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 34
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The recollection of another phase of army life comes upon me as my mind reverts to the scenes about Petersburg during the siege. Constantly in the presence of death and danger, many became hardened in their outward manner and speech, but, as the result of my observation, the deeper, the more reverent instincts of the heart, never leave a true man. Shakes- peare says :
"He jests at scars who never felt a wound."
No one will dispute the great bard in this respect, but it is also indisputable that brave and true men will jest in the presence of death and toy with its agencies.
The death of poor Tom Putnum was a inost distressing ending of a manly and devoted life. Possessing a more than ordinary dignity for a private soldier, he was also a genial and warm-hearted fellow, beloved by all. One day, a day that left
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a shadow on the brow of every man of Company B, the cook brought in our regular rations of bean soup. Poor Tom was impatient, and climbed one of the flankers to get his soup a little sooner than by going around. By so doing he exposed himself to the enemy. Being warned, he replied that if he was to be shot he wanted to die with a full stomach. Alas ! on his return with cup in hand, he received a ball into his body and died a few days after, suffering untold agonies.
Another sad case was that of a comrade belonging to another company, who found much amusement in rolling unexploded shells at the men in the pits. These shells were thrown by the enemy, and were strewn about the battle-field in all directions. He continued his sport, much to the annoyance and fear of the men and his own delight, until ordered by an officer to stop. Then he playfully probed the fuse-hole of a shell with his bayonet until it struck a spark which exploded the shell, abruptly terminating his fun, and at the same time fully satis- fying a morbid curiosity. The poor fellow paid dearly for his folly. His hands were terribly lacerated, and I am not sure that he did not lose his arms from amputation, or, what is still worse, die of his wounds.
But where shall one stop who undertakes to write up his reminiscences of the old Ninth ? Events crowd so thickly upon one another that the mind reels. In the light of the present, they seem so wonderful as almost to be the remembrance of a startling dream or the fancy of a lively imagination. When I started my letter I was at a loss to know where or how to begin ; now I am embarrassed with too many recollections, and know not where to leave off. But there must be an end to all things, likewise my letter. Therefore, with the wounding of poor old jolly "Pepp" Moore at Kinston, I will close and bid you good-bye.
At the second battle of Kinston I was detailed with several of my comrades to fill up a ditch, which made the crossing of aids on their way to front and rear with dispatches both difficult and dangerous. The battle at the time was raging, the rebels charging on our works, but being easily driven back. We had thrown all the fence rails we could find into the ditch, and were
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forced to cut down small trees to finish the job. We lost no time, as we were in a very dangerous position, being fully exposed. Ryno or I, or both of us, bent a sapling, while "Pepp" was wielding the axe. His work was suddenly ended when a ball went crashing into his knee, disabling him, no doubt, for life. When last I saw him he was hobbling around on crutches. This was next to the last engagement we were in, and it came doubly hard on him, as he had served with the regiment from its first organization.
Fraternally yours,
New York, December 8, 1888.
