USA > Massachusetts > Reminiscences of military service in the Forty-third regiment, Massachusetts infantry, during the great Civil war, 1862-63 > Part 4
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As the regiments and batteries reached the plantation, they were ranged in line, and released from duty, with the exception of a detail for guard, and the pioneers. The first matter to be attended to was the gathering of fence-rails for
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M. V.M.
our fires, to be kept up during the night. These were usually close at hand, and of excellent material, as the plantations of this portion of the State are fenced, in zigzag style, with hard- pine split rails without posts. Our fires kindled, we cooked our coffee in our tin dippers, with as much jarring, jostling, and wrangling with each other, as if we had been English sparrows, instead of friendly and social comrades. "There, you've upset my dipper! 'Twas just ready to boil. I thought you would. Confound you, you clumsy lout ! why couldn't you be a little more careful ?" Sometimes it would seem as though two of the best fellows in the company had sworn mutual and deadly enmity to each other for the rest of the term of service. But somehow or other, though nearly all of us fell from grace more or less in respect to these exposures, the circumstances were so trying, that we forgave each other immediately.
This done, we devoted ourselves to levelling the hills which remained from the last crop of corn or cotton, spread our blankets in the manner I have described, and composed ourselves for the night.
With the first gray light of the morning we were up, and engaged in cooking our breakfasts, in which I should include the roasting, in the accumulated ashes of the night, of what sweet potatoes we had been able to lay our hands on. The lack of utensils prevented us from cooking any meat or poul- try, with the exception of one night during which we were encamped in the streets of Kinston, when we made a free use of the pots and kettles found in the houses.
When our regiment was near the head of the column, we moved early: if we had no intimation of this, we prepared ourselves fully for a sudden start, and rested upon our blan- kets after they were rolled up, ready to be slung over one shoulder, which was the way we carried them. During the night we heard the axes of our pioneers employed in remov- ing the first obstruction we had met. The Confederates had got sufficient notice of our coming to block the road for some distance by the felling of large trees. It requires but one cut to level a tree ; but, as it lies across the highway, it
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THE GREAT MARCH. - KINSTON.
takes ordinarily two cuts to remove it: at any rate this was the case in this instance. Our men had had a hard night's work; but they had accomplished it, so that we were not delayed an instant. This was a foretaste of one class of the obstacles which were met by the column. Bridges were burned, or sawed in such a manner, as to require propping. Mill-dams were sluiced, so as to deluge us with water; and, in various ways incidental to the possession of the enforced labor of the slaves and the irregular action of guerillas, we were harassed and delayed to give time for the collection of the trained forces of the army to resist us.
One incident of our march must not be omitted. The small streams and creeks of North Carolina run through gul- lies, or low places, which they have worn for themselves in the course of ages, and we found them quite swollen with water. They recur at frequent intervals, and were, in some cases, well up to our thighs. They were corduroyed; that is, the lowest and muddiest parts had been covered with logs or thick plank. Our artillery in passing through would crush these in their centres so as to raise their ends sufficiently high to trip us, yet not high enough to show above the water. The consequence was, that all of us were wet up to our bodies ; and quite often some luckless fellow would get a plunge into the muddy stream, not very favorable to his health or comfort, or the preservation of his ammunition.
Many of these low places had a line of trees, which had been felled, and placed end to end with each other on the side of the road, and elevated sufficiently above it on crotched sticks to make a rude bridge, which we passed in single file. This, however, was usually more or less out of order and unreliable. Being round sticks, we jostled each other as we crowded upon them ; so that after, we were once wet, many of us preferred to take our chances in the road rather than run the risk of being thrown off from the bridge.
Early in the forenoon of the second day, we came to the primitive dwelling of one of the "poor whites." Its owner and his family were out in front of it. Their appearance, in connection with their local surroundings, was unthrifty
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
and illiterate in the extreme. They seemed in dread of per- sonal violence ; but they appeared to have been unmolested. In deprecating our anger. they had extemporized the na- tional eolors out of white eloth with stripes stitched on it. By a ludicrous blunder which illustrated their ignoranee, the "colors " were set " union down ; " so that what was evi- dently intended to conciliate us was really, in its outward form, an insult. The trepidation, however, of the family was too evident to allow us to take offenee at the mistake. A lieutenant of our regiment contemptuously tore the rag down, and we left them to their ignorance and poverty. .
