USA > Maine > The story of one regiment; the Eleventh Maine infantry volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 15
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Further than this sally, the naval efforts of the Confederates against our fleet were confined to torpedo-boat attacks. On the night of the 21st of August, 1863, says Admiral Ammen, "a steam torpedo boot came ont of Charleston and struck the Ironsides. A direct collision was not effected, and the electric current failed also. The boat, however, effected her retreat under a heavy fire from the Iron sides and other vessels." October 5th, a second attempt was made to blow up the Ironsides. Admiral Ammen says that a little after 9 p.M. a seutry saw a small object approaching the ship. It was hailed, no answer was received, and the sentry fired. Almost immediately the ship received a very severe shock from an explosion which threw a column of water upon the spar deck and into the engine room. " This torpedo boat was shaped like a cigar, was fifty feet long and five feet in diameter. and so submerged that the only portion visible was the combing of her hatch, two feet above the water's surface and only ten feet in length." The same authority states that, about nine o'clock on the night of February 19, 1864, " an object was seen moving towards the Housatonic, a fine new vessel of war, lying outside
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THE REGIMENT IN THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.
Charleston bar, and some four miles from Moultrie. The ap- proaching object had the appearance of a plank upon the water. When seen it was one hundred yards distant ; in two minutes it had reached the ship. Within that time the chain cable had been slipped, and the engine backed, but it was too late. The torpedo struck the ship, exploded, and she sank immediately, but in such shallow water that the hammock nettings were just awash when the keel rested on the bottom. The crew took to the rigging, and was saved by boats from other blockaders, except a few drowned as the vessel went down. The torpedo boat went down with the Housatonic, drowning the four men that were in her." These are the most notable attempts made to use torpedo boats off Charleston. The Patapsco was sunk in January, 1865, while dragging for torpedoes off Sumter, running on one and going down with sixty-two officers and men.
The only other loss of a monitor, except that of the Keokuk, sunk in action April 7, 1863, was that of the Weehawken, which sank while fast to one of the mooring buoys placed inside the Charleston bar. This was the night of December 6, 1863, and we well remember our astonishment the next morning when we missed the well-known boat from the fleet. Four officers and twenty men went down in her. The cause of her sinking was, she was overloaded forward with an accumulation of shells, causing · her to become so depressed forward that the water she was shipping through a neglected hawse-hole could not flow back to the steam pumps, but gathered in her hull and sank her by its weight.
In the last days of October a detachment of the regiment was detailed for mortar service in Battery Chatfield, a work on Cum- ming's Point, and between Wagner and Gregg. This detachment was officered by Lieutenants Sellmer and Foster, and consisted of the men of companies C, E, F, G, and K who had served with these officers during the siege of Wagner, and in the Swamp An- gel battery. To these were added a number of men from Company D. of which the writer was one. And November 2tb, Lieutenant Newcomb and several men were detailed for a similar service in Gregg or Putnam, this detachment soon becoming identified with the Chatfield detachment. Fort Waguer was rechristened Fort Strong, and Gregg Putnam, but the original names could not be so easily displaced, and the works continued to bear them except in official papers.
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I see that Lieutenant Holt, of A, and a detachment of his com- pany served as artillerists too ; and that Captain Baldwin was in command of a detachment doing like service. As the work of all these detachments was of a similar character, the experiences of the one the writer was with in Chatfield should illustrate the expe- rience of all.
Our battery work was mainly directed against ruined Sumter. Day after day we trained the mortars on that crumbling fortress, sending their 10-inch shells high in air, to drop into Sumter and burst. After a shot was fired, it was watched through a field glass by an officer and its effect noted ; whether it fell into the fort or outside of it, whether it burst in the air or after striking its ob- jective point, the men at work in the magazine filling the flannel bags each charge of powder weighed out was inclosed in receiving orders to put in more or less powder as the effects of the shots were noted, and those cutting fuzes receiving their orders to cut them shorter or longer from the same observations. As one officer ob- served the effects of the shots, another would note on a prepared form the results given him by the officer in charge of the firing, thus keeping a tabulated statement of each day's work, the num- ber of shots fired, and their individual results.
Sometimes these results were plain to all of us. A shot would fall into the fort, and a whirl of flying fragments of stone, or a leaping barbette caisson, would tell us just where it had struck and just what its effect was. And a few times we succeeded in our incessant endeavor to bowl down the rebel flag. But, to the credit of the garrison of Sumter it must be said, no sooner was it down than some brave fellow would mount the parapet and set it flying again.
