USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 50
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General Corcoran, throughout the affair, was brave, cool and cautious, but some of his troops, lately-arrived conscripts, and even his Irish legion, whose patriotism had been tam- pered with by the copperheads, behaved badly. "I heard one of them," writes Frank Reissner, "say after the fight, to a nigger, 'Bad luck to the color of ye! It's for the likes of ye the poor divils are gittin kilt!' When the shells came pretty thick they said, 'This is no place for a man that has a big family in New York. Where's the bloody divil that'll follow me to the rear?' Some said to the wounded, 'That's the way there are so many widders made in New York, by your bloody bouldness.'"
In the same letter Reissner says: "The shooting wasn't slow. If you witnessed a battle like it once you would think a soldier's life not quite so pleasant, in reality, as it seems when you talk about it in your saloons and other places. I tell you, for about five minutes, it makes one's flesh crawl. Then a fellow feels more like himself, and when his comrades begin to drop round him, he could kill a hundred Rebels at every pull of his musket."
Both parties claimed the victory, and each asserted that it held the field, which neither did, as one ran from it in flight, and the other ran over it in pursuit.
In the spring Suffolk suffered a siege of twenty-three days, a force of forty thousand, during that time, occupying more than half a circle from the Nansemond river on the north, to
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SIEGE OF SUFFOLK.
the Edenton road on the south-east, and endeavoring, by every appliance of skill, and every exertion of courage, to get possession of the Norfolk and Portsmouth railroads, and com- plete the circle. They succeeded in pressing the Union pick- ets back within a mile of the fortifications, and in planting a battery on a bend in the river, about five miles below Suffolk. but after the first few days they could not extend their lines. and did not gain a single advantage.
The Nansemond river, patrolled as it was by several well- manned, though small gunboats, was an excellent line of defence on the north-west; and the Dismal Swamp was still better on the South; but the ready spade and rifle, the quick foot and keen eye of each soldier in the garrison formed the main assurance of safety. Every able-bodied man was em- ployed every day and often at night on picket or fatigue duty. Even the pickets were compelled sometimes to use the spade and shovel. "Say Bill," cried a picket, while wearily dig- ging after midnight, " I hope old Peck will die two weeks be- fore I do!" "Why?" asked his fellow sentinel and laborer. " Because, he'll have the bad place so strongly fortified that I can't get in," was the reply.
The levity, proceeding, as it no doubt did, from poverty of language or ideas, does not hide the soldier's opinion of the fortifications of Suffolk.
The Thirteenth was engaged in several slight skirmishes, and a number of scouting expeditions. May 3, Longstreet drew off and rapidly retreated, either discouraged by his want of success, or impelled to relieve Lee's necessities, which seemed great enough in the beginning of the Chancellorsville campaign to warrant a concentration of all his forces. Near midnight Peck's troops started in pursuit. They captured several hundred without much fighting, but went no further than the Blackwater.
Peck estimated the Rebel loss, during the siege, at two thousand, the Union loss at two hundred and fifty-nine. Lieutenant Conran, of the Thirteenth, was mortally wounded. He was an intrepid and generous-hearted young soldier. Eight other Indianians were wounded. In a march of fifty miles, accomplished in the middle of May, for the purpose
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
of protecting workmen who were destroying railroads, not a man of the Thirteenth was lost, although the enemy was met and driven, and forty miles of railroad iron were loaded up and brought into Suffolk. In a reconnoissance of eighty- six miles, undertaken shortly after, no enemy was found.
Some men complained, during their stay at Suffolk, of hard treatment. The honest denial of a private has its inter- est: "Any man that writes home that he is abused by our officers must be hard up for something to say that is not true. We have good officers, and they punish no man without a cause. There are none punished in our army but those that deserve punishment."
The writer of the above, John Carse, is a young Scotch- man. His clear and pleasant letters have always one form of beginning: "With pleasure I write you a few lines, hop- ing they will find you in good health, as they leave me the same at present. Thank God for it."
In June General Dix was influenced to abandon Suffolk by the withdrawal of the enemy from its front; and the re- port that during the invasion of Pennsylvania Richmond was defended by little more than a brigade.
