Forward

     Of special interest to the Bair family will be the military career of Abraham Bair who
served his country during the Great Rebellion and who, while in that service, received extensive
wounds from which he would substantially recover but, which would continue to plague him for
the remainder of his life.

     In the preparation of this offering I have researched a good deal of published and
archived information.  I have visited the actual site where Abraham sustained his wound and,
generally, I have done all in my reasonable power to attempt to put the reader into the general
feeling and overall mind-set of the time.

     Along the way I will present certain facts and make certain reasonable assumptions
based on facts.  I will attempt to take care in differentiating between the two for the reader as I
proceed.

     Any reader possessing information lacking in this presentation is encouraged to submit
such information to Tim or Iris Gosselin for inclusion in a future update of this document.

     Any reader having knowledge that anything presented herein is wrong, improper or not
factual is urged to contact Tim or Iris Gosselin with such information so that corrections can be
made.

     The intended purpose of this document is to inform the reader as to the military life of
Abraham Bair.  It is intended to be presented in truth as closely as that truth can be determined
132 years after the actual incidents have taken place.

     If any individual should have questions or interest regarding where certain information
was obtained or, from what sources, you are encouraged to contact us.  We will be pleased to
verify any sources not properly bibliographed at the close of the main document.

                      Tim & Iris Gosselin
                    5759 E Fairfield Street
                         Mesa, AZ 85205
                          602-985-8537
                      timg@sprintmail.com

     Please note that all text, in this document is copyrighted by the author(s).  This
document, as such, may not be copied or otherwise used for sale, publication or any other
commercial purpose in any manner whatsoever.  This document may be copied and distributed
to any ancestor of Abraham Bair without charge or obligation providing the copies are used
strictly for the documentation and study of the Bair family history by members of the immediate
family.


                 In the Service of His Country

     By the time the autumn of 1863 came around the bloody war had been
raging for more than two years.  The dust had even begun to settle at places like
Sharpsburg, Shiloh Meeting House, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and
Vicksburg.  The people of Gettysburg were at last beginning to find some
semblance of reality once again in their little town.  Abraham Bair had just turned
eighteen and was about to join the army.  As he stood before the recruiters desk,
pen in hand and prepared to make his mark, the words Lincoln had spoken at the
dedication at Gettysburg were less than a week old. [1]  They were, in fact, still
hanging in the air, nearly literally.  And now, near the close of 1863, the regiment
to which Abraham Bair will come to belong, the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers,
has been in service in the field for nearly a year. [2]  Up until the time of his
induction, or, "mustering in" Abraham has been farming [3] in the south central
Michigan county of Clinton, not too far from the little town of Ovid where he
stands this morning to be sworn into the service of his country.  Although a
conscription act is in force even as he enlistments it was still possible to
volunteer and receive a financial incentive or "bounty" as it is to be known at the
time.  So Abraham marks his enlistment papers on the 25th of November in the fall
of 1863 and on the declaration he marks as he is mustered in there is an entry line
to indicate months of age in addition to years of age and this line he leaves blank. 
And he receives $73.00 as a one time payment as his bounty or incentive to
enlist. [4]  To Abraham as a youthful farmer in the west in 1863 this sum may have
been the equal of three months of pay at his regular employment.  Also, as part
and parcel to terms of the enlistment, Abraham does not have to report for
service until after the Christmas holiday.  On December 29th, 1863 Abraham Bair
again presents himself at Ovid, Michigan and is mustered in as a private in
Company 'I' of the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers. [5]  On the day of his
mustering in his general description was noted as: height - five feet seven
inches; complexion - light; eyes - hazel; hair - dark. [6]

     As men are mustered in during the war they are gathered and encamped at
some local open area (usually the fairgrounds) where they will receive training in
close order drill.  This training will involve regular daily marching and
maneuvering.  This will continue on until they become proficient and disciplined
in commands with which they will be maneuvered in close company of large
bodies of men on some future battlefield. [7]

     When the newly formed Company 'I' is shipped out weeks after Abrahams
mustering in, company strength is 112 men and, of these, 24 have joined at Ovid,
including the Company commander, Captain Abner B. Wood. [8]  At the time
Abraham is mustered in the 27th Michigan Infantry Regiment is active in eastern
Tennessee engaged in the aftermath of the Siege of Knoxville. 

     [9]  Normally, armies from both sides would dig in for a winter of inactive
boredom where ever they found themselves once weather became decidedly
inclement.  There was, however, military activity east of Knoxville throughout
most of the winter of 1863/64.  We are told that the 27th Michigan took on 362 new
recruits [newly formed Company 'K' has accompanied the Company 'I'
volunteers] from home sometime in the early months of 1864.  We are further told
that at the time the new recruits arrived the 27th Michigan was encamped at Mossy
Creek, Tennessee. [10]  (Mossy Creek was east of Knoxville and about 4 miles
east of New Market). [11]  Abraham is among these spring replacements and it is
likely he has traveled to the area by train in the company of the other new
recruits.  Routing will likely have been into Knoxville, Tennessee from Lansing,
Michigan via, perhaps, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville and, finally by way
of Chattanooga and Loudon, Tennessee. [12]  After leaving the train in Knoxville,
these men are marched in formation to Mossy Creek, some 40 to 50 miles east of
Knoxville.  The 9th Corps is encamped at Mossy Creek between March 2nd and
March 11th [13] so that is our "best-guess" window as to when Abraham and the
other new recruits meet up with the 27th Michigan in the field.  Although there is
light fighting in eastern Tennessee at the time the new recruits arrive, the
Confederate stronghold in Chattanooga had been broken the previous fall and
Confederate troops occupying Chattanooga have fled south into Georgia. [14] 
General James Longstreet's Corp has recently retreated from Knoxville and is
being pushed east from Tennessee into the Carolinas by The Army of the Ohio,
General Ambrose E. Burnside commanding. [15]  Activity east of Knoxville at the
time of Abraham's arrival involves cleanup work from that campaign.  Also,
troops are busy tearing up railroad track east of Knoxville including burning
railroad bridges.  This work is intended to keep Longstreet from moving back
into the area in any force. [16]  Upon Abrahams arrival in eastern Tennessee the
27th is under the command of Major William B. Wright.  It is a regiment of the First
Brigade under Colonel Benjamin C. Christ; of the First Division of Brigadier
General Edward Ferrero; of the Ninth Corps, Major General John G. Parke
commanding. [17]

     On the 12th of March the Ninth Corps leaves Mossy Creek and marches east
toward Morristown.  On the 14th the corps receives orders to withdraw from
eastern Tennessee and to move in force to Annapolis, Maryland.  Upon receipt of
this order the 9th Corps reverses its march of the past two days and strikes out
for Knoxville which it will not reach until 5 days later, on March 19th.  Then, two
days later, on March 21st, the main body of the corps takes to the mountain roads
for a winter march to Annapolis; first stop, Camp Nelson, near Nicholasville,
Kentucky. [18]  Abraham however, apparently now taken ill with a severe cold, the
flu, etc., is loaded onto a train with other convalescents [19] for transportation to
Annapolis by rail via Loudon, Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati and
other points east.  The 51st New York Volunteers are assigned to travel with the
convalescents as a guard [20] and Abrahams first adventure with the army in the
field has lasted less than three weeks.

     The massing at Annapolis of these men of the 27th Michigan and tens of
thousands of others like them is to be the start of the spring campaign of 1864. 
And since the last blood has been spilled in major engagements a new man has
been appointed as commander in chief of Union armed forces.  Ulysses S. Grant
has been selected personally by Abraham Lincoln as a man who's track record of
victories as opposed to defeats, regardless of cost, proceeds him.   It seems to
Lincoln that Grant is the single available individual of rank who shares his vision
that victory will only be at hand following total destruction of that army that alone
sustains the rebellion.  Lincoln sees Grant as he who will be capable of
dispensing the currency of pain and suffering and death that will, of necessity,
become payment of the terrible price of victory.  And Grant shares Lincoln's
belief that the war can be won only where the armies of Northern Virginia and
Tennessee are to be found. [21]  And so the Army of the Potomac is being
massed as closely as is reasonably possible to a strategic jumping off point for
the third spring campaign at Lee's front door.  And, if Lee wishes to continue to
fight a defensive war Grant will give him something to defend against.  And the
men who will pay the ultimate price, as they are assembled, are talking among
themselves of the imagined strengths and weaknesses of this new leader who is
well known to pay for his victories with the blood of his men.  And the mix of
emotions among these men tilts between the hope that this man can form them
into a cohesive fighting instrument which might bring an end to the horrors of
this war and the fear that many of them will not be present to experience the
eventual peace he will hopefully lead them to produce.

     As Abraham Bair and the men of the 27th Michigan wait in camp around
Annapolis for an army to gel into fighting substance during the weeks of late
March and April, they are joined by two new divisions of sharpshooters: 127 men
of Perrin's Sharpshooters [nearly 2/3's of these men were mustered in at Ovid and
were Abraham's neighbors] and 107 men of Vosper's Sharpshooters, all
volunteers from Michigan. [22]  These are men who have received "special
training" in the accurate firing of long rifles.  Men who can be called into action
when snipers or other difficult or distant targets require effective dispatch by
more experienced hands than those of less skillfully trained regular infantry
soldiers.  And with them these men bring a new dimension to war..... the Spencer
repeating rifle which has been newly issued to their units throughout and to a
man. [23]  This new weapon will hold seven rounds of self contained ammunition
which are loaded all at one time and then jacked into the chamber by operating a
lever which also forms the trigger guard.  As the lever is operated the spent
round is ejected and a new round jacks neatly into place behind it.  This weapon
will fire in succession as quickly as a man can pull the trigger and operate the
jacking lever.  Until this time the standard issue weapon has been the Springfield
rifle.  A man skilled in its use could get off three rounds in a minute.  Now, the
Spencer is introduced which can get off seven rounds in substantially less time
and the Confederates have no such weapon.  And the men of the 27th Michigan
see this weapon and the cry goes up.  And petition is made at once to arm the
whole regiment with these Spencers.  And with alacrity most unusual in this
man's army, the petition is honored nearly at once and the men of the 27th
Michigan each find themselves shouldering a shinny new Spencer repeating rifle.
[24] 

