GENERAL JACKSON COMPLIMENTS THE BATTERY--MALVERN HILL--MY VISIT TO
RICHMOND
On July 1 we passed near the battlefield known as Frazier's Farm, also
fought on June 30 by the divisions of Magruder, Longstreet, and others,
and arrived early in the day in front of Malvern Hill. For a mile or
more our road ran through a dense body of woods extending to the high
range of hills occupied by the enemy. At a point where another road
crossed the one on which we had traveled, and where stood two old
gate-posts, we were ordered to mount the caissons and limbers and trot
on toward the firing already begun. This order can be attributed to the
reputation our battery had made, and is a matter of record, which I
quote: "At Malvern Hill the battery was openly complimented by General
Jackson in connection with Carpenter's battery. When Gen. D. H. Hill
asked General Jackson if he could furnish him a battery which would hold
a certain position, from which two or three batteries had been driven by
the galling fire of the enemy, he said, 'Yes, two,' and called for
Carpenter and Poague, and General Hill ordered Captain Poague to bring
up his battery at once."
Taking the road to the left, we soon emerged from the woods into a
wheat-field, the grain standing in shocks. While seated on a caisson,
driving down this road at a trot, I was suddenly seized with a
presentiment that I was to be killed in this battle, the only time such
a feeling came over me during the war. Finding myself becoming rapidly
demoralized, I felt that, in order to avoid disgrace, I must get down
from that seat and shake the wretched thing off. So down I jumped and
took it afoot, alongside of the gun, as we passed down a little ravine
which was being raked from end to end by the enemy's shells. The
diversion worked like a charm, for in two minutes the apprehension toned
down to the normal proportions of "stage fright." We were soon in
position with our six guns ablaze. The enemy's batteries were posted on
considerably higher ground, with three times as many guns and of heavier
caliber than ours, which served us the same galling fire that had
wrecked the batteries preceding us. After having been engaged for an
hour, a battery posted some two hundred yards to our left was stampeded
and came by us under whip and spur, announcing, as they passed, that
they were flanked by Federal cavalry. In the commotion, some one in our
battery called out that we had orders to withdraw, and, before it could
be corrected, eight or ten of the company, joining in the rout, beat a
retreat to the woods, for which they were afterward punished; some
being assigned as drivers, and one or two gallant fellows having it ever
afterward to dim their glory. We soon, however, recovered from the
confusion, but with diminished numbers. I know that for a part of the
time I filled the positions of 7, 5, and 2 at my gun, until a gallant
little lieutenant named Day, of some general's staff, relieved me of
part of the work. My brother John, working at the gun next to mine,
received a painful shell-wound in the side and had to leave the field.
His place was supplied by Doran, an Irishman, and in a few minutes
Doran's arm was shattered by a shell, causing him to cry out most
lustily. My brother David, shortly after this, was disabled by a blow on
his arm, and, at my solicitation, left the field.
I would suggest to any young man when enlisting to select a company in
which he has no near kindred. The concern as to one's own person affords
sufficient entertainment, without being kept in suspense as to who went
down when a shell explodes in proximity to another member of the family.
John Fuller, driver at the piece next on my right, was crouched down on
his knees, with his head leaning forward, holding his horses. Seeing a
large shell descending directly toward him, I called to him to look out!
When he raised his head, this shell was within five feet of him and
grazed his back before entering the ground close behind him. He was
severely shocked, and for some days unfit for duty. At the first battle
of Fredericksburg, more than a year after this, while holding his horses
and kneeling in the same posture, a shell descending in like manner
struck him square on his head and passed down through the length of his
body. A month after the battle I saw all that was left of his cap--the
morocco vizor--lying on the ground where he was killed.
