any happening in the camp of our near neighbors and good friends,
the men of the Sixteenth Maine, passing mention is due here. Colonel
Charles W. Tilden had been captured at Gettysburg and had been held
prisoner in Richmond until the 10th of February, when with others he
got away from Libby through General A. D. Streight's famous tunnel
and on the 28th of March, at four o'clock in the afternoon, he was
received by his old boys with a heartiness which only old soldiers
can give to the tried and true; in the evening followed a feast in
the regimental chapel, attended by the officers of the Sixteenth and
the field officers of the brigade, all uniting in the most fervent
expressions of respect and admiration; the history of the Sixteenth
has this concerning the words of our esteemed Commander, "Colonel
Davis, whose encampment is a paragon of neatness and comfort, replied
in his calm and witty way to a toast complimentary to the Thirty-ninth
Massachusetts." The next day several hundred men from other regiments
in the brigade assembled at 9 a. m. to witness the presentation to
Colonel Tilden by his regiment of a magnificent black stallion duly
caparisoned; evidently the officer was greatly admired. The remainder
of the day was one of diversion for the men of the Sixteenth and their
friends.
[Sidenote: APR. 8, '64]
The One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania, a member of our brigade,
whose Colonel, Thos. F. McCoy, at times commanded the brigade, pretty
generally enlisted in the month of February, but its re-enlistment
home-going did not begin until this day; surely no April Fool's
occasion for the happy men who crowded aboard the train which was to
carry them hence, all intent on the happiness in store for them; the
"battle summer" will be well under way before the regiment rejoins us;
a considerable part of the One Hundred and Fourth New York also started
away on a similar errand. On the 3rd, the Ninetieth Pennsylvania came
over from the Second Brigade and occupied the camp of the One Hundred
and Seventh. The general harshness of the season marked early April,
rain and snow, and not till the seventh day did the weather clear
up effectually and, even then, as matters shaped themselves, there
were those who claimed that there was an improvement, not so much on
our account as that there might be a bright day for General Grant's
inspection. It was Fast Day, too, at home, but we were eating all we
could get. We were out early and active on the 8th, doing very thorough
policing. We were in line at 11 a. m. and before noon, the hero of
Vicksburg, accompanied by his staff and General Robinson, appeared,
receiving three cheers from the men as he rode by us; he took a look at
our camp and highly complimented its appearance. Evidently the General
had heard of our camp for he went down through the company streets
which were spick and span as usual. Then he went out to the picket-line
and thence to the signal station on the hill, Colonel Davis going with
him. Everyone was sizing him up and making some sort of a mental entry
concerning him, and one man wrote this, "He has a good, resolute look."
There seemed to be a general opinion that he was no great talker, but
that, as a doer, he would probably be all right.
Stormy weather was resumed on the 9th and continued almost every day
until the excess of water washed away bridges between us and Washington
to the extent of stopping trains on the 11th, with consequent lack
of mails and other inconveniences; so efficient, however, were the
artificers of the army, the very next day trains resumed running and
letters from home made glad the hearts of men. During these days we
were packing all superfluous articles, preparatory to sending to
Alexandria, at the same time all were enjoined from writing about
this to the friends at home. The new management did not believe in
the utmost publicity. Saddened reflections followed the departure of
the sutler, on the 16th, since thereafter, it would be necessary to
forego luxuries altogether. The 19th saw seven discouraged rebels come
into our lines, saying that there were many more waiting a chance to
get through. Notwithstanding this, we could see that the enemy was
working hard on making breastworks, evidently expecting us to march
directly upon them; nobody knows just what way we shall advance, but it
probably will not be by the line surmised by the Confederates. Everyone
felt better on account of the serenade that the band of the Sixteenth
Maine favored us with in the evening of the 20th. The 21st marked the
departure of thirteen men from the Thirty-ninth, transferred to the
Navy, many of whom, being familiar with nautical duties, fancied that
service afloat would be preferable to that ashore.
The Cavalry had been even more active, if possible, than the Infantry
during the winter and General Sheridan commented on the lean and
hungry look of the horses when he reached the army, but in spite of
leanness, this branch was the first to move--some said it had not
stopped moving,-and on the 23rd, one man wrote, "The Cavalry moved
out to-day" and, could he have foreseen the service that the restless
"Little Phil" was to exact from the horsemen, doubtless he had written
more at length. He also entered in that same journal, "The covering of
our chapel was taken off to-day, so I suppose our meetings are over."
