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 28
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By this time the tired men, who had been without sleep for 40 hours and incessantly marching and fighting for 24, were quite ready to lie down anywhere and sleep, but at 2 o'clock they were again ealled up and soon as it was light moved some two miles to the left and front, near the river Po. Formidable rifle pits in the rear of the advance line were constructed by details from the several regiments of the brigade, and for two days the Thir- ty-seventh, with the exception of continual duty upon the skir- mish line, occupied these works in peace. Each evening a prayer-meeting was held in the grove of pines close to the ritle pits, and, as so often thenceforth to the close of the struggle. the bronzed and bearded warriors turning from scenes and thoughts of bloodshed to hold reverent communion with their Maker formed a touching and impressive picture.
On the 19th Ewell's corps of Lec's army sallied out from behind its breast works and by a rapid movement swung aronud upon the Fredericksburg road, now used as the direct line of communication by the Army of the Potomac with its base at Aquia Creek, and pounced upon a wagon train. A sharp fight at once ensued in which the principal part was taken on the Union side by a division of heavy artillery fighting as infantry. which under the command of General R. O. Tyler had recently
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GOOD-BY TO SPOTTSYLVANI.1.
been attached to the Second Corps. This being the first battle in which these men had taken part, they went into it with an enthusiasm which was simply irresistible, and, though at heavy loss on their own part, drove the assailants back to their works, several hundred prisoners being taken.
The struggle which had continued for 15 days was now ended and preparations were made for a further movement by the left flank toward Richmond. Thus far during the campaign the losses of the Union army had amounted to over 40,000 men, and even these enormous figures do not adequately express the mag- nitude of this continual carnival of horrors. During all this time the men had been fighting by day and marching and man- euvering by night, constantly under fire, until many had utterly broken down from want of sleep and the continual strain upon the nervous systems. According to the best estimates the Con- federate loss had been not far from 20,000; and this, though numerically so much less than the Union loss, was unquestiona- bly a more serious blow to the government behind the army.
The Sixth Corps had been selected to cover the withdrawal of the army from in front of Lee, and till noon of the 21st remained in its intrenchments. The Second Corps started on its march early in the night of the 20th, the Fifth Corps followed next morning, and that afternoon Burnside also went, leaving Wright alone on the old battle-field. But a like movement had been made on the part of the Confederates, Anderson's corps moving out during the night of the 20th and Ewell's in the morning, so that as the day closed Hill alone confronted Wright. The march of Lee's column was straight toward his Capital by the Telegraph road, parallel to the movement of the Army of the Potomac, but as the latter had to take a less direct route, more to the eastward, General Lee intended to interpose across the line of the Federal advance in time to prevent immediate danger to Richmond, and this he was able to do, as we shall soon see.
About noon General Wright concentrated his forces in the strong works on the elevated ground about the Gayle house, and later General Ilill, thinking to feel the retiring corps, made a vigorous attack, driving in the skirmishers and at one point
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making a lodgment in the line. But his forces were speedily driven out and the magnificent firing of the Sixth Corps artil- lery sent his four lines of battle back to their works in confu- sion. The loss of the Thirty-seventh in this little engagement was James Moran of Company C killed and six men wounded.
About 10 o'clock that evening the corps withdrew from its in- trenchments and followed in the track of those that had pre- ceded it, the skirmish line under command of Captain Loomis being extricated in the darkness with much effort but without loss. The march continued all through the night, but had the advantage over some of the night marches which had preceded it that steady progress was made without the vexation of fre- quent halts and delays; yet even at the best the men were sadly jaded and worn and welcomed the halt of early morning at Guiness Station for coffee, followed by a rest till 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The men generally devoted these hours to sleep, the day proving oppressively warm, though not all could resist the temptation to make limited excursions in the neighborhood in the interests of the individual commissary department.
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The present movement of the army was through one of the richest and finest sections of Virginia, and one which had thus far experienced no more serious visitation than the occasional dash of a cavalry column; the country was gently undulating, with frequent fine estates and extensive plantations, the wide fields being generally in a state of cultivation quite charming to the eye.
