THE LIFE AND SERVICES Major-General H. W. Slocum Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/lifeservicesofma01sloc THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY WARNER SLOCUM Other Books by Dr. Charles E. Slocum History of the Maumee River Basin: A region of about 6,500 square miles in area, with nine rivers, interesting geology, glaciology, and early animals including peoples. It was the pre- historic, and early historic, route from the Great Lakes to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It contains the thriving cities of Toledo, Lima, Findlay, and Defiance in Ohio; Fort Wayne, De- catur, Auburn, and xkngola, in Indiana; Hillsdale and others in southeastern Michigan. It embraces great historic, climatic, agri- cultural and business regions, including the petroleum and natural gas districts. Imperial Svo, 688 pages. Illustrated with maps, prehistoric and pioneer articles of war and peace, forts, rivers, landscapes, and cities. Price, $5.00 net. Postage 36 cents. The Ohio Country, Embracing the Old Northwestern and Southwestern Territories, Between the Years 1783-1815; Including the Military Operations that Twice, at least, Saved to the United States the Country West of the Alleghany Mountains After the Revolutionary War. Of great interest to every Ameri- can citizen. Svo. Price $2.00 net. Postage 20 cents. About Tobacco and Its Deleterious Effects. A Book for Everybody, Tobacco-Users and Non-Users. ‘Ladies should read it. 7 Small Svo. Price $1.00. History of Frances Slocum, Sixty-five Years Captive with Delaware and Miami Aborigines. A study of Civilized Hered- ity Against Savage and Later Barbarous Environment. Tliirt 8vo. Well illustrated. Price $2.50. Postage 10 cents. History cf the Slocums. Slocumbs, and Slocombs, of America, Genealogical, Biographical, Marriages and Descendants in Both Male and Female Lines „ From A. D. 1637 to 1908. Two volumes 8vo; Vol. 1, 644 pages published in 1882; Yol. II, 559 pages additional to Yol. 1, published in 1908. Both well ilus- trated. The value of such authentic books as these increases as the years go by. Price sent on request. The Great Fictions Abroad in the World, and Their Harmful Effects on the Advancement of Civilization. Small Svo. Price $2.00 net. Address THE SLOCUM PUBLISHING CO., Toledo, Ohio THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL Henry Warner Slocum OFFICER IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY; IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR IN DIFFERENT MILITARY CAMPAIGNS COMMANDER OF ARMY CORPS; COMMANDER OF ARMIES COMMANDER OF DISTRICT; COMMANDER OF DEPARTMENT; STATE AND NATIONAL LEGISLATOR; CITIZEN By CHARLES ELIHU SLOCUM, M.D., Ph.D., LL.D. MEMBER OF LOCAL, OHIO STATE, AND NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETIES; OF THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY; AND OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION c Stay AND Fight IT Out — General Slocum’s Injunction to the Council of War in the Dark Hour of the Battle of Gettysburg Toledo, Ohio THE SLOCUM PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913 7 * X 9 C, 'o'b'b J\35 80 8S Whoever copies from this book should give honorable credit to the author for whatever is copied from it. -jAs'jjr /y w -3w . f 1 z 3 s (* ? * s v-eAL ICvAa/ • Wr TO THE NUMEROUS POSTS OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC A SOCIETY OF HONORABLY DISCHARGED SOLDIERS OF THE UNION ARMIES AND NAVY OF THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861-1865 WHICH HAS CONTRIBUTED LARGELY TO THE UPLIFT OF THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ITS MEMBERS AS WELL AS TO THE BROADENING OF THEIR PATRIOTIC LOVE OF THEIR COUNTRY THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR v 7 $ tr? & I wish for humanity’s sake that this sad war could be brought to a close. While laboring to make it successful, I shall do all in my power to mitigate its horrors. — General Slocum’s letter to his ivife November 7, 1864, from Atlanta, eight days be- fore starting on the memorable March to the Sea. VI CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Introductory 1 II. Lineage 4 III. Schooling and Early Training 6 IV. In the United States Army. Studies Law 10 V. Volunteers in the Civil War. At Bull Run 12 VI. A Brigadier General. His Wound Heals 16 VII. Transferred to the Peninsular Campaign 21 VIII. Ending of the Peninsular Campaign 25 IX. Letters. Reports. A Major-General 31 X. At Alexandria. Battle of Manassas 38 XI. Maryland Campaign and Battles 43 XII. Supply Delays. Commands XIIth Army Corps .... 53 XIII. At Harper’s Ferry and in Shenandoah Valley... 59 XIV. Preparations for Chancellorsville Campaign .... 65 XV. Commands Three Army Corps to Chancellorsville 73 XVI. Battle of Chancellorsville. Reports 81 XVII. Beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign 93 XVIII. Beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg 99 XIX. Council of War. Confederates Defeated 108 XX. The Pursuit of the Retreating Enemy 116 XXI. The Rappahannock. New York Draft Riots.... 122 XXII. Gettysburg Reports. Letters. Criticisms 127 XXIII. The Rapidan. Resignation. To Tennessee 137 XXIV. Guards Against the Enemy’s Cavalry Raids 144 XXV. Much Hard Work and But Little Honor 148 XXVI. Battle of Wauhatchie by Slocum’s Men 151 XXVII. Battle Above the Clouds by Slocum’s Men 157 XXVIII. The Battle Above the Clouds Concluded 163 XXIX. Battles of Missionary Ridge and Ringgold 169 XXX. Discipline. Guerrillas. Reinlisting Veterans... 176 XXXI. Social Amenities. Goes to Vicksburg 181 XXXII. Commands Vicksburg. General Orders _... 188 XXXIII. Thorough Work at Vicksburg. Harassments. . . . 193 XXXIV. To the Atlanta Campaign. Enters Atlanta 201 XXXV. Holds Atlanta. Development of the Great March 207 XXXVI. Prepares to Sever all Union Communications 216 XXXVII. Annoyances. The Army of Georgia by Regiments. 221 XXXVIII. The March to the Capitol of Georgia s 225 XXXIX. The March to the Sea at Savannah 231 XL. The Enemy Escapes Sherman. Slocum Enters City 238 XLI. General Slocum Occupies Savannah. Reports 244 XLII. Beginning of the South Carolina Campaign 254 XLIII. Captures Fayetteville. Again the Sea 261 vij MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCTJM viii Chapter Page XL1V. Battle of Averysboro, North Carolina 269 XLV. Hard Beset at Bentonville. Three to One 274 XLVI. Last Chance of the Confederacy Conquered 281 XL VII. Battle of Bentonville Concluded. Reports 28S XLVIII. The Confederate Armies Surrender. War Ended.. 305 XLIX. Triumphal March to Washington. Farewell.... 311 L. Commands Department of Mississippi. Resigns . . 322 LI. Besides in Brooklyn. Letters. Goes to Congress 331 LII. Civil and Social Services. Business Successes... 337 LIII. Decease. Private and Public Testimonials 344 LIV. Public Memorials on Land and Sea 360 Appendix. List of References 377 His Soldiers by States, Regiments and Batteries 380 ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait at the Close of Peninsular Campaign, Aged 36 Years .... 41 Map of First and Second Confederate Invasions 44 Monuments at Crest of Crampton's Pass, Maryland, 4S Army Corps Badges 70, 72, 74, 136, 162, 187,220, 280, 376 Battle-field of Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Rivers 7S Battle-field of Gettysburg, Forty-eight Tears After 103 View in Gettysburg Battlefield, Thirty-nine Years After 114 Battle-field of Wauhatchie and Lookout Mountain 1-60 Savannah, and Causeway of Enemy’s Escape 240 Night March in the Flood and Mud of South Carolina 258 Bridging Over and Corduroying Under North Carolina Flood. . . . 267 Battle-field of Bentonville, North Carolina 285 Sherman, Slocum, Howard, and Their Chief Helpers 320 Portrait About Close of ITis Military Services 330 Portrait as Congressman at the Age of Fifty-six Years 339 Equestrian Statue at Gettysburg. 1902 114, 364 Equestrian Statue in Brooklyn Boro, New York 373 Portrait of the Author xii PREFACE IX This book is given to events surrounding, and centering in, one prominent actor in the Great Civil War of 1861-1865 in the United States of America, with mention of other actors and events closely associated with the subject actor for the side lights thus cast on the subject for the rounding of the record. It has been the desire of the writer to keep each page clear in its record of men and events, and not to forget that the detail belongs to the principal subject. It is thought best to incline to some details that may be thought unnecessary by those readers fully informed, rather than to have the average reader miss too much that he would like to know. Irrelevant questions have been avoided. More than a generation in time has passed since the close of the great internal strife of four years duration treated of in this book; and it is hoped, from the importance of the subject, that the record of the details of the army life and its great trials presented herein may be of interest to every reader. The work is based upon the Official Records, on correspondence, and other material placed in the writer’s hands by the immedi- ate family of the subject actor. This Great Civil War originated from the legislative acts of secession of eleven Southern slaveholding States from their original Union with the Northern States ; from the organizing of a separate government by the former called the Confederate States of America; the seizure by it of all the forts, arsenals, navy yards, and other United States property within the limits of this new would-be government that was readily turned over to it by sympathizing friends in charge of them ; and from overt acts of war against the United States control of Union property in the Southern States not promptly surrendered to those in sympathy with tha Confederate States government then being organized. The Army of the United States had always been small. Most members of it who had been recruited in the South, re- mained there, as did most of the Southern officers, graduates X MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM of the United States Military and Naval Academies. Such of- ficers in the North and South, with the former recruits, formed only small nuclei of the contesting armies that were soon gath- ered with war intent, particularly in the South. Nearly all members of the large armies, gathered by hun- dreds of thousands North and South for this fratricidal Avar, were at first short time volunteers, scarcely any one of whom Avas fairly well disciplined when his term of enlistment expired, the officers of each government thinking that the war, if any there Avas, would be of short duration. Many of these short term soldiers, hoAvever, reinlisted for longer service, and they became veterans of unexcelled worth. It has not been the intention, or the desire, of the writer to produce a complete history or account of any battle mentioned in this book, and much less a continuous record of the great war. No such complete A\ r ork has been accomplished. The most the Avriter hopes to do, is to sIioav the part enacted by his subject actor in daily detail, after recording his basis for heritage through many American generations, his early ambitions, op- portunities, and struggles, all contributing to the formation of an upright stable character of the poor American boy, Avhose Avatchfulness for and the embracing of opportunities for his bet- terment, and Avhose thoughtful and unfaltering devotion to duty, and to his country, eventually enrolled his name high, and in- delibly, upon his country’s Roll of Honor as a Union officer of the most trustAvorthy and successful class in the great conflict knoAAm as the great Civil War in America. From this recounting of the experiences and services of Henry Warner Slocum day by day during his ever broadening career — in his actual military life beginning as a second lieuten- ant of artillery, and ending as the commanding general of an army numbering many thousands of men, engaged in many close and bloody battles, all without a single defeat, and even without the permanent loss of a cannon or flag and, later as. the Union commander of a military department in the conquered Southern States, where great discretion and executive ability were necessary— it is hoped that the reader may get glimpses PREFACE xi of all phases of his civil and military life ; and thus be able to note corrections of many of the omissions of most writers on the Civil War, and get correct views of his just rights to be re- corded among the foremost of those most worthy of remem- brance. The reader may, also, here get account of the war in much of its stern realities; and, withal, may have the oppor- tunity for noting the causes why the many failed, and the few attained great success. Charles Elihu Slocum. Toledo, Ohio. DR. CHARLES ELIHU SLOCUM The Author CHAPTER I Introductory Tlie Slocums in America date from the year 1637. From the year 1656 or before they were reared according to the tenets of the religious Society of Friends, ‘in scorn called Quakers,’ until removal from Massachusetts and Rhode Island westward, beginning about the year 1775, separated different families from the church society of their fathers. The families so separated united with the church in their new locality which was thought by them nearest in belief to that of the Friends, opposition to war and all strife being a principal feature of their desire. Notwithstanding this careful rearing by precept and exam- ple, numbers of young men, and some older ones, in New Eng- land and westward were carried away from the desires and teaching's of their parents by an awakened spirit of loyalty to their country, and they enlisted in the Revolutionary War of 1775-1783. General Nathaniel Greene, second only to Washing- ton in command, was the most notable instance of Slocum blood in that war. 1 Other instances show as many as three sons of a prominent Friend’s family enlisting, two of whom saw much army service, and both rose from the ranks to the commission of captain. The older of these two, Edward, was a charter mem- ber of the revolutionary officers’ Society of the Cincinnati, which yet exists by membership succession of the eldest male lineal descendant in each generation. But in Edward’s line no one has thus far applied for membership. Edward’s brother Ebenezer’s service was both on land and sea and continued through the War of 1812. 2 Another instance yet more interest- ing, to the writer particularly, is that of Eleazer Slocum and Caleb Wright, Friends and great-grandparents of the writer, who took with them the first son and nephew, Joseph Slocum, grandfather of the writer, then very young in years but large of stature, and the three enlisted in the Thirteenth New York Regiment to aid in saving their homes from desecration by the English General Burgoyne’s army, which was marching down from Canada — and the three fought to the capture of this British army at Saratoga in October, 1777, freely volunteering 2 HENRY WARNER SLOCUM of tlieir substance and their service, to the changing of the tide of war against the British invaders. Of this action they made no boast ; neither did they tell the story to their descendants ; the writer’s father, Captain Caleb Wright Slocum, did not know of it, and the writer learned of it only from the New York State Records. 3 The Society of Friends was one of the most remarkable re- sults of the Reformation in England. Americans are indebted to this Society for religious liberty to a far greater degree than for political liberty. Its members well deserve the name of the Protestants of the Pilgrims in New Plymouth, and particularly of the Puritans in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. They would not pay tithes, nor anything, for the pe- cuniary support of any church other than their own. They were willing, however, to concede to all others the same right to the liberty they desired for themselves. They were a noble band of men and women, very generally of wholesome minds and charac- ters, who won, in principle and fact, religious liberty by pa- tiently suffering imprisonment, savage mutilations, and even death, from the authorities of the Colonial Church desiring the name ‘established’ in New England. To the great principles of their well founded religious belief they remained firm, while quietly enduring all persecutions without resentment, until they were formally released from persecution by the Declaration of Indulgence issued in April, 1687, by King James II. of England. The Friends were very methodical, full and accurate in keeping the records of their different meetings, and of their vital statistics. Fortunate indeed is the genealogist who has such wealth of resource from which to draw for his American data, of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries particularly. The name Slocum has been well represented in every promi- nent war of the United States. In the great Civil War, 1861- 1865, the number of Slocums engaged was relatively large from its beginning to its ending — different families contributing three, four, and even five, volunteers — and their patriotism and valor were thoroughly tested, and found not wanting. The large number who gave up their lives on the battle-fields for their country during this v r ar, are recorded in the United States Roll of Honor; 4 and the numerous others who died later of wounds INTRODUCTORY 3 and disabilities received in this war lie buried at their several homes scattered throughout the States of the preserved Union. Among this large number suffering death early in the war there were several who, undoubtedly, would have risen to high command had their lives been spared. Of this number but two will be mentioned here. First. John Stanton Slocum, Colonel of the Second Rhode Island Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, was killed in the First Battle of Bull Run, at Sudley Ford, Virginia, July 21, 1861. He was a cultured officer of good judgment, great energy and cool- ness in danger. His regiment was hard pressed by superior numbers of the enemy, but it bravely and steadily held its ground, even beating back its foe, until their heroic Colonel fell mortally wounded. He was Major of Colonel Ambrose E. Burn- side’s First Rhode Island Infantry Regiment until the Second Regiment was organized, when he was chosen its Colonel. Colonel (afterwards General) Burnside reported of him in high terms. 5 He served with distinction as an officer in the Mexican War, 1846-1848; and his monument in Providence, Rhode Island, proudly bears the words Contreras, Cherubusco, Chepultepec and Sudley Ford. 6 It was in honor of the memory of Colonel John Stanton Slocum that one of the strongest defenses of Washing- ton, District of Columbia, during the Civil W T ar, was named Fort Slocum. 7 It was situated about a mile north of the Sol- diers’ Home in Washington. Second. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Enos Slocum was born in Steuben County, New York, and resided in Indiana from the age of nineteen years. He enlisted in Company K, Fourteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry; was commissioned Lieu- tenant and went with his company into Virginia in May, 1861. After participating in several skirmishes he was shot through the right thigh in the Battle of Winchester May 25, 1862, the ball shattering the bone five inches below the hip joint. He made fairly good recovery, was commissioned Major of the Eighty- second Indiana Volunteers, and was assigned to General Don C. Buell’s commend. After being in several engagements with the enemy, including the Battle of Stone’s River, Tennessee, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. He served thus in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and in the pursuit of the HENRY WARNER SLOCUM 4 enemy. February 25, 1864, while in command of two regiments, the Eighty-second Indiana and the Eighty-ninth Ohio, in the battle near Tunnell Hill, Geox-gia, he received a mortal wound through his left breast while passing along his line, encouraging his men. 8 tie died March 3, 1864, at Chattanooga. Of the other Slocum officers in the Civil War, the one nest in rank to Major-General Henry W. Slocum, was Willard Slocum, a prominent attorney at Ashland, Ohio. He volunteered early for army service, was retained at Columbus, Ohio, as re- cruiting, disciplining, and assignment officer. He was success- ful in this work, and was urged to continue it ; but he went to the front with a regiment and, for bravery displayed in the field, particularly in the unfortunate Red River Campaign in Louisiana, he was commissioned Brigadier-General. 0 He died at his home in Ashland, Ohio, September 23, 1894. CHAPTER II Lineage Major-General Henry Warner Slocum was in the eighth American generation of Slocums, six generations of whom were born members of the religious Society of Friends. His lineage runs back as follows : Seventh, Matthew Bar- nard Slocum married Mary Ostrander; sixth, Benjamin married Elizabeth Coggeshall; fifth, John married Martha Tillinghast ; fourth, Benjamin married Meribali Earl ; third, Eleazer mar- ried Elepliel Fitzgerald; second, Giles married Joan ; first, Anthony married twice, names of wives not ascertained up to this time. Anthony Slocombe, the first American ancestor in this line, was born near Taunton, Somersetshire, England, A. I). 1590. He was one of the first proprietors and settlers of Taunton, New Plymouth, now Massachusetts, in the year 1637, and here the first clerk wrote his surname from sound as Slocum, 10 which form has since prevailed with his descendants in the Northern States. Anthony was chosen to several offices in the new set- tlement, and he was most active in developing at Taunton the first permanent iron works in America, using the bog iron ore LINEAGE 5 found in the vicinity. After residing at Taunton twenty-five years as a freeman, and as a successful and leading though quiet citizen, he sold his holdings there, and went to the Albemarle region, Carolina, as a Lord Deputy Proprietor to aid his boyhood friend, the Duke of Albemarle, in the settlement of, and the establishment of government in, the Carolina Grant. He died at Edenton, North Carolina, aged one hundred years, having been a stanch American pioneer colonist in a double sense. 11 General Slocum’s other ancestors were industrious, thrifty, and good citizens, generally rising to considerable prominence in their communities. Matthew Barnard Slocum, the father of the General, our subject, was the second child and first of four sons in a family of eight children. He was born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, and was reared from the year 1802 at Newport, Rhode Island. In his early manhood he went to Albany, New York, and there engaged as clerk in a general merchandising business of small capital ; and it appears that he invested part of his earnings in the business. He married here, April 9, 1814, Mary, daughter of John Ostrander. The business in which he was employed not proving profitable, it was closed in 1817, and later this year he moved his wife and two children to the small hamlet of Delphi, Onondaga County, near the center of New York State. Here he reared a large family, and completed his life work as a retail general merchant, using a room for his merchandise on one of the corners of the crossing of two country roads which formed the streets of the hamlet. His dwelling was attached to the rear of his business room. Later he purchased between ten and fif- teen acres of land, embracing his residence and business room, wdiich gave him facilities for keeping a horse, cow, and the smaller animals then deemed necessary for his business and rapidly increasing family. He died August 11, 1853, while visit- ing his son George at Scottsville, New York. He was interred at Delphi. His widow died October 31, 1865, in Syracuse, a few miles from Delphi, where she was interred. The children of Matthew Barnard Slocum numbered eleven. Two of the sis sons enlisted in the Civil War. John Ostrander Slocum, the second son and third child, was born June 9, 1820. He studied medicine and surgery and was graduated at Castle- 6 HENRY WARNER SLOCUM ton, Vermont, Medical College in 1847. lie enlisted in the Civil War as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty- second Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, in August, 1862. The next year he was commissioned Surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York, and remained with this regiment until the close of the war in 1865, excepting occasional detailings for service in the Divisional Hospital. At the Battle of Rappahan- nock Station, Virginia, he was the only surgeon at hand, and the untiring manner in which he eared for the wounded won for him the commission of Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet. The last year of the war his rank was that of Brigade Surgeon. His was a very sensitive nature, with high regard for honest duty. Returning home at the close of the war he completed his life work as a general physician and surgeon with residence and office at the Village of Camillus, Onondaga County, New York. CHAPTER III Henry’s Schooling and Early Training Henry Warner Slocum, our subject, was named in honor of a favorite uncle by marriage. He was the sixth child and the fifth of six sons in a family of eleven children. He was born September 24, 1826, and was reared in the family rooms adjoin- ing his father’s small general merchandizing room. In common with all other children in the school district, he was sent to the Delphi Public School, at first only during the summer terms of three months each and, later, to the winter terms of the same length. The average teachers of these short session schools soon failed to interest him, and his active mind found more congenial work in helping in his father’s business. He was anxious to do more, and his father soon permitted him to earn money for his clothing, and for accumulation, in other ivork and ways during the odd moments when not needed in the home business — and this proved of great aid to his father, who was often hard pressed for money to maintain his large family with his small income. Henry bought sheep, a few at a time, paying for their keeping by a percentage of their increase and wool. He was thoughtful, EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES energetic and successful in small degrees in other ways of earn- ing money until his brothers and other young friends called him Speculator, 'Spec’ for short, after the all-too-common way of teasing or badgering people. His brother William, a little more than two years younger, expended the little money he obtained for a dictionary, and he soon became the definition oracle of the family, and school, he receiving the nickname ‘Die’ on that account, 12 and Henry profited in knowledge thereby. A new teacher in the winter term of the public school, a Mr. Belding, found in Henry an apt pupil, and he soon won a place at the head of his classes in arithmetic, algebra, geometry and other studies, in quick succession. An incident exhibiting Henry’s thoughtfulness and leader- ship among his associates about this time, also communicated to the writer by his brother William, will be here mentioned : In the early part of summer about a dozen boys near his own age united with him in the purchase of a cheap two-pounder cannon to aid in celebrating the Fourth of July, particularly. Much enjoyment was obtained from it the next Fourth without serious harm resulting. The gun was then given to the care of one of the company for safe-keeping until it was wanted for another celebration. In the meanwhile this caretaker’s parents took resi- dence in Woodstock, Madison County, about five miles southeast of Delphi; and the custodian carried to the neighboring, and competing, village the Delphi gun without permission of its owners. The abstraction of the gun caused great commotion among the Delphi boys, and the voice was generally favorable for a march to Woodstock for the purpose of capturing the gun by force. Young Slocum, who had been reading the Life of Na- poleon, opposed such movement as most likely to cause a rally- ing not only of the Woodstock boys but of their older friends also in overwhelming numbers to defeat the capture. He would have them remain cpiiet until they could devise a plan for the capture of the gun by strategy, and not force. His suggestions were favored by the majority, which at once chose him as leader for the work. He accordingly appeared in Woodstock July 3rd, and overheard the plans agreed upon for the sunrise gun to open the celebration next day. He returned home and matured his plans. Before the time for firing this first gun the next morning, 8 HENRY WARNER SLOCUM two squads of Delphi boys and a large farm wagon with a span of horses were secreted behind a barn in Woodstock near the place where the gun was to be fired. Immediately after the firing the attention of the gunners and onlookers was successfully attracted by a sham fight away from the gun by one squad of the would-be captors, while the other squad hurriedly loaded the gun into the wagon and hurried their pace with it back to Delphi, where it was again used with much pleasure by its rightful own- ers. Another year, however, as has been experienced in numer- ous similar cases, this gun was exploded by an overload, and the person nearest it was killed. Young Slocum’s energy and thrift continued until he was able to attend Cazenovia Seminary, in the adjoining County of Madison. At the age of sixteen years he was thought worthy of a Public School Teacher’s Certificate by the County Superin- tendent of Schools. A school was secured, which he taught with advantage to his pupils and honor to himself. He continued teaching at intervals for about five years, carefully saving his meager receipts ; and in the meantime during vacations he at- tended the State Normal School at Albany part of the time, when he coidd be spared by his father. All of this was valuable experi- ence to him, contributing to that necessary introspection and rounding of character that have given many thousands of Amer- ican youths vantage in after life. News of the United States’ claim against Mexico, and the declaration of war with that country in 1846, particularly, brought forcefully to the notice of our subject the names of young men, educated at the West Point Military Academy, who were being appointed officers in the different commands for ser- vice in this war; and, having been stimulated to an admiration of historic military men by some of the books read, the desire for education at West Point soon assumed definite form with him. The quiet, unassuming Quaker spirit of his father was without particular political influence, however ; and some lengths of time elapsed before Henry’s own quiet persistency impressed itself upon Daniel F. Gott, congressman of the Onondaga, New York, district. It was the happiest day of his life thus far when he received notice of his being named for cadetship. It was not without E D UCATIONAL ADVANTA GES 9 many misgivings, however, that he presented himself at tiie West Point Military Academy July 1, 1848, with his certificate of ap- pointment. The dreaded entrance examination was passed favor- ably, and he entered upon the course successfully, though mod- estly according to his nature. As a cadet he suffered uncomplainingly whatever of hazing the upper classmen were disposed to subject him to; which proved to be infrequent and rather mild. He won the respect of all, notwithstanding his free expression of opinion when it was desired on questions of the time, including that of the negative side of human slavery and other questions allied with it of in- creasing concern between the Northern and Southern sections of the Republic, and which were often brought to discussion by the strong Southern sentiment then pervading the Academy. His frank and kindly personality deeply impressed itself upon all classmen. 13 During his military course at West Point young Slocum often felt, and lamented, his want of the broader culture pos- sessed by many of his fellow students who had experienced, and were constantly experiencing, the advantages of a full college course. But his persistent and circumspect efforts, which often compensate for a longer course, kept him well toward the head of his class. His ranking the first year was quite favorable to him, the rating being twelve in mathematics, forty in French, and nine in English studies. In the order of general merit lie ranked four- teen in a class of sixty. His demerit marks numbered twenty- three during the year, while those of numerous students were in excess of this number, some ranging toward two hundred. In the conduct roll he was rated sixty-five in the entire school then numbering two hundred and eighteen. His second year’s ratings were, eleven in mathematics, thirty-four in French, and nine- teen in drawing. In the class order of general merit he stood thirteenth in the class numering fifty-five, with no demerits dur- ing the year. In order merit in the entire school he ranked eleventh among two hundred and twenty-one. During his third year he was rated third in philosophy, tenth in chemistry, and fourteenth in drawing. In order of general merit his rank was third in a class of fifty-three. This standing gave him the honor 10 LI E U TENANT H. W. SLOCUM of being number three of the five most distinguished cadets, to be so publicly reported at the annual examination and in the Register. He was given no demerits during this year. In the general conduct roll he ranked number eight among the entire attendance of two hundred and twenty-nine. For his fourth, and last, year he was rated ninth in engineering, sixth in ethics, sixth in mineralogy and geology, fourteenth in infantry tactics, and sixth in artillery. He stood seventh in the order of general merit in the class of forty-seven. In the general conduct roll he ranked number twenty among the entire school of two hundred and twenty-four. 14 General Philip II. Sheridan was a classmate of Henry W. Slocum at West Point. In Ins Memoirs, written after iiis great reputation was secure, Sheridan remembered his fellow student in the following terms : ‘ ‘ Good fortune gave me for a room- mate a cadet whose education w r as more advanced than mine, and whose studious habits and willingness to aid others benefited me immensely. This room-mate was Plenry W. Slocum, since so signally distinguished in both military and civil capacities as to win for his name a proud place. in the annals of his country.” CHAPTER IV In tiie United States Army. Studies Law Henry Warner Slocum was graduated at the United States Military Academy in June, 1852. He was at once commis- sioned Second Lieutenant and assigned for service in the First United States Artillery, which was soon ordered to Florida to maintain the peace of the yet disquieted Seminole Aborigines. In the latter part of 1853 his company was ordered to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. Obtaining a short furlough, Lieutenant Slocum returned home and, February 9, 1854, he was married to Miss Clara, daughter of Israel and Dorcas (Jenkins) Rice of Woodstock, New York, with whom acquaintance began while both the young people -were students at Cazenovia Seminary. He returned in due time to his post of duty accompanied by his wife. IN TEE EXITED STATES ARMY 11 At Fort Moultrie, with abundant leisure from garrison duty, the enticing opportunities for boating, fishing, hunting, and thq attractions of Charleston society, together with a variety of post » duties, the time passed rapidly and pleasantly for a time. But Lieutenant Slocum could not remain long satisfied with so little of work and so much of pleasure. He decided to devote a con- siderable part of this time outside of his military duties to the study of law. Fortunately he secured the good services of Hon- orable B. C. Presley of Charleston as preceptor, -who was as much pleased with his student as was the Lieutenant with his teacher, a cultured, progressive man, who was later called to the South Carolina Supreme Court as judge. Lieutenant Slocum entered upon the new study with a zest that promised good suc- cess to all persons knowing his enduring qualities. In the mean- time his military duties were fully performed. Our subject was commissioned First Lieutenant March 3, 1855, and he was continued in the First United States Artillery service. For some length of time previous to receiving this pro- motion Lieutenant Slocum had been considering the question of resigning from the army. His advancement in rank, while not changing his mind, delayed his action for the important change of profession. The summer of 1855 was unusually warm. His family — a daughter, Caroline, had been born meantime — were ill from the heat and miasms; and the better health, vigor, and business of his native State appealed to him with greater force than ever before. His regiment was to be ordered again to Florida. There was no cloud of war visible, and he was becoming anxious for more useful and energetic employment. He had fully recom- pensed the general government for his military education. Oc- tober 20, 1856, his child died in Charleston; the 31st of the same month he resigned from the United States Army. Lieutenant Slocum returned to Onondaga County,. New York, where he was admitted to the bar. He opened office in the city of Syracuse, and soon had a good clientele in the prac- tice of law. He now saw even greater cause for thankfulness for the habit of economy and thrift which was well formed in his youthful days. From care regarding clothing and expendi- tures, he had been able to save money even during his cadetship. 12 COLONEL 'll. W. SLOCUM 1861 and he was thereby able to aid his father during the time of his poor health, and business depression. During the four-and-a- tliird years of his army service he had saved enough from his pay receipts to pay for a modest home in Syracuse, also to pay for a row of vacant lots, upon which he built residences a few years later. The Syracuse authorities named the street, along which these lots are situated, Slocum Avenue in honor of the man whose thrift and energy improved this part of the city. Without special effort on his part, in November, 1858, our subject was elected Assemblyman, member of the lower house, of the New York State Legislature, from Syracuse on the Repub- lican ticket. He was not a politician but acted regarding each measure or law brought before the House in the quiet, consci- entious, and thoughtful way now become habitual with him. Tor two years, 1859-1860, he answered the call, and served his State as Instructor of Artillery Service to the Militia with the rank of Colonel. In the election of November, 1860, his friends chose him for the office of Treasurer of Onondaga County for a term of three years. He entered upon this important duty in due time. His patriotism, and conscientious recognition of a higher duty, how- ever, did not permit him to serve in this lucrative and peaceful office, but called him, propelled him, to the battle-field, where life itself was in the balance. CHAPTER Y Volunteers in the Civil War. At Bull Run Neither local office, the practice of law, nor even the love of family and friends, could hold Colonel Slocum at home when his country needed his services. When South Carolina, after the ordinance of secession from the United States, opened guns upon the United States supply boat Star of the West January 9, 1861, and particularly when she began the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Har- bor April 12, 1861, Colonel Slocum’s artillery services, and his duty to his country, were uppermost in his thoughts. He went to Albany and, calling on Governor Edwin D. Morgan, asked for 1861 VOLUNTEERS IN THE CIVIL WAR 13 permission to recruit a battery of light artillery for United States service, from the good offices of the State of New York. The Governor received him urbanely and listened to his request with interest, but seriously sought to assure him that the rebel- lion of the South could be subdued without the use of artillery; and declined to comply with his request. A regiment of infantry was organized in Colonel Slocum's native county, and a friend suggested to the company officers that Colonel Slocum would make a desirable leader. A popular officer of the militia, however, received the majority of the votes for the position. In the meantime great influence was at work to induce him to remain quietly in his important office at home. Another regiment, the Twenty-seventh New York Volunteer Infantry, was at this time being organized at Elmira, a great rendezvous of volunteers. The companies forming this regiment were mainly enlisted in the counties of Broome, Monroe, and Livingston, one company being mostly composed of students of Lima Seminary, a prominent Methodist institution, and all the other companies were composed of like choice men. The sug- gestion of one officer that a West Point graduate be chosen to lead the regiment was well discussed, and prevailed by a large majority. Although known only by reputation to most of this regiment, Colonel Slocum Avas chosen on account of his ability shown as Instructor of the Militia. Upon the coming of the regiment’s committee with its message, Colonel Slocum promptly accepted the proffered position. To his brave AA'ife, and doubt- ing friends, he said, “I AA'as educated at the expense of our country and it is my duty to ansAver this call affirmatively.” Colonel Slocum’s third United States commission bore the date May 21, 1861. His Major AA'as Joseph J. Bartlett, a man of good ability and character, Avho also rose to the rank of Major-General, and the other officers Avere Avell chosen men. The actrte work of drilling and disciplining the Twenty- se\ T entli Begiment Avas at once begun on the Elmira grounds, and the men of all the companies partook of the general interest. By Avorking many hours each day, early and late, they soon attained a good degree of efficiency, and their first, and early, sendee on the battle-field shoAved it to be one of the best regiments then in the army. COLUX EL II. IF. SLOCUM 1861 11 In compliance with orders, Colonel Slocum, with his regi- ment, left the barracks at Elmira July 10, 1861, by steam cars and, upon his reporting to the Secretary of War in Washington the same day, his regiment was assigned to Colonel Andrew Porter’s First Brigade of General David Hunter’s Second Divi- sion of General Irvin McDowell's army, then a few miles south of Washington; and the brigade was .joined without delay. The regiment had but a short time to rest, and to get some- what adjusted to its brigade surroundings, before being ordered forward to meet the enemy. The Twenty-seventh united with other regiments to form the Union center, which marched at 2 o’clock A. M. for the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, July 21, 1861. This was one of the most trying days from the heat, the long march, fatigue and trying engagements under strong fire and rout, to which untried troops could have been subjected. But, in the unfortunate battle that ensued, Slocum and his men were conspicuous for their good discipline and bravery, notwith- standing the long hours they were under arms. For some length of time victory appeared to be with the Union forces when Colo- nel Henry W. Slocum completed the rout of the enemy’s center by a well conceived, and well executed charge, in which he fell with a severe musket ball wound through his left thigh. Fresh reinforcements rallied the enemy, who, in turn, routed the Union- center in which Slocum’s regiment remained true to the rigid training of their Colonel, and did great service by be- ing the first to rally upon the first position and form a nucleus for gathering the regiments scattered by the reinforced enemy. 15 But the Union army was in retreat, and but a part of the panic stricken men could be arrested to orderly pace. At the present distance it is quite impossible to fully com- prehend the conditions of the fear stricken young soldiers who, in their efforts to flee from danger, brought upon themselves more suffering than they would have experienced in an orderly retreat, if retreat was necessary. The conditions of the enemy were but little better than those of the retreating men. The weather was Hot and dry. The perspiration, dust, and smoke, with the loss of sleep and rest ; with short or no rations of both water and food ; the great excitement, worse from being the first battle ; fear and overwrought exertion to escape by crowding, 1S61 IX FIRST BULL RUX BATTLE 15 pushing, struggling, aud using every means of taking advantage of every apparent help to quicken the pace, even encroaching on the wounded and adding greatly to their surgical shock, all con- spired to the permanent disablement of many of the weaker ones. It was a very severe ordeal for those who were the strongest. Rain fell during the night which, while adding to the difficulty of traveling over unimproved roads, conduced to some relief in other ways. The casualties in Colonel Slocum’s regiment were 26 killed, 11 wounded, including two officers, and 60 missing. Colonel Slocum’s men, from their good state of discipline, and the wise management of Major Bartlett, escaped much of the personal injury and serious results experienced by many regiments. The Colonel, in common with other wounded who could he moved, received as good attention as could be given by the new and not fully equipped surgical force before starting for the hospital in Washington. As he rallied from the shock of his wound, his thoughts were on his men ; and he was not relieved in mind until all the details of their good work were recounted to him. His joy over the favorable report was prominent in his letter to his wife, namely: Washington, July 25, 1S61. My Dear Clara: I attended services at Manassas last Sunday, but before the meeting closed I was obliged to depart for this city. For particulars see the New York daily papers. I am bolstered up in bed, making my first attempt at writing. I am as happy as a clam in high water. My regiment covered itself with glory. It was one of the first in, and last out. Not a man showed the white feather. They fought until all their ammunition was expended, and when the stampede commenced, General McDowell ordered the officers to form all the regiments in line so as to make another stand, or, at least, make an orderly retreat. . . . Finally he gave up the attempt, and we were ordered to retreat. After going a few rods the General made another attempt to check the utter rout of our troops. He again ordered the regiments to form in line, but ours was the only one that could be formed again. The General then cried out in a loud voice, “Soldiers, form on that noble regiment! We must make a stand ” . . . This same attempt was repeated a 16 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOG UM 1861 third time, with the same result. A person told me to-day that General Mc- Dowell reported all this to General Scott, with high encomium on the regiment. All this may appear singular in view of the accounts of the battle given in the New York papers, wherein our regiment is not even mentioned. But the truth is known in quarters where I desire to have it known. It is all right. I had almost forgotten to tell you about my wound. It is doing well, and pains me but little. I would agree to take another just like it if I could thereby secure as good conduct on the part of my regiment when it takes the field again. As soon as his wound was in condition for the journey, Colo- nel Slocum returned to his home in Syracuse where he made rapid recovery. CHAPTER VI Brigadier-General. Recovers from Wound About the middle of August Colonel Slocum was highly pleased in the receipt from the Department of War of a com- mission of Brigadier-General, bearing date August 9, 1861. This may have hastened his return to the field of action, where he re- ported for duty September 9th after an absence of only fifty days from the time of receiving his wound. Upon his reporting to the Secretary of War he was assigned to command the Second Brigade in General William B. Frank- lin’s Second Division of General Irvin McDowell’s First Army Corps. His brigade was composed of the following regiments : The Sixteenth and Twenty-seventh New York, the Fifth Maine, and the Ninth Pennsylvania. These regiments became noted for their good discipline and general efficiency. The following report of General Slocum to his ranking of- ficer under date Alexandria, October 5, 1861, shows his alertness and initiative in every good act for his country : “General: Several Union men have recently been arrested by the enemy in the vicinity of Acc-otink. On Saturday last three worthy and inoffensive men were taken from their houses solely on account of their sympathy with the Government. I have to-day caused the arrest of two open and avowed secession- ists residing in the same neighborhood. I am confident that the 1861 IX DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON 17 retention of these men as prisoners for a few days will have a wholesome effect, and will tend to restore quiet in the vicinity of Accotink by convincing the enemy that the practice of capturing unarmed men is one which can be followed by both sides. “Mr. Nevitt (one of the men arrested) frankly admits that he is a secessionist ; that he has sufficient influence with the enemy to secure the discharge of parties arrested by them ; that he has been to Fairfax and secured the release of some of his Union friends. All this he freely admits. There is no doubt about his position. Mr. Lee occupies the same position. He admits that he is opposed to the United States Government ; that his house is often visited by the enemy, and that some of his family are in the army. I think the position of both is sufficiently defined by themselves to justify the Government in retaining them as hos- tages for the good treatment of their neighbors and our friends who are now in the hands of the enemy. I have therefore placed them in charge of the provost-marshal at Alexandria to be held until further orders.” General Franklin, Slocum’s ranking officer, passed this re- port on upward with the recommendation that these men be sent to Washington for imprisonment until further orders. The efficiency and good standing of Slocum’s command was brought about by his insistence upon good discipline. His first enforced lesson to this command, and its result, are shown in his call for a court of inquiry regarding disobeyance of his orders, as follows: Headquarters Second Brigade, Alexandria, Va., October 6, 1861. Sir: I received information on the 3d instant that a body of the enemy’s cavalry was at Pohick Church, about 12 miles from these head- quarters, together with such other information as led me to suppose that the force could be captured without difficulty. The plan for an expedition for this purpose was fully matured and was verbally communicated to Colonel Christian, Twenty-sixth New York Volunteers, who was detailed to the command. An order was then issued of which I herewith enclose a copy. The expedition proved an entire failure, and this result I am informed and believe is to be attributed to the fact that my orders relative to the manner of the execution were not obeyed ; and what is still more annoying to me and disgraceful to my command, is the fact that instead of being marched back to the camp in good order, a large portion of the command was allowed to disband beyond our line of pickets, and, as might have been anticipated from such a proceeding, this force sent to operate against the troops of the enemy was converted into a band of marauders, who plund- ered alike friend and foe. 18 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1861 I deem it my duty to lay these facts before the commanding general, and to suggest that a court of inquiry be convened for the purpose of a thorough investigation of all the circumstances attending the expedition. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Brigadier-General Volunteers, Commanding. Maj. S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General. [Inclosure.] ■ Headquarters Second Brigade, Col. Willlam H. Christian: October 3, 1861. Sir: You will take command of a detachment of 300 infantry from the regiments composing this brigade and one company of cavalry, and will endeavor to cut off and take prisoners a body of the enemy ’s cavalry, num- bering probably 50 men, stationed at or near Pohick Church. You will proceed with 225 infantry, according to verbal directions already given you, to certain points in the rear of the enemy ’s position, and make your attack at precisely 6 o ’clock to-morrow morning. You will send out 75 infantry and the company of cavalry on the Richmond road, with instructions to them to be at Potter 's store, 4 miles from Pohick Church, and 6 miles from these headquarters, at 5:45 o’clock, driving in the enemy’s pickets and advancing as rapidly as possible towards Pohick Church, in order to cut off the enemy or to render assistance to the other detachments of your command. The object of the expedition being accomplished, you will return with- out delay. By order of Brigadier-General Slocum. Joseph Howland, Assistant Adjutant-General. 10 The result of this discipline is expressed in General Slo- cum ’s letter to a friend at home, as follows : October 11, 1861. I have been very fortunate in securing control of my brigade. One day last week eighteen officers of the Sixteenth addressed a communica- tion to me relative to one of my orders on the subject of depredations on private property. They thought it very severe, and ‘ ‘ respectfully de- manded” its modification. I at once placed every one of them in arrest, and confined them to their tents. Within a day or two the most humble apologies commenced pouring in, and finally every one was released. But it had a wonderful effect for good discipline. General Slocum was at this time commanding one of the defenses of Washington, situated near Alexandria, Virginia. The 15th of October, 1861, the Ninth Pennsylvania Regi- 1861 A THOROUGH DISCIPLINARIAN 19 ment of Slocum's command was replaced by the Twenty-sixth New York. Such changes made necessary a continued system- atic instruction in camp and picket duties, with thorough drill- ing and discipline of the command in whole and in part. Self control in all emergencies was much dwelt upon. The brigade was constantly “on the firing line” as the enemy’s cavalry might dash against the pickets at any moment in the night, or in certain places by day. Scouting parties for observation and dis- cipline were often sent out. These exercises were all the more frequent as the time neared for advancing upon the enemy. These thorough drillings appealed to the best judgment and regard of the excellent officers and men in the command ; and Gen- eral Slocum so impressed his ability and consideration upon them that they became noted for their good work; and “in times of the greatest danger and emergency he was a rock upon which all could and did rest with confidence and support.” 17 In several details the medical and distinctively military authorities of the army had not been working in harmony from the beginning of the Civil War. This discord was due to the want of proper foresight, and proper orders of the Secretary of War and of his aged Commander-in-chief of the armies. The medical men had, during previous years of peace, been held in too close subservient rank and authority. A new class of medi- cal and surgical men had arisen, aud the old military com- manders could not, or would not, extend to them due considera- tion. This resulted in confusion and no little discord in some commands. General Slocum, however, being very considerate re- garding the physical condition of his men, saw to it that they received proper medical attention, and he was highly pleased to co-operate with all worthy medical men and, having confidence in their ability, he deferred to their judgments and aided in the enforcement of their directions. In December, 1861, there were found in Slocum’s brigade fifteen hundred soldiers not protected against small-pox ; and by his order this unwholesome condition was at once remedied. He united with the medical authorities to stop malingering, and the true health condition of his command January 21, 1862, is shown in comparison with the report of the Assistant Adjutant General of 14.34 per cent., while General Slocum’s brigade surgeon re- B El GAD I ER-GENEIiAL BLOC UM 1862 20 ported only 6.8 per cent, of sickness. At the same time the ratio of his companion brigade’s reports were 27.75 and 11.52 respec- tively. Measles raged severely and quite generally among the soldiers from certain parts of the different states, and re-ap- peared from time to time during the winter of 1861-62 ; the amount of sickness in some parts of the army being so great as to cause serious concern amoig the relatives at home. The strength of General Slocum’s brigade and its health condition February 6, 1862, were as follows : Mean Total Percentage Regiments. Strength. Sick. Sick. Twentv-seventh New York . . . 840 49 5.83 Sixteenth New York 900 101 11.22 Fifth Maine .... 828 92 11.11 Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania . . . 927 32 3.45 Batteries of Artillery 434 23 5.30 Lincoln Cavalry .... 1,100 111 10.00 Total number in brigade, 5,029 ; total number sick, 408 ; per- centage of sickness as a brigade, 8. 11. 18 On April 6, 1862, General Slocum’s brigade was yet in the defense of Washington, and the Secretary of War stated his posi- tion as ‘‘on the advance to Manassas.” General George B. McClellan, who had secured to the Union that part of Virginia north of the Kanawha River and west of the mountains, was called to Washington after the First Battle of Bull Run to take charge of the defenses of Washington and of the Union troops in northeastern Virginia. He soon brought order out of chaos and, notwithstanding many limitations, re- straints, and embarrassments received from the War Depart- ment, some of which were probably necessary or well directed, he accomplished good results in reorganizing the Army of the Po- tomac. McClellan favored advancing upon the Confederates, and their capitol city, Richmond, by way of the Peninsula be- tween the York River and the James. After many delays, con- cessions to the authorities, and re-adjustments, a council of four army corps commanders, organized by the President of the United States March 13th, coincided with McClellan that Fort Monroe, Virginia, was the proper base of operations for move- 1862 GOES ON TEE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN 21 ment of the Army of the Potomac against the Confederates and Richmond. 19 The leading division of troops for this Peninsular Campaign was started by transport from Alexandria March 17, 1862. Other troops followed, and General McClellan arrived at Fort Monroe April 2nd. There were again great delays from want of means of transportation, the want of additional gun- boats, and of army reinforcements, as McClellan had determined, as he thought, that his land force was outnumbered by the enemy, many of whom were intrenched. McClellan wanted General Franklin’s division; and his per- sistency in calling for additional troops, and Franklin’s in par- ticular, foreboded their transfer to the Peninsula. CHAPTER VII Transferred to the Peninsular Campaign In compliance with a specially urgent request from General McClellan, General Franklin’s division, including Slocum’s bri- gade, was ordered to the Peninsula. They arrived at McClel- lan’s headquarters near Yorktown April 22, 1862, and were dis- embarked from the transport on the north bank of the York River, under protection of gunboats then there, to operate against Gloucester. At this juncture the Confederates abandoned their fortifi- cations in and around Yorktown that were being besieged by Mc- Clellan, and retreated on Williamsburg in the night of April 30th. Slocum’s brigade, with Dana’s brigade of General Sedg- wick’s division, was then sent up the York River by boats, while McClellan with his besieging army followed the retreating enemy by public roads. The York being at flood and the current rapid, but slow progress could be made by the heavily laden transports. They steamed only by day, and could not arrive at their destin- ation, at the mouth of the Pamunkey River, until the forenoon of May 7th. The troops disembarked on the right bank opposite West Point, and took defensive positions near Eltham ’s Landing. Here they were soon attacked by the enemy composed of the Confeder- 22 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 ate General Whitney’s division, and others. Although at consider- able disadvantage, the Union force was victor. This Battle of Eltliam’s Landing, McClellan reported, was the most important in which these Union troops had been engaged, and it was highly creditable to them. General Franklin stated in his report that “General Slocum displayed great skill in the placing of his troops, and that the control of his brigade in action was admir- able.” The battle began between ten and eleven a. m. and con- tinued until three p. m., when the Confederates acknowledged their defeat by hastily retreating. General Slocum’s official re- port is brief and characteristically non-assertive, namely : Headquarters Second Brigade, Near West Point, Va., May 7, 1862. Sir: I have the honor to report that in the engagement which oc- curred to-day I was in command of the center and left wing of our forces. It was apparent soon after the commencement of the engagement that the efforts of the enemy were to he directed mainly against our right wing, and at the request of General Newton I sent reinforcements to him, consisting of the Fifth Maine Volunteers, the Sixteenth and Twenty-seventh New York Volunteers, which are attached to the brigade under my command. The brigade of General Dana, and the Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, of my brigade, were retained on the left. All of our troops, so far as my observation extended, behaved with great coolness and bravery. The First Massachusetts Battery, under com- mand of Captain Porter, is entitled to great credit for the accuracy of its fire. I am greatly indebted to Capt. II. C. Rodgers, Captain IIopkiDS, Cap- tain Sturdevant, and Lieutenants Wead and Shannon, members of my staff, all of whom were actively engaged during the entire day; also to Lieutenant Harbert, Fourth New Jersey Volunteers, and Lieutenant Landon, Adjutant Seventh Michigan Volunteers, who volunteered their services as staff officers, and proved of great assistance to me. I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Capt. E. Sparrow Purdy, Brigadier-General Volunteers. Assistant Adjutant-General. 20 Consonant with orders, these troops awaited at Eltham’s Landing the oncoming of the commands of Generals Sedgwick, Fitz J. Porter, and Richardson’s divisions, and protected their landing. Communication was soon opened between this force and the other part of the army after its Battle of Williamsburg and the general retreating of the enemy toward Richmond; and 1862 ON THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN 23 all supplies for the Union army were then received by the York River at Eltham’s Landing. On May 13tli the headquarters of the general commanding the Army of the Potomac, McClellan, also of Franklin’s divi- sion, embracing Slocum’s .brigade, and those of F. J. Porter, George Sykes, and William F. Smith, arrived at Cumberland, Virginia, which place was made a temporary depot of supplies. It was a very wet season, copious rains being frequent. The 15th of May the divisions of Franklin, Porter and Smith were started for White House at the crossing of the Pamunkey River and the Richmond Railroad. The distance was but five miles, but it required thirty-six hours of serious effort to complete the march through the deep and tenacious mud with the heavy guns, baggage and supplies. At White House General McClellan, with permission of President Lincoln, organized two additional army corps, to be known as the Fifth and Sixth Provisional Corps ; the Fifth to be composed of the divisions of Porter, Sykes, and the Reserve Ar- tillery. to be under command of General Fitz John Porter; and the Sixth Corps, composed of the divisions of Franklin and Smith, to be under command of General William B. Franklin. General Smith remained in command of his division, and Gen- eral Slocum was promoted to the command of the division in which he had been serving with the Second Brigade. This pro- motion to a command of three brigades was a high honor for a young brigadier-general of short service with one brigade. Mc- Clellan knew his men, however, and he met with no disappoint- ment in Slocum. General McClellan’s headquarters were moved to White House May 16th, and the depot of supplies was there established, the supplies to come by water and be transported thence by rail- way. The 19th, the headquarters of the army, including those of the two new corps, were moved to Turnstall’s Station, an. ad- vance of five miles toward the main body of the enemy. The rain continued, but by the 21st of May the position of the Union troops had been advanced as follows: General Stoneman’s advance guard to within one mile of New Bridge over the Chickahominy River; Franklin’s Sixth Corps, with Slocum’s division, three miles from New Bridge B RI GAD IE R-G EX ERA L SLOG UM 1862 24 near the main body of the enemy with the river between and at high Hood stage; Porter's Fifth Corps at supporting distance in the rear; E. V. Sumner’s corps by the railway about three miles from the Chickahominy, connecting the right of the army with the left; E. D. Keyes’ corps on the New Kent Road near Bot- tom's Bridge; and General S. P. Iieintzelman ’s corps at sup- porting distance in the rear. The ford at Bottom’s Bridge was in possession of the Union army. The bridge there had been destroyed by the enemy, and a new bridge was begun by the soldiers now in possession. Army headquarters were removed to Cold Harbor May 22nd. The railroad was in operation by the Unionists on the 26th to the Chickahominy, and a new bridge for it there was nearing com- pletion. McClellan was very expectant of success in the capture of Richmond, as he was now dominating the principal approaches to its defenses on the east. He at the same time realized that he was near an alert Confederate army which he persisted in re- porting as outnumbering his own ; but the river separating them was at high flood, and he was expecting reinforcements again from Washington. The Union center and right flank were advanced to the river above the left; and the 24th of May the enemy was driven from Mechanicsville to within ten miles of Richmond, the fleeing foe destroying the bridge after crossing it. The same day the enemy was driven from Seven Pines fifteen miles southeast of Mechanicsville on the south side of the Chickahominy, and the advance Union line secured a strong position near there. The effective Union forces were being greatly reduced daily by wounds, sickness, deaths, garrisons, and guard duties and, while the Confederate army was being reinforced daily, no rein- forcements came to the Union army. McClellan had telegraphed the War Department that, “It is possible that the enemy may abandon Richmond; but I do not believe he will — and it would be unwise to count upon anything but a stubborn and desperate defense, a life and death contest. I see no other hope for him than to fight this battle, and we must win it. I shall fight them whatever their force may be ; but I ask for every man that the Department can send me.” 19 1862 ON TEE FEX INSULAR CAMPAIGX 25 The 26tli of May, learning that a considerable force of the enemy was at the village of Hanover Court House, to the right and rear of his army, McClellan dispatched General Porter with one division of his corps to that place. Porter was soon involved in two or three sharp engagements, in which the enemy was routed each time and some prisoners captured. The enemy per- sisted in demonstrations toward the Union capitol as a feint, or to get vantage ground in the rear of the Union army. In the meantime the Union left continued to cross the Chickahominy and to threaten Richmond. This flank was attacked by a strong- force of the enemy at Fair Oaks where a bloody battle was fought May 31st and June 1st. Here the enemy was routed with greater loss than suffered by the Union forces; and his pickets were pressed back to within five miles of Richmond. Further advance against the enemy at this time seemed impracticable, and the men in the new Union lines contented themselves with the thought of being well in advance of their former front. The composition of General Slocum’s division June 20th, 1862, was as follows : Officers, 393 ; men in the ranks, 8,853 ; present and equipped for duty, 9,246. The aggregate number in camp was 9,841. Those absent, sick and wounded numbered 1,236. CHAPTER VIII Ending op the Peninsular Campaign Among the reinforcements of the enemy at this time, hur- riedly brought from a distance to aid in the protection of Rich- mond, was General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson’s command of rapid fighters. The approach of this formidable command de- cided McClellan to change his base of supplies and operations from the York and Pamunkey to the James River, but a few miles south of the Chickahominy. McClellan fully realized the great danger of this movement at this time when about to be assailed by a supposed superior force in numbers ; but the dan- gerous Confederate gunboat Merrimac having been destroyed by the Union Monitor in Hampton Roads left the James River open to Union gunboats which could be used in different ways as sup- ports. The change of base was, therefore, hopefully entered up- 26 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 on the evening of June 26tli. An unexpected advance of the enemy across the Chickahominy above the Union forces disar- ranged some of McClellan’s plans, which were soon righted, and the change was more than compensated for by the delay of Jack- son’s expected attack. This attack occurred soon after noon of June 27th near Gaines’ Mill, and it was rapid and general along General Por- ter’s chosen position upon an elevation known as Gaines Hill. At two p. m. General Porter asked for reinforcements. General Slocum’s division hastily responded from the south side of the Chickahominy, and succeeded in arriving to his support at 3.30 P. M. Slocum’s troops were immediately distributed along the weaker parts of Porter’s hard-pressed line, increasing his force to about thirty-five thousand men, which was estimated, as usual by McClellan, to be contending with at least double this number of the enemy. 