EMORY UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
Purchased from the
funds of
The Lewis H. Beck Foundation
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of
RHODE ISLAND.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES,
THIRD SERIES,
Nos. 11 to 20.
4885-87.
CONTENTS.
No. 11. RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE IN THE TWELFTH REGI¬
MENT RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS. By Oscar Lapham.
No. 12. THE MARCH TO THE SEA. By Charles A. Hopkins.
No. 13. REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE WITH COLORED TROOPS IN
THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 1863-65. By Thomas
J. Morgan.
No. 14. FRONTIER SERVICE DURING THE REBELLION; OR, A
HISTORY OF COMPANY K, FIRST INFANTRY CALI¬
FORNIA VOLUNTEERS. By George H. Pettis.
No. 15. REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE WITH THE TWELFTH REGI¬
MENT RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS, AND A MEMO¬
RIAL OF COL. GEORGE H. BROWNE. By Pardon E.
Tillinghast.
No. 16. BATTERY D, FIRST RHODE ISLAND LIGHT ARTILLERY,
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM, SEPTEMBER 17, 1862.
By J. Albert Monroe.
No. 17. RELIEF OF WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, BY THE
FIFTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS. By William W.
Douglas.
No. 18. A PRIVATE'S REMINISCENCES OF THE FIRST YEAR OF
THE WAR. By E. Benjamin Andrews.
No. 19. BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD, MARCH 17, 1863. By Jacob B.
Cooke.
No. 20. THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. By Alonzo Williams.
Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society of Rhode Island.
The Society invites the attention of those interested to the publications
known as "Personal Narratives" of Events in the War of the Rebellion,issued
under its auspices. Of these papers, three series have been published to this
date (January, 1889,) comprising fifty numbers, the titles of which are given
on the following pages of this circular. Some of these are out of print and
scarce. Copies of some of the papers can be supplied by the Society, and
occasionally full sets can be obtained.
In compliance with urgent requests, the Society has commenced the pub¬
lication of the Fourth Series. The numbers will be issued, as heretofore, at
convenient intervals, and at the same price, 40 cents per number. The edition
is limited to 250 copies. The pamphlets are small quartos, of the size of this
circular. A few additional subscriptions will be received.
Orders or subscriptions may be sent to
J. M. Addeman,
Providence, R. I.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES.
FIRST SERIES.
No. 1. The First Campaign of the Second Rhode Island In¬
fantry. By Elisha II. Rhodes.
No. 2. The Rhode Island Artillery at the First Battle of Bull
Run. By J. Albert Monroe.
No. 3. Reminiscences of Service in the First Rhode Island
Cavalry. By George N. Bliss.
No. 4. My First Cruise at Sea and the Loss of the Iron-clad
Monitor. By Frank B. Butts.
No. 5. Kit Carson's Fight with the Comanche and Kiowa In¬
dians. By George H. Pettis.
No. 6. A Trip to Richmond as a Prisoner of War. By Edward
P. Tobie.
No. 7. Incidents of Cavalry Service in Louisiana. By Charles
H. Parkiiurst.
No. 8. The Bay Fight. A Sketch of the Battle of Mobile Bay.
By Wal F. Hutchinson.
No. 9. Personal Incidents in the Early Campaigns of the Third
Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers. By Edwin Metcalf.
No. 10- The Battle of the Mine. By Ekvin T. Case.
SECOND SERIES.
No. 1. First Cruise of the Montauk. By Samuel T. Beowne.
No. 2. A Country Boy's First Three Months in the Army.
By C. Henry Barney.
No. 3. Battery F, First R. I. Light Artillery. By Philip S.
Chase.
No. 4. The Marine Artillery with the Burnside Expedition,
and the Battle of Camden, N. C. By Wm. B. Aveky.
No. 5. The Battles of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City.
By Lorenzo Teaver.
No. 6. The Burnside Expedition. By A. E. Burnside.
No. 7. Reminiscences of Two Years with the Colored Troops.
By J. M. Addeman.
No. 8. A Recruit Before Petersburg. By Geo. B. Peck, Jr.
No. 9. Personal Experience of the Chancellorsville Campaign.
By Horatio Eogers.
No. 10. The Battle of Cedar Mountain. A Personal View.
By Frederic Denison.
No. 11. Reminiscences of the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865.
By J. Albert Monroe.
No. 12. A Cruise Along the Blockade. By Frank B. Butts.
No. 13. The High School Boys of the Tenth R. I. Regiment,
with a Roll of Teachers and Students who served in the Army or
Navy of the United States during the Rebellion. By William A.
Spicer.
No. 14. Services of the Cavalry in the Army of the Potomac.
By Edwaed P. Tobie.
No. 15. Prison Life of Lieut. James M. Pales. By Geo. "N. Bliss.
No. 16. The Last Tour of Duty at the Siege of Charleston.
By Charles H. Williams.
No. 17. Ambrose Everett Burnside. (A Memorial Address). By
Augustus Woodbury.
No. 18. Incidents of Service with the Eleventh Regiment R. I.
Volunteers. By Charles H. Parkhurst.
No. 19. Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864. By John K.
Bucklyn.
No. 20. Incidents of Cavalry Experience During Gen. Pope's
Campaign. By William Gardiner.
▲
▼
THIRD SERIES.
No. 1. Life on the Texan Blockade. By W. F. Hutchinson.
No. 2. My Four Months' Experience as a Prisoner of War.
By Thomas Simpson.
No. 3. Gunboat Service on the James River. By William B.
Avery.
No. 4. A Private's Recollections of Fredericksburg. By Eugene
A. Cory.
No. 5. Camp and Hospital. By George B. Peck.
No. 6. Cavalry Service with Gen. Sheridan, and Life in Libby
Prison. By George jST. Bliss.
No. 7. Service •with Battery F, First R. I. Light Artillery, in
North Carolina. By Philip S. Chase.
No. 8. Reminiscences of Gunboat Service on the Nansemond.
By Feajjk B. Butts.
No. 9. The Battle of Groveton, August 28, 1862. By Fred¬
eric Denison.
No. 10. Recollections of Monocacy. By Alfred S. Koe.
No. 11. Recollections of Service in the Twelfth Regiment
Rhode Island Volunteers. By Oscar Lapham.
No. 12. The March to the Sea. By Charles A. Hopkins.
No. 13. Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops in the
Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. By Thomas J.
Morgan.
No. 14. Frontier Service During the Rebellion; or, A History
of Company K, First Infantry California Volunteers.
By George H. Pettis.
No. 15. Reminiscences of Service with the Twelfth Regiment
Rhode Island Volunteers, and a Memorial of Col.
George H. Browne. By Pardon E. Tillinghast.
No. 16. Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, at the
Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. By J. Albert
Monroe.
No. 17. Relief of Washington, North Carolina, by the Fifth
Rhode Island Volunteers. By "William W. Douglas.
No. 18. A Private's Reminiscences of the First Year of the
War. By E. Benjamin Andrews.
No. 19. Battle of Kelly's Ford, March 17, 1863. By Jacob B.
Cookp:.
No. 20. The Investment of Fort Pulaski. By Alonzo Williams.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series —No. 11.
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
EECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
IN THE
TWELFTH REGIMENT,
E. I. VOLIJNTEEES.
BY
OSCAR LAPHAM,
[Late First Lieutenant Co. B, Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers.]
PROVIDENCE :
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
fE(l'tioo limited to two hundred and
and fifty copies.]
RECOLLECTIONS
OF
SERVICE IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT,
e. i. volunteers.
[Read before the Society, November 18,1884.]
This regiment was recruited in the summer of
1862 under the call of the President for volunteers
for nine months. The disasters of the Peninsula,
the defeat and scattering of Pope's army in Virginia,
and the Union victory at Antietam, had followed each
other in rapid succession, and it was evident that the
veterans of the Army of the Potomac would all be
required in the great struggle with Lee, about to
take place somewhere in Northern Virginia.
It was, therefore, commonly supposed that the
nine months' troops would be stationed in the de¬
fences about "Washington, while the older troops,
6
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
with a few rapid and masterly movements, proceeded
to capture Lee and his army, which had thus far,
with singular perversity, refused to surrender, either
in the Chickahominy swamps, in the valleys of the
Blue Ridge, or among the hills of Maryland.
Instead, however, of luxuriating in comfortable
quarters in sight of the dome of the Capitol, and
dining on beefsteak and fried eggs, and going regu¬
larly to sleep every night in comfortable beds, sur¬
rounded by peaceable friends, our valiant regiment
had, before Christmas of that year, crossed and re-
crossed Long Bridge, picketed miles of rough coun¬
try in the neighborhood of Clouds Mills, marched in
mud, rain and snow storms down through Maryland
from Washington to Port Tobacco, crossed the Poto¬
mac river in transports in bitter cold from Liverpool
Landing to Acquia Creek, marched thence to Fal¬
mouth on the Rappahannock, crossed that stream on
pontoon bridges under an artillery fire, and partici¬
pated in one of the most furious, disastrous and
bloody battles of the war; it had covered the rear of
the retreating army on a dark and rainy night in
December, and, while the Christmas hearths at home
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
7
glowed with gladness and warmth, had begun the
struggle with winter in the open field with salt pork
and hard tack for food, and shelter tents, or huts of
earth walls and a cloth roof for houses.
Taking leave of Virginia in the last days of March
in the following year, we entered upon entirely dif¬
ferent scenes and duties, and engaged for the next
four months in ceaseless activity upon a new and
most interesting field. Transported by rail from
Newport News, Virginia, to Cincinnati, and thence
to Lexington, Kentucky, we began a march south¬
ward, at first through a beautiful, fertile country,
and later, entering a broken, barren and mountain¬
ous region and over precipitous roads, pausing at
last on the bank of the Cumberland river, near the
line of Tennessee.
The regiment was collected from various parts of
the State and assembled on Dexter training ground,
in Providence, where it was encamped several weeks
to be organized and drilled. The weather was fine,
and the camp was gay with visitors daily, the dress
parade especially being extensively patronized.
Here was the first taste of camp life and military
discipline.
8
RECOLLECTIONS OE SERVICE
Late in the afternoon of October 21, 1862, under
command of Colonel George H. Browne, we em¬
barked on the train for New York, taking the cars at
Olneyville. It was a scene of much excitement. I
was ordered to take a detachment and establish a
guard at the place of embarkation, to hold the crowd
back from the cars and prevent their filling the train.
Friends and relatives of the boys begged for one
more farewell; mothers and sisters and wives were in
tears. But the hour had struck, the die was cast;
the solid ranks moved steadily down through the
throng within the impassable line, and a thousand
more lives were committed to the chances of war.
There was too much of novelty in our new situation,
and too much anticipation of what was before us, to
give room for any prolonged regrets on our part.
There was just enough of mystery and uncertainty
in what we were going to, to make us anxious for
its development. Later on there were times when
our curiosity was more than satisfied. When we
encountered the genuine reality we found occasions
when our interest in the proceedings took a different
turn, and we would willingly have left our share to
IN THE TWELFTH HEGIMENT.
9
other hands, if we could have done so with equal
honor.
The journey to Washington was long and tedious,
and we were not permitted even the cheer and hos¬
pitality which greeted all troops passing through
Philadelphia to the front. Our route took us by
way of Harrisburg, with many long stops. Our
boys even here did not forget their opportunities, as
an occasional quack of a duck from the gloom of
some car plainly attested. They took naturally to
the situation with an alacrity quite astonishing for
new recruits with so short a military experience.
We encamped for a night in Washington near the
Capitol, and next day moved up Pennsylvania ave¬
nue and Fourteenth street, across Long Bridge, to
Camp Chase, in the red dirt of Virginia, near Arling¬
ton Heights. Here exposure, cold rains, and lying
on the ground in Sibley tents, began to tell on many
constitutions, and the hollow and feeble coughs of
the poor fellows all over the grounds in the dead
silence of the night, told plainly of the presence of
that invisible enemy that destroys more armies than
shot and shell.
10
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
We soon moved from here southward to Fairfax
Seminary, and encamped on a fine southern slope
overlooking the city of Alexandria. We were now
attached to the brigade commanded by Colonel D. R.
Wright, of New Haven, Connecticut, in the first bri¬
gade of the division of General Casey. The bri¬
gade was composed, besides ourselves, of the Fif¬
teenth Connecticut, Colonel Wright's regiment, the
Thirteenth New Hampshire, Colonel Stevens, and
the Twenty-seventh New Jersey, Colonel Mindil.
This brigade was employed in picketing beyond
Clouds Mills, one regiment being sent out at a time,
and remaining on duty twenty-four hours.
At this camp, Colonel Browne began to give atten¬
tion to sanitary regulations, which he vigorously
enforced throughout our term of service, often over¬
seeing in person the details of the work. The men
entrusted to his care were not to be permitted to
suffer in health or efficiency from their own igno¬
rance or carelessness. This matter of cleanliness
and good order in the company streets, tents, about
the cook-house, and all around the various camps
established from time to time, became somewhat
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
11
later the subject of the mpst assiduous attention and
rivalry among the several companies, and one to
which I may refer again.
We had been at Fairfax Seminary but a few days
when I received orders from Colonel Browne to
report at brigade headquarters to Colonel Wright,
commanding the brigade, for duty as aide on his per¬
sonal staff. I put on my best clothes and reported
to what seemed to me a most tremendous and awe-
inspiring presence; but I had learned one principle
of military duty and etiquette, and that was, when in
the presence of superior officers to stand erect and
say nothing, take my orders in silence, salute and
retire. And this I rigidly adhered to.
The brigade headquarters at Fairfax Seminary
were in the house of Bishop Johns, of Virginia. The
bishop had no use for the house at that time, and I
suppose that was the reason Colonel Wright was
able to obtain it. We also had secured some very
comfortable furniture and good beds, and a splendid
library adorned the walls. The grounds were ele¬
gant, and all the appointments first class. I often
thought while luxuriating in this beautiful place that
12
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
the bishop must have been uncommonly patriotic to
do vote so much to make the soldiers comfortable,
while it could not be supposed that he, in absent¬
ing himself on our account, could be as well provided
for.
There was a capital set at headquarters. Lieuten¬
ant Penrose, of the regular army, was chief of staff,—
a wiry, restless fellow, chafing for a battle, thoroughly
acquainted with every detail of the service, for he
was born in the army and knew nothing else. A tire¬
less and fearless rider, he led me many a ride from
morning till night without leaving the saddle, over
bogs and corduroy roads, through swamps and brush
and forest; but I had trained and rowed in the Uni¬
versity boat crew, and was ready for any scramble,
however rough.
There was Dr. Halcombe, of Connecticut,—tall
and rugged, bluff and vigorous. One night, going
through Maryland, the doctor and some more of us
were looking about for a place to sleep. We got into
a little cottage and occupied the parlor. By com¬
mon consent we assigned the sofa for the doctor,
while the rest stretched on the floor. This sofa hap-
1ST THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
13
pened to be very narrow, and rounded up resolutely
in the middle, and it was covered with very slippery
hair-cloth. The doctor got ready to be very com¬
fortable after a tedious day's march, and, wrapped in
his blankets, stretched his long frame upon this little
sofa. Presently came a grunt of displeasure, then
he grew more restless, and as we were just settling
down to sleep, the doctor bounded off the sofa with
an oath, declaring he would rather sleep lengthwise
on a bologna sausage than stay on that sofa.
There was the chaplain, who never turned his back
on a good meal, and never came nearer profanity
than to say- "Condemn it;" the brigade quarter¬
master from Connecticut, a first-rate fellow; a little
chap named Yan Sann, from New Jersey, who was
a clerk, had a great fancy for negro delineation, and
informed me he had belonged to more than one min¬
strel troupe.
General Casey, commander of the division, occa¬
sionally came over from his headquarters in Wash¬
ington, with a large and brilliant staff, to inspect the
picket line, in which we joined, coming back to Col¬
onel Wright's quarters to dinner. There was a
2
14
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
handsome spread on the bishop's mahogany dining-
table on those days, served in courses, and much
high converse, for our Colonel Wright was an able
lawyer, our chaplain had written for the magazines,
and several of General Casey's staff were West
Pointers.
This was transpiring in the beautiful November
days,—the weather was fine, the rebels at a safe
distance, the scenery picturesque. There stretched
the noble and historic Potomac; the bluffs on the
shores and eminences in all directions were covered
with forts and flying the stars and stripes ; the city
of Alexandria lay below us ; the pomp of war on
every hand. It was all strangely new. The very
color of the mud seemed for the time a characteristic
of aristocratic Virginia, a coat of arms as it were, for
it was none of your common gray stuff, but that rich
brick color which is the crowning glory of all our
new houses, and its staying qualities were simply
wonderful. The November haze hung over river
and fort and forest, and there was plenty of mildly
exciting service to keep the blood active and the
appetite keen.
IN THE TWELFTH KEGIMENT.
15
On the first day of December I was returning from
Washington, and met the brigade en route to join the
Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg. We
passed over Long Bridge and down along the river
by the navy yard, across the East Branch, and
stopped for the night just outside Uniontown. Con¬
tinuing down the left bank of the Potomac, the next
night found us near Piscataway, which we passed
the next morning, halting the third night near
another Uniontown, which consisted of cross-roads
and one small shanty.
Two days more brought us to our last bivouac
before beginning to cross the river to Acquia Creek.
It had snowed all the afternoon, covering the ground,
and the men had to pass the night on that ground
under their shelter tents, which they had carried on
their backs. It seemed to me a most serious situa¬
tion, and in the evening, as soon as my duties would
permit, I went in the greatest anxiety to investigate
their wretched plight. To my surprise all hands
were gay and jolly, and as comfortable as need be.
There was plenty of wood, and rousing fires burning
all about; the snow was brushed away, and the little
16
RECOLLECTION S OF SERVICE
tents set up around the fires ; hot coffee and rations
from the haversacks were passing around, and alto¬
gether it was a bright and lively scene, teeming with
real comfort.
The next morning I was sent forward to find the
landing. It was on a point of land made by a sharp
bend of the river to the left, and was exposed to
bleak winds. The brigade was moved down to this
point and began to cross, as near as I can remem¬
ber, about noon. It was a slow process, owing to
lack of transportation, and night was upon us with
two regiments still to cross. Meanwhile the cold
had increased, and it became absolutely necessary to
provide fires. All the way down through Maryland
the most scrupulous attention had been paid to the
protection of private property, and with the excep¬
tion of some individual pilfering, nothing had been
taken. Now, on this cold plain, there were some
large piles of dry fence rails, which, as the cold
increased and the night approached, became the sub¬
ject of earnest consideration among the shivering
officers. The thing was argued pro and con, the
constitutional lawyers being still scrupulous, but
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
17
their compunctions decreasing in direct ratio to the
increase of the cold. The result was in accordance
with human nature under such circumstances —
there were soon long lines of blazing fires upon the
plain, and the boys were safe from further suffering.
Night fell; our regiment had gone over, but there
were still two other regiments of the brigade huddled
around the fires, and it was uncertain whether the
transport would return that night or not. Colonel
Wright, who was still suffering from an injury he
had received some weeks before, decided there was
no need of his remaining longer, asked some one of
his staff to volunteer to stay to look out for the
remaining regiments, whether they crossed that night
or slept on the hither shore. I said I would accept
that duty, and as the evening wore away and no
transport appearing, I called the officers together for
a council as to where they would pass the night.
There was a side hill near by sheltered from the
wind and covered with evergreens, but also covered
with snow. The choice was between that location
and the present, which had the advantage of the
blazing fires. They decided to remain where they
18
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERYICE
were, and I started to ride back over rough, frozen
ground, covered with ice and snow, to headquarters.
My horse here cast a shoe, and I was obliged to dis¬
mount and lead him all the way, about two miles,
back to quarters.
The next day was as severe as the preceding, and
I was left to see the last remnants of baggage, etc.,
across, and did not land at Acquia Creek till after
dark. I was entirely alone, and had no information
whatever in what direction the brigade had gone.
There were plenty of soldiers' quarters and store¬
houses all about, but nobody knew anything about
the location of our troops. So many thousands of
troops were moving, that nobody took particular note
of anything so small as a brigade of a few thousand
men. Supperless and cold, dreary and lonesome, I
east about me for somewhere to pass that dreadful
night. Acres of canal boats and scows and trans-
ports filled the river, and the best I could do was to
get on board a transport, and going below try to find
a place as much sheltered from the wind as possible.
Here I passed the night, or what remained of it,
upon a plank, without so much as a blanket, with
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
19
mules stamping and braying overhead, making one
of the most uncomfortable nights in my existence.
The next morning, after some exploration, I found
our brigade some two miles out, on a rough side hill,
in the snow, with fires made of pine boughs. The
smoke from these fires was blinding, and every sol¬
dier of the Twelfth Regiment knows what " Camp
Smoke" means. Thinking it about time for break-
fast, I looked around to see what I could lay my
hands on. I found Captain Longstreet, of Company
B, who was my captain. 'He had a little chunk of
salt pork and a handful of crumbs in the bottom of a
cracker box; there didn't seem to be any convenient
way for cooking the pork, and so I devoured it raw,
and washed it down with the cracker crumbs.
Lying here three days, we had orders to move on
towards Falmouth, and came up with the Army of
the Potomac, which stretched some miles up and
down the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg.
This was on the evening of December 10, 1862,
three days before the battle of Fredericksburg.
Here we found that our brigade was to be a brigade
no more, but the various regiments were to be sent
20
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
to strengthen other organizations in the Ninth Army
Corps, our lot falling with the First Brigade, Gen¬
eral Nagle, Second Division. That night I found
the Fourth Rhode Island, and supped with my old
classmate, Captain E. P. Brown. During the night
I heard the rumbling of the pontoon bridges as they
were being transported over the frozen ground to the
river. Weeks before, in the pleasant November
weather, I had seen these same pontoons floating
quietly-down the Potomac before we left Fairfax
Seminary, and their whereabouts had been a subject
of anxious speculation ever since Burnside had
arrived at Fredericksburg. About four o'clock in
the morning, the boom of cannon from the direction
of the river suggested some serious thoughts. That
morning I reported to Colonel Browne, who sent me
to my company as First Lieutenant under Captain
Longstreet. Thousands of troops were drawn out
upon the plains under arms, ready to cross into
Fredericksburg as soon as the pontoon bridges could
be laid. Heavy cannonading went on all day for
the purpose of clearing the opposite shore of rebel
sharpshooters preparatory to laying the pontoons.
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
21
We lay here all day, and here the first man I had
seen wounded in battle was brought back from
towards the river.
The cannonade ceased at night and stillness settled
down over that vast army, and during the silent
watches I could hear the clocks in the church towers
of the city tolling out the hours. It had seemed to
me for weeks past that we were almost outside the
pale of civilization. Living in open fields, seldom
entering a habitable place, the total absence of ordi¬
nary comforts, bivouacking amidst snow-banks, and,
above all, the apparent disregard and cheapness of
human life, had served to create and intensify this
feeling, but the sound of those bells, exactly as I had
heard them a thousand times at home, renewed with
strange intensity the recollection of all the peace and
comfort and friendship which I had left behind, and
for a time had almost forgotten.
The next day, December twelfth, we were under
arms, and we could soon see that the army was in
motion towards the river, and at length it came our
turn. We filed out into the road and marched down
towards the river and Fredericksburg. The city
22
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
extends down to the water's edge and backward up
sloping ground. Behind the city is a plain of some
extent, and beyond this Marye's Heights, which are
about parallel with the river. On these heights the
enemy was posted. The river on our side is skirted
by a steep bluff approaching almost to the river bank.
On this bluff, and directly opposite the city, is the
Lacy house, a fine old mansion which had been sur¬
rounded with elegant grounds and trees, all of which
were now in ruins. Our artillery was posted for a
long distance up and down this bluff, and commanded
the entire city and reached the enemy's works on
Marye's Heights. A lively cannonade was going on
across the valley, and as we were filing down through
a gully or defile just above the Lacy house, to reach
the pontoon bridge, a shell from the enemy went
through the branches of a tree over our heads. As
I was stepping upon the bridge I met and shook
hands with a college classmate, Gamaliel Lyman
Dwight, who was an officer in a Bhode Island bat¬
tery. Troops, horses and artillery were crowding
up to this little bridge, the top of which seemed only
a few inches from the surface of the water, narrow
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
23
and without railings, a floating structure held in posi¬
tion by anchors. It seemed a frail thing to support
an army, but it served the purpose well.
From the moment I entered that city until I got
out of it, I felt a degree of helplessness and restraint,
like a man with his hands tied, such as I think I
never experienced anywhere else. Thousands and
thousands of soldiers were huddled and crowded in
the streets; the city seemed packed with men, and
all in a position where they could apparently do little
or nothing to defend themselves against attack. It
seemed to me entirely within the power of General
Lee to have thrown the army into utter confusion
and rout if he had seen fit to drop a few hundred
shells into that crowded mass. As it was, he con¬
tented himself for that day shelling our troops as
they approached the river, and with endeavoring to
destroy the pontoons by dropping shells upon them.
The location of the bridges, although not visible to
the rebels, was easily enough determined by the
direction taken by our troops to reach them, the bluff
over which we approached the river being in per¬
fectly plain sight from the rebel position. In the
24
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
course of the day they got the ranges so well that in
one instance a regiment of infantry coming over the
bluff by the flank was struck and some of the men
evidently killed, breaking up the regiment quite
badly. At the same time, a short distance above,
along the bluff, was a long line of spectators in dark
citizens' clothes who had come to witness the battle
from what they had evidently supposed was a pretty
safe distance. The breaking up of that line of dark-
coated citizens was something magical; it vanished
like a flock of blackbirds.
Later in the day a regiment of cavalry, moving
also by the flank, came slowly over the bluff to
descend to the bridge exactly over the spot where
the infantry regiment ha,d passed. Again a shell
struck almost in the same spot and exploded. The
only notice taken of the occurrence was a slight
swerve of the line to one side; not a man left his
place except those prostrated by the shot; the line
moved on as steadily and majestically as if on parade.
And so all day long troops poured over the bluff
down into the city and thronged its streets, until the
whole place seemed one vast hive of armed men.
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
25
The city itself seemed to me to be about the size
of Woonsocket, and this comparison was settled upon
as correct, between Captain Hubbard, of Company
F, who was himself a native of Woonsocket, and
myself. There were several churches, at least one
printing office, and many fine residences. It seemed
singular to me how little damage the cannonade of
© O
the previous day had done to the town. Here and
there a shot had passed through a building, but there
was nothing that looked like destruction. Fine
dwellings, richly furnished throughout, bearing every
evidence of recent occupation, were all about us, and
it appeared that the whole population, engaged in
their usual vocations, had suddenly been expelled
from their homes, leaving almost everything behind
them, probably for want of transportation. This
devoted city had suddenly found itself between two
mighty armies as in a vise. Nothing but instant
flight remained before those forces should close upon
each other, and so the population, only a day or two
before, taking of their possessions what little they
could carry in their hands, poured out upon the roads
leading from the city towards Eichmond, and found
3
26
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
shelter where they could, giving up their homes to
the fortunes of war. One family of colored people
we did find who remained through the cannonade.
They said they preferred their chances with the shot
and shell to going south farther into the realm of
slavery. A cannon ball went through their little
house, but they were alive and unharmed, and cooked
a johnny-cake for us.
I had a ubiquitous little darkey boy for a servant,
who came to me not long after we reached our posi¬
tion in one of the streets in the city, and inquired
whether I would like some griddle-cakes. The lit¬
tle rascal had plundered the flour barrel in a dwelling
nearby, and had got his fire and griddle in the yard,
prepared to dispense refreshments to all comers.
The next morning, December thirteenth, opened
with a heavy fog enveloping the city and much of
the valley. As everybody knows, the position of the
Confederates back of Fredericksburg was a com¬
manding one, being on an eminence and approached
from the city, first over a plain, and then up along a
steep acclivity. It is also well known that General
Franklin was in position some three miles below
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
27
Fredericksburg, where the ground in front of him
was less difficult, and that Franklin, from his posi¬
tion, was to co-operate with the force that lay in
Fredericksburg. The fog delayed operations until
well into the morning, but finally began to lift, and
we heard firing back of the city, in the direction of
Marye's Heights. Soon troops began to move out,
aides went dashing through the streets with orders,
one command after another gathered itself up and
moved off, but from our position in a street running
parallel with the river, no observations could be had
of the operations. In the meantime artillery fire
had begun on both sides, and although the enemy
appeared to studiously avoid firing upon any part of
the city, and directed their attention to our guns
posted on the bluff across the river, yet occasionally
a shell fell short and came uncomfortably near. One
dropped on a roof near by, and seemed to glance off
and pass over our heads. This was one of the dis¬
agreeable situations,—to be penned up between the
houses, unable to see anywhere in particular or to do
anything whatever, and feel yourself under fire, and
liable to be cut down like a dog, was extremely dis-
28
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
turbing. I can't really say that I felt so very much
better when I saw a mounted officer ride up to Gen¬
eral Nagle, commanding our brigade, and saw the
instant bustle of preparation, mounting in haste and
galloping to different parts of the line. We were
under way at once, and soon found ourselves outside
the city, and marching in line of battle toward the
field of action. We at once came under fire, and
suddenly one of the privates in my company dropped
to the ground, writhing as in great agony. I felt
very sorry for the poor fellow, but could not stop to
care for him. I think I directed some one to look
after him. It turned out afterwards that the fellow
was safe and sound, unharmed by any rebel bullet.
He had evidently made up his mind to continue so,
and adhered to his resolution with great fortitude.
We advanced across the plain in line of battle at
double-quick until we reached rising ground and came
to a steep bank affording protection from infantry
fire, and here we were halted and ordered to lie
down for a short rest. Our artillery, from its posi¬
tion on the bluff across the river, was shelling the
heights in front of us, their shots passing over our
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT. 29
headff^ and the rebel batteries replying; hence we
were under a sort of a canopy, although not one sug¬
gestive of the utmost protection, especially when an
occasional shot from our guns fell short and dropped
upon the intervening ground.
The scene was grand in the extreme. The roar of
the cannonade, the hurtling of shells through the air,
the rattle of musketry fire in our front, the shouts of
officers and men, the rapid movements of large bodies
of troops to be seen in various directions, and the
playing of numberless military bands, all blended in
the uproar. Victory seemed certain, and the more
so because we heard the advancing fire of Franklin
far to our left, which gave the almost certain assur¬
ance that he would soon flank the works in our front,
and from a far better vantage ground unite with us
in driving the enemy from the height.
Here a mishap occurred to the left of our line
which was a never-ending source of regret. The
bank behind which we were sheltered presented an
angle to our line, so that the two companies on the
left were hidden from the others in that position,
my company (B) being on the extreme left. I spoke
30
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
to the company commander next on our rf|ht to
watch carefully when the regiment moved, so that we
should not get broken off from the rest of the line.
There was a ravine pretty close to our left which
necessitated moving to the right as we advanced.
Captain Longstreet and myself were reconnoitering
the lay of the land along this ravine for a few mo¬
ments, and meanwhile a shell from the enemy had
struck our line near where it broke around the angle,
taking off a leg of one of the men and causing some
confusion. Receiving no notice of the movements of
the main part of the regiment, which was around the
bend, I looked for it, and found it had moved on to
the right, leaving the two left companies broken off.
Colonel Browne was at the time practically without
a field officer to help him, and, as I believe, did not
know of the configuration of the ground at the left.
Major Dyer had been incapacitated for further ser¬
vice by a fragment of a shell, and we were left with¬
out any knowledge as to what part of the field we
were destined. We immediately pressed forward in
the direction supposed to have been taken by the rest
of the regiment until we entered a railroad cut. We
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
31
found our right had just preceded us over this ground.
The cut here was along a side hill with scarcely any
bank on the side as we entered, but a high bank in
front of us. This high bank was a partial shelter
from the fire, but only partial, as it ran obliquely to
the line of the enemy's works. "We found a Mary¬
land regiment in this cut that refused to stir. There
was a brigadier in full uniform, exhorting with all
the eloquence he could command, but to no purpose,
so far as I saw. I afterwards learned that our orders
were, on leaving the city, to follow this regiment.
While advancing to the railroad cut we could hear
Franklin thundering far down to our left, and fan¬
cied by the sound that his line was advancing, and
we dashed ahead greatly encouraged by this circum¬
stance, although chagrined and disappointed at our
unfortunate separation from the rest of the regiment,
and still worse at being separated from our com¬
mander, scarcely knowing what use to make of our¬
selves, except, if possible, to reattach ourselves to
the main part of the regiment. Halting a few mo¬
ments in the railroad cut for a breathing spell, after
a double-quick, we scrambled up the bank to go for-
32
RECOLLECTIONS OE SERVICE
ward. We had already been under quite a fire in
reaching the railroad, but when my head passed
above the top of that bank it seemed to me there was
a perfect hurricane of lead howling, screeching and
hissing through the air. The ground was strewn
with dead and wounded and debris of all sorts,—
haversacks, knapsacks, canteens and broken mus¬
kets. It seemed to me, as I stood up, that the air
above my head was thick enough with lead to cut my
finger off if I had held it up. I could compare it to
nothing but a swarm of bees in the air. This, of
course, happened to be where the fire concentrated.
I saw nothing like it anywhere else that day. I
knew very well that a large proportion of all the
fire of musketry is too high to be dangerous. If I
had not been comforted by that belief, acquired in
previous reading, I would not answer for my conduct
as a soldier at that particular juncture.
Captain Longstreet, far in advance, reckless of
himself, waving his sword and shouting "Forward !"
was the very picture of a hero. Too impetuous to
wait the slower movements of the company, he con¬
tinued to charge forward, and it devolved upon me
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
33
to bring the company up the bank and take it over
the exposed ground directly in front. I made every
man bend forward and thus diminish the danger from
rifle balls, and I believe we did not lose a man in
crossing at this exposed point. We now found our¬
selves on the side hill that leads up to the crest.
The fire slackened somewhat, and the irregularities
of the ground were sufficient to protect our men, and
here we were astray on a battle-field endeavoring to
find the main part of our command without success.
Anxious inquiries elicited no information, or were
unheeded. There was no enemy to be seen and
nobody to direct our fire, and we lay here through
the mortal hours of that day perfectly conscious that
our army could accomplish nothing at this point, and
notified by the retreating fire away to the left that
Franklin's movement was a failure. We knew that
our presence was of no use, but we remained, hoping
for orders of some kind, our men firing an occa¬
sional shot at the undiscoverable enemy.
Towards sunset occurred a grand and thrilling mil¬
itary spectacle. This was the charge of General
Humphreys' division from Hooker's command, which
34
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
was the final effort of that day of great efforts and
great failures. Looking away to the right and rear,
I saw a division coming in on the double-quick, with
their muskets on the right shoulder, glistening in the
declining sun. As the head of the column reached
the foot of this steep ascent, it turned to the left and
stretched itself along parallel to the heights, faced to
the front and halted. So deadly had been the fire
that day that scarcely a horse was to be seen on the
field. General Humphreys, however, sat upon his
charger as the fire redoubled upon his line. I ran
down to near where the General was preparing for
the charge, and heard the orders to "Face to the
front and lie down." He sat in the slanting rays of
the setting sun under the redoubled fire, coolly wait¬
ing for his men to gain their breath for the final effort.
O O
Presently his sword flashed in the air, and the orders,
"Rise up — forward — guide centre," rang down the
line, and that line of battle started up, up the hill,
wavering, undulating with men dropping, dropping,
and others staggering to the rear, until it was a
broken and ragged line. It stopped, and the final
charge was over. Out of four thousand men, nearly
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
35
half fell in a quarter of an hour. " Having lost,"
says General Hooker, "as many men as my orders
required me to lose, I suspended the attack, and
directed that the men should hold for the advance
line a ditch which would afford shelter."
The unfortunate separation of the two left compa¬
nies from the rest of the line deprived us of the
example and direction of a lion-hearted leader.
Throughout the day, Colonel Browne stood erect,
disdaining shelter, observing the field and directing
his men. A shot passed through his cape, but left
the wearer unharmed. Lieutenant Abbott seized
the regimental colors and planted them far in advance
of the line. Color Sergeant DeVolve stood by, coolly
saying, "You will probably fall in a few moments,
and I will be ready to take them." Lieutenant
Briggs, of Company A, was cut to pieces with minie
balls. Lieutenant Hopkins, of Company I, was
struck on the instep with a piece of shell, and his
foot was amputated. He was' sent to a hospital in
Washington, and died there. He had been sick for
several days, and was too ill for duty the day of the
fight, but his captain was in a hospital across the
36
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
river, and he refused to relinquish command of his
company. A shell passed in front of Lieutenant
D. R. Ballou, of Company C, so near his face as to
cause concussion. Blinded and dazed, he staggered
back down into the city and across the river. He was
sent to the hospital, where he was confined many
weeks. A minie ball tore through the face of Lieu¬
tenant Lawton, of Company C, producing an ugly
wound. Sergeant Pollard, of Company G, despair¬
ing of regaining the main body, joined another regi¬
ment and shared its fortunes, being wounded severely
in the arm. He displayed great gallantry, and was
promoted for his bravery, receiving honorable men¬
tion from the Colonel whom he served that day.
The loss of the regiment in killed and wounded was
one hundred and nine, and ninety-five missing.
After nightfall we found ourselves together again
in the city in the position which we had left in the
morning. Inquiring for the missing, my old school¬
fellow and friend, Lieutenant Ballou, was not to be
found, and I returned to the field to look for him.
The night was dark, and all over the battle ground,
from one end to the other, lay the dead and wounded,
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
37
the groans and cries of the latter coming up from the
darkness. The ambulance men were busy collecting
the sufferers. They were carried in the first place
and laid in rows adjacent to a road that climbed the
hill from the city. The ambulances, one after
another in a continuous line, came past, were loaded
and driven back to the town. After a fruitless
search, I mounted the box with the driver of an
ambulance and rode back. I then saw that there was
apparently a continuous line of these vehicles moving
in a circle; as soon as one had received its load,
another was ready. The floors of all the churches
had been swept clean of the pews and converted into
hospitals ; the surgeons, in ante-rooms and chancels,
upon improvised tables, were amputating limbs and
dressing wounds.
The next day (Sunday) was one of anxious expec¬
tation. Huddled back into the streets and lanes of
the city again, it seemed almost a miracle that Gen¬
eral Lee did not attempt the rout of our army from
his vantage ground above us and the river at our
back. There were rumors that General Burnside
had resolved to range his Ninth Army Corps in col-
4
38
RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE
umn of regiments, and, placing himself at the head,
drive that column like a battering ram against the
centre of the line on the heights, and break it by
sheer force of numbers and impetus, but the day
passed quietly, and so did the next. Meanwhile the
ambulance men were busy again, emptying the
churches of the wounded and conveying them across
the river.
Monday night came on, dark and cloudy. In the
evening we had orders to move. Proceeding up
through the city towards the heights again, on the
outskirts, we were ordered to observe the strictest
silence ; not a tin cup must rattle, not a loud word ;
all orders were given in whispers. We took up a
position within a few rods of the rebel pickets with
orders to hold that position to the last man. The
inky darkness and our extreme caution alone shielded
us from the attention of our friends, the enemy.
Having selected our ground, Colonel Browne sent
for some shovels to throw up earthworks, and posted
a force in a brick building on our flank. There not
being shovels enough to go round, I divided our
company into reliefs, so as to accomplish the most
IN THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
39
possible. Those not employed for the time being,
lay on the ground to the rear.
While silently delving in the loamy soil, a rifle shot
in our ranks broke the stillness, followed by a groan.
A man on the ground had carelessly discharged his
piece and wounded a comrade. Now we were in
for it; but no ! Every man held his breath, and all
was quiet again. Suddenly a whispered order ran
down the line, "Drop your shovels"—"get into
line"—"leave everything." We filed down into
the town. Here and there the ruins of a burned
building flickered and smouldered, but where were
the legions that a few hours before peopled the
thoroughfares ? That city was as deserted and silent
as the tombs. We marched on through empty
streets to the upper end of the town, dow7n to the
pontoon bridges, crossed over, and the city was alone.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series —No. 12.
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
THE
MARCH TO THE SEA.
by
CHARLES A. HOPKINS,
[Late Captain 13th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers.]
PROVIDENCE :
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
[Read before the Society February 17,1885.]
Sherman's march to the sea, through the very-
heart of an enemy's country, without a base of sup¬
plies ; cut off from all communication with, or sup¬
port from, other portions of the Union forces, and
dependent almost entirely upon the country through
which he passed for food for the army and forage for
the animals, is almost without a parallel or prece¬
dent in military history.
Only the folly of his adversary, Hood, in leaving
Sherman's front and passing with a wide sweep far
around to his rear, in a vain attempt to decoy him
out of Atlanta, removed the project from the domain
of doubt and uncertainty and gave it, from the start,
the assurance of success.
There were, it is true, considerable bodies of rebel
troops at Macon, Augusta, Savannah and Charleston,
6
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
but these, even if concentrated, could hardly have
prevented, although they might have delayed, Sher¬
man in reaching the coast.
In attempting to portray in this necessarily brief
and imperfect sketch some of the incidents of that
remarkable campaign, I labor under disadvantages
readily understood when I say that I kept no diary,
and as our postal facilities during the march were
very poor, I wrote no letters home, which, resur¬
rected from the dust of ancestral garrets, might
refresh the memory dimmed by the lapse of more
than twenty years.
Comrades of the old Army of the Potomac will
remember that after the Gettysburg campaign we
followed Lee, first to the Rappahannock, and then to
the Rapidan. While there the news of Rosecrans'
defeat at Cliickamauga reached us, and the Eleventh
and Twelfth Corps were speedily consolidated into
one and designated as the Twentieth Corps, under
command of General Hooker, and ordered to the
West. Had we time, I should like to depict the
horrors of that seven days' ride to Tennessee. Hud¬
dled like cattle into box cars, with unplained board
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
7
seats running around the sides, and another row
down the centre of each car, without ventilation,
except such as came from holes made in the ends of
the cars by the butts of our muskets ; freezing when
the doors were opened, and suffocating when they
were shut; without fires, and deprived of rest or
sleep, the journey proved to be anything but a pleas¬
ure trip. I should like to speak of our experience
that winter in guarding the railroad from Nashville
to Chattanooga; of the inhabitants of Tennessee;
of guerrilla raids; of attempts by rebel cavalry to
destroy the railroad; of the skillful tactics of the
Atlanta campaign ; of its constant skirmishing, flank¬
ing and fighting, ending with the remarkable cap¬
ture of that stronghold of the Confederacy by the
matchless genius and ability of our great leader.
But you have asked me to write about " the march to
the sea."
On the second of September, 1864, the city of
Atlanta, next to Richmond the most important in
the rebel Confederacy, was " ours and fairly won."
Sherman, by a series of brilliant movements had
transferred most of his army to the south of the
8
THR MARCH TO THE SEA.
city, completely mystifying Hood, and compelling
him to come out of his entrenchments and give bat¬
tle for the protection of his lines of communica¬
tion. In this effort Hood was badly whipped and
compelled to abandon the city and withdraw his
forces southward. From here, after a few weeks'
rest, he attempted in the latter part of September to
retrieve his lost laurels by marching rapidly west
across the Chattahoochee, and then northward toward
Tennessee, threatening Sherman's single line of com¬
munication in the vain hope of decoying him out of
Atlanta by the use of the same tactics which Sher¬
man had so successfully employed against him.
With a weak adversary such an attempt might have
been successful, but Hood was dealing with a master
of strategy, and his movement was used by Sher¬
man to the furtherance of his own plans.
Sherman let him go (providing meanwhile for a
force to stop him eventually) until he had gone so
far north as to render it impossible for Hood to
return and interpose between Sherman and the sea.
Hood had, it is true, detached Wheeler's cavalry to
watch Sherman, and this force and some seventeen
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
9
thousand Georgians were, with the troops stationed
at the points I have mentioned, depended upon to
prevent Sherman advancing from Atlanta. The force
was, however, entirely insufficient, and with the way
thus opened before him, Sherman felt free to put in
execution his long-cherished plan of marching
through the interior of the Confederacy, tearing out
its vitals by destroying its railroads and cutting off
the Army of Virginia from a large part of its field
of supplies. For it must not be supposed that Sher¬
man had any idea of stopping at Atlanta when it
should be won. Neither had he contemplated
returning north after he had destroyed it. His
objective point, even at that early date, was the city
of Richmond itself. It required, however, military
genius and moral courage of a high order for a com¬
mander to determine to leave a force of fifty-five
thousand disciplined troops, such as Hood's, in his
rear, and march away to the coast, where he knew
he would find fortified cities, formidable as engineer¬
ing skill and heavy armament could make them, and
defended by the concentrated force which he would
constantly be pushing before him. To establish a
10
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
new base of supplies he must capture a strongly
fortified seaport. Had he failed, how great would
have been the outcry of condemnation. He took
the responsibility alone, and to him alone belongs
the glory. Whatever may have been the judgment
of those familiar with Sherman's plans as to their
feasibility, his soldiers never for a moment doubted
his and their ability to carry out any movement
upon which he had decided. Never was there
greater confidence between an army and its leader;
never was it more deserved.
After providing a sufficient force to cope with
Hood, all surplus stores, non-combatants, and sick,
were sent to the rear, reducing the army to the
lightest marching order, and bringing it into the
most effective possible condition. Orders were then
ffiven for the destruction of the railroad to the rear,
O '
severing all communication with home and friends,
and the long march of twenty-seven days to an
unknown destination, with all its possibilities of suc¬
cess or disaster, began.
Our army was composed of two wings. The
right, commanded by Major-General O.O. Howard,
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
11
was composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth
Corps, commanded respectively by Generals P. J.
Osterhaus and Frank P. Blair. The left wins- was
O
commanded by Major-General H. W. Slocum, and
consisted of the Fourteenth Corps, General Jeff. C.
Davis, and the Twentieth Corps, General A. S.
"Williams. The cavalry was commanded by Gen¬
eral Judson Kilpatrick, and consisted of two bri¬
gades, numbering together about five thousand men.
The total effective force under Sherman's command
was a little over sixty thousand men of all arms.
The march from Atlanta was preceded by its
destruction. On the fourteenth day of November,
1864, our corps, the Twentieth, which had been
stationed in Atlanta, was moved just outside the
city limits, and as " night cast her sable mantle o'er
the earth " we were startled and awed by seeing vast
waves and sheets of flame thrusting themselves heav¬
enward, rolling and tossing in mighty billows—a
gigantic sea of fire. It was a grand but awful sight,
testifying to every beholder, in the most vivid of
object lessons, the terrible destructiveness of war.
God grant that it may be long before our beloved
12
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
land shall again witness such scenes. The destruc¬
tion of Atlanta was not a mere wanton act of van¬
dalism. It was a military necessity. Its vast depots,
magazines, arsenals, warehouses, repair and machine
shops had made it, next to Richmond, the most
important and valuable place in the Confederacy,
and its capacity for injury to the Union demanded
its destruction.
On the following morning the march began. Each
corps marched upon a separate road, generally par¬
allel to, but from five to fifteen miles apart from, the
corps upon its flanks. In this way a strip of coun¬
try about forty miles wide was covered. The right
wing moved southwardly, feinting on Macon, while
the left wing marched toward Milledgeville, the cap¬
ital of the State. The Twentieth Corps, to whose
movements I shall principally confine myself, was
on the extreme left flank, and marched almost due
east to Madison, destroying the Augusta and Atlanta
railroad for a distance of about seventy miles, and
then turned southward to Milledgeville. The other
corps were also actively engaged in railroad demoli¬
tion, and the work, both here and clear across the
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
13
State, was most thoroughly done. The methods
employed were simple, yet very effective. A regi¬
ment would march up to a section of road, stack
arms, and then, at the word of command, seize one
side of the track, lift it up the whole length of the
regiment, and then at the word, step back and let it
drop. One or two repetitions of this treatment
would loosen every chair and rail, so that the more
stubborn ones could easily be pried off by using a
rail as a lever. Ties and sleepers were then piled
up in the shape of cob-houses, on which the rails
were laid, the match applied, and the rails, when
heated, were bent and twisted out of all possibility
of future usefulness. About four hundred miles of
railroad were thus destroyed, and as the road men¬
tioned, and the Central Georgia, which was also
demolished, were the only ones then connecting the
Gulf States with the Carolinas, the injury in the
then impoverished condition of the Confederacy was
irreparable.
