About the middle of October, McClellan moved his army across the
Potomac, east of the Blue Ridge, and bent his course southward. Later
in the month, he began to incline eastwardly from the mountains, and
finally concentrated his forces in the neighborhood of Warrenton,
Virginia. On the 7th of November he was relieved of the command of the
army of the Potomac, and Gen. Burnside, "under Federal dispensation,"
became his successor. The indications were that Fredericksburg was
again to be occupied. Gen. Lee, with his usual foresight, divining his
purpose, promptly made such disposition as was necessary to forestall
him. McLaw's and Ransom's divisions were ordered to proceed at once to
that city.
On the morning of the 23d we broke up our camp at Winchester, and
after a long but pleasant day's march, reached the vicinity of
Millwood; from thence we journeyed on to Paris, in Loudon County. Our
march through this Arcadia of Virginia, with its picturesque scenery,
and along those splendid and wonderful turnpikes, as they stretched
out before us, formed a panorama never to be forgotten. The giant
hills stood around like sentinels wrapped in their everlasting
silence; behind these, still bolder hills, and again behind these, the
blueness of the distant mountains. The day was glad with the golden
brightness of an October sun, and as I gazed upon these mountains,
clothed in their autumnal beauty, and in their everlasting fixity of
repose, I could but contrast this grandeur and silence with the too
recent scenes of blood and tumult upon the hills of Antietam. How
brief, how insignificant is man's existence! Encamped so high above
the world filled us with a sense of exaltation and awe. Fires were
soon lighted, and the men, weary with marching, wrapped in their
blankets, stretched themselves upon the ground to sleep, perchance to
dream of firesides in distant homes where--
"Belike sad eyes with tearful strain,
Gazed northward very wistfully
For him that ne'er would come again."
The next morning broke cold and threatening. We resumed our march and
had proceeded but a few miles when the rain began to fall. Later in
the day it came down in torrents, and the wind was blowing gales.
About dark, in the midst of this storm, we were halted in a large
hickory grove on the side of the Blue Ridge, near the small village of
Upperville. Our men comprehended the situation at once, and, though
thoroughly drenched and chilled, soon had their axes ringing in the
forest, and large log fires were ablaze over the camp. The storm
continued with fury all night, to sleep was impossible, and we were
forced to pass the most disagreeable night we had ever experienced.
On the 29th we retraced our steps to Paris. On the following morning,
acting as an escort to a foraging party, we proceeded to Middleboro.
At night we returned to camp, rich in wagon loads of corn and
provender, also securing a large lot of fine beeves. On the next day,
leaving Paris, we moved by way of Salem in the direction of Culpepper
Court-House, which place we reached on the 2d of November, and
remained there until the 4th. Sergeant Harper Lindsay, while here,
accepted the position of adjutant of the 45th North Carolina regiment,
and Sergeant Chas. Campbell was promoted to orderly sergeant in his
stead.
On the night of the 4th, after a tiresome day's march, we went into
camp on the top of Cedar Mountain. We were halted on a bleak and barren
hill with no fuel within our reach. Col. Cooke, under the
circumstances, suspended "special orders" in reference to destroying
private property, and gave the men permission to burn the rails from
the fences near by. For this necessary disobedience some spiteful
person reported him and he was placed in arrest, from which he was
released next day without a court martial. After our company had made
its fires and were busy trying to make a supper from their scanty
rations, I strolled over to Cooke's headquarters and found him sitting
moodily over _his_ fire of _rails_. We began to discuss the officers of
the brigade, and while he was idly turning a splinter he held in his
fingers, it fell from his hand and stuck upright in the ground. He
turned quickly to me, slapped me on the back and laughingly said:
"John, that is an omen of good luck." I surmised to what he had
reference--a probability of his promotion had been whispered--and
replied, I did not take much stock in splinters, but I hoped in this
instance the omen might be realized. In a few moments, several men from
the regiment, with their canteens, passed near us and one of them, a
lank, lean soldier, inquired of Cooke if he could tell him where the
spring of water was. With some irritability in his tone he replied,
"_No_, go hunt for it." The thirsty questioner, possibly recognizing
him, made no reply, but turned away thinking, no doubt, under other
circumstances, he would have answered him differently. The soldier had
gone but a short distance when Cooke called him back, apologized for
his hasty speech and indifference, and informed him kindly where he
could find the water.
