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 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
"I never saw men act with more steadiness and coolness, than did the regiment on this occasion. Its loss was heavy, being nearly one-third of the number engaged.
"The regiment was relieved at daylight, and went back to the second line.
"The regiment remained in the works until the 21st, when it moved to the left, aeross the Suffolk road. Halted at two o'clock, p. in., took the regiment on the skirmish line and during the night established a picket line on the left of the Second Brigade where it remained until the afternoon of the next day, when it was compelled to retire to the breastworks, being completely turned by the enemy's advance. Remained in camp in rear of the works until July 12th, when, in accordance with orders from Brigade Head- quarters, the works were destroyed and the regiment moved a mile to the rear and halted near the Jerusalem plank road, where it remained until the forenoon of the 13th, (except a portion of the time which was consumed in leveling works,) when it marched to its present eamp. Remained in camp until the evening of July 28th, when the regiment accompanied the brigade in a march across the Appomattox and James lo Deep Bottom. Halted shortly after daylight and went into position. Moved during the day a short distance to the left, where we remained until the night of July 27th, when we returned, halting in rear of the Eighteenth Corps, a little before daylight."
[So much of the above report as covers the operations from May 12th to June 17th, la General MeAllister's, who commanded the regiment during that time. The remainder of the report is Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover's.]
Lieutenant-Colonel Schoonover, in elosing liis notes of the regimental experience, is supplied to the writer, says :
"Among individual aets of bravery, I desire to mention that of Captain Kearney at 38
298 .
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Chancellorsville, who kept up the fight with a few men until nearly surrounded by the enemy.
"On the night of the 5th of November, 1864, when the picket line in front of Peters. burg had been driven in by the enemy, Captain Gage made a personal reconnaissance previous to re-capturing the line, and actually went up to the same pit occupied by the enemy, and barely made his escape amidst a shower of bullets.
"Sergeant Lauterman, of Company H, I considered one of the bravest men in the regiment. At Chancellorsville, after the two lines had been hotly engaged for some time, he went directly to the front and ascertained the enemy's position. His bravery was the coolest I ever witnessed. He was killed at Spottsylvania, May 12th.
"At Gettysburg, Sergeant Jolinson, color-bearer, when the line was falling back in the midst of a galling fire, was ordered to advance twenty yards to the front with his colors and remain there until ordered to the rear. The line continued to fall back. but Sergeant Jolinson remained like a statue until ordered back into position.
" While it may not be proper for me to speak of a superior officer, I, nevertheless, feel it a duty to draw some attention to the services of General McAllister. No officer from New Jersey performed more honest and faithful duty than he. His bravery was always cool, and he was always found at the post of danger. He was severely
wounded at Gettysburg, and had two horses shot under him in the battles of the Wilderness. His service at the Boydton plank road, for which he was brevetted Brigadier-General, has become a matter of history. At this time he was under command of Brigadier-General Egan. One of his chief virtues as an officer was his ceaseless vigilance. He was never surprised. At the battle of Hatcher's Run, February 5, 1S05. he particularly distinguished himself, repulsing with his brigade two rebel division4. During the hottest of the engagement he rode back and forth along the lines, encouraz. ing the men."
SKETCH OF COLONEL SCHOONOVER.
John Schoonover joined the First New Jersey Regiment at its organization as s private, and served with the knapsack and musket for about a year, being subsequently made Commissary-Sergeant, in which position he remained until the Eleventh Regi- ment was raised, when he was made its Adjutant, serving with marked credit in all the campaigns of the regiment prior to the battle of Gettysburg. He was especially recom- mended by General Carr for gallant conduct in that battle, at which, Colonel McAllister being wounded, he assumed command of the regiment, which he retained until the 17th of September following. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment in August, 1863, and served, most of the time in command, in all the subsequent cam :- paigns of the Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted Colonel for gallantry in action before Petersburg, and also for meritorious conduct in the campaign ending in the surrender of Lee's army. He was three times wounded-at Gettysburg, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. Colonel Schoonover was, under all circumstances, a courageous and efficient soldier and commander, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him, not only for his soldierly qualities, but for his exalted character and genuine worth as a man.
