USA > Massachusetts > Reminiscences of military service in the Forty-third regiment, Massachusetts infantry, during the great Civil war, 1862-63 > Part 10
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112 HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
and would walk miles to spend one lonely hour amid the weird fancies it calls up.
" .. . . There followed in our train some hundreds of the doomed children of Africa ; not the strong and robust of early manhood, but the aged, the infirm, the women and their little ones. erowded into ox-carts, riding donkeys, hobbling on foot, imperfeetly and picturesquely apparelled, - a motley and laughable, yet, at the same time, piteous and affecting company, glad that the 1st of January, 1863, had at length shed its sacred beams of freedom upon them ; listening. as though there were eclestial enchantment in the sound, to the trumpet-blast of the proclamation summoning them forth from their long eaptivity to the awful probation of self- government."
Shortly after passing through the swamp, an incident of an interesting nature happened. It was so peculiar that it could hardly have occurred to any marching column, except in a civil war, between those of the same language and faith. It was noticeable on all our routes that all travel except our own was for the time suspended, or diverted, at the head of the column. to other roads. We met no one but those who were in arms to oppose us, except in the solitary instance about to be related.
We were halted a few moments, and while standing in loose order, at such ease as could be taken in that form, we were surprised and gladdened by the passage through our ranks of an intelligent and prepossessing lad of some nine or ten years of age, coming from the opposite direction. He was childlike, yet self-possessed in his bearing. Too young to have a share in the fierce passions of the conflict, " exceed- ing peace had made him bold." He was so winning that we all wanted to have something to say to him; and he answered us pleasantly. as he flitted by with a charming freedom of manner which won our hearts.
In reply to inquiries as to his coming and destination, he gave the singular return that "he came from his aunt Hannah's, and was going to Paradise." .The innocent little fellow was not, however, expecting immediate translation. His rather startling reply was due to the fact that there was
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THE TRENTON MARCH.
a village of that name in the vicinity, to which he was going. Circumstances sometimes set words, like " apples of gold, in pictures of silver :" their power of association in this instance was such, that one at least, in that body of armed men, in- stantly thought of Him who said of little children, that "their angels do always behold the face of my Father." There were averted faces as he passed on. I mistrust that some eyes were moistened as this impressive reminiscence of home and heaven vanished from our sight.
It was only a month since we met the enemy at Kinston on just such a beautiful sabbath morning as this was : our apprehensions were naturally raised to a high pitch. None of us could tell what would happen before night at Trenton. As we contrasted the sweet countenance of the child with the infuriated faces that we had seen while passing through the country during the previous march, we leaned to the hopeful side, and we were not disappointed.
We were expecting to surprise certain irregular armed forces which were supposed to make Trenton their head- quarters. To this end, orders were passed along the ranks to cease talking, and on no account to straggle or to fire our pieces. This order was not heard by all of our number. A worthy citizen of Chelsea, attached to another company, and detailed from that to the pioneers, was not aware that it had been promulgated. Tempted by the sight of a fine hog, he fired, and killed it: this upset the whole programme. He was put instantly under arrest, was sharply reprimanded, and would have been punished, had it not been evident to all that his fault was mainly one of inadvertence.
Shortly afterwards we came to an opening in the forest occupied by a very neat little chapel, from which it was apparent that we had frightened the worshippers. The win- dows were open, and the hymn-books were lying in such a manner as to indicate sudden flight.
We entered the town (on the 18th inst.) without violence, encamped as usual in a field, and remained until the next morning. The birds that we were after had flown.
