USA > Rhode Island > History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862 > Part 18
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III. Capt. J. Brice Smith is announced as assistant adjutant-general to this command, and Lieut. T. M. Farrel, Fifteenth New York Volunteers, as A. D. C. to the General Commanding.
J. G. BARNARD, Brigadier-General,
Commanding Defences of Washington.
36
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282
THE TENTH REGIMENT
August 2Ist. A note was received by Colonel Shaw from Lieutenant-Colonel Haskin, asking if the regiment would be will- ing to be sworn in for an extra term of from two to four weeks, until relieved by another regiment. The following is his reply :
HEADQUARTERS TENTH REGIMENT R. I. VOLS., FORT PENNSYLVANIA, August 22, 1862.
COLONEL : Yours of the 21st requesting the regiment to remain two weeks or one month after the expiration of their term of service is received, and has been laid before the regiment. I regret to say it has not met their appro- bation, although when all the circumstances are considered I am not surprised at the result. You will remember that the regiment started from Rhode Island at twenty-four-hours' notice, coming simply for the emergency, and expecting to be released within a month. Many of them left important business matters, and permanent situations, that they feel must be attended to. They will have staid on the 26th inst., the longest time as they understood it, when they left home, that would possibly be required of them, and have made their arrange- ments expecting to be at home at that time. We have many amongst us who are expecting positions in the regiments to be sent from our State, and many that wish to obtain the large bounties that are now being offered by many of the towns. These all wish to go. The epidemic fever which now prevails at Fort Pennsylvania has a great influence. Sick men always wish to get home. Under these circumstances, I trust you will do the regiment the justice to be- lieve that its disinclination to stay is not from any lack of patriotism or desire to comply with every wish of the government. So much, we think, was mani- fested by the readiness with which they volunteered for what then appeared immediate, active service, and the cheerfulness with which they have served through the longest time mentioned as the limit of our stay. I trust that our reply when thus explained will meet the approbation of General Barnard.
I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Signed, JAMES SHAW, JR.
To COL. J. A. HASKIN, A. D. C.
Colonel Commanding.
283
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
"This reply and the action of the regiment I was assured by Colonel Haskin was perfectly satisfactory. He did not think the regiment should have been called on to stay, and said that had General Barnard (who had just assumed the command) under- stood the circumstances, as he did, he would not have made the request.
"On the 22d inst., the One Hundredth and Thirteenth New York Volunteers arrived and encamped on our old ground of 'Camp Frieze,' and the next day the following order was issued :
HEADQUARTERS DEFENCES OF WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON, August 23, 1862.
General Orders No. 2.
I. EXTRACT. In pursuance of orders from the War Department, all regi- ments of three months' volunteers within this command, will be mustered out of service at the points where they organized respectively.
They will be placed en route for the rendezvous, so as to arrive there one or two days before the expiration of their time.
Official :
J. A. HASKIN, A. D. C.
By order of Brigadier-General BARNARD,
Signed, J. B. SMITH, A. A. G.
"On the 24th of August, the One Hundredth New York Vol- unteers took their post at the several forts and batteries, and on the 25th we took up our homeward march to Washington."
" Returning to the peaceful pursuits of life," says our worthy and valiant Matthew Bagnet, "We sheathe our sword, hang our armor on the wall, and return our 'Bagnet' to its scabbard, until our country again calls us to her defence."
mo no Balire diet pel
. 284
THE TENTH REGIMENT
During the months of July and August, 1862, when the Tenth Rhode Island Regiment was quietly holding the forts near the capital, an entire change had taken place in the military situation in Virginia. The retreat of General McClellan to the James River, July Ist, and the bitter feelings and controversies which it occasioned, led General Pope to ask to be relieved from General-in-Chief. the command of the Army of Virginia. Instead of granting the request, President Lincoln, who appeared to lack confidence in McClellan's ability, decided to appoint Gen. Henry W. Halleck, general-in-chief. To bring this about, Gov- ernor Sprague, of Rhode Island, was sent July 6th, on a confiden- tial mission to Corinth, General Halleck's headquarters. On the IIth, General Halleck was appointed general-in-chief. General Pope favored this course, and united with Secretary Stanton and General Scott in advising that McClellan should be superseded and Halleck placed in charge of military affairs at Washington. Unfortunately General Halleck did not arrive in Washington and assume command till July 23d, nearly two weeks after his appoint- ment. After looking over the situation in Virginia, he deter- mined to withdraw the Army of the Potomac from the James river and unite it with the Army of Virginia. General McClellan remonstrated in vain, General Halleck replying : "I find the two armies hopelessly separated, with the Confederates between, and I propose to reunite them."
