Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 33

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650

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"On the ist of September the regiment was in the battle of Chantilly. Here they lost their beloved leader, the gallant Kearny, who, as he rode unwittingly to meet his death. received his last cheer from the One Hundred and Fifth as he passed their lines. In his report of the battle of Bull Run, made the day he fell, General Kearny says: 'The One Hun- dred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers was not wanting. They are Pennsylvanians- mountain men. Again have they been fear- fully decimated. The desperate charges of these regiments sustain the past history of this division.'

"Colonel Mcknight having regained his health, on the 20th of September was again commissioned colonel of the regiment. The government in thus keeping the position for him showed its appreciation of his value as an officer. The regiment remained quietly in camp until the 11th of October, when it *was ordered to cross the Potomac to watch some Confederate cavalry raiding in Mary- land. On the 28th they returned to Virginia, and were engaged in guard and picket duty and bridge building until Burnside began his movement against Fredericksburg, where they supported Randolph's Battery in the fight of the 13th and 14th of December, losing three men killed, and Captain Hamilton, Lieuten- ants Clyde and Patterson, and eleven men wounded. Gen. Charles K. Graham, on taking charge of the First Brigade, noticed the pro- ficiency of the One Hundred and Fifth in drill and discipline, and to satisfy himself that he was not mistaken in his estimate of it, with Gen. D. B. Birney, commanding the division, selected the regiment acknowledged to be the best drilled in the division, the Thirty-eighth New York, to compete with the One Hundred and Fifth for the championship, General Bir-

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ney to be the judge, who, after witnessing the drill, pronounced the One Hundred and Fifth the victor in the contest. General Sickles, who came over on the invitation of General Birney to see the One Hundred and Fifth on dress parade, also warmly culogized them on their excellence in drill, and complimented Colonel McKnight for the pains he had taken in drilling and disciplining them.

"On the 28th of April the gallant Third Corps commenced its march towards Chancel- lorsville. On the 2d of May the brigade was moved to the center near the Chancellorsville brick house, the One Hundred and Fifth being deployed as skirmishers and to make a road across a swamp. Just as the work was fin- ished several of the men were wounded by a heavy artillery fire from the enemy. On the morning of the 3d their line was formed in the rear of the house, the One Hundred and Fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers on the right and the One Hundred and Fifth on the extreme left of the brigade. The regiment charged through the woods immediately in front of the Confederate batteries, where they were hotly engaged for two hours. Colonel McKnight and Lieutenant Colonel Craig were continually passing along the line, encourag- ing the men by their example and coolness. Just as the regiment was gaining position at the entrance of the woods, Colonel McKnight was shot through the head and killed. With his hat in his hand he had just given the com- mand, 'Forward, double quick, march!' With shouts his men pressed on to fulfill his last command, and advancing on a double quick drove the enemy from the breastworks that they had taken from the Eleventh Corps the day before.

"Upon the fall of Colonel Mcknight, the command of the regiment devolved upon Col- onel Craig, who drove the enemy from the first line of entrenchments, which they held until, their ammunition being exhausted, the regiment, with the rest of the brigade, fell back, the enemy following to the brow of the hill, when the One Hundred and Fifth made a stand and would have charged had the enemy continued to advance. A new line being formed, the regiment retired again to the rear of the Chancellor house. While here Colonel Craig rode up to General Graham and asked him whether he was aware that the regiment was without ammunition. The Gen- cral turned his horse and coolly surveying them, replied that it was all right, for, said he: 'They have their bayonets yet.' They had fired every cartridge before falling back,

even searching the dead and wounded for them. The One Hundred and Fifth took into this fight twenty-seven officers and three hun- dred and twenty men, and lost Colonel Mc- Knight, Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Powers and eight men killed; Captain Clyde, Lieutenants Shipley, Platt, Hewett, McHenry, and sixty enlisted men wounded, and seven missing.

