USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.1 > Part 30
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Diary of Lieut. Phillips: "July 13. Sunday, 25 of the men were detailed to Captain Weeden's Battery."
OFFICERS PROMOTED.
Several officers went up. July 13, 1862, Second Lt. Charles A. Phillips was promoted First Lt., Junior Second Lt. Henry D. Scott was promoted Junior First Lt., and Peleg W. Blake was commissioned Second Lt. All of the Fifth Mass. Battery.
August Ist Frederick A. Lull was commissioned Junior Second Lieutenant.
On July 13th, Scott and Phillips moved their tent to Cap- tain Martin's camp, and from this time till Sept. 12, 1862. the fate of the members of the Battery and of the remaining commissioned officers was identified with the organizations to which they had been assigned, viz., the Third Mass. Bat- tery and the Fourth Rhode Island, special regulations being made for several non-commissioned officers and privates (see p. 915), but after Captain Martin became acting chief of the Artillery Brigade, Lieut. Phillips received from Gen- eral Morell, commanding the Division, the appointment of acting assistant adjutant general and was assigned to the staff of Captain Martin. Lieut. Scott was appointed acting assistant quartermaster of Morell's Division and was as- signed to Martin's staff.
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Corporal Thomas E. Chase whose Diary is so often quoted, went with Captain Martin's Battery.
July 14, 1862, General Halleck, who had been ordered to Washington, assumed command as general-in-chief of the U. S. Armies, and the Army of the Potomac was re- cuperating.
Grows' "Journal": "Monday July 14, 1862. About 8 this forenoon the Doctor came round to see us. He told some of us he would send us North as soon as he could, as this was no place for us. There are a great many men here sick, but they are being sent away quite fast.
Wednesday, July 16th. Went out towards evening to see the process of embalming two bodies to be sent home."
Licut. Phillips wrote on the 16th July from the camp near ITarrison's Landing :--- "We have been spending a fortnight in this locality in great peace and quiet compared with the fortnight which preceded. We have been stopping here on a level plain, baked as hard as a brick in dry weather, and as sticky as putty in wet. Yesterday we were mustered for pay, and the heat was terrific. Captain Martin's Bat- tory was mustered just before we were, and one of his ser . geants was sun struck. Although we have been mustered for pay, we have as yet seen nothing of the Paymaster .. By the regulations troops are to be paid off every two months. if possible. You see how theory and practice agree in this matter. People at home who see regiments march- ing off 1000 strong, have no idea of the skeleton regiments out here. It was sad enough before the last row, but that finished us up. Morell's Division was one of the largest in the Army, numbering when filled to the maximum 15,000. Before we left Gaines's Hill the regiments had been reduced to an average of less than 400 effective men. The Massa- chusetts 9th and 22d were quite large, numbering Soo and 600 men. At Gaines Mills the 22d lost In officers and 350 men, at Malvern Hill 75 men. They have now 304 men
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on their rolls, and of these probably less than 200 are ef- fective. There are now with the Regiment 7 officers.
A great many officers arc resigning, and things are in pretty bad shape. Strategy of the kind we have had lately is all humbug. The Army of the Potomac have fought the bloodiest battles of the war, and they have decided nothing. Fairoaks may have shown good fighting on the part of our soldiers, but beyond killing so many hundred men nothing was accomplished. The same may be said of all the battles of the Peninsula. As far as loss of life was concerned Gaines Mills cost us nearly, if not quite, as much as a suc- cessful assault upon Richmond would have done when we first arrived, and has cost us immeasurably more in moral effect here and abroad, in time, and money, and all owing to the 'slow and sure' policy."
LETTER OF ACTING SERG'T SPEAR. " HARRISON'S LANDING, VA. July 17, 1862.
Some of the men have been put into Captain Weeden's Battery, and the rest were put into Captain Martin's. We are getting along well. although we have nothing to do, to speak of. Some of the men are in the Detachments in Martin's Battery, and some do not do any duty. Bill Lap- ham has been sent North to a hospital."
The sick and wounded were sent to various hospitals : David's Island Hospital, New York; U. S. Hospital, 16th and Filbert Streets, Philadelphia; Convalescent Hospital, Alexandria; to Baltimore, to Cumberland, Md., to Fort McHenry Hospital; Finley Hospital, Washington, D. C .; Armory Hospital, Washington, D. C.
Between February 10th, 1862, and December 31st of the same year besides the three commissioned officers, as many as 32 members of the Battery were discharged for disability. Of these 24 were Lieut. Hyde's recruits, and 5 were Lieut. Allen's.