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285
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
What proved to be a singularly just criticism of the capacity of General Halleck appeared in the Providence Journal of July 19th, just a week after his appointment, and is doubtless from the pen of Senator Anthony, the senior editor, and also our accomplished senator. He said, "The general impression is that the talent of General-in-Chief Senator Henry B. Anthony. H. W. Halleck is more conspicuous in the council, than in the field. Doubtless he has admirable qualities as a military coun- cilor." In his subsequent efforts to direct the movements of our armies in Virginia, from his office in Washington, he proved no match for Lee and Jackson, in the field. Senator Anthony was always an honored guest at the headquarers of the Tenth.
Henry B. Anthony was governor of Rhode Island from 1849 to 1851, and a senator of the United States from March 4, 1859 till he died in Providence, September 2, 1884. His eloquent words spoken for another, are his own fitting eulogy: "The State that he served so faithfully and so well, in the time of her emergency, proudly lifts his name and inscribes it on the roll of her honored and remembered sons. And the history of that State cannot be fairly written without honorable mention of his character and his services. The Senate which he informed with wise councils, which he adorned with dignity of manners and with purity of life, bears equal testimony to his abilities and to his virtues, and equal honor to his memory."
286
THE TENTH REGIMENT
July 23d. Author's correspondence : "Headquarters Army of Virginia, Washington. General Halleck, from the West, arrived to-day, and is now general-in-chief of the army. Colonel Ruggles, chief of Pope's staff, says that arrangements to leave for 'the front,' cannot be completed with General Halleck before Friday, 25th inst. An important movement is now on foot. General Hatch of General Banks corps, is with the advance at Culpeper. He has a large cavalry force with orders to move south to Gor- donville, destroy the railroad to Lynchburg, and the James river canal, if possible, the two sources from which the Confederates, at Richmond, receive their supplies. General Pope says if Hatch is successful, the President will make him a major-general, and that the evacuation of Richmond must follow.
"Charles Wildman and myself (Tenth R. I. Vols.), have been summoned before General Pope to answer a charge of appropriating his fancy cigars. You know we sleep at the office. Pope is very violent and profane at times. This was one of the times. We finally got in a sockdolager by proving that we didn't smoke. Now Gen. Samuel P. Sturgis is the cigar forager. We have seen him walk in to the office, step up to the mantel, and take a good handful at a time,-but we thought that was his business-if he could forage without being caught.
"July 24th. All quiet on the Potomac. I had my bunk last night on top of an old shoe-case. I got to dreaming, and rolled off on the floor. I jumped up quickly, thinking we were attacked, but found it was only a 'change of base.'
"July 25th. General Pope is becoming vexed and impatient at the continued delays. His letters and dispatches are harder than
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287
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
ever to make out. In a message to President Lincoln, he says : 'I am becoming anxious and uneasy to join my command in the field.' Generals Burnside and McDowell called at headquarters to-day. Officers in gold lace and gilt buttons are thick here. There are brigadier generals enough on Pennsylvania Avenue, if not at ' the front.' I met Hon. William H. Seward, to-day, Secretary of State, out for a walk. It was Mr. Seward, Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. who, at the opening of the war, spoke of the antagonism between slavery and freedom as an 'irrepressible conflict.'
"A cavalry expedition recently went within thirty-five miles of Richmond, to Beaver Dam Creek Station, tearing up the railroad, destroying the depot, and taking a Confederate officer and three privates, prisoners. Well, these prisoners were at ' headquarters' to-day, for examination. We had quite a talk with them when the officers got through. They were a rough looking crowd, no two dressed alike. The stuff their clothes were made of, looked just exactly like that old bagging up in the attic. Were they scared? Not any, I can tell you ; nor would they give a particle of information to anybody. They wanted to know how quick they could be exchanged, as they wanted to get right back to the Confederacy. One of them, an adjutant of the First Virginia Cavalry, said to me, 'You uns will find it will take the North a right smart while to whip the South.'
288
THE TENTH REGIMENT
General Hatch's great cavalry expedition to Gordonville was a failure. It is claimed that Hatch didn't obey orders, and Pope has relieved him from command. But other officers say that the trouble was that Stonewall Jackson got there first, with fifteen thousand of his foot cavalry.
