USA > Virginia > City of Portsmouth > City of Portsmouth > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 11
USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 11
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After a short interval of rest, from a half-hour to an hour, the regiment was ordered to charge the enemy's guns and their in- fantry supports, and the men moved forward on a run, cheering as they went. They rushed over a long flat piece of ground, down a valley, up the opposite hill, down into another depression and up the hill, upon the top of which were a hundred cannon and forty thousand men, firing at them showers of shell, grape, canister and minie balls. It was like sending a small terrier to charge an elephant, and the long list of killed and wounded testify to the bravery of the men and the incompetency of the comman- der who sent them upon their hopeless errand. The color ser- geant of the 9th Regiment was wounded and the flag-staff was shot in two, but Captain Kilby, of Company I, of Norfolk county, picked the flag up and brought it off the field. After its repulse the regiment fell back to the depression in the ground nearest to the enemy's line and, partially sheltered by the rising ground in front, continued the engagement until long after dark, when the battle ended and the troops were re-called from the field. The 8
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regiment lost heavily in this battle. Captain Dennis Vermillion and Privates John C. Bennett and Melzar G. Fiske, of the Old Dominion Guard, of Portsmouth, were killed, as were also Ser- geant Wm. H. White, of the Portsmouth Rifles, and Lieutenant Cornelius Dozier and Sergeant Joseph Prentis, of Company I, of Norfolk county. Sergeant Prentis was a gallant boy not more than eighteen years of age, and was the son of Mr. Robert Pren- tiss, who, for a number of years before the war, was Proctor at the University of Virginia. His body was recovered the day after the battle and was found to be nearer the works of the enemy than any other. Sergeant Henry B. Lewer, Corporal Lucillicus Jones and Private Thos. Parker also were killed. Adjutant James F. Crocker was seriously wounded and did not rejoin the regimeut until October, 1862. Grimes' Battery distinguished itself at Malvern Hill and made a reputation for gallantry which was marked, even in that army where gallant deeds were common. Had a Jackson commanded the right wing of General Lee's army General Mcclellan's retreat would have been cut off before he reached Malvern Hill and his army possibly captured. The posi- tions of the two lines would have been reversed and he would have been compelled to have carried Malvern Hill himself by assault in order to have effected his escape. The result would not have been in doubt. His attack would have been repulsed in front while Jackson's, Hill's and Longstreet's Divisions would have closed in on his rear. For official reports of this battle see further on.
After the battle of Malvern Hill General R. H. Anderson was appointed commander of Huger's Division. The 9th Regiment was moved back toward Richmond and on the 9th of July erossed the James river into Chesterfield county and went into camp at Falling creek, where the men were put to work drilling daily and building earthworks. On the 16th of August the regiment marehed to Richmond and took the cars for Louisa courthouse, reaching there at midnight. This movement was in connection with the advanee of the army against General Pope, which eul- minated in the second battle at Manassas and the invasion of Maryland. Marching through Louisa and Orange counties, the men forded the Rapidan at Summerville, marched through Cul- peper county and crossed the Orange and Alexandria railroad at Brandy Station. On the 24th the regiment had a skirmish with Federal cavalry on the opposite side of the Rappahannock river and on the 25th pushed across the river into Fauquier county. On the 28th it had a very severe fight at Warrenton Springs with the enemy's infantry and artillery, in which private Wm. H. Hambleton, of the Old Dominion Guard, and Augustus Johnson, drummer of the Portsmouth Rifles, and Ordinance Sergeant Giot, of Norfolk county, were among the killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel
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THE NINTHI VIRGINIA REGIMENT.
Gilliam and Major Owens were wounded. On the 29th the march was resumed at 3:30 p. m. The brigade passed through Thorough- fare Gap and halted until 11 p. m., when the march was again resumed and continued all night. Passing through Haymarket and Drainsville, the brigade arrived on the battle field at Manassas about daybreak on the morning of the 30th. By an unexplained mistake the brigade was marched inside the Federal lines but withdrew quicty without being discovered and, marching back about a mile, the men lay down to rest and sleep, while waiting for orders. Anderson's Division was the rear division of the army and Armistead's Brigade was the rear of the division, so that, with their arrival, General Lee had his whole army at hand.
