USA > Maryland > History and roster of Maryland volunteers, war of 1861-5 > Part 41
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It was understood that French was acting as the reserve of Meade's army, keeping open its line of communication and covering Washington and Baltimore. In the event of Meade's defeat, it is easy to see that his task would have been one of vital importance.
On the 4th day of July, 1863, the news of a great victory at Gettysburg flew like wildfire, followed up by long trains of captured wagons and prisoners, escorted by cav- alry. All was activity and vigilance, constant marching and counter-marching, posting of pickets and calling them in again, with hourly expectation of something important to happen immediately. Late in the day the Seventh was counter-marched back to its old bivouac on Rizer's farm, west of Frederick, on the Harper's Ferry road.
In the early dawn of the 6th, as the field officer of the day was riding along the out- posts, he descried an object swinging from the limb of a tree, surrounded by a force of cavalry. They reported that the body was that of a spy, caught with the evidence in his boots, and hung by drum-head court by order of General Buford. He was easily recognized as a former visitor to the camp of the Maryland brigade, offering various small articles for sale and getting up ornamental company rolls.
Army of the Potomac.
General French was then assigned to the command of the third corps, and Kenly's brigade hurried back to Maryland Heights. The Seventh being on picket at the time, did not start with the brigade, which had a skirmish as they occupied the Heights. As soon as the Seventh was relieved by its namesake, the famous Seventh New York Militia, National Guard, it rejoined the brigade, which, on the 10th of July, moved out through Pleasant Valley to a point near Boonsboro. The march was directly toward the sound of cannon. The march was a forced one of seventeen miles, the day was hot and sultry, and many of the best men fell out from sheer exhaustion. The straggling was excessive and much of it was unavoidable; most of the stragglers came up during the night.
Here the Maryland brigade brought up against the Army of the Potomac and rein- forced its weakest corps, being designated as the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st Corps. General Newton commanded the corps, Kenly the division and Colonel Dushane, of the first Maryland, commanded the brigade.
The next day the brigade took its place in the corps line of battle, drawn up in a field along the Hagerstown pike. The men opened their eyes as the reserve artillery thun- dered by, battery after battery, the heavy Parrot guns drawn by ten or twelve horses each. From the time they struck the Army of the Potomac, they had found themselves in an atmosphere of novelty and wonder. The thinned ranks of many of the regiments, shrunken by losses in battle to the proportions of a company or so, the tattered and bullet-ridden colors, and those queer-looking badges worn by men and officers, of various devices, shapes and colors, corresponding with the conspicuous standards borne by mounted orderlies, following every movement of the general officers, formed the principal subjects of curiosity and topics for discussion among the men of the Maryland brigade. Many are still living who will remember the thrill of pride with which, on that day, the brigade and division standards were received, and the corps badges attached.
Skirmish at Funkstown.
After several changes of position, on the 12th of July the Maryland brigade was brought into contact with the enemy near Funkstown. The Seventh being called on for
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a company to relieve the skirmishers of the sixth corps in its front, it happened to be the turn of company I to go on that duty. This company (Captain E. F. Anderson) was raised in the neighborhood, and most of the men had harvested or hunted over the ground. Ridges of limestone cropping out here and there furnished accidents of position of which the skirmishers of both sides made it a point to avail themselves quite liberally. Lee was at that moment preparing to withdraw his army across the Potomac, a fact un- known to our side, and he was holding his entrenchments only to cover the retreat. Accordingly, the work of our skirmishers went on prosperously and they advanced gradually, pressing back the enemy's skirmishers. The next morning Company I, with a loss of only one man wounded (Scoffin), was relieved on the skirmish line by Captain Bennett, Company E.
A marksman on the other side had been observed to make several close shots, one of which had grazed Captain Bennett's ear and drawn blood. The latter stationed one of his best shots behind a wheat stack, with directions to shoot that man the next time he showed his head above the rifle pit. The captain then lifted his cap slightly on the point of his sword, and instantly the Confederate marksman showed himself, but before he had time to pull, corporal Mahaney, of company E, resting his rifle through the stack, had anticipated him, and he was seen to leap from out of the rifle-pit and fall forward upon his face. The corporal was afterwards killed in the Wilderness.
