USA > Illinois > Yates phalanx : the history of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry in the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 15
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Dr. Hamill, Mrs. Dickinson, Mrs. Sayres, Mrs. Blane and a score of others whose names are not so easily recalled. There was one, Miss Julia R. Hamill, who after the war became the writers' wife, and who proved a most devoted and loving companion until death claimed her in 1871. Her many virtues and loving character have been a cherished memory these many long and wearisome years.
After our breakfast the boys were given furloughs to go on to their homes and report back to Camp Fry, Chicago, within ten days or else be considered deserters.
Active measures were taken to recruit, and within the period of thirty days we have received about 250 men, making our aggregate strength nearly 780.
The long days and nights at Camp Fry (now Wright's Grove) will long be remembered as making a sum-total of misery that was lily borne; for a large city was near that afforded pleasure and enjoyment, and to be guarded in a circumscribed camp was unendurable. Passes were freely given to visit the city and return within twenty-four hours, but each man was prone to think he was entitled to more freedom, and taking advantage of the Colonel's sympathies and good nature often remained for forty-eight.
Nothing of especial interest occurred during our stay in Chicago excepting, perhaps, the appearance on the boards of Mc Vicker's Theater of our second assistant surgeon, Dr. Woodward, who volunteered his services at the benefit of Mr. Warren, the treasurer, in the third act of "Hamlet."
The morning papers of the following day took some notice of the Doctor's performance, and all spoke of it in a good-natured way except the Times, which in the course of its comment remarked: "If the Doctor of the Thirty-Ninth Illinois murders the men of his regiment in the same manner he did Hamlet last night, he had better leave the service." Woodward felt quite indignant over this "slur" and always Wilbur F. Storey and his dramatic critic when the subject was mentioned.
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CHAPTER TWELVE
Return to the Army
Before our return to the army the Regiment assembled at Bryan Hall to listen to words of encouragement, congratulation and counsel from Governor Yates. The night was stormy and the mud and slush in the streets made our march to the hall anything but comfortable. Despite the inclemency of the weather the hall was filled with men and women and hundreds were unable to get in even for a standing position.
Upon the appearance of His Excellency Governor Yates the applause was loud, prolonged and deeply earnest. He commenced his address by alluding to the activity that had been evinced from the time of the rebel eruption until the present hour, by the people of that glorious commonwealth, Illinois. From the moment of the booming of the incendiary gun, directed at the heart of the nation, rolled over the land, the cities, towns, villages, hamlets and prairie's of the great Northwest gave, without stint or limit, men; and he was proud to say that his State was foremost in the response for hands and hearts to uphold the constitution, the country, and the laws.
He spoke of those who, in the Spring of 1861, came ready and willing into the ranks, and leaving behind them homes, comforts, loved ones and dear kindred, to meet a deadly and vindictive foe. He alluded to the flags that the people of Chicago had entrusted to the Thirty-Ninth Regiment, and then pointed to them as they were being unfurled by the men who had borne them in the hour of strife and deadly conflict. "You see them there," he said, "tattered and torn, riddled by shot and shell, and stained by the blood of brave men, but you will find no blot upon their escutcheon." The applause that followed this remark lasted for a long time, the ladies joining heartily in the evidence of patriotic and loyal approval.
After the discourse of the Governor short speeches were made by Colonel Osborn, Lieuten- ant-Colonel Mann and others, and then we departed for our quarters at Camp Fry.
On February 28 we received orders to return to the army and were instructed to report at Washington. It was again a sorrowful time, to break loose from the home ties that bound us, but the remorseless clutch of war had its grip upon every one of us, and it was forward, march!
