USA > Maine > The story of one regiment; the Eleventh Maine infantry volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 27
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THIE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
If he seems to have received more consideration from the Confed- crate authorities than did so many others, his rank as Sergeant may have served him somewhat ; then he was a man of the world, having followed the sea for many years, attaining the rank of Captain of a vessel, so knew better than most of his fellow-prison- ers how to gain and keep the ear of authority. Then, too, he belonged to a mighty brotherhood, members of which are found in all lands and in all conditions, on thrones and in hovels, in church and camp, in field and prison. This is his story :
"Just after daybreak of June 2, 1864, the rebels advanced on our lines at Bermuda Hundred, Va. Company D was stationed at Warebottom Church, and held its position until flanked, when we fell back to our reserve pits, where Company HI was stationed. There we fought until we were flanked again. In falling back, Captain Mudgett, Privates Martin V. Bryant and Lawrence Kelley, and myself, all of Company D, were cut off and obliged to surrender. Private Sumner M. Bolton was also captured, but was left behind, as he was badly wounded near the eye. We, the four first-named, were marched to Petersburg that day, and taken be- fore the Provost-Marshal of that city. Our valuables were now taken from us. They took $130, three silver watches, and a jack- knife from me. That night we received a little boiled rice for our supper. The next day we were put aboard the cars, and sent to Charleston, S. C., where we were put in the city jail, which was under the fire of our guns on Morris Island. We were given three cakes of hard bread while on our way to Charleston. We now had some cooked rice given us, and about noon we received five large crackers, and were told that was two days' rations. The same day we were taken to the cars, and sent to Savannah, Ga. We stopped there about two hours, and then left for Macon, Ga., where Cap- tain Mudgett was left. We then proceeded to Andersonville, where we were put into the prison stockade, with no shelter. This was about the 7th of June. Our ration for twenty-four hours was at that time one pint and a half of coarse corn-meal, of which we made a gruel.
" I had not been there but a few days when I heard the report of a rifle, and heard a man yell at the top of his voice. On look- ing around, I found that a rebel guard had shot a prisoner for getting over the 'dead line.' That was the first I knew of the dead line. Afterwards I found that it was a very common thing
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for a prisoner to cross the dead line, through ignorance, and get shot by the guard. The assassin would get a thirty days' furlough for his bravery !
" The result of our corn-meal diet was a chronic disease of the bowels, and scurvy, from which hundreds died. About the 1st of July the death-rate increased to twice the usual number, and we thought the rebels were putting poison into the meal. About this time there came a report that some prisoners were robbing others of their rations. We chose some men to act as detectives, and found the charge to be true. We then entered a complaint to Captain Wirtz, the keeper of the prison. He told us to punish the thieves. We then chose twelve of the older prisoners as jury- mon, and took the thieves outside the prison by consent of Cap- tain Wirtz, and had them tried. They were found guilty. Six were sentenced to be hung on a gallows in the prison, and one to wear a twenty-four-pound ball and chain during his time of im- prisonmeut, and on the 11th day of July we hung the six con- demned men upon one gallows, and, I must say, it was the worst sight of my life.
"Not many days after this there came up a very heavy thunder- storm that washed away part of the stockade. Some of the prisoners got some of the pieces, and buried them in the sand for wood to burn. For this Captain Wirtz gave out no rations for forty-eight hours, causing many deaths. About the last of July the rebel quartermaster and a Confederate doctor visited the prison in search of tunnels, as some of the prisoners had been tunneling out, but had made their escape only to be captured again by the aid of bloodhounds. I spoke to this doctor and told him my condition, scurvy and chronic disease of the bowels. I asked him to take me outside of the prison and let me see if I could not find some relief. He took compassion on me and took me outside and talked with me, and at last took me before Captain Wirtz and had me paroled. On entering Wirtz's tent the doctor told him that he had brought a prisoner, and wanted him to administer the oath of parole. Finally Wirtz consented, and said : . Yank, take off your cap, and hold up your right hand.' Of course I obeyed. Then he said : ' You swear that you will not go beyond your pass, nor have any talk with the negroes, nor anything to do with our soldiers, so help you God.' I said, ' I do.' He then put a forefinger close to my nose, and said : 'You
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see that you do, for if you do not I will put the hounds on your track, and catch you again ; and then I will put a ball and chain around your G-d d -- d neck.' After this the doctor took me near his tent, and showed me a tent that I might use, and told me that about four o'clock I would see the supply team coming, and I must tell the driver that the doctor told me to get of him what fresh meat I thought I could eat raw. In this way I got all the fresh beef that I could eat, and took it to my tent and ate it raw, and lived on raw beef for a number of days to the lessening of my scurvy. About three days later I saw a rebel carpenter at work near by. I made my way to him, and showed him my legs, which were swelled to twice their natural size. "This is scurvy,' I said. ' Can you get me a few potatoes to eat raw, for I am told that raw potatoes are good for the scurvy.' He told me that he would, but I must not let anyone know of it. The next morning he brought me what potatoes he could put in his coat pockets, and did so a number of times. The potatoes, together with the raw beef, helped me much.