There is rarely any considerable loss of life through artillery firing. While the singing of minie balls has an ominous sound in the cars of the most hardened veteran, the roar of a battery, except at close quarters when throwing grape and canister, is not very alarming to him. Why, at the great artillery duel at White Oak Swamp in June, 1862, our loss, except in artillerymen, was slight, and the artillerymen killed and wounded were mostly picked off by the rebel sharpshooters ; and General "Dick " Taylor, who commanded the Confederate troops immediately across the bridge, says that, severe as was our fire, their loss was but a small one. At the siege of Fort Pulaski the Confederate
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THE REGIMENT IN THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.
loss was only one killed and several wounded ; the Federal loss, one killed. And in all the wild uproar of thundering cannon and shricking shells at the siege of Charleston our loss was ridicu- lously small, viewed from the standpoint of infantry engagements, the careful watch the cutlooks kept from the safe places saving many lives and limbs.
But there were several narrow escapes; and some curious ones, too. How shall we account for that of Lieutenant Foster, who, after remaining comfortably seated for hours upon an empty ammunition box on the parapet of Chatfield, entirely ignoring the fast-coming shots of the enemy, suddenly rose and stepped off the parapet, and just as he stepped off it the box he had been seated on went into the air, struck by a piece of shell ? And then there is the experience of Private Darling, who, working at a mortar, suddenly stepped backward, and just in time to save him- self from being cut in two by the whistling copper bottom of a Brooks's rifle shell that went flying right across the spot he had just stood on.
There were other escapes that might be mentioned ; that of the writer, for instance, who was seated on the top of a pyramid of mortar shells, waiting for an opportunity to deal out the con- tents of a canteen that rested against the base of a contiguous pyramid. I had sat there comfortably for a long time, regardless of shot and shell, but when a shell came rushing from Simpkins, something took me to my feet, and they hurried me to shelter. As I sped to the bomb-proof, the canteen of whiskey went flying into the air, struck by a piece of shell that must have passed right through my body had I kept my seat. I very much doubt if the honest grief so loudly expressed by our men for the loss of the whiskey would have been lavished on the writer had he kept his seat. Indeed, there were some who intimated that had I stayed at my post the whiskey would have been saved.
We all became expert dodgers, could guess at the course of a shell by the shriek, and could see the round black spot that told of a mortar shell hastening towards us when it was high in the air, knowing well when it burst that it was prudent to wait in shelter until the pieces had fallen to the ground, never forgetting the last piece, the one probably thrown highest into the air by the bursting shell, to come straight down after all the rest of the broken iron had reached the ground. But the prouder of our
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men didn't flinch, naturally emulating Lieutenant Sellmer, who simply didn't pay any attention to shot or shell, just stepping around in his rapid, striding way, without noticing any projectiles but his own. Nor did Captain Colwell, the commander of the detachnient of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, manning the Parrott gun battery which formed part of the armament of Chatfield. One day this officer was walking the parapet, his usual post in directing the firing of his battery, when a shell came screaming from Fort Johnson, struck in the parapet but a few feet under him, and burst. A cloud of sand and smoke hid Colwell from us for a moment, but we were assured of his safety by the command, " Fire," that rang from out the cloud-the word that was on his lips when the shell burst, and that he coolly finished while standing in a position of imminent danger. As the big Parrott gun roared in obedience to his command, we dropped our handspikes, and gave him three cheers for his intrepidity.
We had our little jokes, too. Newcomb's diary records one. Captain Colwell was firing on Moultrie from a 300-pound Parrott gun, and every time he would fire a shot Moultrie would respond from a 10-inch Columbiad, firing as the smoke from Colwell's discharge leaped into the air. The captain thought to fool them a little, so placed a charge of powder in the embrasure and set it off by a train, but, as Newcomb tells it, " Mr. Rebel was not to be deceived by any such shallow device, and reserved his shot until the Parrott gun really spoke, when he answered as usual."