Chaplain Cline says of Colonel Schoonover: " He ever showed himself to be a mau of rare excellence, of great firmness and energy, of a dauntless courage which never calculated danger when a duty was to be performed, a high sense of right and unflinch- ing adlicrence to its obligations, with intellectual endowinents of a superior order, and social qualities which won the affection and admiration of all his associates. Kind !. hearted to his command, never exacting from them any unnecessary work, and always ready to do everything in his power for their comfort and happiness, he was universally beloved and honored, and there was scarcely one who would not gladly have given his life, if needs be, to save his. (I speak mostly of the old men of the rest ment, and not the late substitutes. ) But let it not be thought the Colonel had no con- trol of the men. Brave himself and ever in the front of the battle, he took them there : and in camp, his regiment was in the highest state of discipline and order."
.
CHAPTER X.
THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
THE Twelfth Regiment was raised under the second call of the President for three hundred thousand men, Robert C. Johnson, of Salem, formerly Major of the Fourth Regiment, (three months' men,) being commissioned as Colonel early in July, 1862. Wood- bury, in Gloucester County, was selected as the rendezvous; and on the 25th of July, the first detachment of recruits was mustered into the State service and. went into camp. By the second week in August, nearly all the companies were full, and on the 4th of Sep- tember, the regiment was formally mustered into the service of the United States with about nine hundred and fifty men.1 Many of the officers had already seen service in other regiments, but com- paratively few of the men were familiar with military duties or re-
! The men were all recruited in the First Congressional District, except two com- panies from Burlington County. There were two companies from Burlington County, one from Gloucester, one from Cumberland, and the remainder from Camden and Burlington. Captain J. Howard Willetts, of Cumberland, formerly of the Seventh New Jersey Regiment, who had greatly distinguished himself in the Peninsular campaign, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and Thomas H. Davis, of Camden, of the Fourth (three months') Regiment, was appointed Major. Dr. Alvin Satterthwait, was made Surgeon, and the company officers were as follows :
Company A-Captain, S. S. Chase; First Lieutenant, Josiah Franklin; Second Lieu- tenant, Ellis P. Phipps. Company B-Captain, Joel W. Cliff; First Lieutenant, B. F. Lee; Second Lieutenant, - Wilson. Company C-Captain, W. H. Scholey; First Lieutenant, Newton M. Brooks; Second Lieutenant, T. F. Harris. Company D-Cap- tuin, William Henry Moore; First Lieutenant, Jolin W. Paris; Second Lieutenant, James MeIllhenny. Company E-Captain, C. K. Horsfall; First Lieutenant, P. M. Armington ; Second Lieutenant, James McCoomb. Company F-Captain, E. L. Stratton; First Lieutenant, J. J. Trinible; Second Lieutenant, Joseph Pierson. Company G-Captain, S. B. Jobes; First Lieutenant, James T. Lowe; Second Lieutenant, Charles E. Trout- man. Company HI-Captain, H. A. Mattison; First Lieutenant, Joshua Lippincott; Second Lieutenant, John M. Fogg. Company I-Captain, Henry F. Chew; First Lieutenant, Frank M. Acton; Second Lieutenant, Theodore F. Null. Company K- Captain, R. S. Thompson ; First Lieutenant, Daniel Dare; Second Lieutenant, William E. Potter.
300
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
quirements, though all entered cheerfully upon the work of pre- paring for the duties before them. On the' 7th of September, the regiment left the State for Washington, but at Baltimore was di- verted from its course by General Wool, commanding that district, who ordered it to proceed to Ellicott's Mills, the county-seat of Howard County, Maryland, and fifteen miles from Baltimore on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This place was reached on the evening of the 8th, and a camp was at once estab- lished on an elevation just out of town. The country at that point is undulating, with the Patapsco River flowing on its winding way past the town towards the Chesapeake Bay, and the camp of the Twelfth was surrounded on all sides by scenery of the loveliest description. On the night of the 9th, one company was ordered to a small town, some two and a half miles from the camp, for the purpose of guarding a bridge at the railroad crossing, and here the first actual duties of the regiment were performed, the bridge in question being regularly guarded from that time forward. At this time, the second battle of Bull Run had just been fought, and the enemy was moving into Maryland, the Army of the Potomac marching in pursuit, while the reserve and newly-recruited forces were being sent by rail, with all possible despatch, to the scene of conflict, which, a few days later, proved to be at South Mountain. Some days after the battle at this point, a detachment of the Twelfth was sent to Monocacy Junction to escort the paroled Union troops, who had been so basely betrayed by General Miles, to Annapolis. Maryland, and the country being now infested with rebel spies and skulkers from our army, pickets were, at the same time, established on all the main roads for some miles from the camp, with a view of arresting all suspicious characters. During the three months that the regiment remained at this place, some one thousand five hun- dred prisoners, thus arrested by the pickets, were brought in, and. with the evidence justifying their detention, were sent to Baltimore and Fort McHenry.
