USA > Maine > The story of one regiment; the Eleventh Maine infantry volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 10
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Fife Major.
COMPANY A.
Randall Libby, 2d, Captain. Lewis H. Holt, Second Lieutenant.
Sergeants. Charles E. Poor, First Sergeant ;
William G. Lee, James T. Smith,
James R. Stone, Elias P. Morton.
Corporals.
James Andrews, George A. Bakeman, James B. Goldthwaite.
COMPANY B.
Charles P. Baldwin, Captain. Corydon A. Alvord, Jr., First Lieutenant.
Fred T. Mason, Second Lieutenant.
Sergeants. Lewis W. Campbell, First Sergeant ; Ellery D. Perkins, Charles A. Rolfo,
John W. Hayward, Samuel Cushing.
Corporals.
Philip HI. Andrews, Jefferson II. Pike, Charles A. Falkner, Rufus M. Davis,
Nathan Averill, Jolm F. Ramsdell, George M. Rollins. Alba W. Shorey, Wagoner.
COMPANY C. Edgar A. Nickels, First Lieutenant. Lemuel E. Newcomb, Second Lieutenant.
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PREPARING TO LEAVE VIRGINIA.
Sergeants. Charles W. Bridgham, First Sergeant ; Edwin'J. Miller, James Gross, Thomas S. Albee.
. George Weston,
Horace F. Albee, Allen M. Cole,
Corporals. William Libby, Asa W. Googing.
COMPANY D.
John D. Stanwood, Captain. Leonard Butler, First Lieutenant. Francis M. Johnson, Second Lieutenant.
Sergeants. Abner F. Bassett, First Sergeant ; Judson L. Young, Gardiner E. Blake,
Ephraim Francis.
John Gihn, James E. Bailey,
Corporals. Josiah F. Keene, John Dyer, Shepard Whittier,
Horace Whittier,
Stephen R. Bearce.
William H. Hardison, Wagoner.
COMPANY E. Francis W. Wiswell, Captain. George Williams, First Lieutenant. . Stephen B. Foster, Second Lieutenant.
Daniel S. Cole, Charles F. Wheeler,
Sergeants. John N. Weymouth, Peter Bunker.
Corporate.
Adoniram J. Fisher, George W. Chick,
Elias II. Frost, Samuel Libby, Solomon S. Cole.
Simon Batchelder,
John B. Reed, Wagoner.
.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
COMPANY F.
Augustus P. Davis, Captain. Samuel G. Sewall, First Lieutenant.
Thomas A, Brann, Second Lieutenant. Sergeants. Alfred G. Brann, First Sergeant ;
Charles H. Scott, Archibald Clark, Daniel S. Smith.
Grafton Norris,
Corporals.
Rufus N. Burgess, John C. Meader,
James W. Little, George S. Buker.
Ira M. Rollins, Musician. Wendall F. Joy, Wagoner.
COMPANY G.
Francis W. Sabine, Captain. Albert G. Mudgett, First Lieutenant. Robert Brady, Second Lieutenant.
Sergeants. William Wiley, First Sergeant ;
Thomas Clark, George Bayne, Stephen II. Emerson.
Daniel Burgess,
Corporals.
Henry B. Rogers, Albert Flye, Charles A. Lincoln,
Thomas T. Tabor,
Horace B. Mills, Thaddeus S. Wing. Isaac HI. Small.
Amos W. Briggs,
Ambrose P. Phillips, Wagoner.
COMPANY H.
Luther Lawrence, Captain. Benjamin F. Dunbar, Second Lieutenant.
Sergeanis. James M. Thompson, First Sergeant ; Nathan J. Gould, Seth A. Ramsdell. Joseph Harris, Albert L. Rankin.
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PREPARING TO LEAVE VIRGINIA. 97
Corporals.
James Ellis, Daniel M. Dill,
William H. Girrell, George E. Morrell,
Augustus T. Thompson, Charles Bodge,
John S. Fogg, John Lary, Jr.
John E. McKenney, Musician. John E. Gould, Wagoner.
COMPANY I.
Simeon H. Merrill, Captain. William Brannen, First Lieutenant. George B. Weymouth, Second Lieutenant. Sergeants. Charles O. Lamson, First Sergeant ; Charles W. Trott, Joseph S. Butler, Arthur V. Vandine.
George Leader,
Corporals.
David B. Snow, Elbridge G. Decker, Weston Brannen, William H. Decker, Marshal B. Stone,
George Gove,
Lewis M. Libby,
Asa S. Gould.
