Two excellent book-length regimental histories by O. B. Curtis and Donald Smith have been published. Better yet both have been reprinted and are available from Morningside Books. I cannot recommend these books too highly, particularly Curtis. Eventually, as time allows and my knowledge grows, I will attempt to write my own regimental history. My intention is to post the chapters of my own book as they are completed. Don't hold your breath. In the meantime, I have included the unit history from the introduction to the "Brown Book."
"Our Country! forever we swear 'neath the blue,
Thy name and thy fame bright and spotless shall be!
Thine honor we'll guard--hearts and hands ever true;
Columbia! we owe all and give all to thee!"
The 24th was raised almost exclusively in the county of Wayne, with its rendezvous at Detroit. It was recruited with much dispatch, being mustered into U.S. service on the 15th of August, 1862, just thirty days from the date of the order giving authority for its organization.
Field and staff
Colonel Henry A. Morrow, Detroit. Lieutenant Colonel Mark Flanigan, Detroit.
Major, Henry W. Nall, Detroit. Surgeon, John H. Beech, Coldwater. Assistant
Surgeon, Charles C. Smith, Redford. Second Assistant Surgeon, Alexander
Collar, Wayne. Adjutant, James J. Barnes, Detroit. Quartermaster, Digby
V. Bell, Jr., Detroit. Chaplain, William C. Way, Plymouth.
The companies were mustered in with the following line officers:
A. Captain, Edwin B. Wight, Detroit. First Lieutenant, Richard S. Dillon,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, Henry R. Whiting, Detroit.
B. Captain, Isaac W. Ingersoll, Detroit. First Lieutenant, William H. Rexford,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, Augustus Buhl, Detroit.
C. Captain, Calvin B. Crosby, Plymouth. First Lieutenant, Charles A. Hoyt,
Plymouth. Second Lieutenant, Infield S. Safford, Plymouth.
D. Captain, William J. Speed, Detroit. First Lieutenant, John M. Farland,
Detroit, Second Lieutenant, Charles C. Yemans, Redford.
E. Captain, James Cullen, Detroit. First Lieutenant, John J. Lemmon, Detroit.
Second Lieutenant, Malachi J. O'Donnell, Detroit.
F. Captain, Albert M. Edwards, Detroit. First Lieutenant, Asa W. Sprague,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, Jacob M. Howard, Jr., Detroit.
G. Captain, William A. Owen, Detroit. First Lieutenant, William Hutchinson,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, George W. Burchell, Detroit.
H. Captain, Warren G. Vinton, Detroit. First Lieutenant, John C. Merritt,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, Newell Grace, Redford.
I. Captain, George C. Gordon, Detroit. First Lieutenant, Henry P. Kinney,
Detroit. Second Lieutenant, John M. Gordon, Redford.
K. Captain, William W. Wight, Livonia. First Lieutenant, Walter H. Wallace,
Brownstown. Second Lieutenant, David Birrell, Detroit.
Prior to its leaving for the front, Messrs. F. Buhl, Newland & Co., gave the 24th, on Campus Martius, Detroit, a very costly flag, red, white, and blue, in stars of raised work, inscribed on the flag, "24th Michigan Infantry." D. E. Harbaugh, Esq., made a very appropriate presentation speech, to which Colonel Morrow made a very brief but patriotic reply. The flag was carried through all of the battles of the regiment up to Gettysburg, where, in upholding and saving it, four color-bearers were killed and three wounded. It was then returned to the State, being so tattered and torn as to be unfit for service.
The 24th left Detroit on the 29th of August, 1862, in command of Colonel Morrow, who had been authorized by the Governor to recruit and organize the regiment, and took the route to Washington, arriving there on September 2nd, and marched to Camp Morrow, near Fort Lyon, Va., then on the 4th moved to Fort Wayne, remaining there until the 7th, when it marched to Camp Shearer, near Fort Baker, D. C. It remained at this camp until September 30th, when it was ordered by General Banks to take rail for Frederick City, Md., but owing to some disarrangement it did not start until October 1st, arriving at Frederick City about midnight of the same day, and the day after went into camp. On October 6th the regiment marched for Sharpsburg, arriving there on the 8th, and was assigned to General Gibbon's 1st brigade, 1st division, 1st corps. On October 20th, under order of General Gibbon, the regiment continued the march from day to day in Maryland, and on the 30th crossed the Potomac on pontoon bridges into Virginia, at Berlin; continuing the march through Virginia, reached Warrenton on November 6th, and on the 22d, after a long march, went into camp near the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Aquia Creek Railroad, when it was placed on duty guarding that railroad. On the 6th of December the regiment was relieved from that duty, and on the 9th, 10th, and 11th, was again on the move. At daylight on the 11th it marched towards Fredericksburg and remained lying on its arms until daylight of the 12th, when it crossed the Rappahannock on the lower pontoon bridges. Soon after reaching the Fredericksburg side the enemy opened with artillery from the heights.