Ilistory has described the second battle of Manassas. It has told how Jackson, by his grand flank march, placed himself in rear of General Pope's army and intercepted his retreat upon Washington ; how Pope attacked him on the 29th of August but was repulsed with overwhelming loss; how Jackson maintained his position with his right resting on the Warrenton turnpike, along which General Lee was advancing with Longstreets corps to reinforce him ; how General Lee formed his army in the shape of a letter V, with Jackson's corps on the left and Longstreet's on the right, and when Pope, on the morning of 30th, advanced to renew the attack upon Jackson, Longstreet's corps struck his flank. It has recorded also the important part which Anderson's Division of Longstreet's corps played in that great battle. It held the enemp in check until the time had arrived for a general advance along the whole line, when it joined in the grand rush of infantry and artillery, and the Federal lines in its front were swept out of existence. Guns, flags, stores and innumerable prisoners fell into its possession. During the battle Armistead's Brigade had orders to support Mahone's Brigade of the same division, which was in the front line, but Mahone's Brigade never faltered. It made a grand charge that day and covered itself with glory, and therefore Armistead's Brigade had no opportunity to get into the front line but followed it in reserve. The brigade was not an actual participant in the battle to the extent of en- gaging the enemy, though it was continuously exposed to the fire of the Federal artillery and lost a number of men, among them Private Lewis Whitfield, of the Portsmouth Rifles, Co. G, 9th Va. He was from North Carolina, and was attending school at the Virginia Collegiate Institute in Portsmouth when the war broke out, and as several of his school friends joined the Rifles he joined that company also. He was killed by a shell, which tore away one of his hips.
Armistead's Brigade and the 9th Regiment with it, moved on with the army into Maryland, took part in the investment and capture of Harper's Ferry, which surrendered September 14th,
*
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with 12,000 prisoners and 73 guns, and at 4 p. m. on the 15th started to rejoin General Lee, who was concentrating his army at Sharpsburg. The regiment crossed the Potomac into Virginia, made a detour through Jefferson county, recrossed the Potomac at Shepherdtown and reached the battle field at Sharpsburg at 9 a. m. on the 17th, in time to take part in the repulse of Sumner's corps, which was pressing heavily upon the Confederate left and left centre. General Lee in this battle, with 35,000 men, held his ground all day and repulsed General Mcclellan's assaults, with 90,000 men, and held possession of the battle field. General McClellan made no attempt to renew the battle the next day and as General Lee had nearly exhausted his supply of ammunition and was far from his base of supplies, he decided to fall back into Virginia. The 9th Virginia remained on the field until 3 p. m. on the 18th, when it fell back to the Potomac, recrossed at Shep- herdtown and was retained on picket duty on the banks of the river on the Virginia side. The army marched by easy stages to Fredericksburg, the 9th Virginia arriving there on the 26th of November and remained in the lines until the 13th of December in momentary expectation of an attack by the Federal army, then under General Burnside, who had succeeded General Mcclellan. On that day was fought the battle of Fredericksburg. Burnside crossed his army over the Rappahannock river on the 12th, and early on the morning of the 13th advanced to turn the Confeder- ate right under Jackson, but was driven back. Later assaults by Conch's and Wilcox's corps and one division of Hooker's corps upon the Confederate centre under Longstreet, were easily re- pulsed with heavy slaughter among the attacking columns. The 9th Virginia was in the Confederate line of battle but as the battle was fought on the defensive by General Lee and the enemy did not assail that part of the lines, they were more spectators than actual participants in the battle. A little to the right of the po- sition held by the 9th Virginia, a brigade of Federals had secured a position in a railroad ent or an excavation of a similar character, but the 57th North Carolina Regiment, commanded by Colonel Archibald C. Godwin, of Portsmouth, (afterward promoted to Brigadier-General and killed in Early's campaign in the Valley) made a gallant charge upon them and drove them ont.
