USA > Rhode Island > History of the Fifth Regiment of Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, during three years and a half of service in North Carolina. January 1862-June 1865 > Part 22
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About October 24th, Lieutenant Cushing, of the navy, called at the island, on his way up from Hatteras Inlet to the Roanoke River. He was in a small torpedo steam launch, with which he was going to at- tempt the destruction of the rebel ram: Albemarle, then lying at Ply- mouth. This he succeeded in doing October 27th, exhibiting a per- sisteney aud daring that has made his name historical. Monotony again resumed sway until the time came for the men to forward their
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ballots for President, when this furnished a mild excitement. About this time our forces recaptured Plymouth. When the news of the re- election of President Lincoln was received at Roanoke Island, the officers stationed on the island, leading citizens and troops deter- mined to express their joy over the result of the election by a celebra- tion on Thanksgiving day. Captain Moran was sent to New Berne. where he succeeded in procuring the services of the fine band of the. Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery for the occasion. A large building, once used as a storehouse, was converted into a ball and supper room, and everybody from all the islands and country around was made welcome. Not until the light of the succeeding day dimmed the lamps and candles did their festivities cease. Neither before nor since then has Roanoke Island been the scene of so large and enthusiastic a celebration of that New England day.
Soon after Thanksgiving Chaplain White visited companies D and I, and entertained the men with graphic descriptions of the fight of Company A at Croatan Station, and his adventures while a prisoner in the hands of the rebel Philistines. On the 6th of December a bat- talion of three companies commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Clark. of the Eighty-fifth New York, was sent from Roanoke Island to Ply- mouth. One of these companies, composed of men from Com- pany D, and some men from the One Hundred and First Penn- sylvania, was under the command of Captain Moran. They joined a "picked-up " brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Wilde, at Plymouth, the same day. The next day the command commenced its march to find the enemy, and, on the second day out, encountered a small force, with whom they had a running skirmish for some miles. For some days the column moved about from one place to another in the Roanoke country, just as the enemy were reported here, or there, visiting Hamilton in the meantime. This place recalled many inci- dents of their former visit, to the men of Company D. After wandering around more than a week searching for an elusive foe, the command marched " down the hill again " to Plymouth, having picked up a few stragglers. From this place the various detachments returned to their several commands.
Then followed the muster out of the officers and men of the old battalion organization whose term of service had expired.
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CHAPTER XV.
CLOSING OPERATIONS OF THE WAR AROUND NEW BERNE.
W E now approach the closing scenes of the existence of the Fifth Rhode Island as a military organization. From this time on the fortunes of war made its position that of a spectator rather than that of an active participant in the final operations attending the complete suppression of the rebellion. As spectators, then, we saw, during the first half of November, 1864, this general situation of affairs. In the west General Sherman was leaving Atlanta for the sea, while the rebel general, Hood, was entering upon his desperate campaign that ended in overwhelming defeat at Nashville. In the east, Sheridan had finished his dashing and victorious campaign in the valley of Virginia, and the rebel army in that section had practically ceased to exist, At Petersburg and Richmond the tenacious and tireless Grant confronted the great- est general and strongest army of the Confederacy in their formidable line of forts and entrenchments. In New Berne, the first frosts of' autumn had come. bringing promise of release from the epidemic that had raged with such deadly effect.
