USA > New Jersey > New Jersey troops in the Gettysburg campaign from June 5 to July 31, 1863 > Part 7
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The change of commanders in the Army of the Potomac from General Hooker to General Meade was effected quietly and with no intermission in its work. £ The march was continued as though nothing
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NEW JERSEY TROOPS
unusual had happened, but there was a deep feeling of regret at the resignation of General Hooker. The frequent changes that had taken place in the head of the Army of the Potomac, from the time McClellan had been relieved by order of the President, had almost destroyed the feeling of hero worship which existed in its early history. The army had developed into a self-reliant body of men, bent upon a certain mission the success of which outweighed all personal considerations, and its emotional nature though not wholly destroyed, had been disciplined into wholesome restraint. McClellan, who organized the army, had won the affections of the men. They followed him with enthusiasm through all the vicissitudes of the Penin- sula campaign; they hailed his return to command, after the defeat of Pope, with joy and gladness, and their final parting with him was like the separation of life-long friends. Under any other form of govern- ment, a change of this nature, in the very midst of an active campaign and on the eve of an important mili- tary movement, might have led to serious conse- quences ; but McClellan's ready acquiescence in the orders of his government had much to do with allaying personal feeling in so important a matter. General Burnside, who succeeded him, was known to the men of the Army of the Potomac as a patriotic and loyal man of great personal bravery, and of commanding presence. His modesty of demeanor, coupled with his gallantry and bravery, caused him to be received with great cordiality, and with the same fidelity it had
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
shown toward McClellan, the Army of the Potomac moved with Burnside and fought the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, where on Marye's Heights it vainly expended its force in a succession of assaults which stand unrivalled evidences of soldierly performance of duty and personal valor. The supersedure of Burn- side by Hooker, who had won the significant cognomen of "Fighting Joe," by many deeds of daring in the Peninsula, restored the confidence of the army which had been seriously impaired by the Fredericksburg disaster. The unfortunate result of the Chancellorsville campaign did not destroy the confidence of the army in Hooker's ability, and it entered upon the Gettysburg march with all its old- time ardor and spirit. The change, sudden as it was, whereby General Meade succeeded to the command of the army, caused only a momentary feeling of regret to pass through the ranks. Hooker was beloved, Meade was little known, except as the commander of one of the best corps in the army. This fact reconciled the troops at once to his appointment. He had never won distinction, or made himself conspicuous, as had Hooker or Kearny or Hancock; but his qualifications, so greatly the reverse of those which made them thus prominent, stamped him as a man of sterling worth; his personal bravery was undisputed, and his heart was in full sympathy with the government. The characteristics of the several corps commanders were discussed frequently on a march, and they were generally "sized up" with great accuracy. It was the
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prevalent belief that Meade was a " safe " man, but not a brilliant or inspiriting commander. The army was willing to take him on trial.
General Meade's first action on assuming command was to recall General Slocum and the Twelfth Corps, from its special mission in cooperation with the forces of General French at Harper's Ferry, and to order the latter to occupy Frederick when the army advanced. As strong evidence that General Hooker's removal had been contemplated for some time past, the action of General Halleck is significant. His first dispatch to the new commander of the army, placed under his control, with unlimited power, not only the troops of General French, which were refused to Hooker, but also the forces of Generals Schenck and Couch. For the first time in its history the commander of the Army of the Potomac was such in fact as well as in name.
The responsibilities of General Meade were great and he realized it. Retaining the personal staff of General Hooker as his own, he thus came into the possession of information which was of great assistance to him, but he was still ignorant of the intentions of Lee. Having abandoned Hooker's idea of attacking Lee on the line of his communications with Richmond, he so disposed his forces as to interpose them between the rebel army and the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, should Lee attempt an advance on either place. His orders to the several corps com- manders for the 29th of June were for the First and Eleventh Corps to move to Emmetsburg ; the Third
COLONEL GEORGE C. BURLING,
6th Regt. N. J. Vols., Inf., Commanding 2d N. J. Brig. (3d Brig., 2d Div., 3d Corps. (From a Photograph after the War.)
