USA > New York > Memories of the 149th Regt. N. Y. Vol. Inft., 3d Brig., 2 Div., 12th and 20th A. C > Part 6
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At six o'clock in the morning the march was resumed in the direction of Leesburg. The day was warm and pleasant and part of the time overcoats were unnecessary. The general ap- pearance of the country east of Hillsboro, and especially near Leesburg, was better than the day before, and there was a marked improvement in the character of the dwelling-houses. Several flourishing mills and two or three churches were passed during the forenoon. The route, although not straight. was sontheasterly.
At noon a halt was made for dinner in a piece of woods near the top of a hill two miles west of Leesburg. After dinner the colunm proceeded np a gentle ascent for a short distance, and then the road turned to the right towards a high hill on which was a fort commanding the approach. Just before reaching the base of the hill the road made another turn to the left through a little gap in the hills, and suddenly there was revealed to the vision an extended and beautiful view to the east. The sun was shining, the atmosphere was clear and bright, and it seemed as if one could see across the States of Virginia and Maryland to the sea. One could see rivers, hills, valleys, vil- lages, cleared land and running streams as if looking at a vast picture or panorama. As one person expressed himself, "It was a sea of land." The water in the Potomac was largely 6
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concealed from view, yet its course could be easily traced for forty or fifty miles away. The colunm moved rapidly and very little time was given to examine the scene, yet the view made a very strong impression upon the mind, and seemed to be one of unusual beauty and interest. The Chaplain cantered up the hill to the fort, and from that point reported an unobstructed view in all directions.
The road now led down from the tableland upon which the command had been marching to Leesburg, a village of two or three thousand inhabitants and with an old-fashioned look. No school-houses or churches were on the main road, although there were probably both in the village. Both male and female white citizens were in the streets, but gave no signs of welcome. The colored people, however, peering from behind the houses and places of cover, looked merry and gave tokens of their friendship; it was apparent they understood the issues of the war and its bearing upon the destiny of their race.
After passing easterly through Leesburg the column turned to the right and went south over the Leesburg aud Alexandria Railroad. After about two miles the command went into camp for the night in the open fields on the left hand side of the road. Hay, straw and fence rails being plenty, the men made themselves comfortable and had a good night's rest not- withstanding the cold.
After daybreak in the morning the march was resumed, and by sunrise three mile- had been made on the way. The route during the day was southeasterly and most of the way up hill. In some places the pitches in the road were very sharp and oe- casioned much delay in bringing forward the artillery and wagon train. In the morning the ground was hard and slip- pery, but by noon it was wet and muddy, making the traveling hard on the teams in the wagon train and batteries, so only eight or ten miles was made during the day.
At this time in Virginia there were a few macadam pikes four rods in width, leading from one prominent place to an- , other, on which it was good traveling, barring the inconvenience
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of fording brooks and streams; but all other highways were mere dirt roads, or by-ways, one or two rods in width and of poor quality. The common roads in bad weather were hard on heavily-ladened teams, and totally unfit for the passage of large bodies of troops with attendant trains.
The country still maintained its primitive and backwoods appearance. At ten o'clock the command crossed Goose Creek. near a grist-mill, on a temporary bridge made of fence rails. sticks and boards, and at noon another small stream in a simni- lar manner at a place called Green Springs. At the latter place there was a church without a steeple ; in fact most of the church edifices in this country were withoat this non-essential orna- ment ; but if the religion of a people is to be judged by the character of its church buildings, however, that of this people must have been of an anstere and sterling kind.
It was early in the afternoon when the column passed Green Springs, but on account of the teams it tiled into the fields on the left hand side of the road and made preparations for the night. The country in the vicinity looked prosperous, the farms were well fenced, and there were numerous stacks of hay and straw standing in the different enclosures. When the order was given to break ranks a rush was made for rails, hay and straw. The writer dropped his things and ran to a neighbor- ing stack for an armful of hay. The stack was of fair size, not more than twenty rods away, and when he started had not been disturbed : but when he arrived one-third had been taken. Carrying an armful to his things, he ran a second time to the stack, but before arriving it had disappeared. He then turned his attention to fence rails ; but as he ran length after length receded before him like the foot of the rainbow before the boy who sought a pot of gold buried at its base, and like him. he too was doomed to disappointment. When entering camp everything had a cheerful and prosperous look ; but in five minutes the whole landscape as far as the eye could reach was a moving panorama of hay, straw and fence rails carried in the arms or over the shoulders of the men. Such occasions were a.
