USA > Massachusetts > History of the Fifth Regiment, M. V. M > Part 15
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For several weeks, the regiment was engaged by details of one hundred or more men every day, in throwing up earth-works, or sand-works around our camp, and in a month or so, a formidable fort protected our rear.
This precaution was necessary, from the fact that, with the exception of Fort Toten and Rowan, there was nothing to prevent the enemy, in case of a grand sortie, from breaking the line and walking directly into New Berne. By the ist of May there was a continuous line of breastworks from the Neuse to the Trent river. The routine of camp life was followed until the 13th of March, interspersed with pleasures as well as toil. Passes were
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given to go "down town" or to visit the forts ; briar root pipes were manufactured, bone rings and various orna- ments ; curious emblems were cut from the refuse shins of our soups, and the morning guard mounting, after- noon drill and dress parade, afforded some relief to the monotony of camp life. Our Band practiced and per- fected itself, and to such an extent, that their playing was the general theme of conversation, and added much to enliven the spirits of the soldiers.
The relieved guard every morning shot at target, and the best marksmen were allowed a relief from duty when their turn came round again. The following privates had a very good average record; C. Parker, of Co. G; A. Simpson, Co. F ; Edwin W. Archer, and E. A. Roulstone, Co. H.
At one time we had some trouble with a New York regiment, who were encamped about a mile away, on our left ; every morning their relief guard would discharge their guns in the direction of our camp, and frequently balls would buzz over us; this sort of carelessness was stopped after a while, however.
Some of our regimental foragers were noted for their pluck and zeal in procuring provender, and none are to be remembered with greater pleasure than Corporal Horatio N. Doyle of Co. H.
Our Drum Corps should not be forgotten, and under Major " Joe" Knox, they attained a considerable repu- tation.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23d, Gen. Foster reviewed all the troops in the department, on the south side of the Trent. The day was delightful, being very much like one of the hot days in Boston, with the wind out East. There were about 15,000 troops present, or all of the available organi- zations in the Eighteenth Army Corps, including Artillery
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and Cavalry. Each brigade was formed by itself, in col- umn of regiments, and all day long we marched and countermarched, and were inspected in the manual and other military manœuvres. The Twenty-fifth Mass., Col. Pickett, was considered the best regiment in the depart- ment, and the Fifth Mass., Col. Peirson, was highly com- plimented, and took the second honors.
ATTACK ON NEW BERNE.
The intention of the enemy seems to have been to cap- ture the city of New Berne, on the memorable 14th of March, that being the anniversary day on which General Burnside took it from them. Their plan was to attack the Union forces at three different points ; one being Fort Anderson on the north side of the Neuse river, opposite the city ; one from the Trent road in the rear of the city, and our camp, and the other from the south side near the camp of the Seventeenth Mass. Regiment. General Fos- ter had no notion of letting the "rebs " hold any such picnic within the realm of his domains, as the results proved.
General Foster anticipated the attack, and on the after- noon of the 13th, six companies of the Twenty-fifth Mass. were ordered to the outposts near Decp Gully, that place being attacked by the enemy. In the evening, just as the boys were devouring their supper, the order came for the Fifth to " fall in lively," and in fifteen minutes, the Regiment, in light marching order was in line, and with the entire brigade they double quicked about eight miles on the Trent road toward Deep Gully, and there halted for the night, resting on arms, without overcoats or fires.
About ! A. M. on the 14th, a demonstration was made on Fort Anderson, the pickets of the Ninety-second New York Regiment were driven in, and the rebel General Pettigrew.
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thought he had an easy prey. He had advanced during the night of the 13th with the Twenty-six, Fourty-fourth, Fourty-seventh and Fifty-seventh North Carolina Infantry, and thirty cannon, in all 4000 men, and this was the force the Ninety-second had to contend with. The rebels shelled the vicinity for about two hours, and General Pettigrew, not knowing how large a force he was contending with, sent a flag of truce to Col. Anderson of the Ninety-second, demanding surrender. Col. Anderson replied, "He did not see it in that light." At this moment the Hunchback, one of the old New York ferry-boats, that had been fitted up as a gunboat, and was under command of Lieut. Joseph Fife of the U. S. Navy, and having a royal fighting crew, was signalled, and opened fire on the rebels, with terrible consequences to them, insomuch that at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 14th, the enemy drew away from the fire of the gunboats and batteries, being obliged to content themselves with long range guns directed on our camp ; during the forenoon, our 100 pound Parrot, and It inch shell proved too much for them, and they withdrew from their position altogether.