     And so this army does indeed gel and Abraham Bair finds himself at the
fighting base of the following chain of command: Company 'I' commanded by
Captain Abner B. Wood; of the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers commanded by
Major Samuel Moody.  Major Moody will be killed in action at Cold Harbor,
Virginia within six weeks and will be replaced by Colonel Dorus M. Fox; of the
First Brigade (also known as Hartranft's Brigade) commanded by General John F.
Hartranft; of the Third Division commanded by Brigadier General Orlando B.
Willcox [originally of the 1st Michigan Infantry]; of the Ninth Army Corps, now
commanded by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside. [25]  Major General Burnside
is one time commander of the Army of the Potomac and was replaced after the
Battle of Fredericksburg by "Fighting" Joe Hooker prior to the Battle of
Chancellorsville. [26]  General Burnside is now reporting to Ulysses Grant who
has become the most recent in a chain of numerous individuals to hold
Burnside's old job. This chain of command will see a number of additional
changes in the coming year.  Today, however, following weeks of re-organization
at Annapolis, this is the situation.  And, now, after a two to three-day march to
Rappahannock Station, Virginia with an in-route overnight encampment at
Warrenton Junction on the night of May 3rd, we find Abraham Bair with the 27th
Michigan in the company of the 3rd Division awaiting their turn at the Rapidan
pontoon bridge. [27]  And the 9th Corps is now a standing force of 35,000 men.
[28]
                                
                    THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN

     Grant now has his army together.  He has assembled the full contingent he
feels he will need to effectively take the war to Lee in the south.  He has
marshaled 116,000 men complete with equipment and supplies at this jumping off
point at Rappahannock Station near the Rapidan River and, on May 4th, 1864, he
is ready to move south in force.  The following is excerpted from "A Stillness at
Appomattox" by Bruce Catton.  It is offered here as it puts the reader into the
mood and feeling of the day and helps us to understand the visual and emotional
experience of Abraham Bair on the 4th and 5th days of May in 1864.

          It is the fourth day of May, and beyond the dark river there is a forest
     with the shadow of death under its low branches, and the dogwood
     blossoms are floating in the air like lost flecks of sunlight, as if life is
     as important as death; and for the Army of the Potomac this is the
     last bright morning, with youth and strength and hope ranked under
     starred flags, bugle calls are riding down the wind, and invisible
     doors are swinging open on the other shore.  The regiments fall into
     line, and great white-topped wagons creak along the roads, and the
     spring sunlight glints off the polished muskets and the brass of the
     big guns, and the young men come down to the valley while the
     bands play.  A German regiment is singing "John Brown's Body."

     Beside the roads the violets are in bloom and the bush honeysuckle
     is out, and the day and the year have a fragile light that the endless
     columns will soon trample to fragments.  The last campaign has
     begun, and a staff officer sitting on a bank overlooking the Rapidan
     has a curious thought: how odd it would be if every man who is to
     die in the days just ahead would have to wear a big badge today, so
     that a man watching by the river could identify all of those who are
     never coming back!

     The men of this army leave books and letters behind them, and in
     these there is a remarkable testimony that the men who march away
     from winter quarters this morning are taking a last look back and
     see a golden haze which, even at the moment of looking, they know
     they will never see again.  They tell how the birds are singing, and
     how the warm scented air comes rolling up the river valley, and how
     they notice things like wild flowers and the young green leaves, and
     they speak of the moving pageant which they see and of which they
     themselves are a part.  "Everything," writes a youth from Maine, "is
     bright and blowing."  It will never be like this again, and young men
     who are to live on to a great age, drowsing out the lives of old
     solders in a land that will honor them and then tolerate them and
     finally forget them, will look back on this one morning and see in it
     something that comes from beyond the rim of the world.

     Cavalry takes the lead, moving down through the busy camps to the
     historic Rapidan crossings, Germanna and Ely's fords.  Foot
     soldiers watch them go, and call out, in what they conceive to be the
     idiom of their Southern foes: "Hey there!  Where be you-all going?" 
     Jauntily, the troopers call back that they are on their way to
     Richmond.  But although the army feels that this campaign is going
     to be better than previous ones it still is skeptical, and cavalry needs
     to be put in its place anyway, so the infantry cries out: "Bob Lee will
     drive you-all back just as he has done before."

     The troopers push on and cross the river, and they leave the
     sunlight behind and move up the winding woods roads that lead
     into the Wilderness.
     
     This is a mean gloomy woodland, a dozen miles wide by half as
     deep, lying silent and forbidding along the southern bank of the
     river.  Its virgin timber has been cut down years ago, mostly to
     provide fuel for small iron-smelting furnaces in the neighborhood,
     and a tangled second growth has sprung up - stunted pines,
     innumerable small saplings, dense underbrush, here and there a
     larger tree, vines and creepers trailing every which way through
     dead scrub pines with interlaced spiky branches; there are very few
     places in which a man can see as far as twenty yards.  The soil is
     poor, and there are hardly any farms or clearings, and the land
     under the trees is like a choppy sea, broken by ridges and hillocks
     and irregular knolls.

     There are dark little streams that never see the sun, and these have
     cut shallow ravines, some of which have very steep banks.  These
     water courses wander and twist and turn on themselves, soaking the
     low ground into bush-covered swamps, and the thickets cover their
     banks.  Once in a great while there will be a house - paintless,
     sometimes made of hewn logs, looking gaunt and forsaken like the
     forest itself, with a hopeless corn patch and weedy pasture around it
     - and there are a few aimless lanes, hardly more than tracks in the
     jungle, which do not seem to lead anywhere in particular.

     It is the last place on earth for armies to fight and the entire Army of
     the Potomac is marching straight into it.

     We know that for the entire army to join into the full march took at least
three days.  We also know that the 3rd Division, to which Abraham was attached,
did not get into the moving procession until the morning of May 5th, the second
day, and that their crossing of the Rapidan was made at Germanna Ford at
around 12:00 noon. [29]  The above, however, describes the experiences and
realities of Abraham Bair and his comrades on the morning of their beginning of
the eventual end of the war.  Perhaps Abraham and his untried comrades are
marching along this first day out and dreaming of gallantry soon to be
demonstrated or observed or, in some way imagining the glory with which the
27th Regiment might wrap itself in the weeks ahead.  If so, it will be but a few
short days before they will have been forever robbed of all such romantic
illusions.

     The 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division [including the 27th Michigan] under the
command of General Hartranft became engaged in confused action within a mile
or so of the Germanna Ford crossing on that first day in the Wilderness.  A series
of advances and withdrawals of various regiments occurs over the next couple of
days.  We do know that the 27th Michigan Infantry took an active part in this
Second Battle of the Wilderness on May 6th and 7th as they did post casualties on
those days including 6 men killed and 83 wounded. [30]

     The following report issued by Division Commander General Willcox offers
a cursory view of the participation of Hartranft's [Abraham's] Brigade in the
Wilderness struggle on the 6th and 7th of May.

     Report Number 234.  Report of Brigadier  General  Orlando B.
     Willcox, U. S. Army, commanding Third Division.

     HDQRS. THIRD DIVISION, NINTH ARMY CORPS,

     CAPTAIN: As the full report of this division for the campaign is yet
     delayed by the brigade commanders not sending their own reports, I
     beg leave to furnish you with the following preliminary sketch of the
     operations of the division:

     In the Wilderness, on the 6th of May, the First Brigade, General
     Hartranft, in support of the Second Division, engaged the enemy
     where that division broke, and Hartranft held them in check until I
     came up with the Second Brigade, [Colonel Christ] which had been
     left temporarily to guard the Parker's Store road.  In the afternoon,
     supported by the Second Division, we attacked the enemy, drove
     him back into his entrenchments, and opened communication with
     the Second Corps, which was the principal object of the movement,
     without, however, carrying the enemy's works, but which he [the
     enemy] evacuated during the night.

     We know it to be likely that this action involved Abraham Bair as, at the
time of the action the First Brigade of General Hartranft included, the 2nd, 8th, 17th
and 27th Michigan regiments along with the 109th New York and the 51st
Pennsylvania.  The strength of this Brigade may have numbered 5000 or more
men.  For another look at the involvement of the 27th Regiment from Warrenton
Junction to Spotsylvania Court House we have report #239 issued by Captain
Richard Vosper of the 27th Michigan: [31]


                    No.239.  Report of Captain Richard Vosper, Twenty-
          seventh Michigan Infantry.

                    HDQRS. TWENTY-SEVENTH MICHIGAN VOL. INFANTRY,

                    Near Blick's Station, Va., September 20, 1864.

     SIR: I have the honor to forward the official report of the part taken
     by the Twenty-seventh Michigan Volunteers in the operations of this
     campaign up to the 30th of July, 1864:

     Early on the morning of the 4th of May, 1864, pursuant to orders
     received the previous night, the regiment, 850 strong, Major Samuel
     Moody commanding, broke camp at Warrenton Junction, Va., and
     marched to Rappahannock Station, where we camped for the night.

     On the morning of the 5th we resumed our line of march to the
     Rapidan River, and crossing at Germanna Ford we went into
     position with the rest of the brigade to which we were attached. Two
     companies of the regiment were on the picket-line during the night,
     the balance of the regiment being held in reserve.  At daylight on the
     6th of May we withdrew from our position, marched several miles to
     the left, and the lines being formed, advanced upon the enemy.  We
     were soon hotly engaged until dark, participating in the two charges
     made by our division during the day.  In this engagement the
     regiment lost 2 officers killed, 3 officers wounded, and 84 enlisted
     men killed and wounded.  Major Samuel Moody was severely
     wounded, but resumed his duties on the next day.  Adjt. Daniel G.
     Cash was also wounded but did not leave the field.  On the 7th of
     May the regiment was not actually engaged.  At 1 a.m. May 8 we
     withdrew from our advance line and marched toward
     Fredericksburg.  Camped for the night about 4-1/2 miles from that
     city.  On the morning of the 9th of May we marched toward
     Spotsylvania Court-House, and coming up to the enemy acted as
     support to the Second Brigade of our division during the fight at this
     point.  On the 10th and 11th of May we were engaged in skirmishing
     with the enemy and in fortifying our lines.  The regiment participated
     in the battle of the 12th, and lost heavily in killed and wounded.  Our
     total loss in the day's battle was as follows: Officers wounded, 3;
     enlisted men killed, 27; enlisted men wounded, [Abraham Bair is
     included in this figure] 145; enlisted men missing, 12; aggregate,
     187. Captain Charles Waite, though wounded, did not leave the field
     until the close of the battle.