As we passed on in our march, we eame, at frequent inter- vals, to the ruins of what had been large plantation-houses ; the chimneys now, for the most part, being all that was left. These were the sad memorials of the fierce contests with rebel pickets and guerilla parties, which had raged during the previous summer. To the great credit of a worthy citi- zen of Massachusetts, of the Masonic order, who had visited the State as a peacemaker previous to our arrival, these bloody and useless contests had eeased by mutual consent.
Towards the afternoon of the second day we began to have evidence that we were in an enemy's country. by seeing occasionally a dead body by the roadside, slain by our cav- alry, and also prisoners. On Saturday there was continuous though not rapid firing of artillery on our right, in the diree- tion of the River Neuse, as we approached Kinston: this proved to be an engagement at South-west Creek.
This stream erossed our mareh at right angles. At the point where we were expected by the rebels, they had pre- pared formidable intrenchments; but Gen. Foster avoided these by crossing the ereck farther to the west. The firing which we heard was from our cavalry, which was provided with light howitzer eannon, with which they engaged the attention of the enemy, while the Ninth New Jersey and Twenty-third Massachusetts forded the stream above and be- low a bridge, and captured their guns.
We were halted for an hour while this transpired, and while the bridge, which the enemy burned, was replaced.
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THE GREAT MARCH. - KINSTON.
We lay in line of battle, but were not further engaged. At this time we saw at a distance a sight which reminded me vividly of the experience of our English ancestors here in New England. Some guerillas, closely pressed by our cav- alry, took refuge in a large plantation-house, and defended themselves from their foes, with their muskets, from the chamber-windows. We saw the guns pointing downwards, and the light clouds of smoke which followed the report. The sight brought forcibly before my mind the time when our forefathers were subjected to similar exposures, in the early history of our country, in resisting the French and Indians.
On Sunday forenoon, about ten o'clock, rapid artillery- firing commenced at the head of our column, which at the moment was about a mile in advance of our regiment. The infantry was immediately halted, and opened to the right and left of the narrow road; while cavalry and artillery went to the front at headlong speed. The artillery-firing con- tinued, increasing in volume without being very rapid. One after another, the infantry regiments went into position as they came up, and opened their fire; the first volley being well defined and massive, as when an ocean-wave falls heavily upon a beach, and then being followed by the con- fused uproar of firing at will. Our eyes, however, aided us but little in observing these occurrences, as the action took place in the forest, there being barely openings enough to handle the troops. While we were watching and listening with all our faculties, expecting every moment orders to go in ourselves, I observed that shells were exploding in the tops of the trees, which were about a hundred feet high. I supposed that our gunboats had succeeded in passing the obstructions in the river, and were attacking the enemy, as I did not think that our field-batteries could throw a shell so high in the air at so short a range. But I soon noticed that tlie missiles were smaller than the fleet would be likely to use, and I was mystified. When we reached the guns, a short time after, I found that their trails were buried deep in the ground, so that the cannon pointed up into the air.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
While these matters were transpiring, we remained a half hour or more in the road. We were then taken into a field, or open place on the right, to support a battery. We were formed in line of battle, and enjoined by our officers to keep our places, and fire eoolly and low. After a while we were marched out into the road, and toward the front. We soon . met the wounded and dead being brought out on stretehers and ambulanees, and immediately found ourselves on the scene of action. We could see nothing, however, but the forest, with narrow openings ; but our ears gave us abundant evidence of a hotly contested battle within the leafy eoverts before us. As we continued to advance, we became con- seious that a shower of bullets was whistling in the air at some distance over our heads, and we received orders to lie down. While here, I was eonseious of a singular and unex- peeted experience. The rebel arms must have been mostly smooth-bores. There was none of the whizzing, sereeehing sound so characteristic of rifle-balls; but in its stead the noise of the leaden storm which was upon us was a soft and im- pressive sighing, like that of zephyrs in a forest of pines, --- somewhat louder, it is true, but in a high degree soothing and pleasant. I thought of the story of Washington, where- in he is asserted to have said, when he was young, that musket-balls made the sweetest of musie to him.
