_The Army again on the Move--Pack Mules and Wagon Trains--A Negro
Prophetess--The Wilderness--Hooped Skirts and Black Jack--The Five Days'
Fight at Chancellorsville--Terrible Death of an Aged Slave--A
Pigeon-hole General's "Power in Reserve."_
It was some weeks after a Rebel Picket, opposite Falmouth, had surprised
one of our own, who had not as yet heard of the change in the usual
three days' provender for a march, by asking him across the river
"whether his eight days' rations were mouldy yet?" that the army
actually commenced its movement. While awaiting the word to fall in,
this mass of humanity literally loaded with army bread and ammunition
resembled, save in uniformity, those unfortunate beings burdened with
bundles of woe, so strikingly portrayed in the Vision of Mirza. To the
credit of the men, it must be stated, however, that the greatest
good-humor prevailed in this effort to render the army self-sustaining
in a country that could not sustain itself.
Another novel feature in the movement was the long strings of pack
mules, heavily freighted with ammunition, which were led in the rear of
the different Brigades. Wagon trains were thereby dispensed with, and
the mobility of the army greatly increased. Stringent orders were
issued also as to the reduction of baggage, and dispensing with camp
equipage and cooking utensils.
In lively ranks, although each man was freighted with the prescribed
eight days' provender and sixty rounds of ball cartridge, our Division,
of almost 9,000 men, moved, followed by two ambulances to pick up those
who might fall by the way, in the rear of which were five additional
ambulances for the especial use of Division Head-quarters. For a General
of whom reporters had said that "he was most at home in the field," the
supply of ambulances, full of creature comforts, was unusually heavy. On
we moved over the familiar ground of the Warrenton Pike, in common with
several other Army Corps in a grand march; our Division, with its two
ambulances; our General with his five,--and our proportionate number of
pack horses and mules. The obstinacy of the latter animal was sorely
punished by the apparent effort during that march to teach it perpetual
motion. Halt the Division did statedly, but there was no rest for the
poor mule. Experience had taught its driver that the beast would take
advantage of the halt to lie down, and when once down no amount of
tugging and swearing and clubbing could induce it to rise. Hence, while
the command would enjoy their stated halts by the wayside, these strings
of mules would be led or driven in continuous circles of steady toil.
Despite the vigilance of their drivers, a mule would occasionally drop,
and his companions speedily follow, to stand a siege of kicks, cuffs,
and bayonet pricks, and to be reduced, or what would be more appropriate
in their case, raised at length by the application of a mud plaster to
the nostrils, which would bring the beast up in an effort to breathe
freely; from which may arise the slang phrase of "bringing it up a
snorting."
Onward they marched, those wearers of the cross, the square, the circle,
the crescent, the star, the lozenge, and the tripod; emblemed
representatives of the interests of a common humanity in the triumphal
march that the world is witness to, of the progress of Universal
Emancipation. Landed aristocracies of the Old World may avow their
affinity to the aristocracy of human flesh and blood that has so long
cursed the New; but now that the suicidal hand of the latter has caused
the forfeit of its existence, we are the centre of the hopes, fears, and
prayers of the universal brotherhood of man in the effort to blot out
for ever the only foul spot upon our national escutcheon.
* * * * *
"De Lor bress ye. I know yez all. Yez, Uncle Samuel's children. Long
looked for come at las," said an old wench on the second day of our
march, enthusiastically to the advanced ranks of our Division, as they
wound around the hill in sight of Mt. Holly Church, on the main road to
Kelly's Ford, curtesying and gesturing all the while with her right
hand, as if offering welcome, while with her left she steadied on her
head the cast-away cover of a Dutch oven. A pair of half-worn army shoes
covered her feet, and the folds of her tow gown were compressed about
the waist, beneath a black leathern belt, the brass plate of which
bearing the letters "U. S.," wore a conspicuous polish.
"Massa over yonder," continued she, in response to a query from the
ranks, pointing as she spoke across the river. "Hope you cotch him.
Golly he'um slyer than a possum in a hen-roost."
