years is clearly trying to escape "on the run" is the thought in the
minds of those who follow. The Union cavalry, led by the fiery Custer,
is keeping the rear guard of the enemy in plain sight and the infantry
is following as rapidly as it can. With the exception of Willcox's
Division of the Ninth Corps, which is occupying Petersburg, the entire
Potomac Army is in the chase; it is the day when Godfrey Weitzel
marches into Richmond and extinguishes the conflagration started by
the retiring foe; President Lincoln, leading his son, Tad, enters
Petersburg and personally congratulates Grant on the great victory; of
the meeting General Horace Porter says, "I doubt whether Mr. Lincoln
ever experienced a happier moment in his life." The Fifth Corps follows
hard after the cavalry, picking up many prisoners with five pieces of
abandoned artillery and a number of wagons. At night, with Crook's
Division of cavalry, the Corps encamps on the Nazomine Road, near Deep
Creek. On the morning of the 4th, the Corps moves directly and rapidly
towards Jetersville, a station on the Richmond and Danville R. R.,
Sheridan thinking that the rebels are collecting at Amelia Court House
about eight miles northeast of Jetersville. On arriving we are ordered
to entrench with a view of holding the point until the main army can
come up. The position of the Corps is an exposed one, of which Sheridan
in his report says, "The enemy lost its last chance of escape by
failure to advance and attack the comparatively small force and so
march on its way to Burkeville." However, luckily for the troops at
Jetersville, the Confederates are not reaching the Court House as
rapidly as Sheridan thinks and by the afternoon of the 5th, the Second
and the Sixth Corps are up and ranged in line with the Fifth. While
not described in detail, the whole world knows that everybody was busy
in those days with scant time for sleep at night, but through the
bewildering maze of horse and foot, it is ours to follow only the men
of a single corps and that the Fifth. Many a page might be given to
reciting the incidents of Sailor's Creek, the last pitched battle in
the East, but our regiment was not in it. At last Sheridan had obtained
his wish and the Sixth Corps, having been sent to him, wins renown in
this final struggle, while the Fifth moves off at the right of the
Second through Paineville on Deatonville. It proved a long, rapid and
tiresome march, a distance of thirty-two miles to Ligontown Ferry,
experiencing no greater variety on the way than the destruction of
abandoned army wagons, gun carriages and caissons of the enemy and the
capture of some prisoners.
Says Powell in his History of the Fifth Army Corps, "No army in the
world could stand such losses as Lee was meeting every day, and no
troops could long endure the strain and fatigue of marching all night
and fighting by day, as Lee's men were now enduring. They were by this
time deprived of everything, even food, and those captured presented
a pitiable condition." Though the slumbers of the Union Army are not
as prolonged as they may have been at other times, nevertheless there
are halts and rations are had, and with full stomachs and a boundless
supply of ammunition the pursuit is maintained. Friday, the 7th,
General Meade orders Griffin with the Fifth Corps to proceed to Prince
Edward Court House while the Second and the Sixth keep up the direct
pursuit. Our Corps crosses the South side R. R. at Rice's Station, just
fifty miles west of Petersburg and forty from Appomattox. General
Grant's first letter to General Lee, relative to surrender, bears the
date of the 7th and the answer of the great Confederate, asking for
terms, is dated the same day. Whatever his intentions, Lee does not
await the statement of Grant, but pushes on through the night towards
the west on his hopeless task. The morning of the 8th beholds the
tireless Second Corps, closely followed by the Sixth, in eager pursuit.
The Fifth Corps also has an early start and striking the Lynchburg R.
R. at Prospect Station, twenty miles from Appomattox, at about noon,
follows thence Ord's forces towards Appomattox Court House and at 2 a.
m. of the 9th, Sunday, bivouacks about two miles from the site of the
immortal scene so soon to be enacted having marched twenty-nine miles
from Prince Edward's Court House.
[Sidenote: APR. 9, '65]
Meantime, on the 8th, Grant and Lee had again exchanged courtesies, the
former writing to Lee that his surrender could be accepted only on the
understanding that his soldiers should not take up arms against the
United States until properly exchanged, and the famous Virginia names
the 9th as the day for their meeting, stipulating however that it need
not necessarily lead to his surrender, and 10 a. m. as the hour. All
this is not known to the rank and file, who for ought they know are
still due for weeks of marching and fighting, though for the last few
days there has been considerably more of the former than of the latter.