At this time the situation of the Fifth, as noticed in the preceding chapters, remained unchanged. Three companies were on the north side of the Neuse. four were in the forts on the south side of the Trent. and two were on Roanoke Island, while most of Company A were filling unknown graves at Andersonville and Florence. During the prevalence of the yellow fever no officers or solliers, outside of the medical department, were allowed to enter New Berne. All
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who were absent had been directed to remain at their homes until ordered to report by the proper authorities, for the medical officers had deemed it best that those men who had not been exposed to the contagion should not return until the cold weather had set in and all danger had passed. It was not until after the November elections that the re-enlisted veterans of our regiment, and the officers on leave of absence, received orders to report in New York for transportation to New Berne, The rebel authorities had fulfilled so much of the terms of the surrender of Company A, as to release Chaplain White, as a non-combatant, at Charleston, S. C., on the 23d of September, and since that time he had been at home in Providence. About eighty of the veterans of the Fifth, together with Chaplain White, Captain Robinson, Adjutant Gladding, Quartermaster Lawton, and Lieutenant Landers assembled in New York, where they embarked for New Berne, direct. They reached Hatteras Inlet, Novembr 19th, and this detachment again had the experience of entering the Sound in a storm. The steamer anchored north of the inlet and signaled for a pilot. Chaplain White shall tell of this adventure :
'. The ship plunged terribly, and strained at the great anchor cable as if it must part it at the next roll. The rain fell freely, and the wind was coming with the force of a hurricane. Presently a speck was seen approaching from the inlet, and we soon recognized the pilot, and in a few minutes up came the anchor, and we started for the entrance. The pilot got us safely into the inlet channel. Just as we passed the fort we came upon the dreaded ' swash ' and struck, so strong was the wind and tide and they took the bow of the ship and swung us fair about, till we headed for the sea again. We sig- naled for help and a tuy run alongside, but both engines were un- able to get us off. This . swash ' is a belt of hard sand across the inlet on the inside. The water is from seven to ten feet deep, vary- ing with the force of the tide, and it is the dread of all vessels enter- ing Pamlico Sound. Finding it impossible to go ahead and thus get off the . swash,' the pilot reversed the engines and backed her, digging out a path for her keel with the propeller. As I looked upon the operation I thought that this was not the first time a party has had to get out of a bad scrape by backing out. To back out is one
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thing, but to back through and so triumph in spite of obstacles is quite another. Our appetites began to sharpen. and faces that were long and of a doleful cast began to grow cheerful, and . off Hatteras,' and ' within the inlet ' were thought to be widely different situations."
Sergt. James B. Horton.
The veterans landed in New Berne in a drizzling rain. Under the command of Captain Robinson they marched to regimental head- quarters and reported in a body to Lieutenant-Colonel Tew. And when they had time to realize the great danger they had escaped during their absence from New Berne. each and all felt that the delay in getting their furloughs had proved a blessing in the end.
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Up to this time the regimental hospital had remained in its old location near Fort Totten. It was now removed over the Neuse to Fort Anderson. Soon after this change an incident occurred that showed the unsophisticated nature of the average North Carolina girl of that period. One day two young girls came to one of the hospital tents and asked for a drink of water. The hospital steward directed one of the attendants to give them ice-water, which was furnished to the patients at that time. One of the girls took the glass, raised it to her lips, and then with a scream of mingled fear and pain, she dropped it to the ground, and clasped her trembling hands over her mouth. She had never tasted ice-water before in summer.
Nothing broke the quiet of garrison duty for some weeks after the veterans returned. Various small expeditions and many scouting parties were sent out, but it did not fall to our lot to share in them. November 25th, Colonel Whitford, who commanded the rebel cav- alry that did their outpost duty between Kinston and New Berne, came in with a flag of truce, ostensibly for the purpose of making arrangements for some refugees to cross our lines. But the duration of his stay, and the evident pleasure with which he enjoyed the hospitalities tendered him by some of the officers at headquarters, made many think that his real errand was to have a " good time."
On Friday, December 9th, a reconnoissance in force was ordered towards Kinston. A. detachment of one hundred and forty men from the Fifth Rhode Island, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Tew. together with similar detachments from other regiments, constituted the force. The column left New Berne about eleven o'clock at night. We quote our account from the diary of an officer who took part in this last march of the Fifth Rhode Island : " We marched in a pouring rain until five o'clock next morning, when we biv- ouacked until eight ; then we started and marched all day until nine o'clock that night, and again bivouacked in a cold northeast rain storm. We started again at seven o'clock the next morning, Sunday, just as it began to clear off, and marched to within about four miles of Kinston. We skirmished with the enemy most of the day, but had no regular engagement. Monday we started for New Berne, where we arrived Tuesday afternoon. thoroughly tired and footsore. It
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was the hardest march we were ever on, and we were in the worst possible condition to make it that we were ever in, from lying so long in garrison. I suppose the object of the expedition was accom- plished ; which probably was a mere feint to cover an attack else- where, and prevent rebel troops from being drawn from here to repel it."
