USA > New Hampshire > History of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers: its camps, marches and battles > Part 4
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got any powder, shout-hooray -make a noise-do something," he replied. Then turning to a musician near, he inquired, " Here, you fellow, are you the band ?" " I am a musician, sir," was the reply. "Go to tooting on your old trumpet, then -Yankee Doodle, Dixie-any- thing-blow away!" Then turning to the men, " Hoo- ray! Richmond's taken! Reinforcements close at hand ! Be here in fifteen minutes! Give it to 'em!" To realize fully the ludicrous manner in which the sentences were snapped out, the reader should know that the old general was afflicted with a pecullar impediment in his speech, and that his words were run out as if on a wager to see how many he could get rid of in a certain time. Soon the bands struck up, the men who had no ammunition cheered like madmen, and the reckless spirit of Gen. HEINTZELMAN seemed to infuse itself through everybody.
It was nearly night before our reinforcements came pressing up the road, as fast as was possible, through the deep mud. The sounds of the Highlanders' bagpipes did not sound sweeter to the cars of the beleaguered at Luck- now than did the distant cheers which heralded the ap- proach of KEARNEY's men to ours; and when the brave regiments arrived and dashed in upon the rebels with a fury which could not be withstood, we were glad to fall back from the position, to maintain which so many valua- ble lives had been given up. The battle had been fought and the victory won. HOOKER, from the very jaws of threatening disaster, had plucked the first green laurel for his fadeless wreath of glory, and his division had carved a page upon American history which no true lover of his country can read without feeling a glow of pride at the , glorious achievements of his countrymen. And may not
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THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
such person question why for so many hours our single division was left to maintain the unequal conflict, while thousands of troops, eager to mingle in the fray, were held inactive within hearing and almost within range of the enemy's guns?
The loss of our division on this ever - memorable day amounted to three hundred and thirty - eight killed, nine hundred and two wounded, and three hundred and thirty - five missing and prisoners-an aggregate of fifteen hun- dred and seventy - five. HANCOCK, in his little affair upon the right, -which many people in the regions where his regiments were raised still persist in believing to be the battle of Williamsburg, -lost but thirty - one men, a loss not equal to that of some companies in our division. Impartial history will give the credit of the victory to the proper persons, instead of recommitting the crrors of many people of our times, who, to gratify their local or family pride, would appropriate for regiments from their own section the glory won at a terrible sacrifice of pre- cious lives by others. By such a course they but do gross injustice to the patriotic General HANCOCK and his brave men, who afterwards won their full share of glory wherever the Army of the Potomac measured its strength with the enemy.
The loss in the Second Regiment was by no means so heavy as that of the regiments in the SICKLES and New Jersey Brigades, owing to the different modes of fighting. It amounted to eighteen killed, sixty - six wounded, and twenty - three missing.
As soon as it became certain that the victory had been secured for our arms, the remnants of the division were collected together and camped about a mile to the rear, 3
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and though wet and chilled, hungry and weary, our mar- tyred comrades who lay stark upon the battle field were hardly more oblivious to passing events than were we, upon the water - soaked ground where we threw ourselves to rest.
Early on the morning of the sixth, the troops who had been held inactive the day before began to pour up the road, "in pursuit of the retreating rebels," while squads from the division went out upon the field in search of wounded comrades who had lain all night in the cold, drizzling rain: The scene of the conflict was ghastly in the extreme, the men lying in every attitude, and exhibit- ing every form of shocking mutilation. The rebel dead lay thickest in an old rifle pit of Revolutionary date, just within the edge of the woods. It was in this pit that KEARNEY's men first encountered them in their furious charge, and in places the dead lay literally in heaps. Seven bodies lay in one pile, by the side of a log just to the rear of the ditch. The rebels had turned to flee when the last onset was made, but had fallen all together before the murderous volley from the advancing line. In a partially obstructed road which ran through the slash- ing, lay scores of the Excelsior boys, gory and ghastly, and on the left, where the Jersey Brigade had fought, the dead lay in broad winrows. It was indeed a "harvest of death," where
" A broad field was reaped Heaven's garners to fill."
