CHAPTER XII.

 WINTER QUARTERS---GRANT'S CAMPAIGN ---WILDERNESS--- SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE---NORTH ANNA---BETHESDA CHURCH---MUSTER OUT.

 

 501

Guarding the railroad---Capture of guerillas---Colonel Hardin wounded---Expedition to Brentsville---Death of Major Larimer---Colonel Dustin's expedition to Occoquan---Captain Fisher; his escape from Libby Prison---Reorganization of the Army---General Grant---Advance---Crossing the Rapidan---The Army in the Wilderness---Muster out of the Ninth regiment---Surgeons Phillips, King and Lane---General Meade's address to the Army---The battle in the Wilderness ---The advance to Parker's store---Line of battle---The Reserves surrounded---Escape to Lacy's farm---Capture of the Seventh regiment---Colonel Bolinger---Battle of Friday---General Wadsworth---Death of Colonel Dare---Movement, to the right---Close of the day---Operations on Saturday---Night march to Spottsylvania Court-House---Battle on Sunday---Charge of the Reserves---Line of battle---Second charge---McCandless wounded---Colonel Talley captured---Operations on Monday---Death of General Sedgwick---Sheridan's cavalry raid---Battle of Tuesday---The army at rest---Battle of Thursday---Hancock's coup de main---Desperate battle---Days of repose---The return of the Eighth regiment---Death of Surgeon Jones---Escape of Captain Robinson and Lieutenant Robinson---Attempt to turn the right---Exploit of Bucktails ---Movement to Guinney's station---March to the North Anna---Operations south of the North Anna---Flank movement to Hanover---Battle of Bethesda Church---Expiration of term of service---Casualties---Return to Pennsylvania---Reception---Muster out---Campaign of the Third and Fourth regiments in Western Virginia---Battle of Cloyd's mountain---Battle of New River---Casualties---Death of Colonel Woolworth---Return---Reception and muster out---The glory of the Reserves.

 

AFTER the army had returned from the Mine run campaign, the Reserves went into winter-quarters at Bristoe, Manassas, and Alexandria, where the regiments remained, guarding the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, until the last of April, 1864. The presence of Moseby's guerilla bands gave rise

 

502

 

to numerous skirmishes with the Pennsylvania cavalry, which was attached to the Reserve Corps. The first of these occurred near Haymarket, in Prince William county, on the 8th of December. Colonel Fisher, commanding the Third brigade, had been ordered to retire his command from Manassas, and to encamp at Warrenton Junction. Soon after the countermarch had been performed, Colonel Fisher learned that a detachment of the enemy's cavalry was prowling about the country, and he determined to punish or disperse the marauders, and drive them from their hiding-places. A company of the Fourth Pennsylvania, and one of the First Rhode Island cavalry,' accompanied Colonel Fisher, and succeeded in surprising the enemy, and capturing Captain Lee, the commander of the guerrillas in Prince William county; several of his men were wounded and taken prisoners, and his company was dispersed   Soon after the division had encamped on the line of the railroad, Colonel Hardin, accompanied by some of the officers of the Third brigade, went out to select sites for the erection of block-houses to protect the road; a short distance from Catlett's station a party of rebel guerillas, dressed in the National uniform, rode up to Colonel Hardin and his associates, and before they had discovered the character of the troops, the rebels opened fire; Colonel Hardin drew his sword, and at the first stroke unhorsed one of the enemy; but at the same instant he was struck in the left arm, above the elbow, by a musket ball, that shattered his arm so severely that it was subsequently amputated. The officers extricated themselves from the hands of the enemy and escaped to camp.  After the close of the campaigns of 1863, Lieutenant-colonel George A. Woodward, of the Second regiment, who had been disabled by a wound received at the battle of New Market cross roads, was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. The command of the regiment was then assumed by Major Patrick McDonough, who was subsequently promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and com

 

503

 

manded the regiment until it was mustered out of service.  Adjutant E.M. Woodward* was honorable discharged on account of physical disability, and Lieutenant John L. Rhoads, of company G, appointed adjutant of the Second regiment.
        On the 14th of February, a scouting party from the Thirteenth Pennsylvania cavalry, consisting of one officer and thirteen men, left Bristoe station, and proceeded to Brentsville. Major Larimer, Captain Carle, Lieutenant Clover, and Lieutenant Scudder, of General Crawford's staff, accompanied the expedition. The outposts of the enemy, found at Brentsville, fled at the approach of the National troops. The party pressed rapidly to Cedar run bridge, where the advance guard, consisting of Lieutenant Early, commanding the cavalry, and six men, accompanied by Major Larimer and Lieutenant Clover, fell into an ambuscade. The enemy suddenly opened fire from a dense pine thicket that bordered the road; Major Larimer tell dead, pierced by five bullets, two of the men were killed and three wounded; Lieutenants Early and Clover, and one private escaped by a circuitous route, and returned to camp; Lieutenant. Scudder fell into the hands of the enemy on 1-His way back to headquarters. An additional body of cavalry, and two companies of infantry were sent to the rescue; but the enemy had retreated, leaving the dead and wounded in the woods.  The body of body of Major Larimer was brought into camp, and on the following clay was sent to Pennsylvania. On the 16th of February General Crawford issued an order, in which he said

"It is the painful duty of the general commanding the

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

* Adjutant Woodward kept daily notes of the operations of the Second regiment, which lie generously placed in the hands of the author. A very full and complete diary kept by Sergeant John Bills, of the Twelfth, and another by Reuben H. Gibble, a private in Company K, of the Fifth regiment, formed invaluable aid in the compilation of the History of the Pennsylvania Reserves.

 

504

 

division to announce to his command the death, at the hands of the enemy, of Major James 1=I. Larimer acting assistant inspector general of the division. Major Larimer entered the service in June, 1861, as a first lieutenant i n the Fifth regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, from which position he rose to the rank of a field officer. Ever zealous in the discharge of his duties, faithful in camp, fearless in the field, Major Larimer united with a reserved and unobtrusive deportment, the highest qualities of a soldier. His loss to his brother officers and the division will be keenly felt."
          Scouting parties were frequently sent out by Colonel Fisher, commanding the Third brigade, with headquarters at Manassas; the most important of these was an expedition made by Lieutenant-colonel Gustin, of the Twelfth regiment, to Occoquan; a large quantity of horse, mules, and commissary stores, that had been collected and secreted for the rebel guerilla parties in that vicinity, were captured.       
        On the 23rd of January, the Fifth regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Dare, was ordered to proceed to Alexandria, and report for duty to the superintendent of the military railroad. The regiment established a camp in the suburb, of the city, and the men were employed to guard railroad trains from Alexandria to Brandy station and Culpepper.
        On the 9th of February a number of officers made their escape from Libby prison, in Richmond. Among these was­ Captain Benjamin F. Fisher, of the Third regiment. He was a young man of liberal education; quick in conception, and energetic in the execution of movements and projects that pertained to his command. In 1861, when a lieutenant in camp at Tenallytown, he was detailed for signal duty; he rose rapidly in that department, and in the  Spring of 1863, was made chief signal officer in the Army of the Potomac. During the movement to Chancellorsville  Captain Fisher rendered great service to the commanding  general, and again, was the first to detect and report  Lee's movements up the Rappahannock at the beginning

 

505

 

of the campaign into Pennsylvania. On the 17th of June, he left the headquarters of the army, then at Fairfax station, to report to General Pleasonton, who was in command of the cavalry near Aldie. He was directed by the chief of staff to make a reconnoissance, under an escort to be furnished by General Pleasonton, to the Blue Ridge, in order to ascertain the location of Lee's forces; but whilst en route for Pleasonton's headquarters, he was captured by a band of Moseby's men, and when next heard from he was an inmate of Libby prison.
      Colonel Ross, of Pennsylvania, who was also a prisoner, organized a working party for the purpose of effecting an escape from Libby. After many days of anxious labor he completed a tunnel about fifty feet long, extending from the cellar of the prison under an open lot of ground to the yard connecting with the adjoining building. The work was completed on the. 9th of February, and the prisoner, emerged from the yard in squads of two and three, and thence made their escape from the city, aided by the loyal citizens in the rebel capital: The exodus began about nine o'clock in the evening and continued until three o'clock next morning. Captain Fisher, with one companion, had been admitted into the organized party, and hence came out at about ten o'clock in the evening, and thus had a reasonable prospect for successful escape. They proceeded to the Chickahominy river that night, passing' the guard stationed at Meadow bridge; they concealed themselves during the next day under a pine thicket several miles beyond the river. At dark they resumed their ,journey and continued traveling all night, avoiding the roads and again concealing themselves in the thickets and jungles of the Chickahominy swamp during the day. When they reached the vicinity of the White house they were overtaken by a severe snow storm, and were compelled to lie for two days and one night under a laurel thicket, without stirring lest the rebel scouts, who were searching in every direction, should discover their hiding place. On the evening of the 18th of

 

 

506

 

