USA > New York > The Ninth New York heavy artillery : a history of its organization, services in the defe battles, and muster-out, with accounts of life in a rebel prison, personal experiences, names and addresses of surviving members, personal sketches and a complete roster, pt 1 > Part 18
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wounded rebel officers in the house, among them General Ram- seur, who died the next day. It was 10 o'clock when I was led in, and I remained there till Little Phil came and played hob with the Johnnies, and I saw them run. About 3 P. M. they came and carried off all the wounded officers they could and left the rest for the Yankees to take care of, including General Ramseur, some doctors and all wounded Yanks. I was in the house when General Sheridan came in, at night, and I saw him and heard him give orders about the wounded. Excitement ran high with all at headquarters, but the rebels were not quite so elated over their defeat as they were when I was first taken to the house, when they said they were going
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to run the Yankees into the Potomac. About 2 or 3 o'clock we knew that something was going on towards the north, as the noise of battle grew louder. We made up our minds that the Johnnies were retreating, and we got all the boys we could up stairs to see the fun. "The excitement kept some of us up who ought to have been down, myself among the rest, but we did want to see the rebels run. The old lady who had charge of the house told us we had better lie down or the enemy would run us off. and she was right; for very soon a reb sharp- shooter came running in and ordered all Yankees who could walk to go with him; as he had a gun, the advantage was with him. My hurt was in the head. but I wasn't walking just then, and the old lady told him none of us could walk (God bless her for that lie). and he opened the window to take a farewell shot at our boys as they were in sight. following the fleeing enemy mighty close. To open the window he had to set his gun down, whereupon the good woman grabbed it and wouldn't give it up until he promised to go down stairs and leave the house. If women can't fight they know how to help those who do. But the rebel did not get away, for I followed him and saw him cut down by a 5th New York Cavalryman about 100 feet from the' house. He had stayed with us too long. The cavalryman I happened to know. for I had seen him in Syracuse, and his name was Ormsby. He may be living yet. There were dead men around the house, some of ours, but mostly JJohnnies. The next morning as I was taken to Newtown, I saw the effects of the battle, and a sorry-looking sight it was. Many hundred wounded men of both sides lay on the ground in Newtown. The next day the doctors said they died like sheep the night before, for it was very cold during the night. Some folks say the Battle of Cedar Creek was not a surprise. but if it wasn't. then I don't know what a surprise party is. General and staff were all at sea. When the sun shone on us, about 8 A. M., troops could be seen all over falling back in line and in mobs. but at 5 P. M. the rebels were running. and they looked like a flock of dirty sheep. We looked badly enough in the morning. but what a mob the Johnnies were in the evening! They threw away all the blankets they had picked up in our camps in the morning and some had rolls as big as a man's body. I saw their officers try to stop them, but it was a stampede. Since the war, I have seen a stampede of cattle, and it was like that of the rebs at Cedar Creek. To say that I felt happy is no name for the feelings I had when I saw them running. I was not sure of living if I had remained a prisoner in their hands, for I was badly wounded: my jaw was broken and a large minie-ball was in my neck. but I forgot all my hurts in the joy of knowing that the enemy was beaten. I never saw the Old Ninth after that, and very few of the men that were in Company L. since- I was sent to the hospital in Philadelphia, and was discharged
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therefrom in 1865. I owe my life to Little Phil and the good ladies of Philadelphia, for he recaptured, and they nursed me back to health.
STEPHEN E. HURTUBISE.
INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.
