USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.1 > Part 10
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Saturday Jan'y 25. After dinner I was called by the Captain to take charge of a gun Detachment and go to the Navy Yard and get the caisson and limber loaded, but as the shot was not ready we came back. Will have to go down Monday again. While waiting at the yard I met Sergt. Wright of Porter's Battery. ( First Mass.) After coming back to camp we had to report to the officer, and then we commenced digging around our tent, for the sun had softened the mud considerably. and we needed a chan- nel to drain it off. After this we went to roll call where we were addressed by General Schouler of Boston, Mass. He informed us that we would not be here long."
NOTES OF CAPTAIN MAX EPPENDORFF.
PERSONAL. REMEMBRANCE FROM OCT. 23, '61 TO JAN'Y 25. '62. "On October 24th. 1861. I took charge of the Battery then in camp at Lynnfield.
There were present in camp 2 First Lieutenants Geo. D.
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Allen and John B. Hyde, and I Second Lieutenant Rob. Dillingham.
The 2d Second Lieutenant Charles A. Phillips joined the Battery beginning of November. Next to these commis- sioned officers there was a full complement of non-com- missioned officers and men.
Let me first say a few words about them. I cannot say too much in their favor. Of course there were some 'black sheep' among them, but they were soon transferred to other Batteries or regiments lacking inen. The great majority of the men hailed from New England, and they were above the common standard of volunteers in regard to intelli- gence as well as morals. You soon could notice that these men had left their homes, not for any selfish purpose, but for the high cause for which each one of them was willing to sacrifice his life. It was a pleasure as well as an honor, to command them! In the early part of November the camp was moved from Lynnfield to more suitable grounds at Readville, near Boston, which afforded plenty of room for foot-drill, the then only possible way to keep the men in useful activity, their outfit being limited to side arms.
Some time in early December '61, General Burnside pre- pared his expedition against certain forts along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia recently erected by the rebels, and which were opposing the advance of the federal army toward Richmond. To manage the guns on board the ships attacking these forts from the sca, the 5th Battery was ordered to report to General Burnside. The little article here annexed, cut from a New Bedford paper, gives a cor- rect statement of my doings after receiving the Order. Had I not succeeded in persuading Gov. Andrew, as well as General Burnside to have the order countermanded, the 5th Battery, Mass. Light Artillery might have been wiped out of existence."
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACT.
"The 5th Artillery, Capt. Eppendorff, is still in camp at Readville. It is under orders to join Burnside's expedition, but has not been pro- vided with horses, and has had no drill in artillery movements. Capt. Eppendorff is too much of an officer to desire to take green men aboard a ship with green horses, to make an artillery company of after reaching some far off Southern point, where immediate action may be necessary. He has laid the case before the Governor, and the Gov- crnor has written a statement of the facts to Gen. McClellan, that he may decide upon them. Capt. Eppendorff only asks a fair chance, and then he will do credit to the state and to the army."
Notes of Captain Eppendorff continued :- "My desire to obtain the horses for the 6 rifled field pieces from New Eng- land remount, could not be granted by Governor Andrew, as he had been informed by the War Department in Wash- ington, that there were for such purposes plenty of horses. -nearly 4000, --- in Government stables at Georgetown, which in course of time had been returned from the front.
On the 25th of December, 1861, the Battery broke camp at Readville, and went by rail to Washington, where it went into camp on Capitol Hill to the East of the Capitol. Soon after Gen. Barry, commander-in-chief of Artillery in Gen. MicClellan's Army of the Peninsula, sent the order to make out my requisition for horses needed for the Battery, in- forming me at the same time that I should take my pick from those horses returned from the front, as stated above. With two of my men, whom I knew to be good judges of Horseflesh,-one of them either James A. or Charles M. Tripp,-I went to Georgetown, where we found the horses in half-open sheds, tied to the manger by leather straps or copes, without litter, and so close packed together as to make it impossible for them to lie down.
At the end of a few days I had to report to Gen. Barry that I had not found a single horse among the 4000, which I could conscientiously consider fit for artillery service. Laughingly he ordered me to make out my requisition, to
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select the horses from the Remount, which was daily brought in by the farmers.
It was rather slow work, since I had to make an arrange- ment with a cavalry officer who had come there for the same purpose, to have the first pick of the fresh horses every other day. However, after a time I had the satisfaction of having an excellent collection of horses on the picket lines, -- so excellent, indeed, that General Mcclellan sent his adjutant twice to pick horses for his private use from my stock.
