USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 29
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This place soon became the chief point of attraction for the visitors to and travelers through Petersburg ; many of the latter, especially those from the North, stopping over a train or a day, on their journey to visit the historic spot of which they had read and heard so much. And many visited it who were there in, or close witnesses of, the terrible strife of July 30, 1864, and among them, General Bartlett, who pointed out where he stood in the crater when a piece of shell or solid shot demolished his wooden leg.
This exhihit proved so good and profitable an enterprise for the owner, that it was kept up until his death, several years after the war, and con- tinned by his son as late as ISSo, when visited by the writer, who there learned many facts referred to in this history, and who has now in his possession a minie-ball that was ploughed up close to the crater by a grandson of the original owner of the land, while the writer stood talking with his father.
CHAPTER XIII.
BERMUDA FRONT AND CHAPIN'S FARM ; OR, THE LAST WINTER IN " DIXIE."
If ever men were thankful, the veterans still left to follow the colors of the Twelfth New Hampshire Regiment were, when they found them- selves once more at their old camping ground on the north side of the Appomattox.
The day of their arrival was one of the hottest of the summer, and this march hither, though short, was severe, for some were hardly able to walk, when they left Petersburg.
A chance to rest and recuperate had become an absolute necessity to the longer maintenance of a military organization. Hard muscular labor, inured to hardships as they were, they could have endured for a long time, and have been none, or but little, the worse for it; but a constant drain on the vital nerve force, for two or three months, was fast trans- ferring the men from the trenches to the hospital, and hence the change of the Eighteenth Corps, its place being taken by the Tenth.
Certainly the troops of the former corps had done their full share of fight- ing since the first of May. There were now less than a hundred effective men answering to the morning roll-call of the regiment, just about men enough for one full company, and the officers had been reduced in about the same ratio.
The other regiments of the brigade, still the same as when first organ- ized (except the addition of the Eighth Maine, which joined soon after Drury's Bluff, and a change of the Second New Hampshire for the Nine- teenth Wisconsin made soon after the attack on Petersburg. the Second being detailed on provost duty), were all mere skeletons of their original strength ; but none that reported less than two for one, as compared with the Twelfth, for most or all of them were numerically larger at the open- ing of the campaign, and their losses at Cold Harbor were inversely pro- portionate.
But the difference between the duties and dangers incident to army life at the siege of Petersburg, and those experienced along the Bermuda front, could be fully realized only by soldiers who had served, for any length of time, in both places.
The illustrative comparison of work and play is not sufficiently strong ; perdition and paradise would come nearer expressing the difference of the
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situations. Had Lieutenant Huntoon, who was always ready to quote Shakespeare, been with the regiment through its part of the Petersburg siege, he would probably have said, upon returning to the quiet lines at Bermuda :
" Grim visag'd war hath smoothed her wrinkled front."
Rest. and rest alone. was the order of the day on the 26th, for the Twelfth, but the next day the regiment went on picket down by the " Old Mill." as the boys used to call it. for they went there many times afterward, and it became, during the fall, quite a trading-post for the pickets on both sides.
Ilere, as soon as they found out that white troops were again on their front-for colored ones had been holding the lines- the rebel pickets at once manifested a disposition of friendliness, which was so strongly in contrast with what the Twelfth boys had been used to on the other side of the river, that they hardly knew, at first, what to make of it, and feared it was only a ruse to take them prisoners .*
This was the beginning of friendly relations between the pickets on the Bermuda front that lasted. with but few interruptions, all through the fall and winter, and until picket lines between the North and the South were no longer needed.
And better perhaps in this connection, than later when it actually oc- curred, may be related an incident, among the many that might be told. illustrating the spirit of kindly feeling often manifested between the rank and file of the opposing armies.
