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 43
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reaching the field, however, the command found itself confronted by the entire corps of Stonewall Jackson, and being violently assailed, was compelled to fall back with severe loss. In withdraw- ing, General Taylor was severely wounded in the leg, and being carried to Alexandria, died, on the 1st of September, from the effects of the amputation of the limb-his spirit remaining firm and undaunted to the last.
As a soldier, General Taylor's prominent characteristics were courage, intelligence, and inflexible devotion to duty. As a disci- plinarian, he was stern almost to harshness, and for a time was, on this account, far from popular with his command. In personal manners he was haughty and reserved, seldom unbending from his lofty mood even among his intimates ; but under all the hard crust throbbed a nature at once passionate and noble-a nature which scorned injustice and held unyieldingly to convictions honestly and deliberately formed. Had his life been spared, he must have attained a high rank among the Generals of the Union army, in which, whatever its misfortunes, courage and unselfish patriotism always commanded generous and certain applause.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLIAM S. TRUEX.
General William S. Truex entered the service as Major of the Fifth New Jersey Regiment on the 21st of August, 1861, and served with that regiment until the 7th of March, 1862, when he was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Tenth Regiment. On the 7th of July following, he was appointed Colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment, which left the State on the 2d of September of the same year, proceeding to Monocacy, Maryland. On the 20th of January, 1863, he was assigned to the command of Fred- erick City and the troops in that vicinity, consisting of a battery of the Fourth Artillery (regulars), a battalion of the Sixth Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, the Third Delaware and the "Purnell Legion"-a Maryland regiment. He remained in this position for some months, when he was sent with the Fourteenth New Jersey and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania, to open communi-
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cation with Harper's Ferry, which was considered at the time a very hazardous task, but which he successfully performed. His regiment was then brigaded, and after the battle of Gettysburg, joined the Army of the Potomac, participating in the battles of Wapping Heights, Locust Grove, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Monocacy, Snicker's Gap, Charlestown, Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Petersburg (second assault), and Sailor's Creek. General Truex commanded a brigade in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Monocacy, Petersburg (second assault), Sailor's Creek, and at Lee's surrender, being wounded at Cold Harbor. He was appointed Brigadier-General by brevet on the 15th of June, 1865.
During the Mexican war, General Truex served as Second Lieu- tenant of the Tenth Infantry, and consequently brought to the command of the regiments.with which he was identified in the late war, an amount of experience and knowledge which rendered his services peculiarly valuable. In action he was always cool, brave, and self-reliant, while as a disciplinarian he possessed qualities of the highest order.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL CALDWELL K. HALL.
General Hall, born in Philadelphia on the 10th of March, 1839, was, at the time the war broke out, a practicing lawyer in Trenton, whither his father, Rev. John Hall, D. D., removed in 1841. Euter- ing the military service as Adjutant of the Fifth Regiment, August 28, 1861, he was made Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Second New Jersey Brigade, under Colonel S. H. Starr, filling that position for some nine months. Upon the accession of Brigadier- .. General F. Patterson to the command of the brigade, Hall was transferred to his staff as Aid-de-camp, serving as such for three months. He participated in the battle of Williamsburg and the Peninsula campaign; and on the termination of the latter, was relieved from duty with that army, accepting (August 25, 1862) the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the Fourteenth Regiment, then being
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raised at Freehold, under command of Colonel William S. Truex. This regiment soon after joined the Eighth Army Corps and was stationed at Frederick, Maryland, being employed in guarding the railroad and picketing the neighborhood, in apprehension of a rebel invasion. After some months service at this point it was, subsequent to the battle of Gettysburg, incorporated with the Army of the Potomac, with which it remained during the rest of its term of service. Colonel Hall was continually on duty with the regi- ment, participating in all its battles till the battle of Monocacy, when, being wounded, he was sent to hospital at Baltimore, and (September 21, 1864) was honorably discharged the service on account of disability from the wounds received in that action. He was subsequently brevetted Colonel "for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Cold Harbor," and Brigadier-General for " gallant services" at Monocacy. Upon quitting the field, he resumed the practice of the law in Trenton, and.in February, 1867, was appointed by Governor Ward as Prosecutor of the Pleas for Mercer County. His record was throughout honorable to himself and the State with whose sons he went afield.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL E. L. CAMPBELL.
