History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. I, Part 146

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1360

USA > Pennsylvania > History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. I > Part 146

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Junc 7, '61, 3 3 Died June 16, '62-bu. in Mil. Asy. Cem., D. C. Died of wounds, August 12, 1862.

M'Kinley, Sylves'r

.. do

Juno 7, '61,

3 Not on muster-out roll.

Neal, Thomas. .. do

July 18, '61,

3 3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Jan. 1, 63. 3 Died of wounds, Dec. 31, 1862-burial record, died at Richmond, Va., December 31, 1863.

3 3

Transferred to company B, 105th regiment P. V. Mustered out with company, June 13, 1864. Transferred to 190th regiment P. V., May 31, '64. Missing in action at Wilderness, May 5, 1864.

3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Feb. 10, '62. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Feb. 10, '63. 3

3 Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Feb. 19, '63.

Mustered out with company, June 13, 1864. Prisoner from May 10, '64, to February 26, '65- discharged March 4, '65.

Skinner, Loren .do

June 7, '61,

3 Absent, in hospital, at muster out.

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Jan. 30, '63. Transferred to 190th regiment P. V., May 31, '64. Transferred to 190th reg. P. V., May 31, '64-Vet. Died at Camp Pierpont, Va., December 13, 1861. Died September 1, 1862.

Sugards, Moses M .. .do Sept. 19, '62,

Wesley, Thomas T. do June 7, '61,

Williams, Rob't N .. .do Sept. 29, '61, 3

Waley, Andrew. do Sept. 29, '61, 3

FORTY-FIRST REGIMENT, TWELFTH RESERVE.

INTHE companies composing the Twelfth Regiment, raised primarily for the three months' service, but not accepted, rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, and were organized by the choice of the following field officers : John H. Tag- gart, of Philadelphia, Colonel; Samucl N. Bailey, of York, Lieutenant Colonel; Peter Baldy, of Northampton county, Major. The men were mustered into the State service for three years from the date of their enlistment, as part of the Reserve Corps. They had had no previous military experience, except the M'Clure Rifles, of Franklin county, which had been attached to the volunteer militia. Before the regiment was organized, valuable instruction was given by Captain Tarbutton, military instructor at Camp Curtin, appointed by the Gov- ernor.

The regiments of the Reserve Corps were ordered to the front immediately after the battle of Bull Run, on the 21st of July, except the Twelfth, which was retained at Camp Curtin until August 10, 1861, on which day it was mustered into the United States service, and marched to Baltimore with orders to join General Banks at Harper's Ferry. Previous to leaving camp, it was ordered to Harrisburg, by Governor Curtin, to protect the State Arsenal from a threatened attack by the three months' troops, disbanded there during the latter part of July. This delicate duty was performed in such a manner as to receive the ap- proval of the Governor, and without precipitating a conflict.

The regiment arrived at Baltimore on the 11th of August, when the order to march to Harper's Ferry was countermanded, and Colonel Taggart was di- rected to report to General M'Call, at Tenallytown, near Washington. On the 20th of August it was attached to the Third Brigade* of the Reserves. . Reviews, parades, drills and picket duty, practiced at this camp under the supervision of General M'Call, were of great value, and inspired the men with professional pride. The news of occasional skirmishing between the enemy and our forces stationed across the Potomac, which from time to time reached the camps of the Reserves, made the men impatient to join their comrades, and have a hand in the exciting game; and when, on the 10th of October, they took up the line of march for Virginia, their enthusiasm was unbounded, and they signalized their "invasion of the sacred soil" by repcated and prolonged cheers. This ardor was somewhat abated upon their arrival at their camp at Langley, as it was late at night, and they were obliged to lie out without shelter in cold

* Organization of the Third Brigade, Colonel John S. M'Calmont, of M'Call's Division, Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. Tenth (39th) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel John S. M'Calmont ; Sixth (35th) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel W. W. Ricketts; Ninth (38th) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Conrad F. Jackson; Twelfth (41st) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel John H. Taggart.

1861

BATTLE OF DRANESVILLE

877

and disagreeable weather. Here they went into winter quarters, occupying the right of the line, and from time to time made reconnoissances towards Dranes- ville. They were only a short distance from that place on the night preceding the unfortunate engagement at Ball's Bluff, receiving orders on the morning of that day to return to camp. Could the forces on the Virginia shore have co- operated with those who crossed, the result would doubtless have been fortunate for our arms.

