USA > New York > History of the One hundred and twenty-fourth regiment, N. Y. S. V. > Part 29
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After moving out of range we followed the course of the shells fired by this battery, which went crashing through the trees to our right at a tremendous rate. About a quarter of a mile from the spot which had proven such an unsatisfactory resting place, we emerged into the open fields on which Hancock had formed his command for the attack. There I was joined by Pri- vate John H. Conklin of Co. A; and soon came upon Private Price, of Co. K, who had caught and was leading my horse.
On a sightly spot near the centre of this clearing, which I judged was from four to five hundred acres in extent, stood the Brown house, which early in the morning had been occupied as corps headquarters. There I found a detachment of the provost- guard, to whom ] " turned in " the prisoners. There, too, was our corps medical director, who, after assisting me to a chair in the centre of a large room, the floor of which was almost covered with wounded officers, soon removed my heavy riding boot by two or three dexterous cuts with a wonderfully sharp knife ; and then slitting the leg of my pants, thrust a finger in either end of the wound, discovered and removed the loose splinters of bone, and
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directing an assistant to apply a bandage, turned away with the remark, " good for a sixty-day furlough," and gave his attention to a wounded staff officer who had just been brought in.
As soon as the bandage was applied I hobbled out of doors, and sat down on the piazza, which ran across the front of the house. This, too, was almost covered with wounded men. On my right lay a major of the line, delirious, and in the agonies of death. His body quivered, and his limbs twitched in a frightful manner, while in an excited but gradually failing voice he con- tinually shouted orders and words of encouragement to his men, or hurled threats of defiance at the foe; as if his command had just scaled the works, and he was yet in the midst of that first bloody encounter where I doubt not he received his mortal hurt.
Above the woods in which the combatants were concealed, the smoke of battle hung like a pall ; and even there where I sat, which was full a mile away from the contending lines, the air had a sulphurous taste. The roar of battle was incessant, and from left and front and right, wounded men poured in and formed an unbroken column which passed along a beaten track, in front of this house to a road that ran toward the general hospitals.
As I sat listlessly gazing on this weird scene, a corporal stepped up to me, and saluting, said, "I am one of the color guard of the 141st. Will you please let me have our flag ? Un- hesitatingly I drew it forth and handed it to him, and he went his way rejoicing. I afterward learned that his regiment was pub- licly reprimanded for losing it. If the little band who followed this flag to the farthest point of our advance were included in the order, a gross injustice was certainly done them.
Private Price, who was unable to handle a musket because of a wound received in a former battle, remained with me ; and after . I had rested a short time on the piazza, he helped me to mount, and we fell in with the motley column of wounded, and started for the field hospitals, which were yet a mile and a half distant.
As we passed from the clearing, through a gateway, to the main road which led into the woods again, I heard. in a familiar voice, a hearty " Well, Weygant, I was expecting you," and look-
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ing up encountered the smiling face of Chaplain Joe Twichell, of the Excelsior Brigade. Chaplain T. was one of that not very numerous class of glorious good fellows who are always found watching for an opportunity to " do a good turn," spiritual or otherwise, to those in need. He was looking anxiously for the wounded men of his regiment, but had a word of praise and en- couragement for all. His horse stood beside him, and his saddle- bags looked very much as if they contained something in bottles. If so it was for the exclusive use of such of the poor wounded boys of his regiment as he judged would be benefited by it. I had met him similarly engaged at Chancellorsville and Gettys- burg, and his kind greeting was most welcome. That afternoon he and Chaplain Acker of the S6th, called on me at the hos- pital, and offered to do anything in their power for the comfort of myself and comrades. And just here let me record the fact that during the bloody campaign of the Wilderness, the sick and wounded men of the 124th at the front had no more true or will- ing friend than this same Chaplain Acker. He appeared to know no difference between a member of the 86th and 124th-or if he did have a slight preference, it was in favor of the men from Orange County.
On arriving at the hospital I found that a vanguard of wounded Orange Blossoms had preceded me, and following close after came a score or more of others. Lieutenant Houston, of Co. D., came staggering in with bloated face, the blood running from his mouth and trickling from a hole in either cheek. He was one of the most brave, and had always been regarded as the most unassuming and quiet officer in the regiment. But now he could not talk if he would, for a bullet had passed through his face and his jaw was terribly shattered.