That day we moved from the woods, pitching our camp on the green plain in front of Fort Magruder, and com- menced the burial of the dead. Many were buried upon the spot where they fell, but most of those belonging to
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THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
the Jersey and Excelsior Brigades were collected together and buried in long trenches. This could not well be done with the dead of our brigade, as they were scattered upon all parts of the field. A piece of board, or a stick with one side shaved down, and rudely lettered with the soldier's name, regiment and company, was his only tombstone. Sometimes a board carved with more than usual labor would show where some soldier had paid his last sad tribute to a dear friend's memory. How sad a tale might some of these rude head - boards tell, were theirs the gift of speaking: of two friends, perhaps, going forth together to sustain the integrity of their country and her flag; of the long and weary marches, enlivened by their mutual remembrances of home and its dear ones; of the star-lit bivouac, where beneath the same blanket bright visions of northern scenes and north- ern loves had come to them in dreams ; of privations and dangers shared with more than brother's love, and all to end in a little mound of earth on Williamsburg's field, from which but one would go forth to the coming cam- paigns, with a great aching at his heart, but with strong desire to meet those who had robbed him of his friend.
As soon as the dead had been properly cared for, the arms and equipments which strewed the field gathered up, and the felled timber thoroughly burned, the brigade moved its camp to a position nearer the city. Gen. GROVER was appointed Military Governor of the place, and for some time we performed the duties of provost guard, while the army pressed on up the Peninsula.
In the rebel camps around the city we found a large quantity of first - class tents, some "Sibley," and others wall tents, bearing the name of their maker, "S. J.
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MYERS, Richmond." These we appropriated as being preferable to our little shelter tents, and some of them, fitted up with chairs and tables, were perfect palaces, when compared with what we had been accustomed to. Rebel stretchers were eagerly seized upon by the men, who slept upon them with hardly a thought that what to them were couches of comfort and rest, had but a few days before been beds of agony for the wounded and biers for the dead.
We had plenty of opportunities for looking over the city, and found it to be a quaint old place, in former days a city of note, but now shorn of its glory, and struggling hard to maintain an appearance of municipal respecta- bility. There were many fine public buildings, among the most interesting of which was the College of Wil- liam and Mary, the oldest college in the United States, where many of Virginia's most celebrated sons had been educated.
The public halls and buildings were filled with rebel wounded. Every day the Williamsburg ladies - so they called themselves - visited these hospitals, which also contained a number of wounded Union soldiers, bringing with them dainties and delicacies for the rebels. This was all very well, had they not taken every occasion to insult and wound the feelings of the loyal sufferers in the most outrageous manner. If, in distributing their dain- ties a cot was encountered on which lay a soldier in army bluc, the fair visitors would withdraw their skirts to avoid the contaminating touch of the loyal hero, and utter some insulting remarks concerning "cowardly Yan- kees," or "vile invaders." This intense bitterness of feeling was, however, sometimes turned to good account
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THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
by the cunning Yankees, as was the case with one of our teamsters, who, clad in a suit of dingy gray and with his arm in a sling, introduced himself to a rabid secesh family as a member of the Louisiana Tigers, severely wounded in a terrific conflict with some half a dozen Yankees, three of whom he killed outright, and put to ignominious flight the remainder. He was, of course, received with open arms, and was ever after sure of a hearty welcome and a good supper, whenever he saw fit to give his friends a call.
We remained in Williamsburg about a fortnight, when, being relieved by a cavalry detachment, we started on up the Peninsula in the footsteps of the army, which was then sparring with the rebels across the turbid waters of the Chickahominy.
CHAPTER VIII.
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IN TII E CHICKAHOMINY SWAMP.
XTENDING from near Williamsburg to the very gates of Richmond is the Chickahominy Swamp, through which the great army of MCCLELLAN strug- gled in pursuit of the rebels. Mile after mile of almost impenetrable morass there were, into the gloomy depths of which the column of troops plunged, toiling wearily on where the mud was often ankle or knee deep. Where the foot soldiers found so much difficulty in making their way, the trouble encountered by the teamsters with their heavy wagons, and by the artillery, may be readily imagined. The whole country traversed was by no means of this description, as there was a great deal of high land intervening, which formed welcome camping grounds for the men after a day spent in battling with the mud of the swamp.
