USA > New Hampshire > History of the Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers: its camps, marches and battles > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
On the first day of July, the brigade arrived at Em- mettsburg, a large village near the Pennsylvania line, the business portion of which had been consumed a few days before by an incendiary fire. It was on this day that the battle of Gettysburg was begun, when the First Corps and a portion of the Eleventh encountered the rebels in and about the city of Gettysburg in the severe fight which cost Gen. REYNOLDS his life. Squads of our men went out into the country, many of them "over the border" into Pennsylvania, buying bread, eggs, ham, and anything which the Dutch farmers of the region could be induced to spare from their larders, while those who remained in camp pitched the shelter tents, dug ditches around them, and collected beds of pine boughs upon which to rest their weary limbs. The foragers scoured the country so thor- oughly that soon not a loaf of bread could be bought within five miles of camp for either love or money; but the men displayed their greenbacks so liberally as to arouse the avarice of the Dutch farmers to an uncontrol- lable degree, and while their stout wives went vigorously to work mixing dough, they brought forth the “ Dutch ovens," or built big fires in the brick ones, promising the men that they should have bread in any quantity in the morning. Many of the men paid in advance, so as to make sure of their share, but the brigade was far away before the next morning, leaving the disconsolate Dutch farmers with bread enough upon their hands to last their families for many weeks.
CHAPTER XVI.
-
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
-
T two o'clock, on the morning of the second day of July, 1863, we were routed from the quarters we had so carefully prepared, and the brigade set off through the darkness in the direc- tion of Gettysburg. Tramp, tramp, and splash, splash, we kept our way, halting a few minutes at sunrise to rest and cook coffee, and early in the forenoon we arrived upon the field which will ever be so memorable. Our sharpshooters, scattered along in the fields to the left of the road upon which we marched, told us that the entire rebel army lay in and beyond the woods, within rifle shot. Screened from our observation LEE was mov- ing his troops into position for the approaching fight, rapidly extending his lines towards his right, opposite our left; and, in fact, half an hour after we had passed up the Emmettsburg pike, a rebel line of battle was formed
138
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
across it, which would have given us a warm and unex- pected reception had we been a little later.
The brigade joined the corps, and participated in the movements preliminary to the grand final struggle. Al- though at first marched to a point almost in front of the town of Gettysburg, we gradually worked our way back in the direction from which we had come, until the brig- ade lay massed in a little grove at the foot of the ridge upon which the Third Corps was soon to make the last and most desperate of all its fights as a corps, for but a few weeks afterwards it was incorporated into the Second Corps as a division, and the number of the glorious old "THIRD" disappeared from the rolls of the army, although the men still proudly wore upon their hats the diamond which had been to them so proud an emblem. The re- ports of the skirmishers' rifles were now occasionally heard, and to "draw out" the enemy, the brigade, still closed in mass, was advanced up the slope into the open field. A rebel battery almost immediately opened with shell, and for a few moments the pieces whistled about in a lively manner, one of which struck the staff which sup- ported the colors of the Second and broke it in twain, at the same time wounding several men of the color guard.
The object of the movement accomplished, the brigade was withdrawn to the grove, while a battery of brass pieces, going into position in gallant style, rapidly replied to the rebel guns. Col. BERLIN, commanding the brig- ade, in a few words informed the men that they were to double - quick by the flank to the rear of the battery and take their respective positions in the line of battle. Upon the crest of the ridge was an orchard of small peach trees, in which was stationed one of our batteries, six broad -
139
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
mouthed brass pieces, bellowing and thundering in re- sponse to the rebel guns, which were pouring in a mur- derous fire of shell and spherical case. The Second Reg- iment was ordered to report to Gen. GRAHAM, and by him was placed in support of this battery. Company B, whose position in the line was upon the left, was transferred to the right that its Sharp's rifles might be made most avail- . able in case of an infantry attack from that direction. Never, in all its history, was the regiment exposed to such a terrific artillery fire as it received while lying upon the ground to the rear of this battery. The air was fairly alive with bursting shell and whistling canister; the leaves fell in showers from the peach trees, and the dirt was thrown up in little jets where the missiles were con- tinually striking. But the gunners worked their guns bravely and without flinching, and when the rolls of our companies were called while men were being struck from the ranks every moment, only eight men of the whole regiment were missing from their places. A stream of wounded was constantly pouring to the rear, some shells skimming along the ground and wounding as many as half a dozen men in their course. One shell struck square upon the cartridge - box of Corporal THOMAS BIG- NALL, of Company C, driving the cartridges into his body, where they exploded one after the other, with a popping like that of a bunch of fire -crackers. The next moment three men were wounded in Company I, and another car- tridge - box exploded, that of Sergeant JAMES M. HOUSE, and thus it continued for nearly two hours, until many a vacant place was made in the ranks of the regiment. During this time the conflict was also going on upon the right, on Cemetery Hill, and to the left, where nearly a
140
SECOND N. II. REGIMENT.
