USA > Massachusetts > History of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Mass., Volunteers, in the civil war of 1861-1865, with a comprehensive sketch of the doings of Massachusetts as a state, and of the principal campaigns of the war > Part 27
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Two candles in the spacious building throw their feeble rays into the dark recesses, faintly disclosing the recumbent forms. There is heavy, stitled breathing, as of constant effort to suppress cries extorted by acut- est pain.
Passing into the street you see a group of women, talking about our wounded,-rebel wounded, who are receiving their especial devotion. The provost marshal's patrol is going its rounds to preserve order.
Starting down the street, you reach the rooms of the Christian Com- mission. Some of the men are writing letters for the soldiers, some rating their night-rations, some dispensing supplies. Passing through the rooms, you gain the grounds in the rear,-a beautiful garden once,- not unattractive now. The air is redolent with honeysuckle and locust blossoms. The prusifolia is unfolding its delicate milk-white petals; (he's are opening their tinted leaves.
Fifty men are gathered round a summer-house,-warm-hearted men, who have been all day in the hospitals. Their hearts have been wrung Wy the scenes of suffering, in the exercise of Christian charity, imitat- tog the example of the Redeemer of men. They have dispensed food for the body and nourishment for the soul. They have given cups of cold water in the name of Jesus, and prayed with those departing to the dent Land. The moonlight shimmers through the leaves of the locusts, as they meet at that evening hour to worship God.
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After singing, a chaplain says, " Brethren, I had service this afternoon in the First Division hospital of the Second Corps. The surgeon in charge, before prayer, asked all who desired to be prayed for to raise their hands, and nearly every man who had a hand raised it. Let us re- member them in our prayers to-night."
A man in the summer house, so far off that I cannot distinguish him. says, "Every man in the Second Division of the Sixth Corps hospital raised his hand for prayers to-night."
One who was on the spot thus speaks of the work done at Fredricksburg by Mrs. Barlow, the accomplished wife of General Barlow, who died at Washington, July 27, 1864, of fever con- tracted in this work:
She had in some way gained possession of a wretched-looking pony. and a small cart or farmer's wagon, with which she was continually on the move, driving about town or country in search of such provisions or other articles as were needed for the sick and wounded. The surgeon in charge had on one occasion assigned her the task of preparing a build- ing which had been taken for a hospital, for a large number of wounded who were expected almost immediately. The building was empty. con- taining not the slightest furniture or preparation for the sufferers, save a large number of bed-sacks, without straw or other material to till them. On requisition a quantity of straw was obtained, but not nearly enough for the expected need, and we were standing in a kind of mute despair, considering if it were indeed possible to secure any comfort for the poor fellows expected, when Mrs. Barlow came in. "I'll find some more straw," was her cheerful reply, and in another moment she was urging her tired beast toward another part of the town where she re- membered to have seen a bale of the desired article earlier in the day. Half an hour afterward the straw had been confiscated, loaded upon the little wagon by willing hands and brought to the hospital. She then helped to fill and arrange the sacks, and afterward drove about the town in search of articles which, by the time the ambulances brought in their freight of misery and pain, had served to furnish the place with some means of alleviation.
Of the visit of a ministering angel of another type, Dr. Reed, a surgeon, says:
One afternoon, just before the evacuation, when the atmosphere of our rooms was close and foul, and all were longing for a breath of our pure northern air, while the men were moaning in pain or were restless with fever, and our hearts were sick with pity for the sufferers, I heard a light step upon the stairs, and looking up I saw a young lady enter, who brought with her such an atmosphere of calm and cheerful courage, so much freshness, such an expression of gentle, womanly sympathy, that
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her mere presence seemed to revive the drooping spirits of the men, and to give a new power of endurance through the long and painful hours of suffering. First with one, then at the side of another, a friendly word here, a gentle nod and smile there, a tender sympathy with each pros- trate sufferer, a sympathy which could read in his eyes his longing for hoine love and the presence of some absent one-in those few min- utes hers was indeed an angel ministry. Before she left the room she sang to them, first some stirring national melody, then some sweet or plaintive hymn to strengthen the fainting heart, and I remember how the totes penetrated to every part of the building. Soldiers with less severe wounds, from the rooms above, began to crawl out into the entries, and men from below crept up on their hands and knees to catch each note, and to receive of the benediction of her presence-for such it was to them.
