USA > Connecticut > The county regiment; a sketch of the Second regiment of Connecticut volunteer heavy artillery, originally the Nineteenth volunteer infantry, in the civil war > Part 3
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"The men who had rolled into those cosy bunks with the declared intention of 'sleeping a week steady,' were on their cursing way through Ten- allytown again in twenty-four hours, marching with accelerated pace toward Frederick to over- take the brigade of the red cross, to which they had so lately bidden an everlasting adieu. Oh, bitter cup!"
After much marching and counter marching they found themselves on August 6th at Hall- town in the Valley. For more than a month the army, now placed under the command of Gen- eral Sheridan, was occupied in organizing and manœuvering for the projected campaign, which the presence of the hostile force in that important quarter necessitated.
Though on a much smaller scale than the oper- ations in which the regiment had borne a part since it had been in active service, the impend- ing action in the Shenandoah Valley was recog- nized as being of great importance. Grant's official report, speaking on this point, says : "De- feat to us would lay open to the enemy the
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states of Maryland and Pennsylvania for long distances before another army could be inter- posed to check him," and aside from the military aspect of the matter, the political campaign then agitating the loyal states made the result of the struggle here of profound influence.
The campaign's activities began with the bat- tle of the Opequan, or, as it is perhaps more often designated, of Winchester. General Sheridan took advantage of an opportunity for which he had been patiently waiting by moving his forces to the attack at daylight on the morn- ing of September 19th, and before noon the en- gagement was fierce and general, both assault and defence being made with equal spirit and determination; that part of the Sixth Corps which comprised the Second Connecticut, how- ever, had taken small part in it, being held in reserve.
It was about midday that in a counter charge against the Union center, the enemy found a weak point at the junction of the Sixth Corps with the Nineteenth, of which they quickly took
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advantage, breaking the line and driving back the troops on the flanks of both corps in great disorder. Their successful advance and the flight of the opposing forces gave such assur- ances of victory that more than one Confederate writer says that at this point the battle which had raged since daylight was won. Jefferson Davis himself wrote, years after, of the charge: "This affair occurred about 11 A.M., and a splen- did victory had been gained,"-a judgment which lacked finality. In fact, had the separa- tion of the wings of Sheridan's army been ac- complished, as it was threatened, the result would have been utter disaster; just now, how- ever, Upton's brigade, of which the Second Connecticut formed a large part, was brought up to the point of danger. The charge was checked, the enemy in turn driven back, and the Union line re-established.
In the regimental history it is related that the brigade was pushed forward gradually, "halted on a spot where the ground was depressed enough to afford a little protection, and
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only a little,-for several men were hit while lying there, as well as others, while get- ting there. In three minutes the regiment again advanced, passed over a knoll, lost sev- eral more men, and halted in another hollow spot, similar to the first. The enemy's advance had now been pushed well back, and here a stay was made of perhaps two hours. Colonel Mac- kenzie rode slowly back and forth along the rise of ground in front of this position in a very reckless manner, in plain sight and easy range of the enemy, who kept up a fire from a piece of woods in front, which elicited from him the re- mark, 'I guess those fellows will get tired of firing at me by and by.' But the ground where the regiment lay was very slightly depressed, and although the shots missed Mackenzie they killed and wounded a large number of both officers and men behind him.
