USA > New York > History of the One hundred and twenty-fourth regiment, N. Y. S. V. > Part 4
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Sunday morning we were visited by numbers of Orange County New Yorkers, and in the afternoon took cars for Philadelphia.
Our guns-Austrian rifles, with sword-bayonets-were very heavy, and before leaving the barracks, many a knapsack was lightened of parts of its contents ; and the bunks were left strewn with clothing, books, and traps of all kind-for our short tramp through the city had convinced many of the utter impossibility of making a rapid march of any length, under the monstrous loads with which they had started out.
The exchange of one's soft bed for bare, hard boards, is not such an event as is usually looked forward to with much pleasure. But that step once taken, the next is comparatively easy.
At three o'clock Monday morning we were resting on the streets of Philadelphia, with side-walks for beds and knapsacks for pillows.
We had, however, lain there but a short time when we received from the ladies of the Quaker City an invitation to breakfast. Moving a short distance to a building devoted to the purpose, we found, notwithstanding the early hour, a number of ladies whose carriages awaited them at the door, there to receive us ; superintend the pouring of our coffee, and see that we were bountifully served with the luxuries, as well as substantial and well-cooked food with which the scrupulously clean tables were heavily laden.
At noon we were in Baltimore, and our march across that city was made under a scorching sun, the heat of which was so intense that a number of our men fell from sunstroke, and had to be left behind.
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
At two o'clock Tuesday morning we were sleeping soundly on the ground and on the stone blocks in front of the Capitol.
There were rough board barracks at Washington, into which the regiment might have been taken, but for reasons which need not be here stated, Colonel Ellis, who purposed spending the remainder of the night with his command, chose to bivouac in the open air, and led us from the depot up to the clean ground, in among the granite blocks which now form a portion of the north wing of the Capitol, but were then lying in an unfinished state, scattered over the plain in front of it. The writer, after some hesitation, had chosen the earth rather than the stone for a bed, and was in the act of spreading his blankets near an immense piece of granite, when Colonel Ellis came along, and sprang to the top of it, saying as he did so : " Weygant, this is the identi- cal feather-bed I slept on when I first visited Washington with the 71st; toss up your blankets and let me heave to alongside of you." Ten minutes later he was fast asleep; and in ten more it mattered but little to me whether the bed on which I lay was stone or down. When I awoke my face was well-nigh blistered from the hot rays of the morning sun.
Here the regiment was tendered its first breakfast direct from the hands of Uncle Sam; but with the recollections of that superb meal at Philadelphia so fresh in their memory, the filth and stench of that government soup-house was too much for the sons of Orange, and hardly a score of them entered.
That afternoon we marched to Camp Chase on Arlington Heights; and on what had so recently been General Lee's estate, we for the first time encamped under canvas.
We remained in Camp Chase two or three days, just long enough to get our grounds nicely cleared and cleaned, and our tents looking ship-shape, when suddenly our buglers appeared before the Colonel's tent, and sounded a call which very few of the men understood or had ever heard before. When it ceased, all hands were out of their tents, and you could hear from all over the camp the inquiries, What's that? What does that mean ?
The few old soldiers among them, without answering a word,
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TRIP TO WASHINGTON.
began pulling down their tents, which they in most instances, occupied jointly with others who were green at the business of soldiering.
This unceremonious pulling down of tents was the occasion of several quite lively fisticuffs, and might have resulted in some- thing more serious ; but fortunately there was in our camp at the time a small, dirty-looking drummer-boy from some New York city regiment, who, comprehending the situation, jumped up on a stump that stood near the color line, and gave, in the following short speech, the desired information.
