USA > New York > History of the One hundred and twenty-fourth regiment, N. Y. S. V. > Part 17
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Early on the morning of the 4th, it was discovered that the enemy's videttes had disappeared from our front, but Union skir- mishers who were forthwith advanced, soon came upon their pickets, posted behind a line of rifle pits.
About noon I walked out a short distance beyond the Union battle line over that harvest field of death. All the wounded who had fallen behind where our picket line then was, had been carried to the rear. But scores of blackened, distorted human faces lay in front of me, turn which way I would. The bodies of many of these had been torn most frightfully by pieces of shell. Interspersed among them lay the bloated carcasses of dead horses. The ground in all directions was strewn with the broken engines and paraphernalia of war, and here and there upon the grass could be seen dark crimson spots which told of pools of blood.
As night came on a rain storm set in, and early on the morn- ing of the 5th, I was ordered to send out a squad of men in charge of a commissioned officer to assist in burying the dead. About noon we moved a short distance to a piece of wood, where we pitched what tents we had and remained until the afternoon of the 6th.
* Dr. Montfort spent the night on the field, near the front, ministering to such of the wounded as had not yet been carried to the hospitals.
186
HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED. OF THE 124TH, AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
COLONEL A. VAN HORNE ELLIS . Killed.
LIEUT .- COLONEL F. M. CUMMINS. Wounded.
MAJOR JAMES CROMWELL.
Killed.
COMPANY A.
CORP. Jacob Lent Killed.
Charles H. Valentine. Wounded.
Isaac L. Conklin. 66
Michael Hager.
Wesley Morgan
66
COMPANY B.
William Lamereaux Killed.
Harrison Storms.
R. J. Holland. 66
CORP. James Scott
Wounded.
E. M. Carpenter.
John Glanz.
Wesley Storms 66
J. J. Messenger.
COMPANY C.
Benjamin F. Flagg. Killed.
SERGT. Thomas Taft Wounded.
SERGT. Peter P. Hazen
Frederick Lamereaux.
Nathan Edwards.
James Ryan.
COMPANY D.
James Pembleton. Killed.
John W. Leeper. 66
CORP. Gideon H. Pelton Wounded.
CORP. Ezra Hyatt 66
John C. Degraw
George B. Kinney
David Currey 66
Thomas S. Storms
Thomas M. Hyatt.
John Gannin.
COMPANY E.
James B. Moore. Killed.
Hezekiah Harris
John Scott.
Matthew W. Wood. Wounded.
COMPANY F.
1ST SERGT. John D. Drake .. . : . Killed.
CORP. O. U. Knapp
A. W. Quick. 66
I. G. Gillson.
CORP. James Comey Wounded.
CORP. James H. Taylor.
66
George Garrett.
William C. Van Sickle.
G. H. Langton
Levi Cartright.
Floyd S. Goble
Ira Gordon
F. Rundle.
COMPANY G. .
CAPTAIN ISAAC NICOLL Killed.
Wm. D. Dawkins.
William Campbell.
Thomas Corbett. 66
Walter Barton
James Roke.
1ST LT. JAMES O. DENNISTON .. . Wounded.
SERGT. Isaac Decker.
Charles Benjamin
Garrett H. Bennett. 66
Cornelius Hughs. 66
Gilbert Peet.
Selah Brock
COMPANY H.
William H. Cox Killed.
James E. Homan. .
SERGT. Thomas Bradley Wounded.
CORP. N. B. Kimbark
Wm. S. M. Hatch.
Charles W. Tindall.
Thomas O'Connell
Jesse .F. Camp.
John E. Kidd.
3
187
GETTYSBURG.
COMPANY 1.
COMPANY K.
2D LIEUT. MILNER BROWN. Killed.
CORP. Isaac Decker Killed.
Charles Edwards.
G. H. Stephens
James Partington.
A. S. Holbert.
William Whan. 66
John Carroll.
William Moore
66
1ST LIEUT. JAMES FINNEGAN .. . Wounded.
C. S. Allen
SERGT. W. T. Ogden.
SERGT. Amos M. Eager. Wounded.
SERGT. A. T. Vanderlyn
CORP Samuel Chalmers.
CORP. Samuel McQuaid.
CORP. H. G. Herrick, of D. Wounded.
Nathaniel Jackson
John T. Laroc
Killed
34
John Gordon
Wounded. 57
Henry W. Smith
LEFT GENERAL GUIDE.