COMPANY K. Jonathan A. Hill, Captain. Melville M. Folsom, First Lieutenant. Charles H. Foster, Second Lieutenant. Sergeants. George W. Small, First Sergeant ; Henry HI. Davis, John Howard. Charles Knowles.
Andrew B. Erskine.
Corporals.
Cyrus E. Bassey.
Amos R. Pushaw,
Charles B. Abbott. Robert H. Scott, John F. Buzzell, John J. Ilill, Josiah Furbish, Jotham S. Garnett.
Abner Brooks, Musician. Joseph G. Ricker, Wagoner.
7
CHAPTER XI.
DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA.
We Sail from Yorktown-A Storm off Hatteras-Loss of the Monitor- Carolina City-Incidents from the Diaries-Naglee Commands the Division-His Farewell Order to the Brigade -- Confederates' Antici- pations.
THE preparations for our leaving Yorktown were soon completed, and, the regiments arriving to relieve those ordered on the expedi- tion, the embarkation began. In the afternoon of December 27th, Companies B, C, D, E, and G, of the Eleventh, went on board the steamer Thomas A. Morgan, and sailed for Fortress Monroe, where they were expected to board the ocean transport, Cahawla. But, owing to some misunderstanding, the Cahawba was on her way to Yorktown. The Thomas A. Morgan returned to York- town on the 28th, and her passengers boarded the Cahawba. In the afternoon of the 26th of December, Companies A, F, HI, 1, and K, under command of Colonel Plaisted, boarded the steamer City of New York, as did the Ninety-eighth New York Regimeut. and the next morning sailed for Fortress Monroe to board the Cahawba. Not finding that vessel, the City of New York lay off the Fortress during the 27th and the 28th. In the night of the 28th she started on her return. During the afternoon of the 28th General Naglee and staff, and the brigade band, went on board the Cahawba. Immediately after their arrival, the big transport hoisted anchor and steamed slowly down the river. Everyone ou board was on deck, the band was playing its most stirring tunes. the parapets at Yorktown and Gloucester were crowded with sol- diers, the shipping in the river-gunboats and transports-were black with men, and flags and streamers flew from every available point, afloat and ashore. When passing the gunboat Mahaska, its sailors ran up the rigging and gave us three cheers, which were answered with a will. Altogether. it was a propittous beginning to a new career.
After running down the river for two miles, the Cahawba
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DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA.
dropped anchor. At about four o'clock in the evening Colonel Plaisted and the companies that had accompanied him to For- tress Monroe, and the Ninety-eighth New York, boarded the Cahawba. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 29th of December, after making a hawser fast to the ship Monticello, a big sailing vessel that was loaded with troops and stores, we put to sea with other vessels. It was soon known through the Cahawba that the sealed orders, we had sailed under had been opened, and that our destination was Beaufort, N. C. There we were to report to Major-General John G. Foster, Commander of the Department of North Carolina.
Of this trip, our first ocean one, let us see what the diarists have to say. I. fancy Corporal Lary hints at an uncomfortable experience, with his brief records : "On the ocean," "On the ocean." Maxfield and Morton thought it quite enough to note, of the 30th, that a head wind blew hard all day, and that the night of that date was a rough one. During this night the Monticello broke loose twice, and was then left to her own resources, the captain of the Cahawba declining to take the risk of again attaching a hawser to her.
Towards night of the 30th we passed two ironclads, one the famous Monitor, and the other the Passaic, a sister boat, each towed by a steamer -- passed so close to the Monitor that we could see the big waves dashing across her low deck, over which bare- legged sailors were scampering in attending to their duties. In the night we could see the light of rockets in the direction in which we last saw the Monitor, and grave fears were expressed for her fate. She sank that night.
Professor Soley, U. S. Navy, in his admirable book, "The Blockade and the Cruisers," gives a stirring account of the loss of this ironclad. We call from it, as it serves a double purpose --- gives the story of the fate of the most famous war-vessel of our fleet, and describes with the pen of an expert the course of the storm that we poor landsmen had the ill-fortune to encounter off Hatteras :
" On the afternoon of the 29th of December, she [the Monitor] set out for Beaufort in tow of the Rhode Island. A clear, pleasant day, when a light wind was blowing from the south- west, and everything promised fair weather. The Moi- itor was accompanied by the Passaic, which was in tow of the
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
State of Georgia. All went well until the morning of the second day, when the ships began to feel a swell from the southward. Gradually the wind freshened, and the sea broke over the pilot- house of the Monitor. . As evening came on and Hat- teras was passed, matters began to grow worse. The wind increased and hauled to the southeast, causing a heavy sea.