At early morn, our forces on the Trent road advanced, and the skirmishers of the Twenty-fifth Mass. were soon engaged with the enemy's advance. The Fifth and Forty- sixth Mass. Regiments, with a section of Riggs' and one piece of Belgier's batteries supported the Twenty-fifth Regiment, and the firing was kept up for some time. The city being attacked in the rear near the Seventeenth Mass. Regiment's camp, we were ordered to double quick back to our camp, and left the Twenty-fifth Mass. Regiment to check the advance of the would be invasionists. On Monday the 16th, not a rebel was in sight, and the whole affair proved to be a fizzle on the part of the enemy. There seemed to be a lack of good generalship on the part
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of the Confederates, and their several attacks were made on the strongest defended portions of the city, and further, they did not follow up any advantage they gained, which has caused the remark to be frequently made, that their intentions were to keep the department busy, while some grand demonstration was to be made in Virginia, or to prevent troops from re-enforcing Grant's Army, which was then concentrating in the vicinity of Vicksburg.
The Fifth observed Thanksgiving by a mock dress pa- rade, Corporal John Carr of Company H officiating as Colonel. The affair was one of those happy episodes never to be forgotten by the participants. The Twenty- fifth Mass. held their entertainments at their camp on the 16th of March, which consisted of wheelbarrow and sack races, climbing the pole, and the greased pig sport, all of which was enjoyed by the officers of most of the regiments, in the department. .
OFF FOR LITTLE WASHINGTON.
Our forces being besieged at Washington, N. C., the Fifth Regiment with others, on the 4th of April embarked on transports for the relief of General Foster and his gar- rison at that place. Oar fleet was unable to pass the shore batteries of the enemy at Hill's Point, some way up the river, and it was too risky to attempt it. The gun- boats and fort kept up a galling fire all through the even- ing, and the troops enjoyed the brilliant display, as the shells burst in the air, lighting up the heavens, and mak- ing an interesting spectacle. Our forces returned, and on the 8th of April, joined an expedition by land to assist our besieged comrades in Washington, where the force, including large portions of the Twenty-seventh and Forty- fourth Mass. Regiments, amounting to but 1600, were surrounded on all sides, by a force of about 15,000 men.
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with forty pieces of artillery, under the Confederate Gen- erals D. H. Hill, Daniels, Pettigrew, Robertson and Gar- nett. We could hear the bombarding going on in New Berne, from the time of commencement, Ist of April, though the town was over one hundred miles away, the sound travelling along the edges of the shore, and over the flat country. General Spinola had command of this fruitless expedition, as will be seen on page 40, and it was reported at the time that General Spinola was among the first to reach New Berne on the hasty return.
There was one incident connected with the seige of Washington, that deserves a mention in the national rec- ords, and without needless comment of the writer, is as follows : " The Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers, Col. Sisson, formed a part the brigade of which the Fourty-fourth Mass. were a portion, and after the two ineffectual at- tempts to reach their comrades, Col. Sisson and his staff obtained the steamer Escort, and on the night of April 13th, the unarmed steamer, heavily ladened with ammuni- tion, and the Fifth Rhode Island Regiment, defied the rebel batteries, and steamed up the Tar River to the res- cue of the beleagured garrison of Washington.
" Such daring would merit praise, even were it in obe- dience to orders which could not be resisted, but when we remember the circumstances, that they begged for the privilege, and came as volunteers, taking the whole re- sponsibility of failure or success, doing simply as they would be done by, it shows a spirit, moral, as well as a physical courage, seldom equalled, never excelled." (Fran- . cis L. Let, Colonel Forty-fourth Mass.)
On the 16th of April, the Fifth erected a flag staff, a full description of which is given on previous pages. An incident occurred some time previous to this occasion, which nearly proved fatal to one of Company Il's men.
