USA > Massachusetts > History of the Second Mass. Regiment of Infantry, third paper > Part 15
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This was the military disposition made by Banks for an assault along his whole line, over the corn and wheat field ; --- .these the numbers which he hurled against six entire and fresh brigades of the enemy, comprising at least twenty-four regiments, with six brigades in reserve.
We left the regiments of Crawford's Brigade filing into the woods. At about half-past five, these troops, in long line, with the six companies of my Third Wisconsin upon the right flank, burst with loud cries from the woods, swept like a tor- rent across the wheat-field, were arrested for a moment by a high rail-fence in the edge of the timber, and then disappeared in the thick forest, bearing before them the enemy's Second Brigade of Winder's Division, - broken, thrown back in masses from front to rear, and intermingled with their assail- ants. The storm burst suddenly upon the enemy. It came while they were deciding that there was no hostile infantry in their front, and gave them barely time to open fire. The enemy's line extending farther to our right than our own, the companies of the Wisconsin regiment received a deadly fire, which soon reached their rear but did not stop them. Unshrinkingly they dashed on, although the farther they advanced, the more withering the fire became At last, with a loss of eighty killed and wounded out of the two hundred and
* The Second Massachusetts, Twenty-Seventh Indiana, and four companies Third Wisconsin, of my brigade, and the Tenth Maine.
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sixty-seven that charged across the field, they fell back into the woods, to be re-formed and again to advance, as will appear hereafter.
While this attack was in progress, Banks threw forward his two brigades on the left of the Culpepper road .* Prince on the extreme left moved his infantry against the right and front of Early's line, but without effect. Early stood " like a rampart," says the Southern historian, and "hurled back all efforts made against him." Geary's advance through the corn-field, with his right along the Culpepper road, uniting with the regiments assaulting across the wheat-field, forced back the enemy's line in their front and threw them in such confusion that if there had been ne reserve to the enemy, and no brigades on Cedar Mountain to rush in and take Prince in frank and rear, and if I had been ordered to move forward simulta- neously with my brigade as a support, the chances are that we would have whipped Jackson.
But notwithstanding the defiance with which our fellows braved death in that heroic charge, the destiny of overpower- ing numbers was against us. Campbell'st Brigade had been thrown, helpless and confused, into a disordered mass, over which, with cries of exultation, our troops poured, while field and woods were filled with clamor and horrid rout, -- poured like an all-destroying torrent, until the left of Jackson's line was turned and its rear gained. Then, while the left of Taliaferro's Brigade gave way, Geary's blows upon its right and upon the left of Early began to tell.$ As Campbell had been over- thrown, so next was Taliaferro, and then came the left of Daily's Brigade, which, first wavering, then fell back, until, on both sides of the road, a vast irruption had been made,
. " Simultaneously with ( rawford's advance, Geary in centre and Prince on left moved against the enemy with vigor." - Strother, in Harper's Monthly for August, 1871.
t Commandedl by Garnet".
# Almost the language used by Dal ney and Co ke in their histories.
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which involved the whole of the enemy's line even as far towards the right as one half of the latter brigade .*
That this success was achieved without a desperate resist- ance, Southern writers will not admit. It is claimed that the Twenty-First Virginia, which was on the extreme right of the left brigade, " fought like lions, until the invading lines had penetrated within twenty yards of their rear," and that, owing to the " terrific din of the musketry, the smoke, and the dense foliage," this short distance only intervened when the foe was for the first time seen. Then, says the Southern historian, i "the orders of the officers were unheeded amid the vast uproar and shouts of the assailants. Col. Campbell was slain, but the survivors of the Second Brigade fought on without rank or method, with bayonet-thrust and musket clubbed, until borne back, like angry foam on mighty waves, towards the high road." Though the right of Early's Brigade still stood unmoved, we were gaining the rear of the enemy's line in the open field, when Jackson called upon his reserves. He threw forward the old Stonewall Brigade of Winder's Division, with Branch's . of Hill's Division, and these, with the newly-formed lines of those that had been broken, arrested our progress, and com- pelled our hitherto victorious troops to fly back through the bloody timber over the fatal wheat and corn fields. Jackson says ; the two brigades of his reserves " drove our troops back with terrible slaughter," while Hill ; says, " The pursuit was checked and the enemy driven back."
