USA > Maine > History of the First Maine cavalry, 1861-1865, V. 1 > Part 33
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318
FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
About dark the regiment went back to near the Gurley farm and went into camp. the men being extremely tired with the hard day's work. Then there was two or three days of picket duty, and then the regiment went into camp on the Jerusalem plank road, five miles south from Petersburg, and here closed the month of August, having marched more than one hundred miles, participated in six distinct actions, and lost forty-nine men killed. wounded. and missing, and twenty-one horses killed and forty-four wounded.
September second the regiment went on a reconnoissance with the brigade, passing out through the infantry line near the Yellow Tavern, on the Vaughan road, and thence moving out on the Poplar Spring road, drove in the rebel pickets and pursued them till they met the enemy in force and forti- fied on the Boydton plank road, when, having accomplished the purpose of the scout, viz., to learn what there was at that point, the force withdrew.1
Then came a couple of weeks of picket duty, which was somewhat dull after the excitement of the previous month, but there was little complaint, as the boys had no objection to rest. On the sixteenth the regiment, with the division, was sent in pursuit of Wade Hampton's cavalry, which, with three brigades of infantry, had made a successful raid on the Union piekets at Sycamore church and captured a large number of cattle. etc. The division reached Stony Creek, fifteen miles south of Petersburg, where the enemy was found in a strong position on the other side of the creek, and a slight skirmish took place. The bridge was impassable, and it was deemed impracticable to ford the stream in the face of the opposing force, so the com- mand returned to camp, having lost two men wounded in the skirmish. On the nineteenth one battalion advanced to Lee's Mills, met and drove in the rebel pickets, and re-established the old picket lines. Then a day or two of rest, and then three days' picket on the Norfolk Railroad.
1 This was just a dash into the enemy's lines, the orders being not to be gone over forty-five minutes. and these were the first troops that went beyond the Weldon Railroad across the Peebles farm. The force ran into the camp of Gen. Deering's brigade of rein ! cavalry, causing a deal of consternation, and as quickly came out again, losing two wounded, and bringing out as prisoner the old man Peebles.
319
FIRST DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CAVALRY.
On the twenty-fourth the men composing the eight com- panies of the First District of Columbia Cavalry which were enlisted in Maine, were formally transferred to this regiment, and so many as were at the time serving with that regiment and were in a condition for service, arrived and were assigned to the different companies. A very large portion, however. were absent, -some in hospitals, some at dismounted camp (called cavalry depot), awaiting horses, and some on detached duty ; but by far the greater number of the absentees were in rebel prisons, captured on Wilson's raid and in the fight at Sycamore church. In this condition of affairs it is not to be wondered at that the names of many men were borne on the transfer rolls and placed on the rolls of this regiment who were at that very time dead, or who died before release from prison. and who never saw the regiment. This transfer at first created considerable ill feeling on the part of the men of both con- mands, especially among the commissioned and non-commis- sioned officers, whose chances of promotion were lessened; and beside this, the old boys of the First Maine were inclined to look upon the new comers with disfavor. But after they had been under fire together this last feeling was entirely overcome. and from that time the men were all members of the First Maine. and all alike jealous of its glory and its fame, and the regiment lost none of its prestige by this addition, while the feeling among the officers gradually grew less, even if it was never entirely obliterated, and the matter of promotion was made as fair as it could possibly be done. The men thus joining the regiment brought with them the famous "sixteen-shooters." which afterwards gave the regiment the reputation among the enemy of being "the regiment which loaded up Sunday and tired all the week."
CHAPTER XIV.
CAMPAIGNS OF THE FIRST DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CAVALRY.
".BAKER'S CAVALRY."-ORIGIN. - REGIMENTAL ORGANIZATION. - HENRY'- RIFLES. - KAUTZ'S FIRST RAID. - FIGHT AT NOTTAWAY BRIDGE. - RETURN TO CITY POINT. - ANOTHER RAID. - ASSIGNED TO GEN. BUTLER'S DEPARTMENT .- TO BERMUDA HUNDRED .- IN FORTIFICATIONS. - UNDER ARTILLERY FIRE .- AN ATTACK AND A REPULSE. - ADVANCE ON PETERS- BURG. - MOUNTED AT LAST. - SECOND ADVANCE ON PETERSBURG. - WILSON'S RAID. - FIGHT AT ROANOKE BRIDGE. - FIGHT AT STONY CREEK. - FIGHT AT REAMS' STATION. - FIGHT AT SYCAMORE CHURCH. - TRANSFER TO THE FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
T HE history of the First District of Columbia Cavalry. from its organization to the time of the transfer of the Maine men belonging thereto to the First Maine Cav- alry, is taken largely from Chaplain Samuel H. Merrill's " Cami- paigns of the First Maine and First District of Columbia . Cavalry," to which has been added such material as the his- torian has been able to collect.
