USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 3
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 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
Over all was an air of thrift and cleanliness unknown to lower slave regions; and an antiqueness and isolation arising from the picturesque costume of Dutch Mennonites and Dunkers,-patriarchs with long hair and beard,
"Matrons and maidens in snow-white caps and in kirtles."
24
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
At Frederick General Lee published a proclamation, in which he urged the people of Maryland to cast off the for- cign yoke of the United States, and promised them assist- ance in their efforts to gain and enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen.
On the 10th his forward march was resumed. His plan was to proceed to Hagerstown in order to threaten Pennsyl- vania through the Cumberland valley, and when he had drawn the Union army so far toward the Susquehannah as to uncover Baltimore and Washington, to spring upon one or other of those cities. It was necessary, however, to open communication with Richmond through the Shenan- doah valley, and for that purpose to dislodge the force at Harper's Ferry. Jackson, therefore, moved in advance, turned to the left after passing through Boonsboro' Gap, crossed the Potomac beyond Sharpsburg, and driving in the outposts approached Bolivar Heights, in order to invest Har- per's Ferry on the south-west. McLaws and Anderson moved by way of Middletown, on the direct route to the Ferry, to gain possession of Maryland Heights, the northern portion of Elk Ridge. Walker crossed the Potomac below to take Loudon Heights, the southern portion of the same ridge. These points gained, Harper's Ferry would have no choice, as it lay in a basin formed by the three heights, Boli- var, Loudon and Maryland. Indeed, the acquisition of Maryland Heights alone would render a defence impossible. Lee went on to Hagerstown with Longstreet's corps. D. H. Hill and Howell Cobb held the mountain gates, Boons- boro' Gap, and Crampton Pass.
On the 5th of September the Army of the Potomac left Washington on five parallel roads. It had gathered strength from the earth on which it had been thrown, and marched nobly and gaily, its back upon a defeated past, its face turned toward a future blooming with promise.
The right wing, consisting of Hooker's and Reno's corps, under the command of Burnside, reached to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The left wing and rear, formed of Frank- lin's corps, rested on the Potomac. The centre, Sumner's and Mansfield's corps, were under the command of Sumner.
-
25
SKIRMISH NEAR POOLESVILLE.
Pleasonton's cavalry scoured the country in advance. The Seventh and Nineteenth Indiana regiments were in Hook- er's corps, King's division, the Seventh in Doubleday's brigade, which had been reduced by the late battles to one thousand men, the Nineteenth in Gibbon's brigade. The Twenty-Seventh Indiana was in Mansfield's corps, Williams' division, Gordon's brigade. The Fourteenth was in Sum- ner's corps, French's division, Kimball's brigade. The Third Indiana cavaly was assigned to the division of Pleasonton. It was at this time under the command of Lieutenant Col- onel Buchanan, Colonel Carter having been, with an injus- tice he keenly felt, and without any assigned cause, placed under arrest by General Pleasonton. The Sixteenth battery of artillery was also in the pursuing army.
The Twentieth, with the division to which it belonged, had been almost decimated by the late battles, and was left on Arlington Heights, for the defence of Washington. Sigel, with his Indiana body-guard, was at Chain bridge.
On the 8th as General Pleasonton approached Poolesville, a piece of Rebel artillery in position on a hill to the north of the village, and supported by the main body of the enemy's cavalry, opened on him. Major Chapman, with a squadron of the Third Indiana, advanced to capture the piece, but the enemy, taking the alarm, began a hasty retreat. Chapman followed rapidly, and in about three miles overtook the rear- guard, and engaged in a sharp skirmish. Compelled again to betake themselves to flight the Rebels carried off such of their fallen as they could remove, but they left seven dead and mortally wounded on the field. The Third cavalry lost one killed and eleven wounded, including in the latter Lieu- tenants Lahne and Davis.
The next day Pleasonton drove the Rebel cavalry from Barnesville. On the 12th after a seven days march he entered Frederick, which is distant from Washington forty miles, in advance of the right wing of the army.
Along the route, flags on the housetops and handkerchiefs at doors and windows and gates, scattered flowers, refresh- ments pressed into the hands of dusty soldiers evinced the general joy. The delight of the citizens was unrestrained.
!
26
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The welcome given to the troops in Frederick alone was said to be worth a thousand men to the army.
