USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 16
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 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
After taking position on the Emmitsburg road, as previously referred to, the Twelfth was but little exposed to the enemy's guns, until just before the attack of the rebel infantry in front.
His artillery was then turned again upon Carr's brigade, which was at last to take its part in the contest, and the regiment was again exposed to his shells. Turnbull's battery had taken position next on the right of the Twelfth, and Seeley's still held a position a few rods to the left. This made the position of the regiment a trying one, located as it was between those two batteries, both of which responded to the rebel guns, and of course drew their fire upon them.
But the fear of killing their own men, about to attack on two sides, was the saving hope of the regiments on the left of the brigade, that were the first to receive and resist those attacks, for most of the shells went harmlessly over the heads of the men, exploding among the troops in reserve.
But they had been fortunately saved there, only to be terribly cut to pieces a little later ; and the chance to fight was never given them until the musket balls had done what the cannon shot had threatened.
The Twelfth, in the attempt of the brigade to avoid the coming cyclone by changing front, and then to extricate itself by retreating, was caught and hurled into the very vortex of the battle, where helpless, like the rest of the brigade, to either withstand or defend, it was so badly shattered and scattered that when, a few moments later, it again faced the foe, but little more than a sergeant's squad of it was left to unite with other regi- mental fragments of the brigade, and advance with reinforcements from the Second Corps that had come up, and help retake the ground that had been yielded.
Lieutenant French, commanding Company F, was shot through the head just as he was receiving from Captain Shackford -then acting as major - the order to change front, and fell lifeless at the captain's feet.
About the same time both the state and national colors went down, their intrepid bearers falling almost at the same instant. Sergeant Howe fell dead with the state colors still held in his death grasp, as if his last thought was for their safety, and Sergeant Parker, mortally wounded, yielded up the flag of his country into other hands only when his own could no longer hold it ; while Corporal Brown who reached to take the flag fell lifeless himself in the act of doing so. Corporal Knight was
I26
History of the Twelfth Regiment
also killed. and most or all the rest of the color-guard were either killed or wounded.
Captain Shackford and Lieutenants Morrill, Marsh, - had been severely wounded, and other officers slightly, leaving Lieutenant Fernal almost alone in command of the few brave men of the regiment who were left together on the field.
Within a radius of a few rods from where the colors went down in blood, there were more men of the regiment left dead and dangerously wounded on the ground than are now left to defend them. And such was the proportional loss of the other regiments on the left of the brig- ade. But, although by one fell swoop, the black-winged angel of death and destruction had covered the plain with the wounded and slain, yet not all that were missing could he count among his victims. Many are prisoners in the enemy's hands and soon to be retaken ; many others have been unavoidably separated from their regiments and each other, and will soon join their comrades who are now once more beneath their banners that are still waving defiantly in the smoke of battle; while others still are skulking in the rear, or playing sick or wounded in field hospitals- a disgrace to themselves, their regiments, their state, and their country.
With scarcely more than a color-guard Lieutenant Fernal would have been justified in leading his men to the rear, instead of the front; but he was not the man to do that without orders, so long as he had a man left. Stung with madness at the wretched work of giving away so much ground at such a sacrifice, like a lion fully aroused, he shook his sword defiantly toward the enemy, and then waving it over his head as a beckoning sign to his men and with a trumpet shout " Come on," he led his little band of veteran heroes straight back over the field of their discomfiture - for they felt they had not been defeated -increasing his command with released prisoners from his own regiment as he advanced and helping, in no small degree for the smallness of his force, to drive the rebels whose turn it was now to run almost as quickly from the field as they had taken it.
This was done by the second line of reinforcements, the first having been used up in staying the tide that was now turned back. But neither the first nor second counter attack would have been successful on this part of the line had not the rebel forces that had so easily broken and swept it back become broken and disorganized themselves by their impetuous onset and too eager pursuit.
How many other regiments of the brigade, if any, rallied and retraced their steps back nearly to the positions they had first held is not known ; but certainly none did it quicker or with a less number of officers and men than the Twelfth New Hampshire.
