USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 3
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The river was crossed on the morning of the 26th and after a little stop at Williamsport the regiment took the Sharpsburg pike to Boonsboro, which it reached about sunset, was called up at 10 o'clock that night and marched to Sharpsburg, halted till morning and then pushed forward to Pleasant Valley. Resting there till afternoon of the next day, the command recrossed the river at Harper's Ferry and marched to Halltown, receiving a needed outfit of new clothing. Marching orders came again at noon of the 20th, the river was crossed once more, and late at night the regiment halted at Bir- kittsville, Md., continuing next morning through Middletown to near Wolfsboro, the men suffering intensely from the heat. This movement of Hunter's command was caused by MeCausland's burn- ing of Chambersburg, Pa. On the 3d of Angust the regiment marched through Frederick and to the Monocacy, which it crossed by the ford, encamping on its banks.
The command of the department was now given to General Sheri- dan, and under him the Thirty-fourth entered upon a campaign of even greater activity. The movement began on the 6th, when the regiment forded the Monocacy and marched through Jefferson to Pleasant Valley; from there on the 9th the march was through Harper's Ferry to Knox's Ford on the Shenandoah, on the 10th to Berryville, on the 11th to White Post and next day to Middletown, the enemy being in force about the creek beyond the town and sharp skirmishing ensuing during the afternoon. On the evening of the 16th Sheridan's retreat down the Valley began, and that night the regiment marched to Winchester, the next day to Berry-
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THE THIRTY-FOURTII REGIMENT.
ville, on the 18th to Ripon, halting for 48 hours in a grove near the scene of its first engagement the previous October, and in the after- noon of the 20th moving to the vicinity of Charlestown.
The attack of Early's troops upon the Union ontposts the follow- ing morning called the regiment into line some distance to the west of the town, where it intrenched, but that night it moved to HIall- town taking position near the center of the Federal lines. During the following days there was frequent skirmishing, from which the command suffered no loss, and on the 3d of September it marched to Berryville. Here the enemy was found in force and fortifying and skirmishing continued till the 5th, during which the Thirty- fourth lost one man killed and five wounded ; a season of quiet then ensued, and on the Sth the regiment marched across the fields to Sinnmit Point, the extreme right of the Union lines, where it went into camp and remained till early morning of the 19th, when with the rest of Sheridan's army it set out to take part in the battle of the Opeqnan.
The Eighth Corps,-General Crook's command,-was held in re- serve near the crossing of Opequan Creek during the early part of the battle, but after the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were well en- gaged the Eighth was ordered forward to extend the Union right. In the general advance which followed when position was gained the Thirty-fourth, ably commanded by Major Pratt, were somewhat separated from all other troops by the conformation of the ground. Becoming exposed to a flank fire from some Confederate guns sup- ported by a line of infantry behind a stone-wall, they changed front in that direction to charge the offensive battery. As the regiment came within short range of the Southern infantry it received a terri- rible fire, killing or wounding great mimbers and immediately check- ing its progress, the line throwing itself upon the earth to partially escape the annihilating blast. After hugging the ground till the troops to the right and left could get within supporting distance, the regiment was ordered to charge, and with a dash sprang to and over the wall, capturing one of the guns and some prisoners, while the rest of the defenders fled toward Winchester; but the joy of the moment was sadly clouded by the death of Captain Thompson, an officer of high repute.
The combined charge of the three corps which followed drove the Confederates from the field, when the Union cavalry took up the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
fight and completed the rout. The Thirty-fourth with the rest of General Crook's command passed through Winchester and followed the retreating enemy as far as Millwood, where the night's bivouac was made. The regiment's loss had been severe-besides Captain Thompson six enlisted men had been killed, and the list of wounded reached 97, several being fatally hurt.
The command marched to Cedar Creek on the 20th and next morning advanced to Strasburg, beyond which Early had taken up a very strong position on Fisher's Hill, where he was already con- fronted by the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps. The Eighth at first took position on their left, but before daylight of the 22d was moved around to the right and crept through the woods at the base of North Mountain undiscovered till a favorable position on the enemy's flank was gained, when a general charge was made and with little more than spasmodic attempts at resistance the surprised foe was driven from point to point, losing heavily and being pursued up the Valley by the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps as far as Mount Jackson. The Thirty-fourth, whose flag is claimed to have been the first planted on the Confederate works, captured two guns and seven caissons, their loss in the series of charges being 19 wounded; but an accident after the evening bivouac was ordered resulted in the fatal wounding of Major Pratt, then commander-a most worthy officer, whose loss was deeply mourned. A stack of arms in the camp of a neighboring regiment being thrown down, one of the muskets was discharged and the ball passed through both of the major's legs, from which he died on the 25th.
