Charles Carroll Marsh was a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

officer during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He served with distinction early in the war at the battles of

Fort Donelson Fort Donelson was a fortress built early in 1862 by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to control the Cumberland River, which led to the heart of Tennessee, and thereby the Confederacy. The fort was named after Confederate general Da ...

and Shiloh. He is commonly referred to as "C. Carrol Marsh" in official reports.

Early life

Charles Carroll Marsh was born in Oswego, New York in 1829. In 1853 he moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to study law. The legal profession was too crowded for Marsh and his studies lasted only a year before pursuing other business ventures. He joined the Chicago Light Guard becoming captain in that organization.

Civil War

Early Battles

Due to the reputation of the Chicago Light Guard, Captain Marsh was called to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

at the outset of the Civil War. Eager to offer his services, he responded quickly and was given command of the

20th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 20th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 20th Illinois Infantry was organized at Joliet, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on June 13, ...

. Colonel Marsh and his command were transported to

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

and attached to Colonel

Joseph B. Plummer Joseph Bennett Plummer (November 15, 1816Some controversy exists regarding Plummer's year of birth. See the notes and gravestone photos in the External links section. Warner, 1964, p. 374 gives this date but says that he seems to have taken a few ...

's command at the

Battle of Fredericktown Engagement at Fredericktown, also known as the Battle of Fredericktown, was a battle of the American Civil War that took place on October 21, 1861, in Madison County, Missouri. The Union victory consolidated control of southeastern Missouri. Ba ...

Fort Donelson

Colonel Marsh and the 20th were stationed at

Bird's Point, Missouri Bird's Point (or Birds Point) is an unincorporated community in Mississippi County, Missouri, United States. It lies on an island or former island in the Mississippi River, near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and is situated dir ...

until joining

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

's expedition to Fort Henry as a part of

W. H. L. Wallace William Hervey Lamme Wallace (July 8, 1821 – April 10, 1862), more commonly known as W.H.L. Wallace, was a lawyer and a Union general in the American Civil War, considered by Ulysses S. Grant to be one of the Union's greatest generals. Early ...

's 2nd Brigade in

John A. McClernand John Alexander McClernand (May 30, 1812 – September 20, 1900) was an American lawyer and politician, and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a member of the United States H ...

's 1st Division. At the

battle of Fort Donelson The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11–16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important ave ...

Marsh was positioned on the right of the Union lines. McClernand's entire division was hit hard during the Confederate breakout attempt on February 15. Despite being hard pressed Marsh managed a counterattack which momentarily checked

Simon B. Buckner Simon Bolivar Buckner ( ; April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914) was an American soldier, Confederate combatant, and politician. He fought in the United States Army in the Mexican–American War. He later fought in the Confederate States Army ...

's division and saved an Illinois

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

from capture.

Shiloh

Following the victory at Fort Donelson, General

was thrust into the public eye and at the same came under attack from department commander

Henry W. Halleck Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a senior United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory: "Old Brains". He was an important par ...

. During this time Colonel Marsh and others presented Grant with an ivory-handled sword. Marsh took the occasion to publicly profess his confidence in General Grant and denounced the "jealousy caused by his recent success". He assumed command of the 2nd Brigade when recently promoted Brig. Gen. W.H.L. Wallace took command of the 2nd Division. On the morning of April 6, 1862 messengers managed to alert Colonel Abraham M. Hare of the 1st Brigade that a battle was underway but news of the fighting had not reached Colonel Marsh until a cannonball soared through his brigade's camp. Early in the fighting Marsh's brigade was forced into a disorderly retreat until he and General McClernand managed to rally units of the 1st Division behind Shiloh Church. Marsh then led a counterattack which managed to overrun a Confederate battery but proved costly. Once again Marsh was forced to withdraw his dwindling command. Around 5:00pm he made a final stand supported by remnants of three other brigades. On April 7 he led his brigade in recapturing lost ground in the vicinity of Shiloh Church where he had seen action the day before.

Post Shiloh and Resignation

Following the

battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

Colonel Marsh commanded his brigade until the beginning days of the

Siege of Corinth The siege of Corinth (also known as the first Battle of Corinth) was an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry ...

and was transferred to command the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division stationed at

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...

. He was appointed Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers dated November 29, 1862, though his appointment was later withdrawn. He was transferred to command the 1st Brigade in

John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a stat ...

's 3rd Division of the XVII Corps in the opening stages of Grant's First Vicksburg Campaign. Colonel Marsh resigned on April 22, 1863.

Sources

* Daniel, Larry J. ''Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. . * Eicher, John H., and

David J. Eicher David John Eicher (born August 7, 1961) is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of ''Astronomy'' magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American ...

. ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. * Gott, Kendall D. ''Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry—Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003. . * Wilson, James Grant ''Biographical Sketches of Illinois Officers Engaged in the War Against the Rebellion of 1861''. Nabu Press, 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, C. Carroll Union Army generals People of Illinois in the American Civil War 1829 births Year of death missing