USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The heroes of Albany. A memorial of the patriot-martyrs of the city and county of Albany, who sacrificed their lives during the late war in defense of our nation 1861-1865 > Part 8
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He not only believed that war could not be escaped, but he estimated the dimensions of the struggle in a manner not common at that time; and, although he hailed with joy the call of the President for volunteers, he did not conceal his disappointment at the meagreness of the number invoked by the proclamation. Writing a few days after the issuing of that paper, he said: "The sentiment of the North is not satisfied by the present call for troops. The Government would be justified in demanding three hundred thousand, and the men would respond with delight. It is time that we should exorcise from our breasts those gentle spirits, brotherly love and fraternal regard, and substitute impla- cable determination and stern justice in their place. *
We have been wronged, insulted and betrayed by false brethren; the flag of our Union disgraced, and our true brethren slain." This was addressed to a member of the administration.
Upon this call, Governor MORGAN, by a special message, re- quested the necessary action of the Legislature; which responded by " An Act to authorize the embodying and equipment of a vol-
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unteer militia, and to provide for the public defence," passed April 16, 1861. This Act authorized the enlistment of thirty thousand men, and appropriated three millions of dollars for the purposes of the Act. To the perfecting and carrying out of these measures he devoted all his energies. Loyal men abounded in the House, and many, as ardent as himself, labored as zealously to the same end; still a minority was there also, whose hostility to warlike preparations was active and skillful enough to tax severely the strength and resources of the friends of the measure. In debate a member interrupted him thus: "I wish to ask the gentleman a question-if I imbrne my hands in my brother's blood, do I thereby promote the cause of liberty?" Mr. B .: "I will answer that question. Yes, Sir! I do promote the cause of liberty by slaying my brother, if, with traitorous and parricidal hand, he dare to tear down the flag of our common country."
The attack upon Fort Sumter had excited him sufficiently, but the slaughter of Union troops by the traitors of Baltimore, and the cutting off the communication with the National Capital, greatly increased his indignation. He chanced, too, at this con- juneture, to visit the State whose blood, the first shed in the cause of the Union, was even then flowing; whose hills and val- leys cannot be traversed by any lover of freedom, nor her people communed with, without being conscious of an access of fervor toward liberty, and of detestation toward everything opposing it. To a friend connected with the Government, he wrote, April 25th: "I am in New England for a short visit, and have imbibed the spirit of determined patriotism, which is breathing over every city, town and hamlet within the borders of Massachusetts.
"There is much apprehension growing out of contradictory reports as to the movements of troops, the strength of Washing- ton and the fate of the Capitol. *
" Order WOOL to widen the streets of Baltimore with eannon, so that our road to the capital will be free. Trust no Southern man who is a Unionist politician. They have played a game with our Peace Conference, and have lulled the North to rest, while the South perfected its traitorous designs.
" If the troops in Washington are beaten, the Administration
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had better resign; because you can have a million of men by calling for them. There is power here to crush out treason; do not peck it to pieces."
While in the Legislature, it was signified to him that the Coloneley of one of the early regiments would probably fall to him, if the power to appoint were left with the Executive, although he preferred and suggested another mode. Under no circumstances would he have accepted such a commission at that time. In his own judgment, he was not sufficiently advanced in military science or art, to qualify him to be a safe trustee of the lives of a thousand men. So strongly was he impressed with this idea that, even when a Lieutenant Colonel in the service, he declined promotion actually tendered, on this ground.
The New York Fire Department having made some progress toward recruiting the Second Fire Zouaves, in July, conferred upon him the Lieutenant Coloneley of the proposed regiment. Subsequently, WILLIAM R. BREWSTER, late Major of the Twenty- eighth N. Y. S. M., was chosen Colonel. The regiment was or- dered to Washington, where it arrived July 24th, but it was not until the close of Angust that it joined its brigade, then at Good Hope, Maryland, forming part of Hooker's division. It assisted in building three forts, named, respectively, Carroll, Stanton and Greble, to command the approaches to Washington from the south. This regiment, at this time known as Fourth Excelsior, Second brigade, HOOKER's division, was afterwards designated by the State of New York, as the Seventy-third Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry.
