USA > New Jersey > New Jersey and the rebellion : a history of the service of the troops and people of New Jersey in aid of the Union cause, Pt. 1 > Part 20
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such until about the 1st of June, when he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel. He commanded the regiment (Colonel Mott being wounded, ) during part of the Pope campaign, and subsequently, Mott being made Brigadier-General, was promoted to the Coloneley. In the Chancellorsville campaign, (as also at Williamsburg and the second Bull Run, ) he was wounded, but not seriously, rejoining the command after a brief absence, and, as senior Colonel, taking command of the brigade. He then par- ticipated in the Gettysburg campaign, and later in the year performed arduous service, in charge of a detached command in the vicinity of Culpepper. Some months later, his health failing, he was medically advised to quit the service, and accordingly, with some reluctance, he sent in his resignation, which was accepted March 4, 1864. Hc was warmly esteemed by both officers and men, and was the recipient, after leaving the service, of a handsome testimonial of their regard.
16 General Mott was now in command of the division, and Colonel McAllister of the brigade, which at this time was known as the Third Brigade, of the Third Division, and included the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh New Jersey, the First and Sixteenth Massachusetts, and the One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania Regi- ments.
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found impossible for the troops to maintain their alignment, so that, when coming into line of battle, owing to the pressure from the Sixth Corps on the right and the Excelsior Brigade on the left, there was not sufficient room to form a line in two ranks-causing for a time considerable embarrassment and difficulty. The move- ment, however, continued, the line of battle presently passing over the skirmish line and opening fire, which was promptly returned. At this moment, unaccountably as it seems, the left of the line sud- denly gave way, and the confusion becoming general, regiment after regiment fell back, all efforts to rally them short of the breast- works being ineffectual.17 The enemy, however, did not advance, and the corps held its position during the night.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 6th, six regiments of the brigade16 again advanced, three regiments, the Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh New Jersey, being placed under Colonel Sewell. The men were soon in position, the regiments under Sewell skirmishing briskly as they moved into an open space in Ward's Brigade, which had become divided, leaving two of its regiments on Sewell's left. Steadily the line advanced, pushing the enemy back, and taking many prisoners. About ten o'clock, the firing on this part of the line ceased for a time, and the men obtained a brief rest, but towards noon, having received reinforcements, the enemy again opened on the left and rear of the brigade. Being thus flanked, Colonel Mc- Allister changed his line so as to face the enemy, and a body of troops in his front giving way, he became speedily and actively engaged, delivering volley after volley into the rebel ranks. Again, however, the enemy flanked his left, and being exposed to a fire in
1: General McAllister's official report of this battle says : "It is impossible to assign any cause for this panic, unless it was the fact that a large number of the troops were about to leave the service. * In the advance, the Eighth New Jersey was on my right, and in coming up found themselves in the rear of the left regiment of the Sixth Corps, who were engaging the enemy. The men of the Eighth laid down, but soon the troops in front gave way, and the Eighth received the fire from the enemy. The Fifth, on its left, then gave way and carried baek with it a part of the Eighth, leaving Captain Steele, with a small portion of the regiment and the colors. He was afterwards relieved by Brigadier-General Ward, and deserves notice for his gallantry. The loss in this regiment was heavy."
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Is The Eighth New Jersey, Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania, and Sixteenth Massachusetts. were at that time detailed from the brigade and in the rear.
