camp to look for our dead and wounded, many of whom lay not fifty rods
off. The slightly wounded who had not got away had been taken
prisoners and sent at once toward Richmond--while the severely wounded
had lain all day on the ground near where they were hit while the
tide of battle ebbed and flowed over them. Some of the mortally
wounded were just able to greet their returning comrades, hear the
news of victory, and send a last message to their friends before
expiring. Corporal Charles M. Burr was shot above the ankle just after
the battalion had risen up and started to retreat. Both bones of his
leg were shattered and he had to be left. In a few minutes the rebel
battalion which I have already mentioned came directly over him in
pursuit, and was soon out of his sight. Then being alone for a short
time he pulled off the boot from his sound leg, put his watch and
money into it and put it on again. Next a merciful rebel lieutenant
came and tied a handkerchief around his leg, stanching the blood. Next
came the noble army of stragglers and bummers with the question,
'Hello, Yank, have you got any Yankee notions about you?' and at the
same time thrusting their hands into every pocket. They captured a
little money and small traps, but seeing one boot was spoiled they
did not meddle with the other. Next came wagons, picking up muskets
and accoutrements which lay thick all over the ground. Then came
ambulances and picked up the rebel wounded but left ours. Then came a
citizen of the Confederacy asking many questions, and then came three
boys who gave him water. And thus the day wore along until the middle
of the afternoon when the tide of travel began to turn. The noble army
of stragglers and bummers led the advance--then the roar of battle
grew nearer and louder and more general, then came galloping officers
and all kinds of wagons, then a brass twelve-pounder swung round close
to him, unlimbered, fired one shot, and whipped off again--then came
the routed infantry, artillery, and cavalry, all mixed together, all
on a full run, and strewing the ground with muskets and equipments.
Then came the shouting 'boys in blue,' and in a few minutes Pat
Birmingham came up and said: 'Well, Charley, I'm glad to find you
alive. I didn't expect it. We're back again in the old camp, and the
Johnnies are whipped all to pieces.'"
The victory was as complete and satisfying as it was spectacular; the
enemy was at last so thoroughly beaten that a dangerous attitude could
not be taken again. It was a fitting close for Sheridan's famous
campaign in the Shenandoah Valley.
* * * * *
To the Second Connecticut the day at Cedar Creek brought losses nearly
as heavy as were suffered at Winchester just a month before:
thirty-eight killed, ninety-six wounded, and two missing, besides a
large number made prisoners,--an entire company having been captured
early in the morning while on picket,--of whom eleven died in
captivity. These losses were in fact proportionately even larger than
those met with at Cold Harbor, as the hard service of the preceding
months had reduced the regiment's effective strength to about
twenty-five officers and seven hundred men present for duty.
General Sheridan's report on the Shenandoah campaign gave high praise
to Colonel Mackenzie, who, as a result of his conduct, received a
promotion and was commissioned brigadier-general in December. His
disability from the two wounds received at Cedar Creek, however,
necessitated his relinquishing the command of the regiment immediately
after that engagement, and this devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel James
Hubbard; to him in due course came the colonel's commission, and he
led the regiment throughout the rest of its career.
[Illustration: Colonel Mackenzie]
Colonel Hubbard, though born in Salisbury, had lived in the West
before the war, and first saw service with an Illinois regiment.
Returning to Connecticut, he assisted in raising a company for the
Nineteenth, and was mustered in as its captain. He was steadily
promoted until the death of Colonel Kellogg brought him naturally to
the command of the regiment; but, as has been said, his own modest
estimate of his qualifications for this responsibility caused him to
decline the appointment. When it came to him a second time he
accepted, and proved by his subsequent handling of the regiment a
worthy successor to the remarkably able soldiers under whom he had
served, winning the brevet rank of brigadier-general in the final
campaigns. His ambition was, a comrade wrote, to do his full duty
without a thought for personal glory; and he enjoyed in a high degree
the respect and affection of his command. He died in Washington, where
he lived for many years, on December 21, 1886, and was buried in
Winsted.
* * * * *
The brilliant victories in which the Second Artillery had borne so
worthy a part, and the re-election of President Lincoln in November
(1864), put an end to all anxieties as to danger in the quarter of the
Shenandoah, which before Sheridan's campaign had been a region of
fatal mischance to the national cause from the beginning of the war.
As a consequence the Sixth Corps was once more ordered to rejoin
Grant's army, and the regiment left the historic valley on December
1st, arriving on the 5th before Petersburg, where it was assigned a
position near the place of its skirmish on June 22nd.
"Then it was unbroken forest," says its history; "now, hundreds of
acres were cleared, and dotted with camps. A corduroy road ran by, and
a telegraph, and Grant's railroad. No other such railroad was ever
seen before, or ever will be again. It was laid right on top of the
ground, without any attempt at grading, and you might see the engine
and rear car of a long train, while the middle of the train would be
in a valley, completely out of sight. Having reached Parke Station,
we moved to a camp near Battery Number Twenty-seven, and went into the
snug and elegant little log houses just vacated by the Ninety-fourth
New York. This was a new kind of situation for the 'Second Heavies.'
The idea of being behind permanent and powerful breastworks, defended
by abatis, ditches, and what not, with approaches so difficult that
ten men could hold five hundred at bay, was so novel, that the men
actually felt as if there must be some mistake, and that they had got
into the wrong place."
* * * * *
For two months no fighting fell to the regiment's lot, for though the
Union commanders and armies were ready and eager to make an end of the
war as soon as possible, little could be done during the winter.
Though this inactivity brought perhaps some relief from the rigors of
army life, the men had numerous reminders that they were still in
active service. One of the chief events of this season the history of
the regiment describes as follows: "On the afternoon of the 9th
(December, 1864), the First and Third Divisions of the Sixth Corps
were marched to the left, beyond the permanent lines, and off in the
direction of the Weldon Railroad, to prevent any attack on the Fifth
and Second Corps, now returning from their expedition. After going for
about six miles we halted for the night, in a piece of woods. It was
bitter cold when we left camp, but soon began to moderate, then to
rain, then to sleet; so that by the time we halted, everything was
covered with ice, with snow two inches deep on the ground, and still
sifting down through the pines. It was the work of an hour to get
fires going,--but at last they began to take hold, and fuel was piled
on as though it did not cost anything. Clouds of steam rolled out of
the soaked garments of the men, as they stood huddled around the
roaring, cracking piles,--and the black night and ghostly woods were
lighted up in a style most wonderful. The storm continued all night,
and many a man waked up next morning to find his legs firmly packed
in new fallen snow. At daylight orders came to pack up and be ready
to move at once; which was now a difficult order to execute, on
account of many things, especially the shelter tents;--for they were
as rigid as sheet-iron and yet had to be rolled up and strapped on the
knapsacks. Nevertheless it was not long before the regiment was in
motion; and after plodding off for a mile to the left, a line of
battle was formed, vedettes sent out, trees felled and breastworks
built, and at dinner-time the men were allowed to build fires and cook
breakfast. Then, after standing until almost night in the snow, which
had now turned to sleet, the column was headed homeward. Upon
arriving, it was discovered that some of the Jersey Brigade had taken
possession of our log snuggeries, and that their officers had
established their heels upon the mantels in our officers' quarters,
and were smoking the pipes of comfort and complacency, as though they
had not a trouble in the world, and never expected to have. But they
soon found that possession is not nine points of military law, by any
means. An order from Division Headquarters soon sent them profanely
packing,--and the Second Heavies occupied."
Though weeks were spent in such comparative comfort and immunity as
the present situation afforded, the men felt as if they were resting
over a volcano which might break into fierce activity at any moment;
and as the winter passed signs of the renewal of the struggle
multiplied on all sides.
On February 5th (1865), part of the Second Connecticut was ordered to
move out to support and protect the flank of the Fifth Corps, which
was engaged near Hatcher's Run, and accordingly left the comforts of
the camp and bivouacked for the night a few miles away. The history of
the regiment says: "It was bitter cold sleeping that night--so cold
that half the men stood or sat around fires all night. In the morning
the movement was continued. A little before sundown we crossed
Hatcher's Run and moved by the flank directly into a piece of woods,
the Second Brigade under Hubbard leading the division and the Second
Connecticut under Skinner leading the brigade. Wounded men were being
brought to the rear and the noise just ahead told of mischief there.
