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 41
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General Mott was four times wounded-once in each year of the term during which he was in the service. When last wounded, during the pursuit of Lee, his division had just come up with the rear guard of the enemy, and but for his being compelled to leave the field and abandon to others the execution of his combinations, some thousands of the rebels, with a large part of their train, must have been captured. All were, indeed, a few days afterwards sur-
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rendered, but it would have been a fitting close to Mott's career, and a crowning glory to the old Second Brigade, could the enemy have been at that time captured and held as trophies of New Jersey valor and endurance.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL TORBERT.
A. T. A. Torbert entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1851, and graduated four years after, in 1855, being promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Fifth United States Infantry. He joined that regiment in the same year, in Texas, and served con- tinuously until 1861 on the frontiers of that State, and in Florida, Utah and New Mexico. In February, 1861, he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and on the 17th of April following reported to Governor Olden, of New Jersey, by order of the War Department, for mustering duty. He continued in the performance of this duty until September of the same year, being promoted in August to Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. In September he declined a staff appointment, and was promoted Captain in the Fifth Infantry. About the same time he received permission from the War Depart- ment to accept the Colonelcy of a regiment of Volunteers, and was thereupon made Colonel of the First New Jersey by Governor Olden, assuming command on the 17th, at Camp Seminary, Virginia. During the fall and winter months he devoted himself to the work of drilling and disciplining the regiment for active service, and soon advanced it to a state of proficiency which enlisted the warm- est encomiums from General Kearney and others. In March, 1862, Colonel Torbert commanded his regiment in Mcclellan's advance to Manassas, and subsequently accompanied it to the Peninsula, serving in that disastrous campaign from March to July, being . engaged in the battle of West Point, the skirmish at Mechanics- ville, the battle of Gaines' Mill, and in the seven days' fight in McClellan's retreat to the James River. In August, 1862, he was assigned to the command of the First New Jersey Brigade, known as the First Brigade, First Division, Sixth Army Corps, then lying near Alexandria, Virginia. The brigade took part in General
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Pope's campaign, and subsequently in the campaign in Maryland under General McClellan, participating in the battles of Crampton's Pass and Antietam. Upon the termination of this campaign, the Fifteenth and Twenty-third New Jersey Regiments were assigned to the brigade. Torbert participated with his command in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, and in January, 1863, left on sick leave, not being present at the second Freder- icksburg battle. In the following June he rejoined the brigade near Fairfax Court House, and marched with the army, under Hooker, into Maryland, serving through the whole of the Mary- land and Pennsylvania campaigns, under General Meade-taking part in the battles of Gettysburg and Fairfield, in July, 1863. He then commanded the brigade continuously down to April, 1864, when he was placed in command of the First Division of the Cav- alry, Army of the Potomac, and moved with it in the Grand Advance. In May, he was assigned to the command of all the cavalry (about three thousand) with that army, General Sheridan being on the Richmond road with the Cavalry Corps proper. Tor- bert commanded at the cavalry fights at Milford Station on the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, May 21st, and on the North Anna three days later. Joining his division on the 26th, he commanded in the engagement at Hanovertown on the 27th, and was present at the fight at Hawes' Shop on the 28th. He then commanded in the actions at Old Church on the 30th, and at Cold Harbor on the 31st and June Ist, subsequently taking part in the cavalry engagements at Trevillian Station, June 11th, at Mallo- way's Ford Cross Road, June 12th, at White House and Tan- stall's Station, June 21st, and at Darbytown June 28th. On the 30th of July he was ordered to embark at City Point with his division, proceed to Washington, and report to General . Sheridan at Harper's Ferry. Reporting on the 8th of August, he was promoted to Chief of Cavalry of the Middle Military Division, on the staff of the General of Cavalry-his command consisting of the First and Third Cavalry Divisions from the Army of the Poto- mac, commanded by Generals Merrit and Wilson, and the Second Cavalry Division of the Army of the Shenandoah, commanded by
