USA > New York > History of the 121st New York State Infantry > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
142
diverged from the works the opposing lines came in contact, but neither would give ground. And for eighteen hours raged the most sanguinary con- flict of the war. The point remained in our pos- session at the close of the struggle, and is known as 'The Angle.'"
During this all-day conflict, the tree, a red oak, standing at the angle of the works was cut down by the bullets fired from both sides, but mostly by men of the 121st. Colonel Upton noting that the enemy kept seeking shelter be- hind it from which to fire upon the battery and our troops, ordered Captain Weaver with a part of the regiment to keep up a constant fire upon that point, and thus prevent the Rebels from put- ting their heads above the works. After keeping up this fire for several hours the men saw the tree begin to waver and it soon after fell with a crash upon those near it, inside the enemy's rifle pits. A section of the tree in the ordnance depart- ment at Washington is labled as having been "cut down by musket balls in an attempt to recapture the works previously captured by the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, May 12, 1864. Pre- sented to the Honorable Secretary of War by Brevet Maj .- Gen. N. A. Miles, commanding First Division, Second Corps, Army of the Poto- mac." The dimensions are given as 5 feet high and 22 inches in diameter. So this must have been the stump of the tree below the point where it was cut off. The inference from this label is that men of the Second Corps are to be credited with the cutting down of the tree. But the fact is that the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Sixth Corps, occupied the position directly in front of the tree, and Captain Weaver and his men fired for hours directly at the Rebels seeking shelter behind it, until it fell.
143
For the particular part which the 121st took in this affair we may turn again to the narrative of Colonel Beckwith. "It rained all night and by the smoky pine fires we could scarcely boil our water for coffee, or scorch our pork for our break- fasts. Then we moved some distance to the right and halted in the pines. At this place an officer rode up with a yellow tissue paper in his hand, and as we stood at attention, he read a congratula- tory order from the general commanding; and we were informed that a Rebel division and twenty cannon had fallen into our hands that morning. While the men were cheered at the news, there was but little cheering. In a few moments we moved back, our company leading the regiment, passing on beyond our former position and in the direction of the heavy timber. Some of the boys said, 'D-n those yellow paper orders. That means more fight,' and about 9 o'clock we came under fire again. Moving quickly forward we passed over an elevation that was swept by bullets, and rushed down to a line of works occupied by the 95th Pennsylvania of our brigade. The fog, rain and mist, loaded with smoke, obscured our view partially. The enemy's fire came from our right and front, but we were partially protected by their works and we kept up a continuous fire. This was the point where the Second Corps had carried
their works early in the morning. Where we were, the works were V-shaped, the point or bot- tom of the V being toward us. We held the works from the point down the left side of the V as it faced us, and the Rebs held the right side and the works beyond towards where we charged on the night of the 10th. The Second Corps had been driven out just as the 95th Pennsylvania came up and held the works, until our regiment and the 5th Maine came to their support. The ground
144
on which we were was boggy and swampy, and we sank in the mud up to our ankles. Here all day long we kept up a constant fire. The wounded had to take care of themselves, officers as well as men, and many were killed. Captain Adams of our company lost an arm, and several others of our officers and men were wounded. A little after we went in, the Third brigade of our division joined us, also the Vermont brigade and the 49th New York and the 119th Pennsylvania. Some of the Vermonters came in where we were, and a line behind us fired over our heads. Every time we were reinforced the Rebs scemed to put in a new line, and the firing would break out more fiercely. We nearly shot away the head logs on the works. A section of a regular battery, the 5th U. S. Artil- lery, commanded by Lieutenant Metcalf, came up on a run, unlimbered, and ran the pieces as close to the Confederate works as they could be used effectively, and opened fire upon the crowded mass of Rebels in the angle with cannister. The Rebels elated by their success in forcing us back for a short space from their captured works, vainly endeavored to take the guns, and for a time withstood the terrible slaughter of the com- bined infantry and artillery fire, but finally gave up the attempt and sullenly retired. Not however until they had shot the men and horses, and in fact disabled the guns themselves with musketry fire.
