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. 2 > Part 24
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On the 21st of January, 1864, the Thirty-fourth returned to Columbus, Kentucky. General Smith and the rest of the com- mand moving away, down the Mississippi, the regiment was left at that point as a permanent garrison. Colonel Lawrence was placed in command of the post, and Major Abeel in command of the regiment. The men were housed in comfortable barracks, and advantage was taken of this opportunity to thoroughly drill the battalion and fit it for active service. The Inspector of the Depart- ment, about this time. complimented it as the best drilled, equipped and ordered regiment in his inspection district.
During the winter of 1864, a company of the regiment was mounted under command of Lieutenant Julian Wright, a gallant officer, who succeeded in breaking up and capturing various preda- tory bands of guerillas or "wild-cavalry." These bands fre- quently appeared in such force as to require the support of the whole regiment, and often upon these occasions, both officers and men gave evidence of superior courage and efficiency.
One incident in the history of the regiment about this time is recorded in the report of General Grant, and deserves special notice. Speaking of Forrest's raid into Kentucky, he says:
"During the months of March and April, 1864, this same force, under Forrest, an- noyed us considerably. On the 24th of March it captured Union City, Kentucky, and its garrison, and on the 24th attacked Paducah, commanded by Colonel S. G. Hicks, Fortieth Illinois Volunteers. Colonel H., having but a small force, withdrew to
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THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
the forts near the river, from where he repulsed the enemy and drove him from the place.
"On the 13th of April part of this force, under the rebel General Buford, summoned the garrison of Columbus, Kentucky, to surrender, but received for reply from Colonel Lawrence, Thirty-fourth New Jersey Volunteers, that, being placed there by his gov- ernment, with adequate force to hold his post and repel all enemies from it, surrender was out of the question."
The facts as to this affair are briefly these : On the morning of the 13th of April, a brisk skirmishing commenced on the picket- line ; presently the enemy appeared in considerable force, and the command prepared for action. Soon, however, the firing ceased, on the appearance of a flag of truce bearing a letter from General Buford, commanding a portion of the Confederate forces, in which he stated that he desired to avoid the useless effusion of blood, and demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender of the Post. Colonel Lawrence's prompt and gallant reply is given above. After a desultory skirmish for some hours, the enemy withdrew,. foiled in his purpose to carry the position.
During the month of May, a spirited engagement took place at Hickman, Kentucky, between a detachment of the Thirty-fourth and some rebel cavalry. No prisoners were taken, but several of the enemy were killed. Lieutenant Johnston distinguished him- self by a hand to hand contest with some of the enemy, whom he finally dispatched with his pistol.
On the 9th of July, the regiment was ordered to proceed into the interior for the purpose of dispersing the command of Colonel Outlaw who was plundering the country with a force of some five hundred men. The enemy was encountered in force near Clinton, Kentucky, and after a sharp action of two hours, he was defeated with a loss of five killed, thirty wounded, and seventeen prisoners, including the notorious Captain Kesterson, who was executed shortly after.
During two months following, Captain Ekings' Company was stationed upon Island Number Ten, where it rendered efficient service. On the 15th of August, the regiment was ordered by General Payne, then in command of the District of Western Ken- tucky, to proceed up the Ohio River to a place called Uniontown, Kentucky, to join other troops in an expedition in quest of the
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rebel Generals Johnston and Adams, who had "raided" into Ken- tucky. The command was organized in brigades, of which Lieu- tenant-Colonel Moore commanded one, including the Thirty-fourth, under command of Major Abeel. After a march of several days without discovering the enemy, the force was broken up, and the Thirty-fourth returned to Columbus. On the 28th of August, the regiment was ordered to Mayfield, Kentucky, where it remained several weeks, engaged in constructing an elaborate fortification, but was finally withdrawn to Paducah. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Moore met with an accident which disabled him for duty. Major Abeel was detached from the regiment at one time as president of a Military Commission, and afterwards as permanent officer of the picket. Colonel Lawrence was placed in command of a cavalry brigade, the regiment being under the command of Captain Ekings.
