1862.
BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
On Wednesday, December 10th, clothing was issued to the regiment.
Shoes were very much needed. In the evening a pontoon train went down
towards the river, but no unusual notice or remarks were made about
it, and both officers and men went to sleep that night without
suspecting in the least that early on the morrow a heavy battle would
be raging. The next morning the troops were early aroused by the
tremendous discharge of two mortars, and simultaneously the opening of
our batteries of nearly two hundred pieces. Nearly the entire day the
batteries poured incessantly their deadly fire of shot and shell into
the city with terrible rapidity. During the afternoon the firing
gradually ceased, and at sundown victory rested on our banners. During
the day three days rations and sixty rounds of cartridges were issued
to the men. Towards the evening the Sixteenth was ordered down to the
river, but before reaching there the order was countermanded, and they
returned to camp for the night. The next day (Friday,) the Sixteenth
advanced to the river again early in the morning, and lay on the banks
all day, watching the fighting on the other side of the stream. In the
evening they crossed the pontoon bridge, and went into the city.
After stacking arms on Main street, most of the men went into houses
to sleep. The effects of this short siege was awful to contemplate.
Some portions of the city were completely battered down. Buildings in
various parts of the city were burning, and during the night fresh
fires were continually breaking out. Although the enemy had carried
away most of their wounded and dead, still a few remained in the city.
In a cellar was found by the Union troops, ten women and a child, all
dead; they had gone there for protection from our shells, but one had
struck there, and bursting, killed them all. While a member of the
Sixteenth was searching for wood in the yard of a residence after
dark, he stumbled over what he supposed to be soldiers asleep on the
ground. Excusing himself he went on and after gathering an armful of
wood, was returning when he stumbled over the same men again. Much to
his disappointment they did not get up and damn him. Going into the
house and getting a lighted brand, he came out and found that they
were _three dead rebels_ who had been killed and lay there side by
side. One of them was an officer. An amusing incident occurred on this
same evening in Company H. Sergeant Spencer was around the yard
looking after boards to sleep on. Finding one that was some twelve or
fourteen feet long, he laid one end of it on what he supposed to be a
stone, and was about to jump on it to break it in the center, when a
soldier who lay there wanted to know "what he was trying to do?" In
the darkness of the night he had laid the board on a man's head. The
next day we were drawn up in line of battle, but being on the reserve
had nothing to do but witness the contest raging in front, which was
fearful. At dusk we moved to the front, where bullets came thick and
fast until eight o'clock, when the firing ceased, and all was quiet
during the night, except the howling of dogs, and the occasional
discharge of artillery.
On Sunday morning, December 14th, we returned into the city, remaining
there all day. The fighting continued hard in front. At sundown we
again moved to the front, where we remained supporting a battery until
the next night, when we returned to the city, crossed the river and
marched to our old camp, being the last brigade to leave the city.
Thus ended the battle without the Sixteenth being actively engaged
with the enemy, and meeting with a loss of only one wounded and one
missing. Drilling, inspections, grand reviews, picket duty, and
frequent preparations for marching, constituted the chief occupation
of the troops during the greater part of the winter months. The
weather was extremely cold, quarters were poor, and constant exposure
invited sickness and disease, and death creeping in boldly hurried
away its defenceless victims with alarming rapidity. Many were
discharged, and the ranks continued to decrease daily.
On December 24th, Lieutenant-Colonel Cheney, in consequence of the
severity of his wound was compelled to resign, and two days after,
Adjutant John H. Burnham was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel, and
took command, Colonel Beach being absent, sick. Colonel Burnham's
promotion was the _making_ of the regiment. Being a man of promptness,
and full of energy, and above all a perfect soldier, Colonel Burnham
infused a new spirit into an organization which had been exhausted by
arduous marches, a severe battle, and a weary campaign. It was about
this time that another piece of good luck happened to the regiment,
which was the appointment of Dr. Mayer, as Surgeon. He was a good
physician, and as a surgeon could not be surpassed in the army of the
Potomac. He commenced immediately to make improvements in and out of
the hospital, and to look to the cleanliness of the tents, company
streets, and the cooking utensils. He also saw that the food issued
was properly prepared by the cooks; and when he gave cough syrup, it
was not _stuff_ that men would use on their food for molasses.
