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 12
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ions glance was thrown up toward the heavens; and possibly, as we contemplated their general appearance, not a few fears were entertained that some winter storm might soon open upon us in all of its wrath and fury. Yet it was hoped, of course, that, if there was to be a forward movement, it would not be at- tended by any disagreeable action of the natural elements.
About nine o'clock in the morning, the final order reached us, that our division would move in heavy marching order at twelve o'clock, noon, and at which time we were directed to be in line. Now all was life and work. The tents came down rapidly; and possibly, as the men looked into the holes in which they had been living for several weeks, a feeling of relief and pleasure may have come over them at the prospect of a change, which, so far as camp was con- cerned, could not be any more disagreeable than the one which we were about to leave. Dinner was served at an earlier hour than usual; but I never knew any such irregularities to interfere with the appetite. The prospect of carrying forty or fifty pounds' weight upon the back for an indefinite season, made hard bread and salt pork in good demand.
All being in readiness, we commenced the labors (as we supposed) of a winter's campaign. At noon, precisely, we moved forward, taking our route through fields and woods, it being much better traveling, we were told, for the infantry, than upon the main high- way, which was filled with teams, artillery, and cav-
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alry. It soon became evident from the, direction in which we were marching, that we were not to cross the river at the point which we had previously, and which the reader may be assured was a matter of great relief to us, as the plains near Frederiesburg had but few attractions for us. We could advance with much firmer steps and with bolder hearts upon any new scene of action, than to revisit any old posi- tions, especially where we had been compelled to exhibit to the foe our capacity for retreat.
Our route of march lay through swamps and woods, presenting a very disagreeable appearance, and af- forded nothing of interest. The great theme of talk among the men was, the probable result of the pres- ent movement. The alacrity and the buoyancy of spirit with which the men entered upon the work before them, notwithstanding all the trials and hard- ships which imagination depicted as accompanying a winter campaign, was especially marked. Once start a soldier upon an enterprise, and he almost laughs at any horror or trial which presents itself to quell his enthusiasm. And sometimes I think that there is really more discomfort in thinking and brooding over whatever we may, or expect we may have to do, than there is in the actual performance of the labor or duty.
All the afternoon we marched on, though the dis- tance gone over was not much, only nine miles, when, just as darkness came on, we were ordered into a piece of woods to encamp for the night. It required
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but a few moments to pitch our camp of shelter-tents, while the busy axe soon leveled trees in every direc- tion, and huge log-fires gave forth their cheering light and heat. A dipper of water and coffee attached to a stick and held over the fire, soon gave the soldier his quart of refreshing beverage; and with the informa- tion that upon the morrow we were to cross the river, all were soon lost in sleep, save those who were to watch upon their beat the safety of the command.
The still small hours of the following morning found us busily engaged in almost paddling ourselves out of the water which was running in small brooks all around us, and which had, very unceremoniously, wet us through to the skin. The clouds of heaven had opened, and how the rain poured! Beautiful position that! There was, of course, more or less grumbling, as there always was on special occasions; but yet the rain poured. Daylight found things no better, but did find everything thoroughly drenched. As our orlers were to be ready to move at six o'clock, break- fast, such as it was, was speedily dispatched, and tents struck, and we were ready to be going away down to Dixie. The time rolled by, and still we remained in our position. Why don't the army move? Yes, that was a question, timely, pertinent. Look into yonder adjoining fieldl and there you read one portion of the answer. The torrents of the night before, and the continuation of the storm in the morn- ing, had set the soil in commotion, and a deep costing of' mul was everywhere visible. A dozen pieces of
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cannon, belonging to our own division, were stuck fast in the mud, which all the energies of the horses, who pulled and tagged beneath the blows, accompanied with the cursings of the drivers, failed to start. Truly, the beauties of a winter campaign were being realized! Ten, fifteen, and, on some pieces, twenty horses were required to draw the cannon out into the main channel of flowing mud, which channel, in a dry season, might have been a road. Some assistance from the men was required to get the pieces started ; but, finally, the work was accomplished, and at nine o'clock we again resumed the march. But what marching! Hardee and Scott's infantry tacties for- ever! Men picking their way along in all manners and shapes on one side of the road, and then upon the other-tumbling down into masked mnd-holes -- jump- ing over logs-pushing through bushes-then briers- I know not what-horses half up. to their bodies in mud-riders cutting up all sorts of antics-everybody and everything covered with the " sacred soil,"-what a picture for a painter! What a spectacle for a pano- rama !
