E-text prepared by Ed Ferris
Transcriber's note:
Footnotes in the main text are at the end of each chapter.
19th-century spellings, in particular the use of double-l, have
been retained.
Chapter XI: "flag-ships" plural in original.
Chapter XII _et seq._: "St. Martinsville" corrected to
"St. Martinville"
Chapter XXI: "Brownville", Texas, corrected to "Brownsville".
Chapter XXXIV: the Grant in temporary command of Getty's division
is Brigadier-General Lewis Grant, not U. S. Grant as in the rest
of the book.
The following changes have been made in the Appendix:
Military ranks have been abbreviated.
Footnotes have been re-numbered and headings repeated by section
instead of page. The footnotes were all italics.
The box rules and period leaders have been removed from the Losses
in Battle tables and the headings "Officers" and "Enlisted men",
set vertically in the original, have been abbreviated "O" and "E".
Text has been extended across columns for legibility.
HISTORY OF THE NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS
by
RICHARD B. IRWIN
Formerly Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Volunteers,
Assistant Adjutant-General of the Corps and of the
Department of the Gulf
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York
27 West Twenty-Third Street
London
24 Bedford Street, Strand
The Knickerbocker Press
1892
Copyright, 1892
by
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
G. P. Putnam's Sons
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR LATE COMMANDER
MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM HEMSLEY EMORY
AND OF THE MANY COMRADES WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE
OF THEIR COUNTRY THIS HISTORY IS INSCRIBED BY THE SURVIVING MEMBERS
OF THE SOCIETY OF THE NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS
CONTENTS.
Chapter.
Introductory
I. New Orleans
II. The First Attempt on Vicksburg
III. Baton Rouge
IV. La Fourche
V. Banks in Command
VI. Organizing the Corps
VII. More Ways than One
VIII. Farragut Passes Port Hudson
IX. The Teche
X. Bisland
XI. Irish Bend
XII. Opelousas
XIII. Banks and Grant
XIV. Alexandria
XV. Back to Port Hudson
XVI. The Twenty-Seventh of May
XVII. The Fourteenth of June
XVIII. Unvexed to the Sea
XIX. Harrowing La Fourche
XX. In Summer Quarters
XXI. A Foothold in Texas
XXII. Winter Quarters
XXIII. The Red River
XXIV. Sabine Cross-Roads
XXV. Pleasant Hill
XXVI. Grand Ecore
XXVII. The Crossing of Cane River
XXVIII. The Dam
XXIX. Last Days in Louisiana
XXX. On the Potomac
XXXI. In the Shenandoah
XXXII. The Opequon
XXXIII. Fisher's Hill
XXXIV. Cedar Creek
XXXV. Victory and Home
Appendix:
Rosters
Losses in Battle
Officers Killed or Mortally Wounded
Port Hudson Forlorn Hope
Articles of Capitulation
Note on Early's Strength
Index
MAPS AND PLANS.
Map of Louisiana. Sheet I.
" " " " II.
" " " " III.
Battle Plan of Bisland, April 12-13, 1863
Battle Plan of Irish Bend, April 14, 1863
Battle Plan of Port Hudson
Map of Louisiana. Sheet IV.
Battle Plan of Sabine Cross-Roads, April 8, 1864. From General
Emory's Map
Battle Plan of Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864. From General Emory's
Map
Battle Plan of Cane River Crossing or Monett's Bluff, April 23,
1864. From General Emory's Map
The Red River Dam
Map of Shenandoah Valley Campaign. From Major W. F. Tiemann's
"History of the 159th New York"
Battle Plan of Opequon, September 19, 1864. From the Official Map,
1873
Battle Plan of Fisher's Hill, September 22, 1864. From the Official
Map
Battle Plan of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864. From the Official
Map of 1873
INTRODUCTORY
The history of the Nineteenth Army Corps, like that of by far the
greater number of the organizations of like character, in which
were arrayed the great armies of volunteers that took up arms to
maintain the Union, is properly the history of all the troops that
at any time belonged to the corps or served within its geographical
limits.
To be complete, then, the narrative my comrades have asked me to
write must go back to the earliest service of these troops, at a
period before the corps itself was formally established, and must
continue on past the time when the earlier territorial organization
became merged or lost and the main body of the corps was sent into
the Shenandoah, down to the peace, and the final muster of the last
regiment.
