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 34
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A few additional changes, occurring somewhat later in the sea- son, may be noted here. Captain J. A. Loomis of Company E resigned on account of disability November 19, and Surgeon Char- les I'. Crehore resigned December 1. Assistant Surgeon Elisha M. White was promoted to fill the last-named vacancy. First Lieutenant Thomas G. Colt was promoted to captain and muster- ed November 27 ; First Lieutenant John S. Bradley was at the same time made nominally the regimental adjutant ; Second Lieutenant II. M. Abbott was made first lieutenant of Company HI but was detailed for service with Company F; while First Sergeant Edward D. Taylor of Company G was commissioned and mustered as second lieutenant of Company K, but continued in service with G.
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THE SERVICE AT WINCHESTER.
The selection of a major to succeed Moody, resigned July 24 :. which had been hanging fire for some time, was completed D ..- cember 2 by the commission and muster of Captain Rufus P'. Lincoln of Company C. First Lieutenant George H. Hyde of Company B was mustered as captain of C two weeks later, but continued to command B; the vacant first lieutenancy was filled by the commission and muster on the same day of First Sergeant Albert H. Vincent of Company H. On the 1st of January, 1865, the vacancy in the roster of Company A caused by the promotion of Wellman to captain was filled by the commission and mnster of Second Lieutenant Richard H. Taylor of Company I, First Sergeant Julius H. Reed of Company B being made second lieu- tenant of I.
Meantime, what had become of Early and his pursuers ? We have said that on the night of the 19th of September Ramseur made a stand at Kernstown, and the pursuit was given over at that point by the Federal cavalry. The Confederate army as such made no halt, however, till it reached Fisher's Hill, where it took up a strong defensive position. Sheridan promptly made his plans for a flank movement by the Eighth Corps while the Sixth and Nineteenth threatened the apparently impregnable front. On the 22d the movement was executed and crowned with entire success, the enemy being driven in confusion from the strong works, leaving more than a thousand prisoners in the hands of the victors, with nearly 20 pieces of artillery.
For four days Early retreated up the Valley till he reached Brown's Gap, where he expected to be joined by Kershaw's di- vision, which had been ordered back to him in the hope of re- pairing the disaster of the past week. The expected reinforce- ments were on hand the following day, and the two armies faced each other again with something of the old determination-Early in the vicinity of the Gap and Sheridan at Harrisonburg. The latter was now 80 miles from his base of supplies at Martinsburg : and desirable as it seemed to push the enemy through the mount - ains in the direction of Charlottesville or Gordonsville, it In- came increasingly apparent that it would be impossible to pro- vision the army for such a move. The country itself would af-
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THE CONTEST FOR THE VALLEY.
ford no supplies worth speaking of, but it swarmed with guerril- las and roving bands, making necessary a strong escort for every train and protection for all lines of communication. Meantime the Union cavalry were kept busy in laying waste the Valley, in accordance with the orders of General Grant, so that it should no longer be capable of affording subsistence for a Confederate army, as it had so often done in the past. Far as the swift horse- men in strong force could penetrate, they left but a smoking waste. Dwellings were spared, but mills, barns, granaries and store-houses,-everything which could give aid to the foe, was ruthlessly destroyed. The sight was a sad one, but it was a mili- tary necessity ; the people of the Valley had been among the very first to lift the armed hand against the national government, and they were now feeling to the full the curse of that war into which they had been so eager to plunge, dragging so many inno- cent and unoffending ones.
Sheridan began to fall back October 5, and the next day Early who had been further reinforced by Rosser's cavalry brigade, moved out in pursuit. Rosser was especially anxious to redeem the reputation of the Confederate cavalry, and his operations as- sumed such an air of boldness that Sheridan directed Torbert to "either whip him or get whipped " himself. Custer met Rosser and Merritt encountered Lomax at Toms Brook on the 9th, and in both cases the Confederates were whipped with a vengeance and chased more than 20 miles. Sheridan's forces now retired to Cedar Creek, the Eighth Corps taking position east of the pike and the Nineteenth west of it, while preparations were made to dispatch the Sixth to Petersburg. The latter corps had in fact marched to the Shenandoah opposite Ashby's Gap, when it was hurriedly called back. Early on the 13th suddenly re-oc- cupied his old position at Fisher's Hill, threw forward a re- connaissance within range of the Federal camps and made the latter aware of his presence by pitching some shells in upon them at dinner time. Two brigades of Thoburn's division of the Eighth Corps sallied ont to meet them, but were driven back. The Thirty-fourth Massachusetts regiment in one of them lost fully a hundred men, while Colonel George D. Wells,
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THE SERVICE AT WINCHESTER.
commanding the brigade, was mortally wounded and fell into the enemy's hands. Early then retired to his old fortifications, and the Sixth Corps on returning to the scene was placed in the rear of the others.
