USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Lebanon County's emergency volunteers at Gettysburg : paper read before the Lebanon County Historical Society, August 18, 1905 > Part 2
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General Lee says in his report ( "War of the Rebellion," vol. 27. p. 316), that not having heard from Stuart Le ordered an advance upon Harrisburg, in pursnance of which object he sent Early, with his division. to York, to break the railroad between Baltimore and Harrisburg. and to seize the bridge at Wrightsville.
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General Early in his report says : "I moved towards Gettysburg and on reaching the forks of the road, about one and a half miles from Cashtown, I sent General Gordon, with his brigade and White's battalion of cavalry, on the pike through Cashtown towards Gettysburg, and moved with the rest of the command to the left through Hilltown to Mum- masburg. . I had heard on the road that there was probably a force at Gettysburg, although I could get no definite infor- mation as to its size, and the object of this movement was for Gordon to amuse and skirmish with the enemy while' I
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should get on his flank and rear so as to capture his whole force."
"The militia regiment which had been encountered by White's cavalry was the 26th Pennsylvania militia, consisting of eight or nine hundred men, and had arrived in Gettysburg the night before and moved that morning a short distance out on the road toward Cashtown, but had fled on the first ap- proach of White's cavalry, taking across the field between Mummasburg and Gettysburg, and going toward Hunters- town. Of this force 175 persons in all were captured and subsequently paroled. Hays' brigade was halted and en- camped about a mile from Gettysburg, and two regiments were sent to aid French in pursuit of the fugitive militia, but could not get up with it."
So it appears that our regiment occupied the attention of Early's division entire for the whole of that day. All that Reynolds, with two corps of the Army of the Potomac, was able to accomplish on July ist, the 26th regiment did on the 26th of June-delayed the advance of Lee's army one dav. Who can estimate the importance of this fact when we con- sider the inestimable value of each moment ! Who can say that, without its occurrence, Harrisburg, Reading and Phila- delphia even would have been safe from capture: that the battle of Gettysburg would ever have been fought, or, if fought, a victory !
With this understanding of events let us resume our nar- rative with regard to the regiment. We had been halted and marched into the adjoining field because the Colonel scented danger. Accompanied by Major Bell he rode immediately to the brow of a hill near by, and there, directly in front of them. were advancing the.Confederates, infantry, cavalry and artillery, not more than three- fourths of a mile distant. As all the branches of the service were represented he knew, in a moment, that it was an army with which he had to deal. Worse than that, as all the roads converge toward Gettys-
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burg, he wisely divined that additional forces were coming on the other highways and that we were in danger of being caught between them. The two officers looked at each other and Major Bell inquired of the Colonel what he proposed to do. That we were surely in the foils, even more so than at the time could be imagined, may be seen from a perusal of Early's report. To the credit of Colonel Jennings be it said that he immediately saw through the enemy's project, and realized at once that the only way of escape was to get beyond the Mum- masburg road before the Confederates occupying it had ar . rived, and wisely decided to make an instantaneous effort to do so.
After the Major had pointed out the direction and ex- plained the roads, he parted with the Colonel, and, as he saw the last of the regiment disappearing up the hill, he- thanked the Lord he was not on foot. A moment later Company B, Capt. Carmaghan, left behind as a rear guard, were engaged with the enemy, who succeeded in dispersing them aud taking a number of prisoners with whom they galloped into Gettys- burg, where they seized the regimental supply train, having first overpowered the few guards in charge of it, who, after a vain resistance, succeeded in retiring. with one prisoner, to. Wrightsville, where they participated in the engagement at that place, and aided in the unavoidable destruction of the fine bridge across the Susquehanna. They then destroyed all " our provisions; none of which had yet been served us that day, and cut off all hope of further rations until our arrival at Harrisburg Meanwhile the regiment; after traversing several fields, had reached a country cross road leading towards Hunterstown, along which it was rapidly . marching with the Confederate cavalry and infantry in hot pursuit.
