USA > New Jersey > History of the men of Co. F, with description of the marches and battles of the 12th New Jersey Vols. Dedicated to "our dead." > Part 5
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We fell back across the river about II o'clock at night, and returned to camp, expecting to have a good night's rest ; but before we got to bed, we were ordered out again and marched down to the picket line. We stayed there all night, and the next day (Sunday) until sunset, when we returned to camp, tired and muddy. The boys of Company F are all well. Hop- ing this may find you the same, I remain
Your affectionate cousin.
To Capt. E. L. Stratton.
JAMES WHITE.
WILDERNESS.
The great Wilderness campaign, under the leadership of General U. S. Grant, began by leaving our winter camp at Stony Mountain, 10 p. m., May 3, 1864. After a tiresome, all-night march, we were crossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, twelve miles below, at seven o'clock next morning ; and then. marched through continuous woods to Chancellorsville, eight miles, where we camped for the night, near our old battle- field of one year before; where the bones and skeletons of many of our former comrades lay yet unburied, bringing up sad memories of that terrible battle, and the fate of those loved ones whose bones lay bleaching in the storms and sun of that tangled wild-wood. May 5th, we broke camp before daylight and marched by the Furnace, on a narrow, crooked woods road, to Todd's Tavern, ten miles ; then down the Catharpin road two miles, where we halted at 9 a. m. and were busily engaged throwing up breastworks, when an aide of General Meade's arrived with news of a battle being fought at Wilder- ness Tavern, and orders for us to hasten back and help the Sixth Corps, now sorely pressed. At 10.30 we counter- marched to Todd's, then down the Brock road with swinging strides, Company F acting as the right flankers, through a thick continuous woods, six miles, without a halt, to the crossing of Orange plank road ; where at 2 p. m. we formed our line of battle and advanced about fifty yards in that tan- gled thicket, north and west of the plank road to a position so close to the rebels that our effort to throw out skirmishers was met by a rattling volley from the bushes in front, (killing Lieutenant Fogg, of Company H, and many others wounded), so that three trials were necessary before they got in position, and then not over twenty yards in front of the line. Here we threw up a slight earthwork, and spent the afternoon, firing an
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Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.
occasional volley, when our pickets were often driven in ; and listening to that long swelling roll of musketry, which would die down to a few spattering shots, then break out again with all the terrible power and grandeur of a mighty church organ, played by twice ten thousand brave soldiers, and the keys they were striking were men. This was kept up until near mid- night, when a solemn calm crept over the field, and both arm- ies adjusted their lines for that mighty struggle which we knew would come on the morrow. And we had not long to wait, as our orders were to charge at 5 a. m., but Lee began at 4.50, and we met that first fierce onslaught, checked them, and soon had them on the run through the briars and tangles of that almost impenetrable thicket ; where the flashing fires of thousands of rifles gleamed in the smoke and darkness with all the awful realism of Inferno, down the whole length of our advancing lines; now forward, then backward, and forward once more, until much of the ground was fought over three times ; and the Union and rebel dead were mingled as thick as sheaves of wheat in a harvest field. But we kept them go- ing for at least a mile, until we came to their artillery, in an open field, supported by Longstreet's fresh troops, who checked our broken lines, and in their turn drove us back with resistless force to the same place from whence we started seven hours before. Here we held our ground, and with occasional skir- mish and picket firing, spent the rest of the day and night lis- tening to the fierce musketry of charge and countercharge on other parts of the line ; but our battle of the Wilderness was over, and the nightly roll-call showed the following losses in the company : William Dermitt and Charles M. Wilson, mor- tally wounded, both died at the hospital soon after ; Isaac K. Horner and Joseph A. Test, seriously wounded ; C. D. Lip- pincott, John Grice and William P. Haines, slightly wounded, but still in the ranks ; and we congratulate ourselves on the good fortune of so slight a loss. May 7th, passed very quietly with some picket firing in front, and late in the evening we took up our line of march to Todd's Tavern, which place we reached at 8 a. m. Twelve hours marching seven miles ! Obstructions in the road, cavalry, artillery, and headquarter's
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The Men of Company F,
escort seemed to have the right of way. Our regiment was sent down the Catharpin road to support the cavalry, but we only follow them up for two miles, with some light skirmish- ing ; then return to Todd's and take up the march towards Spottsylvania. We found the road full of obstructions ; large trees had been felled across the road every few rods ; these we had to cut out in order to pass the artillery through. And I can speak from experience, that chopping off large white oaks in the night, with careless rebels shooting at a mark, and I the mark, always made me tired. The woods was very thick, the road narrow and crooked, the night dark and the rebels touchy and quarrelsome ; so that we were all night marching five miles, and just at sunrise we emerged from the woods into the open fields at Alsop's, one mile from Spottsylvania.
