William Perry Holmes

William Perry Holmes, Company F, 40th Indiana Regiment

Boone County Historcial Society; William Perry Holmes Army Service; By Jonn Lawrence Holmes; Story Submitted by Steven Treaster.

William Perry Holmes enlisted as a private on December 11,1861 from his birthplace, Lebanon, Boone County, Indiana. He enlisted in Company F, 40th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The enlistment papers describe him as 26 years old. He was 5 feet, 11 inches, fair complexion, blue eyes and light hair. He was a farmer.

The regiment was commanded most of the war by Col. John Blake, a veteran of the Battle of Rich Mountain, West Virginia. The “Indianapolis Journal”, on April 30, 1863, described the unit; “The Regiment having by their rapid movements earned the title of, ‘Blake’s Greyhounds’, a Greyhound is appropriately embroidered on the right-hand corner of this gallant battle flag”.

The regiment was organized at Lafayette and Indianapolis, Indiana, and mustered into service on December 30, 1861. It also was known as the “Prairie Regiment’ for the area of recruitment. The regiment was immediately ordered to a camp of instruction at Bardstown, Kentucky, until February, 1862.

In January, 1862, the 40th was attached to the 21st Brigade, Army of the Ohio. The Regiment was involved in General Buell’s march to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee and into Northern Alabama. The 40th was in Buell’s Army of the Ohio on the second day of the Battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862. It was then involved in Gen. Halleck’s advance on and the seige of Corinth, Mississippi.

The regiment was heavely involved in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, and the Battle of Murfreesboro or Stone River, on December 30-31, 1862 and January 1-3 1863. In January 1863, the regiment was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, 14th Corps, as part of Wagner’s Brigade. On September 9, 1863, the regiment marched to garrison duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and were so engaged during the Battle of Chickamauga. The 40th was then involved in the seige of Chattanooga.

The regiment was transferred to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Fourth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland in October 1863 (Wagner’s Brigade).

They fought at Lookout Mountain. As part of Sheridan’s Division, they assaulted Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863. William P. Holmes was wounded in that assault. Sheridan’s Division took the highest number of casualties of any division in the Union Army that day.

William Perry Holmes is listed as in the hospital at Chattanooga on November 25, 1863. On February 15, 1864, he was promoted to corporal.

Most of the regiment reenlisted at the end of three years of service as a veteran volunteer regiment, furloughing back to Indiana. William P. Holmes reenlisted on February 15, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tenn. He received a reenlistment bounty of $400.

The regiment was involved in all the operations and battles against of the Atlanta Campaign with the Fourth Corps. The regiment took heavy losses in the unsuccessful Assault made just south of Kennesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864, at the “Dead Angle”.

On September 28, 1864, his application for a 30-day furlough to go home to Boone County, Indiana, to provide for his sick family was granted. Company monthly returns for November 1864 report him at home on furlough since November 2, 1864. The return for December 1864 reports him at home with smallpox since November 1, 1864. He returned to his company on February 12, 1865. Family oral history also talks about a smallpox epidemic in the family at that time. Another reason for his furlough may have been that Indiana troopswere not able to vote in the 1864 presidential election in the field, but instead had to return to their home districts for voting. Many of the Indiana troops were furloughed home because of the election.

The furlough at home removed him from Hood’s Nashville Campaign. The regiment fought in Gen. Scolfield’s Battle of Columbia and the Battle of Franklin, as well as the Battle of Nashville.

On December 5, 1864, during his furlough, he was promoted to sergeant. He was promoted to first sergeant on July 10, 1865.

The regiment operated in East Tennessee in March and April, 1865 and then was sent to Nashville. On June 16,1865, the 40th was ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, and then to Texas duty in July 1865.

On September 1, 1865, William P. Holmes was promoted to second lieutenant. His service was entirely in Company F. The regiment continued Texas duty at Green Lake, San Antonio, and Port Lavacca until December 21, 1865, when it was mustered out.

William Perry Holmes moved from Indiana to Kansas in the early 1870, to farm in Reno County. He had several sons. He named one of them, my great-grandfather, Ulysses Sherman Holmes, to honor his two favorite army group commanders. My great-grandfather was known formally as U.S. Holmes and as “Sherm” to his friends.

