THE TRANSFERRED MEN IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT--THEY
MARCH OVER THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS--GO WITH THE NINTH CORPS TO
ANNAPOLIS, MD.--THE CORPS ORDERED TO THE FRONT--MARCH THROUGH
WASHINGTON--BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS AND SPOTTSYLVANIA--A
LIST OF THE KILLED--THE TRANSFERRED MEN SENT HOME--THEY
MEET THEIR BROTHERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT IN
WASHINGTON--THE REGIMENT AGAIN IN THE FIELD--ASSIGNED TO
THE FIFTH CORPS--BATTLE OF BETHESDA CHURCH--A SURPRISE AND
NARROW ESCAPE--RE-ASSIGNED TO THE NINTH CORPS--BATTLE OF SHADY
GROVE CHURCH--TO THE JAMES--A LONG MARCH--BATTLE OF JUNE
SEVENTEENTH--TRAGIC DEATH OF THE THREE COLOR-BEARERS--THE FLAG
RESCUED--THE DEAD AND WOUNDED.
The Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment had been in the service since
September 2, 1862, and had earned for itself a proud record. It was
at the battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, but lost only two
men, wounded. It was attached to the Ninth Corps, and in February,
1863, accompanied the Twenty-ninth Regiment and the other troops of
the corps to Newport News, and after spending about six weeks here
in drill, went into the department of Ohio; did duty in Kentucky and
Tennessee, and in June went to Vicksburg, taking part in the siege of
that city, and later, in July, in the siege and battles about Jackson,
losing several men killed and wounded. The regiment returned with the
corps to Tennessee, in August, where it was engaged in the battles of
Blue Springs and Campbell’s Station, and the siege of Knoxville. It was
likewise at Blaine’s Cross-Roads, in December, 1863, and January, 1864,
and suffered all the privations there endured by our army.
On the 21st of March, 1864, it commenced the march over the Cumberland
Mountains to Nicholasville, Ky., a distance of about two hundred miles,
where it arrived on the first day of April.
The regiment, containing the transferred men of the Twenty-ninth,
reached Annapolis, Md., April 6, and went into camp. The corps had been
ordered to this place to recruit, and during the seventeen days that
it remained here, its numbers were considerably increased. The old
regiments were filled up, to some extent, by re-enlistments and new
levies; five cavalry and twelve infantry regiments, and five batteries
of artillery, beside an entire division (Fourth) of colored troops,
were added to the corps, making its strength about twenty-five thousand
men. General Burnside was again assigned to the command of the corps,
while General Ferrero was placed in command of the division of colored
troops.
At an early hour in the morning of the 23d of April, the removal of the
corps from Annapolis began. The Thirty-sixth broke camp before sunrise,
and taking the track of the Elk Ridge and Annapolis Railroad, marched
some thirteen miles, halting in some fields near the track for the
night. Another very early start was made on the morning of the 24th,
and in the course of six hours the regiment struck the Washington and
Baltimore Turnpike. A brief halt was made for dinner, after which the
march was resumed, the camp being formed at sunset about ten miles
from Washington. Reveille sounded at four o’clock the next morning,
but in consequence of the severe rain, the regiment did not break camp
till four hours later, passing through Bladensburg on the march, and
arriving in Washington at about mid-day, in advance of the other troops
of the corps.
The report had reached Washington that the Ninth Corps was to pass
through the city, and that among the troops was a division composed
wholly of colored soldiers, and a large body of people gathered in the
streets to witness this grand, and at that time novel, military parade.
