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 20
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 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
Surgeon F. B. Gillette, who sent us the above sketch, says :
" DEAR DRAKE-You, who with your company were captured in this terrible conflict, will remember the clumps of pines and the clover field, also the sunken road ; and I also at the time heard of the Ninth Maine being in our rear, but never thought much of it at the time,
-
-
1
CAPT JOSEPH J HENRY,
CAPT JOSEPH B LAWRENCE,
Company H.
Company H.
CAPT. EDWIN S. HARRIS,
Company C
JOHN J CARRELL,
CAPT EDWARD S CARRELL,
Company G
---
Chaplain.
.
1
209
THE RESPONSIBILITY FIXED.
considering it army talk ; but often army talk, or the casual remark around a camp fire, from some quiet, modest private was history, and good history too. I have heard several men speak of this incident, but they were so modest about it I thought but little of it till this sketch met my eye, and then it all came back to me. We could have held the ground there, but ' Baldy' Smith got scared, and ordered the retreat. Had he brought Ames up, we could have gone to Richmond."
Surgeon Gillette of the Ninth New Jersey, in 1886, wrote General Butler in reference to the movement and operations of the latter's army in the spring of 1864, and received the following reply, which confirms the opinion the men of the Ninth had of "Baldy " Smith at the time they were uselessly fighting and suffering in front of Petersburg :
LAW OFFICE OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, No. 6 ASHBURTON PLACE, BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 3, 1887.
MY DEAR SIR-I have to apologize to you for not answering your note earlier. I have been detained from my office unavoidably for a number of weeks, and I am now only answering it in my sick room where I am quietly awaiting nature's slow repair of an injury caused by a fall which dislocated my arm at the shoulder. With most of your letter I agree. There is one thing that you don't quite know the reason of, which will appear hereafter, and which Grant knew very well. When we were up around Drewry's Bluff and the defences on the south side of Richmond, we were to meet Grant by an arrangement on the north side of Richmond, he having driven in Lee's army, and then make a junction above Richmond, and scoop Richmond out of the Confederacy. But the trouble was General Grant did not get there on his side of the river as I did on mine. He had many more things to contend with and could not carry out the programme. You may perhaps remember that Sheridan came to me on the morning of the. fifteenth of May, when the fight was going on around Drewry's Bluff, and told me that Grant had changed his march from a march by the right flank, which would have brought him to Mechanicsville, to a movement by the left flank, which did bring him to Cold Harbor, and afterwards to City Point. Then I had no further business around Richmond, with Lee's army having a short route to me on one side, and the army coming up from the South under Beauregard and Whiting, outnumbering my own men, tiling into Petersburg, and I retired to make Bermuda Hundred the base of General Grant's operations,. as was agreed upon. Your estimate of the character of General -- , which blank I fill in "Smith," is entirely correct, and I have many items of proof that you have not. But time at last sets all things even, and I suppose will set that right. I thank you for your letter and the spirit
/
.
MECHANICSVILLE
COOLARBOR
R.R
S
N
ROAD
CHICKAHOMINY
R
YORK
R. R.
MANCHESTER
WILLIAMSBURG A
CHARLES
CITY
R.
L'UNION
L. CONFEDERATE
R.
RICHMOND.
RF
CHAPINS
NEW MARKET.
BLU
BLUFF
DARLING
CHESTERFIELD C.H.
AND
HALFWAY HOUSE
DUTCH G
MALVERN
ILLS
BERMUDA
HUNDRED
SWIFT
23HECLINTON
R.R.
3
Y POINT R. R.
POCAHONTAST
APPOMATTOX
R.
-
PRINCE GEORGE C.H.
R. R.
SOUTHSIDE
PETERSBURG
BLACKWATER
OYON
2
HATCHERS
R. B.
-
BUN
OVOB
NYNONVA
NOGTIA
QINWIDDIE C.H.
SPYOFPICKSHURG
BROOK
GAINES MILL
JAMES
RICHMOND
A.
SEVEN PINES
CENTRAL
J
DEEF BOTTOM
TRYS
HEWLET'S
PETERSE
CITY POINT,
CR.
MOPFOLK
R
AVE FORKS
JEPUSALEM
21I
A MAJOR-GENERAL FOR A BRIGADIER.
of kind remembrance towards your old commander, whom you know tried to do his duty, which breathes from every line.
I am very truly your friend and servant,
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.
DR. F. B. GILLETTE.
