USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1890 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 35
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We fight the old battles all over again, And crack the old jokes anew ; We remember the pleasant things longest, Though the hard knocks warn't by no means few.
*Died June 24, ISS5. See p. 612 and picture p. 220, History.
المع صية
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28
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
We feed on the old army rations again,
Same's we used to years ago.
The boys are wide awake when the old pipes come out,
And I tell ye times don't go slow.
Then there's a feeling that can't be explained
When some comrade speaks softly of the dead and the maimed,
Of the widows and orphans the cruel war made-
Something you can't feel who close at home stayed.
Stirs up the old feeling ! Well, what if we do !
We had stirring times before
But it didn't seem to start you.
We do stir the old feelings,
You're just right there,
And it makes us more willing the burdens to bear.
Why keep it alive?
Well, we can't much longer ;
The tumult against it grows stronger and stronger ;
We are fast dropping off, who stood shoulder to shoulder.
And soon the last veteran under the sod will moulder.
Let uslight our old camp-fires a few times more,
Ere we leave forever this earthly shore ;
Forgive us, if at our boisterous meetings
We have done or said aught to wound your feelings ;
We shall soon lose our number in the jolly old mess,
"For, fortunately, the soldiers are growing less."
We'll soon be listed in another army, Under the great Captain up above, When again we'll meet around the camp-fire Burning brightly with brotherly love.
THE MORNING AT APPOMATTOX.
[The following letter was written for the reunion at Bar Harbor, and finds its place appropriately in this Call. It has not lost any of its interest by time. -- ED.]
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho Territory. July 18th, ISSS.
Gen. J. P. CILLEY :
My Dear Old Comrade :- Your last letter of date February 21, was received in time, but for many reasons I have omitted to reply. Now that the time of the reunion of the First Maine Cavalry is draw- ing near I must reply and contribute my little mite to the personals
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THE MORNING AT APPOMATTOX.
of that (to me) most revered of all organizations on earth. I would like so much to be with you at your next meeting and, in fact, every meeting ; but it is out of the question this time. Business with me is rushing, and we must make hay while the sun shines. The winter of life with all of the First Maine Cavalry boys (but we are all boys yet) is fast approaching. And every comrade that has a word to say had better be about it for he may not be able to tell his story at the next reunion. If there were not more than one thousand miles between us I should be there. I have one old comrade near me, Albert Small of Co. E, the head of the firm of Small & Colby, one of the largest lumber firms in this Territory. I will come down to what is to me one of the most important subjects - the last cam- paign.
I am glad indeed to receive from you light on the subject of the colored division at Appomattox Court House, but we were there also, which, by the way, is not disputed. You want to know the position of the Eleventh Maine that morning-which side of the Lynchburg road we were on. That morning we were the extreme advance infantry regiment. On the eighth, at noon, the Twenty-fourth Army Corps passed the Fifth and I think the Sixth Army Corps, and took the advance, and we were close by them. That night, when Custer's scouts brought in a captured train and issued rations, my regiment was but a few rods away and we got some of the plunder. The next morning, the ninth, we were within hearing of your guns and went immediately to your relief. R. S. Foster's division, the Second, and G. B. Dandy's brigade, Third brigade of Second divi- sion, were respectively in the advance, and the Eleventh Maine was the advance of the Third brigade, and consequently the advance infantry regiment. I am not quite sure about the road that we were on, but always thought it to be the Lynchburg road, until I saw it re- ferred to as a turnpike. We were not on a turnpike. We passed your wagon train on the road a mile or so before we came to your regiment. The teams were halted. James Rugan of Co. E was driving a team. Your firing grew sharper and we were ordered to double quick which we did for about a mile. Your regiment was on the right of the road and a few yards from it when we reached you. You were falling back slowly, and contesting every inch of ground. You were dismounted. I did not see your horses. When we reached you we moved out of the road by the right flank and Co. L passed back through my command. Ispoke to some of the boys 1
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FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
knew. We went but a short distance when we resumed our previ- ous order of march. On the appearance of fixed bayonets the rebs fell back, and in a few moments we formed line of battle and charged ; I always thought you could hear our cheers as we went out of the woods, but we might have been too far away.
