History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. III, Part 163

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1402

USA > Pennsylvania > History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. III > Part 163

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Jackson withdrew that night, and on the 16th Rickett's Division moved out to Robertson's River, six miles beyond, and near to its junetion with the Rapi- dan. It soon became evident to Pope that the enemy was in his front in heavy force and moving upon his right flank. A dispatch from General Lee to Gen- eral Stuart, captured by our cavalry at Louisa Court House, fully diselosed the former's purpose. The retrograde movement to the Rappahannock soon commeneed. Riekett's Division held the most advanced ground, and conse- quently was in the rear in this movement. It was eight o'clock on the morn- ing of the 10th, before the regiment moved, and at evening it erossed the Rap- pahannock upon the railroad bridge. For several days the artillery was kept in full play, disputing the passage of the stream, the regiment being under fire but suffering only small loss. In the afternoon of the 27th the division again commeneed to fall back, it having been aseertained that Jackson was in the rear of the army. The division marehed rapidly to dispute the passage of Thoroughfare Gap with Longstreet, now moving to form a junetion with Jackson. Leaving knapsaeks in the little village of Haymarket, the regiment moved up and was posted in support of Thompson's Battery, and subsequently of Matthews' Battery, along a crest of hill on the Union right. Being in greatly superior force, and having gained a commanding position before the division arrived, Longstreet foreed his way through, and Rieketts fell baek to Gainesville. On the following day, the 29th, the latter marched through Bristoe and Manassas Junction, and late at night arrived upon the Bull Run battle ground, where, during the day, the fight had been raging, bivouacking near the Stone House, noted in the first Bull Run battle, and near which General Ricketts, then in command of a battery, had lost his guns, and himself was wounded and taken prisoner. Worn out with constant marching the men sank upon the ground, and though conscious that the morrow would bring deadly confliet, slept soundly.

S56

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH REGIMENT.

1862

At early dawn of the 30th, the division moved forward to the right and front, where the firing of the skirmishers had already opened, and took posi- tion on the extreme right of the line of battle of the army, the regiment on the extreme right of the division. It was scarcely in position and had com- menced firing, when the enemy, attracted by the volleys, opened with a bat- tery which did some execution, General Duryea receiving a wound in the hand. As the brigade had no guns with which to answer the enemy, its position was changed, and forming in a wood threw up a slight breast-work of logs and rails. As soon as the enemy had discovered this new position he commenced throwing bis shot and shell and delivering volleys from his small arms. But . to no purpose. Stubbornly the brigade held its ground, repelling every ad- vance. By the middle of the afternoon the storm of battle which had been increasing in volume raged with great fury, and the forces on the extreme left of the army began to give way. Gradually the line yielded, the enemy sweep- ing on towards the right in resistless power. The brigades of Ricketts' Divi- sion, outflanked, one after the other, were compelled to retire. The One Hun- dred and Seventh was the last reached, and though left alone upon the front line without support, it was only when sorely pressed on all sides, and in ex- treme peril that it was ordered back. With great difficulty it was withdrawn, receiving a hot enfilading fire and sustaining severe loss. The loss in the en. tire battle was one hundred and twenty-five in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Captain John T. Dick was among the killed. Lieutenants A. W. Norris, and John F. Williams, and Sergeant E. H. Green were wounded and taken prisoners

Retiring to Centreville, the shattered army was again restored to order, and, the enemy being foiled in his dash at Chantilly, and declining further offensive operations, retired to the vicinity of Washington, M'Dowell's Corps encamping at Hall's and Upton's hills. On the 6th of September the com- mand was in motion for Maryland, General M'Clellan again in command of the army, and General Hooker of the corps, now designated the First. Col- onel M'Coy and Major Forney, prostrated by sickness, were absent. The latter soon after died. Lieutenant Colonel M'Allen accompanied the column, but too feeble to keep the field, the command devolved on Captain James MacThomp- son. At evening on the 14th the regiment reached the battle ground in front of Turner's Gap, in the South Mountain, where the Pennsylvania Reserves were hotly engaged. " In compliance with orders from General Duryea," says Captain MacThompson, "I gave orders to move forward with fixed bayonets. Nothing could exceed the promptness of both officers and men in the execu- tion of this order. With the most enthusiastic cheers they dashed forward and soon the enemy were scattered, and in much confusion were flying before us. Several times they rallied, and once in particular, having gained an admi- rable position behind a stone fence, they appeared determined to hold on to the last. Here it was that they sustained the greatest loss. Colonel Gale, of the Twelfth Alabama, fell dead, and the Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifth South Carolina was wounded and taken prisoner. Their stand at this point delayed but for a moment the onward movement of the One Hundred and Seventh. It was soon over the fence and among them, taking sixty-eight prisoners, kill- ing and wounding a number, and causing the remainder to fly precipitately to the top of the mountain. Following them up we drove them across the narrow plain on the summit, and part way down on the other side. Night ended the

857

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.