Accordingly there was no surprise abroad when the familiar assembly
call rang out on the morning air of the 9th and without rations the day
before, or breakfast this morning, at four o'clock, the Corps moved
from its bivouac and reached the headquarters of General Sheridan at
6 a. m. The cavalry evidently was hotly engaged and the Twenty-fourth
Corps was moving out when Ayers of the Fifth (Second Div.), followed by
Bartlett and the First Division, took position also. General Griffin
reported that the failure of the Third Division to be in line with the
others was entirely the fault of the commander, though he had been
notified of the necessity of keeping well closed up; as a result the
division did not reach its proper position till after hostilities for
the day were over.
The 9th day of April will figure in history as one of the most
important dates ever recorded; the correspondence, now passing between
Grant and Lee, will rank with the other all but sacred documents in our
national records. Hostilities had begun and our lines were pressing
forward, driving the enemy, when a message was received from Sheridan
that fighting should cease as the Confederates were about to surrender.
On the scenes that follow--those beneath the famous apple tree and
within the parlor of Wilmer McLean, where foemen "worthy of their
steel" were assembled--it does not behoove us to linger, for they are
as familiar as household tales throughout the land. The two pre-eminent
figures, those of Grant and Lee, meet face to face, each one increasing
the esteem in which he must be held as long as the Nation lives.
"These in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat,
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet."
While the great majority of the triumphant army, setting their faces
homeward, start on the return march the next day after the surrender,
to the troops of General Ord and the First Division of the Fifth Corps
is entrusted the honor as well as task of receiving the formal "laying
down of arms" by the beaten Confederates. This crowning event does
not take place until the 12th, the Fourth anniversary of the firing
upon Sumpter, when at nine o'clock in the morning General Joshua
L. Chamberlain of Maine, having asked for the services of his old
Brigade, the Third, had the same ranged in line to receive the oncoming
Southrons. "It was not long before a column of gray was seen marching
down the valley which sent a thrill of excitement through every
individual present. The Union troops were brought to attention. Evans'
Brigade of Gordon's Corps led the advance of the Confederates. As its
head reached the extreme right of Chamberlain's line, it was wheeled
into company line first and subsequently into general line confronting
the Union troops. Then each regiment stacked arms, unslung cartridge
boxes and hung them on the stacks, and finally laid down their colors.
It was a trying scene. And then, disarmed and colorless, they again
broke into column and marched off, disappearing forever as soldiers of
the Southern Confederacy."[X]
[Sidenote: APR. 14, '65]
While to the Fifth Corps came the honor of receiving the formal
surrender of the Confederates the fact that the men had to linger
here, at least some of them, until the 15th brought upon them certain
hardships, disagreeable in spite of their pleasure over the successful
ending of the campaign. For some reason, perhaps the destruction of
bridges on the route, supplies did not reach the army, so that there
was positive suffering on account of lack of food. Only a few days
before, hungry rebel stomachs had been filled through the foresight
and kindness of Grant, and now the victorious Yankees are experiencing
want themselves; somehow there comes to mind the Scriptural expression,
"He saved others, himself He cannot save." To crown all, a severe rain
fell during the 14th, so without tents and minus rations, the soldiers
passed a miserable day and night. It was about noon of the 15th, that
the Corps began its retrograde movement, but the rain had rendered the
roads well nigh impassable, hence the course backward had few of the
features of a triumphal procession, everyone being on the lookout for
expected rations, but none arrived, and after dark came the orders to
halt, break ranks and make the best of the situation for the night;
meanwhile the rain was falling incessantly. The 16th dawned cold and
raw and under the circumstances the men were as comfortable when
marching as when nominally resting. At noon the Appomattox was reached
and, on a temporary bridge it was crossed, and soon after Farmville was
gained, a place more conspicuous in history than in fact.
Here, at 4 p. m., came the dispatch announcing the death of President
Lincoln and the already discouraged men had a deeper pitch of woe to
bear, naturally the rank and file of them ascribing the assassination
to the Confederate leaders rather than to a half-crazed actor. It is
said that to properly drape their colors, some of the bearers actually
dipped their handkerchiefs in ink. The next day, Monday, the 17th, the
homeward route was resumed by way of Burkeville, and on the 21st the
Second Brigade encamped at Blacks & Whites Station on the Southside R.
R. Evidently the Fifth Corps was distributed along the road, for Powell
mentions Sutherland Station, near Petersburg, as the camping place,
reaching the same on the 23d; and a diarist of the Thirty-ninth, who
was at corps headquarters, places the same at Nottoway Court House.
