USA > New York > Essex County > The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York : and a general survey of its physical geography, its mines and minerals, and industrial pursuits, embracing an account of the northern wilderness > Part 23
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loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. This gallant ex- ploit was noticed in warm commendation by a special order of the division commander.
On the 30th of May, the rebels, by an adroit expedient, arrested a train advancing by the Orange and Alexandria rail road to the Rapidan, heavily ladened with army supplies, and opened upon it a fire from a twelve-pounder mountain howitzer. The infantry guard upon the train, unable to oppose the storm of cannister, dispersed, and the whole train with its contents was consumed. The Fifth, with the First Vermont and Seventh Michigan cavalry was stationed on the road, and through their encampment the train had just before passed. They were startled by the report of the gun, and those not engaged on picket duty directly mounted, and taking different routes marched across the country with the hope of intercepting the rebel retreat. The Fifth first came upon them and immediately charged; but was repulsed by a discharge of small arms and the howitzer, at close quarters in a narrow road which the guns completely commanded. The officer in command of the Fifth, Capt. Hasbroock, judiciously hesitated on renewing the assault, but Lieutenant Barker of Company H, unwilling to allow the enemy to escape in their triumph, and calling on the men to follow in the charge upon the gun, he dashed up a steep hill at the head of less than a score of volunteers, and when they had nearly reached the howitzer it poured forth a withering shower of cannister, by which the young leader was stricken down with two shot through his thigh, another severing the sole from his boot; his horse received three grape and two pistol balls in his body. Three of the little band were killed and most of the others severely wounded; but before the piece could be reloaded the survivors were sabreing the gunners at their post. After a brief but fierce conflict the howitzer was recaptured, for it had been taken at Ball's bluff, and to the captors it was a proud and grateful trophy. The rebels lost two officers and several men,
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wounded and captured. In this movement Mosby first intro- duced his use of artillery.1
Soon after this occurrence, the cavalry division to which the Fifth was attached, joined the army of the Potomac in the Gettysburg campaign. On the last day of June, the cavalry division of Kilpatrick, with two batteries of artillery, were defiling through Hanover, Penn. Each regiment, in its passage, was regaled by the patriotic citizens. While the Fifth was in the act of participating in this hospitality, a cannon sounded from an adjacent height. For the moment it was supposed to be connected with the demonstration, but it proved to be a signal gun, and its echo had scarcely ceased, when Stuart, at the head of a large party of cavalry, rushed in a furious assault upon the Eighteenth Pennsylvania, which held the rear of the brigade, Stuart was unexpectedly present with three thousand horse, supported by artillery, and was in occupation of the surrounding hills. With consummate coolness and judgment, Major Hammond, then in com- mand of the Fifth, which in the street received the first shock of the attack, instantly formed the regiment, faced to the rear in column, and charged the enemy's front. A fearful hand to hand conflict in the narrow street suc- ceeded, when the rebels, broken and repulsed, with a heavy loss, sought the protection of their artillery. The casualities of the Fifth were forty killed and wounded, and a few missing. Adjutant Gall was killed while charging in the street, and Major White slightly wounded. The trophies of the Fifth included the commander of a bri-
1 The age of nineteen was attached in the compact I have mentioned to the signature of Elmer J. Barker. On the 9th of February, preceding this action, he suffered a severe contusion by the fall of his horse while charging in the fight at New Baltimore. After receiving the wounds mentioned in the text, he was first carried to the hospital at Fairfax C. H., and subsequently in haste to Alexandria. From thence he was removed to New York, nursed and tenderly cared for by two ladies whose husbands were in the regiment. From New York he was brought by the wife of a distinguished officer to his native mountains, where he recovered from his wounds and re- turned to the army.
1
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gade, and a battle flag, and a few prisoners. The division was engaged in the afternoon of the 2d of July, with the enemy's cavalry on the left of their line at Gettysburg. Custer, with the second brigade, retained that position through the 3d. The First brigade including the Fifth, under Kilpatrick and Farnsworth, marched all the night of the 2d, and reached the right flank of the rebels about ten o'clock on he 3d, and maintained a vigorous contest through the day. Repeated charges were made upon the enemy's infantry line, in one of which General Farnsworth, the commander of the brigade, gallantly fell. The Fifth, during a part of these events, was left in support of Elder's battery, and exposed to a tremendous cannonade.
