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 34
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Carolina on the 10th of November. On the 23d, forty-five men from Company D, with a like number from other companies, were detailed to build fortifications, in which work they exhibited both endurance and a high degree of efficiency. On the 1st of January, 1862, the regiment took part in the battle of Port Royal Ferry- Company D, together with Company H, and some others being detailed as skirmishers, and performing distinguished service. On the 26th, embarking on the steamer Winfield Scott, the regiment proceeded to operate against Fort Pulaski, the right wing landing at Pine Island, where, on February 1st, the steamer having got aground, Company D joined it, being placed in the right center of the command. On the 20th of March, the company proceeded to Jones' Island, where it remained until the 25th of May, when, Fort Pulaski having been taken, it was sent thither with the regiment and placed on garrison duty. Here, on June 18th, the Colonel died very suddenly. On the 8th of July, Captain Knowles left the regiment, his resignation having been accepted, and was suc- ceeded by Lieutenant J. O. Paxson, promoted. On the 9th, Company D was sent to Tiber Island to relieve Company F, but only re- mained until the 19th, when it returned to Fort Pulaski, and remained on duty until late in September, when it formed part of an expedition against Blufton on Bull's Island. On the 22d of October it went on another expedition with the regiment up the Broad River-attacking a train of rebel soldiers, and subsequently tearing up the railway track and destroying the telegraph line. This was during the battle of Pocataligo Bridge, which inflicted severe damage on the enemy. On the 10th of November, the Forty-eighth having returned to Fort Pulaski, Company D was placed in charge of a battery of five guns, and from this time until June, 1863, continued uninterruptedly on garrison duty.
When General Gilmore assumed command of the Department of the South, this company, with seven others, was withdrawn from the fort and formed into a battalion, as part of General Strong's Brigade, which was composed of the best troops in the Tenth Corps, selected to lead the assault on Fort Wagner. On the 10th of July, crossing Light-house Inlet in small boats, under a severe
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fire, the battalion assaulted and carried the works on the lower end of Morris Island. On the 18th, Company D, which was now known, from the burden of its favorite hymn, as "The Die-no- Mores," formed part of the storming party which assaulted Fort Wagner, fighting bravely, but being almost annihilated by the terrible fire of the enemy. Its gallant leader, Captain Paxson, was killed, together with Sergeant J. G. Abbott and many others, all soldiers brave and true. One account says that of sixty five men who marched to the assault, only twelve or fifteen came out unharmed. Sergeant Abbott was a soldier of marked intelligence and worth, and his record of the campaign, as faithfully kept and preserved, forms a remarkably complete history of all the opera- tions of the Department of the South up to the time when he fell. The survivors of the company served faithfully to the end, and in every emergency showed themselves worthy representatives of the historic fields of Trenton and Monmouth. The services of Com- pany H were equally efficient, and the record of the company no less honorable.
The number of Jerseymen identified with Pennsylvania regi- ments was quite large. Among the companies of which we have accounts, was one raised in Belvidere by Charles W. Buttz, which, our quota being full, proceeded to Philadelphia and was there (September 13, 1861,) mustered in as Company I, of Harlan's Independent Cavalry, afterwards designated as the Eleventh Penn- sylvania Cavalry-Mr. Buttz accepting the position of the Second Lieutenant. After various movements, the regiment proceeded to Fortress Monroe, remaining in that vicinity until May, 1862, when it was divided, five companies being sent to Norfolk, and the other seven following Mcclellan up and down the Peninsula-Company I, known as the "Jersey Company," being with the latter. Sub- sequently, being stationed at Williamsburg, these companies per- formed picket duty, the regiment some time later being re-united at Suffolk under Colonel Spear. In 1863, during the Maryland invasion, General Dix, then commanding at Fortress Monroe, sent
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the regiment by way of Hanover Court House to destroy the rail- road leading from Gordonsville and Fredericksburg to Richmond- which service it performed, capturing a large wagon train and some two thousand horses and mules, with other property. At the South Anna River, Company I, with others, was dismounted and had a sharp engagement with the enemy, having three men killed and eight wounded. , Returning to Suffolk, the regiment was dispatched on a scouting expedition along the Blackwater River. During this expedition, Lieutenant Buttz, with twenty-five of his men, engaged three hundred of the enemy, and by a dashing charge succeeded in taking sixty-seven of the number prisoners and capturing a "rocket battery," with a good supply of ammu- nition. The enemy thus handsomely routed by the Jerseymen, consisted of members of the Second Georgia Cavalry and one company of infantry. Thirty-two of the prisoners had severe wounds in the head, inflicted by the sabers of the assailants, whose loss was only one killed and three wounded. While in this depart- ment, Lieutenant Buttz was on several occasions detailed for service on court martials, as Judge Advocate, and for a period of two months