USA > New York > Cayuga in the field : a record of the 19th N. Y. Volunteers, all the batteries of the 3d New York Artillery, and 75th New York Volunteers > Part 10
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· On the 20th of March, Gen. Wadsworth ordered Col. Ledlie to hold himself in readiness to move at an hour's notice. The order was promulgated in camp and the regiment learnt with considerable interest that it had been ordered into the field, its remarkable progress toward proficiency in the service of artillery and its fine and large personnel having caught the attention of Government. On the 22d the regiment drew new light artillery uniforms, and made a splendid appearance next day on dress
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ORDERS TO MARCH.
parade, when Secretary Seward was present to witness it. The Secretary took the greatest pride and interest in the sight, and the memories of Hyattstown and Muddy Branch, which had lingered there with pain, forever faded from his mind. Next day the regiment received from the army prisons some fourteen deserters who had received their pardons on the intercession of the Secretary.
That same day, the 24th, Col. Ledlie received marching orders. It had been determined to send the 3d New York to Burnside. ' This gallant General was about the only commander at that date, in the spring of 1862, who was meeting with bril- liant successes. . He stood in urgent need of reinforcements to carry on the operations of his department, especially requiring a light artillery regiment, and while commandants of many or- ganizations sought to enter the service of this victorious and popular chief, the Government selected at first only four, and one of them was the 3d New York.
On the 25th of March, the regiment broke camp on Arlington Heights and wended its way to Washington. Passing the noble- hearted Secretary of State on a side street, the men rent the air with deafening cheers in his honor. Getting aboard a freight train after some delay, they finally made a start and arrived in Annapolis at daylight. on the 26th. They formed column on de- barking and proceeded to the Navy Yard, where they were quar- tered for two days. The men were kept well together, a line of sentinels preventing egress from the yard, except to a favored few, who were allowed to visit the capital on errands of curiosity and purveyance.
Gen. Dix, commanding in this department, issued the follow- ing order on the 27th :
"Col. T. C. Amory, 17th Massachusetts, will take command of the 3d New York Artillery, 2d Maryland, 17th Massachusetts and 103d New York, now embarked in this city, or at Annapolis, and proceed to Hatteras Inlet, where lighters will be ready to take them over the inner bar and orders will meet them. It is desirable that the transports keep together."
About noon on the 28th, the men were conveyed aboard the steamer Fulton that lay in the Patuxent, a huge, black steamer of the Cunard or some one of the coast lines, which afterwards became well known all along the coast and among blockading squadrons and was a favorite ocean transport. Her capacity was very great, but the present occasion tested it severely, for not only were the whole 1,300 artillery men stowed away in her roomy interior, but also several companies of the 103d New
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
York and seven hundred horses. She took them all in quite comfortably. The 17th Massachusetts embarked on the Star of the South. The others, on the Ericson and Marion.
Dropping down into the Chesapeake, about 2 P. M. of the . 29th, the fleet steamed down the noble bay. The water was alive with magnificent vessels, and stately frigates, saucy gunboats and crafts of all sorts were passed on the way. By night fall, the fleet was stretching its course out upon the ocean. Once out of sight of land, the heaving of the ocean produced a la- mentable effect upon the land men, and the bulwarks of the Fulton were lined on both sides, from stem to stern, with the sickest lot of men in the experience of the 3d Artillery. Land hove in sight again on the 30th, and at 10 P. M., after a wet, cold, slippery day, the Fulton dropped anchor within a few miles of shore, off Hatteras Inlet, the fort guarded entrance to Pamlico Sound. Burnside's fleet was to be dimly descried inside the bar, while a noble steamer, the City of New York lay stranded on the sand spit south of the Inlet.
Weighing anchor on the morning of the 31st, the Fulton steamed in close to the bar, when the troops were transferred by the little gunboat Sentinel and other vessels to transports inside the bar. Here they waited till nearly the middle of the after- noon, while the men thronged the sides of the transports and eagerly scrutinized and commented upon the monotonous scenery of the sand spits, the forts Hatteras and Clark on either side of the channel, the thousands of gulls and the various vessels in the fleet. At length, the fleet turned its prows down the broad Sound, and about 4 o'clock reached the mouth of the river Neuse. Following the course of Burnside and Goldsborough, a fortnight previous, in the expedition which resulted in the cap- ture of Newbern and the forts, the fleet slowly ascended the river. The current was wide, but shallow, characteristic of all North Carolina rivers for nearly a hundred miles inland from the coast. Gloomy forests of pine covered the banks to the water's edge with scarce an opening, indicating the existence of those tangled and trackless swamps that are a feature of the coast region of this State.
About sunset, the fleet approached the crowded wharves of the city of Newbern, lying at the point of land at the confluence of the rivers Neuse and Trent.
The regiment did not go ashore till April 2d, when, being by Burnside's order attached to the Ist division of his army, Gen. John G. Foster commanding, it went ashore, landing on a wharf at the lower end of the city, near where the celebrated rebel cotton bale battery stood.
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IN NEWBERN.
Stacking muskets and knapsacks, until all were ashore, it then formed into line and was escorted by the 24th Massachusetts Volunteers through the city to the western suburb. Camp was pitched in a large field opposite to and near a large asylum for children.
The arrival of the new troops created a general stir in the army, and was mentioned by the Newbern Progress, a newspa- per printed by the Massachusetts volunteers. This paper men- tioned another important event in the same connection. Its paragraph on the subject was as follows :-
"NEWBERN, N. C., April 5, 1862.
Large reinforcements have arrived for this department, and on Wednesday and Thursday the streets were alive with regi- ments marching through to occupy the camps assigned them. Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania contribute troops, and Maryland sends her loyal sons to fight against the foul re- bellion that sought to draw her in.
How nobly New York has responded to the Government's call for volunteers may be seen from the fact that among the regi- ments she has sent here is the 103d, and this, we understand, is not by any means the highest in the number.
The 3d Artillery, which, under the act of Congress changing the organization of the army, has been raised to 1,300 men, also arrived, and was noticeable from its admirable appearance and discipline.
'The division has been raised to a corps d'armee by these rein- forcements, and the army will read with interest the following extract from general orders :-
GENERAL ORDERS-NO. 23. DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, NEWBERN, April 2, 1862. *
I. The corps d'armee now in occupation of this department will at once be organized into three divisions, to be commanded, according to seniority of rank, as follows :---
First division by Acting Maj .- Gen. Foster.
Second division by Acting Maj .- Gen. Reno.
Third division by Acting Maj .- Gen. Parke. * * By command of Maj .- Gen, BURNSIDE. LEWIS RICHMOND, Assistant Adjt .- Gen."
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
VI.
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AT NEWBERN.
Burnside's Coast Division-North Carolina's Value to the Confederacy-Arrival : of the 3d Artillery-Newbern-Fortifying-Details for Special Service- Schenck's Scout-Fort Totten-The 3d New York bringing up the Guns- Mounting the Light Batteries-An Explosion-A Grand Incursion Afoot- Burnside Called Away-Stewart, Chief-Engineer-The Defenses-How Pay- masters Paid the Contrabands-The Health of the Regiment.
In the latter part of 1861, Gen. Burnside, who was in com- mand of the provisional brigades into which new troops were formed in the city of Washington, had frequent consultations with Gen. McClellan about the blockade of the Potomac and the Southern coast. He proposed to raise a division, composed of 10,000 men, as many of them as possible familiar with the sea, and equip them with light draught steamers, surf boats, and sailing vessels, which could move quickly from one port to another and operate against the enemy. The larger vessels were to be armed with heavy guns to overcome opposition on the coast without waiting for iron-clad gunboats, and to be well supplied with launches and all the facilities for landing troops. All vessels to be of the lightest draft, so as to navigate the shallow rivers . of North Carolina and the inlets of the Chesa- peake, Potomac, and James. Burnside's plans being approved, he raised three brigades, commanded by Gens. Reno, Parke, and Foster, respectively, comprising 11,500 men, and obtained
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BURNSIDE'S DELIGHT WITH THE REGIMENT.
a large fleet of North river ferry boats, light draught steamers, schooners, &c.
