USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 1 > Part 13
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the enemy, and the formation of the ground being considered un- favorable for an engagement returned to its former position, where on the morning of the 2d the regiment built its first intrenchments.
That morning "Stonewall" Jackson's column was observed cross- ing a hill in front of the Federal lines and part of the Third Corps, Barlow's Brigade of the Eleventh and finally Williams's Division of the Twelfth, went out to operate against it. While thus engaged the crash of battle broke almost in their rear and Williams hurried his command back to find the Eleventh Corps broken and part of the defenses constructed by the Second Massachusetts already in possession of the enemy. Ruger's Brigade formed line on lower ground in front of the Union artillery, where it remained all through the incessant firing and alarms of that night of battle. In the dis- positions of the next day the lines of the Third Corps extended to the front of this position, placing Williams's Division in support ; but when the Third Corps was forced back the shock of battle came upon the wearers of the red star corps badge in all its force. Three times did the fire of Ruger's veterans, in connection with the splendid artillery service supporting them, drive back the best troops of the Confederacy, on the last occasion advancing the Union line so that the Second found themselves once more in their old intrenehments, but entirely out of ammunition and unable to ob- tain more. In this dilemma, after standing for nearly an hour with fixed bayonets the regiment fell back near the Chancellor House, and later to the new line which had been marked for occupation, the regiment moving toward the United States ford.
That afternoon the corps listened to the roar of Sedgwick's guns at Salem Church and after dark took position at the extreme Union left, occupying intrenehments near the river beside the Eleventh Corps, from which on the morning of the 6th they moved to United States Ford and recrossed the river. During the day the Second marched 23 miles through the rain to its old camp at Stafford Court House. A third of those who left the camp ten days before did not return ; 31 had been killed or mortally wounded, including First Lieutenant Gerald Fitzgerald of Boston; 90 wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel Cogswell, and eight had been captured. As- sistant Surgeon James Wightman of Boston, died at Washington of disease on the 15th of June.
Early in June Colonel Quiney resigned and was succeeded by
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THIE SECOND REGIMENT.
1
Lieutenant Colonel Cogswell, Major Mudge becoming lieutenant colonel and Captain Charles F. Morse major. On the 6th of June the Second and the Third Wisconsin, with a few other picked regi- ments, were sent out in support of a movement by the Union cavalry across the river by way of Kelly's and Beverly's Fords. On the morning of the 9th the Second crossed at the latter ford and had some part in the skirmishing which ensued, losing three men wounded. Recrossing the river that night, they marched next morning to Bealton, stopping there three or four days and finally rejoining the corps, then on its march toward Gettysburg, at Fairfax.
The marches of the 17th and 18th took the regiment to the vicin- ity of Leesburg, where a stop was made till the 26th, when in a rain storm the Potomac was crossed at Edwards Ferry and the course taken led along the river bank, across the Monocacy and to Point of Rocks, which was reached on the 27th, the regiment con- tinning on to Petersville, returning next day to Frederick, and crossing the Monocacy. That evening the news of Hooker's retire- ment and Meade's promotion to the command of the army was made known, but there was no halt. The army moved steadily forward, and on the 1st of July the corps halted at Two Taverns. Soon the firing at Gettysburg was heard and the corps was ordered forward, going into position to the right of the reserve on Cemetery Hill. The line ran across Culp's Hill and the meadows to Rock Creek, forming the right of the Federal army.
With slight changes of position and some skirmishing the regi- ment remained in this locality till the following afternoon, when Williams's Division-the Third Brigade commanded by Colonel Colgrove of the Twenty-seventh Indiana-was ordered to the left to assist the Third Corps, but was presently sent back to the right.
Approaching their works after dark, the officers of the regiment suspected that they were occupied, and Company F as skirmishers reported the Confederates there in force. This was confirmed by Company K, which reached the works, captured several prisoners and came back with slight loss. The brigade therefore took posi- tion a few hundred yards away, behind a slight rise of ground, with a swamp between it and the enemy. About 7 o'clock next morning the Second and the Twenty-seventh Indiana were directed to charge across the marsh and retake the works. Desperate as the attempt was seen to be, the regiment responded magnificently.
