USA > New Hampshire > A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion > Part 11
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In the morning (28th) Reno's division came up, and after a short halt for rest, during which the general rode out to the picket line and made himself acquainted with the position of affairs by conversa- tion with some of the men, it continued on to Manassas, which was found abandoned, Hill's rebel division having moved in the direc- tion of Centreville three hours before. In the afternoon Hooker's division also advanced, passing through the devastated Junction, and at night went into bivouac at Blackburn's Ford-Kearney's division having preceded it to Centreville.
Michael A. Dillon, Co. G.
Shot through the lungs, at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, in an encounter in which he shot the color bearer of the Forty-ninth Georgia. He has been given a medal of honor-the only one ever bestowed upon a member of the Second. Was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, in the uni- form of which he appears above. Has held a government clerkship in Washington for twenty-five years or more; now in Second Auditor's office. Prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, and founder of the Union Veterans' Union.
The following morning (29th) the division moved toward Centreville. The booming of cannon was heard, far away to the north-west ; and as the division moved along Centreville Heights, from which there was a comprehensive view of the country clear to the Bull Run Mountains, the smoke of battle was seen, while long lines of dust mapped the routes of marching troops.
Jackson had taken position near the old Bull Run battle field,
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
there to await the arrival of Longstreet, who was hurrying through Thoroughfare Gap with the other wing of Lee's army. Hooker's division followed the Warrenton road from Centreville, crossing Bull Run at the stone bridge, and at eleven o'clock Grover's brigade arrived on the field. General Heintzelman, as the Sec- ond passed him, was pointing out to some of the newly-arrived
officers the positions of troops. ""There," he exclaimed, pointing towards the right, "is Kearney's line, extending from that house to where you see that gun flash." The position indicated was almost the identical one where Burn- side's brigade had opened the first Bull Run battle, except that Kearney now faced toward what had been Burnside's rear.
Jackson occupied a strong defensive position, his left near John B. Mussey, Co. E. Sudley Ford, and his right on the Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. He enlisted from Fisherville (now Penacook.) Warrenton road, near the little hamlet of Groveton. For most of this distance the line was along the alternate cuts and fills of an unfinished railroad : and his front, except for a little distance near Groveton, was screened by a belt of thick woods from one hundred to six hundred yards in width. His own old division, under Starke, held the right of this line, Ewell's the centre, and A. P. Hill's' the left.
Soon after Grover's arrival he was ordered to report to General Sigel, whose troops, since early morning, had been engaging the enemy in the centre. The brigade marched down the Warrenton road toward Groveton, past the stone house and the crossing of the Sudley road, and at length filed into the fields to the right, when the First Massachusetts was sent forward to support Sigel's line, while the remaining four regiments rested in two lines, sheltered
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SECOND BULL RUN.
from the enemy's artillery by a roll of the field in front. The position was nearly opposite the southern limit of the woods, and in view of the batteries on Jackson's right, which sent a shell over every little while as a reminder to the Yankees that they were being watched. One of Sigel's batteries, attempting to take position on the swell to the front of the brigade, met a reception so prompt and hot from the rebel guns that it fled precipitately, tearing down through the ranks of its supports, who cheerfully gave it the right of way. A single battery could not have lived ten minutes in that position.
From the woods there came the sounds of an irregular, dropping fire of musketry, occasionally swell- ing into a businesslike volley, then receding to the old monotony. At three o'clock Grover received orders to advance and attack the ene- my. The brigade at once moved up to the edge of the woods, and there formed in order for battle. Grover placed his command in two lines-the Second in the center of the first, with the First Massachusetts on its Charles O. Collister, Co. G. right and the Eleventh on Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. He was from Peterborough. the left. The advance was to be over the ground where Milroy's brigade of Sigel's corps had been engaged all day, against the center of Jackson's position, held by Ewell's division. Milroy rode up to Grover, meeting him just to the rear of the Second, where the two were joined by the regi- mental commanders. There was an earnest consultation, lasting but a few moments. " They are behind a railroad bank, and the only way you can dislodge them is to charge," some of the men
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
heard Milroy say-and they then knew what was coming. Colonel Marston came forward and gave the order to "fix bayonets !" Grover rode the length of the line, telling the men they were to fire one volley, then rely upon the bayonet. Then he took position in rear of the left wing of the Second and gave the order to advance.
Slowly and steadily the line went forward. No sound was heard but the crashing of the brush, with an occasional mut- tered order, such as "Give way to the right," or "to the left." The left of the line approached an open field, and a halt was ordered while Grover went for- ward to reconnoiter the front. A dozen bullets, either one of William O. Morgrage, Co. I. which came near costing the Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. Shot through the body, he was brought out of the woods, and lay in the field, dying, while the fight was renewed around him. "How bad are you hit, Billy?" inquired a comrade. "A man can not live long, suffering as I am," he calmly answered, and shortly expired. He was from Goffstown. service a good general, warned him of the presence of a vigilant enemy. Many of Milroy's dead and wounded were scattered about ; it was also evident that a few of his effectives were lying low, watching the enemy, near the edge of the open in front of the Second. Some of these arose and passed to the rear as Grover's line came up.
From Milroy's official report it also appears that he had a regiment in line not far to the left, possibly overlapped at this time by the Eleventh Massachusetts. At any rate, after spying out the land to the front, Grover moved the brigade a considerable distance by the right flank before closing with the enemy. There was a spirit of grim determination in that line. In the New Hampshire section, it was understood and agreed that the Old Second was to be put in, this time, "for all she was worth." Every man knew the supreme moment was close at hand, and was nerved for the struggle
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GROVER'S CHARGE.
Hardly had the advance been resumed when there was a crash of rebel musketry, an answering roar of Yankee cheers, and almost instantly the Second was pouring over the railroad embankment. The dash was evidently a sur- prise to the rebels, as most of them, having delivered their fire, were closely hugging the ground under cover of the bank. They were expecting a return volley, apparently, but had not anticipated looking into the muzzles of the guns that delivered it. Those who made a fight were instantly shot or bayonetted, and in less time than it has taken to write it the rebel first line was disposed of. - Some threw up their hands and cried for mercy ; some, doubt- less, " played possum," lying as if dead and making no sign ; Corpl. Charles H. Smiley, Co. I. while others, as soon as they Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. So far as known, no one saw him fall. Shot down in the brush, it is only known that he was miss- ing and never returned. Was from Manches- ter. could realize what had hap- pened, made a break for the rear, closely followed by the men of the Second, now wild with the rage of battle. There was a desperate dash for a stand of rebel colors, but they were saved by the fleetness of their bearer and the devoted bravery of the color guard.
Yet in this wild turmoil of murder there were not wanting instances of man's humanity to man. One fleeing rebel, tripped by a bullet or some other obstruction to locomotion, and cumbered by two or three rolls of blankets (probably spoils from Manassas), pitched headlong ; and down in the same heap went Sergeant Wasley. Quick as a flash Wasley yanked from the Johnny's belt a ferocious looking " Yankee killer," fashioned from a huge flat file- such as many of that regiment seemed to carry for side arms-and swung it aloft for the finishing blow. The poor fellow's eye caught
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the glint of the vengeful steel just in season, and in a piteous tone he gasped out : "Oh, for God's sake-do n't!" The blow was suspended. " All right, Johnny !" said Wasley, as, pushing the weapon into his own belt, he scrambled to his feet.
The fragments of the first line were driven in upon a second, a few rods beyond the railroad, and here occurred the most desperate fighting of the day-a hand - to - hand First Sergt. Frank O. Robinson, Co. C. melee with bayonets and Killed at Bull Run, August 29, 1862. Shot through the bowels, he was left near the railroad bank, dying. "I might have brought him out," said Captain Carr, a few minutes later, "but he was dying-is dead by this time-so I helped out one of my men who has a chance to recover." He was from Manchester. clubbed muskets. Such a fight cannot last long. New Hampshire won. The second rebel line was routed and scat- tered to the rear. By this time no semblance of organization was left in the Second, but the men still on their feet dashed on again, every one for himself. A third line was encountered ; but the charge had spent its force. The scattered men of the Second halted close up to the enemy, and loaded and fired as rapidly as possible in an effort to hold the position they had won until supports could come up.
But it was soon apparent that the Second's headlong dash had carried it much farther than the rest of the line had advanced. The Eleventh, on its left, had crossed the embankment and pulver- ized the first line, but was thrown back by the second line, assisted by the fire of rebel artillery to which its left flank became exposed. The First had been able to carry but a portion of the first line, and not to hold that long. Grover rushed the Sixteenth, from the second line, into the gap the Second had cut, in an effort to flank the enemy ; but it was without avail. Ewell's division had been given a terrible shaking up; but the brigades of Starke and Bradley
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GROVER REPULSED.
T. Johnson were at this critical moment hurried up from the rebel right and thrown upon Grover.
The Second held on until it found itself not only overwhelmed in front, but flanked, and with rebels passing to its rear, when the men made a break to escape capture. As they recrossed the rail- road bank they were exposed to a murderous fire from each flank, to say nothing of the very bad language used by the rebels in calling upon them to stop; and a few minutes' delay would have found that gap closed and almost the entire regiment securely corralled.
Just after recrossing the railroad the writer came upon Lieut. Sylvester Rogers, of Company G. He had one wound through the knee-the leg apparently broken-and another through the small of the back, which was bleeding profusely. One of his own company, with an arm around him, was trying to lift and urge him forward. With the writer's assistance he was carried several rods, when, in answer to the words of encouragement, "Cheer up, Rogers, we will carry you safely out of this," he uttered a faint moan, gasped, his fell forward-he was dead. Lieutenant Marshall says Rogers was wounded well up to the rebel third line, and Sergt. Lyman A. Dickey, Co. I. he (Marshall) sent a man Just as soon as he came upon the railroad bank a rebel, seated on the ground, fired up at him, the ball traversing almost the entire length of his forearm. It will always be an open question whether that fellow was kicked or stabbed to death, as Dickey's heels and bayonet landed on him at the same moment. He now lives in Londonderry : P. O. address, Wilson's Crossing. back with him to help him out. It is probable that he received the fatal wound in the back while running the gauntlet at the railroad. While Marshall can not recall its char- acter, he does not think the wound that started him to the rear was a mortal one.
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Capt. Joshua F. Littlefield, Co. B.
He entered the service from Somersworth as First Lieut. of Company F, and in August was promoted to Captain. Before leaving the Peninsula he had been appointed Lient .- Colonel of the Eleventh N. H., but determined to go through this cam- paign with the Second before joining his new command. In the charge over the railroad he was severely wounded and left in the hands of the enemy. He lay upon the field several days, until rescued by a Union relief party, and lingered until Sep- tember 17, when he died. The above portrait, furnished by Littlefield Post, G. A. R., of Somersworth, is a copy of the picture hanging in their post room.
The brigade came straggling back into the field where it had been formed for the charge, but here the flight ended, the men rallying on the flags of their respective regiments with a spirit which showed how little daunted they were by the ordeal through which they had passed. A line was gathered, facing the woods, its left resting on a detached clump of bushes an acre or so in extent. At this time a brigade of the Ninth Army Corps came up and advanced into the woods just to the right. The Second noted from the flags that one of its regiments was the Sixth New Hampshire ; but there was no time then to go a-visiting. There was heard a roll
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THE REGIMENT DECIMATED.
of musketry, and in a short time the scattered squads came pouring back as Grover's men had done, the brigade having lost over five hundred men.
This repulse was followed by the immediate advance of Pender's brigade of Hill's division. The counter attack fell directly on the gathered fragments of Grover's brigade, and the Second again caught the brunt of the fight and was the last to fall back. The rebel line which appeared in the edge of the woods was greeted with a destructive fire at short range, but there was not enough of it ; and at last the Second-still preserving its line, though men of all companies were mingled together-fell slowly back toward the Dogan ridge, on which the batteries were posted. The rebel line followed a short distance-as far, probably, as was consistent with Jackson's purpose of a strictly defensive fight ; but its retirement to the woods was visibly accelerated by the fire of the batteries. In this closing tussle the Second lost a number of its best men, among the killed being Lieutenant Norton R. Moore, whose hand, at the time of his death, bore the still unhealed wound he had received at Oak Grove.
