Allatoona Pass Battlefield

[Johan Steele]

Re: Allatoona Pass Battlefield

Sylvannus Allen of A Co 4th MN was a Methodist Minister and a popular man. Rebels troops took up residence in his improvised chapel... he killed eight of them with his rifle.

All of the tent poles and excess cracker and ammunition boxes were tossed onto the works w/ dirt piled atop them to strengthen their positions.

Markings had been placed about the forts from 100 to 500 yards to help the men in accurate firing.

Charles H Savidge of H Co 4th MN VI was also a Methodist minister, he had enlisted as a private. During the battle a bullet struck him square in the chest lodging in his testament just above his heart; he survived, unharmed, to become a popular chaplain.

A Minnesota soldier, known for his skill with a rifle, was praised for killing a Rebel officer at a distance of over three hundred yards, striking and killing the man with a ball in the forhead. His reply speaks of the charachter of the men. "Honor me not for slaying a soldier; he died well, and for that he should be praised, not I."

[Johan Steele]

Re: Allatoona Pass Battlefield

Fourth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry personal accounts at MHS
-P914 Levi B. Aldrich Papers, 1853 - 1896. (I, 4th) Several diaries of Sergeant Aldrich, former farmer and carpenter, who served from October 1861 until his transfer to the Pioneer Corps in December 1862. Diaries 9 and 10 document his time with the Regiment.

-P1929 Peter Daniel Anderson Papers, 1828 - 1906. (A, 4th)

Letters of a Swedish immigrant with published translation document service during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea.

-P671 John Battin and Family Papers, 1862 - 1941. (Richard, C, 4th) Letter of July 13, 1862 describes action around Corinth.

-P621 Luther L. Baxter and Family Papers, 1853 - 1950. (A, 4th)
Captain Baxter served from October 4, 1861 to April 18, 1862, and was later lieutenant colonel of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. Collection includes correspondence from other officers and men, reports, muster rolls and quarterly returns for the company.

-P939 John N. Bradford Letter. (B, 4th) Letter to his wife from Vicksburg just prior to the surrender.

-P1680 John P. Bradford Papers, 1862 – 1864. (John N., B, 4th) Typescript manuscript “Reaching Back: Fifty Years in the Life of John Nice Bradford” and 27 letters dated 1862 through 1864 from Private Bradford to his wife.

-FE475.27 Fix, Calvin R. Veterans’ responses to detailed questionnaires about the Regiment’s entry into Vicksburg.

-P2116 Knud Helling Letters and Photographs. (H, 4th) Letters in Norwegian from Private, Sergeant, and finally Second Lieutenant, Helling.

-P1005 John K. Hoffman and Family Papers, 1856 - 1936. (Bellfield, H, 4th)
Includes an 1862 diary and approximately 20 letters written until his May 1863 death at Vicksburg. Some letters have good Fort Snelling content while others concern his death. A September 1864 letter from Jesse Bean describes the Regiment’s status at Altoona.

-P185 Civil War Diary, 1862 - 1865. (Henry A. House, F, 4th) Brief entries from April 1862 through June 1865 document the Regiment’s marches, camp activities and engagements.

-BG4+M643 4th Minnesota Infantry, Company K Papers, 1862 - 1866.Final record of Company K, listing all the members of the company including name, age at enlistment, dates of enlistment and discharge, home address and occupation.

-P393 Ira N. Morrill Diary, 1864 - 1865. (K, 4th) Diary covers June 1864 to January 1864 including Altoona and the March to the Sea, including his duties as company clerk.

-A/.M994 Isaac W. Muzzy Papers, 1856 - 1866. (H, 4th) Collection includes two 1864 letters to his wife.

-A.R332 Richard S. Reeves Papers, 1861 - 1865, 1897. (F, 4th) Three volumes of Corporal Reeves’ diaries dated November 16, 1861 to July 17, 1865. The collection also includes information on the Battle of Altoona Pass.

-A.R595 John E. Risedorph Papers, 1862 - 1911. (E, 4th) Diaries and 27 letters to Corporal Risedorph’s mother contain information on Iuka Campaign, Corinth and Altoona Pass.

