USA > New Hampshire > History of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers: its camps, marches and battles > Part 2
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BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
a good view of the celebrated charge of the Black Horse cavalry. All these exciting scenes we witnessed, until early in the afternoon the firing had almost died away, the field was ours, and General McDOWELL rode down the line and told us we had won a great victory, at which we cheered exultingly.
The field was ours, but the army was left in a sad condition. It had been so badly broken up and scattered that there was hardly a regiment which could count half its members in the ranks. In this condition was our army, while JOHNSTON was close at hand with heavy reinforcements for the rebels, hastening to wrest our hard - earned victory from us, and our reserves were many miles away, in the vicinity of Centreville. To add to all, at about this time, an unexplainable, un- accountable panic took possession of a great portion of our troops, and while the thoroughly whipped rebels were making post - haste for Manassas, they were fleeing with equal speed towards Washington.
Thus stood affairs at three o'clock in the afternoon, when bodies of rebels who had been rallied by the rapid approach of JOHNSTON, again renewed the fight.
The New Hampshire Second was then one of the few regiments upon the field which was formed in good order, and we were directed to the front into the positions from which other regiments were falling back in disorganized masses.
Col. MARSTON, having had his shattered arm bound up, came at this moment upon the field to lead his regiment. At every step of his horse the muscles of his face would involuntarily show the pain he felt. The Spartan spirit of their Colonel seemed to infuse itself through the ranks
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
of the men, who greeted his appearance with tumultuous cheers. "Now," he exclaimed, "the New Hampshire Second will have a chance to show what it is made of," and we filed down into the valley at a quick step, where we were exposed to a terrible fire. Grape, shell and rifle balls swept through the ranks of the Second, but the column swept on down the road. It was a position which might well appal stout hearts, one where we had a taste of the horrors of war. The rail fence by the roadside was shattered and prostrated by the terrible storm of balls which leaped from the cauldron of flame that crested the hill. The wounded and dead marked our progress through the valley, and when we reached the blood - stained slope our ranks were fearfully decimated. For a few moments we halted behind a sheltering ridge to form the ranks anew. Upon our left was stationed one of our batteries, with only one gun in working order. A part of the others were dismounted, and the faithful gunners and horses lay around the useless pieces. The few men still left were working the remaining gun, but for every shot they sent screaming over the hill a dozen were returned; and soon this gun also ceased its defiance. The gallant BURNSIDE at this time showed his bravery in a most conspicuous manner. Riding up to the brow of the hill, he drew forth his glass and through it took a long and deliberate survey of the rebels, as coolly as though he was only gazing upon a beautiful landscape. It was almost a miracle that his life was preserved amidst the shower of bullets which whistled around him.
The ranks again formed we continued on up the hill, where a few men -the dare - devils of various regiments - still kept up a desultory fire. One of the F'ire Zouaves
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BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
was particularly noticeable for his reckless behavior. His foot had been crushed by a ball, but instead of being carried to the Surgeon he maintained his ground, hobbling around on his sound foot, firing as fast as he could load, and keeping up all the time such a string of oaths as would have surprised "The Army in Flanders."
The regiment came into position facing a rebel battery of two or three guns, posted by the ruins of some log houses, which served as good shelter for an industrious body of rebels-so industrious with their leaden com- pliments that the regiment was soon ordered to fall back from the position. This they did, with the exception of the two left companies (I and B) who rushed forward to within a hundred yards of the battery, where, taking shelter in a deep cut made by the side of the road, they kept up a brisk and spiteful interchange of shots with the rebels.
A rebel mounted officer attempted to pass from the battery to the woods, but horse and rider fell lifeless to the ground. Another rebel leaped upon a gun and waved a flag defiantly in our faces ; he, too, fell.
For half an hour these two companies maintained this position, losing but few men, which was owing to their good cover, when a body of rebels filed across the road to their right, pouring in a volley which unearthed them, upon which they made some very rapid traveling down the hill and up the opposite slope, in search of the regiment.