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SPOTTSYLVANIA.
The battle of Spottsylvania was a series of engagements on different parts of the battle-field, lasting ten days; and our part in the obsequies began on May 8, 1864, when we were trying hard all day to find a weak spot in their lines. Several times we advanced right close up and got some real good shots at them, but they were so strong in men and position, that we could make no impression on them, and the wind being in their favor, they set the woods on fire and tried to smoke us out. But we were entirely too green to burn; though when the flames reached us it kept us right busy fighting the fire and their skirmishers both at once. Several boys got their clothing burned, Some of the cartridge boxes exploded, and the smoke and black gave us much the appearance of colored troops.
May 9th, we were across the Po River, and on the ex -. treme right of our army, paying our respects to Longstreet. May 10th, back in the centre of our position at Laurel Hill, giving our regrets to Early. On the 11th, just before night, a cold rain set in, and we stood and shivered around our green pine-wood fires, that whirled and smoked our eyes just as they always did. The wind was raw and sharp, our clothing wet, and we were just about as disconsolate and miserable a set of men as ever were seen. But "we've all been there before, many a time, many a time," and about 9 in the evening we got orders to pack up and march immediately ; and at this stage of the campaign we had our housekeeping outfit in such a shape that it didn't take long to pack up. Nobody knew where we were going, but a rumor was started that we were going back to the rear to rest and wash our clothes. And this proved partially true, as it rained so hard all night that our clothes were thoroughly washed, but they needed wringing
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The Men of Company F,
60
badly; and I think I can safely say, that of all our many night marches, this one took the cake. A cold, cheerless rain, fall- ing in torrents, mud a la Virginia, and just as dark as Egypt. Every man followed his file-leader; not by sight or touch, but by hearing him growl and swear, as he slipped, splashed, and tried to pull his " pontoons" out of the mud. But this night march came to an end at last, and about 3 o'clock in the morn- ing we halted and formed line of battle, in columns of brigades, Twelfth Regiment on the lead. We waited a little while for signs of daylight, and then the order was given to fix bayonets and forward march.
We knew nothing of what was before us, as this terrible night march had confused our ideas of direction, and we were so tired and bedraggled that we were reckless. We crossed a little meadow and small stream, and silently moved up through an old field partly grown over with pines, the lower branches laden with water, which the man ahead very kindly held until you got just in the right place to receive the bath. All at once we struck their pickets and captured the whole of them, a few shots being fired; but in that damp and heavy atmosphere, the report was no louder than the snapping of caps, but suffi- cient to tell us that there was work ahead. We began to prick up our ears and wake up, just as our brigade commander, Carroll, shouted, " Double quick!" and we broke into a run, and all line or formation was soon lost, as each man seemed trying to outrun his fellows, and we went up that slope for about two hundred yards just like a tornado. In less time than it takes to tell it, we were in front of their breast- works, tugging and pulling at the abatis, or crawling over and through it (for it was certainly well built) just as the rebel heads began to show above the earthworks, and their leaden compliments to reach us ; but we sprang on their earthworks, yelling and firing like a pack of demons, with our guns right in their faces.
As the Second Division (ours) sprang upon the works, I glanced down to our right, and saw the "Red Clubs" (First Division) breaking over their entrenchments, just like a big sea wave ; and I have never yet seen any claim or dispute as
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Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.