On the march out, when somewhere well on our way to
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114 HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
Trenton, our feet, all at once and for a few paces only, struck, with a strange sensation, on a ledge of rock. We were descending a gully at the time. The experience was entirely unexpected by me, as we had seen no rocks in place before, nor did we afterwards. The ledge in question was the shelly limestone of which the public buildings in New- bern are constructed : its color is a rich gray. It is, I pre- sume, the same stone which is found in Florida, and used there for the same purpose. Its appearance is very agreea- ble. If it resists the action of frost, its use in the North would be desirable. Leaving the town by a different road from the one by which we had entered, we soon came to a place where we were obliged to follow a narrow path on the top of a mill-dam, all three of the regiments passing through a small grist-mill built upon the dam. I recollect seeing, as our company went through, a group of soldiers busily en- gaged in lifting a new run of stones out of their places, with the intention of plunging them into the water below. But what attracted our attention the most was the fact that the dam itself had been mined by the rebels, or, rather, cut across at right angles with its course. An opening had been made, of at least a foot in width, reaching far down below the top of the water in the pond : this opening was packed with weeds and loose brushwood, so skilfully adjusted as just barely to resist the pressure of the water, yet so arranged as to give way, perhaps, with the pulling of a string, thus letting the whole mill-pond down into the road below. They had played this trick upon our troops at Goldsborough, just as we were leaving the field, and came near drowning some of the short men on the left flank of companies ; but our officers were too wide awake for them in this instance, and, by taking us over on top of the dam, we avoided the risk of marching on the road.
There was some, but not much, plundering in Trenton by the uncontrollables of the column. There seems to be an itching among soldiers to possess some article of property as a trophy. The following ludicrous connections associate themselves with these transactions. Company A, which pre-
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THE TRENTON MARCH.
ceded us in the regimental line, was ably commanded by one of our own citizens, Capt. Henry J. Hallgreen. Its other officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, were of a high character. The same might be said of quite a number of the privates, several of whom were our own townsmen. The company, however, was burdened with some injurious social influenees ; and of some of its members who were un- avoidably under our observation as we marched, I am afraid that there could not much be written approvingly ; and one of the number " entertained" us for several miles after leaving Trenton in the following manner. He had entered a doctor's office, and appropriated a human skeleton : this he slung over his shoulder, and took along with him for the distance I have named. It is hardly necessary to say that the good-for-noth- ing " spalpeen " was amply supplied with the peculiar style of wit with which the Green Isle provides her children, and he made fun enough to keep us all wide awake while it lasted. The skeleton was headless, so that we lost the bland expression so eliaracteristic of the superior portion of the human frame ; but I got an excellent object-lesson as I gazed upon the massive spinal column which was marching along a few feet in front of me. I had no previous idea how liber- ally Nature has furnished us with "backbone." In spite of the ghastliness of the sight, it was ridiculous in the extreme. The way in which the leg-bones dangled after their bearer, swinging, pendulum-like, against his shins, every step that was taken, is still present to my memory. Was there ever such a " file-closer " before ? Oh, happy family of Company A! if you did not have a good time, it was not for lack of the disposition. When our lively friend got tired of his burden, he set it on the top of a worm-fence, astride of the angle next to the road, propping it in an erect position, and left it.
We had marched, on our passage out, through a village called Pollocksville: when we reached it on our return, on the. 19th, Company . HI and the rest of the regiment, except two companies, F and G, halted, and hutted ourselves. The two companies, under the command of Col. Whiton, made a lengthy detour to the south, accompanied by the cavalry,
116 HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
which had a successful skirmish with the enemy. The two other regiments went also, leaving us to guard the train and the roads. I shall here avail myself again of the pen of our chaplain in deseribing incidents which I did not witness.
