USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts in the war, 1861-1865 Pt. 2 > Part 4
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The regiment remained on the scene of action until 2 o'clock the next afternoon when, General Cox having taken temporary command of the corps, the march was resumed and that evening the banks of
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the Antietam were reached. Halting first at the right, the brigade was then moved to the left of the Union position, bivonacking in a corn field, where it remained all night and the following day. At sunset it took position near what was afterward known as " Burn- side's Bridge." Early in the morning the roar of battle was heard from the right, but it was not till 10 o'clock that the regiment was ordered under arms, moving still nearer to the bridge. Repeated efforts to secure the crossing had failed and about noon Colonel Fer- rero was ordered to force a passage, the plan being for the three older regiments to seize and hold the bridge, while the Thirty-fifth charged across and advanced up the hill in line of battle to clear away the enemy in the vicinity. Company A was detached and joined the Twenty-first Regiment, which was firing across the river, while the others, as soon as the Fifty-first Pennsylvania followed by the Fifty-first New York had obtained possession of the bridge, dashed across, filed into the road to the right on the opposite bank, halted for a moment and then swept up the steep slope to the crest of the hill, moving some distance by the right flank to the most commanding position in the vicinity. Here a severe artillery fire was encountered, and as no supports came, Lieutenant Colonel Car- ruth ordered the regiment back under cover of the crest, the move- ment being made under fire from Union batteries that mistook the maneuver for a Confederate advance. There the regiment remained for some hours while the Union troops moved past to the front, en- countered the enemy's reinforcements, were broken and driven back. Finally it became necessary to interpose some force to prevent the enemy from falling upon the broken commands striving to retreat across the bridge, and General Cox, seeing the firm line of the Thirty-fifth, ordered the regiment sent over the hill.
Moving some distance by the left flank, the command faced to the front with a cheer and at the double-quick went over the hill and down the slope into the valley beyond. Reaching a rail fence, the line halted and opened fire upon the advancing enemy. Hostile batteries crowned the hills above, and at once turned their fire upon the Thirty-fifth. Shot, shell and bullets swept like a hurricane through and over the exposed regiment, the longer lines of the enemy giving them a cross-fire, and men were constantly falling; but the brave fellows bent their energies to loading and firing as rapidly as possible, little heeding the thinning of their line, and expecting rein-
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forcements, or the order to retire. Lieutenant Colonel Carruth was shot through the neck and carried from the field. Captain King suc- ceeded to the command and walking along the line encouraged the mnen till he was wounded in seven places and carried to the rear. The last cartridge had been fired, the boxes of the dead and wounded had been emptied; only two captains and half a dozen lieutenants remained unhurt; Captain Bartlett was killed ; Captain Niles and Lieutenant Palmer were mortally wounded. Not a field or staff officer was left on duty, except Adjutant Wales, who had been hit but not disabled, and reluctantly the order was whispered along the line to fall back over the hill as rapidly as possible. This was done, and as the fragments of the regiment gathered it was seen how terrible had been the loss: 69; had been killed, 150 wounded, and some were missing; there were not 300 for duty, of the 1,000 who had left camp in Massachusetts less than a month before.
Behind the hills on the west side of the Antietam the regiment remained that night and the following day till evening, when it re- crossed the stream, stopped for one night and then, as the enemy had retreated, recrossed the bridge, passed over the battle-field and moved a few miles to the southward, near the Iron Works, where it rested for a week. For a day or two it was commanded by Captain Wright of the Fifty-first New York; then Captain An- drews of the Thirty-fifth took charge, and on the 21st Major Wil- lard, who had been detailed to secure and forward the camp equi- page left on Arlington Ilights, returned to the regiment. On the 26th the Antietam was crossed to more favorable camping grounds, where, on the 3d of October, the corps was reviewed by President Lincoln, General MeClellan and other officers. Camp was broken again on the 7th, the regiment climbing the mountains and encamp- ing in Pleasant Valley a few miles from Harper's Ferry. A few days later the Eleventh New Hampshire joined the brigade. Lieu- tenant Colonel Carruth returned on the 13th, the slightly wounded and convalescent came back gradually, much attention was given to drill and discipline, and the regiment gradually grew again into an efficient body.
