USA > Maine > The history of Maine, from the earliest discovery of the region by the Northmen until the present time; including a narrative of the voyages and explorations of the early adventurers, the manners and customs of the Indian tribes, the hardships of the first settlers, etc > Part 41
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In the autumn of 1861, the State of Maine raised six batter- ies of mounted light artillery. Each battery was an independ- ant organization. We can but briefly refer to their patriotic devotion to the salvation of their country through fields of
1 Maine in the War, p. 354.
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blood. Of the First Battery, Edward W. Thompson of Bruns- wick was captain. It was despatched at once to Ship Island, and thence to New Orleans. With one hundred and forty-nine men, the battery was stationed about six miles from the city. It was a very sickly region. In one month seventy men either died or were disabled. Having been attached to Gen. Weit- zel's corps, they were transported to Donaldsonville, where, with great gallantry, they captured a twelve-pounder from the rebels, which the battery was allowed to retain. They had, however, already lost so many men that a detachment of infantry was assigned to them.
Col. Thompson's health utterly failed him. He resigned his post, and was succeeded by Albert W. Bradford of Eastport. Skirmishes and battles, wounds, woe, and death, rapidly fol- lowed. At Port Hudson the battery was hotly engaged. After the fall of Port Hudson, the battery was moved in transports to Donaldsonville. Here again the troops passed through an awful scene of battle and blood. Almost every day now had its record of fatiguing marches and sanguinary conflicts. Re- turning to the North, the men re-enlisted, and fought in Virginia more battles than can well be counted.
The Second Maine Mounted Battery had Davis Tillson of Rockland for captain. He was a West Point graduate, and had been adjutant-general of Maine. The troops repaired to Washington, and went into camp on Capitol Hill. Soon, how- ever, the battery was sent to Manassas, and entered upon a series of constant, deadly battles, with almost invariably victo- rious results. But in war heavy blows must be received, as well as given. Horses were shot, guns dismounted, men wounded and killed ; but still the bleeding and exhausted battery held on its way until the victory was won. Capt. Tillson was soon promoted, and was succeeded in the command by Capt. James A. Hall of Damariscotta, who was followed by Lieut. Ulmer, and he was followed by Lieut. Albert F. Thomas.
The Third Mounted Battery was rendezvoused in Augusta, under James G. Swett of Brewer as captain. , After spending a little time at Capitol Hill, it was embarked for Alexan- dria, Va., to guard the rubber pontoons. Passing through
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various changes, it became at length attached to the First Maine Heavy Artillery, and was stationed for the defence of Wash- ington. The reader would weary of a minute recital of the skirmishes and battles in which it engaged, of the losses which it encountered, and of the victories which it won.
But nothing can give one a more impressive idea of the terri- ble energies of this rebellion, than to reflect that the wonderful efforts which Maine put forth were rivalled by every loyal State in the Union. Dreadful was the war which we waged with England for the establishment of our nationality ; but in- finitely more terrible was the war in which we engaged with foul rebellion, that the nationality which had cost us so dear might be perpetuated. For a long time the battery was almost. daily contending with the batteries of the enemy. When the. battery was withdrawn from the lines before Petersburg, the chief of artillery commended in high terms the military disci- pline, the neatness, order, and efficiency, with which all its duties had been performed.
The Fourth Mounted Battery was commanded by O'Neil W. Robinson of Bethel. Capt. Robinson was a graduate of Bow-, doin College, and a lawyer by profession. The battery was first stationed at Fort Ramsey, seven miles from Alexandria, in Virginia. The history of this battery was essentially like that of the others. Its theatre of action was Virginia ; and it had scarcely any respite from fatiguing marches and deadly bom- bardments. But few of those who originally enlisted returned to their homes to enjoy the fruits of the victories they had won.
These young men, from the comfortable homes and peaceful industries of Maine, had but just entered the valley of the Shenandoah, when they were placed under the cross-fire of two rebel batteries in the battle of Cedar Run. In that awful scene of thunder roar and shrieking shells, as the ground was ploughed by cannon-balls, as horses were shot, guns dismounted, and the dying and dead were falling around, the noble young men, the pride of their friends and the hope of the State, maintained their position with invincible courage. Not a man flinched from his post. There were several changes in the command, from promotions and the other vicissitudes of a campaign.
