USA > Illinois > Yates phalanx : the history of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry in the war of the rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
Lieutenant Butterfield escaped with a severe flesh wound of the face and was soon able for duty. Lieutenant Horace Knapp, Company D, received a bad wound in the shoulder, the ball having to be cut out.
166
YATES PHALANX
These officers together with our other wounded were placed on the hospital transport near by, after being attended to, and sent to general hospital.
The wounds received in this assault were more than usually severe in character, a great number requiring amputation, excision of bone and resection of joints. The number of wounded that our Division of the Flying Hospital disposed of in the ensuing forty-eight hours was 900, who were placed on board the Hero of Jersey, under the medical charge of Surgeon A. C. Barlow of the Sixty-Second Ohio Volunteers. The entire list of casualties on June 16 at Deep Bottom and Strawberry Plains amounted on the Federal side to 5,000, and it was impossible to say what had been accomplished, if anything, in our advance upon Richmond.
In closing this chapter the following lines from the pen of the Rev. William E. Miller, of Tompkins Cove, New York, seems to be appropriate.
"WOUNDED"
Let me lie down, Just here in the shade of this cannon-torn tree; Here, low in the trampled grass, where I may see The surge of the combat; and where I may hear The glad cry of victory; cheer upon cheer: Let me lie down Oh, it was grand! Like the tempest we charged, the triumph to share; The tempest! - its fury and thunder were there. On! On! O'er entrenchments; O'er living and dead, With the foe under foot and the flag overhead: Oh, it was grand! Weary and faint, Prone on the soldier's couch, oh! How can I rest? With this shot-shattered head and saber-pierced breast? Comrades! At roll call, when I shall be sought, Say I fought 'till I fell, and fell where I fought! Wounded and faint.
Oh, that last charge! Right through the dread host tore shrapnel and shell, Through without faltering - clear through with a yell! Right in their midst, in the turmoil and gloom, Like heroes we dashed at the mandate of doom:
167
"Charge those works!"
Oh, that last charge!
It was duty! Some things are worthless, some others so good That nations who buy them pay only in blood. For freedom and Union, each man owes his part; And here I pay my share, all warm from my heart: It is duty.
Dying at last! My mother, dear mother! With meek tearful eye, Farewell! and God bless you and aye: Oh, that I now lay on your pillowing breast, To breathe my last sigh on the bosom first prest: I am no saint!
But, boys, say a prayer; there's one that begins "Our Father!" and then says, "forgive us our sins" I'll try to repeat it, and you'll say Amen! Oh, I'm no saint.
Hark! there's a shout! Raise me up, comrades! We have conquered, I know! Up, up, on my feet, with my face to the foe! Oh! there flies the flag, with its star spangles bright, The promise of glory, the symbol of right! Well may they shout!
I'm mustered out! Oh, God of our fathers! Our freedom prolong, And tread down rebellion, oppression and wrong. Oh, land of earth's hope! On they blood-reddened sod, I die for the Nation, the Union, and God! I'm mustered out.
168
YATES PHALANX
169
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Where are the rest?"
Those were very busy days in that hot August month. Fighting was almost constant at some point along our lines. General Ord had succeeded to the command of the Eighteenth Army Corps. General Butler had commenced operations of his "Dutch Gap" canal. On the 19th General Birney, commanding the Tenth Corps, issued the following congratulatory order to his troops:
Headquarters Tenth Army Corps Fussel's Mills, Virginia, August 19, 1864.
GENERAL ORDERS.
"The Major-General commanding congratulates the Tenth Corps upon its success. It has on each occasion, when ordered, broken the enemy's strong lines. It has captured during this short campaign four siege guns protected by the most formidable works, six stands of colors, and many prisoners. Much fatigue, patience and heroism may yet be demanded of it; but the Major-General commanding is confident of the response.
Major-General D. B. Birney Edward W. Smith, Lt-Col. and A. A. G."
The afternoon of August 21 the Regiment-if it could be so called, for there was but a mere fragment left of it-moved back to our old quarters, but had no sooner disposed of ourselves for a comfortable rest than orders were received to prepare for another move. We were like the men set out upon the chessboard-subject to the will of the players in this great game for National existence.