The whole corps, or what was left of it, was now ordered to fall back to the main line, where, beyond all question, it should first have been placed, and to which it should have retreated before its right wing was nearly as badly crippled as its left had been. But if Sickles was in
127
New Hampshire Volunteers.
fault, Meade was by no means blameless ; for where the greatest respon- sibility rests, there the greatest care is required ; and though the former had repeatedly requested an inspection of his position, the latter had neg- lected to do so until the enemy's guns opened upon it, and then it was too late.
The following description from the pen of Col. J. B. Bachelder, histo- rian of the battle of Gettysburg, gives a good idea of the perilous position of the Twelfth on the afternoon of the second day :
The Twelfth New Hampshire was at that time attached to the Second Divis- ion, Third Corps, commanded by that gallant soldier, Major-General Humphreys. It formed a portion of Carr's brigade, of which the First, Eleventh, and Sixteenth Massachusetts, the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, and the Eleventh New Jersey Vol- unteers were the remaining regiments - a brigade sustaining a record second to none in the Army of the Potomac. This brigade held the extreme right of the Third Corps, and was formed along the Emmitsburg road, slightly on the poste- rior slope of a ridge supported by the New York " Excelsior" brigade. Gra- ham's brigade of Birney's division lay on its left and held the salient of the line at the Peach Orchard, against which General Longstreet made a furious assault with Barksdale's and Wilcox's brigades, breaking the infantry lines, forcing the artillery to retire, and carrying the position, thus threatening General Humphreys's left, and compelling him " to change front to the rear." During the execution of this difficult evolution, Longstreet's victorious troops continued to advance, their attack seriously embarrassing the movements of Humphreys's division, and at the same time Perry's and Bright's brigades which had advanced under cover of the ridge attacked Humphreys's right. It was a fearful moment and will be remembered by every participant as one of the most trying, thrilling, and excit- ing scenes of their experience. General Humphreys could readily have with- drawn his command, but such an act would have endangered the success of the battle and perhaps the loss of the army; and he instantly decided to hold the enemy in check, even at the sacrifice of his own life and his whole command, until a new line could be formed in his rear, which was subsequently done and brought up by General Meade in person.
General Humphreys, placing himself in the midst of his command, was everywhere present, sustaining and encouraging his men. His officers fell thick and fast about him. At this moment Captain Chester of his staff was seen to spring with a convulsive start. Turning to his commander he said, " General, I'm shot." General Humphreys, who had noted the gallantry of this officer, sprang to his assistance, clasped him in his arms, and sustained him in the sad- dle until Captain Humphreys, his son, could take him in charge. An orderly took the horse to lead him from the field, when at that instant a round shot killed the horse and carried away the orderly's head.
At this moment General Humphreys's horse, bleeding from seven bullet wounds, was struck by a shell and springing convulsively into the air, threw his rider violently to the ground, but fortunately without seriously injuring him. Just then Captain Humphreys was shot through the arm, and General Carr and Captains McClellan and Cavada each had their horses killed.
A portion of the guns of Turnbull's battery retired through the infantry with a
I28
History of the Twelfth Regiment
prolonged firing as they went. Others were drawn off by members of the Six- teenth Massachusetts Regiment. and some were captured. It was then that Gen- eral Barksdale fell mortally wounded.
In the very centre of this terrible conflict stood the Twelfth New Hampshire Regiment, while thick and fast fell its brave and gallant members.
After sunset Anderson's division, heavily reinforced, made a last de- termined attack upon this part, now nearly the centre of the Union line, which it succeeded in breaking, and frightening General Meade so badly, when the important information reached him, that he at once ordered General Pleasanton to get ready to cover a retreat with his cavalry. But General Wright, whose brigade had actually pierced the centre of the Union line, not being properly supported, was obliged to fall back, and Pleasanton's orders for retreat were countermanded.
And thus, by the temerity of a rebel brigadier, and the timidity of the Federal commander-in-chief, the Union cause was made then and there to tremble in the scale of battle, and to come nearer perhaps being lost than when Pickett, on the following day, proudly led his brave and battle- bronzed legions against the cannon-crowned crest of Cemetery Hill.
