In hastening thus to the rescue of our suddenly imperiled government,
we gave ourselves to that government without reserve, except that our
term of service should not be extended beyond the period of the present
exigency. Ourselves stirred with unbounded enthusiasm as we fell into
line with other armed defenders of the Fatherland, we expected to find
the inhabitants of the menaced States, and especially the citizens of
Harrisburg, all on fire with the zeal of patriotism. We expected to see
the people everywhere mustering, organizing, arming; and the clans
pouring down from every quarter to the Border. At Harrisburg a camp had
indeed been established as a rendezvous, but no organized Pennsylvania
regiments had reported there for duty. The residents of the capital
itself appeared listless. Hundreds of strong men in the prime of life
loitered in the public thoroughfares, and gaped at our passing columns
as indifferently as if we had come as conquerors, to take possession of
the city, they cravenly submitting to the yoke. Fort Washington, which
we were sent to garrison, situated on what is known as Bridgeport
Heights, we found in an unfinished state. In the half-dug trenches
were--whom, think'st, reader? Thousands of the adult men of Harrisburg,
with the rough implements of work in their hands, patriotically toiling
to put into a condition of defence this the citadel of their capital?
Nothing of the sort. Panic-stricken by the reported approach of the
enemy, the poltroons of the city had closed their houses and stores,
offered their stocks of merchandize for sale at ruinous prices, and
were thinking of nothing in their abject fear except how to escape with
their worthless lives and their property. In vain their patriotic
Governor, and the Commander of the Department of the Susquehanna--his
military head-quarters established there--sought to rally them to the
defence of their capital. Hired laboring men were all we saw in the
trenches! What a contrast to this the conduct of the Pittsburghers
presents! They too had a city to defend--the city of their homes. The
enemy threatened it, and they meant to defend it. Their shops were
closed; their furnace and foundry fires, which like those watched by
the Vestals had been burning from time immemorial, were put out; and
the people poured from the city and covered the neighboring hills,
armed with pick and shovel. "Fourteen thousand at work to-day on the
defences," says the Pittsburg _Gazette_ of the 18th June. Such a people
stood in no need of bayonets from a neighboring State to protect them;
while the apathy of the Harrisburgers only invited the inroads of an
enterprising enemy.
And so the Twenty-Third was ordered into the trenches! This was so
novel an experience to the men that they took to it pleasantly, and for
two days did their work with a will. It must have been amusing,
however, to an on-looker of muscle, in whose hands the pick or spade is
a toy, to watch with what a brave vigor hands unused to toil seized and
wielded the implements of the earth-heaver; and how after a dozen or
two of strokes and the sweat began to drop, the blows of the pick grew
daintier, and the spadefuls tossed aloft gradually and not slowly
became spoonfuls rather. But we rallied one another and dashed the
sweat away; and again the picks clove the stony masses damagingly, and
the shovels rang, and the parapets grew with visible growth. Gangs of
men relieved each other at short intervals; and in this way we digged
through Saturday and Sunday.
On our arrival at the fort we found tents pitched ready to receive us,
just vacated by the New York 8th, and 71st, before alluded to. But we
were ordered to shift camp a day or two afterward and accordingly had
the work of camp-making to do over. The site selected was a rather
steep hillside, where the pitching of tents involves a good deal of
digging. First, you must level off a rectangular plot some six feet by
seven as a foundation for your structure. (This description refers to
the "A" tent, ours being of that pattern.) Then you must set your
tent-poles in such positions as that the tent, when pitched shall
preserve nicely the rectilinearity of the street and its own equipoise.
After that the canvas is stretched into proper position by means of
pegs driven firmly into the ground on every side. Then follows
carpentry work. Three or four joists, if you can procure them, are laid
flat on the ground and half imbedded in the soft earth, and across
these is fitted a board flooring. A pole is next adjusted close under
the ridge-pole of the tent to accommodate a variety of furniture, whose
shape or appendages suggest such disposition. And finally, a rack or
framework is set up next the rear wall of the tent, for the support of
the muskets of the mess.
Thus furnished, a tent has all the essential parts which belong to it
in a well-ordered camp, according to the domiciliary fashions
prevailing in the Twenty-Third Regiment. But beside these there are
certain other constructions that seem to spring with the ease and grace
of spontaneity from the hands of an ingenious and experienced contriver
of a tent-home,--if so sacred a word may be used in so profane a
connection. Not a little ingenuity is called into play in disposing
advantageously about the tent the necessary personal paraphernalia of
the soldier, not to mention the dozen little conveniences that
incommode everybody, but which, nevertheless, silently accumulate by
virtue of the volunteer's perpetual outreach after the shadow of his
accustomed home comforts. Room must be found for four to six muskets,
according to the number of the mess, and as many knapsacks, haversacks,
belts, blankets, rubber-cloths, canteens, sets of dishes (!), boots or
shoes, and a box to hold blacking and brushes, soap, candles, etc.
