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 36
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Preparations for the supreme blow were now pushed with great vigor, and on the 20th the movement of troops began for another effort against the enemy's right and a more determined one than had previously been made. The movement was nuder the command of General Sheridan and consisted of his cavalry and the Second and Fifth Corps. The troops were in position the following morning to begin active operations, but a heavy
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409
THE BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS.
rain-storm coming the roads were made very difficult, so that oper- ations would have been suspended for a day or two had not the enemy, having hurried into position what troops he could gath- er, took the initiative by a sharp attack on the Union cavalry at Five Forks. Sheridan's troopers were forced back toward Dinwiddie Court House, where next morning (April 1) they were joined by the Fifth Corps. The battle of Five Forks fol- lowed, one of the most brilliant of the war, in which the Confed- erate line was flanked and taken in the rear by the Fifth Corps while the cavalry pressed its front. Five thousand prisoners were captured, while those that escaped fled toward the west, so that the entire force was practically lost to Lee's army in front of Petersburg. No sooner did the news of Sheridan's victory reach General Grant than he ordered an attack along the entire lino at 4 o'clock next morning.
The position of the Union forces was now as follows: The Ninth Corps was on the right; that and the Sixth held the main line from the Appomattox to Forts Fisher and Welch. Three divisions from the Army of the James under General Ord ex- tended diagonally from the left of the Sixth to Hatcher's Run. (The white troops of the Army of the James had been organized as the Twenty-fourth Corps under General Ord, and the colored troops with the colored division of the Ninth Corps had been constituted the Twenty-fifth Corps, General Weitzel command- ing.) West of the Run the Second Corps prolonged the line in the same direction, while further away and detached were the victors at Five Forks.
Since the affair at Fort Steadman the Thirty-seventh had every morning been called up before daylight and placed under arms in the rifle-pits, and on the 30th of March orders were issued that nothing was to be unpacked. This state of constant expect- ancy continued till evening of the 1st of April when the corps was concentrated in front of Forts Fisher and Welch, where the ground captured on the 25th of March gave an excellent oppor- tunity for the formation of the column of assault. Edwards's Brigade formed the right of the Sixth Corps, being in rear echelon to the Second Division, the brigade being in three lines,
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THE PETERSBURG CAMPAIGN.
the Thirty-seventh with the Fifth Wisconsin in front. Captain Hopkins commanded the regiment, Captain Edwards the right wing and Captain Gray the left. The skirmish line was made up of 75 picked men and volunteers from the Thirty-seventh under command of Captain Robinson assisted by Lieutenant Cushman. Formed alternately on the same line with the skirmishers were the brigade pioneers commanded by Lieutenant Donaldson, armed only with axes with which to cut through the abatis.
In this formation the long night was passed under skirmish fire, with a single ludicrous incident to break the monotony of the oppressive hours. One of the pioneer mules, loaded with picks and shovels, was struck by a skirmisher's bullet and under the smart of the wound broke away and charged directly toward the enemy. The clatter which his armament created alarmed the Confederates, who suspected an assault and at once opened a heavy fire all along the line, which was kept up for some time. The mule was found next day inside Lee's lines, having received no additional injury.
As soon as it was light enough for the soldiers to see the ground upon which they were to step two guns from Fort Fisher boomed out the signal and in an instant the dark lines swept forward. The forlorn hope of skirmishers and pioneers reached the abatis in a few moments. It was not only firmly secured by 'earth thrown over the trunks, but was strengthened by a double row of sharpened stakes firmly fixed in the ground: A destructive fire was opened upon the exposed line, which the skirmishers re- turned with interest from their Spencer rifles while the pioneers chopped and wrenched away the obstructions with desperate energy. Captain Robinson was wounded in the arm while striving to force his way through the obstructions; Sergeant Charles H. Tracy of Company A, on duty with the pioneers, was severely wounded, and while lying on the ground encouraging his comrades received a second shot in the knee joint causing the loss of his leg. Fortunately in the gloom most of the enemy's fire went over the attacking forces and the loss was but a fraction of what it would have been a few minutes later.