Samuel F. Harris, then 1st sergeant of Company I, gives this version of the beginning and progress of the battle:
The night before the fight I sent a private of my company, Edward Dongus (sometimes called the Wild Dutchman), with some money to the sutler's to buy something for breakfast. Captain Hughes and myself were tenting together, and I told Dongus not to cook his purchase till morning, and I would help him. His reply was, "Ich cook him to-night, Ich haf him; Ich wait till morning, Ich don't haf him." Accordingly he and several others filled a large camp-kettle and cooked, I should think. nearly all night, for very early in the morning he came and pulled me out of the tent by my foot, and I went over with him and secured a dish of the stew, and brought it back for the captain; then returned and helped finish the kettle. We had got through our repast and were sitting around the fire talking and smoking, as soldiers are wont to do, when we were sur- prised to hear the report of two or three shots, apparently on picket over by the 19th Corps, and this was quickly followed by a volley. My first order was. "Fall in, company," and then I told Captain Hughes. We soon had orders to strike tents and to form line at the foot of the street, which we quickly did, and I am almost sure Company I was first in line, with tents struck, guns stacked and waiting orders; but we had not long to wait, for the regiment was quickly in line of battle, and soon began firing. It seemed to me as soon as the rebels would flank us, we would fall back slowly and then give it to them again. A good many from the 19th Corps who were surprised came rushing through our lines. Some would stop, but a great many kept on to the rear. Many in the 8th and 19th Corps were panic-stricken, and could not be stopped. I think more of the 19th than the Sth appeared along our lines. We continued to fall back slowly, contesting every inch about two miles past Middletown, where we threw up a temporary breastwork of rails near the road, and had orders to cook our breakfast. for very few had had my good luck, and it was pretty late for this first meal. almost 12 o'clock. We were busy cooking when General Sheridan came off the road just a few feet from my left. and rode in front of the lines. His words. as I remember them, were. "Boys, we will give them the worst whipping they ever had. We have got them, and not a man lives to see to-
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night without sleeping on his old camp-ground." This was all I could catch as he rode by. his horse all covered with foam. In a short time we had orders to advance, which we promptly obeyed. passing through a small woods in our front to a stone wall, where we made a short halt, but we soon advanced again. firing as we went, and never stopped till night. Some of the company went back to their old camp-ground, though some of us stayed where the 19th Corps had been, but in the morning we took our old positions.
The worthy sergeant had had an exceptionally good break- fast, but only the kindness of one of his company furnished him a supper. Says J. R. Northcott, now of Toronto, Canada: "The sergeant said, 'Well, boys, we shall have to wait till to-morrow for something to eat.' I said, No, sergeant, I have kept my haversack all day.' So we sat down and ended the day with a good supper, which we enjoyed as only veterans can."
Mention has been made of the worthy behavior of the recruits who had had little or no experience. Should any close student of data study the appended company rolls, he will have occa- sion to wonder at the mortalities and casualties among the recently joined members. Evidently the tyros did not like the terms of reproach sometimes used towards them by unthinking comrades, and so, needlessly, exposed themselves. The old soldier hunts cover not only to take care of himself, but he knows that a live fighter is a great deal better than a dead hero. In his admirable history of the Vermont brigade, Col- onel A. F. Walker says: "Fighting experience, which went so far in enabling a good soldier to accomplish the most with the least possible danger." To stand up and take it has long been a characteristic of the British people and their descendants. but the backwoods fighter of America was just as brave and a great deal more successful. From a letter of one of the boys, who came with the recent relay, the following is copied. Like the good boy and soldier that he was, Alfred E. Stacey of Company L was giving an early account of himself to the loved ones at home:
Near Strasburg, October 20.
I had a nice time of it yesterday, which was going into a big battle and coming out just as well as I went in, except being tired from climbing fences and backing up and charging on the Johnnies. A ball went through Anth's (his brother) cap, close to his head. He says he is glad he didn't grow any
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taller, for half an inch more of stature would have laid him out. The rebs dressed up in our clothes and relieved our pickets. Then they made a rush on the 19th Corps and clubbed them with their muskets. _ About 7 A. M. they were on to the 6th Corps, and all the regiments went back but the Ninth, which retired slowly, fighting step by step. The rebs flanked us, and we got our wounds there. We went back three miles and made breastworks of rails; it was here that General Sheridan rode along. You should have heard the cheering. He got here about 11 A. M., and at 3 we made the charge. We faltered once, but rallied.
In his diary for the same period, he enters:
Of the five recruits, one, H. Hayhoe, is dead, and Barber and George (his brother) are wounded. Over twenty killed and wounded in Company L. We camped at night on the same ground they drove us from in the morning. I tried to help some of the rebs to quit the Rebellion. I took aim at nineteen of them, besides, shooting without aim. Nearly all the rebs were hit in the head, ours in the legs.
His brother, George, was shot in the thigh.
The casualties among his comrades, recruits, is in evidence as to the care that older soldiers took of themselves. Three out of every five in the regiment would have made an excep- tional record.