One day, when the Twelfth was on picket, and the boys, blue and gray, had been freely intermingling at or near the old mill above referred to, bathing, wrestling, and playing cards together, a rebel officer came along so unexpectedly, that Almon J. Farrar, of Company H. who was among the rebels upon the opposite side of the creek, had no chance to get away without being seen by the officer. Quick as thought, the ready wit of one of the surrounding Johnnies prompted him what to do, and, grabbing one of their bed-quilt blankets, he threw it over the Yankee's shoulders ; while another, catching the idea of the first, snatched the blue cap off and put his own slouch hat in its place.
The Confederate officer rode up, was saluted, and passed on, closely watched by the half a dozen more " Yankee Blues" hid among the bushes but just across the stream.
This incident will be better appreciated in connection with the fact, that at that time orders from rebel officers were very strict against any inter- course or communication between the lines.
The Confederate government officials were about as careful to keep their soldiers in ignorance, as the slave holders had been, before the war. to keep their slaves in the same condition, and for substantially the same
* See chapter of " Incidents and Ancedotes."
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reason : for the Southern Confederacy, like its chief corner stone, could exist only by the ignorance of the laboring element.
On the 28th the regiment returned from picket and moving a little further to the right toward the James, commenced on the following day to lay out their camp in regular order.
This brought smiles to the faces of the boys, for it was a sign, though no surety, that they were to remain a while where they were. It was a pretty good sign also, as they had already learned, that they would very soon move again.
But the next day. the 30th, " made assurance doubly sure," as then thought, for Lieutenant Shepard started for Norfolk to get the regimental baggage. On the 31st the regiment was mustered for pay, and this again cheered the boys, and brightened the prospect, for they had been for a long time in need of money, some of them not having been paid off for six months. Government rations were also getting scarce about this time, and they wanted to patronize the sutler a little.
For the first part of September, little was done by the regiment, except picket duty, and the men had a good opportunity to work upon their new quarters.
These were erected of uniform size and style, each one being two feet long, seven feet wide. and four feet high, and constructed in log-house fashion, the crevices lightly plastered up with red-clay mud, so common to Virginia soil.
With the walls thus completed. and the chimney built, as has been else- where described, nothing remained, but the shelter-tent roof, to finish a soldier's domicile large enough to accommodate four comrades quite com- fortably.
The builders, half hoping - for there was more of desire than expecta- tion in the thought - that they were at work on their winter quarters, spared no pains to fix everything up in the most approved style of military architecture : and Captain Barker, noticing with what pride and pains his boys were constructing their own habitations, as well as those for himselt and other officers, determined to do his full share in making the little regimental village as pleasant and attractive in its streets as in its houses.
So he procured teams and a plow, and turnpiked the company streets, ploughed, leveled, and drained the parade ground, and so cleared up and improved the surroundings, that the Encampment of the Twelfth New Hampshire was one that both officers and men were proud of, as being far ahead of any other regiment on the whole line.
Colonel Guion, of the division staff, who inspected the Twelfth just after its quarters had begun to attract attention, sent up to headquarters a very flattering report of the condition of the regiment and its " model encampment."
September 10, while the regiment was out on picket, two of the substi- tutes deserted to the enemy. They belonged to Company G, and were
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prompted to desert, probably, by a proclamation of Jefferson Davis, issued just after the failure of the Mine Explosion, offering aid. to get to their homes in the North, for all that would come into the Confederate lines.
This attempt to reduce our forces was prompted, doubtlessly, by the prev- alent feeling of depression among our troops at that time. and the addi- tional consideration that our army had recently been recruited by a class of beings who were willing to accept the invitation thus extended to them.
But, unfortunately for the success of Davis's artful scheme of military diplomacy, most of those, upon whom his call would have any other effect than to excite ridicule, had already weeded themselves out from most of the regiments that were in front of the enemy.
The old members of the regiment had supposed. that what few recruits there were left, after Cold Harbor, could be relied upon, and were sur- prised to learn that two more had gone the way of as many score. since leaving Point Lookout. And yet there were Judas-hearted ones left, as will be hereafter seen.