"I say, brave seger boys, that old cuss you just heard yell, why, his right name is, Strike Tents, and my skillet for it, you will get right well acquainted with him afore long, but old sogers like me, as knows him well, calls him git up and git ; so shoulder your shanties, grab blunderbusses and all. But afore you go, brave sogers, let me give you one word of advice, Just leave your feather beds and carpets right where they are, and when you come back if I'm here, call and pay your respects ; " and kissing his hand, our young informant with " I say, fellers, has any of you a hunk of pig-tail to spare ?" jumped down. y
Half an hour later " To the colors " was sounded, and we moved off about four miles to a very pleasant spot, which we christened Camp Ellis. Here we were attached to Piatt's brigade of Whip- ple's division, Heintzleman's corps, and the work of familiarizing ourselves with the various duties of camp life, and of preparation for the sterner work which awaited us, was begun in earnest; and all were soon willing to acknowledge that soldier life in its mild- est form was far from being mere child's play. At five o'clock in the morning reveille was sounded, followed by roll-call and an early breakfast ; at six, surgeon's call and officers' drill ; at seven, guard mounting; at eight, squad drill, which lasted until half-past ten. In the afternoon police duty was begun at one o'clock, and lasted until three, when company drill began, and was followed by battalion drill, which ended in a dress parade at six P.M. Tattoo was sounded at a quarter of nine, and Taps at nine, when lights
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
were extinguished, noise ceased, and all in camp, except the guards and the officer who commanded them, were permitted to sleep.
Our division commander, General Whipple, a graduate of West Point, was a small, slight, feminino-looking man ; but, as we soon learned, a kind-hearted thorough gentleman, ever mind- ful of the comfort, health, and lives of those under him, and withal an able, true, and brave soldier.
Our Brigadier-General, Piatt, was a tall, gloomy-looking West- ern man, and a most strict disciplinarian. There were with us in his brigade the 122d Pennsylvanian, a nine-months' regiment, the glorious old S6th New York, our twin regiment throughout the war, and the Ist Ohio battery. The Pennsylvanians, though they had seen a little service, presented nearly as long a front, and when on dress parade had almost as new and fresh an appearance as did the 124th. The line of the S6th New York was not half so long, having suffered severely under Mcclellan in the Peninsular campaign; but when its little companies of tanned veterans, in their faded, dingy-looking blue, formed on their tattered, weather-stained colors-dressed to a perfect line, with the slightest perceptible turn of their heads, and brought their guns to an order with a single thud-we were ready to doff our caps, as in the presence of our superiors. The artillery- men too, were veterans ; and our brigade numbered, all told, about 2,200 men.
Our duties were not long confined to the camp, but soon began to extend a little beyond, and to give us slight foretastes of the field. Several small squads of the enemy's cavalry having a few days before our arrival at Camp Ellis, penetrated to within a short distance of Washington, a strong infantry picket line had been established ; and to our brigade was assigned the duty of covering a section which crossed the Leesburg turnpike some three miles beyond our camp.
About two o'clock P. M., Thursday, September 25, we again broke camp, and moved off' some six miles, to a piece of woods on the west side of Miners' Hill, where we built huge log-fires, and bivouacked around them for the night.
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MINERS' HILL.
Next morning about a hundred of our number were ordered to report for picket duty ; and, accompanied by similar details from the other two regiments of our brigade, were led off by one of General Piatt's aids to a new position on the line.
This picket tour, so far as the men from the 124th were concerned, was simply a day of rest and feasting. They were held as grand reserve, and pitched their tents in the door yard of one of Vir- ginia's " good Union men," who was " most happy " to deal out to them all the eatables he had on hand, even to the very last pint of milk he could strip from his lean cows, for a simple equiva- lent in greenbacks. So anxious was this good Union man to serve his guests, he sat up all that night watching his cows, to prevent " the tarnal critters sucking themselves," in order that he might have a good supply of milk on hand " for the young gentlemen's breakfasts."
During the afternoon of the 26th, the regiment moved to the opposite, or eastern, slope of Miners' Hill, where they again pitched tents in regular order, and resumed their usual duties ; calling their new grounds Camp Cromwell, after their gallant Major, who by his kind, yet dignified and soldierly bearing and unfeigned soi citude for the comfort and welfare of the men under him, was gradually gaining a warm place in the hearts of the whole command.
In these moves sixteen four-mule teams, with their huge wagons were obliged to make second trips in order to transfer all the tents, traps, and baggage of the officers. We were green troops then, and were near a city from which all our wants both real and imaginary, were readily supplied ; not many months later, officers of the line were each allowed transportation for a small valise and nothing more; while field and staff were obliged to crowd their baggage, tents and all, into a single wagon. .