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A fine piece of timber had been secured for a staff, and was on the derrick being raised into position, when some of the gearing gave way, and the huge stick toppled, and came crashing to the ground. Private Albion P. Pease, seeing the staff about to fall, and being near it, run away in the same direction that it was falling, and only escaped being struck, by about two feet.
The next day, April 17th, we were off again, with a large force for Little Washington, it not being known whether the town was captured or not. As the army moved for- . ward, there were frequent indications that the Confeder- ates had " skedaddled," and when we arrived at Blount's Creek, it was found deserted. Camping grounds were selected for the night, just beyond the fortifications, and the next morning the march was resumed, and the for- midable works of the rebels were found abandoned all along the line of march, and it was ascertained at night. fall of the 19th, that the seige of Washington had been raised, and the enemy had retreated toward Greenfield, defeated and discouraged, not capturing any of our men. nor a fugitive slave, the latter being in large numbers. under our protection. Our forces entered Washington on the morning of the 20th, and the Fifth were assigned quarters in the centre of the town, a portion of it being located in a Masonic Hall.
On the 22d, our regiment embarked on board the steamer Escort for New Berne, arriving in camp at New Berne, at 6 o'clock, r. M., on the same day. As we left the wharf in Washington, the colored denizens gathered in large numbers to see us off, and as they had been well frightened during the fifteen days' siege, and provisions were scarce, they wore the most mournful looking coun- tenances ever seen. The boys, partly from pity and mostly impelled by sport, pelted them with potatoes.
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hard-tack, pork, onions and the like, and a lively scrabble occurred among them for the " God-sent " rations.
GUM SWAMP.
The Fifth, under Colonel Peirson, made a reconnoisance during the expedition, in the direction of Cove Creek, which was one of those military events that has been awarded a just amount of praise .*
This was the Fifth's eighth expedition, and we had hardly time to brush from off our shoes the dust received on the Washington tramp, when orders came (Sunday night, 26th April), to cook three days' rations, and march Monday morning at daylight, with one hundred extra rounds of ammunition, per man. The start was delayed until 12.30 when the expedition proceeded, in a drench- ing rain, to Batchelder's Creek, where we arrived at 4.30 P. M. After a brief halt the march was resumed, and con- tinued to Cove Creek, a distance of about twelve miles. The following day was passed in performing picket duty on all the different roads, for the enemy was around us and the utmost caution was necessary. On Wednesday, orders were received to march on the Dover road, toward the intrenchments beyond Sandy Ridge, where Col. Jones' regiment had an engagement, a few days before, the dis- tance being about twelve miles. Orders were positive to be cautious and not to bring on an engagement, unless the enemy was found to be in small force. After march- ing about seven miles, the skirmishers (First platoon of Co. H) drove in the rebel pickets, and through woods and swamps, through briars and bush, they were pursued by our boys until driven to the cover of their earth-works.
The regiment halted about a half mile back, and the reserve platoon of Company H, was ordered forward by
# See page 46.
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Lieut. Everett. Slowly the whole company crept up to the edge of the woods on the left and halted just before reaching an opening used to drive the teams through, and was connected on the other side by a rail fence, somewhat hid from view by a low growth of shrubbery, with scatter- ing pine trees beyond. Orders were given to creep on hands and knees past the opening, and get behind the shrubbery, which being done, a corporal and six men were called for, to station themselves behind the trees, or ob- tain whatever safe position they could, and draw the enemy's fire .* Every man lay flat to the earth, while the brave men, at imminent risk of their lives, fired at the heads of the rebels they could distinctly see with their chins above the earth-works. Following are the names of those men who volunteered to make their bodies a tar- get for the enemy: Corporal Horatio N. Doyle ; privates Samuel Williams, Jr., Arthur Harrington, John H. Varrell, Edwin H. Poor. Joseph E. Studley, Herbert W. Hunting, and William W. Melvin, all of Co. H.
The result of this firing was a heavy volley from the rebels which was kept up, and for a half hour the shot flew thick and fast. While in this position Col. Peirson and Chaplain Snow crept up and surveyed the scene, and Sergeant Brigham of Co. K, secured a drawing of the grounds. By good fortune, the remnant of a small store- house, about midway between our forces and the rebels, caught fire, and the smoke being thick, our men seized the opportunity to retreat, and soon joined the regiment.
