USA > New York > History of the 121st New York State Infantry > Part 16
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ite announced his presence, and as being in com- mand of the regiment during Olcott's absence, the officer ordered the regiment to be moved to the right following the 65th New York loud enough to be heard. I said to Lume Baldwin who was at the fire with me, 'Did you hear that?' He said 'Yes.' 'Well,' I said, 'I am not going any farther to-night, at least until I get my breeches dry, and something to eat. They will only move a little way to form a line and spend half the night to do it. We can catch them in the morning in a little while.' So I ran over to the stacks that were about fifty yards away, and feeling among the guns, found mine and took it out to take back to the fire. As I did so Major Cronkite had called for his horse, mounted and ridden around in front of the stacks and ordered, 'Fall in.' Just then there was a flash and a report to my right, and a cry from Major Cronkite that he was shot. Instantly men ran towards and surrounded him, and it was learned that he was seriously wounded, his leg afterwards having to be amputated. It was a very lamentable occurrence. Major Cronkite had borne a conspicuous part in the regiment, and was a gallant and skillful soldier, and this terrible accident to him was deeply regretted by all the men of the regiment. The accident was explained by the supposition that some man in taking his gun from a stack had knocked it down and one of the guns had been discharged inflicting the wound upon the Major."
The report of Colonel Olcott of this battle is essentially the same as the account given by Com- rade Beckwith, except that he was given command of the first line consisting of the 121st New York and the 95th Pennsylvania, leaving Major Cronkite in command of the regiment. He also states that an effort of the enemy was made to get into the rear of the brigade, which was defeated by the
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second charge of the 121st. Longstreet's account of the battle verifies this statement. He says: "Anderson crossed Sailor's Creek, closely followed by Ewell. As Anderson marched he found Mer- ritt's cavalry square across his route. Humphreys, who was close upon Ewell, waited for the arrival of the 6th Corps. Ewell deployed his divisions, Kershaw on the right, G. W. C. Lee on the left. Their plan was that Anderson should attack and open the way while Ewell defended the rear. As Anderson attacked, Wright's corps came up. Humphreys had matured his plan, and the attack of Anderson hastened that of the enemy upon the Confederate rear. Anderson had some success at first, and Ewell received the assaults with resolute coolness, and at one moment pushed his fight to aggressive return, but the enemy, finding that there was no artillery with the Confederates, dashed their batteries into closer range, putting in ar- tillery and infantry fire, front and flank, until the Confederate rear was crushed to fragments. Gen- eral Ewell surrendered, as did also General G. W. C. Lee. General Kershaw advised such of his men as could to make their escape, and surrendered with his division. General Anderson got away with the greater part of B. R. Johnson's division and Pickett with 600 men. Generals Corse and Hunton and others of Pickett's division men were captured. About 200 of Kershaw's men got away."
General Lee being informed of this disaster rode back, with a portion of Mahone's division and when he saw the confusion of the retreating Confederates, he exclaimed, "My God, has my army dissolved?"
The effort of Ewell to push "his fight to an ag- gressive return" was the fierce attack on the 37th Massachusetts, which was defeated by the flank attack of the 121st, by the right half wheel under the direction of Colonel Olcott.
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CHAPTER XX
APPOMATTOX AND AFTER
THE battle of Sailor's Creek to the 6th Corps was of special interest, for it settled by the capture of General Ewell and the remnants of his corps a long succession of bitter conflicts between them. They had met during the previous year, in the Wilderness, May 5th and 6th, again on May 10th in the charge led by General Upton that broke through their works. In the all day fight of the 12th of May they had again been antagonists. The campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah had been waged against Early's division of Ewell's corps, and now at the very close of the war the final conflict between them had resulted in the destruction of the corps, so long led by the veteran general of Lee's 3d Army Corps.
The result was disastrous also to the Army of Virginia. After the loss of Ewell's corps no other route was left open for the retreat of the Con- federate army except to recross the Appomattox River at High Bridge, and make for Lynchburg. This was done and the bridge was burned behind the retreating Confederates. The 6th Corps fol- lowed at once but was compelled to wait at Farm- ville until a new bridge could be thrown across the river. The corps was massed in bivouac just out- side the village, and when the bridge was com- pleted it was about midnight, a dark moonless and starless night. When the corps drew out of its bivouac and had fairly entered the village, all the houses of which were closed and dark, a band
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in the van struck up, "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground, but his soul goes march- ing on." The other bands took up the tune and the soldiers joined in the song; and such a volume of triumphant music has seldom waked the mid- night echoes of any town.
