COLD HARBOR AND THE DEFENSE OF RICHMOND
About the 20th or 21st we started from Spottsylvania battlefields for
others. The Army was on the move, and we went along. For a day or two we
were constantly marching, not knowing where we were going, and along
roads that I remember very little about. At last, about the 22d, we
crossed the North Anna River, and struck the Central Railroad (now "the
Chesapeake and Ohio") and marched along it, till we halted near Hanover
Junction.
Our Army had crossed and stopped on the south bank of the North Anna,
two or three miles in front of the Junction, and was taking the river
for a new line of defence. Presently the Federal Army came up pushing
on, for the same point, and found us, already ahead, in front, and
across their track! Then they went at the same old game of trying to
break through us. They got across the river on our right, and on our
left. General Lee then threw back both wings of his army, clinging with
his centre to the river bank. Thus check-mating Grant in a way to make
his head swim! Grant after crossing the river, on both our right and
left, suddenly found he had got his army cut in two, and he _got out of
that_, just as quickly as he could, and gave the North Anna line up as a
bad job.
We were moving in one direction, or another, about the Junction, for
seven or eight days. This North Anna business was far more a matter of
brains between the Generals, than brawn between the men. Some sharp
fighting, on points right and left, but that was all! General Lee simply
"horn swaggled" General Grant, and that was the end of it! We were out
one day on the "Doswell Farm," and got under a pretty sharp infantry
fire, and fired a few shots, then General Rodes' skirmishers charged,
and drove them off, and we saw no more of them.
Along about the 29th or 30th of May, we got on the march again; this
time through the "Slashes of Hanover." It was an all-night march, and a
most uncomfortable one. The rain had been pouring, and long sections of
the road were under water. I think we waded for miles, that dark night,
through water from an inch to a foot deep. And the mud holes! after a
time our gun wheels went up to the hub, and we had to turn to, there in
the dark, and prize our guns out; nearly lift them bodily out of the
mud. I suppose we did not go more than five or six miles, in that
all-night march, and by the time day dawned we were as wet, and muddy,
as the roads, and felt as _flat_, and were tired to death. We halted for
an hour or two to rest; then pushed on, all day.
In the late afternoon (this I think was May 31st) we took our guns into
position, on the far edge of a flat, open field. Two hundred yards in
front of us, in the edge of a wood, was a white frame Church, which,
some of the fellows, who knew this neighborhood, told us was "Pole Green
Church." They also told us that the Pamunkey River was about a mile in
front of us. We heard artillery in various directions, but saw no enemy,
and did not know anything of what was going on, except where we were. It
was quiet there; so we went to sleep, and were undisturbed during the
night.
The next morning, we found that infantry had formed right and left of
us, and we were in a line of battle stretching across this extensive
field. About eleven o'clock skirmishers began to appear, in the woods,
in front of us. They thickened up, and opened on us quite a lively fire.
We stood this awhile until those skirmishers made a rush from the woods,
and tried to gain the cover of the church building. Some of them did,
and as this was crowding us a little too close, we took to our guns, and
so dosed them with canister, as they ran out, that they retired, out of
range, into the woods. Soon after some infantry began to form in the
edge of the woods as if they were about to charge us. We opened on them.
They advanced a little, then broke in some confusion, and disappeared.
The rest of this day, June 1st, along where we were, there was lively
sharp-shooting going on, up and down the line, and once a battery fired
a few shots at us, but no special attack was made.
In the afternoon, taking advantage of the quiet, our negro mess cooks
came into the line, to bring us something to eat. Each fellow had the
cooked meat, and bread, for his mess, in a bag, swung over his shoulder.
They came on across the field until within a hundred yards of the line,
when a shell struck, in the field, not far from them. The darkies
scattered, like a covey of birds! Some ran one way, and some another.
Some ran back to the rear, and a few ran on to us. Our cook, Ephraim,
came tearing on with long leaps, and tumbled over among us crying out,
"De Lord have mercy upon us." "Ephraim," we said, "what is the matter?
what did you run for?" All in a tremble, he thrust out the bag towards
us, and exclaimed, "Here, Marse George, take your vituals, and let me
git away from here. De Lord forgive me for being such a fool as to come
to sich a place as dis _anyhow_."
