The Twenty-third was recruited in the Sixth congressional district, and was rendezvoused at Saginaw. It was mustered into service Sept. 13, 1862, with an enrollment of 983 officers and men.
The field, staff and line officers at organization were as follows:
Colonel, Marshall W. Chapin, Detroit. Lieutenant Colonel, Gilbert E. Pratt, Detroit. Major, Benjamin F. Fisher, East Saginaw. Surgeon, Louis W. Fasquelle, St. Johns. Assistant Surgeon, Gilbert H. Blaker, Houghton. Second Assistant Surgeon, Gilbert Bogart, Jr., Flint. Adjutant, Campbell Montgomery, Detroit. Quartermaster, Charles D. Little, Saginaw City. Chaplain, James S. Smart, Flint.
- Captain, Oliver L. Spaulding, St. Johns. First Lieutenant, William Sickles, St. Johns. Second Lieutenant, James Travis, St. Johns.
- Captain, Henry Woodruff, East Saginaw. First Lieutenant, Fayette Smith, Bridgeport. Second Lieutenant, William A. Lewis, East Saginaw.
- Captain, Charles E. McAllister, Flint. First Lieutenant, George W. Buckingham, Flint. Second Lieutenant, William C. Stewart, Flint.
- Captain, Benjamin W. Huston, Vassar. First Lieutenant, John Hamilton, Watrousville. Second Lieutenant, John G. Riggs, Millington.
- Captain, Henry C. Norville, Saginaw City. First Lieutenant, John Earl, Harrisville. Second Lieutenant, Lester E. Cross, Saginaw City.
- Captain, Henry S. Raymond, Bay City. First Lieutenant, Eben R. Ayers, Port Austin. Second Lieutenant, John S. McKinney, Portsmouth.
- Captain, Henry Walbridge, St. Johns. First Lieutenant, Stephen J. Wright, St. Johns. Second Lieutenant, Alonzo O. Hunt, St. Johns.
- Captain, John Carland, Caledonia. First Lieutenant, Benjamin F. Briscoe, Caledonia. Second Lieutenant, Marvin Miller, Corunna.
- Captain, Carlos D. Sheldon, Houghton. First Lieutenant, Graham Pope, Houghton. Second Lieutenant, William H. Patterson, Houghton.
- Captain, Damon Stewart, Flint. First Lieutenant, Samuel C. Randall, Flint. Second Lieutenant, John Rea, Flint.
The regiment left Saginaw the 18th of September, and proceeded to Kentucky, where it was assigned to the army commanded by General Rosecrans.
The Twenty-third was at Bowling Green, Ky., also at Carthage, Glasgow and Thompkinsville during the winter, and in July, 1863, started on a long march after the confederate General John Morgan, and during this campaign was at Louisville, Ky., Jeffersonville, Ind., Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Chillicothe, Ohio, and then returned to Paris, Ky. It was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Twentieth Corps, Army of the Ohio, and started, in August, on the East Tennessee campaign, and arrived at Knoxville Sept. 15. After a march through East Tennessee, the regiment returned to Knoxville, and was stationed at Loudon to intercept General Longstreet’s advance. It came in contact with the confederates, who were marching upon Knoxville, and heavy skirmishing commenced at once. The enemy
attacked vigorously, and the Union lines were slowly driven back, making an obstinate defense of every foot of ground yielded.
At Campbell’s Station, a few miles west of Knoxville, a battle was fought with Longstreet’s forces, in which the Twenty-third lost heavily in killed and wounded. The weather was cold and rainy, the roads almost impassable on account of deep mud, and the troops were but poorly supplied with rations, and great suffering was caused by a lack of tents, clothing, boots and shoes. The Twenty-third acted as rear guard while the corps was retiring upon Knoxville, and received special commendation for its efficient work under the most trying circumstances.
The regiment was actively engaged in the defense of Knoxville, and when General Longstreet swept around the city and marched into East Tennessee, the Twenty-third was one of the regiments that followed him, but when General Grant decided to allow the confederates to remain in Tennessee during the winter, the Twenty-third returned to Knoxville, almost destitute of equipments in the way of tents, blankets and clothing.