William H. Tucker, Company B, now of Monona, Iowa, thinks no company was in the fight earlier than his:
I know our regiment stood in our original position till I had fired forty rounds, and was on the next forty when we fell back. and then we were nearly surrounded, yet we backed up in good order and continued to pour the lead into the Johnnies. I remember that when the rebs came down out of the fog to the little brook to get behind the stone wall, I shouted to my comrades, "Shoot down that flag." and we shot it down four times. in less than seven minutes, and then they lay behind the wall to hold it up.
George H. Alpeter, Company L, of Syracuse, N. Y., after 2 P. M., was shot three times-in the right leg, above the knee; right forearm, and just above the right ear; went first to the field hospital, Newtown, and thence in an ambulance to Mar- tinsburg. Six live men started in that vehicle; only two were taken out alive at the end of the trip. And yet after all these punctures, Comrade Alpeter rejoined the regiment in front of Petersburg. Truly there is a deal of wear in human nature.
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George A. Pitcher, Company H, of Nunda, N. Y., writes that he was one of nine members of that company who put up their tents on the very same ground that they occupied in the morn- ing. Evidently the regiment was not a united body when the day was done, but some recalled Sheridan's promise and wanted to verify it. Pitcher was one of the recent comers.
Lieutenant Fish of Company B was again wounded and carried from the field, many thought, for the last time; but there was wear in the lieutenant yet. His company had fifteen killed and wounded. Behind the chimney of Major Snyder's quarters lay three dead rebels.
During the hottest of the morning's fighting, and when wounded men were going or being helped to the rear, an officer saw a man drop his gun and start back, and, fearing some might go who had no need, he took the man by the shoulder, saying, "Where are you going?" With a woeful face, the man pointed to his head, and replied, "Oh, I'm hit, I'm hit." A bullet had cut a hole in his hat, from which his hair instead of his brains protruded. Lifting his hat the officer says, "Oh, you are all right; it hasn't drawn blood;" whereupon the scared man smilingly returned to the ranks and his weapon.
Adjutant Vincent A. Kenyon presents this graphic picture of a scene in this October drama:
Acting Adjutant Philip Sturge of Company K was shot through the neck and fell from his horse, and as his foot was not released from the stirrup, he was dragged some distance in full view of the regiment. He was supposed to be mortally wounded, but he is alive to-day. When his foot was freed, the horse galloped off wildly across the open plain or pasture to the enemy, entering their lines, though he, apparently, had no in- tention of stopping. for more than a hundred rebels tried to head him off. waving battle-flags, hats and guns in front of him; but he dodged them all and made straight for our lines. about a quarter of a mile to our left, amidst a shower of bul- lets. In a second, before any one could stop him. he had made his way through our soldiers and, coming up behind Colonel Snyder's cream-colored horse, taking his place upon the col- onel's left, came to a dead halt. In a moment Colonel Snyder had another officer in the saddle. The whole affair did not take ten minutes, nor even five, as he went on a keen run, and did not stop nor change his gait till he reported for duty to our colonel. Being a white horse, or nearly so, he made one of the grand sights of the war; his head and tail were well up as he ran to and from the rebel lines, and when in them, seeming to
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be on inspection bent, he kept moving fast, as much as to say. "No, you don't." The view was immense, not a tree nor a hedge, and the lines were not more than a quarter of a mile apart, firing into each other's faces almost. Upon one portion of the line, the firing almost ceased as we watched the horse, he being in full sight of the regiment from start to finish. When he took his place again by the colonel's side, cheers went up, and then the shooting began again.
General Early in his account of the battle. says:
This was a case of a glorious victory, given up by my own troops after they had won it, and it is to be accounted for on the ground of the partial demoralization caused by the plunder of the enemy's camps, and from the fact that the men under- took to judge for themselves when it was proper to retire. Had they but waited, the mischief on the left would have been remedied. I have never been able to satisfy myself that the enemy's attack, in the afternoon, was not a demonstration to cover his retreat during the night. It certainly was not a vig- orous one, as is shown by the fact that the very small force with Ramseur and Goggin held him in check so long, and the loss in killed and wounded in the division which first gave way was not heavy, and was the least in numbers of all but one, though it was the third in strength, and its relative loss was the least of all the divisions. There was an indi- viduality about the Confederate soldier which often caused him to act in battle according to his own opinions, and thereby impair his own efficiency; and the tempting bait offered by the rich plunder of the enemy's well-fed and well-clothed troops, was frequently too great for our destitute soldiers and caused them to pause in the career of victory.
