USA > New York > Disaster, struggle, triumph. The adventures of 1000 "boys in blue," from August, 1862, to June, 1865 > Part 6
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General JACKSON rode along the union lines drawn up on Bolivar Heights. Generals A. P. HILL and JULIUS WHITE arranged terms of surrender, which were agreed on at ten A. M. Arms, accoutre- ments, ammunition, military stores, everything, were turned over to the enemy. SWINTON says: "JACKSON received the capitulation of 12,000 men, and came into possession of seventy-three pieces of artillery, 13,000 small arms, and a large quantity of military stores. But leaving the details to be arranged by his Lieuten- ant (General HILL), the swift-footed JACKSON turned his back on the prize he had secured, and headed toward Maryland to unite with LEE, who was eagerly awaiting his arrival at Sharpsburg."
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The officers being allowed to keep their side arms, and the garrison their private property, the troops were paroled ; engaging not to serve against the con- federates until exchanged.
Thus have we stated the bare facts. But as we are writing for those who are deeply interested in all that concerns the Regiment, we will go a little more into detail.
There was, of course, much curiosity among our men to see the redoutable STONEWALL JACKSON and his troops. Many anecdotes had circulated among them of his stern, inflexible discipline, combined with an almost fanatic devotion. Believing himself heaven- led, he pressed forward in any enterprise with an unfaltering purpose, and his ardor communicated itself to his troops. If he had faith in himself, they had unbounded faith in him. Immediately after the sur- render, his troops, who had been massed on Bolivar plateau, were drawn up in line. JACKSON, on a "clay-bank " colored (that is cream-colored) horse, in plain dress like a common cavalry-man, rode along their line, greeted by yells and cries of enthusiasm, the men tossing their hats high into the air; to which he replied by lifting his cap as he rode along. The men astonished our soldiers by the poverty of their clothing and equipments, their sallow, hungry faces, their long, tangled hair and slouched hats, and their gaunt frames which seemed nothing but bone and muscle covered with a bronzed skin. Officers and men were alike ragged, filthy and covered with vermin. The officers said it was impossible to prevent this ;
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and so it undoubtedly was among men accustomed to depend for their every personal comfort on the service of slaves ; men who held labor to be a degradation, even if it was the labor of keeping themselves clean. (They were accustomed to say, they could tell "a Yank" by the brightness of his musket. Their own
were always rusty.) Our men wondered less at the rapidity with which they traveled from place to place, when they saw that they were unencumbered with knapsacks and that they carried no tents. A blanket, haversack and canteen; that was their whole equip- ment except their arms. "Like greyhounds " they scoured the country, snatching and eating their food when and where they could get it, and going without when none was to be had. Ears of soft, green corn, roasted and eaten with a little salt, of which many of them had small bags preserved very carefully, were often their only food for days. Desertions must have been frequent, for the smallness of their Regiments impressed our men. They complimented our raw troops on their fighting on Maryland Heights, and said that "three Brigades were opposed to us, and that they had never seen better firing."
JACKSON soon left with a large part of his force to join LEE at Sharpsburg. But the men who remained had much talk with our troops about the war. They treated the paroled prisoners with personal respect, but insisted that our conduct of the war had been a series of failures and would continue to be so; and that all they wanted was to be let alone. They did not want our territory ; why should we invade theirs ?
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This was the burden of each man's argument ; and undoubtedly the motive that was continually urged on them by their leaders was, that they were fighting to defend their property, their homes and their families, from the ravages of a brutal invader.
And now ensued a scene which to our liberty-loving young northerners was in the highest degree revolting.
