USA > New York > Camp and field life of the Fifth New York volunteer infantry. (Duryee zouaves.) > Part 23
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Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan (Report No. 37, p. 153) : " I can not omit calling the attention of the Brigadier-General commanding to the firm and gallant manner in which my brigade held the enemy in check on the extreme left for such a length of time, and finally prevented his turning our flank."
" Pope's Campaigns" (No. 50, p. 175). Extract from a letter of Lieutenant- Colonel Buchanan to General McDowell : " I did not lose one inch of ground after I got my brigade together, which I did immediately by moving this latter portion to the left, but held the enemy at bay for an hour ; and, instead of being forced back,' I maintained my position until ordered to fall back. In the sense of General Milroy's report, he would have obtained possession of the stone bridge ; and what would have been the result ? You are well aware, our defeat would have been dis- astrous,"
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the army, under the cover of night commenced their re- treat.
From the time the first shot was fired at the regiment, to their getting off the field, it was not over fifteen minutes. It stood in line receiving the murderous fire only about seven minutes, yet in that short space of time one hundred and thirteen were killed or mortally wounded ; four missing, who were never heard of, and one hundred and eighty wounded; a total of two hundred and ninety-seven, out of the four hundred and ninety engaged. Many of the wounded were struck more than once, and of those who escaped the tempest of bullets the majority could show scratches, and bullet holes through their clothing, some having no less than seven. No other regiment suffered an equal loss in so short a space of time, on the Union side during the war. The Fifteenth Massachusetts, mentioned in Pollard's "Southern History of the War," nearly equals it. They lost at the battle of Antietam in twenty minutes, eighty men dead on the field, and two hundred and twenty-four wounded, out of a total of five hundred and fifty-six men engaged.
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The following report by Colonel Warren is from General Pope's report (No. 36, p. 149) :
HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, SYKES' DIVISION, Sept. 6, 1862.
SIR :- I take leave to present herewith a sketch of the field of action of the 30th August, as it appeared to me, with an account of what I witnessed and the part sustained by my brigade, con- sisting of the 5th New York Volunteers, about 490 strong, and the 10th New York Volunteers, about 510 strong. (Diagram) . . . . Smead's and Randoll's batteries in the road near me. Hazlitt's rifled battery was executing an order from General Porter to take up a position at where Reynolds had been. (Hazlitt's battery was without support, and our whole left flank was uncovered). I immediately assumed the responsibility of oc-
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cupying the place Reynolds' division had vacated, and make all the show of force I could.
For this purpose I deployed three-fifths of the roth New York Volunteers to hold the edge of the woods toward the enemy on our left, and keeping the 5th New York Volunteers in reserve, out of view of the enemy's battery.
Notice of this movement of mine I immediately sent, by an officer, to General Sykes or General Porter. He found the latter, who directed me to hold on, and sent me mounted orderlies to keep him informed. He was, I believe, near where Weed's bat- tery was placed. From the point where Hazlitt's battery was placed, I probably had the best view of what followed that the battle-field presented. As soon as General Butterfield's brigade advanced up the hill, there was great commotion among the rebel forces, and the whole side of the hill and edges of the woods swarmed with men before unseen. The effect was not unlike flushing a covey of quails. The enerny fell back to the side of the railroad, and took shelter on the railroad cut and be- hind the embankment, and lined the edges of the woods beyond. Butterfield's advance beyond the brow of the hill was impossible, and taking his position, his troops opened fire on the enemy in front, who, from his sheltered position, returned it vigorously, while, at the same time, a battery, somewhere in the prolonga- tion of the line, E, B, opend a most destructive entilading fire with spherical case shot. It became evident to me that without heavy rei : forcements, General Butterfield's troops must fall back or be slaughtered, the only assistance he received being from Hazlitt's battery, which I was supporting, and Weed's, (near N).