40th Indiana Regiment

3 Years

Organized at Lafayette and Indianapolis, Indiana, and mustered in December 30, 1861. January 1862, 21st Brigade, Army of the Ohio. January 1862, 21st Brigade, 6th Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Ohio. November 1862, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division,Left Wing 14th Corps, Cumberland. January 1863, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 21st Corps, Cumberland. October 1863, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Corps, Cumberland.June 1865, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Corps, Cumberland. August 1865, Department of Texas.

Ordered to Kentucky, and duty at Bardstown, Kentucky, till February 1862. Attached to 21st Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to January 1862. 21st Brigade, 6th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 21st Brigade, 6th Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Left Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 21st Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to June 1865. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Army Corps, to August 1865. Department of Texas to December 1865.

Service

Marched to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and to Nashville, Tennessee, February 10 -March 13, 1862, and to Savannah, Tennessee, March 29 – April 6. Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6 – 7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Mississippi, April 29 – May 30. Pursuit to Booneville, May 31 – June 12. Buell’s Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, June to August. March to Louisville, Kentucky, in pursuit of Bragg, August 21 – September 26. Pursuit of Bragg to Loudon, Kentucky, October 1 – 22. Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8. March to Nashville, Tennessee, October 22 – November 7, and duty there till December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro, December 26 – 30. Lavergne, December 26 – 27. Battle of Stone’s River, December 30 – 31, 1862, and January 1 – 3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro till June. Reconnoissance to Nolensville and Versailles, January 13 – 15. Middle Tennessee of Tullahoma Campaign, June 23 – July 7. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. March over Mountains to Chattanooga, Tennessee, August 16 – September 9. Occupation of Chattanooga, September 9, and garrison duty there during Chickamauga, Georgia, Campaign. Seige of Chattanooga, September 24 – November 23. Chattanooga – Ringgold Campaign, November 23 – 27. Orchard Knob, November 23 – 24. Mission Ridge, November 25. Pursuit to Graysville, November 26 – 27. March to relief of Knoxville, November 28 – December 8. Operations in East Tennessee, December 1863 to April 1864. Operations about Danbridge, January 16 – 17. Atlanta Campaign, May 1 – September 8. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton, May 8 – 13. Buzzard’s Roost Gap, May 8 – 9. Battle of Resaca, May 14 – 15. Adairsville, May 17. Near Kingston, May 18 – 19. Near Cassville, May 19. Advance on Dallas, May 22 – 25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills, May 25 – June 5. Operations about Marietta and aginst Kennesaw Mountain, June 10 – July 2. Pine Hill, June 11 – 14. Lost Mountain, June 15 – 17. Assult on Kennesaw, June 27. Ruff’s Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochee River, July 5 – 17. Buckhead, Nancy’s Creek, July 18. Peach Tree Creek, July 19 – 20. Seige of Atlanta, July 22 – August 25; Flank movement on Jonesboro, August 25 – 30. Battle of Jonesboro, August 31 – September 1. Operations aginst Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama, September 29 – November 3. Nashville Campaign, November – December. Columbia, Duck River, Novenber 24 – 27. Spring Hill, November 29. Battle of Franklin, November 30. Battle of Nashville, December 15 – 16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River, December 17 – 28. Moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and duty there till March, 1865. Operations in East Tennessee, March 15 – April 22. At Nashville till June. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, June 16; thence to Texas, July. Duty at Green Lake and San Antonio, and Port Lavacca till December.

Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 143 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 206 Enlisted men by disease. Total 359

Frederick H. Dyer, “Compendium of the War of the Rebellion;” 1908

Description of the 40th

 Indianapolis Journal

 December 30, 1861

” This splendid regiment has been encamped in Sibley tents at the old fair grounds since last Wednesday. It is made up of men from Lafayette and vicinity, mostly prairie boys. The character of both officers and men has not been excelled by any regiment yet formed in the State with a better prospect of success.