"It was at this time that Capt. J. D. Fish of Com- pany D, 121st, then acting as acting adjutant gen- eral to General Upton, was killed while engaged in bringing up cannister to the guns of the battery. It was also at this time that the works on both sides were crowded with combatants and the killing and wounding of the closely crowded men was awful. The smoke from the guns and bursting
145
shells mingling with the mist and rain sometimes obscured the view of the Rebel works, close as they were. The accumulation of the dead and badly wounded increased the horror of the situa- tion and added to the desperation of the com- batants and their efforts to bring the battle to a conclusion. Where we occupied the reverse side of the breastworks, men would load and stick their guns over the head log and raising the butts of their pieces, fire down into the mass of men hud- dled on the opposite side. Now and then a soldier or an officer, crazed with excitement, would jump upon the parapet and fire down into the enemy, but they speedily paid the penalty of their reck- less daring, by being shot, and falling to one side or the other.
"Batteries behind and in front of us kept the air full of the shrieking noise of their projectiles, and a mortar battery behind us sailed shell after shell over us, and dropped them on the massed Rebels in the trenches. The rain fell continu- ously. Occasionally a lull would occur in the firing for a little time, and many Rebels, taking advantage of it, would raise a white flag and sur- render themselves as prisoners. An incident of this kind would be followed by a burst of firing again, usually better directed than the preceding one, and so we stopped the white flag business, the last squad of surrendering Rebels, about thirty of them, getting the fire of both sides, nearly all being shot. So the battle continued. Ammunition was brought up on pack-mules, and served to us. Some of it would not fit our guns and the boxes with other emptied boxes, filled with dirt and placed in front of us, made some protection.
"After noon the Rebels finding it useless to at- tempt to drive us back to our works, slackened their fire somewhat, but it was not till dark that the firing
- 146
diminished below the roar of battle. It was a day never to be forgotten for its fierce fighting, bulldog tenacity and terrible slaughter.
"Just before dark we got word for Upton's men to assemble behind our rifle pits in the rear, and many went back, but I waited until after dark, preferring to stay where I was, than to run the gauntlet of the rain of bullets, that swept the ground up to the crest, or rise, in our rear.
"This was the worst day's experience I ever had, and it thoroughly disgusted me with war. Finding the regiment after a short search, I found Baldwin, Chapin and Tucker of my company and several others were there also. Being nearly starved we got some hot coffee and cooked some pork and crackers. We were all covered with mud and pow- der and smoke and grime, hands parboiled with rain, and our clothing loaded with moisture. We presented a very tough appearance, but being very near exhaustion it was possible for us to huddle about the smoky pinc fire with our rubber blankets over us and get some sleep, even though bullets and shells flew in close proximity to us, at frequent intervals during the night.
"In the morning the Rebs were found to have fallen back from the 'Bloody Angle' during the night, and the firing had almost stopped, but sharp- shooters kept the curious, and carelessly inclined reminded of their skill."
The writer though not a combatant, visited the scene of conflict during the 12th, and for a time watched the working of the mortar battery, of which Comrade Beckwith speaks. It was com- manded by a Frenchman who appeared greatly excited. He was never still. Dancing around the guns while they were being loaded, and spring- ing upon the parapet, when each was fired to observe where the shell fell, he seemed the incarna-
147
tion of activity. After visiting brigade headquar- ters, and not having anything else to do, I retired to a safer place and waited for the result. In the morning I went to the angle and surveyed the field. The wounded had been removed during the night but the dead lay strewn thickly over the ground, on our side of the breastworks, and along the ridge to the right. On the brow of this ridge, early in the day, Captain La Mont of the 96th Pennsylvania I think, had fallen and all day from both sides bullets had been fired across the ridge, and there did not seem to be a square inch of his body that had not been penetrated by a bullet. But horrible as was the sight on our side of the works, that on the other side was far worse, for the gray clad bodies were piled in the trenches from three to five deep. Our loss was terrible but that of the Confederates was far greater; and if the importance of the victory of the morning is to be measured by the desperate effort made to retake the position captured, it certainly was a decisive victory.
