USA > New York > History of the One hundred and twenty-fourth regiment, N. Y. S. V. > Part 13
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After that we left at nearly every house a group of weeping women and children. It was in vain the Colonel sent back his aids, to tell them their loved ones would soon be permitted to return to their homes ; nearly all believed we were pressing them into our army, and refused to be comforted.
Among that day's sad scenes was one which, though we felt extremely sorry because of the woman's grief, was so intensely ludicrous, it brought from all who saw it an irresistible peal of
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laughter. The guards were marching a rough grey-bearded, gorilla-looking old sinner down a path leading from a dingy, dilapidated old house. And close in their wake came a " buxom young daughter of Erin" with a half naked, dirty, greasy baby, screeching like mad, under her left arm, while in her right hand she held a broom, brush upward, in a threatening attitude; and was crying so loud, she could have been heard half a mile at least, " Oh Lord ! Oh Lord !- They have taken the only husband I've got, the only husband I've got."
About one o'clock we halted thirty minutes for dinner, then pushed on for Bealton, a station on the Orange and Alexandria R R., which we reached about five o'clock P. M. ; having marched thirty-four miles since leaving our camp at Falmouth, from which we had not been absent quite twenty-four hours. We remained at Bealton that night and the following day, during which time quite a number of ladies, hearing where we had halted, came to our camp with blankets and food for the men and boys we had brought along with us. One of these lady visitors was richly dressed, quite young, and decidedly pretty. She brought something for a young man whom she blushingly said was her brother.
Lieutenant C-, a fine looking, gay young officer, who had charge of the prisoners, seemed much affected by this southern beauty, and for half an hour after her arrival was very lavish of his attention to her; then he turned abruptly away, gave his entire attention to others, and from that time until she left camp hardly looked toward her again. Presently he was relieved from that particular duty, and came sauntering past where I sat lean- ing against a tree-from which position I had been amusing myself, by watching his deport.nent toward the prisoners and their callers-and I asked him the reason for his so suddenly leaving, in so unceremonious a manner, the charming young crea- ture, whom I had judged from his actions he was at first very favorably impressed with. "Yes, yes," he replied, " she was pretty -- but-well to tell you the truth I was quite seriously smitten by her pretty face; and she was real intelligent too-
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but-" Never mind your buts, I said ; let us hear your story. " Well I was just thinking that I ought to ask permission to escort her back to her home, for it seemed to me extremely dan- gerous and ungentlemanly to allow her to attempt a return unguarded ; for our rough cavalrymen are, you know, scouting around through the woods in every direction, and she lived sev- eral miles away. But I happened to catch a glimpse of her feet, which by the way, were encased in very small boots, but confound her, she hadn't half laced them ; and the long ends of the strings went dangling and draggling in the mud. Pshaw! it was like finding a nasty hair in one's pudding."
It is more than probable that this young lady's neglect to properly lace her shoes, saved the Union army a good young officer; for, about an hour later it was learned that a man of the 86th, who had given out on the march the day before, had been murdered that morning, within a mile of where we were lying. Then came the report, that a chaplain of one of the cavalry regi- ments was set upon only a short distance further away, and had barely escaped with his life-having been wounded in both shoulders. It was said he had quite a large amount of money with him, belonging to the men of his regiment, which had just been paid ; that he was going back to express it to their families, and rather than lose it, he had risked, and came very near losing bis life. That he had been able to effect his escape was attrib- uted wholly to the fact of his being better mounted than were the guerillas who attacked him.
Just after dark Monday evening, we moved along the rail- road toward the Rappahannock, and bivouacked for the night in a piece of wood about a mile from Beverley's Ford. At an early hour the next morning-Tuesday, June 9th-we pushed on again, but had gone only a short distance when we heard ahead of us the cracking of musketry. Quickening our steps we were soon at the Ford and commenced throwing a rough bridge across ; but before we had worked ten minutes at the bridge, Colonel Ellis became impatient and spurring his horse into the water ordered us to wade over after him. The water reached only to our waists,
·
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but the current was so strong that a number were drawn under and got their ammunition wet.
