THE WILDERNESS, SPOTSYLVANIA AND COLD HARBOR.
On the 10th of March an order was received from President Lincoln
assigning Gen. U. S. Grant to the command of all the armies of the
United States, and during the last days of the same month Gen. Grant
pitched his headquarters tent at Culpepper Court House, and commenced a
study of the situation in Virginia, where the real struggle of the war
had been maintained for nearly three years, and where the strength of
the Confederacy yet lay. The time, until the 3d of May, was spent in
active preparation for the opening of the spring campaign. Sick and
disabled men were sent to the rear. All surplus baggage and stores were
turned in, and the army, stripped for the fight, stood ready whenever
the new commander should sound the advance; for although Gen. Meade was
still commander of the Army of the Potomac, every man knew that Gen.
Grant was there for the purpose of personally directing its movements.
On the 3d of May the sharp shooters broke camp and marched out on that
campaign which was destined to be one continual battle for nearly a year
to come, and at the end of which was to come the final triumph at
Appomattox.
The organization of Co. F at this time was as follows:
Captain, C. D. Merriman; vice E. W. Hindes honorably discharged on
surgeon's certificate of disability.
First Lieutenant, H. E. Kinsman.
First Sergeant, Lewis J. Allen.
Second Sergeant, Cassius Peck.
Third Sergeant, Paul M. Thompson.
Fourth Sergeant, L. D. Grover.
Fifth Sergeant, Edward F. Stevens.
First Corporal, Chas. M. Jordan.
Second Corporal, Edward Trask.
Third Corporal, M. Cunningham.
Fourth Corporal, Edward Lyman.
Fifth Corporal, D. W. French.
Sixth Corporal, Carlos E. Mead.
Seventh Corporal, Henry Mattocks.
Eighth Corporal, Chas. B. Mead.
With this organization and forty-three enlisted men, the company crossed
the Rapidan at Ely's ford at nine o'clock A. M. on the 4th of May, 1864.
Marching rapidly to the southeast; they bivouacked for the night near
Chancellorsville on the identical ground on which they had fought
exactly one year before under Hooker. The omen was not a happy one, but
with high hopes of success under this new western general who had always
beaten his enemies hitherto, they lay down prepared for whatever of good
or ill the morrow might bring forth.
Reminders of the conflict of May, 1863, were thickly scattered about on
the ground, and some men in the regiment found their hair covered
knapsacks where they had thrown them off in the heat of the former
battle, and which they had been forced to abandon. They found also the
graves of some of their lost comrades, buried where they fell, while in
many places human bones shone white and ghastly in the moonlight. It was
the very ground over which the sharp shooters had driven the Stonewall
brigade on the night of the 3d of May of the preceding year. With the
earliest streaking of the eastern sky on the morning of the fifth, the
Second Corps, with the sharp shooters in the advance, was put in motion
towards Shady Grove church, situated some four or five miles to the
southward at the junction of two important roads, and where they were to
form the extreme left of the army. Before the head of the column had
reached that point heavy firing was heard on the right and rear, and the
column was counter-marched and ordered to return to the junction of the
Brock road with the Orange plank road, which the enemy were making
desperate efforts to secure. It was indeed a matter of the utmost
importance to maintain possession of the Brock road, since it was the
very key to the whole battle ground. Running nearly north and south from
the Orange turnpike, near the old Wilderness tavern, it intersects all
the roads leading from the direction from which the enemy were
approaching, and, as it is the only important, or even passable, road
running in that direction, its possession by either army would enable
that party to outflank the other almost at pleasure. Getty's Division of
the Sixth had been detached from that corps on the right some hours
before, and ordered to hold this position at all hazards, and it was the
sudden attack on this isolated command that had called the Second Corps
back from its march towards Shady Grove church.
At about two o'clock P. M. Birney's Division arrived at the threatened
point and were at once deployed for action on the Brock road, and to the
left, or south, of its intersection with the plank road. Here the men of
Co. F. found themselves again shoulder to shoulder with their friends.
The old Vermont brigade formed part of Getty's Division and were already
deployed and sharply engaged; so that Co. F. found themselves in the
immediate neighborhood of the gallant Vermonters. Immediately upon the
arrival of the head of the division upon the field, and pending the
necessarily slower formation of the main line, the sharp shooters were
pushed out towards the enemy and at once came under a heavy fire. It was
their first fight under Hancock, and they felt that not only was their
own well earned reputation to be sustained, but that the honor of the
now dead and gone Third Corps was in a measure committed to their
keeping. There, too, just on their right stood the men of the old
brigade, proud of their own glorious record, and just a little inclined
to rate their own courage and skill above that of any other troops in
the army.
Under the stimulus of these conditions the sharp shooters as a regiment,
and the men of Co. F in particular, fought with a dash and energy which
surprised even their own officers who had learned long before that
there was almost no task which the rank and file thought themselves
unequal to. This contest of a skirmish line against lines of battle
continued for nearly two hours; but at about four o'clock P. M.,
the whole of the Second Corps having arrived and being in position, a
general advance was ordered, and now the fighting, which had been very
severe before, became simply terrific. The ground was such that the
artillery could not easily be brought into action. Only two guns could
be brought up, which were placed on the plank road where they rendered
excellent service. The musketry, however, was continuous and deadly
along the whole line. The roar of battle was deafening, and struck upon
the ear with a peculiar effect from the almost total absence of
artillery, usually so noisy an accompaniment of modern battle. The men
who noted this fact, however, were men accustomed to warfare, and who
knew that the fire of infantry was much more deadly than that of
artillery, and never before had they heard such continuous thunder or
confronted such a storm of lead as on this occasion. The fierce struggle
continued with unabated ferocity until the merciful night put an end to
it. The Brock road was held, but it had been impossible to do more. The
enemy were badly shattered, and at points the line had been broken; but
the nature of the ground was such as to prevent an orderly and
systematic pushing of such advantages as were, here and there, gained,
and, except that the key point remained in the hands of the federals,
it was a drawn battle.
