USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 15
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Whether Washington stood or fell, the nation survived or perished, they would not, because they could not, go any further without rest. So, at least, all felt, and many truly thought, for to them rest was an absolute necessity. But some had the courage and strength to hold out longer than others ; and when one was obliged to stop, his comrade or tent-mate, rather than leave him alone and uncared for, would stop with him, while others near by and just on, the point, perhaps, of giving up themselves, would stop with them; and so, at first by twos and fours, and then at
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last by tens and scores, the men fell out and found, where best they could, a resting place for the remainder of the night.
Still the general and his staff rode on, as if unmindful of his suffering followers, or thinking, perhaps, he had them now where they could not straggle, until, when he halted about midnight at the mouth of the Monocacy, they were scattered, and most of them soundly sleeping, all along the river's bank from there back nearly half the way to Edward's Ferry. And this is how near, as before referred to, the division got to the Monocacy that night. Many incidents, both serious and amusing, of that memorable march might be related. Several slipped or stumbled in the darkness, and fell into the canal. Two or three of the Twelfth happening to have a piece of candle each in their haversacks, lighted and stuck them into the muzzles of their guns, and in this way lighted up the pathway for themselves and comrades.
It has been said that General Humphreys purposely took the narrow tow-path ridge between the canal and the river that it followed, instead of a good, wide road on the other side of the river, to prevent straggling. If this was true, he doubtless saw, when he awoke the next morning, where he missed it.
But, whatever his object, the result was the same, and he has left on record his confession of the severity of the march. He says, "The whole command, officers and men, were more exhausted by this march than by that of the 14th and 15th." The reader has but to refer back to his testimony upon what the soldiers suffered on that march to understand somewhat of their misery and suffering in this.
The statement will not probably be contradicted, that no division of the whole Army of the Potomac, from its first organization to its last tri- umphal march through Pennsylvania avenue in Washington, ever made so long a march in so short a time, under equally adverse conditions of weather and roads.
" Where is the regiment?" asked one of the Twelfth boys, who had fallen in the rear, of Captain Langley, about II o'clock on that never-to- be-forgotten night. The captain, who was riding back to find out the same thing that was inquired of him, replied, " The colors and a dozen or so of the boys have halted a few rods ahead, but the most of them, like yourself, are somewhere in the rear."
" Hardest march yet," was the italicized comment of Captain (then Sergeant) Johnston in his diary, and his was but the opinion of all who were in it. The greater part of the next forenoon was lost to the progress of the division by its commander trying to be too smart the day previous, it being nearly 10 o'clock before there were enough together to make a start, and marching during the rest of the day and evening only about seven miles to Point of Rocks, Md., to allow time for those still behind to catch up.
In the next three days the regiment marched with its brigade from
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Point of Rocks, Md., through Jefferson, Burkittsville, Middletown, Fred- erick City, Walkersville, Woodsborough, and Ladiesburg to Taneytown, Penn., - a distance, by the route taken, of not less than fifty miles.
Although the ratio of time to space in these forced marches was not in exact harmony with the will or wishes of the weary, foot-worn men who made them, yet the knowledge that they were once more in " God's coun- try " and on freedom's soil, as evinced by the welcome greetings and en- thusiastic receptions that awaited them at every hamlet and village through which they passed, revived their spirits and strengthened their courage as they onward marched ; while responsive strains of music from regimental drum corps and brigade bands, amid the waving of handker- chiefs and miniature flags in the hands of smiling-faced women and bright- eyed children, and the hearty " God bless you " from aged matrons and sires, thrilled the soldier's heart anew with patriotic pride and devotion, and made the hours and miles pass more quickly by. But best of all, the recent rain prevented the usually thick and choking dust from rising, and the weather was pleasant and cool for that latitude and season. Near Crampton's Gap the brigade encamped on the battle-field of South Moun- tain, and the Twelfth, and the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment were sent out a mile or two toward the top of the mountain on picket, and formed their reserve camp on the old battle-field surrounded by the graves of the dead, and near the spot where the brave General Reno fell just as the golden rays of the setting sun crowned the summit with the glorious halo of victory.
