History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. V, Part 58

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1460

USA > Pennsylvania > History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. V > Part 58

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After erossing the James, the command moved rapidly towards Petersburg,

* The One Hundred and Eighty-ninth Regiment was organized from surplus men of the One Hundred and Twelfth, on the 18th of April, 1864, and participated in the Wilderness campaign, and in the operations before Petersburg, until the 5th of September, when what was left of it was returned to the old regiment from which it was taken. The records of the men will accordingly be found in the rolls of that regiment.

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arriving in front of the enemy on the 17th, and taking position after night-fall, in a slight ravine to the left of the position occupied by the Ninth Corps. A thin curtain of trees, on the bank in front, skirted a narrow open field, which sloped up to a sandy ridge, where was a body of timber, along the farther edge of which were the enemy's breast-works. The Ninth Corps had taken and were holding a portion of them. This brigade was ordered to drive out the enemy in its front, and hold the part connecting with that occupied by the Ninth Corps. Colonel Carle, accordingly, formed his line, and commenced cautiously to advance. It was hardly in motion before the enemy made an assault upon the troops of the Ninth Corps, driving them back; but coming upon this brigade, was checked, and in turn driven, some prisoners captured from the Ninth Corps being re-taken, and an entire rebel regiment, the Thirty- ninth North Carolina, was captured. On reaching the erest of the sandy ridge, the command dropped upon the ground. and while one-half kept up a vigorous fire, the other half began to scoop up the sand, and build breast-works. Though vigorously assailed by infantry and artillery, the ground was held, until regu- relieved. The loss was considerable. Lieutenant Robert G. Christnot, of the One Hundred and Ninetieth, was killed, and Lieutenant Colonel Pattee, in com- mand of the same regiment, and Major Wolfe, who succeeded him, and Lieuten- ants Edward Greenfield and Daniel Blett, were severely wounded, the two latter mortally.

Until the morning of the 23d, the brigade was kept on active duty, losing daily in killed aud wounded. It was then relieved, and after a day's rest, moved to the left, into pits vacated by the Second Corps. On the way to this position, the column was exposed to a sharp fire from the enemy's artillery and sharp-shooters, throwing it into some confusion, and occasioning some loss. During the 24th and 25th, sharp-shooting was incessant, after which a truce was entered into upon the picket line, which secured immunity from peril. At the opening of July, the brigade was ordered back, and commeneed the construction of Fort Warren, and two weeks later to a position where was . subsequently located Fort Crawford. On the 18th of August, the Fifth Corps moved upon the Weldon Railroad, capturing and destroying a portion, near the Yellow House. Colonel Hartshorne, who had just previously returned to duty, was in command of the brigade, which was early ordered upon the skivinislı line. It continued to advance, over heavily timbered ground, driving back the enemy until it came in front of his breast-works, where a line was established and fortified. This advanced position was held, without supports, and with no connecting force on its flanks, until four o'clock on the afternoon of the 19th, when it suddenly found itself completely surrounded, and was foreed to surrender. The captives were hurried away to rebel prisons at Rich- mond, Salisbury, and Danville, and were kept in confinement until near the time of Lee's surrender. Lieutenant Henry L. Stock was among the killed in the operations of the 19th. A small detachment had been ordered to the rear for provisions and ammunition, which escaped capture, and this, together with men returning from furlough, and from detached duty, was organized under command of Lieutenant Colonel Pattee, who soon after returned from an absence occasioned by his wounds, and was transferred to the Second Division, commanded by General Ayers, participating with that division in the remaining hostile operations of the year 1864.