The sea rose fast, submerging the pilot-house and fore- ing its way into the turret and blowing pipes. At two o'clock it became evident that no efforts would avail to save the ship, and Bankhead made the signal of distress, out the hawser, and ranged up under the lee of the Rhode Islandl. Boats were lowered, and the dangerous work begun of rescuing the crew of the sinking ironclad, over whose deck the seas were now break- ing in quick succession. The Rhode Island's cutter took off a boat load of men successfully, but the launch was stove by the working of the Monitor, and Trenchard, finding that his own vessel [the Rhode Island] was imperiled by the sharp bow and sides of his companion, was obliged to move away.
" It was now near midnight, the ship was sinking fast, the rising water had put out the fires, engines and pumps had stopped, and again the Monitor fell off into the trough of the sea. where she rolled sluggishly. Seeing this, Bankhead let go her anchor, which brought her head to the wind. The greater part of the crew had now been rescued, but a few had been washed overboard, and twenty or so still remained on board, waiting for the boats to return. . Slowly and cautiously the last boat approached, keeping off with her oars from the side of the iron- clad, and while Bankhead held the painter she took off the rest of the crew -- all but a few poor follows who, dazed and terrified. could not be made to leave the turret. Last of all, Bankhead jumped in, and the boat pulled towards the Rhode Island, and was got safely on board. A few moments more, and the Monitor slowly settled and disappeared."
On the morning of the 31st of December, though the wind was still high, the sea went down. and the Cahouba began to make headway. She had drifted back ninety miles in her course. There was still a rough sea, and very many of us were miserably seasick during this day. Early in the night. anchor was cast. and on New Year's morning, 1863, we could see land about four miles off, and six miles north could see a fleet of ships gathering. 1
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DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA.
signal was hoisted for a pilot, who soon came aboard. Steering the Cahawba towards the fleet, she soon ran through it, and lay alongside a wharf at Morehead City, passing close under the walls of Fort Macon in running into the harbor.
Although in port carly in the day, it was dark when we dis- embarked. We marched to Carolina City, three miles away, where we went into camp. The spot chosen was not a favorable one apparently, for Newcomb notes of it : " Want of forethought and foreaction was, as usual, provokingly manifested in the choice of our camp ground." He describes Carolina City as consisting of three houses, a barn, a railroad depot, and the ruins of a large hotel.
Little of interest to the diarists seems to have taken place at Carolina City. Morton notes that the weather was mainly cool and uncomfortable ; that we heightened our shelter tents by the use of hard-bread box boards, driving them into the sand so as to make tent sides of about a foot in height ; notes that the ground did not retain moisture as Virginia clay did ; that apples were plenty for those with money to buy them ; and that the wicked sutler was arrested for selling goods on Sunday. Lieutenant Newcomb notes that we were here exposed to three heavy rain- storms, with only miserable shelter tents to protect us ; that the health of the regiment was better than when at Yorktown ; and that the Ringold Minstrels, an amateur troupe organized in the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, gave an amusing enter- tainment in the railroad depot. Maxfield notes, of the same entertainment, and a little resentfully, that only officers were admitted. Ile had just been promoted from a private in Company O to commissary sergeant of the regiment, and, feeling his stripes a little just then, was chagrined to find them of less consequence than shoulder straps.
Orders were read on parade on the Sth of January, which informed us that we were now attached to the Eighteenth Corps, and were in the Second Brigade of its Second Division, with General Naglee as the division commander and Colonel Davis brigade commander.
On the 17th of January, General Naglee's farewell to the brigade was read on parade. We reprint it.
102
THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
HEADQUARTERS, NAGLEE'S DIVISION, NEWBERN, N. C., January Sth, 1863.
General Orders No. 3.
The several regiments of the late First Brigade, commanded by General Naglee, will inscribe upon their banners the following names, indicating important events in the history of the war in which they acted a conspicuous part, namely :
Lee's Mills, April 29th, 1862.
104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862.
104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Chickahominy, May 19th, 1862.
104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, and 56th N. Y. Vols. Reconnoissance to Seven Pines, May 24th, 25th, and 26th. 1862-104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th, 100th, and 98th N. Y. Vols.
" Seven Pines," or Fair Oaks, May 3181, 1862.
104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Railroad and Bottom's Bridges, June 27th and 28th, 1862. 104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols. White Oak Swamp Bridge, June 30th, 1802. 104th and 52d Peuna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Carter's Hill, July 22, 1862.
104th and 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 56th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Matthews County, November 22d, 1852.
11th Maine, 52d Penna. Vols., Independent Battalion N. Y. Vols.
Gloucester, Tu .. Dreamber 13th, 1862. 52d Penna. Vols., 11th Maine, 50th and 100th N. Y. Vols.
Yorktown, August 12th to December 14th, 1802.