During the long sojourn of the union army at Har- per's Ferry, large numbers of slaves had escaped into our lines. The old and helpless and the little children, as well as able-bodied men and women, who thought the hour had come for which they had prayed and longed through many a weary year, the hour of free- dom, had gathered under the flag which to them was its starry symbol. Alas, in surrendering Harper's Ferry to the rebels, MILES re-surrendered these hap- less human beings to the slavery from which they fondly hoped they had escaped forever ! Throughout that dismal 15th, fierce-eyed, lank, half-savage men, armed with long, cruel whips, rushed in to claim "their property ;" and with oaths and curses, drove before them from their new-found liberty into bondage, the helpless, despairing blacks. The crack of the whip, its cuts across the shoulders of the women and children who flagged; the anguish, the speechless misery of those who lost in a moment the hope of their lifetime and almost their faith in a just God, formed a scene never to be forgotten .. 'And it is dreadful to think that just such a scene ensued at each similar reverse which our army experienced !*
* An incident which occurred about this time, shows that at least one chattel could take care of himself without the aid of a master. JIM, a col-
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At about nine A. M. on Tuesday, the garrison of Harper's Ferry left Bolivar Heights and took up its line of march for Annapolis, the men under their respective officers and in order. The sick and wounded remained in the general hospital under charge of Surgeon VOSBURGH and Assistant Surgeon HOYT. The place was held by rebel cavalry, com- manded at first by General STUART, and afterward by Colonel THOMAS. They held the place as the right flank of their army during the battle at Antietam ; and evacuated it Friday evening, September 19th. Surgeon HOYT states that the sick and wounded were kindly treated by rebel officers ; and protected amid the raids of citizens who thronged in, in pur- suit of escaped slaves. The rebels destroyed almost everything of a public nature. On Tuesday as our men were leaving, the drilling into the railroad bridge preparatory to blowing it up, was going on. The pontoon bridge, cars and government buildings, were destroyed on Thursday. On Saturday the van of MCCLELLAN's army, approaching from Pleasant Valley, entered the place; the enemy having as we have stated, departed the previous night.
ored "boy," one of the refugees in Harper's Ferry, had been employed on Bolivar Heights as a servant by Captain PHILLIPS and Lieutenant RICH- ARDSON. When, on Sunday morning, it became evident that a surrender of the post was inevitable, these officers gave JIM a musket with ammunition and some necessaries, and told him he might escape if he could. Early on Monday morning, he contrived to cross the Potomac, crawled through the woods on Maryland Heights, and as his gun was an encumbrance, threw it away; wormed his way through the rebel pickets, and afterward through our pickets at South Mountain, and so on through Frederick to Monocacy Station, where Lieutenant R. found him when on his way to Annapolis with the paroled prisoners. Once he had been seen and fired on by the rebels, but escaped them.
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It may be proper to say a few words here of him who was the immediate cause of all this disgrace and disaster, Colonel MILES. We would not needlessly dis- turb the ashes of even the dishonored dead ; but when necessary to the vindication of the living, it is a false delicacy that would withhold the truth. The brave line officers and enlisted men of the 126th fell after- ward, on many battle-fields, with the disgraceful sen- tence branded on their hearts, "Harper's Ferry cowards !" A few, and but a few, and some of them scarred and maimed, have survived the many battles in which they afterward fought gloriously ; and they are compelled to read, in a history intended for immor- tality, these words : "Colonel E. SHERRILL, 126th New York Volunteers, being severely wounded, his Regiment broke and fled in utter rout, and the remain- ing Regiments soon followed the example, alleging an order to retreat from Major HEWITT, who denied hav- ing given it .* They were rallied after running a short distance, and re-occupied part of the ground they had so culpably abandoned, but did not regain their breast- work, and of course left the enemy in a commanding position." [The accuracy of the whole account is exemplified by a sentence which follows : "At two o' clock the next morning, FORD, without being farther assailed, abandoned the heights, spiking his guns," &c. The heights, according to all the accounts, rebel and Union, were abandoned at four and a half, P. M., on the 13th, the day of the fight at the breastwork.
* Major HEWITT acknowledged before the Commission that he gave the order, under instructions from MILES that, if very hard pushed, he should spike his guns and retreat to Bolivar Heights.
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McLAWS says : "By four and a half, P. M., we had entire possession of the heights."]
But a careful examination of all the accounts seems to prove that to MILES, and not to the 126th, was chargeable the disgraceful abandonment of Maryland Heights, as well as the surrender of Harper's Ferry. He made no examination, either in person or by his engineers, of the heights, and directed no fortifications. He put in command there a scheming politician, utterly unacquainted with military science, and gave him no instructions to examine or fortify the position. He supplied him neither with intrenching tools (except ten axes) nor with Batteries ; nor with troops, except his own Regiment and a few Marylanders of doubtful loyalty, who had fled to the heights from some unknown quarter. Knowing that both armies, the confederates and our own, were approaching, he made no attempt to inform himself of the movements of either ; (whereas the enemy had signal parties on every height, and knew every movement of friend and foe.) When, on the 12th, he found that the garrison at Sandy Hook was driven in, and that FORD would immediately be attacked, he grudgingly dispatched a Regiment of perfectly raw recruits to his assistance ; but scarcely had they started from camp when they were unaccountably recalled, and marched back to Bolivar Heights, where they were detained some hours, giving the enemy time to bring up a large force from Pleasant Valley to the top of the mountain, and then they were ordered to the heights again. He ordered FORD, if too hard pushed, to spike his guns and aban-
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don the heights ; instead of commanding him to hold them " if he had to withdraw every man from Bolivar to do it."