     Although we have no documented indication of Abraham's personal
experiences in the Wilderness engagement we do have considerable writing left
by those who experienced the battle and its aftermath at his side.  We know that
the Army of the Potomac came upon Lee and his army in this wilderness.  We
know that under the best of circumstances this was a terrible place to engage in
a battle.  Add to the frustration and confusion of this "size large" bramble patch
the dense smoke and terrible noise of battle and you can imagine the lack of
ability of any commander to organize ranks.  This was a two day deadly wrestling
match between two groups of men who had little or no direction or leadership. 
And the nature of firearms at the time was to spew fiery powder out onto the
ground.  And in this case the ground was a forest floor of tinder dry leaves and
pine needles waiting on any provocation to burn.  And these armies brought the
provocation with them and, it did indeed burn.  And after nightfall the men who
survived the fighting of the daylight hours by the grace of God now tried to
somehow sleep while 200 of those men who had been left crippled of wounds in
the woods and who were now unable to move themselves, burned to death,
screaming while their comrades listened helplessly knowing that any attempt to
come to the aid of those in need would result in further contact with a deadly
enemy awaiting them in the pitch darkness. [32]  Certainly no 18 year old boy
would have ever been the same after the experiences of those few first days of
the Wilderness Campaign.

     [For further information any reading on the Second Battle of the Wilderness would
     be found to be most informative.  Note that the book entitled "Red Badge of
     Courage" by Stephen Crane, (and the resultant film made based on the book)
     although a work of fiction, reveals much about this battle and the human suffering
     experienced by many of those who took part in the action.]

     We are told that [following the Wilderness engagement] the march from the
Wilderness area to Spotsylvania Court House required more than a day.  Reports
from the field at the time indicate that many units on the march from the
Wilderness spent the night in the area of the Chancellorsville battlefield.  At this
time it had been just a year since that battle had been fought.  Thousands of
human remains from the Battle of Chancellorsville had been disposed of in
shallow graves the year before and the spring rains of 1864 had washed away top
soil covering the bodies, leaving skeletal remains exposed throughout the area.
[33]  Dead horses from the battle had never been buried and horse skeletons
were also strewn about.  All of this must have had a considerable impact on
those new recruits who, for the most part, had not fired nor been fired upon in
anger.  One can only imagine the emotional impact of spending the night trying to
sleep on the ground at such a location immediately following the Wilderness
ordeal and in anticipation of what was yet to come.  1st Lieutenant Leonard Hunt
of the 26th Michigan Infantry reported in his diary that the experience left him
feeling sick and that the night was spent restless and gloomy. [34]

     Following their involvement in this 2nd Wilderness battle the 27th Michigan,
in the company of the 3rd Division of the 9th Corps, marches to a point two miles
east of Chancellorsville before bivouacking the night of the 8th of May. [35]  The
report of General Willcox of the 3rd Division, begun above, continues at this point
.....
     On the 9th of May my orders were to march the division from near
     Chancellorsville to a place named "Gate" on the map, on the north
     side of the Ny River, and near where the Fredericksburg pike
     crosses that river toward Spotsylvania Court-House. Finding the
     enemy in small force at the bridge, I drove his skirmishers across,
     and, Christ's brigade leading, crossed the division and took position
     within 1 1/4 miles of Spotsylvania Court-House, where we repulsed
     repeated assaults of the enemy, and finally intrenched ourselves.  I
     was re-enforced by the First Division about 12 m., after the fighting
     was over, except sharpshooting, in which, the next morning, the
     gallant Brigadier-General Stevenson, commanding First Division,
     was killed. On the 12th of May this division started in reserve after
     the corps, but came up into action in the morning on the left of the
     First Division, while we were actually pressed on our left flank by the
     enemy.  The division now held the extreme left of the whole army,
     and a furious assault was made upon us by the enemy, who
     attempted to turn our left and capture our batteries.  Anticipating
     this very movement, I had, however, requested Lieutenant Benjamin,
     chief of artillery, to bring up additional batteries to mine, which were
     Roemer's and Twitchell's.  Benjamin massed two other batteries in
     rear of my left, and our artillery, with the supports, repulsed the
     enemy in slaughter, while the front attack was being made.  The
     latter was not able to advance farther than the line of the First and
     Second Divisions, and lost some prisoners on the left flank, but one
     brigade which charged the left and the batteries was scattered, and
     its commander, Colonel Barbour, taken prisoner, with some 100
     others of the enemy.  The field of action remained in our hands, and
     we intrenched there.

     This portion of the report is yet another very cursory description.  This
time, of the involvement of the 3rd Division in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court
House.  As this was a crucial battle for Abraham Bair we will go into considerably
greater detail here than did General Willcox or Captain Vosper in their reports.

     To understand what was going on here, or "the bigger picture", one needs
to understand the strategies of Grant and Lee at the start of this campaign.  At
the offset and in short order Lee knew that Grant was headed for Richmond.  It
was Lee's goal to prevent Grant from ever reaching Richmond and at all costs. 
Richmond was the seat of government of the Confederacy as well as Lee's
principal source of supply.  And to prevent Grant from reaching Richmond Lee
would move south along a line west of Grant and continue to attempt to move his
army out ahead of Grant's line of march and position it between Grant and
Richmond.  At the same time, if Grant could get his army ahead of Lee's, he could
position this army between Lee and Richmond and cut him off from his base of
supply thereby destroying Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in a continually
weakening state.  So as the campaign progresses we have two major armies
moving south.  Both are attempting to throw themselves across the line of march
south of the other.  And so goes the campaign.  The Wilderness, Spotsylvania
Court House, etc. to Cold Harbor with any number of smaller engagements
between.  At Cold Harbor Lee begins to push Grant out around Richmond to the
east.  And they continue on south, pummeling each other at great cost in human
life but to no strategic advantage.  And finally, knowing full well that he is risking
vestment of the Army of Northern Virginia in a major siege, Lee sets up the final
major obstacle for Grant and he enters Petersburg in the late spring of 1864.  And
by the time they had arrived at that point Grant had invested 30 days and had
incurred nearly 60,000 Union casualties. [36]

     Now, the thrust of the overall Battle of Spotsylvania Court House involved a
struggle between Lee's troops and Hancock's 2nd Corps of the Army of the
Potomac.  The most heated area of the battlefield was at a Confederate defensive
position toward the union right known, due to its shape, as the "mule shoe" and,
more specifically, at a point at the northwest of the mule shoe which would
become know as the "Bloody Angle".  Fighting at this location was so fierce that
a live oak tree having a trunk measuring 24 inches in diameter was finally toppled
from destruction of its truck by small arms fire. [37]  After the battle was over live
wounded men were found beneath piles of dead bodies which were so disfigured
as not to be identifiable. [38]
                    
     To the south of this position and a little more than a half mile north of the
intersection of the Fredericksburg Road and Brock Road [present day highways
208 and 613] there was an eastward protrusion in the Confederate defensive line
which would become known as Heth's Salient after Major General Henry Heth
who's division occupied the line at this point.  The eastern most segment of this
protrusion was held by the 47th Virginia Infantry, commanded by Colonel Robert
M. Mayo.  The 47th Virginia was attached to Walker's Brigade.   And so, the
fortification at this apex of the bulge would become known as Mayo's earthworks.
[39]

     To help envision what this fortification (and most earthen
     fortifications) looked like one need only understand how it came to
     be constructed.  When the defensive line was ordered to "dig in" the
     men would produce their shovels or any implement that could
     conceivably be used to throw earth.  They would scour out a
     depression in the ground and all soil removed would be piled up
     along the side of the depression facing toward the enemy.  Thereby,
     ideally, a two foot deep depression would result in two feet of
     excavation plus two feet of soil piled up beside the excavation.  The
     total result would be a four foot fortification when the excavators
     huddled effectively into the depression while under fire.  Also, given
     a little time and some immediately available timber, defenders would
     cut trees and lay the trunks along the top of the earth rows giving
     them additional cover.  When a long defensive line undertook the
     construction of such a fortification it could result in a mile or more
     of continuous or unbroken earthworks.

     And, nearly due of east Mayo's earthworks on the 12th of May in 1864 is
where we find Burnside's Ninth Corps and Company 'I' of the 27th Michigan
Infantry attached to Hartranft's Brigade. [40]  (The make-up of the 1st Brigade has
now changed.  Regiments of the brigade now include the 1st Michigan
Sharpshooters, the 2nd Michigan Infantry, the 8th Michigan Infantry, and the 17th,
20th and 27th Michigan Infantry Regiments.) [41]  And here, on a dreary foggy
morning, [42] we also find Abraham Bair about to keep an appointment with
destiny.

     Perhaps before proceeding on from this point some discussion of the days
immediately proceeding this event might be in order.....  Upon their arrival on the
field at Spotsylvania the 9th Corps somehow managed to find their way to the far
left of the overall force of the Army of the Potomac.  Although the 9th Corps
admittedly would take substantial losses during this engagement, from their
position at the Union left they did manage to avoid the deadliest portion of the
conflict.  As noted previously, that would occur to the north of their position at
the Bloody Angle of the Mule Shoe.  Prior to the major engagement of this battle
on the 12th of May the 9th Corps spent the better part of three days establishing
the alignment and position they would occupy during the coming battle.  To make
matters worse for the 27th Michigan, they were attached to the 3rd Division which
held the far left of the 9th Corps and so, were an obvious target for any flanking
movement by the Confederates.  Two days prior to the final battle it was
determined that the 3rd Division (which included the 27th Michigan) had become
spread out too far to the south and that their ranks had thinned to an
unacceptable degree.  Also, in this position they were in danger of losing contact
with Hancock's 2nd Corps to the north. This would have given the enemy an
opportunity to breach the offensive Union line at mid point and to attack these
two flanks, both to the north and to the south, in a single maneuver.  This
situation had potential to create a disaster for the entire Union army. 
Recognizing this Burnside had ordered the 3rd Division to shift, pulling together
to the north to secure a solid line with the 2nd Corps.  Somehow, specifics
becoming lost or misunderstood in the issuance or delivery of the order, the 3rd
Division did indeed shift to the north.  To the north of the Ny River, leaving the far
left of the 9th Corps and the entire Union army exposed to a flanking movement
from the Confederate far right, assuming the enemy had been able to ascertain
the situation as it existed.  Now, on the 11th of May, just one day prior to the
coming attack, Grant sent his emissaries to various positions about the field to
satisfy himself that preparations for battle were complete.  Those individuals
assigned to Burnside and the 9th Corps immediately observed the latest difficulty
with the position of Willcox' 3rd Division of which the 27th Michigan was a part. 
And orders were immediately given for the 3rd Division to shift back far enough to
the south so that the Union line would once more cover the far right of the
Confederate line.  This maneuver began in the late afternoon of the 11th and took
until well after darkness to complete effectively.  During this time the entire area
was under a heavy rainfall and Abraham and his companions spent many hours
in this unfamiliar country slogging through deep mud and tall wet grass [43],
unprotected in the rain and the darkness, struggling to get into a position they
wouldn't recognize even when they had it right.  And so, no one slept and
everyone was cold, wet, tired, miserable and confused by first light.  We are
further told that the day dawned with a heavy fog covering the area. [44]  Beyond
this, we have no information as to what might be happening before the newly
established lines of the 27th Michigan until about 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.