On the night of the 4th, the cavalry division intercepted upon the summit of South mountain the enemy with an immense train transporting the spoils of Pennsylvania. After a sharp contest the entire train was captured with fifteen hundred prisoners and two hundred wagons burnt. On the 6th, the division was engaged in the defense of Hagerstown against the attacks of Stuart's cavalry, and in the afternoon of that day retreated before Hood's infantry towards Williamsport amid continuous and severe fighting. In one of the charges in these conflicts the horse of Cap- tain Penfield of Company H was killed under him, and while attempting to extricate himself from the fallen ani- mal he received a fearful sabre cut upon the head, and was taken prisoner. He suffered in the southern prisons until March, 1865, and resigned soon after his exchange. The third division, united with Burford's, maintained on the 8th upon the plains near Antietam creek a severe engagement with Stuart supported by Hood. The conflict was desperate and sanguinary, but in a final charge by the Union cavalry towards the close of the day, the rebels were swept from the field with a heavy loss. On the 14th the division attacked the rear of the retreating enemy near Falling Water, and captured a brigade of infantry under General Pettigrew, who was mortally wounded, two flags and two pieces of cannon. During the remainder of the
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summer and far into autumn the regiment was incessantly engaged in the severest field duties, attended with frequent bloody collisions with the enemy's horse. On the 10th and 11th of October, the division was involved in a most cri- tical position from a formidable attack by infantry and cavalry in the neighborhood of Culpepper, and near Brandy . Station. Surrounded by the enemy, it was only extricated by one of the most daring charges led by Kilpatrick, Davies and Custer that signalized the war. The enemy was checked, and the division united with Burford's, and at night fell back across the Rappahannock. During these operations, Major Hammond, with half of the Fifth, was in support of a section of Elder's battery, while Major White was support- ing the other section with the remainder of the regiment, and by a bold and opportune charge they saved the battery from capture. On the 10th of December, Major Ham- mond and Captain Krom were ordered home on recruiting service, and returned to the regiment before the middle of March, having enlisted five hundred men by great efforts and personal disbursements. A large part of the regiment at this time reentered the service on a new enlistment.
At the approach of the new year of 1864, the Fifth were permitted to construct near Germania Ford its winter quarters; but this promise of repose resulted in only slight actual relaxation of their active patrol service. On the 28th February, the entire third division marched upon a raid of more than usual importance towards Richmond. A detachment of the Fifth was detailed to serve in the subordinate and unfortunate expedition of Colonel Dahl- gren, but it embraced no member of Company H. The division encountered in its movement extreme suffering and toil, at length reached the Union lines near Yorktown, were transported to Alexandria, and from thence reached its former camp at Stevensburg. Towards the close of April, the regiment broke up its nominal winter quarters and prepared for the impending campaign. On the 4th of May, the Fifth leading the division forded the Rapidan ; the first regiment in this campaign that crossed that
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stream. Early the next morning a heavy column of infantry appeared on its flank, and a furious conflict immediately commenced. This action was the initiative of the memo- rable battle of the Wilderness. Colonel Hammond after holding his ground three hours, advised General Meade of the evidently large force in his front, with the assurance that he would " hold them in check as long as possible." By voice and example he maintained the regiment reso- lutely in hand. A portion of it was dismounted, and as- sailed the enemy with the Spencer rifle with terrible effect. Until relieved by a part of the sixth corps, the Fifth, with unsurpassed firmness and devotion, confronted for five hours the assailing column, and slowly and defiantly fall- ing back. It performed most valuable service to the army but at a fearful sacrifice to itself. After this bril- liant achievement, the Fifth was ordered to bivouac near the Wilderness Tavern, to be under the immediate orders of General Meade.
