USA > Delaware > Four years in the war. The history of the First Regiment of Delaware Veteran Volunteers, (Infantry,) containing an account of marches, battles, incidents, promotions. The names of all the officers and men who have been connected with the regiment from its organization in 1861, to the close of the war in 1865 > Part 7
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Some of the Baltimoreans who came were among the most efficient and useful helpers. They worked for Federal and Confederate wounded without dis- tinction. Wherever, whenever, and to whomsoever they could could do anything to relieve suffering they were willing and prompt to do it. There were others whose sympathies were for the Confeder- ates alone, and gave all they brought to them, and did nothing for others.
We had a corresponding class from Philadelphia, who declared they would not give a cup of tea to a Rebel to save his life. These formed a very small portion of the Philadelphians who were there, and in spirit were very different and contrary to the large delegation from that loyal city.
Such a spirit, and such practices, could not be tolerated in a well regulated hospital, and an order was issued that nothing should be carried to the wounded of either party by their friends, and every-
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thing was deposited in the store-house to be dis- tributed indiscriminately by authorized persons. The only distinction discoverable on the part of the surgeons was that they attended to the worst cases first, whether they were Federal or Confederate, giving the preference to our own when the cases were equally urgent.
Some, in their intemperate zeal in a good cause, have denied that there could be found piety or religion in a Rebel, but I am not the only one who has remarked that there was found among the Con- federates as large a proportion of Christian men as in our own army. It is the duty of every one to respect and honor those who rightfully rule over us and to support the legal Government under which he lives. But loyalty is not religion, and though rebel- lion against a good constitutional Government is sinful and incompatible with true piety, yet where and who is the Christian man thoroughly loyal to his God ? And if a man may be a Christian though not sinless, or in all things obedient to the Divine Government, may not another be a Christian though a political heretic ?
I had the opportunity of seeing and conversing with many Confederate officers and men, many of them expressed their gratitude and surprise upon receiving
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the kindness which was shown them. It far ex- ceeded what they expected. There were among them some stiff Rebels who stood up for "their rights " with boldness. In conversation with one of them he alluded to the emancipation proclamation and the enlistment of negro soldiers, and asked me if Delawarians were not ashamed of these measures. I told him we were not, that though some were opposed to them because they feared they were impolitic, as soon as they became a part of the settled policy of the Government, they were generally con- curred in, as we intended to give every means a fair trial for the entire overthrow of the rebellion. He replied that our professed object was to defend the Union and not to abolish slavery. So it is, said I. The proclamation is not directed against slavery but the rebellion, except so far as the former is sustained by the latter. Slavery was not abolished in loyal slave States, nor even in loyal portions of seceded States. If they had not formally enlisted negroes, they had done and were doing the same thing in effect, for they employed them to drive their teams, haul their rations, and work on their fortifications, thus relieving their soldiers, and in that way rein- forcing their army with fighting men.
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Our conversation had become quite earnest and animated. He at length said,
" You (at the North) are always arguing."
" What would you have?" I asked, "I thought you wanted to discuss these questions."
" No !" said he, with some impatience.
" What then ?" I asked.
"Fight it out," said he.
" Agreed," I replied, " but remember we are as de- termined as you are to fight to a successful issue, and we have the men and means."
I had been urging the uselessness and inhumanity of continuing the contest, and charged upon them the real authorship of the war, which he did not deny. Some admitted it, and blamed South Carolina for it. Others even boasted that they fired the first gun and commenced the war.
By the 1st of August most of the division hos- pitals were broken up, and a general hospital estab- lished. Assistant Surgeon, J. W. Mccullough, and I, who had been detailed to remain with the wounded, were relieved and left to rejoin our Regiment at Bristorburg, Virginia.
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CHAPTER XI.
BRISTORBURG.
