USA > New York > Disaster, struggle, triumph. The adventures of 1000 "boys in blue," from August, 1862, to June, 1865 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
70
THE ADVENTURES OF
from their horses, made to the rear (quick time), 'to look after stragglers!' Some of their men went with them ; some brave boys remained, disgusted with the cowardly demonstrations of BARRAS, one of their Com- pany officers.+ The position the enemy then held was on the hill above us. His strength we knew not, but had no doubt of his superior numbers. The Lieutenant-Colonel called a few of us together. We held a council, and concluded to move to a good position and wait for reinforcements. We did so. No reinforcements came, but an order came to vacate Maryland Heights. And the 126th was the last to
leave it." 2d Lieutenant Munson, Company F, says : "Some of the enemy told us they thought we were regulars, we fired so low.}''
We have also full accounts of the transactions on Maryland Heights, by Lieutenant RICHARDSON, Com- pany D ; but we have made such free use of them in our own narrative that it would be superfluous to transcribe them here. We will only add to these accounts a solemn declaration, drawn up on the 11th of November, 1862, by the Captains of the Companies
+ One young fellow of Company A, Sergeant Wilson, seeing this dis- graceful conduct, and that twenty or thirty of his comrades had run with BARRAS, stepped out from the ranks and harangued the men; told them he was going to fight under Captain PHILLIPS and called on them to do so. Several men immediately joined him and ranged themselves in Captain PHILLIPS' Company.
# Extract from Captain WHEELER's diary, dated at Union Mills, Decem- ber 25: " Saw Captain PADDLEFORD and Major FITZGERALD to-day. They had just come from Harper's Ferry, where they were fortifying and built earthworks just where our breastworks were; they speak highly of our fighting there, as shown by the marks of the shots and the number of the dead."
71 .
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
in the 126th, and signed with his own hand, by every line officer of the Regiment who was present on Mary- land Heights on the memorable 13th of September. It was drawn out by articles in various newspapers, in which the 126th was made to bear the disgrace of the surrender of the heights and the consequent disaster at Harper's Ferry ; and especially by a newspaper report that they, in their absence, had been tried and con- demned by a military commission. This declaration was addressed to and printed in the leading news- papers of the northern States ; but the manliness of its tone and its evident truthfulness entitle it to a place here.
CAMP DOUGLAS, CHICAGO, ILL., - November 11, 1862.
Editors of
In several communications respecting the surrender of Harper's Ferry, the 126th Regiment New York Volunteers have been stigmatized as having acted in a shameful manner. That state- ment has now gained an importance, not hitherto belonging to it, from the report of the Harper's Ferry Commission, which declares, if newspaper accounts are to be credited, that the Regiment broke and disgracefully fled.
A regard for our own reputation, and the reputation of the men we command, demands that we shall no longer be silent under imputations equally injurious and unfounded.
We, therefore, all the line officers of the 126th Regiment of New York Volunteers now living who were present at the engagement on Maryland Heights, do declare, upon our honor as gentlemen and soldiers, that the following statements are true :
Ist. That, in the first assault, early in the morning, eight Com- panies of the 126th New York, with a part of the Ohio, were drawn up in the advance in line of battle on Maryland Heights, and, though in a position strengthened by no defenses either of
72
THE ADVENTURES OF
nature or of art, and exposed to the attack of a vastly superior force, did not retreat until an order to that effect was given. They then retired to the breastworks.
2d. That the whole Regiment was in the engagement at the breastworks excepting one Company; that no Company aban- doned those defenses before the entire Regiment did, excepting three Companies ordered to the left to repel a flank attack. This they did effectually.
3d. That, after the wounding of Colonel SHERRILL, no field or staff officer of our Regiment was present to our knowledge; that orders of the most contradictory character constantly followed one another; and that after the fall of our Colonel no field officers of any Regiment were seen by any one of us until we had fallen back from the breastworks at least three-quarters of a mile.
4th. That an order, unnecessary even if not criminal, to aban- don the breastworks was given by a member of Colonel FORD's staff to Captain PHILLIPS, who was appointed by our Colonel to the command of our left wing; that the breastworks could have been held, and, in our opinion, should have been held, for a long time, if not altogether, by the force there present, and that the order to abandon them was based upon the ground that the woods were to be shelled by our guns.
5th. That this order Captain PHILLIPS refused to communicate to the men until the abandonment of the position by the other Regiments rendered it no longer tenable.
