USA > New Hampshire > History of the Twelfth regiment, New Hampshire volunteers in the war of the rebellion > Part 6
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General Burnside testified before the committee on the conduct of the war that he " had about one hundred thousand men on the south side of river, and every single man of them was under artillery fire, and about half of them were at different times formed in columns of attack."*
* Report of Com., part 1, page 656.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
To oppose this force General Lee had less than eighty thousand (78,228) men : but to offset the balance against him in numbers he had "Stonewall" Jackson, who alone, against Franklin was equal at least to a corps of ten thousand veterans, while Longstreet, impregnably fortified as he was by nature and military skill, was a match for fifty thousand more.
In fact the odds were so overwhelmingly in favor of the Confederates that even Jefferson Davis was ashamed to own that they had over twenty thousand actively engaged in the battle .*
It will be remembered that General Burnside's original design was to occupy Fredericksburg as early as the 18th or 20th of November, before Lee could concentrate his forces there, but was delayed on account of the failure of General Halleck to supply him with the pontoon boats that had been promised. And now, when at last, but too late, the boats were on hand he determined to make the most of them. He there- fore ordered " two bridges built at a point near the Lacey house, opposite the upper part of the town - one near the steamboat landing at the lower part of the town, one about a mile below- and, if there were pontoons sufficient, two at the latter point."
These were not only constructed as ordered on the IIth, but another was laid during the night near the last two, making six bridges, three opposite and three below the city, and averaging four hundred and ten yards in length, that spanned the Rappahannock on the morning of the 12th.
From what is written it will be seen that notwithstanding the pontoons had come and bridges were plenty, the opportunity to successfully use them had long past : and delays, whether needless or unavoidable, had made General Burnside's pre-determined attempt to cross the river and attack the enemy at Fredericksburg a very hazardous one. But apparently with more persistency than discretion, he determined to carry out his original plan, however important the change of circumstances. And so on the 10th day of December, just as the sun was setting, orders came to Colonel Potter to be ready to move in an hour's notice, in light marching order, with sixty rounds of cartridges and four days' rations.
The long discussed question among the troops whether there would be any aggressive movement made by the army that winter was now decided ; and by 6 o'clock in the morning the regiment was in line, and soon moving toward the sound of cannon in the direction of Freder- icksburg. Tents were left standing in which were left knapsacks. surplus clothing, and camp equipage in the care and under the guard of sick ones who were able to do light duty. After marching about two miles a halt was ordered, and expecting to resume the march every minute until dark, remained there until 8 or 9 o'clock the next day.
It was a very cold night, water freezing to quite a depth, and the men suffered much.
* Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. II, page 356.
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
During this halt on the IIth, heavy cannonading was heard at intervals, accompanied with considerable musketry firing, and it was supposed that a heavy battle was in progress. But the firing heard and the delay of the troops, as soon learned, was caused by the efforts of the enemy's sharpshooters to prevent or retard the laying of the pontoon bridges.
Their fire was so effective and their efforts so persistent that from day- light until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, notwithstanding a storm of shot and shell from several batteries of the one hundred and forty- seven guns planted along the river bank, that tore, crashed, and swept through the houses and streets, they held back the pontooniers by the unerring aim of their deadly rifles. And it was not until three or four regiments of infantry volunteered to cross the river in boats and drive them from their protected positions behind houses and in cellars and ditches, that the bridges were completed.
Thus a few selected sharpshooters from Barksdale's brigade of Missis- sippians held the whole Union army in check for nearly the whole of one day ; for although one of the bridges below the town was ready for Franklin's forces to cross by 9 o'clock, and some of them did cross, it was unsafe for him to advance without the cooperation of the rest of the army.
The Seventh Michigan, Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, and the Eighty-ninth New York regiments have the honor of finally driving all of them from the city, that were not captured, and opening the way for the army to follow.
It was a gallant act, made necessary by thé determined resistance of men equally brave, and in that sense no less worthy of praise.