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The Fifth Mounted Battery was raised at large. George F. Leppien of Portland was intrusted with the command. He was admirably qualified for the responsible duty; for he had been educated in the best German universities, had spent five years in a military school in Prussia, and had already held a lieutenant's commission in a Pennsylvania battery. These men were very promptly led forward to the front, where the battles were raging in the valley of the Shenandoah. At the battle of Fredericksburg, this battery was exposed to the heaviest cannonade of the day ; and the men won golden opin- ions for their unflinching courage, their accuracy of aim, and their rapidity of fire. At the inexplicable disaster at Chancel- lorsville, the battery was exposed to a terribly destructive fire from three rebel batteries. There they stood effectively work- ing their guns, and holding a large body of infantry in check, until Capt. Leppien was struck down by a mortal wound ; both of the lieutenants, Greenlief T. Stevens of Augusta, and Adel- bert B. Twitchell of Bethel, were severely wounded ; six men were killed outright, twenty-two were wounded and prostrate in their blood, forty horses were either killed or disabled, and their ammunition was exhausted. Then, by the aid of infantry supports, the guns were dragged off. It is hard to forgive those rebels, who, without the slightest justifiable cause, plunged our country into so deadly a war, sending lamentation and mourn- ing to thousands of once happy homes.
Again at Gettysburg this heroic battery met with appalling losses and sufferings, and performed deeds of daring which won for them great admiration. For the second time the battery was left with but one officer not wounded. Capt. Hunt, who had succeeded Capt. Leppien, Was severely wounded on the first of this three-days' battle. And thus the dreadful days came and went with slaughter, wounds, anguish, death. We hope there is somewhere reward for those noble men who thus suffered and died for us. Had they failed, who can imagine the disasters without end which would have befallen our dis- membered land ?
CHAPTER XXVII.
MAINE IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, CONTINUED. -
Battle of Cedar Mountain-Bivouacking in the Rain-Testimony of Gen. Burnside -Scenes at Port Hudson - Arlington Heights - Campaigning in the South - Patriotism of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment - Toilsome March -Battle at Marianna - Ravages of Sickness- Summary of the Efforts of Maine - Major-Gen. O. O. Howard at Gettysburg-Major-Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain at the Surrender of Lee.
T HE Sixth Mounted Battery, raised by Maine, was composed chiefly of young men from the counties of York, Waldo, and Aroostook. Freeman McGilvery of Stockton was captain. The battery was sent to the aid of the army of Virginia. Gen. Banks, with six thousand men, was endeavoring to arrest the march of Stonewall Jackson, who had thirty thousand under his command. Both the Fourth and Sixth Maine Batteries were brought into action at Cedar Mountain. Here the Sixth first experienced the terrors and toils of battle. For six hours the deadly fight- ing raged. Inexperienced as they were in the horrors of war, they stood at their posts so manfully, repelling repeated charges, that Gen. Augur, to whose division the battery was attached, congratulated Capt. McGilvery on his gallant conduct, and said that the battery was the means of repelling the assaults on the left flank, and had thus saved the division from destruction.
A retreat to the Rappahannock was necessary. The little band, pressed by out-numbering foes, marching and counter- marching, fought night and day, living upon half rations, and with scarcely a moment for rest. We cannot follow this battery in its heroic career of almost incessant battles.
Capt. McGilvery received deserved promotion; and Edwin B. Dow of Portland was intrusted with the command. At
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Gettysburg the Sixth performed very efficient service. Though it suffered severely, it persistently held its position, and was highly complimented by Gens. Tyler and Hunt for its gallantry. Lieut. Rogers succeeded Capt. Dow in command of the battery.
'We now return to the regiments. Maine had already fur- nished the general government with fifteen regiments ; and it is safe to say that none better, in the courage and hardihood of the men and their high-toned character, had entered the service. In the year 1862, the State was called upon for more men, and the Sixteenth Regiment of infantry was organized. Asa Wildes of Skowhegan was colonel.
Sadly yet resolutely these young men left well-tilled farms and comfortable homes, their workshops and mills, and all the charms of peaceful domestic life, for the hazards and sufferings of war. They were men of peace. Dire necessity alone could induce them to exchange their homes for the tented field. The regiment, like many others, was mustered into the United States service by Major J. W. T. Gardiner.