The men lay on their arms during the night, in the position in which the
cessation of the battle found them; and, as illustrative of the
closeness of the contending lines, and the labyrinthian character of the
ground, it may be stated that during the night many men from both armies
while searching for water, or for their wounded friends, strayed within
the opposing lines and were made prisoners. Among the above were Sergt.
Paul M. Thompson and J. H. Guthrie of Co. F. Besides these two men, Co.
F had lost terribly in killed and wounded during the day. Corporal David
French, W. J. Domag and E. E. Trask were killed on the field; A. C. M.
Cross and Wm. Wilson were mortally wounded, while M. Cunningham,
Spafford A. Wright, John C. Page, S. M. Butler and Wm. McKeever suffered
severe and painful wounds--a total of twelve men lost out of the
forty-three who answered to the roll call on that morning, and this in
the first fight of the campaign.
But the survivors felt that they had well and nobly sustained the honor
of their corps, and of their state. They were proud, also, to have
received the commendation of distinguished officers of the old Vermont
Brigade, and so, with mingled emotions of sorrow and gladness, they lay
down on the bloody field. It will be remembered that the sharp shooters
had been pushed out on the left of the plank road immediately upon their
arrival and while the troops of the line were being formed on the Brock
road. In this formation, Birney's Division had been sent to the north or
right of the plank road, and formed on Getty's right; so that during the
subsequent battle the sharp shooters had been separated from their
brigade, and had been fighting in an entirely independent manner,
subject to no orders but those of their regimental and company officers.
At daylight the men were rallied on the colors and moved to the north of
the plank road in search of their proper command, which, after some
search in the tangled forest, they found the shattered remains of. The
brigade commander, Gen. Alexander Hays, and very many other gallant
officers and men had fallen on the preceding day, and so heavy had been
the losses that the entire brigade when deployed, hardly covered the
front of an average regiment as they had stood when the army crossed the
Rapidan.
Notwithstanding his severe losses of the day before, Gen. Grant (who, by
the way, was understood to have expressed the opinion at some time that
"The Army of the Potomac had never been fought up to its capacity")
ordered another general assault along the whole line at five A. M. on
the sixth.
Promptly at that hour the Second Corps advanced along the Orange plank
road, the sharp shooters being now on the right of that thoroughfare
with their own division. They were, as on the day before, in the front
line, but on this occasion they were heavily supported from the start,
Birney's and Mott's Divisions being in the first line while Getty's
Division formed a second line, the whole supported by Carroll's and
Owen's brigades of the Second Division of the same corps.
The attack was made with great vigor and impetuosity, and was for a time
successful, the enemy being driven with great loss and disorder from two
strong lines of works, one about four hundred yards behind the other,
which they had materially strengthened during the night. Birney's left,
in front of which was Co. F, advanced further than his right, driving
the Confederates before them and completely disrupting their line at
this point; in fact so far did they penetrate that they were in a
position to take the rebel left in flank and rear, and at one time the
sharp shooters, during a momentary lull on their own front, turned their
attention to a Confederate battery which was actually in rear of their
right, and which they had passed beyond in their charge. They were not
destined to reap the fruits of this victory, however, for at this time
Longstreet's command arrived on the field and commenced a furious attack
on Birney's exposed left. Changing fronts to meet this new enemy, the
sharp shooters, with the aid of their comrades of Birney's Division,
made a vigorous resistance to this counter attack. The momentum of their
own charge was gone; they had now fought their way through nearly a mile
of thickets and swamps and had, necessarily, lost their alignment and
cohesion. The utmost they could now hope to do was to beat back the
oncoming rebels and give the Union troops time to reform for another
assault. It was a vain effort, for the fresh masses of rebel troops
succeeded in forcing the advanced left back as far as the center and
right, which was at the same time, about seven o'clock A. M., struck by
a strong force of Confederates. By desperate effort the line was held
and a reorganization effected, and at about nine o'clock the offensive
was resumed along the plank road. The force of this attack was seriously
impaired by the supposed necessity of protecting the extreme left which
was greatly exposed. For some time heavy firing had been heard in that
direction, and ugly rumors of columns of infantry, too strong to be
checked by the cavalry, were rife. Then, too, a considerable body of
infantry was discovered actually approaching the left and rear from the
direction of Spotsylvania. All this necessitated the detachment of
considerable bodies of troops to guard that wing, which weakened the
force of the main attack. The infantry force which had occasioned so
much uneasiness proved to be a body of convalescents trying to rejoin
the Union army, and the troops sent to oppose them were restored to the
point of action. By this time, in the movement of the lines, the sharp
shooters found themselves, with most of the division, again on the left
of the plank road. The fighting now became as close and severe as that
of the preceding day; so dense and dark was the thicket, that the lines
were often close together before either could determine whether the
other was friend or foe; regiments lost their brigades and brigades
their divisions. Indeed, so confused was the melee that it is stated
that one regiment, being surrounded and ordered to surrender, actually
laid down their arms to another regiment of their own brigade.
Still, progress was made, and, on the whole, the federals, although
losing heavily, were gaining substantial ground. After half an hour of
this work the troops on the right of Birney's Division having given way,
Birney detached two of his own brigades to fill the gap, and at about
eleven o'clock the resistance in front of Hancock's Corps having nearly
ceased, another halt was called to readjust the confused and irregular
lines. Before this could be accomplished a new enemy appeared square on
the left of Birney's Division, which was doubled up by the suddenness
and impetuosity of the attack, and the confusion became so great along
the whole line that Gen. Hancock directed a withdrawal of the entire
corps to the breastworks which had been constructed on the Brock road,
and from which they had advanced on the day before. It began to look
like the same old story--as though Chancellorsville was to be
repeated--and as though the most cheerful bulletin Grant would have to
send North would be the often repeated one, "The Army of the Potomac is
again safe across the Rapidan."
But there, some way, seemed to be no actual movement looking in that
direction--in fact, _Grant had ordered the bridges removed as soon as
the last troops had crossed the river_, and for twenty-four hours there
had been no possibility of recrossing had any one been so minded. Lines
of retreat seemed to have no place in the plans of the new
general-in-chief.