As soon as they were fairly out of reach of the rebel riflemen they took a view in the direction from which they were retreating. A sight met their vision calculated at once to appal and to demand their admiration. The
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SECOND N. II. REGIMENT.
insignificant force which had started them from their cover had in those few moments grown into a host.
Instead of a small squad there now appeared a long line, bristling with steel, and with numberless banners floating above it in the summer air. The line continued to lengthen, as regiment after regiment debouched from the woods, until their hearts grew sick in calculating the numbers. Then a second line appeared, forming with the same threatening precision and silence as had the first. Halting but a moment the serried lines faced to the front, and came sweeping down the slope towards the dis- organized masses of Union troops. These new arrivals were JOHNSTON's reserves, and from this moment the day was irretrievably lost to us. The field where BURNSIDE had opened the fight was still covered with squads of troops hunting for their respective regiments, but before the threatening approach of JOHNSTON's gleaming lines they melted rapidly away, and helped to swell the great wave of disastrous retreat which was sweeping so resistlessly towards Washington.
Our regiment was forming in the edge of the woods, near the point where we had first entered the field. Here we remained until JOHNSTON was close upon us, and two companies of cavalry, which had formed in line a short distance to the left, broke for the woods, when we, too, joined in that terrible retreat from Bull Run.
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CHAPTER IV.
THE RETREAT FROM BULL RUN.
EN or tongue cannot describe the retreat from Bull Run. Never was an army more completely bro- ken up and demor- alized than was ours; never were the real dangers of any situation more intensely magnified than were those which threatened us; and never did men conjure up more visions of danger which existed only in their own minds than did we. In that wild torrent of retreat, organiza- tion could not for a moment exist. Although the Second Regiment marched from the field in good order, it was not long ere it would have been difficult to have found a score of its members together.
About a mile from the field BURNSIDE made an attempt to rally our brigade. By vigorous efforts a few hundred men were got together, forming a line with no reference to previous regimental or company formation; but this provisional organization could not stem the torrent, and it soon melted away.
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
The wounded men by the roadside begged piteously for aid to escape from the rebels. A few were placed in empty wagons and ambulances, or upon caissons and gun carriages, but the most of them were left to their fate by their terror - stricken comrades.
"The cavalry are coming," was the cry which would revive the energies of the drooping. "The Black Horse Cavalry," numbering, perhaps, a hundred men, was the bugbear of the flight. To tell the truth, the writer of this did not see a rebel during the entire retreat, and is inclined to set down at least nine - tenths of the hair- breadth escapes, terrible hand - to- hand encounters and heroie defences by dashing vivandiers, with which the Northern papers teemed for weeks, as being made up and cut out for the occasion. A history of the retreat can never be written, only as compiled from individual expe- rience, so complete the disorganization in the ranks of the Union Army. The writer speaks only for himself: premising that his own experience tallies with that of thousands of his comrades on that memorable day.
During the entire day we had suffered most intensely from thirst, with scarcely a drop of water to alleviate it. So when I came to a pool of stagnant water a few rods from the point where we entered the main road to Cen- treville, I did not scruple to drain two dipperfulls of the filthy fluid, or rather semi - fluid, for the passage of horses and wagons through it had reduced it to this state.
I had fastened my dipper to my haversack, and was about to enter the main road, when the roar of a gun and the howling of a shell just overhead greeted my ears. The crowd paused, bewildered. The next instant, a shower of grape came humming into their midst, when
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RETREAT FROM BULL RUN.
they made a simultaneous rush from the road, over fences and into the woods and fields. "Halt ! boys, halt !- don't run !- a hundred men can take the battery!" shouted Lt. JAMES H. PLATT, who was close by at the time. But exhortations had no effect, and we took to the fields with the rest.
The battery which had created this new panic con- sisted, apparently, of but two pieces, which had been sent along the main road to take a position where they could command the point at which we must enter it, as well as the Cub Run bridge, which crossed the creck at the foot of the hill. Owing to the darkness of the evening which by this time prevailed, neither the guns nor the gunners were visible to the panic - stricken fugitives, and when they opened, notwithstanding their proximity, they did not stop to question whether there were twenty or five hundred men engaged in the new attack, such terrors have unseen dangers for all men.
