USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry > Part 12
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At last, this immortal army had at its head a great Captain, who had never lost a battle. Every morning for thirty days came the order to storm the works in front and every evening for thirty nights the survivors moved to the command of "By the left flank, forward! " and at the end of that fateful month. with sixty thousand comrades dead or wounded in the Wilderness, the Army of the Potomac on e more after four years, saw the spires of Richmond. Inflexi- ble of purpose, insensible to suffering, inured to fatigue and reckless of danger, it rained blew on blow upon its heroic but staggering foe: and the world gained a new ant better and freer and more enduring republic than it had ever known, in the surrender of Appomattox. All the trials and triumphs. all the hardships and privations, all the defeats and humiNations I have enumerated you shared in common with the Army of the Potomac.
In addition to this, in March, 1364, upon the reorganiza- tion of the army, the grand old 3d corps, to which you be- longed, was broken up: a corps with a name anl a record as brilliant as any organization in the army, a corps this had furnished a galaxy of names se ond to 1 de n bil- Hinney: such names as Heintz man. Hamigos ut Bir los. Kearny and Hooker, and Birney andi Borry. You must to e your identity, and were ordered to lay off the Lake which you had honored, the old diamond which you loved: the
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badge that was put there in obedience to the orders of the dashing Kearny, and in its stead put on the badge of another corps. Against these humiliating orders there was no in- subordination, no murmur, or protest; but with heroic cour- age you marched to victory under other officers and as a part of another organization. You asked the powers to allow you to wear the old badge, and, thanks to General Grant's love of fair play, you were allowed to retain the old diamond, and from that time until the surrender in every game of war diamonds were trump, and if you did not have a full hand, you could always be depended on to take a trick. Another humiliation which you had to endure as a regiment was in January, 1865, when the regiment, having been greatly reduced in strength by the severity of the sum- mer's campaign, was, in obedience to special orders of the War Department, dated January 11, 1865, broken up and consolidated into a battalion of six companies, and you saw your officers who had risen from the ranks, officers of your own choosing, officers whom you loved, mustered out and sent home as supernumeraries. Like Moses of old, who was not permitted to gaze upon the Promised Land, so some of your officers, after nearly four years of war, after having passed through more than a score of battles, after having endured all the hardships and privations that I have enu- merated, within sixty days of reaching the goal for whi. h they had been fighting, were mustered out and were not per- mitted with you to stand at Appomattox and gaze upon the shattered relics of the Southern Confederacy.
Comrades, if I had the time I would like to name each loved comrade who fell in battle, died of wounds or sank down from exhaustion on the weary march; and those who died a lingering death of starvation in prison pens, or died of disease in some hospital, far from home and mother and friends, and who lie scattered through the South, in graves that only God shall know until the resurrection morning. I would like to follow you from the time of your enlistment until the time the regiment came home. few and worn, with many a powder breath upon its tag and mary a bullet hol through its folds. I would also speak of Sides and Neener and Perkins and Lyons and Hill and McCartney and Morse
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and Crossley and Comstock and Burns and scores of others who seemed to have borne charmed lives and who were discharged and sent home when the war was over, but who have at last been mustered out. They have passed to the other side of the silent river. They have been made noble by God's patent. They have responded to the roll-call among men for the last time, until that day when the names of all the living and the dead shall be sounded before the Great White Throne.
I would go back through the haze of years to hear the rattling drums, the bugle's call, the loud hocray, the tramp of soldier boys. I see the waving flags, the red checked lads, the bearded men; I see long lines marching out to do and die; I hear the mothers' cries, the sobs of wives, the sisters' wail, the sweethearts' moan; and then comes waiting, day by day and night by night, the women in darkened homes, the men amidst the dangers of the field. Today is hope; to. morrow comes the news, the dreadful news, the battle's crash, the roar of guns, the din of war, the sharp command, the fire and smoke, the whirl, the charge, the awful shock. the iron hoof, the swinging sword. the gush of blood, the piteous groan, the dying hero and the dead. Oh, bitterness of victory! Oh, homes made desolate! How many hearts the battle breaks that never laid a hand to sword! How many tears must flow for wrong from eyes that only saw the right! The lesson that we read in blood is one we never can forget, and God has taught us this, as long ago he taught the lesson of the cross. Not for his friends alone was that blood shed, but for his enemies as well; and by this latter blood not one but all of us shall live; and on foundations firm as heaven itself the new Republic rises strong and towering upward to the sky; its glistening sum- mits l'ft their points until they touch the far off Hue, and overtopping all the world. they stand up cleir against the clouds, so that the very lowest down may see, and, smink. know that what they see is Freedom's houtp.
