USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 29
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THE THIRD BATTERY.
cannonading. The loss of the battery during this time was but two men killed, so well were they protected from the enemy's fire.
From the 14th to the 18th the command rested in the rear of the besieging lines, during which time Captain Martin, returning to duty, was assigned to the command of the artillery of the division. The Third accompanied the Second Division, Fifth Corps, General Ayres, in the movement of the 18th against the Weldon Railroad, taking a very creditable part in the fighting of that day as well as of the 19th and 21st, having on the 18th one killed and four wounded. It relieved the Eleventh Massachusetts Battery near Globe Tavern at the left of the Union lines on the 23d, and remained there till the close of its active service. At the end of the month the re-enlisted men and the recruits whose time had not expired were transferred to the Fifth Massachusetts Battery, while the Third moved to City Point and encamping beside the Twenty-second Regiment, with which it had entered service, prepared to return to Massachusetts.
Embarking on the mail boat John Brooks, September 5, the com- pany, numbering three officers and 86 men, sailed to Washington and on the 7th took cars for home, reaching Boston on the 9th. After a reception the command was furloughed for a week, reas- sembling on the Common on the 16th and being formally mustered out of the service by Lieutenant Britton of the United States Army, having made a record for faithful performance of duty of which the state might well be proud.
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THE FOURTH BATTERY.
T HIE Fourth Light Battery went into camp at Lowell Septem- ber 23, 1861, the members being mustered into service at various times during the two following months. Captain Manning's artillery section of Salem formed the melens, and that officer was commissioned captain dating from November 27, the full roster comprising :-
Captain, Charles H. Manning of Salem; first lieutenants, Frederic W. Reinhardt and Joseph R. Salla, both of Boston; second lieuten- ants, Henry Davidson and George W. Taylor; quartermaster sergeant, Benjamin W. Lander; first sergeant, Joseph B. Briggs, all of Salem.
This battery formed a part of General Butler's New Orleans ex- pedition, and on the 20th of November embarked on the transport steamer Constitution for Ship Island, the rendezvous of his com- mand. Debarking there on the 3d of December, it was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Massachusetts, an earthwork at the west end of the island, where it remained till the expedition was ready to as- cend the Mississippi. It embarked on the transport ship North America April 15, 1862, remained in the lower Mississippi during the engagement between the Union fleet and Forts Jackson and St. Philip, was present at the surrender of those strongholds and among the first troops to enter them under the American flag. Directly after the occupation of New Orleans by General Butler the Fourth ascended the river, debarking at the city on the 2d of May, and after a stop of three days proceeded to Carrollton, landing at Camp Parapet on the 6th. They remained at that point till the middle of June waiting for the summons to active duty, which came on the 15th in a call for one section to report to Lieutenant Colonel Kimball of the Twelfth Maine Regiment.
The armament of the company consisted of four rifled 12-pounders and two howitzers, and a section of the former under command of
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THE FOURTH BATTERY.
Lieutenant Taylor responded. The troops, consisting of four com- panies of infantry on three small steamers, crossed Lake Pontchar- train, to Pass Manchag, near which, after a brief engagement, the Confederates abandoned two batteries of 32-pounder guns, which were taken possession of. The track of the New Orleans and Jack- son Railroad was then torn up in that vicinity, after which the steam- ers ascended the Tangipaho river and made one or two calls at points on the lake coast, but without important results, after which the troops returned to camp on the 20th. On the 10th of July the battery was transported by steamer to Baton Rouge, reaching there on the 12th and changing camp two or three times previous to the 4th of August. General Thomas Williams, commanding the post, was aware that he was to be attacked by the Confederates under Gen- eral Breckinridge, and on the 4th made his dispositions for the bat- tle. The howitzer section was at the extreme Union left, with the rest of the battery in the cemetery not far distant.
Soon after the battle opened on the morning of the 5th the bat- tery, one section at a time, was moved toward the right, where the fight was hottest, and was at once engaged, losing one man killed and five wounded, as well as suffering heavy loss in horses. The Fourth were presently ordered to take a position in the rear, and the Confederates having been repulsed, were not further engaged. A fortified position was occupied at the United States Arsenal Grounds till the 21st, when Baton Rouge was evacuated by the Union soldiers, the battery going by steamer to Carrollton, where on the 26th it occupied Camp Williams, named in honor of the victor in the recent battle. One section left camp on the 5th of October to report to Algiers, and on the 28th, as the encampment proved very unhealthy, the rest of the command was ordered to Fort Pike, where the health of the men was much improved.
