USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 43
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
enemy was found to be already in full possession ; indeed, as it after- wards transpired, more than half of the Rebel army was there con- fronted by this single division. Keeping up a bold front until after night-fall, Gen. Rickett began a retreat to the Manassas battle-field, which was reached on the evening of August 29th, after an exhaust- ing march of about thirty miles. The next day the regiment, being on the left of the brigade and nearest the enemy, suffered quite severely from a sharp musket-fire of the enemy concealed in a dense under- growth, losing one officer (Lieut. John P. Rudd) and a number of men killed and wounded in a very short time. It was then ordered to retire behind an embankment and hold its position, which was success- fully done notwithstanding a fierce attempt to dislodge it. The brigade of Gen. Duryee, to which the regiment was attached, was moved to a new position; it remained here until late in the after- noon, when it was compelled to retreat before the murderous fire of a whole division of the enemy. This retreat continued with the rest of Pope's army to Centerville, the regiment having lost during the day five killed, forty-one wounded and forty-eight missing; most of the latter were afterwards found to have been taken prisoners, although some were never heard of again, and were undoubtedly killed at the commencement of the retreat.
A march to Fairfax Court House, a hurried advance to Chantilly on September 1 in a terrific thunderstorm and the retreat to Washington followed. After four days in the vicinity of Washington and Maryland, a campaign began, of which the first important event was the battle of South Mountain on the 14th of September. While Reno's attack was progressing in front, Duryee's brigade was ordered to the extreme right, and charged up the mountain side, the 104th leading the attack through nettles and tangled underbrush, and over steep and ragged rocks, with an impetuosity so great that they had gained the crest of the hill and secured a position on the flank of the enemy almost before it occurred to the latter that they were in danger of an attack from that quarter, and this, coupled with the partial suc- cess of the attack in front, caused a precipitate retreat of the Rebels from that part of the battlefield.
On the evening of the 10th of September position was taken upon the field at Antietam, and the men lay down upon their arms for a few hours. At early dawn the line was formed and the attack began,
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under the immediate eye of Gen. Hooker. Duryee's Brigade had been designated as reserve the night before, but now found itself up on the front and without any reserve. Advancing steadily, in a po- sition absolutely without any shelter, they were met with a terrific storm of iron and lead, which at last rendered it beyond the power of mortal men to advance further, and the men lay down for temporary shelter. Twice they were driven sullenly back, but rallying again each time with desperate energy, they again advanced and held their line until the arrival of reinforcements, about 10 a. m., when they were withdrawn. Near the close of the afternoon the severity of the enemy's cannonade betokened an immediate advance of the Rebel forces, and the 104th with other regiments were hurried forward into position to repel the attack. But none came, and so ended the battle, a drawn game, in what should have been a great Union victory, had the other corps carried out their orders with the punctuality and vigor which characterized the attack of Hooker's Corps. The loss in this engagement was killed 9, wounded 67.
To this period of marches and battles succeeded the inactivity of camp life at Mercersville, Md., until the 26th of October, when anoth- er forward movement began, and crossing again into Virginia, the 7th of December found the regiment on the banks of the Rappa- hannock River, a few miles below Fredericksburg. During these marches Gen. McClellan had been relieved from, and Gen. Burnside placed in command of the army; Major Gen. John F. Reynolds was now Corps Commander; Brig. Gen. John Gibbon was in com- mand of the Division, and Col. A. R. Root of the 94th N. Y. V. of the Brigade, while Col. Prey had succeeded Major Skinner in the command of the regiment.
Crossing the river on the 12th, the regiment went into action below Fredericksburg on the 13th of December. The brigade, having been in reserve, was ordered to drive the enemy out of a sunken railroad track, which they did by a gallant bayonet charge, capturing about 200 prisoners and driving the Rebels far into the woods beyond. Coolly reforming the regimental line, which had been broken by the impetuosity of the assault, the regiment moved to the right of the brigade and there held its position till ordered to retire, which was done slowly and in good order, removing all wounded.
The loss of the regiment at Fredericksburg was, killed 5, wounded
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45, missing 3, of which latter number 2 were afterward ascertained to have been killed.
