The history of the Ninth New Jersey Veteran Vols. A record of its service from Sept. 13th, 1861, to July 12th, 1865, with a complete official roster, and sketches of prominent members, Part 19

Author: Drake, J. Madison (James Madison), 1837- cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Elizabeth, Journal Printing House
Number of Pages: 1056


USA > New Jersey > The history of the Ninth New Jersey Veteran Vols. A record of its service from Sept. 13th, 1861, to July 12th, 1865, with a complete official roster, and sketches of prominent members > Part 19


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BVT. BRIG. GEN. J. MADISON DRAKE,


COMMANDANT ELIZABETH VETERAN ZOUAVES.


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BEFORE FORT DARLING.


we were before, and yet there was a full half mile between the right of our line and the James river, offering an inviting opportunity to the eneiny to come in and flank us. The men of the Ninth were ordered to throw up a barricade in their front which was done to a very limited extent ; they had been fighting and marching almost incessantly for eight days, for three days and nights it had been raining-wet, hungry and exhausted. They felt indifferent as to the dangers surrounding them, and preferred sleep to anything else in that hour of sheer ex- haustion. I was detailed on this night as " general officer of the day,', and in making my visits to the pickets I learned sufficient to convince me that there was some movement intended by the enemy. I at once reported to our brigade commander, General Heckman, and pointed out to him the exposed position of our right flank. He immediately sent one of his staff, Lientenant Wheeler, to General Smith for the necessary infantry and artillery to protect and cover the gap between the right of the Ninth's line and the James river. I returned at once to the line, and in the course of an hour was surprised by a visit from a lieutenant of colored cavalry who had about thirty men under him and who said he was ordered to report to me for duty. As I could not use his reinforcement (?) in our front, the ground being well dug up in gopher holes for our pickets, I ordered him to follow the prolongation of our line until he reached the James river and to take up his position there, and hold it until further orders. I have had no word from him or his command since. A second visit after midnight to the outposts in front of the open space heretofore spoken of as bring to the left and front of the fort, convinced me that the enemy were massing in our front and in all probability preparing for an attack on our line that morning. I cautioned Captain Lawrence of H company, to be vigilant, and'if he felt certain the enemy meditated an attack to send in word at. once and to instruct his men that the moment the enemy commenced to move forward for them to fire and fall back rapidly to the regiment. The morning of the sixteenth of May was a damp, foggy morning. It was hardly light yet when the enemy dashed for our lines. We were as well prepared for them as the exhausted condition of our men and their thinned ranks would admit. With the first sound of command from the enemy's side Captain Lawrence opened fire from his picket line and then fell back rapidly to the main line. Colonel Zabriskie rose up from where he had been trying to gain some needed rest and was among the first to fall fatally wounded. I took command of the regi- ment. Being thoroughly familiar with the lay of the ground in our front, having passed over it several times during the night, I directed the men so far as I was able to aim very low and to await command. I had noticed that the ground was depressed in our front and about thirty yards from our line was a stream some four feet wide but only a few inches deep. When I heard the splash in the water I gave the prepara- tory command, and as many indistinct forms began to show through the fog, " fire " was sounded to the top of my voice. The centre and right centre companies who had been instructed hurriedly and who


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NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS."