By careful reconnoissance, it was ascertained that the enemy were in force, with artillery in position, waiting to trap our boys. Having gained the topographical informa-
* After these works were captured (22d May) those men who had crept on hands and knees as far as they dared to, and tired, measured the distance between the position they occupied and the carthworks and found it to be jast one hundred feet.
HISTORY OF THE FIFTH REGIMENT
tion needed, the Fifth slowly retired to where the rest of the troops were encamped at Cove Creek. Our regiment travelled over twenty-five miles during the day, and hai- ing been deprived of sleep for several nights, many of · them would have fallen in the road, being drowsy, but from the fact that "the woods were full of 'em," and they kept wide-awake.
General Palmer congratulated Col. Peirson on the suc- cess of his reconnaissance and praised the conduct of his men while under fire. On May Ist, the regiment returned to New Berne.
The plans of General Foster having fully matured con- cerning the method of attacking this formidable point, another expedition started on the 21st of May, consisting of Lee's brigade, three pieces of Riggs battery, and three companies of cavalry, besides the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, the whole under the command of Col. Jones of the Fifty-eighth. We reached Cove Creek late in the afternoon, when the column was divided, the Twenty- seventh Mass., and Fifty-eight Penn., under Col. Jones, kept on, hoping to gain the rear of the rebel intrench- ments, while the Fifth, Twenty-fifth and Forty-sixth, Mass., waited until midnight before proceeding. Shortly before 12 o'clock, the column was in motion, and the tired troops soon got into the usual swinging gait.
When the gray morning came on and revealed the cause of the fragrant atmosphere which we had inhaled during the night, the boys were not slow in gathering the sweet perfumed magnolias that grew in abundance in the mar- shy grounds on either side of the road, and decorated the muzzles of their guns with them. One might have thought they were bearing garlands for some bridal offering, rather than being a stern, eager body of infantry, about to send their leaden messengers of death into the ranks of a foc.
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At about 5 o'clock, A. M., the skirmishers of the Twen- ty-fifth Mass. exchanged shots with the enemy's pickets, and advancing cautiously we soon found ourselves in the immediate vicinity of the enemy's camp. As soon as this fact was ascertained, Col. Peirson ordered a line of battle, the Twenty-fifth Mass. taking the right, the Forty-sixth in the centre, supporting the battery, and the Fifth under Lieut .- Col. Boyd deployed in the woods as skirmishers. At about 9 o'clock, firing was heard in the rear of the rebels' works, and knowing it to proceed from Col. Jones' command, who had gained their rear, Col. Peirson ordered the forces to immediately charge on the enemy, which was admirably done.
The Confederates, outflanked and attacked in the rear, fled precipitately to the woods and swamps, and the vari- ous regimental colors of the victors were soon waving from the parapets.
About one hundred and seventy prisoners belonging to the Fifty-sixth North Carolina Regiment, were " bagged" while attempting to escape.
All day long our troops worked hard in levelling the for- tifications, and by 5 o'clock were ready to return to Cove Creek. At that hour our senses were suddenly startled by the buzz ! buzz ! buzz ! of a shot thrown from the plat- form car howitzer, on the railroad track, which had come from Kinston, some of the escaped rebels having informed the forces at that station of their casualities.
The object of the expedition having been accomplished, and after our artillery had thrown a few shot at the enemy we took up the retrograde movement. The enemy fol- lowed, however, occasionally throwing a shell from behind and from the railroad track on our right ; they did no dam- age, having lost their range, and we reached Cove Creek safely at 10 1-2 o'clock that night, when we bivouacked
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without fires and on our arms. At early morning we were off again, and took up our line of march for the railroad, there to take the cars for Batchelder's Creek.
The column had been in motion but a short time, when the enemy's advance guard fired upon our troops from the other side of the creek. Our artillery soon stopped that ; but our predicament was worse than we thought, for it was discovered that the pickets of the Fifty-eighth Penn. Volunteers, who were stationed on the railroad, were driven in, and two brigades of Confederates under Gener- als Ransom and Cooke were moving down in force upon them with the evident intention of striking our left flank and rear, and cutting us off from the cars and all possibili- ty of escape.