I find that twenty-three years is causing us all to forget a great many things, and I may have forgotten some of the principal features of that memorable morning, but I have always believed and think so still, that we made the last charge.
In the first charge our brigade was repulsed by artillery, and my regiment, under Capt. Adams, JI. C. (Col. Hill was lying on the field wounded), rallied and charged a second time, and with great success. That certainly was the last charge. Generals Gibbon, our corps commander, R. S. Foster, our division commander, and Geo. B. Dandy, our brigade commander, all gave us much praise for so gallantly making the last charge. General Ord complimented my regiment to me personally in San Francisco in 1870, for making the last charge, and Gen. Geo. B. Dandy, in a letter given me to President Grant in 1870, referred to my regiment as being one of his brigade that carried Fort Gregg on the second of April and made the last charge at Appomattox Court House on the ninth. We heard the colored division when they charged, but I always supposed them to be white, as I did not see any colored troops on our way up, and never thought that there were any there. But we certainly charged before and after they did. The heavy firing that took place about that time or immediately afterwards was done on receiving the news that Gen. Lee had surrendered. I remember well of seeing a courier riding down the line at full speed, waving a white flag and giving the news that Lee had surrendered. Such cheering I never heard before and never expect to again. And there are a few more things I remember full well, among which is how fearfully hungry we got before our trains got back, which took them nearly a week on account of the heavy rains, and we had only two days' rations after Gen. Grant supplied Lee's army.
I went up to the Court House to see the rebs stack their guns, and I have never forgotten the expression of their countenances. I do not remember, of seeing one that looked as if he wanted to whip a Yankee.
Fraternally yours, MONROE DAGGETT.
[See pp. 533, 422-441, and picture p. 411, History.]
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A COMRADE'S RECOLLECTIONS OF ALDIE.
A COMRADE'S RECOLLECTIONS OF ALDIE. CORNVILLE. June 27, IS91.
GEN. J. P. CILLEY :
Dear Comrade. - This is my first attempt to say what I saw in Company H, First Maine Cavalry, wherein I held the rank of cor- poral.
The 17th of June. 1863. we camped at the south side of the rail- road, and west of Bull Run stream a short distance -- on memorable ground. We were up and astir early that morning. I can plainly see now Colonels Douty and Boothby, as I sat on my horse. The sun shone brightly through a thin mist of fog. and the air was getting warm. We started, my company in its place. for Bull Run stream. reaching it above the railroad bridge at the ford. Some of the regiment went up the bluff ; my company. most of them. crossed the streant and halted. and I remember Corporal Emery's horse reared up and spilled him in the stream. It was then "'right about." and we marched back to near where we started. and then took cur course on the pike close to the Bull Run battle-fields. in a north- west direction. Some of the men in the company speculated on the course while crossing at the ford, that Alexandria was the point : we all directly changed our minds: two or three said we were heading off the rebel cavalry from Washington. Our horses walked lively on the pike and the dust began to rise. I remember seeing on the right of the road near us a'dend soldier. bare-headed, the rain having washed off the dirt : and a short distance on the left. in the bushes. there laid a skeleton of a soldier all in good order; further on we came to a creek with a very little stagnant water-vellow stuff. We were ordered th dismount and stop for a few moments. We were very thirsty, and our horses must have been, but there was no other water. Near here. one of my company, who had served in the Second Maine Infantry, pointed out the ground on the right of the road where they charged up the rise towards the woods. It was a pretty field : at the top of the rise was the black woods, from whence the confederates sent their deadly aim into the Maine boys that stood and faced that Mack woods, vet the Second Maine held them, so he said. Directly we were ordered to mount and moved on up the rise and through the same Hack woods; the next place of interest was a creek of good. clear water that ran across the rond ; there were no banks. an I Capt. Summat led us up stream. A
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FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
few rolled partly off their horses, got a few swallows of water. It was only a moment's halt. A captain of the regular battery followed us. The rear company drove us out. In a short time we came out on a cleared ridge of land with buildings near by. The regiment left the road and bore to the right toward the buildings. "Fours-left !" and we were facing the town of Aldie ; we could see the cannon and hear report of small arms. The captain immediately gave permit for a man with canteens to go to the buildings for water. I with some others, who had Sharp's carbines, put caps on the tubes and cracked. The captain said that was all nonsense and stopped us. We were afraid the tubes were not clear. The water came and I got two swallows. In a hurry, directly, by "fours, left," we moved down into the town,-one street, with few buildings; wounded men were coming back. The right of the regiment took a wagon path on the left of the street, crossed a ditch on our flank, and came into field, looking up a cleared hill; a little to our right was a rebel battery. The regiment halted and they gave us two shots; we were so low that they passed over and no one was hurt ; directly, an orderly passed, rode