Orders for the march into Virginia came on the 27th. The Potomac was crossed at Berlin, the brigade being among the first to return to the Virginia side, pushing its way along to Wheatland, where a halt of a few days was made. Then on the east side of
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the Blue Ridge the column moved slowly until the 8th of November found the regiment near Thornton's Gap. A heavy snow storm on the 7th, with severe cold, was followed by superabundant mud and very short rations, and in the midst of these physical discomforts came the news that General MeClellan had been removed from the command of the Army of the Potomac and was succeeded by Gen- eral Burnside.
From this point the brigade crossed the Rappahannock at Mill- ville, the Thirty-fifth and the Fifty-first Pennsylvania being sent to Amissville, where they found themselves quite near the enemy's outposts. Some skirmishing ensued and on the night of the 11th after midnight the brigade recrossed the river just in time to escape surprise by Stuart's cavalry. A day or two later the lieutenant colonel and adjutant of the regiment visited a house on the south side of the stream in search of food and were captured by a scout- ing party of the enemy. As soon as the fact became known, the Thirty-fifth crossed the river and skirmished over the region of the exploit but found no trace of their missing commander or his cap- tors. The Ninth Corps began to move down the river on the morn- ing of November 15, the Thirty-fifth being in the rear, and . as the column passed an exposed point in sight of the enemy, the latter opened fire upon it with artillery, which provoked a response in kind. The Thirty-fifth were detached to support the Union batteries, and were posted on picket that night at Lawson's Ford. Next day the brigade was rejoined at Fayetteville, the march continued to War- renton Junction and thence to Falmouth which was reached on the 19th, the brigade encamping near the Phillips House where it passed Thanksgiving day, the 27th, and with one or two changes of position remained till the 4th of December. The regiment was then ordered some three miles down the river to support a battery, where it re- mained until the opening of the battle of Fredericksburg, when, numbering 370 all told, it was roused at 3 o'clock on the morning of the 11th of December with orders to rejoin the brigade.
This done it awaited the completion of the bridges opposite the city, and as these were delayed by the opposition of the rebels, and a crossing in force was postponed till next day, the Thirty-fifth were about dusk ordered back to the battery. Plodding through the mud, the position was reached and arms were stacked, when another order was received to rejoin the brigade. This time it was found
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with difficulty, owing to the changes that had been made, but no sooner was it reached than the order was repeated to return to the battery. Back the weary fellows went, dropped in the mud near the great guns, and passed the few remaining hours of the night. In the morning the command marched by the river road to the upper bridges and rejoined the brigade, lying on the bank just above sheltered from the enemy's artillery till morning of the 13th, moving occasionally a little distance at a time, through the city toward the railroad track. One o'clock signaled its call to duty. Ferrero's brigade was ordered into action and at the word Major Willard, the regiment's commander and the impersonation of soldierly qualities, led the line against the enemy. The movement was greeted by a severe fire from the Confederate artillery and infantry, and the major was among the first to fall. The regiment kept on its way past a little cottage which broke its formation, and beyond it to a slight ridge, affording partial protection from the hostile fire. There the rest of the brigade were found and the Thirty-fifth joined them, opening fire upon the enemy's works a few hundred yards in front. They were opposite the south end of Marye's Hill forming the left of that part of the Federal line, so that in addition to the fire from the front, they were exposed to artillery on the flank.
Firing steadily for an hour the command exhausted its ammuni- tion and drew back from the ridge giving place to other troops which had come up in the rear, and after dark Captain Andrews led the regiment back toward the river. It had lost 10 killed and some 60 wounded, among the former being Major Willard and First Lieu- tenant William Hill. Resting until dusk on the 14th, the brigade then received orders to fall in, marched through the city, as before, to the railroad station and again took position along the fatal ridge. There it remained for 28 hours, behind a little intrenchment thrown up in the darkness, exposed to the fire of Southern sharp-shooters to which the men were not allowed to reply. Finally, about mid- night of the 15th, it quietly withdrew, recrossed the river and marched back to its old camp behind the battery, where the men slept the sleep of exhaustion.