The weather during most of our march through
Georgia was delightful; the army was in splendid
condition and in buoyant spirits, full of confidence
14
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
in themselves and their leaders. The day's march
seldom exceeded fifteen miles, and as food was
abundant, and cheap and good, the march was one
continual pleasure trip. The country upon which
we almost immediately entered had never before
been occupied by an opposing army, and we found
it rich in all agricultural productions. The harvest
had just been gathered, and barns and granaries
were invitingly full. General Sherman had issued
orders to " forage liberally upon the country," and
the order was implicitly obeyed. Never was a
country more worthy such an order. Jeff. Davis,Jn
a speech delivered at Augusta only a month before,
had said : " Once we imported the commonest articles
of daily use, and brought in from beyond our borders
even bread and meats. Now the State of Georgia
alone produces food enough, not only for her own
people, and the army within it, but feeds, too, the
Army of Virginia." I presume that by " the army
within it" he referred prophetically to Sherman's
army. Whether he did or not, Sherman's army was
fed, and mighty well fed, too. Our men, never very
inefficient as foragers, seemed to understand that
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
15
extraordinary efforts were expected of them, and
soon displayed a brilliancy of talent in helping them¬
selves that left nothing to be desired (or to the far¬
mer either), and has made the name of " Sherman's
bummers" historic. In every town and village that
we entered, and at every plantation we passed, the
utmost ingenuity had been displayed by the alarmed
inhabitants in secreting not only provisions of all
kinds, but jewelry, plate, money and clothing.
Buried in holes dug in cellars, gardens or grave¬
yards, or loaded into wagons and carried into the
deepest recesses of swamps or forests, it was all in
vain; the "bummer" would make friends with the
negroes, and by coaxing, or threats, or bribes, would
soon worm out the secret and discover the hidden
treasure. In this way many articles were lost to
the owners that would never have been disturbed
had they been kept in their proper places, for
stringent orders had been issued against entering
private houses for purposes of plunder.
At the outset, regular details of foragers, under
command of commissioned officers, were made, but
it was soon seen that these orderly details were not
16
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
so effective in scouring the whole country and gath¬
ering in all that it afforded, as the smaller bands of
adventurous spirits, who took to it because they liked
it. It was a life full of hard work and danger, but
also full of adventure, and it soon became apparent
that in every regiment were men possessing a pecul¬
iar fitness for it, and either by general consent or
by appointment they were permitted to do about all
the foraging.
To show the superiority of these sometimes self-
appointed "bummers" over a regular detail, permit
me to mention a personal experience. About the
second day out from Atlanta, I was detailed with
my whole company for foraging duty. Striking off
at nearly a right angle from the main road, we were
fortunate enough to soon find a good-sized flock of
fat sheep. We caught, killed and dressed the whole
flock, and returned to the road, where we loaded
them into the commissary's wagons, all within two
or three hours, and thought we had done well.
But in the light of subsequent achievements our
recollections of this exploit were tinged with mor¬
tification and melancholy. A trained band of "bum-
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
17
mers" wouldn't have thought of returning to the
regiment till near nightfall, and by that time proba¬
bly every mother's son of them would have been
metamorphosed into mounted infantry. Neither
would they have " toted" sheep to the main road
and taken the chance of getting their produce hauled
to market. After securing the sheep, they would
probably have hunted up the owner of them (or
perhaps I should say the late owner) and have
served a requisition on him for a wagon or two. If
he had no farm wagon, a family coach, gig, or buggy
would do. All sorts and conditions of vehicles
were pressed into the service, but usually for one day
only, as they were generally abandoned after they
had brought their loads safely into camp. No doubt
most of them found their way back into the hands
of their owners. But it was not so easy to find the
horses and mules. Yet, as the possession of wagons
was considered by " the boys" as good circumstan¬
tial evidence of the existence of horses somewhere
in the neighborhood, a little patient investigation
seldom failed to reveal their whereabouts. If
horses or mules could not be found, oxen or cows
18
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
would be yoked up and made to do duty for Uncle
Sam. I may say here that we left Atlanta with
five thousand cattle on the hoof, and reached
Savannah with ten thousand, and it wasn't a very
good country for cattle either.
But to return to our muttons. After securing
their transportation, these "professors of foraging"
would have loaded up the wagons with these " lost
sheep," and with anything else which the kind and
generous planter seemed willing to contribute to the
Union cause. Among these welcome contributions
could be found chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, salt
and fresh pork, hams, flour, meal, sweet- potatoes,
and sorghum or molasses. Loading these into the
conveyances so cheerfully furnished by the aforesaid
kind and generous planter, and borrowing from him
his grandfather's dress coat or any other antiquated
and outlandish article of dress, the "bummer,"
arrayed in the fashions of fifty years ago, would
perch himself on top of his load and majestically
drive into camp, saluted by the jests and jeers of
the whole army, but yet welcomed by his comrades
with warm hearts and hungry stomachs. What, I
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
19
ask, was the mere capture of a flock of sheep com¬
pared with such perfection of skinning ? To tell the
truth, as I looked back upon my exploit, the more I
thought of it, the more sheepish I felt. A spirit of
rollicking fun seemed to have taken possession of
the whole army. With rare exceptions, nothing
was, I think, willfully destroyed, but anything that
would contribute to the general frolic was quickly,
seized upon. For this purpose odd and old-fash¬
ioned articles of dress were in great demand; but as
a rule, private property, except such as the necessi¬
ties of the army demanded, was by most of the
troops respected. There were, of course, some
men of no principle in every corps, or perhaps in
every regiment, who would not have hesitated to
appropriate any articles of value that came within
their reach, but such men were few, and they were
restrained by the- better sentiment that prevailed
among the majority.
It must not be supposed that foraging was always
exempt from danger. In fact, it was seldom so.
" Sherman's bummer," strange as it may seem, was
a fighting " bummer." In small parties they would
20
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
make their way, by side roads, by paths, or across the
fields, far in advance, or on either flank of the main
body. In fact, they soon became the actual skir¬
mish line of the army, hovering around it on every
side like a cloud, hiding it from the observation of
the enemy, and fighting many a lively skirmish in
its behalf, as well as providing most of its food.
As the "bummers," after the first few days out from
Atlanta, were always mounted, their usual course of
procedure when raiding a plantation was to picket
the approaches in all directions, and if disturbed by
the Home Guard or Wheeler's cavalry, they did not
hesitate to show fight if strong enough. If not,
they fell back toward the main body, fighting as
they went, until, as was usually the case, they met
other parties of foragers, and then, if sufficiently
reinforced, they turned and became the pursuers.
In this way many a sharp skirmish was fought and
won without the presence of a single commissioned
officer. Sometimes, however, the " bummer " would
be surprised and taken prisoner, or pay for his rash¬
ness with his life. My first lieutenant and half a
dozen of my men were thus captured on the march
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
21
from Savannah north, and compelled to spend a few
months in southern prisons ; and served them right,
too, for they went just where I had cautioned them
not to go, and where it was morally certain they
would be "gobbled." Foraging is, of necessity,
destructive and wasteful, and no doubt much hard¬
ship resulted to the inhabitants of Georgia from our
visit, yet the damages done by our troops were not
so great, according to the statements of their own
newspapers, as those inflicted by Wheeler's cavalry.
About a week after leaving Atlanta we entered
Milledgeville without resistance. Here we found
copies of southern papers of recent date, and, to
judge from their contents, Sherman and his army
were certainly doomed to destruction. But with
these confident predictions of our discomfiture,
they also printed the most frantic appeals to the
people, signed by Generals, Senators and others, to
rise for the defense of their homes and property.
Some of these pathetic calls for help are given in
" Sherman's Memoirs," from whichl copy them :
" Richmond, Nov. 18,1864.
"To"the People of Geokgia:
"Tou have now the best opportunity ever yet presented to
22
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
destroy the enemy. Put everything at the disposal of our Generals;
remove all provisions from the path of the invader, and put all
obstructions in his path. Every citizen with his gun, and every
negro with his spade and axe, can do the work of a soldier. You
can destroy the enemy by retarding his march. Georgians be firm.
Act promptly and fear not.
" B. H. Hill, Senator."
"I most cordially approve the above.
"James A. Seddon,
"Secretary of War."
" Corinth, Miss., Nov. 18, 1864.
"To the People of Georgia:
"Arise for the defense of your native soil! Bally around your
patriotic Governor and gallant soldiers! Obstruct and destroy all
the roads in Sherman's front, flank, and rear, and his army will
soon starve in your midst. Be confident. Be resolute. Trust in
an overruling Providence, and success will soon crown your efforts.
I hasten to join you in the defense of your homes and firesides.
" G. T. Beauregard."
"Bichmond, Nov. 19,1864.
"To the People of Georgia:
"We have had a special conference with President Davis and the
Secretary of War, and are able to assure you that they have done
and are still doing all that can be done to meet the emergency that
presses upon you. Let every man fly to arms! Bemove your
negroes, horses, cattle and provisions from Sherman's army, and
burn what you cannot carry. Burn all bridges, and block up the
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
23
roads in his route. Assail the invader in front, flank, and rear,
by night and by day. Let him have no rest.
"Julian Hartridge, Mark Blauford,
J. H. Reynolds, General N. Lester,
John I. Shoemaker, Joseph M. Smith,
"Members of Congress."
These impotent prayers for aid clearly demon¬
strated the weakness of our opponents, and served
but to excite the ridicule of all our men.
The legislature of Georgia, which had been in
session at Milledgeville, had, on our approach,
hastily adjourned and fled. The town was also
largely deserted by its residents, although the inhab¬
itants of other places through which we passed
mostly remained at home. Taking possession of
the State House, some of our officers organized a
mock Senate and House of Representatives, and
after much discussion passed an act repealing the
ordinance of secession. Whether the Governor
signed it or not we never heard, but it was approved
by the logic of events.
Our march until we neared the sea was hardly
interrupted by the force opposed to us. Kilpatrick
and the " bummers" were almost constantly skir-
24
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
mishing, but' as Sherman pushed out in advance first
one column and then another, the "rebs," fearing
capture, seldom waited to engage our infantry.
Near the village of Sandersville, however, we had a
little skirmish with a portion of Wheeler's cavalry.
Our regiment, the Thirteenth New Jersey, had the
advance, and 1 was ordered with my company (the
largest in the regiment) to deploy as skirmishers on
the left of the road and drive out Wheeler's men,
who had dismounted, and sheltering themselves
behind stumps and rocks were keeping up a drop¬
ping fire at long range. My men were so full of
ardor and confidence in themselves that, hardly wait¬
ing to fire a single shot, they started on a keen run
for the sheltered rebels and drove them pell-mell out
of the field and back to their horses, which they
mounted in hot haste. The movement was so
quickly executed, and my men were so widely
deployed, that fortunately not one of them was
killed or wounded. It was rather a novel sight, to
see a skirmish line make a charge.
The next day I received orders to report with my
company at corps headquarters, where I was detailed
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
25
as assistant provost marshal of the corps, and my
company as provost and headquarters guard. This
position I was fortunate enough to retain until the
close of the war, despite the efforts of my regi¬
mental commander to secure my return. A pleas-
anter position, both for men and officers, could hardly
be imagined. It brought me into close personal
contact with general and staff officers at army, corps
and division headquarters, and introduced me to
many pleasant acquaintances. My men were on
almost constant duty, but as their knapsacks were
carried in the headquarters wagons, they were con¬
tent. They had a constantly increasing number of
rebel prisoners to watch day and night, besides
pitching and striking tents, doing guard duty, etc.
We usually made camp by three o'clock each day,
giving us a good opportunity for visiting, reading,
writing, card playing and, " tell it not in Gath,"
cock fighting. The South seemed filled with game
cocks, and each regiment, and for that matter each
brigade, division and corps headquarters, had its
special champion. The birds fought only with the
weapons nature had provided them, and seemed to
enjoy it as much as the spectators.
3
26
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
Very early in the march, the negroes began to
join our columns, and their numbers swelled at
every town and plantation. Their intense longing
for freedom had become more than a passion; it
seemed like an uncontrollable frenzy. Of all ages,
and both sexes, some in health, but many bent with
age or feeble with disease, they struggled on, burn¬
ing to be free. A few were in wagons of various
descriptions, some on mules or broken-down horses,
but most of them were on foot. How they managed
to subsist is a great mystery. Their privations must
have been very great, yet, patient and uncomplain¬
ing, they plodded on, one great hope, the hope of
their race for two centuries, animating their hearts
and lending strength to their weary limbs. So vast
an army of refugees seriously embarrassed the move¬
ment of the columns, and every effort was made by
our commanding officers to prevent their joining us,
but without avail. General Cox, in "The March to
the Sea," one of the " Scribner series," says : "Los¬
ing patience at the failure of all orders and exhorta¬
tions to these poor people to stay at home, General
Davis (commanding the Fourteenth Corps) ordered
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
27
the pontoon bridge at Ebenezer Creek to be taken
up before the refugees who were following that
corps had crossed, so as to leave them on the further
bank of the unfordable stream, and thus disembar¬
rass the marching troops. It would be unjust to
that officer to believe that the order would have been
given if. the effect had been foreseen. The poor
refugees had their hearts so set on liberation, and
the fear of falling into the hands of the Confederate
cavalry was so great, that, with wild wailings and
cries, the great crowd rushed, like a stampeded
drove of cattle into the water, those who could not
swim as well as those who could, and many were
drowned in spite of the. earnest efforts of the sol¬
diers to help them. As soon as the character of
the unthinking rush and panic was seen, all was
done that could be done to save them from the
water; but the loss of life was still great enough to
prove that there were many ignorant, simple souls
to whom it was literally preferable to die freemen
rather than live slaves."
As we approached the coast there was a decided
change in the characteristics of the country. The
28
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
rich, rolling uplands of the interior were left behind
and we descended into the low, flat, sandy country
that borders, for perhaps a hundred miles, upon the
sea. Here the rivers widen out, sometimes for
miles, on either side of their channels, flowing
through great forests of cypress trees, from whose
limbsy long, pendent masses of the mournful south¬
ern moss sway gently in the breeze. Back from
the rivers the country is largely filled with a magnifi¬
cent growth of stately pines; their trunks free, for
sixty or seventy feet, from all branches. Camping
in these beautiful forests, on the thick carpet of pine
needles, the air filled with the peculiar and delight¬
ful fragrance of the pine woods, had about it a
charm and fascination which the dweller in ceiled
houses never knew. But these pine woods, though
beautiful, were not fertile, and rations, particularly
of breadstuffs, began to fail and had to be eked out
by rice, of which we found large quantities, but
also found it, with our lack of appliances, very dif¬
ficult to hull.
The various corps began to close in upon Savan¬
nah on the tenth of December, and by the twelfth
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
29
the city was completely invested. Savannah is sit¬
uated on the right bank of the river of that name,
and is surrounded on the land side by cypress and
rice swamps. Parallel to the Savannah and distant
from it some ten or twelve miles to the south and
west flows the Great Ogeechee river. Coming down
O O
the peninsular formed by these two rivers we found
our progress to the sea barred by Savannah on the
left, and Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee, on the
right, while between them were impassable swamps.
There were, however, several narrow causeways
running out from Savannah in different directions,
and one of these crossed the Ogeechee several miles
above Fort McAllister, at King's Bridge. The
bridge, a thousand feet long, had been destroyed,
but the piles on which it rested were still standing,
and on these a new bridge was soon laid, and at
daybreak of the thirteenth, Hazen's Division of the
Fifteenth. Corps crossed to the right bank, and pass¬
ing down the river stormed and carried Fort Mc¬
Allister, opening up communication with our naval
forces under Admiral Dahlgren, and enabling trans¬
ports to come up to King's Bridge with supplies, of
which we stood in great need.
30
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
I have previously spoken of the great number of
refugees that followed us on our march. They
could be counted almost by the tens of thousands,
and the feeding of such a vast body of non-combat¬
ants was an impossibility. As soon, therefore, as
communication with the fleet had been established, I
was ordered to collect all those that had followed
the left wing and march them, with about two hun¬
dred and fifty rebel prisoners, to Fort McAllister for
transportation to Hilton Head. As our route from
the north of the city to King's Bridge brought us
within easy range and open view of the rebel lines,
we had to make the first part of our march by night
and in perfect stillness. The darkeys had the situa¬
tion explained to them before starting, and although
dreadfully frightened, and expecting every moment
that the rebel batteries would open on them, they
behaved very well. Among the prisoners were
many officers, to one of whom, a bright, intelligent
young man of about my own age, I became some¬
what attracted. On the night in question, after
passing the danger point, I called this officer to me,
and dismounting walked arm in arm with him till we
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
31
halted near daybreak. Years afterwards I met this
gentleman while crossing the North River on a Jer¬
sey City ferry-boat, and he immediately referred to
the incident and asked for an explanation of my
attentions that evening. I then learned for the first
time that he was familiar with all the country around
about Savannah, had hunted through the swamps
and knew all their paths, and that his plans were all
laid for a dash for liberty, which in the darkness and
probable confusion he thought he could safely make.
Probably his conclusion was a correct one, but
luckily his plan miscarried, and I was saved the
mortification of ever losing a prisoner.
I dare not impose further upon your patience by
an attempt to describe the operations that resulted
in the evacuation of Savannah. My paper was
intended to portray only some of the incidents of
the march through Georgia, and I will bring it to
what I feel must be a welcome conclusion, by merely
saying that on the night of December twentieth,
General (then Colonel) H. A. Barnum, one of the
most popular and efficient officers in the service,
and one whom many of you must have met at army
32
THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
reunions, was in command of the picket line, and
about midnight crept out to reconnoiter. Hearing
and seeing no one, he quietly pushed on until the
sight of the rebel camp fires, with no one moving
about them, convinced him that the enemy had fled.
Returning to his own picket line he selected a few
soldiers, and rapidly passing the outer rebel works
pressed on to the main line, frowning with the heavy
sixty-four pounders, but silent and deserted. From
here he sent back for an additional force with which
to enter the city, and at the same time dispatched a
messenger with information of his discovery to corps
headquarters, where we were all soon awakened to
rejoice over the glad news of the capture of Savan¬
nah.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series —No. 13.
providence:
published by the society.
1885.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
WITH
COLOEED TROOPS
IN THE
AKMY OE THE CUMBERLAND,
1863-65.
BY
THOMAS J. MORGAN,
[Late Colonel 14th U. S. Colored Infantry, Brevet Brigadier General U. S. V.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE WITH COLORED
TROOPS.
The American civil war, 1861-5, marks an epoch
not only in the history of America, but in that of
democracy and of civilization. Its issue has vitally
aflncted the course of human progress. To the stu¬
dent of history it ranks in interest along with the
conquests of Alexander, the incursions of the Barba¬
rians, the Crusades, the discovery of America, and
the American Revolution. It settled the question of
our national unity with all the consequences attach¬
ing thereto, the power and perpetuity of a republic,
and not only enfranchised four millions of American
slaves of African descent, but made slavery forever
impossible in the great republic, and gave a new
impulse to the cause of human freedom. Its in¬
fluence upon American slaves was immediate and
startlingly revolutionary, lifting them from the con-
6
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
dition of despised chattels, bought and sold like
sheep in the market, with no rights which the white
man was bound to respect, to the exalted plane of
American citizenship, making them free men, the
peers in every civil and political right of their late
masters. Within about a decade after the close of
the war, negroes — lately slaves — were legislators,
State officers, members of Congress, and for a brief
time one presided over the Senate of the United
States, where only a few years before Toombs had
boasted that he would yet call the roll of his slaves
in the shade of Bunker Hill.
To-day slavery finds no advocate, and the colored
race in America is making steady progress in all the
elements of civilization. The conduct of the Amer¬
ican slave, during and since the war, has wrought an
extraordinary change in public sentiment regarding
the capabilities of the race. The manly qualities of
the negro soldiers evinced in camp, on the march and
in battle, won for them golden opinions and made
their freedom a necessity, and their citizenship a cer¬
tainty. Those of us who assisted in organizing, dis¬
ciplining arid leading negro troops in battle, may" be
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
7
pardoned for feeling a good degree of pride in our
share of the thrilling events of the great war.
When Sumter was fired upon, April, 1861, I was
a hoy of twenty-one, a member of the senior class in
Franklin College, Indiana. I enlisted in the Seventh
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served as a private
soldier for three months in West Virginia under
General McClellan — "the young Napoleon," as he
was even then known. I participated in the battle
of Carrick's Ford, where General Garnett was killed
and his army defeated. In August, 1862, I reen-
listed as a first lieutenant in the Seventieth Indiana
(Colonel Benjamin Harrison), and saw service in
Kentucky and Tennessee.
In January, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the
proclamation of emancipation, and incorporated in it
the policy of arming the negro for special service in
the Union army. Thus the question was fairly up,
and I entered into its discussion with the deepest
interest, as I saw that upon its settlement hung great
issues.
On the one hand, the opponents of the policy
maintained that to make soldiers of the negroes
8
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
would be to put them on the same level with white
soldiers, and so be an insult to every man who wore
the blue. It was contended, too, that the negro was
not fit for a soldier because he belonged to a de¬
graded, inferior race, wanting in soldierly qualities ;
that his long bondage had crushed out whatever of
manliness he might naturally possess; that he was
too grossly ignorant to perform intelligently the
duties of the soldier; that his provocation had been
so great as a slave that when once armed and con¬
scious of his power as a soldier, he would abuse it by
acts of revenge and wanton cruelty.
On the other hand, it was urged that in its fearful
struggle for existence, the republic needed the help
of the able-bodied negroes; that with their natural
instincts of self-preservation, desire for liberty, habit
of obedience, power of imitation, love of pomp and
parade, acquaintance with the southern country and
adaptation to its climate, they had elements which
peculiarly fitted them for soldiers. It was further
urged that the negro had more at stake than the
white man, and that he should have a chance to
strike a blow for himself. It was particularly in-
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
9
sisted upon that he needed just the opportunity
which army service afforded to develop and exhibit
whatever of manliness he possessed.
As the war progressed, and each great battle-field
was piled with heaps of the killed and wounded of
our best citizens, men looked at each other seri¬
ously, and asked if a black man would not stop a
bullet as well as a white man ? Miles O'Reilly at
length voiced a popular sentiment when he said:
"The right to be killed, I'll divide with the nayger,
And give him the largest half."
With the strong conviction that the negro was a
man worthy of freedom, and possessed of all the
essential qualities of a good soldier, I early advo¬
cated the organization of colored regiments,— not for
fatigue or garrison duty, but for field service. In
October, 1863, having applied for a position in the
colored service, I was ordered before the Board of
Examiners at Nashville, where I spent five rather
anxious hours. When I entered the army, I knew
absolutely nothing of the details of army life, had
never even drilled with a fire company. During the
10
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
first three months I gathered little except a some¬
what rough miscellaneous experience. As a lieuten¬
ant and staff officer I learned something, but as I
never had at any time systematic instruction from
anybody, I appeared before the Board with little else
than vigorous health, a college education, a little
experience as a soldier, a good reputation as an offi¬
cer, a fair amount of common sense, and a good sup¬
ply of zeal. The Board averaged me, and recom¬
mended me for a Major.
A few days after the examination I received an
order to report to Major George L. Stearns, who
had charge of the organization of colored troops in
that department. He assigned me to duty tempo¬
rarily in a camp at Nashville. Major Stearns was a
merchant in Boston who had been for years an ardent
abolitionist, and who, among other good deeds, had
befriended John Brown. He was a large-hearted,
broad-minded, genial gentleman. When the policy
of organizing colored troops was adopted, he offered
his services to the government, received an appoint¬
ment as Assistant Adjutant General, and was ordered
to Nashville to organize colored regiments. He
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
11
acted directly under the Secretary of War, and inde¬
pendently of the Department Commander. To his
zeal, good judgment and efficient labor, was largely
due the success of the work in the West.
November 1, 1863, by order of Major Stearns, I
went to Gallatin, Tennessee, to organize the Four¬
teenth United States Colored Infantry. General E.
A. Paine was then in command of the post at Galla¬
tin, having under him a small detachment of white
troops. There were at that time several hundred
negro men in camp, in charge of, I think, a lieuten¬
ant. They were a motley crowd—old, young, mid¬
dle-aged. Some wore the United States uniform,
but most of them had on the clothes in which they
had left the plantations, or had worn during periods
of hard service as laborers in the army. Gallatin
at that time was threatened with an attack by the
guerrilla bands then prowling over that part of the
State. General Paine had issued a hundred old
muskets and rifles to the negroes in camp. They
had not passed a medical examination, had no com¬
pany organization, and had had no drill. Almost
immediately upon my arrival, as an attack was immi-
12
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
nent, I was ordered to distribute another hundred
muskets, and to "prepare every available man for
fight." I did the best I could under the circum¬
stances, but am free to say that I regard it as a for¬
tunate circumstance that we had no fighting to do at
that time. But the men, raw and untutored as they
were, did guard and picket duty, went foraging,
guarded wagon trains, scouted after guerrillas, and so
learned to soldier by soldiering.
As soon and as fast as practicable I set about
organizing the regiment. I was a complete novice
in that kind of work, and all the young officers who
reported to me for service had been promoted from
the ranks, and were without experience except as
soldiers. The colored men knew nothing of the
duties of a soldier, except the little they had picked
up as camp followers. Fortunately there was one
man, a Mr. A. H. Dunlap, who had had some cleri¬
cal experience with Colonel Birney, in Baltimore, in
organizing the Third United States Colored Infantry.
He was an intelligent, methodical gentleman, and
rendered me invaluable service. I had no quarter¬
master, no surgeon, no adjutant. We had no tents,
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
13
and the men were sheltered in an old, filthy tobacco
warehouse, where they fiddled, danced, sang, swore
or prayed, according to their mood.
How to meet the daily demands made upon us for
military duty, and at the same time to evoke order
out of this chaos, was no easy problem. The first
thing to be done was to examine the men. A room
was prepared, and I and my clerk took our stations
at a table. One by one the recruits came before us
a la Eden, sans the fig leaves, and were subjected
to a careful medical examination, those who were in
any way physically disqualified being rejected.
Many bore the wounds and bruises of the slave-
driver's lash, and many were unfit for duty by reason
of some form of disease to which human flesh is heir.
In the course of a few weeks, however, we had a
thousand able-bodied, stalwart men.
I was quite as solicitous about their mental condi¬
tion as about their physical status, so I plied them
with questions as to their history, their experience
with the army, their motives for becoming soldiers,
their ideas of army life, their hopes for the future,
etc., etc. I found that a considerable number of
2
14
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
them had been teamsters, cooks, officers' servants,
etc., and had thus seen a good deal of hard service
in both armies, in camp, on the march, and in battle,
and so knew pretty well what to expect. In this
respect they had the advantage of most raw recruits
from the North, who were wholly "unused to war's
alarms." Some of them had very noble ideas of
manliness. I remember picturing to one bright-
eyed fellow the hardships of camp life and campaign¬
ing, and receiving from him the cheerful answer:
"I know all about that." I then said: "You may
be killed in battle." He instantly replied : "Many
a better man than me has been killed in this war."
When I told another one who wanted to " fight for
freedom," that he might lose his life, he replied:
"But my people will be free."
The result of this careful examination convinced
me that these men, though black in skin, had men's
hearts, and only needed right handling to develop
into magnificent soldiers. Among them were the
same varieties of physique, temperament, mental and
moral endowments and experiences as would be
found among the same number of white men. Some
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
15
of them were finely formed and powerful, some were
almost white, a large number had in their veins
white blood of the F. F. V. quality, some were men
of intelligence, and many of them deeply religious.
Acting upon my clerk's suggestion, I assigned
them to companies according to height, putting men
of nearly the same height together. When the reg¬
iment was full, the four centre companies were all
composed of tall men, the flanking companies of men
of medium size, while the little men were sandwiched
between. The effect was excellent in every way,
and made the regiment quite unique. It was not
uncommon to have strangers, who saw it on parade
for the first time, declare that the men were all of
one size.
In six weeks three companies were filled, uni¬
formed, armed, and had been taught many soldierly
ways. They had been drilled in the facings, in the
manual of arms, and in some company movements.
November twentieth, General George H. Thomas,
commanding the Department of the Cumberland,
ordered six companies to Bridgeport, Alabama,
under command of Major H. C. Corbin. I was left
16
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
at Gallatin to complete the organization of the other
four companies. When the six companies were full,
I was mustered in as Lieutenant Colonel. The
complete organization of the regiment occupied about
two months, being finished by January 1, 1864.
The field, staff and company officers were all white
men. All the non-commissioned officers, hospital
steward, quartermaster sergeant, sergeant major,
orderlies, sergeants and corporals were colored.
They proved very efficient, and had the war con¬
tinued two years longer, many of them would have
been competent as commissioned officers.
When General Paine left Gallatin, I was senior
officer and had command of the post and garrison,
which included a few white soldiers, besides my own
troops. Colored soldiers acted as pickets, and no
citizen was allowed to pass our lines, either into the
village or out, without a proper permit. Those pre¬
senting themselves without a pass were sent to head¬
quarters under guard. Thus many proud southern
slaveholders found themselves marched through the
streets guarded by those who three months before
had been slaves. The negroes often laughed over
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
17
these changed relations as they sat around their camp
fires, or chatted together while off duty, but it was
very rare that any southerner had reason to com¬
plain of any unkind or uncivil treatment from a col¬
ored soldier.
About the first of January occurred a few days of
extreme cold weather, which tried the men sorely.
One morning, after one of the most bitter cold nights,
the officers coming in from picket marched the men
to headquarters and called attention to their condi¬
tion—their feet were frosted, and their hands
frozen. In some instances the skin on their fingers
©
had broken from the effects of the cold. It was sad
to see their suffering. Some of them never recovered
from the effects of that night, yet they bore it
patiently, uncomplainingly.
An incident occurred while I was still an officer in
a white regiment that illustrates the curious transi-
©
tion through which the negroes were passing. I had
charge of a company detailed to guard a wagon train
out foraging. Early one morning, just as we were
about to resume our march, a Kentucky lieutenant
rode up to me, saluted, and said he had some run-
18
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
away negroes whom he had arrested to send back to
their masters, but as he was ordered away, he would
turn them over to me. (At that time a reward could
be claimed for returning fugitive slaves.) I took
charge of them, and assuming a stern look and man¬
ner inquired : "Where are you going?" "Going to
the Yankee army." "What for?" "We wants to
be free, sir." "All right, you are free; go where
you wish." The satisfaction that came to me from
their heartfelt "Thankee, sir; thankee, sir," gave
me some faint insight into the sublime joy that the
great Emancipator must have felt when he penned
the immortal proclamation that set free four millions
of human beings. These men afterward enlisted in
my regiment and did good service. One day, as we
were on the march, they, through their lieutenant,
reminded me of the circumstance, which they seemed
to remember with lively gratitude.
The six companies at Bridgeport were kept very
busily at work, and had but little opportunity for
drill. Notwithstanding these difficulties, however,
considerable progress was made in both drill and
discipline. I made earnest efforts to get the regi-
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
19
ment united and relieved from so much labor, in
order that they might be prepared for efficient field
service as soldiers.
In January I had a personal interview with Gen¬
eral Thomas, and secured an order uniting the regi¬
ment at Chattanooga. We entered camp there under
the shadow of Lookout Mountain, and in full view of
Mission Ridge, in February, 1864. During the
same month, Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas,
from Washington, then on a tour of inspection,
visited my regiment and authorized me to substitute
the eagle for the silver leaf.
Chattanooga was at that time the headquarters of
the Department of the Cumberland. General Thomas
and staff, and a considerable part of the army, were
there. Our camp was laid out with great regularity,
our quarters were substantial, comfortable, and well
kept. The regiment numbered a thousand men,
with a full complement of field, staff, line and non¬
commissioned officers. We had a good drum corps,
and a band provided with a set of expensive silver
instruments. We were also fully equipped, the men
were armed with rifled muskets, and well clothed.
20
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
They were well drilled in the manual of arms, and
tcfok great pride in appearing on parade with arms
burnished, belts polished, shoes blacked, clothes
brushed, in full regulation uniform, including white
gloves. On every pleasant day our parades were
witnessed by officers, soldiers and citizens from the
North. It was not unusual to have two thousand
spectators. Some came to make sport, some from
curiosity, some because it was the fashion, and others
from a genuine desire to see for themselves what
sort of looking soldiers negroes would make.
At the time that the work of organizing colored
troops began in the West, there was a great deal of
bitter prejudice against the movement. White
troops threatened, to desert if the plan should be
really carried out. Those who entered the service
were stigmatized as "nigger officers," and negro sol¬
diers were hooted at and mistreated by white troops.
Apropos of the prejudice against so-called "nigger
officers," I may mention the following incident:
While an officer in the Seventieth Indiana, I had
met and formed a passing acquaintance with Lieu¬
tenant Colonel , of an Ohio regiment. On New
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
21
Year's day, 1864, I chanced to meet him at a social
gathering at General Ward's headquarters in Nash¬
ville. I spoke to him as usual, at the same time
offering my hand, which apparently he did not see.
Receiving only a cool bow from him, I at once
turned away. As I did so he remarked to those
standing near him that he " did not recognize these
nigger officers." A report of the occurrence in some
way, I know not how, came to the ears of Lorenzo
Thomas, the Adjutant General of the army, then in
Nashville, who investigated the case, and promptly
dismissed Colonel from the United States ser¬
vice.
Yery few West Point officers had any faith in the
success of the enterprise, and most northern people,
perhaps, regarded it as at best a dubious experiment.
A college classmate of mine, a young man of intelli¬
gence, and earnestly loyal, although a Kentuckian and
a slaveholder, pleaded with me-to abandon my plan of
entering this service, saying : " I shudder to think of
the remorse you may suffer from deeds done by bar¬
barians under your command."
General George H. Thomas, though a southerner
22
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
and a West Point graduate, was a singularly fair-
minded, candid man. He asked me one day, soon
after my regiment was organized, if I thought my
men would fight. I replied that they would. He
said he thought " they might behind breastworks."
I said they would fight in the open field. He thought
not. "Give me a chance, General," I answered,
" and I will prove it." Our evening parades con¬
verted thousands to a belief in colored troops. It
was almost a daily experience to hear the remark
from visitors: " Men who can handle their arms
as these do, will fight." General Thomas paid us
the compliment of saying that he "never saw a
regiment go through the manual as well as. this
one."
We remained in " Camp Whipple" from February,
1864, till August, 1865, a period of eighteen months,
and during a large part of that time the regiment
was an object lesson to the army, and helped to rev¬
olutionize public opinion on the subject of colored
soldiers.
My Lieutenant Colonel and I rode over one even¬
ing to call on General Joe Hooker, commanding the
© O
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
23
Twentieth Army Corps. He occupied a small log
hut in the Wauhatchie valley, near Lookout Moun¬
tain, and not far from the Tennessee river. He
received us with great courtesy, and when he learned
that we were officers in a colored regiment congratu-
© O
lated us on our good fortune, saying that he believed
they would make the best troops in the world. He
predicted that after the rebellion was subdued, it
would be necessary for the United States to send an
army into Mexico. This army would be composed
largely of colored men, and those of us now holding
high command would have a chance to win great
renown. He lamented that he had made a great
mistake in not accepting a military command and
going to Nicaraugua with General Walker. " Why,"
said he, "young gentlemen, I might have founded an
empire !"
While at Chattanooga I organized two other regi¬
ments, the Forty-second and the Forty-fourth United
States Colored Infantry. In addition to ordinary
instruction in the duties required of the soldier, we
established in every company a regular school, teach¬
ing the men to read and write, and taking great pains
24
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
to cultivate in them self-respect and all manly quali¬
ties. Our success in this respect was ample com¬
pensation for our labor. The men who went on
picket or guard duty took their books, as quite as
indispensable as their coffee pots.
It must not be supposed that we had only plain
sailing. Soon after reaching Chattanooga heavy
details began to be made upon us for men to work
upon the fortifications then in process of construction
around the town. This incessant labor interfered
sadly with our drill, and at one time all drill was
suspended by orders from headquarters. There
seemed little prospect of our being ordered to the
field, and as time wore on and arrangements began
in earnest for the new campaign against Atlanta, we
began to grow impatient of work and anxious for
opportunity for drill and preparations for field ser¬
vice.
I used every means to bring about a change, for
I believed that the ultimate status of the negro was
to be determined by his conduct on the battle-field.
Nobody doubted that he would work, while many did
doubt that he had the courage to stand up and fight
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
25
like a man. If he could take his place side by side
with the white soldier, endure the same hardships on
the campaign, face the same enemy, storm the same
works, resist the same assaults, evince the same sol¬
dierly qualities, he would compel that respect which
the world has always accorded to heroism, and win
for himself the same laurels which brave soldiers
have ever worn.
Personally I shrink from danger, and most decid¬
edly prefer a safe corner at my own fireside to an
exposed place in the face of an enemy on the battle¬
field, but so strongly was I persuaded of the impor¬
tance of giving colored troops a fair field and full
opportunity to show of what mettle they were made,
that I lost no chance of insisting upon our right to be
ordered into the field. At one time I was threat¬
ened with dismissal from the service for my per¬
sistency, but that did not deter me, for though I had
no yearning for martyrdom, I was determined, if
possible, to put my regiment into battle at whatever
cost to myself. As I look back upon the matter,
after twenty-one years, I see no reason to regret my
action, unless it be that I was not even more per-'
3
26
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
sistent in claiming for these men the rights of sol¬
diers.
I was grievously disappointed when the first of
May, 1864, came, and the army was to start south,
leaving us behind to hold the forts we had helped to
build. I asked General Thomas to allow me at least
to go along. He readily consented, and directed me
to report to General 0.0. Howard, commanding
the Fourth Army Corps, as volunteer aide. I did
so, and remained with him thirty days, participa¬
ting in the battles of Buzzards Boost, Besaca, Adairs-
ville and Dallas. At the end of that time, having
gained invaluable experience, and feeling that my
place was with my regiment, I returned to Chatta¬
nooga determined to again make every possible effort
to get it into active service.
A few days after I had taken my place on General
Howard's staff an incident occurred, showing how
narrowly one may escape death. General Stanley
and a staff officer, and General Howard and myself
were making a little reconnoissance at Buzzards
Boost. We stopped to observe the movements of
'the enemy, Stanley standing on the right, Howard
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
27
next on his left, and I next. The fourth officer, Cap¬
tain Flint, stood immediately in rear of General
Howard. A sharpshooter paid us a compliment in
the shape of a rifle ball, which struck the ground in
front of General Howard, riccocheted, passed through
the skirt of his coat, through Captain Flint's cap,
and buried itself in a tree behind.
At Adairsville a group of about a dozen mounted
officers were in an open field, when the enemy ex¬
ploded a shell just in front and over us, wounding
two officers and five horses. A piece of the shell
passed through the right fore leg of my horse, a
kind, docile, fearless animal, that I was greatly
attached to. I lost a friend and faithful servant.
On asking leave to return to my command, I was
delighted to receive from General Howard the fol¬
lowing pleasant note:
Headquakteks Foukth Abmy Cokps, -v
On Ackwokth and Dallas Road, l
8 miles from Dallas, Ga., May 31, 1864. J
Colonel : — This is to express my thanks for your services upon
my staff during the past month, since starting on this campaign.
You have given me always full satisfaction, and more, by your
assiduous devotion to duty.
28
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
You have been active and untiring on the march", and fearless in
battle.
Believe me your friend,
O. O. Howard,
Major Gen. Com'd'g Fourth Corps.
To Col. T. J. Morgan, Com'd'g U. S. C. T.
General James B. Steadman, who won such im¬
perishable renown at Chickamauga, was then in
command of the District of Etowah, with head¬
quarters at Chattanooga. I laid my case before him;
he listened with interest to my plea, and assured me
that if there was any fighting to be done in his dis¬
trict, we should have a hand in it.
August 15, 1864, we had our first fight atDalton,
Georgia. General Wheeler, with a considerable
force of rebel cavalry, attacked Dalton, which was
occupied by a small detachment of Union troops
belonging to the Second Missouri, under command
of Colonel Laibold. General Steadman went to
Laibold's aid, and forming line of battle, attacked
and routed the southern force. My regiment formed
on the left of the Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, under
command of Colonel A. D. Streight. The fight was
short, and not at all severe. The regiment was all
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
29
exposed to fire. One private was killed, one lost a
leg, and one was wounded in the right hand. Com¬
pany B, on the skirmish line, killed five of the enemy
and wounded others. To us it was a great battle,
and a glorious victory. The regiment had been
recognized as- soldiers. Tt had taken its place side
by side with a white regiment. It had been under
fire. The men had behaved gallantly. A colored
soldier had died for liberty. Others had shed their
blood in the great cause. Two or three incidents
will indicate the significance of the day. Just before
going into the fight, Lieutenant Keinborts said to his
men: "Boys, some of you may be killed, but remem¬
ber you are fighting for liberty." Henry Prince
replied : "I am ready to die for liberty." In fifteen
minutes he lay dead, a rifle ball through his heart, a
willing martyr. During the engagement, General
Steadman asked his aide, Captain Davis, to look
especially after the Fourteenth Colored, as he did
not know how they would stand fire. Captain Davis
rode up just as I was quietly rectifying my line,
which in a charge had been disarranged. Davis,
putting spurs to his horse, dashed back to the Gen-
30
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
eral, and reassured him by reporting that " the regi¬
ment was holding dress parade over there under
fire." After the fight, as we marched into town
through a drenching rain, a white regiment, standing
at rest, swung their hats and gave three rousing
cheers for the Fourteenth Colored. Colonel Streight's
command were so pleased with the gallantry of our
men that many of them afterward, on being asked:
"What regiment?" frequently replied: "Fifty-first
Colored."
During the month of August we had some very
hard marching in a vain effort to have another brush
with Wheeler's cavalry.
The corn in East Tennessee was in good plight for
roasting, and our men showed great facility in cook¬
ing, and marvellous capacity in devouring it. Ten
large ears were not too much for many of them. On
resuming our march one day after the noon halt, one
of the soldiers declared himself unable to walk, and
asked permission to ride in an ambulance. His com¬
rades said that having already eaten twelve ears of
corn, and finding himself unable to finish the thir¬
teenth, he concluded that he must be sick and unfit
for duty.
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
31
September 27, 1864, I reported to Major General
Rousseau, commanding a force of cavalry at Pulaski,
Tennessee. As we approached the town by rail from
Nashville, we heard artillery, then musketry, and as
we left the cars we saw the smoke of guns. Forest,
with a large force of cavalry, had been steadily driv¬
ing Rousseau before him all day, and was destroying
the railroad. Finding the General, I said: "I am
ordered to report to you, sir." "What have you?"
"Two regiments of colored troops." Rousseau was
a Kentuckian, and had not much faith in negro sol¬
diers. By his direction I threw out a strong line of
skirmishers, and posted the regiments on a ridge, in
good supporting distance. Rousseau's men retired
behind my line, and Forest's men pressed forward
until they met our fire, and recognizing the sound of
the minie ball stopped to reflect.
The massacre of colored troops at Fort Pillow was
well known to us, and had been fully discussed by
our men. It was rumored, and thoroughly credited
by them, that General Forest had offered a thousand
dollars for the head of any commander of a "nigger"
regiment. Here, then, was just such an opportunity
32
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
as those spoiling for a fight might desire. Negro
troops stood face to face with Forest's veteran cav¬
alry. The firing was growing hotter, and balls were
uncomfortably thick. At length the enemy, in
strong force, with banners flying, bore down toward
us in full sight, apparently bent on mischief. Point¬
ing to the advancing column I said, as I passed along
the line : " Boys, it looks very much like fight. Keep
cool; do your duty." They seemed full of glee, and
replied with great enthusiasm: "Col'nel, dey can't
whip us; dey nebber git de ole Fourteenth out of
heah, nebber." "Nebber drives us away widout a
mighty lot of dead men," etc., etc. When Forest
learned that Eousseau was reinforced by infantry, he
did not stop to ask about the color of the skin, but
after testing our line, and finding it unyielding,
turned to the east, and struck over toward Murfrees-
boro.
An incident occurred here illustrating the humor
of the colored soldier. A spent ball struck one of
the men on the side of the head, passed under the
scalp, and making nearly a circuit of the skull, came
out on the other side. His comrades merrily
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
33
declared that when the ball struck him, it sang out
"too thick," and passed on.
As I was walking with my adjutant down toward
the picket line, a ball struck the ground immediately
in front of us, about four feet away, but was so far
spent as to be harmless. We picked it up and car¬
ried it along.
Our casualties consisted of a few men slightly
wounded. We had not had a battle, but it was for
us a victory, for our troops had stood face to face
with a triumphant troop of southern cavalry, and
stopped their progress. They saw that they had
done what Rousseau's veterans could not do. Hav¬
ing travelled four hundred and sixty-two miles, we
returned to Chattanooga, feeling that we had gained
valuable experience, and we eagerly awaited the next
opportunity for battle, which was not long deferred.
Our next active service was ^t Decatur, Alabama.
Hood, with his veteran army that had fought Sher¬
man so gallantly from Chattanooga to Atlanta, find¬
ing that his great antagonist had started southward
o o o
and seaward, struck out boldly himself for Nashville.
October twenty-seventh I reported to General R. S.
34
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
Granger, commanding at Decatur, Alabama. His
little force was closely besieged by Hood's army,
whose right rested on the Tennessee river, below the
town, and whose left extended far beyond our lines,
on the other side of the town. Two companies of
my regiment were stationed on the opposite side of
the river from Hood's right, and kept up an annoy¬
ing musketry fire. Lieutenant Gillet, of Company
G, was mortally wounded by a cannon ball, and
some of the enlisted men were hurt. One private
soldier in Company B, who had taken position in a
tree as a sharpshooter, had his right arm broken by
a ball. Captain Romeyn said to him: "You would
better come down from there, go to the rear and find
the surgeon." "Oh, no, Captain," was his reply, "I
can fire with my left arm," and so he did.
Another soldier of Company B was walking along
the road, when, hearing an approaching cannon ball,
he dropped flat upon the ground and was almost
instantly well nigh covered with the dirt ploughed up
by it, as it struck the ground near by. Captain
Romeyn, who witnessed the incident, and who was
greatly amused by the fellow's trepidation, asked
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
35
him if he was frightened. His reply was: "Fore,
God, Captain, I thought I was a dead man, sure."
Friday, October 28, 1864, at twelve o'clock, at
the head of three hundred and fifty-five men, in obe¬
dience to orders from General Granger, I charged
and took a rebel battery with a loss of sixty officers
and men killed and wounded. After capturing the
battery and spiking the guns, which we were unable
to remove, we retired to our former place on the line
of defense. The conduct of the men on this occa¬
sion was most admirable, and drew forth high praise
from Generals Granger and Thomas. Hood having
decided to push on to Nashville without assaulting
Decatur, withdrew. As soon as I missed his troops
from my front, I notified the General commanding,
and was ordered to pursue with the view of finding
where he was. About ten o'clock the next morning,
my skirmishers came up with his rear guard, which
opened upon us a brisk infantry fire. Lieutenant
Woodworth, standing at my side, fell dead, pierced
through the face. General Granger ordered me to
retire inside the works. The regiment, although
exposed to a sharp fire, came off in splendid order.
36
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
As we marched inside the works, the white troops
who had watched the manoeuvre, gave us three rous¬
ing cheers. I have heard the Pope's famous choir at
St. Peter's, and the great organ at Freiburg, but the
music was not so sweet as the hearty plaudits of our
brave comrades.
As indicating the change in public sentiment rela¬
tive to colored troops, it may be mentioned that the
Lieutenant Colonel commanding the Sixty-eighth In¬
diana Volunteer Infantry, requested me as a personal
favor to ask for the assignment of his regiment to my
command, giving as a reason that his soldiers would
rather fight alongside of the Fourteenth Colored,
than with any white regiment. He was ordered to
report to me.