Early could not long maintain his position in the face of the Union army, for since the vigorous treatment of the Valley by the latter it did not afford sustenance for his troops, and his sup- plies were. fast becoming exhausted. Both armies knew that a battle or Early's retreat must soon take place, and the reports of the Union scouts indicated that the latter had really begun. That was a mistake. The daring Confederate had thoroughly reconnoitered the Union position, made his plans for a flank attack, and during the night of the 18th his army crept forward past the flank of the unsuspecting camp, and in the early gray of the foggy morning the blow, sure, swift and deadly, was struck.
Thoburn's division received the first volley. It was fired by Kershaw's men as they came pouring over the intrenchments into the sleeping camp. The men rushed bewildered from their tents to find the alternative of flight or captivity only left. The gallant Thoburn received a mortal wound while attempting to rally his panic-stricken command. The other two divisions of the Eighth Corps under Generals Hayes and Kitching were has- tily formed to resist Kershaw's further progress, while General Wright, in command of the armny during the absence of Sheri- dan, sent to General Ricketts in command of the Sixth Corps to form two divisions on the pike. Kershaw was firing from the captured camp upon the rest of the Eighth Corps with the Union artillery left in his hands, when Gordon's division broke from the forest on the flank of Hayes and Kitching and the already demoralized commands gave way utterly. The position thus ob- tained by the Confederates commanded the Nineteenth Corps completely, and the latter was also directed to fall back.
Not far in the rear of the captured camps the Confederates encountered the Sixth Corps, a portion of which was making a stand on a wooded eminence to check the enemy till a stronger position could be taken up in the rear. Here General Ricketts was wounded and the command devolved upon General Getty of
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SHERIDAN'S VICTORY AT CEDAR CREEK.
the Second Division, General Grant of the Vermont Brigade tak- ing the division. West of Middletown this division made another stand, and when Wharton's division was thrown against it, not only were the assailants repulsed but they were driven back in disorder by a gallant counter charge. Here General Bidwell, commanding the Third Brigade of the Union division, was mortally wounded. The Confederate repulse had been so serious that Early paused to concentrate his army to attack this single sturdy division, and when he again advanced it was to find the entire Sixth Corps strongly planted across the pike north of Middletown, with the cavalry on the flanks. Before this firm front Early's demoralized troops recoiled, and he found it im- possible immediately to bring them to another attack.
At this point General Sheridan rode upon the scene. On his way back from Washington he had passed the night with Colonel Edwards at Winchester. Cannonading was heard before he started for the front in the morning, but it was known that a Federal reconnaissance had been ordered for that morning, and no importance was attached to the sound. A short distance out fugitives from the battle-field began to be met and Edwards's Brigade was at once ordered out to deploy across the pike and the fields to stop them. The retreating trains were directed to park beside the turnpike and Sheridan dashed on toward the front, uttering everywhere words of assurance and confidence. The line of the Sixth Corps as General Wright had been able to establish it was corrected and strengthened, such of the Nine- teenth Corps as remained serviceable was brought up from its rallying point in the rear and placed on the right of the Sixth, and when Early finally succeeded in forcing his half-hearted troops forward once more against the Federal right they were easily repulsed.
At 4 o'clock the Union advance began, and it was one invinci- ble onward sweep, the movement being a magnificent left half wheel with Custer's cavalry on the marching flank, then the Nineteenth Corps and the Sixth, with Merritt's horsemen at the pivot. Early had taken the precaution to send his prisoners to the rear early in the day, but he saved little else. The 24 guns
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THE SERVICE AT WINCHESTER.
which he had captured in the morning were retaken with an equal number of his own, 56 of his ambulances and over 1,200 of his soldiers fell into the hands of the final victors. Never in the whole war was there a more utter rout than had now befallen the Confederates. The infantry pursuit stopped at Cedar Creek, but the cavalry kept on some miles further, riding through the mass of fugitives, capturing, burning and destroying.
