USA > New York > The history of the Forty-eighth regiment New York state volunteers, in the war for the union. 1861-1865 > Part 15
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
At this time the following general order was issued by General Birney :
HEADQUARTERS TENTH ARMY CORPS, FUSSEL'S MILLS, VA., August 19, 1864.
GENERAL ORDERS :
The Major-General commanding congratulates the Tenth Corps upon its success. It has on each occasion, when ordered, broken the enemy's strong lines. It has captured, during this short campaign. four siege guns, protected by the most formidable works, six colors, and many prisoners. It has proved itself worthy of its old Wagner and Sumter renown. Much fatigue, patience, and heroism may yet be demanded of it; but the Major-General commanding is confident of the response.
(Signed) MAJOR-GENERAL D. B. BIRNEY. EDWARD W. SMITH, Lt .- Col. and A. A. G.
So reduced in numbers had the regiment now become that there were but three commissioned officers for duty and but a few men. Skirmishes were frequent in our front, and in one of them on the morning of August 25th we lost one killed and nine wounded and missing. On August 2Sth the regiment returned to its old intrenchments in front of Peters- burg, alternating with the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania at duty in the trenches and resting in the rear. It remained there for a month.
On September 17th the members of the regiment whose term of service had expired, and who had not re-enlisted, were finally sent home. Some of them had been retained for a month after the expiration of their term. Many com- plaints were made at this injustice, but it was explained that none would be discharged until the date of the muster-in of the final company (September 10th). They were retained at the front, however, for seven days after that date: and as they were days of peril, the procedure was unjust : to one at least it proved fatal. The writer had not re-enlisted, having been in prison at the time when the question was mooted. He suspects had he been present with the regiment he would
169. .
ARMY OF THE JAMES.
have done as a majority of the regiment did. His service,. therefore, closed in front of Petersburg on the 17th of Sep- tember. We were finally mustered out, "honorably dis- charged, at the expiration of our term of service," in New York City, September 20, 1864.
Hitherto, in writing the most of this history, the writer has been aided by his own memories ; henceforth he will be at the disadvantage of being entirely dependent upon the meagre data which he has been able to obtain.
On the evening of September 18th, the Tenth and Eigh- teenth Corps once more left the front of Petersburg and crossed the Appomattox, passed through Bermuda Hundred, and crossed the James River by a pontoon bridge at Deep Bottom. They moved with such secrecy and rapidity that they were in front of the Confederates' intrenchments. below Chapin's Bluff. at daylight on the 29th. General Ord com- manded the Eighteenth Corps, and was directed by General Butler to assault the enemy's outpost below the Bluff, known as Fort Harrison. The Eighteenth Corps went forward to the charge with a fine gallantry, taking a considerable portion of the enemy's intrenchments, and captured fifteen guns and 150 prisoners. General Ord was wounded, and General Weit- zel succeeded to the command. Simultaneously, General Birney with the Tenth Corps advanced toward Spring Hill. and carried a strong line of rebel earthworks, with double line of abatis, at New Market Heights, inflicting a loss of 500 on the enemy. He then advanced upon still more forti- fied lines at Laurel Hill, known as Fort Gilmer, within six miles of the city of Richmond. His force was inadequate for the task of carrying Fort Gilmer by assault, though it was attempted, and some of the troops reached the ditch. Birney withdrew, however, at nightfall, having suffered a loss of 350 men. The Eighteenth Corps also was successful in a further assault. During this engagement the Second Division of the Tenth Corps made a terrific charge on one of the main lines of the enemy, but did not succeed in forcing an entrance into the work, although it suffered a heavy loss. So great
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
was the number of obstructions that the men were unable to move upon the double-quick; the enemy also were in superior force.
The next day, September 30th, the Confederates at- tempted to retake their works, but were gallantly repulsed, with severe loss. The casualties of the Forty-eighth in killed, wounded, and missing were considerable. Finding the city of Richmond thus menaced from the north of the James, the enemy determined upon a vigorous effort to drive our forces from their position. On the evening of October 6th they advanced at dusk in two columns. A terrible fight ensued, in which the enemy were finally beaten back with a loss of over a thousand in killed and wounded, and retreated in great confusion. The men of the Tenth Corps acted with conspicuous valor.