was Provost Martial at Suffolk. When Longstreet beseiged that place, Lieutenant Buttz acted as Aid-de-camp to Major-General Peck, and on one occasion, being detailed with a part of his com- pany for special service, captured forty-eight of the enemy-the exploit receiving favorable mention in General Peck's report to the War Department. During the remainder of the war, the "Jersey Company " served with distinguished credit-of the whole num- ber three being killed, five wounded, and two taken prisoners and never afterwards heard of. Among the killed was Corporal Hann, of Hope, Warren County, who was shot through the heart by a guerilla named Smith, who was afterwards captured by Hann's comrades and hung "without benefit of clergy." Hann was a brave and noble soldier-one of the bravest of the regiment to which he belonged. Of the whole number of survivors, only eighteen or twenty members of the company returned to New Jersey, the remainder settling in Virginia. Lieutenant Buttz, upon quitting the service, commenced the practice of the law at
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Norfolk, where he became prominent in political movements. He has received two brevets-one as Captain " for gallant and meri- torious conduct in capturing from the enemy a full rocket battery," and the other as Major "for gallant and meritorious services in front of Suffolk"-both dating from March 13, 1865.
Of individual Jerseymen who served in organizations of other States, or in the field at large, there were many who achieved dis- tinction. Of these, only a few, however, of whose services accounts have fortunately been obtained, can be named in this connection. Captain William E. Sturges, of Newark, entered the service as Quartermaster of the Second Regiment, but developing superior executive qualities, was early advanced to a position on the staff of General Kearney. Here he performed his duties with marked credit, displaying the most fearless gallantry in action, and winning the cordial commendation of his commander, expressed in official reports and otherwise. At Williamsburg, he was " brave, active and judicious," and in subsequent engagements, finely sustained the reputation there achieved.
Captain George B. Halstead, of Newark, was among the earliest volunteers in the National service. On the 16th of April, 1861, he was made Secretary of Commodore Stringham, commanding the Home Squadron, and subsequently of his successor, Commodore Goldsborough, with whom he remained until November 9th. Meanwhile, General Kearney having (August 31st,) offered him a staff position and secured his appointment as First Lieutenant, he reported to that officer, November 11th, for duty as Aid-de-camp, remaining with him until invited by General C. C. Augur to accept, with the permission of General Kearney, the position of Assistant Adjutant-General on his staff. Being nominated and confirmed Assistant Adjutant-General of Volunteers, with rank as Captain of cavalry, he joined General Augur at Upton Hill, Virginia, in January, 1862, where he commanded a brigade of New York troops. Captain Halstead remained in this position until General Augur was relieved, on account of sickness, of the command of his
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division in the Nineteenth Corps, after the surrender of Port Hud- son, July 9, 1863. During this period, Captain Halstead participa- ted in several severe engagements, being taken prisoner in the battle of Cedar Mountain, in Angust, 1862, while carrying an order to. a distant part of the field. After remaining some two months in Libby Prison, Richmond, he was paroled, and subsequently being regularly exchanged, rejoined his command in time to participate in the Banks' Expedition to Louisiana. In July, 1863, he was assigned to duty as Assistant Adjutant-General of the Corps d' Afrique, Briga- dier-General George L. Andrews commanding, with headquarters at Port Hudson, where he remained until the spring of 1864, when he was ordered North and assigned to duty in Tennessee with Brigadier-General Augustus L. Chetlain, with headquarters at Mem- phis. Captain Halstead remained in this department, engaged in organizing colored troops, until late in the summer, when he was ordered to Washington, and subsequently to his home in New Jer. sey to await orders. His next assignment to duty was with Major- General G. K. Warren, commanding the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, then actively besieging Petersburg. Here he remained until the close of the war, participating in all the movements of the corps, and sharing in the battles of Quaker Road, White Oak Road (where he was wounded but remained on the field), Five Forks, and Appamattox Court House. After the dissolution of the Armies, he was ordered to duty with Brigadier-General John Ely, at Trenton, where he remained until he received his honora- ble discharge, March 12, 1864, having been in the Nation's service, on sea and land, for a period of five years, lacking one month and four days. He was given a brevet Majority, April 9, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services, which was but a fit recognition of the fidelity and efficiency with which he had discharged the duties . of every position in which he had been placed. Captain Halsted was an early advocate of the organization of negro regiments, and while in the Gulf Department did as much as any other man to promote the utilization of the blacks by converting them into sol- diers, and educating them in the soldier's duty, There, as else- where, he was esteemed by all who came in contact with him as a
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genuine patriot and intrepid officer, whose whole heart was in the work in which he was engaged.