One of the incidents of this skirmish was a struggle for the possession of Stover's barn, which was finally carried by our men, when the barn was opened on by the enemy's artillery. After this, the enemy sent out a flag of truce to get the body of one of their officers.
Retreat of Lee.
During that night the retreat of Lee's army was ascertained by the pickets of the Maryland brigade, who captured a number of stragglers. The next day, 14th of July, 1863, the 1st Corps, following the sixth, marched through the two strong lines of earth- works just abandoned by the enemy, the men noticing the fresh graves of a number of Confederates who fell during the two days' skirmish.
On the 15th the march was resumed to Crampton's Gap, some twenty-five miles, passing a brigade of prisoners captured at Falling Waters. Another day's march brought the corps to Petersville, where the wagon trains came up, and a brief interval was employed in resting and refitting.
Advance into Virginia.
On the 18th the Potomac was crossed at Berlin on a pontoon bridge, and Middleburg was reached on the evening of the 20th, where the officer in charge of the brigade picket experienced the luxury of posting pickets after dark in a strange country, among woods tangled with under-growth, and meadows treacherous with ditches and swamps. The command stayed at Middleburg all the next day, indulging in blackberries to an unlim- ited extent, which, as a sanitary measure, was a success.
Rappahannock Station.
The march was resumed through White Plains and Warrenton Junction, reaching Rappahannock Station on the 2d of August, 1863, where a brisk cavalry skirmish was
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in progress, indicating renewed contact with Lee's army, now at the end of its retreat. This fight between Buford and Stuart was plainly visible across the Rap- pahannock, and it was watched with interest, because it was taken to be the prelude of another pitched battle. It turned out to be only a reconnoissance in force.
The Seventh was at this time separated from the Maryland brigade, and it was understood that it, together with some regiments from other brigades, constituted the reserve of the 1st Corps. Among the many rumors in constant circulation was one to the effect that the Seventh Regiment was to be detailed as "sharpshooters." It had been reported that during the two days' skirmishing at Funkstown the fire of our companies I and E had been especially effective. It had been learned officially (so went the rumor) that the enemy's loss during that skirmish in front of the Maryland brigade alone had been eight killed, including a captain, and fifteen wounded. In point of fact, nothing was certainly known about anything.
It was mysteriously whispered in select circles as a particularly choice tit-bit of rumor that "we" had learned to read the enemy's signals, with many cautions to be very careful of the secret, lest the rebels should get hold of it and immediately change their signal code.
There was but little incident of any kind to vary the monotony of camp life at Rap- pahannock station. Deserters were occasionally shot under sentence of court-martial in some of the neighboring camps, and it was the accepted policy to make these executions as public and ceremonious as possible, to strike terror into the substitutes and bounty- jumpers.
Quite in contrast with the dull monotony of the camps in rear, the picket line or ex- treme front in contact with the enemy is always interesting. Our division outposts at that time occupied a front of over two miles, the line between the two armies had not been straightened out, and the opposing sentries were within hailing distance, in some cases. This situation sometimes gave occasion for ludicrous mistakes. A too sociable disposition was at times indulged, resulting in the trading of newspapers, coffee, tobacco, etc., but this intercourse was always promptly repressed by the authorities as soon as discovered.
About the middle of September a division of cavalry, supported by the second corps, pushed on as far as Culpeper, not without resistance and loss. A rumor prevailed that we had captured colors, a large number of prisoners and ten guns, reduced afterwards to three.
Advance to the Rapidan.
Early on the morning of the 16th of September, 1863, the long expected order came, and after a march of ten or twelve miles through Brandy and Stevensburg, tents were pitched about half way between that place and Culpeper Courthouse, on Mountain Run. The march was toward the sound of cannon, and many dead and crippled horses were passed.
Here the paymaster made his appearance, and several officers were informed that their pay had been stopped until their regulation "ordnance returns" were duly for- warded. As Government officials became more experienced, greater strictness and more "red tape" was used, and many obscure and neglected "army regulations," which had been a mystery to inexperienced officers and the despair of department clerks. were revived and peremptorily enforced by the quick stimulus of "stopping pay."
