USA > New York > Services of the Tenth New York Volunteers (National Zouaves,) in the War of the Rebellion > Part 10
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* In Swinton's "Army of the Potomac," p. 101, occurs the following : " Warren, occupying the important position he had seized, held on stoutly and against a fear- ful loss, till all the rest of Porter's corps had been retired, and only withdrew when the enemy had advanced so close as to fire in the very faces of his men.
Gen. Sykes, in his Report (" Pope's Campaign,' p. 148), makes the following statement of the occurrences on the field : " I desire to call the attention of the major-general commanding to the services of Cols. Warren, Buchanan and Chap- man, United States Army, commanding brigades of my division. Their coolness, courage and example were conspicuous . their claim to promotion has been earned on fields of battle long prior to that of the joth of August, 18. 2." * * *
" Had the efforts of these officers, those of Gens. Reynolds, Reno and Butter field. been properly sustained, it is doubtful if the day had gone against us. War- ren's command was sacrificed by the withchawal of Reynolds' troops from my left and their non-replacement by others. The enemy masked and concealed his bri- gades in the forests south of the Warrenton pike. His presence was unseen and unknown until he appeared in sufficient strength to overpower the infartry opposed to him."
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The loss of the Tenth, in killed and wounded, is esti- mated at about 130. Many of the wounded fell into the enemy's hands, and several uninjured men were pro- bably captured before they could extricate themselves from the forest.
The following were killed instantly or died of wounds received :
Company A : Sergt. Alonzo Rogers ; Corp. William C. Baker ; Privates John C. MacHale, Harvey P. Comp- ton, John Gillman, August Lombard, John Smith.
Company C: Second-Lieut. Josiah Hedden ; Corp. Frederick Bland ; Private Nicholas Smith.
Company E: Private Henry Mallin.
Company F: Corp. Archibald Smith ; Private Chris- tian Schlenbam, Thomas MeAvoy.
Company G : Corp. Hugh Reilley ; Privates William Mulkey, Charles Schoeck.
Company HI : Privates Edward French. James Smith, Charles Scott, John Sullivan.
Company I: Color-Sergt. Win. Duff ; Privates John S. Dockham, George Kavanagh. Francis Smith, John Will, Samuel MeMullens, John Johnson.
Company K : Sergts. Daniel J. Dougherty, Alexander Finlay; Private Charles McLoughlin.
Total, 31 .*
Two or three wagons with rations for our brigade had started from Centreville, crossing Bull Run at the stone bridge, and were going up the rising ground south of the stream when the attack upon our position reached its culminating point. Spent balls flew around, and struggling arunt-couriers of the driven brigade came
* The names of the missing mnot heard from) and an incomplete list of the wounded will be found in the Appendix.
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over the crest of the hill towards the rear. A section of a battery came thundering down the decline, one of the pieces being precipitated into a gully along the road, and two or three shells bursting in unpleasant proximity to the wagons, hastened a panic already threatened among the teamsters. In a twinkling the teams were turned to the right and left, at least one of the wagons being over- turned in the frantic effort to head to the rear. Traces were ent, and drivers and horses hurried back towards the bridge, while the scores of soldiers who now filled the road on their way from the bloody field beyond for- got, for the time, the enemy behind them, and, remem- bering only that they were hungry, swarmed around the deserted wagons and filled their haversacks with coffee, hard tack and bacon. This issue of rations was probably the quickest ever made in the history of Warren's bri- gade, and our men had certainly never been more in need of them.
First-Lient. Geo. M. Dewey was struck on the fore- head by a fragment of shell and rendered insensible. Upon recovering consciousness, he saw that he was alone, with the exception of the prostrate forms of the killed and wounded, which strewed the ground. Walking slowly towards the run, he waded into the cooling water, and, while cogitating how he might eseape through the Rebel lines, a slightly wounded officer of a Texas regi- ment passed, accompanied by two or three soldiers, and Dewey surrendered to this squad. He accompanied them to a hospital camp in the woods, near the scene of the recent struggle, and there came in contact with a wounded officer of the 19th Georgia, Capt. O'Brien, who seemed at once to faney Lieut. D., and, after some con- versation, offered his protection and companionship.