Dismantling was the order of Sunday, the 24th, and unroofed cabins
lost their homelike look. The move of the 26th looked much like an
abandonment of our long time camp and the beginning of active warfare,
for the whole brigade, leaving the old camp behind, crossed Cedar Run
and, at a point a mile away from the former stopping place, pitched its
shelter tents in column by companies, the thirty-ninth Regiment being
on the right. Some went back to their old quarters to bring thence
boards to help out their sleeping facilities. By this change of camp,
it was expected to free the men from all surplus stuff and, at the same
time, to re-inure them to the hardships of active campaigning. The
remaining days of April were uneventful, given to parades, inspections
and drills, wherein knapsacks figured largely, thus testing the
endurance of the soldiers and on the 30th, Saturday, the Regiment was
mustered for two months' pay, March and April.
[Sidenote: APR. 30, '64]
No month in the year among dwellers in northern regions prompts to
brighter, happier thoughts than May; in distant Massachusetts, children
who had sought the fragrant arbutus through the daylight hours, were
repining that Sunday made it impracticable for them to hang May-baskets
when the evening shades appeared, a pleasure deferred however only
till the following night. To the men and boys, afar from familiar
scenes and cherished friends, the pleasures of peace were denied, and
being on the eve of departure, much of regular camp life was omitted.
Their neighbors, the Sixteenth Maine, formed in hollow square and had
religious services, but letter writing was the most serious employment
for the men of the Thirty-ninth. Could they have known the horrors
through which they were to pass before another Lord's Day returned,
with what eloquence had those messages teemed which carried simply the
usual words of love and fealty. Hands that wrote tender words on this
May day, ere another week had passed, were folded on soldierly breasts,
asleep in battle-made graves. For nearly an entire year, with no long
rest in winterquarters, no respite from the noise of combat, the men of
the North and their brothers from the South are about to engage in a
death grapple, and a baptism of blood awaits the tyros of the Lynnfield
camp, the cadets of Edward's Ferry and Poolesville, the Capital
guardians of Washington, and the admirably equipped soldiers of Colonel
Davis' pride.
Though it is the 2d day of May and we are in the supposedly "Sunny
South," snow is plainly visible on the tips of the Blue Ridge and where
the mountains are high enough, anywhere snow may be found the whole
year round. Company E, Somerville, is taking the least bit of pride to
itself in that its Captain Kinsley, the senior officer of that rank,
commands in the battalion-drill. Keen observers of signs are these
soldier boys and, when they learn that the cars have come up for the
last time, and when they hear, at dress parade, a letter of praise
and patriotic prompting from General George G. Meade, all this on the
3rd, they know full well that the days of winterquarters are all but
ended; certainty is added to surety when, at 10 p. m., three days'
rations are issued with the not over cheerful information that they
must last us six; at midnight, we are awakened and told to be ready to
move in fifteen minutes. How many glances are cast towards the Rapidan,
during the nearly three hours' wait before the start is made, not of
apprehension but of wonder as to what the outcome will be when "brave
Northmen shall the Southern meet in bold, defiant manner?" We know full
well that our faces are soon to be set towards the south, that once
more the stream, so often crossed and recrossed, will soon greet us
again as we pass over or through it; remembering the mettle of the man
who is now leading, one who never made provisions for retreat, because
he never retreated, we realize that in our progress southward there
will be no backward turning, that, while "few shall part where many
meet," some of our numbers will survive to carry forward the Flag, and
everyone had a perfect conviction of the righteousness of his cause and
absolute confidence in its eventual triumph.
[Sidenote: MAY 4, '64]
The main incidents of these days in early May are writing themselves
deep in the hearts of America; as long as he lives will every
participant, whether in blue or gray, recall the impressions that were
his as he realized the immensity of the struggle that is impending.