About the 25th of December, 1864, the regiment was ordered to join General A. J. Smith's Corps (the Sixteenth), and proceed to Nashville. It arrived there too late for the battle-and accord- ingly returned to Paducah on the 10th of January, 1865. Major Abeel here resigned, and the regiment, under command of Colonel Lawrence, left Paducah on the 11th of January, for Eastport, Mississippi, with the Eleventh Army Corps. Here they suffered keenly for want of food, having nothing to eat for four days except parched corn. On the 7th of February, the regiment left Eastport with the rest of General Smith's command, the latter having been ordered to report to General Canby at New Orleans. The com- mand reached the latter city on the 22d of February. The capture of Mobile having been determined upon, on the 17th of March the regiment left New Orleans with the whole command for Dauphin's Island. On the Sth and 9th of April it took part in the assault and capture of the Spanish fort, Forts Hugar, Tracey and Blakeley, in which action it lost three killed and fifteen wounded. At Fort Blakeley the regiment was in the center of the assaulting line; on its right was the Eleventh Wisconsin and on its left the One Hun- dred and Seventy-eighth New York, the brigade being under the command of Colonel Wilson. Colonel Lawrence led the regiment
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THE THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
gallantly, and both officers and men conducted themselves with distinguished courage, not a man flinching from the fierce rain of shot and shell poured out from the fort. They were not the first over the walls, only because they had a longer and harder road than the other regiments of the brigade.
After the capture of Mobile, the regiment was sent to Montgom- ery, Alabama. There it remained for several months, doing pro- vost duty and supporting the Freedmen's Bureau. During the fall and winter of 1865, detached companies were stationed at Monte- vallo, Talladega, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa and other towns on the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad. In the month of October, 1865, Colonel Lawrence resigned, when Lieutenant-Colonel Moore became Colonel, afterwards receiving the brevet of Brigadier-Gen- eral. The regiment was mustered out on the 10th of April, 1866, and reached Trenton on the 30th of April, where it was paid off and disbanded.
The Thirty-fourth New Jersey, serving as it did two thousand miles from home, attracted less attention than those New Jersey troops who were more nearly under the eye of the State. Going to the Western army, it encountered the prejudice which existed in that army against Eastern troops, but it served long enough to live down that prejudice, to wring expressions of admiration from unwilling lips, and to carry the fame of New Jersey soldiers into the valley of the Mississippi.
The regiment was unfortunate in not having been sooner ordered into the field with the larger armies, but when it did encounter the enemy, it never failed to do its entire duty. It had the honor of striking one of theglast blows at the rebellion, and of being the last volunteer regiment from New Jersey to quit the service of the Union upon the conclusion of the war.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
THE Thirty-fifth Regiment, recruited chiefly in the Counties of Essex and Hunterdon, was mustered into service at Flemington, in September, 1863, and soon after proceeded to Washington.1 Thence, it was transferred, some weeks later, by way of Wheeling and Cincinnati, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, to Paducah, Kentucky, whence, in company with the Thirty-fourth Regiment, it was con. veyed by transports up the Tennessee River to Eastport, Missis- sippi, where a force of troops was collecting with a view of guard- ing the communications of our army in the interior. Other orders, however, being received, the regiment, early in December, was removed to Columbus, Kentucky, and thence to Union City, Ten- nessee, where it went into winter quarters, Colonel Cladek having for a time command of the post. About the middle of January, 1864, the regiment returned to Columbus, and with the rest of the command proceeded down the Mississippi to Vicksburg. Moving
1 The original roster of the regiment was as follows :
Colonel, John J. Cladek ; Licutenat-Colonel, Willian A. Henry; Major, Austin H. Patterson; Adjutant, J. Augustus Fay, Jr. ; Quartermaster, Lemuel R. Young ; Sur- gcon, George E. Summers; Assistant-Surgeons, Richard G. Taylor, John T. Lanning ; Chaplain, Nathaniel L. Upham. Company A-Captain, Charles A. Angel; First Licu- tenant, Andrew L. Day ; Second Lieutenant, James McMillan. Company B-Captain, William H. Williams ; First Lieutenant, Robert Rea; Second Lieutenant, Edwin G. Smith. Company C-Captain, George E. Dayton; First Lieutenant, Samuel H. Pen- nington, Jr. ; Second Lieutenant, Stephen D. Soulc. Company D-Captain, Richard D. Cook; First Lieutenant, David Pierson; Second Lieutenant, David S. Oliphant. Company E-Captain, John B. Sine; First Lieutenant, Charles B. Cornish ; Second Lieutenant, James Vanover. Company F-Captain, Ira C. Carman, Jr. ; First Licuten- ant, Abraham J. Beekman; Second Lieutenant, Samuel J. Beckman. Company G- Captain, Louis Helmer ; First Lieutenant, Frank S. Taylor; Second Lieutenant, John N. Rose; Jr. Company II-Captain, William Spain; First Lieutenant, James W. Chris- tie; Second Lieutenant, Lawrence Farrell. Company I-Captain, Augustus Dusch- berry ; First Lieutenant, Samuel J. Harman; Second Lieutenant, John R. Ross. Com- pany K-Captain, John T. Rowell; First Lieutenant, Henry A. Speeler; Second Lieu- tenant, Charles F. Cole.