19 The distribution of Slocum’s men prevented Porter’s line from being broken by the enemy, and thus saved the battle, “as its being pierced at any one part would have been fatal.” (McClellan.) About seven p. m. the enemy again at- tacked the Union line impetuously with fresh troops, and suc- ceeded in pressing back Porter’s left and causing there some confusion, which was righted by the time of the arrival of fresh Union troops and without their entering the contest. The shade of night was now come, and the enemy retired. The following extracts from his Diary of the Battle of Gaines Mill was contributed to the National Tribune, Washing- ton, D. C., of February 27. 1913, by William B. Westervelt of Newburgh, New York, member of Company F, 27th Regiment, New York Volunteers. It possesses features of interest, namely: “On Friday, June 27, at 8 a. m. we were called into line and, after receiving a fresh supply of cartridges, we moved in light marching order about two miles and stopped near the Chicka- hominy River. Our brigade never looked better than it did that morning. General Slocum (our first Colonel) had been ad- vanced to the command of our division, while General J.„ J. Bartlett (our second Colonel) commanded our brigade that was made up of the 5th Maine (hardy lumbermen from the north- eastern part of that State, and were commanded by Colonel Jackson) ; the 96th Pennsylvania (from the coal regions of Lu- 1862 IN THE SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES 27 zerne County and commanded by Colonel John Cake, whom the soldiers dubbed Johnnycake) ; the 10th New York (from St. Lawrence County, commanded by Colonel Joseph Howland who, the day before at his own expense, had furnished his regiment with neat, comfortable straw hats). We who were wearing our fatigue caps that hot morning looked with envious eyes at How- land’s regiment. As the Colonel rode at the head of his regi- ment no one would have believed him to be the brave and dash- ing officer that ere the sun went down he proved himself to be. My regiment, the 27tli New York, was also in this brigade, and was commanded by Colonel Alexander D. Adams, of Lyons, New York, a man of education and refinement, but lacking the dash of our former Colonel Slocum. We remained quiet during the day, stretched out in the shade, where we ate our dinner. We could hear the sound of cannon on the opposite side of the Cliick- ahominy, little thinking that it "would be the last day on earth for many of our immediate comrades. General Fitz John Por- ter with his corps was gradually falling back from Mechanicsville and Gaines Mill, but gallantly disputing the ground inch by inch, under the incessant hammering of Stonewall Jackson’s army, heavily reinforced from Lee’s army from around Rich- mond. About 4 p. m. the Due de Chartres, a young officer from France who was on General McClellan’s staff arrived and, after a few hurried words with General Slocum, galloped away. Soon our division was in line, and we supposed we were to return to camp. However, we turned to the left and took the road towards Woodbury’s Bridge across the Chickahominy. Years afterwards General Porter paid the following tribute to our division: ‘While withdrawing from Beaver Dam I had seen, to my delight, Slo- cum’s Division of Franklin’s Sixth Corps crossing the river to my assistance. McClellan had promised to send it, and I needed it ; it was one of the best divisions of the army. Its able, experi- enced and gallant commander and his brave and gifted subordi- nates had the confidence of their well-trained soldiers. They were all worthy comrades of my well-tried and fully trusted officers, and of many others on that field subsequently honored by their countrymen.’ After crossing the river we ascended a hill, wdien there was plain evidence that our army (Porter’s command) was getting the worst of the fight. One evidence was 28 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1882 that of a company of pioneers was cutting the spokes out of some of our army wagons, to render them useless if they fell into the hands of the enemy. This clearly proved that Porter’s command anticipated retreating, if it was not already doing so. We halted a few moments in a small ravine, when up rode a staff officer and called out ‘Bring up Bartlett’s Brigade at double-quick.’ With an agility that would have done credit to an athlete General Bartlett sprang into his saddle and, calling ‘Attention,’ we were soon quickly moving to the front. One hundred yards brought us face to face with the enemy, when we relieved (took the places of) the 5th New York (Duryea’s Zouaves) whose showy uni- forms were strewn thickly over the ground, showing some desper- ate fighting. We immedately got to work and for a few minutes the fighting was fast and furious. We lost many, but managed to hold our ground. Soon the firing slackened in our immediate front as the enemy fell back under cover of some woods where they seemed to be massing on our right in front of one of our batteries which was supported by the 16th New York, holding the extreme right of our line. We were not kept in suspense long. On looking to the right of our regiment we saw them forming just outside of the woods and here we witnessed as com- plete a move by the enemy as could be made on drill or parade. They came out of the woods at double-quick with guns at right- shoulder shift (Hardee’s tactics) and by a move known as ‘on the right by file into line’ they formed the line of battle com- plete. Every man on taking his place brought his gun to shoul- der, and stood waiting until the battalion was formed (unless knocked over by a shot), when they moved forward and made room for another battalion to form in the same way. We thought that troops who could make that move under concentrat- ed fire of artillery and musketry were, to say the least, ‘safe to bet on. ’ We had not long to admire them. Forward they came, intending to strike our line on the right. Not a gun did they fire until within less than fifty yards when, after a volley, they gave a yell and charged, five lines deep. No single line, as ours, could withstand such onslaught. The 16th New York was crowded back, disputing the ground inch by inch, while the artil- lerymen stood by their guns until the enemy closed in and actu- ally struck them down or knocked the cartridges out of their 1862 IN THE SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES 29 hands. Now Colonel Howland got in liis grand work. He was riding from right to left of his regiment, urging his men to stand firm. Soon they rallied and under the lead of the Colonel they drove the enemy bac-k and recaptured the battery. Here Colonel Howland was severely wounded, and was carried from the field. Once more the enemy came forward, and the word was passed down the line, ‘help the 16tli.’ Without waiting for Colonel Adams to give the order, but following the example set by Gen- eral Bartlett and led by his brother Lieutenant L. C. Bartlett of the General’s staff, we turned by the right Hank and were soon among the 16tli, each man on his own hook ! There was then done some of the most desperate fighting. The blue and the gray were mixed, and in the gathering darkness we could scarcely de- tect friend from foe. The ground was fairly covered with the dead and wounded of both sides. Every artillery horse was killed. Finally the enemy dragged off two of the cannon, while we held possession of the ground and kept the other two. As night closed upon us the second of the ‘Seven Days’ Fight’ in front of Richmond was ended; and the writer, with a dislocated ankle, limped to the rear using his Springfield rifle as a crutch.” During the night the Union forces retired to their comrades with their trains, on the south side of the Chickahominy, the rear guard being composed of infantry regulars who crossed early in the morning of June 28tli, destroying the bridge behind them. The result of this Battle of Gaines’ Mill resulted as favorably as the commanding general expected — to hold the enemy in check on the left (north) bank of the river until night in order that the wagon trains and artillery might be safely crossed and well on the way to the James River before morning. The evening of June 28th General Slocum received orders from McClellan to move his division to Savage’s Station early the next morning, and to hold that position during the day to cover and protect the movement of wagon trains, and then to fall back across the White Oak Swamp and join the army. Slocum arrived at the Station as directed, and there received orders to cross the Swamp at once and relieve General Keyes’ corps. Keyes, being thus relieved, moved his corps to the James River where he arrived safely with all his artillery and supplies. This change of order for General Slocum kept him away from the 30 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 beginning of the battle at Savage’s Station. General Franklin was ordered to hold the passage of White Oak Swamp Bridge and to cover the withdrawal of the army trains from that point. The trains were delayed by taking the wrong road, repairing the road, and from causes not reported at the time ; and the engi- neers did not send their report as ordered. About 12.30 p. m. of June 30th, while General Slocum with his division was on the right of the Charles City Road, the enemy attacked the divisions of Smith and Richardson and the brigade of Naglee at White Oak Swamp Bridge. At two p. m. the enemy advanced in force by the Charles City Road and was met by such vigorous opposition from Slocum’s artillery that he deflected and attacked McCall’s division which was compelled to retire after a severe engagement. Generals Slocum, Kearney, and Taylor soon occupied the field vacated by McCall, and drove back the enemy, who then retired from the contest. These en- gagements were styled the Battle of Glendale, which “was the most severe action since the Battle of Fair Oaks.” (McClellan). Among the enemy at Glendale were the commands of the strong Confederate Generals Longstreet and A. P. Hill. “There is a story told, by those who know, of a night when Colonel Calvin E. Pratt (afterward general, now judge of the Supreme Court) stumbled into Slocum’s tent, drenched from head to foot with his own blood, having come two days’ march from the Gaines Mill battle-field, where he had been left for dead. Slocum was asleep, but hearing that he had had nothing to eat for thirty-six hours, Pratt woke him and tendered him some French soup put up in a metal phial that gave up its con- tents when squeezed. Slocum did not recognize the exceeding grim-looking angel of mercy, but he took the soup, and after- wards said that though by waking he had left a wonderful ban- quet, of which he had been dreaming, that soup Avas Avell worth the loss of the delusion.” 113 This nearly exhausted condition of General Slocum is briefly mentioned in his letter to his Avife, given on the following page. Early in the morning of July 1, 1862, that part of the Union army engaged at Glendale arrived at Malvern Hill by the James River with the Reserve Artillery and supply train, to take part in the battle there already begun. Slocum, with his divi- sion. took position on the right Avin'g of the Union army. The 1862 REPORTS OF PE X INSULAR BATTLES 31 enemy was here in force, and was repulsed with great loss. The Union gunboats in the James River acted a part in this battle. This ended the Seven Days’ Battles of General McClellan with his Army of the Potomac in its Peninsular Campaign. This army then moved a few miles down the left bank of the James and chose, and occupied, desirable ground for encamp- ment at Harrison’s Landing and Harrison Bar. Here was af- forded time and opportunity for the much needed rest and re- cruiting of greatly depleted strength ; and the first opportunity for writing at much length to friends at home, and for the offi- cers’ preparation of their official reports of the momentous Seven Days’ Battles. CHAPTER IX v Letters. Reports. Promoted Major General Harrison ’s Landing, Virginia, July 10, 1862. Dear Wife: My last letter to you, written two or three days ago, was rather blue I think. I had then been here a day or two, and the reaction from the ex- citement of the previous ten days weighed heavily upon me. I felt weak and sick. I now feel better. But I must say that although this army is safe, I do not think the prospect of an early and successful termination of the war is bright. .... I spoke in my letter of the twenty-sixth of being unwell. I was very weak on the twenty-seventh ; was taken with a fit of vomiting and was obliged to dismount for a few minutes. I soon returned to the field, or rather did not leave the field, but went to a place in the shade. On Monday I had a position assigned to my division which I was to defend. I did it in my own way, and have the satisfaction of knowing that I saved hundreds of lives. I tried to save life by carefully posting my troops and using my artillery. I have allowed matters connected with our movements here to worry me until I came near being sick ; but I know it can do no good. Things must take their course, and I made up my mind to get a good novel and try to forget everything here. I feel better to-day than I have for several days. Best and quiet will soon make me all right. I dreamed every night after our arrival here of being on the march, of losing wagons, artillery, etc. I do not want you to think I have been sick, but I got rather worn and nervous. Reports of Brigadier-General Henry W. Slocum, LI. S. Army, commanding First Division, of the Battle of Gaines’ Mills, 32 BRIGADIER -GENERAL SLOCLAI 1862 action at Bracketts, and Battles of Glendale (Frazier’s Farm) and Malvern Hill. Hdqrs. First Division, Sixth Provisional Corps, Camp near Harrison’s Landing, Ya., July 8, 1862. Sir: On the 27th June last, in obedience to orders received from General Franklin, I ordered the brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Newton to cross Alexander’s Bridge to the left bank of the Chickahominy to the support of General Porter. The order was received at 2 o’clock p. M. and the brigade immediately moved in light marching order. At 2.30 p. M. I was ordered to cross at the same point with the remainder of my division. The movement was executed at once, and General Taylor’s bri- gade crossed at about 3 p. m., followed by the brigade of Colonel Bartlett. On my arrival near the field I was met by a member of General Por- ter’s staff, who directed me to place one brigade near the right of the line of battle and another on the left of the first brigade. General Newton’s bri- gade was at once formed in two lines, of two regiments each, the first line deployed, the second in double column, and moved to the point designated, accompanied by Lieutenant Upton’s battery (D), of the Second U. S. Artillery. This brigade was subsequently, by order of General (Fitz John) Porter, directed to enter the woods in front of them, two regiments at one point and two at another. The Thirty-first New York and Ninty-fifth Pennsyl- vania, under the immediate command of General Newton, stormed the woods which were then occupied by the enemy in very strong force, and main- tained their position more than two hours under a most galling fire and against greatly superior numbers. The other two regiments of this brigade, the Eighteenth and Thirty-second New York, under command of Colonel Koderick Matheson, of the latter regiment, occupied a position on an emi- nence near the woods occupied by General Newton until nearly all their ammunition was exhausted, when they were ordered to retire to a position in the rear, where a new line was formed. The New Jersey brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. G. W. Taylor, on its arrival on the field was formed in the same order as that of General Newton, and on arriving near the line of battle its regiments were ordered into the woods. The Fourth New Jersey, under command of Col. J. H. Simpson, was detached from the brigade and ordered to an advanced posi- tion in the woods, where cut off from the rest of our troops, the greater portion of it, together with its gallant Colonel and all of its officers except those who had already fallen, were taken prisoners. The remaining regi- ments of the brigade maintained the positions assigned to them until their ammunition was expended and our entire line withdrawn. This brigade was accompanied by and supported Hexamer’s battery (A), of the First New Jersey Artillery. Having received no specific directions as to the disposition of the re- maining brigade under command of Col. Joseph .J. Bartlett, of the Twenty- seventh New York, I directed Colonel Bartlett to take position on the ex- 1862 REPORTS OF PEXIXSULAR BATTLES 33 treme left of the line, near the new road leading- through the valley from Doctor Gaines’ house to Alexander’s Bridge. On approaching the point indicated Colonel Bartlett found our troops engaged to the right of his position, and immediately moved his brigade to their support. He was sub- sequently ordered to the right of the line to support General Sykes, whose troops, fatigued by the long contest of this and the previous day, were nearly overpowered by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Porter ’s battery (A) of the First Massachusetts Artillery, was assigned to the com- mand of Colonel Bartlett, and remained with his brigade during the day. For detailed accounts of the operations of the several brigades of my command I would respectfully refer you to the reports of the brigade com- manders, copies of which are herewith inclosed. It will be seen from the reports that not only were the brigades of the division separated from each other, but at least in two instances was the brigade organbation broken up and regiments detached to hold isolated positions in the woods. As to the conduct of the officers and men of my division. I have only to say that the division entered the field 8,000 strong, and that the list of killed, wounded and missing amounts in the aggregate to 2,021. These lists attest the devo- tion and heroism of officers and men. notwithstanding this fearful loss (including as it does many of the bravest and best officers of the division) all the regiments left the field in good order, and returned to their camps in the same compact and orderly manner that characterized their march to the scene of conflict. The brigade commanders, Generals Newton and Taylor and Colonel Bartlett, are each entitled to the greatest praise, not only for their heroic conduct on the field, but for their untiring efforts after the close of the action in bringing off the wounded and in maintaining order and steadiness amid the prevalent confusion. The loss of the division in officers was particularly severe, not only in numbers but in the character of those killed and wounded. Colonel Tucker and Major Everson, of the Second New Jersey, and Lieutenant-Colonel Heath, of the Fifth Maine, were killed while gallantly discharging their duty. Their loss is deeply felt in their regiments and throughout the divi- sion, and will be lamented by a wide circle of friends. Colonel Gosline and Major Hubbs, of the Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania, and Lieutenant-Colonel Marsh, of the Sixteenth New York, were mortally wounded while in the thickest of the fight and have since died. Colonel Howland, of the Sixteenth New York; Colonel Pratt, of the Thirty-first New York; Colonel Jackson, of the Fifth Maine; Major Gardner, of the Twenty-seventh New York, and Major Hatfield, of the First New Jersey, were so severely wounde'd as to be rendered unfit for duty. Over the fate of Colonel Simpson, Lieuten- ant-Colonel Hatch, and Major Birnev, and the other officers of the Fourth New Jersey, hangs a painful uncertainty. They either rest in a soldier ’s grave or have fallen into the hands of the enemy. Of the many other officers of less rank — the non-commissioned officers and soldiers — I cannot here write in detail. Like soldiers and like men 34 BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 they performed their duty and met their fate, and a grateful country will long bear them and the thousand nameless heroes of this conflict, who have offered up their lives at the nation ’s shrine, in lasting and honored re- membrance. H. W. Slocum, Brig.-Gen. of Volunteers, Commanding First Division of Sixth Corps. Capt. Fred T. Locke, Asst. Ad.jt.-Gen. Hdqrs. Fifth Provisional Corps. Ifdqrs. First Division, Sixth Provisional Army Corps, Camp near Harrison’s Landing, Va., July 10, 1862. Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report of the move- ment of the division under my command from the close of the Battle of Gaines’ Hill, on the 27th ultimo, until its arrival at its present position. The division returned from the field of battle at Gaines’ Ilill at about 11 p. m., leaving on the field in killed, wounded and missing one-half of its regimental commanders, about one-fourth of all the other officers, and at least one-fourth of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers who had so recently crossed the river to the support of General Porter. The men, weary with the labors and excitement of the day, were allowed but little rest. Early the following morning their camps at Courtney’s were changed to a position where they could be better sheltered from the fire of the enemy’s batteries planted at Garnett’s and Gaines’ Hills. The same evening (the 28th) orders were received by me to move the division to Savage ’s Station, there to await further orders. The movement commenced at 11 P. M., but was so delayed at Trent 's Hill by the passage of other troops that the divi- sion did not arrive at Savage’s until about 5 A. M. on Sunday, the 29th. At this place I received orders from General McClellan in person to move the division across the White Oak Swamp. We crossed at 2 P. M., and at 5 p. m. I was ordered to proceed to a point on the Long Bridge Road, about 1 1-2 miles beyond the swamp, to relieve the divisions of Generals Couch and Peck, both of whom were under orders to proceed to the James River on the arrival of my command. The division reached this place at 7 p. M., and full one-half of the effective force was immediately sent out on picket duty for the night. On the following morning I took position on the Charles City Road, about 1 mile from its junction with the Long Bridge Road and about an equal distance from Brackett’s Ford. In anticipation of an attack by a force said to be approaching on the Charles City Road this road was blockaded as thoroughly as possible. Soon after our arrival our line was established, and Upton’s battery (D), Second Artillery, and Porter’s and Hexamer’s Volunteer batteries placed in posi- tion. The infantry necessary to support the artillery was posted on the flanks of the batteries, and the remainder so disposed as to be entirely pro- tected from the fire of the enemy ’s artillery. The bridge near Brackett ’s Ford was destroyed by our troops immediately after our arrival, and an infantry force, with one 12-pounder howitzer of Hexamer’s battery, placed to defend the position. At 10 o’clock the enemy appeared at this point and attempted a reconstruction of the bridge, but was repulsed. 1862 REPORTS OF SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES 35 At 11 a. m. our pickets on the Charles City Eoad were driven in and the enemy immediately appeared in full force in a large open field in our front, their position being partially screened from our view by a narrow belt of woodland. They opened fire from two batteries, which was at once replied to by Porter’s and Upton’s batteries and two pieces of Hexamer’s battery. Our artillery, with the exception of the two pieces of Ilexamer ’s battery, was exceedingly well served. About this time a large body of infantry and some artillery which had approached our lines by the Charles City Road and moved to our left, and were brought against the troops of Generals Kearny and McCall. The artillery fire was continued by the enemy in our front until nearly dark, but our troops were so well covered that we suffered but few casualties, our total loss not exceeding 25 in killed and wounded. At 7 o ’clock it was reported to me that the left of our line, held by General Heintzelman, was severely pressed, and the fire of the enemy in our front having ceased, I ordered the brigade of Colonel Bartlett to move to the front and gain possession, if possible, of the field on which the enemy first appeared. As soon as his brigade moved down the road leading to this position a strong force of the enemy’s infantry appeared, drawn up in line a short distance beyond a creek separating our position from that held by the enemy. Upton 's battery of light 12-pounders was at once moved to the front and a very effective fire of canister opened upon them, which caused their well-formed lines to disappear. At this time General Heintzelman arrived on the field, and at his suggestion I ordered the First New Jersey Brigade, commanded by Briga dier-General Taylor, to the support of General Kearney. Under the cir- cumstances I deemed it imprudent to attempt an advance. Our position during the entire day was defended mainly by our artil- lery, which on this, as on all other occasions, was most admirably served. Of Upton's battery (D) Second Artillery, and Porter’s battery (A) First Massachusetts Volunteer Artillery, I cannot speak too highly. The officers and men of both these batteries have on all occasions manifested that cool- ness and bravery so necessary to this branch of the service. Hexamer ’s bat- tery has usually been well served, but on this occasion the two pieces under command of a lieutenant (since resigned) were poorly handled, and proved of but little assistance. Captain De Russy’s battery, of the Fourth Artil- lery, and Captain Randolph’s Volunteer battery were in position on our line during a portion of the day, and did good execution. To Captain E. R. Platt, chief of artillery, I am greatly indebted, not only for his services during both the recent engagements, but for his unceasing care and vigi- lance on the march. The fire on our left was continued until a late hour in the evening, and at times the shells and even musket balls from the enemy fell in the road directly in rear of our position. At 9 p. m., having expended nearly all our ammunition and being en- tirely destitute of rations, I sent a staff officer to general headquarters to report our condition. At 11 P. M., having permission of General Heintzel- 36 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 man, I moved the division to Malvern Hill. We arrived at this point at daylight, and at 9 a. m., the 2d instant, moved to a position on the right of onr line. From the time of our arrival until the commencement of the engagement on this day the men were employed in constructing abatis and otherwise strengthening our position. During the engagement on our left the division was under arms. At 11 p. M. orders were received to move to our present position, where we arrived at daylight on the 3d instant. During this entire week the troops were allowed scarcely an hour of undisturbed rest either by night or day, yet the division marched into its present camp in good order, leaving very few stragglers, and without the loss of any arms, ammunition, clothing, or wagons, and with a cheerfulness prevailing among the soldiers as well as officers which to me was as astonishing as it was gratifying. Great credit is due to the brigade commanders, Generals Newton and Taylor, and Colonel Bartlett, for their vigilance and untiring efforts on the field as well as on our night marches. They were constantly with their commands, cheering them by noble example as well as by words. To the members of my staff, Captain Rodgers, assistant adjutant- general; Captain Hopkins, quartermaster; Captain Sturdevant, commissary of subsistence; Lieutenants Wead, Shannon, and Guindon, aides, and Sur- geon Burr, I am greatly indebted. They were with me during the entire week, and proved very efficient in the discharge of their respective duties. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Brigadier-General Volunteers, Commanding. Capt. E. Sparrow Purdy, Assistant Adjutant-General. The opposing forces engaged in the Seven Days’ Battles numbered as follows : The Army of the Potomac was composed of 150 regiments of infantry; 2 regiments and 1 battalion of engineers ; 1 regiment of heavy or siege artillery ; 58 batteries and 10 regiments of cavalry. The Confederate forces were com- posed of 173 regiments and 12 battalions of infantry; 71 bat- teries; and 12 regiments of cavalry. The Union losses during the Seven Days Battles were : Killed, 1,734; wounded, 8,062; missing, 6,075; total, 15,849. The Confederate losses were: Killed, 3,478; wounded, 16,261; missing, 875; total, 20, 614. 113 The losses at the Battle of Gaines Mill alone were : Union, killed 894 ; wounded, 3,107 ; missing, 2,836; total, 6,837. Confederate, total, killed and wounded, 8,751. General Slocum was again cheered by even greater recogni- tion and appreciation of his services than before, in his promo- tion to the rank of Major-General by President Lincoln, Chief, 1862 CLOSE OF PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN 37 and the War Department, the commission bearing date July Fourth, 1862. Surely this was a rapid rise to the command of numerous batteries of artillery, and of many thousands of men by a man who, but a little over one year before, could not get the consent of the Governor of his State to organize one light battery. This was a graceful recognition unsolicited by himself or friends of his conscientious devotion to duty, a characteristic that led to yet broader and more valuable service; as the President and War Department were anxious to advance their worthy officers. A period of comparative quiet to the Army of the Potomac now followed. The camps were put in good condition, and the defensive features were strengthened. The Richmond forces of the enemy often appeared threateningly, and then withdrew their main forces, leaving at Malvern Hill a medium force, which was soon routed, and the scattered enemy disappeared. Coming down the south side of the James, the enemy placed a battery of artil- lery one night at Coggins’ Point opposite the Union encamp- ment, and with it killed ten Union soldiers, and did other harm. This battery was soon silenced by Union artillerists who then constructed a battery in its place that stopped further mischief. The country on both sides of the James was kept well under ob- servation, and numerous scouting parties of the enemy were pun- ished and scattered. All parts of the army were in different ways kept in good exercise. The hot season caused much malaria, and this, with its complications, caused much sickness. August 3rd the sick list of the Union army at Harrison’s Landing and vicinity numbered 12,500 persons. Reinforcements for advance on Richmond had repeatedly been requested by McClellan ; and at times they were promised ; but the enemy again began to threaten Washington and, August 3rd, the authorities there sent an order for McClellan to with- draw the army at once from the James River and to transport it up the Potomac to the mouth of Aquia Creek, to aid General Pope in the protection of Washington, and to there combat the enemy while formidating plans against Richmond from that quarter. This was a severe blow to McClellan’s plans and de- sires, but he at once began preparations to comply with the order, and at the same time renewed correspondence with Washington 38 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 in defense of his plans for tlie attack of Richmond by way of the James River. Better protection of Washington was insisted upon by the War Department, and McClellan was urged, harshly he thought, to hasten the army’s coming to the aid of General Pope, who was south of Washington. The shipping facilities for even the wounded and sick were inadequate on the James, and it was necessary for those able to walk to join the marching columns. When the order to break camp was sounded, the readiness with which the army, artillery, and army wagons disappeared from the grounds was astonishing. Major-General Slocum’s command took up the march August 16th, and moved this day to Charles City Court House, a distance of seven miles ; the next day they crossed the Chickahominy River at Barrett’s Ford, marching a distance of fourteen miles ; the 18th they passed through Williamsburg, having marched fifteen miles ; the 19th to Yorktown, twelve miles on the way; the 20th to Young’s Mill, fourteen miles ; the 21st the march extended nine miles to New- port News, where the soldiers embarked on transports for the Potomac River, August 22nd and 23rd. CHAPTER X To Alexandria, Battle of Manassas After seeing liis men and subordinate officers on board trans- ports at Newport News, General Slocum was fortunate in ob- taining more rapid transit to his destination that he might make arrangements for their landing and reorganization. His corps, the Sixth, arrived at Aquia Creek, the designated landing, late the 21th of August and, Slocum having found the wharves there small and fully occupied, it was decided to disembark the troops at Alexandria, a few miles above. Report had been made to the authorities at Washington, who directed that the Sixth Corps go into camp at Alexandria immediately upon its arrival. There was . not full feeling of accord between Generals Mc- Clellan, Pope, commanding the Union troops of the advance guard of Washington, and ITalleck, their ranking officer at Washington, who had been most active in the correspondence with McClellan, and who would not now give definite answer to 1862 AGAIN AT ALEXANDRIA 39 McClellan’s question regarding liis future relation to Pope and the future operation of the army. During the last few days the enemy had been appearing at intervals, here, there and elsewhere, and he had succeeded amaz- ingly well in causing loss to the authorities in Washington of his whereabouts, and of even the Union General Pope and his troops. The authorities were even doubtful of proper protec- tion to Washington before the arrival of the Army of the Po- tomac. Surely an evasive and wily enemy were the Confeder- ates at this time. Gradually McClellan learned something of the whereabouts of the parts of what he yet considered his own army, which had been quietly scattered by Halleck. Fitz J. Porter’s Fifth Corps was marching on Warrenton Junction to reinforce Pope; Kear- ney had been at Rappahannock Station the day before, and Wil- liams was at Falmouth. The cavalry and artillery horses had not been received from the Peninsula. McClellan continued alert and acted promptly, so far as possible, on all orders received from Washington for the arrangement of troops and supplies. In a communication dated August 31, 1862, Halleck released McClellan from all participation and responsibility in the battle thought then to be in progress by General Pope’s command, clos- ing in these words: “You will retain the command of every- thing in this vicinity not temporarily to be Pope’s army in the field. . . .1 beg of you to assist me in this crisis with your ability and experience.” 19 The infantry of General Slocum’s division of the Sixth Corps arrived at Alexandria August 25th and 26th. The horses and artillery were received separately, only sixteen of the for- mer being received by the 28th. On the 27th order came from General Halleck to send a brigade to Centerville, the enemy be- ing reported at that place. In compliance with this order, Gen- eral Slocum dispatched from his division General Taylor’s bri- gade by railway train, which inadvertently ran into serious dis- aster. As this train arrived at the bridge over Bull Run it was assailed by four brigades, with artillery, of the Confederate A. P. Hill’s division of Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson’s corps. The Union loss here was great, including the death of General Taylor, 40 MAJOR-GEXERAL SLOCUM 1862 a watchful and efficient officer. The brigade was withdrawn in good order, however, evidencing the high degree of discipline it had attained under directions of its chief commander, General Slocum. With the meager receipts of horses and artillery August 28th by Slocum’s command, attempts were made to- collect a train to carry food to Pope’s troops at the front, but facilities for ac- complishing much in this work were wanting. Friday, August 29th, however, the Sixth Corps started for the front with orders to communicate with General Pope and, at the same time, guard communication with Alexandria, the starting point. The ad- vance at Annandale, ten miles in front, reported that fugitives from Pope’s command were constantly arriving there and giving information of a large force of the enemy near Fairfax Court House six miles distant. The ammunition of Slocum’s men was short, they now having only ten rounds for each gun, and Mc- Clellan ordered a halt at Annandale during the night, and to proceed at six o’clock next moi’ning. In the meanwhile ammu- nition and provision wagons had been hurried forward ; and the Sixth Corps was further ordered to withhold movement for the protection of the oncoming trains. Upon arrival at Fairfax Court House August 30th, General Slocum detached a brigade of infantry and a battery, under command of Colonel Alfred T. A. Torbert, with order to guard the junction of Little River and Warrenton Turnpike, between Centerville and Alexandria. Colonel Torbert later reported that about 8 o’clock of August 31st his brigade was attacked by the enemy with three pieces of artillery which caused confusion among the wagon teams then under his protection. He succeeded in driving the enemy away, and thereby preventing catastrophe to Pope’s men, as well as avoiding loss of the trains. Pope had not placed protection at this point ; and only to Slocum ’s keen discernment and good judgment were due the credit of providing for the driving of a dangerous part of the enemy from this vul- nerable place. It was afterwards determined that this attack on Slocum’s men was made by General J. E. B. Stuart the enemy’s noted cavalry leader. At 1.30 p. M. order was received from McClellan directing the other part of the Sixth Corps to join General Pope at once. 1862 IN DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON 41 Tlie troops accordingly moved through Centerville and, when about three miles beyond, many of Pope’s men were met in wild retreat. The remaining part of Slocum’s division, being in ad- vance, was formed across the road in effort to arrest the fright- ened, fleeing mass, the different parts of which were promiscu- MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY W. SLOCUM At the Close of the Peninsular Campaign. Age 36 Years ously struggling to get at the head of the retreat — a mass and press “as great as the First Bull Run Battle retreat of July 21st, 1861,’’ said General Slocum. With great effort, by himself and men, they succeeded in gathering about three thousand of these panic-stricken soldiers in a somewhat protected place nearby ; but from a flying report of a force of Confederate cavalry being 42 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 seen, though a mile distant, the fugitives forcibly broke through all guarding lines and continued a precipitate retreat. General Pope soon appeared, and directed the Sixth Corps to return to Centerville, at which place he desired to reform his line. The next morning, August 31st, a detachment of the Sixth Corps, including artillery, was sent to Cub Run Bridge as rear guard to Pope’s troops, the only protection between them and the enemy ; and it secured peaceful movement of the long trains to safe stations. The Sixth Corps followed Pope to Fairfax Court House, and the next evening, September 2, it returned to guard and recruiting duties near Alexandria. As soon as the Confederate general commanding, Robert E. Lee, became aware of the severity of the defeat of Pope’s troops, and the somewhat disorganized condition of the Army of the Potomac, he left cavalry to watch and harass the broken Union forces, and the other defenses of Washington, and with his main army he moved rapidly to the invasion of Maryland, hoping to find there a double, or triple, gain — recruits for his own de- pleted forces ; army supplies ; and prestige at home and abroad, all or either one of which would detract from the Union. As a matter of course, the possibility of capturing Washington could but form at least a hope. This was the Confederacy’s first bold, well-conceived, extra-Confederate territorial offensive movement. Affairs were now, to some degree, in worse chaotic condition in Washington than at the defeat of General McDowell at the First Battle of Bull Run the preceding year. President Lincoln and his aids of the War Department again sought the counsel and assistance of General McClellan. He had been “released” from the Army of the Potomac, and was now restricted to duty in and immediately around Washington. After a long confer- ence with him the President favored, under date of September 2, the brief order, that “Major-General McClellan will have com- mand of the fortifications of Washington, and of all the troops for the defense of the eapitol.” This order was signed by Major- General Henry W. Halleek, and it was interpreted by McClellan to embrace soldiers in the field as well as those in the immediate fortifications ; and it was well that he acted accordingly. The same day McClellan ordered General Pope to distribute his forces near Washington. Franklin’s Sixth Corps, with Slo- 1862 ON MARYLAND CAMPAIGN 43 cum’s division, was in the advance at Alexandria. The Army of Virginia, composed of McDowell, Banks, and Fremont’s com- mands, was consolidated with the Army of the Potomac, and General Pope was relieved from the service September 5th. 23 CHAPTER 51 Maryland. Crampton’s Pass and Antietam Again General McClellan demonstrated his excellent organ- izing ability. He visited the different commands, chose his subordinate officers for the field, and incited them to immediate action for the filling of their depleted ranks by various newly recruited troops in or near Washington, or by those about to be received, and to otherways make preparation for immfediate pur- suit of the invading enemy, whose movements meantime had been kept under observation by scouting and harassing detachments of cavalry accompanied by artillery. Much work of preparation was necessary for the determined march against the foe, but the officers were generally equal to the arduous task required of them. All of the supplies of recruits and subsistence readily available were gathered and, trusting to be overtaken by others, the different forces moved rapidly forward. From September 2nd to 6th General Slocum with his First Division of the Sixth Corps was at Alexandria, Virginia. On the 6th he marched by way of the Long Bridge over the Potomac, through Washington to Georgetown. The 7th the march was to Rabbit’s farm beyond Tenallytown, District of Columbia. The 8th to Muddy Run, Maryland. Ninth, to Seneca Run beyond Darnestown. Tenth, to Barnesville. The 12th to near the Monocacy River, by way of Urbana. The 13th to the foot of Catoctin Mountain near Jefferson. September 14th the march extended across the Mountain, and through Jefferson and Burkittsville. It was determined that the enemy was in Pleasant Valley at the west side of South Mountain, and guarding the two prin- cipal passes, Crampton’s and Turner’s, against the Union forces, which were on the east side. It was McClellan’s desire to drive the enemy away from these passes in order that Ins own men could go through and defeat the enemy in sections. u MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 Early in the afternoon of September 14th General Slocum was leading the column of his division toward Crampton’s, and the work of clearing this pass devolved on him. Near Burkitts- ville he drove away the enemy’s pickets, and found the enemy occupying the entire Pass with infantry intrenched behind stone walls at the foot of the east, proximal side; also with infantry 1862 REPORT OF MARYLAND CAMPAIGN 45 and batteries of cannon along up the side of the Mountain and Pass, the sharpshooters being behind trees and inequalities of the steep side. General Slocum led the attack in person. It re- quired but few shots from his batteries and infantry to convince him that nothing but a vigorous and continued bayonet charge would rout the advantageously placed enemy. The lines were immediately formed accordingly, the men obeyed promptly, and they rushed over the intervening space, and stone wall, with a cheer and with volleys of handarms’ fire that sent panic to the hearts of the Confederates not wounded, and caused a rout that extended throughout the Pass. Slocum and his men were quick to follow the dislodged and fleeing foe and, continuing as rapid a pace as possible, drove the part not slain or wounded of his enemy up and through the narrow, rough gap of great steepness and down into Pleasant A r alley on the other side. The charge was so continuous and energetic that the enemy had no time to make a stand. This great feat required about three hours of most active and serious work. The report of Major-General Slocum, U. S. Army, of the Battle of Crampton’s Pass, Maryland, is as follows: Headquarters First Division, Sixth Army Corps, Camp in the Field, September 24, 1862. Sir : I have the honor of submitting the following report of the action of this division in the engagement at Crampton Pass on the 14tli instant: The division encamped on the night of the 13th about 3 miles east of Jefferson, on the road leading from Urbana to .Jefferson. At daylight on the 14th instant the division left camp, moved through Jefferson, and at 12 M. met the pickets of the enemy near Burkittsville. Colonel Bartlett, commanding the leading brigade, at once deployed the Ninety-sixth Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers as skirmishers, who drove in the enemy’s pick- ets and advanced to the village. The other regiments of the division were then advanced to a position about half a mile east of the village, where they were completely concealed from the view of the enemy and covered from the fire of his artillery. Wolcott’s First Maryland Battery was then ad- vanced to a point to the left of the infantry, and replied to the enemy ’s artillery until preparations for the attack of the infantry were completed. At 3 P. M. the column of attack was formed in the following order : The Twenty-seventh Regiment New York Volunteers deployed as skirmish- ers, followed at a distance of 200 yards by the Fifth Maine and Sixteenth New York Volunteers in line of battle; the brigades of General Newton and Colonel Torbert followed, each brigade being in two lines, the regi- ments in line of battle and the lines 200 yards from each other; the Ninety- 46 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, of Bartlett’s brigade, which had advanced into the village, formed in rear, and joined the column as it advanced; the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York Volunteers was held as a re- serve at the point where the column was formed. As soon as the advance began, the enemy opened with a heavy and well-directed artillery fire, but the troops advanced steadily, every line in the entire column preserving its alignment with as much accuracy as could have been expected at drill or review. The line of skirmishers soon drew the fire of the enemy’s infantry, which appeared in strong position in rear of a stone wall, which afforded them an admirable cover. The position and strength of the enemy having been ascertained, the skirmishers were withdrawn, and Colonel Bartlett led the first line to a point within 300 yards of the enemy’s line. A severe engagement ensued, the enemy having greatly the advantage in position, and being aided by at least eight pieces of artillery posted on the sides of the mountain. The position of this pass and its approaches rendered it evident that in the at- tempt to carry it. reliance was to be placed mainly upon the infantry. I had, therefore, left all the artillery of the division in rear, but fearing that the stone wall behind which the enemy had taken cover would prove an insurmountable obstacle to the advance of my lines, I at once used every effort to bring forward a battery, with the view of driving the enemy from his position. But before the battery was fairly in position this obstacle had been overcome by a most gallant charge of the infantry, and the enemy were •fleeing in confusion up the mountain, closely pursued by every regiment of the division except the one in reserve, each vying with the other in the pur- suit. The enemy made another stand at the crest of the mountain, but were speedily dispersed and pursued through the pass and into the plain below. The victory was complete, and resulted not only in the utter rout and dis- persion of the forces opposed to us, but in the capture of 300 prisoners, 3 stand of colors, over 700 stand of arms of the most approved pattern, 1 piece of artillery, and a very large number of knapsacks, haversacks, blan- kets, etc. The advance of General Brooks’ brigade, of Smith’s division, on the left of the pass, simultaneously with the advance of my division, did much toward the accomplishment of the work assigned to the corps, and rendered our victory more complete than it would otherwise have been. Of the gallantry of the officers and men under my command I cannot speak too highly. Although greatly reduced -in numbers by losses on the Peninsula, although fatigued by long marches and constant service since the opening of the spring campaign, each regiment — indeed, every man — did his whole duty, not reluctantly, but with that eagerness and enthusiasm which rendered success certain. To attempt to designate any regiment, or any regimental or line of- ficer, as being entitled to particular notice would be an act of injustice to all others. I cannot, however, without great injustice omit to call attention to the conduct of the brigade commanders, General Newton, Colonel Bart- lett, and Colonel Torbert, all of whom led their brigades in the action, and 1862 REPORT OF MARYLAND CAMPAIGN 47 gave renewed evidence of their skill and courage. Colonel Bartlett, com- manding the leading brigade, was, on this, as on all former occasions, con- spicuous for his gallantry and skill with which he handled his troops under a most galling fire. I sincerely trust that both Colonel Bartlett and Colonel Torbert, commanding their respective brigades, both of whom have given abundant proofs of their qualifications for the position which they now occupy as brigade commanders, may be rewarded by the promotion they have so well earned. I append a list of casualties, showing the number of officers killed, 5 ; wounded, 16; men killed, 109; wounded, 381. Total killed, 114; wounded, 397; aggregate loss, 511. This list embraces many of the bravest and most gallant officers and soldiers of the division, for a more particular reference to whom I respect- fully refer to the reports of the brigade commanders, which are herewith inclosed. I am greatly indebted to the members of my staff, Major Rodgers, assistant adjutant-general; Lieutenants Guindon and Shannon, aides-de- camp, and to Captain Urquhart, of Colonel Bartlett’s staff, for the zealous manner in which their respective duties were discharged. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Major-General Volunteers, Commanding. Lieut. Col. Oliver D. Greene, Assistant Adjutant-General, Sixth Army Corps.- 4 General Franklin reported that “the advance of General Slocum was made with admirable steadiness through a well di- rected fire from the enemy’s batteries on the Mountain. . This single charge, sustained as it was over a great distance, and on a rough ascent of unusual steepness, was decisive. The enemy was driven in the utmost confusion from a position of strength and allowed no opportunity for even an attempt to rally, until the Pass was cleared and in possession of our troops. The victory was complete, and its achievement followed so rapidly upon the first attack that the enemy’s reserves, although pushed forward at the double-quick, arrived but in time to par- ticipate in the flight and add confusion to the rout. Four hun- dred prisoners, from seventeen different organizations, seven hundred stand of arms, one piece of artillery, and three stand of colors, were captured. ... It was the completest victory gained up to that time by any part of the Army of the Po tomac .” 24 48 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 Slocum was a conspicuous figure in the charge, his soldierly bearing and fearless exposure of his person to the enemy’s fire winning enthusiastic praise from the troops who fought by his side .” 25 The enemy contending for Crampton’s Pass was numerous and from strong commands, including Munford’s brigade of cav- alry in Pleasant Valley, comprising the Second and Thirteenth Virginia Regiments, with Clem’s battery and a section of the Monuments at the Crest of Crampton’s Pass to General Slocum’s Men, and War Correspondents Portsmouth battery of naval howitzers, supported by two regi- ments of Mahone’s brigade of R. H. Anderson’s division. Gen- eral MeLaws had, also, stationed the remainder of Mahone’s bri- gade and the brigades of Semmes and Howell Cobb, of his own division, within supporting distance. General Cobb was in com- mand of the Pass, with his strong forces well placed, and hidden by the trees on both sides of the narrow defile, with orders from MeLaws to “hold the Pass if it cost every life in my command.” 1862 REPORT OF MARYLAND CAMPAIGN 49 Generals Cobb and Semm'es reported that after their lines were broken, all efforts to rally their troops were unsuccessful. 22 General Slocum assailed a formidable position of the enemy and its carrying was a brilliant action, reported McClellan. President Lincoln visited McClellan and the Army of the Potomac near the Battle-field of the Antietam in October, going through Crampton’s Pass on his way thither. His attendants, from the army, pointed to the enemy’s position and explained the work done by Slocum and his command. Lincoln expressed astonishment at what had been done, reported General Franklin. General Slocum’s 1st Division of General Franklin’s Vlth Corps was composed, September 14th to 17th, of three brigades of four regiments each, and four batteries of artillery, namely: First Brigade, Colonel Albert T. A. Torbert c-ommander; with the 1st New Jersey Begiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mark W. Collet; 2nd New Jer- sey, Colonel Samuel L. Buck; 3rd New Jersey, Colonel Henry W. Brown; and 4th New Jersey, Colonel William B. Hatch. The Ilnd Brigade, Colonel Joseph J. Bartlett commander; with the 5th Maine Begiment, Colonel Na- thaniel J. Jackson; 16th New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Joel J. Seaver; 27th New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander D. Adams; and the 96th Penn- sylvania, Colonel Henry L. Cake. The Illrd Brigade, Brigadier-General John Newton commander; with the 18th New York Begiment, Lieutenant- Colonel George B. Myers; 31st New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis E. Pinto; 32nd New York, Colonel Boderick Matheson and Major George F. Lemon ; and the 95th Pennsylvania, Colonel Gustavus W. Town. Artillery, Captain Emory Upton; Maryland Light, Battery A, Captain John W. Wol- cott; Massachusetts Light, Battery A, Captain Josiah Porter; New Jersey Light, Battery A, Captain William Ilexamer; and the Second United States Battery I), Lieutenant Edward B. Williston. 26 General Slocum took great pride in his artillery arm, as well as in Lis infantry and other parts of his command. Having been several years in the United States artillery service as a young officer, and two years or more as instructor of artillery to the New York State Militia, he was able to bring this arm of his command to the same high degree of discipline and efficiency as were all the others always exhibited. After his Battle of Crampton’s Pass, General Slocum with his command bivouacked for the night literally astride of South Mountain, occupying the hard-won Crampton ’s Pass, and extend- ing through it into Pleasant Valley not far from a considerable 4 50 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 force of the enemy that had there assembled. The next morn- ing the other part of the Sixth Corps joined Slocum and formed in line of battle to attack the enemy ; but he was, upon further investigation, found by General Franklin so numerous, and oc- cupying such well chosen positions, that it was decided unwise to lead an attack. Later in the day the enemy withdrew toward Sharpsburg. September 15th and 16th were, therefore, passed in accordance with McClellan’s directions, in guarding the rear of the Union Army, in more fully caring for the wounded, in completing the burial of the dead, and in getting the much needed rest from the previous day’s exhausting work by Slocum and his men. The evening of the 16th orders were received from McClel- lan directing that the Sixth Corps join the army next morning. The march was begun at 5.30 a. m. and the distance of twelve miles to the Battle-field of the Antietam creek was covered in about four-and-a-half hours. This corps had been needed near the Union center as a reserve that might be called to the point where most needed but, on its nearing the field, the Union right was so hard pressed by the enemy that it was immediately stopped for support there. Two brigades of General Slocum’s division were formed in column to assault the woods that had been so hotly contested by Generals Hooker and Sumner, and the other brigade was formed as reserve. This enabled the Union forces on the right to reclaim and hold much ground that was important to them. Upon the arrival of these troops there was a lull on the part of the enemy, and General Sumner, in com- mand of the Union right, directed postponement of further offen- sive operations. McClellan joined in this order “as the repulse of this [the Sixth], the only remaining corps available for at- tack, would imperil the safety of the whole army.” The enemy, also, desired respite. Slocum’s troops suffered somewhat from some further bombardment by the enemy to feel the temper of the Union forces, but they not continuing to reply the enemy soon ceased firing. September 18th more quiet prevailed, and the Union forces that were best able to work took the wounded to safe places, buried the dead, and prepared for renewal of the battle, orders having been issued to attack at daybreak next morning. But here, as elsewhere, McClellan was too slow. But 1862 REPORTS OF MARYLAND CAMPAIGN 51 the enemy had received enough of battle at the Passes of South Mountain and the Antietam Creek. The latter part of the 18th, Confederate troops were brought over the nearby Potomac River from the Virginia shore and posted near the Union right as a ruse ; and under cover of the night the main body of the enemy retreated into Virginia, leaving a bold front to the Union troops meanwhile. In the morning two reconnaissances discovered well stationed rear guards of the enemy strong enough to make the main body’s retreat secure for some length of time. General Slocum’s report shows a severe strain upon his troops with comparatively small loss, namely : Headquarters First Division, Sixth Corps, Camp near Bakersville, September 26, 1862. Sir: T have the honor to report that, early on the morning of the 17th instant, the division under my command left Crampton ’s Pass to join the main army, then already engaged with the enemy near Sharpsburg. We reached the battle-field about 12 M., and immediately took position in front of the white church, on the Hagerstown and Sharpsburg turnpike, relieving a portion of General Sumner’s corps. Our infantry, though not actively engaged, were exposed to a heavy artillery fire from the enemy until sun- down, and are entitled to great credit for their gallantry under a severe fire, which they were unable to return. The artillery of the division, under command of First Lieutenant Emory Upton, Fifth U. S. Artillery, was well served and did good execution. The batteries of Captain Hexamer, First New Jersey Volunteer Artillery; Captain Wolcott, First Maryland Volunteer Artillery; and Lieutenant Williston, Battery D, Second U. S. Artillery, were all engaged, and their fire proved very accurate and effective, twice silenc- ing the enemy’s guns, and holding in check a large force of his infantry. The officers and men of the division lay or rested upon their arms in line of battle for over forty hours without leaving their position, and deserve great credit for their fortitude displayed on that occasion. I append a list of casualties, showing a loss of 5 men killed, 2 officers and 56 men wounded, and 2 men missing, making a total loss of 65. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Major-General Volunteers, Commanding. Lieut. Col. Oliver D. Greene, Asst. Adj. Gen. and Chief of Staff, Sixth Army Corps. 27 The Union forces engaged in the battles of Crampton ’s and Turner’s Pass, of South Mountain, and at the Antietam Creek, Maryland, numbered 87,164, against 97,445 of the enemy. The Union forces did not lose a flag or cannon, but they captured 52 MAJOB-GENEBAL SLOCUM 1862 from the enemy 13 pieces of artillery, 39 flags, upwards of 15,000 stand of small arms, and more than 6,000 prisoners, besides the fields of battle (McClellan). 19 The casualties of these battles were: Union, killed, 2,108; wounded, 9,549; missing, 753; total, 12,390. Confederate: Killed, 2,700; wounded, 9,024; missing, 1,800; total, 13, 524. 113 Keport was received by McClellan September 19th, that Stuart’s Confederate cavalry 4,000 strong, with 10,000 infantry and artillery, had appeared up the Potomac at Wililamsport, Maryland. This was probably a ruse to divide the Union forces to favor Lee’s badly shattered corps seeking rest in northern Virginia. McClellan dispatched General Couch with good force, however, to hasten to Williamsport, also directing the Sixth Corps with Slocum’s division to keep within supporting distance. Slo- cum was encamped for the night of the 19th by the Potomac op- posite Sheplierdstown, West Virginia. About midnight the 20th, he was called to advance on Williamsport, which place he occu- pied about two days. Stuart and his forces made good their escape without giving the Union forces opportunity for an en- gagement. General Slocum then proceeded down the Potomac, and his division encamped at the cross roads about a mile north- west of Bakersville, Maryland. Good results of the United States Signal Service were well illustrated in the Battle of Antietam, and with the detachments of Union troops following the enemy afterward. A few excerpts relating to our subject are here given, viz. : Sept. 17, 1862. At Hdqrs. Station, near Sharpsburg, Md. To General McClellan : Reinforcements are badly wanted. Our troops are giving away. I am bunting for French ’s and Slocum ’s divisions. If you know where they are, send them immediately. General Sumner. To MBN Station : Where is General Sumner? Major Myer. To Major Myer: We are in communication with General Sumner. MBN Station. To Major Myer: We have found General Slocum. He is near us. Pierce and Barrett. 1862 THE ARMY GREATLY IMPEDED 53 To General McClellan : All is quiet this morning so far. The enemy’s pickets are in front of us. General Sumner. To General McClellan: 18th. The rebels sent flag of truce this morning, asking to bury their dead. Flag was sent back. General Slocum. To Officers at Williamsport : Ascertain and report if any movements of the enemy have been visible near Williamsport to-day. Major Myer. To Major Myer: There have been no movements visible. I report to Couch. Franklin is in co mm and. Owen. To General Franklin, Williamsport: I have just sent you an order to move your command to near Bakers- ville; General Couch to Downsville, on the same road. You can move at once. The orderly will meet you. E. B. Marey, Chief of Staff. 23 At tlie termination of the enemy’s invasion of Maryland, President Lincoln decided that this overt act required more ac- tive measures by him regarding human slavery, the great institu- tion of the Southern States. He, therefore, published his historic Proclamation of Emancipation. September 22nd, and two days later this great article of liberty was officially proclaimed in the armies of the United States. CHAPTER XII Supply Delays. Commands XIIth Army Corps The recent losses of the Army of the Potomac from battle, sickness, wounds, other deaths, and expiration of term of enlist- ment, had been so great that thorough reorganization was neces- sary. This work began at once, but progressed slowly from want of men and horses. Also most of the men remaining could not continue in very active service for want of clothing. A violent and often fatal disease rapidly spread among the horses of the different branches of the service, to the extent that the death and disabling of about four thousand were soon reported. Other ser- viceable horses could be obtained only in small number. McClel- lan w T as very active in his efforts to place his army upon a proper war basis. He obtained authority for the cavalry and artillery officers to purchase the necessary horses for their use ; but the 54 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 contractors for the main supply remained unable to ship horses and other supplies only in small numbers and quantities, while the delays in the railway deliveries were embarrassing. Such were also the conditions of the clothing supply for the winter. General McClellan, notwithstanding his difficulties in getting the army in favorable condition for an autumn campaign, had repeatedly received orders from Washington to move against the enemy who yet lingered not far from him across the Potomac. In his efforts to please these superiors before his departure, he placed the important protective point, as they thought Harper’s Ferry to be, in charge of Major-General Henry W. Slocum, in whom they had implicit confidence. General Slocum was assigned to the command of the Xllth Corps, of the Army of the Potomac, October 15th, with request that he enter upon its command as soon as practicable. This pro- motion was in acknowledgement of his eminent ability, and desir- able soldierly qualities. This corps formerly belonged to the Army of Virginia as General N. P. Banks’ corps and, also, as the Ilnd Corps, its number being changed September 12th, one week after the merging of the Army of Virginia in the Army of the Po- tomac. The Xllth Army Corps had been under command of Brigadier-General Alpheus S. Williams until September 15th, when he was succeeded by the venerable Major-General Joseph K. F. Mansfield, an officer of large and creditable experience. He was mortally wounded the next day in the Battle of An- tietam, after which the command again devolved on General A. S. Williams. The 20th of October General Slocum assumed command of the Xllth Army Corps when it was on duty in and around Har- per’s Ferry, and General Williams, an able officer, was again assigned to the command of the 1st Division of this corps, most of which division was then on Maryland Heights. General Slo- cum brought the discipline of this corps to such high degree of excellence as to make the names Slocum, the Xllth Army Corps, and efficiency, synonymous terms. The same day General McClellan issued, in triplicate, to Generals Stoneman of the cavalry at Poolesville, Slocum at Har- per’s Ferry, and Couch now commanding Sumner’s corps, a circular informing them that he was just notified by two refugees 1862 COMMANDS XIITH ARMY CORPS 55 that a large force of the enemy with artillery and cavalry were within two miles of the Potomac, and moving toward the ford two miles below Knoxville where there was a large corral of horses ; and directing them to be on the alert to prevent the loss of the horses. General Slocnm hastened forward with the 1st and llnd Brigades of the Ilnd Division of his Xllth Corps, also three hundred of the 6tli New York Cavalry, and Knap’s Penn- sylvania battery, and they reconnoitered the Loudoun Valley, found traces of the enemy, pursued and overtook him at Hedges- ville, West Virginia, where they routed him, capturing a num- ber of prisoners. The 25th of October General Slocum was directed by Mc- Clellan to move, the next morning, his Illrd Division under General A. W. Whipple, across the river to occupy the ground between the bridge and Lovettsville. This division was thus detached from the Xllth Corps to accompany General Burn- side’s corps into Virginia in pursuit of General Lee’s army. Slocum was further directed to keep the remainder of his corps in readiness to receive further orders, without taking down their tents at night. On October 26tli. Slocum moved his Ilnd Division from Loudoun Heights east of Harper’s Perry into the Shenandoah Valley. The 29th he moved this division to Bolivar Heights west of the Ferry, there relieving General Sumner’s corps and doing picket duty along the south bank of the Potomac to the Shenan- doah River. General Slocum assigned the 124th and 125th Pennsylvania Regiments to the Ilnd Brigade of his 1st Division on October 26th. This brigade remained in Pleasant Valley near Sandy Hook, Maryland, until October 30th, when it was moved to Lou- doun Heights and the eastern slope. The Illrd Brigade remained on Maryland Heights at work strengthening the fortifications until October 29tli when it was ordered to relieve General Pitz John Porter in guarding the country near the Battle-field of the Antietam. including the hospitals for the wounded and sick soldiers who had remained there. Thus, with a much weakened corps directly in hand, General Slocum kept active in visiting his not widely scattered detachments ; and he kept them active in their work of drilling, fortifying, and in picketing duty. 56 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 The report of Brigadier-General Rufus Ingalls, Chief Quar- termaster of the Army of the Potomac, under date 1st of No- vember, credited the forces of Major-General Henry W. Slocum’s Xllth Corps as follows : Twelfth Army Corps. CO 3 ifi O Headquarters of Corps, including Artillery of Hirst .and Second Divisions 38 Means of Transportation. 