1862

pursuit ; but fearing a surprise, I directed officers and men to rest in line during the night, prepared for any emergency, and threw, two hundred yards in advance, a volunteer picket of ten men. At one o'clock A. M., one of these pickets brought in a rebel Adjutant General, who had ventured close to our lines. In this engagement we lost three men killed and eighteen wounded. This small loss is accounted for by the fact that the rebels, being constantly on higher ground, shot over us. In proof of this our colors were completely rid- dled, while the color-bearer was in no wise injured."

On the following morning, Monday, September 15th, the brigade moved forward and at night crossed Antietam Creek, near Keedysville, bivouacking near the stream. In the afternoon of the 16th it again moved forward, and after proceeding a few miles, the advance of the corps engaged the enemy drawn up in a commanding position under shelter of a wood, who made a stubborn resistance, but was finally driven a short distance. Night coming on both parties sank down to rest on their arms, and the fighting ceased. " At early dawn," says Captain MacThompson, "I moved the regiment by the flank to the field on the right. Here forming in column by division we moved forward through a narrow strip of timber gained the night previous, into a ploughed field, on the opposite side of which Thompson's Battery had just taken position. Advancing half way across the field to within easy support- ing distance of the battery, we halted for about five minutes, the enemy's shell and round shot flying about us like hail, killing and wounding some of our poor fellows, but not injuring the morale of the regiment in the least. Shortly we were again advancing, and passing the batteries, and over a clover field, reached the corn field, the most hotly contested part of the ground. Deploying in line, we entered the corn and pushed rapidly through to the farther side. We opened fire upon the enemy in our front and in fifteen minutes com- pelled him to fall back. Receiving reinforcements he soon after regained his position, and an unequal contest, lasting three quarters of an hour followed, which resulted in our being forced back through the corn field. Having held at bay for nearly an hour, an enemy of five times our numbers, we were re- lieved and passed to the rear. During the remainder of the battle we were held in reserve and were not again called into action save to support bat- teries." When the line was forced to yield, four companies of the One Hun- dred and Seventh, under Captain Sheafer, not understanding the retrograde movement, remained upon the field, and finding the colors in the hands of the . dead color-bearer, unfurled them, and remained upon the field until every cart- ridge was exhausted. The regiment had one hundred and ninety men engaged, of whom nineteen were killed and forty-five wounded, an aggregate loss in the two engagements of eighty-five. Two standard-bearers were killed. A portion of the forces of Stonewall JJackson stood opposite the brigade, and in his official report Jackson says, " With heroie spirit our lines advanced to the conflict, and maintained their position, in face of superior numbers, with stub- born resolution, sometimes driving the enemy before them, and sometimes compelled to fall back, before their well sustained and destructive fire."

The movement of the two armies back to the Rappahannock, was made without collision except by light skirmishing parties at the passes of the Blue Ridge, which separated them, the regiment not being involved. When arrived at Warrenton numerous changes occurred. General M'Clellan was succeeded in the command of the army by General Burnside. General Ricketts having 108-VOL. III.

858

1862

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH REGIMENT.