Once on the opposite shore such scenes appeared as are wit- nessed only in rear of contending battle-lines. As we moved for- ward, wounded men began to straggle back past us. Some of these were on horseback, others with pale faces and blood-stained garments came staggering along on foot, and occasionally one was borne hurriedly by on a stretcher, or in the arms of, apparently ten- der-hearted, but really cowardly, comrades. A little farther on we began to pass over, and saw lying on either side of us, lifeless bodies of men, dressed, some in grey and some in blue, which told unmis- takably that the tide of battle was with the Union line. Up to that time, cavalry only had been engaged. Colonel Ellis' regiments were the first infantry on the field. But ere long batteries on both sides opened fire, and we heard through the woods beyond, shouts of officers, shrill bugle blasts, and the southern squeal and northern yell of charge and countercharge.
The contending lines were yet some distance ahead of us, but the din of battle grew louder and yet louder as we hurried on. Every few moments a horse with an empty saddle dashed past us on his way to the rear, or-almost halting in front of our column- swung his head aloft, snuffed the air, and with a wild snort wheeled and bounded madly back toward where he had lost his rider. Soon bullets began to hiss and whistle about us, and Colonel Ellis rode back and ordered me to throw out my own and Company F, and cover the right of the column. His order was promptly obeyed, while the brigade moved cautiously but steadily forward. Meantime the noise increased and spread, until the thundering of artillery and the crackling of musketry seemed to come from every side. We were now moving along a rough road through a slight ravine, in woods so dense that we could not see twenty yards away, look which way we would. Thicker and yet thicker flew the bullets, making weird music, as they sped through the trees over our heads. Every few moments we passed by a dead or dying cavalryman, sometimes
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
an enemy, and sometimes a friend. In several instances horse and rider lay dead together.
Presently a general officer, coming from the head of our column, unattended by either staff officers or orderlies, rode up to me and asked, " Where is Captain Winant?" On my replying "I presume, sir, that I am the person intended," he shouted " Halt where you are until further orders," and putting spurs to his horse, dashed away again. The brigade moved on, and as the rear of the column disappeared James Jones, a comical old Irishman, who had not yet become familiar with the peculiar sound of " them ere little hissin divils," tried to whistle Yankee Doodle ; and though he failed in the attempt, his comrades assured him they were satisfied that there was one of their num- ber who was not afraid, and wouldn't run if he didn't have an opportunity.
A quarter of an hour later a staff officer rode back to us, with orders from General Ames to join our regiment. He said he could not tell us where it was-had seen two regiments mov- ing through the woods about a third of a mile beyond, but did not know where they had gone. Ploying my companies, I started off with them in the direction the brigade was moving when it left us ; hoping to be able to trace it by footmarks and broken twigs ; but we had moved only a few rods, when Colonel Ellis appeared, and led us off in an opposite direction. As we hurried on, the woods seemed to grow darker and yet darker, but ere long we saw light ahead. and then a large open field appeared ; but before we reached it the Colonel ordered a halt, and directed me to deploy my men in the edge of the woods and keep them concealed, " and " continued he as he rode away, " if the devils charge you, make a determined stand-hold them at all hazards until reinforcements can be brought to you."
After forming line and causing my men to take distance until they were some four feet apart, I directed each one to select the tree in front of him, nearest the clearing, and get out to it, if possible, without discovering himself to the enemy ; far across the field, in front of another piece of woods, not more than six
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BEVERLEY'S FORD.
hundred yards away, there stood drawn up in battle line a brigade of Confederate cavalry. The men moved cautiously out one after another and when they' were all in position-each behind a good sized tree-there yet remained, a few feet in advance of all the others, a huge pine. Now the 124th was a well drilled and thoroughly posted regiment, and every man in companies A and F knew that while their senior officer was by no means the largest bodied man among them, he was " heavy" on military usage, and they accordingly kept away from that extra large pine, behind which he was soon posted.
Presently, while looking down the front of the woods we were in, I saw walk out of them, about two hundred yards away, an officer I recognized as Lieutenant Houston of Company D, who, after advancing some twenty paces, halted in front of a dark object-which I believed to be a dead or wounded cavalry horse- and was in the act of stooping over it when, all of a sudden, he whirled about like a top, and I knew he had been hit by a rebel bullet. But he did not fall, and was able unassisted to make his way back to the woods where I concluded his company was lying.
