USA > New York > History of the One hundredth regiment of New York state volunteers > Part 12
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From the relation of the sad duties toward the dead and wounded, we turn to the state of instant and ac- tive operations. Folly island was the base of supplies.
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and hence it was guarded, picketed and well defended. Timber for firewood, batteries, magazines, stockades and other purposes must be supplied. The labor of cutting, hauling and transporting, required a large number of men. The island was an extensive camp- ing ground, for the necessary troops of relief; for fa- tigue and picket in the trenches. And here we can- not forbear to mention Capt. Charles E. Walbridge, the station quartermaster at the head of Folly island. We cannot give in detail the extent of his multiplied and various duties, in the procuring and forwarding of supplies, for his business energy had long since been es- tablislied among general officers. At this time of the army's needs he was indefatigable. He had in charge the construction of a saw mill, for the supply of boards and plank for the works in the siege of Wagner. Steamers, boats, mules, wagons, all were at his com- mand and order, and most faithfully did he perform his duties, from that hour till the close of the war. Now, this city is yet to learn in the course of years what the army was able to feel, that in the army quar- termaster is a faithful, capable and intelligent citizen. We mention individuals when we know that they in their services have honored the regiment and the service.
The engineers broke ground on the night of the 25th of July. Nothing was allowed to interfere with the work. Neither the shot, nor shell of Wagner, Sunter and Grogg : nor the heat of a tropical sun. which was terribly exhausting to the men. The bat-
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teries occupied three positions. In the first and second parallels, and on the western edge of the island, close . to the marsh, were the "left batteries." Most of the work was done under fire. At the first parallel was a battery mounting two two-hundred-pounder Par- rotts, and two eighty-four Whitworth guns, five eight- inch, and five ten-inch siege mortars, two thirty-pounder Parrotts and a Requa battery. The distance of these batteries from Sumter was four thousand vards, over two and one-fourth miles. In the second parallel. were mounted two two-hundred-pounders and five one- hundred-pounder Parrotts in three batteries named Brown, Rosecrans, Meade, at a distance of thirty-four hundred yards, a little less than two miles. The " left batteries," forty-two hundred and thirty-six yards from Sumter, were four in number, named Hays, Reno, Stevens and Strong, and mounted one three-hundred- pounder, two two-hundred-pounders, four one-hundred- pounders, and four twenty-pounder Parrotts, at a dis- tanee of nearly two and a half miles from Sumter. In rear of the first parallel, and near the Beacon House, were five ten-inch siege mortars. At times all these batteries were used against Sumter. The most famous battery was that known as the "Swamp Angel." It was in the marsh, one mile from our left batteries, on the edge of a creek, navigable at high tide. A pole could be run down into the mud sixteen feet before tonching solid soil. To a lieutenant of engineers the active work was assigned, with orders to make a requi- sition on the depot quartermaster for what he
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needed. When shown the spot, he said to Col. Serrell, that it was simply impossible. The Colonel responded, " that there was no such word as fail in Morris island orders." The next day the Lieutenant made a requi- sition for one hundred men. eighteen feet high, to wade through mud sixteen feet deep, also enquiring of the surgeon if he could splice the eighteen feet men if they were furnished him. The requisition cost the facetious Lieutenant his arrest, and the battery was built by men of ordinary stature. It was constructed of sand bags, brought from the beach at night. Gen. Gillmore said that the material and making of the bags cost the government five thousand dollars. It was begun on the fourth of August, and finished on the nine- teenth. A two-hundred-pounder Parrott gun was mounted on it, which cost much toil to get into position. It was sit nated eighty-eight hundred yards in a straight line from Charleston, or five miles. Shells were thrown into the streets of Charleston, at an elevation of thirty- five degrees, and the two-hundred-pounder burst at the thirty-fifth discharge.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
COMMANDS CHANGED SINCE THE CHARGE ON WAGNER. - DETAILS SENT NORTHI FOR CONSCRIPTS AND RECRUITS. -THE LARGE INCREASE OF SICK ON THE ISLAND. - THIE SIEGE PROSECUTED WITH VIGOR. - REINFORCE- MENTS ARRIVE FROM THE NORTHI. - FOLLY ISLAND ONE VAST CAMP. - A BOAT INFANTRY ESTABLISHED. - CAPT. PAYNE, THE SCOUT, TAKEN PRISONER. - CHRIS- TIAN AND SANITARY COMMISSIONS. - SURGEON KIT- TENGER AND HIS COURSE IN THE DISCHARGE OF IIIS DUTIES.