President Lincoln and his party, including General Burnside, had taken
a position in the balcony of Willard’s Hotel. The streets were free
from dust, and “a cool wind breathed through the soft air of the early
spring”; the sky was cloudless, the bright rays of the sun lending
beauty to the scene. A loud shout went up from the assembly when the
head of the long column made its appearance. The veteran soldiers had
exchanged the ragged garments that they wore home from Tennessee for
bright new uniforms; but they carried the same old tattered flags,
which told a story of toil and suffering, that brought flowing tears
to the eyes of many spectators. The appearance in the column of
the colored division of General Ferrero produced the most intense
excitement, and gave birth to rounds of cheers; for although these
black men had been but a few weeks in the service, they manifested
considerable excellence in marching. When this division reached
Willard’s Hotel, and the eyes of the men fell upon “Massa Lincoln,”
“a spirit of wild enthusiasm ran through their ranks; they shouted,
they cheered, they swung their caps, in the exuberance of their joy.”
Towards sundown, the Thirty-sixth crossed Long Bridge, and went into
camp near Alexandria with the rest of the corps.
April 27. After a day’s rest, the movement into Virginia was again
commenced. The regiment started on the road at ten o’clock in the
morning, and marched all day, passing through Fairfax, and halting at
night three miles beyond the village.
April 28. Broke camp at five o’clock in the morning, waded Bull Run
about noon, and camped at night near Manassas Junction.
April 29. Turned out early in the morning, and after getting breakfast,
packed up, marched about thirty rods, halted, stacked arms, marched and
countermarched all day, and finally went into camp at night within a
quarter of a mile from the place of the previous night’s encampment.
April 30. Started out of camp early in the morning, marched up the
Alexandria and Orange Railroad about four miles, to a point about
three miles from Catlett’s Station, and relieved a battalion of the
Seventeenth Regulars, there stationed. The whole of the corps was
stationed at various points along this railroad.
May 1. The regiment was mustered for pay. The camp was termed about
twenty rods from the railroad, half-way between Catlett’s and Bristoe’s
stations.
May 4. Orders were issued for the men to strike tents early in the
morning, and soon after the regiment started up the track, marched all
day, and camped at night near Bealton Station.
May 5. Started at six in the morning, crossed the Rapidan on a pontoon
bridge, and went into camp a mile beyond the river, in the woods.
May 6. The regiment was ordered out at an early hour, and started
toward the Wilderness battle-field, joining the corps which was
stationed near the Wilderness Tavern, and becoming hotly engaged in
that terrible battle. Three times during the day the regiment with its
division charged the enemy’s lines, manifesting the greatest bravery,
but suffering serious loss. Major Draper and Captain Marshall were
wounded; eleven of the men were killed, and fifty-one wounded. The
regiment was also engaged May 7, but escaped without loss.
On the 8th and 9th, it marched a distance of about ten miles,
to Chancellorsville, and on the following day marched from
Chancellorsville to near Spottsylvania Court-house, where it went into
the rifle-pits. Early in the morning of the 12th, General Hancock’s
corps made a gallant assault upon a salient of the enemy’s works,
carrying them, capturing General Johnston and his entire division and
twenty pieces of artillery. The Thirty-sixth regiment, with the rest of
the Ninth Corps, early engaged in the battle, which lasted for nearly
three hours. The assault on the enemy’s works was followed by a counter
assault upon our lines, which was many times repeated, but without
success. The Thirty-sixth was stationed in thick pine woods, and the
share which it took in the battle is well shown by its dreadful loss.
Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Daniels were killed, and Captain Morse
severely wounded; twenty of the men were killed, and fifty-six wounded,
and among the killed, the following members of the Twenty-ninth
Regiment: Sergeant William H. Mosher, Company B, who had but two
more days to serve in which to complete his three years’ term; First
Sergeant William T. Hamer, Company A; Edward P. Mansfield, Company C;
James Ward, Company D; John K. Alexander and Lemuel B. Morton, Company
E; and John E. Fisher, Company K. The term of service of the six
last-named soldiers would have expired on the 22d, and in the cases of
all, it seems to have been a most cruel fate, that spared them through
so many months of hardship and danger, and just as the end of their
faithful service was near at hand, and the bright prospect of a happy
return to their homes was rising up before them, cut them down upon the
battle-field, and sent them to unknown graves. Probably there is no
official record of their deaths, owing to the unfortunate circumstances
attending their transfer; and but for the fact, that some of their
comrades who fought with them escaped the battle and brought back to
their friends these sad tidings, the author would not have been able to
present this account of them, however meagre, nor to pay this deserved
tribute, however poor, to their memory.
