USA > Maine > Eastern Maine and the rebellion: being an account of the principal local events in eastern Maine during the war.. > Part 26
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After the war, Gen. Hamlin resumed the practice of law, locat- ing at New Orleans. At this time, his system was thoroughly impregnated with malaria, and this was the cause of his early death.
. There was a bright future before him. It was the intention to make him the Governor of Louisiana, which position was, after the death of Gen. Hamlin, given to Governor Warmouth. Mod- est as this record may appear, few officers in the service have earned a better reputation, or were more universally respected.
BRIG. GEN. CHARLES D. JAMESON,
Was, as Adjutant General Hodsdon says, "one of the best speci- mens of the chivalrous gentleman, soldier and patriot, which his native State has sacrificed to the Union during the war." As has been mentioned, Gen. Jameson left the State as Colonel of the Second Maine, and his military career, so long as he remained with that organization, is given elsewhere. At the first battle of Bull Run, he won his star as Brigadier. When he was commis- sioned, he was placed in command of choice regiments from New York and Pennsylvania, and the autumn of 1861 found them en- camped on the farm of Hon. George Mason, a bitter rebel. This farm was on a slight eminence overlooking the Potomac, and about one and one-half miles from Alexandria. The camp was known as "Camp Jameson," and here the General endeared him- self to his men. The history of the celebrated "Wild Cat," or One Hundred Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, says:
"The General was a great favorite with the men. Himself a lumberman from the forests of Maine, he could appreciate the hardy, stalwart sons of the forest, who, in a great measure, com- -
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posed the material of which the 'Wild Cat' regiment was made up."
With these men, Jameson fought at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and in other fields of battle. He was the first to enter Yorktown, and one of the first to enter Williamsburg. At the battle of Fair Oaks, it is believed that Jameson carried the stars and stripes, and by its side the Pine Tree banner of Maine. nearer Richmond than any other, either before or for a long time after .. Capt. Craig, of the "Wild Cats," writing home soon after this, said:
"General Jameson is very sick, and looks very badly. I am afraid we may lose him; and if we should be so unfortunate as to do so, I fear we will hardly get his equal soon again. He is one of the best men I ever knew-as brave as a lion, and still as tender hearted as a child; as, for instance : On the day of the battle, (Fair Oaks), after fighting like a tiger through that terrible after- noon, and passing through that storm of leaden hail, as if he never knew of danger, when night came, and all our troops were called from the field, (or rather what were left), he came to me and told me what disposition to make of my company through the night, and asked me what I thought our loss would be. I told him I could not tell. He studied a little, and then looked up to me and said, 'Great God! my whole brigade is cut to pieces,' and then sat down on a log and cried like a child."
Alas ! the fear expressed in the above, was only too well grounded, as soon after, General Jameson was obliged to re- turn to his home in Stillwater, Maine. Some idea of the high regard entertained for him by his brother officers, and of their efforts to assist him in every way, can be gained by a perusal of the following order, the Capt. Smith mentioned, being Gen. Jos. S. Smith, of Bangor.
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" HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC," JUNE 13th, 1862.
GENERAL :
. Under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Command- ing General desires that you will grant a leave of absence, for seven days. to Capt. Jos. S. Smith, Commissary of Subsistence, at General Sedgwick's headquarters, to enable him to accompany to the North, General Jameson, now very low at the White, House.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. WILLIAMS, A. A. G.
To Brigadier General E. V. SUMNER,
Commanding Second Corps.
General Jameson intended to return again to the field; but it was not so ordered by Providence, and he sank gradually, until on the 6th of November, 1862, he died.
It sums up this narrative that Jameson was one of the first to volunteer, was the first Colonel from Maine in the field; that he was first at Yorktown, and among the first and foremost toward Richmond; one of the first in gallantry; one of the first in the love and admiration of his men. Alas! that he should be the first General of Maine to die. At thirty-five years of age, it was hard for the country to lose such a gallant spirit, but the State has gained the memory of a hero.
The Washington Republican speaks as follows of the qualities which distinguished our gallant General :
"Intrepid, enterprising, but withal judicious, Gen. Jameson had before him the prospects of a most brilliant military career. He was one of the fighting Generals.
As he, with others of the salvoed chiefs of fearless men, who lately have left us-when we could have better spared others of
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another mould than theirs-as he, and Kearney and Stevens, shall reach the shores of that dark river, made mournful by Cer- berus' ceaseless howl, the waiting hosts of the bravest dead of all the past, will recognize their beaming blades, nor will they seek to dispute them place amid their front and foremost rank."