The anxiety of the wench for the capture of her master, and her
statement of a pre-knowledge of the visit of the troops, were by no
means exceptional. Rarely indeed, in the history of the Rebellion, has
devotion on the part of the slave to the interest of the master been
discovered. The vaunted fealty that would make his cause their own,
lacks practical illustration. An attempt to arm them will save recruits
and arms to Uncle Sam. Nat Turner's insurrection developed their strong
faith in a day of freedom. Their wildest dreams of fancy could not have
pictured a more auspicious prelude to the realization of that faith than
the outbreak of the Rebellion. Well might
"Massa tink it day ob doom,
But we ob Jubilee."
The face of the country at this point was adorned by the most beautiful
variety of hill and dale. Compared with the region about Aquia, it had
been but little touched by the ravages of war. When it shall have been
wholly reclaimed under a banner, then to be emphatically "the Banner of
the Free," an inviting door will open to enterprising business.
A few miles further on we rested on our arms upon the summit of a ridge
overlooking that portion of the Upper Rappahannock known as Kelly's
Ford. The brilliant cavalry engagement of a few weeks previously, that
occurred upon the level ground in full view above the Ford, invested it
with peculiar interest. Who ever saw a dead cavalryman? was a question
that had been for a long time uttered as a standing joke. Hooker's
advent to command was attended by a sharp and stirring order that
speedily brought this arm of the service to a proper sense of duty.
Among the first fruits of the order was this creditable fight. While no
excuse can be given for the slovenly and ungainly riding, rusty sabres,
and dirty accoutrements, raw-boned and uncurried horses that had too
often made many of our cavalry regiments appear like a body of Sancho
Panzas thrown loosely together; it would still be exceedingly unfair to
have required as much of them as of the educated horsemen and superior
horseflesh that gave the Rebel cavalry their efficiency in the early
stages of the war. Since then the scales have turned. Frequent
successful raids and resistless charges have given the courage, skill,
and dash of our Gregg, Buford, Kilpatrick, Grierson, and others that
might be named, honorable mention at every loyal fireside.
While on the top of this ridge, Rush's regiment of lancers, with lances
in rest and pennons gaily fluttering beneath the spear heads, cantered
past the regiment. Their strange equipment gave an oriental appearance
to the columns moving toward the ford. With straining eyes we followed
their movement up the river and junction with the cavalry then crossing
at a ford above the pontoons. The Regiment had been almost continually
broken up for detached service, at different head-quarters, or for the
purpose of halting stragglers. With many of the men, their service
appeared like their equipment, ornamental rather than useful, and in
connexion with their foraging reputation, won for them the expressive
designation of "Pig Stickers."
Darkness was just setting in when our turn came upon the pontoon bridge,
and it was quite dark when we prepared ourselves, in a pelting rain, for
rest for the night, as we thought, in a meadow half a mile distant from
the road. At midnight, in mud and rain, we resumed the march, in convoy
of a pontoon train, and over a by-road which from the manner its
primitive rock was revealed, must have been unused for years. The
streams forded during that night of sleepless toil, the enjoined
silence, broken only by the sloppy shuffle of shoes half filled with
water, and the creaking wagons, the provoking halts that would tempt the
eyes to a slumber that would be broken immediately by the resumption of
the forward movement, have left ineffaceable memories. A somewhat
pedantic order of "Accelerate the speed of your command, Colonel," given
by our General of Division, as the head of the Regiment neared his
presence towards morning, reminded us of the "long and rapid march" that
the Commander-in-Chief intended the army to make.
On the last day of April we crossed the Rapidan, fording its breast-deep
current, considered too strong for the pontoons, and wondering,
especially as the cannonading of the evening previous indicated
resistance ahead, that our advance was not at this point impeded.
Artillery planted upon the circling hills of the opposite shore would
have made the passage, if even practicable, perilous to the last degree.
As it was, however, _in puris naturalibus_, with cartridge-box on the
musket barrel, and the musket on the shoulder, clothing in many
instances bundled upon the head, the troops made the passage. The whys
and the wherefores of no opposition--the confidence of Old Joe having
stolen a march upon Johnny Reb--and the usual surmises of the
morrow--increased in this instance by our having surprised and captured
some Rebel pickets when just about halting, constituted ample capital
for conversation during our night's rest in a pine grove two miles south
of the ford.