Stopping on the field for a day to bury the dead and care for the wounded, the regiment started southward on the 24th, marching that day beyond Mount Jackson and the next day to Harrisonburg, where it was detailed for provost duty, in which it was pleasantly engaged till the 6th of October, when Sheridan began to withdraw his troops from the upper part of the Valley. Wells's Brigade formed the rear of the infantry column, but behind it came the cavalry, laying waste everything which could give sustenance to a hostile force. On the 11th a strong position was occupied and fortified in the rear of Ceder Creek, the Thirty-fourth being posted near the Union left, between the pike and the Shenandoah river.
A reconnaissance sent back the next day within view of Stras- burg failed to discover signs of the enemy in any considerable force,
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THE THIRTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
but the following noon the quiet camps were startled by the opening of fire from a hostile battery on Hupp's Hill across the creek. The First and Third Brigades were at once ordered forward to drive back what was supposed to be a reconnoitering party, but were greeted with so heavy a fire as to show that the enemy were in a strong force. This fact being demonstrated, Colonel Thoburn, command- ing the division, ordered the two brigades back, but the aide, after delivering the order to the Third, had his horse shot and was taken prisoner. The two brigades being separated by a ridge, across which movements could not be observed, Colonel Wells's command remained in ignorance of what had taken place. Being in position behind a low stone-wall which gave but slight shelter, the Thirty- fourth on the right, it fought till it was nearly surrounded when the order to retreat was given, Colonel Wells having been mortally wounded. Such of the regiment as could escape the close pursuit regained the north side of the creek ; Early, having accomplished his purpose, retired to Fisher's Hill, and the battle of Tom's Brook was ended. Of less than 250 taken into action, the Thirty-fourth had lost nine killed, 48 wounded, and 40 captured-a total of 97. Second Lieutenant Charles I. Woods of Petersham was killed, and Second Lieutenant James Dempsey of Worcester was fatally wounded, dying December 3. Lieutenant Ammidon had died while prisoner of war on the 1st of October.
Thoburn's Division formed the left of the Union line on the morning of October 19, when the battle of Cedar Creek began. The enemy creeping around upon the flank, as the Eighth Corps had done at Fisher's Hill a month before, burst upon the sleeping camps in the darkness and fog without a musket shot to herald his approach. The First Brigade was the only one not utterly sur- prised ; forming instantly at their works the few thin regiments at- tempted a defense, but the foe in resistless number swept the brave fellows back, Colonel Thoburn being killed. Attempts were made to check the disaster by rallying such portions of the two shattered corps as it was possible to handle, but the advantage of the enemy was too great to be easily overcome, and it was not till the firm lines of the Sixth Corps in the rear of Middletown were encountered that the Confederates were finally checked. Then Sheridan reached the scene, the lately broken Union lines began to surge forward, and that night the Thirty-fourth slept in the camp from which they
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
had been so unceremoniously hurried in the morning. Their loss during the day had been nine wounded, two mortally, and 32 missing.
After the battle they were detailed for provost duty at Newtown, where they were located till November 10, when the army retired to Kernstown and the regiment went to the crossing of the Opequan, where its principal duty was the guarding of the railroad bridge and picketing the region round about. While there Lieutenant Colonel Lincoln reported to the commander of the army and was mustered as colonel of the regiment, but his wound being still troublesome he was ordered on detached service at Cumberland. Captain Potter received in rapid succession promotion to major and to lieutenant colonel, and Captain A. D. Pratt was made major. The brigade, after the death of Colonel Wells, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Wild of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio.
Orders were received on the 17th of December for the entire First Division of the Army of West Virginia to join the Army of the James, then operating against Richmond, and though strong repre- sentations were made that the command could render better service on the ground with which it had become so familiar, the change was insisted upon and the Thirty-fourth as a portion of the division took cars at Stevenson's Depot on the 19th for Washington, reached that city next day and embarked on the steamer Massachusetts under scaled orders. Being driven by a severe storm into Cherry Stone Inlet, the Massachusetts and other transports waited two days, re- suming the voyage on the 23d and debarking the regiment at Aiken's Landing on the 25th. Marching to the extreme right of the invest- ing lines, the division joined General Ord's Twenty-fourth Corps, being known as the " Independent Division" and commanded by General John W. Turner.