May 17 .- How thin the line looked to-day, when Captain Hufty formed the Ninth to march it back to the camp at Point . of Rocks. Where are the four hundred braves so sadly missed ? Many are dead, some are dying, while nearly a hundred others are to linger in captivity for God alone knows how long. With the energy of despair they had struggled against overwhelming numbers, exhibiting a fearlessness of danger worthy of heroes of any age, until stricken down where the blast of war's tempest smote most fiercely. But they did not pour out their blood in vain. They proved their faithfulness to duty, and showed the world that they were thoroughly in earnest in defending the right.
May 18 .- General George J. Stannard, a gallant Vermonter, took command of the Star brigade to-day. Owing to heavy artillery and musketry firing along the entire line, the Ninth moved over to the edge of the woods, and commenced the con- struction of earthworks.
May 19 .- Weather very foggy, which tempts the enemy to renew its attack. After a short contest the Confederates cease firing and resume their old position.
May 20 .-- At two o'clock this morning the Ninth formed line with amazing rapidity, as the enemy made a fierce onslaught on the center of the Union line, but a few volleys repelled them and all again became still. At five o'clock another desperate attempt was made to take our works, but the plucky Confed- erates reckoned without their host, losing heavily. Among the prisoners taken by the Ninth in the melee was Major-General Walker.
May 21 .- General Butler, who had keenly felt the loss of General Heckman, was overjoyed when the Ninth's boys escorted General Walker over to his headquarters, and he promptly sent out a flag of truce offering to exchange that officer for the late commander of the Star brigade, but the Con-
212
NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS.
federate officials declined to entertain the proposition. They evidently had no desire to restore a fighter like the Jersey general, no matter how much "boot" Butler offered in the exchange. Perhaps no greater compliment was ever shown General Heckman than this. Indeed, the Richmond Examiner of the nineteenth instant, made substantially this admission, when it said :
" We congratulate General Beauregard on his victory over 'Beast' Butler, and have a lively satisfaction at the destruction of Heckman's brigade and the capture of its daring commander. His celebrated New Jersey rifle regiment has been completely destroyed-thus ridding, although at a late day, the bleeding Carolinas of a terrible scourge. Heckman feels his imprisonment keenly, but his indomitable spirit does not seem to be at all' broken. At any rate, he is prevented, for a time, from making further raids upon our lines of communication with his 'foot cavalry.'"
No language could constitute a better eulogy of Heckman and his gallant command than this from the bitter pen of an antagonist.
During the afternoon there was heavy cannonading, and an assault upon our right center, but the Confederates were again repulsed.
May 22 .- General "Baldy " Smith, anxious to learn some- thing about the intentions of the Confederates, called for four volunteers from the Ninth to act as scouts within the enemy's lines, and Privates James Van Buskirk and Robert H. White of Company B, and Privates Marshall Howell and Daniel Johnson of Company H, offered themselves for the dangerous duty.
Comrade Van Buskirk furnished the following account of the wanderings of himself and White :
"White and I left the Union line together in the evening, but heard nothing of the enemy until we reached a gully, or railroad cut, near Port Walthall. Watching our opportunity we advanced by crawling along upon the ground, and succeeded, after considerable delay, in passing the first line of piquets, composed of cavalry, when we turned to the right, keeping about midway between this line and a second one, a few hundred yards in rear, for some three miles, when we were enabled to elude the second line, and so got well in rear of the army, which
213
"JIM" VAN BUSKIRK'S STORY.
was stretched out for a long distance. We passed quite near to Beauregard's headquarters, and, after having learned all that was to be learned in a short time, set out upon our return, by making a circuit farther to the rear, in the direction of Peters- burg, whose lights we could plainly see. We gained the right bank of the Appomattox river before daylight, and secreted ourselves in a woods to await the darkness of the following night, when we hoped to cross over and make our report. We congratulated ourselves upon the good fortune which had attended our operations, and were already counting upon having a good time on our return to camp, when a regiment of cavalry from North Carolina entered the woods and dismounted. This blasted our hopes, as we saw no way of evading the horsemen, and we continued to hug the ground very closely. But we were espied directly, and jumping up and starting to run, were fired upon and pursued. We finally surrendered, when an officer said : 'What are you uns doin' heah ?' 'We were out foraging, and got separated from our command,' I replied. 'You lie !' hissed the officer ; 'boys, let's hang the - And in a twinkling two or three cavalrymen took ropes off their saddles and ran forward to where we stood. Quite a crowd had gathered by this time, and 'Bob' and I began to get nervous. Things looked dusty as the 'Johninies' led us to a big tree which they said would answer their purpose. 'Hold on there !' shouted some one, and the next moment the colonel of the regiment -- I think his name was John Kennedy-stood at our side. He questioned us, but I guess he didn't believe what we told him, as he said he would have to hold us, whereupon he placed us under guard. The doctor of the regiment engaged us in con- versation, and ordered a good supper for us, for which act of hospitality we thanked him. He inquired about some friends whom 'Bob' was acquainted with in New Jersey, and said he regretted it was not within his power to aid us. On the morning of the twenty-fourth, while we were all eating breakfast, a three hundred pound shell from a gun-boat exploded over our heads, and so demoralized the cavalrymen that they dispensed with what they had not eaten-having no desire to continue the meal. They saddled very quickly, and fell back a mile, when we left
214
NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS.