However placed, in due time the army learned of the surrender of
Johnston in North Carolina on the 26th. Here too were welcomed back
many of the men who were captured in the Weldon R. R. incident, among
them being Major F. R. Kinsley upon whom devolved the command of what
was left of the Regiment.
We observed May Day by breaking camp and resuming the march towards the
North, passing through Petersburg on the 3d, taking hurried glances at
what had occasioned us so many months of toil and danger. The James
River was reached at Manchester, just across from Richmond, so as
to pass through the former Capital of the Confederacy on Saturday,
the 6th, taking note in passing of Libby Prison, Castle Thunder and
the State House. Near the latter to review the Army of the Potomac,
excepting the Sixth Corps, were standing Generals Meade, Henry Wager
Halleck and other officers. The Sixth Corps was still doing guard duty
along the railroad, between Burkeville and Danville. On the 9th, we
pass over the famous battlefield of Fredericksburg where Massachusetts
regiments suffered so severely. We cross the Rappahannock on pontoons
below the city, this being our tenth and last time, and Friday, the
12th of May, beheld us on Arlington Heights, near Fort Albany and
almost on the very spot of our first camping ground when, in September,
'62, we crossed the Potomac and entered the enemy's country, thus
ending where we began. What days of wearisome marching, long and dreary
vigils on picket line and vidette, what dangers of the embattled field
the interval covers! The extended line marks our duties along the
Potomac, in Washington, from Harper's Ferry to Antietam and thence
southward to the Rapidan, with a backward turning to Bull Run and
Thoroughfare Gap, through the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Petersburg,
the pursuit, surrender and return, till now the circle is complete.
With so much behind us, what wonder that visions of home become more
and more absorbing!
[Sidenote: MAY 23, '65]
However, there yet remained the Grand Review for which in part
Sherman's Army had made the trip from North Carolina, and it was an
inspiring sight to see the many tents of the men who had made the
world-famous "March to the Sea" as they were spread over the heights
back of Alexandria. Very likely the Review was worth all it cost, but
to the men who had to undergo the fatigue incident to it, there was
no little bitter mingled with the sweet; some even claimed that the
exhibition of Tuesday, the 23d, when the Potomac Army marched in review
was the most exacting they had ever taken and they thought it was for
the express and only purpose of gratifying a sightseeing proclivity
of certain authorities well up the line; Sherman's men paraded on the
24th. The next night, that of the 25th, there was an illumination
by the Army of the Potomac, candles being lighted on every tent and
rockets were sent up. The brigades turned out, every man carrying a
candle and thus marched to corps headquarters, where hearty cheers
were given for General Griffin. For the remainder of the month there
is little more than a waiting for the final muster-out and occasional
visits to Washington, Alexandria and other near-by points of interest.
The coming of June simply intensified the home-longing and the feeling
that we must go very soon. The ceremony of muster-out began on the
2d, terminating on the 3d, on whose night comes the statement that we
will depart at 8 a. m. of the 4th. According to schedule, we start,
the day being Sunday, and march into Washington and there wait till 2
p. m., when the train is taken for Baltimore; the same proved to be a
slow one for we do not reach the city until five o'clock. Then comes
the march through Baltimore, the boarding of another train and an all
night's ride to Philadelphia, arriving in time for a breakfast at the
Cooper Shop, whose hospitality we had tested on our way southward in
September, '62. Thence we ride through New Jersey to New York city,
where a lunch is furnished by the New England Relief Association,
before going on board a steamer bound for Providence, whence by rail
we reach Boston early in the morning of the 6th. The wait in Boston is
very short and another train transports us to Readville at 8 a. m. and
we are assigned to quarters there. By a singular coincidence Lieut.
Colonel Tremlett who had been severely wounded at Gravelly Run, March
31st, and was sent home to Boston, dies this very day in his Beacon
Street home. While passes were readily given to the homes represented,
all were glad to return and receive their discharges and pay on the
14th of June. Thus ends the story of devotion and sacrifice of a
regiment that had gone forth to help save the Union and whose members
now are returning to the paths of peace. They have made an honorable
record, not alone pleasing to themselves but to the hundreds of those
to follow and who, in the years to come, will call their memory
blessed.
They are returning to their homes,
"Where the matron shall clasp her first-born
With tears of joy and pride;
And the scarred and war-worn lover
Shall claim his promised bride!"
