USA > Connecticut > The story of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War. 1861-1865 > Part 14
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
Let us be grateful, my comrades, that such was the issue, for otherwise, whatever might have been the result between Grant and Lee, we, at Drewry's Bluff, would never have got safely back into our " bottle " at Bermuda Hundred.
Beauregard's purpose for our annihilation having thus mis- carried, he next arranged his plan of attack with the troops under his own command. He had organized his army into three divisions, under Hoke, Ransom and Colquhitt. In addi- tion to this, he ordered Whiting with his division of five thousand men to move out of Petersburg, three miles beyond Swift Creek, so as to be within eight or nine miles of Drewry's Bluff. Ransom's Division was to endeavor to turn our right flank between Heckman's Brigade and the river and to get behind us on to the road leading to Bermuda Hundred. General Hoke meanwhile was to engage the Tenth Corps under Gilmore on our left and prevent it from going to the assistance of the Eighteenth. Colquhitt was to be held in reserve in the works at Fort Darling. Whiting near Petersburg was to attack Ames' Division near Bermuda Hundred, and to operate on the rear of Butler's army as soon as the panic set in. Certainly this is a very pretty plan on paper, and threatened serious mischief to us, if it could be executed aright.
What our own plan of battle would have been, had we been allowed to make the attack, I am unable to learn. It is hinted that the purpose was to press close up to the defenses of Fort Darling and to reduce it by siege. Sewell's regiment of New York Engineers had been ordered to the right of our line, and two regiments, the Eighth Maine and the One Hundred and Twelfth New York, were posted on the same flank in reserve. Here also was parked the heavy siege battery of twenty pound Parrotts under Captain Ashby, known as Battery E, Third New York Artillery. Our old friend, Captain Belger, of Battery F, First Rhode Island Artillery, was to be found in the same quarter with his brass twelve pounders in position.
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
But whatever may have been the intentions of our com- mander, they were forestalled by his more nimble adversary. Beauregard commenced the battle which both sides were intending to inaugurate. A dense fog enveloped the low ground and prevented us from discerning even a horse at the distance of a few yards. Under cover of this fog, at 4:30 A. M., the enemy crept up undiscovered until they were fairly past our right, and the first wave of attack fell upon the rear of the Ninth New Jersey. With a tremendous yell and a simultaneous discharge of musketry and artillery, the rebels poured in upon Heckman's brigade, and almost in a moment, the surprised General and over a thousand of his men were captured, disarmed and hurried to the rear. At the same time, another column charged down the road and endeavored to seize the battery of twenty pound Parrots. Captain Ashby and all the other officers of the battery were wounded, fifteen of the gunners were killed, and thirty of the horses disabled. A part of the guns with all the limbers and caissons were saved, but three of the pieces were abandoned to the enemy. Captain Belger also lost one of his guns. The Eighth Maine and One Hundred and Twelfth New York, who have before been mentioned as in reserve, now advanced gallantly to the rescue, and with the remnants of Heckman's brigade, suc- ceeded in checking the enemy's pursuit. The rebels got badly mixed among themselves and fired into one another at times. Then Colquhitt's reserve division was brought up on the rebel side for a fresh attempt on our shattered right, and charge after charge was desperately made against us. Our right was slowly folded back and pressed around to the rear, but a resolute front was still presented to the foe.
And now we seem to have reached a point in our descrip- tion, when we may wisely introduce the special record of the Twenty-first Connecticut, for we have come to a period of the engagement when the Twenty-first had become the last regi- ment on the right of the army and was fighting both in front and on the flank at close quarters with the foe. Heckman's
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
brigade was entirely broken up, and the enemy had followed along the right until checked by the Eighth Maine and ourselves. The Eighth Maine had now disappeared, and we had " changed front to rear on center company," thus placing our regiment in the shape of a letter L, with one face to the front and one to the right flank. There was nothing before us, or on our right hand, save the attacking rebels. On our left we could see no one in the smoke and fog, but took it for granted that our friends were there, if we had but time to hunt them up and develop their support. As for orders or supervision from any brigade or division commander, we had received nothing of the sort during the first three hours of the battle.
