REORGANIZATION.
The preceding chapters of this regimental history have recorded the
story of the year of preparation and discipline, and the year of trial,
suffering, and winnowing. We now approach what may well be called the
year of sacrifice and martyrdom. We are to recount the story of the
organization so dear to all our hearts, so much, in fact, a portion of
our very existence, which was now to undergo its most fearful trials,
and, by the sacrifice of its noblest blood, to maintain and enhance a
reputation for courage and devotion which had been won in summer's heat
in the fields and swamps of Mississippi, and in the winter's cold in
the mountain wilds of East Tennessee.
At Annapolis we found a large force encamped, the post being commanded
by Colonel Hartranft, of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, as
Provisional Commander. The Ninth Army Corps, relieved from duty in the
Department of the Ohio, had been ordered to rendezvous at this place
for reorganization. On the 7th of January, soon after his departure
from East Tennessee, General Burnside was reassigned to the command
of the Ninth Corps, with instructions to "recruit and fill up the
old regiments," and to increase the strength of the corps to fifty
thousand men, for such service as the War Department should especially
designate. The great popularity of General Burnside in New England,
and the other States represented in the old Ninth Corps, secured the
cordial coöperation of the authorities, and recruiting was carried
forward with gratifying success. Massachusetts pledged her four
veteran infantry regiments, already in process of organization, and
all the New England States, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan,
sent forward many new regiments which had been recruited during the
winter under the personal supervision of General Burnside. Although
the destination of this force remained a mystery, it was confidently
expected throughout the corps that General Burnside was to be assigned
to an independent command, and that a coast expedition was to be
organized. The general impression prevailed that the corps was to be
sent to North Carolina, or to the Virginia peninsula to coöperate
with the Army of the Potomac in the campaign about to open. With this
prospect in view the men were highly elated.
The camp at Annapolis was delightful, and revived the pleasant memories
of Newport News and Camp Dick Robinson,--the only places where we had
ever "played soldier." It was laid out with military precision, in
accordance with army regulations. The company streets were wide and
well-policed, the new white A tents were decorated with evergreen and
holly, and the grounds, laid out in tasty squares and centre-pieces,
presented a beautiful appearance. Contrasted with what had preceded,
and what was about to follow, it was a genuine holiday camp,--a
bright oasis in the desert of a soldier's life. The burning sun of
Mississippi, the deadly malaria of the Yazoo, the freezing cold and
corn-cob rations of Tennessee, were soon forgotten in the general
happiness and comfort of this delightful camp. Following those long
and rigorous campaigns, the rest and abundant rations were gratefully
enjoyed. Many of the "absent sick" who had been left in general
hospitals in Kentucky and Ohio to recover from the effects of the
former severe campaigns, returned to duty. New clothing and equipments
were issued, and the regiment soon regained something of its familiar
appearance. Company and regimental drills, inspections, parades,
and reviews, together with the work of reorganizing and equipping
the regiment, caused the time to pass rapidly and pleasantly. We
were also visited by many citizens of Massachusetts,--friends of the
regiment,--who brought with them, not cheering words only, but many
substantial tokens of the good-will and affectionate remembrance of the
dear ones at home. Here, also, many of the officers and men received
furloughs for a few days' visit home; and the fact is worthy of record,
that all the men who were accorded this privilege returned promptly and
cheerfully to duty.
In obtaining these furloughs some amusing incidents occurred. One
member of Co. B, impatient at the long delay attending his application,
determined to see "Old Burnie," as he called him, in person, and plead
his own cause. By a little shrewd management, or strategy, as it was
termed, he surprised the General at his breakfast one Sunday morning.
Being outflanked, the General listened patiently to the veteran's
story, then called for the papers and endorsed on the application,
"Approved for seven days. A. E. Burnside," in characters that defied
forgery, doubtless little dreaming that this man was only a skirmisher
from quite a line of men outside, waiting to "see how the thing
worked." The happy soldier "retired in good order," and, as soon as
the success of his daring attack was known, the General's house was
besieged by many others who could not wait for "red tape" and "regular
channels." There were but few general officers against whom it would be
prudent or safe to advance a second such line; but the boys said they
knew their man, and that "Burnside remembered Knoxville!"