1,170 106 459 121 8 10 54 747 First Division — General A. S. Williams . . 572 13,374 444 551 188 1 61 23 Second Division — Gen. J. W. Geary 436 8,501 480 189 128 1 39 5 Third Division — Gen A. W. Whipple 272 5,508 171 331 79 23 10 7 215 Total 1,318 28,553 1,201 1,530 516 33 120 89 962 With the advance of the main part of the Union Army into Virginia, the Confederate forces became more active and threat- ening at every available place. General Slocum’s task at Har- per’s Ferry was not an easy one. It required the exercise of broad soldierly training and high executive qualities. He was fully and well prepared for his duties as a corps commander. He had made rapid study of the Xllth Corps in general and in detail. He had rearranged a number of batteries, regiments, brigades, divisions and officers, placing the weaker ones where the duties likely to be required of them would be lighter. The stronger and more experienced were placed for heavy and im- portant picket duty several miles along the Potomac to guard against the active cavalry detachments of the enemy which were now more frequently invading the region under his authority. Fortifications were hastily prepared of earth, trees and rocks on 1862 AT HARPER’S FERRY AXD VICINITY 57 the heights surrounding Harper's Perry and covering ap- proaches in all directions. Detachments of varying forces were made, in addition to those at Frederick, Sliarpsburg, and Berlin, in Maryland, and at Keyes’ Ford and Keyes’ Gap, Virginia, and for reconnaissances far and near, thus keeping well informed re- garding the country and of the enemy’s trespassers. Major-General George B. McClellan was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac by the War Department authorities at Washington November 7th, upon his arrival at Rectortown. Virginia, after he had issued his commands for the centering of the army around Warrenton the 8th and 9th. Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside had been chosen to succeed him and, his corps being near, he reported to McClellan at once when the command was turned over to him. This was infor- mation necessary for all Corps commanders to know. That this change was a grave mistake will be made apparent on a later page without intimation that no change was necessary. Slocum made extended reconnaissance November 9th, with his Ilnd Division, up the Shenandoah Valley to Rippon, six miles from Berryville. A fleeing detachment of the enemy was discovered, which escaped but not without losing to Slocum’s men a number of prisoners, arms, horses, and beef cattle. It was discovered that both of the Confederate Generals Hill, Ambrose E. and David IT., also Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson had re- cently crossed the Blue Ridge Mountain at Front Royal, going toward the Army of the Potomac now under Burnside. This was important information which Slocum transmitted to Washington, and to Burnside. The enemy left in the Shenandoah Valley five regiments of cavalry and eight or ten pieces of artillery, part of which force fled before Slocum’s men. Frequent reports were required of commanders regarding the numbers and condition of their men and arms. November 10th, General Slocum’s Xllth Corps was so scattered that there remained at Harper’s Ferry ready for duty only 573 officers, with 14,864 enlisted men, and 6,393 sick and wounded in hos- pitals and camp, and including the few absent on furlough. Slocum had at this date fifty-one pieces of artillery. A threatening report from the dangerous Confederate cav- alry under Stuart and Munford came to Slocum November 12th. 58 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 This information was transmitted to Burnside, who turned it over to a nearer officer for his observation and possible action. There were frequent transmissions to, and receipts from, Wash- ington and different headquarters, which conduced to a general knowledge of the situation throughout the field of all the army operations. Slocum made another reconnaissance up the Shenandoah Valley November 26th with 600 infantry and two pieces of artil- lery, going as far as Charlestown. A skirmish was had at Cock- rail’s Mills with the enemy who was “routed with injury” to him. A number of prisoners, arms, and horses were captured by this Union force, also a quantity of flour. A cloth factory be- tween Charlestown and ITallstown was destroyed. The Vllth and Xllth Virginia Cavali'y were also met, routed, and their camp was destroyed. Return was made without casualty to this detachment, the members of which much enjoyed the expedition as a pleasant change from guard duty where they were being often harassed by the enemy’s cavalry which was without serious harm but no opportunity offered to retaliate at the time. Alto- gether the expedition was quite like a holiday excursion to them. Upon the return of this detachment, General Slocum made returns to Henry W. Halleek, General-in-Chief, Washington, of the information gained from this and other sources regarding General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson’s movements with his 30,000 men, the indications being that he might cross the Potomac be- tween Harper’s Ferry and Washington, and destroy railway communication if he did no other harm. Thereupon General George W. Morell at Hagerstown, Maryland, was ordered to patrol the Potomac with cavalry. The 28th of November Gen- eral Halleek telegraphed Slocum asking : 1 ‘ What of the rebel forces? Anything about Jackson?” Slocum replied on the 30th, that the pickets of the enemy at his front had again disappeared, and his scouts reported that Jackson had left the lower Shenan- doah Valley; that he passed through Strasburg Wednesday, and w*as moving toward Staunton ; also that four contrabands (South- ern negroes, former slaves) came to him this morning with the same report. As General Burnside advanced with the main part of the army, rapidly moving detachments of Confederates, large and 1862 IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 59 small, became even more active. The authorities at Washington also became more active in their inquiries from the scattered commands regarding these raids. Slocum continued his surveil- lance of the Potomac and Shenandoah regions particularly. He reported to Halleck that he had sent General Geary, of his Ilnd Division, with about 4,000 infantry and artillery, with instruc- tions to go up the Shenandoah to Winchester if he deemed it prudent. He also reported that he had not up to that date, De- cember 4th, received any cavalry with which to facilitate recon- naissances. The next day he reported to Washington that four deserters from the enemy had come to tell that his reeonnoitering force had arrived at Winchester. This force returned Decem- ber 8th, and General Slocum at once reported to Burnside that it passed through Berryville, Winchester, and Bunker Hill ; that it had captured 125 prisoners, including four officers, killed four and wounded twenty of the enemy. There was no Union loss of men or property. General Geary reported that Jackson’s com- mand passed through Thornton’s Gap about the first of Decem- ber and went towards Fredericksburg, Burnside’s objective point, and the two Generals Hill went the same way. Jt was also gathered that the combined forces of these three commands did not exceed at that time 35,000 men. CHAPTER XIII Harper ’s Ferry. In the Grand Reserve Upon his assuming command, General Burnside divided the Army of the Potomac into four Grand Divisions composed as follows : The Ilnd and IXth Army Corps to form the Right Grand Division under command of Major-General E. V. Sum- ner ; the 1st and YIth Corps to form the Left Grand Division under command of Major-General William B. Franklin; the Illrd and Vth Corps to form the Central Grand Division under command of Major-General Joseph Hooker. All three divisions were for unhampered advance against the Confederate army. Also there was to be a reserve force, called the Grand Reserve for what the War Department considered the most important work, the more immediate defense of Washington. This reserve was at first composed of the Xlth Corps under Major-General 60 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 Oliver 0. Howard, to be increased if necessary by such other forces as might be assigned to it from time to time, all to be under the general command of Major-General Franz Sigel. To this Grand Reserve Major-General Slocum and the principal part of his Xllth Corps were called December 9tli, the call dispatch bearing date 3 a. m. when General Burnside was about to attack Fredericksburg. General Slocum was advised of the best road to take from Harper’s Ferry through to Dumfries, a few miles north of Burnside’s headquarters, to aid in the defense of Washington principally, as Confederate cavalry were making frequent and annoying raids upon many places in that vicinity. Hastily form- ing his lines for the march, Slocum and his troops passed over the pontoon bridge across the Shenandoah River a little above Harper’s Ferry, thence through Hillsborough, Wheatland, Lees- burg, and /Chantilly to Fairfax Court House, where one division arrived December 13th. Here Slocum telegraphed to Halleck, at Washington, that inasmuch as he was obliged to leave his Purnell Legion and the Third Delaware Regiment at Frederick, Maryland, and his Fifth Maryland regiment at Harper’s Ferry, for the protection of those places, one of his best brigade com- manders now had but two regiments; and Slocum requested three or four regiments sent to him from troops at Washington or elsewhere that could be spared. This request was complied with by troops sent from Washington by water, and Slocum received them by way of Aquia Creek. The roads were in very bad condition, and at Fairfax Court House it was desirable that Slocum’s artillery and cavalry horses be shod; but his call was urgent, and he was about to resume the march when he received dispatch from General Sigel re- questing him to retain only three wagons for each regiment- one for officers, one for cooking utensils for the rank and file, and the other for small arms ammunition to contain ten boxes, all other necessary ammunition to be put in extra wagons — brigade and division staff one wagon ; corps staff and Grand Re- serve Division Headquarters two wagons, respectively; also to send all his baggage to Alexandria to be there transferred to Aquia Creek by water; to take two days’ provisions besides eat- 1862 IN THE GRAND DEFENSE RESERVE 61 tie; and to change the route of his march to Stafford Court House, nearer the place of battle. Another dispatch from Gen- eral Sigel was received the 14th upon his, Sigel’s, arrival at Stafford Court House at 6 p. M v which reads in part “I invite your attention again to the terrible condition the roads are in.’’ Slocum’s command resumed the march early next morning, but his progress was necessarily very slow on account of the deep and tenacious mud. The day that Slocum's first division arrived at Fairfax Court House, Burnside’s Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, was being fought with the advantage all in favor of the Confeder- ates. In the afternoon of December 13th General Franklin of the Left Grand Division dispatched to Burnside that his left flank was in danger of being turned, and asked, “What hope is there of getting Sigel or Slocum across the river?” In Frank- lin’s sore distress he longed for Slocum, his former right arm. On December 16th, Sigel telegraphed to Slocum to remain where he was (between Wolf Run Shoals and Dumfries) ; to stop his baggage at Alexandria ; to keep his cavalry well out to the right; and to cal] his (Sigel’s) cavalry to his (Slocum’s) com- mand, and to order provisions and forage sent to Fairfax Station. The General-in-chief of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, was kept constantly informed by his cavalry and signal corps of General Slocum’s whereabouts, as shown by Lee’s official reports. General Slocum’s headquarters remained at the Village of Fairfax Court House for some length of time. His picket lines were very long, and for greater protection his command was di- vided into picket and more defensive centers, Dumfries being among the more important, next to Fairfax Court House. On December 27th Slocum received dispatch from Colonel Charles Candy, commanding a Xllth Corps brigade at Dumfries, that he was attacked and needed reinforcements, which Slocum started immediately; but he soon recalled them on learning that the enemy had been repulsed by Candy. The enemy in this skir- mish numbered about 2,500 cavalry with artillery under General Fitzhugh Lee. December 28th Slocum’s advance line sighted 62 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1862 the enemy’s cavalry and artillery at a distance of about three miles from Wolf Run Shoals; but they escaped and, Slocum pass- ing on to Dumfries, telegraphed from there to the commanding general, Burnside, at Falmouth, as a suggestion to other com- manders, that his, Slocum’s, disposition of troops would be such that the enemy could not come his way “without a fight,” Lee having escaped between other commands. The report of the organization of the Army of the Potomac, December 31, showed the following composition of Major-General Henry W. Slocum’s XHth Corps, viz.: Escort of the commanding general (Slocum), 12th Illinois Cavalry, Company A, Captain P. E. Fisher. 1st Division, Brigadier-General Alpheus S. Williams; 1st Brigade, Colonel Joseph F. Knipe, composed of infantry regiments as follows: 5th Connecticut, Colonel George D. Chapman ; 10th Maine, Colonel George L. Beal; 28th New York, Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Cook; 46th Pennsylvania, Lieutenant-Colonel James L. Self ridge, and the 128th Pennsylvania, Colonel J. A. Mathews. Ilnd Brigade, Brigadier-General Thomas L. Kane; with the 20th Connecticut, Colonel Samuel Boss; 123rd New York, Colonel A. L. McDougall; 124tli Pennsylvania, Colonel J. W. Hawley; and the 125th Pennsylvania, Colonel Jacob Higgins. Illrd Brigade, Colonel John K. Murphy; with the 27th Indiana, Colonel Silas Colgrove; 2nd Massachu- setts, Major C. B. Mudge; 13th New Jersey, Colonel E. A. Carman; 107th New York, Colonel A. S. Diven; 29th Pennsylvania, Major Michael Scott; and the 3rd Wisconsin Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel W. Hawley. Artillery, Captain Robert H. Fitzhugli; with the First New York, Battery K, Lieu- tenant E. L. Bailey; First New York, Battery M, Lieutenant C. E. Wine- gar; and the Fourth United States, Battery F, Lieutenant E. D. Muhlen- burg. Cavalry: First Maine, Company Id, Captain George S. Summat; and the First Michigan, Company L, Captain Melvin Brewer. The Ilnd Division, Brigadier-General John W. Geary; 1st Brigade, Colonel Charles Candy: with the 5th Ohio Regiment, Colonel John H. Patrick; 7th Ohio, Colonel William R. Creighton; 29th Ohio, Colonel Lewis P. Buckley; 66th Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene Powell; 28th Penn- sylvania, Captain Joseph B. Copeland; 147th Pennsylvania, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Ario Pardee; 12th Illinois Cavalry, Colonel Has- brouek Davis; 1st Maryland Cavalry, three companies, Captain J. H. Cook. Ilnd Brigade, Colonel Joseph M. Sudsburg:' with 3rd Maryland Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert P. Robinson; 60th New York, Lieu- tenant-Colonel John C. O. Redington; and the 145th New York, Major B. L. Van Wagenen. Illrd Brigade, Brigadier-General George S. Greene: with the 78th New York Regiment, Major H. C. Blanchard; 102nd New York, Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Lane; 137th New York, Colonel David Ireland; 149th New York, Major Abel G. Cook; 109th Pennsylvania, Colonel 1863 IN FRONT DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON 63 H. J. Stainrook; and the 111th Pennsylvania, Lieutenant-Colonel George A. Cobham. Artillery, Major L. Kieffer : Sixth Maine Battery, Lieutenant Edwin Dow; Pennsylvania Battery E, Captain J. M. Knap; and Pennsyl- vania Battery E, Captain B. B. Hampton. Cavalry: First Maine, Company M, Captain G. M. Brown. Different parts of this Xllth Corps were on more distant duties, and are not enumerated here. During the first part of January, 1863, General Burnside prepared for another attack on the enemy at Fredericksburg and, as in his former unwise plan of attack, he wanted General Slo- cum’s aid. January 13th he dispatched to Slocum at his head- quarters, Fairfax Court House (where he had continued to guard the advance defense of Washington throughout a wide range westward from the Potomac) to have his XII th Corps in readi- ness to move to his, Burnside’s, support in twelve hours’ notice, with three days’ cooked rations in haversacks, and from six to eight days’ bread and small rations in wagons, and with beef cattle for that length of time. But, as before, the enemy dis- cerned Burnside's intentions, and began to strongly threaten Harper’s Ferry and other Union forces guarding Washington; and Burnside saw that he must get permission from Washington to call Slocum to his support. Such permission was granted January 17th, and Burnside notified Slocum that he need not commence his march until the next Monday. January 19th at 3.25 p. m. another dispatch was received from Burnside directing Slocum to move his command “with all speed possible without breaking down his men, to the vicinity of Dumfries where he would receive further orders.” Copious rains had fallen, but the Xllth Corps entered nevertheless boldly upon its part of the “Mud March,” though not to be defeated in humiliation like Burnside in his further unwise efforts in the mud nearly opposite Fredericksburg. The 1st Brigade and the 6th Maine Battery of Slocum’s Ilnd Divi- sion had garrisoned the post at Dumfries for some weeks, and had near there an extended picket line. The main part of this division, and the 1st Division started from Fairfax Court House duty late in the afternoon of January 19th and took different ways to avoid each other’s stirring of the mud. 64 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 The 1st Division halted for the night two miles beyond Wolf Run Shoals and by Occoquan Creek. The next day the march was continued to Dumfries. January 21st a three miles’ march took the division to Chopawamsic Creek where it was obliged to bivouac during the night while a bridge was being built above the high flood waters. Upon arrival at Aquia Creek the next day its flood was too high to cross, and the division was again compelled to bivouac in the mud. Part of the men were without shelter, and most of them without rations, the supply train being deep in the mud three or four miles in the rear. January 23rd Aquia Creek was crossed, and the march was extended to Staf- ford Court House where the division went into camp ; and it there remained on guard duty during the month. The Ilnd Division marched three miles from Fairfax Court House in the. evening of January 19th, and fifteen miles to Dum- fries the 20th. The next day only three or four miles could be marched because of the Hood of Quantico Creek. January 22nd return was made to the Quantico, and the march was continued to the Chopawamsic, a distance of four miles, through mud nearly impassable. The next day the march extended to Aquia Creek, four miles further ; and the 24th another four miles to Stafford Court House, where it, also, took up guard duty near the other division. This exceedingly difficult, and fruitless, march of General Slocum was thought by the Confederate commanding general, Lee, worthy of his report, in order to keep Slocum’s advance in the mind of his generals. The march was only in keeping with General Burnside’s unwise decision to advance on the enemy through such nearly impassable mud ; which efforts were soon stopped by the protests of Burnside’s nearby generals. General Slocum made no formal complaint against Burnside; but the generals of Burnside’s three Grand Divisions carried complaints to the authorities at Washington. The result of the investigation that followed was the cause of General Slocum’s former com- mander, the brave and efficient Major-General William B. Frank- lin, leaving the army. General Burnside’s usefulness in the Army of the Potomac being at an end, he was transferred to a southwestern command. 1863 GUARDING AND RECRUITING DUTIES 65 CHAPTER XIY Prepares for Chancellorsville Campaign Major-General Joseph Hooker succeeded General Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac January 26th, 1863. The Chief Quartermaster’s report at this date gave the transpor- tation facilities of General Slocum’s XHtli Corps as follows: Wagons, 450; ambulances, 125; team and ambulance horses, 1,185; cavalry horses, 171; artillery horses, 656; mules, 1,270; total number of animals, 3,282. A period of rest was now enforced upon the Army of the Potomac by the inclemency of the weather, and the necessity for reorganization from losses in battle, and expiration of terms of enlistment. To this last named need the new commanding gen- eral gave prompt and energetic attention. Reports were required from officers showing character of their commands in detail Jan- uary 31st, 1863. The report of General Slocum’s Twelfth Corps was quite like the report of the month before, given on a pre- ceding page, excepting a few changes of lower officers, with some new recruits. Notwithstanding the severe weather, there was sufficient exercise of mind and body, in army schools including military recitations with ample practical examples in correct camp and picket duties, with the requirement of constant thoughtfulness conducive to good health, and to self control at all times and particularly in emergencies ; and in all forms of military exer- cises. By the report of February 2nd it is shown that the lesser part of the XHtli Corps, consisting of one division and one brigade, was stationed near Stafford Court House, fronting west, deriving the quartermaster’s supplies from Hope Landing five miles distant, and the commissary supplies from Brooke’s Sta- tion four miles distant. One brigade of the Ilnd Division was stationed at Aquia Creek Landing, convenient to all supplies. The main position extended its line of infantry pickets from Potomac Creek to Aquia Creek, connecting with the pickets of General Meade’s Yth Corps. The division of the Army of the Potomac into Four Grand 66 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 Divisions by Burnside was discontinued by the new commanding general February 5, 1863, the War Department concurring. It was thought that this doubling of army corps impeded the dis- patch of its current business ; and that the service the army was likely to be called on to perform would be adverse to the move- ments and operations of heavy columns. From this date each corps was to be considered a unit for the organization of the artillery. General Slocum, as part of the Grand Reserve, had been reporting to General Sigel; but upon Sigel’s general order an- nouncing discontinuance of the Grand Division plan, Slocum was to report directly to army headquarters. In Sigel’s order he “sincerely thanked Major-General Slocum for his assistance and constant operation while serving in the Grand Reserve.” The demands for special service continued to scatter Slo- cum ’s command. This required alertness at many places to avoid accidental conflicts with Union cavalry and other detachments which were often passing near his lines on their way to special service, and liable to be mistaken for scouting parties of the enemy. This rearrangement of the positions of camps kept the troops active, and gave new zest to alertness on picket duty in new places. February 9th, the picket line of infantry of the Xlth and Xllth Corps extended from Embry’s to Aquia Creek, making necessary the detailing several times each twenty-four hours of 3,000 or more soldiers for this important duty. New soldiers had been received from time to time and, up to February 10th, General Slocum’s Xllth Corps had been recruited to 664 officers and 12,184 enlisted men present for duty, while his present and absent forces aggregated 21,860. At this time he had 34 pieces of artillery. Two days later a squadron of cavalry was sent to him, by the First Division of the Cavalry Corps, to serve as orderlies, messengers, and an emergency force for reconnaissance. Road improvement demanded the attention of the different corps from February 15th, in order that the road from the Fitz- hugh House, a noted landmark, to the bridge across Potomac 'Creek half a mile below the railway bridge, thence to Stafford Court House passing about one mile west of Brooke’s Station, be 1863 GOOD DISCIPLINE EXEMPLIFIED 67 put in such condition as to be practicable for artillery during the muddy seasons. The part of this road between Accakeek Creek and Stafford Court House was assigned to General Slo- cum’s command at this place, part of the distance to be cordu- royed double track. Severe storms interrupted the progress of this road improvement. Before this muddy work was completed, inspecting officers of high rank were detailed by the commanding general to visit each regiment without announcing their coming, and to immedi- ately order the regiment formed in line for general, and special, inspection. There were three hundred and twenty-four infantry commands in the Army of the Potomac at this time, from which number only eleven received honorable mention in the General Orders November 18th that were issued after the inspection was completed. These eleven regiments “earned high commendation from inspection officers’’ entitling them to additional privileges, leaves of absence, or furloughs. The army was then composed of seven army corps of infantry, and four of the regiments thus honored belonged to Slocum’s XHth Corps notwithstanding the fact that it was at this time about one-third smaller than any of the other corps. General Slocum’s relatively numerous honor regiments were the 10th Maine, 2nd Massachusetts, 111th Penn- sylvania, and the 3rd Wisconsin. This high proportion of merits was due to Slocum’s excellent, and persistent discipline, and drillings. The enemy continued watchful for a vantage opportunity. With a change of a XHth Corps picket line toward the last of February, a scout brought information that the enemy’s Prince William Cavalry with five pieces of artillery, and the Black Horse Cavalry at Warrenton, contemplated a raid on Dumfries to capture the commissary and other stores there. General Slo- cum was well prepared to receive them, and their coming would have been welcomed; but their discretion in not coming showed their wisdom. Movements of the enemy’s forces of cavalry, infantry and artillery, aggregating five thousand under General Fitzhugh Lee, and other strong forces under General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson, were reported as being near Fredericks- burg. At this time General Robert E. Lee reported to “The 68 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 President of the Confederate States’" the supposed position of the Union forces, being positive of only General Slocum’s com- mand. 29 It was impossible for General Slocum to keep the necessary number of cavalry in his central command for efficient duty, much less for reconnoitering the enemy, on account of the con- stant tendency to concentrate this arm in General Stoneman’s Cavalry Corps, and the constant call by Slocum’s necessarily scattered forces for additional detachments for their support. The Twelfth Illinois Cavalry was on these accounts withdrawn from Slocum’s command at Dumfries March 2nd, which left an important part of the country open to the unimpeded approach of the enemy. On March 4th there was a sharp skirmish between the enemy and the Eighth New York Cavalry then on picket duty at Inde- pendent Hill, Prince William County, Virginia, about nine miles from Dumfries, in which two of the latter were killed, one wounded, and fifteen taken prisoners. It appeared that Colonel W. R. Creighton then commanding the 1st Brigade of General Slocum’s Ilnd Division defending the post at Dumfries, and the cavalry assailed on picket, did not have his command well in hand ; which condition was rectified immediately upon General Slocum’s receipt of the report of the skirmish. This illustrated the necessity for the commanding general to have detail obser- vation of every part of his scattered command, even to minor picket lines. General Slocum placed the command of Dumfries in charge of Colonel Charles Candy who exercised great alertness against the ever vigilant enemy so likely to raid this important region. Frequent and detailed reports were required. Colonel Candy reported direct to General Slocum March 9th that a red signal had been displayed between the Brentsville Road and Quantic-o Creek, four miles from Dumfries, and that his pickets had fired on a squad of the enemy’s cavalry there. On March 10th there were reported in the XIIth Army Corps 11,933 enlisted men ready for action. The 11th, Colonel Candy reported to Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Rodgers, General Slocum’s Assistant Adjutant-General, that the cavalry pickets of the command on his right had been taken away by their com- 1363 DESERTIONS. CHANGES. BADGES. 69 mander, thus leaving the entire country between the Quantico and Occoquan open to the enemy; and he asked what he should do for patrols. Later the same day it was reported that twenty cavalrymen were to patrol the road by the telegraph line every six hours. Active preparation for advancing in full force against the enemy had been carried forward in the Army of the Potomac during the winter by the commanding general, Joseph Hooker, ably seconded by his corps commanders. The discipline had been thorough, even severe at times, with the requirement of greater vigilance on picket and all other duties. At the dawn- ing of the spring it was not strange that the thoughts and de- sires of many enlisted men should long for freedom from such exacting cares. A desertion was reported, and others were feared. Favored by General Slocum, and other corps commanders, the Secretary of War instructed General Hooker to have the com- mander of each regiment, battery, independent battalion, and company serving in the Army of the Potomac, prepare immedi- ately duplicate lists of deserters then absent from their respec- tive commands, and to transmit the same without delay to the Provost Marshal-General. Also a stringent order was repeated for more humanitarian care of horses and mules by teamsters. For greater facility in carrying shelter tents and extra rations during the proposed general advance, pack-saddles had been provided for the different corps, General Slocum receiving two hundred and fifty-seven. Colonel Charles Candy again called for cavalry March 20th to beat off squads of the enemy which were pressing residents of the country into the Confederate service, and were despoiling and driving Union families from their homes. Commanding General Hooker was very fortunate in having as his chief of staff Major-General Daniel Butterfield, who was untiring in aiding in devising ways and means of putting and continuing the army in the best possible condition of efficiency within bounds of simplicity; and he was greatly aided in this by the War Department and the corps commanders. The 21st of March, acting on suggestion received from a piece of flannel stitched to the caps of General P. A. Kearney’s division of the 70 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 Third Corps, they issued a circular providing for the ready recognition of the corps and divisions to which soldiers belonged for the purpose of preventing injustice by mistake in reports of straggling, misconduct, and otherwise. This circular directed the chief quartermaster to supply, at the earlest practicable mo- ment, serviceable metal badges that could be secured to the top, or above the forepiece of the cap or hat of every soldier. The form of the badge distinguished the corps then in the Army of the Potomac, as follows : The 1st Corps, a circular plate ; the Ilnd, an upright trefoil; the Illrd, a square or lozenge turned diagonally; the Vtli, a maltese cross; the Ylth, a cross of uniform straight arms; the Xlth, a crescent with both points upright; and the Xllth, a five pointed star. In size these badges were at first required to be full one inch in diameter so as to be readily distinguishable. They were in three colors to distinguish Xllth Corps’ Badge the corps divisions : those for the First Division, red ; the Second, white ; the Third, blue. The soldiers became greatly attached to these badges, each to his own; and many a veteran fought strenuously for the honor of his corps and its insignia. As the time drew near for the contemplated advance of the army, the subject of passes to or from the different commands or through their pickets, naturally became of greater importance, and the restrictions more severe. The general commanding on March 24th requested General Slocum to give his infantry pick- ets orders to permit the officers and messengers of the Union cavalry while on duty to pass through their lines at such points, and with such pass, as agreed upon between Slocum and Pleason- ton of the cavalry. About this time the practical and, perhaps impractical, jok- ers abounded anew in some tents, and caused some fear in the 1863 PREPARATIONS FOR CAMPAIGN 71 tents at first by reporting the enemy near, usually late at night. It is possible that some new army recruits required some special discipline, or experience, for their peculiarities, similar to that which boys not infrequently combine to give one or more of their peculiar playmates. In the experience of the army at this time several night alarms were of sufficient extent and force as to call considerable commands hurriedly to arms. In some of these instances, possibly the officers were privy to the effort and effect. The Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac reported the ratio of sickness to the thousand in General Slocum’s corps March 28tli as 52.78, while most other corps were reported over sixty, sixty-eight, seventy-five, and one even over ninety. The abstract report of the strength of the Xllth Corps March 31st showed that the officers present for duty numbered 711 ; of enlisted men, 12,452, with an aggregate present and ab- sent of 20,126. Artillery, 34 pieces. More wakeful nights were caused General Slocum and some of his general officers by reports from General Sickles at 2.30 a. h., and General Averell at midnight, of April 1st, stating that the Confederates had appeared at their front ; but no general call to arms by Slocum was found necessary. On April 13th General Slocum received official notice that a large part of General Stoneman’s Union Cavalry Corps was moving toward the Shenandoah Valley to be absent several days. This movement increased the responsibility of Slocum and his corps. At this date Brigadier-General T. H. Ruger was ordered to report to General Slocum for assignment to the command of a brigade in his Xllth Corps. He was given command of the Illrd Brigade of the 1st Division, and he proved himself an efficient officer. On the 14th Slocum was notified to have his brigade at Dum- fries ready to join him at Stafford Court House, as it was about to be relieved of duty at that place for this purpose. The reliev- ing force was part of General Averell’s cavalry under Colonel Duffie. When they did arrive, of the 1,027 men, but 95 had carbines, which caused greater delay in the departure of Slo- cum’s brigade; and Slocum finally left a battery of cannon, dis- mounted cavalry, and a regiment of infantry, for duty until 72 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 Averell’s men could be supplied with arms. Slocum’s men thus left were directed to return to their places in the Xllth Corps April 25th. The assignment of corps commanders in the Army of the Potomac by the War Department at the instance of President Lincoln, after the' rearrangement by the commanding general February 10th, was not made until April 15tli. This act was merely formal, no change being made. The routine of recruiting and preparation for another cam- paign while doing active guard duty, was brightened April 19, 1863, at General Slocum’s headquarters by the receipt of flow- ers from Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. This bouquet brought to the mind of Slocum, in a reminiscent way, the receipt of a simple flower “from a young country girl” while he was attending the Albany State Normal School in his youth ; and it incited to some well expressed paragraphs in his letter this day to his wife, who was the girl mentioned, namely : My Dear Clara: — Headquarters, Twelfth Corps d ’Armee, April 19, 1863. I received a beautiful bouquet this morning from Mary. The flowers are all from the President ’s garden. It is beautiful. The flowers are arranged according to color in three rows — red, white, and blue — with a fine japoniea at the apex. I send you two or three samples. I thought Mary would remember me. I take back all I have said unless she has sent to all the other generals. I do not think I was so happy over this bouquet of rare flowers from the wife of the President as I was over a single blue forget-me-not received by me while in Albany from a young country girl. Yours affectionately, H. W. Slocum. Xlth Corps’ Badge 1863 THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN 73 CHAPTER XV Commands Three Corps to Chancellorsville The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under com- mand of General Robert E. Lee, remained intrenched at Fred- ericksburg on the south bank of the Rappahannock River, and most of the Union Army of the Potomac had remained in win- ter quarters at Falmouth on the north bank of the river a little above Fredericksburg. The general commanding the Union forces, Hooker, while recruiting and bringing his army to a good condition for en- countering the enemy, had formulated a good plan for capturing him, or breaking him in pieces. The Union Cavalry Corps had been recruited and reorganized to an effective corps of 11,500 men. General Stoneman, commander of this corps, was directed to move two weeks before the other arms, to cross the upper Rappahannock, turn eastward and southward between Fred- ericksburg and Richmond, destroy the railways, canals, and tele- graphic communications, thus cutting off supplies for Lee’s army. Severe rains at this time and river floods made it unpleasant to do this work by the cavalry at the time desired ; and Hooker, becoming impatient, would not delay the army’s movement to get the material aid the cavalry should afford him. General Slocum, with his Xllth Corps, started early in the morning of April 27th from his encampment at Stafford Court House on what became later known as the Chancellorsville Cam- paign. His route of march was out of sight of the enemy at Fredericksburg, and as direct as practicable to Kelly’s Ford of the Rappahannock, about twenty-seven miles above the main force of the enemy. Upon arrival near the Ford he was directed by Hooker to assume command of General Howard’s Xlth Corps, the 1st Cav- alry Brigade of Brigadier-General Pleasonton, and to a degree the command of the Vth Army Corps of Major-General George G. Meade, all in addition to his Xllth Corps, which for a time was nominally under General A. S. Williams of its 1st Division. This large command, excepting the Vth Corps, crossed on pon- toons at Kelly’s Ford, then turning south marched about ten 74 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 miles to Germania Mills by the Rapid Ann (Rapidan) River. Here Slocum’s advance brigade, Ruger’s, surprised a detach- ment of about one hundred and twenty-five Confederates who had started to build a bridge across the swollen, rapid stream. A skirmish ensued, Slocum directing in person. The enemy soon surrendered after suffering some losses, and those on the oppo- site bank waded through the armpit deep chilly water to make the surrender complete. Ruger’s and Knipe’s brigades, with Battery M, First New York Light Artillery (Fox), then led the 1st Division of the XHth Corps in fording the river which was high, about four feet in depth with rough rock bottom. Some soldiers were swept from their feet, necessitating rescue by cavalrymen or small boat. The engineers and soldiers of the 1st Division of the XHtli Corps, now being across, they soon built a bridge of the timbers prepared by the enemy for their Vth Corps’ Badge Xlth Corps’ Badge XHth Corps’ Badge own purpose, on which bridge the other parts of the large com- mand crossed, also most of the artillery and pack mules. While General Slocum was admiring his men who were struggling so successfully with the Rapidan current, an officer rode up with the compliments of General Meade, and stated that Ely’s Ford of the Rappahannock where Meade had been ordered to cross was at flood, ‘hip deep.’ General Slocum pointed to his men breast deep in the rapid current, and replied that the Vth Corps must cross at once. The Xlth Corps, now the rear of Slocum’s command, was followed by Stuart's Confederate Cavalry with two light can- non which annoyed, and did some harm to the troops. The only way to stop this annoyance was to drive Stuart ’s men away with cavalry. But the small force of Pleasonton’s cavalry with Slo- cum was not strong enough for this work, being outnumbered by 1863 THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN 75 the Confederate General Stuart’s two to one, and the annoyance had to be endured for a time. 30 From Germania Ford General Slocum's course led to the south of east about twelve miles to Chancellorsville, the first ob- jective point, General Geary of the Ilnd Division of the Xllth Corps leading. Parts of the enemy’s cavalry and infantry were met, and many of them were captured with very little delay to the march. General Slocum, with his present command of about 42,000 men, arrived at Chancellorsville, the designated meeting place of the commanding general, April 30, about 2 o’clock p. m., and he at once took positions for defense according to orders ; but having at the time a strong impelling thought that he ought to advance immediately to the higher vantage ground nearer the enemy. General Meade arrived at Chancellorsville about the time of Slocum's arrival, his road leading to the left of that taken by the latter. Meade was jubilant, saying: “This is splendid Slo- cum; hurrah for old Joe [General Joe Hooker] ; we are on Lee’s flank, and he does not know it. You take the Plank Road, and I’ll take the Pike, or vice versa, as you prefer, and we will get out of this Wilderness.” His anticipations were at once damp- ened by Slocum’s reply : “My orders are to assume command on arriving at this point, and to take up a line of battle here, and not to move forward without further orders. ’ ’ 31 General Hooker did not arrive at Chancellorsville until 6 p. M., when Slocum turned the general command over to him. Then was issued Hooker's remarkable General Order Number 47, reading as follows : “ It is with heartfelt satisfaction the commanding general announces to the army that the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must either ingloriously fly, or come out from behind his defenses and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him. The operations of the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps have been a succession of splendid achievements.” 32 This order was read to each regiment and, generally, it was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. Some of Slocum’s veterans, however, did not cheer, and received the ‘brag’ of Hooker in thoughtful mood. Being rallied regarding this soberness one re- 76 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 plied that Lee had never been known to ‘ ingloriously fly,’ and it would be better to wait until after the battle before doing any cheering. 25 General Hooker did not make good use of the advantages so well gained for him by General Slocum and others. He was slow in arriving upon the field where the Union generals were obligated to await his coming. He then delayed action many most valuable hours, while his great opportunity waned. Slocum was impatient, Banks’ Ford and other important points of van- tage were then easily at his command for occupancy. “It is a maxim of war that a single hour’s delay when an enemy is strengthening his position, or when reinforcements are coming up, will frequently cost the lives of a thousand men. In the pres- ent instance it was simply suicidal for Hooker to delay action.” 33 General Darius N. Couch, second to Hooker in general com- mand, afterward wrote that “If the possession of Banks’ Ford [on the north bank of which w y as the depository of the Union Reserve Artillery] had been foreshadowed in Hooker’s instruc- tions to General Slocum, there would have been accomplished all that could have been desired.” And, again, “I think it was a signal misfortune to our arms that he [Hooker] did not delay joining that [right] wing until the morning of May 1st, when he would have found Banks’ Ford in our possession.” 22 A detachment of Pleasonton’s Union cavalry was doing picket duty near the Confederate pickets in front of Chancel- lorsville and, finally, next day, May 1st, at 11 a. m., General Slo- cum was permitted to move forward with his Xllth Corps fol- lowed by the Xlth Corps under General Howard, they forming the right wing, and moving along the Plank Road, the main thoroughfare. Other corps also moved forward on other roads to the left. The enemy’s skirmish line was met about one mile from Chancellorsville. This line and the enemy’s lines beyond were rapidly driven back by Slocum whose artillery participated with good effect. Good progress was being made and the troops were exulting in their success, when orders came from Hooker, about one P. m., for every command to return to its original line at Chancellorsville and to its left. Slocum was very much vexed 1863 THE BATTLE OF C HAN CEL LOR S TITLE 77 with this order, as he wanted to get out of the wilderness, and by this order he was commanded to leave vantage ground for the enemy to immediately occupy with guns which would cost the Union troops many lives if they did not defeat them entirely. Generals Couch, Warren, Sykes, and Hancock, agreed that the advance gained should not be abandoned; Warren, the chief engineer, even advising Couch the second in general command to disobey Hooker’s command to return . 22 Reluctantly, the command of Hooker was obeyed by all, and the enemy was quick to follow to the vantage ground vacated by the retiring Union forces. Hooker was vacillating and, when too late, he desired Couch to hold the position won in advance, which so exasperated the old veteran that he returned a sharp reply ‘unbecoming a subordinate.’ General Slocum, when retiring from this advance, ordered Captain Clermont L. Best, of the Fourth United States Artillery, his Chief of Artillery, to proceed to Chancellorsville and post his corps artillery in good positions for defense against the prob- ably following enemy. Upon the arrival of the corps at its for- mer lines, Slocum ordered the position to be hastily fortified. This work was well done by the Xllth Corps, but not by the Xlth Corps. The enemy followed in strong force, was attacked, and he was defeated with great loss, the artillery doing good service on both the Fredericksburg and Gordonsville roads . 34 The Union army was, however, now on the defensive, notwith- standing the fact that its forces far outnumbered those of the enemy. Slocum visited Hooker’s headquarters in the lull of affairs, expressed regrets for his recall, and asked for reconsideration of the positions now occupied — even urging the immediate assailing of the enemy, rapidly with all the available Union forces. Hooker was irascible and, while wavering in mind, was inclined to let conditions remain as they were. Slocum was not confident of the corps on his right but he did not attempt to urge anything further. He returned to his headquarters deeply impressed by the thought that Hooker was not in fit condition to lead or direct the army in the battle then impending. ‘ ‘ Indeed had Hooker listened to Pleasonton ; had he listened to Slocum ; had he listened to the MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 first inspirations of his own genius, he had nine out of ten chances in favor of winning one of the greatest and most decisive battles of the war.” 35 The wounded of the day were taken to the nearest house where the surgeons gave them the best attention possible. Some ambulances were brought on the field later, and the wounded were taken by them to the field hospitals. The urgent requests THE BATTLEFIELD OF CH ANCELLORSVILLE. A — Positions held by the Union forces before the movement. B — Positions held by the enemy. C — Positions taken and held by Union forces April 29th. D — Small force of the enemy routed April 30th. E — Farthest advance made by Union forces May 1st. F — Line to which Union forces retired and intrenched May 1st. G — Jackson’s attack on the 11th Corps May 2nd. H — Position to which Union forces retired and intrenched May 3rd. I — Heights of Fredericksburg carried by 6th Corps May 3rd. J — Advanced position attained by 6th Corps. K — Inte- rior line intrenched by General Slocum before retiring' of Union forces across the river night of May 5th. L — Route taken by Jackson's forces to surprise the 11th Corps. for medicine wagons were not answered, and medical supplies, brought on the backs of horses and mules, were not sufficient. 36 The next morning Hooker and Sickles rode around and in- spected the positions and lines of the right wing then composed of the Illrd, Xlth and XHth Corps. Discovery in the morning of Saturday, May 2nd, of an omin- ous movement of the enemy beyond Howard’s corps led to the 1863 THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE 79 opening of one of Slocum’s batteries on the moving foe. This fire was returned with much spirit for a time, but soon two caissons of the enemy were exploded, one gun dismounted, and the enemy’s entire battery silenced. Slocum continued to strengthen his breastworks during the day. Soon after the first skirmish of batteries, another apparently heavy column of the enemy was discovered slowly and cautiously defiling around a point of the Plank Road nearer Slocum’s guns than the other. This column was made the target of Slocum’s infantry, and artillery with canister, which brought confusion upon it, and caused its rapid retreat leaving many dead and wounded in the road and woods adjoining. 37 The activity of General Sickles had been increased in the meantime. He requested help from General Slocum, -who sent nearly all of his 1st Division with its commander, General A. S. Williams, to Sickles ’s support. About the same time Slocum advanced part of his Ilnd Division to investigate the enemy in his own front. This was opportune as the enemy had, quietly under cover, advanced in force, and Slocum called his men back to their intrenchments. About this time there were evidences of an attack and great confusion on the army’s extreme right. The Confederate Gen- eral Thomas J (Stonewall) Jackson’s command had attacked Howard’s neglected (generally unfortified even by breastworks) Xlth Corps, turned its right and overlapped its rear causing a disastrous rout. 33 Fortunately General Pleasonton was near and, by rare good and cool judgment and quick action, succeeded in gathering twenty-two cannon and, loading them with double canister, he repeatedly fired them into the enemy at close range, thus giving check to this part of Jackson’s rapidly advancing men. Jackson was wounded accidentally by one of his own men about this time. He died a few days later from blood poisoning. Early in the attack on Howard’s corps, Slocum, recalled his 1st Division. The return was started immediately, and by mov- ing rapidly by flank and turning, it presented a front and oppo- sition that checked the advance of the enemy in this quarter ; 33 but before all could return to their original position, the enemy began to occupy the right of their intrenchments ; and in at- 80 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 tempting to regain their full line in the dark some became mixed with the enemy who overpowered and captured one hun- dred and fifty or more of Slocum’s men. The division held its own remarkably well, however, in the midst of so much excite- ment and wild rumors of the rout on its right. Its line was soon reformed by General Slocum at right angle to its former line. Slocum now opened his thirty-four pieces of artillery by which, with the infantry, some guns of Sickles’ command, and a few from Howard’s unrouted contingent, the enemy was fully cheeked. The work of the artillery was continued irregularly until late in the night, at times the fire being terrific. During the entire night both Union and Confederate forces did what they could to strengthen their positions and lines, particularly near Chancellorsville. At midnight, Sickles, who was separated from the other Union forces, ‘fought his way back’ to supporting distance of them. Even Saturday night, and Sunday morning, May 3rd, “It only required that Hooker should brace himself up and take a reasonable common sense view of the state of things, when the success gained by Jackson would have been turned into an over- whelming defeat [of the enemy]. But Hooker became despond- ent,’’ vacillating, and this part of the enemy was permitted to begin the battle on the weakened right wing without reinforce- ments of men or ammunition. 22 The best position for the Union forces at any time was with their right at Talley’s farm. This was literally given to the enemy by Hooker. The position of Sunday morning, with Hazel Grove and the position formerly held by the ‘sharp and astute Slocum’ were highly defensible, if Slocum had been reasonably supported against the overwhelming enemy. 35 The order for the abandonment of General Pleasonton’s preparations, for holding Hazel Grove where he discomfited and cheeked the enemy immediately after Jackson’s attack was an order for the abandonment of “the proper key to the situation which should have been held at all hazards.” 33 It was the worst of all movements, inasmuch as it was indispensable for the enemy to capture Hazel Grove before he could advance against the main 1863 THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORS V1LLE 81 body of Sickles’ Illrd Corps; and this corps and Pleasonton’s forces being removed during the night and early morning of Sunday May 3rd, enabled the enemy to immediately post his cannon at the Grove, drive Sickles’ men further back, and en- filade Slocum’s entire find Division, a result showing continued most serious want of a sober, comprehensive, and steadfast com- manding general. But for the prompt, and proper, meeting of this emergency by General Slocum, all of Hooker's right wing, possibly the en- tire army, would have been routed by the enemy. With thirty pieces of the enemy’s artillery from one quarter, also the Con- federate General McLaws’ batteries from another direction in full play upon Slocum’s line, “It seems almost miraculous that he was able to hold it at all. ’ ’ 33 Here again was exhibited General Slocum’s coolness, thoughtfulness, prompt action, and success in the proper disposition of his men. CHAPTER XYI Battle op Chancellorsville. Reports The Army of the Potomac ‘was disjointed’ wrote the ven- erable General Couch, for want of a proper general leader. The morning of the ill-fated Sunday, May 3rd, 1863, the attack of the enemy began at daybreak from their vantage ground gained as mentioned on the preceding pages. Slocum’s 1st and Sickles’ find Divisions were the only Union forces to withstand the first unequal contest. The enemy soon gained another material advantage by turn- ing the right flank of Sickles’ men, and yet another advantage by the retiring of Sickles’ men from the field. The enemy was quick to place cannon on the gained positions, from which, he could further enfilade and otherwise distress Slocum’s forces. Slo- cum’s ammunition was running law, and none came in answer to calls for more. Solid columns of the enemy were also repeatedly advanced against Slocum’s front and now unsupported right flank. They were repeatedly repulsed with great loss on both sides. Several 6 82 MAJOR-GENE UAL SLO C UM 1863 times the enemy was followed into the thick underbrush by Slocum’s men, he retreating in superior numbers but to reload, reform line and renew the attack at close quarters on Slocum’s rapidly attenuating line. Colonel Fox in his History of the Xllth Corps 23 quotes the following from Caldwell’s History of McGowan’s South Caro- lina Brigade that was in front of part of Slocum’s men this Sunday morning, namely : We could not see much for the morning was foggy and the smoke of both lines became so dense that I could not even distinguish the colors of the enemy. The firing was furious. Our advance was checked, the cheering hushed; all on both sides addressed themselves to loading and firing as rapidly as possible. The two right regiments were hotly engaged. Indeed the Thirteenth and Fourteenth South Carolina had to fire at right oblique. The slaughter of Orr ’s Rifles, and the First South Carolina was immense. General McGowan, just behind the colors of the First, huzzahed lustily, seeming to be at the highest enthusiasm. The Federals fired with unusual accuracy. It was to be expected, for we stood in full relief upon the crest of the hill. The few men they had scattered along the ravine behaved with provoking composure. They deliberately loaded their pieces behind the trees, stepped out, picked their men, fired, and returned to the trees to reload. [The Twenty-seventh Indiana was among this number]. In the course of time, however, they were discovered, and forced to lie close. Archer’s brigade, as I understand it, was to move clear to our right, and at some inclination to us, so as to strike the enemy in flank. The latter must have apprehended something of the sort, for they hugged the fortified hill with singular pertinacity. But now we were at a standstill. The enemy became emboldened, and advanced upon the unprotected right flank of our brigade. At last he swung forward so as to almost enfilade our line. The Rifles gave way. The First followed slowly, and the movement extended gradually to the left of the brigade. But we halted at the line of works about seventy or eighty yards from the last position ; and the enemy continuing to advance, we resumed battle. General McGowan was wounded upon the works. Briga- dier-General Colston brought in a fresh line, saying they would show us how to clear a Federal line. But their reckoning was not accurate; they were forced back with us into the works. The firing continued un intermitted, deadly. Slocum’s 34 pieces of artillery won the admiration of all ob- serving Unionists ; but his Ilnd Division of infantry was now so ‘hemmed in’ and in danger of being cut off by the enemy that was near and not much disturbed by his artillery, that Slocum 1S63 THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLOBSVILLE 83 ordered it to retire and form line at right angles with the former line of battle, the right to rest at the brick house headquarters of Hooker. While its commander, General John AY. Geary, a capable officer, was executing this order Hooker came to him and personally commanded Geary to return to his vacated position ‘and hold it at all hazards.’ 40 Here was another cause for the serious grievance of General Slocum against the commanding general of the army who had not been issuing any orders re- cently. 22 Apparently Hooker had left Slocum and his men now for the third time, to any fate that might prevail against them after placing them at great disadvantage before the able, alert enemy, and withholding all reinforcements from the thousands of idle Union forces within easy call ! But General Slocum, realizing the full significance of his position and forsaken condition, rallied his shattered columns anew. Some were without ammunition but they kept their places with bayonets fixed. Geary’s men refilled their cartridge boxes while near the Chancellor House, and in the hurry and confusion that followed with the return according to Hooker’s orders, Geary’s orders were misunderstood by Greene and Kane’s brigades which took position north of the Chancellor House and did not accompany Geary back to their former position. Geary with his 1st Brigade, upon their return to their breastworks, found that he had left behind there the 60tli and 102nd New lffirk Regiments, which were yet in sore conflict ; and they had captured thirty prisoners and a battle flag, and the last named regiment had also captured the flag of the Twelfth Georgia Regiment. The enemy continued to make breaches in the breastworks and, in the fierce battle, more of the enemy were captured. The enemy’s fire was now of even greater volume than be- fore, he being emboldened by what appeared to him as sure victory, in the capture or total destruction of Slocum’s command. Such condition of affairs could not have happened had Slocum not been deprived by the commanding general of his rightful supports. 41 The hand to hand battle continued between the in- tervals of the enemy’s artillery enfilading fire. Such unequal contest could not be much longer continued. The order of General Slocum for his command to retire 84 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 from the field ‘was obeyed in a soldierly and masterly manner,’ 40 notwithstanding the use of the enemy’s rifles against Slocum’s cannoneers until sixty-two of their number were killed or wounded ; and not until eighty horses had been shot in harness, was the artillery retired, and then without leaving a gun. The enemy at once occupied much of the ground vacated. Major-General Slocum reformed his Xllth Corps upon the extreme Union left, which position he rapidly fortified to pro- tect the retreat of the Union army notwithstanding the sadly de- pleted ranks of his men and their greatly exhausted condition. This corps had been constantly on exhausting duty three days, most of the time on scant rations, and for the last twenty-four hours or more without any food. While Hooker was standing beside a column on the porch of his headquarters on Sunday, it was struck and broken by a cannon ball and Hooker was thrown to the floor. He arose, mounted his horse, held nearby, and joined his staff in review- ing the situation vacated by Slocum’s men. There was some additional work done by artillery in the afternoon, but little further, of importance, was effected. During Slocum’s most active work, among the bravest and hardest fighting in this or any war, several corps of Union troops were idle, and could have been readily sent as reinforcements where the Union lines were so strongly opposed by the numerous enemy. But the commanding general practically ignored Slocum and his command, as well as President Lincoln’s parting injunc- tion when visiting army headquarters before the army started on this campaign, which was to ‘Put in all your men.’ Hooker called his- corps commanders to a council of war at midnight of May 4-5. Generals Couch, Howard, Meade, and Reynolds, were present. Howard, Meade, and Reynolds, favored continuing the battle. Couch favored this decision if he could designate the point of attack, but under the conditions he voted with Sickles to retreat to the previously long-occupied camp at Falmouth. Hooker at once settled the question by declaring for such retreat. General Slocum was notified of the council, but at an hour too late for him to arrive from his distant position until the very brief session was over; but he did arrive just in time to hear General Reynolds say while passing out of the tent 1863 THE BATTLE OF CHANCE LLORSVILLE 85 ‘what was the use of calling us together at this time of night when Hooker intended to retreat anyhow.’ 22 Some time before this council of war, Hooker told General Couch, commander of the Ilnd Corps and second in general com- mand, to take charge of the army; but he continued to ignore Couch and, after giving directions himself for retreat, he crossed the river. General Slocum’s artillery was placed early to protect the army while crossing the Rappahannock at the United States Ford about one mile below the mouth of the Rapidan River. The enemy soon appeared and began to construct batteries to op- pose the crossing, but Slocum’s artillery kept them in check by slow firing on account of scarcity of ammunition. Finally the enemy succeeded in placing two batteries, one with four 21- pounder cannon, both of which batteries were soon silenced by Slocum’s guns. With his command Slocum crossed the river Tuesday night May 5th, and by comfortable marches returned to his former encampment at Stafford Court House. The Signal Service was well organized for the army’s opera- tions in this campaign on the south side of the Rappahannock. The services of T. S. C. Lowe, the chief operator of balloons at that time, was also engaged to operate two balloons to be held captive by anchored ropes. Lowe was first stationed on the north bank near Banks’ Ford, and the other balloon, in charge of E. S. Allen, was to be near General Sedgwick’s command to operate on the southeast side of Fredericksburg. Here, as elsewhere, it appears that a large proportion of what was of proper initiative, continuity, and effectiveness pertaining to the general direction of the army and its affairs at this time, should be attributed to Hooker’s Chief of Staff Major-General Daniel Butterfield. Un- fortunately Butterfield was much hampered by Hooker’s nervous demands, of a generally worrying and impracticable nature, and with manifold duties with dispatches to and from a distance, detracting from attention to duties nearby. Butterfield was also frequently sent on errands at a distance, he being near Fal- mouth at 8 p. m. May 2nd, and at 5.40 p. m. May 3rd. He was also sent to Banks’ Ford, and other places. Lowe reported to Butterfield at 9 a. m. April 28th that the balloon could not then ascend on account of the high wind ; and 86 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 the service was often so delayed, also by rain, mist, fog, and smoke which obscured even close observations. Campfires at night, however, were available often to mark position and num- ber of the enemy. Active service of the balloons began April 29th, and some little movement of the enemy into their rifle pits opposite Sedg- wick’s command below Fredericksburg, showed that the enemy was diverted from Chancellorsville. Heavy smoke was also reported in the woods about six miles up the river from Lowe’s station near Banks’ Ford. Later in the day the enemy was re- ported in line of battle in the woods opposite Fredericksburg. The same day Allen reported that Lieutenant Libby took his balloon ‘in tow’ along the river bank to opposite the south end of the city, where he saw heavy earthworks well supported by a large force. Only a few army wagons were seen. May 1st it was reported from the balloons, that the greatest activity of the enemy was towards Chancellorsville, diminishing the number at Freder- icksburg, which should have aroused Hooker to the mistake of his own inactivity. General Sedgwick received the same dis- patch, and then was an opportunity for him in the rear of the foe. The balloon at Banks’ Ford was in the air continuously this day, Lowe answering questions and reporting his observa- tions in all directions. There were also frequent communica- tions between different commands by signal service. Lowe changed to the balloon near Sedgwick, and Allen to the Balloon ‘Eagle’ near Banks’ Ford. The former suggested that it was a good time for a staff officer to ascend for personal observation. The two balloonists checked each the other in observation of im- portant points. May 2nd there was too much wind for balloon observation until afternoon, and then only from low heights. There were frequent reports, however, the Signal Service acting an important part. The principal reports of the afternoon showed withdrawal of the enemy from the Union left and its concentration with men and artillery in Slocum’s front; but Slocum was obliged to learn of this fact by his own initiative. It appears that there were no balloon observations May 3rd, and but two of little importance the 4tli ; and then like other arms of the service, the balloonists probably had to look out for themselves. 