USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.2 > Part 11
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get behind the house and barn in our front, and after the fight 120 dead South Carolinians were found in the en- closures round them. All this time it was pretty noisy on our right, and happening to look that way, I saw our infan- try coming back through the peach orchard. Hart and the New Jersey Battery ( Battery B, 2d N. J. Artillery) left at this juncture, and Thompson got out of the way losing one gun. I ordered Lieut. Lull with the Right section to retire 200 yards and come into position again. At this moment Major McGilvery ordered us all to retire, and we fell back. My horses were rather mixed up, dead ones being rather more plenty than live ones, but we managed to limber up and get off. The Right Section, being all ready, got off first, the Centre Section followed, and then the Left. Unfortu- nately, as we were going to limber up the left piece the horses were all shot. but we managed to haul it off by hand. By this time the rebels were between us and the peach orchard blazing away with great carelessness, and one of them hit Lieut. Scott as he was dragging off this piece. However, we managed to drag it down into the hollow by Trossel's house, and the sergeant brought back a limber, and we went off.
During this retreat a circumstance occurred which an- noyed me very much. While I was in the rear the head of the Battery got mixed up with some other batteries by Tros. sel's house, and Captain Hart, as he informed me after- wards, not seeing any officer, took charge of three of my guns, and carried them off a mile to the rear. So when I caught up I found only three guns. McGilvery had got the 6th Maine in position behind Trossel's house, and I came into battery on his right. The Ninth Battery was not so lucky in getting off. They ran into a stone wall and lost four of their guns, the rebels getting up very close on to them. When we got to our second position, the rebels were in the peach orchard blazing away at us, but it was pretty
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dark and we did not suffer much. We stayed here till dark, when the rebels were pretty well checked, and then, as I was out of ammunition, I retired across the Taneytown road, and unhitched for the night. By midnight I got the whole battery together and went to sleep."
This letter is continued in the history of the Battery on July 3d. In his Notes of that date he says :- "We whipped them handsomely yesterday (the 2d). I saved all my guns, though I had to haul one & of a mile. The Ninth Mass. Battery close by us did splendidly. The artillery suf- fered very much."
THE PROLONGE.
With relation to the use of the prolonge Captain Phillips thus wrote in a letter dated Camp near Sharpsburg, Md., Thursday Evening, October 16, 1862 :-
"The long rope coiled on the trail of the gun is called the 'prolonge.' It is used when you want to retreat and to fire while you are retreating. To do this the order is given 'Fix prolonge to fire retiring!' Then, in the lucid language of the book, 'tlie limber inclines to the right, wheels to the left about, and halts 4 yards from the trail. No. 5 uncoils the prolonge and passes the toggle to the gunner, who fixes it in the trail by passing it upwards through the lunette, whilst he attaches the other end to the limber by passing the ring over the pintle and keying it. At the command 'Retire!' the cannoneers face about, all march on the left of the piece except Nos. I and 3. They keep their implements in their hands &c. &c.' That is to say, they go on loading and fir- ing, but the horses all the time dragging the gun away from the enemy. The prolonge is also very useful in many other ways."
In the rear of the axle-tree of the limber is a pintle-hook to receive a strong ring on the end of the trail called the
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"lunette." It has a key. A "toggle" is fastened to one end of the prolonge by three rings and a thimble which is worked into the rope; another thimble holds a hook at the other end of the ropc.
SCOTT ON THE FIGHT OF JULY 2D.
NOTES OF 1863.
"Camp of the Artillery Reserve July 2, 1863. Morn cloudy. Orders to march at 4 a. m. Hitched up and moved on towards Gettysburg. One limber of Taft's (5th N. Y. Battery Captain Elijah D. Taft) Battery blown up on the road, one man killed io a. in. Arrived at the front 12 m. All the Artillery Reserve hitched up and bunched in the tear of the line of battle near the Baltimore turnpike. Near us was the Ninth Mass. Battery, Captain John Bigelow. Nothing could be seen from where we were of the line of battle. All was quiet. Hitched up at 4 p. m. Fighting commenced at 5 p. m., when the ball opened in earnest. Or- dered to the front. I was talking with First Lieut. Chris- topher Erickson of the Ninth Mass. about the probable re- sult of the coming contest, when the batteries, one by one, began to start out in a hurry. A staff officer rode up to Captain Phillips to direct the Battery to the front. The order to strip for action came quickly. All incumbrances were thrown asidc, and we started out on a trot across the field. passing by the foot of Little Round Top, over stone walls and other obstructions. We could see, as we ad- vanced, the terrible fight that was going on. The air was already full of sulphurous smoke. The Battery in full jump had hard work to keep Captain Phillips, who was with the staff officer, in sight. An officer rode up to me and said : 'The Battery is wanted at once on the Round Top.' I said, 'There is my captain ahead. I know no other.'
