First Lieutenant Oliver C. Ayers
Ronald S. Coddington Collection
On October 5, 1864, Confederates attacked the Union garrison of two forts guarding a railroad through Allatoona Pass in northern Georgia. One of the blue regiments that bore the brunt of the assault, the 39th Iowa Infantry, suffered fearful casualties—157 of 280 men and officers engaged. The list included First Lieutenant Oliver C. Ayers.
Back in the summer of 1862, Ayers left his Winterset, Iowa, home and joined the 39th. Two years later at Allatoona Pass, he and his comrades formed for battle ahead of the main Union defensive position with orders to maintain the spot at all hazards.
Confederate major general Samuel G. French sent a surrender note to the garrison’s commander, Brigadier General John M. Corse, who declined. The Confederates attacked and the 39th came under murderous fire. After a heroic resistance, they fell back to the forts. At some point, a musket ball passed through Ayers’ body, killing him. He fell on one knee facing the enemy, then collapsed.
Ayers’ remains rest in Georgia’s Marietta National Cemetery. A cenotaph honoring his life stands in a cemetery in his birthplace of Trumansburg, New York.
Ronald S. Coddington is publisher of Military Images, a magazine dedicated to showcasing and preserving photos of Civil War soldiers and sailors.