Meantime the line of battle sprang forward with a rush and a
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STORMING THE PETERSBURG DEFENSES.
cheer. It gave little heed to the pioneers or the obstructions on which they were engaged; into and through them it went some- how-no one could tell in the wild excitement just how-and straight forward to the enemy's works. A three-gun fort was the objective of the Thirty-seventh,-a strong work protected by a ditch. Company E led in the scramble up the parapet, Corporal Richard E. Welch and Private Ansel R. Cook being the first to spring inside, while the colors of the Thirty- seventh were the first to crown the rebel works. Corporal Welch knocked down the Confederate color-bearer and siezed his flag, for which he subsequently received a Medal of Honor. Lieuten- ant Waterman was shot through the wrist as he gained the crest of the parapet while cheering on his men, but his assailant was next moment bayoneted by Corporal Patrick Kelly. Michael Kelly of the same company was killed and Corporal Luther M. Tanner-a brave and well-beloved soldier-received a fatal wound in the knee. Then the wave of blue poured over in resistless strength, such of the defenders of the fort as could not escape surrendered, and the Confederate lines were broken. The regi- mental lines were reformed, Company E under Lientenant Cushman-its only commissioned officer after the wounding of Lieutenant Waterman-was detailed to hold the fort and the guns it had done so much toward winning, and the remainder of the column pressed on.
The loss of the regiment in the assault was found to be three men killed and three officers and 29 men wounded ; in addition to those already named Lieutenant F. K. Sheldon being wounded, Corporal Calixte Beauchemin of Company G and George P. Edwards of Company I killed.
The first line of the brigade now changed front to the left and moved down inside the Confederate works till it met Hyde's brigade of the Second Division ; the second line faced to the right and cleared the works for some distance in that direction ; while the third line pushed straight ahead to elcar the ground in the rear, reaching the Southside railroad and cutting the telegraph wires. Then the entire corps pressed on toward the left for a mile, driving the enemy toward Hateher's Run and
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THE PETERSBURG CAMPAIGN.
destroying his camps and wagons. Then a grand countermarch took place and the victorious corps moved np toward the interior line of works protecting Petersburg on the west.
At one point near the close of the day the Alleghany Artillery, Captain Carpenter's battery, opened on the flank of the Thirty- seventh. The regiment was moved under cover and Captain Champney with two companies was detailed to silence the fire. This was effectually done, the horses being killed, and the Sec- ond Division soon after advancing over that part of the field captured every gun.
The Sixth Corps had won credit enough for one day, and within a few hundred yards of Petersburg the halt for the night was made. The lines ran past the fine mansion used by General Lee for headquarters, occupied that night by General Grant of the Vermont Brigade. Colonel Edwards was appointed general officer of the day and posted his skirmish line, on which were Companies E and I of the Thirty-seventh.
Meantime to the left Generals Ord and Humphreys had also broken through the Confederate intrenchments, dispersing such of the foe as were found, and then joining forces with Wright moved toward Petersburg, Ord's command capturing Fort Gregg after a stubborn resistance. On the Union right General Parke had made a lodgment in the enemy's lines, but found the works too strong to be carried, and later in the day was subjected to a sharp counter-attack by General A. P. Hill's command, in which that able leader lost his life.
Early in the morning of the 3d, before daylight, Colonel Ed- wards advanced his skirmishers and reserves into the outskirts of the city without opposition, and a few minutes later he received from Mayor Towne and other officials a formal surren- der. Lee had completed the evacuation scarcely 15 minutes be- fore the Union skirmishers entered. The Thirty-seventh were at once ordered into the city to preserve order, and were the only troops from the Sixth Corps to enter. There was no dis- turbance. "Bress de Lor' for dis day! Yesterday I was a slave now I am free!" was a frequent exclamation of the elated negroes. The white inhabitants were not so happy.
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CHAPTER XX.
ONE COUNTRY AND ONE FLAG.
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LEE'S FLIGHT AND THE PURSUIT-THE GRAPPLE AT SAILOR'S CREEK-THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX-IN SEARCH OF JOHNSTON.
Not the Army of the Potomac alone but the whole country was electrified by the tidings which that never-to-be-forgotten 3d of April, 1865, proclaimed to the world. Not only Peters- burg but Richmond had been evacuated during the night; the Confederate Government as well as Lee's army was in full flight.