The First District of Columbia Cavalry was originally a single battalion, raised in the District of Columbia, for special duty at the seat of government, under command of Col. L. C. Baker (provost marshal of the War Department), and famil- iarly known as "Baker's Mounted Rangers." To this com- mand eight companies were added in 1863, embracing about eight hundred men enlisted in Maine, so that it became, to this extent, a Maine organization.
Co. D. numbering one hundred and forty men, under com- mand of Capt. J. W. Cloudman, left Augusta on the twenty- second day of October, 1863, and arrived at Camp Baker, in Washington, on the twenty-fifth. The three officers of this company were commissioned by the President of the United States, while those of the other companies from Maine were commissioned by the governor of Maine. A few days after it-
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MARCHING AND SCOUTING.
arrival in Washington the company was ordered to Anandale. ten miles west of Alexandria, where it remained on duty, under command of Lieut. Howe, till the twenty-seventh of January, when it was ordered with the battalion to Yorktown. Embark-' ing on board the steamer "Conqueror," it arrived at Yorktown, on the twenty-eighth, and went into camp about two miles from the city, on the bank of the beautiful York River. A morning so summer like and scenery so charming, few of the. men had ever seen before in midwinter. The next day they moved about eight miles west, and went into camp three miles from Wil- liamsburg. January thirtieth, at daybreak, the bugle sounded " Boots and saddles !" and in half an hour they were off on a raid. The men marched about twelve miles, and returned to camp with nothing of special interest to report. An expedition was made to Bottom bridge, on the Chickahominy, twelve miles from Richmond, on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth of Feb- ruary, which will not soon be forgotten by the men who partici- pated in it. They did little fighting, but much hard work. From the time they left camp, on the fifth, till they returned, on the eighth, they were hardly out of the saddle. Three days later the battalion was ordered to Newport News, on the James River, a distance of twenty-five miles. On the nineteenth they moved out on a scouting expedition, but had not proceeded far when an order was received to return and be ready in one hour to take transports for Norfolk, where they arrived the next morning. From this point they were ordered to Great bridge, on the. Elizabeth River, ten miles south of Norfolk. The weather at Newport News, and during this day's march, has been spoken of by the men as the coldest experienced during their whole term of military service. On Sunday, the twenty- first, Lieut. Howe marched for Pungo bridge, in command of Cos. D and E, to relieve another regiment. The march of twenty-five miles through the enemy's country, intersected by unbridged streams and swamps, and infested by guerillas, was slow and tedious, consuming two days. On the twenty-second they relieved the Tenth New York Cavalry, and remained on duty, well worked and well fed, till the first of March, when they were ordered to Deep Creek, south of Norfolk, on the borders of the Dismal swamp.
جدار البتحب .T
322
FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
The remaining seven companies from Maine were mustered into the service of the United States at Augusta, February 8. 1864. Two days later, Co. F, Capt. Sanford commanding. left Augusta for Washington. Reaching Camp Baker, a short distance east of Capitol Hill, on the fourteenth, they found comfortable barracks. Two days later they were mounted, and from this time till the seventh of April, a part of each day was spent in drilling. This company was followed, on the twenty-ninth, by the remaining six companies.
The regiment was organized as follows : -
Colonel, L. C. BAKER, Washington; Lieutenant Colonel, E. J. CONGER: Major, BAKER; Major. J. W. CLOUDMAN, Stetson, Maine: Major, D. S. CURTIS, Wisconsin: Adjutant. SPRAGUE: Quartermaster, BAKER, LeRoy. N. Y .; Surgeon, GEORGE. J. NORTHROP, Portland, Maine; Chaplain, SAM- UEL HI. MERRILL, Portland: Sergeant Major. HOWARD; Quartermaster Sergeant, MILLER; Commissary, WOLFER; Hospital Steward, LOVEJOY. Meredith, N. H; Chief Musician, LEVI E. BIGELOW, Skowhegan, Maine.
CO. A. - Captain, HAMILTON; First Lieutenant, WILKINS; Second Lieu- tenant, CLARK.
CO. B. - Captain, MCNAMARA; First Lieutenant, GEORGE A. DICKSON: Second Lieutenant, WOLFER.