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THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
out from that point, it participated in the Meridian expedition in February, having several skirmishes and losing a few men, being absent altogether thirty-two days. Returning to Vicksburg, it was now transferred to Cairo, whence, after a week, it was sent to Sherman's army, then preparing around Chattanooga for its memorable campaign against Atlanta. Here it was attached to the First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Corps, and without delay addressed itself to the work of preparing for the formidable encounters justly supposed to lie before it.
The first engagement of any importance in which the regiment participated, occurred on the 13th and 14th of May, before Resaca, Georgia, to which the rebel army under General Johnston had fallen back from Dalton. On the morning of the 13th, the Thirty- : fifth, which belonged to the Fourth Division of the Sixteenth Corps, was ordered to advance, which it did for a distance of some five miles, when line of battle was formed, and the advance was renewed, the troops pushing over hills and through ravines, until the extreme front was reached. The regiment was now in an open plain, with the enemy only some two hundred yards distant, con- cealed by bushes, from which he at once opened fire. The fire, however, was promptly returned, compelling the rebels, numbering two regiments, to abandon their position in some disorder. The Thirty-fifth, then obtaining the cover of the woods (but pursuit being deemed imprudent), was ordered to the left as a support to a battery. Here the men were peculiarly exposed, being not only in line of the shots of the enemy, but liable to be crushed by the falling branches of trees severed by the balls and shells of our own guns. The regiment, however, stood bravely at its post, holding the ground during the night-having lost during the day one man killed (Rudolph P. Cain, of Company K,) and thirteen wounded. On the morning of the 14th, the enemy again opened fire, no reply, however, being made by our line. About noon, the Thirty-fifth was ordered up as a support to a storming party, and being obliged to move along a narrow road and across a bridge, suffered some loss from the musketry of the rebels, of whom there were two brigades in front. The regiment, however, bravely per-
82
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NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
formed its part, and being afterwards ordered to the right to assist in checking an advance of the rebels, successfully executed that duty also, repulsing the enemy and holding and intrenching the ground it had occupied. Here, behind the hastily constructed works, the command remained during the whole of the following day, repelling all assaults and inflicting serious damage on the enemy. Resaca being evacuated, on the 15th Captain Angel, with two companies, was sent into the town, where he captured thirty prisoners and took two mails. Among the wounded in these two days' operations were Lieutenants S. J. Harman and E. G. Smith. The total casualties amounted to two men killed, two officers and twenty men wounded.2
: The following is Colonel Cladek's report of this action as made to Governor Parker :
"SIR: I have the honor to report to your Excelleney, the part taken by my regi- ment, under my command, in the action of Resaca, Georgia, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of May, 1864.
"Between the hours of three and four o'clock, p. m., May 13th, the regiment formed in the third line of battle on the right of General Morgan L. Smith's command, advancing in line over fenees and up a wooded hill, crossing ravines hardly passable for mounted officers. My regiment cleared the fences and wood-land at double-quick time, coming out on an open plain facing the river Oostenaula, about two miles above the town of Resaca, Georgia. The regiment had but cleared the woods, when two rebel regiments opened a brisk fusilade fire on us. I immediately gave the command "commence firing," not, however, before I had three or four men wounded. Two lines of battle were before me when I entered the woods, but somehow, through the nature of the ground I got to the extreme front; the firing lasted about fifteen min- utes, when both the rebel regiments gave way and ran, when I withdrew my regiment under cover of the woods, on account of a regiment to my left giving way, and I think- ing myself flanked-otherwise I would have charged upon the retreating rebel regi- ments. In this day's action I lost one killed and thirteen wounded ; my own and Lieu- tenant (Aeting Adjutant) Pierson's horses were wounded. The enemy giving way in this quarter, we were ordered to the left to support some of our batteries, but in such a position as to be under two fires, the enemy's shells bursting over us, and our own shot tearing limbs of trees to splinters above our heads, which became dangerous for my men. Here I lost several men wounded, as two of my companies, E and I, were out skirmishing with the rebels, under command of Captain Charles A. Angel, my Acting Major, on the river front.
"Early on the morning of the 14th, we left our position of supporting batteries for Resaca. We crossed a bridge under the rebel works where we received a deadly fire from artillery and infantry, under cover of rifle-pits. Here I lost one man killed and one wounded, and would have lost many had I not immediately, seeing the danger, ordered my men under cover. Shortly after an order came to return to our brigade, ordered to the rear for refreshment and rest. But at that moment our right center under General Morgan L. Smith being repulsed, I was ordered with my regiment to his support, passing through the right under the rebel works.