The diary of a soldier of the Twenty-ninth Regiment,[46] who was
engaged in these battles, states that twenty-eight members of the
latter regiment were wounded in this campaign; but it does not give
their names, and the author has been unable to learn the names of only
those of his own company, as the records of neither the Twenty-ninth
nor Thirty-sixth regiments contain any information upon this point.
For several days after the battle of May 12, the Thirty-sixth Regiment
remained at the front, in the rifle-pits, almost constantly under fire.
The term of service of the members of companies I and B (Twenty-ninth
Regiment) expired on the 14th, and that of the others on the 22d.
On the afternoon of the 17th, Sergeant-Major George H. Morse of the
Twenty-ninth Regiment, who was serving with the transferred men,
proceeded to the headquarters of General Burnside, upon a pass signed
by the commanding officer of the Thirty-sixth Regiment, for the purpose
of laying before the General the facts in regard to the transferred
men, and obtaining from him an order for their discharge. Morse, who
was somewhat noted for his persistency as well as his personal bravery,
encountered great difficulty in obtaining an audience with General
Burnside. The Adjutant-General informed the Sergeant-Major that he
could not be permitted to see the General, and that his extraordinary
request could not then be granted; but Morse was not to be put off even
by a positive denial: he insisted upon seeing the General, painted
in strong colors and with eloquent words the wrongs of his comrades,
and finally so far excited the interest of the Adjutant-General in his
case, that he was admitted into the presence of the Commander. This
point gained, Morse was certain of success; the good-hearted General
listened with his customary patience to all the Sergeant-Major had to
say, and then taking his pen, wrote an order directing that these men
be immediately relieved from duty, and coupled the order with a pass to
Washington. Proud of his triumph, Morse proceeded to the lines, took
charge of the men, and immediately started with them for Belle Plain
Landing.
The thirty days of furlough were gone before the re-enlisted men fully
realized it. On the 16th of May, the Twenty-ninth Regiment was summoned
to the front. The tattered old flags, having on their folds the battle
record of the regiment, written by shot and shell, were turned over to
the State authorities, and replaced by new ones, bearing in bright,
golden letters the same proud inscriptions.
On the 18th, the regiment reached Washington, and went into barracks;
on the following day, the transferred members of the regiment arrived
in the city from the front, meeting their old comrades, from whom
they had been separated for several months. This happy meeting was
wholly accidental, and the greetings which followed were therefore all
the more cordial. Since their sad parting in East Tennessee, their
experiences had been widely different; for while some were fresh from
their homes, others had just escaped from the tumult and carnage of the
battle-field. The recounting of the hardships of the campaign then in
progress, the recital of the thrilling incidents of these battles, the
sorrowful tidings brought back by the returning veterans of the loss
of this and that old brother, together with the painful certainty that
some of those now going to the field would in the course of a few days
be sleeping in soldiers’ graves, all operated to invest this meeting
with an air of strange sadness, and to inspire in those who engaged
in it the deepest feelings of fraternal love. On the morning of the
20th, the boys were compelled to separate, the regiment having received
orders to march.