" About the last of August I heard a great noise in the prison, and on going to learn the cause, I saw the prisoners leaving by hundreds. I was told there was to be a parole. I went to the doctor and told him I wanted to go with them. He said I had better stop where I was ; but I would not, as I thought there was to be a parole, and so I went with the rest to the depot and got on board the cars. They were box cars, without seats. We were on the cars five days and nights, and then we arrived at Charles- ton, S. C., and were placed upon the race-course, with a guard over ns, and a number of artillery pieces around us. We left a number of dead in the cars, as many were too weak to stand the ride. We now lived on corn-bread. The race-course was two miles north of Charleston. From here we had the pleasure of hearing our guns on Morris Island.
" We remained on the race-course about three weeks, after which we were put upon the cars again and sent to Florence, S. C., which is one hundred miles north of Charleston. On arriving, we saw another place very much like Andersonville prison ready to receive us. This was some time in September. My clothing had begun to fail me about this time. My shirt was about gone, for the lice at Andersonville had caton it nearly up; they were very plenty among us. My stockings were all gone, and, of
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course, what little clothing I had was very dirty and fast going, with no prospect of getting any more.
" We will now call it October. After being here ten or fifteen days, I saw a rebel lieutenant in prison looking for a man that was handy with a knife, for he wanted a valise made of thin boards. I told him I could do the job, and he furnished me with a knife and some thin boards, and I soon had him a valise made, covering the box with a rubber blanket. When he called for it, I asked him if he could get me paroled outside of the prison, as I was not very well. He said he would see what he could do, and let me know in a few days. He came to me in a day or two and took me outside of the prison and talked with me, and then took me to the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Georgia Regiment. He gave mo permission to stop outside the prison by day, but I must go in at night. I was made happy then, for I knew that I could now get more to eat.
" I did not go but a short distance from prison for a number of days. At last I went over to the camp of a Confederate regiment, made up of boys and old men. They had gray suits, but no bright buttons. They wanted to buy the buttons on my blouse. I said, ' What will you give me for the four buttons ?' One young man said he would give me two long plugs of tobacco. I took his knife, cut them off, and gave them to him for the to- bacco, and made me a wooden pin to pin my blouse together. I went back to the prison and sought out Private Martin V. Bryant, and told him what I had done. 'Now,' said I, 'you take this tobacco, cut it in small pieces, and put it in a haversack, and go about the prison and give one piece of the tobacco for a button.' He did so, and came back with two or three pints of buttons. The next day I took about one pint of the buttons, and went to the old men's regiment, and sold the buttons for tobacco, beans, red peppers, and fifty or sixty dollars in Confederate money. I returned to Bryant, and he now set up a sutler's shop in prison, and exchanged my goods for buttons, or anything he could trade for. One day, on my arrival in prison, Bryant told me he knew where he could buy a pair of shoes for fifteen dollars if I would let him have the money, as he had now been barefooted for six weeks. He got the shoes. They were worth about twenty-five vente in greenbacks. I paid $45 in Confederate money for a very old cavalry overcoat, and that covered most of my rags.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
" One day a rebel lieutenant, by the name of Barrot, came into prison and fired his revolver two or three times to show us his great courage. I do not know of his doing any harm by firing his revolver, but he was as bad a man as Captain Wirtz, and ought to have been hung on the same gallows.
