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 8
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On the afternoon of the 12th, Capt. Schenck arrived from Muddy Branch, having displayed on the march the vigor and
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
ambition of his character by making thirty-two miles in nine hours, a feat then almost unparalleled in American history, con- sidering the horrible state of the roads. Banks's body guard had made the distance in one day. Schenck proposed to show what Company E, of the 19th, could do. Sending off the wag- ons the day before, he bivouacked at night, and then put the company to its trumps and pushed through at the pace stated. The boasters of the body guard were eclipsed, and telegrams went out from the newspaper correspondents about it all over the country. It made the sensation of the day. Gen. Williams growled, though, at using the men so hard.
December 13th, the 3d brigade had a grand field day. It was reviewed by Gen. Banks and a large assemblage of officers, in smooth, green fields, two miles north of Frederick. The 19th attracted special attention as it passed in review. It was con- scious of the fact, and, though a small regiment, felt it had a name to sustain, and made a splendid show. After passing the group of reviewing officers, on double quick, the regiments were drilled in maneuvres of the brigade. The 19th having never taken part in brigade drill, Gen. Williams sent for Lt .- Col. Stewart, who was in command, and proposed to him to go on guard duty. "Not by a d-d sight, General," was the energetic reply. " Any- thing any other of your regiments can do, the 19th can do. Try them and see." "Oh, well," said the General, " if you feel like that, all right." Brigade drill began. Stewart cautioned the regi- ment to be steady, and obey only him. The men performed splendidly, and the result was the 19th beat the whole field. In changing line of battle, from front to rear, and in other evo- lutions, the regiment always went straight and true to where it belonged, and did not once go wrong, while other regiments made ridiculous mistakes. In forming hollow square to resist cavalry, the regiment formed as large a square as any on the field, much to Williams's astonishment. He afterwards asked Stewart how it was done. One side of the square had been weakened, by causing the men to stand one file deep, instead of two, lengthening out the sides with the surplus thus gained. At the close of the review the 19th returned to camp thoroughly fagged out, but it had been drilling under the eyes of the com- manding General of the division, and had won from him es- pecial praise for its proficiency and success. Lt .- Col. Stewart was the recipient of many compliments upon its conduct.
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Gen. Williams's doubts as to his proteges from Cayuga County going into Heavy Artillery vanished like mist before the rising sun, December 16th, when he received the following paper,
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SPIRIT OF THE REGIMENT REVIVING.
which he caused to be read at the dress parade of the 19th, that evening :
" HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 1861.
Special Order, No. 326.
IV. The 19th New York Volunteers, Col. Ledlie command- ing, will be changed to a regiment of Heavy Artillery, and any companies which may now be serving as Light Artillery will be detached and mustered as independent companies and their places in the regiment will be supplied by other companies.
By order of Major-General MCCLELLAN."
The " other company " referred to was that of Capt. Kennedy, who, when relieved by Giles from recruiting for the 19th, raised a company of artillery, and with it was mustered into the United States service, November 23d, as the 1st Independent New York Battery.
The order had a most beneficial effect. It infused a pride and good feeling in the regiment to which it had long been a stranger. One hundred and eleven new recruits arrived during the month, including a new Company K, under Capt. Angell, and a regi- mental brass band, and from that time the regiment began steadily to improve in esprit du corps, vigor, zeal and efficiency.
New Company K was raised in Cayuga county, with the as- sistance of Wm. Richardson, of Weedsport, who became Ist Lieutenant, and T. J. Mersereau, of Union Springs, its 2d Lieutenant. No pecuniary inducements were offered to recruits, and as a new and more popular regiment was claiming attention at home, at that time, the company was obtained with some difficulty. Company K was mustered in at Union Springs, Oc- tober 23, 1861, by Capt. Kennedy. It left for the seat of war December 17th, one hundred and one strong, arriving in the city of Frederick, then buried in snow, on the 20th, and sleeping the first night in some old barracks built by the English in 1775, during the Revolutionary war. It joined the regiment next morning.