F. A. KENYON.
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COLONEL JOSEPH WARNER ALLEN
Was born near Bristol, Pennsylvania, July twenty-second, 1811. His first services as a civil engineer were as a rodman on the construction of the Delaware division canal, which terminates at Bristol. He was afterwards connected with the construction of the Camden and Amboy railroad at Bordentown, New Jersey, where he married. He made that city his permanent residence. He was engaged on the construction of the Grand Gulf and Port Gibson railroad in Mississippi, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in Virginia, the Paterson and Ramapo and the Flushing (L. I.) railroads, as well as numerous other public works. Among these were the works of the Dundee Water Power and Land Company of Passaic, New Jersey, and the Hoboken Land and Improve- ment Company. The completion of the Bergen tunnel, now occupied by the Erie railway, was entrusted to his charge as chief engineer. Of an active and earnest but conservative and exceedingly well-balanced temperament, Colonel Allen was naturally prominent in the politics of his state. He was twice elected to represent Burlington county in the state senate and was the recognized leader of the whig party in that body. His name was a number of times prominently mentioned in connection with the offices of governor and of United States senator. The high esteem in which he was held by prominent men of all parties was evinced by the action of the state legislature at the time of his death. His body, and that of Surgeon Weller, was laid in state at the state house in Trenton. The expenses attendant upon the return of his body from Hatteras and the military funeral which followed were borne by the state government. Colonel Allen was appointed deputy quarter- master-general of New Jersey, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, by Governor Charles S. Olden, a position of honor, but without duties until Fort Sumter was fired on. From that time his best energies were devoted to the interests of his country, and he rendered able and efficient services as an aid of Governor Olden and Quartermaster- General Perrine in equipping the three months men and all the regiments of three years men enlisted previous to the formation of the Ninth regiment. The movement which culminated in the formation of the Ninth regiment was the result of an application made to Governor Olden to recruit a company for the regiment known as "Berdan's sharpshooters." Governor Olden asked Colonel Allen's advice as to the practicability of raising such a company. Colonel Allen stated that a regiment of riflemen could readily be raised. Governor Olden imme- diately offered to obtain authority to recruit the regiment provided Colonel Allen would take command, to which the latter promptly agreed. Recruiting was at once commenced, and from that time Colonel Allen devoted himself to the care of the regiment, in the effort.
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to make it in all respects the best one that had left the state. How well he was seconded in this by his officers, and how well these efforts succeeded, the subsequent history of the regiment testifies. (It may be noted that the sword Colonel Allen carried was presented to him by Governor Olden as a token of his personal regard and esteem.) His untimely death (January fifteenth, 1862,) by drowning off Hatteras on the Burnside expedition, is part of the history of the regiment. A remarkable evidence of the lasting nature of the impression which he made on the regiment is evinced by the fact that after two years had passed, during which time many stirring events had been experienced, a noble monument was erected over his grave in Christ Church yard at Bordentown, New Jersey, by the officers of the regiment. The monu- ment is fifteen feet six inches high, the base being Pennsylvania marble and the shaft white Italian marble. There are appropriate carvings in relief of flags, muskets, shield and masonic emblems, with crossed swords and an ivy and oak wreath. The inscriptions are as follows : 1-" Joseph W. Allen, colonel Ninth regiment, New Jersey volunteers, drowned at Hatteras, North Carolina, January fifteenth, 1862, in the fifty-first year of his age." 2-" This monument is erected by the officers of the Ninth regiment, New Jersey volunteers, as a tribute of grateful respect to the memory of their first commander, who, while faithfully serving his country in the darkest hour of her peril, even to the sacrifice of his life, endeared himself to the hearts of his whole command." 3-"January first, 1864. This record of the unreturning past is dedicated with kindly heart to thee." Colonel Allen was an exemplary citizen, a self- sacrificing patriot, a devoted husband and a loving father. Of fine physical proportions and manly bearing, his personal characteristics secured the confidence and respect of all who knew him.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHARLES A. HECKMAN
Was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, December third, 1822. He was educated at the Minerva Seminary, conducted by the Rev. Dr. John Vanderveer. When the Mexican war broke out he was clerking with James F. Randolph & Son, wholesale dry-goods dealers. He assisted in raising a company of volunteers and was elected a lieutenant, but they were not accepted, and he enlisted and was appointed a first sergeant in Company H, First United States Volunteers, and took part in all the battles in General Scott's campaign from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. Returning to his home he accepted a conductorship on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and made his residence in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. About the time that Colonel Ellsworth and his Chicago Zouaves were attracting the attention of military men
