USA > New York > Camp and field life of the Fifth New York volunteer infantry. (Duryee zouaves.) > Part 18
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D. H. Hill says :
"It was now fairly dark, and hearing loud cheers from the Yankees in our immediate front, some 200 yards distant, I or- dered our whole advance to halt, and wait the expected attack of the enemy. Brig .- Gen. Winder, occupying the road to Grape- vine Bridge, immediately halted, and the whole advanced columns were halted also. The cheering, as we afterward learned, was
* Compte de Paris (p. 100) : " At 6 r.M. Jackson attacked with 40,000 men. Ewell attacked the regulars, who made it a point of honor never to yield before volunteers, whatever may be their numbers." (p. ro2): " Attacked in front and menaced in flank, Sykes fell back defending the ground foot by foot. The regulars do not allow Hill to push his success along the road leading from Cold Harbor to Dispatch Station, by which he could have cut off the retreat of the enemy.
" Fearfully reduced as they are, they care less for the losses they have sustained than for the mortification of yielding to volunteers."-(p. 1+3): "Stuart, near (old Harbor, does not know how to make his excellent troops play the part which appertains to cavalry on the eve of a victory ; he allows himself to be held back by the resolute stand of the regulars and some few hundred men bearing the flags of Warren's brigade."
+ General C. K. Warren.
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caused by the appearance of the Irish brigade, which was sent forward to cover the retreat. A vigorous attack upon it might have resulted in the total rout of the Yankee army and the cap- ture of thousands of prisoners. But I was unwilling to leave the elevated plateau around McGee's house to advance in the dark along an unknown road, skirted by dense woods in the possession of the Yankee troops."
The sanguinary battle of Gaines' Mill was over ; a few scat- tering shots were heard up to 9 o'clock, when quietness pre- vailed ; both sides were about exhausted by the terrible ordeal through which they had passed. The regiment was formed in line and counted by the Adjutant, and numbered seventy- three files, or 146 men. Besides those killed or disabled, there were some who fell out from exhaustion ; others had assisted their wounded comrades to the rear and failed to re- turn, and a detail under Lieutenant Eichler were guarding a number of Confederate prisoners. The number whose hearts failed them were comparatively few, and these managed to elude the officers and file-closers, and retire to the rear.
Through the blackness of night little lights could be seen dancing about in the distance, looking like twinkling stars. They were borne by the good Samaritans, and those who had been transformed from demons into angels of mercy, and were seeking and succoring the wounded of Union and Con- federate alike, who lay together like one great family. As soon as the ranks were dismissed, the men dropped down on the bare ground without covering, and were soon in deep slumber, with their rifles by their sides, ready to clutch at the first alarm. But many a soldier misses his mate, who may be lying wounded in the hands of the Confederates, or being jolted over a rough road in an ambulance to the rear, or mayhap lying on the battle-field, wearing the laurels of the brave, though his spirit has fled in glory from its earthly ten- einent, and taken winged flight to Him who gave it.
The orders had been obeyed. General Porter had held the
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left bank of the river till night. Notwithstanding their desperate efforts, the flower of the Confederate army, com- prising, at least, 130 regiments of infantry, and 84 guns, under command of the two Hills, Longstreet, Ewell, and Jackson, all under the personal supervision of General Lee himself, and also encouraged by the presence of Jeff. Davis, had driven the Union troops only about one mile. They had reaped a barren victory.
General Fitz John Porter fought this battle with 51 regi- ments of infantry, besides his batteries, which was all his force. He commanded in person throughout, and directed all the general movements ; and the obstinacy with which the troops held their ground, and the masterly manner in which he di- rected their movements, foiled the well-laid plans of the Con- federate Generals, and withstood till night the furious onsets of the enemy .* This delay gave General Mcclellan twenty- four hours' start in which to forward his miles of wagons, con- taining army stores, ammunition, etc., and his heavy siege guns, to the new base on the James River.
. The field officers of the Fifth acted their parts with the greatest heroism and bravery, and throughout the battle re- mained mounted, and were at every point where their serv- ices were most required ; and how they escaped serious wounds or death is miraculous. Colonel Warren received a contusion from a spent ball, and his horse was wounded. He was everywhere conspicuons on the field, and not only directed the movements of his own brigade, which he handled with consummate skill, and placed in the most advantageous positions, where they could produce the most effect on the enemy, but directed the movements of other regiments.