But a defense has been set up that he interpreted too literally HALLECK's order to hold Harper's Ferry to the last extremity. (This is supposing him to be a fool ; for any sane man could see that if Maryland Heights were taken, Harper's Ferry must fall.) But tak- ing even this view, how was that post itself defended ? A few Batteries were placed here and there, and some trees cleared from the bluffs, but not a breastwork, not a trench, not a rifle-pit was made by order of Colonel MILES, during the whole siege. When the cavalry, on the 14th, resolved to cut their way out, MILES sternly forbade them: "He paroled, on the thirteenth, sixteen rebel prisoners, authorizing them to 4 pass out of our lines into those of the enemy." "Another rebel, an officer named ROUSE, who had been captured and escaped, being retaken, was allowed a private interview with MILES, and thereupon paroled to go without our lines. He, still under parole, appeared in arms at the head of his men, among the first to enter our lines after the surrender !"'
Looking at all the circumstances, does it not appear as if the enemy were allowed, nay almost invited, to bring every engine of destruction to bear upon the devoted garrison, on the fatal 15th, in order that the surrender might seem to be unavoidable? And it was unavoidable. Certainly, under the circumstances, MILES was obliged to raise the white flag. He and the garrison were utterly at the mercy of the enemy.
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Death for all, or surrender, was the alternative. It was true, as MILES said, "they would all be blown out of that in half an hour." If his plan really was what his conduct indicated, he had gained his pur- pose. GREELEY, in his work, from which we have quoted, calls him either a fool or a traitor. We say, what Colonel STEVENS said of him to Colonel RICH- ARDSON, at the first Bull Run battle, "he was DRUNK."
He perished miserably. After his fearful wound, he was borne to the hospital, and three of our surgeons watched him alternately, an hour at a time, and did all in their power to alleviate his agony, until his death. He died in torture unutterable. His body was placed in a rude coffin (the best that could be obtained) and carried to Baltimore. His spirit went to its dread audit.
A dashing sensational writer in the New York Times, of September, 1862, DAVID JUDD by name, pretends to give an account of the engagement on Maryland Heights. His description is just such a mixture of truth and error as might be expected from one who confesses his position to have been at MCGRATH'S Battery (where, at all events, he had good company), more than a mile from the scene of action, and sepa- rated from it by a dense wood. We will criticize some of his statements. He says " the enemy tried to flank us on the right, but were repulsed by a handful of Maryland men." The right of our position was a precipitous rocky slope, and quite unassailable by the enemy. "Colonel SHERRILL," he says, "dismounting
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from his horse, and with a loaded revolver in each hand," &c. Colonel SHERRILL was not mounted while on the heights, except on the logs of the breastworks, and did not dismount from them until shot. However, at the distance of a mile and a quarter, and through a perspective of thick forest and underbrush, the sapient correspondent is excusable for mistaking a log for a charger. He says, "the enemy succeeding in turning our left flank, we were obliged to fall back for some distance," &c. The enemy did not succeed in turning our left flank, while we were at the breast- works, but were repulsed with the loss of many men. He says, "First Lieutenant SAMUEL BARRAS, Acting Adjutant of the 126th, showed so much coolness while endeavoring to rally his wavering companies, as to attract the attention of Colonel MILES." Adjutant BARRAS being mostly at the Battery, or the spring near it, during the action, had for companions this correspondent and several superior officers who should have been on the heights. How much coolness he showed while there is better known to this correspond- ent and those officers than to the brave young recruits who were so green as to imagine it their duty to fight the enemy, and not seek personal safety beyond the reach of bullets.
He is right in one statement : "Who gave the order for evacuation, I am unable to say ; but every soldier was ready to stigmatize its author as a coward or a traitor." But he is in fault when he adds : "And yet it may have been best, under the circumstances. Had more troops been drawn from Bolivar Heights,
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for the defense of the large guns, our position there might have been so much weakened that we could not repel an attack in that direction." Our artillery on Maryland Heights, if properly managed, could have checked the advance of the enemy to Bolivar Heights, as effectually as it did the May preceding.
This correspondent is more correct in his account of what followed. He says : "Sunday morning came, but with it no signs of the enemy. Our guns and camps on the mountain remained just as we left them." [A slight error. A detachment of the Garibaldi Guards and Vermont troops went up on Sunday and brought away the light guns that were left on the heights.] One rifled six-pounder and one twelve- pounder Napoleon guarded the bridge, and prevented an attack from Sandy Hook. Colonel TRIMBLE's Brig- ade, consisting of the 32d and 60th Ohio, the 125th and 126th New York, 9th Vermont and RIGBY'S Bat- tery, with a detachment of Maryland troops, occupied the extreme left. Hour after hour passed, until two o'clock, when they opened a furious fire from Loudon and Maryland Heights and Sandy Hook with Howit- zers. Citizens and soldiers sought shelter where they could. Our artillery replied with much spirit, Cap- tains MCGRATH and GRAHAM, of the 5th Artillery, silencing the Loudon Batteries. The enemy opened two more guns on the Shepardstown and a full Battery on the Charleston roads. Heavy cannonading was brought to bear on us from five different points. Yet we held our own manfully, until it closed at sunset. About dusk the enemy in our front opened a musketry
.
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fire on our left, replied to by the 32d Ohio, 9th Ver- mont and 1st Maryland. It continued some time, when we were obliged to contract our lines, the rebels having turned our left. flank. An attempt, at about eight o'clock, to storm RIGBY'S Battery, which did fatal execution (among the enemy), signally failed. Our men slept on their arms. During the night the 125th New York fell back to a ravine nearly at right angles to our line of defense, and the 9th Vermont changed position so as to support RIGBY's Battery. The enemy opened fire on Bolivar Heights at five the next morning, which was replied to until our long range ammunition gave out. Their Batteries were so arranged as to enfilade us completely. To hold out longer seemed madness. A murmur of disapprobation ran along the lines when it was found we had surren- dered. Captain MCGRATH burst into tears, and said, ' Boys, we've got no country now.' Other officers were equally grieved, and the soldiers were enraged. Yet, what else could be done ? The rebel Batteries had opened on us from seven different directions.
" I afterward learned from rebel officers that the forces beleaguering us were not far short of 100,000 ; probably about 80,000. General D. H. HILL's army, consisting of several Divisions, was posted on Mary- land Heights; WALKER, with several Brigades, on Loudon. Those directly in front (west) of us were commanded by STONEWALL JACKSON and A. P. HILL. "As soon as the terms of surrender were completed, A. P. HILL and JACKSON rode into town ; old STONE- WALL dressed in the coarsest of homespun, and dirty
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at that ; in appearance no way to be distinguished from the mongrel, barefoot crew who follow his for- tunes. I had heard much of the decayed appearance of the rebel soldiers ; but such a looking crowd ! Ireland, in her worst straits, could present no parallel. Yet they glory in their shame. The articles surrend- ered were many guns, and six days' rations for 12,000 men. But few horses were taken, the cavalry having secured them."
Some remarks in a letter from Lieutenant SEAMANS, written just after the surrender, are so much to the point, that, at the risk of repetition, we will make brief extracts :
" As near as I can understand the geography of the country, the only approach to Maryland Heights from Frederick (he means from Pleasant Valley) is through Solomon's Gap, a few miles north of the lookout. This is a very narrow ravine, and easily defended. The rebel forces commenced pressing through this some time on Wednesday (Thursday ?), and nothing was done to check their advance until Friday. * On the 14th Loudon Heights was occupied with a rebel Battery, where we should have had one. There we had been idle for two weeks, knowing the enemy was at Winchester, because our forces had evacuated it ; and then the rebels advanced upon the south side of the Shenandoah with their battery, and secured a splendid position ; one we could and should have had without opposition five days before. By this you can see, knowing the position of the ferry and the heights on the east and south, that they had two as formidable
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places as nature could make, and I assure you they were well used.