"After arriving on the new position assigned me, the Thirty-fifth gave three rousing cheers, tending to inspire our troops in front with fresh energy, when the rebels opened
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THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
The enemy having withdrawn, our army at once pressed forward in pursuit, capturing Rome and Kingston, appearing in the vicinity of Dallas on the 25th. The country traversed was very rugged, mountainous and densely wooded, with few and obscure roads, and the march was attended by many discomforts; but the troops sub-
a cross-fire of shot, shell and eannister upon us as we advaneed, but fortunately, we escaped with one man wounded. At half past nine o'eloek, p. m., we were ordered to throw up intrenehments, which we did, and at three o'eloek, a. m., the 15th, we were safely behind them, where we lay safe all the following day-delivering a murderous fire, and repulsing every attempt made by the rebels to advanee, the enemy's fire tak- ing no effeet upon us. Some time during the night the rebels evacuated Resaea, and Captain Angel, with the two companies under his eommand, was ordered to enter the town, which duty he performed admirably, capturing thirty rebels and two mails, one to, and one from their army, which they did not have time to assort.
"In respect to the behaviour of my regiment in this action I cannot find words to express my satisfaction. Officers and men tried to outdo caeh other in gallant beha- viour, especially Captain Charles A. Angel, Acting Major, and Lieutenant David Pier- son, Aeting Adjutant. To both those officers great honor is due. I not alone recom- mend them to your exeelleney, but the whole regiment to a man, acting like a body of soldiers grown old in battles. I feel as proud of them as Napoleon did of his 'Old Guard.' They have earned and won for themselves a gallant name among our Western troops in the Department, and Army of the Tennessee.
"JOHN J. CLADEK,
" Colonel Commanding Regiment."
The following correspondence between General Woods and General Dodge, Com- manding the Left Wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, is of interest in this connection :
"HEADQUARTERS, FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, FIFTEENTH CORPS, NEAR KINGSTON, GEORGIA, May 21, 1864. 5
" GENERAL: * General Smith wishes me to speak most approvingly of the conduct of the Thirty-fifth New Jersey Infantry, sent to him when his troops were hard pressed. On ascending the crest of the hills they gave threc rousing cheers which inspired my troops with fresh vigor. Although a small regiment, they acted nobly, as my support on the 14th of May, and until the enemy retired.
"I am, General, your obedient servant. " CHARLES R. WOOD, " Brigadier General Commanding.
"To Brigadier General G. W. DODGE, Commanding Sixteenth Army Corps."
"HEADQUARTERS, LEFT WING, SIXTEENTH CORPS, ) "NEAR KINGSTON, GEORGIA, May 21, 1864.
" BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES R. WOODS, Commanding First Brigade, First Division, Fifteenth Corps :
"GENERAL : I take great pleasure in acknowledging the reecipt of your communica- tion of this date, in relation to the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin and Thirty-fifth New Jer- sey Infantry. It has been forwarded promptly to them, and will receive their hearty response.
"Please accept my thanks for your prompt and generous acknowledgment of their serviees.
"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"G. W. DODGE, "Brigadier General Commanding."
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mitted cheerfully to all fatigues. At Dallas, Johnston had concen- trated his forces with a view of checking our further advance, his intrenched lines extending from Dallas to Marietta, over a most difficult region. Here two days were spent, amid skirmishing and fighting, in making careful approaches-a fierce engagement taking place on the 25th, near New Hope Church, four miles north of Dallas, between Hooker's Corps and a part of the rebel force. On the 27th, Johnston struck our right at Dallas, but was repulsed with loss. On the same day, the Thirty-fifth was again engaged, two companies under Captain Angel (Acting Major) being deployed as skirmishers, and charging the enemy with great gallantry, driving him from an eminence which other regiments had entirely failed to carry. Subsequently, however, the rebels advancing two lines of battle, the Jerseymen were obliged to fall back, which they did in good style. During the two following days the regiment was almost constantly engaged on the skirmish line, losing altogether four men killed, eight wounded and one missing. The killed were Michael Furry and Theodore Case, of Company E, George Pratt, of Company F, and William Cordham, of Company I."
