USA > New Hampshire > A history of the Second regiment, New Hampshire volunteer infantry, in the war of the rebellion > Part 4
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35
STORY OF JOHN L. RICE.
together ; and crowded, broken, overrun, the Second was soon scattered and mixed in the general confusion.
The most pitiful feature was the wounded men lying by the roadside, who begged not to be left to the tender mercies of the rebels. There was conveyance, however, for but very few of the severely wounded, and most of them were left behind and became prisoners. Some of the men, on their return to the regiment, months later, had interesting experiences to relate. Some, at first reported killed, turned up later as exchanged prisoners of war. Among these was John L. Rice, of Company A, whose funeral sermon was preached at his New Hampshire home, and whose friends mourned him as dead. His story has been told by himself, as follows : " In the final struggle for the Henry hill, just before the stampede of the Union army, I went down with a musket ball through my lungs. My comrades bore me off in the wake of our retreating forces toward Sudley Church, where our surgeons had established a hospital. In a short time, being closely pursued by the enemy, and finding that I was apparently dead, they laid me under a fence and John L. Rice, Co. A. made their escape. Some Wounded and captured at Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Confined in Libbey until Jan. 2, 1862, when exchanged and returned to duty. Nov. 18, 1862, discharged to accept captaincy in Sixteenth N. H. In Oct., 1863, appointed Lieut .- Col. Third Louis- iana Native Guards (colored) afterwards known as 75th U. S. Colored Infantry. Commanded the regiment in Red River campaign, and assisted Gen. Bailey in construction of Red River dam at Alexandria. Returned north in 1867, and settled in Springfield, Mass. Is in the practice of law and prominent in public affairs. Has been Rep- resentative in the Mass. H. R .; four years Chief of Police in Springfield: Postmaster four years; appointed Commissioner U. S. Circuit Court in 1890: also held important positions in G. A. R. two days after the battle I recovered consciousness, but was unable to move. The blood from my wound soon putrified and attracted swarms of flies, whose larvæ in a short time were wrig-
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
gling under my clothing and into my wound in constantly increasing numbers. In this condition I was found by Amos Benson and his wife, who lived on the opposite side of Bull Run. They were returning to their home at evening, after spending the day at Sudley Church assisting in the care of our wounded. The Confederate medical staff at that time was very poorly prepared for the emergency of a battle, especially for the care of the wounded of both armies. Had it not been for the efforts of the Bensons and the few other people living in the vicinity of the battlefield, our wounded would have had little food or attention during the first days following the battle. Benson, discovering life in me, brought an overworked surgeon from the church, who, however, turned away with the remark that he had no time to spend on so hopeless a case. Mrs. Benson meanwhile brought me food from her house, while her husband removed my clothing and scraped away the vermin that were preying upon me. They continued to feed and care for me till, at the end of ten days, I was so far revived that the surgeons were persuaded to remove me from under the fence to more comfortable quarters in a freight car at Manassas Junction, whence in a few days I was carried to Richmond and consigned to Libbey prison."
Twenty-five years later, in 1886, being in Washington, Rice carried out a long cherished purpose to visit his kind benefactors. He found both still living, and it would be hard to tell whether he was more pleased to see them or they to see him. To Rice's assurance that he hoped to be able in some way to repay their kindness, they refused any recompense for themselves ; but Mrs. Benson replied : " If you want to do that, you can help us poor people here pay for our little church yonder. It was destroyed during the war, and it cost us a severe struggle to rebuild it. We owe two hundred dollars on it yet, which in this poor country is a heavy burden." Rice promised to send her a contribution. When he reached home he related this to the editor of the Springfield Republican, who published the story with a request for contribu- tions. Within two or three days $235 had been subscribed. A few evenings later the country people were assembled in that little church, and it would not be easy to picture the scene when Mr.
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CUB RUN BRIDGE.
Benson, coming from the post office at Manassas Junction, entered with Rice's letter and postal money orders for an amount more than sufficient to free their church from debt.