Passing the Trostle house we swung into a rocky lane
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leading to the Emmittsburg pike. Gunners on the limber. One man was thrown and his arm was broken by one of the limber wheels, and he was out of the fight. Passing half way up the lane spoken of, we swung square to the left into an open clear field, which we crossed at a rapid rate. Over- taking Phillips at the edge of a lane running at right angles from the Emmittsburg pike past Little Round Top, the Bat- tery was thrown quickly into line by a right oblique move- ment, thus bringing the Right section on the left.
Six batteries were in this line, Bigelow's Ninth Mass. close to our left. Though no enemy could be seen in our immediate front, the smoke of the enemy's guns could be seen over a rolling, open country in a line of woods, some 1500 yards. more or less, distant.
The order 'Commence firing' was given, and with our rifled guns shot and shell were thrown, with what effect we could hardly tell.
At last a Battalion of Artillery came out of the woods on a gallop. Down the slope they fled, and on a ridge, half the distance before mentioned, went into action. We had them in full view, and we opened on them fiercely, but we had them in range but a short time, when their infantry came down obliquely on the Third Corps stationed on the Em- mittsburg pike and peach orchard. The Right section obliqued its guns and opened on this line leaving its fire on their artillery.
Up to this time we had met with no material loss in the Battery that I was aware of.
The charge of the rebel line was a magnificent sight, too much for the Third Corps. It had to retire, and commenced to fall back in our rear to Cemetery Hill. The batteries on our right were falling back. The Centre and Left section on the right were leaving. The Right section had orders to fix prolonge and fire retiring. The horses were faced to the rear. The prolonges were strung out. Now came the
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time that tried the men of the section. The order was given to 'Limber up' the guns, as the enemy were almost upon us. The horses of the right piece were killed with the drivers. The prolonge was taken hold of by Captain Phillips and the gunners, and pulled off the field. The left piece of the sec- tion was limbered up after a struggle, in which I dismounted from my horse and through the confusion and excitement, with the assistance of one cannoneer at the trail threw the lunette on to the pintle hook and gave the order 'Drive on !' At that moment the driver, Henry Soule of New Bedford on the lead, dropped from his horse, J. Sanford pole driver's arm was broken, and as the inuzzle of the gun passed me a shot went through my face and I was out of the fight. I threw my hand up, thinking my face was gone. The blood flew and I was gone.
Coming to a realizing sense that I was alive, I rose up and saw the rebel line near me, colors flying. I did not like the idea of being a prisoner in their hands and started for the rear. The field where the Battery had stood was clear. I did not notice limber or dead men and horses of the Battery, in fact did not think I should get far alone, but Sergt. O. B. Smith of the Battery came to my assistance with his horse, and mounting me upon him led me off the field.
The utmost confusion prevailed near the Trostle house and barn. The Ninth Mass. Battery had been severely handled. Four of the guns were held by the enemy for a short time, but the guns of the Fifth Battery covered them at its new position 700 yards in rear of the first position. Captain Bigelow told me afterwards that Captain Phillips with his guns covered them so completely that the enemy could not take them off and they were afterwards recovered.
Corporal Graham hauled the limber of the First detach- ment from under the fire of the eneiny's pickets with a little help during the night after the battle. Seven men of the
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Battery were killed or died from wounds on the field. Twelve were wounded, and the loss of horses was about fifty. Had not the order to fix prolonge been given I am of the opinion that the Right section would have left the field without loss. No time was given for drill movements and such time was lost that we came near annihilation. Colonel McGilvery gave Phillips great credit (see McGil- very's Report p. 667) for the part he took in the Reserve Artillery on this occasion. The Artillery Reserve lost heavily in this fight. I have often talked with General Henry J. Hunt chief of artillery. on the part the artillery took. He thought they did not get half the credit belong- ing to them. Certainly the men of the Fifth Battery: did their duty bravely and well, without any distinction of office or place.