With the Army of the Potomac the merry month of May had a lively
opening. After a march from early dawn, we found our Division, about the
middle of the forenoon, massed in a thick wood in the rear of a large
and imposing brick building, which, with one or two buildings of minor
importance, constituted what was designated upon our pocket maps as the
town of Chancellorsville. The region of country was most appropriately
styled "The Wilderness." A wilderness indeed, of tall oaks, and a dense
undergrowth known as "black-jack." There were but few open places or
improved spots. In one of the largest of these, at a point where two
prominent roads forked, stood the large building above mentioned. The
day previous General Lee and his staff had been hospitably entertained
within its walls. Now our fine-looking Commander and his gay and gallant
staff were busily engaged in its lower rooms, while the ladies of the
house of Secesh sympathies kept themselves closely in the upper
story,--their curiosity tempting them however, to occasional peeps from
half-opened shutters at the blue coats below.
At twelve, precisely, just as we had taken a position in the open ground
abreast of the house, the sharp report of a rifled piece, followed
quickly by the fainter explosion of a shell, was heard upon our left.
Another and another succeeded,--indicating that the wood was being
shelled preparatory to an advance in that direction. Slowly we filed to
the left, proceeding by a narrow winding wood-road until the head of our
column had almost reached the river. A sudden order at this stage for
the right about created considerable surprise, which ceased shortly
after, as the sharp rattle of musketry, now as if picket firing, and now
swelling into a volleyed roar, told us of a Rebel movement upon our
flank. That our advance upon them in that direction had been quite
unexpected, was apparent from their hastily abandoned camp grounds; rows
of tents left standing, but slit from ridge-pole to pins; abandoned
caissons and ammunition; and the tubs in which their rations of flour
were kneaded, with undried dough in the corners. That they had rallied
to regain their lost ground, was also apparent.
* * * * *
"What's the matter, Dinah?" shouted one of our boys to an active young
wench, who was wending her way from the direction of the firing as
rapidly as the frequent contact of an extensive hooped skirt with the
undergrowth would allow.
"Dunno zackly, massa! Don't like de racket at all down yonder," she
replied, making at the same time vigorous efforts to release the hold
some bushes appeared to have upon her, upon either side. A sudden roar
of artillery, apparently nearer by, brought matters to a crisis, and
screaming "Oh, Lor," she loosened her clothing, and sprang out of the
skirt with a celerity that showed the perfection of muscular
development, and won shouts of applause from the ranks.
* * * * *
A sharp engagement was in progress upon a lower and almost parallel
road. The roar of cannon, the explosion of shells, the rattle of
musketry,--now ragged as if from detached squads,--and now volleyed as
from full ranks, mingled with the shrill cheers or rather demoniac yells
of the Rebels, pealing their banner cry of "Hell," in their successive
charges, and the gruff hoarse shouts of our troops, as they duly
repulsed them, formed a most martial accompaniment to our march. The
unity of sound of well executed volleys, told us how Sykes's Regulars
attacked, whilst marching by the flank, halted at the word, faced to the
left with the precision of an ordinary drill, and delivered their fire
with murderous exactness.
A few stray bullets flying in the direction of a temporized corral of
pack-horses in a corner of the wood in the rear of the brick house,
frightened their cowardly drivers, who commenced a stampede to the rear;
and as we emerged from the road to our old position, the beasts were
rapidly divesting themselves of their packs, in their progress through
the undergrowth. In conjunction with this the frequent and fierce
charges of the Rebel massed columns, favored by the smoke of the burning
woods, made a panic imminent among the troops upon the lower road. The
quick eye of old Joe saw the danger in a moment, and rushing from the
house and springing upon his horse, he dashed down that road unattended,
his manly form the mark of many a rebel rifle. Shouts of applause
greeted him, and the continuous rattle of our musketry told us of the
regained confidence of the men, and the renewed steadiness of our line.
It was now four in the afternoon--the usual time with the Rebels for the
execution of their favorite movement--charging in massed columns. On
they came in their successive charges, howling like fiends, and with a
courage that would have adorned an honorable cause. The steady musketry,
but above all the terrific showers of canister from cannon that
thundered in doublets from right to left along the line of our
batteries, could not be withstood, and they fell back in confusion. The
nature of the ground did not permit an advance of our forces, and we
were compelled to rest content with their repulse. An hour later our
Division moved by still another road to the left, to a ridge in the
neighborhood of Banks's Ford. Upon its wooded summit, with no sound to
break in upon us save the screaming of whip-poor-wills, which the boys
with ready augury construed to mean "whip-'em-well," and picket firing,
that would occasionally appear to run along the line, we passed a
comfortable night.