The funeral of the lamented Jameson took place at Upper Still- water, November 9th, and was conducted by Bishop Burgess. A cold rain fell that day, but the attendance was large, and there were many others, yes, the State felt that she was putting away, to his last resting place, one of the bravest and best of her sons.
The remains were laid away in the village church-yard, at Upper Stillwater, where rests father, mother, and relatives.
LIEUT. COL. WINSLOW P. SPOFFORD,
Was a native of Georgetown, Massachusetts, where he resided until the year 1839, when, at the age of twenty-three years, he removed to Dedham, this State, residing there until the com- mencement of the Rebellion. Although at this time he held several offices of trust, and was, by age, exempt from mili- tary service, he felt it his duty to enter the service of his country, in her hour of peril. Early in the summer of 1861, he assist- ed to recruit a company, for the Eighth Maine Regiment, and in the autumn of the same year, recruited a company for the Eleventh Regiment, of which he received a commission as Cap- tain. He was in the whole of the Peninsula campaign, and was highly complimented, by his superior officers, for his fidelity and bravery. In the fall of 1862, he was commissioned Major, and in November, 1803, was further promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and as such, had command of the regiment for nearly a year previous to his death.
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In a severe engagement at Bermuda Hundred, June 2d, Col. Spofford was wounded while on the picket line, and later was taken to Fortress Monroe, where he died June 17th, 1864. His brother officers always speak of him in the highest terms, and Gen. Plaisted says :
" Col. Spofford won his promotions by the zeal and faithfulness with which he performed every duty. Ile entered the service of his country from the highest motives, ready and willing to · give his life, if need be, for his country's cause. We lost a brave and faithful soldier, and a Christian patriot in his death."
MAJOR JOEL A. HAYCOCK. -
This gallant officer was born in Calais, Jan. 11th, 1836, and was the first man to enlist in the first company of volunteers raised in his native city. Honest, patriotic and brave, burning with all the untamed ardor of early manhood, he was peculiarly fitted to ren- der acceptable service to his country, in the terrible conflict for which she was buckling on her armor. When he enlisted, he left a lucrative employment, but his was too impulsive and generous a temperament to weigh pecuniary advantages against duty and patriotism.
On the organization of his company, he was chosen Captain, his command rendezvoused at Eastport, and afterwards at Portland, where it was assigned to the Sixth Regiment, as Company D, with which he proceeded to Washington, where they arrived on the 19th of July. Being too late to march into Virginia, and partici- pate in the battle of Bull Run, they were stationed at Chain Bridge, to hold that important approach to the National Capitol in case of disaster. Here the regiment remained until the 1st of September, the interim being devoted to drill 'and discipline.
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About this time, the second general movement of troops into Vir- ginia commenced, under Mcclellan. Probably no officer in the army more earnestly hoped for an active campaign against the enemy than Capt. Haycock. Instead, however, of an advance, the fall was occupied in lining the south bank of the Potomac with fortifications, in grand reviews and in cautiously advancing from two to eight miles into Virginia. Nothing more was done until the army was set in motion early in the spring of 1862, by the famous War orders, of President Lincoln himself.
The Peninsula Campaign which followed. unfortunate and dis- astrous though it was. was still a glorious struggle for success, by the rank and file of the army, and was far more consonant with Capt. Haycock's patriotic ardor. The Captain fought in command of his company at Lee's Mills; he skirmished and labored through- out the Siege of Yorktown; he participated in the brilliant and remarkable success of the regiment at Williamsburg ; he marched with the command in the advance upon Richmond, and bore a conspicuous part in the ceaseless activity and exhaustive labor in front of the rebel capitol. He was foremost in the fight at Gar- nett's Farm, and his intrepidity was notable at Savage Station and White Oak Swamp during the Seven Days' battles, and when the army arrived at Harrison's Landing, he was specially com- mended by his commander in official reports, for gallantry in the above named battles.