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the front, on the left flank and rear, he ordered the troops to fall back to another line. Here again, however, they were taken in flank by a withering fire, and after fighting desperately for a time to hold the position, the men yielded, still contending every inch of the way, and retired to the breastworks, where the brigade was re-formed under shelter of the works and abattis. The fighting up to this time had been of the most furious character, the enemy throwing his heaviest masses of troops against the corps, and displaying a courage amounting almost to madness in his desire to break our lines and obtain possession of the road. But our veterans were equally resolute, equally courageous, and only when overwhelmed by superior numbers, fell back, fighting grimly as they went, to their original line. Here, upon the re-formation, Colonel McAllister, addressing his men, told them they must hold the line-the second-at whatever cost; and bravely did they re- spond, when; as the enemy at a later hour again advanced and our first line presently gave way, they received the full shock of the assault. Not a man in the brigade faltered or fell back ; but stand- ing in solid ranks, firing with deliberate aim and unceasing activity, they held sternly in check the menacing columns. So rapid and destructive was their fire that the enemy found it utterly impossible to hold the first line of works to which he had advanced. One of the finest charges of the day was made at this time when the Sixteenth Massachusetts and Eleventh New Jersey Regiments swept resistlessly across the intervening field and took possession of the works which the enemy had vainly endeavored to secure. Shortly after this charge, Colonel McAllister's horse was killed, and he was injured by a spent ball which paralyzed his leg, and com- pelled him to retire for a time from the field. The fighting on the left, however, was over for the day, and our exhausted forces rested substantially on the ground they had held in the morning. On the following day, when Colonel McAllister again took command of the brigade, it was not engaged, merely shifting its position to another point on the Brock road.19 On the 8th, it moved to a
19 In a letter to the writer, Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover says, in reference to this engagement : "None who passed through the battle of the Wilderness will ever forget
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position near Todd's tavern, where it remained until the 10th, when, our army having cleared the Wilderness and concentrated around Spottsylvania Court House, it advanced to a position on our right, and late in the day moved to the assault. At this time, the brigade was in the front line, and the Sixth New Jersey acted as skirmishers. Moving through the woods, it drove back the enemy's skirmishers towards their works; but on reaching the open field, the rebels opened their batteries, enfilading our lines and causing a portion of the line to fall back and take position at the foot of a hill, where pickets were thrown out and our forces remained for the night. The following day was comparatively quiet. At night- fall, the corps was ordered to move silently to the left, where it took position between Wright and Burnside. At dawn of day, (12th,) under orders from Grant, the corps moved swiftly, in two lines, upon the enemy, the Jersey Brigade being in the second line. Before them was a salient angle of earthworks, held by a division of Ewell's Corps. Swiftly, grandly sweeping over the intervening space-a distance of some one thousand two hundred yards, rugged and thickly-wooded-the assailants dashed with "a thundering cheer" over the front and flank of the enemy's works, surprising and overwhelming the rebels in their trenches, and capturing thirty guns, with some three thousand prisoners, including two Generals and fifty line and field officers, who were secured and sent to the rear. In this heroic charge, the Second Brigade behaved with the greatest gallantry. In the advance the first line, so rapid was the movement, parted in the open field, leaving an open space into which McAllister pushed his brigade, who promptly moving for-
it. On the night of the 7th, I was picket officer for the division; and this night's duty was one of the most unpleasant I ever performed in the army. To establish a picket line at night, in an almost impenetrable wilderness, would be at any time a difficult task, but in addition to this it lay through the battle-ground of the previous day, and in many places the bodies of the dead strewed the ground so thickly that it was difficult to guide my horse among them. At this point, which was on the right of the plank road, the two lines fought with a small stream between them, and on the brow of the hill on one side the rebel dead lay in a perfect line, for at least two hun- dred yards, so closely as to enable a person to step from one to another for the entire distance."
This extract shows the severity of the contest on other parts of the line, as well as on that held by the Jersey Brigade.
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ward, shared in the glory of driving the enemy from his works and joining in the pursuit, until, rallying his forces, he took the offen- sive, and compelled our troops to fall back to the captured works. Here the brigade aided in hauling off the captured guns, some of the men at one time turning two of the pieces upon the enemy who showed a disposition to advance.20
The enemy of course could not afford to be defeated at this juncture; failure at this point would have been annihilation ; and as soon as the surprise was over, he rallied to the assault, fighting with tremendous determination to regain the lost works. For hours the fight raged with unexampled fury, the men fighting hand to hand, with their hostile flags sometimes planted on opposite sides of the same breastwork. Again and again the enemy dashed against our our solid columns, and again and again was repelled with frightful carnage. Night came down with its gloom, but still the fight went on, nor was it until after midnight that Lee desisted and left the victors in possession of the works.