On the 13th the confidential orders of General Lee to his corps and division commanders, detailing his plan, was found by Corporal B. W. Mitchell of company F, Twenty-Seventh Indiana, and was immediately placed in the hands of Gen- eral McClellan. Accordingly the army made a definite movement to strike the enemy while he was divided.
Colonel Miles, who was in command of nearly thirteen thousand troops at Harper's Ferry, was ordered to hold out to the last, not only in order to save a vast quantity of guns and munitions of war which were there stored, but to pre- vent the immediate return to the main Rebel army of the detached forces of Jackson, MeLaws and Walker. Burn- side meantime was to march along the National road and take Boonsboro' Gap. Franklin was to turn to the left and taking Crampton's pass, to enter Pleasant valley, gain the rear of Maryland Heights, and cut off, destroy or capture McLaws. The pursuers pressed swiftly on, their hearts light with the conviction that the eunning Lec was entrapped in the only bold move he had ever made.
Pleasonton, continuing in advance of the right, found the enemy holding the road over the Catoctin mountains with cavalry and artillery, and after much skirmishing and a good deal of elimbing, the Third Indiana still foremost, cleared the mountains.
Entering the valley, Pleasonton with the main foree con- tinued along the main road, while Captain McClure with a squadron of the Third hastened to intercept a wagon train on a road some miles south of Middletown. MeClure was attacked by a superior number and lost fifteen in killed, wounded and captured.
Before Pleasonton the Rebels fell back fighting from a strong position at Middletown to the western hills, disap- pearing in the woods and gorges. The cavalry bivouacked undisturbed. In the morning not a hostile battalion was visible. The wide and winding road through the pass, the corn and wheat fields, which spread over the lower half of South Mountain, the woods and rocky ledges, which cover the
27
BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN.
steeps from the middle to the summit, lay silent in the sun. The storming of the treacherous heights was work mainly for infantry and General Reno, now took the advance, turn- ing to the left, where the Sharpsburg road branchies off. He placed batteries at different elevations in ravines and high up in the woods to discover the whereabouts of the concealed foc. The play of his artillery was at first unanswered. At length puffs of smoke, curling up over the trees, made the desired disclosure and showed that the enemy was touched. Infantry now advanced. It met infantry, and the battle be- gan. Reinforcements pressed in on both sides. Longstreet, already marching back from Hagerstown, quickened his steps, and Hooker moved up from Catoctin creek.
At the foot of the mountain Hooker's corps, with the ex- ception of Gibbon's brigade, turned into the old Hagerstown road, Ricketts remaining in reserve until forced to send a brigade to Meade's assistance; Meade marching up the ra- vine to the right; Hatch, with King's division, moving to take a erest on the left of the wood. Cautiously, with mus- kets ready, now crouching, now listening, now running and leaping, Hatch's skirmishers explored the ground, at length discovering the enemy strongly posted behind a fence and a thick wood. A spirited attack followed, and was met by a vigorous defence. At dusk Doubleday's brigade was in ad- vance of the division and within forty paces of the enemy. After a long struggle, it ceased firing and fell to the ground, as if weary and discouraged; but rose again with redoubled fire to meet the encouraged enemy and pressed him back in sudden discomfiture.
After a short pause Longstreet, who had assumed com- mand of the Rebel left on his arrival on the ground, made a desperate effort to flank Doubleday's left. Repulsed by the Seventy-Fifth New York and the Seventh Indiana, under Major Grover, he threatened, expostulated, and coaxed, but he could not induce his troops to continue the struggle. At nine o'clock Ricketts relieved Doubleday, and found no force in his front.
Meantime Gibbon was not idle. As soon as the move- ments on the right and left of the old Hagerstown road were
28
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
well under weigh, he advanced his artillery up the turnpike, and a regiment on cach side of the road, preceded by skir- mishers and followed by two other regiments, in double col- umn, toward the enemy's centre. The Nineteenth Indiana was on the left, and was supported by the Second Wiscon- sin. The enemy, behind trees and stone walls in the gorge, opened on the brigade as soon as it was within range, but it pressed on, driving, in hasty flight, every opposing squad.
Well up toward the top of the pass, the Nineteenth came within the fire of a strong force, which was behind a stone wall. Captain Clark, moving his company to the left, gained its flank, forced it to run, and took eleven prisoners, while the rest of the regiment and the Second Wisconsin continued their fire from the front.