Breastworks were the order of the day following, and at noon we were
enjoying our coffee in a cleared space, behind a ridge of logs and limbs
that fronted our entire Division, and which we would have been content
to hold against any attacking force. Cannonading continued at intervals,
with occasional musketry firing. As it was considerably to our right, we
were not disturbed in our enjoyment of supplies of provisions obtained
from vacated Rebel houses in the neighborhood. Our amusement was greatly
contributed to, by the sight of some of the men dressed in odd clothing
of a by-gone fashionable age. But perhaps the most interesting object
was a Text-book upon the Divinity of Slavery, written by a Reverend
Doctor Smith, for the use of schools; its marked lessons and dirty
dog-ears shewing that it had troubled the brains and thumbs of youthful
Rebels. Instilled into infant minds, and preached from their pulpits, we
need not wonder that they, with the heartless metaphysics of northern
sympathy, should consider slavery "an incalculable blessing," and should
now be in arms to vindicate their treason, its legitimate offspring.
Cannonading had been frequent during the day; its heavy booming at times
varied by the light rattle of the rifle. From four until eleven P. M. it
was a continuous roar, save about an hour's intermission between five
and six. At first sounding sullenly away to the right, then gradually
nearing, until at nightfall musketry and artillery appeared to volley
spitefully almost upon our Division limits. It was apparent that our
line had been broken, and apprehending the worst we anxiously stood at
arms and awaited the onward. Nearer and nearer the howling devils came;
louder and louder grew the sounds of conflict. The fiercest of fights
was raging evidently in the very centre of the ground chosen as our
stronghold. If ever the Army of the Potomac was to be demoralized by the
shock of battle, that was the time. But the feeling was not one of fear
with our citizen soldiery--the noblest type of manhood--rather of
eagerness for the troops in reserve to be called into the contest. Just
before six we heard an honest shout, as the boys would call the cheers
of their comrades. It grew fainter; the firing became more
distant--slackened and ceased at six, to be resumed again at seven, upon
another and more remote line of attack.
The terrible distinctness of this alternate howling and cheering--as
perceptible to the ear during the thunders of the fight, as the silver
lining that not unfrequently fringes the heavily-charged cloud is to the
eye,--is a striking illustration of the power of the human voice. We
were to have another, however, and that of but a single voice, which
from the agony of soul thrown into it, and its almost supernatural
surroundings, must eternally echo in memory.
About three hundred yards distant from the left of our Brigade line, in
an open field, on elevated ground, stood a large and comfortable
looking farm-house. In the morning it had been occupied; but as its
inmates saw our skirmishers prostrating themselves on the one side in
double lines that ran parallel to our breastworks, and the Rebel advance
at the same time attain the edge of the wood upon the opposite
side,--and the skirmishing that occasionally occurred along the lines
giving promise of a fight that might centre upon their premises,--they
packed up a few valuables and left for a place of safety. But not all.
We read of noble Romans offering their lives in defence of faithful
slaves. That species of self-sacrifice is a stranger to our Southern
chivalry. In the garret of the building, upon some rags, lay an old
woman, who had been crippled from injuries received by being scalded
some months before, and had thus closed a term of faithful service which
ran over fifty years, of the life of her present master and of that of
his father before him. Worn out, and useless for further toil, she had
been placed in the garret with other household rubbish. Her poor body
crippled,--but a casket, nevertheless, of an immortal soul,--was not one
of the valuables taken by the family upon their departure. As the
thunders of the thickening fight broke in upon her loneliness, her cries
upon the God of battles, alone powerful to save, could be heard with
great distinctness. Isolated and under the fire of either line, there
was no room for human relief. Her strength of voice appeared to grow
with the increasing darkness, and above the continuous thunder of the
cannon were the cries--"God Almighty, help me!" "Lord, save me!" "Have
mercy on me!" shrieked and groaned in all the varied tones of mortal
agony. Long after the firing had ceased, in fact until we moved at
early dawn, our men behind the works and in the rifle pits in front
could hear with greater or less distinctness, as if a death wail coming
up from the carnage of the field, the piteous plaints of that
terror-stricken soul. Rumor has it, that before the building was fired
by a shell in the middle of the following forenoon, her spirit had taken
its flight; but whether or not, it could not mitigate the retributive
justice to be measured out by that God over us all to whom vengeance
belongs, upon the heads of the ingrates who had left her to her fate.