The general belief in that retreating mob was that there would be a sharp pursuit by the rebels, and almost every man doubtless had mapped out a line of action when the Black Horse Cavalry should swoop down. It was already nearly dark when that partic- ular division of the procession with which the writer was training approached the junction of the roads at Cub Run. He was but a few rods from the Warrenton road, and was congratulating himself that he now had a clear course to Centreville, when a shell came roaring down the turnpike. There was at once a wild stampede out of the line of fire. " Halt, boys, halt !" shouted Lieut. Platt ; "a hundred men can take that bat- tery !" He was just the man to have undertaken it if he could have gathered a squad; but the panic-stricken fugitives could not Charles A. Lang, Co. B. Present residence, Harrison, Maine. be rallied. The rebels had sent this battery down the Warrenton road, from the stone bridge, to harass the retreating troops, whose utter demoralization they had, fortunately, not then fathomed. But they had builded better than they knew, as one of their shots wrecked a wagon on Cub Run bridge, which stopped everything on wheels that had not already passed. The Rhode Island battery and other guns were abandoned here, and the rebels had only to gather up their plunder.
The writer reached the creek a short distance up stream from the blockaded bridge. The water looked black and deep. Scores of men were running along the bank above, looking for a place to ford. Burnside came riding down the slope. He halted a moment, then spurred his horse down the steep bank and across the creek --
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the water coming to his saddle. As the rebel guns were quiet just then, the writer was emboldened to try the bridge. When half way over he had the usual experience-wished he had taken the other road. The rebel battery opened fire again, and in the few minutes it took to untangle himself from the wreckage it seemed to his disordered imagination that a hundred shells as big as flour barrels passed within six inches of his head. In later moments of calm consideration he has considerably modified this estimate, but has never brought himself to believe that he did not there receive one of the worst scares of his life.
Near Centreville, troops of Miles' division were found drawn up in line of battle across the road, and the men, as they came up, were directed to return to the camps they had left in the morn- ing. Among those who came straggling into the camp of the Second was Corporal Isaac W. Derby, of Company A. His arm had been smashed in the affair at Cub Run, and amputation was Corpl. Isaac W. Derby, Co. A. necessary. Derby consenting, Lost an arm at Bull Run. July 21, 1861. Was the first New Hampshire soldier to suffer a capital operation in the war. Went to Boston in 1867, engaged in real estate business, and was a member of the Massachu- setts House of Reps. in 1873-4. Has been for 21 years a Deputy Tax Collector for the City of Boston. the operation was performed without the use of anæesthetics, and with no light except such as was afforded by a tallow candle and a flickering brush fire. Derby was a nervy man. He never entered a hospital at all, and after a few days was attending to such duties as a one-armed man could do about camp.
About midnight the sleeping men were routed out and told to make their way back to Washington. It was a long, weary tramp, and dusty until near morning, when it commenced to rain. A few miles from Washington some of the men who had been left in camp
39
BACK IN CAMP SULLIVAN.
were met coming out to join the regiment. One by one, squad by squad, the men straggled into camp. Cooked rations were ready for them as they arrived ; but sleep and rest were the immediate demand, and it was noted that the men went straight to their tents, shed their equipments, and were not anxious for their meals unless they could have them served in their rooms.
It was several days before the last straggler reported in camp and a correct estimate of the regiment's loss could be made. It was not heavy, as losses went later in the war. Nine men were reported killed, thirty-five wounded, and sixty-three missing-the latter being all prisoners, and many of them wounded. Four men died of their wounds, mak- John Haynes, Co. K. ing the regiment's death Was for a short time attached to the hospital staff of the Second, and subsequently commis- sioned Assistant-Surgeon of the Tenth N. H. On leaving the service, he settled in the practice of his profession in Londonderry, in which town he died May 4, 1874, aged 43 years. roll thirteen. The only commissioned officer wounded, beside Colonel Marston, was Capt. Hiram Rollins, of Company D, who received a musket ball in the arm.
Of the regiment's conduct in its maiden battle, Col. Burnside had this to say in his official report : "Col. Marston, of the Second New Hampshire, was badly wounded in the shoulder, but, notwith- standing, he remained in the saddle under fire after his wound was dressed, his horse being led by his orderly. The regiment, under charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Fiske, conducted itself most gallantly. Both officers and men deserve great praise."
The following, from the Washington National Republican,
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
although inaccurate in one or two minor details, shows the general estimation of the regiment's conduct :
" THE SECOND N. H. REGIMENT. During the late engagement the Second New Hampshire regiment behaved with the utmost gallantry. Arriving on the field the second regiment, they were instantly called upon to support the right of the Rhode Island Battery ; and with the coolness of veterans, although swept by the fire of the rebels, formed line of battle and remained in this trying position for more than an hour. When ordered to charge, they rushed forward with great impetuosity, driving the enemy from their position to the woods, and sweeping everything before them. At one time, when a retreat was sounded, Companies B and I remained in their position half an hour after every other company had retreated, and poured in a destructive fire on the rebels who were advancing to outflank them, only retiring when capture or annihilation became inevitable."