After nearly four years of war, with the great Rebellin subdued, with not an armed Amy within our for ties to 57th Pennsylvania Volunteers was mustered ont Jine Js. 1865. and we write "finis" on the last page of the military
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history of one of the grandest organizations that ever took: up arms for the preservation of a "Government of the people, for the people and by the people."
Upon separating for your homes, your officers issued an address to the surviving members, from which I quote: "Parting as a band of brothers, let us cling to the memory of those tattered banners under which we have fought to- gether and which, without dishonor, we have just now re- stored to the authorities, who placed them in our hands. Till we grow gray-headed and pass away, let us sustain the reputation of this noble old regiment." That you have ob- served the injunction of your officers in that address, the testimony of your neighbors in every place in which you have lived since the war will prove. When you were discharged you had but one ambition. In that one supreme moment of triumph, your only thought was of home and family and friends. You went back into the localities from which you came, into the ranks as citizens; taking up the daily burden of I'fe where you had thrown it down when enlisting, ceas- ing to be soldiers and becoming again private citizens. There was no evidence of the contaminating influence of camp life in your characters. There was no disorder where you went. On the contrary, your presence be ame the sign of order. You showed the world that great as you had been as soldiers, you had never forgotten that you were citizens.
Most speakers who have made similar addresses upon this great battlefield of the war have made more extended remarks upon the movements of the army during the three days' fighting here, and some have censured certain com- manders. The battle of Gettysburg has given rise to a great many controversies, and each commander has been censured and complimented in turn. Double lay charges that How- ard's troops gave way; Howard affirms that Doubleday's troops broke. General Meade is charged with ordering a retreat. One speaker harges that Goperal Sickles made a great blunder in taking up a position too far in advance, which well nigh proves disastroce to our great. With all these charges I have nothing to do. I am not Here to en- sure or find fault. I have only to do with the part you took as a regiment. Whether, as some speakers claim, Sickles
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saved the day and gained a victory by taking and holding an advanced line on July 2d, until the Roundtops could be oc- cupied, or whether, as others assert, Hancock, the "Superb." gained the victory by brilliant generalship and magnificent fighting on the 3d, I will leave the historian to decide. Suf- fice it to say, the 57th did her duty by obeying orders, and that is all that is required of any soldier or set of soldiers. You went as far as the farthest and left seventy per cent. of your number behind, when you were obliged to aban lon the line. In regard to the movements of the 3d corps. I w ll simply read what President Lincoln wrote to General Sickles in reply to a request that a court of inquiry should be con- vened to inquire into his conduct during the battle. The President writes:
"My Dear Sickles: You ask for a court of inquiry. They say you took up an advanced position on July 2d. They sav you crowded the enemy and brought on an engagement. I guess what they say is true; but, thank God, you gained a great victory. There were honors enough won at Gettys! urz to go all round. History will do you justice. Don't ask for a court of inquiry.
[Signed] A. Lincoln."
Comrades, in all countries and in all ages the people have reared monuments to the memory of their dead heroes; their deeds of valor have been told in song and story, and the people have delighted to do them honor. The great Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania, recognizing the servi es of her brave soldiers, during the sitting of the last Legislatir. passed an act appropriating fifteen hundred dollars to be 1 a monument to each regiment that participated in the bartle of Gettysburg. In accordance with the provisions of that art, Capt. D. W. Gore, Capt. H. H. Nelson, Lieut. George Miller. Comrade Theolore Catlin and myself, were elected as a committee by the surviving members of the regunent to select the location, submit designs, and erest a monument.
We organized at Gettysburg by electing your speaker chairman, and Captain Gore secretary. Not knowis the magnitude of the work before us, July 2d was agreed upon as the day upon which our monument should be dedicated . Scattered as the members of the committee were, over two
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States and the District of Columbia, thus rendering it difficult to convene them, it was thought best that the chairman and secretary be authorized to act for the committee. The labor and expense thus devolved upon us have been considerable. We have been met with many and unlooked for obstacles; but one by one they have been overcome, and the result of our work is before you.
As chairman of your committee, in the name of the tax- payers of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I present you with this beautiful monument, which will stand while gen- erations pass away, as a monument to the valor and patri- otism of the 57th regiment, and to the generosity of the citizens of this grand old State. Pennsylvania honors her- self in thus honoring the memory of those who fell in her defence. We dedicate this memorial shaft, not to those who fell at Gettysburg alone, but to the eight hundred who were swallowed up by the tide of death on other fields; in prison pens, in hospitals, and on the lonely picket line. We dedi- cate it to every member of that grand old regiment, either living or dead. We dedicate it to our children and our chil- dren's children forever.
