USA > Maine > The story of one regiment; the Eleventh Maine infantry volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 26
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The New England regiments of Plaisted's brigade were particu- larly proud of this victory, as it was won largely by their steadiness while outflanked and in the open field, man to man, without artillery on either side, and the men opposed to us were of Long- street's famous corps. Colonel Plaisted shared this feeling to such an extent that the usually brief return made to the Adjutant- General of Maine blossoms out in a bit of fun. He wrote : " The enemy, hoping to take ns by surprise, left his intrenchments, contrary to his custom, and trusted to the open field ; but finding very soon that faith without works was vain, although we had but a single line of battle to oppose his columns, he beat a hasty retreat."
The loss of the enemy was very large. Among the killed was General Grogg. commanding the Texas brigade, "a gallant com- mander of a gallant brigade," as General Humphreys says in his history of the campaign of 1864. Among the wounded was another brigade commander, General Bratton, of the South Caro- lina brigade of Fiell's division. Our losses were not large. The casualties in our own regiment were as follows :
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Company B. -- Wounded, Sergeant John W. Hayward ; Private Seth H. Riggs.
Company D .- Wounded, Lieutenant Albert Maxfield ; Corporal Horace Whittier.
Company E .- Wounded, Private William L. Rollins.
Company G .- Wounded, Private Josiah L. Bennett.
Company HI .- Killed, Privates Ruben II. Cross, Joseph Meader. Wounded, First Sergeant Nathan J. Gould ; Corporal Charles II. Cummings ; Privates George H. Coffren, Charles B. Rogers.
Company I .- Wounded, Corporal Lewis M. Libby.
Company K .- Wounded, Private Charles F. Bickford.
Killed, 2 ; wounded, 12-total, 14.
As the enemy disappeared in the forest, reinforcements came running up the road to the assistance of our imperiled position. Scouts were sent out by Colonel Plaisted to ascertain the enemy's object, whether to retreat or form for another advance. On their return with information that the enemy seemed to be in full retreat, the brigades were moved forward over the battlefield, to press vigorously upon the enemy's rear, but so quickly did the Confederates move in retreat that they were across the swamp, and on the Darbytown road, before we had an opportunity to strike a blow. Retiring within their works, they resumed their defensive position, and this was the last Confederate assault made on the north side of the James.
In a congratulatory address to the Army of the James, General Butler said, of this engagement: " Massing all his veteran troops on your right flank on the 7th of October, the enemy drove in our cavalry with the loss of some pieces of horse artillery, but meeting the steady troops of the Tenth Corps, were repulsed with slaugh- ter, losing three commanders of brigades, killed and wounded, and many field and line officers, and men, killed, wounded, and prisoners."
At night we took up a position about where the battle of the day was fought, and threw up intrenchments. We were engaged for a week in this work and in arranging our camp. The tents and baggage came up, a camp was pitched, and we settled into routine work again.
Soon after noon of October 13th we received orders to move in light marching order. A reconnoisance in force was contem- plated. At half-past four in the afternoon we moved out through
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a sallyport of our new works with the other regiments of our brigade. The force engaged in this movement consisted of the whole of the First Division, now commanded by General Ames, General Terry having charge of the corps, sickness hav- ing obliged General Birney to relinquish the command. We reached the Cox farm, open ground before our works, where we balted. Then it became known that a flag of truce was be- tween the lines, and our regiments were marched back to their camps.
At three o'clock of the morning of the 13th we were routed out, and by four o'clock the same force was moving out through the works again. Marching through the dimness of the early morn- ing, we crossed the Cox farm, marched through the swamp, and formed for attack on the fields of the Johnson plantation, where Kautz was again in position. Then we moved across the Darby- town road to the extensive plains lying between it and the Charles City road, and began our advance. It was a bright October morning, clear, bracing, and the men were in high spirits. The scene was an inspiring one, as the broad fields our columns formed in filled with troops. Chaplain Trumbull describes it in these eloquent words : " The morning was delightful. It was the open- ing of a bright October day. The air was clear and bracing. The first rays of the rising sun were reflected from the frosted surface of the wide-reaching grassy fields, and from the many- hued forest trees beyond, as the skirmishers of the three brigades deployed and moved in a thin wavy line, extending far to the right and left, up toward the belt of wood where the enemy's mounted vedettes were distinctly scen. General, staff, and regi- mental officers rode hither and thither. Corps, division, and brigade flags were in sight. Long lines of infantry, with flashing arms and waving standards, were coming up by the flank or ad- vancing in battle front. Cavalry, with rattling sabers and flutter- ing camp colors, clattered along the road, and the brilliant guidons of the artillery-still far to the rear-signaled the approach of the rumbling batteries."