Several changes occurred among the officers about this time. First Lieutenant Salla was dismissed on the 30th of July, Captain Manning resigned from the 20th of October, and January 31, 1863, Second Lieutenant Davidson, who had been commissioned first lieu- tenant but not mustered, did likewise. To fill these vacancies First Lieutenant George G. Trull of Nims's (Second) Battery was com- missioned captain, Second Lieutenant Taylor was advaneed to the vacant first lieutenaney, while the new second lieutenants were Joseph B. Briggs of Salem, promoted from first sergeant, and Jolin
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
H. Hapgood. Lieutenant Briggs was in command of the section on duty at Algiers, and Lieutant Taylor of those at Fort Pike.
From the latter frequent expeditions were sent out to points on Lake Pontchartrain and up the rivers and bayous leading into it. On these occasions the steamer J. M. Brown was used, her armament of four guns being manned by the members of the battery. Oc- casionally a force of the enemy strong enough to make resistance was encountered, though none of the resulting conflicts were of great moment. One such was at Bonfouca, November 26, when an expedition under Captain Darling of the Thirty-first Massachusetts was attacked while loading the steamer with supplies. One of the guns was sent ashore under fire and directed by Lieutenant Taylor opened sharply upon the hostile cavalry, assisted by the infantry and from the boat, so that the enemy were soon driven out of sight, the loading of the Brown was completed and the expedition returned triumphantly to camp, none of the Fourth having been hurt. On the 23d of December another excursion to the same locality under the same officers was fired upon from the banks near Cousan's in ascending and at another point in returning; in both cases the as- sailants were driven away by the fire from the vessel, though one batteryman was badly wounded, as was Captain Darling.
While the main portion of the battery was having these experien- ces, Lieutenant Briggs's section accompanied General Weitzel's Bri- gade in its expedition through the La Fourche district, landing at Donaldsonville about the 25th of October, and after a sharp fight at Labadieville meeting little serious resistance. The purpose being accomplished, Lieutenant Briggs's command encamped at Brashear City, where it remained till January 28, 1863, when it rejoined the main part of the company, which had just been ordered to New Orleans and was encamped at Factor's Press. After a month passed there, the Fourth embarked on the steamer New Brunswick, land- ing at Baton Rouge March 1 and going into camp at Fort Williams, being attached to the Third Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, Gen- eral Emory commanding. It tock part in the diversion to the rear of Port Hudson, March 13-20, and on returning encamped at Mag- nolia Grove, moving camp April 7 to grounds near the Penitentiary where it had before been encamped.
The battery was not again called into active service till it set out to take part in the siege of Port Hudson, leaving camp May 21, and
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TIIE FOURTHI BATTERY.
marching that day with the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth New York Regiment to Plains Store; from which point on the 24th it accompanied General Augur's Division to the front and was placed in a corn-field on the right of the Port Hudson road. On the morn- ing of the 27th, when the general assault upon the works was to be made, it took a position on the right center and was actively en- gaged till noon, though having but one man wounded, when it was ordered to the rear. It again went to the front June 13, being located within 500 yards of the enemy's works, remaining in action till noon, when it withdrew, one piece having been disabled. It returned to the same position early the following morning and opened a heavy fire, throwing 584 rounds during the engagement, again with a loss of only one man wounded.
That night the Fourth withdrew to the rear, and were not again at the front, though sections and detachments took part in several expeditions through the surrounding country while the siege was in progress. On the 10th of July, Port Hudson having surrendered, the battery was attached to Colonel Gooding's Third Brigade, Third Division, and returned to Baton Rouge, where it went into the old camp near the Penitentiary, but four days later was ordered to Donaldsonville by steamer. The command re-embarked August 4 and sailed to Port Hudson, reaching that place the following day and going into camp. It was again ordered to Baton Rouge on the 22d, and on reaching there, two days later, encamped for a time near Fort Williams, moving later to Camp Banks, outside the city, whence on the 19th of September it was ordered to Brashear City.
