USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 54
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Two days later the army halted and concentrated south of the Pamunky, where again Lee's untiring veterans barred the way. In a short fight between cavalry reconnoitring par- ties, the Rebel troopers were worsted.
Sunday, the twenty-ninth, was occupied in general recon- noisances, which disclosed that the enemy's line formed a concave toward ours, his centre covering Atley's station on the railroad, his left stretching in the direction of Hanover Court House, and his right resting near Bethesda church, a solitary old house on the Mechanicsville turnpike.
A brigade from Crawford's reserves, while slowly approach- ing Bethesda church, was struck on its flank and obliged to retreat until it was reinforced by the rest of the reserves and a brigade from Warren's corps. Then at the usual price of costly blood, the left was established on the Mechanicsville turnpike. Grant now made constant demonstrations along the whole hostile front, as if seeking an opening for assault, but meantime he shifted his army, corps by corps, across the rear toward the Chickahominy, hoping to foree a passage near Cold Harbor, which Sheridan had seized and which was the focus of a number of roads leading both to Richmond and the White House.
During the movement, patrols from the Third Indiana, sent to the front, were attacked by a brigade of Rebel cavalry. McIntosh's brigade coming to their assistance, they drove
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FIRST ASSAULT AT COLD HARBOR.
the Rebels through Hanover Court House. Chapman's brig- ade destroyed two important railroad bridges over the South Anna, and Birney's division, also on the right, the whole of Hancock's corps moving forward, rushed at and carried the enemy's outer line of intrenchments on the southerly side of Tolopotomoy creek.
The Sixth corps reached Cold Harbor, Wednesday the first of June. It was joined the same day by W. F. Smith, from Butler's army, with ten thousand men, who had been brought by steamboats to the White House, and in extremely warm weather had been marched from that point over dusty, roundabout roads, and on railroad ties, until they were well nigh exhausted. A detachment from our Thirteenth was immediately thrown forward on the picket line, where at least one man fell asleep from the sheer impossibility of keeping awake. He was soon roused. General Devens, al- though he was so ill that he was compelled to rest frequently on a chair which a man carried for him, and when he rode had to be lifted on his horse, was examining the front, and now ordered the detachment to a more advanced position. From the new post, to which they ran through a shower of balls, the pickets saw the whole force prepared for assault, and moving up,-a regiment near at hand, preceded by avant couriers, two dogs yelping and springing toward the hostile guns. "Fools!" cried an Indianian, with an oath, "They act as if it was fun!" In a moment the pickets were ab- sorbed and carried forward.
Under severe fire from a sheltered enemy,-the very force which General Wright had faced at the other end of the line,-the assailants crossed an open ploughed space, nearly a mile in width, and stormed the outer rifle pits, capturing six hundred men. At the second line they were held in check, but they held fast the ground they had gained and biv- ouacked at night close to the enemy. Their loss was two thousand. The brigade of which the Thirteenth was a part, lost its commander and more men than any other brigade. The regiment was led by Captain Chauncey. Thursday and Thursday night, under heavy firing and continued skirmish- ing, Wright and Smith held their ground; Hancock marched
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
to the left of Wright, Warren stretched his left to Smith's right, and Burnside massed his corps on the right and rear of Warren. Burnside and Warren lost heavily.
Friday was the great battle of Cold Harbor. The day opened at half past four, when the Army of the Potomac, six miles in length from wing to wing, marched in fire and smoke, through woodland, swamp and field, up the heights and into the woods where lay the Confederate army behind intrench- ments no human power could storm. In twenty minutes the gallant host was tossed back, either to its original line, or to points but a short distance in advance, leaving ten thousand men stretehed in death or in pain on the abandoned ground.
No second assault was made; but all day long, eannon- ading, skirmishing and sharpshooting continued. On either side, the head which looked over the intrenchments, looked its last. Wilson's eavalry, on our right, near Salem Church, met Hampton's cavalry in a severe and equal struggle. Chapman's brigade fought Gordon's brigade, which was be- hind breastworks thrown up by infantry, and in spite of the advantage which shelter gave the enemy, gained the position. Both commands fought dismounted. Our total loss at and around Cold Harbor was thirteen thousand one hundred and fifty-three.