The regiment parted company with the battery on the morning of the 17th and went into permanent camp with the brigade near the Phillips House. There it remained through the month of Jan- uary, having no part in the " Mud March," as its camp was in view
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THIE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
of the Confederates on the opposite hights. When General Hooker took command of the army, General Sedgwick was for a few days assigned to the command of the Ninth Corps, being very soon suc- ceeded by General W. F. Smith, and he in turn relieved in February by General Parke. On the 9th of February the regiment went to Acquia Creek, where it boarded the steamer Louisiana, which with two schooners in tow moved the brigade to Newport News, outside the intrenchments of which camp was made in brigade line. There the regiment remained for six weeks, during which time Lieutenant Colonel Carruth and Adjutant Wales, having been exchanged, re- turned, the former taking command, and Captain King was com- missioned major.
Orders came on the 25th of March for two divisions of the corps to join their former commander, General Burnside, then command- ing the Department of the Ohio, and on the 26th the regiment on the steamer John Brooks sailed up Chesapeake Bay. Landing at Baltimore, cars were taken by way of Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Colum- bus and Cincinnati to Covington, Ky., which was reached on the 30th. The Second Division being ordered to duty in Eastern Ken- tucky, went by rail April 1 to Paris, and two days later marched to Mount Sterling, 22 miles distant. There the regiment stopped some two weeks, during which time Major King, returning from a visit to Boston, brought a national flag-the Stars and Stripes,-pre- sented by Colonel Wild. The regiment marched to Winchester on the 17th of April, where it remained for two weeks. Colonel Wild having been promoted to brigadier general, Lieutenant Colonel Car- ruth was commissioned colonel, and many other changes occurred in the roster of officers. Colonel Hartranft of the Fifty-first Pen- sylvania commanded the brigade. From the 4th to the 10th of May the regiment marched daily some 15 miles, encamping finally at Lancaster on the Kentucky river. The brigade marched to Crab Orchard on the 23d and thence to Stanford, a dozen miles further, where troops were being concentrated for an advance into Eastern Tennessee. While there a slave anction was witnessed, a strange and shocking spectacle to the men of Massachusetts. General Fer- rero now resumed command of the brigade, and on the 3d of June, while the regiment was on battalion drill, it received orders to "Pack up and fall in, immediately!" to march for the reinforce- ment of General Grant at Vicksburg. It marched directly, reaching
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Nicholasville the next afternoon, having made 34 miles in 22 hours. Cars were there taken for Cincinnati, thence through Indiana to Cairo, where the two divisions under General Parke were packed upon 11 steamers and started down the river. Sherman's Landing below Young's Point was reached on the 14th, where the troops dis- embarked on the western bank of the Mississippi, marched south- ward through the swamps to a point below Vicksburg, and some had already embarked to cross the river when orders were received to return to Sherman's Landing. The force had been assigned to General Sherman's command, the left wing of Grant's army, which was facing to the rear to guard against the force under Confederate General J. E. Johnston, who was seeking to raise the siege of Vicks- burg. Landing at Haines Bluff and proceeding some five miles inland to Milldale, the regiment went into camp.
On the 29th the shifting of the lines moved the Thirty-fifth to Rock Ridge, some eight miles southeast, where they remained till the surrender of Vicksburg on the 4th of July. Simultaneously with the news of that event came orders to General Sherman to advance eastward against Johnston, and at 6 o'clock the column was under way. It waited for two days at Birdsong Ferry on the Big Black river while a bridge was being constructed, but on the afternoon of the 7th the river was crossed and the men marched during the afternoon and night through a most terrific thunder storm. Second Lieutenant Massena B. Hawes of Stoughton, acting quartermaster, was killed by a falling bough while sitting in a wagon. The storm soon rendered the roads impassable to artillery, but about noon of the following day the march was taken up, the infantry plodding through cornfields and by-roads until evening of the 10th found them in line of battle north of Jackson, to which city General John- ston had retreated. The Federal army maneuvered for position next morning, pressing close to the Confederate lines. The day was in- tensely hot and many were sun-struck, Colonel Carruth, among others, being taken to the hospital. Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell of the Fifty-first New York took command of the regiment. Until the 17th much of the time of the command was passed on the skir- mish line. At dawn of that day the rumor was circulated that the city was being evacuated. The regiment was at once ordered to rally and advance into the city, which it did without opposition and its colors were unfurled on the State House, Adjutant Wales
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hauling down the Confederate flag which had been left flying. More than 150 of the enemy were captured by the Thirty-fifth while try- ing to make their escape. The loss in the regiment during the siege had been two killed and eight wounded.
