USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 20
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But we will here leave the lucky soldier boys to enjoy their few days' furlough amid their relatives and friends at home, and return to Point Lookout to find many of their comrades in quite a different humor for being left behind, because, as they claimed - not perhaps without some foundation - they were suspected of not being of the same political complexion as most of those who went. But New Hampshire then was
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the first to speak in the Presidential contest, and her utterance from the ballot-box was taken as the keynote of the campaign.
As she spoke on the 8th of March that year the loyal States responded, and more than ever before or since in the history of our country the voice of the people was the voice of God.
The weather was very mild and pleasant most of the time during the winter, but there were several severe storms, some of which swept across the Point with such violence as to blow over many of the tents of officers as well as men, and flood them all that were located on lower ground near the river, as were many of those of the Second and Twelfth regiments.
To be thus suddenly uncovered to a deluge of rain by a tent-snatching gust of a hurricane gale in the middle of the night, and before one could have time to get out of his bed and into his clothes, was a more-expeditions than pleasing way of using hydropathic means to arouse the soldier from a sound sleep, and prepare him for immediate action. It was, moreover, such a cold-water douse as seemed not especially conducive to either comfort or health, and one not likely to be recommended by the most pronounced and zealous advocate of the water-cure system who had once tried it himself. But after all it was but one of the many unpleasant incidents that are not uncommon to every soldier's experience, and created more amusement than sorrow. But such were terrible nights for the storm-beat sentinels upon their elevated walk around the prison camp, exposed to the full and unobstructed sweep of the pitiless blasts of the raging tempest. There was no retreat or cover for them from the furious elements, for greater instead of less vigilance was demanded when the storm king ruled the night.
This location seemed to be the very play-ground of the winds, chasing to and fro between the river and the bay ; and when they gathered on the broad expanse of the Chesapeake for a grand race across the Point and Potomac, on their course westward, there seemed to be more fury than fun in the contest. Remindful of this is the following found in the author's diary under date of December 15th :
" Very windy ; the tents shake and flutter as if in a passion of mad- ness."
On the afternoon and night of the 22d of March occurred the first and last snow storm, of any account, for the whole winter ; but it was severe enough to make up for the past, and remind the men of some of the vernal equinoxtials in New England.
The wind, as usual, was present for duty and took an active part in the work of distribution, forcing the snow into the tents, and piling it up against them on the outside.
The snow remained upon the ground on the afternoon of the 24th in sufficient quantity to furnish an ample supply of ammunition for the great snow-ball battle between the Second and Twelfth regiments.
Of this famous engagement " Private " Haynes in his history of the Second says :
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ยทยท The battle was contested upon either side with as much valor and stub- bornness as was ever displayed where more deadly weapons were used. and quite a respectable list of wounded was rolled up. Black eyes were plenty in both regiments for some days, and the surgeons state that there was also an unusual demand for sticking plaster."
But he does not tell upon whose standard perched the victorious eagle. nor even intimate which army held or claimed the field.
A more extended and complete account of the fight will be given in another chapter.
As connected with and explaining the visit of General Butler, pre- viously referred to, the following from his own pen * will be found interesting :
In December, 1863, 1 made two personal inspections at Point Lookout of the condition of the rebel prisoners of war. I went into their camp, which covered some acres and was well laid out. There were tents to accommodate all of them, placed upon a perfectly proper camping ground laid out in streets. At the corners many of the prisoners gathered around me. and I asked them to state to me any complaints they had to make as to their clothing, food, or anything else. They all said they had no complaints to make, except that, as the weather was cold, they wanted more firewood than our army regulations allowed.
1 then subjected several of them to a personal inspection, with their leave, examining even the condition of their gums; because, in looking over their rations, I had come to the conclusion that it was possible that not sufficient fresh vegetables had been given them, and that I might find. as I did. slight indica- tions of the scurvy by the conditions of their gums, their complaint of the stiffness of their joints. and from the fact of their growing too fat from being without exercise.
I said to them : " Upon your pledge that you will take no improper advantage of the concession. I will permit you to furnish yourselves with as much firewood as you choose to burn, the fire to be raked out after taps. 1 will direct that a number. not exceeding one hundred of you, whom your officers will detail - for I suppose you have some organization - may go out and cut from a neighboring forest, which belongs to a secession friend of yours, as much wood as you like ; and four mule teams with a wagon to haul it in will be furnished. And this may be done every pleasant day. But this must be upon a solemn pledge that none of you will attempt to escape when allowed beyond the camp fence for this purpose. If any man forgets this pledge it will result unfavorably to you, because I shall direct that no more shall be allowed to go out. and you will be left with only the regulation amount of wood for your use."
This they all agreed to with great alacrity, and they treated me with the utmost respect and grateful kindness. General Marston was in command of their camp; but I did not take him with me, because I wanted them to feel at liberty to make any complaints without his knowing who it was that complained.
