to gradually strengthen the lines already established, to build new
forts and to place the Weldon Railroad in a condition that even its
recovery would in no way profit the Confederacy, since the impoverished
condition of the latter would be quite incapable of putting it into
a running condition. Colonel T. F. McCoy of the Hundred and Seventh
Pennsylvania, commanding the Brigade after the retirement of Colonel
Lyle, accounts for the procedure of the First Brigade during these
days. He says that the dead were buried on the 22d. On the 23rd the
division under General Crawford engaged in destroying the railroad from
the Yellow House in the direction of Petersburg, the First Brigade,
however, acting as a reserve to protect the working parties. The 24th,
what was left of the brigade rested quietly in camp. The 25th brought
orders to change camps, in doing which, however, other orders were
received to prepare for action, and the column immediately took up
the line of march towards Reams' Station, where the Second Corps was
heavily engaged with a large force of the enemy. It was at this point
that Colonel Peter Lyle, Ninetieth Pennsylvania, who had commanded
the Brigade so long, on account of severe illness, was obliged to
relinquish his command. Colonel McCoy,[R] succeeding, marched the
Brigade to the Yellow House, where he received orders from General
Crawford to report with his command to General Bragg, which he did,
and proceeded in the direction of Reams, but after marching about one
mile he was ordered to countermarch and encamp for the night. Next
day, 26th, camp was again changed and the men were ordered to throw up
works, southeast of the Yellow House.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 2, '64]
The digging that the Fifth Corps did in the vicinity of the Yellow
House became a part of the system of fortifications that were gradually
extended to Fort Fisher, the extreme western fort, where there was
a turn or refusal of the line to the southward, lest the favorite
maneuver of the rebels might be tried on the Union left. Day and night,
the work progressed, every day strengthening the coils which Grant and
Meade were casting about the doomed city, and every one knew that the
fall of Petersburg meant the end of Richmond also. A deal of ammunition
was wasted in the bombardment of Petersburg, yet it had to be kept up,
or the enemy would have thought the Yankees quite inefficient. They
grew almost indifferent to the missiles from the Union guns and fifty
years later they will tell of the tons of ammunition that were wasted
upon them and their city. The "Petersburg Express"[S] located near the
Friend House, and manned by the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery,
failed not in its two hundred pound compliments for weeks and months
and in the Twentieth Century the mortar itself will form a principal
part of the regimental monument in Hartford. Somehow there is more real
fighting over on the other side of the James where the Tenth Corps is
located and the enemy cannot dispossess themselves of the impression
that the Yankees really mean to get into Richmond that way.
By the last of the month, matters have resolved themselves into a long
steady round of fatigue and picket duty to the music of artillery
along the entire line, the attitude of the opposing guardsmen on duty
depending entirely on the agreements that they may have made with
each other. September 2d, General D. McM. Gregg, supported by General
Crawford's (Third) Division of the Fifth Corps started out on an errand
of some sort up the Vaughn road, towards the Plank Road and Petersburg;
in other words it was a case of marching up the hill and then marching
down again, for finding the enemy strongly entrenched, the entire force
returned to camp. This day also the foe forgot the tacit agreement of
friendliness and opened up a fire of musketry along the entire line,
killing a large number of men and effectually ending amicable relations
for some time.
While the fact of the occupation of Atlanta by the Union forces had
been understood as early as the 2d, no official notice of the success
was taken until the 4th, Sunday, when one hundred shotted guns were
fired from extreme right to the furthest left, the celebration lasting
about an hour, the enemy thinking it so queer a way of observing the
Lord's day that they, too, opened their batteries and added to the
din, arising from their own misfortune. "Westward Ho!" is evidently
still the watchword of our commander, for every effort is made to
strengthen the extreme left, and both sides watch out with the utmost
alertness. For the sake of rearranging a portion of our line of works
it became necessary to gain possession of the rebel rifle pits at
"The Chimneys," on the Jerusalem Plank Road, and General Mott, with a
backing from the Second Corps, was directed to accomplish the task,
this on the night of the 9th of September. The duty was done at the
point of the bayonet and the works were immediately reversed, the same
becoming of great advantage to the new possessors, General Walker of
the Second Corps pronouncing the operation one of the most creditable
in the entire siege. Of course, the foe did not let go without protest,
and subsequent nights were rendered lurid by his efforts to regain the
lost ground, but to no avail.