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
and Twelfth to Taneytown; the Second to Uniontown ; the Fifth to Liberty, and the Sixth to New Windsor. The orders to the cavalry were for Buford to guard the left flank of the army by moving toward Fairfield, Gregg's division to protect the right flank at New Windsor, while Kilpatrick was to cover the centre by an advance to Littlestown. The army moved in three columns, the First and Eleventh Corps forming the left, the Third and Twelfth Corps the centre, and the Second, Fifth and Sixth Corps the right columns.
The country through which the army was now passing teemed with a loyal and patriotic people. The presence of the Army of the Potomac was greeted with every manifestation of delight. To men who had spent the greater part of their soldier life in the pine forests of Virginia, where population was sparse, and what there was of it hostile to the cause they repre- sented, and whose professed loyalty to the government was in most cases a subterfuge to secure protection for their property, the change to the open country of Western Maryland, and among a people who showed by their demeanor that they were friends to the Union cause, was exceedingly gratifying. An officer of the Second New Jersey Brigade in a letter to the author thus details his recollections of events on this march, the correctness of which every soldier in the Army of the Potomac, at that time, will verify :
" On the 25th of June the Second Brigade crossed the Potomac river at Edward's Ferry, marched rapidly up the tow-path of the Ohio and Chesapeake canal,
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NEW JERSEY TROOPS
which here followed the course of the river, and bivouacked where night overtook us-on the bank of the stream. The marching was rapid, no rests were taken, and every man seemed to be left to himself to plod along as well as possible. When night came on every man halted where he was, picked out a good spot for his night's rest and without any formality spread his blankets and soon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep. The bank of the river, for ten or fifteen miles, was lined with straggling regiments. No details for picket or guard were made, the canal on one side and the bank of the river on the other preclud- ing the necessity for sentries, and abandoning them- selves wholly to the novelty of the situation, all were soon wrapped in deep slumber. The next morning witnessed a grand scurrying along of ten thousand lost warriors, eager to join their colors lest 'absence without leave' might be scored against them. Officers and enlisted men were all in the same list, and it was impossible to say whether colonels and brigadier-gen- erals had lost their commands, or regiments and bri- gades had lost their commanders. It was. an open question and has never been settled. Nevertheless, as the sun mounted up into the sky there was a mys- terious gravitating of the units of military commands into their proper bodies, and a gradual augmenting of companies, regiments and brigades as the minutes and hours flew by, so that by the middle of the fore- noon we were once more pushing along in solid columns and with no straggling. We crossed the
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Monocacy river on the canal aqueduct, took the road for Point of Rocks, climbed up the hills, in a sheltered depression on the north side of which we bivouacked for the night.
"The next day we marched northward through the beautiful valley to Middletown, then turned eastward over the mountains by the pike to Frederick City, stripping the cherry trees on every hand and enjoying a royal feast of that delicious fruit which abounded in profusion and perfection just at that time. Here it was that the Army of the Potomac first realized what it was to march through a country inhabited by a loyal and patriotic people. Our progress was an ovation of cheering, sympathetic, grateful greetings from a happy, peaceful populace, unscathed by the devastation of war. The cherry trees were the only property of the farmers of Maryland that the toil-worn, hungry veter- ans were permitted to depredate upon, and they were stripped clean by the fortunate divisions of the army that chanced to be in the van.
"The welcoming demonstrations of the people of Maryland aroused great enthusiasm in the Army of the Potomac. The profuse display of the Stars and Stripes from almost every house, the waving of handkerchiefs, and the smiles of fair ladies, the hearty hospitality as exhibited by the generous distribution of biscuits, milk, pies, cakes, and chickens, hastily cooked, to the appreciative soldiers was a revelation to the Army of the Potomac all the more astounding because of its contrast with the reception of the Massachusetts
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troops two years before in the city of Baltimore, and the well-tested disloyalty of that city and southern Maryland in the intervening years. The rivers of fresh milk that poured down the throats of the fifty thousand veterans of the army in those two or three days cannot be computed in gallons or in value, and it was all the more refreshing and grateful because it was a generous gift from the farmers to their defend- ers. That night we encamped on the north side of Frederick, after passing through that city amid the waving of innumberable flags and the cheering of the delighted populace. The next morning came the thunderbolt into camp which announced the resigna- tion of the gallant fighter and beloved commander of our old division, Joe Hooker, and the appointment of General Meade as his successor.
