The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II, Part 9

Author: [Merrill, Catharine] 1824-1900
Publication date: 1866
Publisher: Indianapolis : Merrill and company
Number of Pages: 868

USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 9

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"Sunday. We are still here, though with baggage packed, and momentarily expecting the 'route.' It is reported that a corps of ours is across the river, and that we are to feel the enemy at all points along the lines. I have taken pen and ink into a solemn pine woods near our camp, where better, I think, than in church or closet, one is conscious of the 'ten- der grace' of the sacred day, and for a half hour have been lying here listening to anthems that would put the grandest organ to shame. The scenery hereabouts is magnificent.

"Bank of the Rappahannock. This letter partakes very much of the character of a journal, but I hope the varieties of pen and ink, and dates, won't condemn it. I was sent to the picket line night before last, in command of the detail from the regiment, and am writing to you sitting on the bank of the river. The rebel pickets line the other bank, some dozing, some fishing, all in slouchy butternut uniforms. Both sides are very civil, chatting and joking with one another, and comparing the generosity of their respective commissa- ries.

"I slept on the bank of the river, and on waking up this morning, found I had a grim, gaunt Virginia dragoon for my vis-a-vis. He watched the preparations for breakfast my 'Kory-Kory' made with evident interest, and after coffee was made, with an explanatory wave of the hand I intima- ted I drank his good health. Virginia was touched by such a display of courtesy from a 'ruthless invader,' and returned the salutation cordially, and with a smile-a trifle ghastly, I thought, that was accounted for soon after, by himself, from the fact that he hadn't tasted coffee for months. The ice broken, we had a very pleasant conversation, and finally he proposed an exchange of newspapers. This was against orders, but infractions were winked at, and I had a man bot-

HOOKER ON THE ALERT.

tle up the latest Washington paper, and throw it over as far as possible. The Virginian swam out and took it in his teeth, and returned. After he had replaced it, my man swam over and brought back the paper I send you. The last view I had of my courteous enemy, he was sitting on a log, and with a dozen fellow-readers, was evidently enjoying the ac- count of the active sympathy of their brothers, the copper- heads of the North.

" The morning before we came on picket, there was a heavy firing up the river, lasting from daylight until about ten or eleven. I have understood since that it was a reconnoissance in force, on our part, toward Culpepper Court House. Both sides are restless, yet cautious, neither caring to be the at- tacking force.

"Your affectionate son, JAMES."

Promotion is the fond hope of every soldier, but it is sel- dom so pure an ambition is rewarded as that recorded during this period by Abram Buckles, of the Nineteenth. "I was appointed," he says, "to the color-guard, on my own applica- tion. I had always had a great anxiety to carry the flag of my regiment, and did not know how I could get the place of color-bearer, unless by serving in the guard until I could see a proper chance to pick the flag up, should the color- bearer be killed or wounded." That chance was not now distant, as in the great conflict which was swiftly approach- ing, it was noticeable that the enemy fought the "Stars and Stripes" with a cool and set purpose.

The Third cavalry, included in the First brigade, was en- camped at Potomac Creek Station, but was frequently en- gaged in reconnoissances.

The reports of his cavalry scouts convinced Hooker, before the close of May, that his antagonist was hastening to take the initiative in an important movement, and led him to consider the possibilities of an invasion of the North. He communicated his suspicion that Lee was preparing to out- flank him, to President Lincoln and General Halleck, and continued keenly on the alert to discover and thwart the enemy's designs. On the fifth of June, he sent a division 7

THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.

across the Rappahannock, to ascertain if the enemy was still in force on the Heights of Fredericksburg. Careful skirmishing seemed to show that Lce had not changed his position. Nevertheless, Hooker's suspicions were not quieted, and he sent Pleasonton with his cavalry and a small force of infantry up the river, to pry into the proceedings of the enemy in that direction. On the ninth of June, Gregg, with one division, crossed at Kelly's ford, and Buford, with an- other, at Beverly ford. They were almost immediately at- tacked. Buford's engagement was severe. His troops fought in cavalry style, neither dismounting nor using their carbines. They succeeded in crowding the enemy back until they united with Gregg, who had fought his way up from Kelly's ford; but every charge or advance seemed to develope the Confederates in greater force. Pleasonton accordingly re- treated and re-crossed the river during the night. Hc lost five hundred men in the battle of Beverly Ford, including Colonel Davis, the commander of the First brigade, killed, and Adjutant Taylor, of the Third Indiana, wounded. However, he inflicted a loss of six hundred; discovered that Lee was at Culpepper, with a large portion of his army; and learned that a Rebel column, which had been three and a half hours passing through Sperryville, was climbing the Blue Ridge to enter the Shenandoah Valley.