The battle was now raging on both sides of us, but every thing in our immediate front was comparatively quiet, and I decided to walk down through the woods a few rods and see if I could not get sight of some Company D man who could tell me how seriously Houston was wounded. Just as I started a bat- tery drove leisurely out of the opposite woods and took position on the right of the enemy's cavalry. About ten yards to the left of my line I came to a road, which ran from the plain into the woods. As I was in the act of crossing this road, two or three shells came crashing through the trees, and went plowing and bounding down it; and as I reached the farther side, another shell burst over my head, and one of the pieces cut off the top of a sapling, which as it fell slapped me in the face. Just then I remembered that my orders were to keep concealed, and that my proper place was behind that big tree in front of my companies. As for Lieutenant Houston, why Captain Benedict and the men
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of Company D, would see that the very best care was taken of him, and perhaps after all his wound was but slight.
The enemy continued. to shell that portion of the woods for about an hour, as rapidly as a four gun battery could do it; but fortunately their range was high, the trees were large, and we were not damaged by it. Once while this shelling was in progress, several small squads of their cavalry rode delib- erately forward and came so close to our line that we could almost see the whites of their eyes, when a man in Company A, who could not resist so good a shot, tumbled one of them out of his saddle, at which the others turned and rode leisurely back, satisfied that the woods at that point were not entirely unoc- cupied. But they were apparently determined to know of a cer- tainty how large a force confronted them ; and finally dismounted and sent forward, in a heavy skirmish line, one of their regiments. It was not a pleasant sight, for they advanced directly against us. We had, it is true, the advantage in position, and the protection of the trees, while they were in the open field ; but then there were only sixty of us, and no supporting force in sight, or hearing either, so far as we knew. On the other hand, their advancing line was not less than three hundred strong, while twice that number of . mounted men remained close at hand ready to support them.
There is no denying the fact that a majority of our number would have welcomed some such order as General Whipple gave us that Sunday morning at Chancellorsville, " Check them a little and then make good your escape-if you can." But the Colonel's orders when he left us there some two hours before, were-it will be remembered-of quite a different tenor; yet we deter- mined to attempt to obey them to the letter, and without delay prepared to give the enemy a warm reception. Directing my men to remain concealed, and not to fire a shot until the order was given, I took a position from which I could watch, as I sup- posed, every movement of the advancing line, until it should reach a little shrub, which grew in the open ground about one hundred yards in front of us. When it had arrived at that point I pur- posed opening fire. Steadily and rapidly forward they came-
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they were almost there. My men without orders were bringing their pieces to an aim, and I was saying to them, " Wait a minute -just a minute," when suddenly the enemy's dismounted line seemed to sink into the earth, and every man of them disap- peared from our view; at which Jimmy Jones, who stood just behind me with bloodless face, and bloodshot eyes almost starting from his head, mumbled to himself, " Holy mother, the divil's grabbed 'em," and then whispered "Captain give thra hoots for the bully old Divil." It was very plain to the rest of us that they had entered a ravine, of the existence of which we were not before aware. We expected every second to see them reappear, and quite a number in their anxiety stepped out from behind the trees and stood with their guns raised. Under such circumstances minutes frequently appear hours, and remembering this I watched and waited as patiently as I could ; but the suspense soon became almost unbearable. They were doing something, but what ? At this juncture their battery ceased firing and the thought came to me, " The ravine turns our position," and wheeling about, I dis- covered them moving stealthily through the woods, right against our flank ; and before I had time to effect a change of front, or notify my men where they were, they, with their peculiar half yell and half squeal, and a volley right down our line, rushed at us. But their shout coming first, we had time to change posi- tion so as to retain the shelter of the trees before the volley was delivered. Under cover of the smoke it made, we changed front toward them, taking advantage as before of the protection afforded by the trunks of large trees. The enemy had while out of our sight formed in battle line, and as the smoke lifted I gave the order "fire," and my men poured into their solid ranks a volley which made them tremble, break and take to the trees for shelter.
