USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 21
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January 30 the Army of the Potomac, under the com- mand of General Burnside, started on what is designated " General Burnside's mud march." Its object was to sur- prise and attaek the enemy across the Rappahannock above Fredericksburg.
Previously, there had been a few days of warm, settled weather; the roads had become dry and hard. During the first night after breaking camp there set in a drenching rain-storm, which lasted two days. The second night found the whole army literally stuck in the mud. It had reached the north bank of the stream above Fredericksburg and encamped near the river.
The entire transportation had stuck fast, and could move no farther. The regiment remained encamped iu a dense pine grove during the next day ; the day after it retraced its steps and returned to its old camping-ground at Belle Plain. This was the first experience the regiment had in campaigning. General Burnside was now (January 26) relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac by Major-General Joe Hooker.
During the months of February and March, there were
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
many changes in the organization of the regiment by resig- nation and promotion. The field and staff and line officers were as follows :
Colonel A. S. Warner, resigned February 4. Lieutenant- Colonel J. G. Butler was commissioned colonel February 24, 1863. Major Francis C. Miller was commissioned lieutenant-colonel February 24. George Harney, captain Company B, was commissioned major February 24.
Company A .- Edward Greyware, second lieutenant, resigned January 8. Jolin F. Box, private, commissioned second lieutenant February 11.
Company B .- Patrick Slattery, first lieutenant, was commissioned captain, vice Harney promoted, March 12. William J. Gillett, first sergeant, commissioned first lieu- tenant, vice Slattery promoted, March 24.
Company C .- Captain Datus Woodward, resigned Feb- ruary 4. E. D. Parker, first lieutenant, was commissioned captain February 13. Wm. R. Potts, second lieutenant, commissioned first lieutenant, vice Parker promoted, Feb- ruary 13. H. H. Lyman, first sergeant, commissioned second lieutenant, vice Potts promoted.
Company D .- Captain Alexander Hulett, resigned Feb- ruary 4. George A. Sisson, first lieutenant, commissioned captain February 24. W. P. Sehenck, second lieutenant, commissioned first lieutenant February 24. D. G. Van- dusen, sergeant-major, commissioned second lieutenant Feb- ruary 24.
Company E .- Captain Elhannan C. Seely, resigned Feb- ruary 4. James Coey, first lieutenant, commissioned cap- tain February 24. O. J. Woodward, second lieutenant, commissioned first lieutenant February 24. S. J. Taylor, first sergeant, commissioned second lieutenant February 24.
Company F .- Captain Cyrus V. Hartshorn, resigned January 25. Second Lieutenant Horace G. Lee, commis- sioned captain February 10. Gilford D. Maee, first ser- geant, commissioned first lieutenant February 24. Charles B. Skinner, second sergeant, commissioned second lieu- tenant July 4.
Company H .- First Lieutenant Conterman, resigned January 8. D. C. Matthews, second lieutenant, commis- sioned February 10, first lieutenant. Luther M. Hays, first sergeant, commissioned second lieutenant February 10. First Lieutenant D. C. Matthews, resigned February 24. L. M. Hays commissioned first lieutenant March 24. Cheney D. Barney, sergeant, commissioned second lieu- tenant March 25.
Quartermaster Lewis, after a severe illness, was sent to hospital at Georgetown, and soon after was discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability. Henry H. Mellen, quar- termaster-sergeant, was commissioned quartermaster Feb- ruary 13. Quartermaster Lewis had, with heroic persist- ence, shared the fortunes of the regiment, against the earnest solicitations of his medical officer and warmest friends, through two or three attaeks of illness, barely es- eaping with his life each time; with a sorrowful heart he was foreed finally to submit to the inevitable, or offer up his life as an unnecessary sacrifice. The regiment thereby lost the services of a valuable officer. Harvey E. Chapin, chaplain, was also discharged on a surgeon's certificate, and died, a few weeks after returning home, with chronie diar-
rhœa. The office was not again filled. April 3, the regi- ment was transferred to the Second brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Cutler. The brigade comprised the Seventy-sixth and Ninety-fifth Regiments, New York Vol- unteers, and Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania and Seventh Indiana Volunteers. James Coey, eaptain Company E, was pros- trated with typhoid fever, and sent home on a siek leave of absence.