We left Camp Fry at seven o'clock on our march to the depot of the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railroad, and on the march were the observed of all observers, more especially after we had reached the south side, were the most of our friends were congregated. The Regiment never looked better or marched with more precision of step and soldierly bearing than on this trip to the depot. The train provided for us was comfortable and we had a pleasant journey to Pittsburgh, where a change of cars was required. The only train that we could get at the time was made up from the debris of the rolling- stock of the road and consisted of old, worn-out cattle and stock cars with rough pine boards for seats arranged around the sides, for the men, and a secondhand coach for the officers. The majority
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of the officers were justly indignant at such treatment, when their transportation called for first-class, and they came in a body to Dr. Clark, to have a protest made, based on sanitary reasons. He went to the Colonel, who was busy talking with the Superintendent of the Road, and opened his battery of wrath (backed by all the mutineers), saying that a protest had been made by all the commissioned officers against submitting to such indignity for themselves or men, adding that he, in his capacity of surgeon, charged with the sanitary condition of the enlisted men, most strenuously objected to the train, which was fit only for the transportation of cattle and hogs. "Go away," says the Colonel, "and mind your business!" This settled it. There was no further use in trying to get a change of cars, and the Doctor left the Colonel's presence, merely remarking that if he persisted in accepting that train he might ride alone. Before the train started some of the officers relented and jumped aboard, leaving some nine or more behind to await the express train. After loitering around the city until fairly tired, and with the conviction that we had been guilty of a great breach of discipline as well as being very silly, we made steps for the depot at midnight and took the express. We overtook our train on the other side of the mountain, at Altoona, where the Regiment had stopped for breakfast, and rejoined them with very guilty feelings as well as looks. After breakfast we got aboard the proper train, and were soon enroute for Chambersburg.
After a little the Colonel sent his orderly around with invitations for such and such a officer to report, and on reporting, they were invariably placed under arrest to await a future disposition. At last the Colonel sent his orderly with his compliments, and would be glad to see Dr. Clark at his headquarters on board the train. The Doctor mustered his courage and dignity, and amid the smiles of his comrades in the same fix went up the aisle to the front of the car and took a seat beside his superior officer-the Colonel, who said, "Why did you, sir, disobey my orders when told to get aboard the train?" "Well, sir," replied the Doctor, "Why did you pay no attention to the protest, which was made in the interest of your command? I am entrusted with their health and felt in duty bound to remonstrate against their being huddled together like so many dumb brutes, and still maintain my position in the matter."
"Well, sir," said Osborn, "you have disobeyed my orders, and I shall write to the Surgeon-General concerning your conduct."
"All right, sir," replied the Doctor, who said he also would write, detailing particularly all the circumstances. As was expected, before reaching Washington all the disobedient officers had been released from arrest and everything was again pleasant and serene, although it would have served us right to have been more severely punished for this mutinous conduct. The discipline in a majority of the volunteer regiments for infractions of this character were more apparent than real. It was impossible for a superior officer of the same command to enforce the rigid discipline of the regular army and tyrannize over men who, at home, were fully his equals, if not more, in all relations of a social or financial character, and as the war would not last forever there might come a reckoning for past grievances in the shape of insults and punishments given and taken while dressed in a "little brief authority" and protected for the time by military law. This, however, would be no excuse where the good of the service would be compromised, and in all well-disciplined regiments the disobedience of a subaltern of whatever grade, or the refusal to do duty while in the face and front of the enemy, was most rigidly punished.
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Return To The Army
We have heard men speak most scandalously of their officers, using all the disreputable epithets they could call to mind when being punished for some infraction of duty, and many examples might be given, but as this was seldom the case in the Thirty-Ninth their mention is not relevant to this history.
We reached Baltimore after a safe and speedy passage, on the morning of March 3, and were obliged to remain several hours to await means of transportation to Washington. Our destination was reached in the afternoon and we were provided with temporary quarters in the barracks adjoining the "Soldier's Rest," where we passed the night in comparative comfort.
The following day, March 4, 1864, we had orders to cross the Potomac into Virginia, and were soon on the tramp again, passing down Pennsylvania avenue to the Long Bridge which was crossed, and a march of several miles brought us into camp at Arlington Heights on a side hill at the foot of Fort Barnard, which was garrisoned by two companies of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery under the command of Major George B. Cook, a very pleasant and gentlemanly officer, who did all that was possible to make our camp agreeable, giving us lumber for flooring, bunks, desks, etc., from the unoccupied barracks above the fort.