The casualties of the charge on Wagner changed the commands ; Gens. Seymour and Strong being both wounded and unfit for duty, Gen. Terry was placed in command of the troops on Morris island, while Gen. Vogdes, who had command of Folly island, was or- dered over to take command of Strong's brigade. This left Col. Davis of the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania the senior officer in command of Folly island. The force amounted to two thousand men.
The repulsed brigades encamped at the foot of the island, and at onee pitched camps, made the usual pro-
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visions for water, and guard, and camp calls, while orders, reports and returns were promptly completed. The death of Lient. Haddock called to the adjutant's office Capt. Evert, who had served previous to our ar- rival on Folly island. An order was issued to send a complement of officers and men North for conscripts and recruits to Riker's island, near the city of New York. Capts. Granger and Rauert and the necessary mien were sent. Capt. Rauert did not return to the regiment, but resigned, March 16th, 1864. He had made many applications to be sent to his regiment, but was refused ; and being the senior captain, and entitled to the position of major, when the necessary promo- tions were made, and as there was no prospect of that being accomplished for some time, he was lost to the service. He was a faithful, reliable and efficient offi- cer.
Capt. Granger remained at Riker's island till the following June, and rejoined his company and regi- ment at Bermuda Hundreds, on the James river.
The heat on the island became intense. Though the days were so warm, still the nights were cool. Close to the ocean's shore the breeze off the water was life-giving and inspiring. The sick list was alarmingly on the in- crease. The severe duty of fatigue at the front, in the construction of batteries, mixed with the fear of ex- ploding shells, was fearfully exhausting to the men. The remainder of July wore away, the regiment was um-tered for pay; though limited in officers and less- ened in the number of men. yet its share of duty
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and fatigue was performed with a less number on its siek list than any other regiment lying near.
Later, the Tenth Connecticut, camped next to the One Hundredth, had nearly three hundred and sixty on its sick list, while that of the One Hundredth did
not reach seventy. Surg. Kittenger was ordered to attend the sick call of the Tenth Connecticut, and as- certain the true condition of the inen, and reduce if possible the large number of its sick. Most faithfully did he perform his duty, but he assured the writer that the number could not be reduced, and the regi- ment was sent to Fernandina, Florida, to recruit its weakened numbers.
At this time there were nineteen hundred siek on Morris island alone. These staggering, ghostly men swarmed the camps on the island, and was not with- out its sad effects upon the rest just able to do duty.
August opened. The slightly wounded were return- ing from the hospitals of Beaufort and Hilton Head, and the steady labor at the front, together with the regular explosion of shell from rebel batteries, were the expected succession of events as each day suc- ceeded the other on that sandy isle.
The absence of Capt. Granger and resignation of Lieut. Sheffer, left the company in command of the writer. Other companies were similarly situated, and a few at times were without any commissioned officer fit for duty. Truly Morris island was a place to create desponding men.
The 2d of August large reinforcements began to ar-
LEWIS S.PAYNE. Lt.Colonel 100 Reg: N.Y.Vols.
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rive from the army of the Potomac. Folly island was one vast camping ground.
At this time Capt. L. S. Payne lived almost nightly in the creeks, and in the bay about the vicinity of Sumter. Toward the elose of the day, with his picked men, and rockets under his arm, he could be seen leaving eamp for his boat, and his work of hazard- ous expeditions. The day following his last departure reports came to eamp of his death, and a succession of ill-omened tidings, which filled all hearts with dread and suspense that subsequent facts only allayed, when it was accurately known that the " scout" was alive, a prisoner in Charleston, though severely and danger- ously wounded. His work at night had been to indi- cate the presence of the rebel steamers and boats by sending up rockets, and our gunners in response would train their pieces, and in one instance had sent a rebel vessel to the bottom. The rebels were annoyed and aroused, and resolved upon his capture. It was ac- complished, and the generals on the island lost their guide, who had served them long, faithfully and well. Capt. Payne was subsequently commissioned as Lieu- tenant Colonel, Nov. 10th, 1863, though not mustered. Ile suffered long in rebel prisons, and was finally re- leased and restored to the bosom of his family and friends.