"But, Ephraim," we said, "there was no danger! That shell didn't hit
anywhere near you." "De ain't no use in telling me dat! Don't nobody
know whar dem things goin'! Sound to me like it was bout to hit me side
my head, and bust my brains out, every minit; and if it had a hit me,
dem other cooks would all a run away, and left me lying out dar, like a
poor creeter." "But, my dear Ephraim," we said, "it mortifies us to see
the 'Howitzer' cooks running so, with all the men looking on." "Don't
keer who looking! When dem things come any whar bout me, I _bleeged_ to
run. Dis ain't no place for cooks, nohow. Here gentlemen! take your
rations; I got to get away from here!" We emptied the bag, he threw it
over his back, and streaked with it to the rear.
Another night in line here! Next morning, June 2d, orders came to move.
We got on a road running along, just back of our position, and marched
off toward the right. The road ran, for some distance, nearly parallel
to our lines, and then bore away toward the rear. For a time we met, or
passed bodies of troops and wagon teams on the roadside, soldiers
single, or in groups. Further on, all these reminders of the presence of
the Army were left behind, and we found ourselves marching on quiet
lonely country roads, through woods and fields of a peaceful rural
landscape. We had not the least idea where we were going; or what we
were going to do, or see when we got there. But we had got out of the
habit of caring for that.
=The Last March of Our Howitzer Captain=
It was a calm, sweet June evening! quiet country farms, and homes lay
all about us. The whole scene spoke of peace. It was such a restful
change to us from the din and smoke and crowd we had been in the midst
of so long. We gave ourselves up to the influences of the hour, and a
very pleasant evening we cannoneers had strolling along, in front of the
column of guns, and talking together.
Captain McCarthy was on foot, in the midst of us, as we marched. I
remember being particularly struck with what a stalwart, martial figure
he was, as he strode along that road. He was much more silent, and quiet
than usual! He was generally so bright and cheerful, that this was
noticed, and remarked on by several of us.
It was afterwards, that perhaps a presentiment was given him that this
was his last march, with the battery, he had fought so often, and loved
so much; and _this_ saddened, and softened his usually bold, soldierly
spirit, and bearing. I walked and talked with him a good deal that
afternoon, and certainly I was struck by a quietness of manner, and a
gentleness of speech, not at all usual with him. But we did not know
what it meant _then_! So we cheerily swung along that silent road, to
meet what was coming to him, and to us, in the unseen way ahead.
About five o'clock we pulled out of the road we had been travelling, and
followed a narrow farm road, across a wide, open field, toward a
farmhouse, on its farther edge. Beyond the house was a large pine wood,
which stopped all view in that direction. As we passed across that
field, we saw some other artillery, coming from another direction, and
converging with us upon that farmhouse. When we drew close together, we
discovered that these fellows were the Second and Third Companies of the
"Richmond Howitzers." Our Company, the First, had been separated from
them at the beginning of the war, and they had never met, before now. A
little while after, at this spot, the three batteries, "First," "Second"
and "Third Richmond Howitzers" went into battle side by side, for the
first, and _only_ time, during the war. There was great interest felt by
the boys that we should go into one fight _together_; but before we went
in, the Battalion was broken up again, and scattered, to different parts
of the line.
When we got near this farmhouse, all was quiet! We had not seen, or
heard of any enemy for many hours, and we did not know where anybody
was; didn't even know "where we were _at_" _ourselves_. The farm road
ran past the house, round the barn and on toward that pine woods behind
the house.
We halted just by the house, and got some water, at the well, and stood
around and wondered what we were here for. There were some cherry trees,
with ripe cherries on them, and up them the boys swarmed, Leigh
Robinson gallantly leading the way, to enjoy the fruit.
We were thus engaged, when the deep quiet of this rural scene was
suddenly, and rudely broken! Over beyond that wood just by us, there
burst out a terrific roar of musketry! It was like a clap of thunder out
of a clear sky! We did not know any troops were near us, and had no idea
that the enemy was in ten miles of us.
But there right through those pines the musketry was rolling, and
cracking now! A few cannon shots joined in, and the Confederate "yell"
rose up out of the thunder of battle. And the bullets began to sing
around us. The cherry trees were quickly deserted by all, but Leigh
Robinson. He stayed up there with balls whizzing close to him, and
calmly picked and ate cherries,--as if these were humming birds sporting
about him,--until he had enough, or more likely, the cherries gave out.