In spite of Pleasonton's report, and of his own previous suspicions, General Hooker now, apparently, considered the invasion of the North improbable. Indeed, so audacious a movement hardly seemed within the bounds of reason. Hitherto, the Confederates had met with success only on Southern soil. South Mountain and Antietam had been defeats; while Cedar Mountain, Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and almost every other conflict in Virginia had been victories, or equivalent to victories. Pennsylvania was unknown ground, while Virginia was full of familiar and strong defensible points. Moreover, at the present mo- ment, the armies in the distant South were falling back, be- fore Banks and Grant, and werc entreating for reinforcements. These conditions were well known to Hooker. He did not know, on the other hand, that Lee had a better-appointed

MILROY ENTRAPPED.

and larger army than he had ever before commanded, his transportation, clothing and equipments all being complete, Longstreet having returned from Suffolk, and that conscrip- tion, which "robbed the cradle and the grave," having been turned to his direct advantage. Neither did he know that every argument and motive was presented by the Southern government and the Southern people, especially by Virgin- ians, and that the most seductive and pressing invitations were offered by Northern conspirators to General Lee, to in- duee him to transfer the war to the North.

It is said that the Confederate Commissary General en- dorsed a requisition from General Lee, for rations, with, " If General Lee wishes rations, let him get them in Penn- sylvania."

General Milroy became the victim of Hooker's ineredulity, or of Halleck's obtuseness. Friday, June 12, he received a telegram from General Schenck, directing him to make pre- parations for a withdrawal, but to hold his position until further orders. He promptly obeyed, stopping his supply- trains and redoubling his vigilance. He did not dream of the possibility of an unannounced approach of the main Confederate army, but supposed the Rebel cavalry in the valley was reinforced, perhaps by the addition of Stuart's command. His scouts, on the same day, discovered the proximity of a large Rebel forec, and the next day reported its approach. Milroy immediately determined to concentrate his troops, and for that purpose dirceted Me Reynolds to with- draw from Berrysville and join him at Winchester. As, during the next day, Saturday, he received no orders from Schenck, and no intelligence of any kind, although the tele- graph was in operation, he continued in ignorance of the imminence and vastness of his danger. The telegraph wires were eut at dark. About the same time that he was thus severed from all communication with his superior officer, Milroy learned from prisoners, that Ewell and Longstreet, with fifty thousand men, were pressing upon him. He had no alternative. He must fly, and under cover of darkness. But he could not desert MeReynolds, whose brigade had not yet arrived; and after it came in at ten o'clock, wearied with

100

THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.

a tramp of thirty miles, he could not compel it to continue the march without rest. He therefore determined to wait until Sunday night, meantime defending himself in Win- chester, as best he could. Sunday afternoon, he began to feel the Rebel pressure. He anxiously watched the slowly descending sun. At last, it was down, and night drew her friendly curtain. He then spiked his guns, destroyed his powder, and started northward. Four miles out, he was routed in a severe engagement with a division of the enemy. His troops scattered and fled, and all that escaped the enemy continued to fly until they had reached Harper's Ferry, or Bedford county, Pennsylvania. More than five thousand reported at these points.

Ewell followed down the valley. He crossed the Potomac and divided his force into three columns, which marched off toward the north, the east and the west, and arrived, within a few days, at Carlisle, York and Hancock.

June 13th Hooker began his march northward. He moved rapidly and with columns widely extended, in order to cover both Washington and the passes of the Blue Ridge.

In the afternoon Wadsworth's division halted, drew up in line and executed the sentence of death, pronounced some time before, upon a deserter from the Nineteeth Indiana, and fixed for this day.

Lee lingered in the valley, watching for an opportunity to cut across the rear of the Army of the Potomac and gain an entrance into Washington. His horsemen anxiously looked over all the accessible heights of the Blue Ridge, appeared in force in all the passes, and even dashed across the Bull Run mountains. But they found little encouragement. Over every level space they saw the Northern army spread- ing like a blue sea, and on every road they met Northern troops.

On the 18th the Third Indiana took part in a cavalry affair at Philamont, with some loss. Colonel Gamble, of the Eighth Illinois, was now in command of the First brigade, which was attached to Buford's division. Pleasonton was in command of the cavalry corps.