The siege went on. Parallel after parallel was opened till they reached five in number, with a trench. or covered way, as it is termed, connecting each to the other, and in which the details, as guards, remained for
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twenty-four hours, awaiting a " sortie " if attempted by the enemy. The engineers and details for fatigue continued their work nightly under the fire of Wagner and Sumter's guns. This daily confinement in a nar- row trench was trying and severe. The sand drifting over the men, the heat of a burning July and Au- gust sun, the inflowing of the tide at times, with shoes and stockings around our necks, and nearly swimming in our narrow ditch, the bursting shells as thrown from "Cohorn" mortars and dropped into the trench, wounding and killing our comrades hourly and daily, to say nothing of the exhaustion by labor and heat, causing fevers and chronic diarrhoea, making the island a charnel house ; all these results were of daily occurrence. %
Without drums, and in silence, our heroes were borne to their homes in the sand, and that ominous volley told us, almost hourly, of that last honor to loved and cherished comrades, whose places had been at our sides in battle, charge and trench ; but now, neither the thunders of the heavens, nor the artillery shaking the isle, could wake them to duty again.
During the siege each day in the history of the regi- ment was of a similar character. An hour before day the regiment was turned out in line of battle on the beach. At sunrise marched in, and half an hour for breakfast. Then details for fatigue at various points. and nightly at the front ; and after the fall of Wagner they were sent in the morning as well as evening.
Gillmore's batteries were nearly completed at the
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time and ready to open on Sumter. Troops were sta- tioned at various points, as preventives of surprise. A boat infantry was organized to picket the creeks next to Morris island. It was placed in command of Maj. Sandford, of the Seventh Connecticut. The men were relieved of all other duty. Capt. Ferris suc- worded Sandford, and subsequently Capt. John Hen- ne-sy, Fifty-second Pennsylvania, was placed in com- mand. Officers and men were detailed from several regiments. Lieut. Fred. Sandrock was detailed from the One Hundredth for that duty, at once responsible and important. Co. "D," commanded by Lient. Newell, was stationed near one of the streams, and the company, from its experience with, and under the direction of Capt. Payne, furnished details for explor- ations and scouting through the swamps and creeks next to James island.
This service, and that of the boat infantry, was both dangerous and hazardous, and subjected the officers and men to great exposure. Those engaged in these duties will always have a lively recollection of the Ing winter nights they spent in their boats, in cold and storm, patrolling Charleston harbor, watching for the approach of the enemy.
Temporary hospitals were established on the island. What could be done for sick and wounded men was Jone on the spot to save time and transportation. The Christian and Sanitary commissions had pitched Wir tents, and their welcome dags were flying. Cargues of ice arrived in the inlet, and were economi-
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cally distributed to the several brigades. Guards were placed over the easks, and no soldier was allowed to take more than he could drink, as none was to be wasted or taken away. Sutlers were established on every hand, and after each pay day, swept large por- tions of the money received into their pockets. Photo- graphers were taking sun pictures of newly made of- fieers, and the men indulged in the same, so that many a faithful likeness of soldier and friend found its way North into the homes of those sufferers on Morris is- land.
In closing this chapter we are urged from a sense of duty to speak of the services of Surg. Kittenger. Many a soldier and officer felt, while in the service, that he was severe and unrelenting in the discharge of his duties, as a surgeon, under obligations to the government, to minister to the physical of the men in times of sickness and its needs. We had felt the stinging effect of his cool and deliberate judgments, and often thought that more leniency, and an exercise of the exeusing power from service, and fatigue, would have worked up a better morale in the regiment, but now we see things clearer. The surgeon hated hun- bugs, shirks and deceivers, whether found under shoul- der straps, or the plain color of the army blue. He knew that the government needed all its men for the work to be performed, and hence his care to know the real state of the case in hand, and decide for the sol- dier, disinterested, and save him from the growing in- sanity, too common, of disability and utter worthless-
-
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!!... s and inefficiency as servants of the government. From this time to the close of his term of service his -kill was made available at the most needed localities ; an honor to the regiment and a saving to the govern- ment of many valuable men, who under a more lax and 'nient officer would have become unfit for duty and a burden to camp and the command.