It may be asked why with my small force I made the attack. I can only say we had been fighting large odds during the whole war. and I knew there was no chance of lessening them. It was of the utmost consequence that Sheridan should be prevented from sending troops to Grant, and General Lee. in a letter received a day or two before, had expressed an earnest desire that a victory should be gained in the valley if possible. and it could not be gained without fighting for it. I did hope to gain one by surprising the enemy in his camp. and then thought. and still think. I would have had it if my directions had been strictly complied with, and my troops had awaited my orders to retire.
This explanation was written by our opponent the year after the close of the war, and is as good a setting forth as his side could have. Whatever the cause, whether individuality of the soldier or the fortune of war, terrible disaster overtook the Con- federates, and the to them bright sun of the morning became
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at eve the gloomiest of objects, and though there were Con- federates in the valley to the end, they were of comparatively little consequence; their power to seriously cripple had departed with their losses on this 19th day of October.
Early lost 1860 killed and wounded with above 1200 pris- oners; twenty-four cannon fell into our hands, besides the same number, taken in the morning, recaptured by us in the after- noon; we retook all our lost ambulances and seized fifty-six of his, along with many stands of colors; in addition to all of this, the cavalry captured and burned many baggage-wagons and ambulances. So effectually had Early's artillery been captured (he had lost fifty-six pieces in all) that when a new requisition on the Richmond War Department was made, the order was filled, but a waggish clerk directed the same to General P. H. Sheridan, care of General Jubal A. Early, and it, too, in time, reached its destination.
Nor did we escape without serious gaps in our own ranks. The morning's attack had swept more than 1400 men into the hands of the enemy, and these, kept in order, Early says were the only men under his direction who were not in confusion in the grand culmination. Indeed, he ascribes the lack of more vigorous pursuit to the fact that the Union cavalry mis- took these prisoners, in the twilight, for a compact, battle- ordered array of Confederates. We lost 569 killed, and 3425 wounded, a record calculated to distribute sorrow through thousands of northern homes. In the final aggregates, it is in- teresting to note that our own regiment, in this battle for the first time fighting together, lost more men than any other organization at Cedar Creek. Sixty-four of our comrades were killed or mortally wounded, and the other wounded brought our total of casualties up to 208. Comparing other heavy artil- lery regiments, presumably as large as ours, we find the 1st Vermont losing 24 killed and mortally wounded, with an aggre- gate of 107, including 20 missing. The 2d Connecticut foots up 44 as above, with an aggregate of 190, including 60 miss- ing. No other regiment in the division, save the 10th Vermont, needs more than one numeral to express the killed. In our own brigade all the other regiments together do not equal our loss. It is evident that there was reason for the boast, made by the boys of the Ninth, that they stood up and fought, and that the enemy appeared to have no difficulty in finding
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them. No member of the regiment ever failed to accord the highest praise to Lieutenant Colonel Snyder for the masterly manner in which he led his boys on that day. He was coolness and courage personified.
General officers as well as their men were much in the way of bullets, and General Charles Russell Lowell of the 2d Mas- sachusetts Cavalry, in the battle commanding a brigade, who had ridden so bravely in the charge at Winchester, here rode to his death; Colonel Joseph Thoburn, a division commander in the 8th Corps, and General Daniel B. Bidwell of the 3d Brigade, 2d Division, 6th Corps, had gone down in the early morning. Colonel J. H. Kitching of the 6th New York Heavy Artillery was fatally wounded, while missiles found Colonel R. S. Mackenzie and William H. Penrose, both commanding brigades. General Ricketts of our own division was wounded soon after the battle began, and was carried from the field; General Grover of the 19th Corps was severely injured, and no 6th Corps man will ever forget the bloody face that our gal- lant Wright carried over the field from early morn until the fight was fought and won.
The battle and the victory made Sheridan a major general in the United States Army.