When the Army of the Potomac was withdrawn from the Peninsula, he marched with his regiment to succor Pope's hard pressed forces, at the second battle of Bull Run. They arrived a few hours too late to take part in that desperate struggle. When the rebel hordes invaded Maryland, Capt. H. fought at the battles of Sugar Loaf Mountain, Crampton's Pass and Antietam. When the Army of the Potomac again marched in-
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to Virginia, Capt. Haycock fought with his men at Fredericks- burg. This closed the active operations for 1862. His faith- ful services were rewarded, by his promotion as Major of his regiment, in March 1862, much to the satisfaction of his men. When the campaign was resumed in Virginia, in 1863, Gen. Hooker fought the battle of Chancellorsville with the greater part of his forces. The Sixth Corps was assigned to the duty of seizing the rebel position, in front of Fredericksburg. Their path lay right across the "Slaughter Pen," where Burnside's forces had been repulsed in December. Foremost among his comrades, Major Haycock rushed forward, to the terrible en- counter, and half way across the "Slaughter Pen " he fell, pierced by a minnie ball, and expired almost instantly, thus sealing his devotion to his country's cause, by his heart's blood. The fierce, wild charge of his regiment swept away the opposing enemy, as chaff is swept before the wind, and their colors were planted in triumph upon the ramparts. But even in the first flush of victory, Col. Burnham, the commander of the regiment wept as a child, when he beheld the prostrate and lifeless form of this valiant and true hearted warrior. They buried him where he had fallen, half way up the green slope, which had drank so deeply of the Nation's best blood. He fills a soldier's grave and one ever to be honored.
BREV. BRIG. GEN. HARRIS M. PLAISTED.
On the 23d of September, 1861, this officer received from Gov. Washburn, authority to raise a company of volunteers for the Thirteenth Regiment, but on reporting at Augusta, was assigned to the Eleventh Regiment, of which he was commission- ed Lieutenant Colonel. October 30th. He left the State Novem-
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ber 13th, for Washington, where he was placed in charge of a school of instruction for commissioned officers. On the 28th of March following, he entered upon active campaigning. In 1862, he was in the Peninsula campaign, under Mcclellan; in 1863, in the siege of Charleston, under Gilmore; and in 1864 and '65, in the great campaign against Richmond, under Grant.
Lieut. Col. Plaisted was in the siege of Yorktown, and also in the battle of Williamsburg, in which he won deserved renown, being the first, on May 4th, 1862, to raise our flag over the rebel fortifications, at Lee's Mills. On the 12th of May, he was commissioned Colonel, and on the 22d, was mustered as such, to take rank from April 28th, the date of the vacancy. On the 20th of the same month, he drove the enemy from the railroad bridge, over the Chickahominy, and saved the bridge from destruction, after it had been fired by the enemy. On the 24th and two following days, Col. Plaisted led the advance from this point towards Richmond, and succeeded on the 26th, in establishing our outposts within four and a half miles of that city. On the 28th, 29th and 30th, he built a lumberman's bridge across the Chickahominy, thus connecting the two wings of the Army of the Potomac.
On May 31st, Col. Plaisted was in the hottest of the battle of Fair Oaks, unfortunately losing more than half of the men, and two-thirds of the officers under him. On the second day of that desperate battle, he was placed in command of the brig. ade, all the other Colonels of the brigade, and Gen. Naglee having been put hors de combat, on the previous day. On the 14th and 15th days of June, he held the Bottom's bridges against Stuart's cavalry, in his celebrated raid around the Army of the Potomac. During the battle of Chickahominy, or Cold Har- bor, the decisive battle of the Peninsula campaign, he was placed
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in charge of the railroad bridge over the Chickahominy, with the Eleventh Maine, five companies of the Fifty-Second Pennsyl- vania, and a battery of artillery, with orders to hold the bridge at all hazards. On the appearance of the enemy, therefore, he burnt, and effectually destroyed the bridge, on the night of the 28th, and successfully resisted the passage of the enemy, until the following night, when he retreated with the rear guard across White Oak Swamp. At the same time, he had destroyed two locomotives and a train of cars, loaded with an immense quantity of ammunition.
On the 30th of June. the day following the retreat, Col. Plais- ted commanded the Eleventh. Maine and One Hundredth New York Regiments in the battle of White Oak Swamp Bridge, when he protected the Eleventh from loss by hastily constructed breast- works, although subjected to a terrific fire of artillery. At night, however, they were compelled to retreat to the James River.