In a few moments we were again ordered forward. Pro- eeeding some five hundred feet, we filed sharply to the right. marching between two lines of battle, composed of New- York and Pennsylvania troops, - so near them on either side that we could speak with each other. Their officers stood with drawn swords, composed and soldierly ; but the bearing of the men was different. Almost without exception, they were pale : most of them were exeited. Some cheered us ; others greeted us with slang. Many seemed ready to drop to the ground with fatigue and anxiety : some, indeed, had lain down in sheer exhaustion. Passing them, we came out of the forest into a large open space at the extreme right of our line, five hundred feet wide or more and a quarter of a mile long. Here we also found the battery with their trails
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THE GREAT MARCH. - KINSTON.
buried in the ground : they had ceased firing. At the ex- tremity of this field, as it appeared to us, an enemy's earth- work was visible ; whether occupied or not, we could not tell. Our hearts flew quick for a few moments at this discovery. We had just noticed. as above stated, that the troops we had passed were in a peculiar condition of excitement, and we understood afterwards that they expected that the rebels would open fire on us the moment we emerged from the forest. We ascertained at the close of the action that the Neuse rolled between us and the fort ; but, if the enemy had been in condition to prolong the fight on the other bank, we should have been no better off on account of the river, for the fort was evidently built to sweep the plain upon which we had entered.
We were now at the very tiptoe of expectation. For more than an hour we had been in a suspense that weighed heavily upon us. Every face showed sharply cut lines. The officers had dismounted, and it seemed to us that we were to plunge at once into the thickets in our front: they seemed as solid as a stone wall. We knew that we could advance but a short distance in that direction without receiving a volley. The men began to throw away their blankets, but were instantly checked by the colonel. One of the boys of our company replied, in respectful expostulation, "Colonel, there is no fun in fighting with our blankets on." The colonel replied with gravity, " Fighting is not fun anyway."
We did not, however, enter the swamp, but moved slowly, in line of battle, diagonally along the field, our right flank being somewhat in advance, occasionally halting, using great cantion, and keeping our hands, as it were, on the triggers of our guns, as we were likely at any moment to receive the enemy's fire, and would undoubtedly have done so were it not that they were hotly pressed by our regiments in their front and right. By this time it was long past noon. The heavy volleys in the woods ceased, and the cheers that fol- lowed told us that our men were sucessfully charging. We could dimly see through the undergrowth long lines of men centring upon the rebel position, and could note the few
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M. V.M.
desultory shots that were fired, the despairing efforts of the brave men who for nearly three hours had resisted our attack.
What a colossal war! Ten thousand men had grappled each other by the throat, and fought for hours with desper- ate energy ; and yet, in comparison with the gigantic contests of Virginia and the West, this and other engagements of North Carolina are hardly thought worthy of a few lines in the records of the Rebellion.
CHAPLAIN MANNING'S LETTER TO "THE BOSTON JOURNAL." DEC. 23, 1862.
The battle of Kinston, which began near noon, was over be- tween three and four p.M. Then it was that ghastly and horrible siglits met the eye on all sides. The buildings taken as hospitals were soon crowded with the wounded and dying. Friends and foes mingled together, and reeciving the same prompt attention from our busy surgeons. It seemed strange that no rebel surgeon had staid to care for his comrades. But in our kindness we forgot that they were foes, and gave them all the heed which our duty to the loyal would admit. The Tenth Connectieut and the Hundred and Third Pennsylvania had been the chief sufferers. The Forty- fifth Massachusetts, also, lost several men. . . . In answer to the inquiries of friends as to the behavior of Massachusetts soldiers during the battle, I can say freely that they showed no signs of finehing, but only eagerness to be foremost in the fight. To lie still under fire, hearing the tremendous discharges of artillery, and sharp volleys and irregular rattle of musketry in the woods, tried their courage not a little. . . .
