USA > Connecticut > The story of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War. 1861-1865 > Part 13
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Arriving at Newport, we were received by the Surgeon and the discovering party, and a salute of three guns was fired from a cannon they had found and succeeded in removing the spike from and mounting on an old pair of wheels. They reported having seen no enemy, and we reported the same.
February 9th a reconnaissance was made eight miles be- yond Newport in the direction and vicinity of Gale's Creek, led by Colonel Jordeau, and composed of the Ninth Verniont, One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York, Twenty-first Con- necticut, part of a battery, and a small force of cavalry, and still no enemy was found, they having accomplished all they intended, and probably more, in their raid upon the barracks of the Ninth Vermont. They had evidently left as rapidly as they came. On the eleventh we returned to Morehead City, having been out eight days, which will be long remembered by the Twenty-first as the most gay and festive period of our service.
On the twelfth we returned to Newport and bivouacked for the night, and on the thirteenth left for Newberne by railroad, having shaken the dust off our feet, besides washing a large
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By Land and Sea.
quantity from our faces. We arrived at Newberne at 2 P. M., the thirteenth, and encamped near the city.
On our arrival Colonel Arthur H. Dutton was appointed Chief of Staff under Major-General Peck, who was in com- mand of the forces and defenses of North Carolina.
Our camp was located but a few rods north of the city of Newberne, on the right bank of the Neuse, and near Fort Totten, where, after two weeks of industrious labor, in the intervals between drills and other duties, we fitted up our quarters with a view to comfort and convenience, and with the fond expectation of enjoying the fruits of our labors until at least the opening of the spring campaign. But, alas for our fond anticipations ! How soon they vanished into thin air and passed away before the startling orders which came to us on Sunday morning, just fourteen days after our arrival in Newberne! While the deep and solemn-toned church bells were ringing the summons to church and to worship, remind- ing us of the Sabbaths in old New England and the days and scenes of long ago, the sound of the "long roll " fell suddenly upon our ears, calling us to other duties, and forcibly remind- ing us that, though the Sabbath was made for man, it was not made for the soldier.
Whether all these movements made by our armies upon the Sabbath were absolutely necessary or not, I shall not pre- tend to say, but that some of them were absolutely unneces- sary there is, in my opinion, not a shadow of a doubt. Still, the first and greatest duty of the soldier being obedience to orders, he is in duty bound to abide by the orders of his supe- riors, whether they may seem to him to be right or wrong, and with them alone the responsibility must necessarily rest.
Pursuant to orders, we embarked on board the steamer "Thomas Colyer," and leaving Newberne, proceeded to Washington, N. C., where we arrived on the following morn- ing, February 29th. Here we found a pleasant little town, situated upon the left bank of the Tar river, at the head of steamboat navigation, very prettily laid out, but occupied at
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
that time mostly by the families of the First North Carolina Infantry Regiment, on duty there, and other regiments from this state, the original inhabitants having, many of them, left for more congenial homes within the Confederate lines. The business part of the town was mostly occupied by sutlers and hangers-on to the army, and by the Quartermaster and Commissary Departments.
The troops here on our arrival were under command of Colonel McChesney, of the First North Carolina Regiment, who was soon relieved by General Harland.
Having disembarked, we went into camp just upon the out- skirts of the town, near Fort Washington. Only four compa- nies of the regiment, however, remained, the remainder being detached to garrison the different forts constituting the de- fenses of the town. The following was the disposition of the different companies : Companies A, G, F and C near Fort Washington ; E and B at Hill's Point, about six miles down the river ; H at Rodman's Point, about three miles below the town and on the right bank of the river ; Company D at Fort Jack, immediately opposite to and across the river from the town; Company I at Fort Jones, on the left bank of the river, and at the outskirts of the town. Company K, being assigned to duty in a fort at Newberne previous to our leaving the city, did not accompany the regiment here, but remained on duty there.
General Harland arrived here on Sunday morning to take command of this sub-district, and reviewed the troops com- posing the command.
The Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Twenty- first Connecticut Regiments had lately been formed into a new brigade, called the " Connecticut Brigade," and was under the command of Colonel Frank Beach, of the Sixteenth.
