USA > Maryland > History and roster of Maryland volunteers, war of 1861-5 > Part 43
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An Awkward Fix.
And now rides up a stranger, purporting to be a staff officer, with a verbal order to the Colonel of the Seventh, "Swing your right around immediately." Being faced to the rear, our proper right was then our left. To be certain, "Which right was meant ?" The officer replied that he gave the order just as he had it from Colonel Fowler. He was asked whether the order meant a "change front forward on Tenth Company," the effect of which would be to swing around our proper right, but our then left, and the precise movement dictated by the situation. He said "I suppose so," and rode off.
The tactical command for this movement was given : "By company, right half wheel, etc.," the Tenth Company established on the new line, and the Ninth as it came up, but when the next was partly in position, some hesitation and confusion were noticed towards the centre of the regiment. The other companies were not following up the movement. Riding up to see what was wrong, the Colonel found the right wing engaged in execut-
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ing an entirely different movement under the direction, as it afterwards appeared, of some staff officer who had faced those companies about and was trying to bring them by a flank to a "Change front to rear on First Company."
At that moment, the situation of the regiment was such, that by no fault of any one connected with it, but through the improper interference of a blundering staff officer, a total stranger, it was broken into fragments, lost from each others' sight in the bushes, the left companies forming on one line, the right companies somewhere else, and the centre nowhere. The roar of battle in the immediate vicinity was deafening, nobody could be heard, nobody that was wanted could be seen, and, to make confusion worse confounded, a panic struck some of the troops of the second line who, fell back in disor- der upon the Seventh whilst in the predicament above described, bewildered by conflict- ing orders and false movements.
In the midst of this scene the Colonel of the 14th Brooklyn, whose temporary staff officer had done the mischief, rode up to the Colonel of the Seventh, while in the act of repairing it, and used some hasty expressions, which were afterwards handsomely withdrawn when the facts were understood. In fact, the accident would have been avoided had the latter's suggestion been acted on and the captains of companies been notified of the precise movement to be made by inversion in the dense thicket.
The Rally on the Colors.
Fortunately for such an emergency, the Seventh had been specially drilled in getting mixed up and straightened out again. A simple "rally on the colors" brought order out of chaos, as if by magic. It was only needed to find the color company (Com- pany C, Harford County, Captain Bouldin), face it square to the nearest racket, and a round of hearty cheers promptly attracted the broken files from either flank. The men fell into ranks by the instinct of habit, and the line was re-established in much less time than had been required to dislocate and scatter it. It was then an easy matter to adjust its alignment to that of the other regiments, which was done under the supervision of General Robinson.
Victory.
Meanwhile, an attack had been made upon the breastworks in the immediate front held by the other brigade of the division, and this attack had been repulsed. The troops of the second line had been rallied into position, and all was now steadiness and confi- dence where, but a few moments before, there was disorder fast verging upon wreck. The men were ordered to lie down (on account of shell), and all awaited the expected onslaught, whether its main fury should burst upon front or rear.
The storm, however, had reached its height and spent its energy; our brave allies of the second corps, driven from their first line of works, had rallied and retaken them, and, although repeatedly attacked, were not to be driven again. By five o'clock, the enemy was completely repulsed at all points on Hancock's front, with heavy loss.
Later in the evening, the Maryland brigade was thrown into the second line. Skir. mishing, more or less heavy, continued until night fell, and, indeed, to some extent throughout the night.
The loss of the Seventh on this second day of the Wilderness was slight, there being but three men wounded, one from each of the three left companies.
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Worn out with the long day's work, the men had scarcely settled for sleep when an order came to build a second line of works, fifty paces in rear of the first. The compa- nies were divided into reliefs, and all night long the woods resounded with the music of axes, picks and spades, fires being allowed along the line. These two parallel lines of works are distinctly visible to this day.
Wilderness-Third Day.
Daylight came, but not the expected attack. The morning was occupied mainly in clearing brush and timber in front of the works thrown up during the night, in strength- ening the position, and in burying the dead.