This duty of completing the number of horses needed, requiring my chief attention and time, I ordered Lt. Phil- lips to draw from the Arsenal of the Navy Yard in Wash- ington the ammunition for the Battery, which consisted ex- clusively of the Schenkle shell with Percussion and Time fuzes, which had recently been adopted by the War De- partment.
Unfortunately, before the Battery was fully equipped, my health broke down, and I had to resign. When I bade the boys farewell, it seemed to me as if many of them showed that they did not like the parting.
Some time in Winter '62, I met my old Q. M. Tim Terry. If he reported to me correctly that Gen. McClellan had de- clared the 5th Mass. Battery to be one of the best equipped. best mounted, and best disciplined in his Army, I was fully rewarded for what I had been able to do in the short 3 months of my activity, to bring it to that high standard. But I could not have accomplished it without the assistance of my men !
I cannot close my communication without referring to a pleasant incident in connection with one of the privates of the Battery, Patrick W. He belonged originally to the 'black sheep' mentioned above. For some reason or other he was spared the fate of the others to be transferred. although he had to be punished repeatedly and severely for not leaving liquor alone .- One evening whilst the Battery
-
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, was in camp at Washington, the Orderly Johnson with,- if I recollect well,-Sergeant Morgridge, entered my tent and said :---
'Captain! What shall we do with W. He got drunk again, and is in the prison-tent handcuffed. He sits on an empty box, pounding with his heels against it, and laughing at every word I say to him.'
In spite of their remonstrances, I went to see W. alone, the sergeants remaining outside the tent. I found W. as Johnson had said, sitting on a high box, pounding furiously against it and grinning at me.
After looking at him a few seconds I called out in rather a harsh tone :---
W. . ..
.! Attention!'
He jumped down and stood before me, straight, not mov- ing a muscle. Then I began to speak to him. What I said 1 do not remember, but soon he was on his knees before me, seizing my hand, and with the hot tears running down his checks, calling out with a solemn oath that he would change his life and never touch a drop of liquor again.
To my question 'Is that true, W .? ' he called out, 'Cap- tain, as true as we both are living!'
I made him rise, had the hand-cuffs taken off, and sent him to his tent.
When I saw Terry in winter he told me that W. . . . was one of the best men in the Battery. I was much pleased !! see by the "Sokliers Memorial' that W. was promoted March 1, 1863 to be corporal.
After the close of the War, during a visit at New Bed- ford. in walking up County street, I saw a heavy wagon with flour coming towards me, the driver sitting on top of it. When the wagon came up to me. the driver reined in his horses, jumped down, ran up to me, and seizing my hand, called out : 'Captain! I have kept my word!' It was Pat. W. and we both of us felt happy to have met again. If he is still living and should read this little incident, hc
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would be pleased to see that his old Captain is still kindly remembering him --- and if he is dead, it might not be out of the way to have the facts made known in order to honor the memory of a brave man.
MAX EPPENDORFF.
September 17th 1900."
ROANOKE ISLAND.
Roanoke Island N. C. was the key to all the rear defences of Norfolk, and commanded the seaboard from Oregon Inlet to Cape Henry. It commanded the only entrance to Albemarle Sound, which connects with Pamlico by means of Croatan and Roanoke Sounds, on either side of. the island.
With relation to the expedition of General Ambrose E. Burnside to the coasts of Maryland and Virginia referred to by Captain Eppendorff, official records show that on the 6th of September, 1861. General Mcclellan had requested the Secretary of War "to organize two brigades of five regi- ments each, of New England mon, for the general service, but particularly adapted to coast service." The expedition commanded by General Burnside, whose destination had been changed from the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac to the coast of North Carolina, was not ready until the new ycar, and on January 7, 1862, after meeting with the fleet at Fortress Monroe under Flag-officer Louis M. Goldsbor- ongh, it was ordered to Roanoke Island. There were seven gunboats connected with Burnside's Division. The expe- dition sailed out of Hampton Roads January 11, 1862. (Sec p. 106.)
VISIT OF ADJUTANT GENERAL SCHOULER.
The chief of staff of His Excellency the Commander-in- Chief of the militia of the State of Massachusetts, was Ad- jutant General William Schouler, and January 25th, 1862,
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he made an official visit to Camp Sumner on Capitol Hill. The object of this visit was to ascertain the condition of the troops, and to verify Descriptive Rolls. In a letter to the Governor, he says :----
"Upon my arrival at Washington I ascertained that Captain Eppen- dorff of the Fifth Battery had resigned. I visited the camp and found the men in good health and anxious to have their guns.