The Long Bridge - Examining a pass
The weather during our stay was most disagreeable, raining almost every day, and being located on the hillside great care was necessary in ditching to conduct the water to the little creek below in order to prevent the flooding of the tents at the foot of the hill where the hospital and headquarters were located. The soil was a mixture of clay and sand, and it was seldom that we could step outside without sinking to our ankles in the mud, which adhered most tenaciously to our boots. Soon after reaching this place Colonel Osborn was stricken down with double pneumonia and was a very sick
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man for some days, and had not Major Cook of the Artillery given up his comfortable bed and quarters for the use of the Colonel, the Colonel would never have helped to place the finishing touch on the rebellion at Appomattox. A large number of men were taken sick at this camp with pneumonia, typhoid and remittent fevers, and six of them died. The Augur General Hospital at Camp Distribution was near by, and the most serious cases were sent there to be treated.
There were in the Regiment quite a number of both officers and men who belonged to the Masonic Fraternity, and the idea was conceived of opening a lodge in one of the many unused buildings at Fort Barnard. After a dispensation had been received from the Illinois Grand Lodge a lodge was opened and soon in working order, several of us being initiated into the mysteries of this ancient body.
After leaving this camp our lodge was broken up, for active operations in the field commenced, and during the succeeding months at the front the majority of the officers of our lodge were either killed or wounded-Captain Chauncey Williams, Company H, our Worthy Master, being killed in action August 16, 1864; and two other officers of the lodge, Captain Leroy A. Baker, Company A, and Lieutenant Norman C. Warner, Company E, were each so seriously wounded at the same time that amputation of their legs became necessary, and they were discharged.
Tents were struck, extra baggage turned over to the acting quartermaster, Lieutenant N. C. Warner, and we were in readiness to leave camp on the morning of April 25. At ten a.m. the march to Alexandria was commenced; there we took transports and proceeded to Gloucester Point on the York river where we were assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the Tenth Army Corps, temporarily commanded by Brigadier-General Robert S. Foster, or "Sandy" Foster, as we termed him, while the corps was temporarily under the care of General Alfred H. Terry. We remained at this point for several days, reorganizing the regiments, brigades and divisions of the corps, turning over all surplus equipment and baggage, even to our extra clothing, which was boxed up and either stored away or sent home-thus reducing the command to a fighting condition.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"IN THE ARMY OF THE JAMES"
Everything at last was ready, and on the Morning of May 4 we embarked on the transports to accompany General Butler's expedition up the James River to City Point. Meanwhile, the Medical Department had been entirely revised. The Ambulance Corps was organized under the command of a lieutenant, an Antenneith Dispensing Wagon attached to each division, details made for the carrying of hospital knapsacks and stretchers or litters, with two wagons to convey the medical supplies for each brigade. Details were also made of medical officers, hospital stewards, and men for the flying hospital, so that when we took the field everything would be arranged and everybody knows their duty in the active campaign before us. Surgeon Clark was temporarily detached as Chief Medical Officer of the Division an ordered to report to General Foster, which he did on the evening of May 3, Dr. Kurtz of the Eighty-Fifth Pennsylvania supplying his place as Brigade Surgeon.
There was some delay in getting the ambulances and other transportation connected with the Division aboard, but at last everything was ready by 10 p.m. May 4. During the afternoon of this day the steamship Arago came in bearing General Gillmore and staff, who was to assume command of the troops at this point. After all was aboard, we moved out into the stream and anchored for the night. We spent some hours on the deck of our steamer in company with General Foster and staff, during the evening, enjoying the scene presented by this vast fleet of vessels at anchor in the river. It seemed like a fairy scene-the brilliant lights of varied colors swinging from the masts; bands of music here and there discoursing lively tunes, and the glorious Stars and Stripes above all, floating and flaunting in a delicious breeze.
