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 4
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CHAPTER V.
CAMP NELLIE SEWARD AND FORT KEARNEY.
Fort Bunker Hill, near which the 138th had been camping, was northeast of Washington and due west of the old Bladens- burg road. It was in the District of Columbia, and the work of the regiment on the neighboring roads was quite apparent. On this the first day of October, the preparations for departure began early. One company, at least, was up at midnight to draw rations, and the regiment was off at 7 o'clock A. M. The march was a long one, considering burdens and inexperience. As the crow flies, the distance was under ten miles, but follow- ing the roads. Fort Kearney, where the final halt was made at about noon, was quite eleven miles away. The fort was thus named for General Philip Kearney, a hero of the Mexican War, who had lost his life at Chantilly, just one month previously.
"Camp Nellie Seward" now becomes the appellation of the 138th's military home, thus commemorating the name of the lieutenant colonel's little daughter. The new location is three miles from the Potomac, six from Washington, two from George- town and one and a half miles from the Maryland line. Our prede- cessors here were New Jersey men, the 11th Infantry, ordered to the field. Our morning's march was enlivened by heavy and
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CAMP NELLIE SEWARD AND FORT KEARNEY.
rapid firing, apparently not more than five miles to the west- ward; it might have been much further off, for sound is decep- tive and our ears were inexperienced. Subsequent information told us that the trouble was at Shepardstown, beyond Harper's Ferry, a cavalry and artillery scrap, noisy, but not particularly noted.
Though we had changed our stations, we had not escaped the same kind of work to which we had recently been intro- duced. for, while the majority of the men labor on the roads, certain ones do heavy work in the fort, carrying and setting the heavy timbers which formed the stockade, sometimes by the boys called pickets. One worker having observing eyes says the fort has three embrasures and three pivot-guns. Nor are the soldiers alone in their duties, for from thirty to forty contrabands are delving with them. How gladly would we have given the entire job into the hands of these disenthralled Africans! Then, too, though very near the base of supplies, rations are scant, and lovely landscapes can not compensate for empty stomachs. Farmers' boys find bread only. though nominally the staff of life, somewhat of a broken reed for sup- port. considering the amount of digging required of them. More than a thousand acres had been cleared of timber to give a clear sweep from the fort. and still more must be cut. It seemed not a little strange that the Capital of the United States should have been located in such a wilderness. The fort is only about half built, and there are ten miles of road to be made.
The 5th of October is the first Sunday in this camp, and one racy raconteur remarks the exceeding healthfulness of the day. Roll-call. inspection, dress-parade and a general washup, with reading and such other diversions as active minds suggest, fully occupy the time, while the surgeon and his assist- ants have a vacation. On other days, however, when pieks and shovels are in order, and at roll-call. the ailing are ordered to step to the front, one might think from the response that the camp was located in the very theatre of miasma; thus early did these verdant youths learn what "old soldiering" meant. Then also these practical boys lament the waste of so much valuable timber, just for a pawn in the wild game of war, but when was strife other than expensive, still what were material things, compared with the woe which death was planting in so many homes?
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NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
The regiment was not particularly proud of its reputation, but it was currently reported that no body of men before it had made such excellent roads; indeed some ways pronounced fin- ished had to be made over by these Empire State soldiers, some of whom, at least, had taken their first lessons in this business, in working out their poll-taxes under the direction of the pathmaster. All, however, was not praise. Sometimes the engineers would lay out the work, and when completed, through no fault of the makers, proclaim it all wrong, and it must be pulled down or up and made over again. The character and ability of some of these fort and road builders may be in- ferred when we find them noting that the soil, in places, is decomposed gneiss rock, readily breaking into small chunks, with one or more black faces, with seams of quartz running through them. but what else could be expected of men who read the Atlantic Monthly for a respite and find Sunday after- noon diversion in botany? Yet these men were not officers; just privates in the ranks.
October Sth great quantities of ammunition are stored in the magazines of Fort Kearney. Discipline is gradually making it- self felt, and while the men not on duty repair to the woods, October 12th. for religious worship, one of their number is con- signed to the guard-house because he has been heard threaten- ing to desert. Thereafter when a dissatisfied soldier wished to take French leave, he wasted no time talking about it. On this day the companies hear read. for the first time, the Articles of War, though for some weeks they had been thinking them- selves able to recognize sundry articles of this sort on sight.