up to the right, and back came Colonel Douty. "Fours -- left about !" that brought Company H left in front, and so through the regiment. Back we went, crossed the street, and took a wagon path. A few rods near a barn or stable, the Colonel to the left, up the rise we went, and at the top the order was given, "Form squadron-halt -- draw sabre !" General Kilpatrick passed, saying, "Where are six men that will follow me?" The command, " Charge !" was given at that minute, and our battery was at our left and front. We kept to the right of the battery and bore towards the dirt road that the rebels were coming down. The New York regiment that the rebels were driving we reached after going a few rods. As we came to the New York regiment, Captain Summat gave orders to stop those men. We on the left halted and tried to rally them, but they went through our ranks like wild men and passed by and left us. When clear of the New York men, it was dust and smoke, yelling and shouting. The first man I saw was a Johnny, who had just turned his horse to re- treat; I came right up on his left side with my horse, on a clean jump. I gave him a cut on the back of his neck ; he yelled out and came very near going out of his saddle. William Young and Elisha D. Emerson took him prisoner. My horse was so wild that I could not hold him. This was in the right dirt road, near the rise. On
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THE WINTER AT CAMP PENOBSCOT.
I went, about as excited as my horse, down the descent into a hollow, jumped a ditch and lost my cap. I think my hair stood up and pushed it off. I reined my horse to the left, and came towards the road fence, and on the next rise my eye caught two Johnnies under lee of the fence. I said, "Surrender!" One of them stuck to it,- all he had was a scabbard hung to him. When the other went to rise, he reached for his haversack. "What have you in there?" said I. He pulled out a Remington revolver and passed it to me. It had been fired all but two chambers, and the caps on them were gone. At that instant Adjutant Tucker said, " Corporal, take those men to the rear as quickly as you can." I was ordered by the adjutant to deliver them up to a man who had one prisoner, and report to my company. I then went up the dirt road and came to Sergeant Heald. He ordered me to go back and order an ambul- lance up. Colonel Douty and Captain Summat were killed, and Corporal Emery was badly wounded. I went down the hill and the adjutant said (all the ambulances were on the other side of the town) the killed and wounded must be brought up on horses. I went back, and Captain Summat was carried back to the edge of the town on my horse.
Yours in Fraternity, Loyalty and Charity, DAVID H. WHITTIER ..
[See pp. 155-164, 581, History.]
THE WINTER AT CAMP PENOBSCOT. PORTLAND, Me., Sept. Ist, IS91. MY DEAR GENERAL :
" Time and tide wait for no man," and now is the accepted time for me to tide over my shortcomings, and respond to your many kindly calls for responses from all members of the grand old regi- ment, the gallant First Maine Cavalry, of which I am proud to say I was a humble member. I want my voice to be heard through the columns of your greatly-appreciated BUGLE, the sound of which should ever be welcome to all First Maine cavalrymen, especially those comrades of the early years of the regiment's history. How well I remember the first winter at Augusta - the duties we young ones and green ones were called upon to do - camp duty, in all its forms and variations, from the soldier in full dress on guard duty at head-quarters, to the soldier in undress doing duty at the stables. And the green officers, many of whom were greener than the privates,
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FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
but panned out well after all. Oh! how well do I remember how my rebellious spirit would assert itself at what I thought was " put- ting on airs," and how justly I got rebuked for my insolence. My officers, Captain Nathan Mayhew, First Lieutenant Stephen Boothby, Second Lieutenant Jarvis Stevens and Orderly Sergeant Walstein Phillips, were unusually good, patient and true men and soldiers, and as I now recall them I have only the kindest thoughts towards them. If I could have had my way they should all have lived and been generals to day. I think they deserved the honor. How well I remember the drills on green horses; what a spectacle ! such bob- bing in the saddles, and, oh, the crowding! Why, my legs ache to think of it. Just as we would get quieted down and in decent marching order, away would blaze the cannon. the report of which would again disturb the equanimity of our noble steeds, resulting in great bobbing in the saddle and more chafing. How sore and lame I was. It was many days before I could sit at meals. How gal- lantly and fearlessly we charged that cannon with laths for sabres, no one knows better than myself. How proud we felt when drawn in line for dress parade. The old colonel, John Goddard, I can now see as he sat his horse in front of the regiment receiving the officers' salutes. How many times I have stolen to the rear of the encampment, where a board had by some mysterious means become displaced, leaving ample room to crawl through the fence, and once out it was an easy matter to find the way to the city, where time and money, too, were spent as only a soldier can tell. Who in those days did not run guard or steal away? I remember how very dili- gent were some of the officers, and in their diligence were indulgent, for no sooner had they gathered in the boys than they would turn their backs to let the boys escape again. That first winter at Augusta. when we were for weeks buried in the snow, was good training, and made men and soldiers of what were, only a few months previous, raw recruits from country towns.