From this time-the termination of the rebel invasion-until the 6th of December, the Twelfth remained unemployed, except in camp and picket duty, and the construction of winter quarters. In these
301
THE TWELTFH REGIMENT.
a comfortable sojourn was anticipated, but the expectation was doomed to disappointment. On the day named, the regiment re- ceived marching orders, and four days later started for Washington by rail, reaching that city on the following afternoon. Here the men were supplied with the Springfield (smooth bore) muskets, in exchange for the Austrian rifles heretofore carried, and on the 13th, coming into Maryland, the command resumed its advance, marching over difficult roads, and exposed to a pelting storm, to Liverpool Point, where, on the 17th, it crossed to Aquia Creek, near which it encamped, and encountered for the first time the really distressing scenes of war. The battle of Fredericksburg had just been fought and lost by Burnside, and the wounded and dying were coming by hundreds from the bloody field, the pale faces of the one, and the agonizing cries of the other, appealing with a pathetic power to the yet tender sensibilities of the men of the Twelfth. The regiment remained in the position first occupied until the 20th, when it pro- ceeded to Falmouth, going into camp about a mile and a half from the Rappahannock, and settling down at once into the routine of winter-quarters, and daily camp and outpost duty.
On the 1st of March, Colonel Johnson resigning on account of ill- health, Lieutenant-Colonel Willets was promoted to the Colonel- cy, and Major Davis to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, while Captain John T. Hill, of the Eleventh New Jersey, was made Major of the regiment. At length the winter passed, and with the opening spring, preparations were made for a resumption of active opera- tions. On the 27th of April, General Hooker, having matured his plans, moved his columns to the assault. At this time, the Twelfth was attached to the Third Divison of the Second Corps, and during the memorable campaign now initiated, shared both the honors and the perils of that magnificent command. Breaking camp on the 28th, the regiment marched to United States Ford, where, on the 30th, it crossed the Rappahannock, marching thence to a point near Chancellorsville, where it encamped for the night. At this time, there had been but little fighting, and that mainly between our cavalry and the retiring rebels. On the morrow, battle was joined in desperate earnest, the conflict raging all day with terrific ferocity.
302
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
The Second Corps, however, was not engaged, although held in readiness, and late in the day, advanced some two miles,-only to find the enemy retiring, and our forces holding their position. Early on the morrow, the contest was renewed, continuing with great vigor during the entire day, but it was not until six o'clock in the even- ing that the Twelfth was ordered to advance. Moving on a double. quick to the Chancellor House, a line was formed in rear of one of our batteries, but the enemy soon after withdrew, when the division was ordered to another part of the field, to support the lines against which Stonewall Jackson had thrown his corps with crushing force. It was in this movement, while marching along the plank road to take position, that the regiment was placed under fire for the first time. Two men of Company H were wounded by an exploding shell, but not seriously. Later in the evening, the firing having ceased, the regiment was moved still further to the front and placed in line of battle, where it remained until the following morning, when the enemy again pushed forward his columns to the attack. and the engagement soon became general, the rebels directing their blows at Sickles' Corps on the right, which, after stubbornly fight- ing for some hours, causing terrible havoc in the rebel ranks, was compelled to recede some two hundred yards. About this time, two divisions of the Second Corps, including that to which the Twelfth was attached, were advanced to the rescue, and engaged the enemy for perhaps half an hour, being ultimately obliged to retire. The men of the Twelfth behaved with great gallantry, the loss being severe, amounting to one hundred and seventy-nine in killed, wounded and missing. Colonel Willets was seriously wounded in the arm, while bravely encouraging his men, whereupon Major Hill assumed command-Lieutenant-Colonel Davis being sick. Lieutenant James Pearson, of Company F, and Lieutenant J. P. Franklin of Company A, were killed ; Captain Stratton of Com- pany F, lost a limb; and later in the day, Captain H. Mattison, of Company H, and Private John Graff, of the same company, were wounded by shells, many of which fell in the ranks. The regi- ment also lost its color-sergeant, William Walton, in this engage- ment. The Twelfth, although under arms during the two succeed-
.303
THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
ing days and nights, was not again engaged, and on the night of the 5th, re-crossing the Rappahannock, proceeded to its old camp, having in its first battle lost one-tenth of its men. Many of them, however, having been but slightly, wounded rejoined the com- mand during the following month. The regiment was now under command of Major Hill; and the division being re-organized, the Twelfth was assigned to the Second Brigade, consisting of the Twelfth New Jersey, First Delaware, One Hundred and Eighth New York and Fourteenth Connecticut, under command of Colonel Thomas H. Smythe, First Delaware Volunteers. About the end of May, General French was relieved from his division, and ordered to the command of Harper's Ferry, the division being temporarily commanded by Colonel S. S. Carroll, Eighth Ohio Volunteers. The Second Corps was now commanded by General Hancock. About the 1st of June, the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth New Jersey Regiments (nine months' men) were ordered home for muster- out, and from this time until the spring of 1864, the Twelfth was the only New Jersey Regiment in that corps.