General Heckman was captured, and not even a staff officer came near us during all this time. We were fighting on our own hook, with our right flank " in the air" and our left in close connection with no one in particular. Fortunately, we were too inexperienced to appreciate fully our peril, and were not aware of the disaster which had swallowed up the rest of our brigade. We really had no idea that we were whipped, and had no intention whatever of abandoning our position. It seems to me, after carefully studying this whole engage- ment, that our stubborn and continued resistance on the right, was the main reason why General Ransom was checked and the rebels failed to penetrate to the rear of the Eighteenth Corps. Beauregard said that he had 'succeeded in driving the enemy from his rifle pits and turning his right flank, but, that owing to the heavy loss sustained in so doing, and to the disorder among his own troops, he was obliged to pause and call up his reserve. With the aid of his reserve division under Colquhitt, Ransom was able to maintain himself in the position gained, but could advance no further.' Now, we are competent to-day to give one reason, at least, why he could advance no further, and you, my comrades, were that reason. Our bullets swept the path of his approach, and for three long hours we declined to step aside and to let him pass.
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
Such being the facts, we may be justified in tracing the story of our own regiment through that eventful day. Having joined the army so late on the evening before the battle, not even our regimental name was included in the printed reports of troops engaged, and but for our list of killed and wounded, it would not appear that we had any part or lot in the affair.
At nightfall then, on Sunday, the 15th, we took possession of the line just held by the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts on the left of Heckman's brigade. Companies were told off to occupy the skirmish pits, cartridges were inspected, muskets freshly capped, ammunition boxes opened that a plentiful supply might be in readiness, and then the troops lay down on their arms to spend the night with such uneasy comfort as they could command. No fires were allowed, and cold ra- tions without coffee made up our supper. About nine o'clock there was a picket skirmish on the Petersburg road in front of the Tenth Corps, which quickened our pulses and helped our wakefulness farther on through the night. Most of us were half dozing and shivering in the fog and wishing for dawn, when suddenly there rang out the report of a howitzer, and almost the same instant the bursting of a shell a few yards to the right. Every man of us was on his feet in a twinkling, but already the rattle of musketry and the yells of combatants were heard, towards the river, and our pickets began to fire furiously in our front and the answering shots from the enemy struck the trees about us and went singing beyond us. A soldier's first impulse at such times is to dis- charge his musket at something, and hence the first duty of our officers was to prevent the line from opening a fusilade upon our own skirmishers before us. We could not see these, but could hear the well-known voices of several officers encouraging the men to stand firm. Then the bullets came thicker, and we could hear the enemy crashing through the underbrush towards us, but our pickets began to straggle in and wounded officers and men began to appear, and all ex-
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
claimed: "They're coming ! the Johnnies are right behind us !"
And sure enough, there, through the fog, loomed up a long line of men in gray, looking through the haze like giants in size. And now the eager Twenty-first opened with such a volley that the rebel host seemed to be riddled through and through. The assailants paused and tried to answer our fire, but for some unexplained reason there seemed to be no stop to our musketry. The first volley spent, one would imagine that men must wait to load again, but there seemed no such pause. All along the front now the roar was steadily heard and the enemy before us gradually edged off to the right. There Company K was involved in the thickest of the fray, and its gallant Captain Shepard was soon laid low. The same fortune had befallen Company E a few moments before, and its brave Captain Stanton had been severely hurt.
Despite their repulse, the enemy soon reappeared in our front, coming this time from our left, where they had made an unsuccessful charge. In front of Burnham's and Wister's bri- gades on our left, an excellent use had been made of the telegraph wires by the roadside. These had been removed from the poles and stretched from tree to tree and stump to stump before our slight entrenchments. In the dull morning light the rebels tripped and fell over this obstruction, which they were quite unable to discover. A similar precaution in front of Heckman would doubtless have saved his brigade. But as it was, they found our front the easiest to assail, especially since they had made a permanent lodgment on our right. The Twenty-first was therefore subject to constant rushes of the enemy, who tried to break in upon us both on front and flank. Again and again they were checked and our picket line restored. Colonel Burpee moved calmly along the ranks, his coolness, composure and well-directed orders exhibiting both his courage and the phlegmatic temperament with which he was endowed. Our sturdy old Chaplain, anxious to render practical aid, armed himself with an axe
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
and found a short method of opening ammunition boxes, from which he distributed cartridges to all the empty-handed.