Not knowing who was fighting beyond the woods, or what might come of it,
we got the guns into battery, facing the woods, to be ready for what
might be.
In a few minutes we saw Colonel Goggin, of Kershaw's staff, dash out of
the woods, and gallop toward us. He told us that it was Kershaw's
Division over there. They had been attacked by heavy lines of the enemy;
that our line was broken, and captured at one point, and that Kershaw
wanted some guns, just as quick as they could get to him. Our two
"Napoleons" were ordered in. Goggin said "for heaven's sake come at
double quick;" the need was very urgent. We cannoneers of the Left
Section had the guns limbered up, and into the woods, in about a minute;
we, double-quicking alongside. We went by a narrow wood road, which
entering the woods straight ahead of us, went obliquely to the left down
a deep ravine, crossed a little stream, and up the hill, into the open
field beyond.
Passing through that pine wood was a mean job! The Minie balls were
slapping the pines all about us, with that venomous sound, with which a
Minie crashes into green pine wood. It is a mean piece of work anyhow,
to go from the rear up to a fighting line! But, away we went, excited
and eager to get through, and see what was going on. The road, cut
through the steep banks down to the stream, was so very narrow that it
barely admitted our wheels, and when they went farther down the cut, our
hubs stuck in the bank, on both sides, and the gun was held fast. From
this point the road ran straight up to the edge of the wood. We could
see men running about, and yelling, and shooting in the open ground. We
could not tell whether they were our men or the enemy, and the fear
seized us that the enemy might be pressing our people back, and would
catch us, helpless and useless, in this ridiculous fix.
Gracious! how the driver did whip, and spur! and how the cannoneers did
strain, and tug at those wheels! Captain McCarthy jumped off his horse,
and put his powerful strength to the wheel. The men from the other guns
joined us, and, at last, when we were nearly wild with excitement, we
gave one tremendous jerk, all together, and lifted the whole thing
bodily out of that rut, and over the bank. The horses, as excited now,
as we were, snatched the gun over the bank, across the stream, nearly
upsetting it, and then went tearing, at a full gallop, up the hill; we
running at top speed to keep up. The third gun following. At this pace,
we dashed into the open field, and were upon the battle ground. We ran
the guns into the line of battle, along a slight work Kershaw's men had
hurriedly thrown up, just to the left of the part of the line which the
Federals had taken, and were still holding. We pushed up, until we got
an enfilade fire upon their lines. A few case-shots screaming down their
line sent them flying out of that, and our line was restored.
The Colonel of one of their regiments, captured by our men, said that
his regiment was lying down behind our captured line, and one of our
shells cut down a large pine tree and threw it on his line, and about
finished up what was left of his regiment. The shell burst just as it
struck the tree, and the shell fragments, and falling tree together,
killed twelve or fifteen men, and wounded a number of others.
The fighting was dying down now, and soon ceased. Our line restored, the
enemy made no further effort to take it. The rest of the time, till
dark, was taken up with sharp-shooting, and artillery fire. A farmhouse
and outbuildings and barn stood right behind our position, and, I
remember, the barn swallows in large numbers were skimming and
twittering all around, through the sweet, bright air, while shells and
balls were singing a very different sort of song. I never saw that sight
during the war but this once,--birds flying about in the midst of a
battle. But here, those dear little swallows circled round, and round
that barn, and the adjoining field, for hours, while the air was full of
flying missiles. They did not seem to mind it. Perhaps they wondered
what on earth was going on. It was a curious scene!
During the night we made some little addition to the slight earth work,
which the infantry had thrown up, in front of our two guns. Infantry
began to pile into the line on both sides of our guns; we learned that
this was the Twentieth South Carolina Regiment, Colonel Keitt, who had
been killed, in a fight the Regiment had been in, that afternoon.
This regiment, at this time when some Brigades in the Army of Northern
Virginia had not more than one thousand or twelve hundred men, came
among us with seventeen hundred men ready for duty. The regiment had
been stationed at Fort Sumter; had seen nothing of war except the siege
of a Fort, and their idea of the chief duty of a soldier was,--to get as
much earth between him and the enemy as possible. When they came into
line this night, and saw this slight bank of dirt,--about two feet
thick, and three feet high,--and learned that we expected, certainly, to
fight behind it in the morning, they were perfectly aghast! They pitched
in, and began to "throw dirt." They kept it up all night, and by morning
had a wall of earth in front of them, in many places eight feet high,
and six to seven feet thick.