The Regiment remained in the vicinity of Fredericksburg until the 15th of February, 1863, when the movement of Pickett's and Hood's Divisions, under Longstreet, towards Suffolk was begun. Shortly before then Armistead's Brigade had been taken from Anderson's Division and put in the Division of Virginia troops, under General Pickett. The Regiment broke camp near Freder- icksburg on the 15th and on the evening of the 16th reached? Hanover Junction. That night snow fell to the depth of about ten inches and the men were marched ten miles through it. On
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THE NINTH VIRGINIA REGIMENT.
the night of the 18th a deluge of rain came down, and the 19th witnessed them wading through slush and mud about knee deep, through Richmond and Manchester, into Chesterfield county. On the 20th they reached Chester Station and went into camp, remaining there until the 1st of March, as the ground was cov- ered with snow all the time. On the 1st of March the regiment moved on through Petersburg, where it remained until the 26th, and then pushed ahead to the vicinity of Suffolk. Here an at- tack was made on the enemy, who were driven back to the town. and the Portsmouth and Norfolk connty boys in Pickett's Divi- sion were in high spirits, hoping that the army would keep on to Portsmouth and they could once more meet their families and friends, but the object of General Longstreet's movement there was to collect provisions, and after accomplishing that object, he returned with his army, Hood's and Pickett's Divisions, to the main army of General Lee. He reached Manchester May 16th. Armistead's Brigade was in camp near Hanover Junction from May 18th to June 3d, when it was sent to King William connty to meet a raiding party of Federal cavalry which was reported to be advancing in that direction, returning to Hanover Junction on the 7th. On the Sth the brigade started on the march for Penn- sylvania. The 9th Regiment marched through the counties of Caroline, Spottsylvania, Orange, Culpepper, Fauquier, Londoun, Clarke, Jefferson and Berkley, crossed the Potomac river at Wil- liamsport on the 25th, and at 4 o'clock p. m. on the 2d of July, went into cam> within five miles of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. There had been heavy fighting that day between the enemy and the corps of A. P. Hill and Ewell and part of Longstreet's and it was felt that the 3d would be decisive of great events.
The division (Pickett's) moved forward from camp at 3 a. m. on the 3d, and after being halted twice on the road, reached the battle field at 10 o'clock and remained drawn up in line, under the shelling of the Federal artillery until 3 p. m., when it was ordered to storm the entrenched position held by the enemy on the top of Cemetery Hill. This charge has become historic. Pickett's Division of three brigades-Kemper's. Garnett's and Armistead's, and numbering 4,500 men, rank and file, after lying for five hours under a burning July sun, exposed to the shelling of the Federal batteries, marched at ordinary quick step more than three-quarters of a mile across an open field, up the hill to a stone wall, behind which lay more than ten thousand Federal troops and sixty pieces of artillery, which were playing upon them as they advanced, drove the gunners from their cannon and the infantry from the wall, captured the position and hundreds of prisoners at an immense sacrifice of life, and, looking back over nearly a mile of open field for Hood's and McLaws' Divisions which were expected to support them, found that neither had started. Somebody had bhindered.
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Colonel Walter H. Taylor, General Lee's Adjutant General, in his admirable work, "Four Years with General Lee," lays the . blame on General Longstreet for keeping back those two divis- ions, as it was General Lee's order that they should support Pickett's charge .- It is due to General Longstreet to say that he denies having received any order to that effect, and held the two divisions to repel an anticipated Federal attack on his right; but as General Meade was fighting a defensive battle entirely, there seems to have been no reasonable ground for such an apprehen- sion. However, the fact remains that those of Pickett's men who escaped the showers of grape, canister and leaden hail, and reached the stone wall, found themselves nearly a mile from any reinforcements, while more than three-fourths of the army re- mained idle spectators of their devotion, with every general of brigade and nearly every field officer of lower grade killed or dis- abled from wounds and with no one left to assume direction of affairs, while the enemy was concentrating against them a force ten times their number. They held the captured works and a number of prisoners for about twenty minutes when, finding themselves about to be surrounded and knowing that to remain there meant death or captivity, for half of General Meade's army was moving against them, the men began to retire. Some got back safely to their own lines, but they were few.