--_Bryant._
FOOTNOTES:
[U] One of the most pleasant memories of war times is that of the
almost David and Jonathan relations that existed between certain
regiments. This was the case with the Thirty-ninth and the Sixteenth
Maine; either one had a feeling of security if, in the hour of danger,
it was supported by the other; exposed repeatedly to a common peril, in
a measure, the history of one is that of both; each regiment had the
highest regard and respect for the leaders of its fellow organization
and for years after the war exchange of courtesies on reunion occasions
was an expected event. Closely related in early history as were Maine
and Massachusetts, the equal intimacy between representatives of the
two states in camp and march and on the field lingers long in the minds
of those who participated.
[V] Condensed from a paper prepared by Captain Charles H. Porter and
read by him before the Massachusetts Military Historical Society
January 11, 1886.
[W] Governour Kemble Warren was born in Cold Spring, Putnam Co., N.
Y., January 8, 1830, and was graduated from West Point, No. 2, in a
class of forty-four members, very few of whom, however, are known to
fame, Cuvier Grover and Powell T. Wyman being the most noted among
his loyal classmates and Wm. T. Magruder and Robert Ransom among the
rebels. Assigned on graduation to the Topographical Engineers, he was
in constant and active service till his appointment as mathematical
instructor at West Point, 1859, and there the Rebellion found him.
At first he was Lieut. Colonel of the Fifth (Duryea's Zouaves), N.
Y. Volunteers, soon succeeding to the colonelcy; he was the last to
leave the field at Big Bethel, remaining to rescue the body of Lieut.
J. T. Greble, the first Regular Army officer to lose his life in the
war. He helped build the forts on Federal Hill, Baltimore. He served
in the Peninsular Campaign, acquiring a brigade in May, '62, and, in
the subsequent months, there was very little doing by the Army of the
Potomac in which he did not bear a conspicuous part. His bronze figure
on Little Round Top must forever tell the story of his watchfulness and
alertness at Gettysburg and the members of the Fifth Army Corps, to a
man, never failed to chant his praises. The incident of his suspension
from his command at Five Forks is a blot on the fame of Sheridan and
made Warren's place in the hearts of his followers warmer than ever.
A skillful engineer, he was constantly employed in the army up to the
time of his death, which no doubt was hastened by the unfortunate
occurrence of April, '65. His relations with the Thirty-ninth, after
the war, were of an unusually intimate character. He died in Newport,
R. I., August 8, 1882.
[X] From the history of the Fifth Army Corps, William H. Powell, pp.
863-4.
IN REBEL PRISONS.
While men of the Thirty-ninth suffered in nearly all of the
prison-houses of the South, the greater number spent their periods of
confinement in Salisbury, N. C. The two hundred and thirty-two swept
off August 18-19, '64, at the Weldon R. R., after incarceration at
Libby and Belle Isle, were taken to Salisbury and there spent the time
till their liberation in February, '65. Among the unfortunates was John
H. Eames who was First Sergt. Co. C, and whose diligent care secured
the data concerning his fellow sufferers which perfected the State
House rolls and gave the boon of certainty to many a stricken home in
the old Bay State. His tabulated statement bears the following names:--
Company A:--Serg'ts, J. W. Cottrell, J. P. Dodge; Corp's, T. Bean, G.
W. Cole, S. C. Packard; Privates, F. D. Adams, G. J. Boodry, G. W.
Burnham, W. S. Evans, J. K. Gibbs, C. M. Goodwin, A. S. Haskell, R. E.
Mears, W. Hunting, J. H. Mitchell, D. F. Morse, L. Marteau, W. Myers,
L. E. Ordway, J. H. Perkins, J. M. Sawyer, E. Stevens, G. F. Whitcomb.
Company B:--Serg'ts, E. S. Davis, J. R. Robinson; Corp's, G. A.
Andrews, E. H. Lewis; Privates, W. M. Bills, J. Cassidy, M. Cunningham,
F. Edmonds, J. Gunning, J. Kilduff, Geo. McDonald, T. P. Mohan, P.
Reaney, H. R. Smith, F. T. Start, D. O. Sullivan, Charles Swan, C.
Wadsworth, J. Burns captured Dec. 11, 1864.
Company C:--Serg'ts, J. H. Eames, I. T. Morrison; Privates, J. M.
Baldwin, S. C. Bowen, Wm. Cheeney, F. J. Curtis, E. C. Dean, B. J.