How much higher, and thicker they would have got it, if the enemy had
not interrupted them, gracious only knows! Of course they couldn't begin
to shoot over it, except at _the sky_; perhaps they thought _anything
blue_ would do to shoot at and the sky was blue. But it was a fact, that
when the enemy advanced next morning, this big regiment was positively
"Hors du Combat."
It is true, that when we woke up at daylight, and found what they had
done, we jeered, and laughed at them, and showed them the impossibility
of fighting from behind that wall, until some of them got ashamed, and
began to shovel down the top, a little. Captain McCarthy sent to let
General Kershaw know the absurd situation we were in,--supported by
infantry that could not fire a shot, and warning him, that if the enemy
charged, they would certainly take the line, unless our two guns alone
could hold it. General Kershaw sent orders to them "to shovel that
thing down to a proper height," but they didn't have time to do it. When
the fight began some of them had cut out a shelf on the inside of the
bank, and some of them had gotten boxes and logs and a number stood up
on them, and did some shooting, and behaved gallantly; but many of them
seeming to think that a man should be "rewarded according to his works"
laid closely down behind that wall, and never stirred.
The next night General Lee took them out of the lines, and gave them
picks, and shovels, and made a "sapping and mining corps" of them,--the
military service they were most fitted for, and they _were_ rewarded
according to their works.
While these beavers were gallantly wielding the pick and shovel, we,
satisfied with our little bank of dirt, were getting ready for next
day's work, by a good sound sleep. One of our boys did have misgiving
about the strength of our defences. He went in the night, and woke up
Sergeant Moncure and said, "Monkey, don't you think these works are very
thin?" "Yes, Tom, they are," he replied. "You just get a spade, and go
and make them just as thick as you think they ought to be; Good night!"
He resumed his slumbers, and Tom, not an overly energetic person, walked
away grumbling that "the work _was_ too thin, but he would be derned if
_he_ was going out there, in the dark to work on them, all by himself,"
which he didn't.
Somehow when we lay down this night we had gotten the impression that
things were going to be rough, in the morning. They were!
Just as the day dawn was struggling through the clouds, we were roused
by the sound of several guns, fired in quick succession. We were on our
feet instantly, and saw that all was ready for action. Shells came
howling at us from batteries that we could discern in the dim light. We
could see the light of their burning fuses, as they started out of their
guns, and could trace their flight toward us by that. Some of them would
strike the ground in front, and ricochet over us; some would crash into
our work, with a terrific _thud_, and some went screaming over our
heads,--very close, too, and went on to the rear to look after our Right
Section guns, which were still by that farmhouse, where we had left
them, the evening before. They knocked down several of the shelter tents
our boys were sleeping under, and several of our fellows, there, had the
narrowest kind of an escape. One shell "caromed" over three of the men,
who were sleeping side by side, touching the very blanket that was over
them. The Right Section boys needed no reveille that morning to get them
out! They tumbled up with great promptness and moved round out of the
line of fire. Fortunately none of them were actually hurt, just here.
One fellow was sleeping with several canteens of water hanging right
over his head. A bullet went through them. He was nearly drowned!
=The Bloodiest Fifteen Minutes of the War=
In our front, this artillery fire kept up for a while, then it stopped!
The next moment, there was an awful rush! From every quarter their
infantry came pouring on over the fields, and through the woods, yelling
and firing, and coming at a run. Their columns seemed unending! Enough
people to sweep our thin lines from the face of the earth! Up and down
our battle line, the fierce musketry broke out. To right and left it
ran, crashing and rolling like the sound of a heavy hail on a tin roof,
magnified a thousand times, with the cannon pealing out in the midst of
it like claps of thunder. Our line, far as the eye could reach, was
ablaze with fire; and into that furious storm of death, the blue columns
were swiftly urging their way.
