USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry > Part 9
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General Hancock bade farewell to the 2d corps on November 26th. He had been appointed to raise and organize a new corps, to consist of veterans, and of which he was to have command. He was succeeded in command of the 2d corps by Gen. A. A. Humph- reys, an able general, who for a long time had been chief of staff to General Meade.
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
CHAPTER XII.
BY E. C. STROUSS.
Disbanding of Companies A and E-Regiment Organized Into a Battalion of Six Companies-Consolidation of the Eighty-Fourth with the Fifty-Seventh Pennsylvania- Necessity for Changing the Letter of Some of the Com- panies-Confusion in Company Rolls Growing Out of It- Officers of the Consolidated Regiment-Another Move Across Hatcher's Run-The Regiment Again Engaged with the Enemy-Great Length of the Line in Front of Petersburg-A Lively Picket Skirmish-Battle Near Watkin's House-Enemy's Picket Line and Many Pris- oners Captured.
The arduous campaign of 1864, with its numerous terrific battles, had greatly reduced the strength of all the old regiments that went out in 1861. These. together with the men who had not reenlisted-some seventy-five in number-had so thinned the ranks of the 57th that two of its companies were ordered to be disbanded and the men to be assigned to other com- panies. The following is a copy of the order which brought about this state of affairs :
HEADQUARTERS 57TH P. V. V. L January 11, 1865. SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 3.
I. As directed by S. O. No. S, War Dept. A. G. O., Jan. 6th, '65, this regiment will be consolidated into a battalion to consist of six companies of equal strength.
II. Companies A and E will be broken up, and distributed with the six companies thus formed, so as to equ lice them in strength.
Supernumerary non-commissioned officers to be mustered out under the supervision of the division mastering officer.
By command of LIEUT. - COL. L. D. BUMPUS. Attest: R. I. CAMPBELL, Lieut. and Actg. Adjt.
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Military services of LORENZO D. BUMPUS, of Pennsylvania, in U. S Volunteers.
Born at Titusville. Pa .. March 15. 1-44; received a common school education: enlisted October 2. 1. 1. as a private in Company 1, 5th Penn- sylvania Volunteers; appointed scent Sergeant Nov. I I'l: act 1 as
consolidation of the 4th Pennsylvania Volunteers vall the 57th
He took part in all the battles of the Sith regiment until his muster out, and was never absent or of duty but for a short time in Med. when in Second Corps Field Hospital at City Point, Va. with broken leg an Ilin located hip. He is still here and is keeping step to the music of the Union
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
Under the same order from the War Department the 84th Pennsylvania volunteers, which consisted of ten small companies, was consolidated into four, and these were then joined to our regiment, making a new organization to be designated the "57th Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers." In order to avoid having two companies of the same letter, it became necessary to change the letter of three of the companies of the old 57th, viz: Company H was changed to Company A, I to D, and K to E. With but few exceptions, the companies whose letters were changed retained the same officers and noncommis- sioned officers, and their organizations remained the same. Companies B, C, and F retained their old letters. The four companies of the old 84th formed the left of the regiment and were lettered G, HI, I and K.
The order for consolidation was received with con- siderable dissatisfaction by both officers and mien. The 84th, like the 57th, was an old regiment, and had served faithfully and gallantly since the spring of 1862, and each had an honorable record. The 8;th had seen its first fighting at Winchester, Va., of March 23, 1862, and then in Bank's campaign in the Shenandoah valley, Pope's campaign, and had joined the 3d corps of the Army of the Potomac in Sep- tember, 1862. It was assigned to Birney's division of the ed corps in May and remained in the division until the close of the war. It was a great injustice to break up a regiment with such an honorable record and deprive it of its number.
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
In the fall of 1864 the State of Pennsylvania sent to the front a dozen or inore new regiments to serve for one year. These men should have been sent to the old regiments already in the field, who had upheld their country's honor in many a bloody battle, and who were proud of their official distinction.
One of the evil results of all this consolidation, changing of regimental numbers, and company letters, can be seen in a work published by the State of Penn- sylvania, after the war, entitled "Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers." The names of many worthy soldiers, some of whom died for their country, are omitted on the rolls as published in the work above mentioned. It was not the fault, however, of Dr. S. P. Bates and his assistants, for the rolls at Harris- burg, from which they procured their information, were very incomplete. This is particularly so as re- gards the 57th Pennsylvania. When the muster-out rolls of the regiment were prepared in June, 1865, the company commanders were required to make out two rolls, each to contain the name of every man, living or dead, who had ever belonged to the company, and the manner in which he left the service to be stated. These rolls never reached Harrisburg, but remained at Washington, D. C. The writer is informed that Dr. Bates tried to have access to these rolls for pre- paring his history, but was refused the privilege of using them by the authorities at Washington.
While fortune had thrown together the 57th and 84th Pennsylvania, they served side by side in per-
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fect concord and amity, no quarrelling between them ever manifesting itself.
At the time of the consolidation and for some months previous, Lieut. Col. L. D. Bumpus was in command of the regiment. He was then honorably discharged and mustered out. He entered the service, a mere boy of 17, as a private in Company I of the 57th, and for meritorious conduct was successively promoted to sergeant, first sergeant, first lieutenant, captain and lieutenant colonel. He was a brave soldier and was always with his men whether in the camp or in front of the enemy.
The officers of the new organization were as follows :
Colonel-George Zinn.
Lieutenant-Colonel-George W. Perkins.
Major -- Samuel Bryan.
Adjutant-Thomas E. Merchant.
Quartermaster-John W. Parks.
Surgeon-H. G. Chritzman.
Assistant Surgeon-J. K. Cassell.
Chaplain-William T. McAdam.
Company A, Capt. D. W. Gore.
Company B, First Lieut. Daniel Comstock.
Company C, Capt. M. W. Houser.
Company D, Capt. J. D. Moore.
Company E. Capt. E. C. Strouss.
Company F, Capt. E. C. Bierce.
Company G, First Lieut. David Larrish.
Company H, Second Lieut. William A. Wilson.
Company I, Capt. John R. Ross.
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
Company K, Capt. R. C. Lamberton.
The non-commissioned staff were:
Sergeant Major-William McCaslin. Quarterinaster Sergeant-John H. Rodgers. Commissary Sergeant-Charles Coburn.
Hospital Steward -- Cary A. Slayton.
Principal Musician-Daniel Fisher.
Drum Major-J. N. McDonald.
Our new colonel, George Zinn, of Harrisburg, was a man of undoubted courage and a strict disciplin- arian. He was absent at the time of the consolidation on account of severe wounds received in action while in command of the 84th. He returned for duty and took command of the regiment on March 18.
Lieut .- Col. George W. Perkins, of Bradford county, Pa., entered the service as a sergeant of Com- pany H, 57th, in 1861. He was for a time adjutant of the regiment, and was then promoted as captain of Company B. For some time previous to his pro- motion to lieutenant-colonel he had served on the staff of General Mott, our division commander.
Maj. Samuel Bryan, of Lycoming county, Pa., entered the service as first lieutenant of Company B, 84th Pennsylvania, in 1861. He was not much of a tactician, but as brave as a lion, and if there was a chance to get up a row with the enemy's pickets, while he had charge of a detail, he was sure to do it. Ilis "staying qualities" in a fight endeared him to all the men, to whom he was always kind and fatherly.
On February 5th another move was made for the purpose of extending our lines to the left. At 7 a. m.,
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
with the division, we broke camp and marched to the Vaughn road crossing of Hatcher's run. Skirmishers from our Ist brigade and the cavalry having effected the crossing, our brigade-temporarily commanded by Colonel West, of the 17th Maine-crossed over and began to throw up a slight breastwork, forming the arc of a circle, the right of the Ist, and the left of the 2d brigade resting on the run. Our brigade (the 2d) remained in this position till about 5 p. m., when it was hurriedly moved to the right to support Mc. Allis- ter (3d brigade), who was being fiercely attacked by the enemy on the north side of the run. We started off on the double quick for a mile or more-the 57th leading-and reaching McAllister's position the 57th Pennsylvania and the 5th Michigan formed line on his left and charged the enemy, who would have driven back McAllister without our assistance. Com- pany E, of the 57th, was not with the regiment in this fight, having been sent on picket duty before the brigade was ordered to the right. The regiment had two men wounded in this affair. The rest of the fighting during this expedition was confined to the 5th corps and the cavalry, who were on our left.
The 7th was a very disagreeable day, as it began to snow and continued to do so all day. On the 9th we were supplied with axes and began to slash the timber in front of our new line of works.
Our army now held a line extending from Arm- strong's mill on Hatcher's run on the left to the Appo- mattox river below Petersburg on the right, a dis- tance of about sixteen miles. This line with the
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
natural and artificial obstructions in its front, was almost impregnable, and could be held by a small por- tion of our troops, leaving the main body of our army free for operations elsewhere.
On March Ioth the regiment proceeded to lay out a new camp, which proved to be the last one among the many we occupied along the Petersburg lines. From this time until March 25th we lay quiet in our camp with the exceptions of drill, camp and picket duty.
A heavy detail for picket duty in our front was sent out on the morning of March 24th. It was a beautiful spring day and everything remained quiet along our part of the line, until an hour or so before daylight on the 25th, when a prolonged and heavy artillery fire was heard far away on our right. About 7 a. m. a staff officer of our division rode out to our picket line, with orders to advance our line and feel of the enemy. After crossing a narrow swamp in our front we advanced through the woods and were soon exchanging shots with the enemy's pickets. We were ordered to cease advancing, so we remained quiet until the relief came out and took our places at 9 o'clock. During our advance Lieut. R. I. Campbell, of Com- pany C, and several of our men, were slightly wounded.
On our arrival in camp we learned that the heavy artillery fire on our right which we heard in the morning. was caused by an attack on our lines by the enemy, under Gen. J. B. Gordon, at Fort Steadman. The enemy was temporarily successful, but were
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
finally driven back with heavy loss by the 9th corps under General Parke. Many of the enemy were killed and wounded in trying to get back to their own lines ; 1,949 prisoners, including 71 officers and nine stands of colors, fell into General Parke's hands.
About 3 p. m. of the same day our whole division was sent to the front for the purpose of driving back the enemy's picket line near the Watkins house. Arriving near the ground to be contested, General Pierce placed Colonel Pulford, of the 5th Michigan, in charge of the right wing near the Watkins house, and Colonel Zinn of the left wing, consisting of the 57th, 105th and 14Ist Pennsylvania. As soon as Colonel Zinn's line was formed, he sent out details from each regiment to connect the enemy's rifle-pits which had been captured in the morning. While these details were at work, a brigade of rebels charged them and drove them back to the main line. Colonel Zinn at once ordered a countercharge of the regiments under his command, when they went forward with a cheer, and retook the pits and captured six commis- sioned officers and 167 enlisted men. In this charge Corporal Wolford Case, of Company E, 57th, ordered a rebel lieutenant to give up his sword. The rebel refused to do so at first, but, on seeing the state of affairs, yielded without further comment.
Our regiment lost in this engagement I officer and 5 men wounded. The brigade loss was 4 enlisted men killed and i officer and 29 men wounded.
Gen. A. A. Humphreys, in his book entitled "The Virginia Campaign of 1864-5," says of this engage-
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
ment : "It was this capture of the entrenched picket line of the enemy that made it practicable for General Wright to carry the enemy's main line of entrench- ments by assault on the morning of the 2d of April."
We remained on the ground wrested from the enemy until after dark, when other troops relieved us and we returned to our camps.
On the morning of the 27th the whole regiment was ordered once more to the front to support the picket line, some distance to the left of the point where we were engaged on the 25th. We threw up a strong breastwork of logs and earth, which we held until dark, when without difficulty we advanced our line to within one hundred yards of the enemy's pickets. On our return to camp next day we found that the whole division was under orders to move at 6 o'clock the next morning.
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
CHAPTER XIII.
BY E. C. STROUSS.
Beginning of Our Last Campaign-Battle of Five Forks- On Picket Duty on Old Hatcher's Run Battlefield --- Jubi- lant Rebels -- Enemy's Lines Broken-Petersburg and Richmond Evacuated-In Pursuit of the Enemy-Battle of Sailor's Creek-High Bridge-General Mott Wounded- Lee's Army Breaking Up-Appomattox-Joy Over the Surrender-On the Backward March-Camp at Burkes- ville Junction.
Before daylight on the morning of March 29th our men were astir geting their breakfasts, packing up, and preparing for the march, which was to ter- minate in the surrender of our old antagonists, the Army of Northern Virginia, ten days later.
We moved out by the Vaughn road, across Hatcher's run, our corps resting its right on the run, and its left in communication with the 5th corps. General Ord's troops of the Army of the James occu- pied the entrenchments vacated by our corps. We moved out toward the enemy; but in that country of woods and swamps it took nearly the whole day to rectify the line and get into position. It rained heavily all night of the 29th and all the next day. rendering the roads impassable for artillery and wagons until corduroyed. On the 30th our corps con- tinued its advance, driving the enemy inside his entrenchments along Hatcher's run from the Crow house to the Boydton road, pressing close up against them, but not assaulting.
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
On the 3Ist the 5th corps under General Warren on our left was more or less engaged with the enemy with varying success. Our first division under Gen- eral Miles, which joined Warren's right, engaged the enemy in a brisk fight, drove them back and re- lieved the pressure on Warren. Our division made an attempt to attack the enemy's entrenchments at the Boydton road crossing of Hatcher's run, but the works were found to be too strong, so the attack was countermanded.
Late in the afternoon of April Ist General War- ren, assisted by Sheridan's cavalry, succeeded in car- rying the enemy's strong position at Five Forks. about five miles to our left. The enemy under Gen. eral Pickett had 4,500 prisoners, 13 colors and 6 guns captured.
During the afternoon of this day the regiment with the brigade was posted in the same field in which we had fought the enemy on the 27th of October previous.
Just before dark a heavy detail of the 57th in charge of Captains Strouss and Moore and First Lieut. R. I. Campbell was sent to the front instructed to guard carefully against a night attack from the enemy. Only a short distance in our front were the rebel pickets. They yelled at us: "Yanks, do you know that General Sheridan is killed?" They were answered: "You lie, you greybacks, you haven't lead enough to kill him." They had no doubt been toki that we had lost the battle at Five Forks, and that Sheridan had been killed. At least they were very
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
hilarious during the fore part of the night. They also yelled to us asking: "Yanks, have you got any whiskey over thar?" Being answered in the nega- tive, they yelled: "We have lots of it over har; come over and get some." They evidently had plenty of whiskey or applejack, as some of those we "gobbled" next morning were very weak in the legs.
On our side we were busy strengthening our picket pits, hurrying to get the work finished before the rise of the moon. During the latter part of the night there was more or less picket-firing along the lines, which we kept up until daylight, when they also opened on us with several pieces of artillery in a redoubt close by. One of their shells struck a large pine tree near which Captain Moore was standing, and exploding, threw a large piece of wood against him. injuring him painfully.
Long before daylight on the 2d began the terrible cannonade which preceded the attack of the 6th and 9th corps on the rebel works near Petersburg. This was miles away on our right, but the sound of the cannon and the reverberation through the woods, to- gether with our anxiety as to how the battle would end, put us on an awful strain. In a few hours, how- ever, we learned that our troops had been victorious and had broken and held the rebel lines in several places, and also that Gen. A. P. Hill, one of Lee's corps commanders, had been killed. On our part of the line we captured about one hundred of the enemy. also the cannon in the redoubt in our front.
About 8 o'clock our corps took up the line of
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
march via the Boydton plank road, to near Peters- burg. Here we formed line, about noon, parallel with the Appomattox river, the right of our line joining the left of the 6th corps. Here we were considerably annoyed by a battery of the enemy on the opposite side of the river, until some of our sharpshooters drove the cannoneers away from their guns.
Later in the day we took up a new line near a large brick house which the day before had been the rebel General Mahone's headquarters.
A little before dark the enemy from one of their forts opened on us with artillery, but did little dam- age, as we were sheltered by the brow of a hill and most of their shots passed over us. An officer of our division, while standing by a pump near the brick house mentioned above, was killed by a cannon ball which passed through the pump. Several men of the 57th who had gone to a spring in rear of our line for water were also injured by fragments of shell.
The enemy evacuated Petersburg and Richmond during the night of the 2d and morning of the 3d. Lee's army moved westward with the expectation of reaching Lynchburg or Danville, Va.
Our corps took up the line of march in pursuit of the enemy about S o'clock a. m. on the 3d. We marched about twenty miles this day without any fighting, although some of our infantry and cavalry had some brisk skirmishes with the enemy's rear guard.
On the 4th we only marched about eight miles, but spent most of the day in repairing bridges the
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PENNSYLVANIA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS.
enemy had destroyed and mending the roads, which recent rains had put in very bad order. Our corps and the 6th were on what was known as the River road; the 5th corps and the main body of the cavalry were on a road further south, and Ord's army and the 9th corps were following the line of the South Side railroad.
By the evening of the 5th nearly all of Lee's army was at Amelia Court House. Lee had expected to find rations here for his army, which were ordered to be left there on the 2d. But the authorities at Rich- mond, anxious to get away, ordered the trains to go through to that place, where the rations were dumped out, the cars loaded with the heads of the various departments and their archives, and started south again, the occupants being in great dread of capture by the Yankees. The consequence was that Lee's army had to go hungry, as but little to eat was to be found in the country through which they were marching.
The 5th corps had reached Jetersville -- a station on the South Side railroad-late in the afternoon of the 5th and began to entrench as they were in front and across the path of the rebel ariny, only five miles distant. Our corps joined the 5th corps about dark and the 6th corps a few hours later.
On the morning of the 6th the three corps ad- vanced toward Amelia Court House, but it was soon found that Lee had during the night slipped around our left flank, or, in other words, passed to the north of us and continued his retreat. He was closely fol-
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
lowed and there was some hot fighting during the day. Our brigade's first encounter was on the after- noon of the 6th at a place called Amelia Springs, about four miles from Jetersville. We drove the enemy and captured some prisoners. The road we followed on this day was strewn for miles with tents, camp equipage, baggage, documents, etc., which the enemy threw from their wagons to enable the half- starved mules to pull them through. Our brigade had frequent skirmishes with the enemy's rear guard until near dark, when we struck them at Sailor creek at Perkinson's mill, a few miles from where the creek empties into the Appomattox. Here, assisted by a portion of Miles' division, we succeeded in capturing several hundred prisoners, thirteen flags, and three guns, and a large part of the main trains of Lee's army, which were huddled together in a confused mass at the bridge crossing the creek. Our regiment and the 17th Maine dashed through the train and pursued the enemy across the creek, but both regi- ments were recalled after dark. In this engage- ment the regiment had none killed, and but seven men wounded. Among the wounded was Lieutenant- Colonel Perkins. Our division commander, General Mott, was wounded during the day's fighting.
On the same day, further to our left, or up the creek, the 6th corps and Sheridan's cavalry had a battle with the enemy in which the latter met with severe losses.
General Humphreys, in his book before quoted, says : "The total loss to Lee's army today (the 6th )
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in its actions with the 6th corps and the cavalry, and with the 2d corps, was not less than eight thousand men."
Among the prisoners were Generals Ewell, Ker- shaw, Custis Lee, and Dubose of Ewell's command. and Generals Hunton and Corse, of Pickett's division.
The 2d corps resumed the pursuit at half past five o'clock in the morning of the 7th, keeping near to the river and taking the routes which appeared to have been marched on by the largest bodies of infantry, and came upon High Bridge just as the enemy had blown up the redoubt that formed the bridge-head and had set fire to the railroad bridge, and were trying to burn the wagon road bridge. The railroad bridge was called High Bridge because built on piers about sixty feet high, across the narrow river and the wide marshy low ground on the north bank. This bridge was saved with the loss of four spans at the north end, chiefly by the exertions of Colonel Livermore, of General Humphreys' staff, whose party put out the fire, while the enemy's skirmsihers were fighting under their feet. It was a wooden, open deck bridge. The wagon road bridge which the emeny tried to burn but failed, was still smoking as we crossed it. Sixteen pieces of artillery which were in the redoubts at either end of the railroad bridge fell into our hands.
The divisions of Miles and De Trobriand ( the latter now commanding Mott's division) Arrived at the Lynchburg stage road about I p. m., when we suddenly came in contact with the enemy, who opened on us with a heavy fire of artillery. Dispositions were
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HISTORY FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT
at once made for an attack, and a heavy skirmish line was pressed close up against the enemy to develop their strength. From prisoners taken it was found that Lee's whole army was present in strong position covering the stage and plank roads to Lynchburg. which was entrenched sufficiently for cover, and had artillery in place.
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