But how little did Meade's army then know of the peril of that hour.
General Carr's brigade, before this, had been ordered back into the reserve lines, and the Twelfth took no part consequently in the closing strife of this memorable day.
General Humphreys, referring to the enemy's attack upon his division on the second day, says :
Seeley's battery had now opened upon the enemy's infantry as they began to advance. Turnbull's battery was likewise directed against them, and I was about to throw somewhat forward the left of my infantry and engage the enemy with it, when I received orders from General Birney (General Sickles having been dangerously wounded and carried from the field) to throw back my left and form a line oblique to and in the rear of the one I then held, and was informed that the First Division would complete the line to Round Top ridge. This I did under a heavy fire of artillery and infantry from the enemy, who now advanced on my whole front. * *
My infantry now engaged the enemy's, but my left was in the air (although I extended it as far as possible with my Second Brigade), and being the only troops in the field, the enemy's whole attention was directed to my division, which was forced back slowly, firing as they receded. * * *
At this time I received orders through a staff' officer from General Birney to withdraw to the Round Top ridge.
This order I complied with, retiring very slowly, continuing the contest with the enemy, whose fire of artillery and infantry was destructive in the extreme.
Upon arriving at the crest of the ridge mentioned, the remnants of my division formed on the left of General Hancock's troops, whose artillery opened upon the enemy, about one hundred yards distant.
The infantry joined, and the enemy broke and was driven from the field,
129
New Hampshire Volunteers.
rapidly followed by Hancock's troops, and the remnants of my two brigades, who took many prisoners and brought off two pieces of our artillery which had been left after all the horses were killed. *
It was now dusk and the contest for the day was closed. Its severity may be judged by the fact that the loss in killed, wounded, and missing of my division - five thousand strong - was two thousand and eighty-eight, of whom one hun- dred and seventy-one were officers, and one thousand nine hundred and seventeen enlisted men. * * *
The fortune of war rarely places troops under more trying circumstances than those in which my division found itself on this day, and it is greatly to their honor that their soldierly bearing sustained the high reputation they had already won in the severest battles of the war.
General Carr, in his report, refers to the attack of the enemy as follows :
My left first became engaged, and its position was held until the regiment on my left (the Collins Zouaves, of the First Division) gave way, when the enemy advanced in considerable force on my left flank, which compelled me to change my front ; but no sooner was it accomplished than the enemy made his appear- ance on my right flank, pouring in a most destructive cross-fire.
Notwithstanding my apparent critical position I could and would have main- tained my position, but for an order received direet from General Birney, com- manding the corps to fall back to the crest of the hill in my rear.
At that time I have no doubt that I could have charged on the rebels and driven them in confusion, for my line was still perfect and unbroken, and my troops in the proper spirit for the performance of such a task. In retiring I suffered a severe loss in killed and wounded.
Although General Carr may have been somewhat over-sanguine of his ability to long maintain his position, or to drive the rebels back "in con- fusion " by a charge. Yet there is no doubt that a vigorous effort either to hold the enemy in check or to drive him back, at that time, instead of retreating, would have resulted in inflicting a much greater punishment upon the enemy with but little, if any, heavier loss to his own command.
So few of each regiment were left from among the killed, wounded, and scattered, to rally around their colors, that when the division was re-formed to advance against the enemy, it looked like a line of color- guards, so thick were the battle-flags in proportion to the number of men.
Though more than two thousand men of the division had fallen or been disabled, and nearly half as many more were prisoners in the enemy's lines, where two guns had been left, yet not a single flag had been lost.
How the colors of the Twelfth were saved from capture will be found written in their history in another chapter.
At early dawn the next morning, July 3d, the men awoke to a reveille of booming cannon on the right, where Gerry and Green of the Twelfth Corps had commenced the work of retaking the ground that they had been obliged to yield to Ewell's forces the night before.