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Until Dewey was paroled, together with numbers of other prisoners, some four days thereafter, he received the best of attention and the same food that was allowed the wounded officers of the brigade in whose hospital he was cared for. Three days after the fight he unexpectedly tane upon the dead body of Color-Sergt. Duff. Both of his legs had been amputated ; he had evidently died during or soon after the operation, as he was still lying on the board used as an operating table. Most of the bodies of the men of the Fifth and Tenth still lying un- buried were unrecognizable, being blackened and bloated beyond description. The corpses had been stripped of most of their clothing and some were as naked as they wore when born. The ragged legions of Confederates had not hesitated to equip themselves in the uniforms of their lifeless enemies, leaving their own worn-out habiliments where they had dropped them.
Color-Corps. Samuel MeDonald and Edward A. Di- bey were each badly wounded. The former was unable to move and remained upon the field several days before he was paroled and removed. After the brigade had fallen back, Dubey was endeavoring to crawl to the run, when a mounted Rebel called upon him to " lay down." He refused, and the merciless horseman shot him in the arm with his revolver. Still Dubey managed to reach the opposite side of the run, where Capt. Dimmick and Lient. Mosserop were lying disabled-the former shot through both legs and the latter in the side. The hol- low along this streamlet, in the rear of what had been Warren's position, was now made a hot place by the battery of Napoleons with which our present line was being stubboruly held, and along the run the Texas re- timents reformed as if to charge the guns. The three
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wounded men lay here nearly three days. On the even- ing of the third day, after they had suffered almost un- endurably, and had submitted to the robberies of Rebel prowlers and marauders (with the exception of Dubey, who by sheer boldness and hard words enlisted the ad- miration of the thieves), and when it seemed that death must soon ensue, the attention of a passing Rebel officer was attracted by a masonic pin worn by Lient. Moss- crop. He interested himself in the three comrades : their wounds were dressed and they were conveyed in an ambulance to a neighboring house, where they were, in a day or two, paroled, and managed to reach Wash- ington. Sixteen years afterwards Capt. Dimmick met. .Capt. Hugh Barr, their masonie friend, in Winchester, Va., and recognized him. Lieut. Mosserop's sword, which he had surrendered perforce, was, in the follow- ing January, returned to him by Lieut. Carter, of the 4th Vermont Regiment, who had taken it from a wounded Rebel at the battle of South Mountain, Md.
Second-Lieut. Josiah Hedden, of Company C, was the only officer of the Tenth killed. He had been pro- moted for conspicuous courage shown at Gaines' Mill, and was emulating his former bravery when the fatal bullet struck him.
When darkness came to end this day of battle, the left of Gen. Pope's line had been forced back about half a mile, but still covered the turnpike, which was the only safe line of retreat. At eight o'clock, p. M., Gen. Pope sent instructions to his corps commanders to with- draw towards Centreville, designating the route of each and the position he was to take-Gen. Reno being or- dered to cover the retreat.
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REPORT OF COL. G. K. WARREN .*
COMMANDING THIRD BRIGADE, SYKES' DIVISION, PORTER'S FIFTH ARMY CORPS.
HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, SYKES' DIVISION, September 6th, 1862.
SIR :- I take leave to present herewith a sketch of the field of action of the 30th of August, as it appeared to me, with an ac- count of what I witnessed and the part sustained by my brigade, consisting of the 5th New York Volunteers, about 490 strong, and the Tenth New York Volunteers, about 510 strong. [Diagram.] * * * Smead's and Randoll's batteries in the road near me. Hazlitt's rifled battery was executing an order from Gen. Porter to take up a position at where Reynolds had been (Hazlitt's bat- tery was without support, and our whole left flank was uncov- ered). I immediately assumed the responsibility of occupying the place Reynolds' division had vacated, and making all the show of force I could.
For this purpose I deployed three-fifths of the Tenth New York Volunteers to hold the edge of the woods towards the enemy on our left, and keeping the 5th New York Volunteers in reserve, out of view of the enemy's battery.
Notice of this movement of mine I immediately sent by an offi- cer to Gen. Sykes or Gen. Porter. He found the latter, who di- rected me to hold on, and sent me mounted orderlies to keep him informed. He was. I believe, near where Weed's battery was placed, I probably had the best view of what followed that the battlefield presented. As soon as Gen. Butterfieldl's brigade ad- vanced up the hill, there was a great commotion among the Rebel forces, and the whole side of the hill and edges of the woods swarmed with men before unseen. The effect was not unlike flush- ing a covey of quails. The enemy fell back to the side of the rail- road and took shelter on the railroad out and behind the embank- ment, and lined the edges of the woods beyond. Butterfield's advance beyond the brow of the hill was impossible, and taking his position, his troops opened fire on the enemy in front, who,
* From Davenport's " History of the 5th New York Volunteers."
