History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

James Smith, Co. G; must. out June 30, 1865.
Mathus Shinners, Co. G; must. out June 30, 1865.
Angus Matherson, Co. H; must. out June 30, 1865.
Edward F. Staples, Co. H; must out June 30,1865.
Anselm Ball, Co. I; must. out June 30, 1865.
James K. P. Heath, Co. K; must. out June 30, 1865.
James K. Thompson, Co. K; must. out June 30,1865.
Stephen Underhill, Co. K; must. out June 30,1865.
William Wright, Co. K; must. out June 28,1865.
TWENTY-SEVENTH INFANTRY.
The formation of the 27th Infantry was ordered by the
Governor, with the consent of the national administration,
in September, 1862, the rendezvous being at Port Huron.
Soon afterwards the formation of the 28th Infantry was
ordered at Ypsilanti. Such heavy drafts, however, had
already been made on the then sparse population of Michigan that recruiting went on but slowly, and in January,
1863, it was determined to consolidate the two regiments
just named. On the 1st of February the 27th accordingly
removed to Ypsilanti, where the consolidation was effected,
the resultant regiment taking the name of the 27th.
Another 28th Regiment was afterwards raised, unconnected
with this.
Company K of the 27th was entirely recruited in Hillsdale County, and during the war ninety-six citizens of that
county served in its ranks; besides which, there were fourteen Hillsdale County men in Company D, twenty-eight
in Company G, one in Company F, one in Company E, and
two in Company H, making a total of a hundred and fortyone. In addition there was a company partly raised in
Hillsdale County in the forepart of 1864 (fifty of its men
being from that county), which was called the 2d Independent Company of Sharpshooters, and which joined the 27th
in April, 1864, remaining with it during the war. Including these, there were a hundred and ninety-one officers
and soldiers of Hillsdale County in or connected with the
27th Infantry.
Only eight companies were filled when the regiment was
ordered from Ypsilanti to Cincinnati, in April, 1863. The
two other companies, however, soon joined it. After some
service in Kentucky it was attached to the 9th Corps, and
in June was sent to Mississippi. It took part in the operations
which resulted in the capture of Vicksburg, and after the
surrender had a sharp skirmish with the enemy near Jackson. In August the regiment returned with the 9th Corps
to Kentucky, and in September was ordered to Knoxville
by way of Cumberland Gap.
On the 16th of November it was at Hoyt's Station, southwest from Knoxville, when Longstreet's army approached.
The 27th with other regiments fell back toward Knoxville,
closely followed by the rebels. In order to secure the trains
a temporary stand was made at Campbell's Station, where
this regiment had eleven men killed and wounded, besides
eight missing. On reaching Knoxville the 27th took an
active part in the celebrated defense of that place, where all
the skill and valor of Longstreet's veterans were foiled by
the steady courage of the Union volunteers, where every
assault was defeated with disastrous loss, and whence at

length the humbled Confederates retreated with shattered
columns along the valley of the Tennessee. The regiment
had eight killed and seventeen severely wounded during the
month of November.

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The 27th joined in the pursuit of the enemy, and after
he had left the State remained in East Tennessee until
the middle of January, 1864. It then marched to Kentucky, and was thence ordered to Maryland, where it was
joined by the two companies of sharpshooters before mentioned. In the latter part of April it joined the Army of
the Potomac, and almost immediately plunged into the
terrible series of conflicts so deeply marked with blood in
our country's history, but destined to result in the preservation of that country's existence.
Down to this time the regiment had not suffered very
severely from the enemy's bullets, though its trials from
hunger and cold around Knoxville had been very bitter,
but it was now to know all the horrors of war and win all
the glory that war confers. In the desperate conflict in
the Wilderness on the 6th of May it had eighty-nine men
killed and wounded, its commander, Maj. Moody, dying of
wounds received there. At Spottsylvania Court-House
it upheld its banner in the face of a still more destructive
shower of rebel bullets, no less than a hundred and seventyfive officers and men being killed or wounded in those few
hours of deadly strife. It should be remembered that all the
'regiments were greatly depleted by previous hardships and
battles, and probably not over six hundred men entered the
campaign under the banners of the 27th, including the two
companies of sharpshooters. The regiment also took an
active part in the battle of Bethesda Church, on the 3d of
June, having seventy-six of its members killed and wounded.
Again it set forth on its blood-tracked path, escaping
serious loss before the terrible lines of Cold Harbor, but
having nearly a hundred men killed and wounded in the
desperate charges on the enemy's works at Petersburg on
the 17th and 18th of June. From the 8th to the 30th of
July the regiment was in the advance immediately in front
of the rebel forts, against which the Union engineers were
directing their celebrated mine. When the mine was
sprung, on the 30th of July, the 27th sprang forward to
the assault, but shared the fate of so many other gallant
regiments which were unable to force their way over the
upheaved ground, the remaining intrenchments, and the
storm of well-aimed bullets which still guarded the city.
The casualties of the month of July, principally on the
30th, numbered one hundred and sixteen men killed and
wounded.
On the 19th and 20th of August, the regiment took part
in the battles near the Weldon Railroad, having seventeen
men killed and wounded, and thirty-seven missing. It was
also in the battle of Poplar Grove Church, on the 30th of
September.
From the beginning of the campaign to the 1st of November, the 27th lost one hundred and forty-eight men
killed in action or died of wounds, while the wounded
reached the enormous number of four hundred and ninetyfive. There were also about fifty who died of disease,
thirty taken prisoners, and eighty reported "missing in
action," mostly killed or captured. These items probably
equaled or surpassed the number of men in the regiment

when it entered the campaign; but its continued existence
as an organization was due to the fact that a large part of
the wounds were not such as to disable the men from further