The enemy followed the retiring Union troops closely, but once within
the breastworks the Second Corps was soon rallied, and, reforming, lay
down behind the rude entrenchments to await the signal for renewed
action. The Confederates pushed their lines to within two or three
hundred yards of the Brock road, but rested at that point until about
four o'clock P. M., when they took the offensive in their turn and made
a gallant assault on Hancock's command behind the breastworks. This
attack was understood to be under the immediate direction of Gen. Lee,
who was present and commanded in person.
The rebel line came gallantly forward to within a few yards of the road,
when they halted and opened a fierce fire, which was returned by the
Union troops from their shelter, coolly and with deadly effect.
Here the sharp shooters had the unusual good fortune to fight in a
sheltered position instead of in the open field, as was usually their
fate. During this affair the woods took fire and for a long time the
troops fought literally surrounded by the flames. The wind was from such
a direction as to bring the smoke from the blazing woods directly in the
faces of the federal soldiers, while the heat and smoke combined made
the position almost untenable, even had there been no other enemy to
contend with. In many places the log breastworks themselves took fire
and became a blazing mass which it was impossible to quench. Still the
battle raged; at some points it was impossible to fire over the parapet,
and the defenders were compelled to withdraw for a short distance. The
rebels were prompt to take advantage of such breaks, and at one point
pushed their advance up to and over the road, planting their battle
flags on the Union works, but a brigade of Birney's Division charged
them with such vigor that their holding was of short duration and they
were driven back in great confusion, leaving numbers of their dead and
wounded inside the breastworks.
In this charge the sharp shooters were conspicuous. Advancing in line of
battle and at the double quick, they forced the enemy from their front
over and far beyond the road, pursuing them and making prisoners even
beyond the lines which had been held by the rebels previous to their
assault. Their regimental flag was the only one advanced beyond the line
of works; other troops contenting themselves with simply repossessing
the line of the road. In this charge Jacob Lacoy of Co. F. was killed,
the only casualty in the company on that day. Following this repulse
Grant, still aggressive, ordered another attack by Hancock, and the
troops were formed for that purpose; but before the advance actually
commenced the order was countermanded and the men of the Second Corps
lay down for the night along the road which they had so gallantly
defended. The morning of the third day of the battle opened with the
greater portion of the army quietly resting on their arms; but for the
sharp shooters there seemed no relief or respite. At day break they were
deployed, again on the right of the plank road, and advancing over the
scene of the fighting of the two previous days, now thickly covered with
the dead of both armies, encountered the rebel skirmishers at a distance
of about four hundred yards from the Union line. Ordered to halt here
and observe the enemy, they passed the time until about noon in more or
less active sharp shooting and skirmishing. At twelve o'clock they were
ordered to push the enemy back and develop if possible his main line.
Supported by infantry they dashed forward and after sharp fighting drove
the rebels back into their works, some half a mile away. Here they were
brought to a halt and found themselves unable to advance further.
Counter attacks were made by the rebels which were for a time
successfully resisted; but the regiment was at last so far outflanked
that it became necessary to fall back to avoid the capture of the entire
command. The rebels did not pursue vigorously; the fight was out of
them, and with a few unimportant affairs on different portions of the
line the day passed without battle. Neither party had won a victory.
Grant had not destroyed Lee's army, neither had Lee driven Grant back
across the river, as he had done so many other Union commanders, and the
battle of the Wilderness was of no advantage to either party, save the
fact that Grant had destroyed a certain number of Lee's soldiers who
could not easily be replaced, while his own losses could be made good by
fresh levy from the populous North. Whatever may have been Gen. Grant's
idea of the "capacity" of the Army of the Potomac for fighting hitherto,
or whether he believed it to have been now "fought up to its capacity,"
he was forced to acknowledge that the fighting of the past three days
had been the severest he had ever seen. But his thoughts were not yet of
retreat; he had seen enough of the Wilderness as a battle field,
however, and on the evening of the seventh issued his orders for a
concentration of his army on Spotsylvania.
Company F. had lost in the action of this day Edward Giddings and Joseph
Hagan, killed, and Lieut. Kinsman, Dustin R. Bareau, Henry Mattocks and
Edward Lyman, wounded. The wound received by Mattocks, although painful,
was not such as to disable him, and he remained with the company only to
lay down his life on the bloody field of Spotsylvania a week later. The
total losses now footed up nineteen men since the morning of the 5th of
May.
All night long columns were marching to the southward. It was
evident that the army was to abandon this battle field, but it seemed
strange that the customs and traditions of three years should be thus
ruthlessly set aside by this new man, and that he should have turned his
face again southward, when by all precedent he should have gone north.
The men, however, began to surmise the true state of affairs, and when
during the night Grant and Meade, with their respective staffs, passed
down the Brock road headed still south, the men took in the full
significance of the event, and, tired and worn as they were, they sprang
to their feet with cheers that must have told Grant that here were men
fully as earnest, and fully as persistent as himself in their
determination to "fight it out on that line." The stench from the
decomposing bodies of the thousands of dead lying unburied filled the
air and was horrible beyond description, and the sharp shooters were not
sorry when at nine A. M., on the morning of May 8th, they were relieved
from their duties on the picket line and, forming on the Brock road,
took up their line of march toward Spotsylvania. They were the last of
the infantry of the whole army; a small body of cavalry only being
between them and the rebels who might well be expected to pursue.
The cavalry soon found themselves unable to check the pursuers, and Co.
F, now the rear guard of the army, was faced about and deployed to
resist the too close pursuit. In this order, and constantly engaged with
the rebel cavalry following them, they retired fighting, until at Todd's
tavern they found the rest of the division. During the day Wm. Wells was
wounded and taken prisoner, the only casualty in the company during the
day. Wells met the same sad fate which befell so many thousands of
unfortunate prisoners, and died at Florence, S. C., during the month of
September following.
Immediately upon their arrival a portion of the regiment, including Co.
F, was placed on the picket line to the west of the tavern, their line
extending across the Catharpin road. Here they met the advance of
Early's rebel corps, and some skirmishing took place; but the rebels
were easily checked, and no severe fighting took place. Early on the
morning of the ninth a strong force of the enemy's cavalry appeared in
their front and made a vigorous effort to force a passage. They were
strongly resisted and at last forced to retire before the well aimed
rifles of the Vermonters. Following rapidly, the sharp shooters pushed
them to and beyond the Po river, along the banks of which they halted.
