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 3
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FROM SECESSION TO ANTIETAM.
hannock and the Rapidan, while Jackson, feeling that his strength was insufficient, waited at Gordonsville for reinforcements.
Jackson was across the Rapidan with his whole strength on the 8th of August and Banks's corps was thrown forward to meet him. In the afternoon of the following day the Confederates were found strongly posted on the slopes of Cedar Mountain, and Banks at once delivered a skillful and vigorous attack which broke the enemy's lines, and for a time it almost seemed that a complete rout would follow. But Jackson had heavy reserves at hand, which were promptly brought into action, checking the Federal pursuit of the broken battalions, and though Gordon's brigade, the only Union reserve, was thrown in and suffered severely, it was unable to withstand the overwhelming masses which bore down upon it, and Banks's whole force retired behind Cedar Run. There they were reinforced by Sigel and Ricketts, and when the Confederate troops attempted a pursuit, the recep- tion they received was so warm that the purpose was immediately relinquished.
Two days later Jackson withdrew to the south bank of the Rapidan, across which stream the pickets of the two armies watched each other for a week, when Pope, finding that Lee's entire army, set free by the withdrawal of Mcclellan's forces from the peninsula, was in his front, fell back behind the Rappa- hannock. Skirmishing continned till the 25th, when Jackson's corps, starting from Jefferson and marching by way of White Plains and Thoroughfare Gap, descended upon the railroad at Bristoe Station, in the rear of Pope, which point was reached on the evening of the 26th. From the Station to Manassas Junc- tion large captures of stores and prisoners were made, after which the daring corps drew back toward Groveton to await the inevit- able attack. Pope, thus assailed in the rear, faced his army about and strove to crush Jackson before the other Confederate corps under Longstreet could join forces with him. On the 29th began the battle of Manassas, or the Second Bull Run, and the result of the first day's fighting, while indecisive, was at least equally favorable to the Union arms. The main engagement had been prefaced by two sharp passages at arms, each of which may
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1755090
THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
properly enough claim the dignity of an independent battle. Near evening of the 27th General Hooker's division came upon the Confederate rear guard at Bristoe Station, under General Ewell, and drove them speedily in the direction of Manassas Junction in search of the main body. McDowell's corps had been thrown across the line of Jackson's retreat at Gainesville, and on the afternoon of the 28th, as King's division moved toward Centre- ville, two of its brigades were savagely struck in the flank by the divisions of Ewell and Taliaferro. In the plucky fight which ensued, known as the battle of Gainesville, both the Southern division commanders were wounded, Ewell losing a leg, and their repeated assaults were repelled with heavy loss on both sides.
During the battle of the two succeeding days, General Pope had under his command, in addition to his original force, six divisions from the Army of the Potomac-two each under Heintzelman, Porter and Reno. The fight of the 29th is gener- ally spoken of as the battle of Groveton, especially by Southern writers, and was opened by the troops of Sigel and Reynolds, who had succeeded in locating the wily Jackson, and when sharp encounters had shown that the latter was not, as Pope had sup- posed, anxiously seeking a way of escape, there was a pause while the necessary troops for a decisive engagement were thrown into position. Before noon Heintzelman and Reno came up, but Porter was some hours later. Near the close of the afternoon, brilliant attacks upon the Confederate position were made by the divisions of Hooker and Kearney, that of the former, led by Grover's brigade, cutting through the opposing lines like a knife, while Kearney's blow was at least equally powerful and effective. But the attacks were not supported as they should have been, an expected advance by Porter against the enemy's right was not made, for Longstreet was already on the field and had joined forces with Jackson, so that night fell with the two armies in substantially the positions of the early afternoon. The morn- ing of the 30th brought a renewal of the battle, but it was hope- less on the Union side from the outset. The men were exhausted and dispirited, out of food, and many of the best divisions with- out an adequate supply of ammunition. But the men fought
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FROM SECESSION TO ANTIETAM.
bravely-even desperately-under all these disadvantages. Porter's corps, especially, strove tenaciously to dislodge Longstreet from his strong position, and from every assault it recoiled in torn fragments. Night found the Federal army in full retreat upon Centreville, the few available brigades scarcely equal to the cov- ering of the retreating columns.