At daylight, May 5, the whole fleet got under way and went gallantly down the York River to Chesapeake Bay, reaching Fort Monroe at nine a.m. We halted just long enough to get instructions that ordered us to proceed up the James River. The day was lovely, and we enjoyed the scenery along the river, which was beautiful; often recalling to mind, as we journeyed along, the many reminiscences attaching to General McClellan's campaign on the Peninsula, especially Harrison's Landing, where we could point out the location of our camp in 1862, and the view called up many pleasing as well as sorrowful recollections.
We reached City Point about four p.m. where there were the ruins of some recently burned buildings and where the advance of our fleet had a skirmish with a small body of the enemy. Our
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Division did not stop, but proceeded on to Bermuda Hundred, so called from the fact that a settlement was made there by 100 persons from the Island of Bermuda many years ago.
We were now in the "Army of the James," consisting of the Tenth and Eighteenth Army Corps, under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler. General Grant, now Lieutenant-General, [first to hold this position since George Washington] had taken the supreme command of all the Union forces, and with the Army of the Potomac was preparing to move against General Lee by way of the Wilderness, and the Army of the James had been organized for the purpose of moving on Petersburg and Richmond while the attention of the Confederate army was being diverted by Grant.
We landed at Bermuda Hundred and bivouacked for the night in an open field. We were now within 15 miles of Richmond, and only seven from Petersburg. At daybreak we took up the line of march in the direction of Drewry's Bluff. Our progress was very slow, owing to frequent halts made necessary to await the action of the skirmishers. We were almost a full day in making a distance of six miles, and finally bivouacked on the night of May 6, and the following morning made encampment. The men were soon put to work throwing up entrenchments, spades having once more turned up as the trump card in the game. The policy of our commander seemed to be to act on the defensive and to prevent reinforcements being sent to Lee by tearing up the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, which ran some three miles in front of our position.
LINE OF DEFENSE-BERMUDA HUNDRED.
The Second Division of the Tenth Corps, in command of General Turner, was ordered out for this purpose on the 7th, and a brisk skirmish with the enemy took place near Chester Heights. Our force succeeded in reaching the railroad and destroyed it for some distance, but gained no other advantage after losing some 250 men. General Beauregard, who commanded the Confederate forces
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in our front, had succeeded in reinforcing Petersburg the previous night; otherwise, the results would have been different.
General Mann recalled some years later:
"When Butler's expedition up the James river landed at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, the Thirty-Ninth Illinois was the first regiment to debark, and was immediately deployed on either side of the road leading to Petersburg; skirmishers were sent forward, and the Regiment was gradually advanced to make room for the other troops of the expedition. Evening found us about two and a half miles from the landing.
"About this time I heard great cheering at the rear, which was renewed several times, each time coming nearer; and looking for the cause, I saw General Butler and his entire staff approaching on the main road. When they reached my outer line I halted them. General Butler asked if we had seen any 'rebs' in the front. I told him that several squads of cavalry had appeared about a quarter of a mile distant. After examining a large chart the General said that he desired to go forward to a creek with a small church beside it, thence down the creek about one-fourth mile, and back to our line, forming, as he said, a triangle in the scout. I offered to advance my command to the creek, saying to the General that it would be safer for his party. I was thanked and told to hold my men as they were, but to instruct them to admit his party on their return. I looked for an episode, and it soon came.
"Butler and staff galloped to the front. The country was quite level (called the Ware Bottoms), and excepting scattering pine trees was quite open for some distance around us. Securing a commanding view from a tree stump, I soon saw the General's party halt on the banks of 'Butler's Creek' (as it was subsequently called by the men of the Thirty-Ninth), close to Ware Bottom Church. Field-glasses were brought into use and the 'unpenetrated beyond' was carefully explored. Soon the party turned to the left, intending to run out the base of their triangle, but it was never completed. At this moment there sprang from behind a dense thicket of alder bushes on the opposite side of the creek a squad of rebel horse, who yelled 'Halt!' and fired their carbines. Butler had no armed escort and but two mounted orderlies, both of whose horses fell dead to the ground and their riders were taken prisoners. Butler and his staff came dashing through the tall pines back to our lines with more regard to speed than order of coming. The prisoners were taken to Petersburg that night, and the name and fame of their chief, who had so narrowly escaped death or capture, was revealed. Before the next night the Petersburg Morning Index was in our lines where we saw a full account of the affair.