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The next move was to a piny old field on Potato Run, near Stewart's house, where, towards the end of the month, the division was paraded on three sides of a square to witness the shooting of a substitute deserter from the Fourth Maryland. He followed his coffin around the square with unmoved expression and steady step, keeping time to his own dead march, and, after the execution, the troops were marched in review past the bloody remains.
On the 27th of September, 1863, another move was made about four miles westerly to Summerduck Run, and on the morning of the 29th, just after the brigade guard had been mounted, with the assistance of the brigade band, there was another move west to a point near Cedar Run, guarding Raccoon Ford, of the Rapidan. The division was here masked by a dense forest of heavy timber. Blazing trunks of solid hickory, piled with reckless extravagance, cheered the men with a genial air of home comfort and lighted the path of mounted orderlies.
Meade's Retreat.
Another active campaign was now at hand, to counteract a rapid flank movement of Lee's army toward Meade's rear. The movement commenced, so far as the Seventh was concerned, at two o'clock on the morning of October 10, 1863, by a forward demonstra- tion of the 1st Corps upon Morton's Ford of the Rapidan. From this point the retreat commenced that night, and the Rappahannock was recrossed at Kelly's Ford. It was at this time a frequent subject of remark among the men that they had often heard firing in front and on the flank during a march, but never before in the rear. From a hill above the ford, looking back, could be distinctly seen every shell as it burst in the air, the dis- tant Blue Ridge forming a dark background for the puffs of white smoke. The hot cav- alry fighting which had been going on all day did not end with it, and there continued to be seen the flash of the guns and of the bursting shells until long after dark. .
At one o'clock on the morning of October 13, 1863, began the heaviest march yet made, from Kelly's Ford to a point beyond Bristoe Station, some twenty-seven or eight miles, carrying eight days' rations. If the private soldiers of the Seventh had been polled, their verdict would have been that this eight days' ration business was a fraud. There was never more than about four or five days eating in them; the balance was a dead loss to the men as well as to the Government, spoiled by mixture, by wet, by per- spiration, by dirt, by mildew, sometimes by bugs, until the revolting pasty garbage would be heaved out on the roadside. The only parties benefited were the contractors, for, as a rule, a reissue of three days' rations, when attainable, was an absolute necessity.
It was nearly ten o'clock at night when the Seventh bivouacked a mile or so beyond Bristoe, in a place selected for purely military reasons, with no reference, of course, to convenience or comfort. Those whose good luck it was to stretch themselves under the warm shelter of some level spreading pine, upon ground softly padded with fragrant leaves, soon forgot the toils and burdens of that march. Those whose misery it was to be detailed for picket, must be left to their own reflections, aching backs, and blistered feet.
Centreville.
At daylight of the 14th, the 1st Corps resumed the march northward, and the Mary- land brigade took its turn in guarding the ammunition train. It was now apparent that the two armies were running a foot-race on parallel lines for the strongly fortified and
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commanding position at Centerville. Bull Run was crossed at Blackburn's Ford at noon, and the Heights of Centerville were gained two and a-half hours later, just half an hour ahead (so the rumor went) of Lee's advance. Marching over the old Bull Run battle ground, the solid earth quaked and shuddered, and the air throbbed with the sound of cannonading from Bristoe in rear, and from Thoroughfare Gap on left front.
At about four P. M. the firing from Bristoe reached its climax and continued until after dark, the flash of each gun being plainly seen from Centerville Heights, and the firing becoming both more distant and desultory until about eight o'clock, when it ceased. This was shortly afterwards understood to mean a gallant and successful fight of the second corps under Warren, with A. P. Hill's corps, which was defeated, with the loss of five guns and four hundred and fifty prisoners.
The next day the division was drawn back to a point near Chantilly and thrown in (as was said) between the other divisions of the first corps and the sixth. Here the men were again put into a state of expectancy by a very lively fusilade and some cannon- ading south and southwest. Two hours later this firing grew more distant, and bore more to the west. The cause was not explained. Probably another cavalry reconnoisance.
Lee's Retreat.