Beside these, there is apt to be--unless the mess pass, as they ought
to do, a prohibitory law on the subject--an assortment of towels,
handkerchiefs, stockings and other articles of apparel which the owners
thereof have lately washed, or have gone through the motions of
washing, and have hung up overhead to dry, where they are forever
flapping in your face when you stand upright in the tent. The blankets
and knapsacks are at night used to eke out the appointments for
sleep,--the first to soften the floor to the bones of the sleepers, the
second to serve for pillows. These, especially the former, are looked
upon by the genuine soldier as effeminate; while the greenhorn bitterly
complains of them as a very satire on helps to sleep.
There are nooks in a tent, as there are in every builded house, that
seem to be just the places for some little oddities of contrivance or
other. But there is one appendage in particular which is quite apt to
possess the mind of the greenhorn. He is early disgusted with the
dirty, grovelling life of your easy-going, shiftless, contented old
campaigner, and inwardly resolves to adopt a genteeler regimen. So he
builds him a cellar for the cool deposit of wines, butter, milk, eggs,
and whatever other delicacy his dainty stomach may require. In the tent
flooring he cuts a trap door admitting to the sacred enclosure. You are
reclining perhaps in your domicile opposite, dreamily coloring your
meerschaum, and watching Mr. Greenhorn. As his work develops itself to
your comprehension you wrinkle your face with mischievous merriment,
wondering whether he does not see, as you do, that there is a laugh to
come in there by and bye. The day passes and time wags merrily on. A
day or two afterward, at a certain "fall in for rations!" you notice in
your enterprising neighbor an unusual nervous restlessness and a
disposition, now for the first time shown, of winking slily at you
without provocation, and chucking you in the ribs. You know at once
that there is something in the wind, and suspect that the aforesaid
laugh is to come in pretty soon. Instinctively connecting his conduct
with that cellar which so much amused you, you are curious enough to
follow up the thread he has unwittingly slipped into your fingers.
Accordingly when he returns to his tent with provender in hand you
watch him closely. He lifts the trap door and draws out a crock of
butter, enough to last the mess a fortnight. With this unctuous gold of
the dairy he overspreads his tough hard tack and shares his happiness
with his messmates. You slily give the alarm to the street, and in a
minute there is poking in at the tent door and overhanging the festive
party a struggling crowd of hands, each bearing in its fingers a hard
tack, or fragment thereof, clamorous to be buttered. You return to your
tent roaring with laughter, and subsequently observe that your dismayed
neighbour is spared the trouble of returning the crock to the cellar!
The same cruel fate awaits a crock of milk which he was lucky enough to
get of the old woman under the hill, but so impolitic as to expose in
broad daylight on the company parade. His wine--for it is evident there
is something of the sort in reserve,--he resolves--so you infer,--to
manage more astutely. Accordingly in the sly of the evening, the flaps
of his tent closely drawn, though not so closely as to keep out a
mischievous eye, the stump of a tallow candle shedding a forlorn,
nebulous light on the assembled mess, he draws forth a bottle of fine
old sherry. It is not long before sounds of merriment, of singing and
shouting and laughter, betoken an unusual cause of excitement within
that tent. There begins to be a movement among outsiders, and you
proceed presently to make an investigation. You peep in; another joins
you; then another; and soon there is a crowd. All make themselves at
once quite at home, sitting down on the edge of the tent, on each
other, on the ground, anywhere. The master of the feast is by this time
overflowing with the milk--the wine rather--of human kindness. He feels
no dismay now at the sight of his uninvited guests, but greets them
with cordial and good humored welcome, not noticing in his mellow mood,
as you do, coolly surveying matters, that another of the aforesaid
laughs will come in presently. His self-love all a-glow with
satisfaction, he offers you a "glass of wine," (in a tin cup). You take
the bottle also, and pass it around. He makes absurd speeches at which
he laughs with boisterous glee, and at which you laugh too, and all
laugh. He sings absurd medleys for which you improvise absurd choruses
which make things go along as pleasantly as possible. Meanwhile the
bottle is returned empty. He takes it, insists upon re-filling your
"glass" from it, and tips it up over your cup. Then with a comical leer
at you at the idea of attempting to pour wine from an empty bottle, he
turns, dives into his cellar and fishes up another. You bid him go on
with that capital song, offering to save him the trouble of unsealing
and dispensing the jolly red wine. All grow rapidly merry, and so flows
with a like looseness the song and the solace, till both are exhausted;
and as the hour of "taps" approaches you bid your duped and fuddled
host good night. The crowd follows suit, and soon the five small
strokes of the drum find the company street deserted, lights
extinguished, and each tent tenanted by its own for the night, though
there still lingers in the air a suppressed murmur of drowsy song and
laughter. (_Moral_:--A knowing campaigner never builds him a wine
cellar.)