Death was thinning our ranks and anon the good Chaplain, having supplied munitions of war to those in need, was beckoned to the side of a dying soldier. "Are you badly hurt, my boy?" said the old man. "Oh, yes, sir, I expect I've got to die." "Are you a Christian ?" " Yes, sir, I hope I am." "Well then, thank God, let us pray." And down on bended knees by the dying man's side sank the fearless minister, and with bared head, looking up to Heaven, lifted his soul in prayer that God would receive the departing spirit. Meanwhile the air was alive with leaden hail, and the roar at times drowned the firmly spoken words of him that prayed. But God could hear. Those of us who witnessed the scene will never forget it, nor will they ever cease to honor the fighting old Chaplain of the Twenty-first, Rev. Thomas G. Brown.
Amid this carnage and confusion, the early morning had passed on, and it was now eight o'clock, although the smoke and the haze united to lend a gloom to our battle-field and uncertainty to our movements. At this juncture an aid from Weitzel's staff appeared, who seemed a brave, sensible man, and examined us narrowly through his gold spectacles. He said that he had been sent to ascertain how matters were going on the right, and added that an attack was to be made at once from the left by General Gilmore, whose forward movement would compel the rebels to fall back and would give us relief. He exhorted us to hold on a half hour longer and we should see the enemy in full retreat. It was doubtless on the strength of this captain's report that General Weitzel made his reply to one of our officers who had been swept off with fifty or more of our men by the retreat of the One Hun- dred and Forty-eighth New York, and who supposed the regiment was dispersed or destroyed. "Do you want the Twenty-first Connecticut ?" said the General. " Well, then, go join them in the woods yonder, where they're fighting
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
like h-11." Surely the sulphurous comparison was nearer the fact than almost any other simile he could have used.
So we rallied our courage and held on tenaciously for an hour longer. Many a time did we turn our ears anxiously to the left, expecting to hear the battle cry of the Tenth Corps, but naught save the rattling of the skirmishiers could be dis- covered from Gilmore's front. Instead of diminishing, our enemy seemed to increase in numbers and audacity, until at last Colonel Burpee became convinced that they were work- ing their way clear round behind us. Our numbers were decreasing rapidly. We had lost a hundred men and three officers by wounds, besides all our stragglers and others who had honestly missed their way in the fog and had retired. Colonel Burpee felt that we could no longer maintain our position. The men had fired away nearly a hundred rounds apiece, and some of their muskets were so foul as to be use- less. The order was therefore given to fall back towards the Petersburg road. As a proof of our lonely situation, it is enough to say that we knew not in which direction our friends were, and narrowly escaped marching straight into the ene- my's hands, only saving ourselves by facing square about and going in an opposite course. We were not pursued, and in five minutes reached the open field behind our battle line. Halting here a few minutes and receiving a fresh supply of cartridges, we reformed on the right of the Ninety-eighth New York, and the two regiments were ordered to charge again forward into the wood and to go as far as we could make our way. We did so, and were able to advance about twenty rods, when the firing was renewed for a time, then slackened, and at last well nigh ceased. This line was held while the wounded were collected and cared for, and later in the day the entire battle-field of Drewry's Bluff was abandoned by General Butler, and we retired without molestation to Ber- muda Hundred.
Beauregard followed us at a leisurely pace through the rain and mud and worried us in our entrenchments for a few
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CAPTAIN E. PERRY PACKER. CAPTAIN ISAAC D. KENYON. THEOTENANS AND ADH FANT FRANK C. JEFFREY. LIEUTENANT FREDERICK A. RICH.
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
days, after which, he contented himself with watching us from an opposing line of works which prevented our progress. Thus was the back door of Richmond slammed in Butler's face, and he was "bottled up at Bermuda Hundred," as General Grant described the situation. Thus a re-enforce- ment of at least fifteen thousand men reached Lee in season to take part in the battle of Cold Harbor.