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This brave and efficient soldier enlisted as a private for the three months' service on the 18th of April, 1861, assisting on that day to organize a company, of which he was elected Captain. The company being accepted by the authorities, was ordered to Trenton, but was not mustered in, the brigade being declared full, where- upon the men returned to their homes-Campbell, however, enlist- ing as a Sergeant in a three years' regiment. Being shortly after offered a Captaincy in the three years' service, he in seven days recruited a company which was mustered into service May 28, 1861, as Company E, Third Regiment Volunteers. Captain Campbell served with this company until August, 1862, when Colonel Brown, commanding the Third, placed him on duty as acting Lieutenant- Colonel of the regiment. Having been meanwhile appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, he soon after ten-
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dered his resignation in order to accept the new commission, but General Franklin declining to act upon it, being unwilling at that time to spare any efficient officers in his division, Campbell remained with the Third until after the battle of Antietam, when (September 22, 1862) his resignation was finally accepted, and he was mustered in (September 27th) as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifteenth. He served in this rank, commanding at various times the Fifteenth, Third, Fourth and Tenth Regiments, as well as the brigade, until February, 1865, when (having been brevetted Colonel, .. October 19, 1864. for "conspicuous gallantry" at Cedar Creek) he was appointed Colonel of the Fourth Regiment. February 22, 1865, he was detailed by General Meade as Judge Advocate General, Army of the Potomac, and served in that capacity until the army was broken up, when he resumed command of his regiment in the "Provisional Corps" which was formed under General Wright. He was brevetted Brigadier-General, April 9, 1865, and mustered cut with his regiment in the field, July 12, being finally discharged five days later at Trenton.
General Campbell was twice wounded-at Antietam, September 17, 1862, and Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864. During his whole period of service he was never absent from the front, except for a few days during the winter lull in operations, and for forty days while suffering from his wounds. Of the original officers of the First Brigade, from Kearney down, he was the last to quit the field, except that Major Way, formerly of the First Regiment, returned as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fortieth, while he. (Camp- bell) was serving on the staff of General Meade.
As an officer, General Campbell was universally esteemed. Reti- cent and diffident in all that concerned himself, he was always vigi- lant and active in everything which affected the discipline and . welfare of his command, exhibiting, especially while attached to the Fifteenth Regiment, the most paternal solicitude for the comfort . of the men, as well as the most untiring devotion to the work of perfecting them in discipline and necessary homogeneity. In the field, in time of action, he was fearless to a fault, and went about the business in hand, however difficult and dangerous, as deliber-
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ately .as if merely marshalling his men for review. Frequently detached for special service requiring courage, coolness, and fertil- ity of resource, he never failed to justify the expectations of his superiors. But he was not an officer to " shine" alongside of self- seeking, scheming men, more solicitous to head the columns of newspapers than columns of attack; his tendency was directly to the opposite extreme ; and he was no doubt less widely known and appreciated than some who, by no means his equals in merit, yet managed by adroit manipulations of newspaper correspondents, to obtain more frequent mention and a broader celebrity.
At the close of the war, after for a time filling a clerkship in one of the departments at Washington, General Campbell was appointed by Governor Ward as State Agent for the collection of bounties due to New Jersey Soldiers, and in the performance of the responsible duties of this position he is still engaged.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHARLES G. HARKER.
