USA > Pennsylvania > A sketch of the 126th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers > Part 3
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LIFE IN CAMP.
reveille had summoned the men from their downless couches to the labors of the day,) devoted themselves assiduously to the diurnal duty of issuing hard-tack and pork. The Ser- geant Major, Ziegler, was busy in the Adjutant's quarters with the morning reports, or flitting about the camp with unwelcome details for picket or guard. Miller and Dono- van, and their comrade musicians, were ever and anon, throughout the day, sounding their too-accustomed calls; and Tommy Daily and Kauffman, the color-sergeants, at the hour of dress-parade, brought out the colors which they carried so gallantly up the heights of Fredericksburg, and which they were destined to wave so lightly in the face of "the enemy in the dark woods about Chancellorsville.
In the Companies : In February, Captain William H. Da- vison was appointed Assistant Inspector General on the Staff of General Tyler, and detached thenceforth until the muster out of the regiment. The command of the compa- ny devolved on Lieutenant James Pott; the First Lieuten- ant, Henry M. Hoke, having been made Division Ordnance Officer in October, 1862, and detached on the staff of Gene- ral Humphreys. On the promotion of Brownson, James P. M'Cullough was advanced to Captain from First Lieu- tenant, to which he had been promoted on the discharge of Hornbaker. The First-Lieutenancy remained vacant. Lieu- tenant Tront, in command of a detachment of thirty men, was on duty at the General Hospital, Stoneman's Switch, from the 16th of January till the 16th of March. John H. Reed resigned the captaincy of company D in January, and Josiah C. Hollinger was its commander subsequently, with Platt as First Lieutenant and McCauley as Second. All the officers of company H were absent on account of wounds for two months succeeding the battle of Fredericksburg, and in the interval of their absence, Lieutenant Walker, of E, first, and afterwards Lieutenant McWilliams, of F, was as- signed to the command of that company. Benjamin F.
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LIFE IN CAMP.
Zook was made Second Lieutenant of company G in the place of Harry Fortescue, mourned by his company. Lieu- tenant Rowe commanded A. R. Davison's company while the latter had charge of the regiment, and John W. P. Reid was for a while Ambulance Officer. Company A was kept small by details from it, and Dæbler was much missed by his men, but his absence was not regretted more by them than by Welsh and McLenegan, his Lieutenants. Captain William W. Walker, enjoying a better fortune than most others, obtained from General Hooker a leave of absence for twenty days for the benefit of his health, and hied him off to Waynesboro', leaving George Walker and Brenneman to look after company E. This was before the epoch of "leaves" and furloughs. George L. Miles and McCurdy were accus- tomed, in these peaceful times, to take a quiet delight in ex- ercising their men in the manual of arms; and while Martin of I watched with fatherly care over his men, and Davis amused himself with the drill, the honest Lieutenant Degan enjoyed himself often on extra and special duty.
Lieutenant Bonsall, of Captain Wharton's company, was in arrest from the time of the battle of Fredericksburg un- til the 29th of January, on the following charge and specifi- cation :
Charge: Failure to deliver orders entrusted to him by his com- manding officer for delivery.
Specification: In this, that he, the said Lieutenant James C. Bonsall, of company F, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, whilst his company and regiment were on picket duty to the front and left of Fredericksburg, having been order- ed by Lieutenant Colonel D. Watson Rowe, the officer com- manding his regiment, to communicate an order of Brigadier General Humphreys' to the commanding officer of the Berdan Sharp-shooters, and to the commanding officer of a company of the Ninety-First Pennsylvania Infantry, on the picket line held by the said One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth regiment, in rela- tion to the withdrawal of the said sharp-shooters and the said company of the Ninety-First, did fail to deliver said order to the commanding officer of the said company. This at or about 6 o'clock A. M., of the 16th day of December, 1862.
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A COURT-MARTIAL.