Let it not be supposed that these brave men and women con- fined their ministrations to the great hospitals in and about the cities or far from the fields of strife. Wherever there was suf- fering from wounds or sickness they went, to the field hospitals and even along the lines of battle. The Sanitary Commission alone was represented on at least 500 of the 600 battle and skir- mish fields of the war, and an authority already quoted (" Carle- ton ") thus speaks of the work in the field hospitals a little later in the campaign:
I recall in this connection, a hot, dry, sultry day. The sun shone from a brazen sky. The grass and shrubs were scorched, withered, and pow- dered with dust, which rose in clouds behind every passing wagon. Even the aspens were motionless, and there was not air enough to stir the long, iithe needles of the pines. The birds of the forest sought the deepest shade, and hushed even their twitter. It was difficult for men in robust health to breathe, and they picked out the coolest places and gave themselves up to the languor of the hour. It required an earnest effort to do anything. Yet through this blazing day men crouched in the trenches from morning till night, or lay in their shallow rifle-pits, watch- ing the enemy .- parched, broiled, burned, not daring to raise their heads or lift their hands. To do so was to sutter death or wounds.
The hospital tents. though pitched in the woods, were like ovens. ab- sorbing and holding the heat of the sun, whose rays the branches of the trees but partially excluded. Upon the ground lay the sick and wounded. fevered and sore. with energies exhausted, perspiration oozing from their faces, nerves quivering and trembling, pulses faint and feeble, and life ebbing away. Their beds were pine boughs. They lay as they came from the battle-field, wearing their soiled, torn, and bloody garments. and tantalized by myriads of flies.
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The surgeons in charge were kind-hearted and attentive. They used all means in their power to make their patients comfortable. Was this the place where the sick were to regain their health, far from home and friends ! With nothing to cheer them, hope was dying out, and despound- ency setting in; and memory, ever busy, was picturing the dear ohi home scenes, so painfully in contrast with their dismal present.
There were no clouds to shut out the sun, but the brazen dome of the sky glowed with steady heat. The Christian Commission tent had been besieged all day by soldiers, who wanted onions, pickles, lemon .. oranges,-anything sour, anything to tempt the taste. A box of orange- had been brought from City Point the night before. It was suggested that they be distributed at once to the sick and wounded. " Certainly. by all means," was the unanimous voice of the Commission. I voluu- teered to be the distributor.
Go with me through the tents of the sufferers. Some are lying down. with eyes closed, faces pale, and cheeks sunken. The paleness under- lies the bronze which the sun has burned upon them. Some are half re- clining on their elbows, bolstered by knapsacks, and looking in vacancy. -thinking, perhaps, of home and kin, and wondering if they will ever see them again. Others are reading papers which delegates of the Com- mission have distributed. Some of the poor fellows have but one les: others but the stump of a thigh or an arm, with the lightest possible dressing to keep down the fever. Yesterday these men, in the full tide of life, stood in the trenches confronting the enemy. Now they are shat- tered wrecks, having, perhaps, wife and children or parents dependent on them; with no certainty of support for themselves even but the small bounty of government, which they have earned at such fearful sacrifice. But their future will be brightened with the proud conseiousness vi duty done and country saved,-the surviving soldier's chief recompense for all toil and suffering and privations of the camp and field.
As we enter the tent they catch sight of the golden fruit. There is a commotion. Those half asleep rub their eyes, those partially reclining sit up, those lying with their backs toward us turn over to see what is going on. those so feeble that they cannot move ask what is the matter. They gaze wistfully at our Inscious burden. Their eyes gleam, but not one of them asks for an orange. They wait. Through the stern di -- cipline of war they have learned to be patient, to endure, to remain in suspense, to stand still and to be torn in pieces. They are true heroes:
"Would you like an orange, sir?" "Thank you." It is all he can sas. He is lying upon his back. AA Minie bullet has passed through his body. and he cannot be moved. He has a noble brow, a manly countenance. Tears moisten his eyes and roll down his sunken cheeks as he takes 1: from my hand.
