USA > New York > History of the One hundred and twenty-fourth regiment, N. Y. S. V. > Part 26
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A few hours after the fall of General Hays, Captain Nash, and a lieutenant, whose name I am unable to recall, both of Ward's staff, rode out to find our brigade line, which the former had visited only a short time before. They were accompanied by
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
Norman A. Sly and John R. Post, of the 124th, who were acting as their orderlies. There was between two of the regiments an opening of about fifty feet, through which the whole party unwit- tingly rode and ran into the enemy's line ; and the two officers were captured, while their orderlies, who rode but a few yards to their rear, taking the chances of having a volley fired after them, wheeled their horses and made their escape. Is it any wonder so little is known concerning the details of the battles of the Wilderness ?
The enemy's ammunition must have run out simultaneously with that of Hancock's advance line. At all events, a few moments after I learned of the wounding of Colonel Cum- mins, their fire gradually slackened and soon almost entirely ceased. About eleven o'clock a supporting line, which was com- posed in part of Gibbin's division, came up to within a few feet of our advance line and starting small fires there, prepared and com- menced drinking coffee ; seeing which our men, who had not yet had their breakfast, began asking permission to leave the ranks for the same purpose ; but knowing we were liable to be attacked at any moment, and that it was necessary for every man to re- main at his post ready for any emergency, I was obliged to deny · them the privilege.
But after the " white clubs " had finished their meal the com- mander of a regiment which was lying immediately behind the 124th, kindly consented to exchange positions with us for a few moments, and immediately formed his command and moved to the front, while we fell back to, and began preparing our break- fast over, the fires his men had left burning. But before we had finished the meal a terrific racket broke out in the woods to our left, and bullets began to fly thick and fast above and among us, passing lengthwise of the Union line. The grand assault which Lee had intended to make at an early hour in the morning had .. come at last, and was led by Lieut. Gen. Longstreet in person. Six lines deep they come, striking first Frank's brigade of Bar- low's division on its exposed left flank, and hurling it back in dis- order against the left of Mott's command, which was soon doubled
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up and disorganized ; and the men of the various brigades, regi- ments and companies became so inseparably mixed, that all efforts to re-form them there among the trees and brush, in face of Long- street's impetuous advance, proved unavailing.
Hurrying the 124th into line, I caused it to change front to the left, so as to face toward whence the bullets came, and at- tempted to prevent the further spread of the disaster, but I might as well have tried to stop the flight of a cannon ball, by interpos- ing the lid of a cracker box. Back pell-mell came the ever swell- ing crowd of fugitives, and the next moment the Sons of Orange were caught up as by a whirlwind, and broken to fragments ; and the terrible tempest of disaster swept on down the Union line, beating back brigade after brigade, and tearing to pieces regiment after regiment, until upwards of twenty thousand veterans were fleeing, every man for himself, through the disorganizing and already blood-stained woods, toward the Union rear.
The foe meantime pressed rapidly forward, lighting up the dim forest with powder flames which continually flashed from his smoke-enveloped line, like heat lightning from a cloudy horizon, and pouring into our disorganized host a continuous fire, so terri- ble in its effect as to leave the ground over which we passed strewn afresh with hundreds, yea, thousands of dead, wounded, and dying. Hancock's officers. in their frantic efforts to rally their men on a new line, planted their, colors on nearly every rising piece of ground they came to; and, waving their swords and gnashing their teeth, shrieked the order, "Rally men, rally, for God and your country's sake, rally," but to no purpose. The colors were no sooner planted by those in front, than they were swept away, and in some instances trampled under foot, by those from the rear, who, while doing their best to get out of range of the enemy's bullets, continually echoed and re-echoed the Rally men, rally.
At one place about a mile and a half in rear of the farthest point of our advance, on the banks of a little stream that ran through this vast, weird, horrible slaughter-pen, a skeleton line of mixed troops was partially formed; and for a moment it
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HISTORY OF "HE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
looked as if a sufficient number might be rallied there, to at least check the thus far almost undisputed advance of Longstreet's lines. Gathering a corporal's guard of the 124th about me, I sprang over the stream and, bidding my color-bearer (Corporal Washington Edwards) unfuurl our flag, planted it on the half- formed line ; but almost the next moment a heavy volley coming from the woods to our rear and left, told that a fresh and unex- pected body of the foe was close upon us, and away went our men again in an instant. I now became thoroughly disheartened, and, abandoning all hopes of gathering my command south of the Rapidan, sheathed my sword, and moved back with the rabble.
