USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry > Part 8
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The enemy's workes were on the same plan as ours and gave them the same opportunities.
On the afternoon of the 26th of July our corps made a forced march of thirty miles, and was sent to the north side of the James, crossing on a pon- toon bridge at Jones Neck, on the morning of the 27th, and soon came up to the enemy, who were
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entrenched in strong force at Bailey's creek, from tlie mouth of the creek to Fussel's mill. Here we had some severe fighting on the 28th and 29th, in which the 57th lost quite a number of men. This fight is called in official records "Strawberry Plains."
On the evening of the 29th we recrossed the James and Appomattox, and marched back to a point in rear of where the "Burnside mine" was to be exploded, and here we relieved a division of the 9th corps, in order that they might take part in the assault that was to follow the explosion. This mine had been carefully and skillfully constructed by Lieut. Col. Henry Pleasants and his men of the 48th Penn- sylvania. From a point on the 9th corps lines, where the Union and rebel lines were close together, a gal- lery was run five hundred and ten feet in length, termi- nating under a rebel fort garrisoned by Pegram's battery and the 18th and part of the 23d South Caro- lina infantry. The powder was put in the mine in eight magazines with one thousand pounds in each. The mine was to have been exploded at 4:30 a. m .. but owing to the fuse going out, another half hour went by before it was considered safe to enter the shaft to mend and relight the fuse. Finally two brave men, Lieut. Jacob Douty and Sergt. Henry Rees, of the 48th Pennsylvania, entered the shaft, spliced the fuse, which was relit, and at a little past 5 o'clock the mighty explosion followed, sending into the air a great mass of earth, with which were mingled bodies of men and parts of muskets and artillery carriages. The explosion opened a crater one hundred and
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twenty feet long, sixty wide, and twenty-five feet deep. The enemy in their surrounding forts were so bewildered that it was fully a half hour before they opened fire or attempted to reoccupy the ground at the crater. Thus far everything went well for our side, but that charge of the troops which was to have fol- lowed the explosion, was miserably conducted, and ended with disaster and the loss of many brave men.
About the Ist of August, Gen. D. B. Birney, who had for a long time been in command of our division, was assigned to the command of the roth army corps. He was succeeded in the command of our division by Gen. Gershom Mott, who entered the service in 1861 as colonel of the 6th New Jersey volunteers. For the greater part of the time that we were in front of Petersburg, our brigade was commanded by Brig. Gen. Byron R. Pierce, formerly colonel of the 3d Michigan volunteers.
After the Burnside mine explosion we moved back to our old camping ground at Fort Alex. Hays and remained there until the 13th of August, when another expedition to the north side of the James was put on foot. The 2d corps was marched to City Point and there got on board of transports, which, in order to deceive any scouts the enemy might have there- abouts, were at first started down the James, but after dark they were turned about and proceeded up the river until we reached Jones Neck, where we landed on the north side of the river. We moved out the Newmarket road and soon found the enemy in force on the west side of Bailey's creek. On the night of
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the 14th the division was massed at Fussel's mill, and on the 15th we were maneuvering all day to get into position.
On the 16th we engaged the enemy above Fus- sel's mill, where we lost quite a number of men, and took between two and three hundred prisoners. In this fight Col. Calvin A. Craig, of the 105th Penn- sylvania and temporarily in command of our brigade, was killed. He was an excellent officer and his loss was deeply felt by the whole brigade. We remained on the north side of the river during the 17th and 18th, keeping up a continual threatening attitude by changing position and skirmishing. On the after- noon of the 18th another fight was brought on by , the enemy leaving their works and coming out to attack us.
On the night of the 18th our ( Mott's) division recrossed the James and marched to the extreme left of the line to reenforce the 5th corps under General Warren, who was about making an attempt to cap- ture the Weldon railroad at the Globe tavern or "Yellow House."
On August 25th our division was ordered to Ream's station on the Weldon road, to reenforce the other two divisions of our corps who had a severe fight there. When we arrived we were under fire, but the other divisions were withdrawn, and we were ordered back to the vicinity of Fort Hays, where we went on picket and established a new picket line at night.
From this date until September 30th we remained
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in the front line of works between the Jerusalem plank road and the Yellow House doing picket and fatigue duty, and occasionally having a skirmish with the enemy on the picket line.
On September 30th in compliance with orders we packed up, and were ready to move at a moment's notice, and remained so for the day, but did not move out of camp. About noon, October Ist, we were ordered to fall in, when we marched to Hancock Sta- tion on the United States Military railroad, where we boarded cars which ran us down to the Yellow House, or Warren's Station, where we got off and marched about two miles and then bivouacked in rear of the 9th corps. . \t 7 a. m., October 2d, we moved out to the left of the 9th corps, advanced through a thick woods and charged with the rest of the brigade, on a line of the enemy's works, through a thick slash- ing. This line appeared only to have been occupied by a few pickets, who fled on our approach, which gave us a bloodless victory. We remained for half an hour in these works and agian advanced, passed over a second line of works, and advanced about half a mile, where we found the enemy strongly entrenched. and obstinately resisting our further advance. About 3 p. m. we were deployed as flank- ers and were to act as provost. The rest of the bri- gade charged the enemy's works, but were repulsed and fell back to the line we occupied. We remainel in this position until about 4 p. m., when we were relieved by the 9th corps, and then marched back about a mile and a half, to the 5th corps, where we
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bivouacked for the night. October 3d we were under arms at 4 a.m., and furnished a detail to work on the fortifications, the rest of the regiment remaining in camp. On the 4th we were at work again on the fortifications. About & p. m. on the 8th we marched back to our old camp at Fort Alex. Hays, where we arrived at midnight. In this affair we had three men severely wounded. The engagement is known as "Peeble's Farm" or "Poplar Springs Church."
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CHAPTER XI.
BY E. C. STROUSS.
Recruits-Dangerous Picket Duty-Muster-out of Old Regi- ments-Composition of the Brigade-Expedition Against the South Side Railroad-Battle of Boydton Plank Road or Hatcher's Run-Disguised Rebels Capture Our Picket Line-Election Day-Thanksgiving Dinner of Roast Tur- key-Change of Camp-Raid on Weldon Railroad-A Hard March Returning-"Applejack"-General Hum- phreys in Command of the Second Corps.
During the month of September the regiment received about one hundred recruits, principally sub- stitutes and drafted men. Their term of service was one year. After they were fairly broken in, they made good and reliable soldiers.
Picket duty during the month of October in front of Fort Alex. Hays was quite frequent for both officers and men. It was also dangerous at night, when picket firing was kept up all night by both sides. On our side the picket posts consisted of five or six men and a noncommissioned officer. These posts were protected by a small breastwork, in front of which was a pit in which was posted a vidette, who was relieved every hour or sometimes every half hour. These posts were about fifty yards apart and were not connected by any works, which made it dangerous for the officer in charge of the line, while making the rounds of the posts, which he was obliged to do twice every night. On the part of the line picketed by our
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brigade, the line was in the woods, but on our right in the open ground the posts were connected by a deep trench. The woods in which we were posted ran to a point where it met the open field. When we quit doing picket duty on this part of the line, about No- veinber 30th, the trees at this point of woods were so splintered with musket balls that they resembled . lot of old fashioned splint brooms. Our lines were relieved at dark, and from that time firing was kept up until daylight, when it usually ceased until even- ing.
During the latter part of summer and early part of autumn of 1864, the time of many of the old regi- ments (who had not reenlisted) expired, and they were mustered out. In this way we lost in our bri- gade the 3d Michigan and 63d Pennsylvania, both old and renowned regiments. The men of the 63d who had reenlisted, and the recruits, were transferred to the 105th Pennsylvania and were mustered out with it at the close of the war.
Our brigade now consisted of the Ist Massachu- setts heavy artillery (acting as infantry). 5th Michi- gan, 93d New York, 57th, 84th, 105th and 141st Pennsylvania, and 17th Maine, and three companies of the Ist United States Sharpshooters. The bri- gade was commanded by Brig. Gen. Byron R. Pierce, who retained command of it until the war ended.
About the 24th of October orders were issued and preparations made for another movement by the left flank, this time the object being the seizure of the South Side railroad. To assist this movement the
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Army of the James was to make a demonstration against Richmond on the north bank of the James. The expedition on the left consisted of Hancock's 2d and Warren's 5th corps supported by the 9th corps under General Parke. On the afternoon of the 25th, at 10 o'clock, our division was withdrawn from the works at Fort Alex. Hays and vicinity and moved to the rear and bivouacked for the night near the South- all house. At 2 p. m. on the 26th we continued our march across the open country in rear of the fortifi- cations to the Weldon railroad and halted for the night, at 5 p. m., near the Lewis house.
At 3:30 a. m. we resumed our march, going down the Halifax road to the Church road, and on the latter past the Wyatt house to the Vaughn road, and down this road to the Cummings house, where we were massed, while the ed division under General Egan drove the enemy from the ford on Hatcher's run, which was soon accomplished and the way opened for the crossing of the rest of the corps. Our division then crossed the run, moved up the Vaughn road a short distance to the Dabney's mill road, kept on this road until we reached the Boydton plank road, at a point about a mile. and a half south of Burgess' tavern. This old tavern is located at the point where the plank road crosses Hatcher's run. A road known as the White Oak road, coming from the west, inter- sects the plank road at this point.
We moved up the plank road to near the tavern, where we entered a large field surrounded on all sides by dense woods. Here our brigade formed a line of
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battle facing north, and then stacked arms and rested. It appears that we were waiting for the 5th corps under General Warren to connect with our right before commencing our attack. A drizzling rain had set in.
While we were waiting for Warren's approach, Generals Grant, Meade and Hancock were in consulta- tion in the field near the point where the left of our regiment rested. For some twenty minutes we had a good view of those famous men. General Grant. considering his high rank, was quite plainly dressed. and no one would have taken him for the commander of all the armies of the United States. General Meade, who wore glasses and also was plainly attired. looked more like an old college professor than like a soldier. General Hancock always looked the grand solider which he was, whether he appeared in dress or fatigue uniform.
Owing to the wooded nature of the country and the bad roads, General Warren did not get up to join us on the right before we were attacked by the enemy under General Mahone. Picket firing had begun in the woods on our right and growing heavier, General Pierce ordered the 5th Michigan and the 105th Penn- sylvania into the woods to support the pickets. The two regiments had been in the woods but a short time when they were fiercely attacked by the enemy in overwhelming numbers in front and on both flanks. The men of Michigan and Pennsylvania were of the best there were in the army, but they could not with- stand the great odds against them. They were obliged
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to fall back, leaving many of their dead and wounded. and both regiments lost their colors, although they were two of the best regiments in the division. When this attack began the rest of the brigade tried to change front, but the enemy were too close upon us and for a while considerable confusion existed. The greater part of our brigade fell back a short distance, to the woods on the west side of the plank road, where it reformed and drove the enemy back into the woods from which they had emerged. In this we were greatly assisted by our 2d division under General Egan. Egan had been engaged with the enemy near Burgess' tavern, and was about to storm the bridge which crosses Hatcher's run at that place when Mahone made his attack on our position. Egan promptly sent part of his command to our support and his men attacked Mahone's troops in the right flank and caused them to fall back into the woods with great loss, and also recapturing several of our guns which had fallen into the enemy's hands.
General Mahone, who made this attack which frustrated our designs on the South Side railroad, was an old resident of Petersburg, and was thor- oughly acquainted with all the roads in that section, which enabled him to discover the gap in our lines between Hancock's and Warren's corps, so he "sailed in," with the result above stated. The rebel cavalry under Wade Hampton at the same time attacked our left and rear, but was kept in check by our cavalry under Gen. D. M. Gregg.
We remained on the field until it p. m., when we
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withdrew and marched back by the same road over which we had advanced in the morning. About day- light we halted for a while near the Wyatt house and later on resumed the march and occupied our old camp near Fort Alex. Hays.
Our regimental loss in the action of October 27th was 5 men wounded and 5 men missing or captured. The fight is generally called the "Battle of Boydton Plank Road" or "Hatcher's Run." By the men of our division it was generally spoken of as the "Bull Pen" fight.
About dark on the evening of October 30th a num- ber of rebels, disguised, wearing our uniform, began to relieve our pickets in front of our Ist division on that part of the line held by the 69th and ILIth New York volunteers. It was customary at the time to relieve our pickets at dark, and the enemy took ad- vantage of that circumstance by dressing themselves in our clothes, which they had taken from some of our deserters, and began to relieve our pickets. In this way they captured a good portion of the line assisted by other men from their works which were close by. But fortunately the regular relief from our side was approaching and after a little skirmishing succeeded in reestablishing the line, but not before great commotion was caused in our camps by the re- port that the picket line had been captured. All the regiments were ordered out under arms and manned the breastworks for an hour or so, when quiet reigned again and the men were sent back to their tents.
The 57th, however, was ordered to the extreme
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front to support the picket line. At this point in front of Fort Hays our picket line was about a mile in front, the intervening space being mostly covered by a broad slashing and a strip of woods. Through this we marched and stumbled until we reached the picket line, where we were posted in a deep trench or covered way. There was a parapet at the top of the trench, behind which our pickets were stationed, and these, and the enemy's pickets kept firing at each other all night, as was usual at that time, on that part of the line. The night was quite chilly, and as but small fires could be built in the trenches we passed a very disagreeable night. We were relieved next morning and went back to camp, where we spent most of the day in sleeping.
Tuesday, November 8th, was election day. Presi- dent Lincoln was the Republican, and Gen. George B. McClellan the Democratic candidate for the office of President. Most of the Northern states had enacted laws that soldiers in the field should be entitled to vote if they were of lawful age, the same as if they were in their respective states. The different states had appointed commissioners whose duty it was to furnish the regiments with the necessary election papers and tickets. The vote of the 57th stood 95 votes for Lincoln and 33 for McClellan. The regiment was recruited in those parts of Pennsylvania which were strongly Republican and it was but natural that the regiment was the same. The vote, however, in the entire army was for Lincoln by a large majority.
In the fore part of the war it was thought at head-
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quarters of the army that political discussions among the soldiers should be discouraged, or prohibited. But what could keep an army of freeman from discussing political questions? Discussions of that kind were as frequent around our campfires in front of Petersburg in the fall of 1864, as they were in any ward meeting or country store in the North.
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1864, will long be remembered by the soldiers of the various Union armies, when instead of the usual dinner of pork and beans, hard tack, etc., they were, thanks to the loyal ladies of the North, treated to a genuine Thanks- giving dinner of roast turkey and other good things. Communication by steamer with the Army of the Potomac was handy to all the principal ports in the North, and for several days the wharves at City Point on the James river were piled with boxes and pack- ages containing good things for the "boys" at the front. There was more than enough and all was in good condition. Some of the boxes contained the names of the fair donors, with the request that the parties receiving the same should acknowledge the receipt thereof. This in many instances led to a cor- respondence between the parties which ended in mar- riage, and the unions thus formed proved to be happy ones as far as the 57th boys were concerned.
During the month of November the terms of ser- vice of many of our officers expired, and they were accordingly mustered out of the service. Among these were Lieut. Col. W. B. Neeper. Capt. . 1. H.
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Nelson, Capt. Sprague Hill, Capt. H. H. Nelson and First Lieut. A. B. McCartney .*
Dr. John W. Lyman, a resident of Lock Haven, Pa., who was appointed surgeon of the 57th when the regiment was orgonized in 1861, and had been with it constantly, resigned September 16, 1864, in order to accept the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 203d Pennsylvania volunteers. While serving with that regiment he was killed in the attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, January 15, 1865. Dr. Lyman was an excellent surgeon, kind and genial, and had en- deared himself in the hearts of the men of the 57th. who were deeply grieved when they learned of his death.
Col. John W. Moore, of the 203d, had long been connected with our division, having entered the ser- vice as captain in the 99th Pennsylvania. As captain and major he had served on the staffs of Generals Kearny and Birney, and was an accomplished soldier. He met his death in the same action, with Dr. Lyman.
The 2d corps moved from its camp near Fort Hell and Fort Hays on November 30th, and took up a position farther to the left on the Peebles farm, between Forts Sybert and Emory. Our old camping grounds were now occupied by the 9th army corps.
On the morning of the 7th of December the regi- ment again broke camp to take part in the expedition to destroy the Weldon railroad. The road had been destroyed, during the summer and fall, as far south as
* A complete roster of the officers of the regiment, with the manner in which they quit the service, etc., will be found in the Appendix. marked ".\."
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Stony creek, some twenty miles south of Petersburg. As the enemy was still using the road and hauling provisions, etc., by wagon from Stony creek to Peters- burg, General Grant determined to have the road de- stroyed as far south as possible.
For this purpose an expedition was sent out under General Warren, consisting of his own, the 5th corps, Mott's division of the 2d corps, and Gen. D. M. Gregg's cavalry, in all a force of about twenty thou- sand men. Our division (Mott's) broke camp at day- light on December 7th and marched via the Globe tavern and Gurly house to the Jerusalem plank, and following the 5th corps on this road, we arrived at the Nottoway river about dark, after a march of twenty miles. We crossed the river the same evening and bivouacked for the night. We resumed our march at daylight on the 8th, passing through Sussex Court House, and halted for the night about three miles from Jarrett's station on the Weldon railroad.
Early on the morning of the 9th, the work of destroying the railroad commenced. A brigade would stack arms near the road, then each man taking hold of the end of a tie, the road would be turned over : a plow turns over a furrow. Then axes were used to loosen the rails from the ties; the latter were placed in piles and the rails put on top. Then dry wood. from the fences nearby, was added and the piles set on fire. The rails becoming red hot in the middle would bend in a semicircular form from their own weight, which rendered them useless for relaying. Oft times the men would take a rail from the fire and
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twist it around a tree, which of course could not be removed without cutting down the tree. Travelers in that section often noticed these rails around the trees long after the close of the war.
We worked at tearing up the road until 4 o'clock p. m., when we were ordered to encamp. Two hours later our brigade, in light marching order, was sent to within one mile of Belfield on the Meherrin river. Here we again began to destroy the railroad, back in the direction in which we came. Belfield is about ten miles from the North Carolina line, and is the further- most point south ever reached by the regiment. This march of about five miles was made in rain and sleet, with the weather rapidly growing colder. It began to . snow during the night, and in the morning every tree, twig and shrub was covered with ice.
On Saturday, December 10th, we started on our return march. The roads were in a terrible condi- tion, which made the march very fatiguing, especially to the new recruits, of which there were many in every regiment. Crawford's and Ayer's divisions had some skirmishing to do while we moved to the rear, but on our part we were not molested and reached the vicinity of our old camps about 2 o'clock p. m. on December 12thi. We laid out a new camp in front of the rear line of entreuchments, west of the Halifax road, where we remained until the 5th of February.
It was reported that many of our soldiers who had straggled from their regiments during our advance in the Weldon raid, were found during our retreat, lying in the woods, killed by rebel guerrilas, some
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with their throats cut. Be this as it may, it is certain that many of these stragglers never returned to their regiments. Many of the houses that stood near the road were burned on our return march in retaliation for the murder of our men.
On account of the abundance of the liquor called applejack the Weldon raid was generally spoken of by the men as the "applejack raid." As our division had the rear of the column in the advance we did not get hold of much of the liquor. There is no doubt that many of the men who straggled had tasted too much of the fiery stuff and became too tired to march, and lay down to rest. In the 57th we had some who had taken "as much as was good for them," and they became rather hilarious, but none of them straggled from the ranks.
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