Officer Reports

[dlindow]

Hello all. I've been researching a local battle, and have been searching for the reports of the officers involved. I have only been able to find two reports, and only one of those was written within a week of the fight, from a Col. Crooks of the 4th Indiana Legion. Crooks was not the overall commander, as Lt. Col. Wood of the 1st Indiana Cavalry was in the area recruiting and took overall command. Wouldn't it make sense that he would have filed some sort of report since he was the overall commander?

Plus, the day before the fight these two were involved in, another skirmish took place that resulted in them crossing the Ohio River with their men in the first place. The colonel of the regiment that was forming there was killed (Gabriel Netter), and command fell to a Major Ira Stout. I can find nothing that is written by Stout explaining anything about either fight. Is this typical, or have I just always been under the wrong impression that officers generally made some sort of report concerning the significant actions they may have been a part of? Any advice or thoughts are appreciated!

[4vaadjutant]

Re: Officer Reports

Hi, Derrick!

It can be assumed that officers would prepare some kind of after-action reports, but an examination of the records does not necessarily support that. While many reports were written soon after an action, more often they were written after a period of time, especially if the units they were with were campaigning. For instance, Stonewall Jackson did not complete his reports for the 1862 Campaign until about a month or so before his death on May 10, 1963. And, he brought onto his staff an officer whose primary task was to gather reports from unit commanders under Jackson’s command so that the commander would have that information available for the preparation of his reports. Now, did he have reports from officers who transferred to other commands, some of which were out of Virginia? Probably not, unless they prepared reports before their transfer. And, at the Battle of Sharpsburg, 50% of the commissioned officers of the Confederate Army present were casualties. Some of which were killed while others were wounded and discharged. Reports from them were not likely to be had. When researching the orders, reports and correspondence for practically any engagement in the Official Records you are not likely to find a report from every officer present for duty. Were reports prepared but not included in the ORs – probably. Many of the records in the ORs were given to the National Archives after the war by the participants, especially on the Confederate side. So the best you can hope for from that valuable source is hit or miss at best. I have not tried to look up the people mentioned in your query because you do not state what engagement you are researching, but I would suggest starting with the ORs, and since you are looking for information on Indiana officers, I would recommend contacting the Indiana Historical Society and the folks at the Indiana State Archives. In the past I have found those people to be very helpful. Good luck in your endeavors.

Your obedient servant,
Tom Williams
4th Virginia Infantry
Indianapolis

Proprietor, Adjutant Supply Company

[dlindow]

Re: Officer Reports

Thanks Tom!
The particular fight was a local skirmish in Owensboro, Kentucky that goes by quite a few names. It involved the 10th Kentucky Partisan Rangers while A.R. Johnson was gone to Richmond, so his second in command Lt. Col. Robert Martin was leading. On the Union side, a regiment that was to be the 15th Kentucky Cavalry was being recruited and organized, but their Colonel, Gabriel Netter was killed. Only 60 of these men would participate the next day. That night, about 500 men of the Spencer County Indiana Legion crossed the Ohio and marched 8 miles to attack Martin's force at dawn and drove them away. Crooks, who commanded the 4th Legion, wrote two reports. I can't (yet) find anything from Col. Wood who was in overall command of the Union forces on the second day.

As for the Confederates, Johnson gives a second hand account from Martin in his book, Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army. I have found a sergeants's diary that corroborates most of it.

I guess I just thought that someone who was actually in United States service would submit some sort of report, especially with a commanding officer killed. I have found plenty of newspaper articles detailing it, but an "official" document would be nice. It might be as you say...just sitting there waiting to be discovered. Thanks for the tip with the Indiana Historical Society. I will have to get in touch.

Thanks a lot Tom!