On the morning of March 29th, 1865, Colonel Pattee with his own, and a

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battalion of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh, moved with the corps across Hatcher's Run, and on the following day, passing Gravelly Run, advanced as skirmishers, and threw up rifle-pits. Towards evening the enemy attacked, but were easily repulsed by the rapid fire from the Spencer Repeaters, with which the command was armed. On the morning of March 31st, the enemy, by a flank movement, drove a part of the corps back across Gravelly Run. Pattee's command was upon the skirmish line, and held its ground to the last, but was finally forced back, losing a number in prisoners. After re-crossing the run, the corps moved further to the left, and coming in upon the enemy's flank, re-gained the ground lost in the morning. During the night, it marched to the relief of Sheridan, at Five Forks, arriving within supporting distance at daylight on the morning of April 1st. Herc the command was allowed some rest, of which it was sorely in need. At noon it was ordered forward, and came into line on the extreme left, resting on the rebel line of works. As usual, it was thrown upon the skirmish line, and bravely advancing, a hundred yards in front of the line of battle, led the way in that grand left wheel around the rebel rear, which crushed his entire force at one blow. When the last charge was made, the skirmishers awaited the coming up of the main Union line, when, joining in, they advanced with the column and shared in the glorious triumph, bearing away guns and small arms, and crowds of captive officers and men. From the 2d to the 9th, the pursuit was pushed, the skirmishers hanging upon the flank and rcar of the rebel army. On the morning of the 9th, after having crossed the Lynchburg Railroad, Colonel Pattee was summoned to the front with his command, by General Ayers, and ordered to deploy to cover the front of his division, and push forward to the assistance of the cavalry. " At about noon on the 9th" says a member of the command, " we got the order, ' Bucktails to the front,' ' double quick,' 'march !' and away we went, past our own division, past the First Division, past the advance, out into an open space. 'Battalion into line,' ' deploy as skirmishers,' 'forward,' ' double quick,' ' march,' rang along the lines. The order seems to ring in my ears now. Away we went. Sheridan's cavalry was just coming out, as we went in. Soon we got sight of the rebels, and they of us. We advanced double quick, and they fell back double quicker. They opened.on us with a battery from the. brow of a hill, first with shells, and as we got, closer, with canister, and just as we were about charging on the battery-up over the brow of the hill in front came a horseman, then another, and another. The first bore a white flag. 'Cease firing !' 'cease firing!' was the order, and the rider, bearing it, passed down through our line. 'They've surrendered,' ' they've surrendered,' was repeated from man to man, until the whole army knew the glad tidings, and cheer after cheer rent the air. The glad hour, for which we had been battling for four long years, had come." Returning after the surrender, to the neighborhood of Washington, the two regiments went into camp, where, on the 28th of June, they were mustered out of service.

NOTE .- The greater portion of the rank and file of these two regiments were captured before they had been three months in these organization, and consequently passed a much longer period in imprisonment, than in the field, not being released until the close of the war. It is but just, therefore, that some record should be made of the service of these brave men, while waiting, and starving, and dying in the miserable prison-pens where they were incarcerated ; for they no less served their country, than those who stood at the front and faced the deadly missiles of the foe. From the 19th of August until the beginning of October, they were confined on Belle Island, near Richmond. They were then taken to Salisbury,

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North Carolina, where they remained until death, or the advancing columns of Grant and Sherman compelled their release. Frank King, Sergeant Major of the One Hundred and Ninetieth Regiment, who was a prisoner through the entire term, and was among the last to be released, kept a record of his prison life, from which he has prepared a manuscript volume, of which I have been kindly permitted by the author to make the following extracts :

DESCRIPTION OF SALISBURY PRISON .- With the dawn of day, I was able to take a survey of the premises, which, as near as I can calculate, contained eight acres, and was surrounded by a tight board fence, cight feet high. The sentinels walked on elevated platforms outside the fence, but were not furnished with sentry-boxes like other prisons. The inside space was not square, being inuch wider on the north end than on the south. At the northern corners, spaces were left open in the fence, at each of which was a piece of artillery, as a defense in case of an uprising or rebellion among the prisoners. At the south end was a large gate, wide enough for the ingress or egress of wagons, which were loaded either with wood or water to come in, or dead " Yanks" to go out. On the west side was a small door, the sanie one by which our entrance was made, and through which all new- coniers came. On the east, nothing but the bare fence, crowned with the rusty firelocks, and the no less rusty wearers of the " Butternut," was visible. So much for the boundaries-now for the internal arrangements. The small door on the western side, opened into what was terined the " grove," or " square," a large space, thinly sprinkled with big trees, (oak,) and surrounded on the four sides with buildings and fence. Starting from the fence, on the north was a brick building, unused, but afterwards turned into a little bakery, a space, and then a row of brick buildings, three in number, with about two rods intervening between each, the first being used as barracks for sergeants of squads, and the other two as hospitals. On the east side were three more brick buildings, the counterpart of the otliers; the first two being barracks, (afterwards hospitals, ) and the last the " dead house." The south side was formed by a one-story wooden building, which was the main, or (as familiarly known, ) No. 1, hospital ; then a three-story brick building, which was a barrack for the citizen prisoners, the main factory building, tenanted principally by the Yankee deserters, and the big bakery, from which rations were issued. The fence formed the western side. In the centre of the grove was a covered well. There was a row of one-story wooden buildings, four in number, at the northern extremity of the enclosure, which were occupied by the commissioned officers captured from our army. They were divided from us by a " dead line," (a small trench,) and a line of guard posts. All communication between thein and us was forbidden. There was a well near the big gate, one some distance in rear of the buildings east of the "square, ' and one behind the Citizens' building, which were in use at tlic time I arrived. Others were in course of construction, and were finished sometime afterwards. In the well behind the Citizens' building, the dead body of a negro had been thrown, previous to our coming, and we did not find it out until our freqnent applications for water made the well almost dry, and thereby exposed the body to our gaze. It was taken up and carried off, but I had no relish for water from that well again.