Individuals may have fled previously, but neither the Regi- ment, nor any Company of it, left the breastworks until the 32d Ohio and the Garibaldi Guards (39th New York) had, in obe- dience to orders, retired from those defenses.
6th. That the Regiment then retreated in as good order as any other on the ground, was then drawn up in line of battle, and in that position remained unmolested until about three o'clock, when it received the command to leave the heights.
7th. That in the engagement on Maryland Heights the 126th New York lost more men in killed and wounded than all the other Regiments put together.
To the truth of the above statements we are willing to bear witness anywhere and everywhere.
73
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
However much the conduct of the Regiment may have been misrepresented by officers who ran early from the battle, and succeeded in first reaching the reporters, or by officers interested in covering their want of courage or capacity by laying to our charge the blame of a defense badly planned and badly main- tained, all we ask of our countrymen is justice, that having done. as much and suffered more than any other Regiment at Harper's Ferry, we should not bear the odium of a result for which we are not responsible.
WM. A. COLEMAN, Captain Company B.
R. A. BASSETT, 1st Lieutenant Company B. WINFIELD SCOTT, Captain Company C. T. R. LOUNSBURY, 1st Lieutenant Company C. P. D. PHILLIPS, Captain Company D.
C. A. RICHARDSON, 1st Lieutenant Company D. S. F. LINCOLN, 2d Lieutenant Company D. HENRY D. KIPP, Captain Company E. JOHN H. BROUGH, 2d Lieutenant Company E. ISAAC SHIMER, Captain Company F. IRA MUNSON, Ist Lieutenant Company F. T. E. MUNSON, 2d Lieutenant Company F. JOHN F. AIKINS, Captain Company G. SANFORD H. PLATT, 2d Lieutenant Company G.
* O. J. HERENDEEN, Captain Company H. BENJ. F. LEE, Captain Company I. GIDEON SKAATS, 1st Lieutenant Company I. CHAS. M. WHEELER. Captain Company K. H. C. LAWRENCE, Ist Lieutenant Company K.
NOTE .- The foregoing protest was sent for publication to the following papers : The New York Times, Tribune and Herald, Rochester Democrat and American, and Rochester Union and Advertiser, New York; the Chicago Tribune, Times, Journal and Post, Illinois; the Cincinnati Commercial, and the papers of the counties of Ontario, Yates and Seneca. It was published in these papers, excepting the New York Tribune, which libelled us through its correspondent, but refused to give us even a hearing.
* Captain HERENDEEN's name is annexed to the protest in all the printed statements. He, therefore, must have assented to it, and ordered his name. for the published statement, though it is not signed to the original draft.
74
THE ADVENTURES OF
These statements and narratives give, we think, a tolerably satisfactory answer to the question, who is responsible for the abandonment of Maryland Heights ? Still a few additional remarks may not be superfluous. First, it is evident that Colonel MILES, knowing the importance of holding those heights in order to check the advance of an enemy from the eastward, should have bent all his energies to strengthen and defend them. To allow an enemy to get possession of them, and then expect to hold Harper's Ferry, would argue not only a want of the first principles of military science, but absolute imbecility of intellect. He had a large force, many of whom had seen service, and many of whom were engineers, and he was well sup- plied with the materiel of war. Intrenching and other tools were not wanting. A road practicable for artillery up the heights need only have been the work of hours. Trees could have been felled, bushes cleared away, breastworks and slashings of trees could have been made wherever needed. But what was his course ? Colonel FORD, a politician by trade, and with little or no military experience, and withal of a most cowardly disposition, was put in command of the heights. Even he, as he avers, was not supplied with. intrenching tools or axes ; neither does it appear clear that he ever applied for any. Not till the enemy are actually upon him does he send for reinforcements ; and MILES grudgingly sends him one Regiment only. During the action on the heights, do we find him in the midst of it, directing the movements of those who being raw recruits, must have been supposed in need
75
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
of skillful superior officers ? On the contrary, it does not appear that he ascended to the ridge of the moun- tain at all. A brave officer of the 32d Ohio, Colonel FORD's own Regiment, told Surgeon C. S. HOYT that FORD never went to the top of the mountain where the breastworks were, either before or after the battle. On the west slope of the mountain, near MCGRATH'S battery, he preserved that life so important to the defense, intrusting the control of matters on the heights to a venerable gentleman with a long white beard, who, lately a civilian, had just been created a Major. This was the gentleman, Major HEWITT, who confessed before the commission that he gave the mys- terious order in the name of Colonel FORD, to retreat from the breastworks. He stated before the commis- sion that he did this in compliance with a general order from MILES, that if they were hard pushed, they should spike and roll down the guns, and abandon the heights. By examining the circumstances, how- ever, we may form a more satisfactory conclusion. He, too, had a life to preserve, as precious as Colonel FORD's. Therefore, while the fighting was going on at the breastworks, he remained in the vicinity of the "lookout, " behind trees and bushes. When the movement of the enemy toward our rear was attempted and repulsed, rather a lively flight of bullets must have disturbed the privacy of the venerable Major. Skulkers, too, may have passed him on their way to the rear, and given him startling accounts of flanking movements, &c. The wounded officers and men were also borne past him ; till the brave Major thought the
76 THE ADVENTURES OF ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
moment indicated by his superior officer had surely come ; and he gave the order to retreat.