The enemy, when he had forced us back full two miles, sud- denly ceased firing. Our understanding of this fact at the time was, that the Confederate lines had become so broken and disorganized their commander deemed it expedient to halt and re-form them. It was not until the following day we learned that the real cause was the serious wounding of Longstreet-the -head and front of the avalanche which had overwhelmed and well-nigh destroyed us. The fall, at that critical moment, of Lee's great lieutenant was, to say the least, an undisguised blessing to Grant's army.
Thus far there were, in this disaster to the Union arms, four striking points of resemblance to remind one of Jackson's great flanking feat, in this same woods just a year before; and it is very evident that Lee expected from it similar final results. But in this last particular he was grievously mistaken. In both in- stances he had placed the bulk of his army under the immediate command of, and left the entire details to, a lieutenant whom he rightly judged better qualified than himself for the work in hand.
· In both instances the resuit had been eminently all he could wish, so long as that lieutenant had remained in command. In both instances these great lieutenants had fallen at the head of their troops, when the tide of their victory was at its highest flood. And in both instances it is claimed these Confederate chiefs were accidentally shot by their own troops. Now let us follow this day's work to its close, and compare results.
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About the time the enemy's bullets ceased falling among us, we came to a wood road which ran obliquely across and nearly parallel with, our line of retreat. The fleeing multitude, no longer spurred on by death's messengers, soon slackened its pace, and here on this road I again directed Corporal Edwards, who now constituted my entire command, to loosen his colors to the breeze; and to my unspeakable delight, the men began to flock in from the woods on either side, and rally around their old flag again. Presently we saw General Birney and staff riding toward us. I now had with me, marching along in good order, about fifty men. When the General had arrived within thirty yards of the head of my little column, he drew rein by the side of the road, and his staff formed in line behind him. Turning toward my men I was about to bring them to a shoulder, that we might be ready to salute him as we passed ; but we did not have the pleasure of paying him that honor, for just then a shell-the first I heard that day-came screeching down the road, over our heads, and struck and exploded almost directly under his horse. And when the cloud of dust it raised had disappeared, his staff officers were gone, and the General-whose fiery steed had evidently become wholly unmanageable, and could be seen bound- ing from one side of the road to the other -- was soon borne out of our sight.
Half a mile farther on we came to a strip of slashing. Across this there suddenly loomed up a strong line of log breastworks, from the top of which several Union flags could be seen waving in the breeze, whereupon an old sailor in our ranks fitly ex- pressed the feelings of all by shouting, " Ship ahoy, land ahead, boys, land ahead !"
These works did not seem to be very heavily manned at that point, but scores of mounted men were riding rapidly up and down behind them. Quickening our pace, we soon passed in " through an opening, and found ourselves again on the Brock road. Along the south-western side of this, there stretched as far as the eye could penetrate in either direction, one of the strongest lines of temporary works it had ever been my fortune
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
to stand behind. No more need of shouting " halt, men, halt," not a man crossed the road. Staff officers from the various brigades and divisions were there directing those who came in to the par- ticular portions of the works where their respective commands had been ordered to rally ; and all hurried off at a double-quick in the direction indicated, so that in an incredibly short space of time Hancock's command was substantially re-formed, re-supplied with ammunition, and ready for action. This wall of refuge in the Wilderness, conveyed to the army just what Grant's famous dispatch issued several days later said to the country : "I pro- pose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."
As soon as word reached Lee that Longstreet had fallen, he hurried to the front and took personal command of his assaulting column, which was now composed of nearly two-thirds of his en- tire army ; but it required full two hours for this most cautious chieftain to make ready for a renewal of the pursuit; and when at length his bugles sounded the forward, Hancock was anxiously waiting to receive him. About three P. M. the - Confederate ad- vance struck and immediately drove in our pickets, who had barely time to make their way through the slashing, and crawl over the works, ere their pursuers appeared in solid battle line, and the combat was re-opened with a terrific crash of riflery all along the lines ; but so impetuous and persistent was the advance of the victorious foe, they were half-way through the slashing and within thirty yards of our works before we could bring them to a stand.