On the right of the road another stone wall sheltered another strong force, which also successfully resisted the direct advance of Gibbon's right regiments, but which fled before an enfilading fire from the Second Wisconsin and the Seventh Indiana. The brigade suffered severely, and ex- pended all its ammunition, including the cartridges of the dead and wounded, but it held its ground until, at midnight, it was relieved by a brigade from Sumner's corps.
While Hooker's corps gained the pass and the heights on the right, Reno's was no less successful on the left, taking possession of the crests and silencing the enemy by eight o'clock. During the night the Union army prepared for a general attack, while the Rebel army silently and hastily retreated, leaving its dead and wounded.
In the engagement at Boonsboro' Gap, in South Moun- tain, the Rebels lost three thousand, and the Federals lost eighteen hundred. General Reno was wounded and died before the day was ended.
The defeat of General Hill, who was the Rebel com- mander on the field, by a force of which General Burnside was the superior officer, and in which the Seventh and Nine- teenth Indiana were particularly efficient, may be called a special act of retribution, or of poetical justice, as Indianians were his particular aversion. He was the author of an Algebra into which he boldly introduced the "live issues" of
1
29
SURRENDER OF HARPER'S FERRY.
polities. Among others of like character occurs the following problem:
"The field of Buena Vista is six and a half miles from Saltillo. Two Indiana volunteers ran away from the field of battle at the same time; one ran half a mile per hour faster than the other, and reached Saltillo five minutes and fifty-four and six eleventh seconds sooner than the other. Required their respective rates of travel."
Like Stonewall Jackson, Hill betrayed the sacred trust of teacher to sow the seeds of prejudice and spite, gaining thus the warm approbation of his coadjutor, who pronounced his Algebra the best within his knowledge.
The struggle for Boonsboro' Gap was but the right of a widely extended battle, the centre of which was in Cramp- ton's Pass, and the left at Harper's Ferry. After beating the enemy, Franklin drove him through Crampton's Pass and bivouacked in Pleasant Valley, under the sound of distant guns on his right and left. The roar died away, and at dawn recommenced only on the left, where, also, it ceased at eight o'clock, indicating the fall of Harper's Ferry.
Maryland Heights was bravely defended on the 12th and on the morning of the 13th, but was abandoned in the after- noon of the latter day. Loudon Heights was evacuated the same day, the troops from both points concentrating on Bol- ivar Heights and in the village. On the 15th they were sur- rendered, and the enemy took possession of Harper's Ferry.
The misfortune was due to the imbecility of Colonel Ford, who had been posted on Maryland Heights, and of Colonel Miles, who was in chief command. The latter, after having given the former verbal permission to abandon his position, sent him a written order in the following insane language:
" You will hold on, and you can hold on, till the cows' tails drop off."
The suggestion of so curious an occurrence seems to have hastened the catastrophe, as Colonel Ford immediately abandoned his post.
The prisoners, about eleven hundred in number, (the cav- alry had escaped the preceding night), were paroled.
30
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The only representatives of Indiana in the affair were two batteries, the Fifteenth and the Twenty-Sixth.
The Fifteenth, with John C. H. Von Schlen as Captain, after having remained six weeks in Baltimore, arrived at Harper's Ferry only in time to add its guns to the enemy's gains.
The Twenty-Sixth was a much older organization. It was recruited in May, 1861, for a light artillery company, but not being accepted as such, it joined the Seventeenth regi- ment, forming company A. At Elkwater it was detached as an artillery company under the command of Captain Rig- by. It was active in the Cheat Mountain campaign; was engaged with Milroy at McDowell in 1862, was in Fremont's chase of Stonewall Jackson and in the battle of Cross Keys. After Fremont's campaign the battery went to Winchester, where it remained in garrison, the men doing picket and scouting duty, until, on the approach of Lee, the troops in that vicinity were concentrated at Harper's Ferry. Here the first chapter of its active career closed.
September 15th the western slopes of South mountain were alive with the two armies, pouring down and onward like rivers to the sea,-the disappointed Southern host in sullen silence, and in a constantly lessening stream, the Northern army, clamorous with story and jest and laughter, singing the siren song which had led the Rebels over the Potomac and, in the enthusiasm of its first acknowledged victory, in the pride of its first pursuit of a defeated foe, seeing the mountain tops sunlit with coming peace.