We moved, as we have before mentioned, at early dawn on one of those
fair, bright Sabbath days so happily spoken of by "good old George
Herbert;" marching by the right flank along our works, with a hurried
step. It was between five and six when we neared the front,--passing on
our way out, hosts of stragglers and disorganized regiments of the
Eleventh Corps. They had suffered badly--some said, behaved badly--and
some said, posted in such a way that they could not but behave badly.
The merits of the case must remain for decisive history. Conceding
equally good generalship to both, it is not amiss to say, that what
happened under Howard might not have happened under Sigel. The desultory
firing along our changed front showed too plainly the ground we had lost
the day before. In the wood, alongside of the road fronting the right
centre of our line, our Regiment lay at arms,--listening to awfully
exaggerated stories from stragglers,--watching the posting of artillery
in our immediate front, the entry of Brigades into the wood upon our
left, and their exit under skilful artillery practice,--and now and then
dodging at the sound of the stray shells sent as return compliments from
Rebel batteries.
"Good-bye, Colonel; these brass-bull pups will roar bloody murder at
Johnny Reb to-day," said a fine-looking, whole-souled Lieutenant, in
command of an Ohio battery, pointing to his pieces with pride, as he
hurried by at a trot, to relieve a battery on our left centre.
Poor fellow! How blind we are to futurity! His pieces were scarcely in
position before a shell struck the caisson at which he was adjusting
fuses, and his head, picked up at the distance of a hundred yards, was
all that remained unshattered of his manly figure, after the explosion.
* * * * *
Files of wounded upon foot, full ambulances, and stretchers laden with
the more serious cases, passed us here.
* * * * *
"I am done for, fellows," said a slightly built, pale-faced sergeant,
resting upon his elbow, and pointing to his shattered side, as he was
carried by on a stretcher; "but stick to the old flag; it is bound to
win."
His passage along the line was greeted with cheers, that must have
sounded gratefully to ears fast closing to earthly sounds.
But why individualize? The heroism that may be told of such a day, is
but a drop compared with the thousand untold currents of unselfish
patriotism and high resolve that well up in the bosoms of our Union
soldiers. Not that daring deeds are not performed by Rebel ranks, but--
"True fortitude is seen in great exploits,
That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides;
All else is towering frenzy and distraction."
About nine in the forenoon, to the sound of lively musketry on our left,
our Brigade left in front, crossed the open space in front of the wood,
and in the rear of a white plastered farm-house. A narrow wood-road led
us into the wood, and filing to the left we connected with troops
already in line of battle. The position was hardly taken before the zip!
zip!! zip!!! of Minie balls informed us that we were objects of especial
interest to Rebel sharpshooters. In another minute flashes of flame and
puffs of smoke, that appeared to rise from among the dead foliage of the
wood--so closely did their Butternut clothing resemble leaves--revealed
a strong, well-formed, but prostrate Rebel line. The firing now became
general upon both sides. Fortunately our position was such that they
overshot us. Our men continued to aim low, and delivered an effective
fire. Three times they tried to rise preparatory to the charge, and were
as often thrown into confusion, and forced again upon the ground. For
nearly two long hours the rattling of musketry was incessant. Finally,
the Rebels made the discovery that the supply of ammunition was
exhausted upon the right, and the right itself unsupported. It, of
course, was the point to mass upon, and on they came in solid columns to
the charge, completely outflanking our right.
To hold the ground with our formation was simply impossible. The order
to retire was given; and facing by the rear rank--the Regiments
preserving their ranks as best they could in that thicket of black-jack,
and carrying their wounded,--among them our Major, shot through the
chest--made their way to the open space in rear of the wood. The colors
of our regiment were seized,--but the first Rebel hand upon them relaxed
from a death shot,--another was taken with the Regiment,--and the flag
brought off in triumph. So completely had they gained our flank that
our ranks became mixed with theirs, and nothing but the opportune fire
of our batteries prevented their taking away a Field Officer, who twice
escaped from their hands.