The behavior of the New Jersey regiments in this terrible battle was superb."1 For fourteen hours they stood the very brunt of the
20 "Captain H. D. Crane, Seventhi New Jersey, with a squad of his men, succeeded in removing and manning one of these guns. Adjutant C. F. Moore and Lieutenant S. T. Note, with a squad of men from the Sixth New Jersey, brought back and manned another steel gun, which private Page, of the Eleventh, efficiently helped to work. Two brass pieces were also brought back by other parties from my command. Great credit is due these officers and men for their gallantry. Captain William J. Evans, of the Seventh New Jersey, lost his life while thus engaged. He worked heroically throughout."-Colonel MeAllister's Report.
21 Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, in reference to the steadiness of the Eleventh Regi- ment, says : "On the 10th, when the division was repulsed in making a demonstration against the enemy's works, a portion of the Eleventh Regiment were the only troops rallied, and with these I established a picket line, where we remained until the next day, when we were joined by the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, and a demonstration against the enemy's sharpshooters was made, resulting in the loss of a number of men, and Lieutenant Savage severely wounded." In the same letter, speaking of the fight at the salient point, of which no full account has ever been given, the writer says:
"After the enemy's first line was carried in the morning, our troops were repulsed from a second, running nearly at right angles to the first, and fell back behind the captured line, the reverse side of which gave so little protection, and was so completely covered by the enemy's second line, that our troops were forced to yield it on the right, and move farther to the left. The enemy at once took possession, occupying the same line of works, and succeeded in extending their line until their right reached the point where their artillery was captured in the morning, and here their flank was will protected by traverses, and we were in great danger of losing the entire position, but, fortunately, just at this point there was a hollow extending out from the works,
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storm, never yielding an inch or losing heart in their work. All around them the slaughter was terrible, but they remained unap- palled. The rebel dead were piled in heaps on their side of the works, presenting a spectacle of horror almost without parallel. Among the dead were many wounded, writhing under the bloody heaps. On McAllister's immediate front, where the enemy repeat- edly threw forward his massed columns to break our lines, a tree measuring twenty-six inches in diameter was (it is said) cut down by musket and rifle balls-a fact which shows better than any description the intensity of the fire. The Eleventh Regiment suf- fered heavily in the battle, Captain Sleeper and Lieutenant Egan be- ing among the killed. The loss in killed and wounded in the brigade was seven hundred, not including prisoners and stragglers.2
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and here, by great exertion, a line was formed nearly at right angles to the captured line, and a fire opened over the works before the enemy took full possession. The point was saved. The enemy had possession of the works, but the constant fire over the top, which we delivered from the brow of the hill, made it certain death for then to show their heads. Yet scores of them, either ignorant of our position, or over- anxious to single out an officer, would raise their heads above the works and fall back dead men. A great portion of their firing was at random over the works, and from these random shots we suffered most, as they were generally high, striking our men in the head and inflicting fatal wounds. It was by these shots that Captain Evans, of the Seventh New Jersey, and General Mott's Assistant Adjutant-General, were killed. All day long we tried to dislodge them from these strong works, but withont success. Our only safety was to keep up a constant fire over the top of the works, and it was kept up without cessation. The rebels were protected by strong traverses on their side of the works, but we could only hold our position by a constant fire to keep them down. Relief after relief was brought up, and ammunition by the wagon load was disposed of. I do not believe that less than one hundred thousand rounds of cart- ridges were fired at this one point, during the day and night. The trees in front that received the fire were completely stripped of their foliage, from top to bottom. It looked as though an army of locusts had passed through.
"It was here that the tree was said to have been shot off with bullets, but I am in- clined to believe that it was first badly shattered with a cannon ball. The firing was kept up until midnight, when it is believed the enemy evacuated the position. I visited the ground carly the next morning, and within a space of fifty yards, two hun- dred and fifty rebels lay dead and dying, most of them shot in the head. A short distance from the works lay two Colonels, with their horses near them, and close by an abandoned rebel flag was picked up.
"About ninety of our own men lay dead along the brow of the hill, or along the works, where the almost hand-to-hand fight took place. Nearly all were shot in the head.