This charge was tried by a court-martial, and Lieutenant Bonsall was not found wholly blameless, but was restored to duty. His duties during the entire night of the 15th were of an arduous and dangerous character, being constantly sent with orders along the picket line, withdrawing and re- placing the men; yet he performed them with fidelity and alacrity. The blame principally attached, in the opinion of the Court-Martial, to the officer of Lentz's party to whom Bonsall communicated the order, after asking for the officer commanding the party, and being referred to him as such, and who failed to notify his captain of its reception; and they found him guilty and inflicted upon him a sentence of extraordinary severity. This, however, General Humphreys did not approve. In consequence of the failure to receive Colonel Rowe's order, Lentz and his men were in great dan- ger, and some of them were captured, as before narrated.
Many other things occurred in this interval between the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, which it would be pleasant to relate, but the limits of a brief Sketch forbid.
The Changes in the Rank and File of the Companies: Who, among the thousand men, was killed; who was wounded; who nobly died; who meanly deserted; who was discharged or taken prisoner; who was promoted and who reduced, will be found in the following pages in a compact shape. In the List of Casualties are gathered the heroes of the battles. But not all of them; for many brave men escaped unharm- ed-too many to be mentioned by name. Many gallant deeds of officers and men must remain unwritten, to be told and talked of by the cheerful fire of a winter's night; and many interesting stories and laughable incidents and, per- haps, some pitiful tales, like that of Susan S. Edrington, -the sweet young lady of seventeen summers, who died on the picket line-must be reserved for those private recitals.
In this Sketch a simple chain of occurrences has been
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MARCH TO CHANCELLORSVILLE.
forged, each link of which, like a morning drum-beat to a spectral army, will call up before the minds of the participants in the scenes described, a thousand departed and long-forgotten associations connected with bivouac and battle.
On Monday, the 27th of April, Lieutenant Colonel Rowe received orders to be ready to move the regiment at 12 M., and at that hour the march was taken up 'for Chancellors- ville. The effective of the regiment was twenty-nine offi- cers and five hundred and seventy-seven men; but Captain W. W. Walker's company having been detailed for guard duty, was temporarily detached from the regiment, decreas- ing its strength by three officers and fifty-six men. Pro-
ceeding up the river on Monday and Tuesday, the Rappa- hannock was crossed on Wednesday, at Kelly's Ford, by
means of pontoons. Crossing Mountain creek the same eve- ning and halting long in the darkness of the night, on Thursday, the 30th, the Rapidan was passed at Ely's Ford. It was an inspiring sight-the crossing of the Rapidan. The long column moving down into the swift river, stretching across and far up the long and gentle ascent on the south- ern side; the men wading arm-pit deep, clothes and car- tridge boxes swinging on the bayonets of the guns held well up in the air. Having encamped over night in a wood of thick-standing pines, on the 1st of May, (Friday,) the direct road to Chancellorsville was taken, and shortly before noon the regiment, with the brigade, was massed by the side of the Chancellor House, a solitary large brick dwelling, on an open clearing of some three hundred yards in extent each way, in the margin of the Wilderness, which constitutes Chancellorsville. Precisely at 12 M., the first gun of the great fight opened. Three roads run east from Chancel- lorsville towards Fredericksburg: on the right, the plank road; to its left, the turnpike, uniting with the former at Tabernacle Church; still to the left, and not far from the
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BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
river, a road leading to Bank's Ford. Slocum's corps took the plank road, Sykes' division the turnpike, and Meade, with Griffin's and Humphreys' divisions, advanced on the river road for five miles and came within sight of Bank's Ford. Thus this ford was uncovered and a position obtained out of the Wilderness on a commanding ridge. As sud- denly as unaccountably the three columns were ordered back. Tyler's brigade hastened back at the double-quick the whole distance to Chancellorsville, and came in just as Sykes was arriving, skirmishing hotly with the enemy who had followed him closely. Tyler was just able to get in without becoming engaged. On Friday evening, the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, with the brigade, lay quite near the Chancellor House, being on the left of the line of bat- tle, which stretched along the Orange plank road, west- ward about four miles. On Saturday, Humphreys was mov- ed back near to the Rappahannock, to the vicinity of Scott's Dam, and held a formidable position there on high and steep bluffs, which he lined with artillery. Here the One Hun- dred and Twenty-Sixth lay during Saturday and Saturday- night, whilst Jackson made his famous onslaught on the Elev- enth and Twelfth Corps. The enemy occasionally showed himself on this part of the line, but made no attack or ad- vance. Early on Sunday morning, however, Tyler's bri- gade was moved down from the heights which it held, and hurried to the right. Along the road lay the Eleventh Corps greatly shattered, ready to occupy the position evac- uated.