The following died in hospital in the northern defenses of Washington : Alfred Lukin, Company A, private, Nov. 21,1862; Chas. A. Brown, Company B, Nov. 22, 1862; Amos D. Fuller, corporal, Company D, November 2, 1862 ; Nathan Rowley, corporal, Company D, December 22, 1862; Franklin Luree, private, Company II, December II, 1862; Stewart Park, private, Company H, November 12, 1862; Thomas Kane, private, Company E, November 25, 1862; Edwin Robottom, private, Company E, Nov. 23, 1862; Hamilton M. Wilcox, Company F, November 3, 1862; George Button, private, Company E, December 31, 1862.
The following died in hospital at Belle Plain and in general hospital, during the winter of 1862-63, and to May 1,1863: Thomas Harrington, Company A, April 11, 1863; Andrus MeChesney, Company A, February 26, 1863; Theodore Dolloway, Company B, January 18, 1863; Wm. Delamater, Company B, January 15, 1863; Joseph Pilow, Company B, February 25, 1863 ; Wm. C. Spain, Company C, March 19, 1863 ; Henry Miller, Company C, March 5, 1863; Levinus Wait, Company E, George Edmonds, Com- pany C, February 1, 1863; Geo. M. Havens, Company C, March 7, 1863; Jobn Place, January 9, 1863; Luke Potter, Company C, February 12, 1863; Henry Pittsley, February 12, 1863; Wheaton Spink, Company C. January 1, 1863 ; Justus Carey, Company D, April 25, 1863; Darius T. Dexter, Company D, March 10, 1863; Albert Clemens, Company D, February 4, 1863; Barnard McOwen, Company E, April, 1863 ; Joseph A. Upton, Company E, April, 1863; Barton White, Company E, April, 1863 ; Orvill Wines, Company H, April 21, 1863; Jas, Boddy, Company I, December 23, 1862; Ephraim Darling, Com- pany H, January 10, 1863 ; Henry P. Green, Company H, April 24, 1863; Wm. Haight, Company H, February 17, 1863; Jas. Johnson, Company H, January 10, 1863; Jas. K. P. Miller, Company H, April 1, 1863; Elisha Ozier, Company H, January 19, 1863; Gilbert Jones, Company G, February 5, 1863, John Moshiser, Company G, March 13, 1863; John Warner, Company G, April 8, 1863; Jos. F. Munger, Company F, January II, 1863; Henry Wing, Company F, February 28, 1863; Jas. A. Scribner, Com- pany G, January 3, 1863; Jas. Forbes, Company K, March 23, 1863 ; Timothy Ryan, Company K, March 30, 1863 ; Daniel Whitney, Company K, February 22, 1863; Amos Grosbeek, Company D, January 21, 1863; Alonzo Ellis, Company E, February 12, 1863; James M. Geer, Com- pany E, January 22, 1863 ; William Lyons, Company E, February 28, 1863; George W. Coon, Company G, April 13, 1863; John H. Coon, Company G, March, 1863.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XX. OSWEGO IN THE REBELLION.
The One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment-Battle of Chan- cellorsville-Battle of Gettysburg.
APRIL 28, the regiment broke camp to set out on the campaign terminating in the battle of Chancellorsville. During the winter of 1862-63 the enemy occupied the south bank of the Rappahannock, extending from Port Royal, twenty miles south, to Kelly's Ford, twenty-seven miles north of Fredericksburg. The fords were few and strongly guarded, and watched with untiring vigilance. No attack or demonstration on the enemy's lines could be made below Kelly's Ford without the immediate knowledge of the enemy.
Parts of the Third army corps, thirty thousand strong, April 27, marched up the north bank of the stream and crossed at Kelly's Ford, with but little opposition, and swept down the south bank to Chancellorsville, skirting the wilderness and uncovering the United States ford, twelve miles above Fredericksburg; there they were joined by the remainder of the Army of the Potomac, excepting the First and Sixth corps. In the mean time the enemy became aware of their extreme danger and withdrew all but ten thousand men, under General Early, from Freder- icksburg, and hastened to meet General Hooker at Chan- cellorsville. From May 2 to May 4 was fought the battle of Chaneellorsville. The First and Sixth corps were left behind to make a feint on Fredericksburg, or if the enemy's lines became weakened by the withdrawal of a large force, to turn the feint into a real attack, and carry the place and effect a junction with the main army on the south side of the river. The two corps were to approach the river and lay the pontoon bridges in the night under cover of darkness, but, owing to the bad condition of the roads, daylight (April 29) found them with the bridges incomplete, and the men received a galling fire from a line of rifle-pits on the oppo- site bank of the river. The regiment, with General Wads- worth's division, was to cross at Fitzhugh's crossing, about three miles below Fredericksburg. An attempt was made to shell the enemy out of the rifle-pits with Battery B, Fourth United States Artillery, Captain Reynolds, but without avail. General Wadsworth, with the Twenty- second New York and Sixth Wisconsin Regiments, crossed below (General Wadsworth swimming his horse) in boats, attacked the enemy on the flank, and captured the entire force, between two hundred and three hundred rebels. The bridges were then speedily laid and the corps marched over, the One Hundred and Forty-seventh New York taking the lead. The two corps took position on the enemy's side of the river to menace Fredericksburg, placing the enemy between the two wings of the army. At this point the hills on the southeast recede about two and a half miles from the river and close in on the stream at Fredericks- burg above, and also about two miles below, forming an amphitheatre. The enemy were strongly posted on the hills, with several batteries. Here occurred an artillery duel (the infantry was not engaged) during the next three days. The regiment lost four or five killed and wounded.
In the mean time the battle was fiercely raging at Chan-
cellorsville. On the 2d of May the First corps was ordered to join General Hooker at Chancellorsville. The regiment arrived on the field of battle in the morning of the 3d at the time of a fierce conflict. It was the day after the stampede of the Eleventh corps under Major-General How- . ard, which fiasco rendered the position of the Federal army untenable. The enemy were striving to follow up their success of the day previous by driving our army into the river. The battle raged two hours afterwards, when all fighting ceased, save occasional exchange of shots on the skirmish-line and between the artillery. The army had safely taken up a new position, changing its lines under a determined attack of the enemy. The regiment remained two days on the field and fell back with the army, recross- ing the river in the night. It went into camp in a pine grove, about three miles below Falmouth. The men suf- fered much from sickness after the fatigue and exposure of the campaign. Typhoid and remittent fevers and diarrhea prevailed extensively. George A. Sisson, captain of Com- pany D, a brave and valuable officer, died from typhoid fever soon after. Colonel Butler was again disabled by sickness, and sent home on a sick leave of absence. He did not again return to his command. He was a thorough disciplinarian ; he had a lively and genial temperament ; he was strict without being harsh, and possessed the love and respect of his officers and men. He had brought the regi- ment to a high state of efficiency. F. N. Hamlin, first lieutenant Company K, became ill, and was sent to hospital, and afterwards sent home on a sick leave.
Died in hospitals in May and June, 1863 : Charles H. H. McCarty, Company C, from wounds received at Fitz- hugh Crossing, below Falmouth, May 1, 1863; William H. Robbins, from wounds received May 1, 1863; George A. Sisson, captain Company D, May 13, 1863; Ira A. Sperry, corporal, June 22, 1863; David Stey, Company D, June 11, 1863; Newton Ehle, Company E, June, 1863; Gordon L. Smith, Company H, June 4, 1863; David Wines, Company H, May 1, 1863; Thomas Dunn, Com- pany I, May 30, 1863; James L. Dodd, Company HI, June 7, 1863; Nathan B. Chase, Company C, June 1, 1863 ; Silas Halleck, Company G.
THE MARCH TO GETTYSBURG.
June 12, 1863, the regiment commenced its march on the memorable Gettysburg campaign. It was suffering much from sickness. The ambulances were overcrowded, and many of the sick were obliged to follow along the best way they could or be captured by the enemy. A march generally inspirits and invigorates the men, and rapidly diminishes the sick list; but the weather was extremely hot, and the marches long and fatiguing. Each man carried seven days' rations, forty rounds of ammunition, half of a shelter-tent and blanket, besides his musket, making fifty pounds in weight to each man. The soldiers were tormented with blistered feet, and sunstroke became unusually preva- lent. Men dropped down exhausted on the march. The sick and disabled accumulated on the route. Requisition was made on all mess and private transportation for the use of the sick. Mess-kitts and other articles of necessity and comfort were abandoned on the road. Personal convenience
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and private rights were willingly yielded to the necessities of the sick and disabled. On the 14th the regiment reached Bealton Station, on the Orange and Alexandria railroad. The sick were sent from there to Alexandria. On the 15th the regiment reached Centreville, and there remained till the 18th, affording the weary soldiers much needed rest. The regiment had marched over the racing- and battle- grounds of the two armies of the two years previous. Everywhere were the evidences of the ravages of war. What few inhabitants remained were dejected and poverty- stricken. Houses and fenees were destroyed; landmarks obliterated; even the county records were seen strewn upon the road. Long stretches of country, on the plains of Manassas and about Warrenton Junction, were an arid waste. The men suffered greatly from thirst. At long intervals stagnant pools were found, the water of a drab color. The march, from that time till the battle of Get- tysburg, was regulated by the movements of the enemy. No unusual incidents occurred up to that time save the terrible hardships of the march. Several men were pros- trated with sickness, and sent to Washington upon every available opportunity. George Hnginin, first lieutenant Company A, was taken ill, and sent to hospital. The regiment crossed the Potomae at Edwards' Ferry, June 26, and eneamped near Middletown, Maryland, on the evening of the 27th. On June 28, after a toilsome march over Cotoeton mountain, reached Frederick. The next day the regiment was detailed to guard the wagon-train to Emmettsburg. It left Frederick at twelve M., and reached Emmettsburg about eleven P.M., marching twenty-six miles, with scarcely a halt on the route.