1863 CAUSES OF DEFEAT AT CHANCELLORS VILLE 87 The cause of Hooker's nervous vagaries, enervation, and general inefficiency at Chancellorsville, is not obscure, nor diffi- cult of being understood. The shattered condition of his system was the result of the ‘large quantities’ of alcoholic beverages he had continued to take ‘for a long time.’ From the evidence at the trial that followed, it was shown that he was not drunk at Chancellorsville, at least not early in the battle. General Couch, his intimate friend for a long time, states that Hooker’s trouble at this time was due to his discontinuance there of the alcoholic beverage, or beverages ; 22 and it is a truism that such habit soon unfits auy person for any position of trust, be the craving of the habit satisfied or unsatisfied. The monstrous evil of the alcoholic addiction has been sadly prevalent, in all modern wars at least, and with very sad results. “Hooker’s thorough inability to grasp the situation, and handle the conditions arising from the responsibility of so large a command, dates from Thursday noon, or at latest Friday morn- ing, May 1st. And from this time his enervation was steadily on the increase. For the defeat of the Army of the Potomac in Sunday morning’s conflict was already a settled fact, when Hooker failed at early dawn so to dispose his forces as to sus- tain Sickles and Williams [Slocum’s First Division] if over- matched, or to broach some counter maneuver to draw the eenmy’s attention to its own safety. “It is an ungracious task to heap so much blame upon any one man. But the odium of this defeat has for years been borne by those who are guiltless of the outcome of the campaign of Chancellorsville ; and the prime source of this fallacy has been Hooker’s ever-ready self exculpation by misinterpreted facts and unwarranted conclusions, while his subordinates have held their peace.” 44 General Alpheus S. Williams, commander of the 1st Division of General Slocum’s XHth Corps, closed his long official report of his division at the Battle of Chancellorsville, as follows: '“In conclusion, I beg to congratulate the major-general [Slocum] commanding the corps upon the faithful, orderly, and gallant conduct of the Xllth Corps during the twelve days’ campaign. On the marches and on the battle-field the conduct of the officers and men almost universally was that of veterans ; obedient to MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 orders, faithful to duty, and firm and unyielding under the most vigorous and overwhelming assaults of the enemy. On the march we had no stragglers and on the battle-field few skulkers. The insignia of our ‘star' [badge of the Xllth Corps] is a badge of honor of which we may all be proud. To the patient, able, and judicious efforts of the commander of the corps, I desire, in this official report, to attribute mainly the efficient and superior con- dition and conduct of this command. ’ ’ 42 The official report of General Slocum regarding Chancellors- ville, like all his papers, is direct and clear. In it he exhibits commendable pride in the good discipline of his men and in their admirable efficiency at all times, even under the great excitement of stampeding troops from other commands, and when forced, unnecessarily by conditions lie could not control, into imprac- ticable positions where, almost famished and exceedingly fatigued, they fought desperately, refusing to surrender or to leave a gun, and after sustaining loss of about thirty per cent, of their number, holding firmly to their commanding gen- eral’s orders until there was a lull in the fierce assaults of the enemy, enabling them to retire honorably, and safely, from the field. No better troops ever complimented their general by greater bravery in upholding the admirable discipline received from him. Official Report of Major-General Henry W. Slocum, U. S'. Army, commanding Twelfth Army Corps in Chancellorsville Campaign : Headquarters Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac, [Stafford Court House, Va.] May 17, 1863. General: I have the honor of submitting the report of the opera- tions of the troops under my command, from April 27 to the 6th instant: In obedience to instructions from headquarters Army of the Potomac, the Twelfth Corps marched, on April 27, from its present position [Stafford Court House, Va.] to a point near Hartwood Church. On the 28th, the march was continued, and the entire corps encamped at 4 P. M. near Kelly’s Ford. At this point I was instructed to assume command of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, and to move both corps to Germanna Bridge on the following day, and, if possible, effect a crossing at once. The Twelfth Corps commenced the march at 4 a. m. on the 29th, and was followed by the Eleventh Corps. Soon after leaving Kelly’s Ford, the advance guard met a small force of the enemy’s cavalry, and captured 1 captain and several privates within 4 miles of the ford. 1863 REPORT OF CHANCELLORSVILLE 89 During the entire march from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan, the advance guard, consisting of the Sixth New York Cavalry, Lieutenant- Colonel McViear commanding, was opposed by small bodies of cavalry, but the progress of the main body was but little delayed, and several captures were made on the march. On arriving at Germanna Ford, our crossing was opposed by a body of infantry, consisting of 125 men, who were posted in a mill and behind timber, which had been collected on the opposite side of the river for the purpose of rebuilding the bridge at this place. The Second Massachusetts and the Third Wisconsin Volunteers were at once marched in line of battle to the bank of the river, and, after an exchange of a few shots, the enemy surrendered. The passage of the river was at once effected by the cavalry, followed by Generals Ruger’s and Jackson’s bri- gades, of William ’s division, and all the artillery of the corps. While the troops were fording the river, the pioneers of the First Division were engaged in the construction of a bridge. This work, under the supervision of Generals Geary and Kane, was soon completed, and the remainder of the Twelfth Corps, with its pack trains and the entire Eleventh Corps, crossed the river on this bridge. A strong position was taken on the opposite side of the river. At daylight on the following morning, the march was resumed, Geary ’s division leading. Just before the head of the column reached the Wilder- ness, an attack was made on our right flank by a small body of cavalry and two pieces of artillery. Two regiments were sent to drive away this force, while the main body continued its march. The two corps arrived at Chancellorsville, Va., at about 2 p. m. on the 30th. The Twelfth Corps took position in the woods, on a line nearly parallel to the Plank road, with the left resting near Chancellorsville and the right near a church about 1 1-2 miles therefrom. The Eleventh Corps joined the right of the Twelfth, with its right resting on Hunting Run. The Fifth Corps, which had crossed at Ely’s Ford and arrived at Chancel- lorsville before either of the others, extended from Chancellorsville toward the United States Ford. The Major-General commanding the army [Major- General Hooker] arrived at Chancellorsville on Thursday evening, the 30th, and I then resumed the command of the Twelfth Corps. On Friday, at 11 A. M., pursuant to orders, I moved the Twelfth Corps from Chancellorsville toward Fredericksburg, on the Plank road. We met the skirmishers of the enemy about a mile from the Chancellor house ; formed in line of battle and advanced, the enemy falling back toward the heights of Fredericksburg. About 1 p. m. orders were received to return to our original line. In this movement our loss was only 10 killed and wounded. Friday night and Saturday morning were spent in strengthening our position. At 3.30 P. M. on Saturday, I received a note from General Sickles, stating that he was advancing a strong line of two brigades to ascertain whether the enemy was retreating; that General Birney reported that he had reached a brigade of the enemy in rifle-pits, posted, as he (General 90 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 Sickles) thought, to cover the retreating column; that he would attack him if he was not stronger than reports so far represented, and occupy the road by which he was retreating, and that he desired me to support his advance. This note was at once referred to the commanding general, and, with his consent, I sent nearly all the First Division, under General Wil- liams, to the support of General Birney, and at the same time advanced a portion of the Second Division, under General Geary, to feel the enemy in its front. It soon became evident that the enemy was in force in this position and strongly posted. The Second Division was, therefore, recalled, and directed to hold its original line. While this Division was retiring as ordered, the enemy attacked the extreme right of our line, which was held by the Eleventh Corps. I at once rode in that direction; but before arriving within a mile of the line met large numbers of that corps retiring in the utmost disorder. I at once dispatched two staff officers with orders to General Williams to return as rapidly as possible to his original line, hoping to make such disposition of his troops as would assist in checking the advance of the enemy. This order was promptly obeyed ; but the euemy had possessed himself of the right of the line formerly occupied by General Williams before his arrival, and, in attempting to regain his position, Colonel Mathews, of the One hundred and twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and nearly 200 of his regiment, were captured. Williams’ division at once took possession of the line formerly held by him, and formed Ruger’s and Knipe ’s brigades in line on the left of and at right angles to the Plank road leading toward the Wilderness, his right connecting with the division of General Berry, formed on the right of the Plank road. In the meantime Captain Best, chief of artillery of the Twelfth Corps, had by great exertions got thirty-four guns in position on the crest of the hill in rear of these divisions. The divisions of Generals Williams and Berry, with a well-directed tire from our artillery, checked the advance of the enemy. A portion of the troops under General Birney, on returning, took position on the crest of a hill nearly in prolongation of the line held by Geary’s division. At about 12 o’clock Saturday night, a porton of these troops advanced against the enemy directly in front of Williams ’ division. As I had not been informed that a night attack was contem- plated by our forces, I supposed, on hearing the firing, that the enemy were advancing on William’s division, and at once opened upon them with our artillery. General Williams also fired upon all lines that made their ap- pearance in his front. T have no information as to the damage suffered by our troops from our own fire, but fear that our losses must have been severe. At daybreak on Sunday, May 3, the enemy commenced the attack on Williams’ and Berry’s divisions. The troops of Birney ’s division, above mentioned as occupying the hill in prolongation of Geary’s line, soon re- tired. A battery belonging to the same division, which was with these troops, was, I am informed, captured by the enemy. I know that imme- 1863 REPORT OF CHAN CELLO RSVJLLE 91 diately after the infantry had retired from this position a battery was used on this point against Geary’s line with fearful effect, as it enfiladed his position completely. The efforts of the enemy for three hours were directed mainly against the divisions of General A. S. Williams and Berry. Repeated efforts were made by heavy columns of the enemy to break these lines, but without effect; our troops held their ground with a de- termined bravery seldom equalled. Our artillery was advantageously posted and handled with great skill and effect. At 8 A. M. I informed the commanding general of the fact that our small-arm ammunition was nearly exhausted, and that a new supply was necessary or that my troops must be relieved. As there was no ammunition on hand, a brigade of Birney’s division was ordered to relieve a portion of Williams’, which was done, but too late to prevent the advance of the enemy. Our artillery, also, which had been firing constantly for about three hours, was nearly exhausted of ammunition. At about 9 A. M. the troops on the right of my command fell back, which was soon followed by a portion of my line. The enemy at once gained a position which enabled him to use his infantry against our batteries. The artillery, however, held its position until two battery com- manders, Captain Hampton and Lieutenant Crosby, were killed beside their pieces, until 63 cannoneers w r ere killed or wounded, and until 80 horses had been shot in the harness. The batteries were then retired to a position in rear of our second line without the loss of a single piece. The infantry also retired in much better order than could reasonably have been anticipated, and formed in rear of the new line. At 9 P. M. on Sunday, I was ordered to take a position on the extreme left of the line, which was done at once, and every hour was occupied in strengthening our position until we were ordered to recross the river. We reerossed on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday evening the entire command was in its former camps. The events of the past few days have greatly increased my confidence in my command. Most of my corps marched more than 60 miles in three and a half days, over bad roads and through a severe rain-storm, the men carrying on their persons eight days’ rations (more than double the amount ever before carried by any troops in this army), besides 60 rounds of ammunition and the usual amount of clothing. On this march the com- mand crossed two rivers, a portion of it fording one of them. I have never witnessed a scene that tended more to increase my confidence in our troops, or that so strongly excited my admiration, than that presented by, two brigades of Williams’ division in fording the Rapidan River. This ford is a very difficult one at all times, the current being very rapid, the bed of the river uneven and very rocky, and the water in many places being at least 4 feet in depth. Not only the officers, but every soldier, seemed to appreciate the necessity of speedily gaining a position on the opposite bank, and they seemed to vie with each other in their eagerness to execute their orders. The fact that from nearly every regiment one or more men were 92 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 swept down the river by the rapid current, and were only saved from drowning by cavalrymen and the boatment stationed below the ford for the purpose of rescuing such as might lose their footing, did not seem in the slightest degree to dampen their ardor. The command was in camp every night at the point designated by the commanding general at an earlier hour than that named in his instructions to me. Notwithstanding the severity of the march, I have never seen so few stragglers. The conduct of the officers and men in each engagement with the enemy was equally gratifying. The Second Division on Sunday held its line until forced to retire by the appearance of the enemy in its rear. The First Division maintained its position until long after every round of ammunition had been exhausted. I cannot designate any particular regiment as worthy of special com- mendation without doing injustice to others, nor can I, with justice, name any of my officers as having particularly distinguished themselves where all did so well. Every one of the general officers discharged his full duty. I am greatly indebted to General Pleasonton [cavalry leader] for his services on our march from Kelly’s Ford to Chancellorsville. He was with me constantly, and greatly assisted me not only by his knowledge of the country, but his experience in conducting a march of this nature. The members of my staff — Lieut. Col. H. C. Rodgers, Maj. E. W. Guindon, Capts. William W. Moseley and William G. Tracy — each did his duty to my entire satisfaction, in the performance of which the latter was very severely wounded. I am also indebted to Capt. C. F. Morse, provost- martial ; Capts. F. W. Butler and I. Thic-kstun, signal officers, and Lieut. E. Diven, aide-de-camp to General [Nathaniel J.] Jackson, and G. L. Birney, acting assistant quartermaster, who acted during all engagements as volunteer aides. To other members of my staff — Lieut. Col. S. H. Sturdevant, com- missary of subsistence; Lieut. Col. W. R. Hopkins, and Surg. J. McNulty — - I am greatly indebted for the able manner in which they discharged the duties of- their several departments. I have to lament the loss of many valuable officers, all of whom were killed in the discharge of their duties. Among them was Colonel Stainrook, One hundred and ninth Pennsylvania; Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, Third Wis- consin; Major Chapman, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania; Captain Hampton, Hamton ’s battery, and Lieutenant Crosby, commanding Battery F, Fourth U. S. Artillery. For further details, I beg leave to refer you to the accompanying ■ reports of my division, brigade and regimental commanders. I annex a sketch showing the positions occupied by my command on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of May, and inclose a list of the killed, wounded and missing, from which it appears that the loss of the corps was 2,883. [A revised statement shows the loss at 2,822], Of those reported missing, a large number have been brought in to day, wounded. Many others are 1863 THE CAMPAIGN OF GETTYSBURG 93 known to have been captured in attempting to reach their original lines on Saturday night, after the rout of the Eleventh Corps. My command consists of but two small divisions, the Third (Whipple’s) Division having been temporarily detached for special service by virtue of Special Orders, No. 303, Headquarters Army of the Potomac, and having never been permitted to rejoin my corps. My losses, as stated above, were, therefore, about 30 per cent, of my entire effective force. I am, general, very respectively, your obedient servant, H. W. Slocum, Major-General Commanding. Brig. Gen. S. Williams, A. A. G., Army of the Potomac.™ CHAPTER XVII Beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign There was much for General Slocum to do after the return of his command to Stafford Court House. The picket duty was resumed throughout its long lines. The work of replenishing his depleted ranks, with new recruits or chance companies and regi- ments from the near defenses of Washington, was at once entered upon with all of its many details too numerous to even mention here. He was insistent upon knowing by personal inspection that all of these details received the attention his orders re- quired. The labor of proper adjustments, and the bringing of new troops of the different arms to the high standard of disci- pline required, gave no time for listlessness among the officers or men. Dress parades were frequent, and valuable as conducive to proper pride and self respect, individually and collectively. General Slocum possessed the faculties necessary to secure a very high standard of excellence among his men in all soldierly qualities and, at the same time, to secure and retain their respect and confidence. The larger part of the Army of the Potomac remained en- camped at Falmouth, Virginia, again watching the enemy across the Rappahannock, sending out detachments of cavalry to checkmate the enemy’s cavalry and other detachments, and changing, often strengthening, pickets and guards in different places throughout the wide extent of country under its possible range. 94 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 The strength of General Slocum’s Xll'th Corps June 1, 1863, was reported briefly as follows: Officers, 530; infantry, 9,401; wagon horses, 897 ; mules, 1,480 ; army wagons, 365 ; two-horse wagons, 12 ; ambulances, 94 ; cavalry horses, 102 ; artillery horses, 397. Total number of animals, 2,876. It became evident the latter part of May that the enemy had about completed preparations for a movement from Fred- ericksburg; and early in June some of his larger commands moved up the south side of the river. There were evidences of another invasion of Maryland. At 10.15 p. m. June 3rd, there was issued by Hooker, yet commanding general, to each corps commander by orderly or telegraph according to distance, a special order to have reveille at daylight the next morning, and each command to stand at arms for half an hour after, the horses of each battery harnessed, and everything in readiness for any movement that might be ordered. The commands were to be then dismissed and directed to be ready for further orders. The 6th of June Generals Slocum and Howard were called on to each send detachments of 500 infantry — one or two regi- ments according to completeness — with pack-mules all prepared to be absent several days on special service, the destination and details of which were not given to the detachments. In compli- ance with this call General Slocum sent the Second Massachu- setts and Third Wisconsin regiments to report to General Adel- bert Ames at Spotted Tavern for service with General Alfred Pleasonton’s Cavalry Corps, which was about to operate against Confederate J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry. The engagements with the enemy at Beverly Ford of the Rappahannock, Fleetwood, and Brandy Station, resulted June 9th in which the enemy was crippled and the object of the expedition was attained. Slocum’s guards replaced those of Howard at the bridges and railway near Stafford Court House June 12th. The 13th Slocum moved his corps by way of Dumfries and across the Oc- coquan Creek. General Hooker also started toward Washington this day. The 14th and 15tli the hospital tents and other camp equipment near Slocum at Potomac Creek and Bottoms were, under his orders, taken to the proper places for protection pre- 1S63 THE CAMPAIGN OF GETTYSBURG 95 paratory to continuing the movement of liis corps toward the enemy at 3 o’clock a. m. June 17th. Keeping the Union army between Washington and the enemy was yet imperative; and only detachments were moved until the enemy was well away from Fredericksburg. General Slocum was on the advance line and was closely followed by the Reserve Artillery. June 18th his march again began at 3.30 a. m. with course to Vienna, Freedom Hill, and Leesburg. He met difficulty in crossing Goose Creek, the water being high and the ford muddy and in bad condition generally. Slocum was to hold Leesburg, open communication with fords of the Potomac within prudent distance, and hold them also against the enemy. Bridges were needed; and he was ap- prised of the sending of trains, including those conveying bridges. He was also apprised of the movements of different commands of Union, and Confederate, troops, all for mutual understanding and support. The importance of great alertness and facility of communication to guard against sudden attacks of the enemy in all forms including guerrillas, and the avoidance of clashings between different bodies of Union troops, necessi- tated the establishment of telegraph lines, signal stations, and courier lines, in order that all his troops could readily communi- cate with his headquarters, and he with other headquarters. The details of such varied and general service Avas particularly fatiguing. The enemy’s ea\mlry was this day, June 18th, at Point of Rocks destroying railway trains on the north side of the Potomac about equidistant betAA'een Leesburg beloAv and Harper’s Ferry aboA^e. General Howard with his Kith Corps, noAv at Goose Creek, was ordered to be subject to the command of General Slocum; also other Union troops now on the north side of the Potomac. The commanding general issued orders June 18th forbidding editors of neAvspapers to publish the position of his headquarters, and the position of Union troops unless engaged in battle. 45 June 19th was a A r ery busy day with General Slocum, notwith- standing his loss of sleep the tAvo previous nights. Reports to the commanding general’s headquarters regarding the fords of the Potomac aboA^e and beloAv, AA T ith repetition of reasons why certain ones were not desirable: receiving and transmitting reports re- 96 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 garding the presence, or absence at certain places, of the enemy, and the positions of the Union troops, while keeping oversight of the work of his own corps, all contributed much to his fatigue; but he reported his position and command sufficient for local defense, including the river fords in hand, but not for all fords inquired about, particularly against large forces of guerrillas and others of the enemy. He recommended a bridge at Edwards’ Ferry for convenience, and as being a good defensive position. Three soldiers of General Williams’ 1st Division deserted. They were pursued, caught, and at once tried before a military court according to the rules of war. This court sentenced them to be shot at noon. The condemned men were engaged during the forenoon in writing to their friends. Two were apparently penitent. Their division was paraded as witnesses of the execu- tion, and the entire corps, excepting those soldiers necessarily on picket and guard duties, was formed in hollow square in a large field near the encampment. All officers were present. An army wagon containing three coffins, followed by a closed ambulance containing the prisoners, came upon the field. The boxes were placed beside the open graves and the prisoners were seated upon them. A chaplain made an impressive prayer, and the twenty- four executioners did the work of justice, while the unmerciful enemy was not far away. The division, which these men de- serted in its time of need, then marched by their fallen com- rades; and the corps resumed its duties. 46 Two signal officers reported June '20th to General Slocum for duty; and they proved themselves efficient and valuable aids. Communication was now opened by flag signals between General Slocum’s headquarters and those of General Reynolds’ 1st Corps then at Guilford Station; with General Howard’s XI th Corps then at Trappe Rock ; also by signal telegraph with Mary- land at Poolesville, Sugarloaf Mountain, Point of Rocks, and Maryland Heights. These signal officers also made reconnois- sances under Slocum’s orders. Part of the Xllth Corps was now reported as occupying three redoubts constructed by the enemy, one of which pro- tected the approaches to Edwards’ Ferry. The position was a strong one, and Slocum was yet improving it. The large com- mand of the Confederate General Ewell, with whom General 1863 THE CAMPAIGN OF GETTYSBURG 97 Slocum had later to contend, was reported as near Winchester. The engineers reported regarding progress in the bridges across the Potomac River and Goose Creek. Upon receiving inquiry June 21st from army headquarters regarding the enemy at great distance, General Slocum reported that he had no information, and that he had no cavalry for reconnoissance. He was thereupon informed that General Pleas- onton had been directed to send him a regiment of cavalry for use in scouting the country between Bull Run and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The engineers reported the completion this day of the Edwards’ Ferry bridge across the Potomac, it being 1,340 feet in length. A contraband (freed slave) was brought before the General and he reported the whereabouts of several Confederate commands including that of Ewell. A deserter from Longstreet’s corps was also brought in and he confirmed the negro’s report that Longstreet’s and other corps of the enemy were in the Blue Ridge Mountain Gaps, and Ewell in Maryland. General Slocum further reported from Leesburg to army head- quarters that with more artillery lie could keep secure all the fords of the Potomac below Edwards’ Ferry. The next day Hooker suggested to Slocum that he could get batteries from Howard’s corps if artillery was needed before cavalry was obtained to escort the artillery reserves to him. Further reports to Slocum June 23rd confirmed the pres- ence of the enemy, Longstreet’s strong command at least, near Snicker’s Gap, which yet showed Slocum’s position an advance one. Upon the advancement of the enemy toward Maryland, further inquiries came to Slocum about midnight regarding Potomac fords between the enemy and Washington ; and he was prepared to report satisfactorily at once. Another regiment of cavalry was received June 24th, which enabled Slocum to ascertain regarding the movements of the enemy in the Shenandoah Valley as well as east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was also further reinforced by another brigade of infantry, which increased his recent accessions three thousand men or more. General Slocum’s headquarters now increased in importance as a center for receiving and transmitting reports, orders, and communications generally. General Howard’s Xlth Corps was 98 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 moved forward to cooperate according to Slocum’s directions. June 25th General Reynolds’ 1st Corps, Sickles’ Illrd Corps, and the Xlth Corps, were advanced toward Harper’s Ferry. Slocum was able this day to declare certain rumors regarding location and strength of the enemy to be exaggerations. Orders continued to be received for the movement of different Union corps. Having detached sufficient forces June 26th, to hold Lees- burg and the bridges and fords until the arrival of General Mead’s Vth Corps, General Slocum marched his XHth Corps from Leesburg, Virginia, at 3 o’clock a. m., crossed the Potomac by the upper bridge at Edwards’ Ferry, turned to the left up the river, crossed the Monocacy River near its mouth, and pro- ceeded up the Potomac to Trammelstown near Point of Rocks. Most of his detachments that had been left behind were soon relieved and overtook the main body at this place. General Slocum’s march the 27th was continued to Knox- ville, Maryland, and he there received at night, directions from the commanding general to be ready to march light at 4 o’clock next morning with ambulances, but with small if any trains; that Colonel Charles R. Lowell, Jr., then at Poolesville, would report to him for service with a regiment of cavalry; also two brigades of troops from General William PI. French’s command to join Slocum at 6 a. m., at Harper’s Ferry; and that further communication would be sent in the night. This dispatch from General Hooker bore date June 27th, 8 p. m. Soon after its reading, another dispatch came from the same source counter- manding the previous one, and directing that Colonel Lowell report to General French at Harper’s Ferry; and that General Slocum with his XHth Corps should march to army headquar- ters, at Frederick, Maryland. These were the last orders, command or countermand, issued by Major-General Joseph Hooker as commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. His plan was to place General Slocum in command of a force sufficient to effectually keep between the Confederate army, then in Maryland, and its base of supplies, harassing its rear during its advancement, and to hold its retreat when checked by other parts of the Union army on its front and flank, in order that the entire invading enemy might be captured. 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 99 The authorities in Washington, who kept informed of every im- portant movement, objected to the removal of the garrison from Harper’s Ferry and, as Hooker thought, undertook to hamper him in other ways ; and lie resigned the command of the army. President Lincoln immediately accepted his resignation and ordered Hooker to report at once to Washington, thus taking him away from the army at once. CHAPTER XVIII Beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg The authorities at Washington were as alert regarding their commanding generals as they were regarding the movements of the enemy. Hooker had done well in putting the Army of the Potomac in good condition for the field, as he had done before the Chancellorsville Campaign. But his superiors began to fear, if not to observe, erratic actions that excited anew their remem- brance of the sad results at Chancellorsville. They knew the anxiety of the corps commanders ; and it could not have been otherwise than that Hooker at times had grave apprehensions of himself. In this new campaign he had apparently been very considerate toward General Slocum and, at the turning point of the campaign, placed him in command of a force, and in posi- tion, commensurate with his deserts and where he could be largely independent of Hooker’s commands or want of proper commands. Slocum was determined not to be again entrapped by Hooker, as he was at Chancellorsville, and he rejoiced at Hooker’s resignation, which was undoubtedly providential. The Washington authorities were fully prepared for the change of commanding general and a courier was at once has- tened to Frederick to place Major-General George G. Meade of the Vth Corps in full command of the Army of the Potomac; and the next morning, June 28th, Meade issued his first general order accordingly. General Sloc-um arrived at Frederick with his command about 2 p. M. of the 28th and, to aid in guarding this town during the night against any possible dash of the enemy’s cavalry he extended his command during the afternoon from General Rey- nolds’ 1st Corps on the Middletown Road to Zimmerman’s by 100 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 Ballinger’s Creek, and there connected with General Hancock’s Ilnd Corps. Marching orders against the enemy were issued that evening for 1 a. m. June 29th. At that hour Slocum proceeded, passed through Ceresville, Walkersville, and Woodsborough, to Taney - town, Maryland. The Reserve Artillery was to precede Slocum and to encamp for the night between Middleburg and Taney- town. General Henry H. Lockwood was to report his command to Genera] Slocum and march with him. Slocum had early re- ported to Meade that there were a great number of soldiers from different corps lying about the streets of Frederick in a very drunken condition when he marched his command through the town ; and he suggested the necessity of a cavalry force being sent back to bring them to their commands. The Xllth Corps continued its former northeasterly course June 30th. Slocum’s cavalry had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry, which did not materially delay his march to Littlestown and Westminster, Pennsylvania. This day he passed General Sickles and his Illrd Corps. General Slocum kept close study of the country as a necessary rule of war; and now, being near strong commands of the enemy, he was specially alert to avoid being attacked unawares, night or day in his troops or trains bearing supplies. The evening of this day he received a dispatch from Meade, requesting him to take command of the Yth Corps in addition to his present command. General Slocum’s course of march July 1st was changed to a north-westerly direction to the village of Two Taverns, situated about five miles southeast of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The circular issued this day from the commanding general’s headquarters, informed the generals of the different corps that, if the enemy assumed the offensive and attacked he should be held in check long enough to withdraw wagon trains, then the Union force should withdraw to a line of battle in the general direction of Pipe Creek, a tributary of the Monocacy River, and a few miles south of the Pennsylvania State line. In this case General John F. Reynolds was to take command of the Union Left to be composed of Reynolds’ 1st Corps, Sickles’ Illrd Corps, and Howard’s Xlth Corps; and General Slocum was to assume command of the Union Right Wing to be composed of Meade’s 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 101 Ytli Coi’ps now under General George Sykes, and of General John S. Sedgwick’s Vltli Corps, all in addition to Slocum's own Xlltli Corps. General W. S. Hancock with the Ilncl Corps was to be held as reserve. The region of Pipe Creek was surveyed by the Army Engineers for the battle-field, embracing a line of battle about twenty-five miles in extent, and the points of vantage were chosen for the Union forces. A very important party, however, the enemy, was not consulted regarding the Pipe Creek field, and the battle rather accidentally, or incidentally, ensued at Gettysburg many miles distant. Had the enemy desired a general battle with the Army of the Potomac he would have sought it in Virginia nearer his base of supplies and before it was recruited after Chancellorsville. The enemy’s desire was, rather, to levy tribute on one or more wealthy northern cities sufficient to gain recognition and greater favors from European nations, as well as prestige nearer home ; and. probably, he was no more anxious for a general battle than was Meade. The morning and afternoon of July 1st, Slocum received dispatches from Meade informing him of the enemy’s gathering at Gettysburg, of their engagement there with part of the Left Wing, and referring him to the circular before mentioned, for his guidance. But the enemy, like the widely scattered Union forces, was drawn part by part into the Battle of Gettysburg by the desire to help the comrades already there engaged. The skirmishing began about nine or ten o’clock a. m., the Confederates thinking that they sighted militia which could soon be scattered, as had been the case with them for several days. But here they first met part of General Reynolds’ scattered corps. Unfortunately for the Union force engaged, General Reynolds, an active, strong officer, was killed early in the attack. His loss resulted in the confusion of his outnumbered men from his, and their own, great loss. This was a bad beginning for the Union cause. General Howard arrived at Gettysburg late in the morning, and at 12.15 p. m. his Xlth Corps began to arrive, and the rear arrived at about 1.30 p. m. More of the enemy arriving about the same time, a second engagement began about 2.00 p M 33 General Howard, justly alarmed, had sent to Slocum for 102 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 help. Slocum’s leading division, the llnd, arrived at Two Tav- erns at 11 a. m., and about the time of the arrival of his 1st Divi- sion Howard’s call was delivered. This call did not give suffi- cient reason for Slocum to answer it immediately as desired inas- much as Howard, as well as Slocum, had received a copy of the circular directing retreat on Pipe Creek. Slocum was bound by the same order not to bring on a general engagement elsewhere. He was occupying the post where stationed by his commanding officer, and like the faithful, obedient commander that he was, he remained at his post of duty. Furthermore he had not heard guns. A farmer of the vicinity now came from the direction of Gettysburg and reported severe fighting there. This report, in connection with Howard’s call for help, caused the command of Attention to at once pass from Slocum to his corps, which was ready in a few minutes to take up the march. They started, and soon met orders from Meade, by way of Hancock, to proceed to Gettysburg. Slocum responded promptly, 22 his command being on the march at 2 p. m. Slocum also dispatched to Hanover for the Ylth Corps, and to the Yth Corps which was yet nearer, to proceed at once to Gettysburg. The day was hot, the road was filled with dust, and the sol- diers, worn by continued long marches, were showing their fatigue by their irregular steps and carriage. Upon hearing the guns of the second engagement at Gettysburg, Slocum passed along the weary ranks ‘ ‘ saying in his cheery, pleasant way, press on men, as rapidly as you can. There is fighting in front of us. Press on and follow me. And at once that tired and drooping column straightened up as if a thrill of new life and energy had been put into it, and hurrying on it soon came upon the field of battle. ” 47 General Slocum made the best time of all in arriving for the rescue. 4S The Second Division of the ‘Steadfast Slo- cum’ 49 arrived at Gettysburg and Avas in position for battle at Little Round Top at five o’clock p. m., its line extending toward the hill on the left. 50 The 1st Division of Slocum’s men on arriv- ing at Rock Creek under General A. S. Williams, turned to the right and moved toward Wolf Hill for the purpose of flanking the enemy’s left; but Slocum, on learning that the Union forces had retreated to Cemetery Ridge, ordered General Williams to the Baltimore Pike across Rock Creek and, Slocum then Avent to 104 MAJOR-GENERAL 8 LOCUM 1803 the Union headquarters at the Cemetery where he, by right of seniority, assumed command of all the Union forces then at Gettysburg, which included the shattered 1st and Xltli Corps, with the afternoon’s reinforcements of the Illrd Corps under Sickles, and his own Xllth Corps, ‘ thus making secure the Union position, which before offered an easy prey to the Confeder- ates. ’ 33 General 0. 0. Howard of the Xltli Corps, who was in a high state of perturbation, received Slocum as a deliverer. After many years had elapsed he said in a public address that: ’It would require the entire history of Gettysburg to fairly portray Slocum’s part there. After securing the Cemetery on that eventful night he and I slept side by side at the Cemetery Gate. Together we there met Meade who arrived about three o’clock in the morning of the 2nd of July.’ 52 The Union troops rested on their guns during the night. Reinforcements of the enemy arrived in the evening in large numbers but they made no attack. The Union general command- ing, Meade, arrived at Cemetery Ridge early in the morning from Taneytown, Maryland. Upon viewing the situation by daylight, Thursday morning July 2nd, General Meade commenced forming his line on the extreme Union right for the purpose of descending to the plain below Culp’s Hill, one of the most important parts of the region, and there attacking the enemy’s left. General Slocum was chosen to make this attack. After careful examination of this region in all of its parts Slocum thought Meade’s plan impracticable and unwise, and so reported to him. General Gouverneur K. Warren, Chief Engineer of the army, was directed to consider this ques- tion and, after his careful examination, he agreed with Slocum’s report. 33 Slocum was then stationed on Culp ’s Hill in command of the entire Right Wing, which place he at once intrenched and made secure, plenty of timber and rock being at hand. Rock Creek at the base of the Hill separated Slocum’s pickets from those of the enemy. The Vth Corps, also under Slocum’s command, was but a few miles aAvav, having marched well into the night. It began to arrive about 7 a. m. and two divisions were stationed as reserve. 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 105 In the afternoon the enemy opened his cannon on all parts of the Union line, that upon the left being at first most severe, and Slocum’s Yth Corps was sent to that part of the field. The enemy’s artillery fire at the Union center was mainly to prevent reinforcements being moved along the line, but it was not fully effective for that purpose. Howard’s Xlth Corps, shattered by the vigorous onslaughts of the enemy the first day of the battle, appeared to be resting quietly as the enemy’s bombardment nearly ceased. At this time General Early, of Ewell’s corps, in front of the Union right, decided to take action by sending two brigades about dark up the narrow ravine leading to the stone wall behind which part of Howard’s men were posted; and who were aroused before all the enemy had time to climb over the wall. A sharp contest drove the enemy back, the troops of Slocum on Culp’s Hill help- ing. Slocum’s artillery had more than held its own against that of the enemy until called away by Meade ; also his skirmishing- line of small arms in aid of Howard’s men. The general commanding the Union army had become so fully absorbed on the Left Wing as to ignore the Right Wing- further than to use it as a source of supply of reinforcements for the Left. He called for General Slocum’s entire XHth Corps, all of the troops remaining on the Right, to be sent to the Left. This order was met by Slocum’s statement that it could not be spared. Meade, however, could see only the Left, and was im- portunate. Slocum sent his First Division to answer the call. This part of Slocum’s men drove the enemy from the woods at Little Round Top and recaptured three pieces of artillery for- merly captured by the enemy before the arrival of Slocum’s men. Meade again insisted upon more men from Slocum’s com- mand. Again Slocum hesitated, as Meade called for the aban- donment of a most important position to the enemy; and the generals of his second division united with Slocum in a state- ment to Meade that the strong lines of the enemy seen iii the morning were yet opposing them, and the enemy’s advance on them was imminent. Meade, in his excitement at the Left, again called for the remaining part of Slocum’s XHth Corps, and Slocum warmly requested that at least a division should remain to attempt to hold the position; but Meade was obstinate 106 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 and would consent to leave but a brigade when he already had more troops massed on the left than he could there use. General Meade’s reluctant consent to leave but one small brigade of Slocum’s men to protect the Right Wing, barely saved the Army of the Potomac from being overwhelmed in an irre- trievable disaster. 25 Slocum’s name and ability were equal, how- ever, to victory both at the Right Wing, also at the Left Wing where Meade passed all of his time. With the small number of troops remaining to him on the Right, Slocum rose equal to the emergency confronting him, and confronting the Union as well. He was well seconded by his able and obedient brigade general, George S. Greene. The force remaining at Culp’s Hill now consisted of only five regiments of infantry composed of only 1,350 men. These regiments were : The 60th New York under Colonel Abel Godard] the 78th New York, Colonel Herbert von Hammerstein ; 102nd New York, Colo- nel Lewis R. Stegman ; 137th New York, Colonel David Ireland; and the 149th New York, Colonel Henry A. Barnum. These regi- ments will be again recorded later in this book as among the best and most efficient of soldiers. With this small body of troops General Slocum attempted to occupy the vacancy in the breastworks, left by their departing comrades, by extending their line to the right one man deep with intervals between each one. Before this movement could be ac- complished his skirmishers were driven in by the oncoming enemy. Major-General Edward Johnson’s division of Lieu- tenant-General R. S. Ewell’s II nd Confederate Corps, was the nearest to General Slocum ’s front and, when he saw the depleted condition of Slocum’s line, he was sent with his division of four brigades to capture Slocum’s one small brigade, not half as large as each one of Johnson’s brigades. When the enemy was within easy range of Slocum’s men each one, as directed, chose his man. The volleys that followed in rapid succession, withered the enemy’s lines, each one causing him to seek refuge in the woods in his rear to reform. The enemy thus advanced repeatedly to dislodge or capture Slocum’s men and to gain their breastworks, but without success, the strong works being a great protection to the assailed and the means of direful disaster to the assailants. The Confederate 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 107 General George H. Steuart’s brigade at last overlapped the right of Slocum’s wing, and Steuart led his men into the breastworks there vacated by Slocum’s men when sent to Meade’s support. This gave Steuai’t’s men opportunity to fire on the flank of Colo- nel Ireland’s regiment, and this regiment was withdrawn to the rear under cover of the darkness now come; and it reformed in line at right angle to its former line, thus facing the enemy. At this time small reinforcements of 350 men from the 1st, and 175 from the Xltli Corps arrived, and they, with the darkness of the night now pervading made yet darker by the smoke of the guns, enabled Slocum’s men to hold their position during the night. This sturdy defense of Culp’s Hill by General George S. Green's brigade of Slocum’s men, was one of the most remark- able achievements at the Battle of Gettysburg. The 60th New York Regiment captured two flags. After discharging their guns at close quarters, thus thinning and confusing the nearby enemy, several Union soldiers jumped over the breastworks and took several of the flag-bearing enemy prisoners with their flags. Colonel David Ireland’s 137th New York Regiment lost 137 of its number, viz. : 10 killed including four oflicers ; 87 wounded, and 10 captured or missing. It suffered more than any other of Slocum’s regiments. The Second Maryland Confederate Infantry advanced fur- ther on Culp ’s Hill than any other of the combatting enemy ; and this point is now marked by a monument. The Confederate General Johnson left part of his division to hold the position won. and with strong reconnoitering force he moved cautiously up the valley of the run in rear of Culp’s Hill, going even as far as the Baltimore Pike, within 100 yai’ds of the Union reserve artillery, ammunition and other supply trains, and on the line of retreat of the Union army, as well as in its rear. Even Meade’s headquarters were but little distant from them. The stillness at this point was alarming, and John- son remarked to his staff, ‘this is too easy; I believe the Yanks have set a trap for us. ’ They hastily retraced their steps to their comrades in Slocum’s breastworks, where they arrived about midnight, and there passed the night. 48 51 Notwithstanding the fact that the Confederates had much of their own way July 1st, the first day of the Battle of Gettvs- 108 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 burg, and that a few of their men broke through the Union line the afternoon of July 3rd, in their gallant but hopeless charge on the center, the advance of the Confederates on Culp’s Hill against, and on the right flank of, the Union Right Wing the evening of July 2nd, advancing as they did to the rear of the Union army unmolested by the grace of the Union commanding general Meade, and then sleeping calmly during the night in the Meade-vacated Union breastworks, we must declare General Johnson’s position as the real ‘high tide’ or ‘high water mark’ of the Confederates’ opportunity in the Battle of Gettysburg. The great difference between the commanding generals at Gettysburg appears to have been, with Lee not to improve his chances of success by getting away from his line of retreat; while Meade trusted his trains, ammunition, and his highly treasured line of retreat to the care of General Slocum and then forcefully took Slocum ’s men to another part of the field leaving the ap- proach to his treasures open to the enemy. Lieutenant-General R. S. Ewell’s Corps was composed largely of Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson’s men. Every care- ful reader of the full story of the Civil War knows what General Jackson would have been doing with them that afternoon and evening had his life been spared at Chancellorsville. One of his marvelous detours around Culp’s Hill would have cut off Meade’s carefully planned retreat, captured his supply trains, and would have routed, if not captured, the Union army. 22 48 CHAPTER XIX Council op War. Confederates Defeated The commanding general, Meade, the evening of the second day’s battle, called his corps commanders to a council of war at his head quarters. Twelve generals were present including Meade, his chief of staff Butterfield, Warren the chief engineer who was wounded and slept during the meeting, and A. S. Wil- liams of Slocum’s XHth Corps. General Sickles of the Illrd Corps, who was wounded and unable to be present, was repre- sented by his division commander Brigadier-General Birney. Hancock and Brigadier-General John Gibbon represented the Ilnd Corps. 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 109 General Meade presented three cpiestions for settlement. The first related to retiring the Union army from Gettysburg to a place nearer the base of supplies; the second related to the ad- visability of attacking the enemy or awaiting his attack ; and the third regarding the time of attack, if attack was decided upon. These questions evoked considerable discussion. None was satis- fied with the condition of affairs, few favored retiring from Gettysburg, and all who spoke first favored delay. As in all professional councils the senior in rank, General Slocum in this instance, was the last one called on for his opinion. With evi- dent displeasure from having been unnecessarily deprived of the most of the soldiers of his command to the great detriment of his Right Wing, as well as thereby the endangering of the entire army, General Slocum ? s reply was at once terse and emphatically “Stay and Fight It Out.” This injunction was, however, quickly followed by what was really a demand that his Xllth Corps, at least, be at once restored to him that he might at day- break the next morning attack the enemy opposing his front, drive him back, and at least preserve the full and proper lines of his Wing. The rough minutes in part of this historic council have been preserved, and formulated as follows, namely : Minutes of Council, July 2nd, i863: Page 1, Questions asked : 1. Under existing circumstances is it advisable for this army to remain in its present position, or to retire to another nearer its base of supplies ’ 2. It being determined to remain in present position, shall the army attack or wait the attack of the enemy? 3. If we wait attack, how long? Page 2, Replies: Gibbon: 1. Correct position of the army, but would not retreat. 2. In no condition to attack, in his opinion. 3. Until he moves. Williams: 1. Stay. 2. Wait attack. 3. One day. Birney: Same as General Williams. Sykes: Same as General Williams. Newton: 1. Correct position of the army, but would not retreat. 2. By all means not attack. 3. If we wait it will give them a chance to cut our line. Page 3 : Howard: 1. Remain. 2. Wait attack until 4 P. M. to-morrow. 3. If don ’t attack, attack them. Hancock: 1. Rectify position without moving so as to give up field. no MAJOR-GENERA L SLOCUM 1863 2. Not attack unless our communications are cut. 3. Can’t wait long; can’t be idle. Sedgrwick: 1. Remain [2.] and wait attack. [3.] At least one day. Slocum: Stay and fight it out. [On the back, of the first page of the sheet] : Slocum, stay and fight it out. Newton thinks it a bad position; Han- cock puzzled about practicability of retiring; thinks by holding on, invit- ing, to mass forces, and attack. Howard favor of not retiring. Birney don ’t know. Third Corps used up and not in good condition to fight. Sedgwick, doubtful whether we ought to attack. Effective strength about 9,000, 12,500, 9,000, 6,000, 8,500, 6,000, 7,000. Total, 58,000. Colonel George Meade deposited the original sheets of the Minutes of this Council of War with the Pennsylvania Histori- cal Society, Philadelphia. 22 50 General Slocum’s emphatic stand, and Ins desire to take the initiative, infused like spirit in the other commanders and won their hearty approval, whereupon the council closed. 50 Slocum at once set to work to recall the parts of his Xlltli Corps that had been called to the suport of the Union left, and, at mid- night they were positioned to cover the line of the Baltimore Pike, his leading column coming on soon after the Confederate General Johnson’s reconnoitering force retraced its steps; but neither knew of the other’s proximity, Slocum having had no men with which to picket the ground, and thinking that Johnson remained in the breastworks with his men. Slocum’s artillery arm was also carefully strengthened and positioned, and all arms had definite orders from him to assault the enemy as soon as he could be seen in the morning. The enemy opposing Slocum was also strongly reinforced during the night by Smith’s brigade from General Early’s divi- sion, and Daniel’s, and O’Neal’s brigades from Rodes’ division, of Ewell’s Corps, all numbering 12,000 men or more, strong, a far larger force than Slocum’s. Ewell also held several brigades in reserve. Thus opposed by a far superior force, Slocum did not await the enemy’s convenience, but opened the battle at early dawn; and the roar of his heavy guns aroused all the other parts of both armies which remained quiet as though on tiptoe of antici- pation ; Lee, apparently with full confidence in Ewell to take care of his left ; and Meade, apparently with equal confidence in Slo- 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 111 cum whether he had sufficient troops, and support, or not. The battle that ensued was not only the longest of all engagements at Gettysburg, seven hours duration, but it displayed some of the most brilliant fighting of the entire war. Slocum’s artillery was the more advantageously placed, and gave the enemy a destruc- tive cross fire which threw him into confusion and compelled him to seek shelter in the woods for reforming his lines. When he again approached, his ranks were met by Slocum’s men who had also been reformed to meet them with small arms’ cross fire as well as by artillery. But the enemy was composed of similar veterans who had been tutored by a like disciplinarian, and they were possessed with the same determination to make favorable record, and they fought accordingly. About nine o’clock in the morning the Second Maryland Confederate Infantry, which had held the highest point attained in the night, made a bold and desperate attempt to storm a part of the summit and get lodgment in Slocum’s commanding posi- tion; but it was quickly repulsed with the loss of its Colonel and half of its men. This ambitious regiment was opposed by the First Maryland Regiment of Slocum ’s men, neighbors against neighbors. A half hour later Ruger’s division of Slocum’s troops was swung around to the right taking the enemy in flank and ‘rolling’ his forces up the opposing ridge in grand form. Now was the looked for opportunity by Slocum’s men of General Geary’s division. They sprang forward with loud cheers, impet- uously assailed the enemy remaining in the Union breastworks to their right, drove him back and, supported by the 1st Division which constructed the works, this part of the enemy that did not meet death or capture, hastily retreated to the woods. At 11 o’clock Slocum was again in full possession of the lines of the Right Wing of the Army, and the enemy was more distant from his front than they were the day before. Of the losses in Slocum’s battle, those of the enemy were reported as 2,015 in Johnson’s command, and those of the three additional brigades of other divisions of Ewell’s Corps were not definitely repoi’ted. Slocum’s losses were 1,156. More than 500 prisoners were captured from the enemy. Slocum did not use all of his command at Gettysburg in this battle. Parts of the Vth and Vltli Corps were not em- ] 12 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1863 ployed. As soon as liis front regiments were short of ammuni- tion they were relieved by others, passed to the rear where they gathered fresh supply, cleaned their guns, and were then re- turned to the front, their cheers ringing clear and loud. Many cases of heroism could be enumerated as occurring on both sides, the Union and the Confederate, for Americans were battling against Americans, and each side had to reckon with no weak foe. Much has been written about the contests at Gettysburg on the Union Left and Center ; but comparatively little has been written about the contests on the Union Right — of the most important work done by Slocum there, and of the opportunities and possibilities of the enemy there the afternoon and first part of the night of July 2nd from the unwitting, arbitrary action of General Meade in depriving the Right Wing of its sadly needed defenders. General Oliver 0. Howard, after time for mature thought said : ‘ ‘ The most impressive incident of the great battle of Gettysburg was Slocum’s own battle. I was awakened from my bed in the Cemetery the morning of the 3rd of July at day- break by the startling roar of Slocum’s guns. Slocum’s resolute insistence the afternoon of July 2nd and his organized work and battle of the ensuing morning, in my judgment prevented Meade’s losing the battle of Gettysburg. It was a grand judg- ment and action of Slocum’s; a step all-important and essential to victory.” 52 General George S. Greene who so gallantly stood by General Slocum’s commands and personally inspired his brave brigade with Slocum ’s ne ’er give up tenacity, afterwards wrote : “To the discernment of General Slocum who saw the danger to which the army would be exposed by the movement ordered by Meade to deplete the Right Wing the afternoon of July 2nd, and who took the responsibility of modifying the orders which lie had re- ceived from Meade, is due the honor of having saved the army from a great and perhaps fatal disaster.” 22 Between 10 and 11 o’clock a. m. July 3rd, “everything looked favorable with General Slocum’s command on the right,” wrote General Henry J. Hunt, Chief of Artillery, in reporting his in- spection of the battle-field, “and I crossed over to Cemetery Ridge to see what might be going on at other points. Here a magnificent display greeted my eyes. Our whole front for two 1863 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 113 miles Avas covered by [the enemy’s] batteries already in line or going into position. They stretched, apparently in one unbroken mass, from opposite the toAvn on our right to the Peach Orchard, Avhich bounded the A 7 ieAV to the left, the ridges of which were planted thick AA 7 ith cannon. Never before had such a sight been witnessed on this continent, and rarely, if ever, abroad. What did it mean? It might possibly be to hold that line while its infantry was sent to aid EAvell [to break through Slocum’s Eight Wing] or to guard against a counter-stroke from us ; but it most probably meant an assault or our center, to be preceded by a cannonade in order to crush our battei’ies and shake our in- fantry; at least to cause us to exhaust our ammunition in reply, so that the assaulting troops might pass in good condition over the half mile of open ground which was beyond our effective musketry fire.” 22 Orders were issued along the Union front, beginning with Slocum’s Right Wing, to withhold fire, for the conser\ 7 ing of ammunition until it was developed Avhere best results could be obtained. The enemy’s 138 cannon soon opened along his entire line “the severest artillery fire that I had eA 7 er Avitnessed” wrote General Slocum in his Official Report. This great effort of the enemy caused Slocum concern regarding his men who were obliged to seek sheltered places as much as practicable from the great flight of solid shot and shell. Following the cannonading the enemy assaulted the Union left center, and Slocum moved his 1st Division of the Xllth Corps to the support of that part of the field. This Avas the last great effort of the enemy, and he was roundly beaten ; after Avhich comparative quiet prevailed during the night. The enemy kept strong picket and front lines before Slo- cum’s position during this night of July 3rd; but early next morning it Avas reported that he Avas withdrawing. Slocum’s line Avas at once advanced, and it occupied the enemy’s Rock Creek defenses AA'ithout opposition. General Slocum also ordered forAA-arcl General Ruger’s brigade of his 1st Division of the Xllth Corps, and accompanied it in person in a reconnoissance of the country for several miles to the eastward, and returning to the northward and westward they passed through the Village 8 2 D O O i-l in 35 a 55 05 < * X Z Cx5 X X X Z a 6 o *"3 < 8 G=< o £> H <1 H (0 Z ◄ 3 H <0 W o* w Ed 33 H j>» •3 J-H o3 £ ■*-0 :» join Howard. 300 General Slocum’s men had marched but a short distance from their night’s encampment when their advance guard met a strong skirmish line of the enemy ’s cavalry which was inclined to dispute the further progress of Slocum’s men, most of whom had seen much experience as foreagers, and were among those misnamed as ‘Sherman’s Bummers’ who had generally made short work of the enemy’s cavalry desiring to keep between them and needed food supplies. But now their experience appealed to the better part of their and their officers ’ valor ; and all of Gen- eral Hobart’s first brigade was rapidly brought forward, de- ployed, and pushed against the enemy. But slow progress was made, however, with hard lighting. At 1 0 a. m. the Union advance line had 1 progressed but five miles, and the opposition increased. General Slocum directed General Kilpatrick to reconnoiter again with his cavalry, and to determine more fully the numbers and positions of the enemy; but his report was not more compre- hensive than before. Slocum now sent Major Eugene W. Guindon of his staff to tell Gen. Sherman that he had been advancing, but slowly, and with great opposition. Colonel George P. Buell’s second brigade was then ordered to make a detour to the left, and attack the enemy’s line in the flank; but in the meantime Hobart’s right flank was being attacked by the overlapping enemy, and Lieutenant Colonel Miles’s third brigade was de- ployed against him there. All of General Carlin’s division was now in line of battle, and confronting strong lines of the enemy all along. Both the right and left of the Union line were ordered to assail the enemy and, with severe fighting they gained pos- session of several hundred yards more of the enemy’s ground. Upon order they made another bold dash and found themselves 1865 BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE 277 “all unprepared against a line of earth-works manned with in- fantry and strengthened with artillery. The enemy opened upon them such a destructive fire that they were compelled to fall back with great loss. Many men and officers and two regimental commanders had fallen, and the whole line was severely shat- tered; but very important information had been gained. Ob- servations and the reports of prisoners captured left little reason to doubt that General Joseph E. Johnston’s whole army was in position in our immediate front, and the persistent fighting of the enemy’s cavalry had been intended to give the main body of the enemy time for ample preparation.” The morning was now gone. General Slocum had been closely studying the situation, and lie was now in close conversation with his commander of this (the XIYtli) corps in the woods to the left of the road when a deserter from the enemy ap- proached them in charge of a member of General Carlin’s staff. This deserter from the enemy was an intersting specimen of the ‘galvanized Yankee’ class, men of the Union forces who had been captured by the enemy and who, rather than suffer an uncertain prison existence, had enlisted in the enemy’s army. He was anxious to tell his story, and it was full of interest to General Slocum. He said that General Joseph E. Johnston had gathered an army of over thirty thousand men, and that this force was strongly intrenched immediately in front of Slocum’s advance line. That Johnston, Hardee, Cheatham, and Hoke, had just ridden among their men, and that all were in the highest degree of expectation of capturing all of Sherman’s forces scattered as they were along different roads, they ‘could easily crush him in detail;’ and that Slocum’s XIYtli Corps was now in their power, and that they ‘would now take in those two light divisions [immediately opposing them] out of the wet.’ All doubt of this man’s sincerity and truthfulness was dispelled by his recognition as John T. Williams by a member of General Slocum’s staff 'and as a comrade soldier who enlisted with him at Syracuse, New York. Further evidence of Williams’ truthfulness soon came in and the confirmatory report of Colonel Henry G. Litchfield of General J. C. Davis’s staff and assistant inspector-general of the XIYth Corps. Th's officer had been inspecting the lines of Slocum’s two divisions, and making observations and gathering 278 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 data regarding the enemy and, in answer to Slocum’s inquiry he replied: “Well, general, I find a great deal more than Dib- brell ’s cavalry : I find infantry entrenched along our whole front, and enough of them to give us all the amusement we want for the rest of the day.” General Robinson's small brigade of Slocum’s XXtli Corps had now arrived, making General Slocum’s forces now at hand less than ten thousand men and one battery of artillery, which were opposing an enemy composed of between thirty and forty thousand troops who had chosen their oavu ground, strengthened it with earth-works and artillery, and in choice positions. These forces Avere fully prepared and confident of success, while Slocum had been deceived by his ranking confidant and friend ! He Avas now fully undeceived, and he continued his energetic Avork to make the most Augorous defensive fighting possible to him. We will noAV let General Alexander C. McClurg, chief of General J. C. Davis’s staff, tell of the battle that folloAved, as he witnessed it: “Every precaution Avas taken, and the men all along our line Avere in the act of throAving up hasty field-works, when the attack [of the enemy] came' upon us like a whirlwind. I had gone to the rear, by direction of General Slocum, to order General Williams, commanding the XXtli Corpus, to push his troops to the front Avith all possible speed. I found him less than a mile in the rear, whither he had ridden far in advance of his troops. Receiving the order, he galloped back to his com- mand, the greater part of which was still seA r eral miles to the rear and clogged in almost impassable roads ; and I again started for the front, AA r liere the roar of musketry and artillery Avas con- tinuous. Almost immediately I met masses of men slowly and doggedly falling back along the road, and through the fields and open AA’oods on the left of the road. They were retreating, and evidently with good cause ; but there Avas nothing of the panic and rout so often seen on battle-fields earlier in the Avar. They were retreating but they Avere not demoralized. Minie-balls were whizzing in eA r ery direction, although I w r as then far from the front line as I had left it only a short time before. Pushing on through these retreating men, and down the road, I met tAvo pieces of artillery — a section of the 19th Indiana battery — and was dashing past it, Avhen the lieutenant in command called out 1865 AGAINST LAST CHANCE OF THE ENEMY 279 •For Heaven’s sake don’t go down there! I am the last man of the command. Everything is gone in front of you. The lieu- tenant commanding my battery and most of the men and horses are killed, and four guns are captured. These two guns are all we have left.’ Checking my horse, I saw the rebel regiments in front in full view, stretching through the fields to the left as far as the eye could reach, advancing rapidly, and firing as they came. Everything seemed hopeless on our center and left ; but in the swampy woods on the right of the road our line seemed still to be holding its position. An overwhelming force had struck Carlin’s entire division and Robinson’s brigade, and was driving them off the field. The onward sweep of the rebel lines was like the waves of the ocean, resistless. Nothing in Carlin’s thin and attenuated line, decimated as it had already been, could stand before it. It had been placed in position on the theory of the morning, that it was driving back a division of cavalry; but in view of the fact that it was fighting an army, its position was utterly untenable. As it fell back, General Carlin himself, un- willing to leave the field, was cut off from his troops, and nar- rowly escaped death or capture. General Morgan’s division on the right, had also been heavily assailed ; but it was better situated, and not being at this time outflanked, it held its posi- tion. One of Morgan’s brigades — that of General Fearing — being in reserve, had not been engaged. When the left first began to give way, General Davis sent Colonel Litchfield to Fear- ing with instructions to hold his brigade in readiness to march in any direction. A few moments later, when the left was falling back and the rebel line was sweeping after them in hot pursuit, General Davis came plunging through the swamp on his fiery white mare toward the reserve. ‘Where is that brigade, Litch- field?’ ‘Here it is sir, ready to march.’ It was in columns of regiments, faced to the front. Ordering it swung round to the left, General Davis shouted, ‘Advance upon their flank, Fearing? Deploy as you go ! Strike them wherever you find them ! Give them the best you’ve got, and we’ll whip them yet !’ All this was uttered with an emphasis and fire known only upon the field of battle. The men caught up the closing words, and shouted back, ‘Hurrah for old Jeff! We’ll whip ’em vet!’ as they swung off through the woods at a rattling pace. Officers and men, from 280 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 General Fearing down, were alike inspired with the spirit of their commander and ‘We’ll whip them yet!’ might well be con- sidered their battle-cry. They struck the successful enemy with resistless impetuosity, and were quickly engaged in a desper- ate conflict. Upon this movement, in all probability, turned the fortunes of the day. It was the right thing, done at the right time. Seeing at once that, as Fearing advanced his right flank must in turn become exposed, General Davis sent to General Slocum begging for another brigade to move in upon Fearing ’s right and support him. Fortunately, Coggswell’s fine brigade of the XXtli Corps arrived not long after upon the field, and it was ordered to report to General Davis for that purpose. Not often does an officer, coming upon the field with tired troops, (for his men had marched all the night previous) display the alacrity which General Coggswell showed on receiving his orders from General Davis to move forward into that roaring abyss of musketry firing. It was splendidly done. The men of these two brigades — Fearing’s and Coggswell’s — seemed to divine that upon them had devolved the desperate honor of stemming the tide of defeat, and turning it into victory; and magnificently they responded. Finer spirit and enthusiasm could not be shown by the troops ; and it is no wonder that, after a fierce and bloody contest, the flushed and victorious troops of the enemy, thus taken in their flank, gave way, and in their turn fell back in con- fusion. So stunned and bewildered were they by this sudden and unexpected attack that their whole line withdrew from all the ground they had gained, and apparently re-entered their works. And now there was a inll along the whole front, which gave invaluable time for the re-formation of our shattered lines. It was late in the afternoon, and if the ground could be held until night-fall the right wing would undoubtedly be within supporting distance by the next morning at daylight .” 100 1865 BATTLE OF BEX TON VILLE 281 CHAPTER jXLYl Conquers the Last Chance of the Confederacy “Rapidly the work of reorganization and re-formation was carried on. Morgan’s line, on the right of the road, was yet in- tact, and its left needed only to be slightly refused. Carlin’s troops — veterans as they were, and used to all the vicissitudes of the battle-field — were easily rallied in a new line, considerably to the rear of their former position, with the left sharply refused, and supported by such troops of the XXth Corps as had reached the front. The center of the new line rested upon a slight eleva- tion, with open fields in front, across which the enemy must ad- vance to a second attack. Here several batteries of artillery were massed with a certainty of doing good service. To the surprise of every one, a full hour was allowed by the enemy for these new dispositions ; and it was about five o ’clock before their long line was again seen emerging from the pine woods and swampy thickets in front and began sweeping across the open fields. As soon as they appeared our artillery opened upon them with most destructive effect. Still they pressed gallantly on, but only to be met with a well-delivered fire from our infantry, securely post- ed behind hastily improvised field-works, such as our troops were then well skilled in throwing up in a brief time, and of which they had dearly learned the value. Attack after attack was gallantly met and repulsed, and the golden opportunity of the enemy upon our left was lost. Meanwhile, the heat of the con- flict was raging in front of and around Morgan’s division, in the low swampy woods to the front and on the right of the road. This Union division had filed into position between one and two o’clock in the day with two brigades — General John G. Mitchell’s and General Vandervere ’s- — in line of battle. When, a little later, the troops upon the left had been swept away, the third brigade, Fearing ’s, had been faced to the left, as we have seen and, supported later by Coggswell, had made their gallant and effective charge upon the advancing enemy, checking him and forcing him back to his works. In this charge many had fallen, and the young and dashing Brigadier Fearing had been severely wounded and disabled. Retiring from the field he left his brigade, shattered and still heavily pressed, to the command 282 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 of the gallant officer Lieutenant-Colonel James W. Langley of the 125th Illinois Regiment. After their charge the brigades of Coggswell and Langley held position in a gap which existed between the divisions of Carlin and Morgan. But the gap was so large that these two decimated commands could but partially fill it. Morgan’s whole division was now so stretched out over such an extent of ground that all his troops were in the front line, and he had no men left for a second line or a reserve. As all old troops were wont to do at that time when in the presence of the enemy, they had at once fallen to building such field-works as could be hastily thrown up with rails and light timber. As one of their officers expressed it, they had often attacked works, but they had rarely had the pleasure of fighting behind them themselves, and they rather enjoyed the prospect. They were there, and they meant to stay. Their skirmishers were heavily engaged from the time they took position, and they found the enemy in front in force and shielded by Avell-constructed works. They were fighting more or less severely until about half-past four o’clock in the afternoon, when the enemy attempted to carry their position by assault. The charge was desperate and persistent, and the roar of musketry, as it rolled up from the low wood, was incessant. For half an hour it continued, and the commander of the corps, General Davis, sat uneasily on his horse a short distance in the rear and listened to it. He could do nothing but let these men fight it out. Not a maneuver could be made, and not a regiment could be sent to their assistance; even his escort and headquarters guard were in the line. Still that terrible and continuous roar came back tli rough the woods, and the smoke obscured everything in front. No ground seemed to be yielded, and not a straggler could be seen. After a while a slight cessation was noticed in the firing; and by direction of General Davis I rode forward toward the line to ascertain de- finitely how matters stood. The ground was swampy, and here and there were openings through the trees, while generally bushes and thickets obstructed the view. I had gone but a few rods when I caught a glimpse through a vista, obliquely to the left, of a column of men moving to the right straight across my path and directly in the rear of our line, though out of sight' of it. They looked like rebels and my sharp-sighted orderly, Batter- 1865 BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE 283 son, said they were ‘rebs;' but the view was obscured by smoke, and the idea that the enemy could be in that position was pre- posterous. I hesitated but a moment, and pressed on. An hun- dred yards further through the bushes, and I broke out sud- denly into a large, nearly circular, open space containing perhaps half an acre. Here the view was not a cheerful one. On the opposite side of the opening, at perhaps twenty-five yards’ distance, was a body of unmistakable rebel troops, marching by the flank in column of fours toward the right. Beyond the column, under a wide-spreading tree, dismounted, stood a group of Confederate officers, whose appearance and uniforms indicated high rank. As I broke through the bushes, and my horse flound- ered in the mire for the ground was very soft , I was greeted with cheers and shouts of ‘come down off that horse, Yank!’ Two or three years earlier I should have quietly accepted the invitation ; but we had all grown used to dangers, and preferred a little risk to the prospect of a Confederate prison. I gathered up my plunging horse, and struck my spurs vigorously into his sides turning him sharply to the right and rear just in time to become entangled with my orderly who came through the bushes behind and on the right of me. Both horses went down together ; and perhaps it is well they did, for just then my hilarious friends across the way, finding their summons not likely to be obeyed, sent a volley of minie-balls recklessly about our heads, and I saw the little twigs and leaves which were cut off by the bullets flutter down around us as we, having extricated our horses, dis- appeared through the bushes. Neither man nor horse was hit. As usual in their haste, our friends [the enemy] had fired high. I rode about a hundred yards to the right and tried again to reach our line, but again encountered the enemy. This time I was more cautious, however. A third attempt a little further to the right carried me beyond their column. In my ride I had met General Morgan. He was now thoroughly informed of his perilous situation. Mitchell’s brigade had already discovered the intruders in their rear, who at first were thought by them to be reinforcements. At this time the division had successfully resisted the persistent attacks from the front, and General Yandevere's brigade, leaping over their works, had pursued the retreating rebels into their own works again. In this pursuit the 284 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 lltli Michigan regiment had captured the colors of the 40th North Carolina regiment. Fortunately, all was now quiet in front, and General Morgan quickly got his men to the reverse of their own works. In other words they were now in front of their works, and prepared to sustain an attack from their former rear. Hardee’s corps, or a considerable part of it, had passed through the opening in the line on the left, and Hardee and his staff were the group of officers I had seen under the tree su- perintending the movement, or so I was informed the next day by a captive Confederate captain. The enemy attacked vig- orously but instead of taking Morgan by surprise, he found him ready. Again the struggle was sharp and bloody, but brief. Nothing could stand that day before the veterans of the old second division. Truly they were enjoying the novelty of fight- ing behind works. Hardee was repulsed with severe loss. The men again leaped over their own works, and charged to the rear taking many prisoners. The 14tli Michigan captured the battle- flag of the 54tli Virginia in the rear of their works just as, a short time before, they had captured the North Carolina flag in front. An incident like this where troops resist in quick succes- sion attacks from front and rear, is exceptional in the annals of any battle ; and yet it was repeated several times in the eventful history of Mitchell’s and Vandervere’s brigades that afternoon. Not once, but several times between four and half past six o’clock, they scaled their works and met and repelled the charges of the enemy from their rear. It is impossible to accord too high ad- miration to troops who, knowing themselves without connection or support on their right or left flanks, and overwhelmingly at- tacked in front and in rear, who could preserve all their steadi- ness and generally good soldierly qualities, fighting now in the rear and noAV in the front of their own works, and could suc- cessfully hold their position during several hours of almost con- tinuous fighting. This, these two brigades had done. They had not lost a foot of ground, and had contributed their full share on that trying field to wrest victory from seemingly inevitable de- feat. At length daylight faded, and gradually the firing along the whole line ceased. Never w r as coming darkness more wel- come to wearied soldiers. Every one knew that before morning the troops of the Eight Wing would have marched to our assist- 1865 AGAINST LAST CHANCE OF CONFEDERACY 285 ance, and that General Johnston’s great effort was handsomely foiled.” 100 The foregoing description of the remarkably good work of this part of General Slocum’s command, was but the result of true American patriots who had been carefully trained and disciplined for the best possible work of this high character by General Slocum well supported by his line of admirable sub- ordinate officers. Into what irregular and detached positions the troops upon the field had been thrown by the desperate wrestle 286 MAJOR -GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 of the afternoon is shown by another dramatic incident which oc- curred soon after night-fall, namely: ‘'General Mitchell, tired and worn out, had borowed a rubber blanket and was just com- fortably settled on the ground, when an officer came and waked him, saying, ‘Here is a staff officer with a message for you.’ He sat up and was confronted by a bright young fellow who said, Colonel Hardee presents his compliments to you, and asks that you will apprise your line that he is forming in your front to charge the Yankee lines on your left.’ General Mitchell sprang to his feet and asked him to repeat his message, which he did. The General inquired what Colonel Hardee it was ; and was told Colonel Hardee of the 23rd Georgia, commanding a brigade in Hoke’s division. General Mitchell asked the young gentleman if he had had his supper and being told that he had not he was politely sent in charge of a staff officer to the officer in charge of the prisoners in the rear. General Mitchell then drew in his entire picket line, and gave orders that at the tap of a drum his whole line should fire one volley, and that the picket line should then resume its position without further orders. By the time this was arranged the marching and even the talking of the Confederate line in front could be distinctly heard. One loud tap was given on a bass drum, and one volley was fired low; and General Mitchell says, ‘I never expect to hear again such a volume of mingled cries, groans, screams, and curses. The next morning there was displayed in front of our works, among the dead, a line of new Enfield rifles and knapsacks, almost as straight as if laid out for a Sunday morning inspection. When we reached Raleigh a week or two later, some of my officers went to see Colonel Hardee who was there in hospital wounded. He told them that his men had been in the fortification in and around Wilmington during the whole war ; that they had never before been in battle, and had not participated in this fight during the day. They were brought out for this night attack, and were determined to go right over the Yankee lines ; and, breathing fire, they had vowed to take no prisoners. But out of the stillness of that dark night came that tremendous volley right in their faces and flank. ‘The fools’- — these were Colonel Hardee’s words — ‘thought they were discovered and surrounded. They ran, and I have do doubt they are still running, for we have never been 1865 DEFEATS THE HIGHLY ELATED ENEMY 287 able to get ten of them together since their flight.’ No further attempt, it is needless to say, was made to disturb the Yankee lines during the night. Considering the great disaster which was imminent, and which was averted, it is not too much to claim for this engagement that it was one of the most decisive of the lesser battles of the war. When Johnston, with skillful strat- egy, and with 7 onderful celerity and secrecy, massed his scat- tered troops near the little hamlet of Bentonville, and placed them unknown to his great adversary in a strong position di- rectly across the road upon which two ‘light divisions’ as he ex- pressed it, were marching, he proposed to himself nothing less than to sweep these two divisions from the field in the first furi- ous onset; and then, hurrying on with flushed and victorious troops to attack, in deep column and undeployed, the two divi- sions of the XXth Corps which, through heavy and miry roads, would be hastening to the assistance of their comrades. These divisions he expectedto crush easily, while General Sherman and the Right Wing were many miles from the field. Then, with half his army destroyed, with supplies exhausted, and far from any base, he believed. General Sherman and his Right AVing only, would no longer be a match for his elated and eager troops. Never before, in all the long struggle, had fortune and circumstances so united to favor him, and never before had hope shone so brightly. If Sherman’s army were destroyed, the Confederacy would be inspired with new spirit, and ultimate success would be at last probable. Doubtless such dreams as these flitted through General Johnston’s mind on that Sunday morning, when his well-laid plans seemed so sure of execution. With what a sad and heavy heart he turned at night from the hard-fought field, re- alizing that the last great opportunity was lost, we can only im- agine. As the sun went down that night it undoubtedly carried with it in the mind of General Johnston, at least, the last hopes of the Southern Confederacy.” 300 288 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 CHAPTER XLVII Battle of Bentonville Concluded. Official Report After the dose of the Avar Captain Joseph B. Foraker— a lieutenant in the signal service, and the youngest member of General Slocum’s staff at the time of the Battle of Bentonville, and who in later years was during different terms Governor of Ohio, and United States Senator — seeing some misstatements re- garding this battle, wrote to General Slocum substantially as follows: Firing between the men on the skirmish-line com- menced before Sherman left us on the morning of the 19th of March, but he asserted that there was nothing but cavalry in our front. The firing was continued steadily, and it constantly in- creased in volume. Finally there was a halt in the column. General Slocum expressed anxiety and sent Major W. G. Tracy and J. B. Foraker of his staff to the front to ascertain definitely the condition of affairs. At the edge of open fields next to the Avoods in which the barricades were, they found the halted Union skirmish line. After a feAv minutes it again moved forAvard, and the enemy partly reserved their fire until it got half-Avay or more across the field. This induced Tracv and Foraker to think there Avas but little danger and they followed closely until the enemy again began a spirited firing “in the midst of which Ave were sorry to find ourselves. I remember Ave hardly knew Avhat to do — Ave could do no good by going on and none by remaining. To be killed under such circumstances Avould look like a waste of raw material, Ave thought. But the trouble Avas to get out. We didn’t AA 7 ant to turn back, as Ave thought that would not look well. While Ave were thus hesitating a nearly spent ball struck Tracy on the leg, giving him a slight but painful wound. Almost at the same moment our skirmishers charged and drove the rebels. I rode back Avitli Tracy only a very short distance, Avhen Ave met General Slocum hurrying to the front. I found that Slocum had been already informed of the enemy’s strong intrenclnnent, and had sent orders for everybody to hurry to the front. I remember, too, that a little later Major Mosely, I think, though it may have been some other member of General Slocum’s staff, suggested that Slocum ought to have the advance division charge and drive the enemy out of the way ; that it could 1865 BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE 289 not be possible that there was much force ahead of us, and that if we waited for the others to come up we should lose a whole day, and if it should turn out, that there was nothing to justify such caution it would look bad for the Left Wing. To this General Slo- cum replied patiently but in an earnest manner, 'I can afford to be charged with being dilatory or over cautious, but I cannot afford the responsibility of having ray command crushed and captured as another command was at Ball’s Bluff.’ These re- marks made a lasting imperssion on me. It excited my confi- dence and admiration, and then was the first moment that I began to feel that there was really serious work before us. . General Slocum handed me a written message to take to General Sherman. The last words he spoke to me as I started were, ‘Ride well to the right so as to keep clear of the enemy’s left flank, and don’t spare horse-flesh.’ I reached General Sher- man just about sundown. He was on the left side of the road on a sloping hillside, where, as I understood, he had halted only a few minutes before for the night. His staff w r as about him. I think General Howard was there, but I do not now remember seeing him — but on the hillside twenty yards farther up Logan was lying on a blanket. Sherman saw me approaching and walked briskly toward me, took Slocum’s message, tore it open, read it. and called out ‘John Logan! where is Logan?’ as though fully aroused to his duty from deep reverie. Just then Logan jumped up and started toward us. He too walked briskly but before ho had reached us Sherman had informed him of the sit- uation and ordered him to turn General Hazen and his command back and have him report to General Slocum. It was not yet dark when I rode away carrying an answer to General Slocum’s message. It was after midnight when I got back, the ride back being so much longer in point of time because the road was full of troops, it was dark, and my ‘ horse-flesh ’ was used up.” 22 The afternoon of this day, March 19th, occurred some of the most stubborn fighting experienced at any time during the war, against great odds in numbers, and first behind the meager breastworks and then in front of them both in pursuing the enemy and, again, when assailed in the rear, as portrayed on a previous page. Fortunate it was for General Slocum’s small and nearly exhausted force when the clouds from the sky joined the 19 290 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 smoke of battle and the shadows of the trees thus preventing a seventh charge of the enemy’s strong force which was then withdrawn for more desultory skirmishing. General Slocum’s men bivouacked for the night at their advanced line after strengthening here and there their shattered breastworks. Two of General Geary’s brigades of Slocum’s XXth Corps arrived on the field at daybreak next morning, March 20th, and they relieved the most fatigued and depleted brigades which then retired from the front. Other changes of the troops conduced to the rest of those who had been in the most vigilant places dur- ing the night, and were nearly exhausted. A heavy rain was falling, but Slocum early ordered a strong line of skirmishers to advance against the enemy’s line, which offered strong re- sistance, but was driven back. General Morgan was directed to advance against the enemy on the right which he did and, finding his lines changed, he changed his own line accordingly and, also, to accommodate the XVth Corps of Sherman’s Right Wing which was now approach- ing the enemy’s left flank. Upon reconnoitering the situation in that quarter by General Howard, he reported to Generals Sherman and Slocum that the enemy woiild soon retreat. This had become a foregone conclusion as the enemy was now sur- rounded on three sides by the combined Union forces, and Mill Creek was in his rear. Johnston’s army was badly crippled in the battle with Gen- eral Slocum; and his chief object now was to get away as soon and as easily as practicable. Ilis plans had been altogether dif- ferent from those for retreat, and some time was required for this change. The Union forces continued to skirmish and harass him during the day of the 21st, and the next morning, March 22nd, the enemy’s defensive works were found deserted. General Sherman had been in command two days against the shattered enemy and, again, he had let Johnston escape. General Sherman’s reports regarding the condition of affairs preceding this Battle of Bentonville, and his action regarding it, are very much mixed. Sherman accompanied Slocum from Fayetteville, and continually overshadowed his characteristic caution with his own belief that there would be no further trou- ble with the enemy on the south side of the Neuse River. Sher- 1865 BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE 291 man wrote in his report that, “All signs induced me to believe that the enemy would not attempt to strike us in the flank while in motion. I therefore directed Howard to move his Right Wing by the new Goldsborough Road, which goes by way of Falling Creek Church. I also left Slocum and joined Howard’s column.” 101 On the next page of this report, after merely men- tioning Slocum’s successful battle against his (Sherman’s) old enemies in Tennessee (the Confederate Generals Robert F. Hoke, William J. Hardee, Benjamin F. Cheatham, and Joseph E. Johns- ton and their near forty thousand men) and mentioning their full expectation of defeating Slocum’s scattered forces first and then the other parts of Sherman’s army one by one, Sherman continues his report in a chuckling mood, and confusing state- ment, namely: “But he [Johnston] reckoned without his host. I had expected just such a^ movement all the way from Fayette- ville, and was prepared for it.” 101 In this connection see H. V. Boynton’s book on Sherman’s Memoirs in the Light of the Record. 96 Later, Sherman expressed regrets that he did not earnestly attempt a capture of Johnston’s army. 116 General Sherman minimized Slocum’s battle of March 19th, devoting but a few Avords to it in his Memoirs Avhile he devoted long space to his events of the next tAvo days in letting John- ston’s army escape. The facts of the losses of the first day speak loudly for Slocum ’s small force, namely : Out of ten thousand men actually engaged Avith Slocum, his loss during that memorable day Avas 1,200; and his enemy, General John- ston in his narratBe of the battle admits his loss as 1,915. In all the fighting of the next two 1 days, Sherman’s loss in both his armies was but little over 400; and Johnston states his loss as 428. These figures should have been enough for Sherman; but he would neither believe Johnston nor his own officers. Again he Avrote in his Memoirs: “I doubt if, after the first attack on Carlin’s dhdsion [of Slocum’s men] the fighting was as desper- ate as described in Johnston’s narrative;” and the full reports of his officers had been passed by him as correct ! A prominent officer of General Sherman’s staff Avho saAv much of General Slocum during this great march Avrote of him at the time of this battle in part as folloAvs: “The Battle of Bentomdlle Avas General Slocum’s field. While his name is 292 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 most honorably associated with almost every great battle of this war from Bull Run to Gettysburg in the East, and since his advent in the Southwest, the bloody combat at Bentonville was peculiarly his own affair, out of which he has come with fresh laurels. The unexpected attack, the fierce assaults by far supe- rior numbers, several times repeated, called for all the resources of a brave, cool, experienced soldier; but Slocum was more than equal to the necessities of the hour, for he was victorious, and his success justified General Sherman’s selection of him as the commander of the Left Wing of the army. General Slocum en- joys the reputation of a thoroughly accomplished soldier. It is probably owing to his complete mastery of all the details of his profession, his keen sense of order and discipline, and his energetic and magnetic manner, that the XXtli Corps, which he commanded for a long time, has gained its splendid reputation. He is a native of New York, and is as proud of his State as his State is proud of him. His personal appearance is prepossessing Long, wavy brown hair, brushed back behind his ears, sparkling brown eyes, a heavy brown mustache, a height above the medium, and a manner which inspires faith and confidence, make up a most attractive figure. He seems to know precisely what he has to do, and to be perfectly sure that he can do it. It is very cer- tain that he is one of those rare men who has made few if any mistakes .” 115 Another prominent writer of the time reads, that : ‘ ‘ Like Hood’s at Atlanta the onset of Johnston on Slocum at Benton- ville was one of the most desperate of the war. In successive waves, one column followed another, determined to carry Slo- cum’s position at any sacrifice. Mowed down by Slocum’s ter- rible fire, the first column reeled backward and broke, when the second column came on in the same headlong desperation. The whole fury of the attack spent itself at this time in less than an hour, and yet in that time the enemy made six successive as- saults. The last charge broke for a moment Slocum’s line; but it recovered its position, and the rebel army, baffled and dis- couraged, fell back to its entrenchments. So close and murder- ous was the combat, that many of the enemy’s dead lay within the Union lines, and even around the headquarters of the gen- erals. For the time it lasted, it was one of the most sanguinary 1865 DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTER 293 battles of tlie war, and the only serious one fought after leaving Atlanta. No better fighting was seen during the war then at Bentonville, on the 19th of March, for Johnston must have had double the number of Slocum, and a less able general would have been overborne . . . General Slocum is a man of fine personal appearance, being above the medium height, and pos- sessing a manner that at once attracts the beholder. His long brown wavy hair is pushed back behind his ears, which gives additional force to the frank, open expression of his counten- ance. His eyes are brown and sparkle with light, while his whole expression inspires confidence and trust, and gives him a sort of magnetic power over his troops. Probably there is no gen- eral in the service who is more thoroughly master of all the de- tails of his profession than he. A lover of order and a strict dis- ciplinarian, he brought the XXth Corps to a state of perfec- tion that has given it a national reputation. It was of vital im- portance to Sherman in the novel campaigns he was entering upon, to have commanders over the two wings of his army that never made mistakes, and it was on this account he brought Slo- cum from Vicksburg to be his left hand in the long march he contemplated. Probably no commander ever leaned with such implicit confidence on three subordinates as Sherman did on Thomas, Howard and Slocum. Slocum’s character cannot be better summed up than in the language of an eminent judge, who in a private letter never designed to be made public, says: ‘He was always equal to the task set before him, and never was known to fail in any enterprise which he undertook. He is cer- tainly one of the most persevering and indefatigable men I ever knew, and was always esteemed lucky, while it was plain to me that his successes were the result of calculation and the most indomitable energy. While he is modest and unobtrusive, he possesses genius of the highest order, and a well balanced mind ; always cool and ready to baffle difficulties, whether small or gre'at ; for he has inexhaustible mental resources in an emergency, and can bring them to bear with wonderful power in the right direc- tion and at the proper moment to insure success. I consider him qualified for the highest stations in the gift of the Government ; but his proverbial modesty will probably keep him back from reaching any of them. And he seems to have no ambition in that 294 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 direction.” 111 . . . These estimates of General Slocum’s character have been proved correct by many witnesses ; also his modesty and non-assertiveness in civil affairs were later shown at different times when the highest offices were open to him, as will be shown later in this book. The reader understands from the preceding pages that the Campaign of the Carolinas was far more difficult and hazardous than was the Atlanta-Savannah Campaign. Naturally the coun- try averaged more flat and swampy in the Carolinas, the season was more wet and cold, and the enemy was far more numerous to be guarded against and contended with. General Sherman well knew that General Joseph E. John- ston, his enemy in Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, had been called to North Carolina to gather the scattered commands of Hardee, Hood, Wheeler, Hoke, Cheatham, Hampton and other officers, and that they had been gradually closing in around him most of his way through these States; and he rightly estimated their strength as near forty thousand men. After crossing the line into North Carolina evidences of their nearness became more and more apparent, as Sherman’s course became more apparent to them. Sherman was a profuse letter writer, as evidenced by the Official Records. He passed his time in Fayetteville in writ- ing of his enemies. In one letter he wrote: ‘‘I can whip Joe Johnston provided he does not catch one of my corps in flank, and I will see that the army marches hence to Goldsborough in compact form.” But this resolve was soon forgotten, and the enemy’s plans to break his army into pieces and thus to capture all, went rapidly on. In justice to Slocum’s characteristically circumspect attention to his army, of its surroundings, and of its good work in strategy and in all details, we must class Sherman’s strong efforts to throw Slocum off his guard while on their way from Fayetteville to the place of their parting in proximity to the fully combined forces of the enemy, as the worst feature and act of this nerve-shattered, erratic, but great commander. The enemy retreated during the night of March 21st to- ward Smithfield, leaving many of his dead unburied and of his wounded and prisoners in the possession of the Unionists. He was followed but two miles when Sherman recalled the troops to march to Cox’s Bridge, the former objective point of Slocum’s 1865 MEETING FRIENDS AT GOLDSBORO 295 army at tlie Neuse River, where his XIVth Corps arrived in the evening after inarching eleven miles. His XXth Corps marched by way of Troublefield’s store and encamped for the night at the crossroads near Falling Creek. The next morning this corps followed the XIVth. across the x-iver and it encamped at Beaver Creek. Late at night the wagon trains of the XXth Corps wei'e moved toward Goldsborongli, and they were followed in the early morning by the troops. Here General Sherman’s armies were passed under review, Thursday March 23rd, of their generals, namely: General Slocum’s Army of Georgia, General Howai'd’s Army of the Tennessee, and General John M. Schofield’s Army of the Ohio which had recently been transferred from the West to Wilmington, North Carolina, xvhence communication with Sher- man was opened by way of Fayettexulle. As General Slocum ’s men were approaching Goldsborough General Schofield paraded his XXIIIrd Corps in their honor, as they had fought near each other in different battles in Tennes- see. Slocum’s men being directly from the Battle of Benton- ville, all were nearly and some entii'ely shoeless, and what was left of their other clothing was indelibly stained with mud of evei’y color they had encountered in their long march ; and their faces were firmly begrimed by the soot of their pine-knot camp fires ; but their guns were in good condition like their spirits. Schofield’s men were clothed in new uniforms, and they had time to keep them in as good condition as their guns. While Slocum’s men wei'e marching past their reviewers the spii'it of good natured chaffing was rife. ‘Well sonnies’ one of Slocum’s men called to the freshly shaved and dressed men of General Jacob D. Cox’s XXIIIrd Corps, ‘do they issue butter to you regularly now?’ ‘Oh, yes, to be sure!’ was the instant l’etort; ‘but we trade it off for soap !’ This reply, with emphasis on the word we, was greeted with hearty laughter on both sides, fol- lowed soon by rousing cheers by Cox’s men when they realized the name of the passing command. 102 General Slocum’s men passed into comfortable encampment in the neighborhood of Goldsborough, and thei'e they received in remarkably short time complete outfitting of clothing, and some time for comparative rest. 296 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 On account of General Slocum’s Army of Georgia having been hastily organized during the stress of preparation for the Savannah Campaign, and the breaking of communication with all Union armies other than General Howard’s Army of the Tennessee, record of Slocum’s army organization was not trans- mitted to the War Department, or was not received there for record. General U. S. Grant recognized this fact when Slocum’s army arrived at Goldsborough, and lie at once telegraphed to the War Department to have the missing data there recorded, and a copy of it sent to General Sherman. This was necessary for the forwarding of army business, enabling every commander of an army to sign discharges from military service, and other important papers relating to the conduct of his command. 103 A division of the enemy’s cavalry passed a little east of Slocum’s encampment at Goldsborough, and he suggested to Sherman the necessity for his (Sherman’s) train to New Berne having a strong guard, as Sherman was inclined to go beyond the Union lines without sufficient protection. On the 31st of March General Slocum was requested to recommend worthy officers in his command for division quarter- masters with the rank of Major. The officers now prepared their respective Official Reports at Goldsborough. that of General Slocum being as follows : 1-Ieadquaeters Left Wing, Army of Georgia. Goldsborough, N. C., March 30, 1865. Major: I have the honor of submitting the following report of the operations of the Left Wing of the army from our arrival at Savannah to the present date: The Second Division of the Twentieth Corps entered Savannah bn the morning of December 21, and was encamped in the city doing garri- son duty from that date until January 19, when it was relieved by Grover’s division of the Nineteenth Corps; General Geary, the division commander, performing the duties of military governor of the city. The duties devolving upon General Geary and his command, during our occupancy of Savannah, were important and of a delicate nature, and were discharged in a most creditable manner. Private property was pro- tected and good order preserved throughout the city. General Geary discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the military and civil authorities, and won the confidence and esteem' of all who had business connections with him. The Fourteenth Corps and the First and Third Divisions of the Twentieth Corps were encamped north of the city. On 1865 EE POET OF CARO LIN AS’ CAMPAIGN 297 the last of December a pontoon bridge was constructed, under charge of Colonel Buell, across the Savannah River, and on the 1st day of January Ward’s division moved over to the Carolina side, encamping about six miles from the river, on the Union Causeway. On the 17th of January Jackson’s division crossed the river and, to- gether with Ward’s moved forward to Hardeeville. It was intended the Twentieth Corps should march to Robertsville as soon as the Right Wing commenced the march from Poeotaligo, while the Fourteenth Corps, mov- ing up on the Georgia side of the river, should cross at Sister ’s Ferry and effect a junction with the Twentieth near Robertsville. An extraord- inary freshet occurred before Geary’s division could be moved over, when swept away a large portion of the Union Causeway from Savannah to Hardeeville and overflowed all the lowlands bordering the river. It soon became impossible to communicate with the troops on the Carolina side except by boats. On the 19th Jackson’s division moved to Purysburg, from which point both his division and that of General Ward drew their supplies. On the 20th of January the Fourteenth Corps commenced its march for Sister’s Ferry, but its progress was slow and difficult. It was followed by Geary ’s division of the Twentieth Corps and Corse ’s of the Fifteenth, which had also been prevented by the high water from cross- ing at Savannah. On the 29th of January the Fourteenth Corps, Geary’s division of the Twentieth Corps. Corse ’s division of the Fifteenth Corps, and Kilpatrick’s cavalry were encamped at Sister’s Ferry, on the Georgia side of the Savannah River. On the same day the First and Third Divisions of the Twentieth Corps moved to Robertsville, three miles from Sister 's Ferry, on the Carolina side of the river. On the morning of the 29th I crossed to the Carolina side and endeavored to open com- munication with General Williams, commanding the Twentieth Corps, who had accompanied the first and Third Divisions of his corps, but did not succeed in doing so until the following day. Nearly all the country bordering the river was overflowed by water from one to ten feet in depth. After landing on the side on which Williams troops were encamped I was obliged to use a row-boat in opening communication with him, yet I had not only to open communication with him but had to place at the point he occupied at least 20,000 troops, with an immense train of wagons, numbering at least 1,000. A pontoon bridge was constructed on the 29th, and five days were spent in removing obstructions placed in the road by the enemy, and in building bridges, trestle-work, and corduroy. In addition to the obstacles presented by the flood and fallen timber (most of which was under water) we found torpedoes buried in the road, many of which exploded, killing and wounding several soldiers. On the evening of February 3rd, the road was finished so that we could pass from the bridge to the high ground three miles distant, and Kilpatrick ’s cavalry at once commenced crossing. The troops and trains were kept moving constantly during the night, as well as the day, but the condition of the road was such that the rear of the command was 298 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 not on the Carolina side until the evening of February 5th. Geary’s and Corse’s divisions followed the cavalry with orders to load their wagons at the depots, which had been established above the ferry, and proceed at once to join their respective corps. Williams had been ordered on the 2nd of February to proceed with the two divisions of his command from Eobertsville to Graham’s Station on the South Carolina Railroad and to report in person to General Sherman. He moved by way of Law- tonville and Duck Branch Post-office, reaching Graham’s Station at 12, noon, on the 7th inst. (February). He met with some opposition from the enemy, particularly near Lawtonville, where barricades had been constructed and the roads blockaded. He soon forced the enemy to re- tire. His loss was fourteen killed and wounded. I accompanied Gen- eral Geary on his march from Savannah River to Blackville at which point he rejoined his corps. General Davis, commanding the Fourteenth Corps, was directed, as soon as his wagons were loaded, to move by way of Barn- well to a point on the South Carolina Railroad near Williston Station. He was delayed on account of a deficiency of subsistence stores, being compelled to send to Savannah for a quantity and keep' one division await- ing the return of the boat. His entire command reached the South Caro- lina Railroad at the point ordered on the 12th of February. The rail- road was thoroughly and effectually destroyed from .Johnson’s Station to Williston by the Fourteenth Corps, and from Williston to Graham ’s Sta- tion by the Twentieth Corps. On the 11th of February Geary’s and Jack- son’s divisions crossed the South Edisto at Duncan’s Bridge, and en- camped on the north side. Ward rebuilt Guignard’s Bridge, crossed at that point and rejoined the corps on the north side. On the 12tli the Twentieth Corps reached the North Edisto. The enemy had destroyed the bridge and taken position on the north side with two pieces of artillery. He was soon driven away with a loss to us of three killed and ten wounded. The bridge was rebuilt during the night by the First Michigan Engineers, Colonel Yates commanding, and on the following morning the march was resumed toward Lexington. The Fourteenth Corps crossed the South Edisto on the 13th of Febru- ary, at Guignard’s Bridge, and the North Edisto on the following day at Horsey’s Bridge. On the evening of the loth of February both corps were concentrated within two miles of Lexington. On the morning of the Ifitli both corps moved toward Columbia, the Fourteenth by way of the Ijexington road, and the Twentieth on a road to the right of the one taken by the Fourteenth Corps. When the heads of the two columns rvere within three miles of Columbia, I received orders from General Sherman to cross the Saluda River at Mount Zion Church, and push on to Winnsborough, crossing the Broad River at the same point below Alston. I at once ordered the Twentieth Corps into camp and moved the Fourteenth to Mount Zion Church, where a bridge was constructed and one division of the Fourteenth Corps crossed during the night. The other two divisions followed on the morning of the 17th, and moved forward to the Broad 1865 REPORT OF TEE CAROTIN AS’ CAMPAIGN 299 River near the Wateree Creek. The cavalry followed the Fourteenth Corps and moved to our left, the Twentieth Corps crossing immediately after the cavalry. A pontoon bridge was constructed across the Broad River, near the mouth of Wateree Crek, at a place known as Freshly : s Mills. My en- tire command was across the Broad River before 2 p. m. on the 20th of February, and on the following morning both corps moved forward to Winnsborough, which we occupied without opposition. Before our columns reached the town several buildings had been burned, but by the exertions of our soldiers, assisted by the citizens, the fire was prevented from spreading. The Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad was destroyed from Winnsborough to White Oak by the Twentieth Army Corps, and from White Oak to Cornwall by the Fourteenth Army Corps. On the 22nd Ward’s division of the Twentieth Corps rvas moved rapidly forward to Catawba River at a point known as Rocky Mount Ferry. A pontoon bridge was at once constructed at this point, and on the 23rd the Twenti- eth Corps commenced crossing. The river banks on both sides were very precipitous. Unfortunately soon after our arrival at the river a heavy fall of rain made the crossing still more difficult and endangered our bridge. The Twentieth Corps, together with all the cavalry and one division of the Fourteenth Corps, succeeded in crossing under great difficulties, when our bridge was swept away by floodwood brought down by the freshet. The Twentieth Corps, from the 23rd to the 26th, only succeeded in reaching Hanging Rock, a point sixteen miles distant from the river, having been compelled to corduroy the road nearly the whole distance. I accompanied this corps on its march, and at this point first learned of the destruction of our bridge. The Twentieth Corps was ordered to remain in camp at Hanging Rock on the 27th, and I returned to the Catawba to expedite, if possible, the crossing of the Fourteenth Corps. On my arrival here I found that General Davis and his officers were fully impressed with the importance of effecting a crossing with the least possible delay, and were laboring incessantly to accomplish the work. On mv arrival it was impossible to communicate with the troops on the opposite bank. A pon- toon boat, manned by the best oarsmen of the train, in attempting to cross was swept far below the point at which the bridge was to be constructed, and the men narrowly escaped drowning. Fortunately the water com- menced falling, and during the night of the 27th the bridge was again in position and the troops and trains at once moved across. General Davis was ordered to move direct to Sneedsboroug’n by way of McManus Bridge and Mount Croghan, and if possible to reach that point simultaneously with the Twentieth Corps, which had been ordered to move to the same point by way of Chesterfield. Every possible effort was made to accomplish this result. General Davis marched his command from daylight until late at night each day, and reached the point designated on the 4th of March. The Twentieth Corps crossed Big Lynch ’s Creek at Miller ’s Bridge and advanced to- 300 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 ward Chesterfield. On approaching the town a few of the enemy’s cav- alry were met and driven rapidly through the town and over Thompson’s Creek. On the 4th of March the corps reached a point near Sneeds- borough. A bridge was constructed over the Great Pedee at a point three miles below Sneedsborough, and the Fourteenth Corps crossed at that point. In order to gain time the Twentieth Corps was sent to Cheraw to cross at that point, with instructions to move at once to McFarland’s Bridge over Lumber River. The Fourteenth Corps moved to Love’s or Blue’s Bridge, a few- miles above. McFarland’s Bridge was destroyed two or three days before General Williams reached the river, but General Davis found Blue’s Bridge but slightly injured, and crossed one division over it on the evening of the 8th of March. On the following day the Fourteenth Corps moved on on the plank road to a point about sixteen miles from Fayetteville. On the 10th this corps moved to the Nine-mile Post and was massed near that point, one brigade of Baird’s division being thrown well in advance on the road toward Fayetteville. On the 1 1th at 1 0.30 A. M., Baird ’s division after some slight skirmishing with the enemy entered Fayetteville, the other two divisions and the entire Twenti- eth Corps encamping near the town. General Baird was directed to take command of the city and garrison it with his command. He was in- structed to destroy all public and private property useful to the enemy, but to protect all other private property. The duties imposed upon him were all performed in a satisfactory manner. He destroyed under these orders 2 foundries, 4 factories, and considerable railroad property. On the 13th and 14tli of March both corps crossed the Cape Fear River, encamping on the road leading toward Averysborough. On leaving Fayetteville I was informed that Goidsborough w y as our next objective point, and was instructed by the commanding general to move with a strong column, unencumbered by wagons, on a road by way of Averys- borough and Bentonville, sending my "wagons by a road to the right of the one taken by my light column. I accordingly ordered two divisions of each corps to move, with only such wagons as were absolutely neces- sary, on the road to Averysborough, while the remaining divisions of each corps with the trains were sent on the direct road to Cox’s Bridge. On the night of the 15th the four divisions, Jackson’s and Ward’s of the Twentieth Corps and Morgan’s and Carlin’s of the Fourteenth, encamped near Taylor’s Hole Creek. Hawley’s brigade of Jackson’s division, was sent forward late in the evening to support the cavalry. On the 16th the enemy was discovered intrenched about one mile and a half from the point at which the road to Bentonville branches off from the Smithfield and Raleigh road. Hawley’s brigade commenced skirmishing with them at an early hour. The roads were almost impassable, and it w r as nearly ten o’clock before other troops could reach the field. As soon as Ward’s divi- sion- came up it was thrown to the left of the road, its right connecting with Hawley’s left. As the two remaining brigades of Jackson’s division came up they relieved the cavalry, which moved to the right of our line. 1865 RE POET OF THE CARO LINAS’ CAMPAIGN 301 Selfridge met the enemy as he moved into position and drove him back into his line of works. As soon as the troops were posted (the artillery oc- cupying a position commanding a good view of the enemy’s line) I or- dered Case ’s brigade, which was on the left of our line, to advance and, if possible, turn the enemy’s line. This be accomplished in a very hand- some manner, and as soon as he was discovered to have accomplished his purpose, and the enemy commenced moving, our artillery did fine execu- tion. The enemy was speedily driven back about one mile to a third line of works, making a brief stand at his second line. He was closely pur- sued into the works on this new line, but so much delay had been caused by the bad state of the roads that I could not get the troops into position for another attack until it was too late to make the attempt. During the following night the enemy retreated, taking the road through Averys- borough. y In this action we captured 3 pieces of artillery, 1 caisson, and sev- eral ambulances; also 175 prisoners. We buried on the field 128 of their dead. The loss in the two corps was 66 killed, 441 wounded, and 51 captured and missing. Of the cavalry, 17 killed, 58 wounded, and 3 cap- tured and missing. All of our troops behaved extremely well. The cavalry under Gen- eral Kilpatrick exhibited great gallantry and, although the ground was unfavorable for the movement of cavalry, it did excellent service. On the 17th of March the Fourteenth Corps crossed Black River and encamped near Mingo Creek. The Twentieth Corps encamped near Black River. On the night of the 18th the Fourteenth Corps encamped near Mill Creek, and the Twentieth Corps about five miles in rear of the Four- teenth. On the 19th the march was resumed at 7 A. M., the Fourteenth Corps still in advance. Our advance was stubbornly resisted from the commencement of the march, but one of our cavalry officers came to me while our advance was skirmishing with the enemy and informed me that he had escaped from the enemy only two days before, and that when he left Smithfield he knew the main army under General Johnston to be at or near Raleigh. This statement was confirmed by deserters. I be- lieved the only force in my front to consist of cavalry with a few pieces of artillery, and sent word to this effect to General Sherman. Under this impression I pressed forward rapidly. On reaching the point at which the road from Smithfield runs into the Goldsborough road on which we were marching, I found the enemy intrenched. Carlin ’s division was at once deployed, Buell ’s brigade being sent some distance to the left of the road for the purpose of developing the enemy’s line. Morgan’s division was thrown on the right of Carlin, with two brigades in line and one in reserve. Both Carlin and Morgan were ordered to press the enemy close- ly and force him to develop his position and strength. I soon became convinced that I had to deal with something more formidable than a division of cavalry. While still in doubt, however, as to the strength of the enemy, a deserter was brought to me who stated 302 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 that he was formerly a Union soldier, had been taken prisoner, and while sick had been induced to enlist in the rebel service. He informed me that General Johnston had, by forced marches, concentrated his army in my front; that it was understood among the rebel soldiers that this force amounted to 40,000 men; that they were told that they were to crush one corps of Sherman ’s army. He stated that General Johnston had ridden along his line that morning and been loudly cheered by his old Tennessee army. While he was giving me these interesting particulars a member of my staff approached and recognized in this deserter an old acquaint- ance. They had entered the service in 1861 as private soldiers in the same e.onrpany. The statements of this man and the developments made by Morgan and Carlin placed me on my guard. I at once concluded to take a defensive position and communicate with the commanding general. Robinson ’s brigade of the Twentieth Corps had already reached the field and been ordered to support a battery in rear of Buell’s position. I had given orders to General Williams to move with the balance of his corps to the right of Morgan with a view of turning the left of the enemy’s position. This order was at once countermanded, and Williams was directed to send all of his wagons to the right on the road taken by the Fifteenth Corps, and bring forward with the least possible delay every regiment of his command. All foragers were dismounted and placed in the ranks. Williams was ordered to take position on Morgan ’s left resting his left flank on a ravine. Not more than one-half of his command was in position, however, when the enemy left his works in strong columns and attacked Buell, driving both him and a portion of Robinson’s brigade back, and capturing three pieces of artillery. Before he had reached the line I had designated, however, General Williams had succeeded in getting a sufficient force in position to check his advance. In the meantime Davis had ordered Morgan to refuse the left of his line, and had thrown the re- serve brigade on Morgan’s division into line of battle on the left of the two brigades of Morgan ’s division already in line. The connection be- tween Morgan’s left and the right of Williams’ line not being complete I ordered Coggswell’s brigade of the Third Division, Twentieth Corps, which was in reserve, to report to General Davis to enable him to complete the connection between the two corps. This brigade was at once moved for- ward and filled the gap, giving us a continuous line. The enemy was re- pulsed at all points along our line, but continued his assaults until a late hour in the evening. The fighting was most severe in Morgan’s front, and too much credit cannot be awarded General Morgan and his command for their conduct upon this occasion. Our artillery was well posted and did excellent execu- tion on the assaulting columns of the enemy. Buell’s brigade and the three regiments of Robinson ’s, which were first driven back, were readily reformed and placed in line, where they did good service. Soon after dark the enemy retired to his works, leaving in our hands a large number of killed and wounded. General Kilpatrick reported to me while T was 1865 REPORT OF THE CAROTIN AS’ CAMPAIGN 303 placing my troops in position, and was directed to mass his cavalry on my left and rear, which was done at once, and the cavalry occupied this position until the retreat of the enemy. On the following morning Gen- erals Baird and Geary, each with two brigades of their respective divi- sions, and General Hazen of the Fifteenth Corps with his entire division, arrived on the field. Hazen was moved to the right of Morgan. Baird was moved out in front of our works beyond the advance position held by us on the preceding day. Orders were given to Hazen, Morgan and Baird to press the enemy closely, which was done, Morgan gaining pos- session of a portion of his line on our right. On the morning of the 21st the Bight Wing came up and connected with Hazen. The enemy during this day was forced into his works along the entire line and closely pressed, particularly of his extreme left. During the following night he retreated across Mill Creek, burning the bridges in his rear. The conduct of our troops on this occasion was most gratifying to me. General Davis and General Williams handled their commands with great skill. After our line was formed the troops without exception met the enemy with coolness and bravery. No ground was lost after the first at- tack, and all that had been lost in this attack was speedily regained. On the 22nd, both corps moved to Cox's Brigade, and on the follow- ing morning crossed the Neuse at that point and moved into Goldsborough. My loss during the entire campaign was as follows: Killed, 242; wounded, 1,308; missing, 802; total, 2,352. For detailed statements as to our losses I respectfully refer to the reports of Brevet Major-General Davis commanding the Fourteenth Corps, and Brevet Major-General A. S. Williams commanding Twentieth Corps. These reports also contain interesting statistics as to the amount of supplies drawn from the country and the amount of property useful to the enemy destroyed by their respective commands. During this campaign (of the Carolinas) my command has marched about 500 miles, subsisting mainly upon the country and traversing a region which the enemy regarded inaccessible to us on account of the natural obstacles presented to the march of a large army. These obstacles were but little overrated by them, but by the indomitable perseverance and energy of our troops all were overcome. I have not attempted in this report to enter into such details as to the labors and privations endured by the troops as justice to them really demands, but the brief period allowed me for this work must be my excuse. ' 1 have witnessed on the campaign, scenes which have given me a more exalted opinion than I ever before entertained of the earnest patriotism which actuates the soldiers of this army. I have repeatedly seen soldiers of my command, who were making parched corn supply the place of bread, and who were nearly destitute of shoes or change of clothing, go cheer- fully to their labor in the swamps of South Carolina, working hour after hour in the mud and water to bring forward our immense trains, and 304 MAJOR-GEXERAL SLOCUM 1865 yet during all these privations and hardships I have never heard from an officer or soldier one word of complaint. To the members of my staff — Maj. Kobert P. Dec-hert, acting assistant adjutant-general; Maj. E. W. Guindon, Capt. William W. Moseley, and Capt. William G. Tracy, aides-de-camp; Capt. P. M. Thorne, acting chief of ordnance, and Lieutenants H. W. Ilowgate, and Joseph Benson For- aker of the signal corps — I am greatly indebted. All have discharged their duties 10 my entire satisfaction. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, II. W. Slocum, Major-General, Commanding. Maj. L. M. Dayton, Assistant Adjutant-General, Mil. Div. of the Mississippi . 104 During the Campaign of the Carolinas the Union forces, under Generals Slocum and Howard, captured about 4,500 Con- federate prisoners in addition to those paroled at the time of the capture, not counting the wounded, the refugees, and the deserters from the enemy in this list. The enemy reported about 2,000 Union prisoners captured by them during this Campaign, without mentioning the details given above. Many of these Union prisoners were recovered from their captors during the march. Remarkably full record was kept of the supplies gathered along the route of march by the different thoroughly organized foraging parties. These parties were under thorough discipline, excepting possibly a few occasional temporary stragglers. All had definite orders from General Slocum to demean themselves as true soldiers, and to be gentlemanly in their dealings with people and property — but the army must be fed and, probably, most of the foragers felt like the one who was chasing chickens in front of a house and was interrupted by the loud talk and threats of the women. He replied: “Can’t help it, ladies; the rebellion must be stopped if it takes every chicken in Georgia.” 1865 REPLENISHMENTS. GLAD TIDINGS 305 CHAPTER XL VIII The Confederate Armies Surrendered. The War Ended Many of General Slocum’s officers, from the highest includ- ing the lowest, now received higher rank commissions upon his recommendations. Those heretofore with brevet were advanced to full grade at least. Abstract of the organization of the United States forces in Slocum’s Army of Georgia March 31, showed there had been several changes, including accessions, during the few days they had been in camp at Goldsborough. The sum- ming was as follows : Pontoniers, Downey commanding, 25 of- ficers and 131 enlisted men present for duty ; XIVth Army Corps, Major-General Jefferson C. Davis commanding, 519 of- ficers and 12,792 men; XXth Army Corps, Major-General Al- pheus S. Williams, commanding, 662 officers and 12,182 men. Total number present ready for duty, 1,210 officers, and 25,405 enlisted men. Present, wounded and sick unfit for duty, 4,886. Slocum’s artillery at this time numbered thirty cannon. His command April 30tli numbered about thirty thousand ready for duty. On the 2nd of April General Slocum in accordance with the new reports announced to his command the following reap- pointments and additions to his staff : Major J. A. Reynolds, 1st New York Artillery, chief of artillery; Captain H. M. Whittel- sey, U. S. Volunteers, acting chief quartermaster; Surgeon H. E. Goodman, U. S. Volunteers, medical director; Captain Platt M. Thorne, 150th New York Volunteers, acting assistant inspector general. While at Goldsborough report was received, April 6th, of the enemy’s evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg on the 3rd, and great joy was exhibited throughout the army. Particulars of the Confederate General- R. E. Lee’s disastrous retreat, and of his probably early surrender to General Grant, were received the 8th, and the army gave regular artillery salutes, and the soldiers extemporized all sorts of demonstrations of their joy- fulness. On the 9th of April General Slocum announced Captain R. M. McDowell, 141st New York Volunteers, member of his staff as chief topographical' engineer. 