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REPORT OF COL. WARREN.
from his sheltered position returned it vigorously, while, at the same time, a battery, somewhere in the prolongation of the line (E, B), opened a most destructive enfilading fire with spherical case shot. It became evident to me that without heavy reinforce- ments Gen. Butterfield's troops must fall back or be slaughtered, the only assistance he received being from Hazlitt's battery. which I was supporting, and Weed's (near N).
After making a most desperate and hopeless fight, Gen. Butter- field's troops fell back, and the enemy immediately formed and advanced. Hazlitt's battery now did good execution on them, and forced one column that advanced beyond the point of the woods (at A) to fall back into it. Unwilling to retire from the position I held, which involved the withdrawal of this efficient battery and the exposure of the flanks of our retreating forces, I held on, hoping that fresh troops would be thrown forward to meet the enemy now advancing in the open fields ; well knowing. however, that my position was one from which I could not retreat in the face of a superior force. Reynolds' division on my left. probably aware of the superior force of the enemy gathering in his front, fell back from I towards P. The enemy advanced with rapidity upon my position, with the evident intention of capturing Hazlitt's battery. The Tenth New York was compelled to fall back, scarcely arriving at the position held by the 5th New York before the enemy; and in such a manner as to almost completely prevent the 5th from firing upon them. While I was endeavoring to clear them from the front, the enemy, in force, opened fire from the woods on the rear and left flank of the 5th with most fearful of- fect. I then gave the order to face about and march down the hill. so as to bring the enemy all on our front: but in the roar of miis- ketry I could only be heard a short distance. **
Before the colors and the remnant of the regiment (the 5th; could be extricated, 299 men of the 5th and 193 of the Tenth New York were killed or wounded. In the Tenth New York, Lient. Hedden was killed, and Capt. Dimmick, Lieut. Dewey, Lieut. Mosserop and Lieut. Culhane wounded.
We assisted front the field Mi of the wounded of the 5th and of the Tenth. The remainder fell iato the hands of the enemy.
Braver men than those who fought and fell that day could not
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be found. It was impossible for us to do more, and, as is well known, all the efforts of our army barely checked this advance.
Very respectfully, your obedient servan!, [ Signed,] G. K. WARREN, Col. 5th N. Y. Vols., com. Third Brigade.
LIECT. HEYWARD CUTTING,
Acting Aide de Camp, and A. A. A. G., Sykes' Division.
During the night of the 30th, the weary divisions of the Union army withdrew towards Centreville. They had met with extraordinary loss ; but the simple posses- sion of the battlefield hardly compensated the Rebels for their loss of between eight and nine thousand men. Although we had been virtually defeated, and our lines so bent and broken as to demand a retreat, there was no panie such as that which had followed the battle fought a year previous on nearly the same ground. The bri- gade of Col. Warren was under discipline, and, although the ranks of its two regiments were sadly depleted, the regimental and company organizations were still perfect.
Centreville was reached carly in the morning, and position was taken along the entrenched line on the north . or right of the village -- the officers and men of the Tenth proceeding to snatch what sleep they could under the peltings of a severe rain storm. These heavy falls of rain now seemed to be an inevitable recurrence after severe battles, and, in the history of the was scarce a battle of magnitude occurred without its following of rain, mud and discomfort. Upon roll-call, on the 31st, it was found that the number of officers and men present with the regi- ment had dwindled to but a small portion of the strength on the morning of the preceding day. Some companies were but skeletons, commanded by sergeants, and the
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RECUPERATING.
regiment presented a sorry spectacle. Soon afterwards, however, stragglers, comprising the sick and slightly wounded, and those who had become separated from the command during the night's march, made their appear- ance, and by the afternoon the regimental strength was considerably increased.