In starting with the sun from Frederick, on the morning of the 29th, the First Brigade moved out first, and the Twelfth, being on the right of the brigade, led the division and the whole corps in the order of march that day : and upon its reaching Taneytown at 6 P. M., it was immediately detailed for provost duty, which gave its members the freedom of the town, while the other troops, encamped outside, were not allowed to enter.
This was rare good luck for the boys, who had long before learned by experience the great advantage of being at the head instead of in the rear of a moving column, and who quite as quickly appreciated a change of army fare for the more relishable, if not as healthy, doughnuts, cakes, and pies with which the glad citizens freely supplied them.
On the 30th the whole corps remained at or near Taneytown most of the day, a part of it, however, after marching and countermarching through the town, moved forward on the Emmitsburg road as far as Bridgeport.
Two days before, General Hooker had been superseded by General Meade and there was, as yet, some doubt in the minds of the corps com- manders as to where the latter intended to concentrate his forces for the battle which they plainly saw must soon be fought. Hooker's removal was generally looked upon, in the army, as a grave mistake.
Receiving no order during the day and night, General Sickles advanced his corps, the next forenoon, as far as Emmitsburg, where he received
New Hampshire Volunteers.
orders to move toward Middleburg, between which place and Manchester, on the line of Pike's creek, General Meade had decided to meet and defeat, if possible, the Confederate army under General Lee.
But before Sickles could move, he received a dispatch from General Howard, stating that his and the First Corps had been attacked by the enemy in full force at Gettysburg, and calling urgently for help. The situation was perplexing, but the gallant commander of the Third Corps was master of it. Knowing that, under the rules of war, it was discre- tionary with him to obey the order or the call, he promptly decided on the latter ; and in less than an hour his whole command, excepting one brigade and battery that was left to guard the wagon train, was marching swiftly toward Gettysburg.
The student of history can now readily perceive the wisdom of his course ; for had General Ewell been allowed to follow up his success that afternoon, or General Longstreet attacked early the next morning, as ordered and expected to by General Lee. the saving presence of the " Old Third," with no other corps within supporting distance, would have been of the greatest importance. It was I o'clock in the morning of Thurs- day, July 2, when the Twelfth reached Gettysburg and bivouacked with its division at the left and rear of Cemetery Hill, the only ground then held by the Union forces.
At the same hour General Meade and staff arrived from Taneytown and immediately made a moonlight inspection of his lines, already formed by Generals Howard and Hancock, who informed him fully of the enemy's position so far as developed and of the general outline of the field.
The Third Corps would have been in position before midnight, but for its leading brigade running into the enemy's lines, and only escaping by a quick and noiseless retreat - dippers and canteens being so muffled or secured that they could make no sound by striking against each other or the equipments- for a distance of two or three miles into another road. It was every moment expected that the enemy would open with his artil- lery that was planted to sweep the road ; but the quick-witted reply of a staff officer, who learned by the inquiry made of him by a rebel picket that he was riding into the enemy's encampment, had aroused no suspi- cions in the minds of some Confederate officers near by, who heard the answer to the challenge, that the approaching column was not a part of their own army, and before they were undeceived, if, indeed, they ever were, it was too late to give their departing visitors even a farewell shot.
The toils and hardships of the hardest march ever made by the Army of the Potomac were now about to merge into the dangers and sufferings of the greatest battle in which it was ever engaged, or that was ever fought on the American continent. Yet, such had been the extreme severities of that march, though seemingly strange, it is strictly true, that the sound of cannon was welcome music to many in those veteran ranks ; for it told them that the place of rest was near, though it might be their last resting place on earth.
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One battle had been fought and lost, the day before, by the advance corps of the Union army, but the great and final struggle was yet to come. Every officer and every man not only understood this and was prepared to meet it, but felt, as well, the supreme magnitude of the issue and its far-reaching results for the weal or woe of their country, and in no small degree of the whole human race.