During the night of the 14th of December the army was silently withdrawn to the north bank of the river, and after a few days of waiting in temporary camps, the division of which the regiment formed part was sent into winter quarters near Belle Plain, Virginia, where it remained until about the first of May following, the quiet of the winter being only once interrupted by that episode, known ever since as "Burnside's Mud March," which took place on the 20th day of January, 1863.
On the 28th of April the regiment left winter quarters and soon arrived at almost precisely the same point on the Rappahannock River where it crossed before the battle of Fredericksburg, and there a part of the first corps was thrown across the river under the com- mand of Gen. Wadsworth, while the rest of the corps, including this regiment, remained in reserve upon the north bank until the forenoon of May 2d, when the whole corps was dispatched to reinforce the portion of the army under Gen. Hooker, who was then in position at Chancellorsville, leaving Gen. Sedgwick with the sixth corps at Fredericksburg. Just as the men had gone into bivouac, after cross- ing the river at United States Ford, there came a sudden order to move at once and rapidly to the front, still a couple of miles distant, and as they went forward through the gloom and dusk of the evening they learned of the disaster which had occurred to the eleventh corps and of its precipitate and inglorious retreat. The ground which had been lost was gradually retaken from the Rebels who, dispirited by the loss of Jackson, had fallen back. On the early morning of May 5th the river was recrossed, and the march continued toward Fredericks- burg. Again the regiment went into camp near the bank of the river at White Oak Church, and remained there until the middle of June, when the movement began that culminated in Gettysburg.
Nothing noteworthy occurred with reference to the march of the regiment, until the order came on the 28th of June, announcing that Gen. Meade had relieved Hooker, and was in command of the army. At this time the regiment had crossed the Potomac, arriving at Frederick City, Maryland, on the evening of the 29th, and pressed on from there to Gettysburg, where it arrived in the early morning of July 1st. Buford's cavalry command was already engaged with
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the enemy at some distance beyond Seminary Ridge, and the several divisions of the corps -- Wadsworth's leading-were hurried forward to his support. But almost with the first dash of the infantry forces oc- curred the great disaster of the day-the death of Gen. Reynolds, the corps commander. It is doubtful, however, even if he had been spared to direct the battle of the first day, if it would have resulted different- ly in its main features, as the disparity in the forces so rapidly in- creased, that by the middle of the afternoon the Union army was outnumbered almost three to one. With a persistence and tenacity worthy of all praise, the first corps clung to the line of Seminary Ridge, prolonging the line of battle towards the right by utilizing all the reserve, until at last the whole corps was in one line of battle, the 104th being upon the extreme right and resting upon the Mum- masburgh Pike, at some distance beyond which were deployed two divisions of the eleventh corps. All along the line of Seminary Ridge, from ten o'clock in the forenoon until after four o'clock in the afternoon, waged a hotly contested battle; our forces bravely hold- ing their own, and the heavy reinforcements enabling the enemy to obtain closer and better positions.
During the last hour of this time the loss to the regiment had been severe, as it was subjected to an enfilading fire of the enemy at close range, under which the coolness and steadiness of the men were worthy of all praise. At last, however, the advance of Ewell's fresh corps along the York and Carlisle roads drove back, with some loss and much confusion, the divisions of the eleventh corps which were on the right, and gave to the Rebel hosts free access to the flank and rear of the first corps. Slowly and sullenly it fell back upon the city, preserving its order substantially until the retiring forces be- came massed in the streets, closely followed by the Rebel infantry, which had poured in their fire with deadly effect, producing a good deal of confusion as different commands became entangled in the now hurried retreat, and by a sudden dash of the Rebel forces a good many prisoners were taken just as the rear of our troops entered the streets of the city. Soon, however, Cemetery Hill was reached, upon which Gen. Howard had placed one of his divisions supported by several batteries, and behind these the remnant of the first corps withdrew to gather itself together. Here was presented a pitiful scene, three officers and forty-three men only of the regiment answer-
T
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ing to their names at the first roll-call. The number from the regi- ment killed in the whole battle was fifteen; wounded, eighty-six, and missing, mostly taken prisoners, ninety-four; at least nine tenths of these casualties occurred on the first day. During the rest of the battle the first corps was held in reserve, brigades and regiments be- ing thrown in here and there, as they were needed, and thus it hap- pened that the brigade took a part in the first fierce struggle on the evening of the 2d of July, when Sickles' corps was almost over- whelmed, and again on the 3d it was called upon to occupy suc- cessively several distinct points where danger seemed to be great; finally taking part in the repulse of Pettigrew's division in the after- noon, and being in plain sight of the wonderful charge made by Pickett's division. On the night of the 3d of July the battle was over. Soon the Union Army resumed its former position along the Rappahannock river in Virginia, and for many months no event of importance occurred.
