USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery : organized October 3, 1861, mustered out June 12, 1865, v.2 > Part 16
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Captain A. P. Martin about 4 miles from Bealton, which we laid out in good style, putting up an arbor over the street between the tents. Soft bread for supper.
August 7, 1863, there was a heavy rain and our arbor fell in about half past six o'clock p. m. and smashed in all the tents on the lower side. Private John E. Dyer being in one it came near smashing him. Three beams fell on him.
August 8, 1863, we were turned out in the morning by the welcome sound of pack up and hitch up. Without any hurry we broke camp at 7 a. m., and left at the head of the line of batteries. Marched to Beverly Ford to guard the crossing of the Rappahannock River where the 2d Division had been for three days. We took position on the banks of the river; four of the pieces, the Right and Centre sec. tions, in breastworks.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BATTLE OF RAPPAHANNOCK STATION.
BY WAY OF
THE FIGHT AT BRISTOE, NOVEMBER 7, 1863.
"For we shall still find Hope shining, be it for fond invitation, be it for anger and menace; as a mild, heavenly light it shone; as a red conflagration it shines: . . . and goes not out at all, since Desperation itself is a kind of Hope."
-- THOMAS CARLYLE.
Thus the opposing armies gradually settled down in their various positions assuming an attitude of mutual watchful- ness. All along the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and on the north bank of the Rappahannock, lay the Union army, the Fifth Corps in a position to control Beverly Ford. Their opponents were stationed at Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock; in the neighborhood of Stephensburg and Culpeper, with a large force at Madison Court House and at Gordonsville the junction of the Orange and Alexandria and the Virginia Central Railroad; a Divi- sion of cavalry at Chancellorsville; an infantry Brigade and a Battery of artillery at Fredericksburg.
There was discontent, discouragement, and dissatisfaction in both armies, and disagreement, disparagement. doubt and recrimination among the chiefs in the councils on both sides. The President of the United States having been informed that a portion of the rebel army had been detached and sent to Tennessee, urged upon General Halleck an immediate move upon Lee's forces by the Army of the Potomac.
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Notes and Letters of Captain Charles A. Phillips, Lieuts. Henry D. Scott, Peleg W. Blake and Nathan Appleton, Sergt. William H. Peacock, Corp'l Jonas Shackley, Privates Jolin E. Dyer and Louis E. Pattison.
August 9, 1863, on the banks of the Rappahannock at Beverly Ford. The horses of the Battery were grazing for three quarters of an hour in the morning and the men eat soft tack and apple sauce for supper. The pontoon bridge, which was laid the previous day for a Brigade of the Second Division of the First Corps to cross the river, was taken up, the Brigade having returned. The enemy's cavalry pickets were in the woods on the other side.
August 10th, in the morning there was a short drill on the manual of the piece. Four of the guns were in earth- works erected two months previous, but the other two were unprotected. From the hill on which the Battery was en- camped, about half a mile below the head of the Rappahan- noch River they could see for a mile beyond the river's bank, and catch a glimpse occasionally of the enemy's cavalry pickets in the edge of the woods. They were on one of General Pope's battlegrounds, and there were no trees to shade the camp. The heat through the day was intense, but the nights were cool, and there was a heavy dew which did not disappear before 7 o'clock a. m. Flies and mosquitoes were not as thick as at Harrison's Landing, but numberless grasshoppers and crickets hopped about cheerfully by day. and crept over the sleepers by night.
August 12th it rained, and Dyer went down to Ben. West's wagon to sleep, as the water ran under his tent in a steady stream.
August 16th and 17th, 1863, the Battery was inspected by Captain Augustus P. Martin and staff in an adjoining field, after which they drilled some in his presence. There was a fine breeze at I p. m.
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LETTER OF LIEUT. BLAKE.
"BEVERLY FORD, RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER,
Aug. 16, 1863.
Pickets are being thrown across the river today. The Second Army Corps has started for Washington. . . . We are under marching orders. Three days' rations cooked, to be kept on hand. It is very hot weather here. but I manage to keep quite comfortable by keeping in the shade and doing nothing but sleeping and smoking.
How do the drafted like their new occupation? Have they all got substitutes? There were three hundred con- scripts came into our Corps last week. Out of the three hundred, two hundred and ninety-nine were substitutes. One drafted man! There is not much raised in this coun- try, and it is very rough on an army that has to depend on what they can forage, when there is nothing to forage."