After being countermarched to Centerville early on the 19th of October, 1863, the 1st corps marched south, in pursuit of Lee's now retreating army, crossed Bull Run at the Stone Bridge, heard heavy firing directly in front, formed column of brigades on a ridge upon the other side of Bull Run, and loaded. The corps then resumed its march over the ground of the first and second Bull Run battles, and about 3 P. M. went into camp at or near a burnt out village named Haymarket.
Skirmish at Haymarket.
The whole Seventh Regiment was then ordered to picket the front from the Leesburg pike on the right to the Thoroughfare Gap pike on the left, with a strong post well ad- vanced on each road, a mile and a-half in front of Haymarket. Before the posting had been completed, a lively skirmish suddenly commenced between the advanced post on the left and Stuart's cavalry.
It appeared that during the cavalry fight at Buckland Mills, Kilpatrick had thrown one of his brigades (Davies') forward into a bad position, where it was confronted by Stuart, outflanked by Fitzhugh Lee, and routed. It was hotly pursued, and in steeple chase style dashed through the picket line of the Seventh Maryland. The small outpost on the Gap road promptly opened fire and brought the foremost riders to a stand. But being rapidly reinforced every moment, they soon displayed a front which threat- ened the capture of the entire outpost, several of whom had fallen. Captain Makechney then fell back with his little command before the cautious advance of the enemy for some two hundred yards, when he was met by Colonel Webster and posted by him on the picket line, which had retained its position, and now again opened fire upon the advanc- ing force, which was again brought to a stand. In the meantime the delay afforded by the check had enabled a battery of horse artillery with Davies' brigade to get into posi- tion on a ridge in rear of our picket line, and the battery was promptly supported by the 143d Pennsylvania, under Colonel Dana, moved up by order of General Kenly. After a
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few rounds from the battery and some more skirmishing along the picket line, night fell, the enemy's cavalry withdrew, and the battery, with the rest of Davies' brigade, retired to the rear.
By some oversight on the part of the officer in command of the picket line of the division which was to have connected on our left, an interval was left between the Gap road and a stream some little distance southwest. Through this opening a dash was made by the enemy's cavalry after dark, and a number of our pickets cut off and cap- tured. The renewed firing on the picket line caused General Kenly to order up the 1st Maryland (Colonel Wilson) to the support of the Seventh, and a round or two from the 1st Maryland ended the affair. The fight commenced just before sunset and ended about 8 P. M. There were only the three left companies of the Seventh engaged, all from Frederick County (B, G and E). Loss-one killed, five wounded, sixteen prisoners, includ- ing Lieutenant Hagan, of Company G. Colonel Webster received a ball through his clothing and narrowly escaped capture, being at the time of the last dash in the act of inspecting his pickets, when the enemy's cavalry charged past and within a few yards of him.
Bristoe Station.
Several days were then passed at Thoroughfare Gap, and on the 24th of October, 1863, the 1st corps made a heavy mud march, the men wading Broad Run and other swollen streams to Bristoe Station, where it entered upon the duty of guarding the rail- road and picketing its approaches.
On November 6th the resignation of Colonel Webster, consequent upon his re-election to Congress and the demands of his political friends for his active aid in the pending strug- gle for emancipation in Maryland, was accepted, and on the following day he took leave of the regiment. A meeting of the officers was held and resolutions were adopted expressing the appreciation of the regiment of the many admirable qualities of their late commander, and their regret at the separation. Lieut .- Colonel Phelps was thereupon com- missioned Colonel, and Capt. E. M. Mobley, Major, vice Major Dallam, permanently dis- abled by illness, the result of exposure.
Guarding Prisoners to Alexandria.