mile distant we could see one of our batteries belching forth its contents from the rocky summit of " Little Round Top" into the woods below, through which the rebels were struggling in their efforts to turn our left.
At half- past four in the afternoon the volunteer battery we had supported, after having done its duty manfully, was relieved by a regular battery of rifled guns. The regulars did not serve their guns with the same spirit which had characterized the volunteers, and the difference was soon painfully apparent from the increased fire of the rebel guns. Their infantry also began to show themselves in large bodies, advancing from the woods behind which it had been screened, to capture our batteries. Our skir- mishers came pouring in, and so near did the rebels ap- proach that a lieutenant of the battery to our front spiked his guns, expecting they would soon be captured. Col. BAILEY, commanding the regiment, pointed out the state of affairs to Gen. GRAHAM, and requested permission for the regiment to charge and check the advance. It was given, and springing to their feet the men rushed forward, shouting and cheering, passing by the guns of the battery and down through the peach orchard. A line of the ene- my was encountered which would not stand the deter- mined charge, but fled pellmell and took refuge in a ravine which traversed the plain to our front. The regiment was halted near the Emmettsburg road, and there it made as determined a fight as was ever made upon any field. The enemy's artillery was served vigorously and at short range; the line we had driven maintained a hot fire from the ravine where they were sheltered ; two regiments were moving across the fields by the flank about three hundred yards to the front; and from the woods a whole brigade
141
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
of rebels was advancing upon the Sixty - Third Pennsylva- nia, formed upon the right of the Second. The two regiments marching by the flank were soon disposed of, being forced to flee in confusion, but the brigade advanc- ing upon the right steadily maintained its course. The Second, unmindful of the scattering shots upon its own front, turned its attention to this threatening advance, and poured in a brisk fire to the right oblique. But this had no effect to stay the march of the dense mass of rebels, which approached nearer and nearer, its front blazing with flame and wreathed in smoke, while the rebel artillery poured in canister with redoubled vigor. By the right of the regiment was an old farm house, behind which a num- ber of Company B's men stationed themselves, many be- ing wounded, and, as sharpshooters, devoted their especial attention to the colors of the advancing brigade. Color - bearer after color - bearer was shot down by the unerring riflemen, who kept popping away until forced to abandon their position by the proximity of the rebels.
The regiment upon our right could not withstand the shock, but gave way, and at the same time the regiment upon the left about - faced and marched to the rear in good order. For the Second Regiment longer to maintain its position would have been madness, and the orders were given to fall back, which was done rapidly but without panic or undue haste, the men constantly facing about and discharging their pieces into the ranks of the yelling enemy.
The wounded men who had been sharpshooting behind the old house, when the rebels were close upon them scrambled down a rollway into the cellar, and called to a man from another regiment who sat beside it to come in
142
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
and shut down the cover. Had he done so they would probably have escaped undiscovered, as the ground was occupied not long after by Union troops; but the stupid fool sat as if paralyzed until the rebels came pouring by the house, when he discovered the hiding place to them by exclaiming, "Here we are; we are all in here." Then, of course, there was no escape, and the men were obliged to crawl forth, and take up their long and weary march to Richmond as prisoners of war.