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The Twenty-seventh were driven back by the terrible fire which was at once encountered, but the Second went straight across and up almost to the face of the works, where protected somewhat by the rocks and trees what were left held gallantly on till the appear- ance of a Confederate line in their rear; then facing abont they charged directly through the new force, finally reaching the shelter of a broken stone-wall in front and to the left of their first posi- tion. Here the survivors were sheltered somewhat, and after firing heavily for some time the regiment was ordered back to the start- ing point, which was reached without further serious loss. A few hours later the persistent Union attack forced the enemy from the intrenchments and in the afternoon the Second went over to the coveted position, caring for their wounded and burying their dead.
The loss of the regiment had been terrible. Of 22 officers, four were killed or mortally hurt and six others wounded ; of 294 en- listed men, 39 were killed or fatally injured and 84 others wounded, and six were prisoners. Of the killed were Lieutenant Colonel Mudge, commanding the regiment, and Second Lieutenant Henry V. D. Stone of Brookline; Captains Thomas R. Robeson of Cam- bridge and Thomas B. Fox of Dorchester were mortally wounded. Three color-bearers had been killed and one wounded.
In the march from Gettysburg toward the Virginia line, the Second on the 10th passed over the field of Antietam, and on the 12th went into position and intrenched near Williamsport, facing the Confederate army. There Colonel Cogswell, sufficiently re- covered from his wound to take the field, resumed command of the regiment. The 14th found the hostile works deserted and the enemy across the Potomac, and the parallel race southward at once began. The Second reached Sandy Hook on the 16th, crossed the river into Virginia on the 19th, moving by Hillsboro, Snickersville, White Plains and Haymarket to Warrenton Junction, near which they halted on the 26th ; on the 31st moving past Bealton to near Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock, which was crossed next day in support of a cavalry movement, the regiment being deployed as skirmishers but not engaged. In the evening of August 2 they re- turned to camp, where they remained quietly till the 16th. On that day the Second, accompanied by the Third Wisconsin and Twenty-seventh Indiana of its own brigade and eight other picked regiments, all under command of General Ruger, marched to
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NE
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Rappahannock Station where cars were taken for Alexandria, at which place a halt of two days was made. The purpose of the ex- pedition was kept a profound secret, so far as its members were concerned, till they were embarked on steamers, when it was made known that the destination was New York city, over which the possibility of another draft riot was hanging.
Reaching the metropolis, the Second were stationed at City Hall park, where were General Ruger's head-quarters, the other regi- ments being disposed at various points about the city. Two weeks passed there in quiet ; then on the afternoon of the 5th of Septem- ber the regiments were marched to the wharf, took steamers again, and the return trip was begun. From Alexandria, Ruger's three regiments marched back to the old camp at the left of the Army of the Potomac, and on the 16th the brigade crossed the Rappahan- nock, moving carefully forward till its pickets were established at Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan.
There, on the 24th, came orders which transferred the Second to other fields of usefulness. The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps had been placed under the command of General Hooker and detailed for the support of Rosecrans, who had just fought the battle of Chickamauga, and whose position had become critical at Chatta- nooga. Bealton was reached on the 26th and next day the com- mand took cars, going by way of Alexandria, Washington, Relay, Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg ; leaving the cars at Benwood to cross the Ohio river on pontons, but resuming travel by rail to and through Columbus, Xenia, Louisville, Nashville and Stevenson, Ala., the regiment debarked near the latter place at the end of seven days' continuous journeying.
The first duty of General Hooker's command was the protection . of the railroad by which Rosecrans's supplies were forwarded from Nashville, and within a few hours after the arrival of the Second came the report that the road over which it had just come had been cut, and Williams's Division, of which the regiment formed a part of the Second Brigade, was ordered back to repair the mischief. Going nominally by rail but really marching most of the way, the Second finally reached Christiana October 8, staid there till the morning of the 10th when they came back as far as Elk river bridge, where they remained on guard duty for 12 days. During this time General George H. Thomas succeeded General Rosecrans
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
in command of the Army of the Cumberland, the department hav- ing been made part of the Military Division of the Mississippi under command of General Grant. Hooker was at once directed to concentrate the Eleventh Corps and Geary's Division of the Twelfth for operations in Lookout Valley looking to the relief of Chattanooga.
