USA > Maine > History of the First Maine cavalry, 1861-1865, V. 1 > Part 27
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infantry relieved the cavalry, one of the boys who had been enjoying this comfort, drolly remarked : "That's just the way : we never could get a real nice place to have a good game of ball, but the fellows from some other town would come and take it away from us."
Upon being relieved, the cavalry advanced along the Cathar- pen road for some distance, being furiously but harmlessly shelled by the enemy, but the latter had gone too far on the impetus given by that dismounted cavalry charge, and no more fighting was in order that day. The brigade went to the rear at night and went into camp, and next morning started, with the whole corps on Sheridan's raid to the vicinity of Richmond. bidding good-by forever to the " Wilderness," the Rapidan. the Rappahannock, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Bealton Station, Warrenton, and the various localities where they had campaigned so long.
Starting at daylight on the morning of May ninth, and pass- ing around the right flank of Lee's army and not far from it. the corps reached Beaver Dam Station, Hanover County, on the Virginia Central Railroad, at night, having had heavy skirmish- ing all day on the right, though this regiment got none of it. At the station Gen. Custer's brigade of the First division forded the North Anna River and charged, driving the enemy and recapturing nearly four hundred Union prisoners belonging to the Fifth corps, who had been captured while charging rebel breastworks near Todd's Tavern. Three long trains loaded with commissary stores, and a large warehouse filled with flour. bacon and whiskey, were destroyed. It was estimated that a million and a half rations were destroyed at that point. The station was burned, railroad and bridges destroyed for miles. and other damage done. and the command went into bivouac about nine o'clock, the First division being on the south side of the river, and the others, with which was this regiment, on . the north side.
The reveille of the morning of Tuesday, the tenth, was the sound of shells flying thick and fast from a rebel battery posted on the hills in rear of the column. This created no scare : a force was sent to capture the battery, which hushed it up, and
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BEAVER DAM STATION.
the men were allowed to cook and eat breakfast before start- ing on the march. Soon after daylight the column was on the move, the First Maine being given the advance, and Co. G the advance of the regiment. The advance guard was formed in the usual order, one man alone in the advance, then two men a few yards behind him, then a sergeant and four men a few yards away, then a squad of eight men with a sergeant, then the company, then the regiment, and then the column, the dif- ferent bodies being some twenty or thirty yards apart. Beside this arrangement. a corporal and four men in line of skirmishers marched in line with the advance of the column on either flank. always keeping in sight of the advance, and therefore at dis- tances according to circumstances, being nearer the column in a wooded country than where it was open. Scarcely had the advance been formed and got started, when the foremost men saw two or three men and horses by the side of the road at the edge of some woods. A remark was made by one of them : " Can these be our pickets, so near Sheridan's headquarters as this?" to which the other replied: "I shouldn't suppose so." To their surprise the men mounted their horses, fired at the advance, and galloped into the woods. So sudden and unex- pected was this that for a moment the advance could not understand it, and did not have time to return the fire before the enemy was out of sight. Possibly in the formation of the advance they had marched further than they thought; but the impression was that they were close to Gen. Sheridan's head- quarters, and it was impossible for them to realize that these men were the enemy's pickets when they could not believe they were even their own pickets. Lieut. Col. Boothby, who had charge of the advance, rode up and ordered the men to move on as if nothing were there, and to shoot every time one of the enemy showed himself. This order was obeyed, and for a mile or two a running fight was kept up without loss on either side, the advance keeping steadily along, and the retreating remy appearing at intervals long enough to fire and be fired :. Then came a turn in the road, where the advance found ai fontre of some twenty men drawn up in rear of a rail fence on the left of the road, on the brow of a hill. This sight stag-
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
gered them for a moment, but Lieut. Col. Boothby gave the order "Charge !" and the three men in the road, the corporal and four men on the left of the road, and the squad of four under the sergeant, obeyed the order with such spirit that the enemy fled down over the hill. The little force followed till it reached the top of the hill, when it ran into a hornet's nest. finding a much larger force in line on the other side of a ravine. some two hundred yards away. The order was again given to charge, but was not obeyed, the boys thinking they knew bet- ter. However, the squad of eight in charge of the sergeant. Henry Little, came up, and without orders the men dismounted (the fire was too hot for them to remain mounted), sent the horses to the rear, and the squad of a dozen or so took position behind a rail fence, and kept up a lively fire upon the enemy's line, which was as vigorously returning the fire. In the mean- time Col. Smith came up and took command (Lieut. Col. Boothby having been wounded), a portion of the regiment was formed for a charge, a part in line in the field and the remainder in column in the road, and just as the little squad was beginning to get out of ammunition and consequently nervous, swoop came the line over the hill in their front and the column in their rear (as welcome a sight as they ever saw), and the squad stopped work to look. The line charged down the hill and across the ravine, and the enemy waited no longer.