Thus miserably planned and executed was the " defense of a position on which depended the safety of 11,000 men and immense stores of ordnance and supplies, the loss of which was irreparable to the Union, and an incalculable gain to its enemies." The story of Acting Adjutant BARRAS and other skulkers, told at MCGRATH'S Battery, found easy credence ; it was to be expected that raw troops would be the first to run ; and the recreant officers, finding it a conve- nient screen for their own cowardice and neglect of duty, gave it wide circulation. We trust the simple narratives we have given, written without collusion, and yet agreeing in important particulars, will be believed, and will do tardy justice to these raw recruits. To us, the wonder is that men untrained to arms, many having been only once or twice practiced in loading and firing, and facing an enemy for the first time in their lives, should have shown such pluck and coolness.
HAPTER PTE
y J.
UR troops having all been withdrawn from the heights at about half-past four P. M., the troops of the enemy in Pleasant Valley were advanced. COBB'S Brigade took possession of Sandy Hook with little resistance, the Union forces, 1,500 in number, having abandoned it on the 11th, leaving several hun- dred new muskets and other stores. The enemy now had complete command of the roads leading east from the Ferry. JACKSON had, as we have related, driven in the garrisons at Winchester and Martinsburg ; COBB that of Sandy Hook ; KERSHAW and BARKSDALE those on Maryland Heights ; like sheep to a slaughter pen, all were driven to that fatal spot where they must surrender or die. Had there been a preconcerted plan to get as many of our troops together as possible, and deliver them bound hand and foot to the enemy, it could not have been better arranged. And FRANKLIN, with his army of 15,000 men, was less than "five miles away !"
It will be remembered that we had two Brigades on Bolivar Heights, facing eastward, to repel the advance of JACKSON, with a Battery at each extremity. Colo- nel MILES' headquarters were in Bolivar, as was the hospital and another Battery.
78
THE ADVENTURES OF
The morning of the 14th was employed by the enemy in cutting a road to the top of Maryland Heights, practicable for artillery ; and by two o'clock they had pieces in position which threw shells into Bolivar. The rebel General WALKER, who had reached his assigned position on the evening of the 13th, opened fire from Loudon Heights, and STONEWALL JACKSON, who never failed to be "up to time" when he was needed, had Batteries planted at many points. But, toward evening of this day McLAWS, who kept himself every moment informed, by spies, couriers, signal parties, &c., of the condition of affairs in his neighborhood, heard what to us would have been the joyful tidings, that " the enemy," as they called it, that is, FRANKLIN's army, had forced Cramp- ton's Gap (the southern pass through South Moun- tain), and was entering Pleasant Valley, whence it could easily relieve Harper's Ferry, or assail their newly won position on Maryland Heights. This news filled the rebel commander with anxiety. He instantly ordered reinforcements to General COBB, in Pleasant Valley, and was making dispositions to meet the changed aspect of affairs, when, fortunately for him, but most unfortunately for the garrison, night came on and checked our advancing forces.