Accordingly General Peck's force was moved up to For- tress Monroe, over the Norfolk and Petersburg railroad, which runs through the Great Dismal Swamp almost the entire distance. A portion, which included the Thirteenth, em- barked on transports to join an expedition, under Keyes, against Richmond, and sailing up the Chesapeake, the York and the Pamunky, landed at the White House.
The expedition was commeneed with vigor, but the airs or memories of the peninsula were enervating, and it gradu- ally "dwindled down to naught." It moved on many roads, and in as crooked a course as the rivers of the region. The railroad bridge over the South Anna was destroyed, heavy skirmishing took place, there was even a prospect of a battle, but at the important moment Keyes faced about and marched northward. He reached White House seven days after he left it, having marched ninety miles. The Thirteenth went on down the peninsula, embarked on steamboats at Hampton, disembarked at Plymouth, on the Elizabeth, and
-
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STRENGTH OF CHARLESTON.
went into camp at Bower's Hill, eight miles distant. Gen- eral Foster had command of the post. Bower's Hill was ex- changed in less than a month for the stirring precinets of the fated city of Charleston.
The siege of Charleston commenced early in 1862. It can- not be said that it had progressed during the intervening period, but it had proved itself a fixed fact, to the detriment of blockade runners, if not to the alarm of the city, and it was now progressing. General Gilmore and Commodore Dahlgren were in command, the one of the sea forces, the other of the land troops. Nearly twenty-five thousand men, on ship and shore, were ready to resist any attack, although, on account of the length of the picket line, but eleven thou- sand could be concentrated for an offensive purpose. The besiegers were even better supplied with cannon than with men, having ninety-six heavy guns beside the artillery of the navy. Munitions, engineering tools, indeed all kinds of ser- viceable instruments and means which money could buy or skill supply, were apparently inexhaustible.
Charleston, however, was far from lying at the mercy of the powerful armament. Situated behind a labyrinth of islands and islets, between two deep and broad rivers, and in a region of countless winding, reedy creeks, salt and sand marshes, and tangled jungles of palmetto, oak, cane and vines, position alone gave it incalculable strength. And it was probably the best fortified seaport on carth. It had nearly four hundred guns in position and afloat. Railroads in its rear could easily reinforce a garrison which was already large. Its artificial defences were, of course, where its main danger lay, in its front. Sullivan's Island and Morris' Island, the one on the south, the other on the north of the principal pas- sage from the sea, extending curved, embattled points toward and within a mile of each other, refused an entrance into the harbor. Fort Sumpter, standing on an artificial island mid- way between the two, barred advance, not more by powerful guns and a vigilant garrison than by a stout hawser, reach- ing north to Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, and attached by nets, seins and cables, to torpedoes bencath the water, and by three rows of piles, stretching south to Cummings'
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Point, on Morris Island, and to points further west; while forts and batteries, lining both sides of the harbor, and iron- elads between were primed for combat.
Folly Island, on which the Thirteenth landed, August 3, 1863, and Morris Island, were all with which the Indiana sol- diers had to do during their stay in front of Charleston. On the former they encamped. On the latter they did their digging and fighting, marching to their work through hot sand, seven miles, two or three times a week, and remaining after each march twenty-four hours in the trenches.
Folly Island is a strip of sand with low sand hills along the north and east, marshes and a thick growth of vegetation on the south and west. Morris is a larger island, but of the same character. It is five miles long and is three or four miles wide. Both are partially flooded by the highest tides. One of the strongest defences of Charleston was Fort Wag- ner, near the northeast end of Morris, and extending across the island. It was rendered peculiarly difficult of approach by the sudden narrowing of the island to a tenth of the width of the ground on which the fort stood, and by a cross fire from Sumpter, Cummings' Point and several heavy batteries on James Island, it had been proved impregnable to assault by an attempt in which fifteen hundred Union soldiers, in- cluding the officers in chief command, were lost, to but one hundred Rebels. Regular approaches were now in progress. The enemy's fire was constant, but as it was less accurate at night, the works were pushed forward mainly under cover of darkness.