The life of the regiment at " Camp Holly," in comparison with the scenes through which it had been passing, was one of inaction, though there were serions disadvantages to be overcome to make the camp and the men comfortable. During January, 1865, Colonel Wild was succeeded in the command of the brigade by Lieutenant Colonel Pot- ter, Captain Leach taking command of the Thirty-fourth. On the 18th of March General Ord in command of the Army of the James- General Gibbon commanding the Twenty-fourth Corps-directed the adoption of a heart as the corps badge, the Independent Division wear- · ing the white and the First and Third the red and blue respectively.
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THE THIRTY-FOURTHI REGIMENT.
The active work of the regiment in the closing scenes of the re- bellion began on the 25th of the same month, when its division marched to the crossing of the Chickahominy to meet General Sheridan and his cavalry on their way from the Shenandoah Valley through the heart of Virginia. The commands arrived at the river almost simultaneously, greeted each other enthusiastically, and at once set out for the left of the investing lines below Petersburg. Marching to Deep Bottom on the 26th, the force crossed the James in the evening of the 27th and made an all-night march. One divis- ion each from the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Corps now joined the Independent and the force was moved across Hatcher's Run and assigned a position on the right of the Second Corps. All night of the 30th was spent in intrenching and sharp skirmishing began the next morning, ending in the advance of the brigade, driving out the enemy and ocenpying some of his works. In this engagement the loss of the Thirty-fourth was one man killed and 14 wounded.
A strong picket line was pushed close to the enemy, the position gained was fortified, and the exhausted men slept till near day- break, when they were aroused by a sharp attack from the Confeder- ates, which was quickly and effectually repulsed. Twenty-four hours later the regiment joined in the general assault upon the defenses of Petersburg, which in its immediate front were carried without serious resistance. Advancing some two miles, the division halted in front of Battery Gregg, a strong Confederate carth-work. At 11 o'clock orders were given for the attack, Colonel Potter's Brigade forming the first line, and the advance was made under a terrific fire. A hundred yards from the fort the men dropped upon their hands and knees and crawled to the ditch, which was deep and held four feet of water. Into this the brave fellows plunged. through it they floundered, climbing to the face of the fort with the help of their bayonets. The resistance was desperate, and for 27 minutes, according to the accounts of participants, the men hung upon the outer face, unable to advance or to retreat. Then with a climb and a rush they went inside and the fight was ended. Cap- tain Goodrich of the Thirty-fourth and some of his men, trained in the school of Fort Lyon, turned the guns upon the neighboring in- trenchments, while the position gained was fortified and made secure to the Union arms. The loss of the regiment had been slight con- sidering the great exposure-being five men killed and 35 wounded.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
Petersburg was evacuated that night, and the following morning the regiment joined in the pursuit of Lee's retreating battalions. The first day's march was to Sutherland, the next to Wilson's Sta- tion, and late at night of the 5th bivouac was made at Burkesville. The march of the 6th was to Rice's Station on the Appomattox, where the enemy had been checked by an advance column from General Ord's command, and the Thirty-fourth had some skirmish- ing, losing three wounded. The march of the two days following enabled Ord at night of the 8th to plant his force across the line of retreat of the Confederates, and when next morning Lieutenant General Gordon of Lee's army attempted to press back what he sup- posed to be a cavalry force in his front, he beheld the firm ranks of the Thirty-fourth and its fellow-regiments. The surrender of Lee's army followed, and the regiment remained in eamp near the scene till the 12th, when it marched to Lynchburg, Lieutenant Colonel Potter being made provost marshal there and the Thirty-fourth being detailed for guard and patrol. The Confederate stores at that point having been destroyed, the regiment marched on the 15th, reaching Burkesville on the 19th, stopped there three days and reached Manchester on the 24th, entering Richmond next day.
The regiment camped on the north side of the city and about four miles from it, where Colonel Lincoln arrived next day with a large force of convalescents and exchanged prisoners. He was as- signed to command the brigade and Lieutenant Colonel Potter re- turned to the regiment. In this camp the command remained, busied with the duties preparatory to its final muster out of the ser- vice. The review of the corps by General Ord occurred on the 13th of June, when the bronze medals authorized by act of Congress were presented to such enlisted men as had especially distinguished them- selves,-two members of the Thirty-fourth being honored. The regiment was mustered out of the goverment service on the 15th and started for home the following day, after transferring to the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts the recruits who still owed more than four months of service. Taking boat at Rockett's the regiment steamed to Baltimore, going thence by rail to New York. From the latter city steamer was taken for Providence and the following day the organization reported to General Pierce at Readville. The men were temporarily dismissed to their homes, but reconvened on the Gth of July for final payment and discharge.