The regiment was still in the 4th brigade, Franklin's 1st division, 1st corps, and on the left of the line of battle. It was under heavy artillery fire on the 12th and 13th. On the latter day it supported battery "B" 4th U. S. artillery, sustaining a loss of 8 killed, 16 wounded and 8 missing. Among the killed was Lieutenant David Birrell.
April 22d, 1863, the regiment marched from camp at Belle Plains, crossed the Rappahannock at Port Royal at daylight on the 23d, drove the enemy from the town, captured a number of prisoners, horses, and mules, and an important rebel mail, returning to camp on the 23d without loss. As preliminary to the crossing of the main body of the army in the advance on Chancellorsville, the 24th, on the 29th of April, supported by the 6th Wisconsin, crossed the river at Fitzhugh crossing, drove the rebels from their rifle-pits, and captured 103 prisoners, the loss of the regiment being 3 killed and 22 wounded. The enemy left 17 of their killed on the field. This was a daring achievement, receiving at the time the notice of the entire army for gallant and successful service.
Afterwards, the 1st corps, to which the 24th was attached moved to near Chancellorsville, but did not become engaged in the battle at that place, and covered the retreat of the army across the Rappahannock, after the battle. From the 21st to the 26th of May, inclusive, the brigade then in command of Colonel Morrow, of which the 24th formed part was engaged in an expedition to Westmoreland Court House, which resulted in the capture of 50 prisoners and 500 horses and mules, and the liberation of over 1,000 slaves who were brought within our lines. In this affair the brigade marched over 150 miles in 5 days.
The regiment, again in command of Colonel Morrow and then in the 1st brigade, 1st division, 1st corps, soon entered on the Pennsylvania campaign.
At Gettysburg, the great battle of the rebellion, Michigan troops were
in large proportion. There the Confederate army of Virginia, and the Federal
army of the Potomac, meet face to face; there the blue under the star-spangled
banner, and the gray under the stars and bars, cover the hillocks and hillsides
in that quiet, green valley of the Keystone State.
"Thin curling in the morning air
Tho wreaths of falling smoke declared,
To embers now the brands decayed,
Where the night watch the fires had made."
"True to the last of their blood and their breath,
And like reapers advance to the harvest of death."
Desperation is in their movements, they seem to hazard all, columns in mass
rush the union line; they hesitate, stagger under the federal fire, waver
and are repulsed. Charge follows charge in rapid order, unparalleled salvos
of artillery, drifts of shot and shell, whirlwinds of minnie bullets, continuous
and destructive; the field is gory, and the air is thick with the breath
of the dying. Three long days the battle rages, but the flag of the union
is triumphant, its stars shine brightly and night brings victory.
In the beautiful cemetery where now quietly rest the dead of that terrible
strife, lie the remains of over two hundred Michigan Men, the third largest
in number and the largest in proportion to population.
"Sleep well, O sad-browned city,
Whatever may betide;
Not under a nation's pity,
But 'mid a nation's pride,
The vines that round you clamber,
The brightest shall be, and best;
You sleep in honor-chamber,
Each one is a royal guest."
The 24th left its camp near the Rappahannock on the 12th of June, and shared,
with its corps, the laborious and rapid marches to the Pennsylvania line.
It arrived near Gettysburg on the 1st of July, and went immediately into
action, the division to which it was attached being the first infantry force
under fire in that sanguinary struggle.
"When lo! the dread brigade called Iron, flashed
In armour bright as on the for they dashed;
And when they met, a bloody slaughter spread
The verdant plain, like autumn leaves, with dead."
This brigade had become known throughout the army of the Potomac as the
"Iron Brigade," and under that additional designation its record
in the war passed into history.
