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 17
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While the iron clads were attacking, Gen. Hunter landed 4,000 men on Folly Island, with Batteries B and F of the 3d Artillery, under Gen. Seymour, and posted them behind the sand hills and a thicket of scrub pine and palmettos at the upper end of the Island, ready to rush across on pontoons and estab- lish themselves on Morris Island when the proper moment ar- rived. The Batteries left their horses on shipboard. Getting out the prolonges, they dragged their guns and caissons up the broad, smooth beach to the front, vanishing from the sight of their comrades on the fleet, who were filled with a generous envy of their good fortune. Well might they have been, for the Bat- teries which landed on Folly Island that day were the only ones in the 3d Artillery that were destined to contribute to the fall of Charleston.
DuPont, as is well known, failed in his assault that day, and retired in rage and disgust to the North Edisto.
Gen. Seymour, though just on the point of dashing across Light House Inlet, on a party of rebels who were firing on his pickets, was ordered to remain where he was. He accordingly encamped his troops and waited for further advices. He was soon after reinforced with 4,000 men, and the Island placed un- der the command of Gen. Vogdes. On his staff, for a while, Capt. Jenny was Chief of Artillery.
The transport fleet of the 10th Corps lingered in Stono Inlet till the 12th of April. It then returned to Port Royal. The 3d
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INTRENCHING ON FOLLY ISLAND.
Artillery was encamped, a portion on St. Helena, the rest under Major Kennedy at Beaufort, S. C. It remained at these places in idleness till. May, when, upon the appeal of the commanders of batteries, seconded by. Major Kennedy, it was sent back to Newbern, arriving there about the 23d. Hunter compelled it, however, to leave behind its guns.
To strengthen the troops on Seabrook Island, (a brigade under Gen. Stephenson,) Battery B was transferred there a few days after landing on Folly. The Battery put its guns into a line of works around the camp, which was at the south-west corner of the Island. It had one of two opportunities to face some rebel pickets to the right about with shell, but had no regular engagement. In June, it was summoned to Morris Island.
The troops, left on Folly Island April 7th, constituted the ad- vance guard of Hunter's army in its approaches to Charleston. Liable to be raided upon at any moment, Vogdes had out heavy picket parties all around the Island, day and night, and required Battery F to support with its pieces these parties. The Battery, in detached sections, kept many a vigil through that and the fol- lowing two months, with horses ready hitched, on the edge of the Island, ready to repel meditated assault. The guns were shifted continually from place to place. One day they were brought down to Light House Inlet to fire on a blockade runner that had got on the bar in the Inlet the night before. The Bat- tery sent her a few shots, when some newly made redoubts on Morris Island suddenly woke up into action and began knock- ing up the sand in the vicinity of the Union guns with heavy missiles, while a rebel ram ran out from behind an island up the Inlet and showed a raging desire to get into a fight. Fortunately Battery F was supported by four 32-pound Parrots, on a low bluff overhanging the beach, facing Morris Island. Both ram and rebel batteries were speedily quieted. The latter, however, did not get over their wrath for many days and shelled Folly Island vindictively day and night. They seemed to suspect that all was not quite right on that innocent looking, bushy bluff. In this they were correct. Early in June, Gen. Gilmore had re- lieved Hunter in command of the Department of the South, and was now toiling with superhuman energy to erect a line of works on that bluff, which should command the batteries on Morris Island, across the Inlet, not over 400 yards away. Every- thing was done under cloak of the night, covering the works by day with pine branches and brush to conceal them. Whole regi-
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
ments were worked every night and all the teams. By the first of July, forty-seven guns and mortars were in position, including those of Battery F. The rebels had an inkling of this. Their shelling was sometimes terrific, and some men were killed in the Union works. But all had holes in the bluff, and in moments of danger dodged into them and were as safe as swallows in a sand bank. The men could feel the ground tremble when the ponderous mortar shells struck, and more than once Battery F's men had bombs burst on the bank above them and cover them thick with sand. Gilmore never allowed our guns to reply, as he wished to conceal our strength from the enemy. Nor did he . allow the infantry reinforcements he brought up to show them- selves.
Special Orders, No. 2, on July 9th, announced, that " The at- tack on Morris Island will take place to-morrow morning at break of day, by the opening of our batteries on the north end of Folly Island."