Before the winter of 1865 set in nearly two hundred and fifty recruits were added to the regiment to fill up the shattered ranks, and half that number of its men re-enlisted as "Veteran Volunteers." All thought of further movement was for the time abandoned, and at- tention was given to making a proper disposition of the army for its own protection and for comfortable winter quarters. To this end, the brigade, of which the 104th formed a part, was moved forward about December 20th to Mitchell's Station, in the immediate vicinity of the Cedar Mountain battlefield, where it did outpost and picket duty far in advance of the rest of the army, until the opening of the spring of 1864. In the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, made during the winter, the first corps ceased to exist, and the regi- ment became a part of the fifth corps, Gen. G. K. Warren in command.
About the first of May, 1864, signs of an immediate movement of the army became apparent, and on the 4th of that month the Army of the Potomac, scattered from the point occupied by the brigade to which the 104th belonged back to Centreville, was put in motion in a vigorous movement "on to Richmond." The 5th corps, of which the regiment then formed a part, lying nearest to the Rapidan, had the advance, crossing that river at Germania Ford about noon, and directing its march towards Chancellorsville, reaching a point known as "Old Wild- erness Tavern" in the evening and bivouacking there.
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To follow the history of the regiment through the forty days which succeeded this, would be but to repeat the history of the army. Tak- ing an honorable and active part in the battles of the Wilderness, the several engagements at Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna River and Bethesda Church, as the Hanking movement went on, it so happened that at Cold Harbor the regiment in common with the whole 5th corps, had but little part in the unsuccessful struggle there. But in the forty-three days which elapsed between the crossing of the Rapidan and James rivers, there were but five days in which the regiment was not under fire, though not of course actually engaged with the enemy every day. The total losses during this time were, killed 6; wounded 37; missing 3. At least one-third of the men composing the regi- ment, when it began the movement just detailed, were recruits who had joined in the fall of 1864 and had consequently never been under fire before, but by its end they too had become veterans.
On the 16th of June the regiment crossed the James and was hur- ried forward to the front of Petersburg, in the hope that by a sudden attack the city might be captured before Lee had divined the move- ment and was able to send reinforcements. An attack had been made, however, on the 15th by the corps under the command of Gen. W. F. Smith, which had been successful in carrying the defences on the south of the city, garrisoned by a feeble handful of troops, and there was nothing to prevent the capture of the city, when suddenly about 7 P. M. the advance was suspended until next morning, and during the night Rebel reinforcements from Lee's army poured in, and a hastily constructed inner line of earthworks confronted it upon its arrival. On the morning of the 18th the regiment was moved to the right, and to the 104th N. Y. and the 12th Mass. was given the task of capturing the Petersburg & Norfolk Railroad, which they did in splendid style, in the face of a heavy artillery fire at short range, the charge of the 104th on that occasion being probably the most brilliant achievement in its entire service. Not content with cap- turing the railroad, they pushed forward to a considerable distance be- yond, and then, deploying as skirmishers, drove the Rebel skirmishers inside of their earthworks, and for a time, by picking off the exposed artillerymen, silenced the battery which had so annoyed them during the charge, enabling the line of battle to take possession of the rail- road track without loss. The point where this battery stood
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was nearly the exact position of the afterwards celebrated "Crater."