The long period of quiet which had prevailed in North Carolina was at last broken by the attack and capture of Plymouth, twenty-eight miles distant, and the threatening of Washington immediately after. Preparations were made to
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BRIGADIER .GENERAL EDWARD HARLAND.
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By Land and Sca.
repel any attack which might be made against the town, breastworks were strengthened, and guns mounted, and our force strengthened by the arrival of detachments of the Fif- teenth Connecticut and Seventeenth Massachusetts Regi- ments. All the troops were assigned places in the works, and at 3 o'clock each morning were called out into the breast- works in readiness for action, where we remained until morn- ing. Picket lines were strengthened, and every precaution taken to guard against surprise, and to insure protection to the town, and provide for its defense.
General Harland, ever active, superintended the arrange- ments for defense of the town in person, and by his activity and energy did much to inspire the soldiers under his com- mand with confidence and courage.
Rumors of all kinds were in circulation in the town regard- ing the approach of large forces of the enemy, and consider- able excitement prevailed among the citizens and other non- combatants of the place. The removal of women and children to Newberne gave rise to rumors of evacuation and caused considerable fluttering among the sutlers and others who had well-stocked stores with no " visible means " of removing or disposing of their stock.
These rumors were strengthened by the departure of the First North Carolina Union Volunteers on the morning of April 27th, and on the morning of the twenty-eighth it became evident to all that the place was to be evacuated. The Twenty- first were ordered on board the transport " Jolin Farren," but were subsequently disembarked and returned to their position in the rifle pits. We were again ordered to embark, and re- turned to the boat for that purpose.
Reaching the wharf, we found that, through some mis- understanding of the Quartermaster, the " John Farren," which was laden with all our baggage, had been completely loaded down with negroes and their baggage. The way those darkies and their effects were transferred from the boat to the shore " was a caution" to the "poor emancipated
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Africans." After the negroes were all disembarked our men were ordered on board to unload the baggage, and mounting the hurricane deck, where it had been packed away, they charged upon the confused mass of African possessions and commenced transferring them in a very unceremonious man- ner to the wharf. The scene which followed baffles descrip- tion-and I doubt if the history of the whole war can present a like scene, or the Emancipation Proclamation of Father Abraham ever called forth another such sight. Feather beds fell like snow flakes, only rather more forcibly, upon the heads of the frantic searchers for " their own" household goods. Bedding, clothing and all manner of domestic goods, filled the air and fell like rain in one confused and inextricable mass. Stalwart wenches displayed the pluck and muscle of prize-fighters in giving punishment to luckless trespassers.
Hooped skirts were hurled gracefully from the deck to come down perhaps upon and over some corpulent wench, and adding to her wrath, already rampant. Some were cry- ing, some laughing, some fighting, and all wrangled amid the shower of " bag and baggage," which "mingling fell." And thus we left them, to be subsequently conveyed to Newberne, but if they ever lived to sort that baggage they must have exceeded the average duration of African longevity.
We left Washington, N. C., just after dark and proceeded down the river to Hills' Point, where we took on board Com- panies E and B, which had been stationed there. Hills' Point had been the rendezvous of the negroes until trans- portation could be had to remove them to a more congenial clime. About two thousand had been sent there, and as we were waiting, the camp fires on the shore and along the coast, reflected by the clear water, presented a very picturesque sight. With but little delay we put to sea, reaching Fortress Monroe on May day.
Thus ended our campaign in North Carolina, which occu- pied just three months from the time we left Newport News, and during which time we had hardly seen a rebel in arms.
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We lay in Hampton Roads until the next day, when we were ordered to encamp in Portsmouth. Hampton Roads pre- sented a very beautiful sight upon our arrival there. Hun- dreds of steamboats and transports of all kinds were steaming back and forth in preparations for the forthcoming campaigns, and troops were coming and going in all directions, and everything had the appearance of decisive action in some direction.
We remained in Portsmouth until the ninth, when we re- ceived orders to re-embark and join General Butler's forces at Bermuda Hundred, where we arrived the morning of the tenth, and after a march of seven miles encamped at General Butler's headquarters, and remained as body-guard to the General until the thirteenth, when, on the fifteenth, we moved to the front near Proctor's Creek and took up position with Heckman's brigade in front of the enemy's works, and on the sixteenth fought the terrible battle of Drewry's Bluff.
BUTLER'S DEFENSES AT BERMUDA HUM KID.
