USA > Maine > A brief history of Maine > Part 20
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From the long prevalence of peace the militia of Maine was in a disorganized condition. There was an enrolled but unarmed militia of sixty thousand
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men, but not more than twelve hundred of these were in a condition to respond to calls for ordinary duty within the State; yet within two weeks of the President's call, the First Maine Regiment of infan- try was organized, and before a month had passed the Second Regiment had left for Washington, armed and equipped so well that it was expressly com- mended by the Secretary of War.
5. After sending forward the first six regiments Governor Washburn discontinued enlistments, having received notice that the government at Washington would not accept additional troops from Maine. All other organized companies were now required to dis- band, or, at their option, be placed upon such a foot- ing as to drill and compensation as would in a degree relieve them, vet secure their services when required. But after Brigadier-General Sherman visited the State and concerted measures with Governor Wash- burn in regard to his naval expedition, it was made certain that additional regiments would be required. and the work of organizing recommenced with vigor ; four other regiments were speedily filled. the last being mustered into the United States service ou the 4th of October, 1861. At the close of this year there had been fourteen regiments mustered into the national service, and twelve of them had gone for- ward to the seat of war, while several companies of Home Guards were placed as garrisons in forts on the Maine coast. Fort McClary, at Kittery, was garri- soned on the 30th of April; Fort Scammel, in Port- land Harbor, on July 22d; and Fort Sullivan, at Eastport, on the 4th of December.
6. The act of the Legislature had caused the First and Second regiments to be enlisted for two years unless sooner discharged ; the former being mustered into the United States service for three months, the latter for two years. The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth regiments were also thus enlisted; but later
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orders from the War Department required all State volunteers to be mustered into the national service for three years, making a change necessary in the terms of enlistment. The First and Second regi- ments had already left for the seat of war, but all others who refused to sign a contract to serve an additional year were discharged.
7. On the 21st of July, 1861, twelve Maine regi- ments were in the field; two being stationed for the defense of Washington, while several were that day engaged with the enemy in the battle of Bull Run. The Second Regiment. after a long march in the early morning, rested on the Warrenton turnpike. About ten o'clock they were ordered to the front, and marched three miles under a burning sun at double- quick, many falling out of the ranks exhausted. As they came up where Sherman's battery was engag- ing the rebels, the men threw aside their coats and packs, and again advanced at double-quick through the woods, over streams and ditches. until they came upon a rebel battery. Twice they charged almost to the muzzles of the guns, and twice they were driven back. Several officers fell in these assaults. Color- Sergeant Deane was mortally wounded while carry- ing the flag presented to the regiment on the pre- vious day. He beckoned to the chaplain, who knelt and put his ear close to the mouth of the dying soldier. " Is it safe ?" whispered the hero. " What ?" asked the chaplain. " The flag. " Being assured of its safety, he nodded his head, smiled, and closed his eyes. He never spoke again.
8. The flag, stained with his blood, had been seized, as he fell, by Corporal Moore, and, he, too, was almost instantly shot dead : and the flag was left on the ground, which the rebels immediately occupied. When its loss was noticed by the regiment. all shouted. " We must have that flag!" and up the hill they went, Colonel Jameson leading. The enemy
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almost had it in their grasp, when our men rushed upon them, and the sacred emblem was recovered unpolluted by touch of rebel hands. The regiment continued the conflict with great bravery and effect. Other portions of our force had done as well. The rebels were driven back at almost every point, and at two o'clock victory appeared to perch upon our banners.
9. Soon after this hour a dust cloud appeared over the trees at the west. It came nearer and nearer. That cloud marked the approach of a body of troops, who, at first, were thought to be of the Union army, and were permitted to take a flanking position within musket shot of Rickett's and Griffin's batteries. They proved to be 1.700 men of rebel General John- ston's division, from Winchester. Their first volley caused great slaughter. and the batteries were aban- doned by the few men who had not fallen.