Donaldsonville was reached by steamer the following day and by rapid marches the battery arrived at its destination on the afternoon of the 23d, and was again attached to the Third Division, Nine- teenth Corps. The march up the Teche began on the 3d of October, when three days with some skirmishing on the last brought the, column to New Iberia. Halting there till the 8th, the march was resumed, the enemy being confronted next day at Vermilion Bayou. Some skirmishing ensued, and the advance from that point was slow, so that Opelousas was not reached till the 21st. Encamping there till the 1st of November the battery began its return march with the colunm, halting next day near Vermilion Bayou. It took part in the sharp fight of the 11th, sustaining no loss, and on the 16th and 17th marched back to New Iberia, encamping near the Teche river.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
About the close of the year the members of the battery almost without exception re-enlisted and were mustered as veterans on the 4th of January, 1864. The year 1863 had witnessed several changes in the roster of officers. First Lieutenant Reinhardt had resigned on the 18th of July, and Second Lieutenant Hapgood followed on the 15th of August. The promotion of Lieutenant Briggs to the place vacated by Reinhardt made way for the commissioning of two second lieutenants, and after some delay First Sergeant Thomas HI. Manning of Salem and Corporal George N. Jenkins of Boston were advanced. On the 7th of January the battery set out with General Grover's command and moved to Franklin, resting there till the 25th, when the march was continued to New Orleans. The command was quartered at Apollo Stables from the time of reaching the city till February 11, when the arrangements for a re-enlistment furlough having been completed, the company sailed on the steamer Karnak for New York, reaching Boston on the 21st. After the 30-days fur- lough, passage was taken on the ocean steamer Liberty from New York to New Orleans, and on reaching the Crescent city, April 6, the battery took quarters in the Tobacco Warehouse, being equipped and drilling as infantry till the last of June, when a transfer was made to the Apollo Stables and a light artillery equipment was received.
On the 5th of September it embarked on the steamer Starlight and went to Morganza, some 20 miles above Port Hudson, reporting to General Lawler and going into camp near the river. In this loca- tion the command remained till the 16th, when it started on an ex- pedition into the country to the westward, reaching the Bayou For- dousche that evening and guarding the bridge across it during the rest of the night. 'Next morning one section under Lieutenant Manning was ordered to proceed to the Atchafalaya and report to the commanding officer at Morgan's Ferry, but was fired upon by a detachment of the enemy before reaching the river and a skirmish ensued, lasting during the day, the Confederates retreating at night. The loss of the battery was two men wounded. Next day the Union troops retired to Morganza, but during the night of the 20th advanced again to the Atchafalaya, fortified several points, and remained for three days, when having collected a large number of beef cattle, the expedition returned to Morganza.
Another movement began on the 3d of October, when the battery with other troops took passage by steamer Illinois to Bayou Sara,
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THIE FOURTHI BATTERY.
whence the force moved out on different roads, one detachment being driven in by Scott's Confederate cavalry on the 5th, when the entire command returned to Morganza. Several expeditions followed, dur- ing the month, in which portions of the Fourth participated, at times being engaged with the enemy, but without loss. Passage was taken on the steamer Ohio Belle for White River, Ark., November 10, and from that point the command went by the Commercial to Duvall's near Grand Prairie. On the 23d orders were received to proceed to Memphis, Tenn., and the battery at once embarked, reaching that city after various stops and transfers, on the 28th. On the 21st of December the Fourth with the Reserve Corps, commanded by General Lawler, set out upon an expedition which occupied ten days, during which the marching was over execrable roads, visiting Bailie's Station, Wolf River and Germantown, returning to the city on the last day of the year.