to who got there first, for we all had plenty of business in front, as the Johnnies rolled out of their blankets and jumped for their guns; but we were on the earthworks above them, and they were quick to see that we had the drop on them. One big fellow, in particular, came crawling out of a shelter tent, gun in hand, and just bringing it up to his shoulder, as one of our boys covered him, and looking calmly down the bar- rel, gently asked, "Hadn't you better drop it?" And if his gun had been red hot he wouldn't have dropped it any quicker, showing how "a soft answer turneth away wrath." It took us but a very few minutes to clear out this line, as it was a complete surprise ; where most of them threw down their arms and surrendered right away, and our bullets and bayonets made short work of the rest. Their position and earthworks were so very strong, that they were too self-confident, and their strength proved their weakness. As we ran over this first line we passed through between the guns of a heavy bat- tery of, I think, eight black twenty pounders. (Maybe it was two batteries right close together, and the dim light and the excitement, may have made the guns look larger than they really were). We saw no horses with these guns, but the har- ness was hanging on the wheels of the caissons, and the bat- tery flag was leaning against one of the guns ; but we were so anxious to get at their second line, (now wide awake and giv- ing us a perfect hailstorm of bullets) that I passed right by it, and thus missed the only chance I ever had to capture a flag ; and when we fell back, an hour later, the flag was gone. Some skulker carried it off, and, I doubt not, is to-day wearing one of those Congressional medals for bravery. As we passed on, another battery on our right was giving us their deadly com- pliments of canister and grape, double shotted, mowing a swath right through our ranks at every discharge, and cutting down small trees and bushes; shells bursting right in our faces with a report quicker and sharper than a lightning stroke, sending those rough, jagged, death-dealing fragments in all directions. The smell of powder and brimstone was almost suffocating, but on, on we rushed, at every step a life was lost -a man went down. Stratton, Barney and Stiles died in quick
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The Men of Company F,
succession ; Lippincott, Griscom, Grice, Headly and Haines, wounded. Our own gallant Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas H. Davis, his tall form towering in our midst, bare-headed, his long beard flying over his shoulders in the wind, sword in hand, cheering and urging us on, went down in this terrible whirlwind of death, and gave up his sword and life. The very air was thick and hot with flashing, smoking, whirling missiles of death ; the piteous, heart-rending cries and groans of the wounded, cheers and yells of defiance from the living. But still we press forward, and a few brave spirits almost reached their line ; but we were so few in numbers, and nearly out of ammunition, that we saw it was hopeless, and the order was given to fall back to the first line, where we replenished our empty cartridge boxes, and found it was after 8 o'clock. There had been over three hours of the very hardest kind of fighting done before breakfast, and in what seemed to us only a few minutes. The drizzling rain was falling, we were wet clear through, black with smoke and powder, tired and hun- gry, but we had not noticed it till it was over. Of the fruits of this charge-two generals, six thousand men and twenty can- non-are matters of history. But I remember well what a thrill of joy it gave us, to see our gallant brethren of the Sixth Corps coming to our help ; for, if we were given any choice in the matter, I can truly say that the Second Corps was always glad to be helped by, and felt more confidence in, the Sixth Corps than in any of the others. And though we were very far from being whipped (as some writers say we were), yet the sight of the old " Red Cross" coming to our help was a welcome one indeed. Thus we have tried to give a faint description of this battle, which falls far short of reality, as a battle must be seen to be appreciated, and once seen is never forgotten ; an awful reality, beside which the most vivid descriptions fall in insig- nificance ; a scene where so much of the brutal, passionate part of man's animal nature is roused up, to shoot down and kill everything that stands before us. But when fallen, O ! what a change ! As we gather them up with almost motherly tenderness, bind up those gaping wounds, give the refreshing draught of water, wipe the death damp from a pale forehead,
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Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.
soothe, cheer, yes, even pray, with the very ones that a few minutes before we were so anxious to strike down.