" About the last of October the rebel officers told me that they would have some buildings put up for the sick if I would take some of the prisoners and have the material brought to the prison, but that I must be responsible that none of my men ran away. They said they would give them an extra ration to do the work. I soon had twenty men at work getting logs and poles, and in two or three weeks we had some buildings up, sheltering the sick and dying. We were treated much better at this prison than we had been at any other place in the Confederacy ; still, there were ter- rible sights. The dead were all taken from the prison every morning, placed on a mule team, and hauled away to their place of burial packed on the wagon, one man atop of another, just like so many dead hogs. They were buried side by side, coffin- less, in a trench dug wide enough to place them in crosswise.
" The middle of November came, and the weather was growing colder each day. I began to feel uneasy, fearing we must stop with the rebels all winter. I got leave of the officers in charge to let me build a log house about eight by ten feet to live in outside of the prison. I got that built and got a prisoner to live with me, when there came word that there was to be a parole, and we were to go home once more. All was excitement, and soon we were paroled and put on board the cars and sent to Savannah, where steamers Jay waiting for us. We received new clothes on board the steamer, and plenty to cat, and in a few days we landed at Annapolis, where we got a furlough for thirty days to go to our homes. All of Company D captured at this time sur- vived their imprisonment, except Private Lawrence Kelley, who died in Andersonville prison."
The changes in the personnel of the field, staff, and line of the Eleventh were as marked as those in the rank and file. Colonel Plaisted resigned during the winter, soon after receiving his star. Le had commanded the brigade for many months, almost continu- ously since it was organized at Gloucester Point in April, 1864. Ilis services to the regiment had been very great, both as an organizer and a disciplinarian, in both of which qualifications he-
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excelled. And then his influence and reputation in Maine were such that his recruiting officers had little difficulty in bringing a sufficient number of recruits to his colors to keep his companies well manned, and at no time, under his skillful management, was there any foreboding of consolidation with other commands. Thanks to Colonel Plaisted, the Eleventh Maine kept its own organization to the end, and its history is unclouded by the necessity of mingling with it that of any other military organiza- tion.
The following farewell address was issued by General Plaisted to his brigade :
HEADQUARTERS, 3D BRIG., IST DIV., 24THI A. C., ARMY OF THE JAMES, BEFORE RICHMOND, VA., March 25, 1865.
To the Officers and Soldiers of the Third Brigade
(11the Me., 10th Conn., 24th Mass., 100th N. Y., 206th Pa.).
At last, Soldiers, it becomes my duty to say farewell ! That word may sometimes be spoken and not carry with it the heart's regret, but not by him who has for years shared the pleasant com- panionship of soldiers.
That companionship with you I have shared in a campaign which will be celebrated even in the world's history -- celebrated for the brave deeds and manly virtues of a patriot army contend- ing for Government, Freedom, and Empire-yes, Soldiers, with you !
I will not rehearse your history in that campaign. Suffice it to say, the record shows you engaged your country's foes, and had, killed and wounded, some of your number on fifty-nine different days !- that your losses, in the aggregate, were 1,385 out of 2,693 !- and that among the names of the battlefields adjudged to belong to your banners are : " Walthall Junction " or " Green Valley, " " Chester Station," "Drury's Bluff," " Richmond Pike." " Bermuda Hundred." " Richmond and Petersburg Railroad," " Warebottom Church," "Strawberry Plains." "Deep Bottom," " Deep Run." " Fussell's Mills," " Siege of Petersburg," " New- market Heights." "Newmarket Road," "Darbytown Road," " Charles City Road," .. Johnson's Plantation." Be proud of your record, Veterans : you have a right to be.
Should your country need your services in the field again, not only your past conduct, but your present unsurpassed excellence in drill and discipline, furnish the surest guaranty that your future will be even more brilliant than the past. Reviewed by the Lieutenant-General and the Secretary of War a few days since, your soldierly appearance won from those high officials the
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strongest expressions of their approbation and delight. What would they have thought had they seen you fight !
The respect and confidence of such troops, after such service, is honor enough. It is a sufficient reward for the best efforts- the endeavors of a lifetime. I am indebted to you, Comrades. Your conduct has afforded me the keenest pleasure of my life, and, while life shall last, memory will constantly recur to the conduct of the " Iron Brigade " with as much pride and gratitude as the heart is capable of.
I heartily congratulate you upon the prospect of early peace. In the opinion of our greatest general, the "hard fighting is over." May the day come quickly when you can return to your homes, to resume your peaceful pursuits and to receive the honors which belong to our country's defenders. Then will you, in your civil life, vindicate the high character of the army, by aiding to restore and preserve the public morals, and by proving to your fellow-citizens that in learning to become good soldiers you have become the best of citizens. For your generous confidence and. support, Soldiers, you have the grateful thanks of your late Brigade Commander, and his best wishes for your future welfare and happiness. Farewell !