During this affair a rebel captain of cavalry was wounded and captured.
Capt. Merriman, whose sword had been shot from his side during the
action of the preceding day, thinking that a fair exchange was no
robbery, appropriated the captured rebel's sabre, and thenceforth it was
wielded in behalf of instead of against the Union. In the afternoon of
this day the sharp shooters were recalled from their somewhat exposed
position, more than two miles from any support, and resumed the march
towards Spotsylvania, skirmishing with the rebels as they retired, until
they reached the high around overlooking the valley of the Po, where
they found the rest of the corps making preparations to force the
passage of the river.
The Union artillery was noisily at work, while rather faint response
came from the enemy on the opposite side. A rebel signal station was
discovered some fifteen hundred yards away, from which the movements of
our troops could be plainly observed, and from which Gen. Hancock
desired to drive the observers. A battery opened fire on them, but the
distance was too great for canister, and the saucy rebels only laughed
at shell. The men of Co. F., who were in plain view of both parties,
watched this effort with great interest for half an hour, when they
concluded to take a hand in the affair themselves. Long practice had
made them proficient in judging of distances, and up to a thousand yards
they were rarely mistaken--this, however, was evidently a greater
distance than the rifles were sighted for. They therefore cut and fitted
sticks to increase the elevation of their sights and a few selected men
were directed to open fire, while a staff officer with his field glass
watched the result. It was apparent from the way the men in the distant
tree top looked _down_ when the Sharpes bullets began to whistle near
them that the men were shooting under still, so more and longer sticks
were fitted to still further elevate the sights; now the rebels began to
look _upward_, and the inference was at once drawn that the bullets were
passing over them. Another adjustment of the sticks, and the rebels
began to dodge, first to one side and then to another, and it was
announced that the range was found. Screened as they were by the foliage
of the tree in which they were perched, it was not possible to see the
persons of the men with the naked eye; their position could only be
determined by the tell-tale flags; but when all the rifles had been
properly sighted and the whole twenty-three opened, the surprised rebels
evacuated that signal station with great alacrity. Gen. Hancock had been
a close and greatly interested observer of this episode, and paid the
men handsome compliments for their ingenuity and skill. The same night
the division commander, Gen. Birney, ordered that thereafter the sharp
shooters should report directly to his headquarters and also receive
their orders from the same source. They were thus detached from their
brigade. At six o'clock P. M. the line advanced, and, after some
slight resistance, effected the passage of the river. Pushing forward
the sharp shooters soon found themselves again on the banks of the same
river, which here changes its course to the south so as to again cross
the road along which the corps was advancing. It was now well into the
night, and as the men found the river too deep to ford; the column was
halted and spent the night in this position. The second corps, which had
held the entire left of the Union line ever since the crossing of the
Rapidan a week before, by these maneuvers found itself now on the
extreme right of the army, and its position was a serious menace to
Lee's left flank.
Indeed Barlow's Division, as it lay that night, was actually in rear of
the rebel left. Lee was quick to perceive the seriousness of the
situation, and during the night he placed a formidable force in
Hancock's front, and by the morning of the eleventh the corps found a
strong line of works, well manned, to oppose their further progress.
Reconnoissances were made, and a crossing effected at a point lower
down, but the position was deemed too strong to attack, and the troops
who had crossed were retired, soon after which the entire command was
withdrawn to the northern bank of the Po.
Birney's Division was first over, and thus escaped the severe fighting
which befell the other portions of the command in the movement. During
all this time the battle had been raging furiously on the center and
left of the Union army; repeated desperate assaults had been made at
various points, and everywhere the enemy were found in great force
behind strong works. The different assaults had been bloodily repulsed
and the losses of men had been terrible. Still there was no sign of a
retrograde movement. Grant seemed to have an idea that the true course
of the Army of the Potomac lay to the southward instead of to the north.
A repulse--such as would have been to the former commanders of that army
a defeat--only spurred him to renewed effort, and it was in the evening
of this day that he sent to President Lincoln the celebrated dispatch
which so electrified the people of the North and made it clear to them
that thenceforth there were to be taken no steps backward. "I propose to
fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." The operations of the
past two days had convinced Generals Grant and Meade that a salient near
the center of Lee's entrenched line was his weakest point, and during
the afternoon and night of the eleventh the troops selected were brought
up and formed for the assault. The point at which the attack was aimed
was the one which has since come to be called the Death Angle at
Spotsylvania; and well was it so called. Hancock's command was withdrawn
from the extreme right and placed on the left of the Sixth Corps in such
a position that their advance would bring them, not opposite the exact
angle, but on the rebel right of that point. Birney's Division had the
right formed in two lines of battle, with Mott's Division in one line in
support. The sharp shooters were deployed on the right of Birney's front
line so as to connect the right of the Second Corps with the left of the
troops next on the right. The night was made doubly dark by a thick fog
which shut out all objects from sight at a distance of even a few yards,
and in groping along to find their designated position, the men found
themselves far in advance of the proper point and close up to the rebel
line. As soon as their presence was discovered the enemy opened a brisk
fire upon them, but believing their position to be at least as
advantageous as the one they had left behind, the men lay quietly down
without replying to the enemy and waited the signal of attack. They were
now exactly opposite the Death Angle and only a few yards from the
abatis. At half past four A. M. the signal was given, and the troops of
the main line, rising to their feet, moved forward silently to the attack.
The sharp shooters, far in the advance, lay quietly until the charging
lines were abreast of them when they too sprang up and dashed straight
at the enemy's works. The lines were now in entirely open ground,
sloping upward toward the enemy, and fully exposed to the fire which
came thick and deadly from every gun that could be brought to bear. Men
fell rapidly, but nothing could stay the magnificent rush of the
veterans of the Second Corps, and with ringing cheers they crowned the
works with their standards and fairly drove the rebels out by the sheer
weight and vigor of their charge. Not all, however--for nearly four
thousand Confederates, including two general officers, surrendered
themselves as prisoners. Some thirty colors and twenty guns were also
captured.