It has been remarked that at Chancellorsville the fates were against us, but smiled upon us at Gettysburg. And such was the wide difference of fortuitous circumstances that contributed to a humiliating defeat upon one field, and a decisive victory upon the other, it is but natural that such a thought should have found expression. But at no time or place, in the battle of Gettysburg, did fortune favor more, than when Longstreet, the Achilles of the southern army, after Jackson's fall, " sat sulky in his tent" until late in the afternoon, instead of attacking the Federal left wing early in the morning, as he had been ordered by General Lee the night before.
Had this been done, with the cooperation of General Hill's corps, as intended and expected, and while a part of the Union army was yet on the march to the field of battle, there would doubtless have been no need of the desperate charge of Pickett's division on the following day, for there would have been no opposing forces there for him to have charged against.
Though glad to longer sleep after the exhaustive march of the day and night before, the fearful expectation of an early attack by the enemy, before the other corps came up, would not permit it ; and as soon as day- light, the men were aroused from their sound slumbers, and soon the aromatic fumes of the Java berry, steeping in thousands of tin dippers, pervaded the morning air.
Breakfast over, and while the rays of the rising sun were lighting up a cloudless sky, the First Brigade -General Carr's - unstacked muskets and stood to arms. All was quiet, and naught but the troops near by gave any sign that that pleasant summer's morn was to usher in such a day of awful strife.
About 8 o'clock the brigade marched forward a short distance toward the Emmitsburg road and formed the first line of battle of any part of the Third Corps that day. The rest of the division was, at this time, massed in the rear. About 9 o'clock De Trobriand's brigade and Smith's battery of the First Division, that had been left back at Emmitsburg, arrived on the field, and each side and angle of the " Diamond Corps"* was com- plete again, and ready to make its mark.
The sun gets higher and higher in the heavens, and still no battle opens on the earth below, where nearly two hundred thousand men are mar- shaled and stand waiting " in dred array " for the coming conflict. The Union forces are in constant expectation of moving against or receiving an attack of the enemy.
* Name given to the Third Corps from the shape of its badge.
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Noon by the sun whose hot rays are fast ripening the fields of wheat that spot the landscape, and which are soon to be crushed down and trodden into the earth, and yet, save fitful outbursts here and there along the picket lines, there is no sound to break the portentous stillness of that midday hour and warn the waiting ranks of the coming storm.
Yet all know that it must soon break in all its fury upon them, and expectantly listen to hear the quick, running notes of the skirmish prelude swell into the grand but solemn diapason of battle.
A little past 12 o'clock General Humphreys advanced his command toward the front and formed his full division for action, with his First Brig- ade in the front line, which when deployed with one regiment - Seventy- first New York, Second Brigade -on its left, just filled the space allotted to his division by General Sickles.
The Second and Third Brigades were massed in the rear ready to de- ploy into lines of battle when needed, at intervals of about two hundred yards. About this time General Carr ordered the First Massachusetts to deploy as skirmishers and cover his front. In this position and formation the division remained until a few minutes after 4 o'clock, when it was ordered by General Sickles to move forward to the Emmitsburg road and connect with the First Division - General Birney's -on the left.
This brought the left of the leading brigade close up to an old log house near the road and in the rear of which was quite a large apple orchard. In this orchard Seeley's battery was posted, just to the left of the log house, and the Twelfth placed to support it. A detail of one hundred men from the Sixteenth Massachusetts were ordered to occupy the log house and make holes between the logs to shoot through. This regiment at that time was next on the right of the Twelfth, and the Eleventh New Jersey on its left. The Emmitsburg road, at this place, runs along on the crest of quite a ridge, so that Humphreys's advance to it was seen by the enemy, and opened upon by two of his batteries - one at the left and one almost directly in front. The latter was soon silenced by the well directed shots from Seeley's guns ; but, until this was done, the position of the Twelfth was far from being a very pleasant or safe one. The artillery duel between the two batteries brought the regiment in direct range of the shots from the rebel one, but fortunately none were seriously wounded.
