USA > Maine > History of the Fifth regiment Maine volunteers, comprising brief descriptions of its marches, engagements, and general services from the date of its muster in, June 24, 1861, to the time of its muster out, July 27, 1864 > Part 10
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revolver. Like the wind they flew. On came the
pursuers. The race grew exciting. But it soon ended. The party passed within our lines, a move- ment which the rear horsemen did not attempt. The captain was reported over to General Brooks, who then commanded our division, and who knew how to deal with such toadyists to rebel favor as that captain demonstrated himself to be. He was dismissed the service. I do not suppose any of those ladies remem- ber the visit of the Union officers to their place, nor Davis' "consin" with any particular feelings of love or affection.
While in camp at New Baltimore, Governor Wash- burne, of Maine, visited us, making, at dress parade, a short complimentary speech. Of course we all felt pleased to be noticed a little by our home officials.
Clouds of dust, rising upon the other side of Blue Ridge, indicated that the enemy were moving south- ward ; and now the race was to be for Richmond. It was said that we had the inside track, and also forty- eight hours' advantage of the enemy. "Shall we win the race?" was asked a thousand times. And if we do not, why? might also have been a pertinent in- quiry.
But one bright morning a rumor reached us at this place, which filled a great many hearts with sorrow, though there were a few who seemed to rejoice. It was to the effect that General Mcclellan was to be re- moved from command of the army. Of course, it was the constant theme of conversation. On the tenth
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day of November, the general rode through the various camps, bidding farewell to his troops, and admonish- ing them to support General Burnside as well as they had supported him. The rumor thus became authen- ticated, and we had a new commander. I will not here pass any comments upon the feelings and the in- dignation of the troops, while these scenes were in progress. Evidently almost everybody was disap- pointed. Officers and men, who never blanched be- fore a cannon's mouth, could not repress the tear when their beloved general waived them a last adieu. The excitement in camp for a few hours was in- tense.
But wishes and feelings were not to be respected, when marching was the order of the hour. Let us follow the regiment on its marches for a few days.
Well, en the sixteenth of November, after a delay of eight days, we again struck tents, proceeded four- teen miles, an I camped near Catlett's Station. There was a familiar look about that place, which was not at all attractive to our boys. They remembered too plainly their three days' encampment in the spring amid rain and snow, to have any special love for that locality. The next day, the seventeenth, eight miles were paced. The following day we made a good march of seventeen miles, camping for an hour or two, three miles beyond Strafford Court-house, when we broke camp, and performed picket duty during the night. About daybreak commenced a rain-storm. The roads were heavy, and a forward movement
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seemed impossible. Relieved from picket, we went into camp upon the ground which we had occupied the evening previous. We were now near Acquia Creek. Day after day we remained in the same posi- tion. "Why don't we move ?" was an hourly in- quiry. Simply because the army could not. When we arrived at that point, we were only two or three hours' march from Frederiesburg, a point of vital im- portance to us. We were, upon our arrival at the place of our camp, almost destitute of rations, only a sufficient quantity being issued at New Baltimore to carry us to Acquia Creek, where we were to receive fresh supplies from Washington. It was also under- stood, that the pontoon boats and materials for bridges would be there upon our arrival, and, with only a brief delay, we were to push on, take Freder- iesburg before the enemy could possibly reach it, and then push for Richmond. But when our quarter- masters went to Aegnia Creek, lo, there was not an ounce of forage for horses, many private horses going without anything to cat for forty-eight hours, save the hard bread with which their owners fed them out of their own haversacks, not a poutoon boat, in fine, noth- ing which would aid us; and so we must wait until red-tapeism saw fit to supply our necessities. We were ahead of the rebel army until we arrived there ; but the delay give Los an opportunity to get in and occupy Frederiesburg Heights : and, in our efforts to secure them in subsequent times, dearly did we pay for the indolence of Washington officials. Soldiers, at
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that time, had become pretty fully assured, that some civilian officers, in their finely-furnished apartments in Washington, were pretty mean operators upon the bittle-field; and who can truly say that the failure of more than one general upon the field was not at- tributable to the political wire-pulling at the capital, and to ambitious men both in, and seeking power ?