Shortly after we came upon the open field, a rebel soldier was seen in the road which ran along the river-bank, waving a white flag : this, as we afterwards understood it, was a ruse to gain time for the retreat of his associates. He was not molested, however, because he was so far from us that we could not tell at once, with certainty, whether he was a friend or foe. Meanwhile a company of cavalry, and section of artillery, which had been moving down the field upon our right flank as slowly as ourselves, went rapidly forward to
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the river-bank as the foe retreated. The cavalry were armed with repeating-rifles. They formed line in our sight, and fired upon the fleeing army, as they crossed the bridge, till their pieces were empty, and then reloaded and fired again with great rapidity. The artillery did not reach the river-bank in season to fire. We could not see the enemy; but, when we crossed the bridge shortly after, it gave good evidence of the accuracy of the aim of the cavalry. The rebels made des- perate efforts to burn it, without success. One of our colonels lost his life at this point. And the brave fellow who was intrusted with the application of the torch fell lifeless into the flames, and his body was shockingly burned before the fire was extinguished. Very much to our vexation, we could not see the struggle at this point, as the forest still inter- vened. The Massachusetts Seventeenth, with which regi- ment Col. Fellows and his son of Chelsea were honorably connected, had been closely following the artillery and horse- men, moving by the flank down the field upon our right. At this point the action may be said to have ceased, though there was an afterpiece. Our regiment stacked arms near the road, which we had reached ; and the men, by the per- mission of the colonel scattered for foraging, being allowed to take any thing upon which we could lay our hands with- out the use of fire-arms. Before we had all dispersed, however, a somewhat ludicrous incident happened, quite appropriate to the occasion in some respects, but in others so singularly contrasted with the scenes through which we had just passed, as to forcibly remind us that it is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous. On and around the battie-field were a number of the humble houses of the "poor whites " of the South. Suddenly, and much to our surprise, an aged couple of this class appeared before us, and passed slowly along the regimental line. They were followed at a respectful distance by a smart colored girl, quite attractive in her bearing and appearance. I must say that the man and his wife were about as forlorn-looking old crones as ever I laid eyes on. In dress and manner their appearance was abject and humili- ating to the last degree. If the Gibeonites were half as
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
1
effective in their counterfeit woe as these poor people were in their real one, I do not wonder that the heart of the great captain, Joshua, melted at their sight. By themselves alone they would only have been looked upon with pity by the most thoughtless of our number. But the best part of the story remains to be told. The "gal " was bright enough to take in the comic side of the situation, and make the most of it. She was all gayety and fun. Not a word did she say ; but by facial expression, attitude, and gesture, she read, in her irresistibly sarcastic manner, an indictment of the whole South, about as follows : " Aren't they a set of fools? Here they have gone and stirred up all this row on our account, and now we are being liberated, and they are losing, not only us, but all their movables." Oddly enough, the squealing of swine and the distressed cackling of poultry was being heard all arcund at the same moment, proving that the ap- peal for protection that the poor old people were making was altogether too late. As I have intimated, the effect upon our risibles was irresistible. The whole regiment was con- vulsed with laughter at the superb by-play of the wench, and its contrast with the woebegone aspect of her former owners. They were so engrossed in their sorrow, that they did not notice that she was making game of them. If they hap- pened to look back an instant, she was apparently as demure and downcast as a nun. Evidently they did not have the least idea of what was going on behind them. I have no doubt but that in their hearts they roundly cursed us as a set of cruel wretches.
I have spoken of the after-scene. We had stacked arms, and most of the men were gone to the field of action through curiosity, or to the farms for food. I had found a few moments to step into the lines of the Forty-fifth, which had lost heavily, - fifteen killed and forty-three wounded. They were looking very grave. I also passed into the ranks of the Twenty-third, finding this gallant regiment in a high state of mental exaltation on account of their satisfaction at whipping the South-Carolina Twenty-third, with which regiment they had been fighting, taking sixty-three prisoners, with small
CAPTURE OF KINSTON.
