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 9
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When in the darkness we reached Mt. Carmel Church, a hungry, wet and weary regiment was ready to rest. However, as was often the case, when we went into camp, it appeared that we were not in the right place, and amid much profanity among those who swore, further progress was stayed, while we fell in to march a rod or so. Then those at the head betook themselves to the church for shelter, and we made a big fire of rails, around which we roasted one side and had the other soaked by the drenching rain, which held up only towards morning. We were getting our introduction to actual out-of- door soldier life. One man entered in his diary for the night, "After three makings of bed, we lay on the ground till morn- ing. Had to stay up two hours to get a drink of water." Morn- ing came at last, but if Aurora's fingers were rosy, they were also dipped in moisture. There had been fighting near this church, and some of us had camped near fresh graves or recent dead, some bodies so imperfectly covered that parts of them were exposed.
We had begun to draw rations when peremptory orders were given to suspend and for us to "fall in." A hurried march of a few miles brought us to the south side of the North Anna river, where our men and the Johnnies experienced a harder time than we did, for they had had quite a brisk fight on the 23d and 24th. As we set forth in the morning, we were over- taken by Company G. and so all were again together. We took our places in trenches dug the night before, we were told. by the 5th Corps. There was not the least doubt that at last we had reached the front. Constantly receding, we had finally overtaken it and were a part of that Army of the Potomac which, under Grant, was "flanking" its way down from the
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Rapidan to Petersburg. Up to this moment it had been a mat- ter of entire indifference as to what corps we should be as- signed, but when on the 26th it appeared that we were to be in the 6th Corps, we were particularly pleased, a pleasure that has never been lessened in the intervening years; we further found that ours was a regiment in the 2d Brigade of the 3d Division. So many, however, did we number that we were frequently saluted with the question, "What brigade is that?" This was not strange, for we must have had in line half as many men as were in the other six regiments of the brigade. Some old liners saluted us with "Washington Gunners," "White- gloved Soldiers," etc., but we assimilated, and soon were just as much earth-soiled as they were. As these organizations were to be our associates in peril for many a long month, it is in place to tell just what and who they were. Four of the regiments, viz., the 5th Maryland, 138th Pennsylvania, 110th and 122d Ohio, under Colonel John W. Horn, M. R. McClennan, J. W. Keifer and William H. Ball. respectively, had long been associated as the 2d Brigade, 3d Division of the 3d Army Corps. Under the organization effected by Grant March 24th, 1864, the 3d Division of the 3d Corps became a like part of the 6th. To the brigade were added the 126th Ohio, Colonel B. F. Smith, and a part of the 67th Pennsylvania, which had before served in the 3d Brigade, 3d Division of the 6th Corps. The Pennsyl- vanians were attached to the 138th Pennsylvania. All of them were three-years regiments and all had seen a deal of service. At the time of our joining, Major General H. G. Wright, who had succeeded the lamented Sedgewick at Spottsylvania, was in command, and so continued. save at brief intervals, to the end of the war. The division commander was Brigadier Gen- eral James B. Ricketts, who was to stay by till wounded at Cedar Creek. In command of the brigade was Colonel J. War- ren Keifer of the 110th Ohio, though on account of a wound he was away at the time, and his place was filled by Colonel Smith of the 126th Ohio.
When our regiment came up footsore and weary, and filed by General Ricketts, he turned to our leader and said. "The Ninth is a fine body of men; will the boys fight?" After the battle of Cold Harbor, the general was thoughtful enough to answer his own question saying. "Colonel. those boys did tight well."
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CHAPTER XII.
PRELUDE. May 4-5, Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan; May 5-7, Battle of the Wilderness; May S-18, Battle of Spottsylvania Court House; General John Sedgewick killed the 9th; May 23-27, bat- tles near the North Anna river.
FROM THE NORTH ANNA THROUGH COLD HARBOR.