To our tent city we gave the name of Camp Couch in honor of our
aforetime fellow-citizen of Brooklyn, the distinguished Major-General
commanding the department. In acknowledging this honor the General
remarked that he "was not unmindful of the great service rendered by
our regiment and the troops of New York in so promptly responding to
the call of our commanders to assist in repelling the threatened
invasion of Pennsylvania." The life of duty we led there is well
outlined in the following programme for each day, published in General
Orders:--
"4.50 A.M. Drummer's call.
5.00 A.M. Reveille:--when roll will be called by the First Sergeant,
(superintended by a commissioned officer,) on the company parade,--the
troops parading without arms. Captains will report absentees without
leave, to the commanding officer.
5.30 A.M. Police call:--when the quarters will be policed, as also the
grounds immediately around them.
7.00 A.M. Breakfast call.
8.00 A.M. Guard mounting:--at this time the police party will parade
without arms and police the grounds.
8.30 A.M. Surgeon's call:--when the sick will be paraded (!) by the
First Sergeant and marched to the Surgeon's quarters to be examined
(!).
9.00 A.M. Drill call:--for company drills.
12.00 M. Dinner call.
4.00 P.M. Drill call.
5.30 P.M. Assembly.
5.45 P.M. Evening parade, when the weather permits; at which time there
will be by company an inspection of arms, cartridge boxes, and cap
pouches. "Retreat" will beat off at every parade, and orders will be
published.
9.00 P.M. Tattoo:--roll call without arms;--any special instructions to
troops published.
9.30 P.M. Taps:--when all lights will be put out in quarters except the
Guard House, the quarters of the Officer of the Day and Head-Quarters.
When the long-roll beats every one will repair without delay, armed and
equipped, to his company parade ground.
All firing except by sentinels in enforcing orders and giving alarms is
strictly prohibited. All loaded muskets will be kept at half-cock and
great care taken in disposing of them and handling them. No troops will
carry arms with fixed bayonets either in or out of quarters."
Our stay at Bridgeport Heights was so brief that the daily recurring
camp duties had not time to crystallize into wearisome routine. Each
day was enlivened by some novelty or amusing incident or other, which
served alike to break the monotony of our work, and to hurry forward
the hours with pleasing animation. Besides, the spot itself was pretty,
and the views from it as beautiful as woods and water and mountains and
far-spread blooming valleys, could well conspire to produce.
Toward the river the hill descends by a double slope,--the upper
gentle, the lower abrupt. The camp was spread upon the former,--the
company streets looking off toward Harrisburg and terminating at the
brow of the bluff. The latter was covered with timber, but so thinly
toward the top as not to intercept the view. Looking down from the
crest of this bluff the eyes rest upon a ribbon of land one hundred
feet below, dotted over with small white houses and little plots of
garden, and divided lengthwise by a country road. Beyond is the river,
in the midst of which lie four or five wooded islands. One of these
stretches up and down for a mile or more, and is made picturesque by
cultivated fields and a farm house nestled among trees. The river is
moreover broken in the present stage of the water by innumerable
shallows where tall grass grows. These green islets appear to be Meccas
to the neighborhood cows; for you may see them daily in solemn file
making pilgrimage thither by the fords. The opposite shore spreads out
in a plain on which stands Harrisburg clustered about its looming
capitol. The landscape up the river is bounded by the Blue Ridge, five
miles off, which melts away behind the city in the far distance.
Through these mountains the Susquehanna has broken its way, forming a
gap whose abrupt sides finely relieve the monotony of the range. From
the summit of the camping ground the view down the river is even more
charming. There the eye wanders over an immense region warm with
ripening wheat fields and white farm houses, and cool with hills, woods
and water. In the distance the winding river, alternately hidden and
revealed by jutting headlands and retreating intervales, loses its
proper character and becomes to the eye a cluster of lakes embosomed in
woods. Of these lakes you may count ten or a dozen.