A running fight opened on the morning of the 21st, and

101

"VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAITH THE LORD."

continued from Middleburg to Upperville, where the Rebels endeavored to make a stand. The Third Indiana behaved with marked courage and spirit, repelling and returning the repeated charges of a brigade.

Finding himself unable to make a dash on Washington, Lee forded the Potomac June 24th and 25th and advanced unopposed to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He burnt Bridges, destroyed railroads and telegraph wires, and levied contributions on the country-one hundred thousand dollars on one town, fifty thousand on another, with liberal supplies of food and clothing, making no deduction for quiet submis- sion to his entrance and his rule. Ewell levied twenty-five barrels of sourkraut on one community, but as June is not the season for kraut, even in the most Germanic regions, he was compelled to withdraw his demand.

General Lee, in words which sound like solemn irony from the pen of an officer who was acquainted with, if he did not connive at, the torture and slow murder of defenceless pris- oners, exhorted his soldiers to refrain from plunder or the destruction of private property. "It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth."

The proclamation was not regarded with favor by the South. The Richmond Enquirer of June 26th, however, defended it, saying: "It is true that Confederates owe no consideration to their enemies. It is truc, further, that our generals owe it to their own people to visit a terrible devas- tation and havoc upon the enemy's country, but it may be needful to deceive the enemy by forbearing from plunder now on the threshold of the expedition, that for the sake of the paltry booty of Chambersburg, we may not miss the splendid prize of Philadelphia, or the crushing blow at the head in Washington. Lee may purposely forbear to give the hostile population warning to run off their herds and flocks, so as to leave the country waste before him, until he can throw the whole Confederate army into Pennsylvania, wide-winged, far-stretching, enveloping Washington on the

102

THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.

one side, Harrisburg on the other, and so forward! forward! until our red battle flag reflects itself in the Delaware."

O, sanguine and sanguinary South! What hopes were engendered and crushed by Lee's invasion!

Lee's army was under good discipline, and it obeyed orders. Negroes were kidnapped, individuals were made to stand and deliver, remote and lonely houses were broken open and pillaged, a clergyman, sitting in his own door, with a good pair of boots on, was coolly ordered to haul them off, and a Rebel pulled them over his own dirty feet, but such occurrences were exceptional.

Ewell's corps, formerly Jackson's, was almost puritanic in its deportment. In York a bar room was guarded all night by a Rebel sentinel. "I left a glass of brandy on the coun- ter and my money drawer unlocked," narrated the inn-keeper afterwards, "and the next morning I found them both un- touched. When I looked into the bar room I saw a Rebel guard singing out of a hymn book, and then he kneeled down by a chair and made a few remarks. I asked him what he was about, and he told me he belonged to Stone- wall Jackson's brigade, and his old commander had taught his men to say their prayers every day."

Pennsylvania was as much an object of curiosity to the Rebels as the Rebels were to Pennsylvania. The fine roads, the generous stone dwellings, the gardens and fields which laughed with plenty, the many windowed barns with their vast stores of hay and grain, and long rows of shining horses and sleek kine, signified almost incredible comfort and prosperity.

Many months afterward, a North Carolinian said to Rob- ert Cathcart, of the Seventieth Indiana, in Sherman's army : " I gave up when I saw those Northern farms. I staid in the army because I was under oath, but I never afterwards had any heart."

Hooker crossed the Potomac the day after the Rebel army entered Maryland, and moved toward Fredericksburg, throw- ing his left out well toward the west, still keeping his cavalry in advance and marching at the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles a day. Worn, wearied, and dusty-ragged, too, be-

103

FOOTSORE.

cause there was neither time nor opportunity to refit, his troops were still full of joyful trust.

Lieutenant Pratt writes:

" WARRENTON, VA., June 15, 1863, 5 P. M.

" We have been here not over half an hour. Left our camp on the Rappahannock night before last at dark and marched until past midnight, all day yesterday, and since five o'clock this morning. My feet are one complete blister. It was with the greatest difficulty I kept along, but I was determined to do it. I don't think I could march another hour though.

" We are just above the junction, battery after battery in position in front of us, all pointing toward the mountains. Sick and footsore as we are, we are too true knights to de- cline the combat that will be forced on us. I only hope that individual gallantry may be well directed and improved on."