I was much interested in Nat. Hawkes' letter giving an account of his capture and prison life ; but I must say I felt just a little hurt to think Nat. had forgotten me, as I presume he had, by not mention- ing my name. But I am willing to forgive him because I had for- gotten he was a prisoner at Andersonville the time I was. I remember Charles Eastman, who shot the rebel officer who thrust him through with his sabre, Gustavus Grant, Enoch Sampson, and Hiram G. Allen as being prisoners, and all died there except East-
35
THE FIRST FIGHT.
man. I was with Grant when he died. I sat by his side upon the ground where he lay breathing out his noble life till death claimed his body. Gustavus Grant was one of the noblest of soldiers. I am glad to speak of him because I feel sure all of his comrades will agree with me when I say no young man in Company F or in the regiment stood higher in good morals and true manliness. I think of him as he was when a member of Company F, true, strong, and brave, and in his young manhood a perfect type of Maine's loyal sons who offered their lives a sacrifice, and I ask the question, Can there be too much done to perpetuate the names and memories of such heroes?
Yours very truly, C. W. SKILLINGS, Late Co. F, First Maine Cavalry.
[History, p. 544.]
A First Maine cavalryman had reason to be proud, For they many battles saw and many a soldier's shroud.
Day and night and night and day Saw them saddled and riding away ; Away on the flank of the line they'd appear Or else could be seen in the enemies' rear, Destroying tracks and cutting wires, Attacking supply trains with their fires.
Death and destruction those brave boys saw While constantly hearing the tocsin of war.
C. W. S.
THE FIRST FIGHT.
The recent death of Comrade Webb brings to my mind his first experience in battle, as related to me by himself several years after the war. When we were encamped at Camp Bayard he and I used to ride occasionally for recreation a few miles, when he would enjoy the scenery and remark upon the romance of our position - he had not been baptized with blood then.
But now, when all the tumult of war was past, he had lost all love of war's romance and regarded it as cruel and barbarous. "Nath." was one of our bravest First Maine Cavalry boys, and this is saying all concerning bravery. He was modest, kind and sensible, well educated, a graduate of Bucksport Seminary; he was a good fellow every way.
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FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
I forget the name of the battle, but it was a hand-to-hand sabre fight with Stuart to which he alluded. A terrible, savage, bloody fight, in which both sides were all mixed up - perhaps some of his comrades will remember- cutting and slashing-earnest, deter- mined, death-dealing blows on every hand.
While the fight was raging, and he had just got inside, he said he felt dazed, as if he were in a dream, and made no effort, but was carried with the crowd, hurled this way and that like a chip on the waves. Blood was flowing in streams, men and horses falling in every direction, shrieks of wounded, rebel yells and Yankee huzzas, riderless horses dashing at full speed, wildest and savage confusion. He was called to his senses by a comrade who yelled, " Look out, Nath. Webb !" A rebel was coming for him with upraised sabre, full chisel. Nath. had just time to parry the stroke, and as the rebel passed, launched a blow with all his force, cutting down through hat, head, neck, sinking his sabre clean to the chest. The whole thing was so sudden and unlooked for, that he seemed to realize nothing until he "felt the sabre crunching" through the vitals of his foe. He said the sensation was so awful as he felt his weapon "crunching" through a living human being, that he nearly fainted. and he again subsided into his former condition, when another voice shouted the warning as before, "Look out, Nath. Webb !" Another rebel, a friend and chum of his first assailant, assaulted him in almost the same manner. Nath. parried his blow, giving him a cut across the neck, sinking down into his lungs, the blood spurting, and a second victim fell from his flying steed, dead, to the ground. He said the shock to his nervous system was such as he never before experienced. From that moment he went in for all he was worth, but could never banish from his mind the terrible crunching sensation he felt when he took the first human life.
S. A. FULLER, Chaplain. Hubbard, N. H., Aug. 28th, IS91.
[See p. 515, and picture p. 53, History.]
THE LOSSES IN THE CAVALRY.
MELROSE, MASS., APRIL 6th, IS91.
Dear Comrade Tobie :-- I wonder if it is generally known among the com- rades that our regiment suffered the heaviest loss in battle of any cavalry reg- iment in the entire service. I quote from a very interesting article in the May Century, ISSS, by W. F. Fox, who has given the subject of losses in bat- tle thorough and careful investigation.
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THE LOSSES IN THE CAVALRY.
"Of the three principal arms of service, the infantry loses the most men in action, the cavalry next and the light artillery the least. The heaviest cavalry loss seems to have fallen on the First Maine Cavalry, it having lost fifteen officers and one hundred and fifty-nine enlisted men killed. Next comes the First Michigan Cavalry, with fourteen officers and one hundred and fifty en- listed men killed. Of the two hundred and sixty cavalry regiments in the Northern army, there were fifteen others whose loss in killed exceeded one hundred. The percentages of killed are also less in this part of the service, the highest being found in the Fifth Michigan Cavalry with its eight and nine-tenths per cent and in the Sixth Michigan with eight and three-tenths per cent, both in Custer's Brigade. Cavalrymen go into action oftener than infantry- men, so their losses being distributed among a larger number of engagements do not appear remarkable as reported for any one affair. Still in some of their fights 'dead cavalrymen ' could be seen in numbers that answered only too well the famous question of Gen. Hooker, -- " Who ever saw a dead cavalry- man?" At Reams Station, the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry lost twenty- seven men killed, and at Todd's Tavern the First New York Dragoons lost twenty-four killed, not including the additional casualty list of wounded. The number of cavalry officers killed in some regiments was excessive, as in this arm of the service, more than in any other, the officers are expected to lead their men. Although the cavalry did not suffer in killed as badly as the infantry, still they participated in more engagements, were under fire much more frequently, and so were obliged to exhibit an equal display of courage. The Fifth New York cavalry lost eight officers and ninety-three enlisted men killed in action, but it was present at over one hundred engagements, and lost men either killed or disabled in eighty-eight of them. The muster-out rolls of the various mounted commands show there were ten thousand five hundred and ninety-six "dead cavalrymen" who were killed in action during the war, of whom six hundred and seventy-one were officers, the proportionate loss of officers being greater than' in the infantry."
Yours in F. C. and L. HORATIO S. LIBBY.
Right here the following letter from Mr. Fox will be of interest.
ALBANY, NEW YORK, MAY ISth, 1889.
General J. P. Cilley :- I am already familiar with the pages of the His- tory of the First Maine Cavalry ; we have a copy of it here in our State Libra- ry which, by the way, wasordered at my request. Not long before the pub- lication of the book, " Regimental Losses in the Civil War,"I spent consid- erable time in reassuring myself as to the fact that, in the matter of loss in action, your old regiment headed the list of all the cavalry regiments in the Union army.
For a second time, I went carefully over the records of your regiment as printed in the reports of the State of Maine, 1862-66; and also examined the roster appended in your regimental history. I was pleased to note that the
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FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
result agreed substantially with the figures which I had previously received from the War Department at Washington. These figures established the fact that the First Maine Cavalry encountered the heaviest fighting of any cavalry regiment in the war, or at least, they braved the greatest danger, Some writers affect to pooh-pooh any connection between casualties in action and hard fighting ; but I believe all, from its number of battles, will agree with me that the extraordinary loss in action of your old regiment was the result of facing the music early and often, and standing up to the rack like brave men. Yours fraternally,
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