USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 44
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549
IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
Tom Clinton, and made lots of fun. He was afterwards brought to Clinton and attended school here.
In the middle of September, the morning report shows that fifteen members of the company were sick. Every Sunday, religious services were held. Chaplain Scanlon had for his platform a flat box with a red cloth thrown over it. His pulpit was a drum fastened to a stack of muskets. On his right hand, floated the flag of the regiment, and on his left, the banner of the state.
As the regiment had received no pay for services since the date of muster, the question most frequently heard in the camp, was, " When are we going to be paid off ?" After long waiting, the paymaster came around, and each private received twenty dollars. One-half of this was sent home in charge of Lieutenant Andrew L. Fuller, who had resigned his commission October 7th on account of ill health. One of the men wrote home in September: "We find it rather dull here, and it is the earnest wish of the regiment that some forward movement may soon be made, as it is very desirable to have this 'little quarrel' closed up as soon as possible." This wish for action was to be gratified far too soon.
October 20th, a general reconnoissance was made by the order of General McClellan. Thinking that this reconnois- sance and the movement of General McCall, by which it was covered, might lead the enemy to abandon Leesburg, McClellan ordered General Stone "to keep a good lookout" and possibly make "a slight demonstration" upon that place. Company H of the Fifteenth, had sometime before taken possession of Harrison Island, which lay in the middle of the Potomac at a little distance above Edwards' Ferry. Four other companies of the Fifteenth, A, C, G and I, crossed to this island on the afternoon of Sunday, October 20th. Even at this time, there was trouble about the trans- portation, on account of the lack of suitable boats. During the evening, a reconnoissance was made by a squad of Com-
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
pany H, who brought back the report that it had found a small encampment of the enemy about a mile from Lees- burg. The five companies on the island were ordered to cross, to break up this encampment, and take observations. So poor were the means of transportation, three row-boats, one capable of carrying not more than forty men and the other two, four each, that it took from midnight until day- break to get three hundred men across.
After climbing up a bluff "as steep as Lover's Leap above the Dark Road," through the woods, a little opening was reached. Company H was sent forward as a skirmish line during the forenoon, and met a small detachment of the enemy. Firing ensued, and two men of Company H were killed and thirteen wounded. The other companies were not in this engagement, as they were held in reserve or were skirmishing in other directions. The men of Company C were standing in pale suspense, expecting that it would be their turn next, when the first wounded man was brought to the rear. It was a ghastly sight, but one of the fellows in nervous excitement cried out in the slang phrase of the day: "Oh, Lord ! but I have seen whole families taken that way," and a laugh all along the line broke the suspense of the men.
The enemy were reenforced during the forenoon, so that, since his troops were greatly outnumbered, Colonel Devens retired to the bluff near the river. Meanwhile, Lieutenant- Colonel Ward had led over the rest of the Fifteenth Regi- ment, and Colonel Lee had come with a portion of the Twentieth as a supporting force. Later in the morning, General Stone had given the command to Colonel Baker, leaving it to his discretion whether he should withdraw the troops already across the river, or reenforce them there. He decided to do the latter, and managed to get over about a thousand men of his brigade, making about eighteen hundred troops in all. The rebels had gathered a greatly superior force.
In the early afternoon, the Fifteenth was on the right, in
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BALL'S BLUFF.
the edge of the woods. Two mounted howitzers and one piece of the New York Battery, together with the Nine- teenth and Twentieth Massachusetts Regiments occupied the centre, just at the back of the small open space, and the California regiment, with a portion of the New York Tam- many, were on the left. The enemy in greatly superior numbers were in front and on both flanks; the river was in the rear. The position was a most perilous one, for while the rebels might hope for constant accessions to their num- bers, the Union troops, on account of the scanty means of ferriage, could neither hope for any considerable reënforce- ments or for safe retreat.
The enemy drove in the skirmish lines from the right, left and centre, all at once, but the main attack was directed against the centre. The howitzers could not be used to ad- vantage, as it was sure death to approach them, but the field- piece at first proved more effective. The struggle was kept up fiercely for twenty minutes, and many fell, among them Colonel Baker. Then the enemy retired for a little while. As Company C was near the howitzers it suffered severely in the attack, yet the right wing stood firm. Colonel Baker told Colonel Devens before he died: "If I had two regiments more like the Fifteenth, I would advance to Leesburg."
