USA > New Jersey > New Jersey troops in the Gettysburg campaign from June 5 to July 31, 1863 > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
395
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
I advanced and took the house and secured the battery. In this posi- tion we remained until about 12 m. of the third when I was relieved by the Third Regulars, and after considerable search found and joined my brigade about 3 p. m. In the last day's fight the brigade was not called into action, and the Fifteenth was the only regiment of the brigade that took part in the fighting on that memorable field. The advanced position gained on the night of the second by the Fifteenth was the same that had been occupied by the Third Corps, and from which they had been driven, speaks louder than words for their gallantry. Their steadiness under most trying circumstances, speaks volumes for the discipline for which the regiment was noted, and thus ended our share, of no insignificant value, in the turning and decisive battle of the war."
On the tenth day of May, 1864, Colonel Penrose was assigned to the command of the First Brigade by order of General Grant, approved by the President. This was a mark of distinction seldom conferred upon a junior officer, and is probably the only instance of the kind in the Army of the Potomac, except in the case of general officers to command the army. On the nineteenth of October, 1864, Colonel Penrose was brevetted brigadier- general of United States Volunteers. He is now major of the Twelfth Infantry United States Army, and is stationed at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory.
MAJOR A. JUDSON CLARK.
A. Judson Clark, commander of Battery " B," First New Jersey Artillery, was born in Fayetteville, N. Y., October, 1838, and became a citizen of Newark in 1860, where he began the study of medicine. Enlisted April, 1861, for three months under the first call for seventy-five thousand men and was made sergeant of Company F, First Regi- ment New Jersey Volunteers. At the expiration of his term of service assisted in organizing and putting into the field the second battery of light artillery (Battery " B"
*
,
396
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
First New Jersey), then known as Beam's battery, being commissioned as first lieutenant. After the death of Captain John E. Beam was promoted captain and the battery was afterward known as Clark's battery. Through- out the whole period of the war the battery was promi- nently engaged in every important battle except that of Antietam and won a splendid reputation for its fighting and staying qualities. At Chancellorsville Captain Clark was placed in command of the First Division Artillery, Third Army Corps. When the attack on the Eleventh Corps was made by Jackson, Clark's battery was at Hazel Grove firing on the Furnace road. The enemy came through to the right of Sickles' corps, and in close pursuit of Howard's fleeing troops. The battery was immediately turned around, and began firing to the rear with canister which enabled Pleasonton to form his line. At Gettysburg Captain Clark was with his battery during all of the terrific firing of the second of July, and the gallant conduct of the battery on that occasion is well attested by the frequent mention, in the official reports, of its splendid services. At the close of the day's engagement Colonel Randolph, chief of artillery of the Third Corps, was wounded and Captain Clark was appointed to that office which he held until just before the fight at Mine Run when Randolph returned to duty. At the fight at Ream's Station in front of Petersburg Captain Clark was slightly wounded in the forehead by a minié ball. When the terms of service of the three year members of the battery who had not reënlisted expired, Captain Clark accompanied them to Trenton where they were mustered out, and immediately afterward returned to the battery remaining with it until the close of the war. At the time of the surrender the battery was in position in the line of the Second Corps, to which it then belonged. Captain Clark
397
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
was specially recommended to the President for promotion by General Sickles for bravery and gallantry at Chancel- lorsville and Gettysburg, and in 1864, General Hunt, chief of artillery Army of the Potomac, General Birney, General Mott and others sent strong letters to the State authorities urging that the several batteries of the State be given a field officer and recommending Captain Clark for the place, and in 1865, General Mott sent the following additional appeal to the Governor, but for some reason or other was not complied with. The following is General Mott's letter :
HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, SECOND ARMY CORPS, May 21, 1865.
Governor :
As New Jersey has five batteries in the service, and no field officer-four being entitled to a major-allow me to call your attention to Captain A. Judson Clark, Battery "B," as an officer justly entitled to the position. Captain Clark has served since 1861, is the senior artillery officer from the State, and has on all occasions conducted himself in an efficient and gallant manner. He is about leaving the service, as his battery is to be mustered out, and a recognition of his services by the State will be a just reward for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field.
[ take great pleasure in making this recommendation as the captain has served under, with or near my command in almost all of the actions of the Army of the Potomac.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. MOTT, Brevet Major-General.
His Excellency Joel Parker, Governor, etc.
Captain Clark was brevetted major of United States Volunteers for gallant and meritorious services in front of Petersburg, by Congress, to date from April 2, 1865. Since the war Major Clark's signal abilities have been recognized by his own people who have repeatedly appointed him to responsible positions, first as chief of police of the city of Newark, then as secretary of the Board of Assessments
398
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
and Revision of Taxes, and as Receiver of Taxes. He is also a prominent officer in the National Guard of the State.