Then came Captain Benedict of the same company, borne on a stretcher-his swarthy complexion, which never faded in battle, now almost fair from loss of blood. He had been shot through the hips-the bullet entering one side and coming out at the other. There he lay as helpless as an infant; and it was the general opinion of those who saw him that he could not survive his inju-
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ries. One of his brother officers, however, naively remarked " Oh no, old Whortleberry is too contrary to let a bullet kill him, he will come around, you will see ; " and he was right. James Benedict's place as captain of his company " D," of which he was justly proud, was not to be declared vacant while the war lasted, and its first and only captain was yet to render his country much valuable service in the field.
About noon my pack-horse, laden with regimental headquar- ters traps, was brought up, and as the hospital tents were already crowded to overflowing, I had our field tent pitched, and started a small ward of my own.
The first person who came up after I had moved into it was Captain Wood, of Co. A. I had just stretched myself on my bed of boughs, and was trying to get my wounded limb in a com- fortable position when I heard a slight scratch on the canvas at the opening of the tent, and looking up saw the captain's face, be- grimed with powder yet wearing its usual smile. There was, however, something about its expression which told me he was suffering intensely, and as he sidled in I saw that he was nursing one of his arms as tenderly as if it were some relative's baby- for he was as yet a bachelor. A bullet had struck him in the forearm, just below the elbow, and had become wedged in between the bones in such a way that the surgeons, he said, had almost murdered him in fruitless efforts to remove it. When I asked him to lie down beside me he sank on the pine boughs as if there was no more strength left in him. My old company, the captain informed me, was badly cut up. Both the Gallow brothers had : been wounded ; Frank severely in the leg, while Charley had been shot through both arms, and was sitting on the ground by the surgeon's table, waiting his turn to have one of them ampu- tated. Private Brownley had been killed early in the action and Corporal Arcularius too, he thought, for he had not been seen after they fell back to the earthworks.
About two P. M. I learned that Lieutenant Cormick. the com- manding officer of F, which was now our color company, was walking about through the hospital inquiring after our wounded,
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and I sent for him to come to my tent. In a few moments he . appeared, and in answer to my inquiries as to whether the regiment had been relieved from the battle line, replied, " Oh no! I left the boys fighting, and come very near being shot getting to the rear. The fact is I ought to have gone back, and did start to do so, but the Major had ordered me away and I- I-had to obey him." Just then I noticed blood trickling from the brave fellow's sleeve, and on further inquiry learned that he had been wounded in the arm by a bullet. At this juncture one of our men, who had just arrived slightly wounded, came up, and seeing Lieutenant Cormick standing there-for the ends of my tent had been thrown open-expressed surprise, and said he would have sworn that he had gone to kingdom come. It appears that when the Lieutenant was wounded in the arm, he sat down on the ground, took off his coat, tore out one of the sleeves of his shirt and bandaged it; then, picking up a rifle, procured some ammunition from the box of a dead man, and taking position behind and almost directly under the colors, declared he would play the sharpshooter once more until he had made the score even with the Rebs. After firing several very deliberately aimed shots, he expressed himself as satisfied and returned to his post in rear of his little company. The next moment a shell exploded so near as to knock him completely off his feet. For several minutes he was unconscious, and it was supposed he was dead. (It was at this juncture that the man referred to lost a finger and started from the field.) But in a few moments the Lieutenant regained con- sciousness, and the Major gave orders that he be carried to the rear, and directed him in most emphatic terms to remain there. One of his sides was badly bruised from his hip to his shoulder, and two of his ribs were broken. But after being carried two or three hundred feet he got off the stretcher, sent his bearers to the front again, and made his way to the hospital unaided. At my request, or rather in compliance with my order, he lay down beside Captain Wood.