Charles G. Harker was born at Swedesboro, Gloucester County, in 1835, and at the time he fell at Kenesaw Mountain, had just. attained his twenty-ninth year. Both parents dying while he was still young, several gentlemen of distinction interested themselves in the orphan, finally securing his appointment to a vacancy in the West Point Military Academy, where he remained for four years, graduating with distinction in 1858. General Robert Ander- son, who was one of the Board of Visitors appointed by the President to examine the class of that year, declared at the time that young Harker was a model of a soldier, and one who would distinguish himself should opportunity offer-a prediction which was fully verified. Entering the United States army as a brevet Second Lieutenant of the Second Infantry, July 1, 1858, he was promoted to a full Second Lieutenantcy of the Ninth Infantry, on August 15, 1858. The regiment at the time was on duty on the frontier, where he at once joined it and remained until the summer of 1861, when he was detailed for special duty at a school of instruction for volunteers in Ohio. While there, permission was
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obtained from the Secretary of War allowing him to accept the Colonelcy of the Sixty fifth Ohio Regiment, and at the same time he was promoted to a Captaincy in the regular line.
His brilliant career from that time to the day of his death is a matter of history. Joining General Buell's Army of the Ohio, he assisted in constructing the military road in Eastern Kentucky, participated in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, and com- manded a brigade of the force that chased Bragg out of Kentucky. With his brigade he afterwards joined General Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland, and so greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Stone River that his superior in command recommended his promotion to a Brigadier-Generalship, which, however, was not then complied with. At the close of the campaign he obtained a leave of absence for twenty days, enabling him to make a brief visit to his home in New Jersey. While here he expressed an earnest desire to be connected with the troops of his native State, speaking proudly of what she was doing for the suppression of the rebellion. With his usual modesty, however, he objected to his friends making any effort to have him promoted and transferred.
At the expiration of his only leave during the war, he rejoined his brigade, assuming command as ranking Colonel, and took part in the Tennessee campaign. Under General Thomas he again shone conspicuously at Chickamauga, receiving credit for being largely instrumental with that officer in saving the army-his com- mand at a critical moment standing immovable, and repelling with heavy loss every assault of the enemy. Harker's courage, coolness and discretion in this battle, are described by an eye-witness as of the very highest order, almost approaching sublimity. Though two horses were shot from under him, he personally escaped injury ; and, upon the second and stronger recommendation from his supe- riors, he received his commission as Brigadier, to date from that battle.
At Mission Ridge, on the 7th of May, he had his horse killed, and was slightly wounded. At Resaca, on the 14th of May, he was again slightly wounded, and had another horse killed under him. In writing to a friend, after the fight at Resaca, he dates his
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letter on the march, near Kingston, Georgia, May 22, 1864, and says : "You are aware that the great Southwestern campaign under General Sherman is in progress. Thus far, we have had several quite severe engagements, in which we have been entirely victori- ous. In the battle of Resaca, on the 14th instant, I was wounded, though not dangerously. I was struck on the leg by a shell, which exploded immediately after passing me, wounding General Manson and killing my own horse and that of one of my orderlies. It was quite a narrow escape for me. My leg, though slightly cut and painfully bruised, is doing well. I did not leave the field, though unable to exercise full command, for about thirty-six hours. You and my family will be glad to learn that I can walk and ride very well now. I am able to discharge all my duties, and hope to be able to conduct my brave little command, which has so nobly stood by me in so many severe engagements, through the great struggle, or perhaps series of struggles, which will doubtless ensue before the fall of Atlanta. The result of the great battle before us can- not be doubted, though all of us cannot hope to witness the great triumph which must crown the efforts of our magnificent army."
On the 27th of June, 1864, Sherman's Army assailed the enemy's position on Kenesaw Mountain. Harker commanding a leading column of assault, advanced, mounted (other Generals being mostly dismounted), under the full range of the rebel fire-becom- ing a conspicuous mark for his sharpshooters. While gallantly encouraging his men, he was mortally wounded, and being hur- riedly carried to the rear, soon expired, his last words being, " Have we taken the mountain ?" His remains were subsequently removed to New Jersey, and now lie interred amid the familiar scenes of his early days.
