1862.
Cedar Mountain--Battle--Severe Loss of Life--Forward to Alexandria.
August 8th, the regiment moved at 2 o’clock, advanced to Culpeper Court
House, and went into camp; and at 10:40, on the morning of August 9th,
moved forward in the direction of Cedar mountain. Halted a short time,
and the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment was sent to the right on an
eminence as signal guard. The remainder of the brigade soon advanced,
halting at intervals, as the day was insufferably hot (several men died
this day of sunstroke). At last, passing through a piece of timber,
we approached the open field with a rolling country in our front, and
at 1:30, while making preparations for dinner (near a fine spring
of water), skirmishing and artillery firing was heard on our right,
which continued at intervals until 3:45, when the rebels appeared in
heavy force, ready for battle, and the Union lines were formed without
delay. The Twenty-ninth regiment (commanded by Captain W. F. Stevens,
of Company B,) was ordered to advance and take position in rear of
a battery which had been placed on a ridge. Here the regiment took
position, the right resting on the road, and the left extending into
the field, covered from the enemy by the hill on which the battery
was placed. The Twenty-ninth, with other regiments of the brigade,
was about on the right of the left wing of the line in open field,
while the right wing extended across the road, and into the timber.
The regiment remained in this position, supporting the battery, and
receiving a heavy fire from the rebel artillery in our front. Here
several men were wounded.
At 5 o’clock P. M., we moved over the crest of the hill, to a cornfield
some distance in advance of our previous position. During the advance
to this new position a terrific cannonade opened on us, dealing great
destruction to our ranks. Apparently every cannon of the enemy was
let loose against us, but we never faltered in this march of death,
despite the terrible missiles that were tearing through our bleeding
ranks. Comrades were falling, and brothers dying. The mangled and
bleeding victims of the fury and violence of war were left thick
around us, making the ground sacred on which they fell; but we wavered
not. Reaching a low piece of ground, we halted, and were ordered to
lie down and continue firing. We remained for one hour in the open
field, exposed to this furious storm of grape and canister, shot and
shell. Comrades gave up their lives so gently that it was scarce
possible to tell the living from the dead. The fatal missile struck
the victim, leaving the lifeless clay in the same attitude which the
living body occupied. During the fatal period death assumed a real
character while life seemed but a dream. The engagement had now become
general. The brigade of General Prince came up, and formed on the left
of our regiment. The Sixty-sixth, Fifth, and Seventh Ohio regiments
were formed on our right, in the order named. (The Twenty-eighth
Pennsylvania regiment was not with us in this engagement.)
At a given signal the brigade arose and, with defiant yells, rushed
forward to the charge. Prince’s brigade on the left moved forward
with us. A sheet of flame and smoke burst forth from rebel batteries,
musketry replied to musketry, bayonet clashed with bayonet, and cheers
rang out against cheers, as one side or the other gained the advantage
in this deadly conflict. Daring warmed into rashness, and bravery
into recklessness. Hurrah! we force them back, their line is broken,
a battery is almost within our grasp; when in this moment of seeming
certain victory, fresh columns of rebel infantry rush upon us on the
double-quick, masked batteries open on us at the same moment a most
furious enfilading fire, causing our brave boys to reel and stagger.
An order comes for us to retire, when three-fourths of our regiment
have been placed out of the fight--dead or wounded. Slowly and sadly
the remaining few obey the order, keeping our faces to the foe until
fresh troops arrive to take our places, when we resume our position
in the reserve near Telegraph hill. Each regiment of the brigade had
done nobly, but all alike had suffered a loss so great that the four
regiments together could not show a respectable facing front for one
regiment. As night settled over the field of carnage and of death our
entire army corps withdrew to the position it held early in the day,
but our artillery kept up a desultory firing, with but short intervals
during the night.
The casualties of this battle were: Killed, 11; wounded, 26; missing,
12. Total, 49.
Private George Williams, company F, came off the field with his third
gun--two having been shot from his hands.
During August 10th and 11th skirmishing continued. In the afternoon of
the last-named day the 29th regiment was inspected. Adjutant Storer
reported eighty-three men only present for duty.
The Union army remained on the field three days, retiring, on August
12th, to Culpeper Court House, where it encamped. Our pickets,
going over the battle field on the 13th, reported that dead horses
were piled in promiscuous positions; dismounted cannons, wrecked
caissons, and broken firearms were everywhere, while the graves of
the fallen, singly and in trenches, were scattered over the entire
field, only the freshly heaped up earth marking the spots. In one spot
were the unburied bodies of a boy in blue and one in gray, their arms
interlocked as their brave souls went out to the God who gave them, the
one for the right, the other, it is hoped, forgiven for his misguided
championship of the wrong.