Sharp-shooting and skirmishing during the following days and nights were exceedingly lively. Night assaults on the part of the Rebels, who were tempted by the moments' run from line to line, were not infrequent, but they were almost invariably unsuccessful. The army continued its flank movement, manœuvring and marehing cautiously in bri- gades, and by Wednesday rested its left on the Chickahom- iny, near Sumner's and Bottom's bridges.
Grant traversed with hasty and bloody steps the ground on which M'Clellan, two years before, so long found a fever- ish repose. Not a fifth of the men who, in the peninsula campaign, saw from Fair Oaks the spires of Richmond, were now in the ranks. Expiration of terms of enlistment robbed the army of most of its remaining veterans. Our Fourteenth fought its last battle at Cold Harbor. General Hancock, in parting, said that the members of the Fourteenth "had
637
ORDERS FOR THE FOURTEENTHI.
done their whole duty, and that they went away with their banner crowned with honor, and their names and fame ever- lasting." General Gibbon and General Smith addressed to the regiment the following notes:
" HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, SECOND CORPS, June 6, 1864.
"CAPTAIN :- In transmitting to you the order for the dis- charge of your regiment from the expiration of term of serv- ice, I take great pride and pleasure in testifying my high ap- preciation of its valor and efficiency, especially in the battles of this campaign. You can now return to your homes with the proud consciousness of duty, well and faithfully per- formed, up to the very end of your term of service.
" Respectfully, JOHN GIBBON,
Brigadier General commanding Division.
Captain DONALDSON, commanding Fourteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers."
" HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION SECOND CORPS, June 16, 1864.
"The Colonel commanding expresses to the Fourteenth Indiana Volunteers, whose term of service has expired, and who are about to leave for their homes, his high appreciation of their gallant services, and he tenders to the officers and men his thanks for the hearty cooperation and assistance given him by them since he has had the honor to command the brigade. The Fourteenth Indiana has won an enviable name, and one that will go down to posterity. In after years, when peace shall once more prevail, you may well be proud to say, "I belonged to the Fourteenth Indiana Volun- teers." Although you are about to leave us, you will not be forgotten. The Colonel commanding and the officers and men of the regiments of this brigade, wish you all a happy future.
"By order of
THOMAS A. SMITH,
Colonel commanding Brigade.
JOHN G. REED, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General."
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
One hundred and twenty-four veterans and recruits re- mained behind in the trenches. They could not restrain a pang as they saw their old comrades entering into rest, while they were still to dig, and march, and watch, and fight, and very likely after all, to die and lie unburied. More than one stout soldier wiped away a furtive tear.
June 7, the homeward-bound, one hundred and thirty-six in number, (there were one thousand and forty-five in the Fourteenth when it left home three years before,) went down the York river, while the martial band on the hurricane deck played "Get out of the Wilderness." The remnant was afterward consolidated with the Twentieth.
The battle of Cold Harbor, though disastrous, threw no permanent, and scarcely a temporary check in the way of the army. The rails from the Chickahominy to the White House were taken up and shipped to the James. Smith's corps was returned to Butler. At dark, on Sunday the twelfth of June, Chapman's brigade moved to Long Bridge, to effect a crossing of the Chickahominy at that point. The bridge was entirely destroyed; the stream is not fordable, and is bordered with heavily timbered swamps; but, with the exertion of skill and strength, a body of dismounted cavalry made the crossing.
A pontoon bridge was laid, and the brigade crossed. It was followed by the remainder of Wilson's division, which then took the road to White Oak Swamp, skirmishing with the Rebel cavalry at the swamp crossing. At Riddle's shop, Chapman attacked, and after a stubborn resistance put to flight, a South Carolina brigade which guarded the road. Later in the day, the enemy returned in large force and put Chapman to flight.
While the cavalry covered its movement, the main army crossed the Chiekahominy and marched toward the James.
Tuesday and Wednesday, the army was transferred to the south side of the James, on a pontoon bridge, which, though more than two thousand feet long, and laid above thirteen fathoms of water, was the work of but twelve hours. The troops marched without delay toward Petersburg, to cooper- ate with General Butler.
639
THE TENTH OF MAY.