General Harker was in all respects one of the truest and noblest men, among all the many true and noble, who gave their lives in defence of the Nation. With a character mellowed and strengthened by a sincere and devout piety, his courage was no mere outcome of vanity or self-seeking, but the result of a conscientious obedience to the claims of obvious duty. His military skill and ability were universally recognized as of the highest order, while his influence
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over his subordinates was exhibited on every field which he illus- trated by his gallantry. His memory, still fair and fragrant in the lapse of years, will be faithfully cherished, we are sure, by the State and Nation for which he nobly died.
New Jersey had other Generals than those already named who achieved distinction. George D. Bayard, who gave his life in the Nation's service, early attained a place among the distinguished cavalry leaders of the war, displaying the highest courage, no less than superior skill and capacity in command, on every field. Brigadier General Francis Price, who entered the service with the first volunteer contingent, being then but a stripling, also achieved a high and deserved celebrity as a soldier, being, indeed, in point of personal courage the equal of the best and bravest in the army. In a number of the engagements in which he participated, his gal- lantry won especial recognition from superiors, while among the rank and file his uniform fidelity to duty secured him universal respect. Of these, and others whose records are not here given- including Generals Joseph W. Revere, William R. Montgomery and William Birney-it need only be said that they faithfully and unfalteringly discharged every duty, and deserve to be remem- bered with gratitude as among the saviours of the Republic.
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CHAPTER XLVI. INSTANCES OF GALLANTRY.
THE careful reader of these pages cannot but have been struck with the numerous instances in which high gallantry and soldierly ability were exhibited by very young men. Indeed, the war and its objects seem to have appealed with peculiar force to this class, and of those who attained marked distinction and came out of the strife as Generals and officers of exalted grade, at least one-half were men below thirty years of age. This was, perhaps, but natu- ral-the soldier's life and excitements having peculiar charms for the adventurous spirit of youth ; and possibly the same fact was true of other States ; at least we remember that among the earliest martyrs of the conflict were young men like Ellsworth and Win- throp, and others no less noble, representing alike the East and the West; but certainly in no State was the proportion of young men who entered the service greater than in our own, many of our regiments being almost exclusively composed of volunteers who had barely attained their majority. Mindil, Bayard, Hall, Sewell, Price, Zabriskie, Janeway, Tay, Ramsey, Yorke -- these, with scores of others whose deeds were equally illustrious-were all young men, some of them scarcely come to man's estate, and all rose by sheer and resistless merit. So among the rank and file, many of the most deserving soldiers, many whose heroism embel- lished the grandest fields, and whose lofty, patient self-sacrifice gave an almost royal splendor to the saddest scenes of suffering and peril, were, as the world counts the years of life, mere boys- beardless striplings-whose lives, up to the day they went afield, had coursed only in the calmest currents. Hundreds of such-nay thousands, bravely defending the flag under whose stars their grandfathers nobly fought, fell in the carnival of battle; hundreds
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still, maimed and scarred, meet us on our daily paths, living epit- omes of that sublime instinct of nationality which lifted the nation from the misty lowlands of barbarous self-seeking, to the broad relationship with all the highest aspirations of humanity-the serene heights of justice-where it stands to-day. The records of these are epistles written in blood, which we may well send down to coming generations as embodying the very loftiest and purest teachings of the crucial period of our life as a nation.
Obviously, it is altogether impossible to record, in these pages, all the instances of dauntless heroism, of wonderful achievement, and of almost precocious skill which, in sifting the narratives of our various regiments, have come to the author's knowledge. We can only select one or two as types of the whole body of similar cases, and as such give them in evidence that New Jersey still has sons who are worthy to rank with the noblest and best of her younger Revolutionary patriots.
Among the many instances of youthful intrepidity and daring, none, perhaps, exceeded in all the points of real sublimity those which are furnished in the career of drummer William Magee, of the Thirty-third Regiment. This lad, for he was only a lad, en- tered the service at fifteen years of age-leaving a widowed mother in the city of Newark-to aid in maintaining the unity of the Nation. From the first he displayed qualities of the highest order. Intelligent, fearless, vigilant, he was at all times an example alike to superiors and inferiors. Though entering the service as a drummer, he by no means confined himself to the duties of his specific sphere. He had a knack of fighting as well as drumming, and withal exhibited an appreciation of the methods of warfare which qualified him for the most surprising exploits. One of these, at least, was equal in splendor of execution and grandeur of result · to any which the history of the war records. It will be remem- bered that in the fall of 1864, after Sherman had swung loose from his base and started on his stately " March to the Sea," Hood with an army of forty thousand men laid siege to Nashville, de- fended by General Thomas. Here, for a period of two or three weeks, our troops were penned up with little prospect of relief.
