BY E. C. STROUSS.
Disbanding of Companies A and E--Regiment Organized Into a Battalion
of Six Companies--Consolidation of the Eighty-Fourth with the
Fifty-Seventh Pennsylvania--Necessity for Changing the Letter of
Some of the Companies--Confusion in Company Rolls Growing Out of
It--Officers of the Consolidated Regiment--Another Move Across
Hatcher's Run--The Regiment Again Engaged with the Enemy--Great
Length of the Line in Front of Petersburg--A Lively Picket
Skirmish--Battle Near Watkin's House--Enemy's Picket Line and Many
Prisoners Captured.
The arduous campaign of 1864, with its numerous terrific battles, had
greatly reduced the strength of all the old regiments that went out in
1861. These, together with the men who had not reenlisted--some
seventy-five in number--had so thinned the ranks of the 57th that two of
its companies were ordered to be disbanded and the men to be assigned to
other companies. The following is a copy of the order which brought
about this state of affairs:
HEADQUARTERS 57TH P. V. V.
January 11, 1865.
SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 3.
I. As directed by S. O. No. 8, War Dept. A. G. O., Jan. 6th, '65,
this regiment will be consolidated into a battalion to consist of
six companies of equal strength.
II. Companies A and E will be broken up, and distributed with the
six companies thus formed, so as to equalize them in strength.
Supernumerary non-commissioned officers to be mustered out under the
supervision of the division mustering officer.
By command of LIEUT.-COL. L. D. BUMPUS.
Attest: R. I. CAMPBELL, Lieut. and Actg. Adjt.
[Illustration: Lorenzo D. Bumpus]
Under the same order from the War Department the 84th Pennsylvania
volunteers, which consisted of ten small companies, was consolidated
into four, and these were then joined to our regiment, making a new
organization to be designated the "57th Regiment, Pennsylvania Veteran
Volunteers." In order to avoid having two companies of the same letter,
it became necessary to change the letter of three of the companies of
the old 57th, viz: Company H was changed to Company A, I to D, and K to
E. With but few exceptions, the companies whose letters were changed
retained the same officers and non-commissioned officers, and their
organizations remained the same. Companies B, C, and F retained their
old letters. The four companies of the old 84th formed the left of the
regiment and were lettered G, H, I and K.
The order for consolidation was received with considerable
dissatisfaction by both officers and men. The 84th, like the 57th, was
an old regiment, and had served faithfully and gallantly since the
spring of 1862, and each had an honorable record. The 84th had seen its
first fighting at Winchester, Va., on March 23, 1862, and then in Bank's
campaign in the Shenandoah valley, Pope's campaign, and had joined the
3d corps of the Army of the Potomac in September, 1862. It was assigned
to Birney's division of the 2d corps in May and remained in the division
until the close of the war. It was a great injustice to break up a
regiment with such an honorable record and deprive it of its number.
In the fall of 1864 the State of Pennsylvania sent to the front a dozen
or more new regiments to serve for one year. These men should have been
sent to the old regiments already in the field, who had upheld their
country's honor in many a bloody battle, and who were proud of their
official distinction.
One of the evil results of all this consolidation, changing of
regimental numbers, and company letters, can be seen in a work published
by the State of Pennsylvania, after the war, entitled "Bates' History of
Pennsylvania Volunteers." The names of many worthy soldiers, some of
whom died for their country, are omitted on the rolls as published in
the work above mentioned. It was not the fault, however, of Dr. S. P.
Bates and his assistants, for the rolls at Harrisburg, from which they
procured their information, were very incomplete. This is particularly
so as regards the 57th Pennsylvania. When the muster-out rolls of the
regiment were prepared in June, 1865, the company commanders were
required to make out two rolls, each to contain the name of every man,
living or dead, who had ever belonged to the company, and the manner in
which he left the service to be stated. These rolls never reached
Harrisburg, but remained at Washington, D. C. The writer is informed
that Dr. Bates tried to have access to these rolls for preparing his
history, but was refused the privilege of using them by the authorities
at Washington.
While fortune had thrown together the 57th and 84th Pennsylvania, they
served side by side in perfect concord and amity, no quarrelling between
them ever manifesting itself.
At the time of the consolidation and for some months previous, Lieut.
Col. L. D. Bumpus was in command of the regiment. He was then honorably
discharged and mustered out. He entered the service, a mere boy of 17,
as a private in Company I of the 57th, and for meritorious conduct was
successively promoted to sergeant, first sergeant, first lieutenant,
captain and lieutenant colonel. He was a brave soldier and was always
with his men whether in the camp or in front of the enemy.
The officers of the new organization were as follows:
Colonel--George Zinn.
Lieutenant-Colonel--George W. Perkins.
Major--Samuel Bryan.
Adjutant--Thomas E. Merchant.
Quartermaster--John W. Parks.
Surgeon--H. G. Chritzman.
Assistant Surgeon--J. K. Cassell.
Chaplain--William T. McAdam.
Company A, Capt. D. W. Gore.
Company B, First Lieut. Daniel Comstock.
Company C, Capt. M. W. Houser.
Company D, Capt. J. D. Moore.
Company E, Capt. E. C. Strouss.
Company F, Capt. E. C. Bierce.
Company G, First Lieut. David Larrish.
Company H, Second Lieut. William A. Wilson.
Company I, Capt. John R. Ross.
Company K, Capt. R. C. Lamberton.
The non-commissioned staff were:
Sergeant Major--William McCaslin.
Quartermaster Sergeant--John H. Rodgers.
Commissary Sergeant--Charles Coburn.
Hospital Steward--Cary A. Slayton.
Principal Musician--Daniel Fisher.
Drum Major--J. N. McDonald.