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
An officer, writing of our trip to Hatteras, says : " Again, after having been for several months tossed about on the boisterous waves of innumerable 'military necessities,' and 'rocked in the cradle of the deep,' by the tumultuous billows of old Hatteras in three different passages of the Cape, I here give you a hasty record of the past, and very briefly review the scenes that have transpired since I wrote you last. Here, in this quiet little village of Washington, N. C., entirely dis- connected from any other portion of the world, except the connection found in one line of steamboats, which come and go with the most remarkable irregularity, occasionally bring- ing us a letter from the loved ones at home, bearing date far back in the dim vista of the past and telling us of scenes and occurrences of the long, long ago, we find but little worthy of record during our stay.
"On the first day of April an order was received calling for twenty officers and two hundred and fifty men to report immediately to Fortress Monroe. In compliance with said order we embarked on board the steamer 'Patuxent,' and leaving the remainder of the regiment in camp, proceeded on our voyage. And what a voyage was that, my countrymen ! That night we anchored in the Palmico River, and the next day towards evening we met the steamer ' Francis,' originally a canal boat, and were transferred on board of her, where we found a detachment of the Sixteenth Connecticut, bound also for Fortress Monroe. We found the cabin of this remark- able craft to consist of one room, about eight by ten, and there were the accommodations for thirty officers in a voyage around Hatteras. Here we were to sleep, eat, and enjoy together the delightful sensations of seasickness and any other ills which a kind Providence saw fit to send us. The remainder of the boat was crowded with the men of each regiment and their necessary baggage. The boat hands also took their meals in the cabin, and insisted on being the first served, and very kindly offered the remainder of their meals to the officers at the trifling price of half a dollar each,
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About eight persons could occupy the tables at one time, and the room had to be vacated by all others in order for that ; and to allow for the setting of the tables we were obliged to give up the room for the greater part of the day, and hang over the deck or sit up on the top of some un- occupied pile of baggage. So passed the days. Would that the nights had passed as well. Crowded in the cabin, packed like sardines in double tiers, we passed most miserable and sleepless nights.
"Favoring breezes finally wafted us to Hatteras and our worthy Captain of the unworthy steamer 'Francis' came to the deliberate conclusion that, as he had no ballast, he could not pass the Cape, and so decided to return to Newberne for ballast. Noble old man! He, with all his nautical experience, had to go to HIatteras to find that he could not pass the Cape in ordinary weather with a vessel carrying no ballast. The return to Newberne was but a repetition of the voyage down, and upon our arrival we found orders countermanding those ordering us to Fortress Monroe and returning us to Washington, N. C. Gladly did we bid our gentlemanly Captain an affectionate and hearty farewell with the hope that he may not forget to take ballast when he sails down the dark river, from which there is no return. We left New- berne the same evening and arrived at Washington, N. C., April 5, 1864, and returned to camp, glad to get back."
8
SUPPLIES.
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CHAPTER XIII.
THE BATTLE OF DREWRY'S BLUFF.
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE REUNION, MAY 16, 1876, BY CAPTAIN W. S. HUBBELL.
Twelve years ago to-day, my comrades, no insurance agent would have taken a risk on our lives. Our chances for longevity were too slender to justify any great expectations on that score, and the red clay of Old Virginia bade fair to cover our bodies in their last sleep. How grateful to us then would have been the assurance that we should meet here to-day, in a land of peace, from which even the memories of war have well nigh fled! Surely this is a better place than that foggy, swampy, lurid, sulphurous battle-field in the woods near Fort Darling. God be thanked for the difference in our favor to-day ! And with such thanks in mind, let us proceed to fight our battle o'er again at Drewry's Bluff, on the 16th of May, 1864.
