THE ACTION AT PEGRAM FARM.
On the afternoon of September 25th, about five o'clock, orders to move
were suddenly received, and immediately the quiet camp became a scene
of bustling activity. Tents were hastily stripped from their poles,
knapsacks packed in a hurry, and in half an hour, having been relieved
by the Fifth Corps, we left our camp. After moving some four miles
to the right a halt was ordered about nine o'clock, and the regiment
bivouacked in the woods in the rear of the Second Corps.
On the following day tents were pitched, and the men remained idle in
camp, the air thick with rumors, until the morning of the 28th, when
the brigade marched to the "Gurley House," half a mile from "Yellow
Tavern," "in such a manner that the enemy would notice the movement,"
to quote from the order received from regimental head-quarters.
The 29th was passed in feverish uncertainty, a move being expected at
any moment. Staff officers and orderlies were riding to and fro, and
cavalry in force moved toward the left; but the regiment did not leave
its position. At night the excitement was heightened by the reading of
a despatch from General Grant, announcing that the railroad between
Petersburg and Richmond had been taken by General Ord, and that General
Birney had defeated the enemy north of the James.
The morning of September 30th dawned upon a day of perfect autumnal
beauty; but the balmy air, fragrant with the scent of the pines,
the clear sunlight, and cloudless sky left little impress of their
loveliness upon the minds of men who, after the broken slumbers of the
night, were early astir preparing for battle.
The expected advance began about nine o'clock, the troops passing
over the works of the Fifth Corps on the extreme left, and into the
debatable land beyond. The column consisted of Ayer's and Griffin's
divisions of the Fifth Corps, followed by Potter's and Willcox's
divisions of the Ninth Corps. We followed the road through woods for
about a mile, when a small country meeting-house, known as Poplar
Spring Church, was reached. There our brigade line of battle formed
at right angles to the road. Meanwhile the advance of the Fifth Corps
had developed near the Peebles house, an outlying fortification of the
enemy, consisting of a redoubt and flanking rifle-pits, upon which an
assault was made, about ten o'clock, by Griffin's division, and easily
carried, with trifling loss. The enemy, not having sufficient strength
to resist after the loss of his entrenchments, promptly retreated to
his main line, leaving about fifty prisoners and a piece of artillery
in our hands.
The divisions of the Ninth Corps were now ordered to the front, and
immediately advanced, passing the troops of the Fifth Corps, who were
quietly resting with stacked arms near the captured redoubt.
The regiment moved forward in brigade line of battle in excellent form,
and a rapid advance on the enemy's main line was anticipated; but, soon
after passing the Peebles house, a halt was ordered, and the movement
came to a complete stand-still.
For three or four hours this fatal and inexplicable delay continued,
although it was evident that the advantage of a surprise was thus being
thrown away, as the enemy must necessarily have been warned of our
presence by the men who had withdrawn from the redoubt. At last, about
the middle of the afternoon, the impatient and well-nigh disgusted
soldiers were again ordered forward.
Our regiment moved by the flank toward the Boisseau house,--an
abandoned dwelling that became prominent during the operations of
the ensuing days,--gathering, in wayside gossip with adventurous
sharp-shooters who had been looking after an opportunity for fancy
shooting at the front, the cheering news that the rebel works, toward
which we were advancing, had been strongly reinforced during our long
halt. About five o'clock the Second Brigade, General Griffin, which
was pushing forward on our right, slightly in advance, became engaged
with the enemy's skirmish line, and General Curtin was ordered to make
connection with that command. This was immediately done, our brigade
forming in two lines of battle, as follows: Thirty-fifth Massachusetts,
Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, Fifty-eighth Massachusetts, and Fifty-first
New York, in the first line; Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Twenty-first
Massachusetts, and Thirty-sixth Massachusetts, in the second, though
extending further to the left than the first line. The Seventh Rhode
Island were in the rear with entrenching tools, and the Fourth Rhode
Island acted as provost guard, their term of service having nearly
expired.