The regiment remained in the orchard for an hour or more, when it moved obliquely to the right a few rods and took position on the road just to the right of what is now known as the Smith house.
The battle was now raging with increasing fury on the left, where Birney was vainly trying to hold his own, assisted and encouraged by General Sickles, who was giving his whole attention to what, as yet, was the most exposed and hardest pressed part of his line.
As at Chancellorsville, the Third Corps was again destined to receive the first attacks, and withstand the most determined assaults of the enemy.
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But in this battle, as claimed by General Meade and his friends, it was more the unwise choice of its commander than unavoidable necessity that gave it so dangerous a prominence on the field, as not only to invite its own destruction, but to hazard the safety of the whole army.
On the other hand, General Sickles and his favorites assert that, but for his bold decisive action in taking the advance position and bringing on the battle when and where he did, the first day's battle at Gettysburg would have been the last, as General Meade was already seriously con- templating a retreat ; and, if the Confederates had attacked before he had a chance to fall back that night, Little Round Top, the key to the position of the Union army, would certainly have been lost to him. General Sickles also claims that the position taken by him was in accordance with Meade's orders.
But whether by or against the orders of General Meade - for there has been much dispute about it - it was none the less a bold and dangerous one, inviting attack upon both sides of the exposed angle at the Peach Orchard, while supported upon neither. But, if a tyro in the science of war selected it, heroes held it ; and it was only taken from them by over- whelming numbers of Longstreet's veteran legions after a most determined and stubborn resistance. It was the attack upon this angle at half past three o'clock r. M. that opened the second day's fight at Gettysburg.
After a sharp reminder from the enemy's artillery that General Hun- phreys was advancing his division upon dangerous ground, the rebel bat- teries ceased firing in that direction, and turned their attention to General Birney's position upon which his infantry were now making desperate assaults.
For nearly two hours more the men of the Second Division, excepting the Third Brigade which had been sent to assist Birney, lay inactive along the Emmitsburg road listening to the sound of battle on their left, which, in the mean time, had increased into such a roar and crash of arms as to make even the veteran's heart to tremble, who, with quickening pulse and thrilling nerves, awaits the coming tide of awful carnage that is crushing the fatal angle like an egg-shell, and will soon strike them with irresist- ible force and power.
And still the roar of battle, every moment increasing in volume and intensity, continues until the Peach Orchard, where fought the gallant Second New Hampshire, and the Wheat Field, where the " Fighting Fifth " stood and its heroic colonel fell, are both in the possession of the enemy. The Union battle-line has seemingly been bent back upon itself, until the sound of conflict first heard upon the left now comes from far around toward our rear.
It is now nearly 6 o'clock. Sickles, with his shattered leg, has been carried from the field, and Barksdale, of ante-bellum notoriety as a " pro- slavery fire-eater," whose troops were foremost in the attack, has sealed his convictions with his life's blood.
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" Is there no force of the enemy on our front. Have they received a check on our left, or are they getting ready to attack our flank ? " . Have we got to fight here, or shall we be ordered to fall back before we are surrounded ? "
These were the questions eagerly asked and doubtfully answered by the officers and men of the whole brigade as well as of the Twelfth Regiment, as all began to hope that the day might close and leave them out, though many were more willing to meet the worse than longer dread it.
" If it must come, let it come now," said one of the impatient ones ; and come it did. with a furious force that scattered the skirmish line like strands of straw, and struck the main line a staggering blow.
Front, left, and close pressing upon the rear, the battle-blast strikes and circles around Carr's brigade, twisting it up and forcing it back into the very vortex of the tempest.
With impetuous energy Perry's and Wright's brigades, of Andrews's division, charge over the ridge in front, that has hidden them from view, and strike with sudden violence the whole of General Humphreys's front along the Emmitsburg road.
