USA > Massachusetts > History of the Thirty-sixth regiment Massachusetts volunteers. 1862-1865 > Part 18
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The Commanding General can only add that in this, as in the previous and suc- ceeding events of this unexampled campaign, the Ninth Corps has, through every trial, invariably proved true to its history and to its promise.
By command of Major-General Burnside. LEWIS RICHMOND, Ass't Adj't Gen l.
216
THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
June.
CHAPTER XVIII.
IN THE TRENCHES.
Ox the morning of June 19th the regiment was relieved from duty in the front line, and withdrew to the pine woods from which we advanced the day before. We were soon joined by most of the men who had fallen out on the march, or had failed to find the regiment in the constant changes of position, and the effective strength reported at brigade head-quarters was one hundred and fifty-one ; commissioned officers four, enlisted men one hundred and forty-seven. A strong line of intrenchments was erected on the high ground near the railroad. One hundred men were detailed for fatigue duty on the line, and worked through that hot June day with pickaxe and shovel. The enemy's firing was very close, and during the night was quite severe. Our batteries kept up a steady fire on the rebel lines.
The operations of the last two days had been conducted in the hope of capturing Petersburg before the whole army of Northern Virginia could be brought to the rescue. The enemy had taken up a new line on commanding ground nearer the city. The attack and repulse of the 18th had developed the great strength of that line, and convinced the commanding- general that further assault would be hopeless. The heroic courage and desperate valor of the troops had availed only to secure a strong position near the enemy's line. "No better fighting has been done during the war," said General Burn- side in his report ; but either the attacks had not been properly directed or adequately supported. Orders were now is-ned for the troops on the right to hold and strengthen the lines.
217
IN THE TRENCHES.
1564.
The 20th was but a repetition of the 19th. It was a noisy day in the front ; but being one of comparative quiet to us in the woods, the time was improved in making up regimental re- ports for the campaign from Spottsylvania, and a list of casu- alties. Several vacancies existed among the commissioned officers, in consequence of the deaths and resignations since April 23d, and seven of the companies were commanded by non- commissioned officers. On the 5th of June, at Hanover Town, Captain Smith forwarded to Governor Andrew a list of rec- ommendations for promotion ; but as no commissions had been received, and the exigencies of the service required additional officers, the duties devolving upon the few commissioned officers present being onerous and severe, another list was made up this day, and transmitted through the regular channels to the Governor of the State. This list included the following non-commissioned officers : -
Sergeant Major Davidson to be First Lieutenant, vice Ranlett, resigned.
First Sergeant Woodward to be First Lieutenant, vice Cross, resigned.
First Sergeant Stearns to be First Lieutenant, vice Good- speed, resigned.
First Sergeant Haskell to be First Lieutenant, vice Hodg- kins, promoted.
First Sergeant Hancock to be First Lieutenant, vice Fair- bank, promoted.
Sergeant Oleutt to be First Lieutenant, vice Daniels, killed.
Sergeant Cross to be First Lieutenant, rice Burrage, pro- moted.
Sergeants White, Hancock, Wright, Woodward, and Stearns had previously been recommended for commissions as second lieutenants. but no officers in that grade could be mustered. on account of the reduced numbers of enlisted men. Major Draper, who at this time was in Massachusetts, submitted to the Governor another list of recommendations about this date ; but before either list could receive attention
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THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
June,
other changes became necessary, and all of the sergeants rer- ommended in the foregoing list. with the addition of First Sergeant Harwood, were commissioned as first lieutenants. Some of these brave and deserving men, who had nobly earned their rank, were at this time absent on account of serious wounds received during campaign, and before they could re- cover and rejoin the regiment circumstances had arisen which prevented their being mustered into the service in the rank to which they were commissioned.
June 20th Captain Smith was detailed for court-martial duty at division head-quarters, and the regiment was in com- mand of Captain Ames. At dusk a colored regiment from the Fourth Division came up in our rear, and we anticipated a night attack in foree ; but the men quietly laid aside their equipments, and being furnished with piekaxes and shovels went on fatigue duty in the front line. During the night the firing was very severe. Our position, though not sub- jeeted to the exposure of the front line, was under fire con- tinually. The bullets of the enemy rattled among the trees, singing their death-song by day and night. On the night of June 20th private John MeGrath, Company I, was wounded and sent to the rear. It was the third wound he had received during the campaign. During these days the front, or main line, was strengthened with abatis, and traverses, and a covered way built to the rear.