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General Averill. In the fighting in that department, Torbert had a conspicuous part, commanding at the battle of Winchester, August 17th, and at Kearneysville (with the First and Third Divi- sions), August 25th. In the famous battle at Opequan, September 19th, he commanded in person the First and Second Divisions, sharing also actively in other engagements following upon that victory. In the fights at Mount Crawford, October 2d, and at Toms River on the 9th, he commanded the First and Third Divi- sions, under Merrit and Custer. In the general engagement at Cedar Creek, October 19th, he commanded the First, Second and Third Divisions, and November 12th, was present at the engage- ment near Middletown. He then commanded at Liberty Mills, December 22d, with the First and Second Divisions, Army of the Shenandoah, and at Gordonsville, December 23d, with the same command. On the 9th of September, of that year, he had been promoted to brevet Major-General, and assigned to duty by the President according to his brevet raak. On the 23d of April, 1865, he was assigned to the command of the Army of the Shenandoalı, headquarters at Winchester -the command embracing three divi- sions of infantry, one of cavalry, and six batteries. On the 12th of July, this army being broken up, he was assigned to the com- mand of the District of Southeastern. Virginia, headquarters at Norfolk. He was relieved from command and mustered out of the service of volunteer rank in December, 1865, and November 1, 1866, having meanwhile been on leave of absence, resigned from the army and retired to private life. He was once wounded slightly, namely, on September 14, 1862, at Crampton's Pass, Maryland- where his brigade, as shown in another part of this work, performed one of the most brilliant feats of the war. During the war he received the following brevets in the Regular Army : brevet Major, July 4, 1863, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Gettysburg; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, May 28, 1864, for gallant services at Hawes' Shop; brevet Colonel, September 19, 1864, for gallant services at the battle of Winchester; brevet Brigadier-Gen- eral, March 13, 1865, for bravery at Cedar Creek; brevet Major- General, March 13, 1865, for meritorious services during the war.
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Few officers were more highly esteemed by the authorities of New Jersey than General Torbert. It was owing in a large degree to his industry and fidelity that they were enabled at the outbreak of hostilities to promptly fill all the requisitions made upon them for troops-his experience and familiarity with the methods of organization wonderfully diminishing the difficulties of the task which was so suddenly imposed upon them. For a period of six months, Torbert labored in this work with unexampled activity, proving a strong right arm to the Executive-never shrinking for a moment from any undertaking, however formidable; never fail- ing in the performance of any duty laid upon him. Yet all this while there were some, strange to say, who questioned his loyalty, and who labored to undermine him in the confidence of the authorities and impair his influence with those by whom he was surrounded. This hostility, so far as has ever been ascertained, had no better foundation than the fact that General Torbert was a native of the South, and had been associated for the most part with Southern officers-having many influential friends among Southern politicians, with whose views upon the slavery question he in some degree coincided. But over against this stood the fact that with the very first mutter of treason he arrayed himself vig- orously and earnestly on the loyal side, doing more than any sin- gle mustering officer in the Northern States to hurry troops to the field to aid in maintaining the authority of the Government, and the further fact also that he was at all times outspoken and em- phatic in denouncing the whole rebellious conspiracy, never hesi- tating to rebuke in others the slightest expression of sympathy with it. These facts, amounting to positive evidence, finally, it is grati- fying to know, were generally accepted as conclusive as to Tor- bert's status : and if, later in the war, when his saber was flashing over the heads of the Nation's enemies, any still entertained doubts as to his loyalty, they must have been of- the class with whom neither argument nor reason can overcome the influence of irra- * tional prejudice.