[Sidenote: SEPT. 16, '64]
The thoroughness with which the campaign is advancing appears on
Sunday, the 11th, when an engine is run over the newly laid railroad
from City Point to the Weldon road at Yellow House. The Confederates
are running trains to Stony Creek, twelve miles south of Reams; and the
remainder of the distance, around the Union left into Petersburg, is
effected by wagon, pretty slow and vexatious work! The firing along the
picket line, annoying and useless, had become very obnoxious to General
Birney of the Tenth Corps at the Union right, and to give the enemy
something to think about opened a heavy fire on the works in his front
and on Petersburg itself. The enemy also played during the afternoon on
certain signal towers along the front of the Eighteenth Corps. A very
tranquil evening followed this ebulition. Perhaps no event of the week
gave the Confederates so much pleasure as their success in surprising a
couple of cavalry regiments in charge of a large number of beef cattle,
some 2500 in number, near Coggin's Point on the James River and running
the vast herd into their lines and taking with them the careless
guards. While the rebels were thus supplying their commissariat,
others of their number made an attack on the entire skirmish line of
the Fifth Corps and capture nearly a hundred of the men. On the 16th,
the Second Brigade was assigned to forts on the left of the line, the
Thirty-ninth being ordered to Fort Duchesne. Camp was pitched just
outside the fort, along with the One Hundred and Fourth New York the
Eleventh, Forty-eighth and Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania, all under the
command of Colonel Richard Coulter of the last named regiment. The 19th
was enlivened by telegraphic news of Sheridan's victory near Winchester
where Early was sent "Whirling up the Valley," followed by salvos of
artillery in honor thereof. On the 28th, the paymaster left six months'
pay.
Ten days later, Thursday, the 29th, was a counterpart to a deal of
activity on the Union right, when business was actually suspended in
Richmond through fear that an assault was imminent; a column consisting
of Gregg's cavalry, supported by two infantry brigades, set out
towards the Poplar Springs Church road, beyond the Vaughan turnpike,
advancing about two miles. On their return, they were attacked by
Hampton's cavalry, the force that had stolen the cattle-herd, and a
brisk encounter followed. Friday, the 30th, extending into Saturday,
took place the battle of Peebles' farm between certain portions of the
Fifth and Ninth Corps and the Confederates, General Grant having in
mind a movement towards the Southside Railroad, expecting thus to still
further cripple the cities of Petersburg and Richmond, the result being
a considerable advance westward of the Union left. While all of this
commotion was taking place, the Thirty-ninth Regiment moved into the
fort, remaining there until the 16th of October, when it came out and
took a position on the Weldon Railroad half a mile in front of Fort
Duchesne, and a mile from the Globe Tavern or Yellow House.
So far as our Regiment is concerned, affairs are very quiet, though the
extended Union line towards the west affords opportunity for constant
work, day and night, for every man, and the number in the Thirty-ninth
is not very great, so large a portion of the survivors of the Regiment
being involuntary boarders in the Confederacy. The fact that less than
eleven months remain of the service for which the men enlisted causes
not a few remarks as to the gradual approach of the day of release,
though all must know that the future holds many possibilities of
battles and other exposure. Ignorance in this case is surely bliss.
The first third of October covers considerable activity on the Union
right, where Darbytown Road wins a place in battle lists, and the
cooler nights indicate the approach of another winter with its peculiar
exactions. The first frost comes on the night of the 9th-10th. From the
8th to the 11th all sorts of firing have been common in the vicinity
of Sedgwick or "Fort Hell" in local parlance, on the last named night
the pyrotechny being especially brilliant, a Richmond paper stating
that it was the heaviest mortar shelling of the siege, "The heavens
being ablaze with brilliant meteors, ascending, descending and shooting
athwart the horizon in almost countless numbers and unsurpassed beauty."