A captain of one of the regiments that was encamped on the island haunted our battery for a few days. He was on a bit of a spree, to be plain, and liquor made him so bellicose that he made his way to the front and into danger. He was particularly inter- ested in our mortar fire, and soon became anxious to send a mor- tar shell flying all by himself; a not at all difficult operation, as he could see-just to pull a lanyard that was hooked into the friction primer thrust into a " vent hole " of a mortar. So per- sistent was he that at last the sergeant in charge of the firing party of the day gave his consent, and the boys gathered around to see the fun. They knew that the captain did not know that the one pulling the lanyard should take care to lift himself on his toes, opening his mouth a little at the same time to break the force of the concussion, The captain took hold of the lanyard,
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THE REGIMENT IN THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.
braced his feet firmly, clinched his teeth, and at the word, "Fire," pulled manfully. A more horrified face you never saw, as a tem- pest-like shock went flying through his nervous system, fairly paralyzing him for a few moments. As he recovered himself, and looked around at the grinning faces, he realized that he had been made the victim of a joke. He grated his teeth, scowled diaboli- cally, flung the lanyard aside, and strode stagily campward, not deigning to cast a glance at his now loudly laughing tormentors.
But we had our day of woe. On the Sth of December a 10- inch mortar shell, thrown from Sullivan's Island, struck the roof of the passageway leading to our magazine, and breaking through exploded, exploding a loaded shell that lay in the passageway. There were eight or nine men in the magazine at the time. For a moment, we that were outside the magazine were panic-stricken, expecting the magazine, in which we had many barrels of powder stored, to blow up, for some of the barrels were unheaded. But, fortunately, the shells were so surrounded with the tons of sand that poured into the magazine through the opening that their bursting flames were completely smothered, and did not touch a grain of exposed powder. We hastened to dig our buried men out, and found that Corporal Horace F. Albee, of Company C, had been killed by a piece of shell, that Private Bradley L. Kim- ball, of Company E, was mortally wounded, and that Sergeant John Howard, of Company K, Corporal Bearce, Privates Maddox and Bragdon, of Company D, were more or less severely injured.
We worked at our batteries during the day only, as a rule, returning to the regimental camp each night, leaving the batteries to be defended from any attempt of the enemy to occupy them by the heavy and light guns of direct fire, and by the infantry force that was marched up the island each night and ensconsed in the bomb-proofs of Wagner and Gregg. But such an attack never came, the Confederates contenting themselves with long- range demonstrations, frequently indulging in a heavy night- shelling of our works, as if to cover a landing. On these nights the air would be full of artillery pyrotechnics, the flaring of burst- ing shells, and the sparkling ares of mortar shells with their flaming fuzes, described by an old writer, one of the witnesses of the siege of Yorktown in 1781, as "fiery meteors with flaming tails, most beautifully brilliant "=a fine exhibition for those out of range. Lieutenant Newcomb's diary describes such an exhibi-
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tion, as seen by him from the regimental camp : " I was aroused by the dull, heavy sound of a Parrott gun speaking to the rebel city. It was immediately answered by a shot from James Island, and then another came from Moultrie, then another and another. I went upon rising ground in the camp, and watched the scene. It was very bright moonlight, and the rapid flashes of the guns and the glare of the bursting shells made a very impressive sight."
The heavy shelling we gave Sumter during November and the early part of December had a purpose, of course. It was to so destroy that fort as a place of shelter as to force its garrison to abandon it, or to so destroy their means of resistance as to enable us to storm it with a chance of success. The only attempt to storm Sumter that had been made as yet was that of September 8th, when 450 picked men of the navy essayed its capture by a night attack. Several boat-loads of our naval forces effected a landing, but were met with such a fire of musketry, hand gre- nades, grape and canister-the enemy's batteries, with their gun- boats, opening fire from all quarters -- that all who landed were either killed or taken prisoners. There were rumors afloat from the beginning of November that on this and that night a deter- mined attack would be made on the fort. Morton states that on the night of October 30th the Seventh Connecticut went into boats to storm Sumter, but that the order was revoked before they put off, and that on the night of November 2d a boat recon- noissance of the fort was made, a party reaching it undiscovered, bringing several bricks away, one of which Colonel Plaisted sent. North by Major Spofford, who went home on leave the 3d of November. Newcomb notes, November 18th : "On our way to the front this morning we heard musketry, and it turned out that our picket boats had been close up to Sumter, and had exchanged shots with the garrison."