If hitherto less known and thus less considered than the proud
record of those great corps of the Armies of the Potomac, of the
Tennessee, and of the Cumberland, on whom in the fortune of war
fell the heat and burthen of so many pitched battles, whose colors
bear the names of so many decisive victories, yet the story of the
Nineteenth Army Corps is one whose simple facts suffice for all
that need to told or claimed of valor, of achievement, of sacrifice,
or of patient endurance. I shall, therefore, attempt neither eulogy
nor apology, nor shall I feel called upon to undertake to criticise
the actions or the failures of the living or the dead, save where
such criticism may prove to be an essential part of the narrative.
From the brows of other soldiers, no one of us could ever wish to
pluck the wreaths so dearly won, so honorably worn; yet, since the
laurel grows wild on every hill-side in this favored land, we may
without trespass be permitted to gather a single spray or two to
decorate the sacred places where beneath the cypresses and the
magnolias of the lowlands of Louisiana, or under the green turf
among the mountains of Virginia, reposes all that was mortal of so
many thousands of our brave and beloved comrades.
THE NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS.
CHAPTER I.
NEW ORLEANS.
The opening of the Mississippi and the capture of New Orleans formed
important parts of the first comprehensive plan of campaign,
conceived and proposed by Lieutenant-General Scott soon after the
outbreak of the war. When McClellan was called to Washington to
command the Army of the Potomac, one of his earliest communications
to the President set forth in general terms his plans for the
suppression of the Rebellion. Of these plans, also, the capture
of New Orleans formed an integral and important part. Both Scott
and McClellan contemplated a movement down the river by a strong
column. However nothing had been done by either toward carrying
out this project, when, in September, 1861, the Navy Department
took up the idea of an attack on New Orleans from the sea.
At the time of the secession of Louisiana, New Orleans was not only
the first city in wealth, population, and importance in the seceded
States, but the sixth in all the Union. With a population of nearly
170,000 souls, she carried on an export trade larger than that of
any other port in the country, and enjoyed a commerce in magnitude
and profit second only to that of New York. The year just ended
had witnessed the production of the largest crop of cotton ever
grown in America, fully two fifths of which passed through the
presses and paid toll to the factors of New Orleans. The receipts
of cotton at this port for the year 1860-1861 were but little less
than 2,000,000 bales, valued at nearly $100,000,000. Of sugar,
mainly the production of the State of Louisiana, the receipts
considerably exceeded 250,000 tons, valued at more than $25,000,000;
the total receipts of products of all kinds amounted to nearly
$200,000,000. The exports were valued at nearly $110,000,000; the
imports at nearly $23,000,000. It is doubtful if any other crop
in any part of the world then paid profits at once so large and so
uniform to all persons interested as the cotton and sugar of
Louisiana. If cotton were not exactly king, as it was in those
days the fashion to assert, there could be no doubt that cotton
was a banker, and a generous banker for New Orleans. The factors
of Carondelet Street grew rich upon the great profits that the
planters of the "coast," as the shores of the river are called,
paid them, almost without feeling it, while the planters came,
nearly every winter, to New Orleans to pass the season and to spend,
in a round of pleasure, at least a portion of the net proceeds of
the account sales. In the transport of these products nearly two
thousand sailing ships and steamers were engaged, and in the town
itself or its suburb of Algiers, on the opposite bank, were to be
found all the appliances and facilities necessary for the conduct
of so extensive a commerce. These, especially the work-shops and
factories, and the innumerable river and bayou steamers that thronged
the levee, were destined to prove of the greatest military value,
at first to the Confederacy, and later to the forces of the Union.
For food and fuel, however, New Orleans was largely dependent upon
the North and West. Finally, beside her importance as the guardian
of the gates of the Mississippi, New Orleans had a direct military
value as the basis of any operations destined for the control or
defence of the Mississippi River.
About the middle of November the plan took definite shape, and on
the 23d of December Farragut received preparatory orders to take
command of the West Gulf Squadron and the naval portion of the
expedition destined for the reduction of New Orleans. Farragut
received his final orders on the 20th of January, 1862, and
immediately afterward hoisted his flag on the sloop-of-war
_Hartford_.