It was at this camp I received my first detail as brigade field- officer of the day. The roster for this especial duty was usually made up from the field officers in the brigade who were not com- manding regiments, but there being so few of that class present the names of two captains had been added. At the time I
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
regarded my being selected as one of the two, a compliment of which I had just reason to feel proud.
This detail came to me about ten o'clock Saturday evening, October 4. I was to report personally to General Piatt, at his head- quarters at nine o'clock the next morning, for instructions ; and well do I remember with what pains I arrayed myself in my best suit, and how annoyed I was because of their being several wrinkles in the skirt of my coat that I could not stretch or rub out; and how my contraband almost wore the skin off his fingers polishing my sword-hilt, belt, buckles, and a huge pair of brass spurs I had borrowed for the occasion-for was I not to be mounted, and to have a staff officer and orderlies riding along the lines after me ?
My horse and attendants were to be furnished at brigade head-quarters ; and at the time appointed-to the very minute-I, with my new red sash spread out to its greatest width and arranged in regulation style over my shoulder and across my breast, made my appearance in front of head-quarters, where, after returning in a rather awkward manner the salute of the guard which had turned out on my approach, and of the polite orderly in front of the General's tent, I gently rapped, or rather scratched, the canvas, and was greeted with a " Walk in, sir," which almost made my teeth chatter. After the General had questioned me at considerable length as to the duties of the field officer of the day (I had been up half the night posting myself), and had instructed me in a most solemn manner in divers special rules which he had personally laid down for the government of his picket-line, and which he expected me to see rigidly enforced, I was turned over to his Assistant Adjutant-General, Captain Ben Piatt.
A few moments later, an orderly reported that a horse for the officer of the day was ready, and, saluting the General, I passed out, and was introduced by Captain Piatt to Lieutenant Riveroak Piatt, one of the General's aids, who, accompanied by two well- mounted orderlies, sat on his magnificent charger, and with a very polite bow, announced himself in readiness to accompany me. Then I looked for the noble steed I was to ride, for I was a good horseman, and longed to show it; but my eyes rested on a yel-
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MINERS' HILL.
low, raw-boned, lop-eared, rat-tailed nag, as homely a beast as I had ever seen. Turning my eyes, I noticed that all hands, except the General, were out of their tents looking at me, and without a word of comment I sprang to the saddle and plunged my spurs in the animal's ribs, expecting, of course, he would go off with a bound ; but he hardly raised his head, and started off on a dog- trot, as much as to say, " Well, old fellow, if you think you can accomplish anything with those spurs, poke away."
At two p. M. the rounds had been made, and I was back at brigade head-quarters, where, the moment I dismounted, an orderly seized my animal's bridle and hurried him out of sight, evi- dently to prevent the General's learning of the joke. I afterward discovered it had been perpetrated by Lieutenant Worthington, a nephew and aid of the General's. How I got square with him will appear in due time.
We had not been in Camp Cromwell many days when we were made to realize that, even in the sunny South, and that long before the arrival of winter, "some days are dark and cheerless."
In my diary of that year, under date of October 12, I find written : " It is a cold, dreary night, a drizzling rain is falling, and a damp, cold wind whistles around my miserable old wall-tent, entering at every opening-and openings are numerous enough. My colored man, Jim Sailor, lies curled up under a pile of blankets in one corner, fast asleep Evidently there is for him but little melody in the whistling wind, and what does he care now for the rain and cold. Sleep on, old fellow ; whilst I draw my great coat and blanket closer about me, and try to write.
" I hear some one, with a coarse, rough voice, off in the other end of the regiment, trying to sing ' Home, Sweet Ilome.' He can hardly carry the tune, and evidently is singing for the pur- pose of convincing his tent-mates he is light-hearted. But there is a tremor in his harsh bawling which tells a tale his lips would not voluntarily utter. Now, other and more melodious voices have taken up the tune, and it swells out loud and clear. But they must cease. There goes 'tattoo,' and I hear my little orderly running up and down his street, shouting ' Turn out ! turn
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
out !' Now he is calling the roll. There is no answer to some of their names; their owners-poor fellows-are out on picket, where they must remain all night in this chilling rain, without even a miserable tent to protect them."