By this formation the Thirty-sixth came into position on the extreme
left of the brigade, and halted for a few moments near the Boisseau
house, at a fence running along a sorghum field. Captain Burrage, with
the skirmishers of the regiment, covered the front and left of the
regiment, the line extending from the woods to the Boisseau house. The
firing on our right now increased as the Second Brigade became hotly
engaged, and our line was ordered over the fence, which was hastily
crossed, and an advance of a few yards made into an open field, which
extended a long distance to the right, exposing to view a large part of
the brigade line of battle, while the enemy was concealed in the woods
beyond. Here the regiment first met the whizzing rebel bullets, which
became so troublesome as to cause the men to lie down; and, although
the prostrate attitude was eminently adapted to the situation, the
recumbent warriors may have been shamed, and were certainly encouraged,
by the example of General Curtin, who at this juncture reached the
front, and, followed by a single orderly, rode along the line of his
brigade, as coolly as if on review. His horse was soon after shot under
him, and a valuable saddle, sent as a present from his friends in
Pennsylvania, fell into the hands of the enemy.
We momentarily expected an order to charge, but found that the
situation was changing on the right, to which attention was drawn from
the fact that at that point the line seemed to be falling back, which
soon proved to be the case. Our regimental line stood inactive, no
special pressure being brought to bear by the enemy in our front, until
the retrograde movement became communicated to the regiment on our
right, when we realized that the rebels, tired perhaps of waiting for
our assault, had boldly sallied from their works and, sheltered by the
surrounding wood, had successfully flanked our line.
As the whole force covering our right vanished, the regiment was
subjected to a galling fire from that direction as well as the front.
Colonel Draper then ordered a change of front, but seeing that the
enemy's movement threatened to cut us off from our forces in the rear
he changed the order to a movement by the left flank in the same
direction.
The sorghum before mentioned save us a slight shelter, and we hurriedly
made our way through it, the vicious "zip" of the rebel bullets giving
us an incentive to haste. Reaching the ravine between the Boisseau
house and the sorghum field we found remnants of several regiments of
the First Division, which had fallen into disorder, still gallantly
holding their ground, gathered in little groups around their colors.
Here a stubborn stand was made, and the chief conflict of the day on
the part of our regiment was fought. Many acts of individual gallantry
might be mentioned, the officers, and in some noticeable instances
the enlisted men, doing brave and serviceable work in rallying the
scattered squads and endeavoring to check the advance of the enemy.
But the force was unequal to the task, the Thirty-sixth being the only
regiment that retained its organization; and the position soon became
extremely critical.
A line of the enemy's skirmishers now appeared at the mouth of the
ravine, on our left flank, and coolly picked off our men without
opposition, our fire being mainly directed at the greater body of
the rebel force, which had meanwhile pressed well around to our
right, having cut off and captured a part of our brigade and driven
back the remainder. The regiment could hold its ground but a short
time under the demoralizing effect of a sharp fire from three sides,
and Lieutenant-Colonel Draper, seeing that further resistance would
be useless sacrifice, seized the colors, against the protest of
Color-Sergeant Rawson, and gave the order to retire.
A lively scattering over the fences and through the grounds of the
Boisseau house ensued, each man doing his level best to preserve a life
for future usefulness to his country, and little breath was taken until
the shelter of a reserve line and a section of Roemer's battery was
secured. Here General Potter was found sitting gloomily on his horse,
to whom Colonel Draper reported with fifty-two men of our regiment and
twenty men of the Fifty-sixth Massachusetts as "the remains of his
division." The men of the Fifth Corps and that part of the Ninth held
in reserve had by this time been so disposed as to check any further
advance of the enemy, and the battle ceased as darkness came on. The
remnant of our regiment proceeded to the new line, which was found with
difficulty in the dark, and remained for a short time in position at
the edge of a piece of woods, picking up occasional stragglers.