The corps of Franklin and Sumner had been pushed forward from Alexandria, by direction of General MeClellan, as far as Centreville, and under the protection of their firm battalions the broken army rested the following day, thence falling back to the vicinity of Fairfax Court House and Germantown. A drenching storm had set in, but even this did not dampen the ardor of the Confederate victors. Again Jackson resorted to his favorite strategy of a long detour by his left flank to fall suddenly upon the Federal right, and on the evening of September 1 he joined battle at Ox Hill, near Germantown, fighting what is known as the battle of Chantilly. The action was brief, the use of ammunition next to impossible, owing to the storm, and the repulse was made complete by a fine bayonet charge of Birney's brigade of Reno's corps ; but the Union army counted among its lost two noble officers in Generals Stevens and Kearney. The former was shot dead while leading a charge of his division, and the latter met a similar fate by riding into the enemy's lines in the storm and darkness.
On the following day the army, by direction of General Hal- leck, retired within the Washington defenses, where it was secure from further attack in its exhausted condition. General Pope on the same day resigned his command, the Army of Virginia was merged with that of the Potomac, and General McClellan was given command of the united forces. In the reorganization and reinspiriting of the remains of the two armies the wonderful genius of Mcclellan found ample field, and the hand of the master was at once apparent. In a remarkably short time the shattered corps emerged upon the soil of Maryland, marching with confident stop in pursuit of Lee's invading army.
The Confederate general had good cause for congratulation. In three months from the time of taking command, he had
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GENERAL LEE INVADES MARYLAND.
driven MeClellan's magnificent army of investment from in front of the Confederate capital into the shelter of the Federal gun-boats, whence it had withdrawn to the strong defenses at Alexandria, from which it originally came forth full of bright anticipations of victory; then turning upon a second army, equal to his own in numbers, he had sent that in turn broken and dis- organized before his triumphant legions. It was natural for him to feel that there was little to fear for the present from this supposed fugitive crowd, though the strength of the Washington fortifications and the extent of his own losses precluded the idea of a direct attack upon the Federal capital.
General Lee, therefore, resolved upon the invasion of Maryland. He moved promptly, the 7th of September finding the South- ern army all on Maryland soil, and the following day, from his headquarters at Frederick, General Lee issued a proclamation to the people of the state, in which he assumed the tone of a liber- ator, and invited them to espouse the cause of the South. The response was not encouraging. The bulk of the fighting Mary- land secessionists had already joined the army in Virginia, while the people of the state at large, even had their sympathy been greater, had no ambition to see their fair fields devastated by the tramp of opposing armies. Nor was there much time for the development of results. No sooner was the purpose of Lee manifested than Mcclellan put the Army of the Potomac in motion to meet the invaders. Crossing to the Maryland side and proceeding with the reorganization of the army on the. march, he pushed sturdily forward toward Frederick, covering all the available roads.
The Confederates meantime were not idle. On crossing the river they had seized the railroad at Point of Rocks, cutting off the garrison of some 12,000 men at and about Harper's Ferry from communication with Washington. Finding that the posi- tion was not abandoned, Lee sent Jackson with a large force to cross the Potomac in front of Sharpsburg and invest the place from the Virginia side, while MeLaws co-operated from the Maryland side. The move was a complete success, and resulted in the surrender of the entire force with little show of resistance,
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FROM SECESSION TO ANTIETAM.
as their position was capable of no effective defense against the batteries on the surrounding hights, which opened fire on the morning of the 15th. Colonel Miles, in command of the garrison, was mortally wounded, and his second in command, General White, speedily gave up the contest.