UNION DESERTERS .- During the first few days, the " deserters" made a practice of roaming through camp among the new prisoners, taking a survey of us, with intent to plunder at a favorable opportunity. As we did not know these fellows ourselves, the officers would point them out to us, when we would drive them back to their quarters, amid a shower of blows from fists, stones, and clubs, or anything within our reach. The deserter had sometimes to run the gauntlet of the whole camp, and would reach his quarters, (in the main building,) bruised and bloody, and beaten almost to jelly. It is unnecessary to say, that we had not the least particle of sympathy for these wretches, who had deserted from the ranks of our regiments and gone over to the enemy, for purposes of plunder. The rebels did not appreciate their services any more than we, which was apparent from the fact of their sharing the same fare and treatment as other prisoners.

SUFFERING AT NIGHT .- The nights being extremely cold, although the days were warm, a small supply of wood was furnished us. Eight or ten loads were drawn in late in the afternoon of each day, and as they made their appearance, a great rush would take place among the prisoners. While some threw the sticks off, others of the same party carried them to their quarters, so that the stronger were sure of being supplied, while the weaker, or more timid ones, remained entirely destitute. To remedy this evil, a guard was sent in with each wagon, but the precaution was of no avail, for in a general rush, a single guard would be powerless. Another plan was then adopted, which gave to each squad a certain quantity of wood, and in that way all fared alike. The supply of wood was so small, that the quantity allowed was not sufficient to keep a fire going more than a few hours. When it was burned out, we would seek repose on the bare ground, with such covering as we were possessed of,

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It was usual for a party of from four to a dozen to lie together, " spoon fashion ; " that is, on our sides, all crooked one way. After remaining in one position long enough to get tired, one of the party would sing out : " by the right flank," or " by the left flank," when each man would roll over on his other side. When any one got too cold to lay longer, he would get relief by walking. I have walked for hours at a time many a night.

RATIONS .- A day's rations per man were a half loaf of bread, from two to four ounces of nieat, and a pint of soup. For the bread ration, a pint of flour or corn meal, was sometimes substituted. When such was the case, we were obliged to prepare it ourselves, which, with our limited facilities, was no casy task. The incthods of disposing of such rations were various, the most general in use being the making of a cake, baked on a tin plate before the fire, or in the coals. Some would make a kind of soup, using the flour for dumplings; others substituted a paste, and would go in on a mcal of "gruel." The corn me .i made a pretty fair mush, lacking only the milk. Scarcely anybody had salt, so the cooking had to be done without that luxury. For my part, I furnished myself with a small bag of salt, (four ounces when full, ) and usually managed to keep a supply on hand. It was a very valuable bag, and was watched as jealously as a miser watches his hoard. For the meat ration, we sometimes received a spoonful of sorghum, and, very rarely, a few potatocs ; (two or three ordinary sized ones per man.) The soup was sometimes thick with rice, but was generally served without the rice. The mode of issuing rations was as follows : When ready, squad No. 1 was supplied, then squad No. 2, and so on, until all were served-provided there was enough to go around. But if the supply to-day ran out at squad No. 25, to-morrow, squad No. 26 would commence, the rest following until squad No. 24 had been furnished, or the rations exhausted. If a squad, or a number of them, were deprived of rations one day, (and this was often the case, ) it was never made up to them the day following; on the contrary, the food they should have had was so much gained by the Confederacy. It was such work as this that told so fearfully upon the constitutions of the men. A man can live a long time on a small ration, provided he gets that ration every day, regularly ; but let that supply be cut off a day, or two days at a time, and pretty often, and it will begin to tell very quickly. I do. not remember hcaring of any one dying from starvation on Belle Isle ; for there no rations were lost. I remember that once our squad was deprived of its ration of bread for sixty-four hours, and then only the usual amount was issued, viz : half a loaf per man. It was horrible, then, to see with what voracity the pittance was disposed of-or, rather, it would have been to a well-fed observer. The meat ration was often delay ed altogether, for days at a time.