1778895
THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
T HE Thirty-fifth Regiment was the first organized under the call of July, 1862, and was composed partially of companies recruited in the towns of Eastern Massachusetts and organ- ized prior to their going into camp, and partially of companies con- solidated from the squads and detachments which gathered at Camp Stanton, Lynnfield. Recruiting for the prospective regiment began carly in July at some of the Boston offices, but it was not till near the end of the month that the groups began to gather at the ren- dezvous, and from the 4th to the 8th of August five full companies -B, C, G, H and K-arrived. The various companies were mus- tered into the United States service by Lieutenant Elder of the regu- lar army from the 9th to the 19th of the month, Enfield rifles of a somewhat inferior quality were issued on the 20th, and most of the officers having been commissioned, the regiment was ordered to set out for the front on the 22d, though undrilled and illy prepared for active campaigning. The original roster of officers follows :-
Colonel, Edward A. Wild of Brookline; major, Sumner Carruth of Chelsea; surgeon, Francis M. Lincoln of Boston; assistant surgeons, George N. Munsell of Harwich and Albert W. Clark of Woburn; adjutant, Nathaniel Wales of Dorchester; quartermaster, Samuel W. Haines of Newburyport; chaplain, Henry H. F. Miller of Norton; sergeant major, Augustus Hatch; quartermaster sergeant, Albert F. Upton, both of Boston; commissary sergeant, Edwin N. Merrill of Haverhill; hospital steward, George F. Wood of Plymouth; principal musician, Daniel Vining of Weymouth.
Company A-Captain, Stephen H. Andrews of Chelsea; first lieu- tenant, Elbridge G. Hood of Nahant ; second lieutenant, John B. Stickney of Lynn.
Company B-Captain, Albert W. Bartlett; first lieutenant, Gamaliel Ilodges; second lieutenant, Nathan W. Collins, all of Newburyport.
Company C-Captain, Tracy P. Cheever; first lieutenant, Clifton A. Blanchard; second lieutenant, Franklin B. Mirick, all of Chelsea.
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WAR.
Company D-Captain, Dennis A. Dolan; first lieutenant, James H. Baldwin, both of Boston; second lieutenant, John W. Hudson of Lexington.
Company E-Captain, Horace Niles; first lieutenant, William Pal- mer; second lieutenant, J. Wilson Ingell, all of Randolph.
Company F -- Captain, Samuel C. Oliver of Salem; first lieutenant, Daniel J. Preston of Danvers; second lieutenant, Charles F. Williams, Jr., of Salem.
Company G-Captain, William Gibson of Boston; first lieutenant, Frederick D. Brooks of Haverhill; second lieutenant, William Wash- burn, Jr., of Boston.
Company II-Captain, Benjamin F. Pratt; first lieutenant, George P. Lyon; second lieutenant, Oliver Burrell, all of Weymouth.
Company I-Captain, Sidney Willard of Boston; first lieutenant, John Lathrop; second lieutenant, William Hill, both of Dedham.
Company K-Captain, William S. King; first lieutenant, Edward G. Park; second lieutenant, Edward Blake, Jr., all of Roxbury.
A considerable proportion of these officers had already seen ser- vice, Colonel Wild and Major Carruth as captains in the First Mas- sachusetts, and Adjutant Wales in the Twenty-fourth; of the line officers a dozen had served elsewhere, principally in the earlier Mas- sachusetts regiments, but with these exceptions the command was almost entirely made up of those whose ambition for military re- nown was untempered by knowledge. No lieutenant colonel had as yet been commissioned.
