USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 34
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" An incident, showing the kind heart of Hon. Wm. Curtiss Noyes, may not be without interest to some. On the occasion of the Flag donation at Litchfield, a lady who was asked by him if there was anything he could do to assist herself or husband on his way to N. Y., replied, 'Thank you, sir, my husband has his military outfit complete, but should you happen to see the regi- ment when it passes through the City, won't you say another good-by to him for me?' 'Be assured I shall, madam !' was his answer. The regiment had but just descended from the cars, on its arrival, and in the darkness was slowly falling into line, when the officer referred to was taken by the hand, and the farewell by proxy, beautifully bidden, as Mr. Noyes had laughingly promised.
"From the cars, a slow, long march, through obsenre streets, brought us to a steamboat so small that her decks were not only crowded, but massed, with our mer :. Soup and coffee were pro- vided, but the first, seeming made of musty beans, salt-junk and salt-pork, salted, and the latter, of dried beans, without sugar or milk, were scarcely palatable to even our almost famished stom- achs, Nor conld all get even such fare. We were fastened to the dock in Jersey City, and the order given to march to the cars. before much more than half the men could, owing to the crowded state of the decks, get access to soup or coffee.
" All night long we plodded slowly on. Morning, with the cheerful sun, and the pleasant fields and orchards of New Jersey brought also a renewal of the greetings, the cheers, and stirring wayside scenes of our departure from Connectient. The recen
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terrible defeats of Pope, opening as they had the way for invasion from the Sonth, had excited in these regions, as liable to suffer in that case, an interest in each new regiment journeying toward Dixie, which we were at a loss to understand, till reflection solved the problem. We received not only the greetings of villages and towns, but the schools rushed forth to line the track and cheer. Each isolated house sent its inmates to wave the flag, while the children climbed the fences to wave their hats and aprons.
" Hence we were cheerfully as well as hungrily ready for the kind welcome of Philadelphia. Well has that city proved her right and title to that name, 'Brotherly Love.' With one voice all of Uncle Sam's boys that, during that period of the war, had occasion to pass through that ' Haven of rest and delight' rise up and pronounce her blessed. There was rest for the weary. There, for those who were pressed with fatigue and want of accustomed sleep, we found cool baths prepared. There were exquisite coffee, delicious tea, and food abundant and substantial. After an hour or two in that kindly place, the regiment came forth, cheerful, hopeful, restored. City of Brotherly Love, thy name is fragrant in the memory of a half million of men, who knew from experi- ence what thon wert in those days of trial !
" After somewhat of a march, a broad open space was reached, traversed in all directions by Railroad tracks, with innumerable switches, affording no shelter from the pelting rays of the sun, the ' hoys' were halted, and 'rest'-ed, on the unshaded side of a high, dead wall, belonging to the enclosure of some great. maunfactory. Facing away from that, immediately in their front, was a long line of those unroofed slatted pens, which before the introduction of laws against cruelty to animals, were used to transport cattle and sheep. Scattered in confusion over the floor of each, were a quantity of planks. No train of cars for human beings, no engine, was visible.
" Here we waited and sweltered. At length, a powerful engine came down the road, and made fast to the cattle train. A con- ductor approached, and said that the transportation for the regi- inent was ready. Where ? Why this train ! A moments pause. But must the men stand up? Oh! no. There are on the bottom of each car planks to put across-let the ends rest on the slats !
" As the report passed, from those that heard it, down the line, there were many red faces. It was hard to be treated like, and to the filth of, the beasts! But they perish, and so shall we, was the
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consoling remark of one. We shall have a pen-sive journey. Cheer up said one. He who spills through will have an expensive turn out, said one-and look slatternly, was the reply.
" But the order came that broke each company by the right to the front, and sent it to ocenpy its allotted pens. No sooner had the first step of the march been taken, than, simultaneously, from front to rear of the battalion, there broke forth a chorns of roaring bulls, bellowing oxen, squeaking pigs. There were the Ba-a-ah's of sheep, the bleating of calves, and to such like music the 19th took up their quarters. The fun of the thing almost made them forget the discomfort, and even made the mortified officials of the Railroad laugh, in spite of themselves.
" I may here state, that for the rest of the trip to Washington we had covered cars, with permanent seats,-the worst of our ac- commodations consisting of freight cars fitted for passengers.