been ordered to duty at Harper's Ferry, General Gibbon was assigned to the command of the division. The Ninety-seventh Regiment was detached from the brigade and the Ninety-fourth New York and Sixteenth Maine were added to it, and General Duryea, who had resigned and been temporarily succeeded by Colonel M'Coy, was succeeded by Colonel Root. Resuming the march the regiment passed Bealton Station, Deep Creek, and Stafford Court Honse, and on the 25th of October arrived at Brooks' Station, where it went into eamp. The two armies were now facing, on opposite sides of the Rappahannock, in the neighborhood of Fredericksburg, and preparing for a desperate grapple. While here, discipline was strictly enforced, and the regiment was especially. complimented by General Gibbon for its excellent condition. On the 11th of December the regiment broke camp and, with sixty rounds of ammunition and three days' rations to the man, marched with the brigade to a point near the Rap- pahannock, two miles or more below Fredericksburg. On the afternoon of the 12th it crossed the river ou pontoons and took position in General Franklin's Grand Division, the left, resting at night on the field without shelter. Soon after daylight on the following morning the regiment advanced under a heavy fire of shot and shell to the front and left of the field. A swamp, overgrown with bushes and tangled vines, was encountered, and, in passing it, by a flank movement, the troops were much exposed and sustained some loss. With the One Hundred and Fifth New York, the regiment was detached from the brigade, and ordered to the support of Hall's Maine Battery, in position in a corn field within short range of the enemy posted in the wood and along the railroad skirting the wood, where it remained several hours during which a terrific ar- tillery battle was waged. At one o'clock P. M., the division in three lines, the Third in advance, and the First, to which the One Hundred and Seventh be- longed, in rear, advanced with the entire attacking column. The ground over which the troops moved was a plain stretching from the Bowling Green Road to the railroad and wood, where the enemy lay. The Third Brigade went gallantly forward until within three hundred yards of the railroad, where it halted and became heavily engaged. In a few minutes it was so decimated that the Second was ordered to its relief. Withont a falter it moved in face of the deadly fire, and reached a position considerably in advance of that occupied by the Third, when, with ranks fearfully thinned, it also came to a stand. At this juncture General Gibbon rode np and ordered the First Bri- gade to take the woods in front at the point of the bayonet. The men had seen two brigades go down in the attempt, but undaunted they sprang to their feet, fixed bayonets, and at the word of command dashed forward with defiant yells. The sight of the gleaming steel in the hands of this resolute band, sent terror to the hearts of the foe, and before the brigade had reached the ritle- pits of the rebels they began to run. Halting for a moment, a destructive fire was poured upon them, when it again dashed forward, crossed the railroad, and entered the wood, the enemy retreating in meantime to his strong line of works on the range of hills above. The One Hundred and Seventh be- came separated from the rest of the brigade, the other regiments obliquing to the right soon after moving, and never reaching the advance ground. Being unprotected on right and. left, and supports failing to come up, the regiment was soou ordered back, but retired cheering with a will, and took position upon the railroad. As soon as the ranks were re-formed, it was ordered to ad- vance by the right flank up the railroad to the aid of the other regiments of the

859

1863

BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.

brigade which were hard pressed. It promptly moved, and joined in the conflict, but was soon afterward ordered to fall back to the Bowling Green Road. While going back the enemy opened upon it a very destructive fire, from which it suffered severely. At three o'clock on the following morning it was called to arms, and was marched to the extreme left of the Union lines, where it re- mained in line of battle, exposed to the enemy's shells, during the two succeed- ing days, and until the army was withdrawn. The loss in the engagements was four killed, and forty-eight wounded and taken prisoners. Captain Thomas A. Deegan was mortally wounded and died on the 9th of January following. On the night of the 15th, the regiment re-crossed the river, and during the fol- lowing day rested in a wood near the bank of the river, and on the 17th re- turned to camp.

With the exception of a week of fatigue and guard duty, near the close of the year, at Belle Plain Landing, and another week of most trying service in the Mud Campaign in January, 1863, the regiment remained inactive in winter- quarters until the opening of the Chancellorsville Campaign, under General Hooker. In the meantime General Gibbon had been succeeded in command of the Second Division by General Nelson Taylor, and shortly afterwards by General John C. Robinson. Upon the death of Major Forney, Captain Mac Thompson was commissioned to succed him. Subsequently, Lieutenant Colo- nel M'Allen, on account of his feeble state of health, resigned, and was suc- ceeded by Major MacThompson. Captain Henry J. Sheafer was commission- ed Major.