The sharp shooters were active in the assault and also in the short
pursuit, which was brought to a sudden check, however, by the sight of a
second line of works extending across the base of the triangle made by
the salient. The Union troops were now a confused mass of rushing men.
They had lost their brigade, regimental and even their company
organization, as not unfrequently happens in such assaults, and the
enemy, advancing from behind their second line, compelled the triumphant
but disordered federals to retire to the captured works where they were
rallied. Quickly reversing the order of things, they, in their turn,
became the defenders where they had so lately been the attacking party.
Forming on the exterior slope, they fought the rebels stubbornly. It was
as apparent to Lee as it had been to Grant and Meade, that this was the
vital point, and now both parties bent their utmost energies--the one to
hold what they had gained, and the other to repossess themselves of what
they had lost. Both lines were heavily reenforced and the fighting
assumed the most sanguinary character of any that had been seen during
the whole of the bloody three years of the war. With desperate valor the
Confederates rushed again and again against the Union lines to be met
with a fierce fire at such short ranges, and into such dense masses,
that every shot told. In some places they gained the crest of the
breastworks and savage hand to hand encounters took place, but it was in
vain; not all the valor of the boasted chivalry of the South could pass
that line. Those who gained the works could not stay and live, and to
retreat was as bad. Many gave themselves up as prisoners, while others,
taking shelter on the other side of the works, kept up the fight by
holding their muskets high above their heads and thus firing at random
among the Union troops on the reverse side. All day long this terrible
combat continued. The dead on each side lay in heaps--literally piled
the one on the other, until in many places the ground was covered three
and four deep. The very trees were cut off by musket balls and fell to
the ground. There is in the War Department at Washington, to this day,
the stump of a tree more than eighteen inches in diameter which was cut
down by this awful fire. Darkness brought with it an abatement, but not
a cessation of the struggle; for until three o'clock in the morning of
the thirteenth the strife continued. At that hour the enemy definitely
abandoned the attempt to recapture the angle and retired to an interior
line. Twice during the day had Co. F exhausted the ammunition in its
boxes, and it was replenished by a supply brought to them as they lay by
the stretcher bearers, and once the regiment was retired for a fresh
supply, upon receipt of which they returned to the fighting.
In this carnival of blood--this harvest home of death--Co. F again
suffered the loss of brave men. Henry Mattocks, Thomas Brown and John
Bowen were killed, and Amos A. Smith and J. E. Chase were wounded. Only
eighteen men were now left out of the forty-three who entered the
campaign; twenty-five had fallen on the field.
A great sovereign once addressed his general thus: "I send you against
the enemy with sixty thousand men." "But," protested the general, "there
are only fifty thousand." "Ah!" said the Emperor, "but I count _you_ as
ten thousand!" So each man of the gallant few who were left of what had
been Co. F agreed to call his comrade equal to two men, and so they
counted themselves yet a strong company.
The night of the twelfth was spent on the line which had been won and
held at such a fearful cost of life. At twelve o'clock on the thirteenth
the regiment, now but a handful of men, were moved by the right flank
some three or four hundred yards, and ordered to establish a picket line
in front of this new position. This was successfully accomplished with
but little opposition and no loss to Co. F. That evening they were
relieved and returned to division headquarters, where they bivouacked
for the night. The three succeeding days were spent in the same manner;
out before daylight, establishing new picket lines, sharp shooting as
occasion offered, and spending the night near headquarters; but no
important affair occurred, and no casualties were reported.
The seventeenth was spent quietly in camp--the first day of
uninterrupted repose the men had enjoyed since crossing the Rapidan two
weeks before. During that eventful period there had not been one single
day, and hardly an hour, that the men of Co. F had not been under fire.
It was a short time to look back upon, but what a terrible experience
had been crowded into it! The company which is the subject of this
history had lost more than half of its numbers, while in the Army of the
Potomac the losses had been appalling--no less than four thousand five
hundred and thirty-two men had been killed on the field, and the wounded
numbered eighteen thousand nine hundred and forty-five (a total of
twenty-two thousand four hundred and seventy-seven men) while of the
missing there were four thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, making a
total of twenty-seven thousand three hundred and forty-nine lost from
the effective strength of the army since May 4th. Some idea of the
extent of the losses may be obtained by the casual reader by a
comparison, thus: If the entire population of any of the great and
populous counties of Bennington, Orange or Orleans, as shown by the
census of 1880, were suddenly blotted out, the loss would not equal the
total of killed and wounded during the twelve days between the 4th and
17th of May, while the entire population of Grand Isle county is not as
great as the number of the killed alone; and the total loss in killed,
wounded and missing is greater than the population of any county in the
State of Vermont except Chittenden, Franklin, Rutland and Windsor. And
yet there was no sign of retreat. On the contrary, on every side were
evidences of preparation for renewed battle, and during these days of
comparative quiet attempts were made at various points to penetrate the
rebel line, some of these assaults rising of themselves almost to the
dignity of battles, but so insignificant were they as compared with what
had gone before that they hardly attracted the attention, even, of any
but the men immediately engaged.
On the nineteenth Gen. Grant ordered another movement of the army, again
by the left, and again in the direction of Richmond. No unusual incident
occurred to mark the progress of the sharp shooters until the
twenty-first, when the regiment, by a sudden dash, occupied the little
village of Bowling Green, where the retreating enemy had confined in the
jail all the negroes whom they had swept along with them, and whom they
intended to remove to a point further south where they would be removed
from the temptation to desert their kind masters and join the Union
forces. The advance was too sudden for them, however, and some hundreds
of negro slaves were released from their captivity by the willing
riflemen.
Two miles beyond Bowling Green the skirmishers met a considerable force
of rebel cavalry, and a sharp skirmish took place. Two regiments of new
troops came into action on the right, but being dispersed and routed
retired to be seen no more, and the sharp shooters fell heirs to their
knapsacks which they had laid off on going into action. The departed
regiments had evidently had a recent issue of clothing, and their
successors were thankful for the opportunity of renewing their own
somewhat dilapidated wardrobes. They were further gratified about this
time by the arrival of four convalescents, which swelled the number to
twenty-two for duty. The twenty-second was a red letter day for the men
who had been confined to such rations as they could carry on their
persons. On this day they were ordered on a reconnoissance which took
them into a section of country not frequently visited by either army.