Crossing into Maryland was like passing from a desert into a garden, from a land of desolation into a land of peace and plenty.
Save the fatigues of the long, toilsome marches, it was a succession of delights. The ripening crops, the well-kept fences, and the immense, painted barns, denoted thrift and comfort. The line of march passed over a succession of low ranges of mountains or hills, cultivated to their tops, with beautiful valleys lying between, presenting long vistas of variegated landscape, dotted with villages and farm- houses embowered with trees.
It was a picture of Arcadia to the weary soldiers, who had long been accustomed to the worn-out lands and the. stunted, serubby groves of Virginia, made more desolate by the ravages of war. It made them long for peace, and sigh for the rural comforts which they saw spread before them.
The ravages of armies soon became apparent in this beautiful country. Fences began to disappear, and the ripening grain, ready for the reaper, was soon trampled down.
FIRST DAY'S BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
The next day the First corps marched to Marsh ereek, about four miles from Gettysburg, and went into encamp- ment. Many things indicated that the army was on the eve of an impending battle. Batteries were put into posi- tion ; a strong pieket-line was posted, and the corps en- camped in line of battle, as if in readiness to receive an at- tack. June 30 the regiment was mustered for pay. Early
in the morning of July 1 the " long roll" was sounded. The first division was hastily got into marching order, and started on its way towards Gettysburg. As it was crossing the summit of the divide, two or three miles from Gettys- burg, overlooking the valley below, puffs of smoke could be seen fromn exploding shells, about two miles northwest of Gettysburg, but no report could be heard ; the distance was not over two and a half miles. The advance of Gen- eral Hill's corps was debouching from the mountain pass, and driving General Buford's cavalry before it. The pace was quickened, and as the division approached within half a mile of the town it filed into the fields; it hastened on the double-quiek to meet the enemy, the men loading their muskets as they marched. It hastily formed in a grove on Seminary Ridge, in the western outskirts of the town. It was led by General Reynolds in person to a parallel ridge four hundred yards distant, towards the advancing enemy. Through this ridge is a deep railroad eut. General Cutler's brigade was formed on this ridge, the cut dividing the brigade into two unequal parts. The One Hundred and Forty-seventh and Seventy-sixth New York Regiments were stationed to the right; the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania, Ninety-fifth New York, and Seventh Indiana Regiments, to the left of the cut. The One Hundred and Forty- seventh Regiment's left rested on the cut; the Seventy- sixth joined the One Hundred and Forty-seventh on the right. The two other brigades of the First division formed the centre and left of the line of battle. Captain Hall's battery supported General Cutler's brigade, and was in position on the right of the railroad cut.
The principal force of the enemy was advancing on the Cashtown road against General Cutler's brigade, and the brunt of attack was directed to the right of the railroad cut. The battle opened about ten A.M. In front was a wheat- field, sloping down to a stream, which sheltered the advance of the enemy. They suddenly poured a withering volley into the two regiments. General Reynolds was instantly killed. The enemy charged through the railroad cut, within sixty yards of Captain Hall's battery, and poured in a destructive fire, obliging it, with its supports, to with- draw. At the same time the enemy advanced in double lines of battle in front and on the right flank. General Wadsworth directed this brigade to fall back. The Sev- enty-sixth Regiment received the order, and fell back in time, but the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment did not receive the order to retire. Lieutenant-Colonel Miller was wounded on top of the head just at the time the order was delivered to him. Confused by the wound, he did not communicate the order to his successor, Major Harney.