The movements of the enemy towards the right of our army, in the direction of Fairfax Court House, was so evident by the afternoon of the first of September that Gen. Pope made new dispositions of his different corps-the Fifth Corps (Porter's) being directed to unite with the right of Gen. Sumner, whose corps, the Second, was posted near the road from Centreville to Fairfax. Just before sunset the enemy attacked the Union forces on the right, and there ensued the battle of Chantilly, in which the country lost the services of two brave general officers, Kearny and Stevens, The tide of battle did not reach Porter's corps, and, during the next day and night, the whole army was withdrawn to the defences around Washington.
The troops remained here during three or four days. resting and undergoing a general cleaning process. The knapsacks and the officers' baggage, which had been sent from Harrison's Landing by water previons to the evacuation of that place, were received by the Tenth, and the welcome opportunity was offered for a complete change of underclothing. Mails were also received, dat- ing nearly two weeks back. One of the saddest duties it had yet fallen to the lot of the regiment to perform now presented itself. The knapsacks of their comrades who had fallen in battle were to be examined, and the contents forwarded to their relatives, if the addresses of such were known. The melancholy duty was performed
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with sad feelings, and men who had passed through the fiery ordeal at Bull Run with unfaltering courage were moved to tears, in some cases, as the memory of dead comrades arose in their minds.
The Rebels had vainly endeavored to discover weak points in the line of the Federal army, which stretched like a cordon of steel in front of the National capital, and, encouraged by the successes of the past two weeks, ventured upon a scheme of invasion long contemplated, and which they now believed to be feasible. Gen. Lee moved his army rapidly to Leesburg, whenee he crossed the Potomac into Maryland by various fords. Having thus thrown a large force across the river, he moved to the interior and occupied Frederick City. Meanwhile, President Lincoln had relieved Gens. Pope and MeDow- ell from their commands, and, although for a while per- plexed in the choice of a new leader, he at length decided to appoint Gen. MeClellan to the command of the com- bined armies. MeClellan immediately saw the necessity of action, to counteract the new Rebel movements, and crossed the Potomae with the advance of his army on the 6th of September-Sykes' division marching to Tenally- town on that day. During the next few days the division moved rather leisurely through a fine country, bringing up the rear of the army, and reaching the Monocacy River, near Frederick City, on the 13th.
The teamsters of the army were in themselves an army numbered by thousands. The lumbering wagons. canvas covered and loaded to the tops, formed long lines in the rear of their respective divisions, and pre- sented a picturesque appearance from a distance, as the seemingly endless trains wound their serpentine lengths along the roads. In this campaign the hills and mount-
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THE ARMY MULE.
ains of Maryland sometimes subjected the quality of the wagons and the expertness and profanity of the team- sters to a severe test. It is doubtful if the virtues of that much suffering animal, the traditional army mule, will ever be sufficiently extolled. The long-eared and brazen- voiced quadruped, at times cursed and belabored, and again coaxed and cajoled, was the patient medium by which the troops were fed with coffee and hard tack, powder and ball. A famous military writer has asserted that "an army moves on its stomach," and here the mule comes in. The innate stubbornness of one of these des- pised members of the quartermaster's staff has often shown itself in some narrow mountain pass, or while crossing a bridge, and in such cases the luckless and hungry body of soldiers have awaited with painful anxiety the arrival of that particular train with rations. The animal was never particular as to his diet, which consisted of oats or hay, cornstalks or oak leaves, wagon boxes, stray overcoats and blankets, the tail or mane of some social and too confiding horse, or what- ever else his fancy dictated or the fortunes of camp threw within his reach.
The teamsters of the Tenth were, as a rule, men who had handled the reins before their army experience, and they proved adepts at maneuvering a " six mule team." Tommy Quinn, of Company C, their chief (who had for some time served as Brigade Wagonmaster), was lithe and quick and rode a horse as nimble as himself. He could extricate a train from difficulties in less time than it would have taken most men to study the situation.
