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 5
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
around their necks and they were dragged along at a rapid pace toward Bunker Hill. Afterwards they were put on horses. Tobias was made to support in the saddle in front of him the rebel who was killed, and took advantage of the circumstance to pick the dead man's pockets of everything valuable they con- tained. Webster was taken before Gen. Johnston. He was sharply questioned as to the strength of Patterson's army, but no threats could extort satisfactory answers from him. Both were then lodged in Winchester jail and finally sent to Richmond and put in Libby prison. Sept. 26th, Tobias died from the wound in his hip. Soon after, Webster went with a batch of 500 prison- ers to Tuscaloosa, Ala., remaining there three months. After that he experienced confinement in Salisbury, N. C., and being at length exchanged rejoined the regiment in June, 1862, in North Carolina.
While at Martinsburg, Col. Clark sought and received permis- sion to lead out strong foraging parties towards Bunker Hill to scour the country and obtain army supplies of the farmers. On these expeditions, the Colonel was conspicuous for the red shirt he almost always wore and the big horse he bestrode. Had there even been a close collision with a rebel scouting party, as the Cayuga boys, who were spoiling for a fight, hoped there would be, that red shirt would have made a famous target and been a source of hazard to its wearer. These chronicles omit to dwell on the mistake made one day of firing at a boy with a bag of meal on a horse in the distance, under the supposition that he was a secesh vidette. It is too painful ! Let it be said, however, that the boy was not hit. We turn to a better theme.
Col. Clark hoped to catch some rebel cavalry yet. On the IIth he took out, five miles towards Bunker Hill, a foraging party, composed of four companies of the 19th New York and three of the 28th. The detachment halted at the house of a rich valley farmer, known to have a store of the prime objects of the expedition-corn and hay. The agricultural wealth of the rebel was promptly seized upon and transferred to the wagons. While this was going on, preparation was made by Col. Clark to entrap any unwary party of secessionists that might come that way. A company of the 28th was sent up the road and placed in ambush in the fields, with orders to permit any that came, to pass, and cut off its retreat. Into this trap a part of forty of the rebel Stewart's cavalry came riding directly after. Some of the 28th had strayed ahead of the out post. They were discovered and fired on. The 28th boys plunged into a corn field and escaped. The cavalry did not even then
2
55
THE 19TH'S SKIRMISH AT MARTINSBURG.
suspect, but came on down the road. The main party of the advance guard, instead of letting them.pass, gave them a volley of musketry. At this juncture, Col. Clark, who, on hearing the first firing had formed the reserve companies, was coming up with them on a hard run. The gray jackets did not wait when they saw the glistening bayonets of this fresh party. They fired a volley, sending a shower of balls whistling among the Yankees to make for their edification that peculiar music they afterwards knew so well, a swift, fluttering, whistling hum, and then fled precipitately. Doubtless, there were some, who, when the rebel "singing birds " flew about their ears, dodged, never having heard of the maxim of immortal Gustavus Adolphus, "that there is as much likelihood of dodging into the bullet as away from it." Yet the Cayuga men were cool and intrepid and their conduct advanced their name as a fighting regiment. In this affair, Isaac Fly, of the 28th, was killed, and the sword- belt of a Lieutenant in the 19th was cut off by a bullet. Three of the rebels were wounded.
On the 13th of July, there occurred in the regiment a memor- able event. This was no less than the suspension from com- mand of Col. Clark.
Col. Clark had been selected as commander of the regiment » !: hout his solicitation or knowledge. It will be remembered, we stated that his election had been generally acquiesced in. I: had indeed even been hailed with enthusiasm by the majority of rank and file, who . believed that under a man of his intellect and physical power, they could serve the country with efficiency and honor. Some of the regiment had, however, more for po- lucal reasons than anything else, failed to give the Colonel their frank and hearty support from the outset. This was exceedingly unfortunate. To break a regiment of civilians into disciplined soldiers, especially at a time when haste is of vital importance, 1», though necessary, an offensive business to men, who, under war democratic form of government, have never known the iron restraint of military despotism. It must inevitably tend to de- velope any latent germs of discontent against an energetic com- mander. Well says Kinglake, speaking of an eminent officer in the British army, " Energy is a disturbing and not always popu- Lar quality." Such was the case in the 19th regiment, and, long before leaving Washington, Col. Clark had become unpopular. This unfavorable sentiment was nourished by the Colonel's de- sise to avoid favoritism, which, being overdone, led him to infuse ibi: imperiousness into his manner as to repel the very men on who he relied for the warmest support. The feeling became
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
so strong that, while at Kalorama, the line officers of the regi- ment (Capts. Schenck, Stewart and Baker and their Lieutenants excepted) drew up an accusation against him, alleging incom- petency to command, harsh and ungentlemanly treatment of officers and men, profanity, &c., &c. On reaching Martinsburg, they presented it to Gen. Patterson.