MAJOR WILLIAM W. MORRIS.
Major William Wallace Morris was born in the city of New York in 1830, and in 1832 his parents took up their residence in the city of Newark. His ancestors on his mother's side were Huguenots, who settled in Canada in the sixteenth century, after the massacre of Paris, France. His paternal ancestry were of the Morrises who immigrated from Wales, and settled in Monmouth county, New Jersey, in 1669. His great grandfathers on both sides were soldiers during the Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1783, and in the war of 1812 and 1814 both fought against the British. Many of the male members of the family had fought in every war on this continent except in the war with Mexico. Major Morris was educated in private schools, and learned the coach, harness and saddlery busi- ness and was superintendent of a large factory at the time of his enlistment. When a stripling, he joined the old Lafayette Guards as a private, and subsequently became Ensign, and afterward joined the City Battalion under Major Carter. In 1861 Major Morris raised a company and was about to offer their services to the government when a severe family affliction compelled him to defer his departure to the field. In August, 1862, under the call for ten thousand men he recruited Company A, Twenty-sixth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, having enlisted as a private soldier, and was so mustered in September 3d. Subsequently he was elected captain of the company, and was mustered in the United States service September 18th. He left with his regiment for the front from Camp Frelinghuysen September 26, 1862, and was promoted
399
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
major November 19th following, and mustered in Decem- ber 6, 1862. He took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, under General Burnside December 13th and 14th, acting as colonel of the regiment a considerable part of the time, having but one staff officer to assist him-Sergeant-Major Amos J. Cummings, the regiment numbering nine hun- dred and seventy-five men present. Major Morris was one of the storming column at Fredericksburg Heights, and participated in the battle of Salem Church May 3d and the battle of Salem Heights or Banks' Ford May 4, 1863. At the storming of the rifle pits at " Franklin's Crossing," three miles below Fredericksburg, June 5, 1863, he was acting as lieutenant-colonel.
During the great draft riot in New York and Newark in July, 1863, when the- Newark " Mercury " newspaper office owned by ex-Sheriff E. N. Miller, and his residence was attacked by a mob-Sheriff Miller being at that time pro- vost marshal of the district-Major Morris offered his ser- vices which were gladly accepted, and Sheriff Miller com- missioned him to organize a body of veterans, secure arms and make arrangements with the military district com- mander, General Wool, to put down the enemies of peace and good order. Major Morris organized some four hun- dred men, and many of his brother officers rallied around him, among whom were Captains Fordham, P. F. Rogers, John Hunkele, John McIntee, Mark Sears, Lieutenant Rochus Heinisch, and others. Before the arrangements with General Wool were fully completed the riot in New York was put down and that in Newark speedily ended.
LIEUTENANT ROCHUS HEINISCH.
Lieutenant Rochus Heinisch was born in the city of Newark, N. J., December, 1835. He was educated in private schools, and was brought up in manufacturing
400
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
and business pursuits, following the cutlery business in his father's factory. At the age of seventeen he joined the Putnam Horse Guards, a famous battalion of mounted men, commanded by Major Heinisch, the father of Rochus. Subsequently he joined Company B, Newark City Battalion, and during the war enlisted as a private soldier in Company A, Twenty-sixth New Jersey Volunteers. He was afterward elected second lieutenant and was pro- moted first lieutenant in the field. He participated in the several engagements of his regiment, and was a faithful and a brave soldier. At the advance of the Twenty-sixth across the Rappahannock on June 5th, Lieutenant Heinisch was one of the very first to enter the rebel earth works. At the expiration of his term of service he reëntered business life, and served two terms in the House of Assembly of the New Jersey Legislature.
COLONEL HUGH H. JANEWAY.
