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American Civil War: Spring 1862 1861 the Battle of Shiloh and Aftermath 2011 1865 Sesquicentennial: Steele County in the Civil War 2015

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American Civil War: Spring 1862 1861 the Battle of Shiloh and Aftermath 2011 1865 Sesquicentennial: Steele County in the Civil War 2015 AMERICAN CIVIL WAR: SPRING 1862 1861 THE BATTLE OF SHILOH AND AFTERMATH 2011 1865 SESQUICENTENNIAL: STEELE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR 2015 There is perhaps no more famous Civil War icon than the Hor- AT THE BATTLE OF SHILOH APRIL 6-7, 1862 net’s Nest at Shiloh. Ranking with Pickett’s Charge at Gettys- burg, Bloody Lane at Antietam, and the Stone Wall at Freder- Alexander Chambers icksburg, Shiloh’s Hornet’s Nest is well known to even the most (buried in Forest Hill Cemetery) amateur of Civil War buffs. Shiloh’s Hornet’s Nest lies in the cen- Charles Hadley ter of the battlefield and was the scene of heavy combat on both (an Owatonna real estate agent) days of the battle. On the first day, elements of three Union Frank Renchin divisions manned the line along a little-used farm road that ran (Czech pioneer of Steele County) through the J.R. Duncan land. Duncan and his family worked a small cotton field that bordered the road to the south. With its When the Battle of Shiloh open fields of fire and road cover, there is little wonder that the was over it had cost both sides Duncan plot became one of the most important localities on the a combined total of 23,746 men battlefield. Heavy fighting raged in the area of the Hornet’s Nest killed, wounded, or missing... on the first day, with no less that eight distinct Confederate at- more casualties than America tacks turned back by the determined defenders of the Sunken had suffered in all previous wars. Road. Attesting to the fury in the area, Confederates so named Both sides were shocked at The 12th Iowa (Frank Renchin), 14th Iowa (Charles Hadley), and 16th Iowa the location because, they said, the enemy’s bullets sounded like the carnage. None suspected (Alexander Chambers) were in the center of the Union line at the Hornet’s Nest. swarms of angry hornets. that three more years of such bloodshed remained in the war ating from West Point Chambers years before moving to Stevens and that eight larger and bloodier served in various garrison posts County, then Dodge County, and The Battle of Shiloh battles were yet to come. from New York to New Mexico finally Hennepin County where Alexander Chambers, Charles and Texas. he died in 1913. By mid-February 1862, United equally surprised by the onslaught. Hadley, and Frank Renchin were When the Civil War broke out While the first “after-action re- States forces had won decisive The Federals soon rallied, how- each residents of communities in Chambers was a captain in the ports” listed Charles Hadley as victories at Mill Springs, Ky. (re- ever, and bitter fighting consumed Iowa when the Civil War broke 18th U. S. Infantry and was as- missing-in-action, later records call: this was the first battle for “Shiloh Hill.” out. Each man had a terrible ex- signed to mustering duty in Iowa. show that he too was captured the 2nd MN Regiment), and Forts Throughout the morning, Con- perience at the Battle of Shiloh; In that capacity, it was his re- and imprisoned by the confeder- Henry and Donelson in Tenn. federate brigades slowly gained two moved to Steele County af- sponsibility to oversee the induc- ates. By September 1862 Charles These successes opened the way ground, forcing Grant’s troops ter the war and lived long pro- tion of Iowa volunteers into Pres- was paroled and by the following for invasion up the Tennessee Riv- to give way, grudgingly, to fight ductive lives here, and the third ident Lincoln’s army. Every Iowa June he was discharged from the er to sever Confederate rail com- a succession of defensive stands went on to a post-war military regiment from the 1st through the army. munications along the important at Shiloh Church, the Peach Or- career and when he died was bur- 16th was, company by company, After the war he read law in the Memphis & Charleston and Mo- chard, Water Oaks Pond, and ied with his family in Owatonna. sworn in by Captain office of his father, bile & Ohio railroads. within an impenetrable oak thicket Frank Renchin, immigrated Chambers. R. S. Hadley. He re- Forced to aban- to America from Bohemia. By In March 1862, located to Owatonna don Kentucky and The Battle of Shiloh 1861 he lived in Cedar Rapids, when Iowa Gov. in 1866, resumed the Middle Tennes- Iowa., where, at age 21 he enlist- Kirkwood needed a study of law, and was see, Gen. Albert ed in the 12th Iowa Infantry Regi- Colonel for his new- admitted to the bar Sidney Johnston, ment on September 23, 1861. Six est regiment, the 16th at