The skirmishers were quickly engaged, and it was soon plain from the heavy firing that the works were strongly held. We pushed our way close to them under a heavy musketry and artillery fire. A brigade of the Second Division, reenforced by the Tenth Connectiont, was beaten back, and, a movement of ours
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failing, we finally fell back and retreated to our works, reaching our camp about dark.
One who was present describes our retreat. It is a companion piece to the story of the advance as told by Chaplain Trumbull :
" Our position was in the woods. Adjutant Fox passed quietly along the line, informing the company commanders that we would fall back in a few moments, at the same time requesting that any who might not be able to keep up, if we were pressed to a run, be sent to the rear at once. A few slightly wounded, who had hitherto refused to leave the ranks, were sent away without attracting the attention of their comrades, and very shortly the retreat began. As we cleared the woods our batteries of artillery, which had been planted on slightly elevated ground in rear of the plain, belched forth their fiery breath with an almost continuons roar, sending their shrieking shells just over our heads and into the woods we had left. The briskly marching lines, the flash and roar of the guns, the bursting shells, the lengthening shad- ows formed by the rays of the declining sun, was a scene beyond description ; but it was but for a moment, for ere we reached the batteries they limbered and were on their way to camp."
A sad incident of the day was the death of Major Camp, of the Tenth Connecticut, who was killed while personally leading his regiment in a charge they made with the brigade they reenforced. His noble qualities, both as a soldier and a man, have been truly and graphically depicted by his closest friend, Chaplain Trum- bull, in a biographical volume, "The Knightly Soldier," from which work we have freely quoted.
The casualties for the day in the Eleventh were as follows :
Company A .- Killed, Corporal Erastus J. Mansur. Wounded, Privates John A. Brackett, Joseph L. Bailey, Asa S. MeIntire, Peter Neddo.
Company B .- Killed, Private Melville G. Nye.
Company C. - Wounded, Sergeant Edwin J. Miller.
Company D .- Wounded, Private Daniel W. Woodbury.
Company F .- Wounded, Privates John F. Arnold, William HI. Doughty.
Company G .- Wounded, First Sergeant George Payne ; Private Joseph Currier.
Company K .- Wounded, Private Luther Brown.
Killed, 2 ; wounded, 11-total, 13.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
We resumed camp life, and the weather becoming cold and stormy our men began to build log houses, it seeming more than likely that we would camp here during the winter.
On the 18th of October General Birney died at his home in Philadelphia. He was a brave and active officer, whose name was identified with the operations of the Army of the Potomac from the siege of Yorktown. He was a division commander of the Second Corps under Hancock, and after that officer retired by reason of wounds, commanded that corps. He was then given the command of our corps, and the active operations we were engaged in after his assumption of command showed the estima- tion in which he was held by General Grant. But the hardships of the campaign had enfeebled him, and, attacked by sickness, he died in the height of his fame.
On the 20th of October a salute was fired by all our batteries in honor of Sheridan's great victory over Early at Cedar Creek, Virginia. On the 22d of October Private Lorenzo D. Stewart, of Company K, was mortally wounded on the picket line.
In the latter part of October, Grant pushed a strong force from the left towards the South Side Railroad. In connection with the movement we made one on the right. Moving out at daylight of the 24th of October, we drove the enemy's pickets in on the Dar- bytown and the Charles City roads, and moved forward to threaten their works without intending to assault them. While we were maneuvering before the works, General Weitzel, in command of the Eighteenth Corps, was moving with that corps to turn the Confederate left flank by pushing through White Oak Swamp and taking possession of the unoccupied rebel works on the Williamsburg and New Bridge roads ; then was to move on Richmond. But General Longstreet, now in command of the Confederate forces on the north side of the James, anticipated the movement so effectually that Weitzel found the supposed-to-be unoccupied works so thoroughly occupied as to make his attack on them a complete failure, with a heavy loss in both men and colors, cach of his two attacking brigades losing three colors. About the hour of the afternoon that Weitzel met with this defeat, we were ordered to press our demonstrations and, if pos- sible, to carry the works. The attempts made to carry out this order were unsuccessful. We had to remain on the ground that rainy night to cover the retreat of Weitzel's men, who wearily
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plodded back through the mud and darkness, not reaching a safe position in our rear until early morning. We then moved back into our own works.