Straight in our front one mass was advancing on us and we were hurling
case-shot through their ranks,--when, suddenly! glancing to the right,
we saw another column, which had rushed out of the woods on our right
front, by the flank, almost upon us, not forty-five yards outside our
line. Instantly we turned our guns upon them with double canister! Two
or three shots doubled up the head of that column. It resolved itself
into a formless crowd, that still stood stubbornly there, but could not
get one step farther. And then, for three or four minutes, at short
pistol range, the infantry and our Napoleon guns tore them to pieces. It
was deadly, and bloody work! They were a helpless mob, now; a swarming
multitude of confused men! They were falling by scores, hundreds! The
mass was simply melting away under the fury of our fire. Then, they
broke in panic, and headlong rout!
Many fearing to retreat under that deadly fire, dropped down behind the
stumps near our line, and when the others had gone, we ordered them to
come in. Several hundred prisoners were captured in this way. To show
what our works were,--I saw one tall fellow jump up from behind a stump,
run to our work, and with "a hop, skip, and a jump," he leaped entirely
over it, and landed inside our line. And a foolish looking fellow he
was, when he picked himself up!
Just as the enemy broke, Ben Lambert, "No. 1" at "4th" gun, was severely
wounded, in the right arm, just as he raised it to swab his gun. One of
the boys took his place, and the fire kept on.
The great assault was over and had failed! Only ten or fifteen minutes
was its fury raging! In that ten minutes, thirteen thousand Federal
soldiers lay stricken, with death, or wounds. In those few moments,
Grant lost nearly as many men as the whole British Army lost in the
entire battle of Waterloo.
Just to our right the enemy got over our works, and the guns right and
left of the break were turned on them. We heard a "yell" behind us, and
round a piece of pines came Eppa Hunton's Brigade of Virginians, at a
run; General Eppa on horse-back leading them in, at a gallop. The
Virginians delivered their volley at the Federals inside our lines, then
sprang on them like tigers. Next minute the few, left of them, were
flying back over the works.
In the thick of the fight, Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, now
commanded by General Humphreys, to which our Battery had been attached,
being unengaged just at that time, heard that the infantry supporting us
was not effective, and that the "Howitzers" were in danger of being run
over. They requested permission to come to our help, and two Regiments
came tearing down the lines to our position, manned the line by us, and
went to work. What work these splendid fellows could do in a fight! We
had been very uneasy about our supports, and were delighted to see the
Mississippians, especially, as they had voluntarily come to our help, in
such a handsome manner.
The spectacle in front of our line was simply _sickening_! The horrible
heaps of dead lay so ghastly, and the wounded were so thickly strewn all
over the field. To right, and to left, out in front, along our line, as
far as we could see, this dreadful array of the dead and wounded
stretched! It was pitiful to see the wounded writhing, and to hear their
cries of agony. And here _again_, as at Spottsylvania, these wounded
were left between the lines, to perish miserably, of hunger and thirst,
and mortifying wounds.
=Federal Troops Refuse to Be Slaughtered=
When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after them they were nearly
all dead. What they must have suffered before death came! But none of
their own people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help
them,--when they might have been saved. I wonder who will have to answer
for the _unnecessary waste of life_ and suffering in the "Army of the
Potomac?" For the untold agony and death that _need never have been_! It
was awful! We used to think it was _brutal_! And the _Federal soldiers_
thought so too!
Some hours after this assault we saw the enemy massing for another.
Their columns advanced a little way, and then stopped. We could see
there was some "hitch," and sent a few shells over there, just to
encourage any little reluctance they might have about coming on. These
lines stood still, and came no further.
We learned, afterwards, that perfectly demoralized, and disheartened by
the bloody repulse of the morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by
General Grant to storm our line again, _mutinied in line of battle_, and
_in the face of the enemy and refused to go forward_. I witnessed that
performance, but did not understand at the time, just what was going on.
The grave meaning of it was, that the enemy's soldiers had distinctly
quailed before our lines and declared their utter inability to take
them. And _this_ was the verdict--at the end--of General Grant's Army
upon General Grant's campaign! Their heads were more level than their
General's. They were tired of being slaughtered for nothing!
The moment the morning assault was over, the Federal artillery opened
furiously, all along the line, and all day long, we were under a
constant fire of cannon, and sharp-shooters.
Fifty yards behind our guns was a farmhouse, outbuildings, and yard full
of trees. Shells aimed at us, rained into those premises all day. The
house was riddled like a sieve, the trees were cut down, and the
outbuildings, barn, stables, sheds, etc., were reduced to a heap of
kindling wood.