Early's. prestige as a commander and his military power in the Valley were now completely broken, but it had been at a cost of nearly 6,000 Union soldiers killed, wounded and missing. Among the dead was one of the Old Bay State's noblest young soldiers,-Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., whose commission as a brigadier general of cavalry had that day been signed. Colonel Kitching, commanding a division of the Eighth Corps, was also mortally wounded. Among the other wounded were General Wright, General Grover and Colonels Mackenzie and Penrose commanding brigades.
For the glorious termination of that day's adventure the country rang with the praises of General Sheridan, salutes were fired by all the Union armies, and he was commissioned a major general in the regular army on MeClellan's resignation a litth later. But soldiers of the Sixth Corps will never forget the credit due to that organization and its efficient commander. General Wright. Repeatedly did a fragment of that corps throw itself across the path of the demoralizing rout and the exultant pursuit, checking the tide and gaining time for the stronger line in the rear, till at the third stand it presented the complete front before which the Confederate onset broke and recoiled with no possibility of further advance.
The battle of Cedar Creek practically ended the fighting in the Valley, with the exception of some minor cavalry engage- ments. Early withdrew to the vicinity of New Market, where his army was somewhat reorganized, and when Sheridan on the 9th of November took up a position at Kernstown he followed and three days later made a show of offering battle. Finding that his challenge was to be accepted he withdrew next night and thenceforth remained steadily on the defensive in strong
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SHERMAN'S GEORGIA CAMPAIGN.
positions well up the Valley. It may be stated as disposing of General Early as a factor in the war, that after most of his val- uable troops had been dispatched to the assistance of Lee the remainder took up a strong position near Waynesboro and Rock- fish Gap. An attack by Custer's cavalry division on the 2d of March, 1865, carried the position, capturing most of the troops with scarcely the loss of a life, while Early and a few of his officers escaped and fled to Richmond.
During the year now drawing to a close events of great im- portance had transpired in other portions of the national field. General Grant on his promotion to the lieutenant generalship had given the immediate command of the Military Division of the Mississippi to General W. T. Sherman, directing him to make General Johnston's army, then in camp near Dalton, Ga., his immediate objective, in connection with the simultaneous movement of all the Union armies which was planned for the early spring.
The advance began the 7th of May, 1864. Sherman's forces consisted of the Army of the Cumberland, General Thomas, composed of the Fourth Corps, General Howard, Fourteenth Corps, General Palmer, and the Twentieth Corps, made up of the old Eleventh and Twelfth consolidated under General Hooker; the Army of the Tennessce, General McPherson, con- sisting of the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan, the Sixteenth, General Dodge, and the Seventeenth, General Blair; the Army of the Ohio or the Twenty-third Corps, General Schofield. These organizations with a proportionate force of cavalry and about 250 pieces of artillery made up a total of nearly 100,000 efficient men, under able and trusted commanders.
Skirmishing and minor engagements immediately followed, Sherman's army forcing its way through the rocky passes and defiles of that wild region and without a severe encounter forc- ing Johnston to evacuate his strong camp at Dalton and hasten to Resaca, a dozen miles south, to meet the Union army which had passed around his flank. Serious fighting ensued on the 14th and 15th, and during the night of the latter Johnston, whose position had become imperiled, withdrew. Pushing steadily
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THE SERVICE AT WINCHESTER.
southward to Adairsville, the Southern commander thought to make a halt and offer battle; but after a slight engagement he again withdrew in the night, moving most of his force to Cass- ville, while a smaller detachment took the road to Kingston. At the former place another stand was made, but no battle resulted, for with the firing of the first Federal artillery the Confederate corps commanders, Hood, Polk and Hardee, declared their posi- tions untenable, and again the columns moved southward. The Etowah river was crossed, and finally Johnston selected New Hope Church as the proper point for offering battle. His lines ran from a point two miles south of Dallas and extended ser- eral miles to the northeast. The position was a strong one and had been carefully intrenched.