This was the very last engagement of any importance in which the regiment participated until the close of the year. On October ISth our brave corps commander, Major-Gen- eral David B. Birney, died. His loss was a serious one to the Union armies, and to the Tenth Corps it was irrepara- ble. Brigadier-General A. H. Terry succeeded to the com- mand of the corps, which continued to hold its position north of the James. In a congratulatory address General B. F. Butler referred to our part in the recent engagements in the following terms:
"After crossing the James with celerity, precision, secrecy, and promptness of movement seldom equalled, you assailed and carried the enemy's strong works, with double line of abatis, at Spring Hill and New Market, thus taking possession of the outer line of the enemy's works, and advancing to the very gates of Richmond. So vital was your success, that on October ist, under the eye of Lee him- self,-massing his best troops,-the enemy made most determined assaults upon your lines to retake it, and were driven back with loss of seven battle-flags and almost the annihilation of Clingman's brigade. After weeks of preparation, massing all his veteran troops on your right flank, on the 7th of October the enemy drove in our cavalry. with the loss of some pieces of horse artillery ; but meeting the steady troops of the Tenth Corps, were repulsed with slaughter, losing three
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ARMY OF THE JAMES.
commanders of brigade killed and wounded, and many field and line officers and men killed, wounded, and prisoners."
At the end of this campaign the regiment went into winter quarters at Chapin's Farm. The boys built log- huts, and made themselves as comfortable as possible for the winter. Duty in the intrenchments and on picket was continuous, but without especial incident. The posi- tion held was a strong one. Changes in the regiment itself occurred during the winter ; some forty recruits were received. The men were drilled daily with as much regu-
ARMY HOTS AT CHAPIN'S FARM.
larity as possible; but so thin had the ranks become by reason of the casualties of the terrible campaigns through which they had passed, that it was customary in a company drill to unite five companies into one. Most of the com- panies were commanded by sergeants; the noble regiment had dwindled away to that. The pine woods around Chapin's Farm soon disappeared that winter. great ingenuity being exercised by the men in the construction of their winter quarters. Some of the huts had brick fire-places. the brick being obtained from houses that had suddenly and mysteri- ously disappeared. The camp of the regiment was like a little village, and not very unlike in appearance to the adobe houses of New Mexico and Arizona.
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
On December 3d, Colonel William B. Barton was mus- tered out upon his own application, after three and a half years' service, and retired to civil life with a military record of which any soldier might be proud.
He had succeeded to the Colonelcy of the regiment at the death of Colonel Perry in the summer of 1862, but during most of the time had been in command of a brigade which he led on many a fiery field, and had never been known to falter. No man ever accused him of lack of courage or mili- tary discretion. He was dreadfully wounded at the assault on Fort Wagner, and seriously at Cold Harbor. Although he did not gain the highest rank, he filled the important positions to which he was appointed with credit to himself and honor to his command, and in recognition of his gallant and meri- torious services received the brevet rank of brigadier-general.
Colonel Barton commanded successively the district of Fort Pulaski, the district and post of Hilton Head; was second in command in the expedition to Florida in the spring of 1864: and commanded the second brigade, second division of the Tenth Corps, continuously from its formation until he left the service, except during the time he was ab- sent on account of wounds.
He was the son of a Presbyterian minister, and a gra- duate of Princeton College. He had been a militiaman before the war, and was an adept in the tactics. Although very young when he entered the service, he was a man of fine presence, of dignified bearing, and quick and active mind. He was also the " best dressed " man in his regiment. Some- how he was always able to keep his clothes unsoiled when the rest of us found ourselves covered with dirt and mud.
I regret to have been unable to procure a more detailed account of the life and services of General Barton, who is now (1885) a resident of the city of New York. His long- continued command of the Forty-eighth Regiment, and his eminent services with it. will continue to make him, as long as its memory lasts, its historic commander.
On December 2, 1864, the Army of the James was re-
WILLIAM B. BARTON, Brevet Brig .- Gent. U. S. Vols. SECOND COLONEL. 48th, N. Y. S. Vous.
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ARMY OF THE JAMES.
organized. The Tenth and Eighteenth corps, which had so often acted 'in co-operation, were consolidated into one. and known as the Twenty-fourth Army Corps, Major- General E. O. C. Ord becoming its commander. The Second Division maintained the same organization as when in the Tenth Corps, except that it was now commanded by Brigadier-General Adelbert Ames. The Second Brigade was commanded by Colonel William B. Coan. The Tenth and Eighteenth corps were, however, reconstructed after the capture of Fort Fisher.