That portion of Sickles' most advanced position, from which the 124th was withdrawn on the afternoon of the 2d, was not again occupied by the Union forces during the battle ; and a consider- able number of our severely wounded remained for several days in the hands of the enemy, and three or four of them did not again re-enter the Federal lines until after they had luxuriated for a season in Southern prisons. Corporal James Scott, to whom particular reference has already been made, gives the following account of what he terms his " Three days with the Johnnies : "
" When our regiment left the hill a Confederate battle line . advanced over me and took possession of it, and I lay there three days and three nights in a partly paralyzed state. The rays of the sun at times were terrible. When the Confederate ambulances came up that night for the wounded, a general- whose headquarters were near where I was lying-was walking over the field ; and when two of the stretcher bearers came to . me, and were about to pick me up, he told them to leave me there as I wasn't worth bothering with. About midnight I heard some one near by talking in earnest tones about the results of the day, and presently saw two Confederate officers walking arm and arm. I must have made some sort of a noise; for one of them remarked 'There is another poor fellow,' and came to me, and asked where I was hurt and if I wanted a drink. Then he passed his canteen to me with the question, 'To what regiment do you belong?' But before my reply was half uttered
188
HISTORY OF THE 194TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
he jerked it away, called me a D- Yankee s-, and made as if he would kick me; at which his comrade, shouting, ' Oh don't !' sprang forward and drew, or rather pushed him away. With that exception the Johnnies were very kind. Several times they took my canteen and crawled out between the lines and filled it with water for me. They gave me food, too, but I couldn't cat it. Some of them expressed their sympathy, said I could not live long, and advised me to make my peace with God. On the afternoon of the second day a squad of sol- diers gathered up the dead bodies of eighteen men of our regi- ment and lay them on a level strip of ground a few yards below me. Then they came and, after taking most of the clothing and all the shoes off of them, arranged the bodies in two rows with ·the feet together, and left them so. That evening I heard a staff officer deliver to the General I have spoken of, orders from General Longstreet to fall back promptly but not to run. On the afternoon of the third day some of the 14th Regulars came with an ambulance and took me to their regimental hospital."
Statement of Corp. N. B. Kimbark, of Company H-" I was severely wounded in the breast at Gettysburg just after Colonel Ellis fell. I was unconscious for a short time. When I recovered my senses the Rebels were advancing over me. I remained where I fell until the next morning, when one of their officers came along and ordered me to go to the rear. I managed to `crawl a rod or so alone. Then he sent a man to assist me. But the fellow said I would die any way, and soon left me. Then I crawled to a fence and lay down again by it. There was a Rebel picket post near me, and one of the men came and gave me a swallow of water from his canteen. Presently another one of them came along with a four gallon carthen jar on his head, which he had just filled at some spring, and stopped and gave me a good drink ; after which I fell asleep. When I awoke their pickets had gone; but before long a Rebel battle line advanced past me, and their officers ordered mne to crawl farther to the rear. Presently a burial party with picks and shovels came along and I asked them where their hospital was. They
189
GETTYSBURG.
said it was a short distance beyond in a piece of woods-that some of them were going there presently after water, and would take me with them, which they did. It was not a regular hospital -only a sort of stopping place for the wounded. A rebel doctor who was there came to me and inquired where I was wounded. And when I told him I was shot through the lungs, he replied, ' oh, that will not kill you,' gave me some morphine on the blade of a pocket knife, and said there would soon be an ambulance there to take me to the hospital. Just then shells from our batteries began to fall among us, and their ambulance teams were driven up on a run, and the stretcher bearers rushed in among us and carried off all the rebel wounded, but left me sitting there alone, leaning against a tree. There was a small log barn close by, and I crept into it. There were two rebels in there. One of them was very badly wounded and the other one (not wounded) was taking care of him. They did not speak to me, and I lay down on some straw and soon fell asleep. When I awoke there was an ambulance at the door taking in the wounded rebel. I asked them to take me too, but they did not let on that they heard me, and drove off, and I was alone again. Presently I saw some Confederates pass by carrying a wounded officer, and I got on my feet and tried to follow them, for I thought they must be going to some hospital. I managed to get several rods, then my strength failed me and I had to sink down, and they were soon out of sight. But there was a small stream close by and some men who came to get water told me there was a house a short distance ahead with a lot of wounded ' Yanks' in it. After a while I got to this house and remained there two nights. There were eighteen wounded Union soldiers there, but none of them belonged to our regiment. The people who had lived in this house must have fled in great haste, for nothing had been removed. Their clothing hung all around. and the beds were all made and ready for use. The last day I was there I lay down on one of the beds early in the afternoon and went to sleep. I was awakened by the noise of artillery which was so close by that it shook the windows and I looked
190
HISTORY OF THE 12ATH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
out and saw a line of our skirmishers advancing, and one of our batteries shelling the woods ahead of them. Not one of the eighteen men who were with me were able to walk, and I sup- pose that is the reason why the rebels had left us. We tried to raise a cheer when we saw the boys in blue advancing toward us, but it was a very weak affair. In a few moments a Union field officer and a surgeon came in, and before long our ambu- lances were there and took us all back to our own hospitals."
