Week 26: Conflict—Learning More About Amos Gorrell’s Experience in Battle at Chickamauga During the Civil War

Soldier
Amos Gorrell (1837-1928) enlisted at Frankfort, Ohio in Company A of the 18th Ohio Infantry on 1 August 1861, and was mustered out on 9 November 1864. He was twenty-four years old and stood five feet, eight and a half inches tall. He had brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion.[1]

Amos was my husband’s great-grandfather. He kept a diary throughout his life and there are at least two that survive from the war years. The first covers the time period between 29 July 1861 and 19 June 1862. The second issue we have dates from August 1864 until his discharge. Unfortunately, the surviving diaries do not discuss much about battles. Perhaps no diaries were ever kept during those months or he might have lost them. I previously wrote about the two diaries in these posts: Part I and Part II.

For this week’s post about conflict, I thought I would discuss his involvement in the battle at Chickamauga where he was wounded on 20 September 1863 and was in a hospital at Nashville, Tennessee until 30 April 1864.[2] This is a large gap of six months. He may have lost his personal items on the battlefield and later in the hospital. He may have been too injured to write.

The Battle
The National Park Service has a website devoted to the battle sites at Chattanooga, Tennessee and Chickamauga, Georgia and a national park called Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. The location is in Georgia but just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.[3] This battle took place over three days from September 18-20, 1863. The idea was for the Union army to take control of Chattanooga. It was located on the Tennessee River where it cut through the Appalachian Mountains and was also a crossroads for four major railroads. It was an important place to control.[4]

The Union troops were led by Major General William S. Rosecrans and the Confederate troops by General Braxton Bragg. There were slightly more Confederate troops than Union (65,000 to 60,000) and by the end of the battle, there were 34,624 estimated casualties (more on the Confederate than Union), making it the second deadliest battle after Gettysburg.

Prior to the battle, the Confederate army had suffered several defeats and Rosecrans assumed they were retreating south. He divided his army into three corps and had them scattered throughout Tennessee and Georgia and awaited more reinforcements. However, Bragg’s troops were in LaFayette, Georgia, not far away.

The battle began when Bragg’s troops crossed the Chickamauga Creek. Fighting begins on the 19th leaving many dead on both sides but no clear winner. On the 20th, the Confederate troops, who received reinforcements, attacked the Union fortifications. They are able to move through a break in the line when Rosecrans ordered Brigadier General Thomas Wood’s line to move. The Union army retreated to Chattanooga. The Confederate Army won this battle, but were unable to take Chattanooga from General Rosecrans’ army. There are wonderful maps of the battle with the various regiment locations on September 18, 19, and 20. Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the maps here.

Amos was one of the 9,756 wounded on the Union side during the battle. Over sixteen hundred soldiers were killed and 4757 were missing or captured. The Confederate army suffered more. Over two thousand killed, over fourteen thousand wounded, and nearly fifteen hundred missing or captured. One weapon, the Spencer repeating rifle, was responsible for the high death toll. A soldier could fire 14 to 20 rounds in a minute.[5]

The Hospital
The service card for Amos only lists the hospital as being in Nashville, Tennessee with no name. Civil War Nashville has a list of some twenty-five hospitals used during the war.[6] He could have been in more than one, since he wasn’t discharged for six months. Someday, I would like to obtain the medical records from NARA. I can do this with the “Carded Medical Records of Volunteer Soldiers in the Mexican and Civil Wars, 1846-1865.” This is part of Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762-1984. According to the Scope and Content:

“This series consists of cards on which information from original records, such as hospital registers, rolls, and reports, relating to the medical treatment of individual soldiers has been copied. The information on the cards includes name; rank; organization; complaint; date of admittance and hospital to which admitted; date returned to duty, deserted, discharged, furloughed, or died; remarks; and reference to the original hospital record."

They are arranged by state, then by the regiment number and finally alphabetically by the initial letter of the surname. [7] If you would like to see what some of the cards look like, there are some scanned cards for other units here.

I can try to order from NARA or hire a researcher to do the pull for me. Right now, the archives are not fully open. I would also have the researcher pull Amos’ Compiled Military Service Record and the 18th Ohio Infantry Co A’s records, too. These are not available on Fold3.

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] Volunteer Service card; Service of Amos Gorrell (Pvt, Co A, 18th Ohio Infantry, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934; Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of the Army and navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861-1934, Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[2] Ibid.

[3] “Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park,” National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov/chch/index.htm : accessed 2 July 2021).

[4] “Chickamauga,” American Battlefield Trust (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/chickamauga : accessed 2 July 2021).

[5] Ibid.

[6] “List of Hospitals,” Civil War Nashville (https://civilwarnashville.wordpress.com/hospitals/list-of-hospitals/ : accessed 2 July 2021).

[7] “Carded Medical Records of Volunteer Soldiers in the Mexican and Civil Wars, 1846-1865, ” National Archives (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/655646). 

Copyright © 2021 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.