Major Harney bravely held the regiment to its position, against overwhelming numbers, until Captain Ellsworth, assistant adjutant-general on General Wadsworth's staff, seeing its perilous position, with great personal bravery hastened forward and ordered Major Harney to fall back ; the enemy at the time held the railroad cut, partially inter- cepting the regiment's retreat. It was none too soon to save the regiment from total annihilation or capture. It had already lost full one-half of its numbers in killed and wounded. Major Harney, ever mindful of the good name and welfare of the regiment, saw after the retreat that the
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
colors were missing. Sergeant Hinchcliff, the color-bearer, conspieuous for his bravery and fine soldierly bearing, was shot through the heart, and had fallen upon the colors. Major Harney was about to return in person to bring them off, when Sergeant Wybourn, Company I, volunteered to rescue them. He returned, rolled Sergeant Hinchcliff off the colors, and bore them off triumphantly amidst a storm of bullets. He was wounded slightly, but was saved by his knapsack ; the ball that hit him first passed through it. At this time General Meredith's brigade, occupying the centre of the line, was in great danger. The right wing had been driven back, and the enemy with a large force held the railroad cut, ready to intercept the retreat of the remainder of the division. Upon the spur of the moment, the Sixth Wisconsin, Fourteenth Brooklyn, and Ninety-fifth New York wheeled around perpendicularly to the line of the enemy and charged furiously upon them. They canght them in the railroad cut, and captured eleven hundred men, two battle-flags, and the rebel General Archer, and bore them safely off. This movement materially facilitated the retreat of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh New York. This manœuvre severely repulsed the enemy, and the Federal lines were re-established. The One Hundred and Forty- seventh New York rallied under cover of Seminary Hill, but at no time during the remainder of the day could it Inuster more than seventy or eighty muskets. The battle had lasted about thirty minutes at the time of the falling back of the regiment. It returned near its former position after the line was re-established.
The two remaining divisions of the First corps soon came up to meet the enemy as they deployed and extended their lines on the right, and the theatre of action shifted to the northwest of Gettysburg, between the Chambersburg and Mummasburg roads. There the enemy endeavored to overwhelm our right by superior force. The regiment was moved np midway between the two roads about twelve M., and again suffered depletion of its already diminished ranks. Several of its officers were severely wounded and borne to the rear.
General Hill's corps, thirty thousand strong, was kept at bay by the First corps, thirteen thousand strong, until reinforced by General Ewell's corps in the afternoon. It came in on the Carlisle road. The Eleventh corps, com- manded by General Carl Schurz, was on the field to oppose it. Between the two corps there was an interval which was not wholly filled up during the battle. The enemy now had a foree on the field nearly sixty thousand strong. The two corps, First aud Eleventh, were about twenty-five thousand strong. The roads approaching the north side of the town-the Mummasburg, Carlisle, and Harrisburg roads -eonverge and unite just before the town is reached, form- ing but one street or avenue of escape through the town. Be- tween three and four P.M. the enemy with a vastly superior force overlapping the Eleventh corps on the right, and closing in on the interspace between the two corps, advanced all along the line. The Eleventh corps made a feeble re- sistance during a brief interval, and then fled in disorder. It soon became disorganized and panic-stricken, and, as it approached the junction of the converging roads, became wedged and huddled into a mass of frightened humanity.
The enemy, unopposed, pursued and deliberately poured volley after volley into this seething mass. The slaughter was terrible. There were fields of standing grain in the northern suburbs of the town filled with the dead and wounded soldiers. This exposed the right flank of the First corps, and necessitated a hasty retreat.
General Doubleday, successor of General Reynolds in command of the First eorps, in his official report says,-
" About four P.M., the enemy having been strongly rein- forced, advanced in large numbers, everywhere deploying into double and triple lines, overlapping our left for a third of a mile, pressing heavily upon our right, and overwhelming our centre. It was evident that Lee's whole army was upon us. Our tired troops had been fighting desperately, some of them for six hours. They were thoroughly exhausted, and General Howard had no reinforcements to give me. It became necessary to retreat. . . . I gave orders to retreat, the right to fall back first, and the Third division covering the movement by occupying the intrenchments in front of Seminary Hill, which I had directed to be thrown up in the morning as a precautionary measure.
" The fortifications were nothing but a pile of rails, but from behind them Rowley's gallant men, assisted by part of Wadsworth's command, stemmed the fierce tide which pressed them incessantly, and held the foe at bay until the greater portion of the corps had retired. . . . The batteries were all brought back from their advanced position and posted on Seminary Ridge. They greatly assisted the orderly retreat, retarding the enemy by their fire. They lost heavily in men and horses at this point, and as they retired to town were subjected to so heavy a fire that one gun was left, the horses being all shot down. The bodies of three caissons were necessarily abandoned. . . . I remained at the Seminary myself until thousands of hos- tile bayonets made their appearance round the sides of the building. I then rode back and regained iny command, nearly all of which were filing through the town. As we passed through the streets the pale and frightened inhabi- tants came out of their houses, offering us food and drink, and the expression of their deep sorrow and sympathy."
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