USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 49
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jellies ; how grateful they will be to some poor sufferers only those can tell who have watched beside a fevered patient and seen the eager look after the cooling draught, or seen the sinking, fainting form revived by a spoonful of wine judiciously administered; and how gladly the sanitary agents take places of mother and sister, and how well they fill those places by their acts of tender kindness to the sick and wounded, many a poor fellow will testify, and many another cannot in this world tell of the pillow smoothed or the ach- ing pains made more easy while his soul was lifted above the worries of this world to seek its home above, and the way of the dark valley made brighter by the words of cheer uttered by these same agents. But I meant to write a note of thanks to our friends, and so I do thank you all most heartily for helping us with our blessed work and giving us the stores to distribute where most needed."
" Please tender to 'Young Ladies of Clinton' our warm thanks for the beautiful quilt sent through us to the soldiers. It will be forwarded to some permanent hospital without doubt, and serve as a comfort and entertainment to our brave soldiers for a long time."
"We have received the box promised in your letter of the 7th, and our only smile was of pleasure in receiving a 'good box.' We have known Clinton and its work so long that we now depend upon it and rejoice."
It was not until July 5, 1865, that the society closed its rooms. The funds on hand were kept to be used for the good of returned soldiers or their families, while the various articles belonging to the rooms were kept by the members of the society to remind them of the days when they, as well as the men, worked for their country.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
Now, we come to the closing scenes of the war, the stern death grapple with the Confederacy, nerved by the energy of despair. The Federal troops for the first time acted as a unit, and were under the control of the iron-willed Grant. Most of our Clinton men were in Virginia. As the Ninth Corps was reorganized, the Twenty-first Regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade of the First Division, while the Thirty-sixth was assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division. General Burnside was again in command. There was a possible total of thirty Clinton men in the corps as a whole. It will be remembered that in the Second and other corps of Meade's army, there were thirty-one more men en- rolled, so that there may have been a possible total of sixty- one Clinton men in this army as a whole. Meanwhile, there were two subordinate armies, one in the valley of the Shenandoah and another in the valley of the James. These were expected to cooperate with the main body and separate the rebel forces.
In the former force, was the Thirty-fourth Regiment with its fifteen Clinton men ; in the latter, the Twenty-fifth, with twenty-five Clinton men, and the Twenty-seventh, with two. Several Clinton men of the Fourth Cavalry were also with the Army of the James, giving a total of over thirty Clinton men in this force. Thus, in all the armies in Virginia, there was a possible total of one hundred and ten Clinton men. In August of this year, the Third Cavalry, with ten Clinton
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
men, joined Sheridan, bringing up the possible. total to about one hundred and twenty who may have served in Virginia in 1864 and 1865. Probably much less than a hundred of these men saw any active service in the field during this time.
On the 4th of May, the grand advance movement began. Grant crossed the Rapidan without opposition, but on the next day he met the forces of Lee in the Wilderness, and trusting to his preponderance of numbers, engaged in a blind struggle in the tangled forests. In this fearful combat, on a ground where the undergrowth was so thick that it was afterwards impossible to find the bodies of the dead, Han- cock's Second Corps took the most prominent part. It advanced well into the lines of the enemy, but as over- whelming forces were massed against it by the approach of Longstreet, it was obliged to withdraw. The Fifteenth Regiment lost about one-half the men on active duty. Archibald D. Wright was here taken prisoner on the 6th of May. The last morning report of Company C was made May 3d, and then there were only twenty men in actual service. How many of these came from Clinton it is im- possible to say.
Although the Ninth Corps did not enter the battle of the Wilderness until it was nearly closed, yet it suffered severely. Leisure's Brigade, in which were the Twenty-first Massa- chusetts and the One-hundredth Pennsylvania, was called upon to sweep the front of Hancock's line after he had withdrawn to his original position. This it did in a most gallant manner, and later still, acting with the Second Corps, it was called upon to help attack and repulse the enemy. Patrick Burke was killed, and William Cohen was wounded in this engagement. In the Thirty-sixth Regiment, the skirmish line was led by Captain Bailey of Company G. When the Ninth Corps advanced against the rebels, it came in contact with its old antagonists of Longstreet's com- mand. "The order, 'Forward, double quick,' was shouted, and with loud and ringing cheers our lines advanced. The
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SPOTTSYLVANIA.
