USA > New York > Services of the Tenth New York Volunteers (National Zouaves,) in the War of the Rebellion > Part 22
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During the next few days the Second Corps was al- most continually in motion. The lines of the army now extended from the Appomattox River, on the right, to the Jerusalem plank road, on the left, and works were thrown up aeross that highway. On the 22d, Col. Smyth's bri-
* swinton, in his "Army of the Potomac." p. 256, says : " It is a mistake to sup- pose that soldiers, and especially such soldiers as composed the American army, are lavish of their lives; they are chary of their lives, and are never what newspaper jargon constantly represented them to be-' enger for the fray.'"
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
gade held works just erected on the left of this road and near the "Jones House," while the balance of the corps, in conjunction with the Fifth, advanced against the en- emy's works, preparatory to a concerted movement to the left against the Weldon Railroad. The Rebel corps of Gen. A. P. Hill succeeded, however, in flanking Barlow's division, and the entire Second Corps was taken in re- verse, losing many in killed, wounded and prisoners, as well as MeKnight's four-gun battery. The Second and Sixth Corps again went forward, and succeeded in re- gaining the lost ground and throwing up intrenchments; but a reconnoissance afterwards made disclosed the faet that the Rebels were strongly intrenched along the east side of the Weldon Railroad.
The author has no knowledge of any loss sustained in our own brigade during the day's operations, but he has a distinet recollection of the tremendous shelling which it underwent while holding the breastworks. The case shot and shrapnel whistled through the woods, bursting in every direction, the fragments striking with a thud everywhere. All would have welcomed an order to advance, in preference to remaining where they were posted. This lying under the fire of artillery always proved demoralizing, and was one of those things which "took the starch out of one's enthusiasm, and made the poetry of war a sickening prose." There was sometimes a grateful sound in the screech of a rushing shell, but that was when it was traveling towards the enemy. Horses and mules shiver and tremble when the whirr and whiz of a shot or shell is heard-a something supernat- ural appearing to have taken wings to itself. Sokfiers are sometimes affected similarly, until reason tells them
301
THE SECOND CORPS IN CAMP.
that the missile will fall short or overreach them, when common sense resumes its sway.
A few days after the unfortunate affair just noted, the Second Corps was withdrawn to the rear and went into camp. Its constant work since the commencement of the campaign, with the heavy losses sustained, had not only depleted it in numbers-it being but a mere shadow of the noble corps which was reviewed by Gen. Grant at Stevensburg two or three months previous- but the morale of the men appeared at a lower ebb. This was seen conspicuously in the battle of the 22d, where they lost a battery of guns which were not recaptured- the first guns the corps had lost, with the solitary excep- tion of one piece which had to be abandoned on the 9th of May, while withdrawing across the Po River. This state of affairs was probably owing to the heavy loss of officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, whose places had necessarily been filled by those less experi- enced, and somewhat also to the quality of the recruits received since the opening of the campaign. These causes had undoubtedly inpaired the efficiency of many of the regiments, but the corps needed rest, and this was now accorded to it in a certain measure, although the relief which it was possible to obtain in front of a be- sieged city, and liable to active operations each day, was not the quiet which would have been attainable in a camp remote from the sound of the enemy's guns.
By the 27th of June Gen. Hancock was so far recov- ered as to permit him to resume command. On the 29th Col. Smyth was ordered to move to the front and left and occupy a portion of the breastworks of the Sixth Corps, which had been suddenly ordered to Washington
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
to repel Gen. Early's invasion. In this position the bri- gade remained until the 2d of July.
The dust in the camps and on the roads had become several inches deep, owing to the long drouth, with the ceaseless rolling of wagons and tread of feet, and the entire army was suffering from the dry weather. Our battalion hungered for something palatable, which would be a change from the monotonous diet furnished by the commissary, and, while in these breastworks, the Sani- tary Commission opportunely appeared upon the scene and furnished vegetables and pickles to the troops with- out stint, a good-sized barrel full of piekles falling to the share of the Tenth. Just as they were received, however, orders came to leave the works, and the main part of the barrel was left, falling perhaps into the hands of some other regiment. This incident only proved the home-made adage, "It never rains but it pours," and our soldiers had often seen it verified. Fresh beef would sometimes be an every-day diet for days and weeks, un- til "salt horse " would have brought a dollar a pound if it could have been purchased. Suddenly facilities would allow issues of salt meat, and bacon would form the staple ration for weeks more, until every one was willing to forfeit a good part of his pay for a chance at a fresh steak again.