I was carried to the rear from the Trostle house to near Rock Creek and the Baltimore turnpike by two inen of the Battery, one of them I recollect was Charles Stiles. I rested on the bank of the Creek during the night alone, as best I could. No room near the hospital. The next day, the 3d July, 1863, I could move about. The heat of the day was " oppressive. I could hear the cannonading of the artillery, and wished I could have been with the Battery. I was threatened with lockjaw and suffered severely. I fell into the hands of a field surgeon whose name I never knew. He dressed my wound after an examination and said :-
'You may thank your stars and your God today, for the slightest variation of the shot, you would never have known what hurt you.'
It would have been suicide to have continued with the battery further, and I remained with the hospital depart- ment until I could get transportation home. The hospitals were crowded with the wounded. Every available house, barn, or church was crowded. First Lieut. Erickson of the 9th Mass. Battery whom I conversed with before going into
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the fight of the 2d, and was but a short distance from me, was shot through the head and instantly killed. First Lieut. Mexander H. Whitaker shot in the knee, was in the hos- pital, but died before reaching home. Provisions were short. 1 had $5 with me with which to help those who were worse wounded than I was myself. I gave up 3. During the day I met General Griffin of the Fifth Corps, who formerly commanded Battery D, 5th Regulars, of Bull Run fame. He had been sick and had just arrived from Baltimore: Knowing me, he inquired after the Fifth Bat- tery. I told him what I Knew. He was much pleased and said in complimenting Captain Phillips, that he considered him one of the best artillery officers in the Volunteer ser- vice, and he would not except the Regular.
The Fourth of July, 1863, was a rainy day, but General Lee was on the retreat. On the 5th the army was on the move, and at 12 noon the Fifth Battery moved out of Get- tysburg with the Artillery Reserve, and to me it was like parting with my best friend as the Battery passed out of sight."
NOTES OF CAPTAIN SCOTT.
JANUARY 30, 1901.
"I had nothing to do with the Right piece of the section. Captain Phillips speaks of the Left piece. The Right sec- tion of the Battery was on the left, and as being in com- mand of that section I have spoken of the Left piece of the section as the Right piece. Phillips was right, however. Phillips gave the order to fire retiring. I repeated it. Be- jore the order could be executed, Phillips gave the order, 'Limber up!' which I repeated. The horses facing the rear, with the prolonge stretched, had to be reversed. Here I think if the section had gone to the rear they might have got clear. The horses of the Left piece were shot but with the Right piece the limber came about. Mounted on my horse
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I saw Phillips, with the end of the prolonge over his shoul- der, leading his horse, pulling off the field. Cannoneers pulling and pushing the Gun. I saw but one cannoneer near my Gun. I jumped from my horse and he at once left the field. With one man I limbered the Gun. You can imag- ine I had no easy task,-the horses and drivers uneasy, and it was a mere chance that we did not have to leave the Gun.'
In regard to the charge of the rebel artillery from the woods ( see p. 630) he adds the following :-
"I saw the charge and the battery in our front, but I directed the fire of the section to their infantry. I do not think we silenced their batteries entirely that day."
FROM LIEUT. SCOTT'S DIARY.
"July 6, 1863. Morn cloudy. In hospital. Wagon trains moving. Sick being cared for. Our forces in pur- suit of the enemy. Afternoon cloudy. Very quiet. The enemy said to be very much discomfited. Gettysburg full of wounded. A great many rebels left behind and prison- ers taken.
July 7, 1863. Took the cars for Baltimore and at II p. m. went to the hospital in a bad condition.
July 8, 1863. In the hospital at Baltimore. Got a pass and took the cars at 8 p. in. for New York. Very feeble.
July 9, 1863. Arrived at New York at 5 a. m. Went on board of steamboat for Newport, which left at 5 p. m. Very sick this night.
July 10, 1863. Arrived at Newport R. I. at 4 a. m. Went to my home and called a doctor (Butler) who at- tended me." (The entries in the diary are from July 11th to July 25th. "Sick this day.")
"July 25, 1863. The wounds healing some."
Lieut. Scott's leave of absence lasted until September 25, 1863. On the 24th he arrived at Washington at & past
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6. Got a "pass" and went to Alexandria. At 3 p. m. took cars for the Front. Arrived at Culpeper at 9 p. m. Stopped at Aliy's. ist Division, Ist Brigade, 2 miles south of Cul- peper. Batteries in line of battle.