But to Dabney must we turn for Jackson's achievements in heroic measure. As contrasting the laconic despatch of Jack- son himself, from the actual field of his prowess, with the gorgeous word-painting of his Boswellian Dabney, the quota- tion is pertinent : --
* That the enemy's lines were thus forced bach by the regiments of Crawford's Brigade alone, as claimed by Major Gould, in the History of the Tenth Maine, is utterly without foundation. --- AUTHOR.
i Habne :.
# Official Reports, Gens. Jakson and fill. M. ores Rebellion Record.
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" It was at this fearful moment that the genius of the storm reared his head amidst the tumultuous billows, and in an instant the threatening tide was turned. Jackson appeared in the mad torrent of the highway, his figure instinct with maj- esty, and his face flaming with the inspiration of battle. He ordered Winder's batteries to be instantly withdrawn, to pro- tect them from capture, issued his summons for his reserves, drew his own sabre for the first time in the war, and shouted to his broken troops. with a voice which pealed higher than the roar of battle, . Rally, brave men, and press forward ! Your general will lead you. Jackson will lead you. Follow me!' Fugitives, with a general shame, gathered around their adored general, who, rushing with a few score of them to the front, placed them behind the fence which bordered the roadside, and received the pursuers with a deadly volley. They recoiled in surprise, while officers of every grade, catching the general fervor of their commander, flew among their men, and in a moment restored the failing battle. Fragments of Early and Taliaferro returned to their places, forming around that heroic nucleus, the Thirteenth Virginia, and swept the field clear of the enemy. The Stonewall Brigade had already come up and changed the tide of battle in the bloody woodlands ; for some of the regiments, sweeping far around to the left through the SAJ of brushwood, had taken the Federalists in turn upon their flank, and were driving them back with a fearful slaughter into the stubble-field. Scarcely was this Titanic blow delivered when the fine brigade of Branch, from the division of A. P. Hill, hardly allowing itself time to form, rushed forward to second them and complete the repulsa. The Federal com- mander now brought forward a magnificent column of cavalry, and hurled it along the highway full against the Confederate centre. No cannon was there to ravage their ranks; but as they pressed back the line for a little space, the infantry of Branch closed in upon their right, Taliaferro and Early upon their left, and opened fire, when it fle ! to the rear, scattered
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and dissipated. So Jackson delivered blow after blow upon his insulted left wing."
It was between half-past five and six o'clock when our assault was made. Although at least one half of Banks's command must have succeeded in gaining the enemy's rear, in the Stonewall Brigade, which, with Branch's, has received the praise of checking our pursuit, the loss was light, being . only ten killed and fifteen wounded.
It now becomes necessary to take up the history of the Tenth Maine, which, for some unaccountable reason as I have said, was dropped out of Crawford's Brigade when the charge was made. Afier a little delay it was moved into the woods in its front by one of Banks's staff-officers ; or- dered to halt and lie down, with its left resting near the road, where a United States battery, under Capt. Best, was receiving two for every one of its solid compliments sent the eneiny. In the road and near the regiment was Banks and staff.
From where the Tenth Maine were stationed, a movement of troops on the enemy's side was perceived ; and Banks's reply, when this was pointed out to him, -- " Thank you, sir ; this is provided for," was heard, although it was soon found that Banks was simply indulging in tragie metaphor, and had not provided for that er anything else. And from this point shells and shot could be seen coming faster and faster from Ewell's batteries on Cedar Mountain; from Early's right, near the clump of cedars; from Winder in the road, and from every point in the more than a mile of circumference occu- pied by the enemy. While the Tenth Maine were lying in these woods, the battle began with the crash, which came to our ears as we rested on the right, awaiting orders from Gen. Williams : began in volleys so terrible that the sound of artillery was unnoticed or a relief. From where the Tenth Maine were, the enemy could be seen planting new batteries, nearer and nearer to ours, over there on the platetu from whence our
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guns had not been moved during the day. Then Geary's skirmishers came into view, following up those of the enemy who were retiring through the corn-field; while riderless horses were running around between opposing fires. The roar that met the assault of our troops as the new brigades of the enemy turned upon them, was borne to the ears of the Tenth Maine, as they laid there idle in the northern edge of the woods, their hearts beating with an excitement and an appre- hension which one must feel, to depict. One of the officers * of this regiment went forward through the woods and saw part of Geary's Brigade of Ohio troops in the road advancing by flank. Before this officer was the wheat-field, the shocks, and the opposite belt, as described. The firing was then still farther to the front, but out of sight.