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CHAPTER XXX.
GILLMORE'S LAND BATTERIES OPENED ON SUMTER AUGUST 17THI. - THE IRONCLADS ASSISTED. - THE BOMBARD- MENT CLOSED ON THE 23D. - SUMTER WAS PRO- NOUNCED USELESS FOR OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS .- THE SIEGE CONTINUED. - THE THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFT !! PARALLELS WERE OPENED. - THE TWENTY-FOURTH MASSACHUSETTS DROVE IN THE ENEMY'S PICKETS. -- THE SUFFERINGS AND CASUALTIES AMONG THE MEN. -AN EXPEDITION AGAINST BATTERY GREGG .- IT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL.
On the 17th of August Gillmore's batteries opened on Sumter. The first discharge from a two-hundred- pounder Parrott gun struck the parapet of Sumter on the side next the city, and knocked down several cart loads of brick, which fell on a steamer lying at the wharf, and crushed her smoke stack. At the sune time the ironclads moved up to take part in the bom- bardment. The monitors Putapero and Passait di- rected their fire on the fort. while the other vessel- engaged Wagner to prevent her guns annoying our batteries.
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The fire of the land batteries was continued through the day without cessation, and by night the parapet presented a very battered appearance. The great Holes in the wall made it look as though pitted by a -trong attack of small pox. The firing was renewed wery morning from day to day, and ceased at sunset, until the close of the 23d, when the fort for all offen: Five purposes was destroyed.
All the barbette guns were dismounted and buried up in the debris. The gorge wall and sea face were so Madly shattered, that in many places the arches of the chements were exposed.
The enemy replied feebly and did but little damage. The sight was an interesting one to the soldier, and the accuracy of the aim at such long range was re- markable. From time to time the fleet assisted in the bombardment, but the men shut up in ironclads could why stand it a few hours at a time, when the vessels Were compelled to retire. The fire of the land batteries was continuons with reliefs for the guns. Six thousand two hundred and fifty projectiles were hurled at the fort. A correspondent of the Mobile Tribune, who was within the fort during the last day's bombardment. at4 :- " For seven hours, at close range, the fleet, ironsides and monitors, hurled shot and shell into the work. striking the wall near the parapet, loose bricks wore thrown up in columns and fell in showers around " gunners. Walls were ploughed through, case- .Lente were filled with sand, and shells passed across t! parade, striking the interior wall of the west maga-
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zine, containing powder enough to destroy fort and gar- rison. One shell struck the ventilator and, explod- ing, filled the magazine with smoke. Another more successful shot and all would have been lost. It was an anxious moment, but the fort was held. Gradually the morning dawned. The fog lifted, and fort Moul- trie opened fire on the ships. Instead of continuing their fire at this critical period, the fleet withdrew and the danger was removed. The object was now, in the unsafe condition of the fort, to get rid of the powder. It depended on time and the movements of the fleet. Had the fleet renewed the attack the business might have been done. The fleet delayed.
" Night after night the powder was moved in barrels under the enemy's guns. Only eight hundred pounds were left. The crisis was passed. The fort was now safe from the explosion of powder in the magazine. When the bombardment began there were a hundred and thirty-one thousand pounds of powder in the magazine, which was removed and shipped to Charles- ton."
Suinter was reduced, and the guns of Wagner and Gregg were only occasionally heard. Batteries on James island were opened to enfilade our works against Wagner. Day and night, mid the explosion of shell and the sun's heat, the siege continued.
The third parallel at the distance of four hundred and fifty yards from Wagner was opened on the night of the 9th of Angust. The fourth parallel was opened on the 22d, at the distance of three hundred
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yards from the fort. A short distance in front of this was a sand ridge, where the enemy's sharpshooters were stationed, who annoyed our men in the trenches considerably, and it became necessary to seize and holl it before the approaches could be carried forward beyond it. Col. Osborn, with the Twenty-fourth Mass- achusetts. made a charge with the bayonet, which Was successful, and seventy odd prisoners were cap- tured. A short time previous three regiments had been selected to go out of the works nightly and drive in, and nearer the fort, the rebel pickets. Of this number the One Hundredth New York was one. De- tils were made from the regiment, as from others, for harpshooters and the manning of the several batteries.