[Sidenote: OCT. 26, '64]
During these early October days, General S. W. Crawford is in command
of the Fifth Corps and with it, accompanying the Ninth Corps, a
reconnoisance in force is made on the 8th towards the Union left,
possibly with an idea of extending our works even beyond Fort McRae.
After a day of hard marching and constant skirmishing the troops
returned, wearied enough, to their starting point; but General Grant is
not satisfied, even yet, that he cannot reach the Southside Railroad.
A little past the middle of the month, or on the 19th, comes the most
unqualified report of victory in the Shenandoah Valley that the country
has yet heard. It is the story of Cedar Creek, fought on the 19th, when
differing from the dispatches after Winchester, just a month before,
where Early was sent "whirling up the valley"; so nearly annihilated
is the rebel army, it would be a very stiff breeze which could find
anything left to whirl. The activities for this month, as far as the
Fifth Corps is concerned, terminated with the joint move, on the 26th,
of the Second, Fifth and Ninth Corps along with Gregg's Cavalry against
the Southside Railroad, known as the Boydton Plank Road, some distance
east of the railroad. Very full and explicit instructions had been
issued to the designated troops, and the utmost care had been taken to
insure the safety of the entrenchments during the movement. The Fifth
Corps, or that part of it in the project, marched out on the Squirrel
Level Road, in a southwesterly direction towards Hatcher's Run, a small
stream rising near Sutherland Station on the Southside Road and flowing
southeastwardly into Rowanty Creek, a tributary of the Nottoway River.
The Lieutenant General was determined to leave no stone unturned to
secure the longed-for source of Petersburg's supplies. The country
itself revealed many of the Wilderness characteristics, there being no
roads and no chances to move artillery. In this confusion, the right of
the Second Corps, furthest west, was lost to the Fifth Corps, a fact
which enabled the enemy to get in between the two corps and capture a
considerable number of men, the Second Corps suffering more than the
Fifth, one whole regiment being run in. The mix-up was not unlike that
of the 18th of August, for rain set in and ammunition was scarce, our
leaders were ignorant of the lay of the land which the enemy seemed to
know perfectly; so the left flank movement ended with the return of the
troops to their former positions. On this same 26th the Thirty-ninth
moved to the left and garrisoned Fort Canahey.
A very good story of give and take is recorded of this week; at dusk
in the evening of Thursday, the 27th, one hundred volunteers of the
One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania attacked the fort of the
enemy which succeeded that blown up on the 30th of July, climbed the
parapet, drove the occupants out and, for a brief period, were masters
of the situation, this being a plan to hold the attention of the
Confederates while the assault was progressing further to left, but the
enemy rallying quickly drove the Federal force back with considerable
loss on both sides. In return, Sunday night, the 30th, at about ten
o'clock, the rebels "relieved the pickets" in front of Fort Davis where
the Sixty-ninth and One Hundred and Eleventh New York were on picket
duty, and managed to capture nearly four hundred men. So delighted were
the Confederates with their success they proceeded to throw a strong
column against the works which had been uncovered by the capture of the
pickets, but the alarm had been given and the triumphant men in gray
were met with a fire of musketry that sent them back in a hurry and,
for a time, there was a merry firing bee along the entire line. For the
nonce, honors between blue and gray were easy and regular, expected
shooting was resumed.
Another and the last November for the Thirty-ninth begins and finds
the remnant of the Regiment doing garrison duty under the command of
Captain Nelson of Company A, and comparative quiet reigning along the
extended battle line, now reaching from the north side of the James
more than twenty miles to Hatcher's Run. Lieutenant Colonel Tremlett,
so long absent from the Regiment, returns on Friday, the 4th, relieving
Captain Nelson, who has led the organization since the capture of Major
F. R. Kinsley at the Weldon Railroad. Barring considerable excitement
on the 5th, near "Fort Hell," where lines were captured by the enemy
and reversed only to be re-taken and restored, day and night fully
sustaining the reputation of the locality, and efforts of like nature
in front of Fort Steadman on the 9th, the game of life and death was
played without special emphasis--just the steady, constant watchfulness
of thousands of men unwilling to allow any act of their adversary to
pass unnoticed. Tuesday, the 8th of November, brings the presidential
election, and the triumphant re-election of Lincoln, all soldiers
having the privilege of voting, a singular illustration of ways in
a republic where, in becoming a soldier the man does not lose his
citizenship.