On returning to the office, I detailed my visit to General Marston, expressed my thanks to him for the fine condition of his command, and suggested to him that I thought he ought to make fresh vegetables a part of his rations, that it did
. "Butler's Book," pages 612-614.
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not appear that any increase in the amount of food was necessary, but rather a decrease.
He replied that he had no authority to issue such rations. I answered that he might do so, and I would see that the proper measures were taken to have his account allowed. I then said to him : " I have some knowledge, derived from my knowledge concerning sailors, especially whalemen, of the necessity for some prevention for the scurvy, and therefore you had better send north for a schooner load of onions for their rations, and they had better be served raw, cider vinegar to be served with them; I know of no better anti-scorbutic than these, save, per- haps, lemon juice, which would be too expensive. I also informed him that he might draw upon my provost fund for the expenses. No better hearted man lived than Marston, and he joyfully undertook to carry out the orders.
From that hour I never had a complaint of the treatment of prisoners at Point Lookout, although many hundreds passed through Fortress Monroe on their way to be exchanged, and I sometimes saw them on the flag of truce boat.
I heard of but two disturbances in the camp. [He did not hear of all then. ] One was when, unfortunately, one man did not return with the chopping party. There was great excitement, and some inspection of the guards. until the reason of his absence was ascertained. The poor fellow had lost his way. He came into camp a couple of hours later. and was joyfully hailed by his comrades. The other was when it became necessary to change the regiment guarding them for one of colored troops. A number of ill-advised men made public declara- tions that they would not be guarded by negroes, and one night, when they should have retired at taps, a noisy demonstration was made. That was offi- cially stopped in the most effective manner.
I had twenty-five hundred Confederate officers, more or less. [One half less would be much nearer the correct number. ] They occupied the buildings erected for hospitals, as we had very few sick prisoners, and very large provis- ions had been made for hospital purposes. I never received any complaint from them. Many of them. I trust, are alive and well. With them there was never any disturbance but this once.
The colored sergeant in charge directed an officer to retire to his quarters after taps. according to the regulations, and that respectful order was greeted with "Get out, you d-d nigger. why do you speak to a gentleman?" and the officer jumped upon the sergeant, who at once used his revolver very effectively. That being reported to me, I ordered an investigation by a commission com- posed of five officers, two of them were prisoners; and upon their unanimous report I sustained the sergeant. and ordered any other to shoot under like circum- stances.
The parenthetical phrases in the above quotation are, of course, the author's : and two or three more might have been interpolated to give the reader a still more correct statement of the condition of things therein referred to.
Concerning, however, the acts and feelings, born of deep and bitter prejudice, of the southern soldier or citizen against the negro's occupying any other position than that of a slave. much more might be truthfully written. The bare idea of having them made their equal, in any part or
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plan, was too extremely repugnant for a moment's toleration : and to be obliged to acknowledge them their masters, even as a military guard. was insufferably humiliating. But on the other side, the colored soldier when he found himself recognized as a man, by being clothed in the white man's uniform, arined with the musket, and protected by the stars and stripes, was naturally proud and elated : and oftentimes, doubtless, when placed in command over the Confederate officials, to whom he was but yesterday a cringing vassal, he did not fail to show his importance by a most willing and too ready exercise of his authority.
So quick a change from the bottom to the top, that poor, despised race of the South had never hoped for or dreamed of ; and when it came, the next greatest wonder to the change itself, is that they manifested, under the new order of things, as much prudence, moderation, and forbearance as they did. Justice on the page of history has never yet been done them.
Another mighty revolution, in some respects far greater than the first (though the revolting element was of far different origin), by a terrible earthquake shock of war, compared with which the former was almost an imperceptible tremble, had forced the " bottom rail on top." And who shall dare say that the black sycamore of the swamps, though long down- trodden in the mud, when hewn clear of its rotten sap by the strong arm of self-reliant manhood, dried out and seasoned by the sun of freedom, and polished by the brightening processes of experience and education. will not prove as valuable a material in the upbuilding of our new temple of liberty, as the white oak or hickory of the hills, that has never been stained by lying on the ground. Time may, indeed. prove the latter the less enduring, by reason of a dry rot at the heart, not now so easy to be discovered : for
.. 'Tis in the heart true worth exists, However skins may differ."
While at Point Lookout many of the sick and wounded, who had been absent in hospitals or on furloughs, returned to the regiment, glad to be with their old comrades once more, though not yet sufficiently recovered. some of them, to do duty. Among the latter were Major Savage and Captain Durgin and several non-commissioned men and privates. By the addition of these, who were most heartily welcomed, and the new recruits, who were received as goats among sheep, the regiment was increased before spring to the minimum number requisite to a full com- plement of field and line officers. There was, consequently, a large number of commissions signed and forwarded by Governor Gilmore for members of the Twelfth, some of whom had long expected them : while others, just as deserving, were greatly disappointed. as doubtless some had reason to be, because there were none for them. As many as four- teen commissions were received in a single day. But all could not be officers, although nearly every man of the original enlistment, who was
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then present for duty, was both competent and worthy to carry the sword instead of the musket.