During our stay in our last-named camp, which proved to be over a month in duration, many changes had been made in the officers of the regiment. Lieu- tenant-colonel Seamman had been promoted to be colonel in place of Jackson promoted. Major Edl- wards, formerly captain of Company I., was made lieutenant-colonel, Captain Henry R. Millett was made major, Lieutenant Geo. W. Bicknell was promoted to adjutant, Sergeant William B. Fenderson was pro- moted to quarter-master, and Assistant Surgeon Fran- cis G. Warren was made surgeon, a full list of all changes, compiled from the best data I have been able to secure, may be found in the appendix. General Jackson secured the appointment of Lieutenant R. C. Shannon of Company II., who had been serving for a Year upon General Slocum's staff, and who had always proved himself a noble soldier, as his assistant ad- jutant-general, and hence his place was made vacant in the company. It was filled in due season by Lieu- tenant John D. Ladd from " C" company.
Bat all things have an end, and so did our encomp- ment at this place. On Thursday, December fourth, we received imperative orders to move. Accordingly
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we struck tents, and took up our line of march down the Potomac river. We proceeded some twelve or fifteen miles, and then went into camp at a place called White Oak Church. It was a lonely, solitary place, but bid fair to figure conspicuously in our future history. The place probably took its name from the fact of a church being erected there in a white oak grove. There were but very few houses within long distances of the place. One single road ran along by the church, and upon either side was thick timber and undergrowth. The surrounding country looked like a hard place for a camp; but soldiers knew full well how to change the outward appearance of any place in a very brief time. But our time to remain in this locality was not then. Another fearful farce was to be played before we were to retire to winter-quarters, for now winter was close upon us.
The following morning, the heavens began to grow rapidly dark, and about nine o'clock the rain began to pour in torrents. Possibly this might not have been so particularly observed had it not been from the fact that word reached us that we were on the New Jersey brigade ground, and that we must move. This was tough. Packing up and moving in a rain- storm was no pleasant work. But, of course, it was no use to complain, although there was some pretty exeit- ing conversation indulged in. Speedily the colonel found a new location, where a good camp might be made. It required but little time to get the regi- ment into their new position ; for soldiers did not like
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standing in the rain any better than civilians. Per- haps we had got our tents half up, and the baggage partially unloaded, when orders came to be ready to move again in half an hour. If these movements were not provoking, then the men were not sincere in their denunciations of the unknown powers that were. Down came the canvas with such a jerk, that one might almost think the tents were to blame for all the perplexities of the soldiery. But military was stern in its requirements, and so the teams were reloaded, knapsacks were packed, and we were ready to pro- ceed-anywhere.
By this time, about one o'clock in the afternoon, the rain-storm had become converted into a furious snow- storm. Curious weather thought we; but then, that was a department over which we had no charge. Soon the march commenced. We were having a taste of winter campaigning in reality. The roads were very heavy, the mud being at least six inches deep. The wind blew terribly, snow and hail filling the air; in fine, it was a tough time and a tough march. Judging from expressions made upon that day, I think that patriotism must have become somewhat crystal- lizeil in more than one breast at that time.