NEWPORT NEWS AND SUFFOLK.
On the 6th of February, 1863, our connection with the Army of the
Potomac was dissolved. We were ordered to Newport News, where the
regeneration of the regiment steadily progressed. At three o'clock in
the morning the regiment was ordered to _pack up_, and be ready to
march in two hours. It was pitch dark and raining terribly, with mud
six inches deep. It was some little time before the men could get
bon-fires burning, so that we could see to pack up. The men dressed,
took what rations they could get, and fell into line after repeated
orders, leaving most of the tents standing, they being wet and too
heavy to carry. Marching to the depot, the mud was not only deep but
extremely slippery, and nearly every man slipped down, and those that
did not, were completely spattered over from head to foot, and were
covered with mud and completely drenched through to the skin by the
rain, which was decidedly uncomfortable that cold morning. After
shivering in the cold for two hours, we were allowed to get aboard the
freight cars, and were taken to Acquia Creek. Here we went aboard the
steamer John S. Brooks, as did also the 8th and 15th C.V. Most of the
men had little or no water in their canteens, and all suffered
terribly from thirst before we reached Newport News on the afternoon
of the 8th. Whose fault this was I am unable to say, but it was a
great piece of negligence to put troops aboard a vessel knowing that
they were to remain there for over two days without seeing them
provided with water. Newport News was a paradise by the side of
Falmouth. There was no mud, rations were good, and the weather was
beautiful. We were quartered in barracks, which made it very pleasant.
On landing, the first thing was a drink of water, and then two days
rations of soft bread were issued to us, which, although being two
loaves, was disposed of in less than two hours; the first one in
something less than five minutes. Not having tasted any for over five
months we appreciated it. The guard mounts, dress parades, and reviews
at this place were the grandest and most imposing ever witnessed in
this country. About five weeks were spent in drilling, recruiting,
&c., at the end of which time the 3d Division was ordered to Suffolk
to strengthen the force at that point.
It was the early part of March and bitter cold when the regiment left
Newport News and by boat went to Norfolk, where they went aboard a
train consisting of platform cars with a single baggage or passenger
car in the rear for the officers. Everything being in readiness the
train started and sped on its way to Suffolk, arriving there at
midnight. The men jumped off the train and fell into line, when lo and
behold only two officers were to be found. The car containing the
officers had not been attached to the train. The two officers present
had for some reason got upon the cars with their men, and therefore
were with the regiment. But we had no orders, whether we were to go
farther or stay there, and whom to report to we did not know. The
train moved off, dark as a pocket, and some of the men nearly froze to
death. Something had got to be done. After a little consultation, the
two officers took command of the two wings respectively, and the First
Sergeants the companies. The regiment moved off by the flank to cut
their way through the darkness and encamp _somewhere_, until daylight.
We first tumbled down a steep embankment, at least twelve feet, the
men falling on all sides, then into a brook two feet deep and six feet
wide, and finally brought up against a rail fence. Tearing this down
we passed into a field and halted, not deeming it best to proceed
farther. The men spread out in every direction in the darkness, each
one bringing in what he could find in the shape of wood to build
fires.
There was a house near by which we supposed to be vacant, and the men
in the darkness had taken all the fence and wood, and had even pulled
the clapboards from the house as high as they could be reached. When
morning came, we found it to be an elegant wood house painted white,
and the owner thereof at first made quite a fuss, but when he found so
many of the men nearly frozen to death, he concluded _it was all for
his country_. It was on that night that the Quartermaster-Sergeant
found that one of the men had bored a hole into a barrel of coffee,
which he had mistaken for whiskey, and was shaking it up good,
wondering why it would not run. Daylight finally came and we found
that we were on the outskirts of the city and within sixty rods of the
112th N.Y. Vols., whose generous Colonel hearing the noise in the
night, reconnoitered and finding that we were Union troops, ordered
all his cooks up to make us hot coffee. Kettle after kettle of hot
coffee all sweetened, was brought to us, which we drank in large
quantities before getting thoroughly warmed through. This was a
perfect godsend to us, and a more thoughtful action could not have
been done by the Colonel. We fully appreciated it, as was shown by the
fast friendship between the two regiments thereafter. Some half dozen
of the men nearly died, by being chilled through, being several days
before they were able to do duty. The officers arrived next morning on
the regular train.