A pig was in a pen, in the yard! Everything else on the place had been
hit, and we watched with interest the fate of that pig. He escaped all
day! Just after dark, a shell skimmed just over our gun, went screaming
back into that yard, burst,--and--we heard the pig squeal. Some of the
men, at once, started for the yard, and came back with the pig. Said "he
was mortally wounded, and they were going to carry him to the hospital."
I fear he did not survive to get there! We disposed of his remains in
the usual way.
About noon we heard that our Right Section had been ordered into
position, on the lines, some distance to our right, and that John
Moseley, No. 8 at 1st gun, while with his caisson, back of the lines,
had been killed. A stray bullet had pierced his brain. No one was with
him at the time. He was found dead, in the woods.
=Dr. Carter "Apologizes for Getting Shot"=
The sharp-shooters swept all the ground about us, making it dangerous
for any man to expose himself an instant. Dr. Carter took some canteens,
and his cup, and went round under the hill behind us, to bring some
water. With filled canteens, and tin cup, filled to the brim, carried in
his right hand, he recklessly came back across the field, in rear of the
line. Just before he got to us, a bullet struck his right thumb, and
shattered it. He did not drop the cup or spill the water! He came right
on, as if nothing had happened, offered us a drink of water out of the
cup, and then courteously apologized to the captain for getting shot;
who accepted his apology, and sent him off to the hospital, to have his
thumb amputated; which he did, and was back at his post, the first
moment his wound permitted. When we condoled with him for the loss of
his thumb, he said "_He_ didn't care anything about the _thumb_; he
could _roll cigarettes just as well with the stump_, as he ever could
with the whole thumb. That seemed about all the use he had for his
thumb,--to roll cigarettes. He was an artist at that!
In the afternoon three or four of us were standing in a group talking
when one of the numberless shells that were howling by all day long,
burst in our very faces. I distinctly felt the heat of the explosion on
my skin, and grains of powder out of the bursting shell struck our
faces, and drew blood. The concussion was terrific! It was a pretty
"close call" to all three of us!
The stream of shells fired at our guns gradually cut away the top of our
work, until it was so low that it did not sufficiently protect our gun.
We feared that some of the shells would strike our gun, and disable it.
To avert this, for many hours that day, from time to time, we had to
take turns, and, with shovels, throw sand from the inside on the top of
the work. In this way we managed to keep our defences up, but it was
weary work, and we grew very tired. Still, there was nothing for it, but
to keep on, and _we kept_ on!
=Death of Captain McCarthy=
About six o'clock, there fell the saddest loss, to the battery, that it
had yet been called to bear. Captain McCarthy stood up at the work to
watch what was going on in front. One moment, I saw him, standing
there;--the next instant, I heard a sharp crash, the familiar sound of a
bullet striking, and McCarthy was lying, flat on his back, and
motionless. We jumped to his side! Nothing to be done! A long bullet
from a "globe sight" rifle had struck him, two inches over his right
eye, and crashed straight through his brain. He lay without motion two
or three minutes, then his chest rose, and fell, gently, once or twice,
and he was still, in death.
And there, on that red field of war, with shells, and bullets whistling
all about, over his dead face, dropped the tears of brave men, who loved
him well, and had fought with and followed him long! We had seen his
superb courage in battle; his patient bearing of hardship, his
unfaltering devotion to duty always; his kind, cordial comradeship! We
knew him to be a soldier, every inch, and a patriot to his heart's core!
We knew, and said, that among all her sons, Virginia had no braver son,
than this one, who had died for her. Sadly we lamented--"What shall we
do, in battle, and in camp, and on march, his form and face missing from
among us?" There was not a sadder group of hearts along that
blood-drenched line that evening, than ours, who bowed deeply sorrowing
over the form of our dead captain. We took his body in our arms, and
bore it to where we could place it in an ambulance.
It was sent to his home, and family, in Richmond, and buried in "Shockoe
Cemetery." And now,--after thirty-two years have passed, we, the old
"Howitzers," still carry the name of "Ned McCarthy" in our hearts! We
keep his memory green; we think of him, and rank him as a typical
Confederate Soldier. One who by his splendid courage and devotion shed
luster upon the name.
