The 72nd Indiana Infantry was organized at
Lafayette,
Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment at
Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 16, 1862, under the command of
Colonel Abram O. Miller.
Conversion to mounted infantry
In December 1862, the regiment received a new brigade commander, Colonel
John T. Wilder. After frustrating chases on foot after mounted rebel cavalry raiders, the brigade was converted to mounted infantry. At the same time, Wilder proposed to the regiments in the brigade the private purchase of repeating rifles. The 72nd voted to go ahead with the conversion to mounted infantry and the purchase of the rifles. Along with the other regiments in the brigade, the 72nd chose
Spencer repeating rifles, invented by
Christopher Spencer, as their weapon.[1]
After intense training and development of new tactics, the "Lightning Brigade" was ready for service. The mounted infantry proof of concept for the Army of the Cumberland occurred in their first mounted infantry action at the
Battle of Hoover's Gap.[2][3] Despite torrential rains, the 72nd and its brigade gained the gap so quickly that they surprised and scattered surprised the Confederate 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, under Colonel J. Russell Butler at breakfast in front of the entrance of the gap.[4] The 72nd drove the enemy before it along the seven mile length of the gap until they were halted by four brigades of infantry and four batteries of guns at the southeastern exit. The massive superiority of firepower the 17th and its brethren had with the Spencers allowed them to entrench and hold the southern entrance against numerous assaults by numerically superior rebel infantry and artillery through the rainy day until the sodden remainder of the XIV Corps slogged to join them at their position.
With the Lightning Brigade, the 72nd found itself detached from the XIV Corps to serve as a mobile reserve for all three of the Corps within the Cumberland. After playing a key role in the
feint that forced Bragg from Chattanooga, the regiment raided, skirmished, and scouted through the summer into the
Chickamauga Campaign. The brigade distinguished itself with its performance at
Chickamauga. During the battle, it maintained integrity and discipline exacting high casualties on its attackers. After the battle, it retreated with the army to Chattanooga where it was besieged.
The performance of the brigade had demonstrated the value of mounted infantry, and Wilder and the regiments were commended. During the reorganization after Grant took command in the city, the brigade was broken up and the regiments were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. The 72nd and the
123rd Illinois were assigned to 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Cavalry Corps.
Dismounting
In positions at Terrapin Creek in
Cherokee County, northern Alabama, the 72nd was dismounted on 1 November. They became a regular infantry regiment armed with Spencers. For the remainder of the war, they operated in the regular infantry role.
Service history
Its assignments were as follows:
40th Brigade, 12th Division,
Army of the Ohio, to November 1862.
The regiment lost a total of 160 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 130 enlisted men died of disease.[6]
Commanders
Colonel Abram O. Miller
Major Henry M. Cart – commanded at the battle of Stones River
^It acquired the names due to the movement speed that was gained by mounting the brigade, and also by the hatchets/tomohawks that Wilder had issued initially. See
Lightning Brigade article for more.
Baumgartner, Richard A. (2007). Blue Lightning: Wilder's Mounted Brigade in the Battle of Chickamauga. Huntington, WV: Blue Acorn Press.
hdl:
2027/wu.89060698438.
ISBN978-1-885033-35-2.
Connolly, James A (1959). Paul M. Angle (ed.). Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland: The Letters and Diary of Major James A. Connolly. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
hdl:
2027/pst.000024464338.
ISBN9780527190002.
OCLC906602437.
Frisby, Derek W. (2000). Heidler, David S.; Heidler, Jeanne T. (eds.).
Tullahoma Campaign. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Vol. IV. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN9781576070666.
OCLC872478436.
Garrison, Graham; Pierson, Parke; Shoaf, Dana B. (March 2003).
"Lightning at Chickamauga". America's Civil War. 16 (1). Historynet LLC: 46–54.
ISSN1046-2899. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
Gaston, Roy V. (2018).
"The Lightning Brigade". howcanamandiebetter.com. Roy V. Gaston. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
Lamers, William M. (1961). The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. p. 499.
hdl:
2027/uc1.b4439529.
ISBN0-8071-2396-X.
OCLC644399460.
Robertson, William Glenn (2010). "Bull of the Woods? James Longstreet at Chickamauga". In
Woodworth, Steven E. (ed.).
The Chickamauga Campaign(Kindle). Civil War Campaigns in the West (2011 Kindle ed.). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN9780809385560.
OCLC649913237. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
Starr, Stephen Z. (1985). The War in the West, 1861–1865. The Union cavalry in the Civil War. Vol. III. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.
ISBN9780807112090.
OCLC769318010.
