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 22
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BREAKING THE LINES, AND SAILOR'S CREEK.
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SAILOR'S CREEK BATTLEFIELD.
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The 6th Corps followed hard after General Wesley Merritt's cavalry, and as usual overtook them, about 3 P. M., after a march of eighteen miles, at a point two and a half miles from Sailor's creek on the left. Here the cavalry were having a brisk engagement with the enemy. Our 2d Brigade went into the action promptly, with scarcely a halt for preparation. The foe was charged, pressed back and a large haul made of pris- oners, wagon-trains and some artillery. However, the main body of the Confederates had gone on to Sailor's creek. Gen- eral Sheridan ordered an immediate pursuit, and we followed on. The 1st Division of our corps came up and joined in the pursuit. The greater part of the cavalry passed on to the left and south to intercept the retreating enemy. General R. S. Ewell was in command of the Confederates, and by 5 P. M. he had taken up a strong position on the west bank of the creek. His location was elevated and largely covered with forest. The approaches on the east were level and open, the stream itself washing the foot of the elevations. Here he awaited an attack, failing which he would, in the ensuing night, make good his escape to Danville. Without waiting for the portions of the corps which had not arrived, an immediate attack was ordered. and holding aloft their guns and ammunition, the swollen stream was forded, our soldiers literally "wading in." With only a single line, the heights were assaulted, while the cavalry, which had passed entirely around the enemy, furiously fell upon his rear. The Confederates, massed in heavy column and led by Ewell himself, broke our centre. This, however. only exposed him to the artillery across the stream, while the broken Union lines fell upon both flanks, and the cavalry pressed hard upon his rear. The enemy struggled manfully, but to no avail; even the bravery of desperation could not save, and there was noth- ing to do but to throw down their arms, and surrender. Com- modore J. Randolph Tucker in command of the Marine Bri- gade, a force of about 2000 men, also gave up, though only after a stubborn resistance. The most of the officers of this body, some thirty-five in number, before the war had served in the United States Navy, and before the evacuation of Rich- mond had made themselves useful in manning gunboats and river batteries. It was a singular decree of fate that sent them, these seventy and more miles from the Confederate Capital, to be made prisoners, of all places in the world for men bear-
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ing their name, at Sailor's Creek,* or, as it was sometimes salled. Sailor's Run, though be it said to their credit, they didn't
Among the officers who fell into our hands were Lieutenant General R. S. Ewell, Major Generals Kershaw, Curtis Lee and Pickett, with Brigadier Generals Barton, Corse and Lewis, while the rank and file number nearly 10,000 men. Yet such a victory has scant mention in the running histories of the day. The loss of so many men forced General Lee to move with what remained of his army northward. and three days later came the final scene at Appomattox. Though there were cavalry skirmishes afterwards, the battle practically closed the great engagement list. General Keifer's concluding words are: "It may truthfully be said that it was not only the last general field battle of the war, but the one wherein more officers and men were captured in the struggle of conflict than in any battle of modern times." In the report which followed this cam- paign. General Keifer is pleased to bestow merited praises upon several officers of our regiment, ascribing to Lieutenant Colonel Snyder great skill, judgment and bravery in the management of his regiment: "Major William Wood, while leading his bat- talion in a charge, received a dangerous wound from a canister- shot in the face; Majors Anson Wood, S. B. Lamoreaux and Captains George W. Brinkerhoff, Henry J. Rhodes and Chaun- cey Fish are among the many who did their duty nobly." He also praises Lieutenant J. W. Jewhurst, an aide-de-camp upon his staff, for his discharge of duty.
Of the part borne by the Ninth in this engagement the re- port of Colonel Snyder says, dealing apparently with the charge a short distance from the stream which gave its name to the entire battle:
"The regiment was formed in the second line, and advanced
.The peculiarity of this name for a stream so far inland having aroused my curiosity, I addressed a note to Richard McIlwaine, D. D., president of Hampden-Sidney College, located in the same county, Prince Edward's, asking him for an explanation, if possible, and he was kind enough to speedily return the following very lucid reason: "My impression is that the proper spelling of Saylors creek is with a ". In the last century, there was a family of Saylors in Prince Ed- ward's county, and my understanding is that the creek took its name from them." (The corruption of this name to that now used is very easy and the explanation reasonable .- A. S. R.)