The troops were sent immediately to Washington; and, crossing the Potomac by Long Bridge, encamped on Arlington Heights, the former residence of the very able and very unhappy rebel general, Robert E. Lee. Their tents were scarcely reared when they were ordered to the front, to meet the rebels who had crossed the Potomac, and were threatening Pennsylvania. It was September. The nights were chill, and there were frequent storms. But the regiment had moved so rapidly that it was very poorly supplied with clothing or camp equipage. The men encamped on the Potomac, about three miles west of Sharpsburg. Their only shelter was such as they could con- struct from boughs of trees and cornstalks. But these would neither exclude wind nor rain. All their baggage remained in Washington. Their rations were poor and insufficient.
The regiment had dwindled to seven hundred men. They had no change of clothing, no medicine. Terrible discomfort prevailed, with filth and vermin. There must have been great incapacity somewhere to have allowed such a state of things to exist. Two hundred and fifty were on the sick-list. Many died. Exposure, scanty food, and general wretchedness were more fatal than the bullets of the foe could have been.
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Under such deplorable circumstances, the Sixteenth received marching orders. In a pouring rain they broke camp, and after a weary march halted for the night in the woods. It was an awful night. The rain fell in torrents. An almost wintry gale pierced their thin clothing. There was no shelter. Camp-fires could not be built. The bitter cold and general wretchedness prevented all sleep. The sufferings of that night will never be forgotten by those who endured them. In a long and woful march they reached Warrington, on the 7th of November, in a heavy snow-storm.
At length the knapsacks and overcoats of the regiment arrived, and the despondency into which the men had been plunged was in some degree dispelled. A terrible battle was fought at Fredericksburg. These worn and wasted men seemed as regardless of shells and bullets as if they were snowflakes. They entered the field, swept by the storm of war, about four hundred and fifty in number. Two hundred and twenty-six were either killed or wounded. Gen. Burnside, who was in command of the army, said, " Whatever honor we can claim in that contest was won by the Maine men."
These hardships were terrible. The men had been so enfeebled by sickness that nearly every wounded man died. The regiment had dwindled down to forty men. A hundred and sixty recruits were sent to add to their numbers. There seemed to be no end to the sufferings of this regiment. The nights became wintry cold. There were long marches through mud and rain, and bivouacking almost supperless upon the bleak, unsheltered fields.
Napoleon said that a man who is intrusted with the lives of his fellow-men, in a military campaign, should examine him- self to see if he is equal to such immense responsibilities. There was no intentional neglect in this case, but certainly there was great incapacity somewhere. At length these suffer- ing patriots reached winter-quarters, and enjoyed a little rest. But soon again the turmoil and carnage of almost ceaseless battle were recommenced. We can only give the final result. The numbers originally forming the regiment, and those sent to re-enforce it, amounted to two thousand and ninety-seven. Of
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these the total loss by the casualties of the campaigns numbered twelve hundred and ten.
The Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry was mainly from the counties of York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Oxford. Thomas A. Roberts of Portland was colonel. It was speedily sent to the battle-fields of Virginia. At Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and many other fields of carnage, they fought with valor which proved their readiness to die for their country.
And so it was with the Eighteenth Regiment, under Col. Daniel Chapin of Bangor ; the Nineteenth, under Col. Frederick- D. Sewall of Bath ; and the Twentieth, under Col. Adelbert Ames of Rockland. Joshua L. Chamberlain of Bowdoin Col- lege, Brunswick, was lieutenant-colonel. Upon the promotion of Col. Ames, Col. Chamberlain took the command. His gallantry speedily caused him to be promoted by Grant, on the field where he was wounded, to the rank of brigadier-general. Adelbert Ames was also appointed brigadier-general, at the request of Gens. Hooker, Meade, and Howard, for great hero- ism displayed at Chancellorsville. To record the achievements of these regiments would be but to repeat what has already been written. They passed through the same scenes of weary marches, cold bivouacs on rain-drenched fields, and terrible battles.
The Twenty-First Regiment had Elijah D. Johnson of Lewis- ton for its colonel. It was sent far away to the marshes and the bayous of the extreme South, where sickness was more to be feared than bullet or bayonet. Though wasted by sickness, it did good service at the siege of Port Hudson. In one assault it lost, in killed and wounded, sixty in less than half an hour. The survivors of the regiment were present at the sur- render of the fort. Their term of service having expired, they were transported home. The fame of their heroism had gone before them, and they received a continuous ovation along the route.