" Philadelphia to Wilmington, Wilmington to Havre-de-Grace, thence to Baltimore. Slowly, tediously, and in the dark, we com- meneed our march across this city by the route so sadly known as the scene of the attack on the 6th Massachusetts-the ' first blood of the war.' No incident served to recall that day of trouble and slaughter, save that as we moved silently along, a door was open- ed, and two pistol shots were fired into the street when we were passing. As no one was hit, the motive for firing was never in- quired into. Indeed, so far as the majority of the city was con- cerned, its active and kindly hospitality rivalled that of Philadel- phia. There was plenty of food and refreshments, provided by the city. Nice dishes and tables with white covers, were pro- vided; the wide, broad depot, affording shelter, ventilation, and planks for sleeping quarters.
" But the man who exchanges a soft bed and regular hours for sleepless nights, and rest on a board, feels the same soreness of the muscles that schoolboys do after the first winter's skate. He suffers. He must be pressed by serere hunger before he can eat with relish the food which active campaigning can alone afford, and hence is weakened. Thirst, too, torments him, for warm wa- ter was an emetic, an active one, at home, and even coffee and tea with no sugar or milk, when he can get them, do not seem to his delicate nerves, quite palatable.
" Hence, those were a weary, and a faint and parched assembly, that threw themselves on the hard floor of the sheltering depot this night, and felt that to be ' intolerable and not to be endured,' which
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a month later, they would joyfully have voted to be luxurious in entertainment, and palatial in accommodation. Now, however, many eyes were blood-shot and faces pale. In the sequel we shall see this first journey resulting in much serious sickness.
" It had been supposed that New Orleans was to be the seene of our first soldiering. But, after several hours delay, they ' chang- ed all that,' at Washington, whither we were ordered to proceed and report.
" Meanwhile, the Major was left in charge of the 19th. No gnards had been changed sinee leaving Camp Dutton. Hence, Lient. Betts (Co. I) and his guard, who had been on constant duty, were almost exhausted. Perhaps some sentinel winked, or was not yet acquainted with all his duty. At any rate, whisky found its way into the depot, and two men, afterwards well known for generous and brave soldiers when sober, and very devils when drunk, became raving from its effects. The Major caused their arrest by the gnard, and after confining them, the whole thing was forgotten.
"Judge then the surprise of the 19th, when, a week or two af- ter, being at Alexandria, papers from home reached them, stating that telegrams from Baltimore brought intelligence of a formida- ble mutiny having broken ont at that place in said regiment, which was with difficulty quelled, after the serious injury of Col. Wes- sels, and mortally wounding of Capt. Rice. Any officer or man, who knew what manner of soldiers were called by that name, can testify that mutiny of a serious character was never a possibility under these flags.
" There was a long, tedious delay at Baltimore. Then more trials of what it was to journey as freight,-which was more tedious than marching, to limbs unused to plank cushions and cramped seats. Now and then a halt of an hour or so at some switch in the woods, would give the men a chance to learn the task of Chin- qua pins, to wonder at flying twigs, and see the strange, uneonth snails, the 'Soothsayer,' the most uncouth of inseets. Then the train would start, and on, on, on, toiling along, we slowly drew near to Washington, and entered there at nine at night-over six hours to gain forty miles.
"Oh ! how well all remember the barracks where the regiment lay down by companies on the floor, when fatigue would by this time have brought sleep with it, spite of sore joints, had not the filth made sleep to most impossible. How horrible it was, is suffi-
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ciently shown by the fact that the men, faint from hunger, after such long fastings, could not swallow the food provided for them, from the nauseous stench. A weary night for beginners that, and homesick feelings began to show themselves, in long faces and silent broodings.
" With the hot morning, came directions to the regiment to fall in, which it did, loaded with its cumbersome knapsacks, such as no old campaigner would think of taking. Some choked down a little food- most were very hungry-all tired. While waiting for the two Colonels, who were engaged with the war authorities, the Surgeon reported over forty sick and unable to continue the march. It was a poor look out to leave sick men behind in such a place, but it had to be. Sergeant Mckinney was detailed to take charge of them, and do the best he could for them, reporting to the regiment as soon as his men were declared able to march, or trans- portation could be found. As an instance of how trying that place was, Sergt. McK. was, before the next night, left in care of more than seventy, by commandants of other regiments. No small com- pliment to his observed efficiency. Several of these men were disa- bled permanently, and it was three days before the remainder were brought into camp, looking, with their officer, like ghosts.