104th and Jed Penna, Vols., 11th Maine. 38th, 81st, 98th, 100th N. Y., and Independent Battalion N. Y. Vols.
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103
DEPARTMENT OF NORTHI CAROLINA,
The general lately commanding the brigade most happily takes this occasion to congratulate the officers and soldiers with whom he has been so intimately associated.
Whilst memory lasts, it will continually recur to the scenes of deprivation and danger and blood and battle through which you have passed, and you will remember your inexperience and dis- content, and then your discipline and friendly, happy affiliation.
All will remember with regret the deadly effects of the swamps before Yorktown.
You were the first in the advance upon Williamsburg, and when ordered by General MeClellan to support General Hancock, the enemy gave up the contest.
On the 19th of May, at Bottom's Bridge, you waded waist deep in the swamps of the Chickabominy, you drove away the enemy, and were the first to cross that stream.
On the 23d, 170 of your number made a reconnoissance from Bottom's Bridge to the James River, near Drury's Bluff, and returned bringing valuable information.
On the 24th, 25th, and 26th, after other troops had failed, you made the gallant, dashing reconnoissance of the Seven Pines, driv- ing the superior force of General Stuart from Bottom's Bridge to within four and a half miles of Richmond, the position nearest that city ever occupied by our troops.
On the 31st of May, at "Fair Oaks," or "Seven Pines," occu- pying the above advanced position, your brigade made the most desperate, bloody, obstinate fight of the war, and while we mourn the loss of one-half of our.comrades in arms, you have the con- solation of knowing that by their heroic sacrifice and your stubborn resistance you saved the Army of the Potomac from great disaster.
On the 27th, 28th, and 29th of June, the rebel General Jackson hurled his immense force suddenly upon our right and passed that flank of the army, and all turned with extreme solicitude towards the rear at Bottom's Bridge, which, if crossed, would re- sult in irretrievable ruin ; and it should be a source of great pride and satisfaction in the fature to remember that all this intense anxiety was dispelled, and all breathed with relief and felt secure. when it rapidly ran through the army that " Naglee's brigade had destroyed the bridges and stood night and day for three days in the middle of the Chickahominy, successfully and continually resisting its passage."
Again, on the following day, you held a post of the greatest importance and danger at the White Oak Swamp. The most determined efforts of the enemy to cross the bridge in pursuit of our army were thwarted by our artillery, and you stood for ten hours supporting it, quiet spectators of the most terrific cannon- ade, while other regiments were orly kept in place by being ordered back when they approached your line. Retreating all night, you stood ready in position ou the following day, expecting to be ordered to take part in the battle at Malvern Hill.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
Retreating again all night, at Carter's Hill on the 2d of July you stood by the artillery and wagon train, and, when all expected it would be destroyed, you brought it safely to Harrison's Landing.
During December you destroyed a dozen large salt-works in Matthews County, Virginia, and drove the Rangers from that and Gloucester, Middlesex, and King and Queen Counties, captured large herds intended for the rebel army, and destroyed all their barracks, stables, and stores.
At Yorktown, from August to the end of December, you have restored the works at that place and Gloucester Point, and they are by your labor rendered strong and defensible.
Thus is yours the honor of having been the first to pass, and the last to leave, the Chickahominy, and while you led the advance from this memorable place lo near Richmond, you were the last in the retreating column when, after seven days' constant fighting, it reached a place of security and rest at. Harrison's Landing.
Your descendants for generations will boast of the gallant con- duct of the regiments to which you belong, and, when all are laid in the dust, history will still proclaim the glorious deeds performed by you.
Go on ! "The truth is mighty and will prevail." Pretenders for a time may rob you of your just deserts, but, as you have experienced, their evil report will certainly be exposed ; for your many friends at home, ever watchful of and identified with your reputation, will see that justice shall be done.
A new page in your history is about to be written. Let it be still more brilliant than that already known. Your past good conduct has won the warmest esteem and confidence of your late Brigade Commander ; he has no apprehensions for the future.
By command of Brig .- Gen. HENRY M. NAGLEE, Commanding Division.
(Signed,) GEO. IL. JOUNSTON, Captain and A. A. G.
Official : (Signed,) HENRY O. Fox, Adjutant.
The concentration of troops that took place in North Carolina in the last months of 1862 was as well known in Richmond and Charleston as in Washington and New York. In fact, rebel spies in North Carolina and in the North, and the Northern newspapers, gave the Confederates full information of the move- menis of our troops. In Beauregard's " Military Operations" we find that he knew in October, 1862, that " the Northern news- papers were filled with indications of an approaching attack on Charleston." In December, Mr. Seddons, the Confederate Seere- tary of War, telegraphed him information from a friend of their
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DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA. 105
cause in Nassau : "With the assurance that it comes from New York by a trustworthy source, states that the attack on Charleston will be made about the holidays, by four ironclads. This news has not yet got into the papers."