Hugh H. Janeway was born in New Brunswick, N. J. He went into the service as first lieutenant of Company L, First New Jersey Cavalry, and soon became noted for his daring as well as for his other strong soldierly qualities. He was devoid of fear, and many are the incidents related of his personal encounters with the enemy, and his adven- tures. He had been in the service but a short time when he went on a scouting expedition and meeting with a body of the enemy he boldly charged into them. Janeway himself was wounded in seven different places, and was left for dead, but his wounds, though severe, were none of them fatal, and his reappearance among his men for duty a short time after was hailed with great joy. Febru- ary 19, 1862, Janeway was promoted captain; on January 27, 1863, major ; July 6, 1864, lieutenant-colonel, and on Octo- ber 11, 1864, colonel of the First Cavalry. During some
401
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
of the encounters with the enemy at Trevillian's Station Colonel Janeway was wounded, but he soon after returned and took command of his regiment. In the Weldon Rail- road expedition in December, 1864, the First New Jersey bore a conspicuous part. Nearing Hicksford, where the road to Gaston and Raleigh branches off from the Weldon line, a force of the enemy was found in strong works, defending the crossing of the Meherin river. The works were covered by a thick wood extending for a mile along the road ; and along the skirts of a wood a body of car- alry was posted. Colonel Janeway sent forward Captain Brooks to charge these men and clear the way. Pyne, in his description of this action, says :
" Of course no Southern cavalry then in the field could stand against a charge in which Robbins, Brooks and Craig were all engaged. Along a narrow road, breaking off here and there to pursue a fugitive visible through the trees, the Fifth Squadron swept forward at the run; until the road took a sudden twist, and lost itself in an abbatis of felled trees, perfectly impassable for horses. From the rifle-pits along the front of the rebel works a heavy fire was poured into the squadron as soon as it appeared. Robbins received a bullet through the hat, which grazed his head; Craig and Johnson had their horses shot and some of the men were unhorsed in like manner; but Brooks, covering his men as well as possible, held his position until the rest of the brigade came up. Then Sargent, with the First Massachusetts, was ordered to make a charge. Nothing could be more gallantly attempted; but it was wild to hope for any success so long as the enemy were not frightened from their guns. Sargent fell dead from his horse before they took the gallop; and the regiment pulled up in confusion, with the loss of several horses and some men. Then Janeway and the rest of the New Jersey took the field. Janeway was in his element at once. There never was a quiet-mannered man who took more delight in fight- ing, whether mounted or on foot; and no one ever did his work more thoroughly and with more perfect management of the troops under his command. As a consequence the regiment was always ready to do what he directed with a confidence that made them irresistible. Dis- mounting his whole force under cover of the woods, he charged them 26
402
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
straight into the rifle-pits, over ditches and fallen trees, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery from the woods behind. Nothing would have been more after Janeway's heart than a charge onward into the rebel forts, a quarter of a mile beyond."
At Dinwiddie Court House Janeway was in the very thickest of the fighting and Davies, who commanded the brigade, being wounded, Janeway succeeded him only to be wounded in turn. Soon recovering Janeway was again with his regiment, and at Five Forks distinguished him- „self by his bravery. At Amelia Springs, the regiment again encountered the enemy, and Colonel Janeway imme- diately ordered a charge, in leading which he was shot
through the head, and died almost instantly. This was April 5, 1865, but four days before the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. Colonel Janeway had endeared himself to every man in his command, and no braver soldier, truer patriot, or courteous gentleman ever per- ished on the field of battle than he.
COLONEL PERCY WYNDHAM.
Sir Percy Wyndham, colonel of the First New Jersey Cavalry (Sixteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers), was a member of an ennobled English family, son of Captain Charles Wyndham, of the Fifth Light Cavalry of the English army, and born on board the ship "Arab " in " the Downs," September 22, 1833. When but fifteen years of age he entered the "Students' Corps " in Paris, and took part in the French revolution of 1848. In July of that year he was transferred, at his own request, to the navy, and given the rank of ensign of marines. He resigned his commission in the French navy, April 7, 1850, and in the following year entered the artillery branch of the English army. Resigning in October, 1852, he received the com- mission of a second lieutenant in the Eighth Austrian
403
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Lancers in December following. He served a period of two years, being promoted first lieutenant on April 15 1854, and squadron commander shortly afterward.
On May 1, 1860, he resigned from the Austrian service to enter the Italian, and was commissioned a captain on the twentieth. He greatly distinguished himself by his dashing gallantry in the battles of Palermo, Nuloggo, Rager and Capua. On July 20th he was promoted to the rank of major and placed in command of his regiment, and on October I, to that of lieutenant-colonel on the field before Capua and given command of a brigade by General Garibaldi in person. He was knighted on the field by King Victor Emanuel and appointed a chevalier of the Military Order of Savoy. Colonel Wyndham remained in command of his brigade till October 8, 1861, when he obtained a leave of absence for twelve months and came to the United States to offer his services to the Federal Government.
