USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of the Twenty-fourth Michigan of the Iron brigade, known as the Detroit and Wayne county regiment > Part 12
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Thursday, June rith, brought strict orders for all civilians to leave the Army at once, all extra baggage to be sent to the rear, and the men's extra luggage reduced to the lowest possible amount, and be ready to march before daylight the next day. Like their departure from Camp Isabella, the final breaking up at Camp Way was attended with much interest, both because of the pleasant location of the camp and the few happy weeks spent amid the orchard blossoms of the vernal months, and because of the vague uncertainties of the future. There was an exciting campaign before them and the camp that night was one of unusual anxiety.
The regiment had been but ten months in service, yet, in this brief period, it had been occupied almost constantly in drill, expeditions, forced marches in rain and mud, fighting and taking its tours of picket duty. It had endured hunger, suffering, and all the hardships of exposure and fatigues of army life. From these causes and from sickness, death, wounds, disease, promotions and details to Battery B, pioneer and ambulance service, it had become reduced to nearly one-half its original number. But its brilliant record had won for it and its State, a proud name. The Detroit Tribune thus mentioned it at this date :
144
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
It was a source of great pleasure, on a recent visit to the army, to find that the Twenty-fourth Michigan had earned for itself in that vast army, an honorable and high reputation for bravery and soldierly bearing. It stands among the highest and is considered among the very best by the general officers of that army. It was a pleasure to see the men so generally hardy and ready to do their whole duty.
START FOR GETTYSBURG-MILITARY EXECUTION.
Sunrise of Friday morning, June 12, found the regiment, with the Iron Brigade, well away from Camp Way. The line of march was up the river and across the railroad at Stoneman's Switch, two miles from Falmouth, out of sight of the opposite side of the river. The column moved briskly, although the heat and dust were oppressive. At noon it reached the main Barnett's Ford road at Berea Church and halted for an hour's rest and to witness the death penalty upon a soldier of the Iron Brigade for desertion to the enemy. Sergeant Sullivan D. Green of Company F, Twenty-fourth Michigan, thus described, at the time, the tragic event :
This day is to witness an impressive and unusual sight. In one of yonder ambulances sits a young man under strong guard whose hours on earth are numbered. The other ambulance carries his coffin. He is going to his execution. Many before him have been pardoned by the president, but he will not be thus fortunate. His case is an aggravated one. He has been tried for three previous attempts at desertion and this time endeavored to pass himself off at the court martial in which he had the folly to give his own name, and place of birth, and also claimed to belong to a rebel regiment of the same number as that to which he really belonged, the Nineteenth Indiana. This led to his recognition by the provost marshal who had a full descriptive list of the prisoner. He was found guilty and sentenced to 'be shot to death with musketry, in presence of the division, on Friday the 12th day of June inst., between 12 M. and 4 P. M.
At about 2 o'clock the Iron Brigade led the column into a field, preceded by the prisoner sitting on his coffin. In silence, three sides of a hollow square were formed. The coffin was placed upon the ground, the prisoner alighted from the ambulance with the chaplain who held a few moments' converse with the doomed man, knelt and prayed with him, and then withdrew a little distance.
The detail of twelve men who were to execute the sentence were ordered out in line, when General Wadsworth addressed them for a few moments. They received their instructions and moved in single file in front of a line of guards, with loaded musketry, and as the two lines faced each other, the muskets were taken one by one from the guard and passed to the detail for the execution, the officer inspecting the lock to ascertain if it was in good condition. They were then marched in single file in front of the coffin and about ten paces distant.
In the meantime, from a desire of the prisoner, the Chaplain came forward the second time. Some moments were spent in solemn conversation and prayer, both kneeling, and as the very air grew still with the hush of death's angel and each heart- beat of the thousands standing around them seemed measured by minutes, they rose to their feet. The Chaplain spoke a last word commending a fellow-mortal's spirit to God, received his last message, pressed his hand and turned away. The last moment had come.
FROM CHANCELLORSVILLE TO GETTYSBURG.