About eight o'clock Tyler reached the open ground and the road running from Chancellorsville to Ely's Ford, and prepared at once for action. In the hasty march to the right, about thirty men of the regiment had seized the op- portunity to drop out among the men of the Eleventh Corps, and the Lieutenant Colonel commanding having ordered the rolls to be called, four hundred and ninety men only
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BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
responded to their names; but they were to be relied upon, and the regiment was still comparatively large. Shortly the order came to move into position in the line of battle, and Lieutenant Colonel Webb, of General Meade's staff-across the open space swept by the batteries, down into the dense woods a good distance-led the brigade and placed it on the right of General French, whom it was to support, and under his orders. Captain W. W. Walker's company having been detached as before-mentioned, did not participate in the ac- tion, but a few of its men went in with Wm. H. Davison's company.
The brigade was just getting into position on the right of French, (in the order from right to left of Ninety-First, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, One Hundred and Twenty- Sixth, and One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth,) when a scout brought word to Colonel Rowe, which was at once commu- nicated to General Tyler, that the enemy was hurrying masses to the right and would advance to the attack at once. At the same moment, almost, the brigade opened fire on the right, and in a few minutes the entire line was engaged. During the whole of this action the right of Tyler's brigade was "in the air." No troops whatever were in position on its right flank, and there was nothing to protect that flank or prevent its being turned. The First Corps was not yet in place so as to join it. French, therefore, was on the left; nothing was on the right of this brigade. Stuart, now in command-in place of Jackson, shot the night before- was pushing his forces to Tyler's unprotected right, and beyond it.
From the first the firing of the brigade was very rapid. The enemy, in the dense woods and thicket, were not very clearly seen by the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, nor did they for some time reply actively at this part of the line. Colonel Rowe, therefore, sent first the Sergeant Major, Ziegler, then Major Brownson, and at last went himself to
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BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
General Tyler to inform him that the fire did not seem to be effective, and that the enemy appeared to await the time when the ammunition should be exhausted, for their charge- stating that it was already very low and requesting that the firing should cease or at least slacken. But General Tyler, having the whole line and all its exigencies in view, ordered the firing to be kept up, saying "Your men are doing ex- cellently, Colonel." At length, after more than an hour's hard work, the ammunition was spent, and the men were be- ginning to rifle the cartridge-boxes of the dead and wound- ed to supply themselves. The enemy now evidently began to press forward more earnestly; their banners advanced through the woods; their fire began to tell fearfully on the ranks of the regiment. The gaps, however, were speedily closed, and the line was firm. The company officers were very diligent and active. Major Brownson, in the Lieuten- ant Colonel's place on the right, and Captain A. R. Davi- son, acting Major, on the left, increased their exertions. Adjutant Stewart (now Division Commissary of Musters and detached, but participating in the action with the regi- ment), and Acting Adjutant George F. Platt, aided Brown- son and Davison, respectively, with coolness and effect. Col- onel Rowe was everywhere along the line with words of encouragement. But every moment it became more evi- dent that unless ammunition arrived soon, the line could not long be held. Colonel Rowe was cut in the cheek with a rifle- ball. Major Brownson's clothes were pierced with bullets. Lieutenant J. Gilmore Rowe, commanding company K, was borne from the field badly wounded in the head. Captain Walker of H was struck. Men were falling all along the line. On the right, company C had lost full one-fourth of the men Mccullough took in. Company I, on the left, had suffered nearly as much, and company H even more severely. Gene- ral Tyler now sent word that ammunition was not to be had after repeated endeavors; that General French's orders were
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BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
to retire in as good order as possible when the ammunition should be entirely exhausted. Still the enemy pressed harder and harder in front.