Tuesday, October 14th, camp and work monotony is broken. as the men go in for their supper of bread and fried beef. by a command to fall in and to report the number of cartridges in each one's possession ; supper is eaten hurriedly, and then, once more in line, forty rounds per man are given out. All this be- cause rebel cavalry are said to be within ten miles of the fort. This was one of the annual horse-collecting raids of General J. E. B. Stuart, though his forces on their way down from Chambersburg had already crossed the Potomac on the 12th. Evidently our people thought such a leader liable to appear at any moment anywhere, and they had better have a care. In reality, at this particular moment. he with his men and horses, after taking needed rest in Leesburg, were by easy stages work-
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CAMP NELLIE SEWARD AND FORT KEARNEY.
· ing westward of the mountains. Company D is sent to the fort and four companies are sent out upon the picket line and the others are ordered to lie upon their arms. The camp is razed, though no one can tell just why. To-day such proceedings have a farcical appearance, though they may not have been without their benefits even then, since the preparation came in the way of drill and discipline.
As no enemy appeared, the weapons of war again gave place to the implements of peace, and digging proceeded as before, not infrequently enlivened by words like these, sung to the tune of Dixie:
"I wish I was in old Wayne county, My three years up, and I had my bounty, Look away, look away," etc.
After the scare, the guns were discharged into a neighboring sandbank. Evidently marksmanship was poor, for a dog, just in line, had the full benefit of the fusilade, but was unhurt. Perhaps the boys only made believe aim at him. Let us hope so, both for the sake of their aim and of their hearts.
Camp fare is improving, as this menu will amply prove: Breakfast-roast beef, bread, coffee and apple sauce; dinner- beef, bread and tea; while supper was made from bread and tea. On the 17th the arrival at 4 P. M. of the 17th Connecticut* gave a suspicion of a move to be made soon, and it came the very next day, Saturday, the 18th, when a complete transfer of outfit was made to the vicinity of Fort Mansfield. The march was through Tennallytown, about one mile, and we halted a mile and a half from Chain Bridge. The location is better than that just left. The line between the District and Maryland runs through our camp, which is called "Morris."
*The 17th Connecticut was from Fairfield county, and had as colonel Wm. H. Noble, but a more noted man was in the ranks, viz., Elias Howe, Jr., of sewing-machine fame. Having done garrison duty for some time in Baltimore, the regiment had asked permission to join Sigel's corps. As a punishment for such temerity, it was ordered to Fort
. Kearney, where for two weeks it handled pick and shovel before reaching the 11th Corps. It was only a few weeks later that Private Howe advanced the money to pay off the regiment, a most convenient man, we thought, to have around. Those competent to judge declared that Colonel Noble resembled the pictures of the lately slain General Nathaniel Lyon, another Connecticut man.
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NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
and some of us halt in a potato field. The popular and neces- sary vegetable is dug with bayonets, and if any man in the regiment fails to have "spuds" for supper, it is his own fault. Men get used to almost everything, and a six-mule load of bread, piled upon the ground, is none the less sought for, though a mule hitched near has, with his tail, kept the flies from the bread for several hours. Our nearest neighbors are men of the 29th New Jersey, who have done a deal of work on Forts Mans- field and Reno. :
Had Washington people known what our soldiers were doing with their reservoir, their relish for its contents would have been much lessened. "Dirty, not fit to swim in," is the general comment, and its waters are made still more turbid by the soldiers, who use it as one big wash-tub for their clothing. Oh Cleanliness! what crimes are committed in thy name, and on Sunday, too! At dress-parade on this 19th of October, the sec- retary of state, William H. Seward, appears, but perhaps the presence of Colonel Welling's wife and daughter gives even more pleasure than that of the eminent gentleman, for the soldiers love to hear the sound of women's voices, thus being reminded of home. For the proper shelter of himself and fam- ily, the colonel has had built a small house, not elegant, but sufficient.