Sergeant Thomas Taft of Company C, (subsequently Captain of that gallant company) gives, in a letter written to his father, Daniel Taft, Esq., of Cornwall, about two months after the battle, the following interesting account of his first trip to Richmond, a short sojourn within the limits of the Confederacy, and his return to the Union lines.
"In the fight at Gettysburg on the 2d of July, our regi- ment was formed in line on the top of a stony hill-a very good position. When first attacked by the rebels we drove them nearly half-way down the hill, when we were met by their second line. . . Just before our regiment fell back I received a blow on the left hip which knocked me down. I do not know whether it was a spent ball or a piece of shell ;. at any rate it bruised me severely. Before I could get on my feet again a musket ball passed through my right arm, between the elbow and shoulder. This wound, together with the bruise on my hip, rendered me, for the time being, almost helpless. The enemy's battle line was now but a few feet from me; I could neither fight nor run, and . was consequently obliged to surrender.
" Several others belonging to our brigade were captured about the same time. We were all forthwith taken to the rear about half a mile. There were many wounded rebels there, and others were continually being brought in. We remained at that point an hour or two, during which time I had my arm dressed by a young man belonging to the 3d Maine, who happened to have some bandages with him. I saw several rebel surgeons. but they paid no more attention to our wounded-a number of whom lay near me-than if we had been so many dead dogs.
1
191
GETTYSBURG.
Just before dark the unwounded Union prisoners. together with all of the wounded who were able to stand alone, were placed in a large field, around which a strong guard was posted. We remained in this field until the evening of the 3d, when we were marched to the outskirts of the village (Gettysburg) where we were kept until the 4th, when we were started on what proved to be a forced march for Staunton, Augusta county, Va.
" On the afternoon of the 5th, we passed through Hagerstown, and about two miles beyond moved over ground which a few hours before had been the scene of a bloody engagement between Stewart's command and a force of Union cavalry under Kilpat- rick. A considerable number of dead horses, and not a few Union soldiers, were lying on the ground just where they had fallen, The bodies of the officers, and of nearly all the private soldiers, had been stripped of their clothing and left unburied. That night we reached Williamsport on the Potomac. Williams- port is forty miles from Gettysburg, and during that long march all they gave us to eat was one pint of flour, and half a pound of fresh meat, with a little salt. We mixed the flour on pieces of barrel heads and staves, and baked it the best we could on flat stones which we heated by building fires about them. A pon- toon bridge of theirs, which a few days before our arrival stretched , across the river near that point, had been destroyed by Union cavalry, and all they had left to get us over with was an old scow-built ferry-boat, into which they could crowd but sixty men at a time. There were nearly three thousand of us, and it took them all the next day, and nearly all the following night to ferry us over.
"On the Sth we resumed our march-moved fifteen miles ; passing on our way through Martinsburg, which is without exception, the most patriotic place I ever saw. Philadelphia is not to be compared with it. The people told us to keep up our courage for the stars and stripes were coming-and not far in the rear. I was surprised to hear this from people living in Virginia. There was a whole brigade of rebels encamped in and around the town at the time, and by showing us sympathy
-
192
HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
they were not only endangering their property but their very lives. The ladies had buttered large baskets of bread, and stood on the sidewalks ready to distribute it to us as we passed.