Brigadier General E. O. C. Ord was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade soon after arriving in camp at Langley, when Colonel M'Calmont re- sumed the command of his regiment, the Tenth. Several of the commissioned officers of the Twelfth resigned, or were mustered out by general order, and their places were filled by promotions.

On the 20th of December, the regiment joined in the expedition to Dranes- ville, which resulted in a severe skirmish and a decided victory. Marching out from camp at six o'clock in the morning, it took position on the left of the bri- gade and proceeded to a point about a mile west of Difficult Creek, where scouting parties reported a considerable force of the enemy posted to the left of the road. The regiment was immediately brought into line, but as the enemy seemed indisposed to attack, the march was resumed. On approaching the vil- lage our flanking parties were driven in, and the regiment was again formed in line to receive the attack on the turnpike, the right resting on a hill, and the left opposite a brick house on the left of the pike, and behind which the enemy appeared to be in force. Before it was fairly in position the enemy opened with a heavy fire of shot and shell which fell thick and fast about the left of the regiment. Easton's Battery soon opened and partially silenced his guns, but the infantry could only hold their position, the enemy's infantry being still con- cealed from view. The steadiness with which the men held their position under · a hot fire, without the possibility of returning it, is the best evidence that can be adduced of their good discipline and soldierly qualities. Soon the word was given to advance into the woods in front, and if possible capture the enemy's battery. Before reaching it the pieces had been withdrawn, but the ground was strewn with his dead and wounded, piles of cannon balls, shells and muni- tions of war, and a gun carriage which the pioneers destroyed. The enemy fled precipitately, leaving the field in possession of the victors. The loss for- tunately was only one wounded.

On March 10, 1862, the regiment broke camp at Langley and marched to Hunter's Mills. The whole army was in motion, moving upon the rebels at Ma- nassas. It was soon ascertained, however, that they had evacuated their strong hold, and had retreated towards Gordonsville. A halt was accordingly ordered, and remaining until the 14th, the regiment returned to Republican Mills, on the Alexandria turnpike. The bridge over Difficult Creek having been burned by the enemy, General M'Call ordered the column to march over to the George- town and Leesburg pike, and thence back to the main road. A terrific storm prevailed, by which the movement was greatly delayed. On the 16th, thousands of Union troops were met returning from Manassas, when a halt was ordered and the command bivouacked, exposed to intense cold, rain and snow storms, without shelter, and only six miles from Camp Pierpont, where were tents, stoves and other conveniences for comfort.

Soon after leaving winter quarters Lieutenant Colonel Bailey was discharged, and the vacancy was filled by the election of Martin D. Hardin. While en-

878

FORTY-FIRST REGIMENT-TWELFTH RESERVE.

1862

camped at Alexandria the Reserves were attached to the command of General M'Dowell. On the 19th of April, the Twelfth Regiment was detached from the division, and ordered. to relieve the Second Wisconsin in guarding the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Headquarters were established at Catlett's Station, and detachments were advantageously posted for defence a distance of eight miles along the road.

In the meantime the division had moved to Falmouth, and on the 6th of May the Twelfth was ordered to join it. On the way a few men lingering in the rear were fired on by guerrillas, who wounded one and captured four. Upon receipt of intelligence of the attack, companies C and H were ordered back to the scene of conflict. The farm house and out-buildings where the guerrillas made their headquarters, were burned, but the guilty parties had made their escape. The men captured, after having been sent to Richmond, were ex- changed, and soon after returned to the regiment. Company I, which had been stationed at Manassas Junction, marched with the Fifth and reached Falmouth on the 11th. On the 17th, General Ord, who had been promoted to be a Major General, and assigned to the command of a division, took leave of the brigade, and was succeeded by Brigadier General Truman Seymour.

The campaign upon the Peninsula had now opened, and the army had already arrived within a few miles of Richmond. M'Clellan was calling loudly for help. The Reserves were, accordingly, ordered to his assistance, and on the 12th of June embarked at Belle Plain Landing, on the Rappahannock. The weather was fine and the voyage an exceedingly pleasant one. Negroes thronged the banks as the transports passed, and begged to be taken on board. At one point a colored man, woman and boy waded out up to their necks in the river, and eagerly besought Colonel Taggart to rescue them.