CHAPTER IX.
Fort Fisher to the End-Jan. I to Sept. 12, 1865.
First Expedition against Fort Fisher-Failure-Back to Chapin's Farm- General Butler Removed from his Command-General Ord Succeeds him-The Second Expedition-Jan. 13th, on Land-Jan. 15th, the Assault -Pennypacker's Brigade -- Colonel Coan Wounded-The Victory-The Race with the Colors-The Roll-call in Fort Fisher-Death of Captain Dunn-Tribute of Admiral Porter-Letter of Secretary Stanton-The Advance Towards Wilmington-Capture of Fort Anderson-The End Ap- proaching-General Schofield-The Twenty-third Army Corps-Feb. 21st, Battle of Wilmington-Major Elfwing Wounded-Rescue of Union Pris- oners-Their Sufferings-March 15th, leave Wilmington for Goldsboro'- Sherman's Army-Richmond Taken-Appomattox-April 10th, Raleigh -Death of President Lincoln-Surrender of Johnston-The End-Sept. 3d, Home-Sept. 12th, Mustered Out-The Career of the Regiment -- Chaplain Taylor-Chaplain Strickland-Surgeon Mulford-Colonel Wm. B. Coan.
T HE year 1865 opened gloomily for the cause of the Confederacy and hopefully for that of the Union. It was evident that the South was well-nigh exhausted, and that the war was drawing to its close. The first month of the year was signalized by the assault and capture of Fort Fisher. a strong fortification which defended the entrance, by the Cape Fear River, to the port of Wilmington, N. C. Its fall was an event of the greatest importance, because there had been much difficulty in stopping the blockade-running into that port, and when Fort Fisher fell, the Confederacy was finally shut up within itself, and the last doorway through which it had held communication with the world was closed. The blockade-trade of Wilmington was much greater than was supposed, and it appears to have con- tinued with but little interruption until the capture of
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FORT FISHER TO THE END.
Fort Fisher and within three months of the end of the re- bellion.
The Forty-eighth Regiment was destined to play a con- spicuous part in this final campaign of the war. They left their camp at Chapin's Farm, on the evening of December 7, 1864 ; marched to Jones' Landing, near City Point; spent a night in a snow-storm, camping in the woods; and next morning, 8th inst., embarked on the steamer Perit to partici- pate in General Butler's expedition against Fort Fisher. Off Fortress Monroe they found a fleet of transports loaded with troops at anchor, and the scene recalled that other fleet that had sailed from that same harbor, under Dupont. more than three years before. Admiral Porter commanded the naval forces of the expedition, and on December 13th they sailed out to sea. They went into Beaufort, N. C.,
LAND AND SEA FRONT OF FORT FISHER.
for supplies of water and coal, sailing thence up the Cape Fear River, and on Christmas Day they landed in front of Fort Fisher.
Fort Fisher is described as an earthwork of an irregular quadrilateral trace: the exterior sides averaged about two hundred and fifty yards; its northeastern salient, which was nearest the sea. approached high-water mark to within about one hundred yards; across the beach to the water was a strong stockade or wooden palisade. The land face of the fort occupied the whole width of the cape, known as Federal Point : and as it was exposed to enfilading fire from the ocean, it was heavily traversed, and the twenty guns that commanded that strip of land were well guarded. The tops of the traverses were fully six feet above the general line of the interior crests, and afforded bomb-proof shelters for the garrison. Looking at them from a distance, they appeared
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
like a series of mounds. The slopes of the parapet were well secured by marsh sods. All along the line front of the fort, across to the Cape Fear River, was a stockade. Num- bers of torpedoes had been planted in the sand in front of the fort, and the wrecks of unfortunate blockade-runners were scattered along the beach.
It was to take this formidable fortification by assault that General Butler had come with 6500 troops, consisting of Ames' division of the Twenty-fourth Corps and Paine's of the Twenty-fifth Negro Corps, in co operation with the fleet under Admiral Porter. General Weitzel had immediate command of the troops. The bombardment by the naval forces followed. Weitzel pushed forward his skirmishers to within a few yards of the fort, where some of them were wounded by shells from the fleet. One man reached the ditch and captured a rebel flag which had been shot down from their parapets. Ames' troops also captured about two hundred rebels, with ten commissioned officers. After in- terviewing them, finding that heavy reinforcements had been thrown into Fort Fisher, and that there were probably more men within its garrison than he could bring against it, But- ler concurred in the opinion of Weitzel. that a successful assault could not at that time be made. The forces were ordered to withdraw and re-embark. When the guns of the navy ceased firing those of Fort Fisher opened upon the re- tiring troops. The position of our men was perilous. It was thirty hours before they finally reached their ships again. The expedition was a failure.