At 5 A. M. of Friday, July roth, a signal gun from the right opened the ball. Battery F, under command of Lieut. Birch- meyer, instantly opened on the enemy's lines on Morris Island, while the other batteries quickly followed suit. The rebels were startled almost out of their senses. When the peal of the first gun was heard, they sprang up from their redoubts and rifle pits to see where the smoke came from. As other guns opened, they dropped back, and at first opened only a feeble fire. Firing soon grew vigorous, however, and heavy. Presently five moni- tors came up abreast of Morris Island and aided in the good work for the Union by pouring in an enfilading fire. The duty of Battery F on this occasion was to shell the enemy's rifle pits, which it did so effectually as to keep them quiet. Twenty-four killed and wounded were afterwards found there. The Navy did well in this engagement, but the .Army firing was superb. Our shells rolled over the whole Island, some flying as far as Fort Wagner at the upper end of it, materially increasing the panic that soon seized the enemy. After three hours' cannonad- ing, the rebel fire slackened. Gen. Strong's brigade of infantry, which had been awaiting this event, in row boats, then dashed across the Inlet, charged and captured the rebel's works before they had time to spike any of their eleven guns therein. It was an interesting and comforting sight to see our regiments, with bright muskets and waving banners, taking possession of Morris Island, which they now did up to within 600 yards of Fort Wagner, driving the rebels pell mell before them.
We learnt from prisoners taken that day, that the rebels had
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ESTABLISHED ON MORRIS ISLAND.
intended an attack on Folly Island that very morning. They had sent picked men from Fort Sumter to man their guns. We captured them. They were a fine lot.
The victory, on our part, was almost bloodless. Our trophies were nine cannon, two mortars, a quantity of camp equipage and a large number of prisoners.
On July 11th, Gen. Strong's brigade made an assault on Fort Wagner and nearly carried the works. It reached the parapet but was repulsed with loss.
The following order was issued on the 12th :
" HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT SOUTH,
MORRIS ISLAND, S. C., July 12, 1863. 5
Orders :- The Brigadier-General commanding presents his congratulations and thanks to the army, which he has the honor to command, for the brilliant victory of the roth instant, which places them three miles nearer the rebel stronghold of Sumter, the first among all our country's defenses against foreign foes that felt the polluting hand of traitors. Our labors, however, are not over. They are just begun ; and while the spires of the rebel city still loom up in the dim distance, hardships and pri- vations must be endured before our hopes and expectations can find full fruition in victory. Let us emulate the heroic deeds of our brothers in arms at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and add to that roll of fame which will be transmitted to a grateful pos-
terity. Special thanks are due Brig .- Gen. I. Vodges and his command for the untiring energy and patient endurance dis- played by them in creating batteries on Folly Island, under almost every conceivable disadvantage, and to Brig .- Gen. George C. Strong and his command, for the heroic gallantry with which they carried the enemy's batteries on Morris's Island, this being the first instance during the war in which powerful batteries have been successfully assaulted by a column disembarking under a heavy artillery fire.
Q. A. GILLMORE, Brig .- Gen. Commd'g."
Morris Island, a sand spit about three miles in length, reach- ing from Light House Inlet to Charleston harbor, is of a shape which bears a near resemblance to a bottle. The southern por- tion of the island is broad, with high wooded sand hills through the center, margined with beautiful broad smooth beaches. The upper end is naked and flat, and suddenly contracts into a long, narrow neck, on which, half a mile apart, the rebels had con- structed the monstrous and powerful earthwork known as Fort Wagner, and at the extreme north end of the neck the smaller work, termed Battery Gregg.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
Finding Fort Wagner altogether too powerful to be carried by assault, the attempt of the 11th being repeated on the 18th with a like result, nothing was left Gilmore but to besiege. No time was lost. By the 23d, a line of intrenchments was thrown up for a first parallel clear across the island, and eight guns and ten mortars placed in position behind it. On that day a second parallel was opened, six hundred yards in advance, and great guns were mounted therein as soon as possible to bring them up.