Lee, meantime, finding that MeClellan was advised as to his plans, withdrew the bulk of his army to the vicinity of Sharpsburg, in order not only that his forces might be reunited as soon as pos- sible after the accomplishment of Jackson's enterprise, but that he might be able to retreat by way of the Shenandoah valley into Virginia, in case retreat became necessary. To check McClellan's advance as much as possible, General D. H. Hill was posted at Turner's Gap of the South Mountain, with his own division re- inforced by two of Longstreet's divisions, while at Crampton's Gap, near Burkittsville, was stationed a portion of McLaws's force. General Franklin moved against the latter force with the Sixth Corps on the afternoon of the 14th, and after some three hours of sharp, though not heavy fighting, the pass was carried. At Turner's Gap, six miles to the northward, where the principal struggle in the battle of South Mountain occurred, the task was much more serious and the force on each side much greater. The assault was made by the right wing of the army, under General Burnside, composed of Reno's corps, the Ninth, and Hooker's, the First. From early morning, till darkness put an end to further operations, there was a sharp struggle on the part of the Federal forces to gain possession of the rocky fastnesses, and a stubborn resistance on the part of the defenders. The Confederate General Garland, whose brigade received Reno's first attack, was killed, and the crest held by his forces was. wrested from them, but here the Union advance was checked till Hook- er's corps, which came upon the field in the afternoon, climbed the mountain sides in the face of strong opposition and secured a position to the north of the Confederates which commanded the pass proper. At that time, when the Union forces were in a position to secure the fruits of their persistent efforts, night came on, and in the morning their antagonists had withdrawn. Hill had gained for his chief a day's time, though at a heavy
39
THE BATTLE ON THE ANTIETAM.
cost in casualties and prisoners ; while the Federals, in addition to the delay, had to mourn the death of General Reno, a brave and valnable officer, who fell about sunset, almost in the moment of triumph, as the Stars and Stripes waved from the conquered hights.
Pursuit was made next morning, as soon as it was found that the defenders were in retreat, and there was skirmishing during the day as the Federals pressed the Confederate rear guard, but there was no serious engagement, and the close of the afternoon displayed the bulk of Lee's army drawn up in a strong position on the right or Sharpsburg bank of Antietam Creek. In the. mean time, McLaws, driven from Crampton's Gap by the Sixth Corps, was cut off from Lee's main body, and his safety seriously complicated. He, however, formed a strong line of battle across Pleasant Valley, covering Harper's Ferry, where the beleaguered Union troops were on the point of surrendering, and when that event occurred McLaws hastily retreated across the Potomac, by way of the Ferry, into Virginia, whence recrossing at Shepards- town, he rejoined his superior at Sharpsburg. Jackson, having received General White's capitulation, very hastily paroled his captives and flew to the support of the imperiled Southern chieftain, on the banks of the Antietam, with whom he formed a junction during the night of the 16th.
As the two armies faced each other on the morning of the 16th of September, Lee had in his front the Antietam Creek, while the Potomac protected each flank, rendering a direct attack necessary. The creek was spanned by four stone bridges, three of which were strongly defended by the Confederates, but to the left of their position there was another which was unprotected, and across this, when the preparations were completed, which was not till late in the afternoon, the right wing of the Federal army was ordered to pass to assault the Confederate left flank. Hooker with his own corps led the way, as so often before he had done, his crossing being unopposed, and his lines were estab- lished, pushing back his opponents for a considerable distance. With a plan of battle developed and thus much of initial action taken, the operations of the day ceased. MeClellau's programme
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FROM SECESSION TO ANTIETAM.
was to cross Sumner with his own Second Corps and the Twelfth under General Mansfield, to the support of Hooker, delivering a heavy attack against the Confederate left, and when the action was well under way to throw General Burnside with the Ninth Corps across a bridge in his front to engage the forces of Long- street, on the opposite flank. Porter's Fifth Corps formed the Union center, while the Sixth, under Franklin, were still in Pleasant Valley, with one division posted at Maryland Hights, opposite Harper's Ferry.
It cannot be said that Mcclellan's programme was efficiently „carried out. With the early morning Hooker advanced vigor- ously, and was as vigorously met. The enemy was pushed back. with heavy loss on each side. Finally the attack lost its momen- tum, Hooker was severely wounded, his corps broken, and the fight at a stand-still till reinforcements came up on both sides. Sumner and Mansfield came upon the scene, but the latter was killed, General Richardson, commanding one of Sumner's divisions, mortally wounded, and both corps were sadly shattered. Sedgwick's division had reached an advanced position, whence with adequate support it would seem that it might have attained decisive results. But the support was not at hand, the division was forced back, and Sedgwick, twice wounded, was carried from the field. In this piecemeal attack of single regiments, brigades and divisions, a murderons loss had been inflicted on both sides, but no advantage gained. Meanwhile it was not till afternoon, when the action on the Federal right had ceased, that Burnside succeeded in getting across the creek. The crossing was difficult, and a small force had sufficed to hold his corps at bay till it was too late for them to carry out their part of the programme. They did, indeed, drive back the troops in their front for some distance when once across the stream, but were themselves in turn pushed down to the shelter of the bluff, near the crossing.