In one of the wards I came upon a soldier who had lost his leg the dis before. He was lying upon his side; he was robust, healthy, strong aud
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1.rave. The hours dragged heavily. I stood before him and yet he did cut see me. He was stabbing his knife into a chip, with nervous energy, trying to forget the pain, to bridge over the lonely hours, and shut the gloom out of the future. I touched his elbow; he looked up.
"Would you like an orange?" "By jingo! that is worth a hundred dollars!" He grasped it as a drowning man clutches a chip. "Where lid this come from?" "The Christian Commission had a box arrive last night." "The Christian Commission! My wife belongs to that. she wrote to me about it last week,-that they met to make shirts for the Commission." "Then you have a wife?" "Yes, sir, and three children." His voice faltered. Ah! the soldier never forgets home. He dashed away a tear, took a long breath, and was strong again.
"Where do you hail from, soldier?"
" From old Massachusetts. I had a snng little home on the banks of 'he Connecticut; but I told my wife that I didn't feel just right to stay there, when I was needed out here, and so I came and here I am. I shall write home and tell Mary about the Christian Commission. I have been wishing all day that I had an orange: [ knew it was no use to wish. I didn't suppose there was one in camp; besides here I am, not able to inove a peg. I thank you, sir. for bringing it. I shall tell my wife all about it."
These expressions of gratitude were not indifferent utterances of conrt- esy, but came from full hearts. Those sun-burned sufferers recognized the religion of Jesus in the gift. The Christian religion, thus exempli- iled. was not a cold abstraction, but a reality. providing for the health of the body as well as the soul. It is easy to converse with those men con- verning their eternal well being. They could not oppose a Christianity that manifested such regard for their bodily comfort. Such a religion commended itself to their hearts and understandings. Thus the Com- mission became a great missionary enterprise. Farina, oranges. lemons, onions, pickles, comfort bags, shirts, towels, given and distributed in the name of Jesus, though designed for the body, gave strength to the soul. To the quickened senses of a wounded soldier parched with fever. far from home and friends, an onion was a stronger argument for the religion that bestowed it than the subtle reasoning of Renan, and a pickle sharper than the keenest logie of Colenso!
An extensive branch of the Fredericksburg hospital was estab- lished at Belle Plain, and there also the work of organization was largely in the hands of the Sanitary Commission. The ma- torials at hand out of which to construct anything approaching comfortable quarters for the sufferers were terribly inadequate. Given a large building, generally quite bare, and a quantity of empty bed-sacks, the tireless workers were expected to do the
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rest. The cooking had often to be done in the open air with a collection of the most inadequate utensils, and the finding of a cast-away stove that in other scenes could only have provoked derision was a piece of rare good fortune.
But these establishments were only temporary. As rapidly as possible the wounded were sent forward by transports to Washington, whence they were distributed to the comfortable hospitals in the northern cities, a portion being furloughed to their homes, while many of the slightly wounded were enabled to return to their regiments. The last transport load left Fred- ericksburg May 26, and the surgeons returned to their duties in the field.
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CHAPTER XV.
SPADES AND BULLETS.
THE CLOSING STRUGGLES AT SPOTTSYLVANIA .- "BY THE LEFT FLANK."-CROSSING SWORDS AT NORTH ANNA .- THE DEATH HARVEST AT COLD HARBOR.
We have said that on the morning of May 13 the Thirty-seventh regiment fell back from the Angle to a point near the Landrum house, where it remained that day and into the following night with but trifling changes of position, most of the men finally putting up their shelter tents for protection against the incessant rain and sleeping whenever there was opportunity. In fact there was a lull all along the line. The Confederates had settled them- selves behind their earthworks, strengthened by abatis and slash- ings in a manner to make them quite formidable. The defenders, too, had the advantage of formation, and with numerous good and convenient roads could concentrate their troops at any threatened point very speedily, their entire position forming a vast angle, inside which it was very convenient to maneuver.
