The Atlanta Campaign opens with a bang -- William Tecumseh Sherman's offensive collides with Joseph Eggleston Johnston's defenses -- on this date, 150 years ago. Intense fighting results in casualties ranging from about 5,000 to 7,500 -- all of them American.
I acquired a copy of this "casualty notice" from the US National Archives recently. Ira Barnes Slack, Company I, 85th Indiana Infantry Regiment, was the first husband of Ruthann Priscilla Wheeler, my great great grandmother (her second husband was another Union soldier, Samuel France, Company E, 31st Indiana).
Field Hospital, 2nd Division, 20th Army Corps, Near Resaca, Georgia:
"I have to inform you that Private Ira B. Slack . . . died in this Hospital on 16th inst[ant -- i.e., 16th May 1864]. . . Wounds rec'd in battle of 15th May."
To add insult to death, the assistant surgeon reports: "No effects."
Meaning, either his body was so mangled that nothing of material worth was retrievable, or anything retrievable was stripped from his person rather than sent to his family in Indiana.
To boot, any record of his burial site is apparently gone -- his remains either never made the transfer from the battlefield field hospital to a national cemetery, or his body was later misidentified in the process. I'll keep looking.
Ira B. Slack was thirty years old when he died, leaving behind his thirty year old wife and two living children, both younger than ten.
If you have any additional information as to the possible whereabouts of the remains of Ira B. Slack, please leave a comment or email me at efrance23@gmail.com
31st Indiana Infantry monument along the Sunken Road and Hornet's Nest, where the men of the regiment held the line with the rest of Lauman's Brigade for several hours on April 6, 1862.
At Shiloh, Lauman's Brigade fielded some 1,717 troops in four regiments. Given that the 44th Indiana reportedly had 478 men, I'd estimate that the 31st Indiana fielded about 450 or so. The 31st reported 138 casualties -- 30% losses. The woods caught fire in this sector and many wounded on both sides perished.
If even 100 men of the 31st Indiana managed to fire 100 rounds, they would have gotten off 10,000 rounds of small arms fire -- a ghastly thought in terms of havoc and human mayhem for the attacking Confederates.
See: John W. Coons, Indiana at Shiloh, Shiloh National Park Commission, 1904. Here, the Hornet's Nest is perhaps more properly designated the Hornets' Nest.
Camp of 31st Indiana Infantry. First position in line of battle April 6, 1862, was 5/8 mile s.w. 200 yards n.w. of Peach Orchard. This photo taken on April 12, 2014 -- same as the other two.
31st Indiana Infantry Regiment marker in context, from behind the line facing Confederate attacks coming through the woods on the other side of the monument.
A Shiloh diary entry by a private in Company G includes annotations about some of the battle's casualties: "James Fulbright, Rolla Franklin (both shot in the head). Wounded . . . Joseph Gaither, Wesley Polly (Both of these men were severely wounded. It was thought mortally. Both recovered to find themselves discharged from the service and disabled for life.) . . ."
See: Henry E. Wahl, Pvt. Henry Dillman, Co. G, 31st Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Bloomington, Indiana: Monroe County Historical Society, 1962, p. 2.
My great great grandfather Samuel France, in Company E, survived Shiloh but suffered some kind of rupture here. He continued to serve until the end of the war, but died at 60 years old in 1900, at least partly because of war disabilities. Good times.