As a soldier, General Torbert was courageous, vigilant, skillful ; with excellent natural capacities for command, uniting much
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acquired information as to the high arts and rules of war, which made him, in point of qualification, vastly the superior of many who ranked him in the service. As a cavalry officer, he displayed pecu- liarly brilliant qualities, his entire connection with that arm of the service being in the highest degree creditable to himself and the army. Sheridan, under whose eye he fought, held him in the highest estimation, finding in him many of the soldierly elements which, in his own character, shone so conspicuously. In the bat- tles in the Shenandoah, during the summer and fall of 1864, Tor- bert was ever foremost in grappling with the enemy, and no blows were sharper or more severe than those which his divisions inflicted upon Early as, finally, he went reeling down the valley, utterly discomfited and broken. Torbert's success in this branch of the service was the result not merely of skill in combination and high personal courage, but in a large measure also of the enthusiasm with which he fought, and which, inspiring his command with confi- dence, made it irresistible, whether in the impetuosity of its attack or the stubborn tenacity with which, when assailed, it held its ground and beat back the assailant.
General Torbert, like the majority of the General officers from New Jersey, was comparatively young in years, being at the time he took command of the First Regiment, under thirty years of age. Upon resigning his position in the army and retiring to pri- vate life, he took up his residence at Delaware, where, possessing a large estate, he rests in the shadow of his own vine, with no breath of war blowing among the leaves, no menace of treason disturbing the peaceful calm in which, after battles many and perilous, he has happily anchored.
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL ROBERT MCALLISTER.
Major-General Robert McAllister, at the time the rebellion com- menced, was a citizen of Oxford Furnace, New Jersey, engaged in an important enterprise, which demanded his closest attention. * He had already reached the age at which, ordinarily, men of the better class prefer the ease and quiet of the well-ordered family
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circle to the tumults and attritions of worldly strife; and was, besides, exempt, by virtue of his years, from the obligation to per- form military duty. But he was a man of profoundly patriotic instincts, of deep and pervading religious convictions, a lover of liberty, a respecter of law; and when that blow was struck which menaced law, order, religion and every other high and sacred interest with destruction, he surrendered, in a moment, business, home, and all accustomed comforts, and with only a burning desire to be useful, gave himself to the country.
Immediately enlisting a company of men upon the first call for three year's troops, he reported at Trenton early in May, 1861, and on the 21st of that month was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the First Regiment, serving in that capacity, although really in com- mand during most of the time, until July 28, 1862, when he was appointed Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, of which he at once assumed command, and with which he remained until June 6, 1864. In October, 1862, as ranking Colonel, he took command of the First Brigade, Second Division, Third Corps, to which his regiment was attached. Upon the consolidation of the Third Corps with the Second he was placed temporarily, in the midst of a battle, in charge of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps, directing its operations in all the engagements in which it partici- pated. On the 24th of June (1864) following, he was relieved and took command of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps (Second New Jersey Brigade), remaining in that position during the remainder of the war. On the 27th of October, 1864, he was appointed Brigadier-General by brevet, " for gallant and distin- guished services at Boydton Plank Road," and on the 13th of March, 1865, was further recognized by appointment as brevet Major-General " for meritorious services during the war." He was . mustered out of the service on the 6th of June, 1865.
From the outset of his career, General McAllister was a man of work and action. Sharing in the first battle of the war, he parti- * cipated also in the last. In all, he was engaged in some forty bat- tles, extending all the way from West Point to the fall of Peters- burg. He was present at the first Bull Run, rendering efficient
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service in arresting the retreat of our forces, and also at the siege of Yorktown, though not actually engaged in the operations before that place. In the battle of West Point, he fought with great gal- lantry, and participated also in the battles of Gaines' Mill, Charles City Cross Roads, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. In the engagement at Gaines' Mill his regiment suffered severely, having been ordered into the woods and kept there by Fitz John Porter, who refused to permit fresh troops to go to its relief. Subse-
quently, General McAllister shared in the desperate fighting at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, being severely wounded in the latter engagement. After an absence of ninety days, he returned to the field and participated in the engagement at Jacob's Ford on the Rappahannock, being the first man to land, under heavy fire from the enemy, in the crossing at Kelley's Ford prior to this fight. He was present, during the same campaign, at Locust Grove and Mine Run, and in the last grand advance parti- cipated in all the battles of the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, the North Anna, Coal Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom. Strawberry Plains, Weldon Railroad, Reams' Station, Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, Poplar Grove Church, and in the final contests be- fore Richmond-especially distinguishing himself in a picket line line fight on the 5th of February, 1865, and in the crowning vic- tory of the war-the capture of the enemy's works before Peters- burg. In many of these engagements, as at Hatcher's Run and Boydton Plank Road, General MeAllister by his coolness and intrepidity won the special commendations of his superiors. All the Generals under whom he served, including Humphreys, Prince, Carr and several others, united in recommending his promotion, bearing the highest testimony to his efficiency and courage as an officer, and his worth and excellence as a man, and he retired
1 Among these letters were the following :
" To his Excellency, the President of the United States ;
" I have the honor most respectfully to recommend for promotion, Colonel Robert Mc Allister, commanding the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers.