When the sun went down on this day of active preparation for the awful sacrifice soon to follow, it looked like a ball of fire, so thick were the smoke-clouds through which it shone.
On the morning of the 12th, after a cold, uncomfortable bivouac on the frozen ground, Whipple's division was ordered to advance to the head of the centre bridge in front of the city, and soon the Twelfth, marching about two miles farther, received the order, " In place, rest," a little way to the left and rear of the Lacey house, which stands on the high plateau opposite the city of Fredericksburg. A part of Sumner's forces had crossed over the river and occupied the town before daylight, and troops were still crossing, while thousands awaited their chance on the Falmouth side, covered from the enemy's view by a thick fog which greatly favored their approach and passage. Two or three hours later General Whipple received orders to move his division over the upper bridge, hold the approaches to the city from the southwest, and to protect the right flank of General Couch's command (Second Corps, under Sumner), while that general was moving forward to attack the enemy in front.
In obedience to this order the First Brigade-General Piatt's-attempted to cross ; but when the head of it entered the city, the troops of General
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
Couch were so densely massed in the streets and on the river's bank as to obstruct the passage, and the column was compelled to halt, the pontoon bridge being crowded full, and the column of troops stretching far back to the rear.
It was past noon when the Twelfth moved up toward the upper bridge to take its place in the division column, and in a few minutes it was, for the first time, under the fire of the enemy. It was a sudden and savage intro- duction, and forcibly indicative of the reception that awaited it upon the other shore. The kind mists of the elements that had for many hours screened the movements of our army having now dissolved into thin air, the rebel artillerists seemed determined to make up for their lost time and opened a rapid and concentrated fire upon all the troops within the range of their guns.
The regiment, marching in column over the bluff near the Lacey house, had just come into plain sight of the rebel batteries that lined the heights on the opposite side of the river, when three shells, in quick succession, came with hissing vengeance to warn and drive it back. The first one, in exact range, but too elevated, passed harmlessly over: the second buried itself in the bank just in front ; but the third, with fatal accuracy, struck and exploded in the rear of Company K, wounding six in that company and two in Company B. Instantly Colonel Potter, with rare presence of mind, gave the order. " Right oblique, double quick, march." This brought the regiment out of range and under cover at the same time, and never was an order more promptly obeyed or quicker executed, although it is not claimed that when the men halted and fronted under the bluff, that every file leader was covered by the same rear rank man as when they last right-faced into column.
Yet the comparatively cool and steady manner of the men was most commendable and satisfied their commander, that, if he was not leading veteran regulars he had the material from which they could soon be made, and upon which in the hour of coming trial he could safely rely.
The following officers and men were wounded : Lieut. Charles Marsh and Everett Jenkins. of Company B; Lieut. William F. Dame, Samuel S. Eaton, Benjamin Ellsworth. Cyrus J. Philbrick. Homer Eames, and James E. Tibbetts, of Company K : the last two mortally, both dying a few days afterward. Jenkins was also very severely wounded, lying at the point of death for a long time. and leaving him a suffering cripple for life : and all the rest were permanently disabled.
Instead of crossing over the river that day, as was expected, the regi- ment remained under the bluff until after dark, with the shells bursting just above or in the bank beyond, showering it with mud and dirt. It then marched back over the bluff about half a mile, and bivouacked in a muddy cornfield which had been sufficiently thawed out by the mid-day's sun to offer a bed rather too soft to be comfortable. Some, who slept regardless of their surroundings, awoke the next morning to find them-
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
selves anchored fast to the frozen ground, their hair, in two or three instances, being the main cable. With such a place for a bed, and a heavy sheet of frost for a covering, it required no great effort of mind and memory to draw the sad contrast between that and the live-geese feathers and woolen blankets of home. The contrast was so great, and the incli- nation for the latter so strong, that a few unwisely concluded to then and there rescind their contract with " Uncle Sam," and go where they could find more comfortable quarters. It was, indeed, taking the day and night together, a most disheartening start-out for comparatively raw recruits from New England homes, unused to hardship or danger. Thinking it but a foretaste of what was to come, it is not so strange that some, acting on the impulse of the moment, and not seriously considering the far reaching consequences, should, with fear and suffering to impel, so far forget the obligations of honor and manhood as to yield to the craven behests of self-comfort and safety. That they did, however, has doubtless been the one great sorrow and regret of their lives. Some of them after- ward apprehended received but slight punishment and served bravely and faithfully to the end of the war.