After Hood had gone, I returned to Chattanooga,
but not to remain. (We had travelled two hundred
and forty-four miles.)
November twenty-ninth, in command of the Four¬
teenth, Sixteenth and Forty-fourth Regiments,
United States Colored Infantry, I embarked on a
railroad train at Chattanooga for Nashville. On
December first, with the Sixteenth and most of the
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
37
Fourteenth, I reached my destination and was as¬
signed to a place on the extreme left of General
Thomas's army, then concentrating for the defense
of Nashville against Hood's threatened attack.
The train that contained the Forty-fourth Col¬
ored Kegiment, and two companies of the Fourteenth,
under command of Colonel Johnson, was delayed
near Murfreesboro until December second, when it
started for Nashville, but when crossing a bridge not
far from the city its progress was suddenly checked
by a cross fire of cannon belonging to Forest's com¬
mand. I had become very anxious over the delay
in the arrival of these troops, and when I heard the
roar of cannon, thought it must be aimed at them.
I never shall forget the intensity of my suffering as
hour after hour passed by bringing me no tidings.
Were they all captured? Had they been massa¬
cred? Who could answer ? No one. What was to
be done ? Nothing; I could only wait and suffer.
The next day, Colonel Johnson reached Nashville,
reporting that when stopped, he and his men were
forced under heavy fire to abandon the train, clamber
down from the bridge and run to a block house near
4
38
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
by, which had been erected for the defense of the
bridge, and was still in possession of Union soldiers.
After maintaining a stubborn fight until far into the
night, he withdrew his troops, and making a detour
to the east, came into our lines, having lost in killed,
wounded and missing two officers and eighty men of
the Forty-fourth, and twenty-five men of the Four¬
teenth.
Just as Captain C. W. Baker, the senior officer of
the Fourteenth, was leaving the car, a piece of shell
carried away the top of his cap, and thus added
immensely to its value — as a souvenir. Some of the
soldiers that escaped lost everything except the
clothes they had on, including knapsacks, blankets
and arms. In some cases they lay in the water hid¬
ing for hours, until they could escape their pursuers.
Soon after taking our position in line at Nashville,
we were closely besieged by Hood's army, and thus
we lay facing each other for two weeks. Hood had
suffered so terribly by his defeat under Schofield at
Franklin, that he was in no mood to assault us in our
works, and Thomas needed more time to concen¬
trate and reorganize his army before he could safely
WITH COLORED TROOrS.
39
take the offensive. That fortnight interval was mem¬
orable indeed. Hood's army was desperate. It had
been thwarted by Sherman, and thus far baffled by
Thomas, and Hood felt that he must strike a bold
blow to compensate for the dreadful loss of prestige
occasioned by Sherman's "march to the sea." His
men were scantily clothed and poorly fed; if he
could gain Nashville, our great depot of supplies, he
could furnish his troops with abundance of food,
clothing and war material, encourage the Confed¬
eracy, terrify the people of the North, regain a vast
territory taken from the South at such great cost to
us, recruit his army from Kentucky, and perhaps
invade the North.
Thomas well knew the gravity of the situation,
and was unwilling to hazard all by a premature bat¬
tle. I think that neither he, nor any of his army,
ever doubted the issue of the battle when it should
come, whichever force should take the initiative.
The authorities at Washington grew restive, and the
people at the North nervous. Thomas was ordered
to fight; Logan was dispatched to relieve him if he
did not, and Grant himself started West to take com-
40
REMINISCENCES OE SERVICE
mand. Thomas was too good a soldier to be forced
to offer battle until he was sure of victory. He knew
that time was his best ally, every day adding to his
strength and weakening his enemy. In the mean¬
time the weather became intensely cold, and a heavy
sleet covered the ground, rendering it almost impos¬
sible for either army to move at all. For a few days
our sufferings were quite severe. We had only
shelter tents for the troops, with very little fuel, and
many of our men who had lost their blankets keenly
felt their need.
On December fifth, before the storm, by order of
General Steadman, I made a little reconnoissance,
capturing with slight loss Lieutenant Gardner and
six men from the Fifth Mississippi Regiment.
December seventh we made another, in which Col¬
onel Johnson and three or four men were wounded.
On one of these occasions, while my men were ad¬
vancing in face of a sharp fire, a rabbit started up in
front of them. With shouts of laughter several of
them gave chase, showing that even battle could not
obliterate the negro's love of sport.
But the great day drew near. The weather grew
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
41
warmer, the ice gave way, Thomas was ready, and
calling together his chiefs, laid before them his plan
of battle.
About nine o'clock at night, December 14, 1864,
I was summoned to General Steadman's headquarters.
He told me what the plan of battle was, and said he
wished me to open the fight by making a vigorous
assault upon Hood's right flank. This, he explained,
was to be a feint, intended to betray Hood into the
belief that it was the real attack, and lead him to
support his right by weakening his .left, where
Thomas intended to assault him in very deed. The
General gave me the Fourteenth United States Col¬
ored Infantry, under Colonel H. C. Corbin ; the Sev¬
enteenth United States Colored Infantry, under the
gallant Colonel W. K. .Shatter; a detachment of the
Eighteenth United States Colored Infantry, under
Major L. D. Joy; the Forty-fourth United States
Colored Infantry, under Colonel L. Johnson ; a pro¬
visional brigade of white troops under Colonel C.
H. Grosvenor, and a section of artillery under Cap¬
tain Osborn, of the Twentieth Indiana Battery. The
largest force I had ever handled was two regiments,
42
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
and as I rather wanted to open the battle in proper
style, I asked General Steadman what suggestions
he had to make. He replied : " Colonel, to-morrow
morning, at daylight, I want you to open the battle."
"All right, General. Do you not think it would be
a good plan for me to—," and I outlined a little plan
of attack. With a twinkle in his kindly eye he
replied : "To-morrow morning, Colonel, just as soon
as you can see how to put your troops in motion, I
wish you to begin the fight." "All right, General;
good night." With these explicit instructions I left
his headquarters, returned to camp, gave the requi¬
site orders for the soldiers to have an early break¬
fast and be ready for serious work at daybreak.
Then taking Adjutant Clelland I reconnoitered the
enemy's position, tracing the line of his camp fires,
and decided on my plan of assault. The morning
dawned with a dense fog, which held us in check for
some time after we were ready to march.
During our stay at Nashville, I was the guest of
Major W. B. Lewis, through whose yard ran our
line. He had been a warm personal friend of
Andrew Jackson, occupying a place in the Treasury
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
43
Department daring his administration. He gave me
the room formerly occupied by the hero of New
Orleans, and entertained me with many anecdotes of
him. I remember in particular one which I espec¬
ially appreciated, because of the scarcity of fuel in
our own camp. At one time General Jackson ordered
certain troops to rendevouz for a few days at Nash¬
ville. Major Lewis, acting as quartermaster, laid
in a supply of several hundred cords of wood, which
he supposed would be ample to last during their
entire stay in the city. The troops arrived on a
" raw and gusty day," and being accustomed to com¬
fortable fires at home, they burned up every stick
the first night, to the Quartermaster's great conster¬
nation.
To return. On the morning of December fif¬
teenth, Major Lewis said he would have a servant
bring me my breakfast, which was not ready, how¬
ever, when I started. The boy, with an eye to
safety, followed me afar off, so far that he only
reached me, I think, about two o'clock in the after¬
noon. But I really believe the delay improved the
flavor of the breakfast.
44
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
As soon as the fog lifted, the battle began in good
earnest. Hood mistook my assault for an attack in
force upon his right flank, and weakening his left in
order to meet it, gave the coveted opportunity to
Thomas, who improved it by assailing Hood's left
flank, doubling it up, and capturing a large number
of prisoners.
Thus the first day's fight wore away. It had been
for us a severe but glorious day. Over three hun¬
dred of my command had fallen, but everywhere our
army was successful. Victory perched upon our
banners. Hood had stubbornly resisted, but had
been gallantly driven back with severe loss. The
left had done its duty. General Steadman con¬
gratulated us, saying his only fear had been that we
might fight too hard. We had done all he desired,
and more. Colored soldiers had fought side by side
with white troops. They had mingled together in
the charge. They had supported each other. They
had assisted each other from the field when wounded,
and they lay side by side in death. The survivors
rejoiced together over a hard-fought field, won by a
common valor. All who witnessed their conduct
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
45
gave them equal praise. The day that we had longed
to see had come and gone, and the sun went down
upon a record of coolness, bravery, manliness, never
to be unmade. A new chapter in the history of lib¬
erty had been written. It had been shown that
marching under a flag of freedom, animated by a
love of liberty, even the slave becomes a man and a
hero.
At one time during the day, while the battle was
in progress, I sat in an exposed place on a piece of
ground sloping down toward the enemy, and being
the only horseman on that part of the field, soon
became a target for the balls that whistled and sang
their threatening songs as they hurried by. At
length a shot aimed at me struck my horse in the
face just above the nostril, and passing up under the
skin emerged near the eye, doing the horse only
temporary harm, and letting me off scot free, much
to my delight, as may be supposed. Captain Baker,
lying on the ground near by, heard the thud of the
ball as it struck the horse, and seeing me land on
the ground, cried out: "The Colonel's shot," and
sprang to my side, glad enough to find that the poor
46
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
horse's face had been a shield to save my life. I was
sorry that the animal could not appreciate the grati¬
tude I felt to it for my deliverance.
During that night Hood withdrew his army some
two miles, and took up a new line along the crest of
some low hills, which he strongly fortified with some
improvised breastworks andabattis. Soon after our
early breakfast we moved forward over the inter¬
vening space. My position was still on the extreme
left of our line, and I was especially charged to look
well to our flank to avoid surprise.
The Second Colored Brigade, under Col. Thomp¬
son, of the Twelfth United States Colored Infan¬
try, was on my right and participated in the first
charge upon Overton's Hill, which was repulsed. I
stood where the whole movement was in full view.
It was a grand and terrible sight to see those men
climb that hill over rocks and fallen trees, in the face
of a murderous fire of cannon and musketry, and
often reaching the enemy's works only to be driven
back. White and black mingled together in the
charge and on the retreat.
When the Second Colored Brigade retired behind
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
47
my line to reform, one of the regimental color-bear¬
ers stopped in the open space between the two armies,
where, although exposed to a dangerous fire, he
planted his flag firmly in the ground, and began
deliberately and coolly to return the enemy's fire ;
and, greatly to our amusement, kept up for some lit¬
tle time his independent warfare.
When the second and final assault was made, the
right of my line took part. It was with breathless
interest I watched that noble army climb that hill
with a steady resolve which nothing but death itself
could check. When at length the assaulting column
sprang upon the earthworks, and the enemy seeing
that further resistance was madness, gave way and
began a precipitous retreat, our hearts swelled as
only the hearts of soldiers can, and scarcely stopping
to cheer, or to await orders, we pushed forward and
joined in the pursuit until the darkness and the rain
forced a halt.
The battle of Nashville did not compare in num¬
bers engaged, in severity of fighting, or in the losses
sustained, with some other western battles. But in
the issues at stake, the magnificent generalship of
48
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
Thomas, the completeness of our triumph, and the
immediate and far-reaching consequences, it was
unique, and deservedly ranks along with Gettys¬
burg as one of the decisive battles of the war.
When General Thomas rode over the battle-field
and saw the bodies of colored men side by side with
the foremost on the very works of the enemy, he
turned to his staff, saying : " Gentlemen, the question
is settled; negroes will fight." He did me the honor
to recommend me for promotion, and told me that
he intended to give me the best brigade he could
form. This he afterward did.
After the great victory we joined in the chase after
the fleeing foe. Hood's army was whipped, demor¬
alized, and pretty badly scattered. A good many
stragglers were picked up. A story circulated to
this effect: Some of our boys, on making a sharp
turn in the road, came upon a forlorn southern sol¬
dier who had lost his arms, thrown away his accou¬
trements, and was sitting on a log by the roadside,
waiting to give himself up. He was saluted with:
"Well, Johnny, how goes it?" "Well, Yanks, I'll
tell ye. I confess I'm horribly whipped and badly
demoralized, but blamed if I'm scattered."
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
49
After we had passed through Franklin, we had
orders to turn about and return to that city. I was
riding at the head of the column, followed by my
own regiment. The men were swinging along,
"arms at will," when they spied General Thomas and
staff approaching. Without orders they brought
their arms to " right shoulder shift," took the step,
and striking up their favorite tune of "John Brown,"
whistled it with admirable effect while passing the
General, greatly to his amusement.
We had a very memorable march from Franklin
to Murfreesboro over miserable dirt roads. About
December nineteenth or twentieth, we were on the
march at an early hour, but the rain was there before
us, and stuck by us closer than a brother. We were
drenched through and through, and few had on a dry
thread-. We waded streams of water nearly waist
deep, we pulled through mud that seemed to have no
bottom, and where many a soldier left his shoes
seeking for it. The open woods pasture where
we went into camp that night, was surrounded with
a hisfh fence made of cedar rails. That fence was left
©
standing, and not a rail was touched—until — well!
© 7
5
50
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
I do believe that the owner's bitterness at his loss
was fully balanced by the comfort and good cheer
which those magnificent rail fires afforded us that
©
December night. They did seem providentially pro¬
vided for us.
During the night the weather turned cold, and
when we resumed our march the ground was frozen,
and the roads were simply dreadful, especially for
those of our men who had lost their shoes the day
before, and were now compelled to walk barefoot,
tracking their way with blood. Such experiences
take away something of the romance sometimes sug¬
gested to the inexperienced by the phrase, "soldier¬
ing in the sunny south;" but, then, a touch of it is
worth having for the light it throws over such his¬
torical scenes as those at Valley Forge.
We continued in the pursuit of Hood as far as
Huntsville, Alabama, when he disappeared to return
no more, and we were allowed to go back to Chat¬
tanooga, glad enough of an opportunity to rest.
Distance travelled, four hundred and twenty miles.
We had no more fighting. There were many
interesting experiences, which, however, I will not
WITH COLORED TROOPS.
51
take time to relate. In August, 1865, being in com¬
mand of the post at Knoxville, Tennessee, after
forty months of service, grateful to have escaped
without imprisonment, wounds, or even a day of
severe illness, 1 resigned my commission to resume
my studies, which the foolish firing on Fort Sumter
had so rudely interrupted.
Colonels Shatter, Johnson, Corbin, and a number
of line officers who were with me in the colored ser¬
vice, entered the regular army, where some are still
on duty. I was strongly urged to do the same, but
my tastes were not military. So long as the Union
was imperilled, and there were blows to be struck for
freedom, I could endure the hardships and enjoy the
service of the army. But when peace came, I felt
that my place was in the ranks of those who seek in
some humble way to assist in promoting educa¬
tion and moral and social reforms.
I cannot close this paper without expressing the
conviction that history has not yet done justice to
the share borne by colored soldiers in the war for
the Union. Their conduct during the war has been
a silent, but most potent factor in influencing public
52
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE.
sentiment, shaping legislation, and fixing the status
of colored people in America. If the records of
their achievements could be put into such shape that
they could be accessible to the thousands of colored
youth in the South, they would kindle in their young
minds an enthusiastic devotion to liberty and man¬
hood.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series —No. 14.
providence:
published by the society.
1885.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
FROSTIER SERYICE DURING THE REBELLION;
OK, A
HISTOEY OF COMPANY K,
FIRST INFANTRY, CALIFORNIA YOLONTEERS.
BY
GEORGE H. PETTIS,
[Brevet Captain United States Yolunteers; Late First Lieutenant Company K,
First California Infantry, and First Lieutenant and
Adjutant First New Mexico Infantry.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
ERONTIER SERVICE DURING THE REBELLION.
The first battle of Bull Run had been fought. The
government had become satisfied that the slavehold¬
er's rebellion was not to be put down with seventy-
five thousand men. The Union people of the United
States now fully realized that the rebels were to use
every effort on their part towards the establishment
of the Confederacy, and the men of the north, on
their part, were ready to " mutally pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor"
to preserve the government as their fathers before
them had pledged themselves to establish it. The
loyal States were ready to respond to any demand
made upon them by the government, and there were
none more anxious to do their duty to the old flag
than the Union men of California.
The people of that far distant part of our country
v^ere, in the early days of our "late unpleasantness,"
6
FRONTIER SERVICE
stirred to their very depths. A large portion of the
inhabitants had emigrated from the southern States,
O 7
and were, therefore, in sympathy with their brethren
at home. General Joe Johnston was in command of
the military department, and a majority of the regular
officers under him were sympathizers with the rebel¬
lion, as were a majority of the State officers. The
United States gunboat "Wyoming," lying in the
harbor of San Francisco in the early part of '61, was
officered by open advocates of secession, and only
by the secret coming of General E. V. Sumner, who
arrived by steamer one fine morning in the early
part of '61, totally unknown and unannounced, and
presenting himself at the army headquarters on
Washington street, San Francisco, without delay,
with, "Is.this Gen. Johnston?" "Yes, sir." "I
am General E. Y. Sumner, United States Army,
and do now relieve you of the command of this
department," at the same time delivering the orders
to this effect from the War Department at Washing¬
ton, were the people of the Pacific States saved from
a contest which would have been more bitter, more
fierce, and more unrelenting than was exhibited in
DURING THE REBELLION.
7
any part of the United States during all those long
four years of the war.
As I have said before, the prompt and secret
action of the government and that gallant old soldier,
General E. Y. Sumner (for you all will remember
that California had no railroads and telegraphs in
those days), prevented civil war there. The seces¬
sionists, who were preparing to take possession of
the property of the government in that department
and turn the guns of Alcatraz, Fort Point and the
Presidio upon the loyalists, were taken completely
aback; they delayed action. General Sumner took
all precautions against surprise, and the Union men
of the Pacific States breathed free again, for civil
war had been driven from their doors. Many of the
secession leaders, with General Joe Johnston, seeing
their plans miscarry, left the State shortly after, and
did service in the Confederate armies.
On the steamer from the States that brought the
news to California of the disaster at Bull Eun, came
orders from President Lincoln for that State to fur-
ish its quota of men for the Union army. The same
afternoon, the Franklin Light Infantry, a militia
8
FRONTIER SERVICE
company, composed of printers only, held a meeting
at its armory on Sacramento street, and voted unani¬
mously to offer their services to the government,
which was accordingly done, and they were the first
company that was mustered into the United States
service in California, and was afterwards known as
Company B, First Infantry, California Volunteers,
and were officered as follows: Captain, Valentine
Drescher; First Lieutenant, Francis S. Mitchell;
Second Lieutenant, George H. Pettis. Other com¬
panies were soon formed, and the regiment, with nine
companies, went into camp of instruction at Camp
Downey, near Oakland.
The regiment had been in camp but a few days
when it was ordered to proceed by steamer to Los
Angeles, in Southern California. The transfer was
made, and the regiment went into camp about nine
miles from Los Angeles, on the seashore, where the
town of Santa Monica now is. The First Battalion
Cavalry, California Volunteers, consisting of five
companies, under command of Lieutenant Colonel
Davis, who was afterwards killed before Bickmond,
also accompanied us. In a few days after the estab-
DURING THE REBELLION.
9
lishment of this camp, Lieutenant Pettis, of Com¬
pany B, was sent on detached duty as recruiting
officer to San Francisco, in order that the nine com¬
panies now in camp should be filled to the maximum
standard. The tenth company had not been admit¬
ted to the regiment as yet, although several had made
application for the position.
Lieutenant Pettis arrived in San Francisco about
the fifteenth of October, and immediately commenced
business by opening his recruiting office on the cor¬
ner of Montgomery and Clay streets, in the same
building with the Morning Call. He was success¬
ful, as by the fifteenth of January he had recruited
and sent to the regiment one hundred and two men,
and was ordered by General George Wright, then
commanding the department of California (and who
was afterwards lost on the steamer " Brother Jona¬
than " on his way to Oregon), to close his office and
join his regiment at Camp Latham. In the mean¬
time, four companies of the regiment, under Major
E. A. Bigg, had proceeded to Fort Yuma, on the
Colorado river, and relieved the regulars who were
there. Captain Winfield Scott Hancock, Assistant
10
FRONTIER SERVICE
Quartermaster United States Army, had also been
relieved and ordered to the States. He had been on
duty at Los Angeles. Three companies of the regi¬
ment had been ordered to Warner's Ranch, about
half way between Los Angeles and Fort Yuma, and
established Camp Wright. On the twelfth of Feb¬
ruary, orders had been received by Colonel J. H.
Carleton, commanding the regiment, to form the tenth
company of his regiment from the recruits enlisted
in San Francisco by Lieutenant Pettis. Company
K, First Infantry, California Volunteers, was thus
formed, and was officered as follows: Captain,
Nicholas S. Davis, promoted from First Lieutenant
of Company A; First Lieutenant, George H. Pettis,
promoted from Second Lieutenant of Company B;
Second Lieutenant, Jeremiah Phelan, appointed
from Hospital Steward of the regular army.
In the meantime, the government at Washington
had received information that General H. H. Sibley
had left San Antonio, Texas, with about three thou¬
sand seven hundred rebel soldiers for New Mexico,
and as the government had immense stores of cloth¬
ing, camp and garrison equipage, and commissary
DURING THE REBELLION.
11
stores in different posts in that Territory and Ari¬
zona, with but few troops to defend them, and a
majority of the officers avowed secessionists, the rebels
expected an easy conquest. Accordingly, Colonel
Carleton had orders to organize what was known as
the "California Column," which consisted of the
First and Fifth Infantry, California Volunteers,
(George W. Bowie was Colonel of the Fifth Infantry,
California Volunteers) ; First Battalion Cavalry,
California Volunteers; Company B, Captain John
C. Cremoney, Second Cavalry, California Volun¬
teers, and Light Battery A, Third United States
Artillery, Captain John B. Shinn.
That an idea may be obtained of the difficulties of
this enterprise, I will say that it is about nine hun¬
dred miles from Los Angeles to the Bio Grande, not
a pound of food or of forage was to be obtained on
the route, and everything to be consumed had to be
brought from California. Neither was there, as we
afterwards ascertained, a single resident in all that
long march, except at Fort Yuma. The country
through which the " Column" passed was without
water, and the Colorado and Gila Deserts to be
12
FRONTIER SERVICE
crossed before we should come in sight of the green
cottonwoods of the Rio Grande. The Apache
Indians supposed that they had driven all the whites
out of the Territory of Arizona, and the former re¬
quired constant watching and attention. In conse¬
quence of the scarcity of water on the route, the
" Column " could only be moved in detachments.
Companies K and C, First Infantry, and Company
G, Fifth Infantry, Captain Hugh L. Hinds, left
Captain Latham about the first of March, 1862,
under command of Captain William McMullen, of
Company C, and arrived at Camp Wright in due
season, it being about one hundred and forty miles.
The only incident on this march worthy of mention
was, that when the battalion marched through the
town of Los Angeles the American flag had been
hauled down from the court house. As it was well
known that the people of Los Angeles at that time
were nearly all strong in their sympathies with the
rebellion, it was thought that the hauling down of the
flag was to insult the command. Consequently, on
the arrival of the battalion on the banks of the Los
Angeles river, which flows on the eastern side of the
DURING THE REBELLION.
13
town, it was halted and Captain McMullen returned,
and, finding some of the town officials, insisted that
the flag should he hoisted immediately. The citizens
denied any intended insult to the flag, and proceeded
to replace it, which being seen by the men of the
battalion, they gave three cheers, and continued on
their way.
A delay of a couple of weeks at Camp Wright,
when orders were received by Lieutenant Colonel
J. R. West, of the First Infantry, commanding at
Camp Wright, to organize the advance detachment
of the " Column," to consist of Companies K and C,
First Infantry, California Volunteers, and Companies
B and Gr, Fifth Infantry, California Volunteers, and
proceed without delay to Fort Yuma. The com¬
mand as above constituted left camp at a late hour
in the afternoon, and after a short march made camp
beside a laguna, or pond. It rained during the night,
and daylight found us at breakfast, which was
quickly dispatched, and we were soon on our march,
the road continually ascending. At nine o'clock in
the forenoon we had reached the line of snow, where
2
14
FRONTIER SERVICE
it was snowing heavily. At noon we had reached
the summit, and found the snow about two feet in
depth, and as cold as Greenland. A short halt was
made, when great fires were built to warm the men,
and then the command moved down the mountain.
At three o'clock in the afternoon we passed through
the line of snow, shortly after through the precipi¬
tous canon of San Felipe, and towards evening went
into camp, the grass being more than knee high, the
air redolent with the perfume of flowers and the
sweet melody of the birds.
A short march the next day brought us to Las Dos
Palmas, or the "Two Palms," so called from the fact
that two luxuriant palm trees formerly flourished
here, the stumps of which were then to be seen.
Thence to Carizo Creek, nine miles, where the com¬
mand rested one day. Here commences the then
much-dreaded Colorado Desert. For more than a
hundred miles we were at the mercy of its sands and
storms and burning sun. Such another scene of
desolation does not exist on the American continent;
treeless mountains on either side, brown and sombre
to their very tops ; no signs of life were to be seen
DURING THE REBELLION.
15
anywhere. Although it was in the first days of April,
still the sun poured down with an intensity that I
had never before experienced, no shade could be
found, and the very water in the creek could not be
bathed in—being more fit for cooking than bathing,
it being so hot. Such was the Colorado Desert as
we approached it. What will it be further on ? We
shall see.
The command left camp at Carizo Creek in the
middle of the afternoon, and continued the march
until midnight, when we arrived at Sackett's Wells.
Here it was supposed a ration of water for the men
would be found, but upon examination it was ascer¬
tained that somebody had knocked the bottom out
of the well, and no water was to be obtained, except
such as could be caught in cups as it trickled drop
by drop from the strata of clay that had heretofore
formed the bottom of the well. No camp could be
made here, and the command moved on, marching
until about ten o'clock in the morning, when we
arrived at the Indian Wells, having made thirty-two
miles. A large number of the men were now suf¬
fering for the want of water, and the animals, upon
16
FRONTIER SERVICE
discovering the green bushes in the distance, near
these wells, pricked their ears, and every exertion
was required by riders and drivers to prevent a
stampede, so much were they in want of water.
Upon our arrival it was found that but a few buckets
of water was in the well, as a detachment of cavalry
had made camp there the day before, and had only
left upon seeing our command approach, using all
the water in the well for their animals before leav¬
ing. However, guards were placed over the well,
men sent down to pass the water up as it collected,
and in the course of a few hours the men had each
received his pint of water; then the animals were
furnished.
Before the water had all been distributed, one of
those terrible sand storms for which this desert is
renowned began, and as the sun went down it was
at its very height. Neither man nor animal could
face this shower of stones and gravel, and the sand
and dust penetrated everything. The only thing
that was to be done was to throw oneself down upon
his face, draw his blankets around him, and ride it
out, sleeping. The storm continued through the
DURING THE REBELLION.
17
night, and before dawn approached it had ceased,
and upon crawling out of my sand bank, I saw in all
directions what appeared to be graves, but they were
only mounds of sand that had been formed by the
storm over the bodies of the soldiers. Imagine, if
you can, near four hundred of these mounds becom¬
ing animate and dissolving in the desert, as reveille
sounded.
At about noon the command moved on, and after
marching twenty-five miles arrived at Alamo Mucho
at about two o'clock in the morning. Here was
found a well that would have furnished water for an
army corps — sweet, cold water. It was a pleasure
to look at this, to hold it in a tin cup, look at it,
take a mouthful, holding it there a time before swal¬
lowing it; it seemed a sin to drink it. This water
was not taken on the point of the bayonet, as water
had been taken for the past four days, and we had
marched sixty-six miles from Los Dos Palmos since
we had our fill of water. After the men had satis¬
fied their thirst they spread their blankets wherever
they pleased, and there was no person in that com¬
mand, except the guard, that was not soon in the
arms of Morpheus.
18
FRONTIER SERVICE
Before daylight another sand storm commenced,
and when reveille was beat off, not a dozen men were
in line, and they were only brought out of their sand
hills by beating the long roll. The storm subsided
in the early afternoon, when the command moved on,
making Gardiner's Wells, twelve miles, before sun¬
down, where was found a fine well with plenty of
water, but none of the command wanted any, the
only objection being, and that a slight one, that
there was standing above the level of the water in
the well, a pair of boots—and a dead man in them.
Seven Wells was soon reached, and, as the name
implies, there were plenty of wells, but there was no
water. Thence to Cook's Well, twelve miles, with
plenty of good water, thence fourteen miles to the
Colorado river, at Algodones. The next day, before
noon, the command arrived at Fort Yuma and went
into camp. Here we met Don Pascual, a head chief
of the Yumas, Don Diego Jaeger, and the "Great
Western," three of the most celebrated characters in
the annals of Fort Yuma.
It was supposed that our command was to consti¬
tute the advance of the "Column" from Fort Yuma.
DURING THE REBELLION.
19
But upon our arrival at that point, we found that a
reconnoitering party, consisting of Company I, First
California Infantry, Captain W. P. Calloway; Com¬
pany A, First California Cavalry, Captain William
McLeave, and Lieutenant Phelan, with detach¬
ments for two mountain howitzers, had been sent
up the Gila river, as the Indians had reported that a
large body of rebels were advancing on Fort Yuma
from Tucson. On the third day after our arrival we
crossed over the Colorado river and continued our
march. We passed the divide between the Colorado
and Gila rivers, and arrived at Gila City that after¬
noon, eighteen miles. Our route was the old over¬
land stage route on the south side of the Gila. Here
we first saw that peculiar and picturesque cactus, so
characteristic of the country, called by the Indians
"petayah," but more generally known as the "swaro,"
and recognized by botanists as the " Cereus grandeus."
Our next march was to Filibuster camp, eleven
miles; thence to Antelope Peak, fifteen; Mohawk,
twelve; Texas Hill, eleven; Stanwix, seventeen;
Burke's, twelve miles. Here we found the recon¬
noitering party, under Captain Calloway, that had
20
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left Fort Yuma a few days before our arrival there.
They had had a brush with the rebels at Picacho,
a point about forty-five miles west of Tucson. Lieu¬
tenant Barrett, Company A, First Cavalry, Califor¬
nia Volunteers, and three men of the same company,
had been killed. They had secured three rebel
prisoners. The poor devils were under guard beneath
some cotton woods in their camp. They were now
on their return to Fort Yuma.
The next morning our command moved out with
more alacrity than usual, for we felt that we were
now the advance of the " Column," and we would
meet the rebels, too. A short march of twelve
miles brought us to Oatman Flat. We had come
down from the high mesa lands into this valley, and
as we passed through near the middle of it, saw upon
the right side of the road a small enclosure of rails,
on one end of which was inscribed " The Oatman
Family." We had all heard of this tragedy years
before, and now we were upon the spot where the
terrible massacre had been perpetrated. No one of
us could look upon this humble monument without
awakening a feeling of revenge, and many were the
DURING THE REBELLION.
21
silent pledges given that day that when the oppor¬
tunity should offer, that at least one shot would be
given for these silent victims to Indian treachery.
One officer was so affected that he approached Col¬
onel J. R. West, our commanding officer, with the
interrogatory: "Colonel, if we should at anytime
meet any of these Indians, what course should be
pursued towards them?" "Tell your men when
they see a head, hit it if they can!" was the Col¬
onel's quick rejoinder. You may think this to have
been rather harsh, but remember we were standing
above the remains of the innocent victims of a most
terrible tragedy.
A few miles after leaving Oatman's Flat we came
to a pile of immense boulders in the centre of a
pleasant valley. These were the famous "Pedras
Pintados," or painted rocks. A march of fourteen
miles brought the command to Kenyon's. The next
day, after sixteen miles marching, we arrived at
Gila Bend. Here we lay over a day, as our next
march was to be to the Maricopa Wells, forty miles
distant, the dreaded Gila Desert. After marching
all night and all of the next day, we approached the
22
FRONTIER SERVICE
Maricopa Wells at about twelve o'clock on the sec¬
ond night. When within a mile of this point, a
small reconnoitering party that had been sent ahead
of our command, met us and reported that a large
force of the rebels had possession of the wells, and
from appearances intended to prevent our command
from reaching there. This report served to put new
life into everybody, notwithstanding that the whole
command had now been without sleep for over forty
hours, had marched forty miles and was somewhat
fatigued. One company was thrown out as skir¬
mishers, the rest of the command in line of battle.
We approached the watering place, and when we
arrived there, instead of finding a formidable enemy,
we found a half a dozen of our own cavalry that had
been scouting ahead of the command. We found
the water strongly impregnated with alkali, but it
served to assuage our thirst.
A short march of ten miles then brought us to the
Casa Blanca, the largest village of the Pimo Indians.
Our command remained here for several weeks,
until at least a large part of the "Column" had
arrived, and large stores of commissaries and forage
DURING THE REBELLION.
23
had been eolleeted. Our Indian scouts and spies
brought every few days extravagant reports of the
force of rebels at Tucson, and they all agreed that
when our troops should reach that point, we would
meet with a warm reception, and that rifle-pits, suffi¬
ciently manned, extended a long ways on either side
of the town. These Indians were on the best of
terms with us, as they had sold large amounts of
their produce to our command, for which they had
been promptly and abundantly paid—a different ex¬
perience when the rebels were there. They had
been employed by our quartermaster's department
as herders of our beef cattle, and were paid to their
own satisfaction for all services they had rendered,
but no inducement that our commander offered them,
no amount of pay, could influence any one of them
to accompany us towards Tucson, so assured were
they that we were to be " wiped out" before we
should reach there.
On or about the twelfth day of May, 1862, the
advance, constituted as before stated, with B Com¬
pany, California Cavalry, Captain Emil Fritz, added,
left the peaceful and hospitable homes of the Pimos,
24
FRONTIER SERVICE
and arrived at the Sacatone, twelve miles. Here we
left the overland mail road, which we had followed
since leaving Los Angeles, and keeping up the south
bank of the Gila to White's Eanch; thence to the
celebrated ruins of the Casa Blanca, so graphically
described by Mr. John E. Bartlett in his "Personal
Narratives " of the Boundary Commission; thence to
Eattlesnake Spring; thence to old Fort Breckenridge,
which had been so cowardly deserted the year before
by our regular troops; thence to Canon de Oro. As
we now approached Tucson, every thing was infighting
trim. A short halt was made near the town, and
the cavalry company, in two divisions, approached
the place from the north and west. The infantry
marched in by the main street from the west, with
the field music playing "Yankee Doodle," and in¬
stead of being received by shot and shell, we found
neither friend nor enemy, only a village without
population, if we except some hundreds of dogs and
cats.
When we were at the Pimos, Governor Pesquira,
of Sonora, Mexico, arrived there from California on
his way home ; he was allowed to pass our lines; he
DURING THE REBELLION.
25
and his party arrived in Tucson a few days before
our command, and found the place nearly deserted.
Captain Hunter, with his rebel soldiers, were far on
their way to the Eio Grande, and as they had
assured the native population — wholly Mexican —
that when the "Abs"— meaning the Union troops —
arrived they would massacre all the men and abuse
all the women, they stood not upon the order of
going, but went at once for Sonora. Governor Pes-
quira hurried forward, overtaking parties of the
fugitives each day, and assuring them of different
treatment from the Union soldiers than they had
been told by the rebels, induced many to return to
their homes, and within a week Tucson was again
alive; stores and gambling saloons were numerous,
the military had taken possession of the best build¬
ings in the town for quarters, and the stars and
stripes again waved over the Capital of the Territory
of Arizona.
The advance of the " Column " entered Tucson on
the twentieth day of May, 1862. Several Ameri¬
cans, among them Sylvester Mowry, formerly of
3
26
FRONTIER SERVICE
Rhode Island, returned, and being violent in their
sympathies with the rebellion, were arrested. Some
were sent out of the Territory, while Mowry was
sent to Fort Yuma, where he remained incarcerated
a long time. About the fifteenth of June, Captain
N. S. Davis was relieved from the command of Com¬
pany K by Lieutenant Pettis, who remained in com¬
mand, with a short interval, until its final muster out.
Captain Davis was on duty in the quartermaster's
department. By the fkst of July, a large part of
the " Column" had arrived at Tucson, a large depot
of army stores had been brought from California,
and preparations were commenced for the movement
again of the advance column. Several spies and scouts
had been sent forward from Tucson, but as they
had not returned, matters were rather uncertain.
However, in the first week in July, Company E,
First California Infantry, Captain Thomas L. Roberts,
and Company B, Second California Cavalry, were
ordered to proceed to Apache Pass and hold posses¬
sion of the water at that point. On the twentieth
of July the advance column left Tucson, and on the
second day arrived at the San Pedro, twenty-five
DURING THE REBELLION.
27
miles. Here a delay of one day was made to put
the fording place in good order for the crossing of
the " Column." Information was received here that
Captain Koberts' advance into the Apache Pass had
been attacked by a large force of the Apaches, under
the renowned chief, "Cochise," and after fighting
during an entire afternoon had succeeded in driving
O O
the Indians, with a loss on our side of several of our
men killed and wounded.
Our next march was to Dragoon Springs, eighteen
miles ; thence to Sulphur Springs, twenty-two miles.
The famous Apache Pass was reached by another
march of twenty-five miles. Here was found the
command of Captain Roberts, with evidences of the
struggle of a few days before. On leaving Apache
Pass the next day, we were again the advance of the
" Column," which position was retained until our
arrival on the Rio Grande. The next camping
ground was at San Simon, eighteen miles. As we
were assured by our guides that no water would be
found until we reached Ojo de Vaca, or Cow Springs,
a distance of sixty-seven miles, it was deemed advis¬
able to leave the overland route at this point, and
28
FRONTIER SERVICE
proceed by another route. Accordingly, the next
morning the command moved south, following up the
San Simon Yalley, a distance of twelve miles, and
camped at the Cienega. Here was found water, the
best and most abundant on the whole march. Im¬
agine, if you can, a valley twenty miles in width, on
either side a range of mountains; and to the north
and south, up and down the valley, a level plain as
far as the eye could reach. A trench three feet
wide, by five or six in depth, filled nearly to the top
with clear cold water, running with a velocity of at
least six miles an hour, the bottom covered with
white smooth pebbles. Two miles above this point
no water was to be found. As you descended the
valley and approached this water, you found at first
the ground moist, then water appeared, a mere drop,
then a small stream of running water, which increased
in volume, until you found a stream as described
above. Below this point the water gradually les¬
sened, until, two miles below, this magnificent stream
had entirely disappeared. There was no shade to
be had here, except that found under the wagon
bodies, still there was no fault found; the fine stream
DURING THE REBELLION.
29
of water that we were enjoying satisfied us for all
other discomforts. It was with feelings of regret
o o
that we left this point late the next afternoon, with
well filled canteens ; and the uncertainty of finding
water in advance, added to this feeling. We arrived
at Leiteresdorffer's Wells soon after sunset, but no
water was to be found. The march was continued
during the night, and all of the next day, until we
arrived at Soldier's Farewell, and no water. The
command was strung out a distance of at least five
miles ; we had been marching thirty hours, with only
a canteen each of water, with the thermometer at
least 130. A large number of the men had given
out and were scattered in parties of three or four, for
a dozen miles in the rear. What was left of the
command moved on, and after leaving the wagon
road, we arrived in Burro Canon, some time after
dark, where plenty of water was found, when, after
taking in a fill, turned into our blankets, entirely for¬
getting our hunger in our weariness. Company K
marched into Burro Canon with less than ten men
out of eighty, and it was long after daylight the next
day before the whole command had arrived. A
30
FRONTIER SERVICE
short march of twelve miles brought us to Ojo de
Baca; thence eighteen miles to the Miembres river.
Our next march, twenty-five miles, was to Cooke's
Springs, passing through Cooke's Canon. This
location was known by Mexicans as La Valle del
Muerto, or Yalley of Death. It seemed to be
rightly named, too, as for nearly two miles were to
be seen, on either side, skulls and other portions of
human remains who had fallen by Indian assassina¬
tion. Mounds and crosses were met every few
minutes. As we emerged from this triste locality,
we encountered the remains of wagons and govern¬
ment stores, that had been destroyed the year before
by the regular troops, who had deserted Forts Bu¬
chanan and Breckenridge, in Arizona. When they
had arrived at this point, they were informed of the
surrender of the regulars at Fort Fillmore; conse¬
quently, without further inquiry, they destroyed all
the government property they had in charge, and
made their way, on the west side of the Rio Grande,
to Fort Craig.
The next march brought us near to Mule Springs,
fifteen miles; and on the next afternoon could be
DURING THE REBELLION.
31
discovered, in the distance, the green, winding way
of the Eio Grande, with the Sierras de Organos in
the background. Camp was made that night on the
banks of the Eio Bravo del Norte, near to old Fort
Thorn. The next march was down the west bank of
the river to the fording place, known as San Diego,
which you will find set down on all maps as a town
or village, hut to my certain knowledge, up to the
time mentioned, and for several years afterwards,
there was but one house in the vicinity, and that
contained but one room and no roof. As the river
was now, the third of August, at its extreme height,
caused by the melting of the snow in the upper
Eocky Mountains, we experienced some difficulty in
getting our wagons and stores across; still all was
completed before sundown, and the next day we
arrived at Eoblado, near the town of Dona Ana. On
the fifth of August, after passing through the villages
of Dona Ana and Las Cruces, we arrived at the
pleasant town of La Mesilla.
Here was to be our resting place. We found a
well-built village, with a numerous population,
mostly Mexican. The rebels, who had arrived in
32
FRONTIER SERVICE
the Territory, we learned, had, after the treacherous
surrender of the regular troops at Fort Fillmore
(directly opposite La Mesilla), marched north. They
found Fort Craig too strong to be attacked, and,
contrary to all military maxims, had continued on,
leaving a fortified position in their rear. The des¬
perate battle of Val Verde had taken place on the
twenty-first and twenty-second of February, 1862,
a short distance above Fort Craig. And as long as
Major Benny Roberts had command of the Federal
troops they were successful, but when General E.
R. S. Canby came on the field and took command,
the rebels soon had turned the tide of the battle in
their favor. McRae's battery was taken, and our
troops were returning, panic-stricken, across the
river, and fleeing towards Fort Craig, about three
miles down the river. The rebels then approached
Albuquerque, where was stored a large amount of
government stores, which were surrendered without
a struggle. Thence they proceeded to Santa F6,
where, without opposition, they took possession.
There was one other fort to be taken, about one
hundred miles northwest—Fort Union. After some
DURING THE REBELLION.
33
delay at Santa F6, the rebels, numbering some six¬
teen hundred, set out for Fort Union. At Apache
Pass, or Pigeon's Ranch, they were met by a Colorado
regiment, with what regulars and militia could be
found, all under command of Colonel John P.
Slough (afterwards chief justice of the Territory),
and were defeated, their wagons, ammunition, and
all their stores having been destroyed by a party of
Union troops under Captain W. H. Lewis, Fifth
United States Infantry, and Captain A. B. Cary, of
the Third United States Infantry, who scaled a
mountain and got into their rear. The rebels pre¬
cipitately retreated from this point, to and down the
Rio Grande, having passed La Mesilla a few weeks
before our arrival, and left the Territory with about
twelve hundred men out of thirty-seven hundred,
that they had arrived with.
The different companies of the "Column," as they
arrived, were now sent to different points in the
department. Our Colonel, James H. Carleton, had
been promoted to Brigadier General, and had relieved
General E. R. S. Canby, in command of the depart¬
ment of New Mexico. The regular troops were all
34
FRONTIER SERVICE
relieved, except the Fifth Infantry, and sent east, and
a protection was now assured to the population, by
the California Volunteers. Lieutenant Colonel J.
K. West was now promoted to Colonel of the regi¬
ment, and in command of the southern district of the
department. Fine quarters were found for the com¬
mand in the village of La Mesilla, and the district
was under martial law. Duty was really pleasant
here, — plenty of society, with frequent bailes, few
drills, and plenty of everything to eat and drink.
The white population were nearly all of secession
proclivities, one in particular, Samuel L. Jones
(better known as the pro-slavery Sheriff Jones, of
Kansas), who resided here, was arrested usually
about once a week, and incarcerated in the guard¬
house for treasonable utterances.
After a protracted season of this duty, or up to
about the twentieth of November, came the most
unpleasant part of the history of Company K. There
had been several escapes from the guard-house of
persons who had been imprisoned for treasonable
utterances, until it seemed that there might exist a
disposition among some of the command to be a
DURING THE REBELLION.
35
party to these frequent escapades. This state of
affairs existed until one morning an escape was
reported to the commanding officer, Colonel West,
who immediately ordered the sergeant of the guard,
with sentinels numbers one, two, three', four and five,
who were on duty at the time, to be placed in the
guard-house, in irons. It so happened that this ser¬
geant and all the sentinels belonged to Company K,
and at the morning drill, after guard mount, the
company refused .to do further duty, or until the
irons were taken off of Sergeant Miller. The soldier
most aggrieved appeared to be Corporal Charles
Smith, or rather he acted as spokesman for the com¬
pany. The company was immediately ordered into
their quarters by Lieutenant Pettis, and put under
guard, and the facts reported to the commanding
officer. Orders were given for all prisoners to be
placed in the guard-house ; Company K was ordered
to proceed to the plaza or parade without arms,
when the long roll was beat. The other two com-
panies of the garrison were soon on the plaza, fully
equipped. Colonel West now made his appearance,
mounted; he then marched Company A, Fifth Cali-
36
FRONTIER SERVICE
fornia Infantry, about five paces in front of and fac¬
ing Company K, with pieces loaded, and at a "ready."
I
He then called Corporal Smith to the front, and
asked him if he still persisted in refusing to do his
duty? The Corporal respectfully, but firmly, an¬
nounced that he would do no duty until the irons
were removed from Sergeant Miller. Company D,
First California Infantry, had been wheeled to the
right out of line, and the Corporal was now ordered
to place himself about six paces in front of this com¬
pany. Upon his again refusing to do duty, Captain
Mitchell, of Company D, was ordered to fire upon
him. This order was unhesitatingly obeyed; and
after the smoke had cleared away, it was seen that
the Corporal was uninjured. Not so with some
others. The position of Company D was such that
it was facing the cathedral, which is situated on the
west side of the plaza; on either side of the cathe¬
dral were long straight streets, running from the
plaza; the long roll and the other preparations had
called all the inhabitants from their residences, and
the result of the first volley was to wound two invalid
soldiers, together with one Mexican woman and one
DURING THE REBELLION.
37
child, and the cathedral, which was built of adobes,
was concealed for h few minutes by its own dust,
caused by the minie balls penetrating its front.
The Corporal was again questioned by Colonel West,
who returned his former answer, and Company D
again fired a volley, but the Corporal remained un¬
touched. After another questioning by the Colonel,
Company D was once more ordered to fire, when,
between the commands " aim," "fire," Colonel West
rode up behind the company with uplifted sabre, and
gave the command to " lower those rifles," when the
command was given by the Captain to "fire." At
this discharge, the Corporal fell to the ground, a
minie ball having passed directly through him, hav¬
ing entered his right breast. He was immediately
placed upon a stretcher, and expired on his way to
the hospital. The rest of the company was now
questioned by Colonel West, and each man asserted
his willingness to do his duty, when the command
was dismissed to their quarters, and Company K
immediately assumed their arms and accoutrements
and appeared upon the plaza for drill. This was
4
38
FRONTIER SERVICE
the only evidence of insubordination ever shown in
the " Column," and the prompt manner in which this
one was met and punished, precluded any danger of
another exhibition of this character.
A few days after these occurrences, some of our
I
spies and scouts brought in the intelligence that
another large party of rebels had left San Antonio,
Texas, for New Mexico. Accordingly, Companies
K and D were ordered to San Elizario, Texas, a
town about twenty-five miles below El Paso, Mexico,
and the last point of civilization towards San
Antonio, on outpost duty. After remaining here
about six weeks, and no rebels appearing, Company
K was ordered to Fort Craig. A march of twenty-
five miles brought us to Franklin or Fort Bliss,
directly opposite El Paso; thence two marches,
aggregating fifty miles, found us in our old quarters
at La Mesilla, where the company was ordered to
remain until the adjournment of a general court-
martial which was then in session at that post. A
week later, and Company K commenced its march
for Fort Craig. A short march brought us again to
Dona Ana. Three miles from that village brought
DURING THE REBELLION.