Between the 2d and 26th of July the Tenth was em- ployed in various duties : tearing down old breastworks in some places and assisting to erect new ones in others ; digging covered ways in the rear of some portions of the line, and of course doing a certain amount of picket duty, although on the rear line. During this time, how- ever, opportunity was had for comparative rest and a general cleaning and brightening up, which was duly
303
CONSTRUCTION OF THE MINE.
appreciated. On the 18th a huge thirteen-inch mortar was placed in position on the track of the City Point Railroad, and the "Petersburg Express," as it was termed by the boys, sent its first compliment into the city, and thereafter made regular music. The next day was signalized by a heavy fall of rain, the first for nearly forty days. It continued all day and part of the night, and its cheering influence was felt immediately by the entire army.
On the 26th of July was completed an important work, which had been commenced a month previous. A mine had been excavated from a point on the line occu- pied by the Ninth Corps to a Rebel fort situated about two thousand yards from Petersburg. The work had been undertaken by Lieut .- Col. Pleasants, of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who originated the idea, and his regiment carried the project to a successful comple- tion ; many officers and men of the command having been familiar with mining operations before the war. When the mine had been pushed about five hundred feet and the locality of the fort was reached, only about twenty feet of earth intervened between it and the miners, and the sounds of nailing and placing of timbers for artillery platforms could be distinctly heard. The fact of the mine's existence could not, of course, be alto- gether concealed from our own army ; but its exact locality was known to comparatively few, and, to keep the enemy from obtaining any knowledge of the matter, intercourse between the picket lines had been strictly prohibited, and incessant skirmishing and artillery firing was kept up in front of the Ninth Corps.
The time for the explosion of the mine and the ac- companying assault on that portion of the line seemed
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
to have arrived, and Gen. Grant began a series of move- ments to induce Gen. Lee to draw off a large proportion of his troops from the immediate front of Petersburg. At four o'clock, on the afternoon of the 26th, the Second Corps left its camps and moved rapidly some seven or eight miles to the Appomattox, below Petersburg, cross- ing on pontoons during the evening and continuing its march to the James River, which was also crossed in the same manner at daylight of the 27th. Line of battle was immediately formed by the corps at Strawberry Plains ; Gen. Sheridan, with his cavalry, being on its right, and a brigade of the Nineteenth Corps on the left, with Gen. Foster's division of the Tenth Corps on the extreme left of the line, in an intrenched camp.
At seven o'clock the Second Corps began an advance, the skirmishers of Col. Smyth's brigade spreading out across the open ground in front of the enemy, who lay along a road skirting a pine forest, and in rifle pits, with a battery of four twenty-pounders. The gunboat Men- dotu, in the stream, opened fire with her hundred-pounder Parrotts, and the huge shells hurtled over the left of our line and threw up tons of earth where they struck. The enemy replied rapidly to our artillery and musketry ; but, in the meantime, Gen. Miles' brigade of the First Division, having flanked their position, charged their line, and Gen. Kershaw, the Rebel commander, retreated, abandoning his battery, which proved to be one captured from our troops at Drury's Bluff two months before. The corps was now halted, the enemy retreating to a ridge about a mile distant and intrenching. In the even- ing an advance was made, skirmishing again taking place for a while. No loss of consequence had been sustained by our Third Brigade during the day, but the troops suf-
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STRAWBERRY PLAINS.
fered terribly from the heat, several men of the brigade, including two or three of the Tenth, being overcome.
The next day Col. Smyth marched the brigade to sup- port cavalry operations on the right, at dark taking up a new position and throwing up a line of works. On the 29th skirmishing occurred, and demonstrations were made at several points along the line.
Nearly 20,000 men, with 20 guns, had now been sent to the north side of the James, and on this date (29th) a train of about 400 empty wagons was sent over one of the pontoon bridges, as if a movement of the main part of the Union army in this direction was contemplated. In consequence, Gen. Lee hurried a heavy force from Petersburg to the Richmond side of the James, and, im- mediately after dark, the Second Corps moved silently back across the bridges-which had been covered with grass and brush to prevent noise-and marched swiftly all night, arriving before daybreak in front of Peters- burg, where the usual musketry and artillery firing was monotonously progressing. The march had been unusu- ally severe, and many of the Tenth had fallen out along the road, being unable to keep awake or on their feet. "Hancock's Cavalry" (as our men now designated the corps) did not bring half its numbers to the halting place overlooking the city, but its organization was intact and the regiments ready for action.