Upon reporting to the President that his Coast Division, as it was called, was organized and ready for action, he received orders to proceed at once to North Carolina and strike and cripple the rebellion there to the extent of his power. It was intended that his movement should have an important bearing on a nearly simultaneous movement of the grand Army of the Potomac, in Virginia, under Mcclellan, and by cutting the rail- roads that crossed North Carolina and connected Virginia with the far South, effect a diversion in McClellan's favor. He sailed at once. On February 8th he captured Roanoke Island, "the key to Norfolk," then held by a large force of rebels. March 14th, he captured Newbern, and during April and May follow- ing he carried the flag everywhere throughout the coast region of the State.
It may be remarked here, to show the value of a strong foot- ing for the Union army in North Carolina, that in military impor- tance this State was a battle field second only to Virginia. In fact, after Virginia seceded, the old North State became essen- tial to the very existence of the Confederacy. Had she not been forced into joining them . by terrorism, the rebels would have certainly conquered her. Across her territory ran the great Washington and Weldon Railroad, the route of the South- ern mail, "the jugular artery of the Confederacy," over which half of the supplies of the rebel army in Virginia were brought and which was the highway of travel for rebel troops. It was that and other railroads in the interior, and also her agricultural resources, that gave to North Carolina her military importance. Hence, the rebels fortified Wilmington, the southern terminus of the main road, with works of massive strength, to make sure the harbor for blockade runners to slip into, and erected other works on the main roads leading from the seaboard into the in- teriors and garrisoned them with abundant forces, to keep their precious Weldon line from being broken by incursions from the seaboard.
The arrival of the reinforcements of April 2d was most wel- come to Burnside, whose Coast Division was now much scatter- ed. In Newbern he had scarce 5,000 men, previous to the coming of the new troops. 3,500 men had been sent to occupy Beaufort and Morehead city and lay siege to Fort Macon, while large garrisons had been left at Roanoke Island and Hatteras Inlet. The reinforcements raised the main body of the division at Newbern to 8,500 men.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
Burnside took especial delight in the 3d New York Artillery. He had asked the Government to send him a competent artillery regiment, from which he might obtain material for reducing Fort Macon, garrisoning the fortifications of the department, and fit- ting out a force of flying or light artillery for service in the field. He visited the camp of the 3d New York upon its arrival and discovered the size and splendid discipline of the command with considerable exultation. He complimented Col. Ledlie highly thereupon.
As it was intended to preserve a permanent footing for the United States army in Newbern, being favorably situated as a base for offensive operations, Gen. Burnside made immediate preparations to fortify the city and place it in a condition to defy the most formidable assaults. It was a handsome town of eight thousand inhabitants and occupied the extreme point of the pe- ninsula formed by the confluence of the rivers Neuse and Trent. On the east and south, it was already protected by nature by the two rivers, which were here, though shallow, a mile and a half and three quarters of a mile in width. On the north and west, it was completely exposed. The locality was a level, sandy tract, with stagnant ponds scattered over the surface west of the city, and an extensive and impenetrable pine swamp a mile or two to the westward stretching a long distance into the interior. For many miles this tangled jungle and morass occupied nearly the whole extent of country between the two rivers, the only land firm enough to bear cultivation being along the banks of the rivers. It was down these tracts of comparatively dry land by the Neuse and Trent, that two wagon roads approached the town from the west, called respectively the Neuse and Trent roads, converging in the western suburb. Between them, and near the Neuse road, ran the railroad to Raleigh.
The plan of Burnside was to erect two or three substantial forts on the western side of the city, covering the wagon roads and railroad, and connect them in time, if necessary, with a line of breastworks and rifle pits running from river to river. One strong work had already been begun by the division engineers at the central point, or key, of the whole line, viz: between the Neuse and Trent roads, close to them both, a block's distance out of town, by the first of April. This work, with which the 3d Artillery afterwards had much to do, subsequently received the name of Fort Totten.
For a while the body of the regiment remained in camp, act- ing as heavy infantry, sending out an occasional scouting party, and waiting for the development of the plans of the General
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III
SCENES AT NEWBERN.
commanding, in regard to the disposition to be made of the sev- eral companies. The time was mainly employed in making the acquaintance of other regiments and of the locality. With a fellow regiment of Foster's brigade, the 3d New York boys formed at once a peculiarly intimate friendship, which lasted to the end of the war. This was the 9th New Jersey, Col. Hick- man commanding, one of the fighting regiments of the department, which, though then a battalion of about nine hundred men, suffered such losses during the war that, being recruited up from time to time, nearly 5,000 men served in its ranks before its final muster out. As to the locality, it secured for a while a very large share of attention, being so different in many respects from the scenery in the State of New York. The country was flat and level, and diversified with immense pine forests, instead of hills and almost limitless areas of swamps instead of vales. Heavy forests bounded the horizon in every direction. At night, for miles around, the sky would be illumi- nated by extensive fires burning in them amongst the litter, as the exhausted turpentine trees and low shrubbery were called. The rivers, wide and shallow, having scarce a perceptible cur- rent, rising and falling with the prevailing winds, were daily the scenes of great activity, and excited great interest. They
swarmed with sailing vessels, steamers, and ferry boats of every build, color and description, all the larger ones provided with heavy guns for offense and defense. The railroad bridge over the Trent, 1,900 feet long, burnt by the rebels on their evacua- tion in March, was also one of the curiosities to be visited, and those who had passes were sure to go down and see it.
The first detail from the regiment for active service was the sending of one company to participate in the siege of Fort Ma- con. Learning that, by Gen. Burnside's order, one would be sent, Capt. Ammon, of Battery I, repaired to Col. Ledlie's head- quarters, and begged that he might be selected for the service. His eagerness amused the Colonel, for the Captain was, physi- cally, the smallest line officer in the regiment, and might have been pardoned if he had seemed less anxious. to enter the fray. " Why, you little cuss," said Ledlie, "what do you want to go to Fort Macon for? Why, you'll get killed." The Captain re- sponded he expected to be off on leave of absence before long, and proposed to carry home with him some substantial honors. Seeing that he was determined, the orders for his march to Macon were finally prepared, and on the 10th of April the little steamer Alice Price bore him and his gallant company away.
Another chapter will relate their adventures. For the present
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
it is proposed to confine attention, for convenience sake, to a general view of the services and experiences of the regiment at Newbern for the year.
During April, the rebels lingered in close proximity to New- bern in some force, their movements being reported to our com- manding officers, from time to time, by negroes. Information having been brought in of a cavalry picket which took stations every day on Swift's creek, ten miles above the city, north of the Neuse, Capt. Schenck went out with Companies E, A and G to capture it. A North river ferry boat carried them up the river. Landing, the men found a rebel masked battery, the guns of which they dismounted. A negro guided them through · swamps and fields nearly eight miles to the picket post. They surrounded the house. But the cavalry mounted and dashed right through our thin line, three being unhorsed by our fire and one captured. After a hard day's work, the party reached New- bern again late at night.
The second detail from the regiment for special service was that of Capt. Ashcroft's company, a battery, (the technical name for a company of artillery.) By Gen. Foster's order, the ordnance department supplied the company with two iron field pieces, captured from the rebels, and on the 10th, the same day that Ammon sailed, it went out with the 23d Massachusetts Volunteers to guard the railroad bridge over Bachelor's creek, nine miles northwest of the city. It took its tents and baggage and encamped at the outpost, remaining there several weeks. Battery C was the first of the regiment that received light can- non, and it made the most of them by drilling daily in the light artillery tactics.
About the middle of April, the regiment changed camp and went out into the plain west of the city, which was dotted with the snowy canvas of the rest of Foster's brigade. The regiment camped between the Neuse and Trent roads, a short distance in rear of Fort Totten. Several companies now lent themselves energetically to the work of completing this Fort and mounting its guns. C, D and G had already been detailed for this pur- pose, but C having gone off on special service, K supplied its place, while at various times A, E and M performed a share of the work of getting the guns up to the Fort and into position. D, G and K encamped in the Fort in May by order of Col. Led- lie and became the garrison of the work.
Fort Totten was originally begun under the superintendency of Capt. Williamson of the Topographical Engineers, the chief engineer of Burnside's expedition. When the 3d New York
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FORT TOTTEN.