"On Tuesday a detachment of our men, together with certain other troops, was sent about eight miles in a southerly direction, into the vicinity of White Oak Creek, and eneamped soon after mid-day, having marched at a moderate pace. and through frequent showers, to a place called . Young's Cross-Roads.' Our detach- ment was in command. of Lieut .- Col. Whiton, an officer who has a wonderful faculty of getting a great deal of work out of his inen, and yet doing it all in so good-natured a way that they rarely think of complaining. We were a jolly company here ; our sur- geon, as ever, full of accommodation. and the adjutant voting ' G. Young a briek' repeatedly; and insisting that his name, whatever beeame of Whitehall and Goldsborough, ought, by all means, to be inscribed in the very biggest sort of gold letters on our regimental banner. Well was it for us that we happened to be in such capital humor, since we had abundant use for all our mirthfulness before morning. Toward night the rain began to fall, so that we found great difficulty in providing a little forage for our unsheltered horses, and erecting a kind of nondescript covering under which to huddle in our rubber blankets. Again and again the rain showed a persistent determination to put out our eamp- fire ; and only by very vigilant and unremitting efforts to the con- trary did we sueceed in baffling its intention. Toward midnight the men beeame, for the most part, ' drowned out,' and resorted in dripping and shivering crowds to our solitary fire. Among them were two or three cavalry soldiers worn out by long riding through the mud and darkness, and chilled and drenched to the skin by the rain-storm. From them we learned that they had been southward near Onslow, on the New River ; that they had fired on several parties of rebels, lost two men, taken one or two prisoners, and either burned, or found burned on their arrival, eertain bridges possessing a military importance. In the morning, having dried our blankets and elothes as well as we eould, and the pickets being drawn in, we were allowed, after considerable waiting for orders, to march back to Pollocksville. Here, without even halting, we were joined by our comrades ; and so, returning by the way we eame, we pressed toward Camp Rogers."
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THE TRENTON MARCH.
We also had a drenching rain at Pollocksville, and it was my fortune to have my first experience on picket in the height of the storm. It was one of the two darkest nights that I ever saw. It was impossible to see the back of my hand held at arm's-length: the palm, being lighter colored, was barely visible. I was on a road about half a mile from camp, with two associates, -men with whom I was entirely un- acquainted, and both of them so illiterate, that it was difficult to understand what they said.
Our instructions were as usual in respect to challenging, and receiving the countersign, etc .; but we were to fire in- stantly at any party approaching through the forest on either side of the road. I went upon duty first; and while pacing a short space abreast of our hut, constructed of rails laid against a bank of earth, I was surprised by the sudden ap- pearance of an intruder coming in upon me from a direction which would have warranted me in firing at him. It proved to be one of my comrades, however; but the pitchy darkness and his thick tongue, together with his inexperience, and lack of appreciation of his duties, made it quite difficult at first to account for his conduct.
Our hut was situated in a pocket, or bay, at the side of the road, made by the removal of earth for purposes of construc- tion. In complying with a natural call my blundering associ- ate had stepped out from it without saying a word to me, had gone some distance to the front, entered the woods, and came in upon me, when he returned, in the manner described. He should have gone to the rear, with a word of caution as he went.
On the morning of the 21st we started for our camp at Newbern in season to reach it during the afternoon. We found the country, for several miles, covered with water from six inches to three feet in depth. Most of it was up to our knees. We were homeward bound, however, and cheerful. The Forty-third had the advance; and I think I never saw such rapid marching. It seemed almost as if we flew. The Forty-fifth was next to us, and they did their best to keep up, but finally gave out. We got into our camp nearly an hour
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
ahead of them. It was really amusing, when they came along, to see with what sublime indifference they went past. Some of us were out on the parade-ground, trying to get a recogni- tion from our personal friends in their ranks; but it was no use. 'No one would have dreamed that they knew any thing about any such regiment as ours.
This march had an excellent effect upon us. We saw that we were trusted. The three regiments were all nine-months men, and, besides this, our minds were so affected by its com- paratively peaceful character, that a natural and healthful re-action from the profound experiences of the previous march took place. We had met with such a stern resistance on that occasion, that, when ordered out again, we naturally expected, with so small a force, to meet with vigorous opposition. The result was so different from our apprehensions, that we easily, thereafter, adjusted ourselves to the exigencies of our soldier- life, and met danger with a certain indifference which dis- tinguishes veterans from new troops.
It afterwards became a camp witticism, among us of the Forty-third, to ask each other, with a tone and accent well understood among ourselves, "Were you on the Trenton march? were you at Pollocksville ?" the point of the joke ly- ing in the contrast between our actual experience and what we expected ; the humorous assumption being also under- stood, that any comrade who was able to answer affirmatively did thereby fully establish his reputation as a soldier.