While the Army of the Potomac was crossing the Rapi- dan and entering the Wilderness, the Army of the James left Fortress Monroe, moved up York river and made a feint of approaching Richmond on MeClellan's old route, then re- turned, ascended the James and secured Bermuda Hundreds, the peninsula between the James and the Appomattox. It consisted of forty thousand men, and was under the com- mand of General Butler, who had been joined by Smith's and Gilmore's forces from South Carolina and Florida. But- ler lost no time in sending troops toward the Richmond and Petersburg railroad, with the intention of severing the Con- federate capital's main southern line of communication, and of following up the blow by the capture of Petersburg, the grand southern outpost in the defences of Richmond. May 7, General Smith with his own corps and a part of Gilmore's, including our Thirteenth, reached the railroad and the enemy, and engaged in skirmishing, which culminated on the tenth. The Thirteenth, in two detachments, one under Colonel Dobbs, resting on the railroad, the other under Major Burton, on Smith's right flank, was prominently engaged. It cap- tured thirty-seven men, and Burton's detachment, in a hand to hand conflict, recaptured two pieces of artillery. Smith's troops pressed southward as far as Swift creek, three miles from Petersburg, and destroyed several miles of railroad. The engagement, though not a battle, was one of the sharp- est fights in which the Thirteenth was ever engaged. Out of less than three hundred men, it lost one hundred and three. Sixteen who were captured, died in Andersonville prison. Among those who fell on the field was Lieutenant Alfred Dawdy, a youth who was joyfully looking forward to a speedy return home. "My wounds are mortal," he said, gave to a comrade his watch and other keepsakes for his friends, and quietly breathed his last. The woods caught fire and consumed his body. Lieutenant Van Antwerp also was mortally wounded.
The Thirteenth was at this time fitted out with new arms, which had been obtained more ingeniously than honestly. During the feint in the direction of the Peninsula, the Ninth Maine, at Gloucester Point, was provided with arms of the
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
admired Spencer rifle pattern, while the 'Thirteenth, which was in the same boat, was not relieved of its old guns; nevertheless, at Bermuda Hundreds, cach man of the latter regiment landed with a Spencer rifle in his hand, while the other, divided between indignation and admiration for the soldierly skill with which it had been defrauded, shouldered the abandoned firelocks and followed.
Contact with the enemy disclosed the arrival of Beaure- gard's advance from South Carolina, but the Rebels were still inferior in numbers, and Butler moved on until recalled by a warning from Washington of the approach of Lee, who was described as driven before Grant and flying to the de- fences of Richmond. Withdrawing to his peninsula, Butler was followed up by Beauregard. Advancing again, not to- ward the railroad, but in a northerly direction, he pushed Beauregard beyond Proctor's creek. The latter then took up the offensive, and in a series of assaults gained the advantage. Butler, however, was not slow in retorting.
A member of the Thirteenth, writing at midnight, May 20, thus describes the movements of the regiment:
" There has not been a single day since we landed that we have not been either fighting or throwing up earthworks. We slept in our breastworks on our arms last night. The Rebels chased our pickets three times in force in the night, and every time we rallied, expecting them to charge the breastworks. The day before, we skirmished all day, and the night before that we stood picket all night, with orders not to close our eyes. To-day we have been fighting hard all day. In the morning, our regiment of two hundred men was or- dered to charge bayonets on a line of breastworks, from which, not two hours before, eight hundred of our men had been driven. We charged, with fixed bayonets, at the double quick, nearly half a mile, under a raking fire of a whole brig- ade of the enemy. I looked over the ground this evening, and it is fairly strewn with the dead."
In the end Beauregard drew a line of works across the peninsula in front of Butler, and the latter complained that he was "bottled up." He was not bottled tight, as the last of May he sent Smith's corps and a part of Gilmore's corps,
641
WALLACE'S DEPARTMENT INVADED.
by the unobstructed river, to reinforce the Army of the Potomac.
The movement toward Richmond from the north-west, bc- gun by Sigel, occupied a much shorter period than the ad- vance of Meade from the north, and of Butler from the south- east. In consequence of a disastrous defeat sustained in the Shenandoah valley early in the history of the expedition, Sigel was susperseded by Hunter, who marched on victori- ously as far as Lynchburg, but there was obliged to acknowl- edge himself outdone. He was brought to an abrupt halt by a great access to the force which had, during several days, fled before him. He was a brave man, but he was nearly out of food, and he forthwith determined to retrcat. Deter- red, however, from retracing his steps in the Shenandoah by the passcs in the Blue Ridge, which were open gates to the enemy, he proceeded along the southern and western boun- dary lines of West Virginia, a rugged and circuitous route which entailed extreme hardship, and which, during an event- ful time, held him as far and as entirely from service as the capture or destruction of his army would have done.