Patterson lent a willing ear to the charges. He did not love fighting Colonels nor fighting Generals. He recalled Clark's refusal to join him at Chambersburg, June 6th. He remember- ed the failure to escort Doubleday's gun with the whole regiment. Accordingly, on July 13th, an order was issued, relieving Col. Clark of command, and putting him under arrest to be tried by Court Martial.
The command of the regiment was immediately assumed by Lieut .- Col. Seward. Clark accompanied the subsequent marches of the regiment in this campaign, riding in its rear, after which he demanded a trial on the charges. No trial, it may be here said, was ever had, however, the military authorities regarding the charges as frivolous and beneath notice. Of the Colonel's final and complete vindication, we shall speak in another chapter.
Patterson's strong, high spirited, well equipped army began to be impatient at the delay at Martinsburg. It could not understand why it was not launched forward to crush Johnston. The rebel army would have crumbled before a bold attack, and our troops, feeling this, awaited the signal for the rush that should carry the flag up the Valley to Richmond with chafing and irritation. That the campaign would eventuate in noth- ing less than the reduction of that haughty capital was the . conviction of every volunteer. That the task would be easy was suggested by the apparent fewness of rebels in our front. A staff officer of the 19th spoke the current thought of the army in a letter home, when he wrote: "If we resume our search after rebels, we shall probably find them at Richmond. Our · hopes are strong that we shall soon visit that beautiful city." Martin Webster and the unfortunate Tobias however, were destined to be the only Cayuga men to realize that hope till the glorious week in 1865 that saw the final collapse of the Con- federacy.
The hours of waiting at Martinsburg were spent in reducing superfluous baggage, in picket and forage duty and regular drills.
The long expected advance was at length ordered on the 14th, the day of a review of the New York regiments by Gen. Sand- ford. Next morning, at an early hour, the army broke camp
57
ADVANCE TO BUNKER HILL.
and formed for an advance to Bunker Hill, eight miles distant, and nine from Winchester. There were three divisions in the umy. The ist, under command of Maj .- Gen. Cadwallader, and the ad, Maj .- Gen. Kiem, were composed of Pennsylvania militia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Indiana and other volun- tccfs. Among them marched a regiment which had fought in Wewern Virginia and captured its transportation appliances, consisting of hacks, stage coaches, lumber wagons, &c. The ad division was that of Gen. Sandford, comprising the 7th and sth brigades. The Ist and 2d divisions marched on the Win- chester turnpike. They formed a column with their wagons seven or eight miles long, whose van reached Bunker Hill before the rear left Martinsburg. Gen. Sandford's division was assem- bled on the Winchester turnpike, but, a short distance out, took a side road to the left and marched in an independent column on the left of the army, though in communication with the main body across the country by a line of skirmishers. The infantry of the division moved in a column on each side of the road, with the artillery and baggage train, guarded by a detachment, in the center on the road. The division was five miles long. The 19th New York brought up and guarded the rear.
In the early part of the day, as the 19th was hastening to truth its place in line, it passed a number of regiments of the eter divisions formed on the road. . It was then that the shoddy ur !! amy bore with weight on the pride of the men of Cayuga. A Massachusetts regiment stood in the road, splendidly equipped as were all the forces in the field of that patriotic State. It wore handsome uniforms, and had strong, elegant wagons, with every- !! in: complete for comfort. As the 19th New York passed, Laughs of derision were heard and a soldier called out, "Where's tha: regiment from ?" A volunteer in Angel's company put a Roxx face on the matter and raised a laugh by replying, that "it was a regiment of convicts from Auburn, let out of prison on condition that they would serve." He pointed out various officers of striking appearance as notorious robbers, thieves and forgers, and wound up by indicating his Colonel as a famous murderer. The pleasantry was harmless, though rough, but the appearance of the 19th gave plausibility to his grim joke.
