In the afternoon of the 28th of September we left this camp and marched
for Deep Bottom, arriving there in the early morning very tired and
sleepy. This was a hard march, so hard a one that when the Second Corps
made it on their return from Deep Bottom in August, General Hancock
considered it a very exhausting night march for troops to make that
were to attack in the morning. Night marches are particularly weary
ones. The monotony of plodding through silent darkness, hour after
hour, is as wearing to the men as is the distance.
It is rarely that a gleam of enjoyment illumines the dullness of such a
march; but as we plodded along through the darkness of this night and
were passing a half slumbering camp, the fires were low and the lights
were few, a voice rang out from it calling, "What regiment's that?" At
the answer "The Eleventh Maine," a wild yell came from the quiet camp,
dark forms rising from it in groups and companies, to shout in
stentorian volleys "Who stole the butter?" It was the 98th New York,
the regiment that sailed in the old Cahawba with us from Yorktown to
Morehead City, on which cruise the sutler of the 98th lost his never to
be recovered tubs of butter, and the question now waking the echoes of
the dark night was the one to which even a drum-head court-martial
failed to find the answer. The expedition we were a part of was
intended to surprise the Confederate works on the north side of the
river, where they were known to be thinly guarded. It was hoped that
our unexpected onslaught would not only force their covering lines,
such as the works before Deep Bottom and along Bailey's Creek and the
works centering on Fort Harrison, near Chapin's Bluff, but would enable
us to get possession of Fort Gilmer, of their main line too, really the
key to the position of Chapin's Bluff.
General Ord, now commanding the Eighteenth Corps, was in immediate
command of the expedition, consisting of all of the Tenth and
Eighteenth Corps that could be spared from the investing lines and of
Kautz's cavalry division. Ord was to cross the river from his Bermuda
Hundred front, crossing by a ponton bridge laid down at Aiken's in the
darkness of the night, we were marching through, was to gain the Varina
road, here abutting on the river, move up sharply in the early morning
and assail the enemy, taking such works as he could, at all events was
to prevent the enemy from crossing troops by the ponton bridge between
Drury's and Chapin's Bluffs, to attack Birney's Tenth Corps. Birney's
Tenth Corps was to cross the river at Deep Bottom in the early morning,
gain the New Market and Darbytown roads--lying beyond the Varina road
in the order named and running along the river and parallel with
it--the infantry to move along the New Market road with Kautz's cavalry
moving on their flank by the Darbytown road, the line to overrun the
Confederate outworks before Deep Bottom and sweep forward towards Fort
Gilmer's flank, while Ord attacked its front. We moved through Deep
Bottom, crushed the light force found before it and moved rapidly up
the New Market road, driving the enemy before us. Ord had followed the
river road and attacked so strongly with Burnham's brigade as to carry
all before him, capturing Fort Harrison with sixteen guns and a large
number of prisoners. General Burnham was killed in the assault on the
fort. General Ord then moved his forces to the right and left of Fort
Harrison, capturing two batteries of three guns each. He then
endeavored to sweep down from the captured intrenchments and take the
works on the river bank that covered the enemy's ponton bridge, but the
Confederate gunboats opening the attempt was unsuccessful.
General Ord was severely wounded in directing this movement, and
General Heckman took command of the Eighteenth Corps, but scattered his
brigades in the woods so that he could not concentrate them on Fort
Gilmer until it had been so heavily reenforced that he was repulsed
with a heavy loss. In the meantime, we of the Tenth Corps had captured
the enemy's outworks lying across the New Market and Darbytown roads,
and were making ready to move on his main line a little over a half
mile to their rear. General Grant was now on the ground. Sending our
division over to the Darbytown road, about a mile across from the New
Market one, to support Kautz, he directed Birney to move forward with
his other brigades. Then Ames' division and Brigadier-General William
Birney's colored brigade moved on Fort Gilmer by the New Market road,
but they were forced back by the grape and musketry when so close to
the works that some of the colored brigade jumped into the ditch and
tried to climb to the parapet of the fort by each other's shoulders.