Then was begun an almost hand to hand Indian fight ; closer and yet closer they came, springing from tree to tree ; deter- .. mined to drive us to the open field, where they would have us at their mercy. My men stood firm and fired deliberately, and as rapidly as possible ; but our foes continued to advance until the muzzles of guns from opposite trees almost touched each other, and I began to fear they would stretch their line and lap our flanks.
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
At this critical moment I heard through the woods the voice of Major Cromwell. He was shouting " Forward, men, forward," and a moment later a company of the 86th, with which he was hastening to our relief, struck the foe on their deep exposed left flank with a murderous volley. Then there was a rustling in the brush behind us and the tramp of horses coming rapidly toward us, and I heard Colonel Ellis shout "give them the steel, my honeys, give them the steel, the brigade will support you."
Then was heard the Yankee charging shout, given with a will, and as we rushed forward, the enemy in utter dismay broke from their cover and fled before us, followed by a galling fire which left the ground, in their line of retreat out of the woods and over the plain, strewn with dead and wounded. It may as well be here stated that the brigade with which Colonel Ellis supported us consisted of himself, Captain Ben. Piatt, Lieutenant H. P. Ramsdell, three orderlies, and a brigade flag.
The moment the enemy in their hasty retreat, emerged from the woods, their battery opened again, and the very first shell struck poor Frank Rhinefield, of Company A, killing him instantly -literally tearing him in two. He was an illiterate, untidy, careless boy, who would go to sleep on picket as quick as in camp, but once in line of battle, a braver or better soldier seldom handled a musket. We buried him where he fell.
This affair lasted about ten minutes, during which time we had two men killed and about twenty wounded from our three little companies, which numbered all told but eighty-five men. Among the enemy's dead left in our hands was a Major who had commanded the attacking party, and a young lieutenant. The latter could not have been more than twenty years of age-had a broad noble forehead, fine features and beautiful light curly hair. From his breast pocket, near which a ball had entered his heart, a small package of papers protruded. Drawing out one of these, thinking to learn his name, I began reading a letter, such as only a widowed, almost heart-broken mother, could have writ- ten to an idolized son. It seemed a sacrilege to turn to the second page, and I carefully replaced the letter, had the body carried to the side of road, and covered with a blanket, trust-
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ing that after we had gone some friend might find and perhaps send it to that grief-stricken mother. During the afternoon companies A and F were moved about to a considerable extent but did not again become engaged.
The following extract from a letter written by Sergeant Peter P. Hazen, of Company C, and published in the Newburgh Jour- nal just after this battle, gives a partial account of what took place among and in front of the remaining eight companies of the regiment, which under the immediate command of Lieuten- ant Colonel Cummins, were stretched along the line some dis- tance to the left of where A and F became engaged.
" We halted just in the edge of the woods while the Rebel cavalry were in the edge of the woods opposite us. While lying here we were badly shelled from light batteries. A piece of shell about two inches square struck my woolen blanket just over my shoulder, but fortunately did not hurt me. Presently the Rebel cavalry charged down upon us across an open field in front. We fired a volley into them, at which they wheeled quickly, put spurs to their horses, and got out of range. We delivered our volley too soon. If we had retained it about one minute longer, and allowed them to come close to us, undoubtedly we would have done greater execution. We were now ordered up, and moved to the right, as skirmishers in the woods. The . underbrush was quite thick, so that we could see but a short dis- tance in front of us. We laid down behind trees and remained there in deep suspense, keeping a sharp watch for the approach of the enemy. There was constant firing at the right of us, and also considerable firing in the distance at the left. An occasion il shell would burst among us, which would rouse us up for a while. At last we caught a glimpse of some four or five Rebel skirmish- ers stealing toward us through the brush. I raised up on my knees and fired at one of them. I am unable to say whether I struck him or not. They kept concealed behind trees, some three or four bullets passed near me, and two bullets hit a tree behind which one of our men was concealed. They had caught sight of him and fired at him. . There was a man in Company E,
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
lying about two rods from me, behind a large oak tree. A shell came and struck about ten feet from him, plowed a furrow through the ground about six feet, then bounded and struck him in the side, tearing him in a dreadful manner. He gave two or three shrieks, and called for his comrades to carry him off, which was done; but, poor fellow, he soon died. Pieces of his clothing lay by the tree in a pool of blood, and the crackers from his haversack lay scattered about, almost as fine as powder. After the shell had done its work of destruction, it bounded some ten feet farther and entered a solid white oak tree, a foot in diameter, and cut it nearly off. There were two or three wounded Rebels lying only a few feet from us. They had been shot and their horses lay by them. .. . Late in the afternoon, we received orders to fall back toward the Ford."