By an order the Battery had been attached to General ( William B.) Franklin's Division. For reasons not necessary to detail, they desired to be placed in General Fitz John Porter's command. Their case was presented to General William F. Barry, Chief of Artillery, by Hon. Messrs. (Thomas D.) Eliot (of New Bedford) and (Daniel W.) Gooch (of Melrose) congressmen in whose districts the Battery was raised, and by myself, and he consented to the desired change, if Gen- tral Fitz John Porter, whose quarters were near Hall's Hill, Va., could find use for them. Subsequently, I had an interview with General Porter at his headquarters, and he asked me to say to General Barry, that he would be pleased to receive as many Massachusetts batteries as would be sent him, although he did not wish to interfere with any previous arrangements of the War Department. The result is that the order was changed, and the Battery is over the river in General Por- ter's Division. With a few werks' drilling it will be very efficient."
There is no date to this letter and the closing lines are a little in advance of the notes of the members of the Battery as arranged chronologically.
Grows' Journal "Jan'y 26, 1862. As it was a glorious morning we took our bedding and all our equipments, and carried them out into the park to give them an airing. It was a pretty, but odd sight, to sec each man's bedding lay- ing in front of his tent, with his knapsack, sword, canteen and haversack, on top.
THOUGHTS ON GUARD.
In the hours of the night, when you and my sweet child are in sweet slumbers, I am walking my 'beat' while on guard. I have often walked over my beat almost an hour at a time, and when. I came to myself it would seem that I was just awakened from a dream.
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Joseph Hall called in to the tent this evening. He has got his discharge. He was unfit for service when he en- listed. A more honest man never walked, but an oversight has caused him all this. He is only 23 years old. .
A man in the 'Rocket Battery' was killed yesterday by a horse, he was kieked in the head. His body will receive a military escort to the Depot, to then be sent to New York where he belongs.
Monday Jan'y 27th. Went out and helped clean the Gun. after which I was ordered to look after the packing of some shot and shell. Was occupied till 12 o'clock. The escort of the man who was killed. passed by us this after- noon. He was in a walnut coffin, and it was placed on the carriage of the Gun to which he belonged. The coffin was covered with the American flag.
At the 5 o'clock Roll this afternoon : The Captain of our Battery goes home to New Bedford tomorrow. Lieut. Allen takes command till a new Captain is appointed. In all probability it will be Allen. We all want him very much."
Chase's Diary "Jan'y 27, 1862. Capt. Eppendorff in- formed the Battery, that his resignation had been accepted. First Lieut. G. D. Allen left in command until a captain is appointed."
This was at that important period when General McCle !- lan was engaged in perfecting the organization of the Army of the Potomac and on this day, January 27th, President Lincoln issued his General War Order No. 1, directing a general movement of the land and naval forces.
Chase's Diary "January 28th. Captain Eppendorff left camp."
Grow's Journal "Jan'y 28. Tuesday. On account of new regulations we were called at 6 this morning, and at a quarter past 6 was Roll Call, and half past 6 was Feed Call, for the drivers to attend to their horses. At 7 was Water Call for the horses. At S o'clock we had breakfast.
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I am very glad of this change for it is better for the men. We had dinner at one o'clock instead of 12."
The Officer of the Day attended the Roll Call. The drivers fell in at Stable or Feed Call with "nose bags" to be filled with grain. The Officer of the Day rode a horse bareback at Water Call to superintend the driving of the horses to water.
Grows' Journal "Jan'y 29, 1862. Tonight for supper we had tea, the first I have tasted since I have been here.
Friday January 31st. Had a drill on the Gun this after- noon.
Saturday, Feb. I. After breakfast went out to see the horses, found one with a broken leg. He was kicked in the night by one of the horses and had his leg broken. He was killed by being knocked in the head. One Battery has been disbanded near to us, they were a New York company. One of our men was at the Capitol today, and the subject in the Senate Chamber was to have some of the batteries discharged. We will hear more about it soon.