At the point where the prisoners were captured the fifth and last parallel was opened. Beyond this point the approaches were simply zigzags, making very sharp azles, as there was not sufficient front to develope a parallel. In this manner the engineers continued to "reep up to Wagner until they crowned the counter- warp on the night of the 6th of September. The "tirmy were confined to the fort and its bomb-proofs. From the large number of torpedoes planted in front of the fort, the rebels dared not make a sortie for the -- truction that would follow from their own infernal machines. The nearness to the fort made the work of . 1igineers and fatigue parties doubly dangerous on ac- at of the low trenches and indifferent cover for the W op. At this time Surg. Hamlin, the medical in- "jector of the department, made a tour of the camps,
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and reported, that, should the siege continue much longer, it would be more economical of life to make a third assault than continue, as now, with the ther- mometer at one hundred degrees and over, with pres- ent daily losses, by casualties and disease.
Shells were exploding in splinter proofs and trench daily, killing and wounding groups of men from five to twenty. It was not uncommon to look upon a comrade one moment in life and the next behold him a shattered corpse. We have slept amid our unburied dead waiting the morning light to bear them to their hol- lows in the sand. Whole regiments were ordered from the island to Florida, that hospital of sick and weary. and disheartened men, where quiet and the healthful breezes of the ocean gave them strength and vigor again.
The casualties in the One Hundredth Regiment. during the siege of fifty days, were one hundred and four in killed and wounded. The nightly and daily work of covering magazines, building splinter proof- and digging trenches, planting gabions, and all done with the fears kept alive by the continuous explosion of shells and that unearthly seream of a Whitworth gun, which allowed not a second for cocer, but shell and report seemed on the spot instantaneously. The daily burrowing in the drifting sand during those long days of August was torture and a slow death.
Soldiers who suffered there look into each other'- faces, and that island life is lived over again. hopes, what fears. On duty, companions with death :
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off duty, we were free from anguish and that living death which is indescribable. How wide the contrast, within range of shell and out of range. None save those who have experienced the two dissimilar sensa- tions can understand their weighty significance. At this stage in the history of the siege, Gen. Gillmore's attention was called to the probable success of a night attack in boats upon Battery Gregg. If successful the retreat of Wagner's garrison would be cut off, and the work fall into our hands.
Five hundred men were detailed from four of the most reliable regiments, and the command of the ex- pedition was entrusted to Maj. Sandford of the Seventh Connecticut. One hundred men were taken from the One Hundredth New York. The officers detailed with the men by Adjt. Evert were Lieuts. Lynch and Stowits. We remember the visit of the Chaplain to the tent of the writer to ascertain if we could swim. When assured we could, he responded that it was favor- able. We knew not then of our detail for the expedi- tion. Boats had been collected in one of the creeks, and the men assembled near the camp of the boat infantry, and awaited darkness, before embarking. The officers were allowed to look at the plan of the fort, beach and bay, which had been drawn, and was in the hands of Maj. Sandford. The instructions were very simple, and we shall never forget them. Scanning the man- nor of Maj. Sandford, and his apparent, to us, unfitness for so responsible a work, we could not but feel that many brave men, if landed, would be destroyed.
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Files for spiking the guns were put into the hands of men selected for that purpose. On inquiry as to what should be used for driving the files, the answer was given that anything that lay around the gun. To ns. that was too uncertain. We obtained permission to leave the guns of the men selected, and ordered them to use the flat-side of the bayonet, that no time should be lost in searching in the sand or battery for what might not be at hand. The orders were to head the boats for the beach, land, form, and rush for the fort. spike the guns, blow up the magazine and retire. Serg. Rosenburger, of the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, volunteered to apply the match to the magazine. We endeavored to impress our men with the danger, as well as the importance of the enterprise, that each man should act for himself and as though he was to do the work alone and unaided. In conse- quence of the limited number of boats a large number were left behind. The boats were filled with a quiet, thoughtful baud. We glided along with the music of shell overhead, exploding and striking the water about. As we neared the bay a boat shot out from Gregg. She was hailed. No attention paid. We fired and brought her to. We captured a surgeon, major and ten men. The garrison was aroused, and we were ordered back. The next night a second attempt was made, with no better success. The enemy opened on the boats and drove them off. The loss was slight. Thus ended an illy conceived and fruitless enterprise.
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