The remnants of the brigade were now assembled in a little grove by the side of Young's Branch, and the rolls called. Out of about fifteen hundred men the brigade had lost four hundred and eighty-six, killed, wounded, and missing. The heaviest loss had fallen upon the Second, which, out of three hundred and thirty-two officers and men, reported sixteen killed, eighty-seven wounded, and twenty-nine missing. Subsequent revision, when the fate of all had been definitely ascertained, with the addition of the mortally wounded, raised the regiment's death roll in this battle to thirty- eight-more than eleven per cent. of the number engaged. The Second had been decimated. In addition to the three officers who lost their lives (Littlefield, Moore, and Rogers), seven were wounded. Lieutenant Holman received a terrible wound in the thigh, and never rejoined the regiment. Lieutenant Cooper, shot through the right lung, was supposed to be mortally wounded, but came around, in time, " as good as new." Lieutenants Ballard, Roberts, Steele, Young and Gordon received wounds of greater or less severity.
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The lot of the severely wounded, many of whom were left in the hands of the enemy, was most deplorable. By the retreat of their own people, and the withdrawal of the enemy with practically no provisions for their care, they were almost literally abandoned to their fate. The experience of Corporal William Dunton, of Com- pany A, as narrated in the printed History of Fitzwilliam, is an illustration of what others must have suffered before rescued by a party sent out nearly a week later to bury the dead and bring in the wounded who were still alive :
" He was struck by a ball on the right cheek, which passing through his mouth so as to break up the bone and teeth of the entire upper jaw, came out just below the left eye. Dunton fell and was left for dead when, shortly after, they were obliged to retreat. Being now a prisoner, he was stripped of nearly all his clothes and of almost everything he had, by the enemy, and left to die. Finding his mouth and throat fast filling up from the swelling of the mangled flesh, he succeeded in getting his knife from his pocket and deliberately cut away the torn flesh, and so cleared his mouth as far as possible. Hours passed, and so did nights and days. No relief came. He could not cry out, or even speak aloud, and could not have swallowed a morsel of food or a drop of water, if he had had either. For six days and nights he endured this agony, but on the seventh morning he was discovered by a party of our own men who were burying the dead. He was still alive, but so weak that the men despaired of his living till he could reach a hospital. He was at length placed in the hands of surgeons at Washington, D. C., five of whom decided no human skill could save him. Still, desiring to give him a chance for recovery, they dressed his wounds, inserted a tube in his throat, and finally succeeded in having him swallow a few drops of brandy, which revived him. Dunton was fed in this way for more than four weeks, and still lives, after more than twenty years [1888], to tell the story of his sufferings, and to remind all who meet him of the enormous cost involved in saving our country."
Official reports, and history, have done full justice to the charge of Grover's brigade. General Heintzelman says in his report :
" It was on this occasion that General Grover's brigade made
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WHAT MILROY SAW' AND DID.
the most gallant and determined bayonet charge of the war. He broke two of the enemy's lines, but was finally repulsed by the overwhelming numbers in the enemy's third line. It was a hand- to-hand conflict, using the bayonet and the butt of the musket. In this fierce encounter, of not over twenty minutes' duration, the Second New Hampshire, Colonel Mars- ton, suffered the most. The First, Eleventh and Sixteenth Massachusetts and Twenty-sixth Penn- sylvania were engaged."
The following extract from General Milroy's official report is also in- teresting as showing how Grover's charge appeared from his standpoint :
"Toward evening General Grover came up with his New England brigade. I saw him form- William A. Hayward, Co. A. ing a line to attack the After serving a three months term in the Third Massachusetts, he went to Concord and enlisted as a recruit in the Second N. H., being assigned to Co. A, in which was his brother, Allen B. He was wounded in the face by a buckshot, at Glendale, and met his fate at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, when he was hit in the right thigh by a musket ball, and had his left leg broken below the knee by a fragment of shell. He died on the field while the surgeons were amputating his limb. rebel stronghold in the same place I had been all day, and advised him to form his line more to the left, and charge bayonets on arriving at the railroad track, which his brigade executed with such telling effect as to drive the rebels in clouds before their bayonets. Meanwhile I had gathered the remnant of my brigade, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to assist him. I soon discovered a large number of rebels fleeing before the left flank of Grover's brigade. They passed over an open space some five hundred yards in width in front of my reserved regiment, which I ordered to fire on them, which they did, accelerating their speed
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and discomfiture so much that I ordered a charge. My regiment immediately dashed out of the woods we were in down across the meadows in front of us after the retreating foe, but before their arrival at the other side of the meadow the retreating column received a heavy support from the railroad below, and soon rallying, came surging back, driving before their immense columns Grover's brigade and my handful of men."