On approaching Bunker Hill, at night fall, the sound of firing Roiled in from the advance. The rebel Stewart, with 600 cav- alry, was preparing to dispute the road with our leading regi- taco!». when the Rhode Island battery taught them a lesson and von: them flying in disorder. The firing electrified the Federals, *hoe long, dark columns of men pushed forward in haste, but the right was over before any could come up.
58
19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
Passing through the village, a place consisting of three or four mills and a few houses, the 8th brigade marched out a short distance and went into camp on the extreme left of the army, within eight miles of Winchester, and near the turnpike. The scenery of this region proved to be of the most picturesque and lovely description. The husbandmen of the valley were just gathering the wheat harvest, and the dark green of groves and the deep blue of distant mountains mingled in singular beauty with the golden yellow of broad fields of grain, in the . prospect. It was the good fortune of the 19th New York to encamp in a capacious wheat field, where the grain had just been cut and placed in shocks. The wagons being miles be- hind, the New York Division had no tents that night and these wheat sheaves softened the asperities of the bivouac most acceptably.
It was contrary to the stringent orders of the tender-hearted Patterson to forage upon the inhabitants of the Valley. A great deal of it took place, notwithstanding. The army believed in the maxim of subsisting on the enemy. Undoubtedly, however, high military reasons existed for putting the practice under per- emptory ban. A month before, Beauregard had, in a blatant proclamation, asserted that the South was invaded for ravage, for " beauty and booty," as he expressed it. It became desira- ble, at this stage of the war, to convince the South of the un- truth of the assertion. Hence Patterson imperatively forbade foraging in his army, and tried to stop it. Lieut. Col. Seward's very first order, issued on arriving at Bunker Hill, was on this subject. Said that document : "The object of the journey of the Army of the North is to protect the property of the United States, not to plunder the property of citizens."
But when the Cayuga men stacked arms on the afternoon of the 15th of July, and broke ranks for supper, there was that pressing on their attention, which then was of far greater present importance to them than the ease and convenience of Virginia rebels. They were hungry and almost supperless. Their com- · missary only afforded a scant allowance of hard-tack and salt pork, and the gnawings of empty stomachs prompted them to cast their eyes upon the forbidden poultry and cattle with which the farms all around swarmed. The temptation was irresistible. On various excuses, with permits and without, the men managed to send out foragers-jayhawkers, as they were then and there- after called-and there was a general ransacking of the neigh- borhood for fresh provisions. Chickens, turkeys, several sheep, cows and calves, and other domestic game, soon found their
59
PATTERSON HANGS BACK.
way into camp. Not only that night, but the following day, the 19th New York feasted on the fat of the land. Jayhawkery, once begun, took in other things than provisions. Some of the men caught horses, and made the field roar with their frantic and ridiculous equestrianism, while an old lady's wardrobe was made to do scarecrow duty on the facetious but scandalous volun- · teers. One fellow seized on a quantity of what he supposed to be flour, to regale his mess with pancakes and gravy for a turkey stew. To his speechless astonishment, on seeing his pancakes stiffen and his gravy refuse to run, he found his treasured bag of flour to be plaster of Paris.
Foraging was common in all the Federal regiments. Yet Pat- terson, who bore ill will toward the regiment of Col. Clark, searched the camps and had several tons of dressed mutton, veal, hams, and other foraged provisions, brought in army wagons to the camp of the 19th and there buried, to affix a repu- tation for jayhawking, especially on that regiment. The event is of historical importance, as Patterson afterwards gave, as one of the reasons why he did not attack Johnston, that his com- mand was short of provisions and could not get up his supplies and attack Johnston too.
On the 16th tents were pitched, but struck next morning.
Each night at this place, the regiment was called under arms and slept with equipments strapped on and muskets stacked within reach.