When the assault we have described had been checked, and our troops were being drived back in confusion, Major Per- kins, of Banks's staff, ordered Col. Beal, commanding the Tenth Maine, to advance through the woods,f telling him it was Banks's order. Accordingly his regiment moved out into the wheat-field, first passing down a slight hill, then over a ridge at right angles to the road, then down again. Col. Beal knew only that his brigade was far ahead, not in sight, and he was told that an Ohio regiment on the left of the road was also advancing. The prospect that confronted the regi- ment as they entered upon this murderous pathway was this : The distance from the woods to those opposite was less than six hundred yards ; in the edge of the woods the enemy's musketry was both heard and seen; the Ohio troops (Geary's Brigade) were retreating along the road slowly, turn- ing often to fire upon the increasing numbers of the enemy. Yet the Tenth Maine pressed on until they came to the ridge which has been described. Then they saw the remnant of their brigade coming back to their right, leaving a clear way
* Major Gould. See History of Tenth Maine in the War.
+ Col. Beal, in the History of Tenth Maine in the War.
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for thein to fire. The enemy now rapidly filled the woods in their front and opened on the Maine regiment, who pressed on, though the fire was most murderous, until they found themselves the only regiment visible on the field. The woods opposite was still filling up with the enemy ; the fugitive officers and men of their brigade were return- ing singly and in squads, calling out to the co orel as they passed, that there were too many of them for him to handle.
Alone, of all that had preceded, with brigade after brigade of the enemy pouring into the thick forest in their front, sur- rounded with the broken and defeated fragments that dis- heartened them by their cries, this plucky regiment "gave three cheers, in that narrow valley of death, between those belts of timber."* No wonder that Col. Beal, who had re- ceived no other order than to advance through the woods, was "strongly impressed with the conviction that Banks could not expect his single regiment to advance unsupported upon the whole of Jackson's army." But he was mistaken ; for no sooner had Col. Beal, with a view of regaining the woods to continue the fight under such cover as the enemy had, and such as it was proper for him to seek, faced his regiment about and moved a few steps, than Banks, who saw that Col. Beal was not advancing, asked Major Pelouse, his adjutant-general, " why that regiment did not advance," and ordered him to " direct it to do so." t Major Pelouse gal- loped forward and delivered the order, saying that Banks " forbade this backward movement." Col. Beal persisted, and the regiment kept on. A furious altercation, with angry gesticulations, arose, during which Major Pelouse proceeded to the rear of the regimental colors and ordered the regiment to advance, crying out in loud tones that " Sigel was in the rear," or "was coming." and also informing Col Beal that Banks " wished him to know that there was only a small
* Major Goukl, Tenth Maine.
+ Major Pelouse to Major Gould (letter), in History of the Tenth Maine.
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force of the enemy in front of him." Major Pelouse was with the regiment five minutes, when he was disabled, and then Col. Beal placed his command behind the ridge to secure so much of protection.
It was while fighting behind this ridge, "and when they had not been firing long," that skirmishers from the Second Massachusetts Regiment were seen to the right, on a run,* followed by the regiment and the remainder of the brigade. The time then, says Major Gould, was about sunset, and the enemy's fire so severe that soon the line of the Tenth Maine began to melt away. The enemy's skirmishers could be seen, darting around in the woods on the right of this regi- ment ; also the front of the enemy's line, at least three times longer than that of the Tenth Maine was visible,; and there was a flank fire from the Culpepper road on their left, where the Ohio troops under Geary had been driven back, and this fire crossed at right angles that from the woods opposite - the one into which my brigade had just come and formed in line of battle. For a description of the " huge gaps " and dreadful car- nage ; of the reeling and plunging of the wounded, the shock of the falling of the dead ; the excitement of the men, the con- ceivable and inconceivable positions they took in loading, their swearing and jibing at the enemy. intermingled with the din of musketry, while the bright sunset streamed in their eyes over the dark and smoky woods which covered the superior numbers of the foe and greatly gave them the advantage ; and for an account of the charge of Federal cavalry # with which Banks sought to retrieve his fortunes, and which the grandiloquent Dabney speaks of as "a magnificent column
* Major Gould, in Tenth Maine.