148
CHAPTER XII
FROM THE ANGLE TO COLD HARBOR
THE 121st came out of this engagement with four company officers and 185 enlisted men present for duty, and was held in reserve with the rest of the brigade during the 13th of May, but on the 14th the brigade was ordered to cross the Nye River and occupy Myer's Hill, an cleva- tion to the left, and in front of the Fifth Corps. At this point quite a sharp engagement occurred. The position was occupied easily, but being at- tacked sharply by a force large enough to flank the troops engaged, they were compelled to fall back a little distance until reinforcements arrived, when the enemy in turn retired and the hill was reoccupied and the picket line extended to the left.
Colonel Cronkite who was not present, having been wounded on the 10th, speaks very briefly of this affair, but Colonel Beckwith describes it quite minutely. "On the morning of the 13th we moved to our left and early in the morning of the 14th crossed the Nye River, a narrow, sluggish, deep stream where we crossed, and moving a short dis- tance came to a brigade of regular troops which we relieved. We moved forward a short distance and were deployed in a heavy skirmish line, tak- ing down a rail fence and making a protec- tion of the rails as best we could. A little way in our rear was a line of log cabins formerly occupied by the slaves. On a con- spicuous eminence, called Myer's Hill, was quite a large mansion, and our line of battle
149
ran in front of it. On the right our line ran into the timber. In our rear a short
distance, fringed with timber, ran the Nye
River, dark and silent. As soon as we got our rail protection completed we began to build fires and get breakfast, and had gotten it nicely under way when word was passed along from the left, that the enemy was advancing. We rapidly got into our rail barricades, and swallowing what we could of our food in a hurry at the same time, we watched for the Rebs to appear. We knew we would be the first to be attacked because a piece of woods in our front reached to within 600 feet of our position, and the rail fence running along it would conceal and shelter the advancing force until they came up to it. In a few minutes word was again passed from the house, that the Rebs were advancing in skirmish line, supported by a line of battle with artillery accompanying it. In a few minutes their skirmishers appeared in our front and opened fire, which we returned so effec- tively that they seemed reluctant to come on out of the woods and into the open, where they would offer a fair mark. At the same time their battery opened on us, a few shells bursting very near but not hitting any of us. While we were attending to the enemy in front, the 96th Pennsylvania moved out in line of battle and advanced toward the woods. We expected to continue this advance, but the 96th had scarcely disappeared in the woods when they met the enemy, and immediately the battle broke out. The Rebels charged and drove our men out, their advance reaching to our front. The troops on our left gave way, and we ran back toward the river. Some of our men jumped into it to wade across, but the water was too deep and they were fished out, wetter and wiser men. Jack Schaffner was one of the waders. Moving along
150
to the right parallel with the river, we were met by Lieutenant Redway who ordered us to rally. A shell just then bursting near us, stopped his ef- forts, and we continued down the river. In a short distance we met General Upton who directed us to move onto the road and down to the bridge, cross to the other side and rally on the colors which we would find in the field beyond. The Rebels in the meantime had occupied the posi- tion we had just vacated, and were throwing shells into our ambulance train, which was hurrying back out of range of their fire. Just at nightfall we moved forward and reoccupied the position under cover of our artillery and skirmishers without
serious resistance. The 15th and 16th we re- mained at Myer's Hill (dubbed by the men 'Upton's Run'). Just before dark on the 16th we moved forward in line of battle a long distance into the woods in our front, but did not find the enemy. Returning to our lines we were marched to our right, reaching and forming line of battle just to the right of the 'Bloody Angle.'
"A little after daylight glancing around we saw that a heavy column was massed there, and saw troops on all sides of us. Heavy skirmishing in our front and a brisk artillery fire continued for some time and then died down. This gave notice that there was a hitch in the program, and a little later we learned that the enemy's position and works were of such a nature as to render the result of an assault doubtful, and it had been given up at that point.