About three o'clock, an advance of the whole line having been ordered by Sheridan, the regi- ment charged across the field, Mackenzie riding some ten rods ahead, holding his hat aloft on
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the point of his saber. The distance to the woods was at least a quarter of a mile, and was traversed under a fire that carried off its victims at nearly every step. The enemy abandoned the woods, however, as the regiment approached. After a short halt it again advanced to a rail fence which ran along the side of an extensive field. Here, for the first time during the whole of this bloody day, did the regiment have orders to fire, and for ten minutes they had the privi- lege of pouring an effective fire into the rebels, who were thick in front. Then a flank move- ment was made along the fence to the right, fol- lowed by a direct advance of forty rods into the field. Here was the deadliest spot of the day. The enemy's artillery, on a rise of ground in front, plowed the field with canister and shells, and tore the ranks in a frightful manner. Major Rice was struck by a shell, his left arm torn off, and his body cut almost asunder. Major Skin- ner was struck on the top of the head by a shell, knocked nearly a rod with his face to the earth, and was carried to the rear insensible. General
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Upton had a good quarter pound of flesh taken out of his thigh by a shell. Colonel Mackenzie's horse was cut in two by a solid shot which just grazed the rider's leg and let him down to the ground very abruptly. Several other officers were also struck; and from these instances as well as from the appended list of casualties some idea may be gained of the havoc among the enlisted men at this point. Although the regiment had been under fire and losing continually from the middle of the afternoon, until it was now almost sunset, yet the losses during ten minutes in this last field were probably equal to those of all the rest of the day. It was doubtless the spot re- ferred to by the rebel historian, Pollard, when he says, 'Early's artillery was fought to the muzzle of the guns.' Mackenzie gave the order to move by the left flank and a start was made, but there was no enduring such a fire, and the men ran back and lay down. Another attempt was soon made, and after passing a large oak tree a sheltered position was secured. The next move was directly into the enemy's breastwork.
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They had just been driven from it by a cavalry charge from the right, and were in full retreat through the streets of Winchester, and some of their abandoned artillery which had done us so much damage stood yet in position, hissing hot with action, with their miserable rac-a-bone horses attached. The brigade, numbering less than half the muskets it had in the morning, was now got into shape, and after marching to a field in the eastern edge of the city, bivouacked for the night, while the pursuit rolled miles away up the valley pike." Night alone, wrote General Wesley Merritt, saved Early's army from capture.
To the losses of the day the Second Con- necticut contributed forty-two killed and one hundred and eight wounded, the proportion of officers being very large.
Unlike their previous severe engagement at Cold Harbor, the regiment had the thrilling consciousness of complete victory to hearten them after this battle, and, later, when the full history of the day was learned, the realization
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that they had played a part of no little import- ance in attaining it.
The moment when they were brought into action was a critical one. General Sheridan, in his report summing up the operations of the campaign, said: "At Winchester for a moment the contest was uncertain, but the gallant at- tack of General Upton's brigade of the Sixth Corps restored the line of battle," and of this brigade the Second Connecticut formed fully half. Upton's report gave high praise to Colo- nel Mackenzie, and said: "His regiment on the right initiated nearly every movement of the division, and behaved with great steadiness and gallantry."
The victory itself, with the sequel which fol- lowed so promptly three days later, had an im- portance far beyond its purely military value, through its marked effects upon public sentiment throughout the country; it brought to one side jubilant satisfaction, and gave a corresponding depression to the other, and it elevated Sheri- dan at once to that high place in popular affec-
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tion which he always afterwards held. That it was "the turning-point of the fortunes of the war in Virginia," was the verdict of a Confed- erate officer of high rank, and Nicolay and Hay in the "Life of Lincoln" describe it as "one of the most important of the war."
As for the Litchfield County regiment, among its many proud memories, none surely holds a higher place than that of the worthy and effec- tive part it took in this day's work, forming, as it did, so large a part of the brigade which, in the words of General Upton's biographer, turned possible defeat into certain victory.
GENERAL SHERIDAN's method of operation could hardly be held as dilatory. It would doubtless have commended itself more highly to his men if it had been somewhat more so, when at daylight on the morning after the splendid success of September 19th they were ordered in pursuit of Early's army.
The Confederate forces had taken position on Fisher's Hill, considered the Gibraltar of the
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Valley, and according to Sheridan, almost im- pregnable to a direct assault. Two days were occupied in bringing up troops and making dis- positions for the attack. The Second Con- necticut reached its assigned position on the 21st near midnight, and found itself "on the very top of a hill fully as high as Fisher's Hill, and separated from it by Tumbling River. The enemy's stronghold was on the top of the oppo- site hill directly across the stream."
On the 22nd more or less skirmishing took place all day. A force had been sent round the enemy's left flank; the attack it delivered late in the afternoon was a complete surprise to Early's men, and an advance by the whole Union line quickly routed them.
