USA > New Hampshire > A history of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, Volunteer Infantry in the rebellion war, 1861-1865, pt 1 > Part 5
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December 11, Thursday. Bombardment of the city of Fredericksburg. I will not undertake to describe it ; numberless great earthquakes could not shake the ground
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COLONEL HARRIMAN'S ACCOUNT.
or rend the air more. The city was frightfully torn to pieces : the inhabitants had left for parts unknown.
Saturday, December 13, 1862. This day we have had a most fearful, sanguinary battle. The battle-field was just in the rear of the city, and at this moment, as I write, many thousands of noble dead and wounded lie upon the ground. The grand total loss is not now known. The loss in my regiment in killed and wounded is about 175, and it is frightful. I feel it ten times more at this moment (midnight) than I did in the midst of the iron hail, when my men were momentarily falling about me. The Eleventh Regiment formed a line early in the morning ; at 9 o'clock moved down Caroline street to the lower part of the town, and rested on their arms in the street till half past eleven. forenoon. I then received orders to move my regiment to the attack. The Eleventh was chosen as the first regiment of the brigade, and the first of the division, to move upon the enemy. It disap- pointed the high expectations of no one. We filed out on Princess Charlotte street which runs back at right angles from the river. The fire of the enemy had already opened, and by the time we had arrived at the head of this street. one man, Charles M. Lane of Company I, had been severely wounded, and the fire from the rebel batteries and rifle-pits was anything but music. Here we filed to the right, crossed the Fredericksburg & Rich- mond Railroad, moved into the open field at the rear of the city, and formed line of battle. Here I caused the men to lie down snug to the ground, and awaited orders. No orders came. The fire from the enemy had become terribly severe. No general or aid was willing to risk his life where we were. An aid, however, did creep up to near the left of the regiment (I was at the right), and told one of my officers to tell me to advance by the front. This we did, I believe, most gallantly, under a deadly
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fire, our men falling wounded and dead at every step. While thus advancing, a Pennsylvania regiment fled in dismay from the front, breaking through our line and halting only when they had found safety in the city. None of my men, I believe, hesitated in consequence of this. We advanced with a firm tread, on the double- quick, over a smooth field, with no rock, ravine, or road to shield us for an instant from the deadly missiles of the enemy. We reached our post, clear up, almost to the mouth of the rebel guns. in good order, although our ranks had been a good deal thinned by their well directed aim. We held our post from our arrival at about half past twelve o'clock, firing deliberately, coolly, energeti- cally, till we received orders the second time to fall back, this being after dark. At 6 o'clock we retired, and now here we are, on the same ground that we left at 9 o'clock this morning. But such a battle as this has been !- one well calculated to startle the whole world.
BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
(BY HERMAN J. EATON, CO. E.)
The morning of December 13 was very foggy. About nine o'clock the fog began to lift. and in a very few minutes the great battle we had been looking for was ushered in on the left. It commenced with a heavy artillery fire, but in about half an hour the infantry fire opened, which very plainly told us that " the pine was swinging against the palm." and that a great day's work, long to be remembered, was commencing.
Soon the order came for the Eleventh New Hampshire to move down Caroline street. We marched to the lower part of the city, or nearly so, and there made a halt to wait for orders, and listened to the crash of musketry on
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BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
the left. On the north bank of the river our artillerists stood by their gleaming guns ready for action, firing occasional shots over the city and into the rebel lines. Standing on a shed I could see over some portions of the field where the Union forces were so soon to advance, and where they were to stagger and crouch under a merciless fire from the enemy. Already I could see the red hospital flag flying from many of the large buildings and from the churches. A little past eleven o'clock General F- rode up to our brigade, and ordered one regiment to advance and " drive in the rebel pickets." I think the regiment was the Twenty-first Massachusetts. Meanwhile General Couch's Division, on our right, emerged from the bomb-shattered town, and moved swiftly to the attack. In a very few minutes the regi- ment from our brigade made an attack on the enemy's picket, and a brisk picket fire opened on our front, which had up to this time been quiet. Some of the boys made the remark, " That sounds like popping corn."
At 11 :30 o'clock Colonel Harriman's voice rang out as clear as a bugle, " Fall in, New Hampshire Eleventh !" It was the last " Fall in " to a great many. Ere the sun set, many who were then standing in the ranks with us would " pass to where, beyond these voices, there is peace." General F- told us to " Keep cool : it is good fun when you once get in!" Leaving Caroline street on the double-quick. we turned into Princess Char- lotte street, leading directly to the battle-field. When nearly at the end of the street, a halt was made, and we were ordered to lie down upon the sidewalk ; and here our first man was wounded. The fire in our front was rapidly growing hotter and hotter. The harsh notes of the cannon shook the ground, and reverberated among the hills. I could look up to the enemy's works just at our left, and see the guns belch forth long sheets of flame,
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and hear the crashing of the shells as they struck in our lines. Very soon the order came for us, "Forward !" We passed on up the street and over the mill-race, and, as we did so, we passed a brigade who gave us three cheers, clapped their hands. swung their caps, and shouted to us, " Go in, Eleventh New Hampshire, go in ! You are good for it! Go in. bully boys !" We didn't cheer much in return : we had something else of im- portance on our minds just then.
At the end of the street stood a long brick building reaching nearly to the railroad. This hid us from the enemy. At that point we turned to our right, advancing swiftly for the railroad. As soon as we reached that we were in full view of the enemy, who at once turned all their guns upon us as we crossed it. The first shell that was thrown at us struck in a large pile of railroad ties, and in the twinkling of an eye that entire pile was converted into kindling-wood. The next shell swept through the ranks. instantly killing two soldiers in Com- pany K. After advancing about twenty rods, we were ordered to halt and drop down near an embankment, and close beside a brick-vard, while the shells were thrown at us most fearfully. One fellow, being somewhat fright- ened, cried out, " Oh, dear ! they'Il kill every one of us : not a d-d one of us will be left to tell the story !" I had to laugh in all the fury of the battle. Things looked, however, as if he was about right. All the Union troops that were in our immediate front were only a heavy skirmish line : consequently the enemy had very little to fear from them, but turned their guns upon our devoted heads with deadly effect.
While we were lying upon the ground and in the soft mud, waiting for orders, a panic-stricken regiment passed us in disorderly retreat. Many of them threw away their guns, and yelled at us. " Don't go up there :
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the day is lost!" The officers ran after them, ordering them to ". Halt ! halt you, -- , halt !" but no atten- tion was given to their orders. They ran so fast, it looked to me as if their feet didn't touch the ground more than twice before they were in the town and out of sight. We remained in our position only a few minutes, when we were ordered to make the final advance. In doing so, we had to climb over two high fences. The moment we were on our feet, we were in full view of the ene- my. Then the great war-cloud burst in our front ten times more terrible than ever, and seemed to rival hell itself.
Stretched in our front stood the embattled lines of Longstreet. Marye's hill was one sheet of flame. Then the bright flash leaped from the rebel guns, and the great puffs of smoke rolled upward. Now the Miniés whistled, and the shells screamed over our heads and through the ranks. Now the case-shot hummed, and the splinters from the fences flew in our faces, when, as we neared the enemy's works, the canister was poured into our ranks, and many of the boys fell, killed or wounded ! The ground behind every advancing regi- ment was dotted with blue coats, and gaps were made in the ranks that never could be filled. It can never be written or told: pen, pencil, or words fail to tell the story of that cruel day's work. The ground. over which we advanced in that furious storm of iron hail and leaden rain, was a gentle slope from the city to the rebel works. Many of the soldiers are of the idea that the ground was a level field, but it is not so. In the days before the war this field was occupied as a fair-ground. The entire field had the appearance of a theatre ; the enemy held the tier of seats, and the Union army occupied the stage. The Eleventh Regiment went into the fight, left in front. leading the brigade and the division. The distance we
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had to advance under this terrible fire was from forty to sixty rods, and it was the longest fifty rods I ever saw.
It was the famous Washington Artillery, the best in the Confederate service, which played so furiously with lightning flash and thunder stroke, hurling shell and can- ister through our defenceless ranks that day. In all prob- ability there was not another battery on either side during the war, that worked so steadily and rapidly upon a body of men wholly unprotected, as did this battery from noon of that day until after dark. It is also safe to say that no braver army ever stood upon a field of battle and received, unflinchingly and without wavering, such a ter- rific battery fire, together with the fire from three lines of infantry at the same time, as did the Federal army that day. We gained nothing by that terrible battle, as everybody knows; nevertheless, the Eleventh Regiment is proud to be numbered among the many regiments which composed the fourteen brigades dashed against Marye's hill on that day.
It was Colonel Walton who commanded those guns, and who said just before the battle opened, " My artillery can comb that field so clean that not a chicken can live upon it." Wild and fearful was the onslaught in the set- ting sun ! and the cry that shall never be repeated urged on the last charge, until that crimsoned field seemed to mock the purple clouds above it. For that day the battle was over. Amid the bomb-shattered buildings of the town we sought shelter for the night. There we watched and waited-waited, expecting to be foremost in another fearful assault at early dawn. Yes, there we waited, with bleeding ranks and trailing banners, in terrible sus- pense for the expectant order ; waited and listened to the occasional fierce outbursts of the pickets' deadly fire out on the field ; waited and sighed that no victory was ours, while dreadfully glared the iron face of war; waited in
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BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
the damp chill of night, while death drew his bloody shroud over the fallen on that field so red and wet ;. waited, until
" One by one the pale stars faded, And at length the morning broke ; But not one of all the sleepers On that field of death awoke."
On a gentle rise of ground, and about twenty-five rods from that noted " stone wall" with which every one is familiar, and nearly in front of Marye's hill, we made a halt, and there for the first time emptied our muskets at the rebels to the best of our ability, while the cry ran along our line, "Give it to 'em, boys ; give it to 'em !" Just before we reached the rise of ground where we made our halt, Captain Shattuck of Company E fell, mortally wounded, as he was advancing at the head of his company, with his sword in one hand and a musket in the other. Poor Shattuck! There have been tears and breaking hearts for thee !
During that memorable afternoon of December 13, we lay on that field enveloped in smoke, amid the deadly roar and crash of battle. My blood chills as I pen these lines, and think how like a shower the hissing bullets flew among us in one incessant stream ; how the shells rushed over our heads in their death-dealing flight, and ploughed the ground where we lay ! Regiment after regiment was now sent to our support. advancing under the galling fire, and all the way we could protect our- selves was by loading and firing while on the ground. A young soldier, not more than eighteen years of age, belonging to some other regiment, got lost from his command, and joined the Eleventh. He was cool ; few older were as much so. He took off his blouse and laid it on the ground, and, placing all of his cartridges upon
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it, stood erect and fired. After using all of his car- tridges, he emptied the boxes of the dead, and continued that way till late in the afternoon, when he fell, pierced by a rebel bullet.
The Union batteries were silent, as they endangered the lives of their own men. Late in the afternoon, one of our batteries got into position on a little rise of ground just in the edge of the town ; the battery horses were all killed, but the guns were wheeled into position by the artillerists, who were assisted by a regiment of infantry. That battery then opened on the enemy most furiously, firing as fast as they could handle the guns. How sweet the notes of that Union battery sounded to us ! I shall never forget them. The enemy's guns were all brought to bear upon it. and for ten minutes it seemed as though the heavens must fall and the ground would open. So terrible was the fire from the enemy, that in ten or fifteen minutes our men were obliged to abandon their guns, leaving a large number of their comrades dead beside them, where they fought so well.
The line of battle was five miles in length ; the right and centre were in an open field, while on the left it was more uneven and wooded. The Ninth Corps fought in the centre, and a very large part of them directly in front of Marye's hill, where the greatest slaughter of the Union troops was made. All the New Hampshire troops occu- pied a position either in front of Marye's hill or Lee's hill, the last named place being just at our left from Marye's hill. The sunken road and the stone wall were in front of Marye's hill ; behind this wall and in the road lay the rebel division of General McLaws.
A citizen of Fredericksburg, long after the war, gave me a history of that great day's work. His eyes flashed fire as he remarked to me,-" We made that stone wall count that day, I tell you, sir. The way we piled up
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them Northern boys in front of that wall was terrible to look upon."
Just at nightfall General Meagher's Irish Brigade made their famous charge just at our right, when all that field was lighted up by countless thousands of muskets and the red glare of the cannon. At that fearful moment the great battle seemed to burn more furiously than ever, while the wild yell of the charging troops arose above the roar and clashing of the two armies. A portion of the charge was made in an apple orchard. The owner of the grounds pointed out to me after the war the point reached by their front line, which was only a few feet in front of that deadly stone-wall, showing with what indomitable courage they made the charge under a withering infantry fire, and in the blaze of artillery. They charged to the muzzles of the rebel guns. Of the 1,200 men that General Meagher led into action that night, only 2So answered to their names the next morn- ing. Not only the men in the ranks, but many brave officers-including six majors, three colonels, and one adjutant, nearly all of the front line-were swept into eternity. The Confederates in their report said, "The charge was unparalleled in history."
It was after dark when the battle ceased and the broken ranks of Burnside's army started for the town. I had gone only a few steps when I stumbled over a large number of dead and wounded. All over that field lay ghastly forms that once were men. A fence corner, whither they had crawled for safety after they were wounded, was packed with the dead and the dying, all cut to pieces by shot and shell. I asked one fellow if I should help him off. "Oh, no !" said he, " let me alone ; let me lie, and die here." I stooped over and put my hand on another, and as I did so he groaned, "Don't touch me ! I am terribly wounded. I must die !" His
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clothing was completely soaked with blood. Oh ! you who were in your quiet homes in the North, can you realize the horrors of that battle-field? General Lee remarked the next morning, as he viewed the ground strewed with the Union dead, " It is well this is so terri- ble : we would grow too fond of it !"
Alas for the thunders of victory's boast ! It was not ours to give. We believed that we were fighting for Liberty and Union, God and the Right. All the spoils war could claim from the shattered Union army were the ashes of her brave. There, under the dim, starlit sky, on a single acre of ground on which the Eleventh Regi- ment stood, lay six hundred and twenty men, as was proven by actual count on the day of the burial ; and doubtless there was twice that number of wounded when the battle ceased. This I saw on the battle-field of Fred- ericksburg, and in my memory I can see it now. I often think of that terrible battle.
Before bringing this sketch to a close, I have a com- pliment for the Eleventh New Hampshire, and it seems fitting that I should mention it here, for it came from the enemy. One year after that battle I was conversing with two of Longstreet's soldiers in Kentucky, who were taken prisoners at Knoxville, Tenn., and were on their way North. They were giving me the rebel side of the story of the battle of Fredericksburg. Said one of them, "There was one regiment in that battle which we all had a great desire to know the name of. It was large enough for a brigade, and its uniforms were black. After they came out of the city and crossed the railroad, they made a halt, and dropped on the ground near a brick-yard. They were very soon on their feet again, and started in a long line towards our works. We all said-and our officers, too -. Boys, they look too hand- some to fire upon, but it must be done : let them have it.'
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Then we opened on them. Our line was all ablaze, and, well knowing they were new troops, we expected to see them stagger and retreat ; but in spite of all our musketry and artillery fire they kept their line perfect, and never wavered." I at once knew what regiment it was. It was the Eleventh New Hampshire, commanded by the gallant Colonel Walter Harriman. We wore a very dark blue uniform then, which at seventy-five rods, distance looked black. We were the only troops on that part of the line, and I think on the whole field, that did not wear the light army blue. I always considered the above something of a compliment, particularly as it came from the enemy.
CHARGES OF THE ELEVENTH.
The following is a vivid description of the charges in which the Eleventh Regiment bore such a conspicuous part : 1
" But while this was transpiring on the left, there was a terrible sacrifice of life at the foot of Marye's hill. Soon after noon French's and Hancock's divisions of the Second Corps, with Sturgis's Division of the Ninth, ad- vanced over the open field in rear of the town to attack the heights. Officers walked along the lines, giving the last words. 'Advance, and drive them out with the bay- onet !' were the orders.
"The fifteen thousand in a compact body move to the edge of the plateau. The hills are aflame. All of Longstreet's guns are thundering. Shells burst in the ranks. The rebel skirmishers, concealed in the houses and behind fences, fire a volley and fall back to the main line. Onward move the divisions. We who behold them from the rear, although we know death stands
1 Charles Carleton Coffin in "Four Years of Fighting." pp. 170, 171.
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ready to reap an abundant harvest, feel the blood rush- ing with quickened flow through our veins, when we see how gallantly they move forward, firing no shot in return. Now a sheet of flame bursts from the sunken road, and another from half way up the slope, and yet another from the top of the hill. Hundreds fall ; but still on, nearer to the hill, rolls the wave. Still, still it flows on ; but we can see that it is losing its power, and though advancing, it will be broken. It begins to break. It is no longer a wave, but scattered remnants thrown back like rifts of foam.
"A portion of Sturgis's Division reaches the hollow in front of the hill, and settles into it. The Eleventh New Hampshire, commanded by Colonel Harriman, is in the front line. They are new troops, and this is their first battle ; but they fight so gallantly that they win the admiration of their general. 'See.' said Sturgis, to an old regiment which quailed before the fire, -. see the Eleventh New Hampshire. a new regiment, standing like posts driven into the ground !'
"Hancock and French, unable to find any shelter, are driven back upon the town. The attack and repulse have not occupied fifteen minutes. Sturgis is still in the hollow, so near the hill that the rebel batteries on the crest cannot be depressed sufficiently to drive him out. He is within close musket-shot of Cobb's Brigade, lying behind the stone wall at the base of the hill. In vain are all the efforts of Longstreet to dislodge them. Solid shot, shells. canister, and Shrapnel are thrown towards the hollow, but without avail. A solitary oak tree is torn and broken by the artillery fire and filled with musket balls, and the ground is furrowed with the deadly mis- siles ; but the men keep their position through the weary hours.
"A second attempt is made upon the hill. Hum-
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ready to reap an abundant harvest, feel the blood rush- ing with quickened flow through our veins, when we see how gallantly they move forward, firing no shot in return. Now a sheet of flame bursts from the sunken road, and another from half way up the slope, and yet another from the top of the hill. Hundreds fall ; but still on, nearer to the hill. rolls the wave. Still, still it flows on ; but we can see that it is losing its power, and though advancing, it will be broken. It begins to break. It is no longer a wave, but scattered remnants thrown back like rifts of foam.
" A portion of Sturgis's Division reaches the hollow in front of the hill, and settles into it. The Eleventh New Hampshire, commanded by Colonel Harriman, is in the front line. They are new troops, and this is their first battle ; but they fight so gallantly that they win the admiration of their general. 'See.' said Sturgis, to an old regiment which quailed before the fire, -. see the Eleventh New Hampshire, a new regiment, standing like posts driven into the ground !'
"Hancock and French, unable to find any shelter, are driven back upon the town. The attack and repulse have not occupied fifteen minutes. Sturgis is still in the hollow, so near the hill that the rebel batteries on the crest cannot be depressed sufficiently to drive him out. He is within close musket-shot of Cobb's Brigade. lying behind the stone wall at the base of the hill. In vain are all the efforts of Longstreet to dislodge them. Solid shot, shells. canister, and Shrapnel are thrown towards the hollow, but without avail. A solitary oak tree is torn and broken by the artillery fire and filled with musket balls, and the ground is furrowed with the deadly mis- siles ; but the men keep their position through the weary hours.
"A second attempt is made upon the hill. Hum-
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phreys's Division, composed of Tyler's and Briggs's brigades of Pennsylvanians, nearly all new troops, leads the advance, followed closely by Morrill's Division of veterans. The lines move steadily over the field under the cover of the batteries, which have been brought up and planted in the street. Sturgis pours a constant stream of fire upon the sunken road. Thus aided, they reach the base of the hill in front of Marye's, deliver a few volleys, and then with thinned ranks retire once more to the shelter of the ridge.
" The day is waning. Franklin has failed. He tele- graphs that it is too late to make another attack on the left. Not so does Sumner think on the right. He can- not see the day lost without another struggle, and orders another attack. Humphreys, Morrill, Getty, Sykes, and Howard, or portions of their divisions, are brought up. The troops have been under arms from early day- light. They have had no food. All day they have been exposed to the fire of the rebel batteries, and have lost heavily. . . It is sunset. The troops move out once more upon the plain, and cross the field with a cheer. The ground beneath them is already crimson with the blood of their fallen comrades. They reach the base of the hill. Longstreet brings down all his reserves. The hillside, the plain, the crest of the ridge, the groves and thickets, the second range of hills beyond Marye's, the hollow, the sunken road, are bright with flashes. Two hundred cannon strike out fierce defiance ; forty thousand muskets and rifles flame. The rebels are driven from the stone wall, and the sunken road, and the rifle-pits midway the hill. The blue wave mounts all but to the top of the crest. It threatens to overwhelm the rebel batteries. But we who watch it behold its power decreasing. Men begin to come down the hill singly, and in squads, and at length in masses. The
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