In the first days of our tent life, before the hillside had become a
nuisance, it was pleasant, of a warm forenoon, after the morning drill
was over, to sit under the trees at the foot of the camp, and catch the
cool breeze as it crept up the bluff. Here the news was read; here the
rations were eaten and the siesta enjoyed,--though stay-at-homes may
think the latter an absurdly superfluous luxury, taking into
consideration the quality of the former! Here the letters from home--so
welcome to the soldier--were devoured again, and with his inverted
plate for a writing desk, roughly answered. Here some dreamed reveries,
and gazed across the river anxiously homeward, remembering the
advancing columns of the enemy and the perils of our situation. Here we
discussed the cupidity and poltroonery of the Harrisburgers, the
ever-shifting probabilities of the campaign, the loveliness of the
landscape, the demoralizing influences of camp life, be it never so
guarded, and the vivid contrasts of home comforts and refinements with
the coarseness and discomforts of our present lot.
It would be pleasant to rehearse the many scenes and events which
filled up our days in camp:--the duties of the guard, alternately
roasted under the glaring sun of the parapet, and suffocated in the
crowded guard-tent; the varied employments of the police,--the
scavengers and involuntary retainers of the day,--now scrambling in
irregular file down the bluff carrying pails and canteens for water,
now bearing from the commissariat huge armfuls of bread, or boxes of
hard tack, or quarters of fresh beef, or sides of less appetizing
bacon, now "putting things to rights" in the street of the company, and
called on all day long for multitudinous odd little jobs; the foraging
parties dragnetting the country round for sheep, poultry, eggs, milk,
and the like,--and this not to the owner's loss be it remembered; the
morning wash in the Susquehanna; the evening swim; the drills and dress
parades; the half-holiday in Harrisburg, whose baths and restaurants
and shops, whose fair ladies, (where there were cherry-trees in the
garden!), whose verandahs with easy chair and a Havana and quiet, made
the place to us a soldiers' paradise; and this notwithstanding the mean
spirit of the people made us despise them. Nor should mention be
omitted of the benevolent visits of Harrisburg matrons to our hospital,
bearing to the invalid sympathy with timely comforts.[1]
[1] And here it seems no more than common gratitude to mention a
name, though to do so is to "break the custom" of this history.
Through all those days and nights of terror there was one house
in Harrisburg--and it is to be hoped many others, also--from
which the starry banner was ever kept flying. The noble lady of
this house solicited the privilege of receiving into her family
any of our men who might be taken seriously ill. Her generous
wish was complied with, and one of our number--how many others I
know not--owed, doubtless, to her kind nursery, the blessed
privilege of getting home to die in the bosom of his family. The
regiments ought not soon to forget the name of Mrs. Bailey.
It would be pleasant to linger around the doors of the tents in the
hush of a beautiful evening, when, the work of the day ended, a sort of
vesper service would be improvised, and melodies commemorative of love,
home, patriotism and human freedom sung; or a box, enticingly suggestive,
just received from home, would be opened, and its contents of various
dainties distributed with open-handed liberality to regale a score of
comrades. It would be pleasant to recall, incident by incident, the
evening meetings under the open sky for prayer, the affectionately
pleading and encouraging words of our gentle chaplain, the hymn of
trust and hope, the supplication of the volunteer whose lips were
touched with tender remembrance of loved ones far away, into whose
faces he might never look again. But important events await our
narrative and we must hurry forward.
While we were thus quietly encamped, our gallant comrades of the
Seventy-First and Eighth Regiments N.Y.S.N.G., whose places we had
taken on our arrival at Bridgeport Heights, were having an active and
arduous campaign at the front. On the evening of the 19th these two
regiments under command of Colonel Varian, of the Eighth, proceeded to
Shippensburg, "for the purpose," says Col. Varian in his report,
quoting from the orders he had received, "of holding the enemy in
check, should he advance; but under all circumstances to avoid an
engagement; but if pressed too hard, to retire slowly and harass him as
much as possible; the object being to give our forces at Harrisburg
time to finish the fort and other defences, and be in readiness to
receive the enemy should he advance to that point." On the 28th they
arrived back in camp, having satisfactorily and most gallantly
accomplished all they were sent to do. "It was," as General Couch
remarked in a congratulatory order, "one of the most successful
expeditions he had ever seen accomplished, according to the number
engaged in it: viz., advancing fifty-two miles beyond all defences and
support in case of an attack, and holding the enemy in check for a
period of six days."[2]
[2] The following thrilling incident is narrated by Col.
Varian:--"Upon arriving within a mile of Chambersburg, I received
intelligence that our cavalry pickets had been driven in, and the
enemy's cavalry were about entering the town. I halted my
command. *** loaded the muskets, and started for the town.
Marched down the principal street in column by companies *** amid
the enthusiastic plaudits of the whole population,--they looking
upon us as their deliverers, and receiving us with a welcome that
must be seen and felt to be properly appreciated, entertaining
the entire command with such refreshments as could be hastily
procured. *** And amid the general congratulations the Stars and
Stripes were run up the flagstaff amid the wildest enthusiasm."
