USA > New York > History of the Ninth Regiment N.Y.S.M. -- N.G.S.N.Y. (Eighty-third N. Y. Volunteers.) 1845-1888 > Part 19
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The 18th was therefore spent in collecting the dispersed, giving rest to the fatigued, removing the wounded, burying the dead, and the necessary preparations for a re- newal of the battle. (McClellan's Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, pp. 393-395.)
Many in the Union Army thought then-and time has not changed the impression-that, after having been successful in two battles, and the defeated enemy hemmed in between a victorious army on the one side and a river difficult to cross on the other, the victors had, at least, a very reasonable pros- pect of success in the renewal of the contest on the 18th.
The NINTH went into camp near Sharpsburg during the day -- 19th. About dark General Charles Griffin, with a portion of two brigades from the Fifth corps, crossed the river and attacked some batteries of the enemy, capturing several guns
203
CAMPED NEAR SHARPSBURG.
1862
and caissons, and driving the infantry back about half mile. The Confederate army had fallen back towards Winchester.
On the 20th the Sixteenth Maine re-joined the brigade. When the NINTH received their knapsacks that had been left in the field before the battle of South Mountain, the owners of many of them were either dead or wounded, and during the distribution eyes moistened as the men commented upon the loss the regiment had sustained during the week's campaign. The next day a mail from home was received, and among the letters were many making anxious inquiries for loved ones who were no more on earth. At two o'clock in the morning of the 22nd, the regiment was ordered to get ready to move, but at five the order was countermanded. The weather was warm and the men embraced the opportunity to bathe in the river or creek. On the 23rd, a detail from the regiment and the Twelfth Massachusetts guarded the Confederate wounded --- quite a number of whom, as well as many of the Union sol- diers, had not yet been removed to hospitals.
On the 26th the NINTH moved camp about a mile north- west, where a better supply of water was found. Regular details were now made for picket duty along the river, and drilling was resumed. When brigade line was formed there were little more than muskets enough to form one good sized regiment, while the companies of the older regiments, when on the drill ground, looked like sergeant's squads.
The most important political measure of the Administration during the war was the famous Emancipation Proclamation. While the Slavery question was one which, at the outbreak of the war, the Union soldier troubled himself very little about, it became, by the logic of events, most prominent. The great majority of the Union soldiers believed that-in the abstract- slavery was wrong, and that the buying and selling of human beings was a crime. As the war progressed, and it was found that a great part of the strength of the enemy lay in the pos- session of slaves, they looked upon any measure that would tend to deprive the enemy of that resource, as they would up- on any other military necessity. True, it could not effect the
204
THE NINTH NEW YORK.
September
great number of slaves who still remained within the enemies' lines, neither did it emancipate those on loyal territory, but the majority of the most intelligent class in the North hailed the proclamation as a step forward in the great march of hu- man progress, and gave it their unqualified approval. The proclamation had been prepared during the summer, but the President withheld it until a Union victory should, in a meas- ure, prepare the people for its acceptance. We give it here as read to the Army :
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 139. Washington, September 24, 1862.
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GEN.'S OFFICE,
The following proclamation by the President is published for the information and government of the Army and all concerned :
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander- in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or re- jection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.
That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they make for their actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereot respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day ne in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony. be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the pro- ple thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.
That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled " An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following :
1862
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
205
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the Army of the United States and shall be obeyed and observed as such :
ART .- All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due ; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.
Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled " An act to suppress insurrec- tion, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following :
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the line of the Army ; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States ; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other state shall be delivered up or in any way impended or hindered of his liberty, except for crime or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall under any pretense whatever assume to decide on the valid- ity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.
And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce within their respective spheres of service the act and sections above recited.
And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall (upon the res- toration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compen- sated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington the twenty-second day of September, in the year
[SEAL.] of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Inde-
pendence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President :
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
By order of the Secretary of War : L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General.
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THE NINTH NEW YORK.