On the 21st the regiment remained in the woods prepar- ing for a review, which had been ordered for the afternoon. At four o'clock we were in line, and moved to the wide open plain in rear of the woods, the scene of the action on the 17th. The First Brigade was reviewed by General Potter. The Seventh Rhode Island was on the right of the line, and the Second New York Mounted Rifles, acting as infantry (recently assigned to this brigade.), on the left. The review was well conducted, and, considering the circumstances of the occasion, the troops presented a fine appearance. To all of us it was a novel parade, - marching to the music of the
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219
IN THE TRENCHES.
1864.
bands, the discordant barking of the dogs of war, and the distant screeching of the death-laden shells.
At midnight we were ordered to the main line to relieve the Second Brigade, and the regiment was sent out on picket. The night was very clear, and the moon being at the full revealed everything about us as clear as daylight. The duty of relieving the picket line was extremely hazardous, and it was half-past two o'clock A. M. before the work was com- pleted. The men were obliged to crawl out singly from the railroad-cut, and the men relieved were exposed to a close and merciless fire in leaving the line. It was daylight before our line was fairly in position, and we settled down to the first day of the long siege-life before us. About sunrise the cooks came out with coffee, and John L. Finney, cook of Company K, received a shocking wound in the face, in con- sequence of raising his head a little too high. His escape from instant death was miraculous. After daylight it was impossible for a man to look over the top of the pits. The rebels fired twenty shots where we fired one, and their sharp practice enabled them to skim the tops of the pits; their shots were well aimed, and the bullets flew all about us.
The picket line itself was found to be very peculiar. It was separated from the main line by the deep cut of the Norfolk Railroad, which crossed our rear diagonally. The ground on the right at the railroad was quite high, falling off rapidly toward the swampy ravine on the left; the slope being toward the enemy's line, which enabled them to com- mand all the ground between the railroad-cut and their own line. The troops of the Second Brigade had worked indus- triously to establish good cover for the picket-line ; but the position on the left was so dangerous, and so near the enemy, that but little progress had been made in erecting a line of pits at that point. There was a space of five or six rods between Companies H and C. which could not be crossed by daylight on account of its nearness to the rebel lines. Dur- ing the day the men on the right took up railroad sleepers
220
THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
June,
from the track, and laid them on the tops of the pits : small loop-holes were then made under the logs, and in this way the men secured some protection for their heads while watch- ing a chance to fire upon the enemy. They were soon able to inflict some damage on the sharp-shooters opposite.
By degrees some improvement was made on the left, but the progress was very slow and tedious, as only one man from each company, C and H, could work toward each other, on account of the close fire. The left was in a bad and dangerous condition. In the event of an attack which we should fail to repulse, the whole line would be exposed to capture, as it would be madness to attempt to escape to the railroad and over the rising ground in our rear. The enemy seemed to know that new troops were in the pits, and were unusually hostile. They evidently anticipated an attack, as a heavy movement was in progress on the left by the Second and Fifth Corps, and a fierce fight raged about three miles beyond the Jerusalem Plank road for the posses- sion of the Weldon Railroad.
It was thought in our lines that the enemy would make a counter-attack, and the batteries in our rear lines kept up a steady fire, while the men were constantly on the alert. crouched in the narrow pits, ready to resist an attack. It was a day long to be remembered, - our first day in the front line of trenches. It was one of the longest and most tedious days of our service ; but how many such days were we to experience ! There we lay in the dust, under the blazing, broiling midsummer sun, which beat full upon us, without a leaf of intervening shade. The water in the canteens wa- hot and sickening, and, to add to our discomforts the offensive odors from unburied corpses around us were borne to us on every breath of that sultry summer air. But the longest day must end, and at last the sun declined, and the welcome shades of evening settled on us. Quiet reigned for a littk. while, but about ten o'clock the rebels were discovered crawling up toward our left. A severe musketry fire was
221
IN THE TRENCHES.
