USA > New Hampshire > A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion > Part 10
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The position of Heintzelman's corps that day was on the left center. Grover's brigade was in a very comfortable position, in a rather open wood ; and the situation was rendered peculiarly attractive to men who had been drinking swamp water for weeks, by several springs of clear, cool, wholesome water which bubbled out at the base of a slight declivity a short distance to the rear of the line. Upon this higher ground the Excelsior brigade was in line as support, and could have done most effective work in case of an attack by firing over the heads of Grover's men. It was a very strong position, and as soon as the line was established and pickets thrown out, the Second made it still stronger by piling the forest debris into a breast- work. Though tired, hungry, and by this time mostly with empty haversacks, the men were never in better spirits for a fight, and a rebel line on the front would have been greeted like old friends.
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Colonel Marston was fairly bubbling with this spirit of confi- dence. He walked down the line, inspecting the work with a Corpl. John H. Cole, Co. C. satisfied air, and accompanied by Was a member of the color guard in many of the Second's hardest battles. Now janitor of the City Hall building in Manchester. a brand new " contract surgeon," who was naturally alive to the possibilities of the situation. The fighting had just commenced in good earnest on the left, and the men were spreading loose cartridges where they could be readily reached when needed, putting the finishing touches to the breast- works, and making the numberless little preparations which count
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
in the defence of a position. "Your men have got a good position," said the surgeon, whose eyes cast many furtive glances into the forest depths from which trouble might be expected to come at any moment. "Yes, my boys are great on intrenchments," replied the colonel. "Do you r think you will be attacked?" " Well, we may be-they 're at it pretty brisk on the left." " How many men would it take to drive you out of here?" " Well," said the colonel, as if making a mental calculation, "six thousand might, but five thousand would get killed doing it !" The boys who overheard "Old Gil.'s" estimate laughed and concurred in its correct- ness, and his figures were soon passed along the line and accepted and adopted. 1
John H. Burrill, Co. A.
As on the previous day at Discharged, after serving three years, he again enlisted, and was assigned to Co. C. He writes from Hawley, Minn .: "I have lived here twenty-two years. I have no picture of war times, so had this taken for the occasion. On the whole, perhaps it will be as well, as I should like to see my old comrades as they look now, so as to judge how time has used them." Glendale, the fighting com- menced between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, and when it closed, at nine o'clock, Lee had suffered one of the bloodiest and most demoralizing repulses of the war. Assault after assault was directed against the Union left, the brunt falling upon Porter and Couch, and again and again the rebels were driven back with terrible slaughter. The fire of the Union artillery was almost unprecedented in warfare, the great array of field batteries which had been concentrated upon the hill being assisted by the fire of the seige train, largely composed of 30-pounder Parrotts, posted in a commanding position on the crest of the plateau, and the ponder- ous armament of the gunboats. Hooker's front was not involved in any of the assaults ; but at a time when Porter was hard pressed, Heintzelman sent the Excelsior brigade to his assistance, where it gave a good account of itself.
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AT HARRISON'S LANDING.
About nightfall a cheerful apparition appeared to the Second in the form of the quartermaster and a squad of men with a supply of hardtack carried in tentcloths and blankets. The battle ended, the retreat was resumed, against the passionate protests of some of the Union generals. It commenced to rain early in the night, and- soon the roads were in very bad condition. That unmolested march of only a few miles to Harrison's Landing had a more depressing effect upon the rank and file of the army than all the marching and fighting they had done since leaving the lines in front of Richmond. It began to dawn upon them that they were taking part in a grand skedaddle for cover, instead of some brilliant feat of aggressive strategy. Up to this time the average impression had been that the army was very well able to take care of itself, and all the fighting had only strengthened the confidence of the men.
All the conditions were conducive to straggling, and it was a bedraggled mob, with here and there a patch of organization, that poured out upon the broad, open river bottom at Harrison's Landing. At the head of the road aides of the division generals were posted to direct the men to their commands, and in this way they were again assembled upon their colors as they arrived. The " change of base" was effected. That magnificent army was disgracefully huddled " under cover of the gunboats," and at once set to work in all haste to cover its front with intrenchments, while its commander was frantically calling for reinforcements. Lee hung around for a few days, then leisurely withdrew to Richmond.
After the completion of the intrenchments, work upon which was pushed night and day, the duties were not heavy, consisting mainly of an occasional review or round on picket. But the heat was phenomenal, and there was considerable sickness. The camp of the Second Regiment was a short distance to the left of Row- land's mill pond, a body of water covering several acres, which gave thousands of men good bathing facilities. The camp was simply a sand oven, without a tree or a bush standing in its limits, in which the thermometer made nothing of registering above 100 degrees, day after day.
It was not long after the arrival here that Colonel Marston had his famous tilt with General Grover. For some reason the Second
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was not paraded, one morning, according to orders of the brigade commander. Grover sent for Marston, and a conversation ensued about as follows :
" I noticed, Colonel, that your regiment was not out this · morning. What was the reason?"
" The reason was, I did not order them out."
" You will order them out now, then, and remain under arms two hours."
" I will do nothing of the kind."
" What !"-in profound astonishment.
" I said the regiment will not be ordered out. If there is any fault, it is not that of my men, and they will not be punished. If you want the officers to parade, we will come out and stand as long as you please."
This was rank insubordination. " I would have you under- stand, Colonel Marston," said Grover, warningly, " that I am the brigadier-general commanding this brigade."
"And I would have you understand," was the quick response, " that I am a member of the body that makes brigadier-generals."
The matter dropped, right there, and the regiment was not ordered out. The incident did not lessen in the least the affec- tionate admiration the Second always had for Cuvier Grover.
July passed uneventfully and monotonously enough, but August was ushered in by a tremendous display of fireworks. On the night of July 31st the rebels posted about forty pieces of artillery at favorable points on the south side of the James, and at midnight opened on the shipping and camps near the river. The gunboats responded, and after an hour of uproar the rebels withdrew, having killed ten men and wounded twenty or thirty more.
A few days later, Hooker returned the compliment by a recon- noissance in force to Malvern Hill. Late on the afternoon of August 2d he marched from the intrenched camp with his division, a regiment of cavalry, and two horse batteries; but being misled by an incompetent guide, returned to camp before morning. On the afternoon of the 4th, however, he moved out again ; and this time there was no misleading or taking wrong roads. The division followed a circuitous route, by a back road which entered the
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MALVERN HILL REOCCUPIED.
Quaker road near the scene of the great battle of June 30th at Glendale. The few inhabitants along the line of march were placed under guard to prevent their carrying news to the enemy, and about midnight the division halted within a few hundred yards of the cross roads, which were known to be held by a rebel cavalry picket. Strict orders were issued against lighting matches, loud conversation, or any unusual noise, and the troops lay quietly on their arms until morning, with the first dawn of which the march was resumed.
The rebel pickets fired a few shots and scampered off, when the column, with the cavalry and a battery in the lead, turned into the Quaker road and marched rapidly for Malvern Hill. A section of artillery, posted on the lawn Capt. Thomas Snow, Co. F. of the quaint old brick man- The original captain of Company F. After fourteen months' service he was prostrated by diseases incident to the climate and service, and resigned. He never recovered his health, and died at Marblehead, Mass., April 18, 1880. sion on the hill, opened fire as the column approached, and one shell burst in the ranks of the Second, wounding three or four men-the only casualties in the regiment that day. General Hooker, seated on his favorite white horse under a widespread wayside tree, directed the troops to position as they came up. Grover's brigade filed to the right and took position between the road and the battery, which was already replying to the rebel guns. It was a most unequal fight for the rebels, as they were also under fire from a gunboat in their rear; the shells from which were, however, quite as much of an annoyance to Hooker's men as to the Johnnies, as many of them passed completely over the hill and exploded near Hooker's lines.
Had General Patterson advanced promptly with the Third
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Brigade and occupied the river road, the battery and its support of four hundred cavalry would have been bagged. But he failed to do so, and the rebels wisely concluded to go while they could. They went in such a hurry as to leave behind a caisson, the implements of one gun, and two dead artillerymen, one still clutching in his nerveless hands the shell he was carry- ing to his gun when struck down.
The cavalry at once set off in pursuit, and pressed the enemy sharply in a run- ning fight in which the lieutenant-colonel in com- mand was mortally wounded. Grover's brigade advanced on the first signs of flight, Corpl. David O. Davis, Cc. D. many of the mounted men Was discharged for disability Sept. 19, 1862. The following August he was drafted and assigned to the Fifth N. H. Was promoted to corporal, wounded at Fort Stedman, captured at Farm- ville, and again discharged for disability, after the surrender. Now resides at Newmarket. skurrying across the fields in pursuit of the scattered foot- men who could not keep up with the procession. Lieut. Joe. Hubbard, then serving as an aide on General Grover's staff, dashed into a squad of five, and they came in with him on his nonchalant assurance: "It's no use, boys-you can't make it; come along." The pickets, alarmed by the commotion, were also showing up, singly and in squads, only to find themselves in the hands of the Yankees. All in all, about a hundred prisoners were picked up.
The following day (August 6) Hooker was reinforced by the divisions of Couch and Sedgwick, while Lee sent four divisions down from Richmond to look after the matter. Hooker made his dispositions for a fight ; but the day passed quietly, and during the night the entire force was withdrawn to Harrison's Landing. It was a sleepless, wearisome night for the Second. The regiment
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THE PENINSULA EVACUATED.
was posted in a dense forest, in line of battle across a byroad leading up to the hill. Putting out no pickets, the regiment stood in line there, hour after hour, until withdrawn sometime before daybreak.
With the installation of Halleck as General-in-Chief, it was decided to withdraw Mcclellan's army from the Peninsula and join it to that of General Pope. The movement was earnestly opposed by General Mcclellan ; but as Lee was detaching troops against Pope in such num- bers as to threaten to overwhelm him, while McClellan was unwilling to resume offensive operations without large reinforcements which the government was powerless to send him, Hal- leck adhered to his plan, and spurred Mcclellan to move quickly. The sick and all the impedimenta were sent off on transports, and on August 16th the last division took up its march Andrew J. Rugg, Co. A. down the Peninsula.
A recruit, from the town of Sullivan, who joined the regiment in September, 1861, and died of disease, in hospital at Philadelphia, Pa., July 25, 1862.
Most of the army crossed the Chickahominy on a pon- toon bridge at Barrett's Ferry, near the mouth of the river, but the Third Corps crossed farther up, at Jones' Bridge, proceeding by way of Diascund Bridge, Barhamsville and Williamsburg, to York- town. The itinerary of the Second was as follows :
August 15. Started from camp at noon, passed through Charles City Court House, and camped three miles beyond.
16. Started at 6 a. m. and marched till 3 p. m., crossing the Chickahominy at Jones' Bridge.
17. Marched about fourteen miles, to Barhamsville.
18. Marched at I p. m., and arrived at Williamsburg (18 miles) at 2 o'clock the following morning.
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19. Left Williamsburg at 10 o'clock a. m., and marched to within three miles of Yorktown.
20. · Remained in camp.
On the 21st the regiment embarked on the steamer "State of Maine," and the following day the little fleet bearing Hooker's division and its fortunes steamed away from the frowning defences of Yorktown and Gloucester.
COLONEL MARSTON'S OFFICIAL REPORT OF BATTLE OF GLENDALE.
SECOND REGIMENT NEW HAMPSHIRE VOLUNTEERS, Camp near Harrison's Landing, l'a., July 10, 1862.
On the morning of the 29th ultimo this regiment marched with the First Brigade, Hooker's division, from Fair Oaks, and after awaiting an attack from the enemy about two miles from that place on the road toward Savage Station until past 3 o'clock p. m., again marched toward White Oak Swamp, crossing the same at sunset, and camped near Saint Paul's Church.
About 9 o'clock a. m. of the 30th ultimo the regiment was posted in line of battle on the right of the road leading past said church, and there remained until about 3 o'clock p. m., when by order of the brigadier-general commanding the brigade I moved the regiment rapidly to the right about half a mile to the support of De Russy's battery, which was then hotly engaged with the enemy in that quarter. Before reaching the battery I was ordered to return to the ground originally occupied, the enemy having made a very determined attack in front and to the right of that position. Thence I was immediately ordered forward and formed line of battle at the base of a slight ridge of land beyond which the enemy were in force, thence forward to the crest of the ridge, then by the right flank into a wood on the same elevation, then further to the right into an open field, where we remained until 9 o'clock p. m., momentarily expecting an attack at that point, the enemy being at this time in force beyond a narrow belt of woods in front of us. We were subsequently moved to the left, to the position we had before occupied, on the crest of the rising ground in the wood, throwing one company forward to observe the enemy. Soon after the regiment was moved farther to the left and in the rear of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and this position we continued to occupy until dawn, when the whole brigade marched toward the James River.
Although my regiment occupied so many positions on the field of battle during the day, and all the while within long musket-range of the enemy, it did not become actually engaged. We were never in position to return effectively the fire of the enemy, which reached us from a distance as late as 9 o'clock p. m. I have never seen the men of my regiment so eager for a fight as on that day. Every individual man seemed anxious to come to close quarters with the foe and to strike telling blows for the great cause in which they had voluntarily engaged at the peril of their lives.
None were killed upon the field. Captains Edward L. Bailey and Samuel P. Sayles were slightly wounded, as also were William A. Heywood and John W. Harmond, of Company A; Joseph Tallin and James M. Wiggin, of Company H; James Mayhew, Company F: James M. Wellman, Company G; Abiel W. Colgan and George H. Thyng, Co. E, and John H. Breeze, of the same company, mortally.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GILMAN MARSTON, Colonel Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers.
Capt. JOSEPH HIBBERT, Jr.,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
CHAPTER VIII.
AUGUST 23 TO SEPTEMBER 3, 1862 .- HOOKER'S DIVISION ARRIVES AT WARRENTON JUNCTION-STONEWALL JACKSON IN THE REAR-THE BATTLE OF KETTLE RUN-A BATTERY THE SECOND DID NOT SUPPORT -EWELL RETREATS TO MANASSAS JUNCTION-THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN-CHARGE OF GROVER'S BRIGADE-INCIDENTS OF A HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE-THE LOSSES OF THE SECOND-WHAT THE OFFICIAL REPORTS SAY-ANOTHER DAY OF FIGHTING-RETREAT TO CENTREVILLE-THE BATTLE OF CHANTILLY-RETREAT CONTIN- UED TO ALEXANDRIA.
T HE following day (August 23d) the fleet conveying Hooker's division was at Acquia Creek, where it remained for several hours while it was being determined whether the division should land there, as had some of McClellan's troops, or proceed to Alexandria and go to Pope by rail from that point. The stop was taken advantage of by many of the men to have a good swim in the Potomac; but a gloom was cast over the Second by the accidental drowning of one of its original members-James E. Seavey, of Company K,-who, apparently seized with cramps, sank beneath the muddy waters, and was never seen again.
The fleet arrived at Alexandria that night, and the following day (24th) the troops were disembarked and went into camp about two miles out from the city. Late on the afternoon of the 25th the division was packed upon trains of box cars, every place, inside and out, where a soldier could stick, being occupied, and started to reinforce Pope.
It was long after dark when the trains arrived at Manassas Junction, where a short delay was made. There was considerable good-natured chaffing between " McClellan's men " and the guard holding the Station. It was apparent that Stonewall Jackson was
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the nightmare of that region, and not without reason, as the very next night he swooped down and drove or carried off the whole crowd.
At midnight the division arrived at Warrenton Junction, and the next day went into camp in a delightful location near Cedar Creek, where the men were assured they would probably remain several days. But Stonewall Jackson had not been consulted on that matter, and they remained only one night in the new camp. Early on the morning of the 27th the troops were routed and ordered to be ready to march at five o'clock. The occasional reports of cannon in the direction of Manassas indicated that there was trouble in the rear ; and, indeed, there was, of a very serious nature. Stonewall Jackson, with three divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, had made a rapid march through Thoroughfare Gap, and captured Manassas Junction, with several railroad trains and the great depots of army supplies which had been gathered there.
But if Jackson was rapid in his movements, the counter move- ments to head off and crush him before Lee could reunite the widely separated wings of his army, were also prompt. Hooker's division-the nearest the scene of action-marched directly for Manassas Junction, accompanied by General Pope himself. On arriving at Catlett's Station, about two miles from camp, evidences of the recent presence of the enemy and of his destructive tenden- cies were found, and Companies B and K of the Second were thrown forward as skirmishers, the regiment heading the column.
The day was intensely hot, and many men suffered from sun- stroke : but the march was pushed with all of Hooker's accustomed energy, the troops using both the railroad and the highway, which were parallel and close together. At various points the ruins of bridges and culverts were met, and at length, as the head of the column emerged from woods into a broad farm clearing, a rebel outpost was sighted. Several mounted men were seen scurrying away from a farm house off at the right, while directly ahead, on the opposite edge of the clearing, a section of artillery was plainly visible.
A battle line was immediately formed-a front of two regiments on each side of the road. Grover's brigade was upon the right, the
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BATTLE OF KETTLE RUN.
New Jersey brigade on the left, with the Excelsior brigade march- ing by the right flank immediately behind the left of the New Jersey line. The rebel battery, while these dispositions were being made, disappeared without firing a shot, and the division advanced about two miles farther, unopposed, when, at Kettle Run, Ewell's entire division was encountered. The Second's two skirmish companies, after passing the run, crossed an open field and entered a narrow belt of pines extending on either side of the railroad. They found themselves well up to a line of rebel pick- ets : and at the same time the orderly-sergeant of Company K, being on the extreme right, discovered that his flank had actually walked right into a pocket formed by the disposition of the rebels. Word was passed to fall back, and it was one of the strangest incidents in the entire his- tory of the Second, that its William D. Coffin, Co. G. skirmishers backed out of their predicament without a shot being fired on either side. 1 1
Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. He was a machinist, and working at his trade, in Milford, when the call came. Laying aside his tools, he pinned a red, white and blue rosette upon his breast, went and had the above picture taken, and enlisted. He was a jovial, light-hearted, brave fellow, full of life and animation.
Grover's brigade was at once halted, while the other two pushed forward on the left of the railroad, passed through the skirt of trees, and engaged Ewell, who was found in position, awaiting attack. Almost at the first touch- perhaps a little before-a rebel battery opened, and burst a number of shells over Grover's brigade ; but it soon had enough to attend to nearer home, when one of Hooker's batteries was trundled along the railroad track, through the cut in a slight roll of the ground,
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
bringing it into good hand in the game. sharp, and bloody, hour. How near the ing a share in it, as why it did not, is report of Brig .- Gen. manding the Second the infantry from the artillery, I rode to forward one of Meeting General Albert G. Stone, Co. A. matters to him, when order up the Second unteers to support the commandant of tery, I informed him of what I desired. 1
position to take a The fight was short, lasting less than an Second came to hav- well as the reason indicated in the Nelson Taylor, com- Brigade : "To relieve fire of the enemy's the rear to bring our own batteries. Grover, I explained he told me I might After serving a term in the First N. H. he enlisted in the Second, was wounded at Bull Run. August 29, 1862, and died of wounds November 2, 1862. He was from Fitzwilliam. New Hampshire Vol- the battery. Finding an' unoccupied bat- He very reluctantly consented, and was so slow in his movements that when he got his , battery in position the necessity for his services had ceased." The dilatoriness of the battery, with the vagueness and somewhat irregular form of Marston's orders, put him in a terrible state of mind, and he raged about in undisguised bewilderment, trying to find out " where in h-1 they want my regiment, and where is the battery I am to support?"
Ewell was driven back, and retreated precipitately toward Manassas Junction. The fight had cost Hooker three hundred men, mostly from the little Excelsior brigade, which, now a mere skeleton organization, lost nearly one-third its number. Grover's brigade advanced rapidly to lead the pursuit. It pushed through the timber belt, across a portion of the battle field, and through the rebel camps, strewn with the personal belongings of the late occu- pants. There was ample evidence that rations of fresh beef had been issued that day; and when Grover's lines were clear of the camps many a bayonet was decorated with fresh meat speared from the ground or from the kettles simmering over the camp fires.
Hooker had no cavalry with which to press the enemy, and although Grover's brigade pushed forward rapidly and without
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" STONEWALL" AT BAY.
once halting, it could not get within reach of the retreating force. A rebel horse battery, finely handled, took position occasionally, just long enough to give the Yankees a few shells, then slid to the rear. The pursuit was pressed about two miles, being suspended at nightfall near Bristoe Station, where the divivision went into bivouac in front of Broad Run. Through the night Hooker's pickets saw upon their front the light of burning trains and stores, which Jackson was destroying pre- paratory to an evacuation of the Junction.
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