An extension of the rebel left wing took place along the upper Potomac, the early part of December, and, on the 13th, the redoubtable Stonewall Jackson appeared suddenly on the high banks of the river, opposite to the little village of Hancock, where a Union brigade was posted. Planting a battery on the bluff, he sent a number of shells howling and crashing through the streets of the village, and provoked such a sharp retort from
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some Federal Parrot guns, that he suffered loss, and had one cannon dismounted. Tidings of the attack reached the camps at Frederick on the 17th, and for two days, by Banks's orders, the 3d brigade was held in readiness to move at a moment's warning, in case it should appear that the rebels were conten- plating a serious invasion.
December 23d, the 19th and 28th New York and 46th Penn- sylvania attended, without arms, the execution of Dennis Lana- ghan, of the 46th Pennsylvania, in rear of the camp of the 28th. The prisoner's crime was the murder of his Major in camp.
Although the rebels remained quiet on the upper Potomac, they were gathering there in large force. It was deemed expe- dient to strengthen the Federal lines there, and Gen. Banks or- dered the 3d brigade to proceed to Hancock for this purpose. ·Preparing two days' rations, the brigade marched at 5 A. M. on January 6th, the 28th New York in advance, with the 5th Connec- ticut, 46th Pennsylvania, and 19th New York following in the order named, which was their regular order in the brigade. Camp was left standing by the 19th, for owing to the ice and snow tents could not be struck. Company F stayed to pack up and bring on the baggage. The sick were left under care of Dr. McClellan, of the 5th Connecticut. The brigade, being temporarily under the command of Col. Donnelly, of the 28th New York, made a headlong march, through snow four inches deep, over mountain ranges and rough roads to Hagerstown. The 19th, nearly starved, without sufficient rations, was, by Donnelly's orders, kept out in the open country that night, to bivouac and freeze in the snow, sleeping by fences, in straw stacks, and some few in barns, while the other regiments were housed and fed in the vil- lage. The next day Gen. Williams overtook the command while plodding through the snow on another forced march of twenty- six miles, and at once halted it at Clear Spring, a good Union village, on the bank of the Potomac, after giving Donnelly a thorough talking to for his disgraceful treatment of the 19th. On this day's march the men were so hungry, from failure of the com- missary to supply them with rations, that Lieut .- Col. Stewart stopped a commissary wagon on the road and issued a barrel of crackers to each company, for which they were very grateful. How nice Elmira hash would have been then! At Clear Spring, churches, school houses and inns were occupied for the night. Next day the march was pushed at a rapid pace, in sight of the Potomac all day, a small force of the enemy following on the other side. Lest the confederates should open fire on the brigade with shell, it marched in open order. The 19th,
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3D BRIGADE AT HANCOCK.
being indifferently supplied with shoes, straggled somewhat on the home stretch to Hancock, but a strong rearguard prevented straying away. On a former march of the regiment-from Pleasant Valley to Hyattstown-the Surgeon obtained some one horse, two-wheeled ambulances, as traps for feigners of sickness and those shamming to be disabled. They were so hung that while going down hill the occupants would stand on their heads ; going up, on their feet. The most inveterate shammer gener- ally had his fill of false pretenses after one day's ride in one of those "cussed machines," and never gave out on the march so quick after that if he could help it. Either its memory, or the now superior discipline of the regiment made them on this march entirely unnecessary.
The brigade entered Hancock, a little, ancient, one-horse village on the bank of the Potomac, at a point where Mary- land is only three miles wide, reaching it at 3 P. M. Public buildings were assigned to the 19th, and that night the regi- ment nursed its frozen feet and hands in comfortable quarters.
While encamped at Hancock, Gen. Williams made great de- monstrations of an intention to cross into Virginia and cut off the retreat of Jackson, who was parading around the Alleghanies with 20,000 men. Working parties sent out by each regiment cut down the embankments of the Ohio and Chesapeake Canal and let down boats into the river as if to be used in crossing. 'The news caused Jackson's retreat, which was all Gen. Williams desired, and was effected without exposing his brigade to the terrible hardships of a winter's campaign in the Alleghanies. The fact that he afterwards sent over to Bath and captured 600 of Jackson's men, with their hands and feet frozen, paroling them, shows that a winter's campaign in those mountains is equal to a defeat. It puts more men into hospital than a battle.