All the evening of the 13th our men had seen the signalling of the rebels from the various heights, and knew they were concentrating their efforts for a final attack on the doomed garrison. On the morning of the 14th the signalling was continued, and Batteries were seen to be planted. And our troops were entirely
79
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE
unprotected and shelterless. Seeing this, the 9th Ver- mont, the 126th New York and Captain POTTS' Bat- tery set to work at about half-past ten in the morning, and constructed a rude work of logs and earth, stuff- ing in tents, clothing, army blankets, anything that would break the force of a ball; and dug a sort of trench or line of rifle pits. But for this precaution, which seems to have been taken without orders from the superior authorities, many more would have per- ished in the terrible storm of shot and shell that was afterward poured in upon them. Just as this extem- porized work was finished, and our men were prepar- ing their well-earned dinner, the first shot from Loudon Heights came plunging down among the cavalry and Quartermaster's teams, at the foot of Bolivar Heights, causing great commotion in that quarter. Some of the shells reached Bolivar Heights, but from so great a distance that their motion was slow, and they could be dodged. Our batteries replied with great spirit.
" One shell exploded a caisson on the north end of Bolivar Heights, and sent up a beautiful cylindrical column of white smoke, sixty or seventy feet high. From Maryland Heights came shell which exploded before they reached us, showing a fleecy white cloud with a spiteful flash in its center, and giving our boys their first experience of ' bombs bursting in air.' "*
All the afternoon, dense clouds of dust indicated the approach of the enemy on the Halltown and Charles- town roads, driving in our cavalry from the west. They
* Lieutenant RICHARDSON's diary.
80
THE ADVENTURES OF
attempted to place a Battery on the Halltown road, but shots from our guns dispersed them. " They then shelled the woods in our front, and our cavalry rushed out wildly, like frightened birds."* About five there was a gleam of hope among our ill-fated troops that succor was approaching. Firing had been heard all day toward the east and northeast; and now two parallel lines of soldiers and cavalry, with sections of Batteries were seen advancing on the two roads near the Potomac ; might they not be our troops ? But soon came a check to any such hopes, in the shape of shells from the advancing bodies, to start up any game that might be concealed in the woods and ravines around us. At night the enemy advanced close in our front, driving in our pickets after a slight skirmish, from the low ridge and shallow valley at the foot of Bolivar Heights. On the left, on the little hill near the Shenandoah, which our men had cleared of woods on Sunday, we had two Regiments posted. The enemy charged on them with that characteristic yell, which afterward became so familiar to our ears, but which then sounded like the yelp of an animal. Our forces there were driven in, and that position was taken and two Batteries placed there.
It was at this time that the cavalry, amounting to about 2,000, declared they would not stay to be sold to the enemy, but would escape at all hazards. MILES angrily forbade them to leave. For reply, they dashed out of the place, cut their way out by the Sharpsburg road, capturing 100 prisoners and a rebel wagon train,
* Lieutenant RICHARDSON's diary.
81
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
and escaped into Pennsylvania. But for this piece of gallantry, they too would have been victims of MILES' stupidity or treachery.
Gloomily the night settled down upon the soldiers. They lay down in ranks as they had stood ; every man by his fellow's side, grasping the arms that all felt were now useless; and most true it was that "they bitterly thought of the morrow." "Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left of them, cannon in front of them," aye, and cannon in their rear ; every height crowned with guns, and all pointed toward the fatal hill and plain where our army slept, or waked, through that long night. A post fortified by nature as few places are; furnished with all the munitions of war; and with 11,500 brave, earnest hearts to guard it, was about to be yielded up with scarcely a struggle, by a miserable sympathizer with secession. Especially was this a bitter night to the 126th. Fresh from the recruiting camps where every- thing had been said to excite their patriotism and urge them to quit themselves like men; they had found themselves compelled, on the 13th, to abandon a posi- tion that they felt quite capable of defending; and now, instead of winning glory on the battle field, they were to be shot down in their ranks, with little oppor- tunity of resistance; or, what was infinitely worse, they might be carried to southern prisons, where, in torture and famine, their lives and their memories would rot. Bitter as these reflections were, they would have been far more so, could these fated men have foreseen that almost the whole blame and disgrace of
82
THE ADVENTURES OF
that disastrous day, the 13th September, 1862, was to rest on the 126th Regiment New York Volunteers.