. 1 4 ... .
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THE GREAT MARCH. - KINSTON.
loss on their own part. On returning to my own company I got back just in time to receive the order to "fall in " for an advance. The line-officers were shouting vehemently, and all was excitement and confusion. Those of us who were present obeyed the order, leaving the guns of our com- rades lying on the ground, as we unstacked them in a manner not laid down in the manual.
The whole brigade was marched across the bridge to Kinston. Simultaneously with this order, two of the brass Napoleons on the river-bank close to us opened on Kinston. firing over the town, which lay plainly in sight about a half- mile off across a meadow. Our comrades who had scattered heard the noise, and followed us as fast as posssible ; so that, by the time we reached the town, our ranks were full.
The occasion of our sudden and unexpected call was as follows : it appears to have been the intention of Gen. Foster that we should remain over night where we were; but the rebels made as though the fight would be prolonged on the northern outskirts of Kinston : hence the artillery-fire, and our own change of camp.
Months afterwards I came across a rude lyric, deeply tinged with the wail of humanity, with which I will close the account of this, our first engagement. As originally printed, some repetitions give room for suspicion that the brave fellow who wrote it enlisted and went to the front in such a hurry, that he left his book of " synonymes " at home. I have endeavored to act a comrade's part in making a few omissions and corrections.
THE BATTLE OF KINSTON.
WRITTEN BY J. L. AULT, COMPANY C, HUNDRED AND FIRST REGIMENT, PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS.
Oh, listen! while I tell you, boys, Of Kinston's bloody fight, - The deafening peals, the cannon's noise: Perhaps you saw that sight.
The morn had dawned, - the sabbath day That God has made and blest
For all his people on their way To the land of heavenly rest.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
But a sullen foe before us waits; A furious storm is near; And each one thinks of coming fate Approaching very clear.
What's this that's coming down the lane, Making such a rattle ? 'Tis our guns : you see the iron train Rushing into battle.
" Bang, bang!" the mighty cannons roar In awful thunder dread;
And through the trees our missiles tore The branches o'er their heads.
We met them in a swampy mire, Where they were all concealed,
To rise, and pour a deadly fire, And drive us from the field.
Oh, fearful is the uproar now Of arms on every side; While blood is gushing from the brow, And wounds are opened wide.
"Charge on, brave boys!" our colonels shout, " We'll surely make them yield; " And pressing on they drove them out, And won the battle-field.
Quick, quick! the bridge they're passing o'er; They are making for the town; They're trying to reach the other shore Before the bridge burns down.
The fire's put out - we flanked them there; But some have crossed the stream: The deafening shouts that rend the air Give grandeur to the scene.
My first look across the Neuse, when I came up to the river, which at this point was a rapid stream three hundred feet at least in width. was for the retreating enemy, and then for our own army. The first were not visible. I under- stand that they took to the woods on the northern bank of
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the river as soon as they had crossed. Our own troops made a more imposing display than I saw at any other time. They. had deployed, and were crossing the meadow toward the town in three or more lines of battle, marching en echelon, as it is termed, -a French military phrase frequently used in drilling by brigade. In advancing in this manner, the sev- eral lines of battle lap past each other ; so that, if the front line should lose heavily, the one next in the rear can fill the vacancies by moving to the front, or, if the nature of the ground and the points to be assaulted require it, the width of the front of the column can be extended or reduced, something as a brass slide is pulled out of a carpenter's measuring-rule.
The Forty-third marched by the flank, in ranks of four, across the meadow, and through Kinston, over to the northern side of the town, observing as we went the effect of one of our shells which had exploded in the attic-chamber of a cot- tage, shattering the gable-end of the house. We noticed no other damage of that kind to the place. By this time the afternoon was far advanced, and, finding that the rebels had retreated, we returned to the centre of the town, and prepared to pass the night in the streets and back-yards.
During that night Gen. Foster sent the following despatch to Washington :-
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