The regiment shared the hardships of the East Tennessee campaign until May, 1864, when it started upon the Atlanta campaign with the army commanded by General Sherman. After an encounter with the enemy at Rocky Face Ridge, it moved through Snake Creek Gap and made a desperate assault upon the enemy’s works at Resaca, Ga., meeting with a loss of sixty killed and wounded in a few minutes.
The Twenty-third took part in the various movements of the Twenty-third Corps, frequently coming in contact with the enemy at Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee River and Siege of Atlanta.
After the fall of Atlanta the Twenty-third was sent in pursuit of the confederate General Hood, who marched his army through Georgia and Alabama to Nashville, Tenn. During this march it retraced its steps over a portion of the ground it had occupied on the march to Atlanta. It reached Columbia on the 25th of November, where it joined the Union forces to oppose the further advance of General Hood. At Duck River the regiment skirmished heavily with the enemy, and fell back to Franklin, where a desperate battle was fought, the confederates charging upon the works hastily thrown up, and were repelled by a hand-to-hand conflict. The obstinate resistance offered by the Union forces delayed the march of General Hood so General Thomas, at Nashville, could organize his troops for the final struggle before that city. Probably there was no more desperate fighting in any battle of the war than at Franklin, Tenn., and the Twenty-third was in the line when the fighting was fiercest. The Union forces fell back to Nashville, and on Dec. 15 and 16 the Twenty-third, with the army under General Thomas, in a two days’ battle, completely defeating the confederates under General Hood, and drove them back in utter rout to Duck River.
During the battle the Twenty-third charged the enemy, securely placed behind a stone wall on the crest of a hill, demoralizing the confederates and taking more prisoners than there were men in the Twenty-third.
The crushing of General Hood by General Thomas relieved the western department from immediate attack by the enemy, and the Twenty-third Corps was ordered to Washington, D. C., to co-operate with General Sherman’s army, then marching north through the Carolinas. The Twenty-third, with its corps, was embarked at Alexandria, Va., on transports, and proceeded to the mouth of Cape Fear River. At Smithville, S. C., the regiment was disembarked, and participated in the attack upon Fort Anderson, carrying the works in gallant style, the Twenty-third being the first regiment to enter the fort.
The regiment marched to Wilmington, N. C., and upon the evacuation of that place by the confederates, the Twenty-third proceeded to Kingston, and then to Goldsboro, where it arrived March 22, making a junction with General Sherman’s army, which arrived the next day.
The Twenty-third marched to Raleigh, N. C., and then started for Greensboro, N. C., ninety miles distant, where General Johnson surrendered his army to General Sherman.
The Twenty-third was at Salisbury, N. C., June 28, at which date it was mustered out of service, and returned to Detroit, Mich., where it was paid off and disbanded July 20, 1865.
The regiment during service had met the enemy at Paris, Ky., July 29, 1863; Huffs Ferry, Tenn., Nov. 12, 1863; Campbell’s Station, Tenn., Nov. 16, 1863; siege of Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 17, to Dec. 5, 1863; Dandridge, Tenn., Jan. 14, 1864; Strawberry Plains, Tenn., Jan. 22, 1864; Rocky Face, Ga., May 8, 1864; Resaca, Ga., May 14, 1864; Etowah River, Ga., May 22, 1864; Dallas, Ga., May 27, 1864; New Hope Church, Ga., June 1, 1864; Lost Mountain, Ga., June 17, 1864; Kennesaw Ga., June 27 1864; Chattahoochee River, Ga., July 5 and 6, 1864; siege of Atlanta, Ga., July 22 to Aug. 25, 1864; Lovejoy’s Station, Ga., Aug. 31, 1864; Columbia, Tenn., Nov. 25, 1864; Duck River, Tenn., Nov. 28, 1864; Spring Hill, Tenn., Nov. 29, 1864; Franklin, Nov. 30, 1864; Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 12 to 16, 1864; Fort Anderson, N. C., Feb. 18, 1865; Town Creek, N. C., Feb. 20, 1865; Wilmington, N. C., Feb. 21, 1865; Goldsboro, N. C., March 22, 1865.