In connection with the main struggle at the Angle on the 12th, in which Hancock's and Wright's corps had borne the brunt, Burnside on the Union left and Warren on the right had been ordered to attack in force and had done so sufficiently to show that there was no hope of making any promising lodgment. It was decided during the 13th, therefore, to swing the Fifth and Sixth Corps around to the left, connecting the former with Burnside's left. in the hope that some undefended point might be found on the enemy's right flank where a telling blow could be struck. The Fifth Corps, leaving a thin line to make a show of strength in the works, started on its pilgrimage at 10 o'clock
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that evening. The orders contemplated a circuitous march far enough to the rear of the Union lines to be secure from observa- tion, using forest by-roads, fording the Ny river, making the way across fields to the Fredericksburg road, up which they were to advance, again crossing the Ny, and going into position from which to attack, or in case of no serious opposition being en- countered to advance against Lee's flank and rear, early in the morning. The Sixth Corps was to follow and prolong the line to the left.
The elements seemed to oppose the plan. The rain still fell heavily and the mud became terrible. The entire region seemed to be soaked into one vast quagmire ; the night proved utterly and intensely dark, and the exhausted men floundered about sadly in the effort to make their way through the unfamiliar forest. Guides had been provided and fires lighted to show the way, but the former were dazed by the difficulties of the march. and the latter were extinguished by the driving rain and the im- possibility of obtaining proper fuel. As a result, at the time appointed for the attack but a few hundred men, and those almost without organization, were feeling their way against the enemy's skirmish lines.
It was after midnight that the Thirty-seventh were roused. tents struck, and the men, benumbed and almost senseless from their exhaustion and broken sleep, waited for the signal to march. which came about 2 o'clock. Through the few remaining hours till daylight the column plodded slowly along, the regiment halting in the early morning, near the hospitals of the Ninth Corps to prepare breakfast. In fact no further movement was made till late in the afternoon. It took a long time to gather the fragments of the Fifth Corps, so seriously scattered by the floundering through the darkness and the mud the night before. and by the time a force was collected adequate to strike a blow worthy the name, the enemy, in force and well intrenched, was ready to receive it in the old way. In consequence the fighting was nowhere very serious. The most important event of the day was the occupation of the Jett farm, a considerable eminence to the left of and commanding the position of the Fifth Corps.
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IN POSITION ON THE LEFT.
This was seized upon early in the day by a small force of Regu- lars, who drove away some of the Confederate cavalry and began to intrench, when they were relieved by Upton's brigade, which under the personal direction of General Meade proceeded to make a permanent occupation of the locality. While the brigade was thus engaged it was assailed by a strong force of rebel in- fantry, Upton's men being precipitately scattered and General Meade himself narrowly escaping capture.
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon the Thirty-seventh were ordered under arms, Neill's division being directed to support Ayres's brigade of the Fifth Corps in retaking the Jett hill. Moving near to the Ny, the men were ordered to unbuckle their cartridge boxes and hold them with their muskets above their heads in case they should be called upon to ford the river and charge the enemy beyond. But the latter seemed to have aban- doned the place, making no attempt to hold it longer, and after some maneuvering and a brisk shelling of the woods in front, Edwards's Brigade went into position and threw up a line of rifle-pits.
Here the Thirty-seventh remained for three days without fur- ther engagement, merely confronting the enemy, cach army on the alert, seeking for an opportunity to strike an effective blow, but finding none. Sunday, May 15. was a bright, calm day, in every way in marked contrast with those which had immedi- ately preceded it. The location of the regiment was on a fine plantation which had hitherto escaped the desolations of warfare. Its fields were cultivated and charming to an unusual degree. and everything about it seemed instinet with the better life of Vir- ginia's happy days. It occasioned more than a sigh of regret to see the beautiful inclosures trodden by the marching columns, torn by the spades of the fortifying squads, desolated by the axes of the pioneers.
That afternoon a religious service was held by Chaplain Morse, which was largely attended by the members of the regiment. as was a prayer-meeting in the evening held just in the rear of the rifle-pits. These were the first religious services since the day of leaving the camp at Brandy Station-not a long
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period on the calendar, but how eventful in the history of the Thirty-seventh! . During the afternoon there was a very severe thunder shower, renewing the full volume of mud which had begun to abate in some degree. Possibly some demonstration had been contemplated but for this deluge, as the men were ordered to pack up, and the skirmish line was advanced some distance without encountering opposition. If there had been any inten- tion of a movement it was abandoned. The command waited till night-fall for further orders, then pitched their shelter tents once more or laid down upon the wet ground to sleep.