9
I30
History of the Twelfth Regiment
" Turn out here, boys ; don't you hear the partridges drumming? Early birds catch the worms you know."
" Catch the D-l you mean," comes the quick reply from one who is more cross than polite for being so early aroused from his slumbers.
" Well, I guess he's catching them, by the sound over there, and he'll have us all before night, or his imps, the . Johnnies,' will, if we don't look out."
" That's what I'm beginning to think, comrades," chimes in a third. " Don't you remember what I told you last night? Yesterday they got 'way round our left, and after they finished up the job with us, they attacked our right, where they are at it again this early in the morning ; and before noon they'll have both our wings clipped and crippled so we can neither fight nor fly, and then the last one of us 'Il be bagged."
" Begins to look as if you'r more'n half right, Bill, by thunder," breaks in a new voice, "and when this army goes up the Union goes down."
" Yes, like Lucifer, never to rise again," suggests one of the officers, who has been listening.
" Let me tell you, boys, it is now or never. If we can't win a victory here, on our own soil, we never can.
" This, in my opinion, is the beginning of the end. This battle-field is the turning point ; and I believe this day's struggle, already com- menced, will decide the battle."
" Don't you think, lieutenant, that our army is getting the worst of it so far, from all appearances?"
" Well, I must confess that indications, so far as we can see or under- stand them, are not very favorable; but it's very little we know of the actual situation and condition of things, considering the whole field, and the relative strength and positions of the two armies.
" If all our forces are united here, as they certainly ought to be by this time, I don't believe ' Old Lee' has got men enough to defeat us, if General Meade half knows his business, and dare let his army perform it."
" Yes," remarks another officer ; "but that fatal ' if' has so many times defeated this army in other battles, that I almost tremble for the result of this. The appointment of Meade in place of Hooker, just on the eve of battle, was anything but a pleasant surprise to the whole army, and cer- tainly has not improved its confidence and spirit. For one, I cannot otherwise than consider it a great mistake. What has Meade ever done to bring him to the front in such a crisis as this?"
"Nothing," comes the quick response from half a dozen at once ; and two or three of them attempt to supplement their emphatic negatives by further expression of their feelings and opinions on the subject, each too earnest in giving his own to regard the efforts of the others. But not- withstanding the mixture of words, the common import was easily under-
131
New Hampshire Volunteers.
stood -that Hooker's removal, right on the eve of battle, was another blunder of silk-stocking dictatorship at Washington, and the appointment of Meade a postscript stumble in the same direction, both on the brink and toward the fatal abyss.
To this there was no dissenting voice, though by this time quite a crowd had gathered ; but the officer who had first spoken, now slowly and reflectively speaks again :
"Well, boys, that all may be, and this very day prove your words pro- phetic, but certainly none of us desire it. Blunder or no blunder, our trust and our duty is the same. If our leaders are wanting, we must not be ; if others let loose, we must all the firmer hold on.
"Though this Army of the Potomac has been often defeated, as we know, it has never yet been destroyed, which is a greater wonder ; but has been preserved, and is here in force and power to-day to perform, as I can but believe, its great work and mission of saving this mighty republic for the light and hope of centuries yet to come.
" If this nation is to go down in blood into untimely oblivion, neither Meade nor Hooker, nor all the military strategy of the world combined can save it. But if it is to rise triumphant over all its enemies, as God in his mercy and wisdom has we trust decreed, then, as you read on your hymn book covers, -
' To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter is a sin.'
" Before yon rising sun shall set, the Southern Cross will be broken. and the Southern Confederacy receive a blow from which it will never recover."
The young lieutenant, in his patriotic fervor, had become earnestly eloquent ; and what had begun in joke and fun ended so seriously impressive that it needed only the chaplain's amen to fitly close the morning exercises.
It was well that the rest of the army was as ignorant as the Twelfth of how near their leader came to being frightened from the field but a few hours before, for he who thinks he is going to be beaten is half defeated already.