_Friday, 26th._--Commandants of regiments ordered to have their
commands in immediate readiness to move or attack. Commandant of
artillery in the Fort to see that his guns are in position, and that he
has the requisite amount of ammunition.
Our camp, like every community, had its share of alarmists, who daily
saw or heard of the enemy within five miles, ten miles, fifteen miles
of us; at Carlisle, just beyond Carlisle, or wherever the thermometer
of their fears placed him. Indeed the above orders, so closely
following each other, had a decidedly threatening look. Still the
opinion of those who had most faith in General Hooker, notwithstanding
the tangled rumors of the hour, was that we should not see the enemy
unless we went in pursuit of him; and to this pass we quickly came. It
appears that information had been received at head-quarters, that the
invaders had reached the vicinity of Carlisle, some eighteen miles west
from Harrisburg, our small force having fallen back before them. They
were said to have anywhere between five thousand and twenty thousand
men, and to be advancing rapidly. These transpiring events, if true,
were stirring enough, and gave a fine edge to an order on Friday for a
reconnoissance by the whole regiment. We marched out of the fort with
very uncertain feelings. The rain was falling, but we thought little of
that: the roads were heavy--that troubled us more.
When the head of the column had reached a point some four miles or more
out, we were halted. There were two parallel roads, a short distance
apart, to be guarded. On these barricades were erected. Pickets being
posted, the remainder of the regiment rested for the night in barns,
sheds, or whatever offered shelter. Lively sensations must have coursed
through the breasts of those who were now for the first time called to
perform the duties of the night picket--a duty always trying, and
particularly so now, in that we supposed we were in the near presence
of a watchful and enterprising foe, who was advancing in force against
us.
_Saturday, 27th._--The night passed without excitement beyond what the
imaginations of those on duty may have experienced. No rifle shot was
heard; no skulking foe, suddenly detected, was caught trying to
escape;--though many a wind-shaken bush, doubtless, was taken for a
dodging rebel, and many a stump threateningly ordered to halt! Some
four miles out, on the Harrisburg and Carlisle railroad is a little
settlement called Shiremanstown which was the scene of an adventurous
incident. There, on Saturday, a small picket force was stationed. It
was an outpost, selected on account of its commanding a view of the
Carlisle road for some distance. The village contained a church which
supported a steeple; and in the top of that steeple three or four of
our men were posted as sentinels, to keep a bright lookout for the
enemy; and, the moment the latter showed themselves, to ring the church
bell for an alarm, and then take to their heels! However illy this
skedaddling programme may have suited the men, it is not to be doubted
that they would have performed their part well--both the skedaddling
and the ringing. Each, doubtless, looked sharply to be the first to
catch sight of the expected cavalry troop, coming tearing up the road;
and each stood ready on the instant to give the preconcerted signal,
and then to pick their way down the uncertain passages of the steeple
and trust their safety to the loyalty of their legs. The position was a
trying one, and the brave fellows who performed the duty have in their
memory at least one animating picture of patriotic service. No enemy
appeared, and the skedaddle was spared. Different was the fortune of
the pickets who relieved ours if we may believe what some of our men,
who visited the place some days afterward, were informed by the
villagers. During the night the enemy made their appearance, the bell
was rung and the skedaddle enacted! Rebel troopers coming up were in
hot rage against the innocent residents, charging them with sounding
the alarm, seeming not to suspect that the pickets of the Yankee
militia could have shown such audacious enterprise. After dark we
returned to the fort, reaching it about midnight through rain and mud,
wet, hungry and weary.
_Sunday, 28th._--A day of animation in camp, and to the timid few one
of excitement and alarm. The troops in the fort are drawn up in line of
battle, and assigned positions at the breastworks, where arms are
stacked. The now dangerous guard-duty on the parapets is performed with
the usual alacrity and promptitude, some of us perhaps not realizing
the near presence of the enemy. There is great activity on every hand
to perfect the defences, and guard against sharpshooters. Squads of men
are sent out to cut down trees and destroy whatever may afford cover to
an enemy. A lady-resident sends up word that she does not wish to have
the trees about her house cut down, as she intends to stay, and wants
the trees to protect her against the shot. Our engineer, without
arresting the destructive process, sends back his compliments and
advises the unterrified female to remove herself and traps to the other
side of the river as expeditiously as possible.