We of Terry's Division were now pushing through the captured works,
Kautz on the right, all moving under a heavy fire and in momentary
expectation that the assault on Gilmer would be successful, when we
proposed to force our way into Richmond. So vigorously did we move
forward that when the announcement of the failure of the assault
reached us we were actually less than four miles from Richmond, and it
required rapid movement and severe fighting on our part to get out of
the precarious position our own sanguine advance had placed our
inadequate force in. Rejoining our line, light works were thrown up in
the night.
The next day was one of heavy skirmishing only, until the afternoon,
when a heavy force of the enemy assaulted Fort Harrison and were beaten
back three times before abandoning their attempt to recapture it.
General Stannard who so gallantly held the fort for us, lost his arm in
the second assault. While these north side operations where going on,
General Meade was moving on the left, partly to keep reenforcements
from the north side, where so much was hoped for, and partly to try to
gain ground on that flank. The results of his movements were desultory,
although rather in his favor. We held our now well intrenched position
on the north side of the James with only heavy skirmishing, while
threatening demonstrations were made by brigades of both sides from day
to day, but without a real collision until the 7th of October. The
right flank of our force on that side of the river--our brigade held
the extreme infantry position on that flank--was covered by Kautz's
cavalry. His position was across a swamp from us, on the Darbytown road
at the Confederate line of intrenchments we captured the 29th of
September. Here he had 1700 men and two batteries. So threatening was
this position that two divisions of Confederates moved out the night of
October 6th, and at sunrise of the 7th attacked on his front and his
right flank. He could not stand up against such an attack as this, and
in falling back through the swamp, by the narrow road crossing it,
found the rebel cavalry there before him. Leaving them his eight guns,
his men made desperate attempts to get under the wing of our division,
scouting through the woods in flying groups. About as soon as the roar
of the enemy's sudden attack on Kautz came to our ears the advance of
his broken cavalry squadrons came dashing through the woods on our
flank, riding recklessly through tearing brambles and matted copses.
Almost immediately our division left its intrenchments at the
double-quick for a position at about right angles to the one left,
quickly forming front to intercept the enemy's advancing force, now
closely following Kautz's flying men. But as the enemy swept through
the woods he fell on the heavy skirmish line we had thrown out, and
his immediate advance was halted until assaulting columns could be
formed. At last his heavy columns were ready for the assault and his
skirmishers began to press ours in an attempt to break them, their
columns hoping to get close to our line under cover of an advancing
skirmish line.
But our men were stubborn. I remember that Colonel Plaisted sent me
with orders to Lieutenant Dunbar, in command of the skirmishers of our
regiment. The fire was furious, and the lines lay close on each other,
it was a murderous one, but neither Dunbar nor his men were inclined to
yield an inch. "We can hold a line of battle" yelled one bold Yankee.
But they couldn't, for when the roar of the assault came rolling
through the dense woods in which the fight took place, we had to hold
the fire of our line until the flying skirmishers should get behind us,
in this way getting the shrieking, dingy lines of the enemy within
short rifle range before we opened on them. The grey lines pressed
forward through the hail storm of bullets our brigade was pouring on
them, when suddenly from our left broke out the volley roar of the
seven-shooters of the New Hampshire men. Seven volleys in one. Flesh
and blood could not stand such a cyclone of lead; and they stopped,
broke and fled, leaving the woods piled with their dead and dying. Just
as our victory was assured, reenforcements came up the road on the
double-quick, to protect our extreme right. Panting and exhausted as
they were with their efforts to reach us in time to be of service, they
had breath enough left to give hearty cheers for our stand-up victory.
We are particularly proud of this victory, as we won it without the
protecting works so necessary to break the headlong impetus of an
assaulting force, and in beating off the enemy's heavy charging columns
stood in about single rank, having to stretch our line to a length that
would oppose any flanking movement the enemy might combine with his
front attack. And curiously enough our right regiment, the 10th
Connecticut, just lapped the enemy's lines. I can see the 10th now as
it stood on our immediate right, every man of it fighting with
impetuous vigor to protect our flank, even its Chaplain, Henry Clay
Trumbull, vying with the rest of its officers in encouraging their men,
not only by his words but by flourishing a most unclerical looking
revolver. It was here that Chaplain Trumbull won the name of "Fighting
Chaplain" and high honors as he has since won in his chosen calling as
Editor of the _Sunday School Times_, I'll venture that he is prouder
of the title he received from the rank and file on that day of mortal
warfare than of any theological one his service in the spiritual army
has brought him. In this affair of the New Market Road, of D, its
Commander, Lieutenant Maxfield and Corporal Horace Whittier of the
Color Guard, were wounded.