"On May 21st Lieutenant Colonel Craig was commissioned colonel: Major J. W. Greenawalt, lieutenant colonel : Capt. Levi B. Duff, major. On the 27th those non-commis- sioned officers and privates who, by their bravery and good conduct as soldiers, had. merited the gift, were presented by General Sickles with the Kearny badge of honor. The following members of the One Hundred and Fifth received the cross: Sergts. A. II. Mit- chell, A. D. McPherson, Samuel T. Hadden, Company A; Sergts. Joseph C. Kelso, George Heiges, Charles C. McCauley, B: Corporal A. A. Harley, Privates Charles C. Weaver, Samuel II. Mays, C; Sergt. James Sylvis, Corporal Milton Craven, D; Sergt. Joseph E. Geiger, Corporals George Weddell, James M. Shoaf, E ; Sergt. Robert Doty, Corporal Henry MeKillip, Private Perry Cupler, F; Sergt. George W. Hawthorn, Private William D. Kane, G; Privates Thomas M. Rea, Robert Feverly, H; Sergt. Oliver C. Redic, Joseph Kinnear, I; Sergts. James Miller, George S. Reed, K.

"It was a very difficult matter to thus select out particular individuals, where all had been so brave, and had on so many hard-fought battlefields shown their valor, and it was a double honor to be thus singled out to receive this mark of distinction-this memento of their brave old commander. the lamented Kearny. In his order announcing the names of those entitled to receive the 'cross,' Gen- eral Birney says :

".Many deserving soldiers may have es- caped the notice of their commanding officers, but in the selection after the next battle they will doubtless receive the honorable distinc- tion. The cross is in honor of our old leader. and the wearers of it will always remember the high standard of a true and brave soldier. and will never disgrace it.'

"Nobly did those brave fellows deserve the honor bestowed, as their subsequent history shows. Miller was promoted colonel and Redic lieutenant colonel of the regiment, Mit- chell and Kelso to captain, Sylvis, Shoaf, and MeKillip to lieutenants ; Hadden, McCauley. Doty, Hawthorn, and Kinnear were killed; I Ieiges and Reed died of wounds ; Craven lost

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his right arm in the Wilderness; McPherson, a leg at Gettysburg, while every one of the others received one or more wounds ere their term of service expired.

"From the battle of Chancellorsville until the march into Pennsylvania began the One Hundred and Fifth did picket and guard duty along the Potomac. Monday, June 29, the regiment marched through Taneytown and encamped for the night within five miles of the Pennsylvania State line. Tuesday they marched to the Emmitsburg road, the Third Corps being ordered to hold Emmitsburg. General Sickles, in response to General Rey- nolds's order, hurried his corps, which was ten miles away, to Gettysburg. The roads were exceedingly heavy, as it had been rain- ing hard, and the long march of the preceding days had told upon the troops, so that it was after 5 p. m. on Wednesday when they reached Gettysburg. Birney's division came up on the Emmitsburg road, passed Sherfy's house, where it turned to the right and halted just north of Little Round Top, where they lay all night. The next morning at daybreak they formed in line of battle, Ward's Brigade on the left, with his left resting on the Devil's Den; De Trobriand in the center, and Gra- ham on the right in the peach orchard, with his right resting on the Enunitsburg road. This line was gradually moved forward until the left of the division rested on Little Round Top and the right at Sherfy's house, where the One Hundred and Fifth was moved to the right of the road, and a little before noon was marched to the front, where Companies A, C. F and I were deployed as skirmishers to support the Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volun- teers, already engaged in their front and keep- ing up a brisk fire upon the skirmishers of the enemy, who could be seen watching them through the trees. Soon after these companies were called in and the regiment took its place on the extreme right of the brigade, where it remained quiet until three p. m., when the bat- tle opened in earnest, and the One Hundred and Fifth was moved up to the brow of the hill along the Emmitsburg road. Here, for an hour, they stood unflinchingly under a heavy fire of shot and shell from front and flank, losing some ten or twelve men.

"Just at this juncture, the enemy moving up in force, the regiment advanced to receive them, and formed in the road a little in ad- vance of our batteries. The fighting was now desperate, the enemy steadily advancing, but the brigade held its ground until, the line on its left giving way, the enemy poured into

its flank and rear a most murderous fire, forc- ing it to fall back for an instant. But they rallied again and again and drove the enemy back to Sherfy's house; but the force opposed to them was too heavy and they were forced to retire. It was when engaged in this hand- to-hand conflict, with an overwhelming force of the enemy, and just as the shattered line of Graham was yielding to the overwhelni- ing force of Barksdale's Mississippians, that the gallant troops of the First Division of the Second Corps, in which was the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, came rush- ing to their relief. The regiment then took position with the new line that had been formed in the rear, connecting Cemetery Ridge with Round Top, where they remained until the close of the day's fighting. During the 3d and 4th they lay quiet on the second line, doing no further fighting. The regiment took into the battle of Gettysburg two hun- dred and forty-seven men, and lost Lieut. George W. Crossly and fourteen men killed, thirteen officers and one hundred and eleven men wounded, and nine missing. Lieut. Isaac A. Dunston, who was mortally wounded, died soon after. Out of the seventeen officers who went into the fight only four escaped uninjured. Colonel Craig lost three horses and Adjt. Joseph Craig two.

"On the 5th the regiment left Gettysburg. and July 24th went into camp at White Sul- phur Springs. Virginia. In this beautiful place they remained until September 15th, recruiting their exhausted strength and de- pleted ranks. On the 15th they left the Springs. The regiment leading the advance encountered the skirmishers of the enemy at Auburn, who opened a heavy fire upon them, but the One Hundred and Fifth steadily ad- vanced, loading and firing, until the First Division formed in line, and General Birney ordered a charge to protect them. In this fight the regiment lost one killed and five wounded. The next morning they were again on the move, and until the 27th, when they were engaged at Kelly's Ford, where they sustained no loss, the regiment acted for the most part as advance guard for the division. It had become a great favorite with General Birney, who frequently selected it for import- ant positions, and on one occasion, when the enemy was reported near, he ordered General Collis, who since the wounding of General Graham at Gettysburg commanded the brigade, to send the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment as an advance guard, as he 'wanted a regi- ment he could depend upon.' From here they

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went into camp at Brandy Station, remaining there until November 27th, when they took part in the battle of Locust Grove, where seven men were wounded. The next day, after remaining in line of battle all night, they marched through mud almost knee deep to a point near Mine Run, and that night sup- ported a battery, having one man wounded. On the ist of December, 1863, they returned to their old camp at Brandy Station and on the 28th the regiment was reenlisted by Colo- nel Craig, according to orders from the war department. Two hundred and forty men- almost the entire force of the regiment-re- enlisted and went home on veteran furlough, where, after being feted and feasted by their friends, they returned to their old quarters at Brandy Station on the 21st of February, 1864, bringing with them some fifty recruits.

"On the 26th of March, 1864, the Third Corps was consolidated with the Second Corps, and the remnants of Kearny's famous Red Diamond Division was consolidated into two brigades. The old First Brigade, now known as the Third Brigade, Third Division, of the Second Corps, was put under command of the brave Alexander Hays, the dashing colonel of the Sixty-third Pennsylvania. This brigade was composed of the Fifty-seventh, Sixty-third, Sixty-eighth and One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania, Third and Fifth Michigan, Fourth and Seventeenth Maine, and First Regiment U. S. Sharpshooters.

"It was a sad day for the men who had fol- lowed Kearny, Hooker and Sickles on many hotly contested fields to see their beloved Third Corps obliterated from the Army of the Potomac. The wound yet rankles in the breasts of many who wore the diamond ; and their hearts are yet sore over this dismember- ment of the organization they held so sacred. But as the fiat had gone forth that was the death knell of the old Third, the brave men of the Diamond Division could not have been assigned to any other organization where they would have been so cordially received, or with whom they could so easily assimilate, as with the gallant Second Corps. General Walker, in his excellent history of the Second Corps, says of this transferring of the Third Corps :

*** 1Tereafter the names of Birney and Mott, Egan and McCallister. Pierce and Madill, Brewster and De Trobriand, were to be borne on the rolls of the Second Corps in equal honor with Barlow and Gibbon, Hays and Miles, Carroll and Brooke, Webb and Smyth ; the deeds of these newcomers were to be an indistinguishable part of the common glory ;

their sufferings and losses were to be felt in every nerve of the common frame; the blood of the men of Hooker and Kearny, the men of Richardson and Sedgwick, was to drench the same fields from the Rapidan to the Appomat- tox.'

"On the night of May 3d the One Hundred and Fifth encamped on the battlefield of Chan- cellorsville, the anniversary of their hard- fought fight the year before, where they found the bones of their gallant comrades bleaching 011 the field. On the next day Birney's Division was selected to make the attack or receive that of the enemy, as the case might be, in the Wilderness. The One Hundred and Fifth advanced about half a mile through the dense wood, when they suddenly came upon the enemy, and were at once fiercely engaged. They at first took position in the rear of the Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, which occupied the front line. Here several were wounded. About four p. m. they relieved the Sixty-third and then their hardest fighting began. Every step of ground was hotly con- tested, neither side giving an inch. The dead were piled up in rows. Here Captain Hamilton was killed, and Lieutenant Colonel Greena- walt mortally wounded ; Lieutenants Kimple, Sylvis, Redic and Miller were all severely wounded, and fully one half of the men killed and wounded. Colonel Craig, while riding near the right of the regiment, about dark, was shot in the head and seriously wounded. Their colonel badly wounded, their brave lieutenant colonel borne from the field dying, the command devolved upon Major Duff, who gallantly led them through the balance of the fight, which still raged hotly.

"Here, while holding his ground against heavy odds, the gallant Hays was killed. When night closed upon the fearful scene the One Hundred and Fifth held its original position, but during the night it was relieved and went to the rear. The next morning, how- ever, Birney's Division again took the initia- tive, charging the enemy's lines and forcing him back almost a mile, until their ammunition being exhausted they had to fall back to a temporary line of breastworks, which the enemy tried several times to take, but were re- pulsed each time. The One Hundred and Fifth here charged forward and occupied a position on the front line. Captain Clyde, who, with several others, mounted the front line of breastworks, urging the men forward, fell dead, almost touching the enemy. On the 10th the brigade marched up the Po river to sup- port the First Division, engaged with the

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enemy on the south side of the river. Colonel Crocker, who was temporarily commanding the brigade, marched it up almost against a Confederate battery, which opened fire at short range. The regiment suffered terribly for a few minutes. The first shot struck Private Enos Shirts, of Company I, and blew him literally to pieces, the men near him being sprinkled with his blood and flesh. The regiment held its ground until ordered to fall back into a little ravine, where they held position until the First Division had crossed the river, when they retired to the rear of the Fifth Corps. Here the Sixty-third Penn- sylvania Volunteers was added to Major Duff's command, and the two regiments re- (luced to five companies. At dawn on the 12th they were at Spottsylvania, where Major Duff's gallant little command struck the Con- federate line at the angle near the Sandrum house, where, before the enemy had time to fire a gun, our boys, with loud cheers, were leap- ing over his entrenchments. They captured a large number of prisoners, among them Brig- adier General Stewart. On the left of the point where Major Duff struck the enemy's line was a battery, which was immediately brought to bear upon them, but our men rushed upon and captured it, some of the enemy standing to their guns until killed on the spot. They then crossed the swamp, capturing two rifle guns and the Eighteenth North Carolina Regiment, which was in support of these guns. Lieut. A. H. Mitchell, of the One Hundred and Fifth, captured the flag of this regiment, and Corporal John Kendig, of the Sixty-third, that of the Twenty-fourth North Carolina. Lieutenant Mitchell was wounded, and Lieu- tenant Hewitt wounded and taken prisoner. The Confederates, rallying in force, drove them across the swamp, where they made a stand. They lay for the balance of the day and night under a severe fire, forming the left support of the 'death angle.' This was one of the regiment's hardest fights, and the loss from the 5th to the 15th inclusive was three officers and forty-six men killed, ten officers and one hundred and thirty-six men wounded. one officer and eight men missing, a total of two hundred and four.

"On the 20th the regiments started on the march to the North Anna river, one of the hardest marches they ever made, yet at roll call only one man from the One Hundred and Fifth and two from the Sixty-third failed to answer to their names. On this march Lieu- tenant Kelso was severely wounded on the shoulder by a Rebel sharpshooter. On the