The command, 1,013 strong, took cars for Boston carly in the afternoon of Friday, the 22d of August, marched through some of the main streets of that city to the State House, enthusiastically greeted along the way, received a blue flag with the national arms and the white flag of the State with the Massachusetts arms, and with no formal words of adieu continued the march to the Old Colony Railroad station, taking cars for Fall River. Going thence by the steamer Bay State to Jersey City and resuming cars, the regiment reached Philadelphia at evening and received the hearty welcome and repast which that city gave to all passing soldiers. Learning that some saloons in the vicinity of the Cooper Shop were plying his soldiers. with liquor, Colonel Wild ordered the pro- prictors to cease, and placed guards at the doors, but finding that some of them violated his orders sent out a detail to empty the liquor of the offending parties, which was vigorously done notwith- standing the protests of the city roughs and of the police, whose writs of arrest Colonel Wild declined to recognize. At 9 o'clock the
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THIE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
journey was resumed, Baltimore was reached carly Sunday morn- ing, and a halt ensued for breakfast, after which the trip to Washing- ton was completed in rough box cars. Late in the afternoon the regiment in column of platoons marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, crossed the Potomac by the Aqueduct Bridge at Georgetown, and took the road to Hunter's Chapel, bivouacking in a field for the night.
Tents were pitched next day and a camp established called Camp Casey. Some cartridges were distributed and the men instructed in loading their pieces, which not a few of them had never done be- fore. Next day the regiment was assigned to General Whipple's Brigade, moving its camp about half a mile inside the line of fortifi- cations and near Fort Craig, the location being designated as Camp White. Here followed a few days of camp duty, drill, guard duty and night alarms, all of them experiences which the men of the . Thirty-fifth sadly needed. On the 30th the regiment was transferred to Van Volkenburg's Brigade. Early in September Major Carruth was promoted to lieutenant colonel and Captain Willard to major.
With this very inadequate preparation, the Thirty-fifth were on the 6th of September ordered to the Army of the Potomac and at once set out to join the Ninth Corps, then in Maryland and moving northward. Leaving camp late in the afternoon they marched through Washington by way of the Long Bridge, passed out into the country, and marched till long past midnight, when the column halted, the exhausted soldiers being scattered for miles along the road. Marching only a few miles the next day, Colonel Wild halted for the stragglers to come up, after which he gave his command de- tailed instructions as to their duties on the march, on the field and in action. A march of a mile on the 8th took the regiment to its brigade, the Second of the Second Division, Ninth Corps. General Reno commanded the corps, General Sturgis the division, and the brigade, which consisted in addition to the Thirty-fifth of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, Fifty-first New York and Fifty-first Pennsylvania, was commanded by Colonel Edward Ferrero.
The day following a march of 12 miles was made to Brookville, followed by a day's rest, and on the 11th and 12th the right wing of the army, the First and Ninth Corps, making a detour to the right, reached Frederick, beyond which the Union cavalry was already skirmishing with the retiring enemy. Near nightfall of the
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MASSACHUSETTS IN THIE WAR.
13th the order to advance was received and late into the night the weary men clambered over Catoctin mountain, descending into the valley near Middletown where a halt was ordered. Until 2 o'clock in the afternoon they lounged idly about the bivouac looking curiously at the blue slopes of South Mountain to the west and little dreaming of the stern conflict its rough hights held for them.
Suddenly came the order to "fall in" and away went the brigade across the fields, fording streams over which the bridges had been destroyed, stopping now to load their guns, then forward at the double quick past Union batteries near the foot of the mountain, hurling shot and shell savagely up the slopes, while the fierce mus- ketry fire above could be heard. The men of the Thirty-fifth halted to throw off their knapsacks, which they never saw again, fixed bayonets, and then went scrambling up the hill through the thick woods, around rocks and over fallen trees until a cross road was reached, where the dead and wounded, friend and foe, were lying. Forming line along the road which led over the crest of the hill, the regiment advanced into the forest in front, the men foreing their way through the tangled undergrowth for some distance, but finding no signs of the enemy, returned to the little field where the rest of the brigade had been left in line of battle. There the scat- tered regiment was collected and formed, but before its line was completed, just at dusk, a fierce musket fire broke from the forest through which the command had recently charged, killing or wound- ing a number of the Thirty-fifth, among the rest Colonel Wild, who lost an arm. It was at this time that General Reno was killed. Some of the men returned the fire, but this was quickly checked and the brigade moved back out of range into a convenient piece of woods. The enemy did not follow, contenting themselves with maintaining a scattering fire for a time, and the morning showed that they had retreated to the Confederate main body. The loss of the regiment at this time was Lieutenant Williams mortally wounded, five men killed and nearly 20 wounded. Colonel Wild, whose left arm was amputated at the shoulder, was incapacitated for further service with the regiment, though afterward commissioned brigadier general and serving his country faithfully.
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