To make this charge the regiment moved down the steep hill, waded the stream, and moved up the rocky front of the rebel Gibraltar. How they got up there is a mystery,-for the ascent of that rocky declivity would now seem an impossibility to an unburdened traveller, even though there were no deadly enemy at the
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top. But up they went, clinging to rocks and bushes. The main rebel breastwork, which they were so confident of holding, was about fifteen rods from the top of the bluff, with brush piled in front of it. Just as the top was reached the Eighth Corps struck the enemy on the right, and their flight was disordered and precipitate. The Second Connecticut was the first regiment that reached and planted colors on the works from the direct front.
They were marching in pursuit all that night and for three succeeding days, until the chase was seen to be hopeless and the army faced northward again. Four killed and nineteen wounded were added at Fisher's Hill to the growing record of the Second Connecticut's losses.
Colonel Kellogg
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UCH complete failure in their cam- paign had, it was now believed, eliminated the enemy in the Shen- andoah Valley. The Sixth Corps was accordingly ordered back to Grant's army before Petersburg after a few days of rest, and was moving toward Washing- ton on its way when there came a sudden change of orders.
Early, reinforced and once more ready, was again in the works he had been driven from at Fisher's Hill. The corps, recalled to join the forces of Sheridan, went into camp along the north bank of Cedar Creek on October 14th,
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and here there soon took place one of the most thrilling and dramatic conflicts of the war.
"For the next few days," the history of the regiment states, "there was much quiet and a good deal of speculation among the troops as to what would be the next shift of the scenes. The enemy was close in front, just as he had been for weeks preceding the battle of Winchester, but this attitude which might once have been called defiance, now seemed to be mere impu- dence,-and it was the general opinion that Early did not wish or intend to fight again, but that he was to be kept there as a standing threat in order to prevent Sheridan's army from re- turning to Grant. And yet there was something mysterious in his conduct. He was known to be receiving reinforcements, and his signal flags on Three-top Mountain (just south of Fisher's Hill) were continually in motion. From the top of Massanutton Mountain his vedettes could look down upon the whole Union army, as one can look down upon New Haven from East Rock, and there is no doubt that the exact
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location of every camp, and the position of every gun and every picket post were thor- oughly known to him. Nevertheless, it seemed the most improbable thing in the world that he could be meditating either an open attack or a surprise. The position was strong, the creek and its crossings in possession of our pickets both along the front and well out on either flank." But Early himself, being in difficulties his enemy knew nothing of, says, "I was com- pelled to move back for want of provisions and forage, or attack the enemy in his position with the hope of driving him from it, and I deter- mined to attack."
His plan was, like his adversary's at the last encounter, a surprise around the left flank with a feint on the right, and it was carried out on the morning of October 19th with complete suc- cess. General Sheridan had been called to Washington a few days before, as no active operations seemed imminent, and the army lay feeling quite secure.
Good fortune attended the attacking forces,
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and the surprise was perfect. General Merritt writes : "Crook's (Eighth Corps) camp and after- wards Emory's (Nineteenth Corps) were at- tacked in flank and rear, and the men and offi- cers driven from their beds, many of them not having time to hurry into their clothes, except as they retreated, half awake and terror-stricken from the overpowering numbers of the enemy. Their own artillery in conjunction with that of the enemy, was turned on them, and long before it was light enough for their eyes, unaccus- tomed to the dim light, to distinguish friend from foe, they were hurrying to our right and rear intent only on their safety. Wright's (Sixth Corps) infantry, which was farther re- moved from the point of attack, fared somewhat better, but did not offer more than a spasmodic resistance." Nevertheless, they made Early "pay dearly for every foot gained and finally brought him to a stand," as Nicolay and Hay record.
