AGAIN IN CAMP BARRY—BATTERIES REVIEWED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN—BATTERY H
ASSIGNED TO THE NINTH ARMY CORPS.
On the 22d of November our battery was ordered to proceed to our old
camping ground, Camp Barry, on the Bladensburg Road, in the vicinity of
Washington. We moved at two P. M. from Fort Scott, passing through
Washington to Camp Barry, and occupied the old barracks that we had
dedicated on January 1st. As this was the Sabbath, and as we observed
the worshipers returning from church, it brought vividly to our minds
the scenes we were accustomed to witness in our far-away northern homes,
and of the privileges we had been deprived since we “donned the blue”
and set forth to defend the Union established by our fathers.
[Illustration: Brevet Lieut.-Col. Crawford Allen, Jr.]
A little more than a year ago we had first encamped on this familiar
ground, and although our battery had not suffered from the casualties of
direct conflict with the enemy, yet we mourned the loss of several tried
comrades who had succumbed to disease and lay buried near the little
chapel at Fairfax Station, while others who could not withstand the
hardships and exposures incident to a soldier’s life had been discharged
from the service for disability, and had returned to their homes with
shattered constitutions, the result of disease contracted in the army.
Besides, we had lost many by desertion. The men who enlisted in New York
had no intention of exposing their worthless bodies to rebel shot or
bullet, and such recruits were a dead loss to the government. We record
with great satisfaction the fact that but very few of these deserters
were men who had enlisted in Rhode Island. Now that we had been rid of
these worthless and unprofitable soldiers, those that remained in Camp
Barry were comrades whom we had learned to respect and trust, and with
whom we were still further to share the vicissitudes of a soldier’s
career.
We found on our arrival at Camp Barry that Lieut.-Col. J. Albert Monroe,
who had formerly been in command of the camp, had gone to the front and
had been promoted to chief of artillery commanding the artillery brigade
of the Second Corps. He had been relieved by Lieut.-Col. James A. Hall.
December 1st. A battalion drill of the batteries stationed here took
place on East Capitol Hill. The troops consisted of the First
Pennsylvania, Seventh Massachusetts, Second Connecticut, Second Maine,
Thirty-third New York, Nineteenth New York, Fourth and Fifth New Jersey,
and Battery H, First Rhode Island. All of these were light batteries
under command of Major Hall.
December 15th. There was a grand review of the several batteries
encamped here before President Lincoln and Cabinet and General Barry and
Staff. The following batteries took part: First Pennsylvania, Second
Connecticut, Second Maine, Thirty-third New York, Nineteenth New York,
Fifth New Jersey, Fourth New Jersey, and Battery H, First Rhode Island
Light Artillery. To our battery was accorded the honor of firing a
salute upon the arrival of President Lincoln and party at the reviewing
stand.
It was an inspiring scene, and we were grateful for the privilege of
observing our good president, Abraham Lincoln, a man providentially
raised up to lead our nation through the trials and difficulties through
which we passed in our late civil conflict. Surely no other man in our
times had such a tremendous burden of responsibility thrust upon him.
How patiently and uncomplainingly he bore himself during all those years
of war is fully recorded by the historian and well known to all.
December 23d. At eleven A. M. a review occurred before Gen. William F.
Barry, participated in by all the batteries in camp. It took place on
East Capitol Hill, in rear of Lincoln Hospital.
December 31st. We find on this date that our battery is incorporated in
the Twenty-second Army Corps, commanded by Maj.-Gen. Christopher G.
Augur, and that Lieut.-Col. James A. Hall is in command of our Light
Artillery Camp of Instruction.
January 1st, 1864. The battery repeated to-day nearly the same order of
exercises which occurred here just one year ago. We moved into new and
more commodious barracks than those we had formerly occupied. In the
evening a turkey supper was provided, and we invited the soldiers of the
Third New Jersey and Second Maine batteries to be our guests. After
supper, in the absence of the fair sex the comrades arranged what is
known among old soldiers as a “stag dance.” This is a dance with the
ladies left out. The comrades who personated the ladies were
distinguished from their partners by white handkerchiefs tied on their
right arms. And now the fun began. A grand march was the first in order,
and then came the ball, which consisted of the following programme:
Quadrille, Lanciers, Cotillion, Spanish Quadrille, Portland Fancy,
followed by an old-fashioned Irish Break Down (with no broken heads,
however). The entertainment continued until two o’clock the next
morning, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all present.
February 5th. The following recruits came to the battery to-day: Edward
Sweeney, William H. Stone, Thomas J. Lofts, Charles E. Millard and
Josiah Sheffield.
February 12th. A grand review of all the batteries in camp took place
to-day on East Capitol Hill. On returning to camp we learned that
Private Henry N. Arnold had taken poison. The surgeons in charge were
called to attend him, but he was beyond all help and died in great agony
at four P. M. What prompted Comrade Arnold to commit this rash deed we
never learned. His father came and conveyed his remains to Warwick, R.
I., where they were interred in the family cemetery.
February 15th. The following recruits came to us: Charles Tweedale,
Apollos Seekell, Hurbert Ochee, Franklin W. Dawley and George A.
Williams.
February 21st. A number of the men attended Divine service in
Washington. In the evening our battery held services in the barracks. A
clergyman from Washington, of the Free Will Baptist denomination,
conducted the exercises.
March 3d. We had a grand review before President Lincoln and Cabinet on
East Capitol Hill to-day, all the batteries encamped here participating.
As on a previous occasion, Battery H was privileged to fire the salute
on the arrival at the grand stand of the Presidential party, an honor we
greatly appreciated. General Barry and staff and a large concourse of
spectators also witnessed the ceremony.
March 14th. The battery was reviewed on East Capitol Hill by Gen. A. P.
Howe.
Sunday, March 20th. Mounted inspection at ten A. M. Divine service was
held in our barracks in the evening, led by a clergyman from the city.
April 10th. Mounted inspection to-day at ten A. M. The battery has at
last received marching orders, and we expect to join the Ninth Army
Corps, commanded by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, when it arrives from
Annapolis. This news was joyfully received by us, as we had become weary
of the seeming inactivity of camp life and longed for more active duties
in the field.
April 24th. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and Rev. Augustus Woodbury, late
chaplain of the First Rhode Island Infantry, visited us to-day and
received a soldier’s welcome. We have now received orders to join the
old Ninth Army Corps. We are proud of being attached to this gallant
corps, commanded by the loved and esteemed Burnside, Rhode Island’s
foremost soldier. This corps since its transfer from the West has been
reorganized at Annapolis, and now numbers nearly twenty-five thousand
men. It is composed of four divisions, three of white and one of colored
troops. It has been well designated as “Burnside’s Geography Class,” for
its tattered banners bear the inscriptions of battles in six states in
which it has participated. Its history began in 1861, and was then known
as “Burnside’s Coast Division,” and won substantial victories for the
Union cause in North Carolina. It was afterwards reenforced by large
accessions of regiments to its force, and was then organized into what
is now designated as the Ninth Corps. After the transfer of the larger
portion of the corps to the Army of the Potomac it was joined by a
division from Port Royal under command of Gen. Isaac I. Stevens. It
fought with great bravery at Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, and
Fredericksburg, and when General Burnside was placed in command of the
Department of the Ohio, the Ninth Corps was assigned to that department.
It was subsequently dispatched to the assistance of General Grant at
Vicksburg. It arrived at General Grant’s lines on the 14th, and was
immediately employed in protecting the besieging forces from any hostile
demonstrations in their rear. With other troops it kept the rebel
General Johnston at bay, forced him back and drove him beyond Jackson,
and then returned to Vicksburg. Its presence assured the successful
termination of the siege. It was afterwards ordered to Annapolis, as we
have already mentioned, and is now about to enter another field of
action.
On the 23d of April, 1864, the Ninth Corps marched from Annapolis and
proceeded to Washington, encamping on the Bladensburg Road about six
miles from the city, on the night of the 24th. The next day, as it
passed our camp at eleven A. M. on its way to Washington, Battery H
joined the column and moved to its position, it being assigned to the
First Brigade of the First Division. Our division commander was Gen.
Thomas G. Stevenson; our brigade commander, Col. Sumner Carruth. On its
arrival in the city the corps marched down Fourteenth Street and passed
in review before President Lincoln, General Burnside, and a number of
civil and military dignitaries. The colored division, under General
Ferrero, was the first body of colored troops that had marched through
Washington, and they appeared to great advantage, President Lincoln
acknowledging their cheers with great respect and courtesy. The corps
crossed Long Bridge and went into camp near Alexandria.
[Illustration: Lieut. Benjamin H. Child.]