Behind us, scattered over the wheat-field, were a number of loose
artillery horses from the batteries that had been knocked out. Taking
advantage of the opportunity to get a meal, one of these stood eating
quietly at a shock of wheat, when another horse came galloping toward
him from the woods. When within about thirty yards of the animal
feeding, a shell burst between the two. The approaching horse instantly
wheeled, and was flying for the woods when another shell burst a few
feet in front of him, turning him again to the field as before; the old
warrior ate away at his shock, perfectly unconcerned.
The firing on both sides, especially on ours, was now diminishing--and
soon ceased. In this encounter ten or twelve members of the company were
wounded, and Frank Herndon, wheel driver at my caisson, was killed.
After remaining quiet for a short time we were ordered back, and again
found ourselves at the cross-roads, near the old gate-posts, which
seemed to be the headquarters of Generals Lee, Jackson and D. H. Hill.
John Brown, one of our company who had been detailed to care for the
wounded, had taken a seat behind a large oak-tree in the edge of the
woods near us. A thirty-two-pound shot struck the tree, and, passing
through the center of it, took Brown's head entirely off. We spent
several hours standing in the road, which was filled with artillery, and
our generals were evidently at their wits' ends. Toward evening we moved
farther back into the woods, where many regiments of our infantry were
in bivouac. The enemy had now turned their fire in this direction. Both
that of their heavy field-pieces and gunboats, and enormous shells and
solid shot, were constantly crashing through the timber, tearing off
limbs and the tops of trees, which sometimes fell among the troops,
maiming and killing men.
After sundown a charge was made against the enemy's left, which was
repulsed with terrible loss to our men. After this the enemy continued
shelling the woods; in fact their whole front, until ten o'clock at
night. Our battery had moved back at least two miles and gone into park
in a field, where, at short intervals, a large gunboat shell would burst
over us, scattering pieces around, while the main part would whirr on,
it seemed, indefinitely.
The next day, the enemy having abandoned Malvern Hill during the night,
we made a rapid start in pursuit toward Harrison's Landing, but suddenly
came to a halt and countermarched to a place where several roads
crossed, on all of which were columns of infantry and artillery. During
the remainder of the day the soldiers gave vent to their feelings by
cheering the different generals as they passed to and fro, Jackson
naturally receiving the lion's share.
McClellan's army being now under cover of their gunboats, and gunboats
being held in mortal terror by the Confederates, we began slowly to make
our way out of this loathsome place, a place which I felt should be
cheerfully given up to the Northerners, where they could inhale the
poisonous vapors of the bogs, and prosecute the war in continuous battle
with the mosquitoes and vermin. The water of the few sluggish streams,
although transparent, was highly colored by the decaying vegetable
matter and the roots of the juniper. For the first time in my life I was
now out of sight of the mountains. I felt utterly lost, and found myself
repeatedly rising on tip-toe and gazing for a view of them in the
distance. Being very much worsted physically by the campaign and
malarial atmosphere, I was put on the sick-list, and given permission to
go to Richmond to recuperate.
My entrance into the city contrasted strikingly with that of soldiers I
had read of after a series of victories in battle. The portable forge
belonging to our battery needed some repairs, which could be made at a
foundry in Richmond, and, as no other conveyance was available, I took
passage on it. So I entered the city, the first I had ever visited,
after dark, seated on a blacksmith-shop drawn by four mules. Not having
received my eleven dollars a month for a long time, I could not pay a
hotel-bill, so I climbed the fence into a wagon-yard, retired to bed in
a horse-cart, and slept soundly till daylight. That morning I took
breakfast with my cousin, Robert Barton, of the First Virginia Cavalry,
at his boarding-house. After which, having gotten a sick furlough, he
hurried to take the train, to go to his home, and left me feeling very
forlorn. Thinking that I could fare no worse in camp than I would in the
midst of the painful surroundings of a hospital, I returned in the
afternoon to the battery. The arduous service undergone during the past
three weeks, or rather three months, had left the men greatly depleted
in health and vigor. Many were seriously sick, and those still on duty
were more or less run-down.