USA > Pennsylvania > History of the One hundred & sixth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, 2d brigade, 2d division, 2d corps, 1861-1865 > Part 5
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YORKTOWN
1862]
fight. During the night of the 3d of May, they had withdrawn their entire force, not even a picket was left, and our skirmishers occupied the land without firing a shot, on May 4th. The rebel commander, General Johnston, had accomplished his object- "to gain time"-and then left. The news soon spread from camp to camp, and cheer after cheer was sent up. The bands, that had been silent since the 14th of April, when an order was issued stopping all bands, drums and bugles from playing, were now brought out and played their best tunes; men soon filled the works to see what they could see, and what they could find. Many tents were left standing, heavy guns and ammunition left behind, a few stragglers and deserters, and several contrabands were captured. Letters, newspapers and reports were found; also many other trifling things that were eagerly sought for as relics. Quantities of provisions, principally flour, were also found. In several places dummy guns, made from huge logs, to represent cannon, were mounted on the works, in order to deceive us, while the genuine guns were quietly removed at night. In one place stuffed men were standing guard over one. But, sad to relate, they had availed themselves of the fiendish opportunity of destroying some of our men, by planting, near objects of in- terest that would be likely to attract a crowd, torpedoes and per- cussion shells, which exploded upon treading on the ground over them. Several men were killed and wounded, fortunately none in our regiment ; but in the Sixty-Ninth Pennsylvania, a man by the name of John Greene, of Company D, lost one of his legs, and subsequently died while it was being amputated. His foot was blown clean off and over the works. It then began to be feared that they had carried their devilishness still further by poisoning the water and the provisions left behind ; but that report did not gain much headway, although it nearly made our mess throw away a good supper. We had secured some of the flour as a great luxury, had made a batter and baked ourselves a large pile of cakes or "slap-jacks", as we called them, and when all was ready sat down to enjoy our treat, when some one remarked, "suppose the flour was poisoned !" We all hesitated, looked at each other, and then at the pile of cakes; we were very hungry, the cakes looked so good, yet all were afraid to eat them. Finally one of
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the mess said, "I tell you what I will do: I will eat one and if it affects me don't you eat any", so he helped himself to one of the large cakes and began eating it, and there we sat, knife and fork in hand, watching him intently, waiting for developments. The cake disappeared, another was taken and put away, and he reach- ed for a third. We then saw that if we wanted any of those cakes we would have to pitch in, which we did, thinking no more of poison and seeing who could eat the fastest, and catch up with him. I am happy to state none of us were in any way affected.
As soon as it was known that the enemy had evacuated, efforts were made to overtake him. Cavalry and light artillery were hurried forward under General Stoneman, and three divisions of infantry, under Generals Hooker, Smith and Kearney, all under command of General Sumner, followed the cavalry and Frank- lin's division was sent by transports to West Point, and Richard- son and Sedgwick's were held in readiness to advance to the as- sistance of either party.
The enemy was overtaken by our cavalry coming upon his cavalry under Stuart, near the City of Williamsburg, about six miles north of Yorktown; they gradually fell back to a line of works which Magruder had previously constructed, which they held until reinforced by Longstreet's Division, which had been turned back to keep us in check until their whole army and their supply trains could cross the Chickahominy. Smith first came up with the cavalry about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and prepared to assault the works at once, but the woods through which they were to charge were found to be "utterly impracticable" for an infantry advance, and, darkness coming on, he determined to wait until morning. Hooker, after laboring through the muddy roads, struck the enemy's line in his front about II o'clock at night, and at 7 o'clock the next morning, May 5th, he opened the battle of Williamsburg, and, unaided, fought hard and well until noon, and reported to Heintzelman, "I have had a hard contest all morning, but do not despair of success. My men are hard at work, but a good deal exhausted". At 12 o'clock Smith, who had delayed his advance until then, began his attack with Hancock's brigade, who succeeded in capturing the works of the enemy's right, which he held for some time, and then fell back, when he
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was immediately assaulted by the reinforced enemy, but, turning, he poured several well-directed volleys into their advancing lines, and then charged and drove them back with a loss of nearly 400 men. In the afternoon Hooker was reinforced by Kearney, and subsequently by Couch. Kearney, relieving Hooker's diminished and exhausted men, immediately renewed the fight and, by suc- cessive charges, recovered the lost ground, and night closed the battle unsatisfactory to both armies. Webb says:
The battle was fought by piecemeal and ended in disappoint- ment ; we lost that day 2.228 killed, wounded and missing, and five guns. Longstreet reports the total rebel loss at 1,560.