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everywhere, by their wonderful drill, a militia company was started in Easton under the title of the National Grays, and the subject of this_ sketch became its captain. It took rank as one of the crack companies of the State, but about the time of the opening of the war of the rebellion it disbanded, though most of the members joined the First Pennsylvania regiment. In answer to President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand, Captain Heckman hastened to Harrisburg at the head of one of the first two companies raised in Easton, and his command was mustered in as Company D, First Pennsylvania Volun- teers. At the end of the term of service the regiment was mustered out, and he returned home and almost immediately accepted the majority of the Ninth New Jersey regiment, then being formed at Camp Olden, Trenton. On the eve of the departure of the regiment for Washington he was made lieutenant-colonel. The regiment sailed with the Burnside expedition from Annapolis, on January tenth, 1862. in General Reno's brigade. Colonel Allen was drowned at Hatteras and the Ninth went into the battles of Roanoke Island and Newbern, under the command of the lieutenant-colonel. It was in these engage- ments that the Jerseymen established their reputation as a fighting regiment-they never lost it. Two days after the battle of Roanoke on February tenth, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Heckman was made colonel. The Ninth went to Newport barracks and took part in the siege of Fort Macon. On the twenty-sixth of July, with six companies of the Ninth, three companies of the Third New York cavalry and two pieces of artillery, Colonel Heckman started for Young's Crossroads, with orders to co-operate with a force sent out from Newbern. It was while making a reconnoissance with a mounted party on the Onslow road, that he was fired on by a party of bushwhackers, and he and Dr. Woodhull were wounded. The other command not being heard from the expedition returned to Newbern. Up till October thirtieth, the regiment remained in camp. On that day all the troops, under com- mand of General John A. Foster, started on the Tarboro expedition, which added so much to the fame of the Ninth and its commander. On December ninth Colonel Heekman was assigned to an independent command, consisting of the Ninth New Jersey, Seventeenth Massa- chusetts, a detachment of the Third New York cavalry under Major Cole, and Belger's First Rhode Island battery. Three days later General Foster's entire force started on the Goldsboro raid. The command was constantly in the advance and bore the brunt of the fighting. On November twenty-ninth Colonel Heckman was commis- sioned a brigadier-general of volunteers for signal ability and services rendered during the campaign. He was at once assigned to the command of the first brigade, second division, eighteenth army corps. On the twentieth, the eighteenth corps under General Foster sailed for
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Port Roval, South Carolina. Some little tine after their arrival there, a dispute arose between General Foster and General Hunter as to who was in command. General Foster returned to North Carolina and all the general officers in the eighteenth corps were relieved except General Heckman, who was assigned to the command of the second division. The division was on shipboard during the Monitor attack on Charleston ; but the ironclads failed to make the impression that was expected and the division returned to Port Royal. On April twelfth, 1863, General Heckman, with his Star brigade, returned hastily to North Carolina and assisted in relieving General Foster, who was closely besieged at Washington.
During the winter the brigade was encamped at Newport News, Virginia. Here a number of broken down commands were ordered to him, to be reorganized or not as the good of the service might dictate. On the sixteenth of January he was ordered to the command of the defenses and approaches of Norfolk. The force consisted of a division of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, nine light batteries and thirty-two heavy guns mounted on a line of fortifications. April fourteenth, in command of his own brigade, he sailed with the army of the James. A landing was effected at Bermuda Hundred. During the month that followed the enemy were met and several sharp engagements were fought. On the morning of May sixteenth, 1864, while in front of Drewry's Bluff, the enemy attacked in overwhelming numbers, and, after a bloody and desperate battle, the Star brigade was forced back and its commander carried a prisoner to Richmond. After being a prisoner of war three months General Heckman was exchanged at Charleston, where he had been among the three hundred officers placed under the fire of our own guns. He was at first ordered to report to General Canby in the department of the South, but the order was coun- termanded by General Grant, and, on the request of General Butler, he was ordered to the Army of the James and took command of the Second division of the Eighteenth army corps, which he commanded at the capture of Fort Harrison. In this engagement he took two regiments of the enemy prisoners and captured four guns. General Ord being wounded, he took command, by virtue of his rank, and immediately attacked a river battery which was taken with its garrison. For the ability displayed in these operations he was highly complimented by General Grant.
On the third of December the Tenth and Eighteenth corps were consolidated and formed into the Twenty-fourth corps. The three colored divisions were merged into the Twenty-fifth corps. He organ- ized this corps and was in command of it during the winter of 1865. On the return of General Weitzel he resumed command of his own division, and resigned May twenty-fifth, 1865. He was wounded in the
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following engagements : Newbern and Young's Crossroads, North Carolina, and Port Walthall, Virginia.