1864.
opened upon them, and they were forced to retire. After midnight the firing ceased, and our pioneers buried some of the dead bodies near us, and made some progress in perfeet- ing the picket line on the left. Jno. H. Barton, of Company E, badly wounded in the abdomen, and Abiel Fisher, of G, wounded in the arm, were the casualties in the trenches that day.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 23d the Forty- eighth Pennsylvania commeneed to relieve our regiment in the picket pits. Owing to the sharp firing the process was slow and dangerous, but we reached the main line about half- past two, and were allowed an hour's rest. At half-past three we were aroused by orders to be ready to attack at any moment. We were under arms throughout the day, and were exposed to the fire of the enemy, by which Orin Tay- lor, of F, was severely wounded, and the Adjutant of the Fifty-eighth Massachusetts, standing near our right, was killed. At nine o'clock in the evening the brigade was relieved by the Second Brigade, and returned to the line in the pine woods, after forty-eight hours' duty in the front.
During these few days, to quote from Captain MeCabe's " Defence of Petersburg," "the enemy [the Union army] plied piek, and spade, and axe with such silent vigor that there arose, as if by the touch of the magician's wand, a vast cordon of redoubts of powerful profile, connected by heavy infantry parapets, stretching from the Appomattox to the extreme Federal left, -a line of prodigious strength, and constructed with amazing skill, destined long to remain, to the military student at least, an enduring monument of the ability of the engineers of the Army of the Potomac."
Siege operations had now fairly commeneed on the right, extending along the line from the Appomattox to the Jeru- salem Plank road, and we had entered upon the daily round of life which was to continue for the next fifty days, - the regular routine of duty in the picket line and the main line, - a rontine which, in the history of the campaign, can be expressed
222
THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
June,
in the simple, yet significant, phrase, " The Siege of Peters- burg." But in that daily routine there transpired mich that is interesting and painful to the survivors of our regi- ment, and the account of our operations during those event- ful days will be embodied in a diary of the siege.
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223
DIARY OF THE SIEGE.
1864.
CHAPTER XIX.
DIARY OF THE SIEGE.
THE next two days, June 24th and 25th, were passed in comparative quiet in the woods. We were under arms nearly all the time, as an attack upon the enemy from our right was anticipated. The firing on that line, held by the Eighteenth Corps, was very heavy, but no attack was made. The heat was intense, and the men in the trenches suffered greatly. Our diet was somewhat improved by the arrival of some supplies of ale and porter, with a little ice thrown in, from the United States Sanitary Commission Depot, which had just been established at City Point.
On the night of the 25th we were ordered to the front, and relieved the Ninth New Hampshire in the trenches. During the night most of the men were busy with the pick- axe and shovel. We were subjected to a severe artillery. fire all day, and the picket fire was close. Large bodies of colored troops were at work filling gunny-bags and ammuni- tion-boxes with sand, to be used on the top of the parapets for the protection of loop-holes. Private Hezekiah Hall, of Company I, was severely wounded, and the Adjutant of the Second New York Rifles, while passing through our line, was killed. At midnight we relieved the Forty-fifth Pennsylva- nia in the picket line, getting fairly into the pits about day- light. The duty was about the same as when we were there on the 22d. The line had been made continuous and much improved. Abatis had been placed in front, and a covered way continued from the main line. This covered way was very deep. and protected with high embankments and gabi- ons. The firing was very constant and the range perfect.
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THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
June,
Corporal Charles Gilbert, of Company H, and Private George F. Bradford, of Company B, were wounded, the former mortally. We had our first experience under the mortar-firing of the enemy. They fired twenty-four-pound shells with great precision.
The advanced position which we occupied was but little more than one hundred yards from that portion of the main line of the enemy known as the " Elliott salient." The line occupied by our brigade was directly in front of this work. In rear of this portion of our line the ground declined sud- denly into a narrow ravine, which widened into a meadow, which afforded a position for massing troops, and screened working-parties from the observation of the enemy in the salient in front. After Colonel Curtin had been wounded in the attack of the 18th, which secured this position, the com- mand of the brigade devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants, of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania. Being fre- quently on the front line he had observed this ravine, and as he was by profession a practical civil and mining engineer it occurred to him that a mine could be successfully excavated there. Hle carefully examined the ground, and having satisfied himself that the work could be accomplished he un- folded his plan to General Potter, who approved it, and he in turn conferred with General Burnside, who was much pleased with the proposal, and ordered that the work should be commenced.
