regiment making coffee around fires that were larger than usual, owing
to the moisture that pervaded everything, but wet or dry, there was
to be no protracted halt here and the village, later to be quite
familiar to the Thirty-ninth, was left behind as the regiment plodded
along about three miles further. Turning off into some woods, camp
was established, rations drawn and preparations were progressing for
staying a while when orders came, directing five companies (B, C, D,
G, and K) to go on picket at once. Marching about two miles further,
the river was reached by the companies at Edward's Ferry. The latter
is thirty-five miles from Washington and the section had been more
or less mixed up with the war from the very start. Edward's Ferry
was familiar on account of the Battle of Ball's Bluff, just across
the Potomac, on the 21st day of October, one year before. Out in the
river is Harrison's Island, a bit of land that had been seen in fancy
by thousands of Northern people whose loved ones had died there. The
road, traversed by the men, was the Leesburg pike, the ferry being
one of the features of the way. While the country is attractive, with
the historic river flowing through it, the soldiers were not there
for historic studies. Posting one company at the Ferry as the extreme
left, the men were strung along the river to Conrad's Ferry, five miles
further up the stream. So on the banks of Old Potomac began the duties
of soldiering in a region that had already echoed to battle's din.
Parallel with the Potomac, sluggishly flows the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal and along its banks many of the picket groups were posted. Five
miles to be under observation by about five hundred men or, as they
were posted in groups of five, there were twenty posts to the mile and,
if stationed at equal intervals, each set of sentinels was responsible
for sixteen rods, but other circumstances than mere distance determined
the placing of men on picket. Probably no more vigilant soldiers than
these of the Thirty-ninth ever watched the river and opposite shore,
for the novelty of the situation and the knowledge that the rebels were
within shooting distance made the responsibility great. Besides, the
rumbles from distant Antietam, throughout the 17th, were calculated
to waken apprehensions in the minds of men who had no means of knowing
what way the fight was going.
PICKET DUTY.
Thence onward till the 23rd of the month this tour of duty continued
and however irksome it may have been to many, as a rule, men preferred
such service to the routine of roll-call and almost constant drill in
camp. Happily for these tyros in military experience, nothing of note
disturbed the general quiet of the period, though every man was on the
alert for the first indication of hostile approach. The proximity of
Maryland farms and well-filled larders suggested foraging and, while
some of the men paid for the food which they obtained, others did not,
and a considerable raid is recorded which resulted in the bringing into
camp of a great variety of material, both animal and vegetable, as
well as cereals and fruit. While it was new business for the majority
of these well brought up young men, they speedily adapted themselves
to their new conditions, and rare was the soldier who could not secure
food to eat if anything of the kind were within reaching distance.
It is said that bills, aggregating fifty dollars, were presented to
the Colonel by suffering farmers from the afflicted locality and
they were paid by someone, though the amount was later assessed upon
the offending companies. Sickness made its appearance among the men,
largely the result of indiscretion in eating, the abundance of all
sorts of fruit inducing indulgence therein to the extent of serious
stomach and bowel difficulties. Also, the individual cooking done by
the men may have had a share in the disorders named, for while some of
the combinations of fried pork, apples and molasses may have been very
palatable, they certainly were a surprise to many of the stomachs, into
which they were introduced. At the same time the lesson of self help
had to be learned.
[Sidenote: SEPT., '62]
On the 23rd, the companies on picket were relieved by those in camp
and there came a chance to receive the knapsacks left at Arlington on
the 14th, and the extra clothing thus was appreciated by all to whom
the coldness of Southern nights was a revelation. Shelter tents were
distributed and every one speedily learned how much comfort could be
found beneath them. Here too began in good earnest the school of the
soldier, and four drills a day, along with roll-calls at frequent
intervals, induced a degree of attention and a weariness that made
many a lad seek his rest, when possible, without any prompting. The
first death in the regiment came on the 27th, when Nathan Mitchell, a
Bridgewater boy, Company F, twenty-one years old, passed out of this
life. The funeral was held the next (Sunday) morning, an impressive
lesson for the soldiers of the possibility of death in camp as well as
on the battlefield.