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prolifie source of amusement, and the unfortunate man who got left was the subject of much good-natured raillery. As each company generally stored its stock of fuel in common, no one suffered inconvenience, and the writer having an armful of hay to sleep on had reason to be grateful.
Maj. Harvey Baldwin, Jr., visited the regiment during the day, and was the bearer of dispatches to Gen. Slocum.
At half-past six the next morning (Saturday) the command was in motion, and after proceeding in a sontherly direction about two miles over a rough and disagreeable road, it came to a macadam pike leading from Winchester to Alexandria through Berryville and Snicker's Gap. This it pursued easterly to Fair- fax Court House. After reaching the pike the country was more level, and the progress of the troops more rapid. The lands were fertile, and the buildings indicated that the inhabi- tants were once rich and prosperous ; but now the fences were gone, the buildings were in a ruinous condition, and everything betokened devastation and the presence of the army. Occasion- ally an old mansion surrounded by neglected flowering shrubs was passed standing in open unfenced fields, a picture of des- olation and destruction.
During the day the command crossed a small stream called Cut Run on the ice, through which the men made holes to till their canteens with water. Gen. Sloeum and staff passed the column about eight o'clock in the morning. Several cavalry pickets were met stationed along the highway. About four o'clock in the afternoon, just before reaching Fairfax Court House, the division left the pike and passing through the fields went into eamp near another road leading to Fairfax Station.
After halting some of the officers and men went down to the village to obtain supplies. Fairfax Court House originally contained about six hundred inhabitants. The most couspienous object in the place was a brick court-house standing in the cen- ter of a small publie square around which were clustered the principal buildings of the town. Besides the dwelling-houses, there were several law-offices, two or three stores, and a steeple-
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less church. Gen. Siegel and his corps had just left for Fred- ericksburg, leaving a few sutlers and civilians behind. Every- thing was muddy, dirty, filthy and desecrated. The court- house was used for storing old tents and military stores, the law-offices were deserted, the fences were gone, the doors of most of the buildings stood ajar, and everything looked as if an earthquake had struck the town. After making a few purchases the members of the regiment went away feeling as if escaping one of Pharaoh's plagues, "an army of body lice."
The bivonae for the night was among underbrush and young pines. There were no fence rails, hay or straw at hand, and the men had a hard time sleeping on the coll ground without these usual concomitants.
The command left Fairfax Court House at seven o'clock Sunday morning, December 14th, moving southerly. marched eight or ten miles during the day to a place near Oc- coquan River, through a wild, dreary, wretched and God-for- saken country. Gen. Siegel's men had just passed, and each step of the way bore evidence of the struggle of his teams to surmount the difficulties of the road. The soil was of clay, and having been made wet by melting snow, traveling was difficult. When there is mud in Virginia there is no measuring the depth of it. From Fairfax Court House to Fairfax Station, a dis- tance of four miles, Siegel had built a corduroy road, without which the batteries and wagon train could not have passed, and as it was progress was slow and laborious.
Fairfax Station consisted of rough buildings constructed for the use of the army in unloading and preserving supplies.
After crossing the railroad the road lead up a sharp hill through a dense forest of serubby pines almost impenetrable to man or beast. The road south of the Station appeared to be seldom used, and required a regiment of axmen and shovelers to put it in condition. After the troops had passed it was corduroy nearly all the way. The passage was inch by inch and laborious. The country was covered with low thick pines like Northern cedar swamps, and had dead limbs or prongs
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MEMOIRS 149th N. Y. INFT.
projecting horizontally from the body of the trees from the top down to the ground. Occasionally there was a small clearing and a few dilapidated old buildings inhabited by half-savage white men with negro wenches for wives. Everything had a wicked and forbidding appearance. The command bivouacked for the night in a pine grove on the left hand side of the road.
The writer went through the woods to a house in search of food and found a ragged man, a dirty woman, and a house full of stout and dirty girls. The woman said they had nothing to sell and had been living on pounded corn for a month. Find- ing it impossible to get anything, he appropriated an armful of buekwlieat straw, while old hole-in-the-seat-of-his-breeches was giving attention to a party of men stealing cornstalks on the other side of the stack. The men made log fires and with straw for beds had a good night's rest.