The winter was spent mainly in performing picket duty. It was found necessary to change the locality of the camp frequently. The roads were not only rendered impassable by frequent rains, but it was difficult to find firm ground enough on which to drill the soldiers. During these seasons of discomfort, a deep attach- ment was growing between the regiment and its Lieutenant Colonel, and was often manifested by significant tokens of respect and gratitude. At one time he writes: "Our regiment never looked as well as it did to-day, on inspection. I love it. Its wild boys are full of ardor and activity, and are growing
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out of their careless ways. The prospect of active service has brightened them up, and they are becoming ambitious to look well. Contact and contrast with other troops will stimulate them to excel, and they can if they try."
Ilis knowledge of the most potential means to influence men- the result of his almost intuitive perceptions, and long continued use of such appliances on a more peaceful theatre, served him efficiently in his new sphere of action. With an undoubting con- viction that the best interests of the public service were identical with those of the regiment, he indulged the humane impulse of his nature while he executed the suggestions of his best judg- ment, and strengthened while he made more acceptable his naked military right to command, by investing it with appeals and claims to obedience that were neither legal nor technical, but stronger than either. He earned their regard and confidence, by kind and considerate treatment, and was rewarded by an alac- rity and cheerfulness of obedience, which is always yielded to power when it is exercised without caprice or inhumanity. ITis first campaign was against the hearts of his own men; and the completeness of his conquest was demonstrated by the incidents of every day, while he held his place in the regiment; and never more touchingly than on the last. when some of his " wild boys" preferred to share the horrors of a rebel prison, rather than de- sert him in his helplessness on the field of Williamsburg.
Early in April, the Seventy-third proceeded with its brigade to take part in such operations of the siege of Yorktown as were committed to the charge of HEINTZELMAAN's corps, to which it was attached; such operations comprising a principal share of the entire labor of investment. Though greatly fatigued and worn by severe picket and trench duty, the Seventy-third was vivacious enough to be the first to plant its colors on the ram- parts of Yorktown, on the morning of Sunday, May 4th, the enemy having evacuated the place during the previous night.
The surrender of this fortified place, without a struggle, was not expected; and, deeply impressed by the grave contingencies inevitable to the issue he anticipated, he wrote his mother: "I am pained to learn that so much apprehension for my safety is
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mingled with the gratifieation you feel at my being in a position to do service to my country. I know it is impossible for a mother to forget her son; but I would, if I could, inspire you with the pride I feel in devoting my life to the cause of freedom and the Union. Thus far, though I have endeavored to do, as far as my frail nature would permit, my duty to man, I know I have not forgotten myself as I should in many instances have done; but in the struggle soon to be inaugurated here, the opportunity will be given me to furnish unmistakable evidence that I am animated by the noblest sentiments-that I can resign life that I love, that my country may again enjoy the blessings of peace and the development of its beneficent principles of government. Politically acting, I have sought its weal; personally, my life belongs to it in its woe; so I view the result of the battle with complacency. If I survive, as I hope I will, no fortune in future life can destroy my consciousness of having periled life for right; and if I fall, through all the grief you and our dear ones will feel, will breathe the consolation that I was a soldier fighting in a just cause. Let that feeling, dear mother, console you, as it reconciles me to this war."
The retreating enemy made a stand at Williamsburg, within the second line of works above Yorktown. The bastioned fort Magruder, and thirteen other formidable earthworks, could only be approached through an abatis of felled trees five hundred feet in breadth. Behind them, as was then supposed, two-thirds of the whole rebel army confronted the Union forces. At noon, on Tuesday, May 4, Hooker's division started in pursuit. The second brigade marched about eight miles, and bivouacked in the woods. It rained hard during the night, and by daylight the roads had become nearly impassable, the men drenched, weary, hungry and cold. At six A. M., Monday, 5th, the rain still fall- ing in torrents, the pursuit was resumed, and about 73 A. M. the first and third brigades encountered the enemy. The second brigade (Excelsior) was posted in reserve, and the first and third brigades having been forced baek by overwhelming numbers, after some hours of hard fighting, it was ordered into action.