On the 2Sth of April, with sixty rounds of ammunition and eight days' ra- tions, per man, the regiment moved with the corps near to the banks of the Rappahannock, where it bivouacked for the night. Before daylight of the following morning firing commenced, Wadsworth, in command of the First Division, being in the act of driving away the rebel skirmishers and laying pontoons. This accomplished, his division crossed, and a skirmish line moved out near to the Bowling Green Road. The other divisions were moved up close to the river, the guns were shotted, and preparations made as if to cross. In this position they waited all day and finally bivouacked for the night. During the 30th they remained in the same position with some fighting going on at the front. At four in the afternoon the brigade was drawn up in a square, and solemn religious services were conducted by the chaplains, in compliance with a proclamation of the President of the United States for fasting and prayer. These services were scarcely finished when the enemy opened upon the massed troops with shot and shell. Retiring a short distance they were disposed in a single line. During the first of May they still remained in this position. On the morning of the 2d the corps marched away to United States Ford, to join the main body of the army at Chancellorsville. As it approached the ford, near nightfall, the sound of a terrific cannonade at the front was borne to the ears of the men, Stonewall Jackson being in the act of falling upon the Eleventh Corps. After crossing the stream, and while preparing to bivouac for the night, the corps received orders to move at once to the front and take position on the right of the line, from which the Eleventh Corps had been driven. Moving with much difficulty through a thick wood over which the battle bad been raging, it formed at midnight while the troops of Sickles were desperately engaged on the centre, went into position, and commenced throw- ing up breast-works. Though worn out with a march of twenty miles or more,

860

1863

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH REGIMENT.

the men fell to work, and during the remainder of the night and all the next day were busily engaged in fortifying, felling abattis, and planting batteries. At two P. M., of the 4th, the regiment was ordered out upon the picket and skir- mish line, a most arduous and dangerous duty, where it was compelled to re- main for two nights and the greater part of two days. "I was sent," says Major Sheafer, " with four companies to picket a certain portion of the line, and for forty hours I had to keep the boys on duty in a dense wood filled with undergrowth. I had no relief and so the boys had to be kept constantly at their posts. Never was duty harder, the officers being obliged to be constantly on the line to keep the men awake, for the hardship was more than nature could bear. I pitied them, and yet necessity compelled us to use harsh words, cuffs, and kicks to keep them awake. I was so much exhausted that I did not dare to sit down, lest I should succumb to the almost resistless desire to sleep. At dusk of the 5th, in the midst of a terrible storm of rain, the enemy attacked me, and for some time the bullets flew thick and fast, but the men stood reso- lutely at their posts and we drove them off." At the dawn of day, on the morn- ing of the 6th, Colonel M'Coy was advised that the army had evacuated the works three hours before, and was now crossing the river, and ordered to draw in his men and fall quietly back. In conjunction with the Eleventh Pennsyl- vania, it retired covering the rear, and crossed the stream in safety.

Soon after getting settled in camp, the Ninety-fourth New York, Colonel Root, was detached from the brigade for duty at Acquia Creek, and the Thirteenth Massachusetts, Colonel Leonard, was added to it. Colonel Leonard held command of the brigade for a time, but was soon afterwards succeeded by General Paul, an experienced officer of the regular army. Colonel M'Coy, on account of severe illness, was absent at the opening of the campaign, the command devolving on Lieutenant Colonel MacThompson. Early in June, the two armies, stretching along on opposite sides of the Rappahannock, be- gan to manifest considerable activity, and by the middle of the month were in motion for Pennsylvania. The regiment broke camp on the 12th, and by the 20th, after marching on that day twenty-six miles through a drenching rain, reached Emmettsburg. It moved on the following day dircet for Gettys- burg, whither the cavalry had preceded it, and on the morning of the 1st of July made a brief halt near Marsh Creek. On reaching the field at Gettys- burg, where a portion of the corps had been engaged, and where Reynolds had fallen, Robinson's Division went into position on Seminary Ridge, to the right of the Chambersburg, and extending to the Mummasburg Road. At two P. M., Paul's Brigade crossed the railroad cut, the troops loading as they moved, and when the One Hundred and Seventh had reached the foot of the ridge, at its open part, between the woods on the right and left, the order by the left flank was given, throwing the brigade into line of battle. At double quick it moved up the hill, and at the summit encountered the first line of the enemy, who at once threw down his arms and surrendered. His second line was not far behind, and a dash was made by both sides for the low stone wall between. Paul's Brigade gained it first, and pushing back the enemy, there followed a desperate struggle for the mastery, in which at short range, in an open field, the slaughter was terrible. At length the Union men charged but were driven back to the wall again with severe loss, the enemy having two strong lines of battle and constantly receiving reinforcements. In this charge Corporal Breash, color-bearer, was struck and almost instantly killed. The colors were caught

1863

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

861

up by Corporal M'Connelly, of company HI, but he had hardly unfurled them, when he also was struck in the neck, and so terribly mangled that he died on the following morning. Lieutenant Colonel MacThompson had a horse shot under him and Major Sheafer was severely wounded.