After firing a few shots the battery ceased its play, and the men began to swarm back into the road. I reached Cub Run bridge and found it blocked with disabled baggage wagons. While I stood debating as to the best means of crossing, BURNSIDE came riding down the hill, leaped his horse from the steep bank and forded the creek. I was not particular about following in the steps "of illustrious greatness, especially when they led through five feet of water, so I took the less dignified means of attaining the same end, and crawled under the wagons. I had just straightened myself after crossing the bridge, when the battery again opened. The first shot whistled past the wagons and went bowling down the road, tearing the life from many a poor fellow who was perhaps at that
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
moment congratulating himself on having at last safely escaped the horrors of the day. Again there was a grand exodus from the road, which was entirely abandoned until the battery had once more ceased working.
Formed in line of battle across the road near. Cen- treville, we found our reserves, and as we passed through the openings in their ranks we felt that at last we might rest ourselves in safety.
Arriving at the camp which we had left so gaily the morning before, we threw ourselves upon the ground with an inexpressible feeling of relief. Men came straggling in every few minutes. Among them was one man from company A, whose arm had been shattered in the affair at Cub Run. Amputation was necessary, and it was performed by the flickering light of a camp - fire. the heroic soldier uttering hardly a moan during the terrible operation.
But our rest here was a short onc. About midnight, we were unceremoniously routed out, and told that the implacable enemy was close at hand. Again we took our position in the " grand army advancing upon Washington," and to the credit of our pedestrian powers be it said, we continued on until the goal was reached, although our feet were blistered and bleeding, and every individual bone and muscle of our bodies ached from fatigue.
Once more under cover of the forts on Arlington Heights, we drew a long breath of relief, although some of the most thoroughly terror - stricken still half expected to see the ubiquitous Black Horse Cavalry come riding over the frowning walls of the fortifications, overturning the big guns in their fury and scattering death and destruction in every direction.
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RETREAT FROM BULL RUN.
Arriving in Washington, most of the men, to escape the pressing inquiries for particulars of the fight that met them on every hand, secured conveyance to Camp Sullivan. The sick men whom we had left in camp, we found had organized themselves into a volunteer cook corps, to distribute rations to the men as fast as they arrived. But sleep and rest were the great demand, and these wants were first and thoroughly attended to.
For several days the men came straggling into camp, and it was some time before any definite estimate of our loss could be formed. From nearly two hundred it grad- ually dwindled down until it was fixed at seven killed, fifty - six wounded and forty - six prisoners. Many of those reported wounded could have lived but a few hours, while one or two reported killed came back to us as from the grave, with thirteen months' experience in rebel prisons to tell to their wondering comrades.
CHAPTER V.
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BLADENSBURG AND BUDD'S FERRY.
- ARLY in the month of August we moved our camp to Bladensburg, a little Maryland village, about four and a half miles from Washington, on the Baltimore road, noted in former days as a place of resort for southern fash- ionables, for the battle there fought in 1814, and for the famous duelling ground where so many brave men laid down their lives at the shrine of a false sense of honor.
As we filed into the field which had been designated as our camping ground, a tall, plainly dressed, military - looking man rode up and superintended the movements of the regiment. This was Brigadier Gen. JOSEPH HOOKER, who had just been assigned to the command of a brigade, of which we were the first regiment to arrive at the ren- dezvous, and consequently the first regiment which "Fighting Joe" commanded during the war. When or- ganized, the brigade consisted of the First and Eleventh
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BLADENSBURG AND BUDD'S FERRY.
Massachusetts, the Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania and Second New Hampshire regiments. Gallant regiments they were, too, as the glowing record of the "First Brigade of HOOKER's Division," carved on many a bloody field, will testify.
At Bladensburg we remained about two months, drilling and preparing ourselves for the next trial of arms, which we felt confident would end, under our new General, MCCLELLAN, as victoriously as the former campaign had closed disastrously.