The regiment proceeded some four or five miles, when it came upon a large open portion of the coun- try, which was called Belle Plain. It was situated upon the banks of the Potomac, reaching up the river a long distance, and back from the river for nearly two miles. The river at this point being very wide,
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it afforded the wind an excellent opportunity to ex- ert its full power upon any person or thing upon the open country. It was, indeed, a cold, bleak, bar- ren place. This was the spot selected for our en- campment ! Not a stick of wood within a mile and a half of the place where we halted, -the wind sweep- ing across the plain from the river like a hurricane,- exposed to a raging north-east snow-storin; and here we we were expected to rest and to enjoy ourselves. It was now almost dark. Every man was wet to the skin, and literally shivering in the cold. When the men had stacked arms, and were told to pitch their tents, seareely a man moved ; but they stood looking at each other, hardly knowing what to do. The whole movement was an outrage upon humanity. When men called the ordering of the Fifth Maine and one other regiment only to such a location to camp, for the night, in such a storm, while the other troops were in the woods, and there was plenty of room for us, "blundering indifference and stupidity," methinks they were not far from right. Nor were these ill feel- ings manifested among the men alone. I do not be- lieve that there was a single officer in either regiment, who was not literally mad,-and this expression means a great deal. Of course they had no business to be, . in a military point of view ; but yet that does not blot out the fact in the case. I should here say that our Brigadier-general Bartlett was absent on a leave of absence, and that we were commanded by ( June] Cake of the Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers,
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who had before manifested his consummate (?) ability as a military man, by getting his command into tough and needless trying positions.
Soon some of the men asked permission to go for wood, which was granted by the colonel in such a man- ner as indicated the wish of his heart that he could stand some superior officer in that snow-storm all night. The colonel was a man who loved his men; and an outrage upon them, was an outrage upon him ; and which he did not hesitate to resent as became his position. Permission for one, seemed to be permission for all, for en masse the regiment, line officers as well as men, without their muskets, start for the woods ; and once there, not a man was seen returning until the following morning. But four or five officers were left on the ground. Procuring by loan an officer's tent from another regiment, it was duly pitched, and constituted the quarters of the camp-guard, who Were to watch over the stack of arms. The camp- guard that night consisted of the colonel of the regi- toent, the major, adjutant, one captain, one lieutenant not of the regiment, and one of General Bartlett's A. D. C. Alluding to the regiment away in the woods, the colonel remarked quietly, as he looked around upon his little body of half-frozen companions, " the boys have had it tough, and we must do guard Inty. We need the exercise." So the colonel shout- dered a musket, and. for two hours and a half, kept .bol watch over the gun-stacks. About midnight the storm ceased, so that the duty of the last two
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watches was much easier, and attended with less exposure. Probably it was not exactly military for a colonel and major of a regiment to stand as camp- guard; but it was not military to order men need- lessly into such a position; nor would the colonel order the men out of the woods on such a night, even though he was himself subjected to inconveniences. It was always a fact that his heart was infinitely bigger than his dignity, though when required, he was by no means deficient in the latter article.
The next morning dawned pleasantly. Slowly the men and company officers came in from the woods. Of course they had been absent without leave; yet not a reprimand was given to a single one. Who could blame them? Not the camp-gnard of the night previous, certainly; and it was carefully kept from the ears of any who might display their foolish- ness in some terrible general order. The whole af- fair passed as one of the laughable incidents of our military life.
During the forenoon we changed our encampment, glad enough to escape the bleak and not fondly- remembered Belle Plain. Yet all these things were, as the boys would say, " all in the three years." The following night it was terrible cold, the ice forming quite thick, and sufficiently strong to bear up a man. New England weather seemed to have accompanied her sons for a short time, at least, down into the land of Dixie.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
On the road toward Fredericsburg. The Fifth in battle of Fredericsburg.