The 20th of November, another effort was made to seize the fort. A force of infantry moved out in barges, under convoy of the naval picket boats, but were discovered and driven back. Newcomb describes this effort : "Turned out with my detach- ment at one o'clock this morning to go to the front, as an attack was to be made on Sumter. Our mortars might be needed. The assaulting column was seen and fired on by the garrison just as we reached Fort Gregg. We could see the flashes of musketry
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from the fort. They looked like sparks from a chimney. The firing lasted about five minutes, and during it Johnson and Moultrie began to ricochet shot over the water, enfilading the fort. Then Moultrie opened on Gregg, and firing was kept up until morning. As the musketry ceased we could see our boats rowing back past the Point to the rendezvous on the west side of the island."
On the 20th of December we infantrymen on artillery service were ordered to return to our regiments. From this on, the siege operations were carried on listlessly, our cannonading having no special object except to cover our occupancy. In the words of General Gillmore, our late bombardment of Sumter "ended all aggressive operations for the season against the defenses of Charleston."
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CHAPTER XVII.
A. WINTER ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA COAST.
Our Brigade Formation-A Military Execution-Garrisoning Fort Wag- ner and Black Island-The " Veteran Volunteers " go North-Inci- dents of Life in Fort Wagner and on Black Island -- April Fool-Cli- matic Record-A High Tide and a Great Storm-The Dead Uncov- ered-Beauregard Bombards us to Affect Operations in Florida-His Stratagem a Success-Experience with Shells-The Destruction of a Blockade Runner -- Relieved, We Sail for Virginia.
THE following paragraphs from the diaries of our observing friends will round out the story of the Morris Island experience of our regiment.
November 13th-Morton : "Review of our brigade by General Terry. The brigade consists of the Ninth and Eleventh Maine and the Third, Fourth, and Seventh New Hampshire Regiments." The brigade was commanded by Colonel Plaisted, except when he was on leave in the North, when it was (from December 12th to Jannary 21st) by Colonel Bell, of the Fourth New Hampshire.
November 15th-Maxfield : " The rebels opened on our works with all their batteries about eleven o'clock last night, which caused a general aların, the long roll sounding all over the island, and the troops gathering under arms." December 5th-" There was a review of all the troops on Morris Island by General Gill- more this afternoon, our regiment holding the right of the line."
December 10th-Newcomb : "Captain Baldwin's men picked up a bottle on the shore to-night. It was sealed and contained issues of the Charleston Courier, one of the 7th and one of the Sth of the month. The one of the 8th stated that Longstreet is retiring from Knoxville. It contains a long list of removals in the city, probably out of range of our 100-pound Parrott, from which thirty shells were fired into the city last night. The terms of the daily, a half-sheet, were fifteen dollars for six months."
The forces on the island were turned out December 17th to witness the execution of a deserter from the Third New Hamp- shire, who was captured while deserting, mistaking the camp of
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the Ninth Maine, on Black Island, for a rebel camp on James Island. When he discovered his blunder he tried to pass himself off as a deserter from the rebels, but he was recognized by men of his own company, was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot within forty-eight hours from the passing of the sentence. Morton's diary says, of this execution : " Attended by an escort under command of an officer (the firing party) and with a drum corps playing the dead march, he was taken down the lines, and out on the beach, where, blindfolded and kneeling on his coffin, he was shot dead. He was then laid on his coffin, stripped to the waist, and the troops were marched by him in column of com- panies. He was one of the conscripts and substitutes of whom large numbers have lately joined the army here, and was thus summarily dealt with to deter others from making a like effort. It is said that this man had been in the rebel service, and had deserted and got North, where he had enlisted, securing a large bounty, and was trying to get back to his home when caught."
December 25th-Maxfield : "Shelling Charleston commenced before 1 o'clock A.M. A fire was scen burning in the city, and burned with great vigor till daylight. It is supposed to be the work of our shells. The rebels opened on our works vigorously. Private Pierce Laffin, of Company D, was severely wounded, a piece of shell striking the bayonets of some stacked rifles in Fort Wagner, one of the pieces of shattered steel penetrating his leg."
On the first of January orders were received for the regiment to strike tents and enter Fort Wagner as its garrison, and the tents were down, when the order was countermanded. On the 23d of the month Companies B and D moved into the fort, bag and bag- gage. On the 30th about fifty recruits joined the regiment. Morton notes that a number were original members that had been discharged. He considers this body of reernits as " a fine-look- · ing lot of men." Almost all entered Company A.
