History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 27

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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"The division advanced in line through a piece of woods, over a stone wall, past a small white cottage which lay in the way of our brigade, across a pasture covered with loose rocks to another stone wall along a skirt of woodland. Here the line was ordered to lie down, and Capt. Winslow's battery, Ist New York Artillery, passed through our lines. There was no artillery to help us now; our rifles and the bayonet had got to do the work. Capt. W. has since told me that if he had known the 64th was going in there, he would have risked his battery a few minutes longer, and made it somewhat easier for us. (His regiment and the 64th recruited at the same time at Elmira.) As soon as the battery passed, the line was ordered for- ward, and no sooner was the stone wall reached than we saw gray- backs enough on the other side to satisfy the most fastidious. The men fired their first volley, and dashed over the wall ; the rebs gave back, and we drove them through the woods to a road and another fence and stone wall, running along the edge of & wheat-field. Several in the regiment had already fallen killed and wounded, among them Lieut. Lewis, commanding Company D. Without the least pause the line charged over the wall into the wheat-field to the brow of a gentle declivity in the wheat-field, where our brigade was ordered to halt and lie down, to enable the line on our right to overtake us and rectify the line. Before the line on our right was brought fairly up, we were ordered forward again. The men were firing as fast as they could load. The din was almost deafening. It was very difficult to have orders understood, and it required considerable effort to start the line forward into another charge. The officers and non-commis- sioned officers displayed the greatest gallantry. Capt. Crowley at this time fell severely wounded. The color-bearers of the 64th, Zib- ble and Stone, rushed several rods ahead of the whole line, so that they were dimly perceivable through the cloud of smoke. Those old colors which had led the regiment through so many battles were not to be left behind. With a cheer the line charged again, the 64th and 2d Delaware (on our left) leading the whole line. We advanced to the lower end of the wheat-field, and entered a pasture strewn with rocks. Here E. Stone, the color-bearer who bore the old flag, fell

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dead. Stone had taken the flag from McKoon, who was wounded. The flag was instantly seized and raised by Corp. Blackmore, of Allegany, who bore it through the remainder of the fight, and brought it out safe. The other flag, one of those presented by the Board of Supervisors, and which had never before been in battle, was carried in by Corp. Zibble, who was wounded, then taken by Corp. Empy, who was wounded, when Lieut. A. Chase, of Company A, seized them and brought them out safe. At the end of the pasture the line struck another stone wall diagonally, which broke the line somewhat, crowded and opened the ranks, and being faced by the rear rank, if the men got out of their places they could not readily find them again. Still the brigade line swept onward, loading and firing as it went across a creek into another piece of woods, up to a ledge of rocks. We chased the rebels up the rocks, and mounted after them ; the line halted and continued firing. After a few minutes it was discovered that our brigade was far in advance of the rest of the division. The line on the left was stopped by a breastwork. I do not know what stopped it on the right, but do not believe that it moved with us when we charged the second time in the wheat-field, for I had noticed a cross- fire from the right while in the lower part of the wheat-field. We found ourselves under a cross-fire from the right and left; the brigade was ordered to retire. It was at this moment that Capt. Fuller received his death-wound. I saw him helped down from the rocks by two men, at the moment we commenced to fall back.

" The line fell slowly back to where the charge commenced a little after sundown, and the battle was over for the day. Thus ended one of the most desperate and sanguinary series of charges ever made by the Army of the Potomac. The ground as far as the lower part of the wheat-field had been fought over by both sides, twice by infantry charges given and received. But our brigade were the first to chase them to their fastnesses in the ledge of rocks. The dead and wounded rebels were thickly scattered in the wheat-field, but as we neared the ledge, and especially under the ledge, our men could not walk straight forward without treading on them at every step. Of course, in the hurry of an impetuous charge we did not pick our way as over a muddy street-crossing.

"I have been over the ground since, and was astonished at the accuracy of the fire of our men while under the excitement of a charge, -loading and firing when walking very fast, and part of the time on the double-quick. Not a tree but is penetrated by from half a dozen to a dozen bullets, and not a bullet-mark over five feet from the ground. The rebels had dragged out their dead into a wheat-field beyond the ledge, but had left in too great haste to bury them. They lay in long rows,-a sickening, horrible spectacle. I do not wish to view the like again. One field- and several line-officers lay undistinguished among the rest, their pockets rifled by their own men, and no means remain- ing of identifying them.