And when the few of us who yet survive shall have passe! on to "join the innumerable caravan," may coming genera- tions, as they gather 'round this granite shaft and road the record chisled here, learn lessons of patriotism and heroin devotion and here may they gain inspiration and strength, which shall make them brave defenders of their country's institutions and her flag, which we so much love.
Comrades, I cannot refrain from saying a few parting words to you. As I look over this audience, I am reminded that the boys of 1861 are now men on the down-hill side of life. The hand of time has silvered the hair and plowod deep furrows in the cheeks of tile comrades I see gathered about me, and this will probably be the last roll-call to which a considerable number of the old regiment will re spond. Scon these pleasant meetings, there delightful an ! hallowed associations, with wiel and all of me any come to an end. Let us live all the more closely together, then, i: the brief road that remains to us. Let us be truer to on" common name and common fame, so that we shall leave
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nothing behind us which will tarnish the polished and war- worn escutcheons of the grand old 57th regiment. Let us continue to be good citizens. Let us lead such lives that when we hear the last tattoo and the lights are ordered out on earth, we shall be awakened by the reveille at the tent of the Great Commander and bidden to seats at Headquarters.
The following is a letter from General Longstreet to General Sickles:
Gen. D. E. Sickles, Gettysburg. Pa .:
My Dear General Sickles: My plan and desire was to meet you at Gettysburg on the interesting ceremony attun !- ing the unveiling of the Slocum monument; but today I find myself in no condition to keep the promise made to you when last we were together. I am quite disabled from a severe hurt in one of my feet, so that I am unable to stand more than a minute or two at a time. Please express iny sincere regrets to the noble Army of the Potomac, and to accept them, especially, for yourself.
On that field you made your mark that will place you prominently before the world as one of the leading firuires of the most important battle of the Civil War. As a North- ern veteran once remarked to me: "General Sickles can well afford to leave a leg on that field "
I believe that it is now conceded that the advanced posi- tion at the Peach Orchard, taken by your corps ant under your orders, saved that battlefield to the Union cause. It was the sorest and saddest reflection of my life for many years; but, today; I can say, with sincerest emotion, that it was and is the best that could have come to us all, North and South; and I hope that the nation reunited, may always enjoy the honor and glory brought to it ly that grand women
Please offer my kindest salutations to your Goverdor and your fellow-comrades of the Army of the Potomac.
Always yours sincerely, . [ Signed ]
James Longstreet. Lieut .- Gen. Confederate Anny
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APPENDIX D.
Reminiscences of the Fifty-Seventh Regiment, by Gen. William Birney.
Comrades :- It gives me pleasure to respond to your de- sire for my reminiscences of the 57th Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteers. They are all agreeable.
My first knowledge of it was from the gallant and chival- rous General Philip Kearny, under whom I had served in the New Jersey Brigade. August 12, 1862, I was ex- changed as prisoner of war. August 13. the General sent for me and offered me the command of the 57th, speaking in very high terms of the intelligence, bravery and moral stamina of the men. All it needed, he said, to become one of the best regiments in the army was drill and discipline I accepted his offer. was detailed by General Mcclellan from my own regiment and corps to General Kearny's took com- mand next day at the camp on James river. at Harrison's Landing, and kept it until October 12. These two months were filled with active service.
Your historian, in bis kindly notice, has given a wrong version of the only unpleasantness that ever existed between General Kearny and me. Allow me to correct it. At a division drill, in the winter of 1801-2. conducted by General Torbert, I commanded a regiment. Receiving a wrong order from the brigade commander, I executed the movement, as was my duty. General Kearny, who was on the field, rode rapidly up behind me, hissed in my ears: "Major Birney, you'd better st dy your tactics, sir," rode off about fifty yards and haled. Being very angry at this un- merited reproof given me while at the head of my recitaent. I followed him. expressed my resentment in bitter words and went back to my command. Ten minutes afterward. the General put me under arrest. The same evening he sent his adjutant to offer me a release if I would apologize. I refused on the ground that he should apologize first to me.
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He preferred charges, I was court-martialed, and, for lack of proof, acquitted. Not long after that, at an accidental meeting between ws, the General offered me his hand after making a handsome apology for his haste. His magna- nimity gave me occasion to express a conclusion I had reached on reflection, that my language to him had been insubordinate, and to express my regrets that I had not kopt my temper; if I had waited for the General to learn the facts from General Torbert and other witnessos, he would have made amends. From the date of that reconciliation. we were better friends than ever before.