20 306 MAJOR-GENERA L SLOG UM 1865 Now, that Grant’s work with Lee was finished, only Joseph E. Johnston and his command remained in this latitude of the East for Sherman to capture. Monday, April 10th, the forward march was resumed, General Slocum taking the direct road to Smithfield near which place the enemy was supposed to be. Slocum moved in two columns, with Howard on the road to Pike- ville at the north, and Schofield’s Army of the Ohio on roads to Slocum’s left marching in echelon near Kilpatrick and his cavalry. Slocum’s men advanced despite a continual skirmish- ing with the enemy who had destroyed the bridge and road at Moccasin Swamp, erected barricades, and posted cannon to op- pose Slocum’s crossing; but the opposition was soon scattered. Here Slocum’s loss was two killed (one Captain) and five wounded. Advance was made without further opposition there- abouts, and the pontooniers laid two bridges across the Neuse River. Slocum’s XIVth Corps was the first to enter Smith- field, an old town. Not finding any considerable part of the enemy at Smithfield, and learning that Johnston was at Raleigh with his army, on the 12th the march was continued toward that city. This day it was learned that Lee had surrendered to Grant. The report was hastily copied, and it was read to the troops as a Special Field Order, including Sherman ’s expression : ‘ ‘ Glory to God and to our Country, and all honor to our comrades in arms toward whom we are marching. A little more labor, and a little more toil on our part, and the great race is won, and our Government stands regenerated after four long years of bloody war.” The reading of this paper to the troops standing on the roads, aroused anew their spirits, and revived fresh thoughts of home and of the loved ones there. Sherman was with Slocum on this march and, late in the afternoon, a car came down the railway under a flag of truce, with a letter from Governor Zebulon B. Vance expressing his desire to end the war at once so far as North Carolina was con- cerned. The car also bore several former leaders in the seces- sion movement; but they brought no authority from the Con- federate Government for a treaty; and Sherman so replied to Vance in a letter which expressed his own desire for peace and 1865 FIRST TO ENTER RALEIGH, N. CAROLINA 307 his willingness to contribute what he could to such result. Minor Confederate officers were opposing Vance in his efforts for peace, and they defeated the personal meeting of Sherman and Vance at this time. The march was continued toward Raleigh, which city Slo- cum’s Army of Georgia was the first to enter April 13th without any opposition just in time to prevent the Confederate Wheeler’s cavalry from outraging and pillaging the citizens, as they had here commenced to do, and had been doing in other places during the great march. 115 General Wade Hampton’s cavalry had also been continually appearing in front, and much of the time with- in skirmishing distance. The American flag was soon raised above the capitol building, and was welcomed by many citizens. Major-General Carl Schurz, formerly commander of a divi- sion in the Xlth Army Corps under General Howard, had re- ported from the War Department to General Sherman by whom lie was well received, and who referred him to General Slocum while at Goldsborough. There was no vacancy for Schurz in the Army of Georgia, but Slocum received Schurz cordially and, after learning from him his strong desire to be with his army at the end of the war, Slocum offered him the position of Ills chief of staff which office was thankfully accepted. In a Special Field Order Slocum announced to his army that Captain Mont- gomery Rochester, U. S. Volunteers, should be recognized as his assistant adjutant general, and ‘during the ensuing campaign Major-General Schurz, U. S. Volunteers, will act as chief of staff.’ 105 108 General Sherman established his headquarters at Raleigh in Governor Vance’s mansion according to the request of the Governor, who then left the city. -Johnston was, apparently, yet defiant and, April 14th, Sherman issued a special field order for advancing against him and his yet belligerant subordinate offi- cers. General Slocum’s army was to move rapidly by the Aven’s Ferry Road, through Carthage, Caledonia, and Cox’s Mills. Im- mediately after this order was published, it was countermanded on account of Sherman’s “receipt of dispatches from General Johnston, C. S. Army, which are tending to the end of making unnecessary our contemplated long march.” Sherman and John- 308 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 stem met, and the latter was offered the same terms for ending' the war that Lee accepted ; but he desired time to consider them. It was Sherman’s intention to review all of his commands before entering upon another campaign, to assure himself of their proper condition for active work; but he highly compli- mented Slocum’s careful attention to business, including disci- pline, by addressing him a note asking to be excused from mak- ing such review of his men. Slocum’s XXth Corps remained near Raleigh until the 25th of April when it was moved to Jones’s Cross Roads. He moved his XIVth Corps toward the Cape Pear River April 14th. Gen- eral Davis was directed to collect forage for his men and ani- mals along the north bank of that river, and that the foragers should treat all the people with civility. Part of this corps crossed the river at Aven’s Perry the next day, and the 16th other parts of the corps including the wagon trains were di- rected to cross over their pontoon bridge and encamp there. The 19th Slocum directed that this corps be moved to any point of good forage between this river and three miles distant from Raleigh, leaving guard for the bridges. At his headquarters in Raleigh April 17th, General Sherman issued a special field order announcing the assassination of President Lincoln in the evening of the 14th. This dispatch Sherman carried to Johnston the next day for their appointed meeting. The next day Sherman visited Johnston again, and they then signed a treaty for the surrender of Johnston and all of the Confederate soldiers subject to his command, such treaty to be subject to the approval of General Grant, the War De- partment at Washington, and of the President, Andrew John- son. Meanwhile hostilities were to cease until April 26th. Sherman and Slocum were much together whenever con- venient to both and, upon the return of the former the night of the 18th, the latter called at his headquarters where he was shown a copy of the conditional treaty. Sherman was not often inclined to ask the opinion of any one, much less advice but, to the contrary he was generally positively assertive. At the time of this call he was fatigued in both body and mind, and not so talkative. Slocum now did most of the talking, and expressed his doubts of the agreement being approved. In fact his legal 1865 SHERMAN’S PEACE EFFORTS MISCARRY 309 mind saw objections to its approval on account of Sherman hav- ing permitted civil questions to be embodied with the military. Returning to his headquarters at midnight he found General Schurz up and waiting anxiously to learn the result of the op- posing commanders’ last interview. When told the conditions of surrender his opinion coincided with Slocum’s, and he also predicted what would follow. 108 The 19th of April General Sherman issued a special field order announcing cessation of hositilities and, until further orders, the line between Tyrrell’s Mount, Chapel ITill, Univer- sity, Durham Station, and West Point by the Neuse River, would separate the Confederate from the Union armies. The 20tli of April General Sherman received from Lieuten- ant-General Grant notice of the disapproval of his terms of agreement with General Johnston, by himself, by the War De- partment, and by President Andrew Johnson. The evening of this day there was a notable meeting of ‘a dozen or so’ of the leading generals at Sherman’s headquarters. The room was large and bare, the officers standing rather together, giving their chief room to continue his pacing back and forth and, without addressing anybody in particular, he unbosomed himself with an eloquence of furious invective which made us all stare. . A day or two later General Slocum entered my tent with a happy face, saying ‘all is well. Grant is here. He has come to save his friend Sherman from himself.’ 106 Readers de- siring to learn more regarding this treaty, should consult refer- ence 96 in the Appendix. General Sherman sent invitation to General Slocum to at- tend his review of General Howard’s XYIIth Army Corps near the Market House in Raleigh April 23rcl. This was a compli- ment well received as the time had been passed in rather mo- notonous camp duties for some days. The next day it was neces- sary to place Slocum’s XIVth Corps on half rations from the scarce supplies from foraging and by railway. This order was followed after a few hours, however, by an order for this corps to advance to Aven’s Perry, and to begin crossing the river at noon, the 26th. Slocum also ordered his XXth Army Corps to move the 25th in specified order to Jones’s Cross Roads. These orders immediately followed- General Sherman’s announcement 310 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 that the truce with the Confederates was at an end, and hostil- ities would be immediately renewed, General Johnston having been so notified. In a letter to Stanton, Secretary of War, under date of April 25th, General Sherman admitted his ‘folly’ in attempting to em- brace civil questions with the military in the terms of peace. General Johnston again wrote to Sherman who again visited him hoping to receive his surrender on the Grant-Lee terms; and Slocum again stopped his army. Sherman met Johnston again the 26th at Greensbo rough, leaving Grant at Raleigh where he had remained in council with Sherman, who had written from Raleigh April 25th to different commanders that he expected Johnston to surrender his army the next day; that they had ‘much negotiation, and things are settling down to the terms of General Lee’s army.’ General Grant telegraphed to the War Department from Raleigh April 26th, that Sherman and John- ston had another interview this day, and Johnston had surren- dered on the same terms Lee accepted. Other Confederate com- mands made haste to lay down their arms, and to give all re- quired evidence of their desire to quit the Rebellion. General Sherman’s special field order announcing to his armies the happy event ending the war east of the Chattahoochee River, was issued from Raleigh April 27th. Readjustments of commands in the Carolinas, and further south, were mentioned. Also permission was given to local commanders for loaning to the inhabitants, farmers, such of the captured horses, mules, and wagons, as could be spared from immediate use ; that the com- manding generals of armies might issue provisions and any other surplus needful supplies to farmers. Another special field order the 27th provided for the immedi- ate disposition of the armies in the field. The armies of Generals Slocum and Howard were to march to Richmond, Virginia, in their former respective order ; Slocum to pass through Oxford, Boydton, and Nottawav Court House, and Howard to move to the right. Before starting on this march, which might be styled the great triumphal march, as they could have) been transported by water to Washington, they turned over to the proper authori- ties the contents of their ordnance wagons, which wagons were then used by them for food and forage. The chiefs quartermas 1865 TRIUMPHAL MARCH THROUGH VIRGINIA 311 ter and commissary, Generals Easton and Beckwith, were di- rected to prepare for their rapid travel to Richmond, and there have preparations made for tliei'r proper reception, and to pro- vide for their further journey. This same day General Slocum relieved General Schurz from further duty on his staff, and directed him to report to General Sherman who turned him over to General Grant. General Slocum brought his army together at Raleigh and there the changes were made in their wagons and trains. The infantry retained twenty-five rounds of ammunition per man, and the artillery only one chest for each gun. Slocum’s order was for at least fifteen days of subsistence stores for men, and from ten to fifteen days for the horses and mules. Sherman sent invitation to Slocum to visit him at his head- quarters in Ralejgh the evening of April 28th, for conference with Howard, Schofield, Logan, and Blair. CHAPTER XLIX The Triumphal March to Washington. Farewell General Slocum started the march in a northerly direction for Richmond at 7 o’clock a. m. April 30th, with his XXtli Army Corps in the following order : General Geary ’s Ilnd Division leading ; next the artillery, and then the Illrd and 1st Divisions, respectively. The Neuse River was crossed at Manter’s Mills, then following the road west of and nearest to the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, passing through the towns of Lemay’s and Williamsburg Postoffices, and crossing the Dan River near Haskinton. His XIVth Army Corps marched on the roads to the left of the XXtli Corps, and passed through Kilvin Grove, Wilton, and Oxford to Boydton. The pontoon trains were divided equally between the two corps. This march was ordered conducted so as to fatigue the troops as little as practicable. The three divisions of each corps were permitted to encamp nights from three to five miles apart as might be convenient, each to march about fifteen miles per day. Foraging was not permitted. Soldiers were forbidden to enter a dwelling house on any pretext. A system of roll call was 312 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 established. Any soldier straggling, or found guilty of com- mitting robbery, or any other outrage on citizens along the route of march, was promised summary punishment. Stress was laid upon the fact that, while hostilities had ceased strict military discipline would continue in force, and that every effort of every- one should be made to prevent inclination to lawlessness, dis- honesty, and every act likely to bring disgrace or even a shadow of reflection upon commands which had such uniformly good record in the service of their country, and for their country’s honor. For all purchases by the way immediate payment was ordered, and the march was enjoined to proceed as strictly as it would in any loyal State in the Union. The location of the head- quarters of General Slocum and of each of his corps commanders was not definitely announced for the night encampments to any one but the provost guards. General Slocum’s XIVth Corps also started from Raleigh for Richmond April 30th in the following order : General Baird’s Illrd Division to lead on the most direct road to Oxford with the pontoon train in advance of the other trains, to con- struct bridge over the Neuse River ; then the artillery ; then Gen- eral Charles C. Walcutt’s 1st Division and, the next morning, General Morgan’s Ilnd Division. Day by day changes, and shiftings of divisions and brigades were necessary to meet the changing conditions, all of which had become thoroughly well known to these conquering veteran volunteer soldiers, and their ever alert officers, from Slocum the commanding general down through all of the numerous subordinates necessary for a large army. The Dan, or Roanoke, River at Taylor’s Ferry was found by the XIVth Corps to be at least 750 feet in width with an average depth of ten feet. It was necessary to extend the pon- toon train by trestle-work May 2nd, which extension was com- pleted near midday the 3rd. On account of this favorable cross- ing the XXtli Corps was deflected from its intended crossing at Haskin’s Ferry to Taylor’s Ferry where two divisions were able to cross in the night of May 3rd on their mm pontoon bridge and the XIVth Corps’ trestle this corps having removed its pontoon and continued the march with it. The advance columns took up the march at daybreak and the others followed systematically 1865 TRIUMPHAL MARCH THROUGH VIRGINIA 313 according to orders issued the evening before. Ambulances were distributed throughout each corps of the army so that the sick, and weaker, soldiers could ride ; and so every detail of full disci- pline and provision for comfort prevailed. The commander of the Military Department of North Caro- lina, Major-General John M. Schofield, and Major-General Hal- leck at Washington, yet Chief of Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant’s staff, w-ere kept informed day by day, and night by night, of the whereabouts and condition of Slocum’s and How- ard’s armies, so that no vigilance for continued peace, or war, was permitted to relax. The 5th of May General Slocum’s cipher telegraph oper- ator, D. F. Berry, dispatched to Major T. T. Eckert at Washing- ton, the position of the Army of Georgia as at and near Blacks and Whites Station on line of South Side and Petersburg Rail- road that night ; and that it would be in or near Richmond the next night. General Slocum also kept in communication with the Union authorities in Richmond. Close surveillance was kept of supposed designing malcontents everywhere, and orders for arrests were frequently received and fulfilled. The 5th of May General Slocum notified the Union com- manding officer of Richmond of his near approach, and requested that supplies be ready for the continuation of his march toward Washington. At the close of this day General Morgan reported that his Ilnd Division of the XIYth Corps had marched 27 miles the 4th on rough and heavy roads from the rain. Slocum’s staff, with his corps’ staff officers, were now carefully observing the country opposite Richmond for desirable fields in which to estab- lish encampments for their respective commands about three miles from Manchester across the James River from Richmond, the evening of May 6th and 7th, upon their arrival. During the time of this encampment no soldier was permitted to visit Manchester without a pass signed by his division commander, or to visit Richmond without pass signed by his corps commander, for reasons obvious to the average reader. The evening of May 8th the XXth Corps encamped at Falling Creek, near the en- campment of the XTVth Corps, after a march of 21 miles that day. They remained here until the day of their passing through and leaving Richmond. General Slocum secured comfortable 314 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 headquarters in the residence of a Mr. Wren near the edge of Manchester to the left of Hull Street. It had been contemplated to send the Army of Georgia, at least, from Richmond to Washington by water transports, as at first thought to send them from Raleigh ; but later counsels pre- vailed for the march from Richmond also. On account of the large trains, the difficulties attending the transportation by water, and the sentiment attending another look over the battle- fields of Virginia, the decision for marching was well received by the soldiers and officers alike. Major-General H. W. Halleck, Chief of Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant’s staff, very kindly met Generals Slocum and How- ard’s commands at Richmond and helped to facilitate the refilling of their wagon trains for their final march. Undoubtedly Hal- leck had in mind also the pleasure of meeting with General Sherman and of renewing the friendship between them that 1 had been estranged by the latter's opinion that Halleck had been too officious against the first agreement regarding the surrender of Johnston. Halleck was now certainly courteous, and desirous of good will. May 8th he dispatched to Sherman, then at Fort Mon- roe, that: “General Slocum’s amr^ will leave Richmond on the morning of the 10th, and General Howard’s will soon follow. Can’t you meet them as they pass through? When you arrive here come directly to my headquarters. I have a room, for you, and will have rooms elsewhere for your staff.” Ill will yet brooded in Sherman’s heart, and he replied: “After your dis- patch to the Secretary of War of April 26, 1 cannot have any friendly intercourse with you. 1 will come to City Point to- morrow and march with my troops, and I prefer we should not meet.” 107 There was some delay in Sherman’s arrival, and he telegraphed to Slocum not to start on his march the 10th. But Sherman was with Slocum the 10th, and there he replied to Grant’s order from Washington for the march, that Slocum’s army would march the 11th, and Howard’s the next day. This was another thrust at Halleck. The orders for the march of the Army of Georgia May 11th at 7 a. m. were issued by General Slocum the 10th. The XIVth Army Corps led across the pontoon bridge over the James River, and through Richmond without the contemplated review of Gen- 1S65 THROUGH RICHMOND AND BATTLEFIELDS 315 eral Halleck, who had in the meantime received from Sherman a remarkabe letter including the statement that he would best keep out of sight as violence might be done him. 10S The course of march from Richmond, as outlined by Gen- eral Slocum 's special field orders, led through the towns of Han- over Court House. Oxford, and Chilesburg to a point near Chest- nut Hill; thence by the most direct route to Rappahannock Sta- tion by the Rappahannock River; thence through New Balti- more, Hay Market, Centerville, and Fairfax Court House. General Slocum also informed his army that he would accom- pany the XIVth Corps as far as Hanover Court House, and the XXth Corps thence to Alexandria. Many details requiring thought and proper action were again necessary to preserve sani- tary places for the night camps, as much of the country had been overrun and encamped upon by large bodies of troops during the previous four years. Great and continual effort was neces- sary to prevent one part of the army obstructing the advance of other parts which were to take the advance the next morning. Many incidents, if not accidents, occurred to interfere with the desired regularity. One part of a command must at times be hastened to make room for unexpected emergency; also to let the men of certain commands rest part of the day from having been compelled to work all the previous night in bridging or crossing a river made dangerous by flood. In times of peace- fulness on the march an army is liable at any moment to need the watchful eye and the ready action of the commanding gen- eral who has surveillance over all parts. General Howard was called to Washington in advance of his army for the purpose of entering upon other work for the War Department. General Sherman marched with General Slocum to Hanover Court House where he wrote to General -John A. Logan, successor to Howard, one of his remarkable letters. It began with the information that it had been his (Sherman’s) purpose to join Logan’s column here and to travel with it by way of Fredericksburg but, being anxious to see the ground about Spottsvlvania Court House, and Chancellorsville with Slo- cum, he would accompany Slocum that far and then pass over to Logan’s command. After giving directions for the conduct of the march of the Right Wing, that it might not obstruct Slo- 316 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 eum’s roads, lie advised a slow march and a continued good con- dition of the men by keeping them long on the road, as far better than a long rest in camp at the end of the journey. Then Sher- man proceeded in his letter to again express his animosity to- ward General Halleck and some other eastern men. He wrote in part that: “The manner of our welcome [at Richmond] was a part of a grand game to insult us— us who had marched a thousand miles through a hostile country in midwinter to help them. We did help them, and what has been our reward? Our men were denied admission to the city where Halleck had in- vited all citizens (rebels of course) to come and go without passes. If the American people sanction this kind of courtesy to old and tried troops, where is the honor, satisfaction, and glory of serving them in constancy and faith? If such be the welcome the East gives to the West, we can but let them make war and fight it out themselves. I know where is a land and people that will not treat us thus — the West, the Valley of the Mississippi. I for one will go there.” When he arrived at Fredericksburg, May 15th, Sherman re- ported to Grant at Washington, that he had parted from Slocum at noon that day at Chaneellorsville, Avho would cross his XIVth Corps over the Rappahannock River the next day at Raccoon Ford and his XXth Corps the same time at the United States Ford. He further reported that Logan had not arrived with Howard’s army on account of the roads having been badly worked up by Meade’s Army of the Potomac which had pre- ceded him. Major-General Slocum preceded his Army of Georgia to Alexandria, Virginia, whence he reported to General Grant and his armies in Washington, giving his headquarters’ address as two miles from Alexandria by the direct road to Washington. He also sent orders to General Davis of his XIVth Corps not to approach nearer than Cloud’s Mills that night, and to send a staff officer to Cloud’s Mills the next morning to meet Lieuten- ant-Colonel Guindon of General Slocum’s staff for assignment of camping sites in -which to await the Grand Review 7 of the different armies that were assembling thereabout. The XXth Corps was intercepted the 19th on its march from Fairfax Sta- tion for like purpose. 1865 TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO WASHINGTON 317 Special orders for the Review were issued by General Grant the 18th ; and the 20th General Sherman issued his special orders to the officers of his armies to be ready for the Review the next Wednesday, May 24tli. This necessitated active work for all concerned. General Slocum’s special orders Number 72 supple- mented those of Generals Sherman and Grant in details regard- ing his own command. The Army of Georgia was to gather near the Long Bridge across the Potomac River, opposite Washing- ton, and march from there at daybreak Wednesday, the morning of the review, the XXth Corps leading, followed by the XIVth Corps, without knapsacks but with two days’ cooked rations in haversacks. They were to move across the bridge and to the vi- cinity of the Capitol building, and there to await the signal gun to begin the march around this building, up Pennsylvania Ave- nue, passing the reviewing stand of President Johnston which contained the members of his cabinet, Lieutenant-General Grant and his staff. Members of the United States Congress, foreign diplomats, and other dignitaries. General Sherman exhibited much just pride in riding at the head of his armies and he took post near the chief reviewing officer on arriving at his stand. The commanders of each army, corps, and division each attended by one staff officer, dismounted from their horses after passing the general-in-chief, Grant, joined him wdiile his own command was passing, then remounted and rejoined his command. Officers commanding regiments and above, carried their swords in a present position when passing the reviewing officer; company officers gave no salute. Brigade bands and consolidated field music joined the parade and dis- coursed while each was passing the stand, the drummers giving three ruffles while moving. The flags of each battalion were given the dropping salute to the reviewing officers. Six ambulances, three abreast, were in line with each brigade. After passing the reviewing stand, near the Presidential Mansion, each command continued the march to the place as- signed for its encampment, which had previously been carefully chosen. General Sherman had rooms at Mrs. Carter’s home on Capitol Hill, with business headquarters in tent on grounds of the Finley Hospital. General Slocum had rooms for himself and family, who came from their home in Syracuse to be with 318 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 him here, at the Metropolitan Hotel, Pennsylvania Avenue. His headquarters and staff were about one mile eastward by the Bladenburg Road passing north of Finley Hospital; and his Army of Georgia was encamped further to the northeast near Hoover’s farm, and all within a distance of two miles of General Slocum’s headquarters. It was deemed necessary by General Grant May 27tli to ad- dress General Sherman a note regarding some wordy demonstra- tions of Sherman’s soldiers (without specifying whether of Slo- cum’s or Howard’s, now Logan’s, command) against General Halleck while they were under the inlluence of strong drink in Washington; and Grant suggested to Sherman more carefid guardings, and issuing of passes for visits to the city. Here was an unfortunate echo of the unwise criticisms of his superior of- ficer by Sherman before the general soldiery of his commands at different times. It was now the general effort to get all of the many thous- ands of soldiers now in and near Washington reorganized, as- signed for further service, and forwarded to different parts of the country where this service was to be rendered. Also to mus- ter out of service those whose terms of enlistment were about to expire, and those volunteers who from good cause desired to retire from army life, which number, fortunately, was by far the greater of the two. It was announced by M. C. Meigs, Quar- termaster-General, that 5,000 men for any destination, were as many as should go together. Ten thousand per day could be taken to Relay House, and there sent in different directions. General Slocum settled down to this earnest work at his headquarters. Discontinuance of the signal service in his army had separated his signal officers, but he called Lieutenant J. B. Foraker (now brevetted Captain on Slocum’s recommendation for his satisfactory service during the Battle of Bentonville) and lie was again of great service, now with his facile pen. Other men were yet with General Slocum’s command who were destined to do as good work in the civil service of their country as they had done good service during this historic march, and before on the field of battle, namely: Major-General John W. Geary, later Governor of Pennsylvania; Benjamin Harrison, now Brevet Brigadier-General 1st Brigade TITrd Division XXth Corps, later 1865 WORTHY OFFICERS. CHANGES 319 President of the United Stales; Major-General Alpheus S. Wil- liams, commanding XXtli Corps; Major-General Jefferson C. Davis, commanding XIVth Corps; Major-General Joseph A. Mower, who now succeeded to the command of the XXth Corps ; Brevet Major-Generals George S. Greene, C. C. Walcutt, James D. Morgan, and William T. AVard; also a commendable list of Brevet Brigadier-Generals; George P. Buell, Harrison C. Ho- bart, J. G. Mitchell, B. D. Fearing, William AMnderver, Absalom Baird, Alexander C. McClurg, later at the head of the large pub- lishing house beai'ing his name in Chicago, Daniel Dustin, and many others of like strong and worthy character. Thorough and general discipline was maintained by General Slocum in this last encampment of the Army of Georgia near AVashington. Poll calls, dress pai*ades, and formal guard mount- ings were enforced daily, and all soldiers were required to keep within the limits of their division encampment.. Those permitted to visit Washington with card, were limited in number to five per cent, of those present. Announcement was made by General Slocum May 30th, that such progress hacl been made with the muster out and rolls of discharges, that actual mustering out of military service would begin this day ; and Sherman gave notice that regiments would begin their return to their respective homes the next day at the rate of about 7,000 per day; and within ten days all members of his armies should be on their way home or to their new camps of rendezvous for continued service. After consultation, and much consideration, General Grant wrote to the Secretary of War recommending discontinuance of the Army of Georgia inasmuch as it had completed its work as such, and he further recommended the transference of all the veteran troops of it not now discharged, to the Army of the Tennessee. Preparatory to entering upon this plan General Slo- cum issued his Special Orders Number 84, June 4th, transferring certain officers and regiments of his XXth Army Corps to his XIAGh Corps, and certain officers and regiments of his XIAAh to his XXth Corps, and directing other officers to report to other headquarters for assignment to future service. His work now being completed with this organization, his farewell address was forthcoming, namely : Gaunt from the March of 1,000 Miles Through the Heart of the Confederacy 1865 PARTS FROM HIS ARMY. HIS FAREWELL 321 General Orders, ) Headquarters Army of Georgia, No. 15. ) 'Washington, D. C., June 6, 1865. With the separation of the troops composing this army, in compliance with recent orders, the organization known as the Army of Georgia will virtually cease to exist. Many of you will at once return to your homes. No one now serving as a volunteer will probably be retained in the service against his will but a short time longer. All will soon be permitted to re- turn and receive the rewards due them as the gallant defenders of their eountry. While I cannot repress a feeling of sadness at parting with you, I congratulate you upon the grand results achieved by your valor, fidelity, and patriotism. No generation has ever done more for the permanent establishment of a just and liberal form of government, more for the hon- or of their nation, than has been done during the past four years by the armies of the United States and the patriotic people at home who have poured out their wealth in support of these armies with a liberality never before witnessed in any country. Do not forget the parting advice of that great chieftain (Sherman) who led you through your recent bril- liant campaign: ‘As in war you have been good soldiers, so in peace be good citizens. ’ Should you ever desire to resume the honored profession you are now about to leave, do not forget that this profession is hon- orable only when followed in obedience to the orders of the constituted authority of your government. With feelings of deep gratitude to each and all of you for your uniform soldierly conduct, for the patience and fortitude with which you have borne all the hardships it has been neces- sary to impose upon you, and for the unflinching resolution with which you have sustained the holy cause in which we have been engaged, I bid you farewell. _ Id. W. Slocum, Major-General, Commanding. no On the 9th of June the 1st Division of the XIYtli Army Corps started from Washington by railway trains for Louisville, Kentucky, and further south. Different parts of this and the XXth Corps were at this time already at their homes or nearly there with their honorable discharge papers. This day General Slocum was granted twenty days leave of absence by the War Department, and he accompanied his family to their home in Syracuse, New York, where he received a rousing and joyful welcome. Although scattered after General Slocum’s farewell address, the Army of Georgia 1 was not fully and formally dissolved until June 17th when the War Department in its General Orders Num- ber 117 transferred all of its undischarged men to the Army of the Tennessee, thus completing the record at Washington. 21 322 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 CHAPTER L Commands Department of Mississippi. Resignation By formal orders of President Andrew Johnson and the Sec- retary of War, June 24th, General Slocum was notified that he was assigned to the command of the Department of Mississippi, with headquarters at Vicksburg. This was more than double the territory and responsibility of his former command of the Dis- trict of Vicksburg. June 27th the War Department issued its General Orders Number 118, dividing the United States anew into military divisions and departments. Much thought had been given to this work by Lieutenant-General Grant, the Secretary of War, and their advisers. General Sherman was returned to the southwest as he desired to be, with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. It was a great compliment to General Slocum to be returned to Vicksburg with extended territory and increased powers. But he did not seek the place. He did not want to return to the South. He preferred to leave the military service now that the war was practically ended and the Union preserved in all its integrity, if the laws could be enforced. However, he realized that he had done much good in Mississippi before being imperi- ously called to aid Sherman in the Chattanooga-Atlanta Cam- paign ; and he recognized the great compliments of General Grant regarding his work at that time and, also at this time in insisting upon his return to Mississippi to continue the work of instituting, or continuing, that law and order that should prevail throughout the land, and which was there formerly so well begun by him. It had not been, in any way, characteristic of Slocum to shun danger or responsibility, and now it Avas not his desire to shun any assistance that he could give to the neiv administration in the delicate, and possibly unpleasant, Avork before it in inaugurat- ing much of a new and possibly difficult regime in one of the great and haughty States of the South which, though its strongest armies had laid, or Avere about to lay, down their arms, there was an open boast that the South Avas yet unconquered. General Slo- cum accepted the assignment, and soon reported to the War Department in person as ready for duty. General Slocum proceeded to Mississippi, met the prominent 1865 COMMANDS DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI 323 officers there, military and civil, with whom he would have to deal and, after considering the entire field, its conditions and needs, he issued his General Orders Number One, dated Vicks- burg, Mississippi, July 14th. It announced to the United States soldiers, and the citizens of the State, his authority for coming to them, and named the members of his staff that they might be known and respected accordingly, namely: Captain J. Warren Miller, assistant adjutant-general; Major and Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel Eugene W. Guindon, Captain and Brevet Major William W. Moseley, and Captain and Brevet Major William G. Tracy, aides-de-camp. In his General Orders Number Two, July 17th, General Slocum announced his military divisions of the State, namely : The Western District of Mississippi, embracing the counties of Bolivar, Sunflower, Washington, Yazoo, Issaquena, and Warren, with his assignment of Brigadier-General Jasper A. Maltby to its command with headquarters at Vicksburg ; The Southern District, embracing that part of the State south of the northern line of the counties Claiborne, Copiah, Lawrence, Covington, Jones and Wayne, with Brevet Major-General John W. Davidson com- mander with headquarters at Natchez ; and the Northern Dis- trict, embracing the part of the State not included in the Western and Southern Districts with Major-General Peter J. Osterhaus as commander with headquarters at Jackson. The Northern and Southern Districts were designated as ‘Divisions’ and the Western District as a ‘Separate Brigade’ in the sense implied in the War Department’s General Orders Number 251, Series of 1864, to enable the commanding officer to convene general courts-martial when necessary. By General Orders Number 130 of the War Department July 28th, Generals Osterhaus, Manning, Force, Ewing, and Davidson, were ordered to report to General Slocum at Vicksburg for as- signment duty. The Special Orders Number Four, July 21st, of Genei’al Slocum, transferred the 66th Regiment of Colored Infantry from the Western to the Southern District of Mississippi, and it there reported to Brevet Major-General Davidson at Natchez. The quartermaster’s department was ordered to furnish means of transportation. 324 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 Announcement of further appointments on General Slo- cum’s staff was made this day, namely : Colonel Henry M. Whit- telsey, as chief quai-termaster ; Colonel Samuel H. Sturdevant chief commissary of subsistence; Colonel Van E. Young, 49th United States Colored Infantry, provost marshal-general; Lieu- tenant-Colonel George S. Kemble, surgeon of volunteers, medical director ; Captain Geoi’ge A. Williams, 1st United States Infantry, chief mustering officer; Captain James II. Landers, 8th New Hampshire Veteran Infantry, assistant commissary of musters; Captain Samuel Caldwell, 8th Illinois Veteran Infantry, judge- advocate. By order of the War Department Augxxst 14th, there was a reduction of the number of white United States ti’oops by the following named discharges: in Virginia 5,000; the Middle Di- vision 6,000; Washing-ton, District of Columbia, 8,000; Ken- tucky 5,000; North Carolina 8,000; in Slocum’s Department of Mississippi 2,000. Up to August 22nd white Union troops had been mustered out of service to the number of 719,338. 11X This was getting down to a dangerous basis of colored troops, in the State of Mississippi particularly without thoughtful and prudent generalship. The emancipation of the slaves had been broadly considered throughout the North, and in other countries, England particu- larly, as a distinct moral result of the war; but the later acts of President Johnson, a Southern man, made him open to severe criticism by the Congress and the general sense of the North- ern people; while those of the South had become highly elated and emboldened by Johnson’s proclamations of pardon and amnesty; also with some of his appointments of provisional gov- ernors. At this juncture influences wex*e brought to bear upon the President for the appointment of General Carl Schurz to make a tour through the / South for observation of the condition of af- fairs generally. Schurz started early in July, and he passed three months in travel and in interviewing all classes of people. He found them all unable, or unwilling, to look upon or to deal with the colored people other than as slaves. Wherever these people began to assert their freedom, or to object to the extreme dictations of the former regime, they were maltreated in various 1865 COMMANDS DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI 325 ways. The work of the Freedman’s Bureau was nullified by word and deed as far as possible. He found the sentiment ‘ ovei*- powered, but not conquered’ lauded as chivalorus by the news- papers, women, young people, and clergymen; in fact by prac- tically all of those who had not been in the army, as. well as by many who had been soldiers. The pernicious effects of this senti- ment were seen everywhere, making it difficult in some districts for the United States military officers to maintain peace. Some citizens who had been known to express Union sentiments in the past, were now driven from their homes. “If there were some optimists regarding the proposed new order of things, there were far more pessimists of the cynical kind. ... It was the sincere desire of the United States Government, including the military officers and soldiers, to hasten the self-governing con- dition of every part of each of the Southern States, although many things occurred to largely defeat the intended good result.” 106 It was part of the plan of General Schurz to visit all of the prominent military commanders. As early as practicable he called on General Slocum at Vicksburg and lie there received a cordial welcome. He found Slocum pondering over a most im- portant, and complicated question. The military forces of Mis- sissippi, or many of them, desired to retain their organization in order to ‘keep peace with the obstinate niggers.’ They had raided different bands of negroes who were not readily coerced to accept the desires of the soldiers along the antebellum line of coercion. To this conduct of ‘affairs, as a matter of course, Gen- eral Slocum objected. The provisional governor, William L. Sharkey, favored the continuance of the State Militia to keep in favor with the popular sentiment; while the United States Col- ored troops saw serious result in such continuance. In this last opinion General Slocum warmly concurred; and he issued an order for the disbandment of the Mississippians. General Sehurz readily and fully accorded with General Slocum’s view and ac- tion regarding this question, and he so reported to President Johnson. The reply from Johnson was that General Slocum should not have issued such order. Governor Sharkey had, upon further consideration, given up his acquiescence for a State Militia as an experiment too dangerous to continue, thus placing himself in harmony with General Slocum’s action. 326 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 Upwards of 200,000 negro troops had been gathered into the United States service. The number of these remaining in Mis- sissippi in 1865 was but 1,412. 112 His warm friend Sherman no longer had control of Slo- cum’s department; but there was a regular private correspond- ence between them. In Slocum’s letter about this time he fore- shadowed his resignation from the military service, and he in- closed a copy of his order against the organization of the Mis- sissippi Militia at this time. His letter reads as follows : Headquarters Department of Mississippi, My Dear General: Vicksburg, Miss., August 27, 1865. Your favor of the twenty-second has just come to hand. I came here without my family with the intention of remaining only until the surplus generals were mustered out. I did not like to go out with a crowd of worthless officers who should have been mustered out long ago ; but I think : — and Company will outlive me after all, as I do not intend to spend the winter here. I shall pay you a visit on my way home. Force has reported and been assigned to the command of the Vicks- burg District, relieving Maltby. Force is a good officer and I am glad to get him. Charley Ewing has not yet come. Woods has been very sick at Mobile but is better. I have met many of your old officers and soldiers since we parted, and all of them, without exception, are ‘loyal.’ I inclose an order just published. I did not like to take this step; but Sharkey should have consulted me before issuing an order arming the rebs, and placing them on duty with the darkies in every county of the State. I hope the United States Military will soon be removed from the State, but until this is done it would certainly be bad policy to arm the militia - Yours truly, Maj. Gen. W. T. Shekman, H. W. Slocum. St. Louis, Mo. The reply to this letter was prompt, and is here shown : Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, Dear Slocum- St. Louis, Mo., September 7, 1865. I have just received your letter of August twenty- seventh. Since I wrote you, Charley Ewing has gone down, and must now be with you. I have read all your orders and of course approve beforehand, as you, on the spot, are the competent judge. Sourer or later the people South must resume the management of their own affairs, even if they felo-de-se', for the Morth cannot long afford to keep armies here for local police. Still 1865 RESIGNS FROM THE ARMY 327 as long as you do have the force, and the State none, you must of neces- sity control. My own opinion is that self interest will soon induce the present people of Mississippi to invite and encourage a kind of emigration that will, like in Maryland and Missouri, change the wnole opinion. They certainly will not again tempt the resistance of the United States; nor will they ever reinstate the negro. The only question is when will the change occur. I agree with you that if you see your way ahead in civil life, it is to your permanent interest to resign ; it don ’t make much difference when. You have all the military fame you can expect in this epoch. All know your rank and appreciate you, and I would not submit to the scrambling for position next winter if f were in your place, unless you have resolved to stay in the army for life. I shall be delighted to meet you as you come up. 1 am now boarding at the Lindell Hotel, but expect to go to housekeeping in a few days on Garrison Avenue, near Franklin avenue, a fine property, presented to me, on the outskirts of the city, where I shall be delighted to receive you. My office is on Walnut Street, between five and six, near the Southern Hotel. Always your friend, W. T. Sherman. General Slocum was offered high rank in the United States Regular Army during his lifetime. This would have led in a few years to the chief command, with rank of Lieutenant-Gen- eral. But the war was at an end. He could not be a soldier in time of peace, preferring the free life of a civilian among his friends. He sent to the War Department his resignation from the military service under date of September 28, 1865. It re- quired several weeks’ time for the appointment of his successor, and for his reporting in person for duty. In due course of time Slocum returned to his family in Syracuse, New York, and he there greatly enjoyed the atmospheric and social conditions of his native county, so different and more invigorating were they than had been those of the summer at Vicksburg. General Slocum’s military service had been one of the most continuous and active of all of the officers, throughout the Civil War. His constancy, tenacity, and entire trustworthiness had led to his rapid promotion. He was frequently called upon to command large bodies of men. None of his superiors had just cause of complaint that he was ever dilatory or disobedient. His discipline Avas so thorough that he had little complaint to make regarding his subordinates. Those unworthy were soon recog- nized as such, and they were ‘weeded out’ of his command. His 328 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 1865 worthy generals, and men of the rank and file not disabled, re- mained with him until the last battle was fought and won. He was thorough regarding all details for success — and success uni- formly accompanied his commands and his banners. The following is a resume of the different Army Corps with which General Slocum was connected from time to time : 1st Corps in the Army of the Potomac, as commander of a regiment in the Battle of Bull Run, in 1861. Vlth, Army Corps as commanding a brigade, and as division commander, as Brigadier-General, and Major-General, in pro- tecting Washington; in the Peninsular Campaign; the Maryland Campaign and at the Battles of South Mountain or Crampton’s Pass, and at the Antietam. Xllth Corps, as full commander; at Harper’s Perry; the Shenandoah Valley; in the Grand Reserve protecting Washing- ton, to and at the battles of Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg ; pursuing the enemy back to the Rappahannock and Rapidan; and in protecting the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, in the Army of the Cumberland. 1st Illrd, Xlth, and Xllth Corps, Army of the Potomac, the evening and night of the first day at battle of Gettysburg. Vth, Vlth, Xllth, and parts of other Corps, in the Battle of Gettysburg. Ilnd and Xllth Corps in pursuit of the enemy from Gettys- burg to and at the Rappahannock and Rapidan. XVIIth Army Corps in part, and local forces, garrisons in fortifications at Vicksburg, Natchez, and other parts of the Dis- trict of Vicksburg, including gunboats and naval militia, with headquarters at Vicksburg. XXth Corps, composed of the Union of the Xlth and Xllth Corps, in the Chattanooga and Atlanta Campaign from Chatta- hoochee and in the occupation of Atlanta, Army of the Cum- berland. XIVth and XXth Corps, composing the Army of Georgia, and often the Cavalry, in the great March to the Sea, the occupa- tion of Milledgeville, and Savannah. XIVth, XVth, and XXth Corps in the Campaign of South Carolina, also the Cavalry, from Savannah to Sister’s Perry. XIVth and XXth Corps, composing the Army of Georgia, 1865 HIS EXTENSIVE AND SUCCESSFUL WORK 329 in the Campaign of the Carolinas, the battles of Averysborough and Bentonville ; and in the Triumphal March through Richmond and to Washington, at the close of the war. The great March to the Sea, through the heart of Georgia, and northward through the hearts of South and North Carolina, without any permanent or friendly base of supplies excepting while at Savannah and Fayetteville, must always be considered as a most brave and perilous undertaking. It will remain in history as the longest, one of the severest, and most hazardous undertak- ings on record in a civilized country. Its results on the sur- render of the different Confederate armies from those of Lee and Johnston to all others, as well as of important cities, was all that could have been desired. It fully demonstrated to the strong belligerant States, and Armies, of the rebelling Confed- eracy the futility of their, further struggle. The proud cities of Milledgeville, Savannah, and Fayette- ville, were captured without battle, and Columbia with little show of opposition. Charleston was vacated of armed resistance to its occupancy by United States authorities as soon as its railway lines of food supplies were cut by the Union troops on the great march. The battle of the Last Chance of tire Confederacy was fought, and won, by General Slocum March 19th and 20th. The Confed- erate Government disappeared from sight and hearing with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee April 9th. General Joseph E. Johnston, Slocum’s opponent, surrendered April 26th. Lieuten- ant-General Richard Taylor made what he thought to be the last surrender of the war east of the Mississippi River, May 4th at Citronelle, Alabama. General Samuel Jones surrendered the enemy’s troops in Florida May 10th. The Unionist President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation May 10th, to the effect that all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws of the United States had ceased. But General Jefferson Thompson sur- rendered only part of the troops west of the Mississippi River May 11th at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas ; and May 1.3th the last en- gagement of the militant Confederates occurred at Palmetto Ranch, Texas. General Kirby Smith did not lay down his arms until May 26th, and he was nominally in charge of all Con- federate troops west of the Mississippi. 330 .J'y. //" At the Close of his Military Career. Age 39 Years 1865 RETIRES FROM ARMY TO PRIVATE LIFE 331 On the sea, the Confederates did not take down their flag until July 1, 1865, their vessels having been distant from United States port. According to the decisions of the Supreme Court the Civil War ceased as a status in Tennessee June 13, 1865; in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, it ceased as a status April 2, 1866. In Texas, New Mexico, and the Indian Territory, it ceased August 20, 1866. But these later dates were judicial, not military. General Slocum did not sheathe his sword finally until the last armed enemy of the United States had fully surrendered. The war was ended ; and he could not be a soldier in time of peace. CHAPTER LI To Brooklyn. Letters. Elected to Congress The political parties of New York were very active in the year 1865 and, as early as August, General Slocum had been quite annoyed by long letters from prominent members of the parties there importuning him to accept the office at the head of the ticket, that of Secretary of State, the Governor not being elected this year. Both parties urged their claims for their plat- forms, and for him to permit his name to be presented to the convention. Slocum’s family and other immediate friends were surprised when the Democratic Convention placed his name at the head of its ticket. But this was a Republican year and General Francis C. Barlow, whose name was at the head of the opposing ticket, was elected, in the November election. Bar- low was an able officer, and a worthy man, and Slocum did not mourn his own defeat. As an item of news, Slocum must needs mention in his letter this, his first defeat, to his friend Sherman. The reply was characteristic : Saint Louis, Mo., December 26, 1865. Gen. H. W. Slocum, Syracuse, New York. Dear Slocum : I got home last Friday after a three weeks’ absence down in Arkan- sas, and found, among a budget of letters received, your valued favor of Nov. thirtieth. This is my first leisure hour since, and I hasten to assure you of my great personal attachment, and that I would do almost anything that would mark my favor to you. 332 HENRY WARNER SLOCUM 1865 I think I was more disappointed at your non-eleetion than you could have been; for I thought that politics had not so strong a hold on New York as to defeat you for an office that should have been above the in- fluence of mere party organization. But you are young, aud can stand it; and I know that, some time later, your State will recognize and reward you if you need it, for the military services such as you rendered your country. At some future time I will come on to Syracuse and stop a day with you to assure you of my great partiality, and also to renew the short but most agreeable acquaintance formed in Washington with your wife, to whom I beg you will convey my best compliments. As to delivering a lecture at Albany, I must decline. The truth is, on abstract subjects I know I would be as prosy as a cyclopedia, and not half as accurate; and to speak on matters of personal interest, past, present or future, I would be sure to give rise to controversies, useless or mis- chievous. Of the events with which we are connected, I am already com- mitted, and must stand by the record. Were I to elaborate them it would detract from the interest of what now stands as a contemporaneous narra- tive. I really think we do best to let others now take up the thread of history, and treat of us as actors of the past. Please write to Mr. Doty that I am much complimented by his flat- tering invitation; that I appreciate the object he aims to accomplish, and would be glad to assist therein, but that outside considerations would make it unbecoming to appear in the nature of a lecturer. Too much importance has already been given to the few remarks I have made at times when I simply aimed to acknowledge a personal compliment, and to gratify a natural curiosity by people whose imaginations have been excited by the colored pictures drawn by the press. I have not preserved out of the late war a single relic — not a flag, not a curious shot or shell; nothing but those simple memories which every New York soldier retains as well as I do. I do think that your regiment was so filled by young men of education and intelligence that the commis- sioners will find their records swelling to an extent that will more than gratify their fondest expectations. We are now living in great comfort here. Your excellent photograph has its place in the albums of each of my children, and Mrs. Sherman re- gards you with special favor. Wishing you all honor and fame among your own people, I shall ever regard you as one of my cherished friends. With respects, W. T. Sherman, Major-General. Tt was not the nature of General Slocum to remain idle. It had been his desire, and expectation, to open an office for the continued practice of the law. While considering- the important question of the city for his future residence, the great advant- ages of that part of New York City then known as Brooklyn 1868 CORRESPONDENCE WITH SHERMAN 333 were forcefully presented to him and, after a short prospecting visit in that city among friends, he and his wife decided upon that city for their residence; and he there entered upon the practice of law in the spring of 1866. It is the desire of the writer to present every item in the history of his subject that may give the reader side-lights as well as front-liglits upon the character and actuating motives of this great military commander, who was always sensitive re- garding the fair names and fame of those who were, or had been, under his command and, to a just degree sensitive regarding his own rights in all things and at all times. The following letter relates to subjects relative to which most writers on the Great Civil War have been ignorant or defective, in their duty to their readers : Brooklyn, N. Y., March 8, 1868. My Dear General: Your favor of February twenty-fourth has been received. The en- closure (relative to claim for services of a woman in Georgia) was en- dorsed and forwarded in compliance with your request. I read with much interest your views as to the future meetings of the officers of your old armies. I have read the proceedings at Cincin- nati, including the speeches of yourself and General Thomas, and I frankly confess to you what I have admitted to no other person, that I was a little disappointed that no mention whatever was made by any one of my com- mand under you in the Great March. My command constituted nearly one- half of your force [one-half excepting Kilpatrick's relatively small arm of cavalry] on that march, and your reports show that it bore more than one-half of the losses you suffered, and I think it entitled me to a word of recognition. According to the maps, General Thomas [in far off Ten- nessee] commanded the Army of Georgia as well as that which defended Nashville, and I cannot for the life of me tell what command I had! I begin to doubt whether or not I was with you! In order that I may get posted on these matters, T think I shall attend the next meeting; but I assure you I am too lazy or too indifferent on the subject to quarrel with my associates for ‘the honors.’ Since the eventful days that we spent in Raleigh, I have witnessed some wonderful changes. Logan, who then feared that Frank Blair and myself would be radicals when we reached home, can now throw ‘ old Thad Stevens’ in the shade. Stanton is earnestly supported by the Grand Army of the Republic, although at that time he was exceedingly unpopular in the Army of Georgia. Ambition and self-interest have wiped out the memory of the past, buried old friendships, and brought into the same fold those who were then sworn enemies. I presume that it is better that it should be so. Still, 334 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM I cannot curse a man one day and fawn on him the next. I cannot declare slavery the natural and proper condition of the negro to-day and to-morrow advocate his right to make constitutions and laws. Hence I think I shall never make a politician. And if I am not a politician, of what value is a military record! Thomas may have the credit of commanding your Left Wing, and Logan the credit of Bentonville. ... On personal as well as political matters, I stand on the Raleigh platform. Perhaps I owe you an apology for referring to these matters in reply- ing to your kind letter ; but as I never allude to them in conversation with friends, or in letters to the press, I trust you will pardon me for writing to you just what I think and feel. I am still living a quiet and happy life at my home in Brooklyn where Mrs. Slocum as well as myself will ever be glad to welcome you. Lieut. Gen. W. T. Sherman, Your friend > H. W. Slocum. St. Louis, Mo. An early reply to this letter was received, namely : Dear Slocum: St. Louis, Mo., March 13 r 1868. Yours of March eighth is received. I was very glad to see that you took things so philosophically. It should have been my business to have looked after the interests of the absent; but I was told that all would be toasted and noticed, and as many officers of the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps were there I looked to them to say some kind words of you. At all events, I was not conscious that any one had been so omitted till the re- ports came in print, when I saw at a glance what construction you would put upon it. I will, however, make all the amends I can, and aim to bring all together for once this winter at' Chicago, early in December, and afford all the armies once in my command an opportunity to have their own spokesman. I have a letter from Schofield highly approbating and will now write Thomas, who has never recovered exactly from the criticism on his slow fighting at Nashville, and my taking out of his army two strong corps, a fact that J see, plain enough, he would ignore. As to politics, it is impossible for language to convey my detestation of them. I have seen Fear, Cowardice, Treachery, Villainy in all its shapes contort and twist men ’s judgment and actions, but none of them like politics. It may be that polities are honest, respectable, and necessary to a republican form of government; but I will none of them. As you say, Logan is a sample. I remember his ranting and pitching about that old Pagan in Raleigh, pretty much the same style as now, but slightly differ- ent in principle. They have tried to rope roe in more than once, but I have kept out and shall do so as long as I can; and then I hope I shall die before what little fame I have is lost and swept away. Your friend, W. T. Sherman, Lt. General. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR. CONGRESSMAN 335 Unsought by him, Slocum’s name was placed on the ticket for Member of the Forty-first United States Congress in 1868, also for Presidential Elector ; and he was elected to both offices. At the expiration of this term, he was re-elected to the next Congress in the year 1870, when the opposing party in the dis- trict had a natural majority. In justice to General Hooker who had apparently ceased being vindictive, as well as to General Slocum who twice official- ly declined to serve under Hooker for which he took offense, the following letter is here presented to show that Slocum could meet Hooker in a civil way as man should meet man, namely : Brooklyn, N. Y., May 20tk, 1875. Dear General: Please accept my thanks for the copy of your book received yester- day. I have not read it, but have read all the extracts published in the New York papers, together with editorial comments. While I anticipate a great row to result from it, I am glad you published it. It throws a flood of light on the story of your campaigns, and not only corrects many errors that have crept into history, but will prevent other falsehoods from appearing. I accidentally met General Hooker a day or two ago. He was very cordial in his manner towards me. Your book of course became a topic of conversation at once. He is not pleased with it, but was less bitter than I anticipated he would be. He showed me a letter written to him by Geo. Wilkes on October 14, 1864, in which Wilkes relates an interview he had just had with Stanton, in which Stanton shows his animosity to you. He suggests to Hooker that he has placed him in command of a Depart- ment where he can not only build up himself, but undermine you. There is not a doubt but that the letter is genuine, and it is a truthful statement of the interview. I would very much like to see you. When are you going on the plains? You promised to inform me. Yours truly, H. W. Slocum. In the year 1876 General Sloeum was chosen for the im- portant office of Commissioner of Public Works in the rapidly developing City of Brooklyn. His personal business affairs be- came so engrossing, however, that he deemed it wise to resign the commissionership before his term had expired. He passed the summer of 1880 in travel through Europe with his family, re- turning home in time to participate in the presidential campaign of that year, delivering addresses in different Northern States 336 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM in favor of tlie candidacy of his old comrade, General W. S. Hancock. At the New York State Convention in 1882, his Demo- cratic friends presented his name for Governor. The writer of this book was in this convention at Syracuse, Avliere the first few ballotings portended his nomination. During an intermission the delegates from the western part of the State ‘connived with certain ones of New York City’ and by the next ballot Grover Cleveland of Buffalo w'as declared nominated, by a small ma- jority. At the election this was declared to be the tidal wave Democratic year. Mr. Cleveland, from the simple fact that he was a Democrat, received the phenomenal majority of 192,000. Slocum’s friends placed his name on the ticket for member of the United States Congress and he was elected by a full share of the great number of votes cast. The writer cannot refrain from transcribing here another characteristic letter from the great Sherman : Washington, D. C., Dec. 9, 1882. Dear Slocum: Looking over the New York papers of this morning I noticed the Club Dinner in Brooklyn in which yon and Beecher spoke, and it occurred to me that may be I ought to have written you congratulating you on your recent election to the next House of Representatives. As a matter of course, my thoughts of you, if not of all persons and things, revert back to our army service together, and I do believe I feel the pleasure of a father when any of my old comrades attain anything they desire, be it wealth, influence or station; but time has not: stopped, and we hardly recognize each other after seventy eventful years. Polities too, seem to color objects as with a glass, and it might seem disloyal for me to rejoice at the success of a Democrat. But if you, General Slocum, want to come to Congress, I surely am glad that you have come endorsed by such a vote of your fellow citizens, which I choose to interpret as more due to your personal merits and qualities than to your partizan associates. One reason of my regret is that you come just as I leave. Don’t for a moment believe that because a few newspaper scribblers have construed me a martyr, and consequently that I am a fit subject for a Presidential candidate. The thought to me is simply repulsive. I would not be a candidate if I could, and I could not if I would. No, I have my house at St. Louis, my family are anxious to get back, and T am equally so. All our neighbors, are as jubilant at the idea of our coming back, and T would be the veriest fool to undergo the torture of a canvass and four years of vorry and discomfort for an honor I do not covet or appreciate. I have seen Presidents Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, Grant, Hayes, and RE-ELECTED TO CONGRESS. BUSINESS 337 Garfield, and there is nothing in their experience which tempts me to depart from my convictions. I am under no obligations to sacrifice myself for the Republicans. They called me to Washington against my will, and so legislated that I could not afford to live in a house given to me as a com- pliment. They cut my pay down below what Lt. Gen. Scott had in 1848, when a dollar was worth two of to-day. Not a year since but my personal expenses have exceeded my salary. They allowed Secretary Belknap to pile up his indignities on me, so that self respect compelled me to go away. All this you know; so that T should owe anything like gratitude to the Republicans is out of the question. But enough. I am glad you have suc- ceeded, and sorry I must leave just as you are coming. Yours truly, W. T. Sherman. In 1883 General Slocum’s friends again rallied for his nomination for the presidency ; but there was again at this time a combination of political intriguers with whom he declined to train. But he permitted his name to be used on the ticket for Congress at large from New York State, and he was elected. He was chosen Commissioner of the great Brooklyn Bridge, the first effort in that form of enterprise, and he was influential in de- claring it free for the public use. CHAPTER LII Civil and Social Services. Business Ventures In the year 1882 as many surviving members as were able of General Slocum’s first command in the Civil War, the 27th New York Regiment, attended a reunion at the General’s resi- dence in Brooklyn. Here refreshments were served to them in part by members of the General’s family. This hospitality re- called to the minds of the veteran survivors an incident; that oc- curred at the Elmira Barracks in 1861, early in their prepara- tory soldierly experience, as follows: One day a deputation arrived from Syracuse to pay respects to Colonel Slocum’s 'men. The Barrack Mess-tables were soon spread and the boys partook of a feast of good things, home made by the visitors. Among the party was Mrs. Slocum with an infant in her arms. During the time of compliments and speeches which followed the repast, Captain Wanzer held out his hands to the child which, attracted by his smile and his shining buttons, leaped into his arms. 22 338 EON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM Wanzer called to order, and congratulated liis comrades that Syracuse had sent with their handsome Colonel a darling c hil d as ‘Daughter of the Regiment.’ None who witnessed this pleas- ing episode then thought that those baby fingers would help serve a banquet to battle-scarred veterans, only a remnant of those youthful volunteers, at a regimental reunion at the residence of General Slocum twenty-one years later. This communication comes to the writer in part from the Philadelphia Times news- paper by way of George L. Kilmer. In compliance with urgent requests, the General attended the annual reunions of his former troops in different States as often as his increasing business and more local duties would permit. During his official years in the Congress, as well as in his business and social life, he was ever mindful of and for the best interests of those who had done good military service in the Civil War. While he could not for a moment sympathize with pretenders, false or insufficient claims for government bounties in form of pensions or any other undue favors, he w r as fully sympathetic for all those who had been persistent and honorable servers of their country in any capacity during the years of great need of loyal and trustworthy servants. While favoring United States Homes for certain disabled soldiers, he sympathized with the efforts of States as much as possible that they might care for their own soldiers in State in- stitutions. He early took action regarding the New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home at Bath. Steuben County, and, from its inception to his death, he continued to serve as the head of its board of control without any pecuniary compensation. To his former brave comrade in arms, Major-General Fitz John Porter, he remained a loyal, firm friend when nearly all others forsook, or became discouraged, after the charges pre- ferred against him by General Pope, and the action of the Congress thereon. One of Slocum’s longest and best speeches in the Congress was delivered Friday, January 18, 1884, when the House was in Committee of the Whole, having under considera- tion the relief of Porter from the findings of former military court, the contention at this time being for Porter’s restoration to the Army on the retired list, so as not to oppose, or set aside any worthy officer in commands or places then filled. CIVIL AXD SOCIAL SERVICE. BUSINESS 339 General Slocum early became interested financially in the Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company, this Williams- burg being then within the City of Brooklyn. Other financial investments were presented to him, some of which he discrimin- General Slocum as a Citizen and National Legislator. At Age of 56 Years atelv entered upon, The Peoples' Trust Company of his city be- ing one, and in which he was later chosen a member of its Board of Managers. The business of the Hecker-Jones-Jewell Milling Company attracted him, and he became a member. The other 340 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM members being cognizant of Iris superior business qualities, elected him member of its Board of Directors. The General early observed that the street railway com- panies were not developing their roads as fast as the rapidly in- creasing population and the necessities of the citizens required. He entered upon this business, developed the Crosstown Railroad Company and was chosen its president. He also developed the Smith and Jay Street and Coney Island Trolley Line, and ac- cumulated a controlling interest, bringing all of these ventures to a satisfactory condition for their patrons and stockholders. A deep and increasing interest in children and in the prop- er progress of civilization in their behalf led Slocum to cham- pion the right for their betterment ; and to contend strenuously if necessary for the proper punishment of evil minded per- sons who, for pecuniary gain or any other cause, sought to de- moralize them, or any person or the community,! in any sense or way. In this great work we find the General ’s name heading the list of a loyal band of moral heroes ’ standing shoulder to shoulder in Brooklyn with Rev. William Ives Buddington, D. D., Henry R. Jones, Alfred S. Barnes, Courtland Dixon, J. C. Hutchinson, M. D., and others in the support of Anthony Comstock for the sup- pression of vice instigation and dissemination. A short time before the decease of General Slocum his friend General Stewart L. Woodford met him in the street and asked him how much of truth there was in the statement of a mutual friend that he (Slocum) would like to be a member of the Board of Education. General Slocum replied that he had made such statement, and he said to Woodford: “Mayor Sehieren is my near neighbor, and I would not like to say it to him myself, but I wish you would tell him that if, when he is making up the list of new trustees, he has no one else, I would like to go into the Board of Education. All my ambition has passed away, but in the closing years of my life I would like to help the children of Brooklyn. A man can do more good in helping the children to be taught well than he can in commanding an army.” The Brooklyn Club appealed to Slocum as a good place to occasionally meet his friends of the city, and to entertain an occasional caller from a distance ; and his election to the board WORKS FOR BETTERMENT OF MANKIND 341 of control had a strong effect in retaining this institution within wholesome bounds of operation. The General was a member, to the time of his decease, by State appointment, of the Board of Gettysburg Monuments Com- missioners. To the multiform duties of this State work he gave much time and thought. New York far surpassed any other State in the number of troops in the Battle of Gettysburg, and its losses there were at least relatively in same proportion. There were of the citizens of New York killed in this battle, 82 officers and 912 enlisted men; wounded 306 officers and 3,763 enlisted men. General Slocum had the reputation of being a good public speaker although he appeared as little as practicable in public addresses. He visited the Battle-field of Gettysburg occasionally in line with his duties there as Monuments Commissioner, and there it Avas necessary that he should address the large numbers of those anxious to hear him. Part of his address at the dedica- tion or unveiling of the monument erected in honor of his 149th Regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry, September 18, 1892, will be here given to illustrate his practical style of presenting historical questions, being at once very satisfactory to those present from its descriptive data, and quite the opposite to those at home who eA’aded military service. The report of this address is printed in full in the Final Report in the year 1900, of the Commission occupying three quarto volumes, in volume iii, pages 1016, 1017. The monuments referred to in the address are beautifully pictured in these books, all of Avhich does great honor to the great Empire State, the native place of the General and the writer. The address in question is as follows : 1 ‘ Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen : “We haA r e assembled to dedicate this beautiful monument, which marks one of the places Avhere the One hundred . and forty-ninth New York Volunteers fought on this field. My* rela- tions to this regiment were peculiar. It A\ r as raised in my native county. Many of its members were my personal friends. It served with me from the Battle of Antietam to the close of the war, taking an active and important part not only on this field, but in a score of other battles. It was with me on the great 342 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM march from Atlanta to the Sea, and from Savannah to Wash- ington. I should be ungrateful, indeed, if I failed to do all in my power to perpetuate the memory of its gallant deeds. “Soon after the close of the war, a few gentlemen, foresee- ing the interest which must be felt in the field on which the turn- ing battle of the great civic war was fought, formed an associa- tion known as the ‘Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Associa tion. ’ A portion of the land on which the battle was fought was purchased, and it became the property of the Association. The location of the various regiments and batteries were marked. The first monument erected on the field was the one on this line, erected by Massachusetts to mark the place where so many men of the gallant Second Massachusetts gave up their lives. This was followed by the State of Pennsylvania. Then some of the soldiers of our State, remembering that we had more men in this battle, and lost more in killed and wounded than any other State, went to our legislature and secured an appropriation of $1,500 for each regiment and battery from New York, to be used in the erection of monuments. We have now on this field eiglity-two monuments. I congratulate you that after the lapse of twenty-nine years you are permitted to return, and with this monument mark the place where you and your comrades so gal- lantly fought. “For many years after the Battle of AVaterloo, English his- torians, poets and novelists vied with each other in glorifying the heroes who fought under Wellington on that renowned field. These laudations reached every fireside where the English lan- guage was spoken. In my schoolboy days a part of our daily ex- ercises in reading was an extract from ‘Childe Harold’ on the celebrated ball given by the Duchess of Richmond to the of- ficers of Wellington’s army on the night before the Battle of Waterloo. Every schoolboy could repeat those lines from Byron. And at that I thought, if I ever crossed the ocean my first visit would be to that far-famed field, and that the sight of- it and of one of the heroes who fought there would amply recompense me for the journey. “And yet, comrades, you fought on this field a battle greater than that of Waterloo; greater in the number of men engaged; ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG DEDICATION 343 greater in the loss of killed and wounded; and far greater in its effect upon the destinies of mankind. You often hear some of your comrades spoken of as ‘poor old soldiers.’ Some of them, I regret to say, are poor — poor in health and poor in pocket. But, in another sense, no soldier is absolutely poor. We are all rich in a wealth of memory; rich in feelings such as must have come rushing upon you as you ap- proached this field after a lapse of twenty-nine years. They are all rich in a nation’s gratitude. “During our Civil War there wei’e men in every Northern State of an age and in a physical condition to qualify them for the service, and had no ties binding them to their homes stronger than those which bound you and me to ours, but who could not be drawn into the ranks even by a draft. Some of them cannot prove to-day by their substitutes that they ever bade ‘God speed’ to one of these substitutes, or to any other soldier as he marched to the field! Some of them cannot prove by their own families that in the hour of the Nation’s peril that they did so much patriotic service as to even breathe the hope that the nest news from the front would bring tidings of a Union victory. They spent their time criticising the government — cursing Lin- coln’s hirelings and damning the draft law. And when the war was over, disappointed that it had not proven a failure, some of them sought to rob the government creditor by compelling the redemption of his bonds by an unlimited issue of paper money. Now, my comrades, I know not of what you think of this breed of patriots, but I have no hesitation in saying that, in my judg- ment, the poorest old soldier that served on this field, as he hobbles past you on crutches and in rags, is rich in comparison to one of them ! “Once more I congratulate you on the happy circumstances under which you are permitted to return to this field which re- flects so much honor upon you. To-morrow you go to the Na- tion’s Capitol, and will march once more over the same route that you followed at the Grand Review at the close of the' Avar. You will find the Capitol City greatly improved. Instead of a straggling \dllage Avith unpaved and dirty streets, you will find one of the most beautiful cities in world — a city teeming Avith life and prosperity. The improvement in the City of Washing- 344 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM ton is typical of that of the entire country. We are a prosperous and happy people, and to you and to your comrades the Nation is indebted for this, prosperity and happiness.” Among his other business ventures was his membership with the Coombs, Crosby and Eddy Company which, like his other associations in business, proved successful. He was invited to membership in the high Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He accepted member- ship in tlxis patriotic association, and was later chosen its Com- mander which office was rather more honorary than otherwise. He was also chosen Honorary President of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. CHAPTER LIII Decease. Spontaneous Testimonials At the beginning of his last sickness General Slocum said positively that death was near. He added ‘ I am ready ; the world owes me nothing,’ wrote Sydney Reid in Harper’s Weekly soon after the General’s decease. His sickness was pneumonia, with renal complication, and weakness of the heart, causing death in the early morning of April 14, 1894, after about a week’s confinement to his house. His widow’s decease occurred in March, 1898. The General had said to his family that he preferred a quiet and unostentatious funeral, even with as little display as possible to avoid. His family, however, justly felt obliged to ac- cede to the requests of the thousands of his, more or less, personal friends and his companions in arms, that they be allowed to do him the honor they felt he so richly earned by his distinguished services to the Republic. The history and associations of General Slocum’s life had been of such public, and important, interest and value in differ- ent senses, that it was inevitable that there should follow his decease numerous public, society, and private testimonials ex- pressing sadness at his departure, and the high esteem in which he was held. The Assembly of the State Legislature publicly acknowl- edged a sense of its and the State’s loss in his death, and ap- DECEASED. SPONTANEOUS TESTIMONIALS 345 pointed a committee to attend the funeral. The Common Coun- cil of the City of Brooklyn resolved to attend the obsequies in a body, that irrespective of politics, “as a lawyer and a business man we have all learned to respect this great man. His name and deeds are a heritage to our beautiful City. . . . that it was not difficult for many of us of this later generation to think of him as the compeer of Lincoln, Grant and Sherman.” The Board of Supervisors of Kings County, embracing Brooklyn,- also met, expressed their warm sense of loss to themselves and the public, and offered condolence to the family; a committee of five was appointed to attend the funeral. Such was the action of the business companies with which the General had been as- sociated. The Senate of the State of New York, and the United States Congress, were quick to take such action, and to spread their sentiments upon their journals. Likewise the Committee on Military Affairs. The social and fraternal societies also sent their similar resolutions, including the Grand Army Posts of the State of New York, and of other States throughout which the numerous soldiers of the general’s different commands w 7 ere dispersed. The funeral exercises consisted of a brief service at his home, 645 Clinton Avenue. Then Rankin Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a member, escorted the body to the Church of the Messiah — Protestant Episcopal, it being the fami- ly place of worship and support. The First United States Ar- tillery Band played a dirge during the march. Reservations were made at the church for the members of the family and relatives, for delegations from the Loyal Legion, and Grand Army, for of- ficers of the Regular Army and Navy, of the National Guard, and for other public, social, and fraternal organizations. The services consisted of the reading of a chapter of Scrip- ture and prayer by the Reverend Charles R. Baker, D. D.. rector, and then the rendering of the full choral service. The Reverend Richard Salter Storrs, D. D., pastor of the Church of the Pil- grims, Congregational, upon request delivered the Address, from which the following are liberal extracts, namely: The spontaneous feeling throughout the city, and equally among the many who have come to us from abroad, seems to take this occasion out of the common, and to allow — perhaps to require — a freer individual utter- 346 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM, DECEASED ance than is usual, concerning him who has gone from among us. It is not so much for honor to him as for satisfaction to our own hearts that we pause for a little, in grateful reminiscence, before going forth, with ban- ners furled and muffled drums, to the final rites. In the brief address assigned to me by the desire of the household of our friend, and through the courtesy of the rector of this church, it is evident that no just and adequate tribute can be paid to the brilliant com- mander and noble citizen around whose coffin we are gathered. The of- fice of sufficient eulogy must plainly be reserved for other times and other voices. But we are surely at liberty to speak, as we are prompted to speak, of what we are henceforth to miss, of what the city is to miss, of what his own household most sadly and deeply is to miss in the removal of this eminent and trusted man from life on earth. We are at liberty, as we are prompted, to recognize gratefully God’s goodness toward him, in the powers which lie gave him, in the education of mind and character which He supplied, and in the opportunity which He opened for great service to the Nation and its future. And while we bow ourselves submis- sively before the present Divine appointment, it is our privilege to gather, as far as we briefly may, certain natural and helpful impressions of what has been and must always be this remarkable and now rounded career. It is, of course, not an especially prolonged life which w'e commemor- ate, though it had nearly reached the scriptural limit of three score years and ten, and to our eyes gave promise of much longer continuance. Nor, of late years, has it been a particularly conspicuous life, this which is now closed, eminent in public observation and thought; though a luster from the past has always signally rested upon it, and the great results coming from one sublime and crowded passage in it have always been recognized. As far as I have seen and known it, it has seemed far more than is common among men removed from the reach of human censure. Certainly it has been a life noble in spirit, in aim, and in effort, which has justly entitled him who achieved it to the place which he held, not only in the affection of friends, but in the universal public esteem. It has been a life presenting as we all must know, extraordinary contrasts, impressive and memorable. This has been true even of the circumstances of his recent departure out of mortal limitations to the greater though unseen Life beyond. Always it is a thing strangely impressive when an invisible chill in the air smites fatally a life which shot aud shell, saber and bayonet, on the most fiercely contested fields of battle had failed to reach ; when one who has trodden battle-fields thickly covered with the dying and the dead, and swimming in blood, is done to death by an impalpable atmospheric current; when one who has pushed his stubborn and impetuous way through swamps writhing with wounded and echoing with groans, or through thickets and forests where the very air was almost solid with the shat- tering bullets, himself more than once dangerously wounded in such ter- rific collisions of force and fire, survives them all, to die afterward in the midst of friends, in his own quiet home, beneath the tender dew of tears, ADDRESS BY REV. RICHARD S. STORES 347 to be laid to rest in the lovely and tranquil neighboring cemetery ‘the place of sleep. ’ There is a contrast here which stirs the imagination, which touches the heart, and which must live in the memory of all. But even this is not so remarkable as that between the career of a great and brilliant general of armies, as our friend was for a series of years, and the quiet, unostentatious, always unassuming citizen and friend, whom we have familiarly known. I remember to have been much im- pressed by this one summer-day nearly a year ago when General Slocum, in one of the last conversations which T had with him, did me the honor to ask me and urge me to give an Address at Gettysburg, on the then approaching anniversary of the great and fateful battle there fought. The Address was impossible, but the interview I gratefully recall. It seemed almost incredible at the time that the modest, friendly, unassuming gentle- man, who sat so quietly talking in my library, should be the great leader who, with forces suddenly diminished, had held the right of the national army with unflinching steadiness to the perilous edge on that day with whose fame the world resounds; w'ho had recaptured positions already torn from him by overwhelming numbers, and had contributed so grandly to the ultimate triumphant success. But so it was always: when one met him on the street, or on any social or festive occasion. The glamour of a great past was upon him, yet beneath it he was as simple as if wholly unknown. lie who had fronted the grimmest and fiercest perils of war with an undisturbed pulse, and at whose command batteries had opened and armies had been launched on their victorious and destroying way, was still our helpful neighbor and cordial friend. Yet even this contrast of past and present positions before men was not so remarkable as was that between the moral and personal qualities shown in the camp, or amid the uproar of battle, and those appearing in subsequent domestic and social life. Men could hardly believe, sometimes, that the daring, energetic, invincible leader, fiercely aggressive, with flash- ing intuition and trained intelligence, and with an utterly unconquerable persistent courage, was the same man in wdiom what was gentle, gracious, playful, affectionate, came so constantly into view at the home and in society; the grasp of whose hand was so cordially welcoming; whose eye was so kindly, whose voice had in it the musical pathos of such serene sympathy; who was so fond of children and friends, of books and of home; that one who had been stern and terrible on occasion, should present himself to all who knew him in later life as among the most lovable and delightful of men. But the contrast here w r as not a real one. It was only apparent. Always there are two aspects of a great character. Strength and beauty are joined in it, as sparkling fountains issue singing from rocky recesses, as delicate blossoms charmingly appear on craggy cliffs. Paul, the most martial of apostles, illustrates this. His favorite imagery was always, as we know, derived from the camp and its armor, the shield, the sword, and helmet of battle. He exhorts his son in the 348 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM gospel to endure hardness as a good soldier. He felt himself a sworn champion for the Crucified and the Crowned; and his words ever since have rung in the world as trumpet-notes, as the throb of artillery, as the stern prophetic shouts of victory. It is impossible not to feel that if he had been a leader of legions he would have been one of the most stalwart of commanders; would have marched to battle with a step as untrembling as that with which he went to his martyr-doom. Yet Paul was the one who wrote to the fierce and fickle Galatian Christians those memorable words “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, good- ness, faith, meekness, temperance” and who exemplified in his life what he so touchingly and persuasively commended. So was it, in his different measure, with our friend. The two phases of character were combined in him, as in even his physical frame grace and strength were met together, elegance of figure with a strange strength and power of endurance. The stern self-surrender and self-sacrifice of the soldier were in him; but also the gentleness, goodness, peace, of the man both loving and beloved. Men will always admire and praise that golden side of his shield which flashed so brilliantly before the eyes' of the nation, the eyes of the world, in the years of the war. But all who knew him have deeply felt that the silver side, which -was turned toward them, -was not less rare, and had upon it a still lovlier luster. So it was that his return to civil and social life when the war was over was wholly natural, involving in it no violent transition. He had not loved war for its own sake. No great commander ever does. He had recognized it as sometimes a sad necessity; the dread arbitrament of bat- tle between the irreconcilable doctrines, causes, tendencies of the age. But it was in order to ultimate peace that he fought. It was for the mainten- ance and advancement of a benign civilization that he had so often fronted death; and therefore when the war was over he turned again to the pur- suits and habits of peace, as naturally and as easily as an eagle from his flight returns to his nest, and settles into its shaded repose. He had done his historic work. He had builded his life into the life of the Nation. Thenceforth the city in which he was joyfully welcomed and honored was to be his sphere of labor, his home, his paradise. It is of course only just to say, what we all feel to be true, that in the removal of this brilliant and faithful soldier and friend Brooklyn has lost her most famous citizen, of the widest present renown; that the Nation has lost one of the foremost among the few thus far remaining of its great and honored commanders in the terrible and successful struggle of the last generation for liberty and national unity. A fresh sense should come to us, on every occasion like this, of our obligation to maintain the nation and make it nobler, for which our friend, and for which many others now present, dared, endured, and were faithful to the end. 'Purchased by blood’ is the crimson and conquering legend on the front of the Church of Christ on earth. ‘Purchased by blood’ is a legend forever to show itself in the history of this Christian nation. Let us highly resolve, now and TESTIMONIALS AFTER HIS DECEASE 349 always, that such heroism in deed, such supremacy of self-sacrifice, shall not for us have been in vain; that the real palm branches borne before our illustrious soldiers, as one by one we carry them to the grave, shall be just laws, public equities, the ever advancing power and beauty of the nation which they saved, within itself, and toward all others. And let us learn, most of all, the great lesson of the character of him who has gone, as it arises before us; that the bravest are the gentlest, the most daring are the most delicate, the most stern in the exacting and critical conjunctures of public history are also the most modest and magnanimous. So his life will further live in our personal lives, as it will! live also, in all coming time, in the renewed and exalted life of the nation which honored him while he lived, and which to-day watches his obsequies. The descending sun leaves behind him a tranquil, lucent glory in the sky, showing that still he shines as before, though now beyond the reach of our vision. The happy remembrance of a friend departed is like that gold on the western heavens, still for a time irradiating our hearts, while telling us also of other spheres of life and work, in God 's grace of a serene and heavenly rest, beyond our furthest time-horizon. And so we leave henceforth our honored friend, our noble citizen, to History and to God. After the church services the body was borne out by the eight sergeants and placed on a gun-carriage. It was then care- fully covered by the American Flag which he had so strenu- ously upheld, and the large and impressive procession moved forward, General Horatio C. King directing. The Light Battery of Artillery from Fort Hamilton under command of Colonel Loomis W. Langdon, and the Twenty-third Regiment of In- fantry under Colonel A. C. Smith, which had been massed near the church, fell in with others in prescribed order, to the number of 3,000 or more, including old soldiers and the National Guard, with long line of carriages containing the families and close relatives, dignitaries, and citizens generally. The principal part of the military escort turned away at Fourth and Atlantic Ave- nues, and the others continued to the historic Greenwood Ceme- tery Reception Vault. As the body was there being deposited the United States Artillery, in which he began his military service, announced his final departure from the view of his mourners by the Major-General’s farewell of twelve gun-dis- charges, the bugler’s sound of ‘taps.’ The vault door was closed, and the long procession began its silent return homeward. The Will of General Slocum was filed for probate by the Brooklyn Trust Company, which was named therein as the ex- 350 HON. HENRY WARNER SLOCUM eeutor. No schedule of property was filed. The testator had been successful in his business ventures and his estate was large. He had been successful in bringing the Brooklyn street railways to a large and profitable patronage by the public. He owned a large amount of the stock of the general system, and a controlling interest in the Brooklyn and Coney Island Railway which was generally spoken of as Slocum’s road. He was its president and general manager until the last two years of his life when he voluntarily gave way to his older son bearing his name. His Will was a short document making two public bequests, namely : $5,000 to the Children’s Aid Society of Brooklyn, and $5,000 to the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, thus contributing to the proper care of some of those who were and are to become the protectors and supporters of their com- munity, State, and Nation. All of the residue of his estate was bequeathed to his widow and their three children. Some of the most touching sentiments of personal loss came later from the New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home at Bath, New York. The flag over this institution was directed placed at half-mast, and a special meeting of the Board of Trus- tees was called for an ‘expression of profound sorrow and re- gret at the loss of their distinguished President.’ At this meet- ing an extended In Memoriam was adopted and ordered pub- lished. A few excerpts will be here given, namely: The first Board of Trustees of the Soldiers’ Home was appointed by Governor Lucius Robinson. It comprised the most distinguished soldiers of New York State, and its members of whom General Henry W. Slocum was appropriately the first named, were eminently fitted by their ability and their devotion to the objects for which the Home was established, to successfully inaugurate its management and make sure its benefits. With unanimous voice General Slocum was elected President, and until the hour of his death he continued the discharge of the duties of that office with unabated zeal. Although residing at a great distance from the Home, and notwithstanding the demands of his large personal business and public duties, he seldom missed a meeting, and never failed in his faithful care for and devotion to the Home and its interests. His rare good business judgment was of inestimable value, and in all trials and difficulties the Board and management turned to him as a tower of strength. But it was not this alone that won and retained our regard and affection. Be- sides this it was those qualities of heart displayed in social intercourse which made him the loved and valued friend of every member of the Board. TESTIMONIALS AFTER HIS DECEASE 351 We mourn his loss to the institution as irreparable. But above and beyond this we are impressed with inexpressible sadness at the sudden sundering of the ties of friendship and social intercourse which have so long existed. The Nation has lost a great soldier, the State an eminent citizen, the business community a distinguished member, and the Soldiers ’ Home a devoted officer. Appreciating his service to our country in war and peace, and the personal qualities that made him worthy of all affection and esteem, we tender to his bereaved family our heart-felt sympathy for the loss of a loving husband and father, a wise counsellor and friend. The Board attended the funeral in a body, at the residence, the church, and to the end. Its In Memoriam ran on for sev- eral pages in length. The Keeley League of the New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home held a special meeting in their club rooms and adopted a series of resolutions regarding their ‘loss of a true and warm advocate and liberal patron of their league.’ Independent Memorial services were held in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, April 29, 1894, where General Slocum’s com- rade General Oliver 0. Howard delivered an eloquent address, and General Benjamin P. Tracy before offering resolutions, said : “We should erect for him a monument, not for his sake, not for ourselves, but for those who will come after us, that they may read of the virtues of this departed hero.” General Slocum had promised to deliver an address, in a historical series, before school children of Brooklyn May 4, 1894; but this date was turned into a memorial sendee of the deceased expected speaker, with Major William G. Tracy, a long-time member of the General’s staff, as speaker. After carefully re- viewing the life of his subject, Major Tracy closed his address as follows : To every commander under whom General Slocum served, he gave prompt and loyal support, doing to the utmost of his power whatever duty came to his hand. No one ever had reason to complain of slowness or languid and insufficient supipert on his account. Always courteous to his equals and subordinates, and submitting to some assertion on their part, without meddling or flattery he was firmly independent with his superiors, and would never submit to unjust criticism or action from them of himself or his command. His military career is spotless and without stain. It was inspired from first to last by pure and noble-minded patriotism. General Slocum was always and essentially a domestic man. His staff 352 HON. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED officers during the war were simply members of liis family. Ever familiar and kind, he endeared himself to all of us by the personal interest he took in everything that concerned us. He restrained our excesses, taught us honesty, temperance and frugality, and while he treated us as his equals, he never allowed us for a moment to forget the respect we owed to him and his position. He influenced us by his example in the formation of those habits which contribute to permanent success in life. In the years that have passed since the close of my military experi- ence, I have seen and known many men struggling in the battle of life for existence and power. I have watched them greedily grasping for the smallest distinction, magnifying their own services, and either appropriating or belittling those of others, and I have learned to better appreciate the noble character of the soldier who has just left us. In all the sterling qualities that go to make up a man, I have seldom met the equal or su- perior of Major-General Henry W. Slocum. Firm and resolute of purpose, yet with so much modesty, so little of self-assertion; so faithful in the performance of whatever he believed to be his duty; so independent in his speech and conduct, whatever might be the future result. He was the noblest and greatest soldier that the State of New York gave to the nation; he was an honor to his name, his race and his country. The leading Editorial in the daily newspaper, The Brooklyn Citizen of April 14, 1894, read as follows : General Slocum who, since the period of the Civil War in which he won his renowm, has had his life and fortunes identified with Brooklyn, died in this city at two o ’clock this, Saturday, morning. The sad announce- ment comes with a great shock to the community upon which he had long shed luster, and in which he was much beloved. The cause of his death was pneumonia, but so far was the public from being prepared for a fatal termination that, as late as last evening, the news was that he seemed to be on the road to recovery. The attack of the disease, so far as the news- papers were informed, though serious, was not regarded by the attending physicians as likely to carry off the patient. The sudden change for the worse is but another proof that there are contingencies which can neither be foreseen nor provided against by the highest professional skill. The General, though not an old man — his age was but sixty-seven — had evi- dently lived so fully up to the measure of his strength that less than suf- ficient energy remained with which to face the crisis of the disorder which, under other conditions, would have been successfully surmounted. A man of slight build, distinguished at all times for nervous and intellectual activ- ity notably out of proportion to the bone and muscle of his body, he was capable of offering but little resistance to a malady which accomplishes its end rather by sapping the vigor of the frame than by vitiating the blood. The remark that ‘man’s life is an appendix to his heart’ is pe- culiarly applicable to this relation; and not less so. is the still older obser- vation that ‘to live long it is necessary to live slowly.’ The deceased had TESTIMONIAL OF THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN 353 left no fiber of the propulsive organ unstrained, and the story of his life furnishes all the evidence necessary that to achieve rather than to exist was with hiru the dominant purpose. The name of General Slocum is permanently enshrined in the history of the Republic. It is inconceivable that a time will ever come when Amer- icans will not be profoundly interested in the records of the great struggle for the perpetuity of the Union, and which, gave us at once a united coun- try, deliverance from the overhanging curse of human slavery, and the foremost place ever held by a self-governing jjeople on the globe. But until such time does arrive, the name and fame of the modest, valiant and efficient soldier, whose death we lament, will remain undimmed. After the eye of the student of history has lingered upon the names of Grant, Sherman, Meade, Sheridan, Thomas, and McClellan, it will turn with hardly lessened interest to those of Hancock, Hooker, McPherson, Howard, and Smith, and second to none of these will stand the name of Slocum. From the beginning of the war till its close, almost from the first beating of the drum that called the patriotism of the North to arms, till the last rebel against Federal authority had laid down his sword, Slocum was in the field. He was a fighting general. The first Battle of Bull Run found him steadfast in the midst of defeat, even as Gettysburg found him a pillar of triumphal defense, and the March to the Sea, one of the most conspicuous of the commanders whose skill and valor clove the Confederacy in twain. In the West, in the East, around Vicksburg, there were few engage- ments of the first order which did not find him conspicuous among the most distinguished and successful marshals of the North. He served under McClellan, under Burnside, under Meade, under Pope, under Sherman, and under all he, alike in the darkness of defeat and the glory of victory, was notable as a soldier who never failed in his duty, never shrank from the face of an enemy, never quarrelled with a superior officer, never complained of ill treatment or disappointed ambition, and always proved himself equal to the largest duties laid upon his shoulders. Than his there are more shining records in the annals of the army, but none better. Fortune might have advanced him in rank, but it was never in the power of fortune to enable any soldier to show more decisively that whatever might befall he could be counted upon to do his duty with an unfaltering heart and a capacity equal to the most pressing emergency. Of the life of General Slocum here in Brooklyn little need be said. It is enough perhaps to say that he never shrank from the discharge of any of the duties of citizenship, that he placed his hopes of good govern- ment in the "Democracy, and that in all the pleasant' ways in which a culti- vated and interesting gentleman can contribute to the pleasure of the com- munity he exercised his talents. He wore his honors with so fine a grace that he might have sat any day for a picture of modesty. It is impossible that any man ever lived who presumed less upon his claims to deference for services rendered to the public than General Slocum. 23 354 HON. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED It is with almost as much of pride as of sadness that we say farewell to this gallant spirit. It is sad to reflect that few of the more conspicuous commanders of the North remain. They have one by one gone to the Valley of Avilion, like King Arthur, to heal them of their grievous wounds ; and with the passing of Slocum we gaze, as it were, upon the last member of the shining procession as it fades from the physical vision to reappear in, the permanent sphere of memory. But this, as it is in accordance with nature, is a melancholy mood that gives way to the joy that arises upon the further reflection that the deeds of our heroes are a permanent pos- session, that their example has increased the total value of life, that it was a high privilege to have shared existence with them, that the very atmos- phere of the Republic is vital with their spirit, and that they and liberty are destined to a common immortality. The Brooklyn Standard-Union daily newspaper of April 14, 1894, carried the following leading editorial on The Death of General Slocnm : Visitors to the Battle-field of Gettysburg and students of war history do not need to be military experts to know, when the headquarters of General Slocum are pointed out on the extreme right of the lines of the Army of the Potomac, that he was placed in a position of supreme and critical importance. The world knows all about the picturesque in Pickett’s charge on the third day of the Gettysburg combat, and the sweeping assault by Long- street on the second day; and has accepted the romantic stories of the two Round Tops and the Devil’s Den, as it has the battle above the clouds [by Slocum’s men] at Chattanooga; but there is great imperfection in the general understanding of the splendid struggle on the right (Slocum’s wing) on the second and third days, in which five New York regiments, with only thirteen hundred muskets, under Greene, supported by Wads- w T orth, resisted the desperate advance of Johnston ’s Confederate division through the afternoon of the second and the morning of the third day’s fighting. Slocum was not a noisy and advertising chieftain, but a soldier whose make-up was pure steel, and he always bore an edge like a battle-axe in the flaming front of war. Right behind him at Gettysburg was the reserve of artillery and ammunition of the army, and the choice troops of the Confederacy were sent to turn the right flank of the National position ; and for them to have done so would have been the irretrievable ruin of the Army of the Potomac, and in that event who can conjecture the tremen- dous and disastrous changes of history! During the Longstreet battle, beating back Sickles, on the second day, troops w-ere withdrawn from the right (Slocum) to help on the left, until Slocum made so absolute a remonstrance that he was allowed to keep Greene and Wadsworth. The National line was in the form of a fish-hook, TESTIMONIAL OF BROOKLYN STANDARD-UNION 355 the curve being around Cemetery Hill, the shank of the hook extending southward, the position of Slocum just at the barb, and his services there were beyond all estimation. We state this with particularity, now that the hero is gone, as a typical fact in his career. Throughout the war, from Bull Bun to Bentonville, whenever, wherever a true, unfaltering, competent soldier was wanted, the commanders of the armies, from McDowell to Sherman, knew Slocum was brave, faithful and capable, among the very strongest and bravest of the brave and the strong. Wounded at Bull-Bun; in the thick of the Seven days’ battles before Biehmond; conspicuous at Malvern Hill; the com- mander of the corps that at last checked the daring and brilliant assault at Chancellorsville of Stonewall Jackson, the last stroke of the Southern genius of the war ; in the vortex of the whirlpool of fight at second Ma- nassas; in the great South Mountain skirmish, and the fierce tempest at Antietam; going west for the North after Gettysburg, as Longstreet for the South; commanding the Army of Georgia on the march from Atlanta to the Sea; standing against Joe Johnston in the despairing rush of the forlorn but gallant and dangerous army of the Confederacy on Sherman’s left in the forests of North Carolina; riding under the fiery sleet, cool and commanding, from the first great battle of the great war to the last; im- perturbable in victory; on horseback cheering his troops, hat and sword in hand, steadying their broken ranks at Chancellorsville, was Henry Warner Slocum. Under all fortunes a hero, under all circumstances a gentleman and soldier, and becoming all the glory of those proud and chivalrie titles, he was a man his friends loved without stint, and the Nation owes him gratitude, and the generations to come should remember him as one of the foremost of the patriots who, with blood and iron, saved the noblest fabric of human government from the desolation of ruin and dishonor. His figure will stand imperishable in the group of the leaders — whom history and art shall illuminate and embody and enshrine — in the mighty and glorious cause that won the war. The characteristics of General Slocum in military life distinguished, him in his civic affairs. He was of a temperament that made garrison duty when he was a young officer extremely irksome, and when he had endured nearly five years of it he insisted upon resigning and returning to Syracuse. . . . The outbreak of the war called him to the field, where he was as soon as there was fighting to do, and remained until it was all over. When the war was ended he refused to remain in the regular army, and in Brooklyn resumed the practice of law. He was too - manly a man to submit to the manipulators of the politics of intrigue, and it was impossible that he could be a subordinate of the Boss whose iron rule has made so broad and sinister a mark. Nothing but local opposition, in the highest degree creditable to him, prevented his nomination for Gov- ernor when Grover Cleveland carried off the prize from the Syracuse Con- vention of 1882. If General Slocum had then succeeded, his majority would in all probability have been larger than that which Cleveland re- 356 EON. HENRY W. SLOCUM , DECEASED ceived, and that gave him the pedestal from which he stepped to the Presi- dency. The majority of the people wanted Slocum, and the opposition of his own county because he was not a Boss man alone prevented his nomination. As Governor of New York, with two hundred thousand ma- jority behind him, he would have been the nominee against Blaine in 1884, and the political and partisan record of the country from that day to this would have been cast in different molds; and other names than those now prominent would have been on the wires and in the prints, and sounded through trumpets blown from the towersi to tell of triumph. The name of Slocum will be memorable. In war and in peace, around his person was shifted the scene of history. The citizen of highest distinction, and beloved beyond expression by his comrades in arms, who in their thin ranks will feel lonesome in their bereavement; the quiet, kindly man, who never posed or faltered or pal- tered, and was clear in the high and sacred offices of friendship; the loving domestic man of peaceful days; the successful man of business; the ‘good gray head that all men knew ’ disappears from the walks of men. A glori- ous personage, the school children recognized as significant of honorable and eventful achievement, and revered as embodying the reputation of their country, as the streaming Stars and Stripes typifies its splendor, has departed from our midst, to dwell in the firmament of memory, while ages on ages unroll the illuminated scroll of the great days of the Bepublic. The leading editorial of the newspaper The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 14, 1894, well expressed the opinion of its many well informed readers in the following choice sentiments, under the heading HENRY WARNER SLOCUM, as follows: The army and the Nation will note in the death of General Slocum, this morning, the loss of one of their most distinguished historical mili- tary figures. Congress will recognize that a man who came to it with renown as a chieftain, and who, in its service, gained reputation as a repre- sentative, has passed away. The State will reflect that the most celebrated of her sons in the war for the Union is no more. The military and civic societies to which he belonged will truly declare that their most illustrious member has passed away. Only secondarily in any of these respects will the man who died this morning be suggested to Brooklyn. They were respects that fitted the man in perspective. To the people of this town the man was a citizen, a neighbor, a voter, and an incumbent of business and public trusts. Here he was also known as a husband, a parent, a grandfather, a friend, a con- fidant. Brooklyn had to do with his personality. His achievements framed him to the rest of the world. The difference was great. It did not reduce his fame here. It simply here made his fame a property wffiich he and his townsmen set aside when TESTIMONIAL OF BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 357 they met. He never paraded it. They never needed it in their relation to him or in their association with him. There never was a great soldier who bore himself in peace with less recurrence to his record. The town knew that in him it could boast a compeer of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. It also knew that boasting was not his liking or his habit. The man ’s modesty and the city’s practicality a little disadvantaged the current esti- mate of General Slocum. Those in whom the war did not move as a fact in which they took part — especially those born or matured since the war ended — found it not always easy to account for the world-wide reputation of the man as a matter in relation with his plain, homespun, every-day bearing with them. The only really great soldier of the war among us, he was the least military man here. A great commander of great armies and the victor in tremendous battles, he was locally dwarfed on display occasions by not a few whom he so outclassed in every substantial regard that they ought not to be named— and shall not be — when he is. This was as he would have it. He had only contempt for professional soldiers, as he had only affectionate regard for soldiers by profession. With Howard, Langdon, Swayne, and Porter he was as friendly, in their character of warriors in reality, as he was with William Marshall, William J. Coombs, Henry E. Jones, and his few other close civilian friends here. The shyness and reserve that made his merits under-appraised in life will convert to high value now that he is dead. They were real. The cheap silver of display, the gilt tinsel of uniform, epaulettes, cockade, buttons, sword and sash and plumes and the like, distinguished, or at least charac- terized, quite different men. He was the gold of soldiership and of citizen- ship. They were the scum of war and the froth of peace. Long Brooklyn’s, he is History’s now and Fame’s. It is, therefore, due to say that the former President of the Crosstown Eailroad Company was the man whose vote decided, and whose valor held Gettysburg as the pivotal battle-ground in the war between the States. The citizen who devised for his son a control in the Smith and Jay Street and Coney Island trolley line was the captor of Atlanta. The some time head of the Department of City Works commanded one of the two armies that Sherman lead to the Sea. The quiet and neighborly occupant of the frame house on Clinton Avenue was the hero of Bentonville, who closed the long chase of Joe Johnston with a terrific whipping of him in a stand-up fight against great odds. The quiet member who so easily managed the interests of the Brooklyn Club awhile ago was the military governor of an immense province washed by the Mississippi and the ocean. These contrasts were little appreciated here at times, for when Slocum came to Brooklyn he resumed the modest role of citizen which he filled in Syracuse before he went afield. He sheathed his sword down South, and never bared it for the eyes of vanity or for the applause of the multitudes up North. He put on plain clothes and a plain life. Occasionally he would 358 GEN. HENRI W. SLOCUM, DECEASED reappear in Ms historical character, but it would be with Grant, Sherman, Hancock, and such men, on occasions replete with friendly reminiscence and destitute of spectacle. He went to Congress, he accepted local place, he acted with his party, or with citizens against it, entirely in his capacity and on Ms right as a citizen, and in none of these matters did he solicit or relish support on the ground of his military service. He regarded that service too highly to market it in or for any other. For those who did market their military service as a make-weight or make-place in politics his contempt was con- stant. Before the war he went to the Assembly, and was elected Treasurer of Onondaga County. Before that he was graduated from West Point; but the idea of being a soldier in peace or of being a civilian in war was repugnant to him, while the notion of playing both roles at once was simply intolerable to him. He went to West Point from liking for military science. He served long enough to repay the government’s educational claim on him. He then studied for the bar, practiced law, and represented his fellow citi- zens in the offices they chose him to fill. When the Union was attacked he sought military service again and took what was first offered. The government’s claim was an ever renewable one for cause to him. The army record of no man was better. He was never relieved. He was never super- seded. In command he was never surprised or defeated. No complaint was ever justly made of him by others or of others by him. He w 7 as re- peatedly promoted, and in every instance for gallantry and success on the field. With natures and capacities as different as those of McDowell, Mc- Clellan, Burnside, Stanton, Hooker, Schofield, Thomas, McPherson, Meade, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Logan, and Lincoln, he got on equally well. He served and was served splendidly. He followed and led grandly. He obeyed and commanded and planned admirably. His was the most even and progressive success of any Northern chieftain. The war done, he left the army as absolutely as he had identified himself with it. It was inevitable that abilities and availabilities such as his would be recurred to by politicians. Their recurrence to them cannot be charged to him. He did nothing to stimulate it. He did much to bring the effort to naught. He had been a Republican before the w r ar. In the war he was politically nothing. At the close of the war preferment waited on Re- publican soldiers. lie coolly became a Democrat. That party ran him for Secretary of State. He was in command at Vicksburg when he was nominated at Syracuse. None on his ticket was successful, but his object of staying or reducing the tide of reproach unjustly running against Northern Democrats was accomplished so far as the instance of a soldier of his re- nown porclaiming his adhesion to that party could do so. He could have been the Republican instead of the Democratic candidate that very year for that very office, but he elected to become a Democrat for causes that took political pacification and not personal success into account. He always remained a Democrat, but he reserved the often used right to oppose unfit TESTIMONIAL OF BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 359 candidates and oppressive organizations and their despotic policy within that party. Twice the governorship nomination could have been his by stooping to the mud. Unaffectedly he wanted it for the power for good it had in it. Besides, it was on both occasions the apparent prelude to the Presidency. But he had never stooped in the past. The fact was certain that he would not stoop in the future. Politicians, therefore, could form no union on his name that was not chilled by apprehension. None wasi on that account formed. The General came to regard the freedom he retained, to have in it more happiness than the function he escaped It is questionable that the organization here, as it then was and still is, could have commanded the nomination of a messenger from a State convention or of a doorkeeper from a National convention of the Democracy. It was certain that the only luster its men won was due to their speculation in the name of the man who had repeatedly defied them on their own ground, and who con- sistently despised them, as well as defied them, when they sought to harass or hopple him. No review of the General’s political career would either be complete or candid that omitted to note his defection from Cleveland, or his apparent support of Hill for President, and of Chapin for Governor. He erred in both instances. The provocation to the first error was quite as chargeable to Cleveland as on any one else. President Cleveland and the General misunderstood' one another. The misunderstanding was increased by those who had in its increase a reason which neither man perceived nor shared. Mr. Cleveland’s first administration carefully avoided recognition of General Slocum's position in affairs. Nevertheless, the General loyally supported him for re-election in 1S8S. In 1891 the General took part in the Chapin movement for Governor, but his heart was not in it. Neither was it in the movement for Hill in 1892 for President. He, however, realized that in both movements he was repaying efforts that had been put forth for him, and that those ef- forts had been put forth by men whom he had not hesitated here often to oppose. Gallantry, as well as gratitude, was appealed to by these facts. The consciousness that he was engaged in the impossible was his in both instances. It did not affect the claim laid on his honor. He hesitated not to go down with those who had dared the same fate on his own behalf. The facts which qualified his relation to Democratic reform did credit to his sense of manliness and appreciation. Success based on the forget- fulness of obligation was not coveted by him. But all that is past. It ceased to have a share in his attitude toward the Federal administration, or in its attitude toward him. The Eagle has the pleasure of believing that it brought them together. The zeal with which the General sustained the President’s efforts to make the pension roll a roll of honor was shown in these columns. He was most gratified by the selection of his friend, General Lochren, as Commissioner of Pensions. His letters to the Eagle, and other expressions of a less public character, 360 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED were followed by a dissipation of all causes of difference between the Federal administration and himself. The tender of high evidences of its consideration was declined by him, in a way at once to show his apprecia- tion and his inveterate resolve to maintain himself in citizenship alone for the residue of his life. It is not unsatisfying to know that he put away resentments when he put away ambitions. He resolved political disappointments into factors that enhanced his military fame, by making it stand in the shadow of no equal civic preferments, lie lived and died among his kindred, his friends and his books by him loved almost equally well. Few greater soldiers of America preceded him. None so great has survived him. He was getting lonely, for his peers had answered to roll-call on the other shore. Yet he was not old, as age is rated in these times. It seems not long ago when Sumter was fired on. The veteran who died at sixty-seven to- day, was but thirty-four then, and he wrote his name with his sword among the immortals before he was thirty-nine. He came to Brooklyn as, historically, the most illustrious, and personally the most modest, of her citizens in that year. Here life and death have come to those he loved. Here in turn death now has come to him. Here his service solidified to history, and his ambitions dissolved into forgotten dreams. Here were the companions he cherished, not lost, but gone before. Here are the companions who cherished him, and who number him among their treasuries of memory. The world knows him as great. The Nation knows him as one of its preservers. The city w T ould rather know him as simply one of her sons, and world and Nation can find their estate in him of conqueror uncoveted by those who loved him in the better relation of citizen, towns- man, neighbor and friend. Hail, and farewell! CHAPTER LIY Public Memorials on Land and Sea Immediately following the decease of General Slocum the surviving members of the New York Monuments Commission for the Battle-field of Gettysburg held a meeting and, with warm preamble and resolutions they expressed the high esteem in which they had held him, and their sense of bereavement in his loss. The 10th of December, 1894, the Common Council of the City of Brooklyn adopted a resolution petitioning the State Legislature to erect a befitting statue of the great soldier at Gettysburg. The Monuments Commission drafted a bill providing for the expenditure by the State of New York of $25,000 for an PUBLIC MEMORIALS ON LAND AND SEA 361 equestrian statue of its deceased liero on the Battle-field of Get- tysburg. This bill was introduced in the State Senate February 5, 1895, by Senator John Raines and it was referred to the Com- mittee on Finance. Senator Raines introduced a similar bill January 23, 1896. This bill was subjected to some amendments the last of March and, April 4th. it became a law. The latter part of April a committee of fourteen members of the Legislature, including the presiding officers of both bodies, was chosen for the purpose of visiting the battle-field, selecting the site for the pro- posed statue, and for the inspection of the monuments already erected by the Commission. This Legislative Committee per- formed these duties May 1-3, 1896. Survey of the ground was duly made, a map was traced ac- cordingly and, upon its presentation before the National Park Commission, and the Secretary of War January 19, 1899, they endorsed on this map their approval of the site and arrange- ment. Sculptors near and far soon learned of the invitation ad- vertised for sketches of models and, in April, 1897, ten pictures of models by nine sculptors were set up in a large room ad- joining tliei office of the Commission at Albany for the examina- tion of all interested parties. These sketches were discussed in every part, and adversely criticised to the degree of the rejection of all of them. Up to the time of June 15, 1897, eighteen other sketches of models from seventeen sculptors known only by num- bers, were opened for examination. The work chosen by the Commission and their chosen critics was ascertained to be that of Edward C. Potter, after five sculp- tors had each presented full plaster model about one-and-a-half life size. The pedestal, to support Mr. Potter’s work in bronze, was designed by the engineer and secretary of the Commissioners, A. J. Zabriskie; and the equestrian statue, its pedestal, and foundation, were completed and assembled in due time. The date of September 19, 1902, was settled upon for the dedication of this statue. The Legislature appropriated twelve thousand and five hundred dollars for the transportation to and from the dedicatory exercises of about fifty survivors of each of the New York Regiments which served under General Slocum in the Xllth and XXth Corps which aggregated nineteen regiments 362 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED of infantry and five batteries of artillery. The survivors of General Slocum’s original regiment, the Twenty-seventh New • York, were also included in the invitation. Arrangements were made whereby these venerable surviving soldiers might be housed for the night near the monument in tents shipped from Wash- ington for that purpose. The Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard with its band of music served as escort to Governor Benjamin B. Odell, Junior, and they encamped nearby. The weather being auspicious, the dedicatory exercises were largely attended, and the full spirit of respect for the honored dead interred nearby, as well as high regard and due honor for the memory of the departed great commander, pervaded the throngs of thousands of people, including the dignitaries of New York, Pennsylvania, and other States. The dedicatory program was impressive throughout, name- ly: Music, Seventh New York Regiment National Guard Band. Prayer, by Rev. W. T. Pray, D. D. Address by General Daniel E. Sickles, U. S. A., Chairman. Music, by the Second U. S. Cavalry Band. Unveiling of Monument by Governor B. B. Odell. Major-General’s salute of thirteen guns by the Fourth U. S. Battery. Address, by Governor Benj. B. Odell, Jr. Ad- dress by Governor William E. Stone. Music, by the Second U. S. Cavalry Band. Address by Governor Franklin Murphy. Oration by General James C. Rogers. Music by the Seventh N. Y. Regt. Band. Oration by Colonel Archie E. Baxter. Music by the Seventh N. Y. Regt. Band. Benediction by Rev. Joseph Twitchell, D D. Parting Salute by the Fourth United States Battery. The Reverend Doctor Pray was a member of both the Seventy-eighth and the One hundred and second New York Vol- unteer Infantry Regiments. His prayer was both eloquent and appropriate. < The address of General Sickles gracefully welcomed the more than one thousand of General Slocum’s surviving men who fought so nobly and successfully under his leadership. He an- nunciated many interesting and valuable historical items of Gettysburg and other battle-fields in part as follows : “More than a million people had visited Gettysburg during the first nine years of its possession as a National Cemetery. EQUESTRIAN STATUE AT GETTYSBURG 363 More than four hundred graceful memorials had already (1902) been erected. No other battle-field on earth is so consecrated by loving tokens of remembrance. There are (in 1902) more soldiers’ monuments in the United States of America than have ever been erected in all the other parts of the world. New York State took precedence on this field from the first gun fired, the first Union soldier to fall, in the largest number of Union soldiers engaged, and in the losses, numbering 6,707, more than thirty per cent of the total losses in the Union Army on this field. New York regiments and batteries fought in every division but one of the Army of the Potomac which fought this battle. New York has erected on this battle-field (up to 1902) eighty-six regimental and battery monuments, besides the magnificent State Memorial to our dead who lie buried in yonder National Cemetery, and be- sides this equestrian statue to General Slocum. Continuing, he said : “General Slocum’s terse sentence ‘Stay and Fight it Out’ was the ad\ r ice given by the Council of War to General Meade ‘who was not satisfied with his position at Gettysburg.’ The Army of the Potomac did ‘ Stay and Fight it Out ; and the vic- tory gained is the best comment that can be made on Slocum’s judgment. ’ “I am thankful to have been spared to come here to-day to assist in the dedication of this monument to my comrade and friend, the foremost soldier New York sent to the field during the Civil War. Fortunately, he was one of the few of our com- manders who had unbounded confidence in our volunteers ; there- fore he never failed. We w r ere associated in four campaigns of the Army of the. Potomac. We were both successively regiment- al, brigade, division, and corps commanders. “General Slocum never lost a color or a gun. Although his voice will never again be heard by his beloved comrades, this heroic figure will stand for ages to come, as a type of an American commander, modest, resolute, sagacious, brave.” Governor Odell, of New* York, in his address emphasized the underlying principle of equality, of right, and justice, as the actuating and inspiring motive of the Civil War. “In the patriotic general whose monument we dedicated to-day, was found one of those sturdy men who knew not only duty but Near View of the Equestrian Statue of Major-General Slocum at Get- tysburg, looking Northeasterly. His right hand holds his hat. The Head- quarters Party at the Dedication, in Part. Seated, from right to left: George Engs Slocum, brother; Clarence E. and Henry W., sons of the General; Major Bradley, General Sickles, Governor Odell, General Webb, Major Eichardson, and Adjutant-General Henry. September 19, 1902. DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG STATUE 365 who gave to its performance an intelligence which insured to him the respect and confidence of his associates and those whom he led. He and the brave men of New York and other States of the Union need no monument to perpetuate their glory. Monu- ments may be erected as the Nation’s tribute, but our country and this battle-field stand as the monument of their devotion, their patriotism, and their heroism.” The address of Governor William E. Stone of Pennsylvania, was brief. He said: “Pennsylvania is proud of the fact that the most decisive battle of the war was fought on her soil, and while the soil is the soil of Pennsylvania it is consecrated by the blood of the bravest men of all the States and Territories. This battle-field belongs to the whole Nation, because here is where the whole Nation was saved from dissolution. Whether it is among nations or individuals, some decisive moment comes in the lives of each. The decisive moment for our Nation was here at Gettysburg in 1863, and the Nation was saved.” Governor Franklin Murphy of New Jersey also gave a brief address. He said: “First and over all, I feel it a very great privilege and honor to be with you, to join with the represen- tatives of the great State of New York in doing merited honor to my old Commander. If you will look at his face— and I never saw a more speaking face in bronze than that yonder — you will understand why it was that General Slocum easily won and always held the confidence and affection of his soldiers. They never doubted him, and when we saw him we had the confidence in him. A face like that inspires the world over. I repeat that I am glad to be here with you, to join with the citizens of New York in doing honor to that great man. I will say just one thing more. I went over this field to-day: it was my first visit since the battle thirty-eight years ago. I cannot tell you how it im- pressed me. Our regiment fought away over yonder, on the ex- treme Union right, and we started this morning and went over the field to the left and I saw this magnificent monument. As I rode over the field and the inspiration of that heroic day came to me, it seemed that I should go away from here — as I believe you will go away — a better citizen, not alone from the beauty of the day and its great attractions, but because of the patriotic in- spiration which on this day inspires us.” 366 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED Genera] James C. Kogers, of General Slocum’s Xllth Gorps, was the next speaker. He said in part : It was my good fortune to have been associated with General Slocum during a large part of his brilliant military career, and because I knew him and loved him with the enthusiastic ardor that the young soldier feels for the chief in whom he trusts and believes. And General Slocum had that in him, both as officer and as man, to inspire confidence, admira- tion and love. There were seen, by me and observed, a number of other leading generals. And now, after all this time has passed, with the im- pressions of those early days and years strengthened by the judgment of maturer years, I can truthfully say that in the combination of high -soldierly qualities with the purest patriotism, in decision of character and the power of quick adaptation of means to the end to be accomplished, in coolness and courage, Henry W. Slocum was, at least, the peer of them all. He had all the sterling soldierly qualities which the others possessed, and some of the head and heart in which the others were deficient. The Xllth Army Corps was a fine body of troops, and it was splendidly officered throughout, and over all and inspiring all with his high soldierly qualities and calm, quiet but impressive personality, was the great leader whose bronze statue looks down upon us to-day. General Slocum, although a West Point graduate and Eegular Army Officer, had resigned from the army before the breaking out of the Civil War, and his mind had been broadened, and humanized as it were, by daily contact with all kinds of men in civil life. He knew and recognized better than most officers who had remained in the army service and whose duties had run in the narrow channels of army life in time of peace, that the young officers and men of volunteer regiments of those days were not of the kind that had been in the habit of enlisting before the war, but were of the best blood of the land and could be moulded and made effective as soldiers more by kindness and by the inspiration of duty than by rough handling and com- pulsion of fear. In the Battle of Chaneellorsville, which began so brilliantly by Slo- cum only to end in defeat from the fault of others, Geenral Slocum so skillfully handled his corps that although it was largely composed of regi- ments that had never been under fire, it did not waver when the other troops on its right were swept away and thrown into a panic such as sometimes comes to the bravest troops when surprised and attacked at a disadvantage. At midnight Slocum swung forward his corps at right angles to the line of breastworks which it had built and occupied in the morning, and there at the edge of the woods at the foot of Ghancellors- ville Hill, with' its 1st Division just to the left of the famous Plank Eoad, it fought on that Sunday in May, after all its former supports had for- saken it, and only as brave men fight, until the line was crumbling all about it. It is perhaps enough to Bay that General Hooker was so impressed with the coolness and skill displayed by General Slocum in that battle, and DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG STATUE 367 the gallantry of his corps under the most trying circumstances, that when Lee had crossed the Potomac and Hooker was following him and plan- ning how to fight and defeat the Confederate Army, he decided to send General Slocum with his Xlfth Corps and the ten thousand Union troops then idle and useless at Harper ’s Perry, to the upper Potomac there to head off and attack and defeat what was left of Lee ’s army after the Army of the Potomac had fought and defeated it somewhere near Get- tysburg and driven it back towards the river. With General Meade’s ap- pointment to command in Hooker ’s stead, General Slocum ’s assignment to duty by Hooker fell with him. Of course it is mere speculation now, but one cannot help thinking of what would have been the result if, after Lee’s army had been defeated here, and promptly followed up, a cool de- termined fighter like General Slocum with twenty thousand men had been at the fords of the upper Potomac to head it off. In that event, how much of that army and its immense baggage train would have recrossed the river into Virginia? Look at General Slocum ’s record — not one mistake, not one event in those long years of active leadership which we would wish to blot out. And then, when the war was over and that for which he fought is won, he sheathes his sword and returns to the peaceful avocations of the citizen. Oh, life is worth living when it can furnish such record as this! Is it any wonder that the officers and men whom he commanded trusted and believed in him and loved him? Is it any wonder that the great State of New’ York erects this magnificent monument to his memory on this historic battlefield, which, as the years go by, shall more and more become the meeca of American patriotism and valor? Here our children’s children shall come and, gazing at this statue, and others like it, and these hun- dreds of monuments of regiments and batteries, and those thousands of little nameless granite slabs over yonder in the cemetery, they will be in- spired with new love for the Union of these States, and new reverence for all that is noble and beautiful and good in the lives of those who fought and won our country’s victory here. The Oration of Colonel Archie E. Baxter, of General Slo- cum’s XXth Army Corps, was eloquent and impressive. But part of it will be here noted, namely : Our purpose here naturally recalls recollections of the illustrious soldier who, at a crisis in this great struggle, averted irretrievable dis- aster and made possible the victory that marked the beginning of the end of the Confederacy, and brought fresh renown to our arms and a luster to our flag that will never fade. As boys we loved, trusted and were proud of this great captain, and confidently followed wherever he led. To-day as men, many of us grown old beyond our years, we are reverently gath- ered to honor his memory. Patriotic New York has been generous with monuments and statues in honor of her sons, but never has she erected one more deserved than is this in commemoration of the inestimable service 368 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED to his State and Nation of her greatest soldier Major-General Henry Warner Slocum. How like is this bronze hero of to-day to the living soldier of forty years ago! True, there is no recognition in these sightless eyes; no greet- ing falls from these silent lips. The flag he loved, streaming gloriously here in to-day’s sunlight, the strains of war-like music, the roar of cannon, or the acclaims of those he led to victory no longer thrill the warrior ’s heart. Heedless of all, he keeps, in this city of the dead, ceaseless vigils over the field he fought to save. And yet, as we gaze on the grim, bronze figure, forgotten are the years that are gone. Once more as boys we are in the presence of the general we loved so well. Again we see the kindly eyes, the grave, clean-cut soldierly face, the erect martial figure. We see him in the quiet of the camp, dignified yet gentle and approachable, modest and unassuming. We see him with his staff, an elder brother in his military family, admired, honored and loved by all. Genial, warm-hearted and familiar, but through his innate dignity restraining excesses and exacting the respect due him and his exalted station. We see him in the heat of battle, cool, deliberate, and self-poised amid the wild excitement, the awful crash and roar. But mark the change when he discoveres that ‘some one has blundered.’ The whole man seems transfigured. There is a terrible intensity in the com- pressed lips, the blazing eyes. It is not the joy of conflict, or the lust of battle; but rather the outward mark of a relentless will, of a determina- tion to save what the blunder has endangered; to triumph for his flag and country. Let the battle roar, the lines surge and waver, he never loses his soldi- erly grasp of the situation. No sudden reverse discourages or dismays. Through scenes that blanch the faces and unnerve the hearts of veterans, he stands unshaken, noting, with eyes from which no detail escapes, the shifting scenes, and weighing with unerring skill the varying chances of battle. Never needlessly sacrificing his men, but relentless as death where victory may be won by supreme courage and sublime devotion. We see him on a score of historic fields stemming disaster, wresting victory from defeat, winning new glory for the flag; and from Manassas to Benton- ville, carving with his stainless sword his name among the immortals. He still lives in the memory of his achievements and exalted manhood. It is my privilege to speak to-day for the XXth Corps; for the living, and for the dead, of that army of heroes who, fresh from the scenes of glorious conflict in the East, sought and won new laurels on Western fields; whose place in line was always where the battle raged the fiercest; whose flag was never lowered on the field, whose bugles never sounded a retreat, whose proud boast was that they never lost a color or a gun; and whose badges of Stars, like those that blazed on the flag they bore, grew bright- er in every battle from Chattanooga to the Sea. We saw the flashes of their musketry and heard the roar of their cannon at Wauhatchie’s mid- night fight. We watched them clamber up grim Lookout’s rugged side DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG STATUE 369 and plant Old Glory in triumph above the clouds. We beheld them sweep grandly across the plain and, with ringing cheers, storm the lowering heights of Missionary Ridge. We saw them between Chattanooga and Atlanta when, in all those hundred days, the minie balls never ceased singing in ghoillish glee; fighting gloriously, dying fearlessly, always vic- torious and constantly displaying the splendid courage, endurance and devotion that made them the equals of the best soldiers the world has ever seen. On the 2nd of September, 1864, at the head of the XXth Corps, General Slocum was the first to enter and take possession of Atlanta. Soon after this date preparations began for a most unusual campaign, bold in conception, brilliant in execution, and fruitful in results, the March from the Mountains to the Sea; a campaign that split the Confederacy in twain, cut off the supplies upon which Lee's army relied for subsistence, filled with consternation the heart of the great Confederate martial leader who saw therefrom that the real objective of this erratic and defiant campaign was a junction with Grant, and it made clear the hopelessness of further resistance, and sounded the death knell of the Rebellion. To General Slocum, who so valiantly commanded the Right Wing of the Union Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, was intrusted the Left Wing of the historic Army that was to march a thousand miles without a friendly base of sup- plies. It was a post of great importance, one that called into full play the superb soldierly traits of the experienced and resourceful general. This army cut loose from the outer world, the world of its friends, and swung boldly toward the Sea, surrounded only by its enemies. As General Slocum’s command was the first to enter Atlanta so it was the first to enter Milledge- ville the capitol city; also first to scale the Confederate works and enter Savannah the chief port and emporium of the greatest commonwealth of the enemy. Continuing onward, Slocum’s mid-winter march with heavy wagon trains and artillery through the flooded swamps and across the swol- len and bridgeless rivers of the Carolinas, surrounded by the ever increas- ing enemy, was one of General Slocum’s greatest achievements, and we may well say one of the greatest achievements in history. At Averys- borough he won a handsome victory over the Confederate General Hardee. Xear Bentonville, General .Joe Johnston discovering that our two Wings were moving by divergent routes massed his whole force and entrenched them in General Slocum 's front, intending to surprise and crush his army piecemeal. But General Slocum, always alert, rapidly deployed in line of battle with less than one-third of his men, a force of less than one-third of the enemy confronting him. While his men were hurriedly gathering fence rails for barricades, using their tin plates and cups for shovels, the shock of battle broke upon them. Out of the woods in front burst the gallant gray lines of the enemy. Their flags were waving gaily; sabers flashed and bayonets gleamed. To our waiting lines fronting the onset it was a thrilling sight. On, though ploughed and torn by our artillery, with the steadiness of veterans confident of success, they came. Midway 24 370 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED across the field they broke into a run and, with the old Confederate yell, c-ame sweeping toward us. Suddenly out of the guns of our ranks leaped sheets of living flame. Volley after volley ran flashing, rattling and hiss- ing down our lines. Thinned and staggered by the withering fire, they wavered, broke, and went reeling back across the field. Again and again with desperate courage they recklessly charged, and though men of the blue and gray fell side by side in the fierce embroilment, six times did the grays charge to be driven back in confusion over a field thickly strewn with their wounded and dead. Then, as the sun broke through the clouds and the smoke of battle and bathed our flag in a flood of glory, from our triumphal lines the old Union cheer burst from the lips of veterans who, in grim silence, had fought like heroes and splendidly won the last battle of the Confederacy. This Battle of Bentonville was known as Slocum’s battle. Here practically ended his military career in the field. The war was over, the Union saved and liberty was again proclaimed throughout the land. General Slocum ’s heart now turned longingly toward the pursuits of peace, and he gladly sheathed his sword forever. He had proved equal to every trust committed to him. His heart had been untouched by intrigue, quarreling, undue rivalry, envy, or sad disappointment of ambition. Ap- parently unmindful of personal advancement, he sought only his country’s safety and glory. Heedless of all else save personal honor, he was content to do his best, modestly and resolutely where duty called him, calm, strong and fearlessly. As a citizen, though crowned with the luster of great achievements, he bore himself so meekly that there was no vocal reminder from him of the days when his words were so potent upon the fields of mighty conflict. Successful in everything he undertook, esteemed, and loved, he might have gained the highest civil offices in the State and Na- tion had he but consented ‘to stoop to conquer.’ Comrades, we can truly say to those who slumber, and are monumented, here that we have kept the faith. Best in peace. Of the living, officers as well as the rank and file, we would say to the public, in the name of patriotism, of loyalty, and of the flag they yet bear and honor, criticise them less and praise their valor and devotion more. Let us as a people make for our country a tithe of their sacrifices, and we will awaken to a truer sense of the duties of citizenship, love our country more zealously, advance with quickened strides the cause of liberty and humanity, and prolong the days of our Republic’s greatness and glory. The old soldiers present, and others of the vast assemblage, then examined the monument of General Slocum in all of its de- tails. It tvill be described as follows : Founded on concrete about five feet thick from the rock under ground, twenty-two feet long and sixteen feet and two inches wide. This concrete is capped by dressed Gettysburg granite sixteen inches thick, as the DESCRIPTION OF GETTYSBURG STATUE 371 base for the pedestal which is of granite from Barre, Vermont, twenty-one feet and eight inches long, fifteen feet and ten inches wide, and sixteen feet three and a half inches high and composed of ten courses or layers. The bronze statue, including its base or plinth also of bronze, is fifteen feet and six inches to the top of the general’s head. The plinth on which the horse stands is eleven feet nine and three-quarters inches long, and four feet wide. The total cost was $29,951.57. The amount appropriated for it by the State was $30,000. The bronze tablets, one on each side of the granite pedestal, are each four feet, nine and three-quarter inches wide and three feet ten and one-eiglith inches high. The lettering on the tab- let of the westerly side, shown in the near engraving, reads as follows : A Star | Major General [ Henry Warner Slocum, U. S. V. | 1826-1891 J In Command of Right Wing | of the Army of the Potomac | at the | Battle of Gettysburg j July 1, 2, 3, 1863. j "Stay and Fight it Out” | Gen. Slocum at Council of War July 2, 1863. | Erected by the State of New York, 1902. [ At the lower left hand corner of this tablet is the Seal of the State of New York. The lettering on the tablet of the easterly side reads as fol- lows: | Major General Henry Warner Slocum, U. S. Vols. Cadet U. S. Military Academy July 1, 1848: 2nd Lieut. | First Artillery July 1, 1852: 1st Lieut. March 3, 1855. Resigned | October 31, 1856. | Col. 27th N. Y. Infantry May 21, 1861. Se- verely wounded | Bull Run July 21, 1861. Brig. Genl of Vol- unteers August 9, 1861. j Assigned to command of 2nd Brigade, Franklin’s Division, Army | of the Potomac September 4, 1861, and to command of 1st Division | 6th Corps May 18, 1862. | Maj. GenT U. S. Vols. July 4, 1862. Assumed Command of | 12th Corps October 20, 1862. Temporarily commanded the Right | Wing of the Army of the Potomac, consisting of the 5th, 11th j and 12th Corps April 28-30, 1863. In Command of the Right | Wing of the Union Army, composed of the 5th and 12th Corps j at Gettysburg July 1, 2, 3, 1863. j Relinquished command of the 12th Corps April 18, 1864 | and on April 27, 1864, assumed Command of the Military District j of Vicksburg, which he held until August 14, 1864. | Assumed Command on the 20th Corps 372 GEN. HENRY TP. SLOCUM, DECEASED August 27, 1864 | and of the Left Wing of Sherman’s Army, known as the Army of | Georgia, November 11, 1864. Assigned, in orders dated June 27, | 1865, to Command of the Department of Mississippi, | Headquarters at Vicksburg, which he held until relieved September | 18, 1865, and on September 28, 1865, Gen’l Slocum Resigned from | the Army and was Honorably Dis- charged. | Soon after the decease of General Slocum some of the lead- ing citizens of Brooklyn instituted a movement for the erection in that city of a fitting memorial monument in his honor. A popular subscription for this purpose Avas the first thought, but better counsels preA 7 ailed, and the financial part was assumed by the municipality. A laAv Avas enacted in the year 1895 authoriz- ing an issue of bonds not to exceed $30,000 for this purpose. The American sculptor, Frederick MacMonnies, a native of Brooklyn, and at this time with residence and studio in Paris, Avas enlisted in the enterprise by his friends in Brooklyn ; and he in due time AA 7 rought a model that Avas satisfactory to all persons AAdio saAv the work. The easting in bronze Avas done in Paris uuder the sculptor’s supervision, and the statue Avas shipped to Brooklyn late in the year 1902. Upon its receipt it was stored for a considerable length of time on what AA 7 as knoAA'n as the East Side Lands, as from various causes the completion of the foun- dation and pedestal was much delayed. The base of this monument is nineteen feet long and eighteen feet Avide. The pedestal is 1 granite from the State of Maine. It is surrounded by posts of the same rock which are connected by chains of artistically Avrouglit bronze. The tip of the gen- eral’s sword is twenty-five feet above the pavement around the base of the monument. It Avas erected at Eastern Parku r ay and Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn Borough, New York City. Memorial Day, May 30, 1905, was chosen for the dedica- tion of this memorial. The assemblage on this occasion was large, composed of numerous citizens and old soldiers from near and far, and embracing seA’eral thousand school children in the pa- rade, a sight that always cheered General Slocum's heart. The municipality of NeAv York Avas fully represented by its officers, including a Commissioner from each of the Boroughs of Brook- lyn, Queens, Manhattan, Richmond, and the Bronx. DEDICATION OF BROOKLYN STATUE 373 THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY WARNER SLOCUM Erected by tlie City of New York, 1905, at Eastern Parkway and Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn Borough Showing Parade at Unveiling 374 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED The order of exercises was as follows: Music, ‘Hail Co- lumbia.’ Invocation, by the Eight Reverend Bishop Frederick Burgess. Presentation of the Statue by Commissioner Michael J. Kennedy for the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Unveiling of Statue by Gertrude Slocum, who was less than six years of age, daughter of Henry W., son of General Slocum. Acceptance of the Statue in behalf of the City of New York by Honorable George B. McClellan, Mayor, formerly General Slocum’s com- manding general in the Army of the Potomac. Music, the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’ Address by Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States . 117 Benediction by the Right Reverend Bishop Charles E. McDonnell. Music ‘America.’ The Major- General’s Salute of thirteen guns was fired by soldiers present during the time of the dedication. At the close of the cere- monies President Roosevelt reviewed the parade as it passed along the Parkway. It has been the custom for many years, if not during the history of all mankind, to give the name of a prominent person- age to children, and to objects, either in honor of the person whose name was so used, or to honor the person or object so named, and probably from both of these causes generally. Such has been the case with the name of General Slocum. Probably one of the most enduring objects that has been named to perpetuate and honor the memory of this General, is Fort Slocum, one of the strongest fortifications for the protection of the City of New York. It is situated on Davids Island which is a little east of the larger Glen Island, southward of the City of New Rochelle, New York, and at the narrowing eastern part of Long Island Sound. It is about five miles north of Fort Schuyler, and six miles northward of Fort Totten on Willetts Point. The principal purpose of Fort Slocum is the protection of the easterly entrance to the East Strait, generally known as East River, New York City. The great guns of Fort Slocum, and their arrangement, are modern and of the most approved pattern of the artillery service. Every device and agency known to modern warfare have been, and are yet being, mustered to render Fort Slocum impregnable. Very large sums of money and great efforts have already been expended by the General Government for this purpose, and the MEMORIALS OX LAND AXD SEA 375 work is yet in progress. Mrs. Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, widow of tlie late Russell Sage, and vice-president of the In- ternational Woman’s Auxiliary, completed a good building in tlie year 3910 for the Young Men’s Christian Association work by permission of the War Department. This building is situ- ated near the barrack quarters of Fort Slocum and it is for the benefit of the thousands of United States Soldiers who will from time to time be here received, organized, drilled, and distributed for special or general service at other fortifications, or fields. Fully 3,700 soldiers have been counted at this building in one day. The police justice of the nearby City of New Rochelle has asserted that, when fewer soldiers were brought to him for dis- orderly conduct he attributed the decrease to the severe sen- tences he had inflicted upon them ; but he later found that their better conduct was due to the opening of this Young Men’s building and its wholesome influence over them. A large and elegant steamship was built near New York City and was named General Slocum, the name being placed so prominently on its sides as to be easily read at long distance. This dirigible palace was used solely to supply the demand for additional pleasure and recreation excursions on the different waters of this city and its neighborhood. It became very popu- lar and, during the years of its use, it was frequently over- loaded by the thousands who desired to patronize it. On June 15, 1904, while carrying a church excursion party of 1,800 per- sons up the East River or Strait a match or lighted cigar set fire to some inflammable material of the excursionists and the spread of the flames was so rapid that before the ship could be beached on the nearby North Brother Island the panic was so great that from 900 to 1,000 or more were crushed, burned, or drowned. A Free Kindergarten was established in Brooklyn Borough in the year 1894, and it was named the Slocum Kindergarten to honor and perpetuate the memory of the General who did so much for the children. A large United States Transport ship, for carrying soldiers and army supplies during the Spanish- American War in 1898- 1899, was named Slocum, and she has since borne the name. She suffered injury on the rocks off the east coast of Porto Rico 376 GEN. HENRY W. SLOCUM, DECEASED in November, 1899, but she was readily repaired and continued her work to the Philippine Islands and less distant ports. A large, strong, seaworthy United States craft for towing barges, dry-docks, and disabled ships was also named Slocum. She did good service April 18, 1906, in taking a battalion of the 22nd Infantry, United States Army, from .Fort McDowell on Angel Island to San Francisco to support the municipal au- thorities in their aiding the earthquake sufferers there. She also aided in policing the city’s wharf-lines at this time. This Tug Slocum also tow r ed the disabled Transfort Sheridan to and into San Francisco Harbor November 23, 1906, from the rocks off Barber’s Point, Hawaiian Islands — which service of salvation brings to mind the saving of the youth Sheridan for his brilliant career in the United States Army during the Civil War by the youth Slocum aiding him to pass the necessary grades in his studies while they were both cadets in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. See page 10 of this book. 1st Ilnd Illrd xnth and XXth XIVth XVIIth ARMY CORPS’ BADGES APPENDIX 377 APPENDIX Deferences to Authorities Consulted : 1. History of The Slocums, Slocumbs, and Sloeombs, in America, by Charles Elihu Slocum, Volume I, Page 80; Volume II, Page 38. 2. History of the United States Navy, by Edgar S. Maclay.' 3. New York in the Devolution as Colony and State, 1898, published by the State. , 4 . Doll of Honor : Names of Soldiers who died in Defense of the American Union and are Interred in the National Cemeteries; 6 vols. 8 vo, Washington, D. C., 1869. 5 . O. D., I, XI (Official Decords, Series I, Volume XI) pages 395- 397) 6. Memoirs of Dhode Island Officers, by Hon. John D. Bartlett. Stone’s Dhode Island in the Debellion. Woodbury’s Second Dhode Island Degiment. 7 . Letter of the Secretary of War to the writer, 1911. 8. O. D., I, XXXII, I (Part I), pages 466, 467. Also Part I. Vols. XII, XXX, and XXXI. 9 . The same. And the Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume X, page 314. 10 . Decords of the Colony of New Plymmouth in New England, Boston, 1855. 11 . North Carolina Colonial Becords, Vol. I, page 316. Decords of the Clerk of the Superior Court, Edenton ; and in the Capitol Build- ing Baleigh. Also No. 1 above. 12 . Letter to the writer from William Neill Slocum of Los Angeles, the only surviving brother of the General, 1911. 13 . Address of General O. 0. Howard before Bankin Post, Grand Army of the Bepublic, Brooklyn, April 2 9, 1894. 14 . Official Begister of the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, for the Years 1849-1852. 13 . 0. B., Series I, Vol. II, pp. 383-387. 16 . The same, V, 236, 237. 17 . Prom Address in Brooklyn, May 4, 1894, by Maj. Wm. C. Tracy, for years member of General Slocum ’s staff. 18 . 0. B., I, V, 719. 19 . Deport of the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Po- tomac, by Major-General George Brinton McClellan, New York, 1864. 20 . O. B., I, XI, I, 622. 21 . The same, Part II, pp. 434-436. 22 . Battles and Leaders of 1 the Civil War. The Century Co., New York, 1888. Four Volumes. 23 . O. B., I, XIX, I, P, 1. 24 . The same, 374-376. 23 . Colonel William P. Pox, Albany, New York, 1904. 26 . 0. B., I, XIX, I, 176. 27 . The same, 381. 28 . The same, 133- 137. 29 . The same, XXV, II, page 642. I 378 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM 30. The Campaign of Chaneellorsville. A Strategic and Tactical Study, by John Bigelow, Jr., Major U. S. Army, 1910. 31 . Life of Major-General George G. Meade, by B. M. Baclie, P. 2 60. 33 . O. B, I, XXV, I, page 171. 33 . Chaneellorsville and Gettysburg, by General Abner Doubleday, New York, 1903. 34. 0. B., I, XXV, I, pages 674, 771. 35. John Watts DePeyster, Frank Allaben ed., N. Y., 1903. 36. Medical Beminiscences of the Army of the Potomac, by J. Letter- man, M. D., Medical Director. 37 . O. B., I, XXV, I, 730. 38 . The same, 675. 39 . The same, 678. 40. The same, 731. 41. The same, 675. 42. The same, 682-684. 43. The same, pages 669-672. 44. The Campaign of Chaneellorsville, by Theodore A. Dodge, United States Army, Boston, 1881, page 159. 45. O. B., I, XXVII, III, page 192. 46 . Beminiscences of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Begiment New York Volunteers, by Sergeant Henry C. Morkous. 47 . General James C. Bogers’ Oration at Gettysburg Monument Dedi- cation, September 19, 1902. 48 . The Battle of Gettysburg, B. K. Beecliam, member of the 1st Army Corps, Chicago, 1911. 49 . James K. Hosmer ’s Gettysburg, in Decisive Battles of America, Al- bert B. Hart and others’ edition. 50 . O. B„ I, XXVII, I, pages 825, 759, 73, 74. 51 . New York at Gettysburg, 3 Vols. 4to, illustrated. Published by the State in 1900. 52. From General O. O. Howard’s address in Plymouth Church, Brook- lyn, New York City, April 24, 1894. 53. The American Encyclopedia, IS 63, Vol. Ill, page 108. 54. O. B,, I, XXVII, III, 611. 55. The same, I, XXIX. 56 Memoirs of the 159th New York Begiment Volunteer Infantry, by Captain George K. Collins, 1891. 57 . O. E., I, XXVII, I, 758-763. 58 . The same, 765-770. 59 . History of the Tenth Maine Battalion, by Bev. Leonard Jordan, its Chaplain, Portland, 1871. 60 . O. B., I, XXIX, I, page 156. 61 . History of the 27th Indiana Vol. Inf., by E. B. Brown. 62 . O. B., I, XXX, TV, pages 322, 161, 163. 63. History of the 14 9th N. Y. Begt.. by Capt. G. K. Collins. 64 . O. E., I, XXXI, I, 73, 740. 65 . The same. 66 . The same. Part IT, 52, 53, 57. 67 . The same, 409. 68 . The same, 69, 70. 69. The same, XIX, II, 5 83. 70. The same, XXXII, 315. 71 . The same, Part III, 561, 567-9. 72 . The same. 73 . The same, I, XXXTX, II, 30, 32, 38. 74 . The same, XXVI, I, 96. 75 . The same, XXXIXth, II, 160. 76 . The same, XXXVIII, V, 822.' 77 . The same, 782. APPENDIX 379 78. The Thirty-third Massachusetts Regiment, by Gen. Adin Underwood, A. M., Williams and Company, Boston. 79. O. R., I, XXXIX, II, 355. 80. The same, XXXVIII, 26. 81. The same, XXXIX, III, 106. 82. The same, 162, 169, 170. 83. The same, 202. 84. The same, 347-8. 85. The same, 377-8. 86. The same, 859. 87. The same, 892. 88. The same ,680. 89. The same, 713, 714. 90. The same, I, XLIV, 22-25. 91. Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, Volume II. 92. O. R., I, XLIV, 719-20. 93. The same. 94. The same, 73 7-8. 95. The same, 800. 96 Sherman 's Memoirs in the Light of the Official Records, by H. V. Boynton, Cincinnati, 1875. 97. O. R., I, XLIV, 826. 98. The same, 827. 99. The same, I, XL VII, I, page 53 6. 100. The Last Chance of the Confederacy, by General Alexander C. Mc- Clurg, The Atlantic Monthly, September, 1882. 101. O. R.. I, XL VII, I, pages 47, 25, 2 6. 102. Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, by Major-General Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio. 103. O. R., I, XLVII, III, 32, 43, 54, 75. 104. The same, Part I, 419-425. 105. The same, Part III, 213. 106. Maj. Gen. Carl Schurz’s Reminiscences, Volume III. 107. O. R., I, XLVII, III, 435. 108. The same, 454-5. 109. The same, 47S. 110. The same, 630, 631. 111. The same, Series III, Vol. V, page 98. 112. The same, 134. 113. Sydney Reid in Harper’s Weekly soon after General Slocum’s de- cease, April 14, 1894. 114. The Photographic History of the Civil War, 1911. 115. The Story of the Great March, by Brevet Major George Ward Nichols, 26th edition, New York, 1S66. 116. Sherman; Memorial Sketch. Government Print. 1904. V117. Presidential Addresses Volume IV, Ihe Review of Reviews Co. 118. O. R., Series I, Volume XLIV, page 274. 380 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM SOLDIEES BY STATES, REGIMENTS AND BATTERIES Under the more constant command of Major-General Slocum are given below. Many other regiments, and parts of regiments, were added to this list frequently to take the places of those whose terms of enlistment had expired, and who were killed or disabled in battles, or by diseases. There were frequently so much change in companies as well as in regiments, that full account could not be kept for this list of the incoming men by transfer or direct enlistment. For names of officers, see the General Index. Alabama. First Cavalry, page 222, of this book. Connecticut. Infantry: 5th, 62, 121, 223. 20tli, 62, 121, 180, 224. Delaware. Third Infantry, page 60. Illinois. Artillery: Light, 1st, 147, 151, Battery C, 223, Battery D, 190; 2nd, 189, Battery F, 190, Battery I, 223, Battery K, 190. Cavalry: 4th, 190; 5th, 189; 11th, 189, 190; 12th, 62. Infantry: 9th, mounted, 222; 11th, 189; 16th; 223; 17th, 189; 20th, 190; 24th, 223; 28th, 190; 29th, 190; 31st, 190; 32nd, 190; 34th, 223; 41st, 190; 45th, 190; 46th, 189; 53rd, 190; 60th, 223; 72nd, 189; 76th, 189; 78th, 223; 81st, 189; 82nd, 224; 85th, 223; 95th, 189; 96th, 161; 101st, 224; 102nd, 224; 104th, 223; 105th, 224; 110th, 223; 125th, 223; 129th, 224. Indiana. Artillery: Light, 19th Battery, 223. Infantry: 22nd, 223; 23rd, 190; 27th, 62, 121, 125, 150; 33rd, 150, 224; 35th, 160; 38th, 223, 265; 42nd, 223; 53rd, 190; 58th, Pontoniers, 223; 70th, 224; 74th, 223; 75th, 223; 82nd, 223; 85th, 224; 87th, 223; 88th, 223; 101st, 223. Iowa. Artillery: First Battery, 159. Cavalry: Fourth, 188. In- fantry: Third, 190. Kansas. First Mounted Infantry, 189. Kentucky. Artillery: Second Battery, 150. Infantry: 8th, 160; 18th, 223. Maine. Artillery: First Light, 6th Battery, 63. Cavalry: First, 62, 63. Infantry: Fifth, 16, 20, 22, 26, 33, 45, 49; 10th, 62, 121. Maryland. Artillery: First Battery, 45, 49, 51. Cavalry; First, 62; Purnell Legion both Cavalry and Infantry; 60. Infantry: Third, 62, 120; Fifth, 60. Massachusetts. Artillery: 1st Battery A, 22, 33, 49. Inrantry: 2nd, 121, 125, 150, 224; 23rd, 205, 224. Michigan. Artillery: First, Light, Battery D, 190. Cavalry: First, 62. Fifth, 125. Infantry: First, Detachment of Engineers, 222; 10th, 223; 13th, 223; 14th, 223; 19th, 147, 151, 224; 21st, 223. Minnesota. Artillery: First, 190. Infantry: Second, 223. Mississippi. Marine Brigade: First Cavalry Battalion, 189; First Mounted Infantry, 189. Ram Fleet, 189. Garrison of Fort Vicksburg, 189. Most of these soldiers were, probably, from other States. Missouri. Artillery: First, Light, Battery C, 190; Battery M, 189. Cavalry: 10th, 189. Infantry: 7th, 189; 23rd, 223; 30th, 189. SOLDIERS BY STATES, REGIMENTS, BATTERIES 381 New Jersey. Artillery: First, Battery A, 32, 34, 49, 51. Infantry: First, 33, 49; Second, 33, 49; Fourth, 32, 33; 13th, 62, 121, 150, 179, 224; 33rd, 224. New York. Artillery: 1st, Battery I. 159, 224; Battery K, 62; Bat- tery M, 62, 74, 121, 129„ 224. Cavalry: 6tli, 55; 8th, 68. Infantry: 10th, 27; 16th, 16, 20, 22, 28, 33, 45, 49; 17th, 223; 18th, 32, 49; 26th, 17; 27th, 13, 16, 20, 22, 26, 32, 33, 45, 49; 31st, 32, 33, 49; 32nd. 32, 49; 60th, 62, 106, 121, 151, 176, 177, 224; 78th, 62, 106, 121, 150, 177; 102nd, 62, 106, 121, 151, 177, 224; 107th, 62, 121, 150, 179, 180, 224; 119th, 224; 121st, 46; 123rd, 121, 223; 134tli, 224; 136th, 224; 137th, 62, 106, 121, 151, 153, 172, 224; 140th, 179; 141st, 224; 143rd, 224; 145th, 62, 121, 180; 149th, 62, 106, 121, 151, 172, 173, 176, 224; 150th, 121, 150; 224; 154th, 224. Ohio. Artillery: 1st, Battery C, 224, Battery K, 159; 3rd, 190; 7th, 189; 8th, 189; 9th, 150, 178; 10th, 190; 15th, 190; 26th, 189. Infantry: 4th, 125; 5th, 62, 121, 125, 151, 224; 7th, 62, 121, 125, 151, 171; 11th, 223; 14th, 223; 17th, 223; 20th, 190; 21st, 223; 29th, 62, 121, 125, 151, 177, 224; 31st, 223; 82nd, 190; 33rd, 223; 38th, 223; 40th, 160; 51st, 161; 52nd, 223; 55th, 224; 58th, 189; 60th, 177; 61st, 224; 66th, 62, 121, 125, 151, 169, 171, 224; 68th, 190; 69th, 223; 73rd, 224; 74th, 223; 78th, 190; 79th, 224; 82nd, 224; 89th, 223; 92nd, 223; 94th, 223; 98th, 223; 99th, 160; 102nd, 150; 105th, 223; 108th, 223; 113th, 223; 121st, 223; 126th, 125. Pennsylvania. Artillery: Battery E, 63, 121, 159, 173, 224; Bat- tery F, 63, 129; Sagebartli ’s Battery, 189. Infantry: 9th, 16; 28th, 62, 121, 151, 166, 171, 177, 224; 29th, 62, 121, 150, 154, 161-8, 177, 224; 46th, 62, 121, 224; 73rd, 224;, 79th, 223; 95th, 32, 33, 49; 96th, 20, 26, 45, 49; 109th, 62, 121, 154, 224; 111th, 62, 121, 150, 154, 162, 177, 224; 124th, 55, 62; 125th, 55; 128th, 62; 147th, 62, 121, 151, 171, 177, 224. Tennessee, East. Cavalry: Fourth, 147, 151. Garrison of Fort Bosecrans, Murfreesborough. United States Artillery: 1st, 10, 20; 2nd, 32, 34, 49, 51; 4th, 35; Battery F, 62, 77, 121, 129; 5th, Battery K, 51. Cavalry: Lincoln, 20. United States Colored Troops. Artillery: 2nd, Light, Battery A, 189; Battery B, 190; 4th, Heavy, 189; 5th, Heavy, 190. Cavalry: 3rd, 189. Infantry: 1st, 150; 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 53rd, 189; 58th, and 66th, 190. Wisconsin. Artillery: 5th Battery, Light, 223. Cavalry: 2nd, 189; Company H, 190. Infantry: 3rd, 62, 121, 125, 150, 179, 224; 12th, 190; 14th, 189; 21st, 223; 22nd, 147, 151, 178, 224; 26th, 224; 31st, 224; 33rd, 190. GENERAL INDEX Confederates are distinguished by (C). Adams, Col. Alexander D., 27, 49 Alexandria, Va., 17, 21, 38, 316. See Washington, defenses of Ames, General Adelbert, 94 Anderson, (C) General B. H., 48 Anderson, Colonel William B., 223 Armies in North Carolina at close of War, Disposition of, 310 Army Corps under General Slocum, some temporarily: Xllth, 54; Yth, Xlth and Xllth, 73; Vth, Vlth and Xllth, 101; 1st, Illrd, Xlth and Xllth, 104; Ilnd, Illrd, Yth, YIth, Xlth and Xllth, 124; Ilnd and Xllth, 116; XIVth, XYth and XXth, 261; XIVth and XXth, 221; XXth, 202, 261; XVIIth, 189 Army of the Cumberland: Slocum goes to in Tennessee, 139; goes to Vicksburg from, 186; returns to Atlanta Campaign, 201 Army of Georgia: by Eegiments, 222-225; Disbandment of and transferrence of its Generals, 319 Army of the Potomac: under Mc- Clellan, 20-57; under Burnside, 57-64; under Hooker, 65-99; under Meade, 99-139; under Slo- cum, temporarily, 124 Assessments on offenders and their sympathisers, 178 Atlanta Campaign: Slocum’s men at Wauhatehie, Lookout Moun- tain, Missionary Eidge, and Einggold, 153-176; Slocum first to enter and occupy Atlanta, 204; citizens banished from, 207, 208; railway station scene, 217, 222; Atlanta abandoned and de- stroyed, 222 Atwell, Captain Charles A., 121 Augusta, Georgia, 232, 236, 255, 260 Ayerysboro, N. Carolina, 269, 300 Badges of different Army Corps, 70, 74, 136, 187, 220, 376 Baird, General Absalom, 223, 266, 300, 319 Baker, Colonel John J, 224 Balloon Service at Chaneellors- ville, 85, 86 Barbarous treatment by Confed- erates in Georgia, 173, 226; in Tennessee, 177-9; in South Caro- lina, 257, 263 Barnes, Alfred S., 340 Barnum, Colonel Henry A., 106, 176, 224 Barnwell, South Carolina, 298 Bartlett, Major and Col. Joseph J., 13, 26, 29, 32, 35, 46, 49 Battles: Above the Clouds, 159- 167, Map of, 160; Antietam, 50-51; Averysborogh, 271-3, 300; Bentonville, 274-287, Map of, 285; Bull Eun, 14-16; Chan- eellorsville, 76-93, Map 78; Crampton’s Pass, 44-49; El- tham’s Landing, 21, 22; Gaines’ Mill, 26-29; Gettysburg, 101-116, Slogan of, 363; Glendale, 30; Jackson, 196; Lookout Moun- tain, 159-167 ; Manassas, 39-41 ; Missionary Eidge, 168, 169; Einggold, 170-173; Seven Days, 31; Wauhatehie, 153-155; Bat- tleflags Captured: Chancellors- ville, 83; Crampton’s Pass, 46; Antietam, 52; Lookout Moun- tain, 162-164; Einggold, Geor- gia, 173, 176-7 Beauregard, Gen. P. G. T. (C), 237, 260 Beck, Major Frederick, 223 Bentonville, N. C., Sunday morn- ing before the battle, 275, 300 Berry, D. F., telegrapher, 313 Best, Capt. Clermont L., 77, 90, 129 Birney, Gen. G. L., 33, 89-92, 109 Bishop, Col. Judson W., 223 Black Swamp, S. C., 257 Black Biver, North Carolina, 273 Blackville, South Carolina, 298 Blair, Jr., Gen. Frank P., 194 Bloodgood, Colonel Edward, 224 Boggess, Lieutenant G. W., 151 Bolton, Captain William H., 189 Boyle, Major John A., 121 Bradley, Colonel Daniel, 190 Bragg, Gen. Braxton (C), 148, 169 Breckenridge, Gen. John C. (C) 169, 170 Briant, Colonel Cyrus E., 223. Brigham, Colonel Joseph H., 223 Broad Biver, South Carolina, 261, 298 Brown, Colonel Henry D., 224 Brown, Colonel Henry W., 49 Bryant, Colonel Julian E., 190 Buck, Colonel Samuel L., 49 Buckingham, Col. Philo B., 224 384 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM Buddington, Rev. Wm. Ives, 340 Buell, Colonel George P., 222, 297, 301, 319 Buffalo Creek, North Carolina, 268 ‘Bummers,’ 227, 228 Burdick, Lieutenant James, 190 Burnside, Gen. A. E., 57, 59, 61, 63, 64 Burr, Surgeon Burton, Captain James E., 224 Bushwhackers in Tennessee, 178; in Georgia, 226 Butler, Captain F. W., 92 Butterfield, Gen. D., 85, 108, 144, 148 Cahill, Colonel James B., 223 Cake, Colonel Henry L., 27, 49 Caldwell, Captain Samuel, 324 Caledonia, North Carolina, 307 Callicott, Colonel John A., 190 Campaigns: Atlanta - Savannah, the Great March to the Sea, 225-241; Carolinas’ or Savan- nah-Raleigh, 254-292; Chancel- lorsville, 73-88; Chattanooga- Atlanta, 153-176, 201-206; Get- tysburg, 93-122; Maryland, 43- 53; Peninsular, 21-35 Canby, Gen. Edward R. S., 125, 195-7 Candy, Col: Charles, 121, 151, 160-7 Cape Fear River, 300 Captures of Arms and Prisoners, see Reports, Official Carlin, General William P., 223, 279, 300, 301 Carmen, Col. Ezra A., 150, 229, 231 Carthage, North Carolina, 307 Case, Colonel Henry, 224 Casualties, see at close of Official Reports Catawba River, 263-4, 299 Centerville, Virginia, 315 Channel, Lieutenant Joseph R., 223 Chancellorsville, Virginia, 75 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 309 Charleston’s food supplies cut off by the destruction of railroads, 260-3 Charlotte, North Carolina, 265 Chartres, Due de, 27 Chatfield, Colonel Harvey S., 224 Chattahoochee River, Tenn., 202 Cheatham, Gen. (C) 291, 294 Cheraw, South Carolina, 300 Chesterfield, South Carolina, 266 Chilesburg, Virginia, 315 Christian, Colonel William H., 18 Christmas, 1864, enjoyed in Sa- vannah, 245, 248 Churchill, Gen. Thomas J., (C) 163 Clancy, Colonel Charles W., 223 Clay, Captain Hiland H., 224 Clayton, Captain William Z., 190 Cleburne, General Patrick R. (C) 171 Coates, Colonel James H., 189 Cobb, General Howell (C) 48 Cobham, Col. George A., Jr., 121, 150, 160-172 Coe, Lieutenant Alonzo W., 223 Coggswell, Colonel William, 121, 150, 224, 280 Colgrove, Colonel Silas, 121, 150 Collet, Colonel Mark W., 49 Collins, Major William B., 189 Colston, General (Cj, 82 Columbia, S. C., burned, and re- ceived donation of 500 beef cat- tle, 262; Slocum not there, 298 Confederate Invasions, 42-52, 94- 119, 127-133 Confederates’ Last Chance de- feated by Slocum, 281-7 ; night attack foiled, 286; dates of sur- renders, 329, 331 Congaree River, South Carolina, 261 Cook, Captain George W., 223 Coosawatehie Swamp, S. C., 257 Corduroying Roads, 234, 256-264, 267-8 Cornwall, South Carolina, 299 Corse, General John M., 297-8 Couch, Gen. Darius N., 52, 54, 76, 77, 84, 87, 117 Council of War, at Chaneellors- ville, 84; at Gettysburg, 108-110; at Williamsport, 119 Cox’s Bridge, North Carolina, 294, 303 Cox, General Jacob D., Reported to Slocum, 209, 295 Craig, Major John, 121, 224 Crane, Col. Nirom M., 129; killed, 172 Crane, Col. Alexander B., 224 Crance, Colonel, 150 Crandall, Col. Frederick M., 189 Crandall, Captain John R., 189 Creighton, Colonel Wm. R., 121; killed, 172 Cresson, Major Charles C., 224 Crocker, General Marcellus M., 190 Crosby, Lieutenant, killed, 91 GENERAL INDEX 385 Cunningham, Lieut. George P, 190 Currie, Colonel George E., 189, 190 Cuyler’s Plantation, Georgia, 237 Daboll, Colonel Henry W., 223 Dahlgren, Admiral, 243 Dana, General N. J. T., 201 Dana, Hon. Charles A., on Gen. Hooker, 152-3, 155-8, 174-5, Slo- cum, 195 Dana, General, 22 Davis, Gen. Jefferson C., 223, 278, 280, 298-300, 305, 316, 319 Davidson, General John W., 323 Davisborough, Georgia, 233 Dechert, Major Eobert P., 304 Dennis, Gen. Elias S., 189, 199 DeEussy, Captain, 35 Deserters Shot, 96, 126 Diven, Lieutenant E., 92 Dixon, Courtland, 340 Discharges with the Eogues March, 120, 177 Dodge, Col. Theodore quoted, 87 Doan, Col. Azariah W., 224 Doan, Colonel Thomas, 223 Doane, Colonel Elisha, 224 Doerflinger, Lieutenant Charles, 190 Dornblaser, Colonel Benjamin, 189 Downey, Colonel, 305 Draft Eiots in New York, 125 Drought, John W., 178 Duer, Major John O., 190 Dunn, Colonel Walter G., 224 Durham Station, North Carolina, 309 Dustin, General Daniel, 224, 319 Easton, General Langdon C., 246 Edisto Eiver, South, S. C., 261, 298, N. 298 Ege, Captain Page, 223 Election, Presidential, 208 Ellet, General Alfred W., 189 Ellet, Colonel John A., 189 Elliott, Major Gilbert M., 121 Elliott, Major of U. S. Colored Troops, 150 Elliott, Major Thomas, 224 Emancipation of Slaves Pro- claimed to the Armies, 53 Engineers, - 1st Michigan, 222 Este, Colonel George P., 223 Ewell, General E. S. (C), 106, 129 Ewing, General Charles, 323 Fahnestock, Colonel Allen L., 223 Fairfax Court House, Va., 60-64 25 Fairfax Station, Virginia, 316 Fayetteville, N. C., occupied, 260- 6; Again Supply Boats from the Sea at, 269; 294, 300 Fearing, Gen. Benjamin D., 223, 279, 281, 319 Findley, Major Eobert P., 223 Fisher, Major Joseph, 223 Fitch, Colonel William T., 121 Fitch, Colonel Michael H., 223 Fitzgibbon, Major Thomas C., 223 Flinn, Captain John, 121 Flynn, Colonel John, 222, 243 Fog in Georgia, 234 Foley, Private James W., 179 Foraging good thruout Georgia, 211-13, 227, 232-235. Short in the Carolinas, 260, 269 Foraker, Captain Joseph B.. 288, 304, 318 Force, General Manning F., 190, 323 Forrest, General Nathan B. (C), 185, 209 Forts and Fortifications, Union: Fort Jackson, Savannah, 243; Marietta, 151; Natchez, Miss., 189; Eoseerans, Tennessee, 141; Slocum, Washington, D. C., 3; Slocum, New York, 374; Vicks- burg, Miss., 189. Confederate: Atlanta, 206; Antietam, 270-1; Bentonville, 278; Ebenezer Church, Ga., 237; Lawtonville, S. C., 298; Lookout Mountain, 163-168; Millen, Ga., 234; Salkahatehie, S. C., 259; Savannah, 238 Foster, General John G., 255 Fox, Major Benton D., 223 Fox, Captain Charles J., 224 Fox, Colonel William F., 74, 82 Franklin, General William B., 17, 47, 50, 59 Fredericksburg, Va., 316 Freedman’s Bureau, 325 French, General William H., 98, 119 Frohoek, Colonel William T., 190 Fry, Colonel John C., 190 Gardner, Major, 33 Garfield, General James A., 144 Garrett, Captain John, 224 Gary, Captain Marco B., 224 Geary, Lieutenant E. E., 155 Geary, Gen. John W., 56, 83, 89, 90," 121, 147, 153-5, 159, 173, 179, 204, 224, 234, 243, 255, 290, 296, 298, 318 386 MAJOR-GE.XEBAL SLOCUM Georgia: Army of by Regiments, 222-224; placed on proper rec- ord, 296. Planters ordered to destroy food to starve Union Armies, 232. Union men in, 247 Gettysburg, Pa.: Battle of, 101- 116. Map of Battle-field, 103. Pursuit of Enemy from, 130. View of Culp ’s Hill, 114 Gibbon, General John, 108, 109 Gilbert, Captain Charles M., 223 Gilbert, Colonel H. C., 147-151 Gilchrist, Colonel Charles A., 189 Gimber, Captain F. L., 150 Gleason, Colonel Newell, 223 Glenn, Colonel William H., 223 Godard, Colonel Abel, 106, 121, 151 Goodman, Dr. H. E., 305 Gordon, General James B., 122 Gosline, Colonel, 33 Granger, General R. S., 144 Grant, General U. S., Change of Mind, 182-3, 194-5. Fears re- garding the March to the Sea, 210, 211, 296 Greene, General, 106, 112, 121, 150-4; wounded, 154, 319 Greene, General Nathaniel, 1 Greene, Colonel Oliver D., 51 190 Gregory, Lieutenant James M., 190 Gresham, General Walter Q., 190 Griffith, Major Patrick, 224 Grimes, Colonel John, 121 Grose, General, 163 Grumbach, Major Nicholas, 224 Guerrillas, 177-9, 193, 226, 263 Guindon, Colonel Eugene W., 36, 92, 94, 192, 202, 316, 323 Iiambright, Colonel Henry A., 223 Hammerstein, Colonel Herbert von, 106, 121, 151 Hammond, Colonel Edwin P., 223 Hampton, Captain, 91, 92 Hampton, General Wade (C), 260, 294, 307 Hancock, General Winfield S., 77, 108-9 Hanover Court House, Va., 315 Hapeman, Colonel Douglas, 223 Harbert, Lieutenant, 22 Hardee, Gen. William J. (C), 171, 203, 237, 246, 260, 266, 284, 291, 294, 240-3 Hardeeville, South Carolina, 297 Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, 54, 55 Harris, Major Frederick H., 224 Harrison, Benjamin, 204, 318 Hatch, Lieutenant-Colonel, 33 Hatfield, Major, 33 Hawkins, General John P., 189 Hawley, Colonel William, 121, 150, 224, 300 Hays, General William, 119, 126 Heath, Lieutenant-Colonel, 33 Heintzelman, Gen. S. P., 24, 35 Henderson, Colonel, 150 Hewett, Captain, 150 Hexamer, Capt. William, 32, 49, 51 Hicks, Captain Lewis E., 223 Hill, General A. P. (C), 30, 59 Hill, Gen. David H. (C), 57, 59 Hinson, Captain Joesph, 223 Historic Field Orders, 218-220 Hobart, Gen. Harrison C., 223, 319 Hoke, Gen. Robert F. (C), 294 Hood, Gen. John B. (C), 201, 203, 206, 217, 241, 260, 292, 294 Hooker, Gen. Joseph, 59, 65, 73, 75-94, 99, 148, 155, 156, 165 Hopkins, Captain, 22 Hopkins, Lieut. -Col. W. R., 92 Horses, Scarcity of, 40, 54; dis- ease with great mortality among, 53 Horses and Mules Captured on the March to the Sea, 252 Hospitals, Field preferred, 208 Houghtaling, Maj. Charles, 147, 151, 223 Howard, Gen. Oliver O., 60, 73, 84, 95, 109, 112, 119, 123; on Meade ’s faulty report of Gettys- burg, 134, 158, 218, 221, 245 Howe, Colonel John H., 189 Howgate, Lieutenant H. W., 304 Howland, Col, Joseph, 27, 29 Hubbs, Major, 33 Hughes, Col. Samuel T., 222 Humphrey, Col. Thomas W., 189 Hunt, General Henry J., 112 Hunter, Colonel Morton C., 223 Hurst, Colonel Samuel H., 224 Hutchins, Colonel Rue P., 223 Hutchinson, Dr. James C., 340 Ireland, Colonel David, 106, 121, 151, 160, 164-5, 168, 173, 174 Jackson, Colonel Allen H., 224 Jackson, Colonel Ezra P., 189 Jackson, General Nathaniel J., 26, 33, 49, 92, 223, 297, 300 Jackson, Gen. Thomas J. (Stone- wall; C), 25, 39, 79, 108 Jaeksonborough, Georgia, 236 Jacobs, Private George W., 179 James River, Va., 25, 31, 313 Jessup, Captain Alexander S., 189 GENERAL INDEX 387 Johnson, President Andrew, 324-5 Johnson, General Edward (C), 100 Johnson, General Eiehard W., 169 Johnston, General Joseph E. (C), 186, 201, 241, 287, 290-2, 301, 306-8, 310 Jones, Colonel John J., 189 Jones, Colonel Charles C., 189 Jones, Henry R., 340 Jones, Colonel Patrick H., 224 Jones, Captain Toland, 223 Jones, Colonel William, 190 Journey to Tennessee, 141-144 Justin, Lieutenant William, 190 Kane, General, 89 Kearney, General Philip, 30, 35 Kellams, Capt. Gideon R., 223 Kemble, Surgeon George S., 192 Ketcham, Colonel John EL, 121, 150, 179, 224 Keyes, General E. D., 24 Kilpatrick, General Judson, 218- 221, 270, 297 Kinzie, Lieutenant David H., 121 Kirkup, Colonel Robert, 224 Knapp, Captain, 159, 174 Knipe, General Joseph F., 74, 118, 121, 179 Landgraeber, Lieutenant, 174 Landis, Captain James EL, 324 Landon, Lieutenant, 22 Lane, Colonel, 151 Langley, Col. James W., 223 Lawtonville, South Carolina, 298 Lee, General Fitzhugh (C), 61 Lee, General Robert E. (C), 52, 55, 61, 64, 305, 306 Lee, General Stephen D. (C), 188 Leggett, Gen. Mortimer D., 190 Lemon, Major George F., 49 Le Sage, Colonel John B., 224 Lieb, Colonel Herman, 189, 192 Lincoln, President Abraham, 36, 42, 49, 53, 308 Litchfield, Colonel, 279 Locher, Major Michael H., 223 Locke, Captain Frederick T., 34 Lockman, Colonel John T., 224 Lockwood, General H. H., 121 Logan, General John A., 190, 289, 316 Longstreet, General James (C), 30 Louisville, Georgia, 232 Low, Captain James H., 223 Lowe, T. S. C., Balloonist, 85, 86 Lowell, Jr., Col. Charles, 98 Ludlow, Lieutenant William, 246 Lumber River, N. C., 265, 268 Lumm, Colonel James M., 223 Lynch River, N. C., 265, 266, 299 McCall, Gen. George A., 30, 35 McClanahan, Col. John W., 190 McClellan, General George B., 20, 34, 37, 42, 43, 49, 50, 52, 54, 57 McClurg, Gen. Alex’r C., 278, 319 MeCole, Major Cyrus J., 223 McDougall, Col. Archibald L., 121 McDowell, Captain R. M., 305 McGill, Lieutenant, 159 McGowan, General (C), 82 McKee, Major George C., 189 McKnight, Lieut. Joseph, 223 McLaughlin, Capt. James R., 223 McLaws, General (C), 48, 81 McMahan, Col. Arnold, 223 McNaughton, Lieut. Harlow P„ 189 McNulty, Surgeon, 92 McPherson, General James D., 183, 185, 194 McVicar, Colonel, 89 Mackey, Captain W. J., 147 Mahone, General (C), 48 Maltby, Gen. Jasper A., 189 Maney, Gen. George (C), 164 Manning, General, 323 March to the Sea, 207, 215-224, 237 March, Mud, 61, 63, 64 Marsh, Lieutenant-Colonel, 33 Martin, Colonel Joel O., 223 Matheny, Colonel John M., 223 Matheson, Col. Roderick, 49 Matthaeli, Captain John L., 190 Maurice, Gen. Thomas D., 190 Meade, General George G., 73-75, 99, 119, 131-136, 316 Medical Attention, 19, 20, 37 Merrell, Captain William, 224 Miles, Colonel David, 223 Miller, Capt. J. Warren, 323 Milward, Col. Hubbard K., 223 Mindil, Colonel George W., 224 Mississippi Miltia, 325 Mitchell, General J. G., 281-6, 319 Mong, Lieutenant William J., 190 Moore, Colonel Albert, 223 . Moore, Col. Jonathan B., 190 Morgan, General James D., 223, 279, 281-284, 290, 300-302, 319 Morgan, Colonel Thomas, 223 Morton, Colonel Quin, 223 Morse, Captain C. F., 92 Moseley, Major William W, 92, 179, 202, 222, 304, 323 Moseley, Lieutenant (C), 184-5 Mower, General Joseph A., 319 388 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM Muhlenberg Lieut. Edward D., 121 Mumford, Major Horace P., 189 Munitions of War Destroyed; at Atlanta, 204; at Milledgeville, 230; at Savannah, 244; at Fay- etteville, 266 Music: in Tennessee, 181; in At- lanta, 206, 226; in Milledgeville, 229; in Winnboro, 262; at Ben- tonville, 275 Mustering out of Service, 318, 319 Myers, Colonel George R., 49 Hale, Colonel John H., 190 Nashville and Chattanooga Rail- road Guarded, 145-151, 178-185 Negroes: 186, 188, 193, 217, 220, 253, 269, 324, 325, 327» Preach- ers, 246. Troops, 189-191, 194. 195, 324, 326 Neill, General, 129 Neuse River, N. C., 295, 306, 311 Newkirk, Lieut. Edward P., 224 Newspapers, Confederate: 212, 227, 229. Union: 214, 222 Newton, Gen. John, 22, 32, 49, 109 O’Hara, Captain Thomas, 189 Orcutt, Newell E., 178 Osband, Col. Embury D., 189 Osborne, Lieut. Richard, 190 Osterhaus, Gen. Peter J., 323 Oxford, Virginia, 315 Packer, Col. Warren F., 121 . Palmer, Col. Theodorie R., 223 Pardee, Colonel Ario, 224 Pearce, Colonel John S., 223 Pearson, Colonel Robert N., 190 Peats, Major Prank F., 189 Pedee River, S. C., 265, 267, 300 Pepper, Rev. George W., 245 Perkins, Col. George T., 223 Perkins, Colonel H. W., 202 Pets, Animal, 228 Pinto, Colonel Francis E., 49 Platt, Captain E. R., 35 Pleasonton, Gen. Alfred, 73, 74, 77, 79, 92, 94, 119 Plundering by Confederates, 243, 307 Poe, Captain, Engineer, 217, 231, 248 Pontoniers, 222, 225, 237 Porter, Captain Josiah, 22, 49 Porter, Gen. Fitz John, 22, 27, 32, 55, 338 Potts, Colonel Benjamin F., 190 Powell, Col. Eugene, 121, 159, 224 Powers, Colonel Edwin H., 224 Pratt, Colonel Calvin E, 30, 33 Preston, Colonel Simon M., 190 Price, Colonel Edward L., 121 Prison Pen at Millen, Ga., 233 Property Destroyed at Atlanta, 204; Milledgeville, 230; Savan- nah, 243, 244; Columbia, 262; Fayetteville, 266 Purdy, Captain E. Spencer, 22. 36 Purysburg, South Carolina, 297 Putnam, Captain James F., 189 Railroad Destruction along the Great March to the Sea, 226-7, 230-1, 234-7, 248, 260-267, 298, 299 Randall, Colonel C. B., 151 Randolph, Captain, 35 Ranney, Captain Robert, 189 Refugees unloaded, 269 Reports of Commands, 16, 20, 23, 25, 49, 51, 56, 57, 62, 65, 66, 71, 94, 121, 123, 147, 157, 174, 182, 189-192, 204, 208, 215; Army of Georgia, 222-225, 248, 249; at Goldsboro, N. C., 305 Reports, Official, of Battles: El- tham Landing, 22; Peninsular, 32-36; Crampton’s Pass, 45-47; Antietam, 51; Chancellorsville, 88-93; Gettysburg, 127-136; At- lanta-Savannah, 249-253; Savan- nah to Goldsboro, 296-304 Review, The Grand, at the Close of the War, Washington, D. C., 317 Reynolds, Major John A., 159, 172, 224, 305 Reynolds, Gen. John F., 84, 96, 98, 101 Rhodes, Major Hinman, 190 Richards, Col. Wm. Jr., 121, 150 Rider, Major Robert G., 223 Risdon, Col. Orlando C., 189 Roanoke River, N. C., 312 Robertsville, S. C., 257, 297 Robinson, Major Aaron B., 223 Robinson, Col. James S., 224, 231, 279, 302 Rochester, Capt. Montgomery, 307 Roekfish Creek, S. C., 268 Rockingham, N. C., 265 Roddy, Gen. Philip D., (C), 144 Rodgers, Colonel H. C., 22, 92, 222 Rodgers, Capt. Wm. F., 190 Rogers, Col. Andrew W., 189 Rogers, Colonel James C., 224 Rolshausen, Maj. Feridnand H., 224 Rosecrans, Gen. Wm. S., 144, 152 Ross, Colonel Samuel, 121, 224 GENERAL INDEX 389 Buger, General Thomas H., 74, 121, 202, 216 Byerson, Major, 33 Sahm, Lieutenant, 159 Salkehatehie Eiver and Swamp, South Carolina, 259 Saluda Eiver, S. C., 261, 298 Sanderson, Col. William L., 190 Sandersville, Georgia, 232 Schoonover, Capt. Jonas, 224 Schurz, General Carl, 307, 311, 324, 325 Scofield, Colonel Hiram, 189 Scott, Col. Eobert K., 92, 190 Scott, General Winfield, 16 Seaton, Captain, 150 Seaver, Colonel Joel J., 49 Sedgewick, General John, 119 Seibert, Colonel J J, 119, 147 Selfridge, Col. James L., 121, 223, 301 Semmes, Gen. Paul J. (C), 48 Seymour, Captain Ira B., 245 Shannon, Lieutenant, 36 Sharkey, Gov. William L., 325 Shenandoah Valley, 57, 58, 59 Shepard, General Isaac F., 189 Sherman, Gen. William T., Letters to Slocum, 199, 203, 209, 214, 326, 331, 334, 336 Showers, Col. Benjamin H., 223 Sickles, Gen. Daniel E., 78-81, 84, 108 Signal and Cipher Telegraph Ser- vice, 52, 55, 85-6, 96, 123, 138, 218 Sill, Colonel Allen N., 224 Simpson, Colonel J. H., 32, 33 Sims, Captain, 152 Sisters’ Ferry, South Carolina, 256 Slaves, Emancipation of, Pro- claimed, 324 Sloan, Captain Thomas S., 224 Slocum, Colonel John O., 5, 6 Slocum, Colonel John S., 3 Slocum, Colonel Paul Enos, 3 Slocum, General Willard, 4 Slocum, William Neill, 7 Slocum, Major-General Henry Warner: Birth and lineage of, 4-6; education, 6-10; officer in U. S. Army, 10; lawyer, 11; State Legislator, 12; instructor of State Militia as Colonel, 13; Volunteers in Civil War and Commands 27th N. Y. Eegi- ment, 13; in Battle of Bull Eun and Wounded, 14; Commissioned Brigadier-General and Com- mands brigade, doing advance work, 16; imprisons his officers, 18; works in harmony with medical officers, 19; his bri- gade, 20; goes on the Peninsu- lar Campaign, 21-31; a strict disciplinarian, 19; commands a division, 23. See General Index under titles of Army Corps, Battles, Com- mands, Campaigns, Eeports, Troops by Eegiments and Bat- teries from different States in the Appendix, and Contents Commissioned Major-General, 36 Active on moral questions, 340; prohibits gambling, 248; general alertness of, 242 Business successes, 339, 359 Character and description of, 292-3 Civil War Service one of the longest and most equable, 327; wide range of commands, 328 Discipline of, 18, 96, 120, 126, 138, 177, 191-5, 311-12, 319 Letters to Sherman, 326, 333, 335. From Sherman, 326, 331, 334, 336. Sherman’s opinion of, 249 Eesignations offered, 140, 148-9, 182-4, final, 327 Testimonials following de- cease, 344 Slogan for every person, 115, 116 Smith, Major Alfred B., 224 Smith, Col., Franklin C., 224 Smith, Col. Eobert F., 223 Smith, Gen. Thomas Killey, 190 Smith, Gen. William F., 33, 117 Smithfield, N. Carolina, 294, 306 Sneedsboro, N. C., 267, 299, 300 Snodgrass, Capt. William H., 223 Social Amenities: in Tennessee, 185; Atlanta, 205; Savannah, 246; Winnsboro, 263-3; Ealeigh, 307 Soldiers, Negro, enlisted as U. S., number of 326 Soldiers ’ and Sailors ’ Horne, Bath, New York, 338 Soldiers, Veteran, 226, 245, 259 Spear, Captain Edmund, 190 Speculators driven from Vicksburg, 191; from Savannah, 247 Spencer, Colonel George E., 222 Spicer, Col. Newell W., 190 Spicer, Captain Silas, 245 Springfield, South Carolina, 256 Stackhouse, Capt. William P., 223 390 MAJOR-GENERAL SLOCUM Stafford Court House, Va., 65 Stainrock, Colonel, 92 Starling, Colonel F. A., 189 Steedman, Gen. James B., 221 Stegman, Col. Lewis R., 106 Stephens, Major, 147 Stephens, Lieut. Jerome B., 224 Stephens, Colonel Thomas, 189 Steuart, Gen. George H. (C), 107 Stevenson, Gen. Carter L. (C), 164 Stockton, Col. Joseph, 189 Stone, Captain Michael, 223 Stoneman, Gen. George, 73 Stuart, Gen. J. E. B. (C), 40, 52, 57 74 94 Sturdevant, Col. S. H., 22, 92, 192, 246 Sudsburg, Col. Joseph M., 121 Sullivan, Lieutenant John, 190 Sumner, General E. V., 24, 59 Sykes, Gen. George, 23, 77, 109, 119 Symmes, Maj. Henry E., 121 Taylor, Gen. G. W., 30, 32, 35, 39 Thanksgiving in Georgia, 233 Tennessee, Slocum Transferred to, 139 Tennille, Georgia, 233 Thickstun, Captain I., 92 Thomas, Gen. George IL, 144, 152 Thompson, Col. David, 150, 224 Thornburgh, Col. J. M., 151 Thorne, Capt. Platt M., 304, 305 Tierney er, Lieut. John H., 189 Topping, Col. E. Hibbard, 223 Torbert, Colonel T. A., 40; 45, 49 Torpedoes at Savannah, 246; in South Carolina road, 256 Town, Col. Gsutavus W., 4y Tracy, Maj. William G., 92, 192, 222, 288, 304, 323 Tucker, Colonel, 33 Tullis, Colonel James, 190 Tuttle, General James M., 190 Tyrrell’s Mount, N. C., 309 Unionists gain information from prisoners, 214 United States’ Domain, Value of, 232 Upton, Captain Emery, 32, 49, 51 Utley, Colonel W. L., 147, 151 Vance, Gov. Zebulon B., 306 Vanderver, Gen. William, 281, 319 Van Voorhees, Col. Koert S., 224 Van Voorhees, Col. Robert S., 121 Vernon, Colonel Maris R., 223 Veteran Soldiers, 226, 245, 259 Vicksburg Home Guards, 188 Wadsworth, Gen. James S., 119, 129 Walcutt, General C. C., 319 Walker, Col. Thomas M., 121, 150, 224 Walker, Gen. William H. T. (C), 164 Wallace, Col. Martin M. R., 190 Walling, Captain Daniel E., 189 Walthall, Gen. E. C. (C), 162 Ward, Col. Lyman M., 189 Ward, Gen. William T., 224, 300, 319 Warner, Major Lewis D., 224 Warren, General G. K., 108, 126 Washburn, Gen. Cadwallader C., 194 Washington, Defenses of: Chain of forts and batteries surround- ing the city, among which on the north -was Fort Slocum named in honor of Colonel John Stanton Slocum who was killed at Bull Run in 1861; also in- trenehments and fortifications in different lines. Moving troops guarded every approach, see pages 14, 18, 19, 20, 25, 37, 39, 42, 55-64, 66-68, 93-108, 116 Washington, Triumphal Return to, and Grand Review after the Close of the War, 317 Wateree River, S. Carolina, 263 Watkins, Col. Hezekiah, 224 Waynesboro, Georgia, 236 Wead, Lieutenant, 36 Weaver, Colonel J. B., 184 Webber, Col. A. Watson, 189 Welles, Colonel George E., 190 West, Colonel Francis H., 224 Westervelt, Private Wm. B., 26 Wheeler, Gen. Joseph (C), 144, 145, 231, 232, 236, 245; Barbar- ity of His Cavalry, 257, 260, 284; Pillaging of His Cavalry, 307 Whipple, General A. W., 56 Whitaker, General W. C., 159 Whittelsey, Col. Henry M., 305, 334 Wickes, Captain, 150 Wiles, Col. Greenberry F., 190 Wilkinson, Capt. Wm. T., 189 Williams, General Alpheus S., 54, 56, 73, 87, 90, 91, 108, 109, 121, 146-7, 152, 201, 204, 223, 278, 297, 300, 302, 305, 319 Williams, Major S., 18 Williamson, Gen. James A., 158 Williston, Lieut. Edward B., 49, 51 Wilmington, 1ST. Carolina, 269, 295 Wilson, Captain DeWitt C., 189 GENERAL INDEX 391 Winegar, Capt. Charles E., 121, 224 Winkler, Col. Frederick C., 224 Winnsboro, S. C., 262, 298-9 Wolcott, Cajotain John. W., 49 Wood, Colonel William T., 189 Woodbury, Capt. John D., 121 Woodford, Gen. Stewart L., 340 Woods, Gen. Charles A., 158 Woods, Col. William B., 243 Wright, Major Myron T., 224 Wounded and Sick at Close of Carolinas Campaign, 305 Yates, Col. John B., 222, 298 York, Captain H. B., 150 Yost, Capt. Theobold D., j. 89 Young, Capt. Jeremiah F., 189 Young, Colonel Van E., 189 Ziegler, Colonel George M., 189 Zulich, Colonel George M., 189 Date Due