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 26
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The Fifth corps was driven back to the breastworks that night. Scant provision had been made to shelter the wounded in case of a battle ; but few of the hospital tents had been brought up, and what there were were filled with wounded, and many wounded were placed outside in the open air; fires were built around them to keep them from freezing.
In the night came on a slcety storm, covering every- thing with ice. About two A.M. February 7 the wounded were all got into the ambulances and sent to City Point. That day was a cold rainy day. There was constant skirmishing with the enemy, at times amounting to a real battle. The regiment occupied a swamp, and had Do shelter. The men who were wounded soon became stiffened with cold, and by the time they reached the hospital were pulseless. The fighting continued through the night of the 7th. The morning of the 8th broke clear and cold. The men, when they left camp on the 5th, were not allowed to cumber themselves with more than one blanket apiece. Their sufferings from exposure were great. On the 8th they were allowed to return to the old camp and get their tents and blankets. This battle enabled the army to extend its lincs two miles, which were strengthened with strong defensive works. The regiment again went into winter quarters near the place where it had fought so persistently and bravely.
It erected new huts and had a season of rest. In the morning of March 25, before daylight, a terrible roar of artillery was heard towards the right. The Fifth corps was immediately got under arms and marched towards the scene of conflict. By the time it got on the ground the battle was over. The enemy had captured Fort Steadman by surprising the picket-line in its front. Deserters from the enemy were in the habit of coming in in the night. Squads of men, first announcing themselves as deserters to lull suspicion, dashed upon the pickets and overpowered
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them. Immediately five thousand of the enemy rushed on the fort and surprised it. The fort was garrisoned by a raw Pennsylvania regiment. The men were soundly sleeping in their huts or tents. The enemy woke them up with the points of their bayonets, though in a playful manner. The Pennsylvanians had full haversacks and knapsacks. The enemy, half starved, made a raid upon the larder, and searched the haversaeks and knapsacks for food. All con- trol over them by their officers was lost ; no threats or en- treaty availed to restore order out of their demoralized con- dition. Daylight found them still in the fort, which was commanded by a Federal fort on each side. They were to advance on the military railroad, capture it, and cut off all of our army on the left. But the enemy thought-if he thought anything-that he could fight better on a full stomach, and tarried too long to fill it. The two forts poured into them a destructive fire of shot and shell, and they were all captured. The enemy assaulted our lines in front of the Second corps. The Second brigade suffered severely. All that day there was mischief in the air, and the Second division of the Fifth corps was moved about from point to point to be in readiness to take part in it.
In the afternoon the division was reviewed by President Lincoln. During the review heavy firing commenced in front, and the division marched from the review direct to the seene of action, but by the time it got there all was quiet again ; then it returned to its camp.
The following were killed or died in hospitals from June 19, 1864, to the end of the war : John S. Kippen, corporal, Co. B, February 6, battle of Hatcher's Run; Wilson Sanders, Co. B, July 8, 1864, typhoid fever; Christopher Rising, July 18, in hospital; Charles A. Brown, Co. C, killed November 22, 1864; Albert Fuller, Co. C, September 1, 1864, died in hospital ; L. Lawrence, killed February 5, 1865; Wm. Minor, Co. C, August 11, 1864, died in hospital ; Ansel Orr, Co. C, died in hospital; Henry Smith, Co. C, died in hospital; Edw. Topping, Co. D, died May 11, 1865, of smallpox ; Luther Clark, Co. D, wounded April 1, 1865, at Five Forks, died April 19; William Cline, Co. D, died in hospital September 25, 1864; Samuel Fessenden, Co. D, wounded April 1, died April 10, 1865 ; James Nolan, Co. D,-died at home August 20, 1864; Asa Radick, killed at the battle of Hatcher's Run, February 6, 1865 ; Alfred S. Nichols, Co. E, killed April 1, 1865, at Five Forks; James Brown, first lieutenant, Co. F, died July 1, 1864, from wounds received at Spottsylvania ; Daniel Densmore, Co. G, died October 10, 1864, of wounds received May 5, 1864 ; Sylvanus E. Barker, Co. G, killed at the battle of Gravelly Run ; Edward Damm, Co. G, killed in action August 18, 1864; Wm. Knight, Co. G, killed in action August 19, 1864; Andrew Morrison, Co. G, killed at the battle of Gravelly Run March 31, 1865 ; Charles Brown, Co. G, missing in action October 1, 1864 ; John F. Kelley, Co. G, killed October 1, 1864; (Co. H) Alamander Plumb, killed June 22, 1864; Wm. H. Morse, died August 30, 1864, in hospital ; Daniel A. Wheeler, died August 23, 1864; (Co. I) Horace Chapin, killed June 25, 1864; John Mitchel, killed June 20, 1864; Richard Murry, killed July 16, 1864; (Co. K) Lansing Bristol, first lieutenant, killed February 6, 1865, at the battle of Hatcher's Run ;
Richard McGraw, killed August 19, 1864, at the battle of Weldon Railroad; Wmn. Fitzpatrick, killed August 19, 1864; Florin Hess, killed August 21, 1864: John F. Roberts, died August 13, 1864, of wounds received May 5, 1864; Richard White, killed June 25, 1864 ; Theodore Whitlock, killed at the battle of Hatcher's Run, February 6, 1865.