OFFICIAL REPORT OF LIEUT .- COL. FISKE.
HDQRS SECOND REGIMENT N. H. VOLUNTEERS, Camp Sullivan, near Washington, July 27, 1861.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers during the march and battle on the 21st instant. 1 give the time of our different movements as nearly as possible:
The regiment left its camp near Centreville at 2 o'clock a. m., and immediately took its place in the column of the Second Brigade, under Colonel Burnside. We continued in the column of the brigade until near the field of battle. On arriving at the battle-field (10.30) we were ordered up to support the Rhode Island Battery. Before arriving at the place indicated we were ordered on to the crest of a hill, in a field considerably to the right, exposed to the fire of the enemy's batteries. We here fired upon some battalions said to be Georgia troops, who retired to the shelter of the woods opposite. After they retired the regiment was withdrawn under the shelter of the brow of the hill. We were then ordered to the left to support the Rhode Island Battery. The men took their position and fired several volleys. Colonel Marston was wounded here and carried to the rear (11.30 a. m.)
We were moved from here to a position on the left and in advance of the Rhode Island Battery, where we fired a few shots at the retreating enemy. After remaining here an hour, more or less, we were ordered to report ourselves to Colonel Heintzelman (1 o'clock p. m.) The regiment moved to a position near his column, and I sent the sergeant-major three several times to report the regiment ready to render any succor or support they were able to afford. The sergeant-major was unable to meet with Colonel Heintzelman or his staff. After remaining in this position some time I received an order (2.30 p. m.) to advance to a position indicated, which was to the left and 'a quarter of a mile in advance of the troops engaged in that part of the field. The enemy were screened from our sight. As the men were exposed to fire from a battery and from musketry, I ordered them to lie down, and fire whenever any of the enemy were exposed.
After a short time we were ordered to withdraw. The men retired leisurely and in perfectly
41
REPORT OF LIEUT .- COL. FISKE.
good order, halting once under the shelter of some woods. On our way to rejoin our brigade we were ordered by an officer of dragoons, whose regiment was in advance in the retreat, to make haste, or we should be cut off by the enemy's cavalry. Our column was formed again in the brigade, but before the formation was complete the retreat began, and continued, with a short rest at our former camp, near Centreville, to Washington.
The men obeyed orders with coolness and precision during the whole day. They took every position they were ordered to, and never wavered or retired until ordered to do so, and were among the last, if not the last, to leave the field. Their retreat on the whole route to their camp was unattended by tumult or any disorder further than leaving their ranks. Their conduct throughout the day inspires me with entire confidence in their courage and steadiness, and I hope will meet your commendation.
FRANK S. FISKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Comdg. Second N. H. Volunteers.
CHAPTER III.
JULY 23, 1861, TO APRIL 10, 1862 .- HOOKER'S BRIGADE ORGANIZED AT BLADENSBURG-MARCH TO THE LOWER POTOMAC-SECOND IN CAMP AT HILLTOP-A YOUNG MARYLANDER TAUGHT A LESSON- STAKING OFF THE GUARD LINE-WINTER CAMP AT BUDE'S FERRY- INCIDENTS OF THE REBEL BLOCKADE-GEN. NAGLEE IN COMMAND OF BRIGADE-MARSTON'S FAMOUS DUNGEON-MARSTON BEATS GEN. MCCLELLAN'S ORDNANCE OFFICER-THE REBELS EVACUATE THEIR POSITIONS-MURDER OF LUTHER W. FASSETT BY REBEL SCOUTS- HOOKER'S DIVISION EMBARK FOR THE PENINSULA-THE SECOND REGIMENT STORM-BOUND AT POINT LOOKOUT.
