USA > Rhode Island > Memoirs of Rhode Island officers who were engaged in the service of their country during the great rebellion of the South. Illustrated with thirty-four portraits > Part 37
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Lieutenant Brown immediately assumed command of this battery, Col- onel Hazard having been appointed to the command of the artillery of the corps. As lieutenant commanding, he took an active part with his battery in the operations about Chancellorsville under Major-General Hooker; and
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when Hancock assumed command of the second corps he was thenceforth associated with the campaigns of Hancock's corps, whose veterans were always the flower of the army of the Potomac. The Gettysburg campaign now opened, and, after the long and fatiguing marches to that historie ground, including the skirmish at Thoroughfare Gap, Lieutenant Brown, with his bat- tery, was stationed at the very point where Lee made his final and desperate assault upon Hancock's corps. At this time the battery went through a fiery ordeal. One-half of the men were killed or wounded. Lieutenant Brown, who had previously had a horse shot under him, was wounded severely in the neck, and, reeling in his saddle, fell to the ground.
The command now devolved upon Lieutenant Perrin. The following day (the 3d of July) the battery took an active part in the battle, being in an exposed position and receiving an enfilading fire from the enemy's batte- ries. In this battle the battery lost five killed and sixteen wounded. It also lost many horses, and was so much disabled that the men were transferred to battery A. In Angust, Lieutenant Perrin received a new four-gun battery, which he moved to Morrisville and other places.
In September, Lieutenant Brown found himself sufficiently recovered from his wound to return to the front in time to lead his battery into the .battle at Bristoe Station, where he fired the opening gun. We next find him at Mine Run, where his battery handsomely maintained its well-earned repu- tation. He went into winter quarters on the Rapidan. In March, 1864, he was appointed adjutant of the regiment, and became the recipient of an elegant sabre and belt, a gift from the men of his command as a token of their esteem. On the 13th of April, 1864, Adjutant Brown was commissioned captain of his old battery, and immediately made preparations for the great campaign about to ensue, under Grant. In the dangers and hardships of that unparalleled movement, Brown's battery had its full share. It was engaged at the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Po River, (where Captain Brown gained from the President his promotion of major by brevet,) North Anna, Tolopotamy, and Cold Harbor, in which battles the battery lost nearly half its effective force in men and horses. After the first unsuccessful assault upon Petersburg, and when the army was comparatively at rest, Major Brown was ordered to Rhode Island to recruit the depleted ranks of his battery.
The command of the battery now devolved upon Lieutenant Perrin, who, on the night of the 23d of August, was ordered to follow the second division
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THOMAS FREDERICK BROWN.
of the second army corps to Reams's Station, to reenforce the second division, then engaged in destroying the railroad. On the 25th, skirmishing and sharpshooting commenced and continued until two o'clock, P. M., when the battle began in earnest. The enemy charged on the right and were driven back. Soon after, a rebel shell took off Lieutenant Perrin's leg. The rebels again charged, and breaking through the line, came down on our flank. All the horses of battery B were killed and the guns lost. Besides the loss in killed and wounded, all the officers and about forty men were taken prisoners. Major Brown had scarcely reached home when he received news of this disaster. He immediately asked to be relieved from recruiting, and rejoined the remnant of his command.
On the 13th of August, 1864, the term of service of his battery having expired, Major Brown was placed in command of the consolidated veterans of batteries A and B, still retaining the old designation of battery B. With these men he participated in the various movements around Petersburg, Deep Bottom numbers one and two, and Thatcher's Run. He was stationed for two months in the memorable Fort Steadman, the nearest point along the lines to the works of the enemy, and the point where Lee subsequently made his successful assault, though attended with ultimate disaster. In the final opera- tions of the spring of 1865, Major Brown acted as inspector of artillery of the second army corps, and was in constant intercourse with the chief of artillery or the commanding general of the twenty-first corps, sharing all the fortunes of the conspicuous part taken by that corps in the closing military operations of the war. He was on the picket line with General Hazard at Appomattox Court House, the scene of the surrender of the rebel forces under General Robert E. Lee. For his services in this terminating campaign of the war, Major Brown received from the President his final promotion as lieutenant-colonel United States volunteers, by brevet. Colonel Brown left the service on the 12th of June, 1865, having served his country faithfully for a period of over four years, and after having participated in twenty-seven battles.