The regiment returned from the reconnoisance December 13th :. The term of service of those members of the original battalion who had not re-enlisted would expire on the next Thursday, the 16th. Less than one hundred men and nine officers were to be mustered out. It was not to escape the fatigues of the march or the dangers of the battlefield that these men did not re-enlist, but rather to be free from the monotony of a camp life that had in its future no promise of a change for the better; it was that their hearts were filled with a longing for home. How well these men had fulfilled to the uttermost every duty required of them, these pages have borne most willing but feeble testimony. The officers were, Surgeon Albert Potter, Chaplain Henry S. White, Capts. William W. Doug- las, George G. Hopkins, and Henry B. Landers, and Lieuts. James M. Wheaton, Henry P. Williams, Dutee Johnson, Jr .. and Charles E. Douglass. The routine necessary to the execution of formal regula- tions and compliance with official details caused nearly a week to elapse before these men finally reached their homes. A fatality seemed to attend the quartermasters of the Fifth. On the 20th of December Quartermaster Lawton suddenly died of apoplexy. He was the third one who had died of disease since the regiment had been in North Carolina.
The winter season had now set in and compelled, for a time, a general cessation of hostilites. General Sherman was in Savannah, Ga., where his army was being recruited and refitted. As soon as this was done, and he had collected supplies for the march. he was to move north through the Carolinas and enter Virginia in the rear of Petersburg and Richmond, and effect a junction with General Grant. The latter was to watch and follow General Lee and the rebel army of Virginia. if they attempted to leave their lines, so closely that they should not be able to escape and attack General Sherman when he entered Virginia. The soldiers composing the garrision at New
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Berne could only wait and watch the successive steps of this great campaign as its plan was gradually unfolded. General Sherman soon left Savannah and threw his army into the swamps and morasses of South Carolina, on his northward march. He was not to detach men or spend time to secure Charleston, or to capture Wilming- ton, but to march directly north to Goldsboro. In the meantime all of the men that could be spared from General Thomas's victorious army at Nashvillle. Tenn., were brought by rail to Annapolis, Md., and Washington, D. C., where they were embarked, and, under the command of Major-General Schofield, ordered to Wilmington. there to assist in the capture of that place. These forces were then to move north on the railroad to Goldsboro, or from New Berne to Goldsboro, and have supplies ready for General Sherman's army when it should reach that point.
When General Schofield reached Wilmington with his Twenty-third Army Corps, he found that Fort Fisher had been captured by General Terry, and he had ouly to assist in those movements which compelled the evacnation of Wilmington on the night of February 21st. Our forces entered that city February 22d, only to find that all the rolling stock had been removed, and the march on Goldsboro with supplies therefor impracticable within the the time required. While these movements were being made around Wilmington some five thousand men had been sent to General Palmer at New Berne, and a large quantity of rolling stock and engines, altered to the standard Virginia gauge of five feet. collected at Beaufort. Ou the 22d of February 1865, General Schofield ordered General Palmer to move from New Berne to Kinston, at once, repairing the railroad as he advanced. At the same time he ordered the Twenty-third Corps to New Berne. On the 25th he found that General Palmer had not yet commenced his march. and he placed Gen. J. D. Cox in command of the troops with orders to move. which were obeyed the same day.
It was at this time a significant event occurred which was hailed at the time as one of the signs of the approaching end of our great struggle. On the 25th of February, Company B, of the Sixth North Carolina (rebel) cavalry, came into our lines in a body, with their two lieutenants and horses, arms, and equipments, and delivered themselves np. After partaking of a bountiful supply of food, with
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the old flag at the head of their column, they entered the city. Here they were informed that they would receive pay for their horses and arms, and could either go north or be furnished with employment there. These men said that there were thousands in the rebel army who would come in if they only knew they would be received in sach a generous manner.