In this charge one of the men managed to run his horse a-straddle of a small tree, just after crossing the ravine, and in his excitement, instead of backing him out, he sat there spurring the animal fearfully, and shouting : "Climb, d-n you, climb!" which somewhat interfered with the solemnity of the occasion.
The regiment lost in this little brush Lieut. Col. Boothby, who received a wound from which he died, a serious loss to the regiment. one man of the advance killed and two wounded. -one severely, -and one or two men wounded in the change. The man killed was Private Charles R. Delano, of Co. G. H. was one of the advance, and started out on the right of the road. - one of the two who rode together, with only the singer man in their front. When the first shot was fired by the rein!
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A SOLDIER'S BURIAL.
tickets the bullet struck in the road in front of him, a short distance away, seeing which he made the remark : "That was meant for me, but there wasn't powder enough behind it." When the advance began firing, his horse became a little nervous and would not keep in place, and he asked his com- rade to change sides with him, saying perhaps his horse would go better on that side of the road, as it was all the time working in that direction. So the two changed places, and continued on in their running fight. When the squad under charge of Sergt. Little rode up, this comrade inquired of George M. Delano (a brother of Charles R.) if any one was hurt, and received the reply : "Charley is killed." This news struck him like a blow, as there flashed before him the remembrance of his dead com- rade's remark at the first fire, and of the fact that they had changed places, by which action his own life had been saved, while his comrade had been killed. Poor George! he was too good a soldier to leave his place in the line in time of action, and rode by the body of his dead brother into the fight, nor left until the sergeant ordered him to go look after his brother. After the skirmish was over, the body was buried by a squad under charge of Sergt. John B. Drake, near a house by the side of the road. The burial was one that will never be for- gotten by any one of the half dozen who were present. Sergt. Drake had found a large box, -a sort of meal-chest, -in the house, and made this into a coffin by kicking out the partitions. The owner of the house protested so strongly against this use of his meal-chest that the sergeant was forced to draw his revolver and threaten to put him into the box, also, if he did not keep still. Chaplain Bartlett made a brief prayer, and the comrades reverently placed the body in. its last resting-place, while all the time the column was marching by and paying no attention to the little funeral. This over, the comrades mounted their horses and followed on with the column, with other things to think of than the comrade they had just buried, who less than an hour before had started out as well as they were, and like whom they themselves might be, as one of them was, before the morrow night. Alas! that many a soldier's burial was even less formal than this.
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Gen. Smith, in a private letter to Lieut. Libby, thus tells the story of this skirmish : -
Gen. Sheridan ordered me to take the advance. move out rapidly, and brush all resistance out of the way. It was known that a force of the enemy held the road that we were to take. Our pickets were out only a short dis- tance. . It was necessary to put out flankers on both flanks. I put Boothby in charge of the advance. while I directed the putting out of flankers, the column being in motion. As soon as the flankers were well out I started to the front, about the time the firing began. I met Boothby going to the rear. accompanied by Chaplain Bartlett. His looks indicated that he was badly hurt. I despatched an orderly to find Surg. Colby, and then hurried to the front, where I found all at a standstill behind a little ridge where Boothby was shot. The enemy was beyond and across a little creek, but within easy range. One man had been killed and two wounded. besides Boothby, before I got there. The ridge was highest to the right of the road, and the enemy was mostly on that side of the road. On the right the road was fenced with rail fence. As soon as I took in the situation I caused the fence to be thrown down, and deployed Myrick's company (K) just behind the ridge. and put Co. G in line behind Myrick's. I put your company (C) in line on the left side of the road, and Co. D in column of fours in the road. Just before we were ready to start two staff officers came up from the rear to find out the cause of the delay. They saw my preparations, and waited to see the result. When I gave the word we all went forward together. Two of the men in Myrick's front were killed-all the others fled. Myrick used revolvers on that occasion - not sabres. We did not lose a man - one man of Co. D was hit slightly in his leg: no other casualty. Myrick had the advance the rest of the day, and I kept along with him, but we did not encounter another Johnny that day.