The dress parade last evening was attended by a large crowd of citizens, and soldiers of other corps now here. Lieutenant Colonel Blake was in command. He was on General Rosecran’s staff in the three months’ service and did good service to the country at the battle of Rich Mountain. We will publish a list of officers of this regiment tomorrow.”

History of the 40th Indiana Regiment

40th Indiana Regiment

The 40th Regiment marched  with Wood’s Division of Buell’s army to Shiloh, arriving on the field about noon on the 7th of April, 1862, in time to take part in the final onset that resulted in driving the enemy from the field. During the seige of Corinth the regiment was with its command in every important movement, and after the evacuation it marched to Iuka, Mississippi, and thence through Northern Alabama, into middle Tennessee. About the 1st of September it started from McMinnville, Tennessee, and marched with the army to Nashville and Louisville, reaching the ladder place on the 25th of September. The regiment was present at Perryville, supporting Capt. J.B. Cox’s 10th Indiana Battery. The regiment reported 2 men missing in this action.

It moved through Kentucky in pursuit of Bragg, and returned to Nashville in November, where it was assigned to the 6th Division of the 14th Army Corps. In December it Marched toward Murfreesboro, and participated in the engagement at Stones River on the 31st of December, 1862, and 1st and 2nd of January, 1863, losing 9 killed, 63 wounded and 13 missing, making a total of 85. After this battle the regiment remained in the vicinity of Murfreesboro for some time, and , when the army was reorganized , it was assigned to to the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Twenty-First Army Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Crittenden.

On the 9th of September, 1863, it crossed the Tennessee River and was one of the first regiments to occupy Chattanooga after its evacuation. Here it remained on post duty till the time of the commencement of the battles before Chattanooga. Shortly after the battle of Chickamauga, it became attached to the Second Brigade (General Wagner’s) of the Second Division (General Sheridan’s) of the Fourth Army Corps, commanded by General Gordon Granger. The regiment took an active part in the engagements before Chattanooga in November, 1863. In the assult on Missionary Ridge, on the 25th of that month, 20 men were killed on the field, and 130 wounded. A few days after this, the regiment marched with the Fourth Corps to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, and during that campaign the men suffered greatly for want of comfortable clothing, many of them marching without shoes over the frozen ground. The greater part of the winter was spent above Strawberry Plains along the Holston River, in the woods, without winter quarters or tents. In January, 1864 the regiment marched to Danbridge, Tennessee, with the army under General Cox, and after a short engagement with Longstreet, fell back to Knoxville. At Loudon, on the 31st of January the regiment re-enlisted, and then proceeded to Indiana on veteran furlough. It was recruited to 500 and re-equipped while in the State, and returned to the field, re-joining its command at Cleveland, Tennessee, on the 2nd of April.

During the Atlanta campaign, while skirmishing at Dallas, the regiment had 3 men killed and 22 wounded. On the 14th of June in a skirmish near Lost Mountain 2 men were killed and 5 wounded. On the 18th the regiment was under fire all day, losing 4 killed and 29 wounded. While occupying the works before Kennesaw, it lost almost daily, in killed and wounded on the skirmish line. On the 27th it was engaged in the bloody and unsuccessful charge at Kennesaw, forming the head of General Wagner’s brigade. Of the 360 men and officers taken into action, 3 officers were killed and 4 wounded, 21 men killed and 68 wounded and 10 missing, making a total of 106.

In resisting Hood’s advance upon Nashville, the regiment was engaged in the battle of Spring Hill on the 29th of November, and in the battle of Franklin on the 30th of the same month, losing in the ladder engagement 120 in killed, wounded, and missing. It was also engaged in the battle of Nashville, December 15th and 16th, 1864, and followed Hood’s retreating army to Lexington, Alabama, within 25 miles of the Tennessee River. It then Marched to Huntsville, Alabama, put up winter quarters and remained in camp until the last of March, 1865, when it was transported on the cars to Blue Springs, East Tennessee, but returned by railway to Nashville in the last of April, 1865. The regiment moved to Texas in July 1865, and while there it was on post duty at Texana, Jackson County. The losses of the regiment over four years active service are as follows:

Number of men killed in action, 135; Number of men wounded in action, 428; Number of men died of disease 162.