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through a wood in good order. After clearing the wood it made a right wheel and moved forward about 200 yards, when it made a left half wheel. At this time I was ordered to charge a battery that was in our immediate front, in a piece of woods. which was firing shot and shell with great rapidity. We move forward on the double-quick, and soon forced the battery to limber up and retire. They planted the battery again in a piece of woods across an open field and opened on us with a heavy fire, but our advance across the field caused it to limber to the rear. The men were completely exhausted, having marched eighteen miles and receiving no rest before entering the action; if they had been fresh, we should have captured the battery without any doubt. The men behaved with their usual gallantry." He also pays tribute to the bravery of the officers complimented by General Keifer, and mentions the wounding of Major William Wood.
It was in this fight that Jimmy H., the discoverer of the "hul ribbel ahrmy" at Newtown in the valley, still further distin- guished himself by remarking to Sergeant Judah N. Taylor when the order to fix bayonets and charge came, "Sure, Jude, I canno' charge whin I have no bayonet;" but Jimmy was swept along with those who were properly equipped, for no one knew just how the remonstrant came to be without a proper outfit. Says an officer of this day: "I went over the field at Sailor's creek. The dead rebels covered the grounds; about ten of them to one of our men."
But this affair, however far-reaching in its effects, is only an interlude in the symphony that Grant is playing for the enter- tainment of mankind, and on the 7th we pass over the Lynch- burg railroad at Rice's Station, entering Farmville at noou very soon after rations had been issued by the enemy. Our bands give the citizens "Yankee Doodle" and the "Star Span- gled Banner" as we march through, crossing the Appomattox upon a pontoon bridge.
The debris and clutter of the flying foe cumber the entire way, but the reception accorded by the liberated slaves is some- thing to remember forever. That they were free and that their saviors were passing. drew from all of them fervent thanks and prayers. The farmers apparently had not cared to sow much wheat last fall, and what little they did put in, our beeves were rapidly cropping. Farmville is a fine village, and we hear that
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18.000 prisoners have been taken. Still following the flying foe. we march three miles the next morning, and draw three days' rations. The weather is very warm, made all the more so by the burning of a rebel wagon-train. A trace of slavery is seen in the form of a bright hazel-eyed, yellow-skinned boy, who answers our questions very intelligently, yet says he is a slave. Negro women are nearly frantic with joy over our com- ing. Farmville furnishes an abundance of tobacco, Virginia's peculiar product, and our boys help themselves. They are greedy, and start away with far more than they can carry. The roads are strewn with it.
Gardening was a favorite amusement as the army passed along. for it frequently revealed stores of food and liquors hidden in the ground. At Farmville this kind of industry was particularly fruitful. Sometimes the boys divided with the officers, and sometimes they didn't, depending somewhat on the quantity found, and the popularity of the shoulder-straps.
Our direction of the Sth must have been towards the north- west. for our camp at night is at New Store, and to reach Ap- pomattox Court House the next day we have to turn southward. However, though we reach New Store late, our camp is luxuri- ous to at least some of the Ninth. A member of Company L dilates on the comforts had from a feather-bed taken from the house of a reputed rebel captain. Like the Irishman's bedstead, viz .. the floor, our lad laid his bed on the most substantial of holders, the ground, and under the stars fancied himself at home again with his unwonted luxury. He says eight such bits of comfort were taken from the mansion, and in like manner were placed where the occupants wouldn't get hurt if they should fall out. But there is no sweet without its offset of bit- ter, and the next morning our boys were tauntingly called "feather-bed soldiers" by those not fortunate enough to get there first. Still there was warrant for such appropriation, since these boys in four days and nights had had only twelve hours' sleep. Sofa-bottomed chairs bestrewed the yard, and oil paintings hung upon the walls of the rooms, and singularly enough they were not disturbed, though some books were car- ried off. Also ablutions were performed in clean, white dishes by these campaign-stained travelers, who took occasion to re- mark that if the women hadn't run away, they (the soldiers) would not have disturbed a thing. There were buildings
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burned, however, among them one that was claimed to be or to have been the residence of the late General A. P. Hill, and to have been more recently used as headquarters. As the Ninth is a very large regiment, it is possible that all did not make this detour. Indeed, so frequently were detachments called for to attend to all sorts of duties, it would be particularly difficult to follow each and every company in its peregrinations.