CHAPTER XXIV.
OSWEGO IN THE REBELLION.
The One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment-Battles of Gravelly Run, Five Forks, and Appomattox Court-House.
IN the morning of March 29 the Fifth corps broke camp to set out on the last campaign of the war. It was joined with General Sheridan's command, under the direction of General Sheridan. General Sheridan had, with a large cavalry force, set out farther to the left to make a long de- tour, to get around the enemy's right. During the first day, near sunset, the Fifth corps came upon the enemy and had a sharp engagement. The One Hundred and Forty- seventh Regiment, at Hatcher's Run, on the 6th of Febru- ary, had lost its field and staff officers, and the command was given to Colonel Daily, of Weldon Railroad renown. Colonel Laycock commanded the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania. They were two kindred spirits. These two regiments were ordered to charge and take the Boynton plank-road, which was on a ridge in their front. Each colonel seized the colors of his respective regiment and led the charge in per- son. It was a rivalry between the two which should plant the colors on the ridge first. The charge was made with a great flourish and noise, the men fully entering into the spirit of the rivalry.
The enemy fired a volley into the two regiments and fled precipitately.
During the night it commenced to rain; the rain con- tinued steadily till the 31st of March. The soil is of quick- sand and clay, and moistens up to a great depth. The en- tire transportation of the army was stuck fast. The roads had to be corduroyed ; in some places the first layer of logs sank out of sight, and a second layer had to be put on top of the first before the trains could be moved. The Fifth corps was groping its way through dense thickets and swamps, endeavoring to get possession of the White Oak road and join its left to Sheridan's cavalry. In the morn- ing of the 31st the enemy massed a large force on the left of the Fifth corps when it was groping its way bewildered in the swamps and woods. They made a furious attack, sweeping down the line, doubling up brigade after brigade, until two divisions of the corps were disorganized and the woods filled with retreating soldiers, with all semblance of organization lost. The left had been driven in two miles, to a swale, where was posted the Wisconsin brigade in re- serve. This brigade checked the pursuit of the enemy. It met the enemy in a hand-to-hand encounter. One of the enemy attempted to seize the colors of a Wisconsin regiment from the hands of a stalwart standard-bearer.
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The standard-bearer seized a musket and brained him on the spot. He was afterwards rewarded by a medal by the State of Wisconsin for his gallantry. After the enemy was repulsed he turned around and attacked General Sheridan. General Sheridan was driven back three or four miles near Dinwiddie Court-House, but he retreated in good order, and finally held the enemy at bay. The loss of the regi- ment in this encounter was very severe. Colonel Daily received a painful wound in the band.
BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS.
