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 24
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civilization begins to appear again, for man recuperates rap- idly, and war's worst phases were seen here in 1861. One small house completely covered with a climbing rosebush made a last- ing picture in soldierly hearts as the route led quickly by. Such blossoms of red and white, and the beautiful flower gen- "rously bestowed by feminine hands, lightened many a weary step on that day's march. Camp is pitched between Bailey's " ross roads and Munson's hill, a location somewhat famous in the earlier days of the war (General Keifer says Ball's cross-
Streets are laid out regularly and regular routine is followed; varied by the distribution of soft bread, of which we had seen very little. since April 2d. Our rations, though ample, are waller than when on the march. for we do not need our old w;dy. The 6th of June brings brigade dress-parade, the first 1:
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in more than two months, in which time there has been very little of the show nature. Another parade follows on the 7th with flag presentation to General Keifer. Evidently our head officers like it. The great review of the Union armies had taken place, May 22d and 23d, from which the 6th Corps was debarred on account of its presence in southern Virginia. Our gallant Sheridan had asked that he might remain to participate in this pageant, but Grant had sent him to the southward to look after Kirby Smith.
Now on June Sth, that all those who had fought to save the Capital might, in triumph, march through its streets, the 6th Corps and the Cavalry Division then in Washington had their day. We marched across the Long Bridge, and thence to the head of Pennsylvania avenue, and so through the city to George- town, where we crossed by the Aqueduct Bridge to the Virginia side, and so proceeded back to camp. The 3d Division was on the left and the 2d Brigade held the left of the division, col- umn closed in mass, two paces between platoons. On Pennsyl- vania avenue we took wheeling distance; a little better. Six miles and no halt! The heat was severe, so much so that even horse-back riders were overcome, but we saw the president, and he saw us, though he was in the shade and we were not. General Grant also looked on. Be it remembered that thought- ful citizens along the way kindly gave us water and food of all kinds, else the suffering had been greater still. "A cattle- show of men." writes one participant. Added to our discom- fiture there arose a great thunder-storm, which deluged us with rain, driving in the dust of the march, and sending us to camp in anything but the proud array in which we had set forth in the morning. Reviewing and being reviewed are altogether differ- ent affairs.
Then followed a little more than a week of camp life, more or less monotonous. We visited old friends in neighboring camps and corps, read such papers and books as came into our hands, and ate our rations with measurable regularity. For fun we worked hard in blanket-tossing miscellaneous strollers of all colors who ventured into our midst, including the small African upon whom the gunpowder plot had been worked on our way up from Richmond. The youngster had developed amaz- ingly. and his impudence had gotten far beyond his discretion. when one day he completely overstepped all bounds of decorum
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by throwing a stone through a company street. This could not go unpunished, so the blanket was brought out and Sambo was hustled upon it. He had been there before, but this time he was elevated till the tossers themselves feared he would not come down, having thrown him seemingly out of the range of gravitation. When he was released he shook the dust of our camp from his feet saying, "You tossed me too high entirely."
Good singers helped the early night along with songs, whose refrain would be taken up from tent to tent. Very likely some may recall Ed. C., who had a penchant for Irish ditties, and how he generally led off with Finnegan's Wake, whose chorus once having sung no one could forget. It ran like this:
"Whack, hurrah, dance to your partner, Welt the floor, your trotters shake, Listen, 'tis the truth I tell ye, Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake."
The last word, shouted from tent to tent, would be heard gradually diminishing in canopied distance, till it was lost in the strains of the following stanza. A careful inventory of all government property is made on the 9th.
Our connection with the 6th Corps is severed June 15th, and General Keifer issues the following order in commemoration of the breaking up of relations so long maintained:
FAREWELL ORDER.
Headquarters 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 6th Corps, Army of Potomac, Camp near Washington, D. C.
June 15th, A. D., 1865. General Orders No. 28.
Officers and Soldiers: This command will soon be broken up in its organization. It is sincerely hoped that each man may soon be permitted to return to his home, family and friends, to enjoy their blessings and that of a peaceful, free and happy peo- ple.