BRISTORBURG is south of the Orange and Alexan- dria Railroad, and about six miles from Bealton Station. Our hospital was in the Church which was beautifully situated in an oak grove. Here I met a poor old slave, who, though not presuming or for- ward, but, on the contrary, deferential and polite, was free and fluent in conversation, especially on religious subjects, on which he was well informed. One evening, our quartermaster, his wife, Mrs. Har- ris of Philadelphia, and I with others, were sitting under the trees in front of our quarters, talking on serious subjects, and singing songs of Zion, when "Corn," as the slave called himself, came along, and, knowing his religious character, I asked him to give some account of his religious experience and views ; to "give a reason for the hope within him." This he did in a manner very satisfactory to all; but the. chaplain, to test him still further, proposed some questions to sound the depth of his experience, the
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accuracy of his faith, and the ground of his hope. He looked seriously and in a meditative mood, for a few moments on the ground. One of the ladies, ap- parently taking his hesitation for embarrassment, proposed the substance of the questions in an easier and leading form. The slave raised himself, and said,
" Never mind, missus. I know what the chaplain is arter, he's tryin' me. Let him be. I's ready for him." He then answered the questions in such a simple, accurate, and discriminating manner, that the whole party burst out in an exciting and joyous shout of laughter, which no one enjoyed more than the chaplain himself.
The slave was free as the truth makes free! The Spirit and the Word of God which is not bound, had enlightened him and loosed the bonds of sin and Satan, and introduced him into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. He could not read a word in the book, yet he knew Jesus as he is revealed in the gospel. A professor of theol- ogy could not have given a clearer or more sat- isfactory statement of the grounds and object of faith and hope. This man had always lived in slavery, but under the influence of the preached. word. He belonged to a Baptist preacher, and
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lived near the church. Though he seldom heard the Bible read, except in the services on Sundays, the Spirit had taken of the things of Christ and shown them unto him. He was a voluntary slave. Being asked why he had not gone with others of his color to the North, he said, he could not leave his family ; his little children and wife would have no one to care for them as he could, and he could not take them with him.
He said it did not make much difference where, or in what condition, a man lived, he could love and serve God anywhere, and when our Great Mas- ter's time came, he would be free. He would like to be free, but was willing to wait. At one time, he was suspected of being engaged in, if not the leader of a plot to lead off the slaves of the neighborhood. IIe was seized, his hands bound behind him and marched, with others, day after day through deep mud until he was almost exhausted and the skin was chafed off his wrists. He begged to be released and promised to follow or march wherever they would direct, urging that he had often had the opportunity to escape, and yet had not done so, and that there was no reason now that had not existed before. At length he was unbound and marched to the
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place of destination-Lynchburg. Here the ques- tion was discussed, whether they should not be sent further into the interior. The slave appealed to his master, and asked him if he had not always been faithful, if he had ever done anything to merit from him such indignities, as he regarded them, and begged him not to send him further from his family, but to allow him to return to them. The appeal touched the heart of his master and he was permitted to return.
On September 12th we broke camp at Elk Run, and marched to Rappahannock Station, where we bivouacked for the night.
On the 13th we marched to Culpeper, where we remained three days. Culpeper is on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, about seventy miles from Washington, and is beautifully situ- ated in a rich hilly country. General Kilpatrick drove the Confederate cavalry rapidly through the town, capturing a number of prisoners and several pieces of artillery. Several of their dead were left on the field. One who lay on the hill near where we encamped we buried and marked his name, which I found on a memorandum book in his pocket.
On the 16th we marched through Culpeper to
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the top of Cedar Mountain, where we encamped for the night. From this position we had a fine view of the surrounding country, and could see, at the distance of several miles, the smoke of the battle between the cavalry on the Rapidan.
On the 17th the troops marched with arms at a trail, along fences, and through woods to the Rapidan, where we halted in view of the Rebels strongly posted on the south side.
