Members of the area's first Civil War Round Table, the 7th Michigan Cavalry, gather around a replica flag of the 16th Michigan Infantry. (L/R) Alan Flood, Keith Markstrom, Dave Rogers, Len McInerney, and Jerry Pergande with Dee Dee Wacksman (holding flag)
7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table Charges into Pages of History
Importance of Bay Cityan Partridge's Contributions Tackled by New Group
October 25, 2003
By: Dave Rogers
The Union Army's finest moment in the Civil War may have been on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1863. A Bay City soldier was there with Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine. But for 140 years history buffs and local folks have puzzled over the meaning and importance of this event. Questions continue to abound: which units and men were there and exactly where were they located? How did they perform in that cauldron of conflict? Who actually made the historic bayonet charge down the hill to defeat the two Alabama regiments which vastly outnumbered them? Was this really the turning point of the war? If this was the action that "saved the free world," why do we not know more about the heroism of a local man?Was this a momentousinstant in history that should be crystallized for eternity, for generations to recall until time immemorial? Or is it mistakenly crowned with erroneous laurels by the flawed perception and memories of mortal man?
Brig. Gen. Benjamin Partridge
The newly-formed 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table has quickly taken on the major challenge of understanding the contributions of one of Bay City's own Civil War heroes, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Partridge. His actions at Gettysburg on Little Round Top at that crucial moment in U.S. history are the prime focus.
Fortunately, the 7th has a resident expert, attorney Gerald Pergande, who has been studying the subject for several decades. Pergande spoke on Partridge's military career at the inaugural meeting of the Round Table on Oct. 15 at the appropriately-named Lincoln Center of Bay Regional Medical Center.
Partridge is a fascinating figure: a lumber mill owner who goes broke in the 1850s and gets elected sheriff of Bay County. He is married to Olive Wright and the couple have four children. They live at Center and Van Buren, on the site later occupied by the Knights of Columbus and now by the officesof the law firm of Learman, Peters, Sarow, et. al. He enlists as a private, rises to colonel, fights in about 40 battles, is wounded five times and after Appomattox Court House participates in a grand review and is honored by being presented more than 20Confederate battle flags. After the war, he is breveted brigadier general "for gallant conduct at the action at White Oak Road, Virginia, March 29, 1865."
Partridge enlists in the Union Army Oct. 12, 1861 as a private but quickly is named second lieutenant of the First Michigan Lancers, a unit with a romantic view of cavalry charges with long lances harkening back to the Napoleonic era. The Lancers prove an untenable military unit and are quickly disbanded. Partridge is mustered out and immediately enlists in the 16th Michigan Infantry, where he is given the rank of First Lieutenant.
He is wounded in action at Malvern Hill, Virginia, July 1, 1862, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1863, at Peeble's Farm, Virginia, Sept. 30, 1864, atHatcher's Run, Virginia, Feb. 6, 1865, and at Quaker Road, Mar. 31, 1865.
According to Pergande, Capt. Partridge was up on Little Round Top with the 16th Michigan, but did not charge down the hill with fixed bayonets as did the 20th Maine under Col. Chamberlain. However, to their undying credit, his unit held its position on the hill while some men of the 16th Michigan broke and ran. That was contribution enough to win Partridge at least a measure of fame, misunderstood as it is.
Partridge is promoted to major June 1, 1864, to lieutenant colonel Sept. 30, 1864, and breveted colonel of the U.S. Volunteers on the same date. At Peeble's Farm Sept. 30, 1864, Col. Norval E. Welch of Ann Arbor, commander of the 16th Michigan, is killed instantly while going over the enemy's works, sword in hand. Maj. Partridge is wounded by a bullet through his neck and receives two other wounds "while gallantly leading the 83rd Pennsylvania to the attack." Michigan in the War, the massive 1039 page volume published by the State of Michigan in 1882, states: "He is hit on the chin by a minie ball, which struck the neck, just glancing the jugular vein, and then entering the shoulder and passing out at the back." Following the death of Col. Welch Major Partridgeassumed command of the regiment, retaining it until the end of the war. He is mustered out July 8, 1865 and honorably discharged.
Returning to Bay City, Partridge operates a farm in Portsmouth Township and develops the Tuscola Plank Road, now M-15. In 1870 he files for bankruptcy; the property is in his wife's name and thus escapes confiscation for debts. Partridge is appointed and serves in several important state and federal posts and dies in 1892. He is buried in Elm Lawn Cemetery after an elaborate procession and rites by the Masonic order to which he belongs.
Every year, the day after Memorial Day, a small group of Masons gather at Partridge's grave and read the same memorial service, just as they have done for the past 115 years. It has to be one of Bay City's most enduring rituals and poignant tributes to a citizen who became a hero in one of the most bloody and important wars in the history of mankind.
Below:The grave of Bay City's own Civil War hero, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Partridge.