As our Brigade re-formed in the rear of the batteries, treble charges of
canister swept the woods of the Rebel ranks. We had suffered heavily,
but nothing in comparison to the destruction now visited upon the
Rebels. To complete the horrors of the day, the wood was suddenly fired,
evidently to cover their retreat, and the fire swept to the open space,
enveloping in flame and smoke the dead and wounded of both sides; and
all this at the very time when throughout the length and breadth of this
Christian land, thousands of churches were resonant with the words of
the Gospel of Peace. But "Woe be unto those by whom offences come."
"They have taken the sword, and must perish by the sword."
So completely were the Rebels masters of the only available fighting
ground that no further effort was made to advance our lines, and the
army stood strictly upon the defensive. The open space, in which stood
the Chancellorsville mansion, at this time a mass of smoking ruins, was
in their possession. At arms behind the breastworks we awaited the
onset; but although there was occasional firing, no general attack was
made during the remainder of the day. With the thanks of our Corps
Commander publicly given for services during the fight, our Brigade
rested at night, speculating upon which side the heavy firing told then
heard in the vicinity of Fredericksburg.
During the next day we were stationed as a Reserve upon the right, and
called to arms frequently during the day and night, when the Rebels
with their unearthly yells would tempt our artillery by charging upon
the works. On the day after we were moved to support the centre, and
kept continually at arms. In the afternoon a violent thunderstorm
raged--the dread artillery of Heaven teaching us humility by its
striking contrast to the counterfeit thunder of our cannon. Rain
generally follows heavy cannonading. All that afternoon and the greater
part of the night it fell in torrents. Cannonading in the direction of
Fredericksburg had ceased during the day. Sedgwick's disastrous movement
was not generally known,--but our wounded had all been sent off;--our
few wagon trains and our pack-horses had crossed,--and notwithstanding
the show of fight kept up in front, enough was seen to indicate that the
army was about to recross the Rappahannock.
Favored by the darkness, battery after battery was quietly withdrawn,
their respective Army Corps accompanying in Regiments of two abreast.
The movement was in painful contrast to the spirited order that gave
such a merry May-day to our hope upon the first of the month. In blouses
that smoked that wet night around camp fires kept up for the purpose of
misleading the enemy, our men stood discussing the orders, and the
counter-orders, and what had happened, and what might happen, from the
step. Hooker had credit for the successful execution of his part of the
programme. What was wrong below was conjecture then, and does not yet
appear to be certainly understood.
* * * * *
"Where is Old Pigey?" said one of a group of officers, suddenly turning
to a comrade, as they stood about one of their camp fires. "He has not
been near our Brigade during the day."
"No! nor near the other, except to damn it in such a style as to draw
down the rebuke of a superior officer," replied the man addressed.
"Follow me, if you desire to see how a 'cool, courageous man of
science,' one, whose face, as the Reporters say of him, 'indicates
tremendous power in reserve,' meets this crisis."
The two retired, and on a camp stool, with cloak wrapped closely about
him, in front of a fire whose bright blaze gave him enormous proportions
upon the dark background of pines, surrounded by his Staff, his hat more
pinched up and askew than usual, and receiving frequent consolation from
a long, black bottle, evidently his power in reserve upon this occasion,
the General was discovered in a pensive mood.
"Do you know," continued the officer, "that he reports, as a reason for
his absence to-day, that he did not consider it prudent to be near our
Brigade during the loading and firing exercise."
"The torturing of a guilty conscience," was the reply. "Our men, as true
soldiers, know but one enemy in the field."
* * * * *
At length, at two in the morning of the 6th of May, we cautiously
commenced our movement to the river. The dawn of a rainy day saw us
formed in line of battle, supporting artillery planted to protect the
crossing. About eight our turn came upon the swollen stream. The rain
pelted piteously as we ascended the steep slope of the opposite bank,
and after a day's march over roads resembling rivers of mud, we slept
away our sorrows under wet blankets, in the comfortable huts of our old
camp ground.