Meanwhile, General Lee, hoping to profit from an offensive move. ment, was moving towards the Potomac, and on the 14th of June, the rebel advance having already crossed into Maryland, Hooker again put his columns in motion, the Twelfth Regiment breaking camp at nine o'clock in the evening of that day, and marching directly by way of Aquia Creek to Fairfax Station. Thence, on the 19th, it marched by way of Gainesville in the direction of Warrenton, remaining some days in that vicinity, on the watch against the rebel cavalry hanging on the flank of our army. On the 25th, the march was resumed in an easterly direction, the Poto- inac being crossed the next day at Edward's Ferry. On the night of the 1st of July, the regiment halted two miles from Gettysburg, where fighting had already commenced. The next morning, the corps (Second) moved rapidly into position on Cemetery Hill, forming the center of our line. The right of the brigade (One Hundred and Eighth New York) was placed in a grove of trees immediately south of the cemetery, the Twelfth regiment on its left reaching up towards, but not resting against, the grove. Soon after
304
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
reaching the field, Company I, of the Twelfth, was sent out on the skirmish line, but the combat not yet being opened, only two or three casualties were sustained, and during the afternoon a house and barn standing about two hundred yards west of the Emmetts. burg road, and nearly equi-distant from either army,-perhaps one thousand yards from our line-having been occupied as a cover by the rebel sharpshooters, Companies B, H, E and G, were sent out to dislodge them, which they did, capturing six commissioned officers and eighty men, but with considerable loss-Captain Hors- fall, of Company E, a brave officer, being killed, and Lieutenant Eastwick wounded. This exploit closed the fighting of the day, so far as the Twelfth was concerned. The battle was renewed carly on the morning of the 3d, on the right, but the center did not be- come warmly engaged until the afternoon, when the enemy opened one hundred and fifteen guns on Cemetery Hill. The Twelfth, however, was not idle. An attack from the enemy being anticipa- ted, the men had hastily constructed breastworks, using on a part of the line the natural defence of a stone wall, and throwing up on the left of the regimental line frail earthworks, resting upon heaps of rails, Meanwhile, five companies of the regiment, with the First Delaware, had been sent out to charge the buildings in front, and disperse the enemy. This was successfully accomplished, but not without serious loss to the regiment-Lieutenant Trimble, of Com. pany F, and some twenty five men being wounded. At length, the rebel cannonading having ceased, there was a lull, but it was only for a moment. Soon the rebel infantry, emerging from behind batteries on the eastern slope of Oak Ridge, advanced in three lines of battle to the assault, pressing straight up to Ceme- tery Hill, where the Second Corps awaited their coming. Still on and on they came, our artillery sweeping their ranks, but the lines still presenting an unbroken front. They had the flower of their army in the advance, and victory was staked upon the issue. Still they swept up the slopes, until at last, all along the hill, the battle beat and raged with hideous fury. But at last, as they crossed the Emmettsburg road, only a hundred yards from our immovable line, a storm of fire and lead burst right in their faces, volley after
305
THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
volley of musketry smiting their serried ranks. At the same in- stant enfilading fires from half a score of crests, swept over and among them. Then, at last, their stern lines wavered ; then, crum- bled and broken, gave way. But again, in one fierce, convulsive effort, they returned to the charge, but again were swept away like merest chaff, and now, disheartened and beaten, finally withdrew, leaving us victors at all points on the field. During this fearful infantry contest, the Twelfth was actively engaged, but only lost five or six men killed, including one officer and thirty men wounded. During the artillery duel, preceding the assault, several shells fell in the ranks of the regiment, one of which killed George Martin, of Company A, besides wounding a number of men ; but the aggre- gate casualties were comparatively few, considering the nature of the combat, and the exposure of the men."