CITIZEN PRISONERS .- The first week or two at Salisbury, the citizen prisoners were kept pretty much confined to their building, a guard being stationed in front to prevent too much intercourse between them and us. At the end of the second week, however, the guard was taken off, and the citizens allowed to go and come as they pleased, within the limits of the pen. They were from all parts of the south, and were imprisoned chiefly for their disaffection to the Confederacy, or, in other words, for their loyalty to the laws and flag of their country. A few were incarcerated on the charge of being spics, and were awaiting either trial or sentence. A large number had already died from the privations they were made to suffer, and there were still many sick and dying. At Salisbury prison, in nine cases out of every ten, to be sick meant to die.

REFUSAL TO ALLOW HUTS TO BE BUILT .- The country around Salisbury was thickly wooded with young pines. Before the officers went away, they conferred with the Confed- erate authorities on the subject of letting the men build barracks for shelter, offering to become responsible for their good behavior when outside the prison limits, in case they were required to cut down the trees themselves, but to all this the prison officials returned a positive refusal. It was a fair offer, and would have saved the Confederate government a great deal of expense, besides being an act of humanity to the suffering thousands, who already began to feel the effects of exposure to the inclement weather ; for, thus far, no shelter whatever had been provided. But no ; it would have been contrary to the barbarous usage laid down in the rules of the Confederacy ; a people who claimed to be throwing off the yoke of oppression, but who, while endeavoring to establish their independence on such grounds, were heaping untold oppression upon defenseless fellow creatures.

PLAN FOR AN ESCAPE .- Our trio had niade a plan for an escape, and chose the coming night to carry it into execution. Our plan, which had been inade two weeks before, was to burrow a hole in a secluded spot, under the fence, large enough for one to crawl through at a tinie, and then make for the Union lines in Tennessee, as fast as possible, living on sweet potatoes and orchard fruit. We laid in a small supply of red pepper, to use in case the blood-hounds were put on our track, by dropping a little in our foot-prints, it would be

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snuffed up by the dogs, and destroy their organs of scent, for a time at least. We had taken Sherman into our circle, who very readily availed himself of this chance to escape. By request of Sherman, we took Crudgingdon (both citizen prisoners) into our confidence, inasmuch as he was a native of Tennessee, and had escaped once on the same route we proposed to take ; besides which, he had a tool for digging, which would be very useful to us. Our party having increased to five members, and everything being ready, all we waited for was a favorable night, which, as I have stated, came at last. At ten o'clock, Crudgingdon and Sherman were to come to our camp-fire, bringing the digging tool. We were then to adjourn to within a short distance of the fence, where the hole was to be made, and draw lots to determine which one should dig. We waited, shivering in the rain, over a small fire, until eleven o'clock, and no Sherman or Crudgingdon came; so I went to the Citizens' building, and called to Sherman. He came out, and I asked him if they were not ready yet. "Why, haven't you heard about it," said he. "No, what is it?" " Why Crudgingdon went out with the other party." And then it was that I found out that Crudgingdon and Sherman had joined with another party, who planned to burrow out in another spot, and that they had chosen the same night. About this time, Hebner obtained a woolen blanket, which was the joint property of Lord, Fleming, and himself. It was large enough, however, to cover four persons, and our trio had the privilege, in turn, of lying beneath it. By adding our picces of tent cloth, five could make out to lie together with tolerable comfort; therefore, we managed that by one of us sleeping all night, and two of us half the night, we could cach get a full night's rest, every third night.