Halting at the County Poor House, they proceeded to gratify a soldier's
natural curiosity to see what might be found on the premises to eke out
their unsatisfactory rations, and, to their great delight, found
chickens, mutton, milk and eggs in profusion, upon which they regaled
themselves to their hearts' content. If these, thought the delighted
men, are Virginia poor house rations, the poor of Virginia are greatly
to be envied. Proceeding on the twenty-third towards Hanover Junction,
they found their way once again blocked by the rebel army in a strong
position behind the North Anna river and prepared again to receive
battle on a fortified line of their own choosing. This was a
disappointment, for the soldiers had become tired of such work and
ardently desired to get at the rebels in an open field; but Grant,
patient and persistent as ever, at once set about finding a means
whereby he might beat them even here, if such a thing was possible.
The line of march had brought the Second Corps to the extreme left of
the army, and it struck the river at the point at which the telegraph
road crosses it at the county bridge. Here the enemy had constructed, on
the north side of the river, a strong work for the defense of the bridge
head; while on the southern bank, completely commanding the approaches
to the river, was another, and a still stronger line of fortifications.
The land in front of the nearer of the two was a bare and open plain,
several hundred yards in width, which must be passed over by troops
advancing to the attack, and every foot of which was exposed to the fire
of the enemy on either bank. To Birney's Division was assigned the task
of assaulting this position, and at five o'clock P. M., on the
twenty-third, the division moved out in the discharge of its duty,
Pierce's and Egan's brigades in the front line, while the Third brigade
formed a second, and supporting line. The sharp shooters were deployed
as skirmishers and led the way. The works were won without serious loss,
and the sharp shooters passed the night near the river, charged with the
duty of protecting the bridge for the passage of the troops on the next
day, Gen. Hancock not deeming it advisable to attempt the crossing at
that late hour of the evening. Attempts were made during the night by
the rebels to destroy the bridge, but it was safely preserved, although
the railway bridge below was destroyed, and on the morning of the
twenty-fourth, the troops commenced crossing covered by the fire of the
sharp shooters, who lined the north bank, and the Union artillery posted
on the higher ground in the rear. The regiment followed the last of the
troops, and were pushed forward beyond the Fox house, a large, though
dilapidated Virginia mansion, where they met the rebel skirmishers.
Sharp firing at long range continued for some hours until the ammunition
in the boxes became exhausted, when the regiment was relieved and fell
back to the Fox house, where breastworks were thrown up and where they
remained during the rest of that day and the next, exposed to desultory
artillery fire, but suffering no considerable loss. The next day the
quartermaster, Lieut. Geo. A. Marden, arrived with the regimental
wagons, and with such stores, clothing, and so forth, as the small train
could bring.
As it was the first sight the regiment had had of its baggage for
twenty-two days, the arrival was the signal for great rejoicing among
the men, especially as the good quartermaster brought a mail, and the
heart of many a brave soldier was made glad by the receipt of warm and
tender words from the loved ones far away among the peaceful valleys of
the state he loved so well.
The morning of the twenty-sixth brought sharp fighting for the troops on
the right and left, but in Birney's front all was quiet, and the tired
sharp shooters lay still until dark, when they were ordered to relieve a
portion of the pickets of the Ninth Corps on their right. The night was
very dark, and it was with difficulty that they found their designated
position; but it was finally gained and found occupied by the
Seventeenth Vermont, among whom the men of Co. F found many friends.
During the night the army was withdrawn to the north bank of the river,
and on the morning of the twenty-seventh the sharp shooters were also
withdrawn, and operations on the North Anna ceased. Grant had found the
position too strong to warrant another attempt like those of the
Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and had determined on another movement to
the left. All day, and until two o'clock the next morning, the troops
toiled on, passing on the way the scene of a severe cavalry fight a few
days previous, the marks of which were plainly visible to the eye as
well as apparent to the nose, since the stench from the decaying bodies
of horses and men was almost unbearable. After a few hours of needed
rest the march was resumed at daylight, still to the south, and at four
o'clock they crossed the Pamunkey at Hanovertown. They were now
approaching familiar ground. Only two or three miles away was the old
battle field of Hanover Court House, while but little further to the
south lay Mechanicsville and Gaines Hill, where they had fought under
McClellan two years before. Halting in a field near the river they
rested until near noon of the following day.
During the forenoon of this day an inspection was had, from which it was
inferred by some that it was Sunday, although there was no other visible
sign of its being in any sense a day of rest. In the afternoon a
reconnoissance in force was ordered to determine, if possible, the
whereabouts of the rebels. Some skirmishing took place, but no important
body of the enemy was found until the advance reached the point at which
the Richmond road crosses the Totopotomy, where the enemy were found
strongly posted with their front well covered by entrenchments and
abatis, prepared to resist a further advance. A brisk skirmish took
place, and the rebels were forced into their works. The whole corps was
now ordered up and took position as close to the rebel line as it was
possible to do without bringing on a general engagement, for which the
federal commanders were not ready. In this position they lay, exchanging
occasional shots with the rebel sharp shooters, but with little or no
serious fighting, until the evening of June 1st, when the corps was
ordered again to the left, and by a forced march reached Cold Harbor
early in the forenoon of the second. At two o'clock A. M. on the 30th
of May Capt. Merriman had been ordered to take a detail of twenty-five
men from the regiment and establish a picket line at a point not before
fully covered. In the darkness he passed the proper position and went
forward until he reached the rebel picket line, which, after challenging
and receiving an evasive answer, opened fire on him. By careful
management, however, he was able to extricate his little force, and
eventually found and occupied his designated position. This was an
unfortunate locality for Capt. Merriman, for when the corps moved on
Cold Harbor, he, by some blunder, failed to receive his orders and was
thus left behind. Finding himself abandoned, and surmising the reason,
he took the responsibility of leaving his post; and as it was clearly
the proper thing to do under the circumstances, he escaped without
censure. Severe fighting had already taken place between the Sixth and
Eighteenth Corps and the rebels, for the possession of this important
position, and _Old_ Cold Harbor had been secured and held for the Union
army. This little hamlet is situated at the junction of the main road
from White House to Richmond, and the road leading south from
Hanovertown, which, a mile south of Old Cold Harbor intersects the road
leading southeasterly from Mechanicsville, which road in its turn
connects with the Williamsburgh road near Dispatch Station, on the
Richmond & York River Railway. The control of the road from White House
was indispensable to the Union army, as it was the only short line to
the new base of supply on the Pamunkey.
