USA > Illinois > Yates phalanx : the history of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry in the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 16
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On his way back the Lieutenant-Colonel saw Sutler Brown, who had become demoralized and shut up shop, and was doubtless on his way to the boat. Brown was reclining at the foot of a tree with his carpet-sack under his head, and was fast asleep.
Colonel Mann, familiar with Brown's habits and concluding that he must have a large sum of money with him, and thinking to give him a good wholesome scare as well as a lesson, removed the gripsack from under his head and placed it behind an adjoining tree. Then remounted his horse he awoke the sutler from his slumbers. Brown's first concern on awaking was his satchel, and finding it gone, he instantly exclaimed in his quick, incisive manner. "Where's my satchel? Where's my satchel? My God! $30,000 in that satchel! and I'm ruined, Sir, RUINED!" and he bustled about like a crazy man. In a few moments the Lieutenant-Colonel, thinking that a sufficient lesson on his folly had been given the now thoroughly frightened man, pointed out the resting place of the wealth, and with one bound the sutler cleared the space that separated him from his god Money, and took up his march to the landing, a wiser man. Begging pardon for this digression, we now resume the thread of our narrative.
The Regiment lay in support of the battery in command of Major S. S. Linton during the night, and on the morning of the 15th, having been provided with spades, dug a trench, throwing up rifle- pits the whole length of their line, for they were exposed to a almost constant fire from the enemy. During the whole of the 15th an intermittent firing was kept up from sharpshooters on both sides, and no sooner would a man expose himself, that he was sure of becoming a target. William H. Jenkins, of Company C, in his enthusiasm, and curious to see what was going on, received the compliments of some watchful "Johnny" in the shape of a bullet in his neck which made a clean passage through his "meat pipe;" and before falling, another ball grazed his shoulder. Jenkins received four different wounds while in the service, the last one of which (October 13, 1864) resulted, after two years of painful suffering, amputation of the thigh, which was done at the "Soldiers Home" in Chicago, after vain endeavors to save the limb.
During the afternoon of the 15th Surgeons Clark and Kittinger had orders to advance with a section of the field hospital nearer the front and prepare for the reception of the wounded from the general assault that had been ordered for the next day. Their tables and shelters were advanced nearly half a mile, having selected a grove near General Butler's headquarters.
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At night the surgeons and assistants occupied the Second story of one of the brick outbuildings for a dormitory, and retired early in order to be refreshed for the work of the morrow. All was peaceful until three a.m. when a "Whitworth bolt" from the enemy came crashing through the building just over their heads, scattering bricks and debris in all directions. This was the first gun-the prelude to the opening to the battle of Drewry's Bluff, May 16, 1864, and proved a decided "eye-opener" for the doctors, who scampered out into a dense, foggy atmosphere that completely veiled everything.
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Rally on the rifle-pits!" May 16, 1864
Confederate General Beauregard had anticipated General Butler, and under cover of the fog and darkness made a furious assault on the right of our lines, which unfortunately was a weak point and poorly prepared to receive the shock. The rebel column came on with terrible yells and forced their way through our lines, becoming badly mixed up with our men. Beauregard had evidently discovered the weak point in Butler's right wing the evening before; the extreme right for the distance of a mile to the river being thinly picketed by a single Negro regiment.7 Beauregard's attack had been successful, the dense fog contributing largely to his efforts. But he was in no condition to follow our forces in their retreat, and by 10:00 a.m. the fighting for the day was over.
It is probably a fact that for a distance of one-half mile beginning at the river there were absolutely no pickets whatever, hence the Confederates were massed on the right flank and in the rear of General Hickman's Brigade, and easily captured a large portion of it.
The surgeons remained in the grove, where bullets began to splatter against the trees thick and fast. They did not know which way to turn, and could see nothing, but could distinctly hear the roar of combat. While debating what course to pursue an "Aid" of General Butler's came hurriedly by, and seeing them, halted and said, "You damn fools! If you don't want to be captured by the enemy, you had better make tracks from here, and lively too! They're closing fast upon us!" The surgeons did not stop to resent this unmannerly address, for the gentlemanly Aid and they retreated to the rear, after securing their instruments and horses, and were soon back to their old place of the preceding day, feeling badly demoralized.