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
LETTER OF LIEUT. PHILLIPS.
" HARRISON'S LANDING,
July IS. 1862.
Hyde and Dillingham left yesterday. Their resignations took effect on the 12th. Scott and I and the men except 28 assigned to Weeden moved over to Captain Martin's camp last Sunday. We act as officers under Martin, taking our turn as Officers of the Day, and the men are incorpo- rated with his battery. Nominally the 5th Mass. Battery still exists, having its officers and non-commissioned offi- cers, and its own muster and pay rolls, but it is a very slender existence. I cannot sign a requisition or act in any official capacity as commander, and have nothing to do with the men."
Friday July 18, 1862, on account of heavy rains which "drowned out the whole camp" and flooded the tent of Scott and Phillips, the camp of the Third Mass. Battery was moved to a hill near by, and the next day C. D. Bar- nard, supposed to have been killed in the battle of Gaines Mills, June 27, 1862. came down the river from Richmond among other wounded soldiers on board the steamer "Louis- iana" with a flag of truce. See p. 358 C. D. Barnard.
Among other changes wrought by time. Captain A. P. Martin appeared in his new capacity of Chief of Artillery; Captain William B. Weeden having resigned and gone home.
Grows' "Journal" :- "July 20, 1862. Soon after dinner Harry Simonds and Joe Knox came over to see me. Had a very pleasant time talking with them. They stopped about an hour. . . . Some more have died today with the fever. A great many are embalmed and sent to their friends."
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HISTORY OF THE
MARTIN'S PROMOTION.
HD. QUARTERS MORELL'S DIVISION, CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA. July 24, 1862.
Special Orders. No. 215.
Captain Augustus P. Martin, Battery C, Massachusetts Artillery, is hereby designated as Chief of the Artillery attached to this Division. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
By command of Brig. Gen'l Geo. W. Morell.
R. T. AUCHMUTY, Ass't Adj. Gen'l.
ENLISTED ABOVE THE NUMBER.
By Special Order No. 89, Head Qrs. 5tl Corps, camp near Harrison's Landing, Va., July 24, 1862, Thomas B. Stantial and James A. Wood, privates in the Fifth Mass. Battery, having been enlisted as artificers above the number authorized by law and deprived of their positions without any fault of their own, are discharged from the military service of the United States by command of Brig. Gen'l F. J. Porter.
THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS.
July 24, 1862, Morell's Division was reviewed by Gen- eral Morell preparatory to a grand review the next morn- ing of the Fifth Army Corps, Brig. Gen'l F. J. Porter com- manding, by General Mcclellan.
The term "Provisional" having been dropped on July 22, 1862, by General Order No. 84 from the War Department, the "Fifth Army Corps" was permanently established.
On the 25th the review by MeClellan took place, and in the afternoon General Halleck arrived at Harrison's Landing.
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
LETTER FROM PHILLIPS. "CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, July 25, 1862.
. Our camp is pitched in a very pleasant spot on a little knoll about a mile from the river. Our tents, that is, the officers, are pitched in a line on the crest of the hill, and in the same line is our dining-room. This is formed of a tent fly surrounded by boughs of trees. An elegant table of pine boards occupies the centre, and a number of ammu- nition boxes placed around form our seats. We use it for a writing apartment, and I am at present in it writing on a sheet of paper borrowed from Lt. Walcott [commanding Third Mass. Battery] who is writing alongside of me. Until lately we were pretty well removed from water, hav- ing to go to the river to get it, but a few days ago the infantry of the Division who were encamped near by, on the edge of the woods, moved down nearer the river, leav- ing their wells and springs, which proved quite acceptable. Still the water out here is poor at the best, clayey, and tast- ing of the swamp. I would give a great deal for a glass of pure cold Massachusetts water! . . . All would be very well if we could only get some soft bread. We got some the other day but it only served to aggravate things. . . . I am afraid recruiting is not going on very brisk at home. We need more men or more generals or different ones, I don't know which. The troops here are gradually gaining health and strength, but the officers appear to be backing down. General Martindale has gone home on a furlough and has probably resigned. [General Martindale never re- sumed this command but was given one near Washington.] Butterfield has gone home [on leave]. Kingsbury [Lt. Kingsbury of Griffin's Battery] is promoted colonel of Conn. IIth and everybody else is resigning, going home on furlough, or sick leave, or getting cashiered."