Johnson N. Danforth, Co. B.
Wounded at Bull Run, August 29, 1862, and died of wounds October 4, 1862. He was from Hopkinton.
That night Hooker's divis- ion slept upon the ground where Burnside's brigade had opened the battle of 1861 ; the Second Regiment on almost the identical spot where it had formed its first battle line in face of the enemy. The fore- noon of the 30th passed rather quietly on Hooker's front. Jackson maintained his position of the previous day, and there was an occasional feint or little brush at various points. A
movement of rebel troops in the vicinity of Groveton, early in the forenoon, led to a short-lived belief that the rebels were retreating. At two o'clock in the after- noon the battle was renewed in earnest upon the plateau to the south and west. Viewed from Hooker's position, the battle field lay in the form of an immense V, with arms a mile or more in length, and its point near Groveton. The northerly arm was the scene of the battle of the 29th, while the fighting of the 30th was mainly on the southerly line, from Groveton to the Henry Hill.
Hooker's men were interested spectators of Longstreet's attack on McDowell's corps, nearly the whole of the battle line being visible. At four o'clock the battle had grown to tremendous proportions, and soon after this hour the order suddenly rang out
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BATTLE OF CHANTILLY.
for the division to "Fall in!" There were indications of an advance on Hooker from a point near Groveton. A rebel battery opened fire, and some of Hooker's guns responded ; but when the division moved forward, the rebel force which had uncovered went quickly back to the cover of the woods.
The excitement of this little flurry had hardly quieted down when an aide arrived with orders for the entire division to cross to the other hill immediately. Batteries were limbered up in a hurry, and the troops were off at the double-quick in the direction indi- cated. Moving from one point to another, Grover's brigade came into position several times, but did not become engaged ; and it was a coincidence worth mentioning that the last line formed by the Second was on the Sudley road, in front of the Henry house, where Companies B and I had made the last stand the year before. In the movements of troops it was now plainly to be seen that the battle was lost ; and when Grover's brigade at last marched down the hill and turned into the Warrenton road, it came under a terrific fire from artillery which Longstreet had massed to sweep the valley. Everything on foot or on wheels was going to the rear on the run, when its turn came ; but there was no panic or rout.
Grover's brigade forded Bull Run Creek a short distance above the stone bridge, through water waist deep, and before midnight was in camp at Centreville, where it remained until the afternoon of August Ist. On that day Jackson attempted to gain a lodgment on Pope's line of communications, between Centreville and Fairfax Court House, and the battle of Chantilly ensued. Late in the afternoon Kearney's division, followed by Hooker's, was sent to support Stevens' division of the Ninth Corps, which had been attacked. The rebels were driven back, but both Stevens and Kearney were killed.
The battle was fought in a cold, pouring rain. Grover's brigade, with pickets thrown to the front, was posted in line along the Cen- treville road, which was crowded with the trains pushing toward Washington. Cold and shivering, the men stood in line in the dense jungle of dripping bushes, while the battle raged upon the right. There was some comfort to be got out of the situation, in nagging the demoralized stragglers who always form the fringe of a
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fight, and urging the nervous teamsters to hurry on out of the way before the fight commenced right there.
The fighting was kept up long after the darkness of night had come, but Grover's brigade did not become engaged. When the firing had died out, the brigade was moved to the right, near the scene of the fighting, where it spent a comfortless night, one-third of the men remaining under arms, while the rest " went to bed" in what the sense of feeling indicated was a flooded sweet potato field.
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