The regiment debarked at White House on the 14th, and marched to Dis- patch Station, where the brigade awaited the arrival of General M'Clellan, who had ordered the division to be held in readiness for review. But the rebels were now urging prior claims, and were presenting themselves for review in such numbers, that the General never found time to meet the Reserves. On the 18th, the regiment marched to New Bridge, on the Chickahominy, in sight of rebel rickets, and within short range of his artillery. On the following day it moved to Ellerson's Mill, on Beaver Dam Creek, and encamped in a ravine, from an elevated position in front of which, the rebels, busily engaged upon earth works for their batteries, could be distinctly seen, and away to the right the spires of Richmond. A signal station was established within the lines of the Twelfth, from which the movements of rebel troops were observed and re- ported to Generals Porter and M'Clellan. On the 20th, a balloon was sent up, from which to reconnoitre the dispositions of the enemy; but a forty-two pound shell from a rebel gun came in such uncomfortable proximity to the aeronauts, as to induce them to make a hasty descent.

On the 23d, the enemy manifested great activity in front, and in the after- noon the Ninth Reserves, Colonel Jackson, marched past to Mechanicsville. The whole division was held in readiness to support the Ninth, and the enemy's works were vigorously shelled; but they maintained a dogged silence, though their batteries in earth works completely commanded our field batteries. On the morning of the 25th, the Twelfth was ordered on picket duty, and faced the enemy for a space of five miles, from Meadow Bridge to Ellerson's Mill. For two days it remained posted along the swamps bordering the Chickahominy,

1862

BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE. 879

and on the evening of the 25th, indications of an attack were so strong, that General Reynolds required of Colonel Taggart hourly bulletins of everything that transpired.

On the morning of the 26th, the regiment was relieved by the Bucktails and the Fifth, Colonel Simmons, and returned to Ellerson's Mill. Here, a few days before, rifle pits had been dug, in anticipation of the advance of the enemy, and trees felled on the west side of the creek in front of the works. About noon intelligence was received that Lee and Jackson, with the main body of the rebel army, were advancing. The position selected behind Beaver Dam Creek was now occupied by the Reserves, the Twelfth Regiment, in the original formation, holding the extreme left of the line, and on either side of the road leading from Ellerson's Mill to Cold Harbor. Company C, Captain Gustin, was posted in the mill, and in the archway underneath it, where, well sheltered, the men could pick off the enemy as they appeared in sight. Company B occupied rifle pits on the right of the road; but there being a grove of fine old trees in their front, the men preferred to fight from behind them, whence poising their guns they could fire deliberately. Company A, armed with Springfield rifles, occupied the right of the line of rifle pits resting on the road. As some were better marksmen than others, a number were selected to fire, while the others loaded for them. Company K, also armed with Springfield muskets, also did excellent execution.

The battle opened at three o'clock and lasted until nine at night. With reckless daring the rebel lines rushed forward to the attack, but were swept back by the steady fire of the Reserves. Early in the action the enemy attempted to out flank our left, but the Seventh Regiment, Colonel Harvey, was promptly brought up, extending our line farther to the left, and Easton's Battery was posted by General Seymour, so as to command the swamp, and thus defeat the enemy's design. A section of Cooper's Battery, consisting of two guns, posted just back of, and above the Twelfth, did fearful execution, its shells being thrown over the heads of the men in the pits, who as the smoke raised could see the effect and guide the gunners in aiming their pieces. For six hours the ground was held, though the trees, earth, and everything around were cut and hurled in the most fearful manner. Over one hundred rounds of ammunition per man were expended, and finally as darkness closed in, the troops bivou- acked upon the field which their valor had won.

Before daybreak the Seventh Regiment, with the artillery, moved off to the rear. Colonel Taggart was ordered to hold his position until daylight, and then to retire quietly without bringing on a renewal of the engagement. At five o'clock, the enemy, discovering that the troops in their front had nearly all been withdrawn, commenced shouting, when the men, still in the rifle pits, opened fire upon them, and soon the action became more fierce than at any time during the previous day: The regiment was soon after withdrawn by order of Gen- eral Seymour, which was executed in good order and without confusion. Rog- er A. Pryor, of the rebel army, in his account of the "Seven Days Fight," says, "Ellerson's Mill was defended with desperate obstinacy, and was only captured with desperate valor." The capture was a mere matter of occupancy, when quietly vacated by the Union troops, after having been successfully held against the most persistent but futile assaults, and only yielded in obedience to the peremptory orders of General M'Clellan.

