USA > New Hampshire > History of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers: its camps, marches and battles > Part 6
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The regiment of cavalry and the batteries of flying ar- tillery which accompanied the expedition took the lead. The rebel pickets at the Cross Roads fired a few shots and then dashed away, while our column turning sharp to the left, took the same road which we had followed on the retreat from Glendale to Malvern Hill. Small squads of rebel cavalry hovered about the flank and rear of the col- umn, picking up the stragglers, although sometimes the stragglers had things their own way, as was the case with one party from our brigade which encountered a squad of rebels of equal numbers and forced them to give up their arms, dismount and trudge afoot, while the weary victors took their places in the saddle.
A number of rebel pickets were captured by the cav-
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alry, and as we approached Malvern Hill the rebels opened with two pieces of artillery. This battery was posted by the side of a quaint old brick house which during the battle of Malvern Hill had been prominent as a signal station. Even before we came in sight of the rebel gun- ners they were planting their shells fairly in the ranks of the division, which was effected by means of a lookout, who, stationed upon the top of the house, could observe our movements and direct the aim of the gunners beneath.
Our cavalry was massed behind a thin screen of pines when we arrived upon the field, but the batteries were in position and replying to the rebel fire briskly and with splendid accuracy of aim. Gen. HOOKER, seated upon his favorite white horse, and surrounded by his staff, coolly directed our movements from beneath the shadow of a broad-spreading wayside tree. Our brigade was quickly formed in line of battle, and had the movements of the rest of the division been executed with equal ce- lerity, the capture of the entire force on the hill would have been insured. The rebels were between two fires, the gunboats upon the James opening upon them with eleven - inch shell from a point directly opposite our posi- tion. Many of these shell not exploding at the proper moment passed harmlessly by the rebels and came howl- ing about our own ears, so that at times we were really in greater danger from our friends than from the enemy. One of these monster bolts struck not three feet from one of the men and exploded in the ground, enveloping the soldier in a cloud of dust and smoke, from which he emerged terribly frightened, but with not a scratch or a bruise resulting from the affair.
The only avenue of retreat for the rebels was the river
4*
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road leading north toward Richmond. Gen. PATTERSON was ordered with the Jersey Brigade to take possession of this road and thus bag the rebels upon the hill, but this general -the truth may as well be plainly told-was, on this occasion at least, too drunk to attend to his duties, and failing to move promptly the rebels limbered up their guns and dashed off towards Richmond at a furious pace. Thus the main body of the rebels escaped, and we cap- tured only about a hundred men. When it became evi- dent that the rebels were running, we immediately ad- vanced and occupied the hill, the mounted officers and orderlies dashing across the fields after the scattered squads of gray - backs whose speed was not sufficient to enable them to keep up with their comrades. Lieut. JOE HUB- BARD, then aide de camp for Gen. GROVER, dashed alone after a squad of five, headed them off, and told them they might as well go back with him for they could not escape. They took his word and allowed themselves to be captured by one man. Squads of rebel pickets kept hurrying in from the woods and were somewhat surprised to find the hill in possession of the "Yanks," and themselves pris- oners to their hated enemy. Where the enemy's battery had been posted two ghastly rebels lay upon the ground, one still firmly clasping in his lifeless hands the shell which he was carrying to his gun when he fell.
Our cavalry regiment was sent in pursuit of the fleeing rebels, and followed them sharply for several miles, having a few skirmishes, in one of which the lieutenant colonel in command was mortally wounded.
This movement, though a failure in its main object, the capture of the rebel force upon the hill, was most effectual 'in arousing to activity the rebel army in Richmond, and
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an immense force was dispatched to retake the position. On the sixth we were reinforced by the divisions of COUCH and SEDGWICK, and as the rebel force was in our imme- diate vicinity a smart fight was anticipated, and our pre- parations were made accordingly. The line of battle was formed in the most favorable position, the batteries posted, and houses which interfered with the range of the guns burned to the ground; but after occupying the hill for two days orders were received from Gen. MCCLELLAN to retire to our entrenchments at Harrison's Landing, which movement was effected on the morning of the seventh, so silently that the rebel pickets knew nothing of it until the morning light revealed the unoccupied hill. During the night the Second Regiment was formed in line of battle across a road leading to the hill, extending on either side into a dense forest. Not a picket was thrown out, but hour after hour the men stood in line so silently that there was hardly a sound to break the deep quiet of that Vir- ginia forest, except the wild call of the whippowil or a momentary rustle occasioned by some soldier changing the position of his weary limbs. No attack was made, how- ever, and long before morning we were withdrawn from the position, and by night the whole force was again under cover of the entrenchments at Harrison's Landing.