39
us to the commencement of the much dreaded
Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death). The
Jornada is a large desert, well supplied with fine
gramma grass in some portions, but absolutely desti-
tue of water or shade for seventy-five miles. Why
it ever received its title, I never distinctly learned,
but suppose it was on account of the very numerous
massacres committed on it by the Apache Indians.
On the east, in the far distance, are the Sierras
Blancos, and is fringed on the west by the Sierra
Caballo and Sierra de Frey Cristobal. From these
heights, on either side, the Indians are enabled to dis¬
tinctly perceive any party of travellers coming over
the wide and unsheltered expanse of the Jornada
del Muerto. When any such parties are seen, they
come sweeping down upon the unsuspecting immi¬
grant in more than usual numbers, and if successful,
as they generally are, in their attack, invariably
destroy all of the party, for there is no possible
chance of escape; and the Apaches never take any
prisoners but women and young children, and they
become captives for life.
The first camp was a dry one, and as the com-
40
FRONTIER SERVICE
mand was accompanied by a tank of water, drawn
by six mules, thus being prepared by a plentiful
supply of water, I concluded to cross this desert at
my leisure. The next forenoon we passed by the
celebrated "Point of Rocks," the company being
deployed as skirmishers, with the hope of finding
Indians hiding between the huge boulders of which
it was composed, but without results. Late in the
afternoon we arrived at the Aleman, so called from
the fact that a whole German immigrant family had
been massacred at this point some years before by
the Indians. The next night another dry camp,
having passed during the day the Laguna del Muerto,
where water is found in some seasons. While some
three miles on our left was the Ojo del Muerto, a
point where Fort McRae was established in 1863 by
Captain Henry A. Greene, commanding Company
G, First California Infantry, now a resident of this
city, (Providence, R. I.) The next day's march
brought us to the little village of El Paraje del Fra
Cristobal. Near the spot on which the camp was
made, was the peaceful flowing and muddy Rio
Grande. A short march of five miles brought us to
DURING THE REBELLION.
41
our destination — Fort Craig. Our arrival was in
January, 1863.
The company remained at this post during the
year 1863, monotony of garrison life being relieved
by furnishing escort^ to wagon trains bound north
and south, and an occasional scout after Indians. In
July of that year, Assistant Surgeon Watson, who
had been commissioned at Sacramento, California,
more than a year before, and had been ordered to
report to the headquarters of his regiment at Fort
Craig, arrived at Fort McRae, without accident. On
leaving that post, Captain Greene had furnished him
with one government wagon and an escort of five or
O O
six men of his company. They set out with joyful
anticipation ; the Doctor was delighted to know that
after a year's travel, he would soon be at his new
home, and be doing duty with his own regiment,
which he had never seen. The wagon, with its occu¬
pants, soon emerged from the canon of the Ojo del
Muerto, and came out on the hard, smooth, natural
road of the Jornada. About the middle of the after¬
noon, they were proceeding leisurely along; twelve
miles in advance could be plainly seen the buildings
42
FRONTIER SERVICE
of Fort Craig, with " Old Glory " oil the flag-staff.
The driver of the team, Johnson, a soldier of Greene's
company, sat on his near wheel-mule chatting pleas¬
antly with the Doctor, who occupied the front of the
wagon, with his feet hanging down on the whiflle-
trees; the escort were all in the wagon, lying on
their blankets, with their arms and equipments
beneath them. Within five miles of them there was
not a rock, tree, shrub, or bush, as large as a man's
head — they felt a perfect security. Another mo¬
ment, how changed ! There arose from the sand of
the desert, where they had buried themselves, some
ten or twelve Apaches, within twenty feet of the
moving wagon, and poured a volley of arrows into
the doomed party, and closing in immediately, a
part attacked the occupants of the wagon, while the
rest disengaged the mules, and mounting their backs
started for the mountains on the west, towards the
river, and before the soldiers were out of the wagon
were out of reach of their fire. Doctor Watson was
shot with two arrows, one in his right arm, and the
other on the inside of his right thigh, severing the
femoral artery. He breathed his last in a few min-
DURING THE REBELLION.
43
utes ; the driver was shot through the heart, and one
or two of the escorts were slightly wounded. News
of this aflair reached the post before sunset, and in
twenty minutes Company K was on its way down
the west side of the river to intercept, if possible,
these murderers. The company was kept in the
field for thirty days, without other result than to find
a hot trail of eighty-two Navajoes, who were on their
way to their own country, with some eight thousand
head of sheep and other stock that they had stolen
in the upper counties of New Mexico. As the com¬
pany were dismounted, it was impossible to take up
the trail. The commander of the company, how¬
ever, with five cavalrymen and two Mexican scouts,
followed and overtook the Indians after a run of
twenty-five miles, but accomplished nothing except
exchanging some twenty or twenty-five shots on
either side, as our animals were completely " blown,"
and eighty-two to eight was an unpleasant disparity
of numbers. The lieutenant and his men arrived
back at the river the next morning, having been in
the saddle nearly twenty-four hours. The result of
the short skirmish was that one of the cavalrymen's
44
FRONTIER SERVICE
horses was shot through the breast, and one Navajo
was sent to his happy hunting-grounds and one was
wounded.
January, 1864, Company K was ordered to Los
Pinos, about one hundred miles further up the Rio
Grande, and about twenty miles south of Albuquer¬
que ; marching through the towns of Socoreo, La
Limitar, across the sand hills at the foot of the Sierra
de los Ladrones, or Thieves Mountains; crossing
the Rio Puerco, near its affluence with the Rio
Grande ; thence to Sabinal, La Belen, and Los Lunes.
They remained here until the first of February, wfflen
Colonel Kit Carson arrived there from the Navajo
country, with some two hundred and fifty-three Navajo
Indians, whom he had taken prisoners in his opera¬
tions against that nation. Orders were received
from department headquarters for Company K to
proceed with these Indians to the Bosque Redonde,
some two hundred and fifty miles down on the Pecos
river. Accordingly, after formally receiving these
prisoners and receipting therefor, the command
moved out, and on the second night arrived at Carn-
well Canon ; thence to San Antonio, San Antoinette,
DURING THE REBELLION.
45
Los Placeres and Gallisteo. Thus far the command
had moved across the country, but on the day of leav¬
ing Gallisteo, the company struck the military road
leading from Fort Union to Santa F6, near the old
Peces ruins. The command moved along this road
to the village of Tecolote ; from here they proceeded
down the Pecos river, and arrived at Fort Sumner
after eighteen days' marching. Fort Sumner was a
new post, established for the purpose of a reserva¬
tion for Indians, both Navajo and Apache, that
should be taken prisoners by the troops, and Col¬
onel Carson was on a campaign against the Navajos,
in which he was successful, as there were finally
some eight thousand of these Indians captured and
placed on this reservation. Those brought in by
Company K were the first large body that had
arrived. I will say here, in parenthesis, that this is
the only way to treat the Indian question; for this
Indian nation (the Navajoes), after receiving a
severe drubbing by Carson, and all had surrendered,
were finally allowed to return to their own country,
since which time they have continued on the best of
terms with our people. This has always been the
46
FRONTIER SERVICE
experience on the frontiers — one effective campaign
is better than all the treaties that were ever consum¬
mated.
Fort Sumner was at this time in command of
Major Henry D. Wallen, United States Seventh
Infantry, than whom there was no more excellent
gentleman in the service of the government. His
administration was marked by a sincere desire to do
justice to all under him, a feature that was sadly
deficient in too many officers of the time that is
spoken of. He was a perfect example of sobriety,
and his case certainly was a commendation of the
excellence of education of the academy at West
Point, of which he was an honored graduate.
Company K had been at Fort Sumner but a few
days when it was ordered to report to the com¬
manding officer at Fort Union, necessitating a march
of one hundred and twenty-five miles. The com¬
mand arrived at Fort Union on the eighteenth day of
March, 1864, and remained there, doing camp duty,
during the months of April, May and June. In
July, the company proceeded, with a company of
New Mexican cavalry, towards the east, by the
DURING THE REBELLION.
47
route known as the Cummarron route, passing on
our way, Burgwin's Spring, named after the gallant
Captain Burgwin, First Regiment United States
Dragoons, who fell while leading the attack upon the
insurgents at Taos, 1847, and the Wagon Mound, a
high landmark (so called from its shape). From
this point to the "Point of Rocks," forty miles, is
the track of a bloody, brave and disastrous fight
made by eight passengers in the stage against a band
of sixty Apaches. They fought every inch of the
long, dread struggle. Killed one by one, and
dropped on the road, two survivors maintained their
defense a long time, and when the sole contestant
was left, his last dying effort was to strew the con¬
tents of his powder-horn in the sand, and stir it in
with his foot, so that the Indians could not use it.
Wilson's Creek, some miles further on, is named
after a Mr. Wilson-, a merchant of Santa F6, who
was overtaken here by the Indians, and, with his
wife and child — for he was alone with them —
butchered with the usual savage outrage and cruelty.
The command returned to Fort Union in Septem¬
ber, in which month the First Infantry, California
48
FRONTIER SERVICE
Volunteers, was mustered out of service, their term
of three years having expired, with the exception of
Company K, it being recollected that they were en¬
listed at San Francisco some time after the other
companies had been formed. However, the mem¬
bers of that company began, in October, to be
dropped out, and when orders arrived at Fort Union
for the formation of the Commanche expedition,
under Colonel Kit Carson, there remained of the
First Infantry Regiment, California Volunteers, one
officer (Lieutenant Pettis) and twenty-six enlisted
men of Company K. This company accompanied
Carson's expedition with two mountain howitzers,
mounted on prairie carriages, and rendezvoued at
Fort Bascom, on the Canadian river, near the line of
Texas. This expedition consisted as follows : Col¬
onel Christopher Carson, First New Mexico Cavalry,
commanding; Colonel Francisco P. Abreu, First
New Mexico Infantry; Major William McCleave,
First California Cavalry; Captain Emil Fritz, Com¬
pany B, First California Cavalry, one officer and
forty enlisted men; Lieutenant Sullivan Heath,
Company K, First California Cavalry, one officer and
DURING THE REBELLION.
49
forty men; Captain Meriam, Company M, First
California Cavalry, one officer and thirty-four men;
Lieutenant George H. Pettis, Company K, First
California Infantry, one officer and twenty-six men ;
Captain Charles Deus, Company M, First New
Mexico Cavalry, two officers and seventy men; Cap¬
tain Joseph Berney, Company D, First New Mexico
Cavalry, two officers and thirty-six men; Company
A, First California Veteran Infantry, seventy-five
men; Assistant Surgeon George S. Courtright,
United States Volunteers, and an officer whose name
escapes me, as Assistant Quartermaster and Com¬
missary,— numbering in all, fourteen officers and
three hundred and twenty-one enlisted men. In
addition to the command, Colonel Carson had induced
seventy-two friendly Indians (Utes and Apaches), and
as big scoundrels as there were on the frontiers, by
promising them all the plunder that they might
acquire, to join the expedition.
On the sixth of November, the command left Fort
Bascom, and proceeded down on the north bank of
the Canadian, hoping to find the Commanche and
5
50
FRONTIER SERVICE
Kiowa Indians (who had been committing their
atrocities during the whole of 1864) in their winter
quarters. The Indians with our command, on every
night, after making camp, being now on the war¬
path, indulged in the accustomed war dance, which,
although new to most of us, became almost intoler¬
able, it being kept up each night until nearly day¬
break ; and until we became accustomed to their
groans and howlings, incident to the dance, it was
impossible to sleep. Each morning of our march,
two of our Indians would be sent ahead several hours
before we started, who would return to camp at night
and report.
We had been on our march day after day without
particular incident until our arrival at Mule Creek,
when our scouts brought in the intelligence that they
had seen signs of a large body of Indians that had
moved that day, and that they could be overtaken
without much effort. Immediately after supper, all
of the Cavalry, with Company K, moved out of camp
in light marching order, leaving the infantry, under
command of Colonel Abreii, to protect the wagon
train and proceed on our trail on the morrow. Col-
DURING THE REBELLION.
51
onel Carson and command marched all night, except
a short halt just before dawn, and struck an outpost
of the enemy on the opposite side of the river, at
about sunrise, who being mounted retreated, followed
by our Indians and two companies of our Cavalry.
The rest of the command moved down on the north
side of the. river, and a few miles below the cavalry
struck a Kiowa rancheria of one hundred and seventy-
six lodges, the Indians retreating down the river on
their approach. Company K, escorted by Lieuten¬
ant Heath's command, and accompanied by Colonel
Carson, could not advance with the rapidity of the
cavalry, as the cannoneers were dismounted, and the
wheels tracking very narrow, caused the utmost
attention to prevent their being overturned. The
Indians from the Kiowa encampment retreated until
they were reinforced by a large force of Commanches
from a Commanche rancheria of five hundred lodges,
a short distance below the "Adobe Walls," a location
well known by all frontiersmen. The cavalry made
a stand here, and were engaged in skirmishing with
the enemy, when Company K came on the field with
the two mountain howitzers. An order from Colonel
52
FRONTIER SERVICE
Carson to Lieutenant Pettis to " fling a few shell
over thar !" indicating with his hand a large body
of Indians who appeared to be about to charge into
our forces, that officer immediately ordered "Battery
halt! action right, load with shell — load !" Before
the fourth discharge of the howitzers, the Indians
had retreated out of range, and it was supposed that
there would be no more fighting; but we counted
without our host, for our animals had scarcely been
watered when the enemy returned to the conflict.
The horses of the cavalry were again placed in the
"Adobe Walls," which were elevated enough to pro¬
tect them from the rifle balls of the enemy, and the
fight was soon at its height.
About the middle of the afternoon, Carson con¬
cluded to return to the Kiowa village that we had
passed through in the morning, contrary to the
wishes of his officers, who were anxious to advance
to the Commanche village, which was less than a
mile in our front. The return column consisted of
the cavalry horses, the number four of each set of
fours leading the other three horses, with the howit¬
zers in the rear, the dismounted cavalry acting as
DURING THE REBELLION.
53
skirmishers on the front, rear and either flank. The
firing was continued from each side until the village
was reached, when our troops proceeded to destroy
it, which was effectually done before dark.
A further march of about four miles, and the
wagon train was reached, the safety of which had
been the subject of much anxiety during the day.
The gun carriages and ammunition carts of Company
K were packed with the wounded on their return
from the Kiowa village. A rest was had the next
day, which was sadly needed, as the whole command
had been marching and fighting about twenty-seven
hours, on a few broken hard tack and a slice of salt
pork each. The second day after the fight, Carson
concluded to return to Fort Bascom, which post was
reached in twenty-one days. Here the command
remained until orders were received from General
Carleton, commanding the department, and Company
K was ordered to Fort Union, as the term of service
of nearly all the men had expired. By the first of
February, 1865, all the enlisted men of the company
had been mustered out of service, and Lieutenant
Pettis, the last man of his regiment, was ordered to
54
FRONTIER SERVICE
report to the mustering officer at Santa F6, with all
the records of his company; and on the fifteenth of
February, he was mustered out of service, and Com¬
pany K, First Infantry, California Volunteers, had
ceased to exist, having marched on foot during its
term of service four thousand two hundred and forty-
five miles.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series—No. 15.
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
REMINISCENCES OE SERYICE
WITH THE
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS,
AND A
MEMORIAL OF COL, GEORGE H, BROWNE.
BY
PARDON E. TILLINGHAST,
[Late Quartermaster Sergeant of the Twelfth Bhode Island Volunteers.]
PKOVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1885.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
WITH THE
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
The months of July, August, September and
October of 1862, were stirring times in Rhode
Island,— and in fact throughout the entire North.
The vigorous onward movement of our army to¬
wards Richmond, which had been long and fre¬
quently promised, was still deferred. The decisive
victory won by the Union forces over Lee's army
at Malvern Hills at great cost, which, in the judg¬
ment of every officer in the Army of the Potomac
save one, and he the chief, should have been imme¬
diately followed by a determined advance towards
the rebel stronghold, which was only about a day's
march distant, was supplemented by the now some¬
what stereotyped order to "fall back," thus pre¬
senting the not altogether inspiring military spec-
6
SERVICE WITH THE
tacle of a victorious army running away from its
defeated and thoroughly demoralized enemy.
General Pope's campaign in Northern Virginia,
inaugurated with a great flourish of trumpets, had
resulted disastrously; the rebel army was greatly
encouraged by the inactivity and the vacillating con¬
duct of their opponents, and had commenced a vigor¬
ous aggressive movement. The National capital was
again in imminent peril, causing a feverish excite¬
ment throughout the country; Baltimore and Cin¬
cinnati were seriously threatened, and a great crisis
was evidently at hand. Vigorous measures must be
adopted at once, or our boasted Republic would
soon be a thing of the past.
The President, in view of the great emergency,
had ordered drafts, amounting in the aggregate to
six hundred thousand men, one-half thereof for three
years, and the other half for nine months, the latter
to be drawn from the enrolled militia; and the
utmost activity everywhere prevailed in connection
with the raising, equipping and forwarding of this
vast army of recruits.
Rhode Island was thoroughly alive to the occasion,
twelfth rhode island.
7
determined not to be outdone by any of her sister
States in meeting this new and pressing demand
upon her loyalty and her resources ; and meeting it
too, if possible, without resort to a draft, which, of
course, was obnoxious to the sentiments of the peo¬
ple. In order to promote enlistments, the stores in
some places were closed at 3 p. m. each day; war
meetings were held every evening, and the greatest
enthusiasm was manifested. The whole State seemed
to be one vast recruiting camp, and all the people,
both male and female, to be engaged in the business.
For it should ever be remembered, to the praise of
the women of Rhode Island, that they were fully as
loyal and as devoted to our country's cause during
the rebellion, as were the men; and that in very
many cases they suffered and sacrificed quite as much
at home, though in different ways, as did their hus¬
bands and sons and brothers in the field.
In such a state of public feeling what could I, a
young unmarried man, do consistent with a fair
amount of self-respect but enlist ? Evidently noth¬
ing ; and so I left the teacher's desk and enlisted as a
private in Company C, Eleventh Rhode Island Yol-
8
SERVICE WITH THE
unteers, under Captain Charles W. Thrasher. I
was detailed for service in the quartermaster's de¬
partment under Lieutenant John L. Clark, and
shortly after was transferred with him (I never
knew why) to the Twelfth, and was appointed by
Colonel Browne to the office of Quartermaster Ser¬
geant.
Camp Stevens, in Providence, was a lively place
during the latter part of September and the first
part of October, 1862. The Eleventh and Twelfth
regiments were both encamped there together during
a part of this time, preparatory to their departure
for the seat of war. The former left on Monday,
(October sixth, and the latter on Tuesday, October
Twenty-first.
The Twelfth Regiment was composed mainly of
rgood Rhode Island material, and was officered by
intelligent, patriotic and brave-hearted men. There
were representatives from nearly all of the ordinary
walks and callings of life, thus furnishing the com-
, mand with facilities for almost any emergency; and
i it was proverbial that whatever could be done by
.anybody could be done by some one in this regi-
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND. 9
ment. The officers and the privates were well dis¬
posed towards each other; there was a prevalent
spirit of prompt obedience to orders ; and in general
a manifest disposition on the part of all to make
themselves useful and serviceable both to the Gov¬
ernment and to each other.
A journey of seventy-seven hours from Provi¬
dence, partly by rail, partly by water, and partly on
foot, brought this newly-formed regiment to Camp
Chase, which was situated across the Potomac from
"Washington, in the neighborhood of Arlington
Heights. The work of pitching our tents was at
once commenced and rapidly pushed forward. But
before it was completed, a violent storm of wind and
rain broke upon us which continued for nearly two
days without intermission. And such a storm! I
think I never saw the like before or since. It did
not simply rain, but it came down in great broad
sheets of water; it poured; it came in great gusts.
And then the wind—it whirled, it roared, it got
upon its giant legs, and fairly howled with rage as
the weary hours of that first night in camp wore
away.
10
SERVICE WITH THE
And such a sorry sight as that camp presented the
;next morning was not calculated to promote one's
: military enthusiasm, to say the least. Many of the
tents, all of which had been hastily erected, had
been blown down during the night, and the drenched
and shivering inmates were wandering about in
search of shelter or assistance in again erecting their
• uncertain habitations. Baggage and camp equipage
were scattered in all directions, and confusion held
high carnival generally. As if this were not enough
for beginners, we were also treated to our first install¬
ment of Virginia mud, which covered the entire sur¬
face of the ground to a depth of two or three inches.
No description of this unique article, however, is
necessary here. It is perhaps needless to say that
our first impressions of a soldier's life in the " Sunny
South" were not altogether favorable.
But this storm, like all others, came to an end,
and the bright, warm sunshine, together with the
diligence of many busy hands, soon repaired most
»of the damage; so that the regiment was able to
•appear on brigade review in gallant style, on Tues¬
day, the twenty-eighth of October, the fourth day
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
11=
after our arrival, before the venerable General Casey,,
in whose division it had been brig-aded.
One week was the length of our stay at Camp
Chase, at the end of which brief period we folded our
tents and made a "Sabbath day's journey," although
somewhat longer than that permitted by the Jewish'
economy on that sacred day, to Fairfax Seminary.
(I may remark in passing that perhaps not the most
scrupulous regard was had by most of the command¬
ers who conducted the operations of our armiesy
either to the Jewish or Christian economy concern¬
ing the Sabbath day). This proved to be a charming
location, indeed. The land was high, overlooking
the broad Potomac for a long distance; the city of'
Alexandria, situated two miles to the south, was in
full view, while in the distance on our left was the
magnificent dome of the capitol at Washington. The
land sloped in a broad, undulating sweep towards
the Potomac in front of us ; the large and dignified
brick buildings of Fairfax Seminary, then used as a"
hospital, were situated just to the north, in the rear,
surrounded by a stately grove 6f trees (which, sad'
to say, speedily succumbed to the soldier's axe) ;
12
SERVICE WITH THE
several fine country residences were scattered about
in the immediate vicinity, evidently the recent homes
of afiluence and luxury, but now abandoned to the
tender mercies of strangers in arms, being used
mainly by general and field officers, with their staffs,
for headquarters. And although their owners were
rebels fighting against the Government, 1 must,
nevertheless, confess to a strong feeling of sympathy
which I then had for them, and thousands like them,
in the untold and untellable distress, privation and
suffering which they and their families must have
experienced in being driven as exiles from their
homes and firesides, their property appropriated to
the use of their enemies, and what they, in the main,
honestly considered their inalienable rights, taken
from them. But such is and will continue to be the
fate of war.
Regiments of soldiers were on every side of us.
A few rods in front was the Fifteenth Connecticut,
Colonel Wright; in the rear was the Thirteenth
New Hampshire, Colonel Stevens; on the right the
Twenty-seventh New Jersey, Colonel Mindil; and
on the left a stalwart regiment of " six footers " from
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
13
Maine; while for a mile or more in all directions
little else was visible but camps of soldiers. Truly
this was a " tented field." Everything about our
new camp, which was named Camp Casey, was soon
put in the best of order, cleanliness and good order
being prime virtues with Colonel Browne, and always
being strenuously insisted on.
Our company was detailed each day at first for
picket duty on the long line at the front near Cloud's
Mills, which was about five miles distant; butsub-
sequently the entire regiment performed this duty
for twenty-four hours at a time, alternating with the
other regiments of the brigade. The regiment was
diligently perfecting itself in the manual of arms,
and a military air and bearing were everywhere ap¬
parent. We had now commenced soldiering in good
earnest. My principal duties, under the direction
of the quartermaster, were to see that the commis¬
sary department was kept constantly supplied with
everything in the way of subsistence which the army
regulations allowed. Washington and Alexandria
were the great reservoirs of these supplies, and to
2
14
SERVICE WITH THE
one or the other of these places I went three or four
times a week, accompanied by two or more four
mule teams, with which to haul the stores to camp.
The great army bakery was in the basement of the
capitol building, whither we went for our supply
of bread. And I think I do not exaggerate by say¬
ing that I have seen a line of army wagons half a
mile or more in length, each awaiting its turn to be
filled with the nice brown loaves. I need hardly
say that after leaving the vicinity of Washington we
bade an enforced good-bye to soft bread.
On one of my journeys to Alexandria, after get¬
ting my teams loaded with rations, I took a stroll
about the somewhat antiquated city, visiting places
of interest, amongst which was the Marshall House,
where the brave Colonel Ellsworth met his terrible
fate, and from which house the entire banisters of
the stairs which he ascended in going to the roof to
haul down a rebel flag, had been carried away piece¬
meal by visitors, as mementoes of the tragic event.
Other parts of the building had also been sadly muti¬
lated for the same purpose. But the stars and stripes
had permanently supplanted the' rebel flag hauled
twelfth rhode island.
15
down by the lamented Ellsworth, and were proudly
floating from that now historic building.
o o
I also visited another place of interest, but with
what different feelings I will not attempt to relate.
It was a large block which bore the following promi¬
nent sign: "Price, Birch & Co., Dealers in
Slaves." Connected with it was a huge pen to hold
the slaves, and an auction block from which thou¬
sands doubtless had been bought and sold. But for
this establishment and what it represented, neither
the tragic scene at the Marshall House nor the gigan¬
tic military operations then going on from one end
of the country to the other, would ever have been
witnessed.
I was also mail-carrier for the regiment to and
from the post office in Alexandria, and was always
cheerfully received on my return with a heavy mail;
for amongst the chief delights of a soldier was a let-
o o
ter from home. As there was no salary attached to
this branch of the mail service I was not accused of
offensive partisanship, but permitted to hold the office
to the end of my term of enlistment.
November 27, 1862, was recognized by us as
16
SERVICE WITH THE
Thanksgiving day, although the turkey, without
which no Yankee can properly observe the day, was
conspicuous only by its absence. The usual amuse¬
ments of the occasion, however, including a sack race
between two men, each enveloped in a bed-sack
drawn up and tied under his chin, were engaged in
and greatly enjoyed. The governor's proclamation
was read by Chaplain Field, and appropriate religious
services were conducted by him in front of headquar¬
ters.
As it had been currently rumored for some time
that Camp Casey was to be our winter quarters, the
boys had taken great pains to make their habitations
as snug and cosy as possible for the rapidly approach¬
ing cold weather. The non-commissioned staff, of
which I was a member, appropriated to their use a
roofless negro hut in the rear of the stately old man¬
sion house which was occupied by the colonel and
staff for headquarters, and by using the fly of a large
tent for a roof, and otherwise improving it, we con¬
verted it into very comfortable quarters, anticipating
quite a jolly time therein during the winter. The
mess consisted of Sergeant Major Daniel R. Ballou,
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
17
subsequently promoted to the office of lieutenant for
bravery at the battle of Fredericksburg; Commis¬
sary Sergeant Amasa F. Eddy; Quartermaster's
Clerk Erastus Richardson; the Quartermaster Ser¬
geant, and William, the colored boy.
But alas for all plans which have no firmer base
than rumors in the army. For the regiment had no
more than fully settled down to housekeeping for the
winter, when, on Sunday, November thirtieth, orders
were received that Colonel Wright's brigade, of
which the Twelfth Rhode Island was a part, would
move to the front the next day at twelve o'clock.
As to their destination, no one knew save Colonel
Browne, if indeed he did, and, as a matter of course,
speculations and conjectures of all sorts were freely
indulged in. "Shelter tents" were issued at once,
©
the men were ordered to provide themselves with
three days' cooked rations and have everything in
readiness to move promptly at the appointed time.
Truly, " there was hurrying to and fro, and gathering
in hot haste," each one busily making ready for his
unknown journey. There was but very little grum¬
bling about leaving our nicely arranged camp and
18
SERVICE WITH THE
beautiful situation, although we had but very recently
received what seemed to be almost a positive promise
that these should be our winter quarters.
The baggage was reduced to the lowest marching
standard, and the men ordered to take nothing in
their knapsacks except what they actually needed.
The consequence was that a large portion of their
" traps " had to be left behind, and judging from the
number of officers' trunks which I shipped to Rhode
Island after the regiment left, I doubt not that more
dress uniforms adorned the wardrobes at home than
their owners in the field. Such things look exceed¬
ingly nice on dress parade or review, but they are
not altogether useful on a forced march or in a fight.
The hour of departure having arrived, the com¬
panies marched from their several streets, the regi¬
mental line was formed, and all was in readiness for
a move. I must confess to an almost overwhelming
feeling of loneliness as I saw the long soldierly col¬
umn moving off, led by the splendid band of the
Thirteenth New Hampshire, for amongst other things
I thought it quite probable that before I should again
see them, their ranks might be thinned by the terrible
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
19
shock of battle. And so, alas! they were. But
having received orders from the colonel to remain in
charge of the camp, which remained as before, except
that its occupants were gone, the tents being all left
standing, I had no alternative but to obey. About
seventy men were left in the camp, all of whom,
with the exception of the quartermaster's clerk and
myself, were on the sick list. Truly this was " a
sick house with no doctor," for the surgeon and each
of his assistants had gone forward with the regiment.
O ©
We were cheered, however, just at evening by the
return of our kind-hearted assistant surgeon, Doctor
Prosper K. Hutchinson, now long since gone to his
reward, who was sent back to remain with the sick
ones until they should be able to join their comrades.
The clerk and myself now appropriated the colonel's
somewhat luxurious quarters to our use, and as we
had plenty of provisions and a good cook, there was
no occasion for us to complain of our fate.
The fourth day after the regiment left, winter set
in in good earnest. Snow fell to the depth of sev¬
eral inches, and the weather was bitterly cold and
severe. I contrasted my comfortable quarters, as I
20
SERVICE WITH THE
sat by a blazing wood fire at night, with those of my
comrades huddled in shelter tents and shivering from
cold, somewhere on their tedious march to the front,
and heartily pitied, while I could not alleviate, their
condition. With the aid of some of the convales¬
cents I struck the tents, turned over the camp stores
and equipage, except a small part which was to go
forward to the quartermaster's department in Wash¬
ington, settled my accounts with the Government,
and, through the kindness of the quartermaster of
the One Hundred and Eleventh "New York, who
loaned me the use of his teams, hauled the balance
of the baggage to Alexandria, placed it on board a
boat for Acquia Creek, and on the seventeenth of
December took leave of Camp Casey, and with thir¬
teen men went forward to join my regiment. It was
found encamped near General Sumner's headquarters
on the heights opposite Fredericksburg, which place
I learned it reached after a week's march from Camp
Casey, travelling upwards of sixty miles — part of
the time through the mud, and part thereof through
the snow and over the frozen ground. My friend,
Captain Lapham, who experienced the hardships of
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
21
this never-to-be-forgotten inarch, has already vividly
described it to you in his admirable paper on the
Twelfth Rhode Island.
The terrible battle of Fredericksburg had been
fought three days before my arrival at Falmouth,
and I knew of it only from others and from the fear¬
ful havoc which it had made in the ranks of my com¬
rades, upwards of one-fifth of the entire regiment
having been either killed, wounded, or found missing
at the close of that sanguinary contest. The part
taken by the gallant Twelfth has also been graphi¬
cally portrayed in the paper just referred to, by one
who took an honorable part therein, and it would be
presumption in me to attempt a word in addition.
The great Army of the Potomac, now upwards of
one hundred thousand strong, was stretched along
the eastern bank of the Rappahannock from Fal¬
mouth southward to, and including, General Frank¬
lin's division, and for miles there was but little space
between the regimental camps of this mighty host.
Our picket line was on the left bank of the river,
while that of the enemy was on the right in plain
sight, and for the most part the two lines were within
22
SERVICE WITH THE
reach of each other's rifles. But there was little
firing done, it seeming to be tacitly understood that
their principal business was to mutually watch, in¬
stead of shoot, each other. Anxious to see how
rebels in arms looked, I rode the length of our picket
line and inspected them as best I could, from this
tolerably safe distance, and became satisfied that a
nearer approach was undesirable.
Our base of supplies was Acquia Creek, about fif¬
teen miles in our rear, towards Washington, and
thither I had to frequently go for our subsistence.
The trains to this place were daily laden with the
sick and wounded on their way to the great hospitals
in and around Washington. And some of the sights
that I saw in connection with the removal of our poor,
maimed, sick and dying soldiers, shortly after the
terrible battle, would be too painful to relate. I do
not mean that they were not as well treated and as
kindly cared for as was practicable under the circum¬
stances, but that from their great numbers, the
inadequate means for handling them, and the dis¬
tance over which they had to be transported in
crowded box cars and filthy steamboats before much
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
23
could be done for them, it was impossible but that
their sufferings in many cases should be of the most
aggravated character.
Co
Our situation while in front of Fredericksburg was
anything but comfortable. The men lived in all
sorts of rudely constructed cabins, bough-houses and
even subterranean huts, having no tents save the
miserable misnamed shelter tents, which were used
only as roofs for the conglomerate of structures which
their ingenuity had devised. The fire-places were
made of logs cemented and plastered with mud, and
the chimneys mainly with empty barrels set on top
of each other, (the heads being first knocked out,)
and they also cemented together and plastered with
mud. This Virginia mud, when thoroughly dried
by the fire, is almost as hard as common brick. The
water which we had to use and drink here was simply
execrable. I don't think it was so bad as that in the
Cove Basin, but it had a very similar appearance.
Each little spring and rivulet were eagerly sought
and constantly used by continual streams of soldiers,
necessarily keeping them in a perturbed and more
or less filthy condition; and besides, it was impossi-
24
SEKVICE WITH THE
ble that some portion of the vast amount of offal
accumulating from this great army should not find
its way into these sources of our water supply. This
was specially so when, as frequently happened, sev¬
eral regiments were encamped on the same little
stream. Much sickness was caused during our un¬
comfortable stay here by this detestable water.
On the sixteenth of January, 1863, we received
marching orders, but were directed to remain in
camp, simply holding ourselves in readiness to move
at short notice. The line of march of the right grand
division commenced on January nineteenth and was
continued through the twentieth. Regiment after
regiment, followed by long strings of batteries, con¬
tinued to move directly past our camp all day long,
going to the right. Another great battle was sup¬
posed to be imminent. But alas for human plans ;
whether made by great generals or by persons un¬
known to fame, they are exceedingly liable to be
thwarted. On the afternoon of the twentieth a cold
northeast storm of wind, snow, sleet and rain came
on and continued with increasing force for more than
thirty-six hours, which necessarily put an end to the
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
25
strategic movement of General Burnside, for the
roads became utterly impassable for the artillery,
and practically so for all military purposes. After
floundering about in the clayey mire for three days,
the brave fellows came tramping back, weary and
thoroughly disgusted, and again took up their abode
in their wretched old quarters. Our gallant General
Burnside was now relieved of the command of the
great Army of the Potomac, and General Hooker
appointed to succeed him.
On the afternoon of February ninth, we broke
camp and took the cars for Acquia Creek, en route for
Fortress Monroe, as was supposed, but really for
Newport News. There was hilarious rejoicing on
all hands at the prospect of at last getting away
from our abominable quarters. The huts were set
on fire; bonfires were made from the great piles of
combustible debris which had accumulated during
the winter; the rude barns which had sheltered our
horses and mules added to the conflagration, and for
an hour or so before embarking we held high carni¬
val amidst the smoking ruins of "Camp Misery."
At Acquia Creek we went on board the transport
3
26
service with the
steamers Metamora and Juniata, and the next morn¬
ing steamed down the broad Potomac.
The agreeable change of situation, together with
the pleasant sail, were very invigorating, and the
men seemed almost to forget that they were soldiers,
and to imagine themselves on some holiday excur¬
sion. Arriving off Fortress Monroe at four a. m.
of the second day out, we awaited orders from Gen¬
eral Dix, which being received we proceeded to
Newport News and disembarked. We had at last
got beyond Virginia mud, though still in Virginia,
the soil at this place being light and sandy, and the
ground for miles almost as level as Dexter Training
Ground.
The schooner Elizabeth and Helen from Provi¬
dence, which we had long been expecting, arrived
about the same time. She brought a little more
than three hundred boxes from friends at home for
our regiment, and our portion of the cargo of vege¬
tables was about ninety barrels. So that, altogether,
we had a M right smart heap " of the good things from
home. The contents of the boxes being largely of
a very perishable nature, were considerably dam-
twelfth rhode island.
27
aged od account of having been so long on the jour¬
ney. But we made the best of it, and enjoyed the
unpacking of those boxes quite as much, without
doubt, as our friends at home did the packing.
Nothing could have been more beneficial to us than
the generous supply of vegetables which we re¬
ceived, having subsisted mainly on salt meats and
hard-tack while at Fredericksburg.
"A" tents were here issued to the companies;
everything was cheerful and tidy about the camp,
and we seemed to be living in a new world. My
duties called me to Fortress Monroe nearly every
day, which gave me a delightful little sail, together
with charming scenery and plenty of work. The
scene of the exciting and unequal contest between the
Merrimac and the Cumberland, in Hampton Roads
in March, 1862, was immediately in front of us;
and about a mile from the shore, in the direction of
Norfolk, could be seen a portion of the masts of the
latter, emerging from the water.
After a stay of precisely six weeks at Newport
News, during which time nothing of very great
importance transpired in the Ninth Army Corps,
28
SERVICE WITH THE
all of which were encamped at this delightful place,
the Second Brigade, of which the Twelfth was a
part, was ordered to the far-off city of Lexington,
Kentucky. Our regiment at once embarked on the
steamer Long Island for Baltimore, whence we were
to go by rail to the West. Some of the scenes on
board that steamer at night were ludicrous in 'the ex¬
treme. I have heard of one's "hair standing seven
ways for Sunday," of things being "at sixes and
sevens," and " all heads and points," but I must aver
that the packing of the men on that boat exceeded
anything I had ever seen in the way of mixing up
human beings. They bestowed themselves in every
conceivable position. It was almost an impossibility
to go three steps without causing some one to cry out,
"Keep off from me ! " or, " O, my fingers !" an oath
generally preceding the expression, just for the
sake of making it emphatic. The head of a soldier
might frequently be seen mixed in with the feet of
two or three of his immediate neighbors. And in
one case I discovered two men lying directly under
one of the horses, fast asleep. I soon ascertained,
however, that they had been imbibing too freely of
twelfth rhode island.
29
poor whiskey, and that therefore there was probably
little immediate danger from their situation.
A sail of sixteen hours brought us to Baltimore,
and a ride of three hundred and forty miles over
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad took us to Pitts¬
burgh, Pennsylvania, where we arrived at twelve
o'clock on Saturday night, March twenty-eighth,
tired and hungry. To our great joy we were imme¬
diately invited into the large and beautifully deco¬
rated hall occupied by the Soldiers' Relief Society,
where we found a splendid supper awaiting us.
There were twelve tables, each running the entire
length of the hall, each arranged to accommodate
one hundred men, and all richly laden with an
abundance of delicious food and fruit. Compli¬
ments were few and exceedingly brief, but the rattle
of crockery and knives and forks was long and con¬
tinuous. The Seventh Rhode Island was in the hall
at the same time, and you may be assured that
Little Rhody showed an unbroken front here, as she
had already done under more trying circumstances
elsewhere. Suspended from the front of the plat¬
form was the following in large letters: "Pitts-
30
service with the
burgh Welcomes Her Country's Defenders
while underneath this was " Roanoke, Newjbern,
Fredericksburg, Burnside, and the Ninth Army
Corps."
After the sumptuous repast was ended, Colonel
Browne stepped upon the platform, and in a few
appropriate and feeling remarks returned his thanks
to the citizens of Pittsburgh for their hospitality to
the soldiers of Rhode Island, and closed by propos¬
ing three cheers for our benefactors, which were given
with a roar that seemed almost to raise the roof.
We then marched out to make room for others that
were waiting, the remainder of our brigade being
near by. One of the waiters, who, I was informed,
was the daughter of one of the first citizens of the
city, told me that this hall had not been closed night
or day for more than a week, and that every soldier
who had passed through the city for a long time had
partaken of their bounty if he chose to do so.
Nearly five thousand had been fed during the past
twelve hours, and still there was an abundance.
At ten a. m. we took the cars for Cincinnati,
which we reached after a pleasant ride of about
TWELFTH KHODE ISLAND.
31
four hundred miles through the most delightful sec¬
tion of country we had yet seen. We almost imag¬
ined ourselves making one of " Perham's Grand Ex¬
cursions to the West." Every where along the route
we met with tokens of welcome.and encouragement.
White handkerchiefs fluttered from ten thousand
fair hands, while the stars and stripes were dis¬
played "from cottage, hall and tower," in great pro¬
fusion. At Steubenville, Ohio, I should judge the
inhabitants were nearly all at the depot on our arri¬
val, where they greeted us with cheer upon cheer,
besides innumerable expressions of loyalty and good
will. Five long trains of cars, containing the five
regiments of our brigade, kept within a short dis¬
tance of each other during this entire journey, and
when the forward train stopped, the others would
come up within a few rods of each other, thus con¬
stituting an almost unbroken train for about two
miles. The impromptu foraging parties that emerged
from each of those trains whenever they came to a
brief halt, it is unnecessary to describe to veterans.
The brigade received a perfect ovation at Cincin¬
nati. The streets were crowded with the enthusias-
32
SERVICE WITH THE
tic populace, many buildings were brilliantly illu¬
minated, and the entire conduct of the people
proved most conclusively that the Union sentiment
here was dominant. While passing along one of
the streets our regiment was treated to a perfect
shower of nice white handkerchiefs, which were
thrown from the windows of a large brick block by
a company of ladies. Each of these souvenirs was
delicately perfumed and bore the name of the fair
donor. We were also treated to another supper
here, which, had we not fared so very sumptuously
at Pittsburgh, would have been pronounced the ne
jplus ultra of feasts. After eating till we could eat
no more, a fresh supply was brought on with which
to fill our empty haversacks for the remainder of
the journey.
I was busily occupied all night, in company with
a squad of men, in transferring the baggage across
the river to Covington in ferry-boats, and loading it
on board the train which was to convey us to Lex¬
ington, which city we reached the following day,
having been six days 011 the journey from Newport
News. We encamped on the State Fair Grounds,
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
33
west of the city, a spacious and charming location,
adorned with elegant shade trees, and surrounded
with the stately suburban residences of some of the
chivalry of Kentucky. You may perhaps infer that
we were somewhat influenced by our aristocratic
surroundings when I inform you that while here,
our fire-wood consisted mainly of black-walnut, the
ordinary fence-rails in that vicinity being composed
of that material.
The Sunday following our arrival here, the regi¬
ment was visited and briefly addressed by the ven¬
erable General Leslie Coombs, of Kentuckey, that
staunch and life-long enemy of secession, who was
a friend and old acquaintance of Colonel Browne.
His tall and manly form, his long, flowing white hair,
and his stately bearing, together with his stirring
and patriotic remarks in favor of the preservation of
the Union and the vigorous prosecution of the war,
made an impression upon my mind that I shall never
forget.
After a week's sojourn here, our brigade turned
its face southward and commenced what subse¬
quently proved to be a long series of marches back
34
SERVICE WITH THE
and forth across the State, protecting exposed points
and preparing for a probable meeting with the rebels
either under General Breckenrids;e or General Mor-
gan, who were constantly menacing the southern
borders of the State. And besides, the mountain¬
ous districts thereof were infested with marauding
bands, mainly under the general direction of Mor¬
gan, who were carrying on a guerilla warfare both
against the Unionists of the State, who constituted
a majority of all the people, and also against the
Union forces stationed there, thus keeping the citi¬
zens in a constant state of anxiety and trepidation.
The pillaging and murdering of the peaceable and
inoffensive citizens of that would-be loyal State by
these organized bands of ruffians, constitute to my
mind one of the darkest pictures of our civil war.
Twenty-two miles over a macadamized road,
through the celebrated " Blue Grass " region, brought
us to Winchester, a pleasant inland village in Clarke
county, where we were allowed to remain for the full
period of eight days. Our next stopping place was
at Richmond, a very inviting post-village of about
fifteen hundred inhabitants in Madison county,
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
35
twenty miles south of Winchester. This march,
which occupied two days, took us through some of
the most picturesque natural scenery to be found in
the State, including Boonesboro, the scene of Daniel
Boone's famous exploits with the Indians, at which
place the entire brigade crossed the Kentucky river
in a common scow which would hold only fifty men
at a time. This delayed us for at least half a day, so
that we had a good view of the wild surroundings.
I must here relate a personal incident. After
arriving at Richmond, I was sent back to Winchester
to bring forward some stores and supplies which had
been necessarily left there. Our teams had not
arrived from Covington, and I was detained for three
days awaiting their appearance. I was stopping at
the house of one Mr. Bush, a well-to-do planter,
whose acquaintance I had made while the regiment
was encamped there. On the third night of my stay
with him I was suddenly aroused from a sound sleep
at one o'clock by two soldiers who had entered my
room, and who immediately confronted me, one with
a drawn sword, and the other with a revolver, which
he held in one hand, and a lighted candle in the
36
SERVICE WITH THE
other. They said nothing, except to caution me
that any attempt to move from my present position
would be at the peril of my life. One of them com¬
menced to search my clothes, while the other stood
guard over me, holding his glistering revolver un¬
comfortably near my head. I thought my hour had
probably come, taking it for granted that the men
were rebel soldiers and had taken advantage of my
isolated situation to first rob and then dispatch me.
But I finally mustered courage enough to ask them
their business as politely as I knew how, and was
promptly informed, greatly to my surprise, that I
was a rebel spy and their prisoner and that they were
Union soldiers sent there to arrest me. I at once
felt relieved, knowing that I could readily establish
my identity, and furthermore that I was tolerably
safe anyway in the hands of Union soldiers. Mr.
Bush, who had followed them into the room in his
night-clothes, immediately assured them that I was
not a rebel spy, or even a rebel, but a member of
the Twelfth Khode Island Volunteers, and manifested
considerable indignation that he should even be sus¬
pected of harboring rebel spies. Some papers and
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
37
letters in my pockets supported the testimony of my
host, and after considerable time spent in examining
them, my brave ( ?) captors concluded that I was not
the man they were looking for, and left me with¬
out so much as an apology for their mistake, to pon¬
der upon my deceitful appearance. I learned the
next day that two rebel spies had in fact been prowl¬
ing about the neighborhood for several days, and
that these officers (for such they were) had been
searching for them.
A week at Kichmond, three days at Paint Lick
Creek, a tributary of the Cumberland, a week at
Lancaster, and on we go, still southward, till we reach
Crab Orchard, a Kentucky watering place of con¬
siderable note, where we remained for ten days. It
was not every brigade that was allowed to spend
this length of time at a fashionable southern water¬
ing place during the sultry days of June, at the
expense of the Government.
Instead of proceeding still further southward, as
had been expected, we were here suddenly ordered
to execute a " right about face," and retrace our steps
to Nicholasville, a point twelve miles south of Lex-
4
38
SERVICE WITH THE
ington, where it was understood we were to take the
cars en route for the far-off city of Vicksburg, where
we were to assist General Grant in the siege against
that rebel stronghold. This was not encouraging
o O ©
news to soldiers whose term of enlistment would
expire in a little more than thirty days. Back we
went, however, through the dust and heat, making
the distance in two long days, the boys frequently
rallying each other on the march with the remarks:
" It's all in the nine months, boys ;" and, " Why did
you come for a soldier ? "
Just as we got in sight of Nicholasville another
surprise awaited us. One of the General's aids
came dashing up to Colonel Browne with orders
detaching his regiment from the brigade and direct¬
ing him to report to General Carter at Somerset,
more than seventy miles away, without delay. Half
of this distance lay directly back over the route we
had just travelled. This was, indeed, provoking.
But we were soldiers, and had learned that our first
and principal duty was prompt and unquestioning
obedience to orders. So we bade good-bye to the
other regiments of our brigade by giving three hearty
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
39
cheers for each as they marched past us on their long
journey to the "West, and immediately turned our
faces southward again and started for Somerset.
