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 31
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BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).
stunned by shell ; Lieutenant J. H. George, ribs fractured ; Lieu- tenant R. V. King, arm ; Sergeant John O'Brien, leg, afterwards died; Corporal John Van Gieson, leg; Corporal Frank Wilcox, abdomen, afterwards died ; Corporal James H. Blake, leg; Anthony K. Wright, shoulder ; George W. Marshall, thigh; A. Flanders, leg; James M. Martin, arm shot off; Patrick Callaghan, arm shot off; John McAllister, hip; Jacob Schilt, thumb shot off; Jeremiah Creed, thumb ; Henry Jaques, side and head ; Frederick Dubbitt, groin ; Peter Applegate, ankle ; George W. Hays, ear. The bat- tery also lost twelve horses killed.
In this engagement, Lieutenant Morris, according to the testi- mony of his commanding officer, behaved with the utmost gal- lantry, managing his section with marked deliberation and cool- ness, right under the eyes of the rebel sharpshooters, who sought in vain to shoot him down. The conduct of officers and men throughout the entire affair was such as to call forth the hearty commendation of the Chief of Artillery, Colonel McGilvery.
The object of this movement was to attract General Lee's atten- tion from Petersburg as much as possible, in order to facilitate a movement of the army of the Potomac on the Weldon Railroad, south of Petersburg. This piece of strategy had its effect. Gen- eral Lee, apprehensive for the safety of Richmond, sent a large force to engage the Tenth and Second Corps; in the meantime, General Grant carried out his plans successfully.
The battery remained in the vicinity of Deep Run and Malvern Hills seven days, and then returned to Battery Marshall, at Ber- muda Hundred. The following morning the rebels attacked the picket line in front of the battery, and quite a skirmish ensued, resulting in the repulse of the attacking party. That afternoon, a deserter reported that the enemy was attempting to undermine the fort. General Foster thereupon ordered Lieutenant Morris to
$ Lieutenant-Colonel William A. Conover, Medical Director of the Tenth Corps, and Assistant-Surgeon Joseph W. Hayward (afterwards breveted Major), the medical atten- dant of the Fourth Battery, deserves special mention for the fearless and faithful man" ner in which they performed their duties while under fire of the enemy; working for the relief of the unfortunate wounded until they were themselves almost exhausted.
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remove the guns about one hundred yards to the rear, place wooden "Quakers" in the embrasures, and leave the guidon flying on the parapet, which was done. But no explosion took place. On the following day the Eighteenth Corps relieved the Tenth at Bermuda Hundred, the Tenth proceeding to Petersburg. The battery here shared in all the perils pertaining to that remarkable seige, being stationed in Fort Morton, in front of the rebel Fort Mahone, which was mined and blown up in the early part of the summer.
On the 28th of September, the grand strategic movement by which General Grant transferred the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps to the north side of the James, and placed a heavy menacing column before the Confederate Capital, was commenced. A portion of the third line of the Richmond defences was captured, with sixteen pieces of artillery and a large number of prisoners. Fort Harrison (afterwards called Fort Burnham), a very important position, was taken at the point of the bayonet, the ditch turned, and every preparation made to hold the line. A stubborn attempt to retake this work, headed by General Lee in person, met with a bloody repulse. An incessant picket firing was kept up for several days, when the hope of retaking the line was apparently abandoned. The Fourth Battery was under fire during this entire time.
On the 7th of October, Longstreet's Division, which had started a few days previously up the Valley, to join Early, suddenly swooped down on Kautz's Cavalry, which was on outpost duty, on the right flank of the army, capturing about half of his force and putting to utter rout the remainder. General Longstreet closely followed the flying fugitives, but the Army of the James was soon under arms, and moving forward on a double-quick engaged the enemy on the Newmarket road, just outside the intrenchments of the right flank of the line. Had Longstreet struck a quarter of a mile nearer the river, in the woods, to the rear, he could have thrown the whole army in confusion, and inflicted untold disaster The fighting, which lasted about two hours, was very severe. IIundreds were killed and wounded on both sides. Finally, the Tenth Corps, under General Birney, made a last rally, which decided the fate of the day. General Birney arose from a sick
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BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).
couch, burning with a violent fever, and insisted on being helped into his saddle. He fought like a lion, and after the action was too weak to walk. He was taken home to Philadelphia, where he shortly afterwards died. His last thoughts were of his army, and his last words, "Boys, keep your eyes on that flag!" Lieutenant King was struck in the shoulder and knocked from his horse by an exploding shell-the injury unfitting him from duty for more than a month.