About March 1st Colonel Tew was placed in command of the forts and other defences of New Berne, and they were mainly garrisoned by the various companies of the Fifth and some detachments from other regiments. The troops of the Twenty-third Corps were uow arriving at New Berne by thousands, and this sudden influx of men taxed the powers and endurance of both the officers and men on duty in the city to the utmost. Supplies of all kinds had to be issued to them. and they soon filled the hospitals to overflowing. Everything had been left behind them at Nashville, and many of the regiments did not have even a regimental medicine chest with them. Often the morning sick call of the Fifth lasted well into the day, and as many as four hundred of these men received treatment at the regimental hospital in one day. A fleet laden with supplies of all kinds soo :: gathered at the wharves. and the local troops had to furnish details and guards for every purpose known at a base of supplies. In his report the Adjutant-General of Rhode Island. says : " During the forward movement from New Berne. the Fifth regiment. in addition to its other duties, furnished the provost guard for the city, patrols for picking up deserters and stragglers, guards for conveying convalescents and others to the front, a guard for trains running to Goldsboro and afterwards to Raleigh, a picket guard for protection against incur- sions by guerrilla bands, and performed various other kinds of duty in the city, at outposts and at the front. Many times a large per- centage of the men were sick in hospital. or in quarters, from the effects of the severe duty imposed upon them. Although during thi- period the regiment did not go to the front. the officers and men would willingly have changed places with any regiment in the field. and even went so far as to ask the commanding general to be sent there. But the experience of the regiment in the care of fortifications and the use of heavy guns, as well as the general work pertaining to garrison duty, caused it to be retained in New Berne." Such was
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the lot of the Fifth Rhode Island during these days of bustle and ex- citement.
To yield up Goldsboro and let General Sherman establish himself there with New Berne as his base of supplies was to practically an- younce the speedy fall of Richmond and the end of the Confederacy. No one knew this better than the rebel generals. Kinston must be held at any cost, as its possession determined the fate of Goldsboro. Ac- cordingly General Bragg assumed personal command of the troops defending Kinston. General Cox found them strongly posted at Wises's Fork, one and a half miles south of Southwest Creek. A stubbornly contested battle took place here. Through the want of cantion a detached force of our troops numbering about 700 men were captured almost to a man. The enemy repeatedly charged our lines, and were repulsed with heavy loss each time. It was not until 13th of March, and after the whole of the Twenty-third army corps had been advanced to our lines, that the enemy finally evacuated Kinston. Our troops had come to stay this time, and the railroad was at once repaired to that point.
Rebel prisoners of war did not always find their paths strewn with roses while sojourning among us. But, when once within the walls of our stockades, our worst treatment was infinitely superior to the best they ever bestowed on such unfortunates as fell into their hands. No rendezvous of rebel prisoners in all the North was so hated by them as Point Lookout, Md. We have put before our readers a tale of Andersonville and Florence. In order that it may be the more impartially judged we will give a glimpse into our own treatment of such rebel soldiers as the fortunes of war put into our hand.
On the 13th of March First Lieut. C. W. Howland, with one ser- geant and twelve men from the Fifth, reported to district headquar- ters for special duty. There Lieutenant Howland learned that he was to guard 362 rebel prisoners from New Berne to Fortress Monroe. They were to embark on an old transport, the S. R. Spoulding. which had just unloaded a cargo of beef cattle. The steamer was in a filthy condition, and the prisoners protested being sent aboard her until she had been cleansed. But there was no time to wait for that, so they had to embark. The steamer sailed that afternoon, and reached Fortress Monroe at eight o'clock on the morning of the 15th.
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Here Lieutenant Howland reported to General Ord, commanding the department, who ordered him to take the prisoners to Point Lookout, Md. They were landed, by means of a tug, a squad at a time, and guarded by a detachment from the fort until about four p. M., the next day, when they were embarked on the steamer Clyde for Point Lookont. Lieutenant Howland shall tell his own story :
Lieut. Charles E. Lawton.