The 72nd Indiana Infantry was organized at
Lafayette,
Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment at
Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 16, 1862, under the command of
Colonel Abram O. Miller.
Conversion to mounted infantry
In December 1862, the regiment received a new brigade commander, Colonel
John T. Wilder. After frustrating chases on foot after mounted rebel cavalry raiders, the brigade was converted to mounted infantry. At the same time, Wilder proposed to the regiments in the brigade the private purchase of repeating rifles. The 72nd voted to go ahead with the conversion to mounted infantry and the purchase of the rifles. Along with the other regiments in the brigade, the 72nd chose
Spencer repeating rifles, invented by
Christopher Spencer, as their weapon.[1]
After intense training and development of new tactics, the "Lightning Brigade" was ready for service. The mounted infantry proof of concept for the Army of the Cumberland occurred in their first mounted infantry action at the
Battle of Hoover's Gap.[2][3] Despite torrential rains, the 72nd and its brigade gained the gap so quickly that they surprised and scattered surprised the Confederate 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, under Colonel J. Russell Butler at breakfast in front of the entrance of the gap.[4] The 72nd drove the enemy before it along the seven mile length of the gap until they were halted by four brigades of infantry and four batteries of guns at the southeastern exit. The massive superiority of firepower the 17th and its brethren had with the Spencers allowed them to entrench and hold the southern entrance against numerous assaults by numerically superior rebel infantry and artillery through the rainy day until the sodden remainder of the XIV Corps slogged to join them at their position.
With the Lightning Brigade, the 72nd found itself detached from the XIV Corps to serve as a mobile reserve for all three of the Corps within the Cumberland. After playing a key role in the
feint that forced Bragg from Chattanooga, the regiment raided, skirmished, and scouted through the summer into the
Chickamauga Campaign. The brigade distinguished itself with its performance at
Chickamauga. During the battle, it maintained integrity and discipline exacting high casualties on its attackers. After the battle, it retreated with the army to Chattanooga where it was besieged.
The performance of the brigade had demonstrated the value of mounted infantry, and Wilder and the regiments were commended. During the reorganization after Grant took command in the city, the brigade was broken up and the regiments were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. The 72nd and the
123rd Illinois were assigned to 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Cavalry Corps.
Dismounting
In positions at Terrapin Creek in
Cherokee County, northern Alabama, the 72nd was dismounted on 1 November. They became a regular infantry regiment armed with Spencers. For the remainder of the war, they operated in the regular infantry role.
Service history
Its assignments were as follows:
40th Brigade, 12th Division,
Army of the Ohio, to November 1862.
The regiment lost a total of 160 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 130 enlisted men died of disease.[6]
Commanders
Colonel Abram O. Miller
Major Henry M. Cart – commanded at the battle of Stones River
^It acquired the names due to the movement speed that was gained by mounting the brigade, and also by the hatchets/tomohawks that Wilder had issued initially. See
Lightning Brigade article for more.
Baumgartner, Richard A. (2007). Blue Lightning: Wilder's Mounted Brigade in the Battle of Chickamauga. Huntington, WV: Blue Acorn Press.
hdl:
2027/wu.89060698438.
ISBN978-1-885033-35-2.
Connolly, James A (1959). Paul M. Angle (ed.). Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland: The Letters and Diary of Major James A. Connolly. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
hdl:
2027/pst.000024464338.
ISBN9780527190002.
OCLC906602437.
Frisby, Derek W. (2000). Heidler, David S.; Heidler, Jeanne T. (eds.).
Tullahoma Campaign. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Vol. IV. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN9781576070666.
OCLC872478436.
Garrison, Graham; Pierson, Parke; Shoaf, Dana B. (March 2003).
"Lightning at Chickamauga". America's Civil War. 16 (1). Historynet LLC: 46–54.
ISSN1046-2899. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
Gaston, Roy V. (2018).
"The Lightning Brigade". howcanamandiebetter.com. Roy V. Gaston. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
Lamers, William M. (1961). The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. p. 499.
hdl:
2027/uc1.b4439529.
ISBN0-8071-2396-X.
OCLC644399460.
Robertson, William Glenn (2010). "Bull of the Woods? James Longstreet at Chickamauga". In
Woodworth, Steven E. (ed.).
The Chickamauga Campaign(Kindle). Civil War Campaigns in the West (2011 Kindle ed.). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN9780809385560.
OCLC649913237. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
Starr, Stephen Z. (1985). The War in the West, 1861–1865. The Union cavalry in the Civil War. Vol. III. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.
ISBN9780807112090.
OCLC769318010.