We had been spending the winter at that cozy and quite admirable retreat known as Little Washington, in North Carolina. Rumors had reached us of the policy of concen- tration whereby General Grant would rake together these scattered outposts and join their garrisons to his great column for the destruction of Lee. But our life flowed quietly on, with no rude alarms save now and then a picket volley at Fort Jack or a skirmish with the big black bear at
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
Rodman's Point. On the 27th of April, however, the enemy suddenly appeared from the direction of Greenville, and our entrenched camp assumed the dignity of a threatened post. There was much bustle and countermarching and some tar- get practice at trees and ruined houses in the suburbs, where it was shrewdly supposed the "Butternut" clad foe were lying in wait. A party of skirmishers also pushed out into the woods until the evening's fire was drawn and two of the Seventeenth Massachusetts were killed. But it soon appeared that the time had come for the abandonment of our post, and whether accidentally or otherwise, these rebels had come upon us, just as we were about to evacuate the town. After two days, therefore, of rather fussy excitement, we embarked on the transport "John Farron," and taking in tow the boat "Pilot Boy" at Hills' Point with Companies H, B, and E, we steamed gaily down the Tar River, bound, as we supposed, for New- berne. The next morning, however, we discovered that our vessel was steering for Hatteras, where we took in coal, transferred four companies to a large schooner and bade our last good-bye to the shores of Carolina. The next morning, Sunday, May Ist, we were off Cape Henry, and through the fog could dimly perceive the great flotilla of gunboats and transports which were destined to plant Butler's army at Bermuda Hundred, four days later.
In due time we reached City Point, where we found one of the new "double-ender" gunboats engaged in shelling the woods on the north bank of the James, and the roar of this harmless cannonade was our welcome to Bermuda Hundred. The regiment was soon ashore and the fresh meadow grass gave us a nice couch on which to stretch our cramped limbs. Signs abounded on every hand that soldiers had recently passed this way, but all save camp followers and provost guards had disappeared, and we soon took up our line of march for the front. A half mile from the river brought us to a series of hills, some of them of uncommon steepness, up which we toiled. The roads were very blind and muddy
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
with recent rains. Swamps suddenly appeared in most un- likely places, and our course seemed most tortuous and un- certain, and our guide was often only half persuaded which by-path to take. Numberless creeks with miry bottom and no bridge intersected our course, while a smart shower of warm rain drenched us to the skin. The growlers and grumblers had a glorious time at their favorite occupation, and a little martial music, or a whiskey ration, were greatly desired by the rank and file. Darkness overtaking us at last, we en- encamped by the roadside, and spreading our " shelters," crawled under their white cover for the night. In the morn- ing we found ourselves not far from General Butler's head- quarters at the rear and soon had the satisfaction of seeing him sally forth with his numerous staff for his diurnal round at the front. Undisturbed possession of our camp was granted us for the day, and some of those who considered that we were born to good luck, began to whisper that we were destined for headquarters guard. But the next day such illusions were dispelled, for we were ordered to join the ex- pedition before us.
We soon reached the broad and well-built turnpike running from Petersburg to Richmond, and the mile-stones en- couraged us with their report of the diminishing distance between us and the rebel capital. Marks of recent conflict began also to appear by the roadside-splintered trees, frag- ments of shells, red-stained blankets, with here and there a dead horse or mule hideously rent by the missile which had struck them down. The sounds of battle, not far away, were occasionally borne back to our ears, and perhaps did not quicken our footsteps toward danger. We came at length to the Halfway House, an old tavern nine miles from Richmond, where we halted to await orders, and after some delays re- sumed our march, inclining to the right toward the river, and taking a narrow road along the edge of the woods toward the front line. Just here two General Officers rode rapidly by us, with several orderlies in their train, and we discovered in one
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
of the two our own idolized commander, Colonel A. H. Dutton. He had come on in advance of the regiment while the latter was delayed at Norfolk, and had volunteered as aid to General W. F. (or Baldy) Smith, by whom he was at once made Chief of Staff for the Eighteenth Corps. Before he could escape us we gave him three rousing cheers, which he grace- fully acknowledged as he dashed on. We were destined to Weitzel's Division of the Eighteenth Corps. His division included three brigades under Wister, Burnham and Heck- man. General Heckman's brigade was composed of the Ninth New Jersey, and the Twenty-third, Twenty fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. This force occupied the right of the army and was distant about one mile from the James River, this interval being pickcted by two squadrons of colored cavalry. Our conductor led us to the left of Heck- man's brigade, where we relieved our old friends, the Twenty- seventh Massachusetts, who had once before relieved us from provost duty at Norfolk. This exchange of places was the cause of much good-natured chaffing between the two regi- ments. Little did the Twenty-seventh suppose that by this movement they were about to be placed in the very jaws of danger, and that ere another sunrise they would be decimated and overwhelmed by the foe.