This was done at noon of the 25th, by Col. Pleasants, with his own regiment, the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, which had been detailed for this purpose. Most of these men were miner> from Schuylkill County, and familiar with such operations. Colonel Pleasants entered upon the work with great enthu- siasm, although he received but little encouragement outside the Ninth Corps. Generals Burnside and Potter seemed to be the only high officers who believed in its success. There were many discouragements attending its commencement, as it was ridiculed at army head-quarters. Col. Pleasant‹
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225
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DIARY OF THE SIEGE.
1864.
was denied mining picks, but straightened out army picks. Ilis instruments were poor and old. He was obliged to make his surveys and measurements on the front line, exposed to the fire of the sharp-shooters. He had no wheelbarrows ; but the men nailed strips of boards for handles on old cracker-boxes, and brought out the earth in these. He had also to contend with official indifference and coolness ; yet the brave man toiled on with undaunted spirit. As we lay in our picket pits this 27th day of June we couldl distinctly hear our comrades delving beneath us. The earth as it was brought out was piled up in the ravine, and covered with fresh bushes to conceal it from the observation of the enemy. The mortar shells from the enemy's bombs dropped continually in the ravine around the entrance to the mine, causing great annoyance to the men, but not interrupting the work. The day passed without special incident. We were relieved at night and went back to the woods.
June 28th. We prepared muster-rolls for two months' pay at our camp in the pine woods. Some of the regiment went to City Point to obtain from the regimental baggage the necessary blanks for muster, and met Captain Levi N. Smith, formerly First Lieutenant of Company D, who was now forwarding commissary, feeding the entire army of the Potomac and General Butler's command. IIe warmly wel- comed his old comrades in arms, and gave expression to his abiding interest in the regiment. The regimental sutler was also found at City Point, with a cargo of supplies to be for- warded to the front as soon as he should be permitted to land.
The next day we relieved the Second Brigade in the trenches. In placing the pickets, Sergeant C. Henry Mose- ley, commanding Company B, was seriously wounded by being shot through the right hand.
The 30th was passed at the front in the heat and dust. The firing was very sharp, especially on the right, where much artillery ammunition was used. Captain Ames was again slightly wounded in the left hand. He went to the
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226
THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.
July,
rear to have the wound dressed, and returned immediately to the front. Effective strength this day, five commissioned officers, including assistant surgeon and one hundred and seventy-three enlisted men ; total, one hundred and seventy- eight. Twenty-three were sick in hospital.
July 1st. On duty in the trenches ; pickets unusually lively. They are extremely hostile toward us. On the left, along the Fifth Corps line, there is no firing by day, and the men from both armies get water from a spring between the lines. Here there is no cessation by day or night. It may be caused by the nearness of our line, the suspicion of a sudden attack, or because of the presence of colored troops in our working parties. Our losses are severe, averaging fifteen a day on our division line. Corporal James H. Barry, of Com- pany I, a gallant soldier, who was wounded May 6th, was killed in the trenches to-day by a sharp-shooter. At night the regiment retired to the woods.
July 2d and 3d. On duty in the rear. Heavy siege guns were sent to the front to be placed in a new battery to be built in our line. On the 3d we were mustered for pay. The line was short, indeed, compared with our last muster, at Catlett's Station. How many in that brief time have gone from the toils and pains and hardships of a soldier's life to sleep in soldiers' graves ! How many names are to-day transferred from the rolls of these companies to the roll of the honored dead ! To-day the Sanitary and Christian Com- missions sent a generous supply of hospital and other stores, to aid in celebrating the national holiday to-morrow. These were distributed equally among the companies. The staff of our national color was shattered by a bullet to-day. Both staves are now broken, and the flags are riddled with bullet- holes. They are also stained with the blood of heroes who have borne them unto death. At dark we relieved the Second Brigade.
July 4th. Regiment in the trenches. The heat was intense, and the men pitched their shelter-tents over the
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227
DIARY OF THE SIEGE.