          It is now May 12th and at this point we will pick up a detailed account of the
     action from "The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to
     Yellow Tavern" by Gordon C. Rhea .......

     Lee visited Heth's Salient near 2 p.m. and selected it as an ideal
     location for launching an attack against Burnside's left flank.  From
     Mayo's earthworks, he could see Burnside's artillery positioned on a
     far rise.  He could not, however, ascertain the strength of Burnside's
     infantry protecting the guns, and it was also unclear to him whether
     the pieces occupied the extreme Union [left] flank, or whether
     Burnside's line extended farther south.  To gather that valuable
     information, Lee asked Captain W.T. Nicholson, of the 37th North
     Carolina, to reconnoiter toward the guns.  Nicholson ran several
     hundred yards in front of the salient to the rebel picket line. 
     Soldiers there warned that even raising a hand risked drawing fire. 
     Undeterred, Nicholson crept ahead to a rise for a better view. 
     Federal sharpshooters wounded a companion who had
     accompanied Nicholson, but not before the captain had acquired the
     information Lee needed.  He pitched the incapacitated man over his
     shoulder and started back through a storm of shells.  A fragment
     killed his friend, but Nicholson returned unhurt to tell Lee that no
     soldiers guarded Burnside's [left] flank.

     Lee quickly assembled a force for the assault.  Two brigades, Lane's
     and Weisiger's were to advance to a patch of woods southeast of
     Heth's Salient, then attack Burnside's flank, capturing the guns and
     routing the 9th Corps.  The overall strategy, as Lee explained it to
     Lane, was to create such havoc that Grant would have to withdraw
     troops from [the area of] the Bloody Angle, thereby diminishing the
     pressure against Ewell [at that point].  Lane initiated the maneuver
     by sending the 7th and 33rd North Carolina, under Lieutenant Colonel
     Robert V. Cowan, to the stand of oak trees that was to serve as the
     attack's staging area.  Captain Thomas G. Williamson, of the 7th
     North Carolina, cleared Burnside's skirmishers from the woods and
     advanced within striking distance of the artillery.  Then Lane arrived
     with the rest of his brigade, which he arrayed generally north to
     south, conforming to Burnside's line, its left in the oak woods.  The
     7th North Carolina was bent back, or refused, to protect Lane's right
     flank.  Weisiger formed in support about a hundred yards behind
     Lane.

     Early directed his two brigades to advance "at once and rapidly." 
     Lane's men charged into the clearing and continued toward the
     nearest Union battery, which was posted on a small ridge identified
     in postwar maps as Bald Hill.  Weisiger charged more to the north,
     angling toward Hartranft's Brigade [position of Company 'I' of the
     27th Michigan and Abraham Bair] immediately above the guns.

     Lieutenant Charles T. Haigh, of the 37th North Carolina, led Lane's
     attack, hat in one hand and sword in the other, shouting, "Charge,
     boys, charge!  The battery is ours!"  A soldier observed, "We read
     often of such things, but they seldom happen. [Officers] generally
     remain in rear of their men to keep from being shot by them." 
     Inspired by Haigh's example, Lane's troops sprinted "very
     handsomely" toward Burnside's guns.  Canister and round shot
     crashed through the trees and plowed the ground around them. 
     Haigh fell mortally wounded, and his regiment was severely cut up. 
     "It was terrible, terrible, yet exciting." a survivor of the charge wrote
     home.

     Lane's momentum carried him to the Union guns.  Fighting raged
     fiercely around the 19th New York Battery, which fired a continual
     stream of canister into the attacking rebels.  Captain Edward W.
     Rogers enlisted his drivers to replace the battery's fallen gunners,
     and Joseph W.B. Wright's battery and two sections of Adelbert
     Twitchell's battery, stationed nearby, merged their fire with Rogers'. 
     Willcox' artillery chief Lieutenant Samuel N. Benjamin, received a
     horrible neck wound but refused to stop fighting, holding the ragged
     pieces of flesh together with his hand.  Colonel William Humphrey,
     whose Michiganders defended Rogers' pieces, asserted that nearly
     every man in Rogers' battery was killed or wounded but that the 2nd
     Michigan checked the Confederates.  Lane maintained that he
     captured the battery but could not haul it off because he had neither
     horses nor an adequate road.

     Constant Luce, of the 17th Michigan, learned of the Virginians' attack
     when a private shouted that Confederates were approaching from
     the left.  A shell killed the soldier, pitching him into Luce and
     knocking the colonel face down as rebels swarmed over him.  "We
     got in it very heavy," a Virginian succinctly allowed of the close-
     quarters brawl.  "The hottest place I have been in since Manassas",
     asserted another.  Ben May, the 12th Virginia's color-bearer who had
     won distinction in the Wilderness, was shot by a Federal less than
     ten feet away.  Some of Lane's men apparently shifted north and
     joined the fray.  In the confusion, Luce and several of his soldiers
     escaped, bringing with them as a prisoner the 37th North Carolina's
     Colonel William M. Barbour
     
     On Hartranft's right, Christ's brigade, of Willcox' division, pushed
     ahead toward Heth's Salient.  Early's gunners opened on Christ as
     he approached, and Weisiger's troops continued their wild advance
     north across Hartranft and into Christ's lower flank.  Bayonets
     flashing, the Virginians sliced into the 50th Pennsylvania, captured
     about a hundred Yankees, then continued into the 20th Michigan. 
     "No words of mine can describe the scene that ensued," a Michigan
     man wrote.  "It literally rained shot and shell all around us and our
     comrades were falling on every side by scores."  Major George C.
     Barnes faced the 20th Michigan toward Weisiger and "attacked boldly
     and cut his way out," according to a Union report filed after the
     battle.  He was later commended for his "most reckless bravery,
     exposing himself where it seemed impossible for a man to live,
     encouraging and steadying his men regardless of danger."

     On Christ's northern flank, the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters advanced
     under "destructive fire" of musketry and canister to within fifty
     yards of Heth's Salient.  Concluding that it was safer to continue on
     than to retreat.  Colonel Charles V. DeLand led his own 1st Michigan
     Sharpshooters and the 27th Michigan over the works that Mayo's
     Virginians occupied.  But he was unable to hold his position and fell
     back across the field, leaving a carpet of bodies behind.

At this precise position and at this exact time Abraham Bair sustains his head
wound as he charges over Mayo's earthworks with the men of Company 'I' of the
27th Michigan at the direction of Colonel DeLand.  It would have been between
3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon that Abraham was shot in the left
side of his face.  The ball entered his left cheek at the lower jaw line, shattering
his jaw.  It then transited laterally through his neck and exited below and behind
his right ear. [44A]  Reasonably assuming that the wound was not the result of
friendly fire, the most likely conclusion would be that it had been fired by a
member of the 47th Virginia Infantry Regiment.  At the precise time Abraham
sustained this wound he was in the immediate company of two fellow members
of Company 'I'; partners in arms Gilbert E. Hall, of the approximate age of 29 and
from St. Johns, Michigan and John Carpenter of the approximate age of 19 and
from Duplain, Michigan. [45]  These two individuals immediately ceased all
hostile action, gathered up the wounded Abraham and transported him bodily
back to a safe point out of the immediate line of fire.  There they left him for
others to care for, assuming they would not see him alive again, and returned to
the battle.  And so, on the 12th day of May in 1864 Abraham Bair became one of
6800 men to be counted among the Union casualties for the day. [46]

     For a second look at this same action we can refer to Report #243 submitted
by Colonel Charles V. Deland, 1st MI Sharpshooters.  This report was filed [by
Colonel Deland] from a hospital bed in Washington D.C. days after the action in
which Colonel Deland was wounded.

     On the 12th [of May], by the sickness of Colonel Christ, the command of
     the brigade devolved upon me during most of the day.  Nothing of
     importance occurred until after I was relieved, at my own request, and by
     the order of General Willcox, by Colonel Humphrey, of the Second
     Michigan Infantry, being very much depressed and exhausted by sickness
     and labor.  I received verbal permission from General Willcox to leave the
     field, but soon after, learning that a charge was to be made, I returned
     and assumed command of my own regiment.  The charge was ordered
     about 3 p.m., and my regiment placed in position on the right of the
     brigade which formed supporting our second line.  The lines advanced
     rapidly about 500 yards under a very heavy and destructive fire of
     musketry, grape, and canister from the enemy.  The advanced line was
     soon checked, but the second line pushed on, driving the enemy before it
     until within 50 yards of the enemy's works, when it was halted.  With no
     cover the men were exposed to the enemy, to a murderous fire, and the
     loss bid fair to be a fearful record.  I ordered the men forward to the first
     line of the enemy's works, which was carried, [Abraham Bair was
     wounded at this point] and jointly occupied by the Sharpshooters and the
     Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry.  After a few moments the whole left of
     the line gave way, and we became exposed to a murderous cross-fire of
     shell, grape, and canister.  To advance was impossible; to retreat difficult. 
     Our brigade commander was wounded and temporarily left the field, and
     our ammunition was nearly exhausted, but on consultation with Major
     Moody, commanding the Twenty-seventh Michigan, it was decided to hold
     the ground until the last possible moment in hopes the line would be
     organized or some support sent to our aid.  For a full hour the men in this
     position fought with a determination and gallantry unsurpassed.  Twice the
     rebels charged to obtain our colors, and were as often met and driven
     back by our bayonets.  We at length received the order to retire, being the
     only regiment of the brigade who remained to contest the field.