A mile to the westward of Old Cold Harbor this road intersects the
Mechanicsville road at a place called _New_ Cold Harbor, the possession
of which would have been more desirable, since it would have given to
the Union commander all the advantages of the roads heretofore mentioned
and, also, the possession and control of the highway from Mechanicsville
to Dispatch Station, which gave to the party holding it the same
advantage which the Brock road had afforded to the Union troops in the
Wilderness; that is, the opportunity to move troops rapidly over a good
road, and by short lines, from right to left, or vice versa. This point
was, however, held by the confederates in great force, and was defended
by formidable works. The heavy fighting of the day before had been for
its possession, and the federals had not only gained no ground, but the
troops engaged had suffered a disastrous repulse with severe loss, no
less than two thousand men having fallen in the assault. The morning of
the 2d of June brought to the anxious eyes of the federals the same
familiar old view. In every direction across their front were seen the
brownish red furrows which told of rifle pits, which at every commanding
point in the rebel line rose stronger and higher works, above which
peered the dark muzzles of hostile artillery.
It was evident that one of two things would ensue. Either a sanguinary
battle, like those of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, where the rebels,
strongly intrenched, had all the advantages on their side must be
fought, or Grant must try another move by the left and seek a more
favorable battle ground. But that meant a move to the James river; since
between the White House and the James there could be no new base of
supply. Furthermore, the ground further to the south and nearer the
James, was known to be fully as difficult as that on which the army now
stood and was, presumably, as well fortified. And even if it was not
fortified, the further Grant moved in that direction the stronger grew
Lee's army, since the troops in and about Richmond, reenforced by a very
large portion of those who had so recently made, and still kept, Butler
and his thirty thousand men close prisoners at Bermuda Hundred, could be
safely spared for more active operations in the field against this more
dangerous enemy.
Moreover Grant had said "I propose to fight it out on this line," and it
was now nineteen days since the fight for the angle at Spotsylvania, and
the Army of the Potomac had hardly lost that number of hundreds of men
in the operations on the North Anna and the Totopotomy. It was time to
fight another great battle, lest the army should forget that it was now
to be "fought up to its capacity," and so the battle of Cold Harbor was
ordained. The position of the Second Corps was now, as at the
Wilderness, on the extreme left of the army; on their left were no
forces, except the cavalry which watched the roads as far to the south
as the Chicahominy. It was well remembered ground: two years before the
sharp shooters, then part of the Fifth Corps, had, with that
organization, fought the great battle of Gaines Hill, on this identical
ground, but how changed was the situation.
They had now the same enemy before them, but the positions were
completely reversed. Then, they were fighting a defensive battle for the
safety of the army. Then, the enemy came far out from their
intrenchments and sought battle in the open field. Now, it was the
federals who were the aggressive party, and the rebels could by no means
be tempted from the shelter of their strong works. Now, the enemy
occupied nearly the same lines held by the federals on the former
occasion, while the federals attacked from nearly the same positions,
and over the same ground, formerly occupied by the rebels. Then,
however, the federals had fought without shelter; now, the rebels were
strongly intrenched. Indeed, an unparalleled experience in warfare had
taught both parties the necessity of preparation of this kind to resist
attack, or to cover reverses. There was, however, a greater change in
the moral than in the physical situation. Then, the rebels had been
haughty, arrogant and aggressive; now, they were cautious and timid.
Brought squarely to the test of battle they were, individually, as brave
as of yore, but the spirit of confidence had gone out of them. They had
learned at last that "one southern gentleman" was not "the equal of
three northern mudsills." The handwriting on the wall was beginning to
appear plainly to them, and while they still fought bravely and
well--while they were still able to deal damaging blows, and to inflict
terrible punishment--they never afterwards fought with the dash and fire
which they had shown at Gaines Hill, at Malvern, at the Second Bull Run,
at Chancellorsville, or at Gettysburgh. The noontide of the Confederacy
had passed, and they knew then that henceforth they were marching
towards the darkness of the certain night.
The 2d of June was spent by both parties in strengthening positions and
other preparations. Constant firing, it is true, was going on all along
the line, but no conflict of importance took place on this day. Co. F
was thus engaged, but no important event occurred on their front. On the
third, however, at half past four A. M. the corps moved forward to the
assault. Barlow's and Gibbon's Divisions formed the front line, while
Birney's was in the second.
The early morning fogs still hung low and rendered it impossible for the
advancing troops to see what was before them; thus many parts of the
line became broken by obstacles which might have been, in part, avoided
had it been possible to discover them in time, and the column arrived at
the point of charging distance somewhat disorganized. Still the vigor of
the attack was such that the rebels could not long resist it; they were
driven out of a sunken roadway in front of their main line, into and
over their intrenchments, and at this point the success of the assault
was complete. Several hundred prisoners and three guns were captured,
the guns being at once turned upon their former owners.
The supporting column, however, failed, as is so often the case, to come
up at the proper time and the enemy, being strongly reenforced, advanced
against the victorious men of the Second Corps, and after a desperate
struggle, reminding the participants of the fight at Spotsylvania,
forced them back and reoccupied the captured works. In this affair Co.