Occasionally one of our number would fall dead-pierced through the brain-or be carried to the rear wounded in the head, hand, or shoulder. Beyond this the rapid fire of the foe had but slight effect on our line, behind its bullet-proof cover ; over the top of which we, with deliberate aim, hurled into their exposed but unwavering line an incessant and most deadly fire. Again and yet again did their shattered regiments in our front close on their colors, while fresh troops from the rear moved up and filled the gaps.
Grant, in his conduct of that great campaign, which had then
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but just begun,-and which a famous historian truthfully says stands unequaled by any on record, in the elements that make war grand, terrible, and bloody-has been stigmatized as " The butcher who thought but little, and cared less for the lives of his men ; " while Lee has ever been regarded as a general who, above all others, was most chary of the lives of those under him. But certainly in this instance the epithet butcher, if applied to either, should rest on Lee. Yet the valor and stubborn resistance the Confederates that afternoon displayed; came by an accident very . near being signally rewarded.
During the contest the woods between the lines, at a short distance to the left of Ward's brigade, took fire. And just when the enemy-after having withstood our deadly volleys for over an hour-began to show signs of exhaustion, and a Union force was being made ready for a charge when the critical moment should arrive, a strong wind suddenly sprang up, and carried the fire to our log breastworks, along which the flames spread with wonderful rapidity. Several regiments to the left of the 124th. unable to withstand the heat and smoke, abandoned the works. though several individual members of these commands remained until their hair was singed, for the smoke and flames were blown directly into their faces. Presently huge clouds of strong black pine smoke, such as almost eats one's eyes out, rolled over and completely enveloped our regiment.
At this critical moment the Confederates rushed up and oc- cupied the deserted works to our left; seeing which the Union reserve, posted as a second line about fifty yards to our rear. opened fire, and, supposing our regiment had moved down the road to the right, or fallen back behind them, with the regiments which had been stationed on our left. sent a volley right into the cloud of smoke which hid us from their view. Fortunately their am was so high that the most of their bullets passed over our heads.
General Ward had, for half an hour or more, been sitting on a log or pacing to and fro, about ten paces behind the centre of our regiment, and had not yet left us. Up to that moment he
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had not spoken a word to any one, but when he heard these bu !- lets from the rear whistling so close to his ears, he turned to me with the order. " Take your regiment to the rear of those -- ------ ," and walked rapidly away. As we passed over the second line which was lying in shallow rifle- pits, I looked back and there floating on the works just where ours had been, could be seen, through the smoke, a Confederate battle-flag. A moment later we heard, above the roar of riflery, the crashing thunder of artillery.
A determined charge in front of an opening in the works about twenty rods to our right, had cleared the way for a bat- tery which had been run out and placed in such a position as to rake the outer face of our breastworks, which, for the distance of full seventy rods, ran perfectly straight ; and were now heavily manned with Confederate troops. As soon as these batterymen, with guns double shotted with canister, began mowing down the foc, our infantry rushed back to the now blackened and smoking works-for the flames, having consumed the most combustible portion of the dry bark from the logs, had subsided -- and opened a most deadly fire into the very faces of the bleeding foe on the opposite side. Presently the batterymen were ordered to cease firing, when, with a tremendous shout, over the works rushed the Union line with clubbed muskets, swords, and bayonets, right at the now totally demoralized Confederates, who broke for the rear, and fled in the wildest disorder across the slashing and down through the woods again ; and, so we were informed by prisoners captured the next day, did not halt to re-form their lines until they were back on the very ground they started from in the morning.
The day was now so far spent that the Union generals did not think it expedient to attempt to pursue the fleeing enemy. A. strong picket line was, however, thrown out and advanced half a mile or more, without encountering any opposition.
As soon as the smoke lifted and the roar of battle died away, we very naturally began looking about us, and the sight which met our gaze was horrible beyond description. Quite a number
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of Confederate dead and seriously wounded, lay inside the works, while the ground outside of them was literally covered with the mangled bodies of their dead and dying; together with a consid- erable number who, to escape death feigned it, and dropping down among the corpses of their comrades, remained there until dis- covered by our men and made prisoners. Thus ended the second day's battle of the Wilderness, so far as Hancock's command was concerned. Some two hours later, however, Sedgwick's corps was attacked in flank, and suffered heavily in loss of prisoners. And when darkness finally put an end to the day's work of death, the two mighty wrestlers, all covered with wounds and gore, lay down, too much exhausted to rest; on substantially the same ground they had respectively occupied previous to the opening of that day's battle.