Opportunity to make the customary summer raid, rendered unusually desirable by Grant's relentless progress, was thus unexpectedly afforded to the enemy. Lce promptly rein- forced Early, who was in command in Lynchburg, and Early as promptly marched over the mountains, and down the un- obstructed valley. The country north of the Potomac was ill-prepared to resist an invader, having been swept of troops in order to fill up the constantly occurring vacancies in Meade's army. General Lew. Wallace, in command of the Middle Department, the headquarters of which were in Balti- more, (regarded as an outpost of the Capital,) could summon to the field but a small force, consisting of hundred days' men, who, of course, had never been under fire, foot artillerists and invalids. İ
The Government, exceedingly alarmed for the safety of Washington, but aware that Lee's main object was to remove Grant from the vicinity of Richmond, applied, with reluct- ance, to the Lieutenant General for assistance. Grant at
41
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
once directed the Nineteenth corps, which had just reached Hampton Roads from the Gulf region, and the Sixth corps, now in front of Petersburg, to proceed to the Capital. Mo- mentous hours, however, must intervene before these veteran reinforcements could be thrown in the enemy's front. The whereabouts of Hunter was unknown; the condition of Sigel, who had been posted in the mouth of the valley, was only surmised; the strength of the invaders and the direction of their march were inscrutable. City and country, from Wash- ington to Pittsburg, bristled with fears:
July 5, rumors reached Wallace in Baltimore that Rebel cavalry was in Middletown valley, and moving eastward. Immediate necessity to confirm or disprove, also to cover the routes to Washington and Baltimore, and to hold the enemy, until the arrival at the Capital of the reinforcements, was ab- solute. On the western verge of what, at the time, was Wallace's department, flows the Monocacy, a fordable but difficult stream, with a high and broken eastern border, a low and open western bank. To the Monocacy Wallace looked for such help as position gives. Here, with his little force on the eastern bank, covering a space of two and one-half miles, within which the Baltimore and the Washington high-roads, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, cross the stream, re- spectively on stone, wooden and iron bridges, he would hold the enemy in check. If flanked on his right he could, by rapid marching, retreat along the Washington road; if flanked on his left, the Baltimore road was open to him. Accord- ingly, on the evening of the sixth, General Wallace concen- trated his available troops on the river, making a force of scant two thousand five hundred men of all arms. At day- break of the seventh he sent his cavalry, four hundred horse- men in all, reconnoitring over the Catoctin mountains. They drove Rebel scouts from the pass, and gained Middletown, but were driven back by a thousand Rebel horsemen. Rein- forced at Frederick by six hundred infantry, which Wal- lace sent forward from the river, three miles distant, they re- pulsed their pursuers. During the night Wallace forwarded the whole of his original force, and ordering the veterans, who were now arriving, to remain on the river, he followed
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BATTLE ON THE MONOCACY.
to Frederick. The contradictory character of rumors, as- signing to the enemy any number from one thousand to thirty thousand, determined him, by a personal reconnois- sance, to brush aside the curtain which seemed to overhang the mountains. But a telegram from Sigel, stating that a column which had pursued the latter and besieged him on Maryland Heights had retired, and was marching toward Boonsboro, induced him to relinquish the intention of pro- ceeding to the mountains, and the events of the day con- vinced him that the road to Washington and consequently his lines of retreat were seriously threatened. Accordingly he withdrew during the night to his original line on the Monoc- acy, determined to fight there the necessary battle. He di- vided his forces, now augmented to somewhat more than three thousand by the arrival of Ricketts with a portion of the advanced division of the Sixth corps, between Tyler and Ricketts. He formed his left wing, Ricketts' command, in two lines across the Washington road, in rear of the wooden bridge, the western end of which was protected by a block- house and skirmishers. Subdividing the forces which con- stituted his right, under Tyler, he plaeed one portion on the railroad, one on the Baltimore road at the stone bridge, and one at the ford, half way between the railroad bridge and the stone bridge. He posted his cavalry at fords a mile or two below Ricketts. His only battery, composed of six small guns, he divided equally between his right and left.