It was not, however, until August 24 that our Division filed out from behind the entrenchments at Bermuda Hundred and took up its march to the trenches in front of Petersburg. We reached the vicinity of the works on the evening of the same day and bivouacked for the night. The following day the Division took position near the huge works that rise some six or more feet above the level. Our Brigade (the First) spread their shelters in the open timber some yards back from the line of entrenchments, and protected their quarters by throwing up heavy embankments on the side fronting the enemy.
The Regimental camp was near Cemetery Hill, where General Burnside exploded the heavy mine on the evening of July 29 which was to have accomplished such wonders, and would, possibly, had the affair been properly managed; but it was successful only in a great and useless slaughter of human
170
YATES PHALANX
life. In the rear of our position, distant about one mile, and on higher ground, Surgeon Clark established the Brigade Hospital, marking its position with the hospital flag run to the top of a high pole; and during our stay in the front of Petersburg not a day passed without receiving wounded from some point along the line occupied by the Brigade.
August 25, Sergeant Henry Hardenburgh, Company G, was killed in camp by a fragment of shell which penetrated his left side. He lived but a short time after being brought to the hospital.
Near the hospital and to the right there had been placed in position a 15-inch mortar which was named the "Petersburg Express," and every half hour both day and night it sent a messenger, in shape of a 15-inch shell, over into the city of Petersburg. At night when the lit fuse of this monster shell could be seen, it was a sort of satisfaction to watch its progress through the air and to hear its explosion over that stronghold of treason.
About this time we heard that Colonel Osborn and Lieutenant Colonel Mann had so much improved in health that they had departed for home on "leave of absence."
Corporal Ely's Foraging Experience
"While on a foraging experience all alone by himself while the Regiment was in front of Petersburg, Ely discovered in his preliminary searches an old blind horse which he pressed into the service, and mounted, with a halter to guide him, and found him to be quite a help. He had secured several turkeys and had attached them to the saddle by strings, and was returning to camp, when he was surprised by a party of guerrillas who sprang out from their ambush in his front and opened fire on him. The rattle of the muskets and the sudden clamor frightened not only himself but the horse, which turned and went off on a jump through a 'stake and rider' fence, scattering the rails in all directions. The horse fell down in a pasture field, and Ely made a run for the woods near by, leaving turkeys and everything else, and succeeded in getting safe shelter and finally reached camp. The next morning as he passed the place with the Regiment he saw the horse lying dead where he fell, having been shot in several places."
September 3, news came that General Sherman had taken possession of Atlanta. It was received with general rejoicing.
The rebel fortifications in our front were most formidable, and some of the forts and redoubts on the left were very strong, especially Forts Sedgwick and Steadman. The length of the rebel line of fortification was some forty miles, extending from the left bank of the Appomattox River around to the western side of Petersburg and to the James River, and thence to the east of Richmond. The opposing line of Grant was equal in length but not so heavy and strong. General Grant's headquarters were at City Point, and there had been constructed a railroad from that place to the extreme end of the lines, and as trains passed to and fro they were made the target for numerous "Whitworth bolts" sent over with the design of disabling the locomotives; but as a rule they seldom did any damage. We often went out and picked them up as curiosities where they had fallen.
171
"Where are the rest?"
On September 3 the First Division of the Tenth Corps was called out to witness the execution of a young soldier belonging to a New York regiment who had been tried and convicted by court-martial, and he had been sentenced to be hung by the neck until dead. At two p.m. the division marched to the place of execution and was formed in hollow square, enclosing the gallows, which had been erected during the morning. The condemned man was escorted to the platform of the gallows by a file of soldiers. He mounted to the trap with apparent indifference, where the charge and sentence of the court-martial were read; after which he was asked if he wished to say anything; but he remained silent. A white cap was then drawn over his head and face, the chaplain made a short prayer, the signal was given, and in a moment the young "homicide" was dangling at the end of the rope, and soon he was pronounced dead. His soul had advanced to judgment.
Affairs remained comparatively quiet in our front, and there were no very exciting episodes connected with the daily routine of duty.
On the morning of September 13, we were painfully shocked to hear that Colonel Howell, then temporarily commanding the Third Division, had been seriously injured the previous evening by the falling of his horse. The orderly who brought the intelligence also conveyed a request from General Birney for Surgeon Clark to come and attend to the Colonel. The writer immediately proceeded to Corps Headquarters accompanied by an ambulance.