This is not the place or occasion to assume to decide the mani-
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fold controversies to which the origin and conduct of the battle of Williamsburg gave rise; but of facts which appear clear through the smoke and dust of the contention, it may not be im- proper to record one or two. HOOKER's division was left without support from early morning until nearly nightfall, to contend with a vastly more numerous force, protected by formidable de- fences, while General SUMNER was aware of the situation, and his corps of thirty thousand men was lying supinely within hearing of the thunder of the unequal contest; the main body of the army of the Potomac being all the while within four hours' march of the same point, and the commanding general, MCCLEL- LAAN, not arriving on the field until near the close of the battle. HOOKER lost one in six-a loss proportionate to that of the allied armies at the Alma, the bloodiest battle in modern European history. The Excelsior brigade went into action with about two thousand four hundred men, and lost seven hundred and seventy- three, about one-half of the entire loss sustained by HOOKER'S division.
HOOKER's left was the point that the rebel general in command, JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, especially desired to turn, and through- out the day it was vehemently and persistently assailed. It was also the point that HOOKER, aware of its importance, determined should not be turned; hence the desperateness of the fighting. The Seventy-third and the Seventy-fourth New York, the last remaining regiments of the reserve, were moved up to rein- force the left. It was in the execution of this purpose that Lieut. Col. BENEDICT was taken prisoner. Col. BREWSTER, of his regiment, wrote: "From the position in which I last saw him, which was upon the extreme left of the regiment, when we were driven back some time before the right and centre gave way, I think he must have been taken prisoner at that time. He was at the head of the line, encouraging the men, driving up, with pistol in hand, those who seemed inclined to hang back, and acting in the bravest manner." A correspondent of the " New York Tribune," writing from the field, said: "I have just re- turned from the spot where Lieut. Col. BENEDICT was taken. It is in the densest heart of the abatis, and close in front of the rifle
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pits. The bark of the trunks and branches of the trees is cheq- uered white with musket balls and grape. The idea prevailing in his regiment is, that he got to the front; that a charge drove his men back, and he was captured for his exchangeable value instead of being killed." His own account, written from Libby prison, was: "My horse was wounded early in the fight, though I rode him some time afterward. After I dismounted, we made our way into the felled timber, and, when our line was broken, I was taken prisoner."
A principal cause of his capture became known afterwards. While in Maryland, his horse had fallen with him, seriously injuring his foot and ankle. He was unable to walk without support when he went into action at Williamsburg, and the general judgment of his men was, that he was unfit to take the hazards of the battle field. So long as his horse served his pur- poses of locomotion, he did pretty well, but the moment he dis- mounted he was at great disadvantage. The abatis of felled timber through which he was aided to clamber, in order to reach the open field beyond, which was studded with rifle pits, was more than four hundred feet in breadth, and when he and his men were overwhelmed by the enemy, it presented an insur- mountable barrier to his retreat. There is reason to believe that some who were captured with him might have escaped, as others did, but that they were unwilling to abandon the idol of their camp, when he was too lame to move without assistance. Such certainly was his own idea; for a few days later, while in prison in Richmond, he contrived to get into the hands of those men who were released on parol, a slip of paper containing these words: "Good bye and good luck to the Seventy-third New York prisoners! It pleases me more to have you free, than it would to be released myself; for I know that if it had not been for my helplessness, you would not be here. If you see any of our regi- ment, remember me to them. Good bye, and God bless you!"