The firing on the right increased as the morning hours passed, heavy volleys of musketry plainly telling that it was something more than an artillery duel, and it was anxiously listened to by many thousands, in both armies, all earnest to know which side was gaining ground. About Io o'clock the firing mostly ceased, and smiling faces in the Union ranks proclaimed the welcome news that the rebel forces had been driven back on that part of the grand battle-line, until our troops had regained all that they had lost the night before.
In the centre and on the left all was quiet, or comparatively so, and the question that each officer and man wanted answered now was, whether
132
History of the Twelfth Regiment
the terrible storm of battle had spent its force or another destructive blast was yet to come.
General Meade wisely decides to wait and see, or, rather, his corps commanders, at a council of war held the night before, had so decided for him.
His right wing, though somewhat cramped, is still strong ; and the result of the severe struggle there, just ended, relieves him of present fear of its being turned and taken in reverse. His left is safe, for Little Round Top, now impregnable, guards and protects him there ; while his centre still occupies the vantage ground of Cemetery Ridge, and presents a strong and defiant front.
As he listens to encouraging reports from all parts of his line, and especially from his right, his face brightens and puts on a more hope- ful look than at any time before since the battle commenced ; while General Lee, though silent and calm as usual, shows in his impassive countenance that he is less quiet in mind than in manner. But hoping to crush, and hazarding the rebound, the Confederate chieftain has decided to strike one more blow ; and, taking a sweeping glance with his glass along the Union line, as he stands at 12 o'clock in the cupola of the col- lege building on Seminary Hill, determines upon what part of the line the blow shall fall. Failing on the right and left, he concludes to make his final effort against the Federal centre ; and, one hour later, one hun- dred and fifteen of his guns open upon General Hancock's position on Cemetery Ridge, from the crest of which nearly as many respond. The artillery duel that was now fought, for nearly two hours, across that valley of separation, tearing, crushing, and rending earth, rocks, and trees, exploding caissons, dismounting guns, and killing men and horses upon the opposing elevations, never before shook the earth upon any section of the American continent.
And yet it is but the thunder-roar of the lightning-charged tempest that is soon to sweep this valley of death, and burst in terrible and almost resistless fury against the steel-lined ridge that will draw its lightning and break its force.
It comes ; it strikes and breaks through ! but is itself broken and shat- tered in the attempt; and the most threatening battle-cloud of the Rebellion, rolling up from the southern horizon like a billow of fire, has been met and dispelled by the cold mountain air of our northern skies.
Behold the bow of promise and rejoice ! The nation has this day had a new birth, and her redemption is assured.
The Third Corps, during this attack of Pickett - which for boldness, brilliancy, and desperate determination finds no parallel on so large a scale in the annals of modern warfare - held the reserve lines of support and was not engaged, but was more or less exposed to the enemy's artil- lery preceding the charge, some parts of it suffering severely. General Carr's brigade was moved to the centre about the time the charge was
I33
New Hampshire Volunteers.
made. One or more of the Twelfth received slight wounds as they lay upon the ground on the rear side of the ridge, but most of the shells either struck and exploded on the ridge, or went far above and beyond them.
Everyone felt that the crisis-hour of the battle had come, and such was the anxiety for the result that some of the regiment, had not their sense of duty been stronger than their fear of danger, would have left their place in the ranks and ascended the hill into the very cloud-burst of iron hail, that they might see with their own eyes what was being so desperately attempted by the enemy on the other side. But they knew not how soon they might be called upon to help stay the flood-tide of the Rebellion, and each one felt, as never before, an individual responsibility commensurate with the magnitude of the struggle and the consequences of the issue.
The Army of the Potomac, from its first organization, had always been superior to its leadership, but never more so than upon this, its first great field of victory. Here, as never before, it depended upon itself, regard- less of any commander, and here for the first time it proved itself more than a match for its hitherto successful antagonist, the Army of Northern Virginia.
Though seeing nothing of the attack or the repulse, yet to the veterans of the Third Corps, who lay eagerly listening in the rear, all was as plainly understood as heard. The first guns, speaking from the rebel lines, proclaim a decision of their bold commander to strike once more for victory before he yields the field to its brave defenders.
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.