We replenished our stock of ammunition and took our places on the outer side of the captured earthworks, and beat back the repeated charges of the rebels, who seemed determined to regain their position; but the Second Corps was there to stay. And, after a whole day of close and deadly fighting, where they were the principal sufferers, the firing died down at mid- night, and they fell back about half a mile to a new line of works; and, we quote from " Walker's History of the Second Corps," "so ended this bloody day; and those that slept, after its tremendous labors and its fierce excitements, had in them, for the time, hardly more of life than the corpses that lay around them on every side. The chilling rain still fell upon that ghastly field; fell alike on the living and the dead, on friend and foeman; on those who might wake to battle in the morning, and on those who should never wake again." The 13th passed by with light skirmishing, and some of the wounded and the captured cannon were brought in from between the lines. May 14th, a detail from our company as- sisted in destroying the captured arms, by breaking the stocks and bending the barrels by a stroke on a tree, till many thou- sands were thus broken. Soon after noon we were sent off on a special and dangerous mission, to recover some of our wounded, at a hospital two miles to our right and rear, which had been left uncovered by General Grant's continued move- ments to the left. We reached the hospital and learned from the attendants that Rosser's rebel cavalry had just been there, but left in a hurry when they saw us coming, taking with them all the rations and medical stores. We soon had the wounded men (two hundred and seventy of them) loaded into wur wagons and ambulances, and before daylight next morn- ing, we were safely back in our lines. May 16th and 17th, we kept edging off to the left, near the Ny River and Fredericks- Wurg road. On the 18th, back again to the Landron House, where we made a sharp reconnoissance just at daybreak, and find the rebels so strongly intrenched that we were with- drawn. George H. Duell lost his hand, and Louis Kellogg his
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The Men of Company F,
finger, at such close range that it was powder-burned. The 19th was passed quietly. On the 20th, moved back to the Ny River, and the great battle of Spottsylvania was over. At II p. m., May 20th, we were off by the left flank on that long march through Guinea Station, Bowling Green, Milford and the Mattapony River, where our cavalry captured the rebel videttes and saved the bridge, on which we crossed about noon. We formed our line of battle on the southern slope, just in the edge of a pine woods, where we built a line of earthworks that were a marvel of strength and completeness. For two days we enjoyed a welcome respite from weary march and whistling bullets, broken only by a short reconnoisance in our front, on the 22d, that disclosed a movement of the rebels far to our right. At 5 a. m., on the 23d, we reluctantly left our fancy earthworks and took up our march for the North Anna, where we arrived about noon and found our cavalry, under Torbert. fighting for the possession of the bridge with the rebels, who were holding some small earthworks on our side of the river, from which they were quickly routed by a gallant charge of two of our leading brigades (Pierce's and Egan's), and the wagon bridge was saved. But the railroad bridge (a high trestle) was partly burned during the night, and at 8 o'clock next morning, the 24th, we crossed, lower down the stream, on a pontoon bridge, and soon ran into the rebels in a well- chosen position, where they resisted the pressure of a strong skirmish line. At 2 o'clock General Smythe ordered our regi- ment to make a charge, which we did, in our usual gallant manner, forcing them back and taking prisoners in a way that won high praise from all our. officers; Joseph L. White and Henry Shelp being severely wounded. On the 25th, threw up earthworks. On the 26th, advanced our picket line just at dark, and by a sharp dash to the front, relieved some of our badly wounded who had fallen outside our lines the day be- fore. During the night, amidst silence and Stygian darkness, the whole army fell back across the river. Three of our com- pany, Moore, Drake and Haines, were left on the picket line until near morning, when they came in on a lively double- quick. At S a. m., May 28th, we were crossing the Pamunkey
Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. 65
River at Hanovertown, over thirty miles away, where we built another fine set of breastworks. We were much amused by the frantic efforts of an aged colored man and wife to dodge the rebel shells flying thickly over a ploughed field, across which they were coming into our line; they had hold of hands, and as the screeching shells flew by, she would grab his coat- tail, or throw her arms around his neck, and both go rolling in the dirt; then up and repeat the performance, amidst our loud applause. We soon moved on to Haw's Shop, where Sheridan was driving the rebel cavalry in his usual style. We were but slightly engaged. On the 29th, 30th and 31st, skir- mishing and manœuvering to cross the Tolopotomy Creek; but we were getting so close to Richmond (sixteen miles) that the rebels gave us no opening. June Ist, another move by left flank to Bethesda Church, and an all night march to Cold Harbor.
5
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COLD HARBOR.
The battle of Cold Harbor, fought June 3, 1864, was one of the dreariest, bloodiest, most unsatisfactory, of our whole list of battles. And the only one where a bayonet charge by the old Second Corps was repulsed ; and the cause of this was, the troops had been marching and fighting right steady, night and day, for just one month. One week in the Wilderness, the next at Spottsylvania, then Po River, Tolopotamy, North Anna, South Anna, and through the swamps of the Chicka- hominy. Our faces were drawn and pinched from excitement and exposure; our clothing ragged and dirty; our scant rations were neither stimulating nor nourishing ; and our ranks were so terribly thinned out, that the whole regiment only took up the space of a company, and the few who were left were not very hungry for more fighting. After a very hot and dusty all-night march, we halted at a little cross-road house, just at sunrise, June 2d. The smiling slaves soon gathered around us, and, in answer to our questions, told us, "Dis yar is Cold Harbor, boss," though why so called, we never found out, as it is far inland. We were completely tired out with our twenty-four hours' march, and were asleep almost as soon as we struck the ground ; but after resting for an hour or more, we were moved up in line of battle, and the rebel bullets from an unseen foe in the bushes ahead of us, began to sing their familiar music in our ears. We halted at a fence, which we soon tore down, piled up, and covered with dirt, for a slight breastwork ; and lay behind this the rest of the day and night, through a very refreshing shower, which settled the dust, cooled the air, and greatly revived our drooping spirits.