enemy poured upon it terrific volleys, but the advance was not checked. The left of our regiment first struck the rebel line and received the severest fire, but pressed on through it, and the Thirty-sixth ( Massachusetts) and the Forty-fifth (Pennsylvania) broke the line, went over the breastworks with a rush and drove out the enemy in our front." The advantage was only temporary, for when night fell, Burnside, with all the Ninth Corps, occupied the same ground as when the fight began. The only loss among the Clinton men was that of Sergeant Daniel Wright, wounded and a prisoner. Lieutenant A. S. Davidson and Michael Martin were slightly wounded, but did not leave the field.
Grant, finding that his "hammering" process was a fail- ure, resorted once more to manœuvre, and, avoiding the rebel lines, advanced toward Richmond. He found Lee again across his path at Spottsylvania Court House. On the 10th of May, the "hammering" began again. Grant, determined "to fight it out on this line if it took all summer," used the corps of Meade's army as so many huge human projectiles and hurled them one after another at the impregnable forti- fications of the rebels. It was here that the Second Corps took and held the famous "Death Angle," where there was a struggle for hours hand to hand with the enemy. The Ninth Corps, too, participated in the battle. A single scene from the record of the Thirty-sixth will be better than any at- tempt to chronicle the complex movements. The enemy are upon the flank of the regiment. "It was the most awful moment of our history. * * Lying upon the ground, load- ing and firing rapidly, pouring upon the enemy a low fire which was most effective and deadly, they maintained the unequal contest until the order came * * to charge. Then, rising to their feet in the midst of the awful fire, * * * the regiment was rushing toward the enemy when loud cheers were heard upon our left, and in another moment we were joined by the gallant Twenty-first Massachusetts. * * Cheer answered cheer, and both regiments charged the enemy, who
41
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
were driven back into their intrenchments with great loss." In this battle, Patrick Meehan of the Twenty-first and Tim- othy Higgins of the Fifty-seventh, another regiment of the Ninth Corps, were wounded.
On the 20th of May, leaving his hammering for a while, Grant again resorted to manœuvre, and passing around the rebels moved to the North Anna, only to find his way again blocked by Lee. The fighting here was less bloody than in the Wilderness and at Spottsylvania, as the rebel position was so strong that even Grant did not think it best to attempt to carry it, and he tried to reach Richmond by the Pamun- key and Chickahominy Rivers. In a picket fight, which occurred the last of May, Corporal James A. Bonney of the Fifteenth was killed by a sharpshooter.
Meanwhile, the Army of the James under Butler threat- ened Richmond on the south and made ready to cooperate effectively with Meade as soon as he should draw near from the north. While the battles fought by Butler were on a much smaller scale than those of Meade, yet the casualties to Clinton men were greater. The Twenty-fifth was assigned to the Eighteenth Corps, Second Division, the "Star Bri- gade." General Heckman was in command of this brigade. The movement began at the same time as that of the Army of the Potomac. On May 4th, the regiment went to Ber-
muda Hundreds. Thence, they were moved to a point be- tween Petersburg and Richmond. May 6th, Heckman's Brigade made a reconnoissance to the railroad connecting those cities, with the idea of taking possession of it if pos- sible. In a diary of one of the soldiers, we read: " The two skirmish lines drew nearer and nearer, each watching the other closely, and finally halting and crouching upon their knees when only the distance of a stone's throw separates them, ready for an instant spring, like a tiger waiting for its prey. Fifteen long minutes, they thus crouch and wait, tightly grasping their arms, as immovable as statues, until at last the rebel line, turning, creeps slowly and noiselessly
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IN THE VALLEY OF THE JAMES.
back to the main body. Our men spring to their feet, fire, and as quickly throw themselves upon the ground to avoid the reply." Later, the Twenty-fifth Regiment stood in re- serve, with the order, "Not a man fire," while the shots of the enemy picked them off one by one. The whole loss of the Twenty-fifth was only four killed and fifteen wounded, but three of the latter were Clinton men. Edward Klein was wounded in the knee, Karl Kochler in the arm, and Frederic Weisser in the arm and hand. This engagement is known as Port Walthal Junction.
