USA > Massachusetts > Reminiscences of military service in the Forty-third regiment, Massachusetts infantry, during the great Civil war, 1862-63 > Part 8
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
"The main object of the expedition was to burn a railroad- bridge, destroy the track, and cut off communication. We pushed onward with skirmishers deployed, and gained the railroad, driving the enemy before us. I was then ordered to approach the bridge [it was necessary to march a mile on the track to do this ], leaving the skirmishers to watch the enemy; but on doing this we were opened upon by a heavy fire of artillery. [on the railroad] in front of us, and musketry from the woods on both sides. We continued to advanee, and arrived within ten feet of the bridge, using the banks of the road as a temporary shelter. Morrison's battery came up, and took position near our flag, on the right flank. I pointed out to the captain the bridge and the depot beyond, where a train had just arrived with re-enforcements for the enemy. Giving his orders with coolness and judgment, he planted a shell directly among them, and kept up a steady fire in that direction. Meanwhile the shot and shell from the enemy's artillery came thick and fast among us, yet not a man quailed ; and my orders were obeyed with as much coolness as they are upon battalion- drill. I sheltered the men in a hollow directly in the rear of the artillery, and was then notified that two men from each of the two regiments were to be sent to fire the bridge. I called for volun- teers ; and Barney Mann, our late adjutant, offered to find them. A short time after, I saw him wounded, and then learned that he had gone himself, with another man, for the purpose. The two from the Ninth New-Jersey were also there ; and the bridge was fired [it was a fine, covered structure, several hundred feet in length]. I was then notified that the object of the expedition was accomplished, and that Gen. Foster gave the credit of it to the two regiments. When the batteries withdrew, I formed upon the right of the Ninth New-Jersey, according to orders ; and the regi- ment was received with three rousing cheers by the army all around us. Our escape with such slight loss -one killed, and eighteen wounded - seems little short of a miracle. Other regi- ments have suffered more severely than this. I think a com- mander, however, should base his reputation upon doing the most work with little loss of men ; and a timely order to lie down, when nothing else could be done, has saved many lives."
From an interesting account in "Soldiering in North Carolina," by "one of the Seventeenth," I take the following extract in further statement of the facts : -
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WHITEHALL AND GOLDSBOROUGH.
"Col. Fellows was continually going up and down the line, encouraging his men, and showing them by his example a pattern of the most fearless bravery."
Previous to the call for volunteers from the Seventeenth to burn the bridge, Capt. Graham, an officer of Gen. Foster's staff, a young man of the most conspicuous bravery, had made an ineffectual attempt to the same end, but was re- pulsed by the storm of bullets which fell around him.
"Lieut. Barnabas N. Mann then came forward, with a bundle of prepared combustibles in his hands, and called for two volun- teers to accompany him to the bridge to operate with another party in an endeavor to fire the same. The men were instantly forthcoming, of course ; and the trio started on their dangerous errand. We watched them with anxiety, and saw them gain the bridge amid a perfect death-shower of bullets, one of which un- fortunately hit our brave Lieut. Mann on the plate of his belt, causing a severe contused wound. They returned with the wounded officer, reporting that they did not succeed in their enter- prise. But in this they were mistaken, as will be seen presently. The enemy's fire began to slacken, and, just as another attempt was about to be made to burn the bridge, smoke could be seen issuing from it; and soon the whole structure was wrapped in flames."
Our return march was unmolested, as before stated. A short halt took place below Kinston, as we supposed, to place our wounded on vessels ; and late on sabbath morning, the 21st, we reached our camp.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
CHAPTER V.
REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGH MARCH.
A PARTIAL review of the Goldsborough march is needed to complete its record. Gen. Amory, our commanding officer, made the following report of the loss in his brigade : -
KILLED.
WOUNDED.
Seventeenth Massachusetts
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29
Twenty-third Massachusetts
15
52
- Forty-third Massachusetts . Forty-fifth Massachusetts . Fifty-first Massachusetts .