" The loss of the three officers killed will be to the regiment irre- parable. No more gallant soul winged its flight from the battle-field than that of Capt. Fuller. A more gallant spirit never went into battle. To see him in action one would think that to him the smoke and dust of battle were as the breath of life. Young, ardent, impul- sive, and impetuous, generous and open-hearted to a fault, possessed of all those magnanimous and unselfish qualities which make up the character of a true soldier, he was the idol of his company and beloved by the regiment.

" Lieut. Lewis, commanding Company D, and recommended for its captain, was a man of sterling worth and integrity of character. Quiet and modest in demeanor, at all times cool, collected, and undemon- strative, his acquaintance was not as easily formed or his confidence gained as one more impulsive; but whoever once became fairly con- versant with his character ever after regarded him with feelings of the highest respect. His judgment was sound and reliable, his cour- age undoubted, his opinions well weighed and considered, and rarely or never changed after being delivered. He had a native dignity,.a natural aptitude for command,-in fact, he was one of the few who are born to command. Firm and unyielding, but kind, considerate, and rigidly impartial in the government of his company, his men loved and esteemed him, and his every command and request were cheerfully and unhesitatingly obeyed. Purer hearts were unknown in his company. It is a great consolation to me to feel that I was able to gratify in an important matter his last-expressed wish.

"Lieut. Babcock was a very promising young officer, an accom- plished tactician, and close military student.

"These three officers had passed unscathed through all the battles

in which the regiment had been engaged, to fall together in this. They were firm friends in life, and by death were not separated. . ..

"Of those living it would be unjust to mention individual cases where every one, according to his rank, did equally well. Not a man flinched ; every one threw his whole soul into the charge, and seemed to think only of doing his whole duty as a soldier."

The facts which we have been able to gather concerning the movements and battles of the 64th, from the close of the campaign of Gettysburg to the end of its term of ser- vice, are far from being as full and complete as desired. The only available source of information has been the oral narratives of surviving officers of the regiment. These have been exceedingly meagre in some parts, and in others so fatally conflicting, that the only safe course seemed to be the omission of such portions as remained in doubt.

The regiment moved with other commands of the army in pursuit of Lee, crossing the Potomac into Virginia at Falling Waters, and went into camp near the Rapidan. In and near this position they remained until the commence- ment of the Mine Run campaign, late in the fall of 1863. In the march towards that place, on the arrival of the brigade at Germania Ford of the Rapidan, Col. Brown, of the 145th Pennsylvania, being in command of the brigade, and his own regiment being in front, he ordered up the 64th from their proper position in the rear, to ford the river and place the pontoons. The weather was biting cold, but the men of the 64th unhesitatingly performed this duty, enabling the other regiments to cross dry-shod, while they, in their drenched and freezing condition, were compelled to pass the night on picket. The affair at Mine Run was one of artil- lery and picket firing, and the 64th was not seriously en- gaged.

After Mine Run the brigade was placed in winter quar- ters at " Camp Willis Madden," two miles from Germania Ford, in support of the cavalry. This was the fourth camp built by them that season, in the expectation that it was to be their winter quarters.

At the opening of the spring campaign, the regiment crossed the river on the 4th of May, and camped the first night on the field of Chancellorsville, where they found the remains of Private Frank Miller, of Company B (killed at the battle one year before, and still unburied). The recognition of the remains was made positive by his boots, which, strangely enough, had not been taken from the body.

In the " Wilderness fight" they were not seriously en- gaged until the third day, when they were deployed as skirmishers through the immense thickets of laurels which covered portions of the field. Their skirmishing during this day was continuous. On the fourth day they marched to the Po River, where more skirmishing was done, and at one time the 64th and the 2d Delaware found themselves cut off from the main body. They, however, extricated themselves, and crossed the river in comparative safety. The next day they participated in Hancock's furious en- gagement at Spottsylvania Court-House, where Sergt. Al- bert Marsh, of Company B, captured the colors of the 44th Virginia Regiment. During the day the corps took four lines of works and forty pieces of artillery. The loss of the regiment on this and the following day was heavy. In the morning of the third day the brigade (which had been in