Lieutenant-Colonel H. Duryea, acting in command of the regiment, rose from a sick couch to take part in the action
* Compte de Paris (p. 104) : " Had fought with great vigor, and it was no dis- grace to Porter's soldiers that they had to succumb in such an unequal struggle." 10 **
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when his services were most required, and did not make his bodily ailments an excuse, as some others did, to shirk danger and responsibility and win glory without earning it. He set a good example to the men by his bravery, coolness, and gallantry. Captain Winslow played a noble part as a field-officer. Surgeon Doolittle was wounded in the course of the action, and his horse was killed under him. The other officers, with a few exceptions, won honor by their cool behavior and fidelity. Of the men, an officer high in com- mand said that every man who stood supporting that battery at dusk deserved a commission. Another (a General) officer said the next day as the regiment passed by him on the march, in reply to the remark of an officer who stood by his side, " Did well ! why, I could hug every man of them."
The New York Herald of July 1, 1862, says : "Duryee's Zonaves fought, as did all the regulars, under General Sykes, in whose brigade they are attached, with undaunted courage."
In concluding his narrative of the battle, the correspond- ent of the Cincinnati Commercial says :
" The conduct of the entire force that day was admirable. The regulars, who had previously complained of restraint, had full scope, and they re-established their ancient fame. Duryee's Zouaves, clad in crimson breeches and red skull-caps, emulated their regular comrades, winning the admiration of the army. But volunteers and regulars alike won glory on that bloody field."
Extract from General George B. McClellan's report to the Secretary of War, Hon. Edwin M. Stanton :
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF POTOMAC, SAVAGE STATION, } Fune 28, 1862-12.20 A.M.
On the left bank our men did all that men could do, all that soldiers could accomplish, but they were overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers soon after I had brought my last reserves into action. The loss on both sides is terrible. I believe it will prove to be the most desperate battle of the war. The sad rem-
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nants of my men behave as men ; those battalions who fought most bravely, and suffered most, are still in the best order. My regulars were supero ; and I count upon what are left to turn another battle in company with their gallant comrades of the vol- unteers.
Abbott speaks of this battle as follows :
" It was now night-a night of awful gloom. The second day's battle-the battle of Gaines' Mill-had ended, and silence suc- ceeded the thunders of war, which all the day had shaken the hills. Even the darkness could not conceal the harrowing spectacle of death's ravages. The dead lay upon the field in extended wind- rows. The wounded were to be counted by thousands. Their heart-rending cries and groans were audible on all sides."
Colonel B. Estvan, of the Confederate army, says :
"In by-gone days I had been on many a battle-field in Italy and Hungary, but , I confess that I never witnessed so hideous a picture of human slaughter and horrible suffering."
General McClellan, in his report (p. 249), says :
"Our loss in this battle, in killed, wounded, and missing, was very heavy, especially in officers, many of whom were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners while gallantly leading on their men, or rallying them to renewed exertions. It is impossible to arrive at the exact numbers lost in this desperate engagement, owing to the series of battles which followed each other in quick succes- sion, and in which the whole army was engaged. No general returns were made until after we had arrived at Harrison's Land- ing, when the losses for the whole seven days were estimated to- gether."
The Compte de Paris, of General McClellan's staff. who distinguished himself in this engagement, informs us in his History, that out of the 35.000 engaged, the loss was nearly 7,000, and that the assailants suffered still more.
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The Confederate losses from their own estimates Guernsey places at 9,500. " Jackson's loss alone was 3,284, and the other corps in the same proportion would make the Con- federate loss about 10,000."
The Fifth Regiment lost more than one-third of its officers and men, killed and wounded, including nearly all of the color-guard. Out of the 450 men engaged, 56 were killed or died of their wounds; 3 were missing, 110 severely wounded, making the total casualties among the officers and men 169. Besides the above, there were about 50 who re- ceived contusions in the course of the engagement, which, although in most cases painful, were not of such a serious nature as to be classed in this regiment as wounds, or to in- capacitate the recipients for duty.
The Tenth lost 114, in killed, wounded, and missing, out of 575 men engaged ; among whom were Lieutenants James R. Smith and George F. Tate, wounded.