them and continued on under the escort of two mounted men, who delivered us prisoners at Beauregard's headquarters, where. we were thoroughly searched, and, I might add, robbed, as they relieved us of watches, overcoats, caps, boots and haver- sacks. Then Beauregard himself questioned us sharply. He was surrounded by his staff, and upon a table before him were a dozen maps. He talked very nice to us at first, but when he found that we were too much for him, he gave vent to his anger by using a good many cuss words, which, being an officer, he presumed, doubtless, he had every right to use towards privates. He talked French and English at the same time, and this made 'Bob' laugh, whereupon Beauregard hissed : 'You said you were out foraging-vell, I vill forage you to Petaresburg !' And he did. But he forgot to restore us our boots and the other things he had allowed his guard to steal from us. We had to walk in our stockings. After being confined in Petersburg seven days we were sent to Anderson- ville, whose horrors we endured for many months."
Howell and Johnson travelled due north for a short distance, when suddenly running across a Confederate piquet, they were fired upon, and thus became separated. Johnson secreted himself for a time, and, watching a favorable opportunity, made his way back to camp, which he reached late in the evening. Howell, however, determined to gain the reward and the information sought, took things philosophically, and after hiding in a thicket until all became quiet, succeeded in getting in rear of the enemy's piquets, and made his way to a deep ravine, which afforded him excellent cover, as well as an admirable place for observing the movements of the enemy, whom he saw reconstructing the railroad track, recently destroyed by our forces. Regretting that he had not been provided with a gray uniform, in which he could have traveled about at sweet will and leisure, but being in full regulation army blue, and not able to gain additional information without remaining away a longer time than had been allowed him, he set out upon his return to camp, which he reached at sunset, and two hours later described to General Smith all that he had been able to see. Next morning Howell reported to General
215
HE CAUGHT THE BOYS AT IT.
Butler, as he had been ordered to do, when that officer presented him with five hundred dollars, as a reward for the valuable information imparted by him, which made him the most envied man in the regiment.
May 23 .- General Stannard, commanding brigade, issued the following order to-day : "Owing to the frequent presentation of forged orders for the purchase of whisky from the brigade commissary, in future no whisky will be sold or delivered to the enlisted men or servants of officers of this command." Comment is unnecessary.
May 24 .- Considerable firing to-day, but the Ninth regiment was not called upon to march.
May 25 .- Distinctly heard the whistles of locomotives on railroad between Richmond and Petersburg-the first that had been able to run since the ninth instant, when the track was torn up by our troops.
May 26 .- Bugles sounded "assembly " at. ten o'clock this morning, and as heavy firing continued on piquet line, the Ninth marched out in the broiling sun to support it. At two o'clock the command returned to the camp-the men being glad to once more crawl under the welcoming shade of their shelter tents. In the evening the Ninth, with eighty rounds of ammunition per man, proceeded to the outer line and per- formed piquet duty until following morning, the constant firing of the enemy preventing the men from obtaining needed sleep or rest.
May 27 .- Broke camp at noon, and after proceeding four or five miles, halted and pitched tents.
May 28 .- "Pulled up pegs" late in the afternoon, and folding our shelter tents, crossed the Appomattox river on pontoons by moonlight at Point of Rocks, and after a tiresome tramp of six miles, bivouacked in a wheat-field contiguous to City Point.
May 29 .- Hastily swallowed breakfast and marched to the wharf at City Point, where nine companies (all excepting Com- pany I) embarked on board steamer "Thames." Company I took passage on steamer " Vidette. " The "Thames " steamed away down the James river at half-past five o'clock, but got
216.
NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS ..
firmly aground opposite Jamestown three hours later. Other steamers also got aground at the same place.
May 30 .- The " Thames " remained "fast " all day, and as there was no likelihood of getting away before night, a number of officers and men were allowed to visit the historic town but a short distance away. The quaint-looking meeting house was an object of special curiosity, and some of the stones in the old grave-yard bore inscriptions as far back as 1684.
May 31 .- The large ferry-boat " Minnissimmit" came to our rescue early this morning, and took on board not only the nine companies of the Ninth regiment, but the Twenty-third Massa- chusetts and Eighty-ninth New York, who were similarly situated. The old vessel was so much crowded that some feared she would sink or capsize, and it is to be presumed that a fearful accident would have occurred had the men on board been capable of being unduly excited. As the men of the Ninth had devoured the rations with which they had been provided before starting, and as there were no more to be obtained on the "Winnissimmit, " much suffering necessarily ensued. "I had just as leave remained where I was and drowned," said Private Knapp of Company K, who was always hungry, "as to be here and starve."
The " Winnissimmit " however, succeeded in reaching Fort- ress Monroe at sundown, signaling the event by running aground near the steamboat wharf. After a vexatious delay, which sorely tried the patience of the steamboat men and the soldiers, the commodious steamboat " Massachusetts " was sig- naled, and in attempting to ascertain what we wanted, it, too, grounded, and was, with great difficulty, freed from its useless, if not dangerous position. The steamer " Washington " then ran up, and the six hundred men of the Eighty-ninth New York being transferred to her capacious decks, the Ninth New Jersey passed on board the " Massachusetts" after midnight.
June 1 .- The men of the Ninth, half-famished, made a hearty meal on bread and bacon, and having good water, enjoyed the coffee issued. At daylight the ".Massachusetts, " with the barge "C. Grant " in tow, steamed out upon the broad bosom of the Chesapeake, thence into the York river, and subse-
-
LIEUT. SAMUEL KEYS,
CAPT THOMAS BURNETT, Company B
Quartermaster.
1
COLONEL ABRAM ZABRISKIE.
CAPT A. BENSON BROWN,
Company C
CAPT CHARLES HUFTY,
Company 1.
A
AT COLD HARBOR. 217
quently into the devious Pamunkey, until Whitehouse Landing was reached, at eight o'clock in the evening. The myriad of vessels lying here, when lighted up at night, presented a spectacle that can never be effaced from the recollection of those who were permitted to behold it.
June 2 .- Assistant Surgeon Gillette, who had accompanied Company I on the " Vidette," which had preceded our arrival, awaited us on the wharf, as we embarked in the forenoon, with instructions from General Stannard to follow to the front immediately upon arrival. The Ninth started off with a wagon-train, and encamped near Passee's Mills for the night.
June 3 .- Resumed the march at daylight, and reached Cold Harbor at noon, being placed at once in the front line, which was a perfect hornet's nest. The Confederates, on discovering fresh men in their immediate front, opened a terrible fire-their sharpshooters being especially difficult to evade. The Ninth had been in tight places before, but never had it been subjected to so ruthless a fire. With one accord, and without instruction or working tools, the men set to work with their knives and forks and bayonets, and tin cups and bare hands, and in a remarkably short space of time, succeeded in obtaining a sort of cover, from which they could with some degree of safety reply to the vigilant enemy.
Late in the afternoon a number of engineers came up and commenced the labor of constructing earthworks in rear of the position occupied by the Ninth. This act gave mortal offence to the Confederates, who made a desperate charge, but as this movement had been expected, they were received with grape, canister and shell, and after an hour's fighting gave way, and fell back, to renew the attack half an hour later, but with no greater success. The slaughter had been terrible-and as both sides were weary of the sickening, murderous contest, there was a cessation of firing during the night-in the long hours of which the dead and wounded were recovered and carried within the works-at least as far as either party were able to do so-Company E, Captain Hopper, being deployed in front of the Union line.
June 4 .- Heavy fighting along the whole line-the contest
1
1
i
218
NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS.
ending at dark, with the Union works advanced about fifty yards to the front. The Ninth was sent out, under cover of darkness, to perform piquet duty.
June 5 .- The Ninth was relieved from piquet, and to diversify the entertainment went again into the advanced line of breastworks, where the fire was very severe, but without other result than the killing of a number of men.