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the front line during the preceding two days) was relieved and fell back. From Spottsylvania the corps passed Mil- ford Station and Bowling Green, and again faced the enemy, intrenched on the North Anna River. This stream was crossed the next day on pontoons, and under a heavy fire, the 64th and 66th New York deployed as skirmishers after the crossing. They were again engaged at Tolopotomoy, and on the terrible field of Cold Harbor, but no full and connected account of the movements of the regiment from this point to the James River has been obtained. After their arrival on the south side of that river, they remained engaged in the dreary, tedious, and bloody operations in front of Petersburg until the expiration of their term of service, when very nearly if not quite all the original mem- bers of the regiment were mustered out. After this time scarcely a vestige of Cattaraugus material was left in its composition. The men by whom it was recruited, after the muster-out, were many of them foreigners,-Canadians, English, Welsh, and others. Among these there is men- tioned the instance where thirty-two English glass blowers joined it in a body. This foreign material was poor. Nearly all probably enlisted with the intention of desert- ing, and not a few of them accomplished it. The regiment, thus composed, with the exception of a few veterans, laid in the trenches and bomb-proofs during the winter of 1864 -65, and fought at Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, and Ream's Station. After the close of the war (July 14, 1865) they were mustered out of the service, in accordance with orders from the War Department.

THE 154TH REGIMENT.

The project of raising a regiment to be made up exclu- sively in the Senatorial district composed of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties was warmly agitated as early as May, 1862, and war-meetings began to be held soon after, in both counties, in furtherance of that object. In Catta- raugus County these meetings were held at Olean, Little Valley, Randolph, Ellicottville, and in other towns; but perhaps the most notable of these was a convention held at Ellicottville, June 17, at which nearly or quite the whole county was represented. The convention was called to order by the Hon. A. G. Rice, of Ellicottville, and organized by electing the following officers : President, Hon. Horace C. Young; Vice-Presidents, Hon. A. G. Dow, Hon. Andrew L. Allen, David Harrower, Esq., William Cooper, Esq., James Nichols, Esq .; Secretaries, E. H. G. Meacham, A. D. Scott. After organization the meeting was addressed in a most patriotic vein by the Hon. A. G. Rice, who closed his stirring speech with the declaration that " we can afford to sacrifice the last dollar in vindication of Constitutional rights and liberty, and the preservation of this our common country." One of the resolutions adopted by the meeting was " that our cordial thanks are due to our soldiers from this county already in the field, who, in every battle, have proven themselves true soldiers and brave men, and that their appeal for help, which comes up to us from almost every camp in Virginia, ought to receive a ready response from every man capable of bearing arms ;" and a committee of three from each town in the county was appointed to call meetings and procure enlistments.

The committee was composed as follows: Allegany, G. Bascom, G. Palen, Geo. Van Campen ; Ashford, F. P. Rice, A. B. Lowe, G. N. West; Bucktooth, D. Harrower, W. B. Crawford, O. P. Nichols; Carrolton, G. M. Kellogg, D. Smith, J. Nichols; Cold Spring, F. Jeffords, E. C. Price, G. Carter; Connewango, E. Holdridge, J. Groves, I. V. Goodwell; Dayton, N. M. Allen, J. W. Barrow, D. Benchley; East Otto, Dr. A. B. Wilson, J. J. Scott, Walter Burchard; Ellicottville, Theo. Smith, S. C. Noyes, Jr., R. Lamb ; Farmersville, A. Adams, J. T. Cummings, S. A. Thomas ; Franklinville, J. Reynolds, A. Burlingame, W. R. Fay ; Freedom, J. H. Stephens, T. White, D. H. Alney ; Great Valley, J. F. Nelson, G. Brewer, C. Burnside; Hinsdale, A. McVey, C. D. Murry, C. Willover ; Humphrey, S. S. Cole, N. J. McCoon, H. M. Bosley ; Ischua, G. Sheldon, J. A. Davis, H. Chamberlain ; Leon, W. N. Herrick, D. Lang, E. C. Durfee; Little Valley, H. Huntley, E. N. Lee, G. Canfield ; Lyndon, F. R. Thompson, J. Q. Perry, R. Little ; Machias, T. J. King, Wm. Loomis, Wm. Napier ; Mansfield, G. W. Bowen, G. Gregg, E. Warner; Napoli, N. Morrill, Lewis P. Thorp; New Albion, Dr. E. Devoe, J. A. Kin- nicut, G. Hunton ; Otto, Capt. Phippley, S. M. Cox, C. H. Morris ; Olean, Fred. Eaton, C. V. B. Barse, Abram Mer- ritt; Perrysburg, R. L. Blackman, D. R. Barker, W. Cooper, Jr. ; Persia, L. S. Jenks, Alex. Muhfeit, G. W. Hanford; Portville, G. T. Lowrey, Henry Scofield, W. F. Wheeler; Randolph, Z. Woodworth, J. T. Fosdick, J. E. Weeden ; South Valley, J. F. Fenton, L. Barton, Jr., L. P. Wilcox ; Yorkshire, L. D. Cobb, Harry Howe, A. Spring.