" At ten A. M. we took up the line of march, down the road that leads to Long Bridge-destination, Camp Chase. The thought of green fields, tents, fresh air, was inspiriting. Down the dusty road we wound our serpentine length, when, arrived just where the Arsenal road crossed our ronte at right angles, in the very place of all hot Washinton ! most miserably hot of all, where the air simmered over the unshaded avenne, and the feet sank above the ankles in burning sand, an aid rode up, spoke a word to Kellogg-now in Command-and battalion halt-rang out from the Lieut. Colonel. We were brought to a rest then and there. Our destination had been changed ! Hour after hour passed on. Not till late in the afternoon did we resume the march. Scorched and parched, the weary men, this time, were headed toward the Arsenal doek, placed on board a government steamer, and just as the sun was setting, were landed at the coal dock, in Alexandria, Va.
" Here again, wait, wait, wait. Some commenced writing home. Some stretched out at full length on the sacred soil, hard as ada- mant now. Some few tried to amuse themselves by contrabands, dancing against each other. The genious who could ape Kellogg's
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voice so perfectly, several times called out, Attention Battalion ! when a general rush took place for the ranks, but the men, soon seeing the regiment was in other charge, ceased to be hoaxed. Darkness came on-dancing and writing ceased-still we waited. The men were getting a little taste of real soldiering, in a mild form.
" Finally, when it was too late to see a step, Gen. Slough, Mili- taly Gov. Alexandria, Va., to whom the Colonels had reported the regiment, as ordered, for Provost duty in his department, de- cided where they should camp.
" March again, stumbling painfully along, in the pitch darkness, for a mile or so, till the halt came, when, being wheeled into col- un by companies, ordered to unsling knapsack and rest, the 19th knew that it was in camp. Tents? None-nothing but bare ground, Virginia clay, wet by rains a few days ago, trodden with the deep foot prints of cattle and since baked by the sun hard as brick. Rations? none. They had to be brought down from Camp Chase, ten miles.
" There was one thing, very decidedly a wonder even to our some- what accustomed nostrils. Stench! Overpowering perfume! Pah ! whence coming none could know, till morning disclosed a cordon of dead horses, surrounding us nearly half way, remains of Pope's disasters, and just ripe for the Turkey-Buzzards. Even those who had never seen the bird before, had little curiosity to know fur- ther of them, though the creatures were too stupidly blissful from gorging, to move more than a step or two when approached !
" Wearily, at length, our active Quartermaster came driving in- to camp. All night long, with a squad of men, he had been en- gaged in the heroic endeavor to harness unbroken mules to our . regimental waggons, and bring the rations down. Patience and perseverance, in which he fortunately excelled, had conquered, finally, but not, as it was confidentially whispered by some of his inen, till he had been put through a series of somersaults and in. voluntary antics, too Indicrous for this grave history to note.
" Moving a mile further on, we took up our permanent location on Shuter's hill, foot of King street, overlooking Alexandria, and after burying the dead horses and oxen on our plot, commenced getting ready to clear our camp.
" Thus commenced our stay of nearly two years, two weary years, in Alexandria, a place poisonous to soul and body. The
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morals of the regiment, fortunately, suffered little, but in health, the same could not be said.
" At ten o'clock this morning, lo! the trains from Camp Chase ! The rations! and one heavy team after another, each drawn by four mules, turned out of the highway, and majestically formed line by the side of our 'camp.' They advanced to the 'music of the mule,' -- Who that has ever heard their 'bugling,' so strong, so melancholy, so energetic, and at the same time so prolonged with langnishing into a steam engine's whisper, can ever once forget it.
FALL IN FOR RATIONS!
"Since twenty-six hours we have had no rations. These were neatable. The common remark of the coffee at Washington was. ' slops collected in the street slop barrels.' There was grease float- ing abundantly on its surface. The interior, those that drank, looked not at, but tasted less, if they could help it ! Food! there is but one word for it-it stank. Now here were our own rations and all were greatly relieved.