Colonel Hubbard filed to the left at the head of the column along a
slight ridge and about half the regiment had filed when troops of the
Fifth Corps came running through to the rear and at the same moment
General Wheaton rode up with 'oblique to the left, oblique to the
left,' and making energetic gestures toward the rise of ground. The
ridge was quickly gained and fire opened just in time to head off a
counter fire and charge that was already in progress, but between the
'file left' and the 'left oblique' and the breaking of our ranks by
troops retreating from in front, and the vines and underbrush (which
were so thick that they unhorsed some of the staff officers) there was
a good deal of confusion, and the line soon fell back about ten rods,
where it was reformed and a vigorous fire poured--somewhat at
random--a little to the left of our first position. The attempt of
the enemy to get in on the left of the Fifth Corps was frustrated.
Our casualties were six wounded (some of them probably by our own men)
and one missing. The position was occupied that night, and the next
day until about sundown, when the brigade shifted some distance to the
right and again advanced under an artillery fire to within a short
distance of the rebel batteries and built breastworks. The rebel
picket shots whistled overhead all the time the breastworks were
building, but mostly too high to hurt anything but the trees. At
midnight the division moved back to quarters, arriving at sunrise.
Having taken a ration of whiskey which was ordered by Grant or
somebody else in consideration of three nights and two days on the
bare ground in February, together with some fighting and a good deal
of hard marching and hard work, the men lay down to sleep as the sun
rose up, and did not rise up until the sun went down."
[Illustration: Colonel Hubbard]
The routine of picket duty, inspection, alarms, and orders to be in
readiness which came not infrequently, continued for another
succession of weeks, varied now by the constant arrival of deserters
from the enemy, who were coming into the Union lines singly and in
large parties almost daily, and revealing the desperate condition on
the other side. Preparations went on for what all felt was to be the
final campaign; and this opened for the Second Connecticut on March
25th, when the famous assault on Fort Stedman was made by the enemy,
Lee's last attempt at offensive operations.
This position, which was on the eastern side of the city of
Petersburg, was gallantly attacked and captured in the early morning;
troops were at once called from all parts of the Union line and
hurried to the point of action, but the fort was retaken before the
Second Connecticut reached the scene, and the regiment was then moved
to the southwest of the city before Fort Fisher, a general assault of
the whole extensive line having been ordered by Grant to develop the
weakness that Lee must have been obliged to make somewhere to carry
out his plan against Fort Stedman. The attack succeeded in gaining and
holding a large share of the Confederate picket line, a matter of
great importance.
The Second Connecticut advanced to the charge late in the afternoon
"as steadily as though on a battalion drill," the regimental history
relates. It captured a line of rifle pits and kept on "under a
combined artillery and musket fire. The air was blue with the little
cast iron balls from spherical-case shot which shaved the ground and
exploded among the stumps just in rear of the line at intervals of
only a few seconds. Twenty of the Second Connecticut were
wounded--seven of them mortally--in reaching, occupying, and
abandoning this position, which, proving entirely untenable, was held
only a few minutes. The line faced about and moved back under the same
mixed fire of solid shot, spherical case, and musketry, and halted not
far in front of the spot whence it had first moved forward. Other
troops on the right now engaged the battery and captured the rest of
the picket line, and after half an hour the brigade again moved
forward to a position still further advanced than the previous one,
where a permanent picket line was established."
The week following this eventful day, which began with the capture of
one of the Union works, and ended with substantial gains along their
front, saw intense activity on all sides. The abandonment of
Petersburg by Lee was now plainly imminent, and the preventing of his
army's escape was the paramount object. The whole vast field of
operation about the besieged city became a seething theater of
complicated movement, and the Second Connecticut, under frequent
orders for immediate advance, was formed in line at all hours of the
day or night, and excited by a thousand rumors and orders given and
revoked, but it did not finally leave its quarters during this time.