2
1
17
60
2
Of our regiment it should be further stated, that our wounded comrade died, and one perished of exhaustion, - C. W. Hutchins, an exemplary young man of Company K ; making a total of four deaths, besides one missing, from our own company, - Hiram Judkins, a non-resident, who fell in some unexplained manner into the enemy's hands, and was by them passed into the Union lines on the Potomac. We did not see him again. He is recorded as having been dis- charged for disability, March 8, 1863.
Gen. Foster's report of the killed, wounded, and missing of the whole army, is as follows (it is quoted from Moore's " Rebellion Record," vol. vi. p. 256), 90 killed, 478 wounded, 9 missing.
We must have marched at least a hundred and sixty miles. We were favored with pleasant weather during the whole time, and suffered but little for lack of drinking-water. I have previously given Gen. Foster a brief introduction to the reader, and, inasmuch as we had become quite familiarly acquainted with him during the march, some further notice seems appropriate. He was a man about forty-five, portly,
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REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGHI MARCH.
and physically robust, with the exception of a sliglit weak- ness in one of his legs from a wound received in the Mexican war. He was affable to the verge of familiarity, and pre- possessing in appearance, uniting the highest qualities of the civilian and the soldier. He was stationed at Boston for several years soon after the war, and was always accessible to his old comrades of all grades in- the Eighteenth Corps. He died at Nashua, N.H., of consumption, Sept. 2, 1874. His obituary in one of the Boston papers contained the follow- ing paragraph : -
" In the death of Gen. Foster a noble and gallant heart is stilled. He is remembered with especial regard, and something of fondness, by the many Massachusetts troops who were under his command in North Carolina. Many of them will pleasantly recall to mind his commanding form and beaming face as he was wont to ride along the weary marching column, and drop words of compli- ment and cheer."
His conduct of the expedition impressed us deeply with a sense of his strategic ability. It was severely criticised at the time in one respect ; namely, the rapid manner in which we were obliged to march. It was said that the column should have been halted after crossing the streams (for such they were, some of them), to save the men in the rear from the exhaustion of double-quicking to close the gap in front of them. But I apprehend that there would have been danger of disastrous delay in following this course. The safety and success of such a movement as ours was, lays, in great part, in its rapidity of motion. Delays, in such circum- stances, are, in the highest and most emphatic sense, not only dangerous, but likely to be fatal. The renowned hero Stone- wall Jackson owed much of his celebrity to the success with which he planned and executed daring assaults of this kind. Early in the war, in May, 1862, he took a column across the Alleghanies into West Virginia. By the merest piece of good luck, his coming was ascertained before he had a chance to "rush things " in his usual style. He halted a short time, and our forces, under Gen. Milroy, went out instantly to
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
meet him, instead of waiting to be attacked; and handled him so roughly during an afternoon fight, that he quietly took himself back again the next morning, although he had already marched seven days. It was said by those who knew him best, that allusions to his raid into West Virginia were very distasteful to him. He reported a loss of seventy-one killed (of whom there were three colonels and two majors) and three hundred and ninety wounded, among whom was Gen. Edward Johnston.
The points which impressed us the most, as we afterwards discussed them in our camp by the Trent, were the manner in which the rebel earthworks were flanked at South-west Creek ; the long detour to the west, by which our flanking march was extended in such a manner as to deceive. even ourselves as to our destination; then the vigorous blow at Kinston, struck so quickly by the rapid turn of our force to the north-east, that we met only a small number of the rebels ; the temporary passage across the river of so large a portion of our army, leaving the enemy for some hours in doubt whether we were to stop there, or go still farther to the north of the Neuse, repeating the previous march to Tarborough. These movements were all of them masterpieces of military wisdom, so far as we were capable of judging. To under- stand them fully, it should be known that the enemy held uninterrupted control of the railroad (Atlantic and North- Carolina) running east and west, on the north bank of the Neuse, between Goldsborough and Kinston ; and they could easily, by this means, have had a much larger number at Kinston to oppose us, if our course could have been known sooner, or even readily inferred. Then the courageous con- fidence in his own resources, which enabled him to fight at Whitehall without halting his whole column, was a continua- tion of the same firmness and self-command which was again exercised at Goldsborough, where the rebels were kept on the move all day, on a line reaching from the point the Forty-third occupied at Spring-Bank Bridge, to the fords, several miles above the town, where they finally crossed to attack him in the assault on the artillery. This he did by
1
93
REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGH MARCH.