No further attempts were made by the rebels to retake this line, and the army of the James commenced the erection of winter . quarters, and perfecting themselves in drill. From Chapin's Farm, the battery was dispatched, late in the same month, with seven thousand other troops, to New York, to assist in preserving order at the Presidential election in November, under an apprehension that the more turbulent and disorderly classes, under the lead of certain notorious demagogues, would attempt by violence to pre- vent a fair election. The battery was shipped at Bermuda Hun- dred on board of two stern-wheel steamers, Captain Doane com- manding one and Lieutenant Morris the other. During the voyage from Fortress Monroe, Lieutenant Morris' vessel, the "Patapsco," was chased for twenty-four hours by the rebel pirate, the Tallahas- see, but escaped, the pirate not venturing further north than the latitude of the Delaware Breakwater. Upon reaching Brooklyn the battery was disembarked at Atlantic Dock, and marched to Fort Hamilton, where it was embarked on ferry-boats, Captain Doane commanding one boat with four guns, and lying off the Battery, and Lieutenant Morris, commanding another boat, having on board his own section and a section of Battery M, First United States Artillery, and stationed on the East River, ready to land in case of emergency. Fortunately the services of the troops were not required, the election passing off quietly, and after an absence of two weeks the battery returned to Chapin's Farm, where it remained through the bleak, dreary winter, within sight of the steeples of Richmond, quietly watching the rebels within their intrenchments, only five hundred yards distant.
At length spring came, with its bloom and promise, and the
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armies of the Republic, battle-worn and scarred, prepared with hopeful hearts for the final struggle with the dispirited and weak- ened foe. But the Fourth New Jersey Battery was never again called to hurl death and disaster into the rebel ranks. On the 3d of April, 1865, the enemy, by the attack of the Army of the Poto- mac in front of Petersburg, was forced to abandon his intrench- ments in front of Richmond. Our pickets advanced at daybreak. At the same moment there came three thundering reports from up the river, three blinding flashes, and the iron-clad navy of the Confederate States of America had ceased to exist. In a few minutes our pickets had possessed the rebel works, and shortly after the whole army was put in motion. The decisive hour had come, and the veterans of a hundred battles hastened to embrace its grand opportunities.
The Fourth Battery was designated to remove the captured artil- lery, which being done, it hurried forward with the exultant legions to Richmond, and was the first organization of New Jersey troops to enter the city. Richmond was reached early in the forenoon, not a shot having been fired on the entire march, extending from Chapin's Farm for a distance of seven miles, through a vast net- work of defences, which apparently might for years have defied the fiercest assaults. At early daybreak a cloud of smoke was observed hanging over the city, and when the troops came over the hills, and obtained a first glance of the conflagration, the scene was terribly grand. Great clouds of fire and smoke were rolling up from a thousand buildings on the south side of the city. The arsenal was on fire, and the three quarters of a million rounds of fixed shell stored therein were bursting continually, scattering .destruction and death among the terrified women and children whose homes were in flames. The city was fired by order of the Confederate officers. It was pitiful to see beautiful women and innocent children jostled rudely by the swaying, surging throng- and the gorgeous furniture, splendid pianos and costly mirrors tossed about the streets.
Meanwhile the exultant legions pressed swiftly on in pursuit of the retreating foe. The expected end was not delayed. On Sun-
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day, April 10th, General Lee capitulated, and with that act the rebel flag went down in irretrievable disaster, never again to be flaunted in the nation's face.
On the 14th of April, the battery moved from its camp on the western border of Richmond to a point on the Southside Railroad, near Petersburg, where it remained until news of Johnston's sur- render was received, when it marched to City Point-where it continued inactive nearly a month, awaiting the order to be mus- tered out. This order, the most welcome, perhaps, of the war, came at last. The battery proceeded to Richmond by way of Petersburg, and all the preliminaries being completed, on the morn- ing of the 18th of June it embarked on board a steamer, en route for home.