The first parallel was two hundred and twenty-five yards long, the second parallel, six hundred yards in advance of the first, was three hundred and twenty-five yards long. Heavy breaching batteries, laboriously dragged through the deep sand, were established in both. On the left of the island, on piles driven sixteen or eighteen feet through a bed of soft, black mud, a log platform was laid and a single large gun, called the Swamp Angel, was mounted. . From the heavy guns established in the parallels, fire opened on Wagner, Cummings' Point and Sumpter. The last was the object of the warmest attention, and in a few days was rendered so
591
CAPTURE OF FORT WAGNER.
far powerless as to be unable longer to impede the approaches to Wagner. A third and fourth parallel were soon estab- lished, the latter only a hundred yards from a ridge which sheltered Rebel sharpshooters. The sharpshooters were driven out by the bayonet, and a fifth parallel was established two hundred and forty yards from the front. In front of the be- siegers the ground, which was but twenty-five yards from sea to sca, was filled with torpedo mines.
Still advancing and digging, however, a ditch was made, under the poor concealment of a moon-lit night, within one hundred yards of Wagner. Every energy was now turned toward checking the enemy's fire, which, concentrating at cach advance, poured like hail on the narrow neck, separating the besiegers from the fort.
At length, by sharpshooters crowded into the advanced trenches, by an overpowering artillery fire poured into the fort, and by powerful calcium lights which at night blinded, while they displayed the garrison, the Rebel guns were held in check sufficiently to allow sappers to work. September 6, the besiegers were so close to the fort that there could no longer be a doubt as to the success of a general assault. Ac- cordingly arrangements for the purpose were made, to take effect at nine the next morning. In the night the garrison, with the exception of seventy men, fled, leaving all the fur- niture of the fort.
The assaulting force, which included the Thirteenth, pcace- ably entered and took possession.
The Thirteenth remained on Morris and Folly islands, oc- cupied in fatigue and picket duty, until the latter part of February. Its health during the period was good, except in September and October, when all the troops about Charles- ton suffered in consequence of severe labor, an inferior quality of rations, bad water, and the heat of the climate. Twenty- five out of a hundred of the Thirteenth were ill, a smaller pro- portion than in most other regiments. In the two months it lost but four men by disease. One of the victims was Lieu- tenant Robert Scott, who was deeply regretted.
February 23, the Thirteenth joined General Seymour at Jacksonville, Florida, finding the place full of wounded, and
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Seymour's small force exceedingly disheartened, the disas- trous battle of Olustee having just been fought.
Nothing occurred beyond the ordinary routine of military life at an advanced post, except the destruction of valuable salt works, and two or three unimportant raids. April 17, the Thirteenth embarked on transports, and set its face toward the north. It disembarked at Gloucester Point, Virginia, where it was assigned to the Second brigade, Third division of the Tenth Army Corps, in Butler's army.
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MEADE FOLLOWS LEE INTO VIRGINIA.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE SECOND WINTER ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK.
With many a weary step, and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone .- Pope.
On the eighteenth of July, 1863, the Army of the Potomac crossed the familiar river from which it derived its name, and returned to the beautiful domain of Virginia. General Meade moved along the eastern side of the Blue ridge, reckoning on effecting an entrance into Shenandoah valley in front of Lee, who rested several days on Opequan creek, and marched but slowly in the beginning of his retreat. Buford's cavalry cov- ered the general advance. . On the twenty-second, near Ches- ter's Gap, the First brigade skirmished sharply with Rebel cavalry and infantry. It was reinforced by Ward's division of the Third corps, and the enemy was driven from the field. As the Rebel force hastily moved off, it became evident that it formed Lee's rear guard. From the spurs of the moun- tains Lee's troops and trains were now seen, moving along the turnpike in the direction of Culpepper Court House and Gordonsville. Lee had won the race.
The army of the Potomac settled down on the line of the Rappahannock, near Warrenton. It was disappointed in its expectation of finding rest, for though during many following months it neither performed nor undertook great achieve- ments, it seldom remained a few consecutive weeks undis- turbed. One week it sought the enemy, the next week it avoided him; now it drove him, anon it fled before him. Its activity increased as its numbers diminished. Two large bodies of troops were sent off in the summer, one to North 38
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Carolina, the other to the protection of New York city, which was in danger of insurrection. The Fourteenth and Twen- tieth Indiana were included in the force which went to New York.