We reached the Chickahominy at Bottom Bridge in
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IN TIIE CHICKAHOMINY SWAMP.
about a week, where we found several divisions camped awaiting the signal for advance. The day after our arrival a reconnoissance in force was made in the direction of Fair Oaks, by Gen. NEAGLEE, of CASEY's Division, our former brigade commander, and HOOKER's Division was ordered across the river as a support. The river was swollen by recent rains, and the flats along its banks were nearly covered with water, but across them we picked our way and advanced about three miles upon the Rich- mond road, where we halted behind some rudely built rifle pits, posted our artillery, and patiently waited the whole day for some requisition to be made for our ser- vices. But they were not needed, and at sunset we began to retrace our steps to camp.
Night came on, dark and gloomy, and we had those flooded meadows to recross. This had been a difficult matter in broad daylight, and the prospects for a safe passage by night were by no means flattering. Two or three men in the line were equal to the emergency, and lighting the little pieces of candles which they carried in their knapsacks, they stuck them into the muzzles of their guns for impromptu torches. The cue thus fur- nished was immediately taken up by the rest of the men, and thousands of the little flickering torches lit up the line of march. It was a scene which could not have been surpassed for picturesque effect ; but, produced as sud -- denly as if by magician's wand, as suddenly it vanished, for one of Gen. GROVER's aides rode back from the head of the column, and put a damper upon the highly dra- matic scene, by a rather blunt and unpoetic order to " Put out those devilish candles !" The general did not wish to advertise his movements to any rebel lookout,
.
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who from some distant tree - top might be counting the Yankee camp- fires and noting the positions of the vari- ous encampments. So we made our way across the flooded flats as best we could in the darkness, floundering half the way up to our waists in mud and water. Upon reaching the river we soused ourselves and made our way to the cheerless camp, dripping from head to foot.
In a day or two we again crossed the Chickahominy and marched to Poplar Hill, about six miles from Fair Oaks. The portion of the swamp in that vicinity was known as White Oak Swamp, and White Oak Creek wound around the foot of the hill. This was a very im- portant position, commanding the road from Richmond to Bottom Bridge, the loss of which would have been a serious disaster to our army at that time.
On the thirty- first of May began the great battle of Fair Oaks. CASEY, with his division, at this time occu- pied an advanced and almost isolated position at Fair Oaks, a large portion of the army being as yet on the north side of the Chickahominy, while a terrible rain the night previous had converted this usually sluggish stream into a raging torrent, and the meadows along its banks into broad lakes, seriously threatening the communication between the two wings of the army. With all these cir- cumstances in his favor, JOHNSTON assumed the offensive, and falling upon CASEY with forty thousand men, he fairly crushed his little division by weight of numbers, capturing nearly all of his artillery, his camps and stores, and forcing him back in confusion until KEARNEY met and checked the rout. In camp at Poplar Hill, we heard the heavy volleys of musketry, but how near we came to being active participants we never knew until the rebel
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reports of the battle were received. From them it ap- peared that JOHNSTON's plans embraced the capture of Poplar Hill, and an advance to Bottom Bridge, the pos- session of which would at the same time have cut off one of the main avenues of retreat for CASEY, and prevented the arrival of reinforcements. To accomplish this a strong rebel division set out upon the proper road, but when the commander heard the sounds of the attack upon CASEY, like the model soldiers of holiday orators, he " marched towards the scene of conflict," thus defeating one of the most important points in JOHNSTON's well - devised programme.
The next day the battle was renewed. Grizzly old SUMNER, by almost superhuman efforts, got a portion of his force across the Chickahominy, while HOOKER, with the Excelsior and Jersey Brigades, hurried away from Poplar Hill to join in the fray. The result of this day's work was a glorious victory, the rebels being driven into the defences of Richmond in the wildest disorder. Dur- ing the day our brigade remained in line of battle, momentarily expecting an attack. The bridges across White Oak Swamp were torn up, and our artillery posted so as to command the crossing, while the Eleventh Mas- sachusetts was deployed in the woods as skirmishers, and every measure taken to insure a successful defense of the position ; but the glorious work of SUMNER and HOOKER secured to us immunity from attack.