February they encountered a party of the enemy, were pursued and fired upon; the captain's companion was recaptured, but he, armed with the desperate determination that had nerved him through all the days of privation and nights of exposure, made good his escape through thickets and swamps, and reached Williamsburg on the morning of the 21st of February, where lie with many others was finally rescued by the cavalry sent out by General Butler to search for the escaped prisoners. Captain Fisher was reassigned to his old position on the staff of the Army of the Potomac, was promoted to the rank of major in the signal corps, and subsequently was made the chief signal officer of the United States, with the rank of Colonel.
      During the winter, whilst the army was in winter quarters at Culpepper, General Meade thoroughly reorganized his forces. The army corps, that two years before numbered thirty thousand men each, had been reduced by casualties and the expiration of the term of service of many of the regiments to an average force of fifteen thousand troops. The corps organization, however, was still maintained; a corps commander, three division and nine brigade commanders were retained to command the greatly reduced forces. General Meade determined to consolidate the corps, to relieve some. of the general officers, and thus concentrate the duties and responsibilities of the commands on a less number of officers. The First and the Third corps were broken up and the troops were distributed by divisions to the Second, Fifth and Sixth corps.
        The Reserves entered upon their last campaign, commanded by General Crawford, with the following stall officers Lieutenant-colonel Robert A. McCoy, of the Eleventh regiment, assistant-adjutant-general ; Major George Gallupe, of the Eighth, inspector-general; Surgeon L. VV. Reed, surgeon-in-chief; Captain Percy B. Spear, commissary of subsistence; Captain James Carle, of the Sixth,

 

507

 

provost-marshal; Captain Chill Hazzard, of the Twelfth, commissary of musters: Captain E. B. W. Restieaux, chief quartermaster; Captain James B. Pattee, of the Tenth, chief of pioneer corps; Lieutenant W. T. McPhail, of the First, chief of ambulance corps; Lieutenant William Harding of the Sixth, ordinance officer; Lieutenant A. McL. Crawford, of the Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and Lieutenant Richard P. Henderson, of the Seventh regiment, -were aides-de-camp.
      On the 27th of March Lieutenant-general Grant, who hail been appointed commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States, established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, for the purpose of leading a campaign against Richmond.
        On the 29th of April the division of Pennsylvania Reserves broke camp along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and marched forward towards Culpepper. On the first night the regiments encamped near Warrenton junction; the following day they moved along the line of the railroad, crossed the Rappahannock, and after a march of twenty miles, encamped with the army near Culpepper. At midnight on the night of the 3d of May, the Army of the Potomac moved from its winter quarters and crossed the Rapidan. The Reserves marched out on the Culpepper and Fredericksburg plank road, and crossed the river at Germania ford. At one o'clock on the afternoon of the 4th, the division moved forward to the Old Wilderness tavern and bivouacked for the night.                The Second corps, commanded by General Hancock, had crossed the Rapidan at Ely's ford, and marched forward to Chancellorsville ; the Fifth corps, commanded by General Warren, crossed at Germania ford, and took post iii front of the Wilderness tavern, and the Sixth corps, commanded by- General Sedgwick, followed the Fifth and formed with its, right resting on the river and its left joining the right wing of the Fifth corps.

 

508

  

General Grant left Culpepper and General Meade, Brand v station early on Wednesday morning, and at noon established their headquarters south of the Rapidan.
        The term of service of the Ninth regiment having expired, it was relieved from duty on the 4th of May, anal was ordered to return to the state of Pennsylvania. The regiment proceeded to Pittsburg and was mustered out of the service. Surgeon James A. Phillips, of the Ninth, who had long been chief surgeon of the Third brigade, was appointed assistant surgeon-general for the state of Pennsylvania, and subsequently, upon the resignation of Surgeon King, he was made surgeon-general, and Surgeon Samuel G. Lane, of the Fifth regiment, was appointed assistant surgeon-general.
        Surgeon Benjamin Rohrer, of the Tenth regiment, succeeded Surgeon Phillips as chief surgeon of the Third brigade, and at the expiration of the term of service of the Reserve Corps, was appointed to practice medicine in the Germantown hospital. Surgeon Charles Bowers, of the Sixth regiment, was chief surgeon of the First brigade from October, 1862, until the date of muster-out of the Reserves, when he retired to private practice in Mifflin county. Surgeon T. De Bennevii1e, of the Eleventh regiment, who bad been captured at the battle of Gaines Milt with his regiment, and rendered noble service in the Richmond prisons, had endeared himself to the men of evcrv regiment of the division; but his zealous discharge of field duties finally impaired his health, and he therefore resigned, in November, 1863, to accept the appointment of surgeon of the board of enrollment of Philadelphia.         
        General Meade issued the following address to the army on Wednesday, the 4th of May

“ SOLDIERS :---Again you are called upon to advance on the enemies of your country. The time and the occasion are deemed opportune 1 y your commanding general to address yon a few words of confidence and caution. You have been reorganized, strengthened and full y equipped in every respect. You form a part of the several armies of your country-the whole under the direction of an able and distin-

 

509

 

guished general, who enjoys the confidence of the Government, the people and the army. Your movement being in co-operation with others, it is of the utmost importance that no effort should be left unspared to male it successful.
      " Soldiers! The eyes of the whole country are looking with anxious hope to the blow you are about to strike in the most sacred cause that ever called men to arms. Remember your homes, your wives and children, and bear in mind that the sooner your enemies are overcome, the sooner you will be returned to enjoy the benefits and blessings of peace. Bear with patience the hardships and sacrifices you will be called upon to endure. Have confidence in your officers and in each other. Keep your ranks on the march and on the battle-field, and let each man earnestly implore God's blessing, and endeavor by his thoughts and actions to render himself worthy of the favor he seeks.
        " With clear consciences and strong arms, actuated by a high sense of duty, fighting to preserve the Government and the institutions handed down to us by our forefathers, if true to ourselves, victory, under God' a blessing, must and will attend our offorts.

 

"GEORGE G. MEADE,

“Major-general Commanding."

 

At daybreak on the morning of the 5th, General Sheridan, commanding the cavalry corps, set out with a large force to reconnoitre . the enemy's right, and to sever his communications with Richmond General Warren was directed to move forward on a cross road running in a southwesterly direction, to Parker's store, on the Orange and Fredericksburg plank road; Hancock was ordered to advance from Chancellorsville, and take post on the left of Warren's corps, with his left resting near Shady-grove church, and Sedgwick was ordered to move up with the Sixth corps and form a line from Warren's right to the Rapidan.
      As soon as General Lee discovered that the Army of the Potomac was moving southward in front of his intrenchments on Mine run, he determined to break Meade's line of march and to divide his army. For this purpose the rebel general concentrated his forces on Thursday at Verdiersville, and detached Longstreet's corps with instructions to march down the turnpike and to assault the troops at the Wilderness tavern. The battle opened at about noon

 

510

 

on Thursday. The enemy employing his favorite tactics of hurling heavy columns of troops against selected points on the line, made a furious charge on Warren's corps. hoping to cut off Sedgwick's troops and drive them back across the river. The charge was met and repulsed by Griffin's division; the divisions of Generals Crawford, Wadsworth and Robinson moved up promptly to the relief of Griffin's men, and after a spirited contest, which lasted about an hour, the enemy was driven from his front.
      Early in the day the Reserve Corps had been sent forward from the bivouac on Lacy's farm, with orders to proceed to Parker's store. The troops moved forward and formed in line near the plank road. The First regiment, commanded by Colonel Talley, and the Bucktails, Major Hartshorn were posted on the left flank, the Tenth, Colonel Ayer, and the Twelfth, Lieutenant-colonel Gustin, were in the centre, and the Sixth, Colonel Ent, on the right. The Second, Lieutenant-colonel McDonough, the Fifth, Lieutenant-colonel Dare, the Seventh, Colonel Bolinger, the Eighth, Colonel. Baily, and the Eleventh, Colonel Jackson, were in reserve. On the left of the line the Bucktails held the road to Parker's store, and the First regiment was on their left, formed nearly at right angles to their line, and facing the plank road; as soon as these positions had been taken, Captain Wasson, commanding company D, of the First, was sent out to reconnoitre the line of the plank road; after advancing a short distance into the woods he encountered the enemy in considerable force and slowly retired to the line; subsequently Lieutenant Weidler, of company B, with twelve men made a reconnoissance in the same direction, and discovered that the enemy had formed an ambuscade to entrap the detachments sent out from the skirmish line. Companies C, commanded by Lieutenant Larkins, and K, Captain Minnigh, were sent out to dislodge the enemy; but finding themselves confronted by a superior force, with columns moving against their flanks, they retired in haste to their original position.