23d the regiments halted on the north bank of the North Anna, the Confederates being on the other side. They were formed in the thick woods and ordered to charge without firing a gun, which was done, driving the enemy from his fortifications. They held this position until after dark. In this charge Capt. Daniel Dougherty, a brave officer of the Sixty-third, was killed. On June 2d they were slightly engaged at Cold Harbor. The 15th found them in front of Petersburg, where in the various engagements they lost eleven men killed, and three officers and eighteen men wounded, among the number being Lieutenant Colonel Duff, who lost a leg while gallantly leading his small force in the 'Hare's House slaughter.' On the 16th of July the regiment, with the balance of the brigade, which was under command of Colonel Craig, drove the enemy into his works at Deep Bottom and then charged and captured them, with two commissioned officers and seventy-five men ; but while flushed with victory and driving the enemy before them, a heavy force fell upon the left flank of the brigade with such fury that it was compelled to fall back. Here a heavy loss fell on the One Hundred and Fifth, for while leading the charge their beloved young leader, Col. C. A. Craig, was mortally wounded, dying the next day, and no one whom death claimed from their ranks was ever mourned more sincerely. Seventeen men were killed, and Captain Barr and twenty-three men wounded. The regiment remained in front of Petersburg doing pieket and fatigue duty until September Ist, when those who had not reenlisted were mustered out and one hundred and sixty-two men and two officers of the Sixty-third were transferred to the One Hun- dred and Fifth. The veterans of the Sixty- third were at first put in the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, but they rebelled at this and petitioned Governor Curtin to have them put in the One Hundred and Fifth, with which regiment they had served from their first enlistment, which request was granted.

"After the death of Colonel Craig Captain Conser, who that day rejoined the regiment. took command. On the Ist of October the regiment was transferred to the Weldon Rail- road and the next day took part in the fight at Poplar Grove Church, having one man killed and cleven wounded. On the 5th they were back in front of Petersburg, remaining there until the 24th, when they were moved to the Southside Railroad, and on the 27th took part in the battle of Boydton Plank Road. Here General Pierce, who commanded the brigade,

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ordered the One Hundred and Fifth into a dense wood, to hold that part of the line con- necting with the Ninety-first New York on the left. The Confederates with a yell charged through these woods, but the One Hundred and Fifth kept them at bay until, unknown to them, our cavalry on their right gave way, allowing a heavy force of the enemy on their left flank, and they were driven back. The conflict was terrible, one of the most desperate hand-to-hand fights of the war. Major Conser and Captain Patton-the two senior and two of the most meritorious officers of the regi- ment-and four men were killed, eighteen wounded and forty missing. The latter were, however, nearly all recaptured that evening. The balance of the devoted little band was with difficulty brought off the field. Captain Redie, with several of the men, barely escaped capture while vainly trying to bring off the bodies of their dead comrades. The regiment for the first time in its history lost its colors. After the fall of the two senior officers Captain Miller was ordered by General Pierce to assume command of the regiment, and was afterwards commissioned colonel. On the 27th the regiment went into quarters at Fort Davis, on the front line of works, where officers were appointed by Governor Curtin to fill the vacancies in nearly every company. All the new officers, from Colonel Miller and Lieti- tenant Colonel Redic down, had risen by their own merit and bravery from the ranks. While here the regiment lost one killed and four wounded while driving the enemy from his rifle pits. On the 30th Lieutenant Colonel Redic, while engaged in a reconnoissance, had one man killed and two wounded, and on the 2d of April one man was killed and one wounded. On the 6th, near Farmville, the regiment charged upon the enemy's works, repulsed him and captured two hundred and thirty-nine men and nineteen commissioned officers, and in the evening of the same day assisted in capturing part of the enemy's train. The loss was one killed and fifteen wounded, Colonel Miller losing his horse. April 9th one man was wounded, the last to feel Confederate lead, as on that day the enemy at Appomattox laid down their arms and surrendered to General Grant.

"May 2, 1865, the regiment took up its line of march for Washington, reaching Bailey's Cross Roads on the 15th, and on the iith of July reached Pittsburgh, where the men were paid off and discharged. But alas! how small a remnant of the gallant regiment which went

to the front almost four years before returned to their homes. The official record gives the entire list of casualties as 1,089. The regiment from April 11, 1862, until April 9, 1865, took part in thirty-eight engagements, and of its almost four years of service giving just three years' active service in the field. Its aggregate force, as given by the rolls, was 2,040. This number. however, comprised the veterans from the Sixty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers and 588 drafted men and substitutes put into the regiment in March, 1865, leaving the entire force of the original regiment, with its recruits, 1,288. It is a noteworthy fact that never once in its history did the One Hundred and Fifth fail to respond when ordered to face the enemy. Not once did it hesitate when ordered to charge, even though against overwhelming odds.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 33

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers Number of Pages: 650

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650