The battle of New Hope Church was begun by Hooker's corps near night of the 25th, during a severe thunder storm, but its determined assaults were repulsed. - The rest of the Union army came up as rapidly as possible and intrenched in front of the enemy's position, and through the succeeding days there was more or less fighting, with continuous sharp-shooting and skirmishing. On the afternoon of the 28th a very determined assault was made on Logan's front by Bate's rebel division, in- volving other troops of both armies, but the assailants were driven back with severe loss. On the 4th of June Johnston evacuated his lines at New Hope Church, Sherman having worked so far to the east as to render the position untenable, and the tide of battle surged back to the vicinity of Marietta, in front of and covering which Johnston drew his new lines.
The two armies confronted each other again on the 14th, the Confederates behind strong lines of intrenehments, and during the skirmishing the Southern General Polk was killed by a cannon-shot. A long series of engagements, charges and coun- ter-charges had now begun, the enemy being slowly but contin- ually pressed back toward Marietta. On the 22d Hood made : determined attack on Hooker and suffered a considerable los -: on the 2:th Sherman assaulted in turn and was repulsed at all points with a loss of 3,000 men.
Sherman now decided upon another movement by the flank,
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"FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA."
and as it progressed Johnston was obliged to quit his intrench- ments before Marietta, which he did July 2, closely followed by Sherman. Two days later he crossed the Chattahoocheend intrenched. On the 7th Schofield crossed at Powell's Ferry on his flank, and on the 10th Johnston took a position covering Atlanta and facing Sherman. A week later the latter began ac- tive siege operations, which were carried on till the fall of the city with great energy. A sharp sally was made by Hood on the 20th, which was easily repulsed ; but on the 22d a more deter- mined sortie was made, resulting in what is known as the battle of Atlanta. During the fight General McPherson was killed, General Logan taking temporary command of the Army of the Tennessee, to which General Howard was appointed four days later. General Hooker, feeling aggrieved at the selection, re- signed his command of the Twentieth Corps and was succeeded by General Slocum, General D. S. Stanley succeeding Howard in the command of the Fourth Corps. On the Confederate side, Johnston had some days before been succeeded by Hood, who carried on a steadily losing struggle till the 1st of September, when he evacuated Atlanta and the following day General Sher- man took possession.
The purpose of Sherman's campaign had thus in a great mea- sure been attained. The most important point in Georgia was in his possession, for in a manufacturing as well as in a military sense Atlanta was the heart of the Commonwealth. Hood had moved westward into Alabama with the remnants of his army, and it was evident that he intended to harass Sherman by falling upon his communications or leading him a wild race back into the border states if the victorious general should undertake to follow him. The plan upon which Sherman decided was quite different, being to march directly through the heart of Georgia to Savannah on the sea coast, leaving General Thomas with a portion of the army to attend to Hood.
The march through Georgia was one of the remarkable and picturesque features of the war. It was decided upon Octo- ber 11, and the resistless legions started southward from At- lanta on the 14th of November. Moving in parallel columns,
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THE SERVICE AT WINCHESTER.
living upon the country and leaving behind a trail of war's desolation 60 miles in width, the expedition moved unchecked and without fighting a battle worthy the name to the sea-coast. investing Savannah on the 10th of December. On the 13th a force under General Hazen captured Fort MeAllister, an im- portant work opening communication with the Union fleet off the harbor. General Hardee, who commanded the garrison of about 18,000, evacuated Savannah during the night of the 20th, retreating to Charleston, and the following day Sherman occu- pied the city.
The campaign between Hood and Thomas proved an exciting and an important one, but its main features may be very briefly recorded. Thomas concentrated at Nashville, which was certain to be Hood's objective point, and the first severe engagement was the battle of Franklin, which was fought November 30 between General Schofield's command, consisting of the Twenty-third and part of the Fourth Corps, and Cheatam's, Stewart's and Lee's corps of Hood's urmy. The latter assaulted the Union position with reckless desperation and obtained possession of an advanced work held by two brigades, but their success ended there. The assault on the main lines was repulsed with terrible slaughter. Twelve of Hood's generals were killed or wounded, 32 of his battle flags were left in Federal hands, and his entire loss can hardly have been less than S,000 men; the Union loss was 2,326. That night Schofield retired to Nashville to join forees with Thomas, and on the 4th of December Hood formally invested the place.