          On November 2nd, 1997 I traveled to the Spotsylvania Battlefield Military
     Park.  There, I met with a Park Ranger and inquired as to how I might
     determine and locate the position where Abraham Bair had been wounded. 
     He inquired as to his regiment and the date of his wound and then went
     about searching through available information to determine where a
     member of the 27th Michigan Infantry would have been wounded on May
     12th, 1864.  Shortly, he gave me the information on the above battle along
     with the following directions on how to locate Mayo's Earthworks at Heth's
     Salient.  "Continue on the drive through the park until after you turn onto
     Burnside Drive.  Approximately a half mile before the park exit there will be
     a small monument just off the right shoulder of the road.  It will be about 2
     feet high and will be made of dark gray granite.  The monument was placed
     at this location by a committee in memory of the 17th Michigan Infantry
     Regiment [in the spring of 1997].  On the monument names of other 1st
     Brigade Michigan regiments, including the 27th, will be listed.  Search
     behind this monument to the west for a foot trail entering the woods and
     follow it back about a quarter of a mile.  You will come upon the
     earthworks, still in tact and much as they were on the day of the battle.  As
     the earthworks are off the main road and relatively obscure, few people
     have ever bothered them and they remain as well preserved as any yet
     today."  I followed these directions carefully and found the site with relative
     ease.  Today, what was open country 133 years ago is now overgrown with
     brush and trees in sizes from saplings to those having trunks measuring,
     perhaps, 12 inches in diameter.  The earthworks, however, were pristine
     and frightening in their reality when one took time to consider what was
     done on this spot 133 years ago.  The day of my visit the leaves were in full
     autumn color and were floating down to the forest floor.  Though the sky
     was blue and the sun was out the dense growth filtered out the ambient
     light to the point where an automatic camera fired it's flash to assure
     sufficient light for a properly exposed photo.  It was still and quiet as the
     birds were flocking for seasonal movement to some other clime.  All in all it
     was a unnerving place to be alone and without company to engage in
     conversation.  Contemplation of the deeds done here at this now pristine
     spot raised the hair stiff on the back of the neck as if some spiritual energy
     was still hanging in the air. See photos in the appendix..... [Tim Gosselin]

     Immediately after he was wounded Abraham would have been removed to a
nearby location known as Harris house which was located just east and north of
the Ny River.  This location was two to three miles east northeast of where
Abraham was wounded.  Harris house was a compound including a fine house,
numerous out buildings and finely manicured gardens.  It was also at this
location that the 9th Corps had established a rudimentary battlefield hospital. 
Here, they gathered and treated their wounded, did the obligatory amputations,
identified and marshaled the dead and shipped stabilized wounded men out to
Fredericksburg. [47]  We know that Abraham was transported from the
Spotsylvania Battlefield to Fredericksburg within a day or so and, there, placed in
a field hospital for just a short time. [48]
      
     There was no rail connection between Spotsylvania Court House and
     Fredericksburg.  The only direct connection is what was then known as
     Court House Road. [Highway 208 today].  Although there was a railroad
     connection to Fredericksburg at Guiney Station [5 miles distant] there was
     no direct road between Spotsylvania Court House and Guiney Station.  By
     the time the winding roads between Spotsylvania and Guiney Station were
     traveled the distance would have been as great as the direct trip to
     Fredericksburg from Spotsylvania.  It is, therefore, most likely that
     Abraham was transported from the Harris house direct to Fredericksburg
     by ambulance over the Court House Road.  This would have involved a trip
     of approximately ten miles in a horse drawn wagon over rough and rutted
     roads.  While in Fredericksburg I inquired at the National Military Park as to
     how I could determine where field hospitals might have been located in the
     immediate area.  I received the following explanation: The battles of the
     Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House were about a week apart. 
     Between them thousands of casualties were generated.  These would have
     numbered substantially higher than the total population of Fredericksburg. 
     Nearly all surviving casualties from both battles were marshaled through
     Fredericksburg.  This, as wounded Union soldiers would be returned north
     and the railroad north was at Fredericksburg.  Due to the unimaginable
     influx of wounded men any facility in Fredericksburg which would keep
     wounded men out of the weather was called into service as a field hospital. 
     This would have included public buildings, churches, private residences,
     barns, temporary tent cities, etc.  As the need for immediate care was
     imperative no effort was made to place men according to their units or
     even according to their national allegiances.  When a man came in by
     trainfrom the Wilderness or by ambulance from Spotsylvania he was lifted
     out of his conveyance and placed onto the first available piece of
     convenient real estate.

     We do know from his actual pension records that Abraham was admitted to
Harewood Hospital in Washington D.C. on May 22nd.  So, within ten days of having
sustained his wound he was transported by horse drawn ambulance from Mayo's
Earthworks to Harris House, from there to Fredericksburg and, then, by train from
Fredericksburg to Washington.  And all of this after having sustained a wound
that, even in today's world of seeming regular medical miracles, would have been
considered to be life threatening.  Abraham remained at Harewood for eight days
and, on May 30th, 1864 he was transferred to McClellan U.S. Army General
Hospital in Philadelphia for more specialized care than he could receive at
Harewood.  He was actually admitted to McClellan on May 31st. [49] 

     Transportation to Philadelphia would have been by train. Abraham
remained at McClellan Hospital in Philadelphia throughout the summer of 1864. 
While there, he was under the care of McClellan chief surgeon Lewis Taylor. [50] 
We do not know specifically what care he received.  In those days and at that
time, however, one would think it doubtful whether he had received much more
than simple convalescent care.  A muster roll report posted for June of 1864
shows Abraham in Ward 20 at McClellan.  A report issued in August indicates that
Abraham has been in Ward 22 since July.  Another document in Abraham's
military file shows that he was granted a furlough on August 12th and that he
returned to the hospital from that furlough on September 3rd.  There is no
indication where he may have gone during this furlough but he did incur
transportation expense in connection with the furlough. [50A]

     By this time (ninety days after having been wounded) Abraham must have
healed to a considerable degree as his physician has allowed him to travel and to
be absent of daily medical attention for an extended period.  An additional report
issued by the Surgeon General's office in 1870, in support of Abraham's pension
claim, indicates that he was returned to active duty from the hospital on
September 13th of that same year.

     In discussion of the wound with which Abraham Bair was
     inflicted: It is my opinion that the projectile he was struck with
     was fired from a pistol or hand gun.  My logic is as follows: A
     man might be wounded in those days with one of four types of
     ordinance - an artillery projectile (or fragments thereof), a bullet
     fired from a rifle, a shot gun blast or, a bullet fired from a hand
     gun.  Artillery wounds were devastating, maiming wounds.  Either
     shell or canister projectiles would leave large gaping wounds and
     would be much more likely to remove an appendage or extremity
     than to pass neatly through it.  A bullet fired from a rifle was also
     a considerable projectile.  I recently weighted one which I have
     and it weighted 31.5 grams or about 1.1 ounces.  In addition it is a
     large bore object and I feel it doubtful that such an object would
     leave the relatively isolated damage done by this projectile
     considering the delicate area of the body through which it
     passed.  We know from his records that a shot gun wound is out
     of consideration.  A hand gun projectile was round and non-
     tumbling.  It was perhaps a little larger than a pea.  It was regular
     in shape, straight, true and consistent in its line of travel and
     could have passed through Abraham's throat leaving the
     relatively minor damage which it did.  Keep in mind that, although
     this was a devastating wound for Abraham to endure, this
     projectile struck him in the left jaw bone, shattering the jaw, and
     proceeded on through his neck and throat, exiting his right neck
     below and behind his right ear.  In its course of travel, however, it
     managed to miss both jugular veins, his larynx and his spine. 
     Although Abraham Bair had a truly miserable physical existence
     at times due to the wound he received he was extremely likely to
     have been left dead, crippled or without speech, none of which
     occurred.  Also, and again in support of the hand gun projectile
     theory, the charge being made by Company 'I' at the time this
     wound was inflicted, put Abraham in extremely close physical
     proximity to an enemy who, with near certainty, would have relied
     upon the use of a close up weapon, such as a hand gun, at the
     time.  Also, and beyond the cause and effect of the wound, had
     Abraham not been immediately removed from the field by his
     comrades, he would likely have died there on the field or in a
     Confederate prison camp.

                           PETERSBURG

     Abraham returns to his unit some time after his release from McClellan
Hospital on September 13th, 1864. [51]  By the time of his release Atlanta has
fallen to General Sherman and the infamous "March to the Sea" is in full
swing.  The Siege of Petersburg is fully vested and divisions of the 9th Corps
are in line to the east of Petersburg and south of the Appomattox River. [52] 
By the time of Abrahams arrival General Burnside has left the field following a
court of inquiry and resultant from suggested unsatisfactory leadership of the
9th Corps during their participation, on July 30th,  in the follow-up of the mine
explosion.  Major General John G. Parke is now commander-in-chief of the 9th
Corps.  The 27th Michigan is under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles
Waite and the 1st Brigade is in the command of Colonel Samuel Harriman. 
General Willcox is in command of the 1st Division (which is the old 3rd Division
now, by way of General Order #39 issued on September 13th, 1864, re-
designated as the 1st Division). [53]