There is very little variation in routine for the following week. The Potomac and the Ohio and Chesapeake canal afford ample facilities for bathing and washing, which many improve. Chain Bridge comes in for inspection as well as the potato fields of the neighboring farmers. The latter complain and en- deavor to identify the culprits, but fail utterly. Careful and loving friends at home send to their Ontario boys a barrel of dried fruit, on which the expressage is $5.25. Just what the fruit was worth is not recorded. There is no lack of work, for old roads are made over and new ones are laid out. Drill is not neglected and inspections come regularly.
November 1st Captain Cornwell of Company E died of typhoid fever after an illness of ten days. His death was a great loss in every way. for he merited and received the highest respect of every one. His body was embalmed and sent home to Cayuga county, where from the Scipio Universalist Church. November 9th, all that was mortal was borne to its burial. His was the first death among our officers.
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CAMP NELLIE SEWARD AND FORT KEARNEY.
Sunday, November 2d, at dress-parade, Secretary Seward and President Lincoln are present. Already hints are made that the 138th is a pet regiment. One of the boys thus describes the visit: "Just as the regiment, in fine condition, was drawn up in line, an open barouche was discovered in front on the right, in which were seated two distinguished looking men. Every eye observed them, though the command was, 'Front.' Shortly after Colonel Welling had taken his place, one of these men left the carriage and moved slowly to a position a little back of the colonel. By this time every man knew he was in the presence of Abraham Lincoln. The secretary remained in the vehicle. How proud we all felt! The sublime and the ridiculous are often mingled, and this event was an illustration. In passing the president, one of the officers, noted more for his stature than for his gracefulness. after sundry reproofs to his men for not keeping in step, apparently formed the resolution to measure heights with Mr. Lincoln as he passed. So at the proper moment he straightened up to all the height that God had given him, and evidently wished his men to make note. They did, for they heard the president say, distinctly, 'Lieu- tenant. I am taller than you.' The tall officer's collapse was never forgotten. Later many favored ones grasped the presi- dent's hand."
During this day there is the roar of heavy firing in the west, and six weeks ago it would have made every ear erect, but ours are becoming more experienced. The 2d Corps had discovered some rebels at or near Snicker's Gap, and the batteries were exchanging compliments. November 4th is election day, and an expression of political opinion is taken by the men. Throughout the regiment the sentiment is largely Re- publican. In Company D fifty five men favor General James S. Wadsworth for governor and fifteen prefer Horatio Seymour; very likely the remaining men were not voters, or did not care to express themselves.
It was in these rather quiet days that Captain was officer of the day. It is said that the severe weather had prompted him to take rather more fire-water than was really good for his understanding. Indeed, he had not gone far on his round of nightly duty when, approaching what he supposed to be a sentry's post, and seeing some dark object near at hand. he halted for the challenge. In a chiding tone, he reproved the
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NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
supposed sentinel for his lack of military precision and once more said, "Why don't you challenge the grand rounds?" By this time the officer had approached several paces nearer, and had entered upon his query for the third time when he sudden- ly found himself measuring his length upon the ground. It seems that he had gotten off the regular track, and, nearing the stock corral, had been addressing his remarks to a mule whose heels, in due time, had effectually halted him. The words the captain uttered did not include the countersign.
On the Sth the camp was honored by a visit from Secretaries Seward and Stanton with Lord Lyons, British minister. We thus had frequent opportunity to see some of the most famous men of the day. Two companies, C and K, were ordered to Fort Gains, on the 11th, which disturbed them not a little, for they had just finished their quarters, backing poles, to make the same fully half a mile. Owners of land object to road- making and ditch-digging-but everything goes. When candle rations run short, the colonel's quarters catch fire, perhaps for a hint that light was needed. Some one calls this existence a "dog's life." He wanted excitement. Passes were occasionally obtained for a day in Washington. How the day was spent there depended entirely on the taste of the visitor. Many sought the Capitol, Patent and Post Offices, the White House, and the like. If the scenes sought were questionable, no record was made of them.