After some hours of tramping the tremendous pace and . strain, coupled with the miserable condition of the roads, for it continued raining the whole of that day and the next. be- gan to tell on the men, but rest was out of the question .. and "Onward !" was still the command until. about four o'clock
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in the afternoon, when a medium-sized brick farm house, on the left of the road, belonging to Henry Witmer, was reached, some four and a half miles from Gettysburg by the Carlisle pike! and about seven by the Harrisburg pike. Here a halt was ordered, when most of the command threw themselves down by the wayside to rest, while others visited the house in search of food, and the balance climbed a row of cherry trees, along the fence, to eat fruit.
. The next moment, without the least warning, the sound of bugles was heard, a body of horsemen came charging down upon us. I saw our own men leaping over the fence, rushing across one field and forming behind a rail fence in the next, and then I put my best foot forward and joined my com -. . pany. It was an occasion when veteran soldiers of many campaigns might easily have been "rattled," so I have ever felt proud of the fact that, under these very trying circum- stances, every man in the regiment, who was able to do so, bravely took his station as promptly as possible, firmly re- solved not to yield an inch.
Those in the house fired at the troopers as they came up, inflicting some loss upon them, 'but, being very few in num- ber, were obliged eventually to surrender, although one es- caped by hurriedly changing his clothes, and another by secret- ing himself in a meat tub; those who had been cut off from the main body of the regiment formed in squads, fighting where they stood, and, in some instances, driving off their assailants and enabling themselves to rejoin their comrades; the poor fellows in the trees had the sad fate reserved for them of losing both their liberty and their cherries. In ,the mean- time the attacking regiments of cavalry had formed in line of battle on the pike, and opened fire on ns with their carbines, while our men, from their line along the fence, were in turn firing upon them, and your humble servant was enjoying bis frist experience of real warfare, and was beginning to under- stand that to be a soldier meant something more than the mere wearing of an attractive uniform. . .
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I could not help but notice the difference in action be- tweein the two bodies of troops, both thoroughly brave but one also thoroughly disciplined by several years of service, in which the other was lacking. The Confederates, who were losing more heavily than their opponents, sat. firm and steady on their horses, in straight and compact lines, while our men were full of excitement, many yelling at the top of their voices, some loading and firing without any pretense at aim. others again calmly charging their pieces and quietly firing them only with most deliberate aim.
I have often thought how interesting it would be were soldiers more frequently to describe their feelings and ex- . periences in their first action. Doubtless many have hesita- ted to do so for fear of ridicule, forgetting that the truly brave man is not always he who is without fear but, rather, he who, notwithstanding any possible fear, stands to his post and does his duty irrespective of consequences to himself. More than once I had wondered what would be the result when I. myself. should be called upon to pass through the ordeal. It was, therefore, no little satisfaction to realize that I was bringing no discredit upon my good name. It is likely I failed to truly appreciate the danger to which I was ex- posed, and I was certainly more or less buoyed up by the ex- citement of the moment, but I was glad to find that I was by no means scared to death, and that I did not have the slightest desire to run away. Indeed. to a certain extent, I was filled with curiosity, and, as the balls were whistling about my head. one, which skipped by within a couple inches. of me, sounded to my ears like the noise of a humming bird. Turn ing to my brother, beside me. I asked him if he heard the humming bird. I can recall, even now, with what a look of disgust at my ignorance, he replied : . "You idiot ! it one of those things hits your hard head you will soon find ont whether it is a humming bird."
With much interest I was watching a Confederate color- bearer. who, with his flag or gnidon. . calnily sat beside his
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commanding officer in front of the regiment. Unfortunately. for him, he seemed to interest others beside me for, in a short " dime, I saw his flag go down, only to be grasped a moment Ifter by a comrade and again displayed.
Every moment I was looking for the cavalry to charge on us, and had just resolutely made up my mind to stick it out even though I should be shot, when the command, "Cease firing ! " was given, and we immediately moved off by the right flank into an adjacent wood, the engagement having lasted about half an hour. Seeing that nothing could be ac- complished by our musketry duel, and that every minute lost was giving the pursuing infantry an opportunity to catch up to us, our Colonel had wisely determined to continue the march, having first called the roll, which revealed the fact that we were short some one hundred and twenty meu.