CO. C. - Captain, GEORGE GRIFFIN; First Lieutenant, McBRIDE; Second Lieutenant, GOFF.
CO. D. - Captain, WILLIAM S. HOWE, Stetson, Maine; Second Lieuten- ant, ELI PARKMAN, Charleston.
CO. E. - Captain. T. C. SPEARS, New York; First Lieutenant, JACKSON: Second Lieutenant, ALBERT SPAULDING, Newport, Maine.
CO. F. - Captain, EDWARD T. SANFORD, Warren, Maine; First Lieuten- ant, JAMES MAGUIRE, Portland, Maine; Second Lieutenant, JAMES F. MCCUSICK, Warren, Maine.
CO. G. - Captain, THOMAS C. WEBBER, Gorham, Maine; First Lieuten- ant. DANIEL F. SARGENT. Brewer, Maine; Second Lieutenant, LEANDER M. COMINS, Lincoln, Maine.
CO. H. - Captain, ANDREW M. BESSON, Oldtown, Maine; First Lieuten- ant, ZEBULON B. BLETHEN, Lewiston, Maine; Second Lieutenant, SYLVA- NUS R. JACKSON. Foxcroft. Maine.
CO. I. - Captain, ROBERT F. DYER. Augusta. Maine: First Lieutenant. JAMES H. RUSSELL, Houlton, Maine; Second Lieutenant. JOSEPH. W. LEE. Calais, Maine.
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KAUTZ'S FIRST, RAID.
CO. K. - Captain, JOHN W. FREESE, Bangor. Maine; First Lieutenant. VINCENT MOUNTFORT, Bowdoin, Maine; Sont Lieutenant, CORYDON B. LAKIN, Stetson, Maine.
CO. L. - Captain. CHARLES C. CHASE. Portland, Maine; Second Lieuten- ant, WILLIAM S. FARWELL, Rockland, Maine.
Co. M was subsequently organized and officered as fol- lows: -
CO. M. - Captain, DANIEL F. SARGENT, Brewer, promoted from Co. G; First Lieutenant, EDWARD P. MERRILL, Portland, Maine; Second Lieuten- unt, HENRY D. FULLER, Corinth, Maine.
This regiment was the only regiment in the Army of the Potomac armed with Henry's repeating rifle. The peculiar- ity of this gun was, that it would fire sixteen shots without reloading. The subsequent history of this regiment proved it to be a terribly effective weapon. Fifteen shots could be given with it in ten seconds. Thus a regiment of one thousand men could fire fifteen thousand shots in ten seconds.
On the sixteenth of February Co. F was mounted, and remained at Camp Baker, engaged in daily drilling, until the seventh of April. At that date it left Washington for Norfolk, and the next day joined a squadron of the old battalion, on picket at Great bridge. On the fourteenth the company marched to Deep Creek, where it was joined by three com- panies of the old battalion, already referred to as having been on picket duty at Newport News. These companies remained here on picket duty until the organization of the cavalry division, under Gen. Kautz, two weeks later.
On the fifth of May they marched with the cavalry division under Kautz, on his first raid. The object of these raids was to weaken the enemy by destroying public property, and by drawing off detachments in pursuit. In this movement Gen. Kautz had passed through Suffolk and crossed the Blackwater (where his march could have been easily arrested by destroying the bridge), before the enemy became aware of his purpose. At half-past two o'clock, on the afternoon of the seventh, he had marched a distance of seventy miles, and struck the Weldon Railroad just in time to intercept a body of rebel
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
troops on their way to Petersburg. A thunder-bolt from a clear sky could hardly have been more astounding to the enemy. Instantly he was attacked. In an incredibly short time the action was over. the enemy was whipped, the railroad was cut. the public buildings were in flames, and the gallant Kautz was again on his march, with some sixty prisoners in his train.
Turning southward, the march was continued to the point where the railroad crosses the Nottaway River. Here an obsti- nately contested fight took place, in which the gallant Lieut. Jackson, of Co. E, fell mortally wounded. Here, too, fell a brave private, Samuel P. Delaite. In this engagement, as in others, the bravery of the men, and the efficiency of their six- teen shooters, were put to the proof. Maj. Curtis was ordered to deploy his battalion as skirmishers, and charge a much larger force of the enemy along the railroad, near a bridge. It was a covered bridge, and the rebels soon ran to it for shelter. The brave boys charged boldly after them, driving them through and into their fortifications on the other side, killing some, and taking several prisoners, with small loss. Some of the prison- ers said they thought the Yankees had a whole army, from the way the bullets flew. One lieutenant asked, "Do you load up over night and then fire all day?" He said he thought. by the way the bullets came into the bridge, they must have been fired by the basketful. The result of the affair was that the bridge was burned, and Kautz was again on the march with forty more rebel prisoners.