The great length of time I have had the honor to command you has led to no ordinary attachment. The many hardships, trials and dangers we have shared together, and the distin- gnished services you have performed in camp, on the march, and upon the field of battle, have long since endeared you to me. I shall ever be proud to have been your commander, and will cherish a lasting recollection of both officers and men. Your efficient services and gallant conduct in behalf of human rights and human freedom will not be overlooked and forgotten by a grateful country.
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I can not repress the deepest feelings of sadness upon parting with you.
I mourn with you, and share in your sorrow, for the many brave comrades who have fallen in battle and have been stricken down with disease. Let us revere their memories and emulate their noble character and goodness. A proud and great nation will not neglect their afflicted families. The many dis- abled officers and soldiers will also be cared for by grateful people and an affluent country.
You have a proud name as soldiers; and I trust that, at your homes, you will so conduct yourselves that you will be honored and respected as good citizens.
I shall part with you entertaining the sincerest feelings of affection and kindness for all. hoping that it may be my good fortune to meet and greet you in future as honored citizens and friends.
J. WARREN KEIFER.
Though couched in excellent language and a valuable tribute. to our services, few thought as much of the separation then as they did later. Then home seemed nearing, and one boy wrote, "I can't state that I had many regrets at this separation. Didn't feel half so bad as I did when I left home."
The same day we break camp and march to the Long Bridge. Here we halted while Colonel Snyder wrote forward for orders. Later we cross the bridge, and reaching Pennsylvania avenue, follow that to 7th street, by which we leave the city and con- tinne our dusty march almost to Fort Stevens, but some coun- termarching order is received and we deflect to the left. pass- ing through Tennallytown, finally ending our march at Fort Sumner, and others near, having covered nearly or quite twenty miles to reach a point that we might have gained in half that number if we had gone north from Ball's cross-roads and so crossed Chain Bridge. The trouble was no one knew what we had started for when we set out.
The change from our former camp to the fort is a delight to every one. for it is elevated and spacious, the nearest fortifica- tions to the Potomac, and the intervening Delaware and Chesa- peake canal affords the best possible bathing facilities. Our first duty is to clean house, and this we do with a will. Then follows nominal drill. but more time is spent in going out and back, and in lying on grassy slopes, than in the school of the soldier, for which many think they have no further use. Grad- ually we get back to old mess-house days, and consequent less-
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·ning of personal work. There were pleasures in guard-duty done along the aqueduct. No one seemed to know what we were out there for, but we stacked arms, ate our rations, and enjoyed life. Some of us found the culverts away down under the road exceedingly cool, so laying saplings above the water and spreading boughs on them they spent the most of their time reading there, taking turns in watching the guns. 'Tis true that they caught the colds of their lifetime in this cooler, but it was fun. Then those swimming parties in the canal! There was no seaside formality in bathing costume, but hun- dreds of men and boys in statu naturae disported themselves as few have had a chance to do since.
During this wait in the forts, the order was promulgated per- mitting men to retain their guns for a nominal sum. Private Harris. Company HI, the man who so readily answered General Seymour on our rapid march to Washington, had paid for many guns, costing him $13 each time, but now he could get one for sti, but he had plans of his own. When the business was all settled and he had a clear title to the article, he advertised a free show in front of his barracks. When the moment came, there was the private and his gun, and there, too, was a big rock which was to have a part in the play. When the throng had fully gathered, Harris looked the crowd over and then gave his shooting-iron a farewell inspection; saying, "It's mine, bors." he raised it aloft. held by the barrel, and brought the breech down upon the rock with a terrible whack, shouting, "Six dollars 's better 'n thirteen, by G-d." The first blow sent the wooden part spinning ; the next drove off lock and hammer. He pounded away till he had made kindling wood of the breech and a hoop of the barrel, every time exclaiming, "Six dollars 's better 'n thirteen." Thus did Private Harris spite the War De- partment. His comrades applauded, he perspired, and the gov- ernment went on just the same.
