USA > New York > Camp and field life of the Fifth New York volunteer infantry. (Duryee zouaves.) > Part 28
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In the afternoon the regiment was marched down the street a short distance toward the river, and turned into a yard in the rear of a large brick mansion, one of several others, with piazzas, gas-fixtures, and water-pipes, the supply to the lat- ter having been cut off by the Confederates. The kitchen, a small brick house. was connected with the main building by a covered way. Behind the kitchen were rows of neat huts for
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the colored servants. Everything gave evidence of the wealth and rank of the owners. A bell hung out at the rear of the house to waken the "people " in the morning. The officers occupied one of these mansions as their headquarters, from which was heard occasionally some favorite air played on the piano. The men made a fire in the large kitchen stove, and made some unleavened cakes, prepared from flour and water, a barrel of the former having been unearthed. This proved to be a God-send, for the bacon distributed to them the succeeding night, either by accident or design was utter- ly unfit for consumption. The regiment stayed in this posi- tion two days and a night, all of the time under fire of the guns of the enemy, and under great suspense, not knowing at what moment they would receive orders to advance to the front, to battle, and they knew well that such an order meant practical, if not total annihilation.
The regulars were obliged to hold the position assigned to them on the night of the 13th, which was discovered in the morning to be a slight hollow. It was a doleful place. They were obliged to hug the ground, lying on their backs or stomachs; they could not move ; when one turned, he was sure to be hit in the shoulder, and the wounded were obliged to lie and suffer. Many who attempted, by permis- sion, to run to the rear, were immediately pierced by minie balls and fell lifeless. In this desperate position they laid all day until it was dark, in the same place they occupied all of the previous weary night, amid the scenes already de- scribed. They were completely at the mercy of the Con- federates, who were apparently secure in their earthworks. They were out of water, and suffered terribly. At night, when they were able to creep away under the veil of dark- ness, they left 97 of their number stark and stiff. This is the position that Warren's brigade escaped being placed in, by a mere chance, as the order of march was right in front ; Warren's brigade held the left of the division.
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Battle of Fredericksburg.
On the third day, Monday, the 15th, the condition of affairs looked ominous of evil, as the enemy were advancing their rifle-pits nearer the city every night, and the troops were being hemmed within its limits; the bullets were continually flying up the streets of the city ; there was no commanding position for the artillery, and in "the front" death stared them in the face, and the wide Rappahannock flowed in their rear between them and a place of refuge. If the enemy, regard- less of the many women and children who remained in the city hiding in the cellars of the houses, should shell the place from the fortified heights commanding it, on which were posted two hundred pieces of artillery, a panic would prob- ably ensue among the troops massed in the city, which in- cluded the greater part of Burnside's forces, and the army would be lost, and possibly the cause for which they were fighting.
It is now a matter of history that Stonewall Jackson pro- posed to General Lee to bombard the city at night, and then in the midst of the confusion that would naturally ensue, to steal down and attack with he bayonet.
General Franklin gained a mile on the left the first day, but was then checked, and could not advance any further. It was rumored that General Burnside proposed to storm the works en masse with the 9th army corps in advance, but was overruled by the other officers. It might possibly have resulted in a temporary success at a terrible sacrifice of men, but what would follow? A great many charges had been made the first day, but to no purpose except to sacrifice men. The dead strewed the field ; a whole brigade of them in num- ber could be seen lying on the slopes of the hills ; it was sure destruction to face the Confederate batteries, and many of the wounded were left to die a lingering death between the lines, the enemy shooting any who ventured to bring them off. No trice was asked or granted.
At this time every man's heart had failed; officers and
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men felt alike ; they tried to laugh and joke and cheer each other as usual, but it was plain to be seen that they all felt the serious position in which they were placed, and the men looked at one another with compressed lips, but spoke not ; the language of the soul was impressive; in their counte- nances was written "forlorn hope."