     To understand what is happening at Petersburg.....  Lee moved his army
into Petersburg after pushing Grant and the Army of the Potomac east around
Richmond after the Battle of Cold Harbor the previous spring.  As since May
4th, Lee has the Army of Northen Virginia positioned between Grant and
Richmond.  As long as he can maintain this position between Grant and
Richmond the Confederacy can live on.  For Lee, however, with the single
exception of protecting the Confederate Capital at Richmond, this has become
a conflict of diminishing returns.  Lee's Army of Northern Virginia is held
captive in Petersburg and can sustain itself from no source other than what
can be found within their lines.  Grant, on the other hand, has total and
complete access to the unfettered resources of the entire Union north.  For
Lee, food, ammunition and other essentials are in finite and ever dwindling
supply.  As life has become more and more difficult for the defenders, Lees
troop losses to desertion will come to number in the tens of thousands before
the evacuation of Petersburg.  Grant, on the other hand, has established lines
of supply which have allowed the Army of the Potomac to sustain themselves
in profusion.  And by way of the railroad from the docks at City Point, federals
in the trenches are not only eating regular meals but, are enjoying such
delicacies as water melon and peaches. [54]  And as the siege goes on Grant
continues to reinforce, extending his lines around Petersburg to the west so
as to complete the circle.  And Lee continues to extend his thinning lines
further and further around to his right to stay ahead of Grant's ever tightening
noose.  And along the way, over a ten month period, we have any number of
smaller conflicts and skirmishes which accompany Grants efforts to continue
to extend the Union lines and Lees best resistance to defend against these
efforts.  And in those portions of the lines which are in place and remain static
we have individuals from two armies looking at each other daily over the tops
of elaborate earth work fortifications and firing occasional shots designed 
to keep heads down and to remind the opposition that death can await the
careless even during times of boredom. And Grant, to keep things stirred up,
prevent sleep and generally, to wear down the enemy, has ordered the firing of
mortars and siege guns every two minutes or so, continuously, all day and all
night. [54A] 
     
     And this is where Abraham Bair returns to the 27th Michigan Infantry
Volunteers following his release on September 13th, 1864, from McClellan
Hospital in Philadelphia.  In the weeks following his return and prior to the end
of 1864, Abraham will be engaged in two actions:

     The first of these will occur between September 29th and October 2nd.  It
will be recorded under a number of different names including.....  Peebles'
Farm, Poplar Springs Church, Wyatt's Farm, Chappell's House, Pegram's
Farm, Vaughan Road and Harmon Road.  This action takes place south west of
Petersburg along the west end of the Confederate line in Dinwiddie County. 
The account of action recorded here is taken from two sources..... The report
of Colonel Sam Harriman, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division,
filed on October 16th, [55] and, the report of Captain Charles Waite of the 27th
Michigan Infantry, filed on October 17th [56].  The 27th Michigan breaks camp
on September 29th, 1864, from their assigned 9th Corps location east of
Petersburg and just south of the Appomattox River.  They proceed in march to
the south behind Union fortifications and around toward the Confederate right
until they reach a position which is identified as the Gurley house.  Here they
make camp and spend the night.  At 10:00 a.m. the next morning they take up
the march toward Poplar Springs Church and proceed until around 4:00 p..m.
in the afternoon where they fall into line with other regiments of the 1st Brigade
in an open field near, and to the left of, the Pegram house.  They are near the
far west end of the Confederate defensive line.  To their left, regiments of the
2nd Division have advanced to the north against the far right end of enemy line
and, upon being driven back are joined in retreat by the 27th Michigan and
other 1st Brigade units.  As they fall back the enemy advances and pours heavy
fire into their ranks.  The 27th Michigan, along with the 8th Michigan and the 37th
Wisconsin stop the retreat at a rail fence and form a battle line from where
they are able to stop the Confederate advance.  When other fleeing regiments
observe this action they return to the line and the attack is successfully
repulsed.  At 11:00 p.m. that evening the 1st Brigade is relieved at that position
and is marched farther up the road to the west.  There they spend the night
constructing earth works in a heavy rain.  To the east of Harriman's 1st
Brigade, the Brigades of General McLaughlen and General Hartranft are
working feverishly to complete construction of fortifications at their locations
and soon, the entire Union line will be extended west to this point and beyond. 
Work continues on the next day (which is noted to be a Saturday) until all new
fortifications have been completed.  On Sunday the 2nd of October, the 38th
Wisconsin is left in place to occupy and hold the new defensive position of the
1st Brigade.  The remainder of the Division proceeds to the north and west with
the 27th and 8th Michigan Regiments sent out as skirmishers to probe for
presence of the enemy in advance of remaining regiments.  Before too long
shots are exchanged between the 27th and 8th Michigan and the enemy lines. 
The remainder of the Division is brought up and the Confederates are
dislodged from their fortifications and are driven back.  At this point, earth
works from the previous days work are extended from the east to this location
and the abandoned rebel earth works now become part of the Union line.  The
27th Michigan and other Union regiments remain holding this location until
October 8th when they are relieved by other units.  As it is late in the day when
relief arrives the 27th Michigan remains at this location for the night.  The
morning of October 9th they strike out on their march back to the 9th Corps
position south of the Appomattox River.  The 27th Michigan sustains 8
casualties in this engagement and, among their dead is Lieutenant Theodore
S. Mead.  Abraham Bair is not among those counted as casualties.  9th Corps
losses in this action total 354.  The Union lines encircling Petersburg to the
south of town have been extended further west which was the purpose of the
action.

     It can be noted from the Official War Record that the 27th Michigan
     is often sent out when skirmishers are required.  Skirmishers are
     those who go before the main body of the army and probe for the
     presence of the enemy when the enemy's location is unknown. 
     Often the first warning of success for the skirmisher are shots
     fired by those being sought.  And often the first projectiles fired
     find their marks an instant before the sound reports are heard. 
     This is not a job for the faint of heart, the weak of knee or those
     inclined to flee under fire.  It speaks well for the courage and
     tenacity of the 27th Michigan.  Abraham Bair is among men of
     courage.

     The next engagement of the 27th Michigan and, the last for Abraham in
1864, will occur on October 27th and 28th of 1864.  It will become known under
three principal names.....  Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run (in the coming
months, three engagements will become known as Hatcher's Run) and,
Burgess' Mill.  During this engagement, for reasons unclear at this time, the 1st
Brigade is in command of Brigadier General John F. Hartranft and the 27th
Michigan is in command of Captain James DaFoe. [57]  The intent or objective
of this action is to extend the Union lines to the north of the Union left as far
as the South Side Railroad.  Elements of three Union corps are involved in this
action, including, the 9th Corps of General Parke to which the 27th Michigan is
attached. [58]

     On October 27th, 1864, General Parke is directed to proceed with
     his 9th Corps along the main road to "Hawk's" probing the enemy
     line to his right during this advance.  He is advised to take
     advantage of any obvious weakness he might discover but not to
     attack any works found to be "strong or well manned".  Finding
     strongly fortified positions General Parke is to threaten and
     confront the enemy, hope being that Confederates called to
     reinforce the line at that point will leave weaknesses elsewhere
     which Generals Warren (5th Corps) and Hancock (2nd Corps) can
     exploit to some advantage from their positions on either side of
     the 9th Corps.  Once the 9th Corps is in position General Hartranft
     sends the 27th Michigan out as skirmishers to probe the enemy
     line so that a determination of the strength of the line can be
     made.  Enemy fortifications are found to be strong and effectively
     entrenched and, according to orders no attack is made at this
     point.  The skirmishers from the 27th take fire from the enemy
     fortifications as they approach the earth works at around 5:00
     p.m.  The 27th is then recalled and ordered to the left to connect
     the 9th Corps to Warren's 5th Corp and to keep the Union line
     continuous in the event of an enemy attack.  The major
     engagement of the day is an attack by the enemy to the right of
     the 27th Michigan on Hancock's 2nd Corps.  The attack is repulsed. 
     In his report of this incident Lieutenant General Grant indicates
     that the Union has captured 7 loaded teams on the way from
     Stony Creek to the enemy, about a dozen beef-cattle, a traveling
     forge, and 75 to 100 prisoners.....  The ultimate goal of extending
     Union lines to the South Side Railroad is not met.  The Union line
     is extended west to a point which Grant identifies as Armstrong's
     Mill.  The 27th Michigan reports casualties as 4 men wounded. 
     Hartranft's Brigade reports a total of 30 casualties (including
     those of the 27th) of which only 2 are fatalities, these, having been
     sustained by the 109th New York Infantry.

     As the 9th Corps is withdrawn from this engagement Abraham Bair has
seen his last action of 1864.  Six days hence, on November 3rd, Abraham is
given leave. [59]  We do not know for how long.  November 3rd seems like a
long time to extend to Christmas so, that he was with his loved ones over that
special holiday does not seem likely.  He did, however, make a considerable
journey during this leave as he incurred transportation expense of nearly $20
[60] which was in excess of a months pay.


                                                       THE END OF THE WAR

     It is now the spring of 1865.  Abraham has long since returned from his
leave the previous autumn.  It has been said that the life of a Civil War
infantryman involves months of tedium punctuated with brief moments of
terror.  These past few months have been those of tedium for Abraham.

     In the brief history of the 27th Michigan Infantry [61] the regiment
receives credit for participating in the defense and recapture of Fort Stedman
following the March 25th, 1865 early morning Confederate assault.  Certainly,
this successful action was limited to 9th Corps participation.  Within the 9th
Corps the major Division participating was the 3rd Division under the command
of General Hartranft.  (General Hartranft, in fact and following the action,
became known widely as "The Hero of Fort Stedman").  Although units of the
1st Division under General Willcox participated in this action the 1st Brigade did
not, as evidenced by zero casualties counted for the entire 1st Brigade in a
very hot action. [62]  And so, even though the 27th Michigan was in line in the
vicinity of Stedman (and certainly would not have slept through this action) it
would seem that they were not in position to lend any valued assistance in the
actual repulse of the attack or the recapture of the fort.  The 2nd and 3rd
Brigades of the 1st Division, however, were involved in the action and did
sustain casualties. [63]

     As this attack was officially the very last Confederate offensive action of
the war I have taken the liberty of entering an account of the battle as
presented in the Official War Record. [64]

     March 25. - In the early morning the enemy made a desperate
     assault on Fort Stedman, in front of the lines of the First Division,
     and succeeded, after determined resistance on the part of the
     garrison, in gaining temporary possession of it. The lines were
     firmly held on either side of the fort [the 27th Michigan was in line
     south of Stedman] until the Third Division, Brevet Major-General
     Hartranft commanding, came up, when a charge was made by his
     division and a portion of the First Division, which soon resulted
     in the recapture of the fort and the capture of a large number of
     prisoners, besides inflicting upon the enemy a severe loss in
     killed and wounded while being driven back to his works. Our
     loss was comparatively small. 