At an early hour on the ninth, the Rebels, with sixteen Napoleon guns, marched out of Frederick. They passed through the fields just out of range of Wallace's guns, and without attempting to drive in his skirmishers, sepa- rated into two bodies, of which the smaller moved toward the stone bridge, the larger to the fords guarded by the cav- alry. The latter foreed a passage, and in a strong line, which far overlapped the utmost stretch of Wallace's left wing, marched rapidly toward its flank.
To meet the emergency, Ricketts' front was changed to the left, his right on the river; his artillery force was aug- mented by the guns from the right; the skirmishers were drawn in, every available man was put into his single line;
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
and the bridge and the block-house were set on fire. The first charge of the enemy was shortly repulsed, a second charge was also repulsed, but only after a long and fierce struggle. Wallace regarded a third assault with apprehen- sion, nevertheless he held his ground in the hope that the Rebels would not recover sufficiently to advance before the arrival of the remainder of Ricketts' division, which was promised at one o'clock. The enemy, as he anticipated, held off, but the reinforcements held off too. One o'clock- two-three passed, four was approaching, and with it the enemy in two strong lines. Wallace reluctantly withdrew, giving orders to the troops at the stone bridge to maintain the point at every cost until the last man of Ricketts' force had reached the Baltimore turnpike. At five the last man reached the turnpike, and at the same time the last of Tyler's force yielded the bridge, Tyler with his staff escaping only by dashing into the woods on his right.
The reinforcements so anxiously expected on the field, joined Wallace at New Market, whence they covered the retreat, twelve miles.
The loss in the battle of the Monocacy was one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine, ineluding many stragglers who afterward returned to the lines. Wallace had no ambu- lances, and depended on railroad trains for the removal of his wounded. Unfortunately, in consequence of the delin- queney of an official, the trains were not at hand, and he was compelled to leave the sufferers on the field.
The Rebel loss was heavy, but is unknown, as it was in- correctly reported. Early continued his march, and on the twelfth made his appearance before Washington. The bat- tle had served its purpose in giving the city time to prepare for his reception, and, not venturing an attack, he withdrew. He enseonsced himself in the Shenandoah Valley, whence hic rushed out at different periods, in devastating raids. It was in one of his forays that the harmless town of Chambersburg was burned.
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FOR THOU ART FREEDOM'S NOW, AND FAMES.
CHAPTER XXXV.
JAMES PEPPER PRATT.
"He is dead, the beautiful youth, The heart of honor, the tongue of truth, He, the life and light of us all, Whose voice was blithe as a bugle-call, Whom all eyes followed with one consent, The cheer of whose laugh and whose pleasant word Hushed all murmurs of discontent."
-Longfellow.
At five o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday, May 29, 1864, near Bethesda church, while the left of the army of the Poto- mac was fighting to obtain position on the Mechanicsville road, fell Lieutenant Pratt, shot through the heart by a bul- let. So sharply was cut the thread of his life. A few col- lege effusions, a few letters, a brief record of duties performed and the memory of his presence are all that remain of one so instinct with spirit, so resolute and strong, that honor, and room for happy achievement seemed of right his.
James Pratt was born in Logansport, October 9, 1841. His boyhood was playful, dutiful and loving. It was the soil of which heroism was the native growth. He was two years in Wabash college and two years in Yale, where he graduated in the summer of '61.
From his carly years his reading was comprehensive and was well directed. Consequently his taste was fine, and his opinion of literary men and works was fair and discriminat- ing. In the Yale magazine for February, 1861, is an article from his pen, entitled, "Between the Cradle and the Coffin," and having reference to Goethe. It modestly disclaims any attempt at criticism, yet shows appreciation of that magni- ficent and bewildering character,-an appreciation which is singular in a youth of nineteen. "A mind like ours," says the
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
young thinker, "strove to know the mystery, whose great, shadowy arins embrace all. It was ignorance in combat with Omniscience; Impotence in contest with Omnipotence. A weak, withcring leaf would stay the mighty, rushing wind, and ask its height and breadth, or whence it came and whither it went."
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