It was an inspiriting sight to see General Heckman, whose whole heart was ever in the deadly work, leading on his men, eager as they invariably were for the fray. He seemed ubiquitous ; now ordering up regiment, now battery-his lithe yet manly form wherever the fight was thickest-always setting an example to every one about him. He ever displayed a stoical disregard of death, despite the sanguinary harvest which death reaped about him. His example encouraged the men of his invincible brigade to sustain the shock of incessant attack with undaunted bravery, and they never failed him, nor he them. No general was ever more beloved, or followed in battle with greater zeal and confidence. He never asked any one to go where he was not ready to lead, and because of this fatherly care, together with his skill, hundreds owed their lives.
COLONEL ABRAM ZABRISKIE,
The third son of Chancellor A. O. Zabriskie, was born at Hackensack, New Jersey, February eighteenth, 1841. He was lineally descended from one of a family honored in Polish history, who found a refuge in this country and settled in the county of Bergen more than two cen- turies ago. Having lost his mother in boyhood, in 1849 he removed with his father to Jersey City, where he attended school, entering the College of New Jersey in 1856, graduating in 1859. From childhood he was distinguished by firmness of purpose, strong will, clear intellect and capacity to master whatever he undertook. Upon leaving college he entered his father's office, and prosecuted, until he joined the Ninth regiment, the study of law as a profession. In the summer of 1860, at Long Branch, his coolness and energy, by the aid of a kind Providence, enabled him to save his sister from a watery grave. The unselfish bravery, the quick, cool discernment which he evinced at the age of nineteen years, won the admiration of all, and was a promise, after- wards fulfilled, of what his country might expect of him when in equal peril.
In the winter of 1860-61. young Zabriskie had prepared to spend the ensuing year in the tour of Europe, and he expected to sail with William L. Dayton, our minister to France. Then Sumter fell. His patriotism was roused. During the absence of his father at Trenton he gave up his stateroom, brought back his passage-money, and throwing down the gold, said : "I am not going to Europe ; I will stay and do my part in this war." His military career commenced in September, 1861, as adjutant of the Ninth regiment, to which he was devoted until his fatal
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wound. At Roanoke Island, his first battle, he stood with folded arms, directly facing the Confederate battery, and amid the storm of shot, he appeared like a giant. The hissing shot had no terrors for him, and the example he set had great influence upon the men, who, engaged with a desperate enemy for the first time, needed all the encouragement such pictures of repose and indifference to manifold dangers could give them. The speedy promotion of Colonel Heckman to a larger command, elevated young Zabriskie to the colonelcy of the Ninth, which he led in many engagements until the fateful sixteenth of May, 1864, when, lying upon the earth, with his life-blood fast ebbing, and seeing his regiment overpowered, almost annihilated, he exclaimed : " Poor boys, poor boys !" Colonel Zabriskie was loved by every man in the regi- ment, and no nobler or more patriotic Jerseyman ever fell in defense of the flag. In battle, however great the danger, our hero was imper- turbable. He possessed ability of a high order, and, had he been spared, would have risen to eminence in any sphere of life. In the history of "New Jersey and the Rebellion," it is said of him: "As colonel of the Ninth regiment, his record was not merely spotless-it was lustrous. Even in his last hours, when the shadow of death lay upon his face, and life's beauty and joy faded like a pleasant picture from his darkened vision, his thoughts were of his country and of his comrades, who were still, with heroic endurance, braving the perils of a doubtful field." From the time he entered the regiment until he received his death wound at Drewry's Bluff, he was constantly at his post, never missing a march or a battle. Ever encouraging the men, but never shielding himself from danger. He was without fear, and an affectionate man, a warm friend, gentle, loving and true in his social intercourse, an admirer of all that was beautiful in nature and art-a lover of the highest order of literature-a noble and finished gentleman. His memory will live among thousands, for he was a hero, and it is to be regretted that he was cut down in the heighth of his usefulness, as otherwise he would have had a brilliant and happy life.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES STEWART, JR.,
