USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 47
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ing their full term of enlistment. * * But you must not think from what I have said that the Clinton boys are dis- couraged. Far from it. There is as much determination in them today as there was six months since. They have learned to act, not to talk about it; and when the time comes you will find them as ready and willing to do as ever."
Before the end of November, some of the prisoners were exchanged and returned to the regiment, and some of the wounded had recovered. The Fifteenth, what was left of it, often received the kindly notice of General McClellan, and most of the boys manifested that respect and love for him, that prevailed in the old Army of the Potomac. After the battle of Antietam, he pointed out to President Lincoln the torn old flag of the Fifteenth, and again, shortly before he gave up his command, it received his marked attention. Commenting on the fact, one of the boys remarked: "The
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FREDERICKSBURG.
old flag does indeed look hard. It is not safe to unfurl it when the wind blows very strong." This flag at last became so completely worn out that it was laid aside and a new one, furnished by the state, took its place.
The Thirty-sixth Regiment had some hard marches dur- ing the autumn and, once, while they were in camp at Water- loo, were limited for several days to rations of two ears of corn and a small piece of fresh meat per man. The surviv- ing members of the Thirty-sixth still call the place Hungry Hollow. November 13th, Corporal G. W. Perry of Company G, who had been sick less than a week, died, and as his re- mains could not be sent home, he was buried at Warrenton.
Burnside took command of the army November 5th. He advanced towards Fredericksburg, as soon as an agreement was reached between him and the authorities at Washington. Sumner's Grand Right Division was made up of the Second and Ninth Corps, and thus contained most of the Clinton men in Burnside's advancing columns. Here, were the remnants of the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty- first and Twenty-eighth. Here, was the Thirty-sixth, still unscathed by battle, but with one-half of its men detailed for special duty or on the sick list. Perhaps three-score Clinton men in all were on active duty. In Franklin's Grand Left Division was the Seventh Massachusetts, and in the Grand Center, commanded by Hooker, were the First, Ninth, Eleventh and Twenty-second. Of the fourteen Clinton soldiers originally in these regiments, very few were left in the ranks.
General Sumner's Grand Right reached Falmouth oppo- · site Fredericksburg on the 17th of November. He asked to be allowed to cross immediately at the fords or by some method to be devised by the New England ingenuity of his regiments. If he had been allowed to do this, the costly sacrifices of the following month might, perhaps, have been spared, as the rebels had few troops at this time at hand. But Burnside would not consent, and a fatal delay ensued.
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FROM ANTIETAM TO GETTYSBURG.
It was not until the IIth of December, that preparations were made to cross. Howard's Division of the Second Corps, to which the Fifteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth belonged, crossed first during the night. The rest of Sumner's Grand Right followed the next day, taking position in the city. Franklin's Grand Left also crossed, leaving Hooker's Center on the other bank. The attack on the 13th was begun by Franklin with the left and continued by Sumner with the right, but it so happened that Howard's Division was not sent forward until afternoon,and that, although the Fifteenth, which was supporting a battery, suffered some, no man of Company C was injured. The Ninth Corps, Sturgis' Divis- ion, containing the Twenty-first, did some good fighting, but no Clinton men were injured, if indeed any still remained on active duty at this time in the regiment, after the terrible service at Manassas, Chantilly and Antietam. Burns' Divis- ion of the Ninth Corps, containing the Thirty-sixth, was held in reserve and sustained little injury. All indeed of our Clinton men escaped unharmed from the terrible and useless slaughter of Fredericksburg, although they stood ready at any moment to enter the thick of the fight.
From Antietam on through the winter the number of men on active duty in Company C, Fifteenth Regiment, was very small. In December, only twenty-eight were in the ranks, and thirty-one were in the hospital. Before the close of winter and spring, the number in the hospital decreased, as some returned to their regiments and others were dis- charged. The Thirty-sixth was severely afflicted by disease during the winter, and many died. Among them, was Lyman H. Hastings, who died at Falmouth, Virginia, January . 16, 1863.