Great blame, and indeed much ridicule, has been heaped upon General Butler for not assaulting Fort Fisher that day. The subsequently successful assault under General Terry has emphasized the apparently bad generalship of Butler : but time rights many wrongs : it is now generally conceded by military writers that Fort Fisher was so heavily garri- soned that it could not have been assaulted with any chance of success at that time. From the statement of the rebel General Whiting on his death-bed, it is now believed that
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FORT FISHER TO THE END.
there were on that day 900 effective men behind those sand walls, and 7000 within forty-eight hours' march. There was also some lack of co-operation between the naval and the land forces, and mutual misunderstandings made mat- ters worse. However, the expedition failed, and the troops returned to Bermuda Hundred, the Forty-eighth reaching its old camp at Chapin's Farm on the night of the last day of the year (1864), and stretching their shelter-tents over the old frameworks of their little huts, spent the night within them in comfort, though the snow was falling with- out.
The failure of that expedition against Fort Fisher cost our army commander, General Butler, his position ; he was relieved from his command on January 7, 1865. General Ord succeeded him in commanding the Department, and General Gibbon in command of the Twenty-fourth Corps. Butler felt his disgrace keenly, and believed also that he had not deserved it. Perhaps he was not a great soldier. Never- theless his failure to assault Fort Fisher; as subsequent events have demonstrated, is not now pronounced a mistake. He issued a farewell address to the "Soldiers of the Army of the James," in which he attributed his removal to his care for the lives of his men, and declared that "having wit- nessed your ready devotion of your blood to your country's cause, I have been chary of the precious charge confided to me. The wasted blood of my men does not stain my gar- ments."
But General Grant was not to be baffled by one failure ; he determined to try again. He selected for the commander Major-General A. H. Terry. The same troops composed the expedition, with the addition of Abbott's brigade of the First Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps. On January 3, 1865, the Forty-eighth left its quarters at Chapin's Farm once more, and embarking this time on the steamer Tona- wanda, in company with the Forty-seventh New York, Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania, and four companies of the Two Hundred and Third Pennsylvania, steamed again, and
12
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
for the last time, down the James River to Fortress Mon- roe. On the 8th they reached Hatteras Inlet ; on the 9th were with the fleet off Beaufort, N. C .; on the 12th in Cape Fear River once more ; and on the 13th effected a landing in small boats, formed upon the beach, and fell to work throwing up intrenchments.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of January 13, 1865, nearly 8000 men, with suitable rations, ammunition, and in- trenching tools, had been safely transferred to the shore; pickets were at once thrown out, the ground to the front re-
MOUND BATTERY AT FORT FISHER.
connoitred, a line finally established about two miles from the fort, and by eight o'clock on the morning of the 14th, a good breastwork, reaching from the river to the sea, and partly covered by abatis, had been constructed, and the army was safe behind it. Terry had succeeded in securing his foothold upon the peninsula. The next day the artillery was landed, and that night the guns were put into position. the naval vessels keeping up a constant fire upon the . fort. The following day, Sunday, January 15th, was selected for the grand assault. That day witnessed one of the most magnificent spectacles of the war. That it should have been the fate of the Forty-eighth Regiment New York State Vol- unteers to have participated in the two great assaults against
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FORT FISHER TO THE END.
the two greatest sand-forts of history-Wagner and Fisher- is a noteworthy coincidence.
Arrangements were made for a cooperative attack by the land and naval forces upon that Sabbath-day. All the night before the monitors pounded the fort, giving the garrison no rest, and no opportunity to repair the damages made by the guns. At eight o'clock in the morning all the ships of the fleet, excepting one division (which was left to defend, if necessary, Terry's line across the peninsula), moved up to the attack, and a concentrated fire, accurate and terrible, from the whole fleet was opened upon the doomed fort. From the ships, also, 1400 marines and 600 sailors, armed with carbines, cutlasses, and revolvers, landed to aid in the work of assault. They dug little trenches in the sand, under cover of the fire of their ships, and reached a point within two hundred yards of the sea-front of the fort, where they waited the order for attack.