It is impossible to repress our mortification as we review the results of this engagement, and it seems outrageous that we should have accepted any such issue. The total loss of our army in killed, wounded and prisoners was two thousand five hundred. Five pieces of artillery had also been captured. But this was not so serious a misfortune as to warrant our retreat. The foe had also suffered heavily, and we had re- maining an army of twenty-eight thousand men, a large portion of which was hardly under fire in the action of the 16th of May. It is said that Gilmore was ordered to the support of Smith, but misinterpreted the command as one to retire to the rear. It is certainly true that while the Tenth Corps was thus retiring, the enemy ventured to follow us up, when one regiment, the Fortieth Massachusetts, turned upon them, and, contrary to orders, made a bayonet charge, driving back the rebels a good half mile to their entrenchments. This indicates what might have been done had the entire corps advanced instead of falling back. But the Tenth Corps was withdrawn behind the Eighteenth. Then at 2:30 the artillery was retired except a battery or two to cover our retreat. Then the ambulances and supply trains were dispatched to the rear, and finally the whole army retreated, for no reason apparently save the will of the commander. The rebels did not pursue, nor offer us any temptation to change our mind. They were doubtless too glad to see us depart, for they had every reason to expect us to advance. They gladly accepted wur generous gift of the abandoned battle-field, from which they gleaned a rich harvest of spoils.
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
General Grant is reported to have said, when he learned that Butler was back at Bermuda Hundred, " I ought to have put McPherson in command of the Army of the James." Had McPherson assumed command at noon on the 16th of May, we should in all human probability have been in full possession of Fort Darling before nightfall. What we needed was a competent commander.
But aside from the general result, we have every reason to remember with pride and tender interest our share in the battle of Drewry's Bluff. We were severely tested and for almost the first time came into vivid contact with all the horrible realities of war. Our loss was officially reported as four officers wounded-three of these so severely as to oblige them to withdraw from the service-and one hundred and six enlisted men killed and wounded, beside thirteen missing. Hence the regiment was far worse than decimated in this encounter. While serving through many hard-fought con- tests in the months which followed, our nerve and endurance were never put to a harder trial, nor was our list of casualties ever again so great in one battle. We really gained a vast deal of martial confidence in that engagment, and have always felt that, in so far as we were concerned, we won a triumph on that day.
We were ordered to inscribe " Drewry's Bluff" upon our banner, and we placed the name as a victory on its folds. Throughout that day our flag was never lowered to the foe, and though its silk was rent with balls and its staff was splintered and drenched with the color sergeant's blood, yet some faithful hand was always extended to uplift the emblem of unconquered defiance. At one time the colors were planted in the center of a cartpath leading through the woods and the color guard were greeted with a concentrated fire at short range from the enemy. A minie-ball pierced the flag-staff and the wrist of him who carried it, but no one thought of flinching and the exposed position was maintained until the whole Federal line was advanced. We also made on that
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
day many valuable discoveries in regard to the bravery and efficiency both of officers and men. As we remember how one and another behaved under fire, there was something like a revision of former estimates, and many a modest and hereto- fore unappreciated soldier found himself a sudden favorite. Henceforth, this standard of judgment prevailed and promo- tions and honors were awarded on this basis.
"Whiskey-courage " was afterwards at a discount with us, partly through some painful experiences of our own, but mainly because of what we saw in many of the rebels whom we shot down. Numbers of them were thoroughly crazed with gunpowder and whiskey, a mixture of which was found in their canteens. These poor wretches were full of horse- courage and pranced around with drunken energy till they fell in their folly, pierced like any other target with the shots
they had invited. Our prejudice against this method of preparation for battle was strengthened by our experience on the 16th of May. We concluded that when a man is " fight- ing drunk " all the good soldier in him is gone, and at best he is only food for powder.
Dear comrades, to have fought and bled together in one such battle as this which we have described is surely reason enough for the tic which binds us in a union of hearts. Even to have fought upon opposite sides in the great rebel- lion, may now become a reason of sympathy between North and South. Both Blue and Gray learned many a lesson of mutual respect as they crossed swords in the struggle for Richmond.
We do not seek by these rehearsals of the past to keep alive the old feud, but just the contrary. No Americans fraternize more readily or heartily to-day than Federal and Confederate, as they meet and discuss the campaigns of Grant and Ice. May we learn to know each other too well ever to quarrel again ! Should our country become involved in another war, may the Blue and the Gray join hands again beneath the " Stars and Stripes " to subdue our common foe l
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-FIRST CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS, In the field near Bermuda Hundred, Va.
May 23, 1864.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL H. J. MORSE.
Adjutant-General Connecticut.
GENERAL-I have the honor to transmit the following list of killed, wounded and missing from this regiment, in the action of May 16, 1864, near Drewry's Bluff, Va. :
Captain C. T. Stanton, wounded severely.
Captain J. M. Shepard, wounded severely.
First Lieutenant William S. Hubbell, wounded slightly.
