Soon after the foregoing affair, Company
K, (mounted) surprised and captured a large squad of guerrillas,
with a loss of one man killed and three wounded. In the midst of
the Hood demonstrations against Nashville, in December, 1864, the
rebel General Forrest, of Fort Pillow notoriety, captured
companies C, F and G, respectively in charge of Block-Houses 1, 3
and 4, who were confined as prisoners, at Andersonville, Ga., and
Meridian, Miss., until the beginning of the following April when,
with others, they were duly exchanged, at Vicksburg, Miss.
|
 CAPT.AIN
JOHN A. MEANS, horn near Pittsburg, Pa., February 1. 1811 ;
common school education ; learned trade of tanner and
currier; November, 1833, Came to Ohio, teaching school in
Springfield; 1834 engaged in farming in . Northfield; in
1837 was deputy surveyor of Portage county ; February 9,
1838, as captain of Northfield Rifle Company, did special
guard duty at the execution of David detailed, at Ravenna,
as elsewhere detailed, being afterwards promoted to colonel
of the regiment: Elected clerk of Summit county in 1800;
August, 1862, office in charge of his son Nathan, entered
the army, as captain of Company C, 115th Reg., serving till
close of the war; detailed as
assistant topographical engineer, Department of the-
Cumberland, surveying and mapping a large district of Middle
Tennessee and fitting up Soldiers' Cemetery, on Stone River
battlefield ; signal officer last battle near Murfreesboro,
Tenn.; (other military services detailed elsewhere); 1809,
re-elected clerk of courts, serving for I term ; 1873-77
Akron's City Clerk. In 1837 Mr. Means was married to bliss
Eliza Chapin, who bore him six children, two dying in
infancy, William S. drowned while father was in the army;
Rebecca (The first Mrs. Sumner Nash), died 1869; Nathan (the
eldest). (died in Akron. 1886; Elvira, the youngest, Married
to Rev. W. B. Marsh, now of Springfield, Ohio. Mrs. Means
dying-in 1879, Capt Means subsequently married Mrs. L. C.
Walton, with -whom, in the first year of his age, he is now
happily living in Tallmadge. |
On the 25th day of April, 1865, when final
victory over the rebels was just perching upon our banners, some
2,000 of these newly exchanged Union prisoners, and about 200
refugees, were packed on board the steamer Sultana, to be
transported to Cincinnati. Reaching Memphis during the night of
the 26th, a few hours were spent in taking on a supply of coal and
after proceeding on her way some eight or ten miles, between one
and two o'clock on the morning of the 27th, an explosion of one of
her boilers occurred with terrible havoc to the boat and
passengers,. the boat also taking fire and burning to the water.
It was more than surmised that the explosion was caused by a
shell, or other deadly missile, placed among the coal by
enemies of the Union, and of the brave
boys who had fought and so terribly suffered in its defense. Be
this as it may, fully one-half of the passengers on the ill-fated
steamer were either blown to atoms by the explosion, burned to
death, or drowned, among whom were some 80 members of the 115th,
at least a score and a half being. Summit county men—ten from
Cuyahoga Falls, including Captain Lowrey, and Lieutenants John
Eadie and John C. Ely—but so far as now remembered no Akron or
Middlebury boys were lost on that occasion.
After the capture of Block-Houses 1, 3 and 4 as above stated, by
order of General George H. Thomas, the garrisons were transferred
from 5 and 6 to Murfreesboro. Number 7 was surrounded and daily
assaulted for fifteen days, none of the men daring to appear
outside, though no casualties to its defenders were reported.
December 9, 1864, Block-House Number 2, was attacked and a
continuous fire from three rifled cannon was kept up from early
morning till dark, killing two and wounding five men on the
inside. That night under cover of darkness, the garrison quietly
evacuated the Station and reached Nashville in safety.
A desperate attack on Murfreesboro, by General Buford, was
successfully repulsed after five hours of the most heroic
fighting, in which a battalion of the 115th played a conspicuous
part, the rebels sustaining a heavy loss, while the loss upon the
Union side was but one killed and three wounded.
On being relieved from garrison and guard duty
at Murfreesboro and along the line of the railroad, between
Nashville and Tullahoma, at the close of the war, the survivors of
the 115th were pant off and mustered out of the service of the
United States they had so faithfully served for three full years,
at Camp Taylor, near Cleveland, July 7, 1865, 630 officers and
men.
Fifty Years and Over of Akron and Summit County.
By Samuel A. Lane Published
Akron, Ohio, Beacon Job Department, 1892
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