WILLIAM B. WEEDEN. BATTERY C.
ILLIAM B. WEEDEN was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, on the 18th of September, 1834. His father was a physician by profession, and, about a year after the birth of this son, removed to Westerly, a thriving, prosperous town, where a better field of labor was presented than in Bristol. The boy passed through the ordinary course of infancy and youth, impressing all who knew him by his truthfulness of character and quickness of intelligence. He attended school in Westerly until he was thirteen years of age, when he was sent to Suffield Academy, where he spent one year. Ile attained a creditable rank in his early studies, and won the esteem of his instructors by diligence and faithfulness. He entered Brown University on the 2d of September, 1848.
The college curriculum, however, did not entirely satisfy the inclinations of the youth. With a decided turn for business, he was only waiting at the University until a favorable opportunity for entering a good counting-room should present itself. Not that he was at all inattentive to the course of study which he had at first entered upon. He neglected none of his college duties, and acquired a good standing for scholarship, character and conduct. He faithfully pursued the prescribed routine, and, in his intercourse with his fellow-students and the professors, was marked for the possession of good qualities of mind and heart. But his tastes did not lie in the direction of professional life. At the age of seventeen, he left college and commenced his business life as a elerk in the house of Bradford & Taft, well known woolen
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WILLIAM B. WEEDEN.
manufacturers in Providence. Four years of apprenticeship confirmed his disposition for business and gained for him the confidence and high regard of his employers. By the exercise of habits of economy he had succeeded in saving one thousand dollars from his earnings, and, with this sum for his cap- ital, in March, 1856, he became a member of the firm in whose counting- room he had been trained for the occupation of life. The new firm assumed the name of Bradford, Taft & Company, and by that it was known until the retirement of the senior partner in IS -.
On the 12th of October, 1859, Mr. Weeden married Miss Amy Dexter Owen and established for himself a happy home. His college training had strengthened in him a love of knowledge, and with the charms of literature, in the peaceful enjoyment of domestic felicity, and in the exercise of an extensive and profitable occupation, he looked forward to many joyous and prosperous years. But death entered the happy circle, and cast its shadows over the household and the future. Mrs. Weeden died on the 18th of April, 1860.
It was a season of excitement and even of gloom throughout the country. The apparent madness of the south caused great anxiety in all quarters, and, when it culminated in civil war, aroused the country to a sense of its danger and a determination to preserve its life. The young men of the nation were mightily stirred. None felt a deeper interest in the struggle, or was more affected by the conviction of duty, than Mr. Weeden. He had had no mili- tary education and no experience in the school of the soldier. But he was known for a man of great probity and trustworthiness, and when the time came for organizing a battery of light artillery for three years, he received the appointment of second-lieutenant in the far-famed battery A, of Rhode Island. The date of his first commission was June 6, 1861. His first battle was at Bull Run, July 21st, where his courage, coolness and ability to com- mand were especially conspicuous. In this battle his horse was shot from under him. The marked efficiency which he displayed insured him rapid promotion, and on the 8th of August, 1861, he was appointed captain of battery C, in the first regiment Rhode Island light artillery. Immediately upon assuming command, Captain Weeden set himself at work to make his company the model volunteer battery in the service. He had no feeling of rivalry with other commands, but he had a very strong sense of duty. What was worth doing at all was worth doing well, and the officers and men of the battery soon felt the firm guiding hand of a commander to whom perfection was the object of every endeavor.
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During the subsequent autumn and winter, battery C was encamped on the Virginia side of the Potomac, and Captain Weeden had ample time and opportunity to train his command. He had no old traditions to cast aside, nothing to unlearn. His studies were upon new subjects, and he entered upon them with characteristic steadiness and zeal. He procured the neces- sary books, formed his officers into a class, prescribed daily lessons, daily recitations and councils, and reduced the life of the soldier to a complete system of military education. "Weeden went to work," writes one of his lieutenants, "taking his 'Tacties' and 'Regulations,' acquired ' Artillery,' and taught it to his officers and men precisely as he would have learned and taught sanscrit." The result was that his battery was well drilled-almost perfectly drilled. The officers of the regular army were astonished and delighted at the proficiency which the command attained. "This is the best volunteer battery in the service," said General Barry one day, after witnessing its evolutions, drill and target-firing. Captain, afterwards general, Charles Griffin, one of the best artillery officers in the service, was very hearty in his expressions of commendation, and formed with Captain Weeden a close friendship.