The column then proceeded, with no further molestation dur- ing the day, crossing the South Anna River at Ground Squirrel bridge (about twenty miles from Richmond), and bivouacking on the south side at night, a portion of the regiment being on picket, and the remainder being allowed to unsaddle, which was something new on a raid, and the boys began to get acquainted with Sheridan.
The enemy had by this time got thoroughly waked up as to the presence of the Union cavalry and its probable mission. and had made great preparations to stop its course. Indeed. it was afterward currently reported that Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. the rebel cavalry general, had invited Jefferson Davis and the Con- federate cabinet to come out and see the Yankee cavalry fall into his trap and be captured. After crossing the river the
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GROUND SQUIRREL BRIDGE.
bridge was burned, as a matter of safety, on the supposition that the river was not fordable. This, however, proved not to be so, as the regiment found to its sorrow the next morning. The regular arrangement for marching at that time was for each division to take the advance one day, the rear the next, and the centre the next, and so continue in regular rotation. while there was the same arrangement of the brigades within the divisions, the regiments within the brigades, and the battal- ions within the regiments. This of course brought the Second division, which had the advance on the tenth, to the rear on the eleventh, and the First Maine to the rear of the division, or rear guard for the whole column.
After a good night's sleep and an early breakfast Wednesday morning, the regiment was sent out to wait till the column had passed, and then take its position at the rear, Capt. Chadbourne being sent to the rear on picket as a necessary precaution. A fine grass plat was chosen for the waiting-point, and the boys. improved their time by grazing their horses, some of them even taking the bridles out for that purpose. Suddenly an order was received for the regiment to go to the support of the pickets, who had been attacked. Proceeding to an open field, a detachment was dismounted and advanced to the picket line as rapidly as possible, while the rest of the regiment remained mounted as support. There was a lively skirmish going on, but the boys had been there but a short time when an order came to rejoin the led horses as quickly as possible. There was a scramble for their horses, and the men had scarcely got mounted before the enemy appeared in three columns, motinted, but a few yards away, in the road and on each side, charging down upon them like so many demons. Col. Smith ordered a volley from the carbines, which was given, and then ordered : "Fours, Right About!" After marching a few steps to the rear and giving the men time to reload, they were again idered about. and gave the rapidly approaching enemy another volley. This was repeated two or three times without effect upon the enemy, and, unfortunately, in the haste of mounting the men had not got back into their places, there had not been time to count off, and the men knew not where they did belong.
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
so that by the time they had wheeled two or three times they were terribly mixed up, the enemy was all in among them, and it is not to be wondered at that the regiment was forced back in some confusion before the impetuous charge of a force out- numbering it three to one. But the boys fought gallantly. though under disadvantages, and won (at how great cost) another name on the battle-flag. Artillery was got into posi- tion and opened, checking the rebel advance, the regiment was rallied, the Sixteenth Pennsylvania regiment came up, and the fight at Ground Squirrel bridge was over.