With the inauguration of HALLECK as General - in - Chief came a new programme of operations against Rich- mond, the approach by way of the Peninsula being aban- doned and Gen. MCCLELLAN ordered to join his army to that of Gen. POPE, which was then menacing Richmond from the north. In pursuance of these orders Harrison's Landing was evacuated on the sixteenth day of August, the knapsacks of the men and the heavy material of the
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army having been previously sent away upon transports down the James.
The march down the Peninsula occupied five days. On the twenty - first the regiment embarked on the "State of Maine," and the following day the little flect bearing "JOE HOOKER's fighting division" steamed away from under the guns of Yorktown and Gloucester, out upon the billowy Chesapeake.
The campaign upon the Peninsula was ended, -that campaign which had begun so auspiciously and with such promise, and which, though recorded as a long series of victorious sieges, battles and skirmishes, will yet present the strange contradiction of a fruitless and even disas- trous onc. Of all that great army which had landed so proudly upon the " sacred soil" none had won a more glo- rious name than the Division of JOE HOOKER, which, under the guidance of their brave leader, had ever plunged bravely into the shock of battle, well knowing that the clear mind of a truc soldier guided the movement, and one who loved his men too well to sacrifice their lives in aimless or useless conflicts.
Let no prouder record be left for it than the words of Gen. HOOKER himself: "It always slept upon the field where it fought."
CHAPTER XI.
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THE SECOND BULL RUN CAMPAIGN.
URING the night of the twenty - third the division arrived at Alexandria, and dis- embarked the following morning. Late in the afternoon of the twenty - fifth we were packed upon cattle trains, every available space, inside and out, being covered, and whirled away over the Or- ange and Alexandria Railroad to rein- force Gen. POPE. We arrived at Manas- sas Junction in the night. Our former pilgrimage to this place in 1861 having unfortunately ended several miles distant, we felt a great interest in the locality, and strained our eyes to discover what sort of a place .it might be. But all we could make out in the darkness was the general outline of the immense plain, with the redoubts built by the rebels looming up dimly against the background of blue sky. The train stopped a few minutes at the Junc- tion, and the cavalry guard stationed there learning that
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we were "some of MCCLELLAN's men," surrounded the cars and became very communicative. The very name of "OLD STONEWALL" we found was a terror to them, and not without reason, for the very next night he came down with a swoop like a hawk, and carried away the. whole crowd. That they were badly demoralized was but too evident, and the men who had been trained under HOOKER to fear no carthly man or power, laughed scornfully at their terror, and told them that they had brought a gen- eral or two up from the Peninsula to show OLD STONE- WALL a few tricks in strategy that he never dreamed of. Yet, as we afterwards learned from prisoners, his advance guard was even then concealed by the side of the railroad, where they might easily have fired into the train had it not been his policy to conceal their proximity.
At midnight we arrived at Warrenton Junction, and the next day we went into camp in a beautiful position, near Cedar Creek. Perhaps the beauty of the place was enhanced in the eye of the men by the fact that the con- veniences for foraging were unlimited. Large fields of green corn waved in the breeze, and orchards of peach and apple trees, and in a stone mill not far from camp was stored hundreds of bushels of wheat, which the men ground up into flour as fast as the mill - stones could turn it out.