Are there any of the survivors of the Tenth, who par- tieipated in the campaigns of 1862, who will not recollect " Dick," the colored individual who cooked for the com-
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THIE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
missary-sergeant and the teamsters ? Probably he was the best known and most conspicuous character in the di- vision, excepting the division and brigade commanders. Ile stood scarcely five feet in his shoes (which he seldom wore), his length being seriously diminished by his ontrageously tangled legs, which overlapped at the knees and spread from thence below, or rather outward, at an absurd angle, making his walk a veritable "grapevine twist." He had a heavy and not very intelligent cast of features ; but was acute enough in perception in spite of his countenance and bodily deformity. On the march, Dick, with his knock-knees, managed to keep up with the wagons, even when they were at a good round trot- slinging himself with his long arms to a handy feed-box when tired of pedestrianism. There he would hang with his weather eye open for any stray quartermaster-those officers never permitting any impediment in the shape of "cutting behind" while on the march. Dick's bean sonp was celebrated throughout the regiment. Con- cocted literally of beans, with pork, onions, dessicated vegetables and other et ceteras thrown in, it was a dish fit for an epicurean feast, and the recollection of it has often caused the writer's month to water.
Mcclellan's advance through Maryland compelled the enemy to leave Frederick, and, hard pressed on his way towards the fords. Lee halted a portion of his army at Turner's Gap, on South Mountain. The advance of the Union army (Burnside's corps) here attacked the Rebel lines, and a desperate confliet ensued, ending in the defeat and retreat of the Rebels under Gens. D. H. Hill and Longstreet. A braver " soldiers' battle" was never fought than that of South Mountain, by the
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SOUTH MOUNTAIN.
soldiers of Gens. Burnside and Hooker, on the 14th of September, 1862. *
On the night of this day and the next morning the whole army was advanced. Porter's command, consist- ing only of Sykes' division (the balance of the corps having been marched towards Boonesboro), followed, with Burnside's corps, the old Sharpsburg Road, with orders to reinforce Gen. Franklin's corps, or to move on Sharpsburg, according as circumstances should demand, when the road from Boonesboro to Rohrersville should be reached. The route led through Turner's Gap, and the road over the mountain was littered with the debris of the day's conflict-numbers of Confederate dead, lying at intervals along the route, attesting the struggle which had taken place ere the enemy were eventually driven from their strong position.
During the 16th and part of the 17th (the great day of the battle of Antietam), Porter's corps (now rein- forced by Morell's division, which had arrived from Boonesboro), occupied a position on the east side of An- tietam Creek, acting as reserve-its line, according to McClellan's Report, "filling the interval between the right wing and Gen. Burnside's command, and guarding the main approach from the enemy's position to our trains of supply. * * * Once having pene-
* While Gen. McClellan was delayed at the South Mountain passes by an inconsiderable portion of Lee's army. Jackson's corps of three divisions, assisted by MeLaw's and Anderson's divisions, were resolutely encircling Harper's Ferry and Bolivar Heights, held by Col. D. S. Miles, and at the moment that McClellan was inditing a dispatch to Washington from near South Mountain, viz. ten A. M., of the isth., reporting the rout and demoralization of Lee's army on the sith, and the rumored wounding of the Rebel leader himself, the capitulation of Harper's Ferry was taking place, surrendering over 11,000 men and 73 cannon to a portion of Lee's forces.
10
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
trated this line, the enemy's passage to our rear could have met with but feeble resistance."
On the afternoon of the 16th, while our brigade was in the act of changing position, and while resting along the Sharpsburg turnpike, Gen. Mansfield, now in com- mand of the new Twelfth Corps, passed the National Zouaves. He had, months before, been in command of the troops at Newport News, and had often visited Fort Monroe during the time the Tenth was garrisoning that post. His soldierly form and patriarchal beard were at once recognized by the regiment, and officers and men cheered him lustily, and crowded around him to tender a true soldierly greeting. The old general seemed much affected by the tribute from his old friends, and returned their salutation with many hearty words and sturdy grips of the hand. Before sunset of the next day he lay dead, sealing with his blood the long record of honorable service which he had given to his country.
Antietam Creek, in this vicinity, is crossed by four stone bridges-the upper one on the Keadysville and Wil- liamsport Road ; the second some two and a half miles below: the third about a mile lower still, on the Rohrers- ville and Sharpsburg Road, and the fourth near the mouth of the creek. The stream is sluggish, with few and diffi- cult fords.
Towards the middle of the afternoon of the 17th, six battalions of regulars were ordered by Gen. MeClellan to cross the bridge on the main road and attack and drive back the enemy's sharpshooters, which directions were carried out. Warren's brigade was detached to the support of Gen. Burnside during his attack upon the bridge (No. 3) on the left of the line. The attack was bravely made and the bridge carried by the 51st New
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