For two days the men had had little sleep or refreshment, but with ready

880

FORTY-FIRST REGIMENT- TWELFTH RESERVE. 1862

obedience they marched to Gaines' Mill, and were early in the day placed in line of battle. Lying in the hot sun until noon, they were moved to the front, and ordered to take position in advance of a skirt of woods, which was after- wards the scene of the most desperate conflict of the day. But as the regiment was moving, a staff officer of General M'Call approached with orders for it to move to the right in support of Griffin's Battery, which was now hotly engaged, and doing effective service. For three hours the men were exposed to a terrific fire, meeting the rebel skirmishers and successfully defending the guns. To- wards evening the enemy advanced in overwhelming force, with the design of turning the right of the line, but were driven back with great loss. At dusk the regiment moved off towards Woodbury Bridge, and at ten o'clock that night crossed the Chickahominy, after all the wounded had been taken over who could be brought off the field. The loss was six killed and twenty-five wounded. Two men of company C, Miles M. Cooper and Newton Ford, were killed by the explosion of a single shell, and a third lost his leg, while the Col- oncl was knocked from his horse by the current of air as the missile passed him. Cooper never spoke after he was struck, but Ford said, as he was raised up, "It's no nse, Colonel, my time has come. Haven't I always done my duty ?" These were the last words he uttered. He died almost immediately.

During the following day the regiment remained under arms on Trent's Hill. At half-past ninc in the evening the Third Brigade was detailed to take position at the bridges of the Chickahominy, and prevent the enemy from crossing to intercept the march of our army to the James River. Three bridges were burned, by the light of which the rebels on the opposite bank were distinctly visible, and the long lines of our own troops moving on towards Savage Sta- tion. The next morning, June 29th, the Twelfth moved off, guarding long lines of the Reserve Artillery, which filled the road for miles. The weather was in- tensely hot, and a march of nearly eighteen miles was performed without food or water, the springs and wells being generally dry, and the streams either dry or stagnant. At night it biyouacked in a green field at the junction of the New Market and Quaker roads. That night it was ordered on picket, and marched down the road towards the James River; but having mistaken the direction and being unable to ascertain the position to be held, it returned to the field at the forks of the road, and the men from excessive fatigue, fell upon the ground and slept soundly. The following extract from Colonel Taggart's report, con- veys a vivid impression of the miseries which the soldiers endured: "The White Oak Creek, which we crossed about noon, was a complete quagmire, from the thousands of horses, teams, and artillery, which were continually passing, and water to drink was not to be had. Some of the men became almost delirious from thirst, and once, when I halted for rest a few minutes, I discovered them drinking from a stagnant puddle in which was the putrid carcass of a dead horse. Poor fellows, I pitied them, but I could not permit this, and I pro- mised them good water at White Oak Swamp, (as I was informed there was by an engineer officer,) but as we arrived there we found it utterly unfit to drink. The disappointment was intense; but we pushed on, and at evening when we halted on the green, and General M'Call came up and told us there was plenty of good spring water in a rivulet near by, the joy of the men knew no bounds. Alas! little did they think that on that very spot, in less than twenty-four hours, many of them would pour out their life's blood, and the waters of that little brook would be reddened by the vital current. Yet so it was."

SS1

1862

BATTLE OF CHARLES CITY CROSS ROADS.

On the following morning, the regiment was held under arms, while the im- mense trains moved down the Quaker Road towards Malvern Hill. At one o'clock General M'Call, in person, directed Colonel Taggart to place the Twelfth "in line of battle, facing the sun," on the extreme left of the line. Soon after- wards, when in position as directed, General Seymour rode up and ordered it to be divided, and four companies to erect and occupy a stockade near a farm- house, with two companies in rear for support, and the other four companies to support a battery which had that day been left under command of General M'Call, leaving a gap between the two wings of two hundred yards. This ar- rangement made the line almost perpendicular to the one pointed out by Gen- eral M'Call, and made the left rest out in the open field without support, Hooker being nearly a half mile to the rear. These dispositions were hardly made, when a shrieking rifled shell from the enemy on our left was the only admoni- tion of his approach, followed almost instantly by the well known rebel yell, and his line, closed in mass, without skirmishers, eame pouring forth from the woods on the left, aiming to gain the rear of the unprotected flank of the Twelfth. The stockade afforded little protection, being not more than eighteen inches in height. The men behind it were posted in single rank, and before they could do any execution they were engaged in a hand to hand conflict with the rebels, who pressed forward in overwhelming numbers, the whole force of their attack seeming to be concentrated on this one point. Colonel Taggart ordered the six companies composing the left wing to fall back across a little rivulet to a new line, which they obeyed; but in doing so there was considerable confusion. The four companies with the battery, held their ground for a time, but the artillery- men, instead of turning their guns upon the advancing rebels, immediately limbered up and dashed away to the rear, trampling, in their mad haste, the men of the Twelfth posted for their support. These companies suffering from an enfilading fire, and in danger of being captured, fell back to the rear, where the regiment was rallied and brought into line on the right of a Massachusetts regiment belonging to General Hooker's Division, and continued in the action till it ceased. In this engagement, which is admitted on both sides to have been one of the most hotly contested of the campaign, First Lieutenant Wm. W. Arnold, of company G, was killed, Captain Thomas D. Horn, of company D, and Captain Franklin Daniels, of company A, were wounded, and First Lieu- tenant Henry S. Lucas, of company O. was taken prisoner. The entire loss was six killed, thirty-six wounded, and twenty-three missing. At midnight the Twelfth moved off towards Malvern Hill, where it arrived at daybreak. *

