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 16
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Before leaving this subject, an incident worthy of notice, oc- curring in Riggs's Battery, on the march to Washington, may be related. The section under command of Lieut. Mercer, had halted for dinner. Over a hastily built camp fire, water was soon boiling for the coffee. One of the men, stepping to the limber chest, took out the coffee bag and emptied its contents into the kettle, and then rolling up the bag replaced it in the chest. Corporal Smith was sitting on the chest, which, by the way, contained fifty pounds of powder, when Ben Adams ap- proached and asked permission to look into the chest. This was against regulations, and was refused. But Ben was uneasy, and came back and said to the Corporal, "I must look in that chest." After some chaffing, he was allowed to. Upon raising the lid a cloud of smoke arose. The men, who stood around, forgetful of rations and everything but personal safety, fled in all directions. Ben, however, at the risk of his life, remained. The coffee bag was afire. Ben snatched it out, and threw it on the ground, exclaiming, "There, I knew something was the matter." He never could account for his desire to look into that chest. His presentiment came just in time, for in a few moments more the limber would have exploded, with disastrous consequences.
The time of the original members of the 3d Artillery, veterans of the 19th New York Volunteers, expired in the month of May,
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
1863. They were accordingly assembled at Newbern, to be sent home for muster out. Battery G came down from Washington May 8th. Detachments of E, I and K, at Port Royal, were brought up, and Battery H was relieved from duty in Fort Rowan, Newbern, and C and D from duty at Fort Totten. Separated from the rest of the regiment, they encamped apart, while their papers were being made out; on the 13th of May they turned out by themselves, with their old regimental colors, tattered and torn by service, and inscribed with regimental vic- tories, for an old 19th dress parade. A week later, Gen. Foster issued the following order :-
" HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, 18TH ARMY CORPS,
NEWBERN, May 20, 1863.
Special Orders, No. 144 :- The term of service of many of the 3d New York Artillery having expired, and they being about to leave the Department, the commanding General feels called upon to express his thanks to them for the past and his best wishes for the future. The commanding General hopes that, after a brief enjoyment of home, the memory of the brave deeds in which they have participated in this Department, and the memory of their friends left behind, will induce many or all of them, officers and men, to return again to the Department of North Carolina. There are few among the parting who cannot recall with pride the siege of Fort Macon, the affairs of Rawles Mills, and the actions of Kinston, Whitehall, Goldsboro, and Washington. The commanding General sympathizes with the companions and families of those brave men who have fallen and whose memory will ever remain recorded in the annals of this Department.
By command of .Maj .- Gen. J. G. FOSTER. SOUTHARD HOFFMAN, A. A. G."
The men sailed for home that same day in two steamers. Batteries E, H, I, K, M, and Breck's section of F, and two companies of the 8th Massachusetts Volunteers, with an im- mense throng of spectators escorted them to the wharf. They reached New York on the 23d, arriving in Auburn with Gen. Ledlie and Col. Stewart on the 26th, the detachment being as follows :-
Battery A-Capt. White, Lieuts. Tomlison and Potter, and 75 men.
Battery C-Lieut. Randolph, and 83 men.
Battery D-Capt. Gavigan, Lieuts. Boyle, Brannick and Dwyer, and 63 men.
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MUSTER OUT OF THE OLD 19TH MEN.
Battery E-Lieut. Dennis, and 80 men.
Battery G-Capt. Wall and Lieut. Thompson, and 56 men.
Battery I-78 men.
Battery K-Lieut. Havens, and 75 men.
Surgeon Dimon.
In all, 524,-all stalwart, manly looking fellows, bronzed like , Arabs and magnificently drilled.
Their arrival created an intense excitement in Auburn. A few days before, a public meeting had been called and a com- mittee of the very best citizens appointed to organize a recep- tion. The committee was-Jonas White, Jr., the Mayor, chair- man ; Wm. E. Beardsley, Theo. M. Pomeroy, Geo. W. Peck, S. Willard, M. D., Nelson Beardsley, E. P. Ross, J. N. Knapp, Chas. P. Wood, John H. Chedell, N. T. Stephens, Col. J. B. Richardson, Capt. Hubbard, C. Morgan, C. E. Barber, T. P. Case, D. P. Wallis, C. C. Dennis, C. H. Merriman, J. Ives Parsons, L. Briggs, M. D., Wm. Hills, Geo. J. Letchworth, Wm. Allen, Thomas Kirkpatrick, D. M. Osborne, Eli Gallup, W. S. Hawley, Kellogg Beach, C. S. Burtis, Chas. Standart, C. G. Briggs, L. H. Baldwin, L. L. Wilkinson, Wm. B. Woodin, Benj. B. Snow, Wm. Robinson, John Porter, M. S. Myers, Geo. Humphreys, John T. Baker, E. T. T. Martin, A. G. Beardsley.