Part of the regiment was detailed for picket duty and before daylight moved forward to the head of the column next to the pioneer detachment, which repaired and built roads. After marching a mile or more the road descended rapidly to the Or- coquan River. The place of crossing was wild and dreary without a dwelling-honse or other building in sight. The river was not very large and had a rapid current. A temporary bridge was made of logs and rails for the use of the men, but the batteries and wagon train forded the stream. After cross- ing, the road led diagonally up a long steep hill, on top of which were two forts commanding the ford. After passing the forts the road still continued to ascend gradually for a number of miles, and then in like manner descended for a similar dis- tanee, until it joined a road leading from Alexandria to Fred- ericksburg. From Fairfax Station to the last-named road the country is sparsely inhabited and quite uniform in character. although at first covered with short serubby pines, which by degrees gave way to oak and other hard woods, and the soil. which at first was of clay, became at the close less of clay and more of sand. The whole journey, however, was tiresome, monotonous and depressing to the feelings. After reaching
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the Alexandria and Fredericksburg road the command marched to within three miles of Dumfries and bivouacked for the night. The piekets from the 149th were posted on a hill to the right of the road and across Powell Run. From the reserve the Po- tomac River and telegraph poles, carrying a line from Alex- andria to Fredericksburg, could be seen, consequently the feel- ings of the officers and men began to be relieved from the de- pression of the march from Fairfax Station.
About the time the pickets were posted and the men in camp had laid down to rest it began to rain furiously. Those in shelter tents were not much better off than those lying outside. who put blankets over their heads and sat for two long hours in the cold driving storm, half sleet and half rain. After a long time the storm subsided sufficient to permit the men to pack ; this ended the night's rest, for after a short intermission the storm came on again with fresh vigor and continued until noon the next day.
At half-past six in the morning the pickets were drawn in and the troops commenced moving. The streams were swollen and had to be forded, the low lands were covered with water, the mud in the roads seemed bottomless, and the storm, half sleet and half rain, still continued : the men were covered with mud, in distress and disheartened. Very few had rubber blankets, and those who had not were wet through, chilled to the bone, and felt their hardships were about as much as they could endure. Some of the officers, with prudent forethought, had provided themselves with whisky for such an emergency, and now felt well paid for the fatigue of carrying it from Boli- var by the good it did their men.
An effort was made to continue the march, but this resulted in great damage to the teams in the wagon train and batteries. The infantry moved as far as Dumfries and halted for the night, but the wagon train and batteries were wrecked and stranded along the road. In the afternoon it came off clear and cold and the men dried their clothes before fires. In taking off their stockings the skin on their feet and leg's was found puek-
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ered by the wet. They dried the inside of their shoes, holding them before the fire, and those who had them put on clean stockings and felt better.
Before night some of the men and officers went down to the little village of Dumfries and found Capt. Doran in charge as Provost-marshal, which was entirely satisfactory. It is true there was not much entrusted to his charge, but of what there was the men were welcome. Dumfries before the war con- tained two hundred inhabitants, and at one time was the county seat of Prince William county. It makes claim of being the second colony in Virginia. The old court-house and jail were built of brick said to have been imported from Scotland ; these buildings were now in a ruinous condition. The place was. situate in a valley on Quantico Creek, and from it could be seen the steam transports and shipping passing up and down the Potomac River, only a short distance away. Everything in and about the village was deserted and dilapidated.
The next day ( December 17th), at six o'clock in the morn- ing, the regiment was in line ready to march, but being as- signed to the rear of the column did not move until about. eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Owing to the discomfiture of Burnside at Fredericksburg. Gen. Sloein had received dis- patches during the night directing him to return to Fairfax Station, so when the command commenced moving, to the re- gret of all, it was found the men were to retrace their steps over the miserable road they had recently traveled. In the morning it was fair and lovely, but about noon it commenced snowing. The men remembering their late experience looked dubions, but as it continued cold the inconvenience was less than anticipated. The march continued until two hours after dark, and as the road was uneven and dead prongs on the ever- greens extended into the path- traversed, the men were in con- stant danger of having their eyes punched out or their heads. knocked off. In places there were deep holes and ruts filled with water and occasionally an unfortunate took a plunge. This part of the route was made amid great tribulation and no
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little profanity. After dark the storm ceased and the weather cleared up, and before morning ice formed two inches in thiek- ness on the ponds and stream. The regiment bivouacked on the south side of the Oreoquan River, and owing to the exces- sive cold, passed a wretched and restless night.