"On June 29th we marched north toward Taney- town, the residence of the late Chief Justice of the United States, who rendered the famous Dred Scott decision, one of the fire-brands that helped to kindle the flames of rebellion. We also passed the home of Philip Barton Key, who was killed by our corps com- mander General Daniel E. Sickles, in Washington several years before the war, both being members of Congress at the time."
The demonstrations of welcome which greeted every corps of the army acted as an inspiration upon the men. Fatigue was forgotten, and the one all-pervading desire was to meet the rebel army while it was on northern soil. As the column of Meade's army reached
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
northward, all unconscious of the direct approach of Lee southward, the rebel chieftain was likewise mov- ing without any knowledge of the whereabouts of Meade, whom he still supposed to be forty miles or more away, at Frederick and vicinity. The orders General Meade gave for his army brought them in the following position on the 30th of June: | The First Corps at Marsh Run, the Third at Bridgeport, the Fifth at Union Mills, the Sixth at Manchester, the Twelfth at Littlestown. The Second Corps remained at Uniontown and the Eleventh at Emmetsburg, while the cavalry was operating on the flanks of the army, Kilpatrick encountering Stuart at Hanover, while Buford was scouting about the mountains near Fair- field, Gregg covering the extreme right by moving on Manchester. In accordance with General Meade's instructions, a portion of General French's command took position at Frederick City.
The advance of the Twelfth Corps from Taneytown to Littlestown on the 30th of June brought the Thirteenth New Jersey Regiment to the front, their position for the day being the extreme right of the line. The march was void of incident until within about a mile of Littlestown when the column halted, owing to a report from Kilpatrick's cavalry that a large cavalry force of the enemy was near the town. The presence along the road of a large number of able- bodied citizens, who had left Littlestown, was a source of much comment and no little amusement to the veterans, and as they loaded muskets preparatory to a
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possible encounter with the enemy, the non-combatants expressed doubt of the ability of the Army of the Potomac to cope with the rebel forces. Moving forward at a rapid gait the Third Brigade of the Twelfth Corps reached the outskirts of Littlestown, and three regiments of the brigade with Winegar's battery went on a double quick through the town and to the fields beyond.
The approach of the Union army was hailed with joy by the people of Littlestown who heartily welcomed them by furnishing the soldiers with abundant supplies of food. To the tired army this generous hospitality was appreciated, and when at night the Thirteenth Regiment with the First Division of the Twelfth Corps went into camp on the farms of Spangler and Le Fevre on the McSherrystown road, they felt it no hardship to obey the strange and before unheard-of order : "No rail fences are to be disturbed and no rails burned for any purpose whatever." This order was religiously obeyed, and the people of Littlestown to this day bear testimony to that fact. These incidents gave strong indication of near approach to the enemy, and the Army of the Potomac was on the alert and ready.
At Harrisburg General Couch had succeeded in getting a few thousand militia organized and with General W. F. Smith kept close watch of the enemy's movements, reporting to Washington the information thus obtained. By this means General Meade was kept informed as to the progress Lee was making, and
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
on the 30th had received notification of the withdrawal of Ewell's forces. When Ewell received orders from Lee to return at once to Carlisle, he had disposed his forces for the purpose of advancing upon and captur- ing Harrisburg, and as he moved backward General Smith, with such cavalry as he could muster, closely followed him. Ewell had no sooner left Carlisle for Harrisburg than General Smith occupied the place, and when Stuart a short time after came to the town in search of Ewell, after his long and exhaustive ride, he found the Union forces in possession.
General Lee's orders to his army were for Heth's division with eight batteries of artillery, followed by Pender's division, with Hood and McLaws en echelon behind him to march to Gettysburg. Ewell's division was scattered, Johnson's division was sent to Green- wood, and he was greatly delayed in rejoining his command. This was the situation on the night of the 30th of June.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHT AT GETTYSBURG-GALLANTRY OF BUFORD'S TROOPERS-HEROIC RESISTANCE BY THE FIRST ARMY CORPS - DEATH OF GENERAL REYNOLDS - ARRIVAL £ OF HOWARD AND THE RETREAT TO CEMETERY RIDGE -- HANCOCK'S OP- PORTUNE ARRIVAL ON THE FIELD.