On the first day the loss of the 24th was extremely large, being 316 in killed, wounded, and missing. Among the killed were Captains William J. Speed, Malachi O'Donnell, and Lieutenants Walter H. Wallace, W. S. Safford, Newell Grace, R. Humphreyville, Gilbert A. Dickey, and Lucius D. Shattuck. During the engagements of the 2nd and the 3nd it was not under fire of musketry.
"There Peck our colors grasping,
Tho' death his form was clasping,
Still held them up to sight
Till other hands were reaching
And other boys beseeching
To bear them through the fight."
Marching from Gettysburg July 6th in command of Captain Albert M. Edwards,
Colonel Morrow, Lieutenant Colonel Flanigan, and Major Wight being among
the wounded, the regiment crossed the Potomac on the 18th, and arrived August
1st at the Rappahannock.
On the 1st of November 1863, the 24th was employed in guarding the Orange and Alexandria railroad, from Catlett's Station to Slater Run Va. On the 7th of November it moved to Morrisville, and on the following day, via Kelly's Ford to Brandy Station, thence returned to Beverly Ford, on the north bank of the Rappahannock, where it remained until the 26th. Breaking camp on that date, the regiment in command of Colonel Morrow, participated in the movement to Mine Run. On the 28th it was deployed as skirmishers and assisted in driving the enemy back into their main works, capturing a number of prisoners. Falling back with the army, it encamped at Kelly's Ford, and on the 24th of December proceeded to Culpepper, where it went into winter quarters.
On the 6th of February, 1864 the regiment, with the 2d Wisconsin and 76th N. Y., in command of Colonel Morrow, made a reconnaissance to Raccoonville on the Rapidan, where a force of the enemy's sharpshooters had been posted, and at midnight burned the place while under direct fire of the enemy's artillery on the opposite side of the river.
With the opening of the campaign of 1864, the 24th under command of Colonel
Morrow, and then serving in the 1st brigade, 4th division, 5th corps, broke
camp at Culpepper on the evening of the 3rd of May, crossed the Rapidan
at Germania Ford on the 4th, and on the evening of the 5th encountered the
enemy in the Wilderness. During this engagement the regiment captured a
number of prisoners and a stand of colors from the 48th Virginia Infantry.
Its losses during the battle of the Wilderness were 18 killed, 46 wounded,
and 42 prisoners and missing. Colonel A. M. Edwards assumed command
" * * * In the first engagement we drove the enemy two full miles back to his reserves, capturing many prisoners and one stand of colors from the 48th Virginia Infantry. The enemy rallied, and with their fresh troops compelled us to fall back to our original line of works. In this retreat through dense woods, with the men in an exhausted condition, many of them fell into the hands of the enemy. In this charge we lost two brave officers, Captain George Hutton and Lieutenant Wm. B. Hutchinson, killed" * * *
On the night of the 7th of May, Colonel Edwards in command, the regiment
withdrew from the Wilderness and marched rapidly towards Spottsylvania Court
House. At the latter place it was under fire almost every day until the
21st, sustaining a loss of 11 killed 39 wounded and 1 missing. The regiment
crossed the North Anna river May 23rd. The enemy almost immediately attacked,
but were repulsed with large loss. The loss of the 24th was 3 killed 8 wounded,
and 5 missing. On the 28th the regiment crossed the Pamunky river near Hanover
town. It participated in the fighting attending the advance to Cold Harbor,
and in the battles and skirmishes near that point, sustaining a loss of
3 killed and 15 wounded. June 16th it crossed the James river at Wilcox's
Landing, and marched toward Petersburg. On the 18th it participated in the
successful assault on the enemy's works surrounding that city, going into
action with 120 men, and of this number losing nearly one-third in killed
and wounded.
In this charge Lieutenant and Adjutant Sirel Chilson was killed while serving on the staff of the general commanding the division.
From this date until the movement on the Weldon railroad, on the 18th of August, the regiment was actively employed in the duties attending the siege of Petersburg. Its loss in the various actions and skirmishes, and from the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters to which it was exposed, was 8 killed, 36 wounded, and 5 missing. August 18th it participated in an engagement on the Weldon railroad having one man wounded. On the 19th the enemy massed a heavy force on their front and attacked their position. The regiment succeeded in holding its ground for a short time, and thus saved a large portion of its brigade from capture. The casualties of the regiment during this action were 25 in the aggregate. The regiment also participated in the battle of the 21st of August, in which the rebel attack on our lines was repulsed with large loss, the 24th capturing during the battle 11 rebel officers, one stand of colors, a large number of arms, and 60 men, while its loss was very slight.
