THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.

 

I.

 

FROM WASHINGTON TO WHITE HOUSE.

 

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General McClellan had been ordered by President Lincoln to move against the enemy at Manassas, by the 22nd of Feb­ruary; but the General had demurred to the suggested move­ment, proffering his own plan of advance by water instead. On March 8th President Lincoln, who had by that time agreed to McClellan's plan, issued an order that, in view of the con­templated removal of troops to the Chesapeake, was intended to insure the protection of Washington. This order directed the retention of a certain number of troops in the vicinity of the capital. On the 9th, the Confederates, realizing something of the proposed movements of the Union army, withdrew from Manassas, but the first Union troops did not embark for the Peninsula till the 17th.

General McClellan, had assigned to General McDowell's First corps, to which the division of the Pennsylvania Reserves was attached, a prominent position in the ensuing campaign against Richmond, but the President, considering the number of troops assigned to defend Washington insufficient, detached the entire corps from McClellan's army, before they could be placed on transports.

The Bucktails, believing they were to take immediate part in the planned aggressive movement, broke camp in good spirits 89

 

 

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on March l0th, and after marching eighteen miles reached Hunter's Mills.

As the various regiments of the corps advanced through the enemy's territory, considerable foraging was done, the chief sufferers being farmers who possessed milk and chickens. Hence, when Hunter's Mills was reached, orders were issued forbidding the men to leave the camp, a guard being stationed to enforce the order. Some of the Bucktails were among those who had not taken advantage of the opportunities presented along the roadside. They were very hungry, and Virginia poultry is said to be fat. At all events it so happened, that at a point where a railroad embankment formed the boundary of the ramp, the Bucktails, by dint of gum blankets, improvised a tent. The rear of the tent also happened to be in contact with the embankment; so that after a tunnel through the embank­ment was made, it was a simple matter for those entering the tent to leave camp without passes. Feasting prevailed. Un­fortunately, however, an officer broke through near the edge and the tent was ordered removed. On the i4th, the regiment moved in the evening, some five miles, to Difficult Creek. Then on the 15th, during heavy rain, and after dark, they were again put in motion. The mud was terrible and rendered all efforts at progress void. After floundering along for a time, they were permitted to stop at Falls Church.[1] The next morning, the regiment advanced to within one mile of Alexandria, only to learn that instead of being the first of the troops sent to the Peninsula, they were to be left behind.

Going into camp again the members of the regiment made the best they could of existing conditions. Captain Niles, of

 

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Company E, who had been wounded at Dranesville, had re­turned, and on the 20th, "oil cloth shelters" made the men more comfortable. The weather commenced to moderate; the grass came up-and some of the men sent their overcoats home. On February 2nd, the regiment's strength had been reported: Mean strength, 889 men; sick, 67 men;[2] at this time its condition was probably even still better.

The Department of the Rappahannock was constituted on April 4th, under General McDowell; and the Pennsylvania Reserves were attached to this Department. This Department, while covering Washington, was to advance, ultimately joining McClellan before Richmond, when he should have worked up the Peninsula to the vicinity of the Confederate capital.

On April 9th, orders were received to march to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Boarding the cars, the men lay near Bull Run all night, five inches of snow greeting their eyes in the morning. Leaving the cars at Manassas at io n. m., camp was pitched, the snow disappearing with wonderful rapidity.

While here, some of the Bucktails broke into the army train, and discovered a box containing a dozen bottles of good whiskey, addressed to the Medical Director of the division, and intended for hospital use. Delighted with the success that attended their first escapade, the culprits were emboldened to renew their depredations; nor when the monotony and hard­ships of a soldier's life are considered, can they be blamed.

They discovered a box, similar in appearance to the first, and addressed in the same manner, though they were unable on account of the darkness to read the labels on the bottles. Hastily they drew the corks and took deep draughts. One of them, noticing the extremely bitter taste, called out that it was

 

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"no bitters at all," but either he was too late, or his companions did not heed him. At all events, the stuff proved to be a pre­paration of laudanum, and two of the men died from the effects of drinking it the next morning.[3]

The advance from Manassas was pursued irregularly, but on April 28th, Falmouth, on the north side of the Rappahan­nock, almost opposite Fredericksburg, was reached.[4]

The Bucktails had not been long in camp before Colonel McNeil contracted typhoid fever and was removed to a hospital, while Lieutenant-Colonel Kane succeeded to I the command. Food was comparatively plentiful, and those who had money, bought hams, potatoes, crackers, pies, cheese, etc. from the people in the vicinity.[5]

On May 23rd, President Lincoln, accompanied by other important personages, visited the camps, and the regiment passed in review before him.

Then it was decided that McDowell should, on May 26th, advance his entire force and form junction with McClellan, who, about that time, arrived at the Chickahominy. On the evening of the 25^th, Companies C,G, H and I detached from the regiment and ordered to act under- Lieutenant-

 

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Colonel Kane, with Bayard's "Flying  Brigade,"[6] The news came like a thunderclap to the men, but the bustle of prepara­tion kept everybody busy, and little time was available for either discussion or regret. Tents were ordered down; then, tents were ordered up. On the next day, General Reynolds, having been appointed Military Governor of Fredericksburg, the Bucktails,[7] with the other regiments belonging to the First brigade, then commanded by him,[8] crossed the Rappahannock and went into camp. At the same time the Confederate Gene­ral, Stonewall Jackson, developed his campaign in the Shen­andoah Valley.[9] The main body of McDowell's forces was then ordered towards the Valley, the division of Pennsylvania Re­serves, commanded by General McCall, being left at Fredericks­burg, while the orders for an advance on Richmond were countermanded. A few days later,[10] the First brigade was ordered to return to the north bank of the river. This retro­grade movement was made necessary by the Rappahannock rising rapidly and threatening to completely isolate any troop: on its southern bank.

By the early part of June, General McClellan called on the Government so persistently for reinforcements, that the Gov­ernment, without waiting for General McDowell, ordered General McCall to embark his division of Pennsylvania Re­serves for the Peninsula. The brigade organization had been slightly altered; and General Seymour, formerly Captain of the U. S. Battery attached to the division, had succeeded Gen-

 

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eral Ord, who had been promoted from the command of the Third brigade to a Major-Generalship and the command of the Second division of the Department of the Rappahannock. The organization then was:

McCall's Division. Brig.-Gen. George A. McCall.

 

First Brigade                                         Second Brigade

                                               

Brig.-Gen. John F. Reynolds                 Brig.-Gen. George G. Meade

1st Penna. Reserves                              3d Penna. Reserves

2d Penna. Reserves                              4th Penna. Reserves

5th Penna. Reserves                             7th Penna. Reserves

8th Penna. Reserves                             11th Penna. Reserves

13th Penna. Reserves

(Bucktails )

 

Third Brigade

 

Brig.-Gen. Truman Seymour

6th Penna. Reserves

9th Penna. Reserves l0th Penna. Reserves

12th Penna. Reserves

 

Artillery.

1st Penna. Reserves, Bat. A.

1st Penna. Reserves, Bat. B.

1st Penna. Reserves, Bat. G.

5th United States, Bat. C.

 

 

Cavalry.

4th Pennsylvania.[11]

 

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Pursuant to orders, therefore, on June 8th, the Bucktails marched some ten miles down the river to Belle Plains, embark­ing at that place upon the following morning on the "South "America." Moving down the river during the day, the steamer lay to for the night about thirty miles from the bay; resuming the journey on the loth, she ran down the bay and up the York and Pamunkey rivers to White House.

On the 11th the Bucktails stepped off the boat onto the Peninsula.