The fourth and last colonel of the Ninth regiment, was born near Stewartsville, Warren county, New Jersey, in 1840. He was educated for a mercantile life, which he forsook when the governor of his native state called for troops to defend the government. He enlisted as a private, but his ability soon ensured him a commission, and he left Trenton with Company H. as its first lieutenant. By the heroic death of Captain Henry at Roanoke Island, Stewart became captain, and at Newbern distinguished himself by shooting a Captain Martin, a
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renegade Jerseymen, in command of a Confederate battery. In the expedition to Goldsboro in December, 1862, Captain Stewart led his command with great gallantry in a number of battles, losing between thirty and forty of his men in killed and wounded, which shows the nature of the task committed to him. He succeeded the lamented Zabriskie in command of the regiment, and proved himself a worthy successor, handling it in battle with the same ease and skill as when on parade. It was a pleasure to see General Stewart in battle, into which he ever went with his cheery nature and the same grace and winning way as if at a ball. He was desperately wounded at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, May sixteenth, 1864, and for two months, while enduring untold sufferings in hospital, he chafed because of his enforced absence from his command, around which his warm and brave heart was ever entwined. He returned to the regiment in July, having been promoted to its colonelcy, and at once reported for duty. A few days afterwards, Colonel Stewart was directed by General Butler to assume command of the first brigade, second division, eighteenth corps, which position he held until the next spring, when he was given command of the second brigade, first division, twenty-third army corps, and during the remainder of the campaign he commanded the third division, twenty- third corps. For his gallantry and untiring services he was commissioned brigadier-general-to date from March twenty-first, 1865 -- the capture of Goldsboro, North Carolina, by his regiment.
His last campaign, in which he and the Ninth had rendered invaluable services, was as brilliant as any in which he had ever participated ; orders highly complimenting him for courage and gallantry being issued by the commanding general. General Stewart was a born soldier, possessing as he did all essential qualities, and a physique capable of sustaining him in great fatigue. He returned to Trenton with the Ninth regiment, meeting with a joyous welcome at the hands of a people who were proud of its achievements and the glory it had won. General Stewart, for a number of years after the war, was the efficient chief of Philadelphia's police force, which, owing to his executive ability and varied experience in the field, enjoyed a high reputation for excellence. Time has dealt gently with General Stewart, no shadow of the old perils being discernible on his still handsome face.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM B. CURLIS
Was born in Burlington county, New Jersey, December fifteenth, 1830, and when of suitable age attended a district school in Evesham town- ship, and subsequently the private school of William Burr of Mount Holly. After learning the trade of a tailor he established himself in
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business at Pennington. In June, 1861, Colonel Curlis was appointed postmaster of that village, which position he retained until August. 1884, when he was relieved, a Democrat having been elected president the previous year. Desiring to render the country more service than was possible in the little post-office at Pennington, at the solicitation of Governor Olden, he raised a company for the Ninth regiment, into which he was mustered September twenty-third, 1861. On the eighth day of January, 1863, Captain Curlis was promoted to the majority, and in June, 1864, his shoulders were graced by silver leaflets. Colonel Curlis, notwithstanding his ill-health, which caused him much suffering, was never absent from duty, however irksome or dangerous. It was said by his men, who were fondly attached to him, that Colonel Curlis often exposed himself to danger, hoping thereby to be "picked off," and thus, while dying a soldier's death, be relieved from the ills his flesh was heir to. At Kinston, he greatly distinguished himself by leading his company (with the colors) across the burning bridge over the Neuse river, in the face of a murderous fire from the Confederates lining an earthwork on the opposite side. His gallantry on this occa- sion, as on others which speedily followed, no doubt gained him golden leaves. Colonel Curlis was severely injured near Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, one black night in the early part of May, 1864, by his horse falling upon him, while making his rounds as brigade officer of the day. He always enjoyed the confidence of his superiors and of the men whom he at times commanded. It was enough for him to know that his services were appreciated, and that consciousness never made him forget himself.
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