When General Sheridan had drawn the enemy back, and was holding him at bay, he sent an order to General War- ren to march the Fifth corps up to the rear of the enemy and cut off his retreat, and capture the whole foree ; but the Fifth corps was so much scattered that it could not be got together in time. On the night of the 31st two divisions of the Fifth corps advanced to join General Sher- idan, but the entire corps did not get up and into position until about four P.M. By that time the enemy had partially fallen back. The corps was formed so as to swing around and intercept the enemy's retreat, and capture five thousand of them. The cavalry and Fifth corps pursued the enemy over their works to Southerland station on the South Side railroad; there they tried to rally and make a stand, but were soon driven from their position. The enemy were broken and demoralized. The pursuit was continued along in the night, and many of their trains were captured. The . pursuit was so close that the enemy were not enabled to cross the Appomattox to join General Lee. After the battle of Five Forks was over, General Sheridan relieved General Warren from his command on the field. The pur- suit was continued, giving the enemy no rest, night nor day, until April 4, when the army arrived at Jetersville, five or six miles from Buck's Station. Sheridan's cavalry and the Fifth corps were now across the track of General Lee's army, intercepting its retreat into North Carolina. During the night of April 1 a terrible cannonading was heard towards Petersburg. On the morning of the 2d an assault was made on the enemy's works all along the line. General Lee had weakened the force in the defenses to strengthen his right to oppose General Sheridan and the Fifth corps. The works were soon carried. The principal resistance was met in one fort garrisoncd with two hundred and fifty rebels. It was captured with a loss of five hun- dred men in killed and wounded. Only about thirty of the enemy escaped. The force which General Lee depended upon for the salvation of his army was broken and scattered by General Sheridan's cavalry and the Fifth corps. Gen- eral Lee collected the remnants of his army, and in the night of the 2d evacuated Richmond, burning the bridges behind him, and blowing up the magazines on the whole line of his defenses. Anarchy and destruction ran riot during the evacuation and the final breaking up of the Confederacy. The business part of Richmond, consisting of magnificent warchouses, was laid in ashes. The Con- federate archives were partly burned and partly seattered about the streets. The inhabitants were kept in a constant state of consternation and alarm, fearing alike the uncon- trolled license of their own rabble and the entrance of the
Federal army. Many of them gathered up hastily what they could of their valuables, and fled with their retreating army. It was to them like the breaking of doom. By the time that General Lee had arrived at Amelia Court- Honse, on the Danville railroad, General Sheridan's cavalry and the Fifth corps were across his track, intercepting fur- ther retreat, at Jetersville, about four miles in his front. General Sheridan expected an attack from the desperate enemy before the remainder of the Federal army could come up in their rear. His sconts, dressed in rebel uni- form, were scouring the whole country, misleading their baggage-trains, which were endeavoring to get off on by- roads. Some of them were led into our lines by these pre- tended friends and captured ; others were pounced upon by Sheridan's eavalry, which seemed to them omnipresent, and burned. One train, two or three miles distant, was sur- prised by the Twenty-fourth Regiment New York Cavalry, with some other cavalry troops, and was pillaged and burned. The rebel cavalry, under General Lee, came upon them, and a desperate fight ensued, in which Lieutenant-Colonel Richards, of Parish, was killed. The smoke arising from the burning train, and the explosions from the powder- and ordnance-wagons, could be distinctly seen at Jetersville. General Sheridan remained at Jetersville, awaiting attaek, until the remainder of the Union army began to press General Lee in the rear. April 6, General Lee com- menced his retreat towards Lynchburg. Then a hot pur- suit commenced. The Fifth corps, under the command of General Griffin, pursued on the right flank, its column keeping pace with the flecing rebel army. The Second corps pursued in the immediate rear, and crowded so closely upon the enemy's heels that he was forced at times to deploy the rear-guard into line of battle to keep it back. In the mean time the flanking columns made it necessary for them to keep moving on to prevent being wholly sur- rounded, and having their retreat cut off. General Gor- don's division was nearly all destroyed or captured. April 6 the enemy, with its shattered forces, succeeded in crossing High bridge, and partially destroyed it. General Ewell's corps made a stand across Sailor's creek, near Farmville. The enemy occupied a strong position, proteeted in front by a swale and the creek. In attacking this position, two or three Pennsylvania regiments, endeavoring to cross the swale, were nearly annihilated. At length General Custer's cavalry gained a position in the enemy's rear. In a mag- nificent charge, it came sweeping down upon them, and captured nearly the whole corps, with General Ewell. This is commonly called the battle of Farmville. Our losses were very great, principally confined to the Pennsylvania regiments. The pursuit continued through the 8th, and until the morning of the 9th, when the Fifth corps, after marching continuously through the 8th, and in the night, till two A.M. of the 9th, eut off further retreat of the enemy at Appomattox Court-House. Early in the morn- ing of the 9th heavy firing was heard in our front. The Fifth corps immediately got under arms and advanced. It soon came upon the enemy driving the cavalry before them ; a brief fight ensued, and a rebel brigade was cut off and captured. It was the last effort of General Lee's army to escape. It was completely hemmed in on three sides by
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our forces ; on the other side was an impenetrable swamp. As the Fifth corps advanced to a high ridge, the whole rebel army came into view, exposing their weak position. They were encamped across a valley on the side of the opposite ridge. Overtures for surrender had already been made, and a conference of the opposing generals was in progress. There was a truce to all further fighting. The elation of the army can better be imagined than described. All the toils and the dangers of the weary and famished soldiers were over. The demonstration of their joy was ex- pressed in one hearty and prolonged cheer, extending through- out the lines, and then subsided into perfect stillness. They respected the bravery of the fallen foe, who had met them in many a terrible battle-field, and now lay helpless at their feet. There was not the disposition to gibe and jeer them which was common after their discomfitures in other cn- gagements on the pursuit. The enemy were cowed and humiliated, and showed none of the arrogance universal with them before in any of their misfortunes. Their spirit was completely broken.