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Grows' "Journal": "Friday, July 25, 1862. Had break- fast of coffee and bread. I drank some of it and soon after laid down to hear the news read, which was very interest- ing. There are only seven of us in a tent now, the rest have been discharged. One of the men gets a paper and reads to us. Had for dinner some meat and potatoes. I eat the potatoes and let the meat alone. After eating I went out under the shade of a cherry tree to get cool. The sun is very hot, and there is little air. Remained out most of the afternoon. Came into the tent about 43 o'clock and had some rice and sugar for a lunch. Took a light smoke. Tea was ready at 6. I drank a little and laid down. Had a severe night of it."
GEN'L. PORTER TO GOV. ANDREW.
Major General Fitz John Porter, commanding Fifth Army Corps. Harrison's Landing, Va., July 26, 1862, to HIis Excellency Johu A. Andrew. Governor of Massachu- setts.
[ Extract.] "It affords me great gratification to express to you my admiration for the noble conduet of the troops from your state under my command. in the late actions before Richmond .. No troops could have behaved better than they did. the ninth and 22d Regiments and Martin's Battery. and portions of Allen's, or done more to add to our success. Their thinned ranks tell of their trials, the brave men los !. their heroic dead. and gallant conduct and devotion to their country. Their discipline was never excelled. and now with undaunted hearts. they await wth confidence of success the order to advance. I hope you will be able to send on men to fill their depleted ranks, even in parties of ten. as fast as recruited. A few men joining us now gives great heart to all men, and adds to our strength nearly five times the same number in new regiments."
Grows' "Journal": "Sunday, July 27, 1862. The Doctor came around and ordered me to have tea and farina when- ever I wanted it. He is a very kind man.
Church services were held here by the officers of the Hos- pital, and the singing did sound splendid. The air is nice.
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and cool enough to make it comfortable. I wrote a letter to Lieut. Phillips in regard to my case, and shall send it as soon as I can get an opportunity tomorrow, and trust it will do some good."
ENLISTED ABOVE THE NUMBER.
By command of Maj. Gen'l Fitz John Porter Hd. Ors. Morell's Division, July 27, 1862. Special Orders No. 93, two privates in the Fifth Mass. Battery, Christopher B. Tripp and Charles D. Barnard, having been enlisted as artificers above the number authorized by law, and deprived of their positions without any fault of their own, were dis- . charged from the military service of the United States.
Grows' "Journal" :-- "Monday, July 28, 1862, there were four steamers in the river with sick and wounded brought down from Richmond. They will have good care and treat- ment.
Tuesday, July 29, 1862. Yesterday afternoon we had some new cots brought into the tent for us. The nurse put them up and I slept nicely last night. Had a little tea for dinner, and this was all I could bear. Had some nice tea . with milk in it for my supper."
BATTERY QUARTERMASTER.
HEAD QUARTERS MORELL'S DIVISION. CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA. July 30, 1862.
Special Orders. No. 222.
Second Lieut. Henry D. Scott. Battery E, Mass. Artillery, is hereby appointed Battery Quarter Master of the Artillery force attached to this Division. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
By command of Brig. Gen. Geo. W. Morell.
R. T. AUCHMUTY, Ass't Adj't. Gen'l.
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ARTILLERY ADJUTANT. HEAD QUARTERS MORELL'S DIVISION. CAMY NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA. July 30, 1862.
Special Orders. No. 223.
Second Lieut. Charles A. Phillips, Battery E. Mass. Artillery, is hereby appointed Artillery Adjutant of the Artillery force attached to this Division.
He will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
By command of Brig. General Geo. W. Morell.
R. T. AUCHMUTY, Ass't Adjt. Gen'l.
Lt. Phillips in a letter dated Harrison's Landing, July 31, 1862, says with reference to his position as adjutant of the artillery force attached to General Morell's Division :--- "This does not interfere with my commission [as lieutenant of the 5th Mass. Battery] nor with the reorganization of the Battery, but it relieves me from the duties of Officer of the Day, and I circulate the orders from Hd. Ors. with an 'Official: Charles A. Phillips. Adjutant' added. Scott is appointed Quartermaster, so that our Chief of Artillery has quite a staff.
The commissary at last has some soft bread, and we are living gayly now. We have also some vegetables, and today we had for dinner, soup with meat, potatoes and des- iccated vegetables in it, beets, pickles. soft bread and tea. We also had Colonel Ritchie of Governor Andrew's staff to dinner, and he seemed to enjoy the fare. In an interview which he had with General Porter. General Porter said that the Battery would probably be reorganized as soon as they could get the guns."