Col. Peirson, foreseeing the imminent danger to his forces and the prospect of being " bagged " not being relished by him, he ordered the column to the left and into the woods running parallel with the railroad for some distance, and then to strike it far enough down to enable him to bring his command into position, and give them battle. The head of the column, the Fifth, soon struck into a deep swamp, which secmed at first likely to impede our advance, but ere long it became almost impenetrable, and seemed interminable. The outlook was indeed staggering, the "rebs " were continually shelling the woods to our rear, men here and there would sink almost out of sight in some bog-hole, the foot once into the thick mud and water, one would have to stick there or haul it out minus the shoe : then we were without guides, and without much hope, and in endeavoring to reach the railroad, we had plunged deeper and deeper into the dismal swamp; the sun was hot, and the dreadful smell of decayed vegetation almost suffocated us ; we had indeed lost our way, and if we could have only faced one foe at a time, we might have vanquished or been
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vanquished, but the uncertainty of our position was most deplorable, and heaven knows what would have been our fate, had it not been for the fortunate finding of a pocket compass, and with this we were guided to the railroad, coming out about two miles above Tuscaroora Depot. Here we met the train, and after "halloing " and sounding the steam engine whistle for an hour, as a guide for those in the woods, we were conveyed back to New Berne.
The expedition was, on the whole, successful .* Many of our force perished in the swamp, at least thirty men were never seen afterward. Those who were fortunate enough to get through, will never forget the horrible ex- perience during their lifetime.
One of the saddest events, and taking away the good that had been accomplished of the whole expedition, was the death of the brave Col. Jones, who was killed, shortly after our return to New Berne, while leading bis skir- mishers up to a deserted rifle pit, being shot through the breast by a sharp shooter, who was concealed behind a chimney on a cabin near the edge of the woods. His body was placed on a hand car, and covered with the American flag. It came slowly into New Berne, spreading a deep gloom over the entire department, Col. Jones being noted for his wonderful intrepidity, and his demise was as much noticed as would have been any generals in the Eighteenth Army Corps.
WILKINSON'S POINT.
On the 26th of May, about one half the regiment was ordered to Wilkinson's Point on the Neuse River, some 20 miles below New Berne, there to erect and occupy for- tifications. Major Worcester was in command of the de- tachment, and immediately upon arrival, we commenced
* See page 49.
.
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our work under his direction. The point was pleasantly located, as far as the water view went, but the accommo- dations in the woods were not very favorable, there being an undergrowth or jungle which prevented the troops from making comfortable quarters. Those who slept in the woods discovered, next morning, while bathing in the River Neuse, a new and curious species of bug ---- called the wood-tick, - this creature proved to be a most obsti- nate "hanger on," and was about the size of an eastern bed-bug, differing from those comparative luxuries by bor- ing his head under the skin, so that a penknife was re- quired for his extraction, and, if the head was left in, the place would itch for a month, or until removed.
Fortunately, in two senses, we were recalled to New Berne on the 28th. of May, first because of the wood-ticks, and secondly, it has since been ascertained, but not gen- erally known, that our forces had not been gone an hour from the Point, before a whole brigade of North Carolina Infantry, and a battery of two guns, came by an overland route for the same purpose that we had had in view, and our narrow escape from being "gobbled up" by the " Johnnies" was somewhat miraculous. " It's time now," some of the boys would say, " to get scared over our nar- row squeak."
OUR TERM NEARLY UP.
After this affair, several companies performed picket duty at Deep Gully, and others took to building fortifica- tions on the left bank of the Neuse. The regiment gained an excellent reputation in the department, as shown by the appointment from general head-quarters, of Lieut. George Myrick of Co. E, as acting brigade Quarter-Master and of Lieuts. A. J. Holbrook of Co. E, and E. M. Pierce, of Co. F, to the signal corps. On the march to Washing-
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ton, N. C., General Foster ordered his body-guard from the regiment. Numerous other details from General Of- ficers showed great confidence in the Fifth.
Co. H, of Charlestown held the right, and Co. D, of the same city held the left of the line, during the campaign, and Co. G, of Woburn, acted as color company, until it went to Hatteras, February 22d, 1863, and upon its re- turn resumed its former position.
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