We . ranged ourselves on their line in the woods, along which they had built a rude parapet of logs, and sent out three companies as skirmishers to the edge of the clearing in front, where they had orders to blaze away at the fortifica- tions before them, until forty rounds of ammunition had been spent per man. Here surely was a grand opportunity for every officer to settle his ordnance accounts, by that magic paraphrase, " expended in action." It was now Sunday even- ing, the 15th of May, and with dark there came on a stillness which was almost ominous of the coming storm. As our own position is now settled for the night, let us take a general survey of what is to be the battle-field of the morrow and review the preparations now concluded.
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
General Butler had made a great mistake, as we can readily perceive, in not marching directly forth from Bermuda Hun- dred as soon as he landed his fine army of thirty-five thousand men. A quick and vigorous move of this kind must inevit- ably have resulted in the capture of both Richmond and Petersburg, since at that time, the only force with which Butler could have been opposed was a garrison of five thou- sand strong under General Ransom. But after entrenching at Bermuda Hundred on the 5th and 6th of May, Butler pushed out a force of five brigades under General Brooks to destroy the railway at Port Walthall, so as to cut the line of commu- nication between Petersburg and Richmond. This strong re- connoissance failed and retired. Two days were lost in delay, and then on the ninth three divisions of the Tenth Corps and two of the Eighteenth marched toward Petersburg, but after skirmishing at Swift Creek, three miles from the city, the whole force retired, being deceived by the report that Lee was vanquished by Meade and was falling back on Richmond. Therefore, the 11th of May was spent in strength- ening the earthworks at Bermuda Hundred. On the 12th of May the movement toward Richmond was begun in earnest, and on the thirteenth the position in front of Fort Darling was gained. On the morning of the fourteenth it was proposed to assault the works at Drewry's Bluff, but finally it was concluded to strengthen the Federal line by ordering up re- serves, and so the next two days were wasted. It was Butler's intention to offer battle the next morning after our arrival. The enemy seemed to have retired into three square redoubts commanding the roads, and these, with the field works con- necting them, were the outer fortifications of Fort Darling. Their line ran in a south-westerly course some three miles from the river, covering the approaches to Richmond from that quarter.
What has occurred meanwhile within the rebel lines during these nine days of indecisive operations by the Army of the James ?
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LIEUTENANT FRANK FOWLER. CAPTAIN A. M. CRANE.
LIEUTENANT A. AVERY BEVIN.
CAPTAIN D. D. BROWN.
LIEUTENANT F. W. H. BUELL.
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
(It has been my good fortune to have access to the history of these movements by Colonel Fletcher of the Scots Fusileer Guards-History of American War-who says that he re- ceived his account from General Beauregard himself.)
As soon as Butler's movement was discovered, Beauregard was summoned at once from Charleston, whence he brought three thousand men. Pickett and Hoke with ten thousand men were hurried by rail from North Carolina, and probably the very soldiers who disturbed us at Little Washington, were confronting us again as we lay on our arms at Drewry's Bluff. The garrison of Wilmington, consisting of seven thou- sand under General Whiting, was hastened to Richmond, and Ransom and Colquhitt were already posted with five thou- sand men just outside the defenses of the rebel capital. This statement, according to Beauregard's own authority, gave him a force exceeding twenty thousand men. The uncertain and vacillating movements of Butler had given such time to concentrate the rebel troops that Beauregard now resolved to assume the offensive. He, therefore, sent an aide-de-camp to Richmond, with an urgent request to Mr. Davis that fifteen thousand men might be withdrawn from Lee, using the rail- road for that purpose, and these being added to the twenty thousand already at Drewry's Bluff, might fall on the "Army of the James," overwhelm it, and then cross the river and assail the left flank of Grant, whilst Lee attacked him in front. Thus, the force under Butler could be crushed and all its material of war be destroyed, while Grant could be dealt a blow which would cripple him for the rest of the campaign. President Davis was about to give his consent, when he in- quired if it might not in such a case be necessary for Lee to fall back on to the defenses of Richmond for temporary sup- port. Being answered that this was quite possible, but that such a move would aid the desired result by bringing Lee and Beauregard nearer together, Davis refused his consent and ordered Beauregard to attack with the force at present at his disposal.
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