On the 23d the regiment started toward the south, marched for three days, found it was not wanted in that direction, faced to the rear and marched back to Christiana, where it tore down an old camp and built a new one, was presently informed that it wasn't wanted there, marched back again to Elk river bridge between the 6th and 8th of November, and in the fortifications at that point made a more permanent stop. On the 26th of November, Thanks- giving was observed, and during the following month so many members of the regiment re-enlisted as to assure the continuance of the regiment in the field as an organization till the close of the war. The re-enlistment dated from the 31st of December, from which time the regiment was known as the "Second Veteran." On the 10th of January, 1864, the re-enlisted ones, temporarily consolidated into five companies, left for home on a 30-days' fur- lough, reaching Boston on the evening of the 19th. There was an enthusiastic reception the following day in Faneuil Hall, in which Governor Andrew, General Burnside and others took part, after which the men were dismissed to their homes for a month. ยบ On the afternoon of February 23 the command started on its return, rejoining the balance of the regiment at Tullahoma eight days later, where were the corps, division and brigade head-quarters; Colonel Cogswell was made commandant of the post, placing the regiment under command of Major Francis, Lieutenant Colonel Morse being on the staff of General Slocum.
Before the opening of the spring campaign the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were consolidated, forming the Twentieth, of which General Hooker took command, General Slocum going to Vieks- burg. The five-pointed star of the Twelfth Corps was retained as the corps badge of the Twentieth. General Ruger's brigade still remained the Second Brigade, First Division. Lieutenant Colonel Morse returned to the regiment, and on the 28th of April the move- ment toward Atlanta began. The regiment marched to Bridgeport, crossed the Tennessee river there, moved by way of Wauhatchie
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around the north end of Lookout Mountain, thence south to Ring- gold, where on the 6th of May the Army of the Cumberland, of which the Second formed a part, united with the other divisions of Sherman's great army within feeling distance of the enemy. In the fighting which ensued the regiment was not engaged till the 15th at Resaca. There, having first conducted a reconnaissance and located the position of the enemy, it formed part of the attacking line, moving forward to a chosen position where it received and re- pelled three attacks by the enemy, its loss being seven killed and mortally wounded, and 18 less severely hurt.
That night the Confederates abandoned the place and the Union army at once took up the pursuit, though the Second were not again in line of battle till Cassville was approached on the 19th, where the enemy seemed determined to make a stand, and some skirmish- ing took place ; but next morning Johnston's forces were nowhere to be seen. Sherman's army now rested for a few days, and on the 22d the original term of service of the regiment expired. Seven officers and about 200 enlisted men left on that day for Chattanooga, where they were mustered out of the national service and returned to Massachusetts ; but the Second Massachusetts Regiment, though with shortened line, still remained in the Army of the Cumberland.
The enemy had fallen back to a strong position at Alatoona Pass, beyond the Etowah river to the southeast. General Sherman de- termined to flank this position on the west, and the Second marched early on the 23d, crossing the Etowah on pontons about noon, climbed the Alatoona hills the next day as guard to the division ord- nance trains, and early on the 25th crossed Pumpkin Vine Creek to within three miles of Dallas, when the division was faced about and marched to the support of Geary's Division, with which Hooker had begun the obstinate battle of New Hope Church. By special detail the regiment was left with a battery to destroy the bridge across the creek and guard against any possible passage by the Con- federates, where it remained for three days and did not participate in the battle, in which its division suffered severely.