As an instance of the different effects of gun-shots produced in battle, the losses in two instances may be mentioned. Company H had twenty-one severely wounded, some of them having several wounds, but none of the wounds proved mor- tal. Company K had nineteen hit, out of whom eleven were killed or died of their wounds.
INCIDENTS.
After the regiment was relieved by fresh troops, and after the latter had become engaged, William McDowell, the Orderly Sergeant of Company G, remained on the field wholly re- gardless of flying bullets, and employed himself in picking up rifles and throwing them into the ditch. He also took off his shoes and stockings and bathed his feet, and then rejoined the main body of the regiment, who were resting, as already mentioned, loaded down with the rifles he had collected. If others had been as thoughtful, the enemy would have gleaned. less booty in the matter of abandoned arms.
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When the men lay in the cut of the road, Sergeants Forbes, Law, Tiebout, and a few others crept out under fire to the open field and secured their knapsacks, which had been left with those of the majority of the regiment. The others secured theirs afterward, but most of the men supporting the battery, the second time they went in, which was late in the afternoon, were compelled to lose them.
Dave Burns, of the Fifth, had a long argument while the battle was raging with a wounded Confederate, who, it ap- pears, was an Irishman. His attention was attracted to him, by seeing that he had a revolver in his hand. He asked him what he was doing with " that," and was answered, it was for protection from being bayoneted. Burns waxed wroth at the idea of one of the Fifth doing anything so cowardly, and be- rated him soundly ; getting warmed up, he wished that the Confederate was a well man, and he would knock all the secesh blood out of him; that he was a disgrace to the Irish people for fighting against the flag, etc. Finally, he took the revolver away from him, and removed the caps, but the man begged so hard for it, as it was a present from one of his officers, he gave it back to him, and also a drink of water, and went at the fighting again, as if he had merely stopped work for a few moments to have an argument with a friend.
In the battle, Walter S. Colby, a native of New Hamp- shire, and a member of Company G, received a wound which shattered his leg, and he fell. He supported himself as well as he could, pulled his cap off his head, waved it in the air, and gave three cheers for the Union and the American flag, and fell down again. Several of the men went to his assist- ance and offered their aid, but he declined it, saying that "he would have to lose his leg, and that meant, in his poor health, his life ; that they could testify that he died in a good cause and died 'game.'" He told them to look after them- selves and let him lay.
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No other information of him has ever been obtained from any source, and the only inference is that he died like a hero in the hands of the enemy, and sleeps in an unknown grave. He was troubled with a racking cough in Baltimore; and when the regiment left Federal Hill, he was left in the hos- pital. He was offered his discharge, but refused it. After the regiment was on the march up the Peninsula, beyond Yorktown, the men of his company were surprised to see Colby appear among them, knapsack and all, fully equipped ; he looked thin and emaciated. One of the boys said : " Why, Colby, we never expected to see you again." He replied : " You didn't ! Well, I expected to see you again ; and I mean to go home with the regiment, or go home in a box," and there was not a man in the company but knew that Walt Colby meant what he said. He had an iron will, and his de- cision once made, as they knew from experience, was un- alterable. The writer had him for a messmate on the march up to near Richmond, and was often kept awake by his vio- lent coughing. One night, being very tired and sleepy, after a long march, a rather petulant remark was made, which the writer has ever since regretted. The poor skeleton, for that was all there was of him in the flesh, flared up with, " I'll live to stamp on your grave," and bounced out of the shelter that I had rigged ; nor could any persuasion on my part induce him to come back that night, but he laid outside on the ground, without any covering, in a drizzly rain. As long as he lived, no matter how long or hard the march, be it rain or shine, there was Colby at its end, with what was left of the regiment. While strong men were strewed all along far in the rear, he was never known to drop out, and his limbs were wasted away to skin and bone. He did not aspire to any higher position than that of a private. although evidently of good social rank, and had seen much of the world. When he enlisted he was handsomely dressed. He once told the writer that when he enlisted he was only
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on a visit to New York, and had dined with a friend at the St. Nicholas Hotel, and bid him good-bye, the friend to go South for the purpose of joining the Confederates. He him- self strolled off, went into the quarters in Canal Street, and entered the Fifth. He always had plenty of money to spend or to lend, but who he was or who his friends were, he would never divulge. And this invincible hero, unknown to his comrades, further than is narrated above, sleeps in an un- known grave in Virginia. He deserves a better tribute than mine to the decision and character of a soldier who had no superior for loyalty and heroism in the army.