About July 13th, a section of Battery F, 3d Artillery, was ordered up from Folly Island and placed in the first-then the only-parallel, near the extreme right. Within a very few days the other section came up, placing its guns in the intrenchments along with the others. It did not require the whole Battery to serve the guns. The rest encamped some distance in the rear on the ocean beach. Battery B, 3d Artillery, also came up from Folly Island, placing its cannon in the intrenchments, two of them on the right of Battery F and two still further to the right on the beach. The main body of the men of the Battery en- camped with F back in the rear. The guns of both Band F, new Wiards and Napoleons, were worked by details sent up from camp, from time to time, under command of a Lieutenant. With the two Batteries of the 3d New York, and between them, on the lines, was the regular light Battery E, 3d United States Artillery. These were the three light batteries, spoken of in the official reports of the siege of Fort Wagner as guarding the right flank of the Union intrenchments so long. They were ranged along the breastwork in front of and near some 200-pound guns and other heavy ordnance, set up to batter the rebel forts. It was their duty to defend this flank of the line, and the great guns, from sorties from the fort, against which the latter would have been helpless as they could be depressed enough to bear on a storming party advancing to their capture. The light bat- teries were also required to keep down the fire of rebel sharp- shooters, who lay in battalions on the parapets and traverses and in the rifle trenches of Fort Wagner, and poured upon our great guns and our sappers a wicked fire of well aimed musket balls. The sharp-shooters would set up three sand bags, one across the others, leaving just space enough to point a rifle through. Our infantry was powerless to dislodge them, thus ensconced. When they became too troublesome, the light bat- teries would open on them with shell and case shot. It seldom took long to clear away both sand bags and marksmen effectually.
When Battery B first went up to the front, one night, the
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SIEGE OF FORT WAGNER.
Lieutenant in command of the regular battery took a fancy to put his guns into the embrasures occupied by the right section of B under Lieut. Day. He ordered Lieut. Day to take his guns out. Day naturally refused. He did not propose to abandon the post he held in the presence of the enemy, at the will of an irresponsible Lieutenant, especially as there were no other em- brasures to point his guns through, and the space of a few rods only intervened between the spot where he then stood and that portion of the ocean beach swept by the tides. The regular Lieutenant again commanded him to move, and turning to his men ordered them to come and drag out the guns. Day drew his revolver. He said the first man who laid hand on a gun should die in his tracks. At the same time Battery B's men all drew, and a bloody fight would have been precipitated, had not his pomposity in shoulder straps suddenly comprehended the value of discretion, and desisted.
The change, however, was ordered in the course of the night, by the Chief of Artillery, who told Lieut. Day to make a breast- work on the beach. It was of course necessary to get this done before daylight. So at it Battery B went. The men drew up an old boat which lay on the beach as a foundation, and piled high a parapet of sand on top of it. Sand bags, to revet the back of the parapet and the embrasures, could not be got. But near by was a large pile of small wooden boxes, in which the shells of the 200-pound guns had come. These the men filled with sand and used instead of bags, answering the purpose admirably. The redoubt was finished just at the breaking of dawn, as objects on the Island were becoming visible in the first beams of morn- ing. The men of the Battery, exhausted with their hard night's work, were sitting all around on the parapet, when there was a flash and a puff of smoke curling from the Fort. The rebels had a carronade with which they swept the beach. They used to fire from it half a dozen four-pound balls at a time. All knew what that flash meant. The rebels had discovered the new work. The men tumbled every way into the ditch, behind the parapets, anywhere for shelter, and scarce had they found cover before chuck ! chuck ! chuck ! and the balls came bounding and plunging into the work. Before another shot was fired, every man was in his proper place.
Battery B, supported by three Requa, or " musquito," bat- teries of rifle barrels, now held the extreme right of the Union lines.
Battery F, during this siege, was always in the extreme ad- vance. It was pushed ahead as the intrenchments were dug, un-
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
' til, by August 14th, it was in the advance parallel within 800 yards of the Fort. Its guns were well served, and were thought . so much of that some 30-pound Parrots were removed to make room for them. Two of the guns of B were also advanced to the extreme front, from time to time, and did gallant service. Both were unceasingly under the heavy shelling, which Forts Wagner, Gregg, Sumter in the harbor, and Johnson on James Island inflicted upon the besiegers. At times, this shelling was fast and furious. With our return fire, it filled the whole Island with wild commotion. It was next to impossible for the men on the lines to get the slightest particle of rest in consequence.