Here the battle ended. Franklin's two available divisions had come up, and had been put in position on the right, where the struggle had been so terrible, and Porter's corps had not yet been engaged; but MeClellan shrank from a renewal of the fight
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LEE RETURNS TO VIRGINIA.
on the morning of the 18th, and the day was devoted to burying the dead and caring for the wounded, the Union loss having been upward of 12,000, and that of the Confederates nearly as great. If it was Mcclellan's intention to resume the battle on the 19th, he was doomed to disappointment, for the coming of that day found the Army of Northern Virginia once more on the " Sacred Soil," and no pursuit was attempted. For a few days, more or less skirmishing across the Potomac occurred, and small forces from each army crossed the river to annoy their antagonists, only to return speedily to their own side. Lee, with the remnants of his army, moved up the Shenandoah valley to the vicinity of Winchester, while the Union troops remained in Maryland, so distributed as to guard against possible incursions from marauding parties of the enemy.
Both armies were sadly in need of rest and supplies of various kinds. According to their own reports, the invaders had been in a terribly ragged and destitute condition for a long time, while the Army of the Potomac was far from being well supplied after its summer's campaign. Recruits were sent forward from Washington to strengthen the various commands, among the uew regiments of three-years' troops permanently attached to the army being the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts. The history of this organization becomes from that time identified with that of the larger body. Let us now sketch the work of Massachu- setts as a loyal member of the national Union, before taking up the especial story of her Thirty-seventh Regiment.
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CHAPTER II.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
THE RECORD OF THE COMMONWEALTH .- ITS PUBLIC MEN .- ITS SOLDIERS. - ITS CITIZENS.
The record of Massachusetts in the war for the Union was one of which all who love its good name may justly be proud. In the field and in the legislative halls, in conflict on land and sea as in the council chambers, the sons of the Old Bay State led the advance ; while in the blessed offices of mercy which sought to alleviate the sufferings of those dreadful years and as far as possible to rob war of its horrors, in whatever way the purpose might be advanced, the whole people, irrespective of age, sex or social condition, joined with an exemplary energy. Yet in the group of all who did such valiant, faithful service one figure must ever stand gloriously above all the rest-the central figure of the stout-hearted, clear-headed war governor, John A. Andrew. Born in Maine in 1818, a graduate of Bow- doin College in 1837 and admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1840, Mr. Andrew in 1860 undoubtedly stood at the head of the legal profession in the state. Never in the narrow sense a politician, his experience in public place had been confined to a single term in the state Legislature and the chairmanship of the Massachu- setts delegation in the National Republican Convention at Chi- cago which nominated Lincoln for the presidency. Yet to the mighty task to which he was called, Governor Andrew brought a statesmanship, a power of resource and an unwavering pur- pose which won the admiration of the country.
Mr. Andrew was elected to his first term on the day of Mr. Lincoln's election to the presidency-November 6, 1860,-by a
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GOVERNOR JOHN A. ANDREW.
vote of 104,527 and a clear majority over his three competitors, representing the three factions of the Democratic party, of 39,445 -the largest vote up to that time ever cast in the Common- wealth. The state delegation in Congress, the Executive Coun- cil and nearly the entire Legislature were Republican in politics and therefore in general accord with the new administration. Nor was the support of Governor Andrew by any means con- fined to the party which elected him to office. The vast major- ity of the democratic party of the state were faithful to the cause of union, and the soldiers in the field represented all shades of political belief subordinated to national loyalty.