On April 1st, Sheridan won his notable victory at Five Forks, and at
midnight the regiment was ordered out for a final charge on the
defences so long held against them, which was to be made early on the
2nd. All was made ready, the lines formed, and at daylight the signal
gun set the army in motion.
"The advance was over precisely the same ground as on the 25th of
March, and the firing came from the same battery and breastworks,
although not quite so severe. Lieutenant-Colonel Skinner and seven
enlisted men were wounded--none of them fatally. There was but little
firing on our side, but with bayonets fixed the boys went in,--not in
a very mathematical right line, but strongly and surely,--on, on,
until the first line was carried. Then, invigorated and greatly
encouraged by success, they pressed on--the opposing fire slackening
every minute,--on, on, through the abatis and ditch, up the steep
bank, over the parapet into the rebel camp that had but just been
deserted. Then and there the long tried and ever faithful soldiers of
the Republic saw daylight--and such a shout as tore the concave of
that morning sky it were worth dying to hear." The same jubilant
success was attending the whole army, though not without sharp
resistance on the part of the enemy in places.
Throughout the day advances were made and the works so long besieged
were occupied all over the vast field, and at night the men "lay down
in muddy trenches, among the dying and the dead, under a most
murderous fire of sharpshooters. There had been charges and counter
charges,--but our troops held all they had gained. At length the hot
day gave place to chilly night, and the extreme change brought much
suffering. The men had flung away whatever was fling-away-able during
the charge of the morning and the subsequent hot march--as men always
will, under like circumstances--and now they found themselves
blanketless, stockingless, overcoatless,--in cold and damp trenches,
and compelled by the steady firing to lie still, or adopt a
horizontal, crawling mode of locomotion, which did not admit of speed
enough to quicken the circulation of the blood. Some took clothing
from the dead and wrapped themselves in it; others, who were fortunate
enough to procure spades, dug gopher holes, and burrowed. At daylight
the Sixty-fifth New York clambered over the huge earthwork, took
possession of Fort Hell, opened a picket fire and fired one of the
guns in the fort, eliciting no reply. Just then a huge fire in the
direction of the city, followed by several explosions, convinced our
side that Lee's army had indeed left. The regiment was hastily got
together,--ninety muskets being all that could be produced,--and sent
out on picket. The picket line advanced and meeting with no resistance
pushed on into the city. What regiment was first to enter the city is
and probably ever will be a disputed question. The Second Connecticut
claims to have been in first, but Colonel Hubbard had ordered the
colors to remain behind when the regiment went out on the skirmish
line, consequently the stars and stripes that first floated over
captured Petersburg belonged to some other regiment. Colonel Hubbard
was, however, made Provost-Marshal of the city, and for a brief while
dispensed government and law in that capacity."
Petersburg, however, now that it was abandoned by the enemy, had lost
the importance it had so long possessed, and all energies were given
to preventing the escape of its late defenders. Before the end of the
day (April 3rd) the regiment, with the rest of the Sixth Corps, had
turned westward and joined the pursuit. The chase was stern and the
marches rapid, but far less wearing to these victorious veterans,
filled with the consciousness of success, than those that had
initiated their campaigning less than a year before. On April 6th the
regiment, after an all day march, came up with the enemy in position
at Sailor's Creek, and went into the last engagement of its career. It
was a charge under a hot fire, sharp and decisive, which quickly
changed to a pursuit of the fleeing enemy, kept up until the bivouack
at ten o'clock. The Second Connecticut captured the headquarters train
of General Mahone, a battle flag, and many prisoners, and ended the
tale of its losses with three men killed and six wounded.
The chase was taken up next morning (April 7th), and the regiment had
reached a point close to Appomattox Court House, when on April 9th Lee
met Grant and surrendered what remained of his army, at that historic
place.
* * * * *
To imagine all that this meant to the men in arms is far easier than
to attempt its description. They saw at last the end arriving of all
the privation and suffering they had volunteered to undergo; they saw
the triumph of the Union they had risen to defend to the uttermost
extremity a proven fact. The whole continent vibrated with the deepest
feeling at the news of it, but they, better than any others, knew in
the fullest degree its immense significance.