Chaplain Merrill's account of this fight is as follows : -
Early in the morning word was sent to Gen. Gregg that the enemy was in the rear. Thinking the force to be inconsiderable, he directed Col. Smith, of the First Maine Cavalry, to go back to the Yellow Tavern (Goodall's Tavern according to southern accounts). and guard the rear till the column had passed on, relieving the Tenth New York. On reaching the place the regi- ment was dismounted in the open ground, and Capt. Chadbourne, in com- mand of a battalion, advanced to post the pickets in the woods. But while they were advancing they met the enemy and were forced back to the reserve. Rallying with the reserve, they checked him just in the edge of the woods. The cheek, however, was but momentary. Struck by the whole force of Gordon's brigade, the regiment was forced back. Few of our men had time to mount before the enemy was upon them. Those first mounted instantly charged and pushed them back, whilst the others remounted. No sooner was this done than Col. Smith ordered a charge of the whole line. The incessant rattle of musketry, together with the demoniac yells of the assail- ants and the answering shouts of our own men, however, prevented the order from being generally understood. A portion of Capt. Chadbourne's battalion, together with Cos. L and M, charged with a valor unsurpassed. but after driving the enemy some distance they were compelled in turn to fall back. As they did so Col. Smith was seen in the extreme front, almost alone. Seeing Sergt. (afterwards Capt.) Wilson, he called out to him: " Ser- geant. tell the officers to rally their men, if the number is ever so small. and bring them up." In a few moments there commenced one of the most hotly contested actions of the war, the rebels fighting with terrible fury. and the First Maine boys with the dauntless valor of Roman veterans. Squadron after squadron charged, and fierce and fiercer grew the contest. and near and nearer the main forces of the contending parties, till friend- and foes were repeatedly mixed up, and fought hand to hand. In one of these encounters a rebel colonel made a thrust at Lieut. Boyd, his sabre passing through his sleeve and through his vest. At the same instant a bail from the revolver of a private laid the rebel low -he had fought his last battle. In the first charge that was made a younger brother of Capt. Chad- bourne fell, severely wounded. The men, forced back, yet fighting at every step, tried to take him with them, but were finally compelled to leave him.
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GROUND SQUIRREL BRIDGE.
(He was captured and survived his wounds: after being held a prisoner three months he was paroled and sent to Annapolis, but died seven days after his arrival. - one of the many martyrs to the cause of good govern- ment.) It was a touching sight to see the gallant captain, on that terrible day, fighting under the two-fold inspiration of patriotic and fraternal love - fighting hand to hand to drive back the foe and rescue his wounded brother. Once during the fight he became separated from his men and entirely cut off. Disguised, however, as he was, by smoke and dust, he was not recog- nized. Perceiving this, he at once took a position in the rebel line, and charged with them. Soon after, an opportunity offered to slip out, of which he was not slow to avail himself. To the great joy of his men he returned unharmed. When Gen. Gregg learned the true situation, and saw the retro- grade movement of the regiment, he is said to have been more moved than he had ever been known to be on any other occasion. exclaiming: " My God! is the First Maine coming back ? " Instantly ordering up the artillery, how- ever, the enemy was checked, and the fight at this point ended.
Col. Smith, in the letter to Lieut. Libby, referred to a few pages back, thus speaks of this day's battle : -
The next day, May eleventh, our regiment was assigned to the rear of the whole cavalry corps. The bridge across the river had been destroyed. The whole corps had got well off on the road towards Richmond, and I was about to draw in the pickets and follow, when the pickets were vigorously attacked. Gordon's brigade of cavalry had forded the river at some point above, and gave us an unexpected attack. I dismounted four companies to cover and rescue our pickets. Then I deployed the rest of the regiment. to enable the dismounted men to remount. In the meantime I sent three messengers, one after another, at short intervals, to inform the brigade commander, Col. Gregg, that we were overpowered. He returned answer in each case to "fall back." He had in that case too much confidence in the First Maine. He had never seen it beaten, and thought it could take care of itself, and fall back against any odds. With charge after charge we held that open field. each company becoming more broken and reduced every minute, till we reached the timber, when the entire regiment went to pieces for the first time in its career, and every man took the road for him- self. Then Col. Gregg soon discovered that he had work in hand, and deployed the whole brigade and put the artillery in position, and used it. too. We lost fifty men. My horse was shot early in the fight. but not dis- abled: a ball passed just underneath the skin of his hind leg. setting him to kicking fearfully for a few seconds. while I was under heavy fire. much to my discomfort. At another time I was completely enveloped in a charge by the enemy, and expected to be taken prisoner, but escaped, much to my own surprise. I was covered with dust, and had only eagles on my shoul- ders, without straps. I was not observed by the enemy. I had two revolvers in my holsters, and during the fight I drew one after the other, and fired eleven shots. One barrel missed fire. I could not, or did not, return my sabre, but held it in my bridle hand while I was using my revolvers. I lost
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my field glass. I think the strap must have been shot in two. as it was quite a strong one, that could hardly break. At one time, while in the road. I was at the extreme rear of the regiment, and was firing to the rear at some of the enemy in hot pursuit of us. I had cocked my pistol on one occasion, and turned my head to the rear to look for the enemy. when. in my trepidation, I presume, I discharged my revolver prematurely. I turned my head to the front. and saw one of our own men falling from his saddle. It is possible, if not probable, that my accidental shot killed him. Many others were shooting at the same time, especially the enemy. from behind us; yet I felt quite sure that mine was the fatal shot, and was glad that I did not recognize the man.