But the following morning, October 13, broke clear and bright, and the weather, on the whole, during our stay about Washington, was very pleasant, and our soldiering there, when com- pared with our after experience, was indeed one grand holiday.
Colonel Ellis was a rather cold, harsh, ambitious man, and sometimes chilled us with his terrible bursts of profanity ; but he was every inch a soldier. Broad-shouldered, long-limbed, dark- skinned, stood six feet plump, as trim as an arrow, and so straight that he seemed to bend backward ; fine-featured, with thin, proud lips, a piercing eye, quick, easy movements-every word and act bespeaking consciousness of superiority and innate power. And in that indescribable soldierly quality, which-for want of a bet- ter term-we will call dash, he was unsurpassed by any officer in our corps. We loved our Major, but we were proud of our Colonel.
On Thursday afternoon, October 16, the regiment was out on drill. We had moved to a level field a mile or more from camp. Ellis was drilling us in the evolutions of the battalion, near a road, when there suddenly emerged from a piece of woods not far off, a cavalcade, which we rightly judged to be some of our general officers, with their staffs, on a tour of inspection. Upon seeing them, the colonel issued orders that were intended to bring us properly into line along one side of the road ; but instead, when we came into position, the left of each company was just where its right should have been.
Ellis' dark face flushed. He evidently did not wish or intend to be caught in that plight ; and riding hurriedly to the front of . the leading company, he demanded of its commander, in a smothered shout and with an oath, " What brought his company in that plight ?" receiving in answer to his inquiry, " Obedience to orders, sir."
Exasperated by this terse yet truthful reply, he immediately
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MINERS' HILL. .
issued, in the same suppressed voice, an order, prefaced with an epithet applied directly to this captain, which was not only unbe- coming an officer or soldier, but one which no one, with a spark of manhood in him, takes coolly from friend or foe, underling or superior. And this officer, instead of obeying it, commanded his company to bring their guns to order; and, prepared to take the consequences, returned his sword to its scabbard.
You may, from a man's appearance. estimate very correctly the main points in his character; but an emergency frequently uncovers unsuspected weakness, or brings out unguessed strength. And just then the soldierly qualities in Colonel Ellis shot forth with dazzling brightness. In the lightning of that foul epithet the black cloud of passion spent its force. Before it had fairly escaped his lips, his quick mind saw his mistake, and the great- ness that was in him sprang to the front.
Turning his head and raising his eyes, as if it were the first time he had seen these horsemen, he put spurs to his own fiery gray, dashed down the line to the centre, cried " Break ranks ! " grasped the color-bearer by the shoulder, wheeled him about in the road, waved his sword to indicate the line, and shouted, " Rally on your colors !" and in another instant the passage was blocked by a firm line of levelled bayonets.
So sudden and unexpected was the movement, that these gen- . erals involuntarily jerked their horses back on their haunches, while their faces darkened with anger. But the next instant, before they could have reached us had they kept on at the gait they were coming, the road was again open, the regiment having made, on the double-quick, a left backward wheel. Then the cayaleade moved on; and before they had ridden the length of a company we received them at a present, at which these general officers, uncovering their heads and bowing-now with their faces expressive of approbation-rode past. A difficulty, which. under almost any other leader, would have resulted in no little trouble to both the Colonel and his subordinate, and possible disgrace to the whole regiment, was turned to the lasting advantage of all concerned. We could in no other way have made so favorable an
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
impression on our generals and their staff officers, a number of whom, that day, saw the regiment for the first time.
The American Guard were prouder than ever of the able sol- dier at their head, and even the officer who had been so wantonly abused forgot his insult in his admiration of the abilities of his chief ; and it is worthy of note, that, from that day, Ellis indulged less frequently in profane or disrespectful language when address- ing those under him.
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FROM MINERS' HILL TO FALMOUTH.
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CHAPTER III.
FROM MINERS' HILL TO FALMOUTH.
D URING our stay at Miners' Hill the regiment was drilled with greater regularity, and more hours per day, than at any other period of its existence.