Our losses, October 27th, were as follows :
Company C .- Wounded, Private Seth A. Billington,
Company G .- Prisoner, Private George Harmon.
Wounded, 1; prisoner, 1-total, 2.
On the 29th of October our cavalry pickets were driven in from their position of observation on Johnson's plantation, the position that Kantz was driven from on the 7th of the month. Anticipating an attack of the same sort as the one we then repelled, our division moved out across the intervening swamp in which Kautz left his guns in the affair of the 7th. Reaching a position on the other side, we formed a strong skirmish line and charged the captured picket works, the enemy running from them as we neared them.
Our losses, October 29th, were as follows :
Company D .- Wounded, Sergeant Robert Brady, Jr.
Company K .- Wounded, First Sergeant Henry H. Davis ; Pri- vate Levi Pooler.
Wounded, 3.
The regiment had now served the three years it was originally mustered in for, and the remaining members of the original organization who had not reenlisted prepared for their departure for Maine. On the morning of November 2d they marched away, under command of Colonel Plaisted, to go to Augusta, where they would be paid off and disbanded. The last we heard of our old friends was that they marched beautifully that day, although the mud was deep and the roads badly rutted ; so well did they march, that Colonel Plaisted told them they had never done better in their military lives, and, as he jocularly put it, it was the first march during which not one of his command fell out. You see, they were marching in the right direction.
The following order was issued by Colonel Plaisted on his departure for Maine with the original members of the regiment :
HEADQUARTERS, 3D BRIG., IST DIv., 10TH A. C., BEFORE RICHMOND, VA., November 1, 1801.
General Orders No. 30.
The Colonel commanding cannot take leave of this command, even temporarily, without giving expression of his respect and
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admiration for the brave men whom it has been his good fortune to command.
While life shall last he will remember with pride and extreme satisfaction the brave deeds and heroic conduct of the men of the Third Brigade. The Army of the United States cannot boast of your superiors, and, in his humble opinion, you stand unrivaled by any troops who have fought in the Army of the James. Your name and fame are familiar as household words in the camps of this army corps and among your fellow-citizens at home. Your iron will and firmness have won for yourselves the proud title of " The Ironclads."
Since this campaign commenced you have participated in more than twenty actions, besides skirmishes almost without number. You have never failed to accomplish what was set down for you to do, and your conduct has always called forth the praises of your commanding officers. It has never occasioned them a single regret. That cowardly ery, " We are flanked !" has never been heard in your ranks. When other troops have given way on your right or your left, you have shown to the enemy that you had no flanks and no rear -- that the Third Brigade were all front, and that, too, of steel. How well that front has been maintained in this campaign, the long list of your casualties-1,385 out of 2,693 --- sadly but gloriously attest.
Fellow-soldiers, of your history it may indeed be said : " The past at least is secure." You have won a noble distinction in a noble army, fighting for a noble cause. That your future will be equally successful and brilliant, your conduct in the past leaves no room for doubt. Your brave deeds will be remembered ju your country's history and be the proud boast of your descend- ants.
In conclusion, the Colonel commanding desires to repeat, for your encouragement, the language of Washington to his brave troops, who had won for us the cause we are now contending to maintain. " Let me remind you," said he, " you, the private soldiers, of the dignified part you have performed in this great struggle. For happy -- thrice happy-will he be accounted here- after who has contributed, though in the least degree, to the establishment of this gigantic Republic on the broad basis of human freedom and empire." Immortal honors will belong to you as saviors of the Republic, no less than to our Fathers, as founders of it.
By order of CoL. H. M. PLAISTED, 11th Me. Vols., Commanding Brigade. (Signed,) FRANK HAWKINS, Capt. and A. A. A. General.