Affairs remained comparatively quiet until eight a.m., when Beauregard advanced on Gillmore's troops occupying the position behind their breastworks at Drewry's Bluff. Massing his column,8 he made three successive and desperate charges upon our line and each time the enemy was driven
150 mounted men of the Second U. S. Colored Cavalry
Beauregard's column consisted of the General Montgomery Corse's Third North Carolina Cavalry. Moving to the right were the infantry regiments of the Fifteenth, Eighteenth, Thirtieth and Seventeenth Virginia. Continuing across the front to the Chesterfield Courthouse Road were the infantry regiments of the Sixty-First and Fifty-First North Carolina. Across the road were the Twenty-Fourth, Forty-Ninth, Thirty-First, and Eighth North Carolina, the Twenty- Fifth, Forty-Fourth, Sixty-Third, Seventeenth and Twenty-Third Tennessee Infantry Regiments ..
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"Rally on the rifle-pits!"
back.9 The position occupied by the Thirty-Ninth was along an extended line of ridge running through an open field from the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to a piece of timber on the left. In front was piece of low, open ground. The line of our troops across the railroad was through the timber and extending somewhat in advance of it. The left of the Regiment was entirely unsupported even by a cavalry squad.10 In order to present a detailed account of the part the Thirty-Ninth took in this battle, the narrative of Captain Homer A. Plimpton is here inserted.
"The Thirty-Ninth was called out early on the morning of the 14th and ordered to guard an ammunition train to the left of the line of advance. At four a.m. it left camp and marched two miles to the Richmond and Petersburg Pike, thence to the railroad a mile farther at Chester Station, where it halted some two hours waiting the arrival of several coal cars that had been discovered up the track. At last it started up the railroad toward our line of battle, which was over two miles in the advance, but it only advanced a short distance when the looked-for cars arrived, and Companies G and I were detached from the Regiment to push the cars to the front for the wounded who had been gathered up and laid by the roadside; the main portion of the Regiment remained near Chester Station to guard the ammunition train. The hotel there was transformed by our surgeons into a hospital for the wounded. As fast as the coal cars would be loaded with the wounded a dozen men or more would push them up to Chester Station and unload, and return to the front for more. Such were the duties of Companies G and I. They had succeeded in removing all of the wounded up to one p.m. when they received orders from General Gillmore to report to him at the front immediately. The balance of the Regiment was brought forward and moved to the left of the line, where in a short time it was assigned to the duty of supporting a portion of the First New Jersey Battery11. There was some delay in posting the battery, owing to the incessant and heavy firing of the enemy's skirmishers and sharpshooters, during which time our Regiment had quite a number wounded. The battery having got into position on a rise of ground just to the left of the railroad and in good view and easy range of the rebel fortifications, opened with decided effect.
"Then began a hot contest between the rebel forts and our batteries along the whole line, which continued until darkness set in.
9 Gillmore had strung telegraph wire from timber to fence post to tree stump, all a foot off the ground. They knew that the wire would not stop the Rebels but it would at least slow them down. However, there was none in front of the Thirty-Ninth.
10Immediately to the right of the Thirty-Ninth, were the infantry regiments of the Eighty-First and the Ninety- Sixth New York, the Fourth New Hampshire, the Fifty-Fifth Pennsylvania, the 100th New York, the Seventh Connecticut, the 117th New York, Fortieth Massachusetts, and the Sixth Connecticut spread across the lines to the Chesterfield Courthouse Road.
11 The Fifth Battery of the New Jersey Light Artillery
.
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Courtesy of the National Archives
General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
"Rally on the rifle-pits!"
131
Courtesy of the National Archives
Major-General Benjamin F. Butler
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Courtesy of the National Archives
Major-General Quincy A. Gillmore
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"Rally on the rifle-pits!"