Plans were laid for a grand reception ; but the battalion ar- rived before it was expected, and there was only time to marshal Capts. White's, Swift's, Rhodes's and Barber's military companies under Col. J. B. Richardson, Nos. 1, 3 and 4, fire companies and hook and ladder company to greet the returned heroes at the New York. Central Railroad depot and escort them to the Exchange Hotel on Genesee street, where J. N. Knapp, the Provost Marshal, made them an address, and a collation was provided for them. The city was hung with flags in their honor and the populace, proud of them beyond expression, thronged the streets. Two or three days afterwards, the battalion had a dress parade in front of the Court House and was addressed by Secretary Seward. The men were formally mustered out June 2d. They were paid off on the 6th.
Shortly after these events, the returned members of the 3d Artillery were unexpectedly called on, one day, to display their patriotic devotion to the country's welfare by special service in the city of New York. In that metropolis riots had broken out among the foreign born and ignorant classes of the populace in opposition to the conscription ordered by Government. The State happened to be stripped of serviceable troops, nearly everything that could be gleaned, volunteers and militia, having
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been sent to Pennsylvania to fight Gen. Lee at Gettysburg. In this emergency, on the 14th of July, Gov. Seymour called on Maj. Giles, then at Auburn, to get together the discharged vete- rans of the 3d Artillery, and report at once to Gen. Wool in New York city, for the public defense. Maj. Giles promptly repeated the call in Cayuga and Seneca counties, and the disbanded bat- talion as promptly responded, and began to assemble with alac- rity at Seneca Falls and elsewhere, for the purpose of going in a body to the metropolis. The danger, however, had passed before they could be organized. They were publicly thanked and allowed to return to their homes.
Nevertheless, the 3d Artillery was not without efficient repre- sentatives in New York during the riots, quite a delegation of its officers being in the city at the time on furlough. Gen. Wool immediately utilized them for the public defense, placing por- tions of his militia under their experienced and competent di- rection. Capt. Schenck received command of a battery of artillery, and did good service at the Atlantic docks and else- where, in overawing rioters and preventing the destruction of property and sacking of stores.
Capt. Howell was given command of some artillery of the 8th regiment, and used it on Wednesday, the 15th, in a manner that showed how little distinction existed in his patriotic view between rebels in the field and traitors at home. At daylight of the 15th, Gen. Dodge and Col. Mott with a body of infantry, and Capt. Howell and his guns, were sent to 32d street, where the mob was hanging colored men and breaking into and rob- bing houses and stores. When they arrived on the ground, three colored men had already been slain. The lifeless body of one, Col. Mott himself cut down with his sword. The act aroused the ferocity of the mob, who attacked the detachment with a rain of brick and stones, and, crowding up close, struck those within reach with clubs and slung shot. Col. Mott di- rected Capt. Howell to come into battery at the corner of 32d Street and 7th Avenue, which he did forthwith, while the infantry and cavalry charged the mob, and with thrust of bayonet and slash of sword drove it a long ways down the street. The rioters rallying again, Capt. Howell approached them alone and warned them to disperse or he would try the virtue of grape and can- nister. The caution was repeatedly given ; but the crowd lingered, and finally renewed the attack, making a rush to take our guns, prefacing the same with a tremendous volley of stones. Capt. Howell waved his sword and gave the signal to fire, and half a dozen rounds of cannister tore their way through the very
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RECRUITING THE REGIMENT.
heart of the assailing horde, checking its advance and facing it to the right about in panic terror. The street was cleared almost immediately, the mob leaving the road strewn with bleeding bodies. Nearly twenty expiated their folly and crime in bloody death in this attack, though, doubtless, some of those shot down were innocent parties drawn to the scene from motives of curi- . osity. The infantry now had easy work and made a large number prisoners.
