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| William Haines Lytle (National Archives) |
Allegiance: USA
Rank: Brigadier General
Age: 36
State of Origin: Ohio
Command: 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland
Biography:
William Haines Lytle was born on November 2, 1826 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Lytle family was of Irish origin. His Irish name was Faugh-a-Ballaugh meaning “Clear the Way.” His grandfather fought in the French and Indian War and his father was a major general of Ohio militia in the War of 1812. William was educated at Cincinnati College and studied language, learning Latin, Greek, German, and French. He had a passion for literature and poetry. After college, he studied law.
When the Mexican War broke out, William enlisted in 1847 and was chosen as a first lieutenant in Company L in Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. Though he did not receive much active duty in Mexico, he gained experience in military training. He was later promoted to captain of his company.
When he returned from the war, he went back into law with the partnership of Haines, Todd & Lytle. He was later nominated as a candidate for the state legislature for the Democratic Party. He served two terms in the House of Representatives. He later ran for lieutenant governor of Ohio but lost in 1857. However, in the same year, Governor Chase commissioned him as a major general, commanding the first division of Ohio militia.
When the Civil War began, Lytle chose to stay loyal to the Union. In June 1861, the governor commissioned him a colonel of the Tenth Ohio Infantry of Volunteers. At the Battle of Carnifex Ferry in September 1861, he was wounded in the leg. Lytle became well known for fighting in the front of his men, rather than behind. As a result of the bloody battle, his regiment became known as the “Bloody Tenth.”
After he recovered from his wound, his regiment was assigned to the 17th Brigade of the Third Division of the Army of the Cumberland in April 1862. At the Battle of Perryville In October 1862, Lytle personally led a charge. During the charge, he was hit in the head with a shell fragment. Lying helpless on the field of battle, Lytle was taken prisoner by the Confederates, but was soon released on parole.
After again returning home to recover from his wounds, he returned to the army where he was promoted brigadier general and, in February 1863, assigned to command the First Brigade in the Third Division, XX Corps. He was presented with a jeweled Maltese Cross for valor by officers of the Tenth Ohio. It was given to him just seven weeks prior to the Battle of Chickamauga.
At the Battle of Chickamauga, before noon on September 20th, Lytle was shot and killed while directing troop movements across the battlefield. Captain Parsons, commander of Company K of the 24th Wisconsin writes: "From the moment I saw an aide from General Sheridan ride to General Lytle with an order for him to bring his brigade into action, he was constantly in my sight up to the moment he was shot. A few moments before we were ordered in, he rode down alone near where I was standing, and as I saluted him, he wheeled his horse around and, speaking to the men of my company, said: ‘Boys, if we whip them today, we will eat out Christmas dinner at home.' Soon the bugles rang out and we started, our regiment following the battery, and as we left the road and formed line of battle, General Lytle and his staff rode right behind the center of our regiment, and he remained there until he was shot. Almost the last words he uttered were, ‘Brave, brave, brave boys!' As I was looking into his face, a ball struck him, and seemed to me must have struck him in the face or head, for the blood flowed from his mouth. He did not fall from his horse, but one of his staff officers eased him down on the ground."
Before he died, he handed one of his staff officers his sword so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy. Several men were both killed and wounded while trying to remove his body from the field. A few men were able to drag his body to a grassy spot under a tree, but eventually his staff had to leave him behind and was forced to retreat.
When the Confederates crossed the field and came across Lytle’s body, they recognized him. They recognized him not only because he was a distinguished general, but also because he was a wonderful poet who had continued to write and publish poetry throughout the war. The Confederates put a guard around Lytle’s body so that it would not be looted. An officer took Lytle’s belongings back to camp with him for safe keeping and then gathered the men around to listen to him read Lytle’s poems. A fellow soldier, who had known Lytle from Mexico, gave his long time friend a decent burial with a marked grave.
Twenty days later, under a flag of truce, men from the Tenth Ohio secured the remains of Lytle and sent them back to Cincinnati. His body then lay in state at the rotunda. A soldier ordered to keep guard over the body stood motionless for two hours. When he was asked how long he intended to remain on guard he replied, “Forever, if not regularly relieved.” Thousands of people attended his funeral.
One of his most famous poems, titled “Company K” was found among his belongings in Chickamauga.
"Company K"
There's a cap in the closet,
Old, tattered, and blue,
Of very slight value,
It may be, to you;
But a crown, jewel-studded,
Could not buy it to-day,
With its letters of honor,
Brave " Co. K."
The head that it sheltered
Needs shelter no more !
Dead heroes make holy
The trifles they wore;
So, like chaplet of honor,
Of laurel and bay,
Seems the cap of the soldier,
Marked " Co. K."
Bright eyes have looked calmly
Its visor beneath
O'er the work of the Reaper,
Grim Harvester, Death!
Let the muster-roll, meager,
So mournfully say,
How foremost in danger
Went " Co. K."
Whose footsteps unbroken
Came up to the town,
Where rampart and bastion
Looked threateningly down!
Who, closing up breaches,
Still kept on their way,
Till guns, downward pointed,
Faced " Co. K."
Who faltered, or shivered?
Who shunned battle-stroke?
Whose fire was uncertain?
Whose battle line broke?
Go, ask it of History,
Years from to-day,
And the record shall tell you,
Not " Co. K."
Though my darling is sleeping
To-day with the dead,
And daisies and clover
Bloom over his head,
I smile through my tears
As I lay it away —
That battle-worn cap,
Lettered " Co. K."
At the Chickamauga Battlefield, the Lytle Monument marks the spot where the brave general died.
Author: Shannon Rowe, February 6, 2015
Further Reading:
William H. Venable (ed.), Poems of William Haines Lytle (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke Company, 1894).
Lytle Family Papers, Cincinnati Historical Society Museum, Center Library, Cincinnati, Ohio.
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