June 6 .- The sharpshooters on each side did excellent shooting this morning, having voluntarily resumed their mur- derous work. As a fearful stench arose from the countless and corrupt bodies of the slain lying between the outer works of the contending armies, and as many men, unable to move, were suffering every torment from wounds, hunger and thirst, General Burnside sent a flag-of-truce into the enemy's line, requesting a cessation of firing for three hours, in order to recover the wounded, and bury the dead. The Confederates could scarcely spare time enough to listen to the request, which they no sooner learned, than they indignantly refused to accede to. It was sickening to look over the works and see the black and awfully swollen bodies, and heartrending to be compelled to listen to the piteous cries of the wounded, wlio were utterly unable to do anything in relieving their own necessities. No one who ever looked upon the sad spectacle presented at Cold Harbor can efface the terrible recollection from memory.
Those of our wounded who had been unable to crawl back into our lines were for the most part past caring for-death having mercifully relieved them of all suffering. No pen or brush can ever adequately portray the awful scenes the men of both armies were compelled to witness at Cold Harbor. The ground swarmed with great black beetles, which held high carnival on the blackened and decomposed bodies of the brave fellows -divesting the corpses of the hideous-looking flesh .. No pen of mine can describe-neither can those who were absent from that gory place comprehend-its horrors. A num- ber of the wounded, however, struck down between the works, unable to return, managed to survive, although they remained where they fell until the truce was recognized by both armies.
-
219
COLD HARBOR PORTRAYED.
Can a non-participant in that heated contest, in those fiery, impetuous, murderous charges, imagine the torments endured by the unfortunate and helpless men, who suffered through those long scorching days and dreary, never-ending nights? See them, as they lie stretched on that sickening field, writhing in agony from ghastly wounds, without water to quench their agonizing thirst, or food to satisfy their hunger. Hear their piteous cries, their groans, their prayers for mercy-for death -as the field about them is torn up by hissing shot, while grape, canister and the ever deadly bullet constantly fly over and about them, adding to their fears and bodily distresses.
June 7 .- This morning the hearts of the Unionists, and I doubt not, those of the Confederates also, rejoiced at a cessation of the conflict which had been unceasing, when orders were given to bury the dead and bring in the wounded. What a task ! Trenches were quickly dug, and into their depths the decomposed and unrecognizable bodies of men, who a short time before had been so full of life and daring, were hurriedly lowered-the brief time allotted for the humane purpose not permitting ceremony of any nature. It was nauseating to those who handled the disfigured corpses, while those to whom the duty of removing the wounded had been delegated per- formed their task with tender hands and bleeding hearts. In many instances maggots swarmed upon the wounds of those who had been maimed, presenting a revolting sight-one that no man, made however callous-hearted by war, would ever again wish to look upon.
We take the liberty of copying the following pen-picture from the history of the Twenty-third Massachusetts regiment, written by its historian-Dr. James A. Emmerton, assistant surgeon :
" Would that the ready pencil of some adventurous artist, or better still, the facile dry plates of modern photography had been at hand to help me describe the trenches of the Star brigade at Cold Harbor. Word-painting is hopeless. The ravine, which the ready eye of our commander caught as the only means of reaching the fortified plateau beyond, is the chief natural feature. It forms a sort of covered way con-
.
220
NINTH NEW JERSEY VETERAN VOLS.
necting the left flanks of the works, which, crooked about to avoid the trees, occupied, with some approach to the regularity of a formation in column with regimental front, the nearer part of its right slope. In the open, to the right of the command, in a bigger pit, where one may stand upright under the canvas cover made necessary by the absence of trees, is General Stannard's headquarters. Bear in mind that these works were commanded by men crouching to escape the direct fire of the enemy at close range ; that the bayonet for pick, and the tin plate for shovel, were the chief, and in many cases, the only tools ; that, even after three nights, with their comparative ease and safety for work, had intervened, wounds and death could only be escaped by constant vigilance and care.
"Uninterrupted musketry at first filled the air with missiles, burying themselves in the banks, or strewing the trenches with bits cut from the overhanging trees. Afterwards, vigilant rebel sharpshooters made a sure target of carelessly exposed head or hand. The rations were all cooked at some distance to the rear. One of the squad, bringing up food for the Ninth New Jersey, had safely reached their second line. Hearing a row on the front line, and forgetting the prudence which had become natural to those living under fire, he peered over the wall to see the row, and fell back with a ball through his head.
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.