Only three brigades were in the charge. Generals Armistead and Garnett were killed and General Kemper severely wounded. Colonel Jno. C. Owens, of Portsmouth, commanding the 9th Virginia, was mortally wounded and died in the field hospital about 2 o'clock that night. Colonel J. G. Hodges, of Ports- month, commanding the 14th Virginia, was killed. Lientenant- Colonel Phillips, of the 9th, and Lieutenant-Colonel White, of the 14th, of Norfolk county, were wounded, and Major Richard- son, of Portsmouth, of the 9th Virginia, was captured. Adjn- tant John S. Jenkens, of Portsmouth, of the 14th, was killed, and, of the officers of the five Portsmonth and two Norfolk county companies in the charge, Lientenants Guy, Company B. and Mitchell, Company HI, 3d Virginia, and Niemeyer, Company I, 9th Virginia, were killed, and Captain Hodges and Lieutenant White, of Company A, 3d Virginia, Lieutenants Vermillion, Company I, Tonkin and Gale, Company G, and Hudgins and Robinson, Company K, 9th Virginia were wounded, and Captains Whitehead, Company H, 3d Virginia, Allen, Company K, Crocker, Company I, and Weaver, Company D, 9th Virginia, and Lientenants Gary, Company A, Gleason, Company B, 3d Vir- ginia, and Lewis, Company G, 9th Virginia, were captured. Of eighteen commissioned officers who were in the charge with the seven Portsmouth and Norfolk county companies, only one- Lieut. Richard Vermillion-escaped. Three were killed, seven
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were wounded and seven were captured. Adjutant Crocker, of the 9th, of Portsmouth, was captured; Lieutenants Guy and Mitchell were killed by the shelling, previous to the advance; Sergeant Robert A. Hutchings, of Company B, of Portsmouth, caught up the colors of the 3d Virginia, when Color Sergeant Gray, of Dinwiddie county was shot, and carried them to the stone wall, and Joshna Grimes, of Company I, of Norfolk county, was ensign of the 9th Virginia and carried the colors of that regi- ment to within twenty yards of the wall when he was severely. wounded and fell, but Corporal Lemmel H. Williams, of the Portsmouth Rifles, Company G, picked them up and carried them to the stone wall where he was killed. General Armistead led the charge of his brigade on foot, with his hat on the point of his sword, and had scaled the stone wall and stood beside a cap- tured cannon, with his hand resting on it, when he was killed by a musket ball. Colonel Owens of the 9th Virginia, was shot through the groin with a musket ball before the line reached the stone wall, and was carried off the field. Company A, the Dis- mal Swamp Rangers, under Captain Thomas M. Hodges, was in the skirmish line in front of the 3d Virginia, and though two of its commissioned officers were wounded, none were killed outright.
Swinton, who is the fairest of all the Northern historians of the war, gives a very graphic account of the charge of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg in his "Army of the Potomac," though he falls into the error of all of the Northern writers in greatly exaggerating the strength of the Confederates. Ile fixes the strength of the attacking force at 15,000, and yet says "its front was so narrow that it did not cover more than two of the incom- plete divisions of the 2d corps, numbering some 6,000 men. This inconsistency should have been apparent to the author. Pickett's Division numbered 4,500 men and Heth's Division could not have been nmch larger, and 15,000 Confederates would have over-lapped 6,000 Federals. With this exception, his ac- connt of the charge is very fair for an opponent. Hle says :
"As Pickett's Division of Longstreet's corps had reached the ground during the morning, it was appointed to lead the van. Pickett formed his division in double line of battle, with Kemp- er's and Garnett's Brigades in front and Armistead's Brigade supporting, while on the right of Pickett was one brigade of Hill's corps, under General Wilcox, formed in column by battal- ions: and on his left, Heth's Division (also of Hill's corps), under General Pettigrew. The attacking force numbered abont fifteen thousand men, and it advanced over the intervening space of near a mile in such compact and imposing order that, whether friend or foe, none who saw it could refrain from admiration of its magnificent array. The hostile line, as it advanced, covered a front of not more than two of the reduced and incomplete divis-
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ions of the second corps, numbering, it may be, some six thou- sand men. While crossing the plain it received a severe fire of artillery which, however, did not delay for a moment its deter- mined advance, so that the column pressing on came within musketry range, the troops evincing a striking disposition to withhold their fire until it could be delivered with deadly effect. The first opposition it received was from two regiments of Stan- nard's Vermont Brigade of the first corps, which had been posted in a small grove to the left of the second corps in front of and at a considerable angle with the main line. These regiments opened upon the right flank of the enemy's advancing lines, which received also an oblique fire from eight batteries under Major McGilvray. This caused the Confederate troops on that fink to double in a little towards their left, but it did not stay their onward progress. As, during the tramp of the enemy across the intervening plain, the rifled guns had fired away all their canister, they were withdrawn or left on the ground inac- tive, to await the issue of the impending shock between the two masses of infantry-a shock momentarily expected-for the as- sailants approached steadily while the Union force held itself braced to receive the impact. When at length the hostile lines had approached to between two and three hundred yards, the di- visions of Hays and Gibbon of the second corps opened a destructive fire, and repeated it in rapid succession.