September
On the 30th, Lieutenant-Colonel Atterbury resigned, and Adjutant Tuthill the next day. Major Rutherford was subse- quently advanced a peg, while Second Lieutenant Charles S. Strong, of Company F, succeeded to the Adjutancy. Surgeon Nordquist had been detailed as brigade surgeon, and Assistant Surgeon Pinkney was on duty in the hospitals at Frederick ; consequently, the sick of the regiment were left to the tender mercies of the surgeons of other regiments ; but the men did not suffer for want of care.
On the 3rd of October, President Lincoln, who had been at McClellan's headquarters for a day or two, reviewed the First corps, Ricketts' division marching about a mile for that purpose. The men were all pleased to see "Father Abraham," or, "Old Abe," terms which they used in a respect- ful and endearing sense, for all loved the man, more than the official.
Early in the month a number of changes in brigade, division and corps commanders, necessitated by the losses during the late campaign, were announced. Brigadier-General John F. Reynolds, late of the Pennsylvania Reserves, succeeded Gen- eral Hooker in the command of the First corps, and Brigadier- General Nelson Taylor succeeded General Hartsuff, who had been made a Major-General. Colonel Stiles returned to duty, having been away on leave of absence since September 12th. The losses by death and wounds, and by "cannon fever," had caused many vacancies among the rank and file and com- wmissioned officers. The history of all regiments show that they were obliged to undergo a "weeding out" process, after which their ranks, although reduced, were the stronger for battle.
The chronic foragers-or bummers-had discovered some papaw trees on the Virginia side of the river, and the fruit, now ripe and luscious, contributed a pleasing variety to the ordinary army bill of fare. No little amusement, accompanied by some growling, was occasioned by the distribution of boxes of hard-tack marked " Yorktown," for when the boxes were opened the crackers were found to be alive with worms, many of which
1862
207
STUART'S CIRCUIT OF THE UNION ARMY.
had been luxuriating there since the Peninsular campaign. Nothing of importance occurred for several days. The usual drills were performed, interrupted only by rainy weather, which set in about the 10th. On that day the Confederate cavalry leader, General Stuart, with about two thousand troopers and a battery of flying artillery, crossed the Potomac at McCoy's Ferry, a few miles above Williamsport, for a raid into Pennsyl- vania. By evening he was at Chambersburg. The Union cav- alry, who had been watching the fords along the Upper Potomac, were hastily summoned to follow and watch the bold raiders, and measures were also taken to intercept and capture the whole force. Stuart himself did not know where he would recross the river, expecting to be governed entirely by the movements of the troops Mcclellan should send out after him. All was excitement among general and staff officers of the Union army. A heavy rain, setting in about the time Stuart reached Chambersburg, warned him that it would be difficult to recross at McCoy's, even if unopposed by the Union troops, and he determined to make the complete circuit of the Union army and cross between it and Washington. He was induced to take this course, partly because his guide informed him that his column could travel about as fast as the rise in the river, and partly because he thought McClellan would not be looking for him in that direction. It was a bold movement, and was highly successful-as a raid-but was not productive of any benefit to Stuart's command or the cause he served ; for, while he picked up many horses and some other spoils, his loss of animals and "wearing out" of his men more than offset all that he gained. , He recrossed on the morning of the 12th, at White's Ford, about two miles below the mouth the Monocacy River, having met with but little resistance, his rapid move- ments rendering it impossible for the Union troops to concen- trate in sufficient numbers to seriously impede his progress.
For some days the President had been urging Mcclellan to move against the Confederate army. The nature of Mc- Clellan's replies are indicated by the President's letter of the 13th, which is here given in full :
·
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208
THE NINTH NEW YORK.
October
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, Oct. 13, 1862.
MAJOR-GENERAL MCCLELLAN :-
MY DEAR SIR-You remember my speaking to yon of what I called your over- cautiousness. Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be at least equal in prowess and act upon the claim ?