ยก History of Maine in the War.
# "Some ore sent a very small force of cavalry into the Hell we had just left : we won't citicise it. They charged down the Oring. Comit House road, and without stopping to say or do much, they turned around ard came back, leaving a number of dead horses on the field. The enemy said it was a pluch; a.t." -- Majer ocul , in Youth Muss in the War.
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of cavalry," reference is made to the full details in Major Gould's history.
The events that transpired here serve to fix for us the fact, that when I came up with my brigade the Tenth Maine was contending alone with the whole reinforcements (at least three brigades) that Jackson had thrown in to sustain his left ; they show, too, not only the severity of the fire of the enemy from: the protection of the woods, but that their advance along the Culpepper road enabled them to deliver a flank fire down the whole length of the wheat-field. As my brigade appeared, the Tenth Maine fell back into the woods, passed through them, and retired from the action. The time they were under fire behind the ridge is variously estimated from thirty min- utes to five ; * their loss was one hundred and seventy killed and wounded. Our position, as given by Major Gould, was a little to the rear of that regiment and about three hundred yards to its right.
Now we are prepared to examine the details of our own movements. We have seen the condition of Banks's line when skirmishers from the Second Massachusetts of my brigade were seen coming into action, and we can, from the official reports of Jackson and Branch, Archer and Pender, know exactly the force of the enemy that confronted us.
It was about h. li-past five o'clock in the afternoon, when Gen. Williams, our division commander, sent me an order to observe him, and when he made a signal by waving his hand- kerchief to throw forward my whole command to support Crawford. Gen. Williams with his staff was on the hillside, in rear of the woods through which Crawford's Brigade had passed ; he was plainly in sight from where I stood. That there might be no delay, I withdrew my command from the wood to the rear and flank of my position; formed my brigade-line: then fixed my Acids lass upon Gen. Williams and awaited his summons. Moments passed : the fire of the
* Major Goall thinks the latter most probable.
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artillery, now falling off for a moment and again resumed, mingled with the pitiless crash of musketry that rose from the assaulting column I was to support, - and yet no signal ; but instead thereof a messenger dashing up from Gen. Banks, the first from him that day: "Gen. Banks directs that you send the Second Massachusetts Regiment down the pike to him." Before I could do more than give the order, before the regiment could take a step on its course, a horseman, spur- ring in furious haste, dashed to my side. It was Capt. Pitt- man, aid to Gen. Williams : "Gen. Williams directs you to move your whole command to the support of Gen. Craw- ford."
If Gen. Williams had waved his handkerchief (engaged in moving the Second Regiment in compliance with Banks's order), I did not see him ; but the delay was only momentary. The Second sprang forward ; so did the remaining companies of the Third Wisconsin ; so did the Twenty-Seventh Indiana. It was now a little before six o'clock. The rattle and roar of musketry had given place to a dreadful, an ominous silence. A thick smoke curling through the tree-tops, as it arose in clouds from corn and wheat fieldls, marked the place to which we were ordered, the place where the narrow valley was strewn with dead. "Double-quick !" I gave the order, and my brigade responded. Down the slope from Brown's house at a run, through the marshy land at its base, over Cedur Creek to the steep hill and up its sides into the woods, I pressed my troops with speed unabated, despite remonstrances from some of the officers that the men could not hold out at this pace. At the edge of the woods I rallied and gathered up the six companies of the Third Wisconsin, part of the broken fragments of Crawford's Brigade, a second time to be baptized in the fiery flood of Cedar Mountain. So We went until we had penetrated the woods, and stood in line of battle on the very edge of the wheat-field. We had come at topmost speed to support Crawford, but his whole line had
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melted away. We had come to sustain, but we remained alone to bear the brunt of the fight, ourselves unsupported. The whole distance we had passed over, in an incredibly short period of time, was about one thousand five hundred yards, of which nearly four hundred* was through the woods.
When I gained the timber I looked for Crawford's regiments, but so broken had they been by their repulse that I could find, of all. only what remained of the six Wisconsin com panies. Of the Twenty-Eighth New York, the Fifth Connec- ticut, or the Forty-Sixth Pennsylvania, not a vestige met my eyes. There was, however, one relic of Crawford's Brigade, and that was Crawford himself. I saw him back in the woods sitting quietly on his horse, with a musket across his saddle, although at about this time the only regiment of his brigade then in action, the Tenth Maine, was out in the wheat-field where an officer from Banks's staff was then or had been urging it forward. As soon as the firing upon my line began, Crawford disappeared, and this was about the time the Tenth Maine fell back, thus making the last appearance of Crawford and his brigade simultaneous with our first movement upon the scene.
