Bartholomew, Erastus W.

Farmer, Civil War Soldier

Birth: December 20, 1819, Brookfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
Death: June 15, 1864, Andersonville, Sumter County, Georgia
Captured: Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 20, 1863
Burial: Anderson National Cemetery, Andersonville, Sumter County, Georgia
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Military Service: Enlisted as a Private, 105th Regiment, Company C, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on August 8, 1862. Died of disease as a Prisoner of War on June 18, 1864, at Andersonville Prison, Andersonville, Georgia.

Farmer Erastus W. Bartholomew was 42 years old when he enlisted as a Private in the Union Army on August 8, 1862. He and his cousin and Vienna resident Edward O. Bartholomew served in the same regiment.

Erastus W. Bartholomew married twice. He wed Lucinda Boyd (1818-1853) in 1841. The union produced four children, of which only one survived to adulthood. Bartholomew married Catherine Holder (1831-1903) in 1854.

Erastus W. Bartholomew was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863, and sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Over 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned in Andersonville during its 14-month existence. Nearly 13,000 of these men died of disease and starvation. Bartholomew was one of these men. Andersonville Prison’s commander, Captain Henry Wirz, was the only Confederate officer tried for and convicted of war crimes. Wirz was put to death in November 1865.

Twenty-one Vienna men served in the 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry: Edward O. Bartholomew, Erastus W. Bartholomew, Hugh Mackey Boys, James Culver, Merritt Emerson, Joel Hawley, Jasper P. Kingsley, Charles E. Miller, Alucius W. Mills, Ashley Moore, Charles E. Moser, Lemuel Moser, Addison Perkins, Noah H. Pound, Stephen Pruden, Samuel K. Raub, Horace Bassett Scoville, James A. Stewart, Robert J. Stewart, Albert P. Tuttle, and Osman B. Tuttle.

Regimental History, 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Overview: Organized at Cleveland, Ohio, and mustered in August 20, 1862. Ordered to Covington, Ky., August 21, 1862; thence to Lexington, Ky., August 25. March to relief of Nelson August 30. Retreat to Louisville, Ky., September 1-15. Attached to 33rd Brigade, 10th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September, 1862. 33rd Brigade, 10th Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 5th Division (Centre), 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to June, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 14th Army Corps, to October, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 14th Army Corps, to July, 1865.

Service: Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-12. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Munfordsville, Ky., October 12, and duty there till November 30. Expedition to Cave City October 31 and November 26. Moved to Bledsoe Creek November 30. Operations against Morgan December 22, 1862, to January 2, 1863. March to Nashville, Tenn., thence to Murfreesboro January 3-11, and duty there till June. Expedition to Auburn, Liberty and Alexandria February 3-5. Expedition to Woodbury March 3-8. Vaught's Hill, near Milton, March 20. Expedition to McMinnville April 20-30. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 23-July 7. Hoover's Gap June 24-26. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Passage of the Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Shellmound August 21. Reconnoissance toward Chattanooga August 30-31. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-21. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Orchard Knob November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. Demonstrations on Dalton, Ga., February 22-27, 1864. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23-25. Reconnoissance from Ringgold toward Tunnel Hill April 29. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 8. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5-7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Siege of Savannah December 10-15. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Fayetteville, N. C., March 11. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D. C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Mustered out June 3, 1865. 

Regiment lost during service 3 Officers and 104 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 7 Officers and 126 Enlisted men by disease. Total 240.

Link

For a well-regarded history of the 105th Regiment written by one of its members, read Albion W. Tourgee, The Story of a Thousand: Being a History of the Service of the 105th Ohio Volunteer Infantry... (1896).