Gen. Scott's orders to Patterson were of a nature to warrant the expectation of an immediate attack on Johnston. The Lieutenant-General hoped to meet the rebel army under Beaure- gard, near Manassas Junction, and tear it to pieces. Then, by a rapid movement, advance upon and capture Richmond. To effect this, it was required of Patterson to operate heavily on the traitor horde of Johnston at Winchester, destroying it, or, at any rate, by threatening demonstrations keep it in check and prevent it from going to help Beauregard out in his battle with Scott. Scott gave Patterson specific instructions on this point. He said, in an order to that General : "If not strong enough to beat the enemy, make demonstrations so as to detain him in the valley of Winchester." But Patterson hung back. His tardy advances were only the fruit of repeated, peremptory orders from Washington. And when the decisive moment arrived, when his magnificent army hung threateningly on the very out- posts of the rebel force, and the Union and Confederate armies ner Manassas were gathering for the bloody battle of Bull Run, he came to a dead halt.
60
19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
Old Gen. Sandford was a man of different stamp. With all the fire and activity of a young commander, he reconnoitered the country towards Winchester, incessantly urged an advance upon the enemy and offered to lead any attack with his Division. He did not propose to assault Johnston in his fortified camp at Winchester, armed, as it was, with heavy guns from Norfolk. . He wanted to place his Division between Johnston and the Shenandoah, which would have compelled him to fight us there, on our own ground, or remain in camp, either of which was what . the Government desired. On the night of the 16th he had a new road cut through the woods to the Opequan creek, a small stream with romantic wooded banks, running here parallel with the Shenandoah, east and south of his camp, intending to send his Division down on side roads, next morning, to seize upon the roads leading out from Winchester to Snicker's and Ashby's Gaps in the Blue Mountains, which the rebels would have to take to escape. Three hours would have sufficed to make the movement, the New York soldiers would have won undying honor and made Bull Run a glorious triumph for Federal arms.
A forward movement of some kind was expected that night in the camp of the 19th New York. Gen. Patterson rode up in front of the camp in the afternoon. He stopped a moment near a crowd of Cayuga men. He said he expected an engagement next day, and asked if the Cayugas would stand by him. They shouted Yes ! and gave three tremendous cheers. The General then said, "I can trust that regiment. A soldier who cheers well, fights well." He then rode away. The boys felt flattered, no doubt, but they soon knew that this affair was all mummery, and a deliberate act of deception.
During the night or the 16th, Gen. Sandford received orders to march at daybreak. But not on Johnston. The Ist and 2d Di- visions were to move first. Sandford's Division was to bring up the rear and proceed to Charlestown, a village twelve miles dis- tant, towards Harper's Ferry, on a line exactly at right angles to that which it was necessary to take to fight Johnston. It was a very polite manner of opening the gate to the cornered John- ston, and inviting him to walk out of the fix he was in and hie to the assistance of Beauregard. Gen. Sandford, with agonized feelings, called up his regiments under cover of the night, though he did not give out where they were going. About 3 A. M, the army began the movement of the 17th of July. The pickets of the 19th New York were called in about 4 o'clock, to find their comrades under arms, eating breakfast. The Sth Brigade moved almost immediately, bringing up the rear of the army. The 19th
61
THE FLANK MARCH TO CHARLESTOWN.
New York guarded the extreme rear, occupying as usual the post of danger and honor, the rear being only secondary in honor to the advance. The men began this march joyfully. They dreamed of no other destination than Winchester, being given to understand that a circuitous route was taken because the road direct was barred by felled trees, earthworks, &c. The sun way rising on a day, they felt, when the heroes of New York expected to make a glorious history. They were full of ardor and enthusiasm. Gen. Patterson and staff stood in the road on horseback, as the long dark-blue columns passed, bristling with gleaming steel, with battle flags and banners waving gaily on the breeze, and hope and fight beaming from every eye. Each trgiment as it passed greeted the group of horsemen with deaf- ening cheers. Doubleday, speaking of the spirit of the men, says : " They seemed as eager for action as men could be, ex- cited in the highest degree at the idea of getting a fight."
Before the sun was two hour's high, enthusiasm had died out of the army. It had comprehended the cowardice and incom- jeirncy of its dramatic commanding General. This was no movement on Winchester. The road, leading to that place, had long been passed by the head of the army. The dejection of the moth New York was extreme. " Retreat," "retreat," was .hopered from rank to rank, and some very strong expressions bence forth from officers and men. Those who had a talent for :'trang tilk gave their friends some very lively samples of what !! wy could do in the way of rapid, red-hot verbal coinage.