. The 19th did heavy guard and picket duty at Hancock. sending out details of from thirty-five to sixty men daily to the Potomac, besides escorting parties repairing telegraph lines, and doing provost and engineer duties. The pickets were armed with 100 rounds of ammunition apiece, but were greatly disap- pointed at not being allowed to fire on the rebel pickets who were in plain sight on the other side.
The mortality in the 19th at this place was very great. The village was one execrable mud hole and what with fatigue and picket duties, colds and fevers began to abound. The uncon- querable disposition of the soldiers to shut themselves up close in their quarters, without ventilation, made the evil a hundred
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
· fold worse. Dr. Dimon more than once broke out panes in the windows to purify the quarters, but they were repaired as soon as he was gone. Typhus fever, the pest of armies, raged and many deaths occurred. Responsible for the lives of his men, Lieut .- Col. Stewart resolved to encamp in the field. Sibley tents, shaped like wigwams, holding fifteen men each, were obtained. One day's rations were issued, and on January 25th, the regi- ment, ignorant of the object of the movement, was marched out of town to a favorable hill side and halted. " By right of com- panies, to the rear into column ; march." "Stack arms." "Pre- pare to form camp." These orders informed the men of their commander's resolve. They camped right there in the snow, and in the bleak fields spent the rest of their stay in Hancock. The Sibley tents, warmed with the "stove pipe " Sibley stoves, were well ventilated and a subsidence of fevers in the regiment was soon reported, though it was a sacrifice of comfort to ex- change thick walls for canvass tents for quarters. Many a se- vere cold night, the men sat up all night around the fires smok- ing and telling stories unable to sleep from the cold.
In every regiment there exists a class of men whose ideas of the difference between meum and tuum are very vague, especially if tuum applies to anything in the line of edibles, and said edibles belong either to the enemy or the camp sutler. The 19th had its fair share. The regulations in force in Banks's division checked jayhawking from farms and houses, but the sutler was always lawful prey. The volunteers liked to badger this frater- nity and hawk away dainties from its stands. Desperately hungry ones were seldom foiled in this ; but at Hancock the worst of them met their match. A sutler came to camp in a wagon boarded up and roofed, with only one opening, like a cir- cus ticket office. A stove inside kept the proprietor warm and he slept in there. The jayhawkers exhausted their ingenuity to find a weak spot in this concern. They tried to smoke the ped- dler out of his defenses by putting a board on the stove pipe. They tried to blow him up by dropping cartridges down the pipe. All was in vain, and they had to pay fair for all they obtained of that party.
On the 15th of January, one of the most celebrated cases in the records of Court Martials of the Northern army during the war was passed upon at the city of Frederick. There had been confined at the guard house in Frederick, since November, a number of deserters from the 19th, who ran away from camp claiming that their time was up. In order to test and finally and definitely settle the rights of the Government, under the
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STALKER'S CASE.
peculiar circumstances of the case, private Ralton B. Stalker, of Company A, one of the most intelligent of the deserters, was selected and sentenced, and the "findings of the Court Martial forwarded to Gen. McClellan for his consideration. It was not at first approved. The General issued an order on the subject, as follows :-
" HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, - WASHINGTON, January 15, 1862.
General Orders, No. 8.
I. Before a General Court Martial of which Major William Atterbury, 9th New York State Militia, is President, convened at the camp of Banks's Division, by virtue of Special Orders, No. 134, from these Headquarters, of November 7, 1861, was arraigned and tried Ralton B. Stalker, of Company A, 19th New York Volunteers, on the following charge and specification : CHARGE :- Desertion.
Specification :- " That Private Ralton B. Stalker of Company A, 19th Regiment New York Volunteers, having been duly en- listed into the service of the United States, did desert the same, on or about the 23d day of November, 1861. This at camp near Rockville, Maryland."
The record shows no plea to this charge and specification. It is to be taken as if the plea of "Not Guilty " were interposed.
After mature deliberation on the testimony adduced, the Court find the prisoner "Guilty " of the Specification and "Guilty " of the Charge, and thereupon did sentence him, the said Private Ralton B. Stalker, of Company A, 19th Regiment New York Volunteers, " To be dishonorably discharged the service of the United States, and then committed to the United States Peni- tentiary in the District of Columbia, at hard labor, for the term of two years and six months."