"July 26th. The President has issued an order communicating information of the death of Ex-President Martin Van Buren. As a mark of respect for his memory, the Executive Mansion and the several Departments, except of the Army and Navy, will be , placed in mourning, and all business will be suspended, to-day, during the funeral. By order of the Secretary of War, suitable military and naval honors will be paid to the memory of the illus- trious dead. The national flag will be displayed at half staff, the troops paraded, the orders read to them, and minute guns will be fired. The following order has been issued here :
" HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, July 25, 1862. To Brigadier-General Sturgis :
The Secretary of War directs by an order received at these headquarters that the preceding orders of the President and Secretary of War be carried into effect to-morrow, by the troops in this district.
Signed, GEORGE D. RUGGLES, Colonel and Chief of Staff.
" Later, July 26th. Pennsylvania Avenue Hotel, near George- town (a small family hotel). I am confined to my bed with a severe attack of malaria. But I am in good hands. The head- quarters' surgeon is looking after me, and a lady stopping here is very kind, who says I remind her of an absent brother. It was fortunate for me that I wasn't sent to a hospital."
289
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
"At this time the city was full of sick and wounded soldiers, and more were arriving daily from the Peninsula. Many private build- ings and public halls were taken for their accommodation,-where they could receive better care and treatment. Hundreds of the loyal women of the North came to Washington to minister to the sick soldiers, and many a poor man lives to be grateful to them for their cooling drinks and cheering words. Their devo- tion touched Mr. Lincoln's heart, and in a speech which he made about this time at the close of a soldiers' fair, he said : 'I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy ; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women, but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of woman were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. God bless the women of America !' Much good was accom- plished also, by those who remained at home, in corresponding with the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals. In addition to many home comforts furnished, the sweet influences of home were con- tinued and cherished, by many kindly messages of advice and encouragement. Here are a few which have been preserved :
"'Dear Soldiers. The little girls of send this box to you. They hear that many of you are sick, and some of you have been wounded in battle. They are very sorry, and want to do something for you. They cannot do much, for they are small ; but they have bought with their own money, and made what is in here. They hope it will do some good, and that you will all get well, and come home. We all pray to God for you night and morning.' 37
290
THE TENTH REGIMENT
"In another case, on a pillow was pinned the following note :
" ' My dear friend. You are not my husband or son ; but you are the husband or son of some woman who undoubtedly loves you as I love mine. I have made these garments for you with a heart that aches for your sufferings, and with a longing to come to you, to assist in taking care of you. It is a great comfort to me, that God loves and pities you, pining and lonely in a far off hospital, and if you believe in God, it will also be a comfort to you. Are you near death, and soon to cross the dark river ? Oh, then, may God soothe your last hours, and lead you up "the shining shore," where there is no war, no sickness, no death. Call on Him, for He is an ever present helper.'
"'Dear soldier. If these socks had language they would tell you that many a kind wish has been knit into them, and many a tear of pity for you has bedewed them. We all think of you, and want to do everything we can for you, for we feel that we owe you unlimited love and gratitude, and that you deserve the very best at our hands.'
" Here is another of a different character :
"' My dear boy. I have knit these socks expressly for you. How do you like them ? How do you look, and where do you live when you are at home? I am nineteen years old, of mediun height, of slight build, with blue eyes, fair complexion, light hair, and a good deal of it. Write and tell me all about yourself, and how you get on in the hospital. Direct to
""' P. S .- If the recipient of these socks has a wife, will he please exchange with some poor fellow, who is not so fortunate ? '
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1
291
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
" ' My brave friend. I have learned to knit, on purpose to knit socks for the soldiers. This is my fourth pair. My name is -, and I live in -. Write to me, and tell me how you like the foot-gear, and what we can do for you. Keep up your courage, and bye and bye you will come home to us. Won't that be a grand time, though ? And won't we all turn out to meet you, with flowers and music, and cheers, and embraces ? "There's a good time coming, boys !"'
"Very many of these notes were answered by the soldiers who received them, and a correspondence ensued, which sometimes ended in life-long friendship.
"A nicely made dressing gown, in one of the boxes, had one pocket filled with hickory nuts, and the other with ginger-snaps. The pockets were sewed across to prevent the contents from dropping out, and the following note was pinned on the outside :
" ' My dear fellow : Just take your ease in this dressing-gown. Don't mope, and have the blues, if you are sick. Moping never cured anybody yet. Eat your nuts and cakes if you are well enough, and snap your fingers at dull care. I wish I could do more for you, and if I were a man I would come and fight with you. Woman though I am, I'd like to help hang Jeff Davis higher than Haman,-yes, and all who aid and abet him, too, whether North or South !'