As the heat of the sun increased, the men began to spread their shelter tents, and to construct brush arbors. Here they slept awhile, waking up now and then as the skirmish firing came closer and hotter, suddenly swelling at times into a volume like that of a line of battle, and then subsiding to a scatter.
It is an interesting fact that fighting caused little interruption in the postal service, and mails were, with more or less regularity, collected and distributed on the battlefield. About 10 A. M. the brigade mail carrier collected letters from the different regimental headquarters. A hasty note from those of the Seventh said : "As I write, our skir- mishers are engaged about 500 yards to the front, and heavy firing is heard on the right. My trust is in the mercy of God. If we are defeated, I have no wish to survive so immense a disaster. If we are victorious and I should fall, I shall be satisfied to have my memory associated with so glorious a triumph."
Later in the day the brigade was moved back to an edge of the clearing before mentioned, in the vicinity of a fine strong spring, where arms were stacked and beef slaughtered and distributed. The battle of the Wilderness had passed into history, as a "wild, weird struggle, where 200,000 men were mixed up, like a hole full of snakes, with their tales intertwined" (F. Lee's "Life of Lee"). In the quaint words of an old English ballad :
"They both did fight, they both did beat, They both did run away ;
They both quick marched,-again to meet, The quite contrary way."
The Famous Night March.
Soon after eight o'clock began the historic forced night march to turn Lee's right. The movement was by the left flank, fifth corps leading ; Robinson's division and Mary- land brigade in advance, which was thus the leading infantry brigade of the army.
At first, nobody knew whether it was advance or retreat. Soon, the apparent direc- tion, jubilant spirit and extreme rapidity of the movement gave currency to the flattering rumor that Lee's whole army was in full retreat, and that Grant was after him, hot foot. The double lines of Hancock's Corps, through which we were being rushed, rapturously cheered our advance as conclusive proof, and their cheers, in turn, confirmed our confi- dence.
The first halt was to throw out flankers on the right, when, after an hour or more of hard marching, the long lines of works were at last cleared. Plunging into the myste- rious gloom of a deep cut and washed out road, men occasionally tumbled into rocky
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furrows, or stumbled over carcasses. At intervals, darkness would be made visible on the right by a blazing brand dropping from some distant tree-trunk, still aglow in the depth of the Wilderness, like a signal-light of goblins. The low, damp air, reeked with the pungent, acrid snuff of horse and human slaughter.
Combat with Fitz Lee.
Shortly before daylight (Sunday, 8th of May, 1864), the head of column emerged into the open country around Todd's Tavern, where a cavalry division was found, and a halt was ordered. No sooner were arms stacked than the men dropped, falling asleep directly they touched ground. Before, however, they had fairly stretched themselves, they had to be punched, kicked and shaken up to learn that more fighting was in order, before either lodging or breakfast. The crack-crack of carbines, reverberating in the forest glades ahead, closed up yawning jaws and put snap into numb legs.
Merritt's cavalry division, on the road to Spotsylvania Court House, was meeting a serious obstacle in Fitzhugh Lee, and, after considerable dismounted fighting, got out of the way of the infantry, which had been annoyed by the shifting movements of the led horses. The Maryland brigade was then deployed on both sides of the road, the Fourth on the skirmish line. Successive barricades of felled timber across the road were struck and carried, the enemy making a stand at each obstruction. In the language of the Confederate courier who bore the verbal message from Stuart to Fitz Lee, informing him of the march of Anderson's Corps to his relief and "urging him to hold out to the last at any sacrifice," it was of the "last importance that Fitz Lee should delay the ad- vancing column and cover the position at Spotsylvania Court House as long as possible. His division of cavalry encountered the head of the Federal column of infantry near Todd's Tavern, about four miles from the Court House, and, dismounting his men and fighting with carbines, fell slowly and stubbornly back. The fighting was dreadfully severe, and many of the flower of Virginia's youth went down before the terrific volleys of the Federal infantry." The same writer then gives a spirited account of the reckless daring with which the horse artillery was handled by Major Breathed in covering the retreat, to which he attributes great importance in retarding the advance of the Mary- land brigade, which led the Federal column, until the arrival of Anderson's Corps. (In Memoriam .- Major James Breathed, No. 3.)