Sunday, Feb. 2d, the 'drivers' turned out at 9 to clean their horses and harnesses, and the cannoneers to clean up their quarters &c. &c. I was detailed for guard at II o'clock to be on till I o'clock p. m. At 12 o'clock we were visited by Colonel Amory of Boston,-he is Master of Ord- nance at the State House, -- and also Colonel (T. Bigelow) Lawrence. The men were drawn up in line and were ad- dressed by them. . They were sent down here by Governor Andrew to see how the men were used, and if they were comfortable. They examined our quarters and our horses and guns &c. &c. and appeared highly pleased with the de- portment of the men. They left us about 1/2 past one o'clock. At 2 o'clock there was divine service in the camp, and the men's voices singing did sound splendid while I was lying down in my tent. I did not have to go out into the line for I was on the guard list. Went on guard again at 5 o'clock p. m.
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BOX FROM HOME.
Monday Feb. 3, 1862. At 12 o'clock word came into the tent that the team had come with boxes from the ex- press office. Went out and found Harry Simonds with the Detachment. He showed me the box. I carried it to his quarters and opened it. I received four immense pies, two splendid cakes, tea, coffee, sugar, pop corn, papers etc.
Wednesday Feb. 5th. Most of the Detachments had a drill on their guns. The order was in the morning, 'Empty beds!' In the afternoon the straw came, but it was wet and damp, so I could not fill my bed, and I had to turn in on the ground.
Thursday Feb. 6. Went out at 1/4 past 6 to Roll Call. Before we were dismissed to our quarters we were ordered to' appear at 10 o'clock in full uniform with side arms; horses hitched in and cannoneers mounted, but a hail storm came up at 8 o'clock, and it has continued to rain, snow, and hail about all day.
Friday Feb. 7. All of the men besides myself except one, filled their beds with the damp straw, the consequence was they all got cold, while Carsley and myself are well. After breakfast we were ordered to appear at 10 o'clock in full uniform with side arms, for the Review. The drivers hitched in their horses at 10, and at 1/2 past the cannonecrs were on the boxes. It was a splendid sight. Went through the drill of 'Mounting and Dismounting,' and at II o'clock, the gun Detachments were dismissed to their quar- ters, and the drivers had to turn out for Riding drill. They returned at 1/2 past 12, looking muddy enough.
Sunday, Feb. 9, 1862. The men were called into line at IT o'clock for divine service. After singing two or three tunes, and reading a chapter in the Bible .- Matthew 4th chapter,-we were dismissed.
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Monday Feb. 10th, got a pass to go to the city. Went into the Capitol to see the new painting of General ( Win- field) Scott. It is a large and splendid thing. Saw the large paintings in the gallery viz., 'The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis,' 'The Resignation of Washington at Annapolis in 1783,' 'The Embarkation of the Pilgrims,' 'The Land- ing of Columbus,' 'The Discovery of the Mississippi River by De Soto,' 'The Baptism of Pocahontas,' 'The Declara- tion of Independence,' and 'The Surrender of Burgoyne.'"
Chase's Diary "Feb. 10, 1862. Hitched up and took guns from the park first time.
Feb. 1I, 1862. 5th and 6th Detachments hitched up and drilled 'In Battery' under Lieut. C. A. Phillips, first timc."
Grows' Journal "Feb. 11th. Was called at I o'clock this morning and went on guard. There is a circle around the moon. I think we shall soon have a storm. Am feeling tired and sleepy but I must keep my eyes open, and keep a sharp lookout. One of our horses is back of my tent dying with the Lung Fever and Horse Ail. He will die in a short time. It looks hard to see him suffer, and not be al- lowed to kill him and put him out of his misery, but that is military rule, unless a horse has a broken leg-then you are allowed to kill him."
Chase's Diary "Feb. 12, 1862. Exchanged our 6 pounder guns for 10 pounder rifled Rodman guns."
GUNS AND PROJECTILES.
Our guns were exchanged for six three-inch rifled guns. The three-inch gun adopted in our field service, was made of wrought iron, having 7 grooves, .84 in. wide and .075 in. depth. The twist was uniform, and made one turn in II fcet.
The Schenkle projectile was used almost entirely; com- posed of a cast iron body, the posterior portion of which
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terminated in a cone. The expanding portion was a papier mache wad, which being forced forward on to the cone, was expanded into the rifling of the bore. On issuing from the bore, the wad is blown to pieces, leaving the projectile en- tirely unincumbered in its flight through the air.
Occasionally the Hotchkiss projectile was used. This was a compound shot consisting of two parts of cast iron, with the rear cap fitting over the forward portion. Around the joint was placed a band of lead so locked into both parts of the shot as to prevent its flying off after it leaves the piece. The explosion of the charge forces the rear part forward, expanding the lead, forcing it into the grooves, and cutting off windage. The amount of expansion is lim- ited by the distance the cap is allowed to move, and the strain upon the gun is thus reduced to the smallest amount required to give the necessary expansion. The shot is the same as the shell, but left solid.