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THE CAMP AT NEWBERN.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CAMP AT NEWBERN.
T THE time that intervened between our return from Tren- ton and the active operations which began about the middle of March was the most quiet period of our service, . and it seems the most appropriate interval to devote to such descriptive incidents and circumstances as may best set forth the experiences of the citizen soldier in the camp. Camp Rogers was a square of not less than eight hundred feet on each of its sides, - about as large as the enclosure between Broadway and Walnut, Fourth and Fifth Streets. Its sym- metry, however, was slightly broken at the angle where it was bounded by the Trent. On its southerly border it rested on the road by which we marched to Trenton. At the central point of this side, three guard-tents were located, and this was the recognized official entrance to the camp. Directly opposite these tents, across the parade-ground which occupied the whole front of the camp, and was at least one hundred and fifty feet wide, was the company street of H, the central street of nine others. This street was nearly the same length as the depth of the parade-ground; that is, about one hundred and fifty feet. Our company was sheltered in six Sibley tents of a conical shape, sixteen feet in diameter at their bases, and about the same height, an opening of a foot being left at the top, with a cover over it for smoke and ventilation. These tents were of thick duck, and, after we became accustomed to their care, were really much more comfortable dwellings than would be supposed.
They had one singular exposure, however : in some of our heaviest rains they would suddenly begin to leak for a foot or two upwards from their base. The rain dropped upon our
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M. V. M.
faces as we lay asleep, and obliged us to have recourse to a peculiar expedient to relieve ourselves. When we found that we had got to do it, and not till then, we would fumble round in the dark for the thinnest newspaper we could find (and you know, Mr. Editor, that some newspapers are very "thin "), put our rubber blanket over us, and then rush out in the rain, and paste the paper on the spot just over where our heads would come. Surprising as it may appear, this was a sure remedy. The paper would adhere to the cloth as closely as if placed there by a " bill-sticker ; " but we had to work lively to do it. Sixteen of us were allotted to each tent : the tallest men, having the same number in each tent as the shortest, were, of course, much more straitened for room. Many of the regiments stockaded the tents; that is, piles or stakes were driven into the ground in a circle of the same diameter as the tents, and the canvas was stretched on top of them about four feet above the ground. These stakes were so open, however, to the cold night air, that it was necessary to bank the earth against them, and this precaution brought with it an exposure which was so marked, that our surgeon set his face against their use. It had been found that the earth embankment was of the nature of a cellar : it predis- posed the tent to dampness, besides sheltering rats. We thought the doctor was hard on us at first ; but we afterward learned to respect his authority in all sanitary measures.
Passing through the company street, we come at its head to the cook-house : this was a hut composed of boards torn from a neighboring house. And at this point we reach the street occupied on its farther or northern side by the wall tents of the line-officers. This street ran parallel with the road to Trenton, from east to west, the whole width of the camp. Another street was beyond it, also parallel, occupied by the field-officers and by the chapel tent, the regimental flagstaff being conspicuous. In the rear of the field-officers" tents were the stables for their horses, leaving an unoccupied space beyond. . .
On the sides of the camp, as we enter at the guard-tents, we notice the regimental " sinks," or privies, shielded from
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THE CAMP AT NEWBERN.
view by a screen of shrubbery, and on the westerly side two tents and a log building, which are devoted to the pioneers ; while the sutler's tent, of good size, and a small one by the armorer of the regiment, Mr. C. R. Fisher of Company H, and the private accommodations of the officers, just to the right of the passage to the river, fill out the outline. The camp was located on a slight rise of ground, making drainage easy, and when decorated with trees, which were placed at suitable intervals in the streets, it was really beautiful. We took pains to replace these trees - mostly pine and holly - as they lost their verdure, and, as the weather became hot. extended their shade by arbors between the tents. During the winter, our water-supply from a spring just outside of our lines was sufficient : as the season changed, wells were dug at the head of the streets, which answered our purposes, with some help from a spring on the river-side, which was copious enough to force its way up from the bottom through the water of the river.
