ON TO RAYMOND

On this day, the 16th Ohio, with Gen. Osterhaus' division, marched from their camp at Fourteenmile Creek toward Raymond, Mississippi, arriving their at 3:00AM the next morning (May 14). The town of Raymond had been captured with a small but sharp battle the Previous morning (May 12) by General McPherson's troops. Cpl. Wolbach provides us with good detail on this day's activity:

On the 13th we marched eastward leaving Carr's division watching the enemy toward Edward's Depot. Today we learned that Logan's division, of McPherson's corps, had a fight with a detachment of the enemy the day before at Raymond. The battle did not last long but was severe. Gen. Gregg commanded the Confederates consisting of one brigade on the field and another under Gen. W.H.F. Walker several miles away, hurrying up but not in time to take part in the action. The loss on both sides was heavy; the men fighting principally at short range. Among the killed on the side of the enemy was an officer that was very highly esteemed by the southern military. Col. Randal McGavock, of the 10th Tennessee Infantry. The evening of the 13th was a wet one for us. The place where we halted for the night was a plantation where the proprietor's house and slave quarters seemed to have been built in a grove of second growth timber. Houses, sheds and everything that had a roof was occupied by the boys, and when a detail was made for picket duty it was fun to hear the Sergeants hunting the men in the darkness. In a large shed was a lot of baled cotton that the boys appropriated, cutting the bales open and making beds of the snowy material. At intervals the rain poured down in torrents and the bivouac fires seemed to struggle for an existence. About midnight we suddenly got orders to move. In a few minutes we were on the road again making our way through the darkness toward Raymond, about four miles distant. It was very dark yet when we reached the town, and the frequent showers made the situation seem a little dismal.

* Information and italicized quotations from a series of articles entitled Camp and Field - The Old 16th Ohio, written in the 1880s by Theodore Wolbach, late Corporal in Company E, 16th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

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Period map showing the route of the 16th Ohio, with Gen. Osterhaus' 9th Division, from Fourteenmile Creek to Raymond, Mississippi, on May 13, 1863. This map shows the locations of Union Gen. McPherson's and Confederate Gen. Gregg's positions during the Battle of Raymond, fought the Previous day:

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Modern day map of the 16th Ohio's march from Fourteenmile Creek to Raymond, Mississippi, on May 13, 1863:

Lavender pin - Village of Rocky Springs, the approximate position of where the 16th Ohio camped on the night of May 3 and May 4, 1863.
Purple pin - approximate campsite of 16th Ohio on The Jackson Road at Big Sandy Creek May 5 through 9, 1863.
Yellow pin - approximate campsite of 16th Ohio on the Jackson Road (now called Old Port Gibson Road) on the night of May 10 and all day May 11, 1863.
Green pin - approximate campsite of 16th Ohio on the Jackson Road near Fourteenmile Creek on the night of May 12, 1863.
Red pin - Raymond, Mississippi, where the 16th Ohio with Gen. Osterhaus' division reached on the night of May 13, 1863 (3:00am May 14).