" He has served under my command for the last year and participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded. On all occasions he has distinguished himself as a cool, intrepid, skillful commander.
" Colonel McAllister's qualities as a disciplinarian, and extensive experience in the
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from the army of the Potomac as highly and sincerely respected as any man, perhaps, who had helped to make its name immortal.
Yet General McAllister was not a brilliant officer, as the world uses that term. He had none of the nervous vehemence of Kear- ney, none of the dazzle and dash of Sheridan. In the heat of the fiercest battle he was as cool and calm as on parade. Plain and unpretending, indifferent to the dignity and apparently uncon- scious of the privileges and claims of rank, with a temperament which nothing ever disturbed, he seemed, at the outset, to many who did not know him, destitute of every essential quality of a commander ; and there is no doubt that for a time he suffered in the estimation of some of his superiors, as well as of his own com- mand, from the excessive simplicity of his carriage and the utter absence of that sort of bluster which for awhile passed current in the army and among the people for genuine courage. Indeed, the more thoughtless and reckless among his own regiment, seeing him live soberly and simply, and laboring incessantly to improve the morals as well as the soldierly efficiency of his troops, were wont to grow jocular, around the camp fire, over his more homely peculiarities. But when the hour for fighting came, and battle
field, well qualify him for the position of a Brigadier-General, and as a reward for the many valuable services he has rendered his country, I submit for him a promotion to that position.
"I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" JOSEPH B. CARR, Brigadier-General, United States Volunteers."
General Humphreys, in a letter of October 28, 1863, concurred in the opinion thus expressed by General Carr, as to the value of General McAllister's services.
"HEADQUARTERS, SECOND DIVISION, THIRD CORPS,
" BRANDY STATION, VIRGINIA, November 23, 1863. 5
"Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War :
"SIR: I have heard of the recommendation of Colonel Robert McAllister for pro- motion, and beg leave to say as the least in his behalf which my acquaintance will justify :
" The Colonel has commanded a brigade in my division for a month and a half, and is now relieved in consequence of the seniority of another officer who has joined for duty.
"During this time we have been marching and changing position almost constantly, and he has discharged the duties of Brigade Commander satisfactorily. He has shown himself to be a man of high character, both as a soldier and a gentleman, always per- forming his duty conscientiously, and stimulating others to do the same. His general conduct undoubtedly commands the favorable consideration of the War Department. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" HENRY PRINCE, Brigadier-General of Volunteers, commanding Division."
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had been joined, neither officers nor men-neither his superiors nor subordinates-cared to remember that they had ever thought of him otherwise than proudly. When that time came, he met it, calmly indeed, but with a courage, a resolution, an indifference to danger which drew all eyes unto him, and from every lip extorted praise. Wherever the fire was thickest and most deadly, wherever a wavering line needed encouragement or the stimulus of dauntless example, wherever a "forlorn hope " was called to do the barely possible, there he was ever found, fighting sturdily to the last with unfailing confidence and a face unblanched. Surrounded and left to fight alone, with a girdle of fire and steel all about him, as at Hatcher's Run, or menaced and sorely pressed by overwhelming numbers, as at the salient point of Spottsylvania's crimson field, he was equal always to the great emergency-never abandoning a field that could be won; winning often where more pretentious or more " brilliant " men, trying, would have failed. Not a soldier of the schools; slow, perhaps, to apprehend and practice upon nice military rules, he yet had what is better than all the knowledge of the books-perfect and entire fearlessness, joined with the sturdiest tenacity of purpose; and these, making him a leader and so an inspiration to his followers, gave him success in the most desperate and exhausting straits, and secured him a place, .by common voice, among the "fighting Generals" of the war whose hearts, as well as their hands, were in the work to which they had been called.