Thus, in the gloom arising from failure and the death of comrades, and in the suffering caused by wounds and disease, the Clinton boys in the Army of the Potomac passed the long winter. At home, some were mourning their dead, some were anxiously waiting to hear reports from those who
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EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
were in the hospitals. All listened eagerly to the thrilling stories of those discharged, whose sufferings had rendered them unable to serve longer in the field. It was a period of deepest despondency and despair, but a ray of heavenly light broke through this darkness; a definite treaty of alliance was made with the Almighty against the powers of evil. Though rivers of blood had flowed in atoning sacrifice, our nation had not yet been cleansed, but through the proc- lamation of emancipation, the accursed sin of our people was forever abjured. Henceforth our soldiers fought with a sterner purpose and a more consecrated valor, since they fought not for the Union alone, but for eternal justice. From every pulpit throughout the land, lips touched with coals from off the divine altar cried that the voice of patriotism was the voice of God, and our armies went forth to victory strong in the might of His unconquerable arm.
After the withdrawal from Fredericksburg, the troops went into winter quarters on the Falmouth side of the river. The Second Corps took no part in the Mud Campaign of January 20-23. January 26th, it was called upon to mourn the resignation of its gallant old corps commander, General Sumner, who retired from active service on account of the infirmities of age. He had commanded the Second Corps since its organization, and during that time it never lost a gun or a standard, although it had suffered terribly on many a hard fought field. General Couch was his successor.
On the same date, General Burnside was followed by General Hooker, and the Army of the Potomac was again reorganized. Early in February, the Twenty-first and Thirty-sixth were removed to other fields of service. The Thirty-fourth still remained about the defences of Washing- ton. The little remnant of Clinton men left in the Fifteenth was about the only representation that the town had in the Army of the Potomac, except a very few scattered about, one or two in a regiment here and there. It is doubtful if
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FROM ANTIETAM TO GETTYSBURG.
there were ever thirty Clinton men at any one time in active service under Hooker or Meade during the following spring or summer.
The Fifteenth was in the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Second Corps. General Alfred Sully com- manded the brigade and General John Gibbons the division. Colonel Ward returned and took the command of this regi- ment. This Second Division escaped the awful slaughter of Chancellorsville, May 1-4, as it was held in reserve as a support to the Sixth Corps. The First Division of the Second Corps, however, suffered, and it was one of the results of the disasters of the day that General Couch, feel- ing that he could not serve under such a leader as Hooker had proved himself to be, resigned the command of the Second Corps. Winfield S. Hancock was his successor.
When the southern army, inspired with confidence by the successes of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, began its northward movement and Hooker's army swung around so as to protect the capitol, and finally to compel Lee to a decisive battle, our Clinton men, like the other soldiers, were obliged to make many forced marches. On June 26th, General Gibbons excused the Fifteenth and Nineteenth from all picket and outside duty for marching "in the best and most compact order." They saw, without regret, the im- petuous and unsuccessful Hooker succeeded by the quiet, scholarly Meade on June 28th.
On July Ist, while Reynolds and Howard, with the First and Eleventh Corps, were fighting in the opening struggle of Gettysburg, the Second Corps was at Taneytown. After Reynolds had fallen and Howard had been defeated, it was the inspiring presence of Hancock, the Second Corps com- mander, that restored the morale of the retreating troops and made such a show of resistence that the victorious rebels did not press their advantage. On the following day, the Second Corps occupied a position on the left centre, reaching the field at about seven o'clock. The mistake of
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GETTYSBURG.
Sickles, the commander of the Third Corps, in advancing his line too far in front, resulted in his defeat and, as he was driven back, the regiments which had been sent to patch up the gap between his position and that of the main line, received the shock of the attack upon the long-drawn front. The Fifteenth was one of these regiments, and it bore the shock most bravely, until the whole force was ordered back to the original line. It was in this struggle that Colonel Ward fell.
On the third day of the battle, the Fifteenth remained without any important service until afternoon. During the grand artillery battle between the armies, the infantry, for an hour and a half, crouched behind the stone walls or lay upon the ground under the boiling sun, while all the air around was filled with bursting shells. There they were, with guns clutched in their hands, waiting for the terrible conflict which they knew was soon to come.
The artillery fire slackens. Now, Longstreet's force, fourteen thousand strong, with Pickett's men in the lead, is seen emerging from the rebel line. Steadily the mighty billow of war rolls onward. Right against the Second Corps it comes. Webb, with his Pennsylvania regiments, yields at first to the overwhelming forces. The rebel line is over the stone wall, but other Union troops are gathering in front and pouring in from every side. Now is the supreme moment of the struggle, perhaps of the whole war. The Fifteenth, and its three companion regiments, have been standing to the left of Webb. The order comes to advance the colors. All move forward as if stirred by a single impulse upon the rebel flank. There is a moment of Titanic struggle. Now, the rebel column wavers, it is broken, it yields. The Second Corps gathers up the battle-flags in sheaves and the prisoners in thousands. Ball's Bluff and Antietam are avenged. The grand charge is over. The aggressive force of Lee's army is destroyed. The proud waves of the invasion are stayed forever.