The history of the Second Connecticut tells the story of the day as follows: "Most of the
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regiment were up next morning long before Reveille and many had begun to cook their coffee on account of that ominous popping and cracking which had been going on for half an hour off to the right. They did not exactly sup- pose it meant anything, but they had learned wisdom by many a sudden march on an empty stomach and did not propose to be caught nap- ping. The clatter on the right increased. It began to be the wonder why no orders came. But suddenly every man seemed to lose interest in the right, and turned his inquiring eyes and ears toward the left. Rapid volleys and a vague tumult told that there was trouble there. 'Fall in!' said Mackenzie. The brigade moved briskly off toward the east, crossing the track of other troops and batteries of artillery which were hurriedly swinging into position, while ambulances, orderlies, staff officers, camp fol- lowers, pack horses, cavalrymen, sutler's wagons, hospital wagons, and six-mule teams of every description came trundling and galloping pell mell toward the right and rear and making off
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toward Winchester. It was not a hundred rods from our own camp to the place where we went into position on a road running north. General Wright, the temporary commander of the army, bareheaded, and with blood trickling from his beard, sat on his horse near by, as if bewildered or in a brown study. The ground was cleared in front of the road and sloped off some thirty rods to a stream, on the opposite side of which it rose for about an equal distance to a piece of woods in which the advance rebel line had al- ready taken position. The newly risen sun, huge and bloody, was on their side in more senses than one. Our line faced directly to the east and we could see nothing but that enormous disk, rising out of the fog, while they could see every man in our line and could take good aim. The battalion lay down, and part of the men began to fire, but the shape of the ground af- forded little protection and large numbers were killed and wounded. Four fifths of our loss for the entire day occurred during the time we lay here,-which could not have been over five min-
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utes,-by the end of which time the Second Connecticut found itself in an isolated position not unlike that at Cold Harbor. The fog had now thinned away somewhat and a firm rebel line with colors full high advanced came rolling over the knoll just in front of our left not more than three hundred yards distant. 'Rise up,- Retreat,' said Mackenzie,-and the battalion began to move back.
For a little distance the retreat was made in very good order, but it soon degenerated into a rout. Men from a score of regiments were mixed up in flight, and the whole corps was scattered over acres and acres with no more or- ganization than a herd of buffaloes. Some of the wounded were carried for a distance by their comrades, who were at length compelled to leave them to their fate in order to escape being shot. About a mile from the place where the retreat commenced there was a road running directly across the valley. Here the troops were rallied and a slight defence of rails thrown up. The regimental and brigade flags were set up as
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beacons to direct each man how to steer through the mob and in a very few minutes there was an effective line of battle established. A few round shot ricochetted overhead, making about an eighth of a mile at a jump, and a few grape were dropped into a ditch just behind our line, quickly clearing out some soldiers who had crawled in there, but this was the extent of the pursuit. The whole brigade (and a very small brigade it was) was deployed as skirmishers under Colonel Olcott of the One Hundred and Twenty-first New York. Three lines of skir- mishers were formed and each in turn consti- tuted the first line while the other two passed through and halted, and so the retreat was con- tinued for about three miles until a halt was made upon high ground, from which we could plainly see the Johnnies sauntering around on the very ground where we had slept."
Once more could Early claim the credit of a victory of which at night he was to find himself again deprived. Sheridan's famous ride, his meeting and turning of the tide of fugitives, is
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the feature of the day's occurrences which will always live in the popular memory. It is a sig- nificant hint of the scale of such a battlefield to know that the men of the Second Connecticut had no visual perception of his presence that day, though they heard the cheering occasioned by his appearance in other parts of the scene, and in his report there is mention of a meet- ing with Colonel Mackenzie, whom he tried to persuade to go to the rear on account of his wounds.
The Confederate belief in their victory was not unreasonable, but it was now to suffer an astonishing upset. Weary and demoralized with success, they were entirely unprepared for the vigor of their opponents, who after repul- sing their last assault, quickly reformed the lines and prepared for a general advance. Sheridan writes: "This attack was brilliantly made, and as the enemy was protected by rail breastworks and at some portions of his line by stone fences, his resistance was very determined."