As I understand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot subsist your army at Winchester, unless the railroad from Harper's Ferry to that point be put in working order. But the enemy does now subsist his army at Winchester, at a dis- tance nearly twice as great from railroad transportation as you would have to do with- out the railroad last named. He now wagons from Culpeper Court House, which is just about twice as far as you would have to do from Harper's Ferry. He is certainly not more than half as well provided with wagons as you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to have the advantage of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Win- chester, but it wastes all the remainder of autumn to give it to you ; and in fact, ignores the question of time, which cannot and must not be ignored.
Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is "to operate upon the enemy's communications as much as possible, without exposing your own." You seem to act as if this applies against you, but cannot apply in your favor. Change posi- tions with the enemy, and, think you not, he would break your communications with Richmond within the next twenty-four hours? You dread his going into Pennsyl- vania. But if he does so in full force, he gives up his communications to you abso- lutely, and you have nothing to do but to follow and ruin him ; if he does so with less than full force, fall upon and beat what is left behind all the easier.
Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer Richmond than the enemy is, by the route that you can and he must take. Why can you not reach there before him, unless you admit that he is more than your equal on a march ? His route is the arc of a circle, while yours is the chord. The roads are as good on yours as on his.
You know I desired, but did not order you to cross the Potomac below instead of above the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. My idea was that this would at once menace the enemy's communications, which I would seize if he would permit. If he should move northward, I would follow him closely, holding his communications. If he should prevent our seizing his communications, and move toward Richmond, I would press closely to him, fight him if a favorable opportunity should present, and at least try to beat him to Richmond on the inside track. I say " try;" if we never try we shall never succeed. If he makes a stand at Winchester, moving neither north nor south. I would fight him there; on the idea that if we cannot beat him when he bears the wastage of coming to us, we never can when we bear the wastage of going to him. This proposition is a simple truth, and is too important to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming to us, he tenders us an advantage which we should not waive. We should not so operate as to merely drive him away. As we must beat him some- where, or fail finally, we can do it, if at all, casier near to us than far away. If we cannot beat the enemy where he now is, we never can, he again being within the in- trenchments of Richmond.
Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside track, the facility of supplying from the side away from the enemy is remarkable-as it were by the dif- ferent spokes of a wheel extending from the hub towards the rim-and this whether you move directly by the chord, or on the inside arc, hugging the Blue Ridge more
20
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209
LINCOLN TO MCCLELLAN.
1862.
closely. The chord line, as you see, carries you by Aldie, Haymarket and Fredericks- burg ; and you see how turnpikes, railroads, and finally the Potomac by Aquia Creek, meet you at all points from Washington. The same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press closer to the Blue Ridge part of the way. The gaps through the Blue Ridge, I understand to be about the following distances from Harper's Ferry, to wit : Vestal's, five miles ; Gregory's, thirteen ; Snicker's, eighteen ; Ashby's, twenty-eight ; Manassas, thirty-eight : Chester's, forty-five ; and Thornton's, fifty-three. I should think it preferrable to take the route nearest the enemy, disabling him from making an important move without your knowledge, and compelling him to keep his forces to- gether, for dread of you. The gaps would enable you to attack if you should wish. For a great part of the way, you would be practically between the enemy and both Washington and Richmond, enabling us to spare you the greatest number of troops from here. When at length running for Richn ond ahead of him enables him to move this way, if he does so, turn and attack him in rear. But I think he should be engaged long before such point is reached. It is all easy, if our troops march as well as the enemy, and it is unmanly to say they cannot do it. This letter is in no sense an order.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
Over a month had been spent in "reorganizing" the army. Meanwhile Lee had not been idle, for on the 20th he had about seventy thousand men under his command.
It was said at the time by Mcclellan's supporters, that after the close of the second Bull Run campaign, the army was sadly demoralized-if it was not really an armed mob-and yet, with less than a week's rest, that army marched into Maryland and soon after fought two battles, in both of which it was victorious. Why the long delay after Antietam? The enemy was certainly fewer in numbers, and much more demor- alized by defeat than the Union army was by victory. If the Union army lacked good clothing, the Confederates were still worse off.