WE remained in camp until the morning of Decem- ber tenth, when we were again on the move. We marched on about three miles toward the city of Frederiesburg, and bivouacked for the day and night. Early upon the morning of the eleventh we resumed our march. About seven o'clock, the heavy booming of cannon announced to us that the battle of Fred- eriesburg had commenced. We moved along at an casy pace until we arrived within about one mile of the banks of the Rappahannock river, where we came to a halt, had all of our pieces loaded, and everything put in readiness for action. That we should become participants in a fierce and sanguinary struggle before the setting of the sun, none of us doubted at that time; while every man seemed nerved and prepared for whatever time might unfold. It is really in the beginning-in approaching a scene of conflict-which requires nerve and courage. When once at work, the inspiration of the occasion supplies all deficiencies. li a man's knees shake at all. it is while marching the last mile towar l the fight. A> we neared the heights upon the east side of the river, the musketry and
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artillery, in a great measure, ceased. At this time we could not determine whether this was in our favor or against. About noon we were massed with the rest of the army in the large fields and pieces of woods upon the eastern heights, awaiting further orders. Attempts had been made in the early part of the day to effect a crossing of the river; but the vigilance of the enemy had forced back our troops, and the prospects of ulti- mately throwing our pontoon bridges across looked dark enough. Later in the afternoon commenced the bombardment of the city of Frederiesburg, which lay almost directly in our front. The whys and the wherefores of general movements, their right or their wrong, I do not propose here to discuss. To other works than this the reader is respectfully referred. We knew not at that time, the reason assigned for the bombardment of the city; but we learned afterward, that the enemy had broken their pledge to withdraw their troops from its limits, and had improved the time which was given them to effect the withdrawal, in forming rifle-pits in the streets, but which proved to be of little use to them. We had probably all seen paintings of bombardments, but we little dreamed, may be, "that we should ever behold the reality. Upon the heights overlooking the city our view was " perfect. The opening fire was terrible. At a given signal, long lines of guns opened simultaneously. It was truly deafening. Fast and rapidly the huge guns vomited forth their terrible shot and shell into every corner and thoroughfare in the city. The enemy's
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troops were soon seen flying in all directions. Here and there the devouring clement wrapped itself around dwellings, while a thick black smoke hung over the doomed city. Faster and faster the artille- rists applied their energies to the consummation of their orders. Deeper and heavier grew the roar, reverberating through the woods and valleys around, the very earth trembling as with fear, as shock suc- ceeds shock, and the terrible work increases. War seemed to have worn his deepest and blackest form, as he looked over upon this once beautiful city. From his hand he hurled the most destructive mis- siles which civilized warfare permit in seasons of con- test. For an hour the work continued. Grand, awful, sublime,-language cannot give expression to the seene. It must live in the memory alone, for the pen is a poor delineator of such a reality.
But while this work was in progress, and the atten- tion of the enemy was thus diverted from the inten- tion of our commanders, the engineer corps had sue- ceeded in throwing three pontoon bridges over the river: and about five o'clock, an orderly dashed up with the information that our regiment was to cross the river immediately. At once we were in motion. Upon arriving near the banks of the river, we found that one brigade was already partially across, and that a force was engaged in a sharp skirmish with the enemy. We had just arrived at the bridge, when some general ordered us to halt. It had then got to be quite dark. What is up now ? thought we. But
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of course no one knew. In a moment or two we per- ceived that our troops were all recrossing, and we were ordered to about face, and 'move back to the position we had occupied during the day. There was wisdom in that, perhaps, for night was coming on, and we were advancing into a strange country; our whole army could not cross with safety, as in the night there was always more or less confusion in the movements of troops, unless each regimental com- mander knew where he was going, and what he had to do; and, moreover, we had made a demonstration, driven in the enemy's pickets, and had accomplished all that could be desired that night, while a place of safety was certainly preferable to one of danger.
Early the following morning, we were up and pre- pared for the duties of the day. Various speculations were rife as to the intentions of our leaders, and our ultimate snecess. With buoyant hearts, our regiment was soon on the move toward the river; and about nine o'clock we were crossing the famous Rappahan- nock, which was accomplished without molestation. We were immediately directed to our position in line, where we halted for a rest of a couple of hours, and for other portions of our army to cross.
And here, while the troops are resting, let me en- . deavor to give a slight description of the country, that the reader may form a better idea of the position in which we were placed, and the base of our opera- tions.