The next day the pursuit was halted and our brigade bivouaced in the rear of the Confederates, several miles from Appomattox Court House. It was rumored that Lee was surrendering and the brigade waited in eager anxiety for certain in- formation. Late in the afternoon General Ham- blin was seen coming towards the camp, his splendid black horse on the dead run, his hat in his hands, his cheek bloody where he had failed to escape the limb of a tree, and as soon as his voice could be heard he shouted, "Lee has sur- rendered." And then what a tumult broke out among the troops. Cheers, shouts, laughter, hats and countless other things flung into the air. Some were too affected to cheer and stood with tears running down their faces. The excitement com- municated itself to the animals. The mules brayed, the horses neighed and the author's dog leaped up and with his fore paws on his breast barked joyously. It seemed as though all nature was glad. It meant to us all, no more fighting, no more long, weary marches, home, friends, peace, a saved country, a triumphant flag.
But the 6th Corps was not permitted to see the surrender of the Confederate Army. It was marched back through Farmville and thence to Burksville Junction on Richmond to Danville rail- road. There the 121st received the 400 drafted men and substitutes that had been promised it, and the officers that had been holding commissions for over a year were mustered into the service. Lieutenant Colonel Cronkite immediately resigned
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his commission in order that Major Kidder might be commissioned as Lieutenant Colonel.
The itinerary of the march from Appomattox to Burksville was as follows: April 11th through New Store and Curdsville to the vicinity of Little Willis River, April 12th through Farmville to Sandy River. April 13th past Rice's Station on the South Side railroad to Burksville. It was at Rice's Station that the battle was being fought at the time of our fight at Sailor's Creek, and being won by our forces, and which cut off any possible escape of the Confederates in that direction, after the surrender of Ewell.
Colonel Beckwith gives his experiences with the citizens of Virginia in a very interesting manner: "We met a great many more of the citizens of the country than we had in the pursuit of Lee, and had opportunity to talk with them. They claimed that they had been impoverished, had no negroes, no stock and no seed to put in a crop, and saw nothing before them but starvation. Many of them availed themselves of the generosity of the government to draw supplies from our commis- saries. Most of them had been at one time or another in the Confederate army, and some had been disabled by wounds or broken down by dis- ease contracted in camp. These men were the most steadfast in their allegiance to the Rebel cause. Some went so far as to predict a renewal of the war, saying that the South was not con- quered, but worn out."
A large and motley company of colored people assembled at Burksville Junction and these also were dependent upon the government for their sustenance.
On the 13th of April the corps began an advance to Danville, one hundred miles south of Burksville and on the border of North Carolina. The object
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16
of the movement was to interpose between John- ston's army and Lynchburg. A great portion of the journey was made along the railroad track. It was a primitive form of railroad. Long sleepers were mortised into the ties and on the top of the sleepers heavy straps of iron were spiked, on which the cars ran. This march was one of the most remarkable the corps ever made. In four days and four hours from the time the head of the column drew out of camp at Burksville it entered the streets of Danville. While on the last day's march news was received of the assassination of President Lincoln and his death. "A thrill of horror and rage ran through the ranks, and it would have fared badly for any armed Rebels who fell into our hands at that time." (B.)
Danville was a village of considerable impor- tance. A Confederate prison camp and hospital were located there, and it was one of the centers of supply for the Confederate army defending Richmond and Petersburg. Consequently there were gathered there large stores of every thing needed for the support of the army, the hospital, the prison and the inhabitants. All these fell into our hands, and the city was delivered up to Gen- eral Wright by the civil authorities to whom it had been turned over by the military officers.
Johnston's surrender, rendered our stay at Dan- ville no longer necessary, and only three or four days were spent there.
The 6th Corps arrived at Danville on the 27th of April. Johnston surrendered the same day and on the 1st of May the corps began its march northward to Washington and home. The 121st was ordered to take the train leaving Danville at 8 A. M. for Burksville and there await further orders.
