enemy could not be brought to a stand. It continued for several days
until the Valley of the Shenandoah was reached, when Early, as was
supposed, having hurried back to join Lee at Petersburg, the Sixth
Corps was marched again swiftly to the capital. Here it developed that
the authorities had decided to keep part of the forces sent for their
protection, to man the defences, since Early's attempt had come so
dangerously near succeeding, and the Second Connecticut was chosen to
remain. On July 25th it was moved into the same forts it had occupied
when called to the front two months before, and here it might have
remained through the rest of its term of service, if Early had, as was
presumed, gone back to join Lee at Petersburg. But it was learned now
that he had faced about when the chase ceased and was again
threatening a northward move. The Sixth Corps was therefore ordered
against his force once more, the Second Connecticut going from the
anticipated comforts of its prospective garrison duty with anything
but satisfaction. "The men who had rolled into those cosy bunks with
the declared intention of 'sleeping a week steady,' were on their
cursing way through Tenallytown again in twenty-four hours, marching
with accelerated pace toward Frederick to overtake the brigade of the
red cross, to which they had so lately bidden an everlasting adieu.
Oh, bitter cup!"
After much marching and counter marching they found themselves on
August 6th at Halltown in the Valley. For more than a month the army,
now placed under the command of General Sheridan, was occupied in
organizing and manoeuvering for the projected campaign, which the
presence of the hostile force in that important quarter necessitated.
Though on a much smaller scale than the operations in which the
regiment had borne a part since it had been in active service, the
impending action in the Shenandoah Valley was recognized as being of
great importance. Grant's official report, speaking on this point,
says: "Defeat to us would lay open to the enemy the states of
Maryland and Pennsylvania for long distances before another army could
be interposed to check him," and aside from the military aspect of the
matter, the political campaign then agitating the loyal states made
the result of the struggle here of profound influence.
The campaign's activities began with the battle of the Opequan, or, as
it is perhaps more often designated, of Winchester. General Sheridan
took advantage of an opportunity for which he had been patiently
waiting by moving his forces to the attack at daylight on the morning
of September 19th, and before noon the engagement was fierce and
general, both assault and defence being made with equal spirit and
determination; that part of the Sixth Corps which comprised the Second
Connecticut, however, had taken small part in it, being held in
reserve.
It was about midday that in a counter charge against the Union center,
the enemy found a weak point at the junction of the Sixth Corps with
the Nineteenth, of which they quickly took advantage, breaking the
line and driving back the troops on the flanks of both corps in great
disorder. Their successful advance and the flight of the opposing
forces gave such assurances of victory that more than one Confederate
writer says that at this point the battle which had raged since
daylight was won. Jefferson Davis himself wrote, years after, of the
charge: "This affair occurred about 11 A.M., and a splendid victory
had been gained,"--a judgment which lacked finality. In fact, had the
separation of the wings of Sheridan's army been accomplished, as it
was threatened, the result would have been utter disaster; just now,
however, Upton's brigade, of which the Second Connecticut formed a
large part, was brought up to the point of danger. The charge was
checked, the enemy in turn driven back, and the Union line
re-established.
In the regimental history it is related that the brigade was pushed
forward gradually, "halted on a spot where the ground was depressed
enough to afford a little protection, and only a little,--for several
men were hit while lying there, as well as others, while getting
there. In three minutes the regiment again advanced, passed over a
knoll, lost several more men, and halted in another hollow spot,
similar to the first. The enemy's advance had now been pushed well
back, and here a stay was made of perhaps two hours. Colonel Mackenzie
rode slowly back and forth along the rise of ground in front of this
position in a very reckless manner, in plain sight and easy range of
the enemy, who kept up a fire from a piece of woods in front, which
elicited from him the remark, 'I guess those fellows will get tired of
firing at me by and by.' But the ground where the regiment lay was
very slightly depressed, and although the shots missed Mackenzie they
killed and wounded a large number of both officers and men behind him.
"About three o'clock, an advance of the whole line having been ordered
by Sheridan, the regiment charged across the field, Mackenzie riding
some ten rods ahead, holding his hat aloft on the point of his saber.