The next morning another start was made for the river, but by a cir- cuitous route through a ravine to avoid farther molestation from the rebel shells, and to give the men a chance to warm themselves up with a cup of hot coffee, where the smoke of their own fires would not draw upon them the fire of the enemy. Heavy volleys of musketry are soon heard across the river, and our heavy guns, still remaining on the Falmouth side, thunder back defiance to the enemy's batteries that flash along the crest of Marye's heights. There is, also, a continuous roar and crash of artillery on the left. where a part of Franklin's forces, under Mead, are engaged against Stuart and Hill in the attempt to turn the enemy's right. About 10 o'clock the sun burst through the thick fog that hung over the city, and the Twelfth moved toward, and halted near the head of the upper pontoon bridge.
Nearly two hours later, while the battle was raging in all its fury, the regiment crossed the river into the city, and halting in one of the streets close to and parallel with the river, awaited further orders.
It was while standing here in the mud and water, that the wounded soldiers in ambulances and on stretchers were carried by, bleeding, groan- ing. and dying as they passed, and the faces of some of the regiment were nearly as pale as the poor sufferers, as they looked for the first time upon the heart-sickening horrors of the battlefield. It was not a scene to make new troops feel especially eager or impatient to mingle in the deadly strife from which these wounded and mangled men had just been brought, and into which the sober and silent lookers on expected in a few moments to be led.
After waiting here in anxious suspense for nearly two hours, an orderly, bare-headed and covered with mud and blood, comes dashing
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
down the street, followed by screeching shells, and hands a paper to Colonel Potter.
While the colonel is reading it, there is a "w-o-o-o-i-s-h" and a " thud," and the orderly's horse lies dead beneath his rider.
" Attent-i-o-n," is now the quick and stern command of the colonel, as he vaults into his saddle ; but it is little needed, for business is too important and pressing now to admit of any lack of vigilance on the part of officers or men.
The regiment at once advanced on the double-quick up Amelia street to Princess Anne street - the third one from the river, and about half way through the city - where it filed off right and left, just in time to escape a terrific volley from the rebel artillery that swept the street it had just left, and which must have many times multiplied the casualties of the day before, had not Colonel Potter concluded to give them the exclusive right of way just as he did.
But the march up the street, although lasting but a few moments, was by no means a quiet nor a safe one, several shot passing just over the regiment or striking near by. One shell struck and exploded near the head of the battalion, throwing the mud in all directions and bespattering the colonel who calls out, " Steady," to his men, as he coolly takes off his spectacles and wipes them with his handkerchief ; another closely winds Company F, and kills an artillery horse close behind ; while a third leaves an officer mounted for an instant on a headless horse, as he was crossing the street a few rods in advance. Most of the regiment filed in column to the left upon reaching Anne street, but the shells and solid shot -some of the latter in ricochet order - came so thick and fast that two or three of the rear companies cleared the street by the left flank, and thus nar- rowly escaped the sweeping volley that would otherwise have torn through their ranks.
Here the regiment remained under cover of the buildings-one of which was a church, then occupied as a hospital, and the steeple of which was used as a signal tower-until past 4 o'clock, or nearly dark, when it again advanced, proceeding this time to the outside of the city, toward the enemy, and deployed in line of battle on Prince Edward street, with the right resting on Fauquier street, and nearly in front of the residence of Col. Robert S. Chew, who was then in the rebel service, and after- ward colonel of the Thirtieth Virginia Regiment. General Whipple's division was the only one of the Third Corps on this part of the battle- field, the other two, Berney's and Sickles's, having been detached from Hooker's command to support Franklin, before crossing the river. In fact, Hooker's grand division, which had been intended as the " Old Guard" reserve to be kept intact, and held back for the finishing stroke, was broken up into fragments and distributed over the field as early as 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 13th, leaving him but the two small divisions of Humphreys and Sykes, not to follow up a retreating foe and
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
complete a great victory, but as the last desperate hope of a shattered and defeated army.