At a meeting held five days before at Mayville, composed of delegates from both counties, it had been resolved " that the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus will respond to the call of the President for three hundred thousand ad- ditional forces ; that they will raise the one regiment appor- tioned to them, and will now, and at all times hereafter, respond to every demand which shall be made upon them by the nation in putting down the wicked Rebellion now waged upon our government ; that the county of Chautau- qua will contribute six companies to that regiment, and the county of Cattaraugus four companies; and that, in the opinion of this meeting, Maj. William O. Stevens, of Chautauqua, Maj. Patrick H. Jones, of Cattaraugus, and Capt. J. C. Drake, of Chautauqua County, are suitable persons for colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major of the regiment to be raised in the Thirty-second District, under the President's call."

This was all that was then in contemplation,-six com- panies from Chautauqua, and four from Cattaraugus,-for the idea was not then entertained that two regiments in- stead of one could be raised at that time in the district.

It was but a short time after, when the first recruits from Cattaraugus for the new regiment went forward to James- town. Enlistments came much more rapidly than was anticipated, and in less time than was expected a full regi- ment had been raised, principally in Chautauqua, leaving the men from Cattaraugus as a large nucleus for the for- mation of a second regiment. The regiment thus com- pleted was designated as the 112th ; and now the people of Cattaraugus worked with redoubled energy to complete the second, which would be distinctively a Cattaraugus organi-

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zation. All the towns moved vigorously to this end. At a meeting for this purpose, held at Little Valley, the Hon. Stephen C. Green offered a resolution, which was passed unanimously, " That a tax of two thousand dollars be levied upon the property of the town, and collected, to pay each of the twenty volunteers yet to be furnished one hundred dollars bounty." Another resolution, offered by Mr. Green, and "adopted by a roar of ayes," was to the effect "That this meeting tender unanimous thanks to John Manley, Esq., for his kind and generous efforts in behalf of the volunteer soldiers from this town, in consoling the wounded, in sickness and in health, and in furnishing information of their condition to their friends at home ;" and a collection was made, in a few moments, for the purpose of purchas- ing a stand of colors for the 9th New York Cavalry. A similar liberal and patriotic spirit pervaded every town in the county. By the 20th of September the new regiment was nearly complete, and it was mustered into the service on the 24th and 26th of that month by Lieut. James D. Crolley, 5th United States Infantry, eight companies, and a large part of a ninth, being made up of men from Cattar- augus.

The following order from the commander-in-chief desig- nated the number of the regiment, and its field, staff, and line officers :

GENERAL HEADQUARTERS, STATE OF NEW YORK. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ALBANY, Sept. 25, 1862. Special Orders, No. 644.

The several additional companies of volunteers enlisted in the 32d Senatorial District of this State, in conformity with General Orders, No. 52, from this department, having been duly organized, said com- panies are hereby formed into a regiment to be known and designated as the 154th Regiment, New York State Volunteers.

The following persons are hereby appointed field, staff, and company officers, and will be commissioned whenever complete muster-rolls of the regiment thus organized shall have been filed in this office :

Col., Patrick H. Jones; Lieut .- Col., Henry C. Loomis; Maj., Samuel G. Love; Surg., Henry Van Aernam; Chap., Henry D. Lowring; Adj., Samuel C. Noyes, Jr .; Q .- M., Edward Porter.

Company A .- Capt., B. Leonard Saxton; Ist Lieut., Benjamin G. Casler; 2d Lieut., Alanson Crosby.

Company B .- Capt. Daniel B. Allen; Ist Lieut., Simeon V. Pool; 2d Lieut., William H. Lincoln.

Company C .- Capt., Lewis D. Warner; 1st Lieut., Arthur Hotchkiss; 2d Lieut., Warren Onan.

Company D .- Capt., Harrison Cheney; 1st Lieut., Marshall O. Bond ; 2d Lieut., John Mitchell.

Company E .- Capt., Joseph B. Fay ; 1st Lieut., Isaac T. Jenkins; 2d Lieut., Orlando W. Avery.

Company F .- Capt., Thomas Donnelly ; Ist Lieut., John C. Gris- wold ; 2d Lieut., Henry W. Myers.

Company G .- Capt., M. B. Cheney ; 1st Lieut., Commodore P. Vedder; 2d Lieut., James L. Harding.