My line of battle was quickly formed, --- the Second on the left, shen the Twenty-Seventh Haliuna, and on the right the Third Wisconsin. From the edge of the wood we looked across the wheat-field, not over four hundred yards, at the long lines of the enemy, who, having now advanced into cleared ground, opened upon us a heavy fire, which was immediately responded to by the Twenty-Seventh Indiana and Third Wisconsin Regiments.
As I rode up to the Second Massachusetts, I was amazed that no firing was going on. There sat Col. Andrews, rather complacently, on the left flank of his regiment, and in line with it. " Why don't you order your men to fire? " I shouted. " Don't see anything to fire at," was the cool response. " Move
* Col. Colgrove, of the Twenty seventh Launna, puts it at two hundred.
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by the right flank and join on with the Twenty-Seventh, and you will soon find enough to fire at," I replied. The regiment was moved where the field was a little more exposed to Col. Andrews's vision, and I heard no further complaint that he could find "nothing to fire at."
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CHAPTER IX.
FROM the most authentic sources # we now know the move- ments of the enemy at the time I was ordered into action. In addition to the reserve brigade of Winder's Division, and Branch's Brigade of A. P. Hill's Division, both of which had united with the restored fragments of the two that had been driven back by Banks's assault as described, Gen. Jackson threw two fresh brigades, those of Archer and Pender of Hill's Division, into the woods opposite the wheat-field, not only extending them far to the left, but ordering them also to throw their left continually forward and attack the enemy in the opposite woods. Before the two brigades of Archer and Pender were added to this force, the Third or Stonewall Brigade of Winder's Division, on the left of Branch, was pro- longed so for into the thabor that its fire took the repulsed regiments in flank as they were retreating; across the wheat- field, after which, in connection with Branch's, the two brig- ades poured a united fire into the Tenth Maine, until. as related. it was driven back into the woods.
In the woods upon which Jackson now directed his attack, nothing but my three small regiments was left to confront not less than fivef entire brigades of the enemy, of which four
* Oficial Report, Bitte of Collar Mountda, by Livet-Gen. Jackson, Generals Hill, Archer, Pender, and others. (See also Daney's History.)
t Brigades of Branch, Aicher, and Pender of Hill's Division, the Stonewall Brigade and Taliaferro's, with what was left of thatnett's, of Jackson's own division.
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were in line when we came upon the field, and one reaching far around to envelop our right. Of the ten brigades which Jackson threw (out of the twelve in his army) * into the fight at Cedar Mountain, one half of them awaited our attack on the right of the road across that deadly wheat-field. My force was less than 1.500 men ; the enemy's could not have fallen short of 8,o0o out of his whole force, of from 20,000 to 25,000 men. It will be seen that the woods opposite must have been literally packed with the enemy, and that they must have extended far beyond our right to have enabled even one third of them to have got to the front.
This was the situation, as we alone, of all Banks's Corps, when the light was growing dim on that fatal August night, opened fire from the right of the road on the long lines of Archer's Brigade, as they, disdaining cover, stood boldly out amid the wheat-stacks in front of the timber. As may be im- agined, our position was an exposed one. It is almost in vain to attempt to convey an impression of the fierceness of that fire; there was no intermission ; the crackling of musketry was incessant. To Col. Colgrove, commanding the Twenty- Seventh Indiana, on the right of the Second Massachusetts, the enemy seemed to be all around him, in his front, on his right. in a dense growth of underbrush, and on his left, in line extending nearly across the wheat-field. From front and flank, direct and cross, came this terrible fire upon the Twenty- Seventh Indiana. Then signs of panic began to show them- selves in this regiment. " We are nring upon our own men !" cried those who saw, in the wooded thicket at the end of the wheat-field, large bodies of troops endeavoring to approach, under cover, nearer to our flank. "We are firing upon our own men !" shouted Col. Colgrove to meras he pointed to what seemed to him to be the blue uniforms of our troops in . the dense brushwood on our right. " We have no men there," I replied, " the enemy is there. Order your men to open fire
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