We spent the night sitting or lying on the roadside, with our weapons close beside us, ready to spring to our feet and man the works in front at a moment's notice ; and many confidently ex- pected that an order to advance and again engage the foe would reach them at an early hour in the morning; but they were mistaken. The dread contest was not to be renewed on that weird field, o'er which twenty-five thousand dead or wounded contestants were now scattered amid the bleaching bones of for- mer comrades in arms.
This mysterious. sanguinary conflict of two days' duration- this most desperate struggle in the wild forest, between mighty armies, the lines of which no one saw ; and which were only to be traced in their continued changes throughout the contest by the thunder crash of riflery and the shouts of the hidden, grap- pling contestants, was to go into history as an unfinished or drawn battle. There graduates of the same military school had met for the first time as commanders of opposing armies, and each it would seem had misunderstood the character and under-estimated the fighting qualities of the other. Lee had been aware of the fact that Grant had a slight advantage in the number of men under him, but he regarded that as of but little consequence in that weird, tangled, and to his opponent unknown wilderness.
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
Grant knew very well that Lee was thoroughly acquainted with the dismal woods through which he had resolved to pass, but to that fact he attached very little weight, for the fighting of a battle there was no part of his programme, but
"The best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft a-gley."
Grant, unexpectedly finding his advance disputed by Lee's army, had gathered up his mighty host and made a most determined and desperate effort to crush his adversary in this very Wilder- ness ; but, because of that adversary's superior knowledge of the field, he had after a bloody struggle of two days' duration, and a loss of fifteen thousand men, been compelled to admit that he had been forced into undertaking what he could not accomplish. And Lee, who had essayed to paralyze the new Union commander as he had Hooker a year before, and then by bold desperate flank attacks so demoralize our entire army that he might at his leisure drive it back over, or hurl it into, the Rapidan, had at length, after suffering a loss almost equal to that of his foes, given up the impossible task, owing in part at least to his opponent's slight advantage in numbers. And there they stood throughout the third day, behind the strong works of their respective lines-for Lee's army had spent the night erecting breastworks-each ready to receive battle, but neither minded to attack; and the thought of retreat foreign to both.
About two o'clock that afternoon, May 7th, Hancock riding along by Ward's brigade, directed that a regiment be sent out to gather up the rifles and muskets that lay scattered along its front. The 124th was selected for this purpose, and in less than an hour we must have collected at least fifteen hundred stand of arms, fre- quently drawing them from under the dead bodies of the men who had carried them; and in several instances unclasping, with not - a little difficulty, the cold, clammy fingers which had tightened about them when their owners were in the last agonie, of death.
At five o'clock I received a detail calling for two commissioned officers and forty enlisted men for picket duty ; and an hour later
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these were moving through the woods on their way to the front, prepared to spend the night pacing to and fro in the gloom, amid the putrid bodies of friends and foes-for only those who had fallen nearest the works had been buried-listening to every un- usual sound and watching the movements of every shadow, not knowing at what moment a body of the foe might be discovered stealing toward them.
The result of the Battle of the Wilderness as compared with the result of the Battle of Chancellorsville, has been tersely stated by one of our most able historians in substantially these words : " Hooker fought the Battle of Chancellorsville and went backward; Grant fought the Battle of the Wilderness, and went -forward."
LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED OF THE 124TH, AT THE BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS.
COLONEL F. M. CUMMINS-Wounded.
COMPANY A.
Jacob Wilson. Killed
Joseph F. Simpson Wounded
Leonard L. Jackson.
James McGrath.
John McGrath .. 66
Frank B. Gallow +
COMPANY B.
CORP. Simon Bellis. Wounded
John Morgan
Thomas Morgan
E. M. Carpenter
Joseph Bross.
James Lewis
Jolın Payne.
Jesse Hunte
COMPANY C.
CORP. Andrew M. Boyd. Killed
. CORP. James P. Moulton. Wounded
John H. Blair.
COMPANY D.
SERGT. Ebenezer Holbert. Wounded
Jesseniah Dolson. ..
John Edwards . .
M. Mc. Morris.
George W. Decker.
Garrett Decker .. 66
John Raymond.
S. W. Garrison.
James H. Clark
Daniel P. Payne.
William H. Dill.
Benjamin Grey.
COMPANY E.
Joseph H. Johnson.
. Wounded
Solomon Carr
6.
COMPANY F.