were within sound of my voice, responded as handsomely as ever they did in drill, and the sheet of flame which leaped from our well directed rifles swept away the fog from our front, showing the enemy in solid mass and only a few feet distant. This well directed fire of our boys almost if not quite annihilated Gracie's brigade, which was in the rebel advance, and notwithstanding our weak line and the overwhelming numbers of the foe, their loss in our front was so terrible that they could not break our line at this point. They were enabled, however, to extend their left and swing around our right flank. To meet this the companies on the right of the regiment changed front to rear, and thus met them with a galling fire. As the enemy with their overpowering numbers, continued to extend their left, thus once more threatening our flank, the right companies again moved back from riglit to rear, which placed the right wing of our regiment practically forming three sides of a square. About this time General Heckman came to me and inquired how things were going. I quickly gave him the position of things, and further stated that we were about out of ammunition. He ordered me to withdraw my men from that part of the field. As the general left us he passed through a gap in our line, supposing he was returning to the left of the brigade, and the fog, still being very dense, he was in the midst of the enemy before he could discover his danger, and was made prisoner by them. In obedience to instructions received from the general I rallied the frag- ments of our regiment to withdraw them to the rear. Out of ammu- nition, and with but a remnant remaining of that gallant band of heroes who four hours before answered to their names, the Ninth, for the first time in its history, extending over some three years and cov- ering many a bloody battle-field, turned its back upon the foe and left the enemy in possession of the ground. She left, however, because the power of her resistance (ammunition) was gone and not that she was dismayed. As the regiment withdrew, Color-Sergeant George Myers stripped the colors from the standard and placing them in his bosom we passed to the rear, the barren standard seeming to give mute evidence of the terrible struggle its followers had underwent. Passing some five hundred yards to rear I ordered the men to wipe out their rifles and sent Lieutenant Charles Hufty, acting quartermaster, to get a fresh supply of ammunition. About this time General Smith ordered me to take the regiment and guard some artillery which was near us. I asked permission to put my senior captain in charge, as two companies of the Ninth, "D" and "G," Lieutenants Drake and Peters com- manding, were missing, having evidently not followed the movements of the regiment, but had that of the brigade, and I wished to look after them. This permission being granted I returned into the woods to look for our two missing companies. The shot and shell were tearing in every direction, and it was impossible to tell in what direction to go to find our friends and avoid the enemy. While making my way cautiously I was hit with a Minie ball which passed through my left thigh. The Ninety-eighth New York coming up at this time, Colonel


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GENERAL HECKMAN'S RESUMÉ.


Weed very kindly sent a man to assist me to the rear. After having my wound dressed, I was sent in ambulance to the hospital, and the second day after we were brought to this hospital. I am forced neces- sarily to omit much of the details in this report. I would like to revert to the many special instances of bravery exhibited by the officers and enlisted men of the Ninth, but I cannot do it without embracing the entire command : for every officer, non-commissioned officer and private in the Ninth proved himself a hero this day ; and the state, whose honor they so gallantly upheld on this bloody and disastrous day, should be as proud of them as is their comrade who pens this report, and who acknowledges his inability to adequately describe their loyalty to duty, and their heroism in the hour of danger and death. A record of our losses I must necessarily omit, to be supplied in a future report, or to be obtained from the company and regimental returns. The Ninth is largely represented in this hospital, I am sorry to say. Captain E. S. Harris and Adjutant E. S. Carrell were killed on the field; Captain Kissam and Lieutenants J. Madison Drake and George Peters were, I understand, captured, while sent to this hospital were Colonel Abram Zabriskie, Major William B. Curlis, Captains Benjamin W. Hopper, Lewis D. Sheppard, J. B. Lawrence, Lieutenants A. B. Brown, Jona- than Townley, F. Hobart and myself. Colonel Zabriskie's wounds terminated fatally yesterday, while no hopes are given for Captain Lawrence; Lieutenant Brown will lose the use of his right arm, but the surgeon expresses hopes of his ultimate recovery, as he does also of the other of our wounded officers. May I request from your excellency that until such time as I may be able to return to my regiment and ascertain some of its requirements that you will not make any appoint- ments to fill existing vacancies. I ask this that I may go upon record as recommending those who are in the line of promotion, and who deserve recognition for their faithful discharge of every soldierly duty.


With all respect, your obedient servant,


JAMES STEWART, JR., Lieutenant-Colonel Ninth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry.


I cannot resist the temptation of inserting the following brief but lucid account of the campaign, written by General Heckman for the Philadelphia Times in 1886 :


" The landing on the south bank of the James had been a complete surprise ; but that night the 'Cockade city ' slept seeure, with only one small South Carolina brigade, the Washington artillery (unserviceable for want of horses), the militia (Bates' battalion of boys, 'for local defence), and a regiment of Clingman's brigade-a ridiculously inadequate force-to defend it, and Butler's army of thirty-five thousand veterans in sight of its elmreh steeples. Kautz, who had moved Simultaneously with the Army of the James, had been partially suc-


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NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS.