Company H .- Capt., John F. Nelson ; 1st Lieut., Cooley A. Mur- dock ; 2d Lieut., Delos M. Champlin.

Company I .- Capt., Edward S. Mills ; 1st Lieut., Timothy A. Allen ; 2d Lieut., John R. Burdick.

Company K .- Capt., Henry Hugaboom; 1st Lieut., William F. Chapman; 2d Lieut., Philander W. Hubbard.

By order of the commander-in-chief,

(Signed)

THOS. HILLHOUSE, Adjutant-General.

The first commander of the regiment, however, was Col. Addison G. Rice, who received the office with the under- standing that after organizing, equipping, and placing the regiment in the field, he should be relieved of the command by Col. Jones.

The 154th left Jamestown on the 28th of September, bound for Washington and the Army of the Potomac. They proceeded by railroad, by way of Salamanca and Hornells- ville, to Elmira, where they were armed with Enfield rifles. Re-embarking on cars of the Northern Central Railroad, they passed through Williamsport, Harrisburg, and York, Pa., reaching Baltimore at noon of the next day, and Washington during the following night. Here Col. Rice reported to Gen. Silas Casey for assignment. Soon afterwards the regiment moved across the Long Bridge to the Virginia side of the Potomac, and thence to the vicinity of Arlington Heights, where they remained for several days encamped at " Camp Seward,"-so named in honor of the Secretary of State. From this place they marched to a camp near Fairfax Court-House, and were there incorpora- ted with the 1st Brigade, 2d Division of the 11th Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Franz Sigel ; the brigade and division being respectively under command of Col. Adol- phus Buschbeck, and Brig .- Gen. Von Steinwehr.

During their stay at this place several unimportant changes were made in the location of their camp, and the time was passed in drill and ordinary camp duties. Here, too, they received their new regimental commander, Col. Patrick H. Jones, who was promoted from major of the 37th Regiment, and mustered Oct. 8, 1862, as colonel of the 154th, in place of Col. Rice, who had resigned his com- mission.

In the latter part of October the regiment left with the brigade, under orders to move to Thoroughfare Gap to as- sist in preventing the enemy from crossing the Blue Ridge, eastward, through this and other gaps through that range. The first stage of the regiment's march on this expedition was from Fairfax, through Centreville, to Haymarket, on the Manassas Gap Railroad. As the troops passed through this place a few shots were fired at them from some of the houses, but no notice was taken of this until after the camps had been pitched a short distance farther on, when the men returned and burned the village in retaliation. In the sack- ing of the place, a building was found containing a large number of knapsacks which had been captured from our soldiers at the second battle of Bull Run ; and a considera- ble number of these were recognized and claimed as their own property by men whose regiments had been engaged in that battle.

From Haymarket their route of march lay through New Baltimore, and thence to the Gap. Here, and in the vicinity, they remained on picket duty and foraging for several days; and, while here, the announcement was received that Gen. McClellan had been superseded by Gen. Burnside in the command of the Army of the Potomac. The expedition proved barren of results, and, at the end of about the time above named, the command set out on the return march to camp at Fairfax, where they arrived in due time and without the occurrence of any par- ticularly notable incident.

As the time was now well advanced into the month of No- vember, it was expected that this would be the place of their winter quarters; and, acting on this supposition, an excel- lent camp was built of logs, and made very comfortable by the devices which the soldier so well knows how to employ

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in the construction of a shelter to serve him through the season of frosts and storms. But the labor proved to have been bestowed in vain, for Burnside, after assuming command, had moved forward with a celerity which was unusual at that time with the Army of the Potomac, and in the early part of December stood with his army on the north bank of the Rappahannock, confronting the Army of Northern Virginia, which was strongly intrenched on the opposite side along the hills of Fredericksburg. An attack on these frowning heights had been determined on, and, as it was an undertaking which would require all the available strength of the army, the 11th Corps was or- dered to move to the Rappahannock without delay. So the soldiers of the 154th were compelled to leave their camp and march with the corps towards Fredericksburg. They crossed the Oceoquan River, passed through the dilapidated villages of Dumfries and Stafford Court-House, and approached Falmouth, the point of their destination. But, although the last third part of their march had been within hearing of the terrific bombardment which had accompanied the assault on Marye's Heights, their progress had been so unaccountably slow* that the disastrous battle was over, and the defeated army had recrossed to the north side of the river before their arrival.

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 27

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: