(540) While the Twelfth remained at Newtown, there was nothing of
special interest occurred other than has been mentioned. As winter and
bad weather were approaching, in order that we might be closer to our
base of supplies, the infantry moved back from Cedar Creek on the 9th
of November to Kearnstown; the next day the cavalry followed and late
in the evening of this same day, and last of all, the two remaining
regiments of our brigade moved down and joined our corps with the
army. The next day we put up our tents. The Sixth Corps and the
Nineteenth worked at throwing up fortifications all day.
(541) The next day after Sheridan's army left Cedar Creek, Early
thinking that perhaps our force had been withdrawn to send part of it
to Grant, moved his army down from New Market to Middletown. He was
thus on the day, the evening of which the Twelfth left its camp at
Newtown, within five miles of us at that place Sheridan was ready to
meet him; and sent out the cavalry on the 12th against the Rebel
cavalry. Merritt's and Custer's divisions on the right of the pike,
and Powell on the Front Royal road. They drove the Rebel cavalry back.
Powell attacked McCausland's brigade at Stony Point and routed it
capturing its two guns and 245 officers and men. The army was ordered
to be prepared for battle the next day; but, though Early had,
according to the reports of citizens been considerably reinforced
after the battle of Cedar Creek, he had by this time acquired a
wholesome regard for the fighting qualities of Sheridan's army: and
finding that it was still in the Valley in force, he concluded not to
risk a battle, but returned to his camp at New Market the 14th.
(542) The Twelfth remained with the army at Kearnstown for two weeks.
On the 19th--the day of the month in each instance, on which
Sheridan's two great battles were fought, the battle of the Opequon
and the battle of Cedar Creek--orders were read to our regiment from
Gen. Sheridan naming this army, the Army of the Shenandoah, and the
camp here, Camp Russell. On the 23rd the boys of the Twelfth had
abundance of chicken sent them from somewhere for Thanksgiving dinner.
(543) Here is a somewhat characteristic anecdote of an Irishman of the
Nineteenth Corps: It is believed that it was while the Twelfth was at
Camp Russell, that this Irishman, who had evidently been imbibing
freely of the ardent, was noticed sauntering through the camp singing
as he sauntered an apparently impromptu song, and staggering
considerably as he sauntered and sang. His corps had suffered heavily
in the battle of the Opequon. And his song related to the part it had
taken in that battle. This much of the song is remembered:
"The nineteenth of September
In eighteen sixty-four,
Is long to be remembered
By the Nineteenth Army Corps."
(544) The following is an amusing episode of soldier life that will be
appreciated by the boys generally, and some of them will no doubt
remember it. In order that a better understanding of it may be had by
others than soldiers it may be well to say that, as is well known by
all soldiers who campaigned in the Valley of Virginia, the guerrilla
Mosby was a dangerous enemy, and a terror to all soldiers disposed to
straggle. Sheridan once remarked that Mosby was as good to keep up
his, Sheridan's, stragglers as would have been a regiment for that
purpose; Mosby was also something of a bugaboo, and a subject of jest
among the soldiers.
(545) It was perhaps while we were at Camp Russell that one day a
merchant tailor came into camp from Wheeling, to see the officers of
the Twelfth with a view to taking orders for new uniforms. He wore a
plug hat. Now when a stranger appeared in camp in citizens' dress,
that fact was sufficient to excite in the minds of the soldiers a
suggestion of a possible spy in the person of the stranger; and Mosby
being an ever present bugbear in the minds of the soldiers, his name
would naturally be associated with that of the stranger. So when the
Wheeling man appeared on the streets of the camp wearing his plug hat,
the boys raised a general yell of Mosby! Mosby! Mosby mingled with
some remarks about the plug hat. Men can stand almost anything better
than derision, especially when it comes from a great crowd; and
quickly "catching on" to the fact that he, the Wheeling man, was the
object of the noisy attention, he shot into an officer's tent and
would not come out until he had exchanged his plug hat for a slouch
hat, which some officer managed to get for him.
(546) The Twelfth marched from Camp Russell on the 24th to Stevenson's
Depot, five miles northeast of Winchester. The railroad track had
recently been relaid to that place. We remained here over three weeks.
The duty at this place was heavy, our brigade having to unload all the
cars which brought supplies to the army and do picket duty besides. On
the 16th of December one hundred guns were fired at Camp Russell in
honor of Gen. Thomas's victory the day before at Nashville. When we
heard the firing at first we thought the enemy had attacked our forces
at the front. But before long a dispatch came from Sheridan telling
the reason of the firing. The next day another salute was fired at the
front in honor of Gen. Thomas's victory in the second day's fighting
at Nashville, and the fall of Savannah and its occupancy by Sherman.
(547) Before the middle of December, Early, having sent the bulk of
his command to Lee, the last of the Sixth Corps had gone to the Army
of the Potomac, and on the 19th the Third Brigade of our division took
the cars at Stevenson's Depot for the Army of the James. Later the
same day our brigade followed, having to ride in filthy cattle cars.
Owing to a scarcity of cars some of the men had to ride on top of
them, and, the weather being cold, they suffered considerably,
especially those who rode on top of the cars. We got to Washington at
eight o'clock A.M. the next day, the cars landing us at the wharf. The
men would have been glad to see the city, but they were not permitted
to do so. While we were waiting for a few hours to be marched on board
a transport, some citizens standing about were, as was natural, making
remarks about us. One fellow was overheard to volunteer the pleasant
reminder concerning us, that "There are more of those fellows going to
Grant's army than will ever get back." And this citizen's tone seemed
to indicate that he exulted in the thought. May be, too, the wish was
father to the thought.
(548) About 12 o'clock m. our regiment went aboard of the transports.
A part of us went on a small craft called the Putnam. This vessel was
soon on its way down the Potomac. As we passed down we got a view of
Mount Vernon. About 10 P.M. we anchored for the night. We started at
daylight the next morning, the 21st. We ran into the St. Mary's River
at about 4 o'clock P.M. that day, and cast anchor on account of the
high wind. We were now 100 miles from Washington. All the next day we
were detained here by the high wind; and owing to some mismanagement
we had not rations enough, and the men ran out of them.
(549) At daylight the 23rd our vessel weighed anchor and a run of ten
miles brought us to Point Lookout at the mouth of the Potomac. We
stopped here and drew three days' rations. Twelve thousand Rebel
prisoners were confined here at that time. From this point we passed
down the Chesapeake Bay, and some time in the night anchored near
Fortress Monroe. We started up the James River early the next morning
and arrived at City Point on the south side of the river, about dark.
Changing boats here we ran up 20 miles farther, 80 miles from Fortress
Monroe, and landed on the north side, near the Dutch Gap canal.
(550) Before the soldiers of the Twelfth went to Grant's army they had
a somewhat exaggerated idea of the fierceness and fatality of the
fighting there. They had some kind of a vague idea that, like the fly
in the spider's parlor, in the story of the "Spider and the Fly,"
where they got into it once, there was an excellent chance of not
getting out of it again alive. But in so great an army as Grant had
naturally soldiers would be going to and from it all the time; and
somewhere on the Potomac or Chesapeake Bay, we met a vessel with a
number of soldiers aboard, going to the rear. When the returning
soldiers were noticed Major Brown remarked in a kind of serio-comic
way in an illusion to the supposed extreme unhealthiness of the
service in Grant's army: "Well, I notice that some fellows at least
are getting back from the army before Richmond alive!"
(551) The next morning (Christmas) after landing we got off the vessel
and the other transport with the rest of the Twelfth having arrived,
the regiment marched about four miles to where the other troops of our
division were camped, and took the quarters temporarily vacated by
Gen. Butler's troops, who had gone to attempt the capture of Fort
Fisher. We remained in these quarters several days, during which there
was nothing occurred worthy of mention except that the enemy kept
throwing shells at short intervals at our men working at the Dutch Gap
canal; and once when there was heavy cannonading toward Petersburg we
were called out in line, the general in command on our side of the
James apparently fearing an attack.
(552) On the 30th some of the troops that had been on the Fort Fisher
expedition returned and we had to vacate our quarters and move some
three miles farther to the right and put up winter quarters. The
Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania, the Twenty-third Illinois and the Twelfth
West Virginia, January 1st, 1865, were brigaded together and
designated as the Second Brigade, Col. Curtis commanding. Our division
was known as the Second or Independent Division, Twenty-fourth Corps,
Col. T. M. Harris, afterward succeeded by Gen. John Turner, commanding
the division; and Gen. John Gibbon commanded the corps.
(553) When the Twelfth was transferred to the Army of the James, Gen.
Butler was in command of it, but having failed in his expedition
against Fort Fisher, he was relieved and Gen. Ord was put in command
of it, which consisted of two corps, the Twenty-fourth and the
Twenty-fifth, the latter being colored troops. The Dutch Gap canal
referred to was Gen. Butler's project. The object of the undertaking
was to make a channel across a narrow neck of land, made by a long
horse-shoe bend in the river, so as to enable our vessels to avoid
obstructions in the bend, and pass up to Richmond. Of course, the
enemy tried to prevent work at the canal and to this end, as before
stated, firing shells at intervals at the workers (colored men) was
kept up; but the work went on. The men dug holes in the side of the
canal, which they called gopher holes. There was also a high lookout
nearby from which a man kept a constant watch, and when the Rebels
fired a shot he would cry out "Gopher hole!" and the "darks" would
bounce into the holes and remain there until the shell exploded. Then
they would come out and go to work again. It used to be great fun for
the boys to watch the "darks" run for cover when the lookout man gave
notice of a shot by the enemy. This working and shelling was kept up
for perhaps a month after we had gone to the Army of the James. But
the canal when it was completed as far as it could be under the
circumstances, proved to be a failure, no considerable volume of water
passing through it, at that time at least.