On the 26th of June the regiment again moved "by the right flank" to the Jerusalem Plank Road, where its brigade constructed and gar- risoned Fort Warren, afterwards officially designated as Fort Davis, in the vicinity of these two forts of euphonious designation-Forts Hell and Damnation. Here the regiment remained, doing constant picket and skirmish duty, but taking no part in the general engagement, until about the 18th of August, when it was relieved by a division of colored troops, and went off again "by the right flank," this time in a successful attempt to capture and hold the Weldon Railroad.
The losses from the time the regiment crossed the James River to the beginning of the movement upon the Weldon Railroad were, killed 6, wounded 32, missing 2; thus making the total loss, from the time of the commencement of the Wilderness campaign, about 90 officers and men, to which depletion must be added the sick, who had necessarily been sent away to general hospitals, as no sufficient pro- vision could be made for them with the regiments during such active campaigning. The total strength of officers and men present for duty on the morning of the 18th of August was a little under 200, in addi- tion to which the regiment had just received about 100 recruits, who were not yet armed, and of course were left behind when the move- ment of that day began. On that morning the regiment broke camp, and, making a long detour to the south west, struck the Weldon Railroad a few miles north of Ream's Station, and took possession of it for several miles with but little opposition. This secured and partially destroyed, it began on August 19th to take position across the railroad with a view of holding it permanently and more effec- tually cutting off the supplies furnished to the Rebel army in Peters- burg from North Carolina and Eastern Virginia.
The division of the 5th corps, to which the regiment belonged, then commanded by Gen. S. W. Crawford, held the right of the line of the corps, and its brigade was on the extreme right of the division. A gap of about two miles was left between the main army and the right of the 5th corps, which was to have been protected and occupied by the 9th corps. That command was, however, dilatory in reaching its position, and the Rebels, with their perfect knowledge of the ground, seeing the opening, immediately thrust Mahone's division through the gap, concealed by the dense woods, until it reached the
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rear of this brigade. Suspecting some such movement, the 107th Penn- sylvania regiment had been ordered out of the trenches, which the regiment had hastily constructed, to proceed to the right and by deploy- ing as skirmishers prevent any surprise from that quarter until the 9th corps could reach their position. But the attack on the front of the regiment just at that time was renewed with great vigor, for the pur- pose of diverting attention from Mahone's movement; the order was not obeyed, and the officer commanding that regiment was obliged to report that he was unable to perform the movement. The 104th N. Y., was then ordered out for the same purpose, and without a moment's hesitation, under a galling fire, drew out of the trenches and began a rapid movement, by the right and rear of the brigade, to the point indicated. The route ran through a dense forest filled with underbrush, where it was frequently impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. After having gone about one-fourth of a mile moving by the flank, the regiment suddenly and unexpectedly en- countered Mahone's division, by whom they were almost immediately surrounded. There was no way of retreat, except as single individ- uals might steal away through the underbrush, and no help could be expected from any source in time to be of avail, as no one else yet knew that Mahone was there. After a few minutes of sharp fighting, which was, however, of no avail, and in which a few were wounded but none killed, it is believed, every commissioned officer and nearly every enlisted man there present were captured and sent into the Rebel lines, by the same route over which the Rebels had entered its lines, there soon to be joined hy over 1,000 men of Crawford's division, who were subsequently captured by Mahone in the same rear attack.
Nine commissioned officers of the 104th being already prisoners in the hands of the Rebels (captured mostly at Gettysburg), the regi- ment was left absolutely without a single field or line officer present for duty, and so remained during the whole fall and winter follow- ing. Its ranks were filled by recruits, until it again numbered about 250 enlisted men present for duty. Capt. Graham, of the 39th Mass., was assigned to its command, and the regiment was ordered on duty at corps headquarters, where it remained until after Lee's surrender. About the last of April, 1865, the regiment was restored to its former brigade, and accompanied the army on its return to the vicinity of Washington, where it remained without further incident of note until
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the 17th day of July, when it was mustered out of the service of the United States and ordered to Elmira, N. Y., there to be paid off and finally discharged, all of which was accomplished on the 29th day of the same month, and the regiment then ceased to exist.