G ETTYSBURG ! The terrible three days' con- flict on the heights surrounding this little town, from the masterly and heroic achievements of Buford's cavalry and the First Army Corps at Wil- loughby Run, to the spectacular and brilliant charge by Pickett's Virginians of Longstreet's corps on the third day of July, has been a theme of controversy among the chief participants and inspired the pens of the most gifted writers to a description in detail of all the momentous events which there happened. Swinton, in his admirable "History of the Army of the Poto- mac," gives a critical review of the battle ; Doubleday, who commanded the First Corps, after the lamentable death of Reynolds, in its desperate struggle with superior numbers of the enemy, has written a graphic and unvarnished account of that magnificent engage- ment; Walker in his "History of the Second Army
COLONEL LOUIS R. FRANCINE, 7th Regt. N. J. Vols., Inf. (From a War-time Photograph-1863.)
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Corps" pays a glowing tribute to the men who com- posed that gallant body of soldiers, and Longstreet has given his version of the battle from his knowledge of Lee's plans, and in vindication of his own course, which has opened a controversy along the southern line of the argument that seems to grow more aggres- sive with time. The Comte de Paris, from the stand- point of an impartial and disinterested observer, has furnished the most complete and thorough record of the battle, and his unbiassed views on all the disputed questions which have arisen will be accepted as being nearer correct and just than those of interested contro- versialists. To the mind of the layman, these points of dispute are of little account. The advent of the rebel army to the close proximity of Harrisburg ; the great destruction it did do and was capable of doing; the doubt and uncertainty which prevailed as to the ability of the Army of the Potomac to repel the invasion and drive the southern army back to its own soil, these were the questions of great concern then. The fact that the invasion was stayed and the Union arms victorious over an exulting foe, is sufficient cause for satisfaction now, and the army which accomplished it is deserving the admiration of mankind.
If there be such a thing as chance in the affairs of nations, good fortune had certainly smiled upon the preliminary movements of the Army of the Poto- mac. The Quixotic raid of Stuart, whose long absence lured the rebel commander into a belief that his prin- cipal antagonist was unable or unwilling to follow him,
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was the first of a series of fortunate blunders which contributed to the success of the Union army.
As has been. already noticed General Lee had ordered the concentration of his army at Gettysburg, for the double purpose of protecting his own line of communications, and being in position to threaten the cities of Baltimore and Washington. He was thus contemplating just such a move as General Meade had been preparing for, and both Generals were desirous of fighting on a defensive line. Lee hoped by manœuv- ering to compel Meade to attack him, and under the impression that the Union army was in the neighbor- hood of Frederick, the movement of his army toward Gettysburg was conducted in a leisurely and confident manner. When General Meade gave orders for Rey- nolds with the left wing of the army to occupy Gettys- burg on the first of July, he was also in ignorance as to the whereabouts of Lee, or what his intentions were, and when, later in the day, on the 30th, he received information from General Halleck that the rebels were moving southward, he resolved to take up a defensive position on the line of Pipe Creek, toward which the army was to fall back should they encounter the enemy in great numbers. He was still unaware of the close proximity of the rebel army and did not change his orders for the day. Thus both armies were moving simultaneously toward a common centre neither of them dreaming that the bloodiest drama of the war was about to be enacted at the very place each desired to occupy.
IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
145
Gettysburg is the county seat of Adams County, and from it many roads radiate in all directions like spokes from a hub. At the north of the town the three roads, known as the Harrisburg, Carlisle and Mummasburg roads, all concentrate, while the York and Bonaughtown roads join at the east. On the western border the Chambersburg and Fairfield roads unite, while on the south the Emmetsburg, Taneytown
WRIGA
HEIDLERSBURG
EYORK
EWELL
E WELL
LONGSTREET
HOWARD
HILL
GETTYSBURG
NOKTHERN
FAIRFIELD
DOUBLEDAY
HANOVER SYKES
SLOCUM
LITTLESTOWN
SICKLES
EMMETTSBURG
HANCOCK
SEDGEWICK
TANEYTOWN
CR.
