Charles R. Woods • Cullum's Register • 1555

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1848, to July 1, 1852, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Ft. McIntosh, Tex., 1852‑53, — Ft. Duncan, Tex., 1853‑54, — Live Oak Creek, Tex., 1854, — and Ft. Duncan, Tex., 1854‑55; on Recruiting service,

Vancouver, Wash., 1856, — Scouting about Puget Sound, Wash., 1856, — Camp Thomas, Wash., 1856, — and Ft. Walla Walla, Wash., 1856‑60; and on Recruiting service, 1860‑61.

Served during the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861‑66: in command of the troops sent in the "Star of the West" for the relief of Ft. Sumter, Apr., 1861; as Acting Asst. Quartermaster to Generals Patterson

and Banks, in Operations on the Upper Potomac, and in the Shenandoah Valley, May 4 to Aug., 1861; on Recruiting service, at St. Louis, Mo., Sep. to Oct. 3, 1861; in command of 44th and subsequently of 10th

Ohio Volunteers, in Western Virginia Campaign, Oct. 14 to Nov. 18, 1861, being engaged in the Pursuit of General Floyd's Rebel forces from Cotton Mountain, Nov. 15, 1861; in Organizing his Regiment at Newark, O., Nov. 20, 1861, to Feb. 9, 1862; in General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.

Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.

Grant's Tennessee Campaign, Feb. 14 to Apr., 1862, being engaged in the Battle of Fort Donelson, Feb. 15‑16, 1862, — Movement to Adamsville, Mar. 1‑25, 1862, — and Battle of Shiloh, Apr. 7, 1862; in command of Brigade in the Advance upon and Siege of Corinth, Apr. 25 to May 30, 1862, — and March to Memphis, Ten., and Helena, Ark., June‑July, 1862; in command of land forces in the joint Naval and Military Expedition down the Mississippi River to Milliken's Bend, Aug. 16‑28, 1862, which resulted in the destruction of much of the enemy's property and some captures; in command of Regiment on General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.

Sherman's Expedition to Chickasaw Bluffs, Dec. 20‑29, 1862, — and Movement to Arkansas Post, being engaged in its Capture, Jan. 11, 1863; in command of Brigade in the Vicksburg Campaign, Apr. 2 to July 18, 1863, being engaged in the Advance to Grand Gulf, May 2‑6, 1863, — Skirmish at Fourteen-mile Creek, May 12, 1863, — Capture of Jackson, May 14, 1863, and destruction of much railroad and other property in its vicinity, May 15, 1863, — Capture of Walnut Hills, May 18, 1863, — Assault, May 22, 1863, and Siege of Vicksburg, May 22 to July 4, 1863, — and Pursuit of General

(Bvt. Lieut.‑Colonel, July 4, 1863,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Capture of Vicksburg, Mis.)

J. E. Johnston's Army to Canton, July 5‑18, including the Re-occupation of Jackson, July 16, 1863, and extensive destruction of railroad property;

p491 on March, via Memphis, to Chattanooga, with frequent skirmishes, Sep. 22 to Nov. 23, 1863, — Battle of Chattanooga, Nov. 24‑25, 1863, —

(Bvt. Colonel, Nov. 24, 1863,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Chattanooga, Ten.)

and Combat of Ringgold, Ga., Nov. 27, 1863; in Northern Alabama guarding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, Dec., 1863, to May, 1864; in command of Brigade till Sep. 23, 1864, and subsequently of

Division of 15th Army Corps in the Invasion of Georgia, May 6 to Dec. 21, 1864, being engaged in the Demonstrations against Resaca, May 13‑16, 1864, — Defense of New Hope Church, May 28, 1864, — Skirmishing at Kenesaw Mountain, June 10 to July 2, 1864, — Passage of the Chattahoochee, July 14, 1864, — Battles of Atlanta, July 22 and 28, 1864, — Siege of Atlanta, July 22 to Sep. 2, 1864, — Battle of Jonesborough, Sep. 1, 1864, — Pursuit of the Rebel Army under General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.

Hood, Oct. 4 to Nov. 15, 1864, — "March to the Sea," Nov. 16 to Dec. 21, 1864, participating, en route to Savannah, in the Action of Griswoldville, Nov. 22, 1864; in command of Division of 15th Army Corps, in the Invasion of

(Bvt. Major-General, U. S. Volunteers, Nov. 22, 1864, for Long and Continued Services, and for Special Gallantry at Griswoldville, Ga.)

(Bvt. Brig.‑General, U. S. Army, Mar. 13, 1865,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services in the Battle before Atlanta, Ga.)

(Bvt. Major-General, U. S. Army, Mar. 13, 1865,
for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Bentonville, N. C.)

Mar. 20‑21, 1865, — and Occupation of Raleigh, April 14, 1865; and on the March to Richmond, Va., and Washington, D. C., Apr. 29 to May 24, 1865.

Served: in command of 1st Division of 15th Army Corps, at Louisville, Ky., June‑July, 1865, — of the Department of Alabama, Headquarters at Mobile, July, 1865, to Apr., 1866, — of the Department of the South, Headquarters at Macon, Ga., May to Aug., 1866, — and of the

— and of troops in the field at Kit Carson, May 20 to Nov. 1, 1870; on leave of absence, Feb. to July, 1871; as Member of Board to prepare Army Regulations, July, 1871, to May 17, 1872; on sick leave of absence, May 17, 1872, to Mar. 5, 1873; on frontier duty at Ft. Larned, Kan., Mar. 5‑28, 1873; and on sick leave of absence, Mar. 28, 1873, to Dec. 15, 1874.

Retired from Active Service, Dec. 15, 1874,
for Disability contracted in the Line of Duty.

p492 Biographical Sketch.

Bvt. Major-General Charles R. Woods was born, March, 1829,a2 at Newark, Ohio, and was graduated from the Military Academy, July 1, 1852, and promoted to the Infantry, with which he served on frontier duty till the outbreak of the Rebellion.

Captain Woods' first duty in the Civil War was in command of the troops sent in the "Star of the West" for the relief of Fort Sumter. Then, after a short service of Quartermaster duty, he became, Oct. 13, 1861, Colonel, 76th Ohio Volunteers. His subsequent military history is above fully detailed. For his gallant and meritorious services during the Rebellion, he received four brevets in the Regular Army, the appointment of Brigadier-General and brevet of Major-General, U. S. Volunteers.

After the Civil War till he was retired as Colonel, he was engaged in the ordinary duties of his arm of service. He died, Feb. 26, 1885, in the place of his birth, at the early age of 56.

General Woods, says his classmate, General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class. H. W. Slocum, "was an experienced and seasoned soldier, disdainful of ease, inured to hardships, faithful to duty, and as a commander sound in judgment and cool and intrepid in the hour of danger and emergency. Deeply imbued with the love of his country, devoted to her honor, her glory, and her unity, proud of and skilled in his profession, he belonged to the highest type of the American citizen and soldier. Such men are the bulwark of the Republic in the hour of peril, and worthy exemplars to be followed by the youth of the country, whether in military or civil life. The estimate in which he was held by the General of the Army, under whose eye and command he served during the greater part of the war, is shown by the following extract from a letter written by General Sherman to a friend of General Woods, after the death of the latter:—

" 'Come when it may, death catches us unprepared; but when one has done on earth his life's work, a few years more or less seem unimportant. When we look back on the career of General Charles R. Woods from boyhood to a reasonably old age, we find nothing but the good, the brave, and the manly.

" 'During the period of his life to which we naturally turn, when war tried the man, he was near me all the time, and in almost every battle from Vicksburg to Bentonville his name stands prominent among the bravest and best. Naturally of great physical strength, a genial, generous temperament, a well-balanced judgment, strengthened by the best instruction, he became a typical soldier and commander, and, above all, he possessed the high quality of military prescience and coup d'oeil which gained for him the title of General. I always knew that wherever he was, there could be no mistakes, and all would be done at the time and in the manner required.

" 'He was singularly beloved by those under his command, and universally esteemed by those under whom he served, especially by myself, who soon learned his great merit as a soldier, the sincerity of his friendship, and the ardor of his patriotism.

" 'No man has left behind a name which his widow and children may venerate with more pride than General Charles R. Woods."

Class of 1852

p492 Biographical Sketch.

Thayer's Note: