USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry > Part 5
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General Burnside was relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and was succeeded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker on January 24th. The announcement of Hooker's appointment was hailed with delight by the officers and men of our ( Birney's) division, where his valor and ability were well known.
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He was one of the original division commanders of our (3d) corps. We looked on him as a man of the same stamp as the former commander of our division, the lamented Kearny. The divisions of Hooker and Kearny had fought side by side on the Peninsula and second Bull Run campaigns, where they acquired renown and honor. The appointment of Hooker was soon marked by an improvement in the commissary department and in the drill and discipline of the army.
Soon after the battle of Fredericksburg certain evil-disposed newspapers and persons at the North were loud in their assertions that the Army of the Potomac was tired of the war, and demoralized, and circulated reports derogatory to the character of that army. To confute such reports, and to denounce those with whom they originated, a meeting of the officers and men of the 57th was held on February 26th, at which resolutions were adopted denouncing as false the calumnious reports circulated concerning the army. One of the resolutions declared that the 57th would sustain the government in the future as in the past. a resolution which was made good in the following December by three-fourths of the regiment re-enlist- ing for three years. Our regiment was the first to adopt resolutions of this nature which were ordered to be published in the newspapers in the counties in which the regiment was raised. Our example was followed by many of the regiments of the army.
Camp Pitcher, with its many pleasant and some unpleasant associations, was abandoned on March 4th,
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when we moved about four miles and laid out a new camp about a mile from the Potomac creek bridge.
On the same day our regiment was reassigned to the First Brigade, commanded by Colonel Collis, who was succeeded a few days afterward by Gen. Charles K. Graham. The brigade consisted of the following named Pennsylvania regiments: 57th, Col- onel Sides; 63d, Colonel Kirkwood; 68th, Colonel Tippen; 105th, Colonel Mcknight; 114th, Colonel Collis; and 14Ist, Colonel Madill. Lieut .- Colonel Sides, formerly captain of Company A, of the 57th, returned to the regiment on the field at Fredericks- burg, and took command after Colonel Campbell was wounded. The latter had been promoted brigadier general, and when able for duty was assigned to the Army of the Northwest, where the Indians of Min- nesota and Dakota were on the warpath and com- mitting great depredations. Campbell had wished to be assigned to a command in the Army of the Poto- mac, and did not like to be sent West. About this time a friend of writer, J. T. Chase, of Titusville, Pa., met Campbell in Harrisburg, and reported him as saying : "The rebels tried their damnedest to kill me at Fair Oaks and Fredericksburg, and now I'm to be sent out West to be scalped by the Indians." The 57th were much attached to Campbell and noth- ing would have pleased them more than to serve in a brigade commanded by him.
As spring advanced we were kept busy with camp duties. Among these were the frequent inspections. by companies, regiment, or brigade. Guard mount-
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ing was by brigade, with great ceremony, which was always witnessed by many officers and men who were not on duty.
It was General Hooker who introduced the system of corps badges into the army. The badge of each corps was of a different design and were of different color in the several divisions of a corps, being red for the first division, white for the second, and blue for the third. The designs of the different corps badges were: Ist corps, a sphere; 2d, a trefoil; 3d, a dia- mond; 5th, a Maltese cross; 6th, a Greek cross; IIth, a crescent; and 12th, a star. The badge was made of cloth and was sewed on the top of the cap. By this arrangement, one could tell at a glance to what corps and division a man belonged, and it was of much importance in preventing straggling on the march, or skulking in battle. The badge system was eventually adopted by all other armies in the field. The 57th belonged to the first division of the 3d corps, wore a red diamond, and are proud to wear it today at all old soldiers' gatherings.
Toward the close of the month of April it became evident that another movement against the enemy would soon be made. General Hooker's plan was to send a large force up the river, to cross over and turn the rebel left, at the same time sending a force to a point below Fredericksburg to make a feint of cross- ing there. About eight thousand cavalry under Gen- eral Stoneman were to cross the upper Rappahan- nock, gain the enemy's rear and destroy his railroad communications and depots of supplies. 6
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On April 27th the LIth and 12th corps crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly's ford and moved to the Rapidan where, with little resistance from the enemy, they crossed the river at Germania ford. The 5th corps moved in the same direction, but crossed the Rapidan lower down at Ely's ford. The three corps then marched towards Chancellorsville, where they arrived on the afternoon of the 30th.
About 4 p. m. of the 28th the 3d corps broke camp and moved to near Franklin's crossing, the place we had crossed on the 13th of December. In the same vicinity were the Ist and 6th corps. The 2d corps was in its camp opposite Fredericksburg. Our position here was menacing, in order to distract the enemy's attention from the flanking movement of the 5th, 11th and 12th corps, in which it was successful.
On the 29th it rained most all day, and nothing was done on our part of the line. On the morning of the 30th the rain had ceased when the 2d corps started up the river, followed by the 3d corps about noon. The march was skillfully masked to hide our move- ments from the enemy. We marched that afternoon to Hartwood church, where our brigade camped for the night, and next morning took a road to the left and crossed the Rappahannock about noon at the United States ford, which is located a few miles below the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan.
After a short halt for dinner we resumed our march and a few hours later we reached the place now known by the historic name of "Chancellorsville." There is, however, no village there. Only a large
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brick house built for a hotel on account of the min- eral springs in the vicinity which were supposed to contain valuable medicinal properties. The house was used by General Hooker as his headquarters and on May 3d it was set on fire by the enemy's shells and burned to the ground. We halted in a field near the brick house for an hour or so, and then, accompanied by a battery, our brigade moved west on the plank road until we reached Dowdell's tavern, about two miles distant. This was the headquarters of General Howard, who with the IIth corps was in position on the extreme right of our army. Part of his line faced toward the south, and a part to the west toward the Wilderness church. Chancellorsville is on the verge of the Wilderness, where the great battles of the fol- lowing year were fought.
It appears that the reason our brigade was sent to Dowdell's tavern, far from the rest of the division, was because General Birney had received an order to send a brigade to General Howard to strengthen his line. Howard deemed himself strong enough to hold his line, so he returned our brigade with compliments to General Birney.
Howard's line, as far as we could see, was not in the position that we generally put ourselves, when in the face of the enemy. His men on the right of the plank road were on open ground with pickets but a short distance in front, and with arms stacked and accoutrements hanging on the guns. The men were lounging about, some cooking, and others playing cards. From all reports they were in similar shape
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the next evening when they were routed by Jackson's onset.
When we got back to the division we found it massed in a large field south of the plank road and a few rods west of Hooker's headquarters. A section of rebel artillery opened on us here, but their aim was bad and they did but little damage. A party of sharpshooters was sent against them and caused them to withdraw their guns.
We remained in this field until about 5 o'clock next morning, when the division moved out the plank road toward the west, when after we had gone about a mile we turned to the left and marched for several hundred rods through a dense wood of small pines, on the farther edge of which was a slight line of works which had been built by troops which we relieved. These works we strengthened and in a short time we had constructed a formidable line of breastworks. We faced southward, the country in our front was open, and we had a good view of the surrounding territory.
About noon we could see far in the distance, a rebel wagon train and troops moving, and as at the point where we discovered them they were going south, the general opinion was that they were retreating towards Gordonsville. Clark's battery of rifled guns, attached to our division, soon got into position and opened on the rebel column, which, it was plain to see, caused considerable commotion among them. They hurried past the point as rapidly as possible, and were soon lost to view.
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A detachment of Berdan's sharpshooters and the 20th Indiana were sent out as skirmishers, and soon reached Welford's furnace, where they captured sev- eral hundred men of the 23d Georgia and sent them to the rear. The pioneers were sent out to build bridges across a small creek in our front and when these were completed our division moved forward toward the point where we had seen the enemy. Whipple's 34 division of our corps moved forward at the same time on our left and Barlow's brigade of the IIth corps moved with us on our right. Marching up into the woods, considerable time was taken up in forming into line of battle, and it was near sundown before it was accomplished. The position of the 57th was along a rail fence on the brow of a hill overlooking the little valley in which stood the old furnace.