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reached Newbern, only its western parapet, the one toward the enemy, had been put under way. On this several hundred liberated negroes, anxious to do something for Uncle Sam, were lustily plying pick and shovel. The earth being of a sandy nature and readily worked, by the first of May the fort was in a state of defense. Its massive parapet was up all around, eight feet high and from twelve to fifteen thick, enclosing a pentago- nal area of seven acres. Though rough and uncouth, showing little of the fine finish and few of the well turned, natty angles afterwards put on them, the walls were quite compact and solid and would have done good service in case of attack.
The armament of the fort came from the rebel forts and bat- teries on the right bank of the river Neuse below the city, where, on March 14th, as part of the spoils of the battle, Burnside had captured enough cannon to make-with those found on the field and in the city-sixty-nine in all. A's there was no longer any use for these river batteries, our Navy being competent to keep the river open, their guns were taken out and brought to Newbern and twenty-eight of them placed in Fort Totten. Most of these latter were naval guns, 32-pounders, captured by the rebels at Norfolk in 1861. Some, however, were 64-pound columbiads. Two were 100 pounders. They were brought up to Newbern by detachments from the 3d Artillery. One working party of twenty men from Battery. A, under Lieut. Tomlison, took up quarters near the principal rebel battery, known as Fort Thompson, and spent several weeks there in the work. Getting the guns out they slid them down the bank and loaded them on scows and schooners. The task involved an immense amount of labor-the lightest of the huge pieces weighing at least 5,000 pounds, the larger ones weighing 9,000 and over-but was accomplished with such alacrity as to elicit the encomiums of the commanding officers. The spikes, nails and files, which the rebels had driven into the fuse holes of all the cannons, were removed by the ingenious and skillful master-mechanic, Sidney W. Palmer, of Battery G. Many of the guns had been left loaded and the charges had to be extracted accordingly before they could be moved. One heavy gun was emptied by firing it off. The detonation was terrific, for it had been loaded with two shells and a solid shot. The roar of the gun, followed im- mediately by the successive explosion of the shells over the water was heard at Newbern, where it created for the moment a decid- ed sensation. Our officers were expecting an attack at that time and thought it had come. Drums beat in some of the camps and troops were put under arms until the truth was discovered.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
Large detachments from Battery E under Capt. Schenck, Battery D under Lieuts. Boyle and Brannick, Battery M under Capt. White ,and other companies, also, aided largely in this work. Lieut. Boyle, by order of the authorities, blew up some of the cannon that were too heavy to be quickly removed. A heavy charge of powder being put into them, they were rammed full of sand to the muzzle, and then exploded with an electric spark. .
The armament of Totten was all placed in position by June. In May various companies of the regiment began to receive their equipment as light artillery. Gen. Burnside only had one field battery at the time he captured Newbern, viz : Battery F, Ist Rhode Island, and was exceedingly anxious to have more, now that he had seen the fortifications of Newbern well under way, for he purposed to take the field at an early day. He ac- cordingly directed Col. Ledlie to mount a battalion or two of the 3d New York as fast as he could collect guns and horses therefor. In May the Colonel succeeded in obtaining some of the brass pieces taken from the rebels at Newbern battle, and gave two apiece of them to Battery B and Battery F, which im- mediately began the light artillery drill, under their respective able and energetic commanders, Capts. Morrison and Jenny. The full equipment of a field battery is six guns, with attendant limbers to support the trails of the guns while on the march, six caissons, a traveling forge, a baggage wagon ; and also a hun- dred horses, each gun, caisson and wagon being drawn by six horses, and a number of extra ones being required for officers and to supply the places of those disabled in battle. But Burn- side's supply of guns and teams was exceedingly limited, and the new light batteries were accordingly fitted out by slow degrees.
Early in May, Major Kennedy arrived at Newbern from the Army of the Potomac, having been promoted from the Captaincy of the Ist New York Battery, through the influence of Col. Led- lie, who needed a competent and thorough disciplinarian to whom he could entrust the training of the light battalion. He was assigned to duty May roth. He instituted regular drills, had a school for officers in his tent and devoted himself un- flaggingly to the work. Battery H having received a few guns joined the light batteries. The regiment was divided on June 5th into three battalions, the light batteries, B, F and H, being as- signed to the command of Major Kennedy ; C, D, G and M, heavy, to the command of Major Giles ; and A, E, I and K. heavy, to Major Stone.
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