Colonel Howell was found in a small tent near General Birney's headquarters, alone and unconscious, no attention what ever having been paid to him. His clothing and even his sash and sword were still on him, and the front of his coat was encrusted with rejections from his stomach. Calling an orderly, and assisted by the driver of the ambulance, the Colonel was placed aboard and taken to the Brigade Hospital. No person about Birney's quarters seemed sufficiently interested to put in an appearance. The Colonel had been placed in that tent at the time of his injury and had remained there during the night without care of any attempt being made to ascertain the nature of his injuries. On reaching the hospital a thorough examination was made. No bones were found to be broken, but he was suffering from a severe concussion of the brain, and possible hemorrhage. It was evident, however, that he could not live. He remained unconscious up to a few moments before dissolution, when he opened his eyes and made an effort to speak, but was unintelligible. He died at sundown on the evening of the 24th.
Thus closed the life of as gallant and brave a man as ever entered the service. After death he was embalmed, and his brother, Dr. Howell, was informed by telegram of the sad event. As soon as his death was known, and which was wholly unexpected by his late comrades, large numbers of his friends came to do him honor. General Terry came, and sincerely mourned over the old comrade and officer whom he so lately seen in the full enjoyment of health, and so full of enthusiasm over the news of Sherman's victories on his "March to the Sea." All the members of his own regiment (the Eighty- Fifth Pennsylvania) came to look upon their dead commander as he lay under the shelter of the boughs, with the sharp cracking of musketry and the booming of rebel cannon for a requiem. The burial service for the dead was conducted by his brother officer of the Masonic fraternity, and the remains, in the care of his brother, were sent home.
172
YATES PHALANX
September 18, the sharp and continuous crack of musketry still echoed and re-echoed along the whole picket line, accompanied now and then by the fierce screaming of shells and the loud detonation as they exploded overhead, carrying death and wounds in their course.
Preparations were making for the departure of the Eighteenth Army Corps and a portion of the Tenth, and our Division was in a constant state of expectancy, for orders might be received at any moment.
The troops in front of Petersburg at this time were disposed of in a semicircular line. Our left (the Army of the Potomac) extending across the Petersburg and Norfolk Railroad on the south, and the right resting on the Appomattox River at the Mills house, four miles north of the city. The Army of the James (Butler's) occupied a position on the right and front, to the north and westward, near the Petersburg and Richmond Railroad.
At about this time commissioners from the various States were coming into camp for the purpose of taking the vote of the soldiers for the coming election, and it was a busy and quarrelsome time. We had for a long time expected that we would be permitted to proceed home as a regiment for the purpose of voting, but it was not to be, for active preparations were being made for a movement against the enemy.
We had received the full details of the Chicago Convention, the platform adopted, and heard with dismay of the nomination of McClellan for the Presidency. But we were convinced that George B. McClellan, the hero who had won no battle and captured no city except Trenton, New Jersey, would appear "non est investus" when the result of the November election was known. Considerable excitement was rife, and we took some pains to ascertain the feeling of the soldiers in the matter and to probe the popular sentiment. In several of the brigades the election had already been held with the result of a seven-eighths vote for "Old Abe Lincoln"-the man whom the soldiers considered as best fitted to hold the helm of State until our cruise through the troubled waters of a treacherous rebellion was finished.
The commander of an Eastern regiment had told us that there were six officers and many men in his command who had openly declared their intention to support McClellan for the presidency, but who after reading his platform turned completely about and voted for Lincoln. "Little Mac" had but few friends in the army operating against Richmond.
We as a Regiment were loud in expressing our condemnation of the Illinois Copperhead Legislature in not permitting us to vote, and a meeting was held and resolutions passed to that effect.
On September 25 the First Division of the Tenth Army Corps had orders to move, and left camp in light marching order at eight p.m., and after marching until near midnight, turned into an open field and bivouacked, with a single blanket to each man for covering. Ah, me! What an uncomfortable night was passed, and how cold it turned before morning in the spacious and breezy dormitory of Nature's!