II. The Major-General commanding, after a careful exami- nation of the testimony shown by the record, is unable to con- firm the proceedings in this cause.
It appears, that in the month of April, 1861, the accused was enlisted for two years into the service of the State of New York. On the 22d of May, he was mustered into the service of the United States for three months. This term expired on the 22d of August, 1861. . No subsequent enlistment or mustering into the service of the United States was shown at the trial. It was in evidence, however, that he drew pay and rations after the ex- piration of the three months for which he was mustered into the service of the United States. Whether the receiving of pay, by the strictest construction of the 20th Article of War, can be in-
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
voked to extend a term of service beyond the original contract against the consent of the soldier is at least very questionable. There can be no doubt, that to exact any penalty by the aid of such a construction would be harsh in the extreme. As nothing was said in the Specification respecting such a ratification of the extension of the enlistment, but the case was put upon the due · enlistment of the accused, the evidence was clearly improper.
It is the opinion of the Major-General commanding, however, that no nicety of statement in the Charge and Specification could have warranted a primitive sentence on such testimony as this record discloses. The prisoner was entitled to his discharge on the 22d of August, 1861. He cannot be punished for de- serting in November, a service to which he did not belong.
The proceedings are disapproved. Private Ralton B. Stalker will be released from confinement and regularly discharged the service of the United States.
By Command of MAJOR-GENERAL MCCLELLAN.
S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant General."
A copy of the order was forwarded to private Stalker. Also, to the Generals of the army, to be read in their camps. But it was instantly seen that Gen. McClellan was mistaken and the majority of brigade commanders had the shrewdness to hold it back and suppress it. Promulgation of the order would have caused a large number of New York regiments, situated simi- larly with the 19th New York, to ask their immediate discharge from the United States service. Before many days had elapsed, the order was countermanded. But when Major-Gen. McClel- lan, with his splendid military education and powers of accurate reasoning, so misjudged as to the power of Government to hold the 19th regiment, after August 22d, what wonder is it that the men of that regiment, from whom the truth of the case and the law were kept back by cowardly politicians, themselves judged wrongfully of the same matter.
The missing link in the testimony in Stalker's case being sup- plied, Gen. McClellan countermanded his order, and hushed it up. Aiming at a total eradication of it, he issued a second order in the case, bearing date January 15th, entitled "General Orders, No. 8," intended as an entire substitute for it. It re- cited in the same language the facts of the trial set forth above, and then said :
"II. The evidence in this case is of the most interesting na- ture, and the question presented by the record yields in impor-
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STALKER'S CASE.
tance to none that has engaged the attention of the Major- General commanding.
It appears that the regiment, to which the prisoner belongs, was enlisted into the service of the State of New York, for the term of two years from some time in April, 1861, under a law of that State, of which the 3d Section is in the following words :- "Sec. 3. The officers and men of said force shall receive the same pay * and shall be liable at all times to be turned over to the service of the United States, on the order of the Governor, as part of the militia of this State, upon the re- quisition of the President of the United States. * * This Act was passed April 16, 1861. On the 22d of May, 1861, this regiment was mustered into the service of the United States for the term of three months, that being the extreme term for which at that time the President of the United States was au- thorized to make a requisition for the service of the militia. This term of three months expired, of course, on the 22d of August, 1861. But, on the 2d day of August, 1861, an order was issued from the office of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York, in the following terms : (Special Orders, No. 323, previously given.) This order was duly executed.
An impression existed in some minds that the term of three months, expiring on the 22d of August, 1861, was the only one for which this regiment was held in the service of the United States ; and under this mistaken notion, several, of whom the prisoner is one, had. treated their engagement as not existing. It is unnecessary to say, after what precedes, that it was part of the original contract of enlistment of New York State Militia, embodied under the Act of the 16th of April, 1861, that they should be transferred into the service of the United States, upon the requisition of the President. The terms, in which the 3d Section of the Act of April 16, 1861, were couched, show that it was expected that this requisition would be repeated, as soon as Congress should have enlarged the power of the National Executive. The 19th Regiment New York State Militia is there- fore subject to the same rules and discipline which govern other corps in the military service of the United States ; and this con- dition of things will exist until some days after April 16, 1863.