To the Eleventh Maine, my old Companions, farewell !
(Signed,) II. M. PLAISTED, Colonel 11/h Maine Volunteers and Brevet Brigadier-General.
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
LAST DAYS ON THE NORTH SIDE.
Colonel Dandy the Brigade Commander-Hill and Baldwin Promoted- The Fame of Hill-Henry O. Fox and Other Adjutants-Our Quarter- masters-Our Surgeons-Our Chaplains-The Non-commissioned Staff-The New Line Officers-The New Men-Our Camp-A Cold Winter -- Pickets and their Whiskey Ration-Reviewed by General Grant and Secretary Stanton-Reviewed by President Lincoln -- Marching Orders-To the South Side Again-Organization of the Regiment.
ON the departure of General Plaisted the command of the brigade devolved upon Colonel Dandy, of the One Hundredth New York. Lieutenant-Colonel Hill now received his commission as Colonel, and we were all highly pleased at his promotion ; for from the day in June, 1864, on which Lieutenant-Colonel Spofford was mortally wounded, and called him, then Captain Hill, to his side, and passed over to him the command of the regiment, Colonel Hill commanded it in nearly all its movements until he lost his right arm at the Battle of Deep Run. And he led his men with such skill and bravery that his promotions were felt to be well earned. Not only was he thought highly of by his own men, but throughout the corps ; and even now, whenever the Eleventh Maine is spoken of by survivors of the Old Tenth and 'Twenty-fourth Corps, the name of Hill is not forgotten.
One day, a very few years ago, the writer stepped into a drug store in the city of Brooklyn, and while waiting for his prescrip- tion to be filled overheard a stout, gray-mustached gentleman giving a group of friends a portion of his war experience. Hle spoke of " General Hill," and in high praise. Ah ! thought I, a Confederate veteran, and I called to mind Generals D. II. and A. P. Hill, of that service. But when he said. " General Hill was one of the bravest men in the army, and commanded one of the best regiments that went out of the old State of Maine," I knew of whom he was talking, and promptly made my way to the front. Then, introducing myself, I learned that our friend was Dr. Carter, once surgeon of the One Hundredth New York.
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THE STORY OF ONE REGIMENT.
The promotion of Colonel Hill gave Major Baldwin a step up, and he became Lieutenant-Colonel. And his promotion was a well- carned one, too. Colonel Baldwin was a brave and skillful officer, one whom the men followed with a confidence second only to that with which they followed Colonel Hill. And Baldwin, too, was grievously wounded in the August week of 1864 that cost us so dearly. Like Hill, he followed the example of brave old Spofford, and, while keeping his men closely to cover whenever possible, himself stood boldly forth, a shining mark for sharpshooters, these officers holding that it was their duty to expose themselves in order that they might keep watch of the movements of the enemy. This temerity cost Spofford his life, Hill his right arm, and Bald- win wounds from which he has never fully recovered.
These promotions resulted in that of Captain Henry C. Adams, of Company G, to the rank of Major, although he did not receive his commission until after Lee surrendered. Major Adams had served as Commissary Sergeant, Sergeant-Major, and Quarter- master, and was on General Butler's staff during the campaign of 1864, returning to the regiment in the early winter, to be mustered as Captain.
The changes in the staff were marked ones. Adjutant Henry O. Fox, who had served as adjutant since the fall of 1862, resigned his commission to take service in a regiment raised to act against the hostile Indians on the Western plains. He had suc- ceeded Adjutant Hume, who succeeded Adjutant Pennell, the "original " Adjutant. Adjutant Fox became a favorite officer from the beginning. "Tall, slender, of soldierly bearing, with bright, dark eyes, a smiling mouth, and a clear resonant voice, he was the beau-ideal of an adjutant. lle was succeeded by Lieutenant Hanscom, a new comer, who joined the regiment with the Eighth unassigned, now " new " Company 1. Adjutant Hanscom served us faithfully until the year for which he entered service had expired.
While noting changes in the Field and Staff, perhaps it will be well to mention such officers as were connected with them at one time and another, and whose names, except perhaps incidentally, have not appeared in this story.
Lieutenant Ivory J. Robinson, our first Quartermaster, was one of these. He was taken ill soon after we landed on the Peninsula, and started for bome on sick leave. He died on the journey.
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Wagonmaster John Ham succeeded Lieutenant Robinson as Quartermaster. Ham was most remarkable for being addicted to wearing civilian clothes, and for nearly always having an unlighted cigar between his lips. " Who are you, sir ?" sternly asked Gen- eral Emory, as Quartermaster Ham appeared before him at Bri- gade Headquarters at Yorktown in the fall of 1862.
"I'm Quartermaster Ham, of the Eleventh Maine."
" Go to your regiment, put on your uniform, then come here and make known your business," growled the old martinet.
Quartermaster Ham was not the only officer having a liking for citizen's clothing. Old General Vodges dressed in such whenever he was off duty.
"You can't pass here," said a sentry to him.
"But I'm General Vodges."
" You can't play that on me," was the scornful answer. " Every d ------ d old fool that comes around in citizen's clothes and a stove- pipe hat calls himself Vodges."
Quartermaster Ham resigned in January, 1864.
After temporary successors, Lieutenant Wm. II. H. Andrews became Quartermaster, serving until we were mustered out. Quar- termaster Andrews was a man of indomitable energy, caring only to get his loaded wagon train, with the belongings of his regiment, to the front on time. While he was quartermaster it was a rare thing for the regiment to have more than marched upon the ground selected for a bivouac, before the white canvas tops of his wagons rolled into sight.
Succeeding Doctors Clark and Wilbur, our original Surgeons (they cach served but a short time), Dr. Nathan F. Blunt became our regimental surgeon. A distinguished surgeon and an able physician, he rendered valuable services until June, 1865, when the state of his health made it imperative that he should retire from service. He was succeeded by Dr. Richard L. Cook, who had been serving under Dr. Blunt as Assistant Surgeon, succeed- ing Dr. John F. Bates, who died on the steamer Cuharba. Dr. Cook was a competent surgeon and physician, and a most careful and painstaking officer. A kindly man, he was ever ready to loan his horse to a limping soldier, and so frequently was he called upon to do so, that in the campaigns of 1864 and 1865 the doctor marched almost as many miles on foot as any of us.
But Assistant Surgeon Woodman W. Royal was our pet doctor.
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With the gentlest of touches, he had the firmest of nerves, and would probe a wound or cut off a limb with almost an appearance of enjoying it. Then, his pleasant eccentricities of words and manner were the delight of all his friends and patients. But ma- fingerers got little mercy from him. When a soldier was brought to him at a field hospital by stretchermen, who said their burden seemed sunstruck, the busy doctor gave one look at the clouded sky, then raised his stout foot and smote the prostrate recreaut, sending him and the stretcher rolling over and over, as he cried : " Sunstruck on a cloudy day, you d-d coward ! Go back and get killed, and then come here and I'll see what I can do for you."
Our first Chaplain was the Rev. Caleb H. Ellis. He retired from service soon after the regiment entered upon the Peninsula campaign. He was succeeded by the Rev. James Wells, who remained in service until the close of the campaign of 1864. Chaplain Wells was a true gentleman, and performed the some- times thankless duties of his office with tact and faithfulness. He found that the real work of a chaplain was in the hospitals. Here a chaplain is always welcomed; and in comforting the dying, and ministering to the sick and wounded, reading to them and writing for them, he performs tender services that endear him to many hearts. In the performance of such duties Chaplain Wells won respect and friendship; and if it is given those who have gone before to know of the coming of those left behind, when our good old friend passed over the river, he was doubtless tenderly welcomed on the other shore by the many comrades whose earthly eyes were closed for the last time by his pitying touch.
The non-commissioned staff was entirely changed. The suc- cessors of Hume, Fox, Adams, Norris, Maxfield, and Morton were faithful men, but the war was too near an end to give them opportunities, so it would not be fair to judge their work by that of their predecessors, especially those of the Sergeant-Major's office. Indeed, it was given to but few men to perform the duties of sergeant-major in the minute and painstaking manner that, first, Sergeant-Major Maxfield, and then Sergeant-Major Morton, did. And the framework of this history, so far, is made up largely from the diaries of these two comrades-diaries in which the movements of the regiment and changes in its personnel were care- fully set down during the first three years of its service. Indeed, it is extremely doubtful if the history of the regiment could have
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