In the battle which here ensued the division was held in reserve, and the

# EXTRACT FROM GENERAL M'CALL'S REPORT .- Immediately after this a still heavier body of the enemy rapidly advanced. Our regiments had necessarily become somewhat dis- ordered by the very impetuosity of the charge, and were weakened by the detachments re- quired to take their prisoners to the rear ; the enemy, greatly superior in numbers, were upon them before they had time to re-form, and they were compelled to retire. At the same time the Twelfth Regiment (which had been divided and detached by General Seymour, of the Third Brigade, commanding the left wing of the division, after it had been established in line by General M'Call, ) was cut off from the line and driven into the left and rear. The cannoneers of a section of a battery belonging to Porter's Corps, left that day with M'Call, fled with their horses and limbers at the first approach of the enemy, breaking through four companies of the Twelith, and trampling the men; these men, with six companies of the Twelfth, and the detachments from the Fifth, Eighth, and Tenth, with the prisoners, hurried down the road between Sumner and Hooker, and in part on the latter. closely followed by the enemy .- Con- duct of the War, part 1, page 587. 111

1862

882

FORTY-FIRST REGIMENT-TWELFTH RESERVE.

Twelfth was posted in front of the Malvern Mansion, at the highest point of the hill, from which was a magnificent view of the whole field, the battle commen- cing at six o'clock A. M., and lasting until nearly nine at night. The army was here under the shadow of the gunboats in the James River, the Galena and the Naugatuck, which, as the enemy approached, threw their huge shells far inland a.nong his advancing columns. The shells were of immense size, resembling a huge dinner-pot, and were fired by signals. One of the signal corps was posted in the rigging of the boats, another on the roof of Malvern Mansion, and a third on the outer edge of our lines, and by their signals the gunners were ena- bled to throw their shells with considerable precision. To those on the hill it was a novel sight. Looking towards the river would be seen, first a flash, then after a few seconds would be heard a dull, heavy sound, like rumbling thunder, when all eyes would be turned heavenward, and there could be distinctly traced the course of the huge black missiles curving towards the rebel lines; then would follow the explosion with a rumbling sound almost like an earthquake. The incessant cannonading from the gunboats, the rebel batterics, and our own field artillery, almost shut out the light of the sun, and for several hours before, and after midday, it seemed as if the globe itself was convulsed. This lasted till half past six, when the crisis of the day occurred. At that hour the rebel horde under Magruder came howling and yelling over the fields towards our front line. Instinctively our whole army moved forward to meet them. Five or ten minutes had clapsed, and the rebels were half way across the fields, when, behold ! a line of fire leaped from our batteries of reserve artillery of more than a hundred pieces, on that advancing host. Its effect was terrific. When the smoke lifted such a scene of carnage presented itself as had never been wit- nessed on this continent before. A struggling, surging mass of humanity -- men, horses, and guns in inextricable confusion lay before us. A few, stunned by the shock, and apparently supposing they were supported by those in their rear, kept on in detached bodies towards our lines, on a full run. But their carcer was short; for scarcely had the smoke of the first discharge floated away before a second followed. This settled their fate. No human power could stand before that withcring fire. At the second discharge a grand shout of triumph went up from our whole army.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. I, Part 146

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn Publication date: 1869 Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1360