The Fifteenth was now ordered to move from the right to the front. Colonel Devens says: "The battle was hope- lessly lost before Colonel Baker was killed, yet the cool manner in which the regiment, half an hour later, marched from the right of the line to protect the left, would have won for it a historic name if it had been done on one of the bat- tle-fields of Europe." As the battle began again, one of the rebel leaders rode from the woods and shouted, "Come on, boys; we have them now." Just as these words left his lips, he fell dead. But the rebels came on with irresistible force. Parke Godwin said: "The Fifteenth Massachusetts, penned in between a crib of fire, yet were as solid as a mass of gran- ite when they were as free to move as the winds that blew
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
over them." The Fifteenth stood the charge nobly and was the last to retreat. The rebels sang out: "Give it to them d-d regulars!" but the lines remained unbroken. Not a man left his position until the orders for retiring had been given. Then, down the steep hill they went in the midst of a storm of leaden rain. Notwithstanding this disaster, the colors of the regiment were saved. Joshua Freeman acted as color-sergeant on that day, and through his efforts they were carried across the river.
Just as the retreating troops reached the bank, a company of the Tammany Regiment arrived to reenforce them. The Courant correspondent writes: "As they left the boat, the wounded near by who were able, commenced to get into it, as also did those who were anxious to save their lives. The boat was overloaded and down it went with nearly a hundred persons on board, about thirty of whom were drowned. But a few moments before, I had stood on the battle-ground and witnessed a score or more brave men fall by the bullet, but I was not so much affected as when I saw that boat go down with its living freight."
Meanwhile, the bullets of the enemy were pouring on the men and Colonel Devens ordered each one to save himself as best he could. Some hid in the thick woods along the river bank, but all who could swim and dared trust them- selves to the stream, threw away their guns, stripped off their clothing and, while the bullets struck around them "like hail-stones," struggled to cross to the island. Some succeeded, but many sank to rise no more, while others, finding that their strength was all too small for the effort, returned to the place from which they started. About dark, some of the men sent Willis A. Cook with a flag of truce to the rebels. They agreed to stop firing, if the Union troops left on the bank would lay down their arms and surrender. As there was no alternative, they were obliged to accept these conditions. Some of those, who reached the island, crossed that night to the mainland, but most, though they
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BALL'S BLUFF.
had little or no clothing, remained there until morning. From the exposure suffered here, many contracted diseases, which never left them. Two surgeons had crossed to the island and they cared for the wounded as best they could where so little shelter and light could be found.
Colonel Devens reported three hundred and ten killed, wounded and missing, out of the six hundred and twenty-five men of the Fifteenth, who took part in the fight. The morn- ing report of Company C, October 21st, shows that there were fifteen officers and sixty-two privates present for duty. As First-lieutenant Fuller had resigned and Second-lieuten- ant Johnson was ill, Captain Bowman was the only commis- sioned officer in the company who took part in the battle. Forty-three Clinton men were on the field. Of these, John Kirchner and William Walker, both natives of Germany, were supposed to have perished in trying to cross the river, as they were seen upon the bank after the battle. It was thought that a body discovered some months after, belonged to one of these men. These were the first Clinton men who perished in the war. J. D. Brigham, B. M. Daboll, D. O. Wallace, A. D. Wright and Frank Graichen were wounded. Fourteen Clinton men were taken prisoners: Captain Bow- man, Sergeants Alden Fuller, W. A. Cook and H. A. Put- nam; Corporals J. D. Brigham, J. A. Bonney and D. O. Wallace; Privates R. K. Cooper, J. P. Chenery, H. O. Edgerly, Henry Greenwood, J. O. Howard, A. S. Jaquith and John Smith.
These prisoners were taken to Richmond and suffered severely from the hardships of the journey. They were without food from Sunday noon until Tuesday. They had little clothing and the weather became very cold. Many date chronic diseases from these exposures. They were packed into cattle cars so closely, that if they lay down one could not turn unless all the rest did. Ten of them were confined in Mayo's Tobacco House and the others in a neigh- boring building. The Richmond Examiner says of the pris-
37
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
oners from the Fifteenth Massachusetts: "They are the most cleanly, decent and orderly of all that have been brought here." The story of these prisoners is best told in the words of Henry Greenwood, one of their number :
" RICHMOND, VA., November 13, 1861.