"An incident occurred while we were lying in line of battle, illustrating the pitiful fate of dumb animals under fire. A mounted officer had fas- tened his horse by the bridle reins to a stump so that the animal stood side to the front. A cannon shot passed under him cutting the covering of
151
his intestines, letting them run out. The poor brute stood for some little time looking pitifully around, until the officer, coming up looked at the wound, drew his revolver and killed him, removing his trappings after the death struggle was over."
General Gordon in his reminiscences, speaks of this affair as a desperate effort of the Second and Sixth Corps to break through the Confederate line, and a disastrous repulse. The brigade moved back to Myer's Hill in the evening of the 18th and the next day moved to the right and rear of the Fifth Corps and threw up entrenchments. The day after it relieved a portion of the Third division of the Second Corps. General Ewell made an ef- fort to attack the right of the army by a flank move- ment, but ran into a regiment of heavy artillery that was coming to the front and was so badly handled by them that he gave up the attempt. The opportune arrival of these fresh troops, saved the brigade from another encounter with the enemy.
On the 21st, the brigade again returned to Myer's Hill, and here the 2d Connecticut Heavy Artillery joined the brigade. It was a magnificent body of men, more than 1,800 strong and containing many veterans who had reenlisted. At about 11 P. M. of the 21st another movement to the left was begun and the brigade marched by long and tedious stages, to Guinie Station, Lebanon Church, and ar- rived at Jericho Ford on the North Anna River about midnight of the 23d. In the morning of the 24th the Corps crossed the river and took posi- tion in line of battle on the right of the Fifth Corps. The most of the day was spent in tearing up and destroying the railroad. Colonel Beckwith de- scribes the method of destruction in this manner: "We would form on the uphill side of the track, and taking hold and lifting turn the track com- pletely over, and removing the ties stack and cord
152
them, and setting fire to the piles, place the rails on top of the ties thus piled. The fire would heat a portion of the rails in the middle red hot. Then we would take the rails off the piles and wind them around trees or stumps or bend them double, and so effectually prevent their further use."
The army of General Lee was found posted in an advantageous place, and strongly fortified, so that no attempt was made to assail him, and on the 26th another movement to the left was made. The division in this movement guarded the trains to Chesterfield Station, where Sheridan had ar- rived after his brilliant raid around Lee's army in which he had defeated the Confederate cavalry under Stewart at the outer defenses of Richmond, and inflicted an irreparable loss to the Confederate cause by the death of General Stewart, the most able and efficient leader of the cavalry of the South. Sheridan was in dire need of the supplies we brought him, both of food and ammunition. Resuming the march in the evening we reached and crossed the Pamunky River in the morning and pushed on by what seemed to be forced marches to Hanover Court House, and now having joined the other divisions of the Corps, we marched to Atlee's Station on the 30th and the next day ar- rived at Cold Harbor.
153
₹
CHAPTER XIII
COLD HARBOR
C OLD HARBOR is one of the points near Rich- mond which General Mcclellan reached during the Peninsular campaign and from which he was compelled to retire at the beginning of his retreat to Harrison's Landing on the James.
It is situated about directly northeast of Rich- mond, and almost within sight of the city. Gen- eral Lee having correctly interpreted the design of General Grant, had transferred his army to this point and was found occupying works advan- tageously located and very strongly constructed.
The Sixth Corps arrived at Cold Harbor about noon of the 30th and at 5 o'clock in the afternoon was formed in line of battle, on the left of the Third division and the 121st were deployed in close order as skirmishers, and relieved the cav- alry skirmishers, who had suffered quite heavily.
