CHAPTER XII.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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