About noon, having waded through water and dirt well mixed for about two miles, we were again brought into a camp within about a stone's threw of. the banks of the " flowing Rappahannock" Our artil- lery was immediately placed into position, and meas- ures were taken to lay the pontoon bridges. As well might we have attempted to bridge Niagara. No boats could be got within twenty rods, and, as a sol-
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dier remarked when contemplating the position, "we ain't so much across as we was." Late in the day, rumors were current that we should not cross the river if the rain continued, as it would be impossible to move. But the rain did continue, making the soil worse and worse every moment. The conclusion to which every one arrived at was, that we had made another stupendous movement, and had consummated a most gigantic fizzle.
Our houses, which had afforded us such excellent shelter the night previous, were soon repitched, and everything put in readiness for the night. Every one hoped something might yet be done, though I do not believe any sleep was lost for fear there would not be.
The next morning found the rain still pouring. All day long the men lay round, the time hanging heav- ily upon their hands. Report had it that there were several interesting sign-boards to be seen upon the other side of the river. We go down to the banks of the river to see what it is that attract so many there. Ah! we have it. The rebels, acquainted with our dilemma, have erected upon the other shore signs printed in large letters, "Burnside stuck in the mud." We saw the point. We thought the " Johnnies " had a good thing upon us; but yet we could not repress the reflection, that they made very light of a serious mat- tor. I doubt if they were universally forgiven.
Friday morning dawned. The rain had ceased, but the heavens were black and threatening. We were
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informed, at an early hour, that the army had pro- ceeded as far as it would, and that the several corps would resume their former positions in their oll camps. Under all the circumstances, this was chevr- ful information, though every one dreaded to return over the oll ground. Bat wait. Brooks' division, of which our regiment formed a part, did not get off so ens- ily. While others were making for their comfortable camps, we were detailed to remain behind, and assist in getting the pontoon wagons, artillery, ete., back to the rear, and also to meet any demonstration which the enemy might see fit to make. In the afternoon. the sun came out bright, and we were advanced to the extreme front. Hungry, tired, wet, and possibly a little cross, we remained in that position until the following morning, when we were assigned to the arduous labor of helping the poor brutes pull off' the wagons.
About two o'clock, P. M., we struck tents, and marchel about one mile. Arriving at the base of : steep hill, all hands were placed to the work of get- ting the teams to the top of it, as it was impossible for the horses to draw wagons. The horses being disen- gaged, a long rope was attached to the wagon, per- haps one hundred and fifty feet in length, and half a regiment man it ; and, at the word "go," the manner that those wagons went up the hill was not slow. All day the men had been engaged in the work, and it was our duty to finish it. Never did mon wor': harder or more steadily than did the men of our
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division to accomplish their "special" Anty. Toward night the last one was up, and marching a short dis- times, fully convinced of the frailty of all human things, and of soldiers especially, we went into camp for the night.
We had now bid the Rappahannock good-by for the present, and, at an early hour on Sunday morning, we took up the line of march for the old encampment. It was slow, tedious moving, mud half way to onr knees, terrible severe for both man and beast. All day we worked along, when about dusk we reached our former camp-home. Probably a more happy set of men, when that campaign was ended, is seldom seen. Some idea of the hard march and the heavy roads may be formed from the fact, that we were thir- teen hours moving between seven and eight miles. While, of course, there was some pleasure in review- ing past experiences, yet I doubt if there are many who would like to pass through those experiences in order to derive that pleasure.