George Arrowsmith, a native of Middletown, Monmouth County, entered the service as a Captain of the Twenty-sixth New York Regiment, May 26, 1861. This regiment was assigned to Briga- dier-General McDowell's Division, where, in a short time, Arrow- smith's intrepidity gained for him universal favor. In the fight of Culpepper, his gallantry was so conspicuous as to lead to his pro- motion by General Towers, to be Assistant Adjutant-General of his brigade. In the second battle cf Bull Run he again distin- guished himself, and, when General Towers was wounded, led his command. At one time, not recognizing the rank of General Schenck, he rallied and led two regiments into the fight, amid a shower of grape and canister. His services at this battle gained marked encomiums from General McDowell, and one of the Gene- ral's staff wrote : "Arrowsmith has covered himself with glory." Although not wounded, his cap and clothes bore evidences of his narrow escape. Subsequently, he was offered the Colonelcy of the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh New York, but declining the position, was made Lieutenant-Colonel, in which capacity he dis- tinguished himself at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In the latter battle, with his hat in one hand and his sword in the other, he went forward exclaiming, " Come, boys, follow me!" Suddenly the Colonel found his Lieutenant missing, and moving to the right discovered him lying on his back, badly wounded in the head, evidently insensible, and near his end. So terrible had been the exposure to which he had led his men, that only eighty out of four hundred and twenty who went in came out of the fight, and but eight officers out of twenty-six remained. Owing to the hot fire of the enemy, it was impossible to remove him, and his wounded . comrades report that in a very short time he died. His Colonel describes him as "a brave man, a skillful officer, possessing a keen sense .of honor, generous to a fault, and of the noblest impulses." And we may add that he was a truly religious man. His body has its resting place in Fairview Cemetery, Middletown township, where a comely granite monument, erected by citizens
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who loved him in his youth and graduates of his University, attests their appreciation of his character and achievements.
Huntington W. Jackson entered the service as Second Lieutenant of the Fourth Regiment, in September, 1862, abandoning his col- legiate pursuits in order to engage in his country's defence. He was soon promoted to First Lieutenant and Aid-de-camp to Major- General Newton, of the First Army Corps, and subsequently had a place on the staff of Major-General Howard, Army of the Ten- nessee, serving with the Army of the Potomac from the battle of Antietam until April, 1864, and with the army of General Sher- man, from Chattanooga to Jonesboro, Georgia. In all the battles, including some of the severest of the war, in which he participated, he displayed not only the highest courage but a discretion and maturity of judgment seldom found in one of his years. In the Chancellorsville campaign, he was commended by General Sedg- wick for special gallantry in volunteering to rally an assaulting column at Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg (May 3d, 1863). The column had broken and the men were falling back, but Lieutenant Jackson having obtained permission, and exposing himself to a fire that killed and wounded one hundred and sixty men out of four hundred in the leading regiment, rallied the column and passed with it into the enemy's works. General Newton, while speaking of Lieutenant Jackson's military and personal conduct as uniformly meritorious and effective, refers particularly to several conspicuous acts of gallantry, using the following language : "At the battle of Gettysburg, he was distinguished for gallant services, and at the assault upon the rebel works at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27th, 1864, while at the front, and in the act of encouraging the men, he was wounded and brought off the field. While at home recovering from his wound, his regiment likewise being in the course of muster out, he obtained permission to rejoin my staff, and was present at the closing operations of General Sherman, which led to the capture of Atlanta."" General Howard, in a letter to the War Department, recommended Lieutenant Jackson for three
: Letter of General Newton to the War Department,
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brevets, "one for special gallantry at Rocky Face Ridge, near Dal- ton, Georgia, one for gallantry at Kenesaw, and a third for the battle of Jonesboro," where he served on that officer's staff. Lieu- tenant Jackson was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1866. Among the many young men whose bravery and efficiency conferred honor upon New Jersey, none were his superiors in any of the qualities which help to constitute the perfect soldier.