These were the opening shots of the battle of Gettysburg. resulting in the repulse of the attacking enemy, in which he lost a certain number in killed and wounded, while he suc -. ceeded in wounding Private Thomas H. Dailey, of Company C, in the face with a ball, and in capturing a number of the - regiment, who were taken nnawares by their sudden on - slaught,'or else exhausted by the fatigue of our rapid march. -Privates A. Stanley Ulrich. of Company E. and James K. Moore, of Company C, being ent off from their command, and refusing to surrender, finally made their way to Gettys- burg on June soth, and there associated themselves with Com. pany K. 121st Regt., Penna. Vols., with which they fought through the entire battle and afterwards aided in burying the dead. Just previous to the engagement Corporal Charles Mac Donald and Privates George Steele and A. W. Shick, of Company F. had been ordered to join the regiment at Gettys- burg. after the performance of special duty. At the turnpike gate on the York pike they were charged upon by the Con- federate cavalry, and were only captured after they had dis- charged their muskets and Shick had endeavored to bayonet a horseman, one of two who fired four shots at him. This was the first actnal encounter within the limits of the town.
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Early had determined to effect our capture, and that same night in Gettysburg remarked that, although we had escaped so far, we would surely be taken on the morrow. . It was for us to avoid this and safely reach Harrisburg. both to aid in its defense and to report the movements. of the enemy. Colonel Jennings had first concluded to strike the railroad at : Hanover, and, accordingly, sent a man there to telegraph for cars, but was obliged to give up that idea upon learning that the place was already occupied by the enemy .. He then de- spatched the Lieut. Colonel to York, but nothing was heard from him for some days because of the Confederate advance to that point. ; Nothing was left but to make our way, as . best we could, to our destination. aided, now and then, by farmers who acted as our guides. We immediately abandoned the roads and took a straight path across hill and field. The excitement of the fight made us forget our fatigue for a while, but hunger began to assert itself instead. Whether I looked as hungry as I felt I cannot say, but something in my appear. ance must have appealed to the better feelings of a kind com- rade, who offered me the last food in his haversack. Reach . iug in his hand he pulled it ont filled with a horrid mixture of water soaked bread, liberally-peppered with dirt, and cement- - ed together with butter. of all things that which I detested even in its most dainty form. I took it; gave one look, shut my eyes and gulped it down. It was the first morsel I had that day and was doomed to be the last I would get for the next twenty-four hours. Fortunately, there was no lack of water with the constantly falling rain, as all that was needed was to stoop down and dip it out of the holes made in the ground by the feet of those going before, and strain it through one's teeth, for, whenever we crossed a ploughed field each time we lifted a foot we left a hole large enonngh for a rifle pit.
Towards evening, as we were noiselessly moving along, for every one was too tired to speak, and were about issuing fromi a woods, preparatory to crossing the road into an adjoin . ing field, Colonel Jennings suddenly raised his hand. and, at
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the signal, the entire regiment threw themselves upon the ground, preserving the utmost silence, while a squad of Con - " federate cavalry, evidently in search of us, passed along the road but a couple hundred feet distant. After waiting a few minutes we resumed our march, which might have seemed ro- mantic and thrilling enough had we been in better condition to appreciate it.
Towards 9.oo p. m. we found ourselves on the border of a rapid and rather wide creek, crossed by a rickety foot log. The overcast sky and dark night made still more difficult a crossing which would have been no easy matter in broad day- light. Hardly had the van of the regiment commenced feel. ing its way over when we heard the galloping of horsemen in our rear. Not a word was spoken, but those behind began · pushing those in front to expedite the passage: men lost their footing and fell into the stream: others were obliged to drop their muskets to save themselves, and. for a while great con - fusion prevailed, while. strangly enough, no mouth was opened to utter a sound. I stepped from the log, to the fur. ther shore just in time to hear a splash and catch a parting "glimpse of our bass drum placidly floating down the water.