B URNSIDE'S brigade was broken up very soon after the battle of Bull Run, all its regiments except the Second being three months troops. On the morning of August 9th the Second Regiment broke camp and marched over to Bladensburg, a well-known suburb of Wash- ington. As the regiment filed into the field where it was to make its camp, a tall man, in civilian dress, but bearing the unmistakable impress of military training, rode up and directed the movements of the regiment. He was Joseph Hooker, one of the newly-appointed Brigadier Generals of Volunteers. His brigade, when organized, consisted of the First and Eleventh Massachusetts, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania and Second New Hamp- shire regiments. The Second was the first to arrive at the brigade rendezvous, and consequently the first troops "Fighting Joe." commanded in the war.
All the regiments were in camp within a few days. August 23d the brigade was reviewed by Gen. McClellan, who had been called to the command of the army gathered for the defence of Washing- ton ; and on the forenoon of the 25th, President Lincoln, with Secretaries Seward and Welles, came out and reviewed Hooker's
43
BLADENSBURG.
troops. The regular routine of drill and camp duties was varied by work on the fortifications with which Washington was being surrounded, and the forts near Bladensburg in that stupendous system of defences were largely built by Hooker's men.
Hospital Steward's Quarters, Bladensburg.
Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from Sketch by Israel T. Hunt.
Tent made from an old hospital fly and some boards. the front eked out with pieces of gunny bags. Here the Surgeon, with Bill. Stark, the Steward, (popularly known as " Old Cooney,") and his assistant (Dr. Hunt,) received the " halt, blind, lame, and lazy," when the "Surgeon's call " rang out, early in the morning.
September 5th the regiment received its first installment of recruits, a squad of ninety-seven arriving from Nev Humo;hir under charge of Sergeant Cobb, of Company A. This number gauges pretty accurately the loss to the regiment up to that time from deaths and discharges on account of disability.
On about the same date an important change was made in the equipment of the regiment, the smoothbore muskets being exchanged for Springfield rifled muskets.
Early in October, Hooker's command was increased to a division by the addition of Sickles' " Excelsior Brigade," and Col. Cowdin, of the First Massachusetts, as senior colonel, assumed
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
command of the First Brigade. On Thursday, October 24, the division broke camp and started for the lower Potomac. The rebels had been permitted to blockade the river by the erection of powerful batteries on the Virginia shore at various commanding points below Occoquan Creek, be- tween thirty and forty miles from Washington. This was quite a serious matter, as it practically closed one of the most important avenues of communication with the cap- ital. But whoever, if any one, was responsible for permitting this to be done, Hooker's division was now sent to establish itself upon William Waterman Sawtelle, Co. G. the Maryland shore, over against the blockade.
One of Amherst's earliest volunteers, and her first victim in the war. Died at Bladensburg, October 25, 1861, having been taken with typhoid fever soon after his return from Bull Run. Plate from Boylston's "Amherst in the Great Civil Conflict,"
The march occupied four days, the division arriving at its destination on Sunday,
October 27. The Second, with Doubleday's battery, went into camp some five or six miles from the rest of the division, at the important village of Hilltop, consisting of one frame dwelling house, a cross-roads store, and two negro cabins. For three or four days the regiment camped in a frost-bitten hollow by Nanjemoy Creek, but was then moved to a higher and pleasanter location. One company was sent each day to picket the mouth of the creek, which had been a favorite point of passage for the rebels to and fro across the Potomac.
Many of the young men of this part of Maryland had gone over and joined the rebels, but one, at least, remained long enough to be taught a lesson in good manners which it is not likely he soon forgot. At dress parade one afternoon he posted himself near the
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CAMP AT HILLTOP.
regimental commander with the little group of citizens that had gathered to witness the ceremony, and kept up a string of offensive remarks evidently intended for the officer's ear. When for- bearance ceased to be a virtue, the officer of the guard took him in charge, and the young Marylander marched jauntily off to the guard tent. But when parade was dismissed, the poor devil was brought out and flayed alive. At the head of the first company street his tour commenced. A guard of honor surrounded him with a - hedge of bayonets, and a negro who had attached him- self to the regiment was posted as his file-closer. For actual horror and suffering, Stanley's rear guard in Africa had a Henry F. Clifton, Cc. C. picnic compared with this A boy of sixteen, who joined the regiment with the first lot of recruits, at Bladensburg, and carried a gun for three years. Now resides in Manchester, is widely and familiarly known as " Harry," and is still young and lively enough to train with the Amoskeag Veterans. fellow's short tour of camp. Livid and trembling with rage, he was kicked-kicked by a nigger !- up one street, down another, out across the parade ground, and over the guard line. The negro was at once sent off out of reach of vengeance, and it is quite probable the young Marylander crossed the river and joined his friends in rebeldom.