Sniffin, of Company B, was one of the first men killed in the first charge. He was one of the comical characters of the regiment. Skipping out over the turf, he said : "Johnny on the green ! here comes a ball from Brooklyn," then, " Here is one from Coney Island;" but one came from a Confeder- ate, as if in mockery, and poor Sniffin dropped dead.
One of the color-guard, Spellman, was overcome by the heat during the height of the action, and fell as if dead ; he was carried to the house used as a hospital, on the hill to the rear. His "chum" found time to run over and see how he fared, after the regiment was relieved the first time, and dis- covered him lying unconscious. He asked a surgeon to do something for him, who said it was of no use, as he was as good as a dead man. Finally, another surgeon was induced to examine him, but he also gave him up, and said that he must use his time on those he could save. When the ene- my shelled the hospital building, the crash of the shell par- tially aroused Spellman, and his comrade raised him up and half dragged him from the building. All those who could move were crawling off, and a great many stragglers were going to the rear. Spellman opened his eyes, and glared about him for an instant, as if his consciousness was return- ing. "What does this mean ?" he asked. He was an- swered that the battle was going all right; those are the
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stragglers. "Cowards !" exclaimed Spellman, and again he went off in a swoon. His friend succeeded in getting him into an ambulance, never expecting to see him again, and rejoined the regiment. On the march to Malvern Hill, the men were surprised to see Spellman coming over the fields to join them. We will see what a " dead man " was made of on a future occasion.
We rested as well as it was possible to rest, after the san- guinary struggle of the day, and early in the morning of Saturday, the 28th, before daylight, the men were ordered from their slumbers, and crossed the Chickahominy, over Woodbury Bridge, to the Richmond side of the river, and took a position on Trent Hill, which overlooked the stream. The regulars crossed about 6 o'clock, and blew up the bridge behind them. We remained here, with the rest of Sykes' division and the reserve artillery, serving also on picket along the river till 6 p.M. We then started about dusk and marched to Savage's Station, and destroyed by fire a large pile of knapsacks and other property, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy.
At this place there were about 6,000 wounded and sick, about 2,500 of whom, the last troops that left on the suc- ceeding night, were compelled to leave from inexorable ne- cessity, as there was not sufficient means of conveyance to remove them all. The army marched on its way, accom- panied with the thousands of disabled and afflicted com- rades upon whom the blow of war had fallen, but with heavy hearts that so many were left behind to take the hospitalities or the revenge of the enemy, at whose hands they had re- ceived their wounds.
Rev. J. J. Marks, D.D., in the " Peninsular Campaign in Virginia," p. 243, describes the scene on the evening of the 29th, in the following language :
"I beheld a long, scattered line of the patients staggering
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away, some carrying their guns and supporting a companion on an arm, others tottering feebly over a staff which they appeared to have scarcely strength to lift up. One was borne on the shoulders of two of his companions, in the hope that when he had gone a little distance he might be able to walk. One had already sat down, fainting from the exertion of a few steps. Some had risen from the first rest, staggered forward a few steps, and fell in the road ; but after a few moments in the open air, and stimulated by the fear of the enemy, they could walk more strongly. Never have 1 beheld a spectacle more touching or . more sad."
Also an eye-witness* of this painful episode in the events of the campaign, tells his observations as follows :
" A very affecting scene was now witnessed as the troops bade adieu to their sick and wounded friends, whom they were com- pelled to leave behind, to abandon as prisoners to the rebels.
"Up to this time the disabled had not known that they were to be left behind ; and when it became manifest, the scene could not be pictured by human language. I heard one man cry out, 'O my God ! is this the reward I deserve for all the sacrifices I have made, the battles I have fought, and the agony I have en- dured from my wounds?' Some of the younger soldiers wept like children ; others turned pale, and some fainted. Poor fellows ! they thought this was the last drop in the cup of bitterness, but there were many yet to be added."
REPORT OF COLONEL G. K. WARREN,
3d Brigade, 2d Division, 5th Corps, of the Battle of Gaines' Mill.