After making a most desperate and hopeless fight, General Butterfield's troops fell back, and the enemy immediately formed and advanced. Hazlitt's battery now did good execution on them, and forced one column that advanced beyond the point of the woods at (A), to fall back into it. Unwilling to retire from the position I held, which involved the withdrawal of this ef- fient battery and the exposure of the flanks of our retreating forces, I held on, hoping that fresh troops would be thrown for- wald to meet the enemy now advancing in the open fields ; well
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knowing, however, that my position was one from which I could not retreat in the face of a superior force. Reynolds' division, on my left, probably aware of the superior force of the enemy gath- ering in his front, fell back from I toward P. The enemy advanced with rapidity upon my position, with the evident intention of cap- turing Hazlitt's battery. The 10th New York was compelled to fall back, scarcely arriving at the position held by the 5th New York, "before " the enemy ; and in such a manner as to almost completely prevent the Fifth from firing upon them. While I was endeavoring to clear them from the front, the enemy, in force, opened fire from the woods on the rear and left flank of the Fifth with most fearful effect. I then gave the order to face about and march down the hill, so as to bring the enemy all on our front; but in the roar of musketry I could only be heard a short distance. Captain Boyd, near me, repeated the command, but his men only partially obeyed it. They were unwilling to make a backward movement. He was wounded while trying to Execute it. Adjutant Sovereign carried the order along the line to Captain Winslow, commanding the regiment, and to the other Captains, but was killed in the act. Captain Winslow's horse was shot ; Captain Lewis, acting field officer, was killed ; Captain Hager was killed ; Captains McConnell and Montgomery were down with wounds, and Lieutenants Raymond, Hoffman, Keyser, and Wright were wounded. Both color-bearers were shot down, and all but four of the Sergeants were killed or wounded.
Before the colors and the remnant of the regiment could be ex- tricated, 293 men of the Fifth, and 133 of the 10th New York were killed or wounded .* In the 10th New York, Lieutenant Hedden was killed, and Captain Dimmick, Lieutenant Deweyick, Lieutenant Mosscross, and Lieutenant Cuthane wounded.
We assisted from the field 77 wounded of the Fifth and 8 of the Tenth. The remainder fell into the hands of the enemy. Among these were Captains Boyd, McConnell, and Montgomery, and Lieutenants Wright and Raymond of the Fifth.
Braver men than those who fought. and fell that day could not
* A later report states the loss in the roth New York as 115.
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be found. It was impossible for us to do more, and as is well known, all the efforts of our army barely checked this advance.
Very respectfully your obedient servant, G. K. WARREN, Colonel 5th New York Volunteers, Commanding Third Brigade.
Lieutenant HEYWARD CUTTING,
Acting Aide-de-Camp and Acting Assistant Adjutant- General, General Sykes' Division.
General Sykes, in his report (" Pope's Campaign," p. 148), makes the following statement of the occurrences on the field :
" I desire to call the attention of the Major-General command- ing to the services of Colonels Warren, Buchanan*, and Chap- man,t United States Army, commanding brigades of my division. Their coolness, courage, and example were conspicuous. Their claim to promotion has been earned on fields of battle long prior to that of the 30th of August, 1862." " Had the efforts of these officers, those of Generals Reynolds, Reno, and Butterfield, been properly sustained, it is doubtful if the day had gone against us." " Warren's command was sacrificed by the withdrawal of Rey- nolds' troops from my left, and their non-replacement by others. The enemy masked and concealed his brigades in the forests south of the Warrenton pike. His presence was unseen and unknown until he appeared in sufficient strength to overpower the infantry opposed to him."
Many of the old and experienced members of the regi- ment ran zig-zag when escaping from the enemy, to distract their aim, who were picking their men at close range. A number of new recruits were on the way to join the Fifth, but little could they imagine what their trials and troubles were to be. Second Lieutenant Thomas R. Martin, in com- mand of Company G, which lest 34 men killed and wounded
* See Appendix.
+ See Appendix.