The regiment's loss was Capt. Vaughan taken prisoner, Lieut. Libby, of Co. C, wounded. six men killed, fourteen wounded and twenty-nine taken prisoners. Maj. Thaxter's horse was shot under him, and he, thoroughly exhausted by exertion on foot, was in danger of being captured, when Private Isaiah Welch, of Co. L, seeing his situation, galloped up to him, gave him his horse and ran into the woods. The major escaped on the horse, and the brave boy managed to hide in the woods between two logs, where he remained until he found a chance to escape, which he succeeded in doing, and rejoined his company. This was the only instance in the history of the regiment where it was completely broken.
These extracts from a southern account of this engagement, dated " Headquarters Gordon's brigade, Brook church, May 13. 1864," may cause a smile on the part of the men who were there : -
Individual instances of daring are numerous, and we hope not to be invidi- ous in mentioning an instance : In the charge, the Yankee colors at one time being almost within reach, Lieut. Lindsay, of the Fifth North Carolina. dashes at them and grapples with the color bearer. As he reaches for them an expert shift from one hand to the other by the color bearer saves them from his grasp; but with a well plied stroke of the sabre, he almost unhorses the bearer, who, bleeding, reels, but gathers his equilibrium, and, by means of the fleetness of his horse, saves himself with his devoted Yankee bunting. Another instance is also worthy of publicity: Private Brown. of Co. H. Fifth North Carolina Cavalry, a mere strippling, dashes into the heavy ranks of the First Maine regiment and encounters an athletic Yankee captain, who. with a stunning blow with his broad sabre, knocks the lad from his horse: at the same instant the Yankee captain's horse was shot from under him. Just as this brave lad was rising from the ground his eye caught the situation of his antagonist, and raising the butt of his gun, he commenced clubbing
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MARCHING AND FIGIITING.
the Yankee, who lustily cried out for quarter. The brave boy had the satis- fiction of seeing him subsequently shipped to Libby. At this point the Yankees had settled down to have a good time, for a while, at least, from the number of chickens, geese, eggs, etc., they had collected into camp. - some with heads just wrung off, some half picked, while eggs, boiled and unshelled, lay in profusion around. The ladies' pantries had contributed no little to the occasion, as pickle jars and preserve cans lay scattered about around their camp-fires. Amid these spoils also lay a number of dead and wounded Yankees. A remarkable instance of immediate retribution came under our observation on this part of the field. Just at the head of a dead Yankee who had fallen near the roadside, lay a large, fine preserve can, with its rich contents scattered around the unhappy wretch's head. The peculiar cause and circumstance of his death was some subject of remark, when a little North Carolina lad curtly replied, " Ah, boys, he took his sweetened."
In the meantime the advance of the column had been having a hot time with the enemy, and had succeeded in opening the way only after a severe contest, during which Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, commanding the Confederate cavalry, received wounds from which he afterwards died.
But the day's duties were not finished with the morning work. The march was still onward, the Second division was rear guard, and the regiment had its full share of work to do. All day the enemy delayed the advance and harassed the rear, and progress was slow. Several times the regiment dismounted and formed a skirmish line to repel a threatened attack of the enemy, or to prevent a surprise, staying on the line until the column was well out of the way, only to mount, advance a short distance, and again "prepare to fight on foot." But the enemy, though close behind the column and all around it, showed no disposition to risk another such charge as that of the morning, at least on the U'nion rear, but contented himself with watching matters, threat- ening, and occasionally exchanging a few shots.
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