The immediate object of the expedition having been accom- plished, the command marched to City Point. Crossing the Appomattox on the tenth, they encamped for a day near Gen. Butler's headquarters. Twenty-four hours, however, had not elapsed when the division moved again on another raid, which proved to be one of the most hazardous and effective of the war. During the time that Gen. Butler's forces were engaged with the enemy, between Bermuda Hundred and Richmond. Gen. Kautz adroitly slipped through the lines, and again boldly dashed into the heart of Dixie. He passed rapidly through Chesterfield County, pausing at the court house only long enough to open the jail and liberate two prisoners. Leaving
325 .
.
KAUTZ'S SECOND RAID.
the court house, the column moved on to Coalfield Station. on the Danville Railroad, thirteen miles west from Richmond. On the arrival of the troops, at about half-past ten in the even- ing, the inhabitants were surprised and alarmed quite out of their propriety. That the Yankees should have had the audac- ity to visit that section seemed absolutely incomprehensible. But there was no remedy. Instantly guards were posted on all the roads leading to and from Petersburg and Richmond, and the work of the hour was hardly begun before it was ended. No harm was done to persons or to private property, but the railroad was destroyed, the telegraph came down, and trains of cars, depot buildings, and large quantities of government stores went up in smoke. On the twelfth, the "history of this affair" repeated itself at Black's and White's Station, on the South Side Railroad, thirty miles west from Petersburg, and forty from Coalfield Station. The railroad was torn up and the telegraph torn down, while the depot buildings, together with large quan- tities of corn, flour, tobacco, salt, and other articles designed for the rebel army, were subjected to the action of the fire, and resolved into their original elements. Wellville Station, five miles east on the same railroad. a few hours later shared a similar fate. The column now moved in the direction of Belle- field, on the Weldon Railroad. When within two miles of that place, Gen. Kautz learned that the enemy was in force to receive him. As his object was not so much to fight as to weaken the enemy, by interrupting his communications and destroying his supplies, he avoided an engagement, turning to the left from Bellefield, and marching via Jarrett's Station, to the Nottaway River.
When the advance reached Freeman's bridge, on this river, at ten o'clock in the evening, it was discovered that the whole command was in a trap. One span of the bridge, forty feet in length, had been cut out. The river for a considerable dis- tance was unfordable. The fords above and below were strongly guarded, and the enemy was gathering in force in the rear. . The position was not a desirable one. The river must be crossed. or a battle must be fought on the enemy's chosen ground, where little was to be gained, but where everything
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
must be hazarded. A major of a New York regiment, com- manding the advance, declared that the bridge could not be made passable before the afternoon of the next day. But on the assurance of Capt. Howe that it could be done in a much shorter time, Co. D was ordered up and told what was wanted. Working parties were instantly organized. In a short time tall pines in the neighboring woods had fallen before the axes of one party, and stalwart men, by means of the drag ropes of a battery, had drawn them out. Another party had in the meantime crossed the river on a little float they had fortunately found, and stood on the remaining part of the bridge on the other side. The ropes were thrown to them, and the stringers were drawn across the chasm and placed in position. To cover them with rails was but the work of a few moments, and in less than three hours from the time the Maine boys began the work it was completed, and the column passed on in safety.
The division reached. City Point on the nineteenth. During the last nine days it marched on an average twenty hours out of the twenty-four, leaving only four hours for rest. It will hardly be believed that in some instances hunger compelled the men to eat raw corn, like their horses, but such was the fact. On this raid they cut the Richmond and Danville and South Side Rail- roads in six different places, and inflicted an amount of damage upon the enemy's communications and army stores, which told severely upon them afterwards. On their arrival at City Point. both men and horses were much exhausted. On the twentieth the command crossed again to Bermuda Hundred, and went into camp about a mile from the river.
In the services so far narrated, only two companies from Maine. viz., D and F. participated. The other six companies remained in Camp Baker, under command of Lieut. Col. Conger. Previous to their arrival the regiment had been assigned to Gen. Butler's department. On the twelfth of May these six companies, still unmounted, and having drilled only on foot. were ordered to Fortress Monroe. Leaving Washington the next afternoon on board of transports, after touching at Fort- ress Monroe they proceeded to Norfolk. and reporting to Gen. Shepley, were ordered to Portsmouth, where they disembarked and went into camp in the rear of the town.