The 13th of October our regiment was part of a force that moved out on
the Darbytown road on a reconnoissance in force. We found the enemy's
works of the most formidable character and strongly held. A brigade of
Ames' division assaulted a promising part of them, but was beaten back,
and a movement of ours made in conjunction with that of Ames, failed,
we falling back under a very heavy artillery and musketry fire. While
we lay in the woods before these inhospitable works, this storm of war
sweeping over us, the cooks of D, then John Day and Prince Dunifer,
appeared with camp kettles filled with hot coffee, and persisted in
serving it to the men in spite of the great danger they had to expose
themselves to in doing so. Cook Day, always excited in action, was none
the less so that he was running the risk he then was, and as some slow
member of the company lying flat upon the ground would fumble for his
tin cup as John stood over him, John's ire would boil till he would
shout in that stentorian voice of his, "Hurry up, hurry; do you want me
to be killed?" And so amusing was John's tribulations to Prince
Dunifer, walking behind John to carry the reserve kettle, that he
forgot all about his own danger in laughing at John. But neither John
nor Prince ever shirked a duty or a danger--both good cooks and good
fighters, John only excelling in the intensity with which he performed
every duty, whether it was to cook, fight or to run away. Who is more
worthy of honor than are these comrades? They followed our marching
column day after day, loaded with kettles, spades and provisions, at
every opportunity making hot coffee and taking it to the men on the
line of skirmish or battle; at night preparing a fiery bean hole in
which to bake their beans, standing guard all night if need be over the
simmering delicacies, that in the morning their men might have
something tangible for their belts to tighten over. And what welcome
did a rushing reenforcement meet with at some desperate moment of a
raging battle, equal to the one that used to greet old John Day as he
came plunging through the woods to our hungry, shivering line on some
gray morning, his broad shoulders sturdily bearing a yoke from which
depended kettles of steaming coffee and smoking beans. Of D, Private
Woodbury was the only man wounded on this expedition.
In the latter part of October, Grant pushed a strong force from the
left towards the South Side Railroad. In connection with the movement
we made one on the right.
Moving out at daylight of the 27th of October, we drove the enemy's
pickets in on the Darbytown and the Charles City roads, and moved
forward to threaten their works without intending to assault them.
While we were maneuvering before the works, General Weitzel, in command
of the Eighteenth Corps, was moving with that corps to turn the
Confederate left flank by pushing through White Oak Swamp and taking
possession of the unoccupied rebel works on the Williamsburgh and New
Bridge roads; then was to move on Richmond. But General Longstreet, now
in command of the Confederate forces on the north side of the James,
anticipated the movements so effectually that Weitzel found the
supposed-to-be unoccupied works so thoroughly occupied as to make his
attack on them a complete failure, he losing heavily in both men and
colors, each of his two attacking brigades losing three colors. About
the hour of the afternoon that Weitzel met with this defeat, we were
ordered to press our demonstrations and, if possible, to carry the
works. The attempts made to carry out this order were unsuccessful. We
had to lie on the ground in the rain that night to cover the retreat of
Weitzel's men, who wearily plodded back through the rain, mud and
darkness, not reaching a safe position in our rear until early morning.
We then moved back into our own works. On the 29th of October our
cavalry pickets were driven in from their position of observation on
Johnson's farm, the position that Kautz was driven from on the 7th of
the month. Anticipating an attack of the same sort as was the one we
then repelled, our division moved out across the intervening swamp
Kautz left his guns in. Reaching a position on the other side, we
formed a strong skirmish line and charged the captured picket works,
the enemy running from them as we neared them. Sergeant Brady of D was
wounded as we entered the now recaptured works. This was the last
engagement of the war on the north side of the James.