OUR BATTLES.
The quiet afternoon and long night's rest refreshed us most
wonderfully, and we woke the next morning, Sunday, the fourteenth,
free from all fatigue. It was a bright, beautiful day, and we broke
camp in high spirits, ready for whatever might happen, and yet with no
conception of the dread realities actually before us, and in which we
were to enact a part.
After marching two or three miles, firing once more commenced at the
front, and hurrying on, the regiment was halted at the corner of a
road which ran directly to the river Neuse. Presently, a section of
artillery arrived, and passing into a field just before us, began to
shell the woods.
As we waited there, momentarily expecting to enter the fight already
begun, one of our number, amid the roar of artillery and occasional
roll of musketry, began the hymn, forever associated in the minds of
those present with that scene, "Ye Christian Heroes go Proclaim," in
which we all joined. It was his last song upon earth, but how nobly did
he earn the title of "Christian Hero," and what death more glorious
than with such words yet lingering on his lips, to freely surrender
his life at the altar of his country's liberty. His name will ever
be cherished with love and reverence by all who knew him, and we can
rejoice with his friends who mourn his loss, that he is enjoying his
fit reward, an immortal crown of glory.
Soon the order came for the 45th to advance; so, marching by the right
flank, we left the road and entered the woods, passing directly in
front of the battery, and most unfortunately in its range. Before
notice could be given to the officer in command, two successive shells
had killed three of our number, besides slightly wounding others. It
was a sad omen with which to enter the fight, but on we pushed and soon
faced to the front and advanced, deployed as skirmishers.
We quickly found ourselves in the midst of a regular North Carolina
swamp, which in ordinary times would be considered impenetrable. Mud
and water waist deep, how much deeper none stopped to see, roots to
trip the careless foot, briers innumerable to make havoc with our
clothes, to say nothing of an occasional stray bullet, which, finding
its way through the trees, whistled over our heads, and contributed
to the pleasantness of the position. But it needed more than mud
and water, or even a stray bullet, to check us, and so on we crept,
crawled and waded, the bullets becoming thicker as we advanced, until
we conquered the swamp and gained a position where the ground rose
slightly towards the enemy, and was thinly covered with young oaks and
underbrush. Here we quickly obeyed the order "Lie down!"
The regiment formed in a sort of semi-circle around the edge of the
woods, but the line was too much extended to be efficient in a charge,
as we soon found. We retained this position for about an hour amid
an unceasing storm of bullets, shot and shell, which, thanks to the
elevation of the ground, passed in a great measure just above our heads
and riddled the trees in our rear. Too many, however, found a resting
place in a soldier's body, and the dead and wounded lay in every
direction. We fired at will, as we found opportunity, our regiment, the
10th Connecticut and 103d Pennsylvania, who following in our footsteps
had gained the same position, all lying together, regardless of company
or regiment.
At last, the order came to fix bayonets, and then to charge. The left
wing, together with the Connecticut and Pennsylvania troops, sprang
to their feet, and with a loud cry broke from the cover. At the
same moment, the enemy gave way and retreated post-haste across the
bridge which leads to Kinston. But the extended line of our regiment,
scattered as it was through the woods, and the impossibility of
conveying an order in the din of battle, simultaneously to all parts of
the line, prevented a united movement, and those who had received and
obeyed the order to charge were soon halted, to enable the scattered
ranks to reunite.
But the day was won, and the rebels, in full retreat across the river,
received an occasional reminder in the shape of a shell from our guns,
which hastened their speed till it became a run.
We discovered, on emerging from the woods, that the enemy had been
sheltered behind fences on both sides of the road. This enabled them
to concentrate upon us a cross fire. An old barn-like church had also
served to protect them in a measure. It was perforated with holes
of all sizes, from that of the Minie-ball to the one caused by the
thirty-two-pound shell. Dead bodies lay scattered about the floor, and
our surgeons immediately appropriated it for a hospital.