Monotony reigns in camp life and police duty during the month of November, though on the 23d a Stonewall Jackson scare, incident to his moving from Winchester, or to a recon- noissance by Stuart, leads to the handling of considerable am- munition and to some haste in mounting guns in the forts. Indications became more and more pronounced that the regi- ment was to stay in the defenses, for before the end of the month, the officers were studying artillery drill, and some work had been done on the guns in Fort Kearney by the companies stationed there. The 27th was the first Thanksgiving in camp, and was conspicuous for the absence of the orthodox turkey and other dainties which made the home board so attractive. One soldier records his dinner as composed of bread and butter, cheese and apple-sauce. Though not up to the traditional standard, he might have fared much worse. The same man laments the cost of his Atlantic Monthly, twenty-five cents for
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CAMP NELLIE SEWARD AND FORT KEARNEY.
the magazine and twenty-five more for the messenger; it does seem as though the tariff were a trifle high.
It was in this camp that a sudden night alarm summoned the men into line, to which they hastened in all degrees of sleepiness and fright. One of the captains, however, lest some one might oversleep, went through his street and inspected every tent. As he poked open one flap he found a youngster, scared almost to distraction. His reply to the captain's reproof for his delinquency was, "Oh, captain, don't make me go out there and be killed!" The officer's considerateness in allowing him to remain where he was, was amply justified in subsequent dangers, when he proved himself brave enough. It was only a stage fright, liable to attack any one sooner or later.
Sometimes the fun of soldiers came near being what has been characterized as horse-play. It was in Company F, one chilly evening in October. A few men were smoking and yarning around the pit, over which cooking had been done all day, and which was now well filled with red-hot embers. While they were thus standing, one of the company came up to the other side of the trench, a man good-natured when sober, but ex- ceedingly surly when in liquor. Tall and robust, he was able to carry out any threat he might make. Soon came also a comrade of quite a different build, always good natured and genial; he essayed a little fun at the expense of the tall soldier, which the latter was in no mood to relish. Finally, turning upon the joker, he exclaimed, "If you don't behave I'll take you by the seat of your trousers and the nape of your neck and throw you into the fire." Unfortunately the short soldier did not take the hint, but persisted in his nonsense, saying, "You can't do it." Whereupon the giant actually seized the comrade, as threatened, and holding him over the pit, as though he were only a child, let him drop upon the fiery mass. All this hap- pened before any one could interfere, but as the victim fell upon his back he squirmed out upon the ground unhurt, though bad- ly frightened. The irate Hercules moved off, laughing devil- ishly, and as no one was hurt, those looking on could and did laugh at Conny's expense.
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NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
CHAPTER VI.
CAMP MORRIS AND THE 9TH HEAVY ARTILLERY.
The stopping-place after leaving Fort Kearney had taken a new name, viz., Camp Morris, after Colonel Lewis O. Morris* of the 113th New York, later to be dubbed the 7th Heavy Ar- tillery, and whose brave colonel was to fall. June 4th. 1864, at Cold Harbor. At this time he commanded the Military Con- struction Corps in the defenses. As fort-building was so promi- nent a part of the regiment's work, the following description, sent home by a participant, is not amiss: "The forts are simply earthworks enclosing from one to two acres of land. They are made by digging a ditch or moat. fifteen feet wide by from ten to twelve feet deep, throwing the earth up to form an embank- ment inside the ditch. This bank is made hard by pounding it as it is thrown up; through embrasures, guns are run out; on the outside are abatis which hinder the approach of man or horse; within are magazines and bombproofs, also barracks to be used in case of an attack; it requires three reliefs to work the heavy guns; all the forts are connected by rifle-pits; entrance- gates are on the side towards Washington; the heavy stockades surrounding are pierced by loop-holes.
The approach of winter rendered it necessary to make in- creased preparations for the sake of health and comfort. The laying out of quarters became a necessity, and house-building was the general vocation; the term house. however, was less heard than "hut." "shanty," "tent" or "winter-quarters." Their desirableness as habitations depended largely on the taste, in- genuity and industry of the builders. They were party affairs,
*Colonel Morris belonged to one of New York's most noted fam- ilies. His father, Lewis N., a graduate of West Point, was killed at Monterey in 1846, bravely leading his men, a brevet major, U. S. A. The colonel's grandfather, Staats, was a brother of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration, and himself an officer on the staff of Gen- eral Anthony Wayne. Colonel L. O. Morris had been in the army since 1847, saw service in the Mexican war, and at the beginning of the Re- bellion was in Texas a captain in the 1st Artillery. His battery was the only one not surrendered to the Confederates. The prosaic life in the defenses greatly chafed him, and the chance to lead his regiment to the front under Grant's régime was eagerly seized, though it speed- ily led to his death.