On the 7th, the Fifth, in conjunction with two other regiments, all under the command of Colonel Hammond, was again in the advance, intrusted with the respon- sible duty of guarding the fords and picketting the roads. In the afternoon, the command was attacked by cavalry and artillery, and a part giving way, Hammond was compelled to make a rapid retreat down the river. When Grant effected his first flank movement, the Fifth was the last regiment that left the Wilderness. It was in the rear of Burnside's corps, and the command of Ham- mond, subsequently formed the rear of Hancock's corps. Colonel Hammond was reenforced on the 17th, by the First Massachusetts, twelve hundred strong, with direct orders from General Meade, to destroy the Guineas station, and make a reconnaissance on Lee's flank. He found the enemy strongly fortified on the banks of the Potomac, and a warmly contested action occurred, without dislodg- ing their force. Four days later, the regiment had another severe fight on the Mattapony. On the 23d, it encountered the enemy in large force, near Mt. Carmel
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church. A furious fight ensued, that brought on a general engagement between the armies, which resulted in the rebels being driven from their strong position on the North Anna. The brigade, on the 1st of June, met the rebels in a conflict of unusual severity, at Ashland station. Although inflicting a heavy loss upon the enemy, it suf- fered itself severely. Major White of the Fifth, was dangerously wounded, and Colonel Hammond received a ball just above the ankle, that had flattened upon his scabbard. On a previous occasion he had been wounded in the hand. At Salem church the brigade was again en- gaged, and on the 15th, near White Oaks Swamp, the division suddenly encountered a heavy Confederate co- lumn, and after a severely contested action, the division was overwhelmed by superior numbers, suffered heavily, and was compelled to fall back.
General Wilson, who had succeeded Kilpatrick in the command of the Third division, aided by Kautz's brigade of cavalry, and fourteen pieces of flying artillery on the 22d of June, commenced his remarkable raid which was designed to sever the enemy's communications below Rich- mond. Rushing with the utmost celerity along devious roads and through unfrequented bypaths, it accomplished a vast work of devastation. It first struck the Weldon rail road ; it next reached the South Side road ; here and every- where on its march destruction marked its track. Near the close of the second day, it was met by a strong force of the enemy ; a sharp engagement followed, protracted long into the night. The Fifth was in the skirmish line, and fought with its usual ardor and efficiency. On the 24th the expedition reached and effectually broke up the Danville road. The next day Kautz was repulsed in an attempt to burn the bridge over the Staunton river. Up to this point, ten important and several smaller stations and depots had been destroyed, and fifty miles of rail road track with their bridges aud culverts. The course of the expedition was now describing a wide circle gradually tending towards the Union line. The 28th, it reached the Weldon road, and
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through the night with brief pauses was engaged in a fight with an infantry force. On the eighth day of its march it. again approached Ream's station. The Fifth was leading, and a mile and a half in advance of the column. Here the harassed troops had the assurance of meeting a support, but instead of succor and friends, they were confronted by an impassable barrier, supported by a force of overwhelming strength. The decision was promptly made to attempt a: retreat to Rowanty creek and there fortify while scouts should penetrate the rebel lines and apprise General Grant of the critical position of the command. The execution of the plan was attempted, but while the main body was. in bivouac it was irresistibly assailed by the rebels on its flanks and rear and utterly routed. I am unable to trace the incidents by which the command, broken up and seat- tered, reached the Federal lines by detachments, in small parties and individually, many after several days of severe suffering. The artillery, wagons and trains were lost. Many of the troops were slain and numerous prisoners and horses left in the enemy's hands. Hundreds of slaves, who had gathered in joyous exultation around the column, were abandoned to their fate.
The shattered Fifth, after its fearful endurance in this expedition, was allowed a brief period of repose, but on the 6th of August, the whole division was embarked on trans- ports at City Point and transferred to a new field of action with the army of the Shenandoah. A number of the regi- ment, who were disabled or had lost their horses in the raid, had been previously sent to camp Stoneman near Wash- ington, participated in the series of battles fought the month of July in upper Maryland. The Fifth was soon after actively engaged in picket duty, in aiding to cover Sheridan's retreat from Cedar creek, slowly falling back amid incessant conflicts. On the 25th of August, the first and third divisions of cavalry met a heavy force of the enemy under Breckenridge, and after a protracted engage- ment were forced to retreat. The regiment lost a number in killed and wounded, including Lieutenant Greenleaf
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commanding Company A; mortally wounded. At night it moved to the Potomac, and crossing at Maryland heights on a pontoon bridge, it did not pause until it reached Antie- tam creek. Two days afterwards the division recrossed the Potomac and with the army again assumed an offensive attitude.