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out of 50, stood at his post to the last encouraging his men, although himself wounded in the leg, ably assisted by Ser- geants Forbes, Law, Jack Taylor, and Wilson. They, and the remnant of the company, which was next in line to the left company, did not leave until the enemy were within a few feet of them, and all hope had fled of making any effect- ive resistance. There were present with the regiment after this engagement only about eighty privates of the two years' men who were at Fort Schuyler when the regiment was first organized ; the rest had been killed or wounded, sick in hospital, discharged or deserted. Had this little remnant been so unfortunate as to become engaged in another simi- lar struggle, it would have been wiped out as a thing of the past. It was a fearful conflict, and seemed to be one of ex- termination. The Confederates fought hard and with the greatest determination, and the prisoners taken seemed to be confident of success in the end. They persisted that the South would never yield. One of the Texans drawled out, in a conversation with Jack Whigam (whose brother was killed in this battle), one of the men detailed with the flag of truce to bury the dead and look after the wounded : "We will foute you until we are all dead, Yanks ! and I reckon the women will foute you after that." The people of the North were too much disposed to underrate them. Many of them did not seem to reflect that the Southerners were fighting for what they were brought up to believe was their right, and for their homes and firesides, and were of the same flesh and blood as themselves ; and I venture to say that the propor- tion of native born was much larger than in the army op- posed to them. They were the descendants of the men who, under Generals Greene, Sumter, Marion, Morgan, and the immortal Washington himself, fought and suffered in the struggle for independence against the power of Great Britain, and in the wars in which the country had since then been engaged.
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FRANCIS SPELLMAN.
Sergeant Francis Spellman the writer had every opportu- nity to know well, as he was one of his messmates for some time in Baltimore. Afterward, when there was a vacancy in the color-sergeantcy, he conversed about it ; he was very quiet and calm when he spoke, and with a resigned air, as if he should never think of refusing any duty that might be im- posed upon him as a soldier. He said : "Several of the men have been talked of for the vacancy on the colors, and I am one of them. I don't care for the honor, but I won't refuse." That sentence was the utterance of his nobility and courage ; for he knew that the position entailed, besides the honor, almost sure death, sooner or later. In all his associations, in the mess or out of it, he never had a.quarrel or a cross word with any one. He was no ordinary man ; being quiet and reflective, spending his leisure hours in read- ing or discussing military questions from Hardee's "Tactics," and was very quick to see through their complications ; and if he had lived, his merit and ability to command would have been discovered by such an observant officer as Colonel Warren. He was always gentlemanly, and there was nothing vulgar in his composition ; extraordinarily neat, his rifle al- ways shone like silver, and he was one of the most perfectly drilled men in the regiment. But beneath his outward and even-toned temperament, one could see in the deep blue eye that lighted his face the truest kind of courage. When he was discovered in a hospital in Washington (by what means he was conveyed there was never learned), his right arm had been taken off near the shoulder. He was shot through the side in several places, and had a ghastly wound through the neck, his throat being so much swollen that he could only make a humming noise. The following letter was written by a friend and former messmate of Spellman, Alonzo Ameli, of Company G, and addressed to his brother ; and was copied from the original by the author :
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BALTIMORE, Fan. 30, 1863.
Last week I received a letter from the Rev. W. W. Winches- ter, who attended FRANK SPELLMAN in his last moments, and he said that being interested in him, he strove to learn his name, and mentioned over several names to him, to all of which Frank shook his head ; then taking his memorandum book he held it up, and feeble and trembling poor Frank tried to write his name upon it. When he got through he said, "Francis?" and he nodded yes ; then he wrote again, and the minister said " Spell- man? " receiving an affirmative nod. . He said he tried to find out where he lived, but the left hand fell upon the bed, and he said he could not urge the poor, brave man to any more exertion. Then he prayed with him, and when he left, Frank was humming a tune very faintly, which he says was a hymn. In a few hours he called again, and he found him sinking rapidly from his severe wounds, but he was happy, and soon after died. Noble Frank ! He was indeed a true friend, a cheerful companion, and a brave soldier. I have copied his name just as he wrote it upon the leaf of the memorandum book.
Spellman died a few days after the battle, and sleeps in a soldier's grave, near Washington, among an army of others who died under the old flag, for the honor of which they gave up their lives. He had not a relative or a friend in this country outside of his army comrades, and there was no one at home to watch his career, or who would feel proud of his honorable deeds, and from whom he could expect paens of praise, or who would mourn over him if he should fall. All the honor he could expect would be that from his comrades in arms and his officers, and the consciousness that he was performing his duty. His actions proved that his whole thought was nobly fixed on the trust he had accepted, when he singled out from those around him a comrade whom he knew to be a brave man and a soldier, and who would ac- cept the flag he was no longer able to defend. And in his agony of mind, far above his bodily pain, he called out : "Chambers ! for God's sake, don't let them take my flag !"