HEADQUARTERS 3D BRIGADE, SYKES' DIVISION, 1 PORTER'S CORPS, July 4, 1862.
SIR :- I have the honer to report the operations of this brigade froin June 26th to July 3d, 1862.
The brigade consisted, on the 26th ultimo, of the 5th New
* Rev. John S. C. Abbott's "Change of Base."
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York Volunteers, commanded by Lieut .- Col. Duryea, numbering about 450 effective men for duty, and of the roth New York Vol- unteers, commanded by Col. Bendix, numbering about 575 men for duty. The Ist Connecticut, Col. Tyler, had been relieved fron my command for duty with the heavy artillery.
The conflict having begun on the right of our army, at Me- chanicsville, on the afternoon of the 26th ultimo, we were ordered out with the rest of the division, and remained in line of battle all night. At 2.30 A.M. on the 27th, we marched back, as directed. and took up our line so as to defend the crossing of Gaines' Creek while the trains and artillery effected a passage. This having been accomplished, we again marched forward to a new position, about half a mile from the last, where it had been determined to prevent the further advance of the enemy.
The line assigned to my brigade, forming the left of the division, had its left resting upon a forest, which, I was informed, was held by Griffin's brigade, and our line of battle was in an open, plowed field, along a gentle slope, in a measure hiding us from the obser- vation of the enemy, though affording but little shelter from dis- tant curved firing. In front of us, distant from 200 to 300 yards. was a belt of woods, growing in a ravine, through openings cf which a view could be had of an extensive, open field beyond. These woods I occupied with a company of the 5th New York Volunteers as skirmishers. From 300 to 400 yards to the right of my line was another forest bordering the open field, and run- ning nearly in a direction perpendicular to our line. This I guarded by a company of the 5th New York Volunteers, deployed as skirmishers. Major Clitz's battalion of the 12th Regular In- fantry was on my right, on a line nearly perpendicular to mine, with a large interval between us. Our artillery was posted to the rear and to the left of my line.
About 104 o'clock A.M. these arrangements were complete, and we waited the approach of the enemy. The weather was very warm.
About 12} P.M. the enemy forced the passage of Gaines' Creek near the mill, and cheering as they came, appeared in force at a distance in the open field beyond the wooded ravine in my front.
About 1 o'clock P.M. they advanced in several lines, and at my
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request, Captain Edwards brought up a section of his battery on my right, and opened on them, and a fierce fire was carried on between them over our heads, in which we suffered considerably. Captain Edwards steadily kept up his fire, though opposed by sev- ( ral batteries, till the enemy having driven in our line of skir- mishers, I advised him to retire. The enemy now advanced sharp- shooters to the edge of the woods to pick off our artillerymen, posted behind us, but our rifle-firing compelled them to retire.
One of our batteries having opened with shrapnel, the prema- ture explosion of these shells behind us caused so much loss that I was compelled to change my line by throwing the right to the rear along the road, and the left more toward the enemy, and along the woods to our left.
The enemy's fire ceasing for a time, our artillery also ceased, and there was a lull, so that we began to think the enemy had retired. But under the shelter of the woods he had formed a columnn to attack the position occupied by Major Clitz, to the right of my first position, and as soon as it appeared, the rapid firing of our artillery dispersed it in a few moments. Again there was a lull, but this time he had planned his attack on the position occupied by myself, and where our artillery could not be used without endangering us.
I should think it was now nearly 3 o'clock P.M. Suddenly a regiment burst from the woods with loud yells, advancing at double-quick upon us. The 5th New York Volunteers, which had been drawn back to be out of the fire of our own artillery, rapidly re-formed to meet them on our first position. The enemy received a portion of the fire of the roth New York Volunteers as he came rapidly on, and when he neared the 5th New York Volunteers we charged back, turning his charge into a flight. k lling and wounding nearly all of those who tled. This charge of the enemy had also been accompanied by a vigorous attack on otr position in the woods, and as we advanced we received a heavy fire from the enemy stationed in them. Our men, nothing hinted, continued to advance, and drove them from it. The 1. igade was re-formed tas well as the confusion produced by this shige would allow ) in its first position, and again it successfully repulsed the advance of the enemy, driving him back to the woods in front. up to which point the colors of the 5th New York were
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