     Confederate casualties in this engagement approximated 4000 total. 
This is a loss Lee can ill afford. [65]


     The next action involving Abraham Bair and the 27th Michigan Infantry
will be their last of the war.  Before proceeding I thought I might discuss the
structures or fortifications that would become known as forts along both the
defensive and offensive lines at Petersburg.  A fort was an enclosed
earthwork.  The center area was excavated out and the spoil was piled all
around the center.  Redoubts were commonly constructed at the corners and
the embankments between were shaped for optimum defensive
characteristics.  These were protected by careful placement of abatis and
chevaux de frise.  Very substantial trench works were constructed along the
entire line that would allow continuous access between these fortifications all
out of enemy eyesight and gunshot range.  These forts were basically artillery
emplacements and provided cover for those individuals manning the large
guns.  Forts along the lines here were usually named for men held in esteem
by the troops who had constructed and who were defending them.  Normally
these individuals would be those who had "given that last full measure of
devotion".  Fort Stedman, noted in the battle above, was one of these.  Fort
Stedman would have been constructed near what would become the near-
center of the 9th Corps area of the offensive line.  The subject of the final
shooting encounter of the 27th Michigan will be Fort Sedgwick in the Union line
and, directly across from Fort Sedgwick in the Confederate line, Fort Mahone. 
The peripheries of these two forts were approximately 50 yards apart and
these two were the closest together of all the forts constructed along the lines. 
For this reason these two forts were not known to be the healthiest or safest
locations along the line.  These forts would be south of the 9th Corps area of
the line and were at or near that area of the line where Confederate defenses
turned to the west from a north/south alignment.  The account given,
following, was excerpted from information provided by Captain Charles Waite
in command of the 27th Michigan during this engagement.  The full original
account can be found in the Official War Record as presented in the
Appomattox volume. [66]

     Due to observance of certain defensive movements of the enemy
     over the past few days it is the conclusion of ranking Union
     officers that weaknesses are developing along the Confederate
     defensive lines around Petersburg.  For this reason it is
     determined that the lines should "be tested" to search out
     potential weak spots for larger scale attacks.  Among those units
     called upon to participate in this testing of the line is the 27th
     Michigan.  Although we are not told by Captain Waite where this
     initial assault was attempted we are told that the conclusion
     reached was that the enemy fortifications were found to be yet
     strong at the location where the 27th makes their attack.  It would
     be a reasonable assumption that the 27th assaulted the enemy line
     directly before their position in line.  This would have been south
     of Fort Stedman and north of Fort Sedgwick along the left of the
     9th Corps position.  During the assault (this was ordered to be
     made generally along the entire Petersburg fortification beginning
     at 11:00 p.m on April 1st, 1865) it is determined that that area of
     the line before Fort Sedgwick might present an opportunity.  For
     this reason the 27th Michigan and other units adjacent to this area
     are ordered to report to the Fort Sedgwick area of the Union line
     for a pointed assault to be made on Fort Mahone beginning at
     4:00 a.m.  The assault on Fort Mahone will be made under the
     command of General John F. Hartranft, the very same brigade
     commander who Abraham's 27th Michigan reported to during the
     fateful assault on Mayo's Earthworks at Spotsylvania Court House
     on May 12th, last.  And now it is the early morning hours and yet
     dark.  Abraham is huddled beside other members of the 27th
     Michigan awaiting the signal to attack.  And as he awaits the
     signal to charge he has to be remembering a day nearly a year
     ago at Spotsylvania Court House and wondering whether he will
     ever see the next sunrise now only a few hours away.....  Before
     the enemy position at the base of the line are two rows of what is
     known as chevaux-de-frise.  These are logs which have holes
     bored through them at close centers.  Adjacent holes are at 90
     degrees to each other.  Sharpened poles are then pounded
     through the holes and these are set out as defensive structures. 
     (Today, barbed wire would be used for this same purpose.) 
     These structures are large, heavy and cumbersome obstacles that
     attacking troops have to get over or around.  While these are
     being scaled by attackers the defenders will have added time to
     fire upon them with deadly effect.  Those men first in line during
     an attack have the responsibility of rendering chevaux-de-frise
     ineffective by whatever means available.  Troops so assigned
     take heavy casualties.  During the assault on Fort Mahone the 27th
     Michigan has been directed to a position in the attack order that
     will put them last in the line of attack to go over the defenses of
     Fort Sedgwick.  For this reason men ahead of them in the line of
     attack have paid the price for disabling the chevaux-de-frise
     before the 27th begins their offensive movement during the early
     morning hours of April 2nd.  As Captain Waite waves the 27th
     forward over the walls of Fort Sedgwick and into the deadly space
     between the lines it is obvious to him that those preceding him
     are going to carry the day on the walls of Fort Mahone.  Over to
     his right and north of Fort Mahone he sees an eastward
     protrusion in the defensive wall.  (This position will become
     known as "Miller's Salient").  At this point the enemy has placed
     an artillery battery consisting of three pieces and those manning
     them are struggling to load and preparing to fire nearly point
     blank into the ranks of the 1st Brigade before Fort Mahone. 
     Captain Waite immediately redirects the attacking 27th Michigan to
     this location and the men of the 27th go over the earthworks of
     Miller's Salient under the direct fire of the defenders.  At the top
     they place the colors of the 27th, beat off the defenders and take
     over the artillery pieces, firing the heavy guns into the ranks of
     the fleeing defenders and into the inner lines of the Confederate
     defenses in general.  They continue firing until a detachment from
     the 1st Connecticut Artillery Regiment comes over the wall behind
     them and relieves them from their efforts in lieu of artillerymen
     who have been trained for the purpose.  The 1st Connecticut
     locates a substantial store of shell and canister and continues
     firing the Confederate weapons into the enemy ranks with deadly
     effect.  While this is going on the men of the 27th Michigan
     undertake a sweep of the surrounding area behind the lines and
     begin to round up large numbers of prisoners including officers
     and infantrymen.  These men are sent to the rear of the Union
     lines for disposition by normal means.  This action continues on
     until around 10:00 p.m. the night of April 2nd when the 27th
     Michigan is recalled from the area at Miller's Salient.  The 27th is
     then immediately directed to begin construction of earthworks
     perpendicular to the enemy line and between the Union and
     Confederate lines.  These earthworks will connect the lines and
     allow covered passage of Union troops from their own lines to the
     newly acquired Confederate position, in effect, extending the
     effective Union line at this point.  At daybreak on April 3rd, the 27th
     Michigan moves into the City of Petersburg with other regiments
     of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 1st Division and become the first
     men of the Union army to do so since the beginning of the war. 
     During this incursion officials of the City of Petersburg officially
     surrender to Captain Ely of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division.  The
     flags of Captain Ely's regiments are the first to be raised in the
     City of Petersburg following the siege.  Along the way the 27th
     Michigan captures 2 mortar batteries including a total of 9
     mortars.  And, Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia are
     evacuating Petersburg to the west and are speedily on their way
     to a rendevous with destiny at Appomattox Court House a few
     short days away.  At around 9:00 a.m. on April 3rd, 1865 the 27th
     Michigan returns to their old encampment in the lines of the 9th
     Corps and remains there until the next day, undoubtedly, catching
     up on some much needed sleep.  The 27th Michigan has sustained
     a total of 20 casualties in this engagement. [67]  Abraham Bair is
     not among those counted as casualties.  Although Abraham does
     not now know what will happen between Lee and those of
     Sheridan's Cavalry who are in pursuit of the Army of Northern
     Virginia, he does know that hostilities have ceased at this location
     and that the situation favoring his eventual survival of this
     rebellion has taken a substantial turn for the better.




          The following men of the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers were
promoted for conspicuous gallantry for conduct observed on April 2nd during
the assault on Miller's Salient:

     Captain Charles Waite to Brevet Brigadier General
     
     Captain W.A. Norton to Brevet Major

     Captain Daniel G. Cash to Brevet Major

     Captain R.A. Hadwick to Brevet Major

     The following men of the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers were
recommended for the medals of honor for conspicuous gallantry for conduct
observed on April 2nd during the assault on Miller's Salient:

     Sergeant John McGregor, Company E

     Sergeant Henry A. Kichly, Company B

     Corporal Silas Cramer, Company G

     Corporal George Lane, Second Company Sharpshooters

     On April 5th, 1865 the 1st Brigade, including the 27th Michigan, took up
the march along the South Side Railroad, west, in the wake of Lee and his
army as they fled. [68]  Note that the South Side Railroad was the direct rail
link between Petersburg and all points west including, Appomattox Court
House. [69]  On the 9th of April the 1st Brigade arrives at a point about 40 miles
west of Petersburg [and six miles east of Nottoway Court House] known as
"Black's and White's Station".  At this point they begin to throw up earthworks
possibly in anticipation of the need to defend against the unlikely
backtracking of Lee's army. [70]  However, on the same day and,
approximately fifty miles to the west at Appomattox Court House, General
Robert E. Lee has met with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and confirmed
in writing his acceptance of terms of surrender as proposed by Grant. [71] 
Private Abraham Bair and the 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers were
encamped, here, at Black's and White's Station when word came to them,
likely on the 9th of April, 1865 over the railroad telegraph, that the war was
over.  They were going home!

     The 1st Brigade, however, remained encamped at this location for an
additional ten days.  And it was at this location on the 15th of April, that the
same telegraph which had brought them the news of the end of the war, again
brought them news.  News of yet one more earth shaking event: President
Abraham Lincoln had been killed by an assassin's bullet in Washington D.C.! 
Tomorrow would be Easter Sunday.  It is likely that Abraham Bair remembered
this encampment along the South Side Railroad for the remainder of his days. 
And always as if it were just yesterday.....

     On the morning of April 20th the 1st Brigade, including the 27th Michigan,
took up the march to City Point on the James River where they were ordered
to report for transportation by sea back to Washington D.C.  Although the
march out to Black's and White's had taken better than four days the march
back to City Point, perhaps five miles beyond the area of the 9th Corps
encampment east of Petersburg, took but two days.  One can only speculate
as to why?  Upon their arrival at the docks at City Point the 1st Brigade joins
the ranks of other brigades of the 1st Division and boards steamers for
Washington. [72]  At 7:00 p.m. on the 22nd of April Lieutenant Colonel L. H.
Peirce, Chief Quartermaster of the Ninth Corps, telegraphs a Colonel Van
Buren at Willard's Hotel in Washington D.C. that all elements of the 1st
Division, accompanied by General Parke, has left City Point in route to
Washington.  As an afterthought he notes that he has kept over the 27th
Michigan and the 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiments. [73]  These
men were likely selected at random to aid in expediting the loading of materiel
that is to be shipped out with the 9th Corps.  There is no further notation we
can use to accurately determine when the 27th Michigan is shipped out from
City Point, Virginia.

