The night of the 7th of October we bivouacked on the ground of Chapin's
farm that we had fought for during the day, not thinking that we should
remain in nearly the same position until the Spring campaign opened.
But we did, first pitching our camp near the bivouac ground to move out
from on expeditions into the enemy's country, finally building our
winter quarters on the camp ground. But before the regiment went into
winter quarters the three years service its original members yet
remaining with the regiment had entered upon had ended, and the
preparations for the mustering out of those of them who had not
reenlisted were completed. And on the 2d day of November, after taking
leave of their old comrades, these freed veterans marched away from the
colors they had helped place in the front of many battles. Jubilant as
they undoubtedly were, happy in anticipation of the coming meeting with
loved ones, there was yet a visible tinge of sadness in their parting
from the old comrades to remain and endure the hardships and privations
they themselves would no more know. And those left behind with the
colors, though they sped their parting comrades with hearty good will,
could not help a faint heart sinking at the thought that perhaps before
they could march away to their homes the fate of hundreds they had
known might be theirs, and they too be lying in the shallow graves
hurrying burying parties can only spare the time to give the dead of a
battle field. But there was little time given the men remaining with
the colors for sentimental considerations. The day after their comrades
left for Maine, they in company with the 10th Connecticut, marched to
Deep Bottom and sailed from there to Fortress Monroe, where a
provisional division was forming to proceed to New York City for the
purpose of keeping the peace there during the pending Presidential
election. This division, consisting of the 11th Maine, the 6th, 7th and
10th Connecticut regiments, the 3d and 7th New Hampshire, the 13th
Indiana, 112th New York, Battery M, of the 1st U.S. Artillery and other
troops, was under the command of General Hawley, and sailed from
Fortress Monroe the 4th of November, the Eleventh being one of the
regiments on the steamer General Lyon.
Lieutenant Maxfield was in command of the Eleventh at this time, as he,
a reenlisted veteran, was the ranking officer with the regiment, so
many of its officers had been mustered out by the reason of the
expiration of their terms of service, or were detached on headquarters
service. Arriving in New York harbor the morning of the 6th of
November, on the morning of the 7th the troops landed at Fort Richmond,
on Staten Island, and went on board steamers which took them to points
along the river front of New York City. The 11th Maine, 3d New
Hampshire, 13th Indiana and 112th New York regiments and Battery M, of
the 1st U.S. Artillery, went on board the ferryboat Westfield and
proceeded to Pier 42, North River. The force lay there through the 8th
(election day), the 9th and 10th, and until the 11th, when the
authorities becoming satisfied that the knowledge of the short, sharp
fate rioting mobs would meet with at the hands of the grim veterans on
the river front, had secured a peaceful election period; the force
returned to Fort Richmond, and after a couple of days spent in this
stronghold, embarked the 14th (the Eleventh on the steamer North
Point), and put to sea that night. Arriving at Fortress Monroe, the
provisional division formation was discontinued and the regiments
proceeded each to its own camp ground, the Eleventh reaching its camp
ground on Chapin's Farm the 17th of November. In its camp, in charge of
the guard left to care for the regimental baggage, the regiment found
201 recruits to be distributed through its skeleton companies. The
strengthened Eleventh then proceeded to prepare its winter quarters.