" Before we reached the town the infantry guard, which encircled us, was ordered to bayonet the very first man who stepped one foot away from the ranks to receive anything from a citizen; and the men of the cavalry guard which formed the second and outer line about us was directed to cut the head off of any person who attempted to pass us anything to cat ! And yet, in three instances, I saw young ladies walk right out be- tween the horses, under the drawn sabres of the cavalrymen, and give our boys bread. The ruffians would have shot one of us on the slightest provocation, but innate gallantry forbid doing violence to a woman. After we crossed the river it was three days before they gave us anything to eat again. The first day after, as I have already stated, we marched fifteen miles; the second day we moved nineteen miles and were halted at Winches- ter, where we remained twenty-four hours longer-and all this time without a morsel of food. Then they issued to us two days' rations (which consisted, all told, of one quart of flour and half a pound of fresh beef ) and we were started forward again toward Staunton, which was yet ninety-two miles away, but at the end of five days we were there, that is, all of our number who had not fallen dead by the wayside. About two miles south of the town we were marched in single file up to a pair of bars, where two officers searched us surrounded by a strong guard, and took our knives, tents, rubber blankets and even canteens ; and then turned us into a field like a lot of cattle. This field was about two acres in extent. There was but one tree in it, and that was the only shelter we had from sun or rain. At times the rays of the sun were terrible. For five consecutive days it rained in the afternoon, and each time I was wet to the skin, and had to remain so until the sun came out the following mornings and dried my clothes. The days were hot but the night air was damp and cold. Not more than one man in twenty had a blanket, and frequently the majority of us would walk about all night
193
GETTYSBURG.
over our two acre lot, jostling against each other trying to keep our teeth from chattering and our bodies from shivering. Our daily and unvaried rations, while we remained in this prison pen, consisted of a little salt, one pint of flour, and a piece of bacon about one and a half inches square, which was always covered with vermin."
" On the 4th of August they searched us again, took away all the greenbacks they could find about us, and then shipped us to Richmond on a train of dirt cars. We arrived at the Confede- rate capital on the morning of the 5th, and were marched through the city to the tobacco-warehouses, in which we were stowed away-about three hundred on a floor. The company of three hundred to which I was attached, occupied one large room, or floor, with four small windows in it. As soon as we entered it, we were kindly informed by the guards that the first man's head that appeared outside, or even in, one of these windows, would certainly have a bullet put through it.
" After remaining in the ware-houses two days and a night, we were taken to Belle Isle, which is about one mile from the city. There they had a slight earthwork thrown up, which enclosed about one and a half acres of ground. In this small space they crowded four thousand prisoners. About three thousand of these had tents. The remaining thousand-to which class of unfortunates I belonged-slept on such narrow strips of ground as they could find between the tents. Our rations here differed some from what they had been at Staunton. Bread, soup, and meat, now made up our bill of fare; but the quantity was so small, and the quality was so poor, that we were continu- ally half famished. I often saw men pick bones from the dirt and filth, and pound them up with stones that they might suck the nutriment from them. It was no uncommon thing to see two men staggering along holding between them a comrade who could yet use his feet, but was too weak to stand alone. Many of our number died here.
" On the 28th of August the majority of the survivors were taken back to Richmond and placed in the tobacco-warehouses
194
HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
again. But on the morning of the 29th we were put on a train of cars, and about noon found ourselves at City Point. The transport New York lay at the wharf, and when we saw the stars and stripes floating from her mast-head, there went up a shout which came from the bottom of our thankful hearts; and if it was not loud and strong it was only because we had not the strength to make it so.
" As soon as we were taken on board the transport, half a loaf of bread, and one of Uncle Sam's rations of boiled pork was issued to us, and oh, what a feast we had ! Unfortunately a large number, instead of eating a little at a time, devoured the whole almost the very minute they received it, and consequently, for a time, suffered more from the effects of over-eating, than they had before endured for lack of food. At dusk that evening, the New York was made fast to the steamer wharf at Fortress Mon- roe, but at 9 o'clock we were under way again. At 7 o'clock the next morning we were landed at Annapolis. Those who were able to walk were conducted to College Green barracks, where we were furnished with new suits of clothes, and plenty of whole- some food. On Thursday, September 3d, all the New York troops were taken out to the new Parol Camp and placed under the command of Captain Murray of our regiment, who was wounded and captured at Chancellorsville, May 3d. I am glad that he has been placed over us, for he is a pleasant and good officer."
195
FOLLOWING LEE BACK TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK.
CHAPTER XI.