"There was exhumed from the depths of one great box, a bushel of cookies tied in a pillow-case, with this benevolent wish tacked on the outside : 'These cookies are expressly for the sick soldiers, and if anybody else eats them, I hope they will choke him !'
292
THE TENTH REGIMENT
"A very neatly arranged package, of second-hand clothing, but little worn, was laid by itself. Every article was superior in qual- ity, and in manufacture. Attached to it was the following card :
"'The accompanying articles were worn for the last time by one very dear to the writer, who lost his life at Shiloh. They are sent to our wounded soldiers as the most fitting disposition that can be made of them, by one who has laid the husband of her youth-her all-on the altar of her country.'
"Thus we can realize the passionate interest in the soldiers, felt by the women of the North. They toiled, retrenched, econ- omized, to furnish the necessary supplies for the hospitals, and hallowed them with their patriotic and religious spirit. Like their grandmothers of the Revolution, they flung heart and soul into the labor of willing hands.
" Here are a few of the directions on boxes for the hospitals :
""'For the love of God, give these articles to the sick and wounded to whom they are sent !'
"' He that would steal from a sick or wounded man, would rob hen-roosts, or filch pennies from the eyes of a corpse !'
" 'Surgeons and nurses ! Hands off ! These things are not for you, but your patients,-our sick and wounded boys !'
""'Don't gobble up these delicacies, nurses ! They are for the boys in the hospitals !'
" We close these sketches with a scene at the Washington barracks :
"'A pale and sick, but good looking soldier, ready for transpor- tation, and an anxious young lady nurse, in search of a subject :
293
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
" Lady nurse .- ' My poor fellow, can I do anything for you ?'
" Soldier (emphatically) .- ' No, ma'am ! Nothin' !'
" Lady nurse .- ' I should like to do something for you? Shall I not sponge your face and brow for you ?'
" Soldier (despairingly) .- ' You may if you want to, very bad ! but you'll be the fourteenth lady as has done it this blessed mornin' !'"
Author's correspondence at " Headquarters " resumed :
"July 28th. Before General Pope left Washington, to join his army in the field, at Warrenton, Va., General Halleck announced his purpose to withdraw the Army of the Potomac, from the James, and unite it with the Army of Virginia, via Fredericks- burg ; that army (under Pope), to advance promptly to the Rapidan, keeping the approaches to Washington covered, and oppose and delay any advance of the enemy northward to the last extremity. On the next day (the 30th), General Halleck ordered General McClellan to send away his sick, and on the 3d of August he telegraphed, 'It is determined to withdraw your army from the Peninsula to Aquia Creek.' General McClellan again protested against this movement, as did Generals Dix, Burnside, and Sumner. General Halleck replied : 'There is no alternative, I have taken the responsibility.' The movement began at once. Between the Ist of August and the 16th, 14,159 sick and wounded soldiers were sent away, many of them necessarily to the North. The first troops arrived at Aquia Creek within seven days, and the last of the infantry within twenty-six days after the receipt of the order.
DOMEL
294
THE TENTH REGIMENT
"On the other hand, to meet the advance of Pope, Stonewall Jackson with his own and Ewell's division, was at Gordonsville. General Lee says in his official report : 'The army at Harrison's Landing (McClellan's), continuing to manifest no intention of resuming active operations, and General Pope's advance having reached the Rapidan, Gen. A. P. Hill's division was ordered on July 27th to join General Jackson, as it seemed that the most effectual way to relieve Richmond was to advance upon General Pope.' This was promptly done, and as soon as General Lee became aware of the movement withdrawing the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula, he turned his whole army north- ward, choosing between the danger of losing Richmond, the crush- ing of Pope's army and the capture of Washington."
" July 30th." Author resumes : "Headquarters Army of Virginia, in the Field, Warrenton, Va. We arrived here yester- day afternoon. I was hardly fit to come, being still weak from an attack of malaria; but when I found that headquarters were really off, I insisted on going, also. So, here I am, in Warrenton, right side up, I guess, only a little the worse for wear. It took us about two hours to get here, via Alexandria, Manassas and Catlett's Station. The road was very rough, and the cars were rickety. Headquarters are established at the Young Ladies' Seminary, a large brick building, pleasantly located. Our office is in the main school-room, and we now occupy the school desks. I hardly expected to attend school 'down in old Virginny!' As everything here is contraband of war, we went through the desks this morning, in search of information for General Pope, and suc- ceeded in capturing quite a quantity of female correspondences.