"Friend Ballard: We are stationed in one of the large tobacco warehouses. This building was used exclu- sively for the manufacture of 'navy tobacco' for the United States Government, before the present war broke out. The building is three stories high, with a basement. We are con- fined in the upper story, which is occupied by members of the Fifteenth, and the lower story is occupied by the Twen- tieth Massachusetts Regiment. * * * We arise at daylight, and after washing, we read the Testament, the morning pa-
pers,-which we can get as long as our money holds out,- and such other reading as may come to hand. At ten o'clock, we have our breakfast brought to us, which consists of half a pound of wheat bread, with the same amount of fresh beef. After breakfast, we pass the day as best we can. We have our supper brought to us about six in the evening, which consists of the same amount of wheat bread, with soup in- stead of meat. After supper, we take about two hours' exer- cise, until bed-time, or rather board time, as we have not been supplied with bed-ticks as yet. Towards morning, we have to build up a fire to keep those warm who have no blankets, three-fourths of the prisoners being so situated. If our friends could send us some blankets, shoes, and such wearing apparel as we shall need, we will be quite comfortable. The most of us have no clothes but what we had on at the time of the fight. Our shoes and stocking are worn out, and the rest of our clothing is fast leaving us.
"We are very strongly guarded. The building is entirely surrounded by a chain of sentinels, who, if we are imprudent enough to put our heads out of the window too far, remind us of our presumption by sending their compliments in the
555
SPIRIT OF THE MEN.
shape of a bullet. There has been one shot fired into this building and two into the other building, which is near ours, in which Chenery is confined."
Those of the Fifteenth Regiment, who returned to camp, were daunted neither by their sufferings nor their losses. The night after the battle, the regiment was called out to meet an expected attack of the enemy. As the arms and equipments were insufficient to go round, each member of Company C strove to be the first to be ready to get in line, lest he might lose his chance for the fight. The first parade after the Ball's Bluff disaster was held on the 28th of October. The men were formed in a hollow square and Colonel Devens addressed them. "Soldiers of Massachusetts," he said, "men of Wor- cester County, with these fearful gaps in your lines, with the recollection of Monday fresh upon your thoughts, with the knowledge of the bereaved and soul-stricken ones at home, weeping for those whom they will see no more on earth, with that hospital before your eyes, filled with wounded and maimed comrades, I ask you now whether you are ready again to meet the traitorous foe? * * Would you go next week? Would you go tomorrow? Would you go now?" "Yes!" came the thrilling response from every man in the line.
At home, as soon as the news of the battle was reported, the most intense excitement prevailed. White lips asked : "What of my husband?" "Have you heard anything of my boy?" In many cases, long days passed before any answer came, except that he was among the missing. Every means was used to secure information and relieve the suffering. Lieutenant Fuller, who had just returned on account of ill health, hastened back with all the speed he could, laden with great cases of clothing and hospital stores which loving hands had provided. J. H. Vose accompanied him, in be- half of the town committee, with instructions to find out the needs of the members of Company C and supply them.
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
The statement made by J. H. Vose in the Courant of November 2nd, shows that no tidings of the missing men had yet been received. All that the wives and mothers knew was that their loved ones had been in the battle and had not been heard from since.
The call made by Mr. Vose and Colonel Devens for supplies, helped to ease the agony of waiting by furnishing work that might be of use. The Courant of November 9th, says : "We learn that the committee sent a box to our boys on Tuesday last, containing a full supply of undershirts, drawers, soft leather gloves, and a general assortment of stationery. A large supply of pamphlets and magazines were also sent, and sundry packages from relatives of the members of our company, the Light Guard." Blankets were also sent in great numbers.
It was the middle of the month before definite infor- mation came in regard to the prisoners, and then the women, inspired by hope, worked harder than ever to provide for the needs of those confined in Richmond. Early in December, Chaplain Scanlon visited Clinton. He gave an address in Clinton Hall, and eloquently told the story of Ball's Bluff. Four recruits were sent from Clinton to Company C during December to help fill up the depleted ranks.
The Fifteenth passed the winter quietly in camp. Al- though the men suffered somewhat from exposure, yet they were in a fair degree of health. The absence of Captain Bowman caused a serious relaxation of discipline at first, and the men who had sometimes complained of his strict- ness longed to be under his command once more. Finally, Richard Derby of Boston, an excellent officer, was put in command of the company. During the long winter, the men found camp life "dull," "wearisome," "monotonous," "an eternal grind."