To expedite matters, the authorities sent down hams packed in barrels, and already boiled,-packed full, each barrel-and neatly headed up. A few boxes of hard-tack were also forth coming- three crackers to a man.
"So there was a speedy unloading of ham casks. The hoops of the heads were knocked upwards, and off'; when, lo! the heads rose up, when no longer held in place by the hoops, of themselves. ' Jings, an't they full !' says a hungry fellow near by, with de- light.
" A lid is lifted off, when, as McCanley sings :-
" Was none who would be foremost, To lead such dire attack ? For those behind pressed foremost, And those before cried back."
"""Packed in sawdust !' suggests one, mounted on a wheel overlooking others heads. No! 'Even measure, full, pressed down, and running orer,' says another-' Alive again,' said an- other.
" There were those who were sickened at the endeavor to eat this. Think of those used to wholesome food but four days be- fore, becoming so famished as to roll those hams out of their casks, and dissect the same to secure for their own use such portion as
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was not yet penetrated with the foul vermin, that seemed a sceth- ing mass.
On our camp at Shuter's hill was a gently inclined side-hill, rising sufficiently above the plains of Alexandria, to be free from mala- rious fogs, and facing the place of duty and drill. The drilling took place on a wide plain once a meadow, one hundred paces to our front. In about a month's constant work, it became as good an exercise ground as need be, in most kinds of weather. No place trodden, or driven on in that part of Virginia, is other than intolerably dusty, or equally muddy, as the weather approached extremes. Almost all the knolls and intervening ravines 'sonth of the Potomac,' have clay on the surface varying from eight to twenty-five feet in depth. Under this lies a bed or strata of vary- ing thickness, say one foot to 5 feet, of something resembling red gravel mixed with pebbles, the whole so far fuzed that the gravel has been wholly melted. After this, suppose the pasty result of the melting process to have been hardened gradually, around and inclosing the pebbles so slowly as not to crack in the process, and you have an approach to an idea of what Arlington Heights and the rear of Alexandria are in respect to soil. Rain cannot pene- trate the conglomerate, and be carried off. Consequntly, the clay above, after long rains, becomes complete mortar, when work- ed up by any distur bing agency. No ventilation reaches it from below, therefore when dried it is as hard as a brick. When frosts come on in the fall hard enough to freeze from two to five inches of surface, the contraction causes the surface to crack, the crack penetrating below the frozen surface, the vapor rises through it, and congeals at the surface, on the lips of the fissure, and, as the ices form, builds a little, or rather, a thin wall on each side, exactly parallel, or coinciding, and some times six to eight inches high. Sometimes this efflorescence is extremely beautiful-in fact quite fairy-like, when enclosing, for many acres, little patches of irregular shape; from some little 'keep,' six inches on a side, to some large fortress, containing four square yards.
"This is a curious instance of nature forming icicles pointing upwards.
" It is impossible for those who have seen nothing of this kind to believe how stifling the dust is, even in winter, or how impas- sable to man or beast, except for the few first passing over a place, this Virginia soil becomes.
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"Such being the location of the camp and its soil, it will be seen that our position as to health, would be very greatly modi- fied by these several facts.
" It was ahnost impossible to maintain a camp anywhere without great labor and constant, intelligent policeing. The water everywhere would be almost surface water, without filtra- tion through the lower strata. On the plateau back of our camp, and draining through it, some fifty acres of land were occupied by the Convalescent Camp, which was without drainage, sinks, cleanly tents, or orderly arrangements of any kind, but were filled with universal filth. Back of our camp, and draining through it, were scores of disused sinks, which, when it rained, discharged their overflow through the drains of our streets. The burial ground of the Convalescent Camp, in which from one to ten were buried daily, was not more than ten rods from our camp streets, and sloped into them. Such water, therefore, as could be obtained here, could be but poison. A stream draining a long highway, both sides of which were strewn with decomposing dead animals, flowed within a stone's throw of us. Another similar stream crossed the valley, on the banks of which there were never less than from 50 to 100 dead horses, and a slaughter-honse besides-a mass of reeking corruption emptying into it. Directly north was an inunense cattle yard, capable of holding 3,000 head of cattle, and this drained into that stream. South of Kings street was a like government slaughter-yard, all the offal of which was discharged into the stream. A small well of water near this stream, after all its accumulation of filth, furnished the best drink the camp af- forded.