On the third day of June, two days after the battle, our brigade marched to Fair Oaks. . The evidences of the great contest presented themselves as we advanced. We encountered first the stragglers from CASEY's Division, camped by the roadside, who regaled the passing troops
3*
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with highly colored accounts of the fight; then we came to an incomplete breastwork where the rebel advance had been checked, and from there the graves of both Union and rebel soldiers were scattered along by the roadside, while the trees were scarred and limbs severed by the missiles of death. But not until we arrived upon the field of Fair Oaks did we fully realize the magnitude of that terrible two- days struggle. Hundreds of shallow graves, from which the heavy rains had washed the dirt until the arms and legs of the dead protruded above the ground, and hundreds of the dead, as yet unburied, were scattered through the abatis which lined the Williams- burg road, and over the swampy, flooded plain. Where CASEY's artillery had been posted the dead horses lay in scores, and three houses, directly in the rear of his un- finished breastworks, were perforated by thousands of bullets.
The brigade marched directly to the front, relieving the Excelsior Brigade in trench duty. Our position during the night was uncomfortable in the extreme. The late attack had imbued our officers with unusual vigilance, and formed in the rear of CASEY's ditches we received strict orders against building fires, or even resting our- selves upon the ground. Through the night, wet and shivering, and surrounded by putrefying corpses, we stood under arms. Gen. GROVER continually trudged through the mud from one end of the line to the other, stirring up those who, against the orders, endeavored to steal a few moments sleep, and making sure that no sudden rebel attack would find the First Brigade napping. The pick- ets, posted a few hundred yards to our front, kept up a scattering fire, which sometimes, however, grew so brisk
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IN THE CHICKAHOMINY SWAMP.
that we sprang hastily into line, expecting the next mo- ment to hear the shrill, discordant yell with which the rebels heralded their charges. Through the night and most of the next day we maintained our position, when we were relieved and eamped a short distance to the rear. Some of the regiments pitched their tents in the night, and when the morning came many of the men discovered that they had been sleeping with but a few inches of earth between them and the bodies of the dead. One man, whose survey by the sense of feeling impressed him with the idea that he had secured an elegant site for a tent, was horrified when he opened his eyes the next morning at discovering a hand, long and ghastly, pro- truding from the ground but a few inches from his head. The rebels, during their temporary possession of the field, had buried most of their men who fell on the first day ; but the burial of those who fell on the second day fell to us. This was performed in a very hasty and imperfect manner, and soon the terrible stench which arose from the decaying bodies, aided by hard labor and the swamp water we were obliged to drink, began to tell on the health of the men, and our sick list increased to a fright- ful degree.
Two brigades from our division were on duty regularly each day, - one under arms as trench and picket guard, the other laboring upon the trenches and redoubts. The remaining brigade lay in camp, liable at any moment to be double - quicked to the front, whenever a threatening demonstration was made on our picket line. Thus we were almost continually on duty of the most fatiguing nature, and a night of uninterrupted rest was something not often realized.
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About the middle of July our brigade was reinforced by the arrival of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment, which came to us with full ranks and new clothes, having never seen rougher work than a little picket duty along the Blackwater. They had been three days on their jour- ney to the front, and had suffered during that time almost incredible hardships, having been, as some of the men earnestly avowed, three days without a morsel of soft bread. Their sudden introduction into the stern duties of war, and upon such a field as Fair Oaks, found them but illy prepared for the rough fare and hard blows they were to receive ; but they were composed of true metal, and the old men of the First Brigade never had cause to blush for their younger comrades in arms.
Little affairs of the pickets were of almost daily occur- rence, rarely assuming a very serious nature. A few days after their arrival, the Sixteenth Massachusetts was sent forward on a reconnoissance, and going in with all the headlong rush of green troops, they stirred up the rebels in furious style, charging clear over the rough breastworks of the rebel picket reserve, and losing not far from sixty men.