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A monument should be erected to his memory, and no more fitting words could be inscribed upon it, than the dying words of the hero, as an example to future generations.
ILLIAM H. CHAMBERS.
Willianı H. Chambers enlisted, when he was only seven- teen years old, in the English army, and in the course of his service was in the Crimean war. He came to this country a short time before the breaking out of the Rebellion, and immediately enlisted in the 5th Regiment as a private, and was mustered out with it as a Major by brevet, May 14, 1863, having never been absent from sickness or serious wounds-an honor accorded only to one other Captain. Re-enlisted with the 5th Veterans as a private, commanded by Colonel WINS- LOW. He was promoted on the field for bravery, and served till the end of the war, and was again breveted Major. He was offered the position of Orderly Sergeant in the regular army, with the promise that he should be promoted to a commission at the first opportunity, but he declined to accept anything but a commission.
I omitted to state that the first officer he met after cross- ing the brook with the flag he had saved, was Lieutenant Hoffman, who was wounded ; the next was Colonel Warren.
WILLIAM MC DOWELL.
Among those who lay dead on the battle-field, was William McDowell, the Orderly Sergeant of Company G, to which position he was appointed from the ranks, thus stepping over all the intermediate Corporals and Sergeants, and no man better deserved it. He had been offered, and re- fused to accept, an inferior appointment. He was a member of Washington Truck Company. No. 9, Volunteer Fire Department, New York City, when he enlisted, in April, 1861. (Three members of this fire company were
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killed in this battle). He belonged to a family noted for their fine physique, and stood six feet two and a half inches in height, and was well-proportioned. He was as brave in the hour of need as he was kind and gentle in his social relations among his comrades and friends. A large party of members of the Volunteer Fire Department enlisted together. one of whom was Wm. McDowell, and it was their fortune to serve together in Company G. When he became Orderly, it soon began to be understood among his former associates that they must not presume on old acquaintanceship to shirk any duty, or expect any partiality, even among his own messmates, in the line of duty. When a man's turn came to go on a detail of any kind, go he must, no matter who or what he was ; and often when a man tried to evade it by managing to be in some other than his own quarters, I have seen Mc- Dowell take a spade or pick in his hand and stand in the shirker's place until he could be hunted up, rather than put a man to duty outside of his regular turn. When the delin- quent was found, he would quietly remind him of his duty in such a way as to make him thoroughly ashamed, and the men of the company soon began to dread a lecture from " Billy," or "Pop," as he was sometimes called, more than they did the guard-house. He very seldom reported any one, because under his management it was not necessary. When off duty it was just the opposite ; anything that he possessed he would share with the men, but the majority respected him too much to attempt to take any undne liberties with him, and those who were wanting in the latter quality, did not care to rouse his lion nature, as he was known to pos- sess great physical power and undaunted courage. He had a fine sense of honor, and would never run guard himself nor allow any one to pass him when he was a private on post.
At the second battle of Bull Run, McDowell was one of the number that would not run or surrender. It was seen that he was wounded in the body, and had fallen back a few
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E
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paces, and was facing the enemy when they came out of the wood. After the most of the remainder of the regiment had made for the rear, a ball struck him in the forehead, and he fell dead, with his feet to the foe, and in this position he was found and buried by Jack Whigam, of the same fire company, who went with the detail under flag of truce. Thus died as brave and noble-hearted a man as ever lived. The men of his company felt his loss keenly, and mourned for him, as they looked up to him as their father. They could have another Orderly, but there was only one Sergeant McDowell.
The following tribute to the memory of Sergeant McDowell appeared in the New York Leader :
" THE LOSS OF ANOTHER GALLANT FIREMAN AND SOLDIER.