The mission of the Ninth Corps to Mississippi having been ac- complished, it retraced its steps toward Vicksburg by forced marches, the Thirty-fifth reaching their old camp at Milldale on the 23d, where they waited until the 6th of August for transportation back to Kentucky. During this time there was much suffering from malarial fevers. Taking the steamer Planter, the brigade reached Cairo on the 12th, took cars to Cincinnati, crossed the river to Cov- ington and went into camp on the 15th. After two or three days' Jest the regiment was selected to accompany a large wagon train to Hickman's Bridge, marching incessantly for a week, passing through Lexington to Nicholasville and going into camp a few miles beyond. Adjutant Wales, who had been commissioned major, now took com- mand of the regiment. The new quarters were christened " Camp Parke," and while there the regiment was visited by Colonel Car- ruth, who was presented with an elegant sword and belt, but was still too ill to return to duty. Lieutenant Colonel King, on detached service at Lexington, also visited the command.
The corps was ordered on the 7th of September to join General Burnside in Tennessee, but on General Griffin, who commanded the division, reporting that he had not over 2,000 men fit for duty, as a result of recent campaigns, the regiments were distributed at dif- ferent points in Kentucky for further recuperation,-the Thirty-fifth going to Crab Orchard, where it went into camp on the 11th, on the 15th moved to the fair grounds, and on the 30th, with the Fifty-first Pennsylvania, set out over the mountains southiward, the men carry- ing eight days' rations. Major Wales being absent the regiment, consisting of about 150 all told, was commanded by Captain Blan- chard. Camp was made near Loudon on the 5th of October where the command rested till the 10th, marching on the three days follow- ing to the Fords of the Cumberland. On the morning of the 19th the suburbs of Knoxville were reached, after a march of 140 miles over the roughest of roads, a snow-storm being encountered on the way.
The regiment entered the city on the evening of thie 22d, and waited about the station till the next afternoon, when, in box cars and through a driving rain storm, it moved slowly down to the
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Tennessee river opposite Loudon, to meet and retard the advance of Longstreet upon Knoxville. On the 24th it fell back some six miles to Lenoir's Station where for three weeks it awaited the enemy. Very early on the 15th of November the brigade was ad- vanced again to Loudon, the division being so disposed as to cover the concentration of Burnside's forces near Knoxville. Constant skirmishing and maneuvering followed till the morning of the 17th when the dispositions at Knoxville were completed and the column entered the city, the regiment having lost several slightly wounded. The division took position facing nearly northward between First Creek and Second Creek, the Thirty-fifth on the right next. the mill on First Creek. The position was quickly and strongly intrenehed, a great part of the work being done by citizens and especially by the negroes, while the weary soldiers rested and prepared to resist the siege operations of Longstreet, which had already begun. The siege lasted till the 4th of December, but though the Thirty-fifth were almost constantly on duty they were not severely engaged. On the 24th of November and again on the 29th the command assisted in driving the enemy back from the Union skirmish line, losing two or three killed and captured. The brigade marched four miles on the Cumberland Gap road on the morning of the 5th of December, finding no enemy, and on the 7th the Ninth Corps, with part of the Twenty-third, started in pursuit of Longstreet. They halted on the 9th near Rutledge, having marched 33 miles, and watched Long- street's troops a few miles ahead. After a few days the regiment fell back six miles to Blain's Cross Roads where a camp was laid out and the men received their knapsacks and baggage, which were much needed.