During the respite cannonading had been heard in the direc- tion of Bowling Green, but the roar of artillery had smitten the ears of the men so long and incessantly that this fresh outbreak scarcely provoked speculation. As the column moved in the afternoon in that direction, some reminiscences of the campaign of the previous May-which now seemed removed by such a dis- tance of time and event-were recalled by passing the house in which "Stonewall" Jackson had died a year before of the wounds received at Chancellorsville. Bowling Green was passed and the column turned due south, pressing on till Calker's Store was reached, where a halt was made for the night, much to the
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MARCHING TO THE NORTH ANNA.
relief of the men, who were quite exhausted from the heat of the day, their previous condition and the scarcity of food, which among officers and men was generally quite consumed. At the close of the day's march the First Division, which had been in the advance, fell to the rear and the Second Division, going to the front, formed in line of battle and built temporary breastworks of rails behind which they slept soundly till morning.
Next morning the march was resumed soon after 8 o'clock, the Army of the Potomac moving toward Hanover Junction in three columns,-the Fifth Corps, followed by the Sixth, on the right, the Ninth in the center and the Second on the left. Late as was the hour of starting, the men of the Thirty-seventh went without their breakfasts, simply because they had nothing to eat except in the rare cases where they had been able to obtain some- thing by purchase or forage ; but at noon a halt was made and five days' rations were drawn-a serious addition to the burdens carried by the men, though a very welcome one. An hour later the march was resumed, and as the afternoon wore away the un- mistakable crash of battle was heard in front.
At Hanover Junction the Fredericksburg and Richmond rail- road, which ran nearly due south. was crossed by the Virginia Central coming in from the northwest, whence the two, a few miles apart, ran nearly parallel to Richmond. A mile or two before reaching the Junction the North Anna river was encount- vred, which like most of those in that part of Virginia runs in a general sontheasterly direction. A few miles below the North and South Annas unite, forming the Pamunky, which before reaching the sea joins the Matapony, and the two lose their identity in the York river. Parallel to the North Anna and some two miles from it flows Little river, a tributary of the South Anna, and between the two first named, in a position strong by nature and which he hastened to improve by fortifica- tions, General Lee had again planted his army across the path of the Union advance.
Hancock's column struck the North Anna at the Fredericks- barg railroad and the turnpike bridge a mile above. the latter being the only passage practicable for his troops, and the approach
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to this was commanded by some earthworks which had been built at the time of the Chancellorsville campaign and were now manned by the Confederates who had just reached the scene. A charge was made by Birney's division which resulted in the capture of the works with some of the defenders, and gave the Union soldiers command of one end of the bridge while the enemy held the other. This position was held during the night. frequent efforts of the rebels to burn the bridge being frustrated. On the right General Warren had reached the river at Jericho Mills, four miles above, where a very difficult ford was found. guarded only by a skirmish line. Serambling down the steep rocky banks and wading the stream waist deep, General Bart- lett's brigade of Griffin's division secured footing on the other side, a ponton bridge was hastily laid, and the whole corps, part wading and part using the bridge, crossed and established a line half a mile from the river. While the intrenching was being done a characteristic Southern assault was made by Wilcox's and Heth's divisions of Hill's corps, which at one point gained some advantage ; but a well-directed artillery fire drove them back in confusion, and the Sixth Corps, which had by this time reached the north bank of the river, was not needed and did not crow the river till the next morning. General Warren had established his position, had captured nearly a thousand prisoners, and the prospect was regarded as quite cheering. At 3 o'clock in the morning of the 24th the Thirty-seventh crossed the river in con- nection with the rest of the corps and quietly waited through the day for developments. At that part of the field there was no considerable engagement, and many of the soldiers seized the opportunity to bathe in the North Anna-a privilege, it does not need to be said, of which they had long felt the need. Ar o'clock the regiment advanced to relieve a portion of the Fifth Corps in the front line, and remained in their intrenchment: through the night, exposed to a very severe thunder shower, the vivid lightning and loud thunder flashing and crashing through the forest in a remarkable manner while the rain poured down in torrents.