We had crossed the river on pontoons near Jericho Mills, and the sight. of all others, which pleased us most was that of Sheridan's cavalry, which only the day before had rejoined the Army of the Potomac, after the memorable Richmond raid, one of whose most conspicuous features was the death of the Confederate general. J. E. B. Stuart, at the Yellow Tavern engagement. May 11, though the redoubtable "Jeb." did not die till the next day in Richmond. Here along the line of the Virginia Central railroad, on the 26th, we had our first sight at tearing up rails. The preceding day men of the 5th Corps had destroyed long stretches of the road, and had succeeded in leaving many tokens of their presence in the shape of Maltese crosses made around trees and stumps by bent railroad iron. Standing beside the track very closely together. at the word they would stoop and, seizing a piece of iron, lift it and the ties till the latter stood on end. It was an easy matter then to detach the latter. and when laid up, cob-pile fashion. the rails were placed on them. When fired, the heat soon rendered the rails red-hot. and the ends would droop. The soldiers would then seize them and carry them so that the heated part would come against the tree, and the ends would enclose it. Four rails thus made an excellent 5th Corps badge. We also formed in battle-line in a piece of woods half a mile in front of the works, but nothing came of it, and we marched back to our intrenchments, where our chief concern was in trying to keep out of the wet. Not only did the rain fall, but the wind blew, so that it was a difficult matter to put up our shelter- tents, and if we did get them up, it was more than likely that a stream of water would find its way through the middle of the same. and memory calls up many ludicrous scenes of that wet afternoon. A more than usually profane episode was that of Tim. (- trying to get his "d-d tint in a dacent position."
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He could not. possibly, keep two corners pinned down at the same time, but he pounded and swore till wet to the skin, and even then had no covering, nor was his experience unique.
Lieutenant Dennis Flynn of Company K wrote to his wife from this point: "We have been in line of battle, but the rebs did not attack, and we were ordered back. Company K goes on picket to-night. Boys in good spirits, though some are badly used up. Weather dreadfully hot; plenty of hardtack and coffee till to-day. We are encamped where a great battle was fought last Monday. Am sitting on a rebel grave as I write. Our brigade tore up four miles of railroad near this place. Crossed river on pontoons, thirty miles from Richmond. There is to be tall fighting yet, and the Ninth is to have a hand in it. Seven regiments in the brigade, and only 7500 men in all of them. Our line of battle is a mile long. We are on the right. This is a strong place. Don't think the Johnnies will give us battle here. so we will have to go and hunt them up." That is just what we did. for though the night was very dark and the rain was falling pitilessly, the command "fall in" came just the same, and into the darkness we marched, with no more knowl- edge of our destination than has the steed before his driver.
Werecrossed the river on the same pontoon bridge, and on the north side plunged into the mud, which before morning gave us a very good notion of what Virginia could do in this line. We had heard of Burnside "stuck in the mud," and now we were to realize what it was to have the sacred soil stick to us. Our route leads by Chesterfield Church as we journey southward, but direction and destination have become of far less consequence than the demands of the present moment. To carry his outfit and to keep up, demand every bit of strength that the soldier possesses. Many are not equal to the task and have to give up. Some die in their tracks. Here is a record: "Pass one man writhing in death in the mud-exhaustion." The artillery which came floundering along ground into the mud some helpless victims. Jakey - of Company M, a little Dutchman of marvelous powers of mimiery, fell in a fit and died. Another of Company F succumbed to the trials of the night. Captain Bacon of D fainted. It was no picnic for those who survived. Lucky the soldier whose feet were encased in boots, for he could keep them on, while shoes enough to stock a big store were left in those muddy roads. It is to be hoped
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that the language of that night failed of record, but it was copious and forcible. All suffered alike, officers as well as men, and all noted Sheridan's dead cavalry horses, which at frequent intervals, by their unmistakable odor, told us which way the raiders went. We were never tired of chaff, and, "Breathe light on that so there'll be 'nuff to go round," or, "Any man that'll take more'n one sniff of that's a hog," indicated the proximity of one of those dead steeds, swollen and fast putrify- ing, a northern contribution to the fertility of the soil. Had we halted long, burial parties had been a necessity. As it was, we held our breath and passed the stench along. After mid- night we drew rations somewhere, but no one knows to this day where the spot was, and a short halt was had till day- light of the 27th, during which day we passed the headquarters of Generals Meade and Grant, and for the first time saw those famous men. Some companies served as flankers, a duty agree- able or otherwise according to the feeling of the individual. In that portion of the country a large part of the flanker's way was in the woods, and thus shady, a grateful condition to him when the sun came out, but it was, necessarily, exposed.