Presently a wounded man of Company E. came in and re- lated with great gusto the particulars of the capture of the battle
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flag of the 17th Louisiana by young Archibald Freeman, of his company. " The Rebs," said he, "had charged almost up to the works twice before, but this time they came clear up and planted their stars and bars on the other side of the works right opposite the Union flags. The Louisianians were facing our regiment and had thrust their standard in the earth directly opposite and not more than three feet from ours. But it did not float there more than a minute when Arch. Freeman, of my company, sprang on the works and as quick as a flash jerked up the traitor rag and was back in his place without getting a scratch-and, well now, you just ought to have heard our boys yell. The Rebs tried to get even by coming the same dodge on us and capturing our flag ; but they ought to have known better than to attempt such a job, for we tumbled them back, completely riddled with bullets every time they came near it."
During the afternoon Lieutenant Mapes, of Co. B., appeared, slightly wounded in the head, and I then had with me at the hospital five of my ten company commanders. Just how many of the rank and file had arrived I was unable to learn; but it was very evident that the regiment at the front was growing decidedly weak in numbers.
During the forenoon it was exceedingly warm, but about one o'clock a light rain storm set in, cooling the air and refreshing the wounded-especially the poor fellows who yet lay scattered over the field. As evening approached the storm increased some- what, and a strong but fitful breeze sprang up coming from the direction of the battle-field. It fanned the fever heated brows, but at the same time produced a most undesirable effect, by its wild freaks with the battle thunder, on the thousands of wounded gathered at the hospital. Large numbers of these suf- ferers, exhausted by several consecutive days and nights of forced wakefulness, had, in spite of their wounds, fallen asleep. At first the dull, heavy monotonous roar sank lower and yet lower, until it seemed there was at last a lull in the storm of death which since early morning had raged with unabated fury. So real appeared this lull in the dread storm of battle, that a dying man whis-
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
pered, " Thank God, the fighting for to-day at least, is ended." . But the next moment it began to gather force again and swelled out louder and yet louder, coming rapidly nearer, until it seemed as if Milton's legions of darkness had espoused the cause of the Confederates and, armed with improved engines of war from the arsenals of the infernal regions, were hurling the entire Union army right back on the tents we were occupying ; and hun- dreds of the wounded, startled from their sleep, sprang to their feet, and grasping whatever they could find, rushed out from under the canvas, ready to fight or flee. Those of us who had remained awake knew very well that it was but the action of the wind, and yet I found myself reaching for my sword, and with difficulty refrained from playing the fool by shouting for my horse. Then as the fierce blast, having spent its greatest force, sank apace, the roarings of mingled cannon peals, and rifle crash, and wild shouts of fierce combatants, seemed to recede again.
Comparative quiet was soon restored, but for several hours these mad phantom armies of the wind, borrowing the actual thun- der of battle, went rushing back and forth, driving many a poor fellow nearly distracted. At length-about midnight-the fight- ing ceased and the wind, deprived of its ally. went whistling through the woods like a frightened boy, and we presently heard only the occasional crack of a rifle on the distant picket line, the shouts of the delirious, and the groans of the dying.
The wonderful eighteen hours' struggle had ended by the Confederates abandoning the impossible task of retaking the works Hancock's men had captured, and retiring from amid the literally piled up corpses of their slain to their inner lines.
But how fared it now with our Orange Blossoms yet at the front, very few of whom had, for seventy odd hours, eaten any- thing save a ration of hard bread, or slept to exceed a couple of hours ? When, at midnight, the battle- ended, Lieutenant Theodore M. Roberson, with twenty men of the 124th, was ordered out on picket, and the entire number remained on their posts, close up to and watching the enemy's line until daylight. Those who were left in the works partook of a midnight meal, to
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appease the gnawings of hunger, after which two-thirds of them at a time were allowed to lie down beside their loaded weapons and rest.
During the night of the 12th, preparations were made for sending as many as possible of the wounded to the city of Fredericksburg; and at early daylight, on the morning of the 13th, a vast train of ambulances and army wagons came clatter- ing up and went winding in and out among the white tents of our bullet-smitten city. These, as fast as they could be packed with the seriously wounded, moved off followed by a vast throng of the less severely injured who were able to walk.