The moment for the grand denouement had come. The plan was to explode the mine and then instantly open a eannonade from nearly a hundred guns, under cover of which a storming party was to rush through the gap in the enemy's lines and endeavor to carry Cemetery Hill, a very strongly fortified crest beyond, the key to
20
1
306
THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
the Confederate position. The assaulting force con- sisted of the Ninth Corps, supported by the Eight- eenth, with the Second Corps in reserve on the right and the Fifth on the left-the entire force being closely massed and leaving only necessary garrisons to hold the more distant points of the line.
At fifteen minutes before five o'clock, the earth in the neighborhood of the fort trembled, and then rose in the air with a dull, rumbling noise, carrying with it the fort, guns, caissons and the unfortunate regiment manning the work. Instantaneously our batteries opened fire, but it was some minutes before Marshall's brigade, of the Ninth Corps, rushed to the charge, capturing several hundred prisoners in the rifle pits, and closely followed by other brigades. And now, after occupying the crater which had been formed by the explosion, a fatal delay occurred ; the hour thus lost to our troops giving the enemy ample time to recover from their consternation : and, when the divisions of the Ninth Corps advanced from the ruined fort towards Cemetery Hill. they were met by a fire before which they recoiled in dismay. Fer- rero's colored division was then sent to attempt what the other divisions had failed to accomplish, and. though they advanced gallantly and confidently, the increasing fire from the front, right and left compelled them to fall baek and seek shelter in the erater, which had now be- come a veritable slaughter-pen-the enemy concentrat- ing the fire of every available gun upon this particular point. At length, about noon, a general retreat to our lines was ordered.
Thus, the much-talked-of mine explosion, and the ae- companying efforts to carry the enemy's position, had met with a most discouraging failure. But for the hesi-
307
AGGREGATE OF THE LOSSES.
tation and delay of the troops after reaching the de- stroved fort, and the absence of a competent head or leader at the scene of the assault, the enemy would have been taken by surprise, with a large part of their force absent, and Petersburg would undoubtedly have fallen on the 30th of July.
August Ist our corps went into camp, the Third Bri- gade erecting tents in a fine piece of woods towards the rear line, and for a few days there was literally nothing to do between picket tours but to "lay off " and en- deavor to keep cool, or snatch noonday naps, lulled by the regular thunder of the great siege Parrotts, which sounds had become so monotonous that a cessation would actually have caused restlessness.
A report submitted by Col. Smyth, detailing the ope- rations of the Third Brigade during the months of May, June and July, stated that the loss of the brigade dur- ing that period had been : Commissioned officers, 103; enlisted men, 1832-a total of 1955. The Tenth New York Volunteers lost, during the months of May and June, as follows :
Commissioned officers,
2 killed or died of wounds. 5 wounded. 39 killed or died of wounds.
Enlisted men,
114 wounded.
30 missing.
Total,
190
During these two months sixty recruits had been re- ceived by the Tenth, which number, added to the strength of the battalion when it crossed the Rapidan (say 260), would make a total of 320; add to this the few return- ing from sickness or wounds, and from that total the
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
above loss of 190 was sustained. Since the beginning of the campaign, Second-Lieut. Geo. W. Halstead had received a commission as first-lieutenant, and Sergts. William F. Beers and Harvey Curtis (both wounded on the 6th of May) had been promoted to second-lieuten- ancies.
Two weeks after the mine explosion, the Second Corps again received an order to march, and, an hour after its reception, was on its way to City Point, arriving at nine, P. M., of the same day. While bivouacking here, an en- tire new stand of colors (National, State and guidons), presented by the city of New York, was received by the Tenth. They were very acceptable, as the National color which had been carried during the campaign was in a tattered condition. Numberless bullet holes through the flag and staff and several dark red stains attested to the fighting it had witnessed, and it was with feelings of reverence that the old banner was carefully wrapped and laid away in the battalion wagon until opportunity should offer for its transportation to New York.