It arrived at Trenton late on the night of the 20th, and was appro- priately entertained by Mayor Mills on behalf of the State. The bat- tery returned with more than the number of men it had when it left Trenton, two years before, having constantly had large accessions of recruits-but with twenty-five only of the original one hundred and sixty who had started with it-the remaining one hundred and thirty-five having died heroically on fields of desperate encounter, or been so disabled by wounds or disease as to compel discharge. Others had taken their places, and helped to maintain the reputation of the command, which from first to last had been unsullied by a single stain.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
BATTERY E-(Fifth Artillery) .
BATTERY E, Fifth New Jersey Artillery, raised in the summer of 1863, proceeded to Washington in the month of September, there going into camp at Camp Barry.1 Here it remained, engaged in drill until the 22d of April, 1864, when it proceeded to Gloucester Point, where it was assigned to the Tenth Army Corps. It was sharply engaged at Drury's Bluff early in May, losing thirteen men. Subsequently, it performed efficient service in other engage- ments of the summer campaign, but no reports of its actions being on file among the military records of the State, no satisfactory details can-be supplied. It is only known, in a general way, that the battery fully sustained the reputation of New Jersey troops. The Fifth was much the largest battery in service from this State, there being connected with it at different times, one Captain, three First Lieutenants, and six Second Lieutenants, with five hundred and seventy enlisted men. Many of the Thirty-seventh Regiment (hun. dred days' men), re-enlisting, were transferred to this battery, while nearly all the substitutes and drafted men of 1865, in the artillery service, were also assigned to this organization. The battery was finally disbanded June 12, 1865.
1 The officers of the battery were: Captain, Zenas C. Warren; First Lieutenant, George F. Durant; Second Lieutenant, Thomas R. Perry.
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CHAPTER XL. JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
WE have seen that the total number of regiments furnished by New Jersey during the war was forty, including infantry and cav- alry, together with five batteries of artillery. Of these forty regi- ments, thirty-seven were infantry. The number of men furnished by the State was eighty-eight thousand three hundred and five, being ten thousand and fifty-seven in excess of the number called for. Of this number, seventy-nine thousand three hundred and forty-eight served with State organizations, and the remainder in regiments of other States. The naval and marine enlistments from New Jersey numbered four thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. Of the deeds of the volunteers in this latter service, we have no accounts, but of some of the companies which, unable to find a place in the regiments of their own State, became incor- porated with foreign organizations, we have a partial record, honorable at once to themselves and the State. Several of these companies early in the war, being rejected at home, applied for service to General Daniel E. Sickles, and were placed in the brigade which he was raising in New York. This brigade, known as the Excelsior Brigade, which was afterwards placed to the credit of the State of New York, and the regiments of which took their regimental numbers and designation from that State, should never have been credited to or commissioned from any one State. It was in all respects a cosmopolitan organization. In its first regi- ment alone (Seventieth New York) were to be found three compa- nies recruited entirely in New Jersey, while two others were recruited in great part from the same State-one company from West Pennsylvania, one from Michigan, and one from Massachu- setts. In the three remaining companies there were a number of
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men from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The same mixed organ- ization prevailed to a greater or less extent throughout the brigade, with the exception of the Fourth Regiment, which was recruited exclusively from the city of New York. It was computed at the headquarters of the brigade in December, 1861, that over twelve hundred citizens of New Jersey were then serving in it. The following companies were exclusively from this State, and came into the brigade as completed organizations : First Regiment- Company A, Captain J. M. Johnson, afterwards Captain B. W. Hoxsey, recruited at Paterson; Company F, commanded for a time by Captain J. M. McCamly, of Newark ; Company I, Captain E. J. Ayres, afterwards Captain