No wonder that General Hooker remonstrated and re-remonstrated, but all in vain, against the worse than needless sacrifice of those brave men, who had thus far escaped the fiery ordeal of an assault. This noble effort for mercy and humanity is one of the brightest rays that illuminates his name.
The last desperate charge of the Union forces against the impassable stone wall at the foot of the ridge, by General Humphrey's division, had not ended when the Twelfth took its position on Prince Edward street, as above stated. Although the crash of musketry, seemingly heavier than before heard during the day, too plainly told of the dreadful carnage going on but a short distance to the right and front, yet the men began to hope that their good luck would last a little longer, as they gladly saw the sun - now more like a ball of blood than of fire-go down behind that fatal crest, whose name, henceforth, was to be as lasting as the history of their country, for the safety and honor of which more than seven thousand of her heroic defenders now lay dead or wounded on the plain below.
The thick smoke that hung over the field, mingling with the fast gather- ing shades of night, soon shut off all view of friend or foe at the front, save the flash of the enemy's guns, as they still kept up their pitiless fire upon Humphrey's retreating forces, some of them " retiring slowly and in good order, singing and hurrahing."
General Whipple. it appears, had received orders early in the day, to cross the river, send one brigade to report to General Wilcox, command- ing the Ninth Corps, under Sumner, and with the remainder of his division to guard the approaches to the city from the west, and protect the right flank of Howard's division, that was to attack in front. But such had been the delay from various causes, but chiefly the stubborn resistance of the enemy, that the Second Brigade and the Twelfth Regiment did not get into position outside the city, as already noticed, until nearly dark. To this delay, together with the further fact that the Third Corps had been divided and subdivided until it was scattered among as many as seven or eight different commands on the right, left, and centre, some of them three or four miles apart, is probably due the fortunate escape of this part of Whipple's division, which had been detached from the corps before cross- ing the river, and ordered to the support of the two or three separate commands just mentioned.
The Second Brigade being the first to cross the river on the 13th, was quite heavily engaged in support of the Ninth Corps, losing over one hundred in killed and wounded, or nearly one eighth of its whole number engaged, before the rest of the division had taken their positions upon the field.
These positions, as assigned and occupied before dark, were as follows : One Hundred and Twenty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers were deployed
* General Humphrey's report.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
as skirmishers on the Fall Hill road, between the canals above the city and upon the crest of the ridge upon which stands the Mary Washington monument ; while two companies of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York Volunteers were advanced in front of the Kenmore mansion, in support of which was the Twelfth New Hampshire. The remainder of Piatt's brigade - the Eighty-sixth New York and the other eight com- panies of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York - was held in reserve, occupying the streets in the rear.
Of the batteries, four pieces were placed on the right near the upper end of the city, to sweep the flats and bridges across the canal, and four others just to the right of the Twelfth, to command the approaches from the front. It should be mentioned here, that on the side of the street toward the enemy there were no houses for a part of the distance occupied by the regiment. When, therefore it deployed along this street, with the flash and roar of the battle but a short distance in front, it was expected that the next order would be to advance in line of battle to the relief of the troops engaged. "I expected this time certain, that we were going into action, but we filed into another street, while the shells, grape-shot, and bullets whistled over our heads and about our ears almost every moment we were marching up," writes Lieutenant Furnal, referring to the advance from Princess Anne to Prince Edward street.