The distance to the woods was at least a quarter of a mile, and was
traversed under a fire that carried off its victims at nearly every
step. The enemy abandoned the woods, however, as the regiment
approached. After a short halt it again advanced to a rail fence which
ran along the side of an extensive field. Here, for the first time
during the whole of this bloody day, did the regiment have orders to
fire, and for ten minutes they had the privilege of pouring an
effective fire into the rebels, who were thick in front. Then a flank
movement was made along the fence to the right, followed by a direct
advance of forty rods into the field. Here was the deadliest spot of
the day. The enemy's artillery, on a rise of ground in front, plowed
the field with canister and shells, and tore the ranks in a frightful
manner. Major Rice was struck by a shell, his left arm torn off, and
his body cut almost asunder. Major Skinner was struck on the top of
the head by a shell, knocked nearly a rod with his face to the earth,
and was carried to the rear insensible. General Upton had a good
quarter pound of flesh taken out of his thigh by a shell. Colonel
Mackenzie's horse was cut in two by a solid shot which just grazed the
rider's leg and let him down to the ground very abruptly. Several
other officers were also struck; and from these instances as well as
from the appended list of casualties some idea may be gained of the
havoc among the enlisted men at this point. Although the regiment had
been under fire and losing continually from the middle of the
afternoon, until it was now almost sunset, yet the losses during ten
minutes in this last field were probably equal to those of all the
rest of the day. It was doubtless the spot referred to by the rebel
historian, Pollard, when he says, 'Early's artillery was fought to the
muzzle of the guns.' Mackenzie gave the order to move by the left
flank and a start was made, but there was no enduring such a fire, and
the men ran back and lay down. Another attempt was soon made, and
after passing a large oak tree a sheltered position was secured. The
next move was directly into the enemy's breastwork. They had just
been driven from it by a cavalry charge from the right, and were in
full retreat through the streets of Winchester, and some of their
abandoned artillery which had done us so much damage stood yet in
position, hissing hot with action, with their miserable rac-a-bone
horses attached. The brigade, numbering less than half the muskets it
had in the morning, was now got into shape, and after marching to a
field in the eastern edge of the city, bivouacked for the night, while
the pursuit rolled miles away up the valley pike." Night alone, wrote
General Wesley Merritt, saved Early's army from capture.
To the losses of the day the Second Connecticut contributed forty-two
killed and one hundred and eight wounded, the proportion of officers
being very large.
Unlike their previous severe engagement at Cold Harbor, the regiment
had the thrilling consciousness of complete victory to hearten them
after this battle, and, later, when the full history of the day was
learned, the realization that they had played a part of no little
importance in attaining it.
The moment when they were brought into action was a critical one.
General Sheridan, in his report summing up the operations of the
campaign, said: "At Winchester for a moment the contest was uncertain,
but the gallant attack of General Upton's brigade of the Sixth Corps
restored the line of battle," and of this brigade the Second
Connecticut formed fully half. Upton's report gave high praise to
Colonel Mackenzie, and said: "His regiment on the right initiated
nearly every movement of the division, and behaved with great
steadiness and gallantry."
The victory itself, with the sequel which followed so promptly three
days later, had an importance far beyond its purely military value,
through its marked effects upon public sentiment throughout the
country; it brought to one side jubilant satisfaction, and gave a
corresponding depression to the other, and it elevated Sheridan at
once to that high place in popular affection which he always
afterwards held. That it was "the turning-point of the fortunes of the
war in Virginia," was the verdict of a Confederate officer of high
rank, and Nicolay and Hay in the "Life of Lincoln" describe it as "one
of the most important of the war."
As for the Litchfield County regiment, among its many proud memories,
none surely holds a higher place than that of the worthy and effective
part it took in this day's work, forming, as it did, so large a part
of the brigade which, in the words of General Upton's biographer,
turned possible defeat into certain victory.
* * * * *
General Sheridan's method of operation could hardly be held as
dilatory. It would doubtless have commended itself more highly to his
men if it had been somewhat more so, when at daylight on the morning
after the splendid success of September 19th they were ordered in
pursuit of Early's army.
The Confederate forces had taken position on Fisher's Hill, considered
the Gibraltar of the Valley, and according to Sheridan, almost
impregnable to a direct assault. Two days were occupied in bringing up
troops and making dispositions for the attack. The Second Connecticut
reached its assigned position on the 21st near midnight, and found
itself "on the very top of a hill fully as high as Fisher's Hill, and
separated from it by Tumbling River. The enemy's stronghold was on the
top of the opposite hill directly across the stream."
On the 22nd more or less skirmishing took place all day. A force had
been sent round the enemy's left flank; the attack it delivered late
in the afternoon was a complete surprise to Early's men, and an
advance by the whole Union line quickly routed them.
To make this charge the regiment moved down the steep hill, waded the
stream, and moved up the rocky front of the rebel Gibraltar. How they
got up there is a mystery,--for the ascent of that rocky declivity
would now seem an impossibility to an unburdened traveller, even
though there were no deadly enemy at the top. But up they went,
clinging to rocks and bushes. The main rebel breastwork, which they
were so confident of holding, was about fifteen rods from the top of
the bluff, with brush piled in front of it. Just as the top was
reached the Eighth Corps struck the enemy on the right, and their
flight was disordered and precipitate. The Second Connecticut was the
first regiment that reached and planted colors on the works from the
direct front.