According to a roll prepared by Sergeant-Major Morse, the transferred
men under his charge numbered eighty-three; namely, seven members of
Company A, four of Company B, sixteen of Company C, eighteen of Company
D, nine of Company E, one of Company G, three of Company H, one of
Company I, and twenty-four of Company K. If this roll is correct, and
the author has no reason to doubt it, then including: Morse and the
seven who were killed at the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, it appears
that ninety-one members of the Twenty-ninth actually served with the
Thirty-sixth Regiment in this campaign. But this does not include all
of the men who were actually transferred, as some of them were absent
in hospitals and on special duty at the time of the transfer, and
never joined the Thirty-sixth Regiment. The order of General Burnside
directed that these men should proceed to Washington, there to be
mustered out and paid; but not having been furnished with descriptive
lists by the commanders of companies in the Thirty-sixth Regiment, it
became impossible to properly execute this order. Encountering this
difficulty, Sergeant-Major Morse applied to the Secretary of War,
who, upon a representation of the facts, issued an order directing
Morse to proceed to Boston with his men, and directing Major Clark, U.
S. A., there stationed, to muster out and pay Morse and the members
of his command. The squad arrived in Boston, May 23, but, upon the
presentation of the order, Major Clark declined to comply with it, for
the reason that the men were without descriptive lists, and it was
therefore impossible to determine what amount was due them. The men
were, however, dismissed, and allowed to return to their homes, when,
after the expiration of several weeks, descriptive lists having been
patched up, with the assistance of the officers of the Twenty-ninth
Regiment, these worthy soldiers, who had had so little difficulty
in entering the service, but so great trouble in leaving it, were
finally mustered out and paid. They were among the best soldiers of the
Twenty-ninth, and are deserving of a full share of its honors.
On the 20th of May, the Twenty-ninth Regiment took a government
transport at Washington, and went down the Potomac, arriving at Belle
Plain on the afternoon of the same day.
The regiment had recruited but little during its stay in
Massachusetts, and having been greatly reduced in strength by a variety
of causes, some of which have already been named, the number of
commissioned officers was now greatly out of proportion to the number
of its enlisted men, and in excess of that allowed by law. Accordingly,
on the 22d of May, several of the old officers whose terms expired that
day, were relieved of command, and left for Washington, there to be
honorably mustered out of the service.
Among these faithful soldiers was Captain Lebbeus Leach, then about
sixty-three years of age, whose hair was white as “the driven snow.”
The loss of his companionship was deeply felt by those who remained
to share still longer the fortunes of the regiment. In every place of
peril, he had stood like a rock, chiding, by his manner, rather than
words, all faintheartedness, and setting an example of bravery that
never failed to animate all about him. The sort of stoical indifference
which this old man manifested, not only towards danger, but extreme
physical suffering, was remarkable, and has been often spoken of by his
comrades.
Captain Samuel H. Doten, who left the regiment a little later, May
30, with the deserved brevet of Major, was another soldier of the
Puritan type, and was fifty-one years old at the time of leaving the
service. He was a man of strong religious convictions, and impressed
all his comrades with a sense of his candor; his natural dignity and
self-respect won for him that treatment which these qualities always
secure, and he left the army deeply beloved by all who had enjoyed his
acquaintance and friendship.
The departure of these and other officers furnished another occasion
for sorrowful farewells, and was another breaking-up of old army
associations,--relations that were sacredly cherished, as they had been
formed amidst scenes of danger and suffering.
A provisional brigade of five regiments, among which was the
Forty-sixth New York, the old friends of the Twenty-ninth, was formed
from among the fresh arrivals at Belle Plain, and placed under the
command of Brigadier-General Lockwood. On the 23d of May, these troops
broke camp and marched to Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, and went
into camp.
May 24. Crossed the Rappahannock on pontoons; took the “Bowling Green”
road, and went into camp at one o’clock in the afternoon.
May 25. Moved at four in the morning, and halted for dinner at Bowling
Green. Crossed the Mattapony River; marched through General Ferrero’s
division of colored troops, into camp.
May 26. In camp all day. Rained during the night. In the midst of the
night, the camp was alarmed, and the Twenty-ninth was sent out to
reconnoitre, the men realizing that they were again soldiers in the
field; the alarm proved to be unfounded.
May 27. The Brigade moved through a beautiful section of the country,
and camped near Penola Station.