During the fall and winter there were many visitors from the North to the different regiments of the brigade, the Twelfth having its full share. Among them were Governor Gilmore, Larkin D. Mason, state agent, to look after the sick and wounded, who is still living in Tamworth, N. H., and Miss Harriet Dame, whose whole time was given to the care and comfort of New Hampshire soldiers in the field as well as in camp and hospital, and whose noble efforts in their behalf will be gratefully remembered by many long after she has gone to her reward.
Of the Twelfth visitors there were many, coming from different parts of the State. and representing almost every station and profession of life, the clergy, however, predominating. But none were more welcome than the ladies, wives of the officers, who not only came but stopped a while, some of them remaining all winter. The first to come were Mrs. Barker, Mrs. Winch, and Mrs. Sargent, who were soon followed by the wives of Major Savage, Doctors Fowler and Sanborn, Captains Shackford, Lang, May, Fernal, and Huntoon, Lieutenants Dunn. Milliken, Sanborn, Steward Hunt, and Woodbury Sanborn.
Their presence greatly enhanced the social enjoyments of the camp, which, by their enlivening influence, soon resulted in numerous levees and dances of the officers, and made army life much more cheerful and homelike to all; for a "bevy of fair women" for the boys to meet and greet with a smile and a salute, was a pleasing episode of a soldier's experience. But every pleasure has its pain and every rose its thorn : and when spring called these officers again to the field, the parting was sadder, to some, than when they left their wives at home and started for the scenes of war. for they felt, as it proved, that they would never meet again, -
"Unless it should be, where the spirit free. Would know and claim its own."
CONTRABAND CAMP.
Soon after the arrival at Point Lookout it was found necessary to establish a camp for the fast accumulating numbers of negroes that came into our lines, and, adopting the name given by General Butler at the beginning of the war, it was called " Camp Contraband." There was a constant effort of the slaves to get into the Yankee lines at every opportunity from the first march of the army southward, which, had it not been discouraged by the very unwise practice of sending them back to their masters as fast as they came in, would soon have re- sulted in a great advantage to the Government. But it took the loyal North about two years to see the folly of fighting the rebels with one hand while feed- ing them with the other, so sensitive was the public mind upon the subject of human slavery.
While it had polluted the South, it had, to a dangerous extent, contaminated
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the moral sentiment of the North. A hundred years hence, the student of history will read with astonishment the record of the slave power in this country. The poisonous viper - first loathed, then tolerated, and at last nurtured, and even worshiped - had been suffered to drag its slimy length along, until it had wound its deadly coils around both state and church. And at last, when irritated by an opposition that threatened to arrest its attempt to reach over and around the vet free soil of the common domain, it madly struck its deadly fangs into the very vitals of the Commonwealth. And then the Government, as if to oppose the effect would remove the cause, tried to cauterize the wounds with the fire of war, while the viper was not only allowed to live, but actually assisted to strike !
But two years and a half, in the dear school of experience, had taught the Nation a lesson from which it was now beginning to profit. Beyond the rebel picket line the colored man felt himself no longer a slave, and when under the protection of the stars and stripes he became at once the Nation's ward - his ultimate status to be determined by the result of the war.
The able-bodied among them were rapidly and gladly exchanging the Con- federate hoe for the Federal gun ; while others, of both sexes, were made useful and self-sustaining in many ways and places. And, under the wise supervision of some of our department commanders in the Southwest, their labor, in rais- ing and saving the cotton, tobacco, corn, and cotton crops upon the deserted plantations, was of great value to the Government.
The arming of these men to help fight the battles of the Union, without the existence of which the liberty they sought would have been but a wicked mock- ery, was the signal for the most violent abuse and bitter denunciations of Presi- dent Lincoln's administration from Jeff. Davis & Co., and their sympathizers in the North. They said it was instituting savage butchery in place of civilized warfare, and was an insult to the bravery and intelligence of the Union soldiers, for which, all at once, they seemed to have great love and respect. And some few there were, even in the ranks of blue, who though loudly declaiming, at first, that they would " never fight by the side of a nigger." were glad, before the war was over, to screen themselves behind his back. But the mad howl that came up from the Confederate States was music to the ear of the reflective patriot, for he knew it was but a prelude to the long sad wail of despair that must soon follow.