We camp at night near the Pamunkey river. This day brought us the first mail since leaving the defenses, and present care was forgotten in the absorbing news from far-away home. Whether the letters brought glad or sad words from loved ones, there was nothing in our lives so grateful to us as the coming of the mail. The 28th is signalized by our crossing the sluggish stream, and at a distance from it of possibly two miles, we threw up breastworks. The cavalry bring in several rebel pris- oners. There is some skirmishing with the enemy, and a part of the regiment supports the 1st New Jersey Battery. This day also is noteworthy in that we meet our own 25th District regiment, the 111th, under Colonel MeDougal. and we exchange hurried greetings with many old friends. One sad-faced boy, asked as to his father who had been in the same company with him, replied, "He has not been seen since the Wilderness; prob- ably his body was burned there." The son also, ere the season was passed, gave his life for country .* The 29th is Sunday, and evidently there is some nervousness at headquarters. for we are not allowed to sleep in peace, but are aroused soon after
*Lafayette and Morris Craw, father and son, of South Butler, were both in Company G of the 111th.
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midnight and then, "In place, rest," till daybreak, barring two spells of "right dressing." D, C and G are on picket, and through slaying sundry pigs and cattle live very well. "Too well," an officer remarks, "for many were attacked by diar- rhea." Two hundred men from the battalion are on this picket-duty, one-half on posts, the other in reserve. Four men are on a post, and the posts are a few rods apart, in easy hailing distance.
On the 30th some of us resumed our duties as wagon-guards, marching on each side of the trains, possibly three rods from the same, and one or two from each other; on the whole an agreeable task, though the wagons were empty and rattled loudly enough, seemingly, to be heard in Richmond, which was claimed to be twenty-four or five miles away. It was said that we managed to get on the wrong road, and came very near running into serious trouble through our nearness to the rebel army. At any rate Lieutenant Colonel Taft with a small party had gone forward a short distance to reconnoitre when he was met by a superior force of the enemy, and was compelled to return hastily, having several of his men captured. Company A was ordered forward at double quick to the rescue, and the rebels in turn retired leaving their recent captives minus hats and coats, since in this brief time the acquisitive foes had ap- propriated what they needed most, viz., clothing. Somewhere between Reb and Fed, a pig and a sheep had been killed, and dressing was in progress when the above skirmish arose. Who- ever slew, the Yankees possessed and speedily disposed of the fresh meat all the more greedily, because rations had become es- ceedingly scarce.
Of course the whole procession, wagons and men, speedily countermarched, and to add alacrity to our movements, the enemy directed a few shells towards us. Jagger of Company B was hit in the thigh, though not severely, by a fragment. prob- ably the first member of the regiment to be touched by a hostile missile. These happenings were all near Hanover Court House. and some of the soldiers bad time to wonder whether they were anywhere near the Slashes, where Henry Clay was born, who in early life had been called the "Mill Boy of the Slashes;" but the citizen who might have informed us was not in sight. and just then not even the most entertaining historical subject could induce straggling. The day's march reduced the haversack
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supply to its lowest ebb; some had been empty more than twenty-four hours. The change of the base of supplies from Fredericksburg to Port Royal had so deranged the system that our wagon-train was a long way behind, and hardtacks became objects of serious quest. Before rations were dealt out, a dol- lar was offered for a single piece, and there were men who stole corn in the ear from cavalry horses, and roasted it for food.
Wherever we were when night found us, we were far from pleasant surroundings. We were in and out of the woods, marching and countermarching, as restless as lost souls; but having no rations to prepare for eating, it did not matter so much. We were near enough to the enemy to have a reminder of his presence in the shape of sundry shells, one of which passed unpleasantly near us. Its fiery trail was a very pretty bit of pyrotechny, but it had striking qualities not so enjoy- able. The 31st brought the wagon-train and rations. While we had not suffered as the beleaguered did at Chattanooga. we did know what hunger was, and everybody was ready to help carry his company's share for distribution. One famished youth, desiring to escape any possibility of subsequent scarcity, Joseph-like, filled his haversack with hard bread, and then put fifty in his knapsack, but his calculations were of no account, for he soon after was taken ill, and did not eat a half dozen in all. After carrying them about for nearly a week, he gave them away to hungry comrades at Cold Harbor.