May 28. Passed through Aylettstown and camped near a place rejoicing in
the euphonious name of “Cat-tail Church.”
May 29. Came up with the Army of the Potomac after crossing the
Pamunkey River, and bivouacked in a field with other troops. The army
of General Grant was then moving away from the North Anna River, and
the enemy being in his immediate front, skirmishing was of daily and
almost hourly occurrence.
May 30. The regiment was assigned to the Fifth Corps, First Division,
Third Brigade, and the fact, that, upon being assigned to this corps,
it should retain the same numbers, having been in the First Division
and Third Brigade of the Ninth Corps, seemed a little strange. Both
officers and men were, however, alike disappointed at this assignment,
it having been their expectation to return to the old Ninth, with whose
history their own was singularly identified.
On the first day of June, the whole line moved forward. The
Twenty-ninth Regiment was ordered to send out one hundred men on the
skirmish line, and Captain Thomas W. Clarke was placed in command
of this force, which formed the extreme right of the corps line of
skirmishers. On the immediate right of the line was a dense growth of
woods and a morass, which the staff-officer who directed the movement
said were “impassable”; but Clarke, who, during his three years’
service, had acquired a familiarity with the enemy’s ways of fighting,
was not satisfied with the staff-officer’s statement; there was a
certain ominous silence about the dark woods especially, that greatly
excited the Captain’s suspicions. His right was wholly unconnected
with other troops, and his men too few to justify him in extending
his line into the forest; if the enemy were lurking there, as he had
reason to believe, his men were in imminent danger of being flanked,
and he accordingly despatched an officer and squad of men to examine
the place. The squad had scarcely entered the woods when the enemy
commenced a violent attack all along the corps front, and at the same
moment a large body of them came pouring out of the “impassable” woods,
in the very faces of our men who had invaded their hiding-place. But
for the starting into the woods of the squad, who could at best only
give the alarm, the one hundred skirmishers would have been lost,
and this result might have been attended with serious consequences
to the whole line. As it was, an immediate and rapid retrograde
movement became necessary, with a change of front, to prevent the
enemy from moving directly to the rear of our line. The position of
our men was both awkward and perilous, but they proved themselves
equal to the emergency; changing front with great rapidity, they then
fell back to the main line, firing deliberately as they did so, but
suffering considerable loss. This movement resulted in a severe general
engagement. The regiment formed in line at the breastworks, next the
Eighteenth Massachusetts, and became hotly engaged, expending nearly
all its ammunition. Toward night, the enemy were driven back, when the
skirmish line was re-established and properly protected on the right.
Considering the exposed situation of our hundred men, it is remarkable
that their loss was not greater.
The death of private John C. Lambert of Company C was a shocking
affair; he was wounded in the legs while in the edge of the woods,
and left in that position by his comrades, who had no opportunity to
remove him. Later in the day, the woods were set on fire, probably by
exploding shell, and the poor fellow actually burned to death, his
crisped and lifeless body being found by his comrades after the battle.
Captain George H. Taylor and First Lieutenant George H. Long,[47]
both of whom behaved themselves with great gallantry, were severely
wounded. Martin Jefferson of Company F, and Charles Drake and Henry A.
Osborne of Company C, were captured; and the following enlisted men
were wounded: Sergeants Richard Harney of Company A, and Francis J.
Cole of Company K; Privates Thomas Hawes and Charles Bassett of Company
A; Thomas Manning and John Connolly of Company B; John A. Holmes of
Company C; Perez Eldridge of Company D; and Abram Hascall of Company F.
Captain Taylor, though unfit for duty for some time, returned to the
regiment, and served till it was mustered out, in 1865. The battle of
this day has been called the battle of Bethesda Church.
June 2. About four in the afternoon, the regiment moved to the rear,
the corps being engaged in a flank movement to the left. The enemy made
a desperate attack upon our division during a severe rain-storm late in
the day, and while the division was in a very disadvantageous position.