Let Beckwith tell the rest. "Word was sent along the line that the enemy's line was in the farther edge of the old field-pine thicket in our front, and that we should charge this line on the dead run as soon as we got into striking distance and run the Rebs into their rifle pits. This we did. They broke as soon as they saw us begin to charge and we kept them on a dead run until they reached their works. We continued firing at anything in sight on the pits, and also shot the battery horses as they galloped up with the Reb guns going into position. Lying down we were screened from sight by the clumps of scrubby pine
154
and broom sedge covering the old fields, but were very much exposed to the bursting shells from both sides, poorly timed and bursting prema- turely. Two men were wounded in this way, and several more on our right were hit near a cabin by the roadside. Among these Frank Lowe, after- wards our adjutant, who was shot through the body. We kept up a brisk fire upon the Rebel breastworks, and our batteries made it lively for them, the cannon shot throwing up the dirt in front of them very often. In about twenty minutes up came the line of battle behind us in beautiful order and four lines swept over us at a quickstep, and just beyond us the front line started on a running charge toward the breastworks, obliquing to the right where the Rebel breastworks were on a little eminence in the edge of the pine woods. The formation of our brigade was in four lines, the 2d Connecticut forming three of the lines. The 95th and 96th Pennsylvania, the 5th Maine, and the part of the 121st New York not on the skirmish line formed the fourth line. As soon as they passed us we were ordered to act as rear or provost guard to prevent any but wounded men from going to the rear. As soon as the heavies began to charge, the Rebel works were bordered with a fringe of smoke from the muskets and the men began to fall very fast, and many wounded began going to the rear. A little in front of the works there was a hollow, and as the column went into this it seemed to pause and the rear lines closed up. The Rebel fire was very effective and it seemed to us from where we stood that our poor fellows would all get shot. The ground over which they had passed was covered with men. We could see them fall in all shapes. Some would fall for- ward as if they had caught their feet and tripped and fell. Others would throw up their arms and
155
fall backward. Others would stagger about a few paces before they dropped. To us the suspense was horrible. We could not understand the pause before reaching the works and we said to one another, 'What are they stopping for? Why don't they go on?' But the agony was soon over. Their colonel had halted to bring his men into line for the final rush, and as soon as they closed up and filled the gaps in the line, they gallantly moved forward, and again met the devastating fire of the sheltered Rebels which they could not over- come. They were forced back after getting up to the works and their right crossing it and cap- turing some of its defenders, who were North Carolinians.
"Our men could not get up to their works in line of battle because the trees had been cut and so piled together that in places men could not get through. In some places gaps or lanes had been left in the slashings, and it was in these places that our men reached the works. After a deter- mined and desperate attempt to take them they lay down in front of them and General Upton took a portion of the command to the right where the works had been carried, and moving down to the left, drove the Rebels out of the works in front of which our men had been repulsed, and were lying in their front. Here, occupying the outside of the Rebel works that had been captured, an incessant fire was kept up, for the enemy seemed determined to retake the works and kept up a scorching fire until after midnight. They inflicted but little loss upon our command, and finally fell back upon a second line of works, and we at once turned and strengthened the captured works. In this charge the 2d Connecticut lost their colonel, Kellogg, killed, and 386 men killed, wounded and missing. Although a new regiment they sustained
156
themselves without support on either flank for many hours. After the enemy had given up their attempt to regain the works, the 96th Pennsylvania went into the front line, supported immediately in the rear by the 2d Connecticut. Then came our regiment, then the 5th Maine. (The dead were buried where they fell in shallow graves.) We skirmishers assembled, and returned to our regi- ment, as soon as the charge was over, and lay on our arms in line of battle during the night. The next day we relieved the 96th Pennsylvania whose commanding officer, Major Lessig, said that in the continuous fire they had fired 90,000 rounds of ammunition.
"We continued the firing, the Rebel line being but a short distance in our front, and we could plainly see any movement on their side. We fixed head logs on the works and built sheltered out- looks with ammunition boxes filled with dirt, rigged decoys for the Rebels to fire at and would fire at their puffs of smoke. This firing was kept up day and night. At night someone in a tone of command would shout 'Forward, double quick, charge,' and a volley would run along the Rebel rifle pits in our front in answer. The men not in the trenches lay in line of battle in rear of the works. In the pines occasionally a man would be wounded by a ball striking in the top of a tree and glancing down. One of our men, Webster, of Company I was wounded in this way. He was lying on his back against a pine, reading his Bible, when a bullet struck him in the eye, destroying it and passing through the roof of his mouth into it, from which he spat it out. Another was struck on the brass plate of his cross belt and seriously hurt. A number of others received lesser injuries.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.