The prisoner is clearly guilty of desertion, and might have been sentenced to death under the Articles of War. The Court Martial has annexed to his conviction a milder sentence. The Major-General commanding perceives, in this lenity, evidence that the Court Martial gave full weight to the misapprehension as to the law under which the prisoner acted. On this head,
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19TH NEW-YORK INFANTRY.
however, there was much misconception. The record of this case, when first sent to these headquarters, was defective. It did not contain the order from the Governor of the State of New York, directing the transfer of this regiment to the service of the United States for the balance of the term of enlistment. It was even stated, not by any member of the Court Martial, that no such order had been made, and under the belief that no such order existed, this case was, in the first instance, erroneously decided at these headquarters. A full and perfect record has since been sent up, and it furnishes the evidence on which this order proceeds.
Nothing could be more calculated to demoralize a military body than such conduct as the accused stands convicted of. When a soldier wishes to lay before the Major-General com- manding any grievance under which he imagines that he labors, let him through the proper channel make his complaint. To all well founded complaints, an attentive ear will be given, and no known abuse will be allowed to remain unredressed. The same considerations which make the Major-General command- ing anxious to aid any subordinate, who, in a proper manner, seeks a redress of wrong, render him determined to vindicate by all due means the sacredness of military discipline. . In both cases he aims at promoting the good of the service. He has gone at great length in the explanation of this case, because it was necessary to correct misapprehensions widely spread and likely to do great mischief. No one, in a similar position with the prisoner, will, after the publication of this order, be able to plead ignorance to excuse his insubordination. The proceed- ings of the Court Martial in this case are confirmed. The prisoner will be dishonorably discharged from the service of the United States, will be conducted to Washington city under charge of a guard, and will there be delivered, with a copy of this order, to the Warden of the Penitentiary of the District of Columbia. ~ By Command of MAJOR-GENERAL MCCLELLAN.
S. WILLIAMS, Assistant-Adjutant-General."
Stalker went to Washington, as directed, and was in captivity there several months. He had the warmest sympathy of all who knew the facts. Through the intercession of Secretary Seward, a full and free pardon was then granted him, and he rejoined his comrades at Newbern, and served out the rest of his time faithfully.
The sentence of fourteen other deserters was read to the regi- ment at Hancock, January 26th. Confinement in the guard
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CHANGING THE NAME OF THE REGIMENT.
house, with six hours hard drill daily, wearing the placard "Deserter," was the punishment in most cases. These men were pardoned in March, upon the same powerful intercession as that which secured Stalker's release.
Gen. Williams on February Ist received from the War Depart- ment the order of the State of New York, recognizing the 19th New York Volunteers as a regiment of artillery, viz :-
"GENERAL HEADQUARTERS, STATE OF NEW YORK, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, ALBANY, December 30, 1861.
Special Orders, No. 584 .- In conformity with Special Orders, No. 326, from the War Department, dated December 11th, 1861, the 19th Regiment New York State Volunteers is hereby organized into an Artillery regiment, to be known and desig- nated as the 3d Regiment of New York Volunteer Artillery.
By order of the Commander-in-Chief.
THOMAS HILLHOUSE, Adjutant General."
Proclamation was made in the brigade. On the 17th, a fur- ther order was issued, directing the regiment, pursuant to telegram from the War Department, to repair to Washington immediately.
"In taking leave of the regiment," the order ran, "after nearly five months' service with it in the 3d brigade, the Briga- dier-General commanding desires to express to the officers and men his satisfaction with their good order and discipline and their marked improvement in drill ; and hopes that in the new arm of the service, to which they have been assigned, they may continue to merit the approval of their commanding officers."
A grand dress parade of the brigade was held that evening, in honor of the old 19th, after which the officers went down to Gen. Williams's headquarters, and paid him their farewell com- pliments. The General said that he was sorry to have the 19th go. It appeared to be the universal sentiment. Gen. Banks afterwards said he would rather have spared almost any other regiment, and if he had had it with him in Pope's campaign, that summer, he would not have lost the battle of Cedar Moun- tain.
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