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BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES GRIFFIN.
CHARLES GRIFFIN was born in Licking County, Ohio, about the year 1827. He attended an institution of learning in Bardstown, Kentucky, and afterward, July 1, 1843, he received the appointment of cadet at West Point. Four years later he graduated in the class with Generals Burnside and Ayres, and received the appointment of Brevet Second-Lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery.
The war with Mexico being then in progress, the young officer was at once ordered to active duty, and thus commenced a military career of more than ordinary variety of service. In Mexico he marched from Vera Cruz to Puebla in command of a company attached to the force commanded by General Patterson. From Mexico he was ordered to Florida, in January, 1848, and to Old Point Comfort in the following December. Here he remained until July, 1849, when he was promoted to First-Lieutenant of the Second Artillery, and was ordered to New Mexico in command of a cavalry company. In scouting and other duties of frontier life his time was occupied until 1854. Next he spent three years in garrison duty at Fort McHenry, Maryland, in command of a battery. In 1857 he was engaged in conducting recruits from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; was in garrison at Fort Independence, Missouri; on frontier duty at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and afterward in command of the escort which accompanied the Governor of New Mexico to Santa Fé. Returning through Texas, he rejoined his command at Fort Leavenworth, and remained there and at Fort Riley until in the latter part of 1859, when he received a leave of absence, continuing until some time in 1860. In September of this year he was ordered to West Point and appointed assistant instructor of artillery, a position for which he was well fitted from his previous experience in that arm of the service. This post he held until January, 1861, when, among the earliest movements of the war, he was ordered to Washington with the West Point battery. This was one authorized to be attached to the Fifth Cavalry, and was afterward known as Griffin's battery. He remained in command of it until June 26, 1862, when he received his commission of Brigadier-General of volunteers, and assumed command of his brigade as it was marching to the battle-field of Mechanicsville. He at once rendered himself conspicuous for his gallantry in that action; and subsequently, at the battle of Gaines's Mill, he displayed a heroism that challenged the admiration of the enemy. At Malvern Hill he was placed in command of the artillery, which was supported by his own brigade, and posted at the point of attack by the forces of the Rebel [p. 872] General Magruder. By his skillful use of the artillery be threw Magruder's troops into confusion, and thus contributed much to the good results of the engagement. In addition to these battles, he participated in almost every battle and skirmish of the army of the Potomac, beginning with the first battle of Bull Run and ending with the battle of Five Forks. He was engaged at Bull Run, July 21, 1861; at Secessionville; at Yorktown, May 4, 1862; Mechanics. ville, June 26th ; Hanover Junction, June 27th ; Gaines's Mill, June 27th; Malvern Hill, July 1st and August 4th; Bull Run, August 29th and 30th ; Antietam, September 16th and 17th; Sharpsburg. September 19th ; Fredericksburg, December 13th; Chancellorsville, May 2, 3, and 4, 1863; Gettysburg, July 31 (returning from a sick leave); Williamsport, July 6th ; Culpepper, July 13th; Morton's Ford, —; Wilderness, May 5, 1864; Laurel Hill, May 8th and 13th ; Spotsylvania, May 18th and 19th ; Jericho Ford, May 23d; Anderson's Farm,______; Tolopotomoy, May 29th ; Shady Grove, May 30th ; Bethesda Church, June 2d and 3d ; Petersburg, June 19th ; Weldon Railroad, August 18th, 19th, and 21st; Hatcher's Run (Nos. 1 and 2), February 7th and 8th and March 25, 1865; Quaker Road, March 27th; White Oak Road, March 31st; Fair Oaks, April 1st; Appomattox C. H., April 8th and 9th.
When the surrender of Lee was agreed upon General Griffin was appointed one of the commissioners to arrange the details.
His command in the war was at first a battery, then a brigade, afterward a division; and, on the battle-field of the Five Forks, when Sheridan was placed in command of the entire force, he was assigned to the command of the Fifth Corps, which he retained until the Army of the Potomac was disbanded. After this he was appointed to the command of the Military Division of the State of Maine, with head-quarters at Portland, where he made many warm friends.
When he was mustered out of the volunteer service he received a promotion in the regular army to Colonel of the Thirty-Fifth United States Infantry, and Brevet Major-General. He was then ordered to the command of the State of Texas; and when, in March, 1867, General Sheridan was assigned to the command of the Fifth Military District, he retained General Griffin in command of that State. When General Sheridan was relieved of his command, General Griffin, as the next in rank, succeeded him. He had discharged the duties of this high place, however, but for a short time, when he was attacked by yellow fever. The terrible disease soon ran its course to a fatal termination. He died September 15, 1867.
From his first march in Mexico to his last work in Texas there is found but one leave of absence in General Griffin's military record; and it bas already been said that he participated in every battle and skirmish in which his command engaged with the Army of the Potomac. To have moved with his command to the defense of Washington, even before the actual beginning of hostilities-to have remained in active and dangerous service throughout the war, and to have finally fallen a victim to a pestilence while in the work of restoring the self-exiled States to their places in the Government, is to have a record which of itself is an honorable monument.
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In the delicate position in Texas, as the agent to carry out the provisions of the reconstruction laws of Congress, General Sheridan ever found in him a faithful co-worker. In April, 1867, in a letter to Governor Throckmorton on the subject of registration, he said: “I am very anxious to see the laws impartially carried out, and no effort shall be spared on my part to bring out the full number of legal voters in the State. If the citizens accept the situation, come forward and yield a cheerful obedience to the laws, there can be no trouble." Among his last orders was one which directed that thero should bo no distinction made in Texas on account of racu, color, or previous condition, by railroads or other chartered companies which were common carriers. His letter to General Hartsuff, the Adjutant-General of General Sheridan (written only a few days before the fever attacked him), showed that he was fully in sympathy with that commander's views :
“HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS,
Galveston, Texas, September 6, 1867
“BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL GEO. L. HARTSUFF, A. A. G.,
“ Head-Quarters Fifth Military District, Nero Orleans, Louisiana:
“GENERAL: I desire that you transact all business and issue orders in the same manner that you would have done had General Sheridan remained in command and received his anticipated leave of absence. It is uncertain when I can go to New Orleans, as I am threatened a little with yellow fever, and my physician advises me not to leave. All papers requiring my official signature please forward to these head-quarters. I am, General, etc.,
CHAS. GRIFFIN, Brevet Major-General."
General Griffin, though often in great danger, escaped unhurt in all his battles. He had several horses shot under him at different times, and once had the visor of his cap torn away by a musket-ball. At another time the folded Atrap of his boot served as a shield to stop the force of a bullet, which otherwise would have pierced his leg; and at another time a ball struck his sword with such violence as to break it.
He was married, December 10, 1861, to Miss Sallie Carroll, of Maryland, a lady whose ancestry were favorably known in the history of our country—one being a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and another one of the members of the convention which formed the Constitution of the United States. The wedding ceremony, which took place at the residence of the bride's father, Hon. Wm. T. Carroll, was distinguished by the presence of President Lincoln, with many prominent officers of the Government and representatives of foreign nations.
Source: Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers, vol. I (NY 1868) [Google Books]
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