The Twenty-Second Regiment was rendezvoused at Bangor. Henry Crosby of Hampden was colonel. These troops were sent, by the way of Washington and Fortress Monroe, to New
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Orleans. Thence it ascended the river to take part in the terrible struggle raging around Port Hudson. And here we have but the same story to tell of toil, exhaustion, wounds, death, and the final victory of those who survived these awful scenes.
The Twenty-Third Regiment was organized under Col. William Wirt Virgin of Norway. The young men were generally from Androscoggin and Oxford Counties. It is said, that morally and intellectually this regiment was composed of perhaps the best set of men who had thus far left the State. These troops spent most of their time in guarding Washington. Their labors were very severe, in digging rifle-pits and redoubts, building barricades, and in performing picket duty. Under these toils and exposure about fifty died during the ten months the regiment was in service.
The Twenty-Fourth Regiment was organized at Augusta. George M. Atwood of Gardiner was colonel. Their career was indeed an arduous one. They were sent to the unhealthy South, and to the unintermitted toils which attended the siege of Port Hudson. Nine hundred of the stalwart sons of Maine left Augusta. - At the end of the year for which they enlisted but five hundred and seventy returned; and yet not one was killed in battle.
The Twenty-Fifth Regiment, like several others, enlisted for nine months' service. Francis Fessenden of Portland was colonel. The regiment numbered nine hundred and ninety- three men. It rendezvoused at Portland, and first repaired to Capitol Hill, in Washington. Here it was assigned to the third brigade of Casey's division, and Col. Fessenden was placed in command of the brigade. In a furious storm the troops were removed to Arlington Heights. Here several months were spent in severe labor, guarding Long Bridge, and constructing fascines, gabions, magazines, and bomb-proofs. Though the regiment participated in no engagement, it per- formed the arduous and responsible duties which were assigned to it with great fidelity, and was greeted on its return with warm encomiums.
The Twenty-Sixth Regiment was raised mainly in the coun-
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ties of Knox, Hancock, and Waldo. Bangor was its place of rendezvous, and Nathaniel H. Hubbard of Winterport was its colonel. These troops were first sent to Arlington Heights, then to Fortress Monroe, then to Newport News, then in a magnificent fleet to Ship Island, then to New Orleans, then to Baton Rouge. Here commenced the dull routine of camp-life. After a delay of two months the Twenty-Sixth, with other forces, was put in motion on the march to Port Hudson. Hav- ing accomplished the object of this expedition, they returned to Baton Rouge, and there embarked on a river steamer, and descended sixty miles to Donaldsonville. From this point they took up their line of march to Thibodeaux, thirty-six miles west of the Mississippi. Thence the troops were transported by rail to Brashear City. Upon this expedition the regiment engaged in the battle of Irish Bend. It was a hard-fought conflict, amidst scenes of sublimity and terror which deserve minute record. In this deadly struggle the regiment lost sixty- eight men out of three hundred. From the blood-stained field the troops ascended the Bayou Teche to the Red River.
On the 26th of May they returned to Brashear City, after a bold, fatiguing, perilous campaign of forty-three days, beneath the blaze of an almost meridian sun. They proceeded to Port Hudson, and took gallant part in the siege until the rebels surrendered. Having thus performed their engagements, they ascended the river to Cairo, and thence home. In this gallant expedition of nine months two hundred of the noble sons of Maine were lost.
The Twenty-Seventh Regiment was mainly from York County, and was rendezvoused at Portland. Rufus P. Tapley of Saco was colonel. Its first destination was Central Vir- ginia. Through a severe winter the regiment remained, guard- ing, much of the time, a picket-line eight miles long. Col. Tapley was succeeded by Lieut .- Col. Wentworth. This was the most anxious hour of the war. The rebel Gen. Lee, with his immense forces, was moving up for the invasion of Pennsyl- vania. Incendiaries were crowding our Northern cities. Trai- tors in the North were openly avowing sympathy with the Southern rebellion. Want of confidence in the commander of
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the Union army rendered a change necessary. All the old troops had been sent forward to oppose the exultant foe. The national heart was oppressed with anxiety. Washington was left exposed. The term for which this regiment had enlisted had expired.