Outflanked and overborne by vastly superior numbers, the corps retired rapidly through the town of Gettysburg and took position to the left of Ceme- tery Hill, where the regiment was immediately set to work throwing up breast- works at a point near Bryan's House, and remained under arms all night in momentary expectation of an attack. On the morning of the 2d the divi- sion was relieved by a division of the Second Corps, and retiring a short dis- tance took position in the second line, in support of batteries. During the day the regiment lay on its arms. At half past six in the evening the division was hurried to the left to the support of forces near Round Top. The enemy having been checked on that part of the field, it returned and took position under cover of a stone wall which afforded some protection from the cnemy's sharp-shooters, who were very active in front. At half past four on the morn- ing of the 3d the regiment was posted in the rear of Cemetery IIill, in support of batteries. At half past one in the afternoon, upon the opening of the furi- ous cannonade, the division moved to the right of Cemetery Hill, where the regiment was compelled to stand under a cross fire from the enemy's sharp- shooters, and from the fire of a battery. When the storm of battle was at its height, with other regiments, it was moved to the left under a perfect shower of deadly missiles. The enemy's fierce attack on the left centre having been stayed, a line of skirmishers was sent out to the front, who threw up breast- works, and here the regiment remained during the night and all day of the 4th, the enemy keeping up a desultory fire along the lines with occasional salvos of artillery on the cxtreme left. By morning of the 5th the last of the enemy had disappeared, and was making his way towards the Potomac with all possible dispatch. Prostrated by severe duty, Lieutenant Colonel Mac_ Thompson was obliged to leave the field on the 2d, when the command de- volved upon Captain E. D. Roath. In addition to the Major, mentioned above, Captain Gislı, and Lieutenants Wentz, Focht, Williams, Hemphill, and Huff, and forty-eight enlisted men were wounded. Captain Templeton and Lieuten- ants Carman, Norris, Mooney, Venaie, and Myers, and ninety-three cnlisted men, were taken prisoners. These unfortunate victims of rebel barbarity, shared the hard fate of thousands of other Union soldiers in rebel prisons. Lieutenant Carman, who had been recommended for a captain's commission, died at Charleston, South Carolina, in October, 1864, more than a year after his capture.

In the operations in the pursuit of Lee to the Potomac, and thence to the Rappahannock, in the subsequent retrograde movement to Centreville, and in the second advance which extended to Mine Run, the regiment participated, Colonel M'Coy being a considerable portion of the time in command of the brigade, and Major Sbeafer of the regiment. Beyond picket and guard duty, and occasional brief skirmishing, it did not encounter the enemy. On the 28th of November, the brigade came upon the rebel forces near Hope Chapel, and was immediately drawn up in line of battle, the One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania and the Thirty-ninth Massachusetts upon the front. The skir- mishers immediately opened fire and were actively engaged. At one P. M., the artillery opened, the shells falling in rapid succession among the enemy massed

862

1864

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH REGIMENT.

near a white house, across Mine Run, where he was busily engaged in fortifying. On the following day skirmishing was brisk, these two regiments being held at their posts, while the rest of the division moved over to the right. On the morning of the 30th the artillery on both sides commenced firing early, the di- vision losing several in killed and wounded. There was severe skirmishing this day along the entire line, the enemy being finally driven back across the run. During the following night two bridges were built over the stream, un- der a continuous fire, constructed principally of poles, and a road made along the hill. The weather was intensely cold. The water froze in the canteens, and no fire was allowed upon the front lines, where the One Hundred and Seventh, under Colonel M'Coy, was posted, the men suffering severely. At three A. M., on the following morning, the bridges which had been constructed were destroyed, a circumstance which was hailed as an indication that the army was to be withdrawn. At sunset the division commenced falling back. At Germania Mills it bivouacked for the night, and at dawn was drawn up in line of battle to cover the crossing, and was withdrawn when all were over without loss.

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History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. III, Part 163

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn Publication date: 1869 Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer Number of Pages: 1402

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1402