     The trip by sea down the James and then up the Potomac to Alexandria,
Virginia takes a little more than three days.  The 1st Brigade arrives in
Alexandria and debarks the morning of April 24th.  From the sea port they
march to a point about three miles from the city and go into camp for two
days.  On the morning of April 4th the 1st Brigade breaks camp and marches to
Fort Reno to the east of Tennallytown, and, just northwest of Washington D.C. 
They arrive here at around 4:00 p.m. on the same day and go into camp once
again.  The final 1st Brigade entry indicates that on the 30th of April the brigade
is still in camp at Tennallytown. [74]  It is likely at this location that the 27th
Michigan Infantry catches up with other regiments of the 1st Brigade following
their delayed departure from City Point.

     We are further told in the record of the 27th Michigan that during their
stay in Washington following the armistice various companies of the 27th
would be assigned to guard duty at the Washington Naval Yard.  We have no
indication whether Company 'I' participated in this activity or what, if anything,
may have merited a military guard beyond simple site security. 

     Emotions in Washington at this time had to be mixed to an extreme. 
The war was over and plans were underway for a formal victory celebration
prior to departure of the troops for home.  And, the President of the United
States of America had become the first president ever to be felled by the bullet
of an assassin and Washington City was living "on the edge" as news of the
latest unfolding developments of these events was published daily in the local
papers.  Before Abraham Bair had left City Point, Virginia the accused Lincoln
conspirators had all been placed under arrest in Washington. [75]  On April
26th the military party in pursuit of John Wilkes Booth had caught up with him
at Garrott's Farm just south of Port Royal, Virginia and there, his life had been
taken as he resisted arrest. [76]  Just over two weeks had passed since the
assassination.  Abraham had only recently arrived in town from City Point and
the majority of those to be dealt with in the death of the president were in
custody or were dead.

     On May 1st, President Johnson would issue an executive order naming a
man to the position of "Special Provost Marshall General" in the trial of the
Lincoln conspirators.  The man would be none other than Brevet Major
General John F. Hartranft, [77] that same man who commanded the 1st Brigade
as Abraham stormed over Mayo's Earthworks at Spotsylvania Court House a
year ago and over Miller's Salient south of Petersburg less than a month ago. 
That same man who had, on two occasions, issued orders that would put
Abraham's life in extreme jeopardy.  In this newly appointed position General
Hartranft would issue the specifications or charges to be filed against the
defendants, he would see to the overall management of the trial and finally, he
would be responsible for the execution of the mandates of the military
committee impounded to determine the outcome of the cases.  The trial would
begin on the 9th of May, a week and a day after the appointment of Hartranft by
the President of the United States. [78]

     While news of the trial kept the attention of the city peaked, plans for
the victory celebration were also underway.  At the heart of the celebration
would be a parade that would become known as "The Grand Review".  All
military units and all soldiers of those units would march in this parade
through the streets of Washington and past reviewing stands to be set up
along the route for dignitaries.  Each corps commander was directed to submit
his order of march or, a list of the order in which the various regiments within
each corps would pass.  The 125,000 troops of The Army of the Potomac
under General George Gordon Meade would march on May 23rd, the first day of
the parade. [79]  On day two the 70,000 troops of the Army of Tennessee under
General William Tecumseh Sherman would march.  The order of march would
be by corps numbers, i.e., the 1st Corps first, the 2nd Corps second etc.  Within
each corps order of march would be by division, i.e., 1st Division first, 2nd
Division second and so on.  Within divisions orders of march would be by
brigades with regiments within brigades and with companies alphabetically
marching in order within regiments.  General Parke of the 9th Corps submitted
the following order of march at the very beginning of the passage of the 9th
Corps through the streets of Washington. [80] 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Bvt.
Major  General  O. B. Willcox commanding: 1st Brigade, Colonel Samuel
Harriman commanding; 38th Wisconsin Volunteers, Colonel  James Bintliff; 27th
Michigan Volunteers, Colonel Charles Waite; 17th Michigan Volunteers,
Lieutenant Colonel F. W. Swift; 37th Wisconsin Volunteers, Lieutenant  Colonel 
John Green; 109th New York Volunteers, Captain  Z. G. Gordon; 79th New York
Volunteers, Major  A. D. Baird.  2nd Brigade.....  So, on May 23rd, the first day of
the parade, The 27th Michigan Infantry Volunteers would be the second
regiment to pass in review among all regiments of the 9th Corps and on May
23rd, 1865, Abraham Bair would see Washington and Washington would see
Abraham.  

     And even as troops of the Army of the Potomac stepped out to the
victory march that first festive morning the mixture of emotions in Washington
city was apparent for as the entire city was decked in flags, floral arches,
banners and bunting, all would be intermingled with black decorations that
still marked Lincoln's death. [81]  And so, over the course of those two days
the great armies of the victorious Union - those men who had survived every
obstacle a deadly and determined enemy could throw before them, marched
into the history of our nation before the eyes of a curious public who had
come out for the day.  And this same curious public were those who would
never fully know the sacrifices made by the men who marched before them or
by those souls these marching men remembered, who now marched here also,
though only in spirit.

     And as the dust from two days of celebration settled the news of the
trial moved back to the fore-front of conversations.  By the end of June all
relevant testimony had been given and on June 29th the military committee
empaneled to hear the evidence went into deliberations.  On the second day,
June 30th, 1865 the military panel rendered their verdict. [82]  All conspirators
were found guilty and recommendations were for all to pay with their lives with
the single exception of Mrs. Mary Surratt.  So, even after four years of killing
and mayhem a panel of military men desensitized by war still was possessed
of sufficient chivalry so as not have the stomach to hang a woman by the neck
until she was dead.  The objections of the panel were to no avail, however, for
all guilty conspirators were to be dealt with equally.  And on July 7th, as
Abraham Bair rested in camp outside of Tennallytown counting the days
remaining until his discharge, Major General John F. Hartranft stood on the
scaffold in the court yard of the old arsenal grounds less than ten miles
distant and read the sentences of death to the four condemned conspirators. 
And Mary E. Surratt shielded from the hot sun by an umbrella held by her
pastor, stood on the scaffold and anticipated in vain with hope that President
Johnson would commute her sentence to life in prison at the last moment. [83] 
But in a few short minutes the sound of soldiers beating the wood supports
from beneath the platform would break the silence of the prison yard and at
1:26 p.m. those four individuals convicted in the death of the beloved leader of
the Union would swing into eternity. [84]  And Abraham Bair had nineteen days
to go before his discharge from the Army of the Potomac.

     Final entries in Abraham's military record indicate that he was mustered
out of the Army on the 26th of July in the summer of 1865.  This action took
place at a location identified only as Delaney House. [85]  I have been unable
to locate this place and assume, at this time, that it may have been the home
of an area resident and was being used to shuffle the mountain of paper work
one might anticipate would be associated with the discharging of an army.  At
the time of his discharge Abraham's paper work indicates that he hadn't been
paid since December 31st of 1864 and that he was now due $160.00 less $19.46
for transportation charges associated with his leave the previous fall.  He was
forgiven of the transportation fee and was paid in full. [86]  He was to return
home to Michigan with the approximate equivalent of six months pay.

     Three days later, on July 29th, 1865, in formal ceremony in Detroit,
Michigan, the 27th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment was, with honors,
forever disbanded. [87]  And as this ceremony proceeded officers made
speeches and regimental facts were presented for those who wouldn't
otherwise know: The 27th had a total enrollment of 1897 men.  Of these,
casualties suffered included killed in action of 6 officers and 128 enlisted men;
died of wounds included 3 officers and 74 enlisted men; died in confederate
prisons included 40 enlisted men; died of disease included 102 enlisted men;
discharged for disability including both wounds and disease accounted for
181 total individuals; wounded in action included 27 officers and 511 enlisted
men; and, missing in action included 4 officers and 126 enlisted men. [88]

     The 27th Michigan Infantry would become one of those units of the Union
army that would receive special recognition by the War Department and
Congress during the following year for showing casualty lists of over thirty
percent of total enrollment. [89]

     But for now, as the ceremony proceeds one might wonder if Abraham
Bair, as he listens with his comrades to the closing speeches of the officers of
the 27th Michigan, realizes that it was precisely 19 months ago to the day when
he stood and made his mark before Captain Abner B. Wood in Ovid.  Then,
Abraham Bair the farm boy and now, today and not very many months later,
Abraham Bair the man who might hardly even remember his carefree boyhood
days.  For in 19 short months he had gone from a young farm hand to a soldier
expected to kill those who were his fellow countrymen and now, to a forever
matured and wounded man whose sacrifice would be all but forgotten by most
within his own life time.  But the war and all of its horror (except for those
elusive horrors which would come in the night during the years ahead) was
now behind him.

     As he sits in the train car that rhythmically rocks and clickity clacks
down the tracks toward Ovid from the ceremony in Detroit he stares out the
window at the passing farm fields.  The corn would soon be tasseling in the
summer heat and Abraham is loose and relaxed.  Perhaps he thinks back to
the horror of that day at Mayo's Earthworks and wonders about the man who
pulled the trigger that has now permanently disfigured him.  Whether that man
has survived the war (or even that day) and, if so, where he is and what he is
doing now, at this very moment.

     And, mere hundreds of miles to the south of this very spot life is to be
very different for those returning home this day.  For the final days of chivalry
have now been lived out by these, "last of the cavaliers".  And  for these, now
the defeated, those carefree pre-war days are to be forever exchanged for the
sadness of all that has been lost and the continuing ruin to be brought south
by the spoilers who would become known as "the carpet baggers".

     But in his own world Abraham knows that from today on he can stand
safely in the open on any unprotected high ground and admire the
surrounding countryside without anxiety about who's gun site he might be in. 
Perhaps he thinks of this and other things taken for granted just a year and a
half ago.  And he has to know now that he never will take such things for
granted ever again.

     And now we can leave the future of Abraham Bair in our own past.  For
as we rise above the belching smoke and cinders of the clanking home-bound
train and look far down the tracks to some place far beyond where the
gleaming parallel rails converge at the horizon, perhaps we can catch a
glimpse of Miss Polly Eliza Barnum who unknowingly waits, even now, to
continue the adventure of Abraham's life at his side in but a very few short
years.