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FROM ANTIETAM TO GETTYSBURG.
This victory was not gained without terrible cost. The Fifteenth lost in killed, wounded and missing from July Ist to July 4th, over fifty per cent. of all the men it took into the fight. The loss of Company C was greater proportion- ately than that of the regiment, for twenty-four men entered the battle, and at its close Sergeant William J. Coulter, then the ranking officer of the company, led only six men from the field. It is doubtful if there were more than a dozen Clinton men of the Fifteenth Regiment in the fight. Three of these were killed in action: J. P. Chenery, Alexander Lord, G. F. Osgood, and one, Lieutenant E. G. Buss died at home twenty days later from wounds received here. Four others were wounded, A. D. Wright, R. K. Cooper, H. B. Olcott and John Smith.
Before the spring campaign had opened, out of those who were on the rolls September 1, 1862, five Clinton men from the Fifteenth Regiment had been discharged to enter the regular army, one was serving in the New York Cavalry, and one in the New Jersey Cavalry. Twenty had been dis- charged for disability, and one had refused a commission after being wounded. Thus, twenty-seven Clinton men, in addition to the six who were killed or died from wounds received at Antietam, were dropped from the rolls of the regiment before the battle of Gettysburg, so that there were twenty-six only left in the regiment. If we take from these the four who fell at Gettysbury, it leaves only twenty-two at the close of the second year of service still on the rolls. Of these, many were in the hospitals and others were on detached service on the wagon trains and elsewhere.
In all the other regiments in Virginia there may have been nine men in active service at Gettysburg and the same number in September. Adding to these the ten who had been transferred to the regular army or elsewhere, it gives a possible nineteen, besides the twenty-six in the Fifteenth, or a total of forty-five names on the rolls during the Gettys-
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MINE RUN.
burg Campaign, although probably less than half of these took part in the battle, and of forty-one whose names were on the rolls in September, 1863, in the Army of the Potomac. The Thirty-fourth, still engaged in the defence of Washing- ton, had ten Clinton men, which will increase our total to fifty-one.
It will not be necessary to trace the campaign of ma- nœuvres that followed during the autumn and winter. No Clinton men suffered in battle, either from Lee's aggressive movement at Bristoe Station, or when Meade's advance was checked at Mine Run. At the former engagement, the Fifteenth took a most active part, and at the latter, the wise caution of Warren prevented an action which would have caused a terrible slaughter of the Second Corps with great doubt of final victory. It was at Mine Run that the men, anticipating that they should be called upon to make an attack, pinned papers to the inside of their coats with their names written upon them so that their dead bodies might be identified.
March 4, 1864, one more Clinton recruit, James Clifford, was added to the rolls of the Fifteenth. Thus the total of all the men who belonged to the regiment at various times, was seventy-eight. Allowing for the number discharged for disability during the winter, there may have been a total of fourteen in the Fifteenth Regiment and seventeen in other organizations in the spring of 1864, before the army was joined by the Ninth Corps.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. - ENLISTMENTS AND 1 FINANCES.
CLINTON had furnished four men for Butler's expedition to New Orleans. Two of these were mustered in the Twenty- sixth ; another was mustered into the Thirtieth, and the fourth was mustered into the Thirty-first. These men took part in the capture of New Orleans and the opening of the mouth of the Mississippi in the spring and summer of 1862. John Donovan died at Baton Rouge, La., October 12, 1863.
We left the Twenty-first Regiment at Falmouth at the close of the Fredericksburg campaign. February 11, 1863, the regiment was at Fortress Monroe. March 26th, it started for Baltimore. March 31st, it was at Cincinnati. April, May and June were spent in camp at Mount Sterling, Ky. The Twenty-first remained behind when a portion of the Ninth Corps went to Vicksburg. In July, it was near Lex- ington, and in August, it went to Camp Nelson on the Ken- tucky River. During this time, the regiment did no fighting. As five men had been discharged, one transferred and one missing, only ten Clinton men were left in the regiment September I, 1863.