Before that bad break, he had recommended me for the vacant colonelcy of the 1st and, on my declining, hal p.o- cured my appointment as major of the 4th. He had cor- dially approved choosing me as teacher of the Officers' School of Tactics and had shown in many ways his con- fidence in me. It was, therefore, with pleasure that I ac- cepted the command of the 57th in his division and corps, though the regiment was not from my state.
My first special effort was to increase the number of the regiment by recalling absentees; and chis I continued during the whole time of my command.
Our first honor was being appointed with a Maine rosi- ment to guard the flank of the army when on its march from Harrison's Landing to Yorktown. I was in command of both. We were menacel by the rebel cavalry and hid to form the hollow sq are twice. Nevertheless. we made longer marches than had been made in the army up to that time, marching in order, keeping proper rests, and having our water canteens well filled. We reached our destination in excellent condition, after serving as buffer for more than two days between our army and the enemy.
Our trip by water to Alexandria was uneventful. O r short stay in that city was made memorable by the drunken carouse of nearly all the troops. It was a day .f de- bauchery; staggering and reeling men filled the #root and drunken men the cars which were to take the taleps to the Rapidan. The striking exception was the 57th; maintained is sobriety and good order. While I was stand- ing noar the regiment and feeling great pride in it, Goacral
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Kearny rode by. "Well, General, what do you think of that?" said I, pointing to the boozy crowd. He shrugged his shoulders but said nothing. This was the only time I ever knew him fail to make his expression adequate to cir- cumstances. He could express himself vigoro sly, as you all remember. But the Alexandria spree was too much for him.
We went to the Rapidan on cars and for a few days and one night did a great deal of marching as part of Pope's army. The night march was to Bristow's station; and your merit is the greater because it was the very night when General Porter said his part of the army could not see to march. Your eyes were good enough. From Bristow's we marched to Centreville and thence to the battlefield of Groveton. On that day, we guarded artillery from attacks. Late at night, we marched to what was known as the "rail barricade," on the extreme right of the Union army, arriv- ing atout 1 a. m. The General had told me I would find two regiments of our troops there. What I did find' there was nothing but a picket of sixteen Irishmen and a sergeant, posted in a clamp of small trees at the right end of a steep and very high hill, quite level on top, which seemed to ex- tend a great way to the left. In the valley below was a rebel camp which, the sergeant said, contained at least two brigades, two batteries of small artillery and a squadron of cavalry. The outlook was squally; at daybreak, the rebels would attack; what could the 57th do against such odds? I at once sent to General Kearny a report and a request for supports, threw out a company of skirmishers to the left along the edge of the hill, formed the regiment behind the rail barricade, ordered the Irish picket to stand fast where they were and everybody to fire at will and with good aim at any rebel who should try to reach the top of the hill. I knew that if the enemy should once gain the level ground with their artillery, the little 57th would be swept off as liy a cyclone. Until about 8 a. m., the firing was continu- ons. the enemy making several attempts tha p led. From the Irish picket on the right to the last skirmisher on the left, our line of fire was at least a half mile long; the enemy probally thought we had a large force. I was greatly re-
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lieved when about 8 a. m., General -, U. S. A., appeared in our rear with two brigades of infantry in close order and two howitzers mounted on mules. "Who is in command here?" asked the General. I saluted. "You may withdraw your men." I briefly informed him of the condi .- tions, asking him if he world not send his men to replace mine and adding that the rebels would follow up my men closely and occupy every position abandoned by them. His reply was: "You may withdraw them, sir; we'll attend to the enemy." I ordered my bugler to sound the quick recall; my skirmishers and the Irish picket came in on the run, and the regiment, being quite ready, retired on the double quick. It was not many minutes before the rebels hal gained the high ground, placed their batteries in position and forced the conceited general to retreat with heavy loss.
Rejoining our division. we took part in the movements until dark, when the order came to retreat. To reach the road to Centreville, we had to march back to a road that ran almost at right angles to ours and crossed the creek. On our side of the crossing, twohundred yards away, was a large residence with a front yard of ample proportions. We had occupied it two hours earlier. As I rode up at th. head of our column. an officer in Confederate uniform passod in the dusk into the yard through the front gate. The yard wan full of rebel soldiers! They hal occupied it after we had left it. I sent the adjutant to keep the regiment movies to the crossing, to enjoin silente and quicken stop. The next ten minutes were anxious ones with me .. The rebels might, at any moment, open fire on us from the flank. Bh they were probably as afraid of us as I was of teen They couldn't see how many we were. When our last man had crossed the creek, I followed. Within about twenty fers of a yard full of rebels, I had watched for any movement, but they had not stirred. Not a word was spoken on elfor side. We were both glad to get rid of each other. It wa. a close rub for the 57th!
We marched in retreat and found the road blo bed Is General Poe's brigade. I asked him to let us pass. "No. B- answered. "The 57th is just the buffer I neol between !!! men and the rebels." I made no reply, but hastening to the
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regiment, marched it, single file and in silence, past Poe's brigade by a side path on the left of the road. My orders from General Kearny were to rejoin him as soon as practi- cable; and I did not care to have General Poe use the 57th as I had used the Irish picket. His brigade was a brave one and well able to defend its own rear. The good march- ing legs of the 57th stood us in good stead. Next morning, as I lay on a stretcher in bivouac at Centreville, below the road, I was conscious that somebody was looking intently at me. It was General Poe, on horseback, in the road above. at the head of his brigade. "How in - did you get here?" he asked.
At Chantilly, the 57th held the picket line, at midnight, in a heavy rain, across a large corn field, a few feet only from the picket line of the enemy. Orders were, that we should withdraw quietly at 2 o'clock a. m. and follow the other troops in retreat. If the 57th had not been in good discipline, the movement could not have been successfully made; there would have been some whispering or noise. As it was, the rebels did not find out before daybreak that we were gone.
Our march to Washington and thence to the Monocacy was without event worthy of notice now.
You cannot have forgotten how you forded the Potomac on a sudden march to Leesburg to surprise the rebels in that town. The water was up to the necks of all the short men, and all of you had to hold above your heads your muskets and cartridge boxes. But you got through and succeeded in capturing and paroling a great many skulkers and shirks who wore hiding in that pleasant Virginia town; how many, I forget, but one of your officers who was there tells me we paroled more men than were in the 57th. Not much glory in that kind of work, though!
The "Jeb Stuart raid" around our army was the most striking incident of our Monocacy campaign. We hearl of Jeb before he came. Contrabanis and Union men told us. Ward's brigade was to intercept him. Our Frigade was placed, for that purpose, I suppose, on the brow of the steep hill that overlooked the road which ran between the hill and the Potomac. The 57th was next the brow of the hill. The
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hill was too steep for cavalry to climb; the road was nar- row; the river deep. Jeb Stuart was never in greater dan- ger than he was in that beautiful morning. When I heard the distant tramp of his horses, not having received any orders, I galloped over to General Ward, who was not further off than two hundred yards, and asked for leave to attack. He said he could not give it without orders from General Stoneman! I urged the emergency, but he refused to take the responsibility. And so, I had to stand quietly on that hill-top and look at the gallant Jeb and his gay horse- men as they went riding by!
The great opportunity of the 57th and of its temporary commander passed with them; if we had received the leave asked for, the 57th would have made itself the crack regi- ment of the army, and its commander would have sporte. a star on his shoulder strap eighteen months earlier than he did. But such are the fortunes of war!
When Colonel Campbell returned to his regiment, I asked General Stoneman to give me an order to report to my own regiment. He responded by putting me in command of the 35th New York. Here was a change! But the New York boys who had run with the machine gave me no reason to complain of them. In the battle of Fredericksburg. where some of the fighting was hand to hand, the Sergeant-Major saved me by a timely pistol shot, from being bayonetted by a rebel soldier.
The only time I ever saw the 57th after I left it was on the battlefield of Chancellorsville, on the morn'ng General Howard's corps was surprised and routed by Stonewall Jack- son. I had volunteered ou General Hooker's staff, my own regiment being temporarily on detached service, and had been sent by him to rally the flying troops. The smoky field was covered by the disordered masses; batteries of artillery were driving on full gallop in retreat; shot and shell were whistling; fugitives were flying, and officers try- ing to make themselves heard in the awfel din of cannon and musketry. Amid the confusion and upper. I saw but one regiment moving in order, officers at their posts, com- panies in line and flag flying. It was the 57th Penneylvania! When the men recognized me, they gave me three cheers,
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a compliment I have never recalled except with a full heart and, must I admit it, with grateful tears. The 57th has a right to be proud of its service, discipline and veteran cour. age on the battlefield of Chancellorsville.
And now, I bid you adieu as friends, tried and true. We shall never meet again; but as long as life lasts, I shall never think of the 57th and our "auld lang syne" without a heart-thrill of gratitude and pride.
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