Posted In: Blog Posts|July 20, 2024
Union General William Tec*mseh Sherman had launched his grand offensive in the Spring of 1864. For two months now, he had been challenged by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate troops at such places as New Hope Church, Pickett’s Mill, and Kennesaw Mountain. The rebels had held their own but were ultimately forced out of their defensive positions at every turn. On July 8, Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee River, which formed the last major barrier between his troops and Atlanta.
As Sherman advanced, Johnston pulled back, withdrawing across Peachtree Creek, just north of Atlanta. There, Johnston laid out plans to attack Sherman as his troops crossed that same stream. However, for Johnston the attack was not to be. On July 17, 1864 he received word that he had been relieved of his command for his lack of aggression. He would be replaced by General John Bell Hood, a man noted for his bravery and aggressiveness.
The day after taking command, Hood learned that Sherman planned to split his forces and attack Atlanta from several different directions. The Army of the Cumberland would advance directly toward Atlanta while the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee would be advancing from the northeast, where Hood assumed they would be trying to destroy the railroads and interrupt the supply lines. Hood knew the Army of the Cumberland, under General George H. Thomas, would have to cross Peachtree Creek at multiple locations, where he would be vulnerable to an attack while crossing and then while setting up defensive positions once across. Hood planned to attack Thomas where he was most susceptible.
Hood assigned two of his three corps to launch an attack: General William J. Hardee to lead the assault on the right and General Alexander P. Stewart to lead his forces on the left. Hood’s plan was to catch the Federal army by surprise and drive Thomas’s Union troops westward and away from Atlanta, which he hoped would also stall Sherman’s grand offensive by forcing him to divert troops to assist Thomas.
Only 19 men have earned the Medal of Honor twice, none since WWI. One of the first to accomplish this rare feat is First Lieutenant Frank Dwight Baldwin of the 19th Michigan Infantry, and he would begin right here, at Peachtree Creek.
First Lieutenant Frank Dwight Baldwin
By James Gindlesperger, historical author
Frank Dwight Baldwin was born June 26, 1842, in Manchester, Michigan, to Francis and Betsy Ann (Richards) Baldwin. After attending public schools in Constantine, Michigan, he matriculated at Hillsdale College, from which he would receive a Doctor of Laws degree in 1904.
Baldwin’s military career began on September 19, 1861, when he entered the Michigan Horse Guards as a second lieutenant. At the end of his three-month enlistment he mustered out on November 22, 1861. On September 5, 1862, he reenlisted, this time as a 19-year-old first lieutenant in the 19th Michigan Infantry.
His early career gave no indication that he would have much of a military record, having been captured twice in his first year. The first came on March 25, 1863, when his entire regiment was captured by General Nathan Bedford Forrest at Brentwood, Tennessee, after a five-hour engagement in which the Federals’ ammunition was exhausted. The regiment was exchanged and reorganized in August 1863, but just two months later, Baldwin was captured with his company, which he was commanding at the time, on October 5, 1863, while guarding a railroad bridge about three miles south of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The half-strength company had little chance against a much larger force. Released that same evening, Baldwin and his men returned to the regiment the next day, presumably in a much-chagrined state.
For some time, the regiment saw no action, instead building forts, a railroad bridge, and a sawmill before moving to Lookout Valley, then to Resaca, Georgia, participating in a charge where they lost 14 killed, 66 wounded, and a battery captured. Baldwin went from there to fight at New Hope Church, Cassville, Golgotha, and Kolb’s Farm before arriving at Peachtree Creek near Atlanta, Georgia.
On July 20 (listed as July 12 on Baldwin’s Medal of Honor citation), the Army of the Cumberland’s Twentieth Corps, including the 19th Michigan, crossed Peachtree Creek and took a position near the center of the Union line. They immediately began throwing up defensive earthworks. The Army of the Cumberland, commanded by General George H. Thomas, numbered about 21,000 while the Confederacy’s Army of Tennessee, under the command of General John Bell Hood, numbered about 1,000 fewer.
Hood planned to launch his attack around 1:00 pm on July 20, but confusion and miscommunications cause a delay until 4:00 pm. Hardee’s initial assault ran into fierce opposition on the Confederate right. Later, analysis of the assault indicated that faulty execution and poor reconnaissance were the main reasons.
Stewart enjoyed more success on the Confederate left, forcing two Union brigades to withdraw from the field. Stewart’s troops also captured much of the 33rd New Jersey Infantry, including their battleflag, along with a Union 4-gun battery.