The slave-owners, and those having the care of the plantations during the war, used every means to keep the slaves from running away into the Union lines ; but their promises and threats, as well as their oft repeated stories of the terrible treatment they were sure to receive at the hands of the inhuman Yankee, were all in vain. One of these slaves, who, by his intelligence, had become the toto factum of one of the large plantations of Eastern Virginia had, with great caution and shrewdness, planned and made all necessary arrangements for the escape of some thirty or forty men, women, and children; and so cleverly had the whole matter been managed, that but a few hours before the darkness of the night that was to cover their flight, his master had manifested especial confidence in him, not doubting but the false promises and representations, so frequently made to him, were implicitly believed and relied upon. But the next morning he awoke to a realizing sense of the fact, that the deceiver himself is sometimes deceived. The name of this slave was George Gaskin. An affecting incident of the landing and death of his aged grandmother - supposed to be over a
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hundred years old - at the camp on the Maryland side of the river, is related elsewhere in this history.
These refugees continued to come in until at times there were not less than two thousand of them in camp, although they were constantly being taken out as called for or needed in other places. Some were sent North to earn a living as servants and laborers ; some at once found places as cooks and waiters for the officers in the army; while a large number were constantly employed by the Government in driving teams, loading and unloading boats and cars, chopping. shoveling, etc.
But the ablest bodied among them, of the right age, were enlisted into the military service, and, officered by men taken from the ranks of the veteran regi- ments, proved themselves worthy of the freedom they were willing to fight for on the field of battle. Two full regiments were enrolled from this camp, while the brigade remained there; and it is not known how many enlisted afterward before the close of the war. Some, apparently stout and sound, were found upon examination, to use the words of one who saw, "all broken to pieces" from cruel and abusive treatment while in bondage. But most of them bore no such marks of cruelty, and acknowledged that they were very well treated and cared for by their masters: and when asked why then they ran away, would respond : "'Cause, Marsa, I wants to be free."
A visit to this camp was much pleasing, more instructive, and most interest- ing. One of the leading manifestations of these people was their eagerness to learn to read ; and the rapid progress they made was scarcely less surprising. The old would vie with the young to improve this first privilege of their lives to acquire the rudiments of that knowledge which they seemed to feel and know had given the whites their superiority over them, and a want of which was the chief cause of their degraded condition. To see old men and women with their heads white like wool, striving hard to learn the letters of the alphabet, that they might set an example to the younger, and perhaps get so they could read a little in the Bible themselves before they died, as they would express themselves, was a sight that could not fail to convince the observer that the negro was quite as late a descendent of the ape as the white man.
There, among the rest, was old " Father Willoughby," as he was called, a veritable "Uncle Tom" in Christian goodness, and something of a Socratic philosopher in his way. Of his intellectual ability it is sufficient here to say, that our noble chaplain, Ambrose. who was himself a logical reasoner. and spent much of his time in giving mental and religious instruction to these people, said that never did he feel his own inferiority more than when talking with this untutored slave at whose feet he could daily sit and learn wisdom. Original ideas would drop like uncut diamonds from his lips, needing only cutting and setting to become bright jewels of thought.
But in describing the colored man of the South, as seen by the Union soldier, we need hardly refer to his most distinguishing characteristic, since everybody who has ever heard or read of him knows that it is as natural for a negro to love fun as for a Jew to love money. And the plantation "Sambo" of ante- bellum days, despite the hard lines of toil and suffering that environed him, would make the evenings merry with frolicsome sports and amusements.
Closely allied with this, and in fact an inseparable part of it, was their love of
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music and song ; and to hear some of their melodies sung by ten or a dozen of them, with banjo or tambourine accompaniment, is a treat to those who never before came nearer to anything of the kind than a minstrel show. If the reader could take a night trip up or down the Ocklawaha river and listen to the planta- tion songs with their joyous refrains, sung by all the boat's crew, male and female. circled around a blaze of pitch pine knots, kept burning on the hurricane deck to light up the dark and tortuous course of the steamer, he would both see and hear what memory would never fail to reproduce so long as he should live.
It was this innate propensity of the colored race to be always found on the smiling side of life - to play the fiddle or the banjo, " pat the juba," and dance the clog -that led, or mis-led, many to believe, what the southern planter claimed, that the slave was altogether happy and contented in his condition of servitude, and that his freedom would prove to him and his owner both a sorrow and a curse.
More than a quarter of a century has passed since the chains of their thraldom were snapped asunder; but, so far from the prediction being verified, there is probably not a person, white or black. in the whole South, not excepting Jeffer- son Davis himself, who is not glad instead of sorry that the " curse " - not of freedom, but of human slavery - is forever removed from our fair, prosperous. and promising domain. But this sketch of the "Contraband" would be incom- plete without a few words about his religion, or rather his devotional exercises ; for his religious belief was substantially the same as that of his master who generally belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, the great schism in which. on the question of slavery, was the first important step toward the still greater political rupture between the North and the South that soon followed.
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