The sublime and the ridiculous are ever very near each other. We find a verification of this on the 9th in that the sublime was indicated in the surrender of Lee and his forces; the ridic- ulous in the enforcement of General Seymour's order concern- ing hats. Light-colored ones are positively tabooed, and those captured are strung upon the bayonets of the guards. A mile- stone in history is set to-day, for the surrender of Lee marks the collapse of the cause for which he had sacrificed all his private opinions and all his expectations, for General Scott had believed him the man to succeed to the command of the armies of the United States. Cheers from thousands of throats indi- cated Union joy, and the tumult is increased by the salvos of artillery in honor of the event.
Fate is grim and without reason, else this part of America had not been selected as the climax of the greatest war of the century. Remote, and without distinguishing trait, it had re- mained unknown another hundred years had not the exigencies of the retreat led these armies hither. The name of McLean* and Appomattox are henceforth to be linked in story. and the brick house and apple-tree are to take their places in the lists of notables for coming centuries. General Grant in his matter- of-fact way dispels much of the halo that had, up to the writ- ing of his Memoirs, attached to the apple-tree. Of course the relic-hunter had carried it off bodily, but the general says that General Lee sat for a few moments by the road-side under its branches, and that no negotiations were had there. The officers met in the house of Mr. McLean, and there their staff-officers visited while the chiefs made the compact which resulted in the surrender of 25,000 worn-out Confederates to the Federal
*Wilmer McLean was living in 1861 on the Bull Run battlefield, his house there being Beauregard's headquarters. Later to escape his vexatious surroundings, he moved to this seemingly quiet locality. It was a strange decree of fate that made his home the very ending of the struggle.
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forces. The enemy had fought and retreated till there was noth- ing left for him to do but to lay down his arms and to receive such terms as General Grant chose to impose. The latter, de- termined and relentless in war, was mild and merciful in peace. The most stupendous of struggles was ended in the most com- passionate manner. The old world had never seen a conqueror dismissing the thousands whom he had beaten, to their homes and vocations bearing with them such articles as might con- tribute to their future well being. In every way, save in the universal quality of personal bravery, our war was an excep- tion to all those which thus far had devastated the earth. In
WHERE LEE SURRENDERED.
this lull of hostilities, old friends in both armies are renewing former intimacies and none are sorry that. when the leaders separate. it is with the understanding complete. There are few men living who do not regard that moment when the words. "Le has surrendered," were borne to their ears, in that far- away Virginia county, as the culminating moment of their lives. They lived years in those few hours of bliss, too intense for full expression. though they resorted to every possible form of indication. Nothing, however, in the crowning acts of this day elipses the merciful kindness of the conqueror in sending ra- tions from his trains which had followed hard after him, but
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the men themselves did not wait for the slower coming of food from the supply-trains. They, imbued with the same spirit as that of their leader, emptied their haversacks for the aid and comfort of those whom they had so recently fought and fol- lowed. Both sides had learned to respect each other. Says one "chiel," who would always be taking notes, "The rebels are as glad as we that it is over, and it is a glad sight to see them eat." Before we about-face for the return march, we have the unspeakable joy of seeing the flag saluted by the men who had scoffed at it for more than four long years, the very banner which was to hereafter float over a whole nation, one and indi- visible. i
Though the language of General Wright in this connection may add nothing to the foregoing, it is fitting that it should have a place in these pages. He says: "Starting at 5 A. M. on Sunday, the 9th, the 2d Corps was soon overtaken and followed closely to the vicinity of Appomattox Court House, where the troops were halted and held ready for any movement, awaiting the conference then being held between Generals Grant and Lee. Soon after halting, official intelligence of the surrender of General Lee's forces was announced to the army, and was received with great enthusiasm by the soldiers, who looked upon this as the result of all their privations, and as the virtual ending of the struggle which had convulsed the country for four years. in which they had willingly risked their lives and fortunes."