Such was the state of affairs in the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, when Stuart, having turned the right of the brigade and taken it in reverse, was pouring down his troops on the right and rear, filling all the woods. The Ninety- First regiment was first struck, and to avoid capture fell back. Then in turn the One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, next in line to the right, gave way. This left the right flank of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth exposed. To change front in that dense thicket was impossible, even if the im- petuous charge which the regiment was now sustaining in front would have permitted. The line was held, however, till the last minute-till the rebels on the flank were within forty yards; then, from right to left, the line melted away in the thick woods, and emerging upon the cleared space beyond, re-formed behind the battery. Lieutenants Fletcher and McCauley, and Sergeant Lesher, with a number of men, became mixed with the enemy and were captured. The re- bels pressed closely after to the edge of the clearing and showed themselves on the open ground, but the guns open- ing upon them with grape and canister, they speedily dis- appeared in the shadow of the forest.
The same fate with the other regiments befell the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, which stood on the left of the line next to French's men. In its turn it was swept back, but so mingled did its men become with the enemy that there was a hand to hand tussle for the colors, which, how- ever, were safely borne off at last. Having re-formed be- hind the battery, which stood near the small white house along the road to Ely's Ford, the regiment remained there in support of it, until the First Corps got well into their position on the right of the line, when it was withdrawn with the rest of the brigade back from the road, a short dis-
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tance into the woods, where it remained until the return movement began.
The night of May the 5th, (Tuesday,) was a hard and gloomy one. It rained violently. The commissary stores were burnt. The army was falling back across the river. Again all sacrifices had been in vain. The men lay or sat about all night long awaiting momentarily the order to move to the rear. It came at daylight. In the forenoon of the 6th, the swollen stream was crossed on pontoons at United States Ford, and after a fatiguing march of twelve miles, through deep mud, the site of the old camp, whence the regiment started on the Chancellorsville campaign, was reached, and it was done with marching and fighting.
A quiet week in camp succeeded the battle of Chancel- lorsville. The term of service of the regiment was about to expire. General Tyler assembled it, and publicly extolled the conduct of the men in both the great actions in which they participated. Tuesday, the 12th of May, was a day of leave-taking in camp. There was a great visiting among the regiments, and the General's quarters were crowded all day. At six o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, May 13, 1863, the regiment took cars at Stoneman's Station for Aquia Landing, and ceased to belong to the Army of the Poto- mac. At Aquia, the boat Warner lay ready to convey the men to Washington, where, after a beautiful ride up the Potomac, they arrived, and went to the Soldiers' Retreat, blessing, all the way, James Watt and those who helped him bring about, for purposes of locomotion, the substitution of steam and iron for human will and muscle. The next fore- noon the cars carried them to Baltimore. At dark they con- tinued their homeward journey to Harrisburg. At 7 o'clock in the morning of Friday, the 15th, the regiment marched, with drums beating and flags flying, through Harrisburg to Camp Curtin. The comrades, free from restraint, gay and happy, enjoyed themselves about the town or in the camp,
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HOME AGAIN.
for several days, while the officers were busy with the prepa- ration of the muster-out rolls. At length, on Wednesday, the 20th of May, the companies were mustered out of ser- vice, the men received their pay and discharges, and, with cordial hand-shakings, separated and started home. The companies from Juniata were welcomed at Miffintown, and those from Franklin county received a great ovation at Chambersburg. Each town and township beside gave a separate reception to its own peculiar company.
APPENDIXES.
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FIRST APPENDIX.
GENERAL F, B. TYLER'S REPORT OF THE PART TAKEN BY HIS BRIGADE IN THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
HEADQUARTERS TYLER'S BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, FIFTH CORPS, CAMP IN THE FIELD, December 16th, 1862. CAPTAIN CARS'LL M'CLELLAN,
Assistant. Adjutant General, Third Division: CAPTAIN :- I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by my brigade in the engagement at Fredericksburg, for the information of the commanding General.
We marched from our bivouac on the morning of the 13th instant, with the Ninety-First, Pennsylvania Infantry-twenty-three officers and four hundred and one men; the One Hundred and Thirty- Fourth Pennsylvania Infantry-twenty-four officers and five hun- dred and eighteen men; the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Penn- sylvania Infantry-twenty-six officers and six hundred and six men; and the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry- twenty-six officers and five hundred and seventy-five men; making a total of ninety-nine officers and two thousand one hundred enlisted men. From the time we left camp until we were ordered into · action, no opportunity was afforded the regimental commanders to have further calls, but such efforts were made to prevent straggling as to induce me to believe that with the exception of the regimental details of twelve men in charge of knapsacks [and Captain Martin's company of the One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, detailed as hospi- tal guard, numbering two officers and sixty-three men,] my brigade took its full duty strength into the action.