The promise of the initial movements had not been borne ou:
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LEE'S IMPREGNABLE POSITION.
by the events of the day, and it was found that the Confederate army was really in a position of exceptional strength. Lee's center still rested upon the North Anna between the two cross- ings made by the Union wings ; his left had been thrown back to Little river upon which it rested securely, the line facing about due north and extending from river to river, a distance of about a mile and a half, like a wall of iron. His right was pro- tected by the Hanover marshes, south of the Junction, the gen- era! facing of his right wing being to the eastward. Lee's position was thus compact, admirably adapted for the concentra- tion of force to any threatened point, and assailable only by direct front attack. The two wings of the Union army were separated by miles of distance and two crossings of the river, effective co-operation between them was out of the question, and the generals commanding were reluctantly forced to the conclu- sion that some more promising field must be sought. The retir- ing of Lee's left to Little river had obliged him to uncover the Central railroad, and this Meade proceeded to destroy for several miles, while Warren still strove to push his left through to con- nect with Hancock. But the enemy had been reinforced, both from the Shenandoah valley and by Pickett's division from south of Richmond, and his lines were everywhere firmly maintained.
At 8 o'clock in the morning of the 25th the Thirty-seventh marched toward the front, crossing the Central railroad at Noel's Station and advancing to the Anderson plantation, where the brigade in two lines formed on the right of Sweitzer's brigade of the Fifth Corps. In the afternoon the whole line moved a short . distance to the left, when the men were set to work building fortifications, laboring all through the night and tearing down three negro cabins to obtain logs for the purpose. A heavy shower occurred during the night, and much rain fell the follow- ing day, when most of the men not at work on the pits were detailed for duty on the skirmish line, where a brisk firing was kept up, though fortunately none of the Thirty-seventh were hurt.
The movement of the Army of the Potomac " by the left flank "ward Richmond " was resumed that evening, and the march which resulted proved one of the hardest of the many hard
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marches of the campaign. The regiment proper, or rather the handful of men accompanying the colors, moved soon after dark and marched steadily and as rapidly as possible all night. .. large part of the men, however, were on the skirmish line and did not get across the river till daylight, when they pushed ot: at the top of their speed to overtake their fellows. The rain vi the previous day had softened the ground, making all the roads difficult and exhausting, especially to the men of the Thirty- seventh, who were now passing their second consecutive night entirely without sleep. As usual, the Union army was obliged to make a long detour to reach roads which would secure the movement from observation, and in consequence they went across lots, through woods and by cross roads, over ditches and fences, through fields of corn and grain, crossing the Fredericks- burg and Richmond railroad at Chesterfield Station. But the difficulty of the route was not the only tax upon the endurance of the soldiers. Again they were without food. For two day: they had nothing to eat except two rations of fresh beef, and during this time they were being taxed to the utmost both day and night. It scarcely needs to be said that of the 311 member- of the Thirty-seventh at this time present for duty, not one couldi have been properly termed a well man; yet the exigencies of the service were recognized by all, and each was making hero! exertions to meet the terrible and incessant calls.
The march continued all through the 27th, General Russell's division leading the corps, preceded by a strong cavalry fore. which during the forenoon reached and occupied Hanover Town. the immediate objective point of the army. The day being ver: warm, the mud was soon tolerably dried, the roads being in f ... condition otherwise and leading through a charming section . : the country, but the suffering soldiery had little eye now for nature . beauty; oh, that they might lie down in the cool shade in the. green fields to sleep and rest!
A halt was made for the night a few miles from the Pamunky. and the men slept heavily till early morning when they we" aroused and at 5 o'clock the march was resumed, the Thirty. seventh leading the corps. The river was crossed at half-past ?.
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THE VISIT TO PEAKE'S STATION.
and some two miles beyond the line of battle was formed, the Thirty-seventh being deployed as skirmishers and the remain- der of the brigade proceeding to intrench, the lines running through a vast corn-field. There the entire corps remained till the rest of the army crossed the river and went into position, while the cavalry pushed to the front to ascertain as definitely as possible where the Confederate army was next to be encountered; for there was no doubt that Lee, having the shorter route and perfect knowledge of the country, had interposed between the Army of the Potomac and Richmond, which was now less than a day's march distant.
The crossing of the Pamunkey had placed the army on the famous "Peninsula," and the Federal advance had already reached the ground occupied by Mcclellan's outposts two years before. The cavalry found the enemy in considerable force at Hawes's Shop on the Hanover road, a severe engagement result- ing in which Sheridan held the ground, and next day the differ- ent corps were pushed forward on reconnaissances to develop the intentions of the foe.
Late in the afternoon of Sunday, the 29th, the Thirty-seventh received the orders they had all day been cautioned to expect, knapsacks were slung and the column moved away toward Han- over Court House. A halt was made at midnight; the men threw themselves down beside the road or wherever opportunity pre- sented and rested till early morning. The march thus far had been in support of General Russell's division, but on the morn- ing of the 30th the Thirty-seventh took the lead, moving down the railroad as far as Peake's Station, cutting the telegraph wires, destroying the track and burning the buildings at the station.
A few hours later the corps commenced retiring, Edwards's brigade, strengthened by four additional regiments and a battery, being constituted the rear guard. These moved back slowly to Crump's Mills, skirmishing with the Confederate horseman all the way, and on reaching that point went into position on the extreme right of the corps, the Thirty-seventh supporting a bat- tery. Here the night and the following day were passed with no further incident, though the sounds of continual artillery firing
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came up from the left. In fact the other corps, which had ad- vanced on the direct roads leading to Richmond, encountered such opposition as to show the Confederate army in force along the Totopotomy, and after some sharp fighting it was decided to move still further to the left, since if Lee was forced from his present position it would only be to take a stronger one be- hind the Chickahominy and the impregnable Richmond defenses. A movement was therefore planned by way of Cold Harbor,* a hamlet where many important roads converged. The place was seized by Sheridan's cavalry on the afternoon of the 31st, pre- liminary to its occupation by the Sixth Corps leading the Army of the Potomac and by a column from General Butler's command south of Richmond.
A brief sketch must now be given of the operations of the Army of the James and of the Union cavalry up to this time.
It will be remembered that early in February an attempt had been made at the suggestion of General Butler to force a small, swiftly moving column from his army through the Richmond de- fenses for the purpose of liberating the Union prisoners confined in that city and on Belle Island and in the James River near it. This attempt had failed, as had a cavalry movement from the Army of the Potomac direct a few weeks later under General Kilpatrick and Colonel Dahlgren, the latter being killed. The enemy were found on the alert and the works proved too strong to be forced. But with the deadly grapple between the main armies in full progress and Butler's forces also operating from the other side of the Confederate Capital, it seemed that a bold. strong dash might prove successful, and after clearing the way for the advance of the infantry to Spottsylvania, General Sher- idan with a powerful cavalry column made his way directly toward Richmond. Destroying railroads, public property and stores, he pushed on with slight opposition till Yellow Tavern was reached, not more than ten miles due north of Richmond. Here, on the 11th, Sheridan found himself confronted by Gen- eral J. E. B. Stuart at the head of a strong force of Southern
. This name is variously given by different authorities as Cold Harbor, Coal Harbor, Ciel Arbor, etc. I have used the first spelling as probably the more correct.
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THE ARMY OF THE JAMES.
cavalry. A severe battle ensued in which the Confederate leader and General James B. Gordon, commanding one of his brigades, were mortally wounded. The loss of Stuart was a very heavy blow to the Southern army, his abilities as a cavalry leader being recognized through both armies. Lieutenant-Gen- eral Wade Hampton was his successor in the command of Lee's cavalry. Having driven the enemy from his path, Sheridan pushed straight toward Richmond, and Custer's brigade suc- eceded in carrying the first line of works and capturing a hundred prisoners; but, as in other cases, the inner lines proved too strong to be forced. The column swept away to the southward, de- feating every force which attempted to oppose it, made a june- tion with the Union troops on the James, procured supplies and returned leisurely to the Army of the Potomac, which it re- joined on the 25th in the vicinity of the North Anna. One of the best results of the raid was the recapture of 400 Union pris- oners on their way to Richmond from the Wilderness.