Captain Joseph C. Jackson, brother of the last named, entered the service at an early period in the war, serving for a time on the staff of General Kearney, and subsequently on that of General Franklin, enjoying in a large degree the confidence of both com- manders. In the Peninsula campaign, his duties, necessarily ardu- ous and difficult, were performed with marked ability and efficiency, while on other occasions in his experience demanding courage and sagacity, he exhibited an intelligence and zeal for the good of the service, which secured for him an enlarged appreciation among our best and most discriminating officers.
William S. Stryker entered the service in response to the first call for troops, serving as a private with the three months' men. Subsequently he assisted in organizing the Fourteenth Regiment, and in February, 1863, was made a Paymaster and ordered to Hil- ton Head. There he was made Major and Aid-de-camp to General Gilmore, participating in the capture of Morris Island, and the bloody night attack on Fort Wagner. Subsequently, owing to ill- ness, he was transferred to the North and placed in charge of the Pay Department at Parole Camp, Columbus, Ohio. He was bre- veted Lieutenant-Colonel " for meritorious services during the war," and resigning in June, 1866, was some months later appointed Adjutant-General of the State. His record from first to last was that of a brave soldier and true patriot.
Lieutenant John M. Williams, during the second year of the war, was pursuing his studies in the college of New Jersey, but filled with patriotic ardor, in September of that year, in company with several of his classmates, enlisted in the Anderson Cavalry, as a body-guard to General Rosecrans. Late in December, 1862. he participated in a skirmish near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, then pro-
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ceeding to Tennessee, where he was for a time engaged in guerilla warfare. " His courage in battle and his coolness in the bour of danger soon impressed his superior officers, and he was appointed a Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Seventeenth Kentucky Volun- teers. He was prostrated by fever, and yet so eager was he to dis- charge his duty that at the request of his Colonel he took the oath of office while reclining upon his couch. But he could not enter upon his duties, for he fell in the very outset of his career. He died of typhoid fever, August 9, 1863, at McMinville, Tennessee."3
Colonel Cornelius W. Tolles entered the service as the private secretary of General Runyon in the spring of 1861, but was soon made Assistant Adjutant-General of the detached (militia) brigade. On the 17th of August, of the same year, he was appointed First Lieutenant of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry, and a year later assumed the position of Chief Quartermaster of the Sixth Army Corps, retaining it under Generals Franklin, Sedgwick and Wright. In this responsible and arduous position he discharged his duties with marked ability and fidelity, insomuch that much of the effi- ciency of that celebrated corps is said by competent authority to have been due to his influence and exertions. He was under fire in nearly all the battles of the Army of the Potomac, and saved the material of the army both in the retreat to Harrison's Landing and in the retrograde movement from Centerville to Drainesville. On other occasions he displayed the same high efficiency, extorting praise from all who were cognizant of his services. General Meigs at one time commended his worth in a general order, and the Sec- retary of War mentioned his name with honor in his report. Col- onel Tolles possessed high intellectual ability, having before the war enjoyed an exalted reputation as a journalist, and was in many respects peculiarly qualified for that branch of the military profes- sion in which he served. He was eminently methodical, had great self-reliance, was incapable of fear, and -acted continually, more- over, under the pressure of the profoundest patriotic feeling. Having escaped the perils of honorable battle, he finally fell a
s "The Princeton Roll of Honor," by Professor Cameron.