At 8 o'clock our division was under arms, and soon started, taking nearly four hours to march about seven miles over those terrible muddy roads and through swampy grounds, some places nearly knee-deep in mud and water, halting from about noon until near dark, when we again took our position in the road, but could not move forward; and all that night we stood in that mud and water, raining hard all the time, unable to get forward, and they would not take us back, and there we stood ; wet through to the skin, cold, sleepy and worn-out, no place to lie or even sit down, nothing to lean against for support. We had heard dis- tinctly the cannonading all day long, but were not taken forward to take part in the fight. Some time after midnight we were ordered back to camp, after standing for ten hours in line in a drenching rainstorm, wet through, mud over ankle deep, with the sound of battle plainly heard, and instead of being pushed forward to do our part, were kept standing there inactive, certain- ly much more trying on young soldiers than resisting the assaults of the enemy or charging their line, because it lacks the excitement and glory, which is greater than the risk. That day and night's experience will not be forgotten by any of those who endured it, any sooner than that same day's experience of Hooker's or Han- cock's men that fought so well and suffered such heavy loss.
We remained in camp on the 6th, and fortunately the sun came out a welcome visitor, and we were able to dry ourselves, our clothes, and clean from them the mud that covered them. Our brigade, during its stay at Yorktown, suffered very little in killed
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[1862
and wounded at the hands of the rebels, but by those still more powerful enemies, sickness and death, our loss was very heavy. Many were rendered unfit for further service by disease and the hardships and exposures they were compelled to undergo, and many were sent to the hospitals North, and others left there and died. Among those whose aspirations were suddenly terminated, was Lieutenant Eugene Foliet, of Company I, who died of brain fever. He was a promising young French officer, expert with the sword, well up in the tactics, and unknown to fear, possessing all the qualifications necessary to make a good officer. The com- pany felt they had met with a severe loss. All were glad when we left that place for good.
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FAIR OAKS
1862]
CHAPTER VII.
FAIR OAKS.
S TEPS were now taken to follow up the retreating enemy, and to force him back when met. Forces were hurried forward as fast as practicable, to push on towards Richmond and occupy the ground as soon as vacated.
On May 7th, at 6 o'clock, we were on the march, passed through Yorktown to Brick House Landing, and took transports to West Point, situated on the peninsula formed by the Mattapony and Pa- munkey Rivers, about twenty-five miles above Yorktown. The One Hundred and Sixth and Seventy-First Regiments, embark- ing on the steamer "State of Maine", having in tow the large schooner "Smithsonian", and propeller "Salvador", both loaded with troops, arrived at West Point at 4 o'clock, landed, and camped on the banks of the river. Here on that day, Franklin's Division and Dana's Brigade of our division had a pretty hard fight with the enemy's rear guard, lasting nearly all day, and finally succeeded in driving them back and capturing six pieces of artillery; the next morning prepared to continue the fight, and our brigade ordered under arms, when it was found that the enemy had retreated during the night. Our camp was changed on the 8th, and again on the 9th, moving about three miles in- land to Eltham, on the Pamunkey River, where we remained several days. On the 15th again took up the line of march, and marched about twelve miles, near to New Kent Court-House, in a heavy rainstorm which lasted the entire day, making the roads very muddy, and although we had made but twelve miles, it was the hardest day's march we had had up to that time. The soil was principally clay and became very sticky and slippery, so that we would slide back part of the way at each step taken forward. The roads were terribly cut up by the artillery and wagons, making the mud in some places over shoe-top, and would stick so fast as, at times, to pull the shoes off the feet, so that some of the men,
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[1862
on taking a step forward, would find they had left their shoe behind and would have to go back and dig it out or go on and leave it, which some of them did; then the mud adhering to the pants far above the knees, and the rest of the uniform completely saturated with the rain, made them very heavy, so that many of the men were unable to keep up under this additional heavy load of mud and water over those bad roads.
After three days' rest started again on the 18th, passing through New Kent Court-House and about four miles beyond, and en- camped. While encamped here I wandered into the old church- yard and became deeply interested in the many old tombstones ; among them found one with the following cut upon it. It was a large marble slab, now grey with age. Its peculiar style induced me to copy it, and I give it just as I found it :
Here Lyes Intered ye Body of ye Hon-ble Willm Bassett of ye County of New Kent. Esq. Son of Willm Bassett Esq and Bridget His Wife of ye County of Southampton ye Kingdom of England He Married to Joanna Eldest Daughter of Lewis Burwell Esq, with whom He Happily Lived 29 years & 10 months And was Blessed with 5 son & 7 daughters He departed this Life ye 11th of Octbr 1723 in ye 53rd year of his age He was a good Christian Affectionate Obliging Husband A Kind Indulgent father, a good Master His Loss was greatly Lamented by his Country County & family & unexpectedly to Mournful Disconsolate Widow Who also Departed this life this ye 7th day of October 1727 in the 53rd yeare of her age
CAPTAIN CHARLES S. SCHWARTZ Aug. 8, 1861. May 12, 1864.
As First Sergeant. Promoted to Second Lieutenant, Nov. 1, 1862. Promoted to First Lieutenant, March 1, 1863. Promoted to Captain, April 5, 1864. Wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863. Killed at Spottsylvania C. H., Va., May 12, 1864.
COMPANY A.
SERGEANT E. SHERWOOD WALTON. Aug. 12, 1861. Sept. 10, 1864.
As Corporal. Promoted to Sergeant, March 1, 1863. Mustered out with Company, Sept. 10, 1864.
CORPORAL DAVID G. WALTON. Aug. 8, 1861. July 2, 1863.
As Private. Promoted to Corporal, March 1, 1863. Wounded at Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862. Wounded at Fredericksburg, Va .. Dec. 13, 1862. Killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.
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FAIR OAKS
1862]
On the 21st made a march of about fifteen miles, passing St. Philip's Church, in which we were told, General Washington was married. This, perhaps, is an error, as Irving, in his "Life of Washington", says that he was married on the "6th day of January, 1759, at the White House, the residence of the bride, in the good old hospitable style of Virginia". Yet they might have been married at church and entertained afterwards at the White House, the residence of Mrs. Custis in New Kent County, a short distance from Williamsburg.
We camped that night on the plantation of ex-President Tyler. We moved on the 23d and again on the 28th, when we held the center position of the army with Keyes on our left, with his left near Bottom Bridge, and Franklin on our right, with Porter on the right and Heintzelman on the left as supports, all along the banks of the Chickahominy. We remained there until moved forward to Fair Oaks.
Colonel Morehead was now called upon for a detachment of the Regiment for special service, and Companies A and B were selected, and under the command of Major Stover, were sent to White House Landing, where, much to the disgust of the men, the "special service" was found to be guarding the hospital stores of the army.
The movement up the Peninsula towards Richmond may now be said to be well under way. "On to Richmond!" was the cry. The weather was unusually warm, and much difficulty was ex- perienced in obtaining suitable water for drinking purposes. At almost any point water could be obtained by digging from three to five feet ; but this was only surface water, and its evil effects were soon apparent-fevers prevailed, nearly every one suffered from diarrhoea, and the sick list throughout the Army became very large, it was almost the Army. Our Regiment suffered severely from this cause: however, the effect of this bad water was counteracted by the issue of whiskey. (or commissary, as we called it) to the men, for some time twice a day, and most of the time containing quinine.
We were now camped on the banks of the Chickahominy, or in its immediate vicinity. Chickahominy! "What's in a name?" Y'et the mention of that name causes a shudder to run through the
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survivors of the "Army of the Potomac", and brings many sad memories to thousands of households throughout our land. Many men there contracted disease that cost them their lives in a short time, while others lingered through a life almost made irksome by the poison then taken into the system, and yet what does that name represent that bears so important a part in the history of the Rebellion ?- a small stream, formed by the junction of a num- ber of small streams from the hilly country west of the city of Richmond, flowing in a southeasterly course and emptying into the James River, about eight miles above the city of Jamestown, its whole length being about ninety miles, not very wide, and while in itself it would not interfere much with the movements of an army, yet heavy rains, inundating the low grounds contigu- ous thereto, and the soft and marshy grounds along its banks, made it impossible and the movement of artillery and wagons very difficult. The bridges that crossed it at various points were all destroyed by the retreating enemy, and our men had to replace them at the points most needed as well as they could with the means at their disposal.
The point near where we lay, as has been stated, was about three miles above Bottom's Bridge, which is about fifteen miles from Richmond. About half way, or about seven miles from Richmond, is New Bridge, and four miles above that is Mechan- icsville. About one mile above Bottom's Bridge is where the Richmond and York River Railroad crosses.
Two new corps were formed about May 15th, which afterward became the Fifth and Sixth, the former under Porter, contain- ing his own division, commanded by Morell, and Syke's Brigade of Regulars, now increased to a division by the addition of some New York troops, and the latter under Franklin, containing his own division, commanded by Slocum, and Smith's division, form- erly of Keyes' Corps.
On May 22d, during a heavy rain, we had a very heavy hail- storm, the hailstones being very large.
On 23d, our Regiment together with the Twentieth Massachu- setts made a reconnoissance along the railroad for about two miles, thence through woods and thickets, swampy ground and ploughed ground, grain fields, and through a beautiful orchard
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1862]
with trees heavily laden with green fruit, which gave promise, if left alone, of a fine crop. After resting about an hour at noon, this tramp was kept up until 4 o'clock, when we made prepara- tions for camp, having marched about fourteen miles, while the remainder of the division had only moved about four miles. For- tunately, we were in light marching order, the knapsacks having been left behind to be brought up in wagons, but they did not come up until late the next day, much to the inconvenience of officers and men.
On 27th the division was drawn up in line to witness the dis- grace of Captain Davis J. Rich, of the Thirty-fourth New York Regiment, for mutiny on account of his position in line being taken from him and given to another company, whose captain's commission antedated his; he was stripped of his sword and buttons and dismissed from the service, and then sent to Wash- ington to serve one year in jail.
Heavy firing of artillery heard all day. On 28th, under arms, moved about four miles, leaving tents standing and knapsacks in them. Next day returned to our camp. This movement was to support Porter's attack on Hanover. About five hundred pris- oners were brought in.
Colonel Banes, alluding to these movements, says :
About the time of Sedgwick's arrival at the river, the advance of the army began to cross at both Bottom's Bridge and the rail- road. After reconnoitring within a short distance of Richmond and nearly to the James River, the troops that had crossed fell back to points nearer the Chickahominy, and commenced fortify- ing their position. Casey's Division of Keyes' Corps was placed on both sides of the Williamsburg road, six miles from Richmond and a half a mile beyond Seven Pines. Couch's Division of the same corps extended from Seven Pines to Fair Oaks Station, on the York River Railroad. Kearney's Division of Heintzelman's Corps was on the same road to the rear of Peach Orchard, and the division of Hooker of the same corps was protecting the ap- proaches from White Oak Swamp, that lay to the left of these divisions.
Meantime the Corps of Sumner, Porter. and Franklin remained on the left bank of the river. In this divided condition the army remained during its stay before Richmond, although the relative positions of some of the corps were changed occasionally.
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By the 27th Sumner's Corps had constructed two bridges over the river for the passage of troops; one of them was called the Grapevine, and the other Sumner's Lower Bridge. At this work and picketing our time was fully occupied.
While on this movement the men were in the habit of firing off their guns to unload them for cleaning, and several of the men in the different camps were accidently shot, so that strict orders had to be issued to prevent further accidents, and Colonel More- head punished those that he caught by standing them up on barrels, under guard, for a day or two at a time.