The Thirty-sixth Regiment left the Army of the Potomac the 6th of February. It went to Newport News, where it stayed pleasantly encamped for some six weeks. On the 23d of March, it started for Kentucky. It passed through Baltimore and Cincinnati and, March 29th, arrived at Lex- ington. With frequent changes of camp and some long
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VICKSBURG.
marches the regiment continued in this portion of Kentucky for some two months. In April, Rev. C. M. Bowers of Clin- ton visited his fellow-townsmen, and on his return became a means of communication between the soldiers and their homes. On the Ist of June, Colonel Bowman was assigned to the command of the brigade, which consisted of the Thirty- sixth Massachusetts, Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, Seventeenth and Twenty-seventh Michigan. The same day that Colonel Bowman received his command, the regiment marched to Jamestown, twenty miles away. On June 4th, they set out for Lebanon. They covered this distance of sixty miles, under a scorching sun in heavy marching order, in forty-eight con- secutive hours. Here, the men learned that they were to reënforce Grant at Vicksburg. June 9th, the regiment was at Cairo. After a week spent on the Mississippi, the reën- forcement reached its destination. This portion of the Ninth Army Corps, to which the Thirty-sixth Regiment now be- longed, was summoned from the north to the assistance of Grant, in order that it might help keep at bay the forces of Johnston, which menaced Grant's rear, while he was besieg- ing Pemberton with his thousands, inside the city. Thus, the Thirty-sixth Regiment took no part in the capture of the city except to help guard the rear of Grant's army, while he prosecuted the siege.
The regiment took up its location about three miles from Milldale on the 20th of June. "The wild magnolia trees, now in full bloom, filled the air with their fragrance. From many of the trees, hung the Spanish moss which was gathered in large quantities and used for beds." Yet, the men did not enjoy this country, for one of them says: "In many places, the soil was so dry and parched with the heat that it seemed to crack open like a blistered skin, beneath the rays of the tropical sun. The wind blew hot from every point of the compass, bringing clouds of dust along with it. Gnats and flies made night hideous and drove sleep from the weary. Venomous snakes and other reptiles infested the woods and
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IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
the thickets. Lizards soon became no novelty and even the resort of keeping them out of one's boots by wearing these day and night, would not prevent their working down one's back occasionally, causing a sensation like an animated icicle."
The troops were kept as quiet as possible on account of the intense heat, but morning and evening they worked on rifle pits as a preparation against the attack of Johnston. The health of the men gave way. A case of small-pox in the regiment was a source of great alarm. As Johnston made no attack, the Ninth Corps had no fighting to do, so they waited until the starving rebels within the doomed city should surrender to the forces of Grant which drew closer and closer day by day. The roaring of siege guns made the air heavy with sound day and night, and a pall of thick smoke hung over the city.
At length, the rebels could hold out no longer. On July 3 and 4, 1864, thirty-one thousand six hundred men were sur- rendered, besides immense stores of munitions. Thus, while Lee was retreating from Gettysburg, Pemberton was surren- dering Vicksburg and with it the control of the Mississippi. Clinton men participated in each of these glorious victories; in one, they fought heroically, in the other, they waited, keeping guard no less heroically in the midst of disease and death, and thus made the success of others possible.
The city was no sooner taken than Sherman received orders to take the Fifteenth, Ninth, Thirteenth and part of the Sixteenth Corps and pursue Johnston. "The rebels as they retreated poisoned the wells or killed animals in the ponds or streams, their putrid carcasses rendering the water unfit for use." Unripe corn furnished the only rations the men could get, as the rapid march left the supply trains far in the rear. As there were no tents the men slept under the open sky, often in the midst of terrible storms. Thus, day after day they marched while men were constantly dropping from the ranks.
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RETURN TO KENTUCKY.
Johnston's troops did not pause until Jackson was reached, July 10th. Here, he resisted for six days, but on the 17th, the Union troops entered the city. In a reconnois- sance during the investment, Corporal James Smith was wounded. The long marches and extreme heat told terribly on the health of the men. The hospitals were crowded, and even those who still remained on active duty were far from well. Though the ravages of small-pox were stayed, chills and fever, and a disease somewhat like scurvy, pre- vailed.