such a disposition of his force as to leave the enemy for some hours in doubt whether or not his attack on the railroad was a feint designed to cover his real purpose to capture the town. We were also exposed to an attack from the rebels, who could easily have come up from the south on the Wilming- ton and Weldon Railroad ; but this liability was provided for ยท by the raid of the cavalry regiment to Mount Olive, where they tore up the track, and effectually covered our left flank.
His wife was a true helpmeet to such a man. She was in a high degree courageous, active, and philanthropic. She was not with the column ; but we heard of her, during our term of service, wherever it was possible for her to go in helpful and consoling ministrations to the wounded or sick of our number. It made no difference whether her duties were per- formed in the wards of Stanley Hospital at Newbern, or whether she was engaged in looking after some unnoticed or otherwise neglected private on board a transport, her energy and faithfulness were the same. We all heard of her benefi- cent deeds, and held her in grateful estimation.
Always, while on the march, Gen. Foster was associated with a tall and finely built man, whom we came to know as our guide. He was in the dress of a citizen, and, I think, entirely unarmed. As he rode by the general's side, his appearance and bearing was such as to command the deep interest of every thoughtful soldier. His demeanor was in full accordance with a countenance as composed and dignified as that of Washington. The rebels would have riddled him with bullets, or hung him with short shrift to the nearest tree, if he had fallen into their hands; yet he had committed no crime, except that of loving his whole country better than a small part of it.
When we reached Newbern, on our return, we learned of the disaster at Fredericksburg. The effect upon our minds was depressing ; but it was only the first of a series of influ- ences of the same character, which lasted during our whole term of service, and compelled us, much against our will, to the conclusion that the end to which we had looked hopefully
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
forward when we enlisted - a speedy conclusion of the war - was not to be expected. .
In reviewing the march and its results, I feel warranted in bringing to light one of its incidents which later events proved to have been of greater consequence than we sup- posed at the time. The Third New-York Cavalry had approached Whitehall on the evening before the battle; and a private of their number, by the name of Butler, had plunged into the wintry stream, and swam across, in order to burn a gunboat which was on the stocks. His effort was in- effectual, as he was discovered, and driven back under a shower of bullets. What he failed to accomplish with the torch, we did on the next day with our cannon. This gunboat was to have been an iron-clad. It seems almost ridiculous : but that insignificant hamlet far up in the forest was really a naval station. No more, certainly no less. If the craft had been completed, the chances are, that we might have had livelier times at Newbern than we actually experienced. This impression derives its force from the fact that the rebels succeeded in finishing a vessel of this description on the Roanoke in the spring of 1864. They descended the river with it, and sunk one of the gunboats which were at Plym- outh at the time, driving the others away. This placed the garrison there at the mercy of a large force, under Gen. Hoke, who made a fierce assault, capturing the whole gar- rison, composed of the Eighty-fifth New-York Regiment, the Hundred and First, and Hundred and Third Regiments of Pennsylvania Infantry of Gen. Wessel's brigade, the Six- teenth Connecticut Infantry, Twenty-fourth New-York Bat- tery, two companies of the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and a company of the Twelfth New-York Cavalry. The first three of these regiments were with us in the march. They were taken to Andersonville, and many of them per- ished miserably in that infernal den. The sharpness of the sufferings of the Pennsylvania men was aggravated by the fact, that, at the moment of their capture, they were waiting transportation home, having re-enlisted, and been furloughed for a visit to their friends. A full account of this most ter-
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REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGH MARCH.
rible disaster to the department of North Carolina may be found in "John McElroy's Experience of a Private Soldier at Andersonville," etc. (Bates Hall Library, 4220 a, 64), - a book in which the revolting treatment of the Union prisoners is delineated in a manner in which grace of style and force are remarkably united.