The ground was covered with the wounded and dead, for so near were the rebels upon us that the worst shot in the army could not well have missed his mark. Gen. GRAHAM was wounded and taken prisoner, and Gen. SICKLES, who dashed up to the position amid the terrific fire, had his leg shattered by a piece of shell. Arriving at the top of the ridge, the regiment was halted and about - faced, and the line hastily reformed. But its num- ber had been so terribly reduced that it could not stem the torrent, and it was again forced to fall back beyond the point where it had laid when supporting the battery.
At this portion of the line the rebels had gained a tem- porary advantage, and the Third Corps, for the first time in its history, had been worsted-not by any lack of skill in its generals or of valor in the men, but by the mere weight of the numbers which were hurled upon it. Some ungenerous partisans of other corps (newspaper men, for none were more willing to do honor to the bravery of oth- ers than the soldiers,) took the occasion to cast a sneer at the corps, but we will only remind such that upon the Third Corps fell the brunt of LEE's attack; and when the grumblers will point out an instance where a single corps during the whole war lost over half its men in a single
143
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
fight, as did the Third, on this occasion, to them we will cheerfully award the honors due.
The break thus made in the lines was quickly mended, for portions of the Sixth Corps, and other troops who had been repulsing the rebel attacks upon the right of the army, were hastily crossed from that portion of the lines and thrown into the breach, and most of the lost ground was speedily recovered. The sun went down that night upon a discomfited rebel army, beaten at every portion of the lines, and the tide of invasion was thus turned back from the North almost before it had gained a foot- hold.
The Second Regiment when it rejoined its brigade that night was but a sad remnant of what it had been in the morning when it went so proudly forth to battle. When the rolls were called under the fire of the enemy's artil- lery, twenty - four officers and three hundred and thirty men had responded to their names. Of these nineteen had been shot dead upon the field, one hundred and thirty - six had been wounded, and thirty - eight were miss- ing-nearly all reported in the latter class being wounded and prisoners or killed. The loss was particularly severe in officers. Every one of the field officers was wounded, Col. BAILEY and Lieut. Col. CARR slightly; and Maj. SAYLES, with a bullet through his thigh, was left upon the field in the hands of the enemy, but being disabled by his wound he was not carried off as a prisoner. Capt. HENRY N. METCALF, of Company F, Lieut. GEORGE W. ROBERTS, of Company C, Lieut. WILLIAM W. BALLARD, of Company B, and Lieut. EDMUND DASCOMB, of Com- pany G, were shot dead. Capt. JOSEPH A. HUBBARD, of Company B, was shot in the forehead; he wandered
.
144
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
into the rebel lines, where he lived for some two hours, and being identified as a Mason he was buried by rebel members of the fraternity and his grave so marked that it was recognized by our men after the retreat. The day after the fight members of his company who were prisoners were told by their guards of a handsome Yankee captain who had strayed into their lines and there died. In the description given the men recognized their captain, and upon one of them showing the guard a photograph of Capt. HUBBARD, he recognized it immediately as that of the dead Yankee captain. Licut. CHARLES VICKERY, of Company I, was mortally wounded, and remained in the hands of the rebels until they retreated, when he was taken to our hospital, where he died on the eighth. Licut. CHARLES N. PATCH, of Company K, was wounded in the abdomen and died on the tenth. Lieut. ALBERT M. PERKINS, of Company D, and Licut. LEVI N. CON- VERSE, of Company A, lost cach an arm, and in addition to those mentioned cight other officers were wounded. This was the heaviest loss the regiment ever sustained upon any one field. A total of one hundred and ninety - three out of three hundred and fifty - four.
On Saturday, the third, there was some fighting, mostly by artillery, although upon the right the infantry was oc- casionally hotly engaged. In the afternoon our brigade supported a battery, but the regiment lost no men.
On the morning of the fifth the brigade was sent out upon picket, but the rebel army had retreated, and we returned to our bivouac. Many of our wounded had re- mained in the hands of the rebels for three days, receiving but little if any care, and our dead were as yet unburied. A detail was made from the brigade to go out to the Peach
145
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
Orchard, bury the dead and bring in such wounded as could be found. The detachment, under command of Lieut. Col. CARR, of the Second, had started out upon its errand of mercy, when a peremptory order arrived from the general commanding the division, ordering it to return immediately to the brigade. This the men were exceedingly averse to doing, and while the body of the detachment was obliged to return, many of them bade defiance to the orders of the division general, and went with stretchers upon the field to give succor to their man- gled, suffering comrades. Many of these unfortunates were thus rescued, but our dead were interred by burial parties from other regiments, and many a body which might have been recognized now sleeps in an unknown grave.