The last day of May the 3d Battalion, Companies F, G, I and L, under Major Snyder, was detached and added to the artillery brigade of the 6th Corps. The progress of these companies will be followed at the end of this chapter. The day ended with picket-duty for a part of the regiment, a duty faithfully per- formed by some and as regularly shirked by others, i. e., too many would throw all care and caution on a nervous. vigilant few, while they themselves slept or played cards. The hour could not have been far from midnight when there came, through the stillness from the nearest post, the almost whis- pered words, "Rally on the reserve; pass it along." Only the long roll has a more startling effect. We obeyed with alacrity. and at 3 A. M. June 1st, we were off at a spanking pace, which we maintained. with occasional halts, till 2 P. M. We did not know it then, but it subsequently appeared that we were very near the scene of McClellan's Battle of Cold Harbor, June 27,
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1862, and that new interest was hereafter to attach to this por- tion of Virginia through the work of this and subsequent days. Just why itreceived its peculiar name does not appear. There was no harbor .* and we found nothing cold, not even our reception. Lee had been flanked to a standstill. Whether Grant's attack was a proper one or not, is very far from the part of a regimen- tal history to discuss. Our duty was simply to obey orders and follow the colors.
Those of our ranks who were inclined to look about found much of interest in their researches, though nearly all our time, till late in the afternoon, was devoted to throwing up breast- works. The boy who hooked a little time, just to see where he was, found his line of breastworks forming a sort of door- yard fence of an old house, whose women occupants looked anything but happy. General Wright had located his head- quarters here, and with several of his officers was studying the map of the vicinity. This fact with the sharpening of an elab- orate display of knives by a corps of surgeon's attaches made it apparent that trouble was brewing, nor were these indica- tions vain. While we were throwing up earthworks, dis- mounted cavalry were having some sort of an entertainment in the woods directly before us. Their running in and out was not unlike the movements of boys when they fight a nest of bumble-bees, nor those of dogs that assail a beast at bay. But there was no play in this. They were the skirmishers, where we were soon to do great works.
General Keifer says the brigade was in position at 2 P. M., with the Ninth forming the second and third lines, and that the advance was not made till 6 o'clock. It certainly was near- ly dark when we charged. Of our regiment in this battle of the 1st of June, the 3d Battalion, Companies F. I. G and L. were out through having other duties. Companies D. M and a part of E. with Major Burgess, through some misunderstand- ing, were not up. so less than one-half had a part. The expe- rience of the coming hours was to be entirely novel to these
*By different writers the name has been written "Cool Arbor," "Coal Harbor," etc., but the English origin of the settlers appears in Cold Harbor, an appellation for places where travelers, in lieu of inns, could be harbored, i. e., housed while they provided their own entertainment. Taylor says that in the vicinity of ancient lines of roads in England, there are no less than seventy of these places.
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FROM THE NORTH ANNA THROUGH COLD HARBOR.
WRIGHT
Old Cold Harbor
Gaines' Mill
New Cold Harbor
2ND CORPS ASSAULT-
HANCOCK
JUNE 30
UNION WORKS CONFED "
Barker's Mill
COLD HARBOR, JUNE 1-11, 1864.
country boys. At our left as we stood in line was a Pennsyl- vania regiment wearing hairy appendages to their caps, and we knew we were near one of the famous bodies of men known as "Bucktails."* Possibly some nervousness on our part drew out the query as to who we were, and on informing them that we were so and so, and that we had never been in a fight, we were
*The 87th Pennsylvania in the second line of the 1st Brigade.
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graciously told that we would probably get our bellies full before morning, a prophecy that was fulfilled in every respect.