General Weitzel, whose lines faced the Richmond defenses, was startled by heavy explosions and volumes of black smoke rising from the city. A cavalry vidette was pushed forward which entered unopposed the city to gain which such countless thousands of lives had been sacrificed and planted its guidons on the late Confederate Capitol. The retiring traitors in their eagerness for destruction had fired large warehouses filled with tobacco situated in the heart of the city; and though Weitzel's soldiers were at once hurried to the spot and fought the fire with all their power, it could not be checked till the business part of the city was destroyed and a vast number of people rendered homeless.
General Lee on retiring from Petersburg moved north to Chesterfield Court House, half way to Richmond, where the fragments of his army from different directions concentrated. marching thence with all speed due west. The route led across the Appomattox at Goode's Bridge to Amelia Court House on the Danville railroad, 38 miles west of Petersburg, whence Lee intended to move by the railroad to Burkesville, 20 miles
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ONE COUNTRY AND ONE FLAG.
to the southwest, the crossing of the Danville and Southside roads. From that point he could retreat either in the direction of Danville or Lynchburg, prolonging the struggle indefinitely; but Providence decreed that the mad folly which for four years had reigned should come to a sudden end at last. On reaching Amelia, Lee found that large quantities of supplies which had been ordered to that place had by a misunderstanding been car- ried on to Richmond, and they had in fact been burned there with other stores. His army was consequently without food and was obliged to remain there during the 4th and 5th while nu- merous foraging parties were sent out in all directions to gather such supplies as were obtainable from the surrounding country.
General Sheridan with the cavalry advance of the Union army gained the Danville railroad at Jetersville, some miles to the southwest of Lee's position, on the morning of the 4th, cutting off the intended retreat toward Danville. The Fifth, Second and Sixth Corps coming up during the following day, prepar- ations were made to attack on the morning of the 6th.
The Thirty-seventh regiment, after a brief stop in Petersburg on the morning of the 3d, rejoined its brigade, and about noon set forth on its westward march, the soldiers of all the commands quite beside themselves with enthusiasm. The forces from the Army of the James, under General Ord, followed the Southside railroad, while Sheridan's cavalry, the Fifth, Second and Sixth Corps, in the order named, pursued the roads between the rail- way and the river. Some ten miles were made the first day, the march was resumed at daylight of the 4th, and continued with brief halts for breath till an hour after dark. On the morning of the 5th an order was read to each regiment asking the troops to cheerfully endure hardships and hunger if necessary in order to ensure the speedy downfall of the rebellion, which was greeted with cheers and followed by another hard day's march. the corps joining Sheridan's forces at Jetersville late in the evening.
An advance was promptly made toward Amelia at daylight of the 6th, but it was soon evident that the prey had escaped during the night. Lee had in faet moved past the Union left flank and made a strong push for Farmville, 35 miles west, where he hoped
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LEE'S REAR GUARD AT BAY.
to cross to the north side of the Appomattox and still escape to Lynchburg and the mountains beyond. General Ord, whose command had reached Burkesville, was at once directed to move to Farmville, and sent on in advance of his main body a light column of some 500 men under General Theodore Read. This little force succeeded in reaching Farmville in advance of the enemy and in checking the latter till General Ord arrived ; but General Read was killed and his command nearly destroyed.
Meantime the three infantry corps of the Army of the Poto- mac, preceded by cavalry, moved westward from Jetersville ou parallel routes, the Sixth Corps on the southernmost road follow- ing General Sheridan. At Deatonsville he began to feel the Confederate rear guard, fully a third of Lec's army under General Ewell, which was making determined efforts to protect what remained of the wagon trains. Custer's cavalry division had succeeded by a detour in cutting off the train and its guards, while Sheridan pressed sharply on the rear. A running fight ensned for some distance, when the Confederates having reached favorable ground on the west side of Sailor's Creek turned upon their pursners for a last desperate stand. The afternoon was waning, and if they could hold the Federals at bay till dusk it might be possible to save something from the surrounding and converging circle of fire.