"During the heat of the engagement the Thirty-Ninth moved from the timber in rear of the battery, every man lying flat on the ground for protection as he got his place in line. All of this occurred on the 14th. In passing from the timber and over the open field for a distance of eighty yards the crashing of shells and whiz of balls was terrific, and quite a number of the Regiment were wounded. Colonel Osborn, who was on horseback, was struck in the right elbow by a shrapnel shot, fracturing the bone at the point of the elbow. He continued on duty until dark, when the command of the Regiment was turned over to Major S. S. Linton, the Lieutenant-Colonel, O. L. Mann being in camp sick. The New Jersey battery plied their guns well and bravely, but lost heavily in men and horses. At dark the battery went to the rear and the Thirty-Ninth moved to the right, and the right of the first company (I) rested on the railroad; the Eighty-Fifth Pennsylvania, being the next in line on the right, rested its left on the railroad opposite our right.
"At daylight on the 15th the Regiment retired from the top of the ridge where it had remained during the night and formed a line parallel with its first one, about twenty-five yards to the rear, again lying flat on the ground to avoid the rebel missiles. Companies I and G, being on the right and most exposed, threw up a slight ridge of earthworks in front of them, sufficient to protect the front rank; the other companies did the same, so that by evening a little ridge extended along the front to the extreme left of our line of battle, there being two other regiments on the left of the Thirty-Ninth.
"The day was very quiet until late in the afternoon, when the enemy opened upon us with artillery, doing some mischief. Two men of Company E were killed-Silas Benton and Elisha Karr, and two severely wounded, by one shell.
"The ground between the Thirty-Ninth Illinois and the rebel rifle-pits, about six hundred yards off, was descending, with now and then a shrub to obstruct the vision. On the right was the railroad, along which ran a rail fence, almost obscured by tall grass and shrubs, extending to the rebel rifle-pits; and on the left was a board fence reaching the rebel rifle-pits on the left just at the edge of a small grove of about three acres in area. Beyond the rifle-pits of the enemy the ground was ascending to their line of forts about 400 yards farther back, bringing them on a level with us.
"The night of the 15th was spent by the Regiment in strengthening the works in our front in order that the two ranks might be secure from rebel shell and shot.
"The 16th dawned and the fog was so dense until seven o'clock that it was impossible to discover a man thirty yards off. About four o'clock in the morning the rebels opened on the right, where the Eighteenth Army Corps was stationed, and the firing continued to increase towards the left until seven o'clock, when the regiments on the left of the Thirty-Ninth were ordered to another point, the supposition with us being that a charge was about to be made on a rebel fort just to our right. The Thirty-Ninth then formed in single rank and occupied their own and most of the left trenches, and prepared to do its part should the rebels' make a demonstration in that direction. As the fog arose, we gazed toward the rebel lines to observe their maneuvering, and as a sudden fierce and loud renewal of the strife to our right began we saw slowly wending their way from their pits near the railroad and endeavoring to advance by the flank up the track, two columns of the enemy with flags spread to the breeze,
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evidently determined on attacking us12. Another column was also approaching the left of our Regiment along the fence.13 All nerved themselves for the contest, believing that much depended upon their holding the position they had been placed in, and knowing that if the enemy attacked them in front they were equal to twice or thrice their own number. But on the columns came, steady and apparently confident; the combat on our right which had raged with great fierceness had become reduced to desultory firing; the men we had out as skirmishers along the fence by the railroad were driven back hurriedly to our breastworks, when we opened on the enemy from the entire line. They returned the fire, and the fighting commenced with energy and determination.
"In the meantime all of the other troops had retired, and an order had been received by our Major for the Thirty-Ninth to retreat; but before he could communicate the order he was severely wounded through the left side, and the Regiment remained in ignorance of the condition all around it, but resolved to hold its own or be driven to some desperate strait. But the column on the railroad was protected from our fire by the high bank on either side, and therefore advanced rapidly and securely; as it got even with our flank resting on the railroad a severe fire was suddenly opened lengthwise with the trench which made the position of the Regiment untenable, and hence the men 'took for the woods' the shortest way under a raking fire of musketry from front and flank. On getting a short distance into the timber, and being under the impression that the balance of the line was perfect, and that by our leaving the position we held the whole line might be flanked, the order was given to 'charge on the trenches,' thus hoping to regain our works. That order was repeated immediately by a dozen voices, and a simultaneous charge, through every one for himself, was made by Companies I, G, and C. The rebels were driven from our line, and by rushing up to the railroad and concentrating our fire on the column passing along it our forces cut it in two, driving half of it back to their works whilst the portion in advance continued on its way within our lines, as we thought.