CAVES FOR SHELTER .- A great many prisoners, for the want of better covering, or, in fact, for the want of covering at all, dug caves in the ground. A number of them were quite substantial. but the majority had a tendency to cave in. The manner of making a cave was to dig a square hole straight down into the earth, and, when sufficiently deep, to excavate horizontally a space large enough for the intended occupants to lie down in, the earth taken out being thrown on the top, to make the roof as high and as sloping as possible. The only implements available in the constructing of these dwellings were a case-knife and a tin cup or plate. As a further convenience it was customary to cut away the earth in one part of the inside large enough for a fire-place, and make a hole through the roof for a chimney. During heavy rains some of these caves would fill up with water, driving the tenants out into the storm. When the storm ceased, a course of bailing would ensue, or, in case too much dam- age had been done, another cave would have to be dug. I staid in one of these caves one night by invitation. Just before daybreak we were uncomfortably awakened by a portion of the roof caving in upon us. We scrambled out as fast as possible, and were fortunate enough to save our shocs, which we had taken off previous to lying down. It was lucky for us that the earth fell on our feet ; had it covered our heads we might have been lying there to this day. I know of two cases in which the occupants of caves were buried alive. I have since never trusted myself underground, not even in a coal mine.

ORGANIZATION OF THE CAMP .- About the beginning of November a great change was made in the organization of the camp. We numbered altogether ten thousand prisoners. Although the mortality was very great we were all the time receiving reinforcements of new prisoners-" Fresh Fish, "as we called them. Our entire force was now divided into ten divi- sions of one thousand each, numbered from one to ten, respectively. Each division was re- presented by one of its number, a Sergeant Major, usually, whose duty it was to see that his subordinates got their rations of food and wood in proper time, and also to assist the Confed- erate officer at the daily muster or roll-call of his individual division. The Division Sergeants had their quarters on the ground floor of the brick buildings devoted to the use of Sergeants, and had a double ration per day. Each division was again sub-divided into squads of ten, each squad being represented by a sergeant from its ranks, whose duty it was to draw rations and distribute them fairly to the members of his squad, and to report cases of death or absence at hospital. Sergeants were very remiss about reporting absentees, to the great annoyance of the prison authorities, who, in consequence, issued a great many more rations than there were prisoners. They tried many methods to overcome this evil, but they were unavailing; the " Yanks " were always too much for them. This non-reporting gave rise to the system, so familiar among Salisbury prisoners, known as "flanking," which was nothing more nor less than allowing one man to represent hinself in two or more squads at one time. .

BUSINESS ENTERPRISE .- As the season advanced a greater supply of wood was required for fuel. Inasmuch as the guard was doubled, the authorities could not muster the force required in the transportation of wood, so they organized from among the prisoners one hun- dred men, on double rations, as a "wood squad," whose business it was, under guards, to load wood on the cars a few miles from the prison and unload it at the terminus, a point on

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the railroad about five rods from the prison gates. They were taken out very early in the morning and returned in the evening of each day, when at work, which was three or four days out of the week. The members of this squad drove a flourishing trade for themselves out of the prisoners in camp and the citizens and soldiers outside. Buttons, necdles, pins, thread, and such trinkets, were scarce, and it was extremely difficult for the country people to obtain them. They were willing to pay very handsomely for them, either in Confederate scrip, or in their own productions, such as pies, cakes, and tobacco. The rebel officers and guards were ever ready to purchase buttons from our uniforms, or even the uniforms thein- sel ves, and their readiness, and even anxiety to wear the " bluc," was a subject of considera- ble remark among us, as it seemed to show a lurking spirit of animosity against the Confed- erate cause. However, U. S. buttons were at a premium, one coat button being worth one Confederate dollar. Therefore it was not strange that a member of the wood squad who could sell a button for a dollar, buy five plugs of tobacco with the money, and trade the to- bacco in prison for five buttons, should be on the high road to fortune. I sold, or ratlier traded off all my buttons, four from my blouse and two smaller ones from my cap, at differ- ent periods, and when they were gone, the buckles off my suspenders.

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History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, Vol. V, Part 58

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn Publication date: 1869 Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer Number of Pages: 1460

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902. cn
Publication date: 1869
Publisher: Harrisburg, B. Singerly, State Printer
Number of Pages: 1460