 

511

 

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Second, Seventh and Eleventh regiments, under Colonel McCandless, went to the support of General Wadsworth's division on the right, and in a short time the Sixth was sent to support McCandless.
      Wadsworth pressed back the enemy on the turnpike, and as the division advanced, a gap was created between Crawford's troops and the other divisions of the corps. Suddenly a signal officer galloped up to General Crawford and informed him that his division was being surrounded, and that, unless it withdrew hastily, its retreat would be cut off. The general retired immediately with the regi. ments in reserve, and sent Colonel McCoy to withdraw the skirmish line, consisting of nearly the whole of the Third brigade. Colonel Fisher rapidly drew in his skirmisher, and succeeded in extricating his troops from a most embarrassing position. Colonel McCoy, meanwhile, went in search of Colonel Ent, commanding the Sixth regiment, and Surgeon Donnelly, gallantly volunteered to go to McCandless and warn him of the peril of his situation. The Sixth was successfully withdrawn. McCandless' brigade; however, was less fortunate. The Wilderness was so dense that mounted men penetrated it with great difficulty. Surgeon Donnelly was captured, and McCandless was completely surrounded. Two hours elapsed before the lost brigade was heard from; finally McCandless came in with the Second and the Eleventh, and about forty men from the Seventh regiment. Though no messenger had reached him, Colonel McCandless soon discovered that his command was unsupported, and was in imminent danger ; he ordered it to march "double quick" to the rear; just as the brigade emerged from the woods, a rebel regiment formed across its line of retreat in an open space, Colonel Jackson, .commanding the Eleventh, was in the front, he instantly ordered his regiment to charge; the men brought down their muskets and dashed into the hostile line with an impetus that broke and scattered the

 

512

 

rebel regiment, and opened the way of escape; the Eleventh lost many of its men in killed and wounded; the casualties were also numerous in the Second regiment. The Seventh had advanced into the dense woods with the Second and Eleventh, but Colonel Bolinger, unfortunately, could not see the movements of the other regiments, and hence, receiving no orders, continued to press steadily forward, driving every thing before him, until, suddenly, the enemy closed in upon the rear of the regiment and cut off' its retreat in that direction: a desperate attempt `vas then made to escape by another route, but it failed; finding his command completely surrounded, Colonel Bolinger was compelled to surrender to save his-regiment from being cut to pieces. As it was, many of his brave men were left in the Wilderness, never to be heard from again. The colonel and two hundred and seventy-one of the officers and men were made prisoners; forty escaped through the swamps and woods and returned to the camp. The brigades were reformed in the camp, on Lacy's farm, and remained in that position during the night. The remnant of the Seventh regiment was attached to the Eleventh; by a reverse fortune, the detachment of the Eleventh that had escaped capture at Gaines' mill, bad been temporarily assigned to the Seventh, and served with it through the Peninsular campaign.
      Henry C. Bolinger, colonel of the Seventh regiment, was born at Pottsgrove, in Northumberland county, on the 29th of May, 1828. He was the son of a carpenter, who removed to Centre county, where he educated his son in the public schools. At the age of seventeen Henry was employed as clerk in the store of Mr. George Furst, at Buck creek, where he remained four years, then returned to his father's shop, and worked at carpentering; lie afterwards visited the south-western states, and in 1854 settled at Lockhaven, in Pennsylvania, as deputy sheriff of Clinton county; subsequently he was appointed deputy prothonotary, which office he held at the beginning of the war, in 1861. Under

 

513

 

the first call for troops, Mr. Bolinger was appointed recruiting sergeant, and on the 24th of April, when the Rifle Guards of Lockhaven were organized, he was elected first-lieutenant. The company became part of the Seventh regiment ; Captain Chauncy A. Lyman, its commander, was commissioned major, and Lieutenant Bolinger was promoted to the captaincy. On the 5th of May, 1862, just before the Reserves sailed to the Peninsula, Captain Bolinger was elected lieutenant-colonel ; and, on the 4th of July was promoted to the colonelcy, made vacant by the resignation of Colonel Harvey.
      Colonel Bolinger, after his promotion, commanded his regiment and led it through all the campaigns in which it was engaged. At the battle of South Mountain be was shot through the breast and in the right arm. He recovered from his wounds and resumed the command of his regiment in time to accompany it in Burnsides campaign: at the battle of Fredericksburg he led forward his regiment with great gallantry, anal took his men to the crest of the hill, where they captured the flag of the Nineteenth Georgia regiment, and about one hundred prisoners; the rebel flag was seized by Jacob Cart, a private in Company A. who slew the color-bearer and bore away his standard, and delivered it to General Meade. In this deadly encounter, Colonel Bolinger was wounded in the leg, and his horse was struck three times by the hostile missiles that filled the air. After Burnside's campaign the regiment was attached to Colonel Sickel's brigade at Alexandria, where it remained until April, 1864, when it was detached and sent to the division before it marched with the army from Culpepper.
        Colonel Bolinger and all the prisoners captured in the Wddernes were sent to Richmond. When, in their barbarous practices, the rebel authorities sent fifty National officers to Charleston, in South Carolina, to be placed under the fire of the United States fleet, Colonel Bolinger was chosen one of the number. The prompt retaliatory 

 

514

 

measures of the Government induced the rebels to retract their inhuman resolution, and to release the officers by exchange. Colonel Bolinger returned home, and was mustered out in August, 1864. Soon after leaving the service he removed with his family to the State of Illinois.
      After the first encounter in the Wilderness, the hostile forces rested face to face for several hours. At half past. two o'clock, on the afternoon of Thursday, the 4th of May. a vigorous assault was made on the right of Hancock's corps. The enemy having failed to break through AV Warren's lines, assailed the position held by the Second corps. The battle was waged by A. P. Hill's corps, the strongest in the rebel army, and continued with great determination until dark, when Hancock still firmly maintained his ground, having repulsed the enemy at every point. The fighting during the day was almost exclusively with musketry; nearly four hundred pieces of artillery were on the field, but none of it could be brought into position; the dense forests and thickets of the Wilderness also prevented the free use of the bayonet; the battles were, there- fought with musket balls, fired from line to line through the thick under-brush, which was cut down as evenly as if it had been the work of a reaper.
        The position of the troops on Thursday night was parallel with, and a little in advance of the road from Germania ford to Chancellorsville, the two flanks resting on those points, and general headquarters established at the Wilderness tavern. Meanwhile General Burnside's command, numbering about thirty thousand men, was arriving on the field, and forming in the rear of the centre. The whole force under Grant, on the Rapidan, now numbered about one hundred and forty thousand troops.
        During the night General Meade made his dispositions for the opening of the battle on Friday morning; and had ordered General Sedgwick on the right and General Hancock on the left, to attack the enemy on their fronts at five o'clock in the morning. The Second corps held a line on

 

515

 

the Brock road, running in a southeasterly direction from a point on the plank road south of the Wilderness tavern, passing Todd's tavern and terminating at Spottsylvania Court-house. Fifteen minutes before five o'clock General Ewell anticipated Sedgwick's attack by making a spirited assault on the Sixth corps. The troops were in line and received the charge of the enemy with great steadiness, and after an hour of fierce battle, repulsed Ewell’s corps with severe loss.
      At five o'clock Hancock's corps advanced ; the troops charged through a dense forest, and fell upon the rebels, who were quietly preparing their breakfasts, and surprised and routed them before they had time to form in line. The Second corps pursued the enemy two miles west of the Brock road, at which point it encountered Longstreet's command drawn up in line to receive it. A terrific battle ensued, fought exclusively with musketry, and raged with unabated vigor till noon. Charge after charge was made and repulsed by both sides; great loss, but no advantage accrued to either of the combatants. At about twelve o'clock an interval occurred in the line between the commands of General Mott and General Ward: instantly a column of the enemy, moving on the flank, charged through the unoccupied space and forced back the right of -Mott's division; simultaneously a desperate charge was made in front, and Hancock's whole line, yielding at last to the determined onslaught of the enemy, fell back to the Brock road, and occupied the line of defence the troops had constructed on Thursday night. From these works the enemy was repulsed, and the battle ceased.
        At eleven o'clock Ewell again manifested a disposition to renew tile conflict with the Sixth corps, General Sedgwick promptly accepted the challenge, advanced the whole line, attacked Ewell's corps, drove it back to its second line of intrenchments, and firmly planted his troops on the ground they had wrested from the enemy. This third encounter ended soon after twelve o'clock, and there was

 

516

 

unbroken quiet along the entire six miles of battle front. Many brave men had fallen on both sides, but neither army, had gained any decided advantage.
      At half past four o'clock, General Longstreet, who had reformed Hill's broken brigades and united them to his own half victorious divisions, massed the whole force, and hurled it violently against the right of Hancock's line, held by General Birney's division. The rebel troops forced the position, seized the works at the intersection of the Brock road with the turnpike, planted the hostile flag on Birney’s intrenchments, and successfully interposed between the Second corps and the centre of the army held by Warren.
        At this critical juncture Colonel Carroll, whose brigade had been sent for, came up oil the turnpike, formed his command into line, charged the enemy, drove him back into the woods beyond the road, and recaptured Birney's line of intrenchments.
        When the roar of battle was the loudest on the right and on the left of the line, General Warren was extremely anxious to engage the enemy in the centre. He advanced his line and reconnoitred the grounds on his front, but found the growth of scrub-oaks and underbrush so dense, that it was impossible to penetrate it with a column of troops. He, therefore, threw forward a heavy skirmish line, which engaged the enemy's sharpshooters until dark. The Reserves formed the right of Warren's line and were in the front, where they suffered considerable loss. In the morning, when the battle was raging on the left, Colonel Talley made a reconnoissance `with the First regiment towards Parker's store, and found the enemy in force. Later in the day the division was ordered to support the Second corps, but when it was reported that Hancock had repulsed the enemy, the Reserves returned to their line of intrenchments, which they held till nightfall.
        Lieutenant-colonel Dare, of the Fifth regiment was mortally wounded during the engagement in front of the right of the Fifth corps, near the Fredericksburg and Orange pike;

 

517

  

he died in camp on Friday night. The command of the Fifth regiment then devolved on Major A. M. Smith, who was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy for gallant conduct on the field. Lieutenant-colonel Ayer, of the Tenth was severely wounded, and Major Over assumed command of the regiment.
      In the evening the Reserve Corps returned to its camp on Lacy's farm, but before the men had finished their suppers, they were ordered to fall in and march to the right to the support of Sedgwick's corps. The furious night attack on the extreme right of the Sixth corps had carried away General Seymour's and General Stealer's brigades; the enemy had gained the rear, and communication between Sedgwick and headquarters was for a tune interrupted. The Reserves were sent out in the darkness of the night, through forest and thicket to communicate with Sedgwick's line. The brigades were promptly formed and in motion towards Germania ford; guided more by the roar of battle than by any knowledge of the country. Company B, of the First regiment, commanded by Captain Bear, Company G, Lieutenant Tag-art, and Company E, Lieutenant Park, were thrown forward as skirmishers and flankers to pilot the division through the Wilderness. After moving on the line of the Germania pike a short distance, the Bucktails were posted to guard a road coming in from the right; the division turned to the left down a hollow, ,and after a tedious and uncertain march through the woods, found Sedgwick, and learned that his gallant corps maintained its lines and was not in need of help. The right of the line had been turned back, but the enemy had gained no advantage which he could follow up. The Reserves, therefore, returned to camp at Lacy's farm, and rested until ten o'clock on Saturday night.
        Among the noble dead left on the fold was General Wadsworth, of the State of New York, one of the most noble patriots and distinguished officers in the service of the country. He was leading his division in a desperate

 

518

 

conflict: with drawn sword, at the head of his troops, lie was urging them forward when be was shot through the head. He fell to the ground and expired in the midst of the battle.
      General Alexander Hays, of Pennsylvania, was mortally wounded at the head of his troops during the struggle of Hancock's corps on the left. He entered the service in 1861 as colonel of the Sixty-third regiment, participated in the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in September, 1862, and commanded a brigade in the Second corps. He was a distinguished officer, much loved by his troops, and the report of his death was received with deep sorrow both in the army and in the State.
        A journalist* thus reports the situation at the close of the day
        " It was now nearly sunset. From one end of the line to the other not a shot could be heard. The day's work seemed over. Our line of to night would be that of last night. The auguries were good. In two days' fighting we had lost heavily, but not more than the enemy. Our assaults had been futile, but the enemy's had been equally so; and it is by these massed assaults that he has ever achieved his victories.
        "The inference was clear that we had overmatched him fighting at his best and strongest.
        " Men separated in the heat of the day, now chancing to meet, congratulated each other. The rebels can't endure another such day, and we can, was the expressed conviction on all hands, and the statement epitomises the situation at sunset.

      " The sun went down red. The smoke of the battle of more than two hundred thousand men destroying each other with villainous saltpetre through all the long hours of a long day, filled the valleys, and rested upon the hills

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Charles A. Page, correspondent of the New York Tribune.

 

519

 

of all this Wilderness, hung in lurid haze all around the horizon, and built a dense canopy overhead, beneath which this grand army of freedom was preparing to rest against the morrow. Generals Grant and Meade had retired to their tents. Quiet reigned, but during the reign. of quiet the enemy was forging a thunderbolt.
      " Darkness and smoke were mingling in dim twilight and fast deepening into thick gloom, when we were startled out of repose back into fierce excitement. The forged thunderbolt was sped, and by a master. A wild rebel yell away to the right. We knew they had massed and were charging. We waited for the volley with which we knew Sedgwick would meet the onset. We thought it but a night attack to ascertain if we had changed our position. We were mistaken-it was more. They meant to break through, and they did. On Sedgwick's extreme right lay the Second brigade, Third division of his corps, under General Seymour, who had been 'assigned to it but two days before. The brigade is new to the Sixth corps, and is known as the Milroy brigade; connecting on the left of Seymour is Shaler's and then Neill's brigade, the latter being a brigade of Getty's division that had not been sent to Hancock. These troops were at work intrenching when fallen upon. The enemy came down like a torrent, rolling and dashing in living waves, and flooding up against the whole Sixth corps. The main line stood like a rock, but not so the extreme right. That flank was instantly and utterly turned. The rebel line `vas the longer, and surged around Seymour's brigade, tided over it and through it, beat against Shaler, and bore away his right regiments. All this done in less than ten minutes, perhaps not five. Seymour's men, seeing their pickets running back, and hearing the shouts of the rebels, who charged with all their chivalry, were smitten with panic, and standing on no order of going, went at once, and in an incredibly short tine made their way through a mile and a half of woods to the plank road in the rear."

 

520

 

Before ten o'clock at night, the battle of Friday the 6th of May, had ended, and with it the work of carnage, without a material change of lines. At the close, the armies remained relatively as they had been at the opening of the day. With the exception of wounds and death inflicted upon thousands of brave men, little had been accomplished. Night silenced the combatants, but their hearts still beat high for the conflict which each felt would be renewed oil the morrow.
        At daylight on Saturday morning, Bailiwick's guns, and as much of the reserve artillery as could be placed in position, opened a heavy fire on the lines which the enemy had seized and held on Friday night. No reply was made by the rebels; Sedgwick advanced his skirmishers, and soon discovered that the enemy had evacuated the position on his front. A reconnoissance made along the whole line developed the fact that the rebel army was retreating. The cavalry under General Sheridan was pushed forward on all the roads to watch the movements of the enemy, and the whole army was put in motion towards Spottsylvania Court-house. The cavalry divisions of Custer and Ciro encountered the rebel cavalry under Stuart at Todd's tavern. A spirited engagement ensued, with alternate successes, until finally the National troops forced the lines of the enemy and drove him back to Corbin's bridge, on the Po river. This victory secured for Grant's army the direct road from the Wilderness to Spottsylvania Court-house.
        Before sunset on Saturday, the troops were in motion Oil parallel roads running southward towards the Po. General Warren, commanding the Fifth corps, marched down the Brock road, in rear of Hancock's line; the Reserves marched well to the front. They broke camp on Lacy's farm at ten o'clock on Saturday night, marched down tire pike towards Chancellorsville, and turned into the Brock road leading to Todd's tavern. The troops marched all night, and arrived within two and a half miles of Spottsylvania Court-Louse at twelve o'clock on Sunday. The advance

 

521

 

division of Warren's corps, commanded by General Robinson, carne upon the enemy early on Sunday forenoon and immediately commenced a vigorous assault. The impetuosity of the charge broke the enemy's lines, held by Longstreet's troops, and forced it back about a mile from its original position. Longstreet rallied his troops behind a second line fell upon tire charging column and forced it back over half the ground it had won. Meantime Warren's whole corps had arrived, and a fierce conflict ensued for the possession. of the intersection of the roads on a hill, north of Spottsylvania Court-house. The troops of the Fifth corps had been marching all night and half the day, almost without rest, and were illy prepared to sustain a severe engagement for any considerable length of time. As soon as the Reserves came up they were ordered to form in line and charge upon the enemy.
      The march during the night had been slow and tedious, but after daylight it was hastened, and before noon became a "double quick," without a halt for a distance of fourteen miles. It was found that the enemy was moving on a parallel road, and a race was made for the heights at Spottsylvania Court-house. The rebels had the start and a shorter road, and hence won tire race. The troops were brought into action as rapidly as they arrived, and a determined effort was made to dislodge Longstreet's corps, but it failed.
      The cavalry in front of Warren's corps began to skirmish with tire enemy on the road south of Todd's tavern, and drove the rebels back towards Spottsylvania Court-house. Before nine o'clock in the morning the rebel infantry was encountered, and Robinson's division was sent forward to clear the road; early in the engagement General Robinson was wounded and taken from the field. Griffin's division advanced and formed on tire left of Robinson's troops, commanded by Colonel Coulter; the two divisions drove the enemy's forces southward along the road until they reached their intrenchments about three miles north of the Court-house. A desperate battle then opened. The

 

522

 

enemy had advanced in great force to drive back the divisions of Warren's corps. General Crawford, command ing the Pennsylvania Reserves, and Colonel Cutler, commanding Wadsworth's division, were ordered forward on a quick march. They came upon the field, filed to the right and left of the road and rushed into the fight.
      In front of the line of battle the enemy was posted in a pine woods on a slight ridge. At the signal to charge the Reserves rushed forward, cheering as they charged, dislodged the enemy on the ridge, drove him from the woods, pursued him through a swamp, wading through mud and water knee deep, and sent him pell-mell into his second line of intrenchments. The work was accomplished in the most gallant style, and the enemy did not again attempt to dispute the arrival of the troops of the National army.
        Colonel McCandless, who led the charge with conspicuous gallantry was wounded, and Colonel Tally assumed command of the brigade. Colonel Fisher, who was wellknown to the troops was absent sick, and General Crawford had been injured by the fall of a tree top, cutoff by a shell from the enemy's guns, and hence did not accompany his division in the charge. The lines of the brigades were broken by the irregularity of the grounds, and there was no officer in the front to reform the division and to direct its movements; the troops therefore retired across the swamp. It was now past two o'clock in the afternoon ; the men were ordered to fall back to the woods and prepare their dinners. After having refreshed themselves with coffee, hard bread and meat, the troops laid down and slept till five o'clock, when they were again summoned to battle.
        The Ninth, the Sixth, and lastly the Second corps had gone forward following the Fifth, and early in the afternoon the army formed in line of battle north of Spottsylvania Court-house. The Fifth corps was in the centre, the Second on the right, the Sixth on the left and the Ninth in reserve. The Firth and Sixth concentrated in strong lines in the edge of a woods in front of a hill held by the rebels ;

 

523

 

General Grant and General Meade rode forward to inspect the lines and to inspire the troops; the hour of battle had arrived: at half-past six o'clock in the evening a great shout rolled along the line, and the columns of attack moved forward. The troops came out of the woods through a narrow open space, and moved up a tangled thicket which was held and fortified by the enemy.
      The Reserves were formed for the charge in two lines; the First brigade, commanded by Colonel Tally, was in the front; the Third, commanded by Colonel Bally, followed in the second line. A third line was formed in the rear of the second by Colonel Herring, who had been ordered up to support the Reserves. The whole line advanced, and simultaneously the enemy's position from right to left along its entire front was assailed. His skirmishers were driven in and pursued through swamps, fields and woods, the advance rife pits were carried and the strong works on the hill were assaulted with great vigor. A most furious battle raged, which was maintained with determination until darkness made it impossible to distinguish the points of attack. The whole line of the army was then withdrawn to a parallel ridge, where intrenchments were thrown up and held during the night.
        The Reserves three times charged the intrenchments in their front, but were each time repulsed. Colonel Tally was captured, and the command of the First brigade was assumed by Colonel Jackson, and Lieutenant-colonel Stewart commanded the First regiment; Major Burke, who succeeded Jackson in command of the Eleventh, was wounded. Major Over commanded the Tenth, but was, during the day, relieved by Captain Valentine Phipps, who led the regiment in battle. In the absence of General Crawford, Colonel Robert A. McCoy, assistant adjutant-general on the division staff, was conspicuous in the field, and when the First brigade was without a leader he ordered Colonel Ent to assume command, and aided him in rallying the troops; subsequently, however, Colonel Jackson was

 

524

 

found in the front, and being senior officer, relieved Colonel Ent, and led the brigade in the last clear-e, and pit the close of the day withdrew the troops to the line of intrenchments. The enemy held a strong position which could not be carried by a direct assault. After several attempts to storm the works, which resulted in heavy loss, the battle ended, and the rebels still held the approaches to Spottsylvania Court-house.
  The troops held their lines in front of the enemy during the night of the 8th; rations were issued at midnight, and early on Monday morning the forces. were re-arranged .for a renewal of the battle. The Reserves were moved a short distance to the right to relieve a portion of the Sixth corps, where they laid down in the intrenchments until late in the afternoon. During the day, however, the First brigade made a reconnoissance to the Po river on the right. The Bucktails, commanded by Major Hartshorn, accompanied by Colonel McCoy, were sent forward as skirmishers, supported by the First regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Stewart ; the skirmishers advanced to the river, and taking forward a battery, shelled the enemy's trains, and interrupted their march. Monday, until six o'clock in the afternoon, was given to rest. Five days of incessant marching and fighting had greatly fatigued the troops; still more, the six days' rations in the haversacks, with which the army had set out, were exhausted, and it was therefore necessary to re-issue supplies, and to recuperate the strength of the men. This done, at six o'clock General Hancock, holding the right of the line, at Todd's tavern, moved forward Barlow's division of the Second corps, crossed the Po, and seized the Block-house road, leading, directly from Parker's store to Spottsylvania Court-house, and coming in on the left flank of the rebel army. Immediately upon this movement, Warren moved forward on the centre, drove, the enemy half a mile, and took post in a strong position, which he held during the night. In this brief, but spirited

 

525

 

engagement  the Reserves were again called into action. The troops charged upon the enemy and were repulsed with severe loss; they rallied to a second charge, drove the enemy from the first line, but were repulsed from the second. Darkness again ended the battle. Hancock had turned the enemy's left flank; but beyond that, no advantage had been gained.
      A correspondent,* writing from the headquarters of the Fifth corps, says:

" The Second corps had driven the enemy a mile and a half across the Po river, and it was determined to make a general attack along the whole line. At half-past six o'clock in the afternoon the battle began. Five batteries of' the Fifth corps were placed in position and shelled the enemy without intermission till the close of the contest, which was at eight o'clock. Meanwhile there was an uninterrupted roar of musketry in the woods where the main battle was fought on Sunday.
        " At the close we had the best of the fight, although our forces, having successfully driven the enemy on the left and in the centre, fell back to their intrenchments."
        About mid-day on Monday, the army lost one of its most accomplished officers. Major-general John Sedgwick, of Connecticut, the greatest of Meade's corps commanders, fell at the hands of a rebel sharpshooter. He was standing with General Morris arid some of the officers of his staff; in the outer line of intrenchments, viewing the grounds in his front, when he was struck by a ball which entered his face below the eye. and passed through his bead. He died an hour after he fell. General Morris was at the same time severely wounded in the leg.
        On Monday evening, when the roar of battle was sound- along the whole line, Colonel M'Candless, who had accompanied the Reserve Corps through all of its battles and campaigns, was carried to the rear, to be sent to his home

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* L. A. Hendricks, correspondent of the New York, Herald

 

 

526

 

in Philadelphia.. As an officer he had won great distinction, and was a favorite with his companions in arms, who now deeply felt his departure.
      William M'Candless was born in Philadelphia, on tile 29th of September, 1884. He was educated in the public schools of the city, and upon leaving school entered the machine shops of Richard Norris & Son, as an apprentice; after having served a term of five years he was an accomplished machinist and a skillful engineer. He was employed for a short time on some of the Western railroads; but soon returning to Philadelphia, he read law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. Under the call for troops in April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Captain Timothy Mealey's company, and when the Second regiment was organized, Mr. M'Candless was elected major, In October, 1861, upon the promotion of Lieutenant-colonel Magilton to the colonelcy of the Fourth regiment, Major M'Candless was elected and commissioned Lieutenant-colonel, and upon the retirement of Colonel Mann, assumed command of the regiment. In the Peninsula campaign he commanded his troops with skill, and on the 1st of August, 1862, was promoted to the colonelcy for gallant and meritorious conduct. At the battle of Bull Run he was severely wounded, and carried from the field to Washington. Ile, rejoined his regiment at Sharpsburg, and participated in Burnside's campaign. In Meade's campaigns, Colonel M'Candless commanded the First brigade of the Reserve Corps; and during the absence of General Crawford, in the winter of 1863, and the following Spring, he commanded the division. On Thursday, the 5th of May, 1864, when the First brigade was cut off' and surrounded in the Wilderness, Colonel M'Candless was captured, but in the confusion that ensued lie eluded his captors and made his escape through the dense forests, and arrived safely in camp. At Spottsylvania Court-house, whilst leading leis brigade in a charge, on Sunday evening, he was severely wounded in the hand, and disabled for further service. He returned to Philadelphia, and was subse­

 

527

 

quently offered a brigadier-general's commission, which he declined, preferring to retire to private life, and resume the practice of his profession.
      Whilst the great body of infantry and artillery was lying in repose in front of the enemy at Spottsylvania the cavalry under General Sheridan, was launched out into the enemy's country to cut his communications, destroy his supplies, and break up his line of retreat. General Sheridan concentrated his forces on the left wing of Grant's army, and on Monday the 9th of May, moved down the Fredericksburg and Richmond road to Jarrold's mills, thence on the Beaverdam road to the North Anna. General Stuart pursued with all his force, and several times came up with the rear of Sheridan's column, but was in every encounter repulsed. The expedition crossed the North Anna and completely severed Lee's communications with Richmond. The cavalrymen burned depots of supplies, tore up the railroad track, blew up bridges; cut the telegraph wires, so that from Beaverdam station to the Chickahominy the line of communication and the large storehouses of supplies were utterly destroyed. General Stuart, the greatest of the rebel cavalry generals, was killed in a severe engagement at Yellow Springs, and General Gordon, who commanded one of Stuart's brigades, was severely wounded.
        At Beaverdam, Sheridan captured a train of cars laden with Union prisoners, captured at Spottsylvania Courthouse on Sunday. Many of these were of the Reserve Corps, among them Colonel Tally, of the First regiment, who was captured whilst leading the First brigade into battle on the 8th of May.
        The officers and troops thus released armed themselves, joined Sheridan's command, and returned to the army by way of the peninsula.
        Colonel Hardin, of the Twelfth regiment, who had lost his arm by a wound received at Catlett's station, had not yet fully recovered from the effects of the amputation, but