Light marching order in those days consisted in being equipped with gun and bayonet, cartridge-box filled with "sixty rounds," haversack containing five days' rations, overcoat and blanket, canteen of water and drinking cup. Quite enough to keep a man from flying. We remained in camp until the following evening, and then resumed the march.
173
"Where are the rest?"
On the 28th, we reached the James River and crossed it at Deep Bottom, on the pontoon bridge, after a most fatiguing march, and bivouacked. A portion of the Tenth Corps which had preceded us, together with the Eighteenth Corps, had advanced below Chaffin's Bluff, and on September 29 had taken a large portion of the enemy's fortified line, with fifteen guns and many prisoners. General Ord, commanding the Eighteenth Corps, was badly wounded, General Godfrey Weitzel succeeding to the command. General Birney had taken the enemy's fortified lines at New Market Heights, and had attempted the taking of Fort Gilmer at Laurel Hill, within six miles of Richmond, but the assault proved a failure. This was the same works that the First Brigade of the First Division, Tenth Corps, attempted later on at the battle known as "Darbytown Cross-Roads" on October 13, in which the Thirty-Ninth lost more than sixty men and the Brigade over 300.
September 30 the rebels made an effort to retake their line, but were repulsed; and another and more vigorous effort was made on the evening of October 6, when a terrible battle ensued, that resulted most disastrously to the Confederates. The Thirty-Ninth had taken no active part in these movements and assaults, but had moved to a position connecting with the Eighteenth Corps, the line of the First Division of the Tenth Corps extending from Chaffin's Bluff on the left to the New Market road on the right, and had been busy in throwing up entrenchments, with now and then a skirmish with the rebels.
On October 9 the enemy came in force to drive us from our position and turn our flank, but were repulsed with great slaughter and driven back some miles.
At three o'clock on the morning of the 13th we had orders to advance on a reconnaissance. We found the enemy strongly entrenched, and after some lively skirmishing the First Brigade was selected to make a charge.
The following from the diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Homer A. Plimpton describes the battle of Darbytown Cross-Road, October 13, 1864:
"On the 13th of October we advanced on to the Darbytown road about three and a half miles from Richmond, where we found the enemy strongly entrenched. We skirmished with the 'rebs' until about two p.m., when our Brigade was ordered to charge the works. The circumstances surrounding us at the time were very discouraging indeed. We were compelled to charge their works at a point where they had a heavy flank fire upon us, and through thick underbrush and small timber, and then over heavy slashing where their artillery could rake us. The men all knew before going in the difficulties ahead; all the officers of the Brigade were opposed to the charge, and reported so to the General commanding the Corps; but it made no difference. Charge we must, and charge we did, and Death reaped a rich harvest as the result.
"Nobly did our old Brigade stand up before that terrible storm of lead and iron, but human endurance could not withstand it, and it was hurled back with fearful loss. Our little
174
YATES PHALANX
Regiment lost sixty brave men in less time than it takes to tell it. Our colors were completely riddled, and the color-guard all killed or wounded with the exception of three."17
THE ASSAULT.
Lieutenant-Colonel Plimpton continued:
"There was one sad incident connected with that color-guard that will never be forgotten by any who survived that desperate charge. Our Color-Sergeant, George W. Yates, of Company A, while deliberations were going on in relation to the expected charge upon 'those works,' took our all of his letters from his pocket, read them over, and then tore them to
17Among the Rebel units involved in the attack, perhaps the most famous was Lee's Texas Brigade. During the battle their commander, Brigadier-General John Gregg was killed along with about six hundred other Confederates casualties. Federal casualties totaled 458 killed, wounded or missing. This would be Lee's Army of Northern Virginia's last major offensive of the Civil War north of the James River.
175
"Where are the rest?"
pieces and scattered them to the winds. He then called his guard about him and told them that in all probability a charge would be made at the point and it would be a desperate affair; and 'Boys, I shall in all likelihood fall. When the order is given to charge, let not one of you desert those colors. Save them, whether I am lost or not.' When the order was given to charge, Sergeant Yates sprang forward with the colors like a deer, but no sooner did he come in sight of the rebel works than he became the target of a terrible volley from their guns and fell pierced with four balls. It was at this point that the Regiment was hurled back and the rebels sprang over their works in hot pursuit. Yates hung to the colors, and when one of their guard sprang to snatch them from him to save them from capture, he was compelled to tear them from the Sergeant's hands. And when the rebels took the bleeding and dying Sergeant, they found him clinging to a fragment of the old flag dripping in his own blood. He was paroled at once, and died at Annapolis, Maryland, October 26.