If the morning dawned drearily on our garrison, it was not without its anxieties to the rebel commander. We have said that he knew what our soldiers did not know, that MCCLELLAN's victorious army was at hand, having forced the passes of the South Moun- tain. His duty was three-fold : to face the enemy coming through Crampton's gap ; to prevent the Union garrison from escaping and joining their friends at the gap; and to hold the Weverton pass, at the south end of the South Mountain. He withdrew the Brigades of KERSHAW and BARKSDALE, except one Regiment of the latter and two pieces of artillery, from Maryland Heights. Expecting an advance of MCCLELLAN's army through Pleasant Valley on the 15th, he made a show of opposition there, drawing a line of troops, which he confesses was a thin one, across that valley. But, as he says, "they did not advance, nor did they offer any opposition to my troops taking position across the valley." We can hardly account for the non-advance of FRANKLIN'S force on the morning of the 15th. Its van was thrown forward into Pleasant Valley the evening before, and if it had pushed onward toward Maryland Heights on that fatal morning, it seems as if they might have been recaptured. But this was a part of McCLEL- LAN'S army, which had a habit of stopping to rumi- nate on its laurels after a victory. .
The morning of the 15th showed still more clearly to the 126th and the other Regiments how miserable
.
83
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
had been the mismanagement of the commanding offi- cer. Not only had the heights, which were the key to the whole position, been insufficiently defended and unnecessarily abandoned, but even the little triangle between the two rivers and Bolivar Heights seemed as if left to be taken possession of by the rebels. Into this place, as to a stronghold, had come the garrisons of Winchester, Martinsburg and Sandy Hook ; here the new Regiments had been brought as if to defend it to the last extremity ; and yet, except the hastily constructed works which some of the troops threw up without orders, there was not a shadow of a fortifica- tion. A good wagon road lay at the foot of the bluffs, along the Shenandoah, unguarded ; the small. hill which gave the enemy so merciless a position for- their guns was insufficiently defended and easily taken ; no guard at the ravines prevented them from: ascending the bluffs ; all seemed arranged for the accommodation of the assailants instead of the secu- rity of the assailed.
As the mists arose from the mountains, the rebels began firing from the Batteries they had got into posi- tion the night before. The course of the shells from the heights of Loudon and Maryland could be traced by the sound before they struck, but the Battery on the little hill threw shells that could not be dodged. As one of the officers says, "the flash, the whistling. shriek and the explosion came all at once." Then . another Battery opened from an eminence across the Shenandoah of about same elevation as the plateau of Bolivar. These were effective in our rear.
6
84
THE ADVENTURES OF
Our Batteries replied with spirit, killing and wound- ing, as we knew afterward, several of their men and some officers. Soon came shells from the guns on the Halltown road, our left front, from another on our right front, and from a third directly in front. "The Batteries on Maryland and Loudon Heights got our exact range, and sent shot and shell tearing in among us." Two in succession fall in Company B, killing seven and wounding others. One drops in Company H, tearing off the head of the 2d Lieutenant and wounding many privates. In Company D, one is killed and one wounded. But we cannot follow the sickening details. Shells from all directions crash in among the living masses. Our Batteries reply till the long range ammunition gives out, and Colonel TRIM- BLE, by order of Colonel MILES, displays a white flag. Our Batteries cease firing, and soon the enemy ceases also. But before TRIMBLE with his white "' rag," as the soldiers call it, can reach the Battery on the left, it fires two shots, on which the enemy opens again. MILES leaves his covert, and rushes down on foot with an aid, and when near Captain PHILLIPS, Company D, orders him to raise something, anything white, in token of surrender. PHILLIPS says, "For -'s sake, Colonel, don't surrender us. Don't you hear the signal guns ? Our forces are near us. Let us cut our way out and join them." MILES . replies that the situation of things renders this impos- sible. He says, too, "they will blow us out of this in half an hour." PHILLIPS still expostulates ; says that if, even with the loss of a thousand men, the
85
ONE THOUSAND BOYS IN BLUE.
place with its invaluable stores can be held till relief comes, it ought to be done. MILES said, "Do you know who I am ?" PHILLIPS said, "I do; you are Colonel MILES," and turned to walk away, when a fragment of shell struck MILES' leg, tearing the flesh from the bone. MILES fell, and PHILLIPS was heard to say, "Good !" "and the rest felt it if they did not say it." It was difficult to find a man who would take him to the hospital. Captain LEE, of Company A, while attempting to raise him, was hit by a piece of shell. This was a little after eight o'clock, A. M. MILES was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The white flag in Colonel TRIMBLE's hand, and one on our works, attracted the notice of the enemy, as did the cessation of our fire. At a quarter to nine their firing had ceased altogether. So fell Harper's Ferry.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.