The regiment was detailed on the 29th as escort for a long train of wagons loaded with wounded, which it accompanied to Kingston, and remained there till the 4th of June, when with other troops and 60 recruits for its own ranks it started back in guard of sup- plies, rejoining its brigade in front of the enemy's strong position
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
on Lost Mountain on the 8th. Often under heavy fire, maneuvering and drawing the cordon closer, the Union army carried out its plans till on the 16th the condition of the enemy became so critical that they fell back early the next morning, and the Second following them to their second line halted and intrenched. The next day was rainy, and on the 19th it was found that Johnston had again with- drawn, taking position covering Marietta. The Second were among the pursuing troops, and presently to the south of Kenesaw again intrenched in the face of the enemy, in doing which First Lieuten- ant Caleb HI. Lord of Ipswich was mortally wounded. Confronting the enemy here, moving frequently and building new works, often under fire with occasionally one or two wounded, but not seriously engaged, the regiment served till the close of the month.
Colonel Cogswell returned on the 1st of July, after an absence of six weeks, bringing a hundred recruits and resuming the command, which Lieutenant Colonel Morse had well maintained meantime. On the 2d the Confederate position was again abandoned, John- ston falling back with an occasional stand till the south bank of the Chattahoochees reached, and across the river the hostile armies watched each other for some days. The Second crossed the Chatta- hooche on the 17th and Peach Tree Creek on the 20th, being in the second line during the bloody battle of that name the same afternoon, though not engaged and losing but two or three men wounded.
The enemy retired to the defenses of Atlanta on the 22d and the regiment was among the troops which followed and under the Confederate fire threw up works behind which it remained for a week. On the 28th General Hooker resigned the command of the corps on account of the appointment of General Howard to the com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee, succeeding the slain McPher- son, and General Williams led the corps till the arrival of General Slocum.
On the morning of July 30 Lieutenant Colonel Morse, field officer of the day, captured the enemy's skirmish line in his front, with a considerable number of prisoners, and the Second at once moved forward to assist in retaining what had been gained. Works were hastily thrown up and the repeated efforts of the Confederates to regain the lost hill were handsomely repulsed. The loss of the Second was three killed and five wounded, and a few more were
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hurt in the intrenchments during the continuance of the siege. At this time Surgeon William H. Heath sickened and died on the 28th of August at Chattanooga, to which place he was sent, depriving the regiment of the services of an able and conscientious medical officer.
General Sherman's operations against Atlanta necessitated the moving back of the Twentieth Corps to Chattahoocheer on the 25th of August, the Second Massachusetts Regiment being stationed in a fort covering the railroad bridge across the river, where it re- mained till the fall of the city. The Confederates evacuated the place on the night of the 1st of September, and late the following day the Second marched into the city, pitching their tents in City Park. Colonel Cogswell was made commandant of the post, with Lieutenant Colonel Morse as provost marshal and Adjutant Fox as post adjutant. Major Francis being inspector on the staff of Gen- eral Williams, the command of the regiment devolved on Captain Robert B. Brown, and the Second being made provost guard-a position especially difficult under the circumstances-the qualities of both commander and command were well tested, with credit to all concerned.
The regiment remained in Atlanta till the evacuation of the city after its destruction at the beginning of the march to the sea, and was the last to leave on the 16th of November. Meantime many recruits had been assigned to the Second, a large part of whom proved worthless and deserted before reaching camp or at the first opportunity ; though others became true soldiers and well main- tained the reputation of the regiment. This experience was in common with that of other commands at that time, many of the recruits being influenced by the large bounties offered rather than by patriotism.
The Fourteenth Corps having been the last to leave Atlanta, the brigade followed the fortunes of that organization to near Milledge- ville, which was passed on the 23d, when the Second rejoined its own corps, forming part of the left wing. Hebron was reached the 24th, and there, with supplies which had scarcely passed through the commissary's hands, the New England Thanksgiving was cele- brated. Then the march was onward, with now and then a skir- mish but very little actual opposition, the regiment taking its full share of the toil and excitement, destroying railroads, bridges, cot-
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
ton-whatever could comfort or support the armed enemies of the Union.