Immediately after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, the
Sixth Corps was moved to Burkesville, some distance from Appomattox in
the direction of Richmond, and there it remained for about ten days
awaiting events. On April 22nd it was ordered southward to Danville,
with a view to joining Sherman's army then confronting Johnston in
North Carolina, a movement which again necessitated some fatiguing
marches, the one hundred and five miles being covered in less than
five days. News was received, however, that Johnston had followed the
example of Lee and surrendered, and the corps thereupon faced about
once more. On its leisurely progress to the north it was joined by
crowds of the newly freed negroes, who attached themselves to every
regiment in droves, and the lately hostile inhabitants came also at
every stopping place, "with baskets and two-wheeled carts" for
supplies to relieve their dire necessities.
Near Richmond the regiment remained several days, and the men were
allowed passes to visit the late Confederate capital, so long the goal
of their strenuous efforts. "The burnt district was still smoking with
the remains of the great fire of April 2nd, and the city was full of
officers and soldiers of the ex-Confederate army. The blue and the
gray mingled on the streets and public squares, and were seen side by
side in the Sabbath congregations. The war was over."
The consciousness of this last great fact was now becoming insistent
in the minds of these citizen soldiers. The great purpose for which
they had offered themselves was carried out, and their eagerness to
have done with all the circumstances of military life was
increasingly strong, and grew so intense as to render the final weeks
of their term of service extremely trying.
The tremendous task of disbanding the armies of the Union was
occupying the entire energies of the War Department, but to the men it
seemed as if their longed for turn would never come. Back in the
well-known fortifications around Washington they waited, taking part
in the Grand Review on June 8th, in all the misery of full dress, and
in a temper that would have carried them against the thousands of
acclaiming spectators with savage joy, had it been a host of enemies
in arms.
But their turn came at last, and on July 7th, one hundred and
eighty-three men, all that were left of the original enlisted men of
the "old Nineteenth," were mustered out; two days later they departed
for New Haven and were welcomed there, like all the returning troops,
with patriotic rejoicing.
The remainder of the regiment, some four hundred in number, was
mustered out in its turn on August 18th, reached New Haven on the
20th, and "passed up Chapel Street amid welcoming crowds of people,
the clangor of bells, and a shower of rockets and red lights that made
the field-and-staff horses prance with the belief that battle had come
again. After partaking of a bounteous entertainment prepared in the
basement of the State House, the regiment proceeded to Grapevine
Point, where, on the 5th of September, they received their pay and
discharge, and the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery vanished from
sight and passed into History."
* * * * *
In Litchfield County the return of the various contingents to their
homes was made the occasion of great rejoicing. Chief among these
celebrations was a grand reception at the county seat on August 1st,
when the first detachment to be discharged had arrived; they were
feted with dinner and speeches, illuminations and a triumphal arch.
There were also other organized demonstrations in other towns, and
everywhere the strongest manifestations of pride in these warrior
sons of the county, and joy at their return.
But all who went had not returned. The terrible significance of the
cold and formal columns and tables of the regiment's casualties was
felt in every town, and to their tale was added in succeeding years a
long list of the many who had indeed come back, but broken with wounds
and disease, and just as truly devoted to death through their service
as those who fell upon the field of battle.
What the Second Connecticut suffered is shown, so far as official
statistics go, in the tables published by the Adjutant-General of the
state, as follows:
Killed 147
Missing in action, probably killed 11
Fatally wounded 95
Wounded 427
Captured 72
Died in prison 21
Died of disease or accident 154
Discharged for disability 285
Unaccounted for at muster out 35
The officers of the regiment as mustered out were: Colonel, James
Hubbard, Salisbury; lieutenant-colonel, Jeffrey Skinner, Winchester;
majors, Edward W. Jones, New Hartford; Augustus H. Fenn, Plymouth;
Chester D. Cleveland, Barkhamsted; adjutant, Theodore F. Vaill,
Litchfield; quartermaster, Edward C. Huxley, Goshen; surgeon, Henry
Plumb, New Milford; assistant surgeons, Robert G. Hazzard, New Haven;
Judson B. Andrews, New Haven; chaplain, Winthrop H. Phelps,
Barkhamsted.
[Illustration: Monument at Arlington]