Immediately, upon ascending the opposite bank of
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the river, we come upon a large open plain, long, and perhaps a mile and a half wide in places. Upon the right of this plain, and perhaps a mile from where we lay, was the city of Fredericsburg. A range of hills, difficult of ascent, thiekly wooded, form a semicircle around the plain, and which commanded every inch of the level ground, each extremity resting upon the river, and rendering movements, either to the right or to the left, impossible. Behind these hills lay the rebel army, while the tops were literally lined with forts, redonbts, riffe-pits, etc., well mounted with can- non. This was the enemy's strongholl. With the naked eye, we could easily discern the enemy and his position. Advance whichever way we might, we could see the cannon's mouth opened toward us. A more magnificent line of defense, probably, was never seen, with every facility for shelter, artillery posted in such positions as to sweep the entire plaia on which there was scarcely an obstacle or shrub. Every move- ment, especially in the center where our division lay, which our troops might make, could be easily discerned by the enemy, to meet which, with an overwhelming force, would be an easy matter upon the part of the foe. Midway from the river to this range of hills was a long, deep, and narrow ravine, beyond which was a road running nearly parallel with the range of hills. On the opposite side of the road was a bank some six feet high, beyond which the plain still continued for some distance, when we come to the base of the hills, beyond which we knew nothing of the country, inas-
.
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much as we had never been there. On this field, then, with nothing for protection, was to be fought one of the severest battles of the war. Even every private was fully convinced that we must fight or die; for to be routed would insure capture and annihilation. There was the plain, skirted by a lofty range of hills, upon which was the enemy strong and confident, the river behind us, and our duty was manifest. Against the plans and protests of our generals, pushed forward by political power, we were there, and we must make the most of it. With this brief outline of the scene of future operations, let us return to our brigade, and to our regiment in particular.
Abont noon, our immense force (though, as it proved, a small army compared with the foe) had crossed the river, and, for a long distance, both to the, right and left, could be seen heavy columns of troops moving into position. The cavalry were galloping to and fro, now moving to the front to ascertain, if possible, the enemy's lines, then back to their ground; the artillery hastening to different points and preparing for the coming contest,-all presented a most beautiful and majestic spectacle, and must be seen, in order to be appreciated.
During the entire time of crossing, the enemy had ยท not fire l a single shot. They seemed to view us with supreme contempt, and, I must confess, it was rather : "stunner" to know what they meant or intended by their apparent indifference. Bat shortly we were or- dered to fall in; and first changing our direction of
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march one way, and then another, moving with the utmost caution, we advanced toward the front in line of battle. Marching, perhaps, twelve hundred yards, we entered the ravine to which I have alluded, where we halted for a short time to receive orders regarding oar ultimate position. As was usual, our brigade was in the first line of battle, occupying the advance of the right of Franklin's grand division.
At two o'clock " fall in" was the word, and steady as veterans the regiment moved up out of the ravine, and forward toward the road. Scarcely had we showed our heads above the banks of the ravine, when a whole column of smoke arose from the hill-top in our direct front, while bang went a couple of shells just above us. The rebs had at last opened upon us. Stea lily, however, we marched to the point indicated for us, shells in the mean time bursting directly over our heads, the hundreds of pieces just skipping over us. But we reached our position in safety; and, sitting down behind the banks previously allu led to by the road, we listened for two mortal hours to the whizzing of the shells from the land of rebellom. Some of them would .strike just behind us and ricochet directly over us. Our artillery in our rear replying briskly, we were thus between the two fires, a position that was never to be desired. When actively engaged in a fight, a inan heeds shot or ballets bat very little; because he his something to occupy his attention. But to lay and listen,-lay and listen to the roar of artillery, not Knowing but the next moment may be his last,-to hear
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and see, and not be able to act,-this is what tries men's nerves, and proves the good soldier. Almost any soldier had rather be engaged, at any time, in a severe musket fight, than to be lying in the back- ground and take a shelling, either of which are danger- ous enough for all practical purposes. But, for a won- der, no man in our regiment was injured, though sev- eral were killed and wounded in the next regiments both on our right and left. It was certainly a relief to every man when the sun sank behind that contempti- ble range of hilis, which was sweet and refreshing.
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