During one busy period of the siege, a detachment of Battery F did a brave and true service, that called out the following commendation from Lieut. Birchmeyer, in his otherwise rather barren official report, viz : "This gallant little band, under Lieut. VanHeusen, refused to be relieved for several days, until com- pletely worn out with fatigue and exposure. Through F, the 3d Artillery gained a good reputation in this Department, owing in a great measure to the' untiring exertions and distinguished bravery of Lieut. VanHeusen, commanding the section." To that reputation, Battery B also contributed in a high degree.
Several 3d Artillery men were wounded in this advance. Corp. Riley Fancher was touched in the back by a piece of a shell, Jas. H. Kingsley, the same; Lawrence McCarthy was pierced in the right arm with a bullet, August 10th ; Darius Stucker received wounds in hands and arms by a premature dis- charge, while firing in action, August 13th. One day, when the 200-pound guns were firing, a man in Battery B was wounded in the calf of the leg by a large grain of powder from one of them.
George Conway, Riley Fancher and Mathias Thyson distin- guished themselves in the trenches for bravery, and were pre- sented with medals therefor, afterwards. Conway ran out under fire and stuck a guidon flag into the ground for the sappers to work towards.
Battery F, in August, was very short of men fit for duty. Lieut. Birchmeyer could only relieve the men in the trenches every third night.
August 22d, Battery B was ordered to garrison Fort Shaw, Morris Island. The Fort was on the ocean front of the island, at the lower end. Heavy 64's and 32's were mounted upon it to command the ship channel leading to Charleston harbor. The Battery parked its light guns in the Fort and camped there.
It will not be necessary to recount here the details of how Gilmore pushed forward the siege of Wagner to a successful
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CAPTURE OF WAGNER.
conclusion, spending one week while so doing in pulverizing the walls of Fort Sumter, with his long-range guns, into a mass of ruins. It is not in the province of this volume to consider them. Suffice it to say, on September 6th, our sappers ran their trenches right up on to Fort Wagner, and next morning the rebels had fled and abandoned the Island. Our forces took possession, bringing them over a mile nearer to Fort Sumter and Charleston.
Battery F retired from the lines and took its guns down to camp.
For the remainder of the year nothing was done on Morris Island by the United States forces, except to refortify Forts Wagner and Gregg, and to keep up a steady battering of Fort Sumter till every wall was reduced to a chaotic jumble of debris. The only especial service rendered by the 3d Artillery batteries during this time was to assist in mounting guns and do picket and guard duty ; also, to run up at night to the beach on the extreme north end of the Island to fire shell and case shot at Fort Sumter, to prevent the rebels from building up a rampart of sand. A calcium light on Morris Island shot a brilliant ray across the water and illuminated the Fort perfectly, exposing it to the unerring aim of our gunners. Battery B, under Lieuts. Day and Wildt, did much of this duty and caused the rebels serious annoyance. Some nights, Forts Sumter, Johnson, Moul- trie, Bee, and the whole circle of rebel works around the harbor, would open on B heavily and force it to suspend operations. At such times the scene was inexpressibly grand. The mortar shells rising in beautiful curves, high in air, could be seen from the time they left the fiery throats of the ordnance that threw them forth, till they burst overhead, or fell to bury themselves in the earth or water. They crossed each other's track and mingled with those shot in return from the Union batteries on shore and sea, filling the heavens with meteoric lines of fire. The flash of the guns and bursting shells illuminated the scene with per- petual play. These magnificent spectacles can never be effaced from the remembrance of those who beheld them.
In the latter part of 1863, Capt. Ashcroft received permission to recruit his command to an eight-gun battery. He had four 12-pound Napoleons. He drew four howitzers and some horses. He then went home to recruit; but the men he obtained were diverted to the regiment, and the effort fell through. Battery F was also in the spring of 1864 an eight-gun battery.
In November, Lieut. Day, of Battery B, was promoted to Captain of F. A thorough overhauling of the Battery followed, everything being badly run down. Tents, harness, horses and
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
guns were turned over to the Quartermaster and an entire new outfit drawn, four Napoleons now being obtained in place of the Wiards. The new commander now devoted himself to restoring the ancient magnificent discipline of the Battery with eminent success. It encamped on Folly Island and a rapid improvement became visible in its conduct and drill.