Itc Federals found themselves closely watched on this march bry , laxdly of rebel cavalry, which followed them on parallel trudy and would occasionally wheel out into distant fields and dish up within easy range of observation. As the rear of the amy passed over a hill at Smithfield, a country village half way to Charlestown, the cavalry made its appearance in a piece of wow's opposite to it and so near that it was thought to indicate s design to attack. The 8th Brigade was accordingly formed on the hill in a line of battle, displaying its entire front, four regi- ments long, toward the enemy. The 19th New York came up for half a mile on a run to take its place in line. It occupied a grassy field sloping down toward the obnoxious piece of woods, and as usual was called on when fighting was expected. Com- pany G, Capt. Stewart, was sent out to the front and deployed a skirmishers, with orders to advance into the woods and find " :: what was in them. But the valorous chivalry was too nim- Wie and rode off in a great hurry with some of Doubleday's shells 1, in; after them and Company G found the woods empty. No
62
.
19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
more rebels were seen that day, though in the distance the flash · of arms was visible and clouds of dust. A short halt on the hill allowed the men rest, when the march was resumed. It was a fearful tramp for green soldiers. The distance, being twelve miles, with the alternate fording of streams and march over dusty roads, under a blazing sun, proved very exhausting.
At sundown, the army bivouacked at Charlestown. The 19th New York occupied a wheat field south of the village, adjoining that in which John Brown was executed and only a few rods from the very spot where the historical tragedy took place. As the enemy was supposed to be in the neighborhood, a strong picket line was thrown out all around the army. The 19th New York sent out its whole right wing of five companies. The far- ther Patterson was from the enemy, the more alarmed he was. It was an intensely dark night, and under its cover our scouts ranged as far as the Blue Ridge, five miles away. In Company A, Lieut. White, which was posted out on the Winchester road in a piece of woods, that night, there was a sensation. A cav- alry patrol came riding up the road. The picket cried, "Halt." The cavalry could not be seen in the darkness, but Company A heard a host of sabers hurriedly leaping from their scabbards and the cavalry preparing to charge. Before any harm was done, it was discovered they were friends.
During the night, Capt. Stewart and others on the picket line heard a distant, steady murmur in the direction of Winchester. The Captain considered it his duty to find out what it meant. Taking Lieut. Wall, Corp'ls Sidney W. Palmer, S. A. Bates and two or three others, he went far out to the front, across fields and through woods, some miles, till the nebulous murmuring sound distinctly resolved itself into the rumbling of cannon and wagons, while the clash of sabers and rustle of infantry indicat- ed the passage of a part of Johnston's army. Whither it was bound was shrouded in mystery deep as the pitchy darkness of the night ; but, that rebels were astir at this hour was important intelligence, and Capt. Stewart sat down under a tree and imme- diately wrote a dispatch to Lieut .- Col. Seward in reference to it, using a hat for a table, while Corp'l Palmer burnt nearly a box of matches to afford the required illumination. The dispatch was sent by a cavalryman to headquarters. No attention, how- ever, was paid to it. In the morning, Stewart again reported the march of Johnston's forces and the tidings sent to Patter- son, through Col. Butterfield, commanding the brigade.
On July 13th, Gen. Scott had telegraphed to Patterson : " If the enemy retreats in force towards Manassas, and it would be
63
STEWART DISCOVERS JOHNSTON'S MARCH.
hazardous to follow him, then consider the route via Keyes's Ferry, Hillsboro, Leesburg, &c .; " meaning, that Patterson should rush to the assistance of Scott. When Capt. Stewart's' tidings were brought in, confirmed as they were by advices dur- ing the day, of the march the morning of the 18th, of John- ston's infantry, it was supposed Scott's orders would be carried out. That afternoon, Major Doubleday, of the artillery, was dining with the regimental headquarter's mess of the 19th New York. While smoking, after dinner, one of the staff officers asked Doubleday why Patterson did not march to join Scott or McDowell at Centerville. The Major replied, turning to the Hue Ridge and pointing to a gap in it, "Through that gap lies the road to Centerville. By forced marches we can get to Ma- nassas as soon as Johnston. Before daylight to-morrow you will be in that gap on the march." The Major was mistaken, how- ever. The army remained at Charlestown, and anger and mor- tification were rife throughout the regiment and the whole com- mand. (We are indebted to Surgeon Dimon for this and other valued items in relation to this campaign.)
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