CHAPTER XXII,
THE DANVILLE RAID.
Some of the regiment as wagon-guard start back on the 10th, on which day, in spite of the recent order, three days' rations are distributed, possibly on account of recent generosity to- wards our hungry foemen. The 11th sees us beginning the backward march, reaching Farmville on the 12th and Burks- ville the 13th, where we camp near the junction for ten days. Foraging again is the order of the day, and the valley is recalled. Rain falls at intervals, and boys who lay down dry awake wet, sometimes drenched. So much so in some cases that stockings
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had to be taken off and wrung before boots could be put on. Trains come through from Petersburg, and regular rations are drawn. While here the distressing news of President Lincoln's assassination* on the 14th is received, and the joy at Lee's sur- render is lost in the gloom of this terrible crime. The 19th, twenty-minute guns are fired at headquarters in token of the burial. Services are also had and General Keifer speaks along with Colonel Snyder and Major A. S. Wood. All flags are craped.
While camping here, we see more than a hundred captured cannon. Seventy of them had been honored with burial, having headboards with all sorts of names and dates to mark their resting-place. As one of Sheridan's scouts assisted in the inter- ment, the deception was readily discovered. There were five
.Our late surgeon, Dr. Samuel A. Sabin, was an eye-witness of the terrible crime, as appears in the following, from a letter to his wife, dated Washington, D. C., April 15, 1865:
"Washington has been, from the first day I came here, until 10.30 o'clock last night, one constant and continued scene of rejoicing, but how soon and how suddenly to be changed to the deepest gloom, the most profound sorrow. Last night I was an eye-witness to the most appalling tragedy ever enacted in the history of the country. Lieut. Hoff, formerly of the 9th, is here, and rooms with me, and I proposed to go, last night, and hear Laura Keene in 'Our American Cousin' at Ford's Theatre. We occupied orchestra chairs near the stage and about the middle of the house. Mr. Lincoln, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and a gentleman whom I did not know (the gentleman was Major H. R. Rathbone, U. S. A., of Albany, who was wounded by Booth; the lady, a daughter of Senator Ira Harris of Albany also .- A. S. R.) entered the upper private box, on the right hand facing the stage, and you will recollect that the upper box is pretty high, facing the stage. The audience greeted him with pro- longed cheers, and in the midst of the act, when he entered, the band played a national air. Just as the curtain was rising, in the third act, the sharp report of a pistol was heard in the direction of the pres- ident's box, and immediately afterwards a man jumped from the box upon the stage with a drawn dagger in his left hand. The president's box was draped with flags upon the outside, and as he jumped from the box he was partially caught by a flag and fell upon the stage, but not entirely down. As he reached the stage he cried, 'Sic semper tyrannis,' and immediately ran along the footlights and left the theatre by a back entrance, where he had a horse waiting, which he mounted and rode rapidly off before the audience had recovered from paralysis occasioned by the unwonted spectacle. My first thought was that a boy in the gallery had fired off one of these large firecrackers 16
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which we have been hearing for the last week, and that one of the president's party had been seized with a fit, or had suddenly become insane, and I ran back towards the door to stop him, supposing, as he went behind the scenes, he had instead jumped to the floor and was coming around towards the door. As I got to the door, someone said, 'The president is shot,' and, thinking there would be no surgeon at hand I might be of service, I ran immediately to the president's box. When I got there I found everything, of course, in the utmost confu- sion, some calling for one thing, some for another. As soon as I saw the wound I saw there was no hope, and another surgeon had stated the same previously. Some brandy was brought and given, but he could not swallow. The bullet entered the head behind the left ear and penetrated the brain, lodging in the same. It seems the man entered the box on some pretence or other, and immediately fired his pistol with fatal effect and jumped upon the stage. The president, of course, was entirely unconscious, and remained so until he died at 7.30 o'clock this morning. He was carried as soon as possible to a private residence across the street, where he remained till he died. Mrs. Lincoln was nearly crazy, and as she followed the body from the theatre she