cessful in cutting the Weldon road,' and the small force engaged at Port Walthall was all of Beauregard's troops, coming hurriedly up from South Carolina, that had been able to pass the break in the - railroad. On the seventh a meaningless movement was made toward Fort Walthall, and a useless battle fought, Weitzel, it is true, destroying seven miles of railroad ; but the enemy repaired it the following day, while our army remained supinely in camp. Wise, Hoke and Kemper now arrived ; the enemy formed the line on Swift creek ; Beauregard arrived, and to him General Pickett turned over the command, which he had held for so many anxious days and nights. Monday, the ninth, our two corps made their first combined or even concerted movement, the operations of days before having been carried on by detached brigades and divisions. A small force of rebel infantry, with a section of guns, was encountered at Swift creek, three miles from Petersburg. They discharged a round over our heads, fell back to the next hill, and so continued to fire and fall back till we had arrived within three hundred yards of Arrowfield church. Here the enemy were in strong force, and assumed a vigorous offensive. Being in advance I hastily prepared to meet the attack, instructing iny colonels to fire at a given signal. The Confederates came on in splendid style with their peculiar 'rebel yell ' till within forty yards of my line of battle, when oue volley swept them back across the creek into the arms of their comrades, who were holding a redoubt which covered the ford. It was a magnificent charge and bloody repulse. The ford was held by General Johnson Hagood's brigade, consisting of the Seventh, Eleventh, Twenty-first, Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh South Carolina. Fifty-first North Carolina, and Seventeenth and Sixty-third Tennessee, with a battery. General Hagood, in his report says : 'On the ninth, I was induced to make a reconnoissance in front of this line. The object was accomplished, but, from the broken and wooded nature of the ground, I became more heavily engaged than I desired with the force in my front, and my loss was severe.' Captain Leroy Hammond of the Twenty-third South Carolina, mortally wounded and a prisoner in our hands, when he was told that the troops that were opposed to the Con- federates that day was the ' Star brigade,' composed of the Ninth New Jersey, Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, remarked, ' that it was a striking coincidence that three regiments of the attacking force, the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh South Carolina should meet three regiments of the same numbers from her most inveterate enemy-Massachusetts. The attack would not have been made,' he said, 'but for the idea that our troops were ninety days emergency men,' and certainly the timorous movements of our army since the landing gave some reason for such an opinion, for on no other hypothesis could the enemy account for our failure to advance.


" For the next four or five days, while our army was marching hither and thither in the open country, the time was improved by Beauregard in hurrying up troops and getting them well in hand. From Drewry's Bluff he suggested to General Bragg, 'that General Lee should fall


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DENIED REINFORCEMENTS.


back to the defensive line of the Chicahominy, or even to the immediate lines of Richmond, sending temporarily to this place fifteen thousand of his troops. Immediately upon this accession to my present force I would take the offensive and attack Butler's army vigorously. Such a move would throw me directly upon Butler's communications, and, as he now stands, on his right flank, well towards the rear. General Whiting should also move simultaneously. Butler then must neces- sarily be crushed or captured, and-the stores of that army would fall into our hands.' TIns was written on the fourteenth. Let us see how well the plan was carried out. Our army at this time was facing north and operating more immediately against Fort Darling, having on the very day that Beauregard's dispatch is dated driven the enemy within his works. The rebels held a strong position on our front, their line extending from Fort Darling on our right to the Appomattox on our left, and threatened us, instead of us threatening them-we being in an essentially false position. My brigade held the extreme right of our line, with an unoccupied space of one and a quarter miles between it and the river. This was the most important part of our line, as it covered the shortest route to our base of supplies on the James. The unusual quietness of an enterprising enemy was suspicious. On the fifteenth, learning that he was in strong force, having been reinforced by Anderson's corps of Lee's army, it became apparent that Beauregard meant to attack us while our faulty position offered such an excellent opportunity for an effective stroke. Through our glasses we saw President Davis, Beauregard, and other Confederate general officers, sitting on a log in front of their line reconnoitering our position, and deserters told us that a plan of attack was being named. This state of affairs was reported at the division and army headquarters, with a request for reinforcements to occupy the all-important space between the right and the river. In the afternoon General Smith visited my line, and on everything having been explained to him he seemed to realize our peril, as no military man could help doing, and exclaimed : 'Heckman, this is fearful " Belger's battery and a section of three- inch rifles were sent me later in the afternoon, and subsequently with- drawn to the centre for safety, where they were captured the next day. Afterward a squadron of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, Captain Roberts, was sent to guard the space on my right that should have been occupied by a brigade with artillery.