"I do not think the history of the war presents another fight of this same character, and one of which there is so little known. Had this little point been given up, the entire position captured in the morning would have been lost. By holding it, the whole position was held."
" Colonel Me Allister, in his official report, says of the fight at the salient point : "The
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This battle, undecisive as it in some respects undoubtedly was, satisfied both commanders that further immediate fighting would be useless, and while there were combats here and there during the succeeding days, no general engagement was brought on, the Union troops occupying the time in burying the dead and fortifying, while the enemy sought in vain for a weak point in our lines. On the 15th, the troops under McAllister, were called out to repel an assault upon our pickets, which they did, though with some loss, (twenty in all,) being exposed to an enfilading battery fire as well as a musketry attack. Lieutenant Joseph C. Baldwin, of the Eleventh Regiment, who for some time had held a position on the staff of Colonel Mc Allister, while sitting with that officer and the Lieutenant-Colonel, leaning against one of the traverses of the line of works occupied by the regiment, was struck on the head by a shell and instantly killed-the shell then rolling to the feet of his companions without exploding. Lieutenant Baldwin, who was a
massed columns of the enemy advanced again and again, and each time were driven back ; but still the battle raged. Heavy masses of our troops held them in check, de- termined not to let them gain an inch. Irrespective of commands, the officers present moved forward troops to hold this point. Having now lost the entrenchments to our right, we formed a line in an obtuse angle. But line after line melted away before the enemy's fire, and it seemed almost impossible to hold the crest of the hill. The Sixteenth Massachusetts Volunteers was ordered, by General Mott, from my left to this position. They lost heavily, and the brave Lieutenant-Colonel Waldo Merriam, commanding the regiment, was killed. Much credit is due the officers and men of this regiment. About this time the brave and gallant F. W. Eayres, A. A. G., of General Mott's staff, was also killed. Now and then, ammunition would run out-a new sup- ply would be furnished ; guns would become foul, when we would order the men back to wash them out, and then return to fight on. The rain poured down, the mnd be- came almost impassable, and men beeame exhausted. Night closed on us, but if we ceased firing for a moment the rebels would advance. The First Regiment Massachu- setts Volunteers were now brought on the line to relieve some that were worn down with fatigue. They fought splendidly until the firing ceased, about three o'clock, a. m., on the morning of the 13th, after firing several hundred rounds of cartridge to the man.
"The brigade I had the honor to command, though mingled with others to some extent, bore a gallant part in this terrible battle. Many of them stood under that galling fire for fourteen hours. The officers and men present did their duty faithfully. Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers, deserves great credit, for assisting to get off the artillery, urging men forward, and encouraging them to stand to their posts-he remaining from the beginning of the contest to its close.
"Had not the utmost exertions, bravery and gallantry been displayed by the officers and men of the several organizations, we would have lost all that was gained that day. The cool bravery there displayed by both officers and men, as individuals, surpasses anything I have ever witnessed in previous contests." 22
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young man of more than ordinary promise, had but a few weeks before returned to the field from the burial of his wife, and for some time had betrayed unusual sobriety of thought, at if the shadow of his coming doom, being cast before, had touched him with some- thing of its chill depression. He had been in the service from the beginning, having volunteered at the first call for troops, and in every position he had performed his duties with rare fidelity and efficiency.23 His sudden fall occasioned a deep sensation in his regiment, and was lamented by hosts of friends in his native State, who had anticipated for him a brilliant career of usefulness and honor.