LAMP MORRIS, BSTFREGT N. Y. VOLS "fel joseph "tilling . Com"
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CAMP MORRIS AND THE NINTH HEAVY ARTILLERY.
the number combining determining the size of the structure .. A building 9x16 feet was large enough for six men, and one 12x16 could hold twice that number. Luckily not all the trees had been cut away, and sufficient were found to supply both fuel and building material. The impromptu structures are much smaller, being, externally, 7x8 feet. The lower part to the height of 23 feet is built of small logs, thus lessening the inside measurement nearly one foot all around. A home letter by a Company B boy, dated December 21st, gives an excellent picture of what the writer deemed essential to his comfort in his A tent having the above-described kind of a base:
" We enter at one end; on the left side, as we come in, is our fire-place in the corner; beyond is a small table, at which I am now writing. Across the back end is a little shelf 23 feet from the ground. On this shelf are three cupboards and other things; two of the cupboards are used for our dishes and culi- nary outfit; the third is for my own private library. In the lower space of the latter are three compartments, one for envelopes, one for answered and the other for unanswered letters. Above this comes the library itself, made up of general reading, such as newspapers, magazines, etc., etc .; books, classical, scientific, poetic. critical, and religious, as a Bible, hymn and prayer book. The top shelf is expressly for stationery. Between the second and third cupboards stands the tent-pole, and on each side of this are our guns, the muzzles going through a short shelf near the top of the tent. On the right side as we enter are bedding, straw, etc. On the lowermost shelf is the water-pail and above it the dried fruits. Our sabre-belts, cartridge-boxes, canteens. haversacks, pistols, etc., hang on the tent-pole. Be- sides, we have three knapsacks, four overcoats, a box for dirty shirts, extra boots and shoes, wash and slop dishes, towels, dish-cloths, frying-pan, griddle and extra pail, place for twenty- four hours' supply of fuel, a box of hickory nuts, a catch-all bag, a box of chips, one drum, twenty-five feet of lumber, kept inside for subsequent shanty; axe, hammer, punches, seats for seven or eight men, a quantity of soap-stone and laurel-root, which we whittle into curious things; a bread-toaster, a pound or two of nails, some old strap hinges, an old saw, a fire- Joker, etc." Evidently this young man had been used to comfort at home, for many a city tenement has less articles for daily use than he enumerates. In the same letter, he says he makes
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NINTH NEW YORK HEAVY ARTILLERY.
mittens by cutting holes in the heels of a pair of socks and sewing on, for thumbs, the eliminated toes thereof.
One officer, for his wife's delectation, sends home this dia- gram of his first and only floor:
Bed.
Partition.
Stove.
Window.
Window.
Ball-room.
Parlor and Sitting-room.
Door.
Of course there are the regular rounds of drill, guard-duty and fatigue, and the general health of the regiment is good. Rations are helped out by home contributions, for the loved ones there are not forgetful. One soldier is made happy by an apple (doubtless there were others), on which he finds the magic word, "Julia;" another dilates on the taste of a can of peaches, while others are grateful for boxes of dried fruit, sausage, mince-pie, and such dainties as only wives and mothers can pre- pare. Amusements are had in the making of briar-wood pipes, not always for the use of the maker, for all did not smoke, not by any means. The playing of whist and poker was well-nigh universal, though some more thoughtful preferred chess and checkers. Then many read a deal and of the best. as is evident in the list of books afforded by one tent, Hugh Miller's "Foot- steps of the Creator," "Mountains of the Bible," "Pollock's Course of Time," and other solid volumes, though it would be unfair to imply that any considerable part of the regiment reached this exalted pitch of literary taste.
Possibly the most important event of this month was the actual transferal of the 138th New York Infantry to the 9th Heavy Artillery. The order of conversion was dated Decem- ber 9th, and the designated numeral came on the 19th. With such recurrence of the ultimate significant figure, the regiment could hardly become other than the 9th. The first official pro- mulgation of the order came at dress-parade, December 21st.
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