 

528

 

as soon as he learned that his regiment was to engage in Grant's campaign to Richmond, he procured permission to leave the special duties to which he had been assigned at Washington, and immediately went to the front to join his command He arrived at Spottsylvania during the first week of battles, and was assigned to the command of the First brigade.
      General Lee, discovering that his communications were cut and that his army was isolated from all other forces and authorities in the Confederacy, resolved to make a desperate effort to break through the lines of the army in his front, and to resupply his troops, despoiled by Sheridan, from the, National trains. Lee had opened the. campaign with his favorite tactics, and had marched out to meet and to attack Grant and Meade in the Wilderness, but the experience of' three days of desperate fighting in the swamps and thickets had so far cooled his ardor as to induce him to act on the defensive, and to endeavor to keep constantly between the advancing army and the rebel capital. The success of Sheridan's expedition, however, raised his ire, and lie at once resolved on desperate means. General Grant had moved up his whole force, had thoroughly united the armies of Meade and Burnside, and lead ordered an assault to be made on the rebel lines early on Tuesday morning.
        The relative positions of the armies were now the reverse of those held at Gettysburg. The enemy held a strong inner horseshoe shaped line of heights, protected in front by a marsh; the National army enveloped the front of this position by a wider circle of hills.General Burnside  moved against the enemy's right flank. and soon discovered that the rebels were in small force in his front, and that Lee had withdrawn his right wing to a stronger position. Hancock was then ordered to move forward on the right, and to connect with Warren in the centre. At about one o'clock the right and left wing; advanced to attack the enemy. The assault was made with great determination and resulted in heavy loss to the

 

529

 

assailants but did not succeed against the strong lines held by the rebel army. Barlow's division of the Second corps was withdrawn from the southwest bank of the. Po, and the whole line was contracted for the purpose of renewing the assault.
      " Five o'clock was fixed for the grand assault ; general orders announcing the successes of' Sherman in the west and Butler on the James were read to the troops, producing the wildest excitement, and as the hour approached for the attack, the enthusiasm of the troops became almost ungovernable.
        Just as the attack was about to be made the enemy advanced upon our right, threatening to press back that portion of the line, and thus disconcerting for a time the plan of assault. Troops were hurried to the support of the right, but General Barlow had succeeded in checking the advance of the enemy, and sent back the reinforcements with the word, that lie had men enough and to spare.
        Half-past six was then fixed for the assault ; watches were compared by the corps commanders, and finally al! separated with orders to attack at the appointed time. The moments flow fast; at the appointed hour, simultaneously With the roar of the twelve signal guns, the whole front ad with cheers from the whole line. The movement was indescribably grand. A portion of the forces moved. in solid column, while others advanced in the usual order of battle, the whole army moving together, and yet each command fighting its own battle.
        The whole rebel line opened a most murderous fire, against which our line irresistibly swept, driving the enemy slowly back from his positions, capturing nearly two thousand prisoners and three pieces of artillery. The latter, however, were recaptured before the close of the engagement. Night closed the battle, and our forces occupied the field.”*

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    *Finley Anderson's correspondence to the New York Herald.

 

530

 

At half-past six o'clock, as soon as the forces could ho concentrated, the conflict began. The artillery, which had hitherto been deprived of its proper share in the fight, had been vigorously shelling the enemy's position; the cannonade ceased, and immediately the infantry advanced to the more terrible work, the Fifth corps in the centre and the Sixth on the right. General Wright advanced the flower of his corps. Nobly and well the troops sustained their reputation. They advanced rapidly on the enemy's works without firing a shot, capturing them at the point of tile bayonet. As they rushed on they captured the enemy by hundreds, dashing upon them with a fury that nothing could withstand. To the number of twelve hundred, they run the prisoners and their artillery back into the lines of the army. In Warren's front the enemy was found is greater force and more strongly intrenched ; a most gallant assault was maintained for more than an hour, but in every charge the divisions were repulsed with great loss. Darkness ensued, Wright's corps fell hack from its victorious field, and the whole army rested in the position it had occupied during the day.
        The Reserve Corps advanced in the centre with other divisions of the Fifth, and with them sustained an unequal conflict, and was finally repulsed. The line formed a second time, the First brigade, commanded by Colonel Hardin, and the Third, by Colonel Bailey, on the left, and Colonel Coulter's brigade in the centre; a second charge was made, but the division was again repulsed from the enemy's third line of works.
        On Tuesday night, after the battle, the Reserves changed their position by moving to the crest of the hill near the enemy's line; they threw up intrenchments and rested in them during the day. At intervals the rebel sharpshooters came within range of the rifles of the Bucktails, but in every attempt to form a lodgment they were driven back- to their defenses.
        On Wednesday night General Hancock left his position

 

531

  

on the extreme right, moved over to the left, and took a position between the Sixth and Ninth corps. Early on Thursday morning, before daylight, and beneath a dense fog and drizzling rain, which later in the day increased to heavy showers, the Second corps advanced quietly and cautiously to the extreme right of the enemy's fortified line, suddenly appeared on the flank of Ewell's corps, and sweeping up in the rear of the intrenchments, captured General E. Johnson's whole division, numbering four thousand men. Johnson and his brigadiers, Generals George Stewart and Robert Johnson, were taken prisoners, and all the artillery, ammunition, and supplies of the division fell into the hands of Hancock's men. The commanding general immediately followed up Hancock's success by a vigorous assault along the whole line. The Second corps was promptly reinforced by two divisions from the Fifth; Burnside went in on the left of Hancock; Wright, with the Sixth corps, on his right, being the centre of the new line of battle, and Warren on the right of the Sixth corps. The battle raged furiously along the whole line, and for fourteen hours the most tremendous conflict of the war was maintained. Five times the rebel army charged with its whole force to dislodge Hancock , and was each time repulsed with great slaughter. At times his brave soldiers were driven to the outer line of the intrenchments, but rallying again, to the charge, drove back the enemy, tramping on the bodies of the dead and dying that covered the ground. Up to midday a heavy rain was falling, but the afternoon was clear, and a bright sky overarched the scene of tumult and death. Night closed the contest, and the victorious army held the grounds that Hancock had seized in the morning.
      One of the ablest journalists* in the field thus wrote of this battle.

"The history of the day, after six o'clock in the morn-

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 *  William Swinton, correspondent of the New York Times.

  

532

 

ing, is all summed up in five successive and fierce assaults which Lee made to retake the lost position. At first Ewell's corps alone confronted Hancock, but during the day Hill and Longstreet were drawn over from the rebel left, and the whole army of Lee flung itself against the lines in five desperate efforts to recapture the breastworks: But it was all in vain, as every assault met a bloody repulse,
      "So terrific was the death-grapple, however, that at different times of the day, the rebel colors were planted on one side of the works and ours on the other, the men fighting across the parapet. Nothing during the war has equalled the desperation of this struggle, which was continued for fourteen hours, and the scene of the conflict from which I have just come, presents a spectacle of horror that curdles the blood of the boldest. The angle of the works at which Hancock entered, and for the possession of which the savage fight of the day was made, is a perfect Golgotha. In the angle of death the dead and wounded rebels lie, this morning, literally in piles, the men in the agonies of death groaning beneath the dead bodies of their comrades. On an area of five acres in rear of their position, lie not less than a thousand rebel corpses, many literally torn to shreds by hundreds of balls, and several with bayonet thrusts through and through their bodies, pierced on the very margin of the parapet, which. they determined to retake or perish in the attempt. The one exclamation of every man who looks on this spectacle is, "God forbid that I should ever gaze upon such a sight again."
        The enemy had been driven from the Wilderness, his communication with his base of supplies had been cut, and the strong position at Spottsylvania Court-house had been made untenable for Lee's army. Still the enemy was vigorous in the defence of his intrenchments; and on the other side Grant had set out for the rebel Capital, and was resolved to "fight it out on that line if it took him all summer."

 

533

 

General Meade issued the following order :

“ HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, "

 Friday, May 13, 1861.

" SOLDIERS'-The moment has arrived when your Commanding General feels authorized to address you in terms of congratulation.
      "For eight days and nights, almost without intermission, in rain and sunshine, you have been gallantly fighting a desperate foe, in positions naturally strong, and rendered doubly so by intrenchments.
        " You have compelled him to abandon his fortifications on the Rapidan, to retire and attempt to stop your onward progress, and now he has abandoned the last hit reached position, so tenaciously held, suffering, in all, the loss of eighteen guns, twenty-two colors, eight thousand prisoners, including two General officers.
        " Your heroic deeds and noble endurance of fatigue and privation will ever be memorable. Let us return thanks to God for the mercy thus shown to us, and ask earnestly for its continuance.
        " Soldiers! Your work is not over. The enemy must be pursued, and, if possible, overcome. The courage and fortitude you have displayed eyed render your Commanding General confident that your future efforts will result in success.
        "While we mourn the loss of many gallant comrades, let us remember that the enemy must have suffered equal, if not greater, losses.
        " We shall soon receive reinforcements, which he cannot expect.
        "Let us determine, then, to continue vigorously the work so well begun, and, under God's blessing, in a short time the object of our labors will be accomplished.