During the afternoon of the 13th of August, the corps embarked on transports for an unknown destina- tion, many supposing that Washington was the point aimed at. The fleet dropped down the James River about two miles, there anchoring ; and about ten, P. M., steamed back up the river to Deep Bottom, near Straw- berry Plains, where preparations were made to land. It was daylight before the Second Division had disem- barked, stacking arms on the river bank, and an hour later ere it moved to the front, occupying the works built here the preceding month by the Second Corps. If a surprise had been intended, it was a failure, for the enemy were on the alert and as ready as usual ;
309
DEEP BOTTOM.
their stubborn resistance to our skirmishers attesting the fact.
This movement of the corps to the north side of the James was evidently made with the intention of attack- ing the enemy suddenly and unexpectedly, forcing the lines around Richmond, if possible, and at least drawing heavily on Lee's troops at Petersburg ; it being then Gen. Warren's part to strike the Weldon Railroad with his Fifth Corps. Until the night of the 20th, the Second and Tenth Corps were almost continually skirmishing with the enemy and attempting to force their lines at different points. The Tenth Corps was engaged in seve- ral charges upon the enemy's works, supported by the Second, and several attacks by the enemy were repulsed. Works were thrown up by our own battalion at different times, and marches and counter-marches made. On the. 20th, after dark, the Second Corps withdrew from its position, recrossing the James by pontoons, and after a dreary and fatiguing night march over miserable roads- a repetition of the march on the night preceding the mine explosion, but longer-we arrived near our old camps about eleven, A. M., of the 21st. Here we re- mained just long enough to cook coffee, and then the First and Second Divisions were ordered to the vicinity of the Fifth and Ninth Corps, to slash timber and com- plete the defensive lines. These troops, under Warren, had succeeded in capturing and holding possession of the coveted Weldon Road, after some desperate and pro- longed fighting.
Until the 2234, the time was spent in this bivouac, with mud, rain, and plenty of fatigue duty for accom- paniments. At three o'clock, on the afternoon of that day, our Second Division left camp and marched by a
E
:
310
THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
circuitous route towards Ream's Station, on the railroad, and about six miles from the captured point. Warren's hold on the road was not as yet altogether assured, and Gen. Hancock's mission was to destroy the track as far as practicable. Gibbon's division bivouacked about eleven, P. M., and early next morning reached Ream's-where the First Division, now commanded by Gen. N. A. Miles, had already arrived-and commenced the work of de- struction. The rails, for some distance, were soon torn up and bent, and the ties burned, the road at this point being entirely destroyed. At dark, the two divisions, numbering together about six thousand men, took posi- tion in the breastworks which had been thrown up along the west side of the railroad. It was evident that Gen. Hancock intended to continue his work on the following morning.
During the night it was learned that large bodies of Rebel troops had left Petersburg and were marching towards the Weldon Road. Therefore, at daylight of the 25th, Hancock ordered a cavalry reconnoissance, to ascertain what, if anything, was in his front, meanwhile ' suspending further destruction of the railroad. The cavalry reported, on their return, that they had driven in the enemy's piekets without developing any apparent increase of strength, and, at about seven, A. M., the Se- cond Division vacated the intrenchments to recom- mence work -the Third Brigade moving southwardly along the railroad. Scattering shots were very soon heard ahead, and straggling cavalrymen came riding in with accounts of a heavy attack upon their outposts. Col. Smyth immediately deployed the Tenth and the First Delaware, our battalion covering the right flank. The brigade continued its advance a few rods and then
.
311
BATTLE OF REAM'S STATION.
deployed, discovering the enemy's infantry in force. The brave Capt. Hawley, of the 14th Connecticut, acting on the brigade staff, was here instantly killed. Less than an hour's sharp skirmishing proved that we could gain no headway, and that, to avoid being surrounded, it was imperatively necessary to move back and rejoin the main body. This was accomplished with considerable difficul- ty, the hostile force having closed in upon each flank .*
Gibbon's division was placed in position upon elevated ground, in ploughed fields, and facing to the south and east, and somewhat towards the rear, the line held by Hancock now forming something of a triangle, with the apex upon the railroad and pointing south.