Substantially the same account of this action is given by Stuart's chief of staff, who calls it "one of the severest conflicts in which Fitz Lee's division was ever engaged." (McClellan's "Campaigns of Stuart's Cavalry," 407.)
While this was the way the affair looked to the cavalry, their infantry opponents, whose loss was trifling, took it much less seriously. In fact, compared with what was to immediately follow, it seemed to them more like a pic-nic.
Parallel March of Anderson's Corps.
All this time nothing whatever was known of the parallel and unobstructed march upon an inside track of Anderson's (late Longstreet's) Corps for the same objective point. Nothing of it appears to have been learned by the Union cavalry, although the routes pursued by the opposing forces were but one or two miles apart. Meade and Sheridan had some hot words over it later on, each holding the other responsible. (Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, Vol. I, p. 367.)
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Lee's whole army in full retreat to Richmond ! Nothing in front but a rear guard of cavalry and horse artillery trying to cover his retreat ! Whereat, there was extreme elation. Foot-sore, famished, jaded as the men were, on that theory they felt as if they could have kept on to Richmond, if necessary. Unhappily, that was not the situation, but quite otherwise.
General Stuart's Compliments.
While about three miles of stubbornly contested ground were being thus wrested from Fitz Lee's cavalry, another force, under Stuart in person, was engaged in throwing up a hasty but sufficient line of timber defenses, and Anderson's leading division, under Kershaw, was taking position behind them, with artillery somewhat advanced on his right, to enfilade an attacking column. Here Stuart remained to witness the expected assault. (Southern Hist. Soc. Papers, March, 1879; 67 War Records, 1036-1056.)
These important works commanded the fork of the Brock Road, one branch leading to Spotsylvania Court House, one and a-half miles southeast, and the other leading to the old Court House, about two miles south, the Block House being about half way. Both roads directly or indirectly pointed to Richmond. Since the war, a small settlement has made its appearance at the fork, with a postoffice, called "Sunlight."
General Warren's Speech.
Reaching the high clearing about Alsop's farm, Warren saw this line of works in a skirt of woods along the ridge of Laurel Hill, and energetically addressed his troops as they came up. While the Seventh was passing his white horse, he was heard to exclaim, with an impulsive gesture, at each sharp, crisp sentence : "Never mind cannon ! Never mind bullets ! Press on and clear this road. It's the only way to get your rations."
Formation for Assault.
Robinson's three brigades were promptly formed in three parallel columns of attack, column by regiment, the Seventh, as usual, doubled by wing, and in rear of the Eighth and the battalion of the First. The Fourth made the charge with another brigade to left. The Maryland brigade formed on the right of the division, near the spot where General Sedgwick fell the following day, indicated now by the Sedgwick monument. A bat- tery took position on the right of the Maryland brigade and opened fire, but was not allowed time to get the range, and made no impression upon the works, which could have been easily breached by a few well-directed shell.
The formation was in an edge of timber, about four hundred yards from the works, the intervening space being an undulating, open field. These works on Spotsylvania Ridge, otherwise Laurel Hill, are still to be seen, in fair preservation, together with the epaulement for the advanced battery on the Block House road, to their right.
At first, the men generally failed to take in the gravity of the situation. Their senses were simply stupefied by sleepless overwork. . They had been temporarily braced up by the intoxicating excitement of combat and pursuit, but, when massed in close column, they acted as if they supposed the next order would be to stack arms and rest, preparatory to throwing up entrenchments, as in the days of Mcclellan and Meade.
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First Assault at Spotsylvania, or Battle of Laurel Hill.
Instead of that, came the startling command : "Battalions Forward ! Guide Center!" The men responded with a hearty cheer and at the word "March !" stepped off with life, with no music but that of their own voices. There were ringing yells of defiance from the works as the enemy's picket line drew in. Most of the field and staff hastily dismounted as the movement began, and left their horses behind. General Robinson led his division; that is, he rode abreast of the front rank of the Maryland brigade on its right, followed by Colonel Denison, also mounted.