September 14. there was an unusually heavy cannonade on the left, around Petersburg, from which every day brought sounds of strife, re- minding the men of their own recent experience there ; and on the same day Captain Barker took his little regimental squad out on battalion drill. It was the first for a long time, and made a sad impression upon the minds of many of the old originals for they could but reflect upon what a change that less than two years had made in the ranks of the regiment. Mem- ory reproduced it, a thousand strong on the plains of Concord : and now, with all the recruits, their eyes saw it more than nine times decimated. having less than ten left for every hundred of its former greatness !
Sad, woefully sad indeed the change !
And so it must have seemed to Colonel Potter who returned to the regi- ment the next day for the first time since the battle of Chancellorsville.
He was warmly greeted by the few still remaining of those he had then the honor to command, but they would have thought much more of him. had he returned to his regiment as soon as his wound had healed, instead of accepting an easier and less dangerous position elsewhere.
Being the ranking officer he immediately took command of the brigade. which was enlarged two days later by the Ninth Vermont, and the Sec- ond Pennsylvania (heavy artillery ) regiments. .
On the 20th came an unexpected and most unwelcome order, and one that made every officer and man of the regiment feel more like invoking maledictions than blessings upon everybody and everything, except them- selves and their rations, in the whole army.
It was an order to move ! All their work and pains to make for them- selves a pleasant and comfortable army home had been thrown away. for now they must unroof and vacate.
After one more, and the last, dinner in their new, but soon to be old. quarters, which was eaten with too much of ill temper to favor quick
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digestion, the men shouldered their all, and grumblingly marched two miles to the rear toward Bermuda Landing. Here a new encampment had been laid out for Colonel Potter's command which was on the same day detached from the Eighteenth Corps to form a nucleus of a provisional brigade for the reception and discipline of new recruits, who immediately began to come in, and report for duty.
These new regiments were made up chiefly of three months, or " hun- dred days men " as they were called. They were also often derisively re- ferred to by the old soldiers as " eleventh hour men," who had come out to see the fun after the most of the work was done. They had got their "greenbacks" in big bounties, and now wanted a full share of the honors.
By the 21st the brigade had increased to nine regiments, and as the old ones had recently been paid off, and the new ones came amply supplied with money, the sutler had a most thriving trade, taking in, some days, more than four hundred dollars.
Colonel Potter, finding himself at the head of quite a large command with a prospect of its continuance for a while, commenced selecting his staff officers, several of whom he took from his old regiment.
Captains Heath, Johnson, and Prescott were appointed assistant inspector general, assistant provost marshal, and aide-de-camp, respectively, of the brigade. Captain Bedee was also selected as one of the staff.
On the same day Francis Reed, of Meredith, N. H., was commis- sioned chaplain of the regiment, and a few weeks later reported to Captain Barker for duty. But his military pastorate was of short duration, and so little did he become acquainted with the men, or show himself fitted for their companionship, that, if remembered at all by any of those who may read this brief reference to him, it will be with a smile.
He remained with the regiment but a few weeks, and then bade good bye to " Dixie " forever.
In a few days the men had fixed up comfortable quarters again, but had scarcely got them completed before the brigade was ordered forward to the line of works to take the place of the Eighteenth Corps which, with the Tenth, had been ordered across the James.
This was on the 28th, a beautiful day, but the weather was much pleas- anter than the feelings of the men for having to vacate their quarters a second time before fairly located therein.
The Twelfth, upon returning to the front line, occupied the quarters that the Thirteenth New Hampshire had just left.
On the 29th occurred the battle of Fort Harrison, or Chapin's Farm, the enemy being driven back, and the fort and a portion of his line captured and held in spite of the most determined efforts of the rebel forces to retake it.
Fort Harrison was the most formidable work on the rebel line, north of the James, from Chapin's Bluff on the river to Fort Gilmer.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
It was captured at quite a heavy loss, especially of officers who were picked off by the rebel sharpshooters in their advance over a wide space of unprotected ground, leading up to the fort, which was located on quite an elevation.