About the middle of October we were ordered to the lower Potomac, where the rebels had established a block- ade of the river, the effects of which were sensibly felt at Washington, as it necessitated the carriage by rail of nearly all the supplies for the great army which was then gathering around the capital.
SICKLES' Excelsior Brigade, with ours, were organized into a Division, and HOOKER placed in command. After a weary march of four days over the roughest of roads, we arrived at Budd's Ferry, when the various regiments were distributed so as to form a corps of observation over the movements of the rebel blockaders.
For some weeks the Second „was stationed at the important village of Hill Top, consisting of one dwelling- house, one store, and two negro cabins. Here we were several miles from the rest of the Division and from the rebel batteries, and as we could hear the roar of their guns every day shelling some audacious little Yankee blockade - running sloop or schooner, we grew impatient to be nearer the scene of action. So when ordered to join the rest of the Division, we obeyed with picasure, arriving just in season to witness an exciting little
2
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
episode. One of our schooners had been driven aground by the rebel batteries on Shipping Point, which was no sooner observed than a boat full of rebel soldiers put off from the shore and pulled rapidly toward the vessel, with the intention of boarding and firing her under our very eyes. A company of the First Massachusetts dashed across the fields to meet the attack. The rebels reached the schooner, boarded and fired her, then taking to their boat again pulled vigorously for their side of the river. At this moment the Massachusetts boys arrived on the river bank, and poured in a volley which sent the splinters flying in every direction and created considerable confusion among the daring rebels. The First boys boarded the boat in season to extinguish the fire, and so thwarted an attempt which reflected much credit upon the bravery of the rebels engaged.
During the months that now ensued we found plenty - to occupy our time and attention. When the condition of the ground admitted we had a large amount of drilling to do, and the broad fields of " Old POSEY" and WHEELER were the scene of many a gallant charge, while the woods were thoroughly scoured by heavy lines of skir- mishers. Then we had to build a corduroy road from Rum Point, (our landing and base of supplies), as the winter rains soon rendered the ordinary roads utterly impassable. Winter quarters also demanded our atten- tion, as the advance of the season rendered it improbable that an immediate movement would take place by the Division, and we accordingly built log walls, upon which to raise our tents from the ground, and thus secured more roomy and comfortable quarters. Each tent was supplied with bunks for its occupants, and also had a
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BLADENSBURG AND BUDD'S FERRY.
fire place, built of logs and coated with mud. The great disadvantages of the latter were that they would catch fire occasionally, forming an illumination on a small scale, and that when there was, from any reason, a particular scarcity of firewood, the boys would not scruple to improve the midnight hours by stealing two or three feet off the top of their neighbors' chimneys with which to keep the fire going in their own.
For amusement we watched the running of the rebel blockade, which could be performed only by the small vessels, as the channel of the river ran close under the rebel batteries. But hundreds of schooners with draft light enough to keep close to the Maryland shore, defiantly ran the whole line of batteries in broad daylight, and though the rebel gunners managed occasionally to hit one of the saucy little craft, none were sunk or disabled.
Soon after our arrival we were reinforced by the Second New Jersey brigade under General PATTERSON, forming the Third Brigade of HOOKER's Division. It soon became as notorious for its strict discipline and inveterate drumming as it afterwards did for gallant fighting on a score of fiercely contested fields. It was a standing joke in the Division that the commander of the rebel forces opposite us sent word to Gen. HOOKER that unless he immediately put a veto upon the drumming of those Jersey regiments he would have to evacuate his position, as his men could not be broken of their rest much longer.