On the 17th the 1st Battalion is sent to Fort Gaines and other points: thus B remains in Gaines; I goes to Battery Vermont; D to Battery Cameron, and G to Batteries Parrott and Kemble. On the same day the dress-coats so long stored in Washington ate received. June 23d one sergeant, two corporals and twelve non are sent from "I" to Reno as provost guard. Colonel Mar- -hall of the 14th New York Heavy Artillery commanding bri- - vad- inspects and finds fault with police and discipline. The
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24th General J. Warren Keifer visits the regiments in the sev- eral forts. There are trips to Washington and Georgetown. Cabin John Bridge and to Tennallytown. June 30th comes muster for pay, but the inost interesting event of the tarry here is the march July 5th to Fort Totten, where the original members of the regiment with the one-year recruits of 1864 are mustered out and all others are consolidated and trans- ferred to the 3d Battalion, Companies I, K, L and M of the 2d New York Heavy Artillery. Never was there a better illustra- tion of the reverse of the famous adage of Mahomet and the mountain, for in this instance more than a thousand men, many of them just out of hospitals, marched twenty miles, because the officer designated to do the mustering-out duty was said to be ill and unable to make the trip to the river's side. There must have been other officers in Washington! Suppose this man had died, then where would we have had to march? 'Tis sad to contemplate. So the mountain went to Mahomet; men marched over in line; they came back as they pleased, and it was morning of the next day before all had returned to their camps.
The 8th of July witnessed the farewells to the forts. the ' march to Washington through Georgetown and the taking of the train for Baltimore, supper at Soldiers' Rest or on rations, and then the train for the North, not exactly palatial, for men slept on the floor or on the tops of the cars. Elmira is gained at 9 P. M. on the 9th. Rest for the night is sought in the bar- racks, on whose floor sleep is wooed till morn. Then the train, the 10th, to Watkins, and by boat to Geneva! Here citizens rally equal to the occasion, and prepare a dinner for us, to which we can not do justice because of being marched down to the train; but we dispose of a part of it, and then ride to Syracuse. Food is had at the hotels, and then we go a mile and a half to the camp. Many improve the opportunity to go home, but they are back to be paid off the 20th, and then come the final leave- taking and an effectual homeward face-turning that is to be affected by war no longer. Several boys in Company L, in token of their affection, present Captain S. A. Howe with a plain gold ring. to be held by him as long as he lives, a priceless souvenir of times when wearer and giver shared dangers together.
There was yet work for some one to do, and certain officers labor through the entire night to perfeet the pay-rolls. They
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must be prepared in the best of order, for they are to be turned over to the government of the United States for retention. They are now, at the end of the century, so carefully retained that no man who helped make the record, there given, can gain a sight of the same for love nor money. Such is red tape!
The 20th of July is the day which sees the last assembling and hears the final "Break ranks!" Only a few days less than three years from the time when many of these men enrolled themselves, they are clasping hands, and saying "Good-by," perhaps forever. They have drunken from the same canteen, slept beneath the same poncho, shared toil and danger till the ties that unite them are stronger than those of kindred. The words of their commander are particularly touching, and all love him the more for them:
COLONEL SNYDER'S FAREWELL ORDER.
To the Soldiers of the 9th New York Artillery:
The lieutenant colonel commanding desires to express his gratitude and thanks for your soldierly conduct, for your prompt- ness in the discharge of arduous duties since he has had the honor to command you, in camp, on the march, and more es- pecially on the battlefield, where you have won by your true courage the admiration of your superiors as well as the wel- come plaudits of your fellow countrymen.
Well done, good and faithful servants. Enjoy the blessings of peace, the fruits of your labors. Your reward is written in the history of the nation. From the North Anna to Cold Har- bor, and in the grand flank movement to Petersburg; thence to Maryland on the plains of Monocacy, down the length and breadth of the Shenandoah valley, at Opequon, Cedar Creek, and then again to Petersburg; and finally at the last great struggle of the expiring Rebellion at Sailor's Creek,-you have shown your untiring zeal. fortitude and bravery, and you en- joy to-day that peace which is only commensurate with the long. noble service and sacrifices you have made for your country. You have demonstrated that the citizen soldier is equal to the task, whether to cope with a foreign adversary or crush a civil rebellion. And now as you return to your homes to resume the different avocations you left, may heaven's blessings attend you. Soldiers, farewell!