[Sidenote: NOV. 24, '64]
The 24th was Thanksgiving Day in New England and many a prayer was
offered for the men at the front and many expressions of love and
recollection were speeded southward for the delectation of absent
ones. Nearly thirty tons of turkeys were said to have been sent from
the North to the armies, and this vast amount of food, accompanied
by all sorts of other meats and luxuries, must have gone far towards
furnishing forth at least one good old-fashioned dinner for many
thousands of men. As a sort of godsend to the enemy, possibly that
they, too, might be thankful, on the 19th, some forty or fifty head
of cattle, escaping from our corrals, made for the Confederate works
where they were received as enemies, yet later found a thoroughly warm
reception. On the 26th, the Ninetieth Pennsylvania, having reached
the end of its term of enlistment, started for Philadelphia. It had
been in the same division with the Thirty-ninth from the time of our
joining the First Corps and, for the larger part of the period, in
the same brigade. Its good qualities we had learned to appreciate.
An outgrowth of the Second Regiment, Pennsylvania militia, it had
served, under Colonel Lyle,[T] in the Three Months' call and, again,
for three years. Recruits and re-enlisted men were transferred to the
Eleventh Pennsylvania and all that were left of the originals were
off for home. Towards the end of the month summaries were prepared of
the losses sustained by the Army of the Potomac in the campaign so
relentlessly waged and, according to Surgeon Thos. A. McParlin, Medical
Director of the Army of the Potomac, from May 3rd to October 31st,
the number of wounded amounted to 57,496, exclusive of the Eighteenth
Corps while serving in this army, and he does not include the Ninth
Corps at the Wilderness and at Spottsylvania Court House. According to
data prepared by General Warren the killed and wounded in the Fifth
Corps, during this same period, amounted to more than eleven thousand.
The precautions taken to preserve life, and at the same time offering
readiness to receive as well as make attacks, taxed the highest talents
and ingenuity of engineers and soldiers. To the right and left, as far
as the eye could reach, were earthworks of the strongest character,
though few cared to take the risk of prolonged observations. There were
corduroy roads underground and covered ways of heavy trunks of trees
under four or five feet of earth to prevent shells from reaching those
beneath. Few men cared to be for any considerable time in these safety
holes, the monotony and closeness being terrible.
[Sidenote: DEC. 1, '64]
Though the Army of the Potomac is nominally in winter quarters, this in
no way prevents changes of location, the organization of raids and a
degree of activity hitherto unknown among the veterans of one or more
winter's experience, who are carefully watching rebels while, at the
same time, keeping a careful reckoning on the time intervening before
their muster-out. December comes in with a salute to the effect that
it is the last one the Regiment will see in the field. On Thursday,
the 1st, General Gregg leads a cavalry raid down the Weldon Railroad,
starting before daylight, riding as far as Stony Creek, twenty-two
miles below Petersburg, for the sake of destroying whatever stores
may be collected there and to destroy also whatever advance may have
been made in a proposed railroad connection between Stony Creek, the
present terminus of the Weldon Railroad, and the Southside Road through
a new track, laid down by way of the Dinwiddie and the Boydton Roads.
With considerable adventure, this was successfully done and with a
forty mile's ride, not to mention the fighting, to their credit, the
expedition was back again at 11 p. m.
The early part of the month saw the return of the Sixth Army Corps
from its experiences in the valley, and with the garlands of victory
fresh upon it, the corps took its place along the Petersburg line. In
July, when the Sixth started for Baltimore and Washington, the Union
front extended only a little further than the Jerusalem Plank Road; now
it is prolonged to Hatcher's Run, and every foot of the prolongation
has cost effort and blood; eight miles of new frontage dearly won.