The President and the Secretary of War entreated the Twenty-Seventh to remain for the protection of the capital. It was a remarkable regiment. Gentlemen from each of the liberal professions were in its ranks, and farmers and mechanics, who were making heavy pecuniary sacrifices by their absence from their homes. They remained. The battle of Gettysburg was fought ; and the dark cloud of peril passed away. Greeted with benedictions in Washington, these patriotic troops were received at home with blessings. The regiment left Maine nine hundred and forty-nine strong, and had never less than seven hundred and forty ready for duty. Medals were awarded to the men by the War Department, for serving beyond the term for their enlistment.
The Twenty-Eighth Regiment was under Ephraim W. Wood- man of Wilton, colonel. They proceeded first to New York, and were quartered one night in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, where Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and prominent members of his church assisted in nursing the sick. After spending a short time in that vicinity, the troops were sent to New Orleans by the way of Fortress Monroe. It would be difficult to describe their vast variety of marchings and counter-marchings, their skirmishes, and the innumerable arduous toils which they performed. Some of the conflicts in which they engaged were as desperately fought as any during the war.
The Twenty-Ninth Regiment was rendezvoused at Augusta. George L. Neal of Norway was colonel. It was sent immedi- ately to New Orleans. These troops, many of whom had previously enlisted for nine months, entered almost immediately upon a series of bloody battles. In the sanguinary conflict of Pleasant Hill they won a signal victory. Col. Beal was placed in command of a brigade. On one expedition the troops marched four hundred miles. They were at one time sixty hours without sleep, and with but little food ; and during that time they marched fifty-six miles, and fought two battles.
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Having performed wondrous deeds of toil and gallantry in the far South, the regiment was sent back to Virginia, and took part in the conflicts which were raging there, until the term of its service had expired.
The Thirtieth Regiment of infantry had in its ranks quite a number of experienced soldiers. Francis Fessenden of Portland was colonel. It sailed, in the steamship " Merrimac," from Port- land for New Orleans. Sickness pervaded the ranks. They marched one hundred and sixty miles, over the marshy lands of Louisiana, to Natchitoches. They encountered sleet and drench- ing rain-storms, with rough and miry roads. Not a few dropped . by the wayside, utterly exhausted, and were captured by the enemy. Skirmishes and battles ensued, with incidents of chival- ric courage, which we have no space to describe.
Between the 15th of March and the 22d of May, this regi- ment marched five hundred miles, and engaged in four battles, losing two hundred and twenty-eight officers and men. From New Orleans the troops returned to Virginia, and engaged in toils as severe as flesh and blood could endure. During one year these hardy men marched over a thousand miles. The true story of what they did and suffered, for the salvation of their country, no pen can describe.
The Second Regiment of cavalry was composed of remarka- bly robust men. Ephraim W. Woodman of Portland was colonel. They were sent to New Orleans. One hundred and fifty horses died on the voyage. Most of the regiment was im- mediately ordered to the front to take part in the Red River expedition. After a season of active service the regiment was sent to Pensacola, in Florida.
At Marianna, the shire-town of Jackson County, there was a terrible conflict in the streets. The rebels threw up barricades, and opened a furious fire from churches, houses, and stores. Major Nathan Cutler of Augusta had two horses shot under him, and fell with a broken leg, a shattered wrist, and other severe wounds. From all these wounds he recovered. Many others were killed or wounded, twenty-nine in all.
But in this successful raid the troops took one hundred pris- oners, a large amount of commissary and quartermaster stores,
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two hundred and fifty horses and mules, four hundred head of cattle, and five hundred contrabands. There were several other raids, one into the State of Alabama. In one of these a train of fifty wagons was brought into camp, by Lieut .- Col. Spurling of the Second Maine, for a distance of sixty miles through the enemy's country, while attacked almost every hour, in front, flanks, and rear, by a force superior to his own.
The change from the pure air and healthy food of their homes in Maine to the malarious climates of Louisiana and Florida, and all the hardships and deprivations of camp-life, caused so much sickness, that at one time, from a regiment of nine hundred and eighty-nine, only four hundred and fifty reported for duty. The sad condition of the regiment being made known, Maine immediately sent to the suffering men a bountiful supply of vegetables and other articles for their comfort.
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