First Lieutenant Alvin M. Crane, wounded slightly.
Second Lieutenant Aaron S. Dutton, wounded badly.
Chaplain Thomas G. Brown, wounded slightly.
KILLED.
Privates Wm. S. Munsell, Company A ; Daniel Schippeon, Com- pany B; Cyrus J. Pease, Win. N. Mulkey, Company C; Henry W. Thorne, Company D; Amos F. Heath, Lyman Greene, Rufus C. White, Company E; Charles Avery, Thomas Marrow, Company H; Sergeant Alfred E. Reynolds, Privates Aaron E. Eldredge, William Pickett, Benj. Starkweather, Company K.
WOUNDED.
Co. A-Privates Alexander M. Francis, Frederick W. Glazier, slightly.
Co. B-Privates Jesse A. Clark, badly, Cornelius Halpin, slightly.
Co. C-Corporals Nelson Chapman, severely, Francis Hough, slightly ; Privates James MeGrath, Charles Andrews, severely, Francis M. Brayton, badly, Horatio N. Fish, Wm. Johnson, Wm. E. Wheeler, slightly.
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The Battle of Drewry's Bluff.
Co. D-Corporal Frank S. Babcock, slightly ; Privates Wm. L. Allen, badly, Osmer H. Parker, slightly, A. N. Miller, John D. Hoory, badly, Jas. Topliff, John Nubley, slightly.
Co. E-Commissary-Sergeant John C. Douglass, badly ; Ser- geant John L. Hill, painfully ; Privates Charles H. Williams, badly, Charles G. Avery, James Hislop, slightly.
Co. F-Privates Billings H. Payne, severely, Nimrod Nichols, Alvan B. Steward, slightly; Chas. Williams, John Weiler, Gottleb Lash, badly.
Co. G-Corporal Orrin S. Rix, slightly ; Privates John Daven- port, James F. Knight, Aug. D. Terwilliger, slightly.
Co. II-Sergeants F. A. Rich, Edward G. Childs, Corporal John H. Selden, Privates Charles H. Dutton, Gilbert West, Isaac G. Avery, slightly, O. C. Hills, Cornelius King, badly, John G. Lewis, H. Stevens, severely.
Co. I-Corporal Patrick Fox, severely ; Privates Peter Fitzger- ald, Henry Donahue, severely, George S. Thomas, painfully ; Corporal George E. Wells, slightly ; Privates L. M. Maynard, John Cranney, Henry Lomax, Charles G. Benedict, slightly.
Co. K-Sergeant Ang. Shepardson, severely ; Corporal Rufus Dixon, badly ; Privates Garrett Chehan, slightly, Charles C. Card, George E. Pond, J. B. Woodward, Edward A. Sweet, John N. Rice, severely, William Clark, N. P. Thompson, badly.
MISSING.
Co. A -- Privates Ambrose A. Foote, Timothy H. Blish, David E. Talcott.
Co. B --- Musician Edwin Rees (wounded).
Co. C -- Privates E. F. Smith, Francis Mayo, O. D. Barker.
Co. D-Andrew A. Perkins.
Co. E-Oliver Brown, Albert T. Harris.
Co. G -- Corporal M. V. B. Kinne; Privates S. N. Billings, F. T. Bentley, A. D. Brown, E. M. Brown, George S. Congdon, John Danham, Bradford Clark, Silas H. Main, Welcome Moffiet, Latham Il. Park, Robert Sutcliffe.
Co. K-Corporal Giles F. Hyde ; Private Augustus H. Cutler.
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Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.
RECAPITULATION.
Killed, enlisted men,
-
-
-
14
Wounded, commissioned officers, -
-
-
-
-
6
Wounded, enlisted men, -
-
-
-
-
-
- 2 ]
Total, - - -
. - - 104
I remain, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,
THOMAS F. BURPEE, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Regiment.
HEADQUARTERS TWENTY-FIRST REGIMENT CONN. VOLUNTEERS, In the field, near Cold Harbor, Va.,
June 8, 1864.
GENERAL -- I have to report that Colonel Arthur H. Dutton, of this regiment, was severely wounded May 26th, while reconnciter- ing the enemy's position near Bermuda Hundred, Va. Also, the following list of casualties in the Twenty-first Connecticut Volun- teers since June 2, 1864:
KILLED.
Co. D-Private Theodore D. Bennett.
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