As this attempt on the railroad was only a partial success, a second attempt was made the next day at Chesterfield Junction. In this affair, the Twenty-fifth was not actively engaged, but on the 9th of the next month, as this second attempt was also a failure, a third was made at Arrowfield Church. In this attempt, the railroad was destroyed for a considerable distance. During the day, the "Star Brigade" repulsed a charge of the enemy. "A shot was heard, a yell, and the rebel line was seen advancing, charging down in splendid style across the open field. The moment Pickett, (in command of the Twenty-fifth ), saw the enemy, he gave the order, ' Cease firing. Steady, men! steady!' and the men of the Twenty-fifth stood firm to meet the impact of the coming mass. The yelling line came on-steady, undaunted -came on to within twenty or thirty yards, and then the clear voice of the colonel was heard: 'Ready, the Twenty- fifth! Fire!' A sheet of flame flashed out; the blue smoke, like a curtain, veiled the scene, and when it lifted a few staggering men were all that were left of the Twenty-fifth North Carolina." The victory was not without loss to Clin- ton men, for here Franz Müller died and George Rauscher was wounded in the head. One of our Clinton men thus describes the conflict: "The opposing forces came down op- posite hills and met in the valley, a brook being between them. The Union troops had the advantage, being in some brushwood. The commanding officer of the Twenty-fifth
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
North Carolina Regiment, seeing the Twenty-fifth Massa- chusetts standing in battle line, asked, 'What regiment is that?' Somebody answered, 'The Twenty-fifth Massachu- setts,' whereupon the Twenty-fifth North Carolina Regiment immediately charged. Orders were received to fire low, which we did, raising great havoc among the rebels. Almost all the wounds of the rebels were in the head or breast. At midnight, some of Company G went among the wounded rebels, administering to their needs."
In the next meeting with the enemy, which took place at Drewry's Bluff on the 16th of May, the tables were turned and the Union troops suffered more than the enemy. The Confederates were now under command of Beauregard, who had brought up a large reenforcement. During the night of the 15th, he seized an opportunity which was presented to him of throwing troops around on the flank and the rear of the Union troops, who were before the rebel fortifications of Drewry's Bluff. Heckman's Brigade was upon this flank. In the mist of the morning, the enemy were able to steal close upon them, before they were aware of their presence. Quicker than thought the men seize their arms and leaping to the rear of the intrenchments pour an unceasing fire upon the charging enemy, who pause, staggered by their awful loss. The report of Colonel Pickett to the state executive tells the rest: "Surrounded, their ammunition exhausted, they (the men of the Twenty-fifth) were faced by the rear rank, charged the rebel lines, throwing the enemy into such confusion as to enable the regiment to extricate itself from one of the most perilous positions in which troops ever found themselves placed," The loss of the regiment was heavier than it had been in the previous fighting, though Clinton men suffered less in proportion to the others. Amos E. Stearns was captured. Sergeant Philip Rauscher, John T. Coulter, Joseph Schusser and Carl Kochler were wounded. A comrade of Joseph Shusser, says that it was at this battle he was captured rather than at Cold Harbor. John R. Bur-
621
COLD HARBOR.
gess of the Twenty-seventh was also captured here and car- ried to Andersonville. Here, he was so nearly starved that he died April 21, 1865, two days after he was exchanged. The Fourth Cavalry participated in this action, but without serious casualties.
As General Heckman was captured at Drewry's Bluff, Colonel Pickett took command of the "Star Brigade," while the regiment was handed over to Moulton. As a result of the battle, Butler was obliged to withdraw to Bermuda Hun- dreds, where the men worked throwing up intrenchments. The position was such that while it was easy to defend him- self from the enemy, it was difficult to make any aggressive movement. He was, to use his own expression, "bottled up." As Meade's army had lost over thirty thousand men during the month of May, Grant now ordered Butler to send the larger portion of his force to him. These troops were put under the command of General W. F. Smith, Brooks com- manding the division and Stannard the brigade in which the Twenty-fifth was organized. They got under way on May 29th, reaching Cold Harbor on the Ist of June.