Before the inauguration of Governor Andrew, January 5, 1861, the war cloud grew threatening, and thoughtful men began to despair of averting an appeal to arms. Yet so dreadful seemed that alternative that, while nerving themselves for the struggle should it come, the people of the state neglected no opportunity to urge conciliation and concession, and late in the month a petition bearing 15,000 prominent names was sent to the Massachusetts delegation in Congress, urging conciliatory measures. The people were ready to sanction any reasonable sacrifice for the sake of peace, but they were not ready to see the nation, in the building of which their fathers had borne so honorable a part, fall in ruins about them. If that were to be the alternative, they would prove that the sons were ready to sacrifice for the preservation as much as their ancestors for the creation. In his inaugural the new governor spoke for the whole state when he said: "The people will forever stand by the coun- try." There was no more comprehensive expression of the pop- ular feeling than that given by Adjutant-General William Schouler when, responding to a toast in honor to Major Ander- son, then besieged in Fort Sumter, he said: "We have no boasts to make. History tells what the men of Massachusetts have done, and they will never disgrace that history." These were the calm utterances of earnest men, typical of the invincible purposes of loyal men everywhere; they put into words that carnest determination which led the soldiers of the old Common- wealth, hopeful and unshrinking, through every disaster and
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
discouragement to final consummation. Quite the reverse of of this, in speech and action, found favor among the dema- gogues who were plotting the destruction of the nation. Calin utterance following earnest thought could never have served their purpose, and we find instead fiery bluster and impetuous, passionate acts, in the field as on the forum. While the latter were anxious only that the national Union should be destroyed, Governor Andrew had no greater ambition than to know and faithfully do his duty under the general government for its preservation. In his message of the following year, when the issue had been joined and the fearful magnitude of the struggle began to be realized, he uses these noble words :--
Let him lead to whom the people have assigned the authority and the power. One great duty of absorbing, royal patriotism, which is the public duty of the occasion, demands us all to follow. Placed in no sit- nation where it becomes me to discuss his policy, I do not stop even to consider it. The only question that I can entertain is what to do, and, when that question is answered, the other is what next to do, in the sphere of activity where is given me to stand; for by deeds, and not by words, are this people to accomplish their salvation. Let ours be the duty in this great emergency to furnish, in unstinted measure. the men and the money required of us for the common defense. Let Massachu- setts ideas and Massachusetts principles go forth, with the industrious, sturdy sons of the Commonwealth to propagate and intensity, in every camp and upon every battle-field, that love of equal liberty, and those rights of universal humanity, which are the basis of our institutions; but let none of us who remain at home presume to direet the pilot or to seize the helm. To the civil head of the national state, to the military head of the national army, our fidelity, our confidence, our constant, de- voted, unwavering support, rendered in the spirit of intelligent freemen. of large-minded citizens, conscious of the difficulties of government, the responsibilities of power, the perils of distrust and division, are due withont measure and without reservation.
To this magnificent expression of loyal devotion Governor Andrew remained intensely faithful to the end. At the confer- ence of loyal governors at Altoona, Pa., in September of the same year, when the peninsular fiasco, the defeat of Pope and the doubtful result at Antietam might well have cast a gloom over the most ardent, bis was the voice of unfaltering courage, and his the hand which wrote the petition to the President ask-
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SENATORS SUMNER AND WILSON.
ing for another levy of 300,000 men for the strengthening of the Union armies. But with this intense earnestness of pur- pose Governor Andrew mingled no vindictive feeling, and when the end was reached, when the test of arms had decided that the Union was to live, stronger, 'grander, purified and redeemed by its awful baptism of blood, he could say, after pronouncing a touching culogy on the martyred President Lincoln :-
Order, law, freedom, and true civilization, must rise into life all over the territory blasted by despotism, barbarism and treason. The schemes of sentimental politicians, who neither learn nor forget, whose ideas of constructive statesmanship are only imitative as are the mechanical ideas of the bee or the beaver, the plans of men who would rebuild on the sand, for the sake of adhering to a precedent,-must be utterly, promptly and forever rejected. Let the government and the people resolve to be brave, faithful, impartial and just. With the blessing of God, let us determine to have a country the home of liberty and civilization. Let us deserve success and we shall surmount every ob- stacle, we shall survive delays, we shall conquer defeat, we shall win a peaceful victory for the great ages of the future; and, for the cause of humanity, we shall requite these years of toil and war. The blood of all this noble army of martyrs, from the soldiers of Massachusetts who fell in Baltimore to Abraham Lincoln, the President, who has mingled his own with theirs,-the blood of this noble army of martyrs shall be, as of old, the seed of the Church.
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