It is always difficult to give exact data concerning numbers engaged. As a rule both sides, for obvious reasons, will reduce their statements as much as possible; but the following compi- lation made by General Richard B. Irwin, historian of the 19th Army Corps, may be considered as fair as any. He says: "Wright commanded an effective force of not more than 31.000 officers and men of all arms, made up of 9000 in the 6th Corps; 9500 in the 19th Corps; 6000 in Crook's command, and 6500 cavalry. The infantry probably numbered 23.000: Ricketts, -500; Emory, 9000; Crook, 5500. Of these, therefore, the hard fighting fell on 17,500. The losses in the 6th and 19th Corps nearly all occurred in the early morning, being about 4500; the two corps should have mustered 13.500 for the counter-attack in the afternoon, yet the ground they then stood upon, from the road to the brook, measures barely 7400 feet. With all allowances, therefore, Sheridan can not have taken more than 4000 men into this attack. This leaves out Crook's men bodily. and calls for 5500 unrepentant stragglers from the ranks of Emory and Wright-one man in three. After all there is noth-
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ing so extraordinary in this, but strange indeed would it have been if many of these skulkers had come back into the fight as Sheridan considerately declares they did.
"As to Early's force, the difficulty of coming to a positive conclusion is even greater. General Early himself says he went into the battle with but 8800 muskets. General Dawes, per- haps the most accomplished statistician of the war, makes the total present for duty, 22.000; of these 15,000 would be infantry. The figures presented in the Century War Book call for 15,000 of all arms. Of these 10,000 would be infantry."
FORD AT CEDAR CREEK.
CHAPTER XIX.
FROM CEDAR CREEK TO PETERSBURG.
If possible the day after a battle is more trying to the nerves than the fight itself. Then there is the excitement, amounting almost to intoxication, to prompt the soldier to action, but when the foe has fled and we seek out and bury our dead. then come tears, the trembling lip, and the heartache, to last till its latest throb. One man buries on the field his tent-mate. To one northern home will go the sad news that husband and father
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are slain on the same day and now sleep side by side. For days after the fight, along the stone walls, dark, clotted masses proclaim the pools of blood where life was rendered.
Besides our own comrades, lying with their white upturned faces, the ground is strewn with the dead bodies of our late enemies once as quick as we, those who with exultant shout dashed through our ranks on yestermorn. Truly they are
"Friend, foe,-in one red burial blent!"
While the cavalry hangs on the rear of the demoralized Con- federates, making their rout complete, to the infantry comes the task of rendering back to earth the clay which till yesterday had marched, camped, hoped and suffered with us. Their bivouac is to be eternal; we are to take up the strife on the morrow, respond once more to the bugle-blast, but
"No sound can wake them to glory again."
Their forms will be missed in the home circles, their names will be preserved in the national archives, but as active par- ticipants in the battle of life, they have ceased and passed out into the unseen.
Till November 9th some part of the regiment with the army remains in camp near Cedar creek. The weather advances from cold rain and frosts to snow and need of winter quarters, and reveille comes earlier than ever.
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From "Hardtack and Coffee," by permission.
ROLL-CALL.
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As it is evidently not the intention of the authorities to keep us here all winter, but little provision is made for cold weather, only now and then a mud and stick chimney at the end of a tent to admit of a better fire. Fence-rails have become very scarce, and sometimes are carried a mile. It is, however, no life of ease and inactivity. There are wagon-trains to be guarded, prisoners to be escorted, and no end of foraging to be done. One of the first tasks to be performed is that of escorting the captured rebels to a place of confinement.
Our regiment takes its part in escort duty, and on the 21st Major Burgess starts in command of the 500 or more detailed for this purpose. There are about 2000 of our captured foemen, and it is a responsible matter to see them safely placed in final custody. The route is through Winchester and Bunker Hill to Martinsburg. Notwithstanding the Confederates' long ex- perience, many of them suffer from blistered feet. A part of the trip is made through a drizzling rain. We reach Martins- burg in the afternoon of the 22d, and see the Johnnies safely stowed on the train in care of a few men for each car. Then the majority of the men return to our regiment, while the guard goes on with the train to Harper's Ferry. There they change cars, and rations are served. The orders are to use the men civilly, but to guard them closely. On arrival in Baltimore, the rebels are placed in Fort McHenry. Late in the evening they are taken thence and placed upon a transport, which pro- ceeded down Chesapeake bay to Point Lookout, just at the mouth of the Potomac.
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