It then being nearly sunset, we bivouacked for
the night as soon as we came to a convenient place,
and resumed our backward march at daylight the
next morning. The First Tennessee Battery and a
regiment of mounted infantry soon joined us, and in
company with them we reached Somerset, having
gone by the way of Camp Dick Robinson and Hall's
Gap, after a four days' march. In six successive
days we had marched one hundred miles. And what
was somewhat remarkable, we went into camp at the
end of this time with not a man left behind.
After a stay of ten days at Somerset, during which
time our base of supplies was at Stanford, thirty-
three miles away, and could only be reached by our
mule teams, we moved down to the Cumberland
river, where we encamped on a high and precipitous
bluff overlooking the river and the rugged moun¬
tainous scenery for a long distance. A brief rest
and on, on we went again, bivouacking for a night
on the battle-field of Mill Springs, where General
40
SERVICE WITH THE
Zollicoffer met his fate ; climbing the mountains with
our heavily laden mule teams, building bridges, con¬
structing roads, and making but slow progress over
the roughest country that I ever saw. Several of
my teams were capsized and rolled down a steep
embankment, mules, drivers and all; others got
mired in swamps, and it was with the greatest diffi¬
culty that they were ever extricated; but we pulled
ourselves along in one way and another over a dis¬
tance of thirty miles of this sort of country, and
finally reached Jamestown (popularly known as
" Jimtown "), on the southern border of Kentucky,
on the twenty-third day of June, which place proved
to be the end of our journey southward.
The Thirty-second Kentucky infantry, called the
" thirty two-sters," Colonel Wolford's famous cavalry
regiment, six hundred strong,—the most dare-devil
set of fellows, probably, in the Union service,—
together with two mounted regiments of infantry,
here reported to Colonel Browne and were tempo¬
rarily placed under his command, and everything
made ready for a brush with the rebels, which was
daily expected, General Morgan being reported just
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
41
in front of us with a large force. On the twenty-
ninth of June our pickets were suddenly attacked
and driven in by the enemy, causing the greatest
excitement in camp. The long roll was instantly
sounded; the men rushed to their companies with
all possible speed; the regiment was formed in line
of battle at a double-quick by Lieutenant Colonel
Shaw, and all was ready for the fray. Company A,
Captain Alexander, and Company C, Captain Allen,
had been previously stationed about half a mile in
front, on a road leading south towards the Cumber¬
land river, where they had felled trees and erected a
sort of rude barricade called Fort Alexander, in
honor of the captain in command, which position they
continued to hold.
The battery took a position on the Columbus road,
on which the enemy was approaching; the other
regiments were just in the rear, while Wolford's
cavalry went forward on a keen run, their famous
commander being at least a hundred yards in front
of his men when he passed our regiment, presenting,
in connection with his headlong followers, a scene of
the wildest excitement. He speedily came in con-
42
SERVICE WITH THE
tact with the enemy, — whose particular object at
this time was the capture of our battery, — drove
them back without bringing on a general engagement,
captured a score or more of prisoners, and so thor¬
oughly routed and scattered the enemy by his bold
and vigorous dash, that they made no further attempt
to dispute the possession of this antiquated town
with our forces until the morning of the fourth of
July following.
Our quartermaster's train, however, was attacked
two days later, on its way from Green river, whither
it had been for supplies, by a guerrilla band of about
fifty men; but as the train was guarded by a com¬
pany of mounted infantry from the Seventh Ohio,
the attack was repulsed after a vigorous contest,
with some loss on both sides, and our provisions and
quartermaster arrived in camp unharmed the next
day, to the great joy of the regiment, who were
nearly out of supplies.
On the third of July a battle was fought near
Lebanon, which was a short distance to the north of
us, between a portion of General Carter's forces and
twelfth rhode island.
43
those under General Morgan, in which quite a num¬
ber were killed and several wounded.
We commenced the celebration of the glorious
Fourth by forming in line of battle with alacrity at
half-past three a. m. , our pickets having been again
driven in, and the rebels seeming determined to have,
a bout with us before we left Kentucky. And I
think our men would as soon have fought as not on
this occasion, being tired of the constant annoyance,
and ready to prove to Kentucky bushwhackers what
kind of stuff they were made of. But, fortunately
for both sides doubtless, the rebels remained outside
of " Jimtown," and our forces remained inside, rest¬
ing on their arms all day, and momentarily expect¬
ing an attack, which, however, was not made. And
on the fifth of July, General Carter, deciding doubt¬
less that this part of the State was not worth fight¬
ing for any longer, abandoned it to the enemy and
moved his forces northward; first to Somerset, and
then to Stanford, our base of supplies, which he con¬
tinued to hold. Somerset was again reached after
three days of the most difficult marching we had ever
experienced, a heavy rain storm being in progress
44
SERVICE WITH THE
most of the time, rendering the movement of the
artillery and heavy-laden army wagons well nigh
impossible. With ten mules on one team, and two
industrious swearers to drive them, I was only able
to make a distance of two rods through the mire in
the space of one whole hour, on one occasion during
the first day of this march, which, by the way, was
on Sunday.
Of course the army could move no faster than the
wagon train on this march, as the rebels were imme¬
diately in our rear, ready to pounce upon us if a good
opportunity was offered.
Eight days of continuous marching, most of the
time over the same route we had travelled twice, and
some of it three times before, and we were again at
Nicholasville, where our regiment took the cars for
Cincinnati by the way of Lexington. Our term of
service had expired, but at the request of our greatly
beloved General Burnside, we remained at Cincin¬
nati for a week to assist in protecting that much
frightened city from the raids of the somewhat
ubiquitous General Morgan, who had preceded us
from " Jimtown " to that more populous and inviting
twelfth rhode island.
45
community. Another journey of a thousand miles
— not, however, on foot — and the Twelfth Regi-
ment was again at home.
MEMORIAL OF GEORGE H. BROWNE,
[Late Colonel of the Twelfth Regiment.]
Colonel George H. Browne departed this life at
Providence on the twenty-seventh day of September,
a. d. 1885, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, sin¬
cerely lamented by all who knew him. He was a
Rhode Islander by birth and education; thoroughly
imbued with the history and traditions of the State,
and always identified himself with its best interests.
Conservative, candid and outspoken, and an excel¬
lent judge of human nature, he was not easily de¬
ceived or led to do an unwise or even an injudicious
act. To say that he was a wise, prudent and thor¬
oughly conscientious man, is but to voice the com¬
mon sentiment of all those who knew him.
Since September of 1862, I have known Colonel
46
SERVICE WITH THE
Browne well, and been honored by his constant
friendship. During the period of his service in the
army, my duties brought me in almost daily contact
with him; I was one of his mess during our Ken-
' O
tucky campaign, and had the opportunity to study
his character and habits with deliberation; while
since the war I have known him in the walks of
private, professional and political life. And for
stalwart manliness, transparent honesty and true
nobility of character, I can unhesitatingly say that I
have not known his superior.
As the commanding officer of the Twelfth Regi¬
ment, he at once inspired both the confidence and
love of his men. His utmost energies were contin¬
ually put forth for the efficiency and usefulness of
his command, while his efforts for the personal wel¬
fare of each individual member thereof were prover¬
bial. Indeed, in the latter respect he seemed more
like a kind father watching over the welfare of his
children, than a cold military commander issuing the
stern edicts of war. It was his daily habit to go
about the camp and personally inspect the same,
frequently making his appearance in the tents and-
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
47
huts of the privates as well as in the quarters of the
officers, for the purpose of ascertaining their condi¬
tion as to cleanliness and comfort; inquiring after
the wants of the men; visiting the hospital and
speaking words of hope and good cheer to those who
were sick, and in many other ways seeking to minis¬
ter to the welfare of his command. A single instance
of his unselfish devotion to the good of his men
illustrates this characteristic.
On Sunday, May 3, 1863, his regiment marched
from Richmond, Kentucky, to Paint Lick Creek, a
distance of twelve miles, through a drenching rain.
Many of the men had become foot-sore or otherwise
disabled by reason of the great amount of marching
they had recently done, and some of these became
unable to complete the journey; whereupon, Colonel
Browne, Lieutenant Colonel Shaw, and other field
officers, gave up their horses to the use of these dis¬
abled oftes, and themselves tramped with the men
through the mud and rain for a good part of this
distance.
Colonel Browne was a brave man. He faced the
guns of the enemy at Fredericksburg where the
48
SERVICE WITH THE
battle waxed hottest, with as much apparent coolness
as though simply facing his regiment on dress parade.
A ball pierced his mantle; " the noise of battle
hurtled in the air," and death-dealing missiles were
flying thick about him, but he neither wavered nor
blanched. Wherever his regiment was ordered to
go, thither he promptly went in front of it, inspiring
his followers with courage both by his genuine hero¬
ism and his manly words of cheer.
His bravery, however, was not of the ostentatious
or noisy sort. It was more like the current of a still
but deep-flowing river, which moves calmly but
steadily onward, irresistibly drawing to itself, and
unconsciously controlling all the lesser streams about
it. He never paraded his virtues before his fellow-
men, or posed as a hero or statesman for public
applause. Indeed, he utterly scorned all attempts
made by others for the sake of notoriety and position
as vulgar and unworthy. He admired, however,
and honestly won, the fame which follows generous
and noble deeds, and not that which is sought after
by the demagogue and the charlatan. He was nota¬
bly considerate and courteous in his treatment of
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
49
his subordinates in office, never seeming to com¬
mand, while in fact exercising the most perfect
control.
Colonel Browne retained an abiding interest in the
men of his regiment to the day of his death. His
greetings to them on the street, in the marts oft
trade, and especially at their annual reunions, were
always warm and hearty. A single incident will
serve to illustrate his interest in tbeir welfare.
Meeting me one day last winter on Westminster
street, he said: "Judge, I've got some good news to
tell you," and invited me to step into a bookstore
which he was then passing while he should reveal it.
" Do you remember' Sergeant , of Company
?" said he, his face all aglow with that expres¬
sion of happiness which was peculiar to him. " Yes,
Colonel, I do ; what about him?" "Why, he's been
out West, and by diligence and skill in a profitable
business which he there engaged in, first as clerk
and subsequently as one of the firm, and now as the
manager thereof, has actually made his fortune, and
is to-day a rich and highly respected man. And he
came to see me the other day and told me all about
5
50
SERVICE WITH THE
it." And then with much enthusiasm and honest
pride in his manner, said : " Isn't that good news
from one of our hoys 9" Had this sergeant been his
own son, he could hardly have manifested more joy
in his prosperity.
His private benefactions to several of his men who
had long been in indigent circumstances, are known
and remembered by Him who said : " Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me."
There was no circumlocution or ambiguity in Col¬
onel Browne's methods. Whatever he had to do, he
went about in a direct and business-like way, and
prosecuted it to completion in the same straightfor¬
ward manner. He had none of the arts or tricks of
the demagogue, and was utterly incapable of double-
dealing or hypocrisy. And no man whom I have
ever known, more thoroughly detested these base
qualities in others. He had no patience with shams
or subterfuges of any sort whatsoever, and did not
hesitate to frown upon them with indignation when¬
ever and wherever they appeared. If diplomacy
has been correctly defined as being the art of con-
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
51
cealing one's thoughts in his language, he never
would have made a successful diplomat; for he
always said just what he meant, and always meant
just what he said.
Colonel Browne's abilities, both natural and ac¬
quired, were of a high order. He had a broad, vig¬
orous and well-balanced mind, which had been thor¬
oughly trained and disciplined to habits of logical
and exact reasoning, and a power of analysis which
led him to correct conclusions with almost mathe¬
matical certainty. He was not a superficial thinker,
but always insisted^on laying bare the very roots of
the matter under consideration, and then gradually
working upwards to natural and legitimate conclu¬
sions. His processes of reasoning were inductive
rather than dogmatic. With such a mind, so con¬
stituted and developed, he was eminently fitted for
positions of trust and responsibility, whether private
or public, which fact the citizens both of his native
town and State were not slow to learn and appre¬
ciate.
As a legislator he was diligent, prudent and con¬
servative, possessing the courage of his convictions,
52
SERVICE WITH THE
always exerting a large and salutary influence by his
candor, integrity and good judgment, and readily
won the confidence and esteem of his associates.
Public office was with him a public trust, to be
administered with strictest fidelity and care.
In his chosen profession, in which the strength of
his vigorous manhood was spent, he attained emi¬
nence and preferment, being a recognized leader of
the bar of this State for many years before his death.
A safe and able counsellor, an ingenuous and con¬
vincing advocate and an honorable opponent, he
brought to the practice of his profession those quali¬
ties which insure success. Quibbles and quirks and
barren technicalities were an abomination to him as
a foundation upon which to base an action or a
defense. Like Solon, "who built his commonweal
on equity's wide base," so he built his legal structures
on the broad principles of justice, truth and right.
In 1874 he was elected to the high and honorable
office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this
State by a legislature composed mainly of his poli¬
tical opponents, a monumental tribute to his integ¬
rity, learning and ability. He declined the office,
TWELFTH RHODE ISLAND.
53
however, and remained in the profession which he
had dignified and honored to the day of his death.
As a private citizen he was a man of unimpeach¬
able character, generous impulses, and high and
noble purposes. His life was pure and unostenta¬
tious, and his manner frank and undisguised. Let
us ever cherish his memory, and strive to emulate
his virtues.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS HEAD BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series-No. 16.
providence:
published by the society.
1886.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
BATTERY D,
FIRST RM08E 1SRM8 EIGHT fiRTHMRY,
AT THE
BATTLE OF ANTIETAM,
SEPTEMBER 17, 1862.
BY
J. ALBERT MONROE,
[Late Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Rhode Island Light Artillery.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1886.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
BATTERY D, AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
Although Battery D had a good and widespread
army reputation, it was probably less known at
home, here in Khode Island, than any other of the
eight batteries that formed the First Regiment
Rhode Island Light Artillery, for the reason that
the men composing it, having been recruited mainly
from the towns of Warwick, Coventry, West Green¬
wich and Foster, had fewer friends in the thickly
settled cities and towns, to take pride in narrating
their exploits in the newspapers of the day, or to
call the attention of editors to their deeds. In
common with many other officers of the army,
though exercising no rudeness, the commanding
officer gave no encouragement to newspaper men to
make notes in his camp, preferring to succeed or
fail through the official record made by his superior
officers, rather than to depend for reputation upon
6
THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
the reports of irresponsible civilians whose kisses,
it was well understood, more often were rewards for
favors than otherwise.
Nearly every other battery, too, had among its
members some one who acted as regular or occasional
correspondent of at least one of the Providence
daily papers, and who kept the doings of his partic¬
ular battery before the public, while in Battery D
there was not a single newspaper letter-writer. In a
thorough search of the files of the Providence Daily
Journal and the Evening Press, I have been unable
to find a single letter from that organization, except
one or two of my own, giving the names of men
killed and wounded in action — nothing more.
However limited was its reputation at home, it
was known in the corps of which it was a part, as
one of the best of fighting batteries, and how well
it merited such distinction it is the purpose of this
paper to show.
While preparing the paper, I have come across
the following in the Providence Daily Journal of
September 23, 1862. The correspondent alluded to
was a little mixed in his account, for there can be
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
7
no question but that Battery D was entitled to at
least a part of the credit given in his story, and it
is by no means strange that a mistake should be
made ; in fact, it is a wonder that war correspondents,
particularly at this period of the war, got their ac¬
counts so nearly accurate as they did, for during and
immediately after a battle one could not tell in the
confusion one division, brigade or battery from an¬
other, unless personally acquainted with the officers
connected with them, for the system of flags and
badges by which different commands could be desig¬
nated, had not then been adopted. It will be
noticed that he falls into the natural error of con¬
necting the battery with General Green's command,
or rather that he leads one to infer that it was a part
of it, whereas there was no Rhode Island battery
whatever attached to that division.
The article, under the head "A Rhode Island
Battery in the Battle," reads :
"The correspondent of the New York Herald says that the
Third Rhode Island Battery was in General Green's Division,
better known as General Augur's. We do not know which battery
is meant. It was supported by General Geary's old brigade, com¬
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Tyndale, of the Twenty-eighth
8
THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
Pennsylvania Regiment, and by General Prince's old brigade, com¬
manded by Colonel Steinrook, of the One Hundred and Ninth
Pennsylvania Regiment. The letter says: 'The two brigades
were at first posted as supports to the Third Rhode Island
Battery. The battery was placed in position in front of a
small Dunkard church. The guns, apparently without much
infantry support at first, presented a tempting offer as trophies
to the enemy, and consequently a large force soon advanced in
splendid style, firing on the gunners, apparently determined to
capture. But as they came within convenient distance, they found
to their sorrow that these two brigades of General Green's had
been in the meantime getting into position and had formed on a
line on the right and left of the Rhode Island battery. As the
rebels came from the woods in splendid style, as mentioned, they
were met, not only by the galling fire of the artillery itself, but by a
simultaneous fire of the infantry, which until then, was unperceived
by the enemy. It is a comparatively easy undertaking for a large body
of soldiers to capture a battery of artillery, however quick its fire,
if undefended by infantry, because the advancing line soon shoots
down the horses and the gunners, but it Is quite another thing to
capture guns and carry them from the field when they are well sup¬
ported by infantry. And so in the present instance were those
Rhode Island guns defended. The audacious rebels were driven
back into the timber, where our infantry then advanced upon them,
drove them out of it and occupied the woods themselves.
'The battery then wheeled to the left and poured a most de¬
structive fire upon those retreating rebels and upon other rebel
troops appearing on the left. The Twenty-seventh Indiana Regi¬
ment, which had been sent to participate in the last mentioned
operation, fought fast and was compelled to retire before some of
the other regiments, because the men had expended all their
ammunition.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
9
' The Thirteenth New Jersey Regiment, which was present on a
similar service, dirt excellent execution and remained in the woods
until the command retired.
'The rebel battery had been compelled to retire, the gunners
leaving their limbers behind, and this position was held for a full
hour, until, at nearly noon, the enemy came out in tremendous
force in front of General Howard's command of Sumner's Corps,
which had already got into action further to the left, and General
Green's Division being partially outflanked and subjected to a
disastrous enfilading fire, was compelled to withdraw from the
woods about a quarter of a mile, and did not actively participate
in the battle during the remainder of the afternoon.'"
With this as a sort of preface, I will try to tell
the story of Battery D at the battle of Antietara,
which will describe, in its recital, more in detail
what took place, so far as the artillery was con¬
cerned, at the time the correspondent speaks of.
September 13, 1862, the Army of the Potomac
passed through the city of Frederick, Maryland.
Lee's army had but just left there, and we had
understood that its presence had been warmly wel¬
comed by the citizens generally. If I remember
correctly, Frederick was then looked upon as a sort
of hot-bed of secession in that section, the strong¬
hold of the copperheads, and we looked forward to
10 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
our march through the city with considerable feeling
of curiosity. I did not observe any special mani¬
festations, either of joy or of disappointment, on
the part of the people as we passed through, but
there was displayed, on every hand, intense interest
in our movement. The sidewalks of the street
through which we marched were well filled with
people, though by no means crowded, but the win¬
dows of the houses were thronged with eager ob¬
servers.
The next day, the fourteenth, occurred the battle
of South Mountain. During this action, Battery
D was ordered to take position where it would be
available in case of necessity. Although we were
so situated as to be constantly under fire, the battery
was not actually engaged at any time during the day,
though firing an occasional shot; but our position
was such that we had an excellent view of General
Reno's movements, and we witnessed with intense
satisfaction his charging lines of infantry as they
made their assaults through the timber upon the
enemy, who, under its protection, felt secure in his
position on the mountain side.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 11
The afternoon of the sixteenth found us in the
vicinity of the field where was to take place the
great battle of Antietam. The divison of which
Battery D formed a part, Doubleday's Division,
Hooker's Corps, crossed the Antietam just before
dark, and it was quite dark when we halted for the
night. We struck off to the left from the road soon
after crossing the stream, and marching quite a dis¬
tance went into park at reduced intervals, with a
«
number of other batteries. Our position was on
cleared ground and on the summit of a commanding
ridge, as we discovered the next morning. To our
left and front was a heavy growth of timber, and
as our infantry advanced into it to establish a picket
line, a heavy skirmish took place. It had grown very
dark then, and the flashes from the discharges of the
small arms presented a beautiful sight. This took
place but a few yards from us, and we knew that
we were in the immediate presence of the enemy in
force, and that by early dawn we would be strug¬
gling with him in battle on that very field. As a
matter of fact, our lines were only a few yards
apart, and during the night we made prisoners of
12
THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
several rebel pickets who, in the darkness, stumbled
upon our pickets.
The caissons, battery-wagon and forge of the
battery were disposed of under cover of the hill,
and quite a long distance to the rear of our bivouac.
The officers' cook was directed to stay with the
caissons and to bring up breakfast before daylight
in the morning. The teams were not unhitched
from the carriages, but the bridles of the horses
were slipped, so as to give the animals a chance to
feed. It was late when the horses were fed and the
men had eaten their suppers. The officers contented
themselves with a hasty bite that the cook brought
up from the rear.
At length we were all stretched upon the ground,
wrapped in our blankets, and everything was quiet
except the snoring of the heavy sleepers, the munch¬
ing of the horses as they ground the grain with
their teeth, and the occasional firing of the pickets.
At this period of the war, picket firing was very
unpopular with both sides, and though the two lines
might be only a little distance apart, it was not
much indulged in. In the spring and early summer
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 13
of 1864, when the army marched through the Wilder¬
ness and entered upon the campaign that ended
with the investment of Petersburg, the pickets made
lively music whenever the lines were in close prox¬
imity, and it was seldom that the picket line was
established or relieved without a number of casual¬
ties.
We were awakened before daylight by the cook,
who had brought up a pail of steaming coffee, some
johnny-cakes and "fixins," together with cups, plates
and other table ware. A blanket was spread on the
ground for a table-cloth, on which was placed the
breakfast, and the officers gathered around it on their
haunches. It was the early gray light that appeared
just before the sun rises above the horizon, and we
could little more than distinguish each other. We
had not half finished our meal, but it had grown
considerably lighter, and we could see the first rays
of the sun lighting up the distant hilltops, when
there was a sudden flash, and the air around us ap¬
peared to be alive with shot and shell from the ene¬
my's artillery. The opposite hill seemed suddenly
2
14 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
to have become an active volcano, belching forth
flame, smoke and scorise.
The first shot apparently passed directly through
our little breakfast party, not more than a foot or
two above the blanket, and it struck the ground
only a few feet from us. Every one dropped what¬
ever he had in his hands, and looked around the
group to see whose head was missing. So suddenly
did the firing commence and so rapidly did shot fol¬
low shot, I felt lost for an instant.—I never knew
how the others felt,— but I at once ordered Hugh
Rider, my groom, to give me my mare, who was
hitched only about ten feet distant, and by the time
he got her to me I had fully recovered from my sur¬
prise.
At the first flash of the rebel guns the men sprang
to their posts, the drivers adjusted the horses' bri¬
dles, the cannoneers took their equipments, and the
only order necessary to give was "Action front!"
which was quickly executed. Gibbons' Battery,
Company B, Fourth United States Artillery, was on
our left; Battery L, First New York Artillery, Cap¬
tain J. A. Reynolds, was on our right, as was also
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 15
Gerrish's Battery, the First New Hampshire, under
command of First Lieutenant F. M. Edgfell. As
quickly as possible every gun, twenty-four in num¬
ber, fired in reply to the enemy.
I have always thought that but one battery opened
upon us, though others believe there were two or
three opposed to us. Whatever number there was,
they must have found their position a warm one, for
the gunners of three of these (our batteries) could
not be excelled for marksmanship, estimation of dis¬
tances, and all the good qualities that go to make a
skillful gunner. The winter previous they had been
exercised by Captain Gibbon in firing at target,
sighting, etc., and they had acquired great proficiency
in these points, as stated in my paper, " Incidents of
the War." The fuses of the shell and case were ac¬
curately timed, and the projectiles burst where it was
intended that they should—among the guns and lim¬
bers of the enemy, who had stirred up a hornets'
nest, and the hornets proved too many for him, for
after an hour or so he ceased firing and withdrew his
guns.
Soon after the firing commenced, Gibbon's battery
16 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
was ordered by General Hooker to a position in
some ploughed ground in front of the wood at our
left,where it was supported by General Gibbon's bri¬
gade, and before the enemy's guns in our front were
silenced, Captain Reynolds' battery was ordered to
take position very near to it, but two other batteries
advanced to the ground that Captain Reynolds had
left, so that our fire was not diminished in the least.
Being on the extreme right of our line and some¬
what to the rear of it, we were not very much ex¬
posed after the artillery ceased firing, for the ene¬
my's centre and the right of his left wing were so
hotly pressed that he had neither the time nor the
force to attempt the advance of his extreme left. He
tried only to hold the ground that he already had
possession of, and right manfully he resisted the as¬
saults made upon him.
After the cessation of the artillery fire we had an
easy time until about ten o'clock, when General
Gibbon rode up to me and said : " Here, Captain ;
your men are good and fresh; General Hooker wants
to see you." I thought it pretty cool, this reference
to the fresh condition of the men, for they had had
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 17
but little sleep for several nights, and they had been
hard at work since early daylight, for after working
the guns they were kept busy replenishing the am¬
munition chests and at other necessary work; be¬
sides, we were very short-handed, owing to heavy
losses in previous actions. First directing Lieuten¬
ant Fisk to limber the pieces, I reported to General
Hooker, whom I found at the point where a little
while after he received the severe wound that inca¬
pacitated him for further service that day. Said he :
" Captain, you see that cornfield; the second one,
I mean ? "
" Yes, sir."
" You see the one beyond that?"
" Yes, sir."
"Well, I want you to go through the second one
into the ploughed ground, and into the cornfield be¬
yond, if you can get there. Now go and look out
for your support; you will find some infantry there
to support you."
The bullets were right thick where he gave me
the order, for the position was an exposed one, just
such as one would expect to find General Hooker in.
18 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTLLERT
On the right was the Hagerstown turnpike, leading
to Sharpsburg, running southerly and parallel with
the line of vision. The ground was elevated and
gave a fine view of a long stretch of open land that
lay between two irregular lines of timber, the east¬
erly one on the left, fringing the hills at the base of
the South Mountain range, where the Antietam
coursed along on its way to the Potomac; the other
at the right, on the further side of the turnpike and
to the westward, more clear and more open than the
other. The trunks of the trees on the right were
bare of branches and foliage from ten to twenty feet
or more above the ground, and the rebels were dis¬
tinctly seen in all the various regular and irregular
formations of a battlefield. The Dunker church was
in plain sight, and down to that point our troops,
apparently, had driven the enemy into or across the
turnpike. As far as the church the ground appeared
to be a descending plain of cultivated land, beyond
which it seemed undulating and uncertain in char¬
acter.
There lay before the eye two-thirds of the dis¬
tance to the bridge where General Burnside had then
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 19
already commenced his heavy assaults, for the pur¬
pose of carrying the bridge and effecting a lodgement
of his corps on the west of the Antietam, so as to
make a junction with our centre. Over this space
the two lines had been putting forth all their ener¬
gies since early light, and the ground was strewn
with dead and wounded horses and men, clothing,
knapsacks, canteens, muskets and side arms broken
and twisted in every imaginable manner. The blue
and the gray were indiscriminately mingled, either
motionless and lifeless, or dragging their bleeding
forms along in search of some less exposed situation.
And there were those whose life-blood was fast or
slowly ebbing away, with only strength sufficient to
raise a supplicating arm for assistance or relief. The
stretcher-bearers were straining every nerve to suc¬
cor the helpless wounded, but it would have required
a force in itself equal to a small army to have imme¬
diately removed them all; nor would their situation
have been materially improved by removal, except
that they would have been carried from the midst of
the noise and excitement of the field, for the hospi¬
tals were crowded to repletion, and hundreds were
20 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
waiting their turns for the care of the surgeons.
Down through this field of confusion went Battery
D, closely followed by Lieutenant Edgell with the
First New Hampshire battery.
Unless under great excitement horses will not step
on the bodies of men, either alive or dead, but when
attached to a battery they may go so close as to cause
further injury to the wounded or mutilation to the
dead by passing the wheels over them ; so we picked
our way carefully, avoiding running over the bodies
strewn around on every hand, and looking out for
the wounded. At one point we were moving along
quite briskly, when a poor wounded fellow, clad in
the dingy yellow, the "butternut," as we called it,
so common to the uniforms of the rebel soldiers,
with a countenance expressive of all the terror of
one who expected no consideration, raised himself
011 one elbow and cried out, " O, don't run over me ! "
I said, as some of the men quickly but carefully
removed him aside, "You shan't be hurt, my man,"
and an expression of relief and gratitude overspread
his face that spoke more plainly and loudly than
would have a thousand words of thanks.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
21
We finally entered the cornfield designated by
General Hooker, pushed through it and reached
our advanced line. A little distance to our left and
front was a brigade or division of infantry lying on
the ground as if awaiting an attack. As the battery
halted, a rifle^projectile came tumbling through the
air, which indicated that the rebel artillery was
watching our movement. From the position the
infantry were in, I judged there must be a strong
force of the enemy in our immediate front, and
questioned within myself the judiciousness of going
into battery in so advanced a position. Eiding to
the infantry, I asked whose brigade it was, and was
answered General Greene's. Looking around I saw
the General approaching, and I asked him if he could
support my battery. He answered in a low tone of
voice that he was out of ammunition. I remember
the thought coming into my mind that it was a
mighty funny place for men without ammunition to
be in, and that if they could hold their position with
nothing in their cartridge-boxes, artillery surely
ouo-ht to be able to hold theirs with limber chests
O
22 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
well packed and good men to work the guns, so I
gave the order, "In battery."
What happened here may be best told in general
terms by an extract from my official report of the
part the division artillery took in the action. Cap¬
tain Campbell, of Gibbon's battery, was the ranking
artillery officer in the division, but he was severely
wounded in the shoulder in the early part of the day,
and his injury was so severe that it necessitated his
removal to the hospital, and the command of the
artillery consequently devolved upon me, and the
report of its doings. Giving in detail the part
taken by the batteries as the day progressed, the
report says relative to Battery D :
"General Hooker directed the Rhode Island battery to move for¬
ward beyond the second cornfield, if practicable, and to take posi¬
tion as near to the woods as possible. The battery advanced, fol¬
lowed by Lieutenant Edgell's New Hampshire battery, to the
position indicated, and went into battery about * yards from
the wood, the New Hampshire battery taking position at the left
and about one hundred yards in rear. A battery of the enemy here
opened on the Rhode Island battery, but no attention was paid to
it, as their fire was perfectly ineffective. The Rhode Islanders
* This space is not filled in the original draft, which I retained. Probably it
was so left in the draft and filled in the report after further consideration.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
23
opened with one section upon a body of the enemy that was seen
retreating just to the left of their front, and about an hundred and
twenty-five yards distant, throwing them into great confusion.
The other four guns opened with canister and case upon a large
force advancing through the wood, which was very open, and with
the assistance of the other two guns, which in a short time had
accomplished their object, and the New Hampshire battery, checked
the enemy, and he retired out of sight. "While the Ehode Island
battery was engaged in forcing back the enemy in the wood a body
of sharpshooters had crept unobserved along a little ridge that ran
diagonally to the battery front, and they opened a most deadly fire,
killing and disabling many horses and men.
"As soon as possible a section was directed to open upon them
with canister. Though this caused them no injury, as they lay
down under cover of the ridge, it kept them almost silent, they fir¬
ing only an occasional shot without effect. While this section was
keeping the sharpshooters silent, the other four guns and the New
Hampshire battery opened upon the enemy's battery that was still
firing, and they soon silenced it. The Ehode Island battery was
then ordered to limber to the rear. The sharpshooters took advan¬
tage of the opportunity thus afforded and opened upon the battery
most briskly, killing and disabling a large number of horses.
"My own horse was pierced by six bullets, and Lieutenant Fiske's
horse was also shot. On one piece all the horses but one lead horse
were either killed or disabled, and the piece was drawn away by
hand, by means of the prolonge. We were obliged to leave the
limber, but it was subsequently recovered.
" The New Hampshire battery left at the same time, and went
back to its original position. After securing to a caisson the piece
belonging to the lost limber, the Ehode Island battery moved into
the plot of ground between the second cornfield and the ploughed
24 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTLLERY
land beyond the first cornfield, and went into battery with five
guns, shelling the woods in front. After firing a short time it
retired to its original position."
As soon as I found what a difficult and dangerous
position we were in, I sent to General Greene a
request to keep the sharpshooters down, so that we
could get our guns away, but the answer came back
that he could not, for want of ammunition. The
cannoneers were rapidly leaving their posts on ac¬
count of wounds, and the drivers were constantly
employed in relieving their disabled horses.
I realized that we must get our guns away then,
or leave them where they were. Not the slightest
doubt arose in my mind but that the men would
stick to their pieces, for at the Second Bull Run
battle their nerve and steadiness were tested in a
severer trial than I had ever expected to see artillery¬
men subjected to. Twice the enemy tried to wrest
their guns from them, and in one of the attempts
they got in among the cannoneers, but with a pluck
that excited the highest enthusiasm among the
*
infantry and several general officers who witnessed
it, they took their guns away in safety, although
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 25
batteries both on their left and their right were
abandoned on the field by the men serving with
them. I knew my men, and I felt that we were
making a needless sacrifice.
When the order " Limber to the rear " was given
it was executed almost in the twinkling of an eye,
but the men behind the ridge then had us at their
mercy, and right well did they improve the time in
showing the temper of it. They rose up in an
unbroken line and poured their lead into us a per¬
fect storm.
Lieutenant Parker took away four pieces with few
losses, considering the fire we were under. One of
Lieutenant Fiske's pieces had similar good fortune,
but the other was less fortunate. As the horses
made the turn to bring the limber to the trail of the
piece, they seemed to melt like wax before a fire.
Before a disabled horse could be disengaged from
the team, another would fall. A pang of intense
pain rushed over me as the thought forced itself
upon my mind that the piece must be left, and the
closing paragraph of a letter that I received from
Governor Sprague the previous winter stood out be¬
fore me as in letters of fire. He wrote :
3
26
THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
" I am glad you speak so well for your command. TVe must rub
out Bull Run, you know, in any action that takes place, and remem¬
ber those guns must never be given up alive."
It is astonishing how much one can remember, of
how much he can think and resolve upon in an
incredibly short space of time. I said hurriedly:
"Mr. Fiske, get some infantry, quick—I'll fix the
prolonge," and away he went on his wounded horse
like the wind. I turned to the piece and there were
only " number eight" of the caisson, who had taken
the place of the wounded gunner, and one cannoneer
who had his head ducked beside the rim of one of the
wheels of the carriage, supposing that he was shield¬
ing it from the bullets, but in fact he was doing
nothing of the sort, for he was on the side of the
wheel exposed to the enemy.
There was not a man in the company who was not
perfectly familiar with every implement connected
with the battery, their uses and with the prompt
adjustment of them to their proper places. "Fix
prolonge," I ordered. The gunner leaned over the
trail to disengage the rope, but the cannoneer, hug¬
ging closer to the wheel, turned up his face and
cried out, "We don't know how, sir." Spang—
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
27
spang—the bullets were hitting my mare, and as
they struck her side they seemed to explode directly
beneath me. Quick as thought my sword was raised
over his head, and with all the energy of desperation
I ordered, " Fix that prolonge, you !" It
may seem to have been a strange place for
the use of profanity: death on every side, the
black fiend harvesting his victims by thousands, but
the most appropriate language on such urgent occa¬
sions is that which will produce the desired effect.
Many lives have been lost by the supercilious choice
of polite language, when, if a little of the right
kind of emphasis had been thrown in, they would
have been saved.
Like lightning the cannoneer sprang to the trail,
recovering in an instant his lost energies, and
assisted the gunner in inserting the toggle of the
prolonge. Just then Lieutenant Fiske returned with
fifteen or twenty infantrymen, and the piece went to
the rear amid the cheers of both friend and foe.
Lven our enemies arose in an unbroken line and
gave us their cheers.
This was a severe ordeal for men to go through,
28 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
but from the humblest private to the commissioned
officers there was no flinching. The poor private
who crouched by the wheel never for a moment
thought of leaving his piece without orders, and his
momentary self-forgetfulness was only what may
happen to the stoutest heart at the very point of
some sudden emergency.
My first officer, Lieutenant George C. Harkness,
was absent on sick leave on account of injuries
received during the Second Bull Run battle; my
second officer was off duty and took no part in the
action. I had but two commissioned officers for
duty, both second lieutenants—Lieutenant Stephen
W. Fiske and Lieutenant Ezra K. Parker. I had
the utmost confidence in Lieutenant Fiske. He had
ably seconded my efforts from the day that I assumed
command of the company, and in every emergency I
had found him to be self-sacrificing, prompt and true
as steel. As he came up with those infantrymen and
relieved us from our perilous position, he seemed to
me for the moment to be endowed with more than
human qualities, and I could have embraced him
there and then in gratitude and admiration.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 29
My junior officer, Lieutenant Parker, and I had
never understood each other, and our relations had
not been of mutual confidence. He had always
executed his prescribed duties, but it seemed to me
he did so simply because he was so ordered by his
superior officer. His position when all the officers
were present for duty was a trying one to a man
possessing pluck, grit and ambition. As chief of
caissons his duty kept him in the immediate vicinity
of the cassions, out of the way of direct harm in
time of action, and his only responsibility was to
keep within communicating distance and to see that
the proper kind and quality of ammunition were
sent forward as requisitions were made upon him
from the front. A laggard would have enjoyed the
position and congratulated himself upon having a
soft thing, and I was uncertain as to whether or no
Lieutenant Parker so considered it.
At Groveton he had executed a difficult order to
blow up a disabled caisson, to prevent its falling
into the hands of the enemy, under circumstances of
great danger and personal peril, and at the second
Bull Run he had handled his caissons with great
30 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTLLERY
skill as the battery changed position from one por¬
tion of the field to another. Daring the march
through Maryland he filled Lieutenant Harkness'
place, and he had become more cheerful, apparently
taking a decided interest in everything pertaining to
the welfare of the command, but I was not prepared
to see such consummate gallantry as he displayed on
this occasion. I had always had a doubt as to what
his conduct would be should we get into close quar¬
ters, but here, in one of the greatest of emergencies,
he stood up to the scratch without flinching, and
proved beyond question that he was thoroughly reli¬
able. All his latent energies seemed suddenly to
have awakened, and he handled the four pieces with
a skill that would have put to blush many an old
veteran, and he inspired the men with the same
enthusiasm that he evidently felt himself. From
that moment forward, I cherished for him the kind¬
est of feelings, and had the deepest admiration for
his pluck and grit.
Lieutenant Parker had halted the five pieces some
distance to the rear of the position that we had been
driven from, and thither we repaired with the
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 31
rescued piece, and halted to straighten out matters.
My poor mare had kept on her feet through all the
excitement, and she had borne me on her back thus
far, but she could go no farther. Changing the
saddle and bridle to the horse of one of the buglers,
O '
the bugler went to the rear with the equipments of
his horse on his back.
Corporal Gray (Charles C.) who heartily enjoyed
the excitement of a fight, here entered into the
action on his own account. Four of his "number
ones" had been picked off by the sharpshooters, and
he had got thoroughly mad. Picking up a musket
and stripping a nearly full cartridge-box from a dead
body, he lay down and commenced firing back at the
men who had inflicted so great loss upon us. His
position getting rather warm, he rolled up a couple
of bodies near him for breastworks, and continued
his fire until his ammunition was exhausted, when he
rejoined his piece.
Whipple (Benjamin N.), the artificer, came to
the front here and assumed the duties of a cannoneer,
acting as "number one." He might have remained
at the rear with his forge, and there performed all
32 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
the duty that could have been expected of him, but
he was not the man to let his comrades be sorely
pressed and not lend a helping hand. His bravery
cost him a severe wound across the back of one
hand, and the loss of one or two lingers.
We arranged five pieces in fighting trim and went
into position. Our line near the turnpike had just
wavered, the field was filled with stragglers, and the
utmost confusion prevailed. Men were fleeing to the
rear in every direction, batteries were hastily moving
in one direction and another, officers were riding
hither and thither, endeavoring to check the fugi¬
tives, swearing and yelling like all possessed. I
remember seeing Generals Gibbon and Griffin tear¬
ing: about like mad men, thoug-h there seemed to be
O 7 O
purpose in their madness. Our line had weakened,
and if that human tide was not stayed, the day was
lost. General Gibbon was one of the most accom¬
plished artillery officers in the army, and he saw at a
glance the crippled condition of Battery D. He
said : " I see you are badly crippled, Captain, but
you must help us out. Go into battery with four
pieces," but we put in all five. Steadily the men
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 3fi
went at their work, and one not aware of the fact
would never have supposed that they had but just
emerged from a fire that could be compared only to
hell itself. Discipline asserted its supremacy, how¬
ever, order was established in a few minutes, and
the rebels were held to the turnpike.
As soon as confidence appeared to be restored, I
deemed it prudent to retire, that the men might get
a breathing spell, so we returned to the position that
we first occupied in the morning. During the short
sleep that I had the night before, I dreamed that the
action had come on, and that I lost my left leg. I
was not in the least superstitious, and did not think
of it_ until after we returned to the rear, when it
struck me as a little singular that most of the bullets
that had hit my mare had passed in front and rear of
my left leg and close to it.
While the men were changing horses, regulating
harnesses and refilling the boxes with ammunition, I
sat down on the ground, under and against a good-
sized tree, resting my head and back against its
trunk. 'Twas then that I thought of the peculiarity
of this circumstance, and instinctively drew my left
34 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTLLERY
leg around farther behind the tree. I had got into a
little doze, when I was awakened suddenly by a shot
that must have been sent with a peculiar twist, for it
dodged behind the tree I was under and struck the
ground close to that apparently ill-fated left leg.
I gave up my attempt at dozing, but did not lose
much, for in a little while the enemy's artillery
opened from the same hill that we had driven it
from in the morning, and we had the most furious
cannonade that had taken place up to that time since
the commencement of the rebellion. A number of
batteries, either by chance or by orders, had taken
position both to the right and left of Battery D, and
every gun belched forth its thunder until the enemy
ceased his fire, long after dark. When hungry and
weary we lay down that night, our aching frames
were too tired to admit of sleep, and we had but a
fitful rest. The morning dawned at last, and we lay
there all day, expecting to renew the attack any
moment, or to be called upon to repel an attack
upon us. The first thing done was to send for our
limber that was still on the field where we had left
it.
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 35
While waiting and talking with my officers over
the occurrences of the day before, an officer came up
with two or three rebel prisoners under a proper
guard. The officer halted his charge and saluting,
said, " Captain, do you know either of the prison¬
ers?" I scanned their features carefully, in the
endeavor to recognize the face of some old acquaint¬
ance or friend, thinking.that perhaps some old chum
of my boyhood days or college companion had
embraced the Southern cause, and having been taken
a prisoner, desired to make himself and his situation
known to me, in order to secure gentler treatment
than he expected; but I failed to find a lineament
in either countenance with which I had ever been
familiar.
I told the officer that I did not know either of
them, and he was about to move on, when one of
them stooped over and after fumbling a moment or
so about his trousers' legs, fished from beneath the
lining of his boot leg a folded piece of paper which
he held towards me, saying as he did so, " Perhaps,
Cap'n, you will know this." I unfolded the paper,
and sure enough I did know it. When we lay at
36
THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
Fredericksburg a man by the name of , who
had been detailed from the Seventh Wisconsin Vol¬
unteers to serve with Battery D, came to me one
day and asked if I would object if he could manage
to get detailed upon special duty as a spy. I tried
to dissuade him from the notion, but he appeared to
feel that in such service he would be in his true
sphere and better fulfill his mission. A few days
after, I received an order from " Division Headquar¬
ters " detailing upon special duty, and imme¬
diately after he presented himself with a pass which
read
Quarters Sftrtsfoti.
August qth, 1862.
ffJL
to Fredericksburg and through all lines, on duty for
these Head Quarters and return.
BY order Gen. King,
R. CHANDLER,
A. A. Or.
I had supposed that I would never hear from the
man again, but here was the identical pass that he
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
37
had shown me before leaving, and I then recognized
him. The kind of uniform a man is dressed in, has
a great effect upon his countenance.
I learned from him that he had either joined or
was pressed into the rebel army after getting into
the Confederacy, that he was able to send valuable
information into our lines several times, and that he
had contrived to be taken prisoner in order to rejoin
his command, for he had become heartily sick of
playing rebel soldier. In consideration of the peril¬
ous duty that he had performed, he was granted a
furlough and allowed to go home to visit his friends.
There was considerable speculation among the
men of the battery as to our execution upon the
batteries opposed to us the morning and evening of
the day previous, so some of them asked leave to go
over to the position those batteries had occupied to
see what had been the result of our fire upon them.
On their return they reported that the effect of our
shot had been all that was intended, for the ground
was strewn with dead horses, and that a number of
dead artillerymen were lying there.
Private Ross (David), accompanied by a number
4
38 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
of men who had been with him to the place, brought
me a letter that he found protruding from the knap¬
sack of a dead artillerist, which had been sent to
him by his wife. It was expressive of love, trust
and confidence, and she was longing for the time to
arrive when he would return home. A babe was
born after he entered the army, and when she fin¬
ished the letter in which she had told of the baby's
cunning ways with all of a young mother's pride,
she traced the baby's hand on the paper, by laying
it on the portion unwritten upon and running a
pencil around it, afterwards inking the lines with
her pen. Within the hand was written : " Marthy
Yerginia, her hand sent to her paw," and in another
place : " If you want to kiss the baby you must kiss
this hand." The situation, the circumstances, the
surroundings, all served to awaken emotions in the
strongest and roughest hearts, even though unused
to tender impulses, and this little hand so lovingly
traced, reached way down into the stout soldier
breasts and touched the wellsprings of pity and
sympathy there, making fountains of the eyes that
the trembling lids vainly endeavored to conceal,
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 39
while the quivering lips, more plainly than had they
spoken in language, revealed the depth of the feel¬
ing that had been excited in their hearts.
What a subject for a painter — what a theme for
a poet. The dead soldier lying there on the bare
ground amid the desolation and havoc of a battle¬
field ; the rent knapsack containing all that had con¬
tributed to his comfort, his pleasure, and solace for
sacrifice of home ; the letter, upon which was rudely
traced his infant's hand, bearing in its tiny palm, as
it were, all that it could of the strong affection
cherished for and centered in him.
A group of soldiers gathered around their com¬
manding officer—men accustomed only to the rough
usages and associations of camp, inured to the pri¬
vations, toils and hardships of the march; men
whose finer qualities of nature, whose tenderest
impulses, had long since become blunted, dulled or
almost altogether obliterated by the very nature of
their duties; with the wreck of battle, the results
of bloody carnage surrounding them ; on every side
and all about them nothing but the evidences of
hate, revenge and the base qualities of human
40 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
nature, made to overflow with emotion as tender,
pure and sweet as ever displayed by sensitive
woman. And why ? None better than they knew
that this was the most precious of the dead soldier's
keepsakes ; none better than they knew that by the
camp-fire's dim and flickering light, when all others,
save the watchful sentries, were supposed to be
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 41
wrapped in slumber, the poor fellow often had taken
this letter from the knapsack that pillowed his head
and imprinted a loving kiss upon its page, more for
the sake of the mother than the child. To them it
was a symbol of a priceless and holy affection such
as each knew somebody had for him. They each
had something just as precious, just as dear, to
them just as sacred.
I threw away the letter after cutting out the
tracing. It must be borne in mind that through¬
out the South the common pronunciation of the con¬
traction "pa" for papa, is "paw."
Thus the day was passed, loitering and lagging
about; the hospitals were visited to administer com¬
fort and to sympathize with friends and acquaintances
who had had the misfortune to receive injuries.