"It appears that a Confederate Major, with over 200 horsemen, was carefully concealed beyond the creek, eagerly waiting for General Butler and his staff to cross over. The papers
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scored the Major most fearfully, for not capturing the 'beast,'' and called on the authorities at Richmond to discipline him for neglect of duty. It is quite safe to conclude that General Butler was seldom found in front of the skirmish line after this experience."
Doctor Clark also reminiscences that, "After landing at Bermuda Hundred the Thirty- Ninth were advanced out on the Petersburg road, and Captain O. F. Rudd, of Company G, had charge of the skirmish line. About two p.m. a man approached on horseback, and of course was halted; and upon being questioned, stated that he was a Doctor, and said that he had a very sick patient near the landing whom he desired to visit. He was quite a venera- ble-looking fellow, very polite, and seemed honest. He was placed under guard, however, and sent to General Butler, who, on learning his business, also furnished him with a military escort, to visit his patient. House after house was visited, but no invalid was to be found, and matters began to wear a suspicious look. Upon a close examination into the case, and feeling satisfied that the doctor had some other motives in passing our lines than the one given, General Butler ordered him in arrest and sent him to the 'Rip Raps' off Fort Monroe. This man proved to be Dr. Howlett, whose splendid mansion a short distance up the James river soon give name to the celebrated Howlett House Battery, planted the by the Confederates to enliven Butler's proceedings on the 'Dutch Gap' canal."
On May 12 General Butler sent out a still heavier force under Generals Gillmore and "Baldy" Smith, which forced the rebels back on Fort Darling, where they were entrenched. At two o'clock on the morning of May 14 the Thirty-Ninth were ordered to advance, being called upon to guard an ammunition train to the front. We reached the front at two p.m. and at five o'clock received orders to advance to the extreme left of General Gillmore's line to support a battery of artillery quite near the railroad. While advancing, the rebels opened up a lively firing with grape and canister, and the men were ordered to lie down. Colonel Osborn, however, still remained upon his horse, "Old Mack," and here it was that he received a wound in the right elbow-joint the first and last hit of the war, and which confined him to hospital for some months, and today he carries a stiff arm with the "souvenir" the rebels gave him somewhere embedded in the joint. Colonel Osborn remained on the field until his Regiment occupied the desired position, and then reported at the field hospital, only because forced to do so from pain and loss of blood. Patient search was made for the ball which had lodged in the joint, but it could not be found; and after giving the limb a dressing the Colonel was directed to go back to our camp within the entrenchments. The following morning, without waiting for another examination, he mounted his horse and rode to Bermuda Hundred landing, where he took
The South hated General Butler and called him the "Beast of New Orleans" because of Butler's treatment of the citizens of New Orleans during the Federal occupation. Butler wrote an order that inflamed the Confederacy. This notorious Order Number 28 stated: "As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be treated as a women of the town plying her avocation."
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"In The Army Of The James"
the hospital boat and was conveyed to Chesapeake Hospital at Fort Monroe. Lieutenant-Colonel Mann, who had been on the sick list for several days, accompanied him for the purpose of giving him assistance and for instruction before going to the front to take command. The Colonel, however, strongly advised him to stay back, for he said "The rebels are going to give us h-e-1-1! The Regiment is fully officered, Major Linton will handle it well; and bear in mind you will soon have a chance to command it in battle."
Notwithstanding this advice, which was emphasized most strongly by the Colonel's painful wound, Lieutenant-Colonel Mann, after seeing Osborn safely to the boat, returned and made his way to the front, reaching there as the Regiment, or what was left of it, was falling back, bravely fighting for each foot of ground almost singlehanded, their support on either flank having retreated almost an hour before.
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