On the 10th of February the eight companies, with the colors, were ordered to change their camp to Black Island, relieving the Ninth Maine. Companies C, E. F, and G moved over on the 10th, and A, H, I, and K on the 11th, marching by way of the plank walk between Morris and Black Islands, which road Morton calls "a rather ticklish highway," expressing a wonder that " the rebels did not shell us while we were crossing." The baggage was carted to Oyster Point, and taken thence to Black Island in boats.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
Morton states that the camp on Black Island was of small area, and under the fire of the enemy's batteries on James Island. Bomb-proofs were therefore necessary for the men's protection. The fort contained two guns. After a time a Quaker gun was made and mounted in an embrasure, to add dignity to the post in the eyes of the enemy.
On the morning of the 12th of February, about half-past one o'clock, a general bombardment was commenced, and was kept up for some time on both sides. All the troops turned out under arms. But only two mortar shells were thrown at Black Island, one bursting over the camp, and one going over the island to bury itself in the marsh.
In the afternoon of this day the "Veteran Volunteers," one hundred and one in number -- the men who had reenlisted during the months of December and January -- left for home to enjoy the furlough which was one of the inducements offered the men to reenlist. Captains Sabine, Lawrence, Nickels, and Mudgett, with Lieutenants Adams and Charles H. Foster, accompanied the voter- ans. In the latter part of February a distressing rumor gained ground in the regiment that the boat conveying these veterans north had gone down with all on board, but this rumor, to the great relief of their anxious comrades, was soon known to be unfounded.
On the 20th of February Lientenants Brannen and Stephen B. Foster discovered a torpedo anchored in the creek towards Seces- sionville, and on the 21st Lieutenant Branden and Adjutant Fox took it up and brought it to camp. February 27th, Lieutenant Brannen went scouting towards Secessionville in the afternoon, and was fired on by the rebel batteries, some of the shells striking so near as to throw mud over him. Black Island opened fire with its two guns to cover his retreat.
Each Sunday divine services were held in a large tent, where bench seats were provided for the men -- a necessary thing, Mor- ton says, "as the services were usually preceded by the Chaplain reading the Articles of War."
March 26th, a detachment of forty men, under Lieutenant Sell- mer, left Black Island to man Battery Purviance, on Oyster Point, the south end of Morris Island. On the 27th Dr. Woodman W. Royal arrived at the regiment, to serve it as an assistant surgeon. We may say, as well now as later on, that he did most effective service until mustered out.
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On April 1st Maxfield commemorates that after firing a few shells at Black Island the rebels fired a blank cartridge by way of an April fool, causing the men to rush for shelter, to find no shot was coming to justify them in hugging the parapets and crowding into bomb-proofs ; and April 8th, that the rebels threw up rockets and built fires on James Island in the evening, which led Lieuten- ant-Colonel Spofford to anticipate an attack, and everything was placed in readiness to repel one. Sumter fired a salute on the 12th of the month in honor of the anniversary of its surrender to the Confederacy.
The climatic record of the diaries may not be uninteresting. The weather of the early part of October was very fine. About the end of the month it turned cold, and Morton notes on the 25th : "Cold, can hardly keep comfortable without a fire " ; 26th: "Cold, windy weather, very high tide, highest we have seen "; 28th : " Cold and rainy "; 30th : "Warm and pleasant again." It remained so for a few days, but, November 9th, he notes again: " Cold weather " ; 10th : " Cold and uncomfortable." It seems to have been pleasant from then until the last of November, then Maxfield notes, for the 29th : " Wet and rainy, cleared off cold at night"; 30th : "So cold that water was frozen over in the pail " ; December 1st : "Quite cold." Then, after a few warm days, he notes for December 7th : " Rather cold ; the sand drifts as much as snow does in Maine." Then came variable mild weather until January Ist, when Maxfield notes : "A strong wind from the northeast and very cold. The sand flies as badly as snow does in the North, is worse than flying snow, for when sand blows into your eyes it doesn't melt "; January 2d : " Tremendously cold weather ; ink froze in the bottle." 'Then for a while came stormy, rainy weather ; cold and uncomfortable. February set in with pleasant weather, until the 18th, when Maxfield notes : " Quite a cold day, with a few spits of snow." For a few days it was cold and windy, then became pleasant again.
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