Dailey, Dennis B. (1840-1898)

DAILEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/16/2019 at 17:15:15

Dennis B. Dailey
Nov 15, 1840 - Mar 25, 1898

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.467)
COLONEL D. B. DAILEY, an attorney at Council Bluffs, Iowa, was born in Ireland, November 15, 1840, and when six years old came to this country with his parents who settled in Ohio. He was educated chiefly at New Richmond, Ohio, at the Southwestern State Normal School, at Lebanon, and at Antioch College, same state, when the celebrated educator, Horace MANN, was the president of that institution.

At the breaking out of the great Rebellion, he enlisted April 19, 1861, in Company B, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and served over a year in the ranks; was promoted to Second Lieutenant, September 16, 1862; First Lieutenant, June 2, 1863; Captain, May 25, 1864. August 1, 1864, he was brevetted Major by the President of the United States, with the approval of the Senate, for continued and meritorious services in the Army of the Potomac up to that time; and on the 21st of that month he was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, for gallant conduct in the action of that date at Yellow Tavern on the Weldon Railroad in Virginia. March 8, 1865, he was appointed president of a military commission. March 31, same year, he was brevetted Colonel for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of White Oak or Boydtown Plant Road, Virginia, and for continued good conduct during the war. June 11, 1864, at the expiration of the term of enlistment of his regiment, the 2nd Wisconsin, he was retained in the service at his own request, by order of the War Department, and was appointed Provost-Marshal and placed upon the staff of General CUTLER, Division Commander. In addition to his duties as Provost-Marshal, he also commanded the Wisconsin Independent Battalion, composed of veterans and recruits of the Second Wisconsin, whose term of enlistment had not expired with the old regiment. He also commanded, for a short time, the first battalion of New York Sharpshooters, and at the battle of Hatcher's Run was assigned to the temporary command of the 147th New York Volunteer Infantry. He served on the staffs of Generals Henry A. MORROW, CUTLER, BRAGG, CRAWFORD and Major General G. K. WARREN. During his period of service, he commanded the 6th Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Infantry, another of the regiments of the famous Iron Brigade, and was conspicuously at its head at the grand review of the Army of the Potomac, after which he was assigned to the command of a provisional brigade, with orders to report to General LOGAN, at Louisville, Kentucky, which he did.

Following is a list of the principal engagements in which Colonel DAILEY participated: Battle of Blackburn's Ford, July 18, 1861, where he was wounded; First Bull Run, July 21, 1861; Cedar or Slaughter Mountain, August 12 and 13, 1862; White Sulphur Springs, later in the same month; Gainesville, August 28, 1862; Second Bull Run, August 29 and 30, 1862; South Mountain, September 14, 1862; Antietam, September 17, 1862; campaign under BURNSIDE against Fredericksburg, and the battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862; battle of Chancellorsville, May 1863.

The winter and spring of 1863, Colonel DAILEY was on independent duty, during which he participated in and conducted several successful expeditions, through the counties lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers in Virginia, for the success of which he was highly complimented in general orders. For the crossing of the Rappahannock, at Fitzhugh Landing, Colonel DAILEY was thanked in general orders, by brigade and division commanders, for gallantry and skill displayed at the crossing aforesaid in face of the enemy, and was afterward recommended for promotion on account of same.

He was in the campaign through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and in the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, and was conspicuous for gallantry in the charge of the Iron Brigade against Archer's Confederate Brigade, and in this engagement received the surrender and sword of the Confederate General ARCHER, which sword he still retains. Later in the day of that battle, he was severely wounded and fell into the hands of the enemy, but escaped from their guard on the night of July 5, and rejoining his command July 11, was assigned to the staff of General Henry A. MORROW, which position he retained until February 1864; was with the army at the battle of Mine Run and all of its encounters with the enemy at Rappahannock Station and Brandy Station. He was with General MORROW at the capture and destruction of Raccoon Ford, on the Rapidan, Virginia, was wounded May 5, 1864, in the first day's battle of the Wilderness, but did not leave the field. He served through the Wilderness campaign, and was again wounded in battle in front of Petersburg, June 18, 1864. He was chief of General CRAWFORD's staff in the expedition of the Fifth Army Corps to the Maheran River, in its effort to destroy the Weldon Railroad and with General MORROW conducted the retreat of that campaign.