From Williamsburg he was hurried to Richmond as rapidly as his condition would allow. On his way thither, he was fortu- nate enough to be in the custody of humane and placable foes, who, in consideration of his inability to walk, suffered him to
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ride on horseback. The condition of affairs within the enemy's lines inspired him with something stronger than hope-that he would be recaptured by Union troops before he could be trans- ported to Richmond. On every side evidences abounded that the enemy felt himself utterly defeated, and was concerned about nothing so much as providing for his own retreat. His reason- able expectation was not, however, realized; and on the ninth, he found himself, with many other Union officers, in the Rebel Capital, shut up in a filthy pork-packing establishment, since recognized and cursed as the Libby prison. Here he was first insulted and plundered.
A natural consequence of the physical exertions compelled by the exigencies of the battle and the capture, was, that the injured foot and ankle became immoderately swollen, and the seat of excruciating pain. It was always a pleasant recollection to him, and it still abides with his friends, that in this condition he re- ceived much kindness and attention from his fellow prisoners, some of whom were well known to him, who seemed to forget their own misery in assiduous attempts to alleviate his.
Under an expectation that the Union forces would take pos- session of the city, which the army of treason felt constrained to abandon, the rebel authorities, on the fifteenth of May, hurried the Union prisoners from this den to Salisbury, North Carolina. They were transported on uncovered platform cars, rudely fitted with rough board benches. Thus they were exposed at every point on the route, where there was rabble enough to deride and insult them. The place to which they were now transported, was found to be a much more healthful locality, and the prison buildings vastly more commodious than those of Richmond. A most welcome appurtenance to these structures was an enclosure of some ten or twelve acres, in which, under rather stringent regulations, the prisoners were allowed to take air and exercise. Another grateful improvement upon the regime at Richmond was, that their rebel custodians exhibited some decency of de- meanor, and although the fare was both meagre and scanty, sup- plies could be obtained from without by the payment of exor- bitant prices.
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Under date of June 28, 1862, writing from this prison, he said: " I have nothing agreeable to communicate, except that I continue in good health. Our hopes are raised on the slightest rumor or remotest incident, that we shall be soon paroled or exchanged; but we are constantly disappointed. This produces various effects upon those confined here. * I belong to another class, who, adopting the philosophy of Pope, take com- fort in the belief that ' whatever is, is right.' I have the utmost reliance on our Government. Its capacity and energy have been exhibited in prosecuting the most remarkable campaign the world has ever seen, for valuable results, and in extent of country passed over by our armies. I value myself too little, to suppose that nothing has been done because I am left here a prisoner. I imagine the world may be moving and doing a very respectable stroke of business, though I am taking no part in it. I am far happier in such a thought than I should be in nourishing the con- ceits of an exaggerated self-importance."
The bitterest element in the cup of his captivity touched his lips, when it was nearly drained and was about to pass from him. Just before his exchange he learned that a heart, that had been grievously wrung by his imprisonment, was not to be soothed by his release. More than a month before the sorrowful intelli- genee penetrated his prison, his father, whom he revered as well as loved, had died.
Under a cartel, he left Salisbury en route for the Union lines. Arriving opposite to Richmond, the prisoners were turned out on Belle Isle, and left to pass the night on the bare ground with- out shelter of any sort. This exposure of debilitated men to the damps and chills of the night, entailed consequences not imme- diately apparent. Thence they were taken to the Libby prison, well remembered by most of them for its filthiness and discom- fort, which they found in a far more loathsome and pestilential condition than when they left it. The sick and wounded of our army, whose low condition precluded them from the present benefits of exchange, lay there, with nothing between their tor- tured and languishing bodies and the reeking floor, without blankets or sheets, and some without even a shirt to cover them,
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with no nourishment but the coarse prison rations, wretched in quality and wholly insufficient in quantity. This sorrowful sight so affected the exchanged officers, that they contributed money, and divested themselves of blankets, overcoats, and indeed of all their surplus clothing, for the relief of their suffering countrymen.