A. Belcher, recruited at Paterson ; Company K, Captain Frederick Gruett, recruited at Newark. Companies G, B and D, commanded respectively by Captains O'Reilly, Mahan and Price, were at least one-half recruited in New Jersey. Second Regiment (Seventy-first New York)-Company D, Captain William H. Greene, recruited in Newark; Company E, Captain Toler, raised in the same city ; Company F, Captain Murphy, raised in Orange. Third Regiment (Seventy-second New York)-Company F, Captain Leonard, recruited in Newark, and one other company composed of Jerseymen. Of the three com- panies in the First Regiment, Captain Johnson, of Company A, resigned in the winter of 1861-2, and was succeeded by Captain Oakley, who in turn resigned in October, 1862, and was succeeded by Captain B. W. Hoxsey, who held command as Captain of this company until its muster out in July, 1864. Captain Ayres, of Company I, resigned at the same date as Captain Johnson, and was succeeded by Captain Mitchell, who was killed at Williams- burg May 5, 1862. Captain Gruett remained with his company (K) during its whole term of service, proving a most efficient officer, and standing high in the estimation of his superiors. He was subsequently made a Captain in Hancock's Veteran Corps, for which he recruited two companies. Among the first to enter the field, he discharged every duty faithfully, and left the service only when the enemy lowered his flag in surrender. Of the command- ers of the other companies, Captain Leonard made a brilliant
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JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
record, being promoted to the Majority and to the Lieutenant- Colonelcy of his regiment, while Captains McCamly and Toler fully sustained the high reputation of New Jersey soldiers. Cap- tain Price, after service with his regiment, was made Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth New York. Captain Greene also achieved a high reputation as a fearless and efficient officer.1
The brigade at the time it was joined by the two Paterson com- panies, was crowded into the City Assembly Rooms, No. 444 Broad- way, New York, and was afterwards, during the month of May, removed, first to the Red House, at Harlem, and thence to Staten Island, before its muster into service. The sufferings of the men from insufficient clothing, badly cooked food, and close confinement to uncomfortable and illy ventilated quarters, from May 1st to June 1, 1861, were not exceeded by those of any one month of their active service afterwards. From the first General Sickles bad encountered nothing but opposition from Governor Morgan of New York. The clothing and rations so liberally supplied to all other regiments then forming, were refused to his brigade, and it was only on the pledge of the personal credit of General Sickles, that
1 This officer recruited his company at his own expense, and was mustered into the service May 1, 1861. He participated with his command in the battles of Williams- burg, Fair Oaks, Charles City Cross-Roads, and the fighting of the seven days' retreat, as well as the engagement at Malvern Hill. He was also engaged at Bristow Station, August 27, 1862, receiving a severe wound from a piece of shell, and his Second Lieu- tenant and several of his men being killed. An incident occurred on this occasion which was most fortunate for Captain Greene. Upon leaving camp in the morning without breakfast, his cook having filled his canteen with hot coffee, he flung it over his shoulder, designing to drink it when cool. But going at a double-quick, lie forgot all about it until, while forming line of battle, the canteen slipped around on his hip. Just at that moment, a shell exploding near him, a piece struck the canteen and lifted the officer several feet in the air. But for the protection afforded by the canteen, doubtless he would have been cut in two. As it was, he sustained injuries in the hip and head which made liim a cripple for life. Subsequently he received a position in the Invalid Corps, being recommended by Major General Hooker, on the ground that . his "services and wounds rendered him a deserving applicant, and one with unusual claims upon the favorable consideration of the Government." Captain Greene says of his company that a braver body of men never went afield, and mentions with especial commendation Sergeant Peter Bleak, of Newark. This man was made color-bearer of the regiment, and in every position displayed the coolest bravery, serving out his whole term, fortunately without receiving a single serateli. This company, with others, was indebted to the ladies of Newark, and to Mr. Marcus L. Ward, for many kindly services ; India rubber blankets and haversaeks being supplied to the men at a season of sore necessity.