It was in this camp that the regimental commander got so neat a hoist by his own petard. Becoming disgusted one day with the slovenly marching of some of the camp guard, he ordered the guard line marked off with pegs driven into the ground at proper pacing intervals. The job was still in progress, when, having occasion to pass out of camp, he tripped on one of these pegs and went end over end. "Great guns !" he roared as he gathered himself, "I'd like to know what infernal idiot has been sticking the ground full of sticks. I'll stop that !" And he did.
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
On the 14th of November the Second joined and went into winter quarters with its brigade at Budd's Ferry. It arrived just in time to witness one of the most exciting little brushes of the season. A schooner, loaded with wood, was " running the block- ade," when the wind failed her in mid-stream. She was struck two or three times by rebel shot, whereupon the crew dropped anchor and scuttled for the Maryland shore. A boat filled with rebel soldiers was seen pulling for the prize from the Virginia side ; whereupon a detachment of the First Massachusetts was sent to
JWi
Quarters of the Second Regiment Butcher, Budd's Ferry.
Drawn by J. Warren Thyng, from a Tintype.
the rescue. The rebel party was the first to reach the boat. They set fire to her and pulled away as a boatload of the First men approached. The flames were soon extinguished : then the anchor was hoisted, the jib set to catch what little wind there was, and the schooner was towed up the river and turned over to one of the gunboats of the upper flotilla. All this was done under a sharp fire from a rebel light battery which was run out on Cockpit Point.
47
ITINTER QUARTERS AT BUDD'S FERRY.
Hooker named the camp of his division " Camp Ba- ker." He was joined about the first of December by the Second New Jersey Brigade -the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth regiments of that state-which became the Third Brigade of the division. The camps were established from a half to three-quarters of a mile distance from the river, and under cover of woods which screened them from rebel observation. The camp of the Second was near Gen. Hooker's headquarters, and close by the Posey house, which was quite notorious in the annals of those days. Sclon F. Porter, Co. I. Posey had a son in the rebel Died of apoplexy, at Budd's Ferry, Md., March 14. 1862. army, had probably been a rebel agent before Hooker's arrival, (and perhaps after,) and was arrested therefor ; and as the writer remembers, was tried and got clear. Still, the Posey girls-who had been reported to Wash- ington as signaling to the rebels across the river by lights at night and mirrors by day-were very pleasant acquaintances for some of the Yankees during the winter.
Winter set in, and there was no lack of work to occupy the time and attention of the men. Timber was convenient and plenty. The "A" tents were stockaded four or five feet high, with fireplaces and chimnies of "cob-work " plastered thick with Maryland mud. The country roads became absolutely impassable-merely trenches of almost fathomless mud-and a corduroy road was built from the camps to the steamboat landing at Rum Point, at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek.
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SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE.
" Laboring like patient oxen By the banks of Chickamoxen,"
was the rhythmic wail of Sergeant Adams, of D, who contested with Gunnison, of I, the laurel crown of regimental poet laureate.
Nor was there any lack of amusements. Almost every day there was a free show out on the river, which the men could take in by simply going a few rods from camp. The blockade was only effective against large vessels, which from their great draft would be compelled to keep to the ship channel near the Virginia shore. Sloops and schooners, keeping well over to the Maryland side, ran up and down in broad daylight as boldly as they would have sailed
into Boston Harbor. The rebels, as a matter of princi- ple, always opened fire on them, and it was not unusual for one schooner to be the target for scores of shells before it got clear of the bat- teries. Thousands of shot were fired by the rebels during the winter, and the atrocious wildness of their gunnery is in evidence in the fact that, with the exception of the wood-laden schooner before mentioned, not a vessel was hit from the beginning to the end of the blockade. Our war vessels, even-which had Horace O. Smith, Co. E. to keep the channel-ran the One of a squad of twelve young men who went to Exeter from South Newmarket, May 5, 1861, and were mustered in by Charles H. Bell, after- wards Governor. He is now engineer at the McLean Hospital, Waverley, Mass. gauntlet unscathed, but always by night. On the morning of December 13 two gunboats made the run from the upper to the lower flotilla ; and at five o'clock on the morning of January 12 the frigate "Pensacola," which had been undergoing repairs at the Washington navy yard, went by without injury, under a fire so
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