On the 13th of April the entire corps then in camp was reviewed by
Generals Grant and Burnside. The day was delightful, and, as they rode
in front of the long, imposing lines, greeted by cheers and strains of
martial music, and the waving of tattered and blood-stained banners,
the enthusiasm of the men was unbounded.
On the 15th, Lieut.-Col. Goodell, who had been with the regiment during
the journey from Cincinnati, was obliged, on account of the troublesome
nature of his wound, to return to Massachusetts, receiving leave of
absence for fifteen days, leaving the regiment in command of Major
Draper.
On the 19th the corps was reorganized. The old First Division, with
which we had been identified during all our service, was almost
entirely broken up. General Ferrero, our former commander, was assigned
to command the new Fourth Division, composed entirely of colored
troops, and most of the regiments were assigned to the new Second
and Third Divisions. The new First Division was composed chiefly of
regiments recently organized, and those not previously connected with
the corps. The Seventy-ninth New York, One Hundredth Pennsylvania,
and Seventeenth Michigan, were sent to the Third Division, commanded
by General Willcox. It was a severe disappointment to be thus
separated from the brave men with whom we had shared a common danger
and won a common glory; but, as if to compensate us for this trial,
and to render the separation less painful, we were not parted from
our old, well-proved, and dearly beloved comrades,--the Forty-fifth
Pennsylvania. These two regiments, the Forty-fifth and Thirty-sixth,
henceforth to be more closely attached, and more than ever brothers,
were assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division. Major-General John
G. Parke was announced as Division Commander and Brigadier-General
Robert B. Potter as Commander of the brigade, consisting of the
Forty-eighth and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, Thirty-sixth Massachusetts,
Seventh Rhode Island, Fifty-first New York, and Fifty-eighth
Massachusetts,--the latter not yet reported,--six regiments, numbering,
present for duty, one hundred and seven officers, and two thousand five
hundred fifty-one enlisted men. With the exception of the Fifty-eighth
Massachusetts, all these regiments had served long in the Ninth Corps,
and had made enviable records. The Fifty-first New York had been
commanded by Generals Ferrero and Potter as Colonels, and at Antietam
Bridge, with the Fifty-first Pennsylvania, had won a reputation for
distinguished bravery and soldierly bearing second to none in the
army. Of our division and brigade commanders we were justly proud. They
had been identified with the corps during its entire existence, and
both had commanded the corps, reflecting credit upon themselves, the
corps, and the service.
At the date of the reorganization of the division both Generals Parke
and Potter were absent, on account of sickness; and that portion of the
order relating to commanders in the Second Division was never carried
into effect. Colonel S. G. Griffin, Sixth New Hampshire Volunteers,
commanding the Second Brigade, was placed in temporary command of
the division, and Colonel Joshua K. Sigfried, of the Forty-eighth
Pennsylvania Volunteers, assumed command of our brigade. Both these
officers were able and distinguished soldiers. Upon his return to
duty, at the close of the month, General Potter was placed permanently
in command of the division, and General Parke returned to duty to be
assigned as chief of the Ninth Corps staff.
Under date of April 21st, Surgeon James P. Prince was assigned to duty
as Chief Medical Officer of the Fourth Division; Captain Raymond as
Inspector of First Brigade, Second Division, on the staff of General
Potter; and Lieutenant Emory as Assistant Commissary of the Fourth
Division. On the 23d of April, Captain S. C. Warriner, Company E, and
First Lieutenants Samuel A. Goodspeed and John A. Rice, tendered their
resignations, which were accepted, and they left for Massachusetts,
much to the regret of their commands and their comrades in the regiment.
The work of reorganization went forward very rapidly. Although the
destination of the corps remained as great a mystery as ever, it
was evident that preparations for an important movement were being
perfected, and that we might be ordered suddenly to leave. On the
evening of the 22d the command was ordered to be in readiness to march,
and before daylight of the 23d the delightful camp was broken up,
and the corps took up its line of march, not toward the harbor, but
in the direction of Washington, following the line of the Elk Ridge
and Annapolis Railroad. After a march of thirteen miles the corps
bivouacked in the fields for the night. Very early on the 24th the
march was resumed. In about six hours we reached the Baltimore and
Washington turnpike, and at nightfall the corps went into camp near
Bladensburg, distant about eight miles from the city of Washington.