To those who may ask for more definite statements than have been given concerning "the pomp and circumstance of glorious war," as observed by us, I am obliged to confess my inability to meet their wishes, mainly for lack of the raw material to work up into acceptable forms. The only music that I heard during the whole march has been already alluded to in the account of the occurrences at Kinston. All our regular musicians were in the ambulance-corps. Not a note did we hear from fife, bugle, or drum. Now and then Gen. Foster was cheered by the veterans as he rode through the column. As we came out of Kinston on Monday morning, we met our friends of the Fifth Regiment with cheers; the City Guard of Charlestown being with them. They had held the bridge during the night against the attempts of guerillas to burn it. The appearance of the column in crossing the streams was very picturesque, in spite of our sombre coats of blue and the irregular manner in which we marched. The glittering polish of our muskets flashing in the sunlight, as we descended into the gullies, balanced ourselves upon the bridges by the side of the road, or struggled in the water, and then rose on the other side, was quite impressive to the sight. The artillery, in particular, made a fine appearance in this respect as the four magnificent horses (always of the largest size) galloped at full speed across the water with their gun and its caisson ; every thing upon which an artillerist could sit being crowded with men. For myself, I will say that the most exultant emotion of patriotic feeling which I experienced was at the moment of reaching the banks of the Trent River, opposite our camp, on the sabbath morning of our return. As we came out of the forest, Newbern and the Rivers Trent and Neuse opened suddenly upon our sight, and an unexpected pleasure was ours. Both rivers were full
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
of our gunboats, - light-draught steamers adapted to the navi- gation of the shoal waters of the sounds of North Carolina. They were anchored in line, astern of each other, at short distances apart, all the way from the upper Trent bridge, around the peninsula on which Newbern stands, up into the Neuse on the north side of the town. Their colors were set, and to me it was a most heart-cheering and really magnifi- cent sight, reminding me, as it did, of the immensity of the power of the government as manifested in the effectiveness . of the blockade of the whole Southern coast. This work was almost Titanic in its character; yet it was so thoroughly done, that the rebels themselves, as well as their sympathizers in England, were obliged to admit the fact. It is well known that they were troubled to get surgical instruments, not for lack of money, but because their ports were closed. We were ourselves urgently solicited on our march for common salt by destitute families. It is almost needless to say that these gunboats came in immediately on our departure to assure the safety of the place during our absence.
I should feel that an omission of a marked character would be chargeable to me, if I should fail to record an interesting incident of our marches, as follows: they were often pro- longed until as late -as ten P.M .; and, during the hours of darkness, our spirits rose readily into the realms of poetry and song. Some one would start a patriotic ode or hymn: it would be taken up by all who could sing, and a new and elevated impulse imparted to our heavy footsteps. What- ever else was sung, the martyr hero who pioneered our great conflict was sure to be remembered. "The soul of John Brown went marching on " with us, as with every armed columin which penetrated Secessia. We all sang it in our hearts, if not with our voices. All shades of politics and all nationalities, all personal opinions and peculiarities, merged themselves in a deep and universal conviction that the grand old man, who came as near as mortal could to "making the gallows as glorious as the cross," was really right, though technically wrong.
In making this reference to our singing, a fact which is so
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OFERTA
REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGH MARCH.
ethereal in its nature that many writers would only use it rhetorically, I do it with a full conviction that it was an indication of the character and motives of the army of the North, which was really finally decisive of the great contest. The rebels had no songs which went so deep into the ideal and religious nature of man as ours did: they were all char- acterized by a sensuous localism. During the war the Rich- mond correspondent of "The London Times" wrote, and, what is more remarkable still, the Thunderer printed, the following ingenuous admission : --
"No one who has been conversant with the Northern States during the last two and a half years can have failed to notice with astonishment the faith, stronger than death, which the Northerners have exhibited in their manifest destiny, their religion, their Alpha and Omega, their dream of dominion from sca to sea, and, to quote Mr. Everett's own words, 'from the icy pole to the flaming belt of the equator.' The successes of the Southi have altogether failed to inspire them with a tithe of that confidence in themselves which neither defeat, nor hope deferred, nor illusions dispelled, have ever shaken out of the Northerners. Deny it who may, there is something sublime in this shadowy earnestness and misty mag- nificence of Northern faith and self-reliance."