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these supplies were obtained. During the month of May, while encamped at Staten Island, many of the men who had worn out their own clothing, and who were not supplied with uniforms, were unable to appear on drill from actual want of the clothing to cover their nakedness. At this time also every journal in the City of New York, with one exception, seemed to do its utmost to throw every obstacle in the way of the formation of the brigade and to discourage enlistments in it. By this course thousands of men who enlisted in the brigade, becoming discouraged at the want of cloth- ing and the improbability of its early muster into service, left it. The old members who had come from New York to Staten Island with the brigade, seemed to have identified their interests with those of General Sickles, and were not to be discouraged or with- drawn from the brigade. An entire company from Pennsylvania which, having joined afterwards, left the camp, was drummed out by these men, with scoffs and abuse. It may be doubted whether any public act of Governor Morgan was so unjust in itself and so productive of harm to the interests of the country, as his treatment of this brigade.
In September, 1861, the brigade, which in the meantime had been incorporated into the division of General Hooker, and had erected in great part Fort Stanton and several other works about Washington, marched with its division into lower Maryland to break up rebel organizations then being formed in that State, and after performing this service, capturing many arms, &c., returned to its camp near the Anacostia bridge, and about two miles out from Washington. In October the division took up a position in Charles County, Maryland, opposite the Cockpit Point and Matthias Point batteries, forming the extreme left of General Mcclellan's army. With the exception of one or two unimportant expeditions into Virginia, soon after the evacuation of the rebel works, it remained inactive until the army was directed against Yorktown. After the evacuation of Yorktown, the division of General Hooker being in advance on the main road from Yorktown to Williamsburg, was the first of the Union infantry to come up with the enemy at the latter place and attacked his skirmishers in front of the works,
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JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
driving them in. The history of that contest is well known; the enemy finding himself pressed by inferior numbers, turned and gave battle, moving out from his works and attacking the First and Third Brigades with such force as to drive them back from their position, and passing the left of their line, inflicted very heavy loss, capturing a battery which, from the death of its horses, could not be removed. It was at this moment when the Third Brigade (Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth New Jersey Regiments) were being forced from their line that the Excelsior Brigade, or rather its First Regiment, was brought into the heavy "slashing" on the left of the road, and was formed parallel to it to check the advance of the enemy towards the road. The regiment was at once ordered to commence firing, but never received another order in the fight; for. over two hours it stood in the darkness of its own smoke, and when its ammunition was exhausted, the survivors supplied themselves from the cartridge-boxes of the dead. It held its line until the enemy actually advanced over it. Going into the fight with six hundred and fifty men, it lost three hundred and fifty-one in killed, wounded and missing. Nine officers and ninety-six men of this regiment were buried the next morning. The other regiments of the brigade were moved up in succession, and only suffered less because the enemy's efforts were much weakened by the prolonged resistance of the First Regiment. The loss of the four regiments of the brigade in this action amounted to upwards of eight hundred men. The New Jersey troops in the brigade suffered particularly ; the loss in Company A, of the First Regiment, commanded by Captain (then Lieutenant) Hoxsey, was the largest of any company in the brigade, amounting to forty-one out of sixty. Of the two commissioned and nine non-commissioned officers of this company, Lieutenant Hoxsey was wounded, Lieutenant Kilburn killed, two : out of three sergeants killed and one wounded, and all six of the corporals killed. Both of the other New Jersey companies suffered largely. Company K, Captain Gruett, lost twenty killed and wounded, Lieutenant George Robinson being among the latter, sus- taining two severe wounds. [This officer, before his wounds healed, returned to the field, and at Gettysburg was again wounded, subse-
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NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
quently dying from his injuries. Few braver men than Lieutenant Robinson ever drew sword. ] Private Mott McCann, while bravely trying to seize the enemy's colors, was riddled with bullets, and fell dead only a few feet from the rebel line.
At Fair Oaks, the New Jersey companies again came in for a heavy share of the loss. Throughout the whole campaign of the Peninsula and the unfortunate campaign of Pope, terminating with the second Bull Run, these troops bore a conspicuous part. At Bristow Station, August 27, 1862, the loss of New Jersey soldiers was again heavy. Lieutenant Hoxsey, coming to the command of the regiment during the action, was severely wounded through the hip while ordering its advance. Throughout the campaigns of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run and the grand final cam- paign of General Grant from the Rapidan to Petersburg, this bri- gade, side by side with the Second New Jersey Brigade, emulated its gallantry, and is entitled to equal praise.
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