As rapidly as the men reached the other side they leaped over a fence adjoining the road and formed for the expected attack. Who the horsemen were we never learned. Probably it was another scouting party of the enemy. Fortunately, they passed us-by in the darkness and we had no opportunity to make their further acquaintance. A few moments later, however, a single horseman dashed through the stream to the road immediately in front of us, and, in an instant, there was the click of some two hundred rifles, as they were cocked and aimed, while various of their owners commanded the rider to "Halt !" in a low tone of voice, presuming that others were about to follow him. It proved to be a farmer who was frightened almost speechiess, and who had as narrow an es- cape from death as a human being may well want to exper- ience.
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Still raining, and still stumbling along the road, we-came towards midnight into a woods so densely dark that it became absolutely necessary to feel the whereabouts of one's next neighbor to keep from straggling. We had groped our way well into this darkness when, suddenly, without any previous noise or the least premonition, there came from our front, but a few feet ahead, a most stentorion command to "Halt !" and, with it, the blood-curdling click of numerous rifle ham- mers. It was so sudden that it had very much the effect of a heavy thunder bolt out of a clear sky. With the instant recollection that our adversaries had been cavalry, and were likely to be the same at that time, many of the regiment . jumped for the adjoining fence to the left, To forin behind it. My own hair began to assume a perpendicular position, and I leaped for the same place. Managing to get my hands on two rails, and, remembering how much less time it would take to go through the fence rather than over' it, I tried to squeeze between the rails, but, alas : I had overlooked the roll of blanket on my shoulder. and, in a moment, was most in- gloriously stuck. . Unable to get through or back. and -ex- pecting every instant to have either a sabre or bayonet thrust into me, I kicked most vigorously until some good Samaritan happened to notice my plight and pulled me out. In a second more we would have been firing at each other, but. fortunate- ly, not all had lost their heads, among them the Colonel, who had meanwhile ascertained that the detachment opposed to us was a part of our own regiment, under command of Major Greenawalt, who had been unable to cross the stream when we did, had advanced beyond us over another road, and had mistaken our approach for that of the enemy. A terrible calamity was happily averted. and it cannot but be admitted that for a body of -men to wait for the command to fire, under circumstances which would have tried the nerves of the old est, bravest and most experienced of soldiers, spoke well for the stamina of the regiment.
On once more until about three o'clock in the morning,
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when the Colonel felt obliged to get his bearings anew and it . became absolutely necessary that the men, who had been marching steadily through rain and mud since ten o'clock the previons morning. should have at least some semblance of rest. We were then strung along the edge of a field, and, at- the whispered command, at once sank exhausted into the soft ground beneath us, where we lay for nearly an hour. During this time. being on the extreme right of the regiment, I heard the sound of approaching troops, and, in a moment more, breaking the deathly silence which pervaded everything, a command followed by another as they passed us in pursuit apparently some three hundred feet distance.
Would we never get clear of the blood hounds who were Straining every nerve to take us, and seemed bent on our de- struction ? Stiff and tired as we were, this persistant pursuit had the effect of enraging the men and arousing a desire in them to meet the cursed " Johnnies" and have it out with them once and for all. It seemed a very short hour, indeed. when we again struggled to our feet and moved on.
By this time the pangs of hunger were beginning to make considerable inroads on the "boys" so, when daylight had fully broken, and we drew near to a sort of farm house. they made a "dead break" for it and clamored for food: The inmates consisted of a mother and two daughters, who, upon our first appearance, hung a sheet from one of the windows as- a "flag of truce, " and then met us at the gate, with tears in their eyes begging ns to take all they had but spare their lives. I can recall yet, with a smile, the look of amazement ou the faces of the men at the thought that any one could even dream of our doing them personal injury. In fact the grief of the women so worked on their feelings that I do not remember seeing any one even help liimself to food. as badly in need of it as all were.
The Colonel had now decided to select a commanding position and halt for two or three hours, realizing that poor human nature could hold out but little longer. No, about loon a. m. Saturday, June 27th, he drew us up on a knoll,
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near Colonel Wolford's farm property, and, twenty-four hours after we had started out the Chambersburg pike from Gettys- burg, we obtained our first actnal rest. Some of the com - mand removed the soaked shoes from their swollen feet: others foolishly fired off their guns to clean them, although the offi- cers promptly stopped that business as it came near leading to our being trapped, as some of our prisoners in the hands of the rebels stated, afterwards. that they were so near as to make the firing distinctly heard, and that the enemy were overjoyed to think that they had discovered our whereabouts . and would soon be up with ns. In fact, they did actually reach our canip an hour or two after we had left it. Most of the men, however, indulged in a good, sound sleep, until 1.00 p. m., when again we fell into ranks.