The enemy opened with shell, followed by canister and then double canister, from the cross-fire guns on their right. Kershaw's veterans, behind the works, lost no time in proceeding to business. Their fire increased in intensity as the attack advanced. In addition to the advantage of position, they were in better shape physically than their assailants. It is true they also had made a hard night march, but it was a peaceable one, and the delay interposed by Fitz Lee, as already stated, had enabled them not only to get in ahead, but had given them margin enough for what breakfast they had and a good rest, while the jaded Federals were expending what little energy they had left in more marching and fighting. They had even found their breast works ready made for them. The shooting, however, of the defendants was not as good as might have been expected under the circumstances. The best shots had been carefully picked out for the battalions of sharpshooters attached to Kershaw's division. The sharpshooters had done extra work all night in flanking the exposed left of Anderson's column, and were late in reaching the battle-ground. Still, it must be admitted that the shooting, although not ideal, was good enough practically, and the other side have no right to complain. Had those sharpshooters been present, it is probable that this particular narrative would not have appeared. (Kershaw's Chief of Staff, Col. E. L. Costin.)
There was, of course, no skirmish line in advance of the assaulting columns, as has been erroneously stated. (Humphrey's Va. Campaign, 60, an incorrect account from a very high authority.) The men had not been required to remove caps from the nipples of their pieces, no caution against firing had been given.
Naturally enough, the front rank was goaded into a return fire; individual progress was as naturally retarded by the act of aiming and reloading; men from the rear pressed impatiently forward to repeat the process. In this way, ranks and regiments soon be- came intermingled, straggling was made easy, the time of exposure was fatally prolong- ed. The Seventh, which was in the rear when the movement commenced, soon found itself working up to the front, but in a rather mixed condition. The rattle and crash were such that no commands could be heard, and this mischievous return fire, which was helping that of the enemy to destroy the impetus and solidity of the charge, could not be stopped.
Fall of Commanders.
At the distance of about fifty yards from the works General Robinson was shot from his horse and borne from the field, with the loss of a leg. Many years after, in 1895, he received a "medal of honor" from the War Department for conspicuous gallantry on this occasion.
Colonel Denison, commanding the Maryland brigade, was about the same time shot from his horse, and assisted to the rear with the loss of his right arm. He was
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brevetted Brigadier for this action, was again wounded later in the campaign, and brevetted Major-General.
A Forlorn Hope.
Upon the fall of these two ranking officers, the command of the division, or what there was of it in sight (the two left brigades having been repulsed or mingled with the Maryland brigade ), was promptly assumed by the Colonel of the Seventh Maryland. The situation, at that moment, was very plainly that of a forlorn hope, calling for nothing but quick and reckless work. What remained of the movement was no longer a column, but a bunched and ragged line. At points where the enemy's fire was most concentrated, the drone of bullets blended into a throbbing wail, like that of a sonorous telegraph wire pulsing in a strong wind, punctuated by the pert zip of the closer shots. The din and racket were such that but few could have heard the commands: "Hold your fire ! Dou- ble quick !" What was plainly seen in front, was the sudden appearance of the new commander, pointing with sabre to the breastworks, and trotting up towards them, until horse and rider came down. Following closely, was Captain Anderson, of the Seventh, and when he fell, or possibly before he fell, all was over.
The unordered retreat left these two officers lying within ten paces of the works, Anderson having stopped three bullets while taking a step forward, just after an unsuc- cessful attempt to extricate Phelps from the weight of his dying horse. Anderson was well in the lead of everything when he fell, and for his conspicuous gallantry on this occasion, and in the Wilderness, was subsequently brevetted up to lieutenant-colonel. He commanded one of the Washington County companies (Co. I).
Capture and Rescue.
After two hopeless attempts at escape, in one of which he was severely wounded and in the other waylaid and robbed by stragglers, Phelps was taken back to a Con- federate field hospital, where he had not only proper but exceptional treatment, and the next day was recaptured, together with over three hundred Union prisoners, by Sheridan's cavalry at Beaver Dam Station. He was present at the battle of Yellow Tavern where General Stuart was mortally wounded, and at the battles of Meadow Bridge and Mechanicsville, where the enemy, commanded by Bragg and under the eye of the Southern President, Jeff. Davis, made a desperate fight for the defense of Rich- mond. Returning to Baltimore by the James River route, he was honorably discharged in September, 1864, upon resignation and surgeon's certificate of disability, brevetted Brigadier-General, and elected to Congress. Among the prisoners recaptured as above were Lieutenant Lightner of Company F (Carroll County) and Sergeant Walton of Com- pany K (Baltimore City).