"This sally had the effect to instantly reveal the nnequal metal of the assaulting mass and proved what of it was iron and what
clay. * * Pettigrew's troops broke in disorder, leaving two thousand prisoners and fifteen colors in the hands of Hays' Division. Now, as Wilcox's Brigade had not advanced, Pickett's Division remained alone, a solid lance head of Virginia troops, temperd in the fire of battle. Solitary this division, buffeting the fierce volleys that met it, rushed up the crest of Cemetery Ridge and such was the momentum of its assault that it fairly thrust itself within Hancock's line.
" It happened that the full strength of this attack fell upon Webb's Brigade of three regiments. This brigade had been dis- posed in two lines ; two of its regiments, the 69th and 71st Penn- sylvania, posted behind a low stone wall and slight breastworks hastily constructed by them, while the remaining regiment, the 72d Pennsylvania, lay behind the crest, some sixty paces to the rear, and so placed as to fire over the heads of those in front. When the swift advancing and yelling array of Pickett's force had, notwithstanding the volleys it met, approached close up to the stone wall, many of those behind it, seeing their fire to be now vain, abandoned the position ; and the Confederates, detect- ing this wavering, rushed over the breastworks, General Armis- tead leading, and crowned the stone wall with their standard.
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The moment was as critical as can well be. conceived ; but happily the regiments that had been holding this front line did not, on falling back, do so in panic; so that, by the personal bravery of General Webb and his officers, they were immediately rallied and reformed on the rear of the brigade, which held the second line behind the erest, and Hancock instantly drew to- gether troops to make a bulwark against any further advance of the now exultant enemy.
" As the hostile front of attack was quite narrow, it left Han- cock's left wing unassailed. From there he drew over the brigades of Hall and Harrow. * * * The 19th Massachusetts Regiment. Mallon's 42d New York Regiment. * * While Colonel Stannard moved two regiments of his Vermont Brigade to strike the enemy on the right flank. These movements were quickly executed. The breach was covered, and in such force that in regular formation, the line would have stood four ranks deep.
" Whatever valor could do to wrest victory from the jaws of hell, that it must be conceded, the troops of Pickett had done, but now, seeing themselves in a desperate straight, they fung themselves on the ground to escape the hot fire and threw np their hands in token of surrender, while the remnant sought safety in flight. * The Confederate loss in killed and wounded was severe. Of the three brigade commanders of Pickett's Division, Garnett was killed, Armistead fell fatally wounded within the Union lines, and Kemper was borne off, severely hurt. In addi- tion it left behind fourteen of its field officers, and only a single one of that rank escaped nnhurt, while of the rank and file, three- fourths were dead or captives. But this illustrions victory was not purchased without severe price paid, and this was sadly attested in the thousands of dead and wounded that lay on the plain. The loss of officers was again especially heavy, and among the wounded were Generals Gibbon and Hancock."
After their repulse, Pickett's Division retired to their camp of the night before and remained there until the army started on its return to Virginia. General Meade succeeded in resisting Gen- eral Lee's efforts to dislodge him from his advantageous position. but General Lee's army was not beaten. He remained in front of Gettysburg all of the next day to give General Meade an op- portunity to attack him, but that officer was content with having succeeded in repelling the assault upon himself, and had no idea of leaving his fortified position to attack the Confederates. Gen- eral Lee, finding that General Meade would not attack him, and having nearly exhausted his supply of artillery ammunition, the army fell back to the Potomac river at Williamsport, Pickett's Division being assigned the duty of guarding the thousands of prisoners who were captured in the battle.
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When the army reached Williamsport, the river was swollen so high from recent rains that it was not fordable, and the army re- mained there from the Sth to the 13th of July, by which time a bridge had been constructed, and the army crossed over on it. All of this time General Meade kept his army at a respectful distance, sending forward occasionally a force of cavalry to try to gather up a wagon train or a few stragglers. While in Williams- port, the 9th Regiment was doing provost duty, and the boys had excellent sleeping accommodations. On the 18th of August the brigade, then commanded by Colonel Aylett, of the 53d regiment, camped at Gordonsville, and on the 7th of September was ordered to Richmond, arriving there at night on the 12th and immediately took the cars for Petersburg. That day the brigade marched twenty-six miles and traveled twenty-two miles on the cars.
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