Mid Ohio Military Collection

Samuel Wilson Torrence was born on August 8, 1844 in Xenia, Ohio. By the time the hostilities started between the Union and the Confederacy he was a 21 year old carriage maker, still working and living in the area of Greene County, Ohio. He enlisted in Company I of the 44th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on September 19, 1861, which formed at Camp Clark in Ohio. During his time with the 44th Ohio he would engage in numerous skirmishes and engagements with the enemy, help play a pivotal role in the Battle Of Lewisburg and even help to blow up a bridge and a portion of railroad line. In late December of 1862 the men were given horses and fought as a cavalry unit, although they were back on foot for the entirety of the Knoxville Campaign.

On January 1, 1864, the men of the 44th OVI who had been camped in Strawberry Fields located near Noxville, Tennessee, were asked to reenlist as a Cavalry unit. 500 out of the approximately 650 men chose to do so. On January 29, 1864 the men were given a furlough back home to Springfield, Ohio. The men who did not wish to reenlist in the new cavalry unit were discharged. Samuel and the rest of the men that did were then re-mustered into service as members of the 8th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. While home on furlough, Samuel Torrence would have this Carte De Viste photo taken of himself and it was most likely given to either a friend, family member or comrade in arms. On March 28, 1864 the 8th OVC was officially mustered into service at Camp Dennison located near Cincinnati, Ohio. Either upon the forming of the 8th Ohio Cavalry, or shortly afterwards, Private Samuel Torrence was promoted to the rank Trumpeter of Company I.

In the early morning hours of October 29, 1864, Confederate Major Hannibal Hill of the 62nd Virginia marched his force of roughly 350 Rebels, under the cover of darkness, towards the Union camp located in Beverly, West Virginia. A place where the men of the 8th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry had been encamped since June 30, 1864. The Confederate‘s goal was to infiltrate the camp and steal some Union supplies and horses. The Confederates planned to surprise the roughly 200 Ohio boys while they were sleeping, but by the time they reached the Union camp, it was around 5 a.m. The daylight had started to creep into the day while still hiding the sun itself. At this time the men were rounding up for the morning reveille and roll call. The Rebels had managed to sneak around the mounted cavalrymen on guard duty and approached the dismounted soldiers which were on inner picket duty roughly 150 yards from the actual camp. As the Union men on picket duty fired at the approaching column, the Rebels let out a loud yell as they ran, presumably with bayonets fixed, across an open field towards the heart of the camp.

Company F of the 8th Ohio were immediately deployed as skirmishers and were quickly pushed back by the yelling Confederates along with three other companies who had moved up to assist. Upon hearing the “Rebel Yell”, the rest of the men back at camp ran into their quarters in an effort to fetch their Cosmopolitan Carbines (which the men thought of as pretty much worthless fi****ms).

The Union men were half formed for an attack, when a large volley of Rebel fire scattered the command throughout the camp, the men then started to take some cover. The Rebels kept advancing on the Federal troops and as they got closer, the fights were broken up into smaller more intense conflicts, sometimes the struggle was in pairs of men and sometimes in large groups. Many of these took places inside of the Union men’s quarters as they ran in to grab their weapons. Both Rebels and Union troops then engaged each other in fierce hand to hand combat. A good portion of the men did have their rifles, but many of the men just swung them around and used the butt end as weapons in the close combat. They also used their fair share of fists, knives, sabres, bayonets and even rocks and other things that could be used as clubs. Each side was struggling to take prisoners, while simultaneously avoiding casualties in the struggle. It was a back and forth ordeal and this intense hand to hand fighting lasted for nearly an hour.

Several Union men including some officers were taken prisoner, along with the horses that the Southerners had been able to grab and scurry away with. It was reported that Lieutenant Joshua Peck of Company L was shot in cold blood after surrendering to the Confederates. The Rebels quickly took the prisoners and horses and fled towards the mountainside.

Half of the Rebel force then moved towards the back half of the camp in an effort to take more prisoners. Captain Charles H Evans, Captain Bechtel and Captain Lysle (which were now in the northwest corner of the camp), started rallying with around 50 additional men to attack the Rebel force that was attacking the rear of the camp. Major Shaw, having fought his way from his quarters to where the Captains were, took command and led the first charge to the rear of the enemy force and was wounded in the process. Captain Evans took over command and a second charge against the Rebels (who were now held up in the stables) followed shortly. This second charge would wound Major Hill with a gunshot wound, Major Hill’s men, seeing him wounded, began to start their retreat and left him lying on the battlefield. By this point the amount of light shining throughout the camp was noticeably more. Lieutenant Colonel Youart then made his way alone to a group of Union men and took command. The men then charged the Rebels that were attacking the front portion of the camp and they too began to retreat but most of these southern men were quickly taken prisoner. These Rebels too began to flee into the West Virginia mountains, but the Union Officers and their men followed quickly on their heels. 4 of these Confederates would drown in the river while trying to retreat. Colonel Youart ordered the Union boys back to quickly saddle up the horses that the Confederates failed to steal and head off towards the mountains after them. After nearly a three mile horse ride from the camp, the Ohio boys entered the brush on the mountainside and caught up with a group of 16 Confederates who upon seeing the Union boys start to advance, quickly surrendered themselves. The rest of the Union prisoners, along with the rest of the estimated 50 Rebels that had fled were working their way through a brushy swamp area when they were quickly surrounded by the advancing Ohio force. The men who were just minutes ago called prisoners themselves, looked at the rebels and demanded that they surrender themselves and their arms to them. The Rebels complied and when they came out of the swampland, the tables had turned and the 8th Ohio men were now holding them prisoner. They met back up with the surrounding horseback troops and proceeded to march the Rebel prisoners back to the camp. As they neared the road that led back into the heart of their camp, they passed the rest of the Ohio boys who were on their way back up (most likely on foot) to help the mounted men in whooping the Rebels.

After roughly 2 hours of some of the most intense fighting the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry would ever see, 4 men were killed outright (Samuel W Torrence would be one of these four, suffering from a gunshot wound through his head), 5 men later died from their wounds that were inflicted in the skirmish, 22 more Union boys were wounded and 13 were taken prisoner. It was reported that the Rebels rarely fired on the men, from a distance greater than 5 paces.

The Rebel loss was as follows: 17 men killed in action (including the 4 that drowned in the river), 27 men were wounded and 92 men total were taken prisoner.

In addition to the prisoners taken, the Union forces also captured 90 fi****ms of various makes and manufactures. After the period of combat had died down, some of the women from the Union forces (mainly wives of officers) and a few townsfolk came out to help patch up and care for the wounded soldiers.

Samuel Wilson Torrence is now buried in Woodland Cemetery, in Xenia, Ohio. His tombstone in the family plot has the following inscription:

SAMUEL WILSON
1844-1864
KILLED IN BATTLE