The prison-pen at Millen, from which all the living prisoners had been removed, was reached on the 3d of December, but no stop was made ; on the 9th, 15 miles from Savannah a rebel work mounting two guns was encountered, flanked and carried, and the next day the brigade struck and began to destroy the Savannah and Charleston railroad ten miles from the former city. That afternoon, six miles nearer, hostile fortifications were encountered, half a mile from which the regiment bivonacked in line of battle. Next morning the Second with the One Hundred and Seventh New York, under command of Colonel Cogswell, went forward on a re- connaissance, found the enemy's works in the rear of a flooded rice swamp, and returned.
On the afternoon of the 15th the regiment was ordered to join the Third Wisconsin on Argyle Island in the Savannah river, which was done with considerable difficulty on flat boats which got aground and waited for the tide, and the day after the rest of the brigade followed. Connection had now been made with the fleet which awaited the coming of Sherman, and a large mail was re- ceived ; but the troops on the island were annoyed by the fire of the hostile batteries on the eastern shore. On the morning of the 19th the brigade (which was commanded by Colonel Carman of the Thirteenth New Jersey, General Ruger commanding the First Division, Twenty-third Corps) was crossed to the South Carolina side, where it advanced some three miles and took up a good posi- tion threatening the only line of retreat from Savannah. Some demonstrations were made by the enemy, but no serious attack, and on the morning of the 21st the force was recalled, the city having surrendered. It was afternoon of the 22d, however, before the opposition of the elements and the Confederates allowed the brigade to complete the transfer to Georgia soil. The next day a camp was laid out and soon built, to be shifted to a less favorable location a few days later ; on the 30th the corps was reviewed by General Sherman in Savannah,-and thus the year 1864 ended.
Soon after Colonel Cogswell was brevetted a brigadier general and assigned to the command of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Twentieth Corps. On the 16th of January, 1865, he formally took leave of his well-tried command, Lieutenant Colonel Morse thenec-
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forth leading the regiment ; Colonel Hawley of the Third Wiscon- sin took command of the brigade. The movement through the Carolinas had already begun, the first of the troops having marched the 15th, and on the 17th the Second Regiment took the road, crossing the Savannah river on pontons. The march which fol- lowed was one of the most trying in which the regiment had ever taken part. The weather was stormy and the water high, flooding the roads and all the country for miles, and one storm only seemed to give place to another ; the roads were obstructed in every way possible to impede and delay the advance, and Wheeler's cavalry, while not strong enough to offer battle in earnest, hovered on all sides to harass and annoy. So slow was the progress of the column that on the 29th the Second had only ascended the river to Robertville, where a halt of three days was made.
Quitting that place February 2, the route led thence straight through the heart of the Carolinas, the Edisto being crossed on the 13th and the Wateree ten days later ; Cheraw was occupied by the regiment and other troops on the 6th of March, and on the 13th a review was had by General Sherman in Fayetteville. On the 14th the regiment with the Thirteenth New Jersey was sent on a recon- naissance for forage and the next day marched some ten miles and halted in a pouring rain, but at evening was ordered forward some five miles to the support of Kilpatrick's cavalry, which had en- countered the enemy in force. The night was passed in line of battle and on the 16th the battle of Averysboro was fought.
The Confederate commander, Johnston, to gain time for the con- centration of his forces beyond, had instructed Hardee to check the progress of Slocmn's column as much as he could, and Hardee had therefore posted his troops with the river on his right and the swamp on his left, at a narrow point. In the morning the brigade, with the Second on the left, with skirmishers well out and the flanks guarded by cavalry, advanced against the enemy and took position in the edge of a swampy wood near an open field, covering the main road. The enemy made desperate efforts with infantry and ar- tillery to drive back the small force, but every attempt was repelled, the brigade holding its ground till it was out of ammunition when it was relieved by that of General Cogswell, which drove the foe back through two lines of works and into the third, which were abandoned during the night. The loss of the Second had been
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four killed and nine wounded, among the former being Captain J. Ingersoll Grafton of Boston, who was shot through the neck while bravely commanding the skirmish line. First Lieutenant Samuel Storrow of Boston, on General Cogswell's staff, was also killed.
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