AN ARTILLERY DEMONSTRATION.
The Union fleet extended for two miles above and below Harrison's Landing when the rebel general Pendleton opened fire upon the Union camp and shipping, and the Union artillery on shore and in the gunboats replied, after
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which the enemy returned to Petersburg where they came from. and our forces occupied the position and commenced constructing earthworks to guard against further surprise. An attack on Petersburg was contemplated and plans made for the destruction of the railroad bridges over rivers, in order to cut off connection between Richmond and the South. When this plan was carried out the war was over.
Grows' "Journal" :- "Thursday July 31, 1862, I got a nice dipper of chocolate.
Friday, Aug. Ist. Was awakened at I o'clock this morn- ing by heavy cannonading and the whistling of balls and shells. Got up and looked out of the tent. The opposite bank of the river looked on fire with batteries. The rebels had, during the darkness of the night, planted several light batteries upon the shore and were trying to sink our trans- ports. For half an hour the cannonading was awful. Our gunboats soon got into position, and in a few minutes silenced them.
A beautiful morning. Have ascertained that the rebels did not do much damage. Several shot and shell have been dug up this morning. About Io this forenoon, a poor fel- low was brought to the Hospital wounded with a piece of shell. Have ascertained that 14 of our men (men of our Army) were killed during the firing by the rebels : some of the Cavalry, Lancers, and a few of the Zouaves. It was a surprise and will probably teach our folks a good lesson. There are 10 men here, 9 besides the nurse."
PHILLIPS' VERSION. CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, VA. Aug. 2, 1862. "Supplies of stationery have been drawn for the adjutant of the Artillery and also for the commander of the Fifth Battery. Night before last we had quite a little excitement here. About midnight, as we were all sleeping soundly,
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half a dozen guns suddenly banged away, disturbing the silence of the night, and kept up the noise for several hours. It was full as noisy as anything af Yorktown. Of course this brought us up and out in a very short time, and we found that the rebels had planted some field batteries across the river, and commenced banging away with perfect loose- ness. Some of the shots fell among the infantry of Morell's Division, two hitting the tents of the Mass. 32d, who are not yet accustomed to this style of thing, and among the cavalry encamped near the river, and I presume the vessels on the river received an uncomfortable share of attention. We were too far off to be troubled and we stood and en- joyed the show. I suppose our batteries had something to say on the subject, but the affair was mostly noise. Last night the houses and woods on the other shore, which had sheltered the rebels, were burned, making quite a brilliant conflagration, and some of our troops are now sent over to the other side every day.
Lieut. Col. (Arthur F. see p. 37) Devereaux called to see me. He seemed to be quite excited at the slowness of the enlistinents, and like a good many others round here. went in for a draft at once. . . . We can now get unlimited soft bread of the commissary at ro cts. a loaf, and with onions, beets, potatoes, desiceated vegetables, fresh and salt beef and occasional baked beans, we live pretty well. . . .
Dr. Schell. the surgeon of the Batteries, has arrived. hay- ing spent a month among the Rebels. He was in the hospi- tal at Gaines Mills and remained after we retreated, and was taken prisoner. The rebels kept him at the hospital three weeks attending to their wounded. He says the rebel loss was at least half as much again as ours. . . Massachusetts is doing right in recruiting the old regiments &c. but after this I hope people will see that regiments must be continutally recruited, as long as the war lasts. These grand uprisings of the people at a new call for troops may
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FIFTH MASS. BATTERY.
be all very well in a moral and æsthetical point of view, but in my opinion are not half so useful as a steady volunteer- ing. Still I do not know that we can recruit in any other way. I am glad Halleck has been appointed commander- in-chief, though I do not know exactly what effect it will have. General Morell has been made a major general. . . . Just dined on sardines, stewed tomatoes and Scotch ale. . The contrabands are encamped near the shore here, and the way they skedaddled when they found the shells falling around their camp was slightly amusing. Artillery practice at night is as good as fireworks. . . . Adams Ex- press has tons of stuff at Fortress Monroe that they cannot bring up the river. They talk of increasing their facilities, and I hope they will. As it is now it is rather a matter of luck for anything to come through, and the time of trans- portation varies exceedingly, from a few days to a few months.
Sunday, Aug 3. 1862. Rainy. Troops moved across the river. . . .