Nothing save “the magnificent fighting” of the Regulars prevented
serious disaster; they checked the enemy in his headlong charge, until
the First Division could get into position in the rear. The Regulars
then fell back in good order upon the division line, followed hotly by
the enemy, who were met by a destructive fire, and after a long, hard
fight, were repulsed with loss. The one hundred skirmishers of the
Twenty-ninth were relieved at the front by a good Pennsylvania regiment
of about two hundred men, which lost in this battle nearly half its
number; showing how severe was the engagement, and how exposed the
situation in which our comrades had been placed only the day before.
June 3. A welcome order from the headquarters of the Army of the
Potomac transferred the Twenty-ninth Regiment from the Fifth to the
Ninth Corps, and the regiment reported to General Burnside in the
afternoon. On this day was fought the terrible battle of Cold Harbor,
in which the Ninth Corps bore the brunt of the battle on the right,
losing in the engagement over one thousand killed and wounded. Owing
to the lateness of the hour on which the order of transfer reached the
regiment, it did not arrive at Burnside’s lines in season to take a
very active part in the battle; but it moved promptly, however, and lay
in support behind some old breastworks. One of our batteries, which
was posted in the rear of these works, engaged in shelling the enemy,
wounded Lawrence T. Chickey and Conrad Homan of Company A. Sergeant
Samuel C. Wright of Company E was also wounded here by a rifle-shot
from the enemy’s lines.
June 4. The enemy moved from our corps front, and the corps moved to
the left along the rear of the army.
June 5. The corps moved in the afternoon and threw up breastworks.
There was some hard fighting on the left, but the regiment did not
become engaged.
June 6. The enemy opened a sharp fire on the corps front, but the men
being well covered, no harm resulted.
June 7. Flag of truce to bury our dead in front of the Eighteenth Corps.
June 8. The Brigade relieved a brigade of the Second Division on
outpost.
June 10. The regiment went out on the picket line.
June 11. On picket. All quiet.
June 12. The corps left its lines and marched rapidly all day and all
night.
June 13. Moved along the south side of the Chickahominy, making a rapid
march, and went into camp at eleven o’clock in the night, at Jones’s
Bridge.
June 14. Passed Providence Forge, crossed the Chickahominy River in the
forenoon, and bivouacked at Charles City Court-house.
June 15. At about half-past ten o’clock in the night, the regiment
crossed the James River on a pontoon bridge, and marched the remainder
of the night.
June 16. Marched till six o’clock in the afternoon, when the regiment
reached the lines in front of Petersburg, and formed the third line of
battle in the woods, under a fire of both musketry and artillery. The
march since the night of the 15th had been terribly severe; the roads
were dusty, and during the day the mercury had stood at nearly 100°.
Many men of the regiment--and of all the regiments--had been left on
the road in an exhausted condition, so that when our lines were formed
on the night of this day, the corps was but a skeleton compared with
its former strength. An attack having been determined upon, orders were
given to assault the enemy’s works early the following morning. General
Potter’s division was selected to lead the assault.
June 17. At the first blush of day, the charge was made; the enemy’s
lines were rapidly swept for nearly two miles, and four pieces of
artillery, with their caissons and horses, a stand of colors, fifteen
hundred stands of small arms, a quantity of ammunition, and six hundred
prisoners, were captured.[48]
At daylight, the regiment and its brigade moved up, under a severe
fire, and occupied one of the works that had just been captured by
Potter’s men. Affairs remained in this condition till afternoon,
when General Willcox made an attack, but he was repulsed with heavy
loss. Shortly after this repulse on the right, and quite late in the
afternoon, the division (General Ledlie’s) was moved forward into a
ravine, where it was protected from the fire of the enemy. Colonel
Barnes was placed in command of the Second Brigade, in which was the
Twenty-ninth, with Captain Clarke as his Assistant Adjutant-General,
while the regiment was commanded by Major Chipman. Colonel Barnes was
told by General Ledlie, that the division was to assault the enemy’s
works directly in its front, the First and Second brigades to charge
in line of battle, and the Third Brigade to act as a support. The
officers and men of the two brigades then crept up out of the ravine
towards the enemy,--who were well entrenched and lay behind their
works,--and formed one long line of battle, all lying flat upon the
ground, waiting for the order to spring to their feet and dash forward.