1861.
top of the trenches. This kept out the sun, but excluded. also the air. General Burnside and the division commanders were on the front line together in the afternoon, and the regimental prophets predicted an immediate attack; but the hours dragged along, and the day proved to be remarkably quiet. A request was transmitted to the State authorities for a new stand of colors. One year ago we commenced the Jackson campaign, which proved so disastrous to the regiment. The anniversary was frequently mentioned by the men. Then we hoped to spend this day in peace at home. Now we dare not hope for a speedy ending of the war. Then Gettysburg and Vicksburg encouraged the belief that the weight of the struggle had passed. Now Atlanta, Petersburg, and Richmond, bid prolonged defiance. But the end is coming !
July 5th. Passed without incident. Firing less severe than usual. The monotony of siege life unbroken. Regiment relieved at nine in the evening.
July 6th. First Lieutenant Fairbank received his com- mission as Captain, vice Warriner, resigned, and was mustered in. Information was received that all the vacancies among the commissioned officers have been filled by pro- motions from the ranks. This information was received with pleasure, as it will increase the working-force and efficiency of the reigiment. To-day private H. A. Murdoch, of Company H, was wounded in the arm.
July 7th. To-day the Fourth Rhode Island arrived from Yorktown ria City Point, and was assigned to our brigade. Its commander, Colonel W. H. P. Steere, being the senior officer, assumed command of the brigade. More sanitary supplies, consisting of twenty-five pounds of white sugar, a dozen cans of milk, vegetables, a few bottles of sherry, brandy, etc., were received from the Commissions, and distributed among the sick. There is much sickness in the command. The extreme heat, arduous duty, and constant exposure to danger, are wearing on men who up to this time
228
THIRTY-SIXTHI REGIMENT.
July.
have borne all the hardships of the campaign. At night the regiment relieved the troops in the picket line, in the old position. The works daily show the labor expended upon them. They are now very strong, and their condition much improved. Rumors prevail that an assault is to be made to-morrow.
July 8th. The duty in the trenches to-day was very severe, owing to the intense heat, and the sharp, incessant firing. Our men had good range, and replied to the enemy shot for shot. Enemy on the alert, and asking about the mine. They regard it as a great joke, and threaten to countermine. More rumors of an assault from our front. Lately our men discovered an ice-house in front of our line, a little to the left of our position, and for a while it has been neutral ground for one or two men from the opposing lines to get ice, to the extent that if any one has been seen near the ice-house they have not been fired upon. To-day, however, Corporal Lucius Lowell, of Company F, in en- deavoring to get some ice, was fired upon, and received two bad wounds in the breast and wrist.
July 9th. Still on duty in the trenches. Intensely hot. To-day we received the cheering news of the sinking of the rebel pirate " Alabama" by the United States Steamer "Kearsarge." This information was received with loud cheering. The rebels across the way wanted to know the cause of our joy, and were answered by a double-shotted salute from all our artillery, which made them burrow for an hour. At night we were relieved.
July 10th. In the woods, suffering from intense heat, and tormented by myriads of flies. which were as hostile as the rebel piekets in our front. Sergeant Thomas II. Haskell, who was wounded in the right hand at Spottsylvania, and yesterday, though not fully recovered, returned to duty with a First Lieutenant's commission, was mustered and assigned to the command of Company B. Several enlisted men also returned, and the effective strength at night was one hundred
229
DIARY OF THE SIEGE.
1864.
and ninety ; six commissioned officers and one hundred and eighty-four enlisted men, with fourteen sick in the hospital.
July 11th. The day was very hot, relieved by showers at night. At nine o'clock the regiment went to the front and relieved the Seventeenth Vermont on picket. To-day a siege order was issued from army head-quarters, regulating the operations of the siege.
July 12th and 13th. Regiment on duty in the trenches. The firing has been very light, and entirely suspended at times. For the first time since the opening of the campaign the enemy has been friendly, even to the extent of sitting upon the rifle-pits and talking across to our men. Some have waved papers, and have come half way to our lines to proffer an exchange. It soon transpired that their object was to obtain northern papers for intelligence concerning the rebel invasion of Maryland under General Early, and the de- struction of northern property. Their anxiety was very great ; but we received imperative orders forbidding any exchange of papers, or holding any communication with the enemy. Captain Smith fired upon some men of another regiment who went out to exchange papers, and refused to obey his orders to return. At night artillery and mortar firing was resumed. At midnight we were relieved.
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