Colonel Whittlesey was at home in Cleveland quietly pursuing his scientific studies and investigations, when the national trouble commenced. When the entrance of President Lincoln into Washington was threatened by violence in February, 1861, he was an enrolled member of one of the companies tendering their services to General Scott. Seeing that war was inevitable, he personally urged the Governor and Legislature of Ohio to prepare for it before the proclamation of April 15, 1861, and on the 17th he joined the Governor's staff as assistant quartermaster general. He served in the field in Western Virginia, with the three months levies, as State military engineer with the Ohio troops under Generals McClellan, Cox and Hill, and at Scary Run, on the Kanawha, July 17, 1861, behaved with great gallantry under fire, and conducted himself with intrepidity and coolness during an engagement that lasted two hours, and in which his horse was wounded under him. At the expiration of the service of the three months troops he was appointed Colonel of the 20th regiment Ohio volunteers, and detailed by General O. M. Mitchel as chief engineer of the department of the Ohio, where he planned and constructed the defences of Cincinnati, which he afterwards volunteered to defend, in September, 1862. At the battle of Fort Donelson he was with his regiment, and was complimented by General Grant on the morning of the surrender by being put in charge of the prisoners. A published correspondence from the prisoners proves with what kindness and courtesy to the unfortunate this task was performed. A testimony to a similar effect is the correspondence from the leading residents of the rebel counties of Owen, Grant, Carroll and Gallatin, in Kentucky, which in the Winter of 1861, were placed under his command, and which he ruled with such firmness, yet moderation, that both Union men and rebels bore witness to his conservative, moderate, and gentlemanly course, as well as to his promptness and decision.
At the battle of Shiloh, Colonel Whittlesey, on the second day of that desperate fight, commanded the third brigade of General Wallace's division. The part borne by this brigade in the battle has become historic. It was composed of Ohio troops, the 20th, 56th 76th, and 78th regiments, and it was against their line that General Beauregard attempted to throw the whole weight of his force for a last desperate charge, when he was driven back by the terrible fire poured into him. General Wallace, in his officiai report, makes especial and honorable mention of the important part taken by this brigade and its commander in the battle.
Soon after the battle Colonel Whittlesey sent in his resignation, which he had intended sending in earlier, but withheld because he foresaw some important military movements in which he desired to take part. The critical condition of his wife's health and his own disabilities, which had reached a point threatening soon to unfit him for any service whatever, compelled him to take this step. After the battle of Shiloh, when he could resign with honor and without detriment to the service, he sent in his resignation. General regret was expressed by the officers with whom he had been associated and by his old command. The application was endorsed by General Grant "We cannot afford to lose so good an officer." General Wallace, General Cox, and General Force added their commendations of his abilities and services, and few officers retired from the army with a clearer or more satisfactory record, or with greater regret on the part of his military associates.
Since his retirement, Colonel Whittlesey has been leisurely engaged in scientific and literary pursuits, has again spent much time in geological explorations in the Lake Superior and Upper Mississippi country, has organized and brought into successful operation the Western Reserve Historical Society, of which he continues to be president, and has accumulated in its spacious hall a good collection of historical works relating to the West, and a rich collection of geological and antiquarian specimens, gathered in Ohio and the Northwest.
Colonel Whittlesey has contributed largely to scientific literature, and his works have attracted wide attention, not only among scientific men of America, but of Europe. His published works are to be found in the Geological Reports of Ohio, 1838-9; United States Geological Surveys of the Upper Mississippi, D. D. Owen, 1847, 1849; United States Geological Surveys of Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Foster and Whitney, 1850, 1851; Life of John Fitch, Spark's American Biography, new series, Volume 6, 1845; Fugitive Essays, mainly historical, published at Hudson, Ohio, 8vo., pp. 357, 1854; Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge;--Ancient Works of Ohio, 1852; Fluctuation of Lake Levels, 1860; Ancient Mining on Lake Superior, 1863; Fresh Water Glacial Drift, 1866. In addition to these are an essay on the Mineral Resources of the Rocky Mountains, in 1863; a handsome and valuable volume on the Early History of Cleveland, in 1866, and about thirty essays, reports, and pamphlets, besides very numerous and valuable contributions to newspapers and scientific journals.
General James Barnett.
James Barnett was born on the 21st of June, 1821, at Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York. He came to Cleveland when about four years of age, and after receiving a common school education commenced his business career by entering the hardware store of Potter, Clark & Murfey, where he served three years as clerk. At the end of that time he went into the hardware house of George Worthington, and has for many years been a member of the firm of George Worthington & Co. As a business man and good citizen he stands very high in the estimation of the people of Cleveland, but it is with his military record that we have now chiefly to deal.
In 1840, an independent Company of artillery was organized in Cleveland, and at its start was made a part of the old Cleveland Grays, afterwards the artillery part formed a company by itself, which had for its commanders D. L. Wood and A. S. Sanford. This organization was kept up until the breaking out of the war, and was, without doubt, the best drilled and equipped artillery organization west of the mountains; the State supplied the guns, harness and caissons, but the expenses for horses, the meeting and drill houses, and equipments, and all their expenses, were paid by themselves. They drilled regularly, took an excursion every year, visited Niagara, Syracuse, Sandusky, Wooster, and also Chicago, on the occasion of the assembling of the River and Harbor Convention. At every point they visited they never failed to infuse a military spirit into the people, and to create a desire for similar companies. Nearly all the artillery organizations of the West sprang out of this little nucleus at Cleveland, for at the places visited and instructed by the Cleveland company, men were obtained at the breaking out of the war who were to some extent familiar with artillery drill, and many of them became, because of this, commanders during the rebellion. Such commanders were to be found throughout the service.
About two years before the war, the Ohio militia law was so amended as to permit the organization of artillery companies, with one gun to a company, every six guns to form a command, entitled to elect a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major. The Cleveland Light Artillery took immediate advantage of this by organizing into the First, Regiment Light Artillery, O. V. M., with the following officers: Colonel, James Barnett; Lieutenant Colonel, S. B. Sturges; Major, Clark Gates; Quartermaster, Amos Townsend; Quartermaster's Sergeant, Randall Crawford; Co. A, Captain Wm. R. Simmons; Co. B, Captain John G. Mack; Co. C, Captain D. Kenny; Co. D, Captain Percy Rice; Co. E, Captain F. W. Pelton. The three city companies drilled at what is now the Varieties, on Frankfort street, Captain Pelton's company at Brooklyn, and Captain Kenny's at Geneva.
In the Winter of 1860, the regiment tendered their services to the State authorities in case of difficulty, as the rebels in West Virginia were assuming a threatening attitude. This offer was accepted, but the opinion expressed in the acceptance, that the proffered services would probably not be needed. Five days after the fall of Fort Sumter the order came for the regiment to report with its six guns to Columbus. On the second day after the date of the order the organization, with full complement of men and guns, passed through Columbus en route to Marietta, where a rebel demonstration was expected. Here it remained a little over a month, when a detachment with two guns, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Sturges, crossed into West Virginia at Parkersburg, and the remainder, under command of Colonel Barnett, crossed the river at Benwood and proceeded to Grafton, West Virginia. The two guns under Lieutenant Colonel Sturges went up the Baltimore and Ohio line to Philippi, and in the affair at that place did telling service. Theirs was the first artillery fired in the field by the National forces in the war of the rebellion. About a month after, the detachment rejoined the main body of the regiment, and the guns of the artillery did good service in the attack on the rebels at Laurel Hill, the result being the hasty flight of the enemy.