The march from Burksville to Richmond 222
1
seventy-two miles, was made in four days and camp was pitched near Manchester. A delay of two or three days gave the officers and men an opportunity to visit the city and see its condition after so long a siege. The worst feature of it was the havoc produced by the fires set by the retreat- ing Rebels. Libby Prison and the Prison Camp on Belle Isle were places of special interest to those who had experienced their horrors.
The regiment arrived at Manchester on the 16th of May and remained in camp seven days. On the 23d it began its march from Richmond to Washington and arrived near Hall's Hill on the 2d of June, about five miles from Washington, and just outside of Georgetown.
Hall's Hill will always be associated with the 121st New York because it is the place given on the muster out rolls of the regiment. This part of the journey homeward was hard and tedious. Reveille sounded every morning at 3:30 A. M. and sometimes the march was prolonged till after dark. It rained frequently and the most of the streams had to be forded. The march was through the sec- tion over which the corps had fought during the entire war, past the battle fields of Cold Harbor, Chancellorville, Spottsylvania, The Wilderness, Fredericksburg, Bull Run-names that recall terri- ble experiences and bloody scenes. Chaplain Adams tells of a visit he made as follows: "I left the column while on the way and visited the battle ground near Spottsylvania Court House, where the terrible fighting occurred on the 12th of May. It still bears the marks of the conflict. It was at this point that two trees, one of twelve inches and one of twenty-three, were cut off by our minnie balls, for we had no batteries in play at that time. The trunk of one of these frees is now in the Patent Office at Washington. The trees in the vicinity
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are dead, killed by the poison of the lead. I will not describe the appearance of the field as our men found it when they entered the works. I do not wish to recall the sights, they are too shock- ing. The 5th Maine and the 121st charged at that point; they fought bravely, but lost heavily, as they did also on the 10th, a mile farther to the right, near the spot where General Sedgwick was killed."
From the 2d of June when we reached Hall's Hill till the 27th the time was spent in making out the muster out papers of the men and the trans- fer of the men whose term of service had not ex- pired to the 65th New York Veteran Volunteers. The total number of men discharged at Hall's Hill was 320, of whom 275 were original members of the regiment and 45 recruits and transferred men.
The review of the corps took place on Thurs- day, the 8th of June, in the following order:
1st: Major General Wright, Staff and Escort.
2d: The 1st Division, Major General Wheaton commanding
3d: The 2d Division, Major General Getty com- manding.
4th: The 3d Division, Major General Getty com- manding.
5th : The Artillery Brigade, Brevet Major General Andrew Cowan commanding.
6th: Detachment of 50th New York Engineers, Brevet Major Van Brooklin commanding.
Leaving camp at 4 o'clock in the morning, marching the five miles to Washington over Long Bridge, up Maryland Avenue to mass at the foot of the Capital grounds, was the first portion of the long and tedious process of the review.
Then at 9 o'clock passing down Pennsylvania Avenue at wheeling distance, past the reviewing
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stand before President Johnson, General Grant and other dignitaries, and crossing Acquaduct Bridge march back again to camp, was the second part of the proceeding. All this on a hot day in July made this review an experience more pleas- ant to look back upon than to participate in. I have never heard an enlisted man enthuse over the memory of that review.
On the 27th of June the regiment took the cars, baggage cars mostly, for New York, reaching there on the morning of the 30th and spending the rest of the day, Sunday, in the old armory, corner of Center and Grand streets.
Beckwith says, "On Monday, July 1st, we marched up Broadway, having with us the stands of Rebel colors we had captured at Rappahan- nock Station and Sailor's Creek. We received a great ovation."
Arrangements had been made and permission obtained from Washington for the regiment to go to Little Falls to participate in the celebration of the Fourth of July. This home-coming reception is described as follows by Lieut. Jas. H. Smith: "Most of the members of the regiment were in line, with their arms, and with the seven Con- federate regimental flags which they had captured during the preceding three years, and which the War Department had granted them the unparal- leled privilege of carrying as trophies of their valor, and their sacrifices, to this reception, given by the parents, wives, sisters, brothers and friends of this brave remnant of that noble band, nearly 1000 strong, which they had bidden goodbye, and God speed, in 1862. At that time they heard their country's call, they realized its danger, they ac- cepted the personal responsibilities and duties of citizenship, with all its hazards, and all the sacri- fices due to the Republic from every loyal citizen.
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Their work had now been done. The country's flag again floated freely as the undisputed emblem of authority throughout all our broad domains.
"Before we took our departure from Camp Schuyler in August, 1862, we were presented with a beautiful flag, by the mothers, wives and sisters of our boys. It was presented with the admonition that it should be carried forward, victoriously and unsullied, that it should never be permitted to fall into treasonable hands, and that we bring it back an emblem of victory. How faintly did the donors of that flag realize the terrific cost, in suffering and in blood, which was involved in carrying out their admonitions.
"We now bring back that flag, with every re- quirement of its donors for its care and defense, literally fulfilled. Shot and shell have pierced its folds, and its staff, until it can no longer be unfurled, but it has never been desecrated by the touch of treasonable hands. Would that we might also have brought back to this reception, every young man who three years before had marched forth, bravely and hopefully, in its defense. This volume tells us on the pages giving a list of our engagements and their losses that in following our flag through the conflicts where duty called, that 275 of our men were called upon to pay that 'last full measure of devotion,' which is the glory of those who fall upon the battlefield for a righteous cause. Beside these there were 121 others, equally brave and devoted, who had died as a result of exposure and disease. We thus have a total of 396 fatalities. Our ranks were still further de- pleted by the 450 wounded, a large proportion of whom were discharged for the disabilities they had thus suffered, and these added to the number discharged for disease made a total of 420 dis- charged.
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"The value to our country of the services of the 121st New York Infantry is measured not alone by its losses in battle, unequalled tho they were, by those of any regiment from the state, and exceeded by but three of the more than 2000 regiments which served in the Union Army during the war, nor in the seven Confederate regimental flags which it had captured, and which it carried as souvenirs of its valor, at its home-coming re- ception, but is based as well, upon its having cap- tured approximately 1500 prisoners from the ranks of the enemy. The exact number of these prisoners it is impossible to determine, but it is beyond doubt that they exceed the entire enrollment of the regiment prior to Lee's surrender. It had made for itself a record which its survivors believe was unsurpassed, if not unequalled by that of any other regiment which served in the Union Army during the Civil War. And here in Little Falls, New York, this small but devoted remnant of the 121st Regiment after parading through its streets with its original flag unfurled as far as its battle scarred condition would permit, and with its captured Confederate flags as trophies of its devotion, stood shoulder to shoulder, and after a bountiful banquet and addresses lauding its heroic services, gave a parting salute to the flag they had followed for three long years and for which so many of their comrades had fallen."
The return to Albany and the final payment of all dues was the occasion of the dissolution of the regiment, the men as soon as paid slipping away alone or by squads to their homes, regretful at parting, but glad that for them there would be no more of the toil and danger and suffering and violent death that are the every day experiences of war.
To the writer these last weeks of service brought
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no relief from work in the line to which he had been accustomed. At Hall's Hill he was set to making out muster out rolls, and at Albany his time was employed in work on the pay rolls of the regiment. The day spent at Little Falls was one of the dreariest he ever endured. He had no musket, was not in the ranks, knew very few of the men of the regiment, and those he knew were eagerly visiting with their friends who had as- sembled from the two counties; and so alone and friendless, he wandered around, feeling like an Ishmaelite in a strange country.
In spite of this, however, he could not help be- ing proud that his name was enrolled among those who had made the regiment worthy of all that was then and has since been said about it. As the years since that day have passed and he has become personally acquainted with so many of the "Onesters," his appreciation of, and pride in the regiment has been steadily increased, and the study of its records in the preparation of this history has aroused his admiration and made the work a "labor of love." To be in any manner associated with men who did so much and did it so valiantly, who suffered so much and suffered it patriotically, is an honor not to be despised.