At four o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 25th, _reveillé_ was
sounded; but, owing to a severe shower, the regiment did not march
until about eight o'clock. When the march was resumed the corps passed
through Bladensburg and continued in the direction of the city. We
reached the outskirts of the capital about noon, and halted on New
York avenue for the command to close up, as we were to pay a marching
salute to the President and General Burnside, who were to review us
from a balcony of Willard's Hotel. It soon became known that the corps
was to pass through the city, and the streets along the line of march
were densely packed. The column was greeted with cheers and applause.
Many spirited descriptions of this imposing scene were published at
the time in the journals of the day; but none is more graphic than
the following, taken from a Memorial-Day Address, at Beverly, Mass.,
by Honorable R. S. Rantoul, May 30, 1871, seven years after the scene
narrated:--
"On the 25th of April, 1864, I stood, at high noon, on a thronged
sidewalk of the city of Washington. Across the street, and raised
on a balcony above the surging crowd, a lank, sad man stood gazing
wistfully down--his head uncovered--upon the passing scene beneath.
An unutterable sadness seemed to have fixed itself upon his face.
For the most part he was unnoticed by the long procession, which,
hour after hour, with frequent pauses, but with elastic tread,
pushed on through dust and sweat, for Long Bridge, a few rods
off--then over the Potomac and into Virginia. In dull succession,
company on company, battalion by battalion, brigade after brigade,
wearily yet cheerfully, they tramped on under that Southern sun,
sometimes singing, oftener thoughtful, never seemingly regretful.
It was one of those soft, vernal days, whose very air, as if
breathed from groves of oranges and myrtle, seemed able to melt
all hearts. Music there was; but strangely, as it seemed, not of
that martial strain, associated, in piping times of peace, with the
rush of battle. Exquisite music there was from martial bands, but
for the hour they seemed to have attuned themselves to melodies
of home and love. Shoulder to shoulder, looking not back, asking
not whither, marched the bronzed veteran of East Tennessee and
Carolina, with regiments of raw recruits,--tradesmen and mechanics
from the towns, the farmer and frontiersman of the West, the
lumberman from his Eastern forest, Indian sharp-shooters attached
to Western infantry, favored sons of culture and wealth, the first
black division, five or six thousand strong, following the white
State flag of Massachusetts, batteries of artillery, squadrons of
cavalry; mingling with these or pressing hard upon them, commissary
wagons, ambulances, and quartermasters' trains, stuffed with the
equipage of hospital and camp; and, last of all, as far as the
eye could reach, fat beeves choked up the dusty way. Solemnly the
mighty mass moved forward to confront its fate. Many a brave man
felt that day that he was crossing Long Bridge never to return.
Little heed paid they that the eye of Lincoln was upon them; little
ardor they caught from sad, sweet music or the cheers and greetings
of the thronging streets! Little was there for them of pride, pomp,
or circumstance of glorious war! Grim resolve and cheerful devotion
were the lessons of the hour!
"Ask where you would, you got no clue to their destination, for no
one knew it! They had waited long at Annapolis, expecting to be
ordered off by sea. Not a man, that day, of all those marching
legions, knew whither he was going!
"'Theirs not to reason why!
Theirs but to do and die!'
"Only the lank, sad man, who gazed from his high place upon them,
hat in hand, as though with a friend's last look, and the few high
officials about him, knew more than that the Ninth Army Corps,
twenty-five thousand strong, had been ordered from Annapolis to
Alexandria! The veil of the future was not yet lifted."
Chaplain Woodbury says, "It was a spectacle which made many eyes grow
moist and dim. And thus the corps that had never lost a flag or a
cannon marched through Washington. Crossing Long Bridge the troops went
into camp about two miles from Alexandria."
Even then many of the men still cherished the hope that transports
would be in readiness for them at Alexandria. But these notions were
soon put to flight. To the corps was assigned the duty of guarding the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad from the Potomac to the Rapidan; and
reluctantly the fond hopes of a coast expedition and an independent
movement were abandoned.
On Wednesday, April 27th, at ten o'clock A.M., the brigade left
Alexandria to follow the divisions which had been advanced toward the
Rappahannock, and after a fatiguing march of sixteen miles encamped
at night three miles beyond Fairfax Court-House. The next day the
march was continued over the ground made historic in 1861, through
Centreville, and past the old earthworks at Manassas. At noon we halted
an hour for dinner on the Bull Run battle-field. Afterwards we forded
the Run, and at six o'clock, having marched eighteen miles, went into
camp at Bristow Station, on the field where the Second Corps achieved a
brilliant victory the autumn before.