The term of Colonel Hammond's service having expired and private duties constraining his return to civil life, on the 30th of August, he bade a formal farewell to the noble regiment he had so long commanded and led through a series of such brilliant services. An infinitude of toils and privation, of perils and triumphs and a common fame, had united the officers and men of the Fifth by no ordinary ties of cordial affection, and fraternal sympathy. As no man had entered the service of the country from loftier impulses than Colonel Hammond, so no officer of his grade left the army with a higher reputation. He was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lieutenant Colonel Bacon.1
In the early part of September, the brigade was con- stantly engaged with the enemy's forces, and on the 13th captured at Opequan the South Carolina Eighth with its colonel and standard. On the 19th, it was engaged in the terrible battle near Winchester, and during that day executed five distinct charges, four of which were against the close serried ranks of infantry. Its losses were heavy, but its bearing was eminently conspicuous. Advancing in the pursuit of the enemy, the regiment was exposed near Ashbury church to a furious shelling, such as it had never before experienced; but it maintained its position
1 The application of Colonel Hammond to be mustered out, was approved by General Wilson, in an endorsement from which I make the following extracts : "Colonel Hammond is a most valuable and worthy officer, and has served with great credit to himself, and benefit to the service." General Torbet in his approval writes: " I am pleased to mention from per- sonal observation, that he is one of the most accomplished officers I have known in the service, and the country can ill afford to lose the services of such an officer at this time."- Boudrye.
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with unfaltering firmness and tenacity. Through the
month of September it had trifling relief from incessant
and harassing duty in patroling, forming escort, and in actual conflict. During this period, one of the most sad and revolting services was imposed on the Fifth, that the harsh severity of warfare exacts from the soldier. A Lieu-
The government deemed a stern retaliatory example de- assassinated by unknown persons residing near Dayton. tenant Meigs of the Union army had been barbarously
manded, and ordered every edifice to be burnt in an area of three miles. The regiment was detailed to execute this fearful retribution. Numerous splendid mansions and
happy homes were consigned to the torch, without any discrimination between the innocent and guilty ; but the im- pulses of compassion at length prevailed and the order was arrested before the devastation reached the pleasant village of Dayton. During several successive days, the regiment was employed in the burning of forage and grain and the destruction of mills; a ruthless necessity of war, that marked the course of Sheridan's army with ashes and ruin.
Determined to arrest the harassing assaults of the enemy upon the Union pickets and rear, Custer, with the Third division on the 9th of October turned back upon and at- tacked them in one of the most spirited cavalry actions of the war. Amid the animating clangor of the bugles along the whole front, sounding the charge, the entire line rushed forward; Custer himself at the head of the Fifth dashed upon the rebel's strong central position. The issue formed a brilliant success to the federal troops. On the 19th, the division was lying at Cedar creek with the Union army, and indulging in its fatal security. It en- dured the common disasters incident to the surprise and rout, and fully participated in the crowning victory wrought by the marvellous inspirations of Sheridan. Near the close of the day, the Confederates made a final and desperate effort to redeem its fortunes, by a cavalry attack upon the flank of the Union army. This movement, Cus- ter was ordered to repel. Torn by the Union artillery,
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and at sundown assailed by the whole line, the rebels broke and fled in a disordered rout. At that moment, the Third division burst upon them in a merciless pursuit. There was no cheering; no sounding of trumpets, and the flying enemy were admonished of impending slaughter only by the trampling of pursuing horses. At length they halt and pour a volley upon the Union cavalry. Then the bugles sounded and Custer and his men were in their midst, and a scene of carnage ensued that had scarcely a parrallel in the war. A bloody track, weapons broken or abandoned, the bodies of the dead and wounded, attested the horrors of the flight. For five miles the pursuit con- tinued, until darkness spread its compassionate mantle over the frightful spectacle. Captain Barker of Company H, by the personal command of Custer, had led the charge. The Fifth, commanded in the field by Major A. H. Krom, gleaned immense spoils from the common harvest of the great victory.1
The Second and Third divisions of cavalry while engaged in a reconnaissance on the 22d of November, near Mt. Jackson, were involved in a hard fought battle, and again the Fifth was peculiarly distinguished, in repelling by a bold and vigorous movement a flank attack on the column by the Confederate cavalry. On the 25th, the regi- ment was ordered into camp near the headquarters of the commanding general, and a few days after was allowed to construct its winter quarters near Winchester. On the 27th of February, 1865, Sheridan moved with the cavalry
1 This is attested by the official receipt : . " Received of the Fifth New York Cavalry commanded by Major A. H. Krom, twenty-two pieces of artillery, fourteen caissons, one battery wagon, seventeen army wagons, six spring wagons and ambulances, eighty-three sets of artillery harness, seventy-five- sets of wagon harness, ninety-eight horses, sixty-seven mules, captured in: action in the battle of the 19th October, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Va. A. C. M .. Pennington, Jr., colonel commanding brigade." General Custer, in an enthu- siastic address to the Third division, among other high panegyrics on its achievement, exclaims : " Again, during the memorable engagement of the 19th, your conduct throughout was sublimely heroic and without a parallel in the annals of warfare."