It is an animating sight to watch from the parapet all these various
operations going on. The crackling of branches draws attention to
yonder tree which comes tumbling to the ground with a crash--others
follow rapidly and the axmen's blows resound on every side. On yonder
knoll a company of mowers are rapidly leveling the tall wheat. Here
inside the fort an artillery officer is drilling a squad in artillery
firing: and there a gang of contrabands, now for the first time, very
likely, receiving wages for their labor judging by the spirit they
throw into their work, are putting the finishing touches on the ditch
and parapet. Outside yonder a squad of men is tearing in pieces a twig
hut which workmen have built for their tools. And so the final work of
preparation goes on with great spirit, and is soon completed. There are
still no signs of the approach of the enemy except what we observe
about us in a sort of expectant air among the officers, and in the _qui
vive_ of the whole garrison. The skirmishers have all been driven in
however, and we are liable at any moment to be startled by the roar of
the enemy's artillery, opening an assault.
While affairs were thus culminating in the fort, an exciting spectacle
was presented outside. For several days previously we had seen,
whenever we went down to the river-side to bathe, or to draw water from
the well, a stream of people with farm and household properties, coming
in by the Carlisle and river roads, and pouring across the long bridge
into Harrisburg. By day or night this living stream seemed never to
cease. Men, women and children, white and black, some in carriages,
some in wagons, some on horseback, some on foot, hurried along. Their
horses and cattle they drove before them. A portion of household
furniture--such evidently as could be hastily removed--went jolting
along in heavy field wagons into which it had been hurriedly tumbled.
Loads of hay and grain, of store goods, and of whatever property of
house or field was thought to be in danger of appropriation or
destruction by the rebels was taken with them. Some had come from
beyond Mason and Dixon's line, as was evident from the color and style
of their servants. Of the unmistakable genus "Contraband" there was a
large assortment also. They came along in straggling companies, their
personal goods and small stock of cabin wares usually tied up in
bundles and slung upon a stick across the shoulder. In fact the whole
valley was literally pouring itself out northward, and in wild
confusion. If in that motley crowd of fugitives there was one brave
heart worthy to enjoy the free institutions which the starry banner
symbolizes, he must have hung his head in shame as he passed under the
shadow of the fort whose protection he sought, where he himself should
have been, one of ten thousand ready at command to be hurled against
the invaders. Time enough had elapsed since the danger first threatened
for the removal to a place of safety of the greater part of the
property which the enemy most coveted, and the subsequent marshaling of
the farmers for defensive battle. But relying on the hope of the enemy
being turned back before he could reach them, they had consulted only
the interests of the harvest, and had gone on "gathering into barns."
Those were trying days, it is true, and much sympathy ought to be felt
for the citizen taken thus at disadvantage; but the cry of alarm had
been raised, the Governor had summoned the people to arms, the central
government seemed helpless to defend Harrisburg except as it was
defended indirectly by the army of the Potomac then covering
Washington, and the only certain reliance for the safety of the valley
was the hastily raised militia, chiefly from a neighboring State.
During that never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath day, so strangely "kept,"
there was no flurry among the garrison, judging by the men of the
Twenty-Third, nor any fear shown at any time among those upon whose
courage the fate of Harrisburg seemed likely to rest. While in that
threatened city the chief authorities were staggering under the
herculean work of organizing an unwilling or at least an indifferent
people into a disciplined force capable of resistance, and of infusing
into them somewhat of the patriotic zeal which shone so brightly in the
conduct of their fellow-citizens of Pittsburg; while in that city there
was feverish alarm on every hand, and families were ignominiously
flying with their household goods, crowding the railway trains and the
common highways in their eagerness to escape; while the State officers
were sending off to Philadelphia the archives of the capital, and were
themselves hastening or preparing to remove to the metropolis, which
was to be the provisional capital on the fall of Harrisburg; while
there existed on the opposite side of the Susquehanna these symptoms of
alarm, there prevailed among our untried but trusted men, coupled with
animated speculations concerning the enemy, the calmness of a summer
evening. And this when it was evident to most that there was an enemy
just outside our ramparts whose strength was supposed to be many times
our own, and whose valor was renowned, waiting for the signal to be
launched against us.