In the battle of Weldon Railroad, August 21, 1864, he was on General Cutler's (Division Commander) staff, and in the execution of an order of that General, was dangerously wounded by the Confederate General Johnson HAGOOD, who commanded a brigade in Mahone's division; but, just before being shot by General HAGOOD, Colonel DAILEY secured the colors of one of the Confederate regiments which surrendered to him; and at the time of being shot, he was holding the Confederate regimental colors and flag. In this transaction and dash of Colonel DAILEY, great danger was averted to the union lines behind which the gallant Confederate General HAGOOD had carried his brigade. This incident in the history of the War has become so famous that we here give it in the language of General HAGOOD who shot Colonel DAILEY:

"This officer (Colonel DAILEY of General Cutler's staff) had galloped out of a sallyport, seized a color from the hands of its bearer and demanded a surrender. Some officers and men surrendered, but were not carried in; others refused, but just around him ceased fighting. General HAGOOD called to the men to shoot him and fall back in retreat. They either did not hear him or, bewildered by the surrender of part of their number, failed to obey. It was a critical moment, and demanded instant and decided action. In a few moments the disposition to surrender would have spread, and the whole brigade would have been lost. Making his way across the intervening space as speedily as he could, exposed to a regular fire by file from the enemy's line scarce thirty yards off, and calling to his men to fall back, which they did not do, General HAGOOD approached Colonel DAILEY and demanded the colors, and that he should go back within his own lines, telling him that he was free to do so. Colonel DAILEY commenced arguing the hopelessness of further struggle, and pointed out the line in our rear. HAGOOD cut him short and demanded a categorical reply - yes or no. DAILEY was a man of fine presence, with long flowing beard, and sat with loosened rein upon a noble-looking bay that stood with head and tail erect, and flashing eye and distended nostrils, quivering in every limb with excitement, but not moving in his tracks. In reply to this abrupt demand the rider raised his head proudly and decisively answered "No!" Upon the word, General HAGOOD shot him through the body, and as he reeled from the saddle upon one side, General HAGOOD sprang into it from the other, Orderly STONEY seizing the flag from his falling hands."

"It was one of the most dashing feats witnessed by me on either side during the war. Upon the chance of securing a prize for the side he served so well, Colonel DAILEY doubly staked his life, for he was, while in the Confederate line, in as much danger from the fire of his own men as from that of his enemy."

History has recorded this dash on the part of Colonel DAILEY as one of the two bravest acts of the war. It is recorded in Volume II, page 595 of General Beauregard's Military Operations of the War; and the same brilliant conduct is mentioned in Swinton's Army of the Potomac. It is also made the subject of a poem, entitled "The Charge of Hagood's Brigade," in a work known as the "Living Writers of the South," besides being recorded in general orders and reports of the operations of that battle, by Major General G. K. WARREN, commanding the Fifth Army Corps. It was commented upon by Southern papers as one of the two bravest acts of the war; the other being a Confederate soldier. General HAGOOD and Colonel DAILEY are today the warmest and best of friends, although they have never met except upon the bloody battlefield of the Weldon Railroad, but have had extended correspondence. As General HAGOOD wrote: Colonel Dailey, to secure the surrender of a whole brigade, came very near succeeding.

On account of the above wound, Colonel DAILEY was in the hospital over three months, and is still a constant sufferer of the same. He was in battle of Gravelly Run, March 31, 1865, and at Boydton Plank Road, April 2, 1865, was wounded again. He was honorably discharged from the service of the United States at Madison, Wisconsin, July 28, 1865; visited Europe in 1866, and took up his residence at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1867, where he has ever since resided. In 1868, he was admitted to the bar. In 1872 he was appointed by the Governor of the State to the office of District Attorney for the third Judicial District, the duties of which office he performed with marked ability. In 1886, he was nominated and elected to the office of County Attorney, for two years, and declined renomination.

During his practice as an attorney, he has participated in the trial of some of the most important cases occurring in the state, both civil and criminal. In politics, he has always been an ardent Republican, and always a warm friend and advocate of the public school system of the country. He was one of the charger members of the Abe Lincoln Post, of the Grand Army of the Republic; and of the Union Veteran Legion, located at Council Bluffs, to which organization he was devoted. He took great pleasure in having been a member of the old Iron Brigade, of the Army of the Potomac, and of being a member and officer of two of the regiments composing that organization, which distinguished themselves upon every battlefield against the Confederate army under General LEE; and he was especially proud of having risen from the rank of a private soldier to that of a Captain in the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, the regiment that enjoys the supreme honor and distinction of having sustained the greatest percentage of loss in killed and wounded of all regiments in the entire Union army, in proportion to its number of enrollment. May 3, 1890, Colonel DAILEY was commissioned Captain of Company A of the 5th Regiment, I.N.G., being the Dodge Light Guard, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Since the war, he has taken a deep interest in military affairs and has one of the best libraries of military textbooks and histories in the country.

On September 28, 1874, he married Miss Mary E. WARREN, who was born in Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada, and was a graduate of the high school of Council Bluffs, Iowa. They have four sons and two daughters, whose names are, in the order of age: Frances, Warren, Robert L., Ada M., Frederick Ney, and Chester A. DAILEY. Like the father, the children are fond of horseback riding and are graceful and at home in the saddle.