"Friday, Sept. 25th, 1863. Morn pleasant. Went to the Battery and reported to Captain Phillips. Troops about to move."
FROM CAPT. PHILLIPS-THE GUIDON.
To a little nephew, written at the camp near Warrenton July 31, 1863 :- "In the fight of the 2d they had a battery right in front of us shelling pretty lively when I went into position, and when we came up they had got the range pretty well. I placed my guidon, which is almost as large as a .regimental flag, on the right of the Battery, and the rebels must have aimed at it, for their first shot killed the two wheel horses on the Right piece and broke the car- riage pole all to pieces. All the time we were there we had to work pretty hard changing harnesses as fast as the horses were killed. The way we do it is this .- I send to the rear and have spare horses brought up, and then as soon as a horse is killed, the driver sets to work, takes off his harness and puts it on a new horse. This takes some time, as an artillery harness is very heavy, and they generally have to take it all to pieces to get it off a dead horse, and when the enemy's infantry get within musket range. they can kill horses faster than we can change them. That is the reason we had to leave one limber on the field.
When we were ordered to fall back the enemy were within pistol shot on both flanks. We limbered up all the pieces but the Left one. One wheel-horse on this had been shot a few minutes before, and we had just got the harness on a new horse, when, before we could hitch him in, down went the other wheel-horse and the leaders, and we found we
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inust pull it off ourselves or leave it, so we hitched on the prolonge, and the cannoneers pulled the gun off lively. Lieut. Scott was pushing away on the carriage when he was struck. The shot came from our right, and I think must have been a bullet from a smooth bore musket. The enemy in that direction were firing buck and ball cartridges.
One of my sergeants came pretty near being hit. One bullet went in close by his coat buttons, and came out in the middle of his back, having made the circuit in his coat lin- ing. Another bullet struck the top of his gun while he was aiming it, and glanced through the top of his cap. One wheel on my Left piece had seven spokes hit by shell, and a piece of shell sticking in the hub. On the whole, the old iron flew round pretty lively. What bothered us most was a battery on our right which we could not see, and which was throwing case shot at us very carelessly, and every min- ute a shower of bullets would come in, whoosh,-just like a heavy shower of hailstones. . . . They seemed to have a wholesome dread of getting in front of our guns, but made for the woods on our flanks, and having driven our infantry out of these, we concluded to retire, and so fell back a little way in good order. If some of the batteries in our Brigade had not got frightened, we should have given the Rebs a hotter fight than we did. but as soon as the order was given to fall back, Hart and Thompson fell back at least two miles
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. I felt pretty mad when I found out that they had car-
ried off some of my guns and caissons with them, so that I had only about 70 rounds of ammunition left. Major McGil- very was rushing around, and trying to form a new line, and so I came into battery again. I lost several men in this second position, and they got up a story that I was killed. because a staff officer was killed about 10 feet from me. We stayed till dark, using up all our ammunition, and then I went back and brought up Seeley's ( Capt. Frank Seeley, Battery K, 4th U. S. commanded by Lieut. Robert James)
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Regular battery to relieve ine. I was up all night hunting up my carriages, and did not find some of them till the next morning."
SHACKLEY ON THE FIGHT OF JULY 2D.
Corporal Jonas Shackley, one of those who "brought off the last gun" in a letter dated Dec. 11, 1900, thus ex- plains the composition of the Battery :- "The Battery was composed of six guns, numbered from one to six. No. I was the right piece, and was in charge of Sergeant Win. B. Pattison. No. 2 was in charge of Sergt. W. H. Peacock. The Ist and 2d detachments formed the Right section un- der First Lieut. Henry D. Scott. Each full detachment, or gun-team, comprised a corporal who aimed the gun, seven cannoncers, and a corporal who had charge of the caisson.
Corporal Benjamin Graham was Gunner and Corporal Jonas Shackley was chief of caisson in Ist detachment, Right section."
NOTES OF SHACKLEY, 1863.
"July 2, 1863, arrived at Gettysburg about 10 a. m. Went into line in close order near the Taneytown road, until about 4 p. m. Ordered into line of battle, mounted the cannoneers and went on the gallop. The ground being rough Corporal Eagan was thrown and his arm broken in two places: which ended his services in the army. John Moudorf was also thrown but not seriously hurt, though he did not go to the front that day.