It was at Cold Harbor, upon the Chickahominy, that Lee was now attempting to block the advance of Grant toward Richmond, and here, for the fourth time Grant, untaught by former failures, renews his fatal "hammering." On its arrival, Smith's Eighteenth Corps found the Sixth Corps engaged with the enemy and, though exhausted from the march, immediately took part in the struggle. At the end of the day, the first line of the enemy's ranks was carried, but the second was still firm. The next day, there was less fighting, but Grant's favorite order was again given that on June 3d there should be a general assault all along the line. The Second Corps stood on the left, then in order the Sixth, Eighteenth, Fifth, Ninth, so the men of the Fifteenth and Twenty-fifth Regiments were widely separated, and those of the Twenty-first and the Thirty-sixth were still further to the right. As the Ninth Corps was getting into position, mov-
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
ing from Bethesda Church, Crittenden's Division, containing the Twenty-first, was attacked by the rebels. This division was in the rear and acted as a guard in the movement. The division as a whole, and the Twenty-first Regiment in partic- ular, withstood the attack grandly until the other divisions came to their support and the rebels were driven back. The Twenty-first Regiment suffered badly, losing forty-seven men from its ranks already so sadly wasted. John Quinn was wounded in the shoulder. He was carried to the field hos- pital, and died June 9th. Luther E. Stewart was wounded in the foot and amputation was necessary.
The morning assault on the almost impregnable works of the enemy was to be made especially by the Second, Sixth and Eighteenth Corps. Gibbons' Division of the Second Corps was divided by a gradually widening swamp of which the troops had no previous knowledge, but nevertheless ad- vanced to the fortifications of the enemy under the most withering fire. Those that were left of them gained the intrenchments, but they could not take them, and within twenty-two minutes of the time the signal was given for the advance of the Second Corps, nearly three thousand of its men had been lost. Charles G. Ryder of the Fifteenth, was one of those who fell into the hands of the enemy.
The advance of Smith's command was made with no less heroism and no greater success. There was one point of the enemy's works stronger and more important than any other. Against this Smith was directed to send his best brigade. Of course, the 'Star Brigade" was chosen, and well did they prove by their deeds that the choice was a just one. The corps as a whole passed up a ravine, where for a time they were protected from the cross fire of the enemy, then emerged and moved steadily on; not a man faltered. The rifle-pits of the enemy were seized, and the lines re-adjusted while the fire was pouring in from front and left and right. The brigade, with the Twenty-fifth in front, again advances to its hopeless task. Three times it renews the assault,
623
COLD HARBOR.
until the number of those who have fallen, wounded or dead, is more than twice as great as the number of those in the ranks. Then it was ordered to withdraw. In the Twenty- fifth Regiment, there was a loss of two hundred and twenty out of the three hundred engaged.
There was only one other instance in the whole war where the per cent. of wounded and dead was as great as this in a single battle, and there have been very few in the history of the world. Clinton had her share in this glory and in this slaughter, for among the names of those who were killed are those of Corporal Moritz Grumbacher and Corporal Kohule. Here, the regimental history says that Joseph Schusser was captured, to die August 16th amid the horrors of Andersonville. Here, Sergeant Philip Reischer was wounded in the side, and Corporal George F. Stearns in the hip.
Although the Ninth Corps did not participate in the morning assault, yet its history, too, for the day, is written in blood. Lieutenant A. S. Davidson was again slightly wounded, and the name of Frank A. Chenery was added to the list of the dead. Burnside threw forward the Second and Third Divisions early in the morning, and the Thirty- sixth, with its companion regiments, took the rifle-pits of Early's left and established their line close to that of the rebels, awaiting, under a terrific fire, the expected order to charge. Fortunately, that order never came, for the failure of the morning proved that further waste of life was useless.
A Clinton man of the Thirty-sixth thus wrote home: "When we had lain for about an hour an order came to fall in. We marched up to the front and lay behind the breast- works until nearly morning. At twelve at night I was de- tailed to go on the skirmish line. Soon after, our brigade moved away back, and made breastworks. We worked there till morning, then we were ordered to march, and went off to the left and formed a line of battle and moved forward. Soon we came upon the enemy and drove them back about
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
half a mile. Then the contest began, and it was hot, I tell you, all the time. All the bullets came in range to hit us. We went to work and built some breastworks. We fought them all day, and made terrible havoc. We lost in killed and wounded, fifty-eight-nine killed and the rest wounded. Our company lost three killed and four wounded. We are now within seven miles of Richmond. * * * Tell the folks that Frank Chenery was killed."