1
The following is a list of the officers of the regiment at the time of its muster out, viz :
Colonel, John R. Strang.
Major, William C. Wilson.
Surgeon, Charles H. Richmond.
Chaplain, Alfred C. Roe.
Co. A, Captain, Cornelius Timpson. 1st Lieut. Theron W. Cookingham.
Co. B, Captain, Adam Dixon. 1st Lieut. James Cullen.
Co. C, Captain Jasper M. Griggs. 1st Lieut. Francis S. Bates.
Co. D, Captain --. 1st Lieut. Alvah Lard.
Co. E, Captain, William L. Trembly. 1st Lieut. Francis Palmer. Co. F, Captain, Austin N. Richardson.
Co. G, Captain, James A. Gault.
Co. H, Captain -- , 1st Lieut. Joseph C. Cary.
Co. I, Captain ---.
Co. K, Captain, Edwin A. Tuthill. 1st Lieut. John R. Jarvis. 2d Lieut. Charles L. Isaacs. 1
THE 104TH REGIMENT AT GETTYSBURG.
An address delivered by Colonel John R. Strang, at the dedication of the monument of that Regiment, at Gettysburg, Sept. 4, 188S.
Comrades and Friends :
We stand to-day upon one of the great and historic battlefields of the world. Great, both in the size of the armies engaged and the casualties they sustained; historic in the results of the contest here waged, which marked the beginning of the overthrow of treason and rebellion, and the restoration of peace to a reunited country. Here the tide of armed rebellion reached high-water mark, and, though nearing success, was flung back in ruin and defeat.
And it is one of the proud memories of our lives that we had a part in that defeat. For that reason we are here today, to commemorate by the aid of a grateful Commonwealth the part we had in the con-
2. The foregoing sketch of the 104th is taken from the address of Colonel John R. Strang, of Geneseo, delivered at the regimental reunion at Silver Lake, August 26, 1879.
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flict which raged over these hills, along these walls, and in this very grove, and to dedicate this monument to the memory of those who here gave their lives and shed their blood for their country, and for the preservation and establishment of liberty and freedom throughout all of its broad States, from sea to sea, and from the great lakes to the gulf.
It is no small thing, my comrades, to have such a memory in our lives; to know that we had a part, not small nor inconsequential, in the deeds which were done here. True, we did not win the fight ; but none the less it is true that the desperate valor and heroic tenacity of the First Corps upon this ground, made it possible for the re- mainder of the Army of the Potomac to reach that position upon Cemetery Hill which the keen eye and soldierly instinct of Hancock selected for the field of battle, where the fight was fought and won. Were it not for the First Corps the name of Gettysburg itself would be unknown in the annals of the war, except as the location of a skirmish between the Union cavalry and Lee's advancing forces.
On the 1st day of July, 1863, the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac stood along this hill, few in number as compared with the Rebel forces which confronted it, yet firm in the patriotism which endowed it, and in the determination to hold its position until the needed reinforcements should arrive. It was driven back, but not de- feated; more than decimated, but not demoralized. Its trusted com- mander, Reynolds, and many brave officers and men freely gave their lives, or suffered cruel wounds; but honor was preserved. Not until the ever increasing hosts of Lee's army pressed upon it from front, flank and rear, did it slowly retire through the town to Cemetery Hill, fighting its way with such desperate courage and stubborn tenacity, that the Rebel forces, though outnumbering it more than three to one, did not dare that night to follow up the success they had so hardly won.
This is the one great battlefield of the War of the Rebellion which has, by apparently unanimous consent, been chosen to signalize by appropriate governmental action, the patriotism, valor and fortitude of the Union army. Grateful States have vied with each other in the erection of monuments to commemorate the valor of the living, and to perpetuate the memory of the patriot dead: and ere long the principal positions of each distinct command which took part in this great conflict will be designated by monument and tablet of granite or of bronze. But even these monuments, enduring as the skill of man can make them, shall crumble into dust before the pen of history shall have ceased to record what was done here.
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