Two days afterwards, Capt. Howell had a narrow escape from assassination for the part borne by him in this fight. While driving in his private carriage to headquarters, a group of a dozen or more of the rioters, spying his uniform, set up a shout of "There's the man who fired on us on Wednesday," and on the instant poured a shower of stones on the carriage, breaking the windows and panels. The rioters shouted to the driver to stop. Capt. Howell drew his revolver and told the driver to go on. Before that individual had recovered his wits enough to act, the crowd had increased to fifty. A stone now struck Capt. Howell's shoulder on an old wound, for a moment paralyzing the arm. The horses were then lashed into a gallop; the crowd ·was halted with five shots from the Captain's revolver ; and the carriage was soon beyond the reach of danger.
The withdrawal of the two years' men depleted the .3d Artillery to 889 men. In accordance with the orders of the War Department requiring the consolidation of the regiment to eight batteries, the remnants of Batteries A, C, D and G were transferred to E, K and'I on May 22d, leaving the constitution of the regiment as follows : Battery B, Capt. Ashcroft, 142 men ; Battery E, Capt. Schenck, 105 men ; Battery F, Capt. Taylor, 133 men ; Battery H, Capt. Riggs, 133 men ; Battery I, Capt. Ammon, 113 men ; Battery K, Capt. Angel, 125 men ; Battery M, Capt. Howell, 131 men ; Field and Staff, 7. In all, 889. The battery was L, Capt. Cowan, Ist New York Independent, in the Army of the Potomac. It was still carried along on the rolls at that time as a legitimate portion of the 3d Artillery, Col. Stewart having no authority as yet to drop it. But this history does not include it, or count it, with the 3d Artillery, as it was practically an independent command and was not under the orders of the commander of the 3d.
To bring the regiment back to its proper standard, Col. Stewart applied to Secretary Stanton for permission to recruit. Gen. Foster endorsed the request as follows :-
" I approve the within most cordially, because I believe it
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to be for the interest of the service. The 3d New York Artillery, which arrived here fully 1,700 strong, has been the body from which we have drawn the personale for all the excellent artillery light batteries we have formed in this department. When the original Burnside expedition landed, it had only a Rhode Island battery (Belger's.) But this excellent battery was the nucleus of the efficient batteries, nine in number, formed from the 3d New York Artillery. Notwithstanding a very large drain of its best material, made to assist the Department of the South in the attack on Charleston, we now have remaining several batteries which are now very efficient. But all the regiment is exhausted in mounting these batteries ; and now none are left, since so many more are to be mustered out, to man the forts. To sup- ply this want, at least in part, I earnestly recommend that the requisite authority be granted to fill up the regiment to the original standard."
The application was granted in the course of the summer. In September, Col. Stewart was enabled to go home and begin re- cruiting. He opened offices in Auburn, Utica, Geneva and other places and made the State ring with his calls for volunteers. In September, eighty-two recruits were obtained in consequence, and in October, 212. Among the latter was the new Battery C, Capt. Wm. E. Mercer, 160 strong. Further recruiting was then arrested temporarily by the efforts in New York State to raise a new regiment of Artillery, the 16th, by Capt. Morrison, Capt. Ammon, Lieut. Prince, and others of the 3d, by consent of Gov. Seymour. The 16th Artillery, by the way, was duly raised and was a splendid regiment. A great many of the men of the 3d mustered out in June went into it and many of the 3d's best line officers.
'The summer and fall of 1863, in North Carolina, were dis- tinguished by no hard battles. Several sharp cavalry raids on the Weldon railroad, however, took place, and various dashes at Kinston, Swansboro and other points were made by small expe- ditions. They were all successful and served to keep the enemy in constant alarm. Detachments of the 3d Artillery generally accompanied them. The raids on the railroad took place on July 3d and 18th. The first struck it at Warsaw. The second struck it at Rocky Mount Station, burning bridges, locomotives, cars and stores there, and, on the way back, burning rebel steamers at Tarboro. Lieut. Clark and his section went with this expedition, had several brushes and did good service, losing four wounded and one prisoner. Lieut. Mercereau went part way with it.
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FOSTER -- PECK.
July 18th, Foster assumed command of the joint Departments of Virginia and North Carolina and went to Fortress Monroe.
September 3d, Maj .- Gen. John J. Peck assumed command of the District of North Carolina by Foster's order.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
1
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BEFORE CHARLESTON.
Foster's Expedition to Charleston-The Artillery Brigade-Hunter Absorbs Foster's Troops-In camp on St. Helena-The Tent with the Barrel in it- Du Pont's Attack on Charleston-Batteries B and F on Folly Island-Re- turn of the other Batteries to Newbern-Capture of Morris Island-Siege of Fort Wagner-B and F on the Lines-Battery B and the Regulars-B Builds a Breastwork at Night-Capture of Wagner-B and F Bombard Sumter at Night-The Two Expeditions to John's Island-Incidents-The 3d Artillery Saves the Army-The Battle of Bloody Bridge.