At this time, Colonel Bowman resigned his commission and received his discharge. His service from this time on was in the Quartermaster's Department of the United States Volunteer Militia.
Soon, the glad orders came for the Ninth Corps to pro- ceed to the north. The regiment reached Cairo, August Ioth, just two months after it left there, and August 12th, it was in Kentucky once more. Although the conditions in which the regiment was now placed were healthy in their character, the men were still sent to the hospital in increas- ing numbers as an after effect of the Mississippi Campaign. There were, however, no deaths among the Clinton boys at this time, and not even one was discharged for disability after leaving Virginia before September Ist, and there were at this time some twenty-four names on the rolls.
The Thirty-sixth was at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, from August 29th, 1863, to September 10th, 1863, and there it set out, with the rest of the Ninth Corps, including the Twenty- first Massachusetts, for East Tennessee. One hundred and fifty men of the regiment were left behind, who were in too poor health to take the march. Among these, was Henry McGrath, who died here of disease on October 10th. September 20th, the line of march carried the Thirty-sixth through the grand scenery of Cumberland Gap. On the 26th, the troops arrived at Knoxville. From here, several expeditions were made into the surrounding country during
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IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
the next two months. October 10th, there was a little brush at Blue Springs, the Thirty-sixth being ordered to clear some of the woods of rebels. This was successfully done under severe fire. Lieutenant Henry S. Robinson was wounded in this affair.
While the regiment was at Lenoir Station, twenty-three miles from Knoxville, it was suddenly discovered that Long- street was marching against Burnside with a greatly superior force. Grant directed Burnside to hold out against Long- street, if possible, until he had defeated Bragg. Burnside, therefore, retired as slowly as he could to Knoxville. When he reached there he was obliged to endure a desperate siege, which was finally relieved by the defeat of Bragg. The Twenty-first participated in a gallant and successful charge on the enemy on the 24th of November, but no Clinton men suffered. The winter was spent in watching Longstreet and securing East Tennessee.
On the 15th of December, two Clinton men, Frederick E. Flagg and Charles H. Howe, were taken prisoners in a slight skirmish with the enemy. Neither of them ever returned for Flagg died at Belle Island, Richmond, in March, 1864, and Howe, after having suffered all the horrors of Anderson- ville, Georgia, died there August 27, 1864. We shrink from telling of the sufferings these men and many others from Clinton endured in rebel prison pens : the exposure without protection to drenching rains and burning suns; the fiendish guards, eagerly watching for the first victim who might approach the death line; the garments, tattered, sometimes lost or wholly discarded; the emaciated bodies, covered with filth and vermin, because the men were too weak to care for themselves; the foul water, each draught of which meant hastened death; the vile food, rotten and full of worms; the men losing all human semblance and becoming drivelling idiots or ravenous wild beasts, in the fierceness of their hunger tearing the food from the lips of starving comrades, until at last death came as a welcome relief.
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RE-ENLISTMENTS.
In March, the Thirty-sixth joyfully received orders to proceed to Annapolis, Maryland. There may have been eighteen Clinton men in the regiment when it reached Annapolis, April 6, 1864. In December, the men of the Twenty-first Regiment were called upon to re-enlist. The circumstances under which this was done can be seen from this extract from Colonel Hawke's diary: "Saturday, Decem- ber 26-Rainy; men re-enlisting fast; no bread; had two ears of corn issued to each man as day's rations. * Sunday, December 27th-Two ears of corn issued as rations to each man today. Notice was forwarded from regimental head- quarters that two-thirds of the Twenty-first had re-enlisted for three years more, the first regiment in the Ninth Corps that has done so." Among those who re-enlisted were eight Clinton men : Patrick Burke, William Cohen, John Delaney, Patrick J. Dickson, Calvin Pinder, John Quinn, Charles R. Renner, Luther E. Stewart. The other four Clinton men who remained were temporarily transferred to the Thirty- fifth Massachusetts. Those who had re-enlisted were granted a veteran re-enlistment furlough of thirty days. They started for home on the 20th of January. On February Ist, a grand reception was tendered to them in Worcester. In an eloquent address on this occasion, Hon. A. H. Bullock said: "Follow these men from their camp in Worcester to Annapolis, to North Carolina, back to Virginia, to Maryland, to Tennessee, through four states in rebellion, everywhere patient, enduring, triumphant, never despairing of their country, never dishonoring their state, never losing their flag !"
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