The hardships of the pursuit had been terribly severe upon our men. They had to follow in the wake of the re- treating enemy, over roads trampled into a thick mud of the consistence of a mortar-bed. The roads were lined with dead mules, given out on the way, festering in the hot sun, giving out a stench that was intolerable. The supply-trains were far in the rear, and during days the famished soldiers would pick up the corn left by the fecding mules to stay their famished stomachs. Nothing but the elation of vic- tory, and a sure prospect of destroying or capturing the rebel army, could have kept them up on the pursuit. There was much less straggling than usual in our rear in this pur- suit. In the evening of the 8th, General Sheridan, in the advance of the enemy, captured a rebel supply-train of pro- visions coming from Lynchburg for the relief of the rebel army. This was like manna sent from heaven to our fam- ished soldiers, and starvation or surrender to the starving rebels. It was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
One great feature in this campaign, and which greatly contributed to its final success, was the daring and ubiquity of General Sheridan's scouts.
They were dressed in the rebel uniform, with long Shanghai gray coats. They presented a unique appear- ance. They were constantly coming and going through the lines, and sometimes ran great risk of being shot by our pickets as rebels. They were gay, bold riders, and de- lighted in their duties. There was a spice of adventure in that sort of service which made it peculiarly attractive to them. Out of many hundreds of them, the writer was told that only two had got caught, but they were given a short shrift, and immediately hung up. They claimed it was the least dangerous of all the branches of the service. They had the complete style and reckless abandon of the Confederate cavalier, and the peculiar accent of the South- erner. As the regiment was passing two or three hundred of captured rebels, near Southerland station, the men, as usual, commenced bantering them: "Ah, Johnny! you have got enough of it, have you ? Pretty hot work now, and poor feed, and about time to quit. Getting tired of it. Eh, Johnny ?" One of them, thinking that it was an im-
putation upon their courage and constancy to the rebel cause, replied, " By golly! you wouldn't have got us if it wasn't for one of your fellers dressed in our clothes. Hle misled us when we were lost, and trying to find our way into our lines. He told us that he was sent to find us, and show us where to go, but led us right into your lines, and we were captured. We'll fix him if we ever catch him again."
That same night a rebel wagon-train was captured by one of these scouts, who told the conductor of the train that he was ordered to show him where he was to park his train for the night. He led the train into our lines, and it was captured.
These scouts were everywhere in the rebel army. They pointed out the places where some rebel cannon were buried, with tablets put up, with some names inscribed on them, representing them to be soldiers' graves. They had assisted the enemy to bury them. The pursuit had been so close that the rebel army had become demoralized, and nearly scattered, leaving a remnant only at the capture. The country was filled with rebel soldiers wandering aimlessly about.
Out of about forty-five thousand at Amelia Court-House only twenty-two thousand had reached Appomattox Court- House, and of that number only cleven thousand had muskets.
CHAPTER XXV.
OSWEGO IN THE REBELLION.
Return of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment to the De- fenses at Washington, and its final Muster-Out.
THE First division remained two days to rest and receive supplies. It then returned to Burk's Station. The con- dition of the roads beggars description. Bridges were destroyed, and the baggage-trains had great difficulty in crossing the streams.
At Farmville the news came of the assassination of President Lincoln. The iuhabitants were in great fear lest the soldiers would wreak vengeance upon them. They has- tened to express their horror for the deed, and showed regret and sympathy for the great loss to the country. They said they feared Andrew Johnson much more than they did President Lincoln, whom they had begun to look upon as their friend.
