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CHARLES C. WALCUTT Facing Page 552 (Illustration) General Charles C. Walcutt, collector of internal revenue for the seventh district of Ohio, was born in Columbus, February 12, 1838, the son of John M. Walcutt and Mariel (Broderick) Walcutt. They were among the pioneer settlers of the city, where the former carried on the business of chair-making. His early education was acquired in the public schools of his native place, and at the Kentucky military institute, from which institution he graduated in the class of 1858. Returning to Columbus, he was elected surveyor for Franklin county the next year, and held that position until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he relinquished it in order to offer his services to the government. Hastily raising a military company in the State capital, he entered the service April 17, 1861, with the commission of Captain. The next June he was promoted to the rank of Major, and served on the staff of General Hill until August, when he was appointed Major of the Forty-sixth regiment of Ohio volunteers. January, 1862, he was appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy, and, with his regiment, joined Sherman's army at Paducah, Kentucky, where the Tennessee river expedition was then in course of organization. At the memorable battle of shiloh, he received a severe wound in the shoulder from a musket-ball, which has never been extracted. October 16th of the same year, he was made colonel of his regiment, and participated in the campaigns against Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi. At the battle of Missionary Ridge he was assigned to the command of the Second brigade of the First division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and behaved with such intrepid gallantry in holding the key-point of the field against repeated charges by superior numbers, that he was recommended for promotion in General Sherman's report. From Chattanooga he moved with the column advancing to the defense of Knoxville, being still in command of the brigade, and led the assaulting party of the Army of the Tennessee at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. After the battle of July 22nd, in which the brave McPherson fell, he was raised to the full rank of Brigadier-General. He participated in all the engagements of the Atlanta campaign, and after the destruction of the city fought the only battle--that of Griswoldsville--which occurred during the famous march to the sea. In this engagement, isolated from the main body of the army, and with his command reduced to thirteen hundred men, he sustained an attack by a body of the Confederate troops over seven thousand strong, under General Coombs. He not only bore up against that overwhelming force, but finally routed it with such complete success that the number of the enemy left dead and wounded on the field exceeded tat of the whole force with which he had entered the engagement. For this memorable act of gallantry he was breveted Major-General, and again distinguished by a very laudatory notice in the report of General Sherman. He then received, however, a sever shell-wound in the leg, which disabled him for several months, and he was unable to resume his command until the army entered North Carolina, when he was assigned to the command of the First division, Fourteenth army corps, and a few months later passed with the victorious troops in grand review before the President at Washington. He then took his command to Louisville, where it was mustered out, in August, 1865. He personally, however, served in the western department until January, 1866, at which date he was mustered out, and accepted the wardenship of the Ohio penitentiary. While in this position he accepted also the appointment of a lieutenant-colonelcy in the United States regular cavalry service, and reported to General Hancock, at St. Louis, for duty. But three months later, finding that no imperative duty called him to the life of a soldier in time of peace, he handed in his resignation and returned to the pursuits of civil life, resuming his position as warden in the penitentiary. That office was held by him for three years, he being the first man under whose management the institution returned a revenue to the State treasury. In 1869 he was appointed collector of internal revenue, for the seventh district of Ohio, and still holds that position. He has always taken a zealous interest in public affairs, and in the cause of education, in Columbus. In 1868 he was presidential elector for his district, and cast his vote for General Grant. In 1872 he was chairman of the State Republican executive committee, and conducted the Presidential and State campaign, of that year, in Ohio, with distinguished success. Transcriber's Notes:
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