Foster's expedition to Goldsboro in December, 1862, having seriously disturbed the enemy's communications in North Caro- lina, nearly isolated Wilmington from the North, and left it very much as Fort Macon was when Burnside took Newbern, Fos- ter proposed to take Wilmington, and, with the full consent and approval of the War Department, began to assemble his 18th Corps at Beaufort, as the first step towards making a dash at the earnestly coveted prize. While intent on this idea, he re- ceived orders from Washington, changing the objective point of his new expedition. The Monitor, which had been promised him to help in his expected attack on Wilmington, had foun- dered at sea, and no other iron clad could be spared him. He was directed, therefore, to go at once to South Carolina, and co-operate by land with Du Pont's iron clads, in an assault on Charleston. The project well suited his ambitious and ener- getic temperament, and as he happened to have been one of
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FOSTER'S EXPEDITIONS 10 CHARLESTON.
Sumter's garrison, as United States Engineer of the defenses of Charleston, when the rebels took it in 1861, the notion of aiding in its recapture was the more gratifying.
The force which now gathered at Beaufort, N. C., comprised 11,000 hard fighters, under the brave Brigadiers Naglee, Hick- man, Ferry, Stephenson and others. There was good material throughout in the corps, but its brightest ornament by far was a magnificent brigade of artillery, composed of thirteen batteries and parts of batteries, light and heavy, with forty guns, all under the command of Gen. Ledlie, Chief of Artillery of the 18th . Corps. The 3d Artillery was represented in the brigade by a large battalion, under command of Maj. Kennedy, of splendid appearance in the field, and, thanks to the Major's and their Captains' careful training, most thoroughly and scientifically drilled. A portion of it consisted of details from heavy bat- teries, which were designed to serve mortars in any siege opera- tions, and to garrison the numerous fortifications, the General confidently expected to capture. Its composition was as fol- lows : Battery B, 102 strong, Capt. Morrison, with six 12-pound Napoleons ; Battery F, 94 strong, Capt. Jenny, six 6-pound Wiards ; Battery I, 98 strong, Lieut. Thomas, six 12-pound Napoleons ; Battery A, 60 strong, Lieut. Laughlin, heavy, armed with rifles ; Battery C, 26 men, Lieut. Randolph, same ; Battery D, 25 men, Lieut. Brannick, same ; Battery E, 90 strong, Capt. Schenck, same. Having in all, 490 men, 22 cannon and 400 horses. All the companies took their camp equipage. Dr. Knight accompaied the battalion as Surgeon. Capt. Morrison was Assistant-Quartermaster on Ledlie's staff.
The expedition, assembling at Beaufort during the last days of January, was, by the 30th, snugly aboard a fleet of about fifty steamers and schooners, lying at anchor under the guns of Fort Macon. The light batteries of the artillery brigade each had two schooners, one for the men and guns, the other for the horses. Batteries A, C, D and E were on the steamer Spauld- ing under command of Capt. Schenck. This was Gen. Foster's headquarters' ship and flew a dark blue flag with a white castle . In the center to designate it as such.
The fleet sailed on January 31st. Up to this moment no one but the chiefs of the expedition knew its destination. There was intense curiosity on the subject, but no positive information, until the fleet had sailed forty miles down the coast. Each Captain of a vessel then opened the sealed orders which had been handed him on starting, and found it to direct him to ren- dezvous at Port Royal. The Spaulding reached Hilton Head,
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February 2d. The sailing vessels made slower time, the wind being light. February 2d was a gloriously clear and sunny day and the sunset one of unequalled magnificence. But at night, a gale sprang up and the schooners were widely scattered over the face of the ocean. Some of them got in to Hilton Head on the 3d, but of the rest some were out a week before they were able to make the port.
Port Royal is a splendid harbor, ten miles long by four wide, with luxuriantly verdant islands margined by wide sand beaches. on all sides. A noble fleet of iron clads, monitors, steamers . and ships lay at anchor on its bosom, their white sails, black hulls and strange shapes, and their innumerable flags and pen- nants, imparting to the scene a singular interest and beauty.