Held in reserve by General Longstreet, their corps commander, whose part and purpose was to turn the Federal left, these victors of many a hard-fought field, had been listening to the sound of their advancing lines, until victory seemed again about to rest upon the Confederate ban- ners, and theirs the proud and special mission of performing the last and crowning act.
With screeches and yells, mingling with the volleys of musketry, they press on against a storm of canister and Minie-balls that is lining the opposite side of the highway with their wounded and dead : for they are now face to face with men who, though less sanguine of success, are no less brave and determined.
But this was not all, nor the worst. While Anderson, unseen and un- heard, was approaching in front, the attack. for a time delayed, had been renewed upon the left. Barksdale's Mississippians and Kershaw's South Carolinians, who joined hands and crushed in the angle at the Peach Orchard, no longer held back from fear of being flanked and possibly captured themselves by reinforcements from the Federal right. and. having strengthened their re-formed lines by fresh troops, are now pushing forward with great energy and determination, at right angles with the Emmitsburg road, with little now left to oppose them from the Peach Orchard to Humphreys's left.
General Birney, now in command of the corps. perceiving that some- thing must be done, and that quickly, or Humphreys's left would soon be broken in and doubled up, and his whole division at the mercy of the enemy, but knowing nothing of Anderson's close advance upon his front, orders General Humphreys to throw back his left so as to confront and
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stay, if possible, the rushing, crushing tide that is about to break upon it from that direction.
This order proves to be a very unfortunate one, for before it can be executed, or even communicated to General Carr, Wright's brigade of Georgians has attacked his front, and Barksdale's command is crowding upon his flank.
Scarcely has the Twelfth opened fire upon Wright's attacking columns, when Captain Langley, commanding the regiment, receives the order to change fronts to the rear; and no wonder that he is almost afraid to attempt its execution, though he has assured General Carr that his men can be relied upon, for the order at such a crisis meant much more than the reader, unless himself a veteran, can possibly understand.
To unflinchingly face danger and death is one thing, but to turn your back thereto and stand firm and unshaken is such a different and more difficult thing, that only the bravest of the best disciplined troops can be relied upon to do it.
It is also well known that no troops will long withstand an attack upon their flank.
Yet here are men that while breasting the full blast of the raging tem- pest of battle in their front, and staggering under a terrific assault upon their flank, are called upon to execute one of the most dangerous and difficult movements that can be made by any soldiers while under fire.
It was hardly possible that any regiment, much less a whole brigade, could remain intact while endeavoring to obey the command, and it seemed but the folly of madness to attempt it. But the attempt was made, and while partially successful in the movement, the result, as might have been expected, was sorrowfully disastrous. It was simply swinging open the gate to the enemy ; and the order to retreat, which almost immediately followed it, but an invitation for Anderson's brigades to walk through and occupy the ground that it was no longer possible for Humphreys's troops to hold. Had the last order come first, as it doubtless would, had General Birney known of Anderson's close advance, the almost helpless situation that the regiments of General Carr's brigade soon found themselves in, might have been partially avoided.
But no order at all would have been much better than both, for what might have been for awhile withstood, until reinforcements could have been ordered up to cover a retreat, now poured its almost unobstructed torrent of destruction through the widening breach, sweeping regiments and batteries and finally the whole division in confusion from the field.
No, not all, for some -too many, alas ! remain ; and the ground where, but a few moments ago, in life and hope they stood, is now covered with their bodies rent and torn - the dying and the dead.
But where is that little band of the battle-scarred survivors of Chancel- lorsville, scarcely larger than a regimental division, that had there stood like a granite rock in the very centre of the shock?
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We have, so far, said but little of them as a separate regiment in briefly describing the position and part taken by its brigade and division, because, like all the rest of Humphreys's command, it had nothing to do, and was but little exposed to the enemy's fire until it moved up to the support of Seeley's battery in the apple orchard. Here it first came under fire for the day, and was for a time exposed to quite a severe cannonade from a battery of the enemy, engaged in exchanging salutes of solid shot and shell with the battery it was supporting, as already mentioned.
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