On the 16th of May, Colonel McAllister resumed command, temporarily, of his own regiment, the Eleventh, General Mott taking the brigade, and the division being incorporated with that of General Birney. At that time, the Eleventh Regiment, so heavy had been its losses, had but one line officer on duty. On the 23d, having two days previously moved into position on the rebel flank, at Bowl- ing Green, the corps (under Hancock,) was ordered forward in pursuit of the enemy, who had retired to the south side of the North Anna, and taken a new position admirably calculated for defence. Advancing to the river at Chesterfield bridge, a division of Long- street's Corps, occupying both sides of the stream, was found ready to dispute our passage, but after a vigorous fire, they were driven in disorder from the redoubt held by them on the north bank, and throwing up breastworks our forces prepared for a decisive
23 In a letter written the day after this sad event, Colonel McAllister says : "Lieutenant Baldwin was an officer of great promise, and a truer patriot never drew a sword." Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, writing of the same affair, says : "Sunday, May 15th, the third day after the battle of Spottsylvania, was one of the saddest of my army life. Lieutenant Joseph C. Baldwin, then my acting adjutant, a most estimable young man and a valuable officer, met with a most sudden death. The line of work- occupied by the regiment on that day was built with traverses, and at that time was being entiladed by one of the enemy's batteries. Lieutenant Baldwin and myself were sitting side by side, leaning against one of the traverses, when a shell foreed its way through between two of the heavy logs, crushed the back of Lieutenant Baldwin's head, rolled on a few feet and stopped. As my head was leaning against his at the time, I was for an instant stunned, and I could hardly realize what had taken place when consciousness returned. At a glance I saw Lieutenant Baldwin dead by my side. myself covered with blood, and an unexploded shell lying a few feet in my front. The sudden death of a valued friend, under such circunstances, made an impression which time cannot casily erase."
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encounter. During the ensuing night, several efforts to destroy the bridge were made by the enemy, but all were baffled. At ten o'clock on the following morning, one hundred men, one-half of whom were from the Second Brigade, under McAllister, crossing the river, stormed and carried the redoubt on the south side-this achievement being promptly followed by the advance of the entire corps, which established itself in the enemy's works and held them, notwithstanding repeated attempts to dislodge it. The enemy's main position, however, being found invulnerable, Grant, on the 26th, ordered a general movement by the flank, the army, after various manœuvers, turning southward and taking the road to Richmond. After heavy skirmishing along the Tolopotomy, in which the Second Brigade had an active part, the corps reached Cold Harbor, where, on June 3d, it participated in the assault upon the enemy's lines, suffering severely but gaining important advan- tages as to position. The Eleventh Regiment lost several men in this engagement, as at other points along the line of advance. On the 7th, our army having gradually moved from its position, ex- tended its left to the Chickahominy, the brigade going into the trenches at Baker's Mill, where it remained until the 12th, suffering a few casualties from the enemy's shells, but having no general engagement. From this point, the corps was shifted across the Chickahominy on Lee's right, and marching swiftly to the James, crossed that river on the afternoon of the 14th, and fell into line for a general assault upon Petersburg. On the 15th, Smith's Corps of Butler's army, advancing upon the enemy, carried the outer line of defences, but did not follow up his advantage. On the 16th, therefore, Grant delivered an assault of all his forces, which resulted in a general advance of our lines, but at a heavy cost of life. Birney, of Hancock's Corps, stormed and carried the ridge in his front, McAllister having charge of all the New Jersey regiments in the first line of the Second Brigade of the division, and the last line being commanded by General Mott. The fight was a desperate one, and all the New Jersey troops suffered severely-the Eleventh Regiment losing forty-four in killed and wounded, out of one hundred and fifty taken into the fight-Captain Layton, a brave
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and efficient officer, being among the former. The contest continued through the night, and in a desultory way during the following day, the enemy struggling continuously to recover the ground he had lost.24 Grant, supposing that the enemy in front had not yet received expected reinforcements, late on the evening of the 17th ordered another general assault for the 18th, and at dawn the corps advanced, driving the enemy from his first line of works and pursuing him for three-quarters of a mile, when he took possession of a new and more formidable line, from which he could not be dislodged, though later in the day a charge was made in front of the Hare House. In this advance, our men were exposed to a scorching fire and hundreds fell along the plains, but the line swept on, notwithstanding, and for two hours held a position near the rebel works. In retiring, many wounded were left behind. Still later in the day another charge was made, in which the Jersey regiments participated, but this also failed, with heavy loss-the First Maine Heavy Artillery, who had the advance, losing six hundred and thirty-two out of nine hundred men. The conduct of all the New Jersey troops engaged was excellent.25
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