There may have been among the general officers of the militia a feeling
of anxiety. Indeed it would be strange were it otherwise. But this
anxiety was doubtless due to the novelty of their position, together
with their sense of the solemn responsibility which a commander bears
in the hour of battle--a sense undulled in them by familiarity with
scenes of carnage. But among the men there was the repose of confidence
and courage. Whether hastily called to the breastworks and formed into
line, expecting, it may be, to see the enemy drawn up on the distant
hills; or dismissed with orders not to leave our company parade, and to
lose not an instant in "falling in" at the first tap of the "Assembly,"
as the signal for regimental muster is called, or at the more ominous
and alarming sound of the "Long-Roll;" whether retiring to our tents
for the night, ordered to sleep on our arms; or awakened suddenly by
the sharp "Halt! Who goes there?" of the passing sentinel; there seemed
to cover the camp of the Twenty-Third--and the same was probably true
of every other camp in that menaced stronghold--a mantle of repose such
as they feel who fear no evil. Nevertheless had an assault been made
with one-half the force, say, which carried the works of Winchester a
few weeks previously, and with the same impetuous valor, there can
hardly be two opinions as to the result. We should have resisted
bravely and hurled back the enemy, green though we were; but a resolute
persistence of assault by so superior a force would have compelled us
to fly. For though our position was naturally strong its defences
appeared to the uninitiated to be wretchedly inadequate. The number of
mounted pieces was only thirteen, nearly all of which were three-inch
rifles, carrying about a ten-pound bolt, manned, in part at least, by a
militia company, tyros in the service of that arm, though as brave,
patriotic and intelligent a set of men as the militia call had summoned
to the field. Of the infantry only three or four regiments had been
under fire, and these only in light skirmishes. Besides, the
construction of the defensive works appeared to some of the
unprofessional of us to be extremely faulty. The soil of the place is a
slaty clay known geologically as _shale_. This being thrown up to form
a breastwork constituted, as was thought by some of those whose duty it
was to be to stand behind it and deliver their fire when the order
came, a source of greater danger to them than rebel shot or shell. A
ball striking the parapet near the top would have scattered a shower of
stones into the faces of the men standing behind it, thus acting with
almost as fatal effect as a shell bursting in the very midst of them.
But it is to be presumed the fortifications were constructed on
scientific principles by men specially trained for this business. At
any rate, we were fortunately spared the experimental test of the
theory.
Peculiarly impressive were the religious meetings we held, one in the
forenoon and one at dusk, at which brave resolutions were reaffirmed
with mutual plight, while the dear ones at home were remembered
tearfully, and commended tenderly and trustingly to the Father's care.
And it is pleasant to remember how, when the critical hour seemed to be
at hand, our femininely sympathetic chaplain passed along the lines
with a beaming countenance, bidding us rely on strength from above, and
commending us with words of christian cheer to the divine protection.
Our greatest distress on that memorable Sabbath day was on account of
our friends at home, stricken with fearful solicitude by reason of the
dangers that impended over us, even tormented with skeleton rumors, as
we learned, of "the enemy having engaged us;" of "our being cut to
pieces;" of "crowds of wounded and dying troops being brought into
Harrisburg from across the river." These lying reports we could not
correct, since telegraphic and all other communication between camp and
Harrisburg was at that time interdicted.
Had we known positively the intention of the enemy as since brought to
light by the report of General Lee,[3] and that the famous old corps of
Stonewall Jackson was but a few miles off, preparing to pounce upon us,
we should not have felt so composed, nor lain down at night with so
little anxiety about the morrow. As it was, many a lad wrapped himself
in his blanket that night for a little uncertain slumber, expecting
surely to be awakened by the "Long-Roll," and to be led forth to
battle. But we slept tranquilly till the morning muster-call broke our
dreams. The double force of sentinels that kept watch all night saw
from the walls nothing more alarming than branches of trees or bushes
nodding in the wind; though there is no witness to testify how often a
stump or rock was challenged by them in their sleepless scrutiny of
every suspicious thing around them.
[3] "Preparations were now made to advance upon Harrisburg; but
on the night of the 29th, information was received from a scout
that the Federal army, having crossed the Potomac, was advancing
northward, and that the head of the column had reached South
Mountain. As our communications with the Potomac were thus
menaced, it was resolved to prevent his further progress in that
direction by concentrating our army on the east side of the
mountains. Accordingly, Longstreet and Hill were directed to
proceed from Chambersburg to Gettysburg, to which point Gen.
Ewell was also instructed to march from Carlisle."--_Extract from
Gen. R. E. Lee's Report of the Battle of Gettysburg._
_Monday, 29th._--It was bruited about camp that the Twenty-Third would
be called on to furnish a detail of men to go out as scouts, and many a
breast fluttered with anxious debate upon the subject. Without, was
danger and honor; within, security and shame. Who had the courage to go
out to the very advance, taking his life in his hand, with no more than
musket range between himself and the enemy? We had already been drawn
up in line of battle, solemnly awaiting the enemy who was expected to
open fire on us at any moment, and there had been no flinching. But
then we had the moral support of numbers to keep up our courage. The
whole regiment stood shoulder to shoulder and each man felt the safer
for having his comrades all about him. But to go out from the presence
of these comrades, to march out of the carefully guarded fort, where
all were friends and defenders together, into the open country which
the imagination filled with enemies; to take position alone in some
distant covert perhaps, warily lying in wait like a wild Indian for the
equally wary foe, when the pushing aside of a twig or the crumpling of
leaves beneath the feet might betray you to your instant death; and so
to watch for hours together whether by day or by night, in storm or in
shine--this was something to try of what stuff we were made.