They were marching in pursuit all that night and for three succeeding
days, until the chase was seen to be hopeless and the army faced
northward again. Four killed and nineteen wounded were added at
Fisher's Hill to the growing record of the Second Connecticut's
losses.
[Illustration: Colonel Kellogg]
Such complete failure in their campaign had, it was now believed,
eliminated the enemy in the Shenandoah Valley. The Sixth Corps was
accordingly ordered back to Grant's army before Petersburg after a few
days of rest, and was moving toward Washington on its way when there
came a sudden change of orders.
Early, reinforced and once more ready, was again in the works he had
been driven from at Fisher's Hill. The corps, recalled to join the
forces of Sheridan, went into camp along the north bank of Cedar Creek
on October 14th, and here there soon took place one of the most
thrilling and dramatic conflicts of the war.
"For the next few days," the history of the regiment states, "there
was much quiet and a good deal of speculation among the troops as to
what would be the next shift of the scenes. The enemy was close in
front, just as he had been for weeks preceding the battle of
Winchester, but this attitude which might once have been called
defiance, now seemed to be mere impudence,--and it was the general
opinion that Early did not wish or intend to fight again, but that he
was to be kept there as a standing threat in order to prevent
Sheridan's army from returning to Grant. And yet there was something
mysterious in his conduct. He was known to be receiving
reinforcements, and his signal flags on Three-top Mountain (just south
of Fisher's Hill) were continually in motion. From the top of
Massanutton Mountain his vedettes could look down upon the whole Union
army, as one can look down upon New Haven from East Rock, and there is
no doubt that the exact location of every camp, and the position of
every gun and every picket post were thoroughly known to him.
Nevertheless, it seemed the most improbable thing in the world that he
could be meditating either an open attack or a surprise. The position
was strong, the creek and its crossings in possession of our pickets
both along the front and well out on either flank." But Early himself,
being in difficulties his enemy knew nothing of, says, "I was
compelled to move back for want of provisions and forage, or attack
the enemy in his position with the hope of driving him from it, and I
determined to attack."
His plan was, like his adversary's at the last encounter, a surprise
around the left flank with a feint on the right, and it was carried
out on the morning of October 19th with complete success. General
Sheridan had been called to Washington a few days before, as no active
operations seemed imminent, and the army lay feeling quite secure.
Good fortune attended the attacking forces, and the surprise was
perfect. General Merritt writes: "Crook's (Eighth Corps) camp and
afterwards Emory's (Nineteenth Corps) were attacked in flank and rear,
and the men and officers driven from their beds, many of them not
having time to hurry into their clothes, except as they retreated,
half awake and terror-stricken from the overpowering numbers of the
enemy. Their own artillery in conjunction with that of the enemy, was
turned on them, and long before it was light enough for their eyes,
unaccustomed to the dim light, to distinguish friend from foe, they
were hurrying to our right and rear intent only on their safety.
Wright's (Sixth Corps) infantry, which was farther removed from the
point of attack, fared somewhat better, but did not offer more than a
spasmodic resistance." Nevertheless, they made Early "pay dearly for
every foot gained and finally brought him to a stand," as Nicolay and
Hay record.
The history of the Second Connecticut tells the story of the day as
follows: "Most of the regiment were up next morning long before
Reveille and many had begun to cook their coffee on account of that
ominous popping and cracking which had been going on for half an hour
off to the right. They did not exactly suppose it meant anything, but
they had learned wisdom by many a sudden march on an empty stomach and
did not propose to be caught napping. The clatter on the right
increased. It began to be the wonder why no orders came. But suddenly
every man seemed to lose interest in the right, and turned his
inquiring eyes and ears toward the left. Rapid volleys and a vague
tumult told that there was trouble there. 'Fall in!' said Mackenzie.
The brigade moved briskly off toward the east, crossing the track of
other troops and batteries of artillery which were hurriedly swinging
into position, while ambulances, orderlies, staff officers, camp
followers, pack horses, cavalrymen, sutler's wagons, hospital wagons,
and six-mule teams of every description came trundling and galloping
pell mell toward the right and rear and making off toward Winchester.
It was not a hundred rods from our own camp to the place where we went
into position on a road running north. General Wright, the temporary
commander of the army, bareheaded, and with blood trickling from his
beard, sat on his horse near by, as if bewildered or in a brown study.
The ground was cleared in front of the road and sloped off some thirty
rods to a stream, on the opposite side of which it rose for about an
equal distance to a piece of woods in which the advance rebel line had
already taken position. The newly risen sun, huge and bloody, was on
their side in more senses than one. Our line faced directly to the
east and we could see nothing but that enormous disk, rising out of
the fog, while they could see every man in our line and could take
good aim. The battalion lay down, and part of the men began to fire,
but the shape of the ground afforded little protection and large
numbers were killed and wounded. Four fifths of our loss for the
entire day occurred during the time we lay here,--which could not have
been over five minutes,--by the end of which time the Second
Connecticut found itself in an isolated position not unlike that at
Cold Harbor. The fog had now thinned away somewhat and a firm rebel
line with colors full high advanced came rolling over the knoll just
in front of our left not more than three hundred yards distant. 'Rise
up,--Retreat,' said Mackenzie,--and the battalion began to move back.