Simultaneously with the advance of the Army of the Potomac against Lee, General Butler began his prescribed operations on the south side of Richmond. His force, comprising some 35,000 men of all arms, consisted of General W. F. Smith's Eighteenth Corps, containing the divisions of Generals Brooks, Weitzel and Ilinks-the latter colored troops,-and General Q. 1. Gillmore's Tenth Corps, summoned for the occasion from South Carolina and comprising the divisions of Generals Terry, Ames and Turner, General Kautz commanded the cavalry division attached to the Army of the James. Making a demonstration as though he in- tended to operate on the peninsula by Mcclellan's old route, Butler suddenly transferred his troops by transport to the James, up which he advanced to City Point, within 15 miles of Rich- mond, where he landed and proceeded to intrench strongly at Bermuda Hundred, a small peninsula in the vicinity, where his fanks rested on the river and were protected by the gun-boats of the fleet. From this stronghold raiding parties were pushed out : strike the Richmond and Petersburg railroad, only a few miles in front, but found themselves confronted by Beauregard's command, which had been hurried up from South Carolina with
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all the reinforcements that could be gathered on the way. Sev- eral engagements of minor importance occurred, the road was effectually destroyed and Kautz's cavalry set forth on a raid to the westward, while Butler with his main force faced toward Richmond and advanced, pressing back the enemy's outposts, till his further immediate progress was checked by a strong line of works. While the two armies thus confronted each other Beauregard struck his antagonist a severe blow at Drewry's Bluff on the morning of May 16. Everything favored the Con- federates. A heavy fog prevailed, covering perfectly their move- ment ; their forces were advantageously disposed to strike the Union army in front, flank and rear ; while the Federal line was so extended as to be everywhere weak and about as badly disposed as possible for defensive purposes. The Southern commander's plans were well laid for the complete overthrow of his antagonist, but some of them miscarried, while the stubborn resistance of the Union soldiers prevented a rout in any part of the line, though General Smith was obliged to fall back to protect his communi- cations. As a result General Butler retired again behind his defenses at Bermuda Hundred, where his position was quite im- pregnable. Beanregard, constructing a parallel line of works. sat down to watch his foe, dispatching one division of his armny to Lee's assistance.
General Grant, on hearing of the result of General Butler's movement, directed the latter to send him all the troops of his command save such as might be necessary to hold the position: at City Point, and accordingly General Smith was dispatched with four divisions under Generals Brooks, Devens, Martindal .. and Ames-the two former well known and honored in the Army of the Potomac. These went by transports to White House. Grant's new base of supplies on the Pamankey, whence they marched to Cold Harbor. Beauregard at the same time sent another division to reinforce Lee.
Sheridan having gained possession of favorable ground at Col! Harbor on the afternoon of the 31st of May was directed to hohl ; at any cost, while Wright was instructed to hurry with his corp from the right at Hawes's Shop to his support. The Sixth Corps 1
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THE MARCH TO COLD HARBOR.
was ordered to be at Cold Harbor by daybreak if this were possi- ble,-which it manifestly was not. The orders were not received till well into the night, the distance to be marched was more than 15 miles over a region intersected in every direction by narrow, half-defined and unmarked roads, puzzling even in broad day and quite untreadable in the darkness of a moonless night.
The Thirty-seventh were called from slumber at midnight, the officers' horses were saddled and the men packed their blankets ready for an immediate start, but as the orders were not re- ceived to move one after another settled down to sleep again, and so the night passed till morning came. Then the march was taken up and steadily pursued, and seldom had the brave men struggled through a more severe ordeal. The day proved intensely hot, the sun burning down with a lurid, brassy glare that seemed to broil the human flesh on which it fell; the way led through sandy plains, heated to the intensity of a vast fur- nace, from which the most terrible clouds of dust arose, not only high into the air, disclosing every movement to the watchful enemy, but as well choking the breath and blinding the vision of the gasping men who were marching through them. Every- where the sun-stroke did its deadly work-men fell blinded and gasping from the ranks, strong, brave men who on a dozen deadly fields had looked death in the face without quailing, con- quered now by the long, unceasing strain to which they had been subjected and the mighty power of the elements.
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