But General McAllister was not merely conspicuous for courage on the field in the hour of battle. He was hardly less distinguished for the blamelessness of his life in camp and his conscientious devo- tion to his duties as a Christian. He was one of those who carried their religion with them to the field, and illustrated in the midst of . all its jostling vices, all its clamorous temptations, the virtues which religion nourishes and enriches. No regiments were ever more faithfully and jealously guarded from the evils so largely incident to army life than those which he commanded. In him every Chap- lain had a supporter, every soldier tempted or led astray, a coun- sellor and friend. Nor was he without his reward in this labor of
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love. In his own regiment, the Eleventh, the practice of temper- ance and kindred virtues became, in time, the rule rather than the exception ; and not a few who at first were among the scoffers, came at last to holiness of living. Who shall say what a vastly greater moral influence the army of this nation might have acquired, or how infinitely its conception of the nature of our struggle might have been elevated, had all men in command, standing as exem- plars and guides, been equally faithful to the moral interests of those subjected to their control !"
BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN RAMSEY.
John Ramsey entered the military service of the United States as First Lieutenant of Company G, Second Regiment New Jersey State Militia. The Captain of the company being elected Colonel of the regiment, Lieutenant Ramsey was made Captain (April 28, 1861), and in that capacity served during his term of enlistment. Upon the return of his regiment, he organized another company
" Chaplain Cline, of the Eleventh Regiment, says of General MeAllister :
"He was a self-denying, laborious officer; often performing duties which men in the same position generally devolved on subordinate officers-doing this, for fear all might not be done right. And he knew no danger ; always in the extreme front, never asking anybody to go where he had not been first himself. I could give many instances of great bravery and devotion to his work, but will mention only one During those fearful battles of the Wilderness, he worked so hard, and was so careful and anxious, both day and night (as he always was in time of special danger), that he was entirely exhausted, but would not give up. Two horses had been shot under him ; he had received a blow on an old wound sustained at Gettysburg, and was suffering from this, but he would not listen to his friends and take the rest he absolutely needed .. After the enemy had retired from our immediate point, he did go back to the hospital to get a quiet night's sleep, but next morning, early, he was at his post again. His eonduet was regulated by a pure love of country, and a strict conscientiousness. There was no affectation in his fervid patriotism, no absorbing ambition for military renown in his desire to meet the foc; but a quiet determination, and an inflexible firmness which were not always seen. He brought to the service a character mellowed by religious culture, and was throughout a Christian officer; loving the approval of conscience more than the plaudits of men."
The following is an extraet from a letter written by Brigadier-General Carr, after the battle of Gettysburg, to a daughter of General McAllister, referring to his aetion in that conflict:
" The conduct of Colonel MeAllister on that occasion, as well as at Chancellors- ville, was such as to merit the admiration and highest encomiums of not only his superior officers, but also his brave followers, and others to whom he was entirely unknown. You have every reason, as well as the State he represents, to feel proud of your father."
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and was commissioned (August 28th) as Captain, the company being attached to the Fifth (three years) Regiment. In May, 1862, Captain Ramsey was commissioned as Major of this regiment for " distinguished gallantry at Williamsburg," where he had fought with great bravery. Five months later (October 21st), he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and in the April follow- ing was promoted to the Colonelcy of the Eighth Regiment. In December, 1864, he received a commission as brevet Brigadier- General, and was assigned to duty with that rank. He was bre- vetted Major-General April 16, 1865, and mustered out of the service in June, two months later.
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