We had Battery drill now every day. In a letter by Cap tain Phillips, dated August 20, 1863, speaking of the in- spection of the 17th, he said :-
"While I was waiting for Captain Martin, Gen. Sykes rode by and put me through an informal inspection. 1 think however, that we can stand being looked at. and ] am willing to stand a comparison with any other battery in the army.
I am happy to state that there is a cornfield close by, and we can have an occasional meal of green corn as well as you.
We have a table to eat on, and when this is set off by our table cloth, cups and saucers, we really look quite civilized.
Blackberries are among the things that were. Our great luxury nowadays is a swim in the Rappahannock, albeit it is outside the picket lines."
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LETTER OF SERG'T. PEACOCK.
CAMP AT BEVERLY FORD, VA. Aug. 20, 1863.
"We had a hard time of it on our march from Gettysburg to Warrenton; over 50 horses dead on the road, mostly from exhaustion, and from the time we left Falmouth, June 13th to our arrival at this place, we lost over one hundred horses, 7 men killed, and 15 wounded, with many left sick at hospitals, and on the road. Our Battery here is behind breastworks, guarding the Ford, but we are under marching orders, and expect to move at any moment. It is reported the enemy is falling back."
Ang. 21, 1863, William F. Nye came to camp with a few stores, and Lient. F. A. Lull left, to be captain of another battery. 24th, Joseph Alton came back from the Hospital. 27th, Three of the old men and one recruit arrived at the Battery. 28th was the anniversary of 2d Bull Run. 29th, Five deserters were shot, and the Fifth Corps was paraded to witness the execution. [They were said to have deserted from the 118th Pennsylvania Regiment, but Lieut .- Col. William H. Powell, historian of the Fifth Corps, is authority for saying that although assigned to it they had never joined any regiment, so that that organization should not have the obloquy forever attached to it. It was said that one of them had enlisted 12 times.] On the same day three hundred conscripts arrived from the District of Columbia, and it was thought, the weather being good for marching, that the army was waiting for the required number of conscripts to arrive.
August 31, 1863, Second Lieutenant Nathan Appleton arrived from Boston in the evening, and joined the Battery. Dyer's Diary mentions him as "a new lieutenant."
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LIEUT. APPLETON'S LETTER HOME.
"CAMP BY BEVERLY FORD,
Sept. 1, 1863. Tuesday Morning.
Here I am, at last, actually a soldier in camp. I hoped to get here by last Saturday, but my horses only got in Wash- ington then, so that I waited until Monday to start for the front. The time was passed in Washington quite pleas- antly. I met one or two classmates, saw the Abercrombies, dined one day with Pelham Curtis at the Engineer Brigade, loafed around town, etc.
Early yesterday morning I left Washington with horses, man, and baggage, en route for camp. Such confusion as a government railroad is! I got down as far as Warrenton Junction all right, having bade good bye to Locklyn, who brought the horses on from Boston, at Alexandria, and there I was told that I could not get my horses on any farther. I sent my trunk on to Bealton. Joe, my colored servant, and myself mounted our steeds and proceeded to find our way to camp.
The country around showed the devastations of war. Dead horses and mules, the remains of burnt cars, broken wagons, &c. &c., occasionally meeting the view. We fol- lowed up the railroad as far as Bealton, and there struck out for the camp of the Fifth Mass. Battery. We rode along until finally I came up to the Head Quarters of General George Sykes commanding the Fifth Corps, who directed me to the Battery. I found it without difficulty, and ap- peared there just before sundown, as the officers were sitting down to tea. I soon made myself at home. My first night was passed on the ground in the Captain's tent, with a goodly array of blankets, coats, etc., both above and below me. I awoke feeling perfectly well, no chills, no rheumatism, or anything disagreeable. I had to put my section (two guns,
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since 1873 called a "platoon") through the manual of the piece this morning, which you can imagine I did in style.
Afternoon : Rode over and saw George Barnard (captaini in the 18th Mass. Regt. on Gen. Charles Griffin's staff ) this morning. Saw General Barnes, Colonel Hayes, Captain Martin and other birds.
Our Battery is situated right on the Rappahannock River a little above Beverly Ford, and where the river is divided into two branches. The country all about is beautiful, and the weather, thus far. delightful; warm and sunny during the day, but cold and almost frosty in the night. It is get- ting autumnal very fast. The whole army is in very quiet and comfortable quarters, and looks as if it might remain so for some time, though we are now under orders to be in readiness for any movement. The Confeds. are somewhere over the river. You had better send any little things that. you may want to, by mail. Letters and any kind of news- papers are acceptable. I should like a Boston paper once a. week at least.