Although the Twelfth took no part in this engagement as a regiment, yet several of its men, acting as sharpshooters, were foremost as skir- mishers in the fight, and contributed largely to the successful attack upon the fort.
A full and true account of this battle, which the writer has never yet had the pleasure of reading, would give facts that would show how greatly the country was indebted to a little band of ten or fifteen of these sharpshooting skirmishers, detailed, months before from nearly as many different regiments, for this important victory. Without their aid in silencing the guns, and their heroic efforts in being the first to scale its parapets, the fort might not then have been taken.
In fact, according to their own account, they actually captured the fort itself alone and single handed, and had they been at once properly sup- ported there would not have been so severe a contest to hold it, for the de- fenders had time to recover from their surprise and rally for the final hand to hand struggle before any of our other troops got up to the works.
Several who had been detailed as sharpshooters from the Twelfth the June before were in the line of skirmishers, and William S. Gray and Almon J. Farrar were among the few who drove the rebel gunners from their guns and entered the fort.
Another member of the regiment was of great service in helping to win the victory in this fight, although not nearer than a mile or more to the battlefield.
On the first day of October, while the paymaster, who had at last made his appearance, was engaged in paying off Company A, orders came to move across the James river at once ; and so the other companies had to go without " greenbacks" a while longer.
The regiment rejoined its old brigade in the Second Division of the Eighteenth Corps about 4 o'clock P. M., and soon after went back about a mile from the front and encamped for the night. The next morning the brigade was temporarily attached to the Engineers Corps and went into Fort Harrison to work with the spade in helping to turn it against its former occupants, and so far strengthen it as to make any attempt at ie- capture a vain one.
This work being accomplished, the regiments were next set at work throwing up a new line of works on the left, between the fort and the river. Another attack by the enemy was expected every hour, and hence the troops were required to work day and night until the line was as strong as the reconstructed fort with which it connected.
The Twelfth worked some nights until midnight in taking their turn with other regiments, so that some could sleep while others worked.
* See Signal Service, ete.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
The first three days of the month had been rainy, the first especially so, and digging in Virginia soil, after a heavy rain-fall, is not the most desir- able of occupations as many an old soldier can testify ; and it becomes still less so when obliged to work, not only in the rain, but under the fire of the rebel gunboats, where the laborer, like the mother hen in fear of hawks, has to watch the sky, while he digs the earth, to see where the next two-hundred-pound shell is going to strike. These gunboats came down to Chapin's Bluff every day to salute the Yankees.
After the rain, it cleared off' cold for the season, and the men, having little to protect them from the weather, suffered considerably from the effects of the sudden change.
October 7, the regiment moved to the right of Fort Harrison, and into the trenches. But scarcely had the regiment got into position there, when an order came for it to report to the Third Brigade of the First Divis- ion of the corps : and the next day the boys were agreeably surprised to find their new brigade in command of their old and well tried captain and leader, now Lient. Col. Thomas E. Barker !
It was quite a jump from captain by rank to brigadier-general by position, and if he did not feel proud himself, the boys of his regiment, and especially those of his old Company B, did for him. But this pro- motion was but a tardy and partial recognition of deserving merit, for, long before, he should have worn the golden-leaves in place of the brass- bars that he had long and highly honored.
His brigade consisted of the Second and Twelfth New Hampshire, the Fifty-eighth and One Hundred and Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania, the Twenty-first Connecticut, and Ninety-second New York regiments.
These six regiments could once have mustered a little army of five or six thousand men ; now only an aggregate of remnants amounting to little more than as many hundred. Yet it was a larger force than that com- manded by General Stark on the victorious field of Bennington, and every man was a battle-scorched veteran.
The brigade occupied the trenches, at this time, between Forts Harrison and Gilmer, the latter being still held by the enemy.
The 10th was noted as a day for rebel desertions. It was a very foggy day, and the sallow-faced supporters of the crumbling Confederacy came into our lines by tens and scores. It seemed to be a concerted movement. A company of about fifty started to come in, but were mistaken, in the fog, for an attacking force, fired upon by our brigade, and driven back.