In this Virginian paradise we were assured that we should probably remain for several days; but alas for the frailty of human hopes, we spent just one night in our new camp. Early on the morning of the twenty - seventh we were roused from our sweet slumbers, and ordered to be in readiness to march at five o'clock. The occasional report of a cannon in the direction of Manassas indicated
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to our minds that there was trouble in the rear, and the name of STONEWALL JACKSON was naturally coupled with any rebel movement in that direction. And sure enough the great rebel leader was there, having descended through the gaps of the mountains with forty thousand men, and captured Manassas Junction with its garrison and the im- mense train of valuable material accumulated there. But if JACKSON was rapid in his movement, the counter move- ments to check and punish him were equally prompt. The various corps of POPE's army were immediately with- drawn from the line of the Rapidan, and set in motion to intercept and crush JACKSON in case he might attempt to retreat through the gaps of the Blue Ridge.
Our corps, the nearest the scene of action, marched down the railroad directly for Manassas Junction. At Catlett's Station, but about three miles from where we had encamped, the first evidences of the raid presented themselves in the remains of several wagons which had been burned; and here a heavy skirmish line was thrown out to cover the advance of the column, companies K and B being detached from the Second Regiment for that pur- pose. The day was intensely hot, and many cases of sunstroke occurred, yet the column was pushed forward with all of HOOKER's accustomed energy. At various points we encountered the ruins of bridges and culverts, and at length, as we emerged from the woods into a broad field, a rebel battery was discovered in position upon the other side. The line of battle was immediately formed, with GROVER's Brigade upon the right of the railroad, but when we advanced the rebel battery disappeared in the direction of Manassas, without firing a shot.
About two miles further on, however, we came upon a
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portion of JACKSON'S force drawn up in line of battle at Kettle Run, near a point upon the railroad known as Bristow Station. Our two skirmish companies nearly ran into the rebel line, concealed in a dense growth of little pines, before they discovered it. In fact, Company B would inevitably have been taken prisoners or slaugh- tered en masse had not the orderly sergeant of Company K seen the danger just in season to prevent such a catas- trophe. Our main column was at this time concealed from the sight of the rebels by a screen of pine trees, and although our skirmish line was permitted to withdraw without firing a shot, they opened briskly with a battery, bursting their shells directly over our heads. One of our batteries was pushed along by the side of the railroad through the woods, and was soon working briskly, sup- ported by portions of the Jersey and Excelsior Brigades.
During the height of the engagement the rebels at- tempted a charge, and came rushing down upon our brave men with a yell which was expected to intimidate and put to flight ; but the men opposed to them had heard that same yell too often to feel the tremor of fear, and with shouts as loud and as fierce they dashed forward to meet the rebels. This was more than the gray - backs had bar- gained for or expected, and the grand rebel charge sud- denly ended in an " about face," executed with amazing celerity, and a display of ragged coat - tails which would have excited the envy of any Chatham-street dealer in "old clo'."
The rebel force now made for Manassas with all possi- ble speed, and though HOOKER had no cavalry to harass them he pushed his infantry rapidly forward in pursuit. Our brigade marched across the battle field, thickly scat-
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tered with the bodies of the slain, and through the camps of the rebels, which they had been obliged to leave so unexpectedly that their beef still lay in the same places where the cattle had been slaughtered, their food was yet cooking over the camp fires, and kettles and other camp equipage were scattered about just as they had left them when called to take their places in the line of battle. The rebels for a time kept up a sharp fire upon the brigade from a light battery, which, however, was limbered up and drawn away as fast as we came too close for the safety of the guns.
The division at nightfall halted within about a mile of Manassas Junction, and that night men who at the front performed picket duty, beheld in the eastern sky the light of burning trains and stores which JACKSON was destroy- ing, preparatory to an evacuation of the place.
The next morning the division of Gen. RENO came up, and after a short halt to rest from its forced march, during which the general advanced to the picket line and made himself acquainted with the position of affairs, it continued on towards Manassas, which was found aban- doned, JACKSON having moved in the direction of Centre- ville three hours before.
In the afternoon HOOKER's Division also advanced, passing through the Junction, and going into bivouac late in the night at Blackburn's Ford, on Bull Run Creek, abvut midway between Manassas Junction and Centreville.
The following morning, the twenty - ninth of July, was ushered in by the booming of cannon far away to the northwest, indicating that JACKSON had encountered some portion of our force in that direction. We were soon in motion, rapidly following the broad ridge of land which
.