The Thirty-seventh had already marched more than 20 miles over the sandy, rolling, pine-covered country on that warm 6th of April when the desultory artillery fire which had been heard at intervals assumed that steadiness which proclaimed to the toiling infantry that their services were to be called for. Never had so many miles been made with such heart as the 70 marched over since leaving Petersburg, and dashing the sweat from their faces the enthusiastic fellows began to fill the magazines of their rifles, to cast aside knapsacks, blankets and superfluous clothing in preparation for the anticipated struggle. The men were ready to break into a run when the order to "double-quick" was re- ceived, and for three miles they went forward at a pace which nothing but the intense excitement of the occasion could have chabled them to sustain.
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ONE COUNTRY AND ONE FLAG.
Just where the road passed the erest of an elevation Generals Sheridan and Wright sat upon their horses watching on the one side the magnificent advance of the troops and on the other the scene of the coming battle. Pausing for a moment to receive a welcome and directions as to the placing of his command, Gen- eral Edwards bore straight for the battle-field and his men fol- lowed with no slackening of speed. As they passed the crest the scene of strife lay spread before them like a panorama. For a mile a gentle open slope led down to the creek, a narrow, sluggish stream with marshy and bush-grown banks ; on the opposite side there was a somewhat more marked ascent, broken by ravines and covered with a scattering thicket of pines and bushes. On the latter slope, protected by the contour of the ground. Ewell's lines of battle were disposed. Far beyond the smoke of burning wagons showed the presence and the work of Custer's horsemen. On the eastern side of the creek the guns of Sheri- dan's artillery had been holding the enemy to cover"till the Union infantry could get up.
Wheaton's and Seymour's (Third) Divisions were pushed across the creek, which was waist deep and difficult to ford. while Getty's was held in reserve on the eastern bank. Once across the creek the lines were deployed, the Thirty-seventh on the left of the brigade with a detail of skirmishers covering the front, and an advance was ordered up the hill and through the thicket toward the position of the unseen enemy. " Who should appear by my side at this moment," says Captain Hopkins who commanded the regiment, "in front of the line, but the chap- lain, who whenever a fight was imminent seemed to feel that he had been grievously put upon in being appointed to fill a non- combatant's role. It required a peremptory order to send him to the rear." The brave chaplain accompanied the regiment into action, however, and in ministering to the wounded rendered valuable service.
As the foot of the ascent was reached the lines were again ad- jnsted, moved by the right flank for a short distance, and once more advanced up the slope. A scattering fire was immediately encountered from the enemy's skirmishers, and one of the first
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THE BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK.
of the Thirty-seventh to fall was First Sergeant Ezra P. Cowles of Company D, which he commanded, Captain Edwards acting as major. Sergeant Cowles was mortally wounded through the body, but heroically cheered on his comrades as he fell. Shortly afterward as the regiment scrambled through the undergrowth a terrific crash of musketry burst from the Confederate lines but a few yards in front. Fortunately, owing to the position of the foe on somewhat higher ground and the impossibility of their taking proper aim through the thicket, what was intended for an annihilating volley at close range mostly went over the heads of the Thirty-seventh. The men pressed forward, holding their fire with wonderful self-control till they were in plain sight of the enemy, almost face to face.
Then the Spencer rifle did the work for which it was intended. Volley followed volley with almost the rapidity of thought, tear- ing the opposing line into demoralized fragments. While some surrendered and many fell, the rest broke away and ran through the forest, pursued by the elated Thirty-seventh. In the wild exultation of the moment the officers did not discover that the regiment was alone and utterly unsupported in its advance. The rest of the Union line had been broken and pushed back tempo- rarily by the mad onset of Ewell's corps, some of them to and across the creek to the shelter of Sheridan's artillery. Of course this temporary success of the enemy would be brief, but it was sufficient to place the little more than 200 members of the Thirty-seventh in a remarkably unpleasant position.
The first realization of the true situation came from the dis- covery of what seemed to be a heavy column of the enemy passing the left flank of the regiment. Front was changed in that direction and a few volleys from the Spencers drove the force out of sight, but not a moment two soon. General Custis Lee, the son of the Confederate commander-in-chief, on the right of the Thirty-seventh, saw his opportunity and moved his brigade through a ravine to the rear of the isolated regiment. His command included the famous Seventh regiment of Savannah and a battalion of marines from the gun-boats which had been destroyed at the evacuation of Richmond. The latter were
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ONE COUNTRY AND ONE FLAG.
picked men and especially anxious to signalize their presence on the field of battle.