When the army of the Potomac took the field, Captain Weeden's battery was in General Fitz John Porter's corps, and served with that command during the term of Captain Weeden's service and for some time subsequently. Cap- tain Weeden was always a welcome visitor at the head-quarters of the corps. His personal character had in it so much manifest integrity and practical wis- dom, as to give great weight to his military opinions. He was frequently called into council, where the expressions of his ideas were always listened to and received with attention and respect. In all the battles on the Penin- sula in which General Porter's corps was engaged, Captain Weeden bore a conspicuous part, and won an enviable renown for personal bravery and his facility in handling his battery. At Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Gaines's farm, Mechanicsville, and Malvern Hill, Captain Weeden gained for himself and his command a permanent reputation for all good and soldierly qualities.
On the 20th of June, 1862, Captain Weeden was appointed chief of artillery of the first division of General Porter's corps. He had command of four batteries, numbering twenty-four guns. His duties in this position, espe- cially during the "seven days' fight" and retreat to James river, were particu- larly arduous. But they were always most faithfully performed, and attracted the attention and elicited the commendation of all who witnessed his efficiency.
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WILLIAM B. WEEDEN.
Always cool, always fearless, always trustworthy in the field and the camp, Cap- tain Weeden exhibited the characteristics of a true Christian soldier. The words of a friend, who served with him in many a scene of duty and danger, are not too strong to express the worth of such an officer : "Captain Weeden had, and has, without an exception that I ever knew, the fullest respect, the warmest esteem and admiration of every man who ever served under his command, and the fullest confidence of every commander under whom he served. His example formed and strengthened a great many officers who afterward won themselves honor, and made a great many good soldiers in the ranks, whose services were none the less valuable to their country because they are unwritten and individually unrecognized. This influence for good was felt throughout the regiment, and in batteries from other states which were tem- porarily under his command." To leave such a record is honor enough for any man.
It may well be eoneeived with what regret General Porter and other officers heard the intelligence of Captain Weeden's intended resignation. They were as unwilling to part from him as from a valued friend. They felt that the service would indeed suffer a great loss. Captain Weeden had already made great sacrifices, and was willing to make still more. But there were other claims upon him which he considered imperative. He accordingly tendered his resignation of his commission on the 22d of July, 1862. It was accepted with reluctance, and the parting of Captain Weeden with his battery, his brother officers and his companions in arms, was accompanied by manifes- tations of genuine sorrow. It was but little more than a year of service, but it was marked by deeds of irreproachable and distinguished virtue.
Captain Weeden immediately returned to Providenee, and since his resignation has been quietly engaged in the business in which he was at first employed. He is distinguished throughout the community in which he lives as an upright, honorable and generous man.
RICHARD WATERMAN. BATTERY C.
ICHARD WATERMAN was born in Providence, Rhode Island, January 29th, 1839. He is the son of William Henry and Martha Burrill (Pearce) Waterman. He was a member of the class of 1859, of Brown Univer- sity, but graduated with that of 1858, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York. At the commencement of the war, he returned to Providence ; enlisted in the first battery Rhode Island detached militia, and, remaining with that command through its term of service, was mustered out August 6th, 1861. August 8th, he accepted a commission as first-lieutenant in battery C; held that position eleven months, and was commissioned captain July 25th, 1862. He was mustered out of service at the expiration of his term September 2d, 1864.
It is worthy of note, that four officers bearing the name of Richard Waterman, members of the same Rhode Island family, held commissions at once in the United States army, one in each arm of the service, and a fourth in the quarter-master's department.