Cornie Welles (Cornelius Montague Welles), of
Hartford, Connecticut, an old friend of mine, came
upon the field and supplied us with some delicacies
from the stores of the Christian Commission with
which he was connected, and he also took pains to
search in the hospitals for the wounded men of
Battery D, to see that they had good care and
42 THE RHODE ISLAND ARTILLERY
received every comfort that the circumstances would
admit of.
On the nineteenth we were ordered to move, and
our march was over the turnpike that the rebels had
so persistently held to on the seventeenth. The
slaughter there had been fearful. The turnpike
was very broad, and it must have been literally
covered with dead men. They had been drawn
aside from the travelled way, but only so as to
leave sufficient space for the baggage wagons and
the artillery to pass along. The entire space on
either side of the column, between the carriages and
the fences, or where the fences had been before the
battle, was crowded with dead bodies, and in very
many places they were piled one upon another, two
and three deep. It was a sickening sight, for
nearly all the faces were of African blackness, hav¬
ing been exposed to the sun since they fell. I do
not remember how far we moved on the road, but
so far as we went, the same evidence of the terrific
struggle that had taken place presented itself.
When we halted, it was generally known that
Lee had re-crossed the Potomac and that the great
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
43
battle was over. The enemy was fleeing with shat¬
tered columns, to a great extent barefooted or
nearly so; as a resultant, according to all human
reasoning, dispirited. And it was the universal
expectation in the army, that we would pursue him
and strike another blow while he was in a crippled
condition. Great was the surprise that orders to
that effect were not received.
Time disclosed the fact, however, according to
the official correspondence discovered by the news¬
papers, that the Major-General in command of the
army learned through his inspectors that the shoes
of his soldiers required mending before taking another
long march, and the order was not issued.
Over thirty thousand men had been killed and
wounded. Including the missing, the losses
amounted to nearly forty thousand, and the impor¬
tant advantages that might have been secured, the
great results that might have been attained, all
failed to become a tangible reality because, figura¬
tively speaking, the army was not provided with a
corps of cobblers.
44
the rhode island artllery
Note.—The Providence Daily Journal was fur¬
nished by me with a list of casualties, which I copy:
"casualties in battery d.
The following is a correct list of casualties in Battery D at the
late battle of Antietam :
killed.
Private John Galloughly,
" John McGovern,
" Edward Carroll,
" John Hopkins.
wounded.
Artificer Benjamin N. Whipple, bullet across the back of hand-
severe wound.
Private Reuben D. Dodge, bullet through the left arm—severe
wound.
Private Jeremiah Sullivan, bullet through the shoulder—severe
wound.
Private Jeremiah D. Hopkins, bullet through the leg—severe
wound.
Private Everett Burt, bullet through the leg—severe wound.
Private Charles Reed, bullet through the leg—severe wound.
Private Royal W. Csesar, ankle injured by cannon ball—severe
wound.
missing.
Private Charles A. Mulick,
" George Bennett,
" Frank A. Potter,
" Isaac D. Russell,
AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
45
Private Jacob J. Schmidt,
" Duty Bobbins,
" Bernard Kilbarn,
" David Smith, 2d.
Besides the above there were some fifteen wounded, whose inju¬
ries were slight."
The newspaper correspondents afterwards reported
Bennett and Kilbarn in hospital, wounded.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series-No. 17.
providence:
published by the society.
1886.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
RELIEF OE
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA,
BT THE
Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers.
BY
WILLIAM W. DOUGLAS,
[Late Captain Fifth Rhode Island Artillery.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1886.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
RELIEF OE WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.
The organization which became the Fifth Rhode
Island Regiment was at first a battalion of five com¬
panies.
Though stationed during its term of service at a
distance from the grand strategic movements of the
armies which directly threatened the strongholds of
the Confederacy, it was not deprived of the oppor¬
tunity of doing faithful work in the suppression of
the Rebellion. From the nature of its employment
it had more than once the opportunity to make as a
battalion an individual and peculiar record.
Embarking at Annapolis on the good ship "Kitty
Simpson," it weathered the storm at Hatteras, and
after lying stranded on the bar at the inlet from
noon till four o'clock, was safely wafted by the ris¬
ing tide to an anchorage within the roadstead. Then
o 0
it being impossible to get the "Kitty Simpson"
6
RELIEF OF
over the river-bar, the battalion was placed upon
the " S. R. Spaulding," the llag-ship of the expedi¬
tion, and with General Burnside led the heet towards
Roanoke Island. Here it had the honor of shed¬
ding the first blood in the person of Corporal Viall,
who was wounded in a boat reconnoisaijce the day
before the battle.
At Newbern it participated with the Fourth Rhode
Island in the final charge which started the enemy
in full retreat, and which made Colonel Rodman,
who led it, a Brigadier General.
During the siege of Fort Macon the Fifth, though
composed only of five companies, stood its turn in
the trenches with the Fourth Rhode Island and the
Eighth Connecticut, and had the good fortune to be
in the advance when the fort surrendered, and
marched with its colors, just received from home
and never before unfurled, to plant them on the cap¬
tured walls.
When in the summer of 1862, General Burnside
was ordered with Reno's and Park's divisions to the
Potomac, the Fifth, on account of its numbers, was
left behind and became part of the Eighteenth Army
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. ?
Corps, to which General John G. Foster was as¬
signed as commander. In August the regiment
was ordered to Newbern, and encamped just outside
the compact part of the city.
The regiment took part in the expedition to Golds-
boro in December, 1862, which was successful in
cutting the railroad which brought supplies to Ricli-
mond £rom the heart of the Confederacy, and being
threatened by troops relieved from General Lee's
army by Burnside's failure at Fredericksburg, retired
in good order and without serious loss to Newbern.
In retaliation for the constant raids with which
General Foster harassed the enemy, General D. H.
Hill, on March 14, 1863, the anniversary of its cap¬
ture, made an attack upon Newbern in force. Being
repulsed at Fort Anderson, he retired and marched
towards Washington.
The events which immediately followed gave the
Fifth Regiment, under its new Colonel, Henry T*
Sisson, a chance to write the most brilliant page of
its history.
At this time, April, 1863, our forces, under the
command of Major-General Foster, held the coast and
8
RELIEF OF
waters of North Carolina. The headquarters of the
Department were at Newbern, the richest town in
the State, situated on the Neuse river, about ninety
miles from its mouth, at its junction with the Trent,
and in former times the depot for shipment north of
large quantities of turpentine and tar, and some cot¬
ton and tobacco. The city was compactly built, with
many fine business blocks and private residences.
It had two extensive hotels, one of which was burned
by the rebels as they left. Here we had built forts
and depots of supplies of all sorts, and traders from
the north had occupied the deserted stores and drove
a brisk traffic with the troops, and, it was whis¬
pered, also in contraband goods from the interior.
Beside the forts, which were constructed so as to
defend the town from an attack by land, a fleet of
gunboats patrolled the river fronts and made our
hold upon the the place secure.
The other permanent posts in our possession in
the State of North Carolina were Washington, on
the Tar river, distant from Newbern by land some
thirty or forty miles, but by water about one hun¬
dred and fifty, Plymouth, at the head of Albemarle
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 9
Sound, at the mouth of the Roanoke river, and
Roanoke Island, all within the Sounds; Hatteras
Inlet, and Fort Macon, which protected Morehead
City and Beaufort on the sea-shore.
After the failure of his attack upon Newbern,
General Hill next appeared before Plymouth, and
having first destroyed or captured the small naval
force stationed in the river by the help of one of
those formidable iron-clads with which the rebels
did so much damage when they succeeded in making
them float, turned the flank of the defenses from the
water, and finally, after meeting a most gallant
resistance from General Wessels and his little gar¬
rison, captured the works and made prisoners of the
survivors.
I remember how distinctly the northeast wind
brought to us in Newbern the sound of the heavy
cannonading, and with what solicitude we waited
for the news which came at last of the capture of
Plymouth.
About the first of April, General Foster learning
that Washington was to be the next point of Hill's
attack, determined to meet the danger in person ; so
10
RELIEF OF
ordering reinforcements to follow, he hastened to the
defense and arrived before the city was invested.
In his report made to the committee on the conduct
of the war he thus describes the situation of affairs :
"I found the garrison, Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers,
Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Volunteers, one company Third
New York Artillery, one company Third New York Cavalry, one
company First North Carolina Volunteers, and one company
negroes armed, to number about twelve thousand men. Two naval
gunboats and one armed transport, all under command of Comman¬
der R. Renshaw, were in the river in front of the town. The defen¬
ses of the town were well adapted to give efficiency to a small gar¬
rison, consisting of a small and strong field work on the key point,
with a line of entrenchments surrounding the town, well flanked
by the block-houses and redoubts. The supply of rations on hand
was ample. The enemy's force was a whole corps, estimated to
number twenty thousand (20,000) men, with fifty pieces of artillery.
Dispositions to resist an assault were immediately made, the Forty-
fourth Massachusetts manning the line about half way, and the
Twenty-seventh the remainder, the artillery in Fort Washington
and the cavalry in the town. The men worked willingly and hard
in strengthening the lines, using shingles from dismantled houses
for lack of shovels. Abatis were made, traverses erected, plat¬
forms for guns laid, and a portion of the ditches flooded by dam¬
ming the surface drains. All intercourse with the enemy, even by
flags of truce, was peremptorily interdicted, leaving the enemy in
uncertanity as to our force."
" The first three days of hesitancy by Hill in ordering the assault
were so improved by us that, when ordered, it is reported that
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 11
the men refused to obey, seeing that we were ready for them* and
that an assault, even if successful, would cost very dear. Hill then
decided on a bombardment and siege. Batteries were commenced
on all the ridges surrounding the town, and on Rodman's Point,
across the river. This last was our vulnerable point, as it com¬
manded the gunboats in the river and that side of the town."
After an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the
enemy from Rodman's Point, General Foster antici¬
pating the destruction of the gunboats, fortified a
small island lying in front of the town, with the
intention of removing there the ordinance from the
naval vessels, and so retaining the command of the
river point. He proceeds as follows :
" While this was transpiring, the enemy's siege batteries on the
land side were completed and armed, and at the end of about a
week opened with fourteen guns, most of them rifled. Fort
Washington replied, and the cannonading thus commenced contin¬
ued with varying intensity for twelve days. The town was trav¬
ersed in different directions by the shot and the lines of defense
enfiladed, but by means of the protection of traverses, splinter
proof shelters and bomb proofs, sufficient shelter was afforded and
very little loss ensued. The consumption of ammunition exhausted
the supplies at the end of the third day's firing, and its replenish¬
ment became a difficult and serious matter. The fleet of gunboats
below the Hill's Point Battery were deterred from coming up by
the obstructions (the buoy to the narrow passage through them
being removed by the rebels) and by the fire of that battery.
12
RELIEF OF
"The relieving force, three thousand strong, under Brigadier-
General Prince, which by my order had arrived in the river in trans¬
ports, was not made effective. To my written order to land and
take the Hill's Point Battery by assault, General Prince returned
the reply that it was impracticable, and did not even make the
attempt. Our only way, therefore, to get ammunition was by row-
boats and small sailboats running the blockade of the enemy's bat¬
teries at night. These finally had to be armed to enable them to
force a passage through the enemy's guard boats, placed to inter¬
cept them. In this way we obtained at night the ammunition for
the next day's firing, and thus were enabled to maintain the fire
from day to day."
The battery at Hill's Point, about five miles from
1 Washington, spoken of by General Foster, was
placed upon a bluff fifty to seventy-five feet above the
water, with steep sides towards the river and Blount's
Creek, which empties into the Pamplico just below
the Point. Here were mounted twelve guns,
including two Whitworths. Opposite this was
Swan Point, where several guns were mounted near
the water's edge. Across the channel at this point
had been driven a triple line of piles, strengthened
by chains and various obstructions.
At Rodman's Point, directly opposite the town, on
a level with the bank of the river, were mounted
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 13
one thirty-two-pounder and eight field guns, one
a twenty-pound Whit worth. After we entered
Washington we found shot from this gun in the bat¬
teries on the further side, where it had been thrown
completely across the town.
So near were the rebel batteries to the defenses of
Washington, as we found when we had joined Gen¬
eral Foster, that in one of the redoubts the garrison
ran to seek shelter first behind one parapet and then
behind the other in turn, as the sentry who was
posted to give the warning to dodge the enemy's fire,
cried out " Widow Blunt's " or " Rodman's Point."
To us in Newbern only came the sound of the
cannonading and rumors of the brave defense which
General Foster and the troops in Washington were
making. We did not know till afterwards of the
reinforcements lying inactive on the transports, or
of his repeated orders to effect a diversion for his
relief.
On Wednesday, the eighth of April, General
Palmer, who was left in command of the District of
Newbern, decided to make an effort for the relief of
2
14
RELIEF OF
Washington by a land expedition which should attack
the enemy in the rear, and at the same time cover
the city of Newbern. So little confidence was felt
in the success of this measure that the command
of it was intrusted to a General whose military repu¬
tation could not be damaged by any event.
All the troops in the city except the Fifth Rhode
Island, Forty-fifth Massachusetts, and a few com¬
panies in the various forts, were ordered to join the
expedition. Immediately after their departure the
Fifth and Forty-fifth were assigned places to be
taken in case of attack behind the line of fortifica¬
tions, and when the line was stretched the entire
length of the defenses, each soldier was just within
hearing of his neighbors on the right and left. It
was a skirmish line with widely extended intervals.
The distrust of the situation which filled the minds
of the higher officers, and which it was said caused
the records and personal baggage of the headquar¬
ters to be placed on board a swift transport with
steam up, communicated to the body of citizens,
sutlers, traders and speculators, produced such a
panic in the market as would have been joyfully
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 15
hailed by the soldiers if they could have left the
lines to take advantage of it.
It was both instructive and amusing: to note the
different effects of the threatened danger upon the
storekeepers whose property was at stake, and the
soldiers who had only their lives to lose, and who
had risked them too often to be overcome by appre¬
hension.
On the tenth, General Spinola's expedition re¬
turned unsuccessful. They had met the enemy in
force at Blount's Creek, just below Hill's Point, and
a few miles from the river, a place strong by the
nature of the ground, and defended by earthworks
and artillery. Here Captain Belger, of the Seventh
Khode Island Battery, was wounded, and after some
further losses a retreat was ordered and promptly
executed.
I have since understood that previous to this trial
an attempt had been made to capture the enemy's
batteries in the Pamplico river, but we heard noth¬
ing: of it at the time, and if it were made it was
entirely without effect. Probably the statement was
based on the orders spoken of by General Foster
16
RELIEF OF
which were not obeyed. It seemed, therefore, that
General Foster must be left to his fate, to endure a
longer or shorter siege with capture and a rebel pris¬
on at the end.
But Colonel Sisson, who had recently joined the
Fifth, and who was anxious to distinguish himself
and his command by some daring exploit, called his
officers together and proposed to them to volunteer
to run by the enemy's batteries and join the beleag-
ured garrison with supplies of food and ammunition.
The plan seemed a desperate one, but the officers,
to a man, agreed with the Colonel that the state of the
department demanded that its commander should be
at Newbern to stem the panic, to direct measures of
defense, and to bring order out of fast-gathering
confusion. To rescue him at any cost we deemed
our first duty, and the Colonel's plan was the only
possible one. So the proposition was made to Gen¬
eral Palmer and accepted, and with sixty rounds of
ball cartridge and three days' cooked rations we
were marched on board the " Escort," which lay at
the wharf.
General Palmer and Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffman,
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 17
Assistant Adjutant-General on General Foster's
staff, accompanied us. There were also on board a
few stragglers from the company of the North Car¬
olina Regiment which was at Wasington.
O O
The " Escort" was aside-wheel river steamboat,
similar to those which run on Narragansett Bay, ex¬
cept that was decked over to the bows. Her regis¬
tered burden was six hundred and seventy-five tons ;
her length one hundred and eighty-five feet, just five
tons less burden and one foot greater length than the
" Bay Queen." She had recently been built at Mys¬
tic, Connecticut, and was very fast in smooth water.
We found on board commodious quarters for our
three hundred men, and plenty of room for the
fifteen to twenty tons of ammunition and half dozen
barrels of commissary's stores which we were confi¬
dent, would make us welcome at Washington.
After a night's sail down the turbid current of
the Neuse, and over a short distance of the Sound,
stretching far away towards the low line of sandy
banks which separate its waters from the ocean, we
found ourselves at daybreak just entering the Pam-
plico river, and by the time that the rising sun
18
RELIEF OF
showed us the indistinct promontories on its banks
all were alert and eager for the first sight of the
enemy's batteries. But our surprise was great
when, on rounding Maul's Point, several miles below
Hill's, we found ourselves in the midst of the gun¬
boat fleet which we had pictured in our imagination
engaged at close quarters with the rebel works.
General Palmer here left us to become the guest
of Captain Behm, of the "Southfield," the senior
officer of the squadron, and our men who had
expected to escort him to Washington saw him no
more.
This day (Saturday, eleventh) was spent in load¬
ing bales of hay upon the " Escort," and piling it on
the upper and lower decks around the machinery
and boilers, furnishing such protection as we could
to the vital points of the vessel.
The pilot-house, like that of most of the transport
steamers then employed in the Sound, was pro¬
tected from musket shot on the sides by boiler-iron
plates—and we added a few bales of hay to make it
more secure. The front was necessarily open, to
give the pilot a view of his course.
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 19
The orders were to start at eight o'clock that
night, but were countermanded by the substitution
of five o'clock the next morning. For some unex¬
plained reason we did not get underway in the morn¬
ing till eight o'clock. The plan was for the gun¬
boats to engage the battery, allow the " Escort" to
shoot by, and then to follow us. ^ But we were much
faster than any of the naval vessels, and a dense fog
so effectually shut out every object from our sight
that we had gone a hundred yards beyond the gun¬
boats who were to support us before a gun was
fired, and without knowing where we were until we
were apprised of our temerity by a few scattering
shots from Hill's Point, and by hearing the chain
cable running through the hawse-holes of the " South-
field" as she came to anchor behind us. "We
dropped back to a safe distance from the Point, and
when the fog cleared up had the pleasure of seeing
the execution which the big navy guns could do at
long range. After about an hour's firing they drew
off and rejoined us. So nothing more was done on
Sunday in the way of carrying out our object.
On Monday morning, General Palmer reverted
20
RELIEF OF
again to the idea of landing our force below Hill's
Point, on the opposite side of the creek, then fording
it, as it had already been demonstrated to his mind
by the former expedition that the bridge further up
could not be carried, then capturing the rebel bat¬
tery and so freeing the river for the navy and trans¬
ports. If we had numbered three thousand, like
General Prince's command, who had been ordered
by General Foster to make a similar attempt, the
plan might have been feasible, but with three hun¬
dred men to assault an almost impregnable position
well garrisoned and having more than ten thousand
reserves not more than five miles distant, was one of
those undertakings that we did not crave to engage
in. It did not seem to us to be the thing we had
come from Newbern to do.
Hearing that a reconnoissance of the enemy's
position at and about Hill's Point was to be ordered,
I obtained permission to command it. I selected
Lieutenant Dutee Johnson, of Company A, and
forty men out of the whole regiment, who to my
great satisfaction volunteered to accompany me.
We were transferred to the gunboat "Valley City,"
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 21
Acting Master Brooks, and steamed slowly towards
the shore. The decks were cleared for action, the
men at quarters, and my little detachment enjoyed the
privilege which few landsmen have had, of being on
board a man-of-war in fighting trim. Occasionally,
as we sighted a knot of men on the shore, we gave
them a shot, and the precision with which our guns
were aimed was a delight to the visitors of the Fifth.
Soon the shore was neared, and taking to the boats
under cover of the shells of the gunboat, we landed.
It was obviously impossible to land any force on
the north side of Blount's Creek, and my instruc¬
tions were to ascertain if the creek was fordable
between its mouth and the bridge. I remained on
shore nearly all day, carefully exploring the course
of the stream, and came off again about sunset with
the information derived from actual soundings that
the creek could not be forded or crossed in the
force of any opposition, and so reported to General
Palmer. I also ascertained from reliable contra¬
bands that there was a camp of about five thousand
men within a mile of the opposite bank, and saw
22
RELIEF OF
breastworks lately thrown up, but with no guns
mounted, almost at the water's edge.
When I carried this information to the General
on board the "Southfield," he saw that his plan was
impossible, and sent again for Colonel Sisson.
When he arrived and asked for orders, General
Palmer told him that he would not order us to run
the blockade, but would permit us to do so volun¬
tarily if Colonel Sisson would assume the whole
responsibility. As this was what we had been wait¬
ing to do, our preparations were speedily perfected
to run by the batteries in the " Escort " in the dark¬
ness of the approaching evening.
In order to appreciate the risk we were to run,
you may imagine yourselves starting from Newport
on the " Bay Queen " on a trip to Providence. Place
upon Nayatt Point a battery of heavy guns, and on
the shore at Conimicut Point another, both well
manned by experienced artillerists. Suppose the
channel to run within point-blank range of the west¬
ern shore, and to be obstructed by a triple line of
piles driven closely together. Then place a still
more formidable battery, containing at least one gun
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 23
capable of throwing a shell three miles with accuracy,
at Field's Point, and calculate the chances of getting
by all this and anchoring safely at the Continental
Steamboat Company's wharf. Then place on the
boat fifteen tons of ammunition, and consider that if
a shell were to explode so as to fire it, there would
be no boat left, and you would have the last chance
left you of swimming ashore into the hands of the
enemy, who, if they did not shoot you in the water,
would march you to a rebel prison. Add to this
the fact that no one on board knew the channel
except the pilot, and he had to grope for it without
a beacon light, in intense darkness, and to have got
upon the flats meant sure capture at daybreak. We
had not either that opportunity to fire back which
occupies a man's whole attention to the exclusion of
thoughts of his personal danger in the excitement of
a battle. We had simply to box ourselves up and
constitute ourselves a floating target.
Colonel Sisson stowed all the men in the hold of
the boat, as near as possible to the water line, and
sent all the officers who were not on special duty
into the cabin. Lieutenant-Colonel Tew, Captain
24
RELIEF OF
Landers, who was the officer of the day, and Captain
Potter, who commanded a squad of sharpshooters,
were entrenched on deck; protected partially by the
bales of hay. Colonel Sisson took his station with
the captain and pilot in the pilot-house.
At eight o'clock it had become so dark that any
object but a large white steamboat like the " Escort"
was invisible at a short distance on the water. I
had been much fatigued by my tramp on shore and
the responsibility of my service during the day, and
as soon as we were assigned to our quarters lay
down upon the cabin floor upon a mattress taken from
one of the bunks, and was fast asleep when we
started. I was roused by the flash and report of the
first gun which announced that we were in range of
Hill's Point Battery.
The flash illuminated the cabin, and the concussion
of the air sounded to us below like the crash of a
shot. We all thought the boat was struck, and
expected every moment to be wounded by flying
splinters. Instantly I was wide awake, and in the
total darkness which followed, for all lights on board
had been extinguished, I listened for and felt the
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 25
progress we were making. After the first discharge
I felt the boat go forward with tremendous speed,
then stop, and again slowly press forward. This
was the passage of the line of piles abreast of the
battery. The boat forced a passage through, and
again we were in rapid motion. But suddenly I
felt the keel grate on the bottom, and we were
aground in full range of the rifled guns aimed at our
lives. To add to the horror of the situation, we
supposed from the concussion of the air that every
shot of the iron shower struck the boat. Quick as
lightning the guns followed each other, and the
flashes showed us each others' faces anxious but
determined. But the moment was too desparate to
weigh chances, and putting on extra steam, forcing
the furnaces to their full capacity, preferring to blow
up by that means, if it must be so, rather than to be
wrecked by some shell falling into our ammunition,
we gradually push through the mud and are again
in deep water, hurrying away from our first danger.
We had taken the Hill's Point Battery unawares,
and were not discovered till almost abreast of it; but
3
26
RELIEF OF
we could not hope that Rodman's Point would be un¬
prepared. The heavy firing below would bring the
garrison to their guns, prepared to receive us warmly.
But we had not come thus far to retreat. Indeed,
we had no choice—the danger in either direction was
equal. Riflemen now assailed us from every prom¬
inent position on the river's bank, but their missiles
could do us little harm, and congratulating ourselves
' O O
that we were yet uninjured, we hastened to the
upper battery. Soon the heavy firing, the flashes,
and the thuds of the shot, nearer and more rapid
than before, told us that we were under the last fire,
and thus passing the last mile, as it seemed in a few
minutes, we stopped again.
The Chaplain's voice at the companion-way, and
the music of the Forty-fourth Regiment Band, hailed
our arrival at the wharf at Little Washington.
Scarcely realizing our own safety, and each amazed
at the safety of the rest, we formed in line and left
the good boat which, with the loss of a trifling piece
of her machinery, had borne us well by the fruitless
efforts of the rebel artillery.
Our arrival was equivalent to a reinforcement of
WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA. 27
ten times our number to the weary garrison, and the
success of our efforts inspired them with fresh con¬
fidence. We were most warmly received by the
Forty-fourth, whose brief term of enlistment had
been marked by as faithful service and more varied
incident than many a three years' regiment. They
welcomed us to their quarters and offered us the
best of their reserved stores.
The next morning we took our position in the
fortifications and renewed with fresh energy the
work we had learned in the trenches before Fort
Macon.
The second day after, the rebels, not knowing
how few men had broken through the blockade, and
feeling that it was no longer effectual, withdrew
their forces and joined the army which was to hum¬
ble the prowess of our valiant men under Hooker
at Ohancellorsville.
The morning after our arrival I was called to
General Foster's headquarters, and in answer to his
questions gave him an account of the condition of
affairs in Newbern, and that day embarking on the
" Escort" he ran down past the batteries in broad
28
RELIEF OF WASHINGTON, N. C.
daylight. In this trip the pilot was killed by a mus¬
ket ball, and seven or eight of the crew were killed
and wounded, but the boat seemed to have a charmed
life and carried him safely to Newbern, where, organ¬
izing his forces, he started at once to attack the
besiegers. But as I have said, they had given up
the siege, and he only succeeded in engaging their
rear guard, and then returned to Newbern.
The gratitude of the Forty-fourth Massachusetts
for our timely succor was shown by the presentation
by them to the Fifth of an elegant banner with the
arms of the two States gracefully combined upon it,
and an appropriate inscription commemorating the
occasion of the gift. They also gave to Colonel
Sisson, as a mark of their appreciation of his action,
a service of plate and a sword, sash and belt.
The War Department were pleased to recognize
the exploit by changing the regiment from infantry
to artillery, thinking that men who were not to be
killed by heavy guns would do good service behind
them; and after this promotion en masse the subse¬
quent service of the Fifth justified the exceptional
honor.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series-No. 18.
providence:
published by the society.
1886.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
A PRIVATE'S REMINISCENCES
OF THE
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
BY
E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS,
[Company C, Fourth Connecticut Infantry, subsequently the
First Connecticut Heavy Artillery.]
PROVIDENCE:
I'UBMSHET) BY THE SOCIETY.
188<>.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
A PRIVATE'S REMINISCENCES OF THE FIRST
YEAR OF THE WAR.
It is a common remark that we of to-day are too
near the last war to write of it with phlegm and
candor. This is mostly a piece of cant. No mat¬
ter in what sense you take the word history, there
is much of the history of the war that can be writ¬
ten better now than ever hereafter. There is much
of it, in fact, that will never be written at all if it
is not soon. Preeminently is this the case regard¬
ing those odd details, curious happenings, funny
experiences, those indescribable scenes of camp,
march and drill, which form the densest and most
picturesque spots in every soldier's memory of the
war. I refer to the matters with which most of
our early letters home from the camp were taken up.
They became so antiquated before we got out of ser¬
vice, and other more weighty, more serious, less
6
a private's reminiscences.
comical things came to occupy our attention, that
these ludicrous sides of military life have with
many passed largely out of remark. Those also
who went out as recruits into well-organized regi¬
ments became soldiers with fewer of the stumbling-
O
and grotesque approaches by which the campaigners
of early '61 attained to that degree.
In this aspect of its history, the first is the most
interesting year in all the war. Rare were the men
who, when the drams first beat to arms, knew what
arms meant. My regiment, the Fourth Connecticut
[after October, 1861, the First Connecticut Heavy
Artillery], taking the oath to the United States on
May 22, 1861, was, so far as I have ever learned,
the earliest volunteer regiment to be mustered in
for three years. We had been already enlisted for
some time as three months' men before the call for
a three years' contingent came ; and so hot was our
patriotic zeal, that we instantly subscribed again
for the longer term.
The imagination of youth is specially active, and
because I was then so young, I may perhaps re¬
tain in memory better than some of my older com-
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
7
rades, the notions, the expectations, the theories,
with which they and I enlisted. One of our fixed
ideas was that a single Yankee could whip five reb¬
els with the utmost ease. Some placed the number
as high as twelve ; but I think that any man in my
company venturing incredulity as to our ability easily
to vanquish the rebels in the ratio of five of them to
one of ourselves, would have been summarily ejected
from the company. Like Gideon of old, we wanted
no faint hearts in our band.
As part of the same delusion, men used to sug¬
gest, not wholly in fan, that our regiment, or at
any rate the troops from Connecticut, should take
the contract of thrashing the rebels for so many
thousand dollars, the job to be completed, inspected
and passed upon by competent European commis¬
sioners, not later than the end of July, or no charge
at all to be made.
Quite as laughable were the pictures we drew to
ourselves of the manner in which we were to make
the campaign. When I enlisted, and for some days
thereafter, I fully expected to carry a trunk with
me, and a commodious number of changes of rai-
8
a private's reminiscences.
ment; on finding which impossible, I felt as down¬
cast as did the hundred days' man whom I met at
Bermuda Hundred in '64, who, being just out from
Ohio, hadn't had any pie or any butter for his bread
since leaving Fortress Monroe. How, too, we
loaded ourselves with pistols, bowie-knives, and a
whole lot of other furniture that was, we thought,
going to be handy when we got down South. One
might be called upon to clinch with a rebel. The
rebel would, of course, be the under dog, but might
not let you up, you know. How convenient to reach
round behind you, draw your bowie-knife and coax
him to relax his grip ! One very devout soldier car¬
ried his family bible. The knapsack that tugged at
my wretched shoulders when we left Hartford for the
front on June tenth, of '61, would have made a camel
pant, containing wares enough to have stocked a
country store. This lugging about of Egyptian
pyramids upon our backs we soon abandoned, as we
did the bowie-knives and pistols. One man in our
company, however, never marched with less than
sixty or seventy pounds in his knapsack, to the end
of the war. His calling before had been that of a
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
9
pack-pedlar, and he said he experienced a certain
difficulty in not falling forward on his face, unless he
had about the old load strapped behind.
Alas, the knapsack was but one among our bur¬
dens that dreadful day on which we set forth for the
war. Such uniforms as we writhed under! I per¬
spire at thought of them now, after the lapse of a
quarter of a century. As the United States Gov¬
ernment was unable to provide us in this respect, the
excellent Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, had
assumed to do it. He, good man, had rigged us out
with suits of the thickest sort of gray woolen, made,
one would have thought, especially for midwinter
wear in Greenland. There were heavy gray felt
hats to match. We had no blouses. The coats
were short, without skirts ; the pants of so generous
girth that if any hero, beating perchance a hasty re¬
treat, should have the misfortune to lose his knap¬
sack, he might not be destitute of a good place to
bestow his blanket. Some of the trousers were
three inches too long; some nearly as much too
short. The average coat, too, had a considerable
surplus of circumference. Vests there were none ;
io
a private's reminiscences.
for which hick, coarse, heavy, gray flannel shirts,
with the redundant longitude of the trousers, were
expected to make amends.
We had cartridge-boxes, haversacks, canteens and
old-fashioned Springfield muskets. Not being grad¬
uates of a Turveydrop Academy, we had little taste in
arranging; this gear when we came to don it. Here
o o c
would be a tall man with the straps for those utensils
so short as to bring his canteen, haversack and car¬
tridge-box well up under his arms, the first two on
one side, the cartridge-box ©n the other; yonder a
little five-footer would go "hepp," "hepp," "hepp,"
along, with those same indispensable appurtenances
flopping half way to his heels. Some had their
overcoats strapped neatly and compactly plumb on
the top of their knapsacks; others fastened them
on in so dowdy a way as to suggest that they meant
the very frightfulness of their appearance to drive
back the foe, on the principle which Sidney Smith
must refer to when he mentions a man the mere look
of whose face was a breach of the peace, he was so
homely.
And then what inimitable marching ! My company
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
11
was about equally divided at first between the men
who could keep no time at all, those who could
keep some time but not much, and those who could
keep a good deal of time if each were permitted to
do it in his own way. In a word, it took a long
while for us to become strong in rhythm. Our first
marked improvement appeared at the moment when
we mastered the trick of bringing down our left feet
all together, responding to the "hepp," "hepp,"
"hepp," of the drill-master, letting the right feet
take care of themselves. When we could do that,
we felt that war was indeed a fine art and we fine
artists. Ah, we found there were perfections not
yet attained ! The next stage of advance was when
the right feet all struck the earth together, or at any
rate a great majority of them, but not midway of
the interval between two percussions with the left.
Beyond this none but the men of genius went, till
some time after Bull Run ; and one at least of those
my valorous comrades never could, to the last, learn
any other than the go-as-you-please step. The sub¬
limity of this case lay in the fact that the man did
not pretend to march accurately. Another fellow
12
a private's reminiscences.
among us almost never had the step, but always, if
corrected, swore — Athanasius against the world —
that he and he alone had it. Marching thus out of
time once behind me, and treading on my heels each
pace, he threatened in language I will not repeat, to
report me to the captain for not keeping step. I
called his attention to the obvious fact that the great
majority had the same step as I. He said he didn't
give a damn for majorities—and he was right.
But to go back and dwell on those uniforms, and
to tell you how in those days we had to dwell in
those uniforms ! As we wore them from Hartford,
how new they looked ! Alas, too soon they began
to assume a different face ! Seven days each week
we had to wear them; often, on guard for instance,
at night as well. They grew dirty. That was not
the worst. Repairs became necessary, and facilities
for effective repairs there were none. One by one
those noble garments gave way. No new ones were
to be had. A hat being lost, one could indeed buy
a cheap Zouave chapeau from the sutler if one had
money. Let a coat wear out, its owner had no re¬
source but to go in shirt-sleeves by day, in his over-
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
13
coat by night. At Chambersburg, at Hagerstown
and Williamsport, even at Frederick, our uniforms
remained fairly presentable; but by the time we
reached Darnestown, Maryland, in August or Sep¬
tember of '61, Ave were a sight to behold. Could we
have been manifested to the rebel army at that time, I
am sure that Bull Run would have been avenged and
that Beauregard and his braves would have fallen
back in dismay.
Let me attempt to describe to you what, by way
of euphemism and with extraordinary and dangerous
strain upon language, we called our "dress parade"
at this period. One man in ten was barefoot. Some
were bareheaded. Many wore red skull-caps, in
such queer contrast with the majority, who still re¬
tained, limp, faded and dirty, the majestic old som¬
breros we had received from Governor Buckingham.
Not a few in the regiment had become veritable sans
culottes, and must needs march to the parade-ground
in their drawers. Hardly a uniform in the entire
line was whole or clean.
How vividly I remember a conversation that I
overheard one evening, at a Avell Avhither I had gone,
2
14
a private's reminiscences.
some distance from our own camp, to replenish my
canteen for a night of guard duty! It was at the
close of a day on which the entire Division under
General Banks had been on review, and my regiment
had been, if I do say it, the observed of all ob¬
servers. The speaker was a Pennsylvanian. "I say,
Bill," said he to his companion, "did yer see that
rigiment in gray, half on 'em bareheaded or bare¬
footed and kinder lookin 'zef they'd ben on a forced
march like ? " "' Deed, did I," said the other; " them
uz a sorry lookin' set, durned if they want." "They's
the fellers wot kin fight tho," rejoined the first
speaker. "You bet," said the second; "they done
ben to Bull Run, them fellers, 'n that's wot ails
ther rig."
This complimentary critic was in error. We had
not seen Bull Run. During that battle we were
back under Patterson at Martinsburg and Williams-
port. Yet when I think of the state of our clothing
at this time, I do not wonder that the Pennsylvanian
mistook us for veteran campaigners. Not worse clad
were the wretches who followed Napoleon back from
Borodino and Moscow. I have not told you the
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
15
worst about our experience with that clothing. Nor
can I. Suffice it to remark that when, a month
later, we got new apparel, every soldier, as he cast
each of his old rags away forever, could have said,
in the language often used to puff a new business
enterprise, only with far more truth, "there's mil¬
lions in it."
Striking memories come back to me touching the
commissary's department and its administration that
summer of the opening war. We got our first gov¬
ernment rations at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
The beef barrels- and bread boxes were marked
"B. C."; and, in the well-known language of Bret
Harte, " I would not deny in respect to the same what
that name might imply." Certainly that food could
not have been put up since the Mexican war. The
beef, if such it was, consisted of so many parcels
and packs of leather shoe-strings. The hard-bread it
required hammers, axes and stones to break. Soak¬
ing it over night in water merely altered the form of
the difficulty, giving the material the consistency of
sole-leather. The only mode of preparation by
which the crackers could be made edible was to
16
a private's reminiscences.
break them into scraps with a heavy hammer, soak
them twelve hours in water, and then fry them in
hot fat. It was hardly a Delmonico dish after all,
but a taste was not sure death. Those biscuits were
round, and of the size of a dinner-plate, and I speak
the truth when I tell you that I have seen toy
wagons made of them, wheels, axles and all, that
would bear up a man. This antediluvian fodder
fortunately lasted but a few months ; and when we
got new hard-tack, baked the same year, it was so
soft and so sweet, we thought Old Abe had con¬
cluded to supply the army with soda-crackers. In
one respect, it is upon my conscience to confess, the
old rock was better eating than the new,—it was
always azoic, and the new wasn't.
During the azoic period we got on more happily
with the bread than with the beef. For not to speak
of the doubts many of us had whether it was beef
at all, or of the numerous theories of those in the
company who allowed doubt upon this point to de¬
velop itself in their minds to an extreme, in one
particular no one was vexed with the slightest skep¬
ticism, namely, that it was tough. We were not,
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
17
however, without resources. The fortune of war had
sent us into a land, if not exactly flowing with milk
and honey, at any rate overflowing [if you will
pardon the metaphor] with youthful swine. Since
England had recognized the secessionists as belliger¬
ents, why should not we? We did, and further, not
being deeply read in international law, we inclined
with such light as we had to adopt as sound the
doctrine of "occasional contraband." Occasionally,
therefore, we viewed pigs as contraband, and pro¬
ceeded as loyal executives to confiscate. Fresh pork
tasted better than the flesh General Scott had brought
home from Mexico. What .if we sometimes hap¬
pened to select a loyal pig! We did it because we
loved him. One of Colonel McClure's grunters fell
a victim to our bayonets at Chambersburg on a cer¬
tain fine morning, We were very sorry, but we
were very hungry.
Once, when my company was marching from Wil-
liamsport to Martinsburg as convoy to one of Gen¬
eral Patterson's wagon-trains, my comrade shot a
fine fat porker suitable for a good supper to the
entire gang of us. X was deputed to aid him in
18
a private's reminiscences.
dressing it. Deftly and all unbeknown to the offi¬
cers, we loaded the carcass into one of the covered
wagons, where, on the top of the barrels which
formed the load, bending over, in spite of the jolting,
as the ponderous vehicle rolled on, we performed our
difficult task. At Martinsburg, being obliged to fall
in and march to our camp with the rest of the com¬
pany, we consigned the precious plunder to the
company drummer, with orders to deliver it at the
cook's quarters so soon as possible. Pie met a man
who offered him money for it, our precious booty was
sold, and we with it, having our labor for our pains.
Speaking of the cooks quarters, I am reminded
of two immortal individuals who at different times
presided there. One was a colored man whom we
picked up in Maryland. He was bright and intelli¬
gent, though he could not read, and was, of course,
distressingly ignorant. Of his ignorance, however,
he was serenely unconscious, and launched into dis¬
cussion upon any topic of family, church or state
with as much confidence and gusto as Castlereagh or
Metternich could have shown. He had been in Vir¬
ginia, and had heard of New York and Pennsylvania.
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
19
These, with Maryland, he used to assert were all the
states there were. The fellows assured him there
was another, the state of Matrimony, which he em¬
phatically denied, ascribing the mistake charitably
to lack of information on their part. This colored
cook of ours had a pretty wife, who occasionally
visited the camp to see him. He professed and
manifested for her the greatest affection; yet on
being asked if he did not fear he would lose her
when we advanced into Virginia, he replied : " 'Deed
I isn't 'feared o' nuf'm. De Lor' hain dun sot all de
hansum gals in Ole Ma'lun. Dey's sum mo' down
in Virginny sho's yo bawn, dey is. Ef yo gwine
ter 'vance inter Virginny, Ole Ma'lun sartin fer ter
lose dis yere niggah, wife er no wife."
Our other ever memorable cook was a soldier from
our own ranks. I shall always regard him as abso¬
lutely the most remarkable personage in the entire
history of man. It was not, I admit, his genius
about the cuisine which entitled him to this eminence ;
it was certain rarer and finer qualities. Among
these was his good nature. Tastes differ, even upon
coffee. Two men one morning had dipped and
20
a private's reminiscences.
sipped from precisely the same boiler of this.
One returned presently for some more. "Frisbee,"
said he, "that's superb ; it's the best coffee we've had
this year." "That's so," answered Frisbee, "I took
er heap o' pains with that coffee; it oughter be
good." Soon came the other,—"Frisbee, your cof¬
fee is infernal; it isn't fit for bilge-water this morn¬
ing. Make any more such and I'll drown you in it."
"Wal," said the imperturbable Frisbee, "that's so,
'tis mighty pore this time somehow, ye know ye
can't allers git it jest right." That marvelous art of
agreeing with everybody ! Our Frisbee had it in
perfection. He was a man of expedients, too. Often
have I seen him, when the coffee in the boiler was
running low before all had been supplied, seize a
bucket, fill it with cold water from the tank and
dash it in. If any one then complained of the thus
diluted stuff, Frisbee was always ready with some
plausible theory, as that he couldn't get the fire to
go, or that he believed the coffee was in some way
losing strength, or that the army contractors were
a set of rascals anyhow.
Frisbee had not very many faults. The only ones
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
21
I can readily recall were swearing, gambling, lying,
drinking, stealing and speaking evil of the orderly
sergeant; but jn these few, I feel constrained to
testify, he was an adept and did not do things by
halves. In drinking, however, we had one man who
was more than a match for Frisbee. It was Bill
Pilkington. He avowed that he did not care for the
quality of the whiskey if it would only make the
drunk come, and that he never allowed an opportu¬
nity for getting drunk to pass unimproved. I could
take oath that during my acquaintance with him this
was strictly true.
I turn now, with martial ardor, from quartermas¬
ter's and commissary's affairs to the more serious
business of drill, discipline and war. I have re¬
marked how hard we found it always to march in the
same step. This was about the lightest of our diffi¬
culties. Those of us in the rear rank when the
marching was to the front, — how prone we were to
allow more than the regulation thirteen inches be¬
tween ourselves and our file leaders ! Each wanted
to see his file leader's feet, for some reason or other,
and they were not invisible to the naked eye, with
22
a private's reminiscences.
army shoes on. Facing was not the easiest thing to
master, and not infrequently two soldiers, after a
command "right face" or "left face," would be found
hotly contending for the same spot to place their feet
upon, in the spirit of "Stand, the ground's your own,
my braves," an imbroglio often leading to blows,
and to be decided only by the official count, "one,
two, one, two," etc., down the line. But wheeling
required still a higher order of genius than facing,
intricate as the latter was. My captain, with that
coolheadedness in terrible crises which has character¬
ized all the great masters of the art of war from
Ramses II. down to Lord Wolsey, whenever we were
about to attempt a left wheel, used to caution us;
"Now, boys, all look to the right and glance to the
left." The few learned fellows among us who had
read Hardee's Tactics had a theory that the captain
was ignorant and should say, instead of "look to the
right and glance to the left," "look to the right and
touch to the left," and that obedience to the captain's
form of the order was obviously impossible. The
cross-eyed man in the company, generous-natured
soul, stood up for the captain nobly. He said that
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
23
what those scholastic philosophers maintained might
be true in theory but was false in practice, for he
had proved that the order as given by the captain
could be carried out with the utmost ease. But
when a line officer, on one occasion, putting the reg¬
iment through the manual, undertook to bring us to
a "ground arms" directly from a "shoulder arms,"
without any "order arms" between, the cross-eyed
man was compelled to admit with tears that an error
had been committed.
My company was at once blessed and cursed with
Pat Lilly, who had served five years in the regular
army, and knew the tactics as he knew his name.
He was very tall, moreover, and graced the right of
the front rank. I stood in that vicinity myself, and
often have I heard the officer commanding the com¬
pany on regimental drill lean over to Lilly, and in
whisper ask: "Pat, Pat, what's the next order to
give?"
But Lilly knew the wicked as well as the good
ways of war. One night at Williamsport, when
Jackson, then soon to become Stonewall Jackson,
was just across the Potomac from us, and we there-
24
a private's reminiscences.
fore had orders to keep the strictest watch, Lilly
heard the officer of the guard offering to bet a gallon
of whiskey that no live man could run the guard.
Lilly took that bet. He won it, too, in spite of the
new and stricter orders which the officer hurried
around to give, to shoot down any man passing the
guard without the countersign. Lilly effected his ob¬
ject in this way. Getting as near the guard-line as he
dared, at a point where two sentry-beats met, he lay
down and pretended to be in dying agony with the
colic. Having lain and moaned until apparently
easier, the sentinels presently thought him asleep,
when, as they were farthest apart, quicker than
lightning he darted across the line, over the fence
into the cornfield adjoining, and dropped flat upon
the ground. Pop, pop, went the sentinels' muskets,
but of course without harm to Lilly, who then got
up and taking a circuit around, presented himself at
the guard-quarters for his whiskey, which you may
be sure he did not pour upon the ground.
The same Lilly, on another occasion, left his quar¬
ters in the night, stole horses from the wagon-camp,
got a teamster to follow him as orderly, managed to
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
25
find out the countersign in some way, and rode the
circuit of the entire brigade in the character of field
officer of the day, turning out and inspecting guards,
giving directions to colonels and making a fool of
everybody.
We first heard the dreadful name of Jackson the
very night we arrived in Hagerstown, Maryland, from
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It was past midnight,
perhaps between two and three in the morning, when
the long roll of the regimental drum corps startled
the still air of our new camp. The rebels, it was
said, led by Jackson, were crossing at Williamspoft
in force, and we, perhaps the only bulwark between
them and the nation's life—we six miles away ! It
was a time to try men's souls and men's patience.
What a scramble for cartridge-boxes, pistols and
dirks,—for the pistol and bowie-knife era was still
upon us! The officers bade us be calm, but they
needed the advice not less imperatively than we.
At last we had formed line, and the Colonel, on the
ground probably that more battles are won by march¬
ing than by fighting, started us, raw levies, with six
long miles and probably a battle before us, off on a
3
26
a private's reminiscences.
double quick. We ran a mile, puffing, sweating,
straining our eyes to see that foe we so longed- to
annihilate. "Halt!" What for? Why, the line
officers have held a council of war while trotting
along upon their horses, and have concluded that if
we are to fight it may be well to have our muskets
loaded. No one had thought of it before. We had
supposed that our brave Colonel, in whose skill as a
tactician we had the most unhesitating confidence,
intended on meeting Jackson, to charge with the
bayonet? We conclude that he now alters his mind.
At all events he commands to "load." But we have
had no instructions in loading. Which end of the
cartridge shall go downwards ? About a third of the
men, reasoning apriori that the bullet was the main
thing, put it in first. A good number of those who
did not do this, failed to tear the cartridge paper.