In the center, the 19th Michigan found itself in a bloody fight, along with the rest of the Twentieth Corps. Finally, buglers sounded the call for a counter attack. Immediately Baldwin stood and began running forward, with his men following his lead. Resistance was brutal, and hand to hand combat became the norm. Baldwin thrust aside a Southerner and proceeded forward, ignoring the hail of lead around him. Fighting like a man possessed, he spied the flag bearer of a Georgia regiment. He rushed toward the man and, before the Georgian realized what had happened, wrested the guidon from the man’s grasp. Stuffing his prize inside his shirt, he continued the assault, capturing two Confederate officers and ordering them to surrender their weapons.
As the Confederate offensive slowly deteriorated, Union artillery arrived. Their fire helped stem Hardee’s efforts to continue. Hardee prepared to call in reserves but his plan was thwarted when Hood ordered him to move his reserves to assist General Benjamin Cheatham, who was engaging with Union General James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee northeast of Atlanta.
The Union line held, and Hood pulled his troops back into defenses around Atlanta. Union losses tallied 1,750, while Hood lost some 2,500 men. Sherman would eventually go on to capture Atlanta on September 2, 1864. Today, the site of the Battle of Peachtree Creek has been swallowed by urban sprawl, identifiable only by several historical markers.
On June 10, 1865 Baldwin was discharged as a captain in Detroit, Michigan. He was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel but was not mustered due to the depleted condition of the regiment. He would be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 19th U.S. Infantry on February 23, 1866, and was transferred to the 5th Infantry on May 19, 1869. In the interim, however, he married Alice Blackwell on January 10, 1867. The two would have one child, Juanita Mary, who was born while the Baldwins were in transit to Fort Wingate, New Mexico.
On December 3, 1891, he received the Medal of Honor for his action at Peachtree Creek, his citation reading, “Led his company in a countercharge at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., 12 July 1864, under a galling fire ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy’s line, capturing and bringing back two commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.”
Between 1869 and 1891, however, he continued his military career in Kansas at Fort Hays and Fort Larned; as a recruiter in Detroit and Newport, Kentucky; and back in Kansas at Fort Dodge, by now a member of the 5th Infantry. At Fort Dodge, he served in the campaign against the confederated bands of Cheyennes, Kiowas, Arapahoes, and southern Comanches. He was brevetted twice during this time for his gallantry at the Salt Fork of the Red River and at McClellan’s Creek, both in 1874, in Texas.
On November 8, 1874, he did what few could ever achieve: he earned his second Medal of Honor. On that date, at McClellan’s Creek, Companies D of the Sixth Cavalry and of the 5th Infantry, routed Native Americans and pursued them despite their superior numbers. During the pursuit, Baldwin was instrumental in rescuing two white girls. Baldwin noted that he feared that the girls would be killed by their captors if the army waited for reinforcements, necessitating the charge into the Native Americans’ camp.
He would receive his second Medal on March 17, 1894. His citation on that award read, “Rescued, with two companies, two white girls, ages 7 and 5, by a voluntary attack upon Indians whose superior numbers and strong position would have warranted delay for reinforcements, but which delay would have permitted the Indians to escape and kill their captives.”
Baldwin remained in the army until retiring on June 26, 1906, receiving additional brevets for bravery and advancing to the rank of major general. He was singled out in a letter from President Theodore Roosevelt to General Adna Chaffee for his leadership in capturing Philippine Lieutenant General Mariano Trias, leader of the Philippine revolution, on March 15, 1901.
On April 22, 1923, Baldwin died following liver surgery in Denver, Colorado. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
Further Reading
Civil War Index, “19th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War,” Civil War Index – 19th Michigan Infantry in the American Civil War, Accessed June 9, 2024.
Denver County, Colorado archives, “General Frank Dwight Baldwin,”https://web.archive.org/web/20140903082255/http://files.usgwarchives.org/co/denver/bios/baldwin297nbs.txt, Accessed June 12, 2024.
Lange, Katie, U.S. Department of Defense, “Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj. Gen. Frank Baldwin,” July 12, 2021, https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2684268/medal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-frank-baldwin/, Accessed June 12, 2024.
About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.
Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are fewer than 70 living Recipients.
The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including theMedal of Honor Museum,Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, theMedal of Honor Character Development Program, and theMedal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.
As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.
Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives atcmohs.org.
Related Posts