Meanwhile the prisoners passed life in a reasonable de- gree of comfort in Richmond. Captain Bowman, with several other commissioned officers, was kept in close con-
557
RETURN OF PRISONERS.
finement in retaliation for treatment of Confederate priva- teers, but though "treated the same as persons charged with crime," they did not suffer seriously. J. P. Chenery, John Smith and H. O. Edgerly were carried to Salisbury, N. C., on December 21st, where they had to undergo more hard- ships than those who were left behind in Richmond. As the prison surgeon at Richmond was in need of help, Sergt. W. A. Cook was detailed at the request of Union officers to aid in caring for the sick among the prisoners. Those con- fined in Richmond were paroled during the last of February and reached Clinton March Ist. A great crowd welcomed them at the depot, and a reception was tendered them March 7th. A sword was presented to Captain Bowman, and Frank- lin Forbes spoke as follows :
"Captain Borman and Soldiers of Company C:
"In the name of the citizens of Clinton, I bid you wel- come home! After the tedious preparation of the camp, after dangerous experience on the fields of battle, after irk- some captivity in the prisons of insolent rebels-welcome, thrice welcome home! When, last July, you marched at your country's call, the citizens of Clinton adopted you as the representatives of their feelings and principles. After these eight months of trial, during which our anxious eyes have watched your every motion and vicissitude, we welcome you back as men who have honored their constituency. Your good behavior in the exercises of the camp culminated in the glorious discipline and courage displayed at Ball's Bluff. Whatever may have been the purpose or issue of that awful fight, the Fifteenth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, and with it you, Captain Bowman and soldiers of. Company C, Clinton's representatives, have gained im- mortal honor. That record is already in your country's history, and whatever may have been your sufferings, mental and corporeal, in the prisons of your enemies, the sym- pathies, praises and prayers of every Clinton true heart were
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
for you. Again I say, welcome home ! Welcome as soldiers and sufferers in the cause of freedom, as supporters and defenders of the constitution and laws of our country, as foes of rebellion, secession and slavery, as friends of 'Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever.'"
Captain Bowman was not exchanged until August 2nd, '62, and never rejoined his regiment. The Salisbury prison- oners were released May 22nd.
The enlistments were not confined to the Fifteenth and the other regiments thus far mentioned, but were kept up with varying degrees of enthusiasm during the summer and autumn of 1861. Sometimes, these enlistments were the result of organized effort, sometimes they came from in- dividual inclinations. Race associations often caused men to enlist in particular companies and regiments.
Four men of German race enlisted individually between July 18th and September 4th in the Twentieth Regiment. This was done so quietly that the local paper took no notice of it at the time. The regiment started from its camp at Readville, September 4th. It was assigned to General Stone's Corps of Observation, and took a conspicuous part, as we have already noted, in the battle of Ball's Bluff. We have no reason to suppose that either of the Clinton men suffered in this engagement. Like the Fifteenth, the Twen- tieth remained in camp near Edward's Ferry during the winter. Five others enlisted in Henry Wilson' famous regi- ment, the Twenty-second. On October 8th, this regiment went to Washington amid a constant series of ovations in- spired by the fame of its commander. It went into camp at Hall's Hill in the division under Fitz John Porter.
Before the spring campaign opened, there was a thor- ough reorganization of the Virginia army. The Fifteenth was assigned to General Gorman's Brigade. This was the First Brigade of Sedgwick's Division of the Second Army Corps,
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PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.
which was commanded by General Sumner. In the same division, in the Third Brigade, were the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts Regiments, in which six Clinton men had enlisted. The two men of the Nineteenth had been mustered in January, 1862. In the Third Corps, under General Heintzelman, were the Twenty-second, Ninth and Eleventh Regiments, in which twelve other Clinton men had enlisted. In the Fourth Corps, under General Keyes, in General Couch's Division, was the Seventh with its two Clinton men. Thus ninety men from the town had enlisted up to this time in the regiments which constituted General McClellan's army, seventy of these being in the Fifteenth and twenty in other regiments. Probably there were not more than fifty of these on actual duty at any one time during the spring.