Early in the morning when the command resmed its march the weather was clear and cold, and it was uncomfortable even in overcoats and mittens. The command halted to make coffee and for dinner on the hillside north of the Oceognan River. The place was protected from cold wind, and as the sun was shining, the men had a comfortable nooning. After dinner the command resumed its march, and passing troops camped in the woods, bivonacked for the night near Fairfax Station in a pine and cedar grove on the left hand side of the road. The trees were not over six inches in diameter, twenty-five feet in height, and destitute of foliage except at the top. The lower branches having died ont, there were dead limbs or prongs projecting horizontally along the body of the trees from their tops down to the ground, making it unsafe for the men to move about after dark. Some of the men buttoned their shelter tents together and strung them around on the windward side of a large fire, and called the enclosure "Dan Rice's Cir- ens". They passed a tolerable and very refreshing night.
Just before arriving at camp Capt. J. Forman Wilkinson left the regiment for home, his resignation having been ae- cepted.
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CHAPTER IX.
FAIRFAX STATION.
DECEMBER 19th, 1862, at seven o'clock in the morning, the 3d Brigade moved from its night's bivouac, and at ten A. M. entered a large piece of woods one mile east of Fairfax - Station and made preparations for a permanent camp. Along the edge of the woods was a Fairfax Station . Va. stream of good water fed by natural springs. The grove was composed mostly of large oak trees and had the general appearance of the maple woods of the North. As soon as camp was laid ont the sound of axes was heard felling the timber for fuel and other purposes. There were three thousand men in the brigade, and log fires burned in the company streets continually. During the day time trees were falling so frequently that a person had to use great caution to prevent being injured. It was not very long, therefore, before the tents of the men were standing in a large open field.
In approaching the camp of the 149th on the extreme left it was necessary to pass in front of the other regiments of the brigade. Next to the 149th on the right was the 137th, on ground not differing in quality from that occupied by the former in any appreciable particular. Considering the ex- postres and deprivations, which were very great. the 149th was remarkably healthy and free from severe cases of sickness ;
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on the other hand the general health of the 137th was bad and its surgeons were kept busy. It was understood at the time that the difference between the two regiments in this particular was owing more to the physical condition of the men than to local causes. The material of the 149th was largely from the city of Syracuse, and contained clerks, mechanics, laborers and men accustomed to the deprivations and irregularities of life ; on the other hand the 137th was largely made up of farmer's sons, and men from the rural districts accustomed to good living. In physical appearance the 137th was a fine-looking body of men, and it is no disparagement of the merits of the 149 to say, in this respect it was its superior ; but its fault was in knowing this fact and believing itself superior in all other respects to the " Salt Boiler-", as they jeeringly called the 149th men, and in making it manifest on this and other occasions by conduct and speech that it cherished this opinion. The 137th was a large regiment and in numbers appeared like a brigade. When it moved the ambulances were pretty generally filled with its sickly members, consequently, in partial retaliation for disrespect shown, the 149th boys dubbed it the " Ambulance Brigade", and whenever one of its members came in sight this opprobrious ery was sure to be heard. The term " Ambulance Brigade" was unceasingly sounded until the 187th wasglad to get down from its aristocratie shelf on equal terms with the "Salt Boilers". It was a gallant regiment, however, and al- ways had the respect of the 149th, notwithstanding the uni- ceasing bantering of its men on the road. Mutual losses and hardships, sustained in a common cause, in the end healed all differences between the two regiments and cemented a bond of comradeship between them which will never be broken.