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TYLER'S REPORTS.
A list of the casualties of the different regiments, prepared with great care, I herewith send you, making my total loss four officers and forty-six men killed, twenty-nine officers and two hundred and ninety-four men wounded, and eighty-three men missing. Of the latter I have good reason to believe a large majority were either killed or severely wounded.
The position first assigned us was on the right of the plank-road, subjected to an enfilading fire from the enemy's batteries on the crest of the hill beyond. Our loss at this point is accounted for as "miss- ing in action." Being almost immediately ordered across the road into the engagement, we were unable to account for them otherwise.
I was delayed somewhat in the formation of a double line of bat- tle on the left of the road by the constant passing of limbers to the front and rear, and the deep mud along the line indicated to form on. As soon, however, as the formation was complete, the order to sound the charge was given, the caution having been previously communicated to the command not to fire a gun until orders were received from me.
The brigade moved forward in as good order as the muddy condi- tion of the ground on the left of my line would admit, until we came upon a body of officers and men lying flat upon the ground in front of the brick house and along the slight elevation on its right and left. Upon our approach, these officers commanded "Halt!" flourishing their swords as they lay, while a number of their men en- deavored to intimidate our troops, crying out that we would be slaughtered, and the like. An effort was made to get them out of the way but failed, and we marched over them, and when within a very short distance of the enemy's line a fire was opened on our rear, which wounded a few of our most valuable officers and, I re- gret to say, killed some of our men.
Instantaneously, the cry ran along the line that we were being fired into from the rear. The command halted, receiving at the same time a terrible fire from the enemy. Orders for the moment were forgotten, and a fire from our whole line was immediately returned. Another cry passed along the line, that we were being fired upon from the rear, when our men, after giving the enemy several volleys fell back.
It will be impossible for me in this report to mention the many acts of heroism on that bloody field, but it is due the officers and men to state that they performed their duties well, and they need no higher encomium than to know that their conduct on the field was highly complimented by their Division and Grand Division Com- manders.
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TYLER'S REPORTS.
Colonel O'Brien, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, led the right front; Colonel Frick, One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, the left. Colonel Elder, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth, held the right rear, and Colonel Gregory, Ninety-First, the left rear. These officers dis- charged their respective duties creditably and satisfactorily, their voices being frequently heard above the din of battle, urging on their men against the terrible shower of shot and shell and, last but not least, the terrific musketry as we approached the stone wall. Of their conduct, I can not speak too highly. Lieutenant Colonel Rowe, Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong and Major Anthony, and Ma- jor Thompson, are entitled to great credit for their efforts and officer- like conduct during the engagement.
Colonel Elder received a serious wound, (fracture of the thigh) and was carried off the field, Lieutenant Colonel Rowe assuming command. Colonel Gregory received a very slight wound in the hand. Major Tod, of the Ninety-First, lost his right leg from a shell just before the charge was sounded. I fear it will cost him his life. He was a brave and valuable officer. Adjutant Reed, of the One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth, received a serious wound in the thigh, whilst at the head of his regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong had a horse shot under him. Adjutant Green, of the One-Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, exhibited great coolness in the discharge of his duty. Captains Leib, Taylor, Breckenridge, Lawrence, Hague, Lyon, Walker, M'Cready, and Dobler, were very severely wounded, and Colonel O'Brien had a very narrow escape-a ball passing through his saddle from front to rear directly under him.
It may not be improper for me to say that Captain Thomas, Acting Inspector General on the staff of the Division Commander, having his horse shot and thus prevented from serving him, joined his com- pany in the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, and was severely wounded while leading his men in the charge.
I desire to call the particular attention of the Commanding Gene- ral to the accompanying reports from the regimental commanders relative to the creditable conduct of the officers and men of their re- spective regiments.
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