The day following, January 1, 1865, the battery embarked on the steamer Autocrat, with two infantry regiments, and on the 4th reached New Orleans. Reporting to General Canby, the command was ordered to Kennerville, La., where it debarked, reporting to General Steele for orders, and went into camp with instructions to prepare at once for active campaigning. The battery embarked again February 9 and sailed for Dauphin Island, where it encamped two miles from Fort Gaines, being attached to the First Division, Thirteenth Corps. General James C. Veatch commanded the division and General Gordon Granger the corps. On the 17th of March the battery left the island, crossing to the main land, and began at once the movement against Mobile. This was conducted with great difficulty, owing to the absence of roads and many other disadvantages, so that it was not till the 26th that line of battle was formed, though skirmishing had been going on for a few days. Next day the siege of Spanish Fort, seven miles east of Mobile, began, continuing until the 8th of April, during most of which time the Fourth were engaged in shelling the hostile works, but suffering little loss. On that day the fort was carried by assault, and the battery with other troops at once set out for Blakely, Ala., against which General Steele was operating. After an all-night march it reached the scene and was at once ordered into position on the left. Fire was opened at 10 o'clock and at 4 the works were carried by assault, the Fourth after the battle taking charge of the captured cannon.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Mobile was occupied by the Union army on the 12th, and the Fourth Battery, after making a march to Bellrose, was transported to the captured city on the 15th. In and about the city the time was passed till the 1st of July, when the company was ordered to Galveston, Tex.
Embarking on the steamers Welles and Trade Wind, the com- mand reached Galveston the 5th and on the 8th set out for Hous- ton, on reaching which it eneamped in Lubbock's Grove, near Buffalo Bayou, a mile from the city. While there the batterymen and officers served on various details, some of which required long and fatiguing rides through the country, but the lips of the guns no more gave forth the roar of battle. On the 28th of September orders were received to turn in the guns and other property belong- ing to the government, and on the 1st of October the homeward journey began. It led by way of Galveston to New Orleans, where a stop was made for a week. Captain Trull at that time resigned and the subsequent journeying of the battery was under command of Lientenant Taylor. New Orleans was left by means of the steamer Guiding Star on the 14th of October; biit the vessel got aground at Southwest Pass and could not be floated till the 19th. Three or four days later a heavy storm set in, becoming a gale on the 24th and injuring the steamer so much that she was obliged to put in at Port Royal, S. C., on the 26th. The trip was resumed on the 30th, and New York was reached Noveniber 2, where passage was taken on the Commercial to Stonington, Ct., and thence by cars to Boston. On the afternoon of the 4th the battery brought up at the rendezvous on Gallop's Island, and on the 10th the men were mustered out by Captain Kroutinger of the Second United States Infantry, after almost four years of service.
THE FIFTH BATTERY.
T HIE Fifth Light Battery first met at Camp Schouler, Lynn- field, its members being mustered at various times during September, October and November, 1861; but on the 14th of November was ordered to Camp Massasoit at Readville. The com- pany was at first under command of Lieutenant Allen, who received his commission on the 28th of September; the other lieutenants were commissioned on the 8th of October, but the matter of the captaincy was not settled till the 23d, when the roster was com- pleted as follows :-
Captain. Max Eppendorff of New Bedford; first lieutenants, George D. Allen of Malden and John B. Hyde of New Bedford; second lieu- tenants, Robert A. Dillingham of New Bedford and Charles A. Phillips of Salem; quartermaster sergeant, Timothy W. Terry of New Bedford.
The battery remained in camp at Readville till the 25th of De- cember, when it left for Washington, its armament consisting of four rifled six-pounders and two 12-pounder howitzers, which were during the winter exchanged for three-inch rifled guns. Washing- ton was reached on the 27th, quarters being provided at Camp Dun- can on Capitol Hill, the name being afterward changed to Camp Summer. Captain Eppendorff resigned on the 25th of January, 1862, and the captaincy passed to Lieutenant Allen, the other lieu- tenants advancing in order and the vacancy at the foot being filled . by the commissioning of Sergeant Henry D. Scott of New Bedford. On the 13th of February the battery marched to Hall's Hill, Va., and was assigned to General Fitz John Porter's Division. It re- mained in camp there during the winter, and on the 18th of March moved to Camp California near Alexandria, in preparation for the Peninsular campaign. It embarked on the 21st with its division and landed at Fortress Monroe three days later, going into camp near New Market Bridge, where it awaited the gathering of the.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
army for the movement against Richmond. It was still attached to General Porter's command,-the First Division, Third Corps.