Every hope was confirmed by jaded, melancholy Rebel stragglers, who wandering to out of the way places, hiding in barns, or under haystacks, allowed themselves to be cap- tured. It is perhaps true that not a soldier in all the pursu- ing multitude had a fear of the future, or a doubt that the end was at hand.
Traversing the upper end of Pleasant valley, Lee reached the Antietam early in the day, crossed it on its four stone bridges, drew up his lines and turned at bay, with the Antietam in his front and the Potomac, which here makes a sharp curve, on his rear and on both flanks. His position could scarcely
31
ON TIIE ANTIETAM.
have been stronger, but as the troops which invested Harper's Ferry had not yet rejoined him, and his losses by straggling had been great, his force was small. If the army of the Potomac had dashed against him on the afternoon of the 15th, or even the morning of the 16th, it would have swept him away. But the army of the Potomac was no torrent to move according to its own will. It drew up at the bid- ding of General MeClellan on the east bank of Antietam creek, and with great deliberation made observation, exami- nation and preparation for battle.
On the morning of the 16th Hooker, followed by Sumner and Mansfield, moved toward the first bridge; Porter posted his corps on the left of the Boonsboro' road, opposite the sec- ond bridge, and Burnside, with the Ninth corps, moved to- ward the third bridge, three miles north of the Boonsboro' and Sharpsburg road. No attempt was made to approach the fourth, which, being near the mouth of the Antietam, and close to the foot of Elk Ridge, could be defended by a hand- ful of men. Artillery, consisting of six batteries, was placed on Porter's front, between the second and third bridges.
Meantime Jackson, with two divisions, rejoined the Rebel army, and General Lee carefully and skilfully arranged his lines and prepared his defences. Hood, with two brigades, he placed on the left; Jackson in reserve near the left; D. H. Hill in the centre, and Longstreet on the right.
About the middle of the afternoon Hooker crossed the Antietam, pushed rebel pickets near the stream back through cornfields, struck General Hood in a strip of woods, and during a sharp engagement placed a battery in an advanced and commanding position. About dark Hood's first line retreated, unpursued, and Hooker threw out a strong picket force, which included the Seventh Indiana. No other move- ment was made during the night, except that Mansfield crossed the stream.
A little, white brick Dunker church, was called by Hooker the key of the enemy's position. It may serve as a stand point from which to view the chief features of the battle- field of Antietam. It is a mile and a half north of Sharps- burg, on the western side of the Hagerstown pike and in the
32
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
western edge of an opening which is bounded by woods. In the opening and on the east of the Hagerstown road are Poffenberger's and Miller's farms north of the church, Mu- ma's and Rulet's east, and Piper's south. Running north-east from the church is a road to Hoffman's farm. It was over this road that Hooker moved on the afternoon of the 16th. In a south-east direction, and passing Muma's and Rulet's is a narrow road, which is worn by wagons and beaten down by rains, four or five feet below the surface of the fields. This sunken road, with the apple orchard, the corn fields, and the knolls which rise on each side of it, became the bloodiest part of the battle ground. Oak woods and lime stone ledges, waist high, form natural defences in the rear of the church. From one to three miles in its front is the Antietam, out of sight between its steep, high banks. The Potomac, not quite so far in its rear, is also hidden by the slope of the ground. Three miles to the south-east is the northern point of Elk Ridge. Twelve miles north is Hagerstown. In front of Lee's line the ground consisted of undulations gradually rising from the creek.
Jackson's division reached from the church almost to the Potomac, forming, on the 17th, Lee's left wing, Hood having been withdrawn, and joining D. H. Hill's division, which was on Muma's farm. Longstreet occupied Rulet's and Piper's farms, Sharpsburg and the hills south of the town. Lee's artillery was posted on all favorable points, and his reserves hidden by the hills, could manœuvre unobserved, and owing to the shortness of his line could rapidly reinforce any point.
Before dawn of Wednesday, September 17th, every man of Lee's army, and of Hooker's corps, was at his post, with- out call of bugle. At break of day the six batteries on the hills east of the Antietam opened, and enfiladed Jackson's lines. Jackson's artillery was quickly in play. The first Rebel shell burst in the right of Gibbon's brigade. Hooker's five batteries, in the edge of the woods west of Hoffman's and east of Poffenberger's, took up the defence of the right. Hooker's infantry advanced,-Meade in the centre of his line, Doubleday on the right and supporting the artillery, and
33
DEATH OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL BACHMAN.