For a number of days there followed a regular exchange of duties
between camp and picket, the latter being considered preferable, as a
rule, having so much less of drill and the fretful features of military
life. Men learned to wash their own garments, to mend their apparel
and to do many things of which, had they remained at home, they would
always have been ignorant. The bi-weekly arrival of the mail was a
regular event that never lost its interest, and happiness and misery
were separated only by the receipt of letters or their failure. The
folks at home knew this full well, and there were few boys in blue for
whom some one in the distant Northland was not planning some pleasant
interlude during these months of separation. Confederate prisoners,
too, were not unusual, on their way under guard to Washington, and
while they at first excited curiosity, the latter feeling was mingled
with wonder at their lack of uniform and the general soldierly
appearance which the Union soldiers maintained. Under the impression
that the Maryland side was held by his people one rebel forded the
Potomac, clad in citizen's garb, wearing a Pennsylvanian's knapsack
which, he said, he had acquired at Manassas; he was a queer looking
soldier, though he claimed to belong to the Sixth Florida Infantry.
Someway, he had managed to get off the rebel route on the way back from
Antietam. It was no infrequent thing for an alarm to bring the men into
line at any time of night and to make them stand thus until daylight
did appear. Seemingly the foe was constantly fording the Potomac above
or below the portion guarded by the Thirty-ninth Regiment. In one case,
the "sure rebels," who had built fires across the river, proved to be
the division of General E. V. Sumner returning from a raid upon the
wagon-train of General Lee.
Since reaching "Old Potomac's Shore" no more memorable day had been
recorded than Sunday, October 12th, when the regular inspection was
interrupted by the arrival of a courier with orders to march at once
since the enemy was crossing the river at one of the upper fords, and
skirmishing was already in progress. Much to the wonder of some, in
spite of the urgency the inspection was finished and the rations drawn
before the Thirty-ninth, in heavy marching array, started off at a
double-quick, to make up for lost time. The heat of the day and the
heaviness of the attire made the march exceedingly trying, but Conrad's
Ferry was reached at last, knapsacks were unslung, line of battle was
formed, and the approach of the enemy was awaited; but in vain, for
the rapid riders of J. E. B. Stuart had already crossed at White's
Ford, two miles further up the stream. Some of the hypercritical
soldiers thought that if the inspection had been ended at once and
the march made in light order, the Thirty-ninth might have arrived in
time to interrupt the placid passage of the Potomac by the venturesome
Confederates.
STUART'S RAID.
[Sidenote: OCT. 9, '62]
It is in place to state that the affair was the termination of
one of the most picturesque incidents of the entire war. On the
9th of October, Confederate General Stuart with eighteen hundred
of the best mounted and most reliable men in the brigades of Wade
Hampton, Fitz Hugh Lee and B. H. Robertson started from Darksville,
a place some miles above Martinsburg in the valley of the Shenandoah
and, moving northward, crossed the Potomac at McCoy's Ford and reached
Chambersburg, Penn., in the evening of the 10th. In the Keystone
State the troopers had helped themselves to whatever they chose to
take, but they had carefully refrained from molesting property on
their way through Maryland. In Chambersburg and vicinity, horses and
whatever might contribute to the welfare and comfort of the invaders
were appropriated. The night in the Pennsylvania city was spent in
drizzling rain which added not a little to the peril of the situation,
for Federal authorities were astir, hoping to surround and capture
the entire rebel outfit. The morning of the 11th, the horsemen turned
their steps eastward, proceeding towards Gettysburg as far as Cashtown;
thence the route was directly southward, through Emmitsburg, New
Market, Hyattstown, etc., with only momentary halts, to the Potomac.
There was no bivouac for the night, since any hour might confront the
riders with a Union force to effectually block their way. Stuart had
the good fortune to be guided by Capt. B. S. White, a Poolesville man
and a member of his staff who knew the entire country thoroughly, so
that, while the Federal forces were looking for the enemy further down
the stream or at points higher up, White piloted them to the ford and
saw them in safety on the other side.
It was one of the great events of military history; General Stoneman
with infantry and cavalry was stationed at Poolesville, and Pleasanton
was in readiness at the mouth of the Monocacy, places which the astute
Confederates carefully avoided. The net results of the expedition
were the destruction of public and railroad property in Chambersburg
to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; two hundred
and eighty wounded and sick prisoners, paroled; thirty United States
government officials and other citizens of prominence, captured and
forwarded to Richmond, to be held as hostages for Confederate citizens
held by the North, and more than twelve hundred horses brought away to
replenish the mounts for the daring rebels. Within twenty-seven hours,
the Confederates had ridden ninety miles, encumbered with artillery
and captured horses, and had forced the final passage of the Potomac
virtually under the very eyes of the Union forces, their only loss
being two men who wandered away, and the only casualty was the wounding
of one man. Not a few observers in the Union ranks wondered why things
were thus, and Hooker's pertinent question, "Who ever saw a dead
cavalryman?" is remembered.
An interesting postscript to the escape of Stuart and his men came
about soon after when Poole and Leslie of Company K, in spite of the
strict orders as to watchfulness and care, laid off their clothes, when
on picket, and swam over to Harrison's Island where they found no other
rebel than an old mule, feeding in solitary, but on their way back
they found in the river a pair of saddle-bags that had belonged to the
Chaplain of Hampton's Legion, one of Stuart's force, and evidently lost
in the crossing. The contents consisted in pious tracts, a vest with
Confederate buttons, needles and thread, and a hospital flag, a yellow
cotton affair, which years afterward would be one of the finder's
choicest relics. Leslie was always very sorry that those tracts were
not distributed among the Johnnies, for he thought they needed them
badly.
The same rain that had made the rebel raid all the more difficult
rendered the return of our men to camp very uncomfortable, but they had
learned something of what might be expected of them. Besides, during
the evening they acquired a bit of military knowledge from certain
troops under Gen. D. B. Birney of the Corps, lately commanded by Gen.
Phil Kearney. They too had come in a hurry from Hall's Hill and found
themselves too late for the game.
[Sidenote: OCT. 14, '62]
It had been a hard day and the men were tired and hungry; flocking over
to the camp of the Thirty-ninth, they were cordially received and the
Massachusetts men generously gave what they could to the comfort of
the weary soldiers, receiving in payment many thanks and some pretty
large stories of the fights in which the older soldiers had been. One
of the latter's first acts was to build great fires, using therefor
the fence rails, hitherto untouched by the Bay State lads, this being
in conformity with orders, but the experienced campaigners cared
not a copper for rules, but speedily laid hold on the combustible
matter and lighted roaring fires that astonished the lately arrived.
Such desecration was not to be tamely endured by those who strictly
interpreted the law, so the colonel of the Thirty-ninth undertook to
stay the hands of the wet and muddy soldiers and thus to save the
fences, but the veterans of the Peninsula, Groveton and Antietam were
not to be diverted by mere language, and the conflagration continued
till long lengths of zigzag fence had disappeared.
MOVING AGAIN
Tuesday, the 14th of October, saw the regiment again in line, and
marching something like eight miles towards Washington to Seneca
Landing, camping there for the night. The land was low and wet near
the canal, and in the morning all turned out as wet as if they had
been in the rain, so dense was the fog that overspread the locality.
By morning's light, a new camping-place was found on a high hill,
half a mile to the rear, where camp was once more pitched, the Sibley
tents having arrived; the location was the same that was occupied by
the Second Massachusetts Infantry in the winter of 1861 and 2; the
Landing, about twenty-five miles from Washington, was at the mouth of
Seneca Creek and was a depot of supplies for the army. A noteworthy
arrival of mail is chronicled for this place, since in the maneuvers
of the last few days, a large quantity of such matter had accumulated
at Poolesville and it is recorded that fully eight bushels of letters
and papers were distributed among the men, hungry for news from home.
Hitherto, the Thirty-ninth had acted in an independent capacity, but
on Friday, the 17th, orders were promulgated, organizing a brigade, to
be under the command of Brigadier Gen. Cuvier Grover and to consist of
the Thirty-ninth, the Tenth Vermont, the Fourteenth New Hampshire and
the Twenty-third Maine along with a battery and certain cavalry, the
same being an independent brigade, though under the ultimate command of
General Heintzelman, who was in charge of the defenses of Washington,
the duties being similar to those hitherto performed.
During these days, while there were drills, inspections and other camp
duties, the enlisted man had time, or he took it, to visit neighboring
farms, to quiz the natives, to sample the products of the land and
in many ways to prove his derivation from Yankeedom. The men found
the negroes glad to see them and ready to hurrah for the flag, while
suspicion was generally harbored that professions of loyalty on the
part of slave-owners were not particularly sincere. Target shoots were
indulged in, a practice of which there should have been more throughout
the army; Sunday, the 19th, was remarked as quite uneventful, since
there were only inspections and dress parade, and no alarm of any
sort. October 20th orders came to pack up, and a removal to the mouth
of Muddy Branch was made, possibly three miles nearer Washington,
where the old routine was continued. As the name of the stream would
indicate, the locality was still very unhealthy, being low and damp,
but the duties were less arduous when on picket, through there being
less posts and less hours of duty. Illicit traffic with the enemy had
to be strictly watched and prevented.
[Sidenote: OCT. 21, '62]
On the 21st, a long stretch of embankment on the canal breaking
away, a detachment of five men from each company was made to proceed
to the scene, some three miles down the stream, and to repair the
same, an employment hardly contemplated when they enlisted. However,
they succeeded in stopping the crevasse and permitting the renewal
of transportation. Though comparatively near the base of supplies,
provisions at times were scarce and hardtack and water seemed scant
rations for men accustomed to more generous fare. If, under such
circumstances, soldiers foraged occasionally, sometimes paying for what
they got, more often not, why, it was only a part of the game that
the North and the South were playing; and to prove themselves rapidly
progressing, October 24th, ostensibly in retaliation for excessive
charges, a raid was made on the regimental sutler,[C] mulcting his
assets to the amount, so said, of about eighty dollars.
The section guarded by the Thirty-ninth and the other regiments of
the brigade, being on the canal and river, was one pretty thoroughly
traversed by the Union soldiers and those who kept diaries made many
interesting entries. There was a constant passing of boats on the
canal and all roads led to Washington. Negroes on their way to the
Nation's Capital might be intercepted, but if the black man asserted
that he was running away from his master, he would have been a rare
soldier who would turn him back. One colored person, thus halted, very
aged, claimed to have been a slave of General Washington and, in reply
to a query, said that the Father of his Country looked very brave.
Though situated on the top of a hill, the constant wet weather made
the surroundings of the camp anything but agreeable, the soil being
soft and sticky; to crown all misfortunes, occasionally a tent would
collapse upon its occupants in the midst of rain and wind, resulting
in hurried action on the part of the unfortunate fellows who may have
just come in from the exactions of a prolonged tour of picket duty.
Lucky was the man on picket when the last day of October rolled round,
for on this date there were inspections and waitings in line, armed
cap-a-pie, sometimes at a "shoulder arms," drills, reviews and a muster
for pay. Everything seemingly that could be rung into a day's work was
had. Perhaps the fact that the muster for pay covered two months of
service was as agreeable an exercise as the day afforded. It was during
these days that at least one company, possibly more, undertook to
repeat the game so nicely played by Birney's veterans when they camped
near the Thirty-ninth at the time of Stuart's crossing the Potomac; in
other words, representatives of the companies, under supposed proper
orders and directed by sergeants, went out some distance from camp and
secured a good supply of well dried fence rails for the use of the
company cooks in the preparation of food. The matter was thought quite
proper, until the men were ordered into line and compelled to pick up
what rails had not already been chopped into firewood and to carry
them back to the place where they were obtained, though in depositing
them the soldiers surely raised a sign of offense before the doors of
the parties making complaint. Somehow the men could not be made to
appreciate the tender manner in which some in authority thought the
residents should be treated.
[Sidenote: NOV. 11, '62]
While each day brought its regular round of duty, there was little of
novelty in successive days, the soldiers gradually hardening into the
restraints and exactions of camp life. The 7th of November brought the
first snow fall of the season, and though only about two inches of the
fleecy reminder of northern regions fell, it was enough to impart a
robe of whiteness to Mother Earth and boys-in-blue had the pleasure of
snow-balling while it lasted, which was scarcely more than twenty-four
hours. The 9th was Sunday and it brought the regular inspections,
though the rain and cold prevented religious service and dress parade.
The cold was severe enough to freeze liquids left by the occupants
in their tents while out on duty. Monday, the 10th, marked a brigade
inspection by General Grover, which the men inspected voted much
easier than those made by their Colonel. This was the last appearance
of General Grover in the brigade since on the 11th he was ordered to
report to General N. P. Banks, who was organizing reinforcements for
the Department of the Gulf. A native of Maine and a graduate of West
Point, 1850, he had won honors at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks and at the
Second Bull Run. As commander of a division in the Nineteenth Army
Corps he will win still further laurels both in the extreme South and
in the Valley of the Shenandoah. His independent brigade had grown to
respect him highly.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] The privilege of piecing out the regular rations and of providing
luxuries, not thought of by the commissary in his wildest dream, was
accorded in the Thirty-ninth Regiment to Gilbert and Sumner Pullen,
both natives of the State of Maine and enjoying the kinship of Second
Cousins. After the war, Sumner Pullen, whose home was in Dedham, was a
travelling salesman throughout his business life. He died in Dedham,
Sept., 1890, aged 79 years; of Gilbert Pullen, no data subsequent to
the war have been found.
OFFUTT'S CROSS ROADS
The departure of General Grover was followed by the assignment of
Colonel Davis to the command of the brigade and the elevation of Lieut.
Colonel Peirson to that of the regiment. In close connection with the
foregoing, a change of location was ordered by General Heintzelman and,
on the 13th, another move towards Washington was effected. Turning
out long before daylight, an early breakfast was eaten and the line
of march was begun before sunrise, the terminal being Offutt's Cross
Roads, some twelve or more miles from Washington, the crossed roads
being that from Rockville to Great Falls, and the turnpike which
paralleled the river and canal, terminating at Tennallytown. There
was a deal of grubbing out of stumps and other obstacles necessary
in providing for a parade ground, though the site was considered
better than the one just left, even if there was no adequate supply of
water near. All the other regiments in the brigade were camped close
by, viz.: the Tenth Vermont, the Fourteenth New Hampshire, and the
Twenty-third Maine. In honor of the retiring brigade commander, the
new stopping place was named Camp Grover.
In diaries of the period two quite diverse entries are found for the
15th, one stating that Colonel Davis, acting brigade commander, was
thrown from his horse, though fortunately he was not seriously hurt;
the other that the band of the Fourteenth New Hampshire played "Home
Sweet Home" so beautifully that it made a wave of homesickness sweep
over and through the brigade. A company from each regiment in the
brigade was sent out by Colonel Davis to look after some of Captain
White's guerrillas. A distressing accident was that of the 17th when
James W. Finn of Company I, only eighteen years old, a farmer boy of
Natick, fell from the containing wall of the canal-lock into the water
and was drowned. During these days, the men were learning how to make
their tents warmer through a system of stockading, and there was need
enough of it, since cold weather had begun. Of all the regiments, there
is a large representation in the hospitals, though the Thirty-ninth
is better off in this respect than the others. However the best is
bad enough, for on the 21st Charles H. Morrison of the Natick company
passed on, followed on the 22d by Sumner P. Rollins of Somerville, a
young man of eighteen years. Again on the 23rd, two more men of "I"
crossed over, George L. Fogg and Francis E. Mann, and on the 25th, died
Francis E. Newhall, also of Natick. Hugh Connoly of the Woburn company
died November 25th. In the five weeks' stay at this point, the Tenth
Vermont lost twenty-five men, their funeral marches through the camp
being of almost daily occurrence.
[Sidenote: NOV. 27, '62]
Two and a half miles from the canal, at or near Great Falls, where
begins the aqueduct which carries Washington's water supply, a
considerable portion of these soldiers' duty was the guarding of the
Government buildings there, including a bakery; near by was a large
freestone quarry whose product was utilized in the building of the
reservoir and the aqueduct itself. Considering the rain, which was
very prevalent, and the mud which deepened on little provocation, the
distance seemed to grow as the days advanced. On the 24th two companies
were sent off in a hurry to intercept some of Stuart's cavalry said to
be in the vicinity of Edward's Ferry; nothing came of the effort more
important than the capture of two negroes. There was little going on
that did not involve the colored man more or less. Even Mr. Offutt,
for whom the cross roads are named, had been in the Old Capitol Prison
because of his inability to render up one of his slaves when called for
by General Jas. S. Wadsworth, when the latter was military governor of
the District of Columbia.