This decisive victory practically ended the fighting at Gettysburg, as it ended the invasion. During the 4th, there was some skirmish- ing at various points on the lines, Company A of the Twelfth, being sent out as a reserve to the skirmish line during the afternoon, but only one man, Thomas Whitsell, was wounded. On the 5th, the enemy having retreated-after removing the wounded and burying the dead-our army started in pursuit. The Twelfth, however, was not again engaged. Crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, on the 18th, it moved forward with the army to Warrenton, where it rested for a time from the fatigues of the campaign. On the 1st of August, the division was detached from the corps, to do picket duty on and near the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and the
2 A note from an officer of the regiment, says of the fighting at Gettysburg:
"On the 2d, the Twelfth Regiment was put in position on the right of the Second Corps, just to the left of Woodruff's Battery, on Cemetery Hill, to the front and about two hundred yards to the right of the headquarters of General Meade, and near a small house on the ridge. On the afternoon of the 2d of July, four companies of the regi- ment made a most gallant charge upon a barn filled with the enemy's sharpshooters, situate about six hundred yards in front of our position ; and though strongly resisted, captured it, with about one hundred prisoners. In this attack, Captain Horsfall, of Camden, commanding Company E, was killed. This charge was repeated the next morning by four other companies of the regiment, and the barn again taken.
"In the final assault of the 3d of July, the Twelfth, with its brigade, were attacked by Pettigrew's Brigade of North Carolina troops, which was formed upon the left flank of Pickett's Division, but repulsed them with very severe loss, capturing many prison- ers and several colors. Lieutenant Richard H. Townsend, of Cape May, was killed in this action. The loss in the regiment was about one hundred and twenty."
39
306
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Twelfth was so fortunate as to secure a camp in the midst of a grove, with a stream of water running through it, where each wing of the regiment enjoyed its ease, when not on picket. Some weeks later, however, the enemy having captured two gunboats on the Rappa- bannock River, below Fredericksburg, this camp was temporarily abandoned, the division (on August 31st,) marching to a point on the river a few miles above Fredericksburg, where it acted as a support to the cavalry, who crossed the river, re captured and de- stroyed the gunboats-the infantry, thereupon, returning to their old position. On the 12th of September, the army was again put in motion. Crossing the Rappahannock, Pleasanton's Cavalry drove in the rebel cavalry, under Stuart, to Brandy Station and Culpepper Court House, and thence across the Rapidan, capturing two guns and quite a body of prisoners. The infantry columns at once fol- lowed the cavalry, the Second Corps advancing to, and taking po- sition upon, the Rapidan, while the bulk of our force was posted at Culpepper Court House. The Twelfth Regiment, for the three fol- lowing weeks, was engaged in picket duty, but the corps (on the 5th of October) being relieved by the Sixth, it proceeded to the rear. But a few days elapsed, however, when the columns were again put in motion; Lee having crossed Robertson's River, and advanced in force from Madison Court House on our right, our forces re-crossed the Rappahannock, the Second Corps being in the rear. On the 14th, when near Auburn Mills, some two miles east of War- renton, the rebel cavalry made an attack upon this corps, evidently hoping to capture its train ; but they were repulsed with loss, and the corps continued its retreat towards Centreville, the point which Lee was straining every nerve to reach in advance of our troops. The rebel cavalry sharply pursuing, their advance, supported by infantry, came up with our rear near Bristow Station, and a sharp engagement ensued. The Twelfth Regiment which, with the Second Brigade, held the rear, was promptly hurried up, and being placed in line, moved to a "cut" in the railroad, where, under shelter from the enemy's musketry, it became warmly engaged. The enemy (Hill's Corps) was finally repulsed with the loss of six guns, five of which were at once seized and put to use on our side. In this
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.