The land portion of the expedition was placed under the command of
Major-General Benjamin F. Butler. On the 10th and 12th of September,
1861, Butler had been authorized by the War Department to raise,
organize, arm, uniform, and equip, in the New England States, such
troops as he might judge fit for the purpose, to make an expedition
along the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia to Cape Charles;
but early in November, before Butler's forces were quite ready,
these objects were accomplished by a brigade under Lockwood, sent
from Baltimore by Dix. On the 23d of November the advance of
Butler's expedition sailed from Portland, Maine, for Ship Island,
in the steamer _Constitution_, and on the 2d of December, in
reporting the sailing, Butler submitted to the War Department his
plan for invading the coast of Texas and the ultimate capture of
New Orleans.
On the 24th of January, 1862, McClellan, then commanding all the
armies of the United States, was called on by the Secretary of War
to report whether the expedition proposed by General Butler should
be prosecuted, abandoned, or modified, and in what manner. McClellan
at once urged that the expedition be suspended. In his opinion,
"not less than 30,000 men, and it is believed 50,000, would be
required to insure success against New Orleans in a blow to be
struck from the Gulf." This suggestion did not meet the approval
of the government, now fully determined on the enterprise.
Brigadier-General J. G. Barnard, the chief engineer of the Army of
the Potomac, an engineer also of more than common ability, energy,
and experience, was now called into consultation. On the 28th of
January, 1862, he submitted to the Navy Department a memorandum
describing fully the defences of Forts Jackson and St. Philip and
outlining a plan for a combined attempt on these works by the army
and navy. The military force required for the purpose he estimated
at 20,000 men.
Meanwhile the work of transferring Butler's forces by sea to Ship
Island had been going on with vigor. He had raised thirteen
regiments of infantry, ten batteries of light artillery, and three
troops of cavalry, numbering in all about 13,600 men. To these
were now added from the garrison of Baltimore three regiments, the
21st Indiana, 4th Wisconsin, and 6th Michigan, and the 2d Massachusetts
battery, thus increasing his force to 14,400 infantry, 275 cavalry,
and 580 artillerists; in all, 15,255 officers and men.
On the 23d of February, 1862, Butler received his final orders:
"The object of your expedition," said McClellan, "is one of vital
importance--the capture of New Orleans. The route selected is up
the Mississippi River, and the first obstacle to be encountered
(perhaps the only one) is in the resistance offered by Forts St.
Philip and Jackson. It is expected that the navy can reduce these
works. Should the navy fail to reduce the works, you will land
your forces and siege-train, and endeavor to breach the works,
silence their guns, and carry them by assault.
"The next resistance will be near the English bend, where there
are some earthen batteries. Here it may be necessary for you to
land your troops to co-operate with the naval attack, although it
is more than probable that the navy, unassisted, can accomplish
the result. If these works are taken, the city of New Orleans
necessarily falls."
After obtaining possession of New Orleans, the instructions went
on to say, Butler was to reduce all the works guarding the approaches,
to join with the navy in occupying Baton Rouge, and then to endeavor
to open communication with the northern column by the Mississippi,
always bearing in mind the necessity of occupying Jackson, as soon
as this could safely be done. Mobile was to follow, then Pensacola
and Galveston. By the time New Orleans should have fallen the
government would probably reinforce his army sufficiently to
accomplish all these objects.
On the same day a new military department was created called the
Department of the Gulf, and Butler was assigned to the command.
Its limits were to comprise all the coast of the Gulf of Mexico
west of Pensacola harbor, and so much of the Gulf States as might
be occupied by Butler's forces. Since the middle of October he
had commanded the expeditionary forces, under the name of the
Department of New England.
Arriving at Ship Island on the 20th of March, he formally assumed
the command of the Department of the Gulf, announcing Major George
C. Strong as Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff,
Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel as Chief Engineer, and Surgeon Thomas
Hewson Bache as Medical Director. To these were afterward added
Colonel John Wilson Shaffer as Chief Quartermaster, Colonel John
W. Turner as Chief Commissary, and Captain George A. Kensel as
Acting Assistant Inspector-General and Chief of Artillery.