At six o'clock the next morning the brigade was in line, but did not
move out of camp until half-past nine; marched then about half a mile,
and countermarched, and marched again, until finally, about three
o'clock, we went into camp near the railroad, on new ground, which
was ordered to be laid out according to army regulations. The corps
was being distributed along the line of the railroad in supporting
distance, and the progress was very slow.
On the 30th it became necessary to make another change, and our
"Regulation Camp" was abandoned to others. We marched at half-past five
o'clock in the morning, crossed Kettle Run at noon, and relieved the
Seventeenth Regular Infantry, of the Fifth Corps, taking possession
of the splendid camp near Catlett's Station, which they had occupied
during the winter. Captain Morse, with Co. C, was sent forward to
Catlett's, to guard the station and water-tanks, while the remainder
of the regiment went into camp. The larger portion of the regiment was
accommodated in the barracks of the Seventeenth Regulars, but the three
left companies were obliged to occupy their shelter-tents.
Upon reaching this place, it being the last day of the month, the
regular monthly return of the regiment was made up and forwarded to
head-quarters. As being the inventory of the effective strength with
which we entered the campaign it may be interesting, for the purpose
of comparison, to include a synopsis of the report. At that date we
had present for duty fourteen commissioned officers, and four hundred
and twenty-six enlisted men, belonging to the regiment, including
ninety-one men transferred from the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts
Volunteers, or four hundred and forty in all. In addition we had
fifty-six effective men belonging to the Forty-sixth New York,
assigned for duty to our regiment, making a total of four hundred and
ninety-six, of whom three hundred and thirty-five were members of the
Thirty-sixth. In addition there were forty-two enlisted men on extra or
daily duty, and thirteen sick in the hospital, making a total present
with the brigade of five hundred and fifty-one. Three officers and
eighty-five enlisted men were on special duty with the corps, and five
officers and two hundred and ninety-two enlisted men were absent beyond
the limits of the department, making the whole number on the regimental
rolls, present and absent, twenty-two commissioned officers, and nine
hundred and fourteen enlisted men.
The following officers were present for duty with the regiment: Major
Draper, Adjutant Hodgkins, Assistant Surgeon Bryant, Quartermaster
Tuttle, Captains Barker, Smith, Buffum, Bailey, Morse, Holmes, and
Ames; First Lieutenants Daniels, Fairbank, Burrage, and Marshall,
or the average of but one commissioned officer for each company in
the line. Company I was commanded by Orderly Sergeant Alonzo A.
White, who had received a commission as Second Lieutenant and was
awaiting muster-in. Second Lieutenants White, Hancock, Wright, and
Davidson had been unable to muster in the grade to which they had been
commissioned, their companies being below the minimum, and had already,
under date of April 26th, been recommended for promotion to fill the
vacancies caused by the promotion of First Lieutenant Daniels (who
was to succeed Captain Warriner), and the resignations of Lieutenants
Cross, Goodspeed, and Rice. The following officers were absent from
the regiment: Lieutenant-Colonel Goodell, from disability resulting
from wounds; Surgeon Prince, Captain Raymond, and Lieutenant Emory,
on special duty with the corps; Captain Smith, Lieutenants Davis and
Brigham, on special duty, recruiting; First Lieutenant Robinson, absent
by reason of wounds.
The Ninth Corps was now in position, scattered along the line of
railroad from Fairfax to the Rappahannock, and had relieved all the
troops of the Army of the Potomac which were now concentrated near
the Rapidan. The duty of guarding the railroad was not arduous, but
it required constant vigilance, and the troops were continually on
the alert lest a band of rebel guerillas which infested the region
should make a sudden dash, destroy a portion of the road, and thereby
seriously interrupt communication with the main army, encamped near
Brandy Station. To guard against an incursion of this body, a strong
picket force was stationed along the railroad, and a portion of the
troops in camp were kept in readiness to repel an attack. The defences
consisted of a formidable abatis surrounding the entire camp. The
situation was very pleasant, and the daily duties and routine of camp
were performed. On the 2d of May a large reconnoitring party was sent
out, under command of Captain Holmes; but no trace of an enemy could be
discovered.