FOLLOWING. LEE BACK TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK .- WAPPING HEIGHTS.
rTHE retreat of the shattered, defeated, and almost disheart- ened veteran army of Northern Virginia, after the despe- rate three days' battle of Gettysburg, was begun as soon as the dark shades of the night of the 4th of July settled down on the bloody field, and kindly concealed their movements from the advanced lookouts of their victorious foes. Early on the morn- ing of the 5th, Sedgwick's corps (the 6th) moved rapidly across the battle-field, down the Fairfield road, and a considerable body of cavalry cantered off on the Chambersburg pike, in pursuit. During the forenoon, detached companies of men moved hither and thither along our front, gathering up small arms, thousands of which were yet lying scattered over what had, previous to that time, been regarded as disputed ground ; and burial parties were sent to scour the field in all directions, and inter every human form they could find, whether dressed in blue, or in grey and butternut.
On the 6th, all those who were deemed unfit for active and arduous duty, were sent to the field hospitals ; and during the day the bulk of the army moved off, taking the roads which lead toward Emmettsburg. Our corps, however, remained on the field. A storm was brewing, and when evening approached, all who had tents put them up, dug trenches about and crowded under them, intent on a good rest and sound sleep ere they started off on, what all believed was to be a long and rapid march. About two hours after midnight, I was awakened to receive, read, and sign an order. It was from Division Headquarters, had been countersigned by our brigade adjutant-general, and read as fol- lows : "You will cause your command to be aroused at once, see
-
196
HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
that they prepare and eat their breakfast without delay, and have everything made ready for moving at a moment's notice."
Before we had finished eating our breakfast and rolling our tents, the storm was upon us. We now had with us but 150 men with muskets, and nine commissioned officers, all told. Cap- tains Silliman and Crist, with a considerable number of our rank and file who had participated in the battle, had been sent to the corps hospital where Surgeon Thompson, Chaplain Bradner, and several able-bodied enlisted men were ordered to remain and care for the wounded and sick. At daybreak we were under way, moved in a southerly direction, passed through Emmettsburg, and notwithstanding the severity of the storm and the continually deepening mud, did not bivouac for the night until we had reached Mechanicstown, which is distant not less than twenty miles from our starting point east-of Gettysburg.
At half past five o'clock the next morning (Sth) we resumed our onward march, and did not halt for over ten minutes at a time until we had traveled twenty-three miles-passed through and were a two hours' march south of Frederick.
The storm was abating somewhat, yet rain had continued to fall heavily at intervals throughout the day. Some portion of the road over which we marched was Macadamized and covered only with a slight coating of thin mud and shallow pools of slush ; but in other places the mud was deep, and several of my men who had lost one of their shoes " away down under ground " and thrown away the other, kept their pants rolled above their knees and declared they would " wade it through bare-footed, sink or swim." Late in the afternoon, just before we reached Frederick, one of our brigade staff officers rode down the column, saying to the commander of each regiment in a most serious tone of voice, "The colonel commanding directs that you see to it that your regiment appears to good advantage when we pass through the village." This staff officer also informed me that "a delegation from the gallus 7th New York Yankee-greyback Militia, with biled shirts and silk umbrellas were drawn up behind a rail fence along the road a short distance ahead, waiting to pay
197
FOLLOWING LEE BACK TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK.
their respects to some of their former comrades now in the 124th." But before we had reached the spot the majority of them had returned to their quarters ; and when some one pointed to us and said, that is the 124th, the few who remained no sooner set eyes on us than they too fled, swearing, I presume, that they never knew one of us.
Ten days before we had marched through that village with clothes brushed, banners flying, and polished arms reflecting the rays of the sun ; intent on keeping between the invading victori- ous and most mighty army the Confederacy ever put in the field, and our threatened capitol, which we were resolved to defend to the last extremity. Since then we had met that grand southern army even handed. and defeated it in the most ably managed, desperate, and deadly battle ever fought on American soil ; and were now pursuing its depleted legions in their inglorious flight back to the forests of Virginia.
We had been forced to go down and fight a battle on free soil, and were returning victors. But I do think, without exaggeration, when we that day retraced our steps through Fred- erick City we were the most unsoldierly, sorry looking victori- ous Veteran Army it has been the lot of any human being of . this century to look upon. For two days we had been bespat- tering each other with mud and slush, and soaked with rain which was then falling in torrents. Our guns and swords were covered with rust; our pockets were filled with dirt; muddy water oozed from the toes of the footmen's government shoes at every step, ran out of the tops of the horsemans boots and dropped from the ends of the fingers noses and chins of all.
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