By the end of March all the troops destined for the expedition had
landed at Ship Island, with the exception of the 13th Connecticut,
15th Maine, 7th and 8th Vermont regiments, 1st Vermont and 2d
Massachusetts batteries. Within the next fortnight all these troops
joined the force except the 2d Massachusetts battery, which being
detained more than seven weeks at Fortress Monroe, and being nearly
five weeks at sea, did not reach New Orleans until the 21st of May.
Meanwhile, of the six Maine batteries, all except the 1st had been
diverted to other fields of service.
While awaiting at Ship Island the completion of the preparations
of the navy for the final attempt on the river forts, Butler
proceeded to organize his command and to discipline and drill the
troops composing it. Many of these were entirely without instruction
in any of the details of service. On the 22d of March, he divided
his forces into three brigades of five or six regiments each, attaching
to each brigade one or more batteries of artillery and a troop of
cavalry. These brigades were commanded by Brigadier-Generals John W.
Phelps and Thomas Williams, and Colonel George F. Shepley of the 12th
Maine. When finally assembled the whole force reported about 13,500
officers and men for duty, and from that moment its strength was
destined to undergo a steady diminution by the natural attrition of
service, augmented, in this case, by climatic influences.
The fleet under Farragut consisted of seventeen vessels, mounting
154 guns. Four were screw-sloops, one a side-wheel steamer, three
screw corvettes, and nine screw gunboats. Each of the gunboats
carried one 11-inch smooth-bore gun, and one 30-pounder rifle; but
neither of these could be used to fire at an enemy directly ahead,
and, in the operations awaiting the fleet, it is within bounds to
say that not more than one gun in four could be brought to bear at
any given moment. With this fleet were twenty mortar-boats, under
Porter, each carrying one 13-inch mortar, and six gunboats, assigned
for the service of the mortar-boats and armed like the gunboats of
the river fleet. Farragut, with the _Hartford_, had reached Ship
Island on the 20th of February; the rest of the vessels assigned
to his fleet soon followed. Then entering the delta, from that
time he conducted the blockade of the river from the head of the
passes.
The Confederacy was now being so closely pressed in every quarter
as to make it impossible, with the forces at its command, to defend
effectively and at the same moment every point menaced by the troops
and fleets of the Union. Thus the force that might otherwise have
been employed in defending New Orleans was, under the pressure of
the emergency, so heavily drawn from to strengthen the army at
Corinth, then engaged in resisting the southward advance of the
combined armies of the Union under Halleck, as to leave New Orleans,
and indeed all Louisiana, at the mercy of any enemy that should
succeed in passing the river forts. At this time the entire
land-force, under Major-General Mansfield Lovell, hardly exceeded
5,000 men. Of these, 1,100 occupied Forts Jackson and St. Philip,
under the command of General Duncan; 1,200 held the Chalmette line,
under General Martin L. Smith, and about 3,000, chiefly new levies,
badly armed, were in New Orleans. Besides this small land-force,
the floating defences consisted of four improvised vessels of the
Confederate navy, two belonging to the State of Louisiana, and six
others of what was called the Montgomery fleet. These were boats
specially constructed for the defence of the river, but most of
them had been sent up the river to Memphis to hold off Foote and
Davis. The twelve vessels carried in all thirty-eight guns. Each
of the boats of the river-fleet defence had its bows shod with iron
and its engines protected with cotton. This was also the case with
the two sea-going steamers belonging to the State. Of this flotilla
the most powerful was the iron-clad _Louisiana_, whose armor was
found strong enough to turn an 11-inch shell at short range, and,
as her armament consisted of two 7-inch rifles, three 9-inch shell
guns, four 18-inch shell guns, and seven 6-inch rifles, she might
have proved a formidable foe had her engines been equal to their
work.
At the Plaquemine Bend, twenty miles above the head of the passes
and ninety below New Orleans, the engineers of the United States
had constructed two permanent fortifications, designed to defend
the entrance of the river against the foreign enemies of the Union.