They feared their liberated slaves, who were roaming about the country, and clamored for protection from our army, but they feared more their disbanded and straggling defenders, released from all restraint and discipline. Their great anxiety was to know " what was going to be done with them," as they were now conquered.
They were amazed and delighted with the generous terms of surrender granted by General Grant. After the surrender, General Crawford, with his staff, rode into the rebel camp to call on his former old army friends, who had been fighting for the Confederacy. General Longstreet told him that he had fought to the last ditch, and expected no
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terms but an unconditional surrender, and that he should be hung for treason. The most of them greeted the gen- eral very cordially, but occasionally there was one whose rebel spirit was still strong within him, and would answer his salutation with a scowl, and turn his back upon him. From Burksville the regiment returned by short marches to Manchester, opposite to Richmond, passing through Petersburg on its way. The men gave themselves up to joy and frolic on the way, and discipline was very much re- laxed. The poor liberated contraband contributed more than his share to the amusement of the troops. Tossing him up in blankets, and blowing him up by mined cracker- boxes, when he came into the camp for food, were the daily sport of the men, but they always rewarded him well after- wards for the entertainment.
The regiment remained at Manchester two or three days, and visited the stronghold of the Confederacy, the objective point of three immense armies, and to capture which had cost the country hundreds of thousands of men and an in- credible amount of treasure. Libby prison, Castle Thunder, and Belle Isle were objects of interest and places of histor- icał celebrity.
The notorious Dick Turner, shut up in the dungeon-cell under Libby, and fed on bread and water until his complex- ion became bleached and eyes watery, had frequent calls from some of his old acquaintances, whose relative conditions were now reversed. He was very cautious in coming to the door of his cell when called for by his former victims ; some of them had endeavored to retaliate upon him part of the punishment he had inflicted upon them. In the month of May the regiment marched from Richmond to the southern defenses of Washington. On its way from Appomattox Court-House it was joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Harney, Colonel Miller, and Adjutant Lyman, who had been liber- ated from the rebel prisons by the march of General Sher- man from Savannah north ; also by Lieutenant-Colonel Coey, who had partially recovered from the frightful wound received at Dabney's Mills; and Captain Wybourn, who lost a leg at the same place. The regiment was then mustered out of the United States service, June 7, 1865, and started on its way for the north a day or two after. At Baltimore it was assigned two or three box-cars, fitted up with seats con- structed out of rough boards loosely put together, affording insufficient room and no possibility of reclining for sleep in the night, on their long journey home. The cars were ex- cessively dirty, having been used formerly for a miscellaneous kind of transportation. The men became indignant at their treatment by the railroad company, which was receiving suffi- cient compensation from the government to afford them first- class passage. They were to go by Harrisburg and Elmira. A demand was made by Colonel Miller for better cars, on the superintendent of the road, which was refused ; he then demanded more cars, so that the men could ride more com- fortably ; that also was refused. The men could no longer be restrained. They forcibly took possession of two more cars and attached them to the train. A riot was with dif- ficulty prevented. There were one or two other regiments in the same predicament.
The regiment was two days and nights going from Bal- timore to Elmira. It was switched off on a side-track for
the passage of every passenger and freight train that came along, as if it contained cattle or swine instead of the brave defenders of the country, who had bravely fought in a hundred battles.
The railroad company had been pampered throughout the war by the government. It unfortunately was managed by corrupt politicians and lobbyists, who did not scruple to profit by the misfortunes of the country and the blood of its brave defenders.
When the regiment arrived at Elmira it was warmly greeted by the citizens of the place, and the irritation caused by its treatment at the hands of the Pennsylvania road soon subsided. The Erie railroad, contrary to the practice of the Pennsylvania road, fitted out an elegant special train to take the regiment to Ithaca. The weary men reposed on the luxurious seats of the cars, an enjoyment no one could fully appreciate who had not passed through weary marshes and bivoucks in rain and mud, often disturbed by the enemy's cannon, during nearly three years. At Ithaca it was transferred to an elegant boat on Seneca lake, and enjoyed a luxurious ride upon its clear waters, bordered with abrupt banks, erowned with trees which were reflected in the pellucid depths of the lake. It was a beautiful clear day. The surrounding country, diversified with wood- land and growing field, with farm-houses nestled in em- bowering shades, presented a picture of peace and happiness that the men had been a long time strangers to. Arriving at Geneva, the regiment was again met by a deputation of grateful citizens, who had made elaborate preparations for its reception.
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