" All went well until about ten o'clock. when we were within a mile or two of Point Lookout Light. I was in the act of getting into my berth, when suddenly I was flung against the door of my state- room with such force that it was thrown open and I landed full length under the dining-table in the saloon. right under the eyes of the old colored stewardess, who sat there sewing, and I wasn't in
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full dress either. Getting into my clothes as quick as possible, I ran forward to the hurricane deck. There I found the captain, lead line in hand, taking soundings. He told me that he had been run into, amidships, on the starboard side, by some unknown steamer, and cut through below the water line, and that our boat was making water fast. As soon as possible signals of distress were made, and the steamer came to our assistance.
At the time of the collision the prisoners were asleep inside the guard of the steamer, and when the boat that ran into us pulled her prow from the side of our steamer, the planking gave way and four of the prisoners fell into the sea and were never seen afterward. We soon learned that the steamer was the gunboat Western World. then on duty to prevent the destruction of the light-house at the Point, a raid having been made for the purpose of blowing it up some time before. The wind was blowing a gale, and the sea was so rough that the gunboat could not come alongside. so a line was sent to us, and preparations made to pass our men aboard. The painter of a surf-boat was kept around the hawser, but it seemed im- possible for the boat's crew to pull against the wind, the sea was roll- ing so high. I made the first attempt, and finally succeeded in reach- ing the gunboat, where the executive officer furnished me with dry clothing and plenty of hot coffee. In the meantime the captain of the Clyde had stuffed the great leak with mattresses and spiked plank- ing over it. He also shifted his chain boxes and other material to the opposite side so as to careen her over and make her tolerably safe.
By this time I had made arrangements to transfer the guard and prisoners to the gunboat. The guard came over first. One of the officers stood on one side and I on the other, with sailors holding us so we would not go overboard, then, when the surf-boat would rise ou a wave we would reach out and grasp a man by the shoulders and pull him in. The marines were formed in open ranks with cutlasses drawn and revolvers in hand, while the prisoners were marched be- low. When the hold was filled, those remaining on deck were chained, handcuffed, and strapped to the guns in every conceivable way. This was done for our own safety. One poor fellow had hie head crushed between the guard of the surf-boat and the side of the gunboat, killing him instantly, and we dropped the body overboard.
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". We worked all night in transferring the prisoners. The next morning, at about eight o'clock, we took the disabled steamer in tow and started for the Point. There I turned the prisoners over to the commandling officer, who was pleased to congratulate me for my good management.
" After receiving a receipt for my prisoners they were formed in single file and a descriptive list taken of each officer and private. Everything was taken from them except knife and tobacco. Then they were taken to the prison pen, or stockade, and turned over to the officer in charge, there to remain until exchanged. This stock- ade enclosed many acres, and extended far into the waters of the Chesapeake, giving the prisoners fine facilities for bathing. The fence was seventeen feet high, with a walk inside three feet from the top. for the guard. The prisoners were divided into squads, with a non-commissioned officer in charge of each squad. Their quarters were about the same as most camps, having very large and comforta-
ble tents for hospital purposes. The prisoners were allowed one-half of a government ration, which is sufficient for any unemployed man. If they desired the other half ration, or a plug of tobacco, or a ration of whiskey, they could get it by doing a day's work on the fortifica- tions. At tattoo roll call those who wished to work the following day could report to the non-commissioned officer in command of the squad. and the person so reporting would get his detail for duty. re- ceiving the promised reward at the elose of the day. The camp and all its surroundings were very neat and tidy.
". J remained at Point Lookout until late the next day, when I took passage on the S. R. Spaulding for Norfolk, and returned to New Berne by the way of the Dismal Swamp Canal and Roanoke Island. The officer in command of the gunboat was tried by a court-martial and dismissed from the service, for his recklessness in causing the collision."
Goldsboro was occupied by our forces March 21st. On that day General Sherman defeated the rebels under Gen. J. E. Johnston at Bentonville, N. C., and on the 23d his advance reached Goldsboro, where ample supplies were awaiting him. General Terry arrived about the same time from Wilmington, having marched along the line of the railroad. These armies remained here. resting and
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