About the middle of February, Gen. NEAGLEE of Pennsylvania was assigned to the command of our Brigade, who at the very outset incurred the dislike of both officers and men. The day after he assumed com- mand he had the officer of the day, and the officers of the
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
guard of every regiment in the Brigade, placed under arrest for some very slight deviation from the strict letter of the army regulations, and his after conduct was such as to gain for him the reputation of a merciless tyrant, albeit he was thoroughly conversant with military tactics, and one of the best drilled officers ever commanding our brigade. Among other things he inspected the guard- house of our regiment, where the prisoners were confined, and immediately deciding that it was too comfortable a place for prisoners, he gave Col. MARSTON orders to have a dungeon built of logs. "Build it," he said, "without a crack or an opening so that it may be perfectly dark." His orders were obeyed to the letter. In a day or two he came over to see if the house had been properly built, and his eyes beamed with pleasure when they first rested upon the gloomy structure, but after having looked upon all sides of it, he turned to Col. MARSTON with a haughty air, and enquired where the entrance was, and how he intended to get anybody into it. "O," re- plied the Colonel complacently, " that's not my lookout ; I have obeyed your orders strictly ! How does it suit you ?" The General went his way, and the dungeon stood just as it had been built until the regiment left Budd's Ferry for the Peninsula, the following spring.
During the winter months we remained at Budd's Ferry, surrounded by oceans of mud, and, as a poet of the regiment had it,
" Laboring like patient oxen, By the banks of Chickamoxen."
But when the spring months came and the warm winds drank up the water from the soil so that solid ground began to appear, the great army which for so many
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BLADENSBURG AND BUDD'S FERRY.
months had been marshaling under the leadership of MCCLELLAN, began its advance upon Richmond by way of the Peninsula. This movement necessitated a corres- ponding change of base by the rebel army, and the abandonment of the line of defences they had occupied during the winter, comprising the fortified positions at Manassas and Centreville, and the batteries with which we had been hobnobbing.
On Sunday, the ninth day of March, the boys in camp were turned out by the announcement that the entire line of batteries had been abandoned, and the little hill which commanded a view of them was soon covered with spec- tators. For a distance of five miles the Virginia shore was enveloped in the thick smoke which ascended in volumes from the camps of the enemy, from various buildings, from their gunboat, the "George Page," and from several schooners which lay in Quantico Creck. It was the most extensive conflagration we ever witnessed, and one of the grandest scenes. The little black " Ana- costa," of the Upper Flotilla, was cautiously steaming down the river, throwing shells into the upper battery to make sure it was not tenanted. Arriving opposite the bluff upon which it was situated, a barge was sent ashore and soon we saw the Stars and Stripes floating proudly from the same staff recently occupied by the rebel flag, while the soldiers assembled on the Maryland shore sent up shout after shout at the glorious scene. All the bat- teries were found deserted. They were thoroughly explored the next day by detachments from our Division, and it was found that an immense number of large guns and a great amount of military stores had been left. The
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SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
batteries were constructed in the most scientific manner, and would have proved very formidable if attacked by our gunboats. Many of the guns had been tumbled into the river, but some had not even been spiked. A great amount of sutlers' stores and private property of the soldiers was left behind, and secesh dippers, plates, knives, clothing, knapsacks, puppies and other plunder, was plenty in our camps, nearly every soldier having some- thing as a memento. Several heavy guns were found buried in the ground. One of them, a ten - inch gun, was buried about a mile from the river, and efforts were made to recover it, in doing which, one of our men, of Company E, named FASCETT, was murdered by guerillas. He, with a companion, was going back from where the men were engaged in digging, to procure some shovels which were stored in a building not far from the river, when three rebels in citizens' dress, who had been skulk- ing in the bushes, confronted them with loaded carbines. FASCETT immediately surrendered, but nothwithstanding this, they sent a bullet through his body, while his com- rade made good his escape. The guerillas eluded all efforts to capture them. Had they not, Judge Lynch would have presided at their trial.
On the fifth of April the Division broke camp and embarked upon steamers with orders to report at Fortress Monroc. The Second, with three companies of the Twenty - sixth Pennsylvania, was crowded upon the crazy old steamer "South America." Owing to some misman- agement the boats carrying our brigade did not get under way down the river until the morning of the seventh. Arriving at the mouth of the Potomac, Chesapeake Bay
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BLADENSBURG AND BUDD'S FERRY.
was found to be so rough that the captain of the South America would not venture out of the river with her, and he accordingly ran in shore and landed his passengers upon "Point Lookout," afterwards noted as the great general depot for prisoners.
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