It was apparent to the most simple that General Burn- side's army had been drawn into a death-trap ; they all knew and felt it, and wondered why they were idly kept there without an effort being made to escape or to change the mode of attack. The suspense was worse than death itself; it was lingering torture ; and all felt as a man can be im- agined to feel the night before his execution. The army had been driven to the sacrifice to satisfy the demands of the Northern press to " do something." It had been robbed of its experienced commanders by political advisers and cliques in Washington, and here was the natural result-disastrous failure. The General should not be blamed, as the com- mand of the army was forced upon him, and he did the best he could with it under the circumstances. That which had been looked upon by the people of the North as so much gasconade in the Richmond papers, was being fulfilled to the letter. This was the sentiment of the soldiers at the time, and it has not been changed by any subsequent develop- ments.
On the night of the 15th the regiment fell in very myste- riously, and was marched toward the front, down a street leading by the outskirts of the city. After some delay they were finally marched into a large grave-yard, with orders to keep very quiet ; all the orders were given in an undertone. Here the inen laid down for two hours among the graves of the departed ; pieces of pork and hard-tack were lying about on the grave-stones, and all those who were hungry had a chance to satisfy their appetites. But no one was very hun- gry at that time ; in fact, quail on toast would have been
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no inducement whatever, everything looked so mysterious. One of the men came to the conclusion that they were on a hunt for the bones of Washington. It was an aristocratic- looking grave-yard.
They were then marched into another grave-yard nearer the front. The men looked at one another and then at the Colonel, tapped their foreheads and nodded at each other knowingly. Finally they were marched directly to the front -all the orders being given in a whisper-and halted near the borders of the canal. A part of the Fifth and the 146th Regiments, aided by the regulars, dug rifle-pits and built bar- ricades across the streets of the city, so that the enemy's ar- tillery could not follow in their final retreat in the morning. They were very near the enemy, worked with a will, and succeeded in throwing up a line of intrenchments along their whole front, which it appears completely deceived the enemy in the morning as to the plans of General Burnside and the movements of the army during the night. General Warren, who had command at the front, worked indefatiga- bly all night, both mentally and physically, as he always did, and it seemed as if he was at all points at the same time ; everything, even the slightest details, came under his eye and supervision. Company A, under the command of Cap- tain Whitney, was sent across the canal as an outer picket, and crept out to an old tannery very close to the enemy, who were also digging. They could hear them talking, and some of their pickets were on the other side of the tannery ; one of thein was heard to say he believed the " Yanks" were near. The wind was blowing quite a gale from the south and west, and therefore the enemy could be heard, but our men were not; and as the night was dark and cloudy, both sides were shielded from observation.
Company I, under the command of Captain Montgomery, was also sent out to the front, further to the left, near the enemy ; they dug " fox holes" to cover themselves. The
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positions of these two companies were very dangerous ; they talked in whispers when it was necessary to speak, and their . eyes and ears were strained to the closest attention, so that not a footfall should escape detection. They were so close to the enemy that they could hear their conversation. Their orders were not to be taken prisoners or surprised on any account. As soon as the work on the trenches was finished they were occupied by eight companies of the Fifth. An earthwork to cover a battery of artillery was thrown up in the rear of them. Toward morning the men were ordered, in an undertone, by companies, to sling knapsacks ; an oc- casional twang was heard, accompanied by a flash, which was followed by the sound of a rifle-ball hissing near, which told the men that the Confederates were wide awake. The battery in the rear moved off with muffled wheels, and it now flashed upon the minds of the knowing ones for the first time that the army was retreating across the river, and that the regiment were to cover the retreat and would be the last to leave.
At this time it commenced to rain in torrents, which filled the rifle-pits ; and the men stood in mud and icy water up to their knees ; the water ran down their backs and chilled them through and made their teeth chatter. The gray light of the morning was straggling upon them, and before long they would be discovered, and the fire of the enemy's heavy guns and riflemen would be concentrated upon them. Offi- cers and men would have given all they possessed to be out of that position, but there was no escape until further orders, and they knew it. They would have fought to the last man. In times of danger the brief and stern orders were the more impressive.
Their salvation depended on keeping up a bold and steady front. It was much more trying than an active engagement with the enemy. They knew that all the army had fallen back to the other side of the river, and that their
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small regiment stocd alone out on the plain, facing, at close quarters, the whole Confederate host, with the batteries on the heights frowning down upon thein, and that if they were attacked they could expect no succor excepting from the Ist brigade of regulars under Colonel Buchanan, who were drawn up near the pontoon bridge, when all would have been obliged to sell their lives as dearly as possible. It was fully expected, from the very nature of the undertaking, that a number were to be sacrificed ; and who of the number was it to be ?
About an hour and a half before daylight, the companies on picket crept back and joined the regiment. They were moments of terrible suspense. They could now see the Con- federate works looming up on the heights in the distance, and a company at a time were ordered to crawl away to the cover of a large store-house, about two hundred yards nearer the city. At this point, almost all the regiment were soon assembled ; the enemy's bullets were whizzing about, one of which struck the brick wall, grazing the head of Col- onel Winslow. Two companies, A and E, were left behind in the pits to keep up a fire as if they were fully occupied. It was now light, and the enemy were firing at the men in the pits, who returned the fire.
The regiment was drawn up in line behind the wall of a grave-yard, and across the end of a street that led into the city. They were joined by the few men left behind in the pits, at a few minutes past seven A.M. The two other regi- ments of the brigade had been sent across the river two hours before, and the old 5th New York Volunteers was the last to leave the front. A few battalions of regulars hid been drawn up on the edge of the city, further to the right, to make a show of force to the enemy ; but they had been ordered to retire and rejoin the ist brigade near the river.
The officers and men were becoming anxious for General Warren, who was sitting on his horse, perfectly cool and col-
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lected, on the right of the regiment to give the signal to move off. The Confederate officers could be plainly seen riding from one fort to another, as if making observations as to the situation of affairs. Lines of troops were beginning to form, and their skirmishers were advancing. The suspense was now very great ; but still Warren sat on his horse and gave no sign. At length Adjutant Marvin approached, and in a moment the welcome order was heard-" By the right flank ; forward ! march !"
Never was order obeyed with more alacrity. Though the danger was not yet over, the spell was broken ; the regiment was moving, and the men would soon know their fate, and were ready to meet it. They expected that the enemy would be upon them like wolves after their prey, and they would be obliged to fight their way through the city and across the river, and that most of them would probably be sacrificed.
They were marching briskly along, being saluted by the gibes of some women, from a house, when they met Major Cutting, of General Sykes' staff, who had been sent to see why the regiment did not make its appearance at the bridge. As soon as they crossed over a little hill in the street, which hid them from the sight of the enemy, the order was given, " Double - quick." They passed by the Ist brigade, drawn up in a street, who immediately followed on in the rear, and the head of the column soon reached the only pontoon bridge remaining, which was covered with earth and straw to prevent the tramping of the retreating troops, during the previous night, being heard by the enemy, and crossed over it as quickly as possible. General Sykes sat on his horse at the approach to the bridge, looking as calm as if on parade. The engineer corps were stationed at intervals on the pontoons, ready to cast them loose, which was done as the last man stepped on the other side of the river. This was about half-past seven o'clock on the morn-
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ing of Tuesday, the 16th. The enemy had now opened with their artillery, and the shell began to fly ; but the Confeder- ates had been outwitted. The men shook hands with a feeling of relief and exhilaration at their safe escape.
Under the circumstances, the retreat, in all its details, was one of the most adroit and successful military events that had occurred during the war, and the credit is due to General Warren. Officers and men were very well satisfied that they had been delivered from the terrible ordeal that threatened the remainder of the army.
The regiment went into bivouac near Falmouth, on the same ground that they had occupied seven days before; and here was this much-abused army again at rest, having gained nothing and lost about eleven thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing. While, on the other hand, the Con- federates, in a late report, stated their loss to be four hun- dred and fifty-eight in killed, and three thousand seven hun- dred and forty-three wounded; but among the killed were recorded the names of Generals Howell Cobb and Maxcy Gregg, the latter our opponent at Gaines' Mill.
The last act of the drama remained to be performed-to bury the dead. A detachment was sent over the river for this purpose under a flag of truce. On the battle-field was an immense building, used to store ice; in this structure were placed nine hundred bodies found in the vicinity of the stone wall and sunken road. Over them were packed tons of ice, and they were left to dissolution in one immense tomb. They had died together, and were not separated in their last sleep. The dead found in the other parts of the field were buried where they fell. Only two incidents of the vast number of interesting facts of this remarkable siege are here mentioned.
Charles II. Wilson. a member of Company G. was very badly wounded ; a ball went through his mouth, dashing ont all his double teeth, and disfiguring him for life; he was
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conveyed to a hospital, and given up as a hopeless case by the surgeon. He heard him give directions to one of the attendants to lay him aside for dissection, but strange to say he recovered. He was only nineteen years of age; a younger brother enlisted with him in the regiment, and yet another was in the service and badly wounded in the knee at Antietam.
The two wounded brothers, when they were able to be moved, were taken to the home of a widowed mother and kindly cared for. These young patriots had been her main support, and left good situations to serve their country.
A soldier of the regular infantry, whose third term of service (five years each) was about to expire, had permission, as is customary, to remain in the rear with the wagon-train ; but when he saw his brigade moving toward the scene of the battle he dashed off and joined them, making the remark to his comrades that he would have another "shy" at them, meaning the enemy. It was his last battle ; this true soldier was honorably mustered out of the service by death on the battle-field.
On Wednesday, the 17th, the regiment marched three miles, and encamped near Henry House, on our old camp- ground. The 18th was a clear, cold day, but the weather moderated, and on the 19th was warm and pleasant. In the morning we had a brigade inspection ; in the afternoon a drill. At evening parade the general order of our com- mander was read off. The precise facts as to the covering of the retreat at Fredericksburg have never been published within the knowledge of the writer. The credit was given by one correspondent to Butterfield's brigade, and several regiments that left the city an hour or more before the movement of the regulars and the Fifth have claimed the honor. The official order of General Sykes should remove all doubt on this point. It was as follows :
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HEADQUARTERS 2D DIVISION, 5TH ARMY CORPS, CAMP NEAR HENRY HOUSE, VA., December 18, 1862. -
GENERAL ORDER, NO. 49.
The General commanding desires to express his thanks to the officers and enlisted men of the division for the cheerfulness, endurance, and valor they have exhibited in the recent operations around the city of Fredericksburg. Though not called on to share in the direct assault upon the enemy's intrenchments, the position assigned them was one of equal peril, and was held un- der circumstances that tax the best qualities of a soldier-pa- tience, discipline, and courage. The Ist brigade and the 5th New York Volunteers (3d brigade) had the honor to cover the withdrawal of the troops from Fredericksburg. This manœuvre was accomplished without loss or disaster of any kind, and with skill, celerity, and boldness. The General trusts and believes that the soldiers he has the honor to command will be character- ized always by the same devotion to duty, and the same earnest desire to preserve the reputation they have so justly acquired while belonging to the Army of the Potomac.
By command of
Dec. 18, 1862. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SYKES.
Official :
GEORGE RYAN, A. A. G.
A. S. MARVIN, JR., A. A. General.
The following magnanimous avowal and noble tribute to the army of the living and the dead is expressed in General Burnside's report :
"To the brave officers and soldiers who accomplished the feat of thus recrossing the river in the face of the enemy, I owc everything.
" For the failure in the attack I am responsible, as the extreme gallantry, courage, and endurance shown by them was never ex- ceeded, and would have carried the points had it been possible.
"To the families and friends of the dead I can only offer my heartfelt sympathies, but for the wounded I can offer my earnest prayers for their comfortable and final recovery."
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Thursday, December 25th, Christmas Day, divine serv- ice was held in the open air. Six days' rations were dis- tributed, and the men were treated to a dinner of boiled beans and pork ; an allowance of whisky was distributed. A brigade provost was established, to have their quarters near General Warren's tent. Lieutenant Meldrum, of the Fifth, was assigned to the command.
On Monday, the 29th, the brigade was formed in line of battle at To A.M., and laid under arms for an hour. We heard heavy firing at the front, but the command were not wanted. It was ascertained that Stuart's cavalry had made a dash on our pickets.
CHAPTER XV.
BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE-OUR LAST STRUG- GLE.
THE NEW YEAR-THE SITUATION-DEATH OF CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT-MORTALITY -DESERTIONS-THE DISLOYAL PRESS OF THE NORTH-THE SOLDIER'S SENTI- MENT-AN ARMY OF WATER-CARRIERS-THE MUD MARCH-RESIGNATION OF GENERAL BURNSIDE - GENERAL HOOKER IN COMMAND-PICKETED IN ICE- A DEATH IN HOSPITAL-A SUICIDE-GENERAL WARREN PROMOTED-A DE- SERTED MANSION - PROVOST GUARD - DEATH OF NICHOLAS HOYT-BETTER SUPPLIES-A SQUARE MEAL-CAVALRY SKIRMISH-ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN THE NINTH MASSACHUSETTS - CAVALRY FIGHT ~ A SPY-A SMOKY CHIMNEY-A CRIPPLED SHOEMAKER ON JEFF DAVIS - ANNIHILATING THE MEN OF THE SOUTH - A REVIEW - HYBERNATING UNDER GROUND-EASTER-REVIEW BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN-THE TWO YEARS' MEN-GROWLING-REVIEW BY GENS. TOGLIARDI AND MEADE-AN EXILODED SHELL-THE TIME FIXED-KELLY'S FORD-ELY'S FORD-APPROACHING FREDERICKSBURG-BATTLE OF CHANCEL- LORSVILLE-EIGHTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY-THE ENEMY REPULSED-JACK. SON'S ATTACK ON HOWARD-SICKLES-SLOCUM-FRENCH !- CHANCELLOR HOUSE BURNT-WOODS ON FIRE-THE TWO YEARS' MEN RELIEVED-PARTING WITH OLD COMRADES-AQUIA CREEK - HOSPITALITY OF THE 2IST NEW YORK- WASHINGTON - BALTIMORE-PHILADELPHIA-JERSEY CITY-NEW YORK-OUR RECEPTION-NEW YORK Times-THE FOURTH REGIMENT-MUSTERED OUT- IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE.
THE year 1862 passed into the shadows, " with the years beyond the flood," with a decimated army waiting for reor- ganization, and its thousands of invalided and wounded men lying in hospitals, some with shattered constitutions, some mangled or dismembered, some to recover and rejoin their comrades, and many to lie down in a soil rendered " sacred " by the blood of tens of thousands of freemen, poured out in a contest for power by the advocates of the demoniac system of American Slavery. The masses of the Southern people, the industrial and the non-slaveholding whites, who were trained in an atmosphere of political doctrines which for a generation had been antagonistic to the Union, and
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whose means of information were limited to the local press or the local partisan, were in heart and sympathy attached to the Union. But their feelings had become bitterly aroused against the North by the falsehoods of their leaders, who, with a sublime hypocrisy, professed to be the only true exponents of democratic ideas, governed and owned in fee simple " the Democratic Party," and led the great body of the working classes both North and South in their political opinions.
The commercial and political value of slavery, as a factor in the public and private interests of these men, the " aristoc- racy" of the slave-whip, and the oligarchs of social and political circles, made these classes supreme, and the majority had no alternative but to submit. Majorities were tolerable to these imperialists so long as they were convertible to their ends. But when majorities differed with them, they scorned " Democracy," revolted against the Union, whose rule they had so long boasted, and sought to crush Union and genuine Democracy in blood.
One of their severest blows had just been struck at the power of free institutions to maintain themselves by the de- votion of the volunteers on behalf of freedom, and we were just crossing the bloody ford of another year of war ; our pontoon was lifted behind us, and although scarred and mutilated, before us was the future, and we knew that in the blaze of the nineteenth century, our country would not give the lie to the hopes of the world in its aspirations after liberty. It was a contest for the coming centuries and for generations unborn. Let the armor be girded on anew.
The sentiment which, amid all the disasters, underlaid the loyal heart, was well expressed by one of our patriotic writers a short time before in the closing stanza of a poem en- titled "The Republic" : *
* William Oland Bourne, Editor of The Soldier's Friend.
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Camp ncar Henry House.
" O toiling millions on the Old World's shore !
Look up, rejoicing, for she is not dead ! The soul is living as it lived before,
When sainted heroes spurned the tyrant's tread ; The strife is earnest and the day wears on,
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