In March, Gorman's Brigade moved westward toward Winchester, and the Fifteenth was engaged in a skirmish with the rebels at Berryville. On the 29th, we find the regi- ment at Alexandria, ready to embark with the rest of McClellan's grand army for the Peninsular campaign. It is not necessary to enter into the details of this campaign. The Clinton men in the army took part in the siege of York- town, May 1-3. Those in Sedgwick's division were sent to the support of Franklin in his flank movement on West Point, where the Union troops were held in check by an attack made by the rebels on the 7th of May. In the latter part of the month, they were again with the main body of McClellan's army in the pestilential swamps of the Chicka- hominy. At Fair Oaks, they helped repulse the attack of Johnston. During the battle, the Fifteenth, with four other regiments, was ordered to charge on the enemy. General Walker says: "Our men at first advanced firing, but they gathered inspiration as they went, and when within fifty yards of the position where the foe still sullenly held the ground outside the woods, they broke into a cheer. A sharp clatter along the line told that the bayonets were
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FIFTEENTH, AND COMPANION REGIMENTS.
fixed, and the five regiments in one long line sprang for- ward." Here, Alexander Lyle was wounded. General Gorman, writing of this contest to Governor Andrew, said: "Now that the smoke of the battle-field has cleared away, I cannot forbear taking the opportunity to testify to the gallant, soldierly conduct of the Fifteenth Regiment of your troops in our late contest,-the bloodiest in the war. It was their fortune to be participants in a real, not imag- inary, bayonet charge, made upon the most intrepid and daring of the rebel forces, at a critical moment for our cause. Most nobly and gallantly did they honor themselves and their gallant state." One of the Clinton boys wrote home : "The night after the battle, the regiment rested on their arms in the woods where the rebel dead and wounded were lying."
During the month of June, our Clinton men breathed the miasma of the river bottoms, while McClellan was waiting for more troops and trying to make up his mind what to do next. From here, one of our Clinton men wrote that he had climbed a tree and seen the city of Richmond less than ten miles away. They were, alas, destined to come no nearer to the object of their longing for many weary months! They joined that most "masterly" retrograde movement, when the union of Jackson with Lee forced MeClellan to change his base to the James. In this movement, they fought at Gaines' Mill on the 27th, when the Ninth and Twenty-second were with Porter in his desperate struggle with Jackson. They fought at Savage Station June 29th, where Magruder found "No thoroughfare written in letters of fire at every point of brave Sumner's line." They were in the struggle at Glendale, June 30th, where the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts won the greatest glory, and they were at the final victory of Malvern Hill, July Ist, by which the security of Mcclellan's new position was assured. Here, Charles Duncan of the Ninth fell, the first of Clinton heroes known to have been killed on the battle-field. While at Harrison
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PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.
Landing, William Diersch of the Twentieth was accidentally killed on July 4th. They lingered near the James for five weeks, until the defeat of the Union armies under Pope re- called McClellan, and then with sad hearts they followed their leader to the defense of Washington.
During all of the Peninsular Campaign, not one Clinton man in the Fifteenth was killed or seriously wounded, not- withstanding the valor they had displayed on many hard- fought fields and the considerable losses experienced by the regiment as a whole. Many of them, however, were on the sick list, and the hard work done in fortifying and in repair- ing roads, the foul water, the exposure and the air of the swamps, rendered more deadly by decomposing bodies, were more destructive than the shot of the enemy. Many con- tracted diseases from which they never recovered, and two, Francis E. Smith and Sergeant Edward W. Benson, passed away before the summer was over. The former died July 23d at the hospital on David's Island, New York. The latter died August 3d, while at home on a furlough, from a relapse of fever. Meanwhile, others had been discharged or were missing, so that of the sixty-six who had started out from Worcester the year before, fifteen were gone from the regi- ment never to return, four having been removed by death, five discharged for disability incurred in the service. Of the others, two had resigned, one had been transferred, one was discharged with the band, and two were missing. Some others were on detached service, partly on account of dis- ability. Most of those who had been prisoners did not rejoin the regiment until after the battle of Antietam, as they were paroled, but not exchanged. In August, seven more recruits were received, who were mustered in on the 12th .* These, with the four recruits of December, '61, give eleven recruits as a set-off to the fifteen lost, leaving a remainder of sixty-two out of the total of seventy-seven enlisted, who were still members of the regiment.
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