Twelfth, marched to Culpeper Court House, and went into camp. 13th,
put up tents and prepared to live. 14th, and all is quiet. 15th,
another inspection and review. There is one consolation if we do have
inspection every other day, there are so few men left that but little
time is consumed in doing so. 16th, 17th, and 18th, still in camp; was
inspected again, and at 6 o’clock on the evening of the latter day,
struck tents under orders to march; slept on our arms that night. 19th,
marched at 10 A. M., north to the Rappahannock, a distance of eleven
miles, and went into camp. Had only a small quantity of green corn
to eat. 20th, all quiet in camp. 21st, at 6 A. M. firing began, and
was kept up along the line all day; at 7 in the evening the regiment,
under command of Captain Schoonover, marched two miles and halted;
company H was sent forward to the picket line, and the regiment moved
at 6:30 A. M. along the Rappahannock; halted at 9:30; after a brief
rest the regiment again fell in, and marched till 12 at noon without
breakfast; sharp firing along the line; halted until 6 o’clock P. M.;
moved up the Rappahannock river two miles, halted, stacked arms, and
remained up nearly all night; (rainy) no tents or blankets, made our
bed of rails. Saturday, August 23d, at 6 o’clock A. M. the artillery
opened fire, and continued until 11 o’clock P. M.; remained on our arms
all day; at 10 o’clock P. M. moved a short distance up the river, and
the Twenty-ninth went on picket. 24th, and all is quiet; at 9:30 A. M.
the artillery commenced firing, which was kept up continually during
the day. 25th, artillery and musketry firing all along the line; at
8 o’clock P. M. the Twenty-ninth with its brigade moved up the river
four miles and camped for the night. 26th, no rations for breakfast,
but after a short time some green corn was procured, which filled the
bill. At 8 A. M. the artillery dueling again commenced and was kept up
the remainder of the day. The Twenty-ninth regiment moved one-half mile
for shelter, remained here until 9 P. M., when it marched forward until
3 o’clock A. M., of the 27th; halted, moved forward a distance of three
miles, and again halted. At 1 o’clock P. M., moved in the direction of
Warrenton Junction, and camped for the night (no rations for supper
or breakfast). On the morning of the 28th day of August, the regiment
moved at 5 A. M., marched three miles and halted, drew rations and moved
on in the direction of Bristow station, and camped for the night. Heavy
firing in our advance all day. 29th, remained in camp, about two miles
above Bristow station. 30th, marched at 6 o’clock A. M. and halted at
Bristow station, and remained till 5 o’clock P. M., when the enemy was
reported in our rear. The sick and disabled were moved to Alexandria
and other points. August 31st, teams and trains containing camp and
garrison equipage and other army supplies, were moved in the direction
of Fairfax Court House.
During the campaign under Major-general Pope from August 20th until
the regiment reached Alexandria on the 2d day of September, 1862, it
was one continuous march and counter-march, by day and night, moving
up the Rappahannock as far as White Sulphur Springs. On the 29th and
30th of August near the Bull Run battle ground. A very hard battle was
fought, in which the Nationals were forced from the field, and again
late in the afternoon on the 1st day of September at Chantilly, a short
distance from Fairfax Court House, a sanguinary battle was fought,
which continued late in the evening. In this last engagement the
Nationals held the field at night, and on the 2d the Union army fell
back within the fortifications around Washington city. During the last
two or three days of the above campaign the Twenty-ninth regiment was
completely cut off from the main army, as it had been ordered to guard
the quartermaster stores with other government property on the railroad
at and near Bristow station, and when ordered to join its brigade it
found the enemy in the rear, so that it was only by a circuitous route
in the direction of Brintsville, and a forced march that it reached the
Chantilly battlefield during the engagement, on September 1st. Here it
bivouacked for the night, and on the following day marched to Arlington
heights, via Alexandria, where it went into camp.
During the last twelve days of the campaign the Twenty-ninth suffered
severely for rations and rest, it being on the march, under fire, and
on the skirmish line the entire time. When we reached Fairfax station,
on the platform of the depot we found an immense table upon which our
wounded boys were being subjected to the ofttimes bungling butchery
of ignorant alleged surgeons, a number of whom were busily engaged in
depriving the poor fellows under their charge of wounded legs and
arms, and in many cases hastening their death thereby. This worse than
murder by men, the majority of whom, when at home, had never even
witnessed a capital operation, cannot be too highly condemned. (The
writer is personally acquainted with professional men of this sort,
who came out of the service first-class carvers, but the number of
brave fellows sacrificed to bring about this state of proficiency is
unknown.) It was now ascertained that the Confederate army of General
Lee was making rapid marches towards Maryland. To checkmate this
movement our columns were at once ordered on a retrograde movement in
the direction of Washington. Reaching Alexandria, we passed up the
Potomac, crossing at the long bridge, and moving forward to Georgetown
where a halt of one day was made, the command departing the following
morning for Frederick City, Maryland, which was said to be occupied by
the rebels. A day’s march brought us beyond Rockville, Maryland, where
we encamped for the night. At 2 o’clock, on the afternoon of September
5th, the regiment marched to Monocacy Junction, where the rebels had a
short time previous destroyed the railroad bridge.