The following day, after two or three vain attempts, the paymaster suc- ceeded in giving to every man, present for duty in the regiment, the amount in paper currency that was shown to be due him upon the muster rolls.
It was the price of toil, danger, and suffering, and even, in many in- stances, of blood itself. Yet the soldier received but little more than one half of the stipulated price for his services and sufferings, and no interest
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for his wages, long overdue ; while the bond-holder, for his government securities, purchased with the same depreciated currency, was receiving his semi-annual interest, as he afterward received his principal, in gold.
At 4 P. M. of the 9th, the brigade was ordered to extend its line so as to relieve the Third Division, and later, about dark, while a very cold rain storm was chilling the men to their very bones, it moved still farther to the right. halting in the rear of the Tenth Corps, one division of which it relieved in the trenches during the night or early morning. But before many hours another order was received by Colonel Barker for him to re- port with the Twelfth Regiment to Colonel Potter, on the Bermuda front, by 10 o'clock the next day : and in compliance therewith, the regiment re- crossed the James on the 14th, and rejoined the provisional brigade that it had left fourteen days before ; the Twelfth was glad again to be between the James and Appomattox rivers, where more peaceful relations seemed to exist between the lines than anywhere north of the one, or south of the other. This line, which since September 20 had been under the command of Colonel Potter, was on the 17th transferred to the official supervision of Gen. Charles K. Graham, who took command of the Third Division, of the Third Corps after General Whipple's death at Chancellorsville, and who was taken prisoner at Gettysburg.
There had been for some time a growing apprehension in the mind of Colonel Potter that the enemy would attack his line, and the return of the Twelfth to his command was in compliance with his request that his old regiment might be returned to him. General Weitzel, then commanding the Eighteenth Corps, in asking permission of General Butler, remarks :
I think I had better send the Twelfth New Hampshire, Potter's old regiment, over to him at once. That place is weak, and this regiment would give Potter much confidence. Shall I send it?
To which Butler, at 10.05 P. M. of the 13th, replied: "Send the Twelfth New Hampshire to Potter at once."
Among other things that had awakened the colonel's suspicions were these : A rebel deserter had reported to him that the enemy was reenforc- ing in his front. several regiments having come within a few days ; and General Butler had forwarded to him the following :
The signal officer on your left [Cobb Hill tower] reports that the enemy have been up in a balloon, making observations on your line, and signaling to parties below. Keep a sharp lookout and advise me of any movement.
During the night of the 18th the brigade was called up twice to resist a supposed attack on our lines, but it proved to be only the rebel troops firing at their own men who were deserting from their lines, and coming over to ours. These deserters, who were getting to be encouragingly com- mon for us, all told the same story about destitution and increasing de- moralization in their army. They said. " The Rebellion is about played
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out." From such reports, received almost daily from the Confederate deserters, when there was any chance for them to get into our lines with- out being killed, the courage of the Union troops was constantly strength- ened : for, through it all, they plainly saw a most welcome beginning of a still more welcome and glorious end.
A mighty jubilee chorus of a hundred guns each from both the armies of the Potomac and the James on the 20th, sounded out through the clear air and gladened the hearts of the listening " boys in blue " for they knew it to be in honor of Sheridan's second great victory in the valley. This was the most signal and brilliant victory of the Union arms for the whole war. It electrified the whole North. Sheridan's great victory over Early, just one month before at Winchester, had made him renowned ; but his still greater victory over the same Confederate commander, who had been heavily reinforced, at Cedar Creek, where his inspiring presence, at the eleventh hour, turned the broken and struggling masses of a defeated and retreating army into solid columns of such irresistible power as to crush down and destroy every opposing force, and win such an overwhelming victory that the enemy never again mustered his forces for battle in the valley of the Shenandoah, placed him in the highest rank of the great generals of the war upon either side.
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