The New Hampshire wounded in the hospitals will never forget the promptness with which substantial aid and comfort reached them from their native State. Prompt with the news of the battle, a body of devoted men left the State upon their errand of mercy, and to their untiring ef- forts in the hospitals many a soldier is indebted for his life, while the pathway of others to the grave was smoothed by the thought that they were surrounded by friends who would sincerely mourn their loss and carry their last words to the loved ones among the mountains of the Old Granite State.
In this connection we must not omit to mention one without whose name no history of the Second Regiment would be complete- Miss HARRIET DAME, of Concord. Following the fortunes of the regiment, her services in the hospitals had been of the most important character. Unceasing and untiring in her attentions to the sick and
146
SECOND N. II. REGIMENT.
wounded, many a soldier's heart will warm at the very mention of her name, as he calls to mind her womanly ministrations over the cot where he lay racked with pain. In the hospitals at Gettysburg, as ever before, she was indeed a ministering angel, and we are ready to say, with hundreds of others, who received the benefits of her good- ness, " God bless her !"
CHAPTER XVII.
-
THE PURSUIT OF LEE.
-
e
EN. LEE, with his shattered hordes, rapidly retreated toward the Potomac, 0 followed by our army, which was in the highest spirits, and confident that he could never reach Virginia soil. 6 Reinforcements of new troops were constantly arriving for our army, until it actually numbered more than be- fore the battle. One entire division was added to our corps, composed of new regiments, and forming the larg- est division in the corps. Our cavalry was constantly pouncing down upon the wagon trains of the rebels, and a portion of LEE's pontoon train, invaluable to him in crossing the Potomac, was captured and destroyed.
Over the hills and through the beautiful valleys of Maryland the army pressed in the pursuit. Our division passed through Emmettsburg and Frederick City, over many portions of the Antietam battle field, and on the
148
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
twelfth, with the entire Army of the Potomac, confronted LEE at Williamsport, who had been brought to bay at the , crossing of the Potomac. On this day Gen. MEADE issued an order which was read at the head of every regi- ment, to the effect that he was about to attack the enemy, and with every prospect of a glorious success. The men were in high spirits and greeted the order with shouts of joy. They were ready, they said, to go in and wind up the rebellion by putting an end to the existence of LEE'S army, its head and front. But the twelfth passed without an advance by our army, as did also the thirteenth. En- trenchments were built along the front, and heavy guns brought up and placed in position. In vain, however, were these preparations, for LEE was improving the golden moments of delay, and by Tuesday morning, the four- teenth, most of his army was safely across the Potomac. Then the army advanced over the rough breastworks which the rebels had erected, while KILPATRICK charged with his cavalry upon the enemy's rear - guard, and captured several hundred prisoners. But the rebel army, which should have been totally destroyed here, had escaped, and nothing remained but for us to follow after it in its unob- structed course toward Richmond. On the seventeenth the division crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, be- neath the shadow of the overhanging crags which towered for hundreds of feet above the narrow road between their base and the river.
From here we followed the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, through one of the most beautiful countries the eye of man ever rested upon. "Pleasant Valley," its name surely was no misnomer, as we can testify, who, marching along our elevated roads could view the beauties
149
PURSUIT OF LEE.
of the landscape for miles away with its stretches of woodland and green fields, its little streams winding about like ribbons of silver, and its lines of road, dotted here and there with the white canvas coverings of our wagons, as they crawled lazily along.
We camped for two days near Ashby's Gap, upon the broad fields of Upperville, which had been the scene of many a deadly cavalry struggle, as was evidenced by the remains of horses which were scattered over the green plains in every direction, and the numerous graves where the fiery Southern "Cavalier" and the sturdy Northern "Roundhead" slumbered peacefully side by side upon the same spot where they had closed with each other in deadly conflict.