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terminates at Centreville in the celebrated Centreville Heights. From that point, commanding a view of the whole country as far as the Blue Ridge, we could see the smoke of battle ascending above the tree - tops many miles away, while long lines of white dust showed where the various divisions of the army were centering in upon the rebel lion at bay.
We took the same road McDOWELL had advanced on thirteen months before, but arriving at the point where HUNTER had made his detour to the right we continued straight forward upon the road the left column had taken on that occasion. The reports of artillery greeted our ears at intervals, and as we drew near the scene of action scattered volleys of musketry became audible. About a mile from the battle field we met several hundred of our men unarmed and marching to the rear. These were JACKSON'S prisoners, whom he had paroled and sent into our lines as soon as it became evident that he had got to fight, well knowing that every one of his men would be needed in beating back the Union legions pouring down upon him.
It was not far from noon when we reached the field, Gen. HEINTZELMAN, surrounded by his staff, sat upon his horse by the side of the road, pointing out to a general officer. the position of the troops engaged. "There," he exclaimed, pointing with his finger to the right, "is KEARNEY's linc, extending from that house to where you sce that gun flash." Our brigade was assigned for the day to Gen. SIGEL, who was engaging the enemy in the centre, and we marched rapidly down the road to our po- sition. The scene was familiar to most of the men in the regiment, for we were upon the old Bull Run battle field.
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Looking up the hill to the right we saw the field where the regiment had received its first baptism of fire, and to the left the hill where the rebel battery had stood which first opened upon us on that memorable twenty - first of July. We crossed the road down which we had advanced to make our last fight in that ill - starred action, and the men pointed out the very spots where friends and com- rades had fallen, and looked anxiously to see if there might not be a mound of earth in the immediate vicinity to indicate the burial places of the martyred heroes. The buildings which had been used as hospitals were still standing, and stacks of grain which had served as shelter for the sharpshooters; the sun shone just as bright and clear as on that day, and all the surroundings brought it most vividly to mind. After months of danger and hard- ship passed through in safety, the inscrutable mysteries of war had brought us back to the scene of our first conflict, there to make a still further donation of precious lives to the cause we had sworn to maintain-the lives of men who had rejoiced over their own escape from the dangers of that former fight while lamenting the loss of comrades who had fallen, but whose forms now moulder by the side of the friends they so truly mourned.
The brigade was massed not far from the little village of Groveton, near the woods in which the rebel lines were formed awaiting an attack. A scattering fire of musketry was heard in the woods to our front, and occasionally a smart volley, accompanied by the cheers of a charge. The rebel batteries, posted on a hill to the rear of their infantry lines, threw a shell over our heads just often enough to let us know that they were aware of our presence. One of our batteries attempted to go into position near the
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brigade, but the rebel guns poured in such a fire of shell at short range that they were glad to get out of the way as soon as possible.
We remained in this position fully two hours, when or- ders were received from Gen. SIGEL to advance into the woods and charge the rebels. To hear was to obey, and the line was formed silently in the open field at the edge of the woods, the First Massachusetts upon the right, the Eleventh upon the left, and the flag of the Old Second floated in the centre. The Sixteenth Massachusetts and Twenty - sixth Pennsylvania formed a second line, and beside these two regiments the three assaulting regiments were entirely without reserve; three small regiments, numbering not more than a thousand men, to charge un- supported upon the entire corps of EWELL, in a chosen position, and formed in a triple line of battle! Yet the gallant brigade was never in better spirits for the fight, and never made a more gallant one than on this occasion.
There was for a moment an earnest consultation be- tween Gen. GROVER, his colonels, and an officer who was acquainted with the lay of the land and the position of the rebels. "They are behind a railroad bank, and the only way you can dislodge them is to charge," we heard the officer tell GROVER, and well we knew that a few minutes would precipitate us into a fight such as we had hardly ever seen.
Col. MARSTON came to the regiment and quietly gave the order, "Fix bayonets!" A cloud was on his brow, for he fully realized the position we were to advance upon, and his heart was sad in contemplating the useless slaugh- ter of his brave boys which must ensue.
