebellion and escape the endless drilling and fatigue duty. Despite not having any arms, the new recruits performed repetitive drilling and manual labor. The volunteers watched enviously as other troops headed out to the fighting. Before October came to a close the boys stood for inspection in their new uniforms. For the first time they felt like soldiers, but they still didn’t have guns. The 48th Ohio at last said goodbye to the monotony at Camp Dennison in February 1862. Two steamers, the Argonaut and the Hastings, carried the regiment down the Ohio River toward the heart of the rebellion. At Paducah, Ky., on March 5, all 930 men finally received brand new Austrian muskets. Shortly thereafter the regiment was assigned to General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Division. Then the 48th again boarded the riverboats bound for Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee. The regiment had no idea of pending danger when they set up camp along the Tennessee River near a church locals called Shiloh. Only 30 days after being armed with muskets, the 48th Ohio Volunteers stood in line of battle for the first time April 6, 1862. With little time to practice firing their newly issued arms, the newly armed regiment stubbornly held the line beneath their unsullied silk banner amid the crush of repeated Confederate assaults. General Sherman later praised the new regiment after the fight. With over 100 killed and wounded, the battle revealed what a terrible war awaited. Any romantic Corporal Isaac Harrison Carman (Nov. 17, 1841–June 3, 1919). His Medal of Honor citation reads: “Saved his regimental flag; also seized and threw a shell, with burning fuse, from among his comrades.”

notion of war vanished at Shiloh. The 48th Ohio garnered more accolades as the war progressed. On May 22, 1863, at Vicksburg, the banner nearly fell into the hands of the enemy. After planting the flag on the Confederate earthworks, a Southern counterattack left the banner alone on the fortification. Only the heroics of Corporal Isaac H. Carmen saved the colors from capture. “Ike” Carman dashed under heavy fire, despite a bloody bayonet wound to his leg, to retrieve the flag. For his actions, Carmen received the Medal of Honor on Feb. 25, 1895. It wasn’t until 1864 that the improbable ordeal involving the silk banner of the 48th Ohio earned the regiment a page in the history books. In the spring, the regiment received orders to join General Nathaniel Banks for his Red River campaign. In their first battle under Banks they met with disaster. At Sabine Crossroads, La., on April 8, the entire regiment was captured. Nearly 200 men laid down their arms. What happened next is a matter of record. One color bearer, Corporal Isaac Scott, thought of the colors. His mind harkened back to the Camp Dennison exhortations. The shame associated with losing the colors echoed loud and clear. Corporal Scott determined that shame had no place in the 48th Ohio. In an instant, the quick-thinking corporal ripped the flag from its staff and stashed it in his haversack. Luckily, the Confederates never saw the flag, despite the plundering of Yankee property. After marching seven days, the foot sore and hungry Yankees arrived at Camp Ford Stockade near Tyler, Texas. Spirits sagged for a time until the boys of the 48th learned their flag evaded capture. When Confederate officials learned a Union flag was into the stockade, a vigorous search ensued. The prisoners stayed one step ahead of their captors. A hole was dug in one shanty and the flag buried under two feet

HDQRS. FORTY-EIGHTH REGT. OHIO VOL. INFANTRY, Vicksburg, Miss., August 4, 1863. … May 22, we engaged in the charge on the enemy’s fortifications in rear of Vicksburg, and, after a most sanguinary and bloody engagement, succeeded in planting our bullet-riddled flag on the enemy’s fort nearly in front of us, where it remained till evening, when the enemy massed his forces in vastly superior numbers to ours, and regained possession of the fort. Perceiving his intention, we saved our flag before the charge was made. At 10 p.m. We were ordered to fall back. The Forty-eighth was never driven back from its position near this fort until ordered to fall back, as above stated. There were none with our flag while planted on this fort save the color-guard, the regiment being a little to the left of the fort during the time… PETER J. SULLIVAN, Col., Commanding. First Lieut. C. C. TRACY, A. A. A. G., Second Brig, Tenth Div., Thirteenth A.C.* of earth. The southern soldiers tore apart shanties and poked the ground with bayonets searching for the flag. No flag was found. Another search the next day also failed to detect the flag. Realizing their colors would rot in the soil, the enterprising Ohio men devised another scheme. A search in camp for a competent tailor followed. The captives dug up the flag and sewed it into the shirt of Captain Daniel Gunsaullus. For the next six months the Captain walked freely among the unsuspecting Confederates with the flag safely pressed to his back as the lining of his shirt. Shouts of joy rented the air when the 48th Ohio and the other prisoners learned an exchange was imminent. Captain Gunsaullus and the rest of the 48th Ohio walked out of Camp Tyler in early October 1864, for a grueling five day march to the point of exchange on the Red River. Moving along with them on the dusty trail was the hidden

Captain Daniel Gunsaullus., Company F, 48th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

colors still tucked away in the Captain’s blouse. At Shreveport, the group boarded Rebel boats for the trip down Red River to its junction with the Mississippi. At the mouth of the river the Confederates delivered the prisoners to the Union officials in a formal exchange. A Federal agent welcomed them aboard a waiting Union ship. Nothing compared to the moving scene that unfolded once on board the steamer. Six months of fearing discovery of the colors gave way to unbridled enthusiasm. Immediately upon stepping aboard ship, the Ohio boys rushed to the upper deck and tore open the shirt of Captain Gunsaullus. The smiling Captain didn’t mind. It had all been planned in advance. With a pole that doubled as a walking stick on the trek from prison, the boys attached the colors to the new staff. The ex-prisoners unfurled the silk flag and waved the liberated banner in a scene that touched everyone in attendance. A raucous cheer echoed along the river bank as the wind caught the flag and celebration engulfed the ship. Some former captives cheered loudly, others cried uncontrollably. Onboard the steamer, a band struck up the “Star Spangled Banner.” The colors of the 48th Ohio Volunteers never fell into the hands of the enemy. Shame never did fall on the Ohio regiment. The shrewd soldiers of the 48th bested the Confederates for six long months. Confederates watched in disbelief from the shore. Even the Confederate agent of exchange, Captain Birchett, felt touched after observing the scene playing out before him. He later remarked that he never witnessed such a loyal display in all four years of the war. When the Confederate captain returned to Camp Ford, he related the whole story to the remaining prisoners. When deafening cheers filled the air, the sympathetic Confederate captain understood. Once back in Ohio, the flag was turned over to Colonel Job R. Parker who now led the regiment. After Parker’s death, Dec. 5, 1865, the flag took up residence in the Ohio statehouse. Many regiments stood by their colors in the Civil War, but few have such a unique story as the 48th Ohio. The silk standard is the only flag to ever serve a prison term. For years to come the boys of the 48th Ohio had an exclusive and interesting story to remember in the coming reunions. The aging old veterans joyfully relived the tale as if it were yesterday. The Ohio men happily retold the account to many delighted listeners. The devoted Buckeye boys of the 48th Ohio Volunteers had a right to be proud. And a story to tell like no other! Source: *48th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.” (2021) In Ohio Civil War Central, Retrieved March 7, 2021, from Ohio Civil War

Central: http://www.www. ohiocivilwarcentral.com/entry. php?rec=605t Joseph F. Wilson is a member of the General Meade Society and the writer and producer of the new documentary film “Civil War Prisons – An American Tragedy” now available on Amazon. Contact: joef21@ aol.com - 856 627-5401.