On the twenty- third of June, late in the afternoon, five companies of the Second, and a few Massachusetts companies who had been on picket for the previous twen- ty - four hours, advanced and drove the rebel pickets about a quarter of a mile. Receiving orders to drive the enemy as far as possible, we left our picket posts and crept cau- tiously forward through the thick growth of bushes. Our route lay over a low swampy piece of ground, where blueberry bushes, bending beneath their burdens of lus- cious fruit, grew luxuriantly. Our alnost uninterrupted
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IN THE CHICKAHOMINY SWAMP.
diet of hardbread and salt beef had given us an appetite for a change, and while we crept cautiously forward, expecting every moment to receive the fire of the rebel pickets, we improved the opportunity to fill ourselves with the luxury so bountifully offered. So stealthily did we advance that some of the men were within a rod of the enemy's videttes before discovered. But the report of a rifle, sharp and sudden, had an effect as magical as was the whistle of RODERICK DHU, which
" Garrisoned the glen At once with full five hundred men,"
for from every bush and stump rushed forth a live Yan- kee, and away went the frightened rebel pickets helter - skelter for their reserves. We dashed after them for nearly half a mile, when, coming to a field in which a chimney, blackened by fire, stood solitary sentinel over the ruins of what had once been a peaceful home, we halted for the purpose of reforming our line, it being evident that we had already advanced so far that the com- panies who were to deploy from our flanks and keep up a connection with the main picket line, had not been able to do so. We were, in fact, isolated, and in a position where a rebel force might have marched unmolested to our rear, and bagged the whole party. While hurriedly discussing the dangers of the situation, we received a sharp volley from the woods across the field, to which we had hardly replied when another volley greeted us from the bushes in the rear, wounding one man of the party. That we were surrounded by rebels was the natural im- pression, but turning with the determination to make a headlong rush for liberty, we discovered that our new
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assailants were some of our own men who had been left in camp sick or on detailed duty, but who, when we advanced, shouldered their rifles and came out to have a hand in the fight. Coming up just at the time we had become engaged with the picket reserves, they became unduly excited, and fired a premature volley which came near being attended with serious consequences. This affair was barely settled, when with a loud yell the rebels came charging down upon us in full force, a solid front, before which we scattered and struck for our lines as rap- idly as the rebel pickets had just been obliged to run before us. At the edge of the field in front of our works we found Col. COWDIN, of the First Massachusetts, with several companies of his regiment, upon which we rallied. "Let 'em come on now," said the Colonel. "There wont half as many go back as come out !" A man was sent up the "lookout tree," who, though the bullets sung merrily about his ears, maintained his position until he had counted several rebel battle flags. But the enemy contented themselves with establishing a strong picket on the old line, and we maintained our former position with- out any opposition.
This affair of the twenty-third of June was but a pre- lude to a bloodier one which occurred two days later. On the twenty - fifth the entire division was under arms, and, leaving a portion of the Jersey Brigade in the works, advanced down through the fields to attack the rebels in force. Our brigade made the attack upon the left. We halted upon the edge of the field and the First Massachu- setts was sent in to wake up the enemy. They disap- peared in the brush, and hardly a minute elapsed before a deafening roar of musketry arose and the wounded came
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IN THE CHICKAHOMINY SWAMP.
streaming back in large numbers. The First boys closed in on the rebel pickets with their accustomed impetuosity and captured several of them, among others a lieutenant, who, on his way to the rear, passed Gen. HOOKER and saluted him, which our gallant General returned with true soldierly politeness.
The First soon encountered a stronger force than they could master, and Co. B of the Second was ordered in as a reinforcement. The spiteful crack of their Sharp's rifles soon rose above the din of conflict, and so unflinch- ingly did they perform their duty that of the forty - two men who went into the fight, twenty - two were killed or wounded. Soon four companies more of the Second were ordered in, and so, a few companies at a time, as needed, we advanced into the melee. The rebels made an obsti- nate fight but were forced back until we reached the limit of our advance on the twenty - fifth, where a halt was ordered and the lines straightened and established.
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