On the 1Sth the division was marched out and formed three sides of a hollow square, to witness the execution of two men of the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut, for desertion. They had but a few hours' notice of their death. The chaplain of the regi- ment, Rev. Mr. Stephens, called on me to visit them and assist him in preparing them for their melan- choly end. One of them professed to have been seeking the salvation of his soul for some weeks, and indulged the hope that God had pardoned his sins, and was anxious to be baptized. As he professed faith in Christ, repentance of his sins, and was very anxious for the outward sign of the covenant, we agreed that he was a fit subject for the ordinance. Ilis chaplain being a Baptist, and the circumstances in which we were placed forbidding the administra -. tion of the ordinance in his mode, it devolved on me
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to baptize him. The ordinance was accordingly . administered at his grave, in the presence of the whole division. Chaplain Stephens, Mr. Cunning- ham, correspondent of the New York Herald, and I, rode in an ambulance with the prisoners from division headquarters to the field where they were to be executed.
On the way the correspondent said to the prisoners, who wept as they approached the troops, that it would not be more painful to die there than in battle. "No," one of the prisoners replied, "but to die for one's country is honorable." He was a young man of morethan ordinary intelligence, and it was sad indeed to lead a youth who might have held an honorable place, and been a comfort to his friends, to his execution.
Both acknowledged the justness of the military sentence, now that it was about to be executed, and deeply regretted that they had yielded to the feeling of insubordination. Several chaplains agreed to inquire whether soldiers who were executed for desertion had ever themselves witnessed executions. One knew of a man who deserted the day after wit- messing an execution of a deserter; but our atten- tion had not been so long called to the inquiry as to
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elicit facts enough to throw any light upon the subject.
When we came to the troops we left the ambu- lance, and (the prisoners leaning on the arm of the chaplains, preceded by their coffins, and the band playing a dead march) walked before the division to their graves. The religious services being over, the sentence of the court was read. We shook hands with the prisoners and stepped aside that the sentence of death might be executed. The prisoners, being blindfolded and having their hands tied behind them, sat upon their coffins. The provost guard, with all their muskets loaded except one, stood before them. All eyes were turned to the scene. The stillness of death prevailed. The captain of the guard ordered them to "take aim," and then to "fire." Only three or four of the muskets dis- charged, the others snapped in the faces of the prisoners. Neither seemed to be 'struck. A shud- der and low murmur passed up the line of troops. The guard themselves seemed startled and to hesi- tate. The officer renewed the command to load, take aim, and fire; again most of the pieces missed, and the prisoners though wounded were not killed, and not till one was shot three times and the other seven times were they dead. During these repeated
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efforts to execute the sentence of the court the bandage fell from the eyes of one of the men, and he, springing forward, fell upon his knees, and, trembling violently, turned most imploring eyes to the guard as if praying to be spared; but the sen- tence of the court was executed. We returned to our quarters sadder if not better men. Shortly after this we were assembled again to witness another execution. A soldier of the First Division was to be shot for desertion. The troops were assembled and formed as usual. The young man walked with a firm and steady step to the grave, drew off his coat, folded it, laid it upon his coffin, and then sat down upon it as if he was to have his photograph taken. In his execution there was but one volley and one report. He fell over and died without a struggle or a groan.
We remained on the Rapidan till the 6th of Octo- ber, when, being relieved by the Fifth Corps, we returned from the front through Culpeper to Beal- ton Station, on the north side of the Rappahannock, where we encamped on the 11th. On the 12th we recrossed the Rappahannock, formed three lines of battle, and advanced slowly towards Culpeper. The Rebels fell back before us and our cavalry pursued them beyond Culpeper. At 12 o'clock at night we
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were ordered to be ready to march within half an hour. In twenty minutes we were again marching in column to the Rappahannock, which we crossed at 3 o'clock A. M., and reached Bealton at 5 o'clock. As we approached the station we heard explosions like the firing of skirmishers, and supposed that we were to have a fight. We found, however, that our quartermaster's stores had been removed, and the ordnance stores were being destroyed. We then marched in the direction of Sulphur Springs, where our cavalry had been driven the day before. General Lee was attempting to get into our rear and cut us off from Washington.