As soon as it was seen that the process of "hammering" at Cold Harbor was in vain, Grant, by a masterly movement, proceeded to throw his whole army across the James, in order that he might cut off all communication of Richmond with the South as near to the city as possible. As a means to this end, the capture of Petersburg became desirable. The army were all across the river by the 16th, without any serious interference from the enemy.
Meanwhile, General Smith, with the Eighteenth Corps, went by transport down the Pamunkey and York Rivers into the James and Appomatox to Broadway Landing, thence he marched to Petersburg, reaching there early on June 15th. The works had the appearance of great strength, but they had few defenders, and if Smith had pressed on at once to the capture of the city, it would probably have been taken. The Twenty-fifth Regiment remained in a corn-field during the day. Towards evening an advance was made, and the outworks of the enemy were easily captured. Con- tent with this, Smith waited for Hancock, who was now approaching. Two Clinton men were wounded in this fight- ing of June 15th, Bernard Brockleman in the leg, and Frederick Wenning in the arm. A Clinton man of the Twenty-fifth says of that night: "The men dug holes, large enough for three men, in which they could lie, safe from the bullets of the enemy. Petersburg, on the 16th, was not at all strongly defended, and the Union forces could easily have taken it that day, but orders were received to wait until the next day. That night the whistling and rumbling of cars
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PETERSBURG.
bringing reinforcements to Petersburg could be heard in the camp. The next day the fortifications were impregnable."
On the 16th, assaults on the city were made by the Second Corps, supported by portions of the Ninth and Eighteenth, with partial success. On the 17th, the Ninth Corps made a series of assaults. The Second Division went first, early in the morning, and the Thirty-sixth did some good fighting and gained some decided advantage. The division containing the Twenty-first did not advance until six in the afternoon. Charging fearlessly over the bodies of a thousand of their comrades of the Second and Third Divisions who had fallen in the two previous attacks, they carried and occupied the rebel lines in their front. After dark, as their ammunition had given out, they were obliged to return before the advancing rebels and give up the ad- vantage gained. Here, John Tracy was wounded in the shoulder. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, January 31, 1865. On the 18th, the Twenty-fifth Regiment made an attack upon the intrenchments of the enemy near the river, advancing ineffectively against a heavy fire of shot and shell. In a few minutes, nineteen men were lost. Michael Suss was killed, and Gottfried Speisser was severely wounded in the face. On the same day, the Thirty-sixth did some severe fighting in seizing and holding a railroad cut and the fortifications about it. At this time, Sergeant Hiram W. Olcott was wounded.
It has, perhaps, been noted that little has been said of the Fifteenth Regiment since the battle of Cold Harbor. The fact is, that the only three Clinton men, Lieutenant William J. Coulter, Sergeant David O. Wallace and James Clifford, out of the seventy-eight who had left home, now remained on regular duty with the regiment in the field. On the 22d of June, these three were all captured, with the rest of the Fifteenth, in an advance on the Weldon Railroad. A sudden and totally unexpected attack of a large body of the rebels on the rear and flank of Gibbons' Division, as it
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UNDER GRANT IN VIRGINIA.
lay in the rifle-pits in a swamp, waiting for an impending attack in front, threw the little remnant of it that was left into confusion, and before the line could be restored many were captured. It was only three weeks before their term of service would expire, but it was many weary months be- fore any of them were destined to see their homes, and one, David O. Wallace, died in Florence, S. C., February 4, 1865, as they were being transferred from prison to prison to be out of the way of "Sherman's March to the Sea."
Heman O. Edgerly, who had been transferred from the Fifteenth to the Fourth New Hampshire, was wounded be- fore Petersburg and died from the effects of the wound. Frank E. Houghton, who had been transferred to Rickett's Battery, U. S. A., was killed at St. Mary's Church, June 24th, and it should here be noted that Rickett's Battery, to which he and his two comrades of the Fifteenth had been trans- ferred, had been continually with the Army of the Potomac, and had participated in its battles.
The twelve other men who had entered this regiment and who had been transferred, or who had been in the hospital or had been detailed for other duty than regular service in the Fifteenth, were mustered out during July or August. Those who were in prison were mustered out when they were released, in March, 1865. George I. Henery remained another year in the Veteran Reserve Corps. Four who had reënlisted were transferred to the Twentieth Massachusetts, and remained in active service until the close of the war.
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