The personnel and the organization of the regiment of the winter of
1865 were largely changed from what they were when the regiment first
landed at Bermuda Hundred. For the field and staff, it was now Colonel
Hill instead of Colonel Plaisted, Lieutenant-Colonel Baldwin instead of
Lieutenant-Colonel Spofford, Adjutant Fox had accepted a commission in
a regiment destined for adventurous service among the Indians of the
western frontier, and Chaplain Wells had gone to sow his pearls of
truth in a less porcine parish, and its companies were about as
completely changed. Take D for a fair example--Captain Mudgett was
still a prisoner; First Lieutenant Sellmer, who had been on detached
service at division headquarters for months, was promoted to the
Captaincy of Company B; Second Lieutenant Maxfield, who had been made
First Lieutenant of D when Lieutenant Sellmer was promoted, was now
made Captain of H, a rapid promotion but fairly won by his conspicuous
service in the campaign just ended, where he had shown marked executive
ability as commanding officer of D since the 2d of June, when he took
up the charge Captain Mudgett then laid down. Lieutenant Perkins, who
joined the company in July as Second Lieutenant, had been promoted to
First Lieutenant and was now the commanding officer of D. Of the
Sergeants of D in May, Bassett was dead, Blake was yet a prisoner,
Francis had been mustered out, Brady was First Lieutenant of Company I,
and the only one remaining with the company was Young, now its Second
Lieutenant, a deserved honor for the gallantry he had displayed in many
engagements, and for the fidelity with which he had served the company
as Acting First Sergeant in 1862, and again in 1863, and as Acting
First Sergeant and First Sergeant in 1864. Of the Corporals and
Privates making up the strength of D when it landed at Bermuda Hundred,
some had been killed, many had died of wounds, many more were too
disabled by wounds to reenter active service, and others had served
their full three years and had been mustered out. Although the Eleventh
Maine of the campaign of 1865 was largely different in material and
organization from that of 1864, yet the work it did in the assault on
Petersburgh and in the pursuit of Lee showed that the regiment was
still worthy of its honored name. The changes were not confined to the
regiment. A new brigade commander was given us in Colonel Dandy of the
100th New York, the ranking Colonel of the brigade now that Colonel
Plaisted had resigned, General Foster had become division commander,
and the corps was no longer the Tenth, but the Twenty-fourth, and in
command of General Gibbon, formerly a division commander of the Second
Corps, while the army of the James was now commanded by General Ord,
formerly of the Eighteenth Corps, which corps was now the Twenty-fifth.
The newly organized Twenty-fourth Army Corps was fortunate in its
composition of veteran troops, and in its commander a West Pointer with
a practical military experience since the opening of the war and always
in positions of responsibility, till his bravery and his devotion to
every duty devolving on him had won him the command of the corps.
Though a strict disciplinarian, and a stern man at need, as we soon
found, General Gibbon was a kindly man and with a bit of sentiment in
his make-up, for when he selected a heart as a badge for our new corps
he promulgated an order in which he said: "The symbol selected
testifies our affectionate regard for all our brave comrades, alike the
living and the dead, and our devotion to our sacred cause." True and
well said, every word touching a sympathetic chord, and for this
assurance that he was one with them in sympathy, hope and devotion, the
hearts of his men went out to the General, and from then on he could
look for unswerving fidelity from both officers and men. A happy
beginning for the new corps; contributing no little to the brilliancy
of its services in the short and glorious campaign of 1865, when it
assaulted and carried strongly entrenched and strongly held positions,
and marched day and night with a speed and endurance unequalled in the
history of the war, until it flung itself across Lee's path and
withstood the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia.
The winter of 1864-5 was passed by our men in the rude huts they
erected of logs, boards and canvas, getting height by digging a few
feet into the ground, sealing and flooring the sunken portion. These
huts were heated by sheet iron stoves, and were fitted up with
ingeniously contrived bunks and home-made furniture, so that the men
were very comfortable in them; the officers were really no more so in
their more commodious log houses with their chimneys fitted with fire
places. The duties of the winter were the usual military ones of drill,
fatigue, guard, and picket, supplemented by the carrying out of an
order to have the troops in line of battle every morning at from
shortly before daybreak until sunrise, that they might rush to the
parapets and repel any attempted surprise by the enemy, who were
doubtless standing in a shivering line behind their works as we were
behind ours, both lines with an identical fear. The picket duty, always
an uncomfortable one, was particularly so this winter from the extreme
cold--a remarkable thing for a Virginia winter--but by keeping great
log fires blazing on the reserve lines, and changing the outposts every
hour, there was little suffering, no more than the men were willing to
endure in consideration of the generous ration of whiskey served out to
the relieved pickets as soon as they reached their camps. Winter passed
and spring came, and with it the inspections and reviews that indicate
impending movement to experienced troops. Finally our corps was
reviewed by President Lincoln. It was the first and the last sight we
had of our beloved President. And for his sake we will ever have a kind
remembrance of the great field of dull green, with enveloping woods,
that the review was held in, and of the long steel-tipped lines of
troops, and of the gaily appareled cloud of officers galloping behind
the plainly dressed man, with the rugged, seamed, but kindly face,
whose long legs reached nearly to the ground from the rather short
legged horse he was astride of, Mrs. Lincoln rolling along in a
carriage behind the reviewing party.