Losses.
The loss of the Maryland brigade in this action was one hundred and ninety-two killed, wounded and missing. Its present effective was about one thousand and fifty; but of this number, the Fourth Maryland, as before stated, made the charge with another brigade, and company D of the Seventh was detached in support of a battery. The actual charge was made by about seven hundred men.
The loss of the Seventh was ten killed, two officers and thirty-seven men wounded, and six prisoners. Among the killed was the brave color sergeant, George Stockham,
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of Harford County, and two color corporals, Solomon Rohrer of Co. I, and S. M. Dick of Co. H. Two color corporals were wounded, but the colors were saved.
From first to last, the enemy's fire appeared to be mainly concentrated upon the mounted officers and color bearers; of these, not one escaped.
Assault Renewed.
Griffin's division came up shortly after Robinson's, and went in on his right. Their attack was repulsed with even greater loss. One regiment in particular, the gallant Eighty-third Pennsylvania, which had several men bayonetted inside the works, actually lost fifty-seven in killed and mortally wounded alone.
Crawford's division, coming up after Griffin, had, at first, more success on the left, driving the enemy (Humphrey's brigade) for some distance and taking many prisoners.
It was this temporary success which encouraged Colonel Phelps, at that time wounded and under guard to the rear, to make the last of those attempts at escape, before mentioned. But Humphrey, being reinforced by Ramseur, regained the lost ground and drove back the Pennsylvania Reserves (Crawford's division) to the main line, which was speedily entrenched.
Practical Suggestions.
Such was the first assault upon the enemy's works at Spotsylvania, 8th of May, 1864, sometimes called the battle of Laurel Hill. It was the first of a long series, almost uniformly with similar result, well illustrating the cardinal maxim of war, "Never do exactly what your enemy wants."
It is questionable whether, with the modern improved fire-arms, any such assault will be ever again attempted. If it should be, the following principles of common sense are suggested by the practical experience above mentioned :
1. The supreme effort should not be exacted of men in bad physical condition, when such condition is one of extremity.
2. The works should be breached in places by artillery before the infantry attack.
3. No dismounting of individual officers should be allowed, unless in the discre- tion of the general it is proper for all to dismount, which will probably be the case hereafter.
4. The men should be told beforehand exactly what is expected of them, and how many minutes they will be exposed, provided they keep moving and hold their fire. They should be especially cautioned that the delay of aiming and firing only increases the risk, and should be encouraged to hope that great celerity of movement, the exhibi- tion of bayonets fixed, and a bold front, may demoralize the enemy, cause him to shoot high, and in all ways diminish their own risk.
5. The standing order against quitting the ranks to help wounded off the field should, in all such cases, be strictly and literally enforced by a provost guard conspicuously present, supplemented by an ambulance corps known to be at hand, and known to be adequate.
6. If such conditions cannot be had, any officer who orders an attack in front, upon steady troops behind cover, should be held strictly responsible for the resulting disaster, and should not be allowed to throw the blame upon his men.
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7. The movement, if undertaken, should be personally and closely watched by the general who ordered it, and his staff, and praiseworthy efforts of individuals should be noticed and suitably acknowledged.
8. Any color sergeant who does his duty and survives should be made a com- missioned officer at once. In fact, such should be the understood rule as to every engagement where the casualties amount to ten per cent. or over.
Subsequent History.
The several actions which have thus been partially and imperfectly described, from the fifth to the eighth of May, 1864, inclusive, were typical of the whole Virginia cam- paign of 1864 and 1865, during which the Seventh Maryland shared the fortunes and losses of the Maryland brigade-a story already sufficiently told by Camper and Kirkley, in their "Historical Record of the First Maryland Veteran Infantry."
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