Extracts from two letters written at this time will intro- duce the reader to some of the every-day details of our situa- tion.
CAMP ROGERS, Jan. 30, 1863.
We are having more of a season of rest, both mental and bodily, than has been the case at any one time since our arrival here, and it is peculiarly refreshing to me, as the state of excite- ment in which we lived while our destination was uncertain was very unpleasant. The chief business of many seemed to be to hear and tell some new thing: in fact, some made themselves appear offensively foolish ; but the wind is now all out of their sails, and we have peace.
Our colonel told the officers, as they gathered around him at dress-parade yesterday, that Stonewall Jackson had sent word that he was coming to dine with us to-day. This, on the face. looked a little alarming ; but as our officers told it to us in our streets, after coming in. we concluded that it was intended as a joke on us for the liberal supply of boxes which our friends had recently sent (some 275 in the regiment). . . .
I am writing this page in a high wind and cloudy sky, the ground is white with snow from a squall, -the first we have seen since we left Boston Harbor.
122 HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
Feb. 11, 1863.
You can hardly form an idea of what delightful weather we have had all winter. My mittens have not been on my hands more than three or four times, and we are fast falling into the practice of eating our meals out of doors : in fact, there have been a number of days lately when it was too hot to eat outside with safety at noon. . . . We are now raising a tall flagstaff, which has employed our pioneers at intervals for some six weeks. It is eighty feet in height, and it is surmounted with a double-headed tiger carved in very fine style by one of the members of our company, Samuel W. Johnson of Weston, Mass. In addition to this, we commenced to-day extensive grading operations in our company streets, which it is proposed, if we remain here, to extend to the whole camp, even the parade-ground. . . .
We are engaged in making ourselves as safe, as comfortable, and as ornamental as is possible. The safety refers to the build- ing of earthworks, of which, in addition to three small ones which our brigade has made across the Trent, we are to construct a large one close to our camp; the comfortable, to hosts of little things which New-Englanders will gather around themselves; and the ornamental, to the pines and hollies, with their beautiful red ber- ries, with which our streets are lined, making it look as leafy as though we had been here ten years at least.
In describing our company street and the life we lived in it, our oven, located near the cook-house, in line with the tents, deserves notice, if for nothing more than its connection with our weekly dish of baked beans, which we had as regu- lar as if we had been at home. It was made of bricks set in clay.
Our rations as a whole were excellent in quality, and ample in quantity. I have only one qualification to make, and that is, that much of our bread (hard tack) was made of doctored flour. It was not baked in the department, so that I feel free to expose its deficiencies. Every soldier remem- bers the difference between a flesh-colored cake, aerated clear through by yeast, flaky, and as brittle as was consist- ent with its preservation and transportation, and the kind mixed with them, - white in color, hard as a rock, not even porous, impervious to moisture, resisting all our efforts to
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THE CAMP AT NEWBERN.
soak them in our coffee. Verily, I believe that the issue of these "stones " to us soldiers, the wards of the nation, when we asked for "bread," was as fatal to thousands of brave men as the shot of the enemy. Constipation is the ever- present sanitary foe of the soldier, and the road to it was paved with "doctored " hard tack. Every dollar that was accumulated in this way is costing the nation ten in pensions for " disability."
To the praise of the government, it should be said that it made laudable efforts to get ahead of the contractors in this matter. It had an extensive bakery at Newbern ; and half our rations of bread were issued in large, nice loaves, freshly baked. A half of one of the loaves was given to each one of us every week. Fresh beef, just killed at Newbern, was issued in the same liberal manner. It was really an interest- ing and even laughable sight to see the great plates of it, --- three days' rations, - all cooked, which were passed to us. It only required ordinary economy to make it last the full time. We had boxes sunk in the ground on the outer circle of the tents, near our heads as we lay. These were our "cellars ; " and our eatables were deposited in them.
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