July 1st, he supported the artillery in the battle of Malvern Hill. Being the only field officer with his regiment, the duties devolving upon Col. Plaisted during the Seven Days' battles were so arduous and exhaustive, that on the 2d of July he was com- pelled to go to the hospital. Hle rejoined his regiment at York- town, August 22d, but again, with health and strength most ser- iously impaired, he returned to the hospital, and on this occasion with but slight prospect of recovery. He was, however, enabled to resume the command of his regiment, November 1st. In the ·interim, while in Maine on sick leave for twenty days, he recruited upwards of three hundred men. From the 11th to the 15th in- clusive, of December, he commanded his regiment in an expedi- tion from Yorktown into the enemy's country, penetrating to within a few miles of the Rappahannock, and within hearing of the cannon at the battle of Fredericksburg. In this expedition,
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the Eleventh was distinguished for good conduct, for which reason all important prisoners were committed to its charge for safe keeping; whilst in the retreat, it was assigned to the post of honor, the rear guard. It was also complimented by Gen. Naglee in his General Orders.
In the latter part of December, the Eleventh was transferred to North Carolina, and thence to South Carolina, with the detach- ment of the Eighteenth Corps under Maj. Gen. Foster, reach- ing Hilton Head the last of January. 1868. After two months on St. Helena Island, spent in drilling, Col. Plaisted commanded the regiment in the expedition against Charleston, in April, un- der Gen. Hunter and Admiral Dupont. He was next stationed at Beaufort, S. C., until the 1st of June, when he was ordered to Fernandina, Fla., to command that post, including Fort Clinch. He also had charge of twelve hundred freedmen. Here he in- structed his regiment in Light and Heavy Artillery tactics, and in the art of fortification. After this instruction, he furnished a detachment of the Eleventh to Gen. Gilmore, to serve as artill- erists in the siege of Fort Wagner, and having charge of the Swamp Angel battery, threw the fist shot into the city of Charles- ton.
On the 1st of October, Col. Plaisted was ordered with his regiment to Morris Island, and assigned to the command of the First Brigade, Gen. Terry's Division, consisting of the Ninth and Eleventh Maine, and the Second and Fourth New Hampshire Regiments. The Eleventh was then assigned to duty at the front. as artillerists, to serve the big guns and mortars at Forts Wagner, Gregg and Chatfield. As brigade commander. he was actively engaged in the siege of Charleston until the 16th of April, 1864. In December following, he received his second leave of absence, when, in thirty days spent in Maine, he recruited fifty-
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two men, and obtained two hundred others, by authority of the War Department, from the draft rendezvous at Portland.
Upon the re-organization of the Tenth Corps, and its trans- fer to Virginia in April, Col. Plaisted was assigned to the com- mand of the Third Brigade, First Division, consisting of the Eleventh Maine, Tenth Connecticut, Twenty-Fourth Massachu- setts, and One Hundredth New York. He landed at Bermuda Hundred, on the night of May 5th, and on the 7th commanded the brigade in the battle of Green Valley or Walthall Junction, fought on our side by five picked brigades fiom the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps. This was the first attempt of the Union forces to cut the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. By a flank move- ment, Col. Plaisted placed his brigade upon the flank of the ene- my, drove him from the railroad, destroyed a trestle bridge, and tore up the track and four lines of telegraph, whilst at the same time, for two hours and a half, with a portion of his command, he was constantly engaged with the enemy.
On May 8th. Col. Plaisted was ordered by Gen. Gilmore to the command of three brigades, five batteries, and the Corrs of Engi- neers, to construct a line of intrenchments as a base for the Tenth Corps. Within two days, with two thousand men working day and night. he succeeded in the completion of the original Bermuda Hundred defences. May 18th he led the advance of the Tenth Corps, with his brigade, in a brilliant flank movement to the rear of Drury's Bluff, which resulted, after a sharp engagement. in the capture of the enemy's outer line of intrenchments around Fort Darling. On the following day, he was engaged with the enemy's second line until 11 P. M., when his brigade severely repulsed a determined assault of the rebels. On May 16th, he fought the enemy in the bloody battle of Dinry's Bluff. and in the retreat, with his brigade and the Thirty -Ninth IL., covered the rear. The
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·
loss of the brigade in this battle was 404, but it never faced the enemy but to beat him. On the 17th, he was further occupied in the affair of Richmond Pike, when two regiments of his brigade made a night attack on Beauregard's trains, with a loss of twenty- seven men killed and wounded. On the 20th, he commanded the brigade in the battle of Bermuda Hundred defences, in which the Eleventh won an enviable reputation. It lost, however, forty men and five commissioned officers, including Lieut. Col. Spofford, fatally wounded, but was the only regiment on the Union front whose line was not broken by the enemy.