During the evening we were ordered back to the line of works taken
by the Fifth Corps in the morning, where we were soon joined by a
detachment of about sixty men, under Captains Ames and Morse, which
became separated from the colors in the retreat. As each party had
for a time good reason for supposing the other to be in the hands of
the enemy, the reunion was a joyful one. At roll-call the regiment
mustered one hundred and forty-three men, the largest number by far
of any regiment in the division, although some had three times that
number in the ranks before going into action. The casualties in the
Thirty-sixth were four killed, sixteen wounded, and sixteen missing,--a
surprisingly small number in view of the perilous position in which the
regiment was placed. The killed were Corporal Robert F. Webb, Company
A, Privates Lyman H. Gilbert, Company E, Rufus H. Carter, Company I,
and Belthezar Margenot, Company K,--the last two being transferred men
from the Twenty-first Regiment. Sergeant Lucius L. Merrick, Company E,
who rejoined the regiment the night before, was mortally wounded and
died ten days later. Merrick was known throughout the regiment, and
respected by all for his manly Christian character. He was a graduate
of Amherst College, and at the time of his enlistment was preparing
for the ministry. He had been twice wounded, at Knoxville and in the
Wilderness, and was about to receive a commission in a regiment of
colored troops. He was one of the best soldiers in the regiment, and
his death caused sincere grief. Sergeant Charles Underwood, of Company
D, was wounded in the knee near the Boisseau house, and fell into the
hands of the enemy. His leg was amputated, and in a short time he was
sent through to our lines. A second and third amputation followed
a year or two later, and he died. Sergeant-Major Washburn was shot
through the face, receiving a very severe wound, and Captain J. B.
Smith, serving on the staff of General Potter, was shot in the hand,
and suffered amputation of a finger.
Of the four divisions engaged the loss fell chiefly on ours, the number
of missing being very large. The official report of casualties in the
division was,--killed fifty-one; wounded two hundred and eighty;
missing, one thousand three hundred and thirteen. A large proportion
of the missing were from the First Brigade, as the regiments in its
first line were cut off by the enemy's flank movement, and nearly all
of the Fifty-first New York, and a large number of the Forty-fifth
Pennsylvania, and Fifty-eighth Massachusetts were captured.
The Second Brigade of our division first received the shock of the
evening's charge, and when it was seen that it could not withstand
it, the Seventh Rhode Island, in reserve, was ordered to form a new
line near the Pegram house, and an order which, unfortunately, was
not received by him, was despatched to General Curtin to fall back
to the line thus established. If this movement had been made it is
probable that the heavy loss in the brigade would have been avoided.
Speculation as to the causes which occasioned this disaster to our
corps is, perhaps, unprofitable, and can afford but little consolation;
but one fact seems clear, that the delays and blunders of general
officers, rather than cowardice or misconduct of the men fighting at
the front, brought about the mortifying result. The vexatious and
apparently needless halt after the first success of the Fifth Corps in
the morning has been alluded to. This gave the enemy time to reinforce
his threatened line, and the rebel commanders, thoroughly familiar with
the ground, had their customary advantage of being able to direct their
movements understandingly.[23]
[23] This action is called by the Confederates the battle of Jones'
Farm. Lane's North Carolina brigade formed the enemy's right; one of
Wilcox's brigades the left, with McRae's North Carolina brigade as a
support. The latter, however, "rushed forward to participate in the
fight." See History of Lane's North Carolina Brigade, in _Southern
Historical Society Papers_, 1881, pp. 354-356.
During the night a storm began, and the day following was one of the
most dismal and uncomfortable ever experienced by the regiment. No
movement was attempted, but details were employed in reversing the
works behind which we were bivouacked, so they might afford protection
in case of an advance by the enemy. The work was very difficult, as
the constant rain gave the freshly turned earth the consistency of
mud. The aspect of the men, as they painfully prodded the moist ground
with sticky shovels or crouched around smoky and sputtering fires, was
lugubrious in the extreme, and their feelings corresponded with their
looks. Occasional shots were exchanged by the pickets, and one man of
the regiment, while sitting near a fire, was wounded by a stray bullet.