At eight o'clock I had my horse saddled and brought to my tent, and gathering such articles as it was supposed we would need on our journey, I was assisted to mount-for so great was my dread of a long ride in an ambulance filled with wounded, I had resolved to attempt the journey on horseback. But the mno- ment I lowered my wounded limb, so as to allow the foot to hang down, a peculiar sensation was produced. The foot seemed to be wonderfully heavy, or rather felt as if it was being pulled from the leg. But this difficulty was soon remedied by Private Price, who speedily manufactured a piece of shelter tent into a sling, which, being placed over my shoulder, and about my foot and ankle, formed a rest. Of this sling I could take a firm hold, and relieve my limb from the worst effects of the jar occasioned by the tramp of my horse.
When all was at length satisfactorily arranged, I bid adieu to such of my comrades as had not yet been packed in the train, and fell in with the departing column. Then hour after hour, we trudged on beneath the gradually increasing heat of the sun, along a hard rough road, which, notwithstanding the recent rain, soon sent up clouds of dust. As far as the eye could reach, looking forward or backward, this dusty highway was crowded with heavily laden canvas-covered wagons, and with pale, blood- stained, staggering men. Several times we passed by a small burial party digging a grave for the dead body of some one who had just breathed his last, in one of the ambulances, or more
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396 HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
likely in one of the springless wagons, which every few moments went clattering and bouncing along over bumps and in and out of gullies, jostling together the poor helpless beings, with which they were filled, and whose cries of agony as they passed were fre- quently appalling.
At every spring, well, and stream of water we came to, vast crowds were gathered bathing their wounds, and filling their can- teens. These crowds were frequently so great that it was with no little difficulty, and only after considerable delay, that my attendant was able to procure for me fresh supplies of the fever- appeasing balm.
At length when so completely exhausted that I felt I must speedily dismount in order to save a fall from my horse, the spires of Fredericksburg suddenly loomed up near at hand, and an hour later I was lying, forgetful of all actual scenes, on a comfortable cot in one of the spacious dwellings of that city.
Early the next morning, I was surprised by a call from Bugler Ross, who informed me that his special charge, Colonel Cummins, was in the room directly above me. After break- fast I made my way up to the room where the Colonel was lying. He was quite weak, but in the best of spirits, and look- ing much stronger than I had expected to find him. The. doctors however informed me that it would be some days yet, even under the most favorable circumstances, before he would be able to re- sume his journey northward.
In the course of our conversation, I told him of my ride from the front on horseback, and how that after a day's rest, I intended to resume my journey in the same manner. " You will never get over making an ass of yourself," said he, and added " you are . a pretty looking subject to talk about such a thing-but I say, Weygant, have you any money ? I have some and will divide with you." Fortunately I had with me all the money I had need of just then, but had the division he suggested been desirable, I am sure he would have insisted on my taking the larger part.
Colonel Cummins, though not without grave faults as a com- mander, had an unusually kind heart, and so far as money was
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concerned, was a most liberal man. He could not look on a pale face, or a blood-stained garment without losing sight of self, and instinctively feeling for his pocketbook.
On the morning of the 15th we, according to programme, though my limb was much swollen, resumed our journey. We started at seven A. M., and reached Aquia Creek at four P. M., just as a steamboat was leaving the wharf. I have always be- lieved that the captain mistook my silver leaves for stars, for on seeing me approach he instantly caused the engine of his craft to be reversed and backed up and took me on board. We reached Georgetown during the night, and at early daylight the next morning I procured an ambulance, and was taken to Prince St. Hospital, where I remained three days, during which a kind- hearted elderly lady-the matron -- waited on me with all the tenderness of a mother. She had a cot placed in her sitting room, which she unhesitatingly gave up to me with the simple remark, " The other rooms are all full now and besides you will be much more comfortable here." Every morning I would find a bouquet of fresh flowers on a little stand at the head of my cot ; books and papers were placed in reach, and every want was supplied, almost before it was made known. On the morning of the 19th, a fur- lough for which I had been anxiously waiting arrived, and I im- mediately began my preparations for a journey by rail to Old Orange.
We will now take up again the broken thread of our story proper and; uniting it, continue as best we may at so great a dis- tance the record of the principal doings of the regiment-or rather of that small portion of it remaining at the front. The number of enlisted men present for duty on the morning of the 13th did not exceed one hundred and twenty, and during the day two of that number were shot while engaged altering with shovels, the captured works.