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APPENDIX
The regiment left Fort Schuyler with 30
officers and 946 enlisted men or a total of .. 976 It received by transfer: From the 16th New
York, 125; from the 18th New York, 31; total 156
From the 27th New York, 3; from the 31st
New York, 2; total. 5
From the 32d New York, 33; from other organizations, 63; total. 96
Recruits, including officers and men to Jan- uary 1, 1865. 169
Recruits, including conscripts and substi- tutes, after Lee's surrender in 1865. 413
A total of. 1815
A careful study of the records in hand convinces the author that an accurate list of the number be- longing to the regiment cannot now be made. The lists made differ so radically, both as to names and number, that it is impossible to reconcile them. For instance, the number transferred from the 16th New York differs from 125 to 137. But General Curtis in his history of the 16th gives the names of only ninety-nine who were transferred to the 121st. Some on the other lists had been killed in previous engagements, some were among the missing in battle and some had been transferred to other organizations.
The report of the Adjutant General of the United States for 1903 gives the names of 1897 enrolled. But this includes the names of 413 who joined the
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regiment at Burksville after Lee's surrender; and therefore do not really belong to the fighting record of the regiment. The only advantage of their connection with the regiment was that their pres- ence enabled the officers who had been commis- sioned a year before, to be mustered into their full rank. In the published report of the 300 fight- ing regiments, the number enrolled in the 121st New York is given as 1426. This is twenty-four more than the above table justifies if the 413 added after Lee's surrender are not counted. But for purposes of comparison let the figure stand at the latter number (1426), as the author believes it to be approximately correct.
In the following table the casualties are given in the twenty-five battles in which the regiment is given credit in the army records at Washington as being present. The list of these twenty-five battles is given on the regimental monument on the battle field of Gettysburg, and is found under the head of the "Dedication of the Monument." The following is the list as taken from the records of the regiment.
Name of Battle
Killed Off. Men
Mortally Wounded Off. Men
Wounded Off. Men 12
Total
Fredericksburg
4
16
Salem Church
6 98
1
15
3 155
278
Gettysburg
2
2
Rappahannock Station 4
3
1
17
28
Wilderness
2
34
6
1
30
73
Spottsylvania
3 46
2
12
8
84
155
Cold Harbor
1
6
7
Petersburg
1
8
9
Fort Stevens
5
2
1
18
28
Charleston
2
1
4
7
Opequon (Winchester) 4
1
14
19
Fisher's Hill
5
5
230
Name of Battle
Killed
Mortally Wounded Off. Men
Wounded
Cedar Creek
1 14
2 3
2 35
Total 57
Newtown
1
1
Hatcher's Run
1
3
4
Fort Fisher
1
3
4
Petersburg (Capture)
1
1
24
26
Sailor's Creek
2
6
1
12
21
TOTALS
15 220
5 45
20 530
734
Adding the mortally wounded to the killed in action, the total fatalities amount to 20 officers and 265 enlisted men or 285 in all.
In making this estimate the number reported "Missing in action" is included in the list of the "Killed in action," on the ground that the battles in which they were lost were fought on fields retained by the enemy or immediately vacated by our troops, and as none of the missing reported, nor were reported as wounded or prisoners, and have never since been heard from, it is only right to in- clude them among those known to have been killed.
It is possible that ten of them may be rightly deducted from the number in the above table, leaving the aggregate forty instead of 50. That would leave our fatalities in action at 275.
Of the New York regiments included in Fox's 300 fighting regiments of the Civil War, only one, the 69th New York, is reported as having a greater percentage of loss than the 121st. The record is: The 69th: enrolled, 1513; killed, 259; percent, 17.1.
The 121st: enrolled, 1426; killed, 226; percent, 15.5.
But giving the 121st due credit for its actual fatalities would put it among the very first of all
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Off. Men
Off. Men
the regiments of the Union Army during the Civil War. Enrolled, 1426; killed, 275; an actual per- centage of 19.28.
In making this statement there is no intention to take the laurels from any other fighting regi- ment, but simply to claim for the 121st, the stand- ing that rightfully belongs to it. Present in twenty- five battles, bearing the brunt of the fighting at Salem Church, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania on May 10, Opequan, Cedar Creek, the successful assault on Petersburg and the final battle with Lee at Sailor's Creek, suffering losses in eighteen different engagements, counted by superior officers the equal of any regular regiment, its surviving members are not willing to abate a jot from its rightful credit, and they glory in the fact that its place in every exigency of battle was in the front line from which it was never driven nor retired, except at command of its ranking officer.
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