10. Colonel Howard's brigade, consisting of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Maine regiments and the See- ond Vermont, had rested barely fifteen minutes, after a long and hurried march, when they were ordered to advance upon the enemy. But the batteries they were to support were already retreating, and a rebel battery and a large body of infantry in protected positions opened upon them with deadly effect. They were forced to retire to the protection of a wood, but formed again and returned to the conflict. The panic from the flying men and horses of the beaten batteries now extended far and wide. En- tirely unsupported, this brigade also was forced to join in the retreat, which at four o'clock had become a rout. Though the army of McDowell numbered about 40,000 men, nearly one-fourth of the troops actually engaged in this battle were from Maine.
11. This disaster to our forces led Governor Wash- burn to issue another order directing the enlistment of additional regiments as volunteers. In this docu-
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ment he said : "While observing with most grateful pride and admiration the brave conduct of our regi- ments in the field, the Governor and Commander-in- Chief calls upon the loyal sons of the State to emulate the patriotic zeal and courage of their brothers who have gone before them. The issue involved is one on which there can be no divided opinion in Maine. It affects not only the integrity of our Union, but the very life of Republican government. For the pres- ervation of these, Maine will pour out her best blood, and expend her richest treasure. Having already contributed generously of the flower of her youth and manhood, Maine must send yet more of her stalwart sons, to do battle for the preservation of the Union, and for the supremacy of law. "
12. The Government found that more troops were necessary for the suppression of the rebellion; and as other States were still rapidly forming new mili- tary organizations, authority was given Maine by the War Department to organize five more regiments of infantry (with power to increase the number to eight ) a regiment of cavalry, six batteries of light artillery, and a company of rifle sharp-shooters. These were promptly raised, together with four additional con- panies of coast guards.
13. In the meantime the regiments already sent forward were having experience of the vicissitudes of war. Sometimes it was but the easy service of guarding a road, military stores, or public property ; oftener it was the long march through deep mud, or in heat and dust; or it was exposure for hours to rain, or snow and sleet; again it was hunger not wholly satisfied for days; then it was severe toil upon intrenchments with spade and pick ; or, again, it was hurried marching to battle, miles away. Here were the rattle of musketry, the screaming of shells, the mowing of the ranks by grape and canister, or the fearful charge of the glittering bayonets,
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and the trampling of horses and the swift stroke of sabres in the terrible cavalry charge.
14. In February, 1862, Fort Henry, on the Tennessee river, had been taken from the rebels by Commodore Foote ; Roanoke Island, by General Burnside; while the battle of Millsprings had cleared Kentucky of the rebels. General Grant had taken Fort Donleson, on the Cumberland : in March. General Pope and Commodore Foote had captured Island Number Ten, near the mouth of the Ohio; in April, the rebels had suf- fered a defeat at Pittsburg Landing, by General Grant; while General Gilmore had taken Fost Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah; and Com- modore Farragut, with General Porter, had taken forts Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the en- trance of the Mississippi river.
15. After Bull Run the army of the Potomac was distrustful, and many months passed before any general advance was made. This battle had shown the liability of new troops to panic, and made the necessity of discipline apparent. The remainder of the summer and the autumn and winter were chietiy spent by our forces in the East in drill, strategic movements and many intrenchments, instead of persistent fighting. The first important conflict after Bull Run in which the Maine regiments of the army of the Potomac were engaged was at Williamsburgh, immediately following the seige of Yorktown. Atthe latter place the Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth reg- iments distinguished themselves in reconnoissances and skirmishes, and made themselves exceedingly useful in less exciting labors ; so that they were men- tioned as "those marvellous New England soldiers who built batteries by night and in the rain with the same energy and skill with which they repair locomotives, construct railroad bridges, run grist- mills and reconstruct abandoned saw-mills. "
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16. The retreat of the confederated rebels from Yorktown took place on the 3d of May. Our forces promptly pursued ; and on the 5th was fought the battle of Williamsburgh, on the way to the rebel capital. During the battle the confederates were suddenly reinforced by a large body of troops, and our lines were in consequence slowly forced back. General Hancock, who commanded the left wing, ordered his first line to fall back to the second --- about half a mile. Here they re-formed, the new line including the Fifth and Sixth regiments of Maine infantry.
17. The enemy came rapidly on, confident of vic- tory. They ponred a terrible fire upon our center, but the men never wavered, giving volley for volley with much effect. The Third and Fourth Maine regi- ments were stationed on the plain at the left of the battlefield, to prevent the enemy from moving upon our flank. The Eleventh Maine was with General Casey's brigade, three miles away. At about half past three o'clock Casey was ordered up to support General Hancock. The brigade moved at double- quick, through mud to the ankles, arriving in view of the battle field in less than an hour.
18. The Seventh Maine in the earlier part of the day were on the left flauk of the second line, but had been ordered, with three companies of a New York regiment, to move behind the hill. Here they remained for several hours, impatiently listening to the varying sounds of the battle. As the advance of Casey's brigade appeared in the distance, the Seventh were ordered to charge. They dashed up over the hill, shouting from their long restrained excitement. General Hancock cheering them on. The enemy heard the shout, and saw the long line of sabre bay- onets coming over the hill, and, without firing an- other gun, they broke and fled. Our whole live pursued, capturing about five hundred prisoners,
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including the wounded. Darkness ended the hos- tilities, and our men bivouacked on the field. All that night the cries of the wounded confederates were ringing in their ears, and they cared for them as they would for their own ; many giving up their blankets to them, and sitting in the rain themselves until morning.
19. As the result of this victory, Norfolk on the farther side of the James River, the great navy-yard of the nation, was evacuated by the rebels, and the ram " Merrimac, " which had commanded the river, was blown up to avoid her falling into Union hands.
In the West there had been an almost continuous series of victories. The Confederate cause had gone under a cloud.
What marked the antagonism of a free and a slave system of civilization in America ? How had Maine suffered from the slave power ? How soon after the President's call for troops was the first regiment organized in Maine ? What regiment was the first to leave for the seat of war? At the class of 1861 how many Maine regiments had been mustered into the national service ? At what date did the battle of Bull Run ocr ur ? What was done in Maine as a result of this battle ? What was the next important battle in which Maine troops were engaged ? Was a greater degree of heroism shown at Williamsburgh than at Bull Run by Maine troops ?
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CHAPTER XXXV.
1. SEVERAL of the later battles of the rebellion, if not more decisive than that of Williamsburg, were of so much greater importance from the numbers en- gaged, that this contest appears asmall affair in com- parison. There were also a great number of smaller combats unnamed as battles, in which as much valor was shown as in the more celebrated conflicts. In most of the latter the troops of Maine were so mingled with those of other States, and their activi- ties were so complicated and extensive that to intel- ligibly describe them would require a large volume ; so that their many heroic performances can rarely be mentioned except in a general manner.
2. A succession of victories during the last part of 1861 and the earlier months of the following year, in both East and West, led the Northern people to believe that the Confederacy would soon collapse. On the first of January, 1862, the national govern- ment relieved the authorities of Maine from all participation in the recruiting service; and on April &d, the Adjutant-General of the United States ordered the volunteer recruiting service to cease. All enlistments were in consequence suspended ; but on May 21st, authority was given for raising the Six- teenth regiment of infantry for three years service. This was after " Stonewall " Jackson's victory over the Union army under General Milroy in Western Virgina. No further call for recruits was intimated.
3. Then came the rout of the army under General Banks, and the escape of Jackson's army from those of Generals Fremont and Shields, followed by the defeat of the latter by the wonderful commander
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whom he was pursuing. Scarcely four weeks later came the withdrawal of General Mcclellan's army from the Peninsula, after six days of terrible fighting before Richmond. From these occurrences it became apparent that the war was far from ending, and that the armies must be greatly increased. Within a few weeks a requisition was made upon Maine for her quota under the call of July 2d, 1862. The Six- teenth Regiment was ready; and this, with the Seventeenth. Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth, together with numerous recruits furnished by cities, towns and plantations, were accepted in satisfaction of the requisition. Volunteering was prompt, and these regiments were filled very quickly; but before their organization was completed, the President, on the 4th of August, called for three hundred thousand militia, to be raised by draft, and to serve for nine months. unless sooner discharged.
4. Our loss of men in these battles, and by sickness, had been great. and the necessity of more troops for the Eastern battle-ground became more and more apparent. Indeed, it was said that had Mcclellan been reinforced on the Peninsula by twenty thou- sand men, he would at once have brought the war to a close; but the government could not furnish them. The quota of our State under the call of August 4th, was 9,609. From this, some reduc- tion was made because of the large number of en- rolled militia in the merchant marine and the navy. The privilege was also given of supplying with volunteers, instead of drafted men, the whole or any portion of the quota. On the 9th of August, the War Department issued, in General Orders, regula- tions for the enrolment and draft of men under this requisition. These directed the selection of rendezvous for the troops, commandants for the encampments, and the enrolment of all able-bodied American citizens between the ages of eighteen and
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forty-five years; it also directed, provisionally, the appointment of a commissioner from each county to superintend the drafting, and to hear and determine the excuses of persons claiming exemption from military duty. But the statutes of our State were deemed sufficient for the emergency, and no commis- sioners were at this time appointed in Maine.
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5. The draft was first ordered to be made on the third day of September, then was postponed to the tenth, when preceedings directed by the Orders were commenced in those towns which, at this date, were found to be deficient in their quotas. Thus stimu- lated, the towns and cities made a further effort to make up their deficit with volunteers. The places of rendezvous for the troops were Portland, Augusta and Bangor. At the close of October it was found that a few towns had not yet furnished the balance of their quotas upon the calls of July and August, and a commissioner was appointed for each county, to make a draft on the 29th of November in such towns as by that time should not have enlisted the required number. These officers, instead of at once preparing for a draft, gave their efforts to facilitate enlistments in the delinquent towns, and with such success that in no instance did they resort to the measure which they were appointed to enforce ; and new regiments were still formed and old ones re- cruited without the aid of a draft.
6. Many towns even exceeded their quota, to the relief of other parts of the State. The city of Saco sent no less than twenty-five men in excess of her quota under both calls, while the town of Machias, having furnished its full quota with promptness, ex- pressed a determination to respond in like manner to all future calls .. A great aid in procuring enlist- ments was found in the town and State bounties, and in the assurance of State aid to such families as were
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left without support by the absence of husband, father, or son, in the service of the country.
Meanwhile the conflict raged completely around the Confederacy. After the defeat of Mcclellan's army in the several battles along the line of the Chickahominy, the rebels prepared for an invasion of Maryland. They worsted General Pope's army at Cedar Mountain, in the battle of Manassas, or Second Bull Run, and at Chantilly ; then they crossed the Potomac, near Harper's Ferry, into Maryland.
7. Here, on September 17th, they were met by the consolidated armies of McClellan and Pope, which. advancing from Washington, met the enemy at An- tietam Creek. In this battle the Second Maine In- fantry was the first regiment under fire; the Fifth was under fire for thirty hours with unabated courage: while the Seventh, by some blunder, was ordered to charge alone a rebel reserve of infantry and a battery well-posted on a hill three-fourths of a mile away. But obedience is the soldier's first duty; and their brave colonel, Hyde, led them on,-crossing, of ne- cessity, an open plain exposed to the artillery of both friend and foe. The rebels were driven back until they found shelter behind a stone wall. The heroic band then retired by a circuitous route to their brigade line, having lost eleven out of fifteen officers, and more than half the privates which the regiment could then muster. Others of our regiments per- formed well their part in this battle,-which turned the rebel army back from loyal soil.
8. After his victory at Antietam, MeClellan's army made no forward movement until late in October. when it began to cross the Potomac to operate against the rebel forces along the Rappahannock. Distrust of his abilities, or of his patriotism. bal President Lincoln to remove General MeClellan from
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his command ; which was then given to Burnside. The army of General Lee was strongly posted at Fred- ericksburg; but, urged on toward Richmond by the popular demand, General Burnside decided to cross the Rappahannock and attack the enemy in his posi- tion. The roar of four hundred cannon ushered in the dreadful conflict, in which a dozen Maine regi- ments and batteries took an active part. On the 12th of December, the Union forces crossed the river to make their grand assault upon the Confed- erate lines. Burnside had nearly 100,000 men, and Lee opposed him with 80,000; but the latter were so strongly intrenched on the crests of the hills, that after a long day, full of determined assaults upon the enemy's lines, the Union forces were repulsed with such heavy loss that they soon withdrew to their former position across the river.
The country was shocked to learn that this battle had cost us 13,000 men. The Sixteenth Maine alone lost two hundred and twenty-six killed and wounded, -nearly half of those who went into the action. "Whatever honor we can claim in that conflict," said Burnside, "was won by Maine men."
9. President Lincoln was greatly distressed by this disaster, but it did not deter him from fulfilling a religious vow which he made just before the battle of Antietam. that if the rebels were driven back from Maryland he would free the slaves. Accord- ingly, on January 1st, 1863, he issued a proclamation emancipating every slave within the national do- main. Thus, at last, the chief magistrate of the nation, by virtue of his war-power, brought him by the slaveholders themselves in making war, struck the blow which destroyed the principal cause of the rebellion.
The effect of this act on the Confederacy was to weaken its armies ; since the negroes, wherever the new's came, were not to be depended upon for agricul-
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tural purposes, while there was increased fear of their insurrection. On the other hand, the Union forces were, in the course of a few months, strengthened by several regiments of the freedmen,-the aggre- gate number in Union service finally reaching up- wards of 80.000. Yet these results were not at once realized, and there was an urgent need of more troops. Accordingly, on the 3d of March, Congress passed the Conscription Act; and thereafter the general government enforced the drafts under this law.
10. Our forces in the West and upon the southern coast had met with both successes and reverses. The army of the Potomac remained at Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg ; the deep mud making army move- ment so difficult that little was attempted, until General Burnside was superseded by General Hooker. Having re-organized the army to his mind, and re- ceived accessions until he had 150,000 men under his command, Hooker moved against Lee, whose army was still about Fredericksburg. The forces met at Chancellorsville, a few miles north of Lee's position and on the southeastern border of the ten miles square, or more, of rough and barren country known as the Wilderness. It was in the battle fought here that our gallant General Berry fell, while stemming the tide of "Stonewall " Jackson's corps. It was here, too, that the latter received his death wound. The number of Maine troops under fire was about the same as at Fredericksburg, and the loss was almost equal. With every reason to expect an ef- fective victory, Hooker's army had suffered a very damaging defeat ; and, under cover of a storm on the night of the 3d of May, he withdrew, his whole force to its old position on the other side of the Rappa- hannock.
11. During these years of the war the Confeder- ates had made increasing efforts to acquire a navy,
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and already several powerful vessels under the rebel flag were preying upon our commerce. In the spring of 1863 some attacks had been made upon vessels off the Maine coast by rebel privateers. Among these was the Tacony, a small bark commanded by a Lieu- tenant Reade. On the 24th of June, 1863, he cap- tured a fishing schooner ; and transferring to her his crew and effects, he burned the Tacony. In the disguise of a fisherman, the rebels, on the 26th, en- tered Portland Harbor. In the following night they succeeded in capturing the United States revenue cutter, Caleb Cushing, an armed vessel, while she lay unsuspectingly at anchor. Early the next morning the cutter was missed; and, after some inquiry, the method of her disappearance became known. The collector of the port, Jedediah Jewett, together with Captain Jacob Mclellan, Mayor of the city of Port- land, at once prepared for pursuit. Thirty men from the garrison at Fort Preble were placed on board the steamer Forest City, with such officers, guns and ammunition as could be quickly procured. Mean- while the New York steamer Chesapeake, another small steamer and a tug boat were pressed into ser- vice, and manned with experienced pilots, gunners and naval officers, and about one hundred volunteer
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