145
EXECUTION OF PRIVATE WOODS OF THE NINETEENTH INDIANA, JUNE 12, 1863, FOR DESERTION TO THE ENEMY.
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
As the marshal stepped toward him, the prisoner took off his hat, placed it on the ground, and as he turned to his coffin he stood face to face for an instant with his executioners, and beyond them the long lines of his comrades who gave him a last, sad, pitying look. However just and necessary the penalty, there is something in such a moment that can scarcely be felt but once, and that at such a time. He was calm and resigned; moved with steady step to his coffin and sat upon it. He said to the marshal that he would rather not have his arms pinioned or his eyes blindfolded, as he was not afraid of the death he was about to meet, but if it was according to custom he would not object.
He took his last look of earth. Whether his thoughts were there or elsewhere, God only knows. The day was most beautiful, and the summer's sun in its warmest brightness fell around him. The field was green and wavy in its verdure. It was the last. A handkerchief was placed over his eyes, and his arms and legs were bound. Then only, a slight shudder passed through him. His shirt was ripped open and his breast made bare. All was ready. At the command "attention," the usual word of caution or preparation, they were to fire. The hat was lifted - 10,000 eyes were strained in one breathless gaze - it was lowered, and many eyes withdrew from the sight that was to follow. The report of arms was heard and a lifeless body fell backward to the dust !
A comrade had died at the hands of his fellow soldiers by the same death he feared to meet in the ranks of patriotism. He had cravenly deserted them in the hour of danger and had now paid the penalty. Better had he died amid the carnage of the deadly field and won a heroic fame; better had he borne a maimed and shattered body through his waning years; better have nobly done his duty and been honored as one of his country's best defenders in her need ! The division marched by the corpse, the burial detail struck their spades into the earth; the body limp and bleeding, with four bullet holes through the heart, was placed in the coffin, the column moved forward to the dusty road on its march, and we leave each to his own reflections.
The young man up to an hour before his death expected to be pardoned, as had been done so often in other cases of the death sentence, and as the Army was on the march this expectation was increased. But the Lieutenant in charge of the guard informed him that he must surely die that day, when his demeanor assumed a more serious aspect. Doubtless then his mind turned towards friends with a regret that he had not performed the whole duty of a soldier. William Smith of Company B was one of his guards that day. Thomas Nixon of B, and Joshua Minthorn of C, were on the detail from the Twenty-fourth to do the shooting which was done by a selection of men from the different regiments of the Iron Brigade. The provost marshal informed the shooting party that the man must be killed and that it was better for each one to take good aim and kill him instantly than to wound and only half kill him. They were told that one gun of the twelve was empty or filled with a blank cartridge, and each man
147
FROM CHANCELLORSVILLE TO GETTYSBURG.
of the detail might suppose himself to have that gun. It was a most melancholy experience for all who saw it and one that none could desire to witness again.
FORCED MARCH TO CENTERVILLE.
After the execution, the column moved at a quick pace to Deep Run and encamped at the mill near the Junction of the Warrenton and Barnett's Ford roads, the Twenty-fourth advancing half a mile in support of the picket line. The men recognized the right-hand road as the one they marched down last fall from Warrenton to Fredericksburg. The face of the country robed in its summer dress appeared finer than the hard trodden barriers of Stafford Heights.
At daylight on Saturday morning, June 13, the regiment marched on through Grove Church, halting an hour at "Cool Spring;" thence four miles to Morrisville, places with scarce half a dozen houses each. Few houses are required in Virginia for towns of high sounding names. They frequently have but one street, the road that passes through them. Moving on through Bealton Station, they halted for the night two miles beyond, at Liberty Church.
Six o'clock Sunday morning, June 14, found the column again advancing, halting for a brief rest at Germantown, the birthplace of Chief Justice Marshall. This section bears the name of " Effingham Forest" after Lord Effingham of colonial times. Another march brought the regiment to Warrenton Junction at 2 P. M. where a halt was made for " coffee," which favorite beverage being swallowed, a quick pace was taken through Catlett's to Kettle Run, within a mile of Bristow Station. It was after dark, but only a brief halt was allowed for supper.
Colonel Morrow informed the men that it was necessary to go forward still further that night, as it was a question of speed whether they or the enemy would first reach the Centerville Heights. All day the weather was hot and roads dusty, many falling out of the ranks exhausted and sinking to the ground. For three miles before the halt for supper at Kettle Run, the men became frantic for water, as there was none save now and then in some mudhole or slimy frog marsh.
Crossing Kettle Run after an hour's halt, by stepping from stone to stone in the darkness, and later in the night Broad Run also, in the glare of torches and bonfires on the bank, by an improvised bridge of rails, they marched all night and reached Manassas Junction just before sunrise on Monday morning, June 15. The night march was tedious,
148
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
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though but for the need of sleep not so exhausting as in the heat of day. The halt for breakfast was made on the very spot beside the Manassas railroad track where the rest of the Iron Brigade made their morning meal after retreating from the bloody field of Gainesville, August 29, 1862. They had remained on the field till midnight to bury their dead, but ere the task was done had to retire, and at sunrise halted on this spot.
After a rest of four hours, the Iron Brigade passed on over the plains of Manassas, by the fortificatins and Beauregard's headquarters. Yonder earthworks command the wide plain sloping towards the heavy timber that fills the Bull Run valley. Dark and gloomy seem their depths and over tree tops can be seen the Heights of Centerville, six miles beyond, which form the outposts of the defenses of Washington, twenty-five miles away.
Captain A. M. Edwards pointed out the little grove where, with 500 fellow prisoners, he passed the first night of his ten months' captivity in Dixie. The regiment entered the woods and halted for dinner at Blackburn's Ford sufficiently long for the men to take a needed bath in the waters of the now historic Bull Run. At this Ford occurred the first encounter of the war between the northern and southern troops. The Second and Third Michigan Infantry opened the contest. Crossing the Ford, the regiment proceeded to Centerville, where it arrived at 3 P. M., encamping southeast of the village, seventy-five miles from Falmouth. Here the men learned the exciting news of the invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania by Lee's army.
NORTHWARD MARCH TO PENNSYLVANIA LINE.
After resting till daylight of Wednesday 17, the column marched towards Leesburg. The weather was terrible, but the men stood it well until obliged to retrace their steps a mile or two on the wrong road, when their spirits and power of endurance waned under this depressing influence. They could march well through woods where not a breath of air stirred, or along fields under rays of a burning sun, but this useless marching greatly discouraged them, as an exhausting march is more dreaded than the deadly fight. The regiment went but little further that day, and crossing the Alexandria & Loudon Railroad near Herndon, halted to rest in an open field amid springs of clear water, after a march of ten miles.
Thursday, the 18th, was a day of rest. Copious showers of rain fell that night and the next day, the first rainfall for six weeks. At II o'clock on the 19th, the column moved four miles up the railroad
150
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
towards Leesburg, to Broad Run and bivouacked near Guilford Station, Loudon County, Virginia. All Saturday and Sunday, the 2Ist, the men lay under arms ready to move. Heavy firing was heard in the direction of Ashby's Gap. It was our Cavalry annoying Lee's troops on their way north. Lee had been transferring his forces via the Shenandoah Valley towards Maryland, and Hooker had carefully kept the Union Army between Lee and Washington.
On Monday, the 22d, Colonel Morrow dismissed the commissioned officers to the camp and put non-commissioned officers in their places for a drill. Several stepped forward and successfully put the regiment through the battalion evolutions, much to their credit. While halting here for a week, the men had a good rest before the terrible events soon to be unfolded to history, and many a poor boy wrote his last letter home.
After an all night's rainstorm, the Iron Brigade marched at 8 o'clock on Thursday morning, the 25th, crossed the Potomac at Edwards' Ferry on pontoons, and proceeding through Poolsville, Maryland, bivouacked at dark at Darnesville near Sugar Loaf Mountain. A most beautiful sight was a large school of children at Poolsville, who gazed upon the soldiers as they marched by. One cannot imagine, without experience, the cheerful feeling such a sight induces among those who have not for months witnessed this feature of civilization. This reminder of home brought tears to many an eye of those accustomed to hardships of the campaign. The soldiers were welcomed all along the route, by fair women and glad children who hailed their protectors from war's devastation.
Early Friday morning, June 26th, the column wound its way .over Sugar Loaf Mountains by a very rough road, through heavy woods, into the valley of the Monocacy, which was crossed at Greenfield Mills by a bridge 256 feet long. It rained all day, which made disagreeable roads, but averted the heat of the sun. Two miles further on the Iron Brigade halted for dinner, when a farmer dolefully inquired of General Meredith, if the men were burning his rails by Meredith's orders. The General told him that the men must cook their coffee, and if he was a loyal man, the government would pay him all damages. The country was inexpressibly beautiful with its fields of waving grain nestling on the mountain sides and in the valley. the views from the summits being most grand. Crossing the range, the regiment encamped one mile south of Jefferson, about six miles below Middletown.
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THE MARCH TO GETTYSBURG.
152
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
On Saturday the 27th, a further march of six miles was made up the Valley, encamping two miles northwest of Middletown, where the Iron Brigade halted till 3 P. M. on Sunday, June 28th, when the long roll beat and the troops marched across the mountain to Frederick City, eight miles, by a rough road north of the National Road, through Shookstown. On Monday, June 29th, the march lay through Lewiston, Catoctin, Furnace, Franklinsville and Mechanicstown, (the latter overflowing with patriotism and hospitality)-to Emmitsburg. At this place was located St. Joseph's Academy, under charge of the Sisters of Charity, who in the course of this war were ministering angels to our sick and wounded comrades. On the 25th, Captain A. M. Edwards was ordered to Alexandria, to bring back convalescents for the First Corps. He rejoined the Army at Frederick, Maryland, with 1,219 of this class, on the 29th.
Leaving Emmitsburg behind on Tuesday, June 30, the Iron Brigade, with the Sixth Wisconsin in advance, crossed the Pennsylvania line, being in the van of the Potomac Army. It moved on five miles, nearly to Greenmount, Adams County, Pennsylvania, 160 miles from the starting point on the Rappahannock, and bivouacked about noon near Marsh Creek, where the men where mustered for pay which many of them were never to receive. The bivouac was but six miles from a field which their blood will make immortal ere another sunset. Alas, the last campfire for many a weary soldier !
"To-night we sleep on Bosworth Field - to-morrow where?"
CHANGE OF COMMANDERS.
In this impending crisis, another change of Commanders in the Army of the Potomac now seemed advisable to the Washington authorities, and the following address was issued :
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, ¿ FREDERICK, MD., June, 28, 1863.
In conformity with orders from the War Department, the command of the Army of the Potomac is transferred to Major-General George G. Meade, a brave and accomplished officer, who has nobly earned the confidence and esteem of the army on many a well fought field. Impressed with the belief that my usefulness as the commander of this army is impaired, I part from it, yet not without the deepest emotion. The sorrow of parting with the comrades of so many battles is relieved by the conviction that its courage and devotion will never cease nor fail ; that it will yield to my successor, as it has to me, a willing and hearty support. With the earnest prayer that the triumph of its arms may bring successes worthy of it and the nation, I bid it farewell. JOSEPH HOOKER, Major-General.
I53
FROM CHANCELLORSVILLE TO GETTYSBURG.
In assuming command of the army General Meade said :
The country looks to this army to relieve it from the devastation and disgrace of a hostile invasion. Whatever fatigues and sacrifices we may be called upon to undergo, let us have in view constantly the magnitude of the interests involved, and let each man determine to do his duty. It is with just diffidence that I relieve an eminent and accomplished soldier, whose name must ever appear conspicuous in the history of its achievements; but I rely upon the hearty support of my companions in arms to assist me in the discharge of the duties of the important trust confided to me.
General Hooker's management of the Chancellorsville campaign had not been satisfactory to the War Department, and he was now denied the command of some troops within his department which were afterwards placed under the command of his successor. General Hooker thus felt that "his usefulness as commander was impaired,"
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE.
and requested to be relieved. Two days after, General Meade, awake to the great interests involved in the impending crisis, issued the following :
The Commanding General requests that previous to the engagement soon expected, officers address their troops explaining the immense issues involved. The enemy is now on our soil. The whole country looks anxiously to this army to deliver it from the presence of the foe. * * Corps and other commanders are authorized to order the instant death of any soldier who fails to do his duty at this hour.
154
HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
Though measuring the importance of the struggle, this ·severe menace was not necessary. An appeal to their honor would have sufficed, such as Nelson signaled from his flagship before the battle of Trafalgar : "England expects every man to do his duty to-day."
BEALTON STATION, VA. SKETCHED BY H. J. BROWN.
CHAPTER IX.
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE.
I N THE closing week of June, 1863, both the Confederate army under Lee, and the Union army under Meade, arrived in Pennsylvania, the former in advance. An important significance attached to the next day's bloody conflict which was necessary to prepare the way for a colossal Union victory two days after. Upon its issue depended the Nation's life. The very fate of the Union cause-even the recognition of the Southern Confederacy from a failure of the Union arms at this time - would soon be decided on the field 'of mortal combat. It was an hour of agonizing suspense, the darkest in our blood-stained annals. On June 29, 1863, Lee heard of the Union army being also in Pennsylvania and the next day started his forces for Gettysburg. A judge in the latter town, obtaining this information, sent a messenger off to a distant railroad station, and that night the Governor of the State thereby learned of Lee's intentions. The news was sent to Meade by a circuitous telegraphic course, and he, too, began to direct his scattered corps to the same place. During Tuesday, June 30, unbeknown to each other, Lee advanced his army eastward, while General Reynolds of the First ( Union ) Corps advanced northward, bivouacking, each, about an equal distance from Gettysburg, whose advantageous heights were most valuable to either army.
At an early hour on Wednesday morning, July I, the men partook of their frugal meal of hardtack, pork and coffee, as usual. The Pennsylvania line had been reached and the forces of the enemy must be met very soon, though none suspected that the foe was within a few hours' march. Before resuming the daily journey it was deemed proper to assemble the regiment for prayer. During Chaplain Way's invocation, cartridges and hardtack were distributed among the men. Time was precious and not to be lost.
The line of advance was resumed up the Emmitsburg road. All seemed merry until yonder booms and puffs of cannon smoke told
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HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN.
plainly that the opposing pickets had met. Our Union cavalry had halted the enemy, dismounted, and were having a hot time to keep the foe in check until the approaching First Corps could arrive. Suddenly a fleet horseman from the front dashed up with a hasty message for General Meredith of the "Iron Brigade." Route step and merriment now gave way to a quick pace, while all non-combatants and pack mules were ordered to fall to the rear, as the regiment with its brigade filed off the road to the left about a mile from the town, near Cordori's House.
CAPTURE OF ARCHER'S BRIGADE - DEATH OF REYNOLDS.
The Iron Brigade advancing in order-Second and Seventh Wisconsin, Nineteenth Indiana and Twenty-fourth Michigan -was double-quicked into line, without guns being loaded or bayonets fixed, which was done on the run. (The Sixth Wisconsin of this brigade had been detached for service elsewhere in this corps during the morning.) Hastening across the fields the Iron Brigade's right wing
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN F. REYNOLDS, KILLED AT GETTYSBURG.
157
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
halted on the crest of a ridge looking down into a wooded ravine, from which blazed a shower of bullets from Archer's Tennessee Brigade. Its left wing, consisting of the Twenty-fourth Michigan, swung clear around into the forest in the rear of this Tennessee Brigade. A special in the New York Tribune thus described the event :
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