And now, to obtain a clear idea of this magnificent and successful assault, the reader must bear in mind the forma- tion of the troops. General Adelbert Ames' division was selected for the work: it consisted of three brigades, com- manded respectively by Curtis, Pennypacker, and Bell. The Forty-eighth belonged to the Second (Pennypacker's) Bri- gade. By noting the part taken by Pennypacker's brigade in the following description, the work of the Forty-eighth New York on that day can be determined. The First Bri- gade (Curtis's) was already in position at the front, within three hundred yards of the fort. Pennypacker's brigade formed about one hundred yards in their rear, Bell's a like distance behind us. The formation was made under some fire from the fort, during which Colonel William B. Coan was wounded, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Major Elfwing. At first, a hundred sharp-shooters were thrown to the front. They ran forward to within one hundred and seventy-five yards of the work, dug themselves little rifle-pits for shelter, and commenced firing at the para- pets. Instantly those parapets were alive with men, and the
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FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, N. Y. S. VOLS.
fort opened upon us a heavy fire of infantry and artillery. Then Curtis's brigade was moved to the front; Pennypack- er's took its place, and Bell's also advanced. Curtis's brigade found shelter on the reverse slope of a crest, about sixty yards in rear of the sharp-shooters, and again moved forward to that point, the regiment digging shallow trenches to cover themselves wherever they halted. Pennypacker followed Curtis, and Bell was brought up to the outwork. At 3.25 P.M. everything was in readiness for the assault.
A concerted signal was made to Admiral Porter to change the direction of the fire of the fleet. Terry ordered Ames to move forward to the attack. Instantly Curtis's brigade sprang from their trenches and dashed forward in line; its
INTERIOR OF FORT FISHER.
left was exposed to a heavy enfilading fire, and it obliqued to the right in order to envelop the left of the land-front. The ground over which it moved was difficult and marshy. but it soon reached the palisades, passed through them, and effected a lodgment on the parapet. Then Pennypacker was ordered forward to their support. The Second Brigade advanced with all the dash and valor for which they now had become famous, but not merely in support of Curtis, for they overlapped him to the right, and meeting the enemy at the heavy palisading which extended from the west end of the land-face to the river, drove him from it, capturing 400 prisoners, then pushed forward to the left, and the two brigades now equally advanced against the fort, rushed for- ward together with a spring and a dash, and drove the ene-
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FORT FISHER TO THE END.
my from about one quarter of the land-face of the work. Then Ames brought up Bell's brigade, moving it between the fort and the river.
And now a terrible struggle ensued ; hand-to-hand fight- ing of the most desperate character between the garrison of the fort and the brigades of Curtis and Pennypacker was witnessed that day on the parapets of Fort Fisher, while the fleet kept up its fire farther to the south, to prevent reinforce- ments reaching the fort from Mound Battery. The rebels used the traverses of the land-front for breastworks, and over the tops of these the contestants fired into each other's faces. The struggle was desperate, but step by step the Confederates were driven back until by six o'clock they had been forced from nine of their traverses. By nine o'clock at night two more traverses were carried, and the combat practically ceased. After as magnificent a charge-lasting for hours-as the war witnessed, Fort Fisher had been taken at the point of the bayonet. The trophies of the victory were 169 pieces of artillery, 2000 stand of small-arms, quan- tities of ammunition and commissary stores, 112 commis- sioned officers, and 1971 enlisted men as prisoners.
The glory must be shared equally by Curtis' and Penny- packer's brigades. General Curtis was wounded, rifle in hand, while fighting in the front rank ; Colonel Pennypacker also, while carrying the standard of one of his regiments, the first man in a charge, over one of the traverses. Colonel Bell was mortally wounded near the palisades. Thus all three commanders of the brave brigades that did the fighting fell. Pennypacker's brigade consisted that day of the following regiments : Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth New York, and the Seventh-sixth, Ninety-seventh, and Two Hundred and Third Pennsylvania. They were the second in the advance, but followed rapidly and closely after the leading brigade in every movement, and at the moment of reaching the fort their lines merged with and extended beyond the flank of the First Brigade, and entered the fort simultaneously with them.
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