After a time, we marched down the road to the river, and turning down
the Neuse road in the direction of Newbern, went into camp a short
distance from the bridge. Expecting to bivouac here, we commenced our
preparations for the night. Some of us, meantime, returned to the swamp
to recover our blankets, overcoats and haversacks, cast aside at the
commencement of the fight, and were fortunate enough to recover most of
them. The dead and wounded lay scattered through the woods, and with
sad hearts we rejoined our comrades, thankful that our lives had been
spared. But our day's work was by no means ended, for scarcely had our
party returned to the camping-ground, when the order came to fall in,
and off we started across the bridge, which the rebels had made a vain
attempt to burn in their retreat, and marched along the banks of the
Neuse, till we reached the town of Kinston.
The strategy which enabled General Foster to win this battle as easily
as he did, was apparent when we came to understand the nature of the
country and the works of the enemy. The rebels had evidently expected
us to advance by the Neuse road, which runs along the riverside; for,
some distance from the bridge, a strong earth-work had been thrown up
directly across the road, flanked on one side by a pond, on the other
by a swamp. A long earth-work had also been erected on the Kinston
side of the river, commanding both roads and the bridge.
The road taken by General Foster rendered the first mentioned work
wholly useless, and the garrison was compelled to abandon it to prevent
their separation from the main command. The road taken by the main body
of our force makes a bend, which brings it to the bridge at right
angles to the river. Nearly a quarter of a mile from this bend, a small
cross-road connects with the Neuse road, thus enclosing a square, in
which the enemy made their stand, compelled to fight on what, to them,
was the farther side of the river, and thus they were made dependent on
the bridge for a means of retreat.
The plan was to divide our force, the main body keeping straight
forward, towards the bridge, and thus bring on a general engagement,
while meantime, a strong force was sent down the cross-road, in order
to gain possession of the bridge, and so cut off their sole means of
escape. This manoeuvre was only partially successful, as the rebels,
discovering their imminent danger, gave way before the flanking force
had reached the bridge. However, some five hundred prisoners were
captured, as it was, and eleven cannon fell into our hands, to say
nothing of small arms and commissary stores.
Some seven thousand of the enemy, under command of General Evans, were
engaged, and not many more on our side, as many of our regiments took
no active part in the battle. When compared with many other battles
of the war, it was a mere skirmish; but veterans from the seven-days
fight before Richmond, from Roanoke, and from Newbern, were unanimous
in pronouncing the fire that day, to have been sharper than was
experienced by them in any former battle. General Foster, in his
despatch, speaks of the "terrible fire" to which we were exposed.
Kinston is rather a pretty place, regularly laid out, well shaded, and
altogether very New England like. It is built directly on the Neuse,
whose banks are high and steep at this point. We marched through the
town, and halted at the outskirts, on the line of the railroad, which
runs from Newbern to Goldsboro, and on which most of the enemy made
good their retreat.
After the camp had been selected, and our goods and chattels deposited,
the band gave an impromptu concert, in honor of the victory, after
which most of us started on a foraging expedition, seeking what we
might devour. In this quest we were eminently successful. Our mess
supped on broiled chicken and apple-jack, and others fared even more
sumptuously. A large quantity of tobacco was also discovered and
speedily confiscated.
Hardly had we finished supper, and laid ourselves out for the night,
when the order came for four companies to "fall in," and patrol the
town. A house in the middle of the town had been fired, and as the
flames had extended to one or two of the surrounding buildings, there
was a fair prospect of seeing the whole place in ashes before morning,
unless the progress of the fire was arrested. Fortunately there were
enough firemen to check any further spread of the mischief, and it
devolved upon us to pass the greater half of the night patrolling
the streets, preventing all disorder, and returning stragglers to
their regiments. We found one fellow in a most happy frame of mind,
seated in a horseless chaise, evidently enjoying his ride intensely,
and urging on the imaginary steed, as if on a race track, apple-jack,
without question, having got the better of him.