Into this battle line Sheridan's "Foot Cavalry" settles as naturally
as though it has been away only a day or two on a casual raid. What
is left of Early's force has been back with Lee several weeks. Not
satisfied with the cavalry demonstration of the 1st, General Warren
is ordered to conduct a more formidable array on the 7th to the same
region. The troops, Fifth Corps, Mott's Division of the Second Corps
and a division of cavalry under Gregg, above 20,000 in number with
twenty-two pieces of artillery, have been massed on both sides of
the Jerusalem Road and after a cold night, in the face of a severe
rain, are off. On the Nottoway River, they come to where Freeman's
Bridge was formerly, twenty miles from Petersburg, and they cross
the stream on a pontoon bridge. Next day (8th) the march southward is
continued and at Jarratt's Station where the Weldon Railroad crosses
the Nottoway, thirty miles from Petersburg, they burn the bridge, two
hundred feet long, crossing the river. The railroad track is torn up
in the effectual manner characteristic of the times and Thursday night
is spent here. Friday (9th) the work of destruction continues down to
Bellfield, twelve miles further along. Of course there is skirmishing
with the enemy constantly, but he is not here in sufficient force to
offer substantial resistance. The troops bivouac for the night at Three
Creek, three miles this side of Bellfield. All the time the weather has
been wretched, the constant rain rendering the roads almost impassable
and, to crown all, this night (Friday) come snow and hail to add to
the general discomfort. Saturday (10th) the expedition faces towards
Petersburg, burning on the way back the buildings at Sussex Court House
in retaliation, so said, for the shooting of some of our stragglers and
here the army bivouacs; resuming the backward route the Nottoway was
reached in the evening of the 11th and, on the 12th, the old quarters
are struck by a very tired body of men; the net results being a march
fifty miles long, three railroad bridges destroyed, fifteen miles of
railroad track torn up and bent out of shape and a county court house
burned.
[Sidenote: DEC. 10, '64]
No mention is made in the official report of the quantity of apple-jack
which the curiously inclined Yankees sought and found and, to their
own harm, imbibed. The section had not been overrun before, and
consequently better stored farm houses were found than the men had
been seeing of late and, notwithstanding the rigors of the campaign,
possibly on account of them, they made merry with the seductive
liquids made from innocent cider. The story was long current that
one man, outside of fully three fingers of the booze, and growing
correspondingly free with the dignitaries, slapped General Warren
familiarly on the back, calling him "The little Corporal," a term
which ever afterwards clung to the soldier himself. Canteens of the
fiery stuff were carried back to camp for the benefit (?) of those who
did not go. Had the weather been more propitious, it is possible that
the expedition would have gone on twenty miles further to Weldon, on
the Roanoke.
In the foregoing episode, the Thirty-ninth bore its part, having
moved back to the rear line on the 5th and, at the start, taking the
advance of the infantry. Just before reaching Halifax Road, the 8th,
on indications of trouble ahead the Regiment was deployed and sent
forward as skirmishers to hold the road. Having established a line of
pickets, the Thirty-ninth stood by to guard the road while the main
column passed on. Shortly after dark we followed the troops, overtaking
them near Jarratt's Station, and there we took a hand in destroying the
railroad. On the 9th we had a place at the extreme left of the corps,
and picketed the front of the brigade, which was doing its best to
make the road a hard one for the rebels to travel. At 6 p. m. we were
withdrawn to Cross Roads, above Bellfield, one half going on picket,
the other half into camp with the Brigade. In the movement backward,
beginning on the 10th, we fetched up the rear and thus enjoyed frequent
tilts with the close following cavalry of the enemy who, in spite
of our best efforts, managed to capture any who straggled, in the
number, our Regiment losing four men. On the 11th, starting before
daylight, we crossed the Nottaway at four o'clock in the afternoon and
at nine halted for the night. On the 12th, we were back again before
Petersburg, having marched twelve miles. Encamping near the Jerusalem
Plank Road, we were ordered to build huts for the winter and, following
a week's work, we moved into our new quarters where, for about a month,
we had almost easy times. At any rate we were not right under the
fire of the enemy all of the time. We had to turn out at intervals on
account of real or fancied dangers; drill and fatigue duties had their
part and there were the regular details for guard and picket. Once we
served as guard for a wagon train which went outside for bricks and
boards, securing the same from a deserted house some five miles away.