We lay down while an artillery duel was filling the air with iron, but we could not see that any particular harm was done. The noise was an excellent hardener to our inexperienced ears. Was there ever a time when canteens were not empty at the most critical moment? We were choking under that hot sun, and there was no water near. No one could go to replenish the supply with less than ten canteens, but that number of empty ones was not hard to find. One tyro as he returned, heavy laden, heard his first bullet in close proximity, apparently; he paid it proper respect in a duck of his head, which nearly dis- located his neck and occasioned no end of fun to the veterans who saw him. In his absence there had been a slight advance; and wounded men were already moving to the rear. As we lay waiting the word, a little bird, perched in a small tree near us, wholly indifferent to the cannon's din, sang as sweetly as ever he had done over meadows green, with streamlets bright. While we realized that those who knew nothing fear nothing, yet the bird's blissful unconsciousness and fearlessness gave many a boy a feeling of confidence that he might again see home and mother. Though the ground had recently been burned over, and was as black as soot itself, no consideration of our apparel prevented the closest embraces of Mother Earth.
It was a long wait thus in line, and there is little wonder if the noise actually became a lullaby to many a man whose senses, lulled or stunned by the confusion, gave way to sleep .*
The sun was just sinking behind the woods into which we were to plunge when the long-expected "Attention!" was heard. followed by, "Forward, march!" and with repeated injunctions. "Guide right," we speedily advanced from our copse of black- ened trees, and then, on either hand, could be seen the long, sinuous line, from which men were constantly dropping as they were hit by the enemy's bullets, but the line heeded not.
*This torpor was common to soldiers under similar circumstances. Lieut. Vaill, p. 60, History of 2d Connecticut Heavy Artillery, says: "Their stupor was of a kind that none can describe, and none but sol- diers can understand." This regiment was under the same heavy firing that we experienced. Orders were given repeatedly, yet when the moment came to advance, "Corporal H- had to be waked up from a sound sleep."
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Down a slight declivity we ran and some found ourselves floundering in a morass, quite waist-deep, and we were well loaded with mud and moisture when we emerged on the other side. Thence there was a rise of ground, up which we marched, and it seemed as though all the artillery of the enemy were massed at that particular spot, for had h-1 been turned up sideways, to our inexperienced eyes, the sight could not have been more fiery. By this time the darkness was such that our only light came from the cannon's mouths and the fuses of shell, whose illuminated trail, however sightly, was not the kind of gleam the most of us would choose. But we were swiftly advancing to where the roar of musketry drowned even that of the cannon, and the scream of shells was no longer heard. The noise incident to the firing of so many thousand muskets blended into one vast, absorbing note no more dis- tinguishable, as to its individual parts, than is the roar of a crowded street when thousands of vehicles rattling over the pavement combine to make a sound rivaling distant thunder, but our thunder was near at hand; so near that one was not always certain whether his gun went off or not. There are times when a kicking musket has its good points. It would not be an excellent figure, but were we to fancy Omnipotence shak- ing the whole region, like an enormous corn-popper over In- ferno itself, some idea of the way firing began and culminated might be gained.
Long lines of prisoners came through our ranks saying, "Don't shoot," and then we plied the work of death again. Many an officer of our regiment that night found a gun a vastly more effective weapon than his sword and worked it according- ly. The night was long, and while the fight was not continuous. it raged at intervals till after 2 o'clock A. M. on the 2d, and when the morning did appear, we had our first glimpse of what death in the field of battle was like. As usual, opportunity was found to dig rifle-pits before daybreak.
During this day the 6th Corps, as it were, regained its breath, while the 2d on our left was getting into position. Rest after the labors of the night was grateful, and though the din of battle was all about us, we sought and found sleep and re- newed strength. Companies D, M, and E in part. come up and are again with us. In later days we learned that our 3d Divi- sion held the right of the 6th Corps, with the 18th Corps still
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further to the right. Our division engaged the men of rebel General Hoke's left and Kershaw's right, and carried them, Klingman's brigade giving way, as did Wofford's, and a part of Bryan's brigades. The 3d Division captured more than 500 prisoners, but our loss was severe. Just at our left was killed Colonel Kellogg of the 2d Connecticut Heavy Artillery with forty-three of his men. The corps lost in this engagement 1200 in killed and wounded. The part borne by the division was recognized by General Meade in the following special order:
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