On the 16th of June, Col. Plaisted commanded the brigade in the battle of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, in which the rebel intrenchments were captured and the railroad cut. Lee's army, following Grant to Petersburg, having crossed the James River on the morning of that day, the Union forces were com- pelled to fall back. Having been notified early in the day that his command would cover the retreat, Col. Plaisted had "turned" the rebel fortifications and fortified Ware Bottom Church, and finally in the retreat made a stand at the latter place, and repulsed a fierce attack of Lee's veterans. He held the position against almost constant attacks of the enemy's infantry and artillery until the 18th, when he fortified a new line under heavy artillery fire, at night burnt the church, and fell back. On the night of June 20th, Col Plaisted, with his brigade, led the advance of But- ler's descent upon the north bank of the James River, at Deep Bottom, and fortified that position.
On the 23d of July, Col. Plaisted commanded his regiment in a severe fight on Strawberry Plains, in which the Eleventh alone won an important position on the New Market Road, holding it until the following morning, when being relieved by a brigade of the Nineteenth Corps, Col. Plaisted returned with his regiment to
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Deep Bottom. At midnight of the 25th, however, with the Eleventh Maine and Tenth Connecticut Regiments, he returned to Strawberry Plains, with orders to take command of the battery and seven regiments stationed there, and recapture the position on the New Market Road. the brigade of the Nineteenth Corps having been driven out. In this he succeeded after a hard fought engage- ment of ten hours duration, the position being finally won by a gallant bayonet charge of the Eleventh Maine and a portion of the Tenth Connecticut. He held this position during the night of the 26th, and on the morning of the 27th, he participated with Han- cock's Corps and Sheridan's Cavalry. which arrived during the night, in the battle of Strawberry Plains ; the Eleventh Maine and Tenth Connecticut capturing four pieces of artillery. In these engagements. the Eleventh won a reputation for gallantry second to no other regiment in the army.
On the 14th of August, Col. Plaisted commanded the Eleventh Maine in the battle of Deep Bottom, charging in skirmish order, carrying the enemy's position with a loss of nine killed and forty wounded, among the latter of whom were the gallant Maj. Bald- win and the lamented Capt. Sabine. On the 16th, he commanded the regiment in the battle of Deep Run, and charging two lines of rebel earthworks, captured them at the point of the bayonet, with a loss of ninety-six killed and wounded, out of less than three hun- dred of the Eleventh Regiment actually engaged. Of the officers, the brave Lient. Col. Hill lost his right arm, and the noble Law- rence his life in this affair. In the charge upon the enemy's main line, the rebel General Gherrardie was killed and his body cap- tured. The regiment was again in battle at Russell's Mills on the 18th, and repulsed the enemy in its attack on the Tenth Corps. At night. Col. Plaisted was selected by Gen. Berry to command the rear guard of one thousand picked men. On the 22d, having
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returned to Deep Bottom, he was placed in command of all the Union troops at that post and Strawberry Plains. On the 26th, he was further ordered to Petersburg with his brigade, to which the First Maryland Cavalry was now attached. He commanded the brigade in the siege of Petersburg until the 28th of September, whilst at the same time he acted at Engineer Officer, in charge of the construction of field fortifications, comprising six hundred yards of infantry parapet.
In the night of September 28th, Col. Plaisted crossed the James River at Deep Bottom with the Tenth Corps, and on the 29th commanded the brigade in the battle of New Market Heights or Chapin's Farm. On October 1st, while repulsing an attack of the enemy on the position held by this brigade, Col. Plaisted was struck from his horse by a minnie ball in the breast, but saved from a severe, if not fatal wound by a memorandam book in his pocket. On the following day, he made a reconnoissance up the New Market Road to the Laurel Hill batteries, in support of Gen. Gerry's dash up the Darby Town Road. On the 7th, he command- ed the brigade in the battle of New Market Road, in which the enemy sought to turn the right flank of the Army of the James and dislodge it from its position before Richmond. In the heat of the action, Col. Plaisted moved his brigade to the extreme right flank of the army, and, receiving the brunt of the battle, repulsed the enemy with signal success and saved the flank from being turned. On the 13th of the same month, he again commanded the brigade in the obstinate fight of the Darby Town Road, which continued without one minute's cessation for ten hours. In this desperate encounter, one regiment of the brigade lost every com- pany commander and one field officer, five of them being killed on the field. Col. Plaisted covered the rear in the retreat, and in repulsing the onsets of the enemy, captured the only prisoners taken by the Union army during the day.
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