I wish you would send me a pair of wash leather or com- mon thin buckskin gloves, not gauntlets. I ought to have bought a pair.
September 3, 1863. Officer of the day for the first time. Got through tolerably well."
NOTES OF CAPT. NATHAN APPLETON. MARCH 12, 1901.
"When I joined the Fifth Massachusetts Battery I was twenty and a half years old, which seems to us now very like a boy. I was just out of Harvard, as my good mother said I could not join the army until I had completed my col- legiate education. I tried not to put on any airs, but simply to do my duty as a good boy, and I think I then was a very good one.
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As I look back now after nearly thirty-eight years of an extremely varied life in many parts of the world, I can think of nothing that gives me a greater thrill and tingle of youth than the recollection of a battery drill when I was a chief of section.
The Battery had six pieces and six caissons, each with six horses. I can see the guidon rushing over the field to take his proper place as the order was given! I can hear the clarion notes of the buglers, and the commands of the cap- tain, Charles Appleton Phillips, than whom there was no braver, or more intrepid artillery officer or soldier in the army.
When the Battery was in line and limbered, the orders might be 'Forward, march!'-'Halt!' --- 'Action Front!' when the pieces would be unlimbered, and go through the drill of the piece. After that they would be limbered either to the front or rear for some other manœuvres. A favorite one was 'Countermarch, march!' The order from the Cap- tain would be repeated with sabre in the air, by the chief of section. There were a good many evolutions of changing front which Captain Phillips liked to execute.
I had two good horses, one of them exceptionally hand- some and spirited, but with a light mouth and easy to han- dle. There was no assemblage of lookers on, as about fif- teen years later, when I was captain of the famous Battery A of the Militia of Massachusetts I had on Boston Common and at the camp at Framingham, of fair ladies and apprecia- tive urchins, but in Virginia we felt and knew we were there for a purpose, and we seemed to have the whole country for our field of manceuvres, that is to say from the great rivers on the east, to the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, and so down south to Richmond which was always our objective point."
Sept. 2. 1863. Wm. F. Nye arrived in the afternoon with
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a load of sutlers' stores,-apples, potatoes, butter, ale, etc. Conscripts continued to come, and the number was estimated at 2000, designed to fill out the Regular Infantry then in New York, where they were sent to quell the riot.
Sept. 3. Captain Phillips wrote home with relation to Lieut. Appleton :- "he is gradually breaking in. I am very well pleased with him, and think he will make a good officer. Captain Martin is trying to get permission to have some tar- get shooting. I went out with him yesterday to measure off the ground."
LETTER HOME OF LIEUT. APPLETON.
"September 4, 1863.
I write you on some paper which I bought the other day at Alexandria. I got it for the sake of a map of the country which came with it, the whole done up in a sort of combina- tion portfolio arrangement.
I am getting now quite acclimated, and feel more at home in my work. At first I felt very awkward and green. The men are all very well drilled, and well-disposed fellows gen- erally. We have Battery drill every other day, and then ] have to take charge of the Centre section. Drill at the man- ual of the piece every day, and occasional drills in harnessing the horses. There is a good deal of pleasant variety in the duties of a Battery; attending stable calls, taking the horses to the river to be watered &c. When I am officer of the day I get up at five,-other days at six. We live sumptuously. Nice meat and vegetables for dinner, with a good pudding. We have three dogs belonging to the Battery, one funny lit- tle fellow named 'Dixie,' captured in a house in Chancel- lorsville. The horses, also, are well. 'Folko' is much ad- mired. They are rapidly getting used to bivonacking out in the open air. 1 rode over this morning and saw Inman Barnard, (For many years the right hand man of James
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Gordon Bennett in Paris, ) who has come out to stay with his brother, Captain George M. Barnard Jr.
Went to the camp of the 18th Mass. and saw Weston (George Fiske Weston, Harvard class of 1860, died of wounds received at Rappahannock Station ) and also Colonel Sherwin of the 22d. Plenty of good fellows all around us. They are trying to get a permit for all the batteries to have some target practice. My friend Stephen H. Phillips, who was in Washington the other day, came out yesterday even- ing to pay his brother a visit. He is here now, -- going home tomorrow. He said that he came along from Alexan- dria in the cars with Colonel Theodore Lyman who was going out to take his place on General Meade's staff. A good paper to send me is the 'Gazette,' as it has the week's news, including that of society in Boston. As for any news, we hear little of it here. and don't care much, though we get plenty of Philadelphia and Washington papers."