(554) When we got to the Army of the James we witnessed a condition of
affairs different from anything we had hitherto seen. On the left of
our lines in front of Fort Harrison the pickets were probably not more
than 50 yards apart. They paced backward and forward on their several
beats as though all was serene between the opposing pickets. If,
however, either side had advanced, or perhaps, if one man had shot at
the enemy, a bloody ball of battle would have opened; but the one man
did not fire; and all was quiet on our side of the river, while on the
opposite side there was constant firing going on night and day,
between the pickets there.
(555) Our duties in this army consisted of making "corduroy" roads
over the soft and muddy ground, the cutting and hauling of firewood,
drilling a little and preparing for inspections, going on picket about
once a week, besides for the greater part of our time here, having to
stand in line of battle, just outside of our works, for an hour or so
from awhile before day each morning. However, our service this winter
in the Army of the James was as easy as any we had had, and very much
easier than some of our previous soldiering. The picket duty was
comparatively light, and then we were here free from the exhausting,
killing marching connected with much of our previous service.
(556) On the 7th of January Lieut. Col. Northcott made us a farewell
speech, his resignation some time previously tendered, having been
accepted. Owing to the high regard and esteem the Twelfth had for him,
both as a man and as a soldier, the command parted with him with
regret. Major Brown and Capt. Burley of Company A were both promoted
on the Twelfth, the former to be Lieutenant Colonel and the latter to
be Major, this making the second promotion for Brown and the third for
Burley.
(557) On the 17th an order came around announcing the fact of the
capture of the Rebel fort, Fort Fisher, by the combined attack of our
land and naval forces, the former under Gen. Terry, and the latter
under Admiral Porter. A salute was fired here at 12 o'clock this day
in honor of the victory. Our brigade was inspected on the 22nd, and
the Twelfth, having passed the best inspection of any regiment in it,
was excused from duty for one week. On the 24th, there having been
heavy cannonading not far off all the night before, an order was
promulgated saying that the Rebel gunboats had come down the James
that night and our batteries commanding the river had sunk one, and
caused two others to run aground. An attack was expected this night
and we had orders to be ready to form ranks at a moment's notice.
(558) From this time on, while the opposing armies faced each other
here, desertions from the enemy were of growing frequency. February
4th, a lieutenant colonel and captain deserted from the Rebels in
front of the pickets of our division. When desertions of officers of
their rank were taking place, it began to look like "the beginning of
the end." A few days later Richmond papers obtained from the Rebel
pickets an account of the failure of the Peace Commission, composed of
President Lincoln and others on the part of the Government, and Vice
President Stephens and others on the part of the Rebels, which met at
Hampton Roads. It was exceedingly fortunate and well for the future of
the country that the fatally blind obstinacy of the Rebels that had
characterized them from the first caused them to refuse to consider
any proposition of peace except on the basis of their independence.
(559) Concerning the Peace Commission, Gen. Grant tells a story of
Lincoln, which will bear reproduction. Stephens was a very small man,
but it seems that he wore a large overcoat on the occasion of the
meeting of the commission. Some time after this Lincoln, being on a
visit to Grant, after a little previous conversation, the talk turning
on the commission, asked Grant if he had seen that overcoat of
Stephen's. He replied that he had. "Did you see him take it off?" said
Lincoln. "Yes," said Grant. "Well," inquired Lincoln, "didn't you
think it was the biggest shuck and the least ear that ever you did
see?"
(560) Camp life here was anything but dull. There was always something
occurring of an exciting character. Besides the operations of the
armies here, the booming of cannon for instance, that was not
unfrequently heard, causing a lively interest as to what it signified,
we had orders at various times announcing victories of our armies at
other places, and salutes fired in their honor. And then a camp rumor
startling in character could be heard at almost any hour, by which the
soldiers were not much startled, however, being used to them. In fact,
there are few if any pursuits in civil life calculated to keep up the
tension of excitement like life in a camp of a great army in time of
war. On the 9th a soldier who was a deserter and bounty jumper was
taken outside the works and shot in the presence of a whole division.