At this moment, an aid of General Ledlie’s crept out of the ravine, and
approaching Colonel Gould of the Fifty-ninth Massachusetts, commanding
the First Brigade, beckoned Colonel Barnes to him, and then stated
to the two colonels, “in plain language,” that the proposed assault
had been abandoned; that the men were to remain in their present
positions till dark, when they would be retired into the ravine from
whence they started. The two brigade commanders, Gould and Barnes,
upon the reception of the above order, at once called to them their
respective regimental commanders and communicated these instructions,
and the latter crept back to their regiments and gave them to their
men. The order not to advance was received with much satisfaction,
for all realized fully the desperate nature of the undertaking. But
the order had hardly been imparted to the troops, when suddenly there
came an imperative order from General Ledlie to advance instantly. No
time could be given for explanation; the order, “Forward!” was shouted
along the line, and the men with cheers started on a rapid run. They
had scarcely emerged upon the open plain, when the whole crest of the
Confederate works was fringed with fire and smoke; grape, canister,
and musket-balls filled the air. The first fire staggered the whole
line, but for a short distance it struggled on, when without absolutely
breaking, suddenly both brigades, as by one impulse, fell rapidly
back. As the line was retiring, the Third Brigade, not having changed
its position, rose up with cheers and moved forward. This checked the
backward movement, and the three brigades, in one confused mass, with
terrific shouts and yells, dashed over the field and into the enemy’s
first line of works and captured them. The division had lost heavily
in this action, and darkness soon coming on, all further offensive
movements here ended.
Instances of great courage and individual daring are rarely wanting in
a battle; but an exhibition of almost sublime courage, which occurred
in this engagement, cannot with justice to the living and the dead be
passed by in silence. Color-Sergeant John A. Tighe of Company K had
permission from his officers to remain at his home in East Boston for
a few days after the departure of the regiment. During the absence of
Tighe, Sergeant Silas N. Grosvenor, Company C of East Bridgewater, had
carried the national colors. As the regiment was preparing to move out
of the ravine to charge the bristling works of the enemy, Tighe, who
had just that moment reached the front, fresh from home, came up, and
being color-bearer of the regiment, demanded of Grosvenor the flag.
Grosvenor had carried the colors during all the long marches from Belle
Plain to Petersburg, and being a high-spirited soldier, declined to
give them up right on the eve of a battle, and thereupon a contention
arose between the two brave men as to which should perform that most
perilous service. Major Chipman, who was only holding temporary command
of the regiment, as an act of courtesy, referred the matter to Colonel
Barnes, who was near at hand. The decision was, that Grosvenor should
carry the colors during the battle.
The regiment moved out upon the field; at the first fire, a musket-ball
pierced the brain of the valorous Grosvenor, and he fell a bleeding
corpse upon the ground. The colors had scarcely touched the earth
before the hands of Tighe, who was in the color-guard, grasped the
staff, and, proud of his soldier-trust, shook them defiantly towards
the foe. His exultation was short-lived, for in a moment more another
well-aimed ball laid low in death the heroic bearer. Again the flag
went down, but only for an instant, for immediately it was seized by
Sergeant-Major William F. Willis of Charlestown. A short advance in
the hurry and tumult, and a third shot brought both flag and bearer
to the ground. Now the line faltered and went backward, and the
gallant old regiment for the first and only time in its history left
the battle-field without its flag, but in the terrible confusion of
the moment the loss was not discovered. When the fact became known,
a minute later, a loud cry arose through the ranks, “We’ve lost our
flag!” “We’ve lost our flag!” It was at this critical juncture that
Major Chipman called for volunteers to rescue the colors; Corporal
Nathaniel Burgess, Company E of Plymouth, and Private Patrick Muldoon,
Company A of Boston,[49] quickly responded, and the second brave trio
dashed out of the line and over the field, under the fire of a thousand
muskets. The prostrate flag was seen just before them. But can they
ever reach it? It is said that the enemy, filled with admiration for
the daring of our men, perceptibly slackened their fire, and when the
little squad bore off the flag in triumph, mingled their generous
cheers with those of our own men.