In February, 1864, Battery F accompanied an expedition to John's Island, S. C., under Gen. Schimmelfennig.
This island is a large, well wooded tract, south of the Stono, containing, on the banks of the Stono, near the ocean, the set- tlement of Legareville. It is traversed by good roads, leading among many fine plantations. In February, 1780, the British General, Sir Henry Clinton, landed upon it with an army and marched inland, crossing the Stono at the upper end of the island, by which means he got in the rear of Charleston and captured it. With an eye to a future demonstration in force, of a similar nature to that of Clinton's, Schimmelfennig on Folly Island was sent over in February, 1864, with his brigade and Gen. Ames's, to reconnoiter John's Island and see what there was on it.
The infantry moved on the night of Saturday, February 6th. It crossed the Stono to Kiowah Island, and moved down the ocean beach to Seabrook, the following day and night. Battery F, under command of Capt. Day and Lieuts. Titus and Clark, crossed on the night of Sunday. Remaining at the landing all day, when night came on it made a forced march to join the in- fantry. At the little creek, separating Kiowah and Seabrook Islands, the teams had to be doubled to get the guns and cais- sons across the ford. Pushing on, at daylight, Tuesday, the Battery came up with the advance, at Seabrook House, on Sea- brook Island, near the bridge connecting that and John's Islands.
After a halt of two hours for rest, a regiment of infantry was thrown out in advance, Battery F following, and the forward movement began, and at 7 A. M. reached the bridge. Here the first skirmish took place. A picket of 150 rebel cavalry, under Major Jenkins, was in a house across the creek and opened a brisk fire. Our advance charged across the bridge with Battery F. The rebels fell back. Capt. Day opened on them with shell. He had his own four guns and two others manned by colored men. The rebels again retired, skirmishing strongly. Some of them were captured. Schimmelfennig directed. the artillery to remain near the bridge. His infantry pushed on up the road a ways and also halted. There was considerable skirm-
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FIRST EXPEDITION TO JOHN'S ISLAND.
ishing during the day, the enemy being reinforced by the 26th Virginia, Col. Page. Battery F came into action several times, shelling a piece of woods and a house where the rebels were posted, driving them out in a hurry in both cases, and also shutting up a 12-pound gun that opened fire on us.
Next morning, the roth, Gov. Wise, in person, with more troops reinforced the enemy, who then became quite demonstra- tive. Lieut. Clark's and Lieut. Titus's section shelled them at different times during the day. Then, seeing their left flank about to be turned by Schimmelfennig, they fell back to a place called Cocked Hat.
At noon of the 11th, Gen. Schimmelfennig formed his brigades in line of battle, the left flank under Ames resting on Bohicket creek. Lieut. Titus was detached to support the left flank ; Lieut. Clark to support the right. At I P. M. the army moved forward slowly, a strong line of skirmishers beating up the woods in front. At 3 P. M. the rebels were emboldened by the arrival of Col. Colquitt with goo men to make a stand. They had two batteries of artillery. One of them, the Marion, six pieces, they placed in a redoubt on the road running near and parallel to Bohicket creek, and opened fire on Ames's infantry. Lieut. Titus's section went to the front on a gallop. The road . led through a tract of woods, and on each side of the road were ditches, dug according to Southern custom, to answer for fences. The infantry regiments were in these ditches to keep out of the cannonade. Emerging from the woods, the section came in sight of the rebel redoubt, which straightway directed a rapid fire upon it. Titus took his guns into a field on the left and sent in his warmest compliments in return. Capt. . Day soon came up with the other two sections, and an artillery duel en- sued of two hours' duration. Our infantry were engaged only in small part. The rebel fire was so poor as to inflict no fur- ther damage on our artillery than to kill two horses, although the men could hear the hum of nearly every rebel shot, feel the air of some, and hear them go banging and crashing into the woods behind. One cannoneer was just touched on the hand by a solid shot, which glanced from a gun carriage. Another had a shot pass between his legs. The effects of our fire are not definitely known. The rebels admit a small loss.
About 5 1-2 P. M., an aid-de-camp rode up to Capt. Day, with the astounding news that Schimmelfennig had drawn off his in- fantry and was marching back to Seabrook. There was not a Union regiment within a mile and a half of the Battery, while the rebels were in force not over half a mile away. Had the
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