During the afternoon, the forces of the enemy. com- posed of several brigades of cavalry, and three divisions of infantry of four brigades each, all under command of Gen. A. P. Hill,t made two determined charges upon the works occupied by the First Division, but were success- fully repulsed in these .; Their artillery was then brought
*" Great Civil War." III., p. 476: " Smyth's brigade of infantry was at once pushed forward and deployed as skirmishers, the cavalry retiring behind them. Smyth drove back the enemy's skirmish line some distance, but presently meeting a stronger force, was himself compelled to fall back to the main body of the division, which was now in line of battle."
t The force opposed to Hancock's 6000 infantry and 2000 cavalry has been esti- mated as high as 18,000.
* "Great Civil War." III., p. 477: " About half-past three, the enemy's col- umn emerged from the woods in close line of battle, and, with bayonets fixed, rushed towards the Federal works, and succeeded in getting within twenty paces of them, in spite of a murderous fire of musketry and of artillery from four batteries, when they recoiled, broke and hastened back to their cover, having suffered frightful loss. Another assault, made an hour later, had a similar result. The enemy now went to work in the woods, felling trees, for the purpose of planting bat- teries. * they succeeded it length in getting a very heavy concentric fue upon the Federal lines, into which they poured shell and shot, with- out an instant's cessation, for twenty minutes, and with a most destructive effect, such missiles as passed Miles' (First Division) men harmlessly. enfinding the rank> . of Gibbon's division."
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
to bear heavily on our lines, the severe fire from the rear causing considerable loss to our troops on the hill, who were engaged in a skirmishing fight with the enemy now advancing on the left of our position. Under cover of this cannonading, the front line was again attacked, and this time enfiladed and forced by the Rebel divisions, and several guns lost. Col. Smyth now faced his brigade about and advanced to the assistance of the front line. The left regiments, now the right, consisting of the 12th New Jersey, 14th Connecticut, and three companies of the Tenth New York, headed by Capt. Field, Major Woods, the adjutant and Color-Bearer Sam. Minnes, charged a section of the captured works, driving the enemy from them and retaking three of the guns .* Here the small force was subjected to an annoying enfilading fire from the Confederates, who still occupied a portion of the works to the left. and Capt. Edward P. Brownson, Mustering Officer on Gen. Hancock's staff, was mortally wounded while fighting with the Tenth. The three com- panies of the battalion remaining with the main portion of the brigade, met with some loss in the advance and also in resisting the attacks made by a heavy flanking foree of the enemy, apparently bent upon overwhelming the dismounted squadrons of Greggs' cavalry covering our left. The courageous troopers, shielding themselves with a breastwork of railroad ties, fought their oppo-
* ** Great Civil War," III., p. 478: "At this crisis a part of Gibbon's division was hurried across the rear from the left, under a heavy fire, to the support of Miles, * * * and arrived in time to drive back the enemy in that quar- ter, though at a fearful cost in killed and wounded. * But while a portion of Gibbon's troops were thus employed, a fieire attack was being made on the left by a large force of the enemy, consisting of Heth's division of infantry and Hampton's division of cavalry, equaling in impetus that which had been made on the centre. Gibbon's troops, already exhausted by their exertions, were hurried back to the left to withstand the more numerous enemy."
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BATTLE OF REAM'S STATION.
nents successfully and defeated the attempt to turn this flank.
Darkness closed in upon the bloody afternoon's work, and no reinforcements had arrived. The position was untenable, unless the works held by the enemy could be retaken, and, to do this with the two broken divisions of infantry and their exhausted cavalry supports, was deemed impossible against the strong lines which the enemy had shown. Orders to withdraw were therefore given, and, during the evening, our troops marched to the rear in a drenching thunder storm. The darkness was so intense that the men were, at times, forced to re- tain hold of each other to keep together along the wood roads.
The Tenth mnstered but a trifle, if any, over one hun- dred officers and men upon going into action, and lost ten or twelve of this number, as close as can be esti- mated. Privates Newman Wiener, of Company D, and Honore Poupart, of Company E, died of wounds re- ceived .* Corp. Andrew Clubb, of Company E, was shot in the head, at the works, and left for dead when the battalion withdrew, but was afterwards resuscitated by our surgeons, and eventually recovered. Considering the hot work in which the battalion was engaged, it was fortunate in sustaining its small loss. Some of the mem- bers-both men and officers-had remarkably narrow escapes while holding the retaken line-the Rebels delib- erately firing along the interior of the breastworks. We returned the fire with spirit, being guided after dusk by the sound of the enemy's voices and the clinking and rattling of their canteens, as well as by the flashes from their guns.
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