"The left of our Regiment having by that time learned that a retreat had been ordered, did not come back to the trenches; so the three companies before mentioned were left to triumph in a victory which proved to be of short duration. The column which we had sundered had 'about-faced,' and was coming back slowly and steadily on the railroad track, of which fact we were speedily apprised and also assured that we were surrounded-that our whole line had fallen back. Captain Rudd went to the bank above the railroad at the edge of the timber and ordered the rebels to surrender; they lowered the muzzles of their pieces but advanced slowly, their eyes fixed upon the Captain and the small squad about him as if in doubt what to do. Our men were cautioned not to shoot, a dozen singing out the word at a time. Still the 'rebs' came on, when a shot heedlessly or inadvertently fired by one of the men brought on a volley from the rebel column which set all parley aside. The Captain and his squad
12The Fifteenth Virginia Infantry Regiment.
13The Eighteenth Virginia Infantry Regiment.
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"Rally on the rifle-pits!"
turned just in time to escape the rebel bullets. A brisk skirmish then ensued, but the fight was unequal, for the enemy had closed upon us from front and left and the column on the track began to spring into the woods to our rear to prevent our retreat, and we again had to cross the open space between our trench and the timber under a most galling fire. Every man for himself, firing as he could, struck for the timber, but many went but a short distance when they were cut down in their career by the bullets of the enemy and left on the field where they fell. [One of those to fall wounded was Hugh R. Snee]
"The loss in the Regiment was 119 enlisted men and eight officers killed, wounded and missing. Adjutant J. D. Walker and Captain James Wightman, Company C, were mortally wounded. The entire force which so success fully on the 13th retired within our lines of fortifications returned to their camp on the evening of the 16th, badly crippled, and almost decimated in numbers. General Butler assured us, however, that the objects of the move were fully achieved and the whole affair was satisfactory. However that may be, it leaves the bitter cup of sorrow to be drained by many friends and relatives of those who have met a sad fate, meted out to them by the stern realities of battle."
The account of Major (then Captain) Plimpton is, with a few exceptions, correct. The errors have been pointed out to the writer by a letter received from Major S. S. Linton and which in part is here presented.
"Minneapolis, Minn., December 28, 1887. Dr. C. M. Clark - Dear Comrade:
I find Plimpton's account of the battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, May 16, 1864, to contain a few errors. For example, we never received an order to fall back. The only order we ever received was to 'fill the trenches and hold them;' and that order was received in the early morning.
"Again: - Captain Wightman, of Company C, and Adjutant Walker were both wounded and taken off the field before I was wounded. Also Companies I, G, and C went to the rear on my order to reform in the woods, my idea being to fall back as soon as my command was closed up in two ranks, as we were then in one very thin rank; but they evidently misunder- stood my order, as they went back in confusion. I ordered them to halt, in a loud voice, and ran after them in the woods; but not seeing them I ran slowly towards the left of the Regiment and came upon the rear of Company D, which was the center company of the Regiment, intending to order the left wing of the Regiment to fall back, but as I crossed the open space I saw that the right wing had returned to the trenches and were in vigorous combat with the rebels. As I crossed the open space I was struck by a bullet. I saw at once that we must drive the enemy back before we could retreat in order, and I immediately turned to go to the right and assist in driving them back when I got my second and lung wound. I was aware that we were flanked on the right by the rebel line across the road, by seeing the Pennsylvania Regiment in retreat. The Regiment fell back inside of twenty minutes after I was wounded. The men who undertook to carry me back were captured, and it was not over five or ten
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minutes time before I saw Captain Baker, Company A, with the left wing, and they carried my off the field. Yours, etc., S. S. Linton."