In the advance of the skirmishers, next morning at daylight. as we were working our way through the thick bushes, we saw a rebel soldier at the foot of a big tree ahead of us, and as he
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Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.
seemed disinclined to move at the invitation of our rifles, we made a run for him, and found he was cold and stiff, having been killed by our cavalry the day before. In his haversack we found a small loaf of corn bread, one end of which was soaked with his blood, but as Johnny cake was a great luxury to us, we cut off the damp end and breakfasted on the rest, first rolling him out, so we could get back of the tree for a few minutes' rest. Then we advanced to the edge of the open field; the main line came up somewhat broken, and we re-formed for the charge. While doing this, a rebel shell passed right lengthwise of our line, about two feet from the ground, and so close that it seemed-to knock down almost every man in the regiment, just by the force of its wind, and Captain McComb, who was commanding the regiment that morning, and stand- ing facing us, one step in front, had his leg completely torn off, and soon bled to death. We started in on this charge fully determined to either drive them back or die; but the Fifth Corps troops, which connected on our right, failed to be ready and did not move, and as we rushed across the field and lit- tle orchard our flank was in air, and the rebel batteries be- gan to rake our line endways with grape and canister, and by the time we reached their main line, fully one-half of that charging column of three brigades were stretched out on the ground ; and as the rebels very pointedly refused to vacate, we hurriedly fell back, gathering up the wounded as we ran, and sought shelter in the edge of the woods, and back of the same tree from which we had rolled the dead rebel a few min- utes before. Here we held our position; the axes and shovels were brought in by the engineers ; and we cut and rolled up logs for a slight breastwork, right in plain sight of the rebels, not over two hundred yards in front of us. And whilst at this work Joseph Jones received a bullet in the abdo- men, which caused his death a few days later. We held this light line all day, and as soon as it was dark we went to work like beavers, and at daylight next morning we had a fine trench and a bank of earth in front of us, three feet high and ten feet thick, with a head-log on top, raised just high enough to get our muskets under. Here we spent eight days, in com-
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The Men of Company F,
parative safety, while at the front; but the open level ground in the rear made the duty of bringing up supplies very dan- gerous.
Samuel Iredell and Isaac Schlichter were detailed on the morning of June 4th to go to the rear for rations. Sam was hit on the head by a spent ball, which stunned him badly. Isaac was shot through the body and died a few days later, after the shortest service of any man in the company. A new recruit, he spent but one night in our ranks, and received his death-wound in the morning; while Hudson and Haines, by a circuitous route and fast running, succeeded in bringing up the rations. Horner and Moncrief were stunned by a falling limb, cut off by a passing shell, and Bender was badly wounded on the skirmish line. Shelp was killed in the charge, and Shoemaker and Van Houten wounded. The other companies had about the same casualties, so that three officers and ninety- two men were all that were left in the line of that grand old regiment which marched from Woodbury less than two years before with one thousand men. A hole in the earthwork and a shallow ditch made safer communication with our skirmish line; and ditches and trenches in the rear concealed our fires and gave safety in preparing our meals. One comrade, of Company A, dug a cave, wherein he built his fire and made his coffee under ground, a hole serving as a chimney. We . held this position for eight days, in hopes that the rebels would get tired of waiting and come over and make us a friendly visit, as we had called on them the first day, and in common courtesy they should return the call; but they were not sociable, only on two of the nights, when they opened on us with their batteries and gave us a lively serenade of shell and balls, dur- ing which and whilst lying low behind our earthworks, I felt something heavy strike the ground by my side, and by the flash of the guns I saw what I was confident was a smoking shell, which I grabbed up and threw as far as possible to the rear, fully expecting it to burst in my hands, which it luckily failed to do. Next morning, when we looked for that shell, we found an almost round knot, or wart, that a passing cannon ball had knocked off a large tree in our front, and our imagi-
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