The regiment was then in the 1st brigade, 3rd division, 5th corps, participated in the battle of Hatcher's Run on the 27th of October, 1864. The division captured a large number of prisoners during the night of the 27th, and on the morning of the 28th the regiment was on picket, and covered the retreat of the army back to their old works in front of Petersburg.
During the month of November the regiment, commanded by Colonel Morrow was engaged on picket duty, watching the enemy in front of Petersburg, and on the 6th of December moved southward and bivouacked for the night near the Jerusalem plank road, and there the corps was massed preparatory to a movement in the direction of Weldon N. C., for the purpose of destroying the railroad and ascertaining the enemy's position and the strength in that direction. The expedition, consisting of the 5th corps, Mott's division of the 2d. corps, Gregg's cavalry division, and eighteen pieces of artillery, all under the command of Major General Warren, moved south on the Jerusalem plank road on the 7th, crossed the Nottoway river, and pushed on as far as Sussex Court House that night, and on the following morning continued the movement southward, but soon turning westward and reaching the railroad burned the bridge over the Nottoway, from then moved slowly southward destroying the railroad by burning the ties and bending the rails. The column reached Bellfield, on the Meherrin river, on the 9th , having totally destroyed the railroad from the Nottoway to that point , a distance of about twenty miles. On arriving at Bellfield a small force of the enemy was found posted on the south bank of the Meherrin, near Hickford, but did not make much resistance. The object of the expedition having been accomplished, the troops commenced to move back towards Petersburg on the 10th, the enemy with a considerable force of cavalry threatening the rear of the command, firing occasionally, but did not attack with any spirit, and on the 13th, arrived in camp in front of Petersburg. The regiment remained in camp at that point, building winter quarters and performing the usual picket and camp duties until February 5th, 1865, when, in command of Lieutenant Colonel Edwards, Colonel Morrow being in command of the brigade, it moved with the army to Hatcher's Run, which it crossed and bivouacked for the night, and on the 6th and 7th was hotly engaged with the enemy at Dabney's Mills, the regiment losing 2 officers and twenty men in killed and wounded. On the 11th of February, the regiment was ordered to report to Baltimore, Md. for special duty, and reaching there on the 15th was ordered to report to Springfield, Ill. for duty at the draft rendezvous, where it arrived on the 21st, and at that point was on garrison duty in guarding conscripts and taking them to the front, and while there stationed had the honor of being selected as escort at the funeral of President Lincoln.
While at Springfield the citizens of Detroit through General Mark Flanigan, gave the regiment a superb silk flag elegantly embroidered with the Michigan and United States Arms, together with the battles in which the regiment had participated. The flag was taken to the regiment, then at Camp Butler, Illinois by Major William Hutchinson, and presented, together with a letter from General Flanigan Colonel A. M. Edwards, commanding the regiment, received it in an appropriate reply.
On the 19th of June the regiment left Springfield for Detroit, where
it arrived on the 20th, and on the 30th was mustered out of service and
soon thereafter was paid off and disbanded.
During its term of service it took part in encounters with the enemy
at Fredericksburg, Va. December 12 and 13, 1862; Port Royal, Va., April
23, 1863; Fitzhugh Crossing, April 29th, 1863; Chancellorsville, Va., May
3, 1863; Westmoreland Va., May 23, 1863, Gettysburg, Penn., July 1,2, and
3, 1863; Mine Run, Va. November 29, 1863; Raccoon Ford, Va., February, 5,
1864; Wilderness, Va., May 5, 6, and 7 1864; Spottsylvania, Va., May 10,
11, and 12, 1864; North Anna, Va., May 28, 1864; Tolopotomy, Va., May 30,
1864; Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864; Bethesda Church, Va., June 2, 3, and
4, 1864; Petersburg, Va., June 18, 1864; Weldon Railroad, Va., August 18,
19, and 21, 1864; Hickford, Va., December 9, 1864; Hatcher's Run, Va.,
October 27, 1864; Dabney's Mills, Va., February 6 and 7, 1865; Siege of
Petersburg, Va., June 17, 1864 to February 11, 1865.
The 24th had borne on its rolls 2,054 officers and men, while its loss was 313 as follows: 12 officers and 118 men killed in action, 1 officer and 88 men died of wounds, and 2 officers and 142 men of disease.
Last Updated: 10/04/98
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