"IN CAMP NEAR FREDERICK CITY, MARYLAND, Į June 27, 1863. S

" We got here late this afternoon. Left Aldie yesterday morning at two o'clock. I had been on picket all night, and before we marched I had walked some five miles up and down the lines and in from picket. We were drawn in about half an hour before the division started, and then, with it, marched steadily along through Leesburg, where we halted an hour, and then on until seven o'clock at night, when we halted near Poolesville. We had to ford several creeks, one of them waist deep. We crossed the Potomac on pontoon boats.

" My shoes gave out ten miles before we halted. First the bottoms fell out, and then the stockings wore out, and I plodded on over gravel and stubble fields, my blistering feet unprotected. After a short doze under wet blankets, we were aroused at three this morning, and started at four. Yesterday the column marched twenty-five miles. I marched at least thirty, with my picket. I don't know how much we have made to-day-over twenty, I should think.

"The country hereabout is magnificent, and the change of sentiment from bitter disloyalty to scattering patriotism

104

THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.

is cheerful. We shall probably come upon the Rebels by to-morrow evening or next day."

General Lee's army numbered more than one hundred thousand. Hooker's was smaller. He requested that he might be reinforced by General French's division at Harper's Ferry, stating, at the same time, that Harper's Ferry, in present circumstances, was of no value. General Halleck resented the reflection on that picturesque and romantic po- sition and returned a peremptory refusal. Hooker was in- dignant that in the moment of his greatest responsibility he should be unnecessarily cramped and hampered, and he in- stantly sent in his resignation. Halleck, equally indignant that the commander of the Army of the Potomac should seek, for any reason, to abandon his post in so important a crisis, accepted his resignation without remonstrance or demur, and promptly appointed General Meade to the com- mand.

Here was "a swapping of horses in the middle of the stream," but the army bore up bravely. "The time was," writes Frank Good, "when we had more men, and when we were well supplied with clothes and grub, but the time has never been when there was the same feeling throughout the whole command. They may change generals as often as they please, they cannot demoralize the army."

Even in civil life, although at first a foreboding depression was general, there was a quick rebound from the unexpected blow. Newspapers displayed a jocoseness which indicated the reaction. "The opposing armies in the North may be said to have imbibed a pastoral taste, since they are now led by spangled Meade and flowery Lea," was the comment of on1c.

The names of Governor Curtin and General Couch, who were active in Pennsylvania calling civilians into service, also excited witticisms. For example: "We have a Couch in whose arms General Lee may repose after his long, hard march, and a Curtain to prevent intrusion on his privacy."

On crossing the Potomac river Buford's cavalry division took the road to Middletown and South Mountain pass, crossing South Mountain on the 29th, going north along its

EWELL'S CORPS

EARLY'S

July

RODES

DAR

R.H.Grade,

Chambersburg Turnpike

Battle

AMEE CORPS

DIV.

College

Railroad

Rock?

Road

Creek

171

Beauing's

HOWARD

Cemetery

ROBINSON

RIDGE

HANCOCK

·SONEWTON

Baltimore Turnpike

DOUBLEDAY ..

BIRNEYS

THEATON

Peach Orchard

HOOD'S DIV.

Round Top

SEDGWICK

HOWE

T'uion Lines. Confederate »

Scale of; 1 Mile

1/4

MAP OF THE BATTLE OF

VRIGHT

Let si

Emmetebring Road

/ RÍOGÉ

1 st

DIV

Carlisle Roa

BARLOW

SCHURZ

HOWARD

Harrisburg Road

York Turnpike

.HILL'S PENDERS

DOUBLEDAY

REYNOLDS

GETTYSBURG

Bonnaughiow,

Millerstown Road

RODE'S DIV

EARLY'S

EWELL'S CORPS

COP SEMINARY RIDGE

Attack of July 3ª

RENDER'S DIV.

HE H'S DIV.

III WADSWORTH Culp's Hin

- -

LLS

PICKETT'S40

CEMET

SICKLES 2º JULY

Lower' Hill

MC LAWS

CONG.STREET SCO

Ofi

BUFORD'S QAV. IST POS.

bangsnun

ROBINSON

WADSWORTH

Road

Willoughby Ru

CAIO S. NOSNHOS.

GETTYSBURG

showing Positions held. JULY 1$+ 2º & 3º 1863.

105

"SEE THE FRONT OF BATTLE LOUR."

western foot to Covetown; thence crossing and bivouacking at the eastern base of the mountain, after a day's march of forty miles. All along the route the division was greeted with an enthusiasm greatly in contrast with the silently hos- tile reception it had become accustomed to on the Virginia side of the Potomac.