Battery C, the fourth enlisted in Rhode Island, commenced its term of active service in Virginia early in October, 1861, under command of Captain William B. Weeden. It had been organized at Providence in August, reached Washington September 1st, and after being stationed at Camp Sprague, D. C., for a month, was most fortunate in being ordered across the Potomac to the command of Brigadier-General Fitz John Porter. Very much of the subsequent reputation of the battery for acenrate drilling and target practice
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is due to his interest in the command, and to the judicious instruction of his chief of artillery, Captain (afterward major-general) Charles Griffin.
In the spring of 1862, the battery shipped for the Peninsula, and from that time its record is identified with that of the then newly-formed army of the Potomac, to the fifth corps of which it was assigned. The battery had the honor to fire the first shot at the fortifications of Yorktown, and was under heavy fire for many hours of the first day's fight, known as the battle of Yorktown. Here it met with its first loss in action, private Reynolds, who was also the first man killed in the fifth corps. During the long and tedious siege which followed, some portion of the command was constantly engaged, either in the trenches or in fatiguing and often very perilous picket duty. It is unnecessary to follow the battery after the evacuation of Yorktown through the march up the Peninsula. The advance of the army of the Peninsula, as it toiled slowly, mile by mile, through the almost impassible roads which con- ducted it to its future base on the Pamunky, was full of fatigue and hardships, of which battery C had its share. In the flank movement which preceded the battle of Fair Oaks, and in the action at Hanover Court House, the battery took part, and, returning to a position on the Chickahominy, was engaged in most harrassing picket duty in the swamps, whose malaria proved so destruc- tive to the health of the army. On the 26th of June, the battery marched to Mechanicsville. By the promotion of Captain Griffin to the grade of briga- dier-general, Captain Weeden became chief of artillery, and the immediate command of the battery from that time devolved on Lieutenant Waterman.
The service of the battery throughout the "seven days' fight," was most severe and destructive. In the battle of Gaines's Mills, a section under com- mand of Lieutenant W. W. Buckley, was lost after most gallant service, and not until every horse and more than half his men had fallen. A recent rebel report speaks of these two guns as a " terrible battery" which kept in check through three charges, a whole wing of the rebel army. The total loss of the command in this action, was fourteen men and sixty horses. The battery was again engaged in the glorious action of Malvern Hill, and was most fortunate in being assigned a position in the direct front of the rebel General Magruder's column, where it had a prominent part in repelling the desperate charges of that command. The battery's loss was again severe, about twenty men and ten horses. In the first part of the action, an accident occurred of the most depressing character. A battery of the first Connecticut heavy artillery, mis- taking battery C for a rebel battery, fired a forty-two pound shell into it with
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most fatal effect. Its explosion killed instantly two men, wounded four, and killed the horses upon which Lieutenant Waterman and First-Sergeant Hunt were seated, the riders very narrowly escaping death. After this action, the army falling back to Harrison's Landing, the battery remained at that place until the evacuation of the Peninsula, occupying its time in replacing the men and material lost in the recent campaign.
There Captain Weeden left the battery, having resigned his commission. He had been always an energetic, brave, and most judicious officer, and possessed the fullest confidence of his commanding generals, and the warm affection of his men. His thorough instruction and wise discipline, were of the greatest use to the battery, not only during his connection with it, but throughout its term of service ; and it received as well as conferred honor, by being known until disbanded, as "Weeden's Rhode Island battery," among all its early friends.
The battery accompanied the army of the Potomac in the toilsome march down the Peninsula and to the field of Manassas, where it was engaged during the whole of that disastrous fight, changing position four times, but suffering small loss from the enemy. Some idea of the exhausted state of the army of the Peninsula after their marches, may be formed from the fact that the men of battery C had had no rations for twenty-four hours preceding the battle, and the horses neither food nor water for a longer period, although they had been constantly on the march for nine days.
In the battle of Antietam, the battery took no active part, but was engaged in a slight skirmish at Blackburn's Ford, the next day.