Thus ended our first experience in winter cam- paigning.
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CHAPTER XX.
Snow-storm, and muddy season. Army visited by a gentleman from Maine. General Hooker assumes command of army. His grand review Courts-martial. Curious facts elicited. Reorganization o. various departments of army.
UpON our arrival at the old camp-ground, the men were not long in reestablishing themselves as well as circumstances would permit. Some houses (holes) had to be bailed out, and which required a pretty hot fire to dry; but patience and perseverance accom- plished wonders, even though a few growls, to free the burdened mind, were occasionally heard.
On the twenty-eighth of January, we were visited by a furious snow-storm. It was a regular down- easter, and lasted until noon the following day. The measure indicated twelve full inches of snow, which we all thought would have been much more at home in Vermont, or Central Maine, than in Virginia. The weather was also intensely cold, and it was a wonder that our boys were not frozen. After a few hours the sun came out warm and genial; and it was not long before nature threw off her cold mantle, and appeared dripping with mud.
Now followed the muddy season, and also the cry from Northern quarters, " why don't the army move?"
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The clouds, however, gave us plenty of rain to keep the roads in an impassable condition. It seemed to be a difficult matter for people North to comprehend, that the mud was nearly a foot deep everywhere about our locality, and that movements were absolute- ly impossible. This had been abundantly demonstra- ted to us in our movement of January. An incident, illustrative of this feeling, and also of our own condi- tion, may not be inappropriate.
A gentleman, resident of Maine, had occasion to visit Washington ; and having a son in the division to which we were attached, thought that he would take a little trip down to the army, to spend a day or two with his boy, and see the sights. Procuring the nee- essary papers or passes, he went upon board of the steamer which plied between Washington and Fal- month, where he met an officer who belonged to our regiment, and the two soon engaged in conversa- tion. After the usual preliminaries on weather and other kindred matters, the conversation fell upon the topics connected with the war movements of the army, and future prospects. Finally, the gentleman expressed his indignation because the army did not move, and was allowed to remain in camp, idling away its time. The officer gently expostulated, defending as best he could the action of the generals in not at- tempting that which was an impossibility.
" What, my friend." asks the gentleman, " is to pre- vent a movement ? The weather has been charming of late. What hinders ?"
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" The mud, sir," replies the officer; and here he entered into an explanation of the awful condition of the roads.
" Nonsense," replies the gentleman. "You can't make sensible people believe that there can be mud enough down there to prevent the army moving. Think I could march twenty miles a day myself, with- out being much troubled."
"Oh, well, we will see," was the reply, and the sub- jeet changed.
About two o'clock in the afternoon, the steamer ar- rivel at Falmouth, and, upon landing, the twain sepa- rated. The officer had business at some of the neigh- boring head-quarters, and having procured his horse, and pointed out the way to the gentleman who carried an ordinary valise in his hand, he at once rode away. Off trudged the gentleman to take his first march in Virginia mud. An hour or two later, the officer, having finished his business, began to proceed to his camp. When about half way (we laid some seven miles from Falmouth) he overtook his steamboat friend, resting beside the road, the very picture of weariness, home-sickness, and discouragement. Evi- dently he had been down in the mud several times, as Virginia roads were very treacherous. His boots and . pants were literally covered with the "sacred soil." and it seemed quite an effort for him to walk. He was very tired, and well he might be, for it was terri- ble tongh walking in that country at that time. As the officer rode up, recognizing his military eritie, and
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at once comprehending his situation, he merrily in- quires,
" Why don't the army move? How is this for marching ?"
I do not think that it would at all grace these pages to record the gentleman's answer; but it indicated that he wished himself back to Washington, where he might, as did thousands of others, tell what the army had best do an hundred miles away, but not experi- ence such difficulties as were then surrounding him. The officer kindly took his valise and carried it for him a long distance; but even when relieved of that inenmbrance, a more forlorn and erestfallen man never was seen. He finally reached the regiment which he desired, after four hours' tramp, which time was re- quired to make the seven miles; but I do not think that he inquired of any one during his stay, " why don't the army move ?"