The regiment now found itself for a time under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Franklin P. Harlow of the Seventh, an officer whose sterling qualities had been well proved during his term of service, especially in the desperate storming of Marye's Hights a year before. Detailed at this time to command the Thirty-seventh, whose own officers had been so generally wounded, he discharged the duties of that delicate position in a manner to win the admiration of the regiment and the respect of all with whom he came in contact.
The soldiers, were early astir next morning, and after drawing rations waited in expectation of important orders of some nature. but none were received. The day passed in quiet, and after a prayer-meeting in the early evening the men slept withont dis- turbance till morning. Nor was the programme varied for the following day, so far as the Thirty-seventh was concerned, till evening. Two days before the Second Corps, with the exception of Birney's division, had been swung back to the Fredericksburg road, leaving the Ninth Corps and Birney to form the Federal right. It was now decided to quietly return the Second Corps to its position at the Angle and attack early next morning on the scene of the terrible struggle of the 12th, with the Sixth Corps
co-operating. After dark of the 17th, therefore, the Thirty- seventh, in common with its fellow-regiments of the corps. received orders to prepare to move, and all night was spent in a slow, intermittent, wearisome erceping through the woods and fields, by trails and by-ways, morning finding the brigade with Wheaton's near the Landrum house, deploying for the attack.
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CLOSE TO THE JAWS OF DEATH.
These two brigades covered the right flank of the Second Corps, and when the preparations had been completed, at about 5 o'clock, under cover of a tremendous artillery fire from the Federal bat- teries planted in the front line of the Union works and firing over their heads, the devoted lines moved forward to the assault.
It was a memorable scene. From right to left, for miles, the artillery crashed and roared, the woods and fields all about were filled with howling shot and bursting shell, to which the assailed made little reply, but not because they were dismayed or absent. Crouching behind their works, they waited till the assailants should enter the abatis and become disorganized in the struggle through the slashings and impediments of every sort which filled the entire ground to be charged over. Then, as the Confederate skirmishers were swept back before the strong lines of blue, the restrained tempest broke forth and with shriek and scream and hissing poured its death blast in the faces of the Union soldiers. As the hostile works were approached Wheaton's brigade moved to the right, uncovering Edwards's, which went straight forward, up to and over the first line of the Confederate intrenchments. The brave veterans would have gone directly into the jaws of death at the command, and they were not far from that allegorie spot at this particular moment. Hugging the ground and clinging tenaciously to what they had gained, the dauntless fellows waited in terrible suspense for the co-op- «rating lines to make a corresponding advance and relieve them from the furious cross fire to which they were now exposed. They waited in vain. The task undertaken was too trying, the lunghter would be too terribly certain, the prospect of success was too remote. The troops to the right and left were breaking into fragments and scrambling to the rear as best they could; the order to fall back came to the Thirty-seventh. It was about is trying as one to advance, but commander and men knew each other better from that moment. "Steady, Thirty-seventh!" cautions Colonel Harlow, as though guiding an alignment on The drill-field, and with the firmness of review the regiment fives to the rear and moves back through the tempest of fire to Fre sheltering earthworks from which it had come.
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" We went in, lost some men and came out again-that is all there was to it," said a gallant officer speaking of the part taken in this assault by the Thirty-seventh, and that was true of the entire operation. It had cost some six or seven hundred men and had amounted to nothing. The regiment had been very fortunate in having but two men killed-Sergeant Ira Larkins and Charles T. Wing of Company H-and 19 wounded, includ- ing Sergeant Major Hubbard M. Abbott in the hand. So with its rapidly shrinking line shortened by ten files for which it could only point to the fact of having penetrated further into the deadly jungle than any other portion of the assaulting lines. the Thirty-seventh turned its face once more toward the left. and used up the rest of the day in marching back to the vicinity of the Anderson house, crossing the Ny once more and getting into line of battle on the extreme Federal left.
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