Early in the month of February, 1862, upon the special recommendation of General McClellan and by the appoint- ment of the Governor, he became Colonel of the First New Jersey Cavalry. He assumed command of the regi- ment on the 9th, and called upon officers and men alike to aid him in securing the most efficient condition by a strict obedience to orders and thorough military discipline. The joint influence of Colonel Wyndham and Lieutenant- Colonel Kargé was felt almost immediately, and by the middle of May the regiment was performing meritorious military service. On the afternoon of June 6, the regi- ment drove the enemy through the village of Harrison- burgh, Va., and fell into an ambuscade in the woods, to the southeast of the town, in which Colonel Wyndham was captured and considerable loss sustained ; the colonel soon afterward escaped. October 30, a skirmish took place
404
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
between a detachment of cavalry under command of Colonel Wyndham and a force of rebels stationed at Thoroughfare Gap, resulting in the retirement of the latter to the almost impassable hills in the vicinity; and on February 2, 1863, Colonel Wyndham surprised Warrenton, Va. He took part in General Stahl's reconnoissance, leading the advance in the attack upon the enemy at Snicker's Ferry, and during the raid of General Stoneman through Virginia in April and May, 1863, he commanded the cavalry which took possession of Columbia.
The regiment was on almost constant duty from the day Colonel Wyndham took command, scouting, raiding and fighting ; while its impetuous leader was time and again placed at the head of a brigade when services of an extra- ordinary character were to be attempted. He was severely wounded in the battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863, and was mustered out of the service on July 5, 1864, when he opened a military school in New York city at which he was doing fairly well. Wyndham, however, was an adventurer, of a roving disposition, and when war broke out in Europe-1866-1867-he gave up his school, joined the Italian army and was appointed by Garibaldi a member of his staff. At the close of this war he returned to New York and with an Italian chemist, engaged in petroleum refining. An explosion of one of the large stills ruined them, and Wyndham went to Calcutta where he started the well-known comic paper "The Indian Charivari." While in Calcutta he organized an Italian opera company, and married a rich widow. It would be natural to find him now settling down for the remainder of his days, but married life evidently possessed little attraction for him, as soon after that event he went into lumber operations, and in speculation in timber forests at Mandalay lost all he had made in Calcutta. He then attempted to induce
405
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
the Burmese Government to cultivate cotton on a large scale, and while they praised his schemes and promised generous aid in putting his ideas into execution, they did not provide him with any means to carry them out. He then became a hanger-on of the court at Mandalay and suffered many indignities at their hands. He had become reduced to great poverty, and had pawned his jewels and decorations to get money enough to pay his debts. While at Mandalay he constructed an immense balloon and hoped by giving exhibition ascensions to be able to amass sufficient means to release his decorations, but his first ascension led to his death in the following tragic inanner, as described in the Rangoon (India) "Gazette" of January 27, 1879 :
" How little did a single soul among that vast crowd of people assembled on Saturday last in and about Dalhousie Park to witness the balloon ascension, which had been advertised for the last two months and more, imagine that they would be spectators-nay, participators-of a tragedy which resulted in the death of one of the most adventurous men of the day. Throughout the whole day one stream of human beings had flowed toward the Royal Lakes, on the margin of which Colonel Wyndham's balloon had been inflated. The balloon was about seventy feet in height and at the largest part ninety or one hundred feet in circumference, made of common white shirting with a coat of waterproof varnish and a somewhat slight network of thin ropes over it, the ends of which were tied around the edge of the wickerwork car in which the aeronaut was to take his seat. Crowds of all caste and degree, from the fashionable European lady and gentleman to the veriest cooly who could afford a few annas for entrance money, went around the baloon, examined its exterior, peered into its interior through its wide mouth and criticised it or
406
NEW JERSEY TROOPS
expressed their wonder. About a quarter past six o'clock Colonel Wyndham got into his car, in which four small bags of sand and some refreshments had been previously placed. Colonel Wyndham having given the signal to those who held it down, the balloon was gently released and rose, swaying for a short while from side to side then straightening itself and rising majestically upward. When it had reached an altitude of about three hundred feet it was seen to burst-open out-and then to collapse, the whole falling into the lake about a hundred yards from the bank, the remnants of the balloon falling over the car which contained Colonel Wyndham. A lot of boats pulled as fast as possible to the spot, but owing to the vast spread of cloth presented by the fragments of the balloon, it was full ten minutes before Colonel Wyndham's body could be recovered. It was immediately conveyed ashore, where it was placed in the hands of Doctors Oswald and Johnstone, but although they exerted themselves for over an hour all efforts to restore animation proved unavailing. It is the opinion of medical men from the appearance presented by the body, the bleeding from the nose and the peculiar nature of the accident, that before reaching the water he had been asphyxiated by the rushing out of the hot air or gas from the balloon. As to the causes of the balloon's collapse there can be little question. It was made two years ago of flimsy white shirting, not improved by keeping, which when inflated showed several cracks or rents in it. These flaws, when pointed out to him, Colonel Wyndham said were nothing ; he had gone up in balloons with holes the size of a man's head. Thus ended a singular and adventurous career."
1743
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.