" Being thus denied the reinforcements asked for, preparations were at once made to meet the attack which we knew would come before another day. A breastwork of such materials as could be hastily gathered was thrown up so that the position so essential to the safety of an army could be defended to the last. At midnight the rebels moved out from their works, massing strongly on my extreme right, held by the Ninth New Jersey, and just at daylight, having obtained position, rushed with great impetuosity on our pickets, but after a desperate struggle were forced back by Captain Lawrence. Shortly after this a dense fog suddenly enveloped us, completely concealing the


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enemy from our view, and five picked brigades in column debouched from their works, rapidly advancing on a run to our main line. When only five paces intervened between our inflexible line and the rebel bayonets a simultaneous scorching volley swept into the faces of the exulting foe, smiting hundreds to the earth, and hurling the whole column backward in confusion. Five times, encouraged and rallied by their officers, that magnificent rebel infantry advanced to the attack, but only to meet and be driven back by- those relentless volleys of musketry. Finding it impossible to succeed by a direct attack, they advanced on our flank in column by brigade, and for the first time during the war we were compelled to fall back and take up a new position. While this movement was being executed-the Ninth already in position-my aides being engaged in other parts of the field, I passed along to the left of the Ninth, to a point where the Twenty-third Massachusetts was supposed to be, but found instead an approaching line of battle. Taking it to be reinforcements, I ordered them to ' wheel to the right and charge " and almost instantly discovered that they were 'graybacks.' As the left of the line passed me a sergeant approached and demanded my surrender. I bid him attend to his duty, telling him in reply to further inquiry that I was Major Andrews of General Hokes' staff. The sergeant apologized and joined his com- mand ; but I was by no means out of my predicament, the fog being still very dense, and the firing having for the moment ceased, I had nothing to guide my actions by. Taking direction from the point at which the Confederates had disappeared in the fog. I soon found myself in front of an Alabama brigade commanded by Archie Gracie, formerly of Elizabeth, New Jersey, who at once recognized mne. He said he was glad to see me ; was proud to say that he had been fighting Jerseymen, but that he had only a skirmish line left. On the way to the rear, had an animated discussion with his adjutant on the result of the war, and at nine A. M. with Lieutenant Drake, who had been captured with his company, was a guest at the Hotel de Libby.


"I never, at any other time, experienced such a musketry fire as on that day. It was one incessant volley, and its terrible fatality may be judged from the fact that the enemy acknowledged a loss of forty-five hundred men-more than the Star brigade numbered-on my front alone ; and I lost nearly all my field and line officers either killed or wounded. Many others accompanied me up the river to Richmond. The result of the campaign which culminated in this battle was a source of great congratulation to the enemy. Not only was the threatened danger to Petersburg and Richmond averted, but the pressure on their lines of communication was relieved, and Butler, besides suffering a terrible loss, was shut up and held inactive by a comparatively small force. Had General Whiting moved out of Petersburg with his ten thousand men as directed, the Army of the James could not have escaped destruction. The ultimate result : The spoiling of Grant's plan of cam- paign; the transfer of the Army of the Potomac to the south of Richmond ; the siege of Petersburg: the bloody struggle for the Weldon


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A SPLENDID TRIBUTE.


road, all these, with their enormous losses of lives and property, are the sadder to think of when it was remembered that it was all caused by the incompetent handling of the Army of the James.


"General Grant laid the onus of the failure on General Butler in a caustic paragraph of his official report ; the press and the histories of the war blame with the severest language, and even now the nation at large call him 'Bottled-up Butler.' But the opinions of intelligent officers who fought in the campaign, and who judged it impartially from a military point of view as well as the facts, will rather lay the fault at the doors of his corps commanders, Generals Gilmore and Smith -his advisers in name, they were as really directors of the operations as was Von Moltke's the intelligence that conducted the victorious marches of the German prince's armies against France. They did not seem to comprehend what was to be done, and then failed to co-operate in what attempts they did make."