No
OWESTMINSTER
POSITION OF BOTH ARMIES ON THE MORNING OF JULY I. UNION, WHITE ; REBELS, BLACK.
and Baltimore roads, on all of which the Union army was marching, converge. Both armies were surely but gradually coming together, and the well-matured plans of the Union commander were to be overruled. The topography of the country about Gettysburg was admirably adapted for a battle-field and the many eminences afforded splendid opportunities for effec-
IO
KERS ROUTE
O MANCHESTER
MOUNTA
PIPE
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tive artillery display. It is very evident General Meade, though a Pennsylvanian, did not have any personal knowledge of the natural advantages the country about Gettysburg afforded for military opera- tions.
General Meade was fortunate in having able and experienced corps commanders to assist him in this trying emergency. The cavalry arm of the service was well officered and ably commanded, by men who had all been tried in desperate encounters with the enemy, and they were nerved to any ordeal that might present itself, while, as for the troopers them- selves, they had measured sabres with their opponents and did not fear them, and as will be seen in the pursuit of this narrative, they boldly and spiritedly resisted the infantry columns of the enemy, and with marked effect. Watchful, sleepless, Pleasonton's
cavalry seemed to be everywhere and always just where it was most needed. On the 28th of June, the day that Meade took command, Gregg's division was on the right of the army, Buford guarding the left flank, while Kilpatrick covered the centre. Buford had sent Merritt's brigade of Regulars to Mechanics- town, southeast of Emmetsburg, while he accompanied the brigades of Gamble and Devens, on a spirited reconnoissance down the west slope of South Mountain. On the following day he moved up the valley north- ward to Waynesboro, recrossed the mountain range, and at night halted on the Fairfield road along which, in the distance, he saw the fires of Davis' brigade of
BVT. MAJOR-GEN. JOHN RAMSEY, Colonel Com'd'g 8th Regt. N. J. Vols. (From a War-time Photograph.)
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IN THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN.
Heth's rebel division of Hill's corps. At break of day on the 30th he dashed into the presence of the enemy, who retreated northward after exchanging a few shots, and satisfied of his inability to successfully cope with them, returned to Emmetsburg where he reported to
Reynolds the events which had transpired. That officer having received orders for the left wing of the army to proceed to Gettysburg the next day, ordered Buford to take immediate possession of the town, and hold it until the arrival of the First Corps.
This important duty could not have been entrusted to a better or more capable man. Buford had distin- guished himself in many previous engagements with the rebel cavalry, but his stubborn resistance to the infantry columns of Lee's veterans on the first day of July, was an exhibition of daring and skillful general- ship which entitles him to rank with the bravest and best of those who fought so desperately and well on that memorable field.
The encounter with Buford's cavalry on the Fair- field road did not seem to produce any special excite- ment in the rebel lines, as on the 30th of June when Heth's division reached Cashtown, he dispatched Petti- grew's brigade, with a large wagon train, to Gettys- burg for the purpose of making a requisition on the town for shoes and clothing. Pettigrew was about entering the town, when Buford came thundering along with his four thousand troopers, and the rebel scouts had barely time to notify Pettigrew of his approach, and thus enable that officer to fall back to a
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safe position on Marsh Creek. Halting' his column there, Pettigrew notified Heth of the occupancy of the town by the Union cavalry. General Buford did not attempt to follow up Pettigrew, but took position on the west and north of the town, posting videttes far ahead on all the roads that were intersected by his line. Buford knew that the rebel army was close by and he anticipated a desperate and a serious struggle. He at once notified Meade and Reynolds of the dispo- sition he had made of his forces, and calmly awaited the advance of the enemy's infantry.
At an early hour on the morning of July Ist Heth's division moved from Cashtown toward Gettysburg, and gathering up Pettigrew's division marched for- ward rapidly, anticipating nothing more serious than a brush with militia. But their first encounter with Buford's brave cavalrymen who had been posted in the most advantageous manner along Willoughby Run, amazed them. Buford stoutly contested every inch of ground, and held the advancing columns in check. Indeed, the numerical strength of the enemy was so great that by a persistent advance they could have swept Buford's forces away, but the ignorance which prevailed throughout the whole rebel army as to the whereabouts of the Army of the Potomac, caused them to move with caution. The Union cavalry made so determined and stubborn a resistance, however, that Heth supposed he had encountered a strong body of infantry. Reinforcing his line he again advanced, and Buford putting in his last reserve, and personally
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