" We notice that in the battle of Bull Run, at the head of his company, Wm. McDowell, First Sergeant of Company G, Dur- yee's Zouaves, fell, nobly leading his command. He was one of nature's noblemen, well known in the Department, standing over six feet two inches high, of heroic courage, possessing an innate modesty and kindness of heart that made each one love the man. A native of this city, he possessed the confidence of his employ- ers, and the highest esteem of his brother firemen as a member of Washington Truck Company, No. 9.
" His towering frame might have been seen in the front rank of the Duryee Zouaves on leaving New York, one of the very first to go forward to guard the emblem of our country, and to put down the traitors to his beloved flag and the institutions he adored.
"His company was in many battles. He was foremost in en- couraging his comrades, offered promotion for his gallantry, but ever declining. He died like the brave ever like to die, and he now fills a patriot's grave, leaving an aged mother to mourn the loss of an affectionate and brave son. God protect and con- sole the widowed mother ! His companions deeply mourn his Juss, and will ever hold his memory in grateful remembrance."
Another of those who would not leave the field, was Ser- geant Philip L. Wilson, of Company G. He was a direct
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contrast to McD. in site, social position, and education. Com- ing from the higher walks of life, and though still suffering from his wounds, is at present a lawyer of standing in N. Y. City. He stood to the last, and had received two scratches, and as ' the enemy were coming from the woods, fired at one of them, and saw him clap his hands on his abdomen and fall. He went about forty paces further to the rear, at the same time endeavoring to load his rifle, and the charge was partially down in the barrel, when he heard a Confederate officer give vent to an opprobrious epithet, and exclaim : " My children, kill every Yankee you can find." This stirred Wilson's blood, and he turned toward them, at the same time endeav- oring to ram home the charge, for he was determined to kill that officer if possible, when his right leg was knocked from under him, and he fell with an ugly wound, which perma- nently crippled hin.
Before the regiment went on the field of battle they came to a halt and rested on the banks of a beautiful stream of water. Many of the men availed themselves of the oppor- tunity to wash themselves, among whom was Captain Hager, of Company F, who was the only commissioned officer in the regiment at the time who wore the full Zouave uniform. After he had washed and completed his preparations, he said to the company, "Boys, how do I look?" "You look nobby," said one ; " You look bully," said another. " Well," replied the Captain, " don't you think I'd make a fine-look- ing corpse ?" A short time afterward he was lying dead on the battle-field. He was a favorite with his company, and a brave, cool soldier. He enlisted in the regiment as a private.
The irrepressible " Butch" Sapher was in the most serious difficulty of his whole service, and he was awaiting sentence of court-martial for striking an officer at Harrison's Landing, and the probabilities were, that notwithstanding his many good qualities as a brave and cool-headed soldier, and the life of the regiment, that he would be shot. Notwithstand-
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ing his dilemma he must have his amusement. He had on an old white-felt hat he had picked up somewhere, with the crown torn out, his hair, or " scalp lock " rather-for that was all he would allow to grow-was standing up above it, and over his shoulder was a stick, with a bundle tied to the end of it ; this was just before the battle, and he had " come up to take a hand in." A shell canie bouncing along, and struck close by him ; he did not budge a hair, but taking off his apology for a hat, he bowed very gracefully, saying, "Good-morning; may you all strike in the same spot," which made a laugh all about him, among the officers as well as the men. For two or three days after the battle nothing was seen of " Butch," and it was supposed that he had either been killed or had disappeared to avoid the sentence of the court-martial. When the regiment arrived at Hail's Hill, a strange character was seen approaching at a distance, but on getting closer, it was perceived that it was our missing " Butch," mounted on a mule, with three or four ritles strapped to his back, together with a surgeon's knapsack of medicines. He had taken them from a cowardly hospital steward who had run away, and been captured by " Butch," who stripped him of the stores, and it appears he had been rendering invalu- able services to the surgeons and among the wounded. The first words he said were, " Come here, all you that are sick. and I will give you physic." Nothing more was heard of the court-martial. He was a very powerful man, and had served an apprenticeship in the navy, before the war, and was marked in India ink with the usual devices of anchors, ships, etc. He could hold a fifty-pound shot at arm's length, with ease, in either hand, and was always full of fun and mischief ; could sing comic and sentimental songs, etc., and was a great favorite with officers and. men.
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