A brilliant charge of General Russell, at Rappahannock Station on the 7th, had re- sulted in the capture of four guns and 1600 prisoners, and on the same day a dash ordered by General French at Kelly's Ford secured over 400 more. Before the trains containing these prisoners reached Bristoe on their way to the rear, under a small provost-guard, on the afternoon of the 9th, despatches had been received by Col. Dushane, commanding the Maryland brigade, indicating an attempt by a strong force of the enemy to intercept the trains and effect, if possible, a rescue. The colonel of the Seventh was ordered to be in readiness with his regiment, reinforced by a company of the 1st Maryland, to board the train upon their arrival at Bristoe, and guard them to Alexandria. There were two trains of eighteen freight cars each. The first train did not arrive until long after dark, and, owing to mistake or panic, dashed by without slackening speed. A few minutes later the second train arrived, but made such a short stop that numbers of the officers and men were not able to reach their places on the roofs of the cars. Dr. Jarrett, surgeon of the 7th, made for the only open door he saw, probably supposing, in his innocence,
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that some inside accommodation had been reserved for at least the "field and staff," and was immediately and not at all ceremoniously pulled in by the guard. In the dark- ness and confusion, the inside guard (of the 20th N. Y.) mistook him for a prisoner who had been trying to escape, and rejected all his protestations as "weak inventions" of the enemy. The doctor found himself in a car densely crowded with Louisiana Irishmen, where he was closely watched by the guard inside as a specially intelligent and danger- ous prisoner, capable of framing very plausible stories. The train reached Alexandria at two o'clock in the morning. The prisoners were then turned over to a guard in waiting and marched to the old capitol prison, and the Maryland boys, relieved of all further responsibility, found (to them) sumptuous quarters at "Soldier's Rest."
Soldier's Rest.
The spacious enclosure which contained the various buildings was stockaded to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, with banquettes and loop holes for musketry. The first impression, naturally, was that this stockade was only designed to check our hungry and misguided Southern brethren in case any portion of them, with force and arms, should desire to participate in the hospitalities of the place. The next idea that suddenly presented itself to the astonished minds of our boys, after they had duly washed, eaten, drank, rested, and frankly sought to penetrate into the external world, was, that the same stockade answered equally well to keep them in. All the outlets were guarded by armed men in the Frenchy, sky-blue uniform of the "Invalid Corps." The officer on duty was a polite young fellow who had left an arm at Gettys- burg, and at his invitation the field and staff spread their blankets on the floor of the guard room, adjoining the large hall where the men slept.
Bristoe Again.
The next morning, the necessary preliminaries for transportation having been easily arranged (and nothing was ever found easier or less encumbered with red-tape than getting transportation to the front), the Seventh exchanged the romance of soldier- ing for the reality, and in due time was found once more at Bristoe, taking its share of duty with the rest of the Maryland brigade in picketing the railroad and its approaches from Manassas Junction to Kettle Run.
Rappahannock Again.
The Maryland brigade left Bristoe on the 23d, and marched some twenty miles to a point near the Rappahannock, and three days later moved camp to the bluffs on the north bank, near the railroad bridge.
Meade's demonstration upon Mine Run occupied the closing days of this month, during which Kenly's division was held in reserve, guarding the line of communication.
Paoli Mills.
As soon as things began to look settled again, the men occupied themselves in put- ting up winter quarters, but were not allowed to begin even to feel at home in them. The 3d of December, 1863, was a day of stir and bustle, troops and trains coming back from the front, and on the next day the Maryland brigade marched before daylight,
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crossing the river to a point on Mountain Run, near Paoli Mills. This was another of those dark, forced marches, leaving wagons behind and halting on the way to load. One of the rumors was that Lee had crossed the Rapidan, and we were going to meet him halfway. Sunrise dissipated these rumors, and the rest of the march was more leisurely conducted, as though we had found out that all Lee wanted was to be "let alone."
To compensate the men for their unprofitable investments in real estate, they now walked into, and literally hung up their hats in, ready-made substantial log cabins, well roofed with heavy oak slabs. For these accommodations, as well as for the bunks and other trimmings, they were indebted to the kind forethought of unknown friends in General Lee's army, probably some of the very men who afterwards received the polite attentions of the regiment in helping them to Alexandria.
Culpeper C. H.
The day before Christmas the snug log cabins at Paoli were vacated, and the 1st corps again marched forth into the unknown. Crossing the railroad at Brandy Sta- tion, we soon came in sight of our old friend Mount Pony, and, passing through Cul- peper, Keuly's division bivouacked on a hillside a half mile or so south. After one or two changes the Maryland brigade, on New Year's Day, 1864, finally settled down in winter quarters upon the slope and crest of a ridge east of the railroad, between Culpeper and Mount Pony, Colonel Phelps being, at this time, temporarily in command of the brigade, now designated, by the consolidation of the other two brigades, 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st Army Corps.
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