Under the impression that, in care of Federal authorities, shel- terless nights in transitu from Richmond to Washington needed not to be provided against, he had devoted his last overcoat to the service of the sick and naked of Libby prison. He found him- self, however, on a damp, misty night, on the open deck of the U. S. transport, on the James river, with insufficient clothing, afraid to lie down, and too weak to stand up. What wonder, then, that he sunk down where he stood, and arose wet and shivering, to lie down again at no distant day, with that form of fever that filled more hospitals and graves from the army of the Potomac, than all the other casualties of the war combined.
On the 20th of August he reached Washington. The effect upon his mind, of his southern experience and observation, is quite apparent in some statements extracted from him by reporters, and published at the time. "Col. BENEDICT is eager, and in this he says he expresses the desire of all who came with him from Rebeldom, to get to work again. He will com- mand a regiment, if he can get one; if not, he will resume his old position. He says, and others too, that are with him, say, that the harshest measures towards the rebels are the best. He spurns conciliation, and eries, 'War to the knife.' He believes in emancipation as a means of crushing the rebellion. The slaves, he says, are all our friends, and show their friendship toward Union prisoners in all safe ways. The confiscation and emancipation act is, in Col. BENEDICT's judgment, the most ter- rible weapon the North has yet drawn. The rebels wince at it as it stands on the statute book, only executed in part as it is."
After reporting at the War Department, he received leave of absence for thirty days, in order to visit his home. On Saturday evening, August 23d, he reached Albany. In anticipation of his coming, his townsmen had arranged to receive him in a manner strikingly expressive of their approbation of his conduct, and sym-
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pathy with his sufferings, as well as their satisfaction at his return. The orator chosen for the occasion, his cherished friend, Hon. LYMAN TREMAIN, with words of welcome on his lips, was in wait- ing with a numerous array of friends; but when he emerged from the car, trembling and tottering, unable to stand without sup- port, his appearance shocked the beholders, and put a sudden period to all the schemes for a formal reception. His long sub- jection to the influence of impure air, and bad as well as insuffi- cient food, had unquestionably predisposed him to disease; but the exposure at Belle Isle and on the Government transport on the James, had put a match to the train that now reached the magazine. He was burning with fever, and was at once carried home. It required skillful treatment and assiduous nursing to enable him to execute his fixed purpose, to return to the service at the earliest practicable moment.
During this confinement, Gov. MORGAN, in the kindest manner, tendered him the Coloneley of the One Hundred and Sixty- second N. Y. V. Infantry, then in process of being recruited. His resignation of the Lieut. Colonelcy of the Seventy-third New York, was accepted, to qualify him to receive this promotion; and his exchange was announced, officially, September 30, 1862.
On the 9th of September, though still quite infirm, he had proceeded to New York, to supervise the concerns of the new regiment. This was the third, raised under the patronage of the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police. By the latter part of October, his regiment had attained proportions to entitle it to take the field; and for that purpose, on the 24th of that month, it was ordered to Washington. After spending some time in various camps in the vicinity of the city, he was directed to em- bark it at Alexandria, Virginia, for Fortress Monroe, the rendez- vous of the forces assembled for what is commonly called the Banks Expedition.
To a brother he wrote: " I shall merit a good fate, if earnest endeavors will secure it; at any rate, I will always be consoled by knowing that warm hearts will exult in my honorable efforts, and mourn if I fall doing my duty. While I believe I am en- gaged in a sacred war for moral, political and religious right,
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and am certain it will be prosecuted to the bitter end-to the subjugation of secession-I will be confident and fearless; but if the time come when compromise is tolerated, expeet me home. I will never support a war which is to end in any event except the establishment, in its entirety, of the authority of the Govern- ment. My life, and that includes all, is at the service of the Union, but not one hair of my head will be given voluntarily for any modification of it."
He sailed from Hampton Roads, December 3d, under sealed orders, not to be opened before approaching the mouth of the Mis- sissippi; and opening his orders at Ship Island, he learned his destination to be New Orleans, where he arrived December 15, 1862. On reporting at head quarters, he was ordered to disem- bark his men at Camp Parapet, some eight miles above, and assume command of the post, which was garrisoned by several regiments and batteries.
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