The man in Company E, above referred to, was private Miles Vance, who it is said besought the men who carried him to the rear to put a ball through his head and end his sufferings ; and when they refused to do it, he begged of them to go and bring Lieutenant Charles B. Wood to him, "for," said he, "we were schoolmates, and when he sees me, torn in this way and dying by inches, I know he will grant my request. Lieutenant Wood was at the time commanding Company E, and had seen Vance hit, but before this strange request was conveyed to him the poor fellow had ceased to breathe.
About five o'clock we were ordered to fall back, and on returning to the Ford recrossed the river, moved about a mile beyond and bivouacked for the night in a pine grove. The fol- lowing is a complete list of the members of the 124th,
KILLED AND WOUNDED AT BEVERLEY'S FORD.
COMPANY A.
Private Frank Rhinefield.
Killed. Wounded.
John W. Swim ..
James Jones
Edward Rice.
John Polhamus.
Daniel Ackerman
Joseph Gardner.
Samuel Clark ..
66
£
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BEVERLEY'S FORD.
COMPANY F.
Private James N. Hazen. Wounded.
Sanford L. Gordon.
Edward Sharp.
COMPANY D.
Lieutenant John W. Houston Wounded. Private Wm. H. Callister
Corporal Henry H. Hyatt.
Private John Raymond.
COMPANY E.
Private Miles Vance
Killed.
COMPANY G.
Private David Lowers.
Wounded.
The company of the 86th N. Y. which Major Cromwell led to the support of A and F, of the 124th, lost quite heavily. On the morning following the battle, the wounded of both regiments were sent by cars from Bealton station to Alexandria.
18
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
CHAPTER IX.
FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK TO EMMETSBURG.
P OLLARD, in his " Lost Cause " writes, concerning the con- dition of Lee's army just before it started out on what came to be known as the Gettysburg campaigns, as follows : " During the few weeks following the brilliant victory of Chan- cellorsville, never did affairs look so propitious for the Confeder- ates. It was thought advisable to clear Virginia, of the Federal forces, and put the war back upon the frontier; to relieve the Confederate commissariat ; to counterbalance the continual retreat of the armies of Tennessee and Mississippi by an advance into Northern territory, offer a counterpoise to the movements of the enemy in the West, and possibly relieve the pressure there on the Confederate armies. General Longstreet was recalled from North Carolina ; and the army of Northern Virginia prepara- tory to the campaign, was re-organized, and divided into three equal and distinct corps. To General Longstreet was assigned the command of the First corps, consisting of the divisions of MeLaw, Hood, and Picket; to General Ewell, who had succeeded to the command of Jackson's old corps, were assigned the divis- ions of Early, Rodes, and Johnson ; and to General A. P. Hill was the Third corps given, consisting of the divisions of Ander- son, Pender, and Heth. Each of these corps numbered about twenty-five thousand men. . . New and splendid batteries of artillery were added to the army ; the troops as far as possible, were newly equipped, and ordnance trains were filled to their utmost capacity. The cavalry, fifteen thousand strong, were reviewed at Brandy Station; crowds of ladies attended the dis- play, and General Stuart, the gallant commander, whose only weakness was military foppery and an inordinate desire of female
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FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK TO EMMETSBURG.
admiration, rode along the lines on a horse almost covered with bouquets. Nearly a week was consumed in reviewing cavalry, infantry, and artillery. By the 1st of June all was in readiness, and the advance was ordered." According to official Confeder- ate reports, Lee's aggregate present on the 31st day of May was 88,754.
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