A few days after the occupation of this camp the brigade was made happy by the receipt of the wall and " A" tents left at Bolivar Heights. The weather was severe and cold fingers and feet were a common experience: consequently the men were grateful to the Chaplain for his successful efforts in bring- ing forward a large number of express packages from Washing-
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ton containing stockings and mittens for the men. One of these packages was sent in the name of the Rev. Samuel J. May, and is deserving of special mention for the reason that it contained a large number of these desirable articles contributed by the ladies of Syracuse. These gifts were timely and ac- ceptable, and the fair donors had the gratitude of the regiment. Some of the men made log foundations for their tents, and con- structed wooden fireplaces and chimneys plastered with Vir- ginia mud on the inside to protect them from the fire. Some of the quarters were very ingenioasly constructed and comfort- able places of abode.
GEN. GORGE s. GREENE.
The regiment now had its first experience in brigade drill, which usually occurred in the morning and was followed by battalion drill in the afternoon. Occasionally there was an in- spection or a review. A short distance from camp was a large open field well calculated for the purpose of drilling large bodies of troops. Gen. George S. Greene, the brigade com-
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mander, condneted the brigade drills. He was a West Point graduate, about sixty years old, thick set, five feet ten inches high, dark complexioned, iron-gray hair, full gray beard and mustache, gruff in manner and stern in appearance, but with all an excellent officer, and under a rough exterior possessing a kind heart. In the end the men learned to love and respect him as much as in the beginning they feared him, and this was saying a good deal on the subject. He knew how to drill, how to command, and in the hour of peril how to care for his com- mand, and the men respected him accordingly.
About dark Saturday evening ( December 27th) the regi- ment received orders to draw five days' rations and hold itself in readiness to move at a moment's notice, but had no intima- tion as to its destination. At eight o'clock in the evening an order was received to fall in and move at nine. The men packed their things in their knapsacks and took three days' rations, leaving two for the teams. By eleven o'clock the whole corps, except piekets, camp guards and sick, were in motion on the old road to Dumfries. It seems unnecessary to say the road was muddy and bad, but such nevertheless was the fact. In the day time the difficulties to be overcome were almost insur- mountable, but how in a dark cloudy night it was possible to move a large wagon train and the batteries over this road is a matter for serions consideration. The regiment took its place near the head of the column, and at half-past two in the morn- ing filed into a piece of woods, one mile from Oecoquan River, to obtain a little rest and sleep while the rest of the command came forward. The distance traveled was only five miles, yet the men were tired and sleepy, and after building fires and eating supper, made no delay in going to rest.
At daylight the regiment had finished breakfast and was on the route to the river, and at nine o'clock had crossed the stream and was toiling up the long hill on the southern side. Next to a small cavalry escort, a section of artillery led the advance, and was followed by the 137th and then by the 149th. About eleven o'clock the head of the column reached the sum-
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mit of the hill and halted in a piece of woods for dinner. The men built fires to make coffee, and had opened their haversaeks preparatory to eating, when suddenly a ery was heard to " Fall in and double-quick to the front." The men grabbed their things and loaded their pieces as they ran. The 149th pro- ceeded fifteen or twenty rods, and emerging from the woods into an open field, quickly came into line of battle. On a knoll at the right of a deserted house a few rods in advance on the south side of the road, the two pieces of artillery were in position throwing shells to the front nearly as fast as a clock tieks, and every artilleryman was working as if his life depended upon his exertions. Generals, aids and orderlies were running hither and thither as if the devil was after them, and all was alarm and excitement. The men could not see over the knoll, but judging from what they saw coneluded the enemy was just in advance moving on the position. They felt that the safety of the command depended on their good behavior, came quickly into line, and conducted themselves with a cool- ness and resolution that reflected great credit upon their courage and good discipline. As the men were forming in line. Gen. Geary rode up and, taking off his hat, addressed them in an excited manner, saying, " My gallant 149th, now has come the time for you to show your bravery, now is the time for you to show your gallantry ; go forward to your duty like men." Under the direction of Gen. Slocum, the regiment moved to the right a short distance, and then forward in line of battle to the brow of the hill a little in advance of the artillery. Here the nien were told to lie down and hold the position. In front were a number of scrubby pines concealing the enemy from view. After a short interval, the artillery firing in the mean time and the enemy making no advance, the men rose up and moved forward a short distance to ground recently occupied by the enemy, but now deserted. Here were a large number of soldiers' huts on fire. When the men had advanced to an open grove near a clearing the line halted and the artillery came forward and shelled the distant fields and woods. Elicit-
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