The 12 pounder Napoleon was of bronze, smooth bore, and muzzle loading. It was officially known as the "light twelve" to distinguish it from the old regulation 12 pounder. which was longer and heavier, though of the same calibre. Its principal dimensions were as follows :
Length over all, 6 feet.
Lengthi of bore 5 ft. 316 inches.
Diameter at breech HI inches.
Diameter at muzzle 87/2 inches.
Diameter of bore 458 inches. Weight of gun 1,220 pounds.
The round solid shot for this gun weighed 12 pounds. The common shell, with bursting charge [8 ounces] and fuze, weighed nine and one-half pounds. The shrapnel or spherical case, which was a thin shell filled with musket balls and a bursting charge, weighed with its "sabot" 1216 pounds. The canister, which was a tin can of the size of the bore and six inches long, filled with cast iron shot about an inch in diameter, weighed 14 pounds. The "sabot" was
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a piece of wood turned to fit the bore, and was placed be- tween the powder and the projectile, instead of the wads. It was used only in smooth bore guns firing spherical pro- jectiles.
The rifled guns, which fired conical projectiles, did not use the "sabot."
By regulation the powder charges for shot, shell and case, were two and one half pounds, and for canister two pounds. The fuze at that time used for round shell and case shot was a metal disk one and one-half inches in diameter. Its outer surface was of lead, or an alloy of lead, soft enough to cut easily. Underneath this metal surface was a ring of "meal powder" or igniting composition. The exterior of the metal disk was marked like the dial of a clock,-three-puar- ters, one, one and one-quarter, one and one-half, one and three-quarters, two, and so on up to five. These figures indicated in seconds and fractions thereof the time at which the shell would explode after leaving the muzzle if the soft metal was cut out immediately over the desired figure on the dial, so as to expose the composition at that point to the flames of the powder charge (see p. 114. Grows. )
The carriage of the light 12 pounder complete weighed 2.600 pounds, which, with the gun made a total weight of ?. Soo pounds, or nearly two tons.
The pattern of caisson remains now substantially as it was then
The equipment of the rifle batteries was in general the same as that of the 12 pounders except in the matter of am- munition.
The 10 pounder Parrott was scant three inches in caliber, and was made of cast iron, with a wrought iron band sltrunk on over the breech.
The thee-inch Rodman was of wrought iron, forged solid, and then bored and rifled. Both these types of guns used conical projectiles, weighing, for solid shot, 10
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pounds; common shell about eight pounds, and shrapnel about 101/2 pounds.
They also had a special canister made for them.
The three-inch wrought iron rifle was generally consid- ered superior to the Io pounder Parrott, in consequence of the liability of the latter to blow up or break off between the fore-end of the reinforce and the trunnions. But so long as the Parrott gun held together it was as good as any muz- zle-loading rifle.
The Parrott ammunition could be used in the three-inch guns if necessary, but the three-inch projectile could not be used in the 1o pdr. Parrotts, because the latter were one- tenth of an inch smaller caliber.
ARTILLERY HORSES.
A letter from Fortress Monroe to the New York Com- mercial Advertiser in July, 1861, no name signed, thus de- scribed the trained horses of the Artillery :---
"It requires considerable time to mount the guns proper for an advancing army, to supply them with trained horses, and especially the right kind of harness. The horse must become accustomed to the gleam of arms, the roll of drums, the flaunting of banners, the flash and the smoke and the roll of cannon. When the war horse is drilled and disciplined, without a sign from man he wheels, advances, and retreats, with almost miraculous rapidity, often compelling riders and gu iners to spring to keep their saddles, or escape his lightning like movements. They are made familiar with the guns by having their nostrils placed so close to their muzzles as to feel the heat and inhale the powder."
BREAKING CAMP.
It was on February 13, 1862, Thursday, that the Fifth Mass. Battery was ordered to report to General Fitz John
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Porter, commanding the First Division, Army of the Po- tomac.
Chase's Diary of that date has the entry :- "Reveille at 2 a. m. Broke camp and left camp at 7 a. m. for Hall's Hill, Va., and arrived at our new camp about 2 p. m. Bat- tery now attached to General Butterfield's Brigade of Gen- cral Fitz John Porter's Division, Army of the Potomac."
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