Early in the spring, General Hooker assumed com- mand of the army, and the expectations of the men were high. His popularity was great, and the pres- tige which accompanied him as he came into com- mand of the troops, made us all feel that surely vic- tory would be inseribed upon our banners in our next movement. Officers, as well as men, were all in the best spirits and full of animation.
One day, two horsemen came riding into camp. Exidently they were two cavalry men upon a pleasure trip. Dismounting at one of the cook tents, one of them inquire [ of the occupants,
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" Well, boys, how do you fare nowadays ?"
"Hard," was the reply, an evidence in the shape of a box of mouldy hard bread being introduced to cor- roborate the statement. "Little rough," says the stranger, and rode away.
The next day better bread and more of it was dis- tributed, both to the joy of the boys and the quarter- master; and we heard that some high quarter-master got, what we used to style a terrible blowing up, "perfect fits."
The horsemen were General Hooker and a corps inspector.
Such attention to the minor wants, not so "minor " either, but yet matters which it was hardly expected that the commanding general would particularly inter- est himself in, and the novel method adopted. in some cases, to ascertain the usage and the necessities of the troops, soon won the love, confidence, and esteem of officers and men.
Every member connected with the regiment re- members the grand review by General Hooker and the President upon the third of April of this year. Never did troops present a grander spectacle than upon that occasion. The marching was superb, and everything moved like elock-work. The men's bright muskets, their neat and clean uniforms, and their white gloves, made the review appear imposing. If my memory serves me right, the troops which were on re- view that day, and a large portion of them in full view, were about eighty thousand infantry, twenty thousand
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cavalry, and between four hundred and five hundred pieces of artillery. To look upon that army, they ap- peared invincible. Yet their future was hidden from mortal vision ; and well indeed it may be, that such was and is the law of earth-existence.
About this time, or rather about the time General Hooker took command of the army, desertions seemed to be the order of the day. In almost every brigade, courts-martial were in full blast, meting out justice or injustice to military offenders. Curious indeed were some of the developments of the court-marshal. Frequently, when upon trial, the prisoner would intro- duee letters received from home, in extennation of his defense, letters bearing the tale of the suffering of tiunilies, of the tedious, lonely hours ofloved ones, all of which served to produce its influence upon the sol- dier's mind; and, in fits of desperation, they would leave for home, where the eagle eye of some detective, who saw in every returned soldier an increasing chance of his being called into the conflict, soon found him out, and the next train would find him on his way back to the front, to be tried for desertion. Some communities and some States rendered assist- ance to soldiers' families. But, in many instances, they were actually permitted to suffer for the necessi- ties of life. Facts gleaned by the writer during a long connection with courts-martial, warrant this statement. In many places, there was much more the oretical patriotism than practical. It was enough to make one's blood boil to know how soldier'' fami-
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lies in some States were neglected. Most generally, men who deserted through the influence above spoken of, were found guilty of simply "absence, without leave," and fined a small sum. Though military might have demanded strict justice, yet humanity often demanded mercy and leniency, and, in such cases as we have spoken of, won the case. But there were many aggravated cases of desertion, such as attempts to desert to the enemy's lines, or give information injurions to our cause. With such cases, neither courts-martial nor generals were disposed to treat with any other methods than the stern hand of mar- tial law. Examples were frequently made, and deser- tions were checked, for a season at least.
General Hooker's appointment to the command of the army was the signal for a general reformation in almost every department of its organization. His indomitable will and energy soon began to be mani- fested in the reconstruction of the whole force, infus- ing into it a new lite. A brief description of the nature of this reorganization, extracted from Surgeon Stevens' three years in the Sixth Corps, may not be uninteresting.