The 1st of November, 1862, the army crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry and marched to Warrenton, where General Burnside took command, and proceeded to Fredericksburg. For ten days during and succeeding the attack on that place, the battery had most severe service. From daylight of the 10th of December, to the noon of the 13th, it was in position upon the bank of the river, expending over two thousand rounds of ammunition in covering the laying of pontoons and in bombarding the city. During these three, and indeed four nights, the men of the command had almost no sleep and little rest ; yet, when ordered, on the afternoon of the 13th, to eross the river, they rendered what General Burnside recognized as most valuable ser- vice in the battle. Owing to the very favorable form of the ground chosen, the loss of the battery was small, although it was for nearly thirty hours under the direct fire of the enemy's twenty and thirty-two pounder guns, at eight
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hundred and fifty yards' range. On the night of the 14th of December, the battery recrossed the river and remained in position until the 30th, when it. returned to camp at Potomac creek. It remained here until the middle of January, 1863, when it took part in the projected campaign against Richmond, which was abandoned from the state of the roads. The exposure and fatigue of this winter march, was, however, very destructive to the horses and mate- rial of the command, and to the health of the men. It remained in quarters until the last of April, when it marched in the campaign under General Hooker, which terminated in the bloody battle of Chancellorsville. Here the battery was able to render very effective service, especially a section detached under command of Lieutenant Sackett, a most gallant and energetic officer who was seriously wounded, after losing five men.
The next action of importance in which the battery took part, was the severe and decisive battle of Gettysburg. It was held in reserve during most of the action, and suffered no loss. During most of the ensuing summer the battery was camped at New Baltimore, near Warrenton. The severe marches and counter-marches of the army in the fall of this year are easily recalled by all who followed the movements of the army of the Potomac. In all of these, battery C took part, and in many skirmishes. Especially in the action of Rappahannock Station, November 9th, which was one of the most brilliant affairs of the war, it had a very prominent part, and sustained some loss. It was engaged in the expedition to Mine Run and to Madison Court House in the winter of 1863-4, and in the former lost one man, who was the only man disabled in the sixth corps in that action. The battery was in winter quar- ters near Brandy Station, Virginia, until, under the command of General Grant, the army of the Potomac, in the spring of 1864, commenced its last and most successful campaign with the terrible battles of the Wilderness. Here, in the last day's fighting, again at Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and, after crossing the James, at Petersburg, and in many skirmishes and minor engagements, the battery was engaged, with various losses. Its share was large of the terribly exhausting and exposing marches of this cam- paign, of its fatigues and hardships and sufferings under a summer sum on the dry plains of Virginia. On the 8th of July, the battery left City Point with two divisions of the sixth corps for Washington, to repel the attack of the rebel column under Early. Hurried at once to the front, they had a promi- nent part in the brilliant and successful campaigns of General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley.
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August 25th, 1864, in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, the battery was disbanded, and, under charge of Lieutenant R. H. Rich, the men whose term of service had expired, marched for Providence. The men who had reenlisted, with those who had joined the battery as recruits, remained, under command of Lieutenant Jacob H. Lamb, and reenforced by details from the infantry of the corps, took part in the battles of Cedar Creek and of Fisher's Hill, performing the valiant service due from such gallant veterans, and suffering severe loss. They were soon consolidated with Captain Adams's battery, G, and remained under his command until the muster out of that organization.
In closing this hurried review of the services of battery C, it is proper to note that the average age of the men who performed such severe and such satisfactory service, was far less than the general average in the field. Many of those who became the best soldiers, were boys of fifteen and sixteen at enlistment. Officers of the regular army, and others unprejudiced, have had occasion to remark that they had seldom seen men of any age so cool and thoughtful in action, bearing so easily and uncomplainingly great exposure and privation, so obedient to discipline, so soldierly in appearance. These were the individual qualities of the men themselves. To the non-commis- sioned officers and private soldiers, for their brave and faithful discharge of duty, belongs mainly whatever the battery has added to the good name of Rhode Island. The promotions from the ranks for gallantry cost the bearers of those honorable commissions very dearly. Out of nine, one was killed, three lost limbs, one was severely wounded, one lost his health by exposure in service, and one was taken prisoner. The services of the many brave and conscientious lieutenants who were attached to the battery at one time or another during its many campaigns, are noticed elsewhere in this work. Officers and men were alike worthy of that admiration and respect which each inspired in the other. To the men who fell in battle, and to those who died in hospital, in prison or at home, wasted by disease and by wounds, it is hoped that their state will one day build a monument worthy of the sacrifice which they made, and of the cause in which they died.
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