"For a little distance the retreat was made in very good order, but it
soon degenerated into a rout. Men from a score of regiments were mixed
up in flight, and the whole corps was scattered over acres and acres
with no more organization than a herd of buffaloes. Some of the
wounded were carried for a distance by their comrades, who were at
length compelled to leave them to their fate in order to escape being
shot. About a mile from the place where the retreat commenced there
was a road running directly across the valley. Here the troops were
rallied and a slight defence of rails thrown up. The regimental and
brigade flags were set up as beacons to direct each man how to steer
through the mob and in a very few minutes there was an effective line
of battle established. A few round shot ricochetted overhead, making
about an eighth of a mile at a jump, and a few grape were dropped into
a ditch just behind our line, quickly clearing out some soldiers who
had crawled in there, but this was the extent of the pursuit. The
whole brigade (and a very small brigade it was) was deployed as
skirmishers under Colonel Olcott of the One Hundred and Twenty-first
New York. Three lines of skirmishers were formed and each in turn
constituted the first line while the other two passed through and
halted, and so the retreat was continued for about three miles until a
halt was made upon high ground, from which we could plainly see the
Johnnies sauntering around on the very ground where we had slept."
Once more could Early claim the credit of a victory of which at night
he was to find himself again deprived. Sheridan's famous ride, his
meeting and turning of the tide of fugitives, is the feature of the
day's occurrences which will always live in the popular memory. It is
a significant hint of the scale of such a battlefield to know that the
men of the Second Connecticut had no visual perception of his presence
that day, though they heard the cheering occasioned by his appearance
in other parts of the scene, and in his report there is mention of a
meeting with Colonel Mackenzie, whom he tried to persuade to go to the
rear on account of his wounds.
The Confederate belief in their victory was not unreasonable, but it
was now to suffer an astonishing upset. Weary and demoralized with
success, they were entirely unprepared for the vigor of their
opponents, who after repulsing their last assault, quickly reformed
the lines and prepared for a general advance. Sheridan writes: "This
attack was brilliantly made, and as the enemy was protected by rail
breastworks and at some portions of his line by stone fences, his
resistance was very determined."
The history of the Second Connecticut gives a detailed account of its
movement, first against a stone wall in front which after some
opposition was abandoned by the enemy, who then "attempted to rally
behind another fence a little further back, but after a moment or two
gave it up and 'retired.' Not only in front of our regiment, but all
along as far as the eye could reach, both to the right and left, were
they flying over the uneven country in precisely the same kind of
disorder that we had exhibited in the morning. The shouts and screams
of victory mingled with the roar of the firing, and never was heard
'so musical a discord, such sweet thunder.' The sight of so many rebel
heels made it a very easy thing to be brave, and the Union troops
pressed on, utterly regardless of the grape and canister which to the
last moment the enemy flung behind him. It would not have been well
for them to have fired too much if they had had ever so good a chance,
for they would have been no more likely to hit our men than their own,
who were our prisoners and scattered in squads of twenty, squads of
ten, and squads of one, all over the vast field. At one time they
made a determined stand along a ridge in front of our brigade. A
breastwork of rails was thrown together, colors planted, a nucleus
made, and both flanks grew longer and longer with wonderful rapidity.
It was evident that they were driving back their men to this line
without regard to regiment or organization of any kind. This could be
plainly seen from the adjacent and similar ridge over which we were
moving,--the pursuers being in quite as much disorder (so far as
organizations were concerned) as the pursued. That growing line began
to look ugly and somewhat quenched the ardor of the chase. It began to
be a question in many minds whether it would not be a point of wisdom
'to survey the vantage of the ground' before getting much further. But
just as we descended into the intervening hollow, a body of cavalry,
not large but compact, was seen scouring along the fields to our right
and front like a whirlwind directly toward the left flank of that
formidable line on the hill. When we reached the top there was no
enemy there! They had moved on and the cavalry after them.
"Thus the chase was continued, from position to position, for miles
and miles, for hours and hours, until darkness closed in and every
regiment went into camp on the identical ground it had left in such
haste in the morning. Every man tied his shelter tent to the very same
old stakes, and in half an hour coffee was boiling and salt pork
sputtering over thousands of camp fires. Civil life may furnish better
fare than the army at Cedar Creek had that night, but not better
appetites; for it must be borne in mind that many had gone into the
fight directly from their beds and had eaten nothing for twenty-four
hours.