Gen. GROVER, still maintaining his imperturbable
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smile, uttered a few words, and to the point: "Don't waste a shot, my men-let every bullet tell." Then came the magical word, "Forward," and the men ad- vanced into the woods, to honor, to glory, and many, too many, to the grave. No sound was heard but the crash- ing of the underbrush, or the muttered orders to "Give way to the right," or "to the left." The left of the line soon encountered an open field, where a halt was ordered, and Gen. GROVER stepped forward to reconnoitre. Sev- eral Union soldiers, dead and wounded, lay about in the bushes, and a dozen bullets whistled about the general. The line was moved further to the right, and then again came the order, " Forward."
The moment was now close at hand which might usher any of us into eternity, and well we knew that the lives of many were numbered by minutes or even seconds. Yet not a man was there who flinched in that dreadful moment, for all so inclined had as usual been suddenly taken sick when the first sounds of conflict were heard, and were then lurking in the rear, ready to recover when- ever the battle should be decided.
Suddenly the deafening roar of thousands of muskets broke the stillness of the woods, and a shower of bullets tore through the air. "Charge !" shouted GROVER, at the top of his voice, and with a loud, ringing New Eng- land yell, we dashed forward, every man for himself. In a moment the Second had swept over the railroad upon the first line of rebels. This line was taken at a disad- vantage, for most of the men, loth to expose themselves above their breastwork, had delivered their volley from the ground, and were still in a prostrate condition when we leaped into their midst. Some few of the bravest
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attempted resistance, but the bullet or the bayonet did its work quickly with such ; some threw up their hands, beg- ging for mercy, and were either taken to the rear or left lying upon the ground, while those of the Second who remained uninjured, wild with excitement, dashed after those who were running for their second line. Suddenly right in our faces burst a sheet of flame, and the second line rose from the bushes to receive us. But almost before they could realize it, our fearfully diminished and disorganized regiment was upon them and in their very midst. For a moment there was a desperate struggle between the fiery Georgian regiment we encountered and the sturdy Granite State boys. The dull "thug" of the bayonets as they were buried in quivering flesh, the sharp crack of rifles and revolvers, the whistle of bullets, the fierce shouts of hatred and the moans of the wounded, ascended together from that scene of deadly conflict. But northern pluck was bound to win, and soon the second rebel line was scattered and put to flight. Scores of our men had by this time been placed hors de combat, and no semblance of formation as a regiment remained, but with unloaded pieces the men dashed after the flying rebels.
EWELL, the rebel leader, had been carried to the rear with a shattered leg, two of his lines had been broken be- fore our fierce onset, and victory was apparently within our grasp; but another line was yet to be encountered, the last one, against which it might have seemed madness for our scattered squads to throw themselves. But with- out counting the fearful odds in numbers to be encoun- . tered, we closed in upon this last obstacle between us and victory; and even that line showed signs of breaking, having doubtless been somewhat demoralized by the quick
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and unceremonious manner with which we had disposed of the two lines in their front. But our charge was sud- denly checked at the very moment when it seemed about to be crowned with complete success. Our headlong rush had carried us much farther than either the First or the Eleventh had penetrated, and thus while we had hewed a deep notch into the rebel position, the second line at least upon either flank was left intact, in a position to close in upon our flanks and rear. This was what the rebels did. A sharp volley greeted us from the right, which we had no sooner returned than another came from the left. We had hardly men enough to form a respectable skirmish line, and with rebels swarming upon three sides it was useless to longer maintain the fight; so we turned and fled towards the railroad, barely escaping capture, and leaving many of our wounded in the hands of the enemy, among others the brave Captain JOSHUA F. LITTLEFIELD of Company B, who, with several severe wounds upon his body, lay exposed upon the field for many days, and finally died. First Sergeant FRANK O. ROBINSON, of Company C, shot through the bowels, was also left behind, dying. "I might have brought him out," said Captain CARR, of the same company, "but he was dying-is dead by this time ; so I helped out one of my men who was not so badly wounded but that he has a chance to recover." Just after crossing the railroad, the writer encountered Lieutenant SYLVESTER ROGERS, of Company G, with one wound through his leg, near the knee, and another in the small of his back, from which the blood was pouring in a torrent. One of the men from his own company, with an arm around him, was endeavoring to urge him forward, and with the writer's assistance he was
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