cried in frantic words, 'Oh, my poor husband; oh, my poor husband!' I did not accompany the body across the street, as I might have done, dreading to be called as a witness when there should be an investigation. I shall never forget the expression of the assas- sin's face when he leaped upon the stage; his face as white as parch- ment, his black, fierce-looking eyes, his black moustache, the drawn dagger in his hand and the [to some] cabalistic words, 'Sic semper tyrannis,'-all made an impression upon my mind which can never be erased. Report says, and I do not doubt the truth, that J. Wilkes Booth is the assassin. He has been arrested and he is now being tried. When I returned to my hotel the bar-keeper came in and said that Secretary Seward and his two sons, Fred and Clarence, had all been cut to pieces by another assassin. I could not credit it and went to the secretary's house to ascertain the truth. I found it to be as the papers state it. I have just learned that Secretary Seward is out of danger, but Fred is not expected to live, his skull being badly frac- tured. *
* * I assure you it looked very sad to see the president lying in his box, shot through the head, when but a moment before he had been in full health and life, laughing at the numerous jokes with which the piece abounded. I could not, for a long time after I had seen him, realize that it was the president who was thus, without a moment's warning, all unconscious of the least danger, murdered by a foul assassin. * * I have just come in from the street, and where yesterday everything was covered with flags and everybody was rejoicing, all is covered with crape and everybody is mourning. When on my way from the theatre, last night, the streets were thronged with negroes, who were crying and wringing their hands in the greatest distress. The fence in front of the White House, to-day, is lined with negroes and they are expressing their great sorrow at the loss of their best friend."
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Armstrong guns, two mounted on English carriages, and one Whitworth. Seven rebel officers are reported shot for tearing up railroad track between Richmond and Petersburg. A good. long and much needed rest is had in this halt, and the boys get back to their normal selves.
But Johnston has not surrendered, so Sheridan's old guard of the valley along with his cavalry set forth to make the trip to Danville and thus unite with Sherman. The men are used to marching, and they are nothing loath to undertake the 125 miles to the North Carolina border. The railroad itself is pro- nounced the very worst we have seen, just old strap iron laid on longitudinal sleepers. The only wonder is that it was able to render the service that it did. Wrecked cars are frequent objects. It was over this road that Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet took their hurried ride from Richmond April 3d on their way to Danville, the last capital of the Confederacy. to- wards which we are wending our weary way. A considerable portion of our regiment is guarding wagon-trains, so we are not marching as a whole. To Northern eyes the country is not inviting. and we can not help noting the small acreage of grain. The 24th takes us to the Staunton river at Roanoke Station. The name arouses memories of John Randolph, who always affixed "of Roanoke" to his name, and very likely we may have passed quite near the old home of this descendant of Poca- hontas.
Once more we are in a land where foraging is possible, but of course, quite out of order, since Lee had surrendered. Notwith- standing, fresh pork was not an infrequent diet on this south- ern ramble. A small flat-bottomed boat takes us across the river at daylight of the 25th, for the bridge had been burned. The negroes are moving in great numbers towards Richmond. which now takes the place of heaven in their fancies; the face of the country improves as we advance further south. Planters wear pleasant faces, but we can not tell what is in their hearts. Strawberries and blackberries are in blossom. At nightfall we camp in Halifax Court House; others near Boston Station. where they entertain at supper and bivouac Jarvis Norman from Lee's army, exchanging reminiscences. The camp is on the farm of Dr. Coleman, consisting of thousands of acres. Colored women, wearing garments just the hue of the red soil they cultivate, are seen at work in the fields. Hereabouts the
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land is better, and better tilled than in the vicinity of Rich- mond. There are wheat-fields over a hundred acres in extent. One party saw a negro laborer whose overseer had stuck a knife into his shoulder because he could not cultivate corn more rapidly. Said overseer had left before we came along.
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