"The first step, in the progress of reconstruction, was the revocation of the order making three grand divisions of the army. By the abolition of the grand divisions, Generals Summer and Franklin were re- lieved from their commands; and the corps com- manders, no longer subject to immediate command- ers, were again directly responsible to the general-in-
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chief of the army. Doubtless General Hooker had seen that the creation of these grand divisions had much to do with the failures of General Burnside.
"The cavalry next engaged the attention of the gen- eral. The whole force was thoroughly reorganized, and put into an efficient condition, under command of Major-general Stoneman. Hereafter, men were not to ask, 'Who ever saw a dead cavalry man?' To General Hooker the cavalry of the army of the Poto- mae owed its efficiency and the glorious record, which, from that time, it made for itself.
"The superiority of the rebel cavalry, in the early part of the war, was generally attributed to the sup- posed fact, that the young men of the South were so manch better horsemen than those of the North. In reality this had little, if anything, to do with it. It is even very doubtful if there was any difference in favor of the superior horsemanship of the Southern cavalry. Their strength lay in their union. The rebel cavalry was organized from the beginning; ours was an inco- herent mass of men, having no proper relations or dependencies within itself. From the day that it became organized, the superiority of the rebel cavalry passed away forever. We always had better horses, and our men were certainly never inferior to the rebels. All that was neededl was the proper combina- tion of action : and as soon as this was secured, our walry became the finest in the worl I.
" The business departments were also thoroughly renovated. The changes in the medical, quarter-mas-
10
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ter's, and commissary departments were such as to bring each to a standard of perfection, which had never before been reached by those departments of any army in the field. No army had ever been pro- visioned as was ours that winter. Soft bread, pota- toes, beets, carrots, onions, fresh beef, flour, sugar, and coffee, constituted the regular rations of the men, and facilities were afforded for procuring luxuries not in the regular supply.
"The medical department became so thoroughly systematized, that wounded and sick men were cared for better than they had ever been in an army before. This radical change had commenced under General Burnside ; but it was perfected under General Hooker, by the efficient and earnest medical director of the army, Dr. Letterman, and to whom belongs the honor of bringing about this most desirable change.
" By the new system, the surgeons were enabled to accomplish a far greater amount of work, and in much better order than under the old; and the wounded were better and more quickly cared for. By this sys- tem, the hospital of the division was the unit. From the division, a medical officer of good executive abil- ity was selected, to whom was assigned the general oversight of the hospital. One or more surgeons of . well-known skill and experience, were detailed from the medical force of the division, who were known as ' operating surgeons; to each of whom was assigned three assistant-, also known to be skillful men, who were either surgeons or assistant surgeons. To the
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operating surgeons all cases, requiring surgical opera- tions, were brought; and thus the men had the bene- fit of the very best talent and experience of the divis- ion in the decision of the question whether he should be submitted to the use of the knife, and in the per- formance of the operation in ease one was required. It was a mistaken impression among those at home, that each medical officer was the operating surgeon for his own men. Only about one in fifteen of the medical officers, was intrusted with operations.
"From each brigade, an assistant surgeon was de- tailed to furnish food and provide shelter for the wounded. His duty was to superintend the erection of hospital tents as soon as there was a prospect of an engagement ; and to have hot coffee and rations ready for the wounded as soon as they came into the hos- pital. ITe was also to attend to their clothing, bedding, and rations, as long as they remained in the hospital.
"Another assistant surgeon from each brigade was selected to keep the records; to take the name and the character of the wound of each one who was brought to the hospital, with the operation, if any; and the list of deaths, the place of burial, and all other mat- ters necessary to record. An assistant surgeon was to remain with each regiment, and to attend to getting the wounded from the field into the ambulances, and to arrest hemorrhage in case of necessity.
" They all labor was systematized. Every officer and nurse knew exactly what to do. Each had his own part of the work assigned him, and there was no conflicting of orders, or clashing of opinions.
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