 

" GEORGE G. MEADE

Major-General Commanding."

 

At one o'clock on Friday morning, Lee again attempted to expel Hancock from the key-point he had seized in his lines; the attacks were repeated, and the battle continued till four o'clock, but the enemy was repulsed in every assault, and, before daylight, withdrew from. the contest.
      During the day, and on Friday night, the army enjoyed a few hours of repose, absolutely essential after the week of exhausting labors through which it had passed. No movements were made until Saturday night, when the Fifth corps moved from its position on the right over to the extreme left, connecting with the left of the Sixth corps; the Ninth joined the right of the Sixth, and the Second,

 

534

 

which on Thursday was the left, now became the extreme right of the army. Ten days had now elapsed since the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan; day and night the two hostile armies had wrestled in marches, manoeuvers and battles, and yet neither was victorious, but both, presenting strong and bold fronts, each maintained a menacing attitude and challenged the other to fiercest combat. More than one hundred thousand men had been placed hors du combat, and the larger portion of these were rebels.
      On Saturday evening the Reserves formed in two lines of battle near the Fredericksburg and Spottsylvania Court house road, a distance of seven miles from the, position they had occupied on the right; Captain Cooper's battery was posted on a hill, and at sunset opened on the enemy occupying an eminence in front of the line; the Reserves charged upon the rebels and seized the eminence and held it.
        The Eighth regiment having completed its term of service was relieved from duty and sent to Fredericksburg and thence to Washington, on Sunday the 15th of May Surgeon Thomas Jones, of the Eighth, was killed just before his regiment departed from the army. He had been on duty in the hospitals, and when returning to the front he was challenged by one of General Mott's skirmishers and ordered to halt; it was supposed that Dr. Jones did not hear the challenge, and hence continued to advance; the skirmisher, believing him to be a scout or spy, fired and killed him instantly.
        Two officers, Captain John Robinson and Lieutenant James S. Robinson, of the Seventh regiment rejoined the Reserves on the left of the army. They had been captured in the Wilderness, and were marched with about sixteen hundred other prisoners towards Orange Court-house. The prisoners were halted by the roadside to rest, and these two brothers, unobserved by the guard, crept under the fence and thence into a pine thicket, where they remained

 

535

 

until the squad moved away. They then entered upon a series of adventures, night marches, and narrow escapes, by which they were finally delivered from the power of the enemy. They passed around the rebel army, crossed the Rappahannock eight miles below Fredericksburg, and arriving at Bell Plain, took passage on a boat to Washington, where they reported to the Secretary of War, and procured passes to return to the front.
      Surgeon Donnelly, who had been captured in the Wilderness, was placed by the Confederates, in charge of the `wounded men left on the field by the Army of the Potomac. As soon as the hostile forces moved to Spottsylvania, Surgeon Donnelly mounted one of the men who was but slightly wounded, and directed him to elude the rebel pickets, make his way to Washington, and to report to the Secretary of War, that the battle-field was guarded by but a small body of rebel cavalry. Two messengers were captured, but a third succeeded in passing the enemy's lines, and carried the report to Washington. Secretary Stanton immediately reported the facts to General Meade, who despatched a cavalry force from Fredericksburg, which, drove the enemy from the Wilderness, and brought the. gallant and persevering surgeon, and his numerous charge within the lines of the National army.
        A violent rain storm prevailed from Friday till Sunday, `which oracle the roads impassable, and the ground too soft for the movements of artillery. The repose of the army was, therefore, necessarily extended until Wednesday morning, when Hancock and Wright were ordered to assault the enemy's right. Two lines of intrenchments were carried, but a third, stronger and more ably defended, was encountered and the attack was discontinued, by order of General Grant, who was unwilling to have his men unnecessarily exposed to a fire of the enemy's artillery.
        At the same time that Wright and Hancock advanced on the right, Warren opened on the left with his batteries, which were in a commanding position. Screened by the

 

536

 

smoke of the artillery, twenty-five men from the Bucktail regiment advanced to a ridge, near the enemy's batteries and dug holes in the sand for protection, and from these impromptu rifle pits, maintained a sharp fire on the  rebel gunners, and finally silenced their batteries. At dark a force of the enemy  charged on the squad of Bucktails and drove them back upon the skirmish line.
      On the afternoon of Thursday, Ewell attempted to tug i the right wing of Meade's army; he made a detour march crossed the Ny, and at five o'clock reached a point on the Fredericksburg road in the rear of the right flank. The only force on the ground to resist Ewell's corps was Tyler's division of new troops, heavy artillery regiments that had been armed as infantry, and had just arrived from Washington. Though this division had never before been under fire, it received the enemy with great steadiness, and as 800:1 as the firing became rapid, the new regiments rushed forward and fell upon the enemy with such irresistible force, that Ewell's troops broke and retreated in great haste to the river. The veterans of the army said, " Tyler's men were too green to know the desperate situation they were in, and that they demoralized the enemy more by their rashness than by the fire of their muskets." Be this as it may, the new troops triumphed over a veteran foe and won the admiration of the old soldiers.
        The Reserves were sent to the right, with orders to turn the right flank of Ewell's corps, and interpose between it and the river Ny; the troops marched promptly to execute the movement, but the enemy had fallen back in such great haste from the attack of Tyler's troops, that they had defeated the object of Crawford's movement. The First brigade, however, commanded by Colonel Hardin, advanced to the river; the Bucktail regiment was thrown forward as skirmishers, with orders to advance without firing. The, men advanced quietly up the river, and corning suddenly upon a party of the enemy, captured a captain and several of his men. At daylight on the 20th, when it was evident

 

537

 

that the enemy had withdrawn, the brigade was ordered back to the line of the Fifth corps.
      With the arrival of General Burnside's corps on the Rapidan, a new element was introduced into the Army of the -Potomac. The unnatural prejudice of color was over- and a division of colored troops was joined to the veteran forces of the great army. These troops were com- by General Ferrero, and were employed to guard the trains and to keep open communications with the base of supplies. A correspondent, writing from the Ninth corps on the 20th of May, says :*
        "Simultaneously with the attack of Ewell's infantry on Tyler's division, a brigade of cavalry carne trooping up the plank road quite unexpectedly. General Ferrero rapidly formed his men into line at the first alarm, and awaited the coming of the rebels. On their approach they were greeted by a very warm salute from the rifles of the colored boys, and a sudden check was given to their charge. Their progress now become more gradual; they formed into line of battle and a brisk fight ensued, continuing till nightfall.
        "The colored troops in this army have not, so far, been engaged to any very great extent ; but whenever they have met the enemy they have exhibited a courage unexpected in view of popular opinion. So far General Ferrero's division has repulsed the famous Hampton Legion and the troops above mentioned."
        This was the beginning of the conquest of a prejudice, both foolish and obstinate, which had been educated into the Army of the Potomac. Battles, victories, wounds, and deaths that followed, carried on to completion the work of reformation, and brought all loyal men to the belief that negroes are brave and will fight.
        At twelve o'clock on Saturday the Reserves broke camp on the left of the line in front of Spottsylvania Court-house, and marching rapidly to the left, arrived at Guinney's sta-

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*J. C. Fitzpatrick correspondent of the New York Herald.

 

558

 

tion on the Fredericksburg and Richmond railroad at six o'clock in the evening. A small body of rebel cavalry was encountered at the station, but was speedily dispersed by the Sixth regiment and the Bucktails, who followed the enemy on the road towards Gatewood-house. At two o'clock on the following morning, Captain Pattee, chief of the pioneer corps, took command of a detachment of one hundred and twenty-five men detailed from the 'tenth and the Bucktail regiments, and made a reconnoissance to Gate wood .house, surprised acid routed the enemy and drove him to his entrenchments half a mile to the rear. The detachment retired to the house which the enemy had occupied and held it till daylight. Colonel Bates commanding Baxter's brigade, temporarily attached to Craw division, made a reconnoissance to the Telegraph road, three miles from Guinney's station, and ascertained that the enemy had marched southward in large force. This fact was reported to General Meade, and at daylight the troops were ordered to pursue the enemy towards the North Anna. The whole army was put in motion on roads running southeastward parallel to the course of the river Ny.           
  