On the 1st of June, moving his army to the left along the rebel front and enveloping Altoona Pass, Sherman compelled the enemy to evacuate that position, and also to fall back from the intrench- ments covering New Hope Church and Ackworth. Altoona Pass was promptly garrisoned and made a secondary base of supplies, and the communication between that point and others in the rear being fully restored, Sherman again moved forward. On the 5th, the Thirty fifth regiment was ordered to the flank, and after con- structing an earthwork, was advanced to Ackworth and thence to Big Shanty, where our forces were rapidly concentrating, prepara-
3 The following is an extract from Colonel Cladek's official report :
"On the 27th of May, Company I, Captain Dusenbury, and Company E, Captain Sine, were deployed as skirmishers, under command of Captain C. A. Angel (Acting Major), and charged the enemy in splendid style, driving them from a very strong posi- tion, and from which other regiments had tried in vain to dislodge them.
" The behavior of the officers and men engaged is worthy of all praise, although they were compelled to relinquish the hill, for which they fought so gallantly, as two of the enemy's lines of battle advanced against them. Several regiments tried for the next three days to gain the hill, but did not succeed."
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THE THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
tory to a fresh demonstration. Kenesaw mountain, with its almost equally formidable neighbors, Pine and Lost mountains, now stood in Sherman's path. On the peak of each of these mountains the enemy had his signal stations, and in front of the points not impreg- nable by nature, Johnston had arrayed strong lines of battle, the left resting on Lost Mountain and the right extending across the Marietta and Ackworth road. By the 11th of June, Sherman's lines were close up, and he made dispositions to break the enemy's lines between Kenesaw and Pine mountains. On the 14th and 15th, while Hooker and Howard were pushing the enemy, the Thirty-fifth Regiment was engaged on the skirmish line, losing seven men killed and eight wounded-Captains Courtois and Frazer being among the latter. On the 16th it marched to Kenesaw and participated in the movements against that position until, after con- stant battering and murderous fighting extending over a fortnight, Sherman determined to throw his whole army rapidly by the right to threaten Nickajack Creek and Tanner's Ferry, across the Chatta- hoochee. This movement compelled Johnston to abandon Kene- saw, and on the 3d of July it was in our possession.4 On the 2d, while advancing upon the rebel works near Nickajack Creek, the skirmishers of the Thirty-fifth had another smart engagement, during which Acting Major Angel, while only thirty yards from the rebel position, was killed. No officer in the regiment had dis- played higher soldierly qualifications or was more generally beloved ; and his death was sincerely lamented, not only in his own com- mand, but throughout the entire brigade.
Immediately upon Johnston's withdrawal, our whole army pressed forward in pursuit. On the 8th, the Thirty-fifth entered Marietta, proceeding thence to the Chattahoochee, which it forded on the 9th. Intrenching strongly, the regiment, with the rest of the army, rested for some days, Johnston meanwhile taking up a new line covering Atlanta, but being superceded in command by General J. B. Hood only a day or two after. On the 19th, the
The loss of the regiment during the operations at Kenesaw was thirteen men wounded.
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NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
Thirty-fifth, having resumed its advance, reached Decatur, pro- ceeding the day following to the front some three miles, but return- ing on the 20th, and participating on the 22d in the engagement at that place. At this time, three regiments of the brigade, with an aggregate strength of fourteen hundred effective fighting men, were posted in different parts of the town as a garrison, being commanded by Colonel Sprague of the Sixty-third Ohio. About noon on the 22d, the command was attacked by an overwhelming force of infantry and cavalry, and the men being so scattered as to render prompt co-operation impossible, successful resistance seemed out of the question. The Thirty-fifth, however, promptly formed and moved to the right and front to support a line of skirmishers, who, as it reached the position designated, were already retiring in confusion. But the men of the Thirty-fifth moved steadily into line of battle, and at once opened on the rebels, checking them for some minutes. Soon, however, they advanced with added force. and the regiment, vastly outnumbered, gradually fell back for a distance of thirty yards, when it again turned and poured a deadly volley into the ranks of the pursuers, causing them in turn to fall back. But their repulse was but for a moment. Promptly rallied by their officers, the rebels once more advanced, and although the Thirty-fifth a third time turned upon them and held them for half an hour, it was at last compelled to retire finally to the town, Here the regiment was joined by the rest of the brigade, but the enemy coming in on all sides, the entire command continued the retreat, suffering severely from the fire of the pursuers-the casu- alties in the Thirty fifth numbering one killed and sixteen wounded, with a loss of two officers and thirty-seven men missing. The picket line during the day was in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Henry, who displayed great coolness, but many of the men being cut off, fell into the hands of the enemy. Among the captured were Captain A. Dusenberry and Lieutenant David S. Oliphant.
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