F, being with Birney's Division in the second line, was not actively
engaged, nevertheless in the charge they lost two or three men whose
names are not now remembered, slightly, and Alvin Babcock, mortally
wounded. Babcock was one of the recruits who joined the company on the
day after the battle of Antietam, nearly two years before, and had been
a faithful and good soldier. He died on the first of July following from
the effects of his wound. The corps retired in good order to their own
works. A partial attack by the rebels on their position was easily
repulsed, and the rest of the day was passed in comparative quiet. The
picket line, in full view of the rebel works and only about one hundred
yards distant, was held by a regiment for whose marksmanship the rebels
seemed to have a supreme contempt, since they exposed themselves freely,
using the while the most opprobrious epithets.
The fire of their sharp shooters was constant and close, and a source of
great annoyance to all within range. Co. F lay some distance in the rear
of the pickets and somewhat exposed to the stray bullets which passed
over the front line. They became somewhat restive under this unusual
state of affairs; but receiving no order to move up to take part in the
conflict, and having no liberty to shift their position, Capt. Merriman
and Sergt. Peck determined to see what could be done by independent
effort to relieve the situation. Taking rifles and a good supply of
ammunition they made their way to the front and, taking up an
advantageous position, commenced operations. The first shot brought down
a daring rebel who was conspicuously and deliberately reloading his gun
in full view of a hundred Union soldiers. This single shot and its
result seemed to convey to the minds of the rebels that a new element
had entered into the question, and for a few moments they were less
active. Soon regaining their courage, however, and apparently setting it
down as the result of some untoward accident, they resumed their
exposure of persons and their annoying fire. It did not long continue,
however, for wherever a man appeared within range he got such a close
hint of danger, if indeed he escaped without damage, that the sharp
shooting along that front ceased. Further to the right was a place where
the breastwork behind which the rebel infantry was posted did not quite
connect with a heavy earthwork which formed part of the rebel line, and
which was occupied by artillery. Across this open space men were seen
passing freely and openly, apparently officers or orderlies passing
along the line in the discharge of their duties.
To this point the two sharp shooters now directed their at attention.
Dodging from tree to tree, now crawling along behind some little
elevation of land, and now running at full speed across some exposed
portion of the ground, they reached a place from which they could
command the passage, and very soon the rebels found it safer and more
convenient to take some other route. Service of this independent nature
had a peculiar fascination for these men. In fact, sharp shooting is the
squirrel hunting of war; it is wonderful to see how self-forgetful the
marksman grows--to see with what sportsmanlike eyes he seeks out the
grander game, and with what coolness and accuracy he brings it down. At
the moment he grows utterly indifferent to human life or human
suffering, and seems intent only on cruelty and destruction; to make a
good shot and hit his man, brings for the time being a feeling of
intense satisfaction.
Few, however, care to recall afterwards the look of the dying enemy, and
there are none who would not risk as much to aid the wounded victim of
their skill as they did to inflict the wound. War is brutalizing, but
the heat of the actual conflict passed, soldiers are humane and
merciful, even to their foes. The assault of the Second Corps had not
been an isolated attempt to force the rebel line at one point only. On
their immediate right the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps had also advanced,
and had met with severe loss; while far away to the north, even to and
beyond the Totopotomy, miles away, Burnside and Warren had been engaged
in more or less serious battle. At no point, however, except in front of
the Second Corps had the enemy's line been entered, and this lodgement,
as has been seen, was of brief duration. Advanced positions had been
held, however, and in many places a distance no greater than fifty to
one hundred yards now separated the opposing lines. Barlow's Division,
magnificent fighters, when forced out of the captured rebel works, had
taken advantage of a slight crest of ground not fifty yards from the
rebel line, and with the aid of their bayonets, tin cups, etc., had
thrown up a slight cover, from which they stubbornly refused to move;
and to this far advanced line Companies F and G were ordered during the
night of the third to keep down, so far as they were able, the rebel
fire when the morning light should enable them to see the enemy. They
spent the fourth in this position, constantly exposed and constantly
engaged, suffering the loss of one man, Joseph Bickford, killed. The
shooting on the part of the rebels was unusually close and accurate, and
was a source of great discomfort to one, at least, of the men of Co. F.
Curtiss Kimberly, known best by his friends as "Muddy," had such a
breadth of shoulders that the small stump behind which he lay for
shelter was insufficient to cover both sides at once. Three times in as
many minutes the stump was struck by rebel bullets, and "Muddy" gravely
expressed the opinion that there was "a mighty good shot over there
somewhere," at the same time uttering an earnest hope that "he might not
miss that stump."
During the night of the fourth they were moved to the left, and at
daylight found themselves face to face with the rebel pickets near
Barker's Mill. This was indeed "Tenting on the old camp ground," since
this point had been the extreme right of the Union line at the battle of
Gaines Hill, June 27, 1862.
They lay in this position until the twelfth, engaged every day, to a
greater or less extent, in skirmishing and sharp shooting until the
eleventh, when an agreement was made between the pickets that
hostilities should cease in that part of the line, and the day was spent
in conversation, games, etc., with the rebels. They were ravenous for
coffee, but had plenty of tobacco. The federals were "long" of coffee
but "short" of tobacco, and many a quiet exchange of such merchandise
was made in the most friendly way between men who for days had been, and
for days to come would be, seeking each others lives. It was a curious
scene and well illustrated one phase of war. On the twelfth, the truce
being over, hostilities were resumed and the men who had so lately
fraternized together were again seeking opportunity to destroy each
other. On this day Almon D. Griffin, who had been wounded at
Chancellorsville, was again a victim to bullets. He recovered, however,
and rejoined his company to serve until the expiration of his term of
service, when he was discharged. Grant was now minded to try another
movement by the left, this time transporting his entire army to the
south bank of the James, and on the thirteenth the sharp shooters
crossed the Chicahominy at Long Bridge, and leaving the old battle field
of Charles City cross-roads and Malvern Hill to the right, struck the
James river the same night at Wilcox's landing some two miles below
Harrison's, where McClellan's army had lain so long after his
unfortunate campaign in 1862. This was the first opportunity for a bath
which had been offered since the campaign opened, and soon the water was
alive with the dirty and tired men, their hands and faces of bronze
contrasting strangely with the Saxon fairness of their sinewy bodies, as
they laughingly dashed the water at each other, playing even as they did
when they were school boys in Vermont. It was a luxury which none but
those who have been similarly situated can appreciate.