"It was a sad sight to look upon the colors after the fight, and when on our next inspection, the day after the charge, they were brought out, and only one line officer, and he a First Lieutenant, it made my heart grow sad. The question would arise, Where are the rest? Sleeping beneath the sod, or scattered in hospitals suffering from wounds? The Regiment is now commanded by a First Lieutenant. The only officers we have present for duty, aside from the one just referred to, are a Second Lieutenant (acting Adjutant), and myself. I am now the only officer belonging to Company G. My Captain, O. F. Rudd, died of wounds; the two Lieutenants are discharged, one by reason of expiration of term of service, the other on surgeon's certificate of disability. There are no other Illinois regiments in this Department; we are all alone and a long way from home; and although we are the sole representative of the Prairie State, we have ever endeavored to acquit ourselves like men and not bring dishonor upon her fair name."
"January 28, 1865, everything in our front remains quiet at present, although on the 24th all was excitement and a desperate struggle was expected. Three rebel rams, the Drury, Virginia, and Richmond, came down the river with the intention of breaking our pontoons and destroying our stores at City Point. Having cut our communications, their army in our front was to come down upon us and capture us, i.e., if they could. This was the movement which General Lee had intimated, when made, would "startle the world." By the interference of Providence and our heavy Parrott guns their scheme was thwarted. The Drury was blown up by a shot from our land battery. The other two got aground and had to remain there under the fire of our batteries until high-tide, when they succeeded in getting of and putting back. The Drury went to the bottom. The failure of this part of the game, of course compelled the abandonment of the other.
"It has been reported that Semmes, of "piratical fame," had charge of the naval part of the program."
176
YATES PHALANX
General David B. Birney, commanding the Tenth Corps, was sick at the date of this battle (the 13th), and the Corps was in command of Brigadier-General Alfred H. Terry, the First Division being temporarily in command of Brigadier-General Ames, and our Brigade was commanded by Colonel A. C. Voris of the Sixty-Seventh Ohio Volunteers.
At a Regimental reunion held at Marseilles, Illinois, February 4, 1885, Sergeant D. H. Slagle, Company K, made the following remarks in relation to this battle:
"At two p.m. we are in front of the enemy's works at Darbytown Cross-Roads. Our Regiment and Brigade are deployed in close column by division; the order comes down the line to charge! You all recall that terrific yell, as we made the assault through the brush, the air seeming filled with whizzing bullets, the scream of solid shot and shell; the rattle and sweep of grape and canister through our ranks. Comrades fell on our right and on our left; we find the 'Johnnies' too many. Their force behind protected works outnumbers ours two to one. The old Brigade find they cannot take the works this time, and are compelled to fall back and reform their line. That day myself and many others were wounded and made prisoners at the abatis of their fort. Our killed were quickly despoiled of their clothing by the enemy; the wounded are quickly hustled away by their ambulance corps at early moonlight, and that autumn evening finds us landed in Castle Thunder at Richmond."
Barile
COLLECTING THE WOUNDED.
Collecting the wounded
177
"Where are the rest?"
In 1887 Sergeant Slagle wrote to Dr. Clark that
"Your attention is called to my observation of the successful scheme of a Pennsylvania soldier who planned to get away from Castle Thunder-myself being wounded and captured at Darbytown Cross-Roads. A few hours after, we were landed in this notorious Bastille. It so happened at that time, the Confederates were massing a boatload of Union prisoners at this prison preparatory to sending them down the James River to near City Point, to meet Colonel Mulford's Exchange Boat, who would return a corresponding number of Confederates, the boats meeting under a flag of truce. This particular boatload of prisoners eligible to be included in this batch for exchange had to be badly wounded, or so reduced from sickness that they would hardly last till the exchange boats swapped prisoners or, to be more explicit, all the Union soldiers placed on this exchange roll had to be carried aboard on a stretcher, unless minus a limb, they could use crutches.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.