September 4th. Nye started for Washington.
September 5th a party of officers including those at Di- vision Head Quarters, who came to return the call of the day before, rode over to Sulphur Springs. They found that the Hotel had been burned by the rebels, but they drank the water and had a most delightful ride. Captain Phillips and his brother were of the party, also Lieuts. Blake and Apple- ton. There was no drill that day. The ammunition was overhauled and harnesses cleaned.
APPLETON'S ACCOUNT OF THE RIDE.
"We went over to one of the White Sulphur Springs in Fauquier county, which you can see on the map is about mid- way on a straight line from Rappahannock Station to War- renton. It must have been a great resort for the young F. F. V.s, male and female, a few years ago. The ruins of a
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very large Hotel are there; burnt by the rebs about a year ago. Tall pillars are still standing, with saloons, pavilions, outhouses, fountains &c. in great profusion. The water was decidedly sulphurous. General Birney was there with a good many troops. On the way there we stopped a few moments at the camp of the 16th Mass. and saw some of the officers; among them Lieut. Col. Waldo Merriam then in command. (Killed May 12, 1864, at Spottsylvania.) On the way home we fell in with a Brigade review, and noticed the tattered flags of two Massachusetts regiments. It was a delightful afternoon .-- cutting across the fields and roads of old Virginia,-sojers on all sides till you can't rest. Please enclose in your next letter a few labels for me to sew on things. I keep getting blankets, and so I want a few more labels. I am officer of the day, and have to go with the horses to be watered in a few moments; attend feed call; stable call at five, guard mounting later,-which is a sort of dress parade,-and then my duties are over for another two days. There is a funny darkey a few yards from camp. who lives in a log hut. His 'Missis' is about three miles away, one of the Virginia Carters, and he is quite independ- ent, cultivating a little patch of ground. His daughter does washing for us. (This shows that the Virginia Carter; who have been immortalized since the war by the popular story 'Colonel Carter of Cartersville,' by F. Hopkinson Smith were then a reality .-- 'I, George Fairfax Caarter of Caarters Hall, Caartersville, Virginia, Late Colonel C. S. A.' etc. etc.)
I send you a piece of real Confederate money, a two dollar bill, which I got from him the other day."
LETTER OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. "CAMP NEAR BEVERLY FORD, Sunday, Sept. 6, 1863. I should think foreign nations by this time would begin
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to appreciate the improvements we have been making in ar- tillery. It was an unprecedented thing when we breached Fort Pulaski at 1650 yards, but now we have breached Sum- ter at twice that distance, and thrown shell five miles. There is very little doubt that in Ordnance, both rifled and smooth - bore, we are ahead of the world. I want to see a further trial of the 15 inch guns. There is a great cry now for put- ting rifled 100 and 200 pdrs. in their places. I am not at all inclined to fall in with this; for long ranges and for breach- ing stone walls a rifled shot is undoubtedly the best. but the motion of a vessel in a sea way is sufficient to prevent accu- racy at long ranges. A vessel must force the fighting at short range, where the greater weight and velocity of the round ball gives it an advantage. The proper place for iron clads is against other iron clads, not against stone walls. For this purpose I think it is the battering power we want, not the punching power. English ideas to the contrary not- withstanding. The fifteen inch shot has only been tried once against an iron clad-the 'Atalanta'-and three shots spoiled her, while the heaviest rifled shots from Fort Sun- ter have not seriously damaged our monitors. Indeed some of the accounts mention the Ir inch smooth bores from the 'Keokuk' as the most formidable guns the rebels had in Fort Sumter."
Appleton's Letter of September 6th :---- "We have just had vor Sunday morning inspection, which is quite a big affair. Officers, men, horses. guns, and everything. are all cleaned up on Saturday, and on Sunday morning in full rig are in- spected by the Captain, or sometimes by the Brigade com- mander."
In a list of things wanted sent to him by Lieut. Appleton may be found the following besides wearing apparel viz. ".\ photograph album, a mirror about 8 inches, stand up at 45", a riding whip, boot jack, mucilage or glue. hanging watch-case, pocket calendar, cigar case. 'Old Farmer's Al-
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manac,' camp chair, chocolate, dressing case, buffalo robe."
Appleton's Diary continued : "September 7th we went off about four miles to try target practice with Rittenhouse's Battery of Regulars. I was introduced to Captain William Jay. Called at the picket line on Weston and Captain Dal- las. We found by this day's practice that the table of firing was not correct. A Corps review was going on when we were firing."