On the 14th. Birney's entire division was withdrawn to higher ground some thirty-five rods to the rear, and there set to throw- ing up a new line of works. This movement was observed by the enemy, who sent forward a small observing force to occupy the
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abandoned works, whereupon the 86th and 124th were directed to advance and drive them out. Hastily forming in front of their new line, they dashed forward under Colonel Lansing, of the 86th, and speedily drove out the troublesome foe and recaptured the works. In this affair one man of the 124th was killed and three others wounded.
On the 15th the brigade, now under command of Colonel Eagan, of the 40th N. Y., (General Ward having been, for some cause unknown to those under him, relieved from command.) marched several miles to the right, and then back to the left again, where they went into position on a new line, with their right flank resting on the river Po. In this movement they were several times under fire, and had a brisk skirmish with a small body of Confederates, taking twenty-one prisoners. Several men of the brigade were seriously injured, but the 124th escaped unscathed. On this new position they threw up a line of works behind which they remained without further loss, or being again disturbed until the evening of the 17th, when the enemy made a sudden dash against them, but was easily repulsed and severely punished with but slight loss to the brigade-the 124th having one man wounded.
The losses of the Union army up to this date was, in round numbers, 35,000 men. That of the enemy, who had been gener- ally on the defensive, and behind breastworks, may have been somewhat less. We refer, of course, to the losses in killed, wounded, and captured. There is always in severe campaigns like this, in addition to the losses in battle, a continual drain from sickness, equal to full one per cent a day. But this drain on the Union army was counterbalanced by the arrival of rein- forcements.
Since the opening of the campaign, the 121th had either been actively engaged, or under fire so much of the time, that the men in writing home as late as the 1Sth, spoke of the battle which had been raging since the 4th of May. The following is a com- plete list of the losses in battle of the 124th at Spottsylvania.
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CASUALTIES OF THE 124TH N. Y. AT SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL C. H. WEYGANT, wounded.
COMPANY A.
CAPT. CHARLES B. WOOD Wounded
SERGT. S. T. Rollings.
CORP. Robert C. Hunt.
CORP. Henry Arcularius. Killed
Joseph Brownly
Charles W. Gallow. Wounded
Frank B Gallow
John H. Warford.
William Carpenter.
William Saunders
Richard Rollings.
Jabez Odell.
Robert Ashman.
COMPANY B.
LIEUT. WILLIAM E. MAPES: Wounded
FIRST SERGT. C. A. Wheeler. Killed
George Boon.
Samuel Sherman
Samuel Babcock.
Wounded
Matthew Crawley
Patrick Leach
Andrew J. Messenger
James Birdsall
H. McShane.
Martin Everett
COMPANY C.
CORP. William R. Owen. Killed
John H. Finch Wounded
Chas. P. F. Fisher.
William H. H. Rhodes
COMPANY D.
CAPT. JAMES W. BENEDICT. Wounded
LIEUT. JOHN W. HOUSTON .
SERGT. William E. Hyatt Killed
David D. Barrett.
"
John C. Degraw Wounded William H. Gordon.
- Simeon Garrison Carl G. Hoofman
Joseph Quackenbush
Oscar S. Weymer
W. H. Morgan.
. ..
COMPANY E.
CORP. Adam H. Miller
Killed
CORP. William H. Howell
John J. Scott. ..
Lewis W. Baster
Henry M. Howell Wounded
Simeon Wheat.
Horace H. Wheeler.
Archibald Freeman
COMPANY F.
LIEUT. EDWARD J. CARMICK. . . Wounded
SERGT. Horace Hammond.
John S. Schofield
Erastus Peck.
Sanford L. Gordon
.Killed
COMPANY G.
Lewis T. Shultz Wounded
Nathan W. Parker
Francis McMahon
COMPANY H.
SERGT. Chas. W. Tindall
Captured
SERGT. George Butters.
CORP. William H. Brown
Wounded
COMPANY I.
FIRST SERGT. A. P. Millspaugh. . Wounded
Jeduthan Millspaugh.
..
William Edgar.
. Killed
COMPANY K.
SERGT. Wood T. Ogden.
Wounded
CORP. John C. Vermilyea
Isaac Kanoff.
John Studor.
William H. Falkner
. Killed
BRIG. COLOR-BEARER- Norman A. Sly, of D . . Wounded
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