The night following three of the Tenth Connecticut Infantry
substitutes deserted to the enemy, passing through our lines, where
some of the Twelfth were on picket. One of them shot at the deserters,
but missed them. The enemy had issued an order saying that all
deserters from our army should be sent through the lines North, and
that was the reason those fellows deserted.
(561) On the 21st our division was reviewed, and this same day one
hundred guns were fired from Fort Harrison on the north side of the
James and near the camp of the Twelfth, in honor of the taking of
Charleston and Columbia, S.C., by Sherman. The next day a salute was
fired in honor of Washington's birthday. Twelve days later, March 7th,
the news was received in camp of Sheridan's victory at Waynesboro, in
the Valley, over Early, in which nearly all the latter's force was
captured. No doubt Sheridan's cavalry, the loyal people everywhere,
and especially the citizens along the Baltimore & Ohio railroad in the
Valley were jubilant over this final elimination of _Jubal_.
(562) On the 17th our corps was reviewed by Gen. Grant and staff,
accompanied by a number of distinguished gentlemen and ladies. Among
them was Admiral Porter, Secretary Stanton, Mrs. Grant and many
others. An incident of this review is remembered. The troops were
closely massed by brigades perhaps. The Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania
commanded by Major Davis, belonged, it will be remembered, to our
brigade. Davis was a nervous, excitable man. As Grant and staff were
passing rapidly in front of the troops, the various brigades and
divisions greeted them with a great volume of cheers. This excited
Davis, and as Grant drew near, the former, his eyes shining and
apparently bulging out, in an excited and vehement manner, gave the
command to his men to cheer, throwing in a simile more forcible than
polite, saying, "Cheer like ---- men!" causing the whole brigade to
burst forth in laughter. Sad to say this officer was afterward killed
at the capture of Fort Gregg.
(563) The boys generally made up their minds on the occasion of this
grand review that something was about to be done. Experience had made
them shrewd in interpreting transactions relating to the army in
general; in putting this and that together. And right here it may be
well to speak of what was regarded as a possible undertaking before
the Army of the James. In front of and along part of our lines quite
near to us and in plain view were the Rebel breast works with abatis
in front. Back of these were numerous forts mounted with cannon, the
forts commanding each other so that if one were taken it would be
under the fire of the others. Besides, as was generally known after
the capture of Richmond, there were torpedoes planted in front of
their forts to make them still more impregnable. Looking at the Rebel
defences from our side, it seemed that to undertake their capture it
would be like rushing into a death-trap. And yet our men fronting them
regarded this desperate task as far from improbable.
(564) On the 19th eight deserters from the Palmetto Sharpshooters, all
from one company, came into our division headquarters. They, it
seemed, had got a sufficiency of "rights," also about all the
dying-in-the-last-ditch they cared for, and as to the "stars and bars"
and "The Bonny Blue Flag"--well, they were willing to part from them
for a time at least.
(565) On the 22nd Gen. Turner was assigned to the command of our
division, Gen. Harris thereafter to command the Third Brigade. Two
days later we received orders to be ready to march at 6 o'clock the
next morning, the 25th. We moved out at daylight that day, Sheridan,
being on his return from the Valley to Grant's Army, and as the
evening might, it was supposed, try to intercept him, our movement was
in aid of him. We went as far as the Chickahominy, passing over a part
of McClellan's old battlefields; but we saw nothing of Sheridan, he
having crossed farther down the stream. We returned to our camp in the
evening. In passing over the ground of the Seven Days' Fight, numerous
bones of the fallen brave could be seen. A rather grotesque incident
occurred on this march to and from the historic Chickahominy.
(566) Asst. Surgeon Neil of the Twelfth at that time was something of
a wag. Moving slowly and cautiously along over the battlefield, as we
did, he had ample time to pick up a skull, which he did. There was a
round hole in it, just as such a musket ball would make, and it needed
no telling that that was what made it. The command coming to a
temporary halt, he held up the skull, and assuming an air of
solemnity, began a sort of mock lecture somewhat after the manner of a
phrenologist. He said in substance about as follows:
(567) "Gentlemen," said he, "examining the bumps upon this cranium
hastily, yet as carefully as circumstances will at present permit,
assisted by the light of past and passing events, I think that I may
say, with a confidence amounting to conviction, and that you will be
justified in accepting my statement as an assured fact, that the
original possessor of this poll was evidently of a more or less
combative disposition. And gentlemen, judging from the light of
current history, and the apparent time that this skull has lain where
it was picked up, and the patent, convincing, ocular evidence
sustaining me in the assertion, I have no doubt that the wearer of
this cranium died of a gun shot wound."
(568) The boys within hearing smiled, some audibly, and as the march
was resumed their arms and equipments felt less heavy on account of
this display of waggishness.