On May 31st, from early in the morning, the firing of artillery was distinctly heard in the direction of Keyes' Corps. Our corps was encamped near the Tyler House, on the left bank of the Chickahominy, over which it had constructed two bridges. As soon as the noise of the battle was heard, our old commander, General Sumner, was impatient to be ordered forward; we were soon under arms. About noon he could wait no longer, and began to move his columns to the front, so that when the orders came, he was already on his way. Great difficulty was experienc- ed in getting artillery across the river, now swollen by the recent heavy rains, and the swampy ground on each side. One of the bridges built by our corps was called the "Grapevine", from its manner of construction, being suspended by large ropes tied to the trunks of trees. This swayed backward and forwards, and seemed as though it could not hold out, but as the weight of the troops increased it became more steady. For some distance on each side a corduroy road had been built over the soft, swampy grounds leading to each end of the bridge, and some of these logs had been washed away, which made it very hard to cross with the artillery.
Kirby's Battery broke through a small bridge over a gully, and his men and horses were unable to get it out. The division hurried on past until our brigade reached them, and General Burns, knowing the value of artillery and that every piece would be needed, halted his column and directed his men to take the carriage to pieces and carry it and the gun across and up on to solid ground. This consumed some valuable tiine, and General ·Sumner sent three different times for him to move his brigade
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forward, but General Burns refused to go without his artillery, and his action was subsequently sustained by General Sedgwick, commander of the division. Upon resuming our march, we were met by General Sumner, who urged us forward at double-quick, and on a run we reached the front and were put in position, General Sumner assuming command of the field. The report soon spread that Sumner had arrived with his corps, and as with cheers and at double-quick we rushed into position we gave fresh courage to our troops that had fought so manfully from early morn.
Gorman's Brigade was advanced rapidly towards Fair Oaks Station on the left, to the relief of a portion of Couch's Division, separated from the rest of the corps, now fast giving way before the advancing enemy. Kirby's Battery was soon in position to assist Gorman, and opened with canister upon the enemy's line, seeking to flank us by the right, and his fire cutting them to pieces, compelling them to retreat to the woods in disorder. General Burns was directed to advance with the Sixty-Ninth and Seventy- Second Regiments of his brigade to the right, through the woods, to check the enemy, trying to turn our flank towards the Chickahominy; and General Sedgwick, in person, led the Seventy-First and One Hundred and Sixth Regiments to the support of Kirby's Battery (formerly Rickett's Battery, by which name it was equally as well known), which the enemy now deter- mined to capture. It was soon recognized by General Magruder, who commanded the Rebel forces in its front, as the battery he formerly commanded while in the United States Army. Swear- ing a fearful oath, he ordered the charge, saying "On, my Southern braves! That's my old battery, and I am going to have it or sleep to-night in hell". Charge after charge was made, and gallantly made, but the men manned their Napoleons too well, and each fire of canister swept the ground in their front, and the well-directed volleys of our regiment supporting it proved to Magruder that his former battery was not to be taken, although at one time it seemed almost as though it would be, as his men got up to the cannons, and one of his officers had his hand on the piece, and said "This is my gun". "Not yet", replied Captain Kirby, as he was knocked down by one of the cannoneers. Three
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successive charges were made exclusively upon that battery, but each time they were driven back with fearful loss, their dead and dying literally covering the ground, which proved the foresight of Burns as to its value in battle. They acknowledge a loss at that point of 1,283 killed, wounded and missing in these attacks to capture those guns, including General Hatton killed, and Hampton and Pettigrew wounded, the latter a prisoner. On the right, just before dark, they made another vigorous effort to turn our flank, when Sumner ordered a bayonet charge by two regi- ments of Dana's Brigade, Twentieth Massachusetts and Seventh Michigan, and three regiments of Gorman's Brigade ; and well did they do their work, leaping two fences between them and the enemy, rushed upon them and drove them in confusion from the field; it was a brilliant charge. It was near dark by the time General Burns with the Sixty-Ninth and Seventy-Second Regi- ments reached his position on the right, and the battle had ceased for the day.
General Webb in his book, "The Peninsula", is slightly in error in his statement as follows:
General Burns took part on the right of Colonel Sully with two regiments, holding two in reserve.
The two in reserve were the Seventy-First and the One Hun- dred and Sixth, and they were taken by General Sedgwick to the left to support Kirby's Battery ; again :
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