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victim to the murderous malice of guerillas in the Shenandoah Valley. While acting as Chief Quartermaster on General Sheri- dan's staff, surrounded by a small escort of twenty-five men, guard- ing a single ambulance, himself unarmed, he was ambuscaded and shot, and died October 11, 1864, sincerely mourned by all his army associates, as well as by a large circle of friends in New Jersey and elsewhere.4
One of the first Jerseymen to enter the service of the country in the war, was Major Lindley Hoffman Miller, son of Jacob W. Miller, formerly United States Senator from New Jersey. Major Miller had for several years been engaged in the practice of the law in New York. He had belonged to no military organization, and was actively engaged in the duties of his profession. Instantly upon the proclamation of the President, in April, 1861, he left his office and sought a place as private in the Seventh Regiment, then about to move to Washington. Sacrificing the happiness of a near betrothal, he marched with that regiment on the 20th of April, and shared in the duties of that first campaign. Again in the summer of 1862 he left his bride at the altar to obey the order, summoning the regiment to its second term of service at that critical period. In the fall of 1863, he entered the army as a Captain in the First Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers (colored), for permanent service. His conduct in several most trying positions was so well appreciated by his superior officers that he was soon promoted to the rank of Major in a new colored regiment in Missouri. During a short visit to his home before entering on his new duties, he died in New York, July 2, 1864, from a fever which he had contracted during his Western campaigns. His military career, though in itself unimportant, furnished an exam- ple of that lofty spirit of patriotism in which the war was so fruitful. Surrounded by friends, in a promising and lucrative pro-
" General Sheridan, in a letter to Professor Cameron, of Princeton College, says of Colonel Tolles : "The ability, energy and perseverance displayed by Colonel Tolles, while surrounded as he was during the time he served in the Valley, by the innumer- able difficulties which naturally attend an army newly and quickly organized, stamped him as one of the ablest officers in his department. I cannot say too much in his praise."
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fessional position, possessing in a high degree the "genius to be loved," he surrendered all to his convictions of duty, and gave himself, instantly and without hesitation, to the cause of Liberty and Progress. Urged by no selfish ambition, tempted by no high position, he simply felt that the cause called him-that his country needed self-sacrificing men-and having a life to give, he gave it.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 1863.
EARLY in the month of June, 1863, the rebel army under Gen- eral Lee, abandoning its position in Virginia, suddenly invaded Pennsylvania, and moving swiftly to various important points, occupied them in force, while detachments of cavalry were advanced towards Harrisburg and other strategical centers. The alarm occa- sioned by these demonstrations of the enemy was profound and universal. The authorities of Pennsylvania, unable to furnish suf- ficient troops to offer any effective resistance to the invaders, called upon the Governors of adjoining States for aid in the work of de- fence-the first appeal from Governor Curtin to Governor Parker of this State being made by telegram, on the 15th day of June. In response to this appeal, Governor Parker on the 17th, issued two proclamations-one calling for volunteers to " press forward to the assistance of Pennsylvania in this emergency," and the other appealing to the nine months' regiments which had just returned to unite in the effort to repel the invasion of a sister State. Under the first of these proclamations, Colonel William R. Murphy (for- merly Colonel of the Tenth Regiment,1) started from Bordentown
1 Colonel Murphy, at the time the war commenced, was in command of a militia company, known as "Company A, National Guard," of Trenton. On the day that the President's proclamation calling for troops was issued, Captain Murphy called a meeting of the company to determine what course it should pursue, but on the same day (April 16, 1861,) an order was placed in his hands by the Adjutant-General direct- ing him to report for duty to the Quartermaster-General to garrison the State Arsenal. This duty was faithfully performed, and subsequently many of the men served bravely in the field. Colonel Murphy was a genuine soldier, and his efforts in reorganizing the Tenth Regiment were especially valuable. In reference to his company, here alluded to, the Adjutant-General of the State, says : "Company A, National Guard, of Trenton, was organized November 30, 1860, and at the time the war broke out was in a fine state of discipline. It had in its ranks the best young men of the city. It was the first company under arms in the North, and it is claimed, as I think with truth,
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