Meade's first efforts were given to the discovery of the ene- my's position. On the first of August, an excessively warm day, Buford's cavalry settled the question. It crossed the Rappahannock at the railroad station on a pontoon bridge, and with heavy skirmishing pushed back first a brigade, then a division of Stuart's cavalry, within a mile of Culpepper Court House, the vicinity of which was covered by the tents of the Rebel army. Buford retreated before infantry until he was reinforced by the first corps, when the enemy with- drew. Buford went into camp on the south side of the river. On the fourth he was attacked by two brigades of cavalry, and succeeded in repulsing the attack.
The Third cavalry was engaged in both the reconnoissance and the repulse, and suffered the loss of one man.
Colonel Chapman, who was in command of the First brigade, during the temporary absence of Colonel Gamble, was warmly recommended for promotion by Generals Pleas- onton and Buford. Pleasonton wrote to a friend in Indiana- polis': "I have recommended Chapman for a Brigadier, which he deserves highly, not only for his services, but for his character. Your State should be proud of the Third Indiana cavalry. It has won a name for dash and service second to none in the army." Hitherto Chapman and the Third had been inseparable in service and in honor, and as he was an officer who had not only himself but his com- mand "well in hand," and in consequence was entirely relia- ble, while he was also dashing and brilliant, no doubt the regiment owed much of its usefulness to its commander, wlio in turn was indebted not a little to the regiment which had never failed in endurance nor swerved in action. On the fourth of September, Chapman was placed permanently in command of the brigade. Major M'Clure succeeded to the charge of the regiment, but he was soon promoted to the command of a new regiment, and Major Patton became the commanding officer of the Third.
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ENGAGEMENT AT JACK'S SHOP.
The little brooks dried up in the hot weather, obliging the cavalry to change its quarters repeatedly, and at length to withdraw to Catlett's Station.
On the thirteenth of September, Buford, supported by Warren with the Second corps, crossed the Rappahannock and crowded Stuart back through Brandy Station and Cul- pepper, and across the Rapidan, capturing two guns and a number of prisoners, and discovering that Lee's army was reduced by the loss of a large number of troops sent to rein- force Bragg in Tennessee. In consequence, Meade immedi- ately advanced with his main army to Culpepper Court House.
On the twenty-first, the Third marched with Buford's di- vision to reconnoitre the ground lying between the Robert- son and Rapidan rivers, proceeding as far as Madison Court House. The next day, Chapman's brigade proceeded along the turnpike in the direction of Gordonsville, as far as "Jack's shop," where it encountered two brigades of Rebel cavalry. After a spirited engagement of several hours, the Rebels were routed and driven across the Rapidan, leaving a num- ber of wounded in Chapman's hands, including several offi- cers. Chapman's brigade was highly complimented by General Buford for its gallantry. The command then re- turned to its camp near Stephensburgh.
The Army of the Potomac was shortly afterward depleted by the withdrawal of Howard's and Slocum's corps under General Hooker. The Twenty-Seventh Indiana was with- drawn with its corps, but the first squadron of the First cav- alry, although it had long been Howard's escort, was left be- hind. Daniel Bragunier, a member of the squadron, was at home on furlough at the time the changes were made, and on his return had so much difficulty in finding his com- rades, that his description of his wanderings, during his search, is explanatory to some extent of the existence of stragglers in a well-regulated army. It is easy to imagine a man of less shrewdness roving about until he found himself pounced upon and punished as a deserter :
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
" GLYMOUNT LANDING, COMPANY B, FIRST INDIANA CAVALRY, October 27, 1863.
"I wrote you a letter on the thirteenth, and on the next day, fully equipped, left Dismounted Camp for our squadron, which was reported to be at or about Fort Washington. I went to Fort Washington, but no one there could tell me anything about the First Indiana. Major Brooks, command- ing at the Fort, a regular army officer, had never heard of the First Indiana cavalry, but he sent me into the Fort with in- structions to get my dinner and stay until I got tired. The Sixteenth Indiana battery is on duty at the Fort, and I soon made myself at home, talking to the boys of the old Hoosier State. I ate my dinner, and after a couple of hours, in com- pany of one of the Sixteenth, I started up Piscataway creek to learn, if possible, anything in reference to our squadron, but could learn nothing. So I returned to Dismounted Camp and reported my unsuccessful expedition, and as they knew nothing of the squadron's whereabouts, I requested to be sent to Washington to inquire at the War Department. But everything in Dismounted Camp must go through a regular process,-so I had to make application to the Sergeant in charge for a pass to Washington, from him it had to go to the Lieutenant commanding the brigade, and from him to a Major, commanding the division, and from him to the head- quarters of the camp, which process takes from two to four days.