The battery moved forward with its division on the 4th of April, opening fire upon the enemy at Howard's Mills and driving them from their works, and being slightly engaged next day on the arrival before Yorktown. It took no serious part, however, in the siege which followed, remaining at Camp Winfield Scott till the evacua- tion, taking its share in the picket duty. After the abandonment of Yorktown the battery was conveyed by transport to West Point, whence it advanced to the Chiekahominy with the division-now under command of General Morell, General Porter being in com- mand of the Fifth Corps, a new organization of two divisions, one of which was his late First Division-and took part in the other movements of the corps, including the one to Hanover Court House on the 27th of May, returning two days later to the camp on Gaines Farm, where it remained for a month, taking part in picket duty and being frequently under fire, but meeting no loss. At the battle of Gaines Mill, June 27, the battery was attached to General Butter- field's Brigade, and during the day moved to various points on the field under command of Lieutenant John B. Hyde, Captain Allen being absent. About the middle of the afternoon it took position on a hill where it assisted in repulsing several advances of the enemy, and then changed location to serve with the brigade in covering the retreat of the Union army across the Chickahominy. This it did faithfully, checking the pursuit with discharges of cannister, but in withdrawing could only bring off two guns, the horses of the others being killed. The loss in men was two killed and three wounded, two of the latter with two unwounded being taken prisoners.
The two guns which had been saved accompanied the corps in the retreat to Malvern Hill, and there on the 1st of July the com- . mand rendered valuable service, first at the left and afterward at the right, in repulsing attacks, the two pieces firing 250 rounds. Two men were wounded during the battle. On the 12th of July, while the army was in camp at Harrison's Landing, the Fifth Bat- tery was temporarily dissolved, owing to its loss of horses and guns and the depletion in number of men; 25 men were attached to the Fourth Rhode Island Battery, while the officers and the remainder of the men were assigned to the Third Massachusetts Battery, Cap- tain Martin. The two first lieutenants, Hyde and Dillingham, how-
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THE FIFTH BATTERY.
ever, resigned from that date. The detachments served with the commands to which they had been assigned for two months, during which the Rhode Island battery took part in the Second Bull Run battle, one of the. Massachusetts men being wounded, the division encamping September 8 at Upton's Hill. Four days later, when the division marched northward on the Antietam campaign, the Fifth Battery was ordered to draw a new outfit, going into camp meantime near Fort Corcoran.
It was not equipped and in readiness for the field till the 8th of October, when it marched to rejoin its division, then in camp near Sharpsburg, where it arrived two days later, and on the 21st was moved to the mouth of Antietam Creek to cover a ford of the Potomac river. Captain Allen resigned on the 17th of October, and when the new commissions which the several vacancies called for had been issued and the officers mustered the list was as follows: Captain, Charles A. Phillips; first lieutenants, Henry D. Scott and Frederick A. Lull of Cambridge; second lieutenants, Peleg W. Blake of New Bedford and Joseph E. Spear of Quincy.
The First Division, Fifth Corps, then commanded by General Butterfield, left Sharpsburg the 30th of October, being joined by the battery, and marched to Berlin the following day, to Harper's Ferry on the 1st of November, and thence with the corps as it moved southward, encamping on the 9th at Warrenton, where General Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, General Butterfield of the Fifth Corps and General Griffin of the First Divis- ion. The march toward Fredericksburg was resumed on the 17th, the battery halting on the 19th at Hartwood Church, but four days later changing camp to obtain a better location, beside the Fredericks- burg and Acquia Creek Railroad, about half way from Stoneman's Switch to Potomac Creek. The location was near that of the Third Massachusetts Battery and the Eighteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and was occupied by the company most of the time till late the fol- lowing spring.
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The Fifth took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, crossing the. river by the ponton bridge at the lower part of the city about the middle of the afternoon of the 13th of December, and taking posi- tion just outside the city, beside the poor-house. It was sharply engaged till dark and under a heavy fire, but lost only one killed and one wounded. During that night it bivouacked in the city, but
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
next morning returned to the former position and remained there till evening of the 15th, when it recrossed the river during the night and returned to the former camp on the railroad. It shared in the " Mud March," from the 20th to the 24th of January, 1863, after which it remained in camp till the Chancellorsville movement had resulted in the establishing of General Hooker's lines at that place, when the Fifth with some of the other batteries of the corps marched across the river and took position near the Chancellor house on the 1st of May. The corps was moved to the left next day, and the battery did not again change its location nor was it engaged till the close of the battle. During the night of the 5th it recrossed the river and returned to the old camp.
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