His stalwart form has gone to dust. The light of his bright, brave face
has long gone from our eyes; the soul-stirring war time--when we were
with him--has long passed away. The changes and chances of this mortal
life have brought many experiences to us who survived him. Our feet have
wandered far, into many paths. We have toiled, and thought, and
suffered, and enjoyed much, in the long years, since we last looked upon
his form dead on the red field of "Cold Harbor." "The strong hours have
conquered us" in many things. But--the noble memory of this man! as a
patriot and a hero!
Ah! that lives in our hearts! The hearts of his comrades who, with their
own eyes, saw him live and bear, and fight and die--for _Virginia_--and
the South.
The battle of Cold Harbor ended Grant's direct advance on Richmond. He
drew off in confessed defeat and inability to go on--afterwards, he
advanced by way of Petersburg.
The operations on that line resolved themselves into a siege. That siege
lasted through the fall and winter and early spring of '65, with many
attempts to break our lines, which always failed.
On the second day of April, 1865, according to General Lee's own
statement to General Meade, just after the surrender, the Army of
Northern Virginia stood, with 27,000 men, holding a line thirty-two
miles long; facing an army of 150,000 men. On that day our line was
broken, and the retreat began.
Under the circumstances, the disentanglement of our army from that long
line, and getting it on the march, with the enemy's powerful army close
in their front, was a supreme display of, at once, the consummate
generalship of General Lee, and the unshakable morale of the Southern
troops.
The retreat continued for one week; we started from Petersburg Sunday,
April 2, and reached Appomattox, Saturday, April 8th. On that day, after
the hunger, exhaustion, and losses in the many fights along the way,
the Army stood at Appomattox, ninety miles from Petersburg, with 8,000
men with arms in their hands; and they were as "game" as ever. On that
morning of April 9th, when General Gordon surrendered his little force
of 1,300 men, he had to surrender 1,700 Federal soldiers, and fourteen
pieces of artillery, which he had just captured from the enemy, while
driving back their encircling line more than a mile.
Then General Lee, unwilling for useless sacrifice, surrendered the army,
because it was "compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and
resources"--and that Army of Northern Virginia, when it was surrendered,
had behind it this remarkable, and proud record, that, in the many
battles it fought during the war, it was never once driven from the
field of battle; and it was as defiant, and ready to fight at Appomattox
as it was at Manassas, the first battle four years before.
As we turn from that closing scene, let us take a parting glance at the
facts which, duly considered, enable us to form a true estimate of the
fight the South made in that struggle of the Civil War.
The history of that war may be briefly, but accurately comprehended in
this short statement. During the four years, '61 to '65, the North put
into the field two million, eight hundred thousand (2,800,000) men. They
were well armed, well equipped, and well fed--also, it had a Navy.
During those four years, the South put into the field less than six
hundred thousand (600,000) men. They were poorly armed, poorly equipped,
and poorly fed--much of the time, very poorly indeed! And it had no
Navy.
It took those 2,800,000 men, with the Navy, four years to overcome those
600,000 men. In doing so they lost the lives of one million (1,000,000)
men--nearly double the whole number of men the South put into the field.
What these facts mean, the world will judge--the world has judged! And
the world has off its hat to the race who made that heroic fight!
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Two quotes are opened with a double quotation mark but are not
closed. These are presented as they appear in the original text.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"comand" corrected to "command" (page 8)
"setled" corrected to "settled" (page 21)
"muttton" corrected to "mutton" (page 33)
"proceded" corrected to "proceeded" (page 36)
"felows" corrected to "fellows" (page 41)
"semed" corrected to "seemed" (page 44)
"nineteeen" corrected to "nineteen" (page 45)
"Hil's" corrected to "Hill's" (page 75)
"gettinge" corrected to "getting" (page 76)
"at" corrected to "a" (page 79)
"aound" corrected to "arround" (page 121)
"Fedtral" corrected to "Federal" (page 127)
"Warrren" corrected to "Warren" (page 130)
"atention" corrected to "attention" (page 132)
"iminent" corrected to "imminent" (page 138)
"bags" corrected to "bugs" (page 181)
"sharp-shooters's" corrected to "sharp-shooter's" (page 183)
"hostilites" corrected to "hostilities" (page 185)