Ricketts on the left. Mansfield massed his corps behind Ricketts, in close column by divisions, which would enable him to render assistance in any quarter. The Rebel skir- mishers fell back slowly, and after hard fighting, Ewell, who had Jackson's first line, withdrew from the eastern strip of woods and in disorder retreated across the open fields. Meade, in pursuit, had almost reached the Hagerstown road, when he received a sudden check by the rapid advance of Jackson's second line. He began a hurried retreat, which was saved from becoming a route only by the quick interpo- sition of one of Ricketts' brigades, and by the resolution with which Patrick and Gibbon held a knoll commanding the turnpike. Jackson, in his turn, began to fall back, and with terrible loss, almost half his men and more than half his officers remaining on the field.
Gibbon's left, the Seventh Wisconsin and Nineteenth Indiana, in command of Lieutenant Colonel Bachman, pressed after him under the sweeping fire of two Rebel guns which, from a hillock, covered the withdrawal of a portion of Jackson's troops, and which were supported by a large infantry force. The Seventh and Nineteenth rushed impet- uously across the road and began the ascent of the hillock, their ranks thinning fearfully at every step. Colonel Bach- man's horse fell dead under him, his right arm was shattered, but, apparently unconscious of hurt, he shouted to his men to stand firm, and to press on. He pressed on, and fell, at the very mouths of the Rebel guns, pierced through by three grape-shot. Captain Dudley assumed command, and led the bleeding remnant from the field. General Patrick moved up before the Rebels had time to reclaim it, and held the ground which had been won at such costly price.
Hooker's right now reached across the turnpike, and was protected by batteries, wheeled into position on the knol north-east of Poffenberger's. His left, hotly engaged with Hill's division, had yet gained little advantage, when about eight o'clock Mansfield deployed his troops and entered the battle.
Gordon moved his brigade through a corn field south of
3
34
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Poffenberger's house, through a thin strip of oak trees, and halted with his right in an orchard on the Hagerstown road, and his left, the Twenty-Seventh Indiana, closing up with Crawford's brigade, and in an open pasture. The Rebels, behind the fence of a corn field in front of the Twenty-Sev- enth, poured volley after volley into the regiment. But as fast as the men were shot down the ranks closed up. They were bound to win, who could stand the hardest knocking.
Every heart leaped as an officer, bearing the insignia of a Major General, mounted on a superb white horse, wholly unattended, and looking as if victory was within his grasp, rode hither and thither, and gave the word "Forward!" Mansfield's corps moved through corn and apple trees, gained the church and the woods on its west. Its right was within three hundred feet of the strongly posted Rebel lines, when Hood's fresh brigades relieved Jackson's exhausted command, and there was a bloody check. Already the grey- headed leader of the corps, the honored Mansfield, had given his last command and gone forever from this earthly strife. Now General Hooker, the noble rider, who had been the cynosure of all eyes, received an agonizing wound. He was carried fainting from the field. On recovering consciousness he exclaimed : "I would gladly have compromised with the enemy by receiving a mortal wound at night, could I have remained at the head of my troops until the sun went down."
Even General MeClellan was animated to heroic warmth. "This is our golden opportunity," he cried. "If we cannot whip the Rebels here we may as well all die on the field!" But a second victory was not decreed to the Army of the Poto- mac. Hooker's corps and Mansfield's corps were beaten back. Our Twenty-Seventh, withdrawing swiftly, had still leisure to see the horrors of the field over which it had ad- vanced. Corn was trampled to shreds; broken guns and swords, dismounted cannon, dead and wounded men, dead horses, and wounded horses, with pieces of harness hanging to them, and maddened with terror and pain, made it the hideous spectacle which none but the retreating or the con- quering soldier ever sees. /
Mansfield's troops rallied east of the pike, and stood silent
35
KIMBALL STANDS LIKE GIBRALTER.
under fire until the long lines of the enemy were within a hundred yards, when with one crushing volley they cleared their front.
Sumner was now on the field, Sedgwick reaching it first and on the right, French in the centre and Richardson on the left. Sedgwick gained and held for a time the point for which Hooker had striven, and which Mansfield's corps had reached, but had not been able to maintain. But he was assailed by fresh troops under MeLaws and Walker from Harper's Ferry; his front was slowly pressed back; his left flank was enveloped, and he was pushed out of the western line of woods, across the roads, over the open fields into the eastern woods,
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.