Beauregard telegraphed the Governor of South Carolina, under date of January 7, 1863, an urgent call for the enrolling of every able-bodied man to resist a possible invasion. He urged : " The enemy is reported to be assembling in heavy force at Newbern, N. C., as is supposed with a view to move on both Wilmington and Weldon at the same time. These operations, if successful, will cut off our communication with Virginia and the seat of government. Charleston and Savannah may, however, be the real points of attack."
The speculations of we poor soldiers led us over about the same ground that those of Beauregard led him, we rather inclining to the opinion that Charleston was our real objective point. But neither he nor we were to remain long in suspense. Orders were received to prepare to leave Carolina City on the 21st of January. We marched to Morehead City during the forenoon, where we remained at a halt for three hours. Lieutenant Newcomb de- scribes Morehead City as consisting of the ruins of a couple of grist mills and a steam sawmill, and the remains of extensive salt- works, with probably three dozen good dwelling-houses still stand- ing. The only business carried on was the making of rosin, and this to but a limited extent.
Towards evening we went on board a small steamer, and just as the sunset gun was fired from Fort Macon our boat started from the wharf to convey us to the Cahawba, lying in deep water. We found the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania on the Caharba, with General Naglee, Colonel Davis, and their staffs. Of course, as the headquarters of the division and of the brigade, the Cahawla preempted the brigade band.
We did not put to sea until the 20th of January. During all this time we remained on board the Cahurba, anchored first off Beaufort, and then near Fort Macon. Crowded together as we were, and confined to narrow shipboard limits, with stormy weather too, we had a very uncomfortable time of it. And the Cahawba had a habit of swinging into incautious boats, so that there were frequently the alarmis of a bump, a crash, a tearing and snapping of timbers, and an uprising of marine profanity that
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
was above all decent description. After the first few collisions, however, we were somewhat reconciled, as we found that our big transport was always the victor ; and, at last, we must have begun to take a pride in the old ship's prowess. In no other way can I account for the complaisant tone of this note in Maxfield's diary : " We have run into several steamers, injuring them"; and in Morton's : " Ran into a steamer, a gunboat, and a schooner last night."
But the Cahawba was not always to go scot free. As to every bully, its day came, "the gunboat Monticello crashing into her and smashing the larboard paddle box."
So full of shipping was the harbor-transports, gunboats, coal- boats, schooners loaded with forage and subsistence, and what not of a marine nature -- that it was a wonder, what with their chang- ing their births, drifting with wind and tide, crossing and recross- ing bows and sterns, that there were not many deplorable acci- dents instead of a few harmless collisions.
The order to sail came, and in the afternoon of January 29th we steamed away, crossing the bar at six o'clock, the Cahawbu maintaining its reputation by nearly running down another boat at the mouth of the harbor, here quite narrow. It was a stirring sight ; breakers rolling in on every side, the wide ocean swelling and lifting away to the horizon. and ships-steamers and sailing vessels-speeding in flocks and singly, all steering due south.
A rough night and day followed, and many were seasick, but the sea went down in the night of the 30th, and on the morning of the 31st it was as smooth and gentle as if never capable of stir- ring a landsman's bile. About ten o'clock in the forenoon we anchored at Hilton Head, finding ourselves in a great and cou- stantly growing fleet of vessels of all kinds.
.
CHAPTER XII.
DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTHI.
We Land on St. Helena Island-Incidents of Life There-The Breaking up of Naglee's Brigade -- Differences between General Officers of the Department-General Naglee Leaves the Department -- The First At- tack on Charleston-Its Failure and the Causes --- The Military Opera- tions That had Taken Place in the Department of the South-The Negro as a Soldier-The Northern Idea of Charleston's Defenses and Defenders.
VERY little had been done in this Department after Port Royal was captured in the first days of November, 1861, when a fleet of transports, carrying General Thomas W. Sherman, with 13,000 men, convoyed by Commodore Dupont, with a dozen war-vessels. arrived off Port Royal. Dupont opened on the forts on Hilton Head and Phillips Islands, and after a severe bombardment suc- cecded in driving their defenders into the interior. The Union troops then landed, and overran the whole district without oppo- sition.
The force opposing Sherman and Dupont was estimated at 2,500 men and fifty guns. The victory was a naval one ; one of heavy guns, and, as usual in heavy artillery work, the casualties were few-less than one hundred on both sides.
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