USA > Maine > The history of Maine > Part 41
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The Thirteenth Regiment was raised at large, and rendez- voused in Augusta. Neal Dow of Portland was colonel. Upon its organization it was speedily sent to Ship Island. The iron ship " Mississippi," of twelve hundred tons, with its rich freight of the Thirteenth Maine and the Thirty-first Massachu- setts, almost miraculously escaped foundering during a terrific storm at sea. The Thirteenth was stationed for some time in the occupancy of Ship Island. On this glowing expanse of white sand, beneath an almost tropical sun, the regiment, passing in mid-winter from the North, suffered in health very severely. Their drill was excellent. Gen. Weitzel said that he had never seen better soldiers.
They were eventually sent on a campaign into Texas, and again upon an eventful expedition to Red River. In both of these enterprises, their deprivations and sufferings were terrible. It would require a volume to give any thing like an adequate description of these bold adventures. On one of these expedi- tions they performed a march of five hundred and fifty miles, while continually exposed to attack from a watchful foe.
At length these veteran troops were ordered North, to report to Gen. Grant. Martinsburg, the base of supplies for Sheridan's whole army, was intrusted to their care. The regiment, after
1 " Maine in the War," p. 299.
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performing services of the utmost value for three years, was mustered out of service on the 6th of January, 1865, by Major J. W. T. Gardiner, of the United States Army. Col. Dow was very highly commended for the wisdom and energy with which he conducted this regiment through its arduous career. Promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, he proved himself equal to any responsibilities which might be laid upon him. While sick in Louisiana, he was captured by the rebels. After a long and barbarous imprisonment he was ex- changed.
The Fourteenth Regiment was collected at Augusta. Frank S. Nickerson of Searsport was colonel. The regiment was assigned to the third brigade, under Gen. Shepley, and was sent to Ship Island, and thence to New Orleans. Their first serious battle was at Baton Rouge. These sturdy sons of Maine, who, at the summons of their country, had left the con- genial employments of peaceful homes, behaved like veterans, amidst the carnage and tumult of war. Gen. Weitzel wrote in the highest terms of commendation of the valor of the Maine Fourteenth in encountering " the whole brunt of the attack."
There seems to have been but little rest for this regiment, by day or by night. Marchings and battles were incessant. From May till August they were without tents. However severe the storm or the shower, they had no shelter. Their only camp-equipage was their camp-kettles, which they carried in their hands. It seems strange that men could endure such hardships, and live. There were no troops who served more efficiently in the capture of Port Hudson than the Maine Four- teenth.
The Fifteenth Regiment was raised principally in the remote region of Aroostook County. John McClusky of Houlton was colonel. For nearly four months the regiment was encamped at Carrolton, when Lieut .- Col. Dyer was promoted to the com- mand. But here, amidst the swamps of Mississippi, the regi- ment suffered severely from sickness. In September it was re- moved to Pensacola, where, in the enjoyment of a salubrious clime, the sick rapidly recovered. Col. Dyer was soon placed in command of the post, and Benjamin B. Murray became colonel.
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Upon leaving Maine the regiment numbered nine hundred and sixty men. In one year, without being in a single battle, it lost, from sickness and the other casualties of a campaign, three hundred and twenty-nine of its number. Though these troops were not engaged in any pitched battles, they passed through a strange series of perilous and romantic adventures, in all which they proved themselves to be good men and true.
In September, 1861, the secretary of war solicited from the governor of Maine a rifle company of sharpshooters. Every man was subject to a rigid examination as to his physical powers of endurance; and they were required, at the distance of two hundred yards, to put ten consecutive shots within a circle ten inches in diameter.
James D. Fessenden of Portland was captain of this com- pany. The men were equipped in a superior manner. The company was attached to Berdan's Second Regiment of sharp- shooters. It was sent, by the way of Washington, first to Camp William near Alexandria, and thence to Falmouth, Va. Almost immediately the company entered upon a series of skirmishes, with the foe ever retiring before them. None but men of iron nerves could have performed the toilsome marches and the shelterless bivouacs through which they passed. They were often exposed to a terrific fire from the enemy's batteries, but ever stood their ground with the firmness of veterans. At one time this company was pitted against an equal number of rebel sharpshooters. The rebels, having lost thirty of their number, fled, while the Maine riflemen lost but three.
In one engagement this heroic band of men was so utterly exhausted by marching, counter-marching, and fighting, with short rations and but little sleep, that but twelve could enter into battle. In the battle of Antietam they bore an honorable part. For four hours they were under fire, and lost six of their men. At Chancellorsville they were for two days constantly engaged with the sharpshooters of the foe. In the three-days' battle at Gettysburg, they took an active part, losing eleven in wounded and prisoners. And thus these heroic men, through sufferings, toil, and death, counted not their lives dear to them,
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that they might preserve the flag which treason and rebellion would trample in the dust. Capt. Fessenden rose, by rapid promotion, to the rank of brigadier-general.
The First Maine Regiment of cavalry was raised at large. It consisted of twelve companies. John Goddard of Cape Elizabeth was its colonel. It is said that there was no cavalry regiment in the service superior to this in the character of its men and its horses. Samuel H. Allen took the command as colonel, when the regiment was thoroughly organized. Imme- diately upon their arrival in Washington the various companies were detached for separate service. It is impossible, in the brief space which can be allotted to the subject here, to narrate the wonderful and often awful adventures through which these companies hewed their way. One incident I cannot refrain from recording.
Lieut. Hill, who was acting as quartermaster of the battal- ion, was, with his team, taken captive. Under a rebel guard he was being carried away, seated in a wagon. Carefully searching, he found a loaded revolver. With this he shot his guard, recaptured his own team and some others, and drove back to the Union lines.1
The severity of the service to which the men of this regi- ment were exposed may be inferred from the fact, that, during a period of about six months, seven hundred of their horses were either lost in action or worn out. The record of the gallantry of these men, and of their suffering from cold, hun- ger, fatigue, wounds, and death, is melancholy in the extreme. And, the more we admire their heroism, the more do we deplore the awful war which infamous rebellion forced upon them, drag- ging them from all the joys of their happy homes, to woes which no pen can describe, and which no imagination can con- ceive.
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 ?
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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 THE 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 farmns 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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