For two weeks the forces had beleaguered the heights around Spottsylvania Court-house, grounds now historic, and associated with fighting as desperate as was ever made by embattled hosts, and maintained by the greatest valor on the part of both armies. The woods and fields around sepulchre the bodies of thousands of brave men, who per­ished in the great cause for which the armed legions of the citizen soldiery of the United States marched, fought, and suffered. This scene of days and nights of battle, the long lines of entrenchments, and the graves of comrades were now abandoned. The commanding general had ordered a flank movement, which would compel the rebel army to evacuate its strong position and retreat towards Richmond
      On the night of the 21st, Hancock's corps was at Bowling Green, eighteen miles south of Fredericksburg. On Sunday, the 22d, at eleven o'clock, the Fifth corps

 

539

 

left Guinney's station and marched down the telegraph road to Bowling Green. The march southward was made with great caution; Crawford's division was in the advance, and marched with flanking columns moving on both sides ; every house was searched, and a large number of rebels; stragglers from Lee's army, were captured. On the line of march the division passed a shed well-stored with tobacco; every soldier addicted to its use supplied himself bounteously, until the large store-house was exhausted.
      The Fifth corps bivouacked near Bowling Green on Sunday night; early on Monday morning it resumed the march, passed the Second corps at Milford, and moved on to Jericho ford, on the North Anna river. At one o'clock in the afternoon Hancock arrived with the Second corps, and took a position on the left of the Fifth, extending from the ford down to the railroad.
        The enemy had already reached this point, and occupied a position on both banks of the river, which bad previously been strongly fortified. General Hancock ordered Birney's division to storm the enemy's works on the north bank of the river, and to sieze the bridge across the stream. Skirmishing commenced at two o'clock; at four all the batteries were playing upon the enemy, and a few minutes later General Birney led the charge. The struggle was spirited, but brief; the enemy was forced across the river with great loss, the bridge seized and firmly held, commanded by the artillery.
        The head of the column of the Fifth corps, Griffin's division, being in the advance, reached the North Anna at one o'clock on Monday afternoon, and, before two o'clock, was crossing at Jericho ford. The river at this point has a rocky bed and precipitous banks; the men waded through the water waist deep and effected a lodgment on the south bank. The enemy did not suppose that a crossing would be attempted so far up the river, and hence had made no preparations to resist it. Immediately after crossing, Griffin's division was formed in line of battle Cutler's division formed on Grif-

 

540

 

fin's right, and the Pennsylvania Reserves on the left. The corps thus formed moved rapidly forward across an open space, and took position in a woods, where it encountered the enemy's skirmishers. This line was easily pressed back from the wood, which was seized and held by the Fifth corps. General Warren instructed the troop, sent forward to intrench themselves in the woods; the, tools had been sent to the front and the men were just commencing the work, when Wilcox's division of Hill's corps, suddenly advanced and made a furious assault on Griffin's division. The enemy poured oil the line volley after volley of musketry, and at the same time opened a heavy fire from their batteries, and advanced in two lines of battle. Griffin's men, however, bravely resisted the attack, and finally repulsed the rebels with great loss. Finding himself unable to break the centre of Warren's line, the rebel ,general, Wilcox, made an effort to turn the right flank; for this purpose he detached Brown's South Carolina brigade, which moved up the railroad, wheeled to the right and fell upon Cutler's division, where he gained a temporary success, but fortunately, the Eighty-third Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel De Witt C. McCoy, was moving by the flank, and suddenly coming upon Brown's brigade, handled it so severely that the commanding officer and four hundred of his men were captured, and the remainder, broken and disordered, fled from the woods. The battle extended beyond Griffin's left, and the Reserves became engaged, principally however. with artillery.
      General Crawford and staff had gone forward to a house near a woods in front. of the line to reconnoitre the country beyond; the rebels, who then occupied the woods, opened fire, and drove the officers back to their line of defence. The Tenth regiment and the Bucktails were then advanced into the woodland, and soon became sharply engaged with the enemy's skirmishers, but they continued to press forward until they had driven the rebels into an open field

 

541

 

beyond the woods; a battery then opened on the advancing regiments, which soon elicited a reply from the reserve artillery posted on the north bank of the river; for a short time a spirited engagement was maintained, but when Brown's brigade was destroyed, on the right, the battle ceased, and the Fifth corps was master of the field. During the battle Colonel Hardin, whose brigade became slightly engaged, was struck on the side by a fragment of a shell, which bruised him severely, but was prevented from entering his body by a large pocket-book which he carried in the side pocket of his coat.
      In front of Hancock's corps the order was reversed; the enemy strongly disputed his passage, but when once across the river, his troops were left in quiet possession of their works. The Chesterfield bridge, the northern approaches toy which Birney had seized, was defended by a strong tete-de-pont; near the head of the bridge was an extended redan with a water ditch in front, defended by a line of rifle-pits in the rear. The south bank of the river being high, commanded the north bank, and the enemy's artillery had been posted to sweep the approaches from that direction. Birney's division had stormed all of these works in one terrific charge, seized the bridge, effected a crossing, and remained in undisputed possession.
        Tuesday was spent in transferring the army to the south hank of the North Anna. Warren held a position of great strength, and no fears were entertained that the cueing would attempt his dislodgement. Wright's corps crossed the river and took a position in rear of the Fifth corps.
        At the bridge, however, the rebels still held the intrenchments, rifle-pits, and commanding heights on the south bank of the river, and only a small detachment of Birney's division had effected a crossing. In the afternoon of Tuesday the Pennsylvania Reserves were ordered to move forward on the left against the rebel flank, and make a diversion in favor of Hancock's corps.

 

542

 

Early on Tuesday morning, the 24th, the Fifth regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Smith, and the Sixth, Colonel Ent, made a reconnoissance towards the right in front of the line; they advanced two miles, crossed the Virginia Central Railroad and captured a large number of prisoners from a North Carolina brigade. The first regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel  Stewart, was sent down the river to open communication with Hancock's corps. It was a most perilous undertaking. The regiment advanced along the water edge under the bank of the river unobserved by the enemy, and reached Quarrel’s  ford, but found it impossible to proceed farther. The enemy had closed in upon its rear, and cut off communication with the division; Lieutenant-colonel Stewart signaled to Burnside's troops on the north bank, and succeeded, after some difficulty, in convincing them that he and his regiment were of the National army. Having thus opened communication across the river the men rested. When Warren learned that the First regiment was cut off, he ordered General Crawford to advance with his whole division to find his regiment, and to connect with Hancock. The Reserves formed in line of battle and marched down the river, keeping the left flank near the stream. At Quarrel's ford the lost regiment was found safely posted under the bank of the North Anna. The enemy gathered in front and on the flanks of the Reserves in strong force. The division formed a semi-circular line with both flanks resting on the river, the one above and the other below the ford. Crittenden's division of Burnside's corps crossed over, and passing through Crawford's lines moved out and attacked the enemy. Subsequently the other divisions followed, until all were securely posted on the south bank.
      Near night Colonel McCoy set out with the Bucktail regiment and the Twelfth Massachusetts to communicate with the right of Warren's corps, and at the same time five companies of the First regiment, commanded by Captain

 

543

 

William L. Bear, moved up the river to connect with Griffin's division; both of these expeditions were successful, and met the Fifth corps advancing towards Quarrel's ford.
      The presence of Burnside's corps on the south bank, and the advance of the Fifth, uncovered Hancock's front, and allowed his troops to advance across Chesterfield bridge, and the whole army was concentrated on the south bank of the river.
        Wednesday and Thursday were consumed in bringing up supplies and in the examination of the position of the enemy. It was found that Lee held a strong line, defended by elaborate works, constructed in the form of the sides of an acute angle, the vertex jutting out near the North Anna, and the base resting on Little river, so that the flanks were well protected. General Grant promptly decided not to sacrifice his troops by a direct assault upon Lee's fortified lines; he, therefore, ordered another movement by the left flank. A demonstration was made against the left wing of the enemy, and Wilson's division of cavalry was sent to threaten the left flank; whilst the attention of the enemy was thus attracted to the western face of the line, the great Army of the Potomac was, in the darkness of Thursday night, quietly moving back, recrossing the North Anna, and rapidly marching down the river. Sheridan's cavalry corps, which bad returned from its great expedition in the rear of Zee's army, was sent to Hanovertown to secure the crossings of the Pamunkey river. The Sixth corps followed the cavalry, and all clay on Friday, the whole army was marching down the roads on the north bank of the Pamunkey. A soldier* in the Fifth regiment of the Reserve Corps wrote in his diary on Friday: " Did not hear the report of a cannon to-day for the first time since the 5th of May."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*W. Hayes Grier, of company A, to whom the author is indebted for valuable notes on Grant's campaign.

 

544

 

The Reserves bivouacked on Mrs. Orman's plantation on Friday night; they resumed the march early on Saturday morning, moved rapidly to Hanovertown, crossed the Pamunkey,and advanced two miles on the Mechanicsville road, where they formed on the left of the army, and threw up a line of intrenchments, facing southward. Later in the day v, the division changed front and constructed a line of riflepits at right angle to the first, facing westward. Before night the whole army had come up, and formed in line of battle, facing westward, stretching from the Pamunkey across the Tolopatomoy, and extending southward to `a point near Coal Harbor.
        By this movement of Grant's army, Lee's line of work between the North Anna and the Little rivers, and on the South Anna, were made of none effect, and he was compelled to evacuate his strong positions and face his troop on a new line to resist the advance of the National army towards Mechanicsville and Meadow bridge.
        On Sunday, the whole line advanced steadily and cautiously towards the Chickahominy, but nothing more than a heavy skirmish line of the enemy was encountered. Or. Monday morning, the 30th of May, War