327
AT BERMUDA HUNDRED.
On the morning of May twenty-second they re-embarked on board the transport steamer " Monahanset," and proceeded up the James River. Although the day was bright and clear, the men were so crowded and uncomfortable that it robbed the trip of whatever enjoyment there might have been in it. The water the boys had to drink was of a reddish color, called "swamp water." and though said to be good, they partook of it sparingly. At night the transport anchored near Fort Powhattan, under the guns of the iron clad " Atlanta," the strange sea monster which had been captured from the enemy, and which some of the boys said looked like a huge turtle on a raft, "with his back up." The next morning they proceeded up the river and landed at Bermuda Hundred, and went into camp about a mile from the landing, by the side of the other six companies. Here, for the first time, all the companies of the regiment were together, one half mounted and the other half dismounted. On the twenty-fourth four companies, dismounted, were ordered to City Point, to take the place of a detachment of troops that had been sent to Fort Powhattan, which Fitz Hugh Lee had attacked; but the enemy had been gallantly repulsed by the colored troops before the re-enforcements arrived, and the ser- vices of this battalion were not required, so it returned to Bermuda Hundred.
At this point the Appomattox River unites with the James River, forming a point of land shaped something like a letter V. On the fifth of May Gen. Butler had taken possession of this point, and had built a line of works from near Point of Rocks, several miles up the Appomattox River, across to near Dutch Gap, on the James River, a distance of about five miles, and was holding the line with a force of infantry and artillery. On the twenty-fifth a portion of this infantry was ordered to proceed to the White House to co-operate with the Army of the Potomac. and this regiment, mounted and dismounted, was ordered to the front to man the earthworks. The position of the regiment was about midway of the line between the two rivers. in an open field and on level ground. The tents were pitched a few rods in the rear of the breastworks, and with no protection from the shot and shell of the enemy. The
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FIRST MAINE CAVALRY.
enemy held a formidable line of works in the front, varying in distance from half a mile to two miles. Directly in front of the camp, at the distance of about forty rods from the main line of works, a thick wood prevented the men from seeing the enemy's position. A little to the right the country was open. and there, on an eminence some eighty rods in advance of the Union breastworks, was a small redoubt, known as Fort Pride. defended by a section of a battery, and commanded by Capt. Pride, an artillery officer, from whom it took its name. Co. M, Capt. Sargent commanding, was stationed in this fort as an artillery support. A portion of the regiment was constantly on picket in front of the main line of works. The regiment was to hold this line. It was here that the six companies that recently reached the front loaded their pieces for action for the first time, and it was here that the pluck of the men and the efficiency of their guns were first put to the test.
The enemy shelled them nearly every day from behind his breastworks, and though the regiment received no damage, still a vivid recollection is retained of the shelling. The guns of the enemy on a part of his line were trained on the redoubt, and when the shells failed, as they often did, to explode at the point intended, they came directly into the camp of this regiment. the Whitworth whistling with a sound like that produced by the wing of a pigeon swiftly cutting the air, - others screaming overhead, or tearing up the ground. In one instance the fusee of a shell was blown out and struck a colored boy in the face. but inflicted no serious injury. Some of the boys proposed to wash his face, to see if the fright had not bleached him. The humor of these people is irrepressible. When the fusee whisked across this fellow's face he opened his eyes wide, and seeing a friend, exclaimed : "By golly, Bill, did you see dat ar snipe ?" " Yah, yah, yah," exclaimed the other, "you nigger. I reckon you wouldn't like to have dat ar snipe pick you."
At three o'clock on the morning of the twenty-eighth the rebels opened with artillery all along the line, and the whole force was ordered to "fall in." It was supposed they were about to assault the works. Drawn up for the first time in close line of battle, a few paces from the breastworks, in antici-
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AT BERMUDA HUNDRED.
pation of a bloody conflict. the whole bearing of the men was such as to make their gallant commander proud of them. When all was ready, the intrepid Col. Conger mounted on old "Barney," as his war horse was called, the inevitable pipe in mouth, puffing as quietly as if sitting at his tent door. Chaplain Merrill passed along in front of the line, with words of cheer to the men. As he told them what was expected of them, and that he trusted they would give a good account of themselves in the coming conflict, they answered with the utmost enthusiasm : " We will, chaplain, we will; that is what we came here for. We will do it." The expected assault, however, was not made, and three hours later they returned to their quarters.
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