15
Henry and Herbert Kilburn,
Horace Cookingham
12th Battery, Ohio Light Artillery
October 1863 to March 1864
At the end of September, Henry Kilburn with the 12th Ohio Battery was placed back in the XI Corps under General Howard. The XI and XII Corps, under the overall command of General Hooker, were detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to the aid of Rosecrans following his defeat at Chickamauga. Henry left Washington on September 25 and traveled by train through Baltimore, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville, to Bridgeport, Alabama. They arrived in Bridgeport on October 6 with the purpose of relieving the Federal army which was under siege at Chatanooga.
At the time of their arrival, the XI and XII Corps were still technically part of the Army of the Potomac, temporarily detached to the Army of the Cumberland. On October 7 the Army formed a new "Military Division of the Mississippi" which included the Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee. General Ulysses S. Grant was placed in command. So, although it probably meant nothing to him at the time, Henry served under Grant for a while. One of the conditions that Grant had made before he would accept this command, was that he should be able to replace Rosecrans. That was not merely because Rosecrans had been defeated in a large battle; the same thing had happened to Grant himself several times. Grant was more concerned about Rosecrans’ inability to do anything afterward. Rosecrans needed to open up the river and railroad for supplies, and he had more than enough men to do that, but he seemed dazed and unable to wake up, leaving his men to starve in Chattanooga. On October 20, then, Rosecrans was fired – we will run into him once more, further west. Grant appointed General Thomas to command the Department and the Army of the Cumberland.
Henry stayed at Bridgeport for nearly three weeks. They were kept there rather than moving them to Chattanooga right away because the supplies were so scarce; they didn’t want to put a further drain on the area.
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General Grant arrived on October 23 and began by opening up the river supply route from Bridgeport to Chattanooga. The XI Corps, and 12th Ohio Battery, began marching east from Bridgeport on the 26th. This began the campaign known as the "Relief of Chattanooga," for which Dyer gives the 12th Ohio credit as a participant.
As the XI Corps was moving east toward Chattanooga, General Thomas began clearing an entrance into the city for them. The road from Bridgeport crossed the Tennessee River at Brown’s Ferry, which was being held by Confederate infantry. Some troops from Chattanooga crossed the river in boats during the night, surprised the Confederates at the ferry and drove them off. Meanwhile, the advance guard of the XI Corps was entering Lookout Valley, between the ferry and Lookout Mountain. They ran into one of Longstreet’s brigades there, which held them up for a short time. Longstreet sent three more of his brigades to stop the Union advance, but Hooker pushed the whole XI Corps into the valley and drove the Confederates out in heavy fighting. By October 29 Hooker’s two corps had cleared the Confederates from everything west of Lookout Mountain; they had free access to the city via the ferry; and supplies were able to move up the river again.
Although the 12th Ohio Battery is listed as participating in some way in these actions, I have not yet completed the research in these areas and cannot say anything about what they might have done here.
Once he had completed the most urgent task to restore communications and supplies to the Chattanooga garrison, Grant began planning how to drive the Confederates out of the surrounding positions. This took a few weeks, in which we have found nothing of interest recorded. To the best I can interpret the records, Henry was probably camped in Lookout Valley during this time.
On November 14, the XI Corps moved to the north side of the Tennessee River, opposite Chattanooga, in preparation for Grant’s upcoming attack.
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Just at this time, Henry’s brother Herbert decided to enlist again. Herbert had been discharged from the 23rd Ohio Infantry in October 1862, and he had no further obligations to serve. There is no way for us to guess what made him sign up again. There was a rather high bonus for veterans to sign up at this time; or it could have been personal feelings about his brother serving here, or about his own discharge while the war was still going on. There was nothing recorded by him.
Herbert Kilburn re-enlisted at New London, Ohio on November 16, 1863 for the 12th Ohio Battery. Because he was a "Veteran Recruit," Herbert received a bonus of $170 (worth something like $5,000 today). He also received his first month’s pay, $13, in advance.
We don’t have anything to indicate administrative or processing time. Because he was a veteran, he would be sent directly to the unit in the field. Herbert probably traveled by train to Columbus, then followed the same route Henry had taken to Bridgeport, and continued up the river from there to Chattanooga. He probably arrived sometime in late November.
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The Battles for Chattanooga took place from November 23 to 25. It was really a series of separate battles: Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. A few units from the XI Corps were involved, but as far as we know at this time most of the Corps, including the 12th Ohio, were held on the north side of the river as reserves. Dyer does not give the 12th Ohio credit for participating, and I have not finished researching, so I won’t give any details on the battles. Suffice that the Confederates were defeated and retreated into Georgia; this is the first step that would lead to the capture of Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Sea. Because of this success, Grant was named Commander in Chief of all the Union armies.
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The army apparently sat in place for several weeks following the battles, as was customary. We don’t have any details for this time, and assume that Henry and Herbert were together in Chattanooga for most of December. At the end of December, the Army decided to remove the XI and XII Corps permanently from the Army of the Potomac. The 12th Ohio Battery became part of the 2nd Division, Artillery Reserve, Department of the Cumberland, under General Thomas. Henry and Herbert were sent to Nashville, where the battery was stationed for the winter on garrison duty.
On December 31, the 12th Ohio Battery was reorganized as a "Veteran Volunteers" unit. The men were discharged from service at this time and the unit was disbanded. It was then reformed as the 12th Battery, Ohio Veteran Volunteers Light Artillery, and the men signed up again. They would then start a new three-year term of service, and would collect the veterans enlistment bonus.
We have nothing at all recorded for January or most of February 1864. Presumably the Kilburns spent a quiet winter in Nashville. At the end of February, another member of our families enlisted.
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The Cookinghams were originally from New York; Michael Cookingham and Betsy (Abernathy) moved to New London, Ohio with their first four children in 1851. One of the original residents, Michael was a shoemaker and shoestore owner. Horace, the eldest son, was born in Penn Yann, New York in 1845. I found out about him late, and we have not yet got any of his records, so we have no description of him. The Cookinghams and Kilburns were closely connected, being leading members of the community, and Horace probably joined the 12th Ohio because of Henry and Herbert. Henry would marry Horace’s sister Helen after the war, and Horace’s younger brother would one day marry one of Henry’s cousins.
Horace enlisted for a term of three years at New London, Ohio on February 26, 1864. He probably would have spent several weeks in training at Columbus, and we can expect he would have arrived in Nashville in late March or early April.
Henry Kilburn was promoted to sergeant on March 1, 1864. Being in an artillery unit, that would probably put him in charge of one or two gun crews.
On March 23 the Artillery Reserve was broken up. The 12th Ohio Battery was moved to Murfreesborough, Tennessee, where they would spend the rest of the war.
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