At the target shooting on September 7th we fired 6 rounds from each piece at ranges from 800 to 2600 yards.
On the 8th, we had drill on the manual of the piece in the forenoon, and in the afternoon Martin's Battery in command of Lieut. Walcott and Captain Gibbs' Battery ( Ist Ohio Light Battery L) went target shooting, and some of us looked on. The tents arrived.
MORE TARGET PRACTICE.
Sept. 9th we went over again and fired five rounds. Made some good shots. This time Battery C, Ist N. Y. Lieut. Clark, commanding, was with us. Clog dancing and sing- ing at Head Quarters in the evening. Joe Clarke, a mem- ber of the Battery, was a great clog-dancer. This day Win. F. Nye arrived with peaches and other stuff, so did our licensed Battery sutler.
On a fly leaf of Appleton's Diary it is stated that in the target practice at Beverly Ford September 7th and 9th. 1863. 3 inch guns were used with Schenkle case shot, com- bination fuze, and in a letter dated September 14th, Captain Phillips thus describes the targets :- "We have been out tar- get shooting this last week, being allowed ten shots to each gun. Our targets were posted at distances of 850, 1266, 1400. 1600, 1700, and 2600 yards. The target at 850 yds. was a little Jog house, which was pretty well knocked to pieces before we got through with it. The target at 1400
محقدلاء صـ
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yds. was hit twice by bullets from the shrapnell, and is claimed by Battery C, Ist N. Y. and by us. The target at 1700 yds. was hit once by us. These targets were pieces of cloth about 4 feet square, held up by two stakes. When we fired at the 1700 yd. target one stake had fallen down, and the mark was a good deal smaller than a man. We call it pretty good shooting to hit that a mile off. I believe we did the best shooting, and the regular battery the poorest. So much for regulars vs. volunteers."
FROM APPLETON'S LETTERS OF SEPT. 9TR AND 12TH.
"I intended to begin this epistle last evening after 'Taps.' but we had lots of clog-dancing, singing, &c. in camp, and the evening vanished. The darkey part of the establish- mment consists of Joe. Henry, Christopher, and my Joe. The latter is in his glory here, and is a great favorite. He can be seen going through the camp with a big meal bag over his shoulders, crying out, 'How are you cats?' -- He has already attained the soubriquet of 'Vicksburg' and 'Port Hudson,' to which he rejoins, 'How are you, Richmond?' (The joke was that Joe Hunter whom Lieut. Appleton picked up as a servant in Boston, had just returned with some officer from the victorious campaigns of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.) I have had both of my horses out under fire, and they stand it perfectly. The little beggar would put his nose right on the gun, and the magnificent Folko merely gives a slight start. One of the dogs con- nected with the Battery is named 'Trusty.' He came out from Massachusetts with them. ( See p. 83) . . . Septem- ber 12th, 1863. the day was very hot and in the afternoon there was a heavy thunder shower. It rained in torrents. The men were out. all day, mowing grass for the horses,
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and got wet through. When they reached the camp they received a ration of whiskey. There was danger of fever and ague in that locality. Two officers of the 32d Mass. Reg't. dined with us. It was reported that Sooo of our cavalry were at Rappahannock Station, and would cross the river at once, and late in the evening we received an order which said that the Corps must be immediately in readiness to move to support the cavalry, if necessary.'
In a letter written on the 12th and 13th Lieut. Appleton says of the officers etc. of the Battery :- "The Captain. Phillips, is a fine fellow, plucky, good natured, bright and gentlemanly. The Ist Lieut. Blake is a funny wag, my tent mate Lieut. Spear is a very pleasant companion, young. neat, bright, energetic, and in all respects a perfectly good fellow." Of the rain he says, "It is delicious to lie half asleep, and hear the rain come patter, patter, against the tent, and occasionally feel a big drop tumble on your face. They have got up at Division Head Quarters, about a mile from our camp, a race course, where they have frequent trials of speed in the Brigades and Divisions &c. to find the fastest horse in the Corps. We had a pair of parallel bars erected in camp for exercising. We have not yet had any grand review. We received with joy the good news from Rosecranz and Burnside. Things are looking well all around. A good war picture struck me the other day, which I think no artist has as yet attempted, viz., the tri- daily performance of watering horses. Imagine the horses standing three or four feet deep in the Rappahannock, some quietly drinking, others splashing about, the men on their backs in all kinds of costumes.
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