The march was resumed soon after three o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June and directed toward Fairfield, near which the head of the column came upon a Rebel picket. Without attempting to clear the way, the command countermarched, took another road and, passing through Emmetsburg, reached the southern edge of Gettysburg about noon. The head of a Rebel column of infantry appeared on the heights west of the town about the same time, but countermarched and passed off on the Chambersburg pikc. General Buford placed his division on the north and west side of the town, the First brigade on the Chambersburg pike about a half mile from Gettysburg, and sent out a strong picket on all approaches from the north and west.

Meantime, every part of the army was as indefatigably on the march. General Hooker, at the time he was sus- pended, was concentrating one portion of his force at Fred- crick, to meet the Rebel front, and was directing another portion toward the Rebel rear. Meade withdrew the latter, and uniting the two portions, directed his course toward the line of Pipe creek, a position about fifteen miles south-east of Gettysburg, with the intention of forming there across the Rebel line of march. His front was nearly forty miles from east to west. Buford's cavalry preceded and covered his left or western wing, which was composed of the corps of Reynolds and Howard.

General Lee directed his scattered forces to concentrate at Gettysburg, where he could hold the South Mountain passes and Cumberland Valley, and at the same time ad- vance to the attack of the Federal army.

In pursuance of these movements, the armies struck to- gether sooner than either commander anticipated. The first shock of the meeting occurred on the first day of July. Bu- ford's cavalry, as already narrated, in swinging round to take

106

THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.

up the designated position on Pipe creek, approached Get- tysburg, and secing the head of the enemy, advanced to the north and west side of the town, where it lay during the last night of June. About eight o'clock in the morning, the pieket on the Chambersburg road gave warning of the enc- my's approach. The First brigade was at onee put in line of battle, the Third Indiana on the right. A battery was placed in position, a heavy line of skirmishers was sent out, and every preparation was made to hold the enemy in check until Reynolds and Howard, who had bivouacked several miles south of Gettysburg, could get up. The skirmish line, reinforced from time to time, contested every inch of ground, the battery kept up an incessant and effective fire, and the brigade was enabled to hold its commanding position until the infantry arrived, when it withdrew to the cover of Sem- inary ridge.

Wadsworth's division, four thousand strong, was the first to reach the ground. It formed in a hollow between two parallel ridges, and on the bank of a little stream called Willoughby's run-Cutter's brigade on the right, Meredith's on the left. While the line was forming, Reynolds was shot and instantly killed. Archer's Rebel brigade made imme- diate, repeated and heavy attacks on Cutter, and at length, forcing him back, pressed hard after him. Meredith, whose front was clear, rapidly advanced, gained Archer's flank and rear, and captured eight hundred men with their brigade commander.

The Rebels, however, were reinforced, and the battle grew hot and heavy. Wadsworth's division fought nearly two hours, on the stream, over the hills, and in the woods. Cor- poral Cunningham, of the Nineteenth Indiana, was wounded in the hip, and dropped the colors. Buckles, the brave boy who had been ambitious for this moment, snatched the flag from the ground, unfurled it to the breeze, and cheered as the men rushed forward in a charge. It was the proudest moment of his life; but he, too, was soon wounded. The flag then passed back to the hand of Cunninghamn, who, after having his wound dressed, had found his way again into the battle. Pressed by twice its own number, the divi-

107

ON SEMINARY RIDGE.

sion gradually and steadily lost ground, and broke up its battle line. On Seminary ridge, it again formed, its right being strengthened by a large reinforcement.

General Howard reached Gettysburg during the retreat of Wadsworth, bringing with him the residue of the First corps and the whole of the Eleventh corps, and took command on the field. Posting one division of the Eleventh south-east of the town, on the strongest and most commanding point in the vicinity, he hastened to unite the greater part of his force with the new line forming on Seminary ridge.

At the same time, Early's corps, marching from the North, arrived on the Rebel ground and connected with the Rebel left, making it far over-lap the Union right. The fighting continued four hours on Seminary ridge. The Nineteenth Indiana was on the extreme left, as in the previous line. Colonel Williams said, as the regiment assumed its position, "We must hold our colors on this line, or lie here under them." Bravely they held their colors there.

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The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II, Part 9

Author: [Merrill, Catharine] 1824-1900 Publication date: 1866 Publisher: Indianapolis : Merrill and company Number of Pages: 868

Author: [Merrill, Catharine] 1824-1900
Publication date: 1866
Publisher: Indianapolis : Merrill and company
Number of Pages: 868