Several put two or three cartridges in; some even
more. It was the work of a week to empty those
muskets. Having loaded and breathed, we began
the race again. The sun rose. Was it the sun of
Austerlitz? It was as bright and as hot. Men fell
from the ranks. Some fainted physically, others in
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
27
heart. Some wanted to go home. Perhaps a tenth
of-the regiment reached Williamsport together; the
rest came straggling in all the rest of the day. No
enemy was there, the more's the pity for the enemy,
for a brave dozen of cavalrymen could have cap¬
tured the whole of us. However, Jackson fell back
toward Martinsburg, and we flattered ourselves with
the hypothesis that he had heard of our advance and
considered discretion the better part of valor.
While our camp was at Williamsport, we had
some of the most ludicrous experiences imaginable.
Our chief occupation was that to which I have
already alluded, of convoying General Patterson's
wagon trains to Martinsburg. The road lay through
Virginia; Virginia had then seceded, and we had
the idea that it was a part of our duty as Union
soldiers to arrest for treason, as far as we could, all
who had voted for secession. Patriotic to the core,
we therefore made this our main business on each
return trip from Martinsburg. Partly the number¬
less family feuds of the neighborhood and partly a
desire to fool us, brought out plenty of professed
informers. Every little way along the road we
28
a private's reminiscences.
would be met by parties assuring us that at such or
such a house a secessionist lived. We used to break
up into little squads to go and arrest such. In one
house we were told that a lot of arms had been gath¬
ered for use on the Southern side, and that men had
assembled there resolved to use and defend these
arms, if need be, to the death. My company be¬
sought the lieutenant commanding us that day to let
us storm that rebel castle. We threw out flankers
and advanced. Approaching the house, we had to
ford a deep stream, and supposed that our foe was
reserving his fire till he could take us in mid-current.
We charged through. We raced up the bank. We
surrounded that house. Never did Wellington win
a completer victory. We had our fortress in our
power without firing or receiving a shot! Not to
have been fired at at all rather non-plussed us. Had
the enemy concluded we were resistless and that his
only course was to surrender at discretion? We
must force our way into the house and ascertain. A
forlorn hope was called for, — men ready to take
their lives in their hands for this great emergency.
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
29
" Theirs not to make reply;
Theirs not to reason why ;
Theirs but to do and die,"
if necessary. They muster; they rush for the door;
no shot; a tottering old gray-beard of seventy-five
opens; he is the only man there. "Are there any
arms in this house?" "I reckon ther mout be."
" What and where are they?" "Dunno zackly, mis¬
ter ; wese gut an ole rewolver summer round yere,
but durned ef I seener this six monts." The old
man told the truth. We searched the premises com¬
pletely with his undoubtedly genuine aid, and found
not the first sign of warlike stores save the lonely,
empty revolver.
We had been victimized, but we must magnify
our office as Union soldiers. "Did you vote for se¬
cession, old man?" "'Deed did I," was the prompt
response. "Then you must go with us to camp,"
said our officer; and we had the effrontery to march
that poor old victim ten miles with us to Williams-
port, and put him in prison there. We noticed that
as we marched, he kept step with us. Some of my
most zealous compatriots inferred from this that he
30
a private's reminiscences.
had been drilling for service in Jackson's force, and
were for blowing his brains out on the spot. He
was saved by the insistence of the cooler ones, that
the law should take its course. Should we, who had
enlisted to enforce law, give the example of tramp¬
ling on law? God forbid ! The jail at Williamsport
was full of these unhappy and outraged creatures
for some weeks, till a provost-marshal who knew
something, arrived from Washington and set them
all at liberty. I saw the brave, injured old man
whom I had helped arrest, climbing the Virginia
bank of the Potomac, after his release, and with his
clothes wet from having forded the stream, setting
off on foot for his distant home. Often have I felt
like a simpleton, but never more so than then.
While we lay at Williamsport, reports came every
few nights of rebel plots to cross the river from
Virginia and surprise us. One evening it was said
that such an attempt was quite certain to be made.
It happened to be my night on guard. It fell to my
lot to be placed on post at midnight, at a point
thought to be more exposed than any other about
the camp,— a corner running up on to a bluff over-
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
31
looking the river. Just over the bluff, half a dozen
rods away, was a little copse of trees, convenient, it
was thought, as a point whence an enemy might make
a sudden rush upon us. Why we did not occupy
that thicket ourselves I never knew. That entire
side of our encampment lay upon the ridge of which
this bluff was part, the crest of the ridge toward the
river and toward Virginia, being two or three rods
outside the sentinels' beat. Every sentry along this
exposed front had been given the strictest orders to
fire upon any one advancing toward us that did not
give the countersign or halt after a third challenge.
Time wore on. Back and forth, forth and back, we
lonely sentinels paced. Moonless and cloudy was
the night, though the sky was visible over the crest
of the knoll toward seceded Virginia. Back and
forth, back and forth. It is one o'clock and no
attack yet. But hush, hark; did ye not hear it?
"Who comes there?" The challenge is uttered by
the sentinel next me but one along the threatened
border. No response. " Who comes there ?" roared
out the challenger a second time. Again, no re¬
sponse. The suspense is deathly. Doubtless Jack-
32
a private's reminiscences.
son has come back, crossed the river in the still and
dark of the night, and is at this moment just beyond
that hillock, with his rebel horde, about to make
overwhelming onset on our devoted camp. " Who
comes there?" the third time, and "bang" spoke the
old Springfield musket, with voice enough to waken
the dead. Thereat, O what a trampling of feet,
rushing and snorting in the copsewood in front of
me—noise as of steeds and mustering squadrons,
quickly forming in the ranks of war ! My hair stood
on end. But, dauntless as Regulus, I cocked my
piece and faced the foe, "determined," as the novel¬
ists put it, "if fall I must, not to fall alone." But I
was not called upon on that occasion to sell my life
either dearly or cheaply. The scampering was in
the other direction. A few mules had innocently
gone to sleep in that brush, and had been scared by
the discharge of the musket. But what had the fel¬
low shot at? Let us see. "Corporal of the guard
No. 11." The cry was passed along, and presently
appeared, not indeed the corporal but the officer of
the day. Not wishing to imitate Napoleon's fatal
blunder at Borodino, of holding back his reserves
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
33
in a crucial exigency, he had brought both reliefs
that were off duty. They moved at a double quick,
with fixed bayonets and martial bearing, to help
repel the dreaded invasion of our camp. The man
who had fired told the officer he had heard steps and
breathing from the direction of the river, and had
seen a head rise above the ridge against the sky, and
then sink and rise and sink again, as if some wily
and determined scout were making a cautious recon-
noisance of the position. He added, with the accu¬
racy of one testifying at a coroner's inquest, that
when he fired he heard something drop, and that he
believed they would find a dead rebel out there.
They searched. Not a dead rebel but a dead cow
was found, which the commanding officer was good
enough to pay thirty dollars for next morning. From
mules and cows our unparalleled vigilance and valor
had delivered us. There was not an armed rebel
nearer than Winchester, forty miles away.
It used to interest me to notice what special
agony it cost many men to understand and execute
orders which demanded memory of any precise form
of speech. Charley Schmidt was a faithful soldier
34 a Private's reminiscences.
in my company, a believer in German beer and in
German military ability, profoundly impressed " dot
if Plenker [Blenker] or Zeekle [Sigel] vair only
de gommander of de vorzis, mein Gott, de reppils
voot shoost kit oop and kit out of de vay, you bet
petter peleef." Charley and I happened to be on
guard together the night when the field grand rounds
of the brigade we had joined at Darnestown made
their first regular and formal circuit. Heretofore we
had not been brigaded or divisioned, but had been
a host in ourselves. The sergeant came along be¬
forehand and gave each of us the most explicit
instructions how to challenge. He said: "Now,
Charley, be sure to get it right. Don't make any
mistake. When you hear them coming about ten
rods off, you want to shout 'Who comes there ?' As
soon as the answer is heard, 'Field grand rounds,'
you must cry, 'Halt, grand rounds ; advance sergeant
with the countersign.'" All right, Charley will try
to remember. But Charley walks on pebbles. He
repeats it and repeats it with fear and trembling,
lest he should make an error and the war be a fail¬
ure. Hark ! the august cavalcade approaches. We
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
35
can hear the clanking of hoofs and the rattle of
sabres. One after another challenges, the cortege
halts, the password is given, on they press to the
next sentinel. Now it is Charley's turn, but the
words stick in his throat, which has not been lubri¬
cated with lager beer for some hours. Summoning
all his moral energy he at length screeches out:
"Who isht dair?" "Field grand rounds," they
answer back. "Halt de krant rounts," commands
Charley,— "atvance, zarchent, mit de — mit de—mit
de—mit de—mit de gorporal-sign" The officer
making the rounds did not reproach Charley for his
bungling, but Charley reproached himself, and would
not be comforted till the sutler's tent was opened at
six in the morning and he could refresh himself once
more with the beverage he loved.
I often amused myself then and later when on
guard, by listening to the different national brogues
that made themselves heard in the challenges as the
grand rounds passed from sentinel to sentinel. There
was the flat, blunt, homely Yankee challenge, uttered
by the farmer boy of old Connecticut: " Who hums
thar?" There was also the Irish: "Hen cooms
theyer?" and the German : Who hoomsh dair?"
36
a peivate's keminiscences.
I must conclude ; but before doing so, or rather,
in doing so, I am anxious to give you a passing ac¬
quaintance with a few of my first year war comrades
whom I have not yet mentioned. It is no reproach
to Charlie Schmidt, Frisbee and Bill Pilkington to
say that they did not alone compose that galaxy of
fixed stars that made up the brilliant company in
which it was my privilege to shine in the character
of [pardon the egotism] a lamp. Therefore, ladies
and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to my
friend, Private James Jacoby, the peer, if such ex¬
ists on earth, of that other friend of mine already
familiar to you, Frisbee the cook, in the matter of
good nature, serenity of temper, facility and felicity
in taking things as they come. Jacoby is from the
Fatherland, but has been in America so many years
that you would hardly suspect his nationality from
his speech. Like his illustrious fellow-countryman,
Charley Schmidt, however, he loves beverage, but
rarely takes too much and is never rendered savage
or brutal by indulgence. He never grumbles, but
eats, sleeps, drills, stands guard, and is paid off,
without a word of complaint; has learned like the
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
37
apostle, in whatsoever state he is therewith to be
content. Many a time have I heard Jacoby, as he
lay down to sleep on the ground at night after a good
square meal, and drew his blanket over him, say :
"O aint I glad I came to war !" And many a time,
when some churlish Englishman in the company was
grumbling at everything and cursing everybody from
Abe Lincoln down to the corporal that stood by,
would Jim Jacoby turn to him and say : " Man, you
no business to listed, you'd grumble if you was
goin' to be hung."
Let me present you next to Private Alexander
Wilson. For short, we call him Alek. His father
and mother were Irish and he is Irish too. This
explains why Alek is a wit. He can be tender, also,
as I know from having had charge of his courting
correspondence for several months. The fact is,
my company in general was mightier in military
than in literary attainments; and as in the kingdom
of the blind the near-sighted man is king, so among
us, he who could read and write was pronounced to
possess a liberal education. " My parents were poor
but respectable," and I had seen the inside of a
4
38
a private's reminiscences.
school-house more days than most of the fellows
with whom I stood shoulder to shoulder in defending
the sacred cause of liberty. So I became private
secretary to several, of whom Alek Wilson was one.
It is not, however, so much on his tenderness as on
his wit that I would dwell at present. Alek, one
evening, had been, to state it mildly, under the in¬
fluence of stimulating liquids, and the colonel had
seen fit to tie him up over night, by the wrists, with
several other patriots in the same happy frame of
mind. About eight in the morning, the colonel, a
new-comer, by the way, a West Pointer, with whom
it' was somehow a pet notion that discipline must be
maintained, went forth to labor with these miserable
offenders. Seizing the first one by the throat, he
said: "You rascal, were you drunk last night?"
"No, sor," was the reply. "You lie," said the
colonel; "Officer of the guard, keep this man here
till noon." Grasping the next man in the same man¬
ner, he demanded : "You scoundrel, were you drunk
last night?" "I was, sor," the fellow said. "Will
you get drunk again?" "No, sor." "You lie,—officer
of the guard, keep this man here till ten o'clock.'
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
39
The rigid disciplinarian came thirdly to Alek Wilson.
"Wilson, you scamp, were you drunk last night?"
"Shure I was, sor." "Will you get drunk again?"
"Begorra I would, sor, if I got a good chance."
"Honest man,—officer of the guard, take Wilson
down and send him to his quarters; he tells the
truth."
Lastly, permit me to make you acquainted with
their honors, Privates Cornelius Dacy and Jeremiah
Horan, who dwell in my memory—and they will
dwell there perpetually—together. Horan can read
and is a logician; a philosopher, in fact. He has
deep views about politics and has constituted himself
a standing committee on the conduct of the war. He
is a democrat. If a fine deed or idea is ascribed
to any prominent republican, he blasts its force by
the innuendo, "yes, but what are his antecendents ?"
When not on duty, Horan is on the other duty of
instructing his messmates what a failure Lincoln is
as a president, and how badly every Union campaign
has been managed. It is his hobby that the Union
troops are no match for the rebels anyway. Dacy,
on the other hand, can not read, does not profess
40
a private's reminiscences.
politics, is not up oh the conduct of the war at
large, but patriotic to the backbone, and accounting
it damnable heresy to hint that soldiers ever lived
who were superior to himself and his glorious com¬
panions in the service of the United States.
One day Dacy falls into argument with Horan on
this point. Dacy remembers, a trifle mixedly, what
he has heard about the two battles, Bull Bun and
Ball's Blulf [the only considerable engagements in
the East up to the time of which I speak], and con¬
cludes to attack his antagonist by the historical
method. Collecting his memories of the retreat
across the Potomac from the last named battle,
he says: " Fair did iver dthose ribbils schwim
six miles under warther wid their knapsacks upon
their backs and their mooskets in their hands?"
Dacy believes this to be an unanswerable argument,
a regular clincher. But Jeremiah Horan isn't a dis¬
putant to be pushed to the wall so readily. "You
blockhead, you," he rejoins, "no soldiers ever did
that. It's nonsense. The Union men never did
that. Where did Union soldiers ever do such a
thing as that ? " Dacy's face reddened with patriotic
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
41
blood. "Where should it be?" he roars, the assur¬
ance of forensic victory lighting up every feature of
his classic face, "where should it be? Shure where
should it be but at the battle of Ball's and Bulls's
Bluff."
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OF EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS READ BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series - No. 19.
providence :
published by the society.
1887.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD,
March 17, i863.
BY
jacob b. cooke,
[Late First Lieutenant, First Rhode Island Cavalry.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1887.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty eopies.J.
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
The two happiest years of my life, the years
which I look back upon with the greatest satisfac¬
tion, were the two years which I passed as a
member of the First Rhode Island Cavalry. It
ought to be a matter of pride to every man to have
been a member of it, whether as private or officer.
I had the pleasure of meeting General Hooker in
Cincinnati in 1871, and in the course of conversa¬
tion he said to me that he considered the First
Rhode Island Cavalry to have been one of the best,
if not the best regiment of cavalry in the Army of
the Potomac. And I believe that his opinion wTas
that of every general officer who had occasion to
make use of its services.
I arrived in Providence on the ninth day of
December, 1861, for the purpose of enlisting in the
6 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
regiment. I brought with me to Colonel Lawton,
then commanding, a letter of commendation from
Colonel Lawrence, of the Fifth Massachusetts In¬
fantry, with which regiment I had served through
the -first three months' campaign, participating in
the first Bull Eun battle and its subsequent retreat,
the culmination of which was an attack of typhoid
fever which kept me in Washington several weeks
after my regiment was mustered out. The First
Massachusetts Cavalry, with which the First Khode
Island afterwards had such intimate associations,
was just completing its enlistment when I had
recovered sufficiently to re-enter the service, and
thinking my chances for promotion would be better,
I came to the First Ehode Island.
Immediately upon my enlistment, Colonel Lawton
gave me a warrant as Quartermaster Sergeant, and
I reported to Captain Gould for duty. A few days
afterwards I was promoted to be one of the regi¬
mental Sergeant Majors. At this time the regiment
had a battalion organization, with three Sergeant
Majors, three Quartermaster Sergeants, and three
Commissary Sergeants. When the battalion organ-
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 7
ization was done away with, I was made the regi¬
mental Sergeant Major.
Owing to his showy uniform, the Sergeant Major
of a cavalry regiment is about the most conspicuous
individual in it, and if I did not put on any airs it
was not because I did not feel all the "pomp and
circumstance " of my new position. I think, how¬
ever, I must have shown a little of the peacock
nature, for I can well remember my dignity being
hurt on several occasions after I had purchased my
first "thigh boots" by some of the men (who had not
that respect for my exalted rank (?) which they
should have had) calling after me — when their
escape behind the stables was well assured — " Say,
boots, where are you going with the boy?" What
with the riding lessons, the breaking in of horses,
the squad and company drills, the sabre exercise,
with its everlasting right and left moulinet, the time
passed pleasantly enough, although we were all glad
when we left Pawtucket for Washington.
What member of the regiment will ever forget
the discomforts and hardships of " Camp Mud," at
Warrenton Junction, Virginia, which we took pos-
8 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
session of on the seventh day of April, 1862? The
first three days at that camp, with the pitiless and
continuous falling of rain, hail and snow, provided
with nothing in the way of camp equipage but our
rubber ponchos, which, when several were fastened
together, made a partial covering only; the en¬
deavor to floor our huts with fence rails and under¬
brush in a vain effort to keep our bodies raised
above the mud ; the horses dying at the picket lines
for wantiof shelter and forage ; all formed a picture of
misery, and an epoch in the history of the regiment
which will always remain vividly impressed upon
our memories.
What member of the regiment will ever forget the
O ©
lustre conferred upon it by the gallant action of the
New Hampshire Battalion at Front Royal, which
ended with the death of the dashing Ainsworth ? an
action which will favorably compare with that of
any body of troops in any war, and which showed
the stuff of which the regiment was made.
On the ninth of August, 1862, at Cedar Mountain,
the First Rhode Island achieved a reputation for
coolness under fire, and steadiness of manceuvre in
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 9
face of the enemy, which was an enviable one, and
which it verified afterwards on many a well-fought
field.
Whatever may have been the faults of Colonel
Duffi6, there is no gainsaying the fact that he was
probably the best regimental cavalry drill-master
and tactician in the army, and also a brave and gal¬
lant soldier. An incident'will illustrate his coolness
under fire. At the battle of Groveton, which the
First Ehode Island opened, being relieved after
having been for a considerable time under fire, by
the Fourteenth New York Infantry, I was sent by
the Colonel to notify the First Battalion, which was
deployed in front as skirmishers, to withdraw and
join the regiment, which, when I rejoined the
Colonel, was halted in a roadway, within range of
the Confederate artillery. After reporting to the
Colonel, I remained by his side at the head of the
column. In a moment he turned to me and said,
" Cookie, have you some tobacco?" I replied in
the affirmative, and handed him some from my
saddle-bag. He took a piece of paper from his
pocket and commenced rolling a cigarette. The
10 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
operation was, possibly, half finished when an un-
exploded shell struck the ground immediately in
front of us. The Colonel regarded it with the ut¬
most coolness, not stopping for an instant in the
rolling of his cigarette, while I, I must confess, felt
that my absence from that particular spot at that
particular moment would be beneficial to my health ;
but, of course, I had to remain and face the music.
In a moment the shell exploded, spattering the dirt
in our faces, but doing no damage. The Colonel
coolly brushed his clothes and lit his cigarette.
At the battle of Chantilly, I well remember
seeing General Phil. Kearney dashing across the
field, his horse flecked with foam, the bridle reins in
his teeth (his left arm had been left on Mexican
soil), his sabre poised high in air, the very incarna¬
tion of the spirit of war. A more gallant soldier
never set foot in stirrup.
But I must proceed to tell you of the affair at
Kelly's Ford. I ought to know something of this
battle, for the associated press dispatches giving the
particulars of it which were published in the North¬
ern papers on the nineteenth of March, 1863, headed
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 11
the list of killed with my name, in mistake for that
ol Lieutenant Nicolai. A memorial service was
held by a Sabbath-school at Charlestown, Mass., of
which I had been a member; the Boston and
Charlestown papers published glowing obituary
notices, and my eldest brother went down to Vir¬
ginia after my corpse, which he found to *be a
remarkably lively one.
This battle, for it may be dignified by that title,
was of very grave consequence ; not so much in the
number of men engaged, nor in the number of killed
and wounded. Its effects were moral rather than
physical. Previous to it, the entire artillery and
infantry service had heard of the pertinent ques¬
tion of General Hooker, " Who ever saw a dead
cavalryman ? " and often as we passed them on the
road sarcastically greeted us with it, much to our
discomfiture. The result at Kelly's Ford changed
all this. For the first time our cavalry had a chance
to pit itself against that of the enemy. It was a
given and accepted challenge of man against man,
horse against horse, and sabre against sabre.
The result was such as to elevate us in the eyes
12 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
of the army, to increase our confidence in ourselves,
and to increase our esprit de coips.
On the fourteenth of March, 1863, General
W. W. Averill, commanding the Second Division
of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, asked and
received permission from General Hooker to take
his division across the Rappahannock and attack
Fitzhugh Lee. On the fifteenth, Colonel Duffie
reviewed his brigade, the First, and at the conclu¬
sion of his review informed its officers that it was to
move the next day.
On the morning of the sixteenth, the division,
numbering about three thousand men and horses,
with four days' rations and one day's forage, left its
camp at Potomac Creek Station for the purpose of
attacking the forces under Lee, reported to be in the
vicinity of Culpeper Court House. There were in
the command two hundred picked men from the First
Rhode Island, under command of Major Farrington.
The division arrived at Morrisville at about six
o'clock that evening, where it was joined at midnight
by the Sixth New York Independent Horse Battery.
On the night of the sixteenth, the camp fires of the
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 13
enemy were seen by our scouts between Ellis's and
Kelly's Fords, and the drums, beating the retreat
and tattoo, were heard from their camps near Rap¬
pahannock Station. Rebel cavalry were seen by
our pickets on the roads leading west, during the
evening.
Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis, of the First Massachu¬
setts, received orders during the evening to remain
in Morrisville and take charge of all the pickets left
north of the Rappahannock. He directed Colonel
Doster, of the Fourth Pennsylvania, with two
hundred and ninety men, to start from Mount Holly
Church at four o'clock the next morning, and
drive the enemy's pickets towards Rappahannock
Station; to go thence to Bealton, and finally to
station himself at Morgansburg and communicate
with a picket which would be established at Elk
Run, and with his (Curtis's) force at Morrisville.
These orders were executed and the enemy was
driven out of that section. Colonel Curtis's force
numbered about nine hundred. Small parties of
our cavalry had been sent two to four hours in
2
14 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
advance of the main body of the command to mask
its approach. Captain Hart, of the Fourth New
York, with one hundred picked men from that regi¬
ment, and the Fifth United States Regulars, was
ordered during the evening of the sixteenth to pro¬
ceed to Kelly's Ford, and at the first glimpse of
dawn to dash across and capture the pickets on the
south bank. He was to be supported by the rest
of the regiment. These orders were given person¬
ally to Captain Hart by Major Chamberlain, chief of
General Averill's staff, and a guide was furnished
him.
At four o'clock on the morning of the seventeenth,
the command was awakened without the blowing of
the reveille, and after a hasty breakfast took up its
line of march for Kelly's Ford, about four miles
distant. There were about twenty-one hundred
men in column, composed of seven hundred and
seventy-five from the First Brigade, under Colonel
Duffie ; five hundred and sixty-five from the Second
Brigade, under Colonel Mcintosh; seven hundred
and sixty from the Reserve Brigade, under Captain
Reno, and six guns under Lieutenant Browne.
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FOKD. 15
When the head of the column arrived near the ford,
the cracking of carbines told us that the crossing by
the advance under Captain Hart had not been ac¬
complished. General Averill was indignant that
the surprise had not been effected, although it was
afterwards learned that General Lee was cognizant
of all our movements, and had reinforced his pickets
on the evening of the sixteenth with ninety men,
under Captain Moss, to whom he said that the Fed¬
eral cavalry, four thousand strong, were at Morris-
ville, and would undertake to carry the ford by day¬
light the next morning. General Lee further stated
that Captain Breckenridge was at the ford with sixty
men, and had orders not to fire until the enemy's
forces were in the water; that we should not be
allowed to cross the ford, and that he would be in
supporting distance at sunlight.
Major Chamberlain dashed down to Captain
Hart's command, which was dismounted and firing
at the enemy, who were in rifle-pits on the other
side of the river, from the protection of a mill-race.
Captain Hart was ordered to mount his men, form
in column of fours and follow the Major across the
16 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
river. On reaching the river, Major Chamberlain
discovered that the approach to the ford was
obstructed by an abattis of felled trees lying across
the road. At the same time he discovered that
Captain Hart's command was retreating up the
river. At this moment his horse was shot in three
places, and he received a bullet through. his nose.
He then returned to the Fourth New York, which
had halted a safe distance from the'enemy, and sent
an officer to General Averill with a request for pio¬
neers. Twenty men from the Sixteenth Pennsyl¬
vania, with axes, were sent to Major Chamberlain,
who ordered them down to the river to cut away
the abattis, under the protection of two squadrons
of dismounted men acting as sharpshooters, among
them being Troop F, of the First Rhode Island.
Under cover of this fire, Major Chamberlain again
ordered the Fourth New York to follow him, and
dashed for the river. The trees had only been par¬
tially removed, the fire being so hot from the rifle-
pits that the pioneers hid under the banks. It was
too hot also for the Fourth New York, and again
that redoubtable (?) regiment retreated at break-
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 17
neck speed up the river. Major Chamberlain's
horse here received another wound, but was not
disabled. Giving his valuables to a staff officer,
Major Chamberlain rode to the First Rhode Island
and asked for volunteers to follow him across the
river. All moved forward, when, selecting the pla¬
toon on the right, Troop G, commanded by Lieu¬
tenant Simeon A. Brown, and ordering Major Far-
rington with the rest of the regiment to follow in
support, they went for the ford with a will. It was
difficult work, for but one horse could leap the
abattis at a time. Major Chamberlain's horse, fran¬
tic from wounds, sprung on a fallen tree, crushed
through, and was shot dead as he touched the
water. At that moment, Major Chamberlain re¬
ceived his second wound, the ball striking him in
the left cheek, ranging down through the neck. The
pioneers dragged him up the bank. Lieutenant
Brown, followed by his platoon of eighteen men,
dashed into the water which was icy cold, four feet
deep, and running with a very rapid current. The
fire from the rifle-pits was so hot that but three men
besides Lieutenant Brown succeeded in reaching
18 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
the south bank. These men were Sergeant Em¬
mons D. Guild, and privates John A. Medbury and
Patrick Parker. Parker's horse was killed in the
river. The rest of the platoon were disabled by
being shot themselves or having their horses shot.
The crossing was a gallant act, gallantly done.
Lieutenant Brown, who rode a white horse, was a
very conspicuous mark. Upon reaching the south
bank he rode up to the edge of the rifle-pit and
looked down upon the " rebs " for a moment, who
were so much astonished at his audacity that they
did not fire. Wheeling his horse to the right, man¬
aging to get behind a tree in line with the rifle-pits,
he waved his sabre in the air for a moment, calling
out to the rest of the regiment, " Come on ! Come
on!!" He then dismounted, turned to Sergeant
Guild, and asked him for his carbine. Jt was
handed to him, and firing into the rifle-pit he killed
one man and wounded two others. Many shots
were fired at Brown, but he escaped being hit,
although he had three bullets through his clothing
and his horse was hit twice. Sergeant Guild was
wounded in the side, but not seriously.
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 19
By this time the head of the remainder of the
First Rhode Island's column was in the middle of
the river, charging across under a heavy fire, the
" rebs " in some cases standing up in the pits. I
remember particularly one long, lank fellow who
had a bead on me, and I thought for a moment my
time had come, but I bobbed my head to him and
his bullet whistled harmlessly over it. The first to
reach the south bank were Major Farrington, Cap¬
tain Thayer, Lieutenants Fales, Chedell and myself.
So far as I was concerned, all the credit there was
in it was due to my horse. She had a mind of her
own, and that mind was always to be in the front.
But although we were the first, the rest of the boys
were right behind us. As we reached the bank the
"rebs" began to leave their rifle-pits and run
towards a piece of woods about a quarter of a mile
distant, in which their horses were tied. The south
side of the bank was protected by an abattis con¬
structed of stakes driven into the ground, tied to¬
gether by twigs, and running from the end of one of
the pits to the edge of the river. Major Farrington
ordered two men to dismount and tear this down,
20 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORE.
when Lieutenant Fales jumped his horse over it and
rode to the top of the bank, where he waited for
' Major Farrington, who, with some of the rest of us,
were with him in a moment, and a second afterwards
dashing after the fleeing " rebs," whom we ordered
to throw down their arms and surrender. Twenty-
five of them were thus captured and sent to th e
rear.
During the crossing of the regiment, Colonel
Duffies horse was hit by a bullet and his rider
thrown into the river, considerably bruising one of
his legs. Lieutenant Rhodes's horse was killed.
Near the woods in which the " rebs" had secured
their horses there was a fence which was speedily
torn down, with which we made fires and warmed
and dried ourselves.
The balance of the First Brigade now crossed the
river, followed by two guns; then the Second
Brigade, and the remainder of the artillery, followed
by the reserve. All the horses were watered by
squadrons, and we were ready for a forward move¬
ment. At eleven o'clock the entire force moved
towards Culpeper Court House, fourteen miles dis-
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 21
tant, with Colonel Mcintosh's command, consisting
of the Third, Fourth and Sixteenth Pennsylvania,
on the right; Reno's command, consisting of the
First and Fifth Regulars, forming the centre and
reserve, and Duffies Brigade, composed of the First
Rhode Island, the Fourth New York, and the Sixth
Ohio, on the left, the First Rhode Island taking the
advance, and the Sixth Ohio being deployed as
skirmishers. After advancing something less than
a mile, as the head of the column approached the
edge of a piece of woods, the enemy was discovered
advancing in line with skirmishers. The Fourth
New York was ordered to the right to form front
into line and advance to the edge of the woods and
use carbines; the Fourth Pennsylvania to the left
with the same orders, and the section of artillery
to the front to open fire. Colonel Mcintosh was
ordered to form line of battle on the right of the
woods, and Captain Reno sent three of his squad¬
rons to the right to act as a reserve, and one squad¬
ron up the road to support the centre. One section
of artillery was sent to the right to Mcintosh.
The enemy's artillery fire was now sweeping the
22 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
woods, causing marked disorder among the men of
the Fourth New York and Fourth Pennsylvania.
The Confederate left was advanced at a trot for the
purpose of capturing a house and outbuildings in
front of Mcintosh, who defeated their purpose by
dismounted men of the Sixteenth Pennsylvania,
aided by a section of artillery. Our right was then
advanced into the field beyond the house, and the
enemy's left successfully attacked by Mcintosh and
Gregg.
In the meantime Duffi£ had formed the First
Rhode Island, the Fourth Pennsylvania and Sixth
Ohio in front of the left, with the Fourth New York
as a support. At this lime the First Rhode Island
was in advance on the Culpeper road, alongside of
which ran a stone wall, with a small portion of it
thrown down. While the First Rhode Island were
thus halted in the roadway, a column of Confederate
cavalry advanced in squadron front from the woods
on the opposite side of the field, and when part way
across turned the head of their column to the left
and retired, firing with their carbines and pistols as
they galloped past. Major Farrington was wounded
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 23
by this fire, receiving a pistol shot in the neck, hav¬
ing a most narrow escape from a fatal wound. I
was saved from a bad wound in the thigh by the ball
striking my sabre's scabbard.
A few minutes afterwards the Confederates ad¬
vanced through the same piece of woods and
charged across in column of battalions, yelling like
demons, and apparently confident of victory.
Duffi^ ordered his command, which was in column
of fours, forward, and it moved into the field
through the gap in the wall, Duffie immediately or¬
dering front into line. Before any troops but the
First Rhode Island had time to get into line, Duffie
ordered the charge. The First Rhode Island went
at the " rebs " with a will, led by Captain Gould,
who had taken command upon Major Farrington's
retiring to have his wound dressed. The " rebs"
retreated in disorder, hardly waiting to feel the
sabre, pursued by the First Rhode Island with great
spirit, taking many prisoners, among them being
Major Breckenridge, a cousin of the Vice-President
of the Confederacy, who was captured by Lieuten¬
ant Fales. Some of our men went too far) and not
24 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
noticing another column of Confederates advancing
on their flank were captured. My horse carried me
through the Confederate lines, and I escaped by
making a detour to the left, jumping a fence into a
by-road which ran into the Culpeper road, and turn¬
ing to the left again jumped a fence back into the
field in which the regiment was. In this charge
Lieutenant Nathaniel Bowditch, of the First Massa¬
chusetts, and Assistant Adjutant General on Colonel
Duffle's staff, was mortally wounded after having
cut down three rebels. The First Rhode Island lost
eighteen men taken prisoners, among them being
Captain Thayer and Lieutenant Darling.
Of this charge by the First Rhode Island, the cor¬
respondent of the New York Times wrote as fol¬
lows: "Your correspondent has seen in this war
several brilliant cavalry charges, but he never saw
anything so handsome and exciting as the dashing
charge made on the left of our line by Colonel
Duffte, commanding on that part of the field."
A few minutes later the Confederates attempted
another charge, which was repulsed in such a hand¬
some manner by the First Rhode Island and a squad-
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 25
ron of the Fifth Regulars, led by Colonel Duffi6,
that they retreated a mile before their officers could
rally them. About the same time the Confederate
cavalry on our right made a demonstration which
was effectually checked by Mcintosh with the Third
and Sixteenth Pennsylvania. In the mean time our
artillery was playing on the fleeing rebels and quick¬
ening their speed.
It now became necessary to reorganize the com¬
mand, so the sections of the battery were assembled,
stragglers brought up from the rear, and the left of
the line, formed by the First Rhode Island and the
Sixth Ohio, was rested on the road, the ground on
the left being impracticable on account of its marshy
condition. The right of the advance was given to
the Fifth Regulars. The enemy was driven through
the woods about three-quarters of a mile, with the
artillery supported by a column in the road, when
open ground was made, and the enemy discovered
drawn up in line of battle on both sides of the road,
and about half a mile in front. The Confederates
had been reinforced and were said by prisoners to
3
26 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
be under the command of the redoubtable J. E. B.
Stuart himself, aided by Generals Fitzhugh Lee,
Rosser and Pelham.
The left of our line was immediately extended
under a sharp fire of shot, shell and small arms,
under cover of which the Confederate cavalry
advanced on both flanks, the force attacking the left
and advancing with great steadiness until it had
reached within four hundred yards of our battery,
which had not yet unlimbered. A section was
quickly got into action, however, and with the aid
of a charge made by the First Rhode Island and
Sixth Ohio the attack was repulsed, the Confeder¬
ates retreating in much disorder. Their attack on
the right had been similarly unsuccessful.
The whole line was now advanced across the open
ground through patches of woods until we reached
a stubble field. Here we formed in line of battle,
the left being composed of the First Rhode Island
and Sixth Ohio. On the left of the First Rhode
Island was a section of artillery. Immediately in
our front, half a mile distant, on rising ground, were
three pieces of artillery, two ten-pound Parrots and
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 27
one six-pounder. No horses could be discovered
about these guns, and from the manner in which
they were served it was evident they were protected
by earthworks. These guns were served with great
effect, for each shot took a man or a horse. This
sort of thing was very annoying, and the First
Rhode Island and Sixth Ohio were moved to the
rear and marched and countermarched for the pur¬
pose of keeping out of range of the rebel artillery.
During one of the wheels made at this time, Lieu¬
tenant Nicolai was killed by my side by a solid shot
striking him in the neck. Major Farrington had
returned to us some time before this, having had his
wound dressed, and was now in command of the
regiment.
While we were in this position, manoeuvring to
keep out of range of the enemy's guns, General
Averill rode in front of our line, and pointing to the
guns said, " Boys, you mustn't mind the fire from
those guns; it won't hurt you; its effect is only a
moral one." At this moment a shot struck within a
few feet of his horse, the "moral effect" of which
was to make the General immediately gallop to the
28 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FOKD.
right of the line to look after affairs there. Shortly
after this a demonstration was made by the Confed¬
erate left which was repulsed by Colonel Mcintosh.
Matters remained very quiet now for some time,
with the exception of an occasional shot from the
Confederate battery, when, at about half-past four
o'clock, occurred one of the most gallant feats of the
war, the credit of which belongs to the First Ehode
Island and the Sixth Ohio, and of which they have
a right to feel very proud.
The rebel guns in front of us had remained quiet
for a while when suddenly they began a rapid and
annoying fire, under cover of which a column of
cavalry was seen advancing in column of fours.
Prisoners stated that the command was composed of
the First and Fourth Virginia, seven hundred
strong, including the famous Black Horse Cavalry,
accompanied, if not led, by Stuart himself. The
woods from which the Confederates emerged were
less than a quarter of a mile distant, and a line of
fence ran across the fields from the road on our
right.
The rebels advanced at a trot, under fire of our
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 29
two guns, which were unable to do much execution
on account of defective ammunition, until they came
to the fence, where they halted for a moment to
allow of its being torn down by dismounted men ;
they then advanced, deploying into squadrons. In
the meantime the First Rhode Island and Sixth Ohio
had again formed on the right of the battery, in
echelon, for the purpose of supporting it, for its cap¬
ture was evidently the purpose of the Confederates.
When our squadrons had been halted and dressed,
for we were manoeuvred as if on parade, the order
was given to "Advance carbines !" As the Confed¬
erates advanced, having now changed from the trot
to the gallop, our men were anxious to open fire
upon them, but although there were one or two men
who indulged in such cries as "Come on, come on,
you sons of guns, we can't reach you there," but
one man discharged his carbine, whereupon Colonel
Duffie, who was sitting quietly on his horse on the
right, commanded, " Steady, men ; don't you stir ;
we fix 'em ; we give 'em hell! " A moment after¬
wards the orders were given, "Sling carbines ! Draw
sabres ! ! " Empty scabbards fell back with rattle
30 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
and clang, and a line of cold steel flashed in the
waning sunlight. On came the "rebs," now
changed from the gallop to the charge, yelling and
cheering, and firing an occasional shot from carbine
or pistol. Captain Rogers, who was in command of
the First Rhode Island, said to Major Farrington,
"Shall I not go, Major?" "No!" replied the
Major. Still we remained quiet. I turned in my
saddle and looked at the men behind me. Never
shall I forget their appearance. Every sabre was
grasped as with a hand of iron ; every eye was look¬
ing straight to the front; every knee was gripping
its owner's saddle as with a vise. They sat indeed
like a veritable stone wall; they appeared as immu¬
table as fate. Turning again to the front I could
see that the first squadron of the charging " rebs "
was wavering; files of men were breaking off from
the right and left. I exclaimed to myself, with
I am afraid a big, big D, "We've got them." Again
Captain Rogers said to the Major, " Shan't I go ? "
Again Major Farrington replied, " Not yet; wait a
minute." Waiting a few seconds longer, till the
" rebs " were within a hundred feet of us, the Major
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 31
said " Go!" Then came the ringing order from
Rogers, " Charge! " At them we went as if shot
from a catapult. But they could not stand the cold
steel. They broke and ran in wild disorder, leaving
a number of dead, wounded and prisoners, among
the former being the gallant General Pelham. Ser¬
geant Fitzgerald, of Troop G, First Rhode Island,
was killed, shot through the heart. We pursued
the fleeing "rebs" but a short distance, when we re¬
turned to our battery.
During the day there had been many personal
encounters, single horsemen dashing at each other
with full speed, and cutting and slashing with their
sabres until one or the other was disabled.
There had been many a dashing charge made and
repulsed by battalions and regiments, but this last
charge by the First Rhode Island and Sixth Ohio, at
this time with probably less than two hundred men
in line, against the First and Fourth Virginia with
four times their number, was by all odds the most
brilliant affair of the day, and deserves to be pre¬
served in history. The General commanding pro-
32 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD.
nounced it to be one of the most splendid ever
made.
Thus ended the battle of Kelly's Ford. It was
now after five o'clock ; the enemy had retired behind
their guns ; bur men and horses were exhausted;
the artillery's ammunition had been expended ; the
object of the expedition had been accomplished, and
orders were given for retiring. The reserve was
advanced to the front and deployed to mask the
battery which was withdrawn, and the regiments
retired in succession until the ford was reached and
crossed, without the loss of a man in the operation.
The force on our side actively engaged was
twenty-one hundred cavalry and six guns. The
rebel force was nearly the same, although General
Lee acknowledged having but between fourteen hun¬
dred and fifteen hundred men and six guns.
The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and
prisoners was more than two hundred. The loss on
our side was eighty, of which forty-two were from
the First Rhode Island. That tells the story. We
had more than half the loss with less than one-tenth
of the whole number engaged. Of the Confederate
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 33
prisoners more than three-fourths were taken by
us.
It was a glorious day for the First Rhode Island
Cavalry, and its memory is not to be effaced until
we, each and all, are called to respond to life's last
taps.
APPENDIX.
In " The Campaigns of Stuart's Cavalry," by
Major H. B. McClellan, twelve pages are devoted
to this combat at Kelly's Ford, and on page 207 is
the following: " General Lee says that only eleven
or twelve men were stationed in the rifle-pits at the
ford at the time of the attack." This must be a
mistake, and the letter of Captain William A. Moss
without doubt gives the facts substantially, although
he depends upon memory alone. In a previous
letter he speaks of having fired five times at the
officer on the gray horse (Lieutenant Simeon A.
Brown, First Rhode Island Cavalry), who led the
column across the ford.
Buckingham Court House, Va., Jan. 22, 1886.
My Dear Captain:
Your letter of the 20th inst. is just received, and I hasten to
reply. As I stated to you some time since, I am dependent
almost entirely upon memory as to occurrences which took
36 THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FOBD.
place during the war, having lost all my papers about the time
of the surrender at Appomattox Court House. My memory now
is that I carried with me to Kelly's Ford, on the morning of the
17th of March, 1863, about ninety men; that I left as a guard
with the horses, in the edge of the woods, about one-half mile
back from the ford, on the road to Brandy Station, five men,
taking with me eighty-five to the rifle-pits near the ford. Cap¬
tain Breckenridge was already in position, giving me no oppor¬
tunity to find out his force, and I do not remember what
number he officially reported, but am sure he must have had
sixty men with him, making in all one hundred and forty-five
men. Captain Breckenridge stated before the Court of Inquiry
that he did not fire, being short of ammunition, so all the exe¬
cution that was done was due to me. I have often wondered
how it was that I could have missed the gray horse, as I fired
at him more than at his rider, feeling sure that if I brought him
down the rider would be helpless, besides the rider had chal¬
lenged my admiration by his courageous bearing under the
trying circumstances. ******
The charge on your part was a gallant one, for few regiments
would have undertaken it under the heavy fire that was
poured upon them that cold morning.
Very truly your friend,
Wm. A. Moss,
Late Captain Co. K., 4th Ya. Cavalry.
To Captain Geobge N. Buss,
Providence, R. I.
THE BATTLE OF KELLY'S FORD. 37
Major McClellan claims that the Confederate force
on this occasion did not exceed eight hundred cav-
airj, supported by Breathed's battery of four guns,
and that the last charge was made by the entire force
on the Confederate side. On page 213 he says:
"Not a squadron was left to reinforce the charge when
broken on the enemy's lines, and there was nothing
behind which his regiments could rally, if unsuc¬
cessful, except the four guns of Breathed's battery.''
The charge was unsuccessful, and on page 215 we
find : "Now, indeed, there was an opportunity for
General Averill to 'rout or destroy' Fitzhugh Lee's
brigade. He had a large force in reserve; and
two fresh regiments, one on either side of the road,
could have swept that field beyond the hope of
recovery. He could have ridden over Breathed's
guns before the brigade could possibly have formed
to protect them." Major McClellan is not compli¬
mentary to General Averill. On page 216 he says :
" We cannot excuse General Averill's conduct. He
ought to have gone to Culpeper Court House." On
page 217 we find: "General Lee reports a loss of
4
38 THE BATTLE OE KELLY'S FORD.
eleven killed, eighty-eight wounded, and thirty-four
taken prisoners. Of the latter, twenty-five were
captured at the ford; only nine were lost in the
subsequent fighting. This fact is in itself an elo¬
quent commentary on the conduct of this brigade."
General Lee reports a loss of seventy-one horses
killed, eighty-seven wounded, and twelve captured.
In his address on the battle of Chancellorsville he
calls attention to the large proportion of horses
killed, as showing " the closeness of the contending
forces."
General Averill reports an aggregate loss of
eighty. Out of this number, forty-one casualties
occurred in the First Rhode Island Cavalry. "This
regiment fairly carried off" the honors of the day on
the Federal side."
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
OK EVENTS IN THE
War of the Rebellion,
BEING PAPERS BEAD BEFORE THE
RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Third Series-No. 20.
providence:
published by the societr.
1887.
PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS.
BY
ALONZO WILLIAMS.
it
[Late Second Lieutenant, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery.]
PROVIDENCE:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1887.
[Edition limited to two hundred and fifty copies.]
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
After the first campaign in 1861, which termi¬
nated so disastrously at Manassas, the army in Vir¬
ginia lay comparativly inactive until the spring of
1862. During this long interval, however, several
important expeditions were set on foot in the west
and in the farther south. One of the latter was
organized very early in the fall of 1861, and set sail
from Hampton Roads October twenty-ninth, consist¬
ing of fifty keels under Commodore Dupont, and fif¬
teen thousand troops under General T. W. Sherman.
After a stormy passage, during which the fleet was
dissipated to the winds of heaven and four steamers
were lost in a hurricane off Cape Hatteras, the scat¬
tered and battered armada began to re-collect and
rendezvoused off Port Royal, South Carolina.
Forts Walker and Beauregard were reduced, a
footing gained on the sea islands and the enemy
forced back to the main-land.
6 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
The army and navy deployed at once in every
direction by land and sea and commenced operations
against the line of the enemy, which extended some
two hundred miles from Charleston; South Carolina,
across Georgia to Jacksonville on the St. John's
River in Florida, and was commanded at this time
by no less a personage than General Robert E. Lee.
This line was the principal theatre of action of the
Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, some portion
of which was actively engaged at every salient point
of this stubbornly defended line during the next
four years, participating in every engagement in
siege and field, and serving as infantry, as heavy
artillery, as light artillery, as horse artillery. Com¬
pany A, of which the narrator had the honor of
being a member during, the entire four years,
was in turn metamorphosed into each of the species
of the genus soldier above named; and served,
moreover, for several months in the navy, until one
pleasant morning in the spring of '63 all its members
were raised to the mast-head by the explosion of a
rebel shell in the magazine, and found, when they
came down, that the steamer also had been razed to
the water's edge.
THE INVESTMENT OE FORT PULASKI. 7
The first siege our regiment was called upon to
undertake was that of Fort Pulaski, situated at the
entrance to the Savannah River, and to this I have
the pleasure of inviting your attention this evening.
Our esteemed fellow-citizen, General Horatio Rog¬
ers, who played such a distinguished and honorable
part in the breaching batteries on Tybee Island, has-
in preparation an account of the bombardment and
capture of the fort; consequently I shall limit this
paper definitely to the investment, every phase of
which, from the inception to the crowning consum¬
mation, came under the observation of the narrator ;
and of this I hope to give details which have not as
yet been put upon record. I cannot well suppress
the apprehension, however, lest the details I shall
give may sound to you like the calm and monotonous-
passages from an Odyssey in comparison with the
soul-stirring episodes of an Iliad, with the recital of
which these halls are accustomed to be filled, and
I crave at the outset your most patient indulgence.
FORT1FED LINE OF THE ENEMY.