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At Murfreesboro, thirty miles away, General Thomas, reluctant to relax his hold on the railroad to Chattanooga, had stationed a small garrison under General Milroy. This garrison, as the rebels gathered in greater force, beleaguering the post, soon became com- paratively isolated, all avenues of escape being practically closed. But the men did not lose heart. At length, on the 2d of Decem- ber, it was determined to strike a blow for deliverance. At this time, young Magee had become acting orderly to General Van- Cleve, and to him, youth as he was, the order was given to charge the enemy. It may be that a smile accompanied the order-a smile at the thought of committing such a work to a mere strip- ling; but it is certain that the confidence of the commander was not misplaced. Taking the One Hundred and Eighty-first Ohio Infantry, Magee sallied out of the works, and rushed upon a bat- tery posted on an eminence hard by. The charge was made most gallantly, but the fire of the enemy was resistless, and slowly the column fell back. But the intrepid orderly did not for a moment falter in his purpose. One repulse only stimulated his appetite for his work, and accordingly, selecting the One Hundred and Seventy- fourth Ohio, he again moved out, again charged the foe, again met their withering fire, still, however, pressing on until at last the victory was his. And it was no ordinary victory. Two heavy guns and eight hundred of the enemy killed, wounded and cap- tured, were the trophies which he brought out of the contest. Nor was this all. This signal success at once dispiriting the enemy and reviving the hopes of our own men, proved the first of a series of victories which resulted, finally, in driving Hood from Tennessee and restoring that whole section to Federal control. The readiness and gallantry displayed by young Magee in this affair very natu- rally attracted the attention of those around him, and he received the hearty commendation of Generals Rosseau, Milroy, and other officers in command. Subsequently he received a medal of honor from the War Department, inscribed, " The Congress to drummer William Magee, Company C, Thirty-third Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers."
Upon the close of the war, the young hero was appointed by
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the President Second Lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment of Infantry, being strongly recommended by Governors Ward and Geary. The latter, in his letter to the War Department, spoke of him from personal knowledge : " He served in my command, and from personal observation I can speak unreservedly in his behalf." Upon appearing before the Examining Board for examination, Magee found that he was deficient in several studies-having never enjoyed educational advantages-and much to his disappointment he returned home, expecting to be obliged to abandon his cherished design of 'entering the regular service. Governor Ward, however, learning the facts in the case, succeeded in securing an extension of the time for the final examination, and then, with characteristic generosity, at once placed Magee in the care of capable instructors, by whom he was soon fitted for a second appearance before the Board-his progress, owing to his intense application to study, being most rapid in all the branches in which it was necessary he should acquire proficiency. To-day, the drummer-boy of the Thirty-third, the hero of Murfreesboro, now only nineteen years of age, wears the uniform of the regular service, and should our flag ever again be assailed; we may be sure that among its brave defenders he will not be the last to write his name high on the scroll of fame.
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Among the more conspicuous young men of the State, whose careers illustrated the loftiest patriotism, none achieved a purer fame than Major Peter Vredenburgh, of the Fourteenth Regiment. Few men in New Jersey, of his years, were more happily situated, or had brighter prospects for the future. His father, Honorable Peter Vredenburgh, had for many years been recognized as one of . the ablest and purest Judges of the Supreme Court of the State. He was himself, when the first echo of rebellion came from Sum- ter, in the full and successful practice of the legal profession at Eatontown, in the county of Monmouth. But of Dutch descent through both parents, with the blood of the gallant defenders of Harlem and Leyden flowing in his veins, he could not remain at
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