Just as we were about to advance a furious can- nonade was heard far in our rear in the direction of the plank road. This, as it proved, was caused by Jackson's assault on the IIth corps, where inadequate preparations were made for resisting such an onset, and the whole corps was soon streaming to the rear.
At dark we received orders to fall in as quietly as possible, when we. were marched back by way we had come and halted in the little field in front of the breast- works we had left a few hours before. When the rout of the Ith corps began Berry's ( Hooker's old ) division of our corps, which was on the plank road. was ordered up to check the enemy.
In this division was the 37th New York, a two- year regiment, one of whose members, Jack Coleman,
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afterwards joined Company K, of the 57th. He relates that at Chancellorsville one of the IIth corps artillerymen was going to the rear on the run, and carrying on his shoulder the sponge staff, used to sponge the gun and which is generally called the "swab" by battery men. When asked by some of the boys of the 37th New York what he was running for, he halted long enough to reply, "Ach, mein Chesus, Schneider's battery ish all gone but der schwap." He was evidently bound to hang on to some of Uncle Sam's property at any rate.
While we were still in position near the old breast- works, Ward's brigade of our division made a bayo- net charge by moonlight, with uncapped guns, into the woods in our front and drove the enemy back far enough to enable us to get out in the morning.
Just at the dawn of day on May 3d, the rebel general, J. E. B. Stewart, who was commanding Jack- son's corps, was attempting to straighten his line in the woods on his right. The rebels at that point be- came aware that a large body of "yanks" were in the field in their front. This was our brigade, which was getting ready to move to the right to get on ground which was more advantageous to resist an attack. Where we were, the left flank of the different regi- ments were presented to the enemy, so we faced to the right and commenced to move briskly when the rebel skirmishers opened fire on us, but we continued on the double quick until we reached the large field south of the Chancellor house, where we deployed and
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formed line of battle awaiting the onset of the enemy, and we did not have long to wait, either.
We entered a wood in our front, with the 63d Pennsylvania on the right of our regiment and the 68th on our left. There our men did some very hard fighting. At one time we made a charge and drove the enemy from a log breastwork, but the woods seemed to swarm with the enemy; they were reenforced and drove us back in turn. We then went in further to the right and were engaged again.
The 3d corps had been fighting since 5 o'clock in the morning. It was now near 10, when victory was almost in our grasp, as the enemy had been pun- ished severely, and a fresh brigade would have decided the battle in our favor. General Sickles had repeatedly called for reenforcements, which could have been spared from the large body of troops which were un- employed in the rear, but General Couch, who was in temporary command of the army, refused to take the responsibility of weakening any other part of the line to reenforce Sickles. General Hooker, while standing near a large pillar of the Chancellor house which was hit by a shell, was struck by some of the flying frag- ments. He was disabled for several hours, during which time the command devolved on General Couch, who was the senior general on the field.
About 2 o'clock our army took up a new line a short distance in the rear. which covered the roads leading to Ely's and United States fords. The open ground around the Chancellor house was abandoned to the enemy, who by this time were nearly exhausted,
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and much reduced by the severe losses they had met with.
While the fighting was going on at Chancellors- ville, General Sedgwick had crossed at Fredericks- burg and drove the enemy from the heights in the rear of the town and then advanced up the river to assist Hooker. But several miles out of Fredericksburg the rebels encountered him at Salem church, where after severe fighting Sedgwick's corps (the 6th) was re- pulsed and recrossed the river at Bank's ford.
Our new line at Chancellorsville was one of great strength, and could almost be defended by the artil- lery alone, which in large batteries had been posted at advantageous points commanding the approaches of the enemy. They made several attempts against our line during the 4th, but were always repulsed by the artillery, which was ably handled. In the evening that part of the line held by our brigade was heavily shelled by the enemy, but most of their shells passed over us and burst in the woods in our rear.
On the 5th it began to rain and rained all night, raising the Rappahannock so high that our pontoon bridges were in danger of being swept away. One of them had to be taken up to splice out the other two, and it was only by the unremitting labor of the engineer corps that the bridges were held in position.
On the morning of the 6th, after dayilght, we commenced our retreat unmolested by the enemy, and recrossed the river at United States ford, and, after plodding all day through the mud and rain, we re- gained our old camps about 6 o'clock in the evening.
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The losses of the two armies were nearly equal, though the rebel loss in killed was greater than ours. The Union loss was 1,612 killed, 9,591 wounded. The rebel loss was 1,665 killed and 9,081 wounded. A severe loss to the enemy was the mortal wounding of Stonewall Jackson. The losses in the 3d corps were very heavy, among them two general officers, Gen- erals Berry and Whipple, killed.
According to the monthly return of the 57th, dated April 30, 1863, we find that the strength of the regi- ment present for duty was 24 officers and 232 enlisted men; total, 256. Our loss at the battle of Chancel- lorsville was 2 officers and S men killed; 2 officers and 41 men wounded; 2 officers and 17 men captured. The officers killed were Capt. Edson J. Rice and Lieut. Joseph Brady, Chaplain McAdam and Assistant Sur- geon Leet were captured, but being noncombatants they were exchanged a few weeks afterward.
The battle of Chancellorsville ought to have ended in a victory for us, and no doubt would have done so, had General Howard taken proper precautions to prevent surprise on his part of the line. But it seems the fates were against us. The cavalry expedition under General Stoneman, of which much was ex- pected, did but slight damage to the enemy's rail- roads, and returned to our lines having accomplished little or nothing.
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CHAPTER VIII.
BY E. C. STROUSS.
Back Again in Our Old Camp-Cavalry Battle at Brandy Station-The March to Gettysburg-Hooker's Request for Troops at Harper's Ferry-Asks to be Relieved from the Command of the Army-We Arrive at Gettysburg- Battle of July 24-Strength of the Fifty-Seventh-Its Losses-General Graham Wounded and Captured- Wounding of General Sickles-Battle of July 3d-July 4th-The Confederates Retreat-General Sickles Asks for a Court of Inquiry-President Lincoln to Sickles- A Visit to the Battlefield Twenty-five Years Later.
Although some of our men had destroyed their huts, when we started on the recent campaign, there were on account of our losses, enough still standing to shelter what was left of the regiment. It was sad to look around at the vacant hats, and to realize that their former occupants would never rejoin us. The 14Ist Pennsylvania, whose camp adjoined ours, had met with severe losses in the late battle and the large number of unoccupied huts in their camp had a de- pressing effect on the spectator.
After a few days' rest the same old routine of drill, inspection, guard and picket duty was resumed. relieved occasionally by a division or corps review. The paymaster arrived on May LIth and paid the regiment, each man receiving four months' pay. which to the private soldier meant $52.00.
About the last week in May we abandoned our old camp for a new location near Belle Plain landing,
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which was a depot of supplies on the Potomac. The camp was soon laid out, and the weather having become quite warm we needed only our little shelter tents to protect us from the sun or rain. The camp of the regiment was near a road leading to the land- ing, which was constantly occupied by teams going to, or coming from there, which raised great clouds of dust, to our great annoyance.
Our cavalry had quite a battle with the enemy at Brandy Station, which ended favorably for us, and also made it obvious that the rebels were moving northward, thus taking the initiative in what became known as the "Gettysburg Campaign."
On June IIth, about noon, we were ordered to strike tents, and were soon on the march, over the hills, and through the ravines of Stafford county, which were no longer to be used by us as camping grounds. The day was very warm and there was considerable straggling, but the men all got up by night, when we camped at Hartwood church. On the 12th we marched to near Bealeton station, on the old Orange & Alexandria railroad, where we halted for the night, and next day marched for a few miles to- ward Rappanhannock station. On the 14th we started in the evening and marched northward to Cat- lett station. where we arrived about midnight. = the 15th we moved to Manassas Junction. This was one of the hottest days of the season, and some forty men of our division were prostrated by sunstroke. On the 16th, which was another hot and dusty day, we marched to Bull Run and encamped at Mitchell's
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ford. On the 17th we continued our march to Center- ville, where we remained until the evening of the Igth, when we started for Gum Springs. After wc had gone about two miles a violent storm of rain set in. This was one of the worst night marches we ever made. The night was dark as pitch, only an occa- sional flash of lightning to show us the way. When we halted for the night we were drenched to the skin and as our matches were all damp we had hard work to start our campfires. When we had got our fires started we found that the regiment must move a mile further on to go on picket. This was very discom- forting, but it had to be done, for such is the life of a soldier.
In the meantime the enemy had been moving northward on the west side of the Blue Ridge moun- tains. A Union force under General Milroy of about seven thousand men was attacked by the rebel General Ewell, who captured many of them and drove the rest across the Potomac. This occurred on the 13th and 14th of June.
On June 25th, the 57th with the rest of the 3d corps moved from Gum Springs and crossed the Poto- mac at Edwards ferry into Maryland and moved up the river to the mouth of the Monocacy river.
The corps of Hill and Longstreet of Lee's army crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and Sheppards- town and moved toward Pennsylvania. They were preceded for several days by Ewell, who was now in that state and threatening Harrisburg.
On June 26th we left our camp at the mouth of
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the Monocacy and moved to Point of Rocks, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The next day we marched by way of Jefferson to Middletown, Md., and on the 28th to Woodsborough. There we learned that Gen- eral Hooker had been relieved from command of the army and had been succeeded by Gen. George G. Meade. Hooker had asked Halleck, the general-in- chief of the army, for the forces at Harpers Ferry and Baltimore which were refused him, whereupon he asked to be relieved from command. A few days later Meade asked for the same troops, some thirteen thousand in number, and his request was complied with. The change of commanders on the eve of bat- tle was a questionable thing, but as we were success- ful in the coming conflict, not much was said about it.
Hooker's army had been depleted after Chancel- lorsville, by the muster out of about thirty thousand two years or nine months men. He was perfectly right in asking for the troops at Harpers Ferry, which were doing no good there, but on account of an ill feeling existing between Halleck and Hooker they were refused him, although they were given to Meade. To a great many old soldiers it was always a puzzle what Halleck was kept at Washington for anyway.
It now became evident to the men of the 57th that we would soon be called to fight a battle on the soil of our native state, but where the battle ground would be was as yet a matter of conjecture.
On Jane 29th we marched from Woodborough to Taneytown and encamped in a fine grove near the town. Many of the citizens of the town, including
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a goodly lot of ladies visited our camp in the even- ing and watched with interest the men putting up their tents, and cooking their coffee. The next day we marched but a few miles, and encamped at Bridge- port, a small hamlet about half way between Taney- town and Emmitsburg, Md.
At 2 o'clock p. m. of July Ist we were hurriedly ordered to "fall in," when we took the Emmitsburg pike and rapidly marched toward Gettysburg, twelve miles distant. The day was very warm and sultry, but after a fatiguing march we arrived near the town about S p. m., and bivouacked for the night on the Trostle farm, which is located about two miles south of Gettysburg. There had been severe fighting going on north and west of the town from 10 a. m. until dark. The Ist and IIth corps had been engaged with overpowering numbers of the enemy, and although they fought valorously, and met with heavy losses, they were obliged to fall back through the town and take up a stronger position on Cemetery hill. General Reynolds, who commanded the Union forces engaged, was killed early in the fight. His loss was deeply regretted, as he was one of the best generals in our army. During the night all the other corps of our army came up with the exception of the 6th corps, which having the greatest distance to march did not arrive until 2 p. m. of the 2d. The men of the 57th were up by daylight on the 2d and preparing their breakfast and otherwise getting ready for the conflict which all knew would open sooner or later during the day.
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