-P2267 Sewell G. Randall Diary, 1864. (I, 4th) Diary kept by Private, later Corporal Randall from January 1, 1864 until his death from wounds received at Altoona, Georgia on October 5, 1864.

-P2268 George Sly Diary and Letter, 1862 - 1864, 1911. (A, 4th) Drummer boy’s diary covering May 1862 to 1864.

-FE515.5 Sly, George Eliot. (A, 4th) Musician Sly’s unpublished manuscript, “Marches and Camps of the 4th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry. May 1, 1862 - March, 1864.”

-A.S728 Newton Southworth and Family Papers, 1852 - 1917. (Eli, A, 4th) Collection includes letters from September 1861 through November 1862 plus letters of other family members documenting civilian activities and attitudes toward the war.

-Alpha Harrington and Merrill Family Papers, 1732 - 1963. (Eli Southworth, A, 4th)Letter dated October 16, 1862 describes conditions in a hospital at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.

-P939 Civil War Papers of Joseph H. Volk, 1864 - 1865. (C, 4th) Photocopied 1865 diary by this late 1864 recruit describes the Regiment’s activities in the Carolinas.

-P2563 John T. Hoblit Civil War Diary and Related Papers, 1861 - 1862. (Orison Washburn, C, 4th)
Washburn’s 1862 letter is from Benton Barracks, Missouri.

-P1889 Abraham Edward Welch and Family Papers, 1830 - 1879.Photocopied and transcribed letters to family members and other documents cover his varied service until his death at Nashville in 1864.

-M596 John Young Papers, 1862 - 1864. (A, 4th) Microfilm copy of 1863 diary with brief entries plus 9 letters to his wife.

FOURTH REGIMENT INFANTRY

Anderson, Peter D., (Peterson, Ralph C.E., ed.), Marching Barefoot, A Collection of Civil War Letters written by Peter Daniel Anderson to his wife and children in Scandia, Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1991.

Baldwin, Ray, Looking Back, Marshall (MN), 1993.

Brown, Alonzo L., History of the Fourth Regiment of Minnesota Infantry Volunteers During the Great Rebellion, 1861 - 1865, St. Paul, 1892.

Brown, Captain Alonzo L., “Narrative of the Fourth Regiment.”, Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865., St. Paul, 1890, 198-242.

Brown, Fred E., “The Battle of Altoona”, Civil War History, Vol. 6, No. 3 (September 1960), 277-297.

Childs, Henry W., “The Life and Work of General Sanborn”, Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Vol. 10, Pt. 2 (1905), 338-356.

Gardstrom, Dwight A., “A History of the Fourth Regimental Band and Musicians of the Fourth Minnesota Infantry Volunteers During the War of the Great Rebellion, 1861-1865”, unpublished PhD. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1989.

Hubbard, Lucius F., Minnesota in the Campaigns of Vicksburg, November 1862 - July 1863, St. Paul (?), 1907.

Hubbard, Lucius F., “Minnesota in the Battles of Corinth”, Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle, 6th Series (MOLLUS-Minn.), St. Paul, 1909, 479-496.

Martinson, Flora, “The Fourth Minnesota Entering Vicksburg”, Gopher Historian, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Spring 1963), 16-17.

Neiderheiser, Cloudaugh, “Some Civil War Wallpaper Newspapers”, Minnesota History, Vol. 33, No. 5 (Spring 1953), 211-213.

Sanborn, John B., Some Descriptions of the Battles in Which the Commands of General John B. Sanborn, of St. Paul, Minnesota, Participated in the Departments of Tennessee and Missouri During the Rebellion of 1861 - 1865, St. Paul, 1900 (?).

Shaw, Thomas G., “A Minnesota Officer's Rain Cap”, Military Collector & Historian, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer 1995).

“A Wallpaper Newspaper of the Civil War”, Gopher Historian, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Spring 1965), 6-7.

Young, Eric, Houle, Thomas (ed.), The Letters of Eric (Wedmark) Young, 1858-1866, Sioux Falls, 1992.

Young, Eric, Houle, Thomas (ed.), Additional Letters of Eric (Wedmark) Young from 1858-1866, Sioux Falls, 1992.