" While our forces were on the heights, Friday after- noon, General WHITE was also retreating from Mar- tinsburg, before a heavy force, and supposing MILES had, from his long familiarity with the place, a per- fect knowledge of its strong and weak points, he gave up the command to him. Saturday passed away, and on Sunday we had the fire from the position we were forced to abandon to them, and from Loudon Heights, and three batteries on the Martinsburg road. *
"'Twas a strange scene for a Sabbath day. Our own Batteries were belching forth fire and smoke, and missiles of death. * *
* With the neighing of horses, the confusion of orders, the discharge of our artillery, and the hissing and screeching of shot and shell discharged at us, 'twas a strange medley for a Sabbath day's worship. That night we lay uncovered in our cold wet trenches. Our acting Brigadier, TRIMBLE, requested MILES to let us cut our way out, but was peremptorily refused. The Colonel of the cavalry also made the same request, and he was refused ; but in disobedience to orders, the cavalry did cut their way out safely. We could have followed without heavy loss. And now to show the full measure of iniquity * * *
On Friday night I was officer of the whole line of pickets, about one and one-half miles in extent. Station No. 1 was on the Martinsburg road, about one mile out ; there I had twenty-five men. Station No. 2 was inside that, at four corners where the road turns to go to Win-
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chester ; and still inside this I had some twenty-five smaller stations, running from the corner of the camp to the west half a mile, then turning south and extending to the railroad leading to Winchester, and three stations on the Winchester railroad about one- fourth of a mile. About two o'clock on Friday, eight paroled rebel prisoners were sent to station No. 2, where they should have gone, and there having no pass from Colonel MILES they were sent back again. After they were passed to this post, they had seen all our pickets that were on the route to Winchester, and therefore could have done us no further damage by being passed through that station after receiving their
pass. Instead of this, Colonel MILES, after giving them a proper pass, sent them the whole length of the picket line to the west, and so down to the railroad, past all the pickets, to Winchester. And now for the result : On Sunday night, within that same picket line, there was a battery planted that did fearful exe- cution," etc., etc. * * * Then follows an account of the fearful shelling Sunday morning.
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was a sad march for the paroled Regiments from Harper's Ferry to Annapolis. It was a retrograde movement, which is always unplea- sant ; their destination was unknown to them; they were disappointed men. After enlisting with bright anticipations of serving through the war, they were, after three weeks service, and from no fault of their own, prisoners on parole, to be sent they knew not whither. That one hundred-mile march was a long and weary one. With no provisions but the two day's rations allowed by the enemy, and two more received at Monocacy, which consisted of "hard tack " and uneatable "live bacon," and compelled to sleep at night on the ground, in one instance where a cavalry fight had occurred a day or two before, and the effluvium from dead animals was pestilential, their condition was not enviable. On the 17th they heard the guns at Antietam, and saw Regiments marching off briskly to the scene of action. But for MILES' stupidity or faithlessness they might still have been at Harper's Ferry, relieved by the army of the Potomac ; perhaps driving the enemy back into Virginia ; per- haps preventing the battle of Antietam. These reflec- tions did not sweeten the long toil of marching. On
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Thursday, the 18th, they reached the Monocacy, and had the relief of bathing in its cool, clear waters, after which they marched to Annapolis, the sick and the baggage going by the cars. HENRY T. ANTIS, hospital steward, took charge of the sick of the 126th, who reached Annapolis Friday forenoon, and took up their quarters in a piece of woods a mile and a half west of the city. The rest of the paroled men reached there Sunday night, tired enough after their long march and night exposures.
At Annapolis they found refreshment. Bathing in the bay, catching fish, and digging oysters and crabs was great relief and amusement. The sea, with its wonders, was a novelty to most of them, which they enjoyed to the full. And here they got good rations : coffee and sugar, fresh beef, potatoes, beans and onions, with pepper and salt, and good cooking uten- sils, seemed to them very great luxuries. The troops spent Monday and Tuesday mending their garments and looking about the old and strange city. Several of the buildings are two centuries old. In the Capitol, which is a large building, they visited the identical room, the Senate chamber, in which WASHINGTON resigned his commission. Here they found a large historical painting commemorating that event, by which it appears that the furniture of the room is much the same now as it was then. The City Hotel, also 200 years old, and built of bricks brought from England, was pointed out; also General WASHING- TON'S head-quarters, and many other interesting locali- ties.
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