The hands of poor Willis were found clutching the staff so firmly, that
his comrades, who saved the flag he died to honor, were obliged to pry
open his fingers in order to loosen his death-grasp, while the folds of
the silken banner completely enveloped his body.
The conduct of Major Chipman and his comrades, which was witnessed
by a large number of troops, caused them to be very conspicuous for
their bravery; while Corporal Burgess, who actually bore off the flag
from the field, for the part he took in the affair, was made a first
lieutenant as soon as a vacancy occurred. The colors were found to be
badly shot, and the staff broken in two places.
Captain Clarke, of whose good conduct the author has several times
before had occasion to speak, was in the thickest of this fight, and
was untiring in his efforts not only to urge, but to lead on the men.
As the line fell back and melted away under the terrible fire from
the batteries, Colonel Barnes, as commander of the Second Brigade,
suddenly found himself at the front, without troops. It was at this
critical moment that Clarke’s bravery shone out so brightly. Observing
the perilous situation of his commander, he hastened to his side, to
share with him the dangers and responsibilities of his position. “The
supports will move forward, and we shall be all right yet,” was his
confident remark. True enough, the supports did move, but not too soon
to save the day.
A little more than three years before this day, these two officers, as
Captains of companies A and K, both of Boston, were prominently engaged
at Great Bethel, the first pitched battle of the Rebellion; and here,
after all the vicissitudes of war, and a service peculiarly eventful,
as Brigade Commander and Adjutant-General, they stood together on
one of the bloodiest battle-fields of Virginia,--a field made famous
alike by the valor of our soldiers and the revolutionary memories that
clustered around the historic day.
The regiment went into this action with less than one hundred men,
and suffered a loss of twenty-nine officers and men killed and
wounded,--about one-third of its number. The following is a list of the
casualties:--
KILLED.
First Sergeant SILAS N. GROSVENOR, Company C.
Color Sergeant JOHN A. TIGHE, Company K.
Sergeant and Acting Sergeant-Major WILLIAM F. WILLIS
and Corporal RICHARD GURNEY, Company H.
Privates JOHN C. STEWART and MARTIN MINTON,
Company B.
WOUNDED.
First Lieutenant GEORGE W. POPE, Company G, mortally.
First Lieutenant CHARLES A. CARPENTER, Company H.
First Sergeant JOHN LUCAS, Company B, badly in wrist.
Sergeant H. B. TITUS, Company G.
Sergeant JOHN H. HANCOCK, Company H, arm shot off.
Corporal JOHN M. THOMPSON, Company B, both legs
broken, and afterwards died.
Corporal WILLIAM H. TINDAL and Musician JAMES
LIFFIN,[50] Company F.
Privates THOMAS W. CASHMAN, Company A; EMERY
HODGKINS, Company B; WILLIAM H. BURNS, JOSEPH
W. GLASS, NAPOLEON MASON, JOHN HARVEY,
TIMOTHY HAYES, and GEORGE F. BROWNE, Company
F; DANIEL WHITMORE, RICHARD OWEN, PHILIP
A. LAWALL, WARREN CROWELL, and EDWARD
CARNEY, Company G; WILLIAM JONES, Company H; and
WILLIAM H. HOWE, Company K.
It is said on good authority, that every third man in the attacking
column was either killed or wounded, a fact that shows how sanguinary
was the battle.