Our new colonel, George Zinn, of Harrisburg, was a man of undoubted
courage and a strict disciplinarian. He was absent at the time of the
consolidation on account of severe wounds received in action while in
command of the 84th. He returned for duty and took command of the
regiment on March 18.
Lieut.-Col. George W. Perkins, of Bradford county, Pa., entered the
service as a sergeant of Company H, 57th, in 1861. He was for a time
adjutant of the regiment, and was then promoted as captain of Company B.
For some time previous to his promotion to lieutenant-colonel he had
served on the staff of General Mott, our division commander.
Maj. Samuel Bryan, of Lycoming county, Pa., entered the service as first
lieutenant of Company B, 84th Pennsylvania, in 1861. He was not much of
a tactician, but as brave as a lion, and if there was a chance to get up
a row with the enemy's pickets, while he had charge of a detail, he was
sure to do it. His "staying qualities" in a fight endeared him to all
the men, to whom he was always kind and fatherly.
On February 5th another move was made for the purpose of extending our
lines to the left. At 7 a. m., with the division, we broke camp and
marched to the Vaughn road crossing of Hatcher's run. Skirmishers from
our 1st brigade and the cavalry having effected the crossing, our
brigade--temporarily commanded by Colonel West, of the 17th
Maine--crossed over and began to throw up a slight breastwork, forming
the arc of a circle, the right of the 1st, and the left of the 2d
brigade resting on the run. Our brigade (the 2d) remained in this
position till about 5 p. m., when it was hurriedly moved to the right to
support McAllister (3d brigade), who was being fiercely attacked by the
enemy on the north side of the run. We started off on the double quick
for a mile or more--the 57th leading--and reaching McAllister's position
the 57th Pennsylvania and the 5th Michigan formed line on his left and
charged the enemy, who would have driven back McAllister without our
assistance. Company E, of the 57th, was not with the regiment in this
fight, having been sent on picket duty before the brigade was ordered to
the right. The regiment had two men wounded in this affair. The rest of
the fighting during this expedition was confined to the 5th corps and
the cavalry, who were on our left.
The 7th was a very disagreeable day, as it began to snow and continued
to do so all day. On the 9th we were supplied with axes and began to
slash the timber in front of our new line of works.
Our army now held a line extending from Armstrong's mill on Hatcher's
run on the left to the Appomattox river below Petersburg on the right, a
distance of about sixteen miles. This line with the natural and
artificial obstructions in its front, was almost impregnable, and could
be held by a small portion of our troops, leaving the main body of our
army free for operations elsewhere.
On March 10th the regiment proceeded to lay out a new camp, which proved
to be the last one among the many we occupied along the Petersburg
lines, From this time until March 25th we lay quiet in our camp with the
exceptions of drill, camp and picket duty.
A heavy detail for picket duty in our front was sent out on the morning
of March 24th. It was a beautiful spring day and everything remained
quiet along our part of the line, until an hour or so before daylight on
the 25th, when a prolonged and heavy artillery fire was heard far away
on our right. About 7 a. m. a staff officer of our division rode out to
our picket line, with orders to advance our line and feel of the enemy.
After crossing a narrow swamp in our front we advanced through the woods
and were soon exchanging shots with the enemy's pickets. We were ordered
to cease advancing, so we remained quiet until the relief came out and
took our places at 9 o'clock. During our advance Lieut. R. I. Campbell,
of Company C, and several of our men, were slightly wounded.
On our arrival in camp we learned that the heavy artillery fire on our
right which we heard in the morning, was caused by an attack on our
lines by the enemy, under Gen. J. B. Gordon, at Fort Steadman. The enemy
was temporarily successful, but were finally driven back with heavy loss
by the 9th corps under General Parke. Many of the enemy were killed and
wounded in trying to get back to their own lines; 1,949 prisoners,
including 71 officers and nine stands of colors, fell into General
Parke's hands.
About 3 p. m. of the same day our whole division was sent to the front
for the purpose of driving back the enemy's picket line near the Watkins
house. Arriving near the ground to be contested, General Pierce placed
Colonel Pulford, of the 5th Michigan, in charge of the right wing near
the Watkins house, and Colonel Zinn of the left wing, consisting of the
57th, 105th and 141st Pennsylvania. As soon as Colonel Zinn's line was
formed, he sent out details from each regiment to connect the enemy's
rifle-pits which had been captured in the morning. While these details
were at work, a brigade of rebels charged them and drove them back to
the main line. Colonel Zinn at once ordered a countercharge of the
regiments under his command, when they went forward with a cheer, and
retook the pits and captured six commissioned officers and 167 enlisted
men. In this charge Corporal Wolford Case, of Company E, 57th, ordered a
rebel lieutenant to give up his sword. The rebel refused to do so at
first, but, on seeing the state of affairs, yielded without further
comment.
Our regiment lost in this engagement 1 officer and 5 men wounded. The
brigade loss was 4 enlisted men killed and 1 officer and 29 men wounded.
Gen. A. A. Humphreys, in his book entitled "The Virginia Campaign of
1864-5," says of this engagement: "It was this capture of the entrenched
picket line of the enemy that made it practicable for General Wright to
carry the enemy's main line of entrenchments by assault on the morning
of the 2d of April."
We remained on the ground wrested from the enemy until after dark, when
other troops relieved us and we returned to our camps.
On the morning of the 27th the whole regiment was ordered once more to
the front to support the picket line, some distance to the left of the
point where we were engaged on the 25th. We threw up a strong breastwork
of logs and earth, which we held until dark, when without difficulty we
advanced our line to within one hundred yards of the enemy's pickets. On
our return to camp next day we found that the whole division was under
orders to move at 6 o'clock the next morning.