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295
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
The young ladies of this school appear to be in a very rebellious state of mind, judging from these little rebel billet doux, fancifully folded, three cornered and otherwise, they were evidently in- tended for parting gifts, when the school broke up in a hurry. One young lady, after enlarging on her music lessons, ** and a recent serenade, adds : 'I hope the Yankees won't get my letter !' The Author at 17. "at Headquarters," in Warrenton, Va. Another, addressed to 'My Dear Eloise,' is more pathetic, and expresses a sort of melancholy foreboding. She says: 'That was a very sad accident, was it not, which befell our beloved General Ashby ? It does seem as though all our distinguishd men were being taken! Oh! if we could only have piece once more, how delightful it would be!' (The loss of General Ashby was greatly mourned in the South. He was one of the leading cavalry commanders of Stonewall Jackson's army, and was killed in the battle of Cross Keys, Va., June 6th.) Another letter captured by my comrade Charles Wildman, of the Tenth, was signed, Hattie P. Beauregard, Corinth, Miss. He was very choice of it, pretending to believe that it had come direct from General Beauregard's headquarters, and was probably the production of one of his fair daughters. They all indicated a scarcity of envelopes, being directed like the inclosed on coarse brown paper wrappers. Probably home communication will be more difficult from here than from Washington. I don't suppose that we will remain here long, as General Pope means to push on.
296
, THE TENTH REGIMENT
"The Confederate prints indicate the spirit of the Southern women : ‘Messrs. Editors, I see that General Beauregard has called for bells, to be manufactured into cannon. I send mine as a beginning.' Another says, 'I send you the weight which was attached to the striking part of our clock, with the hope that every woman in the Confederacy will do likewise.'
"The members of one of the regiments stationed here have 'good mouths for music.' Here is their programme for to-morrow night :
NINTH NEW YORK REGIMENT SOCIAL UNION,
Warrenton Hotel, Thursday Evening, July 31, 1862.
PROGRAMME.
PART FIRST.
Grand March ; " Norma,"
BAND.
Old Musketeer,
GRAHAM & Co.
Ballad,
LODEN.
Comic Song,
. BARNES.
Recitation, HOWARD.
Ballad,
JOYCE.
Virginia Rose Bud,
PART SECOND.
BAND.
Storm Galop,
ATKINSON.
Happy Dreams,
LIEUTENANT HUBBARD.
Recitation ; " Lady of Lyons,"
Comic Song, ADJUTANT TUTHILL.
GRAHAM.
Ballad ; " Miller's Song,"
ATKINSON AND GRAHAM.
Duett; "Larboard Watch,"
THOMPSON & Co.
Fairy Bell, chorus,
ATKINSON & Co.
Limerick Races.
GRAHAM & Co.
297
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS.
"Warrenton is a pleasant Virginia town. It is at the ter- minus of the Warrenton branch of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and nine miles from Warrenton junction. It appears to be a place of considerable importance, and before the war had a population of about eight thousand. Most of the men are in the Confederate service, the once celebrated Black Horse Cavalry having been principally recruited in this vicinity. The people remaining are entirely secesh, and several of our men have been shot at from the windows. The churches are occupied for hos- pital purposes. The streets are bordered with fine shade trees. Near by is the former elegant residence of the Confederate general, Gustavus W. Smith.
"August 2d. Great numbers of our troops are constantly passing here for Culpeper Court House, and the roads are liter- ally blocked." As we watched them they appeared more like an army of boys on a holiday excursion than soldiers who within a brief week would be tried in the fierce encounter at Cedar Mountain. Yet the official record shows that the younger men stood the test of marching and fighting far better than the older comrades. The Union Army was made up mainly of very young men. It averaged a little under twenty-two years of age. The "walk-soldiers," as the cavalrymen called them, looked with envious eyes upon the officers, booted and spurred, as they galloped gayly ahead with their clinking sabres, and many a foot-soldier, like our own worthy Gen. Horatio Rogers, won his horse and spurs by faithful and gallant service. General Rogers's motto when a foot-soldier, with which he earned his way to deserved promotion, was "a horse or a hearse."
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