These formidable works had now to be passed or taken before New
Orleans could be occupied. Fort St. Philip, on the left or north
bank, was a work of brick and earth, flanked on either hand by a
water battery. In the main work were mounted, in barbette, four
8-inch columbiads and one 24-pounder gun; the upper water battery
carried sixteen 24-pounders, the lower one one 8-inch columbiad,
one 7-inch rifle, six 42-pounders, nine 32-pounders, and four
24-pounders. Besides these, there were seven mortars, one of 13-inch
calibre, five of 10-inch, and one of 8-inch. Forty-two of the guns
could be brought to bear upon the fleet ascending the river.
Fort Jackson, on the south or left bank of the river, was a casemated
pentagon of brick, mounting in the casemates fourteen 24-pounder
guns, and ten 24-pounder howitzers, and in barbette in the upper
tier two 10-inch columbiads, three 8-inch columbiads, one 7-inch
rifle, six 42-pounders, fifteen 32-pounders, and eleven 24-pounders,
in all sixty-two guns. The water battery below the main work was
armed with one 10-inch columbiad, two 8-inch columbiads, and two
rifled 32-pounders. Fifty of these pieces were available against
the fleet, but of the whole armament of one hundred and nine guns,
fifty-six were old 24-pounder smooth-bores.
The passage of the forts had been obstructed by a raft or chain
anchored between them. The forts once overcome, no other defence
remained to be encountered until English Turn was reached, where
earthworks had been thrown up on both banks. Here at Chalmette,
on the left bank, it was that, in 1815, Jackson, with his handful
of raw levies, so signally defeated Wellington's veterans of the
Peninsula, under the leadership of the fearless Pakenham.
Fort St. Philip stands about 700 yards higher up the river than
Fort Jackson; the river at this point is about 800 yards wide, and
the distance between the nearest salients of the main works is
about 1,000 yards. A vessel attempting to run the gauntlet of the
batteries would be under fire while passing over a distance of
three and a half miles. The river was now high, and the banks,
everywhere below the river level, and only protected from inundation
by the levees, were overflowed. There was no standing room for an
investing army; the lower guns were under water, and in the very
forts the platforms were awash.
When the fleet was ready, Butler embarked eight regiments and three
batteries under Phelps and Williams on transports, and, going to
the head of the passes, held his troops in readiness to co-operate
with the navy. On the 16th of April the fleet took up its position.
The mortar-boats, or "bombers," as they began to be called, were
anchored between 3,000 and 4,000 yards below Fort Jackson, upon
which the attack was mainly to be directed. From the view of those
in the fort, the boats that lay under the right bank were covered
by trees. Those on the opposite side of the river were screened,
after a fashion, by covering their hulls with reeds and willows,
cut for the purpose.
On the 18th of April the bombardment began. It soon became evident
that success was not to be attained in this way, and Farragut
determined upon passing the forts with his fleet. Should he fail
in reducing them by this movement, Butler was to land in the rear
of Fort St. Philip, near Quarantine, and carry the works by storm.
Accordingly, he remained with his transports below the forts, and
waited for the hour. Shepley occupied Ship Island with the rest
of the force.
Early in March the raft, formed of great cypress trees, forty feet
long and fifty inches through, laid lengthwise in the river about
three feet apart, anchored by heavy chains and strengthened by
massive cross-timbers, had been partly carried away by the flood.
To make good the damage, a number of large schooners had then been
anchored in the gap. On the morning of the 21st of April this
formidable obstruction was cleverly and in a most gallant manner
broken through by the fleet.
On the night of the 23d of April, Farragut moved to the attack.
His fleet, organized in three divisions of eight, three, and six
vessels respectively, was formed in line ahead. The first division
was led by Captain Bailey, in the _Cayuga_, followed by the
_Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo_, and
_Wissahickon;_ the second division followed, composed of Farragut's
flag-ship, the _Hartford_, Commander Richard Wainwright, the
_Brooklyn_, and the _Richmond;_ while the third division, forming
the rear of the column, was led by Captain Bell, in the _Sciota_,
followed by the _Iroquois, Kennebec, Pinola, Itasca,_ and _Winona_.