Not many days afterwards the splinter omen was interpreted, and Col.
John E. Cooke, of the 27th North Carolina regiment (though junior
colonel of the brigade), was promoted for gallantry to brigadier
general, and assigned to the command of Gen. J. G. Walker's brigade,
who was transferred to the Mississippi department. I have introduced
these incidents, merely to illustrate the noble traits of character of
this gallant and courteous gentleman and soldier, who was acknowledged
by Gen. Lee himself to be _the_ brigadier of his army. Of his services
with his North Carolina brigade history already leaves him a record. He
is a man of chivalric courage, and possesses that magnanimity of heart
which ever wins the affections of a soldier. He was beloved by his
entire command. A truer sword was not drawn in defence of the South and
her cause, and a more untarnished blade never returned to its scabbard
when the unhappy conflict was over.
Upon the promotion of Col. Cooke--Lieut.-Col. Singletary having
resigned on account of wounds--Major John A. Gilmer was promoted to
Colonel, Capt. George F. Whitefield, of Company C, to Lieutenant-Colonel,
and Capt. Jos. C. Webb, of the Orange Guards, to Major. The brigades
in our division were also changed, and under the reassignment of
regiments, Cooke's command consisted entirely of North Carolina troops,
and was _well known_ in Lee's army as "_Cooke's North Carolina
Brigade_."
On the 8th of November we were moved to Madison Court-House, where we
remained until the 18th. About the 15th the army of the Potomac was
reported in motion, and their gun-boats and transports had entered
Aquia Creek in their "on to Fredericksburg." On the morning of the
18th, our division received marching orders, and we also set out for
Fredericksburg. The weather was very cold, and our march was made
through rain and sleet; the ground was frozen, and some of our men
being barefooted, their feet cut by the ice, left their bloody tracks
along the route. The men, under all these hardships and exposures,
were in excellent spirits, and no one escaped their gibes and jokes.
Every few miles, growing in the corner of the fences and in the old
field, the persimmon tree ever dear to a North Carolinian's soul
appeared, and immediately discipline was forgotten, ranks broken, and
the tree besieged. Sam Hiatt once remarked that the green persimmon
was invaluable to an ordinary soldier, as a few of them would always
draw his stomach to the proportions suited to a Confederate ration. On
long marches the brigades marched by turns to the front. On one
occasion, while we were seated on both sides of the road waiting for
the rear brigades to pass to the front, a young and clever officer of
our command, who had assiduously cultivated his upper lip, and by the
aid of various tonsorial applications made pretense of possessing a
mustache, stepped out into the middle of the road and commenced, as is
usual with beginners, to toy with his hairs; presently a rough
specimen of a soldier came trotting along astride of a pack mule, and
as he neared the officer he halted his steed with a loud and long
"whoa!" Leaning forward, with a quizzical look, he politely but firmly
requested the officer "to please remove that mustache from the main
highway and allow him and his mule to pass." [The mustache was
_raze-rd_ at Fredericksburg.]
On the 23d we reached the vicinity of Fredericksburg, and employed
the interval--before the advance made by the enemy on the 11th of
December--in strengthening our line, which reached from the
Rappahannock, about one mile above Fredericksburg, along the hills in
rear of that city to the Richmond & Fredericksburg Railroad.
About 11 o'clock on the morning of the 13th, Burnside, "whose turn
it now was to wrestle with General Lee," massed his forces under cover
of the houses of Fredericksburg and moved forward with his grand
divisions to seize Marye's and Willis' Hills--
"With a hundred thousand men
For the Rebel slaughter-pen,
And the blessed Union flag a-flying o'er him."
At the foot of Marye's Hill ran the Telegraph Road along which, for
some four hundred yards, is a stone revetment. On the crest of the
hill, at intervals, in pits, were posted nine guns of the Washington
artillery, under Col. Walton. Three regiments of Cobb's brigade and
commanded by him, were in position behind this stone wall at the foot
of the hill. Some two hundred yards in a ravine, and immediately
behind the Washington artillery, lay our (Cooke's) brigade. About one
o'clock all the guns on Stafford Heights were directed against our
guns on Marye's Hill, endeavoring to draw their fire so as to cover
the advance of their infantry. Our artillery, instead of replying,
remained silent until their infantry had deployed, when they poured a
storm of canister into them. French's division came first, and they
were swept away before the deployment was completed. The battle now
lulled for some twenty minutes, when the enemy "entered the ring" with
Hancock to the front.
About this time our brigade was moved to the crest of the hill. The
46th, 48th and 15th regiments were halted on the hill on the line of
the batteries, while our regiment (27th), in the midst of a terrific
fire, passed rapidly through the Washington artillery, and
double-quicked down the steep incline into the Telegraph Road and
joined in the fire. During our advance Col. Gilmer was severely
wounded in the leg, but succeeded in reaching the foot of the hill.
Hancock was repulsed with terrible slaughter. Gen. Cobb had been
previously killed, and Gen. Kershaw now took command of the troops in
the road. After we had reached our position behind the stone wall,
Gen. Cooke received a severe wound in the head and was carried from
the field. The command of the brigade now devolved upon Col. Hall of
the 46th regiment, who moved his and the other regiments of the
brigade into the Telegraph Road. The enemy now made his third effort,
when Howard's and Sturgis' and Getty's divisions advanced bravely to
the desperate work assigned them. We took heavy toll from their
columns, and, like their predecessors, they fell back in confusion.
Lastly came the sixth and final assault by Humphrey's division, of
Hooker's corps, and charge it did, as game as death. They, too, had to
bite the dust, and their broken and shattered columns fled in disorder
to the city, leaving the field strewn with their slain.
About 9 o'clock we threw forward our pickets and, in the darkness,
many of their raw recruits came into our lines, their guns and
accoutrements perfectly new; some of them had not fired a shot and
could scarcely tell their nativity.
We remained in line of battle during the night, expecting and hoping
for a renewal of the assault on the next day. The 14th (Sunday) came,
however, and went away without a renewal. On the 15th we were moved a
few hundred yards farther to our left, and remained in this position
until the morning of the 16th, when it was discovered that the enemy,
availing himself of the darkness of the night, had recrossed the
river.
"A river has always been considered a good line of defence by most
writers on the art of war, provided certain principles be observed in
defending. When Napoleon crossed the Danube, in 1809, in the presence
of the Archduke Charles, who was a good general, he was forced to
retreat to the islands of Lobau and Enzersdorf, after the bloody days
of Essling. Had not the Archduke assumed the offensive so _vigorously_,
the Emperor's loss would not have been so great, and he could have
remained on the left bank." This later "Essling" army was fairly and
terribly beaten, forced to recross the river, after great loss of life
and labor, and was spared (thanks to his bridges and darkness of the
night) utter annihilation.
Burnside testified, before the committee on the conduct of the war,
that he had, in round numbers, one hundred thousand men, all of whom
were engaged in this battle, and that he failed because it was found
impossible to get the men up to the works; that the Confederates' fire
was too hot for them. Of Lee's forces, only about twenty thousand men
were actively engaged. The casualties in our company, owing to the
protection afforded us by the stone wall behind which we were posted,
were comparatively few. Private William D. Archer, a splendid specimen
of a soldier, was killed; Privates James M. Hardin severely, and Frank
G. Chilcutt slightly, wounded. On the 16th, we were removed to near
Hamilton's Crossing, and remained in camp there until the 3d day of
January, 1863. While here, some of our officers and men were in
demand, and Lieut. B. G. Graham was detailed as brigade ordnance
officer. Silas C. Dodson was appointed clerk in the commissary
department under Major Hays, and David H. Edwards, quartermaster-sergeant.
On the 4th of December, Private John W. Reid was transferred to the
48th North Carolina regiment, having been elected to the position of
lieutenant in one of its companies. On the 17th, Corporal Will L.
Bryan, having contracted a severe cold on the march from Madison
Court-House, died in camp. Private Thos. J. Rhodes was appointed
corporal in his stead.