Daylight of the next morning, which was Sunday, found the regiment in plain view of the frowning batteries of the enemy, from which a morn- ing-salute was momentarily expected. Its position was now as important as it was critical, and it is not strange that the order that placed them there directed that it be held at whatever cost until relief should come.
If the enemy should conclude to assume the offensive, as many expected he would, his main point of attack was pretty sure to be at or near that part of the line held by this part of Whipple's division. And the reasons were that by occupying the monument terrace, their artillery could be most easily and effectively massed against it : and, if broken and carried, it offered the best prospect of turning the Union right, and gaining possession of the two upper pontoon bridges ; thus cutting off the main line of retreat, and driving the whole army occupying the city, panic stricken, into the river.
If, on the other hand, there should be another effort made to drive the enemy from his intrenchments, as greatly feared by those troops whose turn would come next, the Twelfth, now occupying the front line, had no longer any reasonable ground for hope to escape, and its situation was, therefore, critical as well as responsible.
But as the day wore on with no general attack from either side, and but little skirmishing, it soon became evident that while General Burnside did not care to renew the costly attempt of the day before. General Lee was content, as well he might be, to remain on the defensive.
Thus watching and waiting, listening and fearing, with more of anxiety
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History of the Twelfth Regiment
than devotion, that long Sabbath day numbered itself on the countless record of the past, and darkness again was welcomed to lessen the chances of wounding and death on the field of deadly conflict. The men having slept on their arms one night and stood ready to grasp and use them any moment through most of the day, concluded it would be more home-like to sleep on feather beds and mattresses, than the cold muddy streets or hard brick sidewalks; and so they brought them from the houses, together with blankets and quilts that had not been so thoroughly 'aired for a long time, and made for themselves more comfortable beds than ever before or afterward enjoyed while sojourning in the land of Dixie. While looking for something soft and warm for a bed other things were found, good and healthy for supper, and the few remaining " hard-tack " were greatly improved by a liberal dip or spread of honey, apple-butter, or peach preserves.
Some, wanting something substantial to go with the palatable, built up fires and commenced the business, so generally imitated the next day, of supplying the urgent demands of the stomach with a fresh bite of their own cooking, and "flapjacks" and honey, washed down with " apple- jack" and wine, was a rich and rare treat to many of the fortunate finders.
About midnight a sergeant from each company was called up to draw one day's rations ; but before they could be brought up and distributed there was a sharp and sudden discharge of musketry on the picket line, nearly in front, which was almost instantly followed by the loud com- mand of Colonel Marsh to "fall in"; and startled and shivering men from warm beds and pleasant dreams, were soon marching to support the batteries covering that part of the field, where they were ordered to lie down flat on their faces and remain silent. The night was cold and the ground wet, and the sudden change from the dry and warm to the damp and cold, chilled some of the less strong and robust to the very marrow of their bones ; and disease, suffering, and death, in some cases, was the sad but swift result.
Thus is it true that evil more often than good comes to us in disguise, and many a present blessing proves but a future curse.
And for the benefit of some of the tenderly nurtured and delicately constitutioned young men who may read it, the somewhat impertinent, but perhaps all the more effective, remark is here made, that this is not the only instance where a soft feather bed has been an easy conveyance to an early grave.
Not knowing how long the regiment would remain where it was or what would be the next call, the rations that had been drawn were carried out by a sergeant and two men from each company, and given to the men as they lay upon the ground.
The regiment remained in this position until it was light enough to see any advance movement of the enemy, and then returned to the place it so quickly left three or four hours before, when some of the men tried to mend their broken naps before roll-call.
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New Hampshire Volunteers.
The 15th was another day of " masterly inactivity," both armies remaining in statu quo, and all was comparatively quiet along the shores of the Rappahannock.
But some of the boys, seeing no signs of an immediate renewal of hostili- ties and getting a little more indulgence from their officers, than the day before, in the way of leaving, a few minutes at a time, the line of their gun- stacks, were naturally inclined to investigate a little further into the style and practice of southern domiciles and domestics, especially the culinary department which was the main object of their search.
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