I cannot resist the temptation to give here two poetic illus- trations of the widely differing characteristics of the North and the South. The first is the only spirit-stirring song that I thought worth copying, out of several hundred Southern war-songs which are to be found in a scrap-book at the Boston Public Library. The second will speak for itself in confirming my statements.
STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY.
FOUND ON A CONFEDERATE SERGEANT OF JACKSON'S BRIGADE, TAKEN AT WINCHESTER, V.A.
Come, stack arms, men ! Pile on the rails, Stir up the camp-fire bright; No matter if the canteen fails, We'll make a rousing night: Here Shenandoah brawls along, And burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, To swell our brigade's rousing song Of "Stonewall Jackson's way."
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
We see him now, - the old slouched hat Cocked o'er his eye askew, The shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, So calm, so blunt, so true. The " Blue Light Elder" his foe knows well : Says he, " That's Banks ; he don't like shell -
Lord,1 save his soul !- we'll give him - well," That's " Stonewall Jackson's way."
Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off ! Old "Blue-Light's " going to pray:
Strangle the fool that dares to scoff. Attention ! It's his way ! Appealing from his native sod In forma pauperis to God,
Say, " Bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod, Amen !" That's "Stonewall Jackson's way." 1
He's in the saddle now. Fall in ! Steady, the whole brigade: Hill's at the ford, cut off : we'll win His way out, ball and blade ! What matter if our shoes are worn! What matter if our feet are torn !
Quickstep ! we're with him ere the dawn: That's " Stonewall Jackson's way."
The sun's bright lances rout the mists Of morning ; and, by George !
Here's Longstreet struggling in the lists, Hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees fierce before, Bayonets and grape ! Hear Stonewall roar "Charge, Steuart ! and pay off Ashby's score " In " Stonewall Jackson's way."
Ah, maiden! wait and watch and yearn For news of Jackson's band; Ah, widow ! view with eyes that burn That ring upon the hand; Ah, wife ! sew on, pray on, hope on, Thy life shall not be all forlorn : The foe had better ne'er been born Than. get in " Stonewall's way.". MARTINSBURG, Sept. 13, 1862.
1 Original manuscript, - "Lord, save his soul, we'll give him hell! In ' Stonewall Jackson's way.' "
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REVIEW OF THE GOLDSBOROUGH MARCH.
BATTLE-HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC.
MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift sword: His truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps ; I have read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps: His day is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: " As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal:" Let the hero born of woman crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat: Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him ! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. CHORUS -- " Glory, glory, hallelujah ! "
Two more allusions remain, and the Great March will cease to occupy our attention.
Living as I have all my days in the vicinity of a large sea- port, I have often had occasion to look with profound inter- est upon the gatherings upon the decks of shipping, as the religious exercises appropriate to the departure of missiona- ries for foreign lands are held. I have long been of opinion that the scenes there witnessed are prompted by the highest motives which can actuate human beings, that they are in fact a practical rebuke, of the most searching character, of by far the larger portion of the lives of those of us who profess to be actuated by the same motives as our friends who go abroad, and make their residence in unhealthy climates and among uncongenial people and associations.
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HISTORY OF THE FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT, M.V.M.
I had supposed that such scenes were exceptional in their nature, and that nothing like them was to be expected else- where. But I was to live long enough to see an illustration, not necessarily religious in its character. of sacrifice, which, in my judgment, elevates every man who complies cheerfully with its terms as far beyond the usual limits of our ordinary life as the self-abnegation of the Christian missionary raises him above the prevailing standard of discipleship. I refer to the obligation which rests upon every colonel or com- manding officer of a regiment to hazard his own life, that those intrusted to his authority may be as far as possible shielded from the terrible exposures of war ; this duty on his part, of course, involving the corresponding obligation on the men to be equally ready to risk or to sacrifice themselves, if necessary, in defence of the nation.
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