It is to this day difficult to see why the government . should send sokliers into such a 'charnel-house of death' as this, especi- ally when there were better places but a little way off, and the duty to which they were appointed could be done just as well, with only a little more marching. It cannot be thought strange that the men almost immediately began to sieken and die, and the flower of Litchfield County to be sent back, to be tenderly buried among their kindred at home. To be sure, if it was necessary that some should die then and there, that the country might live, some might think that it was better thus to die by disease, and be cared for, and buried in a Christian way, than to die by the bullet or the shell, or the bayonet, amid the din and smoke of battle, and be hastily buried by comrades in the shallow ditch, and in the
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military dress in which they fought, uncoffined, trusting only in a soldier's God, yet it has always seemed to the heroic soul, in all ages, which devoted itself to its country, that it was better to die fighting nobly in the crash of battle, and make return of the do- ings of a life devoted to duty to the Great Author of all, without the accompaniment of funeral rites, and the pageants of magnifi- cent sorrow.
14. Alexandria, under martial law ever since the breaking out of the war, had suffered unspeakable things from the troops on duty in her streets, or quartered in her environs, and the Alexandrians had come to regard a soldier as a scoundrel, always and every- where. But the 19th Connecticut had not been a week in Vir- ginia before the self-respecting good behavior of its men became the general theme, and the authorities were petitioned by the cit- izens-nearly all of whom were rebels-not to remove that regi- ment from Alexandria.
" On the 22d of September, a detail of five officers and seventy- men relieved the patrol of the 33d Massachusetts in Alexandria, and the same was daily furnished during the remainder of 1862. It was the duty of the patrol to move about the city in small squads, or stand guard at theatres and certain other places, and arrest all soldiers who could not produce passes, or who were in mischief, and bring them to the Provost Marshal's office, whence they were usually escorted to the ' Slave-Pen'in Duke Street,-a horrible den, with the following sign in large letters over the loor: 'Price & Burch, Dealers in Slaves.'
"From the soft beds and regular habits of Connecticut homes, to the hard ground, severe duties, irregular sleep, bad food and worse water of a Virginia camp, was a change that could not be made without loss of health and life. Measles and Mumps began io prevail ; Rheumatism made the men lame, Chronic Diarrhea weakened them, Typhod Fever fired their blood, and Jaundice painted their skins and eye-balls yellower than saffron. Two hos- pital tents were soon filled to overflowing, and an African Church tear by was appropriated as a Regimental Hospital; while the Sick Call ' brought to the Surgeon's quarters a daily increasing crowd, who desired medical treatment or an excuse from duty."
It was not wonderful that, with the multiplied sickness in camp, and with the ability which every citizen soldier possessed of wri-
1 Vaille' Hist. of 2d Conn. H. Art. Volunteers.
1
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ting home his complaints, more or less just, that charges should be made against the officers,-or somebody. Such complaints were made, and by request of Colonel Wessells, Gov. Bucking- ham appointed a Committee to examine into the condition of the camp.
" Six days thereafter, Dr. S. T. Salisbury, of Plymouth, arrived at regimental headquarters, with credentials from the Governor. Colonel Kellogg requested him to scrutinize closely. 'There are our jurors,' said he, pointing to the men. 'Enter their quarters and question them. We will abide by their decision.' Dr. Salis- bury, upon his return to Connecticut, made a report which exon- erated the officers from blame. He said that no New England village could surpass the camp in neatness, and that everything possible was being done for the welfare of the men. He found the wives of Lieutenant Colonel Kellogg and Major Smith devo- tedly assisting in the care of the sick ; and General Slough inform- ed him that the 19th Connecticut was the best conducted regiment in all that region." 1
The regiment was now located, for the balance of the year, and a few incidents of life in camp will be added, mainly, as kindly furnished the author from the "Diary " kept by the accomplished wife of Lieut. Col. Smith, then Major of the regiment. Moved by a patriotic impulse to do what she could to care for the sol- diers in the hospital, where they so much needed the kindly atten- tions of woman, she had joined her husband in camp, early after the regiment had been permanently located, and her praise was on the lips of all our sick soldiers.
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