On Thursday, the twenty - third, the corps entered Ma- nassas Gap, where the .cavalry under Gen. BUFORD had for three days been skirmishing with the enemy. This pass, several miles in length, offered many strong defen- sive positions, and upon the steep hills commanding the western entrance the rebels had posted themselves in con- siderable force, to cover the passage of their wagon trains down the Shenandoah. The cavalry division passed to the rear, and a line of infantry skirmishers was thrown out, which advanced up the steep sides of Wapping Heights, rapidly replying to the fire of the rebel skirmishers upon the summit. The rebels were quickly driven from the eminence, and the whole division advanced, the Excelsior Brigade commanded by Gen. SPINOLA, leading in line of battle, closely followed by the two other brigades, closed in mass by division. The height from which the rebels had been driven was soon reached, and here the line halted while Gen. MEADE rode up and from the command-
150
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
ing position, where the whole country could be seen for miles, surveyed the field. An advance of the whole line was again ordered, and the division swept down the rocky steep, crashing through the thick brush and leveling the rail fences which obstructed the march. A ravine was reached, not more than one hundred yards wide, with very steep sides covered with huge boulders and twining, creeping vines. Upon the opposite side a body of rebel infantry was posted, but the Excelsior boys, with one of their peculiar yells, plunged down the steep bank, led by Gen. SPINOLA and the dare - devil Col. FARNHAM, upon horseback, and followed by the blue mass of the two sup- porting brigades. The colors were shot down, and SPI- NOLA and FARNHAM severely wounded; the men tripped upon the creeping vines and sprawled headlong among the rough and jagged rocks, but the charge was irresistible, and the rebel line fled in the direction of Front Royal. Night was now approaching, and the halt was sounded. While the Excelsior boys with the instinct of old soldiers hastily erected a breastwork but a few inches high, the rest of the division remained within the shelter of the ravine. A rebel battery opened at a distance of five hun_ dred yards, and the pieces of shell and shrapnell hummed about in a lively manner, but owing to the conformation of the ground our batteries could not well be brought into action. A line of rebel skirmishers also appeared upon our front, within rifle shot, but at dark they were with- drawn.
The next morning, the rebels having withdrawn from our front, an early advance was made down the road in the direction of Front Royal. A body of cavalry led the way, followed by the Second Regiment deployed as skirmish-
151
PURSUIT OF LEE.
ers. The road was strewn with bunches of cartridges and fragments of letters and papers which had been torn up by the rebels, and the long line, extending far out upon either side of the road, continually encountered rebel stragglers, who had fallen from the ranks for the purpose of being taken. When within a mile of Front Royal a smart skirmishing fire was heard in advance, and a caval- ryman who came riding back told us that there were any quantity of rebels in and about the town, with whom the cavalry were having a hot time. A little round - topped hill intervened between us and the town, behind which we could hear the brisk popping of carbines as we ad- vanced. We halted near this hill, in a position where the left of the line could observe all the movements of the cavalry and of the enemy. We were opened upon by a rebel battery, but when one of our batteries went into position to reply the rebel guns became silent. Two of our cavalry skirmishers rode up the steep hill to the left of the town across a field where the grain had been cut and placed in shocks, behind which several rebels were concealed, who suddenly commenced popping away at the invaders. An about-face was executed by the cavalry- men with amazing celerity, and we venture the · assertion · that never was more furious riding exhibited than on this occasion, the horses leaping the highest fences and broad- est ditches until the foot of the hill was reached.
Gen. WARREN came riding down the road, attended by a single orderly, and halted at our skirmish line, “I wish to speak to some officer," he exclaimed, and Capt. GORDON stepped forward. "A squad of cavalry will be here soon -my escort- and you will direct them down the road I take. They will inquire for Gen. WARREN."
.
152
SECOND N. H. REGIMENT.
These were the directions of the little brigadier, and then he rode down towards the spot where the skirmishing was going on. Soon after we also advanced, but the rebels retreated, and the pursuit was not followed beyond the town, the troops returning to the Gap that afternoon.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.