By order of LIEUT. COL. SNYDER.
Vincent A. Kenyon, lieutenant and adjutant.
No history can accompany every man to his home and record the happy greetings there. Some hearths are shadowed. for
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many a gallant son who went forth as bravely as those now re- turning has fallen in his country's defense, and there must ever be a vacant chair; but these men who doff their blue and as- sume once more the habiliments of peace are again absorbed into the great public, all the better for their trials and tests of strength and valor.
War for them is ended, but its lessons they will pass on to their children and their children's children as the grandest heritage it is theirs to give. When many years shall have ren- dered more remote the trying days of 1861-'65, descendants of these men, recalling ancestral courage, will fight over again their fathers' battles and, as the crowning praise of those de- parted. exclaim, "They did their duty!"
CHAPTER XXIV. THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND.
All did not go home when the regiment set its face towards the Empire State. The dates of muster-in for Companies M and L were later than those of the other ten companies, and there were recruits who had joined all along during the more than two preceding years. As the war was over, many of these boys could never understand just why they were retained, but held they were till well into the next October. and in this time many of them put up as stiff a game of playing soldiering as any equal number of men ever did.
Those remaining were consolidated into a battalion of four companies, I, K. L and M, and all under the command of Major S. B. Lamoreaux, and as such became a part of the 2d New York Heavy Artillery. This was the decree of authority, and kicking did no good. It would have been some relief to the vexation of this retention if any one could ever find out the slightest use that they were to the country, but our opinions were not sought. and we had to just grin and bear it. though it might as well be said at once thata great many did not bear it. They took French leave, so many that the rolls are a disgrace to any government that made such a condition possible. Men who had carried guns from the first day at Cold Harbor till
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that glorious hour at Appomattox, who had traveled across the state to Danville and had followed Truman Seymour on his steeple-chase to Washington, and all without any more than the regulation grumbling, said they'd be blowed, or something like that, if they would stay any longer, so they, in the language of the day, "lit out." Mentioning this fact to an officer who attained high rank during the war and whom every veteran in our regiment thoroughly respects. and asking him his advice as to the treatment of these cases, he said: "The history is that of the Ninth, not of the Second. The record of the men should close with the regiment in which they enlisted," and this course has been pursued. At Albany, where the rolls are so often con- sulted with reference to pensions, one is told that desertion after the close of the war, when men were thus retained, is not considered a heinous offense, and that the record is invariably reversed when the proper application is made. It was a very different matter from leaving when the fight was on and the nation was in need of every man who could be obtained. Many a veteran is now enjoying all that goes with a long and patri- otic career, though the record on the last muster-out roll was "deserted." The wonder is that more men did not thus depart. One good member of the battalion that was held thus, says that he had been arrested for some trivial offense, and smarting under the disgrace, as he esteemed it, had made up his mind to take his departure with out leave or license, when he chanced to fall in with a man much older than himself who was know- ing to the circumstances and, apparently, read the boy's thoughts. He said to the aggrieved lad, "I know how you feel. and I sympathize with you, but you must not do anything rash. anything that you will regret in coming years, or that will bring shame to those at home. Your record is a good one; don't let any shade fall upon it. All this trouble will be over ere many days, and I advise you to stick it out." Unfortunate- ly all the discontented ones were not so well advised and went away almost in squads.