Lull is now Ist Sergeant and first in line of promotion, and has done more work than any other non-commissioned officer in the Battery. Blake will make a good officer, and I am glad of his promotion."
Grows' "Journal" :--- "Saturday. Aug. 2, 1862. General McClellan has been looking through the tents for the past two days, to see how the sick are, and how they are getting along. Several ladies have called to see us, giving cakes, lemons, &c. They were from the (steamer ) 'S. R. Spauld- ing.'
Monday, Aug. 4, 1862. The Doctor came round and took down my name, to be sent North. About 3 this afternoon the Orderly came over with the Rolls for me to sign. Harry Simonds came to see me soon after. and bade me good bye. About half past 5 this afternoon the order came for me to get ready. In a short time I was in the ambulance ready for
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the boat. I soon arrived on board the steamer 'Vanderbilt. and was shown to a good berth. After putting my things away I had some good beef tea and bread-soon after a large cup of tea, and bread with butter. The nurses are very kind; all being men, with the exception of three ladies who wait on the worst cases. There are many aboard who are very sick, and out of their heads (delirious) and they re- quire a great deal of watching."
The President called for 300,000 more men to serve for nine months.
The reinforcements, which the President and General Halleck, after their visits to the Army of the Potomac as- sured General McClellan should be provided, did not come. and August 4, 1862, after McClellan had occupied the posi- tion he had secured on the James River for a month, he re. ceived orders from General Halleck to proceed to Acquia Creek, between Fredericksburg and Washington, thus re- linquishing the hope of the capture of Richmond, and of assisting in the protection of Washington by holding the attention of the enemy, so as not to admit of their detaching any large force to attack Washington.
General McClellan protested. The order was reiterated. and the Army of the Potomac. transportation by water to Newport News not being convenient, marched to that point.
FROM A LETTER FROM PHILLIPS.
"Monday. Aug. 4, 1862. The mail boat leaves here at g o'clock in the morning, but I generally mail my letters the evening before, writing them in the daytime. . . . Last night we received a notification that the commissary was prepared to issue fresh bread to the troops. This will set up the sick men in a very short time, and if the army should be kept imich longer on hard bread and salt beef the men would not be good for much. Sickness, I presume incipient scurvy, is very prevalent here. Everybody seems to lose
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all strength. I do not know of anything which set me up so much as the tomatoes. From feeling weak and languid I became quite lively and strong. . . . The only variety we have is in the way of flies, which are very thick and very troublesome. The flies here look like the common flies at home, but they have a much more insinuating way with them, biting just like mosquitoes. Their quantity, too. is perfectly astonishing. The tent is generally full of them, not to mention other bugs and creeping and crawling things, which abound in great variety. It is quite an occupation every evening to catch the bugs and throw them out of doors.
Yesterday (3d Aug. ) we had inspection and I turned out as usual with Martin's Battery. . . . Recruits and soldiers returned from furlough, come in, a few every day, though whether more than enough to make up for the exodus of the sick I do not know. There is a little too much of get- ting up companies. If men won't recruit without a com- mission, send home some of the officers here on recruiting service, but do not get up new companies to please the vanity of towns and the martial glory of untried men."
In the following words Napoleon Bonaparte expresses similar sentiments :
"It has been said that the victories of the French Repub- lic were won by the new volunteers, who were inexperienced in war. There could be no greater mistake; they were won by the 180,000 old soldiers of the monarchy. You will not soon see me going to war with recruits."
LETTER OF LIEUT. PHILLIPS.
"Aug. 5, 1862: Yesterday afternoon some batteries of horse artillery went by with forage as if going on a recon- noissance, and at midnight we got orders to be ready to move at short notice with two days' rations. So the un-
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lucky adjutant had to arise, copy the order, and send it to the other batteries. This morning there was some artillery firing. . . . We were probably put under marching orders so as to be ready to support the reconnoissance if necessary. . Let me explain the two kinds of Light Artillery :-- 'Horse Artillery,' or 'Flying Artillery' has all the can- noncers mounted on horseback. In 'Mounted Artillery' -- the common Light Batteries,-the cannoneers walk or ride on the carriages. We are 'Mounted Artillery.' There
are only a few batteries of 'Horse Artillery' in the service, and they are all attached to the Artillery Reserve. They are used to manœuvre with cavalry on reconnoissance & :. General Stoneman in his flying expeditions uses Cavalry and Horse Artillery. The Fifth Battery is not yet re- mounted and equipped."
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