Of it, Grant has said in his Memoirs, "The capture of the Confederate
capital and the army defending it was not to be accomplished without
as desperate fighting as the world has ever witnessed." Lee left no
memoirs but his biographer wrote, "He divined Grant's plans, and
cutting the latter from the object of his desires, threw himself upon
him in a contest whose fury may be gauged by the fact that the musketry
fire continued in one unbroken roar for seventeen hours, and trees
were shorn down by the musket balls." The outlines of the movement
which began with the start of the Second Corps, at 11 p. m. of the
3rd, crossing at Ely's Ford at six o'clock in the morning of the 4th,
followed at Germanna's in turn by that of the Fifth and Sixth Corps
in order, have been told in hundreds of places by both tongue and pen;
they form the a, b, c of 1864 military history, so we must content
ourselves with the fact that when, at three o'clock of the 4th of May,
the Thirty-ninth hears that ever significant command, "Forward, March!"
the Second Corps, under the lead of Hancock the Superb, is nearing
Ely's Ford in its all night's march; and the ever-vigilant Sixth Corps,
under glorious "Uncle John" Sedgwick, is only awaiting the advance of
our Fifth Corps, led by Warren, around whose head must ever wreathe
the halo of Little Round Top, before following to take position at our
right in the forthcoming battle-line.
[Illustration:
JOHN C. ROBINSON
B'v't Major-General
Second Div. Fifth Corps
GOVERNEUR K. WARREN
Major-General
Fifth Corps
PETER LYLE
B'v't Brig.-General
First Brig., Second Div. Fifth Corps]
FOOTNOTES:
[I] John Newton, like Winfield Scott and George H. Thomas, was a
native of Virginia, and was appointed thence to West Point, where he
was graduated in 1842, No. 2, in a class that included Rosecrans,
Pope, Seth Williams, Doubleday, Sykes and other noted Federal leaders
and Longstreet, D. H. Hill, Gustavus W. Smith, McLaws and Van Dorn
of the Confederates. In continuous service in the Engineer Corps, he
had attained the rank of captain when the war began. He was assistant
engineer in the construction of the defenses of Washington; served
through the Peninsular campaign; was at Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg and followed Reynolds as commander
of the First Corps. After leaving the Army of the Potomac, he commanded
a division in the Fourth Corps, under O. O. Howard, in the army of
the Cumberland having a part in the campaign which culminated in
the capture of Atlanta, September 1864. Later he commanded various
districts in Florida until his muster-out from the volunteer service,
January 1866. His subsequent life was devoted to engineering, among his
most notable deeds being the removal of obstructions in Hell Gate, the
narrow passage of East River, between Long Island Sound and New York
Harbor. Subsequent to his resignation from the army in 1884, he became
Commissioner of Public Works in New York City; at the time of his death
in his seventy-second year, May 1, 1895, he was president of the Panama
Railroad and of the Panama and Columbian Steamship Companies.
THE WILDERNESS
At first our own course is northward, toward Culpeper, then we bear off
to the right, passing the headquarters of the Sixth Corps, and those of
the Army of the Potomac skirting the base of Pony Mountain and on to
Germanna, remembered well in our Mine Run campaign. Though nominally,
for several days a part of the Fifth Corps, we do not actually meet
any part of the Corps itself till just before reaching the ford. We
cross the river at about 11 a. m., nowhere encountering any opposition
from the enemy, who evidently is endeavoring to ascertain what Grant's
objective may be, catching up with the other portions of the Corps late
in the afternoon. After an arduous march of considerably more than
twenty miles, burdened by heavy knapsacks, filled in winter quarters,
our division bivouaced near the Wilderness Tavern.[J] From this point
the almost countless campfires of our army could be seen, always an
impressive sight, and never were the soldiers of the Potomac Army in a
more impressible mood than after their long period in winter quarters.
Of the troop thus in bivouac, Lieut. Porter of Company A wrote, "The
men were in the best of spirits. They believed that the supreme effort
to bring the rebellion to a close was being made. There were enthusiasm
and determination in the minds of everyone." A year ago the word
"Wilderness" was frequently heard as the events of Chancellorsville
were discussed and now it is to gain even wider mention; it seems a
name quite out of place in the midst of the Old Dominion, not so far
from the very first settlements in British North America.
General Morris Schaff in his story of the great battle says this of
the section, "What is known as the Wilderness begins near Orange Court
House on the west and extends almost to Fredericksburg, twenty-five or
thirty miles to the east. Its northern bounds are the Rapidan and the
Rappahannock and, owing to the winding channels, its width is somewhat
irregular. At Spottsylvania, its extreme southern limit, it is some
ten miles wide." Considerably more than a hundred years before, there
were extensive iron mines worked in this region under the directions of
Alexander Spottswood, then governor of Virginia. To feed the furnaces
the section was quite denuded of trees and the irregular growth of
subsequent years, upon the thin soil, of low-limbed and scraggy pines,
stiff and bristling chinkapins, scrub-oaks and hazel bushes gave rise
to the appellation so often applied. Hooker and Chancellorsville are
already involved in memories of the region and coming days will give
equal associations with Grant and Meade, while the Confederates,
remembering that within its mazes their own shots killed their peerless
leader, Jackson, ere many hours have passed will lament a similar
misfortune to Longstreet.
[Sidenote: MAY 4, '64]
Within this tangled thicket, artillery will be of no avail and the vast
array of thunderers will stand silent as artillerymen hear the roar
of musketry; cavalry will be equally out of the question, but within
firing distance more than two hundred thousand men will consume vast
quantities of gunpowder in their efforts to destroy each other. It is
generally understood that General Grant did not expect an encounter
with Lee within the Wilderness itself, as is evident in Meade's orders
to Hancock and the Second Corps; indeed on the 5th the latter was
recalled from Chancellorsville to the Brock Road at the left of the
Fifth Corps, the Confederates having displayed a disposition to attack
much earlier than the Union Commanders had thought probable; how
Sedgwick and the Sixth Corps held the Union right, Warren and his Fifth
the centre and Hancock with the Second were at the left are figures
from the past well remembered by participant and student. While every
movement of the Union Army has a southern tendency, a disposition to
get nearer to Richmond, yet in the Wilderness all of the fighting was
along a north and south line, the enemy exhibiting an unwillingness
to be outflanked as easily as the new leader of the Potomac Army had
evidently expected.
In the morning of the 5th of May, General Richard S. Ewell commands
the Confederate left with "Stonewall" Jackson's old army or what may
be left of it; next to him, at his right, is A. P. Hill with the
divisions of Wilcox, Heth, Scales and Lane; Longstreet has not arrived
as yet, the morning finding him as far away as Gordonville, but he is
making all the speed possible towards the scene of conflict, and when
he arrives his station will be on the rebel right, his lieutenants
being Anderson, Mahone, Wofford and Davis. The intricacies of this
jungle-infested region are much better known to the Southern soldiers
than to those from the North, and this knowledge is a full compensation
for any disparity in numbers known to exist. Burnside and the Ninth
Corps of the Federal forces are just crossing the Rapidan after a
forced march from Rappahannock Station and when they reach the battle
line, it will be to occupy some of the thinly covered interval between
Warren and Hancock. All of the amenities of the long winter months are
now forgotten, and war to the death is confronting every combatant,
whether in blue or gray.
In coming days, these men will recount the events of May, 1864, and
while the roar of musketry will play a veritable diapason of war
for them, they will not forget how readily they dropped the musket
and, grasping axe or shovel, felled the trees and, weaving them into
earth-covered breastworks, interposed thus much protection from the
cruel missiles of the enemy. If the survivors of the Potomac Army in
the battle summer had chosen to wear subsequently as under-guards or
supports of their respective Corps-badges, whether, trefoil, Greek or
Maltese Cross or shield, the semblance of musket and shovel crossed, no
one would have questioned its oppositeness. However averse men may have
been to the regular use of pick and shovel, experience soon told them
that an old fence rail, a small sapling or a shovelful of earth might
ward off a hostile bullet and, lacking the intrenching tools, they were
known to throw up, in an incredibly brief time, serviceable defenses,
using no more effective utensils than their bayonets, case-knives and
tin plates. Future archaeologists, in the Wilderness region, will
have difficulty in distinguishing between the works of the Eighteenth
century miners and their soldier successors more than a hundred years
later. Deeply scarred was the battle-riven surface of the Old Dominion
and, centuries hence, poets and historians will wax as eloquent over
some of these fiercely contested places as did Charles Dickens over
the bloody field of Shrewsbury where "the stream ran red, the trodden
earth became a quagmire and fertile spots marked the places where heaps
of men and horses lay buried indiscriminately, enriching the ground."