A little before our late comrades were getting their pay in Syracuse, their relicts were ordered over to the Virginia side of the Potomac. Accordingly we proceeded to Georgetown, that same quaint old burg so often visited by us, and crossed by the Aqueduct Bridge, again treading the soil of "Ole Virginny." Thence we turned to our right and going northward. we became
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the guardians of the precious earthworks in this part of the de- fenses. At least Forts Ethan Allen, C. F. Smith and Strong came under our care, perhaps others. Had it not been so vexa- tious to men who had plans in life, whom this holding seriously hindered, the soldiering that we did here would be simply ridic- ulous. Very few Americans can become soldiers by trade, i. e., private soldiers, content with the dull routine of camp-duty. It may do for officers, but even they tire of it and often retire to civil life.
However, the privates couldn't retire; duties such as they were had to be done. Those who went to Fort Strong retain anything but pleasant memories of that first night in the bar- racks, which looked well enough on the outside, and within did not differ essentially from the many others which they had sampled in their experience. Confidently they spread their blankets in the bunks, and in due time put out their lights and undertook to sleep, but the slumber that we got that night was not worth mentioning. All the swearing of the campaigns of 1864 and '65 did not begin to equal that of this one interval. Oaths came singly and in volleys. There were oaths English and in all the dialects represented in the company. There were oaths imprecatory and oaths supplicatory. Every word that had ever been used "in vain," this night had a forcible reproduction. One listener who did not swear (he is uncertain whether he had any associates in that category) says that he was awakened by the chorus of loud talk and certain disagreeable sensations about his body, particularly his neck, which he constantly rubbed, owing to the irritation there, and each stroke of his hand brought the disagreeable odor of bedbugs. Evidently every man in the barracks was doing the same, and it was no figure of speech to say that bug-juice was in the air. Morning revealed strange sights. Each man in the company had a blood- red streak around his neck, and it was composed of his own blood, too. An inspection of our quarters was held at once. and though the slaughter of the night had been terrible, there were yet millions left. The rough ends of each bunk-board was red with bugs, and there was not a crack nor crevice of the old rookery that did not hold its thousands. We were men of blood, we had passed through bloody scenes, but we had never thought to shed our life current in any such vile manner as this.
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DRUM CARRIED BY JOHN H. DEVOE. CO. G, 1862-1865.
COMPANY M, CAPT. W. I. PARRISH, FORT ETHAN ALLEN.
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Morning had scarcely more than dawned before we proceeded to give that long structure the cleaning of its existence, an experience one might think it had never had before. Every- thing inside and out was drenched in scalding water, and when the next taps came we were ready for sleep, and the edifice continued sweet and clean till the 29th of the month, when there came a storm of wind and rain that completely wiped out the barracks and rendered us shelterless. It was one of those sudden cyclones for which all warm sections and seasons are noted, only this was somewhat in excess of any one that we had ever encountered. Possibly it was about the middle of the afternoon. A storm of rain accompanied by some wind gradu- ally increased in violence till the edifice began to creak, and ner- vous men made their exit in spite of the wet. Others, more con- fident, kept their places till the roof began to lift and the rain to beat through the rapidly enlarging cracks; then they made leaps for their lives, getting out none too soon, for the entire roof was lifted, carried some distance and thrown down turned almost completely around. We had taken no covering, in most cases, and as if cognizant of this the weather proceeded to de- velop the worst hail-storm that we had as yet beheld. The stones were as large as robin's eggs, and one had to hold his hands over his head for protection. An ice-cream wagon had come up from Washington, and was waiting at our east door when the storm came. In very short order it was so mixed up that it might be doubted if the proprietor knew which was driver and which was horse; at any rate, the on-lookers would not have risked a guess. The sight of men holding on to trees to keep themselves from being blown away, we had seen in books descriptive of West India hurricanes, but nothing of the sort had ever come under our observations before.
If the storm had only blown away some of the useless forts that we were supposed to be guarding instead of the shelters above our heads, we might have regarded the same as not an unmixed evil. As it was, while men were seriously injured in some of the forts, for ours was not the only line of barracks to suffer, we escape with only minor bruises. In the city many roofs were lifted, and the "oldest inhabitant" said he had never seen its equal. The immediate effect upon the dwellers in Fort Strong was a picking up of their wet effects and a departure to Fort C. S. Smith, where we put up our tents on the founda-
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