On the 13th we bivouacked in a woods near Au- burn. On the 14th, as we were crossing Turkey Creek at Auburn, we were attacked by General Ewell's advance, who were moving in the direction of Bristoe's Station. The engagement lasted about half an hour, when the enemy were driven off and we continued our march. The Second Corps formed the rear guard of General Meade's army, and was com- manded by General Warren. Our army marched by two direct parallel roads whilst the Rebels had longer and more difficult routes, and hence were unable to interrupt our retreat. Yet two brigades of General Hill's Corps reached Bristoe's Station in advance of
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our division, and suddenly attacked us at that point about 12 o'clock M. We were marching in column on the south side of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. The Rebels were on the north side. At this point there is a high bank along the road, and it was important that we should reach it before the enemy, as it would afford a good breastwork. Gen- eral Warren, who had been at the head of the column, rode back as far as to the First Delaware, and called out to them,
" Men, make the railroad ! for God's sake-for your country's sake, make the railroad !"
The column faced about, and, at a double quick step, ran for the railroad bank, and reached it through a shower of bullets.
Chaplains, though officers, have no command, yet I repeated General Warren's order lest the men might not have heard it. Whether the enemy mis- took me for a field officer or my spotted horse at- tracted their attention, I cannot tell, but for some reason or other the bullets buzzed too near me to bo agreeable, and as I had no command, and no arms to fight with, I acted upon the motto that discretion is the better part of valor, and fell back to the rear --- the hospital. Before we had prepared the barn to receive the wounded a line of Rebel skirmishers ap-
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peared within rifle shot of us, and a cavalryman rode up and warned us of our danger. We moved off with the few wounded we had and saw no more of the enemy except those who fell into our hands as prisoners. The battle was short but brilliant. We captured five guns and four hundred and fifty pris- . oners. The Federal loss was fifty-one killed, and three hundred and fifty-nine wounded. We know not how many the enemy lost in killed and wounded, but we heard the groans of their wounded, after night fall, when we moved off in the direction of Bull Run, which we forded about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 15th. Captain W. F. Smith (after- wards Major Smith) was, as usual, foremost in the fight at Bristoe's Station, and helped to draw off one of the Rebel guns. Volunteers being called for to go out in front of the line to watch the movements of the enemy when the column was withdrawing and resuming the line of march, Lieutenant B. Y. Draper, with characteristic bravery, was one of the first to offer his services. I should here state that though I often heard others speak of Lieutenant Draper's gal- lantry, I never heard him allude to any of his brave acts. He seemed to think no more of discharging dan- gerous duty than one involving no risk to himself. If he had a fault as an officer on the battle-field, it was
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thoughtlessness of himself. His men often expressed the fear that he would be killed, as he was after- ยท wards at Coal Harbor. But a good soldier chooses to die at the front rather than at the rear.
Having crossed. Bull Run, we were under cover of .the fortifications at Centreville. The Rebels tried our lines at various points, but being repulsed, began themselves, on the 19th, to retreat, and we to follow them, by way of Manassas Junction, Broad Run, and Greenwich to Warrenton. The Rebels fell back to the south side of the Rappahannock, and our army occupied nearly the same position that it had occu- pied twice before. As they retreated, the enemy tore up the railroad from Cub Run to Rappahan- nock. In six weeks we had crossed the Rappahan- nock four times, and had marched from Elktown through Culpeper to the Rapidan; from the Rapidan through Culpeper to Bealton; from Bealton to Culpeper ; from Culpeper through Bealton to Cen- treville, and from Centreville to Warrenton.
On November 7th we broke camp at Warrenton, and marched by way of Bealton to Kelly's Ford, and on the Sth crossed the Rappahannock the fifth. time and encamped at Brandy Station, about eight miles from Kelly's Ford. We had, in less than eleven months, crossed and re-crossed the Rappa-
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hannock nine times. It can easily be imagined what is the condition of the country over which two large armies have so often marched.
There are no fences, and even the green woods where we encamped for the winter disappeared like grass before the locusts of Egypt. Dwelling houses were torn down to build quarters and bunks. Grain fields and grassy lawns were ploughed up by the heavy army wagons.
When the army halts and breaks ranks at night the men charge upon the fences, and in a few minutes thousands of camp fires light up the hills and valleys for miles in extent. Sometimes orders were issued forbidding depredations and destruction of property, at other times no restraint whatever was imposed. The penalties were sometimes quite disproportionate to the offence. At Brandy Station, four soldiers robbed a bee-gum; for doing so each lost four months' pay, amounting to two hundred and eight dollars.