That there were a few cowards in every regiment goes without saying. It is also true that few men ever were anxious to enter a battle. The great body of soldiers obey orders and go where they are sent. The men in the ranks were generally willing to excuse cowardice in a private soldier, provided the unfortunate comrade could give some plausible reason for his actions, but woe to the commissioned officer who dared show the white feather. The lives of the men depend largely upon the coolness-if not bravery-of their offi-
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THE NINTH NEW YORK.
October
cers, and the private soldier has no sympathy to waste upon them when they prove recreant to their duty. During the battle of Bull Run-August 29th and 30th, 1862-two officers of the NINTHI so far forgot themselves as to go to the rear ; they were observed, but tried to justify their conduct by some flimsy_excuses. The men were determined to get rid of such material, and about the time of the battle of Antietam the fol- lowing lines were written by a member of the regiment, and sung by the men while in their tents in the evenings. The desired effect was produced, for both officers resigned, and their places were filled by braver men.
The song was sung to the tune of "Lord Lovell."
THE NINTH'S SKEDDADLER.
The Unionists and Rebels met for a fight, A fight for the mastery, On the field of Bull Run, where every one Was expected his duty to do, do, do, Was expected his duty to do.
The battle was opened in glorious style, And bullets were whistling so free, When " our officer Gay," sneaked out of the way, And sat 'neath, a neighboring tree, tree, tree, And sat neath a neighboring tree.
Not a thought did he have, not a thought did he take, Not a thought of the brave boys so near, Who would look for his form, at dread battle's storm, And list for his words of cheer, cheer, cheer, And list for his words of cheer.
So off he skeddadled in two-forty time, In two-forty time went he, Not a look did he cast on the NINTH as it past, On its way to join the melée, melee, On its way to join the melee.
But soon a bomb-shell exploded near by, Near to his chosen tree, And the officer said, as he ducked his head, Surely this is no place for me, me, me, Surely this is no place for me.
1862
HEADED TOWARDS VIRGINIA AGAIN.
2JI
But on the skeddadle, his Bacon to save, His Bacon to save went he,
So rapid his tracks, he soon reached the stacks Of knapsacks piled under the trees, trees trees, Of knapsacks piled under the trees.
And thus he absconded, away from the fight, With a pain in his back, and each knee, said he, His face was so white, you might fancy aright, His liver through it you could see, see, see, His liver through it you could see.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th, in the midst of a driving rain-storm the NINTH took its place in the line of troops headed towards the Potomac. The division was in the rear, and the usual delays, aggravated by the storm, were such that Sharpsburg was not reached until after dark. Through mud and slush the column pushed on, crossing the Antietam at Burnside's Bridge, through Rhorers- ville, over the South Mountain by Crampton's Gap, and at ten o'clock halted. The rain was still falling and the men sought such shelter as the outbuildings in the neigborhood afforded. The next morning the march was continued to Burkittsville- a short distance-where the division remained during the day and night.
The morning of the 28th was clear and cool. The troops marched at five o'clock, headed south, and halted near Berlin until the 30th. During that day the Potomac was crossed on a pontoon bridge, and when a short distance. beyond Lovetts- ville, the command halted for the night. The enemy's cav- alry had been noticed hovering about the flanks, during the march in Virginia, and videttes were posted a couple of miles in advance, and the flanks well guarded when the column halted. On the 31st, the regiment was mustered for pay, and inspected by General Taylor. Adjutant Strong resigned, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Henry P. Clare, of Company D.
At nine o'clock, on the Ist of November, the advance was resumed, the column passing through the Quaker settlement of Waterford, a neat, quiet village, and through Hamilton;
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THE NINTH NEW YORK.
November
thence westward through Harmony Church, halting near Pur- cellville. On Sunday, the 2nd, the chaplain of the Twelfth Massachusetts preached to the NINTH. All day long artillery firing was heard in the direction of Snicker's Gap. The Union cavalry were on the right flank of the army, observing and gwarding the passes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, while the enemy's gray-clad troopers were closely watching the boys in blue, in their march towards the Rappahannock.
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