The following sketch written for the Washington National Tribune, by Lieutenant J. E. Shepard, adjutant of the Ninth Maine regiment, is a just tribute to a number of men of the Ninth New Jersey, which won imperishable renown in this ter- rible battle. It shows the characteristics of the Jerseymen. Adjutant Shepard says :


" I desire to make a record of one among the many little incidents of the war that goes to show the stuff the boys were made of. At Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, on the morning of the sixteenth of May, in a dense fog, Beauregard struck heavily at Butler's right wing, and Heck- man's brigade (in which was the Ninth New Jersey), on the extreme right, was almost lifted up and dashed in pieces, so terrible and unex- pected and in such overwhelming masses was the rebel onset. Many were killed and wounded, and many, including the gallant Heckman, captured, comparatively few escaping one fate or the other. The night before the Ninth Maine and One Hundred and Twelfth New York, of Drake's brigade, were detached from Ames's division and sent up to " Baldy " Smith, and went into bivouac just in rear of the main line. These two regiments were instantly started at a double-quick through the fog in the direction of our right wing, and ran plumb into the charging and exultant enemy, checking its further progress to our right and rear. The Ninth and One Hundred and Twelfth at once took up a strong position, partly in a sunken road, and three companies of the Ninth Maine were deployed as skirmishers and sent well to the front, thus causing the Johnnies to keep the shelter of the woods. Further to our right, and perhaps three hundred yards to our front, was a clump of large pines of perhaps an acre in extent, and the writer was instructed to hold it at all hazards and to the last extremity, and 'Brady' Smith of the Ninth Maine (and a pluckier boy never lived). was selected to 'hold the fort,' and he held it. After seeing him in


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position I started to return to the main line, but in doing so was forced to make a detour to the left to avoid the sharpshooters, who grow un- pleasantly familiar as the fog rolled away. Passing through a field of clover of exceedingly rank growth, I came upon a squad of twenty or more enlisted men of the Ninth New Jersey. To my inquiry what they were doing there, the spokesman for the party said they had escaped capture when the brigade was surrounded, but that not an officer or non-commissioned officer was with them, and they were at a loss what to do, and asked orders. I suggested that more of the regiment had probably escaped capture and advised that this party move to the rear and left until the turnpike was reached. and then form a nucleus upon which such of the regiment as had escaped death or capture might rally. They were evidently disinclined to go to the rear, and one of them seeing the nine on my fatigue cap, asked my regiment and where it was posted. My reply was, 'Ninth Maine.' They held a hurried and whispered conversation, and I was becoming impatient at their not moving more promptly. The spokesman again saluted and said the boys believed the regiment was pretty nearly wiped out, and they did not think that many more, if any, of the boys had got away, and as they had no where else to go why couldn't they form on with the Ninth Maine, and take their share of the fighting there, for it would still be with a Ninth anyway. They got permission right away, and while con- ducting them to the line they asked if they might report to the officer in charge of the skirmish line.


"Knowing the line was weak I said, 'Go ahead,' and forward on a double-quick across an open field, under a heavy and increasing fire, to the skirmish line they went, mixed right in with the men of the Ninth Maine, and began popping away at the rebels as though they were duck hunting. They fought there all the rest of the day, and such as were alive came back when the retreat was ordered just at night, joining meanwhile in a charge by the skirmish line into the woods, where the loss was heavy. I do not remember if I ever knew the name of one of these gallant fellows, but if any of them are alive and this should fall under their eye they will remember the circumstances thus imperfectly told. The Ninth New Jersey had a deservedly high reputation, and it is not to be wondered at when it was composed of such men as I have written of. Poor soldiers under like circumstances would have been utterly demoralized ; overcautious ones would have considered it their duty to rally at the rear, and the further to the rear the better. Not so with these brave fellows, and I honored them then and at this late day pay this slight tribute, that good soldiers everywhere may hold in esteem these patriotic but unknown New Jersey fighters."




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