Civil War Stories: Deserters

Our second great-grandfather* (see relationship notes below), George Leonard Merritt, was a Union soldier in the Sixth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded on July 10, 1863, in the first attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina.

The Assault on Fort Wagner
July 18, 1863

One week later, on July 18th, his regiment was part of the disastrous second attack on Fort Wagner. The Union forces retreated under fire.

"In leaving Wagner that night, the ditch we crossed was filled with the dead and wounded... . Our loss was quite heavy...the total figures footed up to 141 killed, wounded and missing." 

Chap V: The Old Sixth Regiment, Its War Record

Prisoner Exchange

The two sides fell into a pattern of shelling one another, broken only by a prisoner exchange on July 24, 1863.

Beach-head at Ft Wagner 1863

"...the rebels gave us 205 Union soldiers. We also learned that they were so indignant because our government employed negro troops, that when they found (54th Maine's white commander ed.) Col. Shaw’s body, they dug a deep trench and put the body in and then threw 25 dead negroes top of it." 

Chap V: The Old Sixth Regiment, Its War Record

Civil War in Four Minutes: Prisoners

Hilton Head, South Carolina

"The Sixth Regiment, so shattered in the charge of the 18th and depleted in numbers, was ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to recruit and care for the large numbers who were wounded. We landed there on the 31st of July." 

Chap VI: The Old Sixth Regiment, Its War Record

Inside Hilton Head 1863

The regiment remained at Hilton Head through the fall and winter months of 1863 and 1864. The war had dragged on longer than anyone expected. Enlistments were expiring, and few were volunteering,

Lincoln instituted the draft on March 3,1863. The law had a controversial 'conscription clause.' One could avoid service by paying $300.00 or finding someone to take his place.

"The Sixth received about 200 men in October; some were conscripts and others drafted men...Three of the substitutes deserted from the regiment while on picket, but were captured and placed in close confinement at the provost guard house. ... The culprits were Germans by birth." 

Chap VI: The Old Sixth Regiment, Its War Record

Mandatory Public Execution

They managed to escape from confinement and were re-captured, twice before they were ultimately sentenced to death for desertion. Fortunately for one, his German name 'Hoofan' was misspelled 'Hoffman' by the judge. On this technicality, he was released to his former unit.

The following order was issued to the troops for the execution of the other two deserters:

General Orders, No. 7.

Headquarters Hilton Head, Hilton Head, S. C., April 16, 1864.

In obedience to General Orders No. 50, Department of the South, Hilton Head, S. C., April 15, 1864, the sentence of private Henry Schumaker, of Co. “C,” and private Henry Stark, Co. “E,” Sixth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, who were tried before a court-martial assembled at Hilton Head, S. C., March 4, 1864, for the crime of desertion, and were sentenced to be shot to death with musketry, will be carried into execution at this Post on Sunday the 17th day of April, 1864, at three o’clock P. M., on the field beyond the causeway and in the presence of all the troops of this command. All fatigue work within the line of the entrenchments will be suspended on that day during the afternoon, and every officer and man not upon the sick list or upon other duty will be present. The firing party will be furnished by the Sixth Connecticut Volunteers. Capt. E. S. Babcock, 9th U. S. C. T., Provost Marshal, will make the necessary arrangements for the execution. The several regiments and detachments comprising the command will report at two o’clock P. M.to Lieut. Woodruff, A. A. D. C., who will be stationed there to direct them to their positions.

By order of Col. REDFIELD DURYEE,

Public Execution

George Leonard Merritt: Blog post links:

Part 1: Okefenokee Merritt Family              Part 5 Burning of Jacksonville
Part 2 George Merritt and Lydia Stewart    Part 6 Brothers-In-Law
Part 3 From the North                                 Part 7 Deserters
Part 4 A Connecticut Yankee                       Part 8 Yankee in the Swamp

*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove.

Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.