Eli Coddington. Wounded Andrew J. McCarty
t Slightly wounded-remained on duty.
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
COMPANY G.
COMPANY I.
.
SERGT. S. T. Estabrook Wounded
FIRST SERGT. W. W. Smith Wounded
Harvey Brock
SERGT. A. T. Vanderlyn.
John J. Taylor
CORP. Joseph Hanna
John Trainer
Conr. Whitmore Terwilliger.
W. H. Trainer.
William Milligan
Hector Finney
Rensselaer D. Baird
Henry Dill.
66
John Gordon
Mathew Manney
COMPANY H.
CORP. Benjamin Dutcher. Killed
COMPANY K.
SERGT. Thomas W. Bradley Wounded.
SERGT. W. W. Parsons Wounded
SERGT. Clark B. Gallation t. . .
Cornelius Crans.
Lyman Fairchild
66
Josiah Dawson.
BRIGADE COLOR-BEARER
Daniel Carman.
Gov. M. Legg.
Norman A. Sly, of Dt
Wounded
William H. Brown + . .. 66
Total Casualties . . 60
t Slightly wounded-remained on duty.
£
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ON THROUGH THE WILDERNESS.
CHAPTER XVI.
ON THROUGH THE WILDERNESS .- AT SPOTTSYLVANIA C. H.
D URING the forenoon of the 7th, General Grant became thoroughly satisfied that General Lee was preparing to receive battle, rather than planning an offensive movement ; and he resolved to make forthwith another attempt to extricate his army from the dense Wilderness into which his wily antagonist had entangled it. Our immense trains were accordingly sent to Chancellorsville, and there parked for the night ; and as soon as darkness closed about us a general movement of troops was be- gun ; but just where our objective point was located, no one save the enemy and those high in authority seemed to know.
During the evening the Fifth Corps passed by where our regi- ment was lying-moving along the Brock Road toward the left- and about midnight our division was withdrawn from the works, and conducted along the same road toward the right; but we had not proceeded more than two miles, when a countermarch was ordered, and we were hurried back to, and directed to re-occupy, the same position behind the breastworks that we had been with- drawn from.
Muy Sth .- There was considerable picket firing along our front yesterday and last night; and at early daylight this morn- ing I was awakened to read and sign the following circular order from Brigade Headquarters : " You will cause your command to be awakened immediately, and see that your men prepare and cat their breakfast without delay ; marching orders may reach you at any moment." Twenty minutes later our blankets were rolled, and the air was freighted with the aroma of boiling coffee. We had not enjoyed more than two hours' repose on our soft beds of mother earth, for it was after two o'clock when we returned from
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our midnight tramp ; and it could not have been later than four o'clock when the order to turn 'out reached us. As soon as my men had partaken of their early breakfast-composed exclusively of hard-tack and coffee -- they were permitted to lie down again, with their accoutrements buckled, their weapons beside them, and their rolled blankets under their heads ; and thus the majority of them slept soundly until eight o'clock. Then the expected " fall in " was passed down the line, and springing to our feet we were ready for the "forward," which came a moment later, when we started off, following the direction the Fifth Corps had taken.
" Last night we were fooling the Johnnies, but this time we mean business-mind what I am telling you," one of my old men remarked to a recruit ; and the reply came, " Who, the Yanks or the Rebs ?" To which the first speaker replied, " Both, I reckon." And then a dozen voices made earnest answer : "You're right old boy." After these remarks the men of my leading companies remained comparatively quiet for half an hour or more. A very noticeable fact, for when moving along at route step, as we were then marching, banters and jokes usually fly thick and fast. At length sonie one, who was marching just behind me, re-opened the conversation with, " I say Joe, this little chap from out West -I don't believe he knows when he's whipped. If it hadn't been for his coming along with us we would have been back to our old camp again by this time. To be sure, we got thrashed from way back at Fredericksburg, under Burnside; but Fighting Joe took us back from Chancellorsville before we were half-whipped, and Meade, you know, marched us back from Mine Run without fight- ing us at all to speak of. It's my opinion we got whipped like the mischief the other day, what do you think about it ?" " Got whipped !" replied the soldier questioned, " How do you make that out? Do the Johnnies usually ery quit, and retreat when they have whipped us? Not much they don't. You might as well say we got licked at Gettysburg. I'll just bet you a plug of tobacco and a briarwood pipe, that this army never re-crosses the Rapidan until we go home to stay !"
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