Captain Hopkins had barely time to face his command to the rear to meet this new danger when Lee's brigade burst from the cover of the gulch and dashed in a ferocious charge upon the thin line of the Thirty-seventh. It was the severest test to which the veteran regiment had ever been subjected, but it was most magnificently met. Lee's wave of chivalry struck the rock of Massachusetts manhood only to recoil. Both sides fought with desperate courage, hand to hand with bayonets, swords and pistols. The lines of Blue and Gray. half hidden in the veil of smoke, seemed to mingle in one mass as they swayed back and forth, and for a time the issue scemed in doubt. But the Men in Blue did not give an inch. Meeting blow with blow, loading and firing their deadly repeating rifles as rapidly as possible, they checked the onset of the enemy, held him, pushed him back, at first slowly and with obstinate resist- ance, then in a broken rout into the gorge from which he had emerged.
As the disorganized Confederates took shelter in the ravine a sharp fire was poured in upon them, when they made signals of surrender. Adjutant Bradley stepped forward to meet a Con- federate officer who was advancing as though to give himself up, when the latter drew a pistol and wounded the adjutant, who grappled his assailant and they rolled down the bank in the struggle which followed. Bradley having been shot in the thigh by a bystanding rebel was overpowered, and his antagonist was poising his pistol to give a death-shot when his own traitorons life was extinguished by a well-directed shot from the rifle of Private Samnel E. Eddy of Company D. Simultaneously with the shot Eddy was thrust through the breast with a bayonet in the hands of a stalwart Southron. The weapon protruded from the back near the spine, and the unfortunate soldier being thrown down was literally pinned to the ground. The assailant then endeavored to wrest away Eddy's Spencer rifle, but the wounded man grasped his trusty weapon with a grip which few men in either army could equal, and notwithstanding his awful
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CAPTURE OF CUSTIS LEE'S BRIGADE.
situation succeeded in throwing another cartridge into his rifle, the bullet from which was next moment sent through the heart of his antagonist. The Confederate fell across the prostrate Unionist, but the latter threw aside the body with one hand as though it were the carcass of a dog, withdrew the bayonet from his own horrible wound, rose to his feet and walked to the rear .*
After this exhibition of treachery the regiment re-opened fire with a vengeance, and it required but a few volleys to bring the Confederates to their senses and to a surrender in reality, the cavalry at the upper end of the ravine cutting off their retreat. The Thirty-seventh secured and sent to the rear over 300 pris- oners, considerably in excess of the number of men it took into the fight, while from all sides captives and captures of every sort poured to the rear in bewildering numbers and quantity. No less than six Confederate generals were secured, including Ewell, Kershaw and Custis Lee, with about all that remained of Ewell's corps. There was little attempt to count, scarcely to guard the captures made; everywhere the shout was " Forward!" "Onward!" to strike the final blows and destroy everything that remained to Lee as an organized army.
In such a struggle as the Thirty-seventh had passed through, where every man had proved himself a hero and fought largely on his own responsibility, it is impossible to note more than a few of the noteworthy deeds performed, and the narration of certain incidents will only serve to show the character of many which must be passed without chronicle but which will live long about the camp fire and in the traditions of the home. General Custis Lee, who directed the charge upon the Thirty- seventh, had till shortly before filled a clerkship at Richmond, but finally laid down the pen to take up the sword, surrendering
" Private Eddy had received a wound at the affair in front of Fort Fisher, March 25, but had followed the fortunes of the regiment notwithstanding, and previous to the encounter just narrated several of the enemy had gone down before his careful aim. Contrary to all expectations his iron constitution enabled him to survive the terrible transtivion, and as these pages go through the press he is still living at his home in West Chesterfield.
The records of the Thorty-seventh present several cases of remarkable recovery from supposed latal wounds through the chest. Of these especial note may be made of the cases of Lieutenant Wart C. Sparks, already referred to; of Witham J. Summons of Company F. shot through the lungs in such a manner that the breath passed out through the office in his back ; and of several others tean : as severe, in one of which the breast bone was shattered and spht by a ball which passed through the body. In all these cases the recovery was considered, even by the medical faculty, little less than miraculous.
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