The moon came out in full splendor, to light us on our weary
pilgrimage, as we traversed the streets back and forth, round and
round. The captain occasionally coming to a halt, some of us employed
the time by taking a nap on the sidewalk, or in the road, just as
it happened. A colored gentleman accompanied us during part of our
wanderings, showing off the place, pointing out the slave market, and
other objects of interest. However, our desire for a more intimate
acquaintance with the town was not so great but that we were ready
to return to camp, somewhere in the small hours, and wrap up in our
blankets for a short nap, after our day's work.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and to our surprise, and
the enemy's as well, Kinston was abandoned, and the river recrossed.
The rear guard destroyed the bridge, which had cost us so much effort
to save the day before, and we started once more in the direction
of Goldsboro. It was very warm and dusty, and the march long and
wearisome, but the country grew pleasanter the further inland we
advanced, and the plantations appeared much more flourishing, so that
we were more than usually rejoiced to reach the camp that night, and
rest after our two days of hard work.
After marching three or four miles the next morning, Tuesday, the 16th,
the boom of cannon, now quite familiar, was heard in the distance, and
orders came for the 45th to hasten forward to the scene of action.
The road runs for some distance parallel to the river, through a large
clearing, and then turns abruptly towards a bridge which spans the
Neuse, leading to the town of Whitehall. The land rises to some height
on the left side of the road, the brow of the hill being thinly covered
with forest trees, while on the right it slopes to the wooded bank of
the river.
On the approach of our cavalry advance, the previous night, the rebels
had crossed the river, destroying the bridge in their retreat, and the
fighting was now going on at this point, the apparent object being to
rebuild the bridge, and cross the river. The part taken in this fight
by our regiment was rather passive than active, but none the less
trying for that reason.
A portion of a New York battery being put in position on the rise of
the hill, we were ordered to their support; so, marching along the
road till opposite the battery, we formed in line of battle, and then
lay down, facing the river, and not many rods distant from it. Our
situation was anything but an agreeable one, for not only did the rebel
shot and bullets fall thick around us, but the shell from our own guns
behind, passed so near as to render a recumbent posture very desirable.
An hour passed in this condition, without firing a gun, seemed, from
the very inaction, much more like two or three; but at length the order
was passed along the line to fall back to the other side of the road.
So, crawling through, or scrambling over the fence which separated us
from the field, we took up a new position, two or three rods further
back, and directly the 3d Rhode Island Battery came thundering down
the road, and unlimbering on the spot we had just vacated, began to
pour a deadly fire across the river. While we occupied this position,
our gallant Color Sergeant, Theodore Parkman, was struck in the head
by a fragment of a shell, and almost instantly killed. But before the
colors fell to the ground they were seized by the colonel himself, and
though a mark for the deadly missiles of the sharp-shooters, which
whistled close around him, he supported them till relieved by one of
the color-guard.
It is true we accomplished the destruction of a gun-boat, which was in
process of construction at this place, but all this apparent effort
to cross the river was merely a feint to occupy the attention of the
enemy, and thereby cover a raid of the cavalry upon the Goldsboro and
Wilmington Railroad. It was most successful, for a battalion of the
3d New York having struck the road at Mt. Olive Station, took the
people wholly by surprise. They came upon a crowd of passengers waiting
for the train, which was, however, unavoidably detained on that day,
at least, as they destroyed the track and telegraph for some miles,
rejoining the main command without the loss of a man.
We marched on some hours after the fight was over, finding the country
much more hilly, and decidedly pleasanter. The latter part of the day,
a few of us, wearying of the monotony of the march, started ahead on
our own account, passing regiment after regiment. An occasional meeting
with old friends among the Massachusetts troops, with whom we rehearsed
the events of the past two or three days, created quite a pleasant
diversion, and relieved to a great extent the tedium of the way.
[Illustration: HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO. BOSTON.
BATTLE OF GOLDSBORO.]