Macaulay, too, never wrote with more brilliant pen than when he
described the poppy-strewn plain of Neerwinden, "fertilized with twenty
thousand corpses."
[Sidenote: MAY 5, '64]
If Grant had known as definitely the mind of Lee as the latter
appeared to divine the intentions of the Union General, the story
of the Wilderness might have been very different. The orders for
the morning of the 5th were for Warren to move to Parker's store,
towards the southwest; Sedgwick was to follow Warren, ranging up at
his right; Hancock with the Second Corps was to advance, also towards
the southwest, his left to reach to Shady Grove Church. The enemy was
discovered before Warren reached Parker's store and he was ordered to
attack; Getty and the Second Division of the Sixth Corps were sent
to defend Warren's left flank and Wright with the First Division of
the Sixth Corps was ordered up to Warren's right, and at nine o'clock
Hancock was ordered to come to the support of Getty, all this happening
where Grant had expected, at least had hoped for, an unopposed passage.
Instead of a retreating enemy, Warren opened the great battle of the
Wilderness by an attack upon a foe ready for the fray; but let the
Fifth Corps Commander tell his own story:--
"Set out according to orders, 6. a. m., towards Parker's
store--Crawford, Wadsworth, Robinson; enemy reported close at hand in
force, and when Crawford had nearly reached Parker's, Generals Meade
and Grant arrived and determined to attack the force on the road near
Griffin (Warren's right division). Wadsworth was gotten into line
immediately on the left of Griffin with one brigade of Crawford,
Robinson in support. We attacked with this force impetuously, carried
the enemy's line, but being flanked by a whole division of the enemy
were compelled to fall back to our first position, leaving two guns on
the road between the lines that had been advanced to take advantage of
the first success. The horses were shot and the guns removed between
our lines. The attack failed because Wright's (Third) division of the
Sixth Corps was unable on account of the woods to get up on our right
flank and meet the division (Johnson's Ewell's Corps) that had flanked
us. Wright became engaged some time afterward. We lost heavily in this
attack, and the thick woods caused much confusion in our lines. The
enemy did not pursue us in the least. We had encountered the whole of
Ewell's Corps. The enemy that moved on past Parker's along the Plank
Road was Hill's corps. General Getty's division of the Sixth Corps
was sent to the intersection of the Brock Road to check the column,
which it did, and General Hancock was ordered up from Todd's tavern,
and also engaged Hill's corps. At this time I sent Wadsworth with his
division and Baxter's (Second) Brigade (Second Division) to attack
Hill's left flank as he engaged Hancock. It was late when this was
done, but the attack produced considerable impression. Wadsworth's
men slept on their arms where night overtook them. During the night,
I sent instructions to Wadsworth to form in line northeast and
southwest, and go straight through, and orders were given to attack
next morning at 4.30 with the whole army, Burnside being expected up
by that time to take part. With the rest of my force I prepared to
attack Ewell in conjunction with a part of the Sixth Corps."
During the day, General Alexander Hays, commanding a brigade in the
Second Corps was killed, a contemporary of Grant at West Point, he
was one of the bravest of the brave; Generals Getty and Carroll were
wounded, but remained on the field. The report of General Robinson,
commanding the division, does not add any essentials to the report
of General Warren. Unfortunately no report of our Brigade nor of the
regiments composing it are found. Comrade Beck of Company C has this to
say of his observations during the day:--
"Turned out at three o'clock and started at about light; after some
delay found the rebels in force; the advance forces of our Corps drove
the enemy from his first line of works; we were in reserve till about
12 m., when we were ordered into line-of-battle on the right of the
Plank Road; dead and wounded are in evidence and there is hot work
ahead. The Rebs have a strong position across a ravine; our artillery
could not be placed in position; volley after volley was fired all
day from all along, both left and right; we had to lay low, the balls
whistled thick around us; at six o'clock were ordered to charge but
were ordered back; it would have been madness, since the enemy had
a cross fire on us. We lay in line-of-battle all night; many of our
wounded could not be reached, and it was awful to hear their cries;
when the stretcher-bearers tried to get them, the Rebs opened a
battery on them."
[Sidenote: MAY 5, '64]