On Thursday afternoon, October 16, Colonel Ellis manœuvred the battalion for over two hours at a double-quick; and when, at length, the welcome announcement, "That will do for to-day," was heard, there came with it the clatter of a horse's feet, and we saw, riding rapidly over the plain toward us, one of General Piatt's aids, who had been sent to look up our regiment, notify us that the brigade was to move that evening, and inform Colonel Ellis that the General desired him to return to camp forthwith and make the necessary preparations.
Then there came from the Colonel, in quick succession, the orders, " Fall in ! Forward ! Route step! Quick time ! March !" and away we went, wondering what was up.
For a number of days we had been under what was termed light marching order; which meant, if it meant anything, that we might be sent off, at short notice, on some sort of an expedi- tion, from which we were to return to the camp we then occupied, and at which everything was to be left, that could possibly be spared, which would in any way impede our progress. For, said the old soldiers, to march light means to move rapidly, and every ounce you carry soon seems a pound.
On reaching camp we learned that our sick, some thirty in number, had been ordered to Washington, and were informed that instead of going in light we were to move in heavy marching order. Now, that meant another thing altogether. We were now
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HISTORY OF THE 124TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.
to take everything, or rather, all the men could carry on their backs, and as much of the officers' baggage as could be packed in six or eight wagons; for all but that number were to be used for the transportation of ammunition and supplies, and there was to be no return for traps that were left.
At Park Barracks, New York City, we had taken our first lesson in that habit of almost criminal wastefulness universally practised in the Union armies. which not only cost the soldiers, individually, an amount of money that, in the aggregate, reached a fabulous sum, but unnecessarily added many millions to our national debt.
After partaking of a hastily prepared supper, we went to work with a will, and at sunset the men were sitting and lying around, with knapsacks packed, and haversacks and canteens filled, wait- ing for old "Strike tents," who made himself heard and was recognized without question about ten o'clock. Twenty minutes later our pretty little white canvas city at Miners' Hill was among the things that had been. The smaller dwellings were strapped fast to the knapsacks, ready to be slung on the backs of the men they had so recently sheltered. The larger habitations of the officers lay in rolls and shapeless heaps near where they, a few moments before, had stood, while the ground in all directions was strewn with mess-chests. camp-chairs, stoves, and various other articles of comfort and convenience, for the transportation of which forty wagons would hardly have been sufficient.
The company officers had thus far been furnished large wall- tents, but they had all been in use a long time, and were regarded as poor affairs ; and the prospect of their being left behind for want of transportation, and of our getting better ones in their stead where we were going, was commented on very favorably by all. With what a different feeling they would have been parted with had we known that during all our future wanderings up and down through Virginia and Maryland, but few of us would ever again be sheltered by anything half as good.
Everything that was to be carried on the person was soon in readiness, and we were walking and lying around among the ruins
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FROM MINERS' HILL TO FALMOUTH.
of Camp Cromwell, momentarily expecting the order to " Fall in." One, two, three hours passed ; it did not come, but in its stead came rain. Some fastened their pieces of shelter-tents together, threw them over tent-poles which had been left standing, and crawled under; others simply wrapped their rubber blankets about their shoulders; and yet others built large fires, and hud- dled around them ; while a few, without even unstrapping blan- kets, threw themselves down alongside their traps. And thus we passed a long, dreary night, listening for the bugle-call and wist- fully waiting for daylight.
Early Friday morning we learned that Whipple's division had orders to join the main army, which was then lying on the Maryland side of the Potomac, in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry.
Two days before our arrival at Miners' Hill, General McClel- lan had left Washington, preceded by the bulk of his army. with instructions to drive the enemy from Maryland. Not many days later we were shocked by reports of the traitorous conduct of Colonel Miles, in what was said to be an unnecessary surrender to the enemy of nearly twelve thousand Federal soldiers and a vast . amount of Government stores at Harper's Ferry. Then came con- flicting reports and rumors of the engagement at South Mountain, and the terrible battle at Antietam, at which-let history award the victory to this side or that-it was even then acknowledged that the Union loss in killed and wounded exceeded twelve thou- sand men. And now, it was said, McClellan had been peremptorily ordered to again move forward, give battle to the enemy, and drive him further south ; and that our division was but a portion of the force that was being hurried forward to fill the gaps made at Harper's Ferry and Antietam.
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