"After waiting very impatiently three days to hear from my pass, I went to headquarters to make inquiries, and found it had been delayed. Being somewhat out of humor at the proceedings, I fell in with a squadron of cavalry going to the front, and, without a pass, proceeded through the defences of Washington. After getting through Washington, and know- ing that some of our squadron were in hospital at Alexan- dria, I left the cavalry squad and went there. I encountered a picket who could not allow me to go on without proper passes. As it was raining, I complained greatly; fumbled over a package of letters and passes, showed him the letter given me at Indianapolis, by which I was charged with a
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LOST IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
squad of soldiers for Washington, but protested that I could not find my pass, and so he suffered me to proceed without one, saying he supposed I was all right. I next proceeded to the hospital and found our boys, but they could give me no information. I went to the Provost Marshal of the town and asked for a pass to our squadron or back to Dismounted Camp. He sent me to Major Ward, Assistant Provost Mar- shal of the army of the Potomac, but cven Major Ward could give me no information. He sent me to the front to the inspector general of the army, but on reaching the front I found the inspector general had been taken prisoner at the battle near Brandy Station. After repeated inquiries I went to General Pleasonton, and from him was sent to General Buford, who called all his staff around him and showed his willingness to get me started in the right direction to my company. But although it had been ordered to report to him, on General Howard being sent to Rosecrans, he had not heard from it. He very pleasantly remarked that he thought General Howard had stolen them out of the army of the Potomac, that he wanted them very much. From General Buford I was sent back to Alexandria. I reported to Major Ward and was sent back to Dismounted Camp, where I laid in another application for a pass to Washington, and in three days got her through. Went to Washington to the War Department, and from there to General Heintzelman's head- quarters, where I at last received the desired information.
"In two more days I reined in at the camp of the First Indiana cavalry. The boys are in good health and spirits although on duty every other day. Their duty is picketing and patroling, and since they came here they have taken twenty-eight deserters and smugglers, with goods for the Rebels over the river. Dumfries is nearly opposite our camp, and before our squadron came here the citizens kept up quite a trade with the Rebels."
General Meade resumed the offensive, on the return of the troops which had been sent to New York, with Buford's cavalry in the advance.
Chapman's brigade charged through the rough Rapidan at Germanna ford, and captured fifteen pickets and their
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
horses. Moving on up the river, the Third skirmishing ahead, and the rest of the division trotting behind, the cav- alry expected to uncover Morton's ford for the passage of the army, but the night was dark and the country strange, and it was compelled to bivouac before the point was at- tained. In the morning, Buford was surprised to find the army gone. It had been close up on the other side of the river, but at midnight it was alarmed by the report of a Rebel flank movement, and fell back. Buford was now recalled, and while recrossing the river, was heavily attacked in rear and flank by Fitz Hugh Lee's division of cavalry supported by a brigade of infantry. He repulsed the attack and regained the rear of the army, though while covering a heavy wagon train he was repeatedly compelled to stand and fight. The next day, Buford reconnoitred as far as Culpepper Court House, skirmishing lightly, and disclosing Lee's flank move- ment. Throughout the retreat, beside reconnoitring and skirmishing, he guarded the entire wagon train. Both arm- ies moved with all possible speed, Meade aiming to reach Centreville and concentrate there, Lee endeavoring to strike the road at Bristow Station in Meade's front. About noon of October 14, Warren, who brought up the rear of the re- treat, was astonished to find a large force of the enemy in his front. Fortunately, General Hill, the commander of the hostile force, was equally taken by surprise, and was longer in recovering his equanimity .. Consequently the ensuing fight resulted in Warren's favor, and enabled him to move on at dark, although the main Confederate army was then coming up. The Fourteenth Indiana participated in the engagement.
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