Waseca, October supreme Confed- and ½ months later Frank found Iowa, it was obvious 18, 1866. He never erate command- himself at a place that historians to all that the right became an active er in the West, called “The Hornet’s Nest.” man was immedi- practitioner here, but moved to protect Charles Hadley, had been ately available. Alex- used his legal skills his rail com- born in New Hampshire and was ander Chambers was to aid him in his busi- munications by living near Cedar Rapids in Ana- appointed Colonel on Alexander Chambers ness life. He was for concentrating his mosa, Iowa at the outbreak of the March 24, 1862 and two weeks a number of years engaged in the scattered forces war. At age 18, he enlisted in Oc- later found himself in the cen- real estate business in Owatonna. around the small tober 1861. By April ter of the worst battle Alexander Chambers was twice town of Corinth Charles had become Americans had fought wounded on April 6th at Shiloh. in northeast Mis- a corporal in Compa- in since the birth of the He recovered sufficiently to again sissippi—strate- ny H of the 14th Iowa nation. lead his regiment at the Battle of gic crossroads of the Memphis battle survivors named the Hor- Infantry. While Frank Frank Renchin was Iuka, Miss. on Sept. 19, 1862 & Charleston and the Mobile & nets’ Nest. and Charles may not shot in the right thigh where he was severely wound- Ohio. Despite having achieved sur- have known each during the battle, was ed. For much of 1863 and 1864 In March the Union army ad- prise, Johnston’s troops soon be- other in April 1862, left on the field, and Chambers was assigned to less vanced under Maj. Gens. Ulysses came as disorganized as the Fed- both were sworn into captured at the Hor- arduous duty around Vicksburg, S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell erals. The Southern attack lost federal service by the net’s Nest. He was MS and Chattanooga, Tenn. Af- southward to sever the Southern coordination as corps, divisions, same officer of the then sent to a Confed- ter the war Chambers served as railroads. Grant ascended the Ten- and brigades became entangled. “regular army,” both erate prison. a Judge Advocate for the Army, nessee River by steamboat, disem- Then, at mid-afternoon, as he su- fought at the Hornet’s Charles Hadley After eight months as a military attaché for the US barking his Army of the Tennes- pervised an assault on the Union Nest at Shiloh, both were cap- of confinement at Camp Ogletho- in Turkey, and in command of see at Pittsburg Landing, 22 miles left, Johnston was struck in the tured, and both moved to Steele rpe, near Macon, Ga., the 12th the 4th and 9th U. S. mounted in- northeast of Corinth. There he es- right leg by a stray bullet and bled County after the war. Iowa regiment was paroled in fantry troops in the Battle of the tablished a base of operations on a to death, leaving Gen. P.G.T. Be- The captain in the “regular exchange for Confederate pris- Rosebud (1876 near Little Big plateau west of the river, with his auregard in command of the Con- army” who administered the oath oners. Renchin was discharged Horn and a week before George forward camps posted two miles federate army. Grant’s battered to the members of the 12th and from the army in January 1863 Custer’s last chapter). inland around a log church called divisions retired to a strong posi- 14th Iowa regiments was Alexan- due to his injuries. As a career soldier Alexander Shiloh Meeting House. tion extending west from Pittsburg der Chambers. Chambers was an Frank Renchin’s parents and Chambers did not maintain an General Johnston, aware of Fed- Landing where massed artillery 1853 graduate of West Point Mil- siblings had moved to Steele ongoing permanent residence in eral designs on Corinth, planned and rugged ravines protected their itary Academy (graduated 43rd, County during or shortly after the Owatonna. His parents and fam- to smash Grant’s army at Pittsburg front and flanks. Fighting ended at one rank ahead of future Confed- Civil War. After his discharge, ily did live in Owatonna and con- Landing before Buell would be nightfall. erate General, John Bell Hood). Renchin clerked at a store in Ce- tributed significantly to its histo- able to join Grant. He placed his Overnight, reinforcements from Alexander Chambers was dar Rapids and helped found a ry. Alexander listed his parent’s troops in motion and by nightfall, Buell’s army reached Pittsburg born in 1832 in Great Valley, Czech reading society. He moved address in Owatonna as his resi- April 5, his Army of the Missis- Landing. Beauregard, unaware N.Y., the fourth of seven children to Steele County between 1870 dence when he joined the 16th sippi, nearly 44,000 men present Buell had arrived, planned to finish of Alexander and Sarah (Mc- and 1875 to join his family.
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