The battle of Nashville, fought on the 15th and 16th of De- eember, was one of the most disastrous to the Confederate arms in the entire course of the war. On the first day Hood's lines were by a vigorous attack of Thomas's army driven back fully two miles to a strong line of hills, to which the waning army strove desperately to eling the following day ; but the resistless energy of the Union assault drove Hood's weakened battalions ont in a completo rout. A broken rabble retreated to Tupelo, Miss., where Hood assembled what he could, furloughed a con- siderable part and then asked to be relieved of the command.
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PRESIDENT LINCOLN RE-ELECTED.
Thomas, having followed the remnants of Hood's force across the southern line of Tennessee over horrible roads, was preparing to go into winter quarters in Northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi when he received orders from General Grant to con- tinne the campaign, in common with the other commanders.
While these and minor military events had been transpiring, an important presidential election had taken place. President Lincoln was renominated by the Union National Convention at Baltimore, June 7, and Andrew Johnson, then military governor of Tennessee, was named for vice-president. The platform adopted indorsed President Lincoln, promised to sustain the Government, declared against compromise with the rebels and for the sacredness of the public debt. The opposition or Democratic convention at Chicago, August 29, put General George B. MeClellan in nomination for the presidency with George H. Pendleton of Ohio, a rank secession sympathizer, for the second place. The key-note of their platform declared the war a failure, and on that issue the political canvass was waged. It was a remarkably bitter one, but ended in the triumphant re- election of Mr. Lincoln, only three states-New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky-giving their electoral votes for General MeClellan.
With this expression of the unalterable determination of the loyal people of the North, with Sherman sweeping through the heart of the Confederacy, with the harbor of Mobile occupied by . Farragut's fleet, with Hood's and Early's armies practically annihilated, with the grasp of Grant constantly tightening on the principal Confederate army in front of Petersburg, with universal exhaustion and loss of heart throughout the South, with only Davis's iron despotism to hold the Confederacy to- gether, it needed no astute prophet to realize that the beginning of the end was at hand.
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE PETERSBURG CAMPAIGN.
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AGAIN IN THE TRENCHES .- DAYS OF SIEGE. - AT HATCHER'S RUN .- PREPARING TO STRIKE .- FALL OF PETERSBURG.
The Sixth Corps began to leave the Shenandoah Valley on its return to the Army of the Potomac before Petersburg early in December. The Third Division went through Winchester on the 3d, the Second following six days later. A heavy fall of snow the following night wrapped everything in its white pall- a very disagreeable one to the soldiers in their temporary camps. For a day or two alternating rain and snow rendered existence out of doors peculiarly disagreeable, and when fair weather again prevailed it brought with it such severe cold as seemed to pro- claim that the reign of winter had indeed begun.
In the midst of this material chill, on the evening of Deeem- ber 12, just twelve weeks from the time that the regiment had been ordered into Winchester, it received orders to prepare for departure on the morrow. There was some speculation, some preparation, some words of regret were spoken; but marching orders had long since lost their novelty, a sort of involuntary philosophy had been adopted by the men, based on the old maxim that "what can't be cured must be endured," so that morning found the command refreshed by a good night's rest and prepared to accept whatever fate might have in store. Lieutenant-Colonel Montagne was at this time absent, having been disabled by an accident some time previous while at home in Massachusetts on a furlough, the regiment having during his absence been commanded by Captain Donnelly, the senior officer present.
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GENERAL HALLECK MISUNDERSTANDS.
Morning brought the unavoidable bustle of preparation, the battalion line was formed, and a few parting words were spoken by Colonel Edwards, who expressed regret at the necessity for a temporary separation. Marching to Stephenson's Depot, some six miles to the northeast of Winchester, where the regiment stowed itself upon a train of freight cars, the journey was made thence by rail to Washington. It was not wholly a pleasure trip; the weather still remained sharply cold, the movements of the train were unavoidably slow, the positions of the men were cramped and uncomfortable. Yet when the latter recalled the many terrible pilgrimages made over the same region on foot, they simply drew a little closer to each other to avoid the search- ing winds and listened placidly to the steady rumbling of the train as it rolled on through valley and past hill.
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