Gen. Foster reported verbally to Gen. Hunter, commander of the department, to whom the former's advent in his department is said to have been a great surprise. It was agreed that the 18th Corps should encamp for the present on St. Helena island, on the north side of the harbor. The infantry was debarked rapidly. The artillery went ashore on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, camping on the broad smooth beach at the extreme southern end of the island, near the Government dock, and within ten rods of the water's edge. The batteries camped in parallel rows, in Sibley tents, holding fifteen men each.
St. Helena, a long, level island, is covered with fine planta- tions and elegant mansions. Its soil produces the finest quality of the famous sea island cotton, and that was the chief crop raised by its residents before the war. When the 18th Corps arrived, however, the island was deserted, save by negroes, and its plantations neglected and overrun with weeds and quick- growing tropical vegetation.
Gen. Foster's stay in the Department of the South was short. On arriving at Port Royal, he called on Com. Du Pont to ar- range the details of a joint attack on Charleston. Du Pont was not ready, and Foster took a steamer to Fortress Monroe to get some siege guns for land batteries. He did not come back. Hunter disarranged the entire plan of his expedition by taking advantage of his absence and incorporating the whole detach- ment of 11.000 from the 18th Corps, as reinforcements. Fos- ter's principal officers protesting, Hunter ordered them out of the department, and they left. Gen. Ledlie left among the number. Deprived of some of his batteries by Hunter's order, he protested against it, without avail. He, therefore, applied to be ordered North, and obtained his request. He ploughed the wave for Newbern, March 15th.
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AT ST. HELENA.
Under the sunny skies of St. Helena, among palmettos and and moss-draped live oaks, the 3d Artillery idled away two long months, while Du Pont was getting his iron clads ready, and Hunter, with a powerful corps at his disposal, was doing noth- ing. One or two grand reviews took place on the island, and the burning of a negro settlement, the distant booming of heavy guns from our gun boats at Savannah or in the blockading squadrons off Charleston, created passing sensations. But, all things considered, it was very dull. Foraging in the orange groves, in the sweet potato patches, and among the flocks and herds of the inhabitants, was about the only entertainment. It was, of course, against orders. But Hunter starved the troops on St. Helena, and the sutlers in Robbers' Row, on Hilton Head, plundered them. What else were they to do? A great many found sport in trapping with snares the gaily-colored gros- becks that peopled the groves. Others had a passion for raking up clams and others from the bottom of the harbor, and sought recreation in so doing. But the ruling furore was for forbidden edibles and the excitement of getting them. It led the men into many exploits. . Bound to have something better than hard tack and salt pork, a diet that produced at one time a prevalence of scurvy in the artillery brigade, all who could escape beyond the limits of camp foraged largely. Two months' experience in this line endued some of the more enterprising spirits with a strength of cool impudence that no one could excel but a 10th Corps Quartermaster. . One of the many exploits related is told of Battery B. It took place in the camp of the Battery. The General had issued a barrel of commissary whiskey for the sick of B. The Captain placed it in the back part of his tent for safety. One day a certain clique were observed to be growing hilarious. Great was the mystification. No inquiries at first sufficed to discover where or how the potent liquid was obtained. At length the Orderly Sergeant found it out. It was noticed that among toasts offered on the sly among the men one was exceedingly popular and occasioned much covert merriment. "Here's to the tent with the barrel in it." Then the truth came out. One day a few of the men had taken one of the buckets from the guns. A picket went around in front of the Captain's tent. When the Captain dropped asleep, at a signal, a slit was made in the back of the tent. The barrel was tapped with a gimlet, and a pailful of its precious contents drawn off. The hole was plugged and the initiated gathered in an appointed tent to drink the health of their officers and the tent with a barrel in it.
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30 NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTII LERY.
On the Ist of April the troops at St. Helena, including the 3d Artillery, were ordered to embark for the long expected attack on Charleston. Camps were struck in a furore of enthusiasm. The fleet set sail April 3d. After a stormy passage, it rendez- voused in Stono Inlet, clustering behind the south end of Folly Island. A portion of the 3d Artillery, on the schooner Scout, did not get in till the 7th, having been driven by the storm down opposite to the coast of Florida.
On the 6th, the iron clads came up from the North Edisto, steamed slowly by the Stono, and collected off Morris Island, for the attack next day. The memorable assault was made by them on the afternoon of the 7th, and lasted three hours. The crashing of the heavy guns seemed to the fleet behind Folly Island like the unceasing muttered roll of the most awful thun- der. The troops were in intense excitement, and hung in the riggings of the transports, thick as bees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fight. They saw only the clouds of the thick, white smoke of battle rising from over beyond the islands high in air. Some thought it was a conflagration.
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