Ellis, P. Gleason, E. Ireland, A. Joyce, J. Lange, J. McGee, M. F.
Roberts, W. H. Rogers, W. S. Smith, Wm. Vaeight.
Company D:--Serg't, H. Curtis; Corp's, W. H. Burns, W. E. Colburn, A.
Derby, C. C. Dickerman, H. Newcomb, E. Thomas; Privates, F. Becker, A.
Bullard, C. Bushnell, E. Damon, S. DeForrest, T. Doyle, J. Durgin, J.
E. Forbes, J. F. Green, W. Hayden, D. Kanily, W. G. Keep, T. H. Lunt,
P. Moran, E. Pierce, G. W. Savill, H. Shavlin, J. Sheehan.
Company E:--Serg'ts, J. Kennedy, E. Ladd; Corp's, F. A. Glines, D.
Gorham, J. E. Horton, W. L. Howard; Privates, J. M. Allen, W. H.
Bartlett, J. Brown, J. B. Canfield, C. L. Carter, J. Creedan, Geo.
H. Hatch, P. D. Horgan, C. G. Jones, D. Kendrick, J. F. Locke, A.
W. Phillips, John Riley, T. P. Shaw, F. W. Thompson, L. Ulrich, J.
Vancleff, H. K. Webster.
Company F:--Serg'ts, W. Doherty, H. B. Horton, D. Wood; Corp's, J.
Bagth, B. J. Hall; Privates, P. Conway, J. Day, W. E. Dean, G. W. Gay,
J. A. Hathaway, B. L. Howland, W. H. Jones, D. S. Kane, J. A. Lawler,
S. Packer, T. W. Paul, D. M. Phillips, F. C. Skinner, E. H. C. Smith,
J. Smith, A. P. Terry, G. L. Titus, W. Walsh.
Company G:--Serg'ts, J. Adams, H. C. French, W. H. Jacobs; Corp's, J.
D. Day, P. J. Shaw, T. G. Short; Privates, J. Bannon, W. Bright, C.
Danbenmayer, W. G. Dodge, D. R. Ewell, M. Fitzgerald, C. E. French,
M. Gorman, F. K. Hanson, Z. M. Hayden, H. F. Hersey, S. W. Hutchins,
J. Kennedy, H. W. Leavitt, T. Murphy, J. S. Neal, S. V. Smith, C. A.
Spaulding, E. A. Spear, N. W. Thayer.
Company H:--Serg'ts, C. W. Richardson; Corp's, E. J. Childs, B. F.
Prescott, S. O. Savil; Privates, J. Brunel, P. Collins, M. Dailey, J.
Davis, J. Doody, J. Farren, R. T. Gammon, R. T. Holmes, T. Kelley, J.
Keniston, E. F. Kimball, E. McCarthy, G. C. Millett, J. H. Millett,
R. Monk, T. Murray, P. Shean, D. Southworth, F. H. Sumner, G. N. B.
Thomas, E. Tileston.
Company I:--Serg'ts, E. Brown, J. Currier; Corp's, W. H. Beal, W. H.
Clough, W. Collins, S. Hardy; Privates, W. L. Allen, J. D. Bispham, C.
B. Butterfield, D. O. Chamberlain, S. C. Chace, A. M. Cole, E. Curran,
S. Gourley, T. Hoey, C. O'Brien, A. E. Smith, N. D. Stearns, F. E.
Travis, C. H. Williams.
Company K:--Corp., S. Richardson; Privates, J. Bacon, M. Baldwin,
J. Brannagan, F. M. Bryant, M. Butler, C. H. Colgate, R. Curry, G.
W. Dean, E. Haskins, S. T. Hooper, W. H. Jones, C. H. Kingsbury, A.
Lapurve, J. F. Leslie, R. Lombard, J. McGuire, T. Mahony, T. Marran, T.
W. Morrill, E. O'Donnell, Peter Parks, J. F. Ramsdell, M. D. Reed, A.
H. Richardson, M. Rowland, C. Scott, J. H. Sheehan, F. Spokesfield, G.
A. Sprague, E. O. Hemmenway captured Dec. 11, 1864.
In Sergeant Eames' well preserved record, on its final page, is
written,--"This book I arranged while in prison from information from
the members of the reg't and, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
is strictly true. The leaves I purloined from the rebel surgeon's
hospital book; the cover I carried through prison, having received it
with, of course, the original leaves through the mail, Aug. 18, 1864."