The battle of Drewry's Bluff was in fact the first real battle that the Thirty-Ninth was engaged in, and it lost in killed, wounded and missing 119 officers and enlisted men; and the loss to Butler's army numbered over 3,000. It lasted fully thirteen hours, and was most hotly contested, and in many respects it was a remarkable battle, considering the early morning hour in which it began, the dense fog that obscured the combatants up to seven o'clock, and the surprise and the great superiority in the numbers of the assailants. There were many hand-to-hand encounters and bayonet charges, and many acts of heroism that will never be recounted. The Thirty-Ninth was at one time nearly surrounded by reason of the retreat of the Seventy-Sixth Pennsylvania on the right of the line, but they heroically cut their way out, bringing with them a large number of prisoners. The rebel loss greatly exceeded ours and it was a great disappointment to the rebel leader that he did not crush and destroy Butler's army. The deportment of the Regiment in this battle was such that it received the personal thanks of the General commanding for their display of heroism and endurance. There were many incidents connected with this fight, some painful, but several rather pleasing in character. Adjutant Joseph D. Walker was mortally wounded, and also Captain James Wightman of Company C, at the time that the assault of the second line of rebels had been gallantly repulsed. These officers were so elated with the success of our "boys" that they sprang upon the embankment of earth in front of the pits waving their swords, and calling for cheers, when they were shot down by a volley from rebels on the flank.
Captain N. B. Kendall of Company G (then Corporal) was wounded by a rifle bullet which struck him on the head, causing a severe scalp wound and a great confusion of ideas. McKee of that company says that he passed him just after he was hit, and Kendall was crying out "O! I'm dead! I'm dead!" and the presumption is, that anybody under the same circumstances would have been somewhat "mixed up" as regarded their condition.
After the rebels had succeeded in flanking the position, the right wing fell back, and after getting back some 100 yards, near the timber, an order came to "Rally on the rifle pits!" This order was supposed to have been given by Major Linton, but it proved to be from a rebel officer on the flank. Captain Leroy A. Baker, Company A, was with the Colors at this time, and the boys at this command followed him back with cheers, and on arriving at the pits found the third line of the enemy within short range, and advancing with the confidence of securing an easy victory; but our men, flushed with the pride of two successive victories over the assaulting rebels, and feeling that the honor of the State of Illinois must be maintained by its sole representative in the Army of the James, delivered a steady, well-directed and deadly volley which quickly upset all their calculations, and in a few moments they were in retreat; then turning their attention to the flanking column they succeeded in cutting their way through them, and returned to the entrenchments at Bermuda Hundred. 14
1ªLeft to hold the position alone when the other regiments had been ordered to the right, the 550 soldiers from Illinois had been forgotten in the confusion.
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"Rally on the rifle-pits!"
At the time the enemy was flanking the line of the Thirty-Ninth, Assistant-Surgeon James Crozier, who had accompanied the Regiment to their position, and Phillip M. Lace, the leader of the band, and who had supervision of the stretcher bearers, thought it about time that they should be retiring from the front, and the following is the version of that attempt as given to the writer by Lace, afterwards;
"You see, Doc, we were laying back some 250 yards from the rifle-pits, watching and waiting for something to 'turn-up.' The 'boys' were all doing their 'level best' and giving the Johnnies particular hell every time they came up. Soon we saw the Regiment on the right of the Thirty-Ninth give way-couldn't stand the pressure, you know; and a body of rebels came swooping around on the flank of 'our boys' and they delivered a lively fire that swept the trenches. Some stray shots came in our direction, and we could see the 'rebs' just more than jumping up around us. Then, Doc, Crozier just went off on a tangent! with coattails flying! and I after him; and when the bullets came singing and whizzing by, we would just drop down and go it on all-fours; then when there would come a little lull and quiet, we would up again, and those long legs of Crozier's would just go flying like a jackass rabbit's. I wish you could have seen us about the time of our liveliest gait! nothing more than shadows, and then half the time invisible by reason of ducking and stumbling. We finally reached a safe position back among our troops, and after so long a chase thought we'd take a little 'nip' of 'Frumenti;' but there was 'nary drop' in the canteen, for a bullet had pierced it and let the whiskey all out."
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