The Battery went 'On the Left into line,' which placed the Ist detachment on the Left of the Battery, next to the Right section of the 9th Mass. Battery, which joined the Right of the Fifth Corps on Little Round Top. The Third Corps was on our right in the Peach Orchard. The two batteries filled the gap between the two Corps, with no infantry support.
Longstreet's Division advanced obliquely across our
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front toward our Left, at a distance of from five hundred to three hundred yards, and the writer (Jonas Shackley) could see the rebels fall and the gaps closed at each dis- charge; our guns loaded with canister.
The right wheel horse of the Ist piece was soon shot, and the harness was taken from him, and put on Bugler James Winter's horse, but meantime he was wounded twice and left loose with the harness on, and came into camp in the night bringing the harness on him.
The 9th being driven from their position, and we out- flanked on our left, our ammunition nearly exhausted, Cap- tain Phillips gave the order to fix prolonge and fire retiring. The limber was reversed with the five horses. Almost in- stantly all but the right swing horse went down. The pro- longe was toggled to the trail, but not hitched to the pintle- hook. Captain Phillips gave orders to break the sponge staves and leave the piece. Corporal Graham broke the staves. The Captain then ordered by hand to the rear, and taking the prolonge over his right shoulder, and assisted by Corporal Benjamin Graham, A. K. P. Hayden, and Corporal Jonas Shackley, brought the gun 500 or 600 yards to the rear, when we met Sergt. Wm. B. Pattison with the limber of the caisson, and, limbering up, proceeded to the next ridge of ground, and together with the 5th piece went into battery and fired at the enemy on our former position. The limber was left, with 7 horses.
While coming to the rear, the advance of the Sixth Corps marched in between us and the enemy. Captain Phillips exclaimed 'Thank God, there's the Sixth Corps!'
Soon after beginning our movement to the rear First Lieut. Henry D. Scott was shot through the face, but not fatally.
Soon after sunset we went into park near Rock Creek, and collected what was left of the Battery. The ist piece fired 84 rounds on this day.
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After getting into park Lieut. Peleg W. Blake, Sergt. Win. B. Pattison, Corporal Benj. Graham, and Corp. Jonas Shackley, went back to the field to try to recover our lim- ber, but the rebel pickets were close to it, and the officers of our pickets would not permit us to pass through. So we returned to the Battery."
NOTES OF CORP. BENJAMIN GRAHAM.
Corporal Benjamin Graham, when he was urged to con- tribute something from his store of recollections of the war to the history of the Battery, observed that it brought back to him the times when Captain Phillips would send for him and say :---
"Here Graham, here is another letter from your mother, who is wanting to know if you are dead or alive. Now sit on that limber, and answer it!"
ARMOR IN THE WRONG PLACE. GRAHAM'S NOTES OF Nov. 12, 1900.
"Just before we went on the field in the fight of July 2d, we drew up in line just off the Taneytown road to wait for orders to sce where our position should be, and just then the rebels opened fire on us, and as good soldiers we all laid as close to the ground as possible. The right piece was on the Left, as it always was when there was any trouble ahead, and we were sheltered by some large rocks, when our lead driver of the piece was hit by a fragment of a shell and had to go to the rear. The steel vest that he wore did not protect him in the right place.
BRINGING OFF THE LAST GUN.
When the order came to retreat on the afternoon of the 2d and Captain Phillips gave the order to 'Fix prolonge' and 'Fire retiring,' as Gunner it became my duty to attend to that. After I had fixed the prolonge, I gave the order
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to "Drive on,' and when they did not move stepped to one side of the limber to see why, when I discovered that all six of the horses were down. Then I asked the Captain what I should do. Captain Phillips said 'Bring the Gun off if you can, if not, leave it.' I replied to the Captain that we would stay by the piece as long as the piece would stay by us. ' I then unhooked the prolonge from the pintle-hook. (The pintle-hook is in the rear of the axle-tree and ordina- rily receives the lunette, or strong ring of the trail.) By that time the Captain had dismounted. He seized the end of the prolonge with one hand, while he held his horse by the bridle with the other, and then, with the assistance of James Kay, William L. Purbeck, A. K. P. Hayden and myself, we started to the rear, and after going a few hun- dred yards, the Captain mounted his horse, and said he would send up assistance. We four then drove the piece down the lane near the Trostle house, where we met Cor- poral Shackley with the limber. We then limbered up and drove to about where the railroad is now, where I saw the Sccond Corps coming in.
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