At half-past two o'clock on the morning of the 24th of April the
whole fleet was under way; a quarter of an hour later the batteries
of Forts Jackson and St. Philip opened simultaneously upon the
_Cayuga_. It was some time before the navy could reply, but soon
every gun was in action. Beset by perils on every hand, the fleet
pressed steadily up the river. The Confederate boats were destroyed,
the fire-rafts were overcome, the gunners of the forts were driven
from their guns, and when the sun rose Farragut was above the forts
with the whole of his fleet, except the _Itasca, Winona_, and
_Kennebec_, which put back disabled, and the _Varuna_, sunk by the
Confederate gunboats. The next afternoon, having made short work
of Chalmette, Farragut anchored off New Orleans, and held the town
at his mercy.
The casualties were 37 killed and 147 wounded, in all 184. The
Confederate loss was 50, 11 killed and 39 wounded. The _Louisiana,
McCrea_, and _Defiance_, sole survivors of the Confederate fleet,
escaping comparatively unhurt, took refuge under the walls of Fort
St. Philip.
Leaving Phelps, with the 30th Massachusetts and 12th Connecticut
and Manning's 4th Massachusetts battery, at the head of the passes,
in order to be prepared to occupy the works immediately on their
surrender, Butler hastened with the rest of his force to Sable
Island in the rear of Fort St. Philip. When the transports came
to anchor on the morning of the 26th, the Confederate flags on
Forts St. Philip and Jackson were plainly visible to the men on
board, while these, in their turn, were seen from the forts. Here
the troops received the news of Farragut's arrival at New Orleans.
On the morning of the 28th they saw the Confederate ram _Louisiana_
blown up while floating past the forts, and on the same day Jones
landed with the 26th Massachusetts and Paine with two companies of
the 4th Wisconsin and a detachment of the 21st Indiana, to work
their way through a small canal to Quarantine, six miles above Fort
St. Philip, for the purpose of seizing the narrow strip by which
the garrison must escape, if at all. This was only accomplished
by a long and tiresome transport in boats, and finally by wading.
However, at half-past two on the afternoon of the 28th April, the
Confederate flags over Forts Jackson and St. Philip were observed
to disappear; the national ensign floated in their stead; and soon
it became known that Duncan had surrendered to Porter.
Porter immediately took possession and held it until Phelps came
up the river to relieve him. Then Major Whittemore, of the 30th
Massachusetts, with about two hundred men of his regiment, landed
and took command at Fort St. Philip, while Manning occupied Fort
Jackson. Almost simultaneously the frigate _Mississippi_ came down
the river, bringing Jones with the news that his regiment was at
Quarantine, holding both banks of the river, and thus effectually
sealing the last avenue of escape; for at this time the levee formed
the only pathway. On the 29th Phelps put Deming in command of Fort
Jackson, intending to leave his regiment, the 12th Connecticut, in
garrison there, and to place Dudley, with the 30th Massachusetts,
at Fort St. Philip; but before this arrangement could be carried
out, orders came from Butler, designating the 26th Massachusetts
as the garrison of the two forts, with Jones in command. Phelps,
with his force, was directed to New Orleans.
On the 1st of May Butler landed at New Orleans and took military
possession of the city. Simultaneously, at five o'clock in the
afternoon, the 31st Massachusetts with a section of Everett's 6th
Massachusetts battery, and six companies of the 4th Wisconsin,
under Paine, disembarked and marched up the broad levee to the
familiar airs that announced the joint coming of "Yankee Doodle"
and of "Picayune Butler."
The outlying defences on both banks of the river and on the lakes
were abandoned by the Confederates without a struggle. Forts Pike
and Wood, on Lake Pontchartrain, were garrisoned by detachments
from the 7th Vermont and 8th New Hampshire regiments. The 21st
Indiana landed at Algiers, and marching to Brashear, eighty miles
distant on Berwick Bay, took possession of the New Orleans and
Opelousas railway. New Orleans itself was occupied by the 30th
and 31st Massachusetts, the 4th Wisconsin and 6th Michigan, 9th
and 12th Connecticut, 4th and 6th Massachusetts batteries, 2d
Vermont battery, and Troops A and B of the Massachusetts cavalry.
At Farragut's approach Lovell, seeing that further resistance was
useless, abandoned New Orleans to its fate and withdrew to Camp
Moore, distant seventy-eight miles, on the line of the Jackson
railway.