The regiment was now in command of Lieutenant Maxfield. Lieutenant-Colonel Hill and Major Baldwin had not yet recovered
4
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from their wounds. Most of the surviving line officers had gone home, to be mustered out. Lieutenant Maxfield mustered with the colors the few remaining reenlisted men, a small body of the men of '62, and of the men of '63 and '64, and had the promise that a sufficient number of recruits were on their way from Maine to keep the regiment in the field. By the coming of these recruits the regiment was enabled to keep its individuality to the end, avoiding consolidation with other regiments.
Before the arrival of these recruits the regiment, or battalion, was ordered north. The morning after their comrades left for Maine, the Eleventh, in company with the Tenth Connecticut, marched to Deep Bottom, and sailed from there to Fortress Monroe, where a provisional division was forming to proceed to New York City for the purpose of keeping the peace there during the pending presidential election. This division consisted of the Eleventh Maine, the Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth Connecticut Regiments, the Third and Seventh New Hampshire, the Thir- teenth Indiana. One Hundred and Twelfth New York, Battery M of the First United States Artillery, and other troops, and was under the command of General Hawley. It sailed from Fortress Monroe on the 4th of November, the Eleventh on the steamer General Lyon, with the One Hundred and Twelfth New York and the Sixth and Tenth Connecticut.
Arriving in New York Harbor the morning of the 6th of No- vember, on the morning of the 7th the troops landed at Fort Rich- mond, on Staten Island, and at night went on board steamers which conveyed them to points along the river front of New York City. The Eleventh Maine, Third New Hampshire, Thir- teenth Indiana, and One Hundred and Twelfth New York Regi- ments, and Battery M of the First U. S. Artillery, went on board the ferryboat Westfield and proceeded to Pier 42, North River. The force lay there through the 8th (election day), the 9th, and 10th, and until the 11th, when, the authorities becoming satisfied that the knowledge of the short, sharp fate rioting mobs would meet with at the hands of the grim veterans posted along the river front had secured a peaceful election, the force returned to Fort Richmond, and after a couple of days spent in this strong- hold embarked on the 14th (the Eleventh on the steamer North Point), and put to sea that night. Major Baldwin rejoined the regiment on November 11th.
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Arriving at Fortress Monroe, the provisional division formation was discontinued and the regiments procceded cach to its own camp ground, the Eleventh reaching its camp ground on Chapin's Farm the 17th of November. In its camp, in charge of the guard left to care for the regimental baggage, the regiment found two hundred and one recruits to be distributed through its skele- ton companies.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hill returned from hospital, November 22d, and took command of the regiment, relieving Major Baldwin.
The eventful campaign of 1864 was now at an end, and the regiment, going into winter quarters, began and perfected the reorganization that enabled it to take the field in the spring of 1865, strong in numbers and perfect in discipline.
The losses of the regiment in battle in the campaign of 1864 were as follows :
Killed, 44; wounded, 260 ; prisoners, 18-total, 322.
We had lost many by disease, and some had been discharged for disabilities other than wounds. We had also lost through dis- charges, by expiration of term of service, 11 officers and 131 enlisted men. We had gained 204 recruits.
The strength of the regiment, shown by the following return for the month of November, was as follows : Present for duty --- Officers, 11 ; enlisted men, 399. Absent from all causes-Officers, 10 ; enlisted men, 271. Total on the rolls-Officers, 21 ; enlisted men, 670.
Total, 691.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
IN WINTER QUARTERS.
The Opposing Lines-Changes in the Army of the James-The Twenty- fourth Corps-Its Badge-Changes in the Rank and File of the Regi- ment-Sergeant Blake's Story of Prison Life-Changes in the Field, Staff, and Line of the Regiment-General Plaisted's Farewell Order.
THE Annies of the Potomac and of the James were now in winter quarters. The opposing lines stretched from north of our camp at Chapin's Farm to south of Hatcher's Run. The Con- federate intrenchments, the course of which our intrenched lines followed as nearly as was possible, extended from White Oak Swamp, on their left, to Hatcher's Run on their right, a distance of thirty-seven miles. Eight miles of this line was north of the James, five was on the Bermuda Hundred front, and sixteen on the Petersburg line. These lines were all held by infantry. The space between Chapin's Bluff and Bermuda Hundred, four miles, was held by heavy artillery, and that along the Appomattox River, running from Bermuda Hundred to the left of the Petersburg intrenchments, another four miles, was held by batteries of artil- lerv.
This long Confederate line was known to be but thinly manned, and the Confederate army was known to be but poorly supplied and scantily recruited. And it was constantly dwindling, through deaths and desertions, while our well-appointed and plentifully supplied armies were daily growing in numbers by conscription, and by the enlisting of the host of adventurous spirits that flocked to America from all parts of the world, led on by a thirst for gold and glory. And not only the gold and the glory were with the North, but our strict blockade of Southern ports did not allow these adventurers a choice of sides. It was with confidence, then, that we looked forward to the campaign of the coming spring, feeling. from commanding general to high private, that we would then break through the opposing lines, and at last win our way into the stubbornly defended city of Richmond.
Many changes took place in the divisions of the Army of the James this winter. The Twenty-fourth Corps was organized from
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the white troops of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps. General Ord was the first commander of the new corps, but he became com- mander of the Army of the James, and the command of the Twenty-fourth Corps was given to General John Gibbon, who had been leading a division of the Second Corps. The Twenty- fifth Corps was formed of the colored troops of the Eighteenth and the Ninth Corps. General Godfrey Weitzel was given command of this corps. The Tenth and Highteenth Corps were thus dis- organized.
In January our old commander, General Terry, was detached from the Army of the James, with Ames's division and Abbott's brigade of the Twenty-fourth Corps, and Paine's division of the Twenty-fifth Corps, eight thousand infantry in all. These troops were sent in transports to take part in the attack on Fort Fisher. How well they did their duty is a matter of history, and it is a source of pride to us that their achievement is part of the history of the Army of the James. They did not rejoin us after the fall of Fort Fisher, but operated in North Carolina under General Schofield, subsequently joining Sherman's army with Schofield's command when Sherman passed into North Carolina on his march from Atlanta.
A Tenth Corps was subsequently organized out of Terry's troops, partly as a compliment to that popular officer. But this was in the last days of March, and it was disbanded almost as soon as formed.
The final arrangement of the Twenty-fourth Corps was as follows :
CORPS COMMANDER. Major-General John Gibbon. First Division. Brigadier-General Robert S. Foster. First Brigade, Colonel Thomas O. Osborn. Third Brigade, Colonel George B. Dandy. Fourth Brigade, Colonel Harrison S. Fairchild.
Third Division. Brigadier-General Charles Devens. First Brigade, Colonel Edward II. Ribley. Second Brigade, Colonel M. T. Donohue. Third Brigade, Colonel Samuel II. Roberts.
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Independent Division. Brigadier-General John W. Turner. First Brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Potter. Second Brigade, Colonel W. B. Curtis. Third Brigade, Colonel Thomas M. Harris.
It will be seen that the second division of our corps, the division commanded by General Ames, and the second brigade of our divi- sion (Abbott's) were absent. As has been stated, they were with General Terry in North Carolina.
The badge adopted for the corps by General Gibbon was a heart. In the order promulgating it he said : " The symbol selected tes- tifies our affectionate regard for all our brave comrades alike, the living and the dead, and our devotion to our sacred cause."
Our brigade was composed of the Tenth Connecticut, Colonel Otis ; One Hundredth New York, Colonel George B. Dandy ; Eleventh Maine, Colonel Jonathan A. Hill; and the Two Hun- dred and Sixth Pennsylvania, Colonel Hugh Brady. The last- named regiment was one of recent formation.
The changes in our regiment were numerous. The mustering out of those of the "original members" who had not reenlisted had withdrawn a large number of brave and thoroughly trained soldiers from us. Then, of the reenlisted veterans an extraordinary pro- portion had been killed and permanently disabled in the campaign of 1864, so that our regiment now depended largely for its trained soldiers on the additions of 1862, 1863, and 1864. The only entirely veteran organization remaining with us was Company B, which joined in 1862. Company I was almost a new organization, the Captain, Second Lieutenant, and about two-thirds of the enlisted men of the eighth unassigned company, organized in Maine in the winter of 1864, having been assigned to it.
Among our permanent losses were those of our men taken pris- oner during the late campaign. Few of these returned to us, the hardships and cruelties of their prison life, especially when con- fined in Andersonville, entirely unfitting them for further service in the field. The story of life in Southern prisons has been told many times, and all its horrors are well known ; yet it may be that the story of Sergeant Gardiner E. Blake, of Company D, who was taken prisoner, with others, at Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 2, 1864, contains enough that is new to make it interesting to many.
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