The camp was occupied till the middle of January, 1864. During much of the time rations were very short, corn in the ear being issued and considered a luxury. Very many were bare-footed, but after the ground was covered with snow moccasins were made by the men from single pieces of green hide, no other foot-wear being obtainable. Marching orders were received on the 16th of Jannary and the troops began to concentrate toward Knoxville, which Long- street was again threatening. At this time the Second Division consisted of only three regiments, the others having re-enlisted and gone home on furlough. Passing through Knoxville on the 24th, the regiment went into camp five miles south on a pleasant slope
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where with the exception of short rations, which marked the entire service in Tennessee, its situation proved very satisfactory. During the entire winter the health of the command was exceptionally good, notwithstanding manifold hardships.
Camp was moved nearer to the city on the 15th of February, on the 22d Colonel Carruth reported for service, taking command of the brigade, and on the 24th a march was begun toward Morris- town, which had been General Longstreet's head-quarters during the winter. In that vicinity the regiment remained until the 17th of March, when the remnants of the Ninth Corps bade adien to their comrades of the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps, and in 11 days marched 170 miles over the rough and minddy mountain roads to Covington. From Cincinnati, on the afternoon of April 1, cars were taken to Baltimore, the regiment going thence to Annapolis by steamer, and on the 8th encamping two miles from the town where the Ninth Corps was being reorganized under its old com- mander, General Burnside.
The Thirty-fifth now became a part of the First Brigade, First Division, the other regiments being the Fifth-sixth, Fifty-seventh and Fifty-ninth Massachusetts Veterans, the Fourth and Tenth United States Regulars. Major Wales commanded the regiment, Colonel Carruth the brigade and General T. G. Stevenson the divis- ion. Camp was broken on the 23d, the corps marching to Wash- ington, passing through the city and over Long Bridge, to Alexan- dria, which it left on the 27th, marching by way of Fairfax Court Ilonse and Bristoe to Bealton Station, which was reached on the 30th. There a halt was made till the morning of May 4 when the march to the Wilderness by way of Ely's Ford on the Rapidan be- gan. The regiment was detailed on the 5th to guard the supply train of the division and thus was not engaged in the opening bat- tles of Grant's campaign. Major Wales, having resigned, returned to Massachusetts with the body of General Stevenson, killed at Spottsylvania, and Captain Blanchard commanded the regiment until the 15th, when Captain Park returned from detached service in Kentucky and took command.
The regiment was returned to its brigade on the 17th, finding it under command of General J. II. Ledlie, Colonel Carruth having gone to the hospital. It had part in the disastrous attack of the Union army on the Confederate intrenchments the following day,
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losing five men killed and 17 wounded. On the 19th the division was moved to the left and the regiment as skirmishers located the position of the enemy. Then followed the movement to the North Anna, where on the 25th the First Brigade forded the river and with the Thirty-fifth as skirmishers at once began the attack. In the stubborn fight which followed the regiment lost six wounded and eight captured.
The command was detailed next day as engineer corps for the division, an honorable selection but one which involved double duty,. since, although placed under the orders of Major Morton, chief engineer of the corps, it was not relieved from duty as a part of the First Brigade. The march to the Pamunkey began on the 26th, each man delivering his knapsack to the wagons and carrying in- stead a pick, a shovel or an ax. Reaching Hawes's Shop, the newly- made engineers began duty by building a line of intrenchments, but before they were completed the army had advanced beyond them so that the labor was thrown away. For two weeks, during the opera- tions about Cold Harbor, the regiment was incessantly on duty constructing works of every kind, often under fire, and having several men wounded.
The movement to Petersburg began on the 12th, and late in the afternoon of the 16th a halt was made within two miles of the city. General Ledlie had now taken command of the division and in the fighting of the next day Major Morton commanding the engineers was killed. That night the regiment began changing the faces of the captured Confederate works, and thenceforth in build- ing bridges, cutting roads, erecting forts, rifle pits, lunettes, burying the dead and like duties of infinite variety, the long months of that terrible summer passed. During this time considerable numbers of recruits were received and the loss of the regiment went steadily on, much of the work having to be done under fire from the Confederate sharp-shooters. On the 1st of July the Thirty-fifth again lost their commanding officer, Captain Park, who received a wound in the arm, apparently not serions, but which, from his enfeebled condition, caused his death at his Roxbury home six weeks later, after he had, at the special request of General Burnside, received a commission as major. Captain Blanchard succeeded him and on the 23d of July General Bartlett, promoted from colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, took command of the brigade.
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