The history of the Second Connecticut gives
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a detailed account of its movement, first against a stone wall in front which after some opposi- tion was abandoned by the enemy, who then "attempted to rally behind another fence a little further back, but after a moment or two gave it up and 'retired.' Not only in front of our regi- ment, but all along as far as the eye could reach, both to the right and left, were they flying over the uneven country in precisely the same kind of disorder that we had exhibited in the morn- ing. The shouts and screams of victory mingled with the roar of the firing, and never was heard 'so musical a discord, such sweet thunder.' The sight of so many rebel heels made it a very easy thing to be brave, and the Union troops pressed on, utterly regardless of the grape and canister which to the last moment the enemy flung be- hind him. It would not have been well for them to have fired too much if they had had ever so good a chance, for they would have been no more likely to hit our men than their own, who were our prisoners and scattered in squads of twenty, squads of ten, and squads of one, all
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over the vast field. At one time they made a determined stand along a ridge in front of our brigade. A breastwork of rails was thrown to- gether, colors planted, a nucleus made, and both flanks grew longer and longer with won- derful rapidity. It was evident that they were driving back their men to this line without re- gard to regiment or organization of any kind. This could be plainly seen from the adjacent and similar ridge over which we were moving,- the pursuers being in quite as much disorder (so far as organizations were concerned) as the pur- sued. That growing line began to look ugly and somewhat quenched the ardor of the chase. It began to be a question in many minds whether it would not be a point of wisdom 'to survey the vantage of the ground' before getting much further. But just as we descended into the in- tervening hollow, a body of cavalry, not large but compact, was seen scouring along the fields to our right and front like a whirlwind directly toward the left flank of that formidable line on the hill. When we reached the top there was no
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enemy there! They had moved on and the cav- alry after them.
Thus the chase was continued, from posi- tion to position, for miles and miles, for hours and hours, until darkness closed in and every regiment went into camp on the identical ground it had left in such haste in the morning. Every man tied his shelter tent to the very same old stakes, and in half an hour coffee was boil- ing and salt pork sputtering over thousands of camp fires. Civil life may furnish better fare than the army at Cedar Creek had that night, but not better appetites; for it must be borne in mind that many had gone into the fight directly from their beds and had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours.
Men from every company started out the first thing after reaching camp to look for our dead and wounded, many of whom lay not fifty rods off. The slightly wounded who had not got away had been taken prisoners and sent at once toward Richmond-while the severely wounded had lain all day on the ground near where
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they were hit while the tide of battle ebbed and flowed over them. Some of the mortally wounded were just able to greet their re- turning comrades, hear the news of victory, and send a last message to their friends be- fore expiring. Corporal Charles M. Burr was shot above the ankle just after the battalion had risen up and started to retreat. Both bones of his leg were shattered and he had to be left. In a few minutes the rebel battalion which I have already mentioned came directly over him in pursuit, and was soon out of his sight. Then being alone for a short time he pulled off the boot from his sound leg, put his watch and money into it and put it on again. Next a merciful rebel lieutenant came and tied a handkerchief around his leg, stanching the blood. Next came the noble army of stragglers and bummers with the question, 'Hello, Yank, have you got any Yankee notions about you ?' and at the same time thrusting their hands into every pocket. They captured a little money and small traps, but seeing one boot was spoiled
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they did not meddle with the other. Next came wagons, picking up muskets and accoutrements which lay thick all over the ground. Then came ambulances and picked up the rebel wounded but left ours. Then came a citizen of the Con- federacy asking many questions, and then came three boys who gave him water. And thus the day wore along until the middle of the after- noon when the tide of travel began to turn. The noble army of stragglers and bummers led the advance-then the roar of battle grew nearer and louder and more general, then came galloping officers and all kinds of wagons, then a brass twelve-pounder swung round close to him, unlimbered, fired one shot, and whipped off again-then came the routed infantry, artil- lery, and cavalry, all mixed together, all on a full run, and strewing the ground with muskets and equipments. Then came the shouting 'boys in blue,' and in a few minutes Pat Birmingham came up and said: 'Well, Charley, I'm glad to find you alive. I did n't expect it. We're back again in the old
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