I had taken my place in line, and was awaiting the order to march, when, in glancing around, I noticed that my brother ( the late Rev. Prof. M. H. Richards. D. D.) had fallen out of ranks. He had bravely held out to this time, where many others had failed. but his exhaustion was now such that he realized he would be unable to proceed much further and so deemed it best to take advantage of the invita- tion of Colonel Wolford, an old friend, and reniain a short time with his family to recuperate.
Here was a dilemma for me. Although carrying all my equipments, which many others had thrown away. I was as fresh as any mau in the regiment, and entirely able to keep my place with it, besides being more than willing to share its further dangers and hardships. Should I leave it, or abandon my brother to an unknown fate. Filial -affection soon pre- vailed and I decided to remain with him. Obtaining official permission from my commanding officer to do so. we turned over our accoutrements to some who were without, and, with sorrowful countenance watched our comrades file past us and disappear.
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I desire, at this time, to recall the fact that though but a lad of fourteen, slightly built. and loaded with all the equip- ments of a soldier. yet I had readily kept up on the terrible
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march we were making, when some of the finest specimens of manhood, in outward appearance at least, had long since given out. It simply corroborates what had already been Conclusively proven in the army as to relative endurance.
Here I parted from my regiment, who, after again meet- ing the enemy at Dillsburg and forming in line of battle to re- sist attack, marched forward through other vicissitudes until 2.00 p. m. on the next day, when the remnant, wearily dragg- ing one foot after another, crawled into the Union lines at Harrisburg. with the enemy immediately behind them and a loss of some two hundred meu. The soldiers who saw them could hardly believe their eyes, and exclaimed, "Why, they look as if they had been out a year ! " and so they did. They had been transformed into veteran soldiers in the-brief space of a few days.
And here, probably, should end a narrative which already contains, too frequently, the personal pronoun "I." How- ever, as I am now proud to have earned the right to be called a "Lebanonian," and as my further experience was only similar to that of others from onr county, it may not be de- - void of interest to you, nor entirely without historic value, were I to continue to the end.
In company with kind Col. Wolford, my brother and my- self repaired to his home, where we were enabled to bathe ourselves, om clothing was washed, onr shoes dried, a much needed repast taken, and that night we obtained, what was still more necessary, a good, sound sleep. The next day was Sunday, June 28th. God's day for rest, and. dearly indeed: should we like to have so spent it, but we were informed that the enemy had occupied onr camp shortly after the regiment left and were now liable at any minute to seize the house itself. A regard both for the welfare of our host, and for our own safety, demanded that we should move on.
Ensconced in a closed carriage we started on onr, way to Prosser's mill, on the outskirts of Dillsburg, our next desti- nation: Comfortably enough we jogged along, but only for a short distance when we met a farmer coming hurriedly
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towards us, who excitedly announced that . the Confederate cavalry were approaching and were even then. near the turn of the road ahead of us. The effect of this news was to stampede our driver and his team, so soon as we could alight, and a somewhat hurried flank movement on our part. accom. panied by our friendly informant. We ran to the right across a field, hoping thus to get around the coming troopers but soon found, to our dismay, that we were in danger of becom. ing entrapped in a rebel camp directly ahead. "To retrace our steps, and get in the mountains just to the left of the main road, becanie our only alternative, but was there time enough to do so. Without the loss of a moment in useless discussion we hurried back. As we drew near the road we noticed, on each side of it, a man who hadall the appearance of a soldier . from the camp, but unarmed and probably on a scout for something to eat. We drew such arms as we had, a revolver belonging to one of us and a knife to the other, and, putting on a bold'face, came up to them. Whether it was owing to our greater numbers, or to the fact of their being unarmed, they hesitated to attack us, and, in a moment more. we were amongst the thickets of the hill side
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