Port Royal was the centre of activity. In our
front the enemy had constructed a formidable stra-
8 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
tegic line, its right resting on Fort McAllister on the
Ogechee River, sixteen miles south of Savannah,
passing through Fort Beaulieu on Vernon River
and numerous strong batteries on the intervening
islands to Forts Thunderbolt, Bonadventure and
Clausten's Bluff on St. Augustine Creek, to Forts
Jackson, Lee, Tatnall and Lawton on the Savannah
immediately in front of the city, and thence on to
the left of the line, resting on Charleston harbor,
eighty miles to the north. The advanced posts of
this line were at Pulaski, New River Bridge, Bluff-
ton, Port Royal Ferry, and on the extreme left,
Morris Island and Sumter. At all these points in
turn attacks were made upon this line, but without
avail, as the enemy had large forces encamped along
the Charleston and Savannah railroad which could
be readily concentrated upon any threatened point.
From a careful study of the official reports — Union
and Confederate — it is fair, however, to presume
that a concentrated and vigorous attack might have
broken this line, cut the communications, taken Sa¬
vannah, and possibly Charleston in reverse, and thus
very early in the war have opened an avenue to the
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 9
vitals of the Confederacy. This was the plan of
General Sherman and just what General Lee feared
he would attempt. The failure was due principally
to the peremptory refusal of the newly-elected chief
of all the armies to send the necessary reinforce¬
ments.
Compelled to give up his original plan, General
Sherman decided to force the entrance to the Sa¬
vannah by siege. His chief engineer, General Gil-
more, made a reconnoissance and reported that the
reduction of the fort was practicable from Tybee
Island. The armament for the breaching batteries,
however, did not arrive from the north until after an
interval of fifteen weeks; yet expeditions were set
on foot immediately for the investment of the fort.
The Savannah River runs to the southeast and its
debouchure at Tybee Roads is about twelve miles
from the city. It is skirted by low marsh islands,
intersected by innumerable large and small tortuous
bayous and creeks. On the Carolina side lies a vast
marsh called Hog Island, below Mud River, Jones
Island, across Wright River, Turtle Island, beyond
New River in the background Daufijskie Island.
10 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
In the stream lie Elba, Bird, Long and Cockspur
Islands. The latter is the site of Fort Pulaski. On
the Georgia side lie McQueens, Decent, Little Ty-
bee, and projecting far out beyond the northern
lip of the river's mouth Big Tybee, its seaward face
a low, sandy promontory, against which the Atlantic
incessantly breaks.
The fort is of brick, its walls, seven and one-hali
feet thick, rising twenty-five feet above high water.
Its form is that of a rectilinear pentagon, whose ver¬
tex is to the open sea. The up-river face, or gorge,
is covered by a demilune of earth in bold relief.
The main work is surrounded by a ditch forty-eight
feet wide, and the two faces of the demilune were
protected by a ditch thirty-two feet wide. The
only communication with the exterior, up to the
time our James Rifles opened a better one, was
through the gorge over a drawbridge into the dem¬
ilune and then through the left face of the demilune
over the demilune ditch by another drawbridge.
The fort is casemated on all sides and mounts one
tier of guns en embrasure and one en barbette, a
full armament being one hundred and forty, though
THE INVESTMEET OF FORT PULASKI. 11
only forty-eight were in battery at the time of the
bombardment; twenty of which bore on Tybee,
viz. :
Five 10-inch columbiads.
Five 8-inch columbiads.
Four 32-pounders.
One 24-pounder Blakely.
Two 12-inch seacoast mortars.
Three 10-inch seacoast mortars.
The position is a very strong one and commands
both channels of the river. Well might its com¬
mandant, Colonel Olmstead, feel secure in such a
stronghold against any batteries that could be
planted in the bottomless marshes by which he was
emcompassed.
FIRST RECONNOISSANCE.
The expeditions for the investment were made on
the north via Calibogue Sound, Cooper, New,
Wright and Mud Fivers, planting batteries in the
marshes on the north bank and in the middle of the
Savannah.
12 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
A reconnoissance was made by Lieutenant Wil¬
son, of the United States Topographical Engineers,
to spy out the land. We set out December twenty-
fourth, forty men from Company A under Lieutenant
Ery, and forty men from Company E under Captain
Bailey, marched across Hilton Head to Saybrook,
entered four large surf-boats and pulled out through
Skull Creek into Calibogue Sound. At night we
ascended Cooper River and turning into Ramshorn
Creek, which connects with New River, we landed
about nine o'clock on Pine Island. Here in a small
cabin a council of war was held, and each squad was
instructed in the perilous duties it might be called
upon to perform. I may read the orders given to
my sergeant, Charles H. Williams, in the execution
of which — execution is here just the word — his
squad was to furnish the background to the claret-
colored scene he was about to paint and to give
bold relief to the stalwart form of its sergeant in the
foreground. A lonely picket was supposed to be
stationed at a certain outpost by which we must
pass. The poor picket was not to blame. But it
is the inexorable law of life: the individual must
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PUTASKI. 13
ever be sacrificed to the advance of the race. Our
sergeant was to land and approach the object of our
compassion. When arrested by : " Who goes thereT
he was to answer: "Friend with the countersign,'>
[What a fib ! but, lying like swearing, is at times a
military necessity,] and when invited to "Advance,
friend, and give the countersign!" he was to approach
as close as permitted and then, leaning forward as
if to whisper the password, then — shall I tell it?—
I will read the very words of the order: " Strike
down your man! " The squad was to be near enough
to see that the picket interposed no objection to the
execution — of the order. A nice way this to spend
Christmas eve. Each of our sergeants was in turn
summoned into that little shanty and assigned
some similar duty, and we remember how cheerful
each looked as he came out.
As we were now inside the enemy's lines, oars
were muffled, and having been enjoined to speak
only in whispers, we pushed on in the direction of
Savannah. We passed through one noted thorough¬
fare called: "Pull-and-Be-Damned-Creek." That
was the euphonious title which the " contrabands,"
2
14 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
•who are of rather an emotional religious-tempera¬
ment, gave to the harmless waterway. If I remem¬
ber rightly, as we struggled against its swift tide
that night, several of my non-religious comrades
expressed to each other in pretty stout whispers
their opinion that the sluice was none too well named,
and even volunteered a few semi-religious epithets
as harmonious additions to the sentence-tious ap¬
pellation. Our negro boatmen and guides lost the
way or became frightened, so we turned back and
landed on Daufuskie toward morning, and after
throwing out pickets, snatched a few hours sleep in
a deserted house.
Lieutenant Wilson • now set out with Captain
Bailey and a boat's crew to get the bearings in the
day time, leaving the rest of us to cover their rear,
and to meet them after dark on Pine Island. On
their return at evening they were intercepted by
pickets stationed near Bloody Point, on the very
island where we had spent the day. They rowed
boldly for the shore, and after a sharp encounter
drove them in.
Nor had the party left on Daufuskie been inactive.
the investment of fort pulaski. 15
They too had met the enemy and gloriously con¬
quered. If you will call upon my Fidus Achates,
comrade George M. Turner, he will give you the
details of the charge which he so gallantly led, and
will tell you how the new sabre-bayonets of Com¬
pany A received their first stain of hostile blood.
As the result of the skirmish — for it hardly rose to
the dignity of an engagement — the party sat
down to a Christmas dinner of roast beef, sweet
potatoes and confiscated chicken.
Soon after our re-union on Pine Island an alarm
was given by the enemy and rockets sent up all
along the line for miles. You must remember we
were wholly within their lines, as they occupied the
islands behind us. As the enemy were now on the
alert, it was decided that only one boat should make
the final and farthest venture that night. We started
about ten p. m., Lieutenant Wilson, Captain Bailey,
ten picked men and eight negro-boatmen. We
worked our way stealthily up Wright River, through
Mud River into the Savannah, Lieutenant Wilson
making careful observations all the while, and each
man grasping firmly his trusty rifle, his finger upon
16 THE INVESTMENT OF FOliT PULASKI.
the trigger, straining eager eyes into the darkness,
ready to anticipate any over-hasty picket. We as¬
cended thus the Savannah to within three miles of
the city, and would probably have landed in Fort
Jackson had we not come unexpectedly upon one of
Commodore Tatnall's fleet, the giant gunboat " Sam¬
son." We passed within twenty yards of it and
could see the sentry pacing upon the deck. As it
was getting early and the evidences of the enemy
getting more and more numerous, indicated by the
firing all about us, we concluded to turn back ; and
after a sharp exchange of compliments with the
pickets along the streams, we arrived off the camp
on Daufuskie, about ten o'clock in the morning,
laden with much important information and several
suitings of very rich mud.
To this camp, Lieutenant Fry and his men had
returned about eleven o'clock the night before, sta¬
tioned outposts, hung the windows of the old house
with rubber blankets, built a fire and turned in wTith
toes to the hearth. About one o'clock the firing,
which had been heard at intervals, became more gen¬
eral and quite near. The sergeant of the guard,
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 17
Williams, was summoned without intermission from
point to point. One picket after another claimed
that he had seen men in the woods, and some that
they had been fired upon. The guard was doubled,
and later trebled, and all the men were aroused.
Positive orders had been left not to fire unless at¬
tacked, as it might cut off the return of our party.
Thus the men sat dosing, with equipments on and
rifles across their knees until daylight, when they
distinctly heard the reveille and platoon firing in
the enemy's camp. Before our party returned they
had become alarmed, had embarked in hot haste
and were on the point of departure when we put in
an appearance several hours behind the time agreed
upon.
As the objects of the reconnoissance had been
attained, we turned our prows toward Hilton.
Head, where we arrived at evening of the third
day. Soundings had been made of the streams lead¬
ing to the Savannah by which gunboats might ap¬
proach to protect us while erecting batteries. It
was developed, however, that New and Wright Riv¬
ers were connected by a narrow but deep artificial
18 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
channel, called Wall's Cut, in the centre of which a
large schooner had been sunk and fixed in position
by heavy piles. Lieutenant Wilson reported these
facts at headquarters, but his report as to the prac¬
ticability of erecting batteries on those mud
marshes was that it was absolutely impossible.
This expedition, penetrating so far into the enemy's
lines and remaining there so long, was regarded as
a feat of unusual daring. The Comte de Paris in
his excellent history alludes to the discovery of the
inland passage " by a bold explorer." Lieutenant
Fry wrote of Company A : "I never saw cooler men.
The greatest trouble was they wanted to fight, but
that was not our object." We were welcomed as
heroes 011 our return, as it was rumored that we had
all been cut off and that Captain Bailey had been
killed. The genial captain still lives, however,
though he has passed through many a " Pull-cmd-be-
Damned-Creek" since Christmas eve, 1861.
REMOVAL OF THE SCHOONER.
A secret expedition was sent January eighth to
remove the schooner from Wall's Cut, consisting of
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 19
Company I, First New York Engineers, Captain
Walker, twenty picked men from the same regi¬
ment, and sixteen men from Company G, Third
Rhode Island Heavy Artilley, Sergeant Hudson, all
commanded by Major O. T. Beard, Forty-eighth
New York. Surf-boats with tools were towed by
the steamer Mayflower as far as prudent, a landing
made on Daufuskie, the boats with the tools rowed
by night around to the Dunn plantation near Bloody
Point, where the men, who marched across the
island, arrived at midnight, and in silence the stores
were landed.
The next day an advanced line of pickets was
sent out in boats, and preparations made by the
engineers to commence work at nightfall. Steamers
© ©
were constantly passing up and down the Savannah
so near that men could be seen walking upon their
decks, and the stars could be counted on the flag
at Pulaski. That night the engineers succeeded in
sawing off, with peculiar saws of their own inven¬
tion, live of the piles at the very bottom of the
deep channel, and in the morning returned with the
piles in tow. Thus by incessant labor, night and
20 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
day, for nearly a week, they succeeded in removing
all the piles and swung the schooner around and
secured it to the side of the Cut.
One night as the details were approaching the
Cut, a shot from that direction threw them into con¬
sternation. A moment later two shots were heard
in their rear; then one from Fort Jackson, which
was answered from the city. " What does this
mean? Are we discovered?" asked Major Beard,
as he called Captain Walker along side. The men
were unarmed and apparently surrounded, but Major
Beard was there, and after consultation it was de¬
cided to go ahead. Permission was kindly given to
any who did not wish to accompany them to get out.
Did you ever know a man brave enough to back out
under such circumstances? How situations like
this taught us early in youth that fear is of very lit¬
tle real value in the practical affairs of life. Often
when perils seem to gather about us there is no real
danger of losing our life unless we first lose our
O O
heads. The firing was started by the neglect of
Lieutenant Wilson to answer promptly the chal¬
lenge of a picket, and there was no let up until the
the investment of fort pulaski. 21
circuit was completed, for when one picket has fired,
every wavering reed becomes a man to every other
picket; in the palpitation of his own heart he hears
the tramp of the approaching foe ; and the goblins
of his own past deeds fill the air with frightful spec¬
tres. Have you ever been a lonely picket, my
friend ?
Early one morning, it was Sunday, a small boat
was discovered coming up Mud River from the
Savannah. Our picket boat lay in hiding until it
had passed, and thus cut it off and captured it. The
party proved to be duck hunters from the city.
When informed that they were prisoners, they re¬
torted : " We have a pass from General Drayton."
" All right," replied the amiable and facetious lieu¬
tenant, "pass into my boat." When will men
learn not to go down the river duck hunting on
Sunday? The prisoners were much surprised to
learn that the obstructions were nearly removed
from the Cut, and told Major Beard what he already
knew, that if it were known at Pulaski, they
"would be blown to, to ; the Revised Version
22 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
spells it sheol, with a downward pitch on the last
syllable.
When we remember that this obstruction was so
far within the lines of the enemy that it was left un¬
guarded on the supposition that we would not have
the temerity to approach it, nor the ingenuity to re¬
move it unseen, especially as steamers were passing
daily in the Savannah, we may gain some idea of
the delicacy and difficulty of these operations. The
boys of the old " Third" have since then removed
many schooners from their progress in life, but none
that taxed more their ingenuity and powers of en¬
durance than the one which they sawed out in
Wall's Cut, January, 1862.
JOINT EXPEDITION OF ARMY AND NAVY.
A joint expedition of land and naval forces was
now at once prepared. We left Port Eoyal Janu¬
ary twenty-sixth, the Forty-eighth New York, Sixth
Connecticut, parts of the Eighth Maine and First
New York Engineers, and of our regiment, Com¬
pany E, Company G, and twenty-five picked
men from Company A, all commanded by General
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 23
Yiele; and accompanied by gunboats under Com¬
mander John Rodgers. The guns and ordnance
stores were towed on flats by the steamer May¬
flower :
Four 30-pounder Parrott rifles.
Three 20-pounder Parrott rifles.
Two 8-inch siege howitzers.
One 24-pounder field howitzer.
Each flat carried equipments and ten rounds of
amnunition for each gun. A schooner followed, con¬
taining, besides intrenching tools and ammunition :
Five 24-pounder field howitzers.
Three 24-pounder James rifles.
One 8-inch siege mortar.
One 10-inch siege mortar.
. General Gillmore accompanied the expedition,
and to his zeal and indomitable perseverance is
chiefly due the success of the work accomplished on
the upper Savannah, as well as that on Tybee,
whither he was summoned a month later.
24 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
We rendezvoused on Daufuskie, where we found
a part of the Seventh Connecticut guarding Wall's
Cut. After a reconnoissance it was decided to
erect a battery at Venus Point on Jones Island by
towing the armament through Mud River and down
the Savannah under protection of the gunboats;
but it was deemed important to construct first a
causeway over the marsh from Mud River, so that,
in case of an attack in force, our infantry supports
might be readily brought up from Daufuskie, four
miles distant, the nearest point where reserves
could be located with any certainty of finding them
above the surface when wanted.
The first week was spent in cutting poles for the
causeway, and in filling sandbags. Ten thousand
poles nine feet long and from five to six inches in
diameter were cut and brought a mile or more on
the shoulders of the men. Several more days were
spent in transporting this material to a temporary
wharf in Mud River, and in constructing a wheel¬
barrow road of plank across to Venus Point, over
which several hundred sandbags and a quantity of
material were carried by the men, mostly at night.
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 25
Our men assisted in these various tasks, but our
particular duty was to guard the flats. Lieutenant
Porter, the Chief Ordnance Officer, said in his
report: "Their skill and energy alone saved the
flats during the long time they were exposed to
rough waters, winds and tides." Those alone can
fully comprehend the significance of these words,
who passed those winter nights upon them, exposed
to the fury of the storms, drifting in the swift
running creeks, or stranded on the marshes, at the
risk of losing the guns, which were more worth than
their life.
The narrator was a member of a reconnoitering
party sent out into and across the Savannah to find
and cut the land and submarine telegraph wires
between the city and fort. About a mile of the
wire, running, as it were, under the very keels of
their gunboats and between the legs of their pick¬
ets, was cut and carried off, a piece of which I hold
in my hand.
Many interesting incidents occurred during our
stay on Daufuskie, had we time to recite them.
Here for the first time were we afforded an oppor-
3
26 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
tunity to develop that predatory faculty innate in
every genuine Yankee soldier. If there was any¬
thing savory on that fertile island which the " Third
Rhode Island " did not first enjoy, it is not recorded
that any other regiment discovered it.
An incident, or rather accident, that befel one of
Company E, Sergeant Keene, later Lieutenant in
Company B, who has long since joined the boys on
the other side of the river, we can never forget.
Commander Rodgers had engaged five rebel gun¬
boats, which were passing down the Savannah with
barges in tow for the fort, and every one was on
tiptoe to get a good view of the engagement. Ser¬
geant Keene had been a sailor, and is led at once
by his seafaring instinct to " shin " up one of the
tall slender pines grown for that purpose. We
watch him with envy as he climbs up, up, ten feet;
up, up still, now twenty feet above our highest
aspirations; he reaches at last a limb, and good
seaman as he is, nimbly swings himself over it,
seats himself in such a way as to show that the
Creator made 110 mistake when he bifurcated man,
and then prepares to drink in the enchanting pano-
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 27
rama. What envious creatures we are, forgetting,
alas ! the great truth in life's economy, to wit: the
higher up a man gets, the more difficult it becomes
to maintain his equilibrium. Hark! Something
snaps and something drops. Envy is changed to
pity, and a score of comrades hasten to raise a
fallen brother. Is he dead? Bounteous Nature
has provided a soft cushion, a sort of life-preserver
for just such emergencies, if one but knows how to
avail himself of it. Sergeant Keene had not been
to sea in vain. Drawing the correct mathematical
conclusion that the least surface of contact is fur¬
nished by two colliding spheres, he makes a few
revolutions that would have done credit to an
expert tumbler over elephants, then assumes the
attitude he was looking for, and lands on that part
of his rounded development where the least harm
could result. That was the moment his picture
should have been taken. The laugh that arose has
hardly subsided to this day. Surely men are
creatures of changing emotions.
One day a violent storm swept over the island,
accompanied by terrific thunder, following in the
28 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
wake of wicked flashes of lightning. Sergeant
Williams seeing a guard near his tent carrying his
musket at shoulder with fixed bayonet, shouted:
" Stick that d-d - dangerous bayonet in the
ground!" Good soldier as he was, he halted on
his beat, faced outward and ordered arms. The
next instant he lay prostrate beside his musket
— deadl He was laid in an "A" tent on the shore
and Sergeant Williams was ordered to furnish a
man to spend the night with the body. I heard
him say that he wanted "a man who had sand in
him" — that was one of his classical expressions,
— and so he detailed one bearing the same name as
himself, and there were but two of that distin¬
guished Rhode Island name in the detachment.
That body-guard has never forgotten the long
cheerless hours of that night, and often has he
prayed to all the Stygian gods that they will yet
grant him an opportunity to reciprocate the kindness
shown him at that time by his sandy namesake.
Taken all and all our life on Daufuskie was not
an unpleasant one, a fact due in no small degree to
the beauty of the island itself. The coast from
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 29
Charleston to Savannah is fringed with low, rich
islands, which on the map has the appearance of
elegant lace on a lady's mantle. Amongst these
islands and the marshes which separate them from
the main land, run innumerable rivers and deep,
narrow creeks and bayous, into which the tides
bring the warmth and life of the Gulf Stream.
The islands have a rich, vegetable substratum, and
are blanketed by the fine sands of the ocean's
margin. These are the famous Sea Islands, and
here grows in wild luxuriance the Sea Island
cotton, with its long silky fibre. Here in stately
majesty tower to the bending blue sky the unctuous
southern pine, the proud, pompion-shaped palmetto,
the delicately slender cypress, the fragrant mag¬
nolia ; and here the majestic live-oak rears its
graceful triumphal arches and hangs them with the
gray, clinging drapery of the soft southern moss.
Here abound shrubs and vines and flowers even in
mid-winter, the lovely jasmine, the gelsinium sem-
pervirens, clothing its climbing tendrils with yellow
flowers and spreading fragrance and beauty on all
around; as also the passion-flower, an inspiration
30 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
and assurance of our own success, preaching by
cruciform petals and medicinal virtues the lesson of
triumph through suffering.
Of all these charming islands none is more
beautiful, fertile and luxuriant than the quiet isle of
Daufuskie. Looking out through dense forests over
the placid waters of Calibogue Sound; and toward
the rising sun to the white caps of old ocean lashing
itself to fury upon the sand-bars that lie upon the
far horizon; and southward over the broad Savan¬
nah and its myriad isles, she seems to sit a queen
of veritable eastern luxury and indolence among the
many low marshes and flat rice fields that lie
between her and the main land. Large mansions
surrounded by ample buildings and rich gardens,
added the life and grace of civilization to the native
and semi-tropical wildness of this charming Sea
Island. No one, surely, of the "Third Rhode
Island "who passed the days from January 26 to
February 11, 1862, on this island, can easily recall
a sunnier spot in that, at once, dark and bright era
of our life. Even now as I dwell upon it, recollec¬
tion seems to grow clearer, memory sees farther
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 31
back into the past, a holy calm encompasses those
stormy years, and fain would I linger still within
the precincts of the encircling charm and leave to
others the recitals of the dangers and sufferings now
O O
so soon to follow.
THE PLANTING OF BATTERY VULCAN.
All was now ripe for planting the battery on
Jones Island, and the contrast between our life of
comparative comfort on Daufuskie and the arduous
duties awaiting us call vividly to mind the state¬
ment of Caesar in his commentaries on the Gallic
War: that the gods are accustomed to grant to men
favorable fortunes for a while that they may suffer
the more grievously from a violent change of cir¬
cumstances. It was decided that the gunboats
should attempt the Mud River passage on the night
of February ninth on the tide, and the Mayflower
should follow immediately behind with the flats in
tow. At nightfall all is in readiness for the perilous
passage. The signal is given and the Mayflower
turns on steam. The elements, however, were
averse, if not in league with the enemy. The
32 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
bottom of the heavens fell out; the winds howled
and spirits of terror and dismay were abroad; the
muddy rivers boiled as a vast maelstrom; the mad
tides rushed in from every direction, covering the
islands like a second deluge; an impenetrable dark¬
ness spread itself over the scene ; yet we struggled
against Fate with a determination that would not
yield till broken. What strength of character and
iron wills that war developed! But our efforts
*
were in vain and toward morning we cast anchor,
and at daybreak found ourselves near the spot
whence we started.
The gunboats now seemed reluctant to move.
As Mud River was only about eight feet deep at
flood and one and one-half at low tide, there was
some doubt whether they could get back, should
Tatnall prove more than a match in the Savannah.
As the fort prevented them from going down the
river, they might be themselves bottled and exposed
to all the torpedoes and fire rafts from above. It
would be useless for us to attempt the Savannah
River passage without the gunboats. But General
Gillmore was not a man to be frustrated in his
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 33
designs. He decided to haul the guns over the
marsh to Venus Point, nearly a mile, a task any
rational man would pronounce impossible. Had
not General Lee already reported to Richmond that
the erection of a battery on these islands was
impossible ? But General Gillmore left his diction¬
ary at home and had evidently forgotten the defini¬
tion of that word.
Let me describe to you Jones Island and you may
judge of the feasibility of the undertaking. Like
the adjacent islands it is covered with reeds and tall
grass, and flooded at high tide. It is soft unctuous
mud, free from sand and of the elasticity of gela¬
tine. A pole can be forced into it ten or twelve
feet with ease, and the resistance diminishes with
increase of penetration. Even in the most elevated
parts the crust is but four or five inches in depth,
and the sub-stratum is a semi-fluid mud, which is
agitated like jelly by the movement of bodies over
it. A person is partially sustained by the roots of
the grass and sinks only a few inches, but when this
top gives way, he goes down suddenly several feet
and unless rescued at once is in imminent peril.
34 the investment of fort pulaski.
Over this treacherous surface the rash general
proposed to transport guns of several tons weight;
impossible ! impossible! so said wise men, so said
the rebels, so said the Fates. General Gillmore
said: we'll try, and his features were set. That
night four flats were towed by row-boats up against
the tide through Wall's Cut into Mud River,
between eight and ten p. m., and when all the guns
and ammunition had been landed, an immense task
alone, the men were set to hauling the pieces over
the marsh. Most of them had been on continuous
duty up to their waist in water for twenty-four
hours and from sheer exhaustion were unfit for the
arduous work, hence the pieces were covered
with reeds and grass to prevent discovery and the
men withdrew. That same night the engineers
commenced the magazine and platforms on Yenus
Point. The floor of the magazine rested on sand¬
bags which raised it twenty inches, and the plat¬
forms, nine by seventeen feet, were raised six
inches with sand brought up from Daufuskie and
carried over in bags on the shoulders of the men.
They also concealed their work and withdrew just
before daybreak.
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 35
The next night the work was resumed, and the
narrator can never forget that he was there. The
task was of the most extraordinary labor, and ex¬
hausting to a degree beyond one's power to de¬
scribe. Let me attempt to tell you how it was done.
The pieces, limbered up, were moved on runways
of planks laid end to end, each fifteen feet long, one
foot wide and three inches thick. Each squad had
one pair of extra planks which were placed in front
and then the pieces drawn forward with strong drag
ropes, and suppressed groans, until the rear planks
were cleared and then those were carried to the
front and the operation repeated, a slow and tire¬
some process. The planks soon became smeared
with the slimy mud and difficult to handle, so that
ropes had to be attached by which they were
dragged through the mire. We sank to our knees
and often to our waists, and encased our feet in
sand-bags tied below the knee, and these served as
a sort of pontoon, but after one had been under a
few times, these became too heavy to drag and were
discarded. Many vexatious delays and much ex¬
hausting labor was occasioned by the slipping of
36 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
the gun-carriages from the runways. They would
sink at once to the axle, even deeper, and only by
the most expeditious use of skids and great exer¬
tions were they kept from sinking to the bottom,
while powerful levers had to be devised and much
time and united effort expended to raise them to the
surface again. When the wheels struck the poles
on which the planks were laid, the other end of the
pole would fly up, striking the men in body or face
and land them in the mud, if not seriously cripple
them. Add now to these Herculean efforts the dis¬
piriting discomforts attendant upon a drenching
winter storm, remembering what these same men
had been called upon to undergo during the three
preceding nights and intervening days spent in
bringing up material from Daufuskie, and you may
possibly form a faint conception of what those boys,
then fresh from the schools and shops and farms and
comfortable homes of New England, had to suffer
on Jones Island that bitter night in February.
Need I tell you that toward morning they began
to give out, and neither encourage'ments nor threats
nor maltreatment availed. Many fell in the mud
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 37
and refused to rise, in most cases could not. As
for myself, my very final effort at last was spent.
The Fates, however, were not wholly unpropitious.
At that instant there was for some reason a momen¬
tary halt. The wheel of our gun-carriage had
scarcely ceased turning, when I saw my stalwart
sergeant and namesake embracing its tire lovingly
with folded arms, holding on for dear life, but fast
asleep standing. I needed no farther incentive. I
let go the will, my hamstrings relaxed and I
dropped. Never did softer or more welcome couch
receive the weary form of a king. I slept. I
dreamed. Even now I recall the bliss experienced
as the mud seemed to open and let me down, down,
down to well, any place were heaven to the
sheol we were in. Those were precious moments,
but, alas, they were fleeting, as all the purest joys
of life. Whether it was a prod from a bayonet or a
kick from my sergeant's stern foot, I was rudely
aroused and summoned to the endless and hopeless
task. I looked to my namesake for compassion,
but he now towered up against the midnight sky
forbidding as a Jove, looking as austere and inno-
4
38 the investment of fort pulaski.
cent as if he had never himself lapsed from duty.
You who know my esteemed comrade only as a
Paris, little realize what he is when a Mars. We
must not linger to depict farther the details of this
weary night. At two a. m. the first piece was at
Yenus Point and the last before nine o'clock, and
by noon six guns were in battery ready for busi¬
ness :
Three 30-pounder Parrott rifles.
Two 20-pounder Parrott rifles.
One 8-inch siege howitzer.
The southerners had shown their knowledge of
classical antiquity by naming this small elevation
Yenus Point, whether because it rose from the
waves of the sea, or whether because so slightly
clad, or because its fair surface was so treacherous,
does not appear. The Yankees, not to be outdone
in display of academic lore, recalling the special
favors shown to the grim forger of Jove's thunder¬
bolts by that fair goddess to whom all the gods, as
well as degenerate man, are ever ready to pay
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 39
homage, solemnly christened this, the first offspring
of their labors, " Battery Vulcan."
The day was spent in preparing for action. As
night approached we began to look about for hard,
not soft, places in which to sleep, being excluded
from the platforms, as they could barely sustain the
weight of the guns. Foresight had led the narrator
O O ©
to place his effects upon the cross-bar of a limber
standing behind the gun in the mud, and thus he
claimed by pre-emption this bar and the adjoining
pole as his headquarters, and on that slender
tongue he balanced himself and slept in happy equi¬
librium of body and spirit dreaming of the battle to
come on the morrow.
In the morning the steamer Ida came down on
her trip to Pulaski, all unconscious of the hidden
danger. She was thrown into consternation by the
storm of shot and shell that unexpectedly burst
upon her, but escaped unharmed, as all our guns,
except one, recoiled off the platforms. Having now
disclosed our position, Tatnall might appear at any
moment, and our guns were sinking in the mud.
Ignorant of our plight the attack was delayed.
40 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
Meantime strenuous exertions were made to remedy
our mistakes, and this preliminary experience, dis¬
closing as it did our defects, saved Battery Vulcan
from being knocked off Venus Point, and this
narrative from being abruptly curtailed.
When Tatnall appeared the next day with four
gunboats, we were ready for him, and after a warm
engagement of an hour he was glad to have his dis¬
abled flagship towed out of action. This engage¬
ment was fought by us against large odds in number
of guns, without any cover by parapet, and that,
too, on unfinished platforms. General Sherman
sent his felicitation as follows :
" The commanding general requests that you will
thank the officers and men of the Third Rhode
Island Artillery for the admirable conduct displayed
during the recent engagement with the rebel gun¬
boats, having every confidence they will always dis¬
tinguish themselves ; and expresses his conviction
that when opportunity offers every other company
of the regiment will emulate the conduct of Com¬
panies E and G and the detachment of Company
A."
the investment of fort pulaski. 41
the planting of battery hamilton.
It was now decided to plant a battery in the
middle of the river on the upper end of Bird Island,
directly opposite Yenus Point, in order to close
the south channel and St. Augustine Creek. Com¬
pany E and the detachment of Company A were
selected to man the guns, and the flats with the
armament and material were brought from Daufus-
kie into Mud River February twentieth. About
midnight we reached the mouth of the river, and on
the change of the tide at one a. m. pulled out into
the Savannah, under the very noses of the rebel
gunboats. It was a perilous passage. The solemn
injunction that no one should speak was super¬
fluous. We held our breath, our hearts stopped
beating, our hair stood on end :
" Obstupui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit;"
nothing moved but the even swing of our muffled
oars, and uncertainty which beat its thousand-fold
dark pinions about our anxious heads. Major Beard
and Captain Hamilton led in a small boat, and by a
42 the investment of fort pulaski.
preconcerted system of signals indicated the proper
direction to Captain Bailey, Sergeant Williams and
the other flats. As the tide was running strong and
the night exceedingly dark, we found it difficult to
keep our course, but succeeded about two a. m. in
reaching the point designated, and commenced at
once to construct the platforms and magazine and
to land the armament. Such silence was preserved
that the enemy was not aware of the movement till
daylight, when it was too late to attack us with
impunity. At daybreak an eight-inch howitzer was
in position, and by three p. m. we had in battery six
pieces:
Three 24-pounder James rifles.
One 30-pounder Parrott rifle.
One 20-pounder Parrott rifle.
One 8-inch howitzer.
Thus all communication by the Savannah, between
the city and the fort, was effectually closed on the
twenty-first day of February, and on the same
day the first vessel with ordnance from the North for
the siege batteries on Tybee Island arrived off the
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 43
harbor. This side was blockaded, and hence the
fort invested on this side first. Early in December
the Forty-sixth New York, under Colonel Rosa, had
been secretly landed, as a precautionary measure, on
Tybee, and there they had lain all this while, as it
were sub rosa. Two companies of this regiment
were sent the next day to occupy Decent Island, in
order to close Lazeretto Creek, and thus was com¬
pleted on February twenty-second the absolute
investment of Fort Pulaski. The erection of the
breaching batteries on Tybee, the bombardment and
capture of the fort, and the important, nay leading
r61e played therein by the officers and men of the
Third Rhode Island I leave to another and abler
pen.
LIFE ON BIRD ISLAND.
Our life, or rather vegetation, of nearly two
months on Bird Island with its attendant privations
and sufferings and frequent contests with the fleet,
was very trying. Thes^vicissitudes must be left
untold. I will add one or two characteristic inci¬
dents and from these you may judge of them all.
44 the investment of fort pulaski.
The first night I well remember. Exhausted by
the unceasing labors night and day for two weeks,
especially the exertions of the previous night, and
the unremitting toil of the day, we began to long
for darkness and rest. But where could we lie
down? The platforms were sinking and we were
forbidden to stand on them. We were ever ready
to die standing, but to sleep standing required more
nerve than any of us posessed, though our sergeant
had been seen to perform that feat. To add to our
discomforts a rain came on with the darkness.
Each man was left to care for himself. The narra¬
tor went out into the marsh and broke a bundle of
reeds and grass and made a bed on the spot, and
weaving together the tops of some of the tallest
reeds and spreading them apart he formed a shelter
in the shape of an A tent, under which he crawled
and was soon dreaming like a child in its mother's
arms. Good and bad are largely relative terms.
The next few hours were among the happiest in life.
The world, however, mo^cs and our relations are
ever shifting. Moon and tide wait upon no man's
pleasure. It was about two a. m. I felt a moisture
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 45
beneath me, but when I remembered where I was, I
did not think it strange, and rolled over to continue
my dreams of home. Soon, however, I awoke to
find the pockets and all the vacant and sinuous
labyrinths of my regulation trousers filled with
water. Deeming it prudent to make a reconnois-
sance, I found all the island about me flooded. I
started instinctively in the direction of the battery,
forgetting that a ditch bad been begun there until I
© © o
landed at the bottom of it up to my neck in water.
The early hours of February twenty-second were
passed, not as had been our custom in former years,
in preparing to honor the Father of his Country,
but in frantic endeavors to avoid the alligators
which were out for their early morning exercise. If
what 1 say in this connection may seem incredible,
please call up my comrades to verify it. The layer
of mud on these islands was the regular habitation
of this amphibious tribe, and it will show the nature
of the mud if I tell you that when the tide went
out they sank easily right down out of sight, and
the firing of the guns often brought them to the
surface. We discovered the nose of one of these
46 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
carnivorous reptiles near the cook's kettle, and
digging about him we lassoed him and drew him
out with hawsers. He measured about ten feet,
and the boys have not forgotten what tender steaks
he made, as this kind of meat was at a premium for
a few days. The high winds and strong tides due
to the storm, as also the renewed vigilance of the
enemy prevented us getting supplies via Mud River
across the Savannah, and we were compelled to
subsist on native products and faith. The boys
drew the line, however, at alligators, and refused
to prolong life by eating the snakes that abounded.
I always thought this distinction was not so much a
matter of taste as of prejudice inherited from our
distinguished ancestress. Captain Bailey succeeded
later in conquering a prehistoric crocodile which
measured fourteen feet and proved a trifle ancient
for our digestive apparatus even under such stimu¬
lating circumstances.
Reduced to extremities we sent a boat to Mud
River to report our distress and to bring immedi¬
ate relief. The next night we stood waiting, cold
and hungry, at the water's edge, peering with
dilated pupils into the impenetrable darkness and
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 47
listening with ears acute to catch the dip of the
muffled oars, for our comrades were true and we
knew they would attempt the passage that night,
even were all Tatnall's fleet in the river. Slowly
the hours passed and midnight came and went.
Only hollow tones of the distant breakers give
answer to our longing. Most of the men have
fallen in the mud, asleep. A few of us stand
shivering still, and on the flood of the tide, ere we
are aware of its approach, a boat is rowed right up
on to the island into our midst. The men are
aroused, and half crazy they rush for the boat. The
provisions brought are soon distributed. What is
it? Could you have looked upon it and have
witnessed the scene that followed, it would give
you a more vivid conception of what the Union
soldiers was called upon to suffer in that long,
terrible war than any painting of words can portray.
When shipped from the North, it was supposed to
be a barrel of yellow meal, presumably for horses.
That was all. It had evidently been thrown out
into the surf at Port Royal and towed ashore
months before, and had since been floating around
48 the investment of fort pulaski.
the mud rivers on flats in the rain, who could tell
how long. It was green with mould and cobweby,
but now fully alive to its important mission. We
broke it up with our shovels, regardless of the
sacrifice of life it cost, and each man received a
piece — apiece? no, that is too nice a word, a
chunk,—a hunk, that fits the case better. What
could we do with it, you ask? Trust a hungry
soldier for that. A stampede was made for the old
barrel into which we had thrown pork rinds, skim¬
mings and superfluous grease. This we mixed with
our shorts, and adding a sufficient quantity of the
brackish river water, we reduced the mass to a
paste, and the small hours of the night were spent
around the fire, each with his little tin pan in which
he turned from time to time his Johnny cake until
it was baked to a crisp brown That that was a
genuine " Camp Fire," of which those who have seen
only the simulated ones of these degenerate days,
consisting of scalloped oysters, ice cream and horti¬
cultural rhetoric, can form but an indistinct con¬
ception.
Since then it has been my privilege to sit at rich
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 49
banquets in many of the great capitals of the
world, but I am unable to recall one which I en-
ioyed with such a keen relish as I did that brown
Johnny cake seated with my comrades in Bird
Island mud. Surely happiness is largely a relative
state. The water we drank was from the river, ot
which we had our choice, either at high tide when it
was fresh from the Atlantic and about as palatable
as a dose of Epsom salts, or at low tide when
charged with all the mud of the swollen creeks
above, a choice as difficult as the one imposed upon
the renowned Mr. Hobson. We had no change of
©
clothing, or none to speak of, and as it was well
nigh impossible to wash what we had on in the
heavily impregnated water, our condition may be
more easily imagined than admired. It was equally
impossible to make any satisfactory impression
upon the successive deposits which had become
encrusted upon our bodies. Indeed, it became
rather a matter of pride to carry these evidences of
our heroic service as one does honorable scars, and he
who succeeded in removing them was looked upon
5
50 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
much as a dude is in our day. Thus ever does our
environment determine largely our fashions.
One of our gravest discomforts was the various
kinds of animal life that insisted on sharing the
island with us. There was one animal who had
come with us, landed with us, stayed with us,
sticking closer than a brother; a wingless, hemip-
terous animal known to scientists as the pediculus
vestimenti, better known to soldiers as " the gray
back." You can form an idea of the sufferings from
cold and hunger, from sickness and wounds, but
you cannot gain any adequate estimate of a soldier's
sufferings if you leave out of account this sturdy
camp follower. Where it is possible to boil one's
clothes, the encroachments of this pest may be
warded off, but on a campaign, such as this, it is
simply out of the question, and no one, from the
commanding general down, is exempt. It is only a
question of degrees of multiplicity. Herod as well
as Phillip II. of Spain, died from the attacks of
these ridiculous pediculi. Most of my comrades
were in a condition to envy the happy lot of those
two royal sufferers. Among all the tortures we
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
51
were called upon to endure in this siege, none were
more aggravating than the insistent incursions of this
pest. As we had no kettle in which to boil our
clothes except the cook's, who stubbornly refused
to loan them for the purpose, and as washing them
in cold water seemed only to invigorate the robust
constitution of their tenacious tenants, the only re¬
course left us was, as it was euphemistically called
in the arm}'', to " go skirmishing " and this pleasant
duty became one of the chief recreations during our
stay on Bird Island.
CONCLUSION.
Such, ladies and gentlemen, were some of the ex¬
periences through which those passed to whom was
entrusted the investment of Fort Pulaski. In con¬
clusion I desire to call your attention to one im¬
portant lesson to be drawn from a siege such as I
have endeavored to describe. Many persons fancy
that the only important duty of a soldier consists in
fighting on the open battle-field. Such persons
estimate the service of a regiment by the number
of great battles in which it was engaged and the
52 the investment of fort pulaski.
number of men it lost therein ; and they estimate
the service of any given individual by the number
of times he has been killed, or at least mortally
wounded. How often have you, my comrade, been
asked by such persons : Were you at Gettysburg ?
No 1 At Fredericksburg? No! At Yicksburg?
No! At Charleston? No! Ever killed? No!
Wounded? No ! An ordinary soldier has no show
in the hands of these unread torturers. They never
heard of other battles, and conclude at once
that he could not have seen much service. There
are two palpable fallacies involved in such estimates
to which I wish to draw your attention. In the
first place, many a man was present at more than
one of the great battles mentioned, and yet saw no
more severe fighting than another man possibly pres¬
ent at no one of them. We remember that many a
regiment marched up the peninsula and marched
down again without firing a shot, while some of us
remember that one detachment of our Battery was
at Gainesville, where the fighting was so desperate
and decisive, and finally hand to hand, that the gun,
limber, caisson and horses were all lost, and twelve
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 53
out of fifteen men either cut down or landed in
Andersonville. Few regiments at Fredericksburg
saw such fighting as the First Cavalry at Kelley's
Ford, a mere reconnoissance. The fact is, many
are here present who have been in battles where
from fifty to one hundred thousand were engaged,
who, however, were called upon to perform more
arduous, more desperate work, on other fields
seldom mentioned by name, where but a few hun¬
dred were engaged.
© ©
These statements every soldier here readily admits,
but the one I am now about to make may seem at
first untenable, to wit: the most dangerous service
was not rendered on the field of battle at all. Let us
glance at the statistics of the war :
Killed in battle 44,238
Died of wounds 49,205
Total 93,443
Died of disease in the service- 212,384
Discharged for disability 285,245
Total 497,629
Discharged because of wounds, subtracted 65,455
Remainder 432,174
What do these figures mean ? They mean :
54 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
1. That more than twice as many died of disease
in the service as were killed in action and died of
wounds combined.
2. That nearly jive times as many died ot
disease as were killed in action.
3. Th&tjive times as many were discharged for
disability, excluding those discharged because of
wounds, as were killed in action.
4. That more than jive times as many died of
disease and were discharged for disability combined,
as were killed in action and died of wounds com¬
bined.
In some departments these ratios are increased to
an appalling degree. One regiment from this State
serving in the department of the Gulf, lost thirty-
six times as many by disease as were killed in
battle, and another one hundred and nine times as
many. Large as was the percentage of mortality
in our late war, yet it was larger in former wars
when* sanitary provisions were less understood. In
the Crimean War seven-eighths (87.5 per cent.) of
the mortality among the British troops was from
disease. When you think of the historic names of
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 55
the Alma and Inkerman, of Balaclava and Sebas-
topol and many lesser fields, remember that only
one-eighth of the mortality in that entire war
resulted from death on the field of action and from
wounds combined. To show the rate of mortality
in relation to the number in the field, we may take
the report of Lord Raglan (see Kinglake, vol. iv, p.
158) for the seven months from October 1, 1854, to
April 30, 1855. The mean strength of his army
was 28,939. Of this number there died in hospital
11,652, of whom 10,053 died of disease. The re¬
port made on the last day of February, covering
the preceding four months (see Iv., p. 150) shows
8,898 deaths in hospital, 13,608 lying in hospital
on date of report, making a deduction of 22,506
from an army whose mean strength for that month
was only 30,919 ; and a large proportion of those still
able to handle a fire-lock were suffering from grave
bodily ailment (p. 152). The rate of mortality in
January, which was the greatest, was so large that
to supply the loss from disease alone, which was
ninety-seven per cent, of the whole, the entire army
would have to be replaced by a new one every ten
50 THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI.
months. It was only by constant reinforcements
that either the English or French army was saved
from extinction.
Such facts and figures as these are significant to
O ©
veteran soldiers, as indicative of the kind of service
that was required of the Union volunteer, as indica¬
tive of the kind of service most dangerous to life in
war, showing that it is not necessarily participation
in great battles, not necessarily direct exposure of
life and limb amid shot and shell, though every
genuine volunteer hailed such opportunities as a
relief, not this alone that constitutes real service
.and heroic self-sacrifice, but rather the long and
faithful performance of the manifold duties the
soldier is called upon daily and nightly to render,
in camp, on picket, in siege, in the trenches, on
the march; illy-clad, illy-fed, and exposed to all
the rigor and vicissitudes of the elements. If you
will show me the comrade who faithfully, loyally,
with glad obedience performed all these, who for
the sake of his country endured all this, I will
show you the comrade who was not only the man
most to be relied upon when the critical hour of
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 57
battle came, but also the man who rendered to his
country the best service, the most arduous service,
yea, the most dangerous service, and who to-day,
though he carry no hostile bullet in his body, yet
deseryes the deepest gratitude and highest rewards
of this Republic.
So when I recall the eventful history of the glori¬
ous old " Third," and remember the bloody fields
on which it proved its valor and heroism, James
Island, Pocotaligo, Deveaux Neck, Port Royal
Ferry, Coosaw River, Broad River, Bluffton, Honey
Hill, Gainesville, Olustee, Cedar Creek, Morris
Island, Wagner, Pulaski, Drury's Bluff, Fort Burn-
ham, Laurel Hill, Petersburg, Appomattox and more
than a score.of others; when I think of the long
months spent in the siege of Sumter and Charles¬
ton , where it was under fire as man}' days and
nights as any regiment in the whole war, I would
not, I cannot detract from the honor gained in the
heat and danger of actual battle, but I cannot for¬
get that she performed other services no less honor¬
able, no less dangerous. When I recall the thirty
hours during which she withstood the withering fire
58 the investment of fort pulaski.
from Pulaski, I recall no less vividly the three long
months, the more than two thousand hours, spent
in equally arduous, and even more dangerous duties
while drawinar the fatal cordon about that citadel.
o
So when I read over the old roster of my regi¬
ment and check off the long list of those who died
of disease in the service, I think of the swamps and
savannas of Georgia. When I read the two hun¬
dred and fifty-three names of those who were
discharged because they were no longer fit for ser¬
vice, I think on the swamps and malaria of
Georgia. When I place the fatal star opposite
the names of so many who since then have
surrendered, my mind reverts to the islands of
Carolina and Georgia. When, as again and again,
I go these bitter winter days to mjr door and find
there a bent and broken form, which five and twenty
years ago stood by my side as proud and erect as
any that walks God's earth, and my sometime com¬
rade tells me how manfully he has struggled all
these intervening years to keep himself and the
wife of his youth and their children from the poor-
house; tells me how at length, nearly blind and
THE INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI. 59
deaf and crushed in spirit, he has been again dis¬
charged by his employer as no longer fit for service,
and adds that he dare not tell it to any except an
old comrade, nor apply to the country to which he
freely gave his all to save, lest the very people he
so gladly served, if not perchance the highest offi¬
cials of the land, may call him a pauper, a fraudt
the scum of the earth, then, then again I think on
the islands and marshes of the Savannah, and turn
back once again to reflect upon the great problem of
life, and to imbibe from the trials and sufferings or
those heroic years, courage and strength to endure
the still more bitter pangs that come with these
ungenerous days.