On November 10th we moved from Brandy Station and encamped near Mountain Run. Be- fore halting Colonel Smyth, commanding the bri- gade, ordered that no fence should be disturbed without orders. The soldiers, some of whom had already arms full of rails, began to complain
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about protecting the property of Rebels, who were warring against the Union and endeavoring to destroy the Government. As soon, however, as the whole brigade had halted and stacked arms, without breaking ranks, the colonel stepped out and said, " Attention ! take-rails !" What a change in tone and temper! All now had an equal chance for a rail and such a charge was made as carried every vestige of a fence from the embankments. Not a rail was left in its bed, and hundreds of bright fires were soon burning in the field.
On the 26th we broke camp and marched to the Rapidan, which we crossed at Ely's Ford, about 1 o'clock P. M. The enemy retired before 03. We halted for the night near Flat Run, and the next morning marched through the Wilderness . to the Fredericksburg and Richmond turnpike, which we followed to Robinson's Tavern, where we found the enemy and drove them about two miles. The day was cold and wet. Our Regiment was all day on the skirmish line, lying in mul and water behind any little knoll or stump that would afford them protection from the bullets of the enemy, and at the same time watching their opportunity to shoot a Robol. During the day. our skirmishers were shelled and four of our Regi-
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ment were wounded. One of them was Amos Cat- tell, of Dover, who subsequently died of his wounds. He was a good soldier and bore his pains like a hero. Nothing has surprised me more than to notice how patiently and quickly the most ghastly wounds are endured on the field and at the hos- pitals.
On the 29th our corps moved to the left about ten miles, when they came up to the enemy at Mine Run and drove them to their works. They formed a line of battle and threw up breastworks. On the 30th, at 5 o'clock A. M., they moved out in front of the works, and were ordered to be ready at 8 o'clock to charge upon the enemy's fortifications. They had strengthened their works during the night, and in the morning stood upon them and beckoned to our. men in a defiant manner to come on to the assault. The First Delaware were in the first line of assail- ants. Almost certain death awaited them when the bugle should sound for an advance. Every check was blanched. Some, in anticipation of what was to befall them, wrote their names and address in their memorandum books that they might, after death, be identified. Others retired to the woods, and sought in prayer to surrender their hearts to God that they might find acceptance with him if
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they should not survive the assault. The hours of the day wore slowly away without the bugle call, and at 6 o'clock P. M. they fell back behind their breastworks. General Warren having examined the fortifications reported that they were too strong to be taken except at the loss of a large portion of his corps. During the day the surgeons and their attendants had been busy preparing hospitals. In the evening when I met our men around their camp fires they said to me, " Chaplain, there would have been no First Delaware to-night if the orders of this morning had not been countermanded. Our Regi- ment would have been annihilated. We may thank General Warren for our lives to-night." They seemed to feel that they had been saved from inevi- table destruction by the General countermanding the order to charge, and they expressed their gratitude to him, and their willingness in future to do any- thing he would command, or to go wherever he would direct. They felt that he had a regard for their lives and would not unnecessarily expose them.
Soon after dark on the 1st of December, the corps began to fall back to the Rapidan. The First Dela- ware was on picket, and Colonel T. A. Smyth had volunteered to take command of the line of pickets and to withdraw them. Large camp fires were kept
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brightly burning till 10 o'clock, when the colonel quietly withdrew his men. The Regiment being several hours behind did not overtake the corps till midnight. On the 2d, after marching all night, we again recrossed . the Rapidan at the Gold Mines and returned to our former camping ground at Mountain Run. On the 5th we moved to Stevensburg where we remained till the 29th, when those who had re- enlisted for three years as veterans, left under orders to repair to Wilmington, and report to the Governor of Delaware, William Cannon, Esq. Those of the Regiment who did not re-enlist were moved with the rest of the brigade about four miles to Stoney Moun- tain, near Morton's Ford.
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