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of the Shenandoah towards Staunton, and on the 1st of March at Waynesboro', nearly annihilated the relics of Early's army. Fourteen hundred prisoners were among the fruits of this victory. Sheridan decided to transfer most of these to the Union rear, and the Fifth, under Colo- nel Boice, with broken parties of other regiments, amount- ing in all to about one thousand men, was detached as their escort. The distance was more than one hundred miles, through a country infested by guerrilla bands, and occupied by General Rosser, an alert and energetic rebel leader. The service was difficult and perilous, but was successfully executed. Rosser made a vehement effort to rescue the prisoners, but was repulsed with a severe loss, leaving a number of his troops to augment the aggregate of prisoners. General Sheridan had detained about his own person a small detachment of the Fifth, selected for special duty. These accompanied him on his trying march to the James ; participated with their wonted efficiency in the closing battles of the war, and were present at the sur- render of Lee.
The main body of the regiment performed on the 19th of May its final service in an expedition to Lexington, Va., to effect the arrest of Governor Letcher, and on the 19th of July it received its last general orders, directing its return to New York, to be there mustered out of service and discharged. By an auspicious fortune the Fifth had fought at Hanover, Pa., the first battle on free soil; it was the first Union regiment that crossed the Rapidan in Grant's cam- paign ; it received the first shock at the battle of the Wilderness, and was the last to leave the field.1
The One Hundred and Eighteenth New York Volunteers.
This gallant regiment was recruited entirely in the six- teenth congressional district, and throughout its whole
1 Besides official documents, I am largely indebted to the Rev. Mr. Boudrye's Historic Record of the Fifth for the facts I have embodied in the preceding pages. I have also received valuable information from officers connected with the regiment.
18
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career, was an object of peculiar pride and solicitude to the people of that district. Its organization embraced three companies from Warren county, A, D, G; three from Clinton county, B, H, I; three from Essex county, C, E, F; and one, K, from Essex and Clinton. The latter company was enrolled chiefly in the Au Sable valley ; a part in Peru, and a small portion, including the captain, were residents of Jay. The regiment, with great appro- priateness designated the Adirondac, was mustered into service the 29th August, 1862, with Samuel F. Richards of Warrensburg, colonel, Oliver Keese, Jr., of Keese- ville, lieutenant-colonel, and George F. Nichols, of Platts- burgh, major. By the successive resignations in both cases from severe sickness, of Colonel Richards in the summer of 1863, and Keese, in May, 1864, Major Nichols was promoted to the command of the regiment, and led it with distinguished skill and courage in many of the severe conflicts it encountered. Colonel Keese, during his command of the regiment, was usually in the perform- ance of active duty in the field. At the mustering in, the officers of Company C were James H. Pierce of St. Armands, Captain Nathan L. Washburn of Wilmington, first, and George M. Butrick of Jay, second lieutenant; the two latter resigned in 1863, and were succeeded by George F. Campbell and Luther S. Bryant. Of Company E, Jacob Parmerter of North Hudson was captain, Jo- seph R. Seaman of Schroon, first lieutenant, who was promoted to the captaincy of Company A, and came home in that command ; and John Brydon of Crown Point second lieutenant, who succeeded Seaman, was promoted to the command of Company K, was afterwards in the ordnance department and general staff, and brevetted major. Ser- geant Edgar A. Wing succeeded Brydon and Sergeant J. Wesley Treadway, promoted to second lieutenant; in November, 1864, first lieutenant Company A. Corporal M. V. B. Knox was promoted second lieutenant Colored Volunteers, and left the service with rank of captain. In Company F, Robert W. Livingstone of Elizabethtown,
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