We were ordered up in line early in the day, and a call made for
volunteers. Instantly five times the number needed stepped forward
eager competitors for the post of danger. The squad was at once formed,
and in company with similar detachments from the Eighth and Fifty-Sixth
N.Y.S.N.G., marched out of the fort amid a tempest of cheers. When we
saw that our brave comrades were really gone we turned back with heavy
hearts, for it seemed to our imaginations that as their object was to
spy out the enemy, they would not fail to find him, and that then there
would be unavoidably an action, which meant death to some. We
conjectured sadly which one of these brave fellows it might be upon
whose living face we had looked for the last time; who, the first of us
all, should have bound about his brows the laurel wreath of glory. At
night-fall the Seventy-First returned to the fort from the front.
_Tuesday, 30th._--During the forenoon did little else than hold
ourselves in readiness, keeping a bright lookout for the enemy; till at
length we began to think--many of us with a speck of disappointment
mingled with a sort of settled indifference--that we should lose the
chance of giving him a taste of our quality. After noon we were ordered
to shift camp. This augured serious work, inasmuch as the object of the
movement was to contract the camp limits, and thus make room for more
troops within the fort. After the order was issued directing us to
prepare for removal it was curious to note what a change a few minutes
produced in the appearance of the company streets. The first step was
to clear tents. Before each door arms were stacked, and on a blanket
spread on the ground were rapidly piled knapsacks, haversacks,
blankets, boots and shoes, tin-ware, rough boxes, shelving, and an
indescribable variety of loose matter; altogether an astonishing mass
of tent furniture, considering that these canvas houses, some five feet
by six in dimensions, accommodated--if so satirical a remark be allowed
in sober history--four to six persons besides, according to luck and
court favor. Next followed the order to strike tents. In a twinkling
the white walls collapsed, and the sun glared down upon a field flat
and waste. Each mess, directly on having their new site assigned them,
went to work like beavers to rehabilitate their domicils, but it was
dark before the new village was fairly settled. There remained,
besides, for the morrow many supplementary items of work, among which
was the building of company kitchens. Where the ground is level no
preparation of it is needed for this purpose; but on a steep slope a
good deal of digging is necessary. Indeed where there is any
considerable slope whatever, it is better to level the ground. Labor in
constructions for the benefit of your culinary corps is most
judiciously invested. A broad and level plat with convenient
arrangements for boiling the pot and preparing the rations, the whole
covered with a screen of some sort from the sun and the weather, will
give you better coffee, better soup, better everything--not to speak of
the occasional substitution of a bake or a roast in place of the
inevitable boil--than if you have failed to provide for the comfort of
your cooks. All this can be done easily where there are so many
interested hands to help. An enterprising head to manage and direct
operations is the common want. Possessing that a company is pretty sure
to have a successful culinary department; and just this makes all the
difference between excellent and execrable rations. The commissary
supplies of the army, judging by the experience of the Twenty-Third,
are abundant and good; better, it is believed, than the average fare of
American farmers, except in the matter of fresh vegetables; but bad
cooking spoils the best rations.
To construct a plat on a steep slope for the kitchen: lay out a square
of liberal dimensions--eight feet on a side should be a minimum
perhaps. Along the lower side and half-way up the adjacent sides firmly
drive stiff stakes, sixteen or eighteen inches apart, reaching a little
above the destined level of the plat, and pile bushes or twigs against
them on the inner side, interweaving them as much as possible, and
making a matted wall. Then with pick and spade dig down along the upper
side of the square, and half-way along the adjacent sides, tossing the
earth against the twig wall, and packing it well down, till you have a
level to suit you. There will be subsequently a gradual subsidence of
the loose earth to some extent, against which you must provide. The
centre of course must be the highest part in order to shed rain. If the
soil be clayey, you will have a sticky mud with every fall of rain
unless you put on a covering of gravel, slate, or the like. On one side
steps should be dug out leading down from the table where rations are
dispensed. Stakes should be driven at the extremities of the steps so
as to hold firmly a stiff limb of a tree or a stick laid against them
and along the edge of the step. Without this precaution your steps will
not last longer than a day or two. If boards for a